Chapter 15
Clue: Exposure to Flames for Dozens of Hours
— Lord Pelerian, please issue your command.
Mm-hmm, yes, yes… I am Pelerian.
I tried asking the magic spirit—supposedly created by Pelerian—various questions.
“Shhss.” (What are my evolution conditions?)
“Sss, shh. Sss.” (Why aren’t you answering?)
No matter how hard I tried, the spirit didn’t respond at all.
Was this thing a racist too?
“Sssaaaaak!”
I even shouted at it—but still nothing.
What nonsense.
Annoyed, I smacked the back of it—
well, I hit the machine in front of me.
Clank.
Whoa!
Something popped out of the machine.
A small metal needle.
— Please extract the monster’s blood.
…Oh? Really? With that suspicious needle?
I hesitated for a moment.
What if I get tetanus or something?
Still… it didn’t look rusty.
Well, it probably won’t kill me.
Carefully, I extended my tail.
Stab.
The needle was extremely sharp—it pierced through my scales effortlessly.
Then I felt my blood being drawn out.
— Beginning analysis.
— Please place the specimen on the crystal plate. For accurate scanning, killing or anesthetizing is recommended.
Cold-hearted spirit.
Since I couldn’t exactly kill myself, I climbed onto the crystal plate and lay flat.
Thump—
The lights flared on.
I could feel mana flowing through the plate.
— Beginning scan.
— Classified as a venomous serpent-type monster, horn lineage.
Ah… this feels exactly like it.
Like lying on an X-ray machine.
This reminds me of something.
Back in middle school, the other kids always made me the goalkeeper.
I had zero interest in soccer.
For some reason, I was always assigned that role.
Isn’t goalkeeper an important position? Why me?
I had no interest and no athletic ability, so I just zoned out during PE.
Then one day, a powerful shot from a huge guy in the next class hit me square in the chest.
My vision went white, and I couldn’t breathe.
When I came to, I was lying on the ground staring at the sky.
Even the usually grumpy PE teacher panicked and took me to the hospital.
Honestly, I felt fine by the time we arrived—but I pretended to still be hurt.
They made a big fuss about taking chest X-rays and everything.
Ah… what a nostalgic memory.
— Analysis complete. Printing results.
I climbed off the crystal plate.
I couldn’t help but admire this magical technology.
This place was supposedly built 300 years ago,
yet the machinery felt like something made with modern technology.
And now it was literally printing results like a printer.
— Would you like to record and transmit the analysis results?
Huh? Transmit—where?
Now that I think about it, Pelerian mentioned something about sending experiment data after testing his chimera.
No way.
Who would I send my data to? No thanks!
— Preparing automatic transmission.
What?!
The rod attached to the top of the machine began glowing blue.
This is the problem with not being able to speak properly!
I quickly leapt up and bit the rod.
Crunch!
It snapped.
— Transmission impossible.
Phew… good.
Almost had my precious personal data leaked.
By then, the results had fully printed.
I read the sheet that fluttered down.
…What is this?
There wasn’t just one condition.
***
【Venomous Serpent-type Monster, Horn Lineage】
- Exact species cannot be identified.
- There is a possibility that this entity is not a venomous serpent-type monster.
- Other possible classifications include:
【Avian】, 【Rodent】, 【Turtle】, 【Lizard】, 【Rabbit】, 【Jaguar】, 【Centipede】, 【Spider】, 【Bat】, 【Human】, 【Fairy】
***
…What?
What is this supposed to mean?
If something with smooth scales and beautiful venomous fangs like me isn’t a Serpent, then what is?
And how are turtle-type and centipede-type even in the same list?
I couldn’t understand why the result turned out like this.
…Wait.
Could it be because of my potential?
My potential of 20 gave me the Diligence trait—
it said I had no limits to growth.
That might explain this result.
The text below reinforced my theory:
- The subject’s evolution potential has been analyzed as abnormally diverse.
- Under the assumption of a venomous serpent-type monster, special evolution conditions have been analyzed:
- Establish primary habitat as a swamp
- Establish primary habitat as freshwater
- Establish primary habitat as the ocean
- Establish primary habitat as a desert
- Establish primary habitat as a cave
So many options.
Special evolution didn’t have just one condition.
If I fulfilled those conditions, I didn’t know what I’d evolve into—
but it seemed habitat played a key role.
I think I get it.
Live in the sea → become a sea Serpent.
Live in the desert → become a desert Serpent.
Still… that’s kind of boring if that’s all.
There were countless more conditions listed below.
Some particularly stood out:
…
- Establish primary habitat as a volcano
- Consume large amounts of deadly poison
- Sustain flight for dozens of hours
- Be exposed to flames for dozens of hours
- Remain in frozen hibernation for over 10 years
…Are they trying to kill me?
Sure, live in a volcano → volcano Serpent.
Eat poison → ultimate venom Serpent.
There was even one about flying.
So flying Serpent was an official evolution path!
But trying to meet these conditions would probably get me killed.
The further down I read, the more ominous the conditions became.
These felt more like rare mutations.
You know how it is—
like Eevee in Pokémon. It has multiple evolutions,
but some are harder and far stronger.
***
- Consume a magic stone of rank 10 or higher
- Consume dragon blood
- Form a contract with a demon
- Consume celestial blood
- Receive a god’s blessing
***
Whoa.
My heart is pounding.
Dragon-Serpent.
Demon-Serpent.
God-Serpent.
Just hearing it sounds insane.
Several of them required consuming the blood of incredibly powerful beings.
…Wait.
That chimera Pelerian created.
Didn’t he say it was made by mixing the blood of different creatures?
Hmm…
If that chimera is still alive, maybe I should at least take a look.
It should still be somewhere in this basin, right?
Though… it sounds ridiculously strong.
I’d rather not get involved.
Anyway, it seemed like I was done with this dungeon.
Just in case, I crumpled up the analysis sheet and ate it.
Personal data is important, after all.
Alright then—
Magic spirit.
“Now self-destruct.”
Of course, the spirit didn’t respond.
That thing would probably keep waiting for orders until the power here shut down.
Pitiful.
After looking around the room for a bit, I found an exit.
It didn’t seem like an officially made one.
It looked like something had dug through the wall like a mole—there were dirt and rock fragments scattered everywhere.
It had to be the chimera that had been inside the tank.
Hmm… it didn’t feel like it escaped that long ago.
At least, that’s the impression I got.
When exactly did the earthquake that wrecked this dungeon happen?
As a Serpent that had only been alive for about three weeks, I had no way of knowing. Still just a baby Serpent, after all.
The tunnel was wide enough for two or three people to walk side by side.
Which meant the chimera must have been at least that big.
And halfway through the tunnel, I found traces of it.
Honestly, I jumped in surprise.
For a moment, I thought it was waiting to eat me.
But what I had mistaken for the chimera…
was actually its shed skin.
Wow… this is impressive.
It seemed the chimera was the kind of monster that molts.
Which meant—it had a hardened exoskeleton.
If I exaggerated a bit, it was the size of a house.
About 3 meters tall, and with the legs spread out, probably around 6 meters wide.
It looked part crab, part spider.
Didn’t they say it was made by mixing in a Great Forest tarantula?
Still, unlike a spider, its legs weren’t thin.
Its front limbs were thick—perfect for digging through the ground.
These legs… they feel familiar.
…Ah!
It hit me.
I had actually encountered this chimera before.
It was the one that burst out from underground and swallowed the mixed jaguar’s corpse in a single bite.
Back then, I had only seen multiple legs rising from the ground, so I hadn’t realized.
So that thing… was alive and roaming around.
That fairy mage’s dream had been half realized after all.
To think I had already crossed paths with it.
Next time we meet, I’ll make sure it pays for stealing my meal.
With that resolve, I exited the tunnel.
It was a completely different location from where I had first been dragged in by the cockatrice.
With all the overgrown bushes, it just looked like a naturally formed burrow.
Goodbye, dungeon.
…Well, I couldn’t leave so coolly.
Not because I’d grown attached after spending a few days there.
But because I saw something.
Above the hill where I had emerged—
right above where the tank room should have been—something was sticking out.
Like an antenna.
From it, a blue light shot up into the sky.
It was a pitch-dark night without even the moon.
The blue beam cutting through the sky was unmistakable.
It would probably be visible from tens of kilometers away.
Was something being transmitted?
Could it be my analysis results?
No… that didn’t seem right.
There was that moment when Pelerian said:
— Releasing hibernation. Transmitting experiment data.
I remembered hearing that.
He probably intended for the experiment results to be received somewhere—by a still-living Pelerian.
I thought about it for a moment.
“…Not my problem.”
Why should I care?
With a pillar of light like that shooting up at night, monsters would definitely gather.
Maybe even the local territory residents would be alarmed.
Ah… what if they send an investigation team?
I’ll have to be careful then.
My nemesis, the guard captain, might show up.
Still, this basin is huge.
If I hide well, it should be fine.
In fact… this might be an opportunity.
I haven’t forgotten what happened back then.
If I meet that guard captain again, I won’t let it slide.
Until then, I need to evolve—
and train the new skills I’ve gained.
Grrrrr—
I’m starving.
At this point, even a mosquito rat would look delicious.
I need to eat and grow stronger—fast.
Excited, I slithered into the forest.
Back then, I had severely underestimated the impact of that rising beam of light.
Even beings beyond my imagination had sensed it.
Deep within the Great Forest—
the long-lived race that lived in seclusion…
Elves, by nature, do not age.
They live in harmony with nature, deep within the forest.
Their skin is as smooth as porcelain, and their long ears carry an air of elegance.
Even elders nearing a thousand years old have not a single wrinkle on their faces.
When they leap with their long legs, they resemble deer.
Because of this, it is extremely difficult to guess an elf’s age by appearance alone.
The elf currently running through the depths of the Great Forest was no exception.
She leapt effortlessly over the tangled tree roots with her slender legs.
Her silver bobbed hair fluttered in the wind.
Her features were breathtakingly beautiful—
but a scar on her face drew immediate attention.
A long sword scar covering her left eye.
A one-eyed, beautiful elven warrior.
She had been summoned by the elders.
Because they had detected traces of Pelerian.
Pelerian.
Just recalling the name of that cursed mage
was enough to make the elf grit her teeth.