Hack-Ptooey Skeleton (2)

Before crafting Bokdol's custom cranial organ, Dohyeon leafed through a thick stack of documents.

"Hmm... Well, they are alpacas—"

The documents were alpaca information received through Kang Eunseo — gathered by the highest-grade talent among Hyung's Ranch employees, putting her veterinary career to good use.

For all that, it was a disorganized pile stuffed with useless trivia, but that was exactly what Dohyeon had ordered. Since he never knew where inspiration might strike, he'd asked her to scrape together and pass along every scrap she had.

Thanks to that, he was able to sketch out a rough outline.

Dohyeon approached the creation of Bokdol and Boksun's cranial organs from two angles.

The first was the alpaca's defining traits. Best-known fact about alpacas: they're shameless little delinquents who spit the moment things displease them. Bokdol and Boksun were top-one-percent sweethearts who had never once spat in front of Dohyeon — but it wasn't as though they didn't spit because they couldn't.

The second was whether any of the alpaca's habits or characteristics might prove useful in combat.

Had anyone ever seen an alpaca fight? Watch the males squabble over dominance and involuntary laughter came bubbling up. Two fluffy balls of wool chest-bumping each other in a clumsy shoving match — not a shred of lethality to be found. Wash your eyes out with dish soap and look again; still nothing.

'Dogs bite and tear, elephants are walking weapons, horses have devastating hind kicks... but alpacas have nothing.'

As Dohyeon saw it, for an alpaca skeleton to gain combat power, it would have to lean on the surreal effects of a Climber's skill.

"Let's build a stomach and a tongue."

Making the most of the alpaca's signature spitting trait as far as it would go — that was Dohyeon's conclusion.

Some might object.

'Shouldn't you build lungs, not a stomach, if you want it to spit?'

A persuasive argument. But alpaca spit is no ordinary spit.

A human ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠pools the saliva gathering in their mouth and launches it on a jet of air from the lungs, but alpaca spit comes with a kick: it carries half-digested grass up from the stomach. In human terms, it's like hawking up vomit — there's no way it doesn't reek.

'If there are no lungs, maybe the skill's surreal something-or-other will handle the actual launching?'

It was a hopeless wish, perhaps — but it was also the intuition of a craftsman, of a skill holder. And Climbers' hunches like this tended to pan out.

'If I could build lungs, obviously I'd build them...'

Constructing multiple structures within a single cranial organ was extremely difficult, and he couldn't exactly stuff two cranial organs into one skeleton. In his heart of hearts, he wanted to give them not just a stomach and tongue but lungs, a windpipe, vocal cords — no, why stop there? Muscles and blood vessels across the whole body, every organ, nerves ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠that could taste, skin and fluffy fleece besides. He wanted to make them as close to their living selves as possible.

But that was impossible, so he had compromised on a stomach, an esophagus, a tongue, and the skin around the mouth.

Cranial organ in hand — the Orc Shaman's head — Dohyeon began crafting.

This time it couldn't be finished first and inserted afterward; it had to be roughly shaped, inserted, and then completed. Otherwise, it wouldn't fit.

Dohyeon slipped the dough-lumped Orc Shaman skull between Bokdol's ribs.

First, three stomachs. Alpacas are ruminants, but unlike cattle they have three. The round mass of organ was kneaded into the shape he'd seen in the documents.

'Connect it to the esophagus.'

Having formed the hollowed stomach mass, Dohyeon ran the connected passage straight out to form the esophagus.

'Now the mouth lining and the tongue.'

The mouth lining and tongue would help deliver the spit rising from the stomach in a proper launch. Dohyeon carved them with painstaking care, then used what little margin remained to lay skin over the mouth itself.

Just as with Iro's, Advanced Jade Bone Processing (Upper) took effect, and the cranial organ built from the Orc Shaman's skull changed in substance from rigid bone into something like a working organ.

The soft glow faded, and Bokdol with his new cranial organ came into view.

Soul flames kindled in his eye sockets just like every other skeleton's, but below them he was a different story. Skin covering him from the base of the nose down to beneath the jaw hid the outward-jutting teeth. The esophagus draping along his neck vertebrae connected to the three stomachs nestled between his ribs.

"Hmm... Looks like it came out right? What do you think, Bokdol?"

-Hoo, hoo-

Instead of clacking his teeth, Bokdol conveyed his meaning by puffing air up from his stomach. It was stomach air, but because Bokdol's stomach, unlike in life, wasn't digesting anything, it carried no unpleasant smell whatsoever.

"Huh...? Wait, so this means—"

Dohyeon seized the inspiration that had struck him out of nowhere. He touched up the already-settled cranial organ and built vocal cords into the esophagus near the head.

"Want to give it a try?"

-Hum- hum!

Bokdol leapt in place, overjoyed at having his voice back.

"Incredible! So it can be done this way too."

Dohyeon's skeletons carried their living personalities(?), but they weren't truly alive — and that was precisely what made the trick possible. For now it was a method that only worked on alpacas, whose stomachs suited it so perfectly, but he trusted it would prove useful someday.

"Great! Boksun, come here too!"

Like the pitiful Little Mermaid robbed of her voice, Boksun flung herself at Dohyeon.

Tower Floor 21.

Dohyeon resumed the climb he'd been putting off. He had stopped because he'd judged that Soran and Taesan couldn't each handle a troll alone. The situation had changed now. Iro and Gob 2 were, of course, no great help, but two alpaca skeletons capable of ranged attacks had joined the roster. Even if Soran and Taesan didn't necessarily have to fell the trolls themselves, they could win simply by holding the line with their massive bodies.

Through Dohyeon's eyes, two trolls came into view at a manageable distance. One was no different from the one he'd seen on Floor 20, but the other had black skin and wore a coat of thick fur.

'Odd-looking, sure, but I've never heard of unique individuals showing up on Floor 21.'

Just an individual that happened to look strange, most likely.

"Taesan! Soran!"

The moment he entered Floor 21, Dohyeon loosed the two elephants at the two trolls and activated Soul Combustion.

A skill acquired at Level 15. Ordinarily, he used it in the preprocessing stage of jade bone he intended to work.

But it wasn't a skill limited to jade bone. Used on the dead, a soul stripped of its body generally couldn't resist and simply burned; a soul still soundly attached to its body was far less affected by Soul Combustion. It couldn't escape entirely, though — hence the scattering of concentration.

The intent was to keep the trolls' aggro from swinging toward the alpacas or Dohyeon.

Taesan paired with Goldie, Soran with Gob 2 — the duos each took one troll.

-Clack-clack!

The elephant skeletons rose onto their hind legs and knocked the trolls senseless with aura-wreathed front feet, while Goldie and Gob 2 went for the ankles and the backs of the knees.

Which foe needed dealing with first was obvious — but the trolls, hit by Soul Combustion, couldn't collect themselves. Monsters were creatures thick with wildness to begin with, and with Soul Combustion's nonphysical assault stacked on top, they couldn't tear their eyes off the elephant skeletons in front of them.

Goldie raked with his claws; Gob 2 stabbed with the one-handed sword forged for combat, both targeting knee pits and ankles.

-GROAAAR!

Not even knowing what had enraged them, the trolls kept toppling over as they fought the giant elephants.

-Hum-!

Bokdol and Boksun's signal: joining the battle! Taesan and Soran angled themselves slightly off from the trolls, opening up firing lanes.

-Ptooey! Ptooey!

The alpaca skeletons' ranged attack, launched every second and a half or two, hunted vital points like a sniper's bullets. Even muddled by Soul Combustion, the trolls had guarded their vitals well against the elephant skeletons' front feet — but ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠against ranged shots stabbing at their most fatal spots, they steadily lost ground.

When alpaca spit struck the solar plexus, breath stopped for a moment; when it caught the liver, strength drained from the whole body.

-Ptooey— wham!

The troll Taesan was fighting finally took a shot to the head and went down. Lowering its arms to block the tusk thrust had been its undoing. The alpaca's spit, short on penetration but superb at delivering impact, rattled the troll's skull wildly. The troll's brain slammed against the inside of its own thick skull and lost consciousness.

After Goldie's claws cut that troll's throat, the attacks the remaining one had to endure doubled.

-G-GROAAAR-!

The hulking troll in its unusually thick pelt resisted to the very end, but before long it collapsed and met its death. Even a heavy coat had its limits for soaking up shock. The troll, carotid severed and blood gushing, shivered in fine tremors until the moment its life ran out. It looked for all the world like a creature shivering in the cold.

'So it really was a troll that was only strange on the outside,'

Black skin draped in thick fur — beyond that, nothing special to be found.

-Ding!

"Huaaaam."

Morning, sunlight slanting through the gap in the curtains. The ranch's tender, lively morning.

Hearing his master's yawn, Gob 2 scurried into motion and presented water.

"Oh. Thanks."

Sitting up in bed, Dohyeon took the glass and wet his throat.

-Gulp, gulp-

"Kreuuuuh—"

Dohyeon, having flooded his overnight-dried throat with water, sighed in satisfaction.

"There are times like this when water just tastes amazing."

Stretching grandly to work the stiffness from his joints, Dohyeon sprang out of bed.

"Now then. Shall we make Gob 3 today?"

At the hope of escaping youngest-brother status, Gob 2 bounced up and down, clapping madly with hands and feet.

-Clack! Clack!

No flesh to muffle the sound — only bone knocking against bone.

Dohyeon had conquered Floor 21. Floor 22 was still blocked, but he was in no hurry.

'Why would I be? I'm destined to become a legendary Climber just by staying alive, aren't I?'

Climbing? Eh. Whatever. He could do it in the time left over after everything else was done. Other Climbers might not manage that, but Dohyeon could.

The Golgu — the crystal ball substitute — hadn't yet reached the market, so it wasn't widely known, but the moment Dohyeon released volume, love calls would pour in from every nation on earth. The world's intelligence agencies would go rabid-dog feral over even the tiniest scrap of information about the Golgu's maker, and senior government officials would try to lure him with wine, women, and mountains of treasure.

Not that Dohyeon would ever bite. Korea was a society where Climbers lived well, and riches or debauchery were things he could win by his own ability anyway. The Tower Management Bureau already clung to him like a tongue in his mouth — there was no reason to go live in some foreign country where he couldn't even speak the language.

Anyway — to greet his animal friends, and to indulge Gob 2, who was bursting with hope of shedding his youngest status — Dohyeon strolled slowly around the stable with his hands clasped behind his back.

Lightning, Volcano, Snow, Ilpaca, Ipaca, and Sampaca, the hamsters, the rescued dogs, the rescued cats — every one of them brightened at the sight of him.

Whenever he felt the blind affection of so many animals, Dohyeon always found himself looking back on the past.

'Was I always this beloved-by-animals type, even before I awakened?'

Looking back — no, he hadn't been. He still didn't know which of his abilities won animals over, but he wasn't particularly ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠curious, either.

'The ones destined to make it, make it. That's all there is to it.'

Gob 2 hopped along behind Dohyeon as he strolled, utterly at his ease.