Those Who Are Left 1 (1/2)
“Is this good enough?” asked Keira while looking over her handiwork.
“Yeah! It’s the best, mommy!” shouted the five dryads.
“I’m glad,” replied the beastkin with a happy smile.
Truthfully speaking, Boxxy wasn’t quite sure why they asked it to engrave something like ‘Mommy loves you’ into Lilly’s heartwood, but it decided to play along. Writing on the wall was free, and it got to put its limited knowledge of the Divine language to use, so it had no real reason to refuse.
Your actions have altered the flows of chaos.
“...”
Okay, maybe it should have refused at least a little. Well, what was done was done, and it didn’t want to risk enraging those girls when it was so close to freedom, so it led that one slide. Besides, they were about to go to sleep for a very long time, so it decided that particular message didn’t bother it at all.
“Um… mommy?” spoke up Pinea. “Is- is it okay if you sang to us again?”
“Yeah, mommy’s songs are always funny and strange!” added Birchis.
“Also,” said Castelia, “I really want to hear about the shiny stars again! Please!?”
Numerous shouts of ‘Yeah!’ and ‘Please!’ bombarded Keira.
“Okay! Okay, settle down now!” she exclaimed while waving her hands around in mock embarrassment. “You girls want a lullaby, then?”
“What’s a lullaby?” they asked all at once.
“It’s a song to make sure you sleep well.”
“... So we’re going back to sleep after all?” asked Pinea while casting her eyes downward. While all the dryads clung incessantly to their ‘mommy,’ that one had grown especially attached to her.
“You have to, sweetie. Otherwise you won’t grow up right. You don’t want that, do you?”
“No… but will mommy be there when we wake up?”
Hell no! I’ve had enough of you damned brats! Just go to sleep and leave me alone, already!
Keira had thoughts like this on the inside, while on the outside-
“I can’t promise that. But you can’t let that keep you from growing up to be big and strong. Your future is important to me, so while it pains me to see you go, you have to go back to sleep. It’s for your own good.”
“...”
“So can you do that? Can you be strong for mommy?”
Pinea looked up with eyes filled with determination.
“Okay! I’ll do it!”
“Good girl,” said the catgirl with a smile while giving her a big hug.
“Hey, no fair!” shouted the other four in unison.
“It’s okay, mommy has plenty of hugs for everyone!”
Keira gave each of them a farewell hug, after which the dryads did as instructed, lying down on the soft beds of leaves and grass just like their mommy had done a few times before. The catgirl then began singing a slow, calming version of the one-of-a-kind song tentatively called Shiny Star. She sang it over and over for about 15 more minutes until the effects of Elder Dryad’s Authority wore off like clockwork, exactly 1 week since it was activated, give or take a few minutes.
The five juvenile plant ladies had already fallen asleep by this point, and were sinking slowly into the bark-covered floor of Lilly’s safe room. They would eventually return to their own trees through their combined roots, so falling into hibernation here wasn’t going to be a problem for them. Not that the Mimic actually cared though, it was just glad to finally be rid of them. And if it had its way, then it would keep it that way at any cost.
The flows of chaos have returned to their default, causal state.
More good news. It would seem the Agent of Chaos Skill’s bizarre effects were rather short lived this time, huh? It didn’t seem to do much of anything, either, which was even better. Wait, why was a patch of grass on Castelia’s head steadily changing from green to a reddish shade of brown? Actually, it wasn’t just her, as the rest of the quintuplets began to show a similar discoloration. It was pretty much a given that this wasn't a natural occurrence, but a direct result of Boxxy’s interference as the Hero of Chaos.
The Mimic didn’t worry though, for it already knew how to deal with this situation.
Oh well! Not my problem!
As if a monster had any reason to fret over what sort of potentially cataclysmic events it had set in motion. Even if something horrible were to happen as a result of this, then it wouldn’t be until the girls woke up. Which would be long after any sort of vested interest it had in this place - or indeed this country - had already passed. It also thought it heard a certain deity that presided over matters of luck and chance cackling madly, but that was surely its own imagination. That was most definitely the wind and nothing else. After all, Boxxy wasn’t like Fizzy, who claimed to constantly be hearing Rick’s voice in her head. The monster was simply tired and needed to rest, that was all.
Ah, but it couldn’t just yet. It had convinced those dryads to retrieve about 150 of the more well-preserved and quality-looking bodies from the field. That particular mountain of corpses was currently piled up in one of the corners of the safe room, just waiting for its gentle touch. They were surprisingly well preserved considering they already died 2 days ago, and Boxxy was eager to see what it could gain from them.
So without further ado, the Mimic set about absorbing each and every one of those morsels. And while most of them were failures as expected, it still had a good number of successes as well. It reaped a total of 11 minor ones, giving a grand total of +144 STR, +98 DEX, +41 AGI, +97 END, +120 INT and +44 WIS. As for the the other ones, they looked something like this.
Your Cadaver Absorption was a moderate success!
26% of the target’s highest Skill Proficiency has been added to your own.
Proficiency level increased. Axe Mastery is now Level 6. STR +18. DEX +6.
Your Cadaver Absorption was a major success!
26% of the target’s highest Job Level has been added to your own.
Level up!
Level up!
...
Congratulations, you are now a Level 13 Rogue! DEX +26. AGI +26. END +26.
Your Cadaver Absorption was a moderate success!
26% of the target’s highest Skill Proficiency has been added to your own.
Proficiency level increased. Sword Mastery is now Level 10. STR +2. DEX +2.
Your Cadaver Absorption was a major success!
26% of the target’s highest Job Level has been added to your own.
Job slots full. Unable to learn Job: Priest.
Proficiency level increased. Cadaver Absorption is now Level 9. All Attributes +1.
Your Cadaver Absorption was a moderate success!
26% of the target’s highest Skill Proficiency has been added to your own.
Proficiency level increased. Shield Mastery is now Level 10. STR +4. END +4.
Your Cadaver Absorption was a moderate success!
26% of the target’s highest Skill Proficiency has been added to your own.
The Natural Affinity (AFF) Attribute has been created by a special action. AFF +1.
Proficiency level increased. Primal Mastery is now Level 5. AFF +10. INT +5. WIS +5.
Well, the Skills were, as expected, a bunch of different Mastery ones. While somewhat tasty, the Mimic seriously doubted whether Axe Mastery and Primal Mastery would ever come into play. The former involved wielding weapons that relied a lot more on brute strength than finesse. There might be some applications to be found with axes, but as a whole Boxxy preferred swords and daggers since those made stabby time much, much easier than something like an axe.
As for the latter, it seemed to be related to Spells that a Druid or Shaman would use. And since the Mimic didn’t know any Primal magic, it would be a mostly useless Skill. Well, at the very least it unlocked the AFF Attribute, though how useful it would be would remain to be seen. No, that was optimistic at best. The Mimic was honestly hoping that the new Attribute would remain useless, and wouldn’t dip into the negative like Faith (FTH).
The Job situation, on the other hand, was… educational at best. As expected, Rogue Skills had a good deal of overlap with Mimic ones. Not only that, but it took up the Mimic’s 8th and apparently final Job Slot. Well, in some ways this was a good thing since it meant the Mimic was not going to be saddled with some stupid, useless Job like Cat. At least, not for the moment. Although not immediately, Boxxy was still planning on eventually visiting a Scribe to undergo Job Removal.
That ‘procedure’ was something Boxxy had already gone through several times by masquerading as a disillusioned adventurer who wanted to start over. It was initially unwilling to revisit that foggy, painful memory of having its Warlock Job stripped away, but eventually learned that the process was supposed to be painless if done properly. Apparently, as long as the person - or in this case, monster - willingly submitted to a Job Removal, then the worst they would feel would be a vague sense of loss and fatigue.
In other words, the reason Boxxy was so traumatized back then was that it underwent a forced Job Removal. Its own body had instinctively resisted having part of it stripped away, which only made the separation harder. However, this resistance was not futile, as Job Removal was unable to forcefully remove a Job that was of equal or higher Level than the user’s own Scribe Level. In other words, it was theoretically impossible take away someone’s Level 100 Job unless they willed it. Well, practically speaking they were most likely in the clear so long as they went above Level 85, as very few Scribes were able to reach that high within their lifetime.
When it came to the subject of life spans, it actually gave Boxxy a bit of distress. Apparently ‘pure-blooded’ Mimics would normally only live for about a year before their unstable bodies began to collapse. Well, it wasn’t strictly speaking a Mimic anymore, but it definitely felt like that was unfair. At the very least it found some solace on the fact that a Doppelganger was an existence that could live longer than enlightened races. According to records from the days of the Silent War, more than a few Doppelgangers were over 100 years old at the time of their capture. That, coupled with those demonic traits, was the most likely cause of Minic’s ridiculous longevity.
Well, having all the time in the world wouldn’t be enough if a devious monster showed up and murdered them. Just like that ‘Holy Necromancer’ and that idiotic Warlock. The former had already been subjected to the Cadaver Absorption, but Boxxy got nothing out of him since it failed. Because of course it failed. That put a damper on the Mimic’s expectations from Shinji’s corpse, which was still tucked away in its Storage. In the end, it decided to put off absorbing it until after it managed to push its Warlock Level past 50.
But before that could happen, Boxxy T. Morningwood would have to face a very tough trial indeed.
Mentally steeling itself for what was to come, the Mimic ever-so-subtly changed Keira’s relentlessly smiling face. The catgirl’s mouth curled into a small, barely-there frown, while her bright eyes full of energy became oddly dull as she cast them at her feet. She hugged herself across the stomach as if she were cold, and made sure that her head, shoulders, tail and ears were drooping visibly.
Is this enough? Or is it too much? I honestly can’t tell. Well, might as well try it out!
The catgirl walked out of the silent safe room for the very last time. She quickly corrected her expression, as her monstrous side’s delight had slightly warped her face, and stepped out onto a branch. While the dryads were awake, they were the ones that ferried her up and down the tree, but Keira needed a good way to get down now that they were asleep.
Thankfully, her superiors foresaw this issue, and an elven Wizard was quietly waiting for her on that branch. He instinctively tried to call out and reassure the devastated-looking catgirl, but at the same time held his voice back. He was scared of saying something careless that would make things worse. So, in the end, he just silently levitated himself and the slightly heavier than expected beastkin off that branch and descended towards the ground hundreds of meters below at a slow and steady pace.
The two of them touched down on one of the keep’s rounded corner towers. The carnage from the slaughter 2 days ago had been more or less cleaned up, but the air was heavy with the stink of rotting flesh. The bodies of those slain were either buried after being sanctified or cremated with magic. This was to prevent the dead soldiers and adventurers from rising up as the undead. Such things were common among ghastly battlefields, so the Republic was taking care to handle their remains in a fitting and respectful manner.
What a waste. All that delicious human flesh…
“Are- Are you okay?” asked the worried-looking Wizard.
“Hmm?”
“You, uh, spaced out for a second there…”
“O-oh… Yes, I’m okay. Or at least I will be… eventually…” came the weak-willed response.