Arpious of the Planes

[Day 28]

Today I woke up feeling refreshed. I didn't realize the state I had been in for the past couple of days since I wasn't able to fight at all but now I feel 10 times lighter than before. I even slept on a tree branch!

Jumping from my tree branch I saw the many corpses that littered yesterday's battlefield. I didn't even mind the smell as I walked on the blood crawler corpses that buried the other monsters below them.

[Gained the following title]

[Strong Willed]

It's about time I received something for conquering this putrid smell.

I decided to have some leftovers which were starting to rot but with Ichimei, I was able to cook it and remove all the impurities that gathered overnight.

I finished one blood crawler but that wasn't nearly enough. The only downside of [Gluttons Stomach] would probably be that I need way more food than your average humanoid being to sate my hunger.

I decided to just cook 1/4 of the corpses present and then burn the rest in order to get rid of the rotting smell that mixed in with the stench of blood.

…

"That was a nice meal," I say while patting my mouth clean with a red leaf.

Every corpse on the battlefield was either gone or turned to ashes. The blood-like water around me had turned black from the ashes.

"Shall we go hunting again?"

I activated my wings before trying to head to a new location to gain some skills. This time I flew back to the [Forest of Poison] because once I thought back on it, I realized I haven't explored much of it yet.

The only monsters I've fought there are some bees and a giant snake… and the Amazonians if you count them as monsters. There have to be more monsters there that are related to poison. If I had to assume some of the monsters, I would guess maybe a toad or possibly a giant bug such as a 15-foot centipede.

Flapping my wings I slowly rose off the ground and then like a missile, I flew towards the [Forest of Poison]. It took about 10 minutes to get there since I didn't travel that far into the [Blood Swamp].

I took in the refreshing smell of the forest but still smelled a hint of blood that was coming from me. I needed to take a bath badly.

I spotted a small pond with a tiny waterfall that connected to a stream. I descended and then quickly took off my clothes and jewelry. No monsters were within my sensing range so I proceeded to take a dip in the pond.

It was cold. Freezing cold.

I shivered while scraping the dried blood off my skin and hair. I had enough of the cold so I used Amaterasu to heat up the water.

Since I had [Fire Immunity] it just felt like a nice warm bath but in reality, the water was boiling and part of it was actually on fire.

I decided to check my status so I can assimilate some of my new skills while I was relaxing.

『Status』

[Name: Arpious]

[Race: Lamassu of Ancient Fires]

[Status: Relaxed]

[Servants: 3]

[Subordinates: 7]

[Pets: 1]

[Level: 25/100]

[HP: 700/700 MP: 500/500 SP: 500/500]

[Strength: 170]

[Defense: 170]

[Magic: 170]

[Speed: 170]

[Luck: 2]

[Charisma: 50]

[Skills: [******] [Forbidden Magic: Zeus's Nimbus] [Mind Magic] [Shadow Magic (4/10)] [Poison Immunity] [Disease Immunity] [Virus] [Forbidden Magic: Medusa] [Fire Immunity] [Lightning Resistance] [Flying Sense] [Domain of the Night (Locked)] [Ancient Fire Magic: Amaterasu] [Ancient Fire Magic: Ichimei] [Inspect] [Gluttons Stomach] [Pickpocket] [Concentration] [Seeds of the Ancient Fires] [Evolution Switch] [Gold Manipulation] [Concentration] [Assimilation] [Weather Manipulation: Wind and Rain] [Mystic Arm] [The Art of Sex: 3] [Blood Craving Army Enhancement] [Lavas Will] [Commanding Guardian Phoenixes Presence] [Heightened 5 Senses and More] [Treasure Finder] [Silenced Steal] [Crunch] [Body Modification: Black Blood] [Body Modification: Piranhas Spiny Fin Wings] [Blood Water Control] [Blood Sharks Powerful Bite Force] [Body Modification: Gills] [Body Modification: Gator Scales] [Blood Gators Powerful Bite Force] [Bloodsucker] [Blood Manipulation] [Body Modification: Bat Wings] [Tangible Bloodlust] [Body Modification: Reinforced Heart and Bloodflow] [Blood Mist] [Summon: Blood Minion]

[Body Modification: [Fangs] [Cursed Eyes] [Aquatic Lungs] [Metal Bones] [Mark of a Berserker] [Boiling Bloodline of the Phoenix] [Iron Skin] [Great Wings of the Cursed and Blessed Lamassu] [Cursed and Blessed Tattoos] [Incinerating Tail of the Cursed and Blessed Lamassu]

…

"[Assimilation],"

[Pickpocket] + [Treasure Finder] + [Silenced Steal] = [Forbidden Magic: Hermes]

[Blood Craving Army Enhancement] + [Blood Gators Powerful Bite Force] + [Blood Sharks Powerful Bite Force] = [Blood Devouring Army Enhancement]

[Blood Water Control] + [Blood Manipulation] + [Tangible Bloodlust] + [Crunch] = [Tangible Bloodthirsty Aura]

[Bloodsucker] + [Blood Mist] = [Vampiric Blood Mist]

Let's activate all of my body modifications and then I'll assimilate them.

Activating every single one I had, I soon felt my skin crawl, like thousands of ants were eating away at my body. My back hurt the most because it didn't just feel like singular bites but as if somebody took a hot knife and repeatedly stabbed me with it.

A warm feeling could be felt underneath all the pain which I assumed was the black blood modification, but it was barely sensable.

I wasn't screaming in pain but I was just clenching my body with my hands. The pain from evolution was 10 times no 100 times worse than what I'm experiencing now.

[Gained the following skill]

[Pain Resistance]

The pain slowly dispersed leaving me in a sweating mess despite the fact that I was currently soaking in a bath.

I undid Amaterasu which slightly cooled down the water so I can focus on assimilating the body modifications now.

[Boiling Bloodline of the Phoenix] + [Black Blood] + [Reinforced Heart and Blood Flow] = [Dark Phoenix Bloodline with Increased Vitality]

[Gills] + [Aquatic Lungs] = [Aquatic Body]

[Metal Bones] + [Iron Skin] + [Fangs] + [Gator Scales] + [Cursed Eyes] = [Monsters Body]

I don't know why, but that last assimilation's name made me feel anger swell within me. Without me knowing, I muttered,

"Shut the fuck up…"

For some reason, I couldn't accept the fact that I was a monster. Did I think the people around me would like me less even though they have already seen the "monster" side of me?

I opened my status to see what it looked like, but that was just a distraction from my previous thought.

『Status』

[Name: Arpious]

[Race: Lamassu of Ancient Fires]

[Status: Angry]

[Servants: 3]

[Subordinates: 7]

[Pets: 1]

[Level: 25/100]

[HP: 700/700 MP: 500/500 SP: 500/500]

[Strength: 170]

[Defense: 170]

[Magic: 170]

[Speed: 170]

[Luck: 2]

[Charisma: 50]

[Skills: [******] [Forbidden Magic: Zeus's Nimbus] [Mind Magic] [Shadow Magic (4/10)] [Poison Immunity] [Disease Immunity] [Virus] [Forbidden Magic: Medusa] [Fire Immunity] [Lightning Resistance] [Flying Sense] [Domain of the Night (Locked)] [Ancient Fire Magic: Amaterasu] [Ancient Fire Magic: Ichimei] [Inspect] [Gluttons Stomach] [Concentration] [Seeds of the Ancient Fires] [Evolution Switch] [Gold Manipulation] [Concentration] [Assimilation] [Weather Manipulation: Wind and Rain] [Mystic Arm] [The Art of Sex: 3] [Lavas Will] [Commanding Guardian Phoenixes Presence] [Heightened 5 Senses and More] [Summon: Blood Minion] [Forbidden Magic: Hermes] [Blood Devouring Army Enhancement] [Tangible Bloodthirsty Aura] [Vampiric Blood Mist] [Pain Resistance]

[Body Modification: [Mark of a Berserker] [Great Wings of the Cursed and Blessed Lamassu] [Cursed and Blessed Tattoos] [Incinerating Tail of the Cursed and Blessed Lamassu] [Piranhas Spiny Fin Wings] [Bat Wings] [Dark Phoenix Bloodline with Increased Vitality] [Aquatic Body] [Monsters Body]

…

I looked at my reflection on the water and still saw the same body from before. My eyes were still creepy and tattoos littered my body. The only visible change would be my 2 wings from before shrinking, and 2 other pairs of wings appeared below them in a fan-like pattern.

My feathered wing tattoos were the top layer and then below them was a set of bat wings that were slightly smaller than my feathered wings.

Then the bottom layer which was below the bat wings were the fins of a lionfish. Spiny and pointy in different areas exactly like how they were described and shown.

I could've probably added the lionfish fins er- wings to my [Aquatic Body] modification, but I don't know where it could've gone. If I wanted to someday activate them on land in case I find another use for them, then I'll be breathing with aquatic lungs and gills as well which would kill me instantly… probably.

Also, the reason why I didn't assimilate the wings together was that I wanted to be able to use them individually since having them all out at the same time would be a nuisance.

Getting out of the pond I had to wait for at least 30 minutes for everything to dry since I had nothing to dry my body with. Eventually, I would put on my clothes and jewelry before continuing my hunt.

While I was getting ready to fly up and scout for monsters, I suddenly had an idea. Instead of searching for prey why don't I get them to come to me just like what happened in the [Blood Swamp]? I don't even mind if the same incident like the blood crawlers happened since that will just mean more XP.

"Now how can I gather tons of monsters in this one spot? The monsters in this forest are probably not as dumb as the ones in the [Blood Swamp] but… it could be worth a shot," I say before activating [Forbidden Magic: Zeus's Nimbus].