During the first day of exploring Neman, I probe in different ways throughout Neman. I check out the places such as the local mountains, rivers, fields, forests, and grasp the dangerous locations that have falling rocks and where monsters roamed – mainly the location where the dungeon is at.

We return to the inn afterward and rest our (tired) spirits.  While everyone is in bed, I quietly sneak out from the inn.

I head out of the city while walking in the middle of the night. I hasten to all the locations where I checked out during the daytime, while relying on the moonlight and stars for directions.

“There it is. Now it’s time to get things going.“

I head to the back of the dungeon through one of the connected tunnels at the foot of the mountain. I can feel the rugged rocks through the soles at the bottom of my feet as I walk with the lantern in my hand, and while I stroll through the abandoned mine for a while as I did during the daytime, it becomes brighter. This is a dungeon type of lighting. I travel further through the momentum of the moment, there is a side hole shining ahead.

“Alright, found it. Let’s go.“

This is definitely a dungeon. The monsters don’t appear to come to the entrance, but if I go in a bit further, there will be some monsters. I move further inward.

“It doesn’t have a special sensation (compared to Unholywoods?).“

Even though I’m entering the dungeon, there is not much different from being in a normal dark cave except it is brighter due to the magical element. I wonder if there are monsters around.

“Tsh! There it is. Alrighty, need to be careful …“

As I walk quietly for about a dozen minutes, I enter a slightly wider space, where there is something that appears to be a monster. There is a poisonous purple and yellow striped monitor lizard. To me, it happens to looks like a poisonous monster. What was the name of that poisonous monster when I was reading through the demon pictorial reference book?

I hide my presence hastily and then use [Stealth Gait] to get as close as possible to it, while avoiding being noticed as I approach it from the backside. The monitor lizard turns around when I’m approaching it with a distance less than 1 meter. Does it notice me with its natural instinct as I approach it? The monitor lizard is already battle-ready. It crouches down, turning its body toward me, and preparing to bite at any moment.

When this happens, I cancel [Stealth Gait]. I use quick movement right afterward.

“Al-right!“

I’m scared when it approaches my head, so I quickly move around toward its tail about 2 meters behind its head and touch it. I immediately use parasite – at the same time, parasite info is activated.

Race [Poison Monster Lv11]

Knowing thing like this may happen, wondering beforehand for such a case like this monster, I dart through the depths of the cave and escape from the lizard. After running for a while to create some distance, it lost track of me.

There are big spiders and moles with long claws throughout the path, but I evacuate myself to a quiet location for the time being. I may parasitize them later, but for the time being —

“Time to check to see if it was done properly.“

When I concentrate on my hands, there are three lines of light that are proof of parasite skill invoked. Since I released all connections except for two, the fact that it has increased by one means that the monitor lizard was successfully parasitized.

Alright then. I made a small prideful pose. I successfully parasitized a monster. Through this method, let’s parasitize instead of defeating it.

I continue strolling around the cave and parasitize some more monsters.  In addition to monitor lizard, I also parasitized a bat and a spider. I feel gloomy from having these many monsters, but it’s probably because I’m in a cave.

Each of the monsters has the following:

[Blood Bat Lv8]

[Sonic Widow Lv18]

That’s all for the information. Although they appeared small, I am surprised to see the spider has the highest level. Well, isn’t it because of a strong monster? To think about it, I believe the average adventurer is around level 10 to 20, so it doesn’t seem to be weak at all.

So then, I wonder what kind of skill I can learn, I use up the five connections that can be parasitized with, so I decide to head back for now. And when I return to the entrance …

“Oh, that was the first parasitized lizard.“

The same monitor lizard is still in the same location. This means that this is its territory.

“… So that’s it.“

I want to observe the monitor lizard for a while longer because it’s fascinating. There is a large, sizeable rock so I hid behind it and observe it using the dual wielding skill combo of detecting and extinguishing presence.

The monitor lizard stands still as if it’s sleeping with his eyes open, but it suddenly lifts its neck and begins to move its tongue.

I wonder if it has noticed something, and when I look around, the soil on the ground beyond the lizard’s line of sight is swelling up. A mole jumps out from the hole. Of course, it’s not just only a mole, but it’s a pretty creepy looking mole with four eyes and sharp claws. I’m very skeptical of such common sense in having four eyes while living in the soil, but while I’m thinking about such a thing, the monitor lizard attacks the mole.

The attack ends in a mere moment. The mole slashes with its claws, but it can’t deal any damage against the hard scales of the monitor lizard, and the mole’s head was eaten in a single pitiful bite. The world of monsters seems to be merciless as the weak is a meal for the strong. The food chain has developed from such an ecosystem. However, the monster was already aiming for its prey as it was getting up the moment the mole was about to leap out of the hole. I thought that the reptiles were quite intelligent:

Race [Poison Monster Lv1 → 4]

Skill [Venom] acquisition

Oh !?

The level suddenly improves.

This is the same leveling-up feeling when I parasitized humans. Fumufumu, this means that when a monster defeats another monster, the level of the monster also goes up, and the level of the monster I parasitized also rises, just like the humans. If I compare the monster race to a human class, it seems that the method is almost identical like before, so it’s quite easy to understand.

I am able to master the monster’s skills perfectly. In this case, it appears I can learn the skills of other monsters. While praying that other monsters will not kill the parasitic monsters, I quietly move through the place where the monitor lizard is and leave the dungeon.

“Oops, that’s right. Let’s take a look at the skill description. What kind of skill does this monster have to commemorate this occasion?“

Skill [Venom] is a skill that allows you to spit out the venom from your mouth.

“… Isn’t this too vulgar to use in public?“