With the urgent matter of Bad JuJu resolved Spider King had no reason to loiter around the frigid mountaintop. Wrong! There were plenty of reasons. The continuous development of New Hope was strategically important for the expansion of the Monster Realm. This was the only place to extract IceShard Plakton which was essential for long-term refrigeration solutions. The ice by itself was also used as a cheaper alternative.
Of course, even more could be achieved with ice mages, however, those remained extremely rare and elusive. Frost SoulShade was the first Ice mage the Spider King has encountered. Actually, he didn’t even know those existed, because so far he thought there were elements of Fire, Water, Earth, Air, Light and Dark magic. That was all according to human magical theory. Where Water magic could theoretically be used to make ice, and it was. But evidently, there also was a separate Ice category on its own! And if you thought about the Great Ancestral Wisp – Nature as well. So clearly there was more to it. Regardless, even Water mages were somewhat scarce.
Long tangent aside, the Oberon Mountaintop was clearly the area saturated with Ice magic. And it had to be exploited, of course!
First, there was the issue of capturing IceShard Plankton. It was very tiny and behaved like a wild cloud. To catch it the humans had an idea to use a very fine mesh, which worked to some extent until its micropores got frozen solid shut. Then that happened, the mesh turned into brittle paper-like film rendering it useless. The problem of plankton freezing shut the nets persisted.
Then, another idea was born. The plankton had to eat something, or at least be attracted to some equally magical phenomena. Theoretically, it could be led to enclosed space and then trapped for collection. The humans had done some poking around and they lucked out on finding a nearby spot which attracted the plankton. Presumably, it was a source of magic, much like Magic Spring in the Undermountain, but the Mountaintop magic source expelled air instead of water.
A lot more research was needed, but the Spider King was there to expedite the first design of a trap; incidentally, the architectural skills of the SoulShade also came into use. The whole structure was a big hexagonal ball (truncated icosahedron) resting half-buried in the ice. For its construction materials such as IceShard Leather, IronOak, and Fungal Bricks were used, after all, it had to resist the Frozen debuff the plankton carried. All its sides had latched holes for the plankton to enter, when it filled, the latches could be trapped and then the plankton extracted through yet another hole and into to the leather bags enchanted with Ice Resistance. Or so was the design.
The Spider King and a bunch of humans were nestled tightly in an igloo-like building. Through a small window, they observed the incoming plankton storm, it was coming here to feed on the mana of the Mana Geyser. On a slight tangent, the Mana Geyser shot out not steaming water, but air infused with magical energies. It, as well as the plankton, could be collected into the leather bags, but uses for such air remained still unknown.
“Okay, it’s coming,” Gareth said the obvious.
“But will it hold?” The SoulShade asked.
“If it breaks, we’ll build something sturdier.” Human Builder replied.
“Nah, I’ve Reinforced everything. It will hold.” The Spider King said to reassure.
The plankton cloud funnelled into the structure simply named F32 for convenience's sake. It twirled above F32 angrily forming a miniature whirlpool since there was more plankton than space inside the truncated icosahedron.
“It’s time. Pull it.”
“No, you’re the King, the honour is yours.” Gareth refused.
“I’ll pull it.” The SoulShade reached for the lever, but his hands passed right through it. “Oh…”
“I’ll do it.” Human Builder pulled it shutting the intake hatches of F32.
Everyone looked at F32 with bated breaths, expecting it either to explode or shatter. The cloud persisted to hand around the trapped Mana Geyser.
After a while, the Spider King broke the tense silence. “It’s holding. But with the plankton around it will be hard to begin extraction.”
Everyone nodded.
“Do we have volunteers?” He asked.
No one volunteered making him sigh in defeat.
However, “I would go, but as you can see,” the SoulShade moved its hand to the wall and then right through it.
“Right… I have the most HP and the best gear here. I’ll go.”
Everyone nodded.
The Spider King exited the igloo and strutted confidently towards the angry cloud. He retrieved a bundle of scrolls from his inventory space.
“Buzz off, you! [Fire Barrage]!” He besieged the cloud with fire projectiles.
He imagined the plankton saying ‘Tch!’ as it retreated into the skies. Sure, any of them could have used Frozen Resistance Potion, but with the increased demand and diminishing supply of IceShard Plankton, those had become rather precious; a thing which will be remedied here this instant. The Spider King used the convenience of Magical Inventory to retrieve an enchanted bag. He pulled it on the outtake valve and with yet another pull of a lever the bag was filled with plankton. He stuffed one bag after the other. Soon, emboldened by the success of F32 his companions came to help.
Gareth was surprised at how easy the process was. “It practically jumps into the bag by itself.”
The SoulShade jumped to explain. “It’s because of the pressure inside. Mana Geyser is gushing out the air and continuously increasing the pressure inside, hence forcing the plankton out.”
“And if I delayed opening the outtake valve, the F32 might have exploded.” The King mentioned offhandedly.
The SoulShade nodded. “Precisely.”
Gareth stepped away from the structure in alarm. “Keep the scary MagiTech talk to yourselves. This thing is dangerous!”
The Human Builder jumped in to take over to fill the bags. “The valve is open. It’s alright, it won’t explode.”
“Unless…” The SoulShade terrified Gareth further.
“Unless?”
The SoulShade didn’t reply and just phased through the wall to inspect the insides of F32. He was taking his sweet time there, to the point that everyone got worried.
“Drow Architect, is everything alright?!” The Spider King shouted at the structure, but the walls were thick, so it was unclear if he heard that.
“Ahhh!” The Human Builder suddenly dropped the bag he was filling. “Frost!” He cursed. “You scared me!”
There was a head peeking out of the bag, it had a nasty evil grin on it. “Ha-ha, got you.”
The two humans looked at the apparition with disapproval. It seems they didn’t like pranksters.
“Eh, you’re no fun, guys. By the way, everything is fine inside. It’s just that… It was so COLD!”
“No one asked you to go inside.” Human Builder retorted still offended by the prank.
SoulShade had his own retort. “What hero would I be if I didn’t thrust myself into danger? It was my duty!”
The Human Builder mellowed at those words.
“It seems we’re done.” The Spider King said noticing the lack of stray plankton escaping the output valve.
“Yeah, it’s only air inside.” The SoulShade mentioned matter-of-factly.
And there was that. No less than a hundred bags were filled with plankton. And there was a small bonus, since the plankton was still alive the bags were unusually light to carry. Actually, if something lighter would have been used to make the bag, something like thin cloth or plastic (which didn’t yet exist here), the bags ran a risk of escaping into the sky like some sort of feral balloons.
…
The harvested plankton was promptly processed into blue goo-like substance. It was ready to be used for potions, enchantments, and refrigeration purposes. The F32 of course was only in its alpha stage, the structure still needed many improvements but the Spider King left that to humans.
With the IceShard supply secured the Spider King moved on the agenda number two. It was further expanding and improving the Catacombs. Forcing humans to live underground like some sort of… Kobolds or Drow, was not exactly fair, not that the humans complained, but an increase of comfort was always appreciated. There was that, but also the King wanted to make the New Hope as self-sufficient as possible.
If life above ground was difficult you could make life underground, just like the many Undermountain races did.
The Spider King deposited a large pile of various mushrooms on Gareth’s office table.
“What are those?” Gareth asked somewhat perturbed.
The Spider King gave a crazy smile beaming a line, “Mushrooms to the rescue!”
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
“Huh?”
The Spider King picked a random mushroom. “This one gives off light.” He picked another one. “This one grows all around stone needing little sustenance.” He picked another one. “This one turns poop back into food.” He picked a blue-capped mushroom. “And this one is solely for recreational purposes.”
“Magic Mushroom.” It was a certain spider which identified the last mushroom.
“Ah yes, the two spiders behind me will help you to improve the Catacombs. The Stone Spider and the Mushroom Spider.”
“Hello!”, “Hello…” the two spiders waved at Gareth from the corridor, they couldn’t fit through the narrow office doors.
“Huh?” Gareth still was not following.
“Listen, *Ahem*,” the Spider King cleared his throat. “Fungal Catacombs!” He pronounced with fanfare.
“HUH!?”
Sometimes the words failed to reach the people so instead the Spider King dragged the human for an impromptu show. Two men and two spiders were standing in a dark tunnel. This was the unused part of the Catacombs, and like the catacombs should the wall was lined with bones, hence the reason the Humans didn’t want to use that part of the Catacombs.
“Observe!” The Spider King pulped a mushroom in his hand turning it to pulpy slurry, then he mixed it with water and splashed the slush on the wall.
“Okay?” Gareth wondered if the King went crazy.
“[Mutate]!” He showered the bony wall section with purple motes of light.
Aside from the light show nothing happened. “Okay?” Gareth repeated trying to understand.
The Mushroom Spider approached the wall, “[Grow],” showering it with brown motes of light.
Just before Gareth could give another dispassionate ‘Okay?’ he noticed the wall coming to life. The fungal-like flesh grew all over the wall.
The Spider King nodded approvingly. “It’s not exactly Fungal Brick, but that is an improvement, no?” He pushed his finger into the wall. “Porous and woody, it should insulate the walls just as well.”
Gareth finally understood what was happening. “I see!” He too prodded the wall with his finger.
“I’m not finished.” The Spider King repeated the process with another mushroom.
“It glows!” Gareth exclaimed at the blue glow.
“Yeah, it might be a bit dim, but still, it’s enough to see where you’re going.”
“How wonderful!”
“I’m not done.” Once again, the Spider King splashed some slush on the wall, but this time he sprinkled some red glowing powder and clutched a fiery stone in his hand. “Let's hope it works. “[Mutate], [Imbue]!”
“Stand back.” The Mushroom Spider cautioned. “[Grow].”
It wasn’t much of a mushroom, more like mycelium, because an orange-tinged but otherwise translucent vein shot out digging through the wall to form a web-like pattern.
“Good, it didn’t explode.” The King clapped.
“What?!” Gareth exclaimed beginning to associate the Spider King more with explosions and danger than spiders.
“Let’s put this to a test.” He splashed FireAgave Juice on the mycelium web.
The orange tinge turned to red, and the mycelium pulsed as if alive.
“Good, it’s emitting heat. Heating the Fungal Catacombs will be more efficient, and with less cold the mushroom will also grow better. I did use Acclimate and Unnatural Selection to give them that cold resistance, but still, warmth is good.”
“Warmth is good.” Gareth repeated. “Warmth… I’m sure our SoulShade will approve. But…” He paused. “How do we keep all of these wonderous and magical mushrooms alive?”
“Ah yes, good question. All life needs a source of nourishment, even mushrooms. Luckily for you, the WallShroom eats stone, the GlowShroom uses ambient mana in the air, and the HeatShroom here can do with a bit of a splash of juice now and then. Of course, there is more to that, they all need mana to grow, but as it happens this fortress was built in just the right spot. Aren’t you lucky?”
“I guess we are…”
“Well then, I’ll leave the Mushroom Spider and Stone Spider to finish the rest.”
“Ah, just one more thing.” Gareth stopped the King. “Since you have such a good grasp of Life magic maybe you can help us on our quest.”
Nah, it wasn't Life or even Nature magic, all of that was just perks, but the Spider King didn’t feel like correcting Gareth. “What is it?” Instead, he asked intrigued.
“Let me show you.”
The Spider King was led through a long corridor, the stone walls were replaced by ice and the temperature dropped significantly. Finally, the two men emerged into a large icy chamber.
“Eggs?” The King asked even if he recognised the monster it belonged.
“Not just eggs. We managed to hatch a few. Wait here.” He went into a side chamber.
Gareth was gone for a few good minutes forcing the Spider King to fidget in anticipation. As Gareth returned, he was dragging a type of a bird behind him. The bird of course had no legs or wings, and instead of walking it floated.
“The Sky Wale!? I mean the IceShard Bird, you tamed it!” The Spider King smiled at the implications of new opportunities and ventures.
“It’s not exactly tame. And we were afraid it would starve.” Gareth said somewhat apologetically. “Actually, it was marked for butchering but with F32…” He didn’t need to finish. “But how do we tame it? It’s awfully violent.” Just as Gareth finished, the monster bit him on the leg. “Gah!” He pushed the monster away.
“Maybe it’s just cranky because you didn’t feed it…” The King offered the most likely explanation. “But I can try to Evolve it and see what happens. But then again, it wouldn’t exactly make it docile and who knows what we would get.”
Evolving monsters was always a risky business. Actually, he didn’t really evolve any, it was mostly animals and plants with a few exceptions. So probably the simple Mutate was the best shot.
“Hmm, so we want it docile. And if we want a convenient mount the SuperMassive trait needs to go.” It was something the monster would obtain as it grew.
“Yeah, if we tamed them, we could use them to transport the meat straight down the mountain, no need to use labyrinthine mountain tunnels.”
“Yes, you have a good idea there. If Mutate fails, you could just keep trying to domesticate the wild variety.”
“I’ve never heard of anyone taming a monster ever,” Gareth replied. “Except for you, Monster King. That’s why I’ve gathered the courage to ask.”
“You’re right, I shouldn’t be talking as if I was preparing for the failure. Of course, this will work! Hand me the monster.” He motioned towards it.
Gareth pulled the leather strap dragging the IceShard Bird towards the Spider King, no, towards the Monster King.
“Docile, small, mobile and less hangry!” He named the traits he wanted. “I’ve got this! [Mutate]!” The Spider King touched the juvenile monster forcing it to glow in purple.
[Chaos Blessed activated]
“Frozen piss!” He cursed at the message; that perk had a penchant for twisting things around.
No less than 2000MP was sucked out in a blink of a second, the Spider King pulled away from the monster. The glow had no signs of dimming.
“Gareth, behind me!” He commanded ready to slay the monster.
The human, even if slightly blinded by the purple flash still found the way behind his King.
The light dimmed revealing the chaos mutated monster.
“What is that!” Gareth pointed his shaking finger.
The creature had grown several tendrils all over its body, six on the back and two on close under its mouth. And the mouth was a grossly large maw full of razor-sharp teeth. The teeth were blue and crystalline as if made from ice. Two eyes were replaced by four, they were blue sapphire orbs with no whites. Its body was tar black, but a blue web-like pattern ran all over it.
The monster wriggled its tendrils excitedly making a low humming sound.
“It’s growling at us! Kill it!” Gareth urged.
But before that, “[Inspect].”
Monster: IceShard Devourer
Status Effects: Docile
HP:100
MP:0/100
STA:200
Active Perks
[Tendril Slap], [Ice Burst], [Devour]
Passive Perks
[Floating], [Tamed], [Mana Conversion]
Resistances
[Light Weakness: Critical], [Ice Resistance: Immune]
“I don’t think it’s angry.” The Spider King approached the monster cautiously trying to give it a pet.
Devourer rubbed the top of its head into the King’s palm, emitting that low growl.
“And it’s not growling, it's purring like a cat.” He explained.
“A cat, what’s that? [Inspect].” Gareth tried. “Ah! That’s clearly a Devourer! I don’t think we can tame something like that.”
“Gareth, please. Read the table better, it comes pre-Tamed.”
“Oh, yeah you’re right.”
“Come give it a pet. It’s rather affectionate.”
Reluctantly so, Gareth approached otherwise a formidable beast. He rubbed its head making the Devourer turn upside down exposing its belly, Gareth reached to rub that too. The tendril wriggled in pleasure.
“Ha! It’s rather cute.” Gareth finally saw the truth.
The Spider King nodded approvingly. However…
“Now, let’s pray I will be able to replicate the process. Do you have more hatchlings?”
“Ah no, this was the second one to hatch. We ate the first.”
Devourer made an alarmed sound.
“Don’t worry.” Gareth kept rubbing its belly. “We won’t eat you. You’re just too lovable already!”
“Get the room you two, jee!” The Spider King teased.
“Huh? No! I’m just nice to it so it doesn’t eat me. I’m deliberately trying to appease this abomination!”
Devoured hummed sounding betrayed, it turned upright and flowed coldly away from Gareth.
“Man, you blew it!” The Spider King reprimanded.
“Oh, I’m sorry my cute abominable Devourer. I was just joking around. Come let me rub your belly.”
The beast turned its head sharply away from Gareth.
“Ha! It’s surprisingly intelligent.” The Spider King remarked. “We have to make more specimens like this. So…” He thought hard. “Maybe I was going at it from the wrong angle.” He touched one of the nearby eggs. “Please be another Ice Shard Devourer. [Mutate].”
The mutate took hold draining only a 1000MP this time, and the Chaos Blessed failed to activate.
“Hah, it was a long shot…” He said disappointed. “But let's see what we got. [Inspect].” He jumped in the air. “No, it worked. It’s an IceShard Devourer Egg!”
“Yay!” Gareth pumped his fist into the air with fake enthusiasm.
So, did he like the devourer or not? Stop being so ambiguous, Gareth!
“With my MP pool, I can do this one more time. [Mutate].” Again, it was a success. “Alright, it seems I’ll have to stay here for a few more days to transform all the eggs.”
“Yay!” Gareth pumped his fist into the air again, but with more enthusiasm. “… but they do eat Plankton, right? Right?”
The Spider King looked at the monster who was rubbing against his leg, its monstrous maw was filled with nothing but canines. “There’s only one way to find out… Gareth put your hand inside its mouth.”
Devourer opened its maw obediently.