Epic of Caterpillar
chapter-251

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Seeing the static corpse of the colossal beast, I noticed a few items that appeared surrounding it, these were Drop Items. These items shined in different colors. There were pouches of brilliant and colored gemstones that would cost a fortune in some Kingdoms but were mere materials for me. There was also another pouch of coins, not only made of Gold but other minerals as well, some even having magic properties. There were also Potions of various colors, most of them being Enhancement Potions that could boost a stat momentarily. Lastly, there were around ten pieces of equipment from [Unique+++] to [Mythical++] rarity.

Something to note about them was their beautiful shapes and excellent conditions, only Dungeons would be able to just easily create equipment of such high quality out of thin air, something that would take a Blacksmith like me a lot of time to make, and it could not even compare to its quality if it wasn't for my Equipment Naming ability.

Most of the equipment was related to this Boss set, the entire set was luckily dropped. Something like this was very rare, and I assumed that my Luck Stat, which is now over one hundred was responsible for such a lucky drop. I glanced at the equipment, which was named [Undead Turtle of Nether Wisdom Equipment Set], the whole set included chest plate, shoulder pads, helmet, greaves, gloves, weapon, and shield alongside accessories. The entire set would give a nice bonus to all of the user stats alongside a special skill that would give them the ability to form a small Phantasmal Domain.

I thought that perhaps Amiphossia would benefit from this set, but she likes to wear very light equipment, and this was a whole set of armor, although it had [Body Adaptability+] I don't know how much could it adapt to the body of a Giant Lamia like my daughter. At most, she could eat it in the hopes of getting some skills related to the equipment, as it was ten pieces of high rarity, and held immense amounts of Magic, the possibility of obtaining a Skill was almost guaranteed.

Because I am a spoiling father, I would feel bad if I ate this for myself, so I saved it for my daughter instead, and then began to butcher the beast's corpse. The smell was, well, rotten, the flesh was that of a zombie, so it would obviously be disgusting… For normal living beings.

For me, a Vampire and an Undead, and with such a voracious appetite… Well, I've developed the ability to just eat anything, and eating an Undead wasn't something I would ponder about. Various Undead already develops a taste for rotten flesh anyways, although Vampires may be seen as more Noble type of Undead, I am an Undead still. Still, thinking on my other wives and children, that could benefit from this monster flesh, I decided to cleanse it from its putrid state.

I first manipulated the Mana inside of my Aura, then conjured several Poison Magic Spells, as a small purple cloud was generated from my Aura, I ordered it to fly over the corpse as it expanded greatly, covering the corpse entirely.

Why would I use Poison? Due to my ability to manipulate Mana to some extent, I created a basic spell made of poisonous cloud, however, its ability it's not to poison, but to draw poison, contaminated materials, bacteria, and other things, while leaving most of the things that make this meat high quality. Half an hour later, the entire corpse as cleansed, and instead of the meat being of disgusting green and purple colors, it had a beautiful red luster to it. I decided to name this Spell that my split minds just come out with as [Detoxification Poison Mist]. Although the Skill did not appear on my Skill Window, it appeared as a small book on my [Metis Grand Library of Magic Knowledge].

The toxic poison, bacteria and such was still inside of now the fat Poisonous Mist, although these things shouldn't be eaten, I had [Poison Immunity] and [Toxification Immunity], so I decided to devour the Poison Mist by expanding my body as a Red Slime and digesting everything in one go with ease. The Poison was quite strong as it fought a little bit, but it ended being consumed completely. For a moment, my Red Body turned Purple but then went back to Red not long after.

[Kireina] learned the following Skills]

[Venomous Blood Tattoo Curse]

[Bacterial Nest]

I even got some Skills, my insight was right, such a big amount of toxic waste was indeed going to give me something, at least if it was from this beast that's it.

The First skill was an interesting Curse that I could put on other beings, by using my blood as a catalyst, I could leave a small tattoo on these beings bodies, slowly diminishing their lives with a deadly poison, I don't think I will ever use this as I have better methods to kill, but it could be fused.

The Second skill was the most interesting one, it gave me the ability to create bacteria from my fingertips, there were countless of bacteria species on this world, but if I thought about making "deadly" bacteria, bacteria that could eat even the flesh would emerge, and if I wanted to make "good" bacteria, utility bacteria like the one used to make cheese, yogurt or even beer would show up.

Although my manipulation on it was rather clunky and other types of bacteria would mix in, so I needed a lot of practice. I also cannot just spread deadly bacteria everywhere, as some could even affect my family if they don't have immunities to that.

When I played around creating bacteria, I created a small space inside of my body where I gathered a lot of the bacteria needed to ferment beer, and then added Walking Cactus flesh into it, which I mashed into a pulp, alongside other ingredients, I left them fermenting inside of my body. Maybe with this, I will be able to even create Beer or Wine out of nowhere, it would be pretty convenient.

Just when I was about to taste some of the Boss's flesh, my family finally entered the floor, noticing that the sound of fighting stopped, they most likely assumed that it was over. Then, my wives helped me out into the butchering of the beast alongside the Fire Oni and my own Slime Clones. In the middle of this, I gave Amiphossia the equipment set, she was quite enamored by its phantasmal presence.

"Oooh~! Mommy, it's amazing! So much Phantasmal Essence! And you got me the whole set! Mommy, I love you~!"

"Haah~ It's the least I could do for my adorable little daughter… I know that this set as a high affinity with you"

"Indeed, it has! I'm going to eat it!"

And then, Geraldine saw with a bit of surprise, while covering her mouth like a refined woman from a noble family would do, as Amiphossia munched on each equipment piece as if they were snacks or the ghost they have been eating through their journey.

"Oh…! Lady Amiphossia has such a various appetite…"

Five seconds later and Amiphossia was munching the last piece of equipment, the shield, without any difficulty, she ate it all, and her teeth were still in perfect condition as well… This may be something that I would never want to see happening, but I think that Amiphossia's teeth would make incredible weapons…

Amiphossia patted her fair-skinned belly as she releases a sigh of satisfaction.

"Ah~ That was delicious, it felt as if I devoured thousands of ghosts of the highest quality! Oh, I gained some Skills as well~"

Amiphossia gained the ability to create a set of Phantasmal Armor in a similar appearance than the equipment set, but this one was able to easily fit her giant body, and it even covered her snake tail partially. Her Aura also increased in density and power, her flesh and soul did also become stronger and were nourished by the powerful essence of the equipment, very close to evolving once again.

I wondered if there could be something, a special type of monster or materials that had such an affinity with me, just like Amiphossia, so I could evolve my flesh and soul with ease without having to take so much time. Although I could slowly increase the power of my flesh through Skill Fusions, there was nothing like that for my Soul, and it was still stuck in rank 3, but very near Rank 4, I just couldn't break the bottleneck yet… Perhaps just nourishing it with my Aura is not enough, and I need to "exercise" it somehow.

Amiphossia showed off her amazing set of armor, which made Nesiphae, her mother who was also wearing a gigantic set of Dark Knight Armor, very proud. Nesiphae had been an armor fanatic for a long time now and seeing her daughter wearing such a "cool" set made her mother very proud, her eyes shined brightly in surprise, and for a moment Nesiphae seemed like the child in the relationship.

Afterward, we feasted on the beast, I gave a lot of the Boss's [Phantasmal Magic Cores] to Amiphossia, alongside most of the pieces with the biggest concentration of Phantasmal Magic and other magic she had an affinity with. Amiphossia still shared some with her new friend and servant Geraldine, alongside her Phantasmal Wolf.

My wives prepared the plump pinkish flesh of the cleaned Undead in various forms, but I tasted first the giant and fatty slices of legs, which were carefully grilled and seasoned to perfection, being filled with fat, the juices filled my mouth with each bite. The flavor was delicious, it was like eating very high-quality pork, the seasoning gives it a delicious saltiness and spiciness, while other herbs give it aromatic flavors, everything went incredibly well together, and I even ate the crunchy bones of each slice.

I also ate some Magic Cores, filled with magic, they nourished my body and soul, although partially. Next, I grilled the heads and ate them as well, the brains were juicy, tender and sweet, the tongues were meaty and soft, almost melting in one's mouth, these went especially well with sweet sauce and wine.

The shell was also devoured, it was crunchy and had several tastes, which were made from the thousands of different minerals that made up the dense shield. Although it could be used as precious equipment materials, I just ate it all alongside the internal organs.

[Kireina] learned the following Skills]

[Phantom Manipulation; Lesser Ghostly Domain; Hands of Nether]

[Cursed Ancient Turtle Shell Phantom Soul Armor]

However, the boss was incredibly big so even eating so much of it still left an incredible amount of meat for everyone, who degusted it happily. A relaxing and calm atmosphere was formed as the feast continued for the rest of the night.

When most of the Boss was eaten, a big majority of my family was already sleeping soundly inside of the portable Houses that I bring along inside of my Item Box. I kept feasting mostly with Amiphossia and Geraldine, after around 12 hours, the Boss respawned again and I killed it with their support.

Because I needed to protect both of them, I went all out from the start, and the Boss died even more miserably. Its delicious body was incredibly nutritious for my daughter and the Ghost girl, and even Amiphossia's Phantasmal Wolf ate plenty. This time I didn't take away the bacteria or poison, but they ate the rotten flesh with even more intent, finding it more delicious this way.

[Calculating EXP gained…]

[Kireina] gained 350.000.000 EXP]

[LEVEL 045/250 EXP 1.722.411.796/1.800.000.000 EXP]

[Kireina] learned the following Skills]

[First Phantom Head; Soul-Corroding Blue Flames]

[Second Phantom Head; Flesh-Corroding Purple Flames]

[Third Phantom Head; Mineral-Corroding Black Flames]

Alongside these new self-explanatory Skills, Amiphossia soul managed to break through Rank 5! These were incredible news; it seems that eating this Boss had made wonders to Amiphossia's physique and psyche. According to Redgaria, there are nine Ranks in one Soul, but they can also branch through Soul Mutation, and still evolve almost endlessly. Those who manage to break through these boundaries can manipulate their souls as if they were their own flesh, and use it to attack others and even separate it from their body, working as a powerful ally in battles.

Amiphossia's Soul had reached a new power and she was now able to manipulate it as if it were an Aura, and even merge both to create what is called a [Soul Aura], something way stronger, and the next step if someone wants to strengthen their Aura. She was able to use her Soul to grab things and even shape it into deadly lances, spears, swords claws, and voracious serpents, she was also able to cover her body with her Soul Aura and become a [True Phantom], being able to bypass physical objects like a real Ghost, this also came with immunity to physical damage on this form.

Geraldine had also increased her power and had become a Rank 3 [Tundra Ghost], similar to Souls, pure Ghosts like Geraldine can become stronger by increasing their Ranks and instantly evolve, unlike living beings. Her appearance did not change much, but her phantasmal body was clearer to the eyes, and her aquamarine eyes shined more brightly with azure light, her Ghostly Core also became a tad bit bigger, having a higher concentration of Magic.

Lastly, Amiphossia's Wolf had reached the max level and its presence had become very thick after eating more of the Boss's flesh, the Wolf was ready to evolve this night. Due to it being a demi-ghost, it needed to sleep for a night to evolve.

After eating most of the second Boss's corpse, Amiphossia and her group went to rest. I kept eating and relaxing until Alice showed up and feasted with me, then we spent the rest of the night expressing love to each other.

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