I Became an Ancient All-Host Lifeform - Chapter 13

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

013 Ashes in the Honeypot

On the outer edge of the 3rd Magic Tower’s territory stood an enormous Magical Beast Breeding Facility.
This place served as the nerve center for supplying low- to mid-level Magical Beasts needed for the Tower’s biomedical experiments, the affiliated academy’s training, and Mana Stone production.
The position of Facility Director—the supreme authority here—was the very definition of a cushy job that everyone envied.
There was no need to venture dangerously outside to hunt monsters, nor to endure the brutal politics or grueling research quotas that plagued the interior of the Tower.
All one had to do was manage a bunch of low-level beasts that grew peacefully behind sturdy iron bars, and meet the delivery schedules on time.
A life of leisure, pure and simple.
At least, until two or three months ago.

The Facility Director’s sweet honeyed existence—which had seemed eternal—shattered the moment a Vampire Ghost began appearing in the breeding grounds.

“Sigh… Life….”

Just then, a staff member came bursting into the office.

“Director! A Vampire Ghost has appeared!”
“Again? Really?”

Heavy exhaustion washed across the Facility Director’s face.
The horrifying rumor: a ghost suddenly manifests and drains every last drop of blood from the Magical Beasts, leaving nothing behind.
At first, he’d dismissed it as mere gossip among the workers, but now it was happening nearly every day.
As the Beast production numbers plummeted, the Tower sent relentless inquiries demanding accountability—and his already sparse hair was paying the price.
The Facility Director clutched his head in both hands and cried out in despair.

“Damn this accursed phantom!”

Through his fingers, strands of his precious hair came loose.
Magical Beasts were the Tower’s vital assets.
If mortality rates continued to skyrocket at this rate, the Tower’s upper management might suspect mismanagement of the facility and send an audit team at once.
For centuries the place had run without a hitch—why did this have to happen now, on his watch?

“Who in their right mind scatters ashes into someone else’s precious honeypot!”

Before the Facility Director’s wail had even finished echoing, the door swung open again, delivering worse news.

“Director! This morning, Production Team Two abandoned their posts entirely!”
“Sigh… The workers ran again? Now they’re deserting en masse?”

The Facility Director pressed hard against his temples, feeling the dull ache.
This too was the Vampire Ghost’s doing.
When multiple workers had recently witnessed an enormous black ox being drained entirely by the creature, the situation turned grave.
Fearing for their lives, the laborers began abandoning the facility one by one.
The loss of valuable Magical Beasts was painful enough, but having workers flee was an even bigger problem—they were the ones who had to feed the beasts and muck out their pens.

“Director… that’s not all.”
“What now? What else?”

The Production Team Leader, who had just arrived, continued grimly.

“The rumors about the Vampire Ghost are spreading even more ominously. Now there’s talk of a ghost-possessed rat that brutally slaughters Magical Beasts alongside it. Sigh.”
“A ghost rat? What in the world is that?”
“According to the rumors, a single rat runs around with the Vampire Ghost and butchers the Magical Beasts….”

The Facility Director slammed his desk and exploded in fury.

“This is insane! Security Team Leader—what exactly are you doing? Can’t you even deal with a pathetic rat?”

The Security Team Leader stepped in from the side, offering an aggrieved protest.

“Ah, they have to show up before we can do anything about them! We rush over the moment we hear they’ve appeared, and they’ve vanished like ghosts. Then we stand guard all night and don’t catch so much as a glimpse. It’s driving me absolutely mad!”
“Damn it all…!”

The Facility Director exhaled deeply.
A vampire ghost and rat that slipped through surveillance with uncanny precision, leaving the magical beasts dead in their wake.
It read like something from children’s ghost stories.

‘Well, this is beyond what we can handle on our own now.’

If the tower’s vital assets—the magical beasts—kept dying at this rate, his own head would roll soon enough.
Having made his decision, the Facility Director’s expression hardened as he picked up his quill.

“This won’t do. If we keep going like this, the entire breeding facility will grind to a halt. We have no choice but to file an official extermination request.”

He immediately began drafting a letter to the 3rd Magic Tower Border Defense Unit.

* * *

What, fundamentally, is leveling up?
Simple—your level rises. To level up, you accumulate experience, which the system quantifies and evaluates as “experience points.”
But what determines how many experience points you get?
Various calculation methods exist, but there is one approach that stands above the rest in universality and accuracy.
Awarding experience points to whoever delivers the killing blow—the “last hit.”
No need to fret over who contributed what, or how to divvy it up. Utterly simple, intuitive, and fair.
That’s why most games adopt this system.

And after rolling around this world for a few days, I’d confirmed that its basic leveling system followed that same universal approach.
So what’s the most efficient way to level up?
Simple. Just keep taking the last hits.
Why exhaust yourself hunting? Just wait until the kill’s nearly done, then finish off the prey.
So you just let others do all the heavy lifting, then swoop in for the last hit and steal the kill!
That’s why Gyushik and I adopted the most efficient leveling strategy there was.
We became kill-stealers, and we were damn good at it.

Whoooosh—

In the shadowed corner of the breeding facility, gossamer strands of Fog Mushroom Mycelium crept toward a horned rabbit.
In moments, ten thousand delicate threads ensnared the creature’s body and began gorging themselves on its blood with feverish hunger.

Kee-ee-eek!

The horned rabbit convulsed in agony, but it was no use.
Unlike before, they didn’t drain it down to bone and hide.
The moment its health dipped to around one percent—barely clinging to life—the mushroom mycelium retreated in unison, ebbing like a tide.
Perfect. Morgul’s Fog Mushroom Mycelium had set out the feast.
Now someone had to eat it.
Time for us to move in.

‘Go, Gyushik!’
Snap!

At my command, Gyushik shot out from his corner of the pen and bolted forward.
He plunged Plague Fang straight into the horned rabbit’s throat as it hung there, barely breathing.

[Skill “Plague Fang Lv 3” activated.]
“Kee!”

A single strike. The horned rabbit let out a brief death cry and went slack on the floor.

[You have defeated ‘Horned Rabbit lv 3′.]

Kahahaha! Now this is what I call a perfect creative economy!
Morgul, stripped of his physical form, accelerates his resurrection by draining Magical Beasts’ blood and Mana—good for him. Gyushik and I gain Experience Points without spilling a drop—excellent for us!
Everyone’s happy, everyone’s benefiting, and everyone gets what they want.
A truly symbiotic relationship.

Ding-!

The pleasant notification chime sounded as my Status Window refreshed.

[My main body’s Level has increased! lv 8 → lv 9]
[Host ‘Gyushik’s Level has increased! lv 9 → lv 10]

Kyaa~ this Mushroom Bus route is so sweet~!
Thanks to relying on Morgul all this time, Gyushik and I have already managed to raise our Levels by five. And in the meantime, Plague Fang has reached lv 3.
If I keep sweeping through the entire breeding facility at this rate, it’s only a matter of time before Gyushik becomes an overpowered monster.

Speaking of which—Gyushik’s already at Level 10? Ugh, when did he get so strong?
It irritates me that he’s just one Level ahead of me. How dare a mere host exceed his master in Level?
Just as I was grumbling silently about it, a dazzling fireworks effect erupted across my Status Window with a flurry of notifications.

[Host ‘Gyushik’ has met the conditions for Evolution. You will evolve into a superior form.]

Ooh! Does he automatically evolve when he reaches Level 10? This is completely like Pokémon.
I stared intently at my Status Window, excitement welling up inside me. This was the historic moment I’d break free from my wretched sewer rat existence.
But what form will I evolve into?
Don’t tell me that because we’ve been chasing Last Hits all this time, I’m going to evolve into some kind of ‘Kill Rat’ or something ridiculous.
That’s when it happened.

Squeal—!

Gyushik suddenly began breathing heavily and rapidly.
It seemed to be the backlash of evolution. His body began to change, his genes transforming in real time.
But if he collapses in the middle of the breeding facility like this, that would be very problematic. We can’t know when the facility workers might show up.
Moreover, those security staff who usually lounged around have been working diligently lately. If Gyushik encounters them while in a defenseless state from the evolution’s aftermath, we’re finished.

I pulled my fading consciousness together and hid my body in the Drainage Ditch where I’d crawled up with the Fog Mushroom Mycelium earlier.
Phew. This should be safe.
As I curled up inside the damp Drainage Ditch, Gyushik’s body grew hot and the full-fledged evolution began.
Then a new notification appeared on my Status Window.

[During the evolution process, your main body’s possession of the ‘Essence of Mushroom’ gene exerts a powerful influence.]
[Due to horizontal gene transfer, host ‘Gyushik’s evolution path is now fixed.]
‘Wait? The host’s evolution process is being influenced by the Essence genes I possess?’

I hadn’t anticipated this. The host’s evolution was being shaped by the genes I carried.
Next time the host evolves, I’ll need to be careful about which genes I set in the Essence slot.
That way, I could guide the host’s evolution in whatever direction I desired.
Then came a brief period of agonizing, bone-deep pain from the evolution.
A dazzling effect flooded my vision.

[Host ‘Gyushik’ has evolved into a ‘Plague Rat’!]

Oh…! Gyushik has finally evolved!
I examined his completely transformed body.
His ordinary ash-gray fur had taken on a sinister, dark blue-green hue. His size had grown to about that of an adult’s fist.
Now I couldn’t sense that ‘rat food smell’ like before. Visually, he looked like something you’d regret touching in passing.
Well, his body has grown larger, but since he was so small to begin with, I wouldn’t exactly call him ‘big’ now.
Still, it’s getting harder to call him a ‘rat pup’ anymore.

Squeak?

…Though that dopey expression of his hadn’t changed one bit.
Still, there was something endearingly cute about it, so I’d count that as a win.
And the tail that had been severed by the Flame Tiger last time had regenerated as well.
Ah, now I’ll finally get to see the benefits of my Lizard Tail skill in action again.
So, shall I check Gyushik’s status window?

【Gyushik (Plague Rat) Lv 10】
【Traits】
“Salt Resistance MAX”, “Survival Instinct Lv 1”, “Darkvision”, “Poison Resistance MAX” (New!)
【Skills】
“Plague Fang Lv 3”, “Sudden Acceleration Lv 1”, “Toxic Spores Lv 1” (New!), “Neurotoxic Saliva Lv 1” (New!)

Oh, quite a few new abilities have appeared.
Well, let me examine each one.
“Poison Resistance” is naturally expected for a Plague Rat.
“Toxic Spores” as a skill seems to be influenced by my “Essence of Mushroom” genes. It’s probably a skill that disperses toxic spores in all directions.

“Neurotoxic Saliva” appears to be a skill that emerged when evolving into a Plague Rat. It likely injects neurotoxin into Gyushik’s saliva.
Excellent—if an opponent has no poison resistance, they’d be paralyzed all over.
I should have Gyushik practice spitting in the future. That way, we could paralyze opponents from a distance, couldn’t we?
That was when I was in the middle of analyzing Gyushik’s specs.

– Hey! This is no time to be standing around like that!

Morgul suddenly cried out in an urgent voice.

– Something’s approaching at high speed. We need to prepare right now!
‘What?’

At his warning, I immediately focused my attention on the “Hive Consciousness” we shared.
The vibrations of the ground transmitted clearly through the Fog Mushroom mycelium network spread across the breeding facility.

‘….’

The steady, rhythmic sound and speed of “clop-clop, clop-clop”—it was unmistakably the sound of horse hooves. Probably two or three of them at most?
Come on, why get so worked up over this?
Anyone listening would think a cavalry unit was coming to capture us.
They say people get more fearful as they age.

‘So people are riding horses here. Two or three of them, probably? Honestly, I thought something serious was happening.’

But Morgul’s urgent tone didn’t change.

– Don’t take this so lightly! Riders deliberately approaching a Magical Beast Breeding Facility that reeks like this are never common. Moreover, one of them is definitely a Mage!

A Mage? A Mage is coming?
Well, that changes things.
So far, the only Mages I’d actually encountered were Morgul and that pair of 3rd Magic Tower researchers when I first opened my eyes.
The Junior Researcher hadn’t lifted a finger, just transferred the rotten egg into a flask.
Against an opponent with such supernatural powers, I couldn’t afford to be careless.
But how did Morgul know about this in the first place?

‘Huh? How can you tell if someone’s a Mage from here?’

At my question, Morgul snorted as if exasperated.

– Hmph! Sensing the Mana of a target is basic knowledge for any Mage. And if the opponent is a Mage who wields Mana, they can never hide their presence from me, the greatest Arch-Mage in all of human history!

What, does he think he’s the best thing alive just because he can open his mouth?
In any case, Morgul’s confident declaration sent a chill racing down my spine.
A Mage moving directly was no trivial matter.
What business would a Mage have at a breeding facility that merely raised low-level Magical Beasts?
In that moment, the image of all those Magical Beasts I’d stolen last hits from while being harassed by the mushrooms flashed before my eyes.
…I’d probably killed at least dozens of them so far.
Maybe… more than a hundred?
Damn. Did I farm way too obviously?
All the while, the sound of hoofbeats grew steadily closer.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————