I Became an Ancient All-Host Lifeform - Chapter 5

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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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005 Why does it taste so good?

Screech!
Snap!

Gyushik felt the grip of mortal terror as Golorchi lunged at him without warning.
In that instant, a message blazed across his Status Window.

[「Survival Instinct lv1」 has been activated. Evasion and escape capabilities increase dramatically.]

Thanks to the skill’s activation, Gyushik twisted his body with inhuman speed and slipped past Golorchi’s charging assault.
Ooh? You’ve got some moves? I came rocketing out so fast I was sure I’d have you pinned, but here we are.

Crackle-snap!

Gyushik bolted frantically in the opposite direction.
But even as his reflexes bordered on the miraculous, Golorchi’s speed was faster still—that was the problem.
The creature was not only larger than Gyushik, but its Instantaneous Acceleration was Level 3, making the gap unbridgeable.
Hell, cursed things. Back on Earth, you spray them with bug killer and they scatter like rockets—and here this one’s just as damn fast.

Screech!

Fortunately, the next alley lay just ahead.
Gyushik cut the corner hard, and Golorchi’s razor-edged mandibles carved only empty air.
If this had been a straight corridor, Golorchi and I would almost certainly have been lunch.

Grrrrr…

As Gyushik continued to slip away from each attack by the thinnest margin, Golorchi let out an eerie wail.
It wheeled its head back toward them at once and charged again.

Thud-thud-thud—!
Screech—!

Gyushik ran for his life. Golorchi’s footfalls thundered right at his heels.

Screech!

Gyushik took another corner.

‘Damn it all.’

That’s when I knew we were finished.
The moment we rounded the bend, a long, straight passage opened before us.
Without some new strategy, our flesh would be shredded by those countless teeth—every last scrap of us torn to ribbons.
The thought alone made my skin crawl. I had no intention of becoming bug food.

Crack-snap!

Gyushik sprinted down the straight Ventilation Duct with everything he had.
But there was no escape in a direct line against Golorchi’s insane velocity.
A horrible scraping sound clawed at his back, drawing closer by the second, and just as those hideous jaws snapped toward his buttocks—
A possibility struck me.
That’s it! I had Hardening!
Since it’s my skill, I should be able to cast it on my host’s body since our nerves are linked.
I activated the skill at once.

[Using skill 「Hardening lv1」.]

Perfect! Now even if that creature bites my backside, I’ll either block it or at least reduce the damage.
I just need to buy time and find an opening for a counterattack….

Crack!

But my prediction went completely wrong. Golorchi’s sharp mandibles sank directly into Gyushik’s buttocks.

Sizzle—!

A piercing shriek tore through the Ventilation Duct.
Fortunately, thanks to Survival Instinct taking control and Gyushik’s incredible physicality, I avoided a fatal wound—but the bite still carved a deep gash into the flesh.
Wait, what? I used a skill, so why did it just punch through? Is that creature’s jaw some kind of hydraulic press?
Then a message flashed across the Status Window.

[The rodent’s skin is not a suitable target for the skill Hardening.]

Are you serious? You should’ve told me that from the start!
I groused internally, but the Status Window offered no further explanation.
It said its piece and then shut up—like one of those accounts payable clerks who calls ten minutes before Friday quitting time to say something can’t be done.
I remember getting furious when that happened to me during my intern days at a startup sweatshop.

But the Status Window showed I had used a skill just now, didn’t it? That means the Hardening skill definitely activated.
If the entire body wasn’t a suitable target for Hardening, wouldn’t it have been impossible to cast in the first place?
Then, in the midst of this nightmare, a thread of possibility suddenly unraveled in my mind.

‘Alright, Gyushik. Trust me.’
Chirp?

With control over the body firmly in my grasp, I sprinted toward the next corner with mad desperation.
My bitten backside throbbed painfully, but I pushed every ounce of strength into the run.
The moment we stop, we die!

Thud-thud-thud—!

The massive Golorchi’s chittering roar echoed behind us in a way that made my blood run cold. Still, I ignored the sound as much as I could and kept my eyes forward, running.
And then, the instant I reached the corner—

[Activating skill Imperceptible Presence.]

I rounded the bend, masked my presence, and flattened myself against the Ventilation Duct wall, barely breathing.

Screech?!

In that instant, having lost its prey before its eyes, Golorchi careened around the corner and rocketed blindly forward.
Yes! Finally, I’ve got the thing’s back!
Without hesitation, I sank Gyushik’s hardened teeth deep into the creature’s carapace.

Crunch!
Shriek!

My instinct was right.
Although Hardening hadn’t worked on soft skin, it had clearly taken effect on Gyushik’s bones and teeth.
Steel-hard front teeth tore into the creature’s crimson shell with brutal precision.

Screech!

The creature thrashed and wailed with an otherworldly shriek, but I couldn’t afford to lose this hard-won advantage.
I refused to relinquish the bite, keeping those teeth locked in the creature’s carapace.
Instead, I clenched harder, driving the teeth deeper into its flesh with a sickening crunch.

Kee-iii-ik!

The creature thrashed more violently, but it was all for nothing. Given the Golorchi’s grotesque body structure, those hideous legs could never reach my back.
The frenzied monster could only rake its claws uselessly against the Ventilation Duct walls.

Tch, tch… as if that would touch me. Should’ve been doing your stretches, huh?
Instead, each thrash it made drove my teeth deeper, and cracks began spreading across its carapace radiating outward from where my fangs had pierced.

Kee-iii-ik!

Soon the creature’s viscous fluids sprayed in all directions from the fractures in its shell.
Perfect—now’s my chance!
With all my strength, I tore the carapace away like the lid of a tuna can.

Crack!
Kee-eee-ik!

With a final shriek, its snowy-white flesh lay exposed.
Good. Time to finish this creature for good!
But the rush of victory was short-lived—I found myself hesitating.

Survival’s left me no choice, but still…
Could someone of my upbringing really be reduced to eating something like this?
The self-loathing crept in. How far I’d fallen.
A cockroach, no less…
Was this what those survivors in Fallout felt like, forced to eat those irradiated giant cockroaches?
…But what choice do I have if I want to live?
I squeezed my eyes shut and took a large bite of the creature’s pristine white meat.

[Skill “Predation” activated.]

Smack, smack… Gulp… Swallow.
Huh? Wait…
I froze. Then I looked at the glistening white flesh before me again.
This is… actually… delicious?
As much as I hate to admit it as a civilized person… it’s impossibly delicious!
The tender flesh with that characteristic sweetness and saltiness of crustaceans…
If I had to compare it to something, I’d say it’s like exceptionally fresh sashimi-grade shrimp?
Now that I think about it, I once heard that shrimp and cockroaches evolved from the same biological ancestor… Was that actually true?

The thought of shrimp pushed away what remained of my self-doubt like snow melting in sun.
That’s it! I’m not eating a cockroach right now… I’m eating a land shrimp! A land shrimp! And now that I look at it, the shell’s even reddish, just like a real shrimp!
Having rationalized my way past the worst of it, I began devouring the Golorchi’s plump meat ravenously.

Crunch, crunch, crunch!

No matter how tenacious a monster’s life force, it cannot survive being eaten from the back down.

Kee-eee-ik…

At last, the giant land shrimp—the Golorchi—sprawled lifeless on the ground, legs stretched out in a pitiful sprawl.
A message appeared on the Status Window.

[Level increased. lv 1 → lv 2]
[Host ‘Gyushik’ level increased. lv 2 → lv 3]
[Acquired genetic factors of ‘Golorchi’.]

Excellent! Both my level and Gyushik’s had risen.
A new menu called “Genome Archive” appeared on the Status Window, and a “new!” indicator flashed in the corner.
I knew some people ignore those notifications without a second thought, but I’m the type who gets deeply uncomfortable the moment I see one.
So I checked right away.
A list of all the genetic factors I’d acquired so far appeared.
Ancient Dragon, sewer rat, and Golorchi—all recorded without exception.
Ha, it’s just like looking at a Pokédex.

[You can consume ‘Genome Points’ to apply collected genetic factors to your host. (Current Points: 1pt)]

Wait? So genetic factors aren’t just something you collect like filling out a compendium and call it done! I can actually transplant the genes I’ve gathered directly into my host’s body?
What should I call this? Genetic modification? Enhancement? No, it has to be ‘Tuning’!
Though it seems I can’t tune endlessly—I need something called ‘Genome Points’.
Looking at the 1pt I have now, it seems I can only apply one thing. It’s a shame, but I’ll take what I can get.

If that’s the case, then everything changes going forward.
Right now Gyushik may be nothing but a pathetic little rat, no bigger than my baby fist, but depending on how I tune him, he could grow into a monster with absolutely insane specs.

Wait. No, that’s wrong. Wasting resources on leveling up some low-level monster because of sentiment—that’s something only amateurs do.
The real pro move is to concentrate resources into a broken character. That’s a fundamental strategy that applies regardless of the game.
So it’s smarter to switch to a stronger host as soon as possible.
Pooling the points I’ve gathered into a powerful host and rapidly turning them into an overpowered force—that’s the efficient way.
Just as I was steeling my resolve, an irresistible temptation seized me.

…But a new feature just unlocked. You’re really not going to try it? Seriously?
At this rate, I could die tomorrow.
For a long while, I was torn between optimization and curiosity about the new function.

‘Hrmph…!’
Squeak?

As I sank into thought, Gyushik tilted his head.
Damn it. A low-level pest, but irritatingly cute.
Well, why don’t I give tuning a test run?

What’s life without a little spontaneity? If you worry about efficiency in everything, you never do anything.
Besides, I need to understand how this feature works properly if I’m going to use it better later anyway.

In the end, I gave in to temptation and pressed ‘Yes’.
Gyushik’s Status Window appeared, and alongside it, a list of all the genetic factors I’d collected so far.
Sure enough, the Ancient Dragon’s Blood Factor was listed at the very top.
That makes sense—it was the first one I got, and it’s a powerful genetic factor.

Squeak?

At that moment, Gyushik let out an excited little cry.
Huh? Since when does a rat have the audacity to covet such elite genetics? How hard did I have to work to get the Ancient Dragon’s factor anyway?
And besides, even if I applied it to him, he’d be too low-level for it to activate.
So Golorchi genes are more your speed.

Squeal….

When I selected ‘Golorchi’, information about Golorchi appeared.

【Golorchi】
∎ Genetic Lineage
Demonic Arthropod ⊃ Blattodea ⊃ Blattidae ⊃ Golorchi
∎ Individual Description
A large red cockroach that feeds on rotting flesh. Repulsive in appearance, but surprisingly appetizing.

【Traits】
「Tenacious Vitality」, 「Murderous Instinct」
【Skills】
Carapace, Biting, Instantaneous Acceleration

Wait, hold on. What in the world is this note about it being “surprisingly delicious”? Why is the Genome Archive cataloguing my subjective taste preferences without permission?
Sigh… I have a feeling that from now on, the moment I see any roach-type monster, I’ll instinctively start salivating. It’s a memory I’d rather forget.

Anyway, how should I Tune Gyushik to make the most of his potential? I suppose I need to think carefully about his skill progression tree too.
I decided to determine his development based on what path would suit him best. It’d be better to specialize him in one direction rather than spread him thin as a jack-of-all-trades.

Should I equip Gyushik with Murderous Instinct and raise him into a crazed “killer rat” with nothing but murder on his mind?
Or maybe implant Tenacious Vitality like a cockroach—turning him into a “zombie rat” that resurrects even if his body gets cleaved in half?
Or perhaps wrap him in the Carapace of that crimson-gleaming Golorchi, outfitting his entire body in armor and making him a “knight rat”?
I found myself sinking into contemplation over Gyushik’s future path.

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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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