Becoming a Monster

The zombie died as soon as it collided into the ground, but Noah and Fenrir weren't aware of that. In the current moment, they were both instinctual beasts who wanted nothing more than to release their frustrations on their foe.

....

Time continued to pass after the confrontation with their first evolved monster. The gains from killing the zombie should be nothing short of what he received from the Zombie King, and the chest that appeared to be the same color as the platinum chest that the Zombie King dropped as well. But there was an oblivious difference, the chest didn't have the same metallic luster as the previous one, but it was shiny brightly as a gem.

The sight of the chest stood out now that the sky was becoming dark again, but the situation was peculiar. The chest was untouched since the time it appeared. It's been some time since the fight was over and it has yet to be touched.

A slight breeze blew through the night air and that breeze carried a heavy stench of blood, accompanying the breeze should've been the silence of the night or at least the sound of mutated insects and creatures that wandered during this time.

However munching sounds could clearly be heard, the sound of skin being ripped through and bones being gnawed on filled in the gaps of the sounds of the night setting.

Following the source of the sounds of eating, anyone who has seen him once during the start of the apocalypse would notice instantly Noah's figure eating through a heart the size of his head. Alongside him, Fenrir was busying himself gnawing on the zombies thigh bone with relish after it quenched its appetite with fat and muscles contained in the zombies leg.

The last member and the one who succeeded in taking down the prey, used that right to take the brain as her trophy. A quarter of her backside was the only thing that could be seen while the rest of her was in the zombie's skull. It was much easier for her to eat the brain without having to use much of her venom to break it down.

The feast had gone on longer than Noah had intended, in fact he never had intended to eat the zombie right away, considering there were more important things. The effects of 'Killing Instincts' had worn off when his target was no longer alive to fight back. However due to the effects of the skill that made him give into his instinctual urges, his mind that was strengthened by his spirit had no defenses towards the activation of his budding feeder skill.

The skill caused him to eat until he was completely satisfied and after his soul has changed till the point the system is even unable to correctly identify his race, his body was screaming for him to go for the heart, just like the instinctual urges of the other zombies.

Gradually, the effects of the skill were wearing off now that he had filled his stomach's desires.

Groggily, he looked around with a confused expression and deeply breathed in the sweet scent of blood that seemed to overpower his senses. His eyes widened in shock when he saw the giant heart in his hands and the mutilated body of the giant under him. But gradually he calmed down again as the memories of what happened replayed in his mind.

Whenever he was in effect of his skill, the skill played out to him like it was a dream and he was just a third party that didn't realize he was dreaming. But the scene proved that everything was real and he easily accepted it. If he planned to use his 'Killing Instinct' skill more than he would have to get used to waking up to situations like this. At least he wasn't totally oblivious to what he's done.

"So we managed to beat it…sigh…this has been one heck of a da-Argh! That hurts!" He grasped for his face that was stinging from his bruise, but then he had to withstand the body pain that he received from the kick and tumbling he experienced before.

While bearing the pain, he dropped what was left of the heart that quickly reminded him of the core that would drop from it.

"Shit! I forgot about the pain that fast." He grabbed his side in his hurry to check the heart's remains. But he was determined to find it and so he bore with the pain to continue on with his search. Even when he lifted the heart again to look inside, it wasn't there. He flipped the heart upside down to empty it of its contents and still nothing. His heart skipped as he quickly scanned the area around him for any sign of any ball shaped object, but still nothing.

He was about to become dispirited at the thought of losing something so valuable, but the ringing in his mind began to stabilize his negative thoughts.

'Maybe I already ate it…that could only be the reason I didn't find it yet. I want to check my loot, but my mind won't rest if I don't find out what happened….?'

When Noah looked over towards the chest when thinking about his loot, his mind had blanked out when he saw the blinding light. It didn't occur to him till now why there was a bright light source next to him. Unconsciously he took a step towards the chest before he stopped him.

'No, I need to set priorities, check out the notifications first and then loot. I'm sure this thing was a creature that passed its limits, there must've been something good I received from doing so. Please be an achievement!' And without a second thought, he hurriedly dived into the space to receive the news.

[Defeated an opponent that was a grade higher than you. +50% extra experience gained.]

[Level Up! +5 attributes]

[Tamed creature Arachne Level Up+5]

[Reached level 10! Advanced class unlocked! Options for hosts are now available to choose from based on your achievements and the path you choose to level up!]

[Unlocked class specific loot!]

[Absorbed mana core of a compatible monster, mana and skill progression has been increased.]

A/N: Since he reached level 10, he can't receive a bigger boost from absorbing the core but it'll be distributed like when he first ate the cores, receiving one mana and 5% to his skills. 5% to his level one skills and 10% to his level 0 skills.

[You are not the first to be a tier one creature, but you are the ones to solo a tier one creature. You have gained the chance to also obtain a second basic class to aid in your adversity of fighting alone.]

"….YES! I fucking knew it had to be level 10! I'm not too far off from the others! But I can get an advanced class and a new basic class? This is a game changer! I have some thoughts on what basic class I need, but I'll choose after seeing my advanced class options.' He went back to his news and focused on the advanced class, seeing the options listed, when he went to view them he only saw three. He didn't realize that three was already a lot for his first advancement.

[Advanced class for monster tamer has been unlocked:

Monster Evolutionist-Your goal is to not only make your tamed creatures stronger, but to also open more pathways for their evolutions and even rarely you can incite a mutation to occur. You focus more on your own passives and abilities that will progressively allow your creatures to grow and evolve; Mag, Mag, Spr, will have a qualitative increase.

Monster Legionnaire-Your sense of power isn't by the quality of your companions, but the number of monsters that are by your side. This class focuses on accumulating an army of tamed creatures, increasing the number of creatures you are able to tame by the strength of your spirit and the level of your tame skill; Spr, Spr, Mag will have a qualitative increase.

Druid tamer-You are already considered to be a monster yourself, so why not officially get the class to go with your title? Monster skills will also affect you and your abilities will develop based on the monsters you have in your arsenal. The focus of your class will be more focused on you rather than your tamed creatures, but your skills obtained from this class will not be effective without a tamed creature; Str, Con, Mag will have a qualitative increase.

After overlooking the new classes once, twice and one more time to be sure. Noah was still left with no thought of what he wanted to do. 'Why are all the skills so good!' He cried to himself. There was just no way he could choose one without thinking that the other one was better. The Druid Tamer was calling to him the most since the thought of his tamer skills being able to affect himself would be a godsend, especially when he obtained more class related skills, not to mention that his body stats would be increased a lot by choosing it too.

'But I already learned that I can't do everything by myself…besides…' His thoughts went to Fenrir and Arachne, the only living things that kept him company and prevented him from losing his sanity. 'I want them to become stronger too and the other two classes will increase my spirit which might be a lot more important in the future when I get more spells. Maybe with my chimera trait, I can achieve something close to the Druid Tamer class without having to choose it. I'll just need to be more proactive with the skill.

Just like with the skill scrolls and the mana cores, I'm not using every advantage given to me like I should. Being a backseat driver while reading those novels is a lot more difficult when I'm experiencing the real thing…'

He looked towards the last skill that he hasn't really paid much attention to, the Monster Legionnaire. The skill sounded broken when you think of the badass characters from other stories that used necromancy or summoning creatures, but there was just a huge problem with this class.

'If my creatures die, I still receive a penalty! Why would I do something like that?? I can sit back and let them do all the work, but not only would that be boring, but if I'm penalized too much there'll be a high chance of me dying and not being able to defend myself. I'd rather go with the Evolution class, I'll use the class to focus on my creatures and the chimera trait to focus on myself. Right! I can use a basic class to make up for not choosing the druid tamer class! Ok I decided.'

He no longer had any conflicting thoughts regarding his choice now, he quickly selected Monster Evolutionist before he had second thoughts again.

[Advanced class 'Monster Evolutionist' has been confirmed, before initiating, it is recommended to be in a safe area before proceeding, do you wish to proceed?]

"?" Noah broke out in a cold sweat when he almost pressed confirmation before reading the rest.

'Phew! I almost messed up there. What if I went unconscious and I ended up being eaten? The excitement was getting to me.'

Noah recovered and limped over to retrieve his sword. He thought about using his extra stat points but, he waited until he chose his class, he had to be smarter about how he does things.

'Now we can get to the next exciting thing. And the loot is supposed to be meant for my class? Should I try to bring it with me until I advance so I can potentially get better loot?' Noah tried calling over Fenrir to lift or push the chest, but Fenrir pushed hard enough that his claws dug into the ground and made a small pit and the chest still hasn't budged, resulting in Noah having to give up.

"Well it's not like we won't get another one in the future, thanks for trying buddy" He ran the bridge of Fenrir's nose before making his way to the chest.

'Phew….this has been one heck of a day. I'm glad that zombie appeared when it did.'

A warm smile graced his face after thinking about all the achievements he made today on his own. His smile brightened when he thought about his class he'll obtain soon while he opened up the chest to retrieve his loot.

......

AN: I know that the other classes are good too, it was hard for me to actually choose between the three.