Heavy Metal [ A Monster Evolution LitRPG ]

A lone, corroded suit of armor stood before a basin of water, gazing at a strange table that had appeared. Whenever it tried to grab it with one of its metallic hands, it just phased through. After a few attempts, it gave up, realizing that perhaps there were some things in this world that couldn't be touched but only looked at.

Soon, it started focusing on the numbers and letters presented to it, unsure of their significance. It didn't know if a higher number was better or perhaps the lower one. It also noticed the prevalence of one particular letter ‘F’. Next to it, there was a little line that it identified as meaning something lesser. This letter accompanied a series of strange numbers and was placed in a bracket next to it. The living suit of armor knew that there was some meaning to this, but it wasn’t quite sure.

This was not the only thing it could see on this screen. As it continued to stare and poke at it, a secondary one appeared on the side. There were more tables there, but they were smaller, filled with text, and separated. When looking at the first screen, it managed to decipher the letters above it, which gave it the name ‘Status Screen,’ and the words below it were supposed to be ‘Basic Attributes.’ When looking at the other screen, it got the words ‘Skill List’ from it. For the time being, it took its time to try to go through these skills it had.

There wasn’t really much to look at there as it was mostly empty. It somewhat understood the first two skills but wasn’t aware what was the problem with the last one. It was filled with question marks and even if it continued to stare at it nothing happened. Was this a good amount of skills or was it not? The memories that it absorbed were indicating that it wasn’t a good thing and after recalling his first defeat, it had to agree. 

‘Who am I? Am I weak? What is my purpose here? What is this place? Why do I have to protect it?’

The creature moved past the status screen as it started asking itself more questions. It had been compelled by the strange voice to attack those beings, but now it didn’t know what to do. It had lost and was destroyed, but somehow it had returned to this world in the same form as previously. The feelings that it was going through were strange and it didn’t like what it was feeling.

‘... I am … not It … I am something … What am I? ‘

The monster started hearing a voice inside of its head and it could identify it as a sort of internal monologue. Its thoughts were becoming clearer and it was starting to comprehend that it was some sort of being. It looked at the status screen and started going through the words. It took a moment but it was able to read the classification that was presented there.

‘Am I … Damaged Corroded Bronze Armor? or not?’

There was something that didn’t fit there; it could understand what a name was, but this description felt a bit foreign. It could comprehend that a name wasn’t like that; there was a feeling associated with it, something more intimate, more familiar. The monster armor continued to read the name constantly and finally reached an epiphany.

‘Damaged Armor… Bronze Armor … Corroded Bronze Armor … Corroded Armor … Corroded? That doesn’t sound right, what is corroded?’

This new being started to ponder his existence and the meaning behind this word. Soon another word entered his mind that had a similar definition but affected a different type of metal, rust. For some reason, this resonated with its very being, and at that moment, it made a decision. The open status window started to shift around. It was as if the world had taken notice of the decision and decided to alter things according to the will of the metallic creature. The clacking and corroded body started shining in a pale light as if something had changed, and before the monster could figure it out, another window popped up in front of it.

New words appeared on the status screen which the monster now called Rusty examined thoroughly.

The title appeared in the section related to his skills and was somehow moved to the side as if it was different than the rest. After reading the explanation Rusty didn’t really understand the meaning but he was sure that he knew the word evolution. He instinctively knew that it was something important for his future survival. 

Besides the addition to the name, it witnessed the numbers going up, more than doubling in some places. Rusty felt that the body was starting to move a bit better and that he could exert more force with his metallic limbs. His mind had become clearer, and the most important thing he discovered was a strange sense of himself.

‘I am a he?’

Previously, Rusty couldn’t see himself as anything other than a genderless creature, but now he was convinced that he was male. It was something that the memories he had absorbed before were, for once, agreeing upon. Now armed with a newfound sense of self, Rusty, the living armor, was ready to tackle a new issue. It involved this place that he found himself around, the voice that was telling him things he should be doing, and the strange denizens that were walking around him. Rusty was not the only one living here, as there were other monsters beside him.

As he was finishing up identifying himself, another creature walked past him. It looked a lot different than him, as it was not made out of metal but instead just bones. Rusty didn’t know what this being was, but it didn’t seem too interested in the metallic being before it. The skeletal thing rattled past him without stopping and went on its merry way as if nothing was wrong.

‘What is that?’

He asked himself while glancing at the strange walking pile of bones. The shape was similar to his but it was much thinner. The way it walked was also different but it was still had a humanoid shape. The more Rusty stared at the crfeature the more he was interested and to his surprise he started seeing some words hovering about the monsters head. 

‘Lesser Skeleton L1?’

There it was, the identity of the being he was trying to identify, and just like with his last find, another popup window had been triggered. This time Rusty wasn’t as surprised as before, and he just read what he had received.

This one was added to the skill screen under skills.

While this was similar to the title, Rusty noticed that there was something different. This time around no numbers went up, it seemed that these titles were different from skills or at least from this one he had gotten here. After acquiring this new skill he also noticed something peculiar. It was as if information related to it was injected into the core of its very being. He instinctively knew what it was for and to test it, he looked down at some thing.

‘Oh?’

‘Eh?’

‘Hm?’

‘Um?’

Rusty wasn’t sure what to make of this skill, it felt like these descriptions didn’t really offer anything new. The strange memories that he had been slowly digesting were more useful. Nevertheless, it was an interesting thing to do and he continued to look around this darkened chamber.

The statue reminded him of one of the human beings that he encountered recently. The features were more feminine than masculine and it seemed that there was a wing attached to the statue part that had mostly been destroyed. As he was examining this thing before him, a sound resounded withing his being to inform him about something new again.

‘Oh? Level 2?’

The skill it had been using had apparently leveled up, and it informed him about the possibilities. Rusty started becoming aware that leveling up skills was somehow advantageous, and a higher number was always better than a lower one. Eventually, the piece of living armor moved on from this issue as it reevaluated itself and its capabilities.

In his right hand, he was holding a weapon that, with his newly gained identification skill, he could name. It was a corroded sword that looked similar to his damaged metallic body. It didn’t look sharp nor that it would last for long, but it was his. His body wasn’t too fast as he was lumbering around and seemingly around the same speed as the lesser skeletons here. The boost it received from gaining the title raised his attributes slightly but he didn’t feel that much powerful and none of the letters had changed either. 

‘PATRoL! MOvE! PrOTECT’ 

As he was trying to figure some more things out, the voice inside of his head started echoing again. It felt like it was crackling a bit in some parts and that it was slightly quieter, but he was still forced to obey. Before him, a strange path emerged; it was as if he was looking at the scenery from a different vantage point as the information was given. He knew that the voice wanted him to move to a certain spot in this place, and he was compelled to do its bidding.

‘Who are you?’

‘Did you make me?’

Rusty was intrigued by the disembodied voice, but it didn’t answer his inquiry. It remained silent, and then after a minute had passed, it repeated the same message as before. This time around, the living armor heeded the call, as it felt that something bad would happen if it didn’t. Soon, it was moving through this strange place in which it had appeared, the void it came from now nothing more than a distant memory.

Previously it was impossible to take a good look at everything but now he was seeing many new things. His identification skill went into overdrive as he continued to use it on everything that he could see. Rusty felt a strange connection to the environment as if it was alive. The dark chamber was filled with all sorts of things, crumbled statues, shattered pillars, remains of unidentified creatures, and many corridors illuminated by braziers. 

As Rusty moved forward, he encountered more creatures similar to the lesser skeleton he had observed earlier. They varied in appearance and also gear. Besides swords, they were holding spears, maces, and shields. Some of them were even wearing rusty armor similar to the body that he was made of. This was not the only type of monster, as he witnessed beings that were the same as him.

The moment he encountered another corroded armor he was ecstatic. Immediately he made his way towards one to greet it but even after he arrived before it, the other piece of armor didn’t acknowledge his existence. It was the same with the skeletons, it was as if they couldn’t see him or even each other. All they did was lumber around this place moving along similar paths that he was ordered to. 

After a series of encounters with different monsters, Rusty started to notice patterns in their behavior. It became apparent that these creatures were not acting independently but rather operating under some unseen influence. The voice in Rusty's head, the strange paths that emerged before him, and the scripted movements of the monsters hinted at a controlling force, orchestrating the events within the dungeon.

This force also affected him, but for some strange reason, he felt that he could resist it to some extent. While he felt compelled to take the path that he was given, for brief moments he could venture away from it. When he tried, he would be reminded by the voice constantly until he returned to the correct spot. It was something that was starting to annoy him, but at this time, he was unable to free himself from this outside influence.

After a few hours of exploration he found himself in a wide open chamber with various other monsters. Just like in the corridors it had many torches or braziers lighting it up but also some light was coming from a small crack in the ceiling. It contrasted with everything else and Rusty was intrigued. He ventured forth toward the illuminated spot that was falling radiating tree onto a tree stump. Rusty was drawn to something there, a lone green leaf that was resting on a thin branch. It was an anomaly in this dark, rusted dungeon, and he couldn't help but feel a strange connection to it.

Reaching out with his metallic hand, he gently picked up the leaf, marveling at its vibrant green color. It felt fragile yet alive, a stark contrast to his own damaged and corroded form. Just like before he tried to identify this object and to his surprise he was given an answer rather quickly.

‘Consume?’

Rusty was interested but also confused. He was a sentient piece of armor, not a true living being who could eat or consume things. This thing was supposed to raise his constitution by a certain amount, but he wasn’t sure how this consumption should take place. He tried recalling some of the memories he had access to, and images of humanoid creatures putting things into their upper orifices emerged.

‘Like this?’

The type of suit of armor that he was had a proper helmet and a visor. He mimicked the visions from his memories by opening this visor and putting the Leaf of Vitality into his helmet. However, it didn’t seem to have worked as the leaf just ended up falling into the empty space that was the inside of his armor. It remained there without having its essence consumed or absorbed and his constitution never was raised.

He was somehow confused, but the identification skill probably didn’t lie; there was perhaps a way to get something out of this green item. However, before he could take another crack at it, something in the distance occurred. One of the skeletons started producing a strange shriek while charging towards a dimly lit corridor. Soon after, its skull came flying out of the opening and alerted the other monsters within.

All of them, along with Rusty, looked at three individuals emerging from within. At first, he thought that it was the same ones that had caused his previous demise, but after closer inspection, Rusty realized that these were different. One was a human clad in worn-out armor, carrying a sword that looked like it had seen better days. Another was someone with elongated ears with a bow slung across their back, and the third was a lot shorter wielding a massive warhammer. Their expressions were serious, and their eyes scanned the surroundings as if they were expecting trouble.

“Th-that… on… sw…ed it.”

However, there was a fourth individual that none of the monsters, and neither him, had previously seen. A more slender-looking person was hanging on the wall and shouting something to the group of three that had just charged in. Rusty was starting to decipher their language, but he still wasn’t quite sure what they were trying to communicate.

‘KILL!’

Rusty felt a mixture of curiosity and wariness. The voice in his head was loud, and he felt compelled to move forward. The recent memory of having himself smacked by similar creatures was still vivid. The sensation after his demise was uncomfortable, and he did not want to repeat it. However, he was feeling something else, something that made his metal body tremble, and he somehow identified it as the feeling of excitement…