Chapter 109

Skarm’s name disappeared from Levi’s minion list. In the same moment, Levi felt an intangible something slip away from him. He’d never noticed the feeling of the minions tethered to him, never realized there was more to the tie between them than a number in a list.

He now realized that a tiny part of his subconscious had always been devoted to tracking and interacting with Skarm in some indefinable way, and suddenly that part of himself was empty.

Levi braced himself, manablade lighting up as he turned to his former minion.

Skarm stood leaning back against Centoo’s chest plating, the centipede’s blades still pressed tightly against him, grinning at Levi with the exact same smug expression of certainty.

Levi waited, but Skarm made no move to attack, slip free, or do anything but look entirely full of himself. His name tag no longer had the allied border to it, but it also hadn’t flipped to hostile. It was neutral, the same as anyone else Levi met. Like Laurence and the other Doom Raiders had been at first.

Skarm raised his chin in a very clear 'see? Told you' gesture.

"How long do we have?" Levi asked. “Unbound monsters lose cohesion and disappear after a few days. Will that happen to you?”

Skarm shrugged. His health remained steady at 100%, so whatever eventual degradation brought down the health of monsters left outside their dungeon for too long clearly wasn't going to set in immediately.

"There's no way this should work," Levi said. "If you can unbind minions and have them stay loyal, this is massive exploitation waiting to happen. Does the minion slots limit even matter any more?"

Skarm shrugged again. Centoo stared down at him, clearly confused as to what to think.

"If this is actually how it works, the minion limit is a complete joke. I can have as many minions as I want, just not all at the same time." He squinted at Skarm. "Can you still fight, like that? Will the dungeon eventually be able to assert control over you, or will you remain a free agent?"

Skarm continued his pattern of shrugging.

“And why are you still loyal to me? I've had temporary minions, and they all turned on me the moment they were free."

Skarm shook his head, pushing gently against Centoo’s claws to get an arm free.

Levi nodded, and Centoo relaxed his hold to release Skarm.

Skarm tapped his own head, then pointed at Levi.

"I just told you I don't understand."

Skarm shook his head again, climbed up Centoo's back, then gestured the centipede forward until he could poke Levi in the head. He tapped his own head, then drew an obvious line in the air from his head to Levi's, where he tapped again. He repeated the gesture slowly in reverse, from Levi to Skarm, then Skarm to Levi, staring pointedly at Levi as he did so.

"Are you trying to say... you're loyal to me because I'm loyal to you?" Levi asked. "That the temporary minions turned on me, because I turned on them?"

Skarm nodded, folding his arms across his chest. Once again he appeared inordinately pleased with himself.

"If that's true, then that's very good news. Peter shouldn't have any problems."

Skarm nodded, then slid down Centoo's back and walked over to pat Levi's leg reassuringly.

"We'll still need to test it."

Skarm shrugged, as if to say 'I did the best I could'.

They stood for a time, staring at one another. Levi waited to see if Skarm would exhibit any changes in attitude, but he seemed to be the exact same gremlin as ever. His remaining health damage began to climb slowly as his regen ticked up.

“I guess we should head back up,” Levi said, hesitant. “Irene will come down if we take too long.”

Skarm nodded.

"I don't like not being able to see your details. Is there any way to... re-tame you without attacking you?"

Skarm rolled his eyes, then gestured to Centoo. Centoo took a step back, reticent.

"Without anyone attacking you?" Levi clarified.

Skarm stabbed himself in the throat. Levi jumped forward to grab him, but the gremlin twisted away, dragging his long overly-sharp claws down his chest as his health steadily dropped.

"That's not what I meant and you know it," Levi snarled, as Skarm's health dropped very quickly.

Skarm grinned and gestured with a wide shrug, as his health slid down into the taming zone.

"You're a terrible example," Levi said, casting Tame on him, and returned his name to the top of the minion list where it belonged. "I don't approve."

Skarm burst out laughing, tiny maniacal squeaks echoing around the chamber. He flopped down on his back, health still dropping fast. Levi was tempted to let him die as a time-out, teach him not to do something like this and assume Levi would bail him out, but he only sighed and handed his ridiculous minion a health restorative.

But it was good to know that ‘unbind’ wasn’t synonymous with ‘turn hostile’, at least. Skarm had proven that point, if nothing else.

Once he was no longer at death’s door, Skarm jumped to his feet, climbed back up onto Centoo, and gestured toward the exit.

Irene was pacing, but smiled when Levi emerged with Skarm by his side. Peter was in the car already, Henry and Gremlin Two on the seat beside him.

“Well?” Irene asked. “How’d it go?”

"If what Skarm says is true, and... I do think he’s right, we don't have to worry about minion loyalty. As long as expectations are clearly set, the relationship will be indefinitely sustainable, even if someone decides to unbind someone."

"There are still too many caveats in that for me to be entirely comfortable with it."

"I agree. We should probably do some more tests to be sure we know what the boundaries are and how stable the relationship is, but I believe it's safe to proceed under the assumption that minions are not going to be a threat to us. At least not without substantial provocation."

“Guess that means you can come with me after all,” Levi said, turning to Skarm. “As long as Centoo can keep up with me.”

Skarm nodded, patting Centoo proudly, then climbed aboard.

“I’ll try to track down Laurence while I’m out,” Levi told Irene. “If I don’t find him, I’ll head back anyway around nightfall.”

He waved goodbye to Peter, then set off at a sustainable run in the general direction of the next nearest dungeon that may have been on Laurence’s radar.

Centoo kept up just fine, but despite visiting three dungeons they didn’t find any sign of Laurence and the rest of Levi’s team. They did find one dungeon that he (or someone else) had cleared, but though Levi ran through the whole thing at speed he found no sign of Laurence or the group who’d cleared it.

As the afternoon drew on, he finally accepted that he wouldn’t be able to visit every nearby dungeon to hunt down his wayward traveling companion and headed back to the house instead.

On the way, he checked on his minions’ status, unsurprised to find several notifications waiting for him.

Shadevine has reached level 5!
Shadevine threshold 1 attained.

Evolution threshold advancement progress: 1/5

Shadevine has 1 stat point available.
Shadevine has 3 ability points available.

Shadevine had gained his first threshold level. It seemed Frosty was still doing a good job of ensuring the shadevines got a chance to fight even if they weren't going to do it themselves.

Levi smiled. He rather liked this, having his team out leveling while he worked on other things. He should do it more, once they started bringing in others.

Levi was quite curious to see what upgrade options there would be for something so passive. Perhaps there would be some ability to give Shadevine more of a personality and allow him to feel more like a proper part of the team. Especially after what Skarm had demonstrated, Levi felt the obligation now to give Shadevine more attention, try to at least think of him as something more than a magic item to be used and discarded.

As always, there were four available species abilities to choose from.

Shadevine Abilities:

Expansive: Can temporarily increase size by up to 100%

Unseen: Able to decrease opacity by up to 20% to better blend into the surroundings

Branching: Can split substance in up to four branches for better mobility and grip

Savage Blood: Anything dealing damage to the shadevine will be afflicted with a minor lingering damage effect

Befriending Shadevine properly would have to wait until they were reunited.

Build decisions, though... they didn't have to wait at all.