Epic of Caterpillar

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As I wondered who was the being named Gaia inside of the Shield, Athos's Soul Copy inside of the Dragon Slayer Sword spoke to me, he seemed rather frightened about being a sword.

"W-Why am I here?! I'm… a sword? Huh?! It feels incredibly weird!"

"Don't worry, you will get used to it, like the Wyvern Overlord"

"Wyvern Overlord… Who is that? And, the presence inside of you… You are my new owner, aren't you? There is a certain power that makes me recognize you as it… It feels like I cannot disobey you in any order you gave me… It is truly disgusting"

Athos floated in the air while spinning around, he admired the palace through the small eye-like gemstones attached to him.

"A Palace… Who exactly are you…?"

"I can explain that later on, I'm really curious about how this Soul Copy thing works… Can you explain to me how did you exactly become a sword?"

Athos stopped spinning and became stiff, hitting the ground with his blade and getting trapped below it.

"Uagh! T-This floor is rather hard… And I don't remember anything… I just remember being one day trapped inside that damned dungeon, slumbering… I do remember fighting a party of Heroes commanded by a kid named Sol… Wait, Soul Copy?! Do you mean that I am not the real me?!"

Athos tried to get outside of the floor but was completely trapped with his blade, he struggled and made funny noises. However, I was rather angered by him destroying a part of my castle.

"Indeed, you are a Soul Copy, your status states that… Here, you can look it for yourself"

I used Appraisal in Athos as I showed him his own status Window.

[Ancient Blazing Dragon Slayer Great Sword; Athos (Legendary)]

[A Great Sword generated by the System after copying the Soul of the Ancient Dragon Athos. Although it is a Soul Copy, it possesses the blazing power of a true Ancient Dragon. The blade itself is completely made of the same materials that make up this Ancient Dragon and carefully covered in Divine Alloy and Jewels. It grants extra damage against any Dragon-Type Monster, this also includes its subspecies like Hydra-Type and Wyvern-Type Monsters. It's virtually indestructible aside from a special method]

[Level; 1/100]

[Durability: ----/----]

[Attack Power: 475]

[Magic: 420]

[Speed: 450]

[Innate Skills (Traits)]

[Indestructible] [Self Sharpening+] [Self-Evolution+] [Self-Leveling+]

[System Creation] [Soul Copy Container+] [Heavy Weight+]

[Fire Conductivity EX] [Soul Bound+]

[Extra Effect (Skills)]

[Blessing of the Ancient Wisdom Dragon; Athos]

[Dragon Slayer; Level 1]

[Soul Devour; Level 1]

[Magic Absorption; Level 1]

[Grand Overlord; Level 1]

[Pyromaniac; Level 1]

[Overwhelming Blaze Domain; Level 1]

[Phantom Form Transformation; Level 1]

[Long Ranged Control; Level 1]

[Materialization; Level 1]

[Fire Attribute Magic; Level 1]

[Earth Attribute Magic; Level 1]

Athos seemed bewildered by his own status.

"So weak…! I had way higher stats than that! Also, I can level up even if I'm a Sword?!"

"Yeah, just like the Wyvern Overlord, although he was not generated by the System but from my own Skills, there is a connection between us two… He's currently exploring the same Dungeon he was trapped in"

Athos directed his two eye-like gemstones towards me.

"I need to level up! I'm not going to sit down while doing anything! Even if I am a Soul Copy, I am me! And I've finally reached freedom! Well, partially…"

"Indeed, partially… But here, have some of my MP"

I touched Athos's blade as I transferred around one thousand MP to him, his entire body immediately absorbed this energy and was blazing with power.

"Guooooh! What is this?!"

"That's how I use my Weapons, a normal Weapon doesn't have their own MP after all, and their actions are limited to their original power, if I transfer MP to you, you will be able to move with more energy and even use magic"

Athos's sword body shined brightly as his Aura expanded wildly, my family, who was nearby, admired the power being released from the sword while eating. Vudia and Ailine seemed interested and stopped eating, running towards us with curious and innocent smiles.

"Mommy, what are ya doing?" (Vudia)

"Mama, mama! Look at this sword, why is it shining so brightly? Does it have a lot of Magic?" (Ailine)

"Ooh! Mommy gave it magic" (Vudia)

Proud about my little girls being so knowledgeable about magic, I patted their warm heads.

"Aaah~ Aren't my two little princesses very smart? Indeed! I'm currently playing around with this sword~ Look, I can even do this"

I expanded my Aura and added it to the stream of Magic Energy being given to Athos, the sudden burst of power made his old and wise voice scream in ecstasy.

"Guuooohhhh! Such power! I can feel my entire body…! I-Its coming!"

Athos's blade shined even brighter as a blazing phantasmal body began to form, with the silhouette of his flesh Dragon body.

Flash!

A sudden burst of steam filled the room but quickly dissipated at the same time. Where Athos sword was now remained a great Fire Dragon, although it wasn't his original size, as Athos was over one hundred meters, this form was around thirty meters, still big nonetheless. It was like a mini Athos.

"Groooooowwwr! My body! It's back! How did you do that?!" Asked me Athos, with a bewildered and excited face, his twelve red eyes shined with expectations for an answer while his great nostrils released small flames each time he breathed.

"Ah, it was quite simple, I just inserted both Magic Energy and Life Energy, I guessed that if you remembered your previous form if you received enough energy you would be able to take on a weakened physical form of your former self by using the Skill [Phantom Form Transformation]"

"I-Impressive! I knew you were overwhelmingly strong, but to be able to give such high quantities of Life Energy and Magic Energy like nothing! What kind of vitality do you have?! It was as if… It was as if you were an endless pool of energy…!"

Athos seemed to be fascinated by me, it was a little bit weird, but if it made him loyal to me without me having to force him into submission every time, it was something good.

Vudia and Ailine admired Athos's great body and began to climb over his rocky scales' exterior.

"Aah! You are such a big dragon!" (Vudia)

"I wonder if your flesh is as delicious as the one, we hunt down in the dungeon~ Can I take a bite? Huh? It dissipated inside of my mouth…" (Ailine)

"Ailine! Don't try to eat that thing, it may be bad for your stomach" Said Rimuru, worried about our daughter.

"Vudia, get down here, you can't just climb someone else" Ordered Brontes, with a firm voice and a strong motherly presence.

Athos seemed to be confused, he was being currently used as a plaything for my daughters. Thankfully, Ailine's bite didn't seem to cause him any pain.

After Vudia and Ailine followed their mothers, Athos approached me and wanted more questions answered. I decided that it wouldn't hurt me to answer them, as he was practically my weapon now. I told him about my identity and then the Kingdom. He was also quite frightened when Ailine bites him and talked about another Dragon being eaten all the time, I answered him that it was indeed his true self, and he became even more frightened.

"Now that I've answered some of your questions, I need you to give me a favor"

"A-Ah… Yes, what is it? It's not like I can refuse your orders"

"You were strangely versed in Phantom Transformation and Manipulation… So, I want you to be the personal teacher of my eldest daughter and her party"

"O-Oh… Well, this Phantom Transformation took me hundreds of years to obtain, any being has the potential to obtain it, but must train one soul intensively for countless ye-"

"I don't care how did you obtain it, teach it to my daughter and her party. Don't worry, you will be surprised how quickly they learn… Ami, do you have some time?"

Amiphossia finished eating the grilled leg of a Thunderstorm Phoenix and came rushing towards me.

"Yes mommy, what is it?"

"This Dragon is Athos's Soul Copy, so he can pretty much teach you everything about Phantom Form Transformation"

Athos glanced at my daughter with confusion from above but greeted her politely.

"A-Ah, it is nice to meet my future apprentice…"

Amiphossia's scarlet eyes gleamed in bright light, as her mouth showed an excited smile, revealing her long lamia vampire fangs.

"Aah! Are you really Athos? Why are you so little? Well, it doesn't matter! Guys, come out!"

"Huh?" (Athos)

Answering Amiphossia's call, her Phantasmal Soul expanded for a little bit, releasing three phantom figures that then took in a physical form, these were the Twelve-Limbed Phantom Wolf Seishin, the Nine-Tailed Phantom Fox Sesshomaru, and the Zombie Cat Girl Geraldine.

Athos was frozen in time after seeing such a display of technique.

"Gah…!"

"There they are! My friends! Huh? Mister Athos?"

"Ahem…! I-I have never seen such an ability before…! You can store Phantasmal Beings inside of your Soul?! Perhaps, I'll have more to learn from you than you from me, little lady"

And like that, I left Athos with Amiphossia and her party, they went towards a separate and large room, where they would be training their Phantasmal Skills. This room was inside the castle and was made out with the Abandoned Temple that I found inside the Forsaken Labyrinth, I just connected it to the castle and made it a special room.

The unique properties of this Abandoned Temple were coupled with the Phantom Mist that I also took from that Dungeon and several other Spawn Artifacts that are connected to my Slime Clones, being feed with Natural Energy from the environment. Due to this, the weak and lesser ghost would spawn constantly here and will do for a nice room for Amiphossia to grow stronger.

The room would sometimes produce Living Dark Matter as well, so Valentia will be able to feed on them and increase her Shadow Aura strength.

Now that I think about it, should I make this temple a dungeon with the Dungeon Core I obtained? Might as well…

After some minutes, I placed the Lesser Dungeon Core I obtained just now, and placed it on the temple, soon enough the Core shined in a phantasmagoric light and absorbed the Mist and Essence around, with a "ding!", a new Dungeon was created. It was named [Phantom Temple]. I decided to gift its ownership to Amiphossia.

My first daughter was excited about owning her first dungeon and began completing several tasks, I also gifted her some Dungeon Gacha Tickets, and managed to summon a strong Wraith Kaiser, which she put as the first Boss, being able to spawn endlessly, she ate it right away and waited for it to respawn in a few hours.

"Mommy I love this! This is like my own farm of ghosts!"

"A farm…?"

Amiphossia's idea of a Dungeon seems to be just a "farm where you can generate monsters", just like plants in a well-treated field, monsters generate endlessly in a dungeon, and the amount of food and treasures that they can generate an even feed a whole Kingdom, just like ours. It wouldn't be crazy to assume that every Kingdom or Empire in this Realm possesses one or more dungeons where they retrieve resources and food.

In a way, dungeons are both a challenge for mortals made by the gods, but also a way for mortals to gain resources and grow stronger through this, slowly increasing their population and growing into big Empires or Kingdoms. Perhaps without dungeons, this world wouldn't have as many Kingdoms as it has now. Coupled with the System, life flourishes incredibly quickly in this Realm.

Perhaps, both Dungeons and the System were specifically designed by the gods after Genesis split into Realms so mortals could grow stronger and independently thrive? If the world did really split into pieces, then it was realistic to assume that most life perished, and the ones that barely survived were given the push to continue and thrive with these tools.

The System gives an easier way to gain power and abilities, making both combat and creation convenient and easy to learn if the user puts his effort into it, rewarding hard workers.

And the Dungeons gives both challenges and resources. Challenges like strong monsters that give Experience Points, so the mortals can level up through the System. And Resources in these same monsters' flesh, blood, bones, skin, and dropped items.

Now that a mortal like me is managing such a big dungeon, it would seem like the rules of this world are slowly changing, and it may create some backlash in the future for me… Due to that, I need to grow stronger and reach my next evolution. For now, I will dedicate some time to my Kingdom and my family, and then I will continue with my plans. The Centaur Twins are close to evolving, which means that I will be able to finally pay a visit to the Cilane Kingdom.

Hmm, now that I have the mentality of conquering Kingdoms and expanding my territory… should I call my Kingdom and Empire? I suppose.

The Dark Moon Empire. Doesn't sound so bad.

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