Everybody Loves Large Chests All That Glitters 9

All That Glitters 9

Arms was instantly banned from, as she put it, sticking it up the spiders pooper since it would interfere with silk production and was ultimately only for her own amusent. Fizzy questioned why she even bothered with Claws, considering she had both Ambrosia and Snack on hand to help with her urges. And the reply she got made the golem feel even more disgusted at the 250-centiter tall atbag.

Its not as fun if they dont fight back! was what Kora had said.

It would seem Kora wanted to force herself on an unwilling partner. Technically speaking, she hadnt really raped a single person ever since she was contracted to Boxxy. The aforentioned two didnt count since the dryad let the fiend do whatever she wanted with a general air of disinterest, while the succubus had beco an eager slut who loved to be beaten and abused.

I dont care, keep it in your pants, was her Masters response.

Boxxy had already given her much more freedom than any bound familiar could hope for, so she had no right to complain.

Cmon boss! Just this once!

Not that that stopped her from bitching about it though. Demons were normally fickle, selfish, ungrateful creatures, so this defiant behavior was to be expected. The Mimic didnt particularly mind her attitude though, because that attitude was all she had.

No, ca the final answer, much to Dreas relief. She had been made witness to the gut-displacing size of Koras mber several tis, and was certain her spinneret hole would definitely break. Unlike a certain succubus, the stalker seriously wanted to avoid that degree of pain.

Still, Boxxy understood that a familiars motivation was an important factor towards achieving the best results, so it decided to throw her a bone. One that would pacify the fiend without impacting its money-making plans.

Ill see about bringing ho so leftovers for you to play with instead, okay?

... Living ones, right?

Yes.

Alright!

Well, that matter seed to be more or less settled, although Boxxy doubted Fizzy would forgive Arms so easily. The forr gno may have shifted the bla for her being raped onto the doubly-deceased Nasty, but the mory of the event would probably never truly fade away. It was, after all, the main trigger that caused her to make the drastic decision to abandon her flesh and her identity as a gno.

The Mimic let out a quiet sigh. It honestly disliked dealing with this stuff. Having to put on the facade called Keira each and every day was already ntally exhausting as it was, and there were only so many nights it could pretend to sleep next to Rowana while focusing on the ditation Skill. It was sothing anyone could acquire in theory, but took a long ti to build proficiency. And the fact it was piling up stress simply made it harder to focus on actually ditating. That was why it spent more and more ti in the dungeon lately, where it could freely indulge in its hobbies.

Speaking of which, that tasty pile of Roc at was still waiting for it. It imdiately put the thoughts of pointless drama out of its mind and focused entirely on the feast in question. While it still longed for man-flesh, these birds still made for an excellent substitute. Especially since it realized it should cut down on its murder of the holess. While it wasnt quite sure how close it was to being saddled with the Slayer of Elvenkind Perk, it wanted to avoid its negative effects if at all possible. Well, they wouldnt be nearly as pronounced as the higher-ranked Butcher of Humanity Perk, but it still wanted to avoid that can of worms for as long as feasibly possible.

In short, the stalkers gift of fresh monster at was very much appreciated. Therefore, it sent several words of telepathic praise such as Thanks for the al and Keep up the good work to Claws when it finished feeding itself, to which she eagerly replied with a It was my pleasure! That girl, she seed to be fine with communicating over the thought-link, but speaking face-to-face was more or less impossible for her. Well, that quirk wasnt much of an issue since her duties involved being neither seen nor heard anyway.

Claws and Fizzy eventually got back to planning that silk-weaving prototype while Kora went off to find a certain dryad for obvious purposes. As for Boxxy, it was about to swap places with Snack and resu its pretending to sleep but not really act, when it noticed sothing strange. It was about the oddly colored wall at the end of the wooden platform that served as the dungeons heart. It was an area of the cavern that wasnt covered in bark-like growths, and was sothing that the Mimic had agreed not to tamper with on Ambrosias behalf. For this bare, beige-colored timber was the central and most vital part of the Hylt tree - the heartwood.

Boxxy hadnt really taken a close look at it lately, so it was quite surprised to find that what was a plain, smooth wall several days ago had been covered in so form of writing. What were undoubtedly letters had been delicately and expertly carved into the otherwise smooth surface, but the script was not sothing Boxxy recognized. It could read and write the international Common language thanks to Snacks tutoring, and even looked up old elven texts in the library once or twice out of curiousity, but this was completely foreign to it. There was quite a lot of it too, as whatever was written here seed to extend dozens of ters in every direction.

The strangest thing about this whole situation was that they appeared to be carved by hand. Not only were such fine details impossible to do with Terrain Sculpting, but there were fresh wood shavings scattered around the place. It then noticed a thick, tentacle-like vine hanging loosely off to the side. It was a type of growth the dryad could create and manipulate at will, so the fact that it was gripping onto a shiny tal knife made it quite clear who was responsible for this literal wall of text. aning Boxxy knew full well who to ask regarding this odd phenonon.

Boxxy: What are these strange letters near the dungeon core?

Ambrosia: Those art the records of milords teachings and instructions.

Co to think of it, she did say sothing like I shall engrave thy words unto mine heartwood at one point, didnt she? It would appear she ant that literally, and wasnt just her fancy way of saying shell keep them in mind. However, the Mimic wasnt 100% comfortable with leaving records like these behind, as it was a security risk.

Boxxy: But why write them down? And why here?

Ambrosia: Because this way makes it impossible for to forget milords words.

Boxxy: Is it really that hard for you to rember things?

Ambrosia: Tis shaful to admit, but mine short-term mory has suffered due to mine age.

Her words made Boxxy thoroughly aware of just how ancient the dryad actually was. Of course it already knew that, but it was easy to forget her age considering her relatively youthful appearance. The Mimic couldnt exactly sympathize with her, but it still more or less understood her problem. Having accumulated mories for literal millenia would probably make anyone have trouble recollecting specific things. If this wall of text was necessary for her to carry out her duties, then it would much rather keep it around.

That did leave one question though. One that Boxxy pondered about for a long ti before it finally asked.

Boxxy: What about the language itself?

Ambrosia: Tis an ancient script, milord.

Boxxy: How ancient, exactly?

Ambrosia: I cannot say for certain, but these letters are likely even older than myself.

Boxxy: Thats an odd way of putting it. Dont you know when or where they ca from?

Ambrosia: No, milord. I know tis strange, but I feel as though I hath always known them, even before mine birth.

Boxxy: So theres a good chance nobody else knows about it?

Ambrosia: Indeed. It hath most likely been forgotten by all but and mine fellow sisters.

Boxxy: I see. Then could you teach the language later?

Ambrosia: It would be mine pleasure, milord.

Boxxy: Very good. I look forward to it

Of course, this wasnt a purely academic interest. While Boxxy was, generally speaking, a curious creature, that did not an it was particularly fond of studying. Not unless it considered the subject to be tasty, shiny, or otherwise necessary. And this language had the potential to be very shiny indeed, because upon closer inspection, the Mimic actually recognized several of the letters.

They were almost identical to the sigils used in demonic rituals. The differences were so minor, that they could easily be attributed to a difference in handwriting. Combined with the long, incomprehensible chants, the Demonology Skill made it abundantly clear that demons had their own language. One that most likely had the power to influence the world around it.

The Summon Familiar Skill was a perfect example of that power in action. While the physical manifestation of a being from another realm was impressive, the 10-second long and needlessly flashy activation process that preceded that was even more incredible. The concentric rings of light that surrounded the Skills user while the summoning was in progress were actually made up of countless tiny symbols. Ones that were in a constant state of flux and rapidly changed shape and size as the Skill progressed, almost as if they were busy re-writing the fabric of reality itself.

And while Boxxys Mana Locator Gland made it possible to perceive such things with relative ease, most Warlocks and Witches would probably be left blissfully unaware. That didnt an that the Mimic was the first to notice that languages existence, however. Pretty much every Caster that dabbled in demonic magic sooner or later realized it. However, no matter how much research was done or years were wasted, the scholarly communitys attempts at deciphering the language in question proved futile.

This was mostly due to a lack in research material, as the incomplete and superficial knowledge granted by relevant Skills was the only reliable source of information on the subject. And it was quite insufficient. Knowing how to write the letters didnt an one could read them aloud, and being able to speak the words and comprehending their significance were very different things. While the aning of certain words or phrases could be gleaned from context, the language as a whole remained a mystery.

There was also the fact that all demons capable of speech knew the languages of mortals, and the Skills in question provided all the necessary information to invoke the related magic. There was therefore no practical purpose in researching the language. So while there were most certainly a few zealous people bashing their heads at it, the study of the demonic language had been largely abandoned as a lost cause.

But Boxxys situation was different. That enigmatic language shrouded in mystery was currently carved into the wall of its dungeon, literally in front of its very eyes. It was certain the ancient script Ambrosia spoke of and the language used in demonic rituals were one and the sa. As for how the dryad knew of it, the cause was most likely the common trait she shared with demonkind in general.

Both of them were created by Gods. Granted, they were made by vastly different deities in what were obviously completely different circumstances, but that link was undeniable. Therefore, it wasnt a stretch of the imagination to say that the language in question was not demonic, but divine in origin.

And there was no Taboo in place that forbade a mortal from gaining such exotic, potentially dangerous knowledge. Which ant that Boxxy would not hesitate to learn the aning behind those squiggly letters and weird pronunciations with all its might.

Well, it was highly unlikely it could bend reality just by speaking a few words, as the dryad would have doubtlessly used that against the termites if it were that easy. However, that possibility was very much still there. Boxxy had developed a taphorical nose for shiny things, and this language practically reeked of it. Even in the event the Mimics assumptions were wrong and these letters didnt have such power, it would still profit off them by selling the knowledge off. Not only that, but understanding the contents of Demonology-derived rituals would surely let it prevent any more nasty surprises.

Over the coming days, however, the monster found out that learning a language from scratch was no easy task. Since it found itself naturally able to speak Common, it was able to learn to read and write it very rapidly. However, the tentatively nad Divine language was an extrely formidable opponent.

To begin with, it apparently had a mind-boggling 255 letters - 10 tis more than Common. Many of them read like short words themselves, such as ubuth, ra or fus. At least it was able to confirm that Ambrosias language and the words it spoke during rituals were indeed one and the sa. It also found out that Snacks full na, which was translated as Xerababadubuth Lokrelaila by the Status screen, could be spelled out in only 9 Divine letters. It suddenly made sense why demons always seed to have such long, nonsensical-sounding nas.

However, it would appear the succubus herself had no idea about any of that. While she could speak several languages thanks to Versatile Tongue, a Skill derived from her Succubus Job, neither Divine nor Demonic was among them. Well, at least it had the potential to let her use other exotic languages such as Draconic or Runeword at higher Levels, but that was besides the point. Not only Snack, but all three of Boxxys familiars were completely unaware of the aning or origin behind their nas. Apparently, such things were assigned at random, so the Divine spelling involved in them was likely Josephs doing.

Incidentally, of the other demonic nas the Mimic knew about, Arms Koralenteprix Khusuuszun Caonthioxxaa was 10 letters long, Claws Dreaheath Uniolphial Maramakartor was 11, Carls Katorolomaongott was 6, and Punchys Nagnamor was only 2. It also seed impossible to actually spell Boxxys full na in Divine, as the closest Ambrosia could co up with was Bo-kusi Tu-rapp Mo-rin-ge-wud. Three words that, oddly enough, could be literally translated to an rosebud frozen peas.

Such trivialities aside, however, it was obvious that learning this language would take a very, very long ti. It would be a difficult feat, despite Boxxys INT and WIS Attributes greatly boosting its natural ntal abilities as a Doppelganger. Still, it found out it was sothing it could work on while pretending to sleep at night through the dungeon core-assisted communications with Ambrosia. It was a bit tricky to do since the core was unable to properly convey the Divine letters themselves, but it was still possible, and the Mimic made it its priority.

Anything was better than practicing that infuriating ditation Skill at this point. As expected, trying to Level a Skill that relied on inner peace and pure thoughts was too high of a hurdle for a murderous, violent creature brimming with worldly desires. The fact it got it all the way up to Level 4 was praiseworthy in and of itself, and even that much was mostly due to Boxxys patience and stubbornness.

However, that Level was more or less its limit, as it was simply unable to build any additional proficiency, no matter how much it tried. Much like Shapeshift, it was not a Skill that could be mastered through simple repetition and hard work, so the Mimic had to be satisfied with an overall 40% boost to its automatic MP recovery rate. It was not an insignificant result, as the monsters MP was very much its lifeline, especially during prolonged battles where ditations effects would surely shine. Unfortunately, it had to face reality, acknowledge the fact there were so things it could not do, and focus on the ones it could.

And so, Boxxy slipped back into its new-yet-unchanged routine. It continued acting the part of Keira, had Ranger training for most of the day, wandered around town looking for information and/or prey during the afternoon and evenings, and went back to Rowanas house at night. There, it played a bit with Minic, spent so quiet, quality ti with the elf herself and then went to bed. Since it only needed to sleep once every 3 or 4 days, it spent most nights either studying with Ambrosia or playing around in the dungeon.

Its minions were also mostly busy throughout this ti, although Xera and Kora were left mostly idle. Since the termites plaguing the dryad had more or less been completely exterminated, they had very little to do unless their Master called upon them. It went without saying that they spent much of that ti performing all manner of lewd acts, sotis involving the poor souls Boxxy brought back with it every now and then.

As for Drea, she kept herself busy by stalking her Master during the day and producing silk during the night. She had to be extra careful around that Faehorn fellow, though. That elf was really sharp, and seed to actually notice her presence at tis, despite there being over a hundred ters between them. A high-Level Rangers senses and intuition were not to be trifled with, so the fact the stalker hadnt been found out completely actually spoke volus of her sneaking ability. Still, Boxxy had eventually warned Claws to give that old guy an even wider berth, as he was bound to grow suspicious if he kept detecting sothing at the edge of his perception.

Fizzy mostly divided her ti between fighting in the arena for money and working on her Silk Weaver machine. She had a prototype ready within the week, and although it did produce Demon Silk from the raw thread, it had a myriad of issues. It worked slow, was too small in scale and the quality of the silk was quite poor. Not to ntion that the stalker demon had so objections regarding the design. Being forced to squat down and poop out silk directly into an opening on the side of the machine was too high a hurdle for her, especially since Boxxy was there to watch the trial run. Well, the golem obtained a lot of useful data from that particular experint, so she was certain shed make one eventually, especially with the impossibly dextrous Boxxy around to assist.

That was more or less how the group of monsters spent the two weeks following the Silk Hole Dispute incident. During this ti, Boxxy was able to steadily increase all of its Job Levels. The Doppelganger Job got up to Level to 21, allowing it to obtain two new Skills from it. The first was Broken Reflection, which allowed it to consu a humanoid corpse and beco a perfect copy of it, including any clothing or gear it happened to be wearing at the ti. Granted, it could do so by its own power, but the Skill did all of this in the blink of an eye, and also allowed it to tap into its victim's most recent mories. This was ultimately a type of illusion born of flesh, so any armor or weapons created through this Skill were for purely decorative purposes, and its effects would fade after an hour or so.

The second Doppelganger Skill was called Puppet Parasite. Successfully implanting a piece of itself into the base of a living targets skull would allow Boxxy to gain full control over the victims movents for a short ti. Their minds would be unaffected, however, aning the subjects would essentially beco prisoners inside their own bodies. And although the Mimics insidious mind thought of many ways it could torture its captives through this thod, leaving their minds conscious was ultimately a drawback. Not only did it leave their mories of the act intact, but it also gave them a chance to fight back against the Puppet Parasites influence. Indeed, soone with a high enough END or MNT Attribute would be able to completely fight off the Skills influence. It was still possible to do it, although such hard targets would need to be considerably weakened beforehand through the tried-and-true thods of blood loss and major physical trauma.

The Warlock Job also steadily progressed to Level 40, mostly due to its familiars keeping themselves busy by squashing small fry. It wasnt much of a power boost, but it was just enough to allow Boxxy to learn a Skill called Despair Aura. This was essentially the all-purpose, super-powered version of Butcher of Humanity, as activating this Skill clad the Warlock in an aura of dread and malice that made everyone around it want to run away in fear. Unlike the Perk, however, this one could be toggled on and off, making it an excellent tool for what was to co.

And what that was had steadily beco clear over the last 10 days. Faehorn and the other elderly instructors at the Consortium increased the intensity and nature of their lessons, focusing more on longer, tougher expeditions with mixed groups of students. It was essentially a form of power leveling, as everyone, Keira included, was able to reach beyond Level 25 of their respective adventurer Job quite rapidly. Every student had slowly but steadily co to understand the reason for this sudden spike in aggressiveness on behalf the teachers, so none of them found themselves unprepared when the dire news finally arrived.

The Empire had officially declared war on the Republic. Their casus belli was the accusation that the Republic refused to cooperate with them in tracking down the completely fabricated terrorists that caused the Calamity of Monotal. The elven Exarch - the temporarily elected official that served as the Republics commander-in-chief - had fervently denied such accusations, stating his cabinet had absolutely nothing to do with that horrific event. Although he wanted to avoid war at all costs, there was no way he would accept the Empires demands of allowing their soldiers to march unhindered through the Republics territories. This was, unsurprisingly, exactly what the warmongering Empire was counting on, as evidenced at how it had been steadily preparing and escalating its ard forces for the last few months. And although the Republics ard forces did the sa, they were vastly inferior in when it ca to the overall quality and quantity of their troops.

Which was where Keira and her fellow students ca in. The elven governnt was forced to conscript adventurers into its ard forces, sothing that was only seen as natural since it backed pretty much all adventurer guilds based in the Republic. And much to Boxxys surprise, every single mber of the Consortium, trainee and veteran alike, gladly took up arms to protect their holand. The Mimic knew the people of Azurvale deeply cherished their country, but the pragmatic monster had expected at least so of them to run away from the war. Well, such people did exist of course, but none of them were among the 8-sided alliance that was the Central Consortium.

Of course, it wasnt just the elves. Many dwarves, gnos and even humans all threw their lot in with the Republic. The Empires widespread disdain for elvenkind was no secret, so there was no doubt in their minds that this would not be a peaceful occupation if they just sat by and let it happen. To them, this conflict was not about their race. For so, it was about standing up for what they believed in. For others, it was about fighting to protect their loved ones and the lives theyd built here. Others still were simply hopeless battle junkies that longed to proved their might on the battlefield.

Each one of Boxxys minions was also uniquely motivated in their own way. Whether it was to spread violence and chaos, satiate their desires or show off in a flashy manner, all of them had one thing in common. They would make themselves useful to the Mimic that bound them all together. Well, except for Ambrosia. The dryad was both unable and unwilling to leave her dungeon, so she would be unable to support Boxxy in any aningful way. Not that she understood the first thing about warfare or large-scale conflict anyway.

So while every soldier or conscript had their own motivation, none of them could match the sheer enthusiasm of one young-looking box-turned-catgirl. Although one couldnt tell from her face, Keira was positively giddy at the prospect of all out war with humanity. It would kill them to death and feast on their bodies, caring little for things such as politics, beliefs, honor or discrimination. What were those things, anyway? Were they tasty? They didnt seem tasty. But humans most definitely were, and Boxxy was practically salivating at the feast that was to co.

It would indiscriminately murder and devour those humans en-masse. It would bite, stab, cut and maul them to death. It would co at them rcilessly and with no hesitation, striking at them with no warning and for no real reason other than because it wanted to, just like any real monster would.

Yes just like the good old days.