Mimic & Me 2: A LitRPG Adventure, page 1
Contents
PREVIOUSLY ON MIMIC & ME
CHAPTER 1: JUST JUMP IN!
CHAPTER 2: BLOOD CURSE CAPE
CHAPTER 3: THE LIVING FOREST
CHAPTER 4: THE FOUR
CHAPTER 5: NOT THE PIJACA
CHAPTER 6: BURT’S
INTERLUDE: TREASON
CHAPTER 7: THE BUYER
CHAPTER 8: SCRATCH MY EYEBALLS
CHAPTER 9: CAN’T BUY SKILLS?
INTERLUDE: FLIGHT
CHAPTER 10: WELCOME TO THE DUNGEON
CHAPTER 11: WATER DUNGEON, PART 1
CHAPTER 12: WATER DUNGEON, PART 2
CHAPTER 13: ASJA
CHAPTER 14: A GOOD EATING
INTERLUDE: THE DARK FOREST
CHAPTER 15: PENS GIVE STATS?
CHAPTER 16: MISTBORN
CHAPTER 17: SHADOW SEEKER
CHAPTER 18: FASHION AND FINERY
CHAPTER 19: TO THE ARENA
CHAPTER 20: GAMBLING
CHAPTER 21: MERCENARY LORD
CHAPTER 22: DOPPELGANGER
CHAPTER 23: OLD FRIEND
INTERLUDE: TAVERN BRAWL
CHAPTER 24: FITTING IN
CHAPTER 25: WILD DUNGEON, PART 1
CHAPTER 26: WILD DUNGEON, PART 2
CHAPTER 27: WILD DUNGEON, PART 3
CHAPTER 28: VERAK
CHAPTER 29: BATH BLESSING
INTERLUDE: MERCENARY CAMP
CHAPTER 30: LAMORA’S MANSION
CHAPTER 31: INTEL
CHAPTER 32: THE MOST EXPENSIVE MEAL
CHAPTER 33: EXTINCTION LEVEL
CHAPTER 34: BATTLE FOR ARRDEAM, PART 1
CHAPTER 35: MONSTER MEAT WAGON
CHAPTER 36: BATTLE FOR ARRDEAM, PART 2
CHAPTER 37: SHELTER
CHAPTER 38: BATTLE FOR ARRDEAM, PART 3
CHAPTER 39: HELLHOUND CAMP
CHAPTER 40: REUNION
CHAPTER 41: BATTLE FOR ARRDEAM, PART 4
CHAPTER 42: CHALLENGE
CHAPTER 43: FATHER AND SON
CHAPTER 44: THE NIGHT BEFORE LEAVING
CHAPTER 45: ONWARD
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PREVIOUSLY ON MIMIC & ME
It’s hard to believe that just a few months ago, I was a down on my luck scout scrabbling for every loose bit of essence. Not just that, but I had to take everyone's crap because I wasn't strong enough.
After being left for dead in a dungeon, I somehow came back to life. I guess what doesn’t kill you really makes you stranger, since I wound up fused with a bloodthirsty mimic! Maybe cookie and cake-thirsty is more accurate...
Chester is a ravenous creatur, an ancient mimic e with an insatiable lust for anything sweet and a near-insatiable love for human flesh…but by the end of our journey together, I found myself growing attached to the little bastard, and not just by flesh.
Together, me and my new friend worked to free the elf Melina from slavery. It was one of the most despicable types, where she'd been forced to wear cuffs that drained all of her essence and magic.
We went through a bunch of struggles together—teaming up with a bloodthirsty exiled prince named Kristan, sneaking through the private dungeon of House Sherazad to capture the Baron’s favorite daughter, even fighting off a corrupt monster wave to save my home town. That turned out a complete clusterfuck, but more lives were saved than lost.
Using my new-found friend's influence, or rather that of his father, I was able to free Melina with a hostage exchange—but at a heavy cost. The two of us (technically, the three of us, including Chester) were exiled from Eslant and sent to the farthest location the teleporter could send us using by utilizing the system.
After leaving all our friends behind, Melina and I found ourselves stuck on a stony outcropping surrounded by a deep lake with a horrible beast lurking within.
And that’s where Chester's story picks off…
CHAPTER 1: JUST JUMP IN!
“Jump in! Come on! It’ll be easy! Jump in! Just one small jump and it’ll all be over!”
“Shut up,” I grumbled, taking a pointed step back away from the edge of the stony outcropping.
The three of us—me, Chester, and Melina—were still standing on the stony rock we’d been teleported to. After three days, we were no closer to getting rid of the terrifying ruler of the lake—a strange creature that looked like a mix between a kraken, a shark, a spider, and a bunch of other things I didn’t want to think about.
An outsider looking at the situation would have thought I was talking to some kind of imp or demon—or maybe even a siren. Normally, your friends and allies didn’t tell you to jump straight into a deep monster-infested lake, especially if there was a creature the size of a residential building lying in wait.
Not Chester, though.
Somehow, he’d gotten it into his head that this was the only way for us to kill the lake’s ruler and get out of here.
“Come on!” Chester whined. “It’ll be easy! Why not! Just jump in! We’ll jump in and kill it from the inside! Please! Do it for me!”
The mimic’s eyestalks, one each coming out of my two shoulders, widened in a hideous simulation of innocence. The bulging reddened eyes even started tearing up a little.
Melina laughed, gently covering up her mouth.
“Chester! Stop!”
“Stop what?” Chester asked. “I’m not doing anything!” he protested.
He knew just what he was doing though.
Since our bodies were joined, I could feel the mimic’s emotions, and Chester’s misplaced pride in his cuteness permeated through my whole body.
“Chester, you look repulsive,” I said. “If you keep up this fake innocent look, I won’t even be able to look at you.”
The widened baby-doll eyes suddenly narrowed. In just a single moment, Chester’s innocence was gone, replaced by his usual wisecracking cunning. “It worked when Franja tried it…” he grumbled. “Why not me?”
I chuckled, thinking of how angry Franja would be if she was stuck on this outcropping with us.
“Sorry Chester,” I laughed. “But Franja is an elegant young noblewoman. You’re a not-so-elegant monster.”
“Monster!” Chester squawked indignantly. “Someone will hear about this! You will pay for your terrible discrimination!”
“Well…” Melina said, making a brave but ultimately futile attempt to be the voice of reason. “It’s not us calling you a monster…it’s the System!”
Chester let out an irritated growl.
The flesh around my shoulder bubbled briefly, then Chester popped out. Now he was in his usual pumpkin imp form, a bright orange creature that looked like a mutated jack-o-lantern. The orange imp’s shape fizzled for a moment, then Chester groaned.
“Ugh. Not even mass…and I think I need a skill.”
“What were you trying to do?” I asked. The sudden attempted transformation caught me so off guard that I briefly forgot our number one problem—figuring out how to kill the lake’s ruler and escape.
“I was trying to transform,” Chester said. “Into a cute girl.” He waved a tentacle at me and Melina, pointing and scolding us. “You know, one day, I will be able to transform into a cute girl. I will gain a human form, and then you two won’t be able to call me a monster anymore!”
Melina let out another amused laugh. “Well, it’d like to see that.”
No matter the situation, Melina was always fascinated by Chester’s antics, long after I got tired of them.
Right now, she was on a long mission to find the man who’d slaughtered her family, but before that, she’d been a magical zoologist who studied rare monsters. The blighted hell could take me if I knew why, but it’d been her lifelong dream to study a mimic.
The last few nights, Melina and the mimic had stayed up chatting long after I went to sleep. Of course, sleep didn’t come that easily when we were stuck on a fifteen-by-fifteen-foot piece of steep rock overlooking a monster-infested lake.
Chester and Melina’s antics were a fun distraction, and I was glad to be stuck here with friends, but I wasn’t going to put my roots down on this stupid rock.
I eyed the still waters, trying to peer into the depths.
Somewhere, the monster was waiting for us...
“Okay!” Chester cried. “That is my new goal! I will become human. Now, we need to get out of here so I can become human! Quickly, Damon. Let’s jump into the monster and eat it from the inside!”
I shook my head. “That won’t work, buddy. Think about it this way. Why doesn’t anyone jump inside your mouth to kill you?”
“Because I’m strong?” Chester asked.
“No, because your digestive juices will melt them. We need a different plan…”
I turned to Melina.
“How far does your magic extend?” I asked. “Is there any way to hit it when it’s resting?”
She shook her head. “I've already tried,” she said, sounding a little frustrated. “My magic is still recovering from removing the cuffs. Plus, my abilities are a poor fit for this terrain.”
Melina’s powers were steadily returning, and I’d already seen her use a wide variety of spells during our previous clashes with the giant fish. Unfortunately, she was a stone and flame specialist, and her two elements were a terrible fit for the terrain.
“If only I could copy your [Lightning Bolt],” Melina replied.
“Yeah, the only problem with that skill is the cooldown…”
Compared to Melina, I was a little luckier, as I had a powerful lightning elemental attack—the rare [Lightning Bolt] me and Chester had gained by eating the Skeleton Wizard boss.
“Yeah, the beast’s regeneration is too good,” Melina said. “And its health is crazy too. We need some way to kill it right off the bat.”
“Yeah, if only Kristan and Marko were here with us. We need all the striking power we could get, especially their buffs.”
Then I paused as a new idea crossed my mind.
My friends were back in Eslant—countless miles away from us.
But they’d left us with valuable gifts, and I had other powerful buff items in my inventory too.
I still had the rainbow trout, plus the nightmare essence flask. Chester had warned me to save the fish for an urgent moment, and the essence flask gave me an eerie feeling whenever I looked at it.
We didn’t have much of a choice though. We were stuck on a rock and his best idea was to jump into the monster’s stomach.
If there was ever a time to use those, it was now.
“Hey Me—”
A sudden screeching sound cut off my words. The hideous echoing wail echoed through the walls of the cave, building into a dagger-like crescendo that made my ears bleed.
“By the blighted hell,” I cursed. “Duck!”
I threw my body over Melina’s, and then I felt a violent whoosh of air as three twisted birds flew above us. The creatures looked like large purple vultures, only their beaks were filled with row after row of shark-like teeth. Their serrated talons cut straight through where Melina had been just moments ago.
Melina scowled and waved her right hand in a wide arc.
Four spiral stone shards materialized into existence in front of us, then shot forward like arrows. Three of the birds shrieked and dodged aside, fleeing, but the fourth stone struck its target dead-on.
The bird let out a choked gasp, its wings folded, and it plummeted into the water. I heard a small splash and looked down just in time to see a chitinous leg wrap itself around the bird’s corpse, yanking it underwater.
“How many of those are there?” Melina hissed.
“I don’t know…I can’t even count how many we’ve killed.
“I already ate six of them,” Chester said, burping a little. “You’d think the rest know not to come.”
“It’s just more reason to get out of here,” I said. “One false step, and we could fall over during a fight.”
“I’m not interested in staying here any longer either,” Melina said. “Actually…”
She pointed down at the stone outcropping we were standing on, scowling angrily. “The damn thing realized it can just knock down this rock. It’s not too bad yet, but I’m not sure how much longer we can last—keeping this rock formation afloat prevents me from using my powers fully.”
I stared down at the stone, then looked out at the rest of the river. Indeed, the other outcroppings along the lake had sunk already. If Melina said this wasn’t a problem yet, it probably wasn’t, but that wouldn’t be true forever.
“Damn,” I muttered. “Well, the good news is, I have a plan.”
I took two items out of my inventory, laying them out in front of me.
“I think it's time we had that trout, Chester. We need the extra essence absorption.”
The left eyestalk on my shoulder looked at me, confused. “Trout?” Chester asked. The mimic scoffed sarcastically, and he started speaking slowly in an exaggerated condescending tone. “That’s no trout. That’s a giant sea monster. Easy to tell the difference. Giant sea monster has legs and tentacles. And is huge. Trout has no legs, no tentacles, and is small.”
I rolled my eyes at him. “You idiot. I meant the trout we got from the dungeon.”
“Ah, yes!” Chester exclaimed. “The one-horned trout! Yes! I remember now. The one I told you to keep saving. And now, my master plan is finally paying off!”
I just scoffed and ignored his attempt to save face.
“Hey, at least this fish should taste pretty good, right?” I asked. “It’s a rare item, plus I kept it fresh in storage the whole time. Melina, do you mind making a fire?”
She nodded and smiled. “So, this fish is some kind of power-up?”
“Kind of,” I said. “It increases essence absorption.”
“But we’ll still need essence to absorb,” Melina pointed out. “Or did you just want to try and meditate?”
“I have a plan for that,” I said. “Just trust me and cook the fish first.”
“Alright then,” Melina replied. I could sense her curiosity growing as she slowly channeled a small flame into her palm. The bright blue flame danced and flickered, surrounding us with warmth.
I retrieved the special trout from my storage and handed it to her.
Using her other hand, she held it over the flame.
It flickered, and then the fish rapidly cooked. In just a few seconds, a delicious smell wafted through the air, making my mouth water. The rainbow trout immediately turned a warm golden brown.
“Woah,” Melina said, raising her eyebrows. “This fish had a huge amount of essence, Damon. You were right to suggest using it now.”
“How do you know?” I asked.
Melina said. “Magic reacts with magic. The more magic inside a magical food, the faster it’ll cook.”
“It was my idea!” Chester insisted. “Now we should eat the fish and go kill the monster. I hate water. It makes me wet.”
“What are you?” I joked. “A cat?”
Chester opened his mouth to retort, but then I cut off a third of a fish and tossed it into his mouth, which had sprouted over my shoulder. His cry of protest quickly became a squeal of delight.
“Amazing! Amazing! This fish is great! All credit to me for saving it! I’m greatness incarnate!”
I was just eager to try the fish for myself. Nobody could deny that Chester knew his food. The mimic had an expensive taste and could literally eat his weight in gold.
I took another third of the fish, then handed the rest to Melina. “You take it too,” I said. “You cooked it after all.”
“Thank you,” she said, eagerly taking a bite.
Indeed, the meat was delicious, and there wasn't even a single bone inside. The meat was warm and almost buttery, even though we hadn’t put anything on it. It melted in my mouth, and the taste was simply heavenly.
A notification appeared when I finished.
[BUFF: One-Horned Trout]
[DESCRIPTION: The one-horned trout's meat is very nutritious and is one of the high-ranked adventurer's favorite types of food. It will keep the user satiated and give a 50% increase in acquired leveling essence.]
[DURATION: 168:00:00]
“Excellent,” I said. “That’s step one.”
The strength flooded through my body. Though it didn’t give any stats on itself, the buff filling up my stomach helped me think more clearly. I felt my body operating at perfect capacity like I’d suddenly hit my personal best condition.
Sure, I’d been satiated before after a nice meal cooked by Renny back at the Burning Bosom tavern, but being magically satiated was a different thing entirely.
Then I picked up the other item I’d removed from my inventory—the bottle of nightmare extract. The bottle was a special item I’d taken from Aldon’s storage ring and then upgraded with the nightmare body parts Chester and I won from the final battle against the corrupted dungeon monsters.
