Epic of Caterpillar

After an hour and a half of working hard with all of my family, my servants such as the Arachne Maids, the Dragon Maids, Truhan, Celica, the Demon Trio, the Blood Fairy Sisters, and many others, we finally managed to butcher the entire creatures, which were treasure troves of precious materials and different and tasty types of meat, which we ended up separating in many categories.

Then, the cooking finally began as several of my Slime Clones and True Body Clones, alongside Kiroid, began to cook the delicious meat through the channeling of my Subclass Fields, especially the one named Divine Gastronomy and Gourmet.

Chokumotsu and Kaen also joined in the cooking, as they realized that my cooking abilities had already surpassed them, even so slightly.

"This is… Kireina-sama! Have you attained… the Divinity of Cooking?!" asked Chokumotsu in surprise and awe.

"Incredible… So this is… our next path! We have to achieve this too, my dear Chokumotsu!" said Kaen with an inspired look on his half-monkey face.

Kaen and Chokumotsu have been part of the first-named monkeys of my Empire when I was still a butterfly, they have been with me for a lot time now, and since I remember them that they had specialized in cooking over fighting or battles, to the point that their evolutions and Class Options were always around this.

Although they had now attained a new evolution that made them into Monkey-type beast-people, their evolutions had still been surrounding cooking. However, as they became better at it, new paths opened through their cooking methods, giving them new Skills, Magic, and abilities.

Chokumotsu seems to have taken the path of a Healer and Support-oriented Chef Magician, she had been capable of generating a portable cook whenever she was to be, cooking right at any moment and creating powerful plates that can boost several stats, increase regeneration of HP, MP, and even grant special buffs, resistance to status effects, curses, and even grant special Skills.

Meanwhile, Kaen went through the path of the Battle Chef, becoming capable of fighting with his cooking tools or even generate new ones through his Battle Chef Arts and Magic, creating giant forks, knives, pots, cauldrons, and other things as types of defense, attack, and support through food preparation… however, both of them are way too precious in the Empire as chefs, and I have not included them in any big war at the moment, even though they should be more than capable of helping out.

However, what made me feel bad was that I attained the Divine Gastronomy and Gourmet Subclass Field way faster and easier than them… even when they had been specializing in it for so long instead of I, who was simply fighting monsters and eating them… it made me feel a bit bad, after all, I just cheated my way by eating talented chefs that I found in the human wars, assimilated their cooking skills and knowledge and then developed it at the side through my Slime Clones, then I just had to change into a few of my broken Classes generated by the System Gods and boom! Divine Gastronomy and Gourmet attained…

Sigh.

However, instead of feeling bad, they seemed incredibly happy about me having reached this point… I suppose I am feeling guilty for nothing. Instead of feeling like that, I should try to teach them now, so they can reach that subclass field attainment too!

"Starting tomorrow, I will teach you everything I can, I don't want you two to feel like you're dragging behind in this. After all, you are the expert's Chefs in the Empire. One of my True Body Clones that possesses my main mind, alongside Kiroid will come each day to help you out even more… and well, there are also all the Slime Clones focused on cooking too" I said.

"Is that true, Kireina-sama?! Ukiiii! This is the best day of our lives, Chokumotsu-chan!" said Kaen, releasing a small monkey shriek out of happiness, something that is now very rare in the Empire as all the monkeys had become monkey-type beast-people.

"Yes! I cannot wait to become a Divine Chef like Master! We shall serve her even more, and our little children will be just as happy~!" said Chokumotsu.

"Talking about your children, how have been little Crystal, Aqua, and Ifrit?" I asked.

Crystal, Aqua, and Ifrit were Chokumotsu and Kaen's children, they had three children in the early days of my life, and since then the three had been developing greatly their abilities. These three monkey babies were rather special, as they were born with amazing innate talents, magic, skills, and powers.

Crystal was born as a Dream Roaming Monkey, with the affinity with the Dream Attribute, although she had just begun finally developing such abilities now that she got my Blessing with my new divinity of Dreams and Nightmares. Since she was born that she had evolved a lot, and she was now another of the monkey-type beast-people, much like her siblings. I remember her coming to play or train in the dungeon with my children sometimes, she is a pretty young girl.

Aqua was born as an Undine Monkey and had a great talent with water attribute magic, which she had developed greatly since her birth, although she has not taken any spotlight, I remember her participating in the battle of Athetosea Conquest, and also against Geggoron not long ago with the assistance of many others. She is just as pretty as her sister and mother, now that they had stopped looking like monkeys and more like humans with long ears, you cannot see much of a difference between them and humans… although her hair is azure-colored, and her eyes are aquamarine if I recall correctly.

Then there is Ifrit, he was born as a Flaming Berserk Mountain Monkey, he had an amazing affinity with fire and pure raw strength, and is currently a member of Truhan's group, although he didn't accompany them to their recent dungeon exploration due to his mother not letting him go. However, since then he had grown a lot, and it so to be expected that he might be granted more liberty, he is an insane battle junkie that comes often to challenge Ryo… of course, he always gets beaten despite his great talents and needs to level up more to catch up with my son.

"Ah, the three of them are very good, Crystal and Aqua have been developing more through their puberty and recently reached adulthood, while Ifrit had done long ago but keeps acting like a kid," said Kaen.

"Well, that's the nature of the little Ifrit… But the three of them had been growing a lot lately… I wonder if Kireina-sama could teach my two daughters a bit more magic? Or ask one of your family members… Crystal is getting better at Dream Attribute Magic, but she dreams of having some studies with you! Ah, it would be also nice if you could take both as your wives!" said Chokumotsu.

"…Eh? No wait, I can teach them if you want… But I do not think I can take them as wives, wait a minute…" I muttered.

I should not, but I felt a bit of pressure from Chokumotsu after she asked me this… but why? I often never feel pressured… is this because Chokumotsu is a very close friend of mine…?

"Sigh… I… I will think about it, okay? No promises" I said.

"Sure!" said Chokumotsu with an adorable smile, she resembled a beautiful woman in her early twenties after becoming a monkey-type beast-person, with no monkey face.

"It would be reassuring if that were to happen!" said Kaen.

I will most likely not… but there are many other monkeys of their age, such as the children of Kizuato or Yukan'na… so we'll see what I can do.

"Well, I am happy if you two are happy. Now let us begin this challenge! These are top-quality ingredients! Don't disappoint me, you two!" I said, walking with my True Body Clones alongside the whole cooking team below Chokumotsu and Kaen supervision. Something akin to a cooking show with many fantastical cooking techniques was unfolded, my family and friends glanced at the spectacle with awe and surprise as the food was prepared in countless different ways, the flavors, scent, and everything merged together into a happy and harmonious atmosphere.

As everyone was happily glancing at the spectacles, I decided to go use one of my True Body Clones to snatch Nyzzet's Dungeon and then merge it with my own.

However, as I moved with one of my True Body Clones, I was noticed by little Nirah, who accompanied me down below.

"Mama, where are you going, won't you have dinner with us and the other mamas?" asked Nirah, she seemed to understand that I was able to divide my own body, and called each of my true body clones as 'another mama'.

"Yeah, my dear, but I have a little work to do first, you can accompany me if you want, it will be an interesting thing," I said.

"Sure!" said Nirah as she used her tail to entangle my torso and rest in my shoulders as she would often do. Her snake-headed tail was sweating a lot for some reason, I wonder if it has a mind of its own? Is it a primitive monster mind or something like a twin of Nirah?

Well, anyway, it seems that it cannot speak so it is better to not pursue it as it might annoy Nirah, who seems perfectly fine with it… However, I still decided to ask her if she had any idea if her snake-headed tail had some kind of mind of its own.

"Tail-chan? It is very gentle with me! She likes to eat a lot too! But she has never spoken, I think, aside from saying snake things like 'gishhiiiiii'!" said Nirah.

"Oh, I see! Then everything is fine I suppose" I said, as we walked through a staircase that showed itself the moment, I manipulated the walls of the dungeon, generating a hidden passage.

Similar to other times, the room where the Dungeon Core was located was hidden in between the walls of the dungeon, it was supposed to be a room that cannot be entered by anyone except the Gods that govern it, well, only their ethereal projections, as gods would often never descend inside their dungeons.

"Woah! Big shiny crystal ball! Can I eat it?" asked Nirah while waving her tail.

"No, my dear, this little crystal ball is named a Dungeon Core. This is the core of the dungeon… think of it as if it were the heart of the dungeon. It pumps up mana and divine energy all around the dungeon constantly. It also manages almost everything on it, such as the monsters that spawn, items dropped, and other things such as those… Nyzzet, the god that owns this dungeon, has given it to me, so I have to first 'snatch' the dungeon and merge it with the one we have back home" I said.

"Oohhh! So cool! Mama can do so many things! Will, I one day have my own dungeon?" asked Nirah.

"Perhaps one day you might, my dear," I said, putting my hand over the dungeon and beginning to infuse my Aura into it.

"Labyrinth Plunder," I said, as I activated one of the Labyrinth Sovereign Magic Spells, which gives me the ability to plunder a dungeon that I have completed (by defeating the final boss).

Flash!

Suddenly, the glowing, yellow-colored Dungeon Core began to flash with different lights, as its bright colors slowly became darker, my Aura and my essence began to take over it, but I decided to stop in the middle of the process, so the original properties of the dungeon are not completely changed.

Flash!

"Mama, it is getting dark!" said Nirah.

"It should be done now," I said.

[Kireina] has successfully snatched the Dungeon!]

[Kireina] obtained the [Nyzzet's Thunder Dragonoid Grand Labyrinth] Dungeon!]

[The [Heavenly Thunderstorm Dungeon Core] has mutated into the [Heavenly Chaos Thunderstorm Dungeon Core!]

[The Level of the [Labyrinth's Sovereign Magic; Level 4] Skill has increased by one!]

[Dungeon Menu Upgraded!]

By snatching a Dungeon, my Labyrinth Sovereign Magic Skill will most of the time level up, seemingly taking over a dungeon gives a lot of proficiency in this skill in specific… I wonder what would it become after getting to Level 10 and awakening?

"Is the dungeon yours, now, mama?" asked Nirah.

"Indeed… Now let us see its stats. System, show me this dungeon stats" I said.

Ding!

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