Traits
Back to Willie's point of view.
When I woke up, I was surrounded by three beauties looking at me. I immediately felt self-conscious and averted my eyes in embarrassment, but not before I noticed Millie's eyes were red, as if she had been crying.
As I sat up, I collected my thoughts. These women all now knew everything about me. My memories were laid bare, so there was nothing I could hide at this point, even if I wanted to. That level of closeness was a bit suffocating, but doing this was also the fastest way to pass onto them what I had discovered about mana and magic. Hopefully, this allowed them to gain some new skills for the coming fight. There wasn't any time to waste, and we needed every advantage we could get.
"How are you feeling, Willie?"
Things still felt a bit weird between us, but she was acting normal.
"I'm feeling a little hazy, but I'll be good in a few minutes. Anyway, does anybody have any questions about my magic skills?"
Cordelia stepped forward first.
"I was always under the impression that magic was mostly based on species. For instance, as a Dungeon Core, my skills are unique to my kind. But maybe that's a misconception... does that mean you or Millie could use dungeon functions too?"
I looked at Gilda. She nodded slightly toward Cordelia.
"Yes. One of my theories is that magic is given form by the user's preconceived ideas of how it is supposed to work. Using that logic, the reason you have dungeon functions would be a result of the fact that you expect to have them."
Cordelia seemed to be having a hard time understanding. Her expression changed several times before she replied.
"How would such a system develop in the first place?"
Gilda remained as calm and business-like as she usually was, but I could tell she was enjoying the conversation.
"In the case of Dungeon Cores, I believe your kind developed as trapsmiths and summoners because of your immobile nature. Your ancestors probably developed a variety of skills to make their territory attractive enough to lure prey but deadly enough to not let those prey escape. Plants sometimes develop similar strategies to overcome the limits of being stationary. It seems reasonable to assume over time, the most successful of these skills and tactics were then codified into an organizational structure suited to a mind that is optimized for multitasking."
When Gilda mentioned plants, I immediately thought of Venus Flytraps. I didn't know much about dungeon functions. But if that magic was developed to overcome the drawbacks of being immobile, it would no doubt be completely different from anything a mobile species would come up with. Even so, I wondered if I could use those skills until Gilda mentioned that being good at multitasking was necessary. Which meant I wasn't likely to be able to make effective use of them right away. Summoning sounded really useful, though. I resolved to see if I couldn't learn more about it from Cordelia later.
While Cordelia and I were processing what Gilda had said, Millie jumped in with a comment of her own.
"Wow... Hey! Does that mean that we succubi developed sex magic because of our natural attributes too?"
She was holding her boobs up when she said that, which almost made me do a spit take. Cordelia just rolled her eyes, and Gilda seemed to ignore it.
"Yes. That would be the likely reason why that particular skill-set is more developed among your species than most others. I think you are not actually limited to those skills. It is just that your genetic attributes make those skills easier to wield and master."
Millie scrunched up her face for a second.
"Huh... So which came first, the chicken or the egg?"
Gilda smiled softly at that question. It seemed she really was in her element right now.
"I personally believe that both aspects developed together. Meaning, at some point, your kind developed skills that suited their bodies or temperaments. But over time, their bodies adapted to become even better suited to using those skills. Eventually, the two aspects reinforced each other so strongly as to become perceived as a unique species trait."
"So you're saying my body is set up by default to use succubus magic the best, but I should be able to use other magic if I tried hard?"
"That is the theory. I believe the reason why it is uncommon for the various species to develop magic outside of the typical traits is that this genetically optimized magic use comes so easily. Combine that with the relative difficulty of learning to use other types, and you end up with a situation that reinforces the preconceived notions that these magics are actually just traits of the species."
All of this made me wonder if the reason Gilda wanted a human for her research was because of the lack of racial magic optimization. We were essentially a blank slate. Because we weren't specialists, we could be free from the pitfalls of overspecialization.
"Okey Dokey. I'm gonna go learn more about genetic editing then."
As Millie happily wandered over to a nearby couch, presumably to download information on using her nanites for DNA editing, Cordelia was making a tense expression. She leaned over towards me and whispered.
"She has always wanted to be able to fight directly instead of being protected by me. I think she's always regretted being born a succubus instead of something with more offensive ability."
I silently nodded. There was a lot I didn't know about these two, but I knew that being enslaved by the Demon Lords was bound to leave a mental scar. But time was tight right now, so I had to shake myself out of the contemplation of that and keep the conversation moving forward.
"How about you? Is there anything you want to work on?"
"Well, I am already an almighty dungeon core, so there's not much room for improvement. What I really need is a larger mana supply so I can use my abilities freely."
She started out talking with a smug expression, but by the end looked deflated and depressed. Gilda stepped in at that point, looking first at Cordelia and then locking eyes with me. I could see she was hesitating to say something.
"I have an idea about how to solve that problem. However... Willie may... have an issue with it."
