Sunny walked straight to the "Wholesale Materials" section. This was the bargain bin. The place where the trash ended up.
A bored clerk with a robotic arm was picking his teeth with a quill.
"Help you?" the clerk grunted, not looking up.
"I need bodies," Sunny said flatly. "Giant Acid Ants. Whole corpses. Not dismantled."
The clerk paused. He looked up, eyeing Sunny's B-Rank badge.
"Whole corpses? They're heavy, kid. And they stink. Most people just buy the acid sacs or the mandibles. What do you want with the rest? Making a soup?"
"School project," Sunny lied. "I need ten of them. Tier 1. Mature workers."
The clerk shrugged. "Suit yourself. We have a surplus from the West Sector infestation last week. They're going for 30 Credits a pop."
Sunny did the math.
10 ants x 30 Credits = 300 Credits.
He had 360 Credits.
"I'll take ten," Sunny slammed his student ID on the counter. "And deliver them to the loading dock immediately. I have a cart."
[Transaction Complete.]
[Credits: 360 -> 60]
"I'm broke again," Sunny sighed as the credits drained. "Being powerful is fucking expensive."
Ten minutes later, Sunny was dragging a heavy repulsor-cart into the Whispering Woods. The cart was piled high with ten massive, black-shelled ants.
"This better work, System," Sunny muttered, wiping sweat from his forehead. "I just spent my life savings on bug carcasses."
He reached a secluded clearing—the same one where he and Lyra had farmed the wolf. It was quiet here. No prying eyes.
"Nova! Come out!"
The Molten Sprite materialized. Nova looked at the pile of dead ants and clapped his magma hands.
"Food?" Nova chirped.
"Fuel," Sunny corrected. "I need you to burn them. But listen carefully, you little pyromaniac. Don't vaporize them. Burn the flesh, keep the cores. Understand?"
Nova tilted his head, then gave a thumbs up. A small flame puffed from his thumb.
"Good. Get to work."
Sunny stepped back.
Nova waddled to the cart. He placed his hands on the first ant corpse.
[Skill: Heat Aura Rising.]
The temperature in the clearing spiked. The ant's exoskeleton began to crack and blacken. The flesh inside boiled away, turning into ash and smoke.
Sunny watched intently, his System interface open.
[Class: Chimera Lord (Hidden)]
[Activation Requirement: First Body Reconstruction.]
[Materials: 10x Tier 1 Insect Cores (Same Species).]
[Method: Essence Fusion.]
The Chimera Lord class wasn't just about fusing monsters. It was about fusing himself.
The Academy taught that Humans were weak. That they needed Beasts to fight for them. The Chimera Lord class said: Fuck that. Become the Beast.
"One down," Sunny counted.
Nova moved efficiently. He was like a miniature cremation furnace.
One by one, the massive ants were reduced to piles of ash. Sitting in the center of each pile was a glistening, green crystal. The Beast Core.
Usually, these cores were used to recharge magical items. But Sunny had a different use for them.
"Stop," Sunny commanded when the tenth ant was ash.
He walked into the heat, ignoring the smell of burnt insect meat. He gathered the ten warm, green crystals.
They hummed in his hands.
[Items Detected: 10x Giant Acid Ant Core (Common)]
[Requirement Met.]
Sunny sat down in the lotus position in the middle of the clearing. He placed the ten cores in a circle around him.
"System, initiate Chimera Reconstruction."
[Ding!]
[Warning: This process involves genetic rewriting. Pain levels will be significant. Are you sure?]
Sunny smirked. "I died in a gutter in my last life. You think I'm scared of a little pain? Do it."
[Initiating Fusion...]
The ten cores began to levitate. They spun around Sunny, glowing brighter and brighter until they looked like green stars.
Then, they shot toward him.
They dissolved into green light and slammed into his chest.
"ARGH!"
Sunny arched his back, a scream tearing from his throat.
It felt like someone had injected boiling acid into his bloodstream. He could feel his bones vibrating. He could feel his skin stretching, tearing, and knitting back together.
[Fusing Essence: Giant Acid Ant.]
[Extracting Attribute: Exoskeleton Density.]
[Extracting Attribute: Herculean Strength.]
"Fuck... fuck... fuck!" Sunny grit his teeth so hard he thought they would shatter.
His muscles spasmed. His skin turned a sickly shade of grey before hardening. It felt like his body was being crushed in a vice and rebuilt with steel.
The System messages flashed rapidly, a strobe light of progress.
[Strength +1...]
[Endurance +1...]
[Defense +1...]
The process lasted for five minutes. To Sunny, it felt like five years.
Finally, the green light faded.
Sunny collapsed onto the grass, gasping for air. His body was drenched in sweat—a thick, black sweat that smelled like impurities leaving his system.
He lay there for a moment, waiting for his heart to stop hammering against his ribs.
"Did... did it work?"
He slowly sat up. He looked at his arms. His skin wasn't soft and pale anymore. it had a faint, metallic sheen to it. When he tapped his forearm, it sounded like tapping on hardwood.
He clenched his fist. The air popped.
"System, Status."
[Ding!]
[Status Window]
Name: Sunny
Class: Chimera Lord (Tier 0)
Level: 6
Mana: 15/15
Strength: 5 -> 12 (Limit Break!)
Agility: 8 -> 9
Endurance: 4 -> 10
Passive Skill Acquired: [Chitinous Skin (Tier 1)]
"Strength 12?" Sunny's eyes widened.
The average adult male had a strength of 10. A trained soldier had 15. Sunny, a malnourished teenager, had just surpassed the average human limit in five minutes.
And his Endurance had more than doubled.
"And this..." Sunny tapped the blue text for the skill.
[Chitinous Skin (Passive): Your skin is as hard as an insect's carapace. Reduces physical damage by 15%. Increases resistance to Acid by 50%.]
"I'm a tank," Sunny laughed, the sound ragged. "I'm literally becoming a human monster."
He stood up. He needed to test this.
He looked at a nearby oak tree. It was thick, probably fifty years old.
"Normally, I'd break my hand punching this."
Sunny pulled his arm back. He didn't use mana. He didn't use a weapon. Just raw, biological power.
BAM!
His fist connected with the bark.
A spiderweb fracture appeared on the tree trunk. Wood splinters exploded outward. His fist sank two inches into the solid wood.
Sunny pulled his hand back. His knuckles were slightly red, but unbruised.
"Holy shit," he whispered. "I could punch a hole in Ren's face."
The dopamine hit was intoxicating. This was power. Not borrowed power from a pet, but his power.
[Chimera Lord Progress: 10%]
[Next Reconstruction Requirement: 10x Tier 2 Beast Cores (Predator Type).]
"Tier 2..." Sunny wiped the black sweat from his face. "That's expensive. But worth it."
He looked at Nova, who was sleeping on a pile of warm ash.
"Wake up, Nova. We're done here."
Sunny felt a rumble in his stomach. The transformation had burned a massive amount of calories. He was starving. Like, 'eat a horse' starving.
"Time to hit the cafeteria," Sunny decided. "And tomorrow... tomorrow we show the D-Class what a Generalist can do."
The Next Morning - D-Class Training Grounds.
The D-Class students were gathered in a dusty field. They looked miserable.
Instructor Vex stood on a platform, looking down at them with disdain.
"Today, we do physical conditioning!" Vex shouted. "You are weak! Your beasts are weak! If you can't run, you die!"
She pointed to a pile of heavy stone blocks.
"Each of you will strap a 20kg block to your back and run five laps around the field. If you collapse, you get the whip!"
The students groaned.
"20kg? That's insane!"
"I'm a Mage type! I can't lift that!"
Sunny stood at the back, stretching his neck. Gorn was next to him.
"Easy work for me," Gorn grinned, slapping his massive chest. "But you okay, Sunny? You look... different today."
Gorn squinted at him. Sunny looked slightly taller. His shoulders were broader. And there was a weird intensity in his eyes.
"I ate a good breakfast," Sunny said calmly.
"Get moving!" Vex cracked her whip.
The students scrambled to grab the stone blocks. Most struggled to even lift them. They wheezed and buckled under the weight.
Sunny walked up to a block.
He grabbed the strap with one hand. He swung it onto his back like it was a backpack filled with feathers.
"Is this it?" Sunny muttered. "Feels light."
He started jogging.
While others were stumbling, panting, and crying, Sunny was breezing past them.
Lap 1.
Lap 2.
Lap 3.
"What the hell?" a student gasped as Sunny lapped him. "Is he using wind magic?"
"No mana signature," another panted. "He's just... fast."
Instructor Vex narrowed her eyes. She watched Sunny. His breathing was even. He wasn't even sweating.
"Impossible," Vex muttered. "His file says his physical stats are F-Rank."
Sunny finished the fifth lap. He didn't stop. He felt good. He wanted to see his limit.
Lap 6.
Lap 7.
Lap 10.
He finally stopped in front of the platform, dropping the stone block. It made a heavy thud in the dirt.
Gorn dropped his own block, staring at his friend. "Sunny... what did you eat for breakfast? Gunpowder?"
Sunny smirked, feeling the [Chitinous Skin] hum beneath his uniform.
"Something like that."