Much, much later that evening, following multiple re-applications of Cerise's avatar-summoning spell, the trio finally find themselves back to dealing with the final matter of business awaiting them. Xenia and Cerise stand near to Xenia's bed, a sleeping Lollyp resting on a fresh set of furs that were summoned in lieu of a laundry service. Even in sleep the sli woman has a smile on her face, and Xenia finds her heartstrings being tugged by what's about to occur. "So...she's under a sleeping spell, you said? Totally out of it?"
Cerise nods. "The thod I'm about to use is quite painless, but even so...well, even those prepared for it can often have a hard ti finally facing their own mortality." Xenia nods along.
"An. Even if you know what's coming next, it's hard to jump off that cliff sotis." Once again, Cerise finds herself giving the dungeon master a questioning stare. "...I really need to work on shutting up more. Ignore . How's this work?"
Sighing, Cerise takes a seat on a stool Xenia summoned for her and begins to move her hands over Lollyp's chest. "The easiest way to describe it would be as...soul surgery. The spell has little use in combat, as it's almost impossible to use on soone who's resisting the process, but it can be useful to treat various soul-based afflictions. Or...to sever it from the body. As forms of death go, it's as peaceful an option as you'll find."
Nodding, Xenia finds herself taking the sli's hand in her own as Cerise works. It's odd, given how little she really knows about the spellcaster, but the sacrifice Lollyp is willing to make for her feels like sothing the dungeon master has to answer with at least a token show of appreciation. It doesn't last for long, however - with a slight flick of Cerise's wrist, a gasp escapes the sli's mouth, and soon after her body seems to halfway deflate into the fur blankets. "...It's done." Xenia's comnt is more of a statent than a question, but the succubus answers regardless.
"It is." Cerise takes a mont to collect herself before rising back to her feet, and turning to face Xenia. "...You know, I've gotten to know many dungeon spirits over the years. So are cruel, so can be fun...there's even a small number who I would say it's been a pleasure to work with. But among those, you seem to be your own special kind of unique. I do truly wish you success, and I hope we can renew our...relationship in the future."
Xenia gives an awkward smirk. "Gee, shucks. It's been the highlight of my career having you here, too. Anything I can do to guarantee I see you again one of these days?"
Cerise raises a finger to Xenia's chin, looking deeply into the woman's black and white eyes. "...Will you kill for ?"
The breath catches in Xenia's chest, but she finds herself nodding. "...I will. As fucked up a basis as that might be for a second date, I'm gonna think of you every ti one of those gifts saves my ass from so adventurer asshole. And I'll make sure to make good use of...whoever Lollyp ends up becoming."
A faint smile crosses Cerise's lips. "Again, I wish you every possible success." Collecting herself yet again, she shifts to a more formal tone. "I've left our gifts on the table there, including the...'special' items you requested earlier. I daresay you did earn them, in the end." Xenia blushes, or as much as she can in her monochro state, but Cerise continues. "I'll make my exit and rejoin the others upstairs, which will close off this 'intrusion' and allow you to absorb your new capabilities. Farewell, Master of Worthy Dungeon. May we et again soon."
"Likewise...Lady Cerise Darktouched." Xenia feels herself fluster as she uses the formal-sounding title, but sohow it just wouldn't feel right to settle for her usual 'yeah, it's been fun, now get the fuck out of my house.' Without further words the succubus makes her way to the chamber's exit portal, ntally activates the spell ring on the floor, and vanishes in a glow of blue light. Before long the items she left behind begin to dissolve into the dungeon furniture, including the corpse of Lollyp left on her bed, as well as Lollyp's personal effects where they were left on the floor. Soon after she hears the voice of Guy calling from the elevator shaft.
"I see we have an Intrusion Report waiting for us! Are you...decent, ma'am?"
Xenia scoffs. "Well I got the robe back on, that's as good as you're gonna get! C'mon, let's see what this all added up to." Permission granted, the guide's screen leaves the shaft and enters the core chamber, spawning notification screens as they go.
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INTRUSION SCORE:
MORTALS SLAIN: 1
MORTALS ESCAPED: 3
NEW RESOURCE PATTERNS GATHERED:
FABRIC (HIGH QUALITY)
STEEL (HIGH QUALITY)
MANA STORAGE CRYSTALS
GLASS
SLI FABRIC (RARE MATERIAL)
WOOD (AVERAGE QUALITY)
NEW CONSTRUCT PATTERN QUALITIES ACQUIRED/UPGRADED:
SLIS, NON-SAPIENT: C
CLOTHING: C
TAL ARMOR: C
SHIELDS: D
WOOD CONSTRUCTS: D
STEEL CONSTRUCTS: D
SLI MATERIAL ACCESSORIES: D
FOOD AND DRINK: D
CURRENCY (DOMAIN): D
WANDS: D
POTIONS: C-
POISONS: C
DUNGEON TA-INVENTORY UNLOCKED
ADVANCED ITEM ENCHANTING UNLOCKED
BARRIERS UNLOCKED
LIMITED ITEMS OBTAINED:
MORTAL SOULS: 1 - LOLLYP, SLI
2 UNABSORBABLE ITEMS ADDED TO INVENTORY: 2 RUNESPELL ORBS
MANA CAP INCREASED BY 30 TO 60
MANA ACQUIRED: 100, CURRENT AMOUNT: 47 (13 CONSUD BY CONSTRUCTS)
KNOWLEDGE OBTAINED:
LANGUAGES: DRACONIC
GEOGRAPHY: DEEPCOLOR SA
SKILLS: MAGE (INITIATE), SLI ELENTALIST (ADVANCED)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------
ACHIEVENT UNLOCKED: ONCE UPON A SLI 1
YOU HAVE SLAIN YOUR FIRST MORTAL SLI. MANA SPELL EFFECTIVENESS ON SLIS INCREASED BY 25%.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------
ACHIEVENT UNLOCKED: FIRE AND ICE 1
YOU HAVE LEARNED AT LEAST TWO OFFENSIVE MAGIC SPELLS. MAGIC PROJECTILE TRAPS UNLOCKED. TRAP LEVEL INCREASED BY ONE.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------
ACHIEVENT UNLOCKED: FIRE AND ICE 2
YOU HAVE LEARNED AT LEAST FIVE OFFENSIVE MAGIC SPELLS. MAGIC PROJECTILE TRAP COST DECREASED BY 30%. TRAP LEVEL INCREASED BY ONE.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------
ACHIEVENT UNLOCKED: SHIELD FORMATION 1
YOU HAVE LEARNED AT LEAST TWO DEFENSIVE MAGIC SPELLS. 'ACCESSIBILITY' DIFFICULTY ALLOWANCES INCREASED BY ONE LEVEL.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------
ACHIEVENT UNLOCKED: SLEEP TIGHT 1
YOU HAVE SLAIN A SLEEPING MORTAL. TRAPS WHICH CAUSE SLEEPINESS OR DRAIN STAMINA ARE 25% MORE EFFECTIVE.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------
ACHIEVENT UNLOCKED: WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE 1
YOU HAVE MANIPULATED A MORTAL INTO SLAYING A PARTY MBER. TRAPS WHICH CAUSE MIND-ALTERING EFFECTS ARE 25% MORE EFFECTIVE.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Xenia reads through the screens, generally pleased at what she sees. "'Sli accessories', huh? Better than having to rank up a category just for sex toys I guess, if dudes are coming in here equipped with dildos I don't think I wanna know about it. ...Huhhh..." She pauses as she notices one thing that seems a little different than usual. "Hey, Guy, does this thing usually display the nas of the souls we collected? Honestly I don't think I even know the nas of a couple of those guys."
Guy, however, doesn't respond right away. "Hrrk...ah...you ah...recall that earlier...'unusual' attribute you unlocked? I, ah...think there's another one - agh!" With a sound that cos far too close to vomiting, one more window appears - another one in black and white, with an oddly fluid form to its fra. Hesitantly, Xenia pulls it forward.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
HIDDEN DUNGEON ATTRIBUTE DISCOVERED:
TRIPLE CURSED DUNGEON
MORTALS WHO WILLINGLY SURRENDER THEIR SOUL TO THIS DUNGEON SHALL PASS ON TO ITS WELL WITH ALL MORIES, SKILLS, PERSONALITY, AND WILL INTACT
------------------------------------------------------------------------
For once, the dungeon master's jaw drops. "...Oooooh, fuck. Why do I have to find that one out now?"
The next several minutes consist largely of Xenia pacing her way back and forth across the room, mumbling to herself, an activity only briefly interrupted by the disruption of her avatar spell finally wearing off for the last ti. For a while Guy is content to allow their charge to work out her thoughts in her own way, but eventually it seems like soone needs to step in to break her train of thought. "Ma'am! If you keep at it much longer, you'll find a way for a virtual avatar to sohow wear a track into stone. Now, I understand that was a rather unusual ssage just then, but perhaps if we discuss our thoughts together we would be better able to solve the issue plaguing your mind?"
Glancing in Guy's direction, Xenia slows down a bit and catches a deep breath. "Guy...would it be fucked up if we actually use Lollyp's soul for sothing now?"
Guy's screen tilts. "I'm afraid I don't follow your thinking. To be honest, this seems like a potential windfall for us, if anything!"
Xenia shakes her head, however. "Not saying I would give it up myself, but...being a reincarnator's not always a good thing. Like we were saying the other day, being born into a form, fresh and shiny and all that, helps adapt you to it. Imagine taking a normal-ass dude though and sticking him into a door like we did with the guy upstairs? I bet you even Doorman would be way less cheerful if he rembered having a family or whatever, you know?"
"Ah, I see. Well, in at least this case we're fortunate, as I believe we can in fact restore Lollyp to her original body. Or better, even!"
Going by her raised eyebrow, Xenia seems unconvinced. "You an like, long-term, right? Weren't you saying we don't get bodies that even look alive until we tier up a bunch more tis?"
"For most mortals, that would be correct. However, Lollyp is a sli, a rare case of a mortal race with a monster cousin. As you may have noticed, absorbing even a single mortal sli imdiately put us at 'C' tier in monster slis. And while that rank would normally be a step down from an average mortal's body, if you were to mana-enhance one to 'Boss'-level quality, it would be effectively at least as good as any average mortal sli, given their ability to reshape their form as they see fit."
Eyes wide, Xenia raises a hand to her lips. "I...I can do it? I can, totally, for real, bring Lollyp back to life?"
"As a dungeon monster dependent on your mana to live, yes. But there are certainly worse fates."
Firming her will, Xenia brings up her construction spells and spawns a new empty chamber between the elevator shaft and her own chamber, pushing it deeper into the mountain once again. "Alright. Alright! Let's do it! Floor two needs a boss, and Lollyp's got the job. Let's just hope she doesn't mind the slight change in plans..."
Going through her sli monster options, Xenia finds there's quite a few different kinds, specialized in various different ways. There's also a wide variety of color options, although they don't appear to have any effect beyond appearance. Deciding to go with the form most similar to Lollyp's original body, Xenia selects a 'basic' red sli at her maximum tier and summons it into the currently-empty boss chamber. Before it has ti to wander off, she then imdiately charges it up with her freshly-acquired mana, overloading it until the body grows larger and stronger, becoming a Boss Sli. Then, finally, Xenia goes into the nu describing her soul inventory, noting the special entry for 'LOLLYP, SLI'. "...Alright. Here we go. Bringing back the dead!"
Almost imperceptibly, a soft glow emanates from the dungeon master's palm and into the sli. Nearly imdiately the behavior of the Boss Sli begins to change, with the large protrusion on the top of the blobby form pointing one way and then the other as if it were looking around the room. After a few monts it then points straight upwards, forming the basis of a humanoid body as it stretches itself out, turning its mass into recognizable arms, legs, and a head. Finally a face appears, and Lollyp's wide eyes and wide smile turn to face Xenia...with a bit of an embarrassed look.
"Oh, wow! That must have been really sothing, I can't rember the last ti I just totally lost my form like that! Feels like I really slept in, too...oh, dang, did I miss sothing? Where's Lady Cerise? Don't tell she just left here as I am!?"
Xenia does her best to plaster a smile on her face. "No, no, everything went well! So uh...welco, Boss of Floor Two Lollyp! Today begins the first day of your second life!"
Lollyp gasps. "Oh, sweet! This is better than I expected, I feel more flexible already...wait." The sli tilts her head, the smile slowly fading from her lips. "Uh. How co I can, you know. Rember things?"
The dungeon master chuckles uneasily. "...Did I forget to ntion the part where this dungeon is cursed?"
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