I Became an Ancient All-Host Lifeform - Chapter 22

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

“Sigh. Where on earth has he gone? He should’ve been back by now…. Cough, cough!”

Jimi’s Mother paced anxiously outside the door.
The sun had long since set, and the streets had grown dark, yet her son Jimi had not returned home.
On most days, he would come back right around dusk to share the evening meal with her,
but tonight, even after full darkness had fallen, he still hadn’t appeared.
After waiting fruitlessly for so long, Jimi’s Mother set out with a pale face, searching every corner of Debri Village.

“Cough, cough! Has anyone seen my Jimi? Cough!”

She had suffered from congenital asthma her whole life, and now coughed relentlessly.
Yet the villagers worried more for her sake than for Jimi’s.

“Oh dear, you’re not well—please, go home and rest. Children play outside and lose track of time. There’s nothing to fear, surely?”
“No… my Jimi always comes home by sundown….”

Still, she did not give up asking after her son’s whereabouts.

“Jimi…. Cough, Jimi….”

As she passed through the village’s edge, a familiar silhouette emerged from the darkness.

“Oh, Mother! I’m home!”
“Jimi! This late at night, where have you been…. Goodness!”

Under the moonlight, as Jimi’s Mother saw the state of him, she nearly collapsed.
His whole body was caked in dirt, and worse still, dark red streaks of blood were splattered across him in places.

“What on earth happened? Why are your clothes like that?”
“Mother! The truth is….”

Jimi poured out everything he had experienced.
How he’d encountered bandits in the mountains and been stabbed in the belly, nearly dying,
and how the Forest Goddess had suddenly appeared and saved him.
Putting aside for now whether the tale was true or false, she simply felt relief that Jimi had returned safely.

“Sob, sob…. Thank the heavens you’re all right. Thank the heavens….”
“It’s all thanks to the Forest Goddess for saving me! Let’s offer a prayer of gratitude together.”
“Mm… yes….”

Mother and son returned home at once.
She was glad he had come back unharmed, but as she looked at him, something seemed amiss.

“Jimi….”

Jimi’s Mother gazed at her son as he knelt devoutly in prayer with an innocent expression, her own face growing troubled.
The story of the Forest Goddess was nothing more than an old tale passed down through generations—from her mother, her grandmother, and ancestors stretching back beyond memory.
At first, she had thought that, since Jimi had been unusually fond of the story as a child, in his extreme terror he had conjured a vision of the goddess from his own imagination. But….

“Forest Goddess, I am truly grateful that you saved my life. Please bless us and….”

As Jimi continued his endless praise of the Forest Goddess, his mother’s worry deepened.
At last, unable to bear it any longer, she sighed softly and began to gently scold him.

“Jimi… the Forest Goddess is just an old story. If you speak like that in front of the priests, they’ll surely scold you harshly. So from now on, don’t bring up the Forest Goddess so carelessly.”

At that, Jimi protested vehemently.

“No, that’s not it! The Forest Goddess is real, I’m telling you! She healed my wounds and gave me this Resurrection Mushroom!”
“Jimi!”

Jimi’s Mother furrowed her brow, resolved to give the boy a proper scolding.
But before she could speak, Jimi thrust something toward her.

“Look at this Resurrection Mushroom!”

It was a mushroom with a green cap dotted with white spots, studded like fine jewels.
Despite having lived her whole life in these woods, she had never seen its like before.

“Hmm…. It is strange—I’ve never seen one like it….”
“Please, just try it! The taste is wonderful, and it makes you feel amazing!”

Jimi held the Resurrection Mushroom up to his mother’s lips.
She hesitated, wondering if it might be a poisonous variety, but the bright gleam in her son’s eyes made her resolve waver.
At last, she cautiously bit off a small piece.
In that instant.

“Oh…?”

Her eyes flew wide open. An astonishingly sweet and savory flavor bloomed across her tongue.
The exquisite taste dissolved her caution, and she took another bite.
Then, the suffocating weight that had pressed on her chest for decades suddenly lifted—and the cough that had plagued her was gone.

“Oh… I can breathe so easily now….”
“You see? It’s all the blessing of the Forest Goddess!”
“Surely you don’t mean….”

The possibility that Jimi spoke the truth struck her like a revelation, and her entire perspective shifted.
Only now could Jimi’s Mother examine his clothes with proper attention.
A large hole was torn through his upper garment, and the fabric around it was caked with blood.

“Come here for a moment, child.”

As Jimi stepped closer, a sharp metallic reek of blood pricked her nostrils.
With trembling hands, she lifted his tattered shirt—and gasped.
Just as he said, a long scar was clearly visible across his abdomen.
She recoiled in shock.

“Good heavens! Surely you don’t mean….”

A wound of that magnitude should have been fatal on the spot.
Yet the scar was already completely healed.
No explanation save a miracle could account for it.
In that moment, she saw a sacred light shimmering behind her son’s shoulders.

“Oh!”

Her legs gave way beneath her.
She sank to her knees and pressed her trembling hands together in fervent prayer.

“You are… oh, merciful one!”
“So you can see her too now, Mother?”

That night, beneath the moon, mother and son knelt side by side.
Together, they bowed before the Forest Goddess, offering prayers of reverence and devotion.
Neither of them could have imagined that this single moment would become a turning point in human history.

* * *

Crunch, crunch….

I crouched low in the brush, watching the wolves’ meal with careful attention.
A massive deer’s carcass was being torn into with savage hunger.
They were savoring their victory feast now, utterly unaware they would soon become someone else’s prey.
As the sated wolves sprawled out to rest, one young pup wandered off alone from the pack.
Oblivious to everything, it padded through the undergrowth, catching scents on the air.
I didn’t miss my chance.

[Using Skill “Fission.”]

I separated a portion of my slime body and shaped it into a small gelatinous blob.
Then I attached a fallen leaf to its head and sent it toward the young wolf.
The tiny gel mass with the leaf on top oozed slowly forward.
The wolf pup spotted the moving leaf and perked up with curiosity.
That’s right. A cute little toy, isn’t it? Come on, this way~
I steered the blob gradually back toward the brush where my main body lay hidden.
The pup sniffed at the jelly, pawed at it cautiously, and drew steadily closer to where I was waiting.
Good. Good. Just a little closer….
The moment the curious pup poked its head through the brush.
I struck without hesitation, my gelatinous body engulfing it.

Squelch!

My viscous form wrapped around the creature instantly, trapping it.

Yelp! Whine… whine….

The pup tried to cry out from within my slime body, but all it managed was to gulp down slime.
I immediately released my Parasitism and burrowed into its nostrils.

[Using Skill “Parasitism Lv. 3” on target.]

Tingle.

A sharp electric sensation ran through my nervous system as messages began scrolling across my status screen.

[Successfully established Ash Gale Wolf Lv. 7 as Host!]
[Acquired genes from “Ash Gale Wolf.”]

Excellent. Success.
I immediately checked the new Host’s stats.

【Ash Gale Wolf Lv. 7】
【Traits】
“Cowardice”, “Wind Attribute Sensitivity Lv. 1”, “Keen Nose”, “Predatory Instinct”
【Skills】
“Gust Lv. 1”, “Vacuum Fang Lv. 2”, “Tailwind Sprint Lv. 1”

Hmm, quite respectable stats overall.
So these wolves were wind-attribute monsters after all. That explains why they moved so quickly.
The low level is unfortunate—the pup is still young—but it came equipped with several useful Skills and Traits.
Though “Ash Gale Wolf” is awfully long.
It’ll be a mouthful to say. Let me give it a proper name first.

‘From now on, you’re Bokgu III. Understand?’
Squeak….

The name “Bokgu” carries its own long history.
In my childhood, my grandfather always kept a dog in the yard, and that dog was always named “Bokgu.”
Originally, the yellow one was “Bokgu,” but when that mutt died, the black one that came next was also called “Bokgu.”
So I called it “Bokgu II.”
My grandfather had always given the dogs the same name with the intention that they would “bring fortune and blessing into the household.”
In my life, I’d only ever seen two Bokgus myself, but there were probably far more dogs that had borne that name throughout my grandfather’s long life.

In any case, this one is the third Bokgu in my life, so from now on he’s Bokgu III. And his level is exactly lucky seven.
From now on, bring fortune brightly in your jaws, Bokgu III!

Leading Bokgu III’s body out of the thicket, I naturally turned my steps.
That’s when the wolves around us reacted strangely.

Growwwwl—!

The alpha wolf suddenly bounded toward me from a distance, baring sharp fangs and snarling viciously.
The other brother wolves followed suit, their fur standing on end as they began growling in unison.

‘Wait, what?’

Their noses twitched and quivered, sniffing the air.
The wolves’ instinctive, acute sense of smell and instinct.
They had instantly sensed something foreign about the body of the brother they’d been living with until just moments ago.

Snap!

As the alpha barked threateningly, the brother wolves blocked my path, baring their teeth.

Growl….
Yelp….

Bokgu III’s body stiffened instinctively under the harsh rejection of his siblings.
Unable to rejoin the pack, Bokgu III was driven out alone.

Whimper….

The sight of him, tail drooping, constantly turning back to gaze at the receding pack, was utterly pitiful.
Ah… because I parasitized his body, he was abandoned by his family in a single day.

‘Sigh… damn it, I can’t help but feel responsible, and it gnaws at me.’
Yelp….

Bokgu III, driven from the pack, whimpered pitifully and lowered his head.
Watching him, rejected so thoroughly by the siblings he’d trusted as family, something in my chest throbbed with pain.

‘Ugh, poor thing. I know all too well what it feels like to be abandoned by family.’

Those days as an intern at a cutthroat company.
The endless late nights and my boss’s absurd, boomer-tier nonsense eventually shattered my mental state, and I fled the internship like a coward.
They say the world outside the company is hell, and reality proved them right.
All that awaited me, suddenly confined to my corner room, was the harsh contempt of family and relatives.

Every holiday, relatives gossiped about me, treating me like a loser, and with each passing occasion, my family’s gaze grew colder and colder.
By the time my unemployed youth stretched past a year, things shifted to naked contempt.
My younger sister, who’d squabbled with me since childhood, stopped treating me like a human being,
and my father’s icy gaze across the breakfast table each morning pierced my chest like a blade.
Eventually, even my mother—the one I thought would always be on my side—gave up on me.
How desperate must things have been for the word “parasite” to even cross her lips.

‘Sigh….’

As the bitter memory surfaced, a hollow laugh escaped me.
Whether human or monster, abandonment by family was a pain beyond words.
What in the world had I done to Bokgu?
All for my own gain….

I’d been a fool to treat the host as nothing more than a “car for transfers.”
These monsters had families too, had lives. By what right did I steal his?

…Of course, if he’d followed willingly, that would be different.
In that moment, Gyusik’s face came to mind.
That’s right—there’s no one quite like Gyusik, the loyal one who never abandoned me and waited until the very end.
So I had to find Gyusik first. Once I found him, I’d return Bokgu to his family.
I spoke to the dejected Bokgu III with genuine sincerity.

‘I’m sorry, Bokgu. Once I find Gyusik, my original host, I’ll leave your body. Don’t worry—I promise you that.’
Squeak….

But how was I supposed to find Gyusik in this vast world?
Actually, finding him wouldn’t be as difficult as I’d thought.
Fortunately, I now possessed the keen sense of smell of a wolf.
I pressed Bokgu III’s nose to the damp earth and breathed in, bringing to mind a specific image.
The scent of mushroom spores, and the very essence of Gyusik….
After all, there could be only one plague rat in this entire world reeking of mushroom spores.

Sniff-sniff.

Soon a faint but familiar scent came to me on the wind, brushing my nose.

‘Found you.’
Burst!

We began racing swiftly through the forest, following the trail of Gyusik’s scent.

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