Chapter 22: Monster Birth
Few Minutes Ago
Dropping her inside the room he had prepared beforehand, Zach watched as his body reverted to its former cubic box-like state. To be honest, the transformation put him in a bad mood. Why wouldn't it?
A being who once had a gigantic weapon below his waist would naturally feel frustrated. Even without that, simply not having hands and legs was depressing enough.
'There's no need to be sad. On the contrary, I should be hopeful. As long as I keep leveling up, sooner or later I'll reach a point where I can maintain a humanoid form forever,' Zach motivated himself.
He barred the door to the room, making it clear that this was now her new home or prison depending on how she chose to see it.
He didn't have to worry about her finding his crystal either. He had already taken precautions earlier. He couldn't seal off the dungeon's entrance; whenever he tried, he felt suffocated and even suffered panic attacks. Instead, he discovered he could hide his core inside a pitfall trap. It was shameful to hide his illustrious body, but safety came first. Especially for someone who had already taken women against their wills.
Finally freed from lust, Zach took a proper look at her. Even dirty, she captivated him with her waist-length golden hair and vivid green eyes. Her face was the very image of beauty, her body not overly curvy, but enough to provoke desire.
He watched as she woke up only to break down in tears on the stone bed, eventually crying herself back to sleep. Seeing her torn clothes exposing her body and the dirt staining her skin, Zach suddenly felt shame and remorse. It was the same guilt one felt after post-nut clarity. He quickly forced himself into justification.
'If I didn't do it, they would have conquered my dungeon and used me to grow their own powers. To them, I'm just a mere dungeon core meant to be harvested, and to me, they're resources to grow stronger. There's no right or wrong here. I did what I had to do. Yes!'
Unfortunately, he couldn't inspect her status. Without an investigation skill, all he could do was guess. Judging from how easily he had tied her with rope, she wasn't that strong anyway.
Still, it didn't matter to a dungeon. She was now his civilian, his number one employee even if he had nothing to pay her with. She was his property, after all. Payment was unnecessary. Winner takes all.
While she slept, he extended thin tendrils of mana to probe her. Over the last day, he had learned this trick: using mana to map the pathways of a beast or in this case, an elf to gain a basic understanding of them.
He didn't fully grasp the purpose, but it helped him train his mana control skill and gave him a sense of familiarity with his subjects. Usually, though, they were dead and their mana drained, like water leaking from a cracked bucket.
As his mana tendrils traced through the elf, they slipped into her pathways. He felt an intricate network of currents weaving through her like blood vessels. Unlike beasts, her pathways were far more complex, narrow, and fragile.
Her heart and mind carried especially vivid flows, alive in a way no animal's ever had. He tried inserting his mana into her system, but her body resisted, as if rejecting the foreign energy. He stirred and nudged her mana slightly, more out of exploration than harm.
[Skill Level Up: Mana Control
Zach spun in victory, mentally patting his own cubic rear facet.
Still, he needed his new elf to work for him. So he created the one facility he had yet to build: a breeder. He needed monsters, and this was the only way to get them.
It cost 50 mana and 20 biomass a small price compared to his current stock. The structure seemed to grow out of the ground, mostly for stability. Zach could feel every fiber and muscle of it, a new and alien experience.
It felt both familiar and foreign.
While waiting for the elf to wake up, he looked outside at the bodies scattered around. He couldn't go out something like a barrier stopped him. Otherwise, he would have dragged those corpses inside and converted them to biomass.
'She woke up!' Zach shouted inwardly, watching as the beautiful former holy elf instinctively tried to cover her exposed breasts.
She had been asleep for nearly two hours. Now, less emotional, she looked around only to freeze when her eyes fell on the breeder.
'Good. She knows what it is,' Zach thought, pleased with his subject.
But despite his expectation, the elf didn't move. She only curled her knees to her chest, pressing against the wall like a sulking child.
'What the hell…' Zach wanted to scream, to order her directly, but with no mouth or vocal cords, she couldn't hear him. Maybe because of how hard he was trying to communicate, the elf visibly shuddered. She tried to look away, but she could feel the weight of his dungeon consciousness pressing against her. She couldn't understand his words, but she knew what he wanted. It was painfully obvious.
At last, she weakly staggered toward the breeder. With trembling hands, she touched the black, skin-like surface, tracing it nervously before turning around and timidly lowering herself into it.
The dungeon felt every point of contact and trembled with excitement. Her touch was an erotic stimulation, her dirty yet soft skin making him quiver with anticipation.
"It feels like she's sitting on me, yet I'm watching from three different points of view… depressing," Zach thought.
The elf shook with fear, but Zach prided himself on being a merciful master well, to his first subject at least. He guided the tentacles to wrap her wrists and ankles, restraining her lightly. The flexible, spring-like tension allowed some movement, and if she truly tried, she could probably break free. They weren't structurally that strong.
More tentacles slithered up to feel her soft body. One massaged her stomach, creeping beneath her tattered clothes and reaching her breasts.
The elf squirmed, letting out soft, pleasant sounds. Zach stopped momentarily, even loosening the restraints as she tried to sit up. This wasn't meant to be forceful. He didn't want to leave a bad impression on his subject after all, cooperation in the future would matter.