After I’d somewhat recovered from my ordeal, I took a brief inventory of my current parts. I needed to keep only the most essential organs and limbs for now.

  I decided to keep just one extra set of arms that would mainly perform a support function; the Onisha arms were currently more than enough firepower. The extra arms could be equipped with utility parts such as the Talpiderys digging claws and also wield the Void Dagger.

  They would also be responsible for potion duty during combat, so that I could continue to fight with my main arms without pausing.

  Most of the auxiliary organs I’d grafted still remained on my body, which I decided to keep as they didn’t seem to place nearly as much strain on my mind. I’ll have to poke a couple extra eyeholes in my helmet later though.

  After some careful consideration, I also added a certain part into my body. This would be my ace in the hole, and hopefully catch my opponents off guard.

  Four tentacles with modified capabilities were kept on my back to provide additional support. They would help me cling to surfaces, secrete acids, stitch minor wounds, and scare Japanese schoolgirls.

  I decided against adding any additional legs as I determined there wouldn’t be much benefit currently relative to how much mental power they consumed. The Leapfroggers were still adequate for my movement needs.

  Last, I made some modifications to my tail. They were now covered in an array of jagged spikes and teeth, coated with various poisons I purchased from the Shop.

  Incredibly expensive, but they’d be worth every point. I doubt there were many races well rounded enough to counter every effect.

  Of course, if they were a Tier 3 or higher race, I’d still most likely have no other option but to run, but perhaps it would buy me some time.

  Once I was satisfied with my setup, I spent the next few hours extracting all the Law fragments I’d collected. It was a rather monotonous process as I repeatedly attached, then detached the Tier 5 parts I’d collected.

  In my mind’s eye, the tortoise brand that connected me to the Heretic God ever so slowly began to fill up with a grey light.

  By the time I’d extracted all 50 Law fragments, the tortoise had only barely been filled up to its ankles. It seems that it’s going to be quite the endeavor to collect enough for my next augment.

  Well, I was still just on the very first layer of Bellona. There’d be plenty more opportunities to collect parts in the future without having to farm for them again.

  As I finished up the extraction process and began cleaning up, a thought suddenly struck me. I’d been able to successfully fool the System before, and perhaps another loophole had presented itself before me.

  I opened the Shop once more, and purchased an accessory that I’d had my eyes on for some time.

  I took out the Void Dagger and made a small cut in the palm of my hand.

  As it began to gently ooze a small stream of blood, I retrieved the Mossdew ring and... slipped it onto my third hand.

  Immediately, the cut began to heal and close up, leaving only a tiny scar within moments.

  It had actually worked; I had bypassed the System’s limitations of only being able to equip 2 accessories on your hands.

  I checked my status screen to make sure, and indeed my two intelligence rings were still active along with the Mossdew ring.

  It seemed that due to the System detecting that my extra set of arms belonged to a different race, they were free of the accessory limit.

  I began to grow increasingly curious of the identity of the Law fragment I’d been given. The Heretic God had said that it seemed to come from a minor Law, but had it really?

  The past 2 times my ability had deceived the System had been somewhat understandable, but this incident was completely breaking the rules. How could a major Law like the System be so easily thwarted? It seemed that I’d have to more deeply question the Heretic God the next time I saw him.

  Regardless, the implications of this were astounding; I could now essentially equip an additional accessory for every extra limb I attached. I was now ready to join the ranks of the pay-to-win players.

  I had noticed a drawback however; there was no free lunch no matter which world you were in, it seems.

  When the Mossdew ring had activated its effects, I felt a small strand of mana being consumed.

  I created a much larger gash in my hand once more with the Void Dagger, and felt a slightly greater amount of mana disappearing. This confirmed it; every time the Mossdew ring activated, it was using my mana supply.

  But why? None of my accessories had ever needed or used mana.

  Perhaps this was a unique feature of the ring?

  As an experiment, I unequipped an intelligence ring from one of my Onisha hands and swapped it with the Mossdew ring. I gave myself another cut for the third time and watched as it healed.

  This time, no mana was used in the process.

  Interesting. The body parts officially recognized by the System had their equipment supported through its power.

  My extra body parts on the other hand, seemed to exist in some sort of gray area where they were allowed to bypass the accessory limit, but had to draw upon my own mana to be used.

  This means that ideally, I should be equipping the most powerful accessories on the main hands to conserve mana. Upgrading my mana stat had also become a higher priority than before. The more I had, the more absurd I could become.

  I moved an intelligence accessory to my support arms instead and felt a thin, tiny stream of mana constantly being supplied to it. My natural mana recovery rate still exceeded the rate at which it was being consumed so it wasn’t a major issue.

  The Mossdew ring was kept on the main hands as it would definitely be consuming more mana during combat due to its potency; its effects appeared to be comparable to constantly having a Medium Potion poured on me.

  I left my fourth accessory slot open for now as it didn’t seem like I had the mana pool to support another one. I still needed to be able to activate Storm Caller, after all.

  One large issue weighed on my mind, however. Even if I were to increase my mana stat, I was still bottlenecked by the amount of parts I could attach.

  It seemed... the only option currently was that. It had been in the back of my mind the moment I discovered this new ability, but I was afraid of the consequences.

  In light of this new method to increase my power, I don’t think I have the luxury of trying to find another way.

  Well, surely it can’t be more dangerous than when I cut off my own head?

  As I continued my musings, I suddenly received a message from Khaelen.

  Only 2 Tier 4 otherworlders? It’s worth a shot.

  I have the stats and equipment to back it up, and a whole deck of cards up my sleeve. Even if it’s risky, I should have enough tools to at least escape with my life intact. I’m not the same person who once struggled with a single Deinopi Arachnid.

  As I imagined the battle that lay before me, my mouth began to slightly drool.

  Two Tier 4 bodies chock-full of new parts.... that was just a treasure chest begging to be opened. I could finally have a backup or alternative to the Onisha main body as my main combat strength.

  And a Tier 4 body.... would also serve as the perfect ingredient for the solution to my current bottleneck.

  Beautiful, precious parts, come quickly to me!