Epic of Caterpillar
chapter-33

Leaving the Undead on their work, I went back to the castle and called all the Squad Leaders, Wyverns and even Spirits, including the Rin Sisters.

I sat on my throne with me wives at my sides, while waiting for everyone to reunite.

When the last Wyvern entered the wide throne room, Kekensha spoke.

"With all due respect, my Empress, what is the meaning of this meeting?"

I firstly explained the new Construction System to everyone who did not know about it yet, afterwards I told them about the plans for the cattle farm and expansion plans.

The cattle farm plans needed the increase of the Hunting Team, bringing new types of monsters that are easy to raise and take care of, preferably without intelligence and much aggressiveness.

The second part of this plan would be the creation of a Farming Team, composed mostly of people adept on taking care of other animals.

Suddenly, Kizuato spoke representing the Monkeys.

"My Empress, if you excuse me…"

"Sure, you can talk"

"I think that us monkey kind are the most adepts at taking care of animals. In the past, our former Emperor told us that before he was even an Emperor, the previous Emperor made an improvised cattle farm composed mostly of the Rocky Mountains Wild Pigs, and even some other birds. There are some very old Monkeys who know a lot about taking care of animals, however, because they are too weak, we mostly neglected them in the past. This is the perfect opportunity to make them useful again"

Yukan'na nodded.

"Hmm! Those old grandpas have been lazing around too much, its time to give them some work!"

This information came as a surprise to me, I never expected the oldest Monkeys to have experience in raising cattle. The Rocky Mountain Monkeys are really a very talented race of monsters.

"Very well then, I'll leave the creation of the Farming Team to Kizuato and Yukan!"

Kizuato and Yukan'na kneeled in front of me, with gratefulness on their expressions.

"Thank you very much, Empress Kireina"

After having this matter settled, I proceeded to explain how this Construction System worked and that we needed the creation of another Team that would take care of the construction management and the material production.

What I did was add more manpower to the Crafting team and then split it in two, the old Crafting and Black Smith team would be led by Kajiya now. While the new "Production" team will be led by Kusuri.

Thanks to Eshne, we don't need to use manpower on the gathering of wood, as he can make the big trees walk straight to our storage room.

This also applies with Tsuchimizu who can gather Clean and Strong types of rocks easily with his Earth Manipulation skills.

And for the Construction Management Team, it should be mostly made of intelligent individuals who are good with calculations, because they will need to manage materials on the system and position the construction in different areas. Aside from Kusuri, the other one that came to mind was Meiji. I could not put Shokunin on this Team because he has been too busy expanding the castle itself.

"Ah? M-Me?"

"Yes, you! You are quite smart, aren't you? Don't disappoint me, Meiji!"

"Y-Yes! I would never disappoint you, my Empress!"

After having all of this finally settled, I decided to tell everyone about my other plan, this was a Scouting project.

"Scouting?"

"Yes, I and my strongest servants will go on a scouting adventure across the entire Grand Forest, as of now. We have mostly seen only 40% of this immense Forest"

"About the upcoming enemy wave, there are still around 4 days left for them come here, and if anything, wrong happens, all of you can communicate with me from far away using the System Direct Message, I will use all my power to rush here in no time"

"Also, there is another thing that made me do this ahead of time, and that is that my leveling speed has drastically decreased in the latest days, traveling and adventuring outside while leveling and increasing my power will be killing two birds with one stone"

All my wives wanted to go with me, so I had to leave my former Split Minds, the Rin Sisters, in charge of the throne for now, thankfully, Ren (Energetic Mind) is a very responsible big sister.

"Leave it to me, Master"

"Hehehe! Now that she will be gone, its my time to take over this place an-"

TONK!

"Ouch! Ouch! W-Why did you do that… Snif…"

"Sigh… I told you to respect Master Kireina! Apologize!"

"B-But! Aaah… Damnit… I'm sorry…"

Ran (Lazy Mind) laughed at her side.

"Hahaha… You get what you deserve…"

"Uughh! Shut up!"

My other servants looked me with doubt on their faces, surprised by my choice on letting these colorful characters as the ones in charge of the throne.

"Hahaha… Don't worry, they're actually copies of my mind… So, they will do just fine… I hope…"

"Y-Yes! We would never doubt our Empress decisions… as crazy as they might be sometimes…"

"W-What did you said Wagyu?!"

"AH! N-Nothing! Nothing!"

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The new Main Team consisted of Zehe, Nesiphae, Rimuru, Wagyu, and Kekensha. I was able to sneak Kekensha in by making the other named Wolves take care of Kekensha's work for now.

Kekensha was very happy and excited about accompanying me on our new journey, and his usually serious demeanor changed to a cute puppy moving his tail, with his tongue out.

"Master! I'm very grateful for your invitation! Leave me the tanking work to me!"

"Sure! Hmm, we are almost done with the preparations…"

I used everyone's Item Box to store loads of food and HP/MP Potions. While in the construction site, I discovered that I was able to even save a whole house inside my Item Box, but it takes 20 spaces! However, this would be ideal for traveling, as we could put this house anywhere when we want to rest.

As I said before, these houses were very special, made by the System itself, they had an incredible endurance and were reinforced with strong magic.

Zehe, Nesiphae and Rimuru had all their adventuring equipment ready, Zehe was boasting a new and sexy dress fitting for her new body. It was a long and silver dress, which let her hips almost exposed, showing those beautiful legs, she also had a new pair of stockings decorated with golden markings along with silver leather boots and new staff. On her head, there was a new Silver Witch Cap with the necessary holes for her new horns to fit in.

Nesiphae had her classic Black Knight full armor, however, it seemed reinforced. Having a way heavier and sharp appearance, this also included her Black Knight Axe that was also reinforced and doubled in size. Probably the work of the talented Kajiya.

Due to Rimuru composition, it was hard for her to keep her clothes intact when shape-shifting in battle, however, Kusuri and Kajiya crafted a special set of equipment which would merge with her body whenever she fully shape-shifted to some kind of beast, it was named "Slimy Dress Set", it was quite a simple blue dress decorated with blue roses on her hips, it came with a cute blue colored diadem which was decorated with red stones and a pair of blue boots.

These special clothes were actually made with dead Slime bodies, probably from the Demonic Beings that we kill every day. Rimuru looked extremely adorable with her new set and was happy about wearing new clothes that weren't the ones she creates with her own body.

"We are ready Master! Look at my armor! Isn't it awesome?!"

"Yeah! You look very good with that Dark Knight Armor, Nesiphae"

"A-Ah… Thanks! Hehehe"

Zehe sighed.

"I wish I could wear a simple armor like you, Nesiphae. But my class restricts me from doing so… I hope this new dress does make me look that bad"

"What are you talking about, Zehe? This new dress combines perfectly with your silver hair and golden markings all over your body. I would say that you have never looked this beautiful before"

"H-Honey! I… T-Thanks…"

"You should be more confident about yourself, you are a beautiful woman"

After hearing my praise, Zehe face became completely red.

"A-Ah… H-Honey… Perhaps you are right…"

Nesiphae and Rimuru also agreed with me.

"Indeed, Zehe. You are very beautiful! Don't feel bad about your characteristics, that just makes you better! Fufufu…"

"That's right, guuu! Sister Zehe is very cute when she blushes too, guuuu…"

"I'm glad all my wives get along well together (And I don't want anymore, this is my limit…)"

Kekensha and Wagyu admired me by my side.

"Impressive… Master Kireina is an impressive woman, being able to handle so many women at the same side"

"Hmm! That's our Master! Couldn't expect less!"

"W-What are you two talking about?!"

When everything was ready, I decided to grant my skill that lets me summon Demonic Beings to Ren (Energetic Mind), across the System interface. It seems that just like my wives, I can also grant skills to my royal guards, and because Rimuru changed to sub-governor, a place was free to use, so I immediately added her in and granted her the skill. For royal guards, a maximum of two skills can be gifted.

I also made her eat Flame Salamander meat I had saved for long ago to obtain MP SHARE , thankfully, food does not root inside the Item Box.

Leaving the summoning and training to Ren, I said my goodbyes to my servants and told them that I would be communicating with them every day using the System Direct Messages.

"Finally! I will be able to explore this forest even more! I was so tired of managing everything!"

"Hahaha! Master is very honest; I was also quite tired of it"

"You too, Kekensha?"

"Hmm! Taking care of Crimson Wolves and the Slaves at the same time give me a lot of stress, its nice to go outside from time to time! I can't wait to fight strong monsters on the way!"

To make the traveling faster, I cast LEVITATE on everyone except Zehe and Rimuru, who could fly on their own.

Zehe was able to fly because she already had LEVITATE herself, it seems to be a very basic mage skill.

Rimuru was able to easily fly when shape-shifting her back into big and glorious wings, these wings were the same of the previous Gale Bird Emperor. These colorful wings and her innocent and cute appearance made her look like some kind of angel.

Seeing how everyone was ready, we flew through the sky at max speed.

I guided myself using the map that Kusuri once made for me, however, this map was underwhelming and only showed the places that we have visited before, so I decided to go were the Dark Forest is, and headed north.

Flash Flash Flash

Six figures traveled over the sky at incredible speed, blocking the sun sometimes, the powerful auras they exuded from their bodies scared most monsters away, making them run and hide in fear.

Zehe looked over the large forest, surprised.

"Aaah… I have never seen the forest like this before, it's truly a majestic place…"

Nesiphae nodded.

"Hmm! This Forest is beautiful! And so wide! Its truly the Grand Forest! Ah! We are reaching my former home… Hehehe… that brings back memories…"

"Your home? Ah, this is the Dark Forest… Did you live in here, Nesiphae?"

"Yeah, my mother raised me in a small swamp, but when she died, I was left alone here… And because of my [Dry Skin] skill, I was never able to explore so far away…"

"I-I see… I'm sorry for your mother, Nesiphae…"

"Ah! Don't worry! Hahaha! She did everything she could for me… I must keep living and getting stronger, or my mother dead would have been for nothing!"

"Hehehe, that's the spirit!"

"How was your mother, Zehe?"

"Mother? I never had one, we Trolls were given birth in a magic mud made by my former Master"

"Magic Mud? What's that?"

"Hmmm… It's a special magical mud infused with tons of nutrients, minerals, and vitamins… Everything you need for a living flesh being to be born, only formidable masters of the dark arts can make it"

"I-I see… It sounds kind of crude…"

"Hahaha… It's fine, all my brothers were born like this. Although I never had a mother figure, I had kind of a father figure, my former magic teacher, a Lich named Qhatrus… I wonder how is that old pile of bones going… Now that we are enemies… I…"

"Zehe…"

I obviously was hearing all this conversation and quickly comforted Zehe.

"Don't worry, Zehe. If we ever clash with him, I will try my best to recruit him and not get into any conflict if possible. I would never kill someone dear to you"

"H-Honey… Thanks…"

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Four years ago, Dark Nation: King's Castle. Magic Teaching Classrooms.

The most adept in the magic of the Goblins and Trolls will end up here, commanded by the great mage himself, four Undead teachers will instruct the basics of magic to these promising soldiers.

In a messy classroom, young Goblins and Trolls would play around, destroying things and eating.

On the corner of this classroom, a small Troll girl, with blue skin and silver hair was sitting on the ground, reading some ancient book.

"Shadow Shot… Infuse your magic energy over your own shadow… and slowly extract it until forming a spherical form… Eh?"

Suddenly, a strong force hit the girl right into her head, throwing her to the ground, making her feel extreme pain.

Tump!

"Aaahhh!"

"Hahaha! Look at this weirdo! Whatcha readin?"

When the small girl looked over her face, she saw two young goblin mages, who were stomping over her delicate head.

"I-It's a magic book… P-Please, let me go…"

"Oh? Isn't this illegal? You shouldn't be reading magic books without the teacher's permission! Take this!"

One of the young goblin mages stomped the girl's head again.

TUMP!

"Aaaaghhh! P-Please…"

"Women are only for breeding! Why are you here learning magic? You are receiving what you deserve!"

TUMP!

"Aaaaaaaahh! S-Stop… Please…"

The two goblin younglings laughed at the miserable girl, grabbing their ugly feet asking for mercy.

"Gahahaha! Yeah! That's a better look! Now, lick my feet! And I might let you off!"

"Yeah! Lick it!"

"Ugghh… Uuhnn…"

The little girl hesitated for a moment, but the fear for more stomps over her bloody head made her take her small tongue out.

"Uugh…"

Suddenly, a strong magic force entered the messy room!

FLUOSH!

The two goblin boys were scared shitless over this enormous pressure!

"W-What the?! The teacher! Quick! Run!"

"This is your lucky day, blueberry! We will let you off without licking our feet!"

The two goblin younglings swiftly ran to their seats.

The young girl was hit so hard that she could barely stand up.

"Aaahh… My head… It hurts… Snif…"

However, suddenly, the girl felt a warm aura cover her bloody head, slowly healing her wounds.

"Hmm? Ah!"

When the girl glanced over, an intimidating living skeleton wearing some black robes was kneeling, raising his hand over her head and casting a small healing spell.

The ugly skeleton talked in a harsh and serious voice.

"Can you stand up? Quickly go back to your seat"

"Y-Yes…"

The girl quickly grabbed her magic book and ran to her seat.

The living skeleton walked to the front of the class and opened a magic book, glancing over the pages.

"Ahem! Very well, open page 239, section 5; Shadow Manipulation"

Every student obediently opened their books, searching for the page their teacher told them to look for.

The young blue girl was the most excited because this was her favorite signature, Shadow Magic.

"Aaah… Shadow Shot? Its what I was reading…"

Suddenly, the living skeleton ordered the girl to read the page in detail.

"You"

"Eh? M-Me?"

"Yes, read section 5, mistakes won't be tolerated"

"Y-Yes teacher!"

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"Zehe?"

I noticed Zehe who became silent for a moment as if daydreaming.

"Ah! I'm fine… I was just remembering something… It's nothing, really"

"Oh? Do you have good memories with that teacher?"

"Ahaha, dear you are very sharp…"

"(Perhaps she doesn't feel comfortable about talking those things yet…) Anyways, we already reached the end of the Dark Forest, let's go down"

"Oh! Is that a Red Forest?"

"Yes, I can feel a strong blood scent"

Nesiphae and Rimuru who were by my side analyzed the ground.

"Hmmm, a Blood Forest?"

"Guuu… Look… the ground also has some red pigments…"

The tree leaves were completely red, and their wood was of a pale white color, some trees even had weird fruits that looked like spheres packed with blood, the ground was mostly brown, but had small red pigments. The small plants around were also completely red, and so were the flowers too.

"An impressive Biome… I will call this… Crimson Blood Forest"

I decided to try out these tree fruits, they had a smooth surface and when munched, they would pop like a balloon inside your mouth, filling it with sweet blood. For my vampiric tastes, this fruit was delicious.

CRIMSON BLOODY POMEL: A special fruit made by the Crimson Blood Tress, it's filled with sweet blood nectar, when these fruits fall to the ground, a new Crimson Blood Tree will grow

Heals 20 MP and 30 Stamina

"Ohh… These are too good… Try them out!"

All my servants tried these fruits, they all found them extremely delicious.

Crunch

"Hmm! I can feel how very sweet blood fills my mouth! This is truly nectar from the gods!"

"Aah~ So good"

"Guuuuuu! Chomp chomp, the tree wood is not bad too, try it out!"

"Hmm! Indeed, this fruit is very unique"

"Certainly, I can't stop eating it"

While we traveled through this forest, we ate as many fruits as we could, while saving tons in our Item Boxes.

Suddenly, a system message popped out.

Ding!

YOUR BLOOD STRENGTH HAS INCREASED BY 5 POINTS

YOUR BLOOD VITALITY HAS LEVELED UP! 5>7

YOU LEARNED A NEW SKILL: BLOOD FRUIT CREATION

"Oh? I can use these fruits to level up these stats? However, it's too slow, maybe I could grow them outside the castle… And this skill…"

This weird skill let me grow Blood Fruits directly from my own blood, it would be useful if I wanted it to share with my servants. However, it would be draining my blood quickly. I can also infuse it with HP and MP secretion, creating Blood Elixirs.

It seems that I was the only one able to get this skill, maybe is it because of being a Vampire?

I quickly created a small fruit infused with HP and MP secretion and handed it to Zehe.

"Here, try it out"

"Ooh! Did you make this, Master?"

Zehe slowly munched the Blood Fruit and drank the sweet blood inside.

"Aaaah~!!! T-This! Master blood is so delicious! Nectar of the heavens!"

"Is that good? I'll try it then…"

Munch

"Ah! Its true… Drinking my own blood seems strange, but its indeed very sweet, and has different flavors too, from different monsters… I can taste the River Walking Fish… The Gale Birds… Even fruits I've eaten too"

However, these fruits produced by my skill did not give me any Blood Strength or increase my Blood Vitality level.

"These are premium Elixirs… I should use them with care…"

While we walked through the forest, we found countless deep ponds of bloody water, floating over this water were red-colored Lotus-like flowers, they varied in sizes from very tiny ones to gigantic ones almost covering an entire pond.

I tried to eat the biggest one but suddenly, it started to move!

"Ssshsssshhhhh!"

"Eh?!"

Suddenly, the gigantic flower opened its petals, showing countless sharp teeth. Inside its bloody mouth, there could be seen countless monster bodies being slowly digested inside.

The flower swallowed me whole!

CHOMP!

"Eeeehh?! M-Master!!!"

"Nooooo!!!"

"Wait, look!"

"Eh?"

I slowly made my way outside the flower, slashing its smelly belly multiple times.

Slash! Slash!

"Sssssshhhh!!!!"

When I finally killed it, I was able to get out, but I was completely covered in a slimy substance, covering my entire body, it was extremely gross. This substance even entered in the middle of my breast.

"Uughh… Gross"

YOU GAINED 2139 EXP YOUR PARTY MEMBERS GAINED 1070 EXP

LEVEL 30/50 EXP 04493/24000

"Master! You are safe!"

"Yeah… It was just a gross plant, I'll eat it anyway"

This plant petal was bloody but sweet, its belly was extremely bitter and I almost puked multiple times, however, I was able to endure it and ate it whole, even its sharp teeth.

The rest of my servants also hunted every big flower we encountered getting tons of EXP and some new skills.

YOU AND YOUR SERVANTS LEARNED THE FOLLOWING SKILLS:

BLOODY LOTUS SHARP BITE

BLOODY LOTUS DISSOLVING JUICES

BLOODY LOTUS SWEET AROMA

BLOODY LOTUS VICIOUS TENACITY

BASIC BLOOD AFFINITY

YOU GAINED 36854 EXP THE REST OF YOUR SERVANTS GAINED TONS OF EXP

YOU GAINED ONE LEVEL! LEVEL 31/50 EXP 17347/25000

THE REST OF YOUR SERVANTS GAINED SOME LEVELS!

"Ooh! So much EXP for just slaying these flowers?"

Wagyu was also surprised over the new EXP ratio.

"It seems that this area has stronger monsters, giving way more EXP"

"You are right! Its an ideal grinding spot!"

When we saw that the ponds around started to get tinier and tinier, we realized that we already killed all the big flowers, the other were too small and barely had any teeth.

"Hmm? What is that?"

While scouting the area with my 8 Senses skill, I localized a group of strange creatures.

These creatures seemed to be made entirely of blood and pieces of flesh of different monsters, with bones sprouting from their bodies, most of them had the skulls of strong monsters on their heads.

A big one noticed me and yelled at me while charging straight to my position, it opened its massive and ugly mouth, which was filled with bloody tentacles and countless different shaped fangs.

"Screeeeeechh!!"

However, a bright and golden wall stopped the monster right before it could come any closer!

TOMP!

"Screech!"

Kekensha came rushing to my side.

"Master, please be careful!"

"Don't worry, they wouldn't even do anything to me… I just wanted to take its attack first"

Suddenly, the blood monster walked around the golden wall and attacked me from behind!

"Screeeeeeech!"

Booom!

The monster didn't even see it coming, and a big and grotesque purple claw pressed it to the ground!

"Ghhhhhhhrraaaaahhh!"

The claw squeezed the monster until it exploded into countless bloody pieces.

SPLAT!

YOU GAINED 5685 EXP THE REST OF YOUR PARTY GAINED 2842 EXP

LEVEL 31/50 EXP 23032/25000

"Aaah! These give tons of EXP each! Fantastic! This is what I needed! Everyone! Let's massacre these Blood Monsters!"

"Yes!"

Booom!

Suddenly, the Blood Monster horde was surprised as they saw countless magic projectiles draining over them!

Booom! Booom!

Some Blood Monster exploded in agony, while others were sliced in pieces, not even the little younglings were spared!

YOU GAINED 48992 EXP THE REST OF YOUR PARTY GAINED 24496 EXP

YOU GAINED THREE LEVELS! LEVEL 33/50 EXP 21024/27000

THE REST OF YOUR PARTY GAINED SOME LEVELS!

Zehe and Nesiphae were the first ones to taste this strange monster meat.

"Hmm… It's quite bloody… but it has loads of flavors…"

"Yeah… This monster is most probably composed of countless organisms it has absorbed"

Analyzing the youngest Blood Monster bodies, they don't seem so structured, look like bloody blobs, probably when they absorb enough monsters, these will grow stronger too. A very unique type of monster.

This meat was extremely bloody and salty, with loads of hints from flavors originated from different monsters I have tasted before, just like the Blood Fruits.

YOU OBTAINED A NEW TITLE: BLOOD MONSTER DEVOURER

YOU AND YOUR PARTY MEMBERS LEARNED THE FOLLOWING SKILLS:

BLOOD MONSTER ELASTIC BODY

BLOOD MONSTER POWERFUL BITE

BLOOD MONSTER BODY ASSIMILATION

BLOOD MONSTER SLIMY BODY

BLOOD MONSTER BONES REPLICATION

"Oh? Body assimilation? That sounds gross, but interesting!"

I immediately tried this new and weird skill, grabbing a big piece of the dead Blood Monster and activating the skill.

YOU ARE ASSIMILATING THIS PIECE OF BODY

Suddenly, a bright red light covered this big piece of flesh.

Fluosh!

The piece of flesh slowly started to fuse with me, making my hand acquire a red tone, this caused a little bit of pain.

"Uugh…"

When my hand was able to completely absorb the piece of flesh, a system notification popped up.

Ding!

YOU HAVE SUCCESSFULLY ASSIMILATED THE FLESH OF A BLOOD MONSTER

YOU LEARNED A NEW SKILL: BLOOD MONSTER BODY PARTS SHAPE-SHIFTING

"W-What?!"

Just as the skill said, this skill was a permanent passive skill that let parts of my body change to of the composition of a Blood Monster at will. I first tried doing it with my hand, and it transformed into a horrible and grotesque bloody hand, covered in bones and flesh.

"I see… Its similar to Rimuru's shape-shifting"

My other servants also got this skill and assimilated the Bloody Monsters flesh pieces.

"Impressive, this skill is practically Rimuru's shapeshifting!"

"Guuu… I'm not unique anymore, guuu?"

Pat pat

"Ah! M-Mastaa…?"

"You are very unique to me, Rimuru"

Rimuru's pale blue face blushed in embarrassment.

"Hehehe… Okay…"

Unlike Rimuru shape-shifting, Body Assimilation had a limit of three assimilated monsters to be used at the same time.

If more were assimilated, they would be saved inside the System and could be freely switched in and out, like a piece of equipment. The more monsters are assimilated, the more the skill will level up, maybe if its high enough I can use more monsters at the same time.

"I wonder what would happen if I consumed so many monsters… Would I be able to shape-shift into a horrible abomination? Hahaha…"

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