So...uhmm...this sewer isn’t very friendly, is it?

We all followed Gothalyn through the sewer as she was reading the ‘How Monster’s Mutate,’ book; I was able to pick up some interesting things from that book as well, mainly I found out something about this world from it. That being that I can’t gain any Biomass from anything that is not either a monster or a human, which means that if I went and killed that pigeon I wouldn’t get any biomass from it, which totally ruins an idea I had of just buying all the food from a grocery store...unless humans do indeed store monster meat at a grocery store.

“Do people buy monster meat?” Cake asks Gothalyn.

Gothalyn looks shocked since I was reading the book from behind her but ends up answering my question.

“Yes. But. Few. And. Illegal,” Gothalyn responds.

Damn it! I was hoping I could just put this whole fighting thing behind me and just enter the food business but it looks like I’ll be still fighting.

Which leads onto my second point I learned from that book, Gothalyn has technically never told me exactly what she plans to do with me, but based off of my context clues and her reading a book literally titled ‘How Monsters Mutate,’ I can assume that she is going to be power leveling me like I power level Cake and Kiwi.

Ahh. It’s nice to be on the receiving end of a power leveling instead of the one doing all the work, although I still don’t think I like being in some dank sewer system, it is at the very least an improvement over that volcanic cave system, which I actually did end up getting quite used to, so a sewer system isn’t so bad, but I would very much like to live in a, you know, ACTUAL HOME!

I’ll take what I can get, though, and what I got right now are two monsters and one Goth Girl who wants to help me out of a mixture of accidental brainwashing and weird pet opinions, so it could be worse, I could be dead. That would definitely be worse, and speaking of dying I’m going to point Gothalyn toward something moving in the water I spotted around a corner.

“There are some weird eye-things things moving in the water around the next corner,” Cake says to Gothalyn.

“ok,” Gothalyn looks like she is done with being surprised about anything and blankly accepts me.

Hey! I didn’t want to end up like this. I was born this way! If I had a choice of monster to be born as I would have chosen a monster version of a puffin; they can fly, walk, and swim and look cute while doing it! Truly an all around amazing monster to be turned into! The only thing I can do as of right now is roll and latch as an absolutely disgusting creepy ball!

*splash*

I watch as Gothalyn jumps into the waist high sewage.

Oh! Gothalyn went into the water to attack that thing I spotted in the water, I guess I probably shouldn’t let Gothalyn do all the work by herself, but first I have to find out whether or not I can safely swim.

After that thought, I take my first dip into the water as I watch Gothalyn stab a knife into the creature I spotted.

Oh, she already killed it, that's good.

But you know what isn’t good.

I can’t swim.

My draining spikes are pulling me down!

I thought I would be a great swimmer considering I’m basically a weird land octopus, but I guess my species wasn’t really meant to swim considering they live in an active volcano!

I am actually able to see underwater although, I think I might be stretching the definition of sight with that one. As I can’t even make out anything underwater but I can sort of feel sight instead of seeing it, it’s like I can feel something by seeing it as long as it’s underwater and within like 5ft, so it would also seem my vision is very limited underwater. In conclusion, being in sewage water is a new experience, however I would like to make it back on land.

I immediately used my other ability, Flesh Flash, to slingshot a tendril out of my body to stick to the low hanging ceiling of the sewer system to stop me from moving downstream.

My Flesh Flash activates pulling me out of the water and my bouncy body hits the ceiling and I immediately grasp onto it and roll back to the side while Cake and Kiwi watch me.

‘Meister, are you okay?’ Cake asks wondering how I am.

‘I am...fine, I thought I was gonna drown for a second but I am fine now,’ I tell Cake and Kiwi.

Wait a minute, I'm pretty sure I don't even breath, so maybe I wouldv'e fine? Whatever it doesn't matter all that much, since being in sewage water isn't something I want to stay in for any significant period of time anyway.

‘Kiwi. Happy,’ Kiwi responds along with a snip from Cake.

*snip*

‘We are both glad that you are fine, Meister, we would both have sacrificed our lives to save you,’ Cake says with the tone of a brick.

That’s uhm… very kind of you guys, but I think we should start eating that monster Gothalyn killed for us, and give our thanks to the overpowered goth girl to *mental cough* encourage her to feed us more...*mental cough*

What are you talking about, I didn't think anything?

“You are not hiding that from anyone. You are attempting to use, “that woman” for your own gain instead of telling her to seek medical attention with her little, *evil snicker* Puffball problem. *evil sni…* GagOs isn’t able to finish before I mute her.

Mute.

So as I was thinking we need to show how thankful we are toward Gothalyn wading through sewage and killing a monster for us in the only way we can, dancing, I’m joking we are not going to break out in song and dance to show how thankful we are toward Gothalyn feeding us.

But I am a little salty that she took all that xp from the kill, when she doesn’t even gain xp.

=========

Brooklyn had taken down an Eyed Ache Croc, a large ambush predator with dozens of eyes around its body, which when all opened would cause the reptile to experience something similar to a very bad headache, which allowed Brooklyn to easily put the beast down by startling it; causing the croc to stun itself and allow Brooklyn to thrust a knife into its neck.

Brooklyn waddled out of the waist deep sewage water seizing her meal for Puffball and its very unusual gang of monsters; that Brooklyn did not really understand all that well other than Puffball had some sort of control over them.

“Grab onto Cake,” the crab monster “thing” called, Cake, in front of Brooklyn spoke and allowed Brooklyn to grab onto its claw.

Brooklyn still had not gotten entirely used to Puffball’s unorthodox way of speaking to her, she accepted it without question along with any other unusual thing Puffball did, mostly because if she didn’t, she would most certainly have gone mad by now.

As Brooklyn grabbed onto the bright red crab-girls claw, while at the same creating some small steps in the wall to more easily climb back onto the sewage’s walkway, she was greeted by Puffball and its green slightly rocky mantis.

“Thank you for helping us, we appreciate it, but if it doesn’t bother you too much can you allow us to do the most amount of damage to the monsters as we need it to evolve,” Cake told Brooklyn before bowing, Puffball created a heart tendril, which made Brooklyn’s heart flutter at its cuteness, and the mantis tried to mimic Puffball by drawing a heart in the air.

“That’s Kiwi’s way of thanking someone by the way,” Cake told Brooklyn.

“I...I...uh,” Brooklyn was at a complete loss of words but she quickly accepted the thanks and decided to go along with Puffballs extremely weird request which was oddly similar to a certain group of people with powers that increase in strength the more monsters they kill, otherwise known as Dynamic Powers, however, they almost always start out very weak and have a cap. The opposite group called Fixed Powers also exist, which usually start much stronger than Dynamic Powers but cannot be increased any further. It is also the group that Brooklyn fell into the day she gained her Geomancy powers at age 15.

Dynamic Powers are more uncommon than Fixed Powers, however, they are far from rare and makeup about a quarter of the Powered of Gumtrap. Two of the same powers also cannot exist in the same group, however, two people can have the same power as long as one is Dynamic and one is Fixed; often called Super-Twins, even if they aren’t biologically related.

Brooklyn would put Puffballs request in action and started to trap or otherwise subdue monsters using her skills as a Geomancer and after five hours of that she ended up catching: with the help of Puffball, Cake, and the mantis named Kiwi, two more Eyed Ache Crocs, six Blood Pack Bats, and twenty Cold-Roaches to feed to Puffball and its group.

Puffball also pointed her toward a nest of Blood Pack Bats that has an egg that it can use to gain another monster under its command, however Puffball ended up telling Brooklyn to wait until tomorrow to enter the nest due to some type of ability that it needs to upgrade called, “Progressor,” Brooklyn has no idea what Puffball was talking about but assumed the best thing would be to rest and rejuvenate her “magic-power juice” that she ended up using almost all of today to subdue those monsters using her geomancy power, instead of just easily killing them with a quick slash to any of their weaknesses.

Brooklyn would eventually have to leave Puffball and their gang at the Water Treatment Plant to go back home for the night to grab some pills, see her sister, sleep, and workout.

That last one is something that Brooklyn could probably skip out on today due to her adventures with Puffball but if she wants to keep her body in perfect shape, which allows her to use more, “magic-power juice,” otherwise known to everyone as stamina.

A fit and healthy body causes increased stamina allowing powered like Gothalyn to use their powers for longer. As such all people who are serious about using their power for any reason should really consider getting a workout routine and skipping out on that, MgRonald’s, Mendy’s, GFC, Guaco Bell, Burger Queen, Rooster-Por-A, Pizza Castle, ᗡowino’s, Eggman Drive-In, Dipotle, Carl’s Sr./Softee’s, Big Caesars, Dairy King, Vrby’s, Mama Jane, or Veronica’s personal favorite, Basicbucks.

Brooklyn also stopped by Basicbucks on her way home to pick up Veronica’s favorite iced coffee, Melon Chilled Latte, made from locally produced square watermelons.

==========

I am currently alone with Cake and Kiwi inside the room that connects to the sewer; Gothalyn shut the sealed door before she left, but she did tell me how to open it in case anyone comes by and we need to hide in the sewer.

‘Meister, I have maxed out my shell, what do you want?’

[Your subject, Cake, has maxed out the mutation, Store-Shell; you may choose, allow Cake to choose or randomize]

‘Can’t you choose now?! You already went and did something on your own without me telling you to, you’re more than qualified to make your own mutation decisions, unlike a certain sleeping mantis’ I tell to Cake while looking over at Kiwi.

‘Meister I am truly sorry, but I don't know what to choose to make you happy,’ Cake replies.

‘Cake, look at me,’ I sternly say to Cake, who immediately stares at me with her entire being, never taking her large black eyes off me, she also snips in agreement to the command.

*snip*

‘Okay, stop staring at me, that's a little creepy,’ I reply as Cake returns to normal crab posture with a snip.

*snip*

‘Okay, Cake what is different about making a decision on your own without my knowledge and choosing your mutation by yourself,’ I tell Cake to hopefully find a break in logic to convince Cake.

‘Oh! That is easy, Meister! I always try to do everything I can to benefit you but I do not want to bother you with every small decision, and picking a mutation is not a decision that I can make because I simply do not know which one would make you happiest, I could randomly pick one though if you really want me to choose?’ Cake responds with perked up mouth-claws.

‘...How much thought did you put into that!?’ I respond shocked out of my tendrils.

‘It was my first thought, however, it was more simplistic back then,’ Cake responds.

...it was your first thought...honestly, I can’t say I’m surprised. I would be infinitely more surprised if she said it was her second, because then I would be immensely curious about the first thought.

However, I won't be deterred this time by brainwashed logic, and instead of going down an endless rabbit hole of repeating logic. I’ll try to take a different approach, although I have massive doubts about it working.

‘Kiwi, tell Cake which mutation to choose,’ I tell Kiwi.

‘Zzz-Okay,’ Kiwi responded, giving the obvious answer before groggily walking over to Cake

See I knew it wasn’t going to work, that would just be so stupid. Imagine if that worked, I went through all that work to convince Cake to…

WAIT! IT WORKED!!!!!!

‘Options?’ Kiwi asks Cake for her options, very groggily.

‘Heated Shell, Cold Shell, Large Shell, Spiked Shell, Hardened She…,’ Cake begins to list off all of her mutation options to Kiwi.

‘Wait! Stop stop stop stop,’ Cake and Kiwi both freeze and look at me before I continue, ‘Cake, didn’t you just tell me that I needed to choose your mutation?!’

‘Yes?’ Cake looks confused.

‘Then why are you letting Kiwi choose, instead of me?’ I ask.

This is undoubtedly a great thing for me if I ever want to take a break from playing with their mutations, but...WHY DID IT WORK?!

‘Huh? Maistear? I. Would. Never. Choose. For. You,’ Kiwi responds for Cake, confused.

‘But...but...OH!’ I try to make an argument before I figure it out.

I know where this is going now. Kiwi was just going to repeat to me all of Cake’s mutations until I gave an answer, then Kiwi would tell Cake, and Cake would choose, so basically, I’m still choosing but with Kiwi as a medium.

‘Nevermind Kiwi, you can go back to sleep. I’ll just choose Cake’s mutation,’ I reply, since I would rather avoid that extra step.

Alright, let's see what I can do with Cake’s shell. I search through the list and choose this one.

[Hardened Shell: Increases the strength of the shell; however, it comes with an increased weight]

[Would you like to select Hardened Shell for Cake]

Yes/No

Yes, I would very much like that SystOs.

[Confirmed, You have chosen Hardened Shell for subject, Cake]

Cake immediately passed out and the black monster goo came out of her body and started fixing and upgrading her shell into a hardened shell.

I am glad that I have regeneration since it would be a pain if I had to wait until a mutation upgrade to fix anything even if a normal monster's natural regeneration is much faster and better than a humans, mine is still much better than any other monster I have seen.

Let’s see what else I have to do...Ah! I have to do some upgrades as well.

I remember spotting that sewage nest full of bats and I HIGHLY doubt that I will get lucky again; like I did with that mother mantis and its super eggs, which all had the ability to skip the first evolution. Which means I need to upgrade [Progressor], if I want monster girls as fast as possible.

[Would you like to upgrade Monster Egg Latcher: Progressor to (1) for 100 Biomass, remaining amount of Biomass 97]

Yes/No

Yes, allow me to skip the evolutions for my little eggies!

I end up losing all my senses, and I am forced to just sit and think under the protection of Kiwi for a few minutes.

I wonder what I should do now? Gothalyn left, and she also explicitly told us to never leave this building, which is fair since I don’t really want to get found out by any human I can’t trust.

“...or have any sort of control over,” GagOs says inside my head while I have no senses.

That’s only partly true, it’s easier to trust if they are but...wait. Woah! You can still speak inside my head while I’m cut off from my senses! I actually didn’t think that was possible! You really are just a robot full of surprises aren’t you, GagOs.

“Surprise! You’re a terrible monster, in actuality and morality,” GagOs says.

Hmm...I wonder if this still works?

Mute.

Ah! It does, wonderful! I will not take lessons on morality from you. So, just stay quiet for as long as possible.

After confirming that GagOs can and will annoy me at all times. I wake up and look around the water treatment plant, instead of being creeped out by this building as I would've as a human. I feel a strange sense of nostalgia for it, possibly due to it being the first human building I have ever entered in this life, so I decide to do some looking around out of boredom and curiosity.

I spot lots of old graffiti, random assortments of trash, and lots of empty open drawers around the building, however, I did find a room with a destroyed window that was behind a locked wooden door, that was still looted and ransacked as the other rooms, however less so, and I decided to enter the room.

I punch through the wooden door just by using a normal draining spike and I slide my tendril through the broken door and unlock the door from the inside. As I enter the room to do a bit of exploration, three things stand out in this room.

1. A dusty map

2. A board game

3. Some random files relating to the sewer, water levels, and monsters.

I grab the files from the cabinet and look over them which tells me a story of how the monsters got in the sewers, after a quick glance I make out that this city had a problem with clogged sewers, so they brought in a special type of pack slime to fix the problem, which worked for a time, however, the increased slime population in the sewers slowly caused more and more monsters to gravitate toward the sewers, killing all of the slimes and leaving dangerous monsters that roam the sewers.

Hmm? So, they tried fixing a problem but only ended up making it worse, welp sucks to be them but at least I’m benefiting off of it, while at the same time helping them with their monster problem.

The board game comes with a bag of square pieces of white and black taped to the bottom of the board. It looks like a normal checkers board however, the pieces are square instead of circles.

I could have some fun with Cake and Kiwi with this, on second thought, I’m pretty sure they will just let me win every single time, but maybe I could set up a checkers match between them to ease the boredom.

And lastly the dusty map, I wipe off the dust the map accumulated in this room and stare at it in complete disbelief.

This map looks to be just a random assortment of land and ocean and looks like any other world map but I found it...I FOUND IT!

THE WORLD MAP!

I immediately decide to wipe off all the dust to look at the map in all of its glory and at the top right corner I spot some words in elegant cursive that read, ‘Fantasy Lord: The Videogame - World Map’

I instantly tear the map into a million tiny pieces, and never speak of this to anyone.