I originally wanted to play the devoted fan. Get close. See if I could copy whatever UR ability Orochi almost certainly possessed. Rocket straight into the sky on the spot.
But if the cost is becoming a light snack for a Dragon-level monster?
Hard pass.
Understood. Thank you. Pretend I never asked.
"Then this subordinate shall wait until my strength has further improved—until I am truly worthy of an audience with His Majesty!"
Jack's voice was smooth, respectful, perfectly calibrated. He bowed slightly.
"I will depart immediately and execute the mission. I will not disappoint your expectations, Great Eyes."
Then he turned. And walked.
His steps were hurried but controlled. Swift but not panicked. Within moments, his dark form had vanished into the shadows beyond the gate—as if afraid Psykos might change her mind.
Psykos: …
Damn it. I want to hit him even more now.
Her massive single eye tracked his disappearing form.
No. Can't make a move. If I do now, I'll kill him.
A pause.
Let him reach Dragon-level first. Then Orochi can… take good care of him.
After leaving Great Eyes's palace, Jack felt a sudden chill trace down his spine. He shivered—involuntarily.
His Monster physique made actual illness impossible. So there was only one explanation.
Something dirty. Time to go.
Muttering to himself, he dissolved into a blurry pitch-black afterimage and vanished into the labyrinthine depths of the underground passage.
The Little Eyeball clone, hidden in the shadows, watched him go.
…
Jack didn't stop until he'd reached his new quarters. He slammed the heavy alloy door shut. Sealed it. Unleashed his aura to maximum—isolating himself from any prying eyes or psychic surveillance.
Only then did he stop concealing.
A wide grin spread across his features beneath the dark faceplate.
*Whoosh— *
He upended the sack. Thousands of distorted flesh chunks—each pulsing with that strange, mind-bending aura—cascaded out. They formed a small mountain on the floor, radiating eerie light in the dim room.
Jack's eyes lit up.
I'm rich.
I'm really rich now.
No hesitation. He plunged both hands into the strange flesh-mountain before him. His upturned lips radiated pure youthful greed.
"System! Convert all of them!"
[Conversion successful! Gained Origin Points x 110,000!]
Thousands of Monster Cells turned to dust in an instant. Refined. Consumed. Gone.
The balance on his panel skyrocketed.
[Origin Points: 183,691]
One hundred eighty-three thousand.
An unprecedented high. Jack felt every cell in his body tremble with joy. An unfamiliar sensation surged through him—boldness. Confidence. The feeling of having resources.
After all this time transmigrating… finally rich. Finally don't have to count every single point.
His excitement cooled slowly. He exhaled a long breath.
One hundred eighty thousand looked like a lot. But against the massive deficit his abilities demanded?
Still nothing.
Simple math: Overgrowth from Lv6 to Lv7 cost 32,000. Lv7 to Lv8 cost 64,000. Lv8 to Lv9 cost a terrifying 128,000.
In other words—his entire fortune was enough for two core SSR upgrades. Maybe.
Jack's slightly inflated eyes cleared.
The Monster Association is crawling with Great Eyes's spies. If I upgrade my core abilities now, my strength spikes. I'll passively ascend to a higher level.
His clever mind reasserted control. A sharp glint flickered behind his faceplate.
I told her a breakthrough was imminent. That means I'm at a bottleneck. A bottleneck should look like a bottleneck. If I break through too easily… how will I ask rich women for more resources later?
So.
No points. Not yet.
But that didn't mean no upgrades. Just not the core ones.
He had a mission in human territory. His current form—ferocious, hideous, undeniably Monster—was hardly suitable for public appearances. Under those circumstances, a powerful disguise ability became… essential.
"Monsterification first."
[Consumed Origin Points x 48,000 | Monsterification level increased! Lv6 → LvMax!]
[Ding! Copied ability "Monsterification (SR)" has reached max level. Integrated into main body. Ability slot released.
]**
[Current ability slots used: 9 / 15.
]**
Upgrade complete. Without hesitation, Jack activated the ability.
This time, the transformation completed in a single breath. Effortless. Smooth.
The ferocious battle armor that covered his entire form rippled like liquid metal, then silently melted into his skin—as natural as mercury flowing across stone. Almost no additional energy fluctuation accompanied the shift. The terrifying Monster aura receded rapidly. His three-meter-tall pitch-black frame shrank.
Where the monster had stood, a human youth now stood.
One meter ninety-five. Black hair. Black eyes. A face so impeccably handsome it seemed almost artificial.
Jack rolled his shoulders, flexing in his newly restored human form. The assessment came automatically.
Form switching speed and control: greatly improved. The sense of wrongness—that uncanny valley feeling a Monster in human form usually projects—has been minimized. As long as I don't go all out, the hidden Monster aura is virtually undetectable.
He clenched a fist. Felt the suppressed power slumbering beneath the surface.
Strength and speed are completely capped in this form. If I had to find a reference point… probably comparable to Genos when he first appeared. Should handle most situations, as long as I'm not careless.
Beneath that suppression, the BUG-level power he'd privately named Monsterification Second Stage coiled like a sleeping dragon. Ready.
A sharp glint flashed in his human eyes.
The strength decay in human form is severe. But that means—once I unleash and enter second stage—the magnitude of the spike will be even more dramatic.
He took a slow breath.
I can temporarily step into Dragon-level disaster ranks. Just like Wind of Cyclone.
His heart—his human heart—beat once. Hard.
Dragon-level.
Even temporary. Even conditional. That was the ceiling of the conventional Monster hierarchy.
One foot has finally entered the ranks of true powerhouses.
But he couldn't get carried away. The fate of certain overconfident powerhouses from his original world's lore remained fresh in memory. Never get carried away.
"Technical summary." Jack stroked his chin, muttering to himself. "Max-level Monsterification is strong. But to achieve seamless human-form transformation—Sweet Mask level—I'd probably need to evolve it to SSR."
As if responding to his speculation, the system prompt chimed in his mind.
[Ding! Evolvable ability detected. Would you like to consume 100,000 Origin Points to evolve "Monsterification (SR)"? (Yes / No)
]**
Jack: …
He counted the zeros. Six digits. One hundred thousand points.
Back when he'd evolved his N-grade innate ability, it had cost one thousand. SR was two grades higher. Two more zeros.
Mathematically sound. Reasonable.
If he wanted absolute safety—if he wanted to minimize risk entirely—evolving Monsterification to SSR would be the play.
But he wasn't going to.
This mission wasn't difficult. Flame of Impure Ardor was a voluntary recruit. Not like Garou—stubborn, resistant, needing to be beaten into submission. Jack's job was simple: connect. Deliver. Return.
High-intensity combat was unlikely.
Under those conditions, max-level SR Monsterification was more than sufficient. Investing one hundred thousand points here would be wasteful.
Plus.
His gaze sharpened.
In the early stages of character building, there are simply too many abilities hungry for resources. After finally squeezing a windfall from the rich woman… I need to spend where it actually matters.