Becoming a Monster

'And she's not even evolved yet!

Noah couldn't help but anticipate how much she would grow after her evolution. He already experienced how much of an impact Fenrir's evolution had on his appearance and the sharpness of his nails when the process wasn't done being completed.

He felt that once again he had to continue growing stronger so his creatures would respect him as a leader. And most importantly his pride wouldn't allow him to just become a bystander.

Noah thought about waiting to spend Arachne's stats, but changed his mind when he remembered that their stat could possibly increase after they evolved. Before he forgot, he quickly used her 19 attribute points.

Attributes

Strength:56->57(64)

Agility:173

Constitution:43->50

Stamina:60

Magic: 6

Spirit: 37->50

[Your tamed creature, Arachne, has achieved the first limits of 50 stats in constitution, perk based on class Arachnid obtained; Healing slumber]

[Healing Slumber(Lvl 0)-Increase your health recovery when sleeping. Can recover health and even superficial wounds.

[Your tamed creature, Arachne, has achieved the first limits of 50 stats in spirit, perk based on class Arachnid obtained; Danger sense]

[Danger sense-Your sensory hairs is your final defense, but now you can avoid positioning yourself into danger in the first place now that you can sense a lethal threat targeting you. Only works on attacks that would kill you.

Noah didn't anticipate that his perk would create a domino effect, allowing him to help Arachne acquire two perks after just leveling up.

Noah was becoming anxious for the future. He was in the middle of imagining his creatures changes as he walked over to the chest. As if it was natural, he reflexively bent down to open it, but that's when he noticed that the chest was only gold.

"What? Do they not give me a better chest anymore unless I kill more than one like with the ants?" He muttered while he continued to open while deep in thought. The fight may have been considered dangerous to him since if he didn't have the skill that literally countered zombies then he would have to really worry about his life. However the fact that he was able to kill a tier one zombie without the use of his creatures should make him realize why the chest was only gold.

The first item he received, one that he would always welcome, was another attribute sphere that seemed to be another sphere that would give him 25 attributes.

'Sigh…I shouldn't complain, I shouldn't complain, It's my destiny to be a tank…' He tried not to frown as he held the orb sphere in his hands before crushing it. He was prepared for it as the prodding feeling instantly began to notify him.

[+25 constitution]

[Your skill bone tempering has leveled up to Level 1!-The ratio of your pets bonded through the skill blood pact has now been increased to 1:2 ratio.]

Seeing the results of his improved skill made Noah feel a little bit better about receiving the stats, at least having a high constitution will benefit them too.

The next item he saw was even better than the last and one he felt he will need the most when the night is over. He slowly picked up the upgrade stone as if it was a treasure.

'After they evolve, I can finally upgrade my skill to get another creature!' He looked in the chest more eager than before after seeing that everything has been good so far, but then his mood turned sour at the sight of the next item.

In his hand was a glass vial that resembled the murky green cure he was able to obtain before. But this one in particular seemed less polluted than the first. The tone of the color was lighter than its counterpart, but the vial appeared to be the same size. It's not something he needed but hopefully he could get something else out of it, he thought as he stashed it away.

"Well I guess I shouldn't expect much from a gold chest…wait…no I shouldn't say that unless 'someone' becomes petty." He muttered as he looked up in the sky. After that last announcement the 'God' made, Noah felt that he was a petty being and didn't want to gain his resentment.

Like always he collected the gold left in the chest before heading over towards the zombie remains.

"Did I really do this?"

He looked at the scene in surprise. He could barely make out any part of the zombie at all and that worried him since it would be easier to find what he was looking for if he could pinpoint its heart.

He scanned over the pile of meat scattered about and didn't see it. He could take the time to search through the remains, but that would take time, time that could be used to start Arachne's evolution.

"Food!" But when he turned to walk away, he heard Arachne behind him, and from the sounds of munching, he already knew that she was feeding.

The zombie was cut up in a way that it didn't require for Arachne to use her venom to soften the meat to eat it, and after the increase in her size, eating solid foods was becoming more of an option for her.

Deciding that it would be best to wait for her to finish, he stood by the side and took out one of the cores and scrutinized it in his hands.

'I wonder if I use my skill on this will it affect me too or does it only apply to my creatures…' In the midst of his thoughts he was about to use his skill on the core, but suddenly he stopped himself. He remembered the time he imbued his blood with mana earlier and how the ants were attracted to him. He didn't want to have to fight anything else anytime soon.

"Eh?" While he was waiting he soon felt something hit his foot. He looked down to find that it was a core and from the size, it was a tier one core. He looked over and saw Arachne standing near him looking in his direction while he picked it up and asked her curiously.

"I don't get it…how do you know not to eat this, but you ate the one from the spiders?" He asked, not really expecting an answer, but Arachne surprised him.

"It doesn't smell or taste good so it's not food." She said without a doubt in her mind.

"Hmmm…" He left the matter alone. Now they could finally retreat to the dorm to start her evolution.

However as he made it to the dorm's entrance there was another problem brewing.

"Use it again! How could the skill not be working?? It worked before!"

Jasmine could be seen standing near Isabelle who would glow golden before the glow would transfer over to Mark's sleeping body.

Noah didn't know what the skill was, but when he scrutinized Mark's body he couldn't see any wounds, but he did notice something. Mark was infected!

"I'm telling you it's not working, my skill level either isn't high enough or it's not an infection. Yelling at me isn't going to change anything." Isabelle responded back with an expressionless face, but her eyes showed that she was growing annoyed.

Looking at Mark's body, all of his punctured wounds have been healed but replacing them were dark black marks that were similar to a bruise, if it wasn't for the black veins spreading out from those bruises it wouldn't really seem like an infection at all.

The current scene had him stomped. 'No fucking way…this is the second time i got the cure and they needed it.'

He tried to ignore them as he made his way to Ishii's group who were now watching over her. Bailey was too strung over Blake's death to think about anyone right now and Paul and ibby were there to try to comfort her. However he was slightly curious about the skill they were attempting to use to heal Mark. From the conversation he assumed that it must be something to cure the infection which can be extremely viable, if not lucrative if they were to find a bigger group.

"Why didn't you help? Noah stopped in turn when Jasmine addressed him, he knew it was coming, this scene has happened a lot to him lately.

He was prepared for an angry verbal lashing, but all he saw was a crying, worried, and distraught woman.

"I know you hate him, but why does that mean he has to die? Hasn't enough people died already? Would you care if any of us die? At this rate it won't take long for you to become numb to anyone's death, even Ailetta's" Jasmine ended up hitting a sensitive spot for Noah. He felt guilty because in the back of his mind he felt that she was right, but who was she to judge him?

"Don't spout your nonsense towards me, when the others were dying, did you call for them? Did you try to ask for my help then? No…you also only care about the people who are close to you and that's how life should be in the world we live in now. I won't risk my life for you when you won't do the same for me. And I won't be your savior out of the goodness of my heart.

If I no longer care for Ailetta's life then that would mean she became dead to me even when she was alive. But until that happens I'll make sure at least she'll be the one that gets to live…"

Talking to Jasmine somehow helped Noah realize what was bothering him so much. 'It's not wrong for me to care about her so much. What's wrong is if I continue to protect her when I no longer do.' His troubled heart seemed to have lessened tremendously and a heavy weight appeared to have left his shoulders.

But Jasmine wasn't able to get the same satisfaction. Noah's words made her not only feel a heavy guilt, but she stood there like she was an empty shell.

"….you're right….you're right…maybe I deserve this. So many people died following us, but I….we, we were more focused on staying alive that we didn't care…" She turned to look at her brother still sleeping, watching his face that would twitch every few minutes, not knowing if it's the effects of the infection or just him having a nightmare.

Slowly she walked over to his side and kneeled beside him to hold one of his hands and began to cry silently, 'muttering please forgive me over and over.'

Noah looked at the scene as he contemplated, but soon he shook his head and began to walk again, but yet again someone had something else to say.

"You really are the devil.." Isabelle said to him, her mind reliving the past events of a traumatic moment.

Noah was at first confused about what she was trying to imply, but then he remembered Derrick and he couldn't help but chuckle to himself.

"I guess you can say I am. But you can't blame me for anything then right? 'Never make a deal with the devil' isn't that how the saying goes.' He smiled in amusement and began to walk away, but his face showed annoyance when he heard someone addressing him again, that was until he heard the contents of what they had to say.

"If I was to make a deal with the devil, can you really save him?" Jasmine looked to Noah with a determined look that says she was truly willing to give anything. That was a look that Noah quite enjoyed, he felt it was a waste that she didn't have the same mentality when it came to growing stronger.

He remembered rejecting her before, there truly wasn't anything that he really needed from her. However he was interested in how far she would go. Part of him was already indebted to her for opening up his eyes even though she didn't have the intention. While the other part felt that he wouldn't have to deal with another emotional woman after Ailetta woke up.

What was a smile before, was a face of complete seriousness as he looked into Jasmine's eyes, even then she didn't back down, but there was a slight sign of her faltering.

"Even if I said you have to become my tamed creature?"

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