Chapter 61: The Grotesque Mind Dweller

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Ervas decided to change Jobs, checking if anything new showed up through this small glimpse of time since he changed Jobs to 'Mana Source'.

[Jobs Available]

[Apprentice Spirit Caster], [Apprentice Farmer], [Botanist], [Life Spirit Mage], [Spiritual Half-Demon], [Gray Wizard], [Hollow Life Specter], [Mind Dweller], [Summoner] (New!), [Magic Cannoneer] (New!), [Kinetic Fighter] (New!)

"Three new Jobs… and they sound very interesting… But I do not have time to check them. I choose 'Mind Dweller'…" said Ervas.

Ding!

[You changed Jobs to [Mind Dweller]!]

[You acquired the [Mind Encroachment; Level 1] Skill!]

"Alright… although I have to prepare a bit," said Ervas, beginning to activate the new skill and playing around with it, he felt that he was capable of controlling the waves produced by his mind, something akin to 'telekinesis'. Although it required mana for them to be born, to begin with. In Kritias, there wasn't such a thing as 'Psychic Energy', as the primary energy for everything was always Mana.

As Ervas prepared himself to inspect the mind of the mercenary parasitized by Gwendolyn, Veronica also decided to change Jobs as well, as she had maxed out her 'Apprentice No-Attribute Mage' Job.

"Hmm… I should pick another mage job…? Or a job that could enhance my physical fighting capabilities?" she wondered, opening the 'Job Change' tab.

[Jobs Available]

[Apprentice Warrior], [Armored Thrower], [Cursed Armor Brawler], [Slime User], [Phantasmal Armored Shield User], [Armored Shapeshifter Fighter], [Armored Artillery User], [Soul Breaker], [Metallic Thread User], [Light & Darkness Spirit Caster], [Armored Tamer Mistress], [Murderous Metallic Mistress] (New!), [Hollow Witch] (New!)

"Some new Jobs appeared… though, what is 'Murderous Metallic Mistress'? It sounds very eerie… And Hollow Witch… I think I obtained this Job in my past life, finally something I remember from back then… well, now what do I pick?"

Veronica began to consider what could bring her the best benefits as she was now while considering the rest of her party members.

"Considering all options available, they all seem nice, but now that we are traveling large distances, I will be using my 'Body Form Manipulation' Skill a lot to carry everyone… Let us prioritize that. I will leave the 'Light & Darkness Spirit Caster' for later, if nothing more enticing appears," thought Veronica.

Ding!

[You changed Jobs to [Armored Shapeshifter Fighter]!]

[The Level of the [Body Form Manipulation; Level 2] Skill has increased!]

[You acquired the [Grow; Level 1] Skill!]

"Grow…?"

Veronica, curious about her new skill, checked it out with Appraisal.

[Grow; Level 1/10]

A Skill that can be naturally acquired by those creatures capable of expanding their bodies and shape them, such as Slimes, their primary user.

In exchange for an amount of Mana, the user is capable of increasing the mass of its body to a certain amount. The leveling of this skill will grant an easier time doing so and will increase the body mass limit that can be augmented.

"I see… That is certainly useful… with Ervas's Mana (which he still needs to explain to me), I could be able to shape more easily, and even make a comfier area for everyone to rest… I wonder if I can become an airplane or a car… no, that is too strange. Time to delete that idea out of my mind," thought Veronica, deciding to not imagine herself transforming into an airplane or a car… although it was a possibility for the future…

"Alright, I think I'm ready, this Skill as unexpectedly weird to use… I felt as if the force of my mind had become tentacles," said Ervas.

"I see, very well then, I also changed jobs, now I can shape my body even easier," said Veronica.

"It's surprising how you can even do such a thing, I never expected Living Armors to be as special…" said Ervas.

"Well, it might be because I can get Jobs and have intelligence, unlike the conventional Living Armor," said Veronica.

"You're right," said Ervas.

Veronica then carried Ervas as if he were her son, and sat down near the captive mercenary, which was being parasitized by Gwendolyn, tightly wrapped on her long grass, which had strengthened since she became a Rank 3 'Malicious Sticky Grass Parasite' after the Experience Points farming.

"B-Be careful son," said Jason.

"Don't worry, it's fine," said Ervas, touching the head of the mercenary with his little hand, and then activating 'Mind Encroachment' on it.

His Mana was then infused inside of his mind as he released transparent tentacles that entered the man's head, playfully touching its brain.

Suddenly, Ervas saw many memories as if he were watching a movie, most of them were rather disgusting and horrible, as this bandit had done many atrocities, killing innocent children or doing even worse things to women…

"Hmm… Ah… Oh, I see… What? This is disgusting… Ugh… Eh? Ah, I see… Hm? Sigh… This guy really has done many atrocities," said Ervas.

Although Ervas saw it all, he remained calm and composed and then glanced at Veronica and then at Jason.

"I'm done, let's kill this guy,"

"Just how much did you see?" asked Veronica.

"A lot, too many. I have the sudden urge of killing him, let me kill it myself," said Ervas, grabbing on the neck of the mercenary and using his natural strength as a Half Demon to snap his neck.

Crack!

Then, his soul began to leave his body…

"I understand. Well, if he's such a guy, let us not give him a chance, not even in reincarnation," said Veronica, extending her Soul Claw and grabbing the mercenary soul, breaking as if it were a small bug.

"Gyaaaa!"

Crack!

Ding!

[The Level of the [Soul Break; Level 1] Skill has increased!]

"Oh, so that's what you did with the souls back then…" muttered Ervas.

"Indeed, I needed to break one more to get a level up on the skill, how convenient" laughed Veronica.

"Ervas, you just killed him with your little hands?! Just how strong is my son?!" shouted Jason.

"Not so much, it barely had two Jobs, and his stats were very low, it was an easy task, like breaking a branch. I don't think I would be able to do the same with your neck, father, rest assured," said Ervas.

"I see… Wait, did you consider that?!" said Jason.

"No, I didn't say anything…" muttered Ervas.

"It seems that your mood got better when you killed him, it's time to dissect what you got from him," said Shade.

"That's right, Gwendolyn, you can eat it if you want," said Ervas.

"Chii, chii" said Gwendolyn.

"Eh? Do you want to keep it? But it's dead, it will rot… wait a second."

Ervas then conjured 'Disinfection' into the freshly killed body and then 'Healing Life Infusion'. The corpse then was filled with Life Attribute Mana, its heart beginning to beat again and even breathing.

���Gah… Gah…" muttered the reanimated corpse.

"Oh? What is this? An Undead?" asked Jason, inspecting the corpse.

"Not exactly, it's a Life-dead, a corpse reanimated with Life Attribute Mana, unlike an Undead, there isn't an evil phantom inhabiting its body, but pure Mana… as long as I do this from time to time, it should be a nice host for Gwendolyn," said Ervas.

"I never knew such a thing was possible," said Shade.

"I… well, we learned it in our past lives, as we did such experiments using the Gaia from our previous life," said Veronica.

Gwendolyn seemed happy for what Ervas did, patting his head with her grass.

"No problem hope you use him well, if you wear him down, tell me so I can repair it," said Ervas.

"Chii, chii" said Gwendolyn, happily moving the reanimated corpse. She began to dance around with it like a small child that was happy to get a new toy.

"Perhaps I should leave the grass sisters all catch a monster to take as a temporary host… maybe they could get a unique evolution by staying in them," said Ervas.

"Hm? Oh? The Life-dead even has a status… even a rank, but it cannot change Jobs now. It's like an Undead but without the spirit inside. Eh? It even got a Unique Skill! So how should we call it?" asked Veronica.

"Hm… He had a name before, but let us rename it as 'Nick', he will be Gwendolyn's new host body," said Ervas.

After naming the new and unexpected party member, Ervas began to share what he saw in the memories of the mercenary.

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[Name: Nick

[Race: Roaming Life-Dead

[Age: 0 (after being converted into a Life-Dead)

[Titles: None.

[Type: Human/Undead

[Rank: 1

[Level: 001/100

[Health Points: 56/56

[Mana Points: 25/25

[Strength: 82

[Defense: 73

[Magic: 45

[Resistance: 56

[Agility: 87

[Passive Skills]

[Special Five Senses; Level 1] (New)

[Self-Enhancement; Following (Ervas); Level 1] (New)

[Self-Enhancement; Parasitized (Gwendolyn); Level 1] (New)

[Active Skills]

[Charge; Level 1] (New)

[Unique Skills]

[Parasitized Life-Dead; Level 1] (New)

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[Bestiary]

[Life-Dead]

A type of Undead not present naturally, that can only be created by a Life Attribute Mage by infusing Life Attribute mana into a fresh corpse.

Unlike a conventional undead that harbors a resentful and aggressive soul (which had mutated into a phantom) inside, this type of Undead is 'empty' inside, and it only functions while it has Life Attribute Mana inside.

Life-Dead, unlike conventional Undead, as long as they have Life Attribute Mana charged inside their bodies will never rot or decay, and their life functions will keep on going even without a mind or soul of their own, resembling living people.

It seems that Ervas managed to somehow convert one Life-Dead into a monster, something never registered before, and it is now capable of Ranking Up and become stronger.

Nick lost all the skills he had as a mercenary, though they were nothing much in Ervas opinion. This is due to the skills being part of one's soul and mind. Only skills that used to be part of the body itself would remain, and this mercenary did not have any.

The skills Nick obtained, aside from the Self-Enhancement Skills, are racial skills that any Undead obtains when it raises except for his Unique Skill.

[Skill Explanation]

[Parasitized Life-Dead]

A Unique Skill never saw before that appeared on Nick. It shows his connection with Gwendolyn as a parasitized being.

This Unique Skill gives Nick the ability to be a 'monster' as long as he is being parasitized by Gwendolyn, with the possibility of leveling up on his own and Rank up.

The higher the level of this skill, the stronger he becomes.

However, if he stops being Parasitized, he will lose this skill and possibly stop having a Rank.

He can regain the skill back whenever Gwendolyn or other parasitizing monsters take his body as a host.