“Well… Huh… Congrats on having a daughter, I guess?”
Unfortunately, Xlown wasn’t a ghost like my little sisters, so I couldn’t just take her into my mindscape willy-nilly and have her stay there incognito. She was indeed a being made of flesh and whatever material the old Glown costu had been made of. Though the connection I felt to her was undeniable. It feels like I should be able to invite her into the mindscape, but I suppose I lack the knowledge or ability to do so just yet.
Coco could hide in both Xlown’s shadow and mine. In fact, he could swap between them as long as the two of us were sowhat close to one another. So hiding his existence was fine, but I get the sa feeling with him. He definitely also should be able to get into the mindscape eventually…
As for Mari, although there was… Sothing linking us, I suppose. She definitely wasn’t going to be able to reach the mindscape, ever. At least, not unless I killed her and made her into a spirit, but I felt that I should let her live. At least for a while longer.
As such, I ca back from outside with two young won in tow. One claiming that I was her mother–Which I was. While the other was acting all awkward. Which was preferable. I didn’t want her to scream on every rooftop that she was maniacally obsessed with .
I had been clear with her that under no circumstances should she ntion anything about , the past, or how she had co to know . I was playing the role of a sapient golem interested in learning how to wield the Nightmare Plague… But Mari knew very well that I was the true originator of this so-called plague.
Thankfully, she was obedient like a little puppy. I suppose that was one perk of her having unhealthy admiration and love for . She did everything I asked without question… For now, she was supposed to just be a close friend of Xlown and had simply accompanied her to find . That was it.
As for why a black and white clown was my daughter… I explained that Xlown was not actually my literal daughter, but that I had just found her a while back, and she had grown attached. It wasn’t the greatest lie of the century by a long shot, but it wasn’t like anyone could question it.
The only problem was that… My dear daughter had a bit of a reputation throughout Rootriska in particular. It would seem like the saying was correct. She was a lot like .
…In the sense that she was a man-eating monster who fed on negativity and greatly enjoyed slaughtering people. The only difference was that she was a lot more… Theatrical about it. I suppose this was the correct way to put it.
I guess that when she was created, she hadn’t just taken from through my negative energy, but had been moulded after the experiences I had while wearing the Glown suit. As such, she was very prone to clownish behaviours and over-exaggerating what she considered to be her ‘shows’.
In her case, rather than singing ‘Happy Birthday’ and making people laugh, it was mostly about stringing up dead bodies and doing everything to make people soil themselves in fear–It was a respectable hobby, but it had made her unlike in the stealth departnt. A showwoman showed herself to the public, after all.
Her looks, tactics, and usual abilities were rather well-known at this point, and although Leou did not seem to imdiately connect the dots, I knew very well, with her many sources of information, that she would figure it out. Thus, I went ahead and explained what Xlown was typically up to.
Since I had made an entire manor disappear before, the snow leopard wasn’t exactly disturbed that my daughter would be sowhat similar, especially considering that Xlown wasn’t exactly the best at appearing ‘normal’.
In the sa way that soone might stretch their limbs, she stretched hers, but with absurd elasticity. She had held back for a while to get inside the city without raising eyebrows, but it seed like she couldn’t help herself.
“Do–Don’t worry, Leou. I’ll ma–make her be–behave”
“I don’t doubt that you will, but if I may ask… What kind of being is she, exactly? I have no idea”
“ n–neither, but isn’t she adorable–ble?”
Just as I said this, Xlown did the magic trick where you make it seem like you removed one of your fingers, but by actually removing her finger. I had to admit that from an outside perspective, her cuteness might seem relative, but I found her beyond endearing.
In any case, I told Leou that Mari was going to be learning chanistry. She would be watching the ones who would be coming to work on , alongside , making so manuals that I would first be writing inside the Dreamscape, and then copying back into the real world. I might not retain skills and such, but writing down words did not require to actually understand what I was putting down. As long as I did my due diligence inside the Dreamscape, she should get access to so premium learning materials.
I have no clue if Mari will actually be any good in this domain, but that was the first avenue I was going to explore. I trusted that Nara was correct and that Mari had been given this odd compass for a good reason beyond the fact that she was an obsessed stalker.
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
…Though Nara was definitely hoping for sothing else here. Which was useless, I was a big lump of steel here. I had none of the desires and frustrations that my other self in the A.R.DL had had. The circumstances were completely different.
I suppose having a living, normal human in my team could have other benefits as well, though.
Surprisingly, Mari was quite quick to make friends with Leou despite being quite the awkward gal. She had experience as not just a caretaker, having apparently done quite a lot of the paperwork back at the orphanage she used to work at–This was the exact sa background she had in the alternative reality, so it wasn’t surprising.
I just didn’t expect her to be so quick to offer assistance to Leou.
She’s scouting out a potential rival
It is greatly displeasing that you might be right as to what her motivation is here…
In any case, the second event of the day wasn’t nearly as stressful as the first. Leou seed quite relaxed after eting Xlown and Mari, if anything. She would probably be a lot more quizzical if she knew about Coco as well. From her perspective, he would seem to be the sa as , after all. It would be a bit weird for two supposedly very rare, abnormal sapient golems of the exact sa kind to find themselves in the sa place.
Speaking of which, Coco was an interesting being.
Not only was he sohow both completely made out of energy and a fully physical being, but his ability to hide inside Xlown or my shadow was very promising. Unlike Xlown, who I couldn’t easily take anywhere, he could always be with and ready to pounce into a fight on my behalf.
Actually, he was very obviously way stronger than my little sisters. He had sharp claws, and due to being made out of negative energy, his attacks were pretty much laced with poison as he would drive the energy with each of his strikes. He didn’t seem very knowledgeable in how to use his abilities just yet, but I am certain he could get even stronger than he already was.
From the looks of it, he is deeply connected with you, Big Sis. When your negative energy grows, he grows. When your steel becos stronger, so does his. For him, growth is all about your growth
The only thing he should focus on is whatever special abilities he may have. He only needs to care about mastering them. The rest is outside of his own control–For now, though… It looks like he doesn’t have anything too special beyond infecting people with negative energy naturally, but it is more of a consequence of how he was created than a true ability
I see… That sounds quite good, actually. I don’t need to bother with him at all. He’ll just get stronger as I do my stuff. What about Xlown?
She’s a bit of a harder case to figure out. I don’t think she’ll ever develop more abilities than she currently has. Xlown will probably just keep getting stronger with whatever she can already do. From what I can tell, she can manipulate her body at will and absorb negativity
The forr is her primary ability, and the latter is how she grows stronger. Quite simple, but I can tell she has a lot of potential. Body manipulation isn’t a simple ability by any ans. It opens a lot of paths
I see, I see…
Overall, my daughter and new servant aren’t complicated beings by any ans. That is unlike my ghostly little sisters, whose developnt is very personalised and thus, a bit unpredictable. Nonetheless, with such a big family, that is quite a lot of people to keep track of.
Do you count Coco as part of the family?
Well… I suppose instead of a servant, he can be… The pet. Pet coyote.
It sounds insulting, but judging by what I have seen of him, that is an apt way to describe him
My darlings already seem to treat him like a cute dog despite his rather… Unwelcoming appearance. He definitely looks fierce, but I guess he’s like a guard dog, impressive and threatening to intruders, but just a big mass of happy fur to his owner.
Now, Mari definitely looks like the odd one out–Because she is. I definitely don’t mind letting Xlown stay in the sa room as , but there is no way in Hell that I am allowing Mari and her unhealthy obsession to do the sa thing.
She’ll get her own room to stay. Which is next to mine, but as long as there is a locked door separating us, I am fine with it.
…A lot happened in a single day, but I didn’t forget about Lunovis Boorizar. Leou might have told to stay away, but I was definitely going to kill him one day. He may be strong, but he hadn’t been immune to the effect of ‘Embodint Of Negativity’, and I hadn’t gone the whole way with the scare I gave him.
I could have been far more heavy-handed with the fear I could have imbued into that distorted, horrific shout I directed his way. I had the ans to do so.
If I had to guess, Mister High-Noble wasn’t used to anyone actually standing up to him so decisively as I had done in the office. That was the issue with being unopposed for too long. When soone did step up without hesitation, you would be surprised, even if that person was akin to a fly to you.
Thus, he was probably quite susceptible to ‘Embodint Of Negativity’. If I could pin him down with one at max power… I might just be able to chomp down on his head before he could even transform. Here was the weakness of a shapeshifter like him.
His strength relied on his transformations. In his normal form, he wasn’t that much better than a regular person. Just like Hulil, if caught by surprise, what could he truly do to defend himself? Practically nothing, was the answer.
Nonetheless, considering his status, the bastard was probably geared up with protective items all the ti. I wasn’t foolish enough to actually believe that he was easy picking, even in his normal form.
Still, I could begin to make plans to slaughter him…
For now, I was going to head to the Dreamscape. Hopefully, Mari was going to prove useful and be able to beco a good enough chanist to assist in acquiring upgrades free of charge.
Who knows, maybe her obsession can be a strength in this regard.
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