Became an Evolving Space Monster - Chapter 124



Only Noblemtl

Ep. 124

“Plunderer’s Irregular Polyhedron: Devour a piece of equipment to specialize its unique abilities. This can only be done once per piece of equipment, and if you devour another piece of equipment, the special effects of the previous piece of equipment will be lost.”

‘What is this?’

A new trait gained after absorbing Muriel’s essence.

It was a type I had never seen before and which also did not exist.

‘Absorbing equipment abilities.’

The superpower organs I had acquired during my fluid days were traits I had never acquired before in a game, but this was on a completely different level.

‘It’s a trait that completely defies Eimov’s common sense.’

Amorph, Outspacer, and Metallic Gremlin have excellent physical abilities and powerful utility abilities, but they have the handicap of not being able to wear equipment.

Even if you were able to utilize the equipment’s abilities after some kind of preparation, it was limited to general equipment or consumables, and it was impossible to utilize only top-tier equipment.

However, if you have this trait, you can specialize and use even one-of-a-kind equipment.

‘This is unprecedented.’

In the game, killing a player did not grant any special new traits or anything.

If you are a genetically modified human, you gain the essence of the creature’s genes, and in the case of the cult, you gain all the traits related to psychic powers.

I’ve eaten countless players over the years, but this is the first time I’ve gotten a trait that’s so off the rails.

I checked the translucent textbox again.

｢-Nest-related fusion characteristics: Symbiotic spores

Proof of a Strong Enemy*: Marauder’s Irregular Polyhedron (X)」

A new category and star have been added under the list of traits you have called ‘Mark of the Strong’.

‘Sign of a strong enemy?’

As I turned my gaze to the star, a new message came to mind.

｢’Mark of the Mighty’ is a mark obtained after preying on powerful prey. If there is a characteristic that corresponds to the unique privilege of the prey, it will be reconstructed as a Mark of the Mighty. Characteristics classified as Mark of the Mighty cannot be used as materials for the Fusion and Transcendence systems.｣

Just looking at the description, the trait of the enemy’s sign, ‘Predator’s Irregular Polyhedron’, seems to be a new category that is different from general traits such as physical and superpower-related traits.

‘The powerful prey we’re talking about here is probably the player.’

Muriel’s special ability is the ability to obtain symbols from other races and modularize them. Equipping a symbolized module changes the race.

‘Thanks to that, I was able to use the power of a cult while being a cyborg.’

The Marauder’s irregular polyhedron is a trait that allows you to eat equipment and specialize its unique abilities.

It had something in common with Muriel’s special ability to modularize and equip features from other races.

Perhaps hunting multiple types of ‘mighty game’ would yield completely different types of token traits.

‘A struggle with the players.’

When interrogating Muriel, I asked her if there were any other players besides us.

According to her, there are two players who share her same views.

There were seven players she knew, including Heavenly Mother and me.

‘I said there used to be more…’

It is said that it is unknown how many remain now, as many were killed in a war between players a long time ago.

‘The fact that killing other players would give you special rewards would have spread by then.’

When Muriel came to this world, the war had already ended and the remaining players had formed factions.

While there are those who adapt and try to survive in this world, there are those who prey on other players to gain special privileges, those who think of this place as a game and rule like tyrants, etc.

‘It’s because the time we crossed over to this world was different.’

Muriel came to this world three years ago, and Heavenly Mother has been around for at least ten years. Among the players Muriel knows, there are players who have lived for over a hundred years.

‘It’s understandable that factions are divided, since each of them must have survived in different ways.’

The only thing that is questionable is that no one has seen the ending even though it has been around for so long.

‘The war that happened in the past was probably fought between players trying to see the ending.’

If Aimov’s ending is ascension, then other races also have unique endings of similar categories.

And to see that ending, you have to fight and win against players of a similar level and race.

‘To be exact, it’s killing the leaders of the race.’

For example, Megacorp and Star Union each have a condition that requires them to capture each other’s leaders during the ending trigger. In order for the player who becomes Megacorp CEO to see the ending, they must fight and eliminate the leader of Star Union.

In the game, the positions of each race’s leader, whether CEO or Grand Leader, are mostly taken over by players, so this goal is ultimately nothing more than inducing conflict between players.

So someone must have achieved this condition during past wars.

But even after listening to Muriel, it seemed like no one had seen the ending yet.

‘Is there something else I don’t know about?’

Since this is reality, it is possible that players may not have climbed high enough to unlock the ending trigger.

Here, unlike in games, once you die, it’s over. Even players with strong hearts will have no choice but to move cautiously.

‘I’ll have to ask Mother in Heaven about this.’

She may know something, since she survived much longer than Muriel.

‘In any case, there is a high possibility that we will become hostile towards other players in the future.’

Muriel had sent a distress signal to her comrades before I captured her, so at least it was certain that her comrades were hostile to me.

And players who are hostile to Muriel’s companions will also learn of my actions through some means.

Depending on what faction they belong to, they will either oppose me or try to use me.

｢*P.S. You are death, the destroyer of the universe. But beware. The whole universe is watching you.｣

P.S. It’s exactly as it says.

The whole universe is watching me.

I don’t know right now how players will approach me.

‘Either way, I have to become stronger.’

This is the only way to survive and avoid being taken advantage of by someone.

From the transcendence system to player hunting.

It is unknown what the intention of the one who sent me here is, but finding out the cause and reason is something that can only be done by surviving.

Finally, I checked to see if there were any new messages, but there was no additional explanation other than the star’s explanation.

Continuing to rack your brain when information is lacking is just a waste of time.

It would be much more productive to think about how to use your newfound abilities now.

‘The Plunderer’s Irregular Polyhedron can be made with any equipment ability or trait.’

And you can’t specialize each piece of equipment more than once.

If it’s a popular piece of equipment, you can use its abilities multiple times, but that’s not the case with unique equipment.

‘If it’s the equipment Muriel has… .’

I picked up the priest’s golden spear and tuner that had fallen on the floor.

Besides this, there are Brain God and Blood River at the campsite.

I don’t know how the unique abilities of the equipment will work when they are specialized. When I just look at the abilities of the equipment, they are all helpful to me.

The Golden Spear will make my power infinitely stronger, and the Tuner can secure the ability to evade absolutely up to 5 times.

If it’s Brain God, it can supplement my lack of long-range attack and anti-air capabilities, and if it’s Blood Reaver, it can greatly enhance my battlefield dominance.

‘Should we try it with other equipment first?’

I should try to eat some random equipment at the campsite and see how it would work. I was about to leave with my spear and tuner.

A sudden thought occurred to me and I stopped moving.

‘… … .’

I picked up some rocks nearby and piled them on the spot where I had been standing just a moment ago.

I made a small rock pile in the empty lot and left the place.

–

The sacred star of the cult, ‘The Leader’.

This is the spiritual home of cults spread across the galaxy.

In fact, the leader said that it is not a good place to live, even in vain, as the entire planet was turned into a desert a long time ago.

If it weren’t for the cult’s outstanding psychic power technology, they would have been abandoned long ago.

There were old cities on the red sands that spread across the planet.

Among those cities, there is a city called ‘Prophet’s Stone’.

The Prophet’s Stone was the oldest city in the world, with even the roadside decorations dating back tens or hundreds of thousands of years.

In the center of the city, past buildings with ivory exteriors and purple ornaments, stood a single, gigantic tower.

The top floor of the tower where the most noble of the cult reside.

A male cultist with deer horns walked down a long corridor and opened the door to a prayer room. Inside, diamond-shaped steles with numerous wires attached to them lay on the floor.

“… … .”

The male cult snapped their fingers in silence.

Then, two of the diamond steles that were lying there began to light up and float into the air.

“It’s been a while, everyone!”

A girl’s voice flowed from one of the tombstones. The voice was bright and lively, like an anime character’s voice, and did not fit in with the gloomy atmosphere of the prayer room.

“I’m busy, so speak quickly. Jason.”

On the other hand, the voice coming from this side reminded me of a dignified middle-aged man.

Jason didn’t answer, but waited for the other stones to activate. A few more seconds passed, but no stones moved.

With only two active tombstones left, the male cultist named Jason sighed.

“… You said it was urgent, but there are only two people coming in?”

“That’s because you talk like an idiot. If you had spoken properly, more people would have come in.”

“You punk… Wait, wait? You’re here too, but what are you doing with that second-year middle school syndrome? That person is the most important.”

“My father is really busy these days because of the civil war. I haven’t contacted him in a long time.”

“Fuck. I should have done Megacorp at the end. It’s not like I can eat married women for a day or two, but this place is too boring.”

As Jason was talking to the tombstone with the girl’s voice coming out of it, a middle-aged man’s voice interrupted.

“I don’t have time. So stop chitchat and explain in detail. Isn’t it a new player coming?”

“That’s right. Tell me more. Muriel, why did he suddenly disappear? There’s no one else out there hunting players besides us.”

“She was killed by a player we don’t know. The player ‘Aimoph’.”

As soon as the word ‘Aimov’ came out of Jason’s mouth, the chattering tombstones became quiet.

“… Jason, that kind of joke isn’t funny.”

“Tsk, there’s not much time left until the speech, I wasted my time.”

“Shit, I wish it was a lie too.”

“Really? It’s really Aimov?”

“That’s nonsense. Aimorph is extinct.”

“Before I lost contact with Muriel, she said Wolf Player and Aimoff Player were after her.”

Jason transmitted the recorded communication log to the figures beyond the tombstone.

After a while, their anger exploded from the tombstone as they checked the communication log.

“I’m really going crazy! Why are the babies that went extinct 10 years ago coming out now?”

“Fuck… who was the last one to clean up?”

“It was probably Beomho.”

“Beomho, I never gave up the chew, so I asked you to kill it in advance!”

“You can kill him? You’ve never beaten Beomho in a game, right?”

“Shut up, both of you! It’s too late to blame anyone. If it was Aimoff who shot Muriel, then the answer is obvious.”

“Yes. There’s only one Aimov up to the 40th place. In the first place, if there’s an Aimov with the ability to catch Muriel, it’s only him.”

At Jason’s words, a light came on from the tombstone where the girl’s voice was coming from.

“Hey, wait a minute! That, that guy in 5th place doesn’t have any friends. There’s no way that he’d be with Seo-ah unnie… .”

“I agree. The probability that Morphpucker has a companion approaches 0.”

“Muriel was asked by me to capture Choi Seo-ah. Didn’t Morphbak barge in while the two were fighting?”

“Indeed. That’s a Morphucker-like behavior. That’s an understandable explanation.”

“Haaaaaah… Is this true? I thought I was in good luck because equipment development was going well these days.”

Only then did those beyond the tombstone realize why Jason had called them.

“Are you planning to subdue that guy?”

“Of course. If we leave that kid alone, we’ll all die.”

“I don’t know if you’re the inspiration, but I’m not? I’m a Gaju, so I don’t count towards the Aimorph evolution conditions.”

“Did Muriel really not talk about you before she died? If I were Aimov, you would definitely try to catch me.”

“Ugh, Muriel, you really are such a useless bitch….”

“Quiet! So what do you want me to do?”

“What do you think about going together and catching them? To be honest, sending my subordinates doesn’t sound good, and besides… .”

Jason thought.

Those in this place are those who can literally manipulate the universe in real time.

It would not be an exaggeration to say that they were a being from heaven. Would it be difficult for such people to gather together and catch a single Aimov?

But the thoughts of the people beyond the tombstone were very different from Jason’s.

“Are you crazy, Oppa? Are you all going to hold a funeral together? If we go alone without the old man, we’ll all die?”

“I also disagree. If I die, Star Union will just collapse.”

“Hey hey hey! You two are talking strangely? It’s not like I’m the only one who’s going to survive, and our strength is more than enough…”

“Stop talking nonsense. I think you’re saying this because you don’t know much, but did you know that Morph-Bak used to break the heads of rankers while still a semi-adult?”

“I heard that there are many cult members who haven’t seen the ending because of that guy. Jason, you must know that.”

“That’s right. I have absolutely no intention of giving the essence to the Wailing Wall. If you want to die, go and die alone, Oppa.”

“I agree. If you want to punish Jeong, go alone. If you want to leave a will, write it down now. If you go there, you won’t be able to leave a will.”

“… … .”

The tombstones that come in and interrupt Jason’s speech.

Jason was left speechless at their seemingly traumatized reactions.