Chapter 58

I can’t believe you can just leave if it’s a (Rare) boss room. I feel like we’ve been missing out on a ton of Land experience and chests. I sigh as I watch her getting used to her weapon while killing orcs. She’s really good at fighting, even better than me. Probably.

“You’re doing really good with that sword sweetie. There’s a chest in the next room that’s a monster with big teeth.” I tell her and she says “Oh a mimic, nice, their tongues can be used for health potions.” I didn’t know that, I wondered why it always left its gross tongue behind. “You’re so smart Citrine, mommy does have some advice though.” I tell her and she gives me a questioning look so I tell her. “You’re acting like you don’t have Firm, it’s a really strong skill. Take some hits so you can get better hits on them.” she asks me “Is it strong enough for that? I’m still only tier 1.” I nod since I had to teach some of my grandbabies this too. “Try cutting yourself with that sword.” I tell her, pointing at her claymore.

“Okay Mom, I’ll try.” she then presses the blade on her palm, gets a surprised look on her face, and then starts pushing harder. When she doesn’t end up cutting her hand she swings the sword slowly at her arm. It glances off and she says “What the hell? How is the skill so durable at tier 1.” I shrug and say “I don’t know sweetie, but it’s really helpful and you should be using everything you have. Here swing your sword at me as hard as you can.” Citrine looks unsure but I just smile at her and open my arms. She sighs and then chops for one of my arms and it glances off. She gets a relieved expression so I tell her. “It does have some weaknesses though and you should know them, give me your sword and I’ll show you.” she walks up and hands me her big sword. I place the tip of it against my foot and press down hard. I feel a little bit of pain as the sword stabs my foot, so I pull it out again and show her the hole. “So you’re saying that piercing attacks like a thrust get through easier than slashes.” she asks and I nod.

“Pretty much, probably, so don’t assume it will block everything, I’m still mad at that hound that ripped off my nipple.” I shiver and she covers her own breasts doing the same. “Thanks for letting me know mom, this will be really useful in fights with many enemies.” I nod and say “Yeah, big fights are really fun.” she looks at my foot again and says “You aren’t bleeding?” I shake my head and answer “I don’t have blood sweetie. You still do though, so don’t go stabbing yourself with your sword on purpose.” she looks at me for a few seconds and then responds “I wasn’t planning on it. What’s your race mom?” I tell her “I don’t have one, or at least it’s not listed.” shaking her head she clarifies “Well what does it say when you don’t have your title equipped?” I tell her that it only shows my level and she just shrugs and says it’s weird but what isn’t weird these days. I agree by nodding.

She starts using her durability more as we go to the higher floors, but she still seems to be getting used to her wings. It really makes me wonder if her genetic memory has problems. I don’t have one though, so I’m probably just misunderstanding how it works. Maybe.

We get to the seventh floor before long, even with me only helping a few times when her low level is an issue. I tell her that she can take the potion in the chest, but I offer to carry it since she’d be doing the majority of the fighting. She looks happy to get it and asks “Does this chest always have a health potion?” I tell her that it has one every time I’ve checked and she nods. “Well we should be stockpiling them now while we have the chance, a consistent potion drop is really valuable.” That makes sense I guess, even if we aren’t using many now, we might have to use a bunch if stronger orcs or something attack.

She assures me that if it’s a (Rare) boss room, you always have the option of just leaving before starting the challenge, so I decide to trust my baby and we go to the 10th floor. Luckily it turns out to be the normal orc boss, she wants to fight it alone, but she still hasn’t tiered up yet so I tell her to be careful. He should be able to hurt her if he hits her, even with Firm, so I stand closer to her just in case. She refuses my Mother’s Touch skill, saying she might get better class options if she does it alone. The orc boss starts by charging her like usual, and she dodges him, giving him a chop to his legs. He tries to turn and swipe her with his spear, but she uses her large sword to redirect the blow. I watch as she fights him and she’s a much better fighter than Ruby, who used her higher tier and speed advantage. Citrine is choosing which hits to dodge and which she has to parry. It’s exciting to watch, but I’m pretty sure she said she took the Healer class first.

It takes her a long time, maybe ten full minutes, to finish off the orc boss. By the end she’s bleeding in a few places where the orc managed to stab her with his spear, and she’s breathing hard, but she’s a beautiful sight. I walk up to her and give her a big soft hug saying “You are such a good fighter sweetie, I’m not sure why you took healer, but you looked amazing. If I used a weapon other than my body I’d ask you to teach me some of the things you did. Mommy is proud of you for beating him all by yourself.” She gets a big smile and casts another healing spell on herself, a few wounds closing. “Thanks mom, do you mind going through with me again? I’m hoping to get to tier 2 soon.” I kiss her forehead and remind her to grab what’s in the chest.

I don’t forget to grab the orc’s spear while she opens it and I see her pull a pink potion bottle out of it. It looks familiar and suddenly I realize where I remember it from and go to tell her, but she shouts and tosses it into the arena’s stands. I hear glass shatter and see her with an angry look on her face. I share the sentiment towards that particular potion so I don’t ask her why she tossed it. I might have done the same, so instead I tell her “That’s the first time I’ve seen the chest here have a potion, so you should get something nice next time.” I give her another hug and she squeezes me hard. While she’s in my arms I hear her say “There’s something I need to tell you mom.” I pull back and say “Go ahead sweetie, tell mom whatever you need to.”

She sighs and starts saying “I’m actually reincarnated with the memories of my last life, I was hoping to come back and help everyone survive this time around… six months after the screens and System first appear there’s a message about the Scenario being decided. After that the monster spawns ramp up quickly and most of the Player settlements are lost. Humans almost go extinct because of our children’s growth rate, and we end up having to take shelter with the settlements held by the monster born Player races, like the elves. In the end after years and years of fighting, it’s not enough and we weren’t able to stop the Scenario. I hope to change that this time around, and I’m going to need all the help I can get. I hope you can still see me as your child because I like having you as my mom.”

I walk closer to her and wrap her in a big hug saying “Oh I’m so glad, I was worried your brain was messed up or something. So my baby is healthy, that’s great. Thank you for telling me, it must have been hard on you in your last life.” She pulls back with watery eyes and asks “Aren’t you surprised or scared of me, afraid that I’m not really your child?” she can’t stop from crying at the end, but still tries to look at me with her tear filled eyes. “Oh my poor cute baby, I don’t understand some of what you told me, so I suggest telling your sisters since they are smart girls. What does having memories from another life matter, all your sisters got genetic memories too and I still love them. It’s odd that you think a silly thing like that would make you not my beautiful daughter. Now come back over her and hug mommy.” I tell her and she starts wailing, even as her arms wrap around me again. I stroke her hair with my fingers and say “You should join the cuddle pile tonight.”

She lets out a small laugh with a sniff and rubs her snot on me again. She’s such a cute kid. I’m glad her memories aren’t broken. “Are you okay if we invite Amber to do the next runs with us? She’s been wanting to get stuff from the boss chest too, but we haven’t gone because of the last (Rare) boss I ran into. Also, she’s my wife and I’m supposed to be spending most of my time with her.” Citrine finishes rubbing her face off on my shirt and says “Of course it’s fine mom, am I supposed to call her sis or other mom though?” and giggles a little. I tell her “I’m not sure, you can ask her though. I think you’ll like her company, her humming is really soothing when we aren’t killing stuff.”

We carry out the red chest and the spear since some of the new kids will need a weapon, and there is a long line of people wanting big chests. Citrine gets this one though, since she killed the boss all by herself. Amber will probably want the next one, since she complained we don’t have enough space with just the one. It does have our wedding dresses, and she said she doesn’t want them ruined by putting other stuff in there, so it makes sense.

We get Citrine a fresh pair of cloths since hers got ripped up pretty bad fighting the orc boss. She had me save all the monster orbs for upgrading the Dungeon and Armory, so we should have enough for the Armory after one more full clear. She says “It will give us better uniforms with armor pieces and shoes as we upgrade it. The weapons will be made of better materials and we’ll have more options.” I nod and ask her “Should we wait and use them when we get the new fort later?” she looks at me and asks “What new fort?” I then explain to her all about the orc War quest and her eyes glow.

“That’s so many camps and even a fort, with such weak monsters holding them… The only problem I see is they’ll probably mostly go to waste, since we don’t have enough people to defend them. What do you plan on doing?” I shake my head and say “I don’t know for sure, Amber and I were going to take over defending the fort, since it should be nicer than Liberation. Sue’s family is going to take over one of the camps to make a farm, but come to think of it, we’ll probably just give Liberation to her, since it needs less work now.” I think for a bit and then finish. “Ask your sisters, they are smart and probably already have ideas about what to do.”

We find Amber by the Pig Pen, petting Piggy. I invite her to do the dungeon with us and she says “Of course I’ll do the Dungeon with you and little sis, I’ll finally be able to get us more chests. Can Piggy come too, he’ll be our 4th? He’s been lonely since I got married and hasn’t gotten to level much.” I cringe a bit at the thought of the smelly pig joining us, but I can put up with it for my wife, so I accept and she gives me a big kiss. Yeah, It’ll be worth it, hopefully we can find her less smelly pets for her Tamer class soon.