Chapter 24: That’s Nothing
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 24: That’s Nothing
“Whew, that’s intense.”
Wary of making any noise, I hoisted the log I’d been holding onto my shoulder, carried it a good distance away, and set it down lightly.
Until now, whenever I’d eaten raw meat to use as a medium for my skills, I usually fell asleep immediately afterward. Because of that, I never really felt what was happening inside my stomach while I was out.
“Right, okay. Rubica, just you wait.”
I wasn’t entirely sure, but it seemed like this, too, was subject to my will. I appeared to be able to distinguish between things I ate to trigger a skill and things I didn’t.
It was the same the very first time I used the skill. Even as I was putting that grilled steak into my mouth, I had been thinking all day about wanting to use the skill. In the end, that steak was affected by my skill and ended up ‘stored’ somewhere.
And when I consumed raw meat with the intent to use the skill, I usually felt it vanish from my stomach shortly after.
It felt as if a hole had opened up somewhere in my gut and swallowed it whole, though I couldn’t sense the details. I just knew that the bloated feeling and the scent of blood rising up my esophagus would stop. It usually took about a minute.
And so, I sat there steadily for a long time, devouring the Ursus’s carcass until the taste and smell of blood were barely noticeable toward the end.
I also made one very important acquisition.
“I’ve got a jaw that could chew through stone now.”
Chewing and swallowing food for hours on end is, naturally, exhausting. After about thirty minutes, I’d already been feeling such fatigue that my jaw muscles were refusing to cooperate.
The solution I chose was to consume the Ursus’s masseter muscles. It was a gruesome sight—I peeled the skin off the face of the dead Ursus, whose mouth was agape and eyes were wide, and delicately sliced away all the muscles attached to its lower jaw to eat them.
The masseter is the muscle that produces the greatest force relative to its volume in almost all living creatures. It was my first time swapping out muscles in my face, so it was a bit tricky, but nothing is impossible if you spend the whole night trying.
Having acquired a portion of the powerful bite force from the Ursus’s massive head, I reached a point where I could chew and swallow muscle with hardly any effort at all.
From one in the morning until nearly eight, I consumed every necessary organ from the Ursus’s body. Mostly muscle, but also internal organs like the liver, heart, and lungs.
“I really feel like a monster.”
Leaving the Ursus—which had essentially become a semi-skeleton—beside me, I replaced the muscles throughout my entire body with its own. Of course, since my frame was smaller than the beast’s, there were parts left over.
As expected, the Ursus’s strength was incredible. I also gained mana by drinking its blood. However, that didn’t mean I would permanently possess the same amount of mana as the Ursus.
The amount of blood my body could hold was ultimately fixed. If we consider my original physical state as 100 percent, the ability would automatically trigger if my blood volume dropped below 100 percent for some reason, such as an injury causing hemorrhage.
My body would react instinctively, pulling the stored blood and injecting it into my vessels to maintain that 100 percent.
Of course, I could also manually remove the human blood circulating in my body and replace it with the Ursus’s blood. But since I couldn’t possibly circulate all the blood from the Ursus’s entire body through my own, my final mana capacity was still inferior to the monster’s.
“Phew. A man who’s strong even in the daylight.”
The quality of the Ursus’s muscle was slightly different from a Direwolf’s. While the Direwolf had muscles focused on agility, the Ursus’s muscles were heavier and produced much greater power. For running, the Direwolf’s muscles would still be better.
My body was overflowing with vitality, but my head was a bit tired. After about three hours, I’d fallen into a semi-conscious state, repeating the cycle of eating and digesting the Ursus’s corpse.
“Oh, Lis. You’re awake.”
When I returned to the cave, I found Lis wrapped in a large robe, huddled by the fire and munching on dry rations.
“Munch, munch... Good job on the watch, Yoo Eon... I think I saw you exercising with a log in my sleep... I must have been seeing things.”
There was no need to tell her the truth.
“Ah, yes. Well. How are you feeling?”
“Sleeping outside is always the same. My body’s a bit stiff, but I slept for a long time, so I’m not in bad shape.”
It was a bit surprising, but Lis, who had less physical fatigue, was the first to wake. Garond had spent his time moving the luggage and the victims deep into the cave alone, and even after waking up, he’d stayed on edge with his armor on.
Isolde went without saying, considering she’d been in a high-speed chase with the Ursus.
Still, it was about time to get moving. Should I wake them up?
* * *
“Good heavens, did you really eat all of this?”
“Yes. It was a process of it all becoming my own flesh and blood.”
I wasn’t being metaphorical in the slightest. It literally became my flesh and blood.
I gathered the skeletal remains of the Ursus, the equipment of the victimized explorers, and anything else that could handle a bit of rough treatment. I wrapped them all in the Ursus’s hide like a giant bundle and hauled it toward the portal.
Since I now possessed enough strength that I didn’t need Garond’s help, there was less need to use the others. They’d only just woken up, so their efficiency wouldn't have been great anyway.
I wanted to get back to the surface quickly, so I shouldered the load myself and headed for the portal.
“I hope we drop somewhere close to the 5th-floor portal too.”
“Ah, now that you mention it, you’re right.”
I’d forgotten. This was the 6th floor, so we had to go down to the 5th floor first before heading back to the surface. When we arrived at the 6th-floor portal early in the morning, the guard on duty, looking exhausted, widened his eyes as he saw me.
“G-Good work, sir! Are you heading up to the 5th floor?!”
“Yes.”
Guards have a sense for these things. With one look, they can instantly tell if someone’s grade is high or low. I was carrying the dripping head of an Ursus in one hand and a hide bundle so stuffed with goods it made one wonder what was inside in the other.
The guard figured I had to be at least Platinum Grade.
“Have a pleasant return, sir!!”
“Keep up the hard work.”
“Yes, sir!!”
Of course, Yoo Eon himself didn’t think much of it. He just figured the 6th-floor guards were exceptionally well-disciplined.
Fortunately, the portal to the 5th floor dropped us off quite close to the next one. After about twenty minutes of walking, we arrived.
“A-Are you returning to the surface, sir?!”
“Yes.”
Seeing another guard standing stiffly at attention, Yoo Eon thought to himself, They must have had an inspection recently.
When we returned to the surface laden with luggage, the guild staff on standby were shocked to see our party.
“Are these... the goblin victims?”
“That’s right. Please take them to the cathedral.”
“Three female victims... confirmed. Thank you for the rescue.”
As we entered the building, the sound of whispering grew noticeably louder. Shortly after I set the luggage down, a senior employee approached, pushing up her glasses with her middle finger as she looked at me.
It was the same senior female employee who had been eating pie while resting her arm on Dahlia’s head.
“You’ve really done it this time.”
“Is it a problem?”
“Not a big one. I should just say good job.”
“Thank you.”
“You can go rest first, or you can write the subjugation report now.”
“I’ll go rest. Do you need these Ursus bones or the head?”
“There are plenty of people who’d want to buy those.”
I went up to a room on the second floor of the guild with my party members, who had managed to clean themselves up at least a little. They probably wanted to hear the details of what happened inside the Labyrinth.
Or, it seemed I could just hand over my Explorer’s Plate and undergo a somewhat lengthy examination, though I didn’t quite understand the principles behind it. It was a system created by the brilliant Scholars, so I assumed they knew what they were doing.
These points were necessary for promotion and helped in accepting certain requests that required a specific score.
The senior employee, having quickly realized this party had gone through an unusual situation, took me into a room alone, while the other three went into different rooms to give their testimonies.
“Did you get a good skill?”
“It’s good, but it’s a bit demanding.”
“Must have a condition.”
“I have to eat raw meat.”
“How much?”
“There’s no set amount. I get out what I put in. I think I ate about 200kg this time.”
The senior employee, Katrina, lifted her teacup, caught the aroma, took a small sip, and spoke.
“Eating 200kg of raw meat to solo an Ursus? That’s nothing. That means it’s incredibly easy for you to get stronger.”
“Is that so?”
I thought it was a pretty grueling and difficult condition.
As if reading my expression, Katrina crossed her legs and spoke dismissively.
“There are skills where your strength increases based on the weight of the feces you’ve eaten. And the effect disappears the moment you pass it.”
“Oh. My apologies.”
“No need to apologize. Just be grateful you got a good skill.”
“But aren’t you going to ask me anything?”
“I can tell just by looking. I can hear how it happened from those three, so don’t worry. What the guild wants to know is the rescue route for the goblin victims.”
“I see...”
Strength based on the weight of eaten feces? What a nightmare of a skill.
After that, we settled the disposal of the explorer equipment I’d brought back and the remains of the Ursus. I left the room, but the other three were still inside; I waited for about ten minutes, but they didn't come out.
“I should head to the Appraisal Office next.”
The changes in my body were massive. I needed to stop by and let Ravi know the progress.