Swarming Sovereignty

When Lia awoke, she was back in her fox form. No one else was around, so she took a moment to check her status and see what had changed since her last evolution.

And, out of curiosity, she looked through her Skills, and found, to her surprise, that not only had Humanoid Transformation leveled up, but so had Blood Money and Dimension of Discounts. Blood Money had simply increased its efficiency, but Humanoid Transformation and Dimension of Discounts had so much more.

Humanoid Transformation had leveled up twice, giving two major benefits. The first extended her transformation time to six hours and gave her an additional free transformation, while the other allowed her to make a form the default. This default form, like her true form, never incurred a time penalty to transform into, and, on top of that, any time spent in the default form was halved for the purposes of the time limit.

That…that was basically as good as a permanent humanoid form. If she slept in her true form for eight hours every day, that meant she only needed to spend four hours as a fox. She took a moment to check, and fortunately it seemed that her evolution had reset the cooldown, so she set the idealized version of her old body as her default and transformed into it.

Which just left Dimension of Discounts, which had jumped a whopping six levels, all the way to level nine. Most of the levels had been more of what she was used to, decreasing the cost and increasing her item selection, but the last level was something very different. For seventy-five percent of her Mana and Stamina, she was able to open a physical portal to the Dimension of Discounts and go inside.

Her curiosity getting the better of her, she opened the portal and stepped inside. After only a moment she realized that she was in the same place she had been in when she had spoken to Jerry and Connie, but no one else was around.

She was about to go look at the shelving when another portal opened behind the counter, and Connie stepped through. “Welcome to the Dimension of Discounts, glad to be seeing you in person!” She said, giving Lia a smile. “Would you like a quick explanation of our facilities?”

“I, um, yes…Your Holiness?” Lia ventured.

“Please, Connie will do.” Connie said, waving a hand. “I’m your personally assigned sales rep, it wouldn’t do to have you standing on ceremony.”

“How…did a god get this job, anyway?”

“I seem to have forgotten.” Connie said, eyes sparkling. “But I’m sure there’s something that could jog my memory. We’ll say…one hundred somethings, if you know what I mean?”

Lia rolled her eyes. “Fine, fine, you can have one hundred Blood Money.” Lia said. “So, how’d that happen?”

“I volunteered.” Connie said. “I wanted the Blood Money, and I haven’t had an opportunity to play shopkeeper in ages.”

“Does this place even need a shopkeeper?”

“Technically, no, but then all that extra Blood Money goes to waste and we can’t be having that.”

“Oh yeah, and why did I jump six levels in the Skill?”

“I may or may not have hijacked it and leveled it because it was the least expensive way of grabbing you and Amelia?” Connie said, looking away. “Look, can we, uh, forget my involvement in that whole situation? I really was not planning for things to go like that and it’s pretty embarrassing, to tell you the truth.”

“Rose already knows, but I’m willing to forget…” Lia paused briefly to wonder if what she was doing was too much, then decided Connie probably wouldn’t mind. “For a price. My memory is awfully sharp right now, if only there was some way to encourage me to forget…”

Connie froze, then burst out laughing. “Alright, I suppose that’s fair. I’ll give you a fifty percent discount on your next purchase of under one thousand Blood Money, but only if you never bring the topic up again. So, you want that tour now?”

“Please.” Lia said. “I’m unsure of how exactly this works.”

“Alright, so, this isn’t your standard department store.” Connie said, strolling towards the rows of shelving. “It’s a bit more…abstract.”

“Department store?”

“Don’t worry about it. For your purposes, just know that these shelves contain all the near-infinite products that the Dimension of Discounts produces, or…an approximation, of them, anyway.

“Right here,” Connie continued, thumping a panel on top of a square pillar, “is your department selector. It’s…well, basically, you put in a type of store, and then the shelves you see are going to contain products that could also be sold at that kind of store. Oh, and it’s kind of hard to see from here, but there is a limit to these shelves. We’re looking at fifteen thousand square meters of area those shelves cover, so it’s big, but you shouldn’t need to worry about getting lost or anything.

“If you don’t like what’s in the shelves but don’t want to change store type, you can hit the big button with two arrows on this panel to reshuffle your available options at the cost of a bit of your Mana and Stamina. There’s no guarantee that what you want is going to be in that new set of stuff, but…that’s the downside of this place, really.”

“Can’t I use Dimensional Search Engine with this somehow?” Lia asked.

“If you level it and Dimension of Discounts up, yeah.” Connie said. “Which, by the by, I can do for a lump sum of Blood Money, though it’s going to cost you a pretty penny. I can do that for almost any Skill, actually, though I’m obviously going to need more Blood Money if you want me to level up something powerful.”

“How much would it cost me to get to the point where I can use Dimensional Search Engine here?”

Connie reached into her breast pocket and pulled out a sleek, rectangular object with a bunch of buttons, and began to push them. “Let’s see here…this is clocking in at…let’s round down and call it an even seventy-five hundred Blood Money.”

“That’s…a lot.”

“For now.” Connie said, putting the rectangular thing back into her pocket. “But you’re not exactly dealing with anything too strong at the moment. Maybe once you venture through that portal Amelia made, you’ll have a bit more spending power. Anyway,” she said, walking away from the shelves and motioning for Lia to follow, “back on the topic of buying stuff, what you see on those shelves aren’t going to be the actual things you buy. They’re just representations of what you’ll get, along with those little blurbs you’re used to seeing in your menu.

“Just grab one or more of those, put it in a shopping cart, bring ‘em up to the counter near where you enter, and I’ll ring you up. If for some reason I’m not here, it’ll automatically do that for you once you exit the portal, but that’s no fun. Either way, your purchases will appear with you as soon as you step out of the portal, just like they do when you use your menu.”

Connie stopped in front of a large blank space of wall, then turned back to Lia. “This is our…specialty corner.” She said. “It’s empty right now because you’re going to need to evolve your Skill before you can even have the option to use this place, but in the future, you’ll be able to make things like hot springs, parks, bowling alleys, forges…basically any random facility can be recreated here if you have the dough.”

“Can I bring other people here?” Lia asked. If she could, it might make a good date spot in the future.

“Gotta get those Skill levels up first.” Connie said. “But eventually, yes. That being said, do not reveal my true identity to anyone other than Rose, or I’m going to be quite cross.”

“Wasn’t planning on it.” Lia said. “I don’t know if I even can. I haven’t even thought about pushing the boundaries of whatever…thing Jerry put on me, much less tested them.”

“A wise choice.” Connie said. “But, for the time being, that concludes our tour. Would you like to buy anything while you’re here?”

Lia shook her head. “No, I was just curious. I need to go talk with Rose and get her off of babysitting duty before I go shopping.”

“Then I hope to see you again very soon.” Connie said. “The exit portal is directly behind you, please watch your step.”

Lia turned to find a portal that very definitely hadn’t been there before. “Thanks, Connie.” She said. “I appreciate it.”

“Anything for my best customer!” Connie said. “Don’t get yourself killed out there!”

Lia stepped through the portal and emerged back in her room. Now she just had to find Rose and her siblings, which she figured couldn’t be too difficult; it was highly unlikely they had strayed far from the dorm building.

And, just as she thought, Rose was indeed within the general vicinity of the dorm building. Lia could see her out the front windows in the lobby, talking to Olivia, who was listening with rapt attention. In fact, all of Lia’s siblings were listening to Rose, similarly entranced.

“What are you guys talking about?” Lia asked, stepping outside of the building.

“Lia!” Rose said. “How’d the evolution go? Did you get a permanent humanoid form?”

“No, but close to it.” Lia said. “The evolution leveled up my Skill, and I have twelve hours of uptime now. Or, at least, twelve hours if I look like this. If I pick a different form, it’s only six.”

“You look…different.” Maria said. “And you’re not hiding your tail.”

Lia shrugged. “I can change my body however I want, so I went ahead and gave myself all this things I wanted to change before. And I definitely didn’t want to keep the old tail, it was too embarrassing.”

“So, you cheated to get a better tail.” Robin said flatly. “That’s not fair.”

“She’s probably underselling her tail, to be honest.” Rose said thoughtfully. “In terms of raw magic potential, I wouldn’t be surprised if she beats you, Maria.”

“No way!” Maria said. “I’m an archmage now! My tail’s like…as bushy as it can get before level thirty!”

“What’s your Magic?” Rose asked.

“Twenty.” Maria said smugly. “And I ‘m only level one.”

“Thirty.” Lia said. “And I’m also level one.”

“You’re lying!” Maria accused. “There’s no way it’s that high at level one!”

“I’m also a Champion race and have evolved like…seven times, with the last four further specializing me in magic.” Lia said. “I’m built totally differently than I was before.”

“What was your Job before?” Rose asked curiously.

“Hunter.” Lia said. “So…my magic stats were pretty trash.”

“And what’d you just evolve into?”

“Fledgling kitsune beguiler.” Lia said. “So…still fledgling, I just hopped lines to one that looked more powerful and put me back at being a Champion race. But…back to my original question, what are you all doing here?”

“I’m teaching them how to fight.” Rose explained. “They were complaining about not having much to do, so I figured I would teach them some useful skills.”

“And you said we could fight in controlled conditions or whatever!” Robin said defensively. “So, it’s fine!”

Lia sighed. “I suppose so. You weren’t putting them through anything dangerous, right?”

“Of course not.” Rose soothed. “I was just getting a handle on what their skills were like.”

“And what do you think?”

“Honestly? I’m kind of surprised; they’re a lot better at fighting than I thought. But…they fight like monsters.”

Lia frowned. “What does that mean?”

“When you fight enough monsters, you get a feel for it. They all share a similar way of fighting. There are some differences from monster to monster, but by and large they all are the same; they have solid fundamentals, but little…personalization. It’s like…like they have a really solid grip on the theory of using a weapon, but little experience.

“And I think that’s what’s happening with your siblings. I think whatever part of the system is responsible for determining how monsters act gave them the instincts required to use their weapons, but not much else.”

“So…do you think they’re going to always be like that?” Lia asked. “They’re not, right?”

“I highly doubt it.” Rose said. “Between your…past couple of days and watching Mia fight, I’m confident they’ll be able to grow just like anyone else. In fact, it almost certainly is going to expedite their progress, since I won’t have to drill the basics into them.”

“Good to hear.” Lia said. “How have you three been behaving?” She asked, turning to her siblings. “You’re not making trouble for Rose, are you?”

“We’ve been good!” Olivia said happily. “Rose is a really good teacher, and the lessons are lots of fun!”

“I wouldn’t go as far as to say fun, but it’s definitely been enlightening.” Maria said. “Rose really seems to know what she’s talking about.”

“Of course she does.” Robin said. “She was the best there ever was. I bet she knows more than all our old teachers combined!”

“I wouldn’t go that far.” Rose said, blushing. “I’ve forgotten a lot, and I’m honestly relearning as I teach you three. Besides, your teachers have the benefit of time, my techniques are hundreds of years out of date.”

“And many are still in use today.” Lia said. “Anyway…have you seen my parents recently?”

“They dropped by about an hour ago.” Rose said. “Why?”

“I want to head through that portal Amelia left us. Connie hinted that there might be a lot of Blood Money in it for me, and I want to save up and get us some proper entertainment now that my siblings are here. But it’s also probably going to be dangerous, so I want to have a decent force for our first expedition.

“Since they’re still working, though, I think we’ll get to it tomorrow. You keep teaching the kids, I’m going to go check up on Lily, and maybe grab some soldiers and get myself a few easy levels at the library while I’m at it. Sound good?”

“Fine by me.” Rose said. “Good luck out there.”

“You lot, any books you want while I’m making a trip?” Lia asked her siblings.

“Twisted Time Tanglers!” Robin said. “Especially books three and four!”

Lia nodded, then paused. “Wait, aren’t those the ones with the Ruby Emperor? Why would you want those? You’ve got the real deal in front of you!”

“I sorta wanted to see how accurate they were.” Robin said, looking away embarrassedly. “And those were always my favorite.”

“Twisted Time Tanglers?” Rose asked. “What’s that?”

“A book series about a group of kids who go back in time and have adventures with famous people.” Lia said. “They got printed pretty widely because they help teach kids about the past in a fun way. Everything’s not totally accurate, since it’s a kid’s series and they had to keep it exciting somehow, but as far as historical fiction goes it’s pretty okay stuff.”

“And…there are two about me?” Rose asked weakly. “Was I really that big a deal?”

“I keep telling you you were, but it never seems to set in.” Lia said, smiling. “Even your Title says you were the most important person in the world. And you’re definitely the only one who can say they ruled over the entire world. That makes you a big deal by default.”

“I know, I just…” She hesitated, glancing at the kids, then looked back at Lia meaningfully. “Well, it feels different, you know? And, Robin, I’m very different now than I was then. Back then, I had an image to maintain, but now I can be who I always wanted to be without worrying about what people will think. The me you read about is…not really me at all.”

“Oh.” Robin said. “I…did think you were a little different than I remembered people saying you were.”

“Lia, I want that book of bedtime stories mom used to read us!” Olivia interrupted. “Please?!”

“I’ll see if I can find it.” Lia said. “And I’ll get the Twisted Time Tanglers for you, too, Robin.”

“Can I have some love stories?” Maria asked bashfully. “M-maybe even a couple where the protagonist and love interest are both girls? I’m…kind of curious.”

“I can totally handle that.” Lia said. “Alright, I’ll be back in a few hours, so you all be good, okay?”

“Yes, Lia!” Her siblings chorused.

“Rose, don’t hesitate to tell me or my parents if they act up too much.” Lia said. “And if they get on your nerves or anything, feel free to send them to their rooms.”

“I doubt that will be necessary, but I will keep it in mind.” Rose said, smiling. “So far they have been a joy to teach.”

“Good. See you all in a bit, then!”