by Neven Iliev
[Your familiar has been banished.]
Ah, it seemed Kora finally went down. She held out a lot longer than the Mimic was expecting. Maybe it was due to that weird ‘Second Wind’ Skill she had. The chest decided it would be best to more thoroughly investigate her Status later.
[WARNING!]
[Dungeon core AD-0429-PR is over maximum MP capacity by 953%!]
[Catastrophic meltdown will occur in 30 seconds!]
There wasn’t much time left. Should it keep running? Then again, another thirty seconds would hardly make a difference if that explosion could reach this far… Then what about going underground? Yes, that seemed like a good idea!
The chest shapeshifted its spider legs so that their ‘feet’ were more like shovels and less like needles and began eagerly digging into the soil. This was the same technique it used to hide itself in the ground shortly before its Rank Up, so it felt confident about its effectiveness.
[WARNING!]
[Dungeon core AD-0429-PR is over maximum MP capacity by 953%!]
[Catastrophic meltdown will occur in 10 seconds!]
By this point, the chest had already dug out a hole about one meter deep. Going deeper at this stage seemed to be meaningless, so it instead braced for impact.
At that moment, nearly seven kilometers away, a group of adventurers and guards were cautiously circling the ominous red ball. Cracks ran along its surface as more and more rays of light streamed out. It was audibly buzzing at this point. They were unsure about what to do with this strange object that a couple of renegade demons had brought into their city. Some of them felt it prudent to run the hell away, while others thought to quarantine it somehow. If they had a few more minutes, they might be able to teleport it away from them with magic.
But they didn’t and the core ruptured.
There was a flash of light so bright that it blinded about a dozen unfortunate travelers and merchants who happened to be facing that direction.
…
[Your target has been disintegrated. HP -5463.]
[Your target has been disintegrated. HP -6478.]
[Your target has been disintegrated. HP -5312.]
[Your target has been disintegrated. HP -4843.]
[Your target has been disintegrated. HP -7603.]
[Your target has been disintegrated. HP -6422.]
[Your target has been disintegrated. HP -4041.]
[Your target has been disintegrated. HP -3368.]
[Your target has been disintegrated. HP -3963.]
…
It took but a fraction of a second to reap the lives of 8,235 people. That wasn’t counting all the animals and monsters, domestic or otherwise, that got caught up in the blast. All of those were considered an attack made by the Mimic, and all of those events relayed their less-than-useful results back to the perpetrator.
The onslaught of status messages scrolled on and on and on seemingly without end, assaulting the Mimic’s consciousness until it nearly blacked out.
“Zeeh, zeeh, zeeh.”
Nearly, though. It panted heavily inside its impromptu foxhole, reeling from the mental impact. If it wasn’t for its MNT it would probably have ended up stunned again. Just as it calmed down, it felt the ear-splitting noise of the core meltdown wash over it, followed almost immediately by the shockwave of the blast. It shook its little hidey-hole as if a major earthquake had taken place.
All things said and done, it lost about 300 HP in the ordeal. It fared much better than its victims, though. And then it finally got the all-important summary.
[Level up!]
[Level up!]
[Level up!]
…
…
[Congratulations, you are now a level 33 Mimic! All attributes +16.]
[Congratulations, you are now a level 22 Warlock! INT +10. MNT +10. END +10.]
[You have learned a new Spell: Shadowbind]
[You have learned a new Spell: Mind Blast]
[Feat of strength performed! You have unlocked a new Perk: Butcher of Humanity.]
[Feat of strength performed! You have unlocked a new Perk: Collateral Damage.]
[Proficiency level increased. Summon Familiar is now Level 6. INT +2. WIS +1. MNT +1.]
[Proficiency level increased. Demonology is now Level 3. WIS +2. MNT +2.]
The Mimic calmed itself down and climbed out of its little hole, then looked towards where the city once stood. All that was left in its place was a glowing crater and a gigantic mushroom-shaped cloud of smoke and dust. The green plains and thick forest around it had been turned to gray ash. The monster’s selfish actions had left a scar on this world that would never truly heal.
“Neat!”
That was all it had to say on the matter, though. So what if it brought about a calamity that wiped out an entire city? It reaped a massive profit in Levels, and that’s all it cared about. No, that’s not quite right. There was also the matter of unlocking new Restricted Skills.
First and foremost, the oddly nostalgic Mimic Skills.
[Skill List: Mimic]
Unlocked Skills: Assassination, Storage, Cadaver Absorption, Biomass
Available Skills: Natural Armor, Misdirection, Create Fleshling, Liquid Mimicry, Metal Mimicry
You can unlock 1 additional Restricted Skill from this Job.
Create Fleshling was a Skill that would create a miniature, semi-sentient version of the Mimic to serve as its minion. However, these creatures would die after a set amount of time and could only follow pre-set orders, not to mention that separating chunks off its own body was obviously going to be unhealthy.
In short, Summon Familiar suited its needs much better. Therefore, it passed over this one.
Liquid Mimicry was also offered at Level 20, along with Create Fleshling and Biomass. It allowed the Mimic to recreate almost any non-magical liquid the Mimic knew about by expending MP. However, anything created by this Skill would disappear after a while and it was impossible to create alchemical products like potions and poisons. Therefore it was passed over for Biomass.
And now it seemed that it only got one new option.
[Metal Mimicry]
The ability to turn flesh and bone into steel and iron
Requirements: Level 30 Mimic, Shapeshift, Biomass, STR 100, END 100
Type: Passive
Activation Time: N/A
Cost: N/A
Range: Self
[Effects]
Flesh can be shapeshifted into any known non-magical metal.
MP will be consumed depending on how much of the body is turned to metal.
The transformation will fade after 15 minutes.
Reduces the MP consumption of Metal Mimicry by 5% per Level of this Skill.
The Mimic actually stopped to think about this one. It looked attractive, but several concerns gave it pause. While it would be possible to create arms and armor on the spot, it would come at a heavier price than what was obvious at first glance.
Metal was hard, heavy and inflexible. Hard was a good thing. Right now the Mimic could instantly cover its body with something that looked like steel, but that wouldn’t mean it would be anywhere near as tough. It was still shapeshifter flesh under the shiny surface and would not actually block attacks any better. Therefore, having the legitimate toughness of steel was extremely attractive. It probably wouldn’t have to worry about running out of weapons, either.
But the other two characteristics of metal were downsides. Heavy meant it would take a LOT of its body mass to create it. Therefore, the actual amount of metal it could ‘produce’ would be quite limited. As for inflexible, let’s just say the Mimic was worried whether it could move joints that were turned to steel. The answer would most likely be ‘no.’
Therefore, rather than gamble on an unknown, it revisited and reversed a decision it had made a long time ago.
[Proficiency level increased. Natural armor is now Level 1. END +6.]
[Natural Armor]
Monsters are
known for their tough hides that can shrug off anything and everything.
Requirements: Level 5 Monster Job, END 10
Type: Passive
Activation Time: N/A
Cost: N/A
Range: Self
[Effects]
Reduces all incoming damage by 1% per Level of this Skill.
Provides an additional +2 END per Level of this Skill.
‘I don’t need it if I don’t get hit’ was the sort of naive thinking that had nearly gotten it killed in that dungeon. Therefore, while it may not be flashy, it picked the most reliable-looking Skill it could. Besides, it would probably need it if something went wrong when working with the other Skill it wanted.
[Proficiency level increased. Crystallize Magic is now Level 1. INT +2. WIS +2.]
While the sentient chest still felt apprehensive at the thought of blowing itself up, it was hard to argue with the results from the dungeon core meltdown. The event had also given it a really good idea for how to handle the potentially dangerous Spell Crystals. It just had to have someone extremely expendable take care of it!
Speaking of which.
“Ohh! I’m back!” shouted Kora after her summoning. “Woah!? Is that the city in the distance?!”
“What’s left of it.”
“WAAAAHAHAHAHAHA!” The fiend threw her hands in the air and let out a stream of hearty laughter. “Serves you right, you blondie! Let’s see you try ‘cleansing this world of my taint’ when you’re nothing but dust!”
“Blondie?” inquired the chest, curiously.
“Ahn? Oh yeah, there was this guy with a really shiny sword and flashy, spiky hairdo. Super annoying. Kept prattling on about justice and whatnot while I was busy ripping this other guy limb from limb. Those Hero types are always a buzzkill, you know?”
“I don’t.”
“… Oh, right. You’re only like three months old, huh?”
“Yes.”
“Well, you’ll find out soon enough. Hmm? Hey, my body seems to be overflowing with power compared to before! Did you Level up from that?”
“Yes, many times. Got Skills and Perks too.”
A very tasty result indeed. As for the Perks, the first one seemed to be quite useful.
[Butcher of Humanity]
Repetition is the mother of learning. Especially when it comes to murder.
Requirements: Kill more than 5,000 humans.
[Effects]
Increases all damage dealt to humans by 5%.
Killing a human invigorates you, restoring 2% of max HP and MP.
The Mimic fought humans a lot. It would probably keep on fighting them, so being more effective against them was a good thing to be sure!
[Collateral Damage]
Like exploding fish in a barrel.
Requirements: Hit more than 20 targets with a single attack.
[Effects]
Increases the radius of Area Effect Spells, Skills and Martial Arts by 10%.
The other one… Well, it made the Mimic feel a bit cheated. Still, considering its plans for Crystallize Magic, it was far from a useless Perk.
“Where’s the walking pair of boobs?” asked Kora.
“Does such a tasty-sounding thing exist?”
“Uhm, yeah, the succubus you call your, heh, your Snack.”
“Oh! Yes, I’ll summon her soon.”
Kora went back to enjoying the aftermath of her hard work while the Mimic was recovering its MP. After a minute or so, it summoned Xera.
“Greetings, Master. Oh wow!” she said when she saw the mushroom cloud.
“I know, right?!” exclaimed Kora. “I don’t think anyone survived that thing!”
“Yes, I can see that. I must say this is… much more devastating than I thought it would be.”
“You’ve seen this sort of thing before?”
“Sort of. I was caught up in something like that along with an old master, but this is my first time seeing the aftermath.”
Xera gave a sigh. She was actually counting on at least one person who saw her wonderful acting to survive that. This world would become a lot more interesting if that were the case. Well, it was a hastily thrown together idea anyway, so brooding over its failure would be pointless.
“Where to now, Master?”
“…”
The Mimic really hadn’t thought that far ahead. Somewhere it needed to go? No, not in particular. Some task to accomplish? Nothing came to mind. Something it wanted to get? Yes. Plenty of things, actually.
“I want tasty things! Shiny things too! Ah, and potions! And troll blood. Lots of troll blood, actually. What’s a troll anyway? Is it tasty? It sounds like it might be tasty. Oh and I need to find out what happens when Warlock gets Level 25. And good swords too! Shiny swords! Snack! Where can I find all those things?!”
“Uhm… going to another city would be a good place to start, I guess?”
She knew a big city would have libraries, Blacksmiths and Alchemists. The ‘shiny things’ it wanted were obviously gold, maybe jewels. Those could also be gotten easily in a city if one were ruthless enough.
“Oh! Where’s that?!”
“I’m not sure, Master.”
She knew her way around a map, but had no idea where they were right now. She’d never heard of a place called Monotal until a week ago. Well, technically speaking it wasn’t really a place anymore.
“We could always follow the road until we find some travelers we can, huhu, squeeze for information.”
“Okay. Let’s do that! Arms! We’re leaving!”
“Eh? Huh? Oh! On my way!”
Kora had been staring reverently at the former city. It seemed she wasn’t quite done appreciating the scenery. She had high hopes for the future too. How many demons could claim they helped destroy an entire city on the first day of their new contract?! She was sure her master’s name would spread throughout the Beyond if she-
“Huh? Master, you don’t have a name?”
“No. Are names tasty?”
“Well… Even if you ask me that…” Kora looked inquisitively at Xera, silently asking for help.
The succubus let out another sigh. How did this moron not figure it out yet?
“Tasty means good. It also means tasty,” she explained.
“Oh. Oh! Yeah, Master! Names are tasty! You can do fun things like yelling ‘Bow before the terrible might of Koralenteprix!’ at people right before you smash them! It’s even better if they bow, because you can really squish their head against the ground!”
The Mimic had absolutely no idea what Kora was getting at. Still, it had to admit that it was curious. But how would one go about getting a name? Maybe if it opened its Status and thought really hard about its own name?
[You are currently unnamed.]
[Would you like a name to randomly be assigned to you?]
[Yes]
[No]
Well, at least this one seemed easy. It chose ‘Yes’ without a second thought.
A few moments later, its new name appeared in the Status and was then communicated to its familiars through their respective contracts.
“Hahahaha! Nice one, Master! Aaaah hah hah hah! That’s amazing!”
“Oh, come on! What sort of name is that?! Are you kidding me with this shit?! There’s no way I’m calling you that!”
Kora burst into laughter while Xera seemed to have some objections. The Mimic was actually quite happy with it though. If a name could be tasty, then this one most certainly was.
*
[General Information]
Boxxy T. Morningwood
Mimic (Greater), Genderless, 3 months old
Level 33.43 Mimic
Level 22.12 Warlock
900/900 HP (+2.0/sec)
815/815 MP (+1.0/sec)
[Attributes]
STR 110, DEX 118, AGI 98, END 158, INT 163, WIS 103, LCK 57, MNT 107, CHR 34
[Mimic Skills]
Assassination - Lvl 5.60
Storage
- Lvl 4.34
Cadaver Absorption - Lvl 4.85
Biomass - Lvl 3.11
Natural Armor - Lvl 1.00
[Warlock Skills]
Summon Familiar - Lvl 6.85
Power Overwhelming - Lvl 3.26
Demonology - Lvl 3.12
Crystallize Magic - Lvl 1.00
[Other Skills]
Shapeshift - Lvl 6.70
Stealth - Lvl 4.94
Sword Mastery - Lvl 6.36
Projectile Mastery - Lvl 2.44
Dagger Mastery - Lvl 3.21
Ruin Mastery - Lvl 5.30
Domination Mastery - Lvl 3.37
[Spell List]
Ruin - Shadowbolt, Ebonfire, Frostbite, Dark Explosion, Shadowbind
Domination - Mass Panic, Delirium, Dark Infusion, Mind Blast
Epilogue
Emperor Joseph Frederick von Einhart the Third leaned back in his high chair and cursed under his breath. The subject of the documents on his desk was more than a little upsetting. It was a good thing his retainers and servants were forbidden from entering his study without permission, otherwise he would have to bottle up his emotions to maintain the image worthy of an emperor. An especially difficult task for a young man barely out of his teens, but one that was both his birthright and his responsibility. His father had passed away suddenly a year ago due to illness, so the young lad had been suddenly thrust into the spotlight, regardless of his will or intentions. As ruler of the human-dominated Lodrak Empire, one of the three great nations on this continent, he could never be allowed to show weakness.
Still, he looked around the room, as if that would somehow relieve him of the burden of his post. The heavy wooden desk in front of him was completely bare, save for a few writing utensils and the aforementioned report. The afternoon sun shone in from the window behind him, providing ample light with which to read said documents. The floor was covered by a soft, dark gray carpet and the stone walls were covered by tapestries and banners - relics of the past.
To his left and right were tall bookshelves, filled with the lore, knowledge, poetry and history of his ancestors. The stone busts of five of those ancestors adorned the top of the shelves, looking all stern, stoic and regal, with well-kept beards and stern expressions. A far cry from the baby-faced, blond-haired young man currently sitting in their chair. Looking up at the flat ceiling revealed an intricate mosaic that depicted several more of those dead Emperors during their crowning moments of glory, reminding Joseph just how insignificant his rule may turn out to be.
