Reborn as the First Boss, Chapter 82

Chapter 82 – Welcome to the Team?

“Mistress, I found something on the bodies that wasn’t in the loot table!”

I nodded as Angelina came up to me. The loot table given to everyone by the Voice of the World did not include everything you could get from a body, obviously. Major pieces of gear, magical items, things needed for a quest, and so on showed up in it, but if one of them had flint and tinder for starting fires, that might not. Personal letters and the sort were another thing that might not be included.

My cute little healer handed me two books. No, grimoires. One had the symbol of one of the elven gods on it, probably belonging to whoever the Priest prayed to, and the other was titled Legacy of the Mind. The Mind Sorcerer’s spellbook, no doubt.

The Voice of the World gave free spells every ten levels, but every time it mentioned that I could find new spells out in the wild. This had to be one of the ways you could do it. Oh, spell scrolls in cities were a thing, of course, but I hadn’t needed more than what I had, so far. But new options were always welcome.

“Angelina, take the priest book and see what you can make of it. While I doubt all the spells will translate, since you’re not a follower of the elven gods, there should be some useful spells in it. I’ll do the same with this grimoire.”

Looking it over, I could tell that the grimoire was one written by a mortal hand, which explained why it didn’t show up in the loot table. There was nothing inherently magical about it, of course. However, it did provide a guide for my magic, meaning that I could use it to train myself on new spells. Unfortunately, that kind of training was not best done inside a dungeon, where traps and monsters could be waiting around any corner. That would have to wait until we rested.

Thankfully, while the grimoire wasn’t an item created by the Voice of the World, it still had properties from the Voice, which included a table of contents. Sure, that table was locked and invisible unless you had the right kind of magic to use it, but my being a Mind Sorceress meant I qualified. Looking through the table of contents, I frowned slightly.

There were forty-six spells in the grimoire. Unfortunately, I already knew thirty-seven of them, between the Enchantment, Illusion, and Shielding spell categories. They were the spells I’d gained through leveling up, as well as [False Appraisal]. Still, that left nine spells that I hadn’t seen before.

Enchantment Spells

Sleep – Causes a target to fall asleep instantly. Any damage taken will cause them to awaken.

Sleeping Cloud – Causes multiple targets within the area to fall asleep instantly, or become fatigued. Any damage will cause sleepers to awaken.

Deep Slumber – Causes a target to fall asleep instantly, and they remain asleep for (CHA) hours, regardless of damage taken or attempts to wake them. Only magic that dispels enchantments can wake them.

Mindrape – Learn everything a creature knows. Can add or remove memories, as well as alter emotions, opinions, and more. Can leave the creature insane, or seemingly unaffected, with no memory of the mental intrusion.

Illusion Spells

Mislead – Turns you invisible to target’s eyes, and creates an illusory double only they can see.

Paranoia – Causes the target to mistrust everything and everyone around them for the duration. They doubt even their own senses, and are convinced that even trusted allies and loved ones are plotting against them.

Shielding Spells

Sense Shield – Protects the target from magical spells and effects which directly interfere with their senses. Does not work against effects such as conjured fog or magical darkness.

Mind Blank – Target is completely immune to mental or emotional magic, as well as scrying.

Break Enchantment – Frees Target from enchantments, illusions, curses, and some alterations.

Most of the grimoire might have been useless to me, however, I did give a thought of thanks to the dead Mind Sorcerer’s spirit as I looked through the list. These spells would help close some gaps in my arsenal, at least as far as Mind Sorceress spells went. Some were more useful than others, of course, but they all gave me options I didn’t have before.

The Shielding spells were the ones I was most happy for, honestly. [Sense Shield] basically prevented someone from magically interfering with your senses. So, it wouldn’t affect a blindfold or a conjured cloud of smoke, but would stop a [Blindness] spell, or anything that interfered with the other senses, including magical ones. That wasn’t the same as piercing illusions, however, so I’d have to use other effects to see through glamours and the like.

[Mind Blank] was a powerful piece of kit, but it had the cost to go with it, reserving 5000 MP. Not worth it, as a rule, but a good card to play when I knew I’d be facing someone with mental powers. I had plenty of defenses against scrying and mental attacks already, but there were cases when a full-on immunity would be very welcome.

And then, there was [Break Enchantment]. Anything that could remove afflictions after they were in place was welcome. I had spells and abilities to protect against enchantments and illusions, but not any that could remove those effects once they were in place unless they were directly controlling or manipulating me and mine. This would be a helpful tool to have, especially if we were in areas where I needed to hide the fact that I had more than just Mind Sorceress magic.

The Illusion spells were interesting. [Mislead] could be a gamechanger in a fight against a single powerful foe, if I could get the spell to stick. [Paranoia], on the other hand, was of limited use unless I was playing some long-term game. The effects were not immediate enough for use in a fight, but rather grew over time as the paranoia took root and started building on itself. It would probably be the last of the spells from the grimoire I bothered learning.

However, you the Enchantment spells were probably the most generally useful out of the lot. Three flavors of sleeping spells, with the last one putting someone out for a bit over a month at my current CHA? Yes, please! That was perfect for nonlethal takedowns, or just incapacitating someone a bit more thoroughly than [Daze] could do. I loved the spell for how cheap and easy to cast it was, but the short duration left you on a pretty tight timer to take advantage, and it was single target. [Sleeping Cloud] being an area of effect spell would give me far more options.

That [Mindrape] spell, though, was a thing of evil beauty. It was basically the pinnacle of the reasons why people might be frightened of Mind Sorceresses like me. Naturally, I was going to learn the spell, but that didn’t mean I was going to ignore the potential problems, if someone knew I had it. In fact, there would be people who would be more afraid of that spell, and what it could do, than they would be with [Annihilation]! At least with the big boom, all that happened was death, but with [Mindrape], someone could alter everything you thought you knew and everything you were, and you might never know it unless someone managed to undo the effects. That was horror movie shit, right there.

I slipped the grimoire into my inventory so I could start studying it when we camped for the night, and looked to the rest of my team. “Right. No more goodies on the rest of the bodies?” A chorus of responses to the negative, and I nodded. “All right, then. Let’s get moving. Leave the corpses for the dungeon to deal with, and keep an eye out for traps. The information we got on the dungeon said that the kobolds are twisted little fuckers who love to make life difficult for those who don’t keep an eye on their surroundings. Standard formation, but our new waterbender will be next to me, until we have more of an idea how to fit her in.”

“I have several positions to try and fit in her, Mistress,” Astruth said, shamelessly. “To fully welcome her to the team, and all, you understand. Might need to repeat them a few times, if she isn’t used to getting properly filled.”

Syllia looked like she was about to argue, but I cut her off with a grin. “There’s a reason why the mortal women in my party have the Accommodating title, you know. Astruth, there, has a very impressive tool, as does Rastran. And I can use [Shapeshifting] to give myself just as impressive a weapon, or better, if I wish.”

“You know, Mistress,” Linette said, sweetly, “there may be times where having an elf under your collar might be inconvenient. If, however, you used that [Ritual of the Beast] to give her another form that she could use, it would potentially give you an excellent way to surprise anyone who couldn’t see past a [False Appraisal]. You already have forms for a Hellhound and a Warhorse, right? If she could get those, as well, then it would open up a lot of options.”

My eyes narrowed at my loyal maid. “Perhaps. But then, perhaps I should include the rest of you ladies in that, as well. Except for Angelina, of course. What with the ritual and all.”

Jewell sputtered, and waved her hands, “No, wait a minute, mistress! I know you have that item that makes you happy with doing those kinds of things with beasts, on top of being a sex demon, but I’m just a normal human! I don’t have those kinds of desires!”

“Is that so? But you were watching quite closely the last time I rewarded Rastran, as I recall. Are you sure you aren’t just a bit curious? I think you should know by now that I’m not going to look down on anyone for whatever kinks they might have.”

Astruth just shook his head. “The hellhound form aside, Mistress, I don’t know if anyone with a human or elf body would be able to handle getting the warhorse form without suffering some pretty extreme damage. Even with the Accommodating title, it might not be survivable.”

“Aww, I was hoping that you would help prepare the girls, and ensure they were properly stretched ahead of time. Are you saying that you can’t measure up, Astruth?”

The half-demon laughed. “With respect, Mistress? I know I measure up quite nicely compared to other humans. Have the title for it and everything. However, even if Jewell joked about my ‘tool’ being horse-sized, I am still half-human, not half-horse! I know I’m not matching a stallion for size. Plus, there is such a thing as being too big.”

“That’s the first time I’ve heard a man say that,” I snickered. “Usually, they’re trying to say they’re more than meets the eye.”

“Well, as someone who enjoys providing pleasure to the ladies, because I know that it makes them work harder to ensure I enjoy myself in turn, it is the truth. I have testimonials from several of the other servants back at the manor that, while big is good, too big is just uncomfortable, even painful. At that point, it is less about giving pleasure, and more about inflicting pain and asserting dominance. I’m good with either, but I’m not stupid enough to believe that making a woman scream because she’s getting split in half is the same as making a woman scream because her toes are curling.”

Syllia just blinked, her mouth hanging half-open, before finally finding her voice again. “A-are you always like this? Or is this display of insanity a special occasion?”

“Don’t worry, my pretty little pet,” I said, stroking her ass as I did so. “You’ll get to learn all about this little band of mine tonight. I am going to enjoy exploring every inch of you, inside and out.”

The waterbender just sighed, her expression hinting that she was seriously reconsidering the life choices that led her to this fate.