Chapter 9: The Five Beast Girls
DM was ready to put together a hunting team. He figured the best time to hunt was while the girls were out because he wouldn’t be placing their lives in jeopardy if the dungeon was conquered.
“…Before I tell you what I think we should all do next, do you have any questions or concerns?” As always, morphling Kat spoke DM’s words to the girls.
“Can we try touching your real body?”
“…Why?”
“Yeah, I was wondering what your body feels like,” spoke another.
DM was a bit surprised they weren’t grossed out, but it wasn’t necessarily a problem as long as he carefully turned off all his offensive touch abilities. “…Okay, it’s safe now.”
“It’s slimy!”
“Kinda.”
“It’s smooth.”
“Why do you have this body?”
Since they were practically climbing on him anyway, DM scooped each beast girl up with a different appendage as though they were sitting on a swing. “…I don’t totally understand it myself. It was a mistake. …I was not supposed to be a tentacle monster, but here I am.”
“That’s okay!”
“Yeah, I don’t mind.”
“It’s what’s on the inside that counts!”
DM choked up a bit internally. “…That’s nice of you to say.”
“Can you evolve into something else?”
“…What?”
“Oh yeah. Aren’t there stories about monsters evolving into other monsters?”
“Kat, didn’t you evolve from a cat monster?”
“No! You evolved from a dog monster!”
“It wasn’t evolve. It was trans… transm…”
“…Transmigrate?”
“I think so.”
DM stopped to think about that. In many systems from his world, when you met certain criteria, you could transmigrate into a different class or species. Perhaps he could eventually transmigrate from tentacle monster into something else?
“…Does anyone else know anything about this?” None of the girls seemed to have better info to share, so they tabled the discussion. “…Okay, let’s talk about what to do next.”
“Okay.”
“…I think you should all register as adventurers in the Twin Cities. …We’ll need to be careful to keep your connection to this place a secret.”
“Yay!”
“Will the city be safe?”
“But I like it here…”
Once again, the girls were not entirely unified.
“…My hope is the Guild and other people will teach you how to use your skills and equipment better than I can.”
“Oh, okay.”
“That makes sense.”
“As long as I don’t have to be a slave again…”
The group discussed the plan in a little more detail and got the girls’ story straight. They decided to gather a bit more money before departing, so DM summoned some more creatures for them to whale on. They also gathered up as many cores as they could to sell in town. Of course, DM kept the human cores to himself.
“…I probably won’t be able to talk to you, but I’ll be watching you. If you need help, just signal me and I’ll intervene.”
“Wow, that’s amazing!”
“Yeah, I can’t believe you can do that.”
“…Kat, you’re in charge. Remain suspicious at all times.”
“Okay.”
DM had grown fond of the girls. If anyone tried to harm them, there would be hell to pay.
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The girls set out on a planned course that would arc away from the dungeon before approaching the Twin Cities. Hopefully, that would keep their connection to this place secret.
After they left, DM assembled his hunting party: One goblin priest and one zombie mage as leaders, one goblin archer, one goblin, one kobold, one gnoll, one imp, and one zombie, all at LVL 3. In addition, three LVL 1 jackalopes would serve as runners, bringing loot back to the dungeon. DM would be home alone, hidden behind his door. Hopefully, in a pinch he could dismiss the minions out in the forest and call upon more within the dungeon.
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DM was alternating between watching the girls and watching the hunting party. The hunting party had encountered a couple of LVL 1 monsters, dispatched them, and sent the spoils back to the dungeon. The girls were just now arriving at the gate to the city.
“Don’t recognize you all.”
“Hi! This is our first time coming to the city. We escaped from some very bad men. Can we become adventurers? We all know a little bit about how to fight.
“Huh?” The guard hadn’t heard that one before. “Wait, uh, who were these bad men?”
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“They said we were slaves.”
“Escaped slaves, huh? No family to go back to? Wait, where are your slave collars?”
“We don’t have families…” Kat wondered if DM counted as family now. “We didn’t have any collars, either. That’s why we were able to escape!”
“Guess they wouldn’t have turned to crime if they weren’t dumb. So, you want to become adventurers? If so, you need only go to the Guild. Are you sure you’re healthy enough? Your clothes don’t look so good…”
“We grabbed some coins before we ran, so we should be able to buy some clothing.”
“Oh? How much do you have?”
“Not that much. Is there a fee for entering?”
“Normally yes, but on account of you escaping from idiot slavers, I’ll let you in for free this time. Promise you’ll work hard for the Guild, though.”
“We will!” the five girls chorused.
“Okay, come on in. Make sure you all stick together, girls.”
DM’s instructions, practice, and role playing with the girls had paid off.
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DM’s hunting party spotted a small community of goblins. While they scouted, DM used his sensing magic to assess the enemy fighting force. From what he could see, there were at least a dozen LVL 1 goblins and half a dozen LVL 2 goblins. There could even be more inside the little huts. On paper, DM’s force was stronger, but there was some risk involved.
DM noticed his leaders were hesitating on whether or not to order the assault. He gave the order to proceed remotely. They recognized his decision and fanned out. The enemy noticed them as they charged from several directions. Just as the goblins were taking up their weapons, DM spawned a tentacle in the middle of the group.
He spammed his tentacle slap ability, killing his targets in one shot. A LVL 6 goblin shaman came running out of the nearest hut. DM spawned the tentacle right behind the shaman and eventually charmed him. He stood still while the hunting party finished annihilating the rest of this little monster community.
DM gave the command for the goblin shaman to reveal all his hidden possessions. The loot was pretty poor, but DM was interested in the shaman’s weapon. It was a Tier 3 staff with the abilities Absorb Health and Absorb Life-force. DM used absorb equipment on it via tentacle.
>Absorbed staff (T3).
>Unable to learn ability, Absorb Health
>Learned ability, Health Touch (T1)
>Unable to learn ability, Absorb Life-force
>Learned ability, Ability Touch
“Hm, no stat boost? Health touch is obviously similar to mana touch, but what does ability touch do?”
>Ability Touch: Allows caster to extract or inject abilities through touch. Extraction reduces the tier in the target by one. Can only inject abilities at a lower tier than already learned, but does not deplete tier in caster.
“Wait just a minute! Taking abilities from enemies I touch is impressive enough, but I can give copies of my abilities to whoever I want!? Wait, what abilities above T1 do I know right now?”
>Abilities above T1: Sense (T2), Absorb Equipment (T2), Tentacle Slap (T2), Regenerate (T2), Charm Touch (T6).
“So I could teach the girls those abilities at a reduced tier? Charm touch T5? Really? And they could even regenerate, albeit at a slow rate? Would absorb equipment even work for them? What about tentacle slap? They don’t even have tentacles!”
DM had a lot to think about. At a minimum, he had to be careful that they weren’t discovered in the Twin Cities to possess abilities that only monsters should possess. “Oh, how are they doing, by the way?” His attention was ultimately drawn away by the dungeon leveling up as the shaman was put down.
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“This must be it.”
“Yeah, that looks like what DM described.”
“Leader, lead the way.”
“Okay.” The girls entered the Guild. Many heads turned to look their way when they entered. They decided to ignore the stares and proceed to the nearest counter, where a Guild clerk squinted at them.
“…Can I help you girls?”
“We want to become adventurers.”
“Ah, how wonderful! Normally, I’d refer you to my colleague, but she’s… busy at the moment. We don’t have an age limit, but you need to be strong enough to fight if you want to join. Has anyone taught you the necessary skills?”
“We know the basics. We’re all LVL 3 or LVL 4.”
“What!? LVL 4 already?” The girls, with their unusually sensitive hearing, heard a fair amount of muttering from around the room. “That means you’re not considered beginners anymore!”
“We’re not?”
“Right. Most people join at LVL 1. We train them here and get them to LVL 2. Then, we send them out into the Lower Gordu Forest or sometimes a beginner dungeon to level up until LVL 4. After that, they’re considered advanced beginner level and move on to other mission areas.”
“We leveled up while fighting for a slaver so we weren’t taught that way. Could we start as beginners?”
“My, I’m glad to hear you’re being so mature about this. Yes, I think that would be best. What about your families?”
“We don’t have any…”
The clerk felt mixed emotions. Families were often the biggest barrier to recruiting and keeping new members. In this case, the girls didn’t seem to have anyone to hold them back, but it was also sad that they were all alone, save for having each other. She would do what she could to support these escaped slaves while they learned to stand on their own feet. Heck, some of them were already higher level than her.
“I see you have weapons already, but since you’re registering as beginners, I insist you go around back and work with our staff on your class assignments.”
“Okay!”
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>Dungeon has reached LVL 4.
>Dungeon Master has reached LVL 6.
>Learned ability, Paralysis Touch (T1)
>Absorb Equipment has increased to T3.
>Dungeon Floor 4 now available.
>Additional creatures now available.
“Let’s check my stats.”
Name Dungeon Master Species Tentacle Monster (Tier 2) LVL 6 HP 415 MP 925 STR 52 DEF 43 MAG 39 MDEF 34 AGI 26 LUCK 1 Abilities
Offense Touch (Poison T1, Slow T1, Berserk T1, Mana T1, Charm T6, Pain T1, Pleasure T1, Health T1, Ability, Paralysis T1), Fireball (T1), Projectile (T1), Ice Shot (T1), Affection (T1), Tentacle Slap (T2)
Defense Guard (Poison T1, Fire T1, Ice T1, Charm T1), Reduced Damage from Monsters (T1) Utility Bonus Damage to Monsters (T1), Infect, Heal (T1), Spawn Tentacle (T1), Sense (T2), Antidote, Regenerate (T2), Absorb Equipment (T3)
“I can keep up to 12 LVL 4 creatures in the dungeon now. What’s new?”
>The following LVL 4 creatures are available: All creatures from LVL 1-3 as well as Mimic, Leech, Bat, Chickbear, Goblin Shaman.
“Hey, five new creatures!”
DM queried about each of the new creature types. The mimic could disguise itself as an inanimate object. Leeches absorbed experience straight out of their targets. Bats could fly. Chickbears were able to… hibernate. Goblin shamans just carried staffs with various attack magic.
“I’m most excited about the bats. I can infect them and use them as flying scouts now. Once I receive the remaining spoils from the hunting party I sent out, I’ll try dismissing them remotely and then summoning some new minions to experiment with.”
DM mentally licked his lips at the new spells and abilities he would learn soon. He turned his attention to the girls who were finishing up their training for the day at the Guild.