I snapped the Tome of the Night Sky closed, the sound of it echoing through the small room that was our home. Maria and Asuna both looked up from the game of chess that they were playing together to look at me.
"It's time to expand," I announced.
The two of them exchanged looks before looking back at me, confused by my seemingly random declaration. "The Stoneblock you mean?" Asuna asked.
"That's right," I answered as I stood up and started looking around the room for a good place to start. "I suppose I should catch you two up and explain things, hmm?"
"I'd rather you didn't-" Asuna started.
"Yes please, Master!" Maria overrode her. "Please monologue your evil plans to us!"
I smiled. "Very well! Listen well, you two, and I shall disclose my grand strategy." Asuna groaned, but she crossed her arms and gave me her attention.
"Maria and I have been here for almost two and a half weeks now, and Asuna for a week and a half, and in all of that time we've been contained to this tiny, tiny room, surrounded by the immeasurable weight of infinite stone, left with no other choice but to carve out a larger area if we want to expand." I spotted Asuna frowning and I stopped. "Problem, Asuna?"
"I thought it would get bigger when you purchased the size upgrade?"
"Yes, but also no. As of right now, I haven't purchased any of the upgrades that would increase the size of our home, so it should be at the base size, no? That would be 75 square meters. But how large would you say this room actually is?"
Asuna looked around, eyes flicking between two corners. "That's… probably eight meters. So 64 square meters?"
"Exactly correct, as to be expected of a model student such as yourself," I replied. She rolled her eyes. "See, the space offered by the perks only dictates our maximum size. We have to expand to that size ourselves."
I paused, looking at the two of them. After a moment, a look of realization passed over Maria's face. "But isn't that super inconvenient?" she asked in an overly dramatic tone. "Why would you agree to something like that?"
"I'm glad you asked! It is indeed rather inconvenient, but it comes with some upsides as well. For one, it's very customizable. Rather than growing automatically in whatever boring shape, I can precisely control the layout. And I do so enjoy having control."
Asuna snorted. "You don't say."
I just grinned at her. She might have thought she was being rebellious, but in truth I enjoyed her snark. It felt fitting, like an important part of our group dynamic. It would be a shame when it disappeared, but I supposed I could find someone else to be the snarky discontent.
"Secondly, it has to do with the Dungeon mechanics. You did read the Dungeon mechanic rules, correct?"
"I read the whole thing, you know that," Asuna grumbled. "And yes, I paid attention to that part. Enough to know that what it says can't be how it works, because too much of it conflicts with the extremely vague rules of this Stoneblock thing."
"So you know that expanding a Dungeon is usually done through Devotion then." Devotion was an abstract concept. Essentially, by assigning one of my retinue to the Dungeon, I linked them to it in a way that provided an energy or currency known as Devotion. That Devotion was what was used to create the actual Dungeon and all the functions inside of it, including the size and expansion of it.
"In my negotiations with the Company, we reached a compromise," I said. "I can only have a single Dungeon that is the entirety of the Stoneblock, which is limited in size, and I would need to put in the work to manually expand and shape it. But in exchange, I don't have to use Devotion to expand my Dungeon, saving me a few points to put towards other things."
"Wouldn't using Devotion to expand be a lot easier than digging out the stone walls ourselves?" Asuna asked.
"Only if you wanted to stay in the Stoneblock forever," I said. "After all, I can hardly take you out of the Dungeon if you're providing the Devotion we need to create the kitchen or whatever."
She paused. "...point taken."
"Besides, there's a reason I've waited so long to expand. I was hardly going to do it with just a pick ax. Manual labor is not for me, not when I have magic on my side." I summoned just the staff part of my Barrier Jacket, Tome in my other hand. I pointed my staff at a section of the western wall. "Our trip to Halkeginia was not in vain, for I have learned the secrets of the great Earth Mage, Fouquet of the Crumbling Dirt! Earth Penetration!"
A Belkan magic circle appeared on the section of wall I was pointing out, tan in color and matching the circle that I had spent the past two and a half days studying. It lit up with magic power before sinking into the wall and a two meter tall, one meter wide, and one meter deep section of the wall was transmuted into sand.
Sand that immediately spilled to the ground, grains cascading over each other like water as gravity pulled them downward and spread out to cover half of the space.
Asuna and Morgan made exclamations of shock as sand spilled over their chessboard and they pushed themselves to their feet.
I just stared at the truly enormous amount of sand that I had created that was now filling our home. "Ah… That might have been a mistake."
Asuna glared at me. "You think?!"
Maria sighed. "I'll get the broom."
We only had the one broom so cleaning it up was left mostly to Maria while Asuna and I shook the sand out of the bedrolls and other stuff it had washed over. Maria had to then collect it in a pile that she had to sweep over to the disposal hole on the other side of the room, careful not to let any get in our water supply.
And Asuna was definitely in a bad mood because of it.
"I can't believe you made me attack those kids just so you could fill our home with sand," she grumbled.
I would have been more annoyed with her complaining if I didn't pick up the way she said 'our' home. I was pretty sure she hadn't realized what she was doing or that she had internalized this place as somewhere she belonged. The satisfaction of that overrode any amount of annoyance I might have felt at her pointing out my mistakes like that.
Though that didn't mean I could let her words go uncontested.
"Kids?" I asked. "They're the same age as the rest of us, give or take a year. And Tabitha's probably seen almost as much combat as you have. Besides, Fouquet's spell was hardly the only thing we got out of it."
"I'm sure you got all sorts of spells from them," she replied with a bit of distaste. "Hopefully they work out better than this one."
"They will, I'm sure," I said. I was especially interested in the one I got from Louise, which after a bit of study I realized was the Summon Servant spell. It was too complicated for me right now, but it shouldn't take too long for me to be able to use it. I had no idea what kind of Familiar I would summon with it, but I was looking forward to finding out.
I initially thought it was strange that I only got that from Louise when the several mages that I drained before her all knew the spell as well, but after looking over all the ones I got, I realized that only partially draining them meant I only obtained the 'surface level' spells, the ones they used the most. For the others, this meant I got their more iconic spells. For Louise who hadn't yet managed to cast a spell other than Summon Servant, there weren't any others I could have gotten from her.
Her usual failed attempts did resemble Explosion, the first spell she would eventually learn, but apparently that wasn't complete enough for the Tome to nab, not on a partial drain at least. Something to keep in mind for the future.
"But we also got a bunch of Credits that'll help us set up the Dungeon," I continued. "And, as you pointed out at the time, I set some bait. Not just the stuff tempting Saito in, but their bruised egos will also help draw them in. That's very important, since another limitation of our setup is that I can only open Dungeon entrances on worlds we've been to. Though none of us can leave through those entrances, only through the portals that open up."
"Wait, seriously?" Asuna stopped and looked at me. "I thought you were doing the Dungeon stuff specifically so you could have access to more worlds."
"Me? Cheat? I would never," I lied as easily as I breathed. "So yes, really. Right now that's a pretty limited selection, but that'll change in time. We'll visit more worlds then we'd ever want to open a portal to. And some of them will have so many challengers we'll have to accept them in waves, letting one group at a time challenge us. It's not as bad of a restriction as it seems. Besides, it's more… personal, this way."
"Pervert."
"Guilty as charged."
She just shook her head. "That explains why you seem so insistent on kicking sand in everyone's face though." Her own foot scuffed against the ground as she literally kicked a small pile of sand. Maria glared at her, broom in hand and looking at where Asuna just messed up her work, and Asuna looked down, sheepish. "Sorry."
"That and I get off on it," I said. "There's other ways to lure people into the Dungeon, but giving them some incentive certainly helps encourage them to make it to the end."
"I've been meaning to ask about that, actually," Asuna said. "How do you imagine that playing out? You've told me that you want me to be a 'floor boss', but you also insinuate that you plan for me to be defeated. Am I disposable to you? Am I meant to be killing for you?"
"Oh, no, avoid killing at any costs," I immediately said. "Like, if you need to, sure, whatever, but corpses aren't what I want at all, and that includes you. I'll be setting up something that lets you be defeated but not killed. And I want the same to happen to our challengers. I want them taken prisoner, so I can gloat and monologue at them."
Asuna sighed. "Of course you do. I'm sure you're going to rape and enslave them too."
"The cute ones, yep," I confirmed with a casual nod. "The rest get sold. That will be our main Credit making method, and it's why I'm fine leaving cute girls behind when we visit worlds. We'll get them eventually."
Asuna grimaced and shook her head. "So you expect me to fight people that 'challenge' us, but not kill them. Just beat them into submission?"
"Would you rather kill them?"
"I'd rather not fight them at all!"
"Well, that's not on the table. Neither is killing them. Those are my waifus and Credits you're talking about. Just fight them, try to defeat them. And if you're defeated, that's fine, you'll get yoinked away and healed up and I'll face them as the final boss."
She gave me a flat stare. "You do realize that any group that defeats me can defeat you as well, right?"
"For now, maybe," I replied with a shrug. "That'll change soon. Plus, I'll have Maria by my side. She can tank while I DPS from the back."
"I don't know what that means, but I'm always down for some DP from the back!" Maria said. "Ah, but Master's cock is the only one I want, so you'll have to use a toy to fill the other hole."
"You- he means damage per second!" Asuna protested with a blush creeping over her face. "Not double penetration!"
"We do have a severe lack of sex toys," I noted, finger on my chin. "Next time we visit a modern world we'll pick some up."
"Yay!" Maria cheered as Asuna facepalmed.
Conversation died a bit after that as we focused on cleaning up the sand. Two cubic meters of sand was a lot more than you would think it would be, especially in a small room like this. It had somehow managed to get into and on things that quite frankly didn't make any sense. Like inside of the cooler where we kept our frozen stuff, somehow. We made double sure when cleaning the bedrolls. Coarse sand where you slept was one of the worst feelings.
"Oh right!" Maria said as we started wrapping up. "There was something else we got when we went into the portal that you said you would explain. The mission reward for cucking that playboy!"
"What?" Asuna asked, confused.
"Some guy was cheating on his girlfriend so I slept with her as a mission, to make it fair," I explained. "It was while you were shopping."
"You… that's not okay!" she yelled before her shoulders slumped and the heat left her. "Oh, nevermind, there's no point. Shopping was awful, by the way. I had to keep miming what I wanted because no one understood me. I tried English and they seemed to catch a few words here and there, but it was frustrating."
"Don't worry, I'll be picking up Communication Talent once the Captures finalize," I assure her. I pull out my phone and check it. "Which will be… in just a few minutes, actually. Good."
"Masteeeeer," Maria whined. "Stop teasing me, I wanna know what mission reward you were so excited about!"
"I dunno, I kind of want to keep it a surprise," I say with a grin. "Maybe I should just keep it to myself…" Maria looked at me, hands clasped as she pouted. She looked like a puppy begging for a treat. "Oh, alright. But instead of telling you, why don't I show you?"
I put my phone in my pocket and then reached down underneath my skirt. Before either could look away, I once more pushed my panties down and lifted my skirt up to flash my penis at them.
But the effect now couldn't be compared to what it was before.
They both stared at my cock, jaws hanging slack in surprise. Not because it had changed in some dramatic fashion, not visibly at least. But the compulsion to stare at it, to love it, to worship it, was so much stronger now. They were unable to tear their gaze away, not even Asuna, who didn't even have a hint of disgust or annoyance on her face. Just adoration.
And then the moment ended. Maria kept staring, but the look of worship had faded to her normal perverted appreciation. And Asuna blushed and forced her eyes away, looking up at me annoyed, though unable to completely hide her arousal, as I could see the way she was struggling not to look back down.
"What the hell was that?" she demanded.
I tucked my penis back into my panties and dropped the hem of my skirt. "That was the mission reward I got, an upgrade to Love Spot that intensifies the effect the longer I keep it hidden, storing it up and unleashing it in a burst the next time someone lays eyes on it."
"Is that why we've been doing it doggy style the past couple nights?" Maria asked.
"Yes, it is. I wanted to build up a charge."
'Love Spot: Your Wings are Beautiful' seemed tailor made for exactly the strategy I had come up with, but making it my penis did come with some logistical issues, such as having sex without spending the 'charge'. I had some ideas on how to get around that, but for now it was just a price I paid for the sheer power upgrade of my hypnocock strategy.
And the hypnocock was too amusing to give up easily, inconveniences be damned.
"Wait, does this mean I won't get to see your penis as often?" Maria asked, sounding distraught.
"At least in the few days leading up to our next portal trip, yes. It reaches max charge in a week, but I doubt I'll ever let it get that far."
Maria pouted again. "Aww. It's pretty hot but I'm not sure it's worth it, Master."
"I think it will be. We'll see." Worst case scenario I could refund Love Spot and repurchase it for a more convenient spot. I'd lose a few credits in the process, but that was just the cost I'd have to pay.
I glanced at Asuna, who had a grimace on her face that spoke of mixed feelings. "And you, Asuna?" I asked.
"I don't care," she replied sharply, turning away. "The less I have to look at it, the better."
I chuckled but let it slide. She'd come around sooner or later. She was part of the way there already.
It didn't take us too much longer to sweep everything into the disposal hole. And by 'us' I meant Maria. But that left us staring at the doorway cut out of the wall.
"Do not use that spell again," Asuna said with a glare.
"I won't, I won't," I replied. Then I sighed. "I wanted to expand the dungeon myself, but I think it's probably for the best if we get an expert." I pulled my phone out and opened up the Catalog.
Asuna tensed. "An expert? What do you mean?"
In lieu of answering, I just hit the purchase button. Instantly the portal in the middle of the room opened, that strange warping of space, and we all turned to face it. A moment later, a figure stepped out of it and looked around as the portal closed behind her.
She had blonde hair tied up in a braid that hung over her shoulder and golden eyes. She was short, almost as short as Maria and me, but she carried herself confidently. She wore a simple black tank top that easily contained her modest chest and black shorts that ended fairly high up on her thigh. Below them were two black thigh high socks on her legs and sturdy black boots on her feet. Finally, she wore white gloves on her hands and a large red coat that drew the eye.
She turned to us and gave us a casual salute. "Edna Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist, at your service. But you can just call me Ed."
"Did- did you just buy someone?" Asuna asked in shock.
I ignored her. "Welcome to team Ed," I greeted our new arrival with a smile. "My name is Morgan, and I'm your new Master. The white haired one is Maria, our resident succubus and brawler. And the offended one is Asuna, our fencer and healer and probably our best fighter. She's still getting used to the Company stuff. Oh, also I'm a boy."
She blinked as she took in all that information and then sighed. "I always end up surrounded by weirdos, huh? Oh well. Nice to meet you all." She gave us all a friendly smile.
It was almost boring, having someone accept it so easily, but that was a purchased slave for you. Already broken in without any need for conditioning. "Do you know where you are and what the situation is?" I asked.
"Yep. Skyblock challenge, Stoneblock theme, some alterations made for Dungeon shenanigans. I'm guessing you need me to make the actual Dungeon?"
On the other hand, it was nice to work with someone intelligent and who didn't need every detail explained. I liked monologuing as much as the next villain, but a minion that could do what I wanted without me needing to lead them by the hand was a valuable thing.
"That's correct. For now, just start making a room of this size in that direction, leaving a meter thick wall." I pointed at where we started making a tunnel.
"Straight to work, huh? Well, not that I really mind." She rubbed her hands together and strode to the dug out section. The three of us stepped out of her way, Maria and Asuna watching with open curiosity.
She came to a stop right in front of the wall and then clapped her hands. Then she quickly put her hands on the stone wall, sparks spreading from where she touched it.
Sparks that immediately fizzled out with nothing happening.
Ed looked back at us over her shoulder, expression sheepish. "Uhh. Does anyone happen to know what this stone is made of?"
I exchanged looks with Maria and Asuna. It was clear that none of us had a clue. I looked back at Ed and shrugged. "Cobblestone?"
Ed turned back to the wall, clapped again, and placed her hands on the wall. And once again, a few sparks appeared before fizzling out. She turned around to face us, shrugging herself. "Nope. That's not it either, at least not the mix of cobblestone I know of, which is largely granite with a few other kinds for flavor."
I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose. "I don't suppose you have a way of figuring it out?"
"Sure," she said. "You got a microscope?"
"...no, we don't have one of those. I didn't think it was needed."
"Transmutation is a science, I need to know the molecular makeup if I want to alter it. If I can identify the types of stone it is I can work with it. I could try guessing but…" she rapped a knuckle against the wall. It clanked, like muffled metal instead of flesh against stone. Asuna and Maria looked at her strangely, but Ed continued without noticing. "I wouldn't bet on the Company using something normal."
"Neither would I," I admitted.
She looked around and saw our pile of stuff. "Can I use that? I can put together what I need to study it."
I didn't want to give up any of our limited supplies, especially since the portal might not open on another modern world for a while, but I was starting to get frustrated with the unexpected obstacles, and was starting to regret not just getting an Earthbender. But Ed was just so much more versatile for the same price. "Whatever you need," I said with a wave of my hand.
"Got it. I can probably put most of it back after," she said. She knelt over the pile of stuff and started digging through it.
"So… what's this transmutation stuff?" Asuna asked.
"It's also known as Alchemy," Ed explained. I saw her pick up one of my game consoles and examine it curiously, tapping on the screen. "To oversimplify it, it's the art of changing one material from another."
"What, like lead into gold?" Asuna replied with a raised eyebrow.
"Precisely. That's not even that hard. Unfortunately it's also very illegal." Ed paused and then looked over at me. "Unless?"
"You think I care about the stability of the markets of any world we visit?" I said. "The only law you answer to is my word."
Ed grinned. "That's just what I wanted to hear. Though I'm still restricted by the Law of Equivalent Exchange." She glanced at Asuna. "That is to say, I can't make something from nothing. I can really only rearrange it."
"For now," I said.
Ed looked at me, expression hardening a bit. "You're not… you're not talking about Philosopher's Stones, right?"
"I wasn't, I was talking about Talents. The ability to push past the cap of your abilities should allow for transmutation that can create new material. Eventually. Probably. But you bring up an excellent point. You know how to make them, right?"
Ed gave me a hard look. "I do…" she said hesitantly.
"And you could do other soul transmutation?"
"A little bit, maybe."
I nodded. "Good to know. No, I don't have any plans on having you make any Philosopher's Stones. Honestly it's a waste of resources at this point. Maybe if there's a good chance, but eh. Mass murder isn't really my thing."
"Wait, hold on, what?" Asuna asked in shock. Maria looked a little surprised as well, but was mostly curious.
Ed, who had relaxed a bit but still didn't seem to be thrilled to be talking about it, shrugged and turned back to the pile of stuff. "The Philosopher's Stone is an item from my world that is made by transmuting the souls of a large number of people and distilling it into a 'convenient' gem or liquid that can be used to empower transmutation, allowing for the creation of something from seemingly nothing."
"That's… that's horrible!" Asuna said, shocked.
"Yeah. It is." Ed looked over her shoulder at me, but I kept my face blank.
Perhaps there was some breaking in I could still do of my new slave after all.
Not that I was eager to start making Philosopher's Stones. I had been truthful when I said that mass murder wasn't something I was particularly interested in. I was an evil bastard, but I was a dramatic one, one that preferred to gloat and monologue. I couldn't do that to a corpse.
Besides, if I wanted infinite power, I had easier options to choose from.
Though I was happy to see that Ed still had some of her canon counterpart's morals, even if it wasn't all of them. She still had lines she was hesitant to cross. Lines that I could entertain myself with by pushing her over them.
"Alright, this should be enough," Ed said, standing up with an armful of stuff. "There are a lot of things in there that I don't know what they're made of though. I'll have to analyze a few."
"Oh just wait until we get to a world with an internet," I said with a grin. "The amount of information you'll have at your fingertips will blow your mind."
"Is that so? I look forward to that then." She placed the stuff down. Thankfully my game console wasn't among the pile. In fact the only things in her pile were our silverware and a glass cup.
Once more she clapped her hands and put them against the ground on either side of the pile of stuff. This time the sparks didn't fade, but instead rushed over the materials, sinking into them as they shifted shape, writhing and melting. And after just a moment our kitchen tools had been replaced by a very nice looking microscope, similar to the ones I remembered using in school, complete with a set of slides.
"Oh, wow," Asuna said, eyes wide.
"Very cool!" Maria praised.
Ed grinned. "Hehe, that's right. Alchemy is amazing, isn't it? Now, just gimme a couple of hours to study this rock and I'll get us started. But first… I need a sample." She stood back up and took off her gloves, putting them in her pocket, and revealing her metallic right hand.
Asuna gasped. "You-" she started before cutting herself off.
"Hmm?" Ed looked at her, confused. Then she looked down to where Asuna was staring. "Ah, this. Yeah, my right arm is an automail, a prosthetic. My left leg too." She reached down and pulled the top of her thigh high sock down a bit, revealing the seam in her leg where flesh turned into steel. Asuna gaped but Ed just pulled the sock back up, unphased.
Asuna whirled on me. "You… fix this! I know about Body Tune Up! Why hasn't it fixed her?"
"Uhh, because I don't want it to?" I said as if it were obvious. Which, if she remembered the perk as well as she claimed to, it should have been. "Robot limbs are sexy."
"Seconded!" Maria chimed in.
Asuna just gaped at me, affronted. You would think she would know better by now, but apparently I was still finding ways to surprise her. That made me happy.
"They're pretty convenient, actually," Ed cut in, drawing her attention back. "You wouldn't believe how many people I catch off guard with it. And also I can do this." She clapped her hands together, the sound of metal against flesh more distinct now that she wasn't wearing gloves, and she waved her fleshy hand over her metallic one.
Sparks appeared again, sinking into her arm and causing it to shift. Her fingers, palm, and wrist turned black, and her knuckles sprouted short but sturdy spikes.
Asuna watched, unsure, as Ed once again approached the wall, where she reared her automail fist back and punched it as hard as she could. A loud crack rang through the room, and when Ed moved out of the way, a small chunk of wall had been gouged out.
She bent over and picked it up. "That's a pretty sturdy wall," she commented, holding up the tiny piece of stone she managed to break off. "I wouldn't want to dig through that the normal way."
She put the stone in her jacket pocket before quickly clapping her hands together and returning her prosthetic hand to normal. She then lifted it and waggled her metallic fingers at Asuna. "See, Princess? Convenient, isn't it?"
Asuna stared at her. "...Princess?"
Ed shrugged, lowering her hand. "You were acting all high and mighty, making demands I didn't ask for or want. It's the kind of attitude I'd ascribe to a spoiled princess. Not that I've met many of those."
Asuna gaped at her before her expression. "You- I was just trying to look out for you!"
"I can look out for myself, thanks."
Asuna opened her mouth like she wanted to say something before snapping it shut, turning on her heel, and walking away. All the way to the other side of the room, still very much in earshot. But she sat on the ground, facing the wall, and made a point of ignoring us.
"Jeez, it was just a nickname," Ed said, scratching the back of her head. "She's not actually a princess or something, right?"
I shrugged. "Eh. Daughter of a wealthy merchant, basically. High society, but not nobility. So close enough." I put a hand on her shoulder. "But don't worry about her. Our resident Princess is always grumpy. Just get to work figuring out that stone so we can get started renovating. And then after… we'll get a bit more acquainted."
Ed raised an eyebrow? "Yeah? Well… you sure know how to motivate a girl. I'll get this done in record time."
"That's exactly what I wanted to hear," I replied with a smile. Ed grabbed her microscope and then sat on the ground, breaking off a small piece of the stone and placing it on a slide.
As I watched Ed get to work, Maria sidled up next to me. "So… since we're waiting anyway and you've already used up your Love Spot charge… wanna do naughty stuff?"
I thought about it for a moment and then shrugged. "You know what? Sure. I could do with some unwinding."
Maria grinned and then knelt in front of me, reaching up my skirt.
It truly was nice to have minions that knew what you wanted without having to be told.
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AN: Lots of info dumping about how I'm handling the Stoneblock and Dungeon rules, especially where they conflict. None of this is 'canon' to the Skyblock rules(aside from what is literally in the rules already) because the Skyblock rules are meant to be left open to interpretation and tweaking to better suit your needs. This is just the way I want to handle it for this fic. I have very different ideas for how to do it in something like a Seablock, or an actual Skyblock using the newer rules.
Also, why purchase a genderbent Ed instead of just TS-ing him on someone? Or picking Izumi, his equally skilled MILF teacher? Because Ed's got style. He's so extra each time he transmutes, adding extra flair and decorations to everything he makes, even in the middle of combat. Especially in the middle of combat. He doesn't make a hole in the wall, he makes an ornate set of double doors with knockers and trimming. He doesn't just pull a spear out of the ground, he adds a little dragon decoration on the crossguard. That's not a power thing, that's an Ed thing, and it was enough to convince me to get the genuine article.
