Aetherios System [Slow Build OP MC, Isekai LitRPG/Cultivation] Chapter 85: Book 2: Chapter 2: Party-time

Read chapter 85 of Aetherios System [Slow Build OP MC, Isekai LitRPG/Cultivation] by TTReynolds on NovelPedia.

Book 2: Chapter 2: Party-time Book 2: Chapter 2: Party-time The gong echoed through the cavern like a drunken blacksmith trying to re-tool some cast iron cookware. From somewhere beyond the bare stone walls, music blared. It was a mismatched orchestra of bone flutes, what look like wooden drums, and something that sounded suspiciously to Alex like a kobbold dragging a fork along a ribcage. The little lizards rushed around in a flurry, moving tables, dragging out cutlery and cookware, even unrolling dusty carpets with strange stains on them. All of them were yelling excitedly in their scratchy, high-pitched barking tongue. Alex and the team stood still at the center of the madness. They were all still covered in mushroom bits, sweat. Some still had splatters of kobold blood on them. Garret had at some point lost a boot, one foot bare. The other foot was covered in a boot with flames still drawn on the side of it. Kate looked as if she was mentally redrafting her resignation letter from reality itself. Henry, on the other hand, was already silently helping re-stack a broken table like nothing strange had just happened. "Did... did we just win a war and get invited to dinner by the enemy?" Devon asked. He slid his glasses back up into place, eyes moving about rapidly. "I think so," Allie muttered, wiping a smear of some kind of potion residue off her sleeve. "I also think that drum is a bucket. With a turtle in it." A cluster of kobolds scuttled past carrying what appeared to be an entire cooked centipede on a spit. The creature’s legs still twitched, its body wriggled wildly. Maybe it wasn’t cooked after all. Garret recoiled as it was brought past him. “Oh, no. Oh hell no.” Alex stood at the center of it all. He looked around himself and couldn’t stop from smiling like a man who had just escaped a soul-crushing work shift at the office, and by some miracle found himself in a surprise party thrown by friends and loved ones. Which, if you think about it, he technically had. The Chieftain stood nearby with his burly arms crossed, eyes sharp. He was silent, but he was taking it all in like a quiet sentinel. Alex moved closer to him, trying not to trip over the tail of a tiny kobold dragging a vat of something viscous and glowing, as he passed. The Chieftain still gave of a suffocating and suppressive aura from his body, even just by existing. Alex assumed that was just a part of being an Adept Tier existence. “You weren’t kidding about the kobold hospitality,” Alex said. The Chieftain inclined his head. “You survived the Dark Den. Earned your blood. This is our way.” “Right... with song, and food. And possibly mild poisoning?” he asked. “Yes.” He chuckled, then nodded toward the others. “You sure it’s okay? All the humans?” The Chieftain made a dismissive gesture. “They fight strong. Loud, like little slimes in a bucket, but they belong. For tonight.” Tom-Tom popped up behind Alex with an armful of carved wooden mugs. “Drink grog!” he bellowed. “You drink the grog, or I will tell my grand-scalemother you are a coward!” “...You don’t even have a grandmother,” Alex said, taking one of the mugs from the little kobold. “I do now! ” Tom-Tom shouted, running toward Lance. “You! You look like grand-scalemother!” Lance looked up just in time to be drenched in foamy, bright green grog from one of the cups. Tom-Tom shrieked with laughter and launched into an awkward dance that looked like a chicken attempting martial arts. Across the room, Kate refused her drink. A kobold elder squinted at her, then solemnly poured it over her boots instead. Kate was too stunned to respond. “Allie,” Holly whispered as she sniffed her mug suspiciously. “Do you think this is alcohol?” “It’s either alcohol or acid.” “I can work with either.” Holly held up her mug. They both toasted and took a drink. The response was immediate as they coughed, and their face scrunched into obvious looks of regret. The feast spiraled from there. The Kobolds formed a circle and beg