The highly overwhelmed King was staring at the wall of system messages. A certain thing was on his mind, a certain need, an urge, a desire. He had tried it a long time ago, but something in the back of his mind urged him to try again.
“Status.” He tried slightly cringing at himself.
[Welcome to Monster System alpha 0.1], the message printed.
A table popped into his vision.
Title: Monster King Magic Affinity: Dark Perks Jobs: █▒░ HP:1000 MP:2000 STA:500 Spells Farming [4]
Crafting [4]
Building [2]
Alchemy [1]
Fighting [3]
Magic+ [-1] ██░░░
█▒░░░
░░░░░
████▒
████░
Error 🕸️🕸️🕸️
🕸️🕷️🕸️
🕸️🕸️🕸️ Reputation Resistances Status Effects
If he concentrated on a certain part of the table, such as [Jobs] it would expand further giving more detail.
Farming lvl.
1> Unnatural Selection
2> Acclimate
3> Evolve
4> Mutate Crafting lvl.
1> Superior Design
2> Harvest: Material
3> Enchant
4> Comprehend Building lvl.
1> Reinforce
2> Spidery Magnificent Alchemy lvl.
1> Extract: Reagent Fighting lvl.
1> Tough Skin
2> Assassin Strike
3> Undying Magic+ lvl.
-1> Error
If he wanted he could inspect an individual perk like the one he obtained while making the defences for the battle against the Darkness.
[Spidery Magnificent: You gain an aesthetic sense of a spider. Your constructions are deemed to have that spooky aura, and web-like patterns are a must. Increases integrity and complexity of constructions you can make.]
Similarly, he could concentrate on [Perks] to get the full list of Perks, and [Spells] listed all of the Spells he could cast at the moment.
Oh, and that “█▒░” stuff was a progress bar for a new level.
“This is neat.” He nodded to himself. “But how is the Monster System different from the normal System?”
His friends were also fiddling with various menus.
“Sss, whatever I had before, it wasn’t this. The floating menu options are new, sss, there are numbers and even words! It’s all in Spider Chirp. SSS! It’s good that I’ve learned how to read.”
The High Chief scratched his head. “For me, it’s the Jobs. Those are levelled and by the looks of it, each level grants a perk. I had a Class and its Skills before, so Jobs and Perks is a completely new concept to me.”
The Drow Assistant nodded in agreement. “Also, I lost my Magus class. It changed to… the name of the job is weird, it’s Magic+. I’m level one, but all of my spells are still there. So I guess, it’s okay.”
The King had a complicated expression on his face. “Yeah, Magic+ is completely broken for me.”
“Meow! No, it’s not. It works just fine. I’m level 2, and higher than your servant!” The Wyrmling gloated at the Drow Assistant.
“Maybe it’s broken only for me,” The King shrugged. “I think…”
“I Need To Evolve.” Everyone looked at the quivering slug. “[Evolve]”, Johny invoked.
Suddenly everyone was blinded by bright purple light. The slug was huge, so Johny shone like a beacon drawing everyone's attention even from miles away. Then the source of light shrunk and so did his body. The slug was taking a more compact form. The King swallowed with dread; less slug only meant that there would be less jelly! The spiders would rebel and his kingdom would crumble; he panicked. The blinding light dimmed to a bright glow; a humanoid shape was forming within.
Finally, the purple glow subsided revealing a mesmerising visage of the newly evolved slug. Johny possessed a slender and curvaceous figure; it was rather scandalous. The slight coating on the smooth and speckless skin made it shine and sparkle, it gave it a delicate feminine appearance. The body remained somewhat translucent retaining the ethereal charm the slug possessed. The lower slug-like half had layered rows of skin drooping down, the skin was tinted blue and wavy very mush-like frills. It didn’t look unpleasant because it resembled a rather fashionable skirt. The upper human-like half had a lithe waist, narrow shoulders, rather long but elegant arms, and a big round and cute head. And of course, the King’s worry was unwarranted because Johny sported not one but three pairs of breasts, the jellybags were swollen and full of syrupy goodness. Johny’s eyes were large and blue, there was no nose in between but a bulge with two narrow holes, and right under was a small mouth with narrow lips. Instead of hair Johny had a collection of long blue tendrils reaching all the way to the shoulders, and on top of the head was a pair of slug antennae. Despite the unconventional features, the face had undeniable allure which was both mysterious and enchanting.
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Johny stood there striking a proud pose to display its newly evolved body. The arms were crossed over elbows supporting the upper pair of jelly sacks. The slug tail was curved and jutted slightly into the air. The chin was raised into the air and the eyes were radiating happiness. In other words, Johny looked way too smug about the evolution.
The nearby friends began clapping, slowly then with more vigour.
“Wow!”
“Just look. At you. Well done.”
“Congratulations, meow.”
“I must say, I am impressed.”
But not everyone was happy for Johny the slug, a certain Lamia was pulling and shaking her husband by his collar.
“SSS! Why? Why does it keep happening, sss, way too sexy!” She vented her frustration.
Yes, there was a theme going on here. First, there was a Myconid Queen, then… But, hey, this wasn’t his fault. Not this time!
“If you have any complaints, give those to Monster System.” He pushed the blame on the System, after all, this time the slug evolved on its own.
“This is-sss unfair! Why does-sss Johny get to evolve, sss? I want to evolve too!”
That was a good point. Indeed, why? But then, “Isn’t it natural that monsters evolve?”
The High Chief looked at Johny and then back to the King as if comparing the two. “Monster yes. But haven’t you, my King, evolved too?”
“Yes, I did, into the Monster King. But that evolution wasn’t natural. And also, I can grant evolutions… as Monster King I think I can evolve monsters. But I don’t know about sapient races, that sounds tricky. Can Lamia or Drow even evolve?”
Lamia Queen crossed her arms and pouted her lips. “No, we can’t, sss, or at least it is unheard of. Your body is defined at birth. It’s impos-sss-sible for Lamia Servant to become Lamia Warrior.”
High Chief, however, remained hopeful. “We’re under Monster System now, so maybe if we gather enough experience it might happen.” He postulated.
“SSS! Too hard.” She hissed. “Husband! Cast Evolve on me.”
“I don’t think it’s wise, you’re already a Lamia Queen. Even if I have enough mana, I fear the backlash might kill me.”
But the real reason was that as far as he had seen the evolutions were very unpredictable, and he feared turning his cute wife into something scary. What if the evolution made her grow big and fat? He didn’t want to risk turning her into a real monster.
So instead, he changed the topic abruptly. “Hey, this is the Monster Realm now. Did you get the message?”
Everyone confirmed it with nods or verbal replies.
“But Monster Realm…” The voice of the High Chief was thoughtful. “It sounds rather ominous.”
“Still better than the Dreaded Place.” The King replied. “And it says I’m the ruler of the area.” As soon as he said that he too became thoughtful for a moment. “Am I an area boss? Do I have to be defeated like the Darkness?”
He was serious, but for some reason everyone laughed at his line of questioning.
“Ha, King. Good one. I don’t think anyone would be crazy enough to fight you and your spiders.”
“Yes-sss. You defeated the Darkness-sss itself.”
They looked at the shadowy slime, which somehow managed to avoid detection up to this point. It shrunk to an even smaller size under their withering gazes.
“I’m a good monster now.” It said still in a stolen voice. “I’m the bestest follower of the Master!”
“Meow?! No, I am the bestest. I’m familiar number one!”
“Actually, it’s the Drow who are the…” The High Chief didn’t get to finish.
“Hey, Darkness can you do something about your voice? I don’t like that you sound exactly like me.”
“Me-Meow! Is this better?”
“Meow! It stole my voice. Give it back!” The wyrmling began to chase the slime. “I’ll bite you.”
“Me-Meow! Master, help!”
“King, I Have A Request.”
“No! SSS! Wives come first! I sss-still think you sss-should Evolve me.”
“King. Should we start. Rebuilding?”
Suddenly everyone wanted a piece of him. The Monster Realm was a very chaotic place.
…
Allies and friends took a much-needed break and then a lot of other things happened. The beginnings of: rebuilding, regrowing, resupplying, rewarding, and so and such. Everyone was still busy and doing their part of the assigned job.
He’d just finished giving his thanks to the Drow and bade them a good trip back to the Oberon Undermountain. This was the last thing he had to do today and so upon his request, he was left alone in the throne room to do what he pleased.
“Status.” He invoked, going through it again.
He did this for what must have been a hundredth time but he just couldn't have enough. This was like that time when he learned magic. He was just positively giddy.
While reading through his [Perks] list, he’d found a new addition. It was [Grant Monster System]. Somehow he’d missed that, but no surprise there since the list was rather extensive. The perk was self-explanatory, he was able to grant the Monster System to other people. And it will be very useful, this was because of two reasons which came clear during today. First was that only the people who fell under the Monster Realm area were auto-offered the Monster System. Second was that his sphere of influence was much smaller compared to the Dreaded Place; currently, it covered only the MegaFarm and the clearing up to the jungle. So what this meant, was that Kobolds still had no access and maybe The Wisp wanted an upgrade too. If so, he, the magnanimous Monster King, will be able to grant them that. Free of charge of course! He had a hunch that if he did so, his sphere of influence would expand.
“Well, it’s time for bed.” And there was a certain reward he promised to his wife. “So it's better to do it before I am too tired.”
He walked towards his bed chambers. He opened the heavy door, it was made to be completely soundproof. With a widening gap, a rush of pleasant aroma tickled his nose. This was an expensive incense imported from the Aurelian Kingdom. His wife grew to love that stuff and she would often burn it to set the mood. Once he was inside his eyes met hers. Obviously, she’d made herself ready for the occasion and was already severely underdressed. Good, he wouldn’t want her beautiful clothes to get ripped in the process. While eyeing her porcelain-like skin he couldn't help but notice that she had grown a bit in certain parts.
Lamia Queen shamelessly rolled from one side of the bed to the other. She looked at him again, this time invitingly.
“Sss-so are we doing this or not?” She said impatiently.
“Well, I did promise.” There was no turning back now so he sat on the bed. “But I don’t know…” He teased her. “Do you really want it?”
“I do!”
“How bad do you want it?”
“Very, sss, very bad.”
“You want me to do it?”
“Yes-sss.”
“Then say it nicely.”
“I want you to do it, sss, please.”
“If I’ll do it, there won’t be stopping. You know that right?”
“Just do it. You promised.”
“Fine.” He decided to finish his teasing. “Relax your body for me. I think it will go better.” He said somewhat anxious.
“Like this-sss?”
“Okay, I’m starting.” He went in making skin contact and invoked a certain perk. He felt mana leaving his body.
“Ohh, sss, it tickles! S-s-s.” She hiss-giggled while squirming from his touch.
The mana was draining rapidly and he couldn't help but breathe heavily from exhaustion. He knew this would be hard, but he didn’t expect it to be that hard. Meanwhile, his wife kept squirming.
“S-s-s! S-s-s!”
“I think… I think…“ He stammered through laboured breath.
[Perk Evolve failed to activate], [This monster cannot yet be evolved] – the messages informed him.
He slumped on top of her feeling absolutely drained.
“What? It was just beginning to feel good. Why did you sss-stop? Are you done?”
“…”
“So nothing happened.”
“I know.”
“Try again!” She demanded.
“It doesn’t work.”
“Here, this sss-should help.” She pulled a Fertility Potion from under her pillow.
“Why do you have it there? And shouldn’t it be MP Portion?”
“Ups-sss, my bad. Forse of habit. Where did I put it, sss.” She began rummaging under the bed.
“Look, I don’t think you can evolve yet. Maybe in the future?”
“What? No! You just weren’t trying hard enough.”
“…”
“Sss. I’ll help you. [Moral Support]. You can do it ♫, you can do it ♫, King go!”
He felt motivated. Motivated to give up and go to sleep. “I’m not wasting another 1000 mana on another dud!”
“Boo! Boo! Killjoy!” She booed.
He was forced to try again, and again, and again.
[This monster cannot yet be evolved], - indeed, his wife was a merciless monster. A monster he loved, however.
It was way past bedtime and the two were still at it.
“S-s-s! S-s-s!” She hissed pleasantly.
He was pouring his mana into her body, but this time he learned his lesson. He wasn't using Evolve or any perk for that matter. Ha, his foolish wife failed to notice! He was just directing his mana into her body and letting it scatter.
“S-s-s! S-s-s!” She squirmed.
What an idiot she was. If he did it like that, he could last for hours, after all his mana barely drained. The goal here was to make her tired and just go to bed.
His wife's breaths got heavy. “S-s-s! I can feel it. It is coming. My evolution!”
“Huh, what?”
“S-s-s! Fuu-uu.” She jerked suddenly and shuddered uncontrollably.
“Hey, you! You tricked me didn’t you!”
It was the husband who was the fool.