The Monsterification.
Rob smirked triumphantly at the sight of a glowing blue crystal, shaped like a sphere and around 40 centimeters wide in diameter. The sheer amount of magic power it contained also amazed him.
Divinity Stone, a crystal that emits a pale blue light, comes to be when large clumps of magic power pool together and crystallize over a thousand years. Then, over a few hundred years, their saturated magic power is liquefied and secreted out as a powerful healing substance called "Ambrosia."
Ambrosia is an extremely powerful healing medicine that is created from the liquified magic power residue of a Divinity Stone that has been saturated in magic power for centuries. It's capable of healing most wounds and ailments, either by drinking it or applying on the wounds, and is capable of saving someone who's on the brink of death.
On top of that, Ambrosia can extend one's life so long as one continues to drink it and is also referred to as the "elixir of life."
Ambrosia, however, has some drawbacks. It's incapable of regrowing missing limbs or other body parts. It's also incapable of removing the pain associated with severe injuries. In addition, it's incapable of sating hunger.
After coming back to his senses, Rob expanded the place into a five by three meters room with two and a half meters in height. It would be his hideout on the first floor of the True Great Orcus Labyrinth.
Once he finished expanding the room, Rob built a small irrigation system to collect the Ambrosia spilled on the floor. After collecting Ambrosia in a hole at the end of the irrigation system, he made a bowl of the minerals around the hole. In the end, his efforts gave him a bowl filled to the brim with Ambrosia.
Finished collecting the Ambrosia, Rob created some vials and capsules from the minerals he extracted from the ground. He then filled each vial and capsule with Ambrosia. Simultaneously, he also practiced his Transmute skill.
After storing the Ambrosia into the vials and capsules, Rob finally decided to take a break. He then took out some food from his Item Box and silently ate them. Since time inside the Item Box stopped, the food stored inside it would never go bad.
Anyway, Rob almost filled up the space of the Item Box with the food he pilfered from Heiligh's royal castle. Certainly, stealing from his gracious host was beyond shameless. However, shame wouldn't provide him the minimum comfort he would sorely need after falling into the abyss.
Rob never planned to survive on eating Monster's meat all the time. He only planned to eat it to gain skills and stats. Therefore, he stole the food from the castle kitchen to fill his stomach once he was in the True Great Orcus Labyrinth.
As he ate, Rob thought about his game plan.
To be honest, Rob was nervous and scared to get out of his safe place. After all, the Monsters on this floor were far more powerful than the Behemoth he had seen before.
Rob could still clearly recall the terrifying presence of that Behemoth. It had left a lasting impression on his mind. However, the Monsters inhabiting this floor were said to be far stronger and more terrible than that Behemoth. Therefore, his anxiety and fear were normal.
Still, Rob didn't let his anxiety and fear control him. "What's the point of me being here if I get cold feet? Besides, it's already too late to get back, isn't it? Now, I can only move forward, and as long as I'm careful, I can definitely succeed!"
Rob reaffirmed his resolve that had wavered for a moment.
Once he finished eating, Rob began preparing for his hunt. He made a spear with a drill tip like what Hajime made in the original story. He also gave the spear a simple rotating mechanism that he could rotate with his hands.
After completing his preparations, Rob left his base to hunt the two-tailed lightning wolves. They were the weakest monsters inhabiting this floor, but they were staying in a pack to increase their survival. Therefore, hunting them would be somewhat tricky.
Still, Rob had a plan to hunt those wolves. He would entrap them in a hole he transmuted. After that, he'd kill them like how Hajime did it in the original story.
After entering the main passageway, Rob moved with caution. He isolated his presence and invoked the Minimum Mind skill. He also activated Detect Magic and Detect Danger.
A few moments later, Rob stopped. It wasn't because he sensed a Monster's presence. He suddenly stopped because he found the remains of a Monster that was torn apart.
After approaching the remains cautiously, Rob checked them. 'This ear... I see. These remains belonged to a Rabbit,' he commented in his mind. 'I suppose I am lucky to get this. The Rabbits inhabiting this floor are stronger than my hunting target, the twin-tailed electric wolves, after all.'
Seeing the state of the Rabbit's remains, Rob was sure that the perpetrator behind its demise was the strongest monster inhabiting this floor, which was a Bear.
Nevertheless, Rob stored the remains in the Item Box. He then decided to return to his base.
Though it wasn't his actual target, it would still help Rob undergo Monsterification. He couldn't help but consider himself very lucky to have found the remains of the Rabbit when he was out to hunt the wolves.
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Arriving at his hideout, Rob immediately prepared everything he needed to undergo Monsterification. For absolute power, he didn't mind stopping being a human.
Rob removed the Rabbit's flesh, muscle, and fat from the bones and skin. He even roasted and seasoned those meat, fat, and muscles to make his meal easier to eat.
Rob wasn't sure if it would help, though. He recalled how it was stated that Monster's meat tasted horrible. Still, it was better than eating it raw or roasted without seasonings.
Besides roasting his meal with seasonings, Rob also prepared a spacious and empty place, around five-by-five meters with three meters height, next to his main hideout to undergo Monsterification.
Rob had a hunch that he would thrash about amidst the Monsterification process. He didn't want to mess up the place he kept the Divinity Stone and the Ambrosia. Therefore, he created that new room.
Besides that, Rob also made a stick for biting from Rabbit's bones wrapped in its skin and fur. His final preparation was to prepare his mind and body, mostly his mind, for what was to come.
Once he finished his preparations, Rob ate his power-up meal. He grimaced in disgust at the horrible taste that assaulted his taste buds.
Rob never felt anything so terrible in his life. However, he forced himself to swallow his meal with the help of Ambrosia.
'Wasn't the original story understating the horrible taste of Monster's meat?' He complained in his mind with a grimace. 'I'm glad that I keep real food in the Item Box. I can't imagine eating only this crappy stuff until I reach Oscar's hideout.'
After swallowing the last bit with a gulp of Ambrosia, Rob took the Rabbit's bone stick that he had prepared and bit it. Then, he waited for the pain to come with rising anxiety, tension, and trepidation.
A few moments later, Rob began feeling the effect of eating Monster's meat, starting as mild pain in his stomach. Then, the pain quickly turned into unbearable agony.
The pain was trying to eat him from the inside out. Rob writhed on the ground, his throat releasing a muffled scream. This pain was far, far worse than anything he had experienced in his life.
And because of the Ambrosia in his system, Rob couldn't faint, so he had to experience that unbearable agony while being fully awake.
Eventually, Rob's body began to morph.
The color was bleached out of Rob's hair. It was unsure whether it was from the pain or for some other reason entirely, but his black hair slowly turned white.
Then, Rob's muscles and bones began to grow slightly, giving him a toned appearance. Red veins ran down the inside of his body, though he wasn't aware of that at the time.
There existed a phenomenon known as overcompensation. When one attempted muscle training, their muscles actually tore, and the body simply regrew them a bit stronger to overcompensate. And that same thing was happening to Rob.
A monster's meat was poison to humans. Because of the rampant magic power coursing through their blood, a monster's specialized organs allowed them to directly interface with magic and give them superior physical strength. The magic power that circulated through monsters affected even their bones and muscles.
This chaotic magic power, that allowed monsters to use magic without incantations or magic circles, was poison to humans and killed any who tried to ingest it. It would eat a person away from the inside, destroying their very cells.
Some people had tried to eat monsters in the past and they had all, without exception, died. Rob had read all about this in a book he borrowed from the public library of Heiligh's capital city before. However, he still ate the monster's meat because he knew how to stay alive and even thrive from it.
It was why Rob had tirelessly searched for the Divinity Stone before. The Ambrosia it produced could help him survive the Monsterification process.
The Ambrosia healed Rob every time his body was destroyed by the rampant magic power of the monster. As a result, his body was forced to evolve at an unnaturally rapid pace.
It was broken, then repaired. Broken, then repaired. With each cycle, Rob's body slowly changed. Almost like a reincarnation of sorts.
His frail human body was forcibly transformed into something stronger, and he went through a ritual of rebirth. It could be said Rob's muffled screams were akin to the cries of a newborn.
Finally, the pain receded, the process finished, and Rob slumped to the ground.