Heavy Metal [ A Monster Evolution LitRPG ]

Chapter 03 – Skill Absorption.

A lone armor stood around two identical beings but it was certainly not the same. The way it moved and articulated was strange, even now it was swinging its arms around wildly while looking at something before it. The two other suits that were there didn’t react to the peculiarities of their brethren nor were they capable off it.

‘It’s there! I became stronger!’

Rusty rejoiced while looking at the skill window with two brand new skills. One of them was the one that he absorbed from the adventurer while the other appeared out of seemingly nowhere. He could only assume that it was the one that he couldn’t previously identify as all the question marks were gone.

‘The question marks have disappeared? I wonder why?’

He was curious as before, but his curiosity was overshadowed by his joy. Two new skills had been gained, which had to mean that he was stronger in some way. The Basic Swordsmanship skill was already at work, as he could feel the movements of his corroded sword becoming better. It was somehow telling him how to guide it and increased his offensive capabilities to some extent.

'But how did that work?'

Rusty recalled the strange incident with the human adventurer. He had been defeated yet again, but after a part of his body was placed on the human's head, the skill was activated. Being a sentient suit of armor, he didn't perceive the head as part of those beings. His helmet could come off if he wanted, and at this moment, he took it off. The slit in the visor acted like his eyes, but he could move his body even when it wasn't touching it.

‘Hm…’

While pondering, he attempted to rub his metallic chin, but his helmet had been placed down on a large rock. As he contemplated this situation, some audible noises entered his non-existent ears. On the sides, two other living armors were lumbering around, and when he glanced at them, he had an idea. Quickly, he grabbed his own head and appeared before his brethren.

‘What if, I do this?’

Armed with some inspiration he grabbed the helmet of his look-alike. The other living armor monster who was walking by stopped in its tracks but didn’t attack. It had become clear that these beings didn’t see him as an enemy as the voice that commanded them all kept everyone in check. Once the other monster’s helmet was removed he used his body to carry over his own helmet and replaced the old one.

‘Hmm… it didn’t work?’

To Rusty's surprise, he didn't hear the voice of the world that had previously presented him with a choice of three skills; it had not appeared. The feeling that was present when he occupied the human's head was also different; it seemed that he couldn't use his new skill in this way. However, he did not stop with just this one test and instead moved on to the second piece of corroded armor to try it on them.

‘Not working…’

The feeling was the same, and soon the corroded armor went out to patrol their designated dungeon spot. Rusty was left confused about the issue, but this didn't stop him from approaching a different type of monster, one of the skeletons that occupied this dungeon. It was the most prevalent type here, and they carried various weapons, not just swords. Thus, he approached one that was holding a sword along with a shield that looked like a washboard. The monster stopped after a metallic helmet was placed on its head, but it surprisingly didn't look that out of place.

‘Oh?’

The voice of what he only knew as the world echoed inside his metallic head. It provided him with an explanation and also gave him a series of numbers that were constantly changing. If he understood this correctly, then he would need to wait a prolonged amount of time before this skill could be activated again.

‘Hey, wait!’

As he contemplated this newly gained knowledge, the skeleton friend that he had placed his head on started moving away. To his surprise, this monster was rather fast, and he needed to give it his all to keep up with the pace. It took him a good few minutes before he was able to regain his helmet. The timer that had been presented had been lowered during this time and confirmed his previous assumption. With not much else to do but wait, he decided to explore this large dungeon.

"Move!"

The voice resounded inside his head and forced him to patrol like the rest, but without any enemies around, he was able to get a better look at the dungeon he occupied. There were many corridors, some quite tight while others were spacious. Rusty navigated the corridors with the clanking sounds of his corroded armor echoing through the dungeon. The walls were adorned with dimly lit torches, casting flickering shadows that danced along the cold stone surfaces.

As he explored, he stumbled upon a peculiar spacious chamber that was devoid of most of what the others had. The only eye-catching thing inside was a large staircase leading down. This was not the patrol route that the voice wanted him to take, as he was just passing through, but for some reason, this piqued his interest. Once inside, he made his way towards the stairs, and there he experienced something strange; he was not able to move down the stairs, and even approaching them was quite hard.

Rusty tried to analyze the situation. It seemed as if an invisible force was preventing him from descending the stairs. Frustrated but determined, he attempted to take a running start, but just as he was about to approach the opening to the stairs, the voice resounded. It was much louder and seemed angered by the attempt to go down this wide set of stairs.

‘LEAVE, FORBIDDEN!’

Rusty froze in place, his metal frame trembling with the force of the command echoing in his head. The voice was not one to be ignored, and the sheer power behind the words made it clear that descending those stairs was not an option.

As the echoes of the command subsided, Rusty hesitated for a moment. The desire to explore the forbidden depths of the dungeon clashed with the overwhelming compulsion to obey the voice. It was a peculiar situation that he did not have an answer for but it seemed that he was stuck for now.

With a reluctant sigh - or the metallic equivalent of it - Rusty turned away from the stairs and resumed his designated patrol. The voice seemed appeased, and as he moved through the dungeon corridors, he couldn't shake the feeling that there was more to this place than met the eye.

The dungeon was not just a maze of stone walls and dimly lit torches; it held secrets and hidden passages that piqued Rusty's curiosity. Although his primary purpose was to follow the commands of the voice, the desire to uncover the mysteries of the dungeon grew stronger within him.

As Rusty continued his patrol, he encountered other monsters. Besides the previously encountered skeletons and living armors like himself, there were also strange small creatures called goblins. Other species that he encountered were spiders who liked to crawl up on the ceilings and hide in dark places. Then there were smaller things like rats and insectoids.

The green ones didn’t seem to like him too much, as when he approached they started throwing rocks at him. There was something different about them, as if they had their own little section of the dungeon just for themselves. The voice inside his head also kept him from venturing forth into the areas that were marked by strange totems. After getting to know more of the denizens of this dungeon, Rusty also noticed one thing. Each one of them had a certain number applied to their classification.

‘Mine is at one, will I get stronger if it goes up, just like with the skills?’

Rusty's identification skill was the only one that had been going up, and as it increased in levels, more information was produced when he identified things around him. Previously, he couldn’t even see the levels of his dungeon brethren. Now he knew that there was some way of becoming stronger, but how would he achieve this? Would it just go up by itself or was there something to it?

Then the answer somehow presented itself to him, as he was walking through one of the smaller corridors and passing next to another living armor they bumped into each other. The two staggered for a moment while being pushed against the side walls.

‘Huh?’

Rusty heard something that he never heard before, and when glancing at his status screen, a leftover log was still there. He had gained an experience point, and the source of this was something that was stuck on his pauldron. After bumping into the other corroded suit of armor, he squished a small monster arachnid onto the wall. It was quite small and just died from the weight, but it still counted.

The spider was turned into some green goop that was running down the wall. Rusty gave the dead creature a few pokes before opening up his status screen to look for a few more answers, and there he discovered another new number that had gone up. There was an actual indicator for gaining levels, and he just needed forty-nine more of these experience points to fill it up.

‘If I got one experience point for this small creature… what will happen if I defeat a bigger one?’

His head turned towards the living armor that had passed him by. It was just slowly lumbering along without a care in the world. Rusty knew that the monsters here were different than him; they wouldn’t react even if he got closer and took off their body parts. Perhaps this was the way to get stronger, by slaying these beings that weren’t truly alive.

He clenched his corroded sword and approached the other armor piece. His corroded frame generated a lot of noise, but this creature didn’t seem to mind. It just continued on the path that had been given to it by the voice. Even after Rusty was standing right behind it with his arm raised and sword glowing, it didn’t do a thing. However, before the basic power slash could claim its first life, the voice resounded inside Rusty.

“STOP! ALLY!”

It stopped him in the middle of the downswing and didn’t allow Rusty to finish the attack. The authoritative command kept him in check as it referred to the other living armor as an ally, a term loosely known by Rusty who didn’t really consider it. The term made him question his desire to gain experience and if it was something worth continuing. However, he couldn’t really see these other monsters as true allies but more like prisoners who had to adhere to the voice commands.

‘Do allies force others to do their bidding?’

As he pondered this, the other living armor continued its patrol, seemingly unfazed by the attempted attack. Rusty couldn't shake the feeling that there was more to these creatures and this dungeon than he understood. The voice had labeled them as allies but he wasn’t sure about that. What if the voice considered him an enemy, wouldn’t all these so-called allies destroy him instead?

This was something worth pondering, as Rusty was aware of his relative weakness. It would be impossible for him to contend with so many monsters that were driven by the authoritative voice. This left the other fleshy creatures as the best source of those experience points, but they were not something that he could deal with at the moment. Instead, he turned his attention to some other creatures within the dungeon, ones that perhaps could provide him with something.

Another smaller being fell to his sword as he continued his carnage. As Rusty wandered through the maze-like dungeon, he continued to assault smaller creatures. Smaller spiders, rats, and even slugs on the walls were all fair game. They didn’t seem to be part of the control structure of the internal voice, and there were many of them here. It was quite easy to dispatch them as, for some reason, they were slow to react to his advances.

With each successful strike, Rusty felt a surge of satisfaction as his experience points increased. The green goop from the defeated creatures splattered on his corroded armor, adding a gruesome touch to his appearance. Despite the macabre scene, Rusty continued his relentless pursuit of experience points, driven by an instinctual desire to become stronger. Thanks to relative ease for dispatching these beings, he had managed to gain the remaining forty-nine points rather easily.

Congratulations you have gained a level.

Rusty was now a level two Damaged Rusty Bronze Armor and had gained three whole attribute points. Considering that all of them had increased by five when he gained his title, the increase seemed rather small. His maximum hit points had gone up, and after leveling up, he also noticed that his magic points were restored instantly. However, his special points remained low, and they were regenerating at a very slow pace compared to the magic points.

This also reminded him about his previous tests, the time to acquire some new skills had come so he homed in on another skeletal monster who was holding a sword along with the shield. His helmet made its way onto the creatures cranium and he was presented with a new message yet again.

Even though the message told him that it found multiple compatible skills, he was only presented with one option. There was also another peculiarity, the skill was in a grayish tone this time around while previously it was a lot brighter. Nevertheless, he focused on the skill just like before and waited for another message just like last time.

‘Not enough SP?’

Rusty was perplexed by this result as he continued to try to select the skill. The skeletal monster eventually started walking away, and he had to retrieve his helmet. He recalled that after absorbing the skill from the human, his Special Point counter had gone down to zero. It seemed that he would need to wait quite a bit more before he was able to use this absorption skill again.

While he was lacking SP, this didn’t deter him from anything. It was possible for him to level up his attributes by defeating small insects and rodents. While this was a slow process, he was not really in a hurry. The resources that he was given would eventually recover, and he would be able to gain some skills with time. So, he started his first leveling drive, and the small creatures that had lived here in peace would soon know fear...