by Neven Iliev
“Oh, hey boss,” said Kora when she noticed her master approach.
She got up from her improvised chair and stretched her stiff body with a yawn. The gigantic fiend towering over even Boxxy’s current form was deemed way too conspicuous to accompany it around town. So she was ordered to guard the place and keep out of sight. Well, the former was hardly necessary. The run-down old building held no significance to the Mimic other than being a quiet spot where it could focus on its work.
“We heading out soon?”
“After sunset,” Boxxy said, setting down the heavy bag it was carrying around.
Now that it was away from prying eyes, the Mimic quickly undid its human-like transformation and assumed its favourite spider-chest form. Having to keep its real body tilted on its side all day while masquerading as a person was considerably uncomfortable and slightly disorienting. It had gotten used to it over the last week, but it much preferred its spider legs after all.
“What’s all this?” asked Kora, pointing at the sack.
“Parts. What about the intruders you mentioned?”
“Hm? Ah yeah. Just some pathetically weak bums. One of them keeled over the instant he saw me. No fun at all.”
The fiend pouted slightly to indicate her displeasure, but her master completely ignored her and skittered over to the bodies. It hadn’t gotten a chance to eat anything worthwhile all day, so it wasted no more time fulfilling that basic need.
*CRUNCH MUNCH MUNCH MUNCH*
The dead men were thus quickly devoured and any blood stains were instantly licked up out of habit. These pathetic weaklings were better utilized as food rather than trying to absorb them. Even then, they were mostly skin and bones and wouldn’t be nearly enough to satiate Boxxy’s monstrous hunger, but they would at least keep its belly from rumbling for the moment.
The Mimic then went back to the sack it brought in and opened it. Three metal toolboxes were retrieved from the inside: a grey one, a red one, and a blue one. They were approximately thirty centimetres wide, while their length and height were just over half that. The containers looked like miniature chests, which the Mimic found to be oddly endearing ... maybe even a little bit cute. It put the red and blue ones inside its Storage and opened up the grey one using two of its spider legs as elongated fingers. A number of smaller boxes and compartments lined the inside, each holding a number of metallic bits necessary for hand-held Artificer devices.
“Oh!” exclaimed Kora. “You’re building stuff again, huh? Can I watch?”
“Okay.”
Boxxy sat firmly on the ground and narrowed its focus. Its eight arachnid limbs were not retracted inside its body, however, but bent forward towards the toolbox. The four at the very front had their pointed tips split in two as if they were organic tweezers with chitin-like tips. The Mimic then applied its recently acquired Metal Mimicry Skill to the other four. Pliable flesh transformed into actual solid steel, as opposed to merely an imitation of it, forming an array of tools in the process. More specifically a hammer, a pair of wire cutters, and two screwdrivers.
Two of the tweezer-like fingers each grabbed a part from the toolbox and held them in place while two of the tool-tipped limbs put them together. The other set of tools and pincers did the same, then the first repeated their action. The eight stick-like limbs began moving about frantically, gradually picking up in speed, though hardly at the expense of precision. In a way, the practised movements made the whole thing look too easy. It was almost as if the monster was simply throwing the bits into a pile that miraculously assembled itself into something new all on its own.
This spectacle was nothing special from the Mimic’s point of view though. It was just employing a combination of its magical perception, muscle memory, and DEX Attribute to make sure everything went exactly where it needed to be. That was why it barely showed a reaction when it accomplished its task in seemingly no time flat.
[You have created a Bladeblossom of Great quality.]
“Heh, that’s neat,” commented Kora.
By now, her boredom from standing guard all day had gone away. The fiend found watching her master work to be surprisingly fun. Even if she had no idea what was going on, it was hard to deny that seeing something assembled before her very eyes at high speeds was quite entertaining. She would, of course, much prefer to go on a murder spree with a healthy dose of rape, but beggars couldn’t be choosers.
As for the Mimic, it had already moved on to the next item. It had learned quite a few things from Fizzy’s day-long crash course, so it was eager to become a Level 5 Artificer in order to put that knowledge to use. Its Job Level was very close to that threshold, but it still needed to make ten or so more of these relatively basic contraptions before it reached that goal.
[You have created a Bladeblossom of Superior quality.]
Just like Fizzy had informed it at the beginning, this Job increased in Level much slower than what the Mimic was used to. The reason was that, instead of being a Monster Job like Mimic or a Caster such as Warlock, the Artificer Job was of the Artisan archetype. This meant that one had to repeatedly manufacture related items or perform relevant services in order to gain XP. It was impossible to grow as an Artificer just by killing things, regardless of whether the monster used those Bladeblossoms in combat or not.
[You have created a Bladeblossom of Standard quality.]
Well, it made sense in a way. It wasn’t like a villager would become a better farmer if he went about hitting people over the head with his radishes. He had to work the fields, care for livestock, and churn butter. Blacksmiths had to make, maintain, and improve weapons and armour and Cooks had to make lots of delicious food. What happened with said items or whether anyone would eat that food did not matter as far as the Job was concerned. And an Artificer was no different.
[You have created a Bladeblossom of Great quality.]
Therefore, raising a Production Job was a naturally slow, arduous process. The only upside was that the relative speed of progress stayed mostly constant as it got further along. In other words, it took roughly the same amount of time to get from Level 1 to Level 5 as it did to get from Level 50 to Level 55. However, that was only under the condition that one had the right materials and sufficiently advanced schematics to keep pushing their limits.
The relatively simplistic Bladeblossoms, for example, would stop providing XP once Boxxy’s Artificer Job hit Level 5, and it would need to move onto something more challenging. Much like how combat-oriented Jobs would not grow properly if one only fought the same type of low-Level enemy, Artisan Jobs required their own set of Level-appropriate challenges in order to improve. It wouldn’t be called ‘progression’ if one endlessly ran in place, after all.
[You have created a Bladeblossom of Great quality.]
Well, this particular individual’s monstrous crafting speed was the main reason it had advanced much faster than Cornie Fizzlesprocket anticipated. The gnome assumed her student was a human, which was why she freaked out at its growth earlier. While it wasn’t exactly unheard of for geniuses in certain fields to appear from time to time, seeing one right before her very eyes was something she never thought would happen. In fact, her initial assumption had been that it was far more likely her student progressed so fast because he cheated.
[You have created a Bladeblossom of Superior quality.]
Which wasn’t far from the truth, considering Boxxy’s multiple tooled limbs, its extremely accurate three-dimensional magical perception, and impressive DEX Attribute score. It could assemble a Bladeblossom in under three minutes, which was three or four times faster than what its gnomish teacher was capable of. A regular beginner, on the other hand, would probably take over an hour of slow, meticulous work to make a single one. And even then, whether it would actually result in a satisfactory product was highly questionable.
[You have created a Bladeblossom of Standard quality.]
Physical capabilities were hardly the entire reason for this level of ef
ficiency, however. It was also a matter of the Mimic’s mindset. It equated the work of Artificers to be shapeshifting applied to an object. Both practices boiled down to combining basic elements into something that was greater than the sum of its parts. The only difference from the Mimic’s point of view was that one used flesh and bone while the other relied on springs and sprockets.
[You have created a Bladeblossom of Great quality.]
In truth, Boxxy found the act of assembly was actually much, much simpler than shapeshifting its body around. Growing a working human eyeball for the first time or creating an organic wheel from scratch was, objectively speaking, already far more complex than something straightforward like a spring-loaded blade dispenser. And once it had gotten used to the creation process, its naturally adept muscle memory could reconstruct its creations with ease. Even the organic wheels took less than two seconds to form by now, thanks to all the practice it put into them. Thus, assembling a contraption of this small scale and basic function was a trifling task at best. Another thing that spoke volumes of its ability was that its creations were of a higher quality than normal.
[You have created a Bladeblossom of Standard quality.]
Well, most of the time anyway. It was only natural that handmade items would come out with some variations between them. An errant twitch from the craftsman, some misstep in the timing, or an unseen flaw in the components and materials could all cause the quality to deteriorate. Conversely, performing the right motions with high-grade materials would result in a fittingly superior product.
Fizzy was, to her credit, an adept craftsman, so Boxxy rarely came across a situation where it was let down by faulty parts. It wasn’t experienced enough to tell when such a thing happened, but it understood that, statistically speaking, it must have happened several times so far. It saw no other reason why its creations would drift between the Standard and Great quality ratings. It was definitely showing improvement though, as evidenced by how it would get a Superior quality Bladeblossom every now and then.
[You have created a Bladeblossom of Poor quality.]
The opposite outcome was also possible though. The Mimic had tried to make one a bit quicker than normal, which resulted in its product being given the second-lowest quality rating. At the very least it wasn’t the dreaded Unusable, as items of this absolute bottom rank were unsalvageable trash. In fact, according to Fizzy, Unusable items were so bad it was safer to bury them in a ditch instead of trying to use them in combat. Her words of warning went double for Artificer-made goods, as those had a habit of backfiring if mishandled.
This was all very informative to Boxxy, as the simple creature had no idea what any of those terms meant, nor how many ‘tiers’ of this stuff existed. It vaguely understood that Superior was better than Great, which was, in turn, better than Standard and so on, but that was the gist of it. As a monster that was predisposed to relying on its natural gifts rather than crafted equipment, it had some difficulty grasping the concept of gear quality.
The world would honestly be much easier to understand if everything was graded on tastiness and shininess instead.
“I have returned,” reported Xera as she walked into the old office.
Boxxy was working on its tenth creation of the afternoon when its other familiar reappeared. The succubus was still disguised as a nun in service so Teresa, the Goddess of Justice and Truth whose religious symbolism revolved around hammers. The delicious irony of that form was the main reason she chose to use it. The secondary reason was that it enticed her demonic co-contractor to perform far more brutal acts upon her person during their intimate sessions. The tertiary (and objectively legitimate) incentive was that people treated her with less suspicion and more respect than they normally would have.
“Oh, hey cum-bucket,” said Kora when she saw the succubus arrive.
“Hey. What’s our master doing?” asked Xera, pointing at Boxxy.
“The boss is building more of those metal flowers.”
“Oh? Lemme see.”
The false nun got closer to the Mimic and looked curiously at its tooled limbs as they swished around in a blur. It was the first time she’d bothered to get a proper look at the process, and she had to admit it looked pretty impressive.
“Heh, that’s neat,” Xera commented with a bemused smile.
“I know, right?”
“Hmm …. I really hope it finishes its business with the gnome soon, though. My Dreamweaver Skill is bound to mess something up if I have to keep using it on the same target.”
Best case scenario, the gnome would become a complete amnesiac or fall into a coma. Worst case scenario, all the memories that were locked away would come crashing back and the monstrous trio’s cover would be blown wide open.
“What’s that gnome like, anyway? Haven’t seen anything but dark alleys and homeless bums for the past week.”
“She looks like a little kid, with a large head and pink pigtails.”
“A kid, huh? How tall are we talking?”
“About … this big.”
The succubus used her hand to indicate the gnome only went up to about her midsection, just below the breasts. The difference between the two was almost as extreme as the difference between Xera and Kora.
“Hmm … Say, do you think if I stuck my dick in all the way it would come out of her throat?”
“ … That’s not how anatomy works, you moron.”
“It isn’t?”
“Of course not. Mortals have all those mushy organs in their torsos, remember? Spleens, hearts, stomachs, livers –”
“Stop that, you’re making me hungry,” Boxxy called out before returning to its tinkering.
“Oh, yeah. Those,” said Kora, stroking her chin in thought. “I can just push past those with enough force though, right?”
“Whuh?” Xera blurted. “But – Oh! I see. Well, um, hnnn, I guess that could work.”
“You just got turned on at the thought of being speared all the way through by a massive dick, didn’t you?”
“No! … Well, maybe a little.”
Kora raised an eyebrow. “Uh-huh?”
“Okay, a lot.”
“You really want to be dicked to death, huh?”
“Like you wouldn’t believe. You really should look into growing a bigger –”
“I said be quiet!” the Mimic mind-shouted, causing both demons to shut up.
Their constant prattling was easy to ignore normally, but what Boxxy needed to do right now was concentrate, and listening to those two flirting was really not helping in that regard. Having no other choice in the matter, the two demons decided to settle down and observe the monster’s handiwork.
[You have created a Bladeblossom.]
[Level up!]
[Congratulations, you are now a Level 5 Artificer! DEX +2. WIS +2. PER +2.]
[Proficiency level increased. Clockwork Expertise is now Level 1. DEX +2. PER +2.]
Knowledge of gears, cogs, sprockets and springs poured into the Mimic’s mind. Now it could finally build something other than those entry-level Bladeblossoms.
[Clockwork Expertise]
A measure of an Artificer’s ability to handle and construct clockwork-based gadgets and gizmos.
Requirements: Level 5 Artificer
Type: Passive
Range: Self
[Effects]
Grants knowledge of clockwork-based creations.
Increases the effectiveness of clockwork-based creations by 5% per Level of this Skill.
As for the Skill itself, the reason it appeared immediately was because that was another way in which Artisan Jobs differed from combat-oriented occupations. Their related Skills were acquired automatically at set Levels, and there was no choice involved in terms of specialization. At least until Level 50, at which point Boxxy would be able to evolve the Artificer Job into one that was better suited to its needs.
Another quirk the Mimic learned about Jobs during its stay here was that none of them
granted additional Skills at the so-called threshold Levels of 25, 50, and 75. Reaching the absolute highest Level of 100, however, would unlock a superbly powerful Ultimate Skill that was uniquely suited to the individual. That sounded so incredibly tasty that it caused Boxxy to salivate like crazy every time it remembered that piece of trivia.
As for exactly why Skills were limited at those three specific Levels, it was unknown. The information Xera had dug up suggested this was simply the way of things. Boxxy had more or less accepted that fact, as neither its Mimic nor its Warlock Job offered it a new Skill upon reaching Level 25. So it was not surprised to find out the Artificer one would be the same.
Now that its immediate objective was complete, the Mimic turned its attention to Xera.
“Snack, what did you find?”
The demoness was under orders to keep looking for information or items that the Mimic deemed necessary. The fact she had returned meant she must have found something.
“I have … acquired one of the materials you needed for your ritual, Master.”
Boxxy’s mood shot up upon hearing those words. “Give it to me!”
“Yes, Master.”
The succubus still masquerading as a nun stood in front of the Mimic and lifted up the hem of her habit. She rolled it up past her knees, up her thighs and all the way to the hips. It should come as no surprise that the perverted demon was not wearing anything under it, as evidenced by how her nether region was on full display.
“Mmmm …” she moaned. “Haah, haah, haah! Hnnnngg!”
Her abdominal muscles tightened, and then –
*Pop*
– a small black sphere about five centimetres in diameter came out of her exposed lower lips. It bounced twice along the filthy wooden floor and rolled slowly towards the Mimic, stopping only a few centimetres from where it was sitting. The gem-like ball was oddly shiny, and not just because it was covered in Xera’s juices.
