Mash could help but clench his hands into fists. The success filled him with pride. In his mind, it was the first time that he managed to live up to the words Priscilla had said before. He had done something amazing. His clothes were covered in dirt, which was a testament to how many failures he experienced. The blood-bonded clothes were hard to stain. They could only get dirty if Mash himself was dirty. However, the many explosions had made him exactly that. There was no hesitation or delay this time. He looked inward and sought after the changes to his status. Eager to see how his skills had changed and adapted.

Name: Mash Stellumbra Class: Chimeric Vagabond

Level: 112

Health: 3000 / 3300

Energy: 4400/ 4400

Fortitude: 330

Endurance: 210

Strength: 275

Agility: 275

Intelligence: 230

Wisdom: 120 → 130

Charisma: 110

Free Stats: 40

Skills: Hunt, Thunder-wood Creation → Magical Layered Wood, Inhuman Hibernation, Chimeric Transformation, Thunder-wood Imitation → Wooden Birth, Chimeric Reconstruction, Vagabond’s Path, Chimeric Domain, Adaptable Monster Core, Chimera’s Constitution, Wooden Body, Mimic’s Avarice, A Touch of Nothingness, Golden Body

Thunder-wood Creation → Magical Layered Wood: You know how deadly sticks can be. Forge your magic into your wooden creations. Your magic has been layered into the wood allowing it to carry every kind of magic. Its durability and resistance increase with your affinity.

Thunder-wood Imitation → Wooden Birth: Form imitations of creatures you have consumed, imitating some of their bodily functions through your wood. Impart your own life into the creature to grant them true vestiges of life.

He wore a broad smile as he saw the changes. The smile froze as the implications of the skills hit him. The change to his stats was nominal, but the skills were a little bit stranger. His Magical-Layered Wood seemed like a strict improvement. Plus, it implied that it would grow and adapt automatically. He wouldn’t have to do anything else, just keep getting new magic. He wondered if it had already adapted to the rest of his affinities. There were a few that he hadn’t been able to mix. He would need to test and see if even those had been added.

Although, the thing that had made his smile break was the next change. Wooden Birth was problematic, both in name and implication. The skill itself complicated things along with the drain on his health. The small dragon before him had taken 300 health. That wasn’t a lot and he could recover it quickly, but it meant that he couldn’t just make an army of imitations like before. This didn’t feel like a strict upgrade, but that would depend on what the creatures could do. However, that was only one part of the problem.

He was creating life. He made a living being. Even if it was made of wood, it was still alive. Priscilla implied that it was probably like her bodies, but that didn’t really ease his concerns. Priscilla’s other bodies could think. Did that mean his creations could do the same? What did that even mean? Would they give levels to people when they were killed? If he made imitations of himself, would it have its own levels? Could they resist his commands? Was he ok with sending creatures that could think to die?

A sigh escaped his lips, as question after question popped into his head. Wooden Birth was a skill he hadn’t been expecting, and he had so much he needed to test. Mash hesitated though. The tests weren’t kind, especially if the creations had their own thoughts wouldn’t it be cruel to create and kill them. Even using them in fights would be wrong, right?

[They are yours; they belong to you. Imagine yourself like a summoner.]

Priscilla’s words were a little reassuring, but he was thinking along the same lines already. He still wanted to talk to someone else. It was time to get some other opinions and tell Fifty-One that he had finished. He looked around and noticed the others were still working. Jill seemed to have stopped. She was just sitting by Fifty-One and eating something. Mash wondered how much time had passed. He had definitely missed lunch, but what about dinner? His stomach rumbled as he spotted the food.

It was better than just standing around, and he started walking over. He paused when he felt a loud thump behind him. Mash glanced back and saw that his dragon planned to follow him. Mash stared at the dragon, and just shrugged his shoulders before proceeding. The dragon’s loud footsteps turned some heads, including his friends. Mash could see them walking over too and grinned madly as he looked at them. His gaze gave away the secret, but they were already looking past him. They stared at the dragon, and Mash could understand why.

The dragon would be considered a masterpiece. The way it moved was mesmerizing. Not because it was weird, but rather it was because it was too natural. It even mimicked the motion of breathing though he knew it didn’t actually do that. His previous imitations would look more animal-like with the black scales that had grown on his wood. Now that they were gone, it was more clearly a sculpture. A wooden carving, although these were definitely more alive. How was it possible that it looked more alive despite losing its scales? He didn’t understand but touched the wooden dragon with his hand. The wood wasn’t smooth. It was like real bark and felt rough to his fingers. It wasn’t scaled either, but the impression of scales could be seen on the surface. The detail was in its face, in the way it moved. The way the eyes blinked as it turned its head from side to side was ominous. It was a primal curiosity of a creature that had never seen the world.

Mash moved his gaze beyond the creature’s head to its wings and tail. The wings were made of branches. A countless number of branches layered over top of one another, and large leaves covered any gaps. The leaves were thick too. They were about as big as thick as his arm and as big as his head. The blackish wood was odd, but the leaves were even stranger. The leaves were multicolored, covering all of the colors he would see on a rainbow. There were even some white and black leaves mixed in. The tail was thick and had several branches near the end. Small leaves covered the end of the tail, turning into a bushy tail that didn’t really belong to a dragon. The subtle movements of both were lifelike. Curiosity made him ask a question.

“Fly.”

He said the word as a command, just like he would with his imitations. The dragon raised its head and opened its wings. It opened its wings as wide as it could. The creature’s wingspan was enormous, and it stretched them out before beating them. Mash felt wind magic coming from the creature too. It was mimicking how he normally flew. One final beat of the wings pushed some of the dirt aside. The creature took to the air and flew into the sky. Mash felt a mental link to the creature and knew that he could give it instructions, but he didn’t know if it would listen. How would he even test that?

[Ask it to kill itself. The link is similar to the ones I make, but there are some differences that I cannot explain. A test is necessary.]

Mash grimaced at the thought, and he watched the dragon fly about with more than a little curiosity Priscilla’s suggestion felt a little cruel, but he could see the value of it. He needed to make sure that the things he made wouldn’t just rampage like real monsters. It was little more than a summon. Less than one. That was what he told himself. He was about to command it, to test it as Priscilla suggested but stopped when he heard a voice.

“What did you do?”

Mash heard Luke speak. It made him flinch and jump in place. The fact that Luke had been able to sneak up on him spoke volumes. He had been so focused, so distracted that he hadn’t even noticed the others entering his domain. They saw his surprise, but Mash spoke before they could comment on it.

“I upgraded my skills!”

His voice carried his excitement, and he spoke as fast as he could. The words tumbled together, but they got the idea.

“Skills? How many skills?”

Red commented quickly. Mash didn’t flinch this time. When he noticed Luke, he took in all of his surroundings. His friends had all approached, and he noticed signs of dirt on everyone but Red. Her body, clothes included, was made of blood. She literally couldn’t get dirty anymore. Fifty-One actually hadn’t joined his friends but remained well out of earshot. Only his friends were close enough to listen, but he didn’t trust distance alone. He didn’t want to go into the details of any of his skills. Even if he passed the test, he didn’t plan on joining the organization either way. He only wanted to gain as much information as he could.

“Not here.”

Mash spoke and held his hand out. A wooden arch started to grow from the ground, and the others nodded. At the same moment, he called his dragon back. Mash thought about leaving it here, but he didn’t trust the other three. One of them might kill it. Thus, he made sure to make the portal large enough to fit the creation as well. It made the creation take a little while, and he could see Luke holding his tongue. Luke seemed like he had something to say, but he knew better than to ask questions here.

The portal finished, and the four of them entered it quickly. Mash’s dragon entered last. They were in an empty space within his world. He didn’t recognize the location. The grass was short, and he realized that he couldn’t see anything other than grass. They were in a plain, and one that stretched on for a very long time. He didn’t close the portal immediately. It took a lot of energy to make, and it would take a while if he wanted to open another. However, he imagined that Fifty-One would enter if he left it alone. That ultimately made him close the portal. As the portal closed, Luke exploded and started speaking urgently.

“What is that thing? I can see it has life. It has a soul, Mash! How?”

Mash heard the anger in Luke’s voice. He didn’t have an answer though. It wasn’t like explaining his skill would be enough. It certainly wouldn’t be the answer that Luke wanted to hear.

“It’s a skill. It let me make living imitations.”

Luke had been glaring but now a frown joined it.

“That’s not it. Its soul is empty. There’s nothing there!”

“What?”

Luke was shouting, but Mash cut him off. Now it was Mash’s turn to be confused. What did Luke mean? The genuine confusion on his face got Luke to pause. They both just spent several seconds staring at one another. Luke’s glare slowly vanished and turned to disbelief. Mash grew more confused as he tried to understand what Luke said. Jill broke the silent showdown.

“Can you explain for the rest of us?”

Thus began a long explanation. Mash started with his attempt at changing his wood. He told them everything, although he did skip over most of his failures. They didn’t need to know about them. It took a few minutes to explain the skills themselves, and the feeling he had when he got them. Once he finished, all heads turned toward Luke. He could apparently see something that the rest of them couldn’t.