[You have leveled up to Level 20.]
[Choose an upgrade:
– Poison Injection
– Amphetamine Injection Lv. 2
– Adrenaline Injection Lv. 2]
"Amphetamine Level 2? I didn't know there was such a thing," Hiro muttered.
[Amphetamine Injection Lv. 2:
Injects a more potent amphetamine into the host, increasing Dexterity by 400% and multiplying nutrient consumption by 5. The user can choose whether to use the standard amphetamine or this enhanced version. However, the host will faint for three hours after the injection wears off.]
Hiro studied the new upgrades. Amphetamine Lv. 2 boosted Dexterity by 400%, compared to the usual 200%. Adrenaline Injection offered a similar effect but increased Strength instead. Hiro hesitated. The side effect—causing the host to faint—worried him.
"Well, at least it lets me choose between the normal and upgraded versions," he murmured. "Now the question is... amphetamine or adrenaline?"
After weighing his options, Hiro chose Amphetamine. Dexterity, he reasoned, was more important than Strength—especially in a pinch. Speed meant survival.
[Level Up Achieved!
STR: 48 → 50
DEX: 47 → 50
MAG: 0]
As the usual level-up window closed, another appeared. Hiro had forgotten he had reached his level cap. The system now offered him three evolution paths. He recognized two of them.
[Max Level Achieved. New Evolution Paths Available!]
[Choose Your Evolution:
– Symbiote
– Parasitic Flora
– Endul Worm]
[Warning: Choosing anything other than Parasitic Flora will delete Mitosis and Autonomous Core skills.]
"Thanks. That made it easy," Hiro said, nodding to the system's warning.
Becoming a true symbiote would grant him formal status—he wouldn't have to hide from other symbiotes anymore. But it also meant giving up his fragmented presence in multiple hosts. He didn't like that idea. What would happen to his cores? Would Cecile become his only host, while the others gained independence?
Those girls were his. He had no intention of sharing them, even with himself. Hiro was possessive like that.
"I see… so parasitic tentacles aren't animals. They're plants," Hiro muttered as he selected Parasitic Flora for his evolution.
A blooming desire welled up inside him—a hunger to make his girls into fertile seedbeds. Hiro forcibly repressed those instincts. If he grew any more reckless, Cecile and the others might be in danger.
[New Skills Acquired:
– Flower Blossom
– Root Absorption]
[New Traits Acquired:
– Poison Immunity
– Acid Immunity]
For once, there were no negative traits to accompany the evolution. Hiro still retained his vulnerabilities to Holy and Fire magic, but at least now he was immune to poison and acid.
[Name: Hiro]
Race: Parasitic Flora
Class: —
Level: 1 / 50
Stats
STR: 70 (↑20)
DEX: 70 (↑20)
MAGIC: 0
Traits
Weakness to Flame
Weakness to Holy Magic
Acid Immunity
Poison Immunity
Skills
Sense Sharing
Parasitism
Nutrients Efficiency Lv1
Aphrodisiac Injection
Enhanced Host Growth
Adrenaline Injection
Amphetamine Injection
Anaesthesia Injection
Autonomous Core (100/100)
Organic Synthesis
Potion Synthesis
Oxygen Storage (100/100)
Gas Analysis
Air Compressor
Cell Manipulation
Mitosis
Nutrients Storage (90/100)
Flesh Mending
Metamorphic Tentacle (bones, wood)
Material Analysis
Autophagy
Parallel Thought
Water Storage
Auto-Manufacture
Flower Blossom
Root Absorption
"What does Flower Blossom do?"
[Flower Blossom:
Converts sunlight and nutrients into mana. The mana can then be transferred to hosts or used by the user. Can be used in conjunction with Root Absorption for maximum efficiency. The amount of synthesized mana depends on the flower's size and exposure to sunlight.]
[Root Absorption:
Extracts nutrients from organic or inorganic matter. These nutrients can then be transferred to hosts or used by the user. Can be used in conjunction with Flower Blossom for maximum efficiency. The amount absorbed depends on the nutrient richness of the source.]
"Oh! Finally, something I can give to Rebecca. She'll love this," Hiro said, pleased. "I wonder how the transferred mana will affect her."
A new window popped up, prompting him to design a flower for each of the girls. Hiro almost defaulted to laziness, thinking of giving each of them the same red flower. After all, the type didn't affect the ability—the flowers were just cosmetic.
"Hm?" Cecile glanced down at her stomach.
"What is it?" asked Rebecca, walking beside her. The group was currently marching toward Latvin. The counteroffensive had begun.
Unfortunately, morale was low. While the commanders remained driven, most of the soldiers looked weary and uninspired. A few yawned openly, showing their lack of enthusiasm. Only some hot-headed knights still carried the fire of battle in their eyes.
"Feels like Hiro changed somehow. He doesn't feel the same," Cecile murmured.
"…Yeah. He feels a little stronger? That's a good thing, right? Maybe he leveled up," Rebecca suggested. Nana nodded in agreement.
Hiro twitched in surprise. He hadn't said anything to them, nor had his appearance changed. Yet, the girls could tell something inside him had shifted.
"I see," Cecile said quietly.
For this campaign, Cecile, Rebecca, Nana, and Elysia had been selected as the symbiote hosts leading the counteroffensive against Latvin.
Elysia was an undead. She didn't have nutrients in her body for Hiro to parasitize, so he had been using the other girls to feed the core inside her—which, in turn, made them hungrier than usual.
Hiro decided to test his new skill on Elysia first. As a mage, she needed mana the most, so he had to make her flower the largest.
"I wonder if I could give her butterfly wings… That would be awesome. Oh—I can?" Hiro blinked. "Weird. The system calls this a flower."
He extended a tentacle from her back. A flower—though it resembled butterfly wings more than any actual blossom—spread out behind her. Despite the skill's name, Flower Blossom, it behaved more like a leaf. There was no pistil or stamen, and the shape didn't matter for reproduction. What mattered was the surface area. Hiro only needed to make the petals as wide as possible to absorb sunlight.
He smiled wryly at the system's misnomer.
"The only thing I can really customize is the color," he muttered.
Deciding to go all out, Hiro took inspiration from real butterflies. He colored the petals on Elysia's back with vivid eyespot patterns—ornate and striking.
Next, he tested Root Absorption. It worked exactly as described. It could even sustain Hiro and the girls with nutrients—but there was a catch: the host couldn't move while using it. Hiro had to jam a tentacle into the soil to extract nutrients. Being rooted in place during battle was fatal.
He wondered if he could trick the skill—perhaps by having the girls carry pouches of fertilizer. That way, he could tap into the nutrients without needing to dig into the ground and risk immobility. It might be enough to sustain the Amphetamine and Adrenaline injections the girls frequently used in combat.
"Hiro…" Elysia murmured, hugging him in her sleep. She always enjoyed the sensation of him moving inside her.
"I wonder if I can make it transparent…" he said to himself.
For Rebecca, he designed clear, dragonfly-like wings. Hiro didn't need sleep, so he spent the entire night refining the flower designs for each girl. Since Rebecca and Elysia were mages, they received elegant wing-like flowers on their backs, optimized for mana generation. Cecile and Nana, who fought on the front lines, received more modest flowers—small, decorative blossoms on the sides of their heads, less likely to interfere with their movement in battle.
Hiro had considered not putting any flowers on Nana and Cecile. The flowers required nutrients to maintain, and neither of them used mana. But he didn't want them to feel left out. So, he chose a simpler design—a large, ornamental flower on the side of their heads. For Cecile, he grew several delicate pink orchids. For Nana, a bold red hibiscus.
"What the hell is this?" Rebecca and Elysia exclaimed, staring at the flapping wings on their backs as they woke up in their personal tent at dawn.
As the morning sunlight crept through the fabric and touched the wings, Hiro felt power surging through them. Faint motes of light shimmered in the air.
"Hiro's new power?" Elysia murmured, awestruck.
"Ugh… it's too showy. We're not village girls heading to the town square—we're on a mission to invade Latvin," Rebecca said, frowning at the aesthetic flair.
"Hiro… can you remove the wings?" Cecile asked.
Hiro shook his tentacle. He could—but he wouldn't. He wanted to test their power in real battle. The flowers consumed nutrients to make, and unlike his normal tentacles, they couldn't be extended or retracted at will.
"We're about to reach the border town of Languille," the general informed the girls as he entered the tent. He clearly noticed the flowers and wings but didn't comment. It was unwise to interfere with the choices of symbiotes or their hosts.
"We've sent a messenger to the town hall, requesting their surrender," he added.
"Alright. Thank you," Rebecca said, nodding politely.
"Medic! We have wounded!" a voice called out from outside.
"The battle already started? But we haven't received a response from our messenger, have we?" Cecile asked, puzzled.
The general stepped out to investigate. After speaking with a soldier, he returned, his expression darkened with rage.
"The messenger's eyes and ears were cut off. He's being treated in the infirmary."
"Shooting—or mutilating—a messenger is taboo," a knight growled. "I can't believe we ever signed a treaty with Latvin. What dishonorable scum."
"Um… Hiro should be able to heal him. Should I tend to him?" Cecile offered.
As expected of Hiro's best girl—so kind and dependable. The general nodded, and she dashed off toward the infirmary.
"Alright. We'll proceed with the siege. Next time, we'll send a prisoner of war as our messenger. And make sure to record Latvin's violation," the general said to his secretary.
Rebecca and Elysia turned their gaze toward the castle walls of Languille, a border town in Latvin. This town used to be a thriving trade hub with Litmus, but since the Latvin-instigated dungeon break, it had completely sealed off its border.
The siege began.
Siege towers, pushed by Elysia's skeletons, rolled toward the walls while Rebecca unleashed fireballs at the defenders. Nana loosed arrows from behind cover, and Cecile raised a massive shield to protect their advance.
The assault didn't last long. With fewer than 200 low-level soldiers guarding the gate—many of whom lacked ammunition—the city was conquered within a day.
But the victory came at a cost.
"We've lost 100 men, with over 300 seriously injured during the assault. Their weapons were more effective than we expected," the general reported grimly.
"Sir, we've seized their muskets and ammunition. What should we do with them?" an officer asked, saluting.
"We'll make use of them. Assign them to our archers. If we have the same firepower, we might even the odds. Do we have any intel on how they produce the ammunition? Hiro can forge the guns if he has the iron, but we still can't replicate the gunpowder."
"The military alchemist here said the ammo can only be manufactured in the capital. Every month, supply crates are delivered to the outposts."
"What a clever system," the general muttered. "That way, the city lords can't manufacture their own ammo—and without it, they can't rebel. I don't like how Latvin runs things, but I have to admit their political control is well thought out."
"What should we do with the lord?" the officer asked.
"We hang him and his officers in the town square. They violated a knight's code of honor by mutilating our messenger and attacking without provocation," the general said firmly.
The following day, the executions were carried out. Hiro had expected the town lord to plead for his life. Instead, he sneered until the end, mocking Litmus as a "nation of beasts."
At that moment, Hiro realized—this nation was too far gone.
After taking control of the border town, the invasion force paused, waiting for reinforcements from Mutual before pressing deeper into enemy territory.