BMN Chapter 8 (Patreon)

Chapter 8: Artificial Monster

"Screech!!"

With a thunderous crash, the Multi-Legged Spider Bug wailed in agony.

Having lost the support of its legs, its entire body slammed hard against the ground.

Dark green blood reeking of putrid decay sent Ogerpon scrambling backward in disgust.

"Poni~~"

Ogerpon retreated to Bai Luo's side, her face scrunched up in revulsion. "This thing smells awful."

"Cough, cough, cough."

Bai Luo wore an equally pained expression.

He seriously questioned whether a creature like this could even possess intelligence.

The magical beasts they'd encountered before all had edible flesh and blood.

But this spider monster was like a walking biological weapon.

"A biological weapon?"

Bai Luo cast his appraisal skill on the spider monster once more.

This time, he utilized the Inquiry function of his appraisal ability.

Inquiry allowed him to obtain more specific information about a target. For instance, appraising a sword would reveal its basic attributes.

But detailed specifications couldn't be obtained through a simple appraisal alone.

Through Inquiry, he could learn specifics like the sword's thickness, length, weight, and materials.

This type of targeted appraisal depended entirely on what information he sought.

While targeted Inquiry wasn't nearly as convenient as Rimuru's Great Sage, some of its basic functions weren't that different.

"Inquiry: Does this spider monster possess intelligence?"

【Notification: No.】

"???"

Bai Luo's eyes widened in surprise. "Wait—didn't the appraisal say it was a monster? If it doesn't even have intelligence, how can it be a monster?"

【Notification: Artificial Monster, similar to Construct Life.】

"..."

Bai Luo understood immediately.

Simply put, this creature wasn't naturally born. It possessed a soul, but an incomplete one—merely a soul fragment.

Bai Luo wasn't clear on the specifics.

He only knew one thing: he didn't need to treat this spider monster as an intelligent life form.

"Tsk, so it's just a mindless mob."

Bai Luo frowned slightly, waving a hand in front of his nose. "Finish it off, Pon-Pon."

"Poni!"

Ogerpon didn't question his order.

As long as it was Bai Luo's request, she would carry it out without hesitation.

"Thwack!"

The Ivy Cudgel swung in a wide arc, green energy streaking across dozens of meters before crashing down with tremendous force.

The immense impact struck the spider monster's head, and along with nearly half its body, it burst open like a watermelon—completely dead.

【Individual 'Ogerpon' has killed 'Multi-Legged Spider Bug', gaining 5 Existence Value points.】

The experience notification from Ogerpon's own ability informed Bai Luo of the Existence Value the creature had provided.

"5 points of Existence Value—2 points higher than the Direburst Bear's 3."

Bai Luo didn't pay much attention to the magicules gained from killing the spider monster. He was more concerned about the term Artificial Monster.

"I feel like I've stumbled into something unpleasant."

Bai Luo shook his head, dismissing these unnecessary worries. "Power. As long as I become strong enough, no conspiracy or scheme is worth fearing."

"Pon-Pon, between this spider monster and the Direburst Bear from before, which do you think was stronger?"

"Hmm..."

Ogerpon thought for a moment before responding, "Pon-Pon feels the spider bug was very weak."

Although she had used Grassy Terrain to confuse the creature's senses and Seed Bomb to break its defenses during the fight, these were merely cautious tactics.

If she were being honest, Ogerpon could have finished the spider monster with a single blow.

Well, the same applied to the Direburst Bear.

"But Pon-Pon still thinks the bear was stronger!"

This was her intuitive assessment. She couldn't explain exactly why, but something about the Direburst Bear had felt more threatening.

"Intuition?"

Bai Luo trusted Ogerpon's instincts were correct. He looked down at the shattered spider monster. "It's an artificial creation, after all. It can't compare to a genuine C-rank magical beast."

Of course, part of the difference was that Ogerpon had grown stronger than before.

When they'd encountered the Direburst Bear, Ogerpon's magicule count had been around 7,000.

But now, after a full seven days, her magicules had increased from the initial 6,500 to 8,000.

Ogerpon had been fighting quite frequently during their journey.

Whenever she spotted a monster or magical beast that could provide experience points, she'd give it a whack with her cudgel, regardless of whether it was particularly worthwhile.

Bai Luo treated it like Pokémon training grinding.

For magical beasts, Ogerpon would minimize damage and quickly put them into a peaceful sleep to meet the 'defeat' condition.

As for monsters, as long as they chose to surrender, 【Grower】 would allow her to obtain the corresponding magicules.

Additionally, Bai Luo would leave food for these defeated opponents.

Having only recently awakened his past life's memories, Bai Luo wasn't yet capable of ruthless plundering.

He gained experience points, and they received food.

A win-win situation!

"Pon-Pon used this much magical power to fight the Direburst Bear."

"To fight the bug, I used this much."

Ogerpon gestured with her short arms to indicate different lengths, which Bai Luo couldn't interpret at all.

"Anyway, fighting the bug took way less magical power."

Ever since arriving in the Cardinal World, Ogerpon had discovered that the energy within her body was far more abundant.

Not only had the quantity increased, but her recovery speed had also been greatly enhanced.

Before, after a battle, Ogerpon would need time to catch her breath.

But now...

She felt she could fight dozens of such battles consecutively without feeling tired.

The higher one's Existence Value, the more magicules they possessed, and both magical power capacity and stamina were directly proportional to this amount.

Combined with her astonishing recovery speed and her unique Pokémon moves, her strength couldn't be simply categorized as B-rank.

Bai Luo suspected that even if Ogerpon faced an A-rank, or even an A+-rank monster, she'd have a considerable chance of victory.

"Alright."

Bai Luo didn't elaborate further.

Artificial monsters and such concerns were too distant for their current situation.

The immediate priority was burying this spider bug, which had been reduced to paste, to prevent it from contaminating their land.

In Bai Luo's memory, insect-type monsters were mostly related to the insectoids of the spiritual world.

Over the following hours while they worked, the pair encountered three more waves of insect-type monster invasions.

Bai Luo couldn't understand what was happening in this area—why there were so many insect-type monsters appearing.

But Ogerpon was no pushover.

Her Ivy Cudgel lived up to her reputation as the Little Kaido of the Pokémon world.

After adapting to Pokémon-type magic, Ogerpon's combat became increasingly fluid. Often, before enemies could even make their move, they were already defeated.

"Could there be an insect-type monster nest nearby?"

Bai Luo watched as Ogerpon controlled tree roots to drag the remaining corpses underground for burial.

He held a dagger in his hand, and beside him on the ground lay a pile of materials he'd collected from the three insect-type monsters.

Enduring the stench emanating from these specimens, Bai Luo began cleaning the materials despite his disgust, determined not to waste anything useful.

"Should we investigate?"

While cleaning, Bai Luo considered the possibility. "No—with just the two of us, even if we found the nest, it would be a waste of time. Not worth the risk."

Considering that their camp was already preliminarily established, Bai Luo ultimately decided to leave the matter alone.

There were only a few hours remaining until 【Traveler】's cooldown ended. By tomorrow at the latest, Bai Luo could travel again.

The 【Traveler】 ability had a cooldown period.

The length of this cooldown corresponded to the time Bai Luo spent in other worlds.

Just like his recent trip—he'd stayed in the Pokémon world for seven days, so after returning to the Cardinal World, there was a seven-day cooldown period.

Of course, this referred to the cooldown after returning to the Cardinal World.

If he were in another world, Bai Luo could return at any time to avoid encountering dangers he couldn't handle in the new realm.

"Let's just treat it as a convenient monster-spawning location."

For some reason, Bai Luo felt that having spider bugs occasionally appear wasn't entirely bad.

This way, they wouldn't need to go through the trouble of actively hunting for monsters.

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