New Additions

Chapter 112

I was deeply confused about how lively Blackmore was in the wake of the births, as well as how I’d outright missed them. I kind of remembered Aaron saying something about them, but I couldn’t think of what and just rolled back through the security footage to try and figure it out. Or was trying to.

“Buddy, come on, I need my face for stuff,” I muttered. I had the puppies for the moment, since Blackmore and Stalin were taking a nap. Two of said puppies were sleeping comfortably on my stomach while the third was busy trying to eat my hair and occasionally jerking my head violently in the process. It didn’t hurt, but it was hella distracting.

I heard a ding but no pop-up appeared. “Buddy” started floating above the puppy's head. I’d named him. Blackmore and Stalin both had already said it was fine if I did, but it still felt a little weird. Despite how many skeletons I’d named since I first met them, it felt like a task I was rather unqualified for.

“Merh!” Buddy barked at me. I didn’t know when the puppies would start talking, but it wasn’t really a big deal to me. It would happen when it happened. Giving up on being productive for a couple minutes. I decided to deal with a pair of remaining issues.

Namely naming the remaining two puppies. Rather than just decide on my own I decided to let the rest of the dungeon denizens have a say. My regret was fairly immediate as I started to read the replies and had to fight down laughter again. Some of the options were reasonable but a lot of them were clearly the bastards trolling me.

Annihilator of Shoes

Piss Machine

Dog 1 and 2

Scorcher of Grass

Proof Stalin Got Laid

Burny Pup

Once I had proper control of myself I pacified Buddy with a thorough round of petting and he finally joined his siblings for a nap. Free again, put the name issue aside and finally looked through the security footage uninterrupted. What I ended up seeing was not what I expected. I knew more or less what giving birth looked like. Not super specific details, but the broad strokes.

What I ended up seeing wasn’t even vaguely related. Rather than them exiting Blackmore’s body through a traditional route, they kind of just appeared. An energy seemed to flow out of her and condense around several brighter points, which I assumed were the cores.

I fought down a chuckle. If females of other species were aware of this Blackmore would find herself the subject of a deep envy. Buddy stirred a little and I went as still as possible, not wanting the little tyrant to wake up so quickly. My interface chimed to let me know I had a message, but mercifully it wasn’t in share mode so none of the pups woke up.

I wan see pups!

The message from Chris was the fifth one in two hours since he’d respawned. He wanted to be in the den, but it wasn’t happening now that Blackmore was back to normal. Between her and the pups, he didn’t last nearly long enough to do more than put in an appearance.

I’d sent pictures already, but I knew what Chris really wanted was to be able to play with them. With nothing better to do for the moment, I started to dig through his settings. I’d done it before, but the system was weird. It was entirely possible I’d overlooked something or not properly understood it.

When my initial search failed to turn up anything, I started looking through the skeleton settings. Still nothing, so it was time to dig around in the interface and look for stuff I might have missed or spawned out of the ether when I wasn’t looking.

I didn’t find anything immediately useful and put looking harder on my to-do list. Wanting to find a work-around, I started looking through my shop and the items there contained. Elemental resistance potions were a thing, so I sent Chris one.

Chris,

I’m not sure if this is sufficient but should at least let you be in the lava area longer. Give it a try.

-42

Unsurprisingly a reply didn’t take long. Chris was not one to dilly dally when he wanted something.

Cant drink it

I blinked as I took the attached video of Chris seeming to piss his pants as he drank from the bottle. Someone else had taken it and included the cursing fit that followed. I was so used to seeing him drink Chaos that I’d kind of forgotten about the lack of soft tissue issue. Thinking about it though when I was helping Elim the potions had mixed just fine with cider.

Once the puppies were awake again and returned to their parents, I took a break and headed for the palace of shadows. I didn’t technically need to, but wanted to experiment in more hospitable conditions. Pouring a can of chaos into a bowl, I poured in the elemental resistance potion.

As to what I expected to happen, I couldn’t really say. Still, the contents turning into what looked like a small color changing ocean wasn’t on the list. I upsized the original bottle and poured the fluid in before putting it back in my inventory to give it a thorough look over. It came up as the same kind of potion it had been but with a weird little symbol after the name. It also didn’t stack in my inventory with others of the original type.

To say I felt conflicted despite having made it was an understatement. I pointedly didn’t send Chris a message about it. I felt like this was the kind of thing he’d be unable to resist, no matter how bad an idea it was. Like to the point where he’d figure out a way to get into my inventory, despite that not really being something he should be able to do.

Making a responsible Dungeon Master decision, I sent it to Aaron for analysis instead.

Mistress,

I would like to understand your thought process for historical purposes. Why would you even do that in the first place? Did it seem like a good idea to you at the time? Have you considered checking yourself for demon possession when thoughts like “make Chris fireproof” occur to you?

Thank you for your time,

Aaron Eustice Ulnar

“Diiick,” I muttered as I read Aaron’s reply. It wasn’t like he didn’t have a point, now that I was thinking about it, but still. Rude.