The End of Tuning
The end of tuning. My zombies' strength had already surpassed the maze's native creatures, and their growth had nearly halted. Perhaps it was a natural phenomenon. Zombies grew far more when they consumed beings stronger than themselves. Conversely, weaker prey yielded minimal growth. Following this law, the higher-tier native creatures were allocated to the core zombies or the bulls. The Monkey and Elf had reached the end of their growth. That was Grade 5. No matter how many weak native creatures they were fed, they could never break through the wall to Grade 6 and remained stuck at Grade 5. That said, handing high-grade native creatures or Fruits of Good and Evil meant for Baengnae over to the Monkeys made no sense either.
Apart from the smooth conquest of the maze, the stagnation of the legion's development irritated me greatly. Then I discovered the Double Monkey. The new paradigm of synthetic zombies completely captivated me. The Double Monkey, created by fusing two Grade-5 Monkey corpses, possessed power equivalent to Grade 7. Considering that [Grade Magnifier] did not account for intelligence, its actual grade was likely even higher. After all, hadn't two of them managed to hold off an Grade-11 Bull?
'The Bull is dumber than its grade suggests, while the Double Monkey is smarter than its grade implies…'
With a bit of free time on my hands, I decided to resolve this issue before moving on. After all, I had no intention of advancing to Stage 5 until I had collected every Fruit of Good and Evil in Stage 4. The cycle meter I had placed in the Perpetual Snow Ruins also required a full twenty-four hours of observation. Having failed with the Yeti and Frost Wyvern combination, I turned my attention elsewhere. The Dark Elves. Since the Monkey-Monkey fusion had been a resounding success, wasn't it only natural to consider mixing Elf with Elf?
But there was no meaningful result. The Monkeys had succeeded because they had undergone two distinct evolutionary paths with different traits. The Elves had few evolved individuals, and their evolutionary direction had been consistent. 'Damn it…!'
In the end, even though I knew it wouldn't work, I began mixing Dark Elves with other creatures. They say that when you lose money at a casino on the first day, the goddess of luck is helping you. The Double Monkey's jackpot had led me into a swamp. Above all, the boredom of having "nothing to do right now" had thrown me into the quagmire of endless combinations.
'Just one more time… Just one more try!'
This time it was real. The reason I had kept failing until now was because I had approached it too simply. Progress required accepting losses. I had failed because I had sought too much safety.
"Ahem…"
I glanced around at the nearby zombies, then quietly moved toward the kiln. I was going to fetch the materials for this experiment. The kiln was currently piled high with Fruits of Good and Evil. I consumed the stat-boosting ones immediately, but I had been stockpiling the ones that granted skills or Soul Engravings. They weren't just rotting. I had deliberately set them aside for future use.
'But a few of them… It shouldn't matter, right?'
Upon reaching the kiln, I quietly picked up three Fruits of Good and Evil and grinned. This time it would work. When things weren't going well, didn't adding the right catalyst usually solve the problem?
And at that moment, a small hand reached out and grabbed my shoulder.
Twitch.
I turned my head to look at Baengnae.
"Ah, hey there, Baengnae."
Baengnae glared at me. Then she alternated her gaze between me and the Fruits of Good and Evil before speaking.
"Don't cause trouble."
'This little brat? I'm the master here!'
I took a deep breath and spoke at once. This was an extremely important matter.
"H-Hey, I was only going to do one! You saw the Double Monkey too. This is really important. The higher the grade, the harder it is to rank up, but this raised it by a whole two grades! We have to do this! This time it'll definitely succeed!"
"Don't cause trouble."
"Ghk…"
Baengnae's stare felt especially heavy today. I hadn't even done anything wrong. I put all the Fruits of Good and Evil down and picked up just one.
"Let's just try one. Okay? Even if it fails, the damage won't be that big, right? Just one!"
Even one Fruit of Good and Evil would have made other users gasp in shock. But I was already blinded by the jackpot.
"Ara-tta."
"Great!"
I hurried out of the kiln before Baengnae could change her mind. Then I ran toward where Boots was.
'Heh heh. This time it'll definitely work.'
The place where Boots was located was called the Medical Wing. Though called the Medical Wing, it was essentially a Crawler storage facility. Normally, zombies recovered from injuries sustained in battle by eating corpses. But there were some for whom that was impossible—those whose digestive systems were damaged. Crawlers, meaning zombies that crawled on the ground, were those who had almost completely lost their combat ability. Since they couldn't consume meat, they had no growth or recovery. That was why Crawlers had been used as food for other zombies. But after learning about the effect of Boots' "Relocation," they had been moved to this place called the Medical Wing. Rather than killing healthy combatants outright to use them, it was more rational to synthesize the injured ones.
"Boots! I brought it."
"Master came. Boots works."
Even though he had only experienced failures since the Double Monkey, Boots always listened to my words. He was an excellent zombie. A loyal zombie, unlike a certain other zombie who scolded me while monitoring the Fruits of Good and Evil.
"This time it'll definitely work!"
I handed the Fruit of Good and Evil I had brought to Boots. He examined the lemon-like fruit from various angles before popping it into his mouth. That Fruit of Good and Evil granted the skill "Sticky Adhesion." It was an item obtained from a mid-tier artifact. In the end, it was being used for Boots' growth, so it wasn't like I was using it strangely.
"Boots, do you know what a multi-family house is?"
"Boots doesn't know."
"It means a form where many residents live in one building."
"Many zombies in one house?"
"That's right!"
Boots and I had previously attempted to attach Elf to Elf. But their combat power had actually decreased. In manga, monsters with multiple heads looked powerful, but reality was different. When I attached the bodies together, the center of gravity was off, making them useless. So I decided to develop the idea a little further. What if I used a Bull as the base and attached Dark Elves all over it? The main body would maintain the center of gravity, and with the Bull's strength, it could easily support several Dark Elves. What I came up with was the multi-family house.
But to perform "Relocation," they had to be similar species. That was why "Sticky Adhesion" was needed. I would attach Dark Elves together to create a living-armor Crawler that could be draped over the Bull, then adhere it. That was the plan I had thought of.
When I snapped my fingers, one of the Bull-men waiting outside entered the Medical Wing. Having understood my explanation, Boots nodded. Then he spewed out six pincers.
Crunch— Crunch crunch—
The work began immediately. First, the Dark Elves that had become Crawlers were attached one by one. It felt like tailoring the Bull's body and cutting them to make a perfectly fitting suit. Then I carved out the Minotaur's flesh here and there. If I just draped them over the surface, they might fall off, so I made grooves and adhered them with the sticky substance. Finally, I cut one Dark Elf with an intact digestive system and connected it along the Bull's spine. That one would serve as the digestive system for the living-armor Crawlers.
"Hmm…"
For now, the appearance had become what I wanted. It looked quite plausible. A massive Bull's body with the upper halves of sword- and spear-wielding Elves attached all over it.
'Heh heh, nice. It's like a moving bunker.'
Having finished all the work, Boots was exhausted. He had completely depleted his energy through repeated "Relocations." I took the new zombie outside. It was time to show off my creation to everyone.
When I brought it to the training ground, the zombies' attention focused on us. I felt unnecessarily smug. It felt like the zombies were looking at it with envious eyes. Baengnae was visible in the distance as well. I deliberately made the new zombie spin around once.
'How about that!'
Baengnae approached and insisted on conducting a mock battle herself. Nonsense. Anyone could see she was planning to destroy my new zombie out of jealousy.
"Get lost, shoo, shoo."
Instead, I called another Bull zombie. Since the base was a Bull, it was only fair to conduct the mock battle against an existing Bull. I hadn't used the Magnifier, but in the end, actual combat was more important.
Two zombies faced off in the center of the training ground. I swallowed once and shouted.
"Three. Two. One. Start!"
Thud—
The Bulls clashed and began a contest of strength. While the main bodies grappled, the Elves attached to the living armor swung their weapons wildly. At that sight, Baengnae burst into laughter.
'Damn it…'
To properly channel power into a weapon, recoil using the entire body was important. And the attacks of the Crawlers, whose bodies were mostly missing, carried no power at all. They couldn't even pierce the Bull's hide. Moreover, my new zombie couldn't exert proper strength because parts of its body had been cut away, and it fell backward. After that, it wasn't even a fight. When the house owner collapsed, the Elves were crushed under the Bull's weight and flailed about. It only created a ridiculous scene.
And at that sight, Baengnae poked me and said,
"Baengnae nyam nyam. Stronger."
If I was going to make useless zombies, I should just give them to her as snacks. She was probably including the Fruit of Good and Evil I had given to Boots as well. But I couldn't find a response as I stared at the patchwork zombie flailing on the ground after falling over.
'Whew…'
After tasting such a bitter defeat, I felt my mind clearing. Of course, if I hadn't experienced the Double Monkey's success, I wouldn't have become so obsessed with combining synthetic zombies. But in the end, it was my fault. This was the result of my laziness, trying to take the easy way instead of competing with effort and persistence. This was clearly something I needed to reflect on.
'Still, the loss…! I took a loss…'
If I took it to Boots, the zombies would somehow be able to restore it. But the Fruit of Good and Evil was gone forever. I admitted my mistake and apologized to Baengnae.
"Baengnae, thanks for stopping me."
"Hehe, Madda."
I stopped the mock battle and took the patchwork zombie back to the Medical Wing. When I told him everything had to be undone, Boots was shocked. I also apologized to Boots, who had been pointlessly overworked.
"Sorry, Boots. Rest today, and we'll restore it tomorrow."
"Boots will do that. Follow Master's words."
'Tsk…'
Honestly, I still had some lingering attachment, but if I insisted on doing more after coming this far, that would really be a problem. There were times when I had to admit defeat and step back.
'Let's go to the Perpetual Snow Ruins and retrieve the meter.'
At that moment, a message I had seen once before appeared.
An external summoner has invaded.
'Team Leader Park…?'
When I checked my finger, a red thread was once again wrapped around the ring finger of my left hand. It seemed he had sent a new subordinate.
'What kind of bad connection is coming this time?'
Looking at the direction the thread led, it seemed the invader was coming from the Monkey Habitat, my starting point this time as well. If so, there would be some time until the invader reached here. It worked out well. Since my mood was already bad, I might as well prepare a surprise.