Becoming a Monster

A warm smile graced his face after thinking about all the achievements he made today on his own. His smile brightened when he thought about his class he'll obtain soon while he opened up the chest to retrieve his loot.

He wanted to slowly open the chest, but due to his anxiousness, he used too much strength to yank the chest open and blinded himself from a sea of doings and items.

Noah always couldn't retain his smile when he saw so much gold, but he couldn't help but feel blessed when two of the times in the chest were what he needed most.

"There's actually two of them in one chest? Is this because of it being a gold chest or because the creature was an evolved creature? He pulled out two round grey balls with the number one etched in the center and it glowed with a white light. Leveling up his skills has been something that has been concerning him for a while now. He planned to use one when he advanced his class and the other to save for when he reaches 100% proficiency with his taming ability.

He continued to pull out the rest of the items, what he received this time was a scroll, but the scroll was different then the other ones he obtained so far. There was a name in the description and multiple skills he had to roll for. The parchment was more of a piece of paper that held the class of the spell it was from and the spell itself.

'This is a really nice change! The bad thing is what if I wanted other spells from the other class? Maybe that's why I was given the option of being able to choose another basic class, it'll help affect my loot as well.'

He was about to grab the other loot which was a lot more than he usually received but he paused while the skill was still in his hands. 'How about I just learn this now before I find myself in a position again wishing that I learned it before.

He put his attention back to the skill in his hand and was willing to accept it, he wasn't going to be picky, but when he saw the skill, he became glad that he decided to learn it.

[Skill 'Grant lesser strength' Obtained]

[Grant lesser strength-Increase the strength stat of a tamed creature by 10 percent of its 'total' strength for 15 seconds. Increases after the usage of the skill will still apply. Can also be stacked with the same skill, but the usage in mana will increase with each stack of use. Skill is also influenced by spirit.]

'Yes, this is exactly what I need. If I had this while fighting that zombie then Fenrir could have torn through that thing's leg or even its skull without me. The fight would have still been difficult but at least it would've been easier than what it was.' After obtaining a good skill for himself, he looked through the rest of the loot.

This time he saw a small silver ring that didn't have a jewel in it but it was more like a flat marble with a weird symbol that appeared to be a foreign or maybe even an ancient language.

He gulped when he thought about what would happen this time if he put it on. He still didn't forget the ring he currently had was forever bound to him. He flinched after putting on the ring, but nothing happened. Nothing magical happened or there was no pain. He was about to sigh in relief when he realized a notification was waiting for him. He took a deep breath before checking it.

[Obtained a spatial ring! Would you like to bind the ring to yourself?]

The thought of having a spatial ring was a dream for all light novel readers, but there was a concern. 'What if I obtain a better ring, would I not be able to remove this one?'

He envisioned that in the future he would have to cut off his fingers and find a way to regrow them if that happens. He wanted to say no, but he really needed the ring. He was tired of carrying the heavy bag around all the time and having to set it down in every fight. Having closed his eyes, he confirmed to bind the ring to himself.

"Sssss!" Moments after confirming, Noah felt a stab into the side of his fingers like last time, but when he looked down towards the ring. More specifically the marble that was black and void of any color. He saw the ring slowly turning blood red and looked like a formless cloud. Soon after, the needle that was used to poke into his finger disappeared and he noticed that he could now remove the ring as he pleased.

'Phew, that scared me! Now how do I use it.?' He quickly grabbed one of the upgrade stones and placed it to the ring and nothing happened, but he was already expecting those results. Just like how he confirms things with the system, he needed to will for the action to happen. This time he thought about the stone being put into the ring while holding it next to it and before he could blink, the stone disappeared?

Like a young boy who got his first toy, he played with the stone over and over, retrieving it from the ring and placing it back before he realized that time was being wasted. He looked into the chest to pick up the last item there, when he leaned forward and retrieved the item, he came out holding a giant red sphere, he didn't know how much the sphere would give him this time.

Noah thought about using it for himself since the penalty is still under effect, but he needed for his creatures to be stronger since they aren't able to carry equipment. Memories of the tentacle zombie from before played in his mind and he knew that he couldn't beat her by himself. Fenrir can already soak up a lot of damage, if it could deal damage too then he would be a force to be reckoned with.

'Fenrir come here! He called the wolf over who was still busying himself with the zombie's bone, but immediately ran over while wagging his tail. Noah sat the sphere down and beckoned for Fenrir to take it. Noah was only expecting for him to put his paw over it, like Arachne does with her legs when he gave her spheres. But Fenrir had a different thought process, he just scooped it into his mouth and tried to swallow it.

"No you idiot." Noah stood to try to retrieve the stone, but somehow the sphere dispersed and still was able to increase his strength. He quickly checked Fenrir stats to see how big the increase was.

"Sigh, you could've wasted 25 free attributes, you're gonna drive me crazy, ok go back to your bones." Noah exhaustingly ordered before heading back to the chest, but then he noticed Arachne from the side of his vision on top of the building trying to keep watch, but she ended up looking towards Fenrir being gifted something and not her. She was beginning to feel jealous.

"Don't worry, I won't forget about you. I'll make sure you're the strongest queen out there." He yelled over to her, it was impossible to tell how she felt based on her appearance but thankfully that was what the bond was for.

'Sigh, raising two creatures can be a handful, what will happen when I can get another?' He half joked to himself, before realizing there was nothing else in the chest besides all the gold which he gladly helped himself too. A little more time passed after retrieving everything, he quickly went to grab his bag with his sword now inside the ring and he placed the bag inside the ring as well, before wobbling his way to the first dorm building with Arachne and Fenrir, but as they were walking.

"Arachne, what's wrong with your leg?" He saw that his spider was walking funny and addressed her. When he observed her legs, he noticed that the very back leg was bent and she wasn't using it all.

"Dang it Arachne! You have to let me know when things like this happen! Hold on, IIll see if I can heal it." Thankfully besides using his webs, Noah didn't waste anymore mana doing the fight, and had just enough to heal her. He held her leg and tried to rotate it back the right way before he used the skill. He was relieved that she didn't seem to be in pain due to his actions. Quickly, he applied his healing skill right after.

He was stumped by his spirit and increased magic once again after being able to heal the broken leg. He was feeling a little bit woozy from being so low on mana after his mana capacity grew so much, but it was worth it when he saw Arachne walking like normal again.

The trio quickened their pace to leave the area. The blood in the area was intense, he knew that creatures would soon be attracted towards the blood just like he witnessed earlier before and he didn't want to fight anymore till he recovered more. It didn't take long for the trio to make their way to the dorm's doors, thankfully Fenrir hasn't grown anymore than he already was or he would have to sit outside by himself.

"Grrrr" when they made it to the door, Noah heard Fenrir growling off to the side."

....

A/N:I will be trying something different this week. The word count will be lower, but I'll be doing 7 chapters a week than my usual 5 and see how that goes.