Master Of None

Making his way back to the ships on the water, Walker spent some time showing what he had found and knew that he would have it brought back to Genesis for more analysis. someone with better skills related to archaeology, research, and ruins would have a better chance identifying it.

Yet, as he was ready to walk away, he managed to hear something that stopped him.

”That looks like those chimera monsters we were told might be around. Weird, it has so many eyes.”

Turning around and locking on to the three guards looking at the stone wall section and entrance section Walker had brought back, Walker grabbed his shoulder and gave him a close look. ’Tell me what you know about that drawing.”

”Sir hero, it’s just, my sister, well my sister works in the tamer’s guild researching monsters. She goes through old books and copies them while translating them. It’s something like it was in them and she showed me what she was working on. My cousins saw it too since she is always raving about her work. She talks about-”

”Then send for her. If she has researched and copied the information about it I want her here or the information about this monster. I already know that this monster carved in to stone by some young refugee from the ruined tower was fleeing from them. We need to know what to expect if they would still be alive on this continent.”

The three guards stood tall and ran off toward where they could send a communication crystal. Since they knew where to find their family member then they would get the information faster than if Walker pushed someone else to get it. Plus, his orders would supersede any other order unless absolutely dangerous in that moment.

The small commotion caught the attention of a few people, but most of all a familiar looking person in dragonkin form. ”Midnight, you didn’t stay near the teleportation formation?”

”I wanted to see the new snacks.” As if by magic, one of the demi-humans who had been assisting in the drying of some of the seaweeds made edible after processing or already edible ran up with some pieces of dried seaweed. There were even some rolled seaweed used as a carrier for some steamed grains and vegetables. Midnight grabbed thin with a brilliant smile on her face.

”I would have expected nothing less. You will have to tell me what you think about them. I know that we will have a lot to explore if we can figure out what I am looking in to.” Walker knew that having Midnight with him could help get a jump on any dangerous monsters he might be sniffing out right now.

”Something strong?” Walker looked around to make sure Remey wasn’t anywhere hearing this since she would leap at a chance to fight a strong monster too. She had been ready for a good fight in natural brawler style before.

”It might be-”

”Sir! This is my sister. She was working with a few of the tamers to record the records of a small spongy fish that eats algae and purifies water. She is right here.” The three guards had practically dragged her and the slightly ruffled hair made it seem like she had also been laying down in bed and not actually working. But none of that really would matter if that was the case.

”What are these monsters, what could you tell me about them? What were the records you have and translated or recorded?” The girl had some interesting eyes like those of a hawk but only small feathers around her face proved that she was a demi-human. But if her eyes were so sharp like a hawk’s then it would prove that she could differentiate unique scrawled languages or handwriting to copy it better than others naturally.

The focus and sudden flicker of excitement proved that it wasn’t just research or copying books that this girl liked. She clearly had a passion for learning more about monsters, especially those that were being researched and new to everyone. But that was the kind of thing Genesis needed at all times. It was what moved them forward.

”That’s not the monster really. That’s just its body.” She pointed at the eyes. ”Those are proof that it has been eating different things and making new body parts.” she pointed to the wings, legs, and the oddity of its face not truly being the same as another monster’s.

”It’s called a chimera core, they used to be the chimera that you would know, has a lion head, snake tail, body of a goat at times or a head of a goat, there are so many versions of the same story but they are all pretty similar. We documented those and they are rare and far between. But they all come from the stories of more ancient chimeras that were more similar to golems. It’s where the horror stories of flesh golems came from and partially the inspiration for the zombie flesh golem that some necromancers make.”

Walker felt that he was having an entire text book thrown at him. This girl knew way too much about this monster, yet she studied multiple monsters? Where would what she knew end and where would what she didn’t know start!?

”Since the information about the chimera core is so rare, the records are not very accurate. But since we came here we have seen evidence that there are other monster records from the few ruins we have been able to get to. I believe one was scouted and the carvings on walls were similar, but they had necks like a serpent’s and the mouth of a carnivorous monster rounded at the top like a turtle.”

”This just proves that the chimera core was consuming different body parts. It’s believed that they were similar to mimics or other species that change from. However, they adapted to take the form of a monster egg. Then they are brought back to a nest accidentally. From there they consume the eggs and take on traits of that monster. Adapting and growing until they have a full body. After that they eat and eat until they perish and all that is left behind is a small clutch of eggs. They are a plague monster more or less.”

It appeared that she had a lot more information she could say but she was holding off with. Especially since she realized that she was looking at two of the heroes and her cousins and brother had dragged her here because she had good information.

”Can you say of these chimera core monsters still exist? Or would they be left behind by time?” Walker needed to have some idea if this was something he had to start warning people about.

”Oh, they could certainly be around today. They are able to go dormant for a long time like many other monsters or eggs. Mostly due to the fact that they could easily take on the traits of something that hibernates or slumbers for years at a time. There is a lizard that hibernates for twenty years before coming out of the ground to hunt then sleep for another ten years before it matures fully.”

This didn’t sound good. It felt like he had just been told that there was a trap hidden on the continent and it might surface to cause a lot of trouble all at once. This thing was, no one had spotted odd monsters like this.

”The best identifying feature is too many eyes. The chimera core has the bad habit of making multiple eyes so it can always see where it is and what is around it. Some monsters adapt their eyes to see better but the chimera core just grows more eyes to see everywhere around it. Giving it multiple weak points and also a terrifying appearance compared to what else it grows its body to be.”

This was at least a little good news. Being able to warn the scouts that if they see monsters with multiple eyes that were not normally like that to report back was good. It would also mean that the guards around could prepare themselves for these monsters if encountered. But the real challenge would be in if these monsters were very powerful.

It was worse since they could be super powerful because of the traits they took on or they could be incredibly weak based on the traits they took on. They could even be harmless and weak to the point that they were prey for other monsters. It would all be dependent on what they could consume and how they could grow. It was hard to classify the real threat that the chimera core possessed here and now.

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