by Matthew Peed
“Very well.” I pulled out one of Friz’s cards and handed it to the manager. I wondered if I could get Azaria to make me something that would change with me.
I looked at the mirror in front of me. As I was wearing Friz’s body, the leather armor was set to his size. I could feel it on my skin, and it felt like it might come off at any second. Still, it was a nice set of armor. Made from hell-wolf hide, it was quite tough and fire and earth magic resistant. A good upgrade from my crappy level-one rabbit-hide armor, which I’d gotten for basic protection as a Harvester, and the junk that could barely be called armor from the goblins I’d looted.
“Thank you for your purchase! We hope you come again,” the manager said as he returned from the register.
I just nodded and made my way out. A few streets down, I ducked into an alley. There I tightened every clasp and belt on the armor and even added a few others to make it tighter. I really would have to see about either having Azaria modify this armor or getting someone to make one special when I took a female form.
With my armor situation taken care of, I moved on to my next task. I opened Friz’s phone, looked through his contacts, and quickly found what I was looking for. A black-market monster-part dealer. Hopefully, my plan would work, and I could get parts of monsters via this route as well. Memorizing the path, I left the alley.
An hour and three attempts to mug me later, I made it to the location. I still couldn’t believe I was jumped three times. Did I give off some sort of kill-me signal? With the last one, I just rushed up and stabbed my arm through the guy’s chest. I was quite done with it by that point. At least I learned that I could absorb the blood splattered on me into my Storage.
I just shook my head and looked at the warehouse in front of me. It seemed to scream that unlawful things were taking place there. I went up to the door and knocked.
“What do you want? Ah, Friz! I heard your party wiped. We all thought you were dead.”
“Nope. It will take more than walking dolls to kill me,” I said, giving a cocky grin. I was glad that the Scales of Illusion masked my voice as well as long as I had an idea of the voice the person used.
“Get in here and have a beer.”
“Thanks, man!”
Once past the guard, I took in the sight in front of me. It reminded me of a fish or wet market that I’d seen on television before the world experienced the Aether Shift. The guard gave me a massive slap on the back, nearly causing me to go into berserk mode before I managed to calm down.
Time to do some shopping. I activated my Harvest skill, causing the entire market to light up like Christmas. At the first seller, I took in the advertised monster parts. Everything certainly glowed, but it was all white, which was the lowest level of part I’d seen so far.
“Interested in some kobold parts?” the shopkeeper asked when he saw me looking.
“Interested, yes. Short of funds, also yes,” I replied with a smile.
“Fair enough.”
I window-shopped more for appearance than anything. With Harvest, I could see all the parts that were even worth looking at. I also treated it like a game. I started at the bottom and worked my way up. After about half an hour, I got to my first purple part, which was the highest I’d gotten so far.
“What is this?” I asked once I got to the shop.
A well-off man took a pull on a cigar. “That be an Incubus’s, well, Tool. Any man who consumes it can literally walk through the streets and the women will throw themselves at him. The effect only lasts for twelve hours though.”
I nodded. That was impressive. “Is it a charm or pheromone based?”
“The few magical researchers that have looked into say a bit of both.”
“How much?”
“Twenty-five thousand. Cash.”
“Ah, maybe next time then,” I said, waving my hand over the box as if dismissing it.
I moved on to the next shop. This one had several purples on display. One even had the word “dragon” written on the plaque in front of it. “Is this really a piece of a dragon!? When did you get that?” I couldn’t remember a dragon being defeated. They were one of the reasons the United States wasn’t a single country anymore.
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” the woman running the shop said with a smirk.
I glared at her, but I couldn’t afford it either way. I looked at some of the other parts, but they were all on prominent display, and one even hit six digits. I nodded to the lady and quickly left her shop. Looking around, I checked to make sure I hadn’t missed anything. In a side room at the edge of the market, I noticed a blue glow. I had never seen blue before, thus I didn’t know if it was better or worse than purple.
I made my way over to the room and saw it was just a bunch of boxes stacked up. I moved over to the nearest shopkeeper. “What’s up with that room?”
“Ah. That’s where parts that have spoiled go. They get sent for disposal tomorrow. Feel free to take anything you want from it. It’s all trash anyway.”
“Thanks!”
Seeing purple and orange light leaking from several of the boxes, I went back to the room. Going to each of them, I absorbed them with my Storage without really looking at them. I finally got to the box that was leaking blue light. The only reason I managed to see anything was the lid was still off it.
What looked like a shriveled heart lay on a pile of other organs. Even shriveled it was the size of my head. Whatever this came from had to have been massive. I moved it to my Storage, then left the room. “You were right! Damn, I was hoping to make a quick buck.”
“You aren’t the first, and I doubt you’ll be the last.”
I moved back to the entrance. “Nothing really interesting today,” I said as the shopkeeper pulled the door open.
“With that doll dungeon popping up, the authorities are being even more of a bag of dicks than usual. Watch your back.”
“Thanks for the warning.”
Leaving the warehouse district, I made for the first hotel I found on the map app. Even then, I still got jumped twice. The police better thank me later for cleaning up their streets, I thought. I never realized it was this bad. I could finally breathe easier once I shut the hotel door behind me.
I pulled the heart from my Storage and placed it on the table, then pulled a cord I’d grabbed somewhere from my Storage and bit down on it. With a deep breath, I used Harvest. The heart glowed blue before it melted and flowed up my arm, then sank into my chest.
I expected it, but the surge of pain was still almost more than I could handle. I bit clean through the cord in the first few seconds. With all my willpower, I stopped myself from screaming. I didn’t need the police called. Half an hour later, the pain finally died.
I retrieved the first item I’d gotten from the market—the incubus organ. I’d slipped it into my Storage when I had the chance. It wasn’t my first time seeing the male organ, the Kyle incident besides, but this was still the most impressive one, even with everything I’d seen on the internet included. Still, it gave off a purple glow, meaning it had powerful properties. With a grimace, I quickly absorbed it as well.
The pain lasted half the time as the heart. Dropping onto the bed covered in sweat, I slowly reached down and felt that area. I breathed a sigh of relief when I felt the noticeable lack of any equipment down there. Deciding to check my status before I absorbed anything else, I pulled my screen up.
Lance Teron
Age: 20
Level: 17
Race: Human
Type: Harvester
Aether: 1000/1200
Skills: Harvest
Harvests: Heart of the Chimera – Breath of Fire
Incubus Tool – Mental Fortitude
Scale of the Corrupted Lizard – 50% Poison Resistance
Goblin’s Soul: Malice, Dark Vision, Concentrated Breathing, Dominate, Black, Heart’s Armor, Poison Breath, Natural Weapon, Eat Anything, Durable, Keen Hearing, Gluttony
Human’s Heart –
Chaos
Human’s Lung – Fortitude
Human’s Brain (x2)
Fire
Water
Tunnel Rat Tendon – Scurry (+2)
Lower Mimic Storage Sac – Storage
Achievements: Trading With Chaos – You achieved something few could claim. While it might appear to be dumb luck, even luck has a place in the universe. Aether gain +1 per hour.
Solo Hunter – You defeated a dungeon on your own. Very few can claim the same. Great achievements deserve great rewards. Aether +1000
I started laughing when I saw my status used the word “tool” for the incubus body part. I must have laughed for nearly five minutes before I finally calmed down. I concentrated and blew out a puff of smoke that was trailed by some flames. I quickly closed my mouth in case it set off any fire alarms. Glancing at the clock, I set an alarm on my phone, glad to have the chance to charge it for the first time in two weeks, then closed my eyes. Today was a good day.
Chapter 23: Delicious Frenzy
Azaria
“She sure works fast.”
Starburst scoffed. “Well, she is a greedy human, you know.”
“I know but at least her goals align with ours,” I said, taking a serious voice. I couldn’t hold it and burst out laughing. Starburst joined me in my humor.
“I guess it’s time to work,” he said, moving toward his room on the first floor.
“Maybe they’ll actually get to you this time.”
Starburst was technically the first boss of the dungeon. His room remained locked until Stella and Lucy were defeated. He was eager for the first party to finally be able to challenge him. I waved him off, then moved over to Stella in her boss room.
She sensed my presence and bowed toward me. “Mistress.”
“How are you feeling?” After the party that killed her had left the dungeon, she had been re-created from the Aether. Thankfully, the cost was barely a tenth of the cost of creating her initially. Otherwise, there might be a point where she would stay dead until I managed to gather enough Aether.
She flipped open her fan and hid her mouth behind it. I knew she was upset from being the first to be defeated. I’d told her not to worry about it, but she and Lucy were very prideful.
“I am alright. The loss of experience is a slight annoyance. My penguins and I will be getting our revenge on the next party.”
“Yeah. I’m not sure which room they’ll head toward first, but give them your all!” I pumped my fist in the air, trying to cheer her up. She gave me a nod just as I felt my consciousness start to move to the music room.
Looking around the semitransparent room, I didn’t see any new instruments. I moved over to the violin. Again, the trancelike state started to wash over me. I focused on controlling my hands and was able to resist it for a few seconds. I felt like that was progress.
Today, I decided to play some Mozart. I placed the bow on the strings and played the first note. Soon, a twisted version of Mozart was flowing through my dungeon. I wanted to sigh in some disappoint, but I couldn’t even do that.
My attention went to Lance’s party. They made their way through the lobby section with ease. By now the traps were common knowledge and people only triggered them in carelessness. According to Starburst, I could revamp them, but I didn’t want to kill more than I had to. I felt something twitch inside me when I thought about killing.
I could make the dungeon instinct content with the planned killing we were doing right then, but something told me that this might not be the case for long. As my power grew, so did my dungeon instinct. I would need to find something to fight the urges growing stronger inside me.
I refocused on Lance. She was hanging back ever so slightly from the group. Anyone looking at them like I was could tell she was an outsider of this group. Still, they looked like a reliable party from the outside.
A man covered in leather armor and carrying a large shield led point. He was a moderate-sized man who had a pretty strong presence. He would be more forgettable if he were mixed in with a crowd. I looked at him with the same magic I put in Lance’s earring. Greed almost physically leaped from him. He didn’t care what or who he had to kill to get more money.
A man using a bow stood slightly off from the man on point. His aura was similar to the first. Even his greed couldn’t compare to the first man’s though. However, I could tell that he’d killed people to achieve his goals.
Next was a man dressed in gray robes. Walking near Lance, he wielded a staff, and Aether dripped from him. For the first time since I became a dungeon, my mouth started to water while I watched him. I wanted to kill this man so bad and take his essence into myself. Even as I became aware of what I was doing, I couldn’t stop myself.
The music in the dungeon shifted as it grew darker. My minions all sensed my hunger. They knew I wanted the man dead. I noticed from the center of my trance Stella’s eyes grow bloodred, as did all her penguins’. They burst from all the rooms, including the boss room, and charged the party in the middle of the hall. There was no stopping it now.
Surprised by the sudden change in the dungeon, the divers couldn’t react completely. Another man I hadn’t noticed was pulled from the circle the party had formed into the sea of penguins and torn apart. The others of the party started to strike down the frenzied penguins, but for every one slain, another took its place.
“Die! Die! Die!” I chanted in a whisper. I wanted that man! He must become mine!
Lance activated something and fought off the penguins that had circled around them. Her being apart from the main party saved her life. She was able to get farther from the penguins, and they all ignored her as they went after the man in gray.
After a struggle that lasted around three minutes, the entire party was dead. The man in gray collapsed from a penguin’s sword pierced through him. He’d taken out most of the penguins with spells that left half of the hallway a smoldering ruin. I ignored that and focused on his body.
Without hesitation, I absorbed the body. Aether flowed through me like I’d never experienced before. I moaned in pleasure at the sensation spreading through me. With Lance the last one standing, I was able to stop playing. I wrapped my arms around myself and squirmed as the warmth flooded through me.
“Azaria!”
I came out of my euphoria and realized that Lance had been yelling for me. I moved over to her, then realized she wouldn’t be able to see or hear me. I glanced at the violin in my hand. I concentrated and used some Aether to summon a doll that looked like me. I couldn’t do it near her, but I was able to do it in a nearby room. It was created with the idea of me being able to control it with my violin.
The doll, just a bit bigger than a hand, formed in front of me. I checked it, then nodded as I pulled my bow across the strings. The doll jerked and gained strength as I grew used to using this method to control it. It walked jarringly out into the hallway.
I held down one of my violin’s strings. “Lance. Over here,” I said into the violin, and the sound came out of the doll.
Lance moved over and picked the doll up. “This is kind of creepy.”
“You use a mirror lately?” I snapped at her.
“Whatever. This isn’t what we had agreed on. I know I only survived that because I escaped early.”
“That is exactly what we agreed on. I can’t protect you in here. Against the rules, as it were,” I replied, crossing the doll’s arms. The warmth from earlier surfaced again. “Who was the man in gray? Can you get more like him?”
“A mage. An addict technically, unlike the few people who’ve come in here so far. He was a level-three associate. Needed some cash to finance his Aether hunger. You might start getting a few of them every now and then.”
“More! You should get more of them!” I said, not hiding the desire in my voice.
“We have our deal. I’ll do my part. Speaking of, can you adjust this armor? It is a bit loose on me.”
“You’ll have to take it o
ff and step back about three yards. I would recommend doing that in your room,” I explained, then pointed with the doll to the windows. They were covered but you never know.
“Will do.”
After I fixed Lance’s armor and she left the dungeon, two more parties made their way inside. One managed to defeat Lucy, but not Stella. My undefeated buff was getting up there. Starburst warned there would be a cap to something like that, but even he didn’t know where it would be.
The second one got to the first mid-boss and decided to turn back. I couldn’t hear what was said, but it sounded like they chickened out. When I looked out at the ticket booth, as I’d started to call it, there seemed to be another party arguing with the guard, but they were forced to leave for the day.
The longer my dungeon went without a night shift the better. Having people inside me during the day was annoying enough. I looked out and noticed that there was a full moon.
“Starburst! Look at the moon. Even after a year, at least that hasn’t changed.”
“Indeed. A beautiful full moon . . . Girl, brace yourself!”
I blinked in confusion and jerked my head to look at him when a white light wrapped around me. Panicking, I looked around. I was surrounded by hundreds of creatures and found myself in a strange ballroom. That’s when I realized I had a solid form.
I noticed a few humans in the mix, along with several people who were similar to humans but with different features. One man had long ears, while a woman had big leathery wings on her back. I blushed when I looked at a naked woman who looked mostly human but had two horns on her head.
Many of the people weren’t wearing any clothes but stood as if it didn’t bother them. My wandering gaze landed on a creature that looked like a standing cow with a human midsection. His . . . tool nearly touched the ground, it was so long. I covered my eyes and quickly looked away.
Thankfully, a person started to float in the middle of the gathering, drawing all eyes to them. A man who had a golden halo and large golden wings rose into the air. “Welcome, cores, to the Moon Gathering! This is the thirteenth time we’ve seen each other since we began our mission.”