The sound of sharp heels stabbing against a concrete floor echoed within a dimly lit corridor, which was decorated with intricate ornaments and paintings on its walls.
The cause of this sound was a being who walked gracefully, perfectly placing one foot in front of the other, imitating the stride of a feline.
The being's left hand was placed on their waist, and their right arm swayed by the hip, it was almost as if it were paddling the air itself, pushing the body forward.
Adorning their frame was a single-piece leather outfit that honestly seemed a tad bit too tight, perhaps it was an attempt to shape their overly round figure?
"Fufu..."
The figure chuckled, the long tentacles on his chin somewhat limp, swaying to the motion of his stride. And his gray skin was excessively slimy, as though he'd bathed himself in some sort of oil.
But that was not the case! His very pores produced this excrement, depending on his mood, so this was not a creature one would desire to see aroused.
Depending on one's tastes, of course...
[Ahh... The 20th generation!]
[My masterpiece!]
Charymos's shoulders shuddered as though he grappled with frost, and his tentacles gradually became restless.
" — Oops."
He tied them using what appeared to be black rubber bands, but were actually made from a material far exceeding mere rubber —the web of a certain arachnid on the third floor.
One might wonder why he would restrict his tentacles so, when they are clearly a part of his anatomy.
[Lady Rowena hates my tentacles for some reason.]
"Sigh... It can't be helped."
"Ah! That reminds me."
Charymos suddenly stopped and reached into thin air, his hand disappearing into what seemed like a separate space.
From there he drew an object that was shaped like a shell, and within it was a compact powder.
He quickly opened it, dabbed the large sponge within it on the powder and applied it to his face, by doing so, he was absorbing all the slime he had excreted.
The powder itself contained a dehydrating agent, but it would last for at most, an hour.
"My, aren't you just divine~?"
Clank!
He admired his own reflection before shutting the case and discarding it back into his pocket dimension.
"Haa..."
He exhaled to calm his nerves, standing before a pair of very tall, dark blue doors that were decorated by multiple precious gemstones, it was as though he was about to enter the chambers of the Emperor of an ancient empire.
Knock... Knock...
He gently, respectfully knocked on the doors and took a step back, and sure enough, the doors opened soon after, revealing a creature adorned by a maid outfit.
Albeit, this was no regular outfit, rather, it seemed to be armour modeled after a maid's outfit.
"Lord... Charymos?"
The creature tilted her head and flicked her ears in confusion. She belonged to the "Lycanthrope" species, a Weartiger to be specific, given her white fur with black stripes and her towering figure.
"Yes~ It is I, in the flesh!"
Charymos was rather flamboyant with his gestures, like a choral conductor with their baton.
"I am here to see Lady Rowena, please lead the way."
He prevented the Weretiger from bowing and emphasized the urgency of his visit.
She led the way, and they entered a wide room with a noticeably round table at its center, with a myriad of chairs arranged neatly around it, as if caught in its orbit.
The table itself seemed to be crafted from the wood of a centuries old tree, and it was polished to perfection, not a single bump on its smooth surface.
Step... Step...
Charymos walked steadily, his gaze planted on the figure who stood at the far-end of the table, with her elbows pressing against it.
She had an air of regality about her, the scar on her left cheek and the sheer ferocity in her navy-blue eyes, suggested she was also battle-hardened.
Her hair was long, curly and bright orange, like the embers of a raging flame, her brows etched by a permanent scowl.
She was quite pleasing to look at, but she was by no means a "lady," given her demeanor and body posture that can only be described as "manspreading," due to a lack of better words.
"..."
Her left brow twitched as she noticed Charymos approach her, and she gracefully stood from the chair.
"I, Charymoss, Overseer of the Basement Floor, greet Lady Rowena, Guardian of the Seventh Floor."
"... I am terribly sorry to come here unannounced."
The Kraken Spawn bowed his head deeply, and he could somewhat feel her glare burning a hole on the back of his skull.
"..."
"Has word not reached the lower floors?"
"Our ruler has come to loathe the term Guardian, you are to now refer to the nine of us as Governors."
She said, her arm resting on the hilt of the large broadsword strapped to her waist, it's scabbard matching her ash-gray full set of armor.
"Ah! I hadn't learned of that, forgive me!"
"Then what of me? What title has our great ruler bestowed upon me?"
Charymos sprung up from his bow, his eyes glittering like a box of jewelry.
"..."
Hearing his words, Rowena curled her lips, her throat vibrating with a low growl.
"You are a worm that dwells far beneath the earth. Why would the heavens concern themselves with your kind?"
Rowena flicked the tip of her nose with her thumb, her words like daggers to his anthromorphian heart, but he bit down his inner lip and did not let it show.
"Why are you here Charymos? You even used the teleportation device I gave to you. This better be important."
She folded her arms on her breastplate.
"Yes. Lady Rowena... I bring you the best of news! This batch of children are quite special indeed~!"
Charymos was unable to contain his excitement and twirled like a princess on ice, his tentacles whipping the air.
"Truly?! Tell me more!"
Rowena's face lit up with life, she usually would have grimaced at the sound of Charymos's tentacles whipping the air, but the news he brought was enough to blot out that transgression.
But wait!
Her excitement simmered.
"Are you referring to the 20th generation? Were they not due a couple of months from now?"
She raised her ginger brow.
"Indeed they were Milady, however! I sensed a strange energy coming from the incubation pods and rushed there myself."
"But when I got there, all five hundred pods were already broken, and my children were squirming on ground. It was a sight to behold Fufu ~ "
Charymos puckered his lips and hugged his shoulders, rocking his body back and forth as though cradling a child.
"Get to the point Charymos."
Rowena grew impatient, his flamboyant actions earning her grimace.
"Of course, Milady."
"During the culling test... Six of them awakened Mana."
Charymos reported in an uncharacteristically deep voice, and his eyes glittered no more.
"Wha... Charymos, how is that possible?!"
"What DNA did you splice into them?!"
"Tell me now! This might be the key! We must produce more of them this instant!"
The usually stern and battle-hardened warrior, Rowena, clasped Charymos's shoulders, something which she would never do even if she was drunk.
"I did nothing different, Lady Rowena."
"I am afraid this might be due to that strange energy and that accident."
"This was a complete coincidence, I cannot replicate this I'm afraid."
Charymos's words brought Rowena back to reality and she removed her hands and took a step back.
"In addition to that, they may not live for much longer since they are premature."
He said, strangely grappling with a sinister smirk, but this was not to say his words were false.
"How long do you estimate they can survive, Charymos?"
"I would say a week at most, Lady Rowena."
The two stood in silence for a few seconds, as Rowena was in deep thought, trying to digest what she'd just heard.
"Ah... But that's not all... There is one among them who managed to not only awaken Mana, but they manifested it too."
Charymos gave Rowena more food for thought.
[!!]
"Sigh..."
Feeling a migraine settle in her dome, Rowena pulled out a chair and sat down.
"We need to keep those children alive, Charymos."
"All six of them?"
"Yes."
Charymos almost grinned, his tentacles becoming rigid, snapping one of the rubber bands.
But Rowena ignored it, she had more pressing matters at the moment.
[Should I send word to our ruler?]
[No... I can't afford to raise his hopes for nothing again.]
She kissed her teeth.
"Lady Rowena, to clarify, are you suggesting that I should do that?"
Rowena frowned upon Charymos's rhetorical question.
"Yes... Mana is the only thing that can sustain them right now."
"I hereby give you permission to name them."
Rowena stood from her chair and dismissed Charymos.
[Fufu...]
[Should I have told her that Specimen 2946's Mana was pink?]
[No! I won't let her take all the credit!]
[I will cultivate that boy and bring him to our ruler myself!]
[Ah... Our ruler... That handsome, handsome man!]
[How will you react when I fulfill your long cherished dream?!]
[Will you hold me? Bed me?!]
[Or maybe give me Governance over a floor?!]
Charymos became so excited that his eyes rolled to the back of his head, and he swiftly made the long, days-trip back to the basement floor.
Why not teleport back?
The item given to him was for one use only.