"Stop growing!"
Sunny uttered a simple command, but the cloud of dust already covered the basement. It was to the point he quickly manifested a mask for himself.
Before they could even think if the explanation the Covetous Coffer was gone. The weave disappeared beneath dark embers, and his [Blood Weave] couldn't find any sign of it anymore.
On the other hand his Shadow Sense informed him that the space within didn't diminish. Actually it has grown beyond its usual boundaries.
The items he left inside as an experiment were still inside, perfectly fine.
'Thank, Gods.'
Unfortunately the pressure inside was lower again, which had to be fixed with Quintessence Pearl.
Also the size… The entity that was previously a chest suddenly expanded into a greater space. Aiko ran to the stairs. The chair she used to sit on was destroyed, robbing Sunny from one of his Memories. She quickly claimed the rest of them, dismissing, and therefore moving into her own Soul Sea, just barely defying the attack of panic. She was concerned about something, and her mind seemed to run in circles.
The cloud of dust settled. Sunny turned off Shadow Manifestation, and looked around in worry.
"That almost ruined us!"
He understood what she meant very clearly. All those Memories were borrowed, and that fact was well documented. If they failed to return them, they would be obliged to pay severe penalties. One or two, or even ten Memories was bearable, but what if tens of them were destroyed?
Even if they paid for that nicely, their reputation could drown in the toilet.
"Fortunately it didn't, but we have to be more careful next time. At least it worked."
The floor in the basement was seriously cracked, and required repairs, but that could wait since there's no structural damage.
Aiko went down to look closer at the chest, which was now bigger, wider, more shiny, and its features were arranged in a generic form of face. There was a mouth, teeth, slight show of dormant hunger, and ferocity.
"It doesn't look livable."
"Just a few adjustments."
Sunny sent a mental command to turn into something else. The creature that earlier took most of the basement now was only as big as privy. A wooden door appeared on its walls that assumed the texture of stone brick. The door opened on its own, revealing insides greater than outside. The most important factor, however, was that the teeth were nowhere to be seen.
"What about now?"
"I don't know. It's still a terrifying beast. Just because you made a lion look a bit nicer, doesn't mean I will insert my head into his mouth."
"Actually a Fallen Devil, but I see your point."
Sunny turned to the Mimic, and commanded as if he wanted to make sure of something.
"You're forbidden from eating humans, especially not unfriendly humans, unless I will nicely ask you to do so. Otherwise, my shiny little friend, we will take you to a wonderful place, and leave you there alone. If not, well, we will also take you to a wonderful place yet in nicer company."
The creature looked at him… Aiko could't find what kind of emotion it was, but when what came next was moderately simple, the creature shuddered in fear. The block grew legs, and stepped back to the corner. Seeing that reaction Sunny smiled in the most sincere smile he could.
"I'm delighted you value our friendship. Welcome, aboard, my Marvellous Mimic. We're gonna do great things together."
"I'm still unsure. What if he's going to act on its own?"
"Oh, I'm pretty sure he can, and sometimes even desire to do something different. Actually that's the point of having a Shadow. They should be capable of choosing what to do on their own, and struggle to achieve that. But let me tell you that Shadows tend to be the most loyal companions of mine. I never saw them defying my order even once, in which I think you believe. So if you don't trust that he won't bite you, then I'm afraid it's because I'm not worthy of your trust anymore."
"You're correct, but still…"
"It's only on the rational level. I know. People aren't all about reason, and intelligence."
"Something like that..."
Which could mean that over time Aiko would get used to the idea of living inside of a noble beast. For the rest… They don't need to know. Why bother them with such unimportant details? Clients almost never question the materials used to build a shop. Why would they get so curious all of sudden?
Excluding cleaning the basement, which was a must, Sunny had somehow to determine if the enchantments are still there. There was no Spell could see through the attributes, and translate them into something readable so Sunny had to do the work all by himself. It concerned the attributes coming from all the sources: from the used soul, body, the weave, from Sunny's aspect, and all puzzling combinations of those. He will have to discover them by himself, more traditional way.
Through Weaver's vision he could see, that Marvellous Mimic is a Devil. Which means that fifth soul shard used as an anchor, disappeared. It fits his expectations. Making a Tyrant shouldn't be so easy in his situation. If he could just insert two more shards, and make it that way a Titan, wouldn't that be a game breaker?
On the other hand game breakers do indeed exist, and that's what's terrifying about them.
The spellweave stands for a problem. While he can see souls, he can't really perceive the structure of the enchantments hidden in the soul. Probably the reason is exactly that. He can see souls, and therefore if beside the soul there are also enchantments the soul obscures the view.
Funnily enough without seeing the weave he can't confirm the Mimic is enchanted. Not without going, and finding a way to test their effects.
Sunny then glanced at his hands. There were some shallow cuts after weaving. They have already closed. His recovery rate was too profound to sustain low damages for long. But that doesn't mean he can't get hurt again.
"Aiko, I'm going to cut my finger on purpose. Just don't be scared."
"What? Boss, why would you?"
"Because I can hardly test the ability to heal without anything to heal. That way it will be fast, and easy. Now…"
Sunny summoned a knife, another of his takes on forging, and made a cut on his finger. Then he walked close to the creature, and stretched his hand to it. He even infused some essence into walls.
"Heal that."
After a minute after that he realized the wound was no longer there.
'Potent enough.'
The effect was really nowhere near the potency of Nephis' healing, but was still on par with some aspect abilities, which actually held some advantage over aspect abilities due to lack of flaw.
Sunny could think about many situations when someone was injured. If the injury was heavy, without medics or healers around things could get nasty. That someone was, for example, Rain. Recently he decided to burden her with the task of hunting Nightmare Creatures. While he wouldn't dare to take his eyes away from the sister during hunts, she could still get hurt. By allowing her to use Marvellous Mimic, he could provide her some recovery. Also how often does he get cut while weaving? Practically all the time. Wouldn't that be great to be able to treat them while working? He wouldn't even have to expend his essence. The Mimic could just expend the essence stored in its cores.
And not only in its cores, because Sunny added something very bizarre into the mix, his modified version of [Unbroken]. On top of already significant reserves, there's another one, a much more vast, and potent reservoir that fills passively with the essence produced by the Mimic's soul.
For a long time Sunny wanted to create a Memory that could accumulate power, and then release it in one go. [Siege Souvenir] was a big success, but it practically fed on Sunny's own essence despite, which wasn't so bad, but having to refill the Memory every time he wanted to use it was a high price with low return.
He was already struggling with keeping up with the avatars. Everytime he comes to use them there's a significant increase in the consumption of essence. Keeping one is okay. Keeping two consumes more essence than he produces, and has to be balanced with Soul Serpent killing many creatures on his behalf. Expressing his own power came at big cost.
There were many ways to obtain more essence, but equally many of his attempts were undercut with the fact that his shadow essence despite all similarities to soul essence was fundamentally different. He can't use the essence of the Sacred Tree to replenish his. He can't plunder the soul essence from different souls. He can't speed up his essence regeneration with Luster's help.
So what to do? After the Nightmare Sunny discovered that he can weave with the essence of his Shadows. The trick is that the Shadow has to pour its essence into the air. Through the abilities of Soul Serpent, he can get a grip on that essence, and then use it for weaving.
Of course, it's not that simple. The condition is that the provider of the essence has to not resist, and the essence has to not dissipate immediately after leaving the body. Such quality of the essence is represented either by Saints, or Nightmare Creatures that are at least Devils. The Mimic qualifies. Even if it didn't – which is worth consideration – Sunny could refer to the fact that the dimension inside the Mimic was still a part of its body, and therefore the essence poured out inside that storage isn't exactly outside, and it doesn't dissipate that easily.
Ipso facto he can supply his sorcery with the essence of the Mimic. With a bigger supply of essence he can afford more weaving. If he thinks he has too much essence in it to spend it better, he can always supercharge the healing effect. The reservoir should also fill itself relatively quickly due to [Blessing of Soul], with minor effect due to Ascended Rank of the Memory. The enchantments should affect not only those inside, but also the Mimic itself.
He recounted all those things to Aiko, and she couldn't hide her surprise
"So basically you've made an essence battery for weaving."
"Yep. It's not perfect, but if it's me it should serve the purpose."
"I'll give you that. It is marvellous, and it wouldn't even start describing it. It's cutting-edge."
…
The excitement caused by finally making the Mimic had to subside, sooner or later. Aiko called for someone to help her clean the mess left by the Mimic. Meanwhile Sunny excused himself, and went home on foot. He couldn't wait to start using all its features, test it out.. He felt as if he bought himself a home for the second time, only better, because this time it was his achievement.
He wanted to customize it, put some tasteful decorations, lighten it up with bulbs, bring his furnitures, make o dojo, a forge, a kitchen, bring his fridge, and store his food there… He had also to rethink how he's going to make it work. Taking a fridge to the Dream Realm isn't a good idea. Up to this point he somehow managed it, because in the end most of the things that had to do with life quality occurred while his big spatial storages were in the waking world.
'I should ask Effie. She has some experience in living in pocket dimensions.'
Unfortunately it wasn't the right time. He could fake it's different, but he was tired. Soon he will hit the sack. The thought itself caused him to yawn heavily.
Right before entering home he spotted Rain.
"Hey."
"Hey, teacher. I was worried."
"Aiko informed you about the situation."
"All of sudden you disappeared, and all she told me was that something required your full attention. It doesn't explain much."
He almost forgot about his sister! How much time passed? Thinking about the calendar… almost two weeks! It's scary to even think how many things could stay neglected. And in fact she just had a simple hunt, and after returning to NQSC they haven't done anything since then.
"I hope that didn't stop you from following the routine."
"Of course not."
"Good. My disciple shouldn't be discouraged just by being left alone. If you are free, we can have a session of physical training today."
"Do we have to?"
"Yes, or alternatively you can show me your arrow making skills. Actually do both."
Rain subtly darkened.
They entered inside, and an avatar manifested from her shadow. She didn't even question it anymore. Rain knew that the shadow somehow lets her teacher see without being there. It might be one of the reasons why she was so urgent to not drop the routine.
'It seems that even in sleep I have to take on some tasks. Well, everything for my sister.'
The original went to sleep with his brigandine to speed up rest as much as possible. He let Happy act on autopilot, and take it easy showing his sister what he knows about the structure of an arrow.
Before fading out he thought about all those awakenings he postponed.