Momonga sat on a sofa in his private quarters dressed in a simple, casual robe, with a big plate of various snacks and a cup of tea in front of him. It was finally time to investigate Albedo's |Seduce| skill and find a way to have a temporary body. The previous inspection already assured him that he was on the right track, and the skill indeed had a subskill that would grant his desire.
He leaned back to relax and closed his eyes, turning his attention inwards. |Seduce| wasn't as complex as some of his skills, so locating the right core wasn't hard. He quickly isolated it with |Degenerate| and made a copy of the core, making |Extra Skill - Energy Body|.
Assigning the skill to his soul was just as easy. He already expected extra strain on the soul, but since it was only an extra skill, its toll was minimal.
The real problem started with actually using it. After activating it, he sensed a vague outline over himself, but it was shapeless and didn't provide much of a use. One glance at the mirror also showed that it was practically invisible, only showing a slight shimmer of air when touched.
'Looks like I will have to resculpt it to make it more human-like.'
With the prime goal of being able to eat, he concentrated on making lips and a mouth over his skeletal one. He successfully managed to make a tongue.
'Let's see if I have a sense of taste.' After all, if Veldora could create a full body and eat with ease, then why wouldn't he be able to do it as well?
Momonga picked up a small strawberry tart and bit into it. Even though he could have a rudimentary sensation of taste when he used his teeth, the current sensation was almost overwhelming. Not once in his life had he tasted something so wonderful.
His invisible lips twisted into a smile as he took another bite of the tart, savoring the taste. Lost in the pleasant sensation, Momonga didn't even notice that all the food was simply falling down on the sofa and on the floor.
"My Lord, should I clean it up?" the maid, standing at the door, asked.
Momonga looked at her confused for a moment and then realized what she was referring to and looked down.
"Ahm… yes. Please clean it up." he said and quickly stood up. The homunculus maid dutifully cleaned all the mess he had made while the Overlord looked away, not particularly proud. Cleaning it himself was not an option either. The last time he tried to do a menial task, the maid of the day almost had a mental breakdown.
'I need to find some kind of solution to that. How embarrassing to make her clean up half-eaten food…'
Once the maid was done, he sat back down and for a moment considered his options. He could use |Break Item| and just disintegrate everything that dropped below his neck. That however felt like disrespect towards the food. In his old life, such waste would have been unreasonable for someone of his previous socioeconomic standing.
The more sensible option would be to somehow convert the food into magicules.
"I should ask Veldora. He surely is doing something of that nature.' Resolved to ask advice from the dragon, Momonga sat down and sent a message.
{ I would like to cash in a favor if you don't mind. }
{ Sure thing, chief. What do you need? } Veldora responded after a moment.
{ I was wondering, how do you consume food? Your avatar body is made out of magicules if I'm not mistaken, and I am currently trying to replicate such a thing. }
{ It is easy. Everything can be broken down into magicules. Here, let me show you how. } Since the connection with the Storm Dragon provided easy, two-way communication, the required information just appeared in his mind. The process didn't seem too difficult and could be incorporated into |Energy Body|.
{ Thank you. }
{ Don't mention it. I was wondering why you were the only one not eating but didn't connect that you didn't know how until now. }
{ I had other priorities. } Momonga quickly made an excuse.
Armed with his new knowledge, he added the eating function to his body, now in a much more literal sense as everything organic would be broken down into magicules and the rest would simply be disintegrated. He had no desire to fully replicate the human digestive system after all.
To not repeat his previous shameful actions, he picked up a muffin and put his hand in his ribcage just in case. As with the tart, the cupcake also tasted wonderful. His worries about making a mess turned out to be unfounded, as his |Energy Body| absorbed the food easily. The energy gained from it was laughable, but that was beside the point.
Assured that he would not make a mess, he picked up the next treat. Slowly but surely the large plate was consumed. It didn't take long to eat it all. The final test was the cup of tea. Momonga leaned over the plate just in case and took a careful sip.
As was the case with the food, the tea was absorbed as well. Satisfied with the results, he took another sip and leaned back. 'After months of not eating, I think I deserve to have a little extra.'
"Fith, could you please bring me dinner? Something light."
The maid bowed and bolted out of the door.
'Why do I have a bad feeling about this?' Momogna mused. He could hear the maid running down the ninth-floor corridor. Even if he hadn't made such a request before, Pero and Buku ate on a regular basis, so it shouldn't be that big of a deal, right?
Oh, how wrong he was. It took only ten minutes for the head chef and about twenty maids to appear in his quarters with pretty much the restaurant's entire menu. The massive orc chef was the first to come in pushing, the cart with his pig snout shaking in excitement.
"What is all this?"
"I-I didn't know your preferences L-Lord Momonga." The chef stuttered while bowing and held his chef's hat with one of his massive hands.
'There is no way I could just eat it all.' Still, he had to pick something. Momonga could figure out which dishes the Head Chef was most proud of rather easily, as the chef's eyes fell on a few particular plates the most. To make him happy, he picked pasta with some sort of meat sauce and what he thought was an onion soup with a large piece of toasted bread on top of the bowl.
The chef's excitement was palpable, telling him that those were the right choices. Not being a picky eater, he was assured that all of it would taste fantastic anyway. As for the rest of the food, he once again needed to push the servants out of their comfort zones.
"I would hate to waste the food. Everyone, please pick a dish you like and join me. There is plenty of space to sit down and enjoy the meal." Before anyone could protest he raised his hand and added. "I would take it as an insult if any of you refused."
The maids and the head chef quickly grabbed a plate and sat down wherever they could.
'Worked like a charm.'
Not to embarrass himself in front of such a large crowd, he started to eat very carefully. Both the pasta and the onion soup were fantastic. Some spark of gluttony inside him demanded more food, but Momonga suppressed it. This wasn't a one-time deal after all. From now on he could eat whenever he wanted.
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'How could he do this to me! It was not my fault!' These thoughts surfaced again and again. Gelmud sat on the tree stump, kicking the ground again. All the planning, all the effort, for nothing to come of it.
He left Clayman's territories a while ago, but he honestly had no idea as to where to go next. He could offer his services to other demon lords, but there was no guarantee that they would not treat him the same way. The human nations were out of the question as well. The moment they realized he was a majin, some stupid hotshot hero would likely attempt to kill him for no good reason.
With nothing better to do, Gelmund stood up and walked in a random direction through the forest of Jura. He could still gather those he named, and create an army… But then what? The pathetic creatures living in the forest were no match for demon lord armies. Naming made them stronger, but he wasn't strong enough to name more than one decently strong creature at a time.
He hit the nearest tree with his cane in frustration. "Just why did this have to happen?"
If he had friends or allies, he could have at least something to go off on, but in Clayman's service there were only enemies or rivals. Trusting anyone was generally a foolish thing to do after all.
He sat down again and looked at the ground. "What will I do?"
Anger and despair grew inside him. He needed power. He needed something, anything.
Maybe he could name an orc and try to create an orc lord on his own, but without Clayman's support, he lacked the power to do so. Even if he somehow managed to create an orc lord on his own, other demon lords could just decide to kill the orc and then finish him off for good measure.
'Why is the world so unfair!? I worked so hard! I need the power! I need it, I need it. I… Give me power. I deserve it!' His mind grew steadily more agitated. At the boiling point, he just let out a scream and slumped to his knees.
If only he could somehow draw the power from those he named. As few as there were, it would at least be something. As his despair and desire for power grew, a voice said in his mind.
< Acknowledged. |Unique Skill - Master, granted|. >
"Wha…" A skill. He just received a skill, and a unique one at that. Gelmund felt his power increase. It wasn't anything particularly noticeable, as only two named subordinates gave it. It was easy to guess that the goblin he named had just died at some point. Still, it was a start.
The world had heard his plea and answered it. That meant that greatness was his destiny. Gelmud jumped to his feet, overjoyed.
Now he only needed a clear idea of his next steps and grand plan. If Clayman was afraid to even poke into the dark spot in Jura, all he needed to do was take it by force and his ascension to the position of demon lord would be all but assured. Of course, just charging in was unwise, and he needed an army and followers to fuel his new skill.
The lizardmen and ogres were decently strong but few in number. What he needed was numbers, and that's where the orcs came in. Even if he couldn't create an orc lord, he could use them as foot soldiers and as a workforce.
'I'll start with the pigs. They are too weak to refuse me. With them at my back, the rest will follow.'
Of course, he needed to be careful to not draw too much attention at first. There was always a chance Clayman was watching him. Concentrating on his newfound power, he obscured the view of him and detached his vision from the observation orb.
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Clayman felt one of the orbs on his table becoming dormant and picked it up with a smirk.
'He doesn't want to be watched. Someone is conspiring against me. This should be interesting.'
The option to brute force the observation was too invasive and even an idiot like Gelmud would notice it. A more subtle approach was needed.
{ Tear, would you have a minute? } Clayman sent a message to a close friend and ally.
{ Yea. Do you need something? }
{ I have a little scouting job in mind where a certain amount of finesse is required. }
A circle of pinkish light appeared in the middle of Clayman's office and a girl in an oversized, striped costume jumped out of it. She corrected her mask which resembled a crying clown face and jumped closer, with her magenta-colored pigtails bouncing with her.
"Spill the beans. Who are we spying on?"
"If I would have known you were so eager for work, I would have found something to do earlier." Clayman said with a smirk.
"Nothing is going on lately. The client is not giving us anything interesting to do. So what's the job about?" Tear said and tapped her right foot impatiently.
"Gelmud is in Jura planning his ascension to become a demon lord." Clayman said with a dry laugh. "I need for you to observe him discreetly."
"That's it? Did Laplace put you up for this?" Tear screeched. "I can kick your ass, you know?!"
"Now, now, Tear. I am serious. Gelmud plans to take over Jura on his own, and he blocked all the easy-to-use observation methods. I need my hands clean in case something unpredictable happens."
"He thinks he will become a demon lord?" Tear grabbed her stomach as she laughed out loud. "This is going to be hilarious!"
"Remember to be discreet about it."
"Hey, put some faith in me. No one will know I'm there."
"You know I have faith in you."
"I'll report when something comes up. See ya." Tear said, and sunk into the circle of pinkish light that appeared beneath her feet.
Clayman grabbed the glass of wine and stood up and walked up to the window. "This should be interesting."
Edited by Edgy.