I did it. I’m outside. I’m free.
Once my excitement abated, reality returned. I still needed to go back at some point if I wanted to save Timothy. In order to do that, I needed to get stronger. That meant fighting larger numbers of creatures so I could gain the requisite experience to level up, as well as having the time and available mass to consume the creatures I killed in order to grow as a chimaera and gain skills.
After hitting Level 5, I had decided to eat the bat, since it was nice and small, and its profile’s available skills had formed the foundation of my escape plan. Before I changed my loadout, I had managed to also eat the tarantula, frog, and toad for their profiles, skills, and mass.
The
The skill didn’t specify a need for a stinger in the same way that [Flight (Minor)] specified a need for wings, so perhaps I could activate it some other way. I could imagine some benefits to applying venom with an appendage or tail versus only being able to apply it through biting.
I had already used two of my four skill points on [Flight (Minor)] and [Bio Sonar] so I could make my escape from the tower, so I needed to be smart about my last two points, at least until I could manage to get a few more levels.
After spending so much time using my scorpion tail, I wasn’t particularly worried about accidentally stinging myself anymore, but having encountered another creature with a venom skill, it was probably still smart to get [Venom Resistance], since otherwise I would surely die if I got affected.
All my targets so far had been stationary, creatures trapped in stasis cages. From there on out, I would be fighting live animals capable of movement and fighting back. I had [Flight] now, but taking off from the ground still took time and energy compared to dropping from a perch like I had done as a bat. [Mighty Leap] would be a good offensive and defensive skill by raising my agility overall. I also needed more offensive power if I wanted to further gain strength.
I mused over this for a while before finally settling on buying [Venomous Bite] and [Mighty Leap]. Dying would be inconvenient, but I would just start my loop over again. I was a little worried that was already where my mind went and what that meant for my future, but I needed the ability to kill if I wanted to further level up, more than just survive. Besides, a resistance to venom wasn’t the same as an immunity. Dying slowly instead of dying quickly was unnecessary torture. [Regeneration (Minor)] had the same problem. With all my skill points spent, I briefly examined myself.
Level: 5
Attributes: [Amalgamation (1)][Bound Soul][Chimaeric Core (3)][Time Loop]
Skills: [Bio Sonar][Flight (Minor)][Mighty Leap][Venomous Bite]
My small bat body would make consuming a lot of mass difficult, so I pulled up my Loadout and debated what to do. Myprofile had the largest stomach, but I needed to collect more mass for that. I also wasn’t sure how much it would affect my flight without getting larger wings or upgrading my [Amalgamation] to have a scaling factor. As far as I could tell, I’d still be able to fly, but that didn’t mean I’d be able to fly well.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
Hesitating slightly before confirming my choice, I updated my Loadout.
Head:
Body:
Limbs:
Tail:
Wings:
I shuddered slightly once the change was complete. Using three profiles instead of two was uncomfortable, but I could manage. This body could at least support itself without any scaling factor. I debated switching the tail fromto for comfort, since I wasn’t sure how useful it would be without venom on larger prey, but it was still a weapon I wanted to have available in case of emergency.
All right, let’s get this show on the road. [Mighty Leap]!
Even though I was only wearing gecko legs, I managed to kick off the ground with surprising force, leaping multiple feet into the air from my branch.
Now! [Flight (Minor)]!
I spread my starling wings, and flapped them once, twice, then a third time, getting a feel for the air and how my skill worked with these wings. My body was heavier, but my wings were stronger than the delicate bat wings. I soared up high, then twisted downward and tucked my wings in tight to my sides.
I began to dive.
Air rushed past my face and for a moment I forgot all about the various troubles I was facing in this strange new world and new life. I was flying. While my memories of my human life were fairly dim, my gut told me that very little had been as physically exciting as this one moment right now as I plummeted towards the ground.
I had chose theprofile for its mouth and teeth, not for vision, so I was struggled to keep up with everything my eyes were taking in as I dove. Perhaps the a starling head to match my wings might have been a better choice, but as I broke through the canopy, I spotted something gliding between the trees.
Target acquired.
Snapping a wing out to direct my flight, I veered towards it. At the last second, I opened my wings to decelerate enough to survive the collision, crashing into the creature and biting down on it.
[Venomous Bite]!
Spinning through the air, we grappled, and I slammed my stinger into the creature with my tail as we fell to the ground. I let go and flapped hard right before we crashed, slowing my decent and then coming to a stop before racing towards it and biting it again. The venom was already at work, though, and the small rodent wasn’t getting away.
(Level 1) defeated. Reduced experience gained.
It wasn’t much experience, but it was something to eat.
profile 100% complete. Added to [Amalgamation]’s Loadout options.
I found it interesting that the flying squirrel’s patagium, the fleshy bit used for gliding between my fore and hindlimbs, was an option I could set for my Wings field. Though, the creature didn’t unlock a [Flight (Minor)] skill, as they could only glide under normal circumstances. I was a bit curious what that meant for me, if I changed my wings to the patagium and used the skill, but that wasn’t something I could afford to play around with when I had work to do.
Instead of a flight skill, the profile came with a skill called [Scent Trail (Minor)]. It seemed to be a close range tracking skill. Potentially useful, but I was a long way from leveling up.
Well, that’s one kill. Time to take to the skies and return to the hunt.
I continued traveling away from the wizard’s tower, just in case he decided to try and find me, and regularly stopped to hunt. When I got hungry, I looked for something small enough to eat in full, since more profiles meant more flexibility.
After adding profiles for, , , and , I was getting a bit dejected. Mostly I was getting duplicate skills, and without scaling, there wasn’t really a ton of benefits to these small creature profiles, so I switched to hunting larger game that I could still take down with [Venomous Bite] for more experience and focused on storing mass rather than gaining profiles.
By the end of the second day I had filled my 1000g of mass storage. That meant I could grow back to rat size, which was my largest profile, but that wouldn’t make me a more efficient killer without a level up to upgrade [Amalgamation] again and get a scaling factor. I needed to kill higher level creatures so I could gain enough experience to break through the plateau I had hit with Level 5.
I couldn’t get stronger unless I took some risks. I had to kill and eat something that was dangerous to me, so that I could be dangerous in turn to my future prey.
This requires a change in tactics.