Tamer 28
===
Chapter 28: Excitement
TL : Cnine
ED/PF :
Part 1
I escorted Haruno to the 2nd floor, regrouped with the monsters waiting on the 6th, captured more on the 14th, and then, as the monsters watched me with envy, I alone ate my rice balls and took a breather.
Why are they lot looking at me like that? I gave them rice grains earlier, didn’t I?
「Status」
===
Status
Name：Sakura Kikyo
Occupation： Monster Tamer
Lv：204 ↑29
HP：1020 ↑197
MP：1303 ↑228
SP：0
Skill
Monster Taming166 Monster Recovery30 Monster Enhancement10 Monster Fusion Monster Reborn
Monster Evolution Monster Summoning：New
Tamed Monster
GoblinLv204x15 SlimeLｖ204x4
PixieLv203×35 DemonLv198
PixieLv185×10 Skeleton GeneralLv81×101
EXP to next level: 4739325
===
Once I passed level 200, my stats started increasing at double the previous rate, which was a blessing.
Considering that levelling up even once now demands over five million EXP, anything less would’ve been unacceptable.
Anyway, these were my current stats.
Even though Haruno has stopped trusting the Dungeon Association, there was no chance I could show her these numbers.
Staring at them, I finally understood just how powerful a high-rank monster tamer really was.
But raw levels alone weren’t enough. I needed more than brute force. Something beyond numbers. I need to capture monsters that are stronger than those owned by mediocre high-rank monster tamers.
「Right then, all of you. This afternoon, we’re starting a new experiment.」
For that purpose, I’d deliberately descended to the 14th floor and captured 101 Skeleton Generals.
Skeleton Generals are a type of skeletal monster. They were the same size as ordinary skeletons, but there was one clear difference. They carry swords.
Without those swords, they’d be indistinguishable from your average Joey skeletons.
「Skeleton Generals, line up.」
Bone rattled against bone, jaws clacking as the Skeleton Generals neatly formed ranks, perfectly following my command.
「Sword are wasted on mere bones.」
The moment I stripped the sword from one Skeleton General, the others erupted into a chorus of loud jaw-rattling.
「Quiet, is this your way of protesting? Bones don’t need swords.」
When I said that, the Skeleton Generals abruptly stopped clattering their jaws.
「Good. As long as you understand.」
To test it, I dismantled one Skeleton General, pulling its bones apart and scattering them piece by piece.
They rattled in outrage when I took their sword, yet when I dismantle their very body, they remain perfectly calm. Strange creatures.
「Oh? As expected.」
The status window flickers into view. HP unchanged. Not even a scratch.
Just as I suspected. Bones coming off didn’t count as damage.
After managing to create a fused Skeleton General yesterday, I’d assumed this was the case. Still, since they weren’t under monster taming, I hadn’t been able to verify it until now.
Looks like this creature only takes damage when its bones are actually broken, not merely rearranged.
As things stand, the bones have merely been removed. It doesn’t seem to count as taking damage at all.
So, I went ahead and completely dismantled the Skeleton Generals, sorting them neatly by each individual part.
「That took longer than I expected...」
Honestly, It was creepy.
Before me lies a silent tableau of white bones, stripped down, categorised, and lined up with almost surgical precision.
If someone were to see this scene, they’d surely brand me the culprit of a gruesome massacre. Well… I suppose I am. Just not the way they’d imagine.
「Alright… let’s try putting it together.」
Nothing like building stuff to get the blood pumping.
◇◇◇
Using the collected bones of the Skeleton Generals, I meticulously fused them together, forming a single dragon-shaped Skeleton General.
It stood at roughly five metres tall.
I packed the bones in as tightly as possible, giving it a dense, intimidating build. It looks tough. It looks cool. Honestly, I’m proud of it.
I did hesitate over where to put the Skeleton General’s head, but in the end I crammed it straight into the dragon’s mouth. Problem solved.
「From today onwards, you are Skeleton Dragon Kai, Version 101.」
「Clakclak」
Yeah. That was a masterpiece.
Though the Skeleton General used as material was only level 81, the presence of the finished creature was overwhelming. It looked like nothing could stand against it.
「Skeleton Dragon. There’s a Skeleton General here that I captured without using monster taming. Take it down.」
「Clakclak」
Defying its massive frame, the Skeleton Dragon moved with shocking speed, lashing out with its claw-like limbs and striking the Skeleton General.
The enemy was erased in a single blow, dissolving into smoke as an immense surge of EXP poured into me.
「Bit of a gamble, but hey, it worked...」
Skeleton Generals usually give 600 EXP. What I got instead was 60,600 EXP.
That was a whopping 101x EXP multiplier/
「Uhm?」
===
Status
Name：Sakura Kikyo
Occupation： Monster Tamer
Lv：204
HP：1020
MP：1303
SP：0
Skill
Monster Taming166 Monster Recovery30 Monster Enhancement10 Monster Fusion Monster Reborn
Monster Evolution Monster Summoning
Tamed Monster
GoblinLv204x15 SlimeLｖ204x4
PixieLv203×35 DemonLv198
PixieLv185×10
101Skelittle Dragon-chanレｖs81
EXP to next level: 4678725
===
「What the hell is this?」
The “Monsters Under My Control” section beneath my status had clearly gone off the rails.
「101 Skelittle… Dragon-chan, Level 81’? Is that really how you read it?」
And honestly, how many litres is a skelittle meant to be anyway?
Jokes aside, it seems the system has registered the 101 Skeleton Generals as a single monster called “101 Skelittle Dragon-chan.”
At the same time, it was still being treated as a composite monster, meaning that when it defeats an enemy, I receive EXP at 101 times the normal rate.
Even so... For something listed as Level 81, its power was completely out of proportion.
===
Monster Status
Name: 101 Skelittle Dragon-chan
レｖs81
HP：1064
MP：413
===
The Skeleton Generals I caught are Level 81 vanguard monsters, with average stats of around 500 HP and 200 MP.
Meanwhile, 101 Skelittle Dragon-chan boasts roughly double those numbers.
I had no idea how the system crunched these figures, but I’m not about to complain about higher stats. If anything, considering it’s built from 101 monsters, you could argue its HP and MP should be the combined total of all of them.
Complaining won’t get me anywhere, so I’ll take what I can. At the very least, its HP is on par with mine at Level 204.
「Still… this is going to be a bit of a headache to handle...」
I stared at the hundred leftover Skeleton General heads, stacked like someone had given up halfway through tidying, and thought about it.
I already knew that sticking multiple heads onto a fused Skeleton General completely wrecked its movement.
Which meant adding them to 101 Skelittle Dragon-chan was obviously off the table.
There was no clever workaround here.
「Oi, goblins. You’ve still got plenty of bin bags, yeah? Just shove these into them and carry them along. I don’t mind if they rattle about inside.」
I was glad I’d prepared large household bin bags in advance. They were originally meant for hauling magic stones, but this time it couldn’t be helped. I’ll buy more later.
Six Skeleton General heads fit neatly into a single bag. If each goblin carries two, transportation is no issue at all.
There was fifteen goblins.
Nine will carry the bags. The remaining six would handle the magic stones and serve as guards.
「I’ll be travelling on the Skelittle Dragon from now on. You lot can just follow along.」
「Gyan」
「Good answer. You’ve got real talent for sticking close, you know?」
「Gya-gya! Gya!」
Uhm?
「It’s fine. If you’ve got talent, then with enough effort you can become a fine tag-along. Have confidence.」
「GYAGYAGYAGYA!」
What now? Are you objecting to being called a hanger-on?
No... That’s not it.
The goblin was pointing at the piled up swords removed from the pile of Skeleton Generals.
「Gyagyah!!」
「I see. You’re asking whether it’s really okay to just leave these swords behind, right?」
「Gyan」
「Just leave them. I don’t want them. Throw them away.」
「GYAN!?」
The instant I declared the swords was trash, the Skeleton General heads crammed into the bin bags erupted into a chorus of rattling.
They were so loud it became unbearable, so I swung the bin bags full of Skeleton General heads around. The surroundings instantly fell silent.
As I climbed onto the Skelittle Dragon and began moving, the six goblins who weren’t assigned as porters panicked and started stuffing the stacked swords into bin bags to carry them, but… those bags won’t survive that.
Still, they might come in handy someday. I’d stash them in my large-capacity item bag.
If they never see use, I’ll just break the swords in half right in front of them.