Monster Breeder-169. Return to Base, Part 3

Monster Breeder-169. Return to Base, Part 3

*Marks Consolidated!*
*Married the Goblin Herbalist Witch – Four Goblinoid Marks!*
*Goblinoid Marks – Two*
Goblin Ears
Goblinoid Ears (Apprentice, Hob, Orc)
Goblin Gut
Goblinoid Gut (Apprentice, Hob, Orc)
Goblin Nails
Hobgoblin Nails
Goblin Witch Nails
Goblin Stature
Hobgoblin Stature
Orc Stature
Orc Strength
Ogre Stature
Ogre Strength
Ogre Toughness
Goblin Cock
Goblinoid Cock (Hob, Orc, Ogre)
Goblin Apprentice Fast Learner
Goblin Witch’s Intuition
Goblin Apprentice Quick Study
Goblin Witch Tutelage
Goblin Witchcraft
Goblin Witch Spellcraft
G.W. Ritual Instinct
G.W. Spell Persistence
G.W. Dark Magic
Goblin Apprentice Summon Spectacles
G.W. Summon Hat
G.W. Sumon Robes
Summon Club (Hobgoblin, Orc, Ogre)
Herbalist Herbal Medicine
Herbalist Herbal Amplification
Holy God Beast! That might be the most abilities I’ve ever seen associated with a single monster on my mark trees! If I didn’t have a clue before that Gabby’s evolution is potent, this looks like one to be sure.
“What do you see, Alex?” the Goblin Witch asks after we clean ourselves up. I lift my gaze from my tattoo menu to list the abilities I see aloud. When I’m finished explaining, Gabby raises a delicate, green-skinned hand to display her nails. With a simple flex of her fingers, they become claws that extend an inch outward into sharp points that glow like they’ve been painted with luminescent purple nail polish. “An unnecessary melee adaptation.”
“Do you really need two separate abilities for your hat and robes?” I wonder.
Gabby doffs her conical Witch’s hat and reaches inside. She pulls out spell components by the handful: chalk, straw, an athame, twine, a hunk of wax, needles, a bowl, and a bell. Then she raises an arm to examine her robe’s fabric. A slash of her nails shows the robes are, if not proof against cuts, at least resistant to mortal blades. “The hat contains crafting ingredients, and the robes are a form of light armor.”
I suppose those
are
better than some other abilities I’ve seen. “What about Tutelage?”
The new Witch adjusts her spectacles in idle contemplation. “When the Apprentice becomes the Dark Mistress, she seeks another to take her place in an unbroken chain of ancient lore. Perhaps I could find someone worthy of basking in my eldritch wisdom?”
“Yeah, ‘wisdom.’” She pokes me in the gut, making me jump. Those claws are sharp! “I’m sure someone will jump at the chance to learn magic from you, Honey. Ahem, let’s move on to Witchcraft.”
Still pouting, she replies, “As the name suggests, it allows me to engage with crafting things in a specifically Witchy capacity.”
“Okay, but
what
would you be crafting?”
“Witchy things, of course, Alex. What is unclear to you?”
My shoulders slump in defeat, and I sigh. “Alright, alright, it can be a surprise. It’s fine.”
Gabby cocks her head curiously at my antics, then shakes it to banish the subject from her mind. “On an definitely unrelated note, have you seen any feline monsters about, Alex? Consider me interested if you do.” Ah, that’s right. I need to recount today’s adventures for her. Unsurprisingly, Gabby is endlessly fascinated by the Domestic-type promotions of my Home Town when I do, demanding all the details I can recall, but one revelation in particular catches her attention, “A Cheetah Neko from the Dark Wood? Hmm…”
I mumble under my breath, “She teases me with one thing, makes me go off on a long-ass tangent indulging
her
interests, and then teases me
again
.”
“Alex,” she huffs, “Do you really want to know about my next crafting project, or is it finally time to get to the ‘good stuff?’”
She’s talking about the Witch abilities I’ll most likely want to select from my mark tree. I can’t pretend I’m not excited, so why bother? “Good stuff, please! Tell me about your Intuition.”
Gabby nods, closes her eyes, and seems to extend her senses. After a minute of concentration, she blinks up at me through the lenses of her spectacles and says, “This is definitely an evolution of Fast Learner. It’s like a vague form of weak precognition that only works on people I’ve directly observed. Right now, I’m getting a hunch we’re about to be interrupted by a welcome sight.”
“So, not enemies.”
“Not enemies, correct.”
Interesting. If it works well in combat, that’ll be a must-have. It shouldn’t be a surprise that an ability evolved from Fast Learner would be as essential as the former. Then again, how vague is ‘vague?’ Maybe I should go with the tried-and-true advancement of straight magic. “Spellcraft.” I’ve got an especially great feeling about this one.
“As the name suggests, it allows me to engage with crafting things in a specifically Spell-y capacity.”
“Gabby!”
The Goblin Witch cackles. So, she
was
fully aware of the teasing! “Wipe away that sour expression, Alex. Feel free to revel in your new favorite ability.”
I raise a skeptical eyebrow. “That’s a bold claim.”
Her cocky grin says it all, “You mean a 'well-reasoned' claim. It’s how I was able to manipulate the Harpy Matron’s Air Blade spell. As for other applications… show me the Electric Ewe’s magic.”
With a flex of will, my fleecy collar emits a soft blue glow. Further exerting my concentration allows me to wrap that crackling aura around my entire body. “I figured out what it does earlier. It’s a defensive spell that zaps the next thing that tries to touch me.” A great tool for keeping Dire Wolves, Orcs, and even Ogres from approaching you in the wild if you’re a feral Ewe. “Not that great when you’re working in a team, though. But, still, it’s perfect for charging our favorite Denki Nezumi.”
Gabby concedes that with a small nod before growing serious. “Observe.” The Witch draws her wand, flicks the tip, and an identical blue aura appears around herself. “
Copy
.”
“I could already do that with Fast Learner,” I comment. “And with Quick Study, you can even copy Third Tier spells after seeing them once.” My method has always been to simply take their mark and steal their ability on my mark tree, but I digress.
“
Manipulate
,” Gabby continues without acknowledging my interruption. This time, she points the wand at my spell and drags it off me with a flick of her wrist. My metaphysical magical sense feels a tug and a rip like ancient human Velcro coming apart as the blue aura slides away. I gape as my spell hangs in the air between us, still holding the shape of my body.
“I guess you could use that for area-denial,” I idly speculate to fill the conversational void as Gabby plays with deadly magic like a tinkerer taking apart an ancient watch.
“
Dismantle
.” The blue aura silhouette of staticky magic collapses into a ball of electric potential. It moves at the direction of her conductor’s baton, ready to be flung at an enemy like a projectile with a twitch of her wand.
Now I understand why she said, ‘dismantle.’ She just turned a fundamentally defensive spell into an offensive one. All that remains of the base spell is its composite element and power.
“
Enhance
.” The electric blue ball enlarges and intensifies to a brighter luminosity before my bulging eyes. “This is roughly equivalent to Third Tier, Inferior Rank magic, but you understand the point.”
I stare in awe. “With this, I don’t need Third Tier monster marks to cast Third Tier spells.”
Gabby’s blissful self-assurance finally seems fully deserved. “While my Spellwork’s power is limited to 'Third Tier, Inferior' without a proper higher-ranked Third Tier framework to copy, I can simply do as you saw before.
Multiply
.” By recasting the Enhanced electric ball and merging it with the first, she doubles the spell’s power. “
Multiply
.”
The Goblin Witch then throws the blue orb at the ground where it explodes into a bright zap that scorches the ground with an accompanying loud clap. While it’s not on the level of Megan’s Thundercrash, I’m suitably impressed. Gabby can do that with
any
spell, leveraging type-advantage, as often as she wants.
“Gimmie!”
*Selected Goblin Witch Spellcraft!*
I hastily conjure another envelope of Electric Magic about myself and say, “
Manipulate
.”
Nothing happens.
“
Manipulate
,” I repeat, my voice straining as fear of failure replaces excitement.
“Ahem,” Gabby catches my attention to waggle her wand at me. Oh, right, she’s using a tool of some kind. This is spell-
craft
, after all.
Focusing my intent, I visualize the leylines with Profane Sight. The strings of energy underpinning reality gradually become visible as I concentrate. Hmm, I don’t have a wand, but maybe I can… I grasp the blue lines around me with my hands and pull. I watch with glee as the electric aura unspools from the energy envelope into a ball in my hand.
“
Enhance
,” I say as I pour power into the orb, increasing its potency to the Third Tier. The spell greedily accepts my magic as it grows. “
Multiply, Multiply.
” With the use of a second and third Multitasking Focus along with a wave of my hand, I do it all again twice over in a blink. Then I toss the resultant orb of zappy death at the ground and watch the fireworks.
*Boom!*
“Wooo!!! I’m a Witch!” I throw my hands up in triumph and do a little dance. The other residents of Field Town are actively avoiding us at this point. Gabby gives me a polite round of applause, letting me revel in the moment—clearly pleased with herself and perhaps rightfully crediting her work for my success. I do owe it all to her, so I give my wife an exaggerated bow of gratitude. “Oh, thank you, your mighty Witchiness, for the lesson.”
“Hmph, you’re already thanking me, and we’re not even done,” Gabby teases, and I straighten to watch her next demonstration. “Look over there.” When I follow the direction of her pointing wand, my gaze catches on the massage waterbed and dildo plant she made.
Before my eyes, the water continues to roil, and the viny plant continues to brandish its twisted rod.
“They’re still going…”
Gabby nods. “Spell Persistence. I can maintain simple spells of one Tier below mine. They should last through the day judging by the name of the ability in your mark tree.”
Ah, I suppose it isn’t called ‘Spell Permanence.’ “But that sounds useful too, Honey. I bet there are a lot of things you can do with it.” I may even be putting it at the top of my shortlist once I have a chance to rearrange my Goblinoid mark distribution.
“A few ideas may have occurred to me…” the Witch says absentmindedly while tapping her wand tip to her lip before returning her focus my way. “I’m sure you’re itching to know how powerful my Dark Magic is.” She flicks her wand away from me, and a sphere of roiling black and purple energies appears. Gabby slams the spell into the ground where it bursts into a shower of sparklers and random noises. “The raw power is there, but I wasn’t granted any premade constructs to my spell library when I evolved. It’s largely useless for now until we find a grimoire or fight another Imp to copy his magic.”
Something about that has me scratching my head. “Why have it, then? What’s the point of your evolution coming with a useless ability?”
The Witch tuts at me, “Recall there wasn’t any guarantee I’d have encountered a Dark Magic user until now. This ability would’ve unlocked that school of magic for me otherwise. Additionally, I never said I
couldn’t
invent a Dark Magic spell given enough time. With that in mind, you may very well want a source of Third Tier Dark Magic in the future, Alex.”
True enough, especially if it’s more potent than the Third Tier Inferior Rank magic I could otherwise upgrade my weaker spells to with a Spellcraft, ‘
Enhance
.’
After shrugging my acquiescence, I ask, “Well, are we saving Ritual Intuition for last? Or is it a dud?”
“None of my Witch abilities are ‘duds,’ as you say. Draw that Warg ritual you spoke of for me, please.”
Right, I kind of brushed over that scene when I was recounting everything to Gabby, but her ears are as sharp as ever. “Sure, but I don’t have the book with me. Janine has it.”
“Excellent. I’ll send a runner for it while you get to work, Alex.”
Stupid sexy Gobliness. No rest for the wicked, I suppose.
I begin drawing lines on a patch of ground I level with Earth Magic to match what I saw in the Guardhouse cellar. It takes a while, long enough for Janine to come deliver the leatherbound journal personally. It doesn’t surprise me that Gabby has a ton of questions for the Hobgoblin Secretary that I overhear while drawing, but the ritual takes priority as soon as I finish.
“Alright, that’s everything…” I trail off as a question occurs to me once the Ritual Site is fully reproduced, “Gabby, was I supposed to invoke Dark Magic during all this? Or does the circle just start working automatically once everything is in place?”
Gabby doesn’t answer right away while she’s totally engrossed, having switched to memorizing the book by this point. A few minutes later, she announces, “This thing is a piece of garbage. The author wasn’t anywhere near Saint Lilith’s caliber. It’s a wonder the Doggins ever managed to conduct a successful ritual.”
“It does explain what to do, and how to do it, though, right?” I ask.
“Hmm…” Gabby closes the book with a
*whump*
and tosses it aside. Janine deftly catches the leatherbound projectile to stow in her black ring binder. “I think we brute-force it. Do we have any volunteers?”
“Uhhh,” I draw a blank. Then my mind restarts, and I object, “That doesn’t sound like a good idea, though, Honey. It’s supposed to be pretty dangerous. The Doggins seemed insistent on only letting the ideal candidates make the attempt. And I thought this all had to be done at midnight on the equinox or something? They had a skylight for the full moon and everything…”
My Witchy bride adjusts her spectacles and explains, “Ceremonies like those described in the book exist to gather energy from the ambient leylines of the world, natural confluences of magic, or to extract the necessary power from a sacrifice. In other words, it’s a replacement for those who can’t wield Dark Magic directly. Supplying the raw magical energy for the Ritual upfront allows one to skip pesky details like the phase of the moon or time of year.
“The circle itself provides all the logic for the spell. With a consistent, steady flow of Dark Magic to fuel its operation, the circle should function without issue. As for the safety of the Ritual, Alex, I’m chalking it up to errors in the ceremony. If the flow of energy powering the Ritual were to be interrupted for any reason, there’s no telling the effects it could have on the subjects. Additionally, it makes sense for your Hometown to only use ideal candidates for the Ritual when their true bottleneck was the low number of Ceremonies they could perform annually, not a lack of volunteers.”
Janine pipes up, interjecting her opinion as well, “I believe the Lady Mayoress will be surprised by the number of applicants eager to take this opportunity. Remember, this represents a chance to change one’s fate. Hybrids are always stronger than their component monsters, and there are always those willing to embrace the drawbacks in exchange for power.”
The look Gabby gives the Hob tells me Janine just rose a notch in the Witch’s estimation.
Just then, a yellow streak of light barrels past us, stops, and doubles back to stop in front of me. “Alex! Have you seen Cottontail???” Megan asks, seeming agitated.
I get a sinking feeling, “No… why?”
“She disappeared!”

169. Return to Base, Part 3