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Lair

Chapter 039 - Reserve Of The Shadows

By Skalsar

'What are you doing there, didn't you want to go to the next hive?', Sora asks me.

'I'm breeding eggs.', I say.

Actually, that much must be obvious.

So she must have meant something else.

I even changed back to my [Broodmother] form for better fiddling with the eggs.

'Hm, let me rephrase it.

I'm creating empty hulls of eggs with undecided cores.

That way, if need arrises, we can simply breed these eggs for reinforcements.

Sora looks irritated.

Maybe I'm thinking too much, but I believe she thinks this is a waste.

'I don't get why we should do so.

Even if we have the eggs, wouldn't it be a waste to set them beforehand?

We don't know what creature will be needed later on.', she tells me her concern.

But it isn't like that.

I didn't set them to be a "real" creature.

'These aren't supposed to be anything.

As I said, they are empty hulls.'

'But I can clearly feel that there are creatures and a core inside.

So, naturally they will become a set creature.'

'Yeah, but only in name.

I set them to be a mass of bound magic power.

A creature that is between forms.

When I turned myself into a [Morphling], I thought about this.

Shouldn't the eggs have the opportunity to change too?

Imitating the [Morphling], I registered something I call a [Formling].

Something that is in certain ways similar to a [Slime].'

Sora looks surprised now.

'Why aren't you sharing that with the rest of us?', she asks.

Huh?

I feel irritated again.

'What do you mean?

I just said I already did register it to the hive.', I tell her.

This is weird.

'It isn't.', Nyr adds to our conversation.

'Actually, it makes sense.

It was more weird that the other [Queens] and variations could recreate what you created.

What you are doing is nothing a normal [Queen] could do anymore, but influenced by your skills.'

Ahhh, I get it.

'So it's because of [Creation - Crystal Heart], right?'

I get the image of him nodding, because he isn't with us in the [Lair], he only sends an image.

Actually, he has his own layer now.

Just after helping Sora with the [Watchers], we realized how useful his ability is.

So he was given his own layer, where all the books and informations are to be stored.

Our own [Library].

Even the puzzle-like memories of those we devoured are send there for him to decipher.

And he does so perfectly.

'According to some books we acquired, the humans have skills for creation too.

Stuff like [Woodworking], [Stoneworking], [Blacksmithing] and so on.

They need certain experience in these skills in order to create things.', he explains.

Sounds fair.

I'm still pretty good, I guess.

'That's mean.', Sora is sad now.

I pat her head with one of my four hands.

'Well, you have other possibilities now, that I don't have.

So it's alright, isn't it?', I say and she nods.

'Then please tell me more about those [Formlings].', she demands.

To say it in a simple way.. a [Formling] is a shadow.

Something that is not given a finite form within this realm.

When I had the [Dungeon Heart] inside my pocketrealm between realms, I noticed.

It was still usable.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

With a bit of magic power, I could have activated it.

Creating a connection.

These [Formlings] are exactly that.

A creature with its core inside their own pocketrealm.

Shadows that travel through their own and our realms.

'Ah! I got it! I can do it!', Sora suddenly screams.

She tried to pick an egg into her own pocketrealm.

Doing so, she noticed what I meant and build a bond to the [Formling – Egg].

'This is..! Fascinating!', she says with big eyes.

Seems like it's possible for others to learn, if I explain in detail.

I should be careful with that.

But I'm still proud of Sora.

She always was good in learning from me.

I guess, she is something like my apprentice, sometimes.

'But wouldn't that mean, we can create more creatures like these?

Some that travel through materials?', she asks and I nod again.

That was the plan.

'Yes, Nyr told me about it. Stories about something called [Ghosts] and [Spirits].', I hatch one of the [Formlings] with magic power in order to show her what I mean.

The shadowlike create creeps before me.

Left, right, its shadow isn't bound by form and twists around.

His height is about thirty centimeters at most.

'The [Formling] itself is nothing that can attack.

It's just a basic creature which can be manipulated to hatch into anything else, if magic power is given to it. But it also has no physical form in this realm. So it can't be attacked physically.

Its body is magic power.

The moment it loses that, it dies.

So magic attacks might be deadly towards it.', I explain further.

Adding more magic power, the [Formling] starts to glow and grow.

Fog is gathering.

No, the shadow is turning into fog and growing.

The core in its pocketrealm is pulsating and growing too.

Moments later, it turns into a fog-like white creature with a hollow face that is hard to see.

When it moves, arms can be seen for a moment.

'I named this [Ghost Walker].

After the left behind [Ghosts] of deceaced the humans tell about in their books.

It can attack by focusing magic power in its hands, but can't be attacked by physical attacks.'

But it's quite the expensive creature.

So..

Why is there so little change to our reserves..

'This should have taken much more magic power.', I tell the others.

>How may I serve you, master.<, the [Ghost Walker – Rare Variant] answers.

We watch it stupified.

>You can talk?!<, I ask and feel even more stupid for mentioning something that is more than obvious, like some stupid human would do.

>I can, master.

You returned me from the abyss, for that, I'm bound to you and await your command.<, it says.

Abyss?

Returned?

Bound?

What is it talking about?

'This thing.. it's conscious.', Danar says.

>What are you?<, I ask.

>The [Soul] of a fallen orc.

You returned me with an ability of yours.<, it says.

I try to feel inside me.

Ability it says..

Ah, I got a new skill.

I see.

When I think about it, I kind of get what it is.

[Summon Soul].

It allows me to return the [Souls] of the dead and put it into a core, binding it to me.

This is.. interesting.

'''I feel cheated.''', Danar, Nyr and Sora tell me in unison.

Guess I'm back in the game.

But it's quite restricted.

The [Soul] has to be strong enough and not too damaged.

Since they are magic power, it's easy to accidently damage them whenever we do anything.

I will have to find out more about it later.