Reborn in a Dating Sim: Life as a Mob is hard in an Equestria Girl’s Dating Game!

Reborn in a Dating Sim:

Life as a Mob is hard in an Equestria Girl’s Dating Game!

Chapter Twenty-Five

The ship taken was the one that had been purchased for the domain itself. To Copper Plum it was a little slower than Artemis’ main ship, but then again it was more or less a far less technologically advanced. Still, the ship itself was a decent one. Designed to show off its strength, and at the same time looking as if it was meant to be seen at court. It stood as one of the truest estimates of the shipbuilders in the kingdom. For Copper it was almost a long forgotten wish. When he’d been much smaller, but after he remembered his former life, he’d longed to go on a ride with his father.

However, he wasn’t invited. Mostly because Delicate Emerald had wanted him to remain behind. Again, he had no idea what had changed her, but he wanted to find out what it was. And then he wanted to see if it could be removed. Additionally he wanted to see if she could be returned to the person that Gold Bit swore she had been. If that was possible then perhaps he could actually get to know his mother. If not then it would need be like she never existed. Part of him didn’t know if that was something he wanted or not, but then again it couldn’t be worse than dealing with her usual nagging and irritable nature.

He stood at the rail that allowed those on the deck to look out over the air as they traveled. The sturdiness of it reminded him of the craftsmanship of the airship itself. It certainly made him feel emboldened at how far he’d come. He’d left their home on his Dad’s small private airship. Something that was barely fit for traveling short distances, and he’d traveled for well over two weeks on it. Now he was traveling in what could be considered far better accommodations.

“My Captain,” Artemis said as she moved near to him, “I’ve been scanning the area, and I have noticed a changed landmass. It resides off in the distance. From what I can see there are multiple new points of entrance, and additionally I can see multiple variations of sky carp.”

He nodded, “Then that has to be our labyrinth,” he said as he looked at her, and he could see the way she was breathing, “Artemis, are you okay?”

After a moment she nodded, “My Captain, I’ve begun to take the next steps. I await for you to understand yourself, but I have moved forward. This body, this shell, has been receiving the upgrades that I’ve been researching. Please, feel my arm, please.”

He reached out, and it wasn’t what he felt, but the lack of what he felt. When normally touching her he’d feel a fleshy arm. It would be something that normal, but at the same time there would be a presence there. Something that felt almost like touching static electricity. It was something that made itself feel more present every single time he touched her. He didn’t feel it now. It was almost as if this wasn’t the disguise.

“Artemis, what is this?” he asked as he touched her arm, “It feels like normal flesh and blood.”

She nodded, “That is because it is flesh and blood,” she admitted as she looked at him, “My Captain, I’ve been observing the other new humans, and I’ve been observing the beast people that are servants. While doing so I’ve sent out nanobots that have collected small traces of their genetic material. I’ve been slowly decoding it until I was certain that I could begin growing synthesized muscle. Currently, my only success is this body.”

She studied him, “And there is a drawback to it,” she admitted after a moment, “The flesh itself is alive, and more than that it requires energy and fuel. I have been forced to take in nutrients in order to keep it alive. That is the reason why we have been going through more supplies than normal. I have been consuming some in order to keep this alive. I have wanted to keep it hidden until I was sure that it would remain alive, and remain active.”

He looked at her for a moment, “How detailed did you go with this?”

She smiled at him, “I’ve studied designed of various organs that all of you possess. I’ve taken the organs designs, and I’ve slowly reworked them with this same synthetic flesh. I am able to digest food, expel waste, drink water, and my Captain, I have reproductive capabilities. I am hopeful that they are compatible.”

He looked at her for a moment, “Are you uncertain if they are?”

She shook her head, “No,” she admitted, “I am certain that they are. My entire purpose for doing this has been to ensure that I could reproduce with you. I want to do this, more than anything else. I want to create a new life, with you, and I want to know what it is to carry a new life. My Captain, I desire more than merely being your servant. I want to be something far more, and it is my hope that you will want the same thing.”

He realized that when his dad was right about something then he was right about it. There was no denying that she wanted to be more than a servant. His Dad had called that. He breathed out, “I get that,” he said, and he looked at his own hands, “And as much as I would like to move forward, I still have reservations. Nothing that you’ve done, or caused, but reservations that exist from the life I had before. I know that you might not still completely believe that, but trust me when I say that there’s a lot of baggage there.”

She touched his arm, “and that is baggage that I will help you carry, if you will let me,” she said, her voice soft, “I want more than anything to help you, to be with you, but I will not force it my Captain. I will only go as far as you are willing to go.”

He nodded, the answer was certainly one that he understood, “I get that,” he admitted after a moment, “I really do, and I am so thankful for it. But Artemis, when did you start to make these changes? I mean I get that you’ve been gathering samples, but when did you actually start to make them?”

She studied him for a moment, “The moment I decided that I wanted to be with you as more than a servant. In that moment I realized that the only way this would work would be if I was able to actually share how I feel through every possible way. The physical aspect of it would be difficult, if not impossible, for us to express to each other. My biological disguise allows me to feel a few things, and it allows me to access my emotions, but at the end of the day it’s little more than a hard light construct. It is a facsimile that isn’t truly real. I wanted to change that.”

She smiled sheepishly, “I wanted to ensure that I could be more than a mere servant, and I wanted to make sure that you were able to feel something real with me. I will attempt to change the other bodies as well, but it will take time. The procedure has to be done slowly, but once it is complete there is no denying how well it adapts.”

She stood there, and Copper couldn’t deny that what he’d felt was real. It wasn’t close to real, but it was real. Then again there was something he’d heard once in his other life. A line from something he’d seen. The line was similar to, ‘What is real? How do you define 'real'? If you're talking about what you can feel, what you can smell, what you can taste and see, then 'real' is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain.’ In truth his reality now, as it was, could be nothing more than a few scattered electrical impulses that was still struggling through his brian.

The thing was he didn’t think that was the case. No, he believed that this was reality, and he believed that what Artemis had done was real. She was most likely as close to a living breathing being as she could come. The fact that she had done so for him certainly spoke volumes. It told him more of what he’d come to see. Artemis cared deeply for him. The reasons why certainly boggled the mind, but at the same time he couldn’t deny that she cared for him.

“ Artemis,” he said as he looked at her, “You’ve truly been changing yourself for me. I don’t know how to express how touched I am by that. You’ve done more than I would have expected, and honestly I’m more than touched that you’ve done it,” he said as he considered his words, “I’m sure that you’ve heard what my father has said a few times. It wasn’t as a jab toward you, but I know that you’ve heard it, You know what the nobility is going to think, right?”

She studied him, touched his cheek, and then without warning she stepped in closer, “And I will raze their houses to the ground. I will completely destroy their entire society. Nothing will remain behind, and I will ensure their total destruction. My Captain, nothing would stop me from making you happy. These nobles are only as powerful as their society allows them to be. To me, they’re nothing. They are less than nothing. They are dust in the wind. In truth, I’m not sure if they even qualify as that.”

He laughed a little, “Maybe,” he said, “But I want a nice quiet life. A life that doesn’t involve having to constantly fight for every single inch that I can get. Honestly, I’d much rather just continue to exist and go on from there. But in order to have that kind of life now I’m going to have to establish myself. Regardless, whatever may come, I will not abandon you. I will not leave you, and I will not go forward with you. Artemis, right now this is as close to an answer as I can give.”

She smiled, “And I accept,” she said happily, “Now, let us focus on the labyrinth that is ahead of us.”

Like when he docked the airship at the labyrinth that had One Eyed Mash they docked as close to the side of the island the labyrinth was located on as possible. Stepping out he could feel the marshy feel of the island itself. It was almost as if the labyrinth was changing it, causing it to become something else in order for it to exist here. The ground was less solid, and it felt like piled up mud. The steps were slow, each one causing him to sink a little into the ground.

He pushed forward, trying to focus on each step and considering exactly what they were going to do. Sky Carp didn’t have to live in water. As their name implied they swam through the skies themselves. They seemed to breath normal air, but their mouths were full of sharp and deadly teeth. A single one of them wasn’t difficult to put down, but a school of them was exceptionally dangerous. Similar to the crystal wasps they usually stayed in close knit schools.

“Okay,” he said as he watched his Dad leading them, “What’s the plan?”

His Dad smiled, “It’s been a while since I’ve raided a labyrinth. We’re going to go in through the cave, work our way down, and we’re going to start taking out the monsters inside. I’m guessing their all related to Sky Carp, and that’s fine. Likely we’re going to get a few other kinds of them. I’ve heard of them mutating into fish men that were able to spit acid. So, be careful,” he stated as he made his way inside, “Copper, take left, Artemis, cover the rear, everyone else stay close, and keep your eyes open.”

It was different to not be on point, but that allowed Copper the chance to watch his Dad leading a group. It was something that he hadn’t truly expected. Gold Bit was leading their small group like an experienced adventurer, and that was when he realized that he was. His Dad was an adventurer. He’d been doing things like this before he was born. He’d still done it after he’d been married, but it had slowed down considerably. It had taken Delicate Emerald demanding more and more out of them for Gold Bit to finally step back and dedicate almost all of his time to farming.

That change had to have been difficult for his Dad, and yet here he was going on an adventure. He was diving into a labyrinth, and he could practically see the spark in his Dad’s eyes. The older man was excited, and he seemed to truly want to do this with all of them. They moved forward, and Copper could hear the sounds of something stepping on what sounded like soft ground. The steps were measured, slowly, and sounded like someone walking with a pair of swim fins on their feet.

They rounded a corner, and there he saw the first mutation that the labyrinth had to offer. The strange creature looked like a Sky Carp had attempted to become a man. Moisture poured off of its body as it moved. It’s head was pointing up more than straight, and it seemed to stop when it sensed them. He watched as it bent forward, it’s bulk threatening to cause it to topple over. The strange creature studied them for a moment before it made a hawking sound. Without any hesitation the group moved just before it spat. A large green ball of thick mucus flew past them, and hit the back wall. Copper could hear it sizzle for a moment.

His Dad had been right. These things spat acid. That would be enough to kill someone that wasn’t ready. He watched as his Dad ran forward, his action was quick, and the sword he carried sliced up through the fishman’s torso. It stumbled for a moment, but that was enough for Gold Bit to capitalize on it and push forward. Another jab and the monster fell to the ground. Its body was no longer able to handle the wounds.

Just like every other monster it began to fade into nothingness, and it left a core behind. Gold Bit picked it up, studied it for a moment, and then placed it into a pack much like the one that Copper had. The pack itself was something that allowed for massive storage, but not entirely infinite storage. It was enough to ensure that there would be room to store several of the cores without problem. For a moment he studied the area, and then he looked back at them, “Okay, so we’ve seen what the first level monsters are. I imagine that the Sky Carp are also first level monsters, but they’re all moving outside of the labyrinth to hunt. Once we find the staircase we can move down to the second floor, and we’ll see what things are like there.”

It was enough of a direction for Copper to understand exactly what his Dad wanted to do. There was no hesitation in it, and he couldn’t be prouder of it. The group of them kept moving forward, and again they heard the same sounds as before. The measured steps of another fishman. It was likely that this entire labyrinth was going to be filled with monsters, but so far the fishmen didn’t seem to hunt in a school or in a pack. Instead they seemed to prefer to work alone. That would make taking them down far easier. It was one of the few favors the universe seemed to be handing out.

Moving they found another four fishmen before finally there was the stairs. In the labyrinth that had One Eye Mash there had been a mixture of stairwells and tunnels. The tunnels had been dug by the pirates that came along with the famed pirate captain. The same captain that ended up killing all of those that survived long enough to ensure that his treasure would never leave his sight. Unfortunately he had also joined them in the afterlife. But the labyrinths the school used were just stairwells.

Copper felt that the theory that the labyrinths themselves were alive, that they were basically monsters that spawned monsters, was correct. In this case the labyrinth they were in was formed from monster cores, and it spawned similar monsters in it. Moving down to the next level Copper noticed that the floor was still wet, but there was some strange looking plant life that was growing around them. The plant life itself seemed to be more aquatic than anything else.

Types of sea sponges, long bits of seaweed that was floating and moving in a non-existent current lined the floor. As they walked he could see bits of coral that stuck up in places. It looked similar to what a cavern located near the ocean, or even in the ocean, might appear. Which in a way made some sense. Sky Carp themselves were basically fish, but at the same time there was a huge difference between the Sky Carp and actual fish. Of the two one was used for food, for basic resources, and was considered a delicacy in certain areas. Those islands that did not have a lake or pond often paid quite a bit of money in order to purchase fresh water fish from those islands that did have the fortune to have said waterways on them.

The Sky Carp were monsters plain and simple. Their entire existence was to attack humans. He hadn’t really thought too much about why they existed. After all it was a dating sim with both fantasy and science fiction elements. He was pretty certain that it wasn’t supposed to make sense. There was likely a good reason for it to not make sense at all. Still, maybe if he would have paid more attention to the lore he could have possibly known the reason for the monsters.

“Everyone keep their guard up. We’re the first adventurers here, and that means that we need to keep track of the various monsters on each floor. It’s our duty to ensure that we record everything.”

He nodded, “You got it Father,” he replied as they moved, “Speaking of which, Father, do you have a buyer for the cores?”

There was a moment of silence, “Actually I do,” he admitted after a moment, “There’s a guild that’s not far from here. I planned on going there to sell them. I know I might get more in the Capital, but at the same time I don’t want to make the trek there right now.”

He understood the reason without his Dad saying it. Gold Bit didn’t want Delicate Emerald to know there was extra money.