Becoming a Monster

Chapter 439: Chapter 439: Success

Time passed, but not enough for impatience to fade.

The last of the discussion had long since ended, yet none of the creatures moved from where they stood. The space right outside Noah’s home remained crowded, bodies packed closer than usual, eyes tracking every motion Noah made.

Because Noah had enough cores not to have to resort to using his blood as the foundation, he was able to prepare more cores without exhausting himself.

Each time one left his hand, heads turned in unison. A stifled pressure descended on the one who had to consume the core within the envious gaze of many. Even those who had already eaten found themselves leaning forward without realizing it.

Noah noticed it, of course. But he continued at his own pace. He was more focused inward within himself, especially when it came to one of his main bonded creatures.

He wasn’t expecting to see immediate results. And yet, he was surprised once again as he felt a strange pressure building within him.

The soul felt as if it was telling him that it was on the cusp of breaking through. That feeling, surprisingly, was more intense whenever Pandora consumed a core.

’What does this mean?’ Noah knew that if he could answer this question, it would help guide him the next time he needed to improve the skill.

Inside his soul, Ailetta was also trying to contribute to helping Noah figure out the reason. "Is it because she’s the last one to join us, so she hasn’t had the chance to absorb enough cores?"

"Maybe..." Noah thought back to the original skill. "When I think about it, the skill was originally only capable of allowing me to tame three creatures. Maybe she is now considered an outlier, which is why it’s affecting me more. We will have to come back to this after we get our fifth companion."

"And you’re absolutely positive about your choice?" Ailetta’s tone wasn’t meant to downplay Noah’s decision, but thinking about the drake’s... dramatic personality, she wasn’t sure they were better off killing it when they had the chance and just taking its soul.

"I’m sure... It can be annoying, but its strength and its knowledge will benefit us in the long run." Noah paused, a sudden desire to smile building up inside of him as he said. "Besides, how many people could say that they tamed a dragon? I bet if I told you that I would tame a dragon the day the world changed; you would’ve never believed me."

"...But he’s not a dragon."

"...."

___________

The two strayed away from their earlier conversation and delved into who could one-up the other.

During that time, Noah had prepped 41 cores, and he still had four remaining, but his body was naturally reaching its limit.

All of his creatures, the drake included, were given three cores each. However, they could only look with envious pouting gazes as he gave five additional cores to Pandora. His excuse being. "Pandora never sleeps; instead, she watches over us every second of the day without complaint and without asking for anything in return."

His excuse was received quietly, but not without visual dissatisfaction. Yet none of them was truly angry towards Pandora. Besides Eve, Noah never truly showed favoritism amongst them, enabling them to accept his excuse without scrutiny.

If anything, those like Fenrir and Arachne were taken by surprise. It never occurred to them that Pandora was doing anything for them. If Noah had never brought it up, then they would’ve continued to remain ignorant of it.

They realized that Noah paid more attention to them than they initially realized.

Pandora’s reaction was the strongest. Her roots glowed brighter than ever before.

Validation mattered more to her than the cores themselves.

Even now, her focus wasn’t on the power flowing through her, but on how else she could be useful. How else could she support him?

Wrapped up in her emotions, she consumed the cores at a faster rate than before.

And when Noah was still trying to determine if he should make any more, his body felt a strong change.

His mind was pulled into his soul realm, beyond his control. The entire space rumbled softly. And throughout the entire time of that rumble, Noah experienced the feeling of his soul being fulfilled.

It was similar to the sensation of popping your back after hours of feeling stiff. His soul felt as if it were unburdened after days of tension.

"I didn’t expect us to succeed on the first day..." Noah exasperatedly mumbled. He didn’t need the system to understand that he had finally had his breakthrough. Now, if he wanted to, he could tame the drake.

But he couldn’t think about that yet; his mind was focused on understanding the feeling from earlier. It wasn’t just a sense of fulfillment. Because if it was, what did he have to ’fulfill’ in order to break through? And what would he need to ’fulfill’ if he wanted to break through again?

He replayed the scenario over and over, fixating on what he felt the moment before his soul broke through.

"Noah, I think we are overthinking it." Ailetta snapped him out of his thoughts, gesturing to the outskirts of his soul.

"From here, you can see our cores within your soul. What if our cores, in a sense, stabilize what’s in your soul? I still remember Grim’s death. At that moment, your entire body had weakened severely. What if Pandora was just your weakest link? And thus provided the most improvement to your soul?"

As he thought about it, he recalled the pain within his soul due to Grim’s death.

Then he thought about the time he attempted to tame the vulture. And that’s when Ailetta’s words made it all click. Back then, the vulture didn’t simply die because Noah’s skill had killed it; the vulture’s core exploded under the pressure of Noah’s realm that could no longer support another core.

During that time, he didn’t feel any distress within himself. But what if it was different for his companions? What if, somehow, he succeeded in taming the bird, would his other creatures have suffered as that vulture had instead? Noah’s mood plummeted just thinking about it.

"We will go forward with that in mind for now. But we have to be more caref- I need to be more careful." Noah corrected himself as he could already sense Ailetta’s consciousness sharpen.

Outside, none of the others were aware of what had happened. And the drake remained willfully oblivious whenever Noah paused out of nowhere. The less it understood, the easier it was to bear with the unexpected.

But throughout all this. As the creatures savored the cores, multiple pairs of longing and depraved eyes never looked away.

Noah didn’t try to hide the act of giving out cores. In fact, he did it all out in the open, right outside his home.

The dogs and cats would see everything, and that was exactly what he wanted. As long as he showed what the carrot was, it wouldn’t be long before they came begging for the stick. And just as he planned, they were already discussing amongst themselves about this particular subject.

Most of the dogs were already willing to give in to temptation, while the cats were too proud. They desired a partnership; begging was beneath them.

Noah didn’t mind those who were undecided; what the majority thought had little to no actual weight to be able to affect anything. All he needed was for one of them to give in. And after seeing the favorable conditions of that one and comparing it with themselves, the others would fall in line.

With his goal accomplished, Noah didn’t intend to prep the remaining cores.

His body was drained. However, there was still time within the day, and it was too early to sleep. Instead, he sent the noisy ones away to do whatever they wanted while he sat within the comfort of his home.

But as he sat down, his eyes shut briefly. He slowly reopened them.

"Have you thought about what I said?" His eyes gazed over to Arachne, silently and stiffly standing next to the door. Noah didn’t need to see the complicated expression on her face to understand what was going on; he could feel her chaotic emotions the moment he sent everyone away.

"Eve, come with me. Maybe we can choose a pet that would be good for you, too." Ailetta pulled away the stubborn girl who acted as if she couldn’t part ways from Noah. However, her naive acting wouldn’t work on Ailetta. She knew that Eve was only curious about what the two were going to talk about.

Yet, Ailetta knew exactly how to deal with Eve despite how smart the vampire actually was. She was still a child in mind and at heart. She immediately threw Arachne in the back of her mind, setting her sight on the creatures from before.

After being "alone", Arachne still didn’t move. She thought she was braver now. She had rehearsed what she wanted to say so many times. But now, when given the chance actually to do it, she couldn’t find the strength. An uncomfortableness gripped her.

She had experienced the threat far too many times. But right now, she feared this moment the most.