Day 251-260/Day 251

Day 251
Last night, various things happened and I indulged one of my three primary desires (TN: Gluttony, Lust, Greed) to my heart's content.
If not for the help of my comrades and my [Self Replication] ability, the successive tough battles with field bosses followed by the death match with the Flame Dragon Empress could have easily gotten me killed. In the process I accumulated a huge amount of stress, but after that relaxing night I feel a lot better.
That said, we are in the center of a volcanic cauldron so wishing for a pleasant and refreshing morning was hopeless.
The area was quite humid, so we awoke sticky with sweat after last night's exertions - not a pleasant way to start the morning.
I idly thought that it would be so much better if we were surrounded by hot springs instead of lava.
If this place were a hot spring, I would first wash myself clean, then slowly soak in its relaxing waters. After submerging as far as my waist, I would bask in the sensation of my fatigue dissolving away as the water gently warmed and relaxed me.
Then I would slowly submerge myself up to the shoulders and enjoy a good soak while drinking something alcoholic. I wondered at that moment, "What would be the perfect drink for this situation?"
That pride of the Kuuderun Great Forest, well aged elven wine, perhaps?
Alternatively, alcohol dropped from special dungeon monsters might also be a good choice, as I have plenty of varieties on hand.
Or even, the [Named Sake [Endless Drops of Evening Cherry Blossoms]] or [Named Demon Sake [Inexhaustible Demonic Drunken Rampage]] that I received by completing the Psalms might possibly be appropriate.
After imagining all that, I suddenly miss taking it easy at our own hot springs back in Kuuderun Great Forest.
After a tiring day, fatigue can easily be removed in beautiful hot springs while drinking sake.  
Remembering that, I could not hold back the nostalgia. Probably something akin to homesickness.
Well, nothing can be done about it. I have the feeling that I was somewhat overworked, and will need to take a longer vacation. I need to put my worries to rest, and the Kuuderun Great Forest is the best place for a vacation.
Though, in the vicinity of the great forest, there is still much work to do.
Ah, it will be necessary to bring my kids.
Well, I leave the fulfillment of that desire to the near future.
Waking up in the morning, I immediately started to determine the possibilities of my body.
After the [Rank-up] yesterday I found out almost everything, and as a result the time spent with Kanami was more of an application process.
Although the body has been altered, it is still my own, and not someone or something foreign. Once I start to move it will be easy to get used to. So I can still live a normal life.
But I will not say that I've mastered it perfectly, and there's little hope of that since it's not a perfectly stable body.
So to deal with this, I was doing a few simple physical exercises. By doing so, as expected, controlling the movement of my new set of arms was hard. Not that there were any wrong feelings. I could manage them just as easily as breathing.
But compared to a battle with two arms, having four arms changed even the simplest motion, such as a punch. Not only does the application of force differ, but the ways of distributing the upper body weight, how to use the muscles, the reach of each arm, and even the location of the nerves and blood flow, everything has undergone enormous change.
Because of all this, I was a bit confused. Although I've used a similarly structured power suit before, my sense of operating this odd body design was quite disheveled. Therefore, it is necessary that I get used to it in a short period of time.
If I did not capitalize on this experience, I would surely struggle later.
 
Of course, even my combat skills and techniques using the new body need to be worked on; there is still a lot to improve. But right now my goal is to learn to control this body, respectively my own desires. The rest I can work out later by sparring with Minokichi.
Thirty minutes after starting, thanks to my efforts, I have learned how to move so my body's actions no longer cause storm winds, so I won't cause undue damage to the environment even if I move fast during battles.
If there are no surprises, hapless viewers will not become victims. If something were to happen, then it can't be avoided, but there's no need to directly cause unnecessary problems.
While I was testing the movement of this new body, Kanami woke up. Her face while half-asleep is incredibly cute.
After the [Rank-up], Kanami became a Ice Blood True Vampire (Superior Species).
The Ice Blood True Vampire seems to be one of the first races of vampires, one generation down from the [First Vampire], and there is no vampire that can compare in the handling of blood and ice.
According to the information gathered from each country by using my clones, in ancient times, the [Ice Dragon King] who was overrunning neighboring countries fought the Ice Blood True Vampire in a fierce battle spanning three days over territory.
As a result, the very long body of the Ice Dragon King was divided into six parts, and the whole Gulf area absorbed lots of the dragon's blood, which eventually evolved into the [Icy Valley of Blood].
This place still exists but it is quite far away, so we should eventually set out to explore it.
By the way Ice Blood True Vampire has power not inferior to an Emperor. At the same time, being a [Superior Species], it becomes the default level for stronger creatures like the [Emperor]. Given that it has a few [Divine Blessings], it is not in doubt.
The ruler of the Atarakua Demon Empire, the [Demon Emperor] Hyulton, the [King of Beasts] Lionel of the Estgrand Beast Kingdom, as well as the existing level of Legendary Hero characters possessing Psalms, one on one, even when fighting at full strength, certainly lose to the present Kanami.
From a biological point of view, Kanami became incomparably stronger than normal evolution. This Kanami, while not yet fully awake, lightly scattered around the peculiar Ice Blood True Vampire (Superior Species), and the magical power [Charm].
Like a fountain of life, [Charm]'s magical power attracts all living beings within range.
Her every movement fascinated the eyes; and even while knowing why, it was still impossible to glance away. Anyone, regardless of gender, will undoubtedly try to attack when they see her (and will immediately be sliced).
Yet Kanami is most charming when left alone.
To recharge one's forces for the day, it is important to have a good breakfast.
While anticipating how I would enjoy their meat, I subconsciously swallowed.
The ingredients I decided to use are the meat of the Dragon Emperor and Flame Dragon Empress. Well, of course not entirely, but only the smallest part of their huge bodies.
Normally, it would be worth it to wait until everyone is ready, and only enjoy the meal together afterwards, but unfortunately the rest of the team was not here. Once I fell asleep, they went and decided to take a day off so, other than Kanami, there was no one else nearby. 
Using the "Labyrinth Business Company Snake's Heart" (a subsidiary of the mercenary corps Parabellum) as a base, the wounded were treated in the adventurer-filled Labyrinth City Radha Lo Dara. Afterwards, they separated according to their hobbies; enjoying shopping at extremely attractive prices, climbing unexplored destinations in search of yet undiscovered ore veins, and collecting valuable information about bosses and dungeons in crowded places.
For such reasons, Kanami and I will taste it first.
Of course, I wanted to tell them to "work hard", but once it happened, there was nothing I could do.
In addition, in order to learn about how best to prepare this ingredient it would probably be even better to try it first myself. Truly, a perfect excuse.
Well, under the guise of my stupid, selfish motives while sitting in front of a mountain of delicious meat, of course I could not endure.
Especially after [Rank-up], or upon receipt of the [World Enemy [Insatiable Gluttony]], my stomach now empties much faster.
From seeing this hunk of meat, my stomach growled fiercely and saliva flowed from my mouth. Intrinsically, in order to heal, my body depletes the devoured energy rather than fill my belly.
To endure this hunger is, as expected, impossible even for me. However, such instincts are to my benefit, so I will not fight against them.
Only one thing gnawed at my thoughts: "Will I be called greedy?" I suppose I already am.
After asking Kanami to melt the ice around the body of the Flame Dragon Empress, I began to cut the dragon meat.
It is of course obvious, but the dragon meat is incredibly strong. The mithril knife made by gnomes, even with its excellent sharpness, will hardly cut it; and even if I put a little more pressure on it, the knife will immediately break.
Thanks to the strengthening magic supporting its huge body, each individual muscle fiber has tremendous tenacity, much superior to other living beings.
To prepare its meat, not only did you need an exceptionally sharp knife that's able to cope with one's strength, but you need to have excellent chef skills and a deep knowledge of dragon meat.
Killing it of course isn't easy, but it's also very difficult to prepare. The Flame Dragon Empress is such a complex ingredient.
Though I've been kept waiting, this is exactly as I'd hoped.
I'll give a piece of meat to the Sisters and ask them to cook it.
After turning my hands into silver knives, I continued cutting the dragon into pieces.
As a result, I got a mountain of meat around three thousand kilograms. It was only a tiny part of the whole body.
As expected, cooking it like that does not work, so I chopped it smaller, and the three thousand kg mountain became sixty smaller pieces.
All the same, the pieces were quite hefty to the extent they looked even better.
So as I began cooking, I examined the results. Even after spending a few days in a frozen block of ice magic, the meat still had a fresh, luscious, vital force like jewels.
However, no gem's shine is superior to dragon's meat.
Time would stop when viewing its luster; any foodie would give all he had, if only to sample the succulent meat.
Even I, if I had not been able to get this with my own hands, would've easily parted with any amount of money, just for the sake of a piece of it.
I put this magnificent meat on a big pan while using the natural environment to cook it.
The temperature of the pan was unusually high. Average meat would immediately burn and char, but dragon meat is warmed slowly.
The reason is that red dragons have an incredible resistance to heat.
First off, to cook the meat somewhere besides here would be incredibly difficult, since conventional logs are clearly not enough to create a hot enough flame.
Most likely you'd have to build some kind of device for this task.
Unfortunately, to slow roast it thoroughly will still take much time and effort.
I'd heard that when cooking meat and fish, sometimes it's better to cook on low heat so it retains more meaty juices.
Whether this is true, I'm not sure, but this attempt is likely to be convincing. Even if it doesn't work, I cannot imagine that the dragon meat will be disgusting (luckily, though briefly, I managed to try a raw piece during the battle).
We just kept it roasting over a slow fire. Yet roasting dragon meat, feeling the delicious smell, you need to have incredible endurance to see it cooked thoroughly.
I somehow restrained myself initially; but after a while, one of my hands unconsciously reached for the meat - at the last moment I stopped myself. However, after a while, it happened again with the other hand. I didn't try to keep count after ten attempts.
In the process of cooking, I truly realized the danger of this meat. Dependence on it will be more dangerous than the harm from any magical poison. Its pull on one's cravings is just too much.
While trying to hold back, I even closed my eyes, but the effect was the opposite. The smell of meat awakens my instincts even more, and the hiss of meat juice excites my imagination.
I reflexively swallowed. This meat without a doubt will be the most delicious I've ever eaten.
However, I'm still going to roast the meat in the magic pan to the very end, and then serve it with white rice on a large plate, the latter of which came from outside the dungeon.
By doing so, the dish began to look even tastier; my saliva is overflowing.
By using my favorite chopsticks, I raised the piece of dragon meat together with the rice into my mouth. My teeth sank into the meat without feeling any resistance.
My face involuntarily broke into a smile. At that time, on my face like in a cooking manga (TN: think Toriko), happiness gave way to tears.
A variety of textures and tastes mingled in my mouth, but it's not something that is mixed; rather, they harmoniously complement and strengthen each other.
In addition, slow-roasted dragon meat was simply overflowing with juice.
In just one bite, my whole mouth became full.
If not eaten little by little, it can be quite difficult to chew.
Again the meat juice is delicious. While swallowing it, I once again feel the taste of the dragon meat. The taste is always changing; and no matter how much you eat, there is no limit or feeling of having eaten too much.
The effect the dragon meat has on the face is profound. It is indeed supreme meat.
In addition, rice soaked in meat juice and eaten together with the meat creates a deeper flavor. It's irresistible!
For a while, we continued eating, not thinking about anything.
It was the same with Kanami. We did not stop until we ate everything in front of our eyes.
After the meal, as expected, our bellies were full to capacity. The visible bulge of my belly, however, quickly receded. It seems the food was rapidly digested. It's my body, but it was somehow still a strange sight.
As a result, I can say that the meat of the Flame Dragon Empress, compared with the Dragon Emperor, was softer and its taste was deeper. Personally, I felt the [Flame Dragon Empress] tasted much better than the [Dragon Emperor].
Although the slightly tough meat of the [Dragon Emperor] has its own charm, both have their advantages and disadvantages. There is a difference in strength between individuals, and the differences between the male and female gender must also be considered.
Ability learned: [Heat Immunity]
Ability learned: [Dragon Emperor's Explosive Roar]
Ability learned: [Burning Dragon Blood]
Ability learned: [Dragon Emperor's Inexhaustible Life Force]
Ability learned: [Heat Absorption]
Ability learned: [Lesser Summoning: Dragon]
Ability learned: [Intermediate Summoning: Dragon]
Ability learned: [Greater Summoning: Dragon]
Ability learned: [Chief Guard of the Dungeon]
I was able to get nine abilities but ... wait ... wait there's a strange one mixed in.
What is this [Chief Guard of the Dungeon]?
Is this generally normal? How else can I say this? Does the dragon not have anything to do all day? How would this work??? Perhaps until the first attacker, all this time she'd slept and eaten, is that why I was able to get this ability?
I don't know. In any case, I don't see a need to find out.
Anyway, now that I've got it, I need to know what kind of ability it is. After activating it, the moment I thought of gems while looking at the floor, a red gem the size of a palm instantly appeared at that spot.
Appraising it and making sure it was real, I tried to eat it. The texture was crunchy with a slightly sweet taste, moreover, it had a decent amount of mana inside, and was delicious in the middle.
... Lost in contemplation ... !!!
This time I thought of a treasure chest, and a Treasure Chest appeared. I opened it, and inside was a variety of objects, such as magical metals and medicine. Because it was just good for souvenirs, I quickly put it in my Item Box.
For a while after I tried different combinations. Apparently, this ability is limited to dungeons I've conquered; it seems the user instantly enjoys many privileges.
Naturally, in the dungeon acquired by [Dungeon Plunder - Howls of the Underworld] you can modify any setting, large or small, though a poor change could result in the place being filled with lava. Since such mistakes may occur, it is difficult to use in emergency situations since any error could cost lives.
But using it, you can immediately get almost anything you want, as well as easily change the landscape of the maze. Of course everything has its limits, but simple tasks are easy to handle.
At first I thought, "What is this?", but now I see. Within the dungeon, this can be quite useful.
I continued testing out the functions of the dungeon until late afternoon. I also examined the new ability [Enemy of the World - Insatiable Gluttony]. Although understanding dungeon manipulation will take quite a bit more time, this ability can be figured out relatively quickly.
Apparently it's very similar to my [Absorption] ability. There are certainly some differences, but the main feature is the more the eater (me) eats, the faster its abilities will grow.
Thus, now when I eat, I have two abilities: [Absorption] and [Insatiable Gluttony], so I'll get stronger twice as fast. That's quite nice.
It's likely to help, but in return it considerably raises my appetite.
You may think, now my chance of getting abilities has increased. But the reality is not so sweet. Why? Because I have reached the next rank/evolution.
Even though having [Insatiable Gluttony] and [Absorption] has increased the chance of getting abilities, my current race Vajrayaksa Overlord (Living God Species), is way too strong, so the chance of getting abilities is actually much lower.
Learning abilities would be far easier if not for the [Rank-up], but it's already too late.
I don't think that my choice of race is wrong, but whether the extreme drop in learning probability could've been prevented ... well, nothing can be done about it now.
So, having solved another mystery, I decided to work late, altering the dungeon to my liking.
By the way, my name was changed from Aporou to Ovarou.
There were many options with Rou: furious Ovara, furious OvaRod; but Ovarou sounded better so I stopped there.
Incidentally, Kanami's name remained as is.
The result of today's synthesis is:
[Lesser Summoning: Dragon] + [Intermediate Summoning: Dragon] + [Greater Summoning: Dragon] = [Summon Supreme Dragon]
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Day 250 == Day 251 == Day 252
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Category:Novel
Category:Re:Monster Volume 7
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