Chương 73: Chapter Seventy Two

The ticking rumble of his clockwork engine was unnoticeable to the outside world; given its location within his ever-growing sub-dimension. Bob could feel it though. Its steady 'clicks' echoing through his form like a new heartbeat. The energy it was pumping into his body feeling more like adrenaline-laced blood than carefully constructed mana. Him finding it a little ironic that perhaps the most 'mechanical' of his Traits to date, was also the one which had left him feeling the most human.

It was something he reveled in as he finally stepped out onto the rooftop of the once-distant apartment building; his vaults contents almost triple what they were before he had entered, and a much larger, strangely bulky mimic slowly following behind him. Between 'Clockwork Engine' and his recent attribute increase, the trip to the large complex had taken far less time than he'd expected.

The Trait's ability actually being fairly impressive; it granting him a ten percent boost to all physical attributes while his engine was running. A caveat which had mildly worried him before he realized how exactly said engine was 'refueled'. That being by turning the big key sticking out the back of it. This, luckily, was a task Buddy was more than willing to take responsibility for.

The octopus currently stationed in front of the ottoman-sized engineering marvel with a large pile of mollusks and a glazed-over expression on its face. The thousands of moving parts seeming to have the creature completely mesmerized; though at least his frequent warnings of what a bad idea it would be to stick any appendages inside appeared to have taken hold. His own modifications had nothing on his minions', however.

The creature following behind him now covered in a mass of mussels overlapping its form like scale mail. A condition that Bob couldn't help but feel both he and the system itself were equally responsible for. Around half-way through their journey, he had taken a brief break to check on the monstrous mussel living in his basement; concerned about whether or not it had fully settled in to its new sub-dimensional home.

Once he'd arrived however, he was surprised to see that someone else was also interested in how the enormous bivalve was doing; and it wasn't the still-elated – and endlessly hungry – Buddy. Instead, it was the mimic. The creature squatting down in what used to be an empty wooden hallway, one which was now nearly completely covered in F-rank mussels. A fate which his minion also hadn't been spared. At first, the event was nothing more than a mildly funny irritation.

Him intending to have Buddy pluck the shellfish off, tell the mimic to stay out of the basement, and more or less be done with the entire situation. That is, until inspiration struck. As he looked down at his mollusk-encrusted subordinate, he realized that this might well be a way for the creature to actually assist him. The 'Flesh-Rending' mimic wasn't strong enough to exist this deep in the city without the shield the mussels had previously provided.

But if the monster could manage to bring that shield outside with it… It took him placing his minion in the Boss-Mussel's path twice more before the coverage met Bob's standards, but after that, he delicately extracted the monster to see if its 'armor' would really allow it to function this far in. Only to be quite deeply surprised when it actually did.

This, admittedly ridiculous, solution helped speed up his looting of the apartment building by quite the measure; though he was forced to assist his minion up the stairs after they'd cleared each level. Still, its usefulness and continued loyalty in immediately transferring every coin to his vaults caused both a touch of warmth and a sliver of trust to grow between him and the lesser treasure chest. Enough so, that Bob made a potentially risky decision.

Him deciding to transfer the lions-share of his loot to the creature in a bid to get it to level twenty; hoping it might develop another impressive 'Minion Path' Trait. It was something he couldn't have done if not for the huge number of 'badges of citizenship' he'd picked up in his current location. Those managing to stack flat enough that adding a few of the smaller and more expensive enchanted items just pushed the creature over the total amount required.

And of course, he hadn't done any of this without first making it abundantly clear that the mimic wasn't to evolve or use the gold in any way without his say-so. Happily enough though, it worked. The monster almost immediately returning his gold to him before it went through a fairly drastic transformation; at least for just a Trait pickup. The mussels covering its body slowly organizing themselves before grafting fully to the wood below, now seemingly one united organism.

The system cheerfully informing him that it had acquired the Trait: 'Organic Armor (E)'. It was something Bob was initially happy with. The Trait might not have been exactly what he was hoping for, but it was decidedly useful. The creature now much better defended against the aura cloaking the city as well as being, oddly enough, slightly more mobile. Its form seeming to have far more natural 'give' despite being covered with hundreds of rock-hard shells.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. In fact, he was in the middle of patting himself on the back for assisting his minion in attaining such a useful transformation, when he suddenly realized something. This being that, with its now far greater size, he had zero chance of swallowing the creature back up.

It took a few moments for the realization that he'd lost one of the two components for his mana battery to fully set in, but when it finally did, Bob was beyond aggravated with himself; stomping up and down a hallway as he cursed within his own mind and contemplated asking Buddy to engineer another 'forceful' entrance. Still, he eventually took a deep imaginary breath and let it go. He had all the same materials on hand to try and make another 'Flesh-Render Mimic' after all.

It being fairly obvious that the monster achieved the evolution due to it eating – or more accurately, being fed – a number of the mussels now overflowing throughout his sub-dimension. He just had to cross his non-existent fingers that he could replicate the process in only nine attempts. Besides, while he was less than happy about his hand being forced, this did give him a chance to see if sending one of his minions out on its own would actually be profitable.

Which was why, as soon as they left the building, they would be heading their separate ways. The mimic would be sent out to loot what areas of the city it could survive in, while Bob headed deeper in. Potentially quite a bit deeper in, actually. Chasing after a sensation burning far beyond the edge of even his most distant detection range. He'd started to feel it just as he was approaching the apartment complex. The searing taste of treasure somewhere further towards the city center.

Something which felt less like the 'bonfire' he'd encountered in the mussel-bound building, and more like an actual Sun burning in a far-away sky. What he could sense from here being more 'background radiation' than the thing itself. The mimic portions of his brain had demanded he head towards the sensation immediately, but Bob had been able to fight them off by focusing on the large quantity of unguarded treasure located inside what were obviously once luxury apartments.

Now that they were all fully looted however, he could feel his self-control beginning to wane. His recent haul had been pretty impressive, the slightly over four thousand gold gaining him one species level and elevating 'Treasure Hunter' to level forty. Comparing it to what he could feel coming from deeper inside the city however, was like comparing a puddle to a lake. Whatever it was almost certain to max out his first Class and potentially bring him close to his next evolution.

Something which felt equal parts tantalizing and terrifying. The saner parts of him demanded that he simply turn around. That he get himself outside even the most distant range of the sensation to avoid being tempted and focus on leveling himself with the crumbs scattered in the city's outskirts. To not take risks traveling to a location almost guaranteed to also be home to the city's 'Boss'. But the rest of him refused. It would just be delaying the inevitable anyway.

Now that he knew it was there, he would always have come back. And given how insanely his experience requirements had risen, it seemed unlikely that he'd be able to empower himself enough to warrant waiting. Even if he spent the entire next year killing crabs and gobbling up every last copper coin in the city, he still wouldn't be strong enough to take on the living catastrophe squatting at its heart.

He would just have to continue banking on the fact that neither he, nor any of the valuable relics scattered throughout the valley, seemed to be of interest to the creature. The still-steady flow of fish far above his head showing that its only true concern seemed to be the mass consumption of seafood. As long as he could stand traveling that far into the monster's aura, there was a good chance it would simply ignore him as he stole away the most valuable thing in the entire city.

At least, that's what Bob told himself as he wrapped his tongue around his shell-encased minion and 'hopped' off the building's roof. Enjoying both the water running across his boards and the implied trust of his motionless subordinate as he slowly tumbled to the ground below. The trip was rather enjoyably long – given his now far-less hydrodynamic shape – but eventually he and his fellow mimic landed on the sand-strewn streets; slight 'puffs' of silt erupting from their impact.

After settling both of them on their 'feet', Bob looked his first creation up and down. Surprised to feel a sense of genuine concern well up in him as he contemplated sending it off alone into the watery abyss. Still, it was something he was going to have to get used to; it not being advised for 'summoner' type characters to get overly attached to their minions. Bob shaking off the errant emotion as he prepared to give the creature its marching orders.

'I want you to go house-to-house throughout the city looking for treasure. When you find some, immediately send it to me. Try to avoid crabs, and don't go far enough into the city that you're not able to function. Did you grasp any of that at all?' He only had to wait a moment for the creature to respond. Unfortunately, its reply didn't help terribly at alleviating any of his worries.

'Creator.' Bob signed internally, about to make another attempt at explaining his orders, when he was surprised by the creature beginning to turn around and 'wiggle' its way in the other direction. He stared after it for a moment before choosing to believe that its actions were due to understanding him, rather than it simply choosing to wander off. It would likely go on to fulfill its purpose even if it hadn't understood anyway.

All mimics were drawn to treasure, and if nothing else the monster had proven fully compliant in sending such things to him almost immediately upon acquiring them. More of a concern was if it would be attacked by anything it encountered. Bob unsure if his 'sapience' could also be detected in those under his command. But he supposed him sending the creature off was as much of a test for that as it was a means of gaining more gold.

Either way, it couldn't come with him; the aura guaranteed to only grow ever more extreme with each step he took closer towards its creator. A creator which, given his luck, was likely squatting right on top of the treasure he felt quite determined to steal.