With a sudden gasp, I woke up and instinctively attempted to sit up. Immediately, piercing stabs of pain radiated from every inch of my body, particularly around my chest area. Looking down, I saw a strange, unfamiliar sight; an immense frame densely packed with taut muscles and an exposed heart powerfully beating like a pair of drums.

  “Master Adun, please limit your movement as much as possible. I was able to successfully jumpstart your new heart with the spike but your condition is still unstable.”

  Hah....it’d worked. My gamble had paid off.

  Looking up at the small robot hovering next to my head, I said, “Thanks for the hard work Melchior. You’ve saved me yet again.”

  “It is my pleasure to do so, Master Adun.”

  I then investigated the source of the massive pain in my chest and saw the lightning spike still deeply embedded within my heart. Using a huge blue hand that made the spike look like a toothpick, I pulled out the spike with a muffled grunt. I immediately poured a Greater Potion over the leaking heart and resealed my chest cavity with the dangling flap of flesh.

  My new body was overall in terrible shape as it still bore all the wounds from the calamitous battle that had taken place. I hurriedly drank a Greater Potion and dumped the rest of my potions all over my body. New flesh and tissue began to regrow, but at a significantly slower pace compared to my previous body. It seemed that I’d need more potent healing potions to achieve the same results due to the Onisha’s high physique stat.

  As I waited for my body to finish regenerating, I pulled up my status screen eagerly.

  The difference between my old and new stats was like day and night. In addition, even the Mana stat, which had always been 0, was now 15.

  However, I was more interested in my new E grade ability; how exactly did the augment work? The compatibility part I clearly understood, as my limbs smoothly moved without the slightest delay. Previously, there had always been a slight lag with any grafted parts due to the mismatch of “hardware” but now it truly felt as it was a body I’d been born with.

  But the “additional substances or entities” part remained a mystery.... did it mean a wider selection of parts could be grafted? Or something else?

  It was something I’d have to gradually explore and figure out later. For now, I laid my thoughts aside and picked up the Onisha’s obsidian club, now light as a feather.

  Holding it, I could feel the club resonating with something in my lower abdomen. It felt as if I could feed some sort of force into it if I so chose.

  As an experiment, I tentatively moved a small strand of energy into the club and it immediately began to spark, forming small tongues of electricity that flickered about.

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  Interesting... it seemed that there was an organ responsible for manipulating mana within the Onisha’s body. Would other races have organs like this as well?

  I then began to pour as much mana into Storm Caller as possible, until a miniature sea of lightning had formed around me. I’d already witnessed its overwhelming firepower but I wanted to become familiar with my limits. As Storm Caller glowed with a blinding light, I hurled it across the clearing, into the trees.

  BOOM!

  With an even larger explosion than before, a massive swathe of trees was completely obliterated. It seemed that the Onisha had been holding back when it had made its strike, perhaps trying to conserve its energy. A wave of exhaustion immediately washed over me as I lay back, my mana completely drained. I’d have to be careful with managing my output in the future, at least until I could increase my mana stat.

  Nevertheless, this entire ordeal had been a resounding success. My combat abilities had been massively upgraded and I was now essentially a humanoid tank. My agility had slightly decreased compared to the speed of the Deinopi legs but that could be compensated for with the Leapfroggers.

  Standing up, I lumbered over to the smoldering crater that remained and retrieved Storm Caller. The world looked much different now looking around, as I stood nearly 4 meters tall. I imagined I must look quite peculiar with my disproportionally tiny head attached to such a massive body. This must be what those bodybuilders back home felt like, huh?

  I also made sure to strip and store my former body, now just a headless corpse. I strangely felt nothing as I did so, as if it was just another lump of meat.... just another part to be used.

  I looked around to see if there were any other corpses that could be salvaged, but they were all burnt beyond repair or had been utterly pulverized during the Onisha’s rampage.

  Well, time to get moving again. I was once again utterly destitute, and my new body would require a tremendous amount of points to keep it fueled up. What was I supposed to be doing again.... ah that’s right.

  I was originally on the way to hunt down the Talpiderys marked on the Species tracker...I’d nearly forgotten with all that had happened. I hesitated, not sure how much value hunting them down would be at this point. However, considering how close they were, I soon decided I might as well.

  With a slight bend of my knees, I sprung up and soared through the air, leaving the still smoldering battlefield behind.

  ------------------------------------------------------

  After only half a day’s time, I arrived at the location marked by the Species tracker. The Leapfroggers, combined with my now superhuman stamina, had greatly expedited my travel speed.

  What lay before me was a small stream, quietly gurgling as it flowed through a lush, thick underbrush. Oddly, a few plants could be seen uprooted here and there, but no traces of digging could be seen. I wasn’t able to smell anything particularly out of the ordinary, not even any animal feces.

  As I continued deeper within, my sensitive beastman ears suddenly twitched; I could hear a low, humming vibration that was growing in strength coming from below me.

  I immediately leapt high into the air as a ferocious mole-like creature burst out of the ground, snapping at my heels. It had a pair of extremely wide, curved claws along with a mouth full of razor-sharp incisors that drooled with hunger.

  Dozens of Talpiderys continued to emerge from the earth, approaching me from every direction like a pack of rabid dogs. Using the Leapfroggers ability, I jumped once more while midair and deftly evaded all of them.

  Hm, wait. Why am I dodging? Old habits die hard, I suppose.

  I pulled out Storm Caller while falling down and with a mighty swing, instantly turned three Talpiderys into a bloody soup.

  Ding! Ding! Ding!

  As the string of System notifications rang in my ear, I felt a Talpiderys tightly latch onto my right arm. It attempted to rip it off with a quick jerk of its head as thick saliva pooled onto my arm. Instead, with a loud snap, all of its teeth completely shattered into tiny shards while my arm remained perfectly intact.

  With an evil grin, I grabbed the Talpiderys by its neck and squeezed, causing it to go limp immediately. I wanted to preserve their bodies as best as possible, minus the three I’d crushed with my club.

  A swarm of Talpiderys soon crawled all over my body as they futilely tried to devour me. Calmly, I plucked them off my body one by one, like removing a tick, and tossed them into a pile next to me. The only thing I had to be wary of was protecting my head, as that was my only vulnerable part.

  Perhaps realizing they had quite literally bitten off more than they could chew, the few remaining Talpiderys attempted to escape by burrowing through the ground. Their broad, thick claws allowed them to virtually swim in the earth like land sharks but it was too late.

  Raising Storm Caller high into the air, I slammed it down into the ground with all my force. A large crater formed as a shockwave of force spread, turning the fleeing Talpiderys’ internal organs into mush.

  And with that, the battle was over. In just the blink of an eye, over 40 Talpiderys had been eradicated without receiving a single wound. The battle had been laughably easy, with their attacks barely tickling me. Most likely, none of the native creatures on the Canopy layer of Bellona were a match for me anymore. I couldn’t get complacent however; who knew what lay ahead in Bellona’s next layer?

  Slaying the Talpiderys had proven to be surprisingly fruitful, as I’d netted around 17,000 points total. Like Melchior had said, there were quite a few of them grouped up together, which had made the process incredibly efficient. If a group of Tier 5 otherworlders had come across them however, it would most likely have been an extremely difficult battle due to the sheer quantity of them.

  I began to dismantle their bodies for parts, but the only thing that seemed of potential use to me was their large digging claws. My Inventory was beginning to get rather full so I decided to just take 6 sets of claws and some meat, abandoning the rest.

  Once I finished, I didn’t waste any time and immediately chose my next target. With a grim smile, I input a certain name into the Species tracker.

  It was time for a rematch with an old friend.