“Master, would you please throw that already?”

With a disgusted look, Evelyn stood a distance away from Arthur as she looked at the dead cockroach in his palm. As someone fond of cleaning, insects-specifically cockroaches- were the maid’s archenemies.

Even in the fanciest aristocratic households, cockroaches always find a way to sneak in and, in some special cases, would lead to disastrous consequences.

For instance, Evelyn once heard a maid recount how she was fired by a noble lady because said lady was ‘attacked’ by a cockroach in her room.

“Now now, why would I throw such a precious thing?”

“Precious?”

The parasite glanced at her and grinned as he put the insect on the bed, annoying the maid even more.

“Master, for both our sakes, don’t do it.”

“Oh? What do you think I’m going to do?” He responded playfully.

“I can tolerate you moving between human corpses or even a bird, but if it’s an insect, I might unintentionally kill you.”

“I trust you wouldn’t kill your beloved master over a trifling matter.”

Then, without waiting for a response, Arthur jumped from Leonis’ body to the cockroach. Admittedly, being in such a small host was dangerous, however, Arthur looked forward to the benefits. After all, cockroaches were notoriously tenacious and their small bodies notwithstanding, they were impressively fast and had keen senses.

So far, he has been busy dealing with other affairs… affairs that should not have distracted him so much as to ignore the countless possibilities his Race had granted him.

Generally, racial or passive skills obtained by bestial or other types of species would only work on host of similar category, however, it wasn’t necessarily uniquely the case.

Arthur knew that his life would be endangered one way or the other, and because of that, he needed to be prepared more than one safety precaution.

Indeed, even if he were to be killed while possessing any host, it wouldn’t actually kill him, his real body would get ejected and he would become vulnerable. Therefore, that method would only be used as a last resort.

Within a couple of breaths, Evelyn, still disgusted, saw the cockroach convulse then come back to life: its thin and long antenna wiggled continuously and its supposedly broken body recovered and was mobile yet again.

With a bloodthirsty glare, the maid stared at the cockroach and barely held herself from crushing to death. Fortunately, Arthur did not get close to her and, instead, moved in circles as he slowly got used to the new host.

*You possessed ‘Nameless Cockroach’*

*First possession of an insect-type host: +50% Experience.*

*You have gained a new skill: [Sickening Life(Passive)].*

*You have gained a new skill: [Insectile Gluttony(Passive]*

*You have gained a new skill: [Flight, No Fight(Active Lv3)]*

*You have gained a new skill:[Exoskeleton Defense(Passive Lv2)]*

*Your stats have increased, please check the Status Window for more details.*

*Requirements met… The Chamber of Choices has been unlocked.*

*The Chamber of Choices: A unique System Product available only to The Parasite Race, Chimeras, Homunculus, and Vampires that have an official covenant with the System.

Through the Chamber of Choices, the users- depending on their current Race and arsenal of skills, will be offered an optional and appropriate variety of Sub-races they could evolve into.

Locking ‘Arthur Bilgart’ as Administrator of the Chamber of Choices Number 32OF61264… permission granted!*

*The Chamber of Choices have been updated with the user ‘Arthur Bilgart’ skills and stats.*

*The Chamber of Choices:

Available Evolution Sub-races:

- Mutant Insectile Parasite

- Blood Poison Parasite

- Nest Rex Parasite

Unlockable Evolution Sub-races:

- Pathogen Parasite (Acquisition of [Disease Resistance (Passive Lv5) or higher])

- Black Blood Parasite (Possessing a progeny of an Original Vampire) or (Acquisition of [Blood Curtain(Active)]*

*[Sickening Life(Passive)]: It takes more than decapitation to eliminate a cockroach.

This skill grants the user a second chance for survival by allowing them to continue fighting for an additional minute after losing their head.

They will, however, lose the following senses depending on the sustained injury: Sight - Hearing - Taste.

If the head is ‘relatively(70%+)’ intact, it is possible to reattach it and apply any Healing Spell to fully restore it.

Chamber of Choices Note: This skill will work regardless of the type of the possessed host.*

*[Insectile Gluttony(Passive)]: The user will be capable of eating any organic food-source available. Additionally, consumption of hair, books, or decaying matter will have the same effect and serve to restore a small amount of Mana as well as accelerate the user’s fatigue recovery.*

*[Flight, no Fight(Active Lv3)]: The user will designate a specific target to escape from, and the bigger the distance between the two, the faster the user would become.

Numerical Values: 1 meter = 1% Increase in Agility.*

*[Exoskeleton Defense(Active Lv2)]: This skill can only be used when the host has an exoskeleton similar to a cockroach.

When activated, the user will be immune to all forms of magical and physical damage for five seconds. Afterwards, the defensive values will double for ten seconds.

Chamber of Choices Note: Upgrading this skill to Lv5 or higher will open up a new Sub-race: Exoskeletal Mutant Parasite.*

*TITLE(S) : NONE

NAME : Arthur Bilgart

RACE : Blood Parasite

Lv: 8 (89%)

-

Strength : 166

Intelligence : 96

Agility : 125

Wisdom: 80

Vitality : 145

Dexterity : 100

Skills: Vampire Bite (Active Lv10) - Full Moon [Passive-Active] - Physical Enhancement (Passive Lv7) - Blood Succor (Active Lv7) - Mana Control (Passive Lv5) - Possession (Passive LvEX) - Universal Human Language (Passive)- Basic Arman Language(Passive)- Sadistic Torture (Active Lv5) - Corpse Dissection (Active Lv12)- Medical Field (Passive Lv4) - Knife Mastery (Passive Lv2)- Sanguis(blood) Barrier (Active Lv6)- Axe Mastery (Passive Lv3) - Woodworking (Passive Lv2)- Poison Resistance(Passive Lv2)- Long Breath(Passive Lv4)- First Attack(Passive Lv2)- Cold Resistance(Passive Lv1) - Tusk Damage(Active Lv3) - Magic Resistance(Passive Lv1) - Woodworking (Passive Lv3) - Culinary Arts(Passive Lv3) - Sword Mastery (Passive Lv2) - Spear Mastery (Passive Lv1) - Bow Mastery (Passive Lv1) - Farming (Passive Lv2) - Heat Resistance (Passive Lv1) - Survival Instinct(Passive) - Keen Eyes(Passive Lv3) - Swift Wings(Passive Lv2) - Warmth (Passive Lv1) - Disease Resistance (Passive Lv3) - Rat Teeth(Passive) - Insectile Gluttony(Passive) - Flight, No Fight(Active Lv3) - Exoskeleton Defense(Active Lv2) - Sickening Life(Passive).

The influx skills obtained by possession of the cockroach were surprisingly better than those from the Little Bunting and the dirty rat. Disregarding the small increase in stats, Arthur was more pleased by [Flight, no Fight] and the Chamber of Choices.

The former, coupled with Randy’s [Survival Instinct], further facilitated the probability of escape in case of facing a dangerous foe. As for the latter, although it has no practical uses, it provided him with exactly what he wanted: The necessary information about the previously-hidden requirements for an evolution.

Moreover, it offered him a decent amount of choices, which he thoroughly explored as he kept circling around with the cockroach’s body. The feeling of controlling the body of the cockroach was wholly unfamiliar and more strange than being inside a Hollow Alligator.

Nevertheless, Arthur quickly got used to the sensation and felt totally at ease despite how pitifully small the host was. Alas, this cockroach was incapable of flying but that didn’t make this unplanned possession any worse.

Arthur had been so focused on targeting human hosts, therefore forgetting the existence of myriad other races. Of course, not all insects, birds, or domestic animals would reward him with good skills, however, if opportunities present themselves, he would definitely not let them go to waste.

After playing around with the cockroach host, Arthur returned to Leonis’ body, feeling refreshed and elated.

He read the benefits and consequences of the available sub-races and but only the Poison Blood Parasite was enticing. The Nest Rex would force him to become permanently immobile and-basically- establish a literal nest in which he would breed lesser parasites.

As for the Mutant Insectile Parasite, it would significantly increase his Strength, Dexterity, and Agility while indefinitely removing the Wisdom and Intelligence stats, thus rendering him incapable of using any Magic. Put simply, A Mutant Insectile Parasite is a purely physical combatant, a strong one that would limit the pool of possessable hosts.

The Poison Blood Parasite, however, seemed to be a higher-variation of the current Blood Parasite. It was a direct evolution into a stronger type of the current ‘sub-race’.

Not only would it decrease the stat-weakening during the day, but it would also increase the 30% stats increase to 50%. Furthermore, he would gain three additional skills but, as with all other options, there were side-effects, or better say, disadvantages. One such disadvantage was the necessity to possess a Poisonous host once a month.

This obligatory requirement, at least for Arthur, was not that easy to accomplish since he did not know how to distinguish a normal post from a poisonous one, though that fault lied with the System’s lack of explanation regarding that specific term. Plus, locating such a specific host was easier said than done and the risk would be too great since failure of doing that would cause his stats to drop by a whopping 20% for two months.

Since Arthur wasn’t in a hurry to evolve, he decided to wait until he got his hands on the Bloated Murder. Maybe then, another sub-race would evolve, one with disadvantages that were not too restrictive.

“Is there anything you can’t control, Master?”

Only when the parasite was back into a human body did Evelyn approach him. She sat on her bed and inquisitively questioned him with a half-disgusted half-intrigued expression.

“Well, for one, I can’t control you.”

“...”

“That was supposed to be a joke, you know.”

“As I said multiple times, Master, you lack any sense of humor.”

She let out a long sigh and switched the subject, “Anyway, what are we going to do now?”

“I told you, did I not? Our target is the Bloated Murderer and… I think I have a plan.”

Seeing that she had her ears perked and was listening in silence, Arthur continued,

“After getting hindered by you twice, I’m sure he’s wary of you, though I doubt he’ll risk following you and aim for an ambush. So, we need him to drop his guard and force him to act.”

Arthur stopped and, with a wide smile, looked at the pondering maid.

“As long as he knows I’m not in the area, he will go after Randy again.”

“Yes… yes! Great minds think alike! So, we need him to know that you’re in -emm.. let’s say near the office whereas Randy Ronvorld is far away. Preferably in a secluded place, one which is perfect for a clean and swift unnoticeable murder.”

“Master…”

“What? Don’t give me that look, my dear Evelyn, lest I think you’ve fallen for me. I can take care of myself and I have this too…”

The parasite grabbed the cockroach and waved it in front of the maid before nonchalantly hiding it in his pocket.

“Once he ‘kills’ Randy, he will not suspect an attack.”

“And how would you attack him, Master? It’s not like a cockroach can kill.”

“Indeed, which is why we need perfect timing. Don’t forget that it’s not only the Bloated Murderer’s who’s after Randy, the vampires too… and they need him alive, apparently. While it might surprise them to see a confirmed dead person come back to life, I doubt they’ll miss their chance a second time and let go of their prize.”

“So, you will lure both the vampires and the Bloated Murderer and then wait for the former to eliminate the latter? I’m not too sure about this, Master. It’s highly-reliant on timing and circumstances. Any variable, no matter how small, could change the course of things.”

“You are right.” Arthur nonchalantly nodded, seemingly uncaring about the probable inconsistencies that might occur during the plan.

“But it’s worth a try. Even if we fail, it’s not like we will get discovered. If we succeed, I get the Bloated Murderer then proceed to screw over the vampires. You see, I’m really interested in those Blood Crystals. I wager they would benefit me, my precious rabbit, and even Mort.”

****

New skills description:

*[Swift Wings(Passive Lv2)]: While in possession of any bird-type host, flying speed will be increased by 20%. Agility Stats will be increased by 10%*

*[Warmth(Passive Lv1)]: Any host possessing feathers or fur will grant the user an increased resistance to any Ice-aspected magic and heightened resistance to cold temperature.*

*[Rat Teeth(Passive): The user’s teeth will be empowered and, if damaged, will regrow instantly.

Any physical attack using teeth will apply ‘Bleeding’ to the target.*