Becoming a Monster

Chapter 296: Chapter 296: Different Reasons for Power

Outside of his realm in the present world, Ailetta sensed something wrong with Noah. Normally her senses alone wouldn’t be enough to cause her to worry. But when it involved his soul, particularly the one being that she truly feared, she didn’t hesitate.

She didn’t run, but her body turned completely into that of a fluid substance, all of her limbs were absorbed into her; her form truly looked as though it was a slime monster before she suddenly launched herself in Noah’s direction.

She streaked across the destroyed lot, each time she touched the ground, her body seemed to propel itself even faster. It took her mere seconds to reach Noah’s side, reforming her body at the same time, but even as her form wasn’t fully done transitioning, she was already preparing to check what was going on inside of his soul.

She was always ready, ready to sacrifice the soul she left tied to him. But just as she was about to enter, she felt a sudden flick to her forehead. Mid motion she froze, not from pain, it would take more than just physical trauma to reach her pain preceptors. However, the action reminded her from when she was human, an action Noah would often perform when her overzealousness would get the better of her.

Her eyes widened, but the distress claiming her heart was fully relieved.

”What are you getting all worked up for?”

Ailetta was about to answer, yet she noticed that after he voiced the question, he closed his eyes, his brows furrowing as if he was concentrating strongly on something.

Her expression grew pensive, seeing that it wasn’t just her imagination. Instead of answering him, she ventured to see for herself.

When she entered his soul realm, she immediately looked up to see the beings’ gaze directed towards her. It was calm, too calm.

Ailetta felt confused, wondering why she felt a danger to Noah’s soul when the being that should be the danger was merely watching. She turned her attention to Noah’s soul.

Skepticism filled her, everything seemed...normal...

However, she felt that something was off, something was transgressing in the center of Noah’s soul, and she believed that was what Noah was concentrating on.

It was a simple act for her to wield her consciousness to dive into the depths of his soul.

As long as Noah allowed it.

The fact she wasn’t forced out means that Noah gave her permission to see what he was up to, or he was just too focused on what he was entangled with to be able to divert his attention.

Gasps!

It took a lot to surprise Ailetta now. Since becoming a monster, she became someone who constantly was thinking of the most bizarre ways of getting stronger, someone whose actions constantly bordered that of a sociopath and a creature who had long since stopped being tethered to human morality.

But when she saw what Noah was doing, what Noah had done. Even she was shocked beyond disbelief, beyond something even she would consider irrational.

”Why is ”that!” inside of you?!” The question was filled with disbelief, but more than anything, she was aggrieved, she demanded an answer.

In the very center of Noah’s soul, there laid a being that was never there before, the being resembled that of a fetus. But the underlying factor lied in its appearance.

Ailetta never saw the embryo in the egg prior to this. But what she saw wasn’t an identical version of the being that was imprinted in the egg before. What she saw was a creature that resembled the monster Noah had once become when he had lost all rationality. But this time, that creature was independent from Noah, and....it was different from before.

This time the creature wasn’t a mashup combination of creatures, this creature seemed to be...perfectly made. A being that took on the parts of all of Noah’s traits but still found a way to be viewed as its own unique entity.

Its body floated inside of Noah’s soul, curled like an unborn child. Its limbs and tail tucked in close as if it was slumbering.

”It’s beautiful isn’t it?” Noah’s voice echoed within her mind as if they were standing side by side. He spoke with such warmth, Ailetta could feel the pride in himself as he looked at the abomination he was raising within himself.

”Beautiful?” Ailetta found herself questioning her sanity. She was prepared to sacrifice her soul to prevent the being from having any control over Noah’s soul and now he was raising a part of the creature’s power inside of himself, willingly!

”Noah, I love you, but you’re making me angry. Explain!”

Noah didn’t respond immediately. The soul realm seemed to shift, and then before she was aware of it, they were both back outside with Noah facing her.

”It’s not as bad as you think it is, Le.” He began to try to explain.

He talked about how the item he consumed gave him the ability to grant him a skill from any one of his traits or even his class. But the being interfered, instead using the egg as a vessel to implant its own skill into him. Which gives him a skill that created the creature inside of him.

The skill was called ’Chimeric Nexus’. This allows him to fuse two traits into a single strain. At Level 0, it can maintain only one fused trait. Every level gained, the number of fused traits he can maintain increases by one. Fused traits cannot be fused again. The abilities of the original traits are lost upon fusion. The new fused trait gains a set of abilities equal to those lost, but completely unique. Trait fusion is irreversible unless specifically undone by a rare or external effect.

What made the skill so impressive was that after fusion was completed, it left him with an open spot to gain another trait.

Ailetta’s gaze hardened as Noah explained, but her body didn’t move an inch. Every one of her eyes were completely focused on his as she listened in full, not interrupting even once.

”So that thing gave you such unbelievable power out of the goodness of its heart? And so I’m guessing that creature inside you... has to do with that ability too, right?” She dove into the heart of the issue.

What she never would have expected was what Noah had said next.

”I’m sure it has something to do with that thing trying to control me again. I wouldn’t put it past it at all. It wants me to grow stronger so it could eventually take over my body, so the creature inside of my soul most likely is part of its plan to make that happen.”

Ailetta’s body trembled with rage, Noah never told her of the discussion he had with the being when he kicked her out of his soul. She couldn’t understand how he could be so nonchalant about a creature with the power akin to a god trying to take control of him, nor the fact that Noah had no problem using the power given by that very same creature just to make himself stronger.

But as she simmered with rage, she felt herself resigning to Noah’s nonsensical decision. In the end, this was just like him, and she was no different. Offering her soul to be devoured by an unknown creature to gain strength to stay by Noah’s side.

Once, she was full of anger. Now she found herself laughing to herself so hard that her body couldn’t maintain her physical form.

”How did we both end up selling our souls for power? What in the world is wrong with us?” She continued to cackle with laughter. Noah took a moment to think about what she meant, but soon after, even he couldn’t hold back a smirk.

”Why are you two laughing?”

Both Noah and Ailetta stopped their laughter, their eyes shifting towards Arachne who was scrutinizing their every action.

Before this, Arachne had already noticed Ailetta’s urgent behavior, but not once did Arachne’s skill determine that there was danger.

But as she later saw the worry and anger Ailetta displayed towards Noah, a scene that she had never seen of her before. Arachne dropped everything she was doing to rush towards Noah’s aid, only to find the two behaviors even more odd than before.

”It’s nothing Arachne,” Noah wiped away a tear forming in his eye. ”We just learned how stupid we really are.”

”Hmph!” Ailetta snorted, but her smile betrayed her feelings. ”No, I’m just stupidly in love. You’re the one who’s stupid with power, there’s a difference.”

His words did little to unburden Arachne’s skepticism, and Ailetta’s banter only deepened the misunderstanding more. She didn’t believe that Noah behaved like Fenrir in the slightest, so why would he call himself stupid?

Seeing that Arachne wasn’t going to let the matter go, Noah retrieved an item from his ring. His hand held out towards her as the mercury gem holding the DNA strand materialized.

Arachne looked from the item, back to Noah, wondering if this had something to do with what Ailetta was worried about before.

Speechlessly, she accepted the item in her hand, not doing anything as she was only reacting instinctively.

”Well? Pour your mana into it.” Noah pushed her again. Arachne didn’t know how she ended up in this position but she came to understand that she didn’t want to think about it anymore as she finally put her focus on something that she could understand.