"You okay? You look kinda worn out," Remarked Prysm, as I sat down with a frown.

"Yeah, I’m fine...it’s just, there’s this annoying discomfort I’m feeling. My teeth feel weirdly stiff, and my throat feels uncomfortable too. Also my fingertips, it’s weird...I’ve tried healing myself, but that has no effect, which means that it isn’t any injury. It’s unlikely to be an illness either, my Universal Resistance should prevent anything from infecting me," I muttered irritably.

Today’s the 29th of November, 2016, and I was down in the thirty-fifth floor of the Labyrinth with Prysm. I’ve been making some pretty solid progress down here, it’s been a little under a year at this point since I began killing and eating Monsters.

My Elemental Magic has gotten pretty powerful, though it feels like I’m getting close to the limit of how much I can improve those Spells through this method. My Mana capacity has also increased significantly...I’ve been regularly blasting out blue flames, letting them spread and them swallow it all back up with Magic Eater.

As a result of that, I’ve greatly accelerated the rate of expansion of my Mana capacity, along with my maximum output when it comes to Spellcasting. When I started this, my Mana capacity was a little over 700, with my maximum output being at around 75.

Which was still pretty good, especially considering the physical age of this body, but I still had a lot of room for improvement. And now, at present, those values have shot up to a bit over 880 and 95. Which is an increase that’s absolutely unheard of in the time span of just under a year.

Normally, growth like that would take a minimum of about two and a half years naturally, even with constant and relentless training. Heretics are supposed to be able to increase their capacity and output a bit faster than those with just one Attribute, so that on top of eating Monsters and pushing my limits with using Magic Eater on blue flames likely means that I’ve basically supercharged my growth in that regard.

But unfortunately, I’m not very far from the maximum limit capable by humans. The highest ever recorded values for Mana capacity and output are 1100 and 110, respectively.

I’m hoping that eating Monsters has raised that ceiling at least a little bit, but I don’t want to get my hopes up. Plus, even at my current rate of growth, it’ll probably take another year or so to max out my capacity and output.

Onto more immediate concerns though...seriously, what is this discomfort I’m feeling!? My throat, teeth and fingertips all feel really off, it’s hard to explain. I’ve never felt anything like this before, what exactly is it?

Have I, like, caught some new, unknown disease that even Universal Resistance can’t defend against. No, that’s impossible...probably. But then, what is this?

I first noticed it a few days ago, but it was fairly mild so it didn’t really bother me. Slowly but surely since then though, it’s grown more and more noticeable, I don’t like it one bit.

"Maybe it’s, like, side effects from eating Monsters or something?" Suggested Prysm uncertainly.

"Doubtful, why would it take this long before I feel the effects? Well, whatever it is, I really hope it fades soon. It’s seriously-...hm?" I suddenly trailed off with a frown, as I sensed something through my Thought Communication.

"Did you sense a Monster or something? What species?" She inquired warily.

"It’s one I haven’t encountered before. It’s really hard to get a read on. I...I think it’s a Catastrophic Grade, but...it somehow doesn’t feel that powerful. And yet, there’s something else to it...something I can’t quite comprehend," I remarked, struggling to make sense of what I was feeling.

What kind of Monster is this? There aren’t many Monsters I haven’t encountered down here, I’ve come across pretty much every single one that’s Disastrous Grade or below.

And I’ve never sensed a Monster like this one before...what the hell is it? Guess I’ll see for myself soon enough...it’s almost upon us.

"Is that it?" Prysm asked me, as it came into sight.

Huh? What...what is that? It’s got a humanoid shape to it, but it doesn’t have any discernable features. It’s kinda like a Mimic, the Monster species that looks like a living stick figure and assumes the appearance of humans.

But this one isn’t fully black like the Mimics...instead, its body is reflective, like a mirror. As it turned towards us, Prym reflecting off its body...it suddenly began to change shape, taking her form.

"Well, that’s freaky. It might be an evolved form of a Mimic, but I haven’t seen anything like it in any of the books about Monsters I’ve read though," I warned her cautiously.

Hm? It’s copied her appearance, but...something’s a little bit off.

"What the hell is that thing?" Frowned Prysm apprehensively.

"What...the...hell...is that...thing?" The copy suddenly repeated her words, my eyes widening in disbelief.

Regular Mimics can only copy a person’s appearance, they can’t copy their voices or abilities or anything else. I then realized why this copy looked a bit off...

"It’s mirrored...it looks like how your reflection in a mirror would look!" I exclaimed in realization.

"So, does that mean its copying ability is inferior to that of a regular Mim-...?" She began, before trailing off in shock...as the copy suddenly raised its arm and a familiar weapon formed in its hand, "Is...is that my axe!?"

"That thing can copy Soul Weapons too!? But surely it can’t be equally as powerful as a real Soul Weapon...," I muttered, as I formed my whip and swung it towards the Monster while rapidly extending it.

As my whip closed in on it, it swung the axe across...and deflected my whip. No way...my whip can cut through any normal weapons like a hot knife through butter, the only thing I’ve come across that can block or deflect it are other Soul Weapons.

The Monster then fired out a water slash, one of the Spells that Prysm most often uses. Seriously!?

As Prysm formed a block of ice in front of herself block the attack, I shot forward at top speed, slashing at the Monster as I closed in on it. It sprang up to evade my slash before swinging its axe at me.

I leapt away to dodge it, deep cracks spreading out in the ground as the axe slammed onto the spot I’d been standing by...its movements, it’s moving just like how Prysm does, and even wields the axe the same way that she does.

It’s a perfect copy of her...its speed, movements, reaction time, it’s all perfectly replicated. Fuck, I’m glad it took on her form instead of mine!

I then sprang back and swung my whip back to wrap it around a pillar, before forming a black hole right near the Monster. It began to try and scramble away, losing the entire top half of its body in a matter of seconds.

I then deactivated the Spell before it could completely swallow up the Monster, its lower half collapsing onto the ground before returning to its original form.

"What was that? It could use my Soul Weapon and Spells, is that even possible?" Frowned Prysm, as she walked over and warily tapped at the remaining half of the Monster with her foot.

"Depending on whose appearance and abilities it copies...it could be a serious threat. It’s probably not very powerful on its own, its power level will depend on the opponent it comes across...that explains why I couldn’t get a proper read on it when I sensed it," I replied with a grimace.

"So, uh...are you gonna eat it?" She asked me in bemusement, as I reached down and touched the Monster.

"It may look like its body is a mirror, but it feels similar to a regular Mimic. So, yeah, I’m gonna eat it," I nodded reluctantly.

"Not sure how I feel about you eating something that looked like me just a minute ago..."

"It was able to copy your abilities, and even tried to copy your voice by repeating your words. If I had to guess, it either didn’t gain your memories, or it didn’t have the intelligence to process and comprehend them, that’s why it was simply parroting your words instead. In which case, it likely replicated your Soul Weapon and Spells through muscle memory or whatever the Magical equivalent is," I surmised as I mulled it over.

"Yeah, I guess that makes sense...do you think it can copy the appearances of other Monsters like regular Mimics can?" She suggested with a worried look. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

"Oh, crap...we’ll have to make sure that Izzy never comes across one of those things. Actually, we just should straight up not tell her that a Monster like this exists...knowing her, she’d probably try to find one so that she can fight something that’s as strong as she is," I sighed in exasperation.

Yeah, depending on what it comes across, this Monster could potentially be warranted a Threat Level of Demonic Grade...

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