He had to wake up early and the lack of sleep was obvious. His wife had a blissful expression on her face and was sleeping peacefully. It was good to have no responsibilities. He, however, couldn’t allow himself such luxuries. He got dressed and went outside to greet the sun and start his day.
It was morning already but there was no sun, and the sky was overcast.
“It is raining?” He asked no one in particular. It never rained in the Dreaded Place, but this wasn’t that anymore.
The rain was heavy, no, not in intensity, the actual drops felt heavier than normal water should. He didn’t need to look hard to notice that the droplets were tinted in black.
“Dirt?” He prodded the collected water in his palm. “No, this isn’t it.” The rain was infused with Dark mana.
During the previous battle, there was a lot of mana converted into spells. Converting mana didn’t mean that you somehow annihilated it, it just changed states from one form to the other. During the battle, the air became heavy with saturated ambient mana; it was mostly infused with Dark energies. The rain must be the result of it.
“Maybe, from now on, there will be rain more often. However …” He worried about it, after all, he had plants to look after and if they weren’t resilient to rain that could spell disaster. But then he remembered, “I have Acclimate, don’t I?” Not only that, he had a plethora of perks to help plants grow in various conditions.
He shook his palm getting the heavy water off. “I’m getting distracted.” He had a tendency to it. “Where was I going?” And a tendency to talk to himself. “Ah, yes.” He remembered.
His daily morning ritual was to wake up early and head straight to the DustyBlue fields. He had a very important task, not just a task but a royal privilege. But also, a necessity, he had to do what no one else could. That was to obtain the invaluable slug jelly.
Due to certain events, the blue bell-like flower fields were completely decimated. They had to cut them all to harvest all of the Blue Dust they could. The once bright and lively field of blue was now barren. He felt a small pin piercing his heart. He knew how much Johny liked the flowers, and here he was, the merciless King who ordered it all to be cut. It was a sad necessity.
The field wasn’t exactly empty. Scattered all over it were the white forms of diligent workers. White Sprigans were casting [Grow] tending to the small buds of eager flowers.
“I’m sure it will all grow back in no time.” He kept walking towards the centre of the field. The field was rather large and it would take some time to reach his destination, while idly walking he was thinking “Hmm… but now It all makes sense…” He realised something. “Johny, you are one magnificent slug!” He smiled to himself in realisation.
The slug’s diet consisted solely of DustyBlue flowers, and at the time the slug was truly humungous. Huge size meant a huge appetite, but he had cut all the flowers, which would mean that the slug would have to starve. He was still feeling terribly bad about it, but it was an ugly necessity. But anyway, the slug evolved on its own, taking a much more compact form. The smaller body needed less food so in a sense Johny did evolve in that way with purpose. On purpose or not, Johny allowed the King to save some face, he wouldn’t need to grovel in apology.
Finally, he reached his destination – a sizable ditch. Yeah, the slug didn’t have a house or a shed because it didn’t need one. Then it was idle, the massive slug would just lay in its ditch contently. But now things were different. Johny was laying on the dirt somewhat solemnly. In the dirt, surrounded by… nothing. If there were flowers, and if it was still a massive slug it would look better, but as the things were…
“Johny. I’m so sorry about your home.” He bowed deeply in apology.
The slug had completely ignored his apology and beamed a bright smile instead. “King! Are You Here To Milk Me?”
“Are you not hurt by the devastation? Do you have enough food?” he asked with concern.
“All Is Fine.” The slug assured. “Now Milk Me I Am Bursting.”
This was somewhat unexpected, while yes, as hard to admit it as it was – he was here for jelly too and not just an apology. The spiders and his other subjects needed their rewards. Now with zero stock, and greatly reduced supply it was even more precious.
“You don’t mind do you?” He asked somewhat unsure.
“Why Would I? Go Ahead.” Johny puffed his chest.
He grabbed a nearby bucked and began squeezing. The jelly was thicker than usual, and the sweet smell was hard to resist. His fingers trembled, and he felt an overwhelming urge to lick it.
‘No, I can’t.’ Even a single drop was worth more than a bar of gold. Who knows if he would be able to stop if he started eating it?
“By The Way, King. Did You Check Your Status?” Johny spoke in his signature broken and somewhat eldritch voice.
The King noticed that it had mellowed somewhat. There was definitely a feminine overtone in it. Yeah, there was no doubt that the slug was female, even then, he refused to rename the slug. It was because Johny was Johny, and that was that! But maybe he should stop thinking of Johny as a ‘he’, after all, the magnificent slug had those… and he, the King, currently was…
“King?” Johny asked with worry.
“Sorry, I got distracted.” He took his hands off the jelly sacks. “What was it?”
“Say Inspect.”
“?” He looked at Johny with puzzlement. “[Inspect].”
A table popped into his vision, making him to almost spill the bucket.
Monster Race: Lesser Eldrich
Variant: Johny
HP:1000
MP:100
STA:100
Active Perks
[Dust Spray], [Jelly Jet], [Tendrill Attack]
Passive Perks
[Produce Jelly], [Magnificent Slug], [DustyBlue]
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Resistances
[Fire Weakness: Greater], [Dark Resistance: Immune],
[Physical Resistance: Lesser]
”He had many questions but, “Lesser Eldrich?”
“After Second Evolution I’ve Lost My Eldrich Terror Passive” Johny said somewhat saddened. “But Gained Magnificent Slug.”
Yeah, that previous form had that hard-to-stomach appearance. And even now her voice remained slightly distorted. Sometimes it sounded like there were two or even three people talking at once.
“You know, I like current you much better. Ha, even the System must agree since it gave you that Magnificent Slug perk.” He resumed milking, but a second pair of jelly sacks this time. “By the way what does it do?”
“King, Inspect, Inspect.” Johny urged.
“Right, I’m still getting used to this.” He concentrated on the [Magnificent Slug] part of the table.
[Magnificent Slug: Despite the unconventional appearance this slug possesses a charming aura of allure and elegance. Just like the jelly it makes, the sight of this magnificent body is hard to resist. In addition, the things this slug makes, be it jelly or other items, are of much higher quality by default. Their spells are also less prone to fumbling. The slug has more luck and is bound to be successful in all matters of life. It is simply Magnificent!]
“Wow, that’s rather specific. And it looks like this is a personalised perk. I want one too!” Well, he did have one. It was Chaos Blessed. It wasn’t very useful! Needless to say, he was jealous. “So, this is the power of Inspect.”
“Yes, I’ve Gained It during The System Update In The Morning. Everyone Did. Just Say Status.”
“[Status],” he said without expecting much.
[Monster System updated to alpha 0.11], and then he was assaulted with a barrage of various messages.
“Huh!?” He exclaimed squeezing the teat a bit too hard, the jelly squirt missed the bucket and splattered all over his shirt. “I can’t keep up.” He exclaimed again ignoring the small accident.
The first thing to catch his eye was:
[Due to your persistent effort, you have unlocked Transfer Mana spell], yeah this was probably because of his late-night misadventure.
But there was more:
[Congratulations! You’ve earned your first Achievement: Husband of the Lamia Queen > Charm Resistance: Medium. Reputation with Lamia +100], [Achievements menu option unlocked].
He’d already had that perk so aside from Rep were no changes there, but there were even more interesting messages.
[Bound Familiar: Greater Dessert Wyrm > +500MP, Call Familiar, access to level 1 Earth/Wind spells]
[Bound Slave: Darkness > +1000MP, Summon Darkness, access to all Dark magic],
[Achievement: Spider-Nom-Nomicon > +1000MP, Soul Bound, access to all Dark magic]
[Achievement: Soul Well > Resurrect +1]
Okay, this was rather gamey! The items with their default stats and perks do already have great utility but the Monster System decided to grant further boons for possessing them. Broken – but he won’t complain.
He was interested in what sort of items the System deemed to be important enough for it to grant an Achievement. But that will need to be investigated later. The messages kept flowing and not all of them were positive.
[Warning: You own slaves! You practise Dark magic!], [Reputation with Good Factions -50], [Reputation with Humans -25]
Meh, he wasn’t too bothered about it. Actually, those factions must be ignorant! Dark magic isn’t bad in itself, its how you use it. And he had to either bind the Darkness or kill it, so he definitely was the good guy in taming it.
“Oh?!” A new message popped. “Another achievement!”
[Achievement: Eldrich Monster Milker > Expert Milking Technique]
Johny perked her antennae up. “Amazing! Your Hands, I Didn’t Know You Can Do That.”
“He-he. I’ve gained a new perk. Just look at it go.”
He filled the bucket in no time at all and grabbed for the second. The perk was peculiar because it consumed both stamina and mana, but it said that it increased the quality of the milk extracted. Quality +1 from Magnificent Slug, and then another +1 from Expert Milking Technique. The Slug Jelly was becoming a rather dangerous substance. What if it was so good it was deadly?
His idle thoughts were interrupted by a rather crass shout. “What do you think, sss, you’re doing?”
“What? I’m just milking my…” He wanted to say pet, but Johny was so much more.
“This is hardly appropriate!”
Well, if you looked at this from a certain angle… No! This was his daily ritual; this was how he and Johny had bonded so much. Normally no one would disturb him, because of Dusty Blue flowers and their dust – no one could. But the flower field was gone, and anyone could walk on him and spoil his fun. And that was beside the point because Johny refused to be milked by anyone else but him.
“SSS! Can you stop already?”
“I’m on my last pair. Just give me a moment.” His hands moved even quicker and with more precision.
“Oh! Oh-oh-oh!” Johny sounded impressed.
“You don’t have to milk her anymore! She can just use Jelly Jet.”
“Tch!” He clicked his tongue; his wife was right. Milking it just seemed more natural. And what’s the harm if both parties consented?
Well, he was done anyway so he let the last pair of jelly sacks out of his hands. “Happy?” he felt grumpy for some reason.
“Dear husband, sss, after I witnessed this… whatever this was... You are forbidden, sss, from milking Johny ever again.”
“No!” The antennae drooped low on Johny’s head.
“You can't do that!” He protested.
“Try me!”
“Then, no jelly for you!” He threatened.
“Mhm!” Johny seemed to agree.
“No! SSS! You can’t do that!” She hissed in alarm.
“Try me!”
It was a stalemate, the two were just staring at each other. Yes, yes, he should listen to his wife, but as far as he saw it, she was just needlessly concerned. There was nothing wrong about this, not at all! Like a farmer he was just milking his cow, a one magnificently endowed cow, that’s it! Nothing more! He felt like he needed to communicate all of this, after all, communication was key.
“Dear wife, please see reason. There is nothing odd going on here. These,” He slapped at the jelly sacks, “are just jelly containers to be squeezed. As simple as that.” He nodded in resolve. “And there is a reason for me to milk them. You see I have this perk which increases the jelly quality, making it so much tastier, so much better. It becomes divine. Here see for yourself.” He dipped a finger in the bucket and offered it to The Lamia.
Obviously, the owner of the sweet tooth couldn’t resist the temptation and licked it right off the finger.
“SSS! You’re right! It is-sss better! It gave me a buff!”
“Ah…” he didn’t expect her to eat it like that, ‘Dear wife we’re not alone, please just use your finger next time!’ he scolded her only mentally. Anyway, he wasn’t done with his spiel.
“So now you understand. And I’m not just a King but also a farmer, there are things I must do. To raise my Farming level and to understand my subjects better,” then he added for good measure, “and this is my only hobby, you won’t take it from me. Would you?”
“Hmm… sss. No, I get it now. It just looked sss-so…” She stopped herself and bowed instead. “I apologise. I’m not a Farmer and I don’t understand such things. You were just milking. I have overreacted.”
“It’s fine, we all make mistakes. Now let’s go and sample this goodness!”
“Yes-sss!” She gave him a beaming smile.
He collected the buckets and gazed at Johny worrying that she might’ve gotten offended at him. Regretfully, he had slapped offhandedly and called the glorious sextet of divine implements – just mere jelly containers. That statement couldn’t be further from the truth; he just hoped that Johny understood what he was trying to do.
However, he didn’t need to worry, she too gave him a beaming smile. Her antennae were all perked up.
“Please Come Back Again In the Afternoon. I Feel I’ll Be Filled Up Again By Then.” She jiggled her body with positivity; truly magnificent.
“Is that so? Again?” She nodded to his question. “Then this is new. Hoorah your new evolution!”
“Yes-sss, more jelly! Hoorah!”
Normally, he could extract jelly only once a day, but now maybe even trice. So yeah, the body was smaller, but it was rather productive. Well, the quantity won't compare with the previous amounts, but this wasn’t about quantity. It's all about the quality! This magnificent evolution just kept giving and giving. The rainy and gloomy day felt so much brighter.
The two walked to store the jelly and Lamia kept sneaking her finger into the bucket.
“By the way, what’s the buff?”
“Just try it yourself and sss-see it?”