After a series of friendly discussions, the development and mass production of the new "useless" type crystals were wholly entrusted to the "Succubi led by Tyre". Although the succubi seemed to do nothing on a daily basis and had lost the artisan skills of their ancestors, the crafting legacy continued. Nearly every succubus could manually make some magical trinkets that weren't too reliable.
The only problem now is that there are no raw materials.
"Your Majesty, the crystal ore is only available from the humans," an old and lively succubus spoke during the early hours of the following day, recalling that the last time he saw the crystal ore was two centuries ago during his adventuring days.
"Did you hear that?" Murphy looked toward the various lords temporarily gathered in the succubus territory "We must go to the humans' territory, otherwise, we can't accomplish anything."
The lords began to whisper amongst themselves, and finally reached a not so useful conclusion: the human territory is very dangerous. But then they began to nominally recommend themselves, as if being left behind would be an utter disgrace. Watching the highly motivated demons, Murphy was both pleased and a bit embarrassed, thinking, "Aren't you guys going to take a look in the mirror and see your own conditions before dashing off to human territories? Do you even have the capability?"
"Silence, I've decided to go myself and bring two along," Murphy cut across the clamor of the demons, with his brilliant idea. This was met with renewed decease.
"Before you recommend yourselves, won't you at least take a look at how you appear?" Murphy could feel his blood pressure rising.
"You, you, and you," Murphy pointed to the Goblin, living dead, and troll, "Do you think you look human? Disqualified!"
"You lot too," Murphy glared at the gargoyles and specters, "Are you trying to scare people to death? Out!"
Murphy looked at the vampire, "We need to travel during the day."
He glanced at the werewolf, "It's going to be a full moon the night after tomorrow."
In the end, the Succubus skeleton and the Slime lord made it to the final round. Those who didn’t make it suspected foul play. It was common knowledge that Succubi looked like humans and were able to hide to some extent, their demonic traits, but how in the world did the Skeleton and Slime pass?
Feeling quite cheerful, Murphy explained his new, ingenious idea: impersonating humans, also known as cosplaying as humans. With the Slime just being a shapeless body and the Skeleton composed only of bones, why not have a high-level Slime envelope a high-level Skeleton and change colors to impersonate a human?
The items or creatures enveloped by the Slime would be digested if their level was too low. On the other hand, a high-level Slime was required to change its color, which raised the level requirement for the Skeleton. Thus, an unsurprising combination emerged: the unobtrusive Slime Lord Brue and Byron became partners in all sense of the word. After discussions, they decided to let Byron hold the reigns of this "Bionic Man".
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
After some brief training, the "Slime Skeleton Bionic Man” had improved significantly, specifically in not having skeleton bones break out due to uncoordinated walking. However, a new problem arose.
"Hey, hey, hey, look at me! Do my eyes look like they're on the side of my mouth?” Murphy could not help but shudder at the sight before him, involuntarily recalling the last time he felt such fear; was it while watching “Parasite” or “Silent Hill”? It turned out that the image of dual-colored, lifeless eyes slowly oozing to the bloodless side of the mouth, a condition known as the "uncanny valley syndrome," is truly terrifying.
Leaving the vampire and werewolf to supervise the "Slime Skeleton Bionic Man" for further practice, Murphy, accompanied by Tyre, continued to discuss matters about going to the Human Kingdom. As for the lords not assigned any tasks at present, Murphy decided to let them attend and hopefully seize this opportunity to learn to be smarter.
Back in the conference hall of the succubus domain, Murphy pulled out a broken golden badge. A bear’s face stood out in lifelike detail, its menacing appearance exaggerated by a deep scoring mark across it. “This is Byron’s drop, it looks to be an insignia of his family line known as the Reed Family, not just some green-grade amateur’s accessory. Do you have any recollection of it?” Tyre took the emblem for a closer look, shook his head signaling no. “Well, we can ask around as we travel.” Murphy didn’t seem discouraged, he toyed with the emblem and murmured, “As a green piece of jewelry, its given attributes are considerably higher than similarly graded ornaments. My many years (of playing games) tell me there is more to it than meets the eye. If it fell into the hands of a beginner, it could trigger some interesting hidden missions. Now though, this little secret is mine.”
Hearing the strange term, Tyre looked confused, but he had more pressing things to worry about. Tyre pulled out a crumpled leather map and gently spread it across the table, the dim light illuminating the heads huddled around blocking most of the light. Viewing this scene, Murphy felt a sensation of déjà vu - as if he was practicing plate stepping with a group of novice tomb thieves.
Murphy conjured a strange ball of light, releasing an eerie light that cast a chill - an unusual trait for a luminous spell. Under that peculiar illumination, Murphy began to understand this world geographically for the first time. It didn’t surprise him that humans were the chosen ones in all sorts of literature. Human kingdoms were located in the heart of the known world, with the demon domain placed to the kingdoms' southwest. Both parties ceded territory to form a slender border, the other directions of the human land remained undeclared in the map apart from the vast seas. Following the war of ninety years prior, the humans conducted a renaissance of territories, as a result, the demons were virtually clueless about the human kingdom’s internal power structure.
Demon domains bordering the human kingdom were noxious marshes of the living dead, barren hills where Goblins resided, and grand tombs without light where Skeletons survived. The territories of mid-level demons were further from the humans, with high-level demons surrounding the royals in the middle.
As a hero, there was a need to face the final boss before deciding the path, without any crossroads; Murphy silently compared the difficulty level of this map to the tower game that drove him crazy when younger, wondering who was emptier in the head - he or Byron.
Now, Murphy needed to choose one from the three low-level demon territories as the bridge to human communication, he without a doubt excluded the toxic swamp. Between the other two, Murphy found it hard to decide, after all, neither was a proper location. The Grand Tomb was too filled with the aura of the undead; even if it was not as fatal as the venom marsh, it could still weaken an ordinary human. As for the Barren Hill, even if it lacked environmental effects, considering Goblin's reputation, Murphy quietly lowered his expectations.
Interrupting his thoughts, hurried footsteps were approaching. After being announced, a short Goblin scout rushed in, saluted the Goblin Lord in an unceremonious manner and reported, "Boss, we caught one, a female knight..."