D.E.M.O.N.S: Getting Summoned Weekly isn't so Bad

Chapter 1355 Chapter 1355 MEANING UNCLEAR: NEGOTIATE

The crab let out a bunch of bubbles from its mouth and Lily got… the distinct feeling that it was trying to say something. Like a radio that wasn't quite tuned to the right station. There was definitely something that wasn't just white noise there, but what sounds were actually being made were beyond Lily's ability to puzzle out. With a mental shrug Lily transformed, trying to make the transformation as slow as possible, which was still nearly instant.

The crab seemed to flinch a bit at the transformation but didn't make any sudden moves. "Um… sorry but I can't quite understand you," said Lily hoping that Kat's translation ability would work on semi-sentient crabs.

Another puff of bubbles came from the crab but this time they carried with them some hints at meaning. Lily got the impression that the crab could understand her. Which was weird that the crab had a better idea of what she was saying then she did it. Lily was really hoping that that fact didn't mean anything for their relative intelligence. Lily wasn't sure she would ever live it down.

"Right… it's hard to understand you but I am getting something. How well can you understand me?" said Lily.

Once again, a puff of bubbles and something closer to ideas then words. From what Lily could parse out, the crab could barely understand her, and that part of the meaning behind her words was getting lost. Most of it came through though, and it seemed to be enough. A second puff of bubbles and Lily got the impression the crab was asking her a question. She had to wait a few moments and considered the meaning going over the not-words a few more times.

From what Lily could gather it was wondering what she was doing. Lily debating trying to lie… but communication was hard enough between them as it was. She wasn't even sure she COULD lie to the crab with how the translation was only barely hanging in there. It was entirely possible that any hints that she was being misleading would be extremely obvious to the crab and it was still very imposing.

So Lily decided to just be truthful. "I was trying to get the treasure inside the treasure chest on your head,"

The crab stepped back, medium sized claw going to block the treasure chest. It looked at Lily offended and spat out a large number of bubbles. From this though, Lily could tell it had the wrong idea. It seemed to be under the impression she was trying to steal the box itself, and perhaps some of the other things on its hat. She didn't want any of that of course. So she said, "No INSIDE the hat,"

The crab didn't seem to understand, even after her rephrasing. Lily considered for a moment. *What's the issue here? Why can't understand what I'm saying? Wait no, it's not a person it's a crab. What could be causing the issue. Hmm… could it be that it doesn't have a concept of 'inside'? It's habitat is all open and there's nothing hidden away. It might know that the chest can open, or that opening things is even something you can do. How do I…*

Lily considered the problem for a few more moments before waving a hand to get its attention. The crab didn't move its claw, but the eyes followed Lily's hand now. From there she took off one of her bracelets and showed the bag, waving it around in front of the crab. Then she opened it and put the bracelet inside, before waiting a few moments and opening the bag and taking out the bracelet. "I am after the item INSIDE the chest. Outside," Lily waved the bracelet, "inside" Lily put the bracelet bag in and waved the bag. "Understand?"

The crab looked at Lily for a few more moments before releasing a host of bubbles that seemed to indicate it understood. While it was doing that, its smallest claws reached up and tapped the treasure chest a few times before managing to puzzle out how to open it. Pulling the chest open it reached in and pulled out a ring that looked positively miniscule considering it was normally sized.

It waved the item in front of Lily for a bit and released a few bubbles. Lily nodded in confirmation. "Yes I am after that." The crab nodded and released another set of bubbles that could only be understood as 'BARGAIN?' *So it clearly understands the idea of bargaining. It wants something for the item inside the box. What the heck do I offer? What does it even want? I can't offer one of the other treasures because I need those points… but I don't really have anything else it might want. Unless… hmm…*

Lily looked around at the grove. The unique kelp trees, the little shells. The hat. Nothing really stood out amongst them. Or rather, they all stood out well enough on their own. Lily didn't know what she could offer that the crab might find useful or interesting. *The problem with bargaining here is that I don't understand how the crab thinks. It's clearly more on the passive side otherwise it would've just attacked me at this point. It's an extremely civilised crab all things considered but it's still a monster. I can't even imagine what it might want.*

Lily chewed on her lip a bit as she went over everything she knew about the crab so far. Everything she'd seen it do. Clearly it spent its time tending to the plants, growing them and improving them. This grove was likely it's entire life. So what could she offer to enhance the place? That's when Lily remembered the shadow tree. It had eaten her mana when it was aligned with shadow.

*Could I offer it some paper magic? I doubt it's seen anything like that before. Should I give it an example first? Or just go for it and spend all the mana necessary to make the paper permanent? The problem with the second is I don't have all that much many back yet. The damned tree ate half of my reserves and I was burning through them even before that to move my shadow around like that. I've recovered… but only enough to be a bit over half. If I use all of my mana now I'm going to be running on empty for a while.*

Deciding to err on the side of caution Lily summoned up a bit of paper and pushed it towards the crab while saying "Example," and pushing as much meaning into the word as she could. Keeping the paper together was taking a bit of effort but Lily was ok with that for now.

The crab plucked the paper out of the water with one of its small claws and looked it over. Twisting and turning it a few times before spitting out a few bubbles that didn't seem to hold any meaning. It then crab walked over to the shadow tree and tried to stick it inside. To Lily's surprise the tree actually accepted the piece of paper and now, in the sea of black, there was a bit of white. Lily felt her control over the paper being ripped away from her at the same time as the mana drain ceased.

After walking back over in front of Lily it spat out a more bubbles. The meaning was quite clear. What Lily had provided wasn't enough of an offering by itself, but it was a good start. The crab found her paper affinity interesting and was planning to make use of it somehow. It was willing to hand over the ring if she supplied enough paper magic.

"Spread out, or concentrated?" asked Lily. Trying to keep things simple.

The crab thought on Lily's answer for a moment before spitting out more bubbles. Lily thought she must've been getting at reading this guy because she was able to quickly work out that the crab wanted a mixture of the two. Half of her offering in one form, and half in the other. *Not exactly pleased that I know what it wants… but I can try and work it out.*

Lily gathered her mana into two makeshift sigils and pumped slightly less then half of her remaining mana into each. The sigils wobbled a bit as her concentration dipped, but Lily managed to actualise it. On one side was a large piece of paper almost as tall as the crab while in the other was a small square no larger then Lily's palm but brimming with magic.

Once the magic was cast, the crab acted quickly. Lily barely had time to blink before the crab had snatched both and transferred them into the shadow tree. It had managed to do so in less then a second and without tearing the larger piece of paper. Lily couldn't help but be amazed at the crab's prowess. It was fast AND careful. Once that was done, the crab practically teleported in front of Lily and handed over the little ring. Lily gave the crab a slight bow in thank you. *Yeah fighting this thing was a doomed idea to start with. Glad I didn't try*