Bring on the Leisure! [Chapter 10] (Patreon)

ToC: https://www.patreon.com/posts/98777693

Indigo, Green, and I have now been living in our new home for three days. There have been some minor hiccups… but largely, our laidback lifestyle is well-established.

Green caused the hiccups.

On the second day, when I explored the surroundings, Green was hungry and attacked one of the frogs. Green killed the Level 5 version rather easily, but it drew the ire of the Bloat Toad. We were forced to flee its ponderous bulk as it rumbled down the muddy beach toward us, steamroller style. We escaped into the reeds and hid there for a while. I was worried that our home had been lost, but when we snuck back in an hour, the toad appeared to have forgotten us.

Personal note, don’t be violent in front of the bloat toads.

At least not yet.

With this incident as the final straw, I found and killed two crayfish from further along the mud beach. The experience was enough to push me to Level 7, but this was not a pleasure trip. From those two crayfish, I hacked out their brains and brought them back to my companions.

Please, be idiots no longer. With this small prayer, I shoved the anointed brain into Indigo. Happily, my fellow Chimera Core accepted my offering. And I couldn’t exactly be sure, but it seemed that it… had become a He, just like that. Indigo felt different to me after absorbing the body part.

Meanwhile, Green… spat the brain back out.

I could only wiggle in an approximation of a sigh. Ahem, don’t blame me for treating you like a child if you act so petulant…

I tied grass around the small hunk of grey matter, so it resembled a tail. Green absorbed it instantly and became a She.  Since then, at least they have been canny enough not to attack frogs unless they are alone.

Another part of me worries that Green Just waits until I’m not there to cause trouble. But what can I do? I’m chill Tallum. It doesn’t even matter, yo.

Our days have settled into a routine. In the morning, we wake from our cozy cottage with a woven reed roof (Ahem, as a human, it is a structural disaster. My tentacles tried their best, and although I grew Inferior Body Part Manipulation to 6, the weave of the roof remains loose. Still, it is quite an impressive feat to Chimera Cores, who pat the ceiling regularly to express admiration). We wake up, stretch, then ooze over to the swamp flies to have breakfast.

After our shared meal, we three split up. Green, who since absorbing a crayfish brain has killed a frog and absorbed its legs without my interference, goes down to the mud beach and… well, she cosplays as a frog. I think she tries to lure frogs away from the pack and murders them in the shadow of mud mounds…

Ahem, well, hobbies are a part of living a leisurely lifestyle.

Indigo roams. I worry about him going off on his own, but he seems to at least takes care. Besides, after I gave him the brain, he has come home with strange body parts for me. For instance, today, he brought me a new arm. After a bit of hesitation as I look at the new, dangerous-looking head floating in Indigo’s body, I accept.

Would you like to integrate the serrated foreleg of Patient Venom Mantis Lvl 9?

Integration requires 13 Anima. Continue?

Wait, you sandbagging bastard, you are out there solo slaying Level 9 monsters? I couldn’t help but be shocked. I looked at Indigo in a new light. Perhaps you received some sort of (Temp) Bite Skill with all these heads and now you are just chowing down freely… ah, how nice, to earn an Active Skill…

I gratefully accepted the offering.

You have integrated the serrated Foreleg of the Patient Venom Mantis Lvl 9! You have unlocked Stat (Temp) Poise. Serrated Foreleg of the Patient Venom Mantis Lvl 9 provides Poise +4 and Attack +3.

Poise: A state of readiness. Slightly boosts movement speed and reaction speed. Also helps user respond to sudden shocks.

Your Skill (Species) Integrate Body Part has grown to Level 7

It was a fabulous leg, despite the high Anima cost. I raised it in the warm sunlight, admiring its sleek forest-green exterior and sharpened edges. Compared to this paw from the Mongoose-

Wait, is my sense of style turning slightly strange?

I try not to dwell on this shift and looked at my Status screen.

Name: Tallum Frost (Awakened)

Species: Chimera Core

Level: 7

Health: 25/25

Anima: 7

(Temp) Mana: 1/1

Integrated Body Parts:

• [Slightly Damaged Cochlea of the Chubby Rat- Perception +1]
• [Left Lung of the Lazy Rat- Recovery +2]
• [Flawed Monster Core of the Domesticated Hex Spider- Mana +1]
• [Corroded and Severed Claw of the Vindictive Static Mongoose- Attack +1 and Strength +1]
• [Slightly Mushed Left Eye of the Vindictive Static Mongoose- Perception +5]
• [Serrated Foreleg of the Patient Venom Mantis- Poise +4 and Attack +3]

Stats: (Temp) Perception: 6     (Temp) Recovery: 2       (Temp) Poise: 4

             (Temp) Attack: 4              (Temp): Strength: 1

Skills: (Species) Absorb Anima Lvl 7, (Species) Integrate Body Part Lvl 7

(Temp) Lesser Mana Detection Lvl 10 (+9), (Temp) Detect Danger Lvl 10(+3)

(Earned) Inferior Body Manipulation Lvl 6

With my new shining body part absorbed, I continue with my chosen activities for the day. While one Chimera Core hunts and the other scouts, I draw on my human experience and began to adapt the environment to suit us.

For example, the rot flies mostly swarm around the nearby swamp because of the red chrysanthemums floating on lily pads. I cannot smell with this body, but I can observe the yellow pollen dripping from their petals that the flies happily eat. So I circle around and discover more of those chrysanthemums in the area. I feel somewhat strange to use it like this, but this serrated foreleg is actually excellent for taking plant clippings.

Snip snip, hello, I am your monstrous gardener. Yes, I will mow your lawn for practically free! Just a bit of your lifeblood is necessary…

Ah, you don’t want to mow? Heheh, well, you will soon receive a letter from your Home Owners Association! Enjoy your escalating dues~

My first few attempts… well, I had only a passing familiarity at gardening. The transplanted chrysanthemums began to wither without taking root. But the last few seemed likely to survive. And if they did, the number of chrysanthemums in our little fly farm would double.

Similarly, I sculpted the topography of the mud beach. Occasionally, one of the Bloat Toads will shoot out its powerful tongue and gulp down dragonflies when they land on the nearby cats' tails. With my human ingenuity, I took note. Essentially, I want to control where the Bloat Toads rampage.

So I woke up early yesterday and completely demolished the cattails on the southern side of the mud beach. Some I attempted to replant on the north, but mostly I just ripped open their flesh and spread their seeds, so they would grow later on their own.

And today, indeed, most of the Bloat Toads gravitated toward the North side of the beach. Which also, as an unintended consequence, meant that more and more crayfish crawled out of the water and clicked their claws on the Southern Beach.

This made me angry-- the bastards were arrogance incarnate. I killed a few to sate my fury and restore my calm mindset. With my serrated foreleg, it was almost comically easy. The limb scythed easily through their puny exoskeleton. Ah, I do not know if I can ever accept the existence of crustaceans after that Sapphire bastard… well, at least he was purified.

I put these thoughts out of my mind and enjoyed my meal.

You have successfully Absorbed Anima! Anima +5.

You have successfully Absorbed Anima! Anima +6.

You have slain a Lvl 3 Crayfish Mucker!

You have successfully Absorbed Anima! Anima +6.

Your Skill (Species) Absorb Anima has grown to Level 8.

You have successfully Absorbed Anima! Anima +5.

You have successfully Absorbed Anima! Anima +2.

You have slain a Lvl 4 Crayfish Mucker!

I didn’t even want to take any of their body parts, so I left their corpses strewn along the beach to serve as a warning for their families. Clicking claws are not welcome here.

Afternoon activities had a little more variety. In my wanderings, I had discovered some wild strawberries. My current body had no interest in such fruits, but I brought back several berries and cleared a tract of land next to the swamp. Then I worried that the swamp flies could develop a taste for berries and headed further south, among the waving reeds to create my fields. There were only a few locations that didn’t have sitting water, but I ripped up the reeds there and planted the berries.

Truly, the simple joys of a farmer are best.

I held up my deranged mongoose claw up to the sun and tried to estimate what time of day it was via the shadow. I probably stood like that for ten minutes, flummoxed on how this was done. Definitely, it was afternoon, but more than that…

Considering I had no job or obligations, the answer didn’t actually matter. I gathered the reeds I had plucked and dragged them back to our shelter area.

I spent a few hours working, trying to get the roof to be tighter. However great the serrated foreleg was for taking clippings, it was equally as bad for weaving reeds. If I involved it at all, I could only cut all the work I’d done in half. Which… was less than ideal.

When evening approached, Green and Indigo showed back up. Green bounced up to me, showing off her new snake tail. From the sinuous ease of her movements, it was clear it came along with a useful Stat. I made a mental note to try different body parts and see how they affected my growth.

We all settled around the edge of the swamp, content. Occasionally tentacles snaked outward to snatch up flies, but we largely lounged around and just relaxed. Green broke up the rest by quivering and then beginning a complicated series of tentacle signs that I could only barely understand.

Sure, communication has improved since you’ve absorbed a crayfish brain, but I just wish you would be a bit more consistent…

After several repetitions, I understood she had become angry at the fish nearby. Beyond a certain size, fish scales wouldn’t just be dissolved inside of our bodies as minnows would. Apparently, she wanted to eat one.

I walked over to our stump and picked up a piece of rotten wood. It wasn’t the best, but… I used my serrated foreleg to sharpen it to a point. I returned to our lazy spot and showed the makeshift spear to Green. I mimed stabbing with it and then handed it over.

Green stabbed me with the spear.

I felt somewhat exhausted. Well, at least you get the point.

But also, I felt a little happy. This… was a surprisingly good life.