Chapter 414 Day Spa (1/2)

[Most of our civilisation was lost when the blasted system changed us. No need for farmers, artists or poets when you're a monster. It was our ability to manipulate cores and create pets to fight for us that mattered, and over the years we've taken that skill as far as we can.]

The two of us were relaxing in Formo's house, carved into the wall around the outside of the forge. The inside was as simple as the outside, a small number of rooms, a crude bed and furniture which had been carved from the rock. Formo sat on a stone chair next to a small table whilst I stood just outside with my head through the door. This part of the town wasn't exactly made for monsters to move comfortably in, and the Sophos were quite small.

[I'm a bit surprised that you guys all seem to look pretty similar. Since you're monsters, shouldn't you have evolutions and all that? What tier are you anyway?]

Formo's snort rang in my mind for a moment before he spoke.

[It's a touch rude to ask that sort of thing, old bean. But I don't mind I suppose. We deliberately don't evolve much in order to keep our settlements in the upper levels of the Dungeon. Most of us are tier five and a few of us are tier six. We use mana concentration enchantments to bring mana up from below in order to sustain us. If we kept on evolving, that'd become impractical and we'd have to move down. This settlement is already something of an oddity, since most of our communities are in the second strata. Better cores down there.]

[I can imagine. Any chance you would share those enchantments?]

[Nope.]

[Dammit.]

I think for a moment. I can feel that the mana in the air is more concentrated in here than it was in the tunnels outside, which is crazy considering there aren't any mana veins. Are they moving mana around with some sort of mana air conditioning system?!

[Your friend Tirimon seemed very interested in my pet Crinis. Any particular reason for that?]

[Is that the tentacly one?]

I nod.

[Yes,] he began to muse, one clawed hand coming up to stroke his narrow chin. [That's quite the rare specimen you have there. Quite rare indeed. Very new species. We encountered them for the first time during the wave, which I presume, you did as well.]

[For sure. Scared the heck out of me.]

[Hah! I bet! It's not unusual for the Dungeon to spit out new species during events like a wave, see how they fare. Now that things are calming down, we're quite keen to send an expedition to the lower levels to see what we can see.]

I refrain from pointing out that they won't see much, due to being blind. That's too cheap, even for me.

[No one's going to steal her are they?] I ask nervously.

[What?! THEFT!? NONSENSE! The Sophos aren't petty thieves! ]

[Tirimon seemed pretty keen to get his hands on her.]

[Tirimon is a BLITHERING IDIOT for letting his pet out into the tunnels unsupervised. If he wanted to test its performance then he should have done so here in the proving grounds. I'm sure he wanted to replace his lost specimen but he got what he gosh darn deserved.]

He stood up, his thin legs wobbling a little as his oversized head began to tip his balance.

[WHOA THERE! Might as well pop down to the pens if you're worried though. I wouldn't mind checking in on my pets also.]