Having accepted the Monsters’ desire for me to become the Demon King, the first thing I needed to do was take stock of my full situation and figure out what I had to work with. I had some idea of what my Monsters were capable of in terms of the game, but I didn’t know how directly anything had translated from the game world of Sacred Chronicles to this new world.
To start with, I examined myself, even using one of the Bone Swords shields to check my reflection in the bronze. The shared subconscious let me know something had changed mentally and probably spiritually, and fact I was able to move around and felt physically better than I ever had before immediately let me know that something had also changed physically, but I was still surprised by what I saw. I had indeed had a fairly drastic makeover and initially I thought I had actually gotten younger before I realized that wasn’t the case. Reflected in the shield was no longer the skinny, frail, bedridden young woman I had known all my life. Instead, my body was tall and slender but athletically fit and in a beautiful prime. My face wasn’t sunken or tired, but youthful and devoid of flaws or blemishes of any kind. Physically, I looked almost like a fashion model after her pictures had been doctored. My hair was a pale, almost bleached-looking blonde and smoothly ran down my entire back. My eyes were perhaps the most striking change, now a bright ruby red, though oddly I couldn’t recall what color they had been before. All I could remember was that they hadn’t been red.
My attire didn’t really match my body now at all, but I recognized it as my favorite lavender bathrobe. Why I was wearing it? I hadn’t the faintest idea. Perhaps I had been getting out of the shower before I came here? I couldn’t remember what I had been doing just before my transfer, it was just a blurry haze. Fingering my bathrobe, I knew I would have to see about getting new clothing, though that certainly wasn’t high on the list of things I needed done.
“I would be overjoyed to have the privilege of crafting suitable royal attire for You, Your Majesty,” one of the Arachnids swiftly spoke up, reading my thoughts through the shared subconscious. The other Arachnids were quick to happily make similar offers.
The Arachnids could craft? I considered that for a moment. It made sense, considering they were essentially giant spiders, not to mention that in Sacred Chronicles, Arachnids were less combat units and more support units. In combat they attacked with poisonous claws or using paralyzing venom to apply status effects and set up for other units. They could also build defensive structures or bridges over rivers and water. Clothing wasn’t something they made, unless they were responsible for crafting the silk robes that other units could then equip? Interested, and appreciative, I accepted their offers. At the very least it would give them something to do until I got my bearing and had more vital tasks for them, and it also let me cross that task off the list immediately.
In the start of a 4x game, eXploration was the first X that had to be taken care of. I needed to know where Runeterria was, and what Resources I had to work with as well as any nearby Factions I would need to be aware of. I ordered the Revenants and Bone Swords to explore and secure the Devil Keep, which was the starting structure and royal capital of Runeterria. I also ordered the Wraiths to explore the immediate surrounding environment. Wraiths weren’t really meant for dedicated scouting, but they would do for now.
Identifying threats and securing Resources were the two most important things. Production, Aether, Gold, and Food, these were the four main Resources that needed to be secured in order to expand. Food in particular was vital, as the Devil Keep provided some amount of the other three it didn’t provide food of any kind. Different Races and Factions had different food requirements, and Runeterria was somewhat unique with many of its Races dietary needs and requirements. A significant number of its units, including all of the units I had started with, exclusively ate Meat. This was offset with the Undead Units, meaning everything but the Arachnids at the moment, having low Food Upkeep to worry about as well as the fact that they got Food from killing Units in battle and bonus from raiding other Factions' settlements.
And, of course, I needed to also worry about my own diet. While I could survive on a much greater variety of foods than them, I did still actually need that access to the greater variety if I were to survive on it. And of course, I didn’t really intend to survive on the bare minimum for any longer than I had to. I was The Demon King, after all! I was a member of Royalty! I hoped and eagerly looked forward to the days when I would actually be able to eat and live in proper luxury like one.
As the beginning of everything began to fall into place, I explored the Devil Keep. Well, I say explored, but in truth it was simply me enjoying being in my new much more physically fit body. Even walking or running around without pain or effort was a pleasure that was completely foreign to me until now. However, as I explored I learned that the shared subconscious went beyond just me and the Monsters. It was connected to the Devil Keep itself as well as the corrupted lands of Runeterria. I could feel the many halls and rooms of the building, the air and clouds, the soil and every blade of grass outside, as if it was a part of me just like the Monsters. It was a world map far more detailed than in the game, and one that I could ‘see’ within my mind instead of on a screen.
The Devil Keep was a large castle that was quite empty at the moment, its interior of a web of twisting hallways and rooms spread throughout five floors. Kitchens and feasting rooms, guest rooms, store rooms, the throne room, it was all there though none of it had much of anything other than its nightmarish decor. Beneath it was a large catacomb and dungeon combined into one with numerous corpses and skeletons filled in the walls and even several of the cells. As I felt and my Wraiths showed me through the shared subconscious, The Devil Keep was sitting on the side of a large mountain that was part of a mountain range, which was surrounded on this side at least by a large marshland forest that I couldn’t see the end of. The mountain fed a moat of running purple water before it rushed off as a river deeper into the forest and out of what I could follow into the fog of war.
My little tour of The Devil Keep ended in my own bedroom. It was a large room with a huge window and chandelier for light. The floor was still stone but with several silk carpets shaped like webs decorating it. A closet room and several large dressers and cabinets lined the walls alongside a huge golden mirror. The bed, however, was perhaps the most ridiculous thing in the room even if it was its name sake. It was circular and giant, easily able to hold a dozen or so large people comfortably. Thick purple sheets that were all some variety of silk covered the huge mattress alongside a couple dozen fluffy pillows.
My bedroom was in a personal, royal section of sorts that could only be accessed through the throne room and was in the heart of the keep while being cut off from everything else. There were three rooms in this section, my personal chambers, a large study with a dizzying amount of books, and a third large room which was perhaps the most bizarre. It housed the Heart of The Devil Keep, quite literally. Within it was an enormous, fleshy, beating thing that looked like a blend of a heart and a tree, with numerous veins and tentacles spreading out from it throughout the entire castle and pumping something through it.
As I laid in my bed, enjoying how comfortable it was compared to anything I had ever known, an Arachnid suddenly called for an audience with me. Focusing on it, I found to my shock that it already had something for me to wear despite not even a full hour having passed. However, despite the short time frame, it clearly hadn’t affected the quality of the Arachnid’s work in the slightest. I returned to the throne room and received it from the eager giant spider, holding it up and marveling at it for several seconds.
I can’t possibly wear this, I couldn’t help but think.
Honestly, I didn’t think anyone could wear this. It was too beautiful to be worn. It was a silk dress, though gown probably would have been the better word for it. The dress had no visible seams of any sort, and had a mottled coloration of different darker purples and purple-reds set against a pale lavender color base. The dress had long sleeves and an overwall skin tight fitting, the bottom of the dress spreading out like in a trumpet style though more in the shape of a spider web. The dress had a very deep neckline, to the point I would hesitate to even refer to it as a ‘neckline,’ and covered barely anything on the back. Several thin silk streamers formed a spider web pattern across both sides which helped, though even with those I struggled to imagine how exactly it would stay on anyone who tried to wear it. Other streamers that were only connected on one side also hung down from the back and sleeves, though if they served any purpose I couldn’t see it. As I continued to look at it, something more curious happened. I found myself looking at what I recognized to be an info screen for the dress, pulled straight out of the game and into my mind.
[Demon Gown of Protection:]
Type:
Dress
Quality:
Superior
Durability
150/150(150)
Weight:
10
Attack:
20
Defense:
25
Magic:
30
Resistance:
50
Skills:
[Alarm], [Self-Defense], [Heightened Reflexes], [Protection From Physical], [Protection From Arrows], [Protection From Elemental]
“A beautiful gown fit for a Demoness, spun and woven from the poisonous silk of an Arachnid, dyed with its venom, and enchanted with dark power formed from its own magic and life force. This dark dress weighs far more than it looks and provides as good of protection from damage as many metal armors. It is cursed for any who are not of Runeterria who attempt to wear it.”
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Oh? These were indeed game Stats and Skills, though I only recognized some of them from Sacred Chronicles. A Demon Gown was a type of armor that Runeterria could craft for its female units and was particularly valuable for casters, though the gender requirement was fairly restricting. It was expensive, but came with a lot of good stats and options for different skills which made it worth it to protect more expensive squishies. The Protections were common-ish Skills for armor that reduced damage from different things. Generally, the more specific the damage type, the more was reduced. The Heightened Reflexes Skill on the other hand was another common one that gave a bonus to Dodge chances. I had no idea what Alarm or Self-Defense did though, and knew of no such Skills from Sacred Chronicles.
The fact that apparently some level of the
game’s logic and elements existed in this world was definitely good learn and was something that would no doubt prove invaluable. On the other hand, the fact that I had to worry about changes to those Skills as well as new Skills entirely was also alarming. Assuming things worked the same way they did from the game outright would prove dangerous, possibly a fatal mistake.
Curious, I turned to the Arachnid, who was looking at me expectantly with all eight glowing of its eyes. Focusing more on it, another similar screen appeared in my mind once more:
[Arachnid, Lv.1:]
Name:
Webster
Age:
0 Years
Race:
Arachnid
Class:
Rune Weaver
Affinity:
Darkness
Type:
Monster, Evil, Beast
Exp:
20/100
Level:
1/5
Hp:
10/30(30)
Mp:
0/15
Strength:
17
Defense:
14
Magic:
13
Resistance:
11
Skill:
12
Speed:
18
Constitution:
16
Luck:
2
Skills:
[Paralyzing Venom II], [Poisonous Claws I], [Poisonous Silk I], [Thick Hide], [Crafting - Weaving], [Construction], [Skill Enchantment], [Dark Crafting]
Arachnid:
“Monsters which resemble gigantic spiders, Arachnids serve as Runeterria’s greatest crafters and construction workers. Vicious and poisonous, they capture their prey in webs and consume them alive. Their silk, while poisonous and cursed to non-Runeterrians, can be crafted into all manners of items and armors and imbued with the Arachnid’s own tainted life force.”
----------------------------------------
Rune Weaver:
“Rune Weavers are the youngest working Arachnids, having no specialization and serving as general support units. In combat, they can apply a variety of debilitating effects to enemies through the use of their Paralyzing Venom, Poisonous Claws, or Poisonous Webs to weaken and restrain. They can also use their webbing to patch up some forms of armor, or to rapidly create simple fortifications or things like bridges and ladders. With more time, they can create longer lasting structures as well as weave powerful items and armors as well as enchant them.”
So, my Monsters also had Stats. I wonder how they worked outside of a game? Similar to the Demon Gown I had been given, I recognize many of the Stats as things from Sacred Chronicles, which at least gave me some working theories as to what they did, but many of the Skills and details seemed slightly off from what I knew. I also noticed, to some alarm, that not only was this Arachnid, named ‘Webster’ apparently, completely out of Mp, he was also at only a third of his total Hp.
“You! What happened?! Why are you so injured?!” I demanded with some alarm. It hadn’t even been an entire day in this new world, and one of my Monsters was nearly dead!
“Injured?” The Arachnid sent feelings of confusion through the shared subconscious before seeming to come to a revelation. “Hiss! My deepest apologies for alarming You, Your Majesty. I am unharmed. My low Hp is due to my work crafting a suitable dress to adorn Your magnificent form.”
“What?” That was when it hit me. That Skill, Dark Crafting. In Sacred Chronicles, Arachnids could spend their Hp to do different things. They could use it to repair durability on items in an army as well as spending it to build temporary structures in battles like forts or bridges. Arachnids had relatively high Hp but lower Defense and Resistance specifically due to these support abilities. And apparently, now, not only did it cost Mp for them to craft items like this Demon Gown, but also Hp.
Wait a minute, does that seriously mean that all of my Arachnids were currently doing the same thing?!
Focusing on them through the shared subconscious, I learned that my was unfortunately yes! Each of my Arachnids was busy crafting some sort of article of clothing for me, and to my mild annoyance, not one of them apparently considered modesty or undergarments things I should concern myself with. Or did they somehow seriously get the wrong idea with me originally wearing just a bathrobe? Either way, the crafting ‘process’ was as disturbing as it was beautiful, with the Arachnids rapidly weaving an entire attire as if it was a web or cocoon. Venom constantly dripped from their fangs and claws, which they were using to dye and create bizarre but beautiful patterns in the silk. They also occasionally glowed red, with that glow then being sucked into their works, which I realized was them using their Dark Crafting Skill and draining points of their Hp.
I turned back to Webster who was still looking at me hopefully, but now with a bit of clear worry. For something with monstrous spider head, it was surprisingly cute. Suppressing a sigh, I decided I should at least try it, and besides, despite my reservations in certain parts of its design, it still did really look beautiful. I let the bathrobe I had been wearing drop, not really caring if a giant spider saw me naked, and the I carefully slid into the Demon Gown. It wasn’t difficult, though I did have to be careful to avoid getting tangled up in the numerous streamers, and the silk of the dress was somewhat clingy and stretchy enough to make moving around in it a hassle. Pushing my arms through the sleeves, I finally managed to pull my head through and straightened it on my body. To my suprise, I immediately felt the silk of the dress tightening and seeming to almost attach itself to my skin, and it felt as if my senses were almost strangely spreading themselves through the dress like it was some kind of second skin I was putting on.
[Demon Gown] equipped!
This time, I focused on the Arachnid himself and saw myself through his many eyes eyes. The dress was indeed as revealing as it had looked, the ‘neckline’ coming down all the way past my belly button. Despite this, the dress was sized perfectly and was clinging to my skin tightly. The bottom of the dress didn’t quite reach the floor as it flowered outwards, the edges of it just barely gliding over it. Despite my initial reservations, the clinginess and the numerous straps did seem ensure that it would most likely stay put, though I disliked the fact that I was still effectively going commando.
As I focused more on the dress, running my hands across the smooth silk and true numerous intricate molt patterns, I strangely found that I could still clearly feel the air against the silk of the dress as well as my touch. Initially, I thought that maybe it was just the material, but I wasn’t thin by any means and I noticed something even odder. I could even feel the air against the parts of the dress that weren't actually even skin tight. Such as the bottom of the Demon Gown or even the streamers dangling around. I could feel every square inch of silk as if the gown was truly a part of me. Looking at one of the streamers curiously, it suddenly curled up, twisting and coiling through the air towards me.
“Ah!” I shrieked in surprise, all of the streamers suddenly beginning to writhe around me like confused snakes or tentacles. They whipped around madly, striking the ground with a solid thud like they were metal flails. The Arachnid, wisely, backed up several feet while I dealt with my wardrobe malfunction.
Well, this is unexpected, I thought as I struggled to calm down. This certainly wasn’t something I remembered from Sacred Chronicles, but it appeared as if the Demon Gown was in some ways a Monster itself that was now linked to my mind and body. Direct control was difficult, but I quickly found that I could order or give it an idea of what I wanted, and it would react accordingly. Thrusting my hand out, the four streamers connected to the sleeve lashed forward like striking snakes. The silk extended and twisted around before striking the wall several feet away and burrowing into it, sending chunks of stone everywhere. It was surprisingly effective.
Perhaps this is why it’s only safe for Runeterrians? I wonder would happen if some else tried to wear this. I thought back to what I remembered of Runeterria’s unique equipment. Besides things like the Demon Gown which just flat out couldn’t be worn by other Factions, they also had a unique advantage in that they didn’t suffer the penalties of Curses that some Equipment and Items had on them. In late game, this advantage was essentially to keep up with other Factions, but it would be some time before I could create even the weakest of Cursed Equipment or Items.
Turning my attention away from my Demon Gown, I considered things. More of the game elements had been brought from Sacred Chronicles than I initially thought, or were these native to this world? The fact that Stats and Skills existed, but had been altered from what I was used to, suggested they were either native or perhaps it was some sort of ‘translation’ issue between Sacred Chronciles’s mechanics and this world’s. For now, however, I would continue forth under the assumption that the other inhabits of this world also had Stats and Skills. Better to prepare for the worst than hope for the best.
Hmm, I wonder… I turned to the Arachnid. “You have done well. This Demon Gown is truly a work of art. Now, go and rest up and heal yourself. I will be needing you again soon.”
Webster beamed from my praise, and then excitedly left. I did hope resting was all that would be required for him to recover his Hp and Mp. In Sacred Chronicles, ending your turn in friendly territory or by creating a Camp in enemy territory was needed to passively regenerate a little bit of Hp at the start of your next turn. Mp on the other hand just automatically recovered after any battles, though that didn’t seem to be case here as Webster hadn’t regenerated any. There were also Units, particularly different Priests-type Classes, with Healing Magic or other Skills. However, those were not Basic Units who I had access to at the start. The quickest and easiest one for me to theoretically get would be a Skull Cleric, a possible Promotion for my Bone Swords, but that would require getting one of them to Level 5 first. But to get those Levels in the beginning stages of the game, I would need to find enemies for my Units to kill for Exp.
And so to accomplish that, let’s see if I can create a dedicated Scout! If Stats and Skills still worked, hopefully that meant I could still easily create new Units. Standing in the Throne Room, I thrust out my hands rather dramatically and said loudly, “Quick Summon: [Evil Eye]!”
I waited…
…and nothing happened.