Daggat rolled to the side as the boar barreled past.

"What is that thing?" Daggat asked.

"An animal turned monster. More importantly, however, it is pork!" Elyndris cackled.

The monster was like a boar growing faster than its skin could keep up. Muscle and fat were open to the air, sweating blood in small rivers. Its tusks were twisted and knobby. They seemed to sprout buds of some sort of flower.

But, its size was what worried Daggat. It could swallow him whole in two bites. One of its eyes swiveled in Daggat's direction. Rather than the primal intelligence he expected to see, the eyes revealed pure madness and pain.

Daggat didn't hesitate as he stabbed at it with his spear. He made contact, cutting several inches into it. Hot blood spilled as the hog screeched in pain and rage.

But even as Daggat pulled the spear back, he could see the blood stop. The wound sealed itself and was healed.

"It can HEAL-" Daggat started. The boar swung his head at him, trying to gore him with its strange tusks. At the last second, Daggat blocked it with the spear. But, he was still thrown backward. Just once, Daggat wished he could fight something not strong enough to crush his skull with a single attack.

The boar turned to him, steam blasting from its nostrils. One hoof scratched the ground, seeking purchase for a charge.

"BURN!" Elyndris screamed. A beam of fire blasted into its flank just as it charged forward. It smelled like burnt pork. This disrupted its charge enough for Daggat to roll to the monster's side. He stabbed with his spear of bracing and then activated its special ability. It dug several inches into the boar's flesh and locked in space for a second. Just enough time for the boar's momentum to work against it. The unmoving spear blade sliced a deep, wide valley into the boar.

Daggat grinned. That was a death blow if he had ever seen one. The boar limped on the side it was cut. The wound was deep, deeper than any wound Daggat had inflicted. His training efforts were paying off, it seemed.

His grin faded as he watched as the burn simply crumbled away and the wound closed.

"How do we kill something that can recover so quickly?" Daggat asked. They would need to deliver an instant death blow, but its skull was too thick. Besides, that's where the pointy bits were.

"Kill it? We should capture it. We could harvest it for hearts and meat." Elyndris said.

The beast made a low sound. It wasn't rage or a grunt of pain. Daggat was reminded of… sorrow. Realization dawned on him. This monster was cursed. In constant pain and unable to die. How? What happened to this beast to cause it to live like this?

"No," Daggat said. "We need to kill it. I want to use it for alchemy. How many of those blasts do you have left?"

"Two, but one is focused. Do you have an idea?" Elyndris said as she came to his side. The beast had recovered and was turning back towards them.

"Maybe. Stay next to me. Use your first blast to keep it coming towards me." If Daggat could deal enough damage all at once, maybe he didn't need to destroy its brain. He would hunt this like the boar it was.

"Okay, but if you die I am taking the hoard." Elyndris pounced, taking to the air.

The boar charged once again. This time, Daggat stood his ground. The spear was designed for this situation, so he had the advantage, right? Daggat gulped. He placed one end on the ground, bracing it normally. The beast was headed right for it.

But, even a monster maddened by pain wasn't entirely stupid. It veered off its course to avoid the spear. But, just as it did, Elyndris blasted it with another beam of fire. The beam sliced across its face, burning its eyes.

It ran forward blind, but still off-center. Daggat cursed and dove in front of it.

Just as the spear was in position while he was in mid-dive, he locked it.

The boar slammed into it with its full weight. The spear disappeared into its breast with a tearing sound. The boar's scream of pain rattled through Daggat's skull. For the first time, he was happy he only had one ear.

Daggat crawled back. The boar was stuck. The spear held it in place for a moment. Elyndris landed on Daggat's shoulder. She began to chuckle.

"You're fireproof, right?" She asked.

"Wait-" Daggat started. Then she cast her spell. Daggat felt something pulling from inside of him. His core dimmed. A new sensation dragged him down. It was similar to exhaustion, but not quite. The feeling of his fire core being drained.

Elyndris' beam was a fraction of the size of the others. But the heat was far more intense. A white bar of flame slammed into the boar's face. It screamed as the muscles of its face began to boil away, then burn to ash. The eyes popped and the flesh burned away. White skull burned to black in an instant. Then, the head itself popped.

When the spell ended, all that was left was a split boar skull filled with boiling brains. The meat of its body was a gradient of burned, browned, and grayed meat, starting from its skull. The boar was dead for sure. This was a wound that it couldn't heal.

Daggat wiped off a glob of boiling brain from his brow. His jaw hung open in shock. Elyndris began to cackle directly in his ear.

"What the FUCK was that?!" Daggat asked. He spat some gray matter that got into his mouth.

"I don't know! HA HA HA! But the power… the destruction!" Elyndris leaped off of him and roared one of her tiny roars.

"No, seriously. How was it that powerful?" Just how powerful was magic? Alfred couldn't do anything like that.

"When I cast a spell, I drain mana from around me. I guess you were close enough that I drained your core. Perhaps fire essence enhances fire spells? It was also focused, meaning it was a smaller area. The weight of it was intense. I don't think I can move those beams much."

Daggat casually walked to its side and pulled a piece of cooked flesh off of it. He popped it in his mouth. It tasted like pork. There was a lot of pork here. Maybe enough for Hunter's core?

[You have devoured - Virthuk, level 13. Experience Gained.]

"Not bad. So, whatever we use it on has to be immobile. Good to know. Now… how am I going to get the spear out?"

Over the next few hours, Daggat managed to remove his spear. He also harvested some interesting ingredients from the virthuk. Its heart, a strange organ he was certain was a core and its tusks. He also grabbed several dozen of the strange flowers.

When he returned, he told Klaw about the beast's corpse. Daggat challenged him, telling him he couldn't get the entire monster back to Hunter. That worked like a charm, but Hunter went with him to collect the meat anyway. Elyndris flew off to reforge her spells she used.

With that excitement out of the way, it was getting late. But, he wanted to stop by the tree before calling it a night.

In the dungeon, he found a sign posted before the steps going down.

"NO LIGHT BEYOND THIS POINT!!! Daggat!"

Daggat growled. So, Zuss was down there. He should probably say hello, anyway. He entered the status void. He had already overlapped his lab with virtual furniture. He had made it silver and gold.

As he approached the tree, he heard talking. Anath's voice. She was talking to Zuss, and their voices were echoing into the lab. It seemed Zuss had holed herself up in the room where the demon was.

He probably shouldn't listen in. He did anyway.

"…don't know. It feels wrong." Anath said. What were they talking about?

"You don't have to do anything you don't want to," Zuss said. "But, you need to get stronger too."

"Daggat will be mad-" Anath began.

"Fuck Daggat. He can find something else for you." Zuss said. Daggat sneered. That was a bit rude. Daggat had a feeling they were talking about the cores.

"Okay, I can try to ask him. But, he might just lie to me again."

"If Daggat isn't scheming something, then you should worry. You know he just wants us all to be our best."

"So HE can have a stronger party. Not because he cares about US."

The conversation was getting a tad personal. Even Daggat knew enough that he shouldn't listen in.

"Oi! Zuss. I'm alive." Daggat said with a boosted voice. The girls stopped talking.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

"So?" Zuss asked, half yelling.

"Okay, fuck you too, then. Whatchya talking about?" Daggat asked.

"Anath doesn't like the fury core. Not good, not good. She needs to be stronger, yes? Yes?" Said the spider. Daggat just noticed it crawling towards him.

"Hey! Traitor!" Anath yelled.

"Anath, you know my style. If I want you to do something, I'll trick you into it but I won't force you. If you don't like the idea of a fury core, we can find another." Daggat said.

"That's what I love about you, Master. So deliciously open about how cruel you can be." His assistant pipped in.

"Oh, shut it." He said to the assistant. Then he turned his volume back up. "Let's talk about this later. It's late. I want to talk to the tree for a bit. Oh, and also, we killed a boar monster. Gonna be tasty when Hunter gets a hold of it. It's pre-skinned too!"

Daggat turned his attention to the spot where the tree should be. He couldn't see it in the status void. That was okay. He only needed to talk to it. After hopping onto the desk, he kicked it a few times.

"I'm up… I'm up. It was hard enough sleeping with you screaming in my ear." The tree said.

"You don't have ears," Daggat commented. "Hey, so, I got to try out the poison and bombs." Daggat had made the poison from the lady's flower. It was primarily Death and Decay. The bomb was Death and Deadwood. Daggat didn't expect deadwood to be an actual essence, but there it was in his recipes. He named them Fungal Drain and Deathroot Bomb.

"Did they work?"

"Like a charm."

The tree tsked. He was adamant they would be useless.

"So, what do you want?" It asked.

"Two things. First, what do you know about cores?"

"Ah, monster cores. Fantastic alchemical ingredients. They are pure essence, essentially. One of the few ways to obtain it. Indeed, it is an organ that some monsters possess that creates essence."

"Can they be depleted?"

"I believe so, but I am not a monster expert. I do know they draw in mana and convert it into a specific essence."

"That essence… how many are there, exactly? I've got a fire core now, but fury is an essence?"

"Hundreds. It will be easier to explain the sixteen schools of essence. They are ways we group the most common essences. Each has three basic essences attributed to it. Physical, spiritual, and conceptual."

"So that's… what, forty-eight essence? That's a lot."

"Forty-eight BASIC essence. There are advanced forms. But, all belong within a school. For example, your fire essence. It belongs to the pyric school. Fire is physical, wrath is spiritual, and chaos is conceptual. Somewhere around here was a visual guide to the schools..."

"Chaos essence? That sounds… fun." Daggat grinned. "How can I get it?"

"You can find a natural source of it, or convert another pyric essence."

"How do you do that? And can you convert a core?"

"You must overwhelm an essence of one type with another essence. For fire, you could leave it in a place of total chaos for some time. As for the core, I don't know. Like I said, I am not an expert on monsters."

Ideas raced through his mind. Ideas he would need to work on. He had just gained this fire core and already he was wanting to tinker. Fire was fun and all, but… chaos called to him.

"What is the connection between fire and chaos? Fire is predictable, chaos is not." Daggat said.

"The chaos essence embodies not random chance, but complexity. The smallest of changes spiral into unexpected outcomes. Like with fire, the tiniest of embers grow into an unstoppable forest fire."

"I see. Second thing. I know you were buddy buddy with Battlestorm. Tell me about his class."

"The general? That takes me back… over, what, almost seventy years?"

"Yes, yes, you are old. I get it. The class."

"He was private about matters of his path, which is his right. But, I do know that he was unusual about selecting his class."

"How so?"

"He was level eight when he selected it. What's more unusual, he was in his mid-twenties. Far later than most. The war had already begun. He led a battle against orcs. Once that battle was won, he selected his class."

"Why did he wait till then? Some requirements?"

"Perhaps. I know for sure he needed to get his intelligence to twenty."

"Bah, easy." Daggat mulled over the problem. It had to be something to do with the battle. He would need to look into that line of thought later. "Now, let's go back to the essences. Tell me about the basics..."

Daggat

True Name: Daggat Soul: Monster Genseed: gremlin [ 3 Str, 4 Dex, 3 Con, 2 Int, 3 Wil, 3 Cha; Regenerating Teeth, Rot Resistance; Tiny Size] Genbloom: goblin [ +2 Str, +2 Dex, +2 Con, +1 Int, +1 Wil; Scavenger; Small Size]

Monster Level: 9

Attributes (0/6): Strength: 11 Dexterity: 11 Constitution: 11 Intelligence: 20 Will: 10 Charm: 12

Feats: Encounter: True Angel Ability: Mighty Intellect Act: Fledgling Alchemist Knowledge: System Knowledge Act: Devotion [Layered feats] Act: Usurper Act: Touch of Death Act: Reborn by Fire

Skills(0/4): Alchemy: 1 [Source: Fledgling Alchemist] System Aptitude: 1 [Source: System Knowledge] System Assistant: 2 [Perk: Semi-sentience] Mind Codex: 1 [Synergy: Mental notes + Copy Tome] Party Leader: 1 [Source: Usurper]

Notable Natural Skills: Literacy: Apprentice

Biotraits (0/9): Base size: Small [Source: Goblin] Regenerating Teeth [Source: Gremlin] Enhanced Night Vision [Source: Gremlin] Disease Resistance [Mutations: Rot Resistance; Source: Gremlin] Temperature Resistant Skin [Synergy: Fire Resistant Skin + Cold Resistant Skin] Scavenger [Source: goblin] Death Sight [Source: Touch of Death] Increased Pain Tolerance Fire Core Beguiling Presence [Synergy: Hypnotic Gaze (Dominating Gaze, Mesmerizing Gaze) + Hypervocal (Beguiling Voice) Cords]

Transformations: Drakeheart Form: +2 strength +2 charm Extreme Temperature Resistant Scales [Synergy: Fireproof scales + Temperature resistant Skin] Fire breath

Night Stalker form: +2 strength +2 dexterity Dark vision [Night Vision Enhanced] Deepen Shadow

Other: Variant: +10 Intelligence Skill potions used: 1/5

Notable Gear: Strange pure-white sword shard Spear of Bracing 2 Mihr Contracts

Elyndris

True Name: Elyndris Soul: Monster Genseed: Larva [ 1 Str, 1 Dex, 1 Con, 1 Int, 1 Wil, 1 Cha; miniscule Size]

Monster Level:

9

Attributes (0/12):

Strength:

10

Dexterity:

8

Constitution:

8

Intelligence:

15

Will:

7

Charm:

7

Feats:

Encounter: True Angel

Knowledge: System Knowledge

Act: Devotion

[layered feats]

Act: Blasphemy

Ability: Mighty Intellect

Act: Vile Concoction

Act:

Fledgling Mage

Skills (0/3):

Burst of Strength: 1

Pounce: 1

Construct Capacity: 1

Spellcraft: 1

Biotraits (1/9):

Base size: Miniscule

Jaws

Thaumic Sense

[Synergy: Tremor Sense + Magic Sense; Mutations:

Refined Sense

]

Complex organs

Limbs [Mutation:

Lesser Wings

]

Disease Resistance

[Source: Vile Concoction]

Force Distributing Flesh

Transformations:

Night Stalker form:

+2 strength

+2 dexterity

+2 constitution

Jaws [Mutation: Powerful Jaws]

Known Magical Components:

Engines

: Force, Energy, Beam

Drives

: Focus

Notable Gear:

5 Refresh Pills

Hero Scroll

Other:

Curse: Ungenesis

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