"Ambrose, congratulations on hitting level thirty," Lord Isaac Hamilton came to congratulate her as she announced her level up.
It was day forty-five of our delve and we would soon need to start hiking back. As we went on a mostly spiraling pattern and kept our depth low, we could go back easily.
"Thank you, milord," she curtsied.
"You may call me Isaac."
If I could kill with a glare, this Isaac fellow would be dead. But I would need eyes and it's been quite some time since I had any.
"I'm sorry," Barbara replied as she avoided his gaze.
"It's okay. Anyway, congratulations," he said and backed away right after that.
He seemed concerned he made her uncomfortable but it couldn't be helped. The other four girls were friendly with Barbara after a month and a half together but they still claimed dibs on the hunk of a nobleman. She was uncomfortable not because of him, regrettably. Barbara had lied to them. She wasn't level thirty but actually thirty-six. But Eleanora the half-satyr-human [Sorceress], the lowest-leveled had reached level thirty-two and Barbara didn't want to stay behind.
The party kept walking and rotating the captured monsters among the students. I kept using my {Mystic Hunter} Perk to track creatures around us so I knew the centaur and his wives were poaching a lot of the valuable monsters ahead of us to make some cash on the side and bring the low-rarity trash for them to kill. I didn't mind as I would take Barbara deeper next time.
A few hours later, they stopped ahead of us. I didn't sense any reason for them to do so, which prompted me to use {Clairvoyance} to scan ahead. The range of divination magic was greatly reduced in the Labyrinth but they were in range. I saw Axion studying a stone shrine resting against the wall of the tunnel, next to a fork. One end went on with the same tunnel, while the other gave a dim glow. Extending my magical sensor forward, I found it vanished as it entered the tunnel but I caught a glimpse of giant mushrooms.
Odd. I recast the spell and studied the shrine this time. It was a shrine to mom's old friend Bit, God of Monsters, Challenges, and Dungeons. And the stupid centaur was about to smash the shrine. Somehow he took the Challenge domain to him now that the other deities are mute.
I used {Avatar of Death}, which had absorbed {Shadow Warp} to teleport to Axion's shadow. From there, I deployed a {Canvas Barrier} between him and the shrine. It had only 12 hardness and 259 durability but it should be enough to save the shrine from being smashed. The centaur ripped the hardened canvas and stopped. I sprung my back cover open and launched myself on the shrine, forming a mouth on the other one at the same time.
"Stop, you moron!" I shouted at him. "Why do you want to break this shrine?"
The centaur grabbed the canvas and ripped it from the stone floor and walls, revealing me on the shrine.
"The book. Of course, a monster would protect a shrine to their heretic God," he growled. "But I don't see the little one nearby to protect you."
"This mimic should fetch a good price at the market. I know a mage that can break the {Familiar Contract}, the salty satyr [Quartermaster], Corippe, remarked. "We can tell the mages the critter ran off down the tunnel, too fast for us to follow."
Since I had a mouth, I frowned. "You guys realize I have {Share Senses} as a Perk?" I lied. "And that Barbara heard and saw everything that just happened?"
Corippe and Axion shared a glance and the centaur's ax came at me. I started to hum to gain another 75% damage reduction and braced for impact. With ninety-seven base damage reduction and the stacking percentile defenses, he did fuck-all damage to me. I still had to brace or the impact would send me flying.
> > Axion slashed you for 357 HP of damage (Base 21 [118[7d20+55] - 97] x10.48 Strength x8.08 Proficiency x2 Size x3 Monster-Slayer x0.25 Heavenly Performer x0.93 Titan Body x0,75 Favored Enemy x0.8 Homeland Defender x0.24 Mitigate)
>
> > You regenerated 357 HP.
The dumb brute added 4% damage per point of Strenght. It meant his score was 237. The last modifier was the Ability I picked under {Physical Mastery} for reaching 700 points of Proficiency.
* Mitigate: Reduce incoming HP damage by (1-0.99^(P/5)).
Well, I guess peace was never an option. I activated {Royal Aura} and sapped 95 Attribute points of every Attribute of the five hooved people. The weakest of the Satyr women fell unconscious while the others became addled as their mental Attributes dropped to the negatives. Too bad I didn't have {Eldritch Aura} unlocked or it would've ended then and there.
Axion became completely irrational. He raised his ax to strike again but it was my turn as I spat a blob of glue at his hindquarters. It burst and covered everything in seven meters from the centaur with the potent adhesive. It caught the three satyr women still standing and me, including the shrine behind us. Sprouting origami crab legs, I cut the adhesive and crawled over it while the centaur struggled to break free.
Silence.
She didn't reply. I had just a few minutes until they reached us. I shapeshifted into one of my past lives. Snowdrop the [Unicorn Queen] could demand their loyalty. To prove my point across, I called the [Unicorn King's Spear] to my hand. Even though I couldn't project a fake Status (or any status or titles whatsoever), the spear would prove my identity. I tapped the centaur's oversized nose with the horn and pulled back the aura a bit so he could think properly.
"Do you recognize this, city-dweller?" I asked with an imperious tone and clopped my hooves. "{Appraise it and answer me!}" I laced my voice with a {Royal Order}.
Axion struggled to turn his head to face me. His jaw trembled. "Your Majesty. Is it you?" He winced as he tried to disobey the order. "It's the legendary [Unicorn King Spear], the Symbol of the [Unicorn Queen]."
The satyr women gasped. I spread my pegasus wings.
"Indeed it is my symbol. Please tell me, why are the children of the plains acting so dishonorably as to steal from their charges and attack their allies?"
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Corippe ground her teeth.
"We need the money, my Queen," Axion admitted.
"Is the pay from the Academy not enough?"
"We need to rescue our brethren that were taken away by slavers."
"Again?" Enraged, I pulled the spear back and stomped the ground with my hooves. "Why didn't you ask the temple of the Matriarch to help?"
"We no longer trust the priests," he admitted with a lot of regret.
"This will change. I hereby put a Royal Geas on you. {Do not reveal my identity and fulfill your tasks to the Academy without straying from the honorable path.}" The cost of the Geas on the five of them was negligible.
"We will do as you ask, Your Majesty," he replied.
I returned to my normal form and sent the spear to… nowhere. I left my dust cover with Barbara as it was slung over her shoulder. I carved a hole in the stone behind the shrine and hid the spear there. It would teleport back to me if I called it anyway.
I cut the centaur and his satyr wives free from the glue. They still had some stuck to their fur and hair which would probably need shaving but that was a cheap price for treason. But everything seemed to be fine and solved.
Then the System screwed me up by agreeing with me.
> Peaceful Resolution Achieved.
>
> For defeating 5 level 62 (Average) enemies, you gained 1.6 billion Exp (Base 2,469,675 x3 Exp Share x3 group x5 size x3 favored enemy x1.95 capstone x4 rank x0.5 peaceful resolution)
>
> You reached Libromancer/Bibliomimic (unique, 5 slots, 1st rank) level 20.
>
> You gained 4 Attribute Points.
>
> Ultimate Surpasser Granted you 23 Attribute Points.
>
> You gained 4 Strength, 6 Dexterity, 6 Endurance, 2 Mind, 6 Willpower, 2 Charisma, 6 Magic, 2 Ego, 6 Luck, and 2 Soul.
>
> You ranked up. All available Exp divided by 10,000.
Plus a ton of Royalty bonus Attribute messages.
And if I had {Fast-Learner} unlocked, it would be sixteen trillion instead. For the first time, I was glad the rank-up took away all the leftover Exp.
I talked to the centaurs and was forced to use my daily {Suppress Curse} to access the item box.
*
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*
"That's a huge demon," Mrs. Blatherwick remarked. "We need to go back to the surface now. This delve is over. If demons this big are roaming the tunnels, we might not get so lucky next time."
"The tiny book was a huge help," Atrion remarked, embarrassed he needed help. "He dove inside the monster and killed it by striking the brain with its magic. My ax was useless against that carapace."
After I awakened my true self by suppressing the curse, I took one of the crab-like blue demons I had thousands of (despite Haru's efforts to convert all of them into blue iron and copper) and prepared it with the correct battle damage. The demon was of a proper level to have pushed Barbara all the way to level forty and since the Adventurers were bound to secrecy with a Geas, everything should be fine.
"Your bravery is impressive, Netherbane," Hamilton remarked. "This demon would've killed all of us. We owe you our life. This is a debt I won't forget, ever."
It was very convenient for him to owe me (and Barbara by association) a favor. It gave him the pretext to stay close to us. Isaac's intentions involving us were unknown and so far he didn't do anything untoward, which only put me more and more on guard. I could read his mind as I had three-quarters of an hour before the curse returned but I refrained from doing so. Netherbane wouldn't retain the memories of this hour and I shouldn't interfere with their lives more than the bare minimum.
Which involved storing the spear back in the item box now that I had the opportunity. And enlarging the silk dust cover's storage by making it pick the proper Perks. Speaking of which, I found that I could force a Perk combination by using one out of ten first-rank Perks Netherbane had. I left him a note.
> Acquire the Perk called "Bard's Lute".
She sighed but went along with my advice. "Mrs. Blatherwick, Nethe said the demon wanted to break the shrine. It's dedicated to Bit, the Guardian Urchin, god of Monsters, Challenges, and Dungeons. He's an ally of the Matriarch, so I'm going to pray by the shrine."
I sent via telepathy to the centaur. Atrion widened his eyes and he huffed a long sigh.
Barbara prayed and I hoped Bit would deign to communicate with me. Without Pandora, I had no way to initiate the conversation from my side. {Administrator Hotline} might work but I had no desire to contact Loki. I smelled his greasy half-Jotunn hands all over my predicament. It was too big a coincidence that I ended up in the vault Lorna's reincarnation happened to explore. Or that I had waited that long to think about breaking free.
After everyone paid their respects to Bit, the strange glowing tunnel remained a mystery. Mrs. Blatherwick wanted us to start on the trek back to the surface ASAP but I was curious. After some convincing arguments, they agreed to check the tunnel.
My time expired, and the curse returned. Good luck, Netherbane.
*
----------------------------------------
*
I came back to my senses and noticed the giant carcass of a large blue demon. If I still had a mouth, I would grin. My plan worked perfectly. Everyone was walking down the glowing tunnel to check what surprise Bit had for us.
As we cleared the last bend in the tunnel, we found a forest of bioluminescent mushrooms. They came in all colors and sizes. Some towering a dozen meters and others barely the size of one of Barbara's fingernails. We couldn't see the end of the cave. The roof was covered in the same glowing lichen as the Necropolis although we were several thousand kilometers to the south. I mean, we had Fulgen between us and the northern mountains.
"Beware. These mushrooms may be poisonous," Mrs. Blatherwick warned. "Belay that, I am sure a few poisonous ones are mixed in there."
"We should back away," Atrion added. "Even breathing the spores may be dangerous."
The girl gave me a long and concerned stare,
She put me on the floor and explained my request to their chaperone. Then they left.
*
----------------------------------------
*
I dumped all my free Attribute Points on Magic. After doing that, I noticed I had a note from mom, telling me again to pick a specific Perk.
> > You gained the Perk, Bards' Lute (rare): +2 Charisma and Ego. You can use a musical instrument as the focus for your spellcasting. Spells take 100% longer to cast and cannot be used in silence but have 50% more effective.
>
> > Bards' Lute, Glissando, Fortissimo, Pianissimo, A Capella, Adagio, Staccato, Chord, Arpeggio, Reprise, Ritornello, Coloratura, Falsetto, Major Chord, Allegro, Sonata, Adagio, Minuetto, Scherzo, Fugue, Rondo, Fermata, and Grand Fermata combined into Siren's Song.
>
> * Siren's Song (1/7): +10 all Mental, Magical, and Spiritual Attributes. Select one spell-song as your anthem. It gains 100% effect and 50% cost. You can change it once every year. You can cast spells with songs. Select tempo, pitch, rhythm, and intensity. By doubling the cost of your spell-song, you can triple one aspect of the spell, either Effect, Duration, Casting speed, Accuracy, Critical hit, or Dispel Resistance. You can repeat a spell-song up to five times, each time lowering the MP cost by 25%.
My leveling up, combined with the recent acquisition of {Pinnacle of Magic} had the ridiculous effect of lowering the MP necessary to break the curse to 7.5 trillion, or just 18 centuries. Way more manageable. I might make some progress if I gained a few levels.
I found most of the known mushrooms and a lot of new ones. I collected samples and spores of each and every one of them so I could grow them in the future. The cavern wasn't humongous large. Only a couple hundred meters on each side, which for a cavern might be big but not Necropolis big.
Bit was working on breaking the monotony of the Labyrinth. Introducing biomes, themes, even natural treasures other than ore veins. As I spent most of the day in the mushroom cavern, I noticed a few soul fragments floating in from the various tunnels connecting to the place. It seemed this location was created very recently and it used up the available energy to spawn these mushrooms.
Before I went to rejoin Barbara, I spent my Perks. Out of the twelve from this rank, I had nine left. As I pulled my Status sheet, I found an important notification.
> > You reached the limit for this form and must evolve to continue to grow. Select an evolution.
Bibliomimic (unique) -> Adult Mimic (very rare).
Adult mimics are the ordinary run-of-the-mill chest impersonators. They are medium-sized and can take the shape of any common object, not only chests.
Bibliomimic (unique) -> Necronomimicon (unique)
Embrace the dark arts and become the ultimate compendium on death magic. Maybe even kill people whose names are written on you.
Bibliomimic (unique) -> Greater Bibliomimic (unique)
Expand your horizons and soak yourself in the mysteries of the Arcane.
Bibliomimic (unique) -> Biblemimic (unique)
Dedicate yourself to the Goddess and write a new Gospel.
Bibliomimic (unique) -> Gray Almimicnac (unique)
Gain powers of divination and predict the future, if you can only keep yourself away from the bullies' hands.
Bibliomimic (unique) -> Deck of Mimic Things (unique)
It's in the cards. Learn how to summon other mimics to do your bidding.
Bibliomimic (unique) -> Malefimimic (unique)
Become a cursed tome with many maledictions and hexes.
Bibliomimic (unique) -> Furnishimic (ultra-rare)
A mimic who Imitates ordinary furniture and tools.
Bibliomimic (unique) -> The Neither Scroll (unique).
Blank pages are all the rage. Abandon conventional magic and embrace free-form magic.
Bibliomimic (unique) -> Voynich Mimicscript (unique)
Forget the arcane, catalog every living thing under the sky.