26. Not Scary?

“Welcome, Yuen! Here is the list of protocols for identifying your unidentified skills! To be precise… it’s an experiment worth trying!”

“I see.”

I said as I took a piece of paper from Ravi’s hand.

“Oh, Ravi. Please call me Aven instead of Yuen from now on.”

“What? Did something happen?”

“Yuen is indeed my real name… but when I formed a party, everyone found it strange. So, I asked someone I know to give me an alias.”

“Ah, I see. Aven, that’s a good name!”

“But do you know what Aven means?”

“Hmm… Aven… Aven? Just a moment?”

Ravi made a V with his thumb and index finger, placed it on his chin, and rolled his eyes around in thought. Then he went back inside the curtain and seemed to be rummaging through the bookshelf.

I didn’t really ask for an answer, but since we have some time, I should check the list Ravi gave me.

‘Progress on the research and identification of the [Flesh Golem] (tentative name) skill.’

It’s a document similar to a grand bucket list. It lists about twenty actions that need to be tried, some of which I have already attempted.

‘Simultaneously operate the blood/muscles of two or more different species!’

“I’ve done this.”

It was possible to use the blood and muscles of a direwolf and an ursus simultaneously. PASS.

‘Attempt to replace internal organs (extremely dangerous!!)’

“I’ve done this too.”

Since I hadn’t come to report the progress after visiting the emotion store last time, it seems Ravi’s information is not up to date. I should check them one by one. PASS.

‘Substitute muscle fibers in different locations (e.g., use the leg muscles of a direwolf for the abdominal/erector muscles)’

“This… I have to try it.”

As I continued to scroll down the list, Ravi walked out from inside and spoke.

“Yoo-eon! No, should I call you Aben?”

“Well, Ravi knows my real name, so it doesn’t really matter.”

“Uh-huh. I see! Anyway… Ah, have you looked through the list?”

“Yes. Some of them I’ve already tried.”

“Really?! Let me see!”

Ravi tried to climb up onto the bed next to me, struggling to get up, so I wrapped my arm around his waist and gently lifted him onto the bed.

“Ugh, thank you! Let’s see… let’s see….”

As Ravi read through the list, he looked at me with wide eyes.

“You’ve already replaced your internal organs!?”

“Yes. I’ve tried the heart, lungs, and liver.”

“Wha-what!! Such important organs! What kind of dangerous thing are you doing!”

“Well, you wrote down that I should try it too.”

“Still! You have to approach it very carefully under my supervision!”

“Why so much fuss.”

I told Ravi the list of things I had tried and the results. Ravi ran over to the desk, scattered papers on the desk, and listened intently, recording my words one by one.

“I see… It seems that it’s okay for the blood to mix inside Yoo-eon’s body.”

“Apparently so.”

“Other than these, you haven’t tried anything else yet?”

“Yes.”

Ravi carefully examined the list and pointed to the next thing to try with his finger.

“Next is this! It’s… bone replacement!”

“Bone, huh.”

Indeed, I hadn’t thought about bones yet. Muscles, no matter their form, are collections of thin fibers that can be separated into strands. When I use my ability, I feel them transform to fit my body somehow.

In fact, changing only muscles doesn’t make a big difference in appearance.

But bones don’t have such a flexible form. Animals have different shapes of bones, so I can’t imagine what will happen when I replace them through a skill.

The biggest problem is…

“Do I have to chew the bones?”

“Ah, um.”

Chewing raw bones is certainly a barbaric challenge. Ravi answered from the side.

“I have an idea! You have a history of eating the eyeballs of dire wolves, right?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“But you said you didn’t eat the eyeballs of the dire wolves whole! You chewed them a few times before swallowing, didn’t you?”

“That’s correct.”

“So, you can also chew bones into appropriate sizes and eat them! If that’s too difficult… you can grind them into powder and drink it! With water!”

Indeed, it seems worth trying once. If I can use bones as a skill that way… yeah.

Thinking about it this way, it’s a bit different. I could quickly mend slightly broken or cracked parts. The recovery would be slow, but eventually, the original human bones would attach.

“And so..! It’s ready!”

“Ready? What is?”

Ravi took a wooden box out from the drawer under the desk and placed it on the table.

“Ta-da! It’s a direwolf bone!”

“Hmm. When did you catch this?”

“Umm~ I don’t know?”

“Huh, really.”

So far, all the raw things I’ve eaten were caught not long ago, in other words, they were fresh. Although it is a clean white bone with no cartilage or flesh attached, bones that are old have their marrow rot and weaken.

If you try, there’s no reason to eat old bones.

“I see.. I didn’t think about that.”

“But there are plenty of good bones.”

“What?! Really?!”

“Yes. They weren’t caught… particularly long ago. At least not compared to that bone.”

“Sigh.”

Ravi looked at the bone in his hand, then placed it back on the table.

“Where are the bones?”

“Do you have some time? They’re not here.”

“Oh, are they stored somewhere?”

“Yes. It seems the appraisal office isn’t busy, if you want to come with me.”

“I’m, I’m busy! Really busy, but just a little free today!”

“Hmm, yes. Well.. hmm….”

“Ugh….”

Of course, the bones I’m going to fetch are Urs’s. I hope they haven’t been sold yet.

At Ravi’s request to go out and wait, I went out about 10 minutes away and moved around to check my condition. It wasn’t long before Ravi came out…

‘In civilian clothes.’

She had taken off the navy robe and wide-brimmed witch hat she always wore and dressed in proper clothes.

“Not wearing your robe?”

“Th-that’s work attire. I don’t wear those clothes when I go out.”

“Hmm. Are you embarrassed by the robe?”

“N-no! I’m not embarrassed! But it’s cumbersome to move around in!”

“I didn’t say anything. Don’t get mad.”

“I’m not mad!”

It’s the first time I’ve seen Ravi in civilian clothes. It seems she isn’t poor after all, as she’s dressed quite well. Without the baggy robe, it’s much easier to see how thin her arms and legs are.

‘If I kicked her with a low kick… it wouldn’t be a fracture, but a dislocation.’

When we entered the guild building, it was a bit less crowded than in the morning. Most explorers enter the labyrinth in the morning.

“Oh, you said you were taking a break.”

“Something came up. Have all the Urs corpses I brought in the morning been sold?”

“They don’t sell that quickly. Were you here to collect payment? You’ll have to wait a bit longer. Come back tomorrow morning.”

Katrina said that when she saw me entering the guild.

“I’m not here to collect payment. It’s a relief if they haven’t been sold.”

“Do you have business with the corpses? And this little lady here… is she the buyer?”

“Ah, hello! I’m Ravi Sateria, the appraiser!”

“Yeah, hi. Candy?”

“C-Candy..?”

When Katrina handed over a small piece of candy from the pocket on her black vest, Ravi reached out with both hands to accept it.

“Oh, candy. Thank you..?”

“Yeah, you’re cute. Follow me, we’re still processing.”

Following Katrina’s gesture, they left the guild lobby and entered the adjacent building, where a familiar yet strange scent of blood wafted through the air.

“Katrina. What is this place?”

“This is where we process and sort the corpses of monsters and labyrinth plants brought in by explorers for purchase. The Urus corpse you brought in… Ah, it should be on table 84.”

The building was like a large auditorium with high ceilings. Thick stone pillars supported the ceiling, and on the tables placed at regular intervals, numerous monster corpses were sprawled out.

This place was used by the monster dismantling clan collaborating with the guild. The first step was for the guild to store or hand over the monsters brought in by explorers to the dismantlers.

Once the dismantlers received, sorted, and processed the monster corpses, they handed the organized corpses back to the guild, which then sold the processed corpses to auctioneers from the auction clan.

A portion of the sales proceeds was given to the dismantlers, another portion was taken by the guild, and the final share was given to the explorers.

The auctioneers periodically held auctions to sell the corpses they had purchased and made a profit.

If an explorer did not request the guild to handle the monster, they could use it themselves or, if they had connections with the black market, it would flow to the southeast.

On table 84, as Katrina mentioned, lay the head of the Urus I had brought in, along with other parts, and the bones that had been neatly cleaned and deboned from the messy flesh pieces.

“Who are you?”

“I’m the one who brought this in. May I take a look?”

“Ah, of course. The dismantling process isn’t finished yet.”

As I mentioned that I was the one who brought it in, the slight wariness disappeared quickly. On the large table made for dismantling medium-sized monsters, the organs and flesh that I hadn’t eaten were neatly lined up without mixing with other parts.

Unfortunately, I had eaten the eyeballs, so there were no eyes in the skull.

“I’ll just take one bone.”

“What will you use it for? The part used depends on the purpose.”

“Hmm, what’s the hardest bone?”

“The femur. It’s the thigh bone.”

“I’ll take one.”

The dismantler reached into the pile of bones and handed me a large one. It’s huge and incredibly heavy. It’s been cleanly deboned without any cartilage or flesh attached.

“Did you use some kind of chemical treatment to remove this?”

“No. Do you see these gloves?”

The dismantler extended his hand, showing the gloved palm.

“It’s the skin of a chainmail shark. It’s rough, so if you scrub with it, most things come off. You can even tear off cartilage cleanly with just your hands.”

“Oh.”

The palm had a very rough texture. That must be convenient.

Thus, I obtained Ursus’s femur X 1.

“Let’s go, Ravi.”

“A-are we done…?”

Ravi answered in a nasal, comical voice. Curious about what was going on, I turned around.

“What are you doing?”

Ravi, with his eyes tightly shut and his brows furrowed, was pinching his nose with one hand and holding onto my clothes with the other.

“I-it’s gross… and it smells bad….”

“Is that so.”

I lifted the head of the Ursus next to me and brought it in front of Ravi’s eyes.

“You can open your eyes. I’m right here.”

“Oh, really?”

And in front of Ravi, who opened his eyes, was only the head of the Ursus with its eyes gouged out. Of course, since the eyelids were closed, it wasn’t that grotesque. I held it at an angle where the severed part below the neck wasn’t visible, so it should be fine.

“Wak.”

I expected an interesting reaction, but Ravi surprisingly didn’t react much. Just a slight flinch.

“What, you’re not scared?”

But Ravi’s pupils were unfocused. As if someone had pressed a stopwatch to stop time.

“Oh.”

And then Ravi immediately rolled his eyes back and fluttered to the ground.

“No way, fainting from this…”