The platinum banana seed to have a similar effect on Vee as she jittered uncontrollably after eating it. She was incredibly delighted with the fruit and gloated endlessly about the indescribable taste.
I bet sli cores still taste the best. I wonder if the pink one will have any special taste due to its rarity.
The last remaining floors up until the boss weren't really worth ntioning, except for one, as most of them were simple "kill the enemies in the room" with a mixture of various party compositions.
The one exception room was a room that combined defending and attacking. We had to protect our own pedestal while capturing or destroying the enemies. Our pedestal had a single red grape on it, while the enemies had an orange one.
In the interest of passing the trial without issue, I took the role of defender while Vee participated as our assailant. She darted and teleported around while attacking with innurable threads that thrashed around. Occasionally, she'd throw around [Corrosion Magic], which reminded to reinstate her helper core to boost her magic.
Vee ate the orange grape, which counted as "destroying it," resulting in our victory. We received a final prompt to "destroy all remaining enemies." When we finished cleaning up, Vee was allowed to eat the red grape, too.
"Okay, both were super duper tasty, but I don't feel any different. I wonder if they were broken or if I've eaten too many magic fruits."
"Wonderful! These trials are the best," Vee replied happily.
Personally, I would have preferred a more regular dungeon, but I was glad Vee was having fun. I had guessed that the combat trials were designed intentionally to force you through various scenarios to ensure you were prepared and worthy of leading a branch. You'd either have such overwhelming power that you can crush anything or a combination of sufficient strength and wits, either option leading to victory and proving your worth.
I'd assu my difficulty is also bumped up a bit since they ntioned the Feirelle is a "main branch" or whatever. Then again, I also asked Dran for more monsters. Maybe it's wishful thinking, but I'd love to leave this place with my next evolution secured. Wait… that reminds .
"Vee, do you know how long your last evolution took?"
"Um, I was kidnapped during my last evolution, rember?" Vee reminded . "It's also not like I can tell ti. I don't have a clock or calendar on ."
"Sorry, I thought you'd—"
"Haha! I'm only kidding. I was out for roughly a week, according to the magic lady. Quite a predicant."
"My last evolution was also a week. I'm glad it didn't increase to sothing crazy like a month."
"How would anything survive being unconscious for a month?" Vee asked. "Even if you had the best hiding spot ever, I think sothing would find you."
"Allies… or a community if I had to hazard a guess. Then again, I'd suspect most monsters around our monster tier are entirely feral and probably lone wolves—so maybe I'm wrong."
"Don't worry, I'll look after you for a week or two," Vee said proudly.
"Still fifteen levels to go."
"I'm sure you'll reach that in no ti! Especially if we get attacked by a group of assassins this ti. That one assassin baker gave us both so much, and that was before [Companion Growth]!"
"True…" I murmured in thought. "Speaking of which, I wonder if they've made their move."
"I'm honestly surprised we haven't been attacked yet. Do you think they're too scared, or have we misjudged the situation?"
"The plot thickens," Vee chirped.
"Thanks for letting us know, Dran. Maybe they are plotting to ambush us when we leave the dungeon," I suggested.
"Right when we're presumably tired from conquering the dungeon," Vee agreed. "Although that adds a level of risk, what if soone spots their ambush? Also, wouldn't soone from Caelthal potentially spot them?"
"They could be that confident. Or maybe they've bribed soone to look away. Or perhaps they have an item, magic, or skill to keep us in and other people out?"
"If that is the case, it works out better for us," Vee stated. "That would let you go full sli monster, and I can break out the [Rift Thread]."
"Maybe I need to start working on my pocket window more during this dungeon," I said, suddenly changing the subject.
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"Why?" Vee asked, evidently confused. "I don't think that will help you against assassins?"
"Well, it was an idea I had when I was reading the Ritftmancer book. What if I created a dinsional space, entered it, and then evolved. Wouldn't I be perfectly safe unless there's an enemy Riftmancer?"
"You actually want to enter one of those holes? Are you trying to kill yourself?"
"Only once the spell is actually complete and recognized. The current… 'window' version I wouldn't trust. I'd obviously test it out as well, cast it in a room, and maybe throw so monsters inside it with food and see if they survive a week in there."
"Huh… okay, that's slightly less crazy," Vee admitted. "You could also ask Llewel to help? Maybe he can create a ti room where you evolve for a week, but only a day has passed in reality, or sothing?"
"[Ti Magic] can do that?"
Vee shrugged, "I have no idea. It was just a wild suggestion."
"It might be worth exploring. Although, admittedly, I don't know if I'd feel comfortable leaving myself helpless and vulnerable in front of the elves. Sure, they are our allies, and we have our magic contract, but I get the feeling Paeris would gladly sacrifice his levels if Loreleia ordered it."
"Well, work on your dinsion room then; the elves can be a backup or last resort."
"Another option would be asking one of the dungeons to hide while I evolve. That's what I did the first ti, although Simon was following Gramps' direct order."
"Then I'm surprised you did," I pointed out.
"Looks like his true colors are showing," Vee snickered. "Guess he doesn't have much hospitality."
I held back on taunting the dungeon. I didn't want to upset him with a boss fight coming, as I'd seen so rather nefarious plays by the [Dungeon Master] of the Mutation dungeon.
We climbed the final steps, entering a large, mostly empty chamber except for five pillars raised to the ceiling. It was one central pillar, larger in size, and the remaining four were equal distances apart from each other.
Wrapped around the large and central pillar was a gigantic mass of writhing vines that had fused together into the shape of a creature. The way it moved made it appear like a serpent despite its clearly evident plant-like nature.
Its "head" took the form of a snake maw, fangs included—albeit made from massive thorns. It also had "hair," which was more vines that ended in little snake-like heads. If that wasn't enough, most of the outer layer of vines had purple thorns scattered about.
You're useless!
"That's a big snake," Vee comnted.
"My worm form was bigger," I pointed out.
"Well, then go turn into a big worm and have a giant kaiju battle with it. I'll sit here and watch," Vee snorted.
"I…"
"Yes?"
"I don't have enough sli…" I whined.
Vee burst out laughing, only to be interrupted by a colossal tail that swung down on our position. Vee used [Warp] while I used [Blink], and we appeared at opposite ends of the boss arena.
"Okay, enough fooling around, ti to kill the boss!" she exclaid.
"Agreed."
While I enjoyed being a sli blob most of the ti, I didn't want to risk being crushed or punctured by the boss monster. Thus, I deed a transformation necessary. I opted to create a hybrid monster with the salamander and obsidianite worm, mixing overwhelming firepower with trendous defense.
Lesser dragon scales mixed with obsidianite while being further bolstered by [Tempered Reinforcent]. I combined the powers of [Blaze Sli] with transford [Inferno Sacs] to endlessly fuel the defensive boosting effects of both the tal and the trait.
"Yes!" I roared triumphantly, causing blue flas and heat to roil off my form.
This had been a long ti coming, and considering how it was such a vital part of my everyday life, I honestly thought it would've leveled up sooner. I had a theory that because I was using it so routinely, I was getting so massive penalties for being "passive." Would you normally gain experience for sothing as easy as breathing? Probably not.
I quickly adjusted my borrowed traits to their new maximum level of eight, which directly highlighted the main reason why I'd probably, in all likelihood, struggled to level it up so much. If you really thought about it, the "optimal" thod to level up [Chiric Mimicry] would be to use a constantly shifting variety of new traits, regardless of their usefulness.
However, I found this extrely counterintuitive—why would I not use the best traits? I wanted to be the best elf, the best worm, the best monstrosity. I didn't want to settle for what I deed "diocre traits" just to get so extra experience proficiency points.
My enlarged form must have been more salamander than worm, as we suddenly received a rather frantic notification.
Is he screaming into the dungeon notifications now?
The dusa Vinewraith also flinched back hesitantly as it saw my fiery visage.
"No, silly, that's a sli," Vee said teasingly.
"And it's only lesser dragon scales," I pointed out. "This salamander that I ate was only a small fry."
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