The Mimic in Monsterland

“You’re still relying on that rage too much.” Len chastised. “But I will admit, it looks like you have a much better handle on it now. And your strength has grown. Glad to see you didn’t slack off too terribly.”

I shifted out of Ursa's form whilst rubbing the back of my head. “Stupid stick,” I mumbled to myself. “What was that?” Len asked mockingly, then proceeded to whip the stick in his hands. “Nothing!”

“Ah give the lad a break, you old stickler. It's not like I gave the boy many other options.” The large attacker said in my defense.

Not particularly ready for Len’s lesson, I sat on the floor of the huge but not-so-empty room. Training weapons sat on top of counters that lined the walls. Wooden blunted blades and shields mostly. Some racks held polearm-type weapons. I guessed this room to be some sort of training facility.

I stretched my back, preparing myself for some pain after being thrown into the wall like that. But shockingly, my back didn’t even crack. Weird.

The fight wasn’t very long, but it took more out of me than I would like to admit. My stamina and health are probably screwed. I looked up at my status bars. Every one of them was full.

Len and Jaren snickered at my obvious lack of understanding. Oh, those two are going to be insufferable together, aren’t they? My thoughts were further confirmed when I looked over and saw Daila slowly shaking her head in defeat. She walked in not long after the commotion ended. With a very annoyed look on her face. She must not have been clued in on the charade. Which also told me these kinds of antics were probably the norm. Yay.

The large man was the first one to answer the question I hadn’t asked yet. “It’s the floor.” I tilted my head at his words. I looked down at the floor. It was indeed a floor, I give you that. A wooden one, like everything else in the building. “I don’t understand.”

The big half-elf turned to Daila. “Mind explainin’?” She nodded at her superior.

“This is the training room. Under the floor panel are some enhancement sigils that prevent damage and exhaustion. That is why your status has not dwindled after that raucous exchange with Mr. Holdsburn.” Jaren nodded with a wide grin on his face. His expression reminded me of an overly proud child.

My eyes opened up, I examined the floor with even more vigor this time. “That sounds amazing and impossible. How does it work? Why not put those sigils on armor? What are sigils?”

Len answered simply by raising his hand. I remembered the sign and shut my mouth on reflex. “We will get to that down the road. For now, we have other important matters to discuss.” Len said. “Let’s go to the office.”

The three turned and walked to some stairs at the far end of the room. I rose and caught up to them. Feels like that's all I’ve been doing today, catching up to someone.

They started walking up the stairs once I met up. I looked at the hallway that connected back to the foyer. There were some more doors connected to it. Wonder what other rooms are in this building.

“I will give you a better tour later. Jaren and Daila have limited time today and we have much to discuss.” Len said, reading my mind.

“Gotcha.” I replied.

 

The four of us were in what was apparently Len’s office. He sat in a ridiculously large and somewhat ostentatious chair behind a far too big desk, his legs kicked up on top of said desk. His attire and attitude made for the worst match possible. Like a hobo who had just broken into an office building and was messing around.

Jaren sat to my left, drinking some liquid that I assumed was tea. Smelled like it at least. Never cared for tea, it's just dirty leaf water. Never understood the hype. Daila brought the drinks in a few minutes ago, after the excitement was over. I sipped some. It was bitter, dirty leaf water, as I had assumed.

Daila didn’t sit down and elected to stand next to the desk.

Len drank some of his tea and then sat back up. He placed the cup down and looked at me. His face lost the levity from before.

“How did you come across the raid? I made sure your camp was set up miles away from the battleground.” Len asked. His tone was serious, telling me that playtime was over and a grownup conversation was starting. The back of my head got hot.

“It just kind of happened.” I unintentionally looked over at Jaren for a second.

Len shook his head at the pitiful answer. He looked at Jaren and Daila, then back to me. He sighed. “I trust these two with my life. They have proven time and again that they would never betray me. That is extended to you as well. Maybe Jaren’s introduction was a tad… violent. But I assure you it was my idea.” His expression softened before he continued. “So trust them. Besides, you are going to be spending a whole lot more time with them then me in the coming months.”

“Why?” I asked. I was shocked; I didn’t think Len would just drop me on someone else.

“Don’t worry kid. I’m not going anywhere. But I wasn’t ready for your early arrival. I still have some things to set up. Namely getting you formally added to the Laurel citizenry and this.” He waved his hands around.

I nodded. Jaren’s large hand slapped my shoulder. “Aye kid. Don’t worry. I don’t bite.”

Len continued on. “Here. Before we get to the raid, Jaren, tell the boy who you are.” The bald half-elf nodded, stood up, and began speaking with a big smile.

“Name’s Jaren Holdsburn. I am the Commander of the fourth Legion of Laurehaven. I hold the Draco Gene, type: Zephyr. Frontline Fighter. Level 35. Been pals with Len since I was a wee lad still wet behind the ears.” He laughed at the end of his introduction. “Feels weird talking like this.” He held his hand out as he finished.

I breathed in deep. He was being forthcoming, no reason I shouldn’t be as well. I stood up and tried to match his energy.

“Liam Foster. I don’t really have a title or anything. I hold the Mimic Gene. No clue what kind of fighter, a dumb one that’s for sure. And I’m level four.” I grasped his hand and shook. He belted out a laugh. “Love the confidence. I’m sure we will get on just fine. Also, what the hell is a mimic?”

We both sat back down. Len looked satisfied. “Jaren, he’ll explain it later.” Len turned back to me. “Glad to hear you hit level four Liam. That will make my job easier. Now would you mind giving the rundown on how you found yourself in that battle?”

 

I spent the next hour detailing the last couple of months. About how I fought and beat the tanther. I found out it was, in fact, a panther; its official name was Shade Panther. I have no clue why the mimic record is called Tigris, but it made me feel better.

Then I talked about my hunting trip in the winter, and how I came across the magical gardenias. Which raised some eyebrows but they didn’t say anything. Daila’s nose twitched at my mention of them. I described the Energized buff I received from them. There was glint in her eyes as I spoke.

I told them about how I tried to harvest the flowers. How much of a bust it was for the first couple of months, especially with all of the monsters that ransacked the camp those days. I gave a quick summary of the other monsters that I fought.

Jaren laughed when I talked about the size-shifting mole. “Aye, those bastards are a right pain in the ass. Tasty though.” I agreed with him. It was yummy.

Len explained that the hidden fire I accidentally put out was his creation. Something called an aura flame, whose purpose was to keep most monsters away from camp. He said the shade panther was one of the few monsters in the area that would have ignored it.

“I was going to snuff it out myself, but I’m glad you did. You were going to plateau with the solo training. But I am intrigued by the flowers. Did you manage to harvest them?” Len said. Daila seemed fascinated with the subject of the flowers. She had a glint in her eyes.

I went on to talk about all my experiments in growing the flowers. How all of them were mostly useless. That I didn’t figure them out until I went back and found the non-magical version growing out of the skull of the monster. Daila nodded, her face was thoughtful. “Do you feel an urge to eat more of those flowers?” She asked.

“Not really,” I replied. She nodded but didn't say any more. Instead she pulled a Len and sat down with a notebook and a writing utensil.

I moved along, telling them I found the first bud in the body of the boar monster who ate the seeds, and how, from that discovery, I began to bury the other bodies in my corpse pile that contained the buds. I left out the part about trying to sell them in the city.

“And that brings us to the day before the raid. I woke up the next morning and the entire pile of monster corpses was gone, leaving only a trail of blood and flesh. Nasty right?” I said in a joking tone. But there wasn’t any humor on the faces in the room.

Jaren spoke up next. “How many were in that pile?”

I shifted in my seat. Everyone’s expression in the room grew grim and I wasn’t sure why. A fresh injection of nervousness flowed in me.

“Um… a couple dozen I think. I wasn’t really keeping track. Why?”

My answer seemed to calm them. Their tense faces loosened.

“As long as it wasn’t a hundred or more,” Len said. “You followed after the corpse pile and it led you to the raid I assume.”

“Yes, but why would a hundred bodies matter? I asked back.

“It has to do with the nature of the raid boss. We can circle back to that in a minute.”

The room was silent for a minute, everyone must have been digesting my story. But I had my own burning questions to ask.

“Why didn’t you stop that green witch from capturing me?”

Len scratched the back of his head. “Yeah, sorry about that. Would have made things complicated if I did. Politics you know. Besides I told you to break out and you did. All’s well that ends well.”

I sighed. This lackadaisical old fart. Politics. What does that even mean on Kniyas? “Then my next question is, am I just going to be a fugitive the rest of my time in Laurelhaven?”

“Nope, not at all. You should be good in about two days. Then you can go out and about on your own. But until then, Wynne’s basement will be your home.”

“Wynne?” I asked.

“Mrs. Warbler,” Daila answered.

“Ahh.” I couldn’t find anything to complain about. Her food was delicious and she was an absolute treat to be around. “Sure, that’s fine with me.”

“Good, now that that’s all settled we can move on. Time to talk about this building here. Or rather Jaren’s guild.” He winked at the large guy.

My ears perked up when he said guild. What kind of guild? They have a training room, so it's probably combat-oriented. I wasn’t sure why, but I felt excited.

“Oi oi oi. That’s only on paper.” Jaren said, pointing at Len. “It’s yer baby, not mine.”

Len waved off the comment. “Semantics.”

He turned back to me. “I would have liked to do this when the building was actually complete, but now works too. Welcome to the Explorer’s Guild.”