《Syl》 Chapter 1: Meeting Gramps Chapter 1: Meeting Gramps I died. At least, that was all that I could remember. I was unsure how it happened or even who I was, but I was positive that was the outcome. While trying to make sense of the situation, despite my lack of memories, a thought came to me intuitively: I should open up my status menu. I focused my mind as if I''d done this many times, and a window appeared within my subconscious. Name: ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? Race: ???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? Class: ???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? Status: Dead Unfortunately, it provided no help other than confirming I was dead. Thank you, Captain Obvious... I continued floating in the endless void for what felt like an eternity until a simple wooden stool appeared. I stared at it briefly and then suddenly found myself sitting in it. Well, I was getting tired of floating... "Ah! You''ve finally arrived. Greetings, a loud but cheerful voice suddenly entered my mind. "I can''t believe you died in such a ridiculous way. I don''t think I''ve ever seen such a waste of 5 Reincarnation Points." As he continued talking, I got the mental image of a grandfather. I looked around but could not find its source. I would have opened my mouth to speak, but it seemed like I didn''t have one. I was unsure how I was even sitting since I couldn''t see my body. Reincarnation Points? That sounds familiar, I thought to myself. "Indeed it should! In your previous life, you had many accomplishments and died a spectacular death, earning a boon for the world and a feast for us." The voice answered as if reading my mind. What!? I tried to interrupt with my thoughts screaming, but the voice continued. "Because of this, we rewarded you 5 Reincarnation Points for your next life to get a head start. You spent your first point to be born a noble, your second point to be a prodigy, and your final 3 points to unlock Dimension Magic. Honestly, you were practically built for greatness, and we thought your previous feast would pale in comparison. It should have been a banquet!" I''m sorry? I don''t even know how I died. I felt a crushing disappointment, like the grandfather who once was proud of me was giving me a scolding. "You were poisoned on your birthday by your older brother." On my birthday, seriously!? "I suppose he felt his inheritance as the firstborn was severely under threat by a walking prodigy showing off a legacy magic. Honestly, this is one of the reasons we should get rid of noble being a reincarnation option." How was I poisoned? Surely they tried to save me if I was a noble? My vision focused more, and I saw that the blue ball shapes had a rather liquid-like texture and had a colored jewel in their center. My mind was tickled with the answer. Why am I surrounded by slimes? I asked myself before I screamed out in horror. Status! Name: - Race: Slime (Blue) LV 1 Class: - Status: Healthy Grandpa... why did you turn me into a slime? This feels more like a punishment than an experiment. Is this because I wasted your Reincarnation Points? Unfortunately, my thoughts went unanswered as I watched the slimes around me going about their business. A few seemed to be ¡°eating¡± some plants by slowly dissolving them, which they did by engulfing them inside their slime body. Other slimes were sitting lazily by the stream, others seemed to be trying to jump or bounce, and two larger ones were even chasing after a rabbit. Deciding to see what my new slime body looked like, I attempted to head toward the stream. Thankfully, moving my new body came to me without too much difficulty, almost instinctually. Upon reaching the stream, I got close enough so that my reflection was within range, where I saw a blue slime with a crimson-red core. I moved erratically to confirm the owner of the reflection. Damn... I really am a slime. I looked at the closest slime nearby, whose core was also a reddish color, although, compared to my own, it seemed much more dull. At least my core is a rather vivid color. My self-reflection was interrupted by the arrival of humans carrying baskets full of jars while some of the scruffier-looking ones were carrying buckets. Humans from that nearby city, I''m guessing. I hope they don''t mean any harm. My fellow slimes don''t seem to be panicking. The humans spread among the slimes, and I watched one of the first pick up a slime with one hand. After placing their basket carefully, they held the slime over one of their many jars, and he unsheathed a belt knife. Horror filled my mind as I watched the human cut into the slime, and the jelly was amputated from the slime and deposited into the jar below. Or are they just too stupid to know any better!? I screamed as I watched the humans, one after another, follow the same steps. I immediately started trying to run away, thinking I could get to the forest away from this slaughter. My 360-degree vision gave me the perfect horror show as I watched a child run to catch up to me. Nooooooooo! The boy grabbed me and threw me into his bucket as I tried to squirm and get away throughout the process, but it was futile. His childlike strength was Herculean in comparison to my jelly muscles. "Xxxxxx xxxxx xxx''x xxxxxxxx xx xxxx..." The boy said something, but I couldn''t understand the words that came out. He pulled out his own knife, which looked well-used and looked after. Please let me go! I don''t want to die again! The boy couldn''t hear my screams as he brought the knife down. I''m sorry, Gramps... Looks like I''ll be seeing you again shortly. Chapter 2: Gooey Harvest Chapter 2: Gooey Harvest Strangely, I did not die or even feel pain as the boy''s knife pierced into me. I kept waiting and waiting to see the void again and hear grandpa again, but it did not happen. The boy used his non-dominant hand to lift me while his other sliced away parts of my blue slime, which fell into the bucket below. There was no pain, but it was a bizarre feeling to watch my slime be disconnected from my ''body'' like the child was peeling a potato. ''I''m thankful this isn''t killing me, but this feels very violating... Being manhandled by a small child.'' When the slime disconnected from me, it would suddenly lose its semifluid consistency and immediately plummet to the bottom of the bucket, which explained why the boy was lifting me to stop me from reabsorbing the slime below. After a few minutes, the boy lifted me from the bucket, placed me on the ground, and even petted my ''head''. I''ve easily lost over half my size and mass from the pruning. "Xxx xxxx xxxx''x xx xxx, xxxxxx xxxxx." He again said something I could not understand and gave me a toothy smile. He reached into his pocket, producing a moldy bread loaf, and dropped it on me. I wanted to screech in disgust as it entered me and then slowly began to dissolve. ''Thank goodness I don''t have taste buds... Although it feels weirdly pleasant to absorb things like this.'' I sat unmoving as the hard bread dissolved, watching my fellow slimes also be cut away and stored into jars or buckets. ''I do wonder why this didn''t hurt or kill me; is this not the equivalent of being amputated or disemboweled?'' While observing the slime harvest I unfortunately got the answer to my question, as an older child was busy cutting away when his blade struck against the pale red core of the slime. There was a cracking sound, and immediately the entire slime lost form and all of the liquid plummeted into the bucket. The core hit the bottom of the bucket with a dull clank sound, and I felt my entire being shudder in horror. The smaller slime tries to struggle, but I watch it shrink inside the larger slime. There''s a quiver in the centre, and eventually, the core of the smaller slime itself suddenly dissolves! ''My human brother poisoned me, and now I just watched my slime brethren eat each other... I wonder if my soul peaked before my last reincarnation because this feels truly cursed.'' While I was focusing on the battle, another slime snuck up on me and started to try to engulf me. ''No! Let me live! You can have the stupid piece of meat!'' I scream mentally and try to back away from the slime. There''s a weird suction between us, and I feel it stealing my slime mass from me. My frantic struggle gets nowhere, so I try to think of a solution. ''If only I could get to its core before it reaches my own then maybe I could absorb or break it, but I don''t think I could engulf it, and I can''t think of a way to grab it directly.'' Something appears in my mind that feels very similar to my Status Menu. ''What? If it will help me, then yes!'' I feel a rush of knowledge enter my core, and I feel a greater control over my slime. I picture a tentacle bursting forward into the enemy slime and grabbing its core. My slime jiggles in anticipation and seems to harden to create this fake limb, which jets out to pierce the slime and envelop its'' rose-red core. Crunch. ''Huh...'' Chapter 3: Slime-Eat-Slime Chapter 3: Slime-Eat-Slime As the hostile slime core shattered, it relinquished its hold on the surrounding slime, which drew in and surrounded me, increasing my size and mass appropriately. It felt amazing, and neither the bread or meat I had previously absorbed could even compare to merging all that slime into my being. I waved my new appendage around to give it a feel, retracted it, and then produced it again from my opposite side. I tried to form another one, but no matter what I tried, I couldn''t have more than a single tendril arm. ''I think it was called pseudopod...'' Can create and control numerous tendrils equal to trait level from available slime mass. The degree of manipulation increases per level. Quantity and size distribution are limited to available slime mass. Compatible with other slime traits.> ''Gramps, is that you? Are you answering my questions?'' I ask mentally but get no response. ''So if I can raise the level of pseudopod, I can have more tendrils. Hopefully, I can figure out how to raise the level because this literally saved my life.'' At the edge of my focus, I noticed the larger slime that engulfed the other slime was approaching me. I wondered why but noticed I was still on top of the fuzzy meat, which was dissolving much too slowly for my liking. ''How hungry can you be? You stole a piece of meat and ate another slime, yet you still want more?'' I produced my pseudopod and waved it threateningly at the approaching slime, but it showed no sign of stopping. Anxiously, I waited until it got within range and thrust my pseudopod like a spear into the slime to reach for its core. However, as my tendril went deeper and deeper into the slime, I could feel my control over it gradually fading until I only had a thin sliver of a tendril left. ''Damnit, this bugger is a lot more acidic than the previous slime, and it just ate my arm!'' I refocus my effort, picturing a much thicker spear of slime, and I can feel my unused mass shrinking to accommodate my image. With a burst, the slime spear shoots forward and penetrates the hostile slime. Again, I can feel the control of the edges of my limb shaving away, but this time, it''s thick enough to reach and grab the core. Crunch. ''So that explains what the humans were doing this morning... Wait, aren''t I just making myself a big juicy target? Does this even help me at all?'' I''m by far the largest slime around now, but despite that, the other slimes show no sense of danger and are still openly attacking one another over food. I wondered if I shouldn''t feel guilty about absorbing my brethren, but it looked like they were absolutely mindless, as one even rammed into me attempting to reach my food. I form a large tendril and lift the slime. While I''ve grasped it, I attempt to push more slime mass into my limb, which swells and engulfs the smaller slime. ''Amazing, so by practicing or trying new things with my tendrils, I can improve it.'' I form a second tendril and wave it around with glee. ''If I had a face, I bet I''d be grinning like an idiot.'' The slime I had held and engulfed in my pseudopod seems to have perished, although I barely gained any mass due to its small size. ''I should probably hide in the forest, as I don''t feel like being the prize pig at the harvest festival. Once I''ve found a nice hiding spot, I can do some thinking about how I should proceed. Do I keep eating and growing? I was the size of a tiny dog, and now I''m the size of a child. Would my slime not just become unwieldy? I''d certainly just be making myself a larger target.'' ''Slime Density? I want to say yes, but could you please explain?'' Allows compression of slime mass, which reduces size and increases density. Maximum Density, Efficiency, and Control scale with trait level. Compatible with other slime traits.> ''Another amazing suggestion, Gramps, sign me up!'' Chapter 4: Compression Testing Chapter 4: Compression Testing Once I gained [Slime Density LV 1] I could feel the layout of my slime body a lot more clearly, such as the current compression level of various areas of my slime mass and even down to the individual pseudopods. At the moment, I could only compress my entire body or each pseudopod, but I can imagine that as I level up the trait, I could potentially have far greater control over what areas I raise the density of. Using the knowledge of my new trait, I compress my body back down to just a little bit larger than my original size. I tried to compress more slime mass, but this was the limit at my current level. Despite my smaller size, I felt safer and more solid with this higher-density slime. I was curious to see the effects of higher-density slime, so I compressed one pseudopod while leaving the other uncompressed, and then I slammed both tendrils into each other with as much force as I could muster. Splat! It was like throwing a water balloon at a brick wall, and the uncompressed pseudopod exploded on contact. ''Very impressive! If I keep increasing the density of my slime mass, then I can hopefully prevent something from entering my body and reaching my core.'' I had another idea I wanted to test as I recreated my destroyed pseudopod, leaving it uncompressed, and moved toward two nearby slimes. I placed my two tendrils in two different slimes and then waited while staring intently. My theory was that the higher-density one would be much harder to dissolve, and sure enough, I could feel my control being peeled away layer by layer in only one pseudopod. Before I lost my pseudopod, I tried sending more slime mass to it while also trying to compress it. I could feel my slime mass drain from my main body to reinforce the density, and the peeling sensation eventually stopped. Satisfied with the results, I surround the core of each slime with my tendrils. Crunch! Crunch! x2 x2 Looking around, I can see that the slime buffet has ended, and the slimes are returning to their earlier activities. I''m surprised how many are still alive, as I was not the only one who ate a few cores. I keep compressing one of my pseudopods, but I can''t get it to match up with my mental image, which means I need a higher-level trait. I keep trying to brute force it, and I actually feel a dull sort of pain tremble in my core and quickly stop. ''Is this the slime equivalent of a headache or just too much mental strain? Maybe I should try a quantity practice approach.'' I hold out my two pseudopods and compress one to the comfortable limit. Then, I compress the remaining pseudopod while simultaneously trying to decompress the first one. Compress, decompress, compress, decompress... I keep repeating this process while hoping that this counts as training. What comes to mind is that I''m flexing my ''muscles'', or doing bicep curls, and as I keep repeating the process, I feel myself flow into a rhythm. I''d scream with glee if I had a mouth so both my tendrils do a happy wiggle instead. I can instinctively feel a better understanding of my slime mass and its current density. I once again put my body''s density to the new comfortable maximum and shrink considerably, and then I begin forming my needle. I compress a long and thin tip of my pseudopod as much as possible, a much higher density than my main body, and I only stop once I feel my core begin to strain. I''m satisfied even though it looks more like a rapier than a needle. I thrust it into a nearby slime; the pointed edge pierces both slime and core like a knife through hot butter. I raise my rapier above my head and give it a happy wiggle. ''So [Mana Slime] stops at 10. I wonder if that''s the limit for everything. Although now that my slime has maximum richness I don''t feel like sticking around to be harvested.'' With a swish of my rapier tendril, I point it to the forest. ''Let''s go!'' Chapter 5: Trees and Information Chapter 5: Trees and Information On the way to the forest edge, I saw a rabbit nearby and attempted to grab it with a tendril, but sensing danger, the rabbit evaded and fled. I was only mildly curious since I remembered the slimes earlier chasing a rabbit, so I didn''t bother pursuing it. My ability to move with haste was lacking; I could do short bounces or ''ripple'' forward, and attempts to use my pseudopods didn''t have noticeable improvements. Trying to make the best use of the slow travel and not waste time, I continued practicing my pseudopod compression. I wondered if I could also work on getting my third pseudopod by adding some steps to my ''slime flex'', so I added plenty of wiggles and would also periodically absorb and recreate the tendrils. The forest was quite a sight and had plenty of vegetation and critters, and I made sure to grab a few plants as I progressed deeper in but noticed that they continued to give almost no slime mass. ''I guess the world doesn''t want any vegetarian slimes.'' Eventually, I came across a dirt path cutting straight into the forest but decided to avoid the path while trying to get deeper as I didn''t want to risk being spotted by humans. It was getting noticeably darker, and I wanted to find a safe spot to rest. ''I could try to find a hole to hide in... Or maybe I should try hiding up a tree?'' Looking up at a tree with a thick trunk, I decided to see if I could climb. I pressed up against the trunk with a wet squish, then wrapped my two pseudopods around it and tried to see if I could lift myself. My slime was slightly adhesive, so my slime climb was far easier than I expected, and eventually, I found myself drooping over a large branch. ''Okay... I think I''m pretty safe up here. Status!'' Name: - Race: Slime (Blue) LV 3 Class: - Status: Healthy ''This isn''t enough. I want to see more... Details?'' Emblems: [Experiment] Traits: [Mana Slime LV MAX] [Pseudopod LV 2] [Slime Density LV 2] [??? LV 0] This soul is currently trialing a potential new Reincarnation Point option. The prompt vanishes, and I sigh in relief. ''So I can spend points to upgrade, but I''d rather get brand new traits. If the trait was difficult or impossible to practice, maybe this would be a good option. Is there a list of traits?'' ''The hell is an orb of enlightenment? Gramps, this seems very unfair. I want to look for a trait to protect my core.'' ''... Explain, please.'' The Core is the most vital part of a Slime, combining the functions of the Heart and Mind while also containing the Soul. This trait enhances all basic Core functions and moderately improves durability scaling with level.> ''Ugh, my head... err... core hurts from all of this information, so maybe improving my mind will help. I definitely want more durability, even if it''s only moderate. Thanks, Gramps, I will buy core refinement.'' My mind screams in pain as my entire core is overwhelmed with a burning sensation, and I lose all vision. I can feel it growing. My pseudopod tendrils flail wildly, and I nearly fall from my branch before I restrain myself to the branch and squeeze it as tightly as possible. Eventually, the burning subsides, my vision returns, and I feel exhausted. ''Shit! Why!?'' I scream mentally to the silence. I want to collapse into a puddle and sleep, but I''m worried my branch isn''t secure enough after nearly falling. ''One last task for the day... Ugh...'' I maneuver over to the tree trunk and form my rapier, which manifests in record time, and I repeatedly stab at the trunk. Plik. Plik. Plik. Splat. Despite using my maximum density, the results are not what I expected after how it performed against the target dummy slime. ''I guess I vastly overestimated my compressed slime... I might be in trouble against anything harder than wood. Maybe I can eat my way through it? I only need a hole big enough to fit my core.'' I use my other pseudopod to envelop the side of the trunk and press against it, hoping to start dissolving it. Then I stabbed through my slime with my rapier. Plik. Plik. Plik. Combining dissolving and stabbing seems to be progressing nicely, and eventually, the hole is large enough to enter. Going partially inside, I focus my dissolving downwards, form two rapiers inside my slime mass, and stab away at the floor. ''I just need to make it deep enough to hold all my slime.'' The outside is already completely dark when my tree hole finally feels large and secure enough to contain me. My slime gushes in, and I start to settle in for torpor. My core drifts slowly down to the bottom of my slime mass. ''What a day... Goodnight, Gramps...'' Chapter 6: Jellyfish Slime Chapter 6: Jellyfish Slime Waking up to light and the sounds of the forest was a refreshing experience; I half expected to wake up floating in the void, and I''m glad I safely survived the night. My core felt pristine, and I really wish I could see what it looked like after obtaining [Core Refinement]. However, my slime mass felt... odd. I exited the safety of my tree and sat perched on the branch to examine my slime mass, forming my two pseudopods and giving them a look over as well. By the way, I figured out a pretty good way to sit securely on my branch; I enveloped myself over the branch and then raised the density around the branch to form a grip. I was initially worried I''d eventually eat into the branch, but ever since I got [Core Refinement], I can selectively turn off my dissolving. Crystal-clear gaps were floating in my blue slime, and as I stared at them, I was nearly overwhelmed with an instinctual desire to purge it as soon as possible. ''I''m not sure what this is, but it''s ruining my perfect blue complexion. It''s not mixing with my slime mass, so let''s try just pushing it out.'' I could feel the effects of [Core Refinement] in my control and movement of my slime, and I effortlessly isolated the fluid and pushed it outwards from my slime to expel it. I could feel my size deflating from this, but my instincts were praising me and filling my core with endorphins, so I just watched in silence as it trickled down to the forest floor. By the end, a large puddle had formed, and even some birds had arrived and were splashing and drinking from it. ''I think that might have been water, probably very pure with how crystal-clear it was. Us slimes must be pretty damn useful to those humans if we can turn garbage into mana slime, and even our waste becomes water.'' The birds eventually get scared off from their bath time by a small pig-like creature with very tiny tusks, which then greedily starts drinking the water. I suddenly felt ravenous, my instincts demanding me to replenish my slime mass, and I begin to lower both my pseudopods cautiously behind the pig. ''I probably look like a stupid jellyfish with my blob up top and tendrils dangling below.'' I chuckle to myself. I start sending slime mass to my pseudopods; one is becoming my trusty slime rapier while the other is expanding enough to engulf the pig thing. With coordinated precision, I begin my sneak attack, my rapier going for the neck while my other pseudopod envelops it''s behind to lift its rear legs and prevent escape. The pig squeals in horror and tries to bolt, but I am strong enough to lift its legs as planned. My trusty slime rapier, unfortunately, fails to meet my lofty goals for it and only gets a few inches deep into the pig''s neck, and I have to attempt a ''death by a thousand pinpricks'' approach instead. I keep lifting and stabbing until, eventually, the thrashing pig stops. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. Snap, tug, tug, release, snap, tug, tug, release. I keep repeating this process until, after much time and effort, the tusk is finally extracted. Before I can even mentally celebrate, I''m interrupted by a mental notification. ''Explanation, please!'' Improves and assists in shaping slime mass into various shapes, objects, or tools to mimic their use. Complexity and creation speed scales with level. Successful creations can be mentally stored for automatic creation. Compatible with other slime traits.> ''Yesssssss!'' Chapter 7: Tree Traversal Chapter 7: Tree Traversal Old Tom looked at the grassy plains with a frown, his tanned and wrinkled face showing immense displeasure. There were far fewer slimes than they expected this morning, and this would be normal after a slime feeding as they would sometimes dissolve one another by accident as they fought over the food scraps. But if that had happened, there would be a few much larger slimes from the results, which always produced a higher quality mana slime for an unexplained reason and were quite sought after. Some of these recurring larger slimes even had nicknames from their more notable colored cores; his granddaughter was in tears this morning when she couldn''t find the slime ''Rosey'' who was named after its rose-red core and would always produce very high-quality mana slime. Tom''s thoughts were interrupted by the friendly voice of Bertha, "Do you think it was goblins?" "Gods, I hope not. If they are trying to raise a shaman, we''ll need to mobilize the guild with an emergency quest." Tom replied while spitting in disgust. Monsters were bad enough as is, but sapient monsters with class levels have the potential to be a nightmare. Ordinarily, goblins only had access to the basic classes they were born with, such as Fighter or Scout, but on rare occasions, one could even get a magic class if they met the right conditions. There was an infamous goblin tribe whose matriarch discovered that if she ingested copious amounts of blue slime, she would keep birthing goblin shamans. Her tribe raided countless villages and smaller settlements and even attempted to attack a walled city directly as she went mad with the power of her magical spawn. When they finally ended the vile creature''s life and studied her corpse, they found her mana levels were abnormally high, which in turn was causing her spawn to be born with the mana capacity required for a shaman. "Hopefully, it was just a few starving wolves since they have a history of eating slime out of desperation." Bertha tried to reassure Tom, wiping the meat blood off her hands onto her apron. "Could be, but I think I''m going to ask the guild to put up an extra goblin extermination quest just to be sure." They continued to chat for a while longer, then headed home. Many of the poorer townsfolk were extremely unhappy with the poor harvest today. After my successful first extraction, I moved on to the remaining tusk to repeat the process, and eventually, I had my second reward. Now that I had secured both tusks, I wanted to see the benefit of my new trait, so I dismissed the claw that took so much prior effort to make to start fresh. Honestly, [Shape Slime] was absolutely amazing as it almost effortlessly recreated my claw, as if following a blueprint and instructions. I made a second claw and snapped both repeatedly like a threatening crab. After playing around with my claws, I looked at the remains of my food; most of the meat was gone by now, and its internals thoroughly dissolved. Its leathery skin was ruined, with multiple holes where my slime attempted to eat it, the bones were picked clean and looking somewhat decayed. ''Right... My actual self is my core, which keeps a minimum amount of slime around me. Could I move my core?'' I felt desperation as I was on the verge of an epiphany and quickly flung out a pseudopod and latched onto a higher tree branch. I focused mentally on my core. Move. Push. Travel. Go! My perspective abruptly changed as I flew towards the branch like a missile. My slime mass rapidly followed after me like it was magnetically attracted to my core. My core tapped against the branch, and pain assailed me so much that I immediately let go of the branch and fell to the ground below with a massive splash. I screamed in pain and rolled on the ground with my tendrils flailing wildly. I was shocked at how much it hurt, and I could only hope I didn''t do any real damage to my core. Eventually, I got myself under control, but I felt miserable. ''Shit! That was so stupid. I desperately need to raise my core''s defense if a simple branch felt that bad. But at least I proved I can move my core, so let''s try that again, safely this time...'' Again, I sent up a pseudopod to latch onto a branch, although this time, I confirmed there was a lot more slime mass at the destination to act as a cushion to catch my core. On the bright side, this time, I required much less effort to move my core and soon found my vision flying through the air again until I reached my slimy cushion. ''Success!'' I wanted to do a happy wiggle but stopped myself, frustrated at the pain that still throbbed in my core. I flung a tendril to another branch and promptly sent my core again. It was getting slightly quicker and easier with each success. I continued to practice as I headed towards my tree hole, feeling very satisfied with my new traversal method. Before the final jump back home, I created two tendrils, latched one to my current branch, and sent the other to my tree. I then sent slime mass along the tendril and focused it on the halfway point between the branches. Then, I flung my core to the middle and was very happy when I stopped safely, suspended and hanging between two branches. I grinned happily at that surprise message and produced my long-awaited third tendril from my center position. Bad mood be damned, as this was a moment deserving of a happy wiggle, and my freshly-produced pseudopod was more than up for the task, which it completed with gusto. After an appropriate amount of wiggle time, I headed to my tree hole and entered inside. It felt a little cramped from the extra slime mass I had gained from the boar, which had finished dissolving at some point. I worriedly checked for my tusks, and thankfully, I still had them in a pocket of dense slime. I formed three trusty slime rapiers without the added tusk and poked away inside my tree hole, doing some last-minute expansion. Once completed, I decided to get an early night sleep. Tomorrow, I have some ideas to try out. ''Goodnight, Gramps...'' Chapter 8: Core Processing Chapter 8: Core Processing I woke up feeling fresh and ready for the day, and best of all, no more pain in my core. I exited my tree hole and spread out on the branch, noticing that once again, I had water mingling amongst my precious bright azure slime. I created a bowl with my [Shape Slime] at the end of a pseudopod and filled it with ejected water. When all the water was gone, I examined the reflection of my core in the water; it was definitely rounder than I remembered, and the intensity of crimson seemed even more vivid. ''My core isn''t fat, is it?'' I joked to myself. I wanted to see if I could use this water to catch birds, so I lowered the slime-shaped bowl to the ground, then extended the arm portion of the attached pseudopod to run along the ground and against the tree. I hoped to have the slime arm appear less conspicuous by having it not dangle from the tree branch directly to the ground and bowl. Now, I just needed to wait and keep myself occupied by continuing to practice my skills. I needed [Slime Density] to catch up now that [Pseudopod] ranked up, as both were acquired almost back-to-back, so I assumed it wasn''t far behind. From how I ranked up [Core Refinement] it was from putting mental pressure on my core by doing strenuous tasks or too many tasks at once. I assumed from the trait description I could also rank it up by testing its defenses, although I had no immediate plans to throw my precious core against branches or rocks - I was not a masochist. Yesterday, I had somewhat figured out that I could almost program my core to do a routine task, which it would do to the best of its abilities seemingly forever unless I changed the order or perhaps overloaded my mind. Grip the branch with slime compression, avoid dissolving certain body parts, or even carry my tusks in a pocket of slime; my core did all these tasks for me without complaint. I could imagine any human being green with envy over my core''s mental processing power. Using this function, I wanted my core to train two skills at once automatically throughout the day by having the slime around my core compress and decompress around my core repeatedly. My goal was that by squeezing my core I''d be training [Core Refinement] with the mental strain of the automatic task and testing its defense from the compression, and [Slime Density] would also get a workout for free as a bonus. At first, I did the task manually, and I could feel the pressure building around my core. It was not pleasant, as if my head was trapped in a vice, and I sighed with relief when I decompressed. I repeated this manually a few times and then handed the task over to my core. I monitored that it was doing the job correctly and did a celebratory wiggle after it repeated the tenth repeat. If I had to estimate, I''d say this alone utilized perhaps sixty percent of my core''s mental function capacity, while my little tusk pocket only took five percent. ''I guess as I level up [Core Refinement] I''ll get more capacity, or maybe there''s a trait to add more directly?'' ''Gee Gramps, I''m sorry for slacking on the level-ups. Can you please explain?'' <> Adds a small independent core that can act as a substitute core. ''Looks like this job and my auto compression finally paid off.'' I give both tendrils some extra reinforcement, and thankfully, I''ve got a meal fueling the extra slime mass required for this density. Waiting for the right moment when the pig is sniffing the last spot where his missus was previously foraging, my two tendrils lash out and wrap around his hind legs. He lets out a rage-filled squeal and tries to turn around but is unable to as soon his legs get lifted, and his chin slams against the ground. Once he''s off the ground, the poor pig can only seem to squirm and squeal helplessly. I form my rapier with added tusk and try stabbing it in his neck repeatedly, causing superficial wounds, but nothing like what happened with the smaller and presumably female boar. ''If I had enough slime mass, I could probably just engulf him, stop him moving, and eat him, but I don''t think I have enough to cover his entire body in dense slime.'' I stare at his squealing mouth, then look towards my third tendril and grin at the nasty idea I''ve thought of. I lower my remaining tendril to his head, but he is still flailing wildly, and one of his tusks nicks it. I watch the portion of slime fall to the floor, feeling miffed at the waste. I attach the third tendril to his back this time, and then snake my way towards his mouth and violently inject my slime inside. He tried to bite the slime, but I made sure to compress it, and I didn''t think boars had sharp enough teeth to rip through. Eventually, I reach his throat and start distributing slime mass to the tip and expanding to fill up the cavity, which causes the boar to flail even wilder and more frantically until it jerks and goes dead still. I feel both happy and a little bit disappointed at the notification. That was pretty easy compared to my other fights that had desperation or frantic moments. I slide closer to the tree trunk for a wider perch, then bring up the boar and deposit it inside. Its corpse floats in the expanding slime next to the other, which is barely a husk now. I temporarily stop my automatic core compression to free up some mental capacity and focus on eating these boars, but I set orders to ignore the tusks and the hide. My slime eagerly gets to work. Meanwhile, I form my rapier and stare at it for a moment. ''Once I stopped trying to stab him, I''d argue it was maybe even easier than any of my previous fights. I just thrust slime in his throat and choked him.'' I form and bring another tendril next to my rapier, and shift its form erratically into strange shapes. ''Perhaps... I should stop trying to fight as a human would and fight more like a monster?'' Chapter 9: Treetop Assassin Chapter 9: Treetop Assassin I focused on eating the remains of the two boars, spitting out bone after bone without a scrap of meat or sinew remaining. A small pile was growing on the forest floor, and I wondered if some creature would find them appealing. I carefully extracted the two large tusks and placed them with my smaller ones, although I still felt I needed to retire my rapier until I got better traits. After much time, my work was finally complete, and I stared at the perfect hide floating inside me and my tusks. ''Wait, what? Dissection?'' I questioned and waited for Gramps, but there was silence. ''Does he seriously only help me if I ask about traits?'' I grumbled as I opened up my Status Menu. Name: - Race: Slime (Blue) LV 4 Class: - Status: Healthy Emblems: [Experiment] Traits: [Mana Slime LV MAX] [Pseudopod LV 3] [Slime Density LV 3] [Core Refinement LV 2] [Shape Slime LV 1] Trait Points remaining 1 Skills: [Dissection LV 1] [??? LV 0] I felt a mental cavity open up in the mind of my core and thought of putting slime mass in it. I felt myself shrink as the slime stored away rapidly, and then I tried to retrieve it and felt myself balloon out again. I compressed some slime to the maximum density and attempted to store it away, curious if it would be allowed and if it would retain the density level. The answer to both questions was yes, which made me ecstatic - a discovery deserving of a happiness wiggle. I deposited a large portion of dense slime until I felt nimble enough again to move and then moved back to my temporary home. My sense of direction was a little bad, but I eventually found the large tree again. I deposited my tusks in the hole and left the boar hides to hang on the branch, which would act as a unique marker for my trip home. I didn''t think animals would try to eat such clean hides if I left them here, although I guess a wandering human could steal them. I took a moment to activate my automatic core compression to resume training my traits and then flung myself from tree to tree. It was time to hunt. Grappling from branch to branch, I searched for any potential prey and came across another large boar. I snuck over it and repeated my earlier method: two tendrils to lift the legs and prevent escape, and then suffocate it with slime down the throat. Disappointingly easy. This time [Dissection] tickled my mind and confirmed that tusks, hide, and meat were the only things of value. I tried to move around with the boar, but it was a bit too large and cumbersome, so I focused on digestion and harvesting, spat out the bones, stored the slime mass, and moved on. The only other animal worth eating I found after that was a sizable horned rabbit, which I found very bizarre, and the edge of its horns had dried blood stains. I waited for my opportunity, withdrew some slime mass, and engulfed the entire rabbit. It barely had a chance to struggle and soon died. The only thing of value was its horns, so I ate the rest and then went home. I hung the new pelt and went inside my tree hole, ready for sleep. Eventually, I found myself in a routine - wake up, eject water, hunt one or two creatures, drop my goods off at home, hunt again, return home, and sleep. After sneaking up on that last boar, I finally unlocked my second hidden skill. Helps the user hide their presence, scaling with skill level.> It made perfect sense I was heavily relying on my treetop ambush tactics. The deer were nothing special, and I was honestly surprised they even gave a notification. I didn''t even bother to skin them, at least they gave a good amount of slime mass. When I returned home, I received my third skill. The user gains a mental sense of direction, allowing one to retrace their steps or explore new areas. Higher skill levels provide more function and lead towards a mental map.> At my current skill level, [Mapping] only gave me the four cardinal directions. However, with this, I felt more confident in exploring further away, which was needed as the nearby wildlife was becoming scarce. I really wanted to eat more to store more slime and eventually increase [Core Storage], and gain more experience to reach level 5 for another trait point. When I woke up the next day, I decided to head straight East from my tree, as I had the vague insight that going West would lead to the human city. I kept heading East and noticed that the trees were becoming a little sparser and eventually opened into a clearing with a shimmering pond. ''Time to add some fish to my diet.'' Chapter 10: The Pond Chapter 10: The Pond A feeling of excitement bubbled up inside me as I stared at the pond, wondering what creatures I might find nearby. The slime instincts the strange [Experiment] emblem sometimes fed me were tickling the corners of my mind, causing me to gaze longingly at the water. Blue slimes must enjoy being near water, for whatever reason, as I remembered my brethren hanging around the stream when I first woke up. My only concern was that I would be leaving the safety of the treetops to approach the pond, but thinking back to how easily I killed multiple boars, I felt strangely confident. With a wet splat, I hit the ground and did a few hops and a slime crawl - both felt terribly slow after I had gotten used to moving around with my pseudopod. My previous confidence sputtered with worry, and I decided to see if I could adapt my tendril grappling movement to a ground-based option. I flung a tendril forward, which did not travel far since the ground wasn''t flat or clear enough. I then threw another tendril out, but at an upward arch, it flew a much better distance. When the tip of my tendril hit the ground, I raced into action and flung my core while also spreading the exit point of my tendril out to cushion my landing. As my core moved, the slime rapidly followed afterward, and soon I found myself at the destination tendril, the entire process making me look and move like a strange slimy slinky. I practiced a few times until I could do it speedily enough and even tried throwing out a secondary tendril ahead while in mid-flight to chain together these movements. ''Looks like the days of auto-compression training and complex slime manipulation have finally paid off.'' I thought with a happy jiggle. Satisfied, I traversed to the pond edge, taking in my surroundings as I approached. A few wildlife were drinking from the opposite end of the pond, and I noticed dog-sized flying bugs darting back and forth along the water''s surface. The pond was relatively clean, only having a few patches of algae. When I reached the water''s edge, I leaned my slime mass and raised my core to peak into the depths. The pond wasn''t that deep except in the center, where I could not see the murky depths, and I could see plenty of fish-like creatures swimming. I produced a tendril and poked the water, finding it hard to break the surface unless I used a compressed tendril. I tried an uncompressed and limp tendril and found it floated on the surface. ''As stupid as it sounds, I guess blue slimes having an affinity with water makes sense.'' My thoughts are interrupted as a few fish come to see if my floating tendril is food. Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. The tongue fails to penetrate too deeply into my slime, and I sigh with relief until I realize the tongue is latched onto my slime and is actually trying to pull me into its maw. In a panic, I construct a rapier and stab at the tongue - it bounces off. I create two claws and try to claw and tear away at the tongue - the frog merely gives a hearty croak as if mocking me. I''m trying to think of some shape or weapon I could use to cut this tongue, and I can feel it trying to pull me towards it, but I''m gripping the ground tightly with my large surface area. The frog, to my horror, decides if it can''t win this tug-of-war, then it will simply approach me. My mind goes frantic as the monster frog trundles forward, and the only solution I can think of is to sacrifice the slime mass and flee. Mentally, I partition off the slime around the tongue and drop control of it; the frog''s tongue snaps back into its mouth, and I see it happily ingest my slime. It even licks its lips! I''ve thrown out a tendril to run away, but I''m not fast enough, and the frog tongue has already latched on me again. I quickly partition off the slime, which rips off without negatively affecting my escape momentum. Its tongue rapidly retracts, and I watch it smugly eating more of my slime. I keep repeating my slinky movement over and over again until I can reach the forest edge. In my escape, I managed to dodge the tongue twice, possibly just by fluke, as it managed to steal a third portion of slime from me before I was finally out of its range. Considering the density of the slime stolen, I had lost more than I gained during my fishing trip. I felt humiliated as I tried to find weaker prey to stock up on slime mass before I went home. All my harvesting paid off, but I''m not in the mood to celebrate. I throw the pelt on the branch, head into my tree hole and spit out the tusks. I need to get stronger. Chapter 11: Hunting Patrol Chapter 11: Hunting Patrol I woke up feeling pretty miserable after having a string of easy successes, but against a real monster like that giant frog, I couldn''t do anything but be its meal. Grabbing two of the mightiest-looking tusks, I decided to head towards the pond again and patrol the perimeter amongst the trees, picking off any wildlife heading for a drink so that I could replenish my reserve slime mass. For the first day, I used my usual tree ambush, which proved its recurring success by effortlessly taking out multiple deer. I left their bones in a pile with a few bits of meat in the hopes of possibly attracting animals with levels. x3 While safely amongst the trees, I tried to scout the pond but could not spot the frog monster. For my final task, I created a second tree hole, an appropriate distance from the bone pile and not directly at the pond border. I constructed my second home shockingly fast, thanks to all the trait levels I had gained since the original - not to mention having full-sized tusks. With the extra time before sleep, I decided to try practicing my [Shape Slime] by focusing on creating new constructs for that bonus experience. At first, I tried to copy things from my memory, starting easy with creating the shape of a tusk, then I moved on to the complex antler horns the jackalope had. I stared intensely at a neighboring tree, hoping to sculpt it, starting at the base of the trunk and working my way up. I molded the trunk first and then worked on the branches, which was tricky as I had never split a single pseudopod into so many mini-tendrils - it was like rapidly growing a small slime tree on my pseudopod. For leaves, I could only add childish blobs at the ends of the branches, as my current [Shape Slime] level could not make fine details like that yet. The next day, after cleaning my slime of impurities by watering my new tree home, I headed towards the bone pile. No animals yet, but it had attracted plenty of ants, so I resumed patrolling the perimeter. Today was looking to be a bust on the hunting front until the bulkiest boar I had ever seen started to meander toward the pond. I followed cautiously, hiding my presence as I grappled from branch to branch. I was directly above the mighty boar, and it appeared none the wiser. The boar had a nearly black hide instead of the various shades of brown I was used to, and its two massive tusks were jaw-droppingly impressive. Gramps even told me what a good job I was doing being a sneaky slime, but I had a terrible premonition the more I looked at the sheer girth of this boar. I felt horrible as I desperately wanted to defeat this thing and grow stronger - strong enough to beat that damn frog. I was shocked but was eager to dig into my meal as I prepared my usual harvest procedure. I felt my [Dissection] skill screaming at me to take those tusks, so I focused my efforts on grabbing those ASAP. I extracted the first tusk successfully and was about to proceed with the next, but was interrupted when I saw a green shape approaching. I took a defensive position on top of the boar, which was still too large to carry even though I had managed to dissolve some of its insides. I ensured the tusk was safe inside a slime pocket and produced my three pseudopods in anticipation. As it approached, I recognized what it was. ''It''s a green slime! I wonder if it''s like a cousin or distant relative?'' The slime was a lime-green, and its core was honey-yellow. I was surprised to see a slime out here and not on the human farm, but even stranger was the path of dirt devoid of any grass trailing behind where the slime moved. I waved a tendril, but the green slime ignored me, and I knew it wanted to steal my food just like my blue brethren. I extended a tendril to slap the slime away, but as my tendril came into contact with the green slime, it dissolved completely. I stared in horror, as I had never seen any of the blue slimes so effortlessly melt something. I grabbed a branch and a rock and threw both at the green slime - they instantly melted away. I didn''t know what to do, as I couldn''t stop this green menace, and I grappled to a tree branch when it reached the boar. ''That''s my food, you bastard! I worked hard to defeat that thing!'' I mentally shouted as I shook a tentacle at it. Then I witnessed the most absurd sight ever; the green slime simply ''walked'' through the boar as if wading through water. With each movement forward, green slime swelled in size, and the boar was disappearing rapidly. I thought of stabbing its core with my prized tusk to stop it, then watched as it ate the remaining tusk without any trouble. No boar left, not even a single bone, gone in mere moments, and an oversized green slime was the only thing remaining. I could swear it was staring at me next. ''What the hell. How is that fair?'' Chapter 12: Green vs. Blue Chapter 12: Green vs. Blue I glared at the green thief, still shaking a tendril. I couldn''t think of a way to deal with this creature with the tools I had available; this green slime felt like the apex of our species. I let my thoughts wander in an attempt to figure out a solution while the green blob continued our staring contest. The green slime had a small ripple in its body, and a tiny glob of green slime shot out of it and toward me. I panicked when I failed to dodge in time, but the glob missed me and instead hit the branch, which melted away rapidly and sent both it and me plummeting to the forest floor. ''What the hell, it can shoot slime? As if its super dissolving power wasn''t bad enough, now it can fire projectiles as well - why don''t I have that?'' I complained mentally. I wanted to read the trait description but was worried about my situation. I prepared to dodge, but the green slime baffled me and advanced toward me rather than firing another projectile. I leaped backward a considerable distance using my slime slinky twice consecutively. The green slime continued chasing me and fired another slime glob at me, and I had to dodge to the side, but my slow reaction caused it to go straight through a portion of my slime - melting along it as it traveled until the exit wound. Once again, I readied for another dodge, but the green slime again didn''t fire a second projectile. I was slightly faster than the green slime, even without using my slinky movement, so it made keeping it away from me simple. I kept careful watch, anticipating another deadly shot, but it seemed happy to chase me. ''Does it only shoot at prey if they are too far away? Despite its notably better ability, its mind is equal to my blue brethren.'' I pondered while the green slime still showed no sign of shooting again, so I decided to take a risk, ''Show me that slime shot trait, please.'' Allows the firing of slime mass as an expendable projectile. Projectile size, maximum distance, and velocity all scale with trait level. Not wanting to be outdone, the frog launched its oversized tongue towards the green slime, but upon making contact, there was a loud sizzling noise. The frog let out a wail while it rapidly retracted its tongue and actually vomited when the tongue returned - it then did small hops to turn around to face the pond. While the frog was turning to retreat, the green slime fired two more shots off, sizzling on the back of the frog before it did a massive physics-defying leap and splashed into the center of the pond. ''What the hell, you frog bastard!? You can''t eat it, so you run away! You gave me such hell, and then you just disappear into the pond!'' I scream in anger, but my complaints will have to be on hold as the green slime is now moving towards me again as the only remaining meal. Remembering that I could float, I start decompressing slime, except around my core, and moving towards the water. When I made contact with the water''s edge, I poked it a few times cautiously before doing a short hop in - thankfully, I did float. I slowly drifted away from the bank, the green slime still chasing me, and I wondered if it could also float. I stared in anticipation as the green slime showed no sign of stopping as it mindlessly chased me. When it made contact with the water, it didn''t sink, but something was clearly wrong as it started to lose its'' shape. The green slime immediately stopped chasing me and backed up a little, reforming into a more solid shape once it wasn''t directly in the water. ''Ha! It can''t handle water!'' I mocked, glad to finally have an advantage over the green menace. Although my mocking was short, my mind went into overdrive to think of how to utilize this because I knew it would start shooting me when it realized I was out of reach. I thought of buckets and flinging water, or perhaps I could make a spade and hurl the green slime itself into the pond. Then my mind clicked into place as I remembered my new trait [Slime Shot] would allow me to fire contents instead of slime, and my morning routine fully proved that I could contain water. I thrust all three of my tendrils into the lake, trying to suck up as much water as I could, then immediately activated my trait. A large burst of water fired at the green slime, which washed away a portion of its slime. The green slime slowly started reforming its shape, but I couldn''t let it recover, so I kept activating [Slime Shot] continuously, expelling a deluge of pond water. The green slime struggled helplessly as its mass washed away until all that remained on the pond bank was a copious amount of mud and a single honey-yellow core shining in the sun. I flung a tendril of slime towards the core to finish the job - there was no melting slime to save it now. My tendril engulfed it greedily, and I heard a familiar crunch as I ate the core. ''Yes!'' I answered immediately. Chapter 13: Substantial Improvements Chapter 13: Substantial Improvements I was astonished when I received a brand new trait [Acid Slime], and my newly acquired [Slime Shot] even gained a level. I wanted desperately to examine the trait, but I wanted to escape the pond before that froggy bastard showed up for round three. I grabbed the bank with some tendrils and pulled myself to shore. I was about to journey to my tree home when I noticed my tusks lying in the dirt, which startled me since I nearly lost my prize from that monstrosity of a boar. I assumed when I rapidly decompressed to jump into the water, I had forgotten about them in my dense pockets of slime, and they fell out. ''Hopefully, I can unlock the non-slime option for [Core Storage] soon. Maybe I can try forcing it just storing and withdrawing over and over?'' I mused to myself while I grabbed my tusks and headed to my pond tree home. Upon arriving, I threw my tusks into the hole and pulled up the trait details. This slime contains a powerful acid that helps it defend itself and consume prey. The base potency of the acid scales with trait level but can also be affected by outside factors such as dilution or concentration. This trait also adds acid resistance to the slime core and slime mass, which scales with trait level until eventual immunity at max level. This trait enhances the normal dissolving ability inherent to all slime and maintains the same degree of control. Compatible with other slime traits.> ''Wow, this is just a pure upgrade in every way... My own [Mana Slime] feels like a joke in comparison. I''m also glad I won''t suddenly be uncontrollably melting everything.'' I thought to myself, a complicated feeling of happiness and jealousy. ''Could I get other traits from different color slime? If so, how many other slimes are there? So many questions, but I guess that can be my first real goal in this world other than surviving.'' After the crazy day, I didn''t feel like venturing from my tree and opted to continue my trait training. But before that, I had to complete my shopping list. A large quantity of slime mass suddenly began to swirl and compress down, far beyond my capabilities, until a small crimson-red orb was left floating in the slime. It was a fraction of the size of my original core, but I was glad it didn''t diverge into a different color. Speaking of color, I had immense relief that [Acid Slime] did not change the color of my magnificent bright-azure blue goop. The sub-core followed my mental commands, able to move it around freely, and I watched it zip around in my slime mass. I headed into my tree hole, sent a pseudopod outside, and then moved the sub-core to the tip. I then mentally focused and felt my perspective shift to the sub-core. It was a strangely exhilarating experience, and I raised my tendril higher like a periscope until it eventually breached the tree canopy. I took in the sights of the late afternoon sun glimmering across the endless horizon of leaves - all while my actual core was safe in my tree hole. I returned my perspective, exited the tree, and recalled the tendril and sub-core. Needless to say, I was very satisfied with this purchase. I then gave my sub-core its first function to repeat - deposit and withdraw slime mass. From my perspective, I saw the tiny core suck in slime, then expel it moments later. I wondered if it would continue while I slept, something my primary core could not do. Up until bedtime, I continued my [Shape Slime] practice drills. Which finally paid off. Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! I went to bed a very happy slime, and when I awoke, I had another surprise as it looked like my [Sub-Core] worked hard throughout the night. Trait Points remaining 0 Skills: [Dissection LV 2] [Stealth LV 2] [Mapping LV 1] [??? LV 0] [??? LV 0] Skill Points remaining 0 I felt a sense of pride in what I had achieved so far, and I was apparently nearing two more skills through my actions. Those would surely be a pleasant surprise. My next goal was getting revenge on that oversized frog, which I felt I could get by leveraging [Acid Slime]. But first, I wanted to get my remaining tusks from my first home and stock up on some extra slime mass - I''d need a lot of it for my plan. On the trip home, I kept a lookout for potential breakfast and spotted a deer grazing. I went for my old reliable pseudopod hunting trick of grabbing the rear legs and hoisting it up, then I engulfed its head to suffocate it and turned on the dissolve. It was not a pretty sight. Before the deer could even suffocate, its flesh melted away and left only a skull - which was rapidly following. I didn''t expect my [Acid Slime] to be that effective since it was only level 2 compared to the green slime''s level 5, but then I recalled the description mentioning dilution and concentration. ''I usually keep my pseudopods very dense by default, especially when grabbing things... Which is powering up [Acid Slime]... Good to know, if a little horrific.'' I quickly ate my meal and continued, glad to know I no longer had to sit around for long periods of dissolving. Weirdly, I was struggling to find my tree home, even though I knew I was heading in the right direction thanks to my skill. After over an hour of circling around, I still hadn''t found it but did a grayish-black wolf snacking on a jackalope. I wanted to test my [Slime Shot], so I compressed a blob and aimed for the wolf''s head. Pew. The slime shot missed the head and hit the throat, which it clung to and rapidly ate away. The wolf tried to howl in pain, but with the partially missing throat, it just let out a gurgle before it collapsed. I dropped down on the wolf''s corpse and was about to eat away when [Dissection] told me to save the fangs and front claws. I directed my slime to avoid those and eat the rest, which it did with shocking precision - I didn''t even need to pull to remove things anymore, as my slime just ate anything unnecessary. I also harvested the jackalope antlers and ate the wolf''s leftovers. My [Core Storage] easily accepted the fangs, claws and tiny antlers. Honestly, I felt a little shell-shocked at this new trait; it felt far more powerful than anything I had gained previously. I continued searching for my tree, and after approximately another hour, I finally found it. And the reason it took so long to find my tree? All of my pelts were missing. Chapter 14: Investigator Slime Chapter 14: Investigator Slime ''Thieves! Scoundrels! How dare they?'' I raged mentally at the indignation. I couldn''t believe someone had stolen my pelt collection, which had grown daily and showed my progression in the forest. I extended a tendril into the tree hole, worried that my tusks were gone too, but thankfully, they were still there. I looked around the tree for any signs pointing to the culprit. I imagined if I had tracking or investigation skills, the system would help me, although I still had not received a single skill point. After several dozen minutes of poking around the tree like an amateur detective, I discovered two boot prints imprinted into the soil, possibly from someone jumping down from the branch. ''Human, male, approximately 20 years of age, has a slight limp and favors his left leg...'' I remarked internally, while I prodded the boot prints with a tendril, ''Haha, who am I kidding? All I can tell is these are some pretty big boots. Although, I bet I could do stuff like that if I did get an investigation skill. But at least I know it wasn''t an animal.'' I thought of possibly going and stealing some blue slimes as revenge for the humans taking my pelts, but honestly, I didn''t need the pelts. ''Perhaps I should just consider the stolen pelts as payment for the slimes I ate before I left. Sure, let''s go with that. I want to deal with the frog first anyway.'' I gave the tree some water from my storage and said farewell, as I would likely not return now that it was compromised, and I took the scenic route back towards the pond. My new rank of [Mapping], which I assume I got for finding my home despite losing the visible markings, was quite handy - it was almost like a vague voice in the back of your mind telling you, "Try going left at the next bush.". I came across two wolves stalking a grazing deer in a pincer formation and entered stealth mode. I wondered why wolves were suddenly appearing in the area, as I had only seen boars and the occasional deer or jackalope for days now. Ignoring my curiosity, I moved from branch to branch until I was above one of the wolves, then dropped and withdrew slime to expand myself - I landed directly on the wolf with a soft splat and engulfed it. The poor wolf did not see it coming and could not howl for aid as it drowned in slime, at least until I turned on the acid. I cheered mentally but then noticed growling and snarling as the remaining wolf spotted me, and the deer was bolting away. The wolf was cautiously approaching, but I didn''t feel fear, as it would seal its fate if it lunged at my deadly acid slime. I withdrew some tusks and used [Slime Shot] to fire them at the legs; the first two missed, but the third found its target, and the wolf let out a yelp. I wanted to practice shooting some more, but the wolf was now enraged and let out a howl before it jumped directly at me with its snarling maw. This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. Adds bonus damage to attacks on unaware or defenseless targets, scaling with skill level. This bonus damage partially ignores most forms of mitigation and resistance if executed from stealth.> ''What the heck? Am I becoming some sort of assassin? Although I have avoided direct confrontation with almost everything I''ve bumped into - so it''s not entirely inaccurate.'' I reached my tree near the pond without any issue and was relieved when I noticed my few remaining pelts still hanging on this tree. I had gained a considerable amount of slime mass from the unexpected encounters today, so I planned to spend the rest of my afternoon and evening trying to get some trait and skill experience. I withdrew all my tusks and began firing them at a nearby tree, trying to aim for particular knots and blemishes in the wood. My success rate left much to be desired, but it was plenty of fun. When I ran out of tusks, I recollected them by slapping a pseudopod against the tree and melting away the bark. I repeated this process just under a dozen times, and the remains of the tree near the end of my training looking dreadful - so I decided to try eating it. It took a while to dissolve the entire tree, and despite eating a literal tree''s worth of material, it provided less slime mass than even a single jackalope. I ignored the horrible exchange rate because my true hope was that I was gaining valuable experience towards [Acid Slime]. I melted a few other things entirely: a few rocks, a bush or two, and then headed to my tree to spend the evening practicing [Slime Shape] as was tradition. My slime tree model was beginning to look great, with my leaves no longer simple blobs and instead looking like fuzz sprouting from the branches. I went to bed, a very happy slime. Tomorrow, I wanted to deal with that pesky frog. Chapter 15: Croaked Chapter 15: Croaked I woke up feeling refreshed and ready for the day when I''d finally get my revenge on that menacing frog. I stored away my morning water and replenished the diminished slime mass from my surplus savings. I exited my home and perched on a branch, relaxing while I settled my thoughts. I had a plan to deal with the frog, although it was slightly risky, and I wish I had more options available, but I lacked the physical strength to deal with something so massive. ''I really want a strength trait...'' That wasn''t the message I wanted to hear, even though it made sense since I lacked muscle, bone, or anything solid. I assumed humans couldn''t buy traits like [Pseudopods], so I swallowed the bitter truth pill and started moving to the pond. When I arrived at the pond, there was no sign of the giant frog, so I proceeded with some fishing to pass the time. Despite gaining [Acid Slime], I could still touch and drop tendrils into the water without detriment. While snacking on a few fish, I saw the familiar shadow from the pond depths approaching, and I hastily retreated from the shoreline. The repulsive frog emerged and belched a croak, looking around to see what was disturbing the water, and when its eyes fell upon me, I could swear it chuckled with glee. My slime was compressed and spread out for maximum traction, and I mentally turned off all dissolving - I was ready. The toad wasted no time, and its massive tongue was launched towards me, latching itself to my slime once more. The frog pulled and tugged at its tongue, trying to rip off some of my tasty blue goop, but I held firm this time. It must have recalled our previous tug of war and changed strategy to start moving towards me, hoping to scare me like our past encounter, so I''ll release my slime to escape. I held my ground, not budging as I wanted the frog away from the pond in case it tried to escape. ''This frog thinks it''s got me, but it can''t see the noose tightening around its throat.'' I chuckled to myself, trying to cover the small doubt growing inside me as its hulking form got closer and closer. ''This thing is just way too big.'' Eventually, the frog was right next to me, with what I could only describe as a big goofy grin as its tongue tightly held onto me. I knew from the green slime that its hide was too resistant for the acid to melt, but that didn''t apply to its internals judging by how fast it retreated its tongue and even quickly vomited up the tiny amount of green slime. So when the frog widened its mouth in an attempt to start taking bites out of me, I released my grip on the ground and dove straight into its maw. The tension from the tight grip on its tongue helped propel me towards my target. The entire time, I was madly trying to compress the slime around my core beyond its maximum in case something went wrong. The frog seemed shocked at the slime flying towards its mouth, but even if it had the reaction time to close it, I doubted it would, probably thinking it was getting an express meal delivery. Once inside the greedy monster''s gut, I could tell its own digestive juices were trying to eat away at my slime, and I thanked the resistance portion of my trait. Now, to spring my trap. I did two things simultaneously that I was sure would claim me victory; I started to rapidly expel all my stored slime mass, which kept its density, and also turned on my [Acid Slime]. ''I got you now, you bastard. You tried to eat me, and now I''ll eat you from the inside out!'' This trait allows control over the raw mana flowing throughout your being. Mana Regeneration is increased scaling with trait level. Unlocks Mana and further Mana-related Traits and Skills.> Harness the raw mana flowing throughout your being to enhance yourself. Reinforcing body parts with mana raises your physical durability and strength at the cost of mana. Maximum reinforcement and mana efficiency scale with trait level. Having control over the flow of your raw mana is a prerequisite to acquiring this trait. Unlocks further Traits and Skills related to Mana Reinforcement.> I felt a headache pulse through my core at the information overload rapidly flooding my mind. I wondered if Gramps was upset at me for pestering him repeatedly about [Enhanced Strength]. When the pain subsided, I took a moment to sift through the information and puzzle together the solution Gramps gave me. ''Okay, so [Mana Reinforcement] was the real goal to get something like [Enhanced Strength], but I have to spend mana to do so. I can''t enhance myself without being able to control my mana, which needs [Mana Circulation]. Both hint at unlocking more things down the line as well, so I don''t see why not. Please purchase both, and thanks for the help, Gramps.'' Chapter 16: Mana is Fun Chapter 16: Mana is Fun Leveling up, gaining new traits and skills, or progressing their levels was always accompanied by a pleasant feeling or new knowledge filling my mind, and it was honestly a rather addictive sensation. Well, except for the first time I got [Core Refinement], but let''s ignore that. Gaining these two mana traits felt significantly different than the rest; I suddenly felt a mystical force flowing throughout my entire being, except it had always been there and was patiently waiting with an extended hand for me to reach out and grab it, and only now I grabbed it and embraced its comforting presence. I desperately wanted to try it out, but before I got further lost in my thoughts, I finally realized that I was still sitting inside the corpse of the gigatoad. I pushed through the mouth and exited the creature, which was almost entirely hollow now as my slime had done a thorough job. I double-checked the corpse for anything else worth keeping, but [Dissection] only pointed to its hide, so I ate the rest while I compressed and stored away my excess slime. While expelling my entire reserve of slime mass was a valuable trump card for my arsenal, I would need to be careful with its usage as I noticed that my control over the slime diminished at large enough quantities. This abundance penalty made the slime react slower to my thoughts, and I could not give it complex instructions, and against the frog, I could only tell it to burst outwards and eat. I would probably gain superior control through levels of [Core Refinement] or possibly even higher levels of my Slime race, or perhaps I could get more [Sub-Core] traits and allocate them each to a portion of the slime. Regardless, for now, it would be my unrefined and brutish emergency solution to problems. The gigatoad was like a buffet, and I gained so much slime mass from this that I actually reached a point where I couldn''t store anymore, reaching my apparent maximum. I started ejecting water and replacing it with slime, and near the end of the last bits of frog, I received a notification. ''Maybe now I can finally store that tusk and possibly this gigatoad hide - I don''t want either stolen. I wonder why the frog turned into so much slime mass, though. It might have been because of its level, and I haven''t eaten anything higher than level 4 yet, so that could explain it. [Mana Circulation] hints at all of us having mana flowing throughout, so maybe the gigatoad has lots of mana, which gave me more slime?'' It was scarily easy for me to get lost in thought while my slime did the tasks I assigned, but thankfully, the job was complete, and there was no more frog. I tried to store the hide, and despite my gut instincts telling me it could, my [Core Storage] refused. Puzzled, I folded the hide once each, vertically and horizontally, then tried again, and this time it magically vanished inside. I decided not to question it and went home. Upon reaching home, I immediately tried to store the tusk, and it magically vanished, joining my collection. I moved to a nearby tree because I didn''t want to vandalize my home and amputated its branches with some creative use of [Acid Slime]. Finally, it was time to play with my mana. I created a tendril and started by lifting the smallest branch, then moved on to bigger and bigger branches until I couldn''t lift it. I mentally reached out to the flow of mana coursing through me and started to guide it towards my tendril. As the mana pooled in the limb, I could feel its strength begin to swell, and when I tried lifting the branch - it was an effortless attempt. Further wrapping around the branch and constricting caused it to crack and splinter into pieces. ''What the hell, mana is crazy good! Where have you been all my life?'' I cheered and gave my mana-infused tendril a happy wiggle. Inspiration struck me, and I recreated one of my oldest companions - the slime rapier. It looked magnificent, having never experienced the higher levels of [Slime Shape], and I made sure its tip was of the highest density slime available. First, doing a quick mental double-check that mana was still flowing to my tendril and the rapier, I then promptly thrust it into a branch - it glided through. Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. I definitely squealed with joy as my rapier pierced through the branch, and I started to go on a bit of a stabbing spree with my new toy. At some point in my branch murder, I had the idea of adding [Acid Slime], and then, not only was I piercing the helpless branches with greater ease, but their insides were also being melted. The poor trees were not ready for what came next. I recreated the slime mace and slammed it into a trunk with a loud crack, then added spikes to the ball and swung again, leading to a much more devastating impact, which sent splintered wood flying. Then, I created a slime greatsword and swung at the tree - it definitely couldn''t cut, so it was more like slamming a large, thin, and blunt object of pure mass. I continued this for far too long, but it was so much fun trying out different slime weapons and creations each time. When I eventually stopped, I had toppled at least half a dozen trees, which I cleaned up by dissolving them entirely. Having had fun creating numerous weapons, I decided to spend the rest of the afternoon practicing [Slime Shot], and then I''d finish with a quiet evening working on [Shape Slime]. Before using my tusk ammo, I tried shooting a bit of slime imbued with mana, and the result was quite devastating, penetrating pretty deep into the trunk. It was good to know it was effective, but I wasn''t fond of spending two of my limited resources. If there were real danger, I''d not be frugal, but for now, I''d stick to tusks and rocks. I tried seeing if I could put mana into a tusk, and it seemed to work a little bit, but as soon as I stopped trying to force it, the mana instantly leaked out. I assumed putting mana in things other than my body was a trait or skill I could maybe get later, and I was probably cheating by creating weapons out of my body, so I resumed my regular shooting practice. Before settling down for a calm evening of [Shape Slime] practice, I decided to pull up my status menu to see if there were any hidden surprises. Name: - Race: Slime (Blue) LV 8 Class: - [Mapping LV 2] [Stealth LV 2] [Sneak Attack LV 1] [??? LV 0] Skill Points remaining 0 Glancing over my skills and traits, I couldn''t spot anything new, only the one unknown skill still in progress. ''I should probably get my [Sub-Core] to start training another trait. I can''t see me needing a higher level of [Core Storage] anytime soon. Maybe I could get it to cycle through [Pseudopod] creation?'' Deciding that was a good idea, I set my [Sub-Core] on to that task, reusing the bicep curls idea I had for its routine. I was about to close the status menu when I spotted something new in the portion I usually skip over. Name: - Race: Slime (Blue) LV 8 Class: - Status: Healthy Mana: Ebbing ''I now have a mana section in my status... What does ebbing mean?'' Obviously, I didn''t get any answers, as Gramps only helped when it involved traits. I decided to periodically pull up my status menu while I did my evening practice to see if there were any changes. My practice was going very well, and I felt I was on the verge of a breakthrough with my little slime tree model. I also tried seeing if I could make something like a hand, but splitting my tendrils like that was still a challenge, and at my current trait levels, I only managed to upgrade my slime claw from bi-pincers to tri-pincers. Finally, there was a change in my status menu. Mana: Flooding ''Is that good or bad? My mana must be regenerating from the description on [Mana Circulation], so it went from ebbing to flooding... A flood is normally bad, but my mana did feel like a flowing stream, so in that case, more liquid is better, I think? Ugh, so many more questions! I wish I had someone to talk to.'' It didn''t change again throughout the rest of the night, so I''d look in the morning. Settling down in my tree hole, I listened to the pleasant sounds of the forest and the occasional howls in the distance. Torpor soon took me. Chapter 17: Target Practice Chapter 17: Target Practice Waking up, the first thing on my mind was my mana condition, so I pulled up my status menu. Name: - Race: Slime (Blue) LV 8 Class: - Status: Healthy Mana: Overflowing ''So now it''s overflowing? I wish I had looked at my status when I first unlocked mana, but after a full night''s rest, I want to assume this is the highest it''ll go...'' I mumbled to myself as I did my usual morning routine. Having conquered the guardian of the pond, I didn''t have any immediate goals, so I just wanted to do some fishing and continue my training practice. My first plan was to use [Mana Reinforcement] until my status changed, and then I''d go fishing and see if it changed back. Also, my [Sub-Core] was still going at it, making a tendril, flexing it, then reabsorbing it and repeating. It must have looked bizarre and was reserving one of my precious few tendrils, but I felt it was worth it. Heading towards the previous day''s training area, I began swinging slime weapons infused with mana at trees again. Smack. Crash. Slam. Crack. I kept checking, but it didn''t seem to be changing. I then dual-wielded rapiers and infused both, then went on my stabbing frenzy again. Finally, after committing far too much tree genocide, my status finally changed. Mana: Flooding ''Great, let''s go fishing now and see if this changes back.'' I then looked around at the tree carnage surrounding me, ''Well... Let''s clean this up first...'' and started dissolving the fallen trees one by one. But the third bug I hit first try, and while it was flying at me, I landed another rock, which didn''t do much to stop its charge, and it died like the rest by melting in the slime. But when that second rock hit it, I received a surprise notification moments before the death notification. I hurried through my status menu to pull up the new skill. This skill adds minor accuracy corrections to attacks scaling with level. This skill also assists in attempting to overcome the [Evasion] skill.> ''I like that. My shooting is pathetically bad, so I appreciate any assistance. Also good to know there''s a skill for dodging... I really could use that too...'' I thought to myself while memories of trying and failing to dodge the green slime''s shots and the frog''s tongue mocked me. Before I called it a day, I decided to shoot at one more bug, and it was a noticeable improvement as I hit it first try and then two more times while it was charging to its doom. They were good shooting practice but mediocre in the slime mass department, falling somewhere between a jackalope and a deer. While heading home, my mana status still hadn''t changed, and I considered leaving it on while I slept. I continued my evening practice with [Slime Shape] while checking my mana status, and eventually, it finally changed again. Mana: Flooding I decided it was worth the risk to leave it on overnight. I eventually stopped my practice and went to bed, disappointed it didn''t reach the breakthrough I felt was so close. I settled down again for a peaceful sleep, listening to the rustling wind and distant howls. Chapter 17.5: Boar Hides and Goblins Chapter 17.5: Boar Hides and Goblins The twilight hours of the Adventurers Guild were usually pretty quiet, as most people had already turned in their quests or monster spoils and gone out to spend their earnings at a restaurant, pub, or inn. But there were always exceptions, especially if adventurers were traveling far to and from their objective, so the guild usually kept a small roster of night staff. Tabitha was unfortunately stuck on the graveyard shift tonight and desperately wished she could head home to take a hot bath and collapse into her bed. There was a bonus quest recently posted to slay goblins that had everyone in a fever, hoping to get the extra payout rate, but it seemed people were struggling to find the nasty creatures, and there had been fighting over the spawns. Tabitha was struggling to stay awake until the entryway suddenly slammed open, revealing Kurt, who had the smuggest grin on his face. She cursed under her breath and straightened up, attempting to don her professional persona. There was a side bet going on with the guild staff on whether anyone would be able to complete the goblin bonus quest within a week, and Tabitha had bet two silver against it - fully believing there just weren''t enough goblins in the forest. Kurt''s expression really made her worry that he''d completed the quest and she''d lost her silver. "Welcome back to the Adventurers Guild, Kurt. Don''t tell me you actually found the goblins?" Tabitha asked, failing slightly to remain professional. "Nope, even better than goblins," Kurt responded. Tabitha desperately wanted to celebrate her bet being safe but managed to restrain herself. He reached into his storage pouch and started pulling out rolled-up hides and placing them on the table. "Hey! Don''t drop raw materials on the reception desk - you''ll get blood everywhere!" Tabitha screamed in protest, but that only made Kurt''s face upgrade to a shit-eating grin. "No blood here. These boar hides have been expertly prepared." Kurt responded, patting one proudly. Tabitha blinked in confusion, then examined the hide, and true to his word, there was no blood or any excess as if prepared by a master tanner. Kurt''s current class was a combo of Fighter and Scout, and he had hopes of getting an advanced job with dual-wield skills, so Tabitha knew this wasn''t his work. "I know you don''t even have the [Dissection] skill, Kurt. Did you hire someone?" "Something like that... I got quite a few of them, and man, I am so glad the guild convinced me to buy a storage pouch. I thought you were trying to scam me." He chuckled and started pulling a few more from the small storage pouch. It was the cheapest option, but it held a small extradimensional pocket, and it was a staple of any aspiring adventurer to prevent being weighed down by equipment, treasure, or monster parts. If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. "Sorry, I can''t, I have to finish my shift." She responded and handed Kurt his payment, "Besides, what if someone comes in late from goblin hunting?" "I don''t know why they put out that bonus quest. I didn''t spot a single goblin out there, just lots of wolves. I''d almost say it was some scam to make newbies waste their time." Kurt responded with a slight scowl, which disappeared the second he started pocketing his payment. "To be honest, I''m not sure either. You''d need to go deep to where the forest meets the mountain to find any goblins since they like to hide in caves." "That''s like over two days travel... Even with the bonus quest payout, that''s not worth it. I''d rather head into the dungeon, grind levels, and hope for a lucky rare drop." Tabitha snapped her fingers and pointed to Kurt, "Exactly. Even if our dungeon has the reputation of being super stingy." "True that. A basic undead dungeon is terrible for loot, although it''s great for grinding skills and levels." "Sometimes I think the slime farm is the only thing keeping the economy afloat here. As stupid as that sounds..." "Hey, don''t mock slime farming; that''s how I saved money to buy my first real sword." "Sorry, sorry. I just can''t stand the things ever since I found out they roam our sewer system..." Kurt laughed and said goodbye, wanting to get to the pub before the last call. Right at the exit, he turned around with another stupid grin erupting on his face. "Next time you drink a potion, you better hope it''s from the farm and not the sewer!" He shouted with a laugh and promptly exited. "You bastard! I did not need that image in my mind!" Tabitha screamed at the closed door. She was definitely going to have horrible dreams tonight... Stupid slimes and stupid Kurt. Chapter 18: Interrogating Gramps Chapter 18: Interrogating Gramps A notification had occurred while I slept; my [Sub-Core] had been diligently working throughout the night. I noticed I felt a little less refreshed this morning and a bit sluggish. I rushed to pull up my status menu. Mana: Draining ''Okay, that definitely doesn''t sound good... Let''s stop the reinforcement for now and let my mana regenerate.'' I set my [Sub-Core] back to doing tendril curls, stored away my newly created water, and left my home - ready for a new day. Despite the ominous-sounding status, I could still use my mana, so it wasn''t completely empty yet, although I''d refrain from touching it until it regenerated. The pond was very tranquil today, and all I did was do a little fishing and then some more target practice at the bugs for the entire morning. I kept checking my status, but it wasn''t until early afternoon that it finally changed. Mana: Ebbing I was relieved that it didn''t take too long to recover and that it was only a degree worse than when I went overboard with my training the first time I unlocked mana. ''[Mana Circulation] increases my regeneration, but I wonder if there is another trait to further increase it or maybe one to work on my capacity.'' Obviously, I asked for an explanation of the trait. Mana Reserve is increased scaling with trait level. In addition, a minor mana regeneration effect is added based on total mana capacity.> Once again, any trait Gramps recommended to me always sounded amazing. The small bonus to mana regeneration on top only sweetened the deal, as it would grow for free with my mana capacity. I had to add this to my shopping list, which I now realized was empty. ''I really should explore this helper function more, make a list of traits I want, and stop grabbing traits in the heat of combat. My gut feeling tells me I won''t have this help for much longer...'' I moved away from the pond, then positioned myself to sit safely on a tree branch and set my primary core to join in doing tendril curls with my two remaining [Pseudopods]. I then started asking leading questions, hoping to get some juicy traits to target. I crossed off quite a few easy traits, asking questions about general improvements such as [Enhanced Strength] and found out about the following: [Enhanced Willpower], [Enhanced Intellect], [Enhanced Vitality], [Enhanced Dexterity], [Enhanced Stamina], [Enhanced Charisma]. Dexterity and Stamina were incompatible with my race, requiring a body or some nonsense like Strength, but Vitality was allowed - which I assumed would make my core harder to kill. Compatible with other slime traits.> It sounded useful but not something I''d grab urgently, although I could probably imitate the frog''s tongue by making a super sticky tendril. I could also probably use this to climb any surface by increasing my adhesion or slide around by reducing it - that last one sounded like a fun way to travel. Interestingly, this trait also did not have multiple trait levels, giving me the full effect upfront. While pondering my next line of questioning, I noticed a wolf approaching the pond. Since I had seen nothing but deer lately, I was eager to try using my [Mana Reinforcement]. I dropped to the ground and started to sneak towards the wolf. My mana flowed into a tendril and then grabbed it from behind while it drank from the pond, lifting it high up into the air. I was surprised by how light it felt, and it tried to squirm and struggle out of my grasp, but the dense mana-strengthened slime was far beyond it. It let out a howl moments before my slimy rapier mana edition, which I had just created, stabbed into its neck. ''Again, I''m shocked at how good mana is... Seriously, I wish I had this ages ago.'' I devoured the wolf except for the fangs and claws, which I stored away, and then trekked to my home. Reaching my familiar tree, I perched up on its branch and resumed trying to find more traits. Midway through my random questioning, trying to dig out a trait, I was interrupted by a notification. I was very happy about the improvement of this vital resource, and perhaps I could even leave on reinforcement now without it draining so fast, which reminded me to check my status. Mana: Flooding Near the end, I was struggling to think of questions to justify Gramps giving me an answer, and the final one I got before bed came from the stray thought of seeing better at night. Enhances vision to perceive in conditions with either little or no light. Vision distance is 20% per trait level.> This could be useful if I decided to become nocturnal or move underground. Also, the description made it sound like it would only have five trait levels, further answering my old question. Before sleep, I set my [Sub-Core] to use [Mana Reinforcement]; I had big hopes to overcome its consumption with passive regeneration. ''Goodnight Gramps, thanks for all the answers.'' Chapter 19: Slimy Stalker Chapter 19: Slimy Stalker When I woke up and checked my status, my mana only dropped to Ebbing this time instead of Draining. I was glad that my idea of overcoming the mana drain was feasible, possibly even as soon as the next trait level. I swapped my [Sub-Core] back to doing tendril curls to give my mana a chance to regenerate unimpeded, stored away my morning water, and headed to the pond. The pond had a strange amount of activity, with two wolves sniffing around as if searching for something. The large amount of wolves suddenly appearing struck me as odd, and I wondered what happened to all the boars. My curiosity faded away, replaced by a hunger to replace the slime I had lost overnight - odd that no matter how much slime I had stored away, my instincts asked me to feed regularly. The wolves were distant enough from one another that I felt confident in doing a little cloak-and-dagger. I flattened myself out and slowly lurched towards one of the wolves. When I got close enough, I formed my rapier, and instead of going for the neck, I went for the back of the skull. I wanted to test out [Sneak Attack] since it mentioned ignoring defense from stealth. When my rapier made contact, there was a minuscule black flash on the blade tip before it pierced straight through. I wondered if that was the skill activating while I pulled the corpse in to be consumed. I was sneaking towards the other wolf when it started sniffing wildly, seemingly catching a scent and turned around. ''Did it really smell such a small amount of blood? I don''t even have a nose, and I''m a little jealous.'' The wolf snarled and howled with spittle flying, and I expected it to lunge toward me in mere moments, but then it turned and began to flee. Not wanting to lose experience and a good meal, I started shooting tusks and wolf fangs at it with [Slime Shot]. Two landed before it realized it needed to try dodging while it fled. I told my [Sub-Core] to join me and commence firing, and soon, there was double the amount of tusks and fangs flying towards the wolf. The wolf looked like a pincushion when I collected it, and the nearby ground was no pretty sight either, with tusks, fangs, and blood scattered about. While digesting the wolves and recollecting my projectiles, I had a question burning in my mind - why did I gain traits from eating slimes but nothing from other monsters? Information is gained partially and supplemented by additional consumption. ''Is that pouch like my [Core Storage]? I don''t see how else they would have fit.'' I wondered to myself while the humans resumed their trip, ''Are they just leaving the rest of the corpse? So wasteful.'' I waited until they were a safe distance away and then slowly lowered a tendril to grab the head and body. Being a sneaky slime was paying off, so I quickly ate the wolf and resumed following. I continued stalking them for what felt like hours until it finally appeared. I stared in shock as what appeared to block their path was one of the apex predators of the forest - a green slime! These foolish humans were about to die, but perhaps I could take out the slime afterward with my stored water. I desperately wanted its core, which could enhance my traits even further. I watched in anticipation and curiosity. The woman pointed to the slime, possibly cursing her fate. The man stood forward; was he going to sacrifice himself for her? He raised his stick; utterly futile, that stick would melt away in nanoseconds. The green slime was creeping towards them, hungry for its next meal. The stick glowed with a greyish light, and he swung it downwards. A blade of greyish wind emanated from the stick and flew towards the slime. The wind blade pierced effortlessly through the green slime mass and hit the core, instantly splitting it in half. Once the core split, there was a popping noise, and the green slime mass collapsed to the ground harmlessly. The man laughed, and both started to walk around the green puddle seeping into the soil. ''Was that magic? And is he laughing at it? What the hell!?'' I couldn''t believe it - what I thought was the apex of slimes was so effortlessly killed. Humans were scary. Magic was scary. I felt my core shudder in fear. I was frozen as I watched the humans continue their journey, no longer wanting to follow them. When they were long gone, I dropped to the floor and picked up the two pieces of the broken green slime core. The fractured core part was new, but I was still too much in shock to really think about it, and instead, I started heading home. I ignored everything else until I was back to my tree, and it was very late and dark when I finally reached it. I practically jumped into my hole and then finally sighed, feeling safe. The silver lining was that I gained a level in both [Stealth] and [Acid Slime], the latter being one of my best traits. ''So I think I need that magic resistance trait...'' I thought to myself before drifting to sleep. Chapter 20: The Howling Chapter 20: The Howling This morning, I felt miserable, as yesterday''s events had left their mark. I was sluggish to exit the tree and finally realized my error - I had left my [Mana Reinforcement] on all night. I immediately told my [Sub-Core] to stop and pulled up my status. Mana: Draining I expected worse when I realized I had left my [Sub-Core] to work on it since the wolves I fought, so I felt relieved it was at least a familiar status and not something potentially worse. I headed to the pond to do some fishing and get breakfast. The pond was eerily quiet, with no deer or wolves, but I was moody, so I ignored it and plopped down next to the water and started to fish. My thoughts were a mess, recalling how easily that slime had died. ''Would I have survived that blade of wind?'' It was a good question; I had traits that other slimes did not, from what I could tell, like [Slime Density], [Core Refinement], and [Mana Reinforcement]. I could hope that my slime would be too dense to penetrate or that the defense of my mana enhancement and upgraded core would be able to tank the hit. I was so deep in thought and idly fishing that I didn''t notice anything until I heard a growling noise that surrounded me. Snapping back to reality, I took in my surroundings and noticed four wolves bigger than the ones I killed yesterday glaring at me with hunger and hatred. I probably should have felt some level of concern, but after what I had witnessed yesterday, these wolves just felt pathetic - could they even hurt me without melting themselves? I swelled in size by withdrawing slime mass and formed a slime greatsword overhead. My threatening display seemed to have the opposite effect as three wolves lunged toward me while the fourth let out an ear-piercing howl like a feral battle cry. I swung the greatsword down on the fourth wolf to stop the unpleasant sound that showed no sign of stopping. During the downswing, I added mana to the blade to enhance its strength, and it collided with the beast, which had severely underestimated my reach or my lack of care for its attacking companions. The wolf died near-instantly as the dense combination of acid and mana proved far beyond its simple animal fur protection and bisected it. At the same time, the other wolves took bites at my slimy mass, only for their toothy maws to get a mouth full of burning and melting acid. The three wolves leaped backward in pain, but only one managed to withdraw as two tendrils emerged from where their mouths had previously bitten and engulfed their heads in return. Dumping acidic slime forcefully down their gullets, they didn''t even have the time to suffocate. ''Is this wolf challenging me to a duel or something? Not like I expected we could talk things out...'' I checked my mana level, which was back up to Ebbing, so I quickly used [Mana Reinforcement] on my core while turning off the cycling auto-compression around it and ensuring nothing but maximum-density slime surrounded it. Doing these both with my primary core used less than half its mental processing and thoroughly freed up my [Sub-Core] to support me. While I wasn''t afraid of this wolf, I didn''t want to take any chances. For my [Pseudopods], I created a greatsword, rapier, and tri-claw. Upon completing my three weapons, the wolf leaned down as if ready to pounce. It barked as if to signal the start of the duel and then blurred. I struggled to keep track of the fast-moving creature as it was darting around with blinding speed, and I swung at it with my greatsword. The wolf somersaulted mid-air, bringing its bizarre tail to the front, and parried my slime greatsword! It then flung itself into the air into another spin and sliced through the tendril, which dropped a large portion of slime mass, including the greatsword, to splatter against the ground. A combination of shock and anger ran through me from the strange fighting style and losing so much slime mass. I immediately started withdrawing tusks and fangs and set my [Sub-Core] to handle supporting fire as we rapidly utilized [Slime Shot] at the wolf. The wolf dodged to and fro - I couldn''t land a single shot. When I tried to bring the rapier in to stab at the wolf while it dodged, its tail seemed to shine momentarily before slicing through my rapier and causing the entire [Pseudopod] to fall with a wet splat to the floor. The slight delay in its dodging to attack caused a few shots to hit it but only caused superficial damage at best. I tried to chase after it with the claw tendril to grab hold of it, but it did a backflip, and that accursed tail once again sliced through and destroyed my precious slime mass. I started withdrawing reserve slime mass to replenish my stock when suddenly the wolf blurred again and was suddenly directly in front of me while spinning violently. ''Shit!'' I cursed and retreated my core deeper, ''If I put enough slime mass between me and it, it won''t be able to penetrate to my core unless its tail were longer.'' While the wolf spun towards me, I hoped to envelop it in a tidal wave of slime when it failed to penetrate deep enough to hit my core, but the wolf had other plans. Its tail flickered wildly with bright light, and when it reached its maximum spin, it performed a massive overhead strike that sliced cleanly through my body and sent a projected force of slashing energy toward my core! I screamed when the ghostly slash approached rapidly and struck my core. There was a cracking sound, and unimaginable pain assaulted me. My vision began to waver and blacken. Pain. It hurts! Pain. Don''t want! Pain. To die! Pain. Save me! Pain. Pain. Pain. Must kill! Pain. Kill! Pain. Pain. Pain... Chapter 21: Blade Wolf Chapter 21: Blade Wolf Between the two-legs to the west, the boar king to the south, and the short-green two-legs to the east, territory in the forest had always been a struggle for survival. He had always been smaller than his fellow wolves but far faster, which allowed him to escape with his life and slowly strengthen. He battled the swine to the south and defended the previous alpha from the short-green two-legs - he could feel his might growing with each foe slain. But his true power was revealed when the previous alpha was attacked by a two-leg using fire. The alpha was brutally burned and lost his battle, while the pack was trapped in a vortex of fire, unable to assist. He snuck up on the cocky two-leg wielding the power of fire, who was blind in his arrogance, and struck a fatal blow to his neck, the death of this two-leg caused his power to burst, and he was reborn. The old alpha sadly could not be saved, so it was his duty to lead the pack and become the new alpha. They spent many seasons recovering, fighting their foes, and replenishing the pack with his mates. Recently, one of his scouts reported that there were fewer of the boar king minions roaming the southern forest. Another scout mentioned that the two-legs and short-green two-legs were waging war. He knew it was finally time to get vengeance and rule the forest. Conquering the boar king''s territory was proving very simple, with their numbers shockingly dwindling, and the boar king was nowhere to be seen - had he abandoned his territory? What a fool! They spread out and claimed this section of the forest, feasting on the boar king''s brides and children as well as the numerous deer and rabbits that this lush section provided. But that was when trouble had arrived; some of his pack had mysteriously vanished without a trace. More scouts were dispatched to find the perpetrator or at least locate the bodies, but there was nothing - not even a scent! During scouting, they found a large amount of water that would sustain them for generations and act as a suitable ambush point for prey - this forest was truly blessed. But the disappearances kept happening, and anyone sent to the water never returned. Sending two of his best trackers, he hoped to get to the bottom of this, but they also failed to return. Outraged, his firstborn sons volunteered to ambush whatever foe was causing this. However, he was worried this foe might be too powerful for his firstborn sons; despite their growths, they had not reached the rebirth like himself. He waited with the rest of the pack''s fighters and gave his wisest son strict orders to howl when they engaged the creature and again when they had achieved victory. If the wait between signals was too long, he would rush in to assist, even though it would damage their honor. His son''s magnificent howl filled him with pride, and he waited with bated breath for the victory, but it never came. He rushed to the water with the rest of the pack, but when they arrived, there was no sign of any of his sons and only a singular blue blob of tremendous size. He announced his presence with a mighty howl and approached with his pack - the creature stood its ground and didn''t flee. Perhaps this water was its domain, and it would stand its ground to defend it. Despite being foes, he liked this reasoning as it was better than the pig king, who fled like a coward. One of the younger warriors was too quick to temper and rushed at the blue creature with a thirst for vengeance. He didn''t stop the youngster as he currently failed to see how this unassuming creature could have killed his sons, and this could provide valuable battle knowledge - he could always rush in to save the child. The creature made no movements until the young warrior was already leaping at it, and then abruptly, it revealed its hostility as three limbs burst from its rounded form and grabbed the warrior. Before he could even react, the young warrior''s life was snuffed out. He couldn''t understand how this creature hid its weapons, but then the horror started as he watched the body disappear before his very eyes. This creature was the one who had killed his scouts, his trackers, and his firstborn sons. Putting his focus on dodging the onslaught was rough, with three tentacles trying to grab him and projectiles trying to burn into his fur. With his attention on dodging, he noticed far too late that his feet were having a light tingling-burning sensation and that almost the entire ground was shaded blue. The creature had been spreading a thin layer of its'' blue flesh over the ground. Fear bubbled up inside with the thought of disappearing like the young warrior in this burning blue flesh, but the effect was so mild that he barely felt it - maybe it was too thin to melt him? Regardless, he needed to kill this creature quickly. He cut into another large tendril that tried to grab him, this time with more effort to slice through, and it fell to the ground. He avoided another and was about to cleave through it but suddenly had to use [Wind Step] as an emergency dodge, as a tentacle had tried to attack him from behind! Where had it come from? He slashed another tentacle that approached his new position and backed up, and then he saw what had happened - the tentacle he had just cut through had fallen, but when it touched the blue-stained ground, it rapidly revived on the spot. The creature had spread itself out to recollect its fallen flesh. The battle continued; he had lost count of how many times he had sliced through a tentacle, only for it to come back from the dead when it touched the ground. But the towering form of the creature had started to shrink; was he finally wearing it down? Then his [Hunters Eyes] spotted a tiny red orb rocketing through the surface slime. He remembered the red orb being far larger - had it shrunk to heal the crack? He chased after it, wondering if it had given up, and then he spotted his five remaining warriors snarling at the blue ground. Fear struck as he howled a warning to them, and then his back felt immense pain as a blue projectile had struck him and burnt into his back. The red orb had reached the pack, and suddenly, blue slime burst from nowhere, utterly surrounding the tiny ball of death. One of the braver warriors confronted it to allow the others to escape - a brave sacrifice. But the creature had abandoned its previous honor of only striking those who attacked it, with four limbs bursting out to grab and kill the retreating wolves. Both the warrior and he howled in rage, the warrior foolishly jumping at the slime, and simultaneously, he performed [Wind Step] into [Sever Strike]. His bladed tail struck true, and the orb shattered. The warrior was unfortunately already dead, its head missing where it had sunk into the creature. Unimaginable fatigue assailed his body, and guilt plagued his mind, but the deed was done. They would recover like they had previously; his mates were still alive, he was the alpha, it was his duty. Abruptly, his back legs were struck from behind, and horrific burning filled his mind. He howled in pain and confusion. The creature''s corpse, which had been slowly losing shape, suddenly had new life and took solid form, producing four limbs that immediately tried to grab him. He tried to dodge even with his back legs in abhorrent pain, dodging the first successfully when the three others collided with him. He was swallowed into a world of nothing but blue and burning. Chapter 22: First Evolution Chapter 22: First Evolution After having my core struck by that blow, it was like a part of my mind turned off. I felt pure desperation and fear and then a strange bloodlust to kill, no, devour the cause of my suffering. My logic and reasoning seemed to dull into a quiet voice while rage and primal instinct took over. My body and actions became pure instinct, no longer overthinking and methodical, and my instinct told me to throw everything at the problem: all my slime mass, overpower the enemy through sheer quantity and spread my slime to cover the terrain to recollect fallen slime mass. The battle raged on, and despite recollecting the fallen slime mass, it wasn''t a perfect process, and there was still a loss. The urge to devour and replenish my slime overwhelmed me, and while I couldn''t catch this prey - there were five easy ones nearby. I deposited some slime mass, like reserve army troops, and sent my [Sub-Core] out like a general to slay the foes. The threat chased after my [Sub-Core], which led to landing a [Slime Shot] against it while it was distracted. Devouring the prey was successful, but the threat used its ultimate move to destroy my [Sub-Core]. My [Sub-Core] shattering shocked me so hard it seemed to give my reasoning its voice back. The weird autopilot on my body abruptly stopped. I noticed the silvery wolf lowering its guard, thinking himself victorious. I started to "play dead" with the slime mass over there, and then I began lining up two perfect shots of dense slime mass at his back legs to lower his mobility. Once I hit his legs, I reformed the "dead" slime mass to grapple him with all my tendrils. The wolf dodged the first, but the three others grabbed him, and it was finally over. My mind finally started to clear, that primal voice dimming into obscurity. ''Wait... Since when did I have four tendrils?'' I suddenly wondered to myself. I looked through my mental notifications, which had been ignored till now while starting to bring my slime back to my core - which was currently everywhere! x4 Emblem Achieved: [Apex Hunter].> ''That... Is a lot to take in. My traits improved, which is good, but now I have three new things to worry about... An evolution, an emblem, and a skill point.'' I wanted to get away from here because, with how this day had gone so far, I was almost expecting another even bigger wolf to show up. I looked at the corpse of the Blade Wolf, and [Dissection] was suddenly frothing in the mouth, screaming at me to claim that deadly tail. Feasting on this corpse gave an absurd amount of slime mass, and the rarity of the monster combined with the perfect harvesting must have skyrocketed my [Dissection] experience. It was interesting that Blade Wolf updated my existing information, but I was glad I wouldn''t need to hunt down more of those. When I had collected everything and deposited it into my storage, I headed home. As soon as I arrived, I opened my status menu, and a new glowing prompt appeared, fighting for immediate attention. I mentally selected it, which brought up a new menu that took up my entire vision. Species Evolutions Available: Slime (Green) Slime (Purple) Mutation Evolutions Available: Gluttonous Slime (Blue) Parasitic Slime (Blue) Aquatic Slime (Blue) Mimic Slime (Blue) Predation Slime (Blue) Special Evolution Available: Queen Slime (Blue) This species used to be quite common, but due to its indiscriminate destruction of the environment and its fragile nature, it was hunted into scarcity.> This one would take claiming ownership of the pond to the next level; I could literally make it part of me. It sounded incredible, but water was not slime, and I doubted it would be compatible with all the traits I had accumulated so far. Honestly, it sounded almost like a shortcut to the same goal Gluttonous Slime would achieve, but I think I''d lean towards my tidal wave containing slime instead of water. A mutation of an existing slime species, this slime usually disguises itself by shapeshifting its slime into another creature or plant and then devours unsuspecting prey. Initially, its mimicry is only enough to fool simplistic animals or monsters, but if they survive long enough, they can fool even veteran adventurers. Advanced cases of this species have been known to utilize traits from their borrowed forms, normally unavailable to the slime species.> Now, this spoke to me on a personal level. Isn''t this a massive upgrade to my [Shape Slime]? I already enjoyed making weapons and working on my little miniature tree, and now I could turn into a tree or a wolf. In a way, it was similar to Parasite Slime, although without the skill portion and still using my slime body. Assuming I don''t lose my core, I could recreate my mimicked body, so it''s got that benefit over Parasite. ''I think this one sounds the best... Could I turn into a human and fool them? I''d need to learn their language, though...'' A mutation of an existing slime species, this slime targets and hunts prey like a veteran assassin. This mutation gains unique traits to blend into the environment and eliminate its own sounds and smells, in combination to make it nearly undetectable. Advanced cases of this species are said to be able to detect lifeforce and conceal their lifeforce and mana signature.> It was like fate decided to immediately prove me wrong in my opinion that Mimic Slime was the best on offer. If I compare my kills made from stealth or with the element of surprise, they were my victory almost instantly. Being an assassin slime and concealed from life itself sounded very appealing. The apex of a particular slime species, this evolution is the final destination for any slime species as it turns away from self-growth to progeny. The Queen Slime loses the detriment of decaying slime mass and instead produces new slime mass over time, which fuels its new goal and ability to create entirely new slime cores. Slime cores birthed by the Queen that become independent slimes become the base slime species and sometimes inherit traits from the Queen. For this final evolution, the Queen Slime gains a boost to all its attributes and traits.> ''Holy shit!'' was my immediate response, followed by some confusion, ''Wait, am I a girl slime? Or would this turn me into a girl slime?'' ''Come to think of it, what was I in my previous life?'' I suddenly questioned and tried to dig into my memories, but all I could recall was Gramps mentioning nobles and cake. ''Whatever, I''m a slime now, so who cares? I''ll live my best slime life now. Besides, this option mentions final a lot. I''d rather grow a lot more before considering something like this, as tempting as such a massive boost all at once would be.'' I looked over the options and pondered my choice. The species evolutions were out despite the purple slime sounding particularly deadly; I''d prefer trying to find one and integrate its core. Perhaps if the species evolution were some ultra-obscure slime type, I''d consider it, but purples were in three locations. The mutation evolutions boiled down to two choices: Mimic and Predation. Mimic felt like the fun and experimental option, whereas Predation sounded like the kill-everything option. I really liked sneaking around and ambushing, as it often leads to an easy victory, but if I worked on perfecting my disguises, I could achieve similar results from Mimic - like when I deceived that frog who thought I was only a tasty blue slime before I turned on the acid. Also, if I mimicked something with a mouth - maybe I could learn to talk. I didn''t want to live my entire life in silence, and finding even one person or monster to talk to would be nice. Maybe I could get Predation for my next evolution, assuming I could get another since there was no mention of final or an even more appealing option didn''t appear. Warning: Evolution will cause the body to torpor until complete.> Grateful for the warning, I moved into my tree hole before confirming. I felt an intense power surge through my core, and my mind slipped into unconsciousness. Chapter 23: Tutorial Complete Chapter 23: Tutorial Complete I once again found myself floating in the infinite void of darkness, except this time, instead of being a disembodied nothing, I was my slime-self. ''Shit... Did I die during evolution or something? After surviving that crazy monster wolf, only to die in my sleep.'' With a wet squelch, I found myself in a familiar chair. Fear and dread filled my core while I worried that Gramps was about to scold me. "Welcome, welcome! I''m glad my little experiment is going so well. You''ve certainly been a busy little slime, haven''t you?" The voice of Gramps suddenly echoed everywhere. He sounded very pleased, which made me deflate visibly as the tension drained. ''So I''m not dead, I''m still alive? I was really worried I''d let you down.'' "Heavens no. You''re unconscious while having your first evolution, so I thought I''d pop in for a little pep talk. After this evolution, it will be a long time before I can visit again." I could hear Gramps chuckling in his response, which had me tremendously relieved, until he went eerily quiet, "Unless you die, of course." ''Nope! No dying for me! Going to live my best slime life and do you proud.'' I quickly thought and tried to reassure him while holding back internal tears. When he had spoken that last line, it had made my soul shudder with unnatural pressure. "Yes, good. Although you cut it close with that wolf, you had the potential to take it out yourself without the [Experiment] emblem''s assistance, but you seemed to freeze up after he hit you once." ''Is that why my body just seemed to move automatically?'' "Yes. Basically, it flooded your mind with unfiltered survival instincts. You have a habit of overthinking things too much. It was a bit of a failsafe protocol to help you get past the tutorial." ''Tutorial?'' "Yes, up until your first evolution was what we consider the tutorial. You had a surprising amount to choose from, but you''ve been very busy trying out so many things you rapidly unlocked them." ''Sorry, can you explain a bit?'' "For monsters, evolutions are achieved by any combination of their environment, actions taken, or the skills and traits they''ve acquired. You unlocked Predation, which is quite rare, by gaining [Stealth] and [Sneak Attack] and then also by hunting higher level monsters." ''And I earned Aquatic just by hanging around the pond too much?'' "A bit more than that, but yes." ''Thanks for the information. I''m glad that I can somewhat influence my future paths. Back to what you said previously, what did you mean about tutorial?'' "Now, the training gloves are off, and you''re all on your own. There was supposed to be a reward if you didn''t trigger the failsafe - regretful that it happened right at the finish line." ''Wait... All on my own, that means no more help with traits?'' "Of course, I don''t think any other candidate tried to brute force the help as much as you. Although, you are the only slime one." I wasn''t paying too much attention after he confirmed I''d be receiving no more help, and a horrible feeling dawned on me; I''d completely forgotten to look at more traits before evolving. Dread and a tinge of loneliness clouded my mood, and Gramps seemed to have sensed it. "Tell you what, I''ll show you one more for the road. Think of it as a consolation prize for almost making it without the failsafe. I''m honestly surprised you didn''t accidentally earn it from all your experiments." Violently explode slime mass in a pressurized burst that can coat a large area in slime. The area affected, maximum volume detonated, and burst delay reduction scale with trait level. Compatible with other slime traits.> ''This would have really been useful against that wolf.'' I thought, immediately recognizing that this was a good trait and one I could feasibly get without spending a point. "Exactly. Hard to dodge a bursting balloon full of slime." ''Thanks, Gramps. I''ll miss our talks if you can call them that.'' "Don''t worry; we can chat again on your next evolution, and I''m sure you''ll find someone else to poke eventually with so many questions." This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. I was about to ask more questions, like about my nonexistent class and emblems, and as if sensing my intention, the chair suddenly disappeared below me. "We''ve run out of time for today. Good luck, little slime. I''m rooting for you." The blinding light below swallowed me up before I could protest. Mana: Overflowing ''Oh... It puts it next to my nonexistent name. That''s interesting, although I''m not sure what the purpose is.'' I thought curiously, then wondered if I could give myself a name, ''My name is Blue.'' Warning: This cannot be modified again without system privileges.> ''No! Abort!'' I quickly screamed, worried about that warning. I''d have to think hard for a name I''d like eventually. I pulled up the rest of my status for thoroughness. Emblems: [Experiment] [Apex Hunter] Traits: [Mana Slime LV MAX] [Acid Slime LV 4] [Pseudopod LV 4] [Slime Density LV 3] [Slime Shot LV 3] [Shape Slime LV 3] [Shapeshifting Mimicry LV 1] [Chroma Shift LV 1] [Consuming Osmosis LV 1] [Core Refinement LV 4] [Core Storage LV 3] [Sub-Core LV 2] [Mana Circulation LV 2] [Mana Reinforcement LV 2] Trait Points remaining 1 Skills: [Dissection LV 4] [Mapping LV 2] [Stealth LV 3] [Sneak Attack LV 1] [Improved Accuracy (Lesser) LV 2] [Identity Block LV 1] Skill Points remaining 1 I had a trait and skill point to spend still, and no new surprises yet. But I wanted to try out my evolution, so those could wait. I exited my tree feeling like a new slime, and today felt like it was going to be a great day. Chapter 24: Wolfing Around Chapter 24: Wolfing Around It was finally time to try out my evolution; I wish I could have witnessed the transformation myself, but my [Sub-Core] did not regenerate while evolving, much to my disappointment. I pictured the wolf, which was crystal clear thanks to the completed profile, and I felt my main slime body rapidly shift to match the form. Four legs, ears, snout, fangs, tail, everything grew out of my slime ball, and then the ball molded itself into the wolf''s torso. ''I guess my gut feeling was right. I really was on the verge of raising that trait. I bet I can complete my tree model now.'' It felt strange to have legs again, so I sat down to lift a front paw to examine it closely. Physically, it matched perfectly, but it looked alien by being bright blue and transparent. I focused on my [Chroma Shift] skill and tried to apply the coloration. The color of the slime shifted before my gaze and would likely be a perfect match if not for the transparency. ''A transparent grayish wolf is better than being blue, I guess... I hope I can raise that trait soon. Looking at previous traits, they didn''t take too long to reach level two.'' I sat up and did some light walking, something I never thought I''d be doing since becoming a slime. I was surprised at how well everything worked, and I fully expected I''d have to test and experiment, but that wasn''t the case. The strangest thing was the nose working, and when I selected the trait [Enhanced Nose] to mimic, I was bombarded with an overwhelming amount of scents and frantically swapped to [Enhanced Fangs]. A surprising feature I didn''t expect with my shapeshifted form was that my legs were not taking up any [Pseudopod] capacity. When I had originally thought of trying to give myself slime legs, I thought I''d need to sacrifice some tendrils to be makeshift legs. I made my four tendrils emerge from the back of the wolf and wiggled them happily. I continued to sprint throughout the forest to get used to the form some more, jumped around, and even tried jumping and then swinging from a branch with a back tendril - it was exhilarating. I eventually settled down and decided I needed to spend my points. Many of the traits I had looked at seemed very good, and I had planned to get [Slime Burst] manually. However, the one I thought would be effective immediately would be [Mana Well], which I hoped would push me above the mana regeneration threshold to upkeep [Mana Reinforcement] perpetually. Speaking of which, I needed to enhance my slime core since I didn''t have my [Sub-Core] to do it for me, which I did and then made my trait purchase. Mana Reserve is increased scaling with trait level. Interestingly, I could get profiles from almost anything. The things I consumed seemed to generalize into a broad category, and then if I found a new species or type, it would update the original profile. I had found at least three different species of trees interestingly. Tomorrow, I was planning on trying to use my wolf form''s nose to find some animals, but before nightfall, I wanted to head to the pond and see if I could eat some of those bugs. I approached the pond cautiously, and it reeked of death, even without using [Enhanced Nose]. Plenty of bugs were hanging around the pond, far more than usual, likely due to not having anything to kill them now that the frog was dead. I rapidly fired [Slime Shot] at them, repeating my target practice approach and letting them die when they flew into me. I could frequently hit them now mid-flight with the accuracy skill. Along the way, my trait leveled up, which boosted the degree of analysis and, by extension, reduced the amount I''d need to consume to complete a profile. The profile of the blood bug wasn''t that interesting; its only trait was [Enhanced Probiscis], and its only skill was [Flight]. I wondered if I could fly if I turned into it and shifted into the bug from my wolf form. I had to deposit a lot of my slime mass away to complete the transformation, as its body was tiny in comparison, barely able to hold my slime core, which seemed to have grown significantly since my evolution. After numerous failed attempts at getting off the ground, I gave up. I''d likely need a bigger flying creature or possibly get the [Flight] skill. I shifted back to my comfortable slime form and headed home. When I arrived home, the first thing I did was work on completing my model tree, and it came out perfect, although I was probably cheating now with the profile I had learned. I used my [Chroma Shift] to "paint" my tree model and was frankly shocked at how decent it turned out despite the transparency. I spent my evening shifting into rocks, trees, and bushes and coloring myself. Even though I really wanted to work on getting [Slime Burst], I planned to bump both my evolution traits to at least level two first. Before sleep, I checked my mana level, which remained Overflowing. I was ecstatic about my choice to get [Mana Well] and wished I had my [Sub-Core] to work throughout the night. I planned to do a lot of hunting as a slime wolf to work on completing more profiles. Chapter 25: Eating for Knowledge Chapter 25: Eating for Knowledge Upon waking, I noticed that my slime had significantly diminished in size, and at first, I was greatly concerned that my new evolution made my slime deteriorate at an increased rate. When I deposited my wastewater, I confirmed it was only an insignificant amount extra. Thankfully, before I went into a neurotic panic, I noticed a little orb floating inside me - my [Sub-Core] had regenerated. The cost paid was significant to regenerate it, and in the future, if I need to regenerate it, I should sleep on the heavier side with excess slime mass to be safe. I withdrew some slime from my savings, set my [Sub-Core] to reinforce, then finally exited the tree and shapeshifted into a wolf. I borrowed the [Enhanced Nose] trait and couldn''t believe the significant difference, even though it was only level one due to being restricted to the same level as [Shapeshifting Mimicry]. I spent most of the morning running around trying to sniff out anything, going into sections of the forest I had left previously unexplored. Having the wolf''s smelling power made me wonder how astronomical the Predation slime would have been being able to detect lifeforce itself. Some deer and jackalope were all that I found, which I could effortlessly absorb, neither of which had any worthwhile traits, but I did learn about the [Sprint] and [Leap] skills. I''d practice transformation later and continued to hunt. While heading further south, towards a dense odor, I ran into something I hadn''t seen in a long time. I almost missed the smelly pig creatures, although they now felt so beneath me that I didn''t even need to use my tree jellyfish strategy. Instead, I just leaped at it while in wolf form, partially undid the transformation, and glomped the boar into my acidic goo. I hoped I could find more and started to run around frantically to sniff one out. Deciding this was taking longer than I had hoped, and I wanted to increase my search speed - I tried using [Mana Reinforcement] on my legs, which took some effort, but the result was my legs feeling sturdier. The effect was noticeable, and I was definitely running faster, trying to catch a whiff of that dense odor again. My expanded search radius eventually bore fruit, and following a trail, I found another boar that even had visible battle scars that had healed up over time. Unfortunately, for the veteran boar, it also fell to the slimy glomp of death. I had finally reached level two after evolving. I had almost missed the fact that my level had reset after evolution, which answered another of my past questions of why the Rage Boar and Gigatoad gave me so much experience despite being lower level - they were both evolved creatures. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. It was very odd to have the knowledge of something without the attached memories of where it came from, which only made me question what Gramps had done to me. I did wonder why he took my memories of my past life away, and I could only assume it was so that I couldn''t go and seek revenge for being poisoned. My first conversation with Gramps made it sound like reincarnation was a frequent occurrence, and if it was plagued by the dead coming back to seek revenge, the world might devolve into chaos. The loud voices of the men snapped me back to reality as I watched them pass by. One of the men had a fancy cloak with matching armor and was holding a piece of paper and pointing; at his waist was an ornate-looking rapier, and I mentally approved of his weapon choice. The other two men had a sort of vagabond look going to them, and they had unkempt blades and dirty leather armor. The elf wore strange armor that looked crafted out of leaves, and at her back was a bow and quiver that screamed loaded with money, the bow especially looking like a work of art. Finally, the cat-like creature was by her side; it was slender, and I got the impression it might have been faster than the Blade Wolf. The fancy man was talking obnoxiously loud while they walked, and the cat-like creature was glancing around while its ears were perking, which caused me to tense up with worry. I was frozen as I watched them leave, and the last thing I saw was the elf scratching behind the ears of the cat. When the tension faded, I turned back into a wolf, hoping its nose would inform me if anyone approached while making haste back home. Nothing eventful happened, and I wasn''t lucky enough to find the last boar I needed before I spotted my familiar tree. I checked my mana level, curious how much the drain from enhancing my legs would be while continuously maintaining the reinforcement on my core. My mana showed Surging, which meant it only dropped one level - not bad. Now, I''d test out the new creatures I could transform into; the deer and jackalope came easily. I assumed I was getting bonus experience for the quality and also for a new form. I likely accumulated only regular amounts of experience throughout the day while shapeshifted and using mimicked traits. I hoped [Chroma Shift] wasn''t far behind. Lastly, I tried turning into a boar; the transformation was a partial success, but some of the parts were either droopy or the incorrect size. I spent the rest of the night trying to become a boar, hoping to leverage practice and my trait level to fill in the profile gaps. Before I finally decided to call it a night, I was very close to finishing the boar shape; it was certainly serviceable, and I could run around looking like one - if you ignored the transparency. Tomorrow, I had plans to visit some old friends and get a necessary profile that may hint at some traits and skills specifically for me. It hinged on me ranking up my [Chroma Shift], but I was confident I could get it either in the morning or during the trip. Chapter 26: Wolf-Eat-Slime Chapter 26: Wolf-Eat-Slime Mana: Overflowing Waking up to the highest level of mana despite my dutiful [Sub-Core] working throughout the night was a glorious way to start the day, proving that I could fully maintain reinforcing my core without draining mana. Before heading out, I shapeshifted between the four creatures I had mastered before finally shifting into the boar. It was good practice but made me realize that the other forms were taking up less of my mental capacity to hold, and the wolf, which I had spent almost the entire day as was slightly more efficient than even the other three with their completed profiles. Knowledge, trait rank, and practice all played a critical role in not only the form''s transformation accuracy and shifting speed but also its upkeep cost - I needed to keep a nose out for another boar. Interestingly, I also tried shifting into the Blade Wolf, but my body refused to take the shape. It perplexed me because I had full knowledge of the evolved wolf as it amended itself to my existing profile rather than adding its own entry. I could only assume I lacked a minimum trait level in either [Shapeshifting Mimicry] or [Shape Slime], a combination of the two, or maybe even a minimum race level. With [Shapeshifting Mimicry] reaching level two, I now had access to a higher trait version of [Enhanced Nose], so I hoped I could find that final boar and complete the profile. I could also add another trait to the mimicked form, but from some experimenting, I discovered that each trait had a mental upkeep depending on its copied rank. I''d need to expand my mind, refine my core, or add cores because if I ever reached max for [Shapeshifting Mimicry] upkeeping ten skills, all at rank ten sounded mindblowing in the literal sense. The occasional foraging was mandatory, as I loved the rush of information whenever I completed a profile, and I got a bunch of facts stuffed into my core about healing herbs and poisonous mushrooms. I started heading west wearing my wolf form while looping between different colors, and my nose working as I traveled, so I wasn''t too worried about any humans seeing a rainbow wolf. During the downtime of travel, I also experimented a bit with my shapeshifting, which led to me discovering that I could not mix and match mimicked transformations for reasons beyond my understanding. I could swap between slime and wolf and a seemingly endless amount of partials between the two forms, but I could not give my wolf form antlers or tusks. My mad scientist''s idea of picking the best parts from every creature would have to wait until I discovered what prevented me. Another sad conclusion was while I could naturally enlarge my slime form, I could not just make a "bigger wolf" without spending considerable effort and mental upkeep. My only assumption was that [Shapeshifting Mimicry] truly wanted me to copy the form exactly, being quite a snobby perfectionist of a trait, and wasn''t happy about me making any modifications. After fooling around with transformations, I reinforced my legs and sprinted slightly south while maintaining my westerly approach. I detoured a good portion of the morning, and it was turning to the afternoon when my effort finally paid off. I confirmed my earlier theory by transforming it into a boar and found much less mental tax for the form. My inner completionist satisfied, I continued heading west in wolf form again and decided to put my mental processing to mixing up the colors of different body parts. It finally increased, and thankfully, before I reached my destination. Filled with excitement, I rushed to change the opacity of my slime, and my vision abruptly went dark. ''Wha-!?'' This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. Allows increasing or reducing the elasticity of slime mass. This trait has no levels. Compatible with other slime traits.> Another trait with slime compatibility was always welcome. I couldn''t think of anything offhand on the reducing elasticity portion and becoming rigid. However, by increasing elasticity, I could avoid gravity splattering me across the ground and instead bounce. Spend mana to generate slime mass. There is a daily conversion limit, scaling with trait level.> Meanwhile, with this trait, I could avoid inevitably turning into a puddle of water if I ever ran out of things to eat. Apparently, this was a very rare trait that blue slimes would develop. Although it sounded almost too good to be true, it didn''t offer me any immediate benefit, as I had plenty of slime mass saved away and was likely close to hitting my storage limit. I wondered how low the daily limit was per level. Now that I had so many completed profiles, I also puzzled together a bit of an understanding of how ordinary monsters develop. There was no way a dumb wolf carefully selects its traits when it levels. Most monsters are born with an innate trait, and the majority of points will be allocated randomly amongst them. There is a chance a new trait is picked randomly out of a pool instead of improving an existing one. When no more traits have available levels, then the probability is guaranteed. The traits are divided into pools, common and rare. Using a blue slime, for example, its common traits are [Elastic Slime], [Adhesive Slime], and [Slime Density], while its rare traits are [Slime Conversion] and [Pseudopod]. I could assume a green slime has [Slime Shot] in its trait pool. It did make me wonder how intelligent monsters developed; would they tell their children to "make sure to get [Enhanced Strength]"? Satisfied with having two more traits on my shopping list, I started to head back into the forest. Chapter 27: Syl Chapter 27: Syl It certainly was tempting to devour all the slimes and hope for one that had developed a new trait, but I was hoping to make periodic trips here and grab a few. I didn''t feel guilty per se about the forest boars driven to near extinction, but if I did the same to the blue slimes, I''d be trading potential long-term gains for a quick short-term one. What I desperately wanted, however, was a green slime or, even better yet, a new color. This led to the decision that I would not return to my tree home and instead explore uncharted sections of the forest. My wolf form was perfect for fast travel, especially if I used [Mana Reinforcement] on the legs, and its exquisite nose would guide me to points of interest. A whiff of fresh blood caught my attention, and I started cautiously heading toward it. As I got closer, I noticed two smells mingled amongst the blood; one smelt wild and animalistic, while the other had a rich and earthy forest scent. Hoping that my stealth skills were being put to good use, I cautiously approached until I finally spotted them. Lying in a large pool of blood was the black cat-like creature, covered in gashing wounds - unmoving and dead. Leaning against the cat creature was the elf, also covered in wounds, the worst of which looked like something had gouged through her stomach. That fancy bow was not on her person, and she was stroking the cat with a forlorn expression. ''She looks like she''s been through hell and back. Whoever or whatever did that to her didn''t want to give her the chance to escape alive...'' I couldn''t smell anything else nearby, so I cautiously approached, not sensing any instinctual threat from the dying and unarmed elf. When the elf detected my presence, she jerked violently from her position before huddling over in pain and clutching the wound. She shouted in a threatening tone, but I couldn''t understand it and just stopped and stared at her. She looked confused and eventually started talking more, her tone becoming less hostile with each repetition. Her hand reached out, and a green light softly emerged and enveloped me. I was about to panic and retreat when a notification popped up. Do you accept?> Confused, I stared at the message. It didn''t seem hostile, and the thought of finally having someone to talk to gave me some unfounded hope. The elf Sylthaeryn, I assumed, had an almost pleading look on her face, and regardless of my choice, it looked like she had not much time left in this world. ''Yes.'' ''What the hell just happ-'' "Thank you for accepting my request, noble wolf." The elf spoke softly with an expression of relief. My mental protest was abruptly cut short by sheer confusion at her words. Words that I could finally understand. ''Wait-'' Profile Updated> ''She can just force a name on me? I mean... At least it sounds better than Blue.'' "Sorry if it was a bit of a rush name... I thought I''d leave behind another part of me with you. I wanted to make my own mark on the world, but fate had other plans for me." She spoke full of regret and glanced at the gaping wound, her hands trembling, "Forgive me, this is the greatest taboo for a bonded companion..." "Syl." The resolution in her voice caused my wolf ears to perk, and her following words shocked me to my core, "I order you to kill me." My mind shuddered, my vision took on a red tint, and I felt myself lose control over my body. It felt vaguely similar to what happened to me when fighting the Blade Wolf, and my body moved to follow the order to maximum efficiency. My wolf form melted away as tendrils burst out, and my entire slime form rapidly moved to engulf her whole. "A slime!?" These were the last words spoken by Sylthaeryn. Emblem Usurped: [Elven Legacy].> When I finally regained control over my body, both Sylthaeryn and Shalana were gone, the panther''s body taken with her in the overflowing amount of slime. Being at the mercy of Sylthaeryn''s order, my slime had not preserved anything. Her body was gone, her companion gone, her bow presumably lost. Other than memories, the only thing that remained of Sylthaeryn was the small pouch she gave me and the mark she had left on my profile. Name: Syl Chapter 28: Does Gramps Have a Thing for Elves? Chapter 28: Does Gramps Have a Thing for Elves? ''What the hell just happened?'' I ask with utter confusion. The situation was absurd; I became some monster companion, got an emblem forced on me, and then subsequently removed, entrusted with a fancy plant bag, mercy-killed an elf under compulsion, usurped an emblem, and I''ve gone up three levels. I tried to calm my neurotic tendency by reading the new emblem. This emblem was a reward chosen by the progenitor of the Elf race for triumphs worthy of the Gods and inherited by all descendants. The progenitor elf was a master magus and wished his descendants to follow in his footsteps in mastering the arcane. Magic and Mana related Traits and Skills are easier to acquire and receive a bonus to earned experience. All mana costs, including upkeep, are reduced by 25%. Mana regeneration receives a minor increase. This emblem cannot be equipped. This emblem will be usurped through death.> ''What bullshit is this? I was born being bullied by a child armed with a bucket and a knife. Meanwhile, all elves are born destined to be master magicians?'' ''I can understand why someone tried to kill her if something as amazing as this is transferred through death. That''s a crazy thought... I wonder if someone complained to Gramps about how overpowered elves were, and that last line was added as a concession.'' ''I mean, now I have this absurd emblem. Although, doesn''t this paint a huge target on my back? Now, not only am I a monster slime, but I also have some legendary elf emblem. I need to level up [Identity Block]... And get out of this forest.'' My immediate plan was to head east and get far away, but I wanted to try both my new forms before departure. The elf form was a mess; I could tell it was trying to copy Sylthaeryn, as she was my only point of reference, but it looked like she had crawled out of a vat of acid and missing a leg. After going back and forth through ideas and traits, I decided to buy [Enhanced Intellect] and [Enhanced Vitality] and then keep my final point for an emergency like buying [Magic Resistance (Lesser)] or possibly [Dark Vision]. They weren''t the most exciting choices, but I wanted durability and mental capacity if I was heading into unknown territory. Increases mental processing and memory capacity per trait level.> Increases your lifeforce per trait level.> The vitality increase was hard to judge, but the intellect was noticeable as it reduced the maintenance on [Shapeshifting Mimicry]. Speeding along as my wolf with reinforced limbs was my best way to travel by far, and I just reached the pond, but I wanted to go past the pond and into the unknown. However, the sun wasn''t cooperating, and it was about the time I''d usually settle down and practice before bed. ''Actually, I changed my mind. I want to keep traveling during the night, so let''s grab [Dark Vision].'' Enhances vision to perceive in conditions with either little or no light. Vision distance is 20% per trait level.> My surroundings immediately lit up with near-perfect clarity, and I could see the clear dividing line where my [Dark Vision] expired and my normal vision continued. Journeying through the night was a new experience, and after what seemed like hours of uninterrupted travel, I spotted what looked like a cliffside in the distance through the breaks in the treetops. During my nighttime run, two more surprises popped up. ''I have been using my mana constantly since I got it, especially reinforcing my wolf legs, but I can''t help but think this is because of the elf bullshit... Seriously, Gramps, do you have an elf fetish or something?'' Now that I had a new landmark spotted, I decided to make a temporary tree home and get some rest. While I didn''t feel bodily fatigue due to my nature as a slime, I was concerned about what mental fatigue would do and decided to err on the side of caution. Chapter 29: Mental Housekeeping Chapter 29: Mental Housekeeping My sleep was unpleasant, filled with dark thoughts that clouded my mind. Imagining having my body forcibly seized against my will was a terrifying thought, and I suddenly regretted not purchasing [Enhanced Willpower]. The death of Sylthaeryn clearly affected me despite our very brief encounter, and I wondered if it was from our impromptu bond being torn apart. I didn''t mind killing to survive, and if someone tried to kill me, I wouldn''t hesitate to end them - I was a monster now, and I needed to endure. But giving her the benefit of the doubt, I assumed Sylthaeryn was innocent, up until she forced me to execute her before the poison or wounds could - it was a mercy kill, but it still left a bitter taste in my mouth. I tried opening the bag I received, but it was locked or some magical equivalent. I recalled her dominating my mind, causing a moment of anger where I tried to melt the bag to see its contents, but it could fully resist even my most potent [Acid Slime]. I equipped my [Apex Hunter] emblem and looked at my latest status menu. I felt a nagging in the back of my mind as I saw how my trait list had ballooned out of control. I started trying to rearrange and reorder my traits, and to my surprise, they did. I wondered if I could categorize them. Gazing at all my slime-related traits, I mentally grouped them as "Slime", and they popped together into a category. I repeated this process a few times until I was satisfied. Name: Syl [Apex Hunter] Race: Mimic Slime (Blue) LV 5 Class: - Status: Healthy Mana: Overflowing Emblems: [Experiment] [Apex Hunter]* [Elven Legacy] Traits: Slime: [Mana Slime LV MAX] [Acid Slime LV 4] [Adhesive Slime] [Pseudopod LV 4] [Slime Density LV 4] [Slime Shot LV 3] [Shape Slime LV 4] Core: [Core Refinement LV 4] [Core Storage LV 4] [Sub-Core LV 2] [Consuming Osmosis LV 3] While each race or species may have its own language or another form of communication, this is a common language shared amongst all sapient life.> ''So everyone can speak universal, but universal doesn''t let you understand everything... I wonder why I didn''t start off with this skill. I am sapient, so perhaps an oversight?'' I wasn''t sure what the unknown skill could be and hoped it was advantageous, which reminded me that I needed to unlock [Slime Burst]. The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Violently explode slime mass in a pressurized burst that can coat a large area in slime. The area affected, maximum volume detonated, and burst delay reduction scale with trait level. Compatible with other slime traits.> Recalling the trait description, which seemed easier now, the first thing that came to mind was combining [Slime Density] and [Slime Shot]. I enlarged a pseudopod and positioned it at a distance from me, then fired a few compressed slime bullets at it, which hit the target and promptly reabsorbed. I tried using [Slime Shot] without any compression, but it was like a weak water hose and did not have much distance. Then, I tried compressing, firing the bullet, and finally initiating a decompression before it emerged. It took some trial and error, especially in the timing of the decompression, but eventually, a discharge of slime erupted from my form. I tried it a few more times, getting better at the timing, and then checked my status menu. Happy to confirm I was on the right track, I finally shifted into my wolf form and continued my journey toward the cliff. If I could successfully use my partial trait in combat, I figured that would push it over the edge to unlock. Eventually, I caught a feral scent mixed with some blood and headed in that direction, making sure to stealth as I approached. What I discovered was a bear monster fighting three wolves. I maneuvered to pincer the bear between myself and the wolves, and that is when I lunged for the bear''s neck. I had equipped [Enhanced Fangs] and reinforced them with mana when I decided to enter combat, wanting to give it a test. My wolf form''s jaw ripped out a good chunk of flesh, thanks to my double-empowered fangs and further boosted by [Sneak Attack]. The bear roared in pain and tried to reach behind its neck for me, but I was warned by [Evasion] and kicked off to leap away while firing my partial slime burst. Under combat pressure, it didn''t come out spectacularly, but a large amount of acidic slime still managed to coat the bear, causing it to let out a guttural roar as its flesh began to melt. The wolves noticed my presence and let out what felt like happy barks as if directing me to assist them with taking down the bear. ''Wait, because the wolves think I''m a wolf, it earned me experience towards [Identity Block]? My false profile must be pretty decent. I guess it did also fool Sylthaeryn...'' The bear had itself in a pain-induced rage and was swinging wildly, one of its claws gutted through a wolf. The remaining two wolves attempted to go for its hind legs, but their fangs lacked the potency. I created a tendril from my back, sending it right near the bear''s head, and fired a point-blank burst of slime into its face, hoping to blind it. Its thrashing took out the other two wolves and even a nearby tree in collateral damage. Meanwhile, I had created another tendril and fired a double burst directly at its head. With my trait finally unlocked, it was time to end this fight. The bear was blinded and just flailing now, so I sneaked low and dove at its leg with my fangs ready to rip and tear. I tore through its leg, then dodged an incoming blow thanks to [Evasion] again. I snuck around and went for its remaining hind leg from a different angle, landing a solid blow that sent the bear tumbling to the ground. Seeing my skill increase made me realize that perhaps all my attacks met the criteria while it was blinded and unaware. I decided to finish off the bear by shaping four rapiers enhanced with mana, and not to be outdone, even copied the exact form of a fancy blade I had seen previously. The four blades pierced through the bear, two of which landed devastating blows to its jugular. When I approached the corpse, I received a brutal scolding from [Dissection], as the pelt was highly valuable, and I had melted a lot of it with my indiscriminate bursts of slime. I claimed its fang and claws and whatever was salvageable of the pelt and ate the rest - including the wolves. I wanted to find another bear to complete the profile, perhaps one that would satisfy [Apex Hunter], so I could gain another skill point. I started sniffing the air and ground, hoping to find traces of the bear''s smell and began following what I assumed was the bear''s trail. ''I was wondering what the skill would be. I guess I have been using this super nose a lot lately.'' Aids directly in discovering and following tracks or trails while using an enhanced sense. Accuracy, prediction, and tracking period scale with skill level.> ''Sounds good, alright. Let''s try to find some more bears.'' I thought feeling determined. Chapter 30: Overcrowded Cave Chapter 30: Overcrowded Cave While following the bear''s scent trail, I realized how much potential the [Tracking] skill had. I had always just traveled blindly in a direction hoping to bump into something and then later tried heading towards any strong smell. Being able to follow trails that were fresh enough would help lead me to either the prey directly or to their lair and significantly improve my hunting capabilities. The trail eventually led me to a small cave opening, and the dense odor inside made me feel quite uncomfortable. I shifted back to my natural slime form and grappled up to the ceiling, making full use of [Adhesive Slime], and then stealthily crawled along. The cave looked empty and made me think of setting up an ambush for when the other occupants returned. Crawling along the cave roof and changing my color to match the shade likely made me almost undetectable, but I had to keep some transparent gaps for my sight. Much to my disappointment [Dark Vision] did not let me see through my opacity-induced blindness, but it did allow me to see clearly within this cave. There were plenty of bones and scraps, and far at the back of the cave was a den occupied by two cubs and guarded by a bear smaller than the one I fought. Deciding whether I should drop down on the bears when I heard a commotion echoing into the cave. "Matriarch is hunting. We go in and take babies to train." The rather squeaky voice said. "Yes. Best chance. Then we get strong and get revenge on humans." Another voice responded. I was curious to see the source of the voices and footsteps approaching. The bear was letting out a light rumbling growl as it prepared to take on the intruders. Five small green figures reached the depths of the cave, three armed with spears and two with bows. Their heads were comically large for their body size, not to mention their ears - goblins. "Two to train. Only one to kill. Our lucky day." One of the goblins spoke, causing the others to nod and enter a combat-ready stance. The bear''s growl advanced to a roar, trying to intimidate the goblins, but the archer answered by loosing an arrow. The goblins had decent coordination; the spears endeavored to keep the bear at a safe distance while the archers released arrow after arrow. ''I wonder if I should defeat the goblins, the bears, or both? The goblins can talk, so I could maybe communicate with them. But I want their profile, and I''d need it to talk since I can''t correctly use my elf form.'' The bear landed a solid blow that splintered one of the goblin''s spears and sent him flying into the cave wall. "Zizz!" one of the archers shouted and rushed to his side. I slinked over to the remaining archer and started lowering tendrils. She was far too distracted with the fight to notice the encroaching doom as four tendrils grabbed her, one gagging her mouth, and the others pulled her to the ceiling and into the slime blob. The goblins didn''t notice my assassination and only reacted when they noticed no more arrows were coming. "Tarz! Why aren''t you shooting!?" One of the spear goblins shrieked as an unlucky companion had his head bitten off by the bear. The bear was heavily wounded at this point but fighting through the pain. I was maneuvering over the bear to claim it for myself, and hopefully, the goblin corpse would complete my profile. "Tarz, you bitch! You abandon us!?" The spear goblin continued to shout. "Forget Tarz! Bear is almost dead. We kill it." The remaining archer shouted, drawing his bow. That was when I appeared, four tendrils bursting out with mana-infused rapiers all piercing through the bear''s head. "Look, I''m sorry, but I was in this cave first and unsure if you were friend or foe. You are the first creature I could talk to." I tried to sound reassuring, and the goblins sniveling softened a little. "Will you eat me and Zizz now?" It was a valid question. I could effortlessly kill him for experience and slime mass, but I was finally talking to someone, and I still had so many questions. "No. If you don''t attack me, then I''ll let you live. The other goblin charged at me with a spear." I responded. "No, no, no. I won''t attack." His head shook so much that I thought it might pop off his neck. "Good. You can even take those bear cubs. An apology for Tarz..." I said with a smile and pointed to the two cubs at the back of the cave. "Really, Merciful Great One? My tribe thanks you." He said and stood up and gave a bow, "We hope to use against the humans." "I can understand... I''m not exactly a fan of humans myself." I shuddered, thinking of the mage who killed the green slime and the boy with his bucket, meanwhile he seemed almost relieved about my opinion on humans, "Also, please don''t call me that. I''m not some great one, I have a name." "Sorry if I offend." He frantically apologized while bowing his head. He seemed to notice something when observing me, then coughed and looked around awkwardly, "Merc... Gr... Tarz, do you have clothes?" he asked, averting his gaze. I was upset he forgot my name again, but confused by his reaction until I looked at myself again - I was a naked female goblin. I reached inside myself and pulled out the three sets of equipment I had taken from the goblins. I searched through the pile for the ones Tarz had worn and slowly started to don them. Once I was clothed, he looked more at ease. "Sorry, I''ve never had to wear clothes before. Also, my name is Syl, not Tarz, and I still need your name." "Ah! Yes. Syl. Sorry." He was fearfully apologetic again, "My name Garz." "Well, Garz, I think we should grab those cubs and get out of here before the matriarch returns." Garz frantically nodded his head and then looked towards his companion. "Mer... Ta.. Syl, I must carry Zizz. Can you carry cubs?" I gave a nod and produced two tendrils from my back, causing Garz to flinch, and then each tendril engulfed a cub while leaving only the head exposed. The cubs were growling and mewling, but they couldn''t resist. I would need to use [Mana Reinforcement] on my goblin legs to walk like this. I quickly browsed through my goblin profile for any quick solutions to mimic and spotted an old friend: [Enhanced Strength]. I had a stupid grin plastered on my goblin face when I activated it through [Shapeshifting Mimicry], which caused Garz to give me a blended look of worry and confusion. "Lead the way, Garz." Chapter 31: Goblin Chief Chapter 31: Goblin Chief Since Garz was carrying the unconscious Zizz on his back, we were traveling at a casual pace. I had offered to carry Zizz, but despite our defused hostile situation, Garz had his doubts, which was pretty dumb from my point of view as he was an even more vulnerable and easy target with them slow and together. I started scrolling through the goblin profile to see how it compared to other monsters and the favored elves. The profile was a thought-provoking blend of what I had known from monsters and the elf profile. All goblins were born with [Dark Vision], [Robust Stomach], and then up to two random traits from a pool - this pool was where I had spied my old friend [Enhanced Strength]. Unlike elves, goblins didn''t seem to have any unique traits tailored for them, and [Robust Stomach] was just a generic trait with no levels that let you eat almost anything, rotten or raw, without consequences. "Garz," I spoke up, causing him to flinch, "How do you spend your traits." "Traits are weak. Worthless. We get one or two to help our class, then try to ignore." His response honestly shocked me. Traits were practically my entire repertoire, even with the few skills I had picked up. "I know the enhanced attributes aren''t that exciting, but what about something like [Mana Circulation]?" "Useless. Not shaman class, so mana not important." "How did you get your class?" "Born." Garz was now giving me a questioning look. "Wait. You were born with your class?" "Yes..?" Garz now looked beyond disbelief. "Sorry if it sounds like a stupid question, but I wasn''t born with a class, and I still don''t have one." Garz''s eyes went wide with shock, "How? So strong with no class. No skill points. Wasting experience on race and not class." "I evolved." I blurted out, probably giving too much information, but I felt the need to defend my classless self, "Don''t goblins evolve?" Garz nodded, "Yes, but class more important. Focus on class. Get evolution eventually. Hobgoblin not much stronger than goblin," he paused to think a bit, "Maybe Chief can help you get class." I nodded and gave my thanks for his explanation. Assuming their evolution worked similarly, I wondered if the goblins didn''t know about the possibility of unlocking other evolution options. I decided to keep this to myself and focus on spending my trait point. Nothing caught my eye, so I purchased [Enhanced Willpower] and hoped it would stop the nightmares of having my body puppeted. Bolsters mental fortitude to resist mental afflictions and willingly suppress emotions, scaling with trait level.> Not having much to do, I ended up using my freshly acquired hands to play around with the various tools and weapons I had obtained. Garz seemed curious but held his tongue. Eventually, we reached another larger cave entrance that had a crudely crafted wooden palisade. Garz stopped and turned to face me. "I go in and call Chief to talk. Tell him you have bears to give us," He started to explain, "I tell them you won''t attack unless attacked. Also, drop off Zizz." I nodded and watched him run off and enter through the palisade gate. Trying to pass the time, I practiced utilizing my mana as I had a copious amount due to [Elven Legacy]. It was probably stupid, but I was literally punching rocks and doing a pretty good job, thanks to combining [Enhanced Strength], [Mana Reinforcement], and [Slime Density]. ''Who needs a mouth and throat anyway... Absorbing things is so much more efficient.'' I thought grumpily. "Us goblins are born with our class. But there is a way for Chiefs to guide our people and help them advance their classes." Chief Krutz spoke up, scratching his chin again, "Perhaps this could give you one?" "I''m willing to try almost anything. I feel like I''m missing out on a lot by not earning skill points." I responded positively. "Yes, skill points are preferred to trait points. One of my main duties as Chief is changing the experience distribution of my people to focus on their classes." He paused to take another sip. I waited with bated breath, eager to hear the rest, "And my other duty is to guide them with skill and trait choices, which might satisfy your other question." He held an open hand, and magical words materialized above his open palm: [Enhanced Strength]. Increases physical strength per trait level.> "By showing someone else a trait or skill makes them eligible to purchase it." He continued, "As the oldest goblin in our tribe, I must collect the knowledge and ensure it gets passed down to the next generation." "Can anyone do this? Can I do this?" I asked curiously. "Yes and yes," He responded with a nod and smile, "Simply open your status menu, focus on the trait or skill, and think of displaying it." I opened my status menu and looked for something inconspicuous to show. I copied his hand gesture, although it probably wasn''t required, and stared at [Dark Vision]. Display. The magical script formed above my palm, projecting the trait [Dark Vision]. "This is how we spread knowledge amongst our tribe. Sometimes, by chance, a new one is obtained, then we share it so that others may either purchase it directly or try unlocking it themselves." I was curious and opened the goblin profile and looked at [Robust Stomach]. I didn''t own this trait and was curious if profiles worked the same way. I focused on it and thought of displaying it and the magical text formed in the middle of the table. "Ah yes, you don''t need to use your hand. It just helps you choose the display location." Krutz added, seeming unaware I was displaying from a profile. We continued to chat, and I was informed that his Chieftain class gave him minor system control. This allowed him to change the experience distribution of a willing person. Normally, this would be an even split between race and class, but they usually adjusted it to 90% class, which was the maximum, and explained why the goblins I defeated had such strange levels. He also explained that similar to evolutions, classes could be advanced, and he could advance classes when they reached the maximum level. He proposed that this process could possibly give me a class finally. But, there was a catch; he required a higher Chieftain level to get more advanced functions. This led to me learning more about how to earn experience. Ordinarily, only the person who claimed the kill received experience, which explained why Sylthaeryn had me kill her. However, there was a system anyone could use called parties that allowed the experience to be shared equally amongst all participants. My immediate concern was dividing up the experience too much would severely hamper personal growth. Krutz explained that bonus experience is granted based on party size, and then that pool of experience was distributed. He wasn''t sure about the exact bonus, but an example was two goblins getting roughly 60% of the experience rather than the expected 50%. Krutz suggested cooperating with the goblins to defeat invading humans and also to consider forming a large party to take down the bear matriarch. Both options appealed to me, and we came to an agreement. I was even offered a home to stay in, which I suspected had belonged to Tarz. Our meeting finally ended with Garz offering to give me a tour. Chapter 32: Goblin Tribe Chapter 32: Goblin Tribe The goblin camp was more than I expected, considering it was inside a cave. There seemed to be a constant team of goblins who worked towards expansion and digging deeper. There were goblin cooks, farmers, and crafters. They really had a whole community in here, only lacking smiths to make better arms and armor, and any metal bits they owned came from dead humans. I was apparently the talk of the town, as goblins came to approach me or stared from a distance, often calling me Tarz. I could have changed to one of the other two absorbed goblins, but that might lead to more questions, and I''d still be another stolen identity. Turning back into my slime form would likely cause a panic, and I''d be unable to communicate. I asked one of the crafters if they were able and willing to make me a better outfit if given the materials. There was hesitation until I pulled out some of my boar hide and the mostly ruined bear pelt. I also sweetened the deal by offering a few tusks to use as spear points. If I liked her work, I planned to ask her to make something for my elf form, assuming I could get it working. The goblins were shocked that I had a ''storage power'' as the Chief had the only storage bag in the entire tribe, looted from a dead adventurer ages ago. Lastly, Garz brought me to the lodging they offered me, which wasn''t much, and it seemed devoid of any furnishings and belongings. I was used to living inside a tree, so upgrading to four walls and a door was an upgrade as far as I was concerned. Garz''s tour might have been so they could claim the contents before bringing me. I thanked him, and he said he would fetch me in the morning. With privacy obtained, I started to strip until I got the idea to use my storage directly. The clothes vanished inside and saved me a lot of fumbling around if only I could do it in reverse. I confirmed my earlier theory by shifting into the other two goblins I had consumed, and then I moved on to my brand-new bear form. My core automatically pulled from my slime reserve to fulfill the volume requirement, and I felt myself growing into the bear form. ''Yes! I thought I was close to a mimicry level, but I''m not going to complain about both going up. The perfection and first-time bonuses are so damn good. I should ask the goblins if they know of any other bonuses.'' Wanting to test my success, I cycled through every form I had perfected. The shifting between forms was smoother than ever, with only a minor delay. If I could solve the clothing situation, I could lose a pursuer by walking around the corner and rapidly shifting. I spent the rest of my evening trying to turn into Sylthaeryn. There was a noticeable improvement from my improved traits alone, and I could walk, but it was far too goopy still. It was finally complete enough for me to test [Mana Sight], which created glowing auras of anything containing mana. Looking around, I saw that almost every aura had an almost unique coloring and was distinctly goblin-shaped. When I casually raised my hand in front of my face, I let out a gurgled scream when I was suddenly almost blinded by the bright light and canceled [Mana Sight]. ''Okay. That felt dumb, like staring directly at the sun. I maybe should have expected that with [Mana Slime] being maxed out...'' It was time for sleep, but I wasn''t going to do so out in the open. I focused on making a tiny hole using [Acid Slime], barely larger than my core, and ensured my tunnel wasn''t just straight down by including a few curves. It was surprisingly entertaining drilling through the rock like this, and if I didn''t want to keep my cards hidden for now, I''d likely even volunteer to join the miners. I finished off my hiding spot by using my [Sub-Core] to plug the hole by turning it into a rock, connected back to my body with a trail of minimal-density slime. "Well. I don''t have any skills for weapons. Or many skills at all, to be honest." I responded dejectedly, "It took me forever to get [Evasion]..." "Maybe you can train with warriors. Need good dodging, or humans kill us easy." "That sounds like a good idea." I replied while putting away my sword, hoping to disguise it as my ''storage power'' they knew about, "Also, I was wondering if I could trade more fangs and tusks for some weapons. I need one more bow. Not sure if you have two swords? Any weapons, I think even broken, would work." Garz agreed and took me to a different crafter than the one I met yesterday. I ended up trading a large number of wolf fangs for a bow, which evidently was very hard for the goblins to make. I traded all my remaining boar tusks and a few wolf claws for two rusted swords, two broken shields, and a greatsword with a cracked blade near the cross-guard. Without a doubt, I kept my rage boar tusk and wouldn''t even show it to the goblins unless they had something amazing for trade. After sneakily consuming my acquisitions, we headed towards the training grounds, but not before another surprise notification, and I suddenly could see much further in the cave. "Garz, what level is your [Dark Vision]?" "Five. Maxed. Like most goblin." I nodded and thanked him. It made sense if they lived in a cave, the trait would be constantly in use. Speaking of traits, I decided to use [Enhanced Strength], [Enhanced Dexterity], and [Enhanced Agility] for my mimicry. I wanted to keep the maximum mimicked traits active to put pressure on my core, which was much harder to do since improving [Core Refinement] and purchasing [Enhanced Intellect]. I was eager to see and join the goblins in their training. Chapter 33: Goblin Sparring Chapter 33: Goblin Sparring The goblin training ground was sparse, mostly open space except for a few archery targets. The sparring was done armed with sticks and trying to dodge each other''s blows. I questioned why they only focused on dodging and not blocking with shields or parrying. Garz pointed out that raw strength was a rarity amongst goblins, and instead, they prioritized their small size to focus on evading. When I asked if I could join the practice, the goblins were surprisingly accepting, and I soon found myself locked into a duel with sticks. My non-existent sword skills made me unable to land a blow on my opponent, but likewise, he couldn''t land a blow on me. After a lot of back and forth, eventually, his stamina must have run out, and I managed to land a swing on his head, causing him to admit defeat. I kept getting called Tarz by the other goblins, which irked me and made me wonder if the Chief had kept my real identity a secret. One of the more experienced warriors then decided to challenge me, and he baited my dodges into a direct thrust to my chest. He had a smirk on his face until he realized that I hadn''t flinched or even reacted at all to his blow, and then he had to dodge my clumsy counterattack. Not feeling any pain through my slime was an unfair advantage, and then the outer layer combination of [Slime Density] and [Mana Reinforcement] likely made me invulnerable to sticks. "Shit! Why Tarz so tough?" He cursed and then charged at me again. The spectators were baffled at the display. Blow after blow landed on me, but I didn''t show any reaction beyond simply trying to hit him back. This strange fight progressed much longer than my first, and even though I was finding more success evading, I realized it was likely due to his building fatigue. I was so desperate to land a blow that when one finally connected, my stick shattered into splinters, sending him tumbling across the field. "Shit..." I muttered softly, "I might have put too much force into that. Maybe I shouldn''t be using [Enhanced Strength]." I was expecting panic, but the audience actually cheered, "Tarz! Tarz! Tarz!" The goblin was unconscious but only had superficial wounds, so he was carried home without much fuss. Garz approached, congratulated me on my win, and apologized for the goblins misunderstanding my identity. "It''s not a big deal. If they knew the truth, it could cause too much panic." I responded, "Although, won''t they ask questions about my abilities?" "Chief is saying Tarz got a rare class from killing bear," Garz answered. "I guess that works..." I reluctantly agreed. The rest of the day was some more dodging practice and a small break where Garz had me try to use a bow, which I was embarrassingly bad at. I even got some raw meat and mushrooms for lunch and dinner, and attempting to fake eating them was likely my greatest challenge of the day. I spent the evening trying to improve my elf transformation while using [Mana Sight]. Once again, I spent my morning trying out weapon shapes until Garz picked me up. We went straight to the training ground, and I participated in back-to-back sparring, and shortly after lunch, my effort was rewarded. During dinner, the Chief and the crafter both came to visit. "Greetings Syl, I hope you''ve been enjoying your stay." Chief Krutz began, "I''ve heard you''ve been giving quite the workout for the warriors." "It''s been fun. I''m finally actually evading rather than just being a training dummy." I replied. "Yuzz here has been working with the leather you gave her. Your outfit should be ready tomorrow, but she had some questions-" "I get extra experience and better products. You should do all our harvesting." Yuzz proposed. "That wouldn''t be a bad idea. Maybe I could arrange a tutor for you in exchange?" "I don''t mind as long as you remove any meat you want to keep beforehand and consider anything beyond claws, bones, hide, and fangs lost once you give me the carcass." There was a pregnant pause before the Chief agreed to my terms. I now had a source of extra slime mass on the side for minimal effort. We exchanged a few more pleasantries before they departed, Yuzz telling me to fetch my outfit tomorrow. My evening and the following morning were both a repeat, but when Garz arrived, he told me he would be out hunting today. He offered for me to join them, but I wanted to visit Yuzz and do some more training. Yuzz was vibrating with excitement to see me when I arrived. I found out the reason when she took me not to my new outfit but to the carcass of a strange creature I had never seen before. Roughly midway between a wolf and a bear in size. It had black and white fur that was thick and coarse and two massive front claws that I''d hate to be on the receiving end of. "I was wondering if you could harvest this for me. Miners ran into it, so I made sure no amateur took it apart." Yuzz requested. [Dissection] was already frantic to start work on a new creature and highlighted the claws and fur. "Alright. My skill tells me its fur and claws are the only things valuable, but I assume you want the bones as well?" "Yes, we use the bones for tools or reinforcement. This creature has a sturdy skeleton, so those should be very handy." I nodded, placing my hands on the carcass and extracting slime mass till I had enveloped the creature. I thought this method might be more subtle than having pseudopods erupt from my goblin body. Yuzz stared in fascination, with plenty of ''oohs'' and ''ahhs'' thrown in. Then, it was a simple matter of mentally excluding the fur, bones, and claws and turning on [Acid Slime]. Rapidly, all the unneeded bits melted away. ''Only 30%? Maybe because I didn''t eat enough of it?'' I thought to myself. I withdrew my slime, leaving behind the monster parts, and Yuzz started clapping frantically with joy. "That was amazing! Although, with how quickly you did it, it felt like cheating!" She said while picking up a bone, then a claw, and finally touching the fur, "No, this is undoubtedly cheating. What the heck? I''ve never seen such a clean harvest." I smiled nervously, not expecting so much genuine praise, and mentioned I''d be glad to harvest more of those creatures. Yuzz said that they live throughout the mountain and tunnel wherever they please, sometimes popping up in the cave accidentally, and other times, a lair of theirs is discovered when the miners expand. She finally gave me my new outfit and helped me put it on. It was visually appealing over the random bits and mismatched pieces I was wearing previously. The armor was light and comfortable, emphasizing mobility and stealth, and decorated with little patches of bear fur on the wrists and ankles. She also included a cloak made of bear fur; I was genuinely surprised she managed to get so much usable material out of that partially melted monstrosity. Depositing my old outfit, I started heading towards the training area after saying farewell to Yuzz, who was already all over the badger parts. Chapter 34: Goblin Skill Tutoring Chapter 34: Goblin Skill Tutoring I wanted the goblins to use real weapons against me to see if the risk bonus the Chief mentioned was real. The downside I shortly realized was this would ruin my brand new outfit. I could''ve regressed to wearing my old rags but felt oddly vain about showing off. After some internal debate and looking through my traits, I found a solution using a forgotten aspect of [Chroma Shift]. I had been so focused on using it to perfect my mimicked forms that I forgot the trait also worked in reverse. I covered my entire goblin body and outfit in a slime layer and reduced the opacity to the absolute minimum, which sadly did not turn it completely invisible. I was playing around with getting the layer to match the color beneath, but this was taking up far too much mental capacity for my liking before even fortifying it with [Slime Density] and [Mana Reinforcement]. I eventually resigned and set it all to a transparent white. If anyone asked, I''d say I have a mana barrier, which was technically almost true and would likely be more believable to the uninformed goblins on why Tarz was suddenly surviving real weapons. If I perfected this, I could likely add it to any future disguises without much fuss. The goblins were a bit reluctant to use real weapons on me, as they had seen how bad I was at dodging and questioned my toughness. I pointed out my mana barrier, which caused a reluctant agreement. The first trainee was very soft with her spear thrusts, and I intentionally ate a hit to prove my point. After the initial gasps and proving my point, she finally started to put real effort into it. After getting in some dodges and taking some weapon blows from the warriors, I headed to the archery range and asked the scouts if they''d like some live shooting practice. They agreed much more readily than the warriors, likely due to how hard it was to level up shooting skills safely. When the rain of arrows came down upon me, I almost regretted my decision as I took arrow after arrow. That blade wolf made dodging multiple projectiles look simple, but the coordination between the scouts was baffling. They would bait me into dodging one arrow, only to get hit by three. After a full afternoon of tanking more hits than dodging, I didn''t gain a level in [Evasion] but an old friend instead. Garz came to fetch me with a few other goblins dragging carcasses and, to my shock, two large bears. "Wait, weren''t those cubs a few days ago?" I asked in disbelief. "Baby monsters grow when they level up," Garz answered. "Talk about a growth spurt... amazing what levels can do. I''m also surprised at their obedience." "Scouts can sometimes become tamer. Bond with baby monster." I froze when I heard those words, remembering what happened with Sylthaeryn. I thankfully recovered before anyone seemed to notice my slight panic. They led me to their butcher''s hut, and we got to work. The goblins couldn''t believe my speed since I was harvesting quicker than their butcher could simply remove the meat. Their spoils were a wolf, two deer, and one badger. I really wanted more of those badgers. While the skill wasn''t anything flashy, I liked that it would allow me to pick up a weapon and at least know if I was supposed to stab with the pointy end, slash things to pieces, or simply bash them over the head. During my evening elf practice, I did gain the trait I had suspected. See the flow of mana throughout the world. Mana sight can see through obstructions based on trait level. Trait level also determines the minimum level of mana able to be detected and detection range.> Disabling the mimicked version of the trait allowed me to compare the difference between trait levels, which was startling. Distant mana auras became snuffed out when I swapped to my inferior version, but I was glad to have it available in all forms now. I spent the next morning and afternoon with the scouts, getting tutoring on the bow. Tarz had become quite popular amongst the goblins since I had replaced her, and I had multiple scouts offering me pointers. Imparts a basic understanding of ranged weapons and their utilization, scaling with skill level. In addition, gain a minor accuracy and damage adjustment for ranged attacks.> ''I wonder if this would apply to [Slime Shot]?'' While preoccupied with my new skill, a horn blew and echoed throughout the cave. All of the goblins began to scramble, and while I looked around sheepishly, Garz came running up to me. "Humans have been spotted." Chapter 35: Goblins Versus Humans Chapter 35: Goblins Versus Humans "How many?" I asked while following after Garz. "Four. Two warriors. Archer. Magic." Garz replied, "Already killed ten goblins." I couldn''t believe that many had died already. How powerful and dangerous were humans? When we got to the cave entrance, the group was roughly twenty goblins and myself. That was when I received a notification. ''Yes'' Garz, Zizz, Roz, Kwez, Vulz, Syl.> Immediately upon joining the party, I could sense the other members of my party like a faint tickle in the back of my mind. Even if they were amongst hundreds of goblins, I could point towards all of them individually. "How did you do that?" I asked Garz. "You ask in head for person to join party. Tell in head that you want to leave party." Garz answered me, "Must use word party. Important." I nodded and looked around at our group, wondering why we weren''t sending more or using the bears. "Are only us going?" I asked. "Yes. Send too many then humans run. Tell other humans. Army comes and kill all." Garz informed, "Chief comes from old tribe killed by humans. They smart. We must also." Even though I was thankful Garz would share information with me, I wish he spoke as clearly as Krutz or Yuzz. I looked at the other party members; all four had spears, and I recognized the one who survived the bear attack. Our groups left the cave and spread out into our separate parties, but all headed in the same general direction. I didn''t want to stand out amongst the goblins, so I formed a short spear since that seemed to be the generic goblin weapon. I planned to hide amongst the crowd and pull off an assassination. We were not the first to arrive on the scene as I spotted the four humans already fighting goblins. Of the two warriors, one was a heavily armored blonde woman with a sword and shield, while the other was a red-haired boy wielding two axes and wearing animal pelts. The archer wore blackened leather and a cloak, a belt lined with small knives, and his features obscured. Finally, the caster was an older gentleman who wore a greyish-white robe and had a staff with a golden tip. The goblins were being slaughtered. "Wow, there''s a lot of the bastards." The axe boy commented. "Focus, Samuel." The armored woman ordered. "It''s Sam. Only my mom calls me Samuel." He retorted while cleaving a goblin into chunks, "It''s just goblins. Don''t get so worked up." An arrow struck his shoulder, and he quickly ripped it out. The older gentleman chanted something, and a golden-hued white light enveloped him, causing the wound to close rapidly. "Healing magic?" I whispered questioningly. "That''s bad," Garz replied, gritting his teeth in a nasty snarl. "I''m confident in my [Stealth] skill. I can sneak around and take out the healer." I suggested. "What spell was that?" Kathryn asked in shock. "No idea, but it missed," Toby replied. Instead of running, he started drawing on his bow, the tension on the frame and string so tight that you could hear the wood creaking. It looked bad, but I had no choice but to approach him. I tried firing a few bullets of slime as I charged, but he sidestepped them. Then he released his bowstring. I couldn''t even see the arrow''s trajectory as it suddenly ruptured through the entirety of my left torso. "Ha! Bullseye! Can''t deflect [Power Shot], you bitch!" He celebrated prematurely. ''I''m so glad I''m not stupid enough to keep my core in my chest region.'' I thought to myself, but not before putting some extra effort into reinforcing my pelvic region, where my core actually was. I faked a death stagger and fired a transparent-white [Slime Shot] aimed at his ankle from one of my fingers. It struck without him noticing, causing him to curse in pain and nearly topple over. When my chest cavity stitched back together and I continued my charge, he shrieked. "Kathryn, help! This thing is a monster! It regenerated even its heart!" He screamed. "Toby! I''m stuck! It''s like trying to walk through a swamp!" She shouted in response. I looked towards her and noticed she was advancing at a snail''s pace, each step glacially slow, as she had to yank her foot from the ground sludge. I glanced at the axe guy and saw he was actually collapsed on the ground and riddled with arrows, like a human-sized porcupine. Garz had been busy. Toby had started to panic and tried to retreat despite Kathryn screaming at him, but as soon as he turned his back on me, I started firing [Slime Shot] again. When I got within range, he hastily flung daggers at me. But, like his arrows, they couldn''t get through my barrier. As his last stand, he pulled a short sword from his waist, ready to fight. ''What? How?'' I was startled at the notification. "Fuck! Sam! Shit!" Toby screamed in rage and thrust his blade into my chest. I erupted two tendrils from each arm and engulfed his head. He started to thrash and stab repeatedly as I tried to force the acid down his throat. The flailing slowed down until he collapsed. I engulfed the entire body and deposited his equipment as he was rapidly absorbed. Despite his size, he gave a surprising amount of slime, once again making me question the conversion ratio. I''d regain all my spent slime with just one, maybe two more of the humans. Kathryn was near the edge of the sticky slime trap I had created, glaring at me with tears in her eyes. "How could you? You monster!" She screamed at me, pointing her sword, "Those were my friends!" "Did you expect us to roll over and die for you?" I interjected. "What!?" She shouted, flabbergasted. "You attacked us, and we defended. You killed four of my party." I replied with a shrug and gestured to all the dead goblins, "Not to mention all the others." She seemed to hesitate for only a moment before she spat out, "Fuck you, monster! Even if I die, the guild will know and kill you all!" She screamed, swinging her blade. I sighed and started to swell in size, withdrawing my outfit as I abandoned my goblin form - with Garz as the only survivor, there was no need for disguises. She continued to hack away at an endlessly growing mass of slime. But her screams of rage were soon replaced with screams of terror. Large and thick slime tendrils burst out of my form to grab her limbs, restraining her. She continued to scream until I silenced her, covering her entire body in slime. She struggled till the very end, even trying to swim through the slime mass to the edge, but it was over. Chapter 36: Essence Chapter 36: Essence Garz only approached me once I started to shift back into my goblin form. He no doubt had complex emotions about this outcome; the humans were dead, but the loss of goblins was over sixfold. I felt oddly calm about being surrounded by death, and I thought my first time killing a human would have affected me. But if anything, I felt more upset about the dead goblins, which still couldn''t even compare to Sylthaeryn. I decided to break the silence. "Are you okay?" "Yes. No." He was looking at all the corpses with a resentful expression. "What happened to Zizz? I thought all the humans were dead or incapacitated." "He... Wanted to stab axe human. Kill him. Get glory. When he stabbed human. Suddenly human come to life," Garz said bitterly, "Human killed Zizz. Then human die." That was a horrible outcome. He was on the verge of death and still managed to claim another life. It reminded me of the last burst of life from the Rage Boar, and looking at the notification, maybe the Barbarian class was the reason. "Sorry Garz. At least we protected the rest of the tribe." He nodded but didn''t say anything. I walked over to where the cleric and barbarian corpses were and started dissolving them through tendrils, depositing what remained of their equipment in my storage. Everything went inside except for a backpack belonging to the barbarian - it absolutely refused to be stored. I opened the backpack to look inside, but it was empty. "Storage bag," Garz suddenly told me. He had walked over while I was looting. I handed it over to him, and he turned it inside out. Suddenly, various contents spilled out from nowhere: bottles, food, sleeping bags, and a few copper and silver coins. However, what startled me was when a bunch of goblin ears fell to the floor. "Chief says they collect ears. Proof to other humans." Garz explained after seeing my confusion. "You take the bag, I don''t need it." Garz nodded and started to collect the goblin equipment. I took the copper and silver coins, leaving everything else from the pouch to him, and then started to help collect all the goblins together. I was tempted to absorb them, but Garz mentioned something about essence and plants and requested that I don''t eat any goblins. I complied, half out of respecting his wishes and the other half wanting an excuse not to be called a glutton. Garz left the party while we worked. While doing the monotonous task, I could spend time thinking; I had two trait points to spend after all. I had previously peeked at the partially complete badger profile and surprisingly found one trait that ignored my lack of organs. Survive lethal damage a number of times equal to trait level. Refreshed daily.> It sounded perfect, although the method of potentially leveling up the trait was a terrifying thought. Putting myself in an actual death scenario was not on my to-do list, but perhaps through willpower and a serving of masochism, I could inflict lethal damage on myself before sleep. The human profile was strangely more similar to the goblin profile than the elf profile. They had a chance to be born with a random amount of random traits and only a single exclusive trait, which they were born with. Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. Greatly increase the speed and ease of learning new traits and skills. This trait has no levels.> Back in the cave, I finally met up with Krutz. He thanked me for my contribution, and we exchanged some pleasantries before I asked about the dead. "When a being dies, we receive only some of its essence for the deed. The remaining goes to the Gods, with a leftover portion feeding the land itself." "But what is essence?" "Our levels, traits, and skills. Everything that makes up our being and that we''ve earned." "So you bury the dead near the crops for the essence to leak into?" "Yes. In the human lands, they have beings they call Heroes. When a Hero dies, it is almost a worldly celebration, and they entomb the Hero surrounded by crops and far away from spawns." "That''s rather grim... What are spawns?" "Areas where monsters can emerge. When an area is overly saturated in enough essence, then monsters can magically spawn. My original tribe was from a spawn. If we left the dead out in the forest, chances are wolves and boars would spawn." Krutz was happy for the tribe to have another storage bag and agreed with Garz keeping it. After saying farewell to Garz and Krutz, I was about to leave for my abode when I remembered the last adventurer. "One more thing... The last adventurer screamed something about a guild knowing of their death." Krutz looked deeply troubled after I told him that. He started muttering to himself and then sighed and shook his head. "We will need to prepare. We will need to kill the matriarch as soon as possible. We need to gain more strength." I nodded and went home when it looked like the discussions had ended. I tried out my human form, and thanks to the complete profile and my high trait levels, it was a first-try success. When shifting over to my elf form, the knowledge of a similar humanoid form was quite compatible, and after only a little more effort, I had finally completed my form. I then started looking over the loot I had taken from the adventurers, consuming the weapons to add to my existing profiles and adding a brand new profile. I found bottles containing pinkish-red and blue liquid that glowed from my [Mana Sight] and decided to devour some of them. "Health and Mana potions... Interesting." I mumbled to myself while looking over the details, "Wait... aren''t Mana potions made from blue slime?" I frowned at the remaining mana potion and deposited it along with the remaining health potion. The only other things that glowed with mana were four necklaces with an attached crystal. When I tried to absorb one, I felt immense pain in my mind and spat it out. I gave up on trying to eat one, so I tried wearing one instead, and strangely got a notification. Identification attempt blocked. Please return this ID to the nearest Adventurers Guild.> "Well... That''s something." Chapter 37: Breach Chapter 37: Breach "Okay, this is a really stupid idea..." I muttered to myself. I was currently holding a slime sword with all the bells and whistles directly in front of my exposed core. Logically, it made sense, as the only way to improve the trait was to use it, but my emotional side was not happy even if I was trying to shut it up with [Enhanced Willpower]. I had become very unaccustomed to pain due to my unique biology, and to say I was terrified would be an understatement. "On the positive side, I think this will also help [Core Refinement]..." I said with a sigh. I swung the sword at my core, almost immediately regretting my decision while it was in motion, and then the pain came. It hurt like hell, and that was an understatement. My [Shapeshifting Mimicry] actually struggled to maintain my form, causing me to half-revert to a puddle of inert slime. The worst part... One swing wasn''t enough. It took two more swings before it finally happened. I collapsed into a lifeless puddle at the relief of it finally being over, as the self-inflicted torture had taken a great mental toll. I considered using a healing potion to end my suffering, but I found my core already injecting and consuming slime to fill its cracks. I crawled into my hole and went to bed. The first thing I did when I woke up was inspect my core, and to my relief, the scarlet red orb was back to its flawlessly smooth perfection. Although this recovery was significantly costly in slime mass, eating into most of what I had earned yesterday. "Perhaps I should consider [Slime Conversion] soon, or I''m going to run into a daily deficit." When it looked like Garz wasn''t coming this morning, I decided to head out myself. I used my bear cloak to cover the gap in the armor to retain some modesty before leaving. My destination was Yuzz''s home, and during the trip, I received a lot of praise for dealing with the humans from the goblins going about their work. I still wasn''t happy that everyone thought I was Tarz, and I was grateful that at least Yuzz was one of the few who did. "Morning Yuzz." "Morning Syl, what can I-" She stopped and stared at the gaping hole in my armor, "Dammit, your new armor! Wait, how the hell did you survive something like this?" "I was lucky." I lied because even if we were friendly, I would never reveal that any damage not to my core was superficial at best. I managed to hide my shock of suddenly gaining a new skill, helped by Yuzz being too busy examining the damage. "I can fix it, but it''ll be patchy, unfortunately." "Thanks. I was also hoping you''d make a new outfit for me." "Oh? More rare materials?" Yuzz said with sparkles in her eyes. I pulled out the intact bear pelt along with my remaining boar hide. Yuzz was practically drooling already. When I got closer, I heard the echoes of battle and goblins shouting. The farm was being invaded. Those badger monsters were emerging from a large hole in the cavern wall, and the goblins were scrambling to hold them back. Cursing, I formed a spear and charged into the fray. I joined a group of goblins in a pincer maneuver against one of the creatures. My spear stabbed through its defense with an audible fizzing noise. It roared in anger as it ignored the goblins and directed its fury on me. I was thankful for all the training as I dodged its threatening claws and entered a flow of counterattacks. I thought it had finally died when it collapsed, only for it to suddenly burst with renewed vigor, thrashing wildly and, unfortunately, taking out one of the goblins. I thrust my spear deep within the creature and activated [Slime Burst] on the tip of my spear; the spearhead swelled with slime and then exploded deep within the monster. "[Defy Death]..." I muttered to myself, remembering they were the source of my recent purchase. I left behind the corpse to join another battle, as I knew it would be my job to harvest them later. This one went down without too much trouble, and unfortunately, I wasn''t the one to land the killing blow after it triggered [Defy Death]. I kept hopping from battle to battle, getting a full workout of my combat skills. It was far too effective using [Slime Burst] to detonate my spear point inside a creature, easily worth the slime mass expenditure. The bigger problem was it ruined the meat the goblins needed for food, and while I would be fine eating melted innards, I assumed even [Robust Stomach] wasn''t good enough to eat acid. During the encounters, I claimed two more kills myself, and eventually, the farm finally became free of any badgers. I joined a group of warriors for what looked like a debriefing. I was thanked for my swift participation and praised for my effective fighting style. Although internally, I knew I only looked untouched thanks to lacking flesh and blood. "What happened?" I asked. "Cave breach. Too much dead. Too much essence. Monsters attracted." One of them explained and pointed to the hole. "We should go in. Find nest. Kill all!" Another enthused goblin suggested. "I don''t mind going to explore the hole. I''m good at sneaking." I offered. If I went in alone, I could stop holding back and earn valuable experience for my neglected traits like [Pseudopod]. "Tarz strong. Killed even humans. Good idea." One of the goblins agreed. There was a bit of back and forth, but eventually, I got the go-ahead from the warriors. I got told to scout and retreat if things became too dangerous. I wasn''t sure where the usual leadership of Garz and Krutz was during all of this, but it could wait since there was a cave to explore. I approached the breach and looked down the long, roughly dug-out tunnel. "Time to explore," I said with an excited grin. Chapter 38: Spelunking Chapter 38: Spelunking Once I was deep enough in the hole, I deposited my equipment and reverted to my comfortable blob form. It was far easier to travel like this without the need to worry about legs or cramped conditions. During the monotony of travel, I looked at the new skill I earned. Deceive others with your presence, actions, and words. Take on false roles and blur the lines of truth. The effectiveness of your deception is based on skill level and circumstantial evidence.> ''Is it just me, or do some of these descriptions feel like they''ve been written by different people?'' I wondered, ''I''m assuming I got this because I''ve not been entirely truthful to the goblins. Not to mention, the majority still think I''m Tarz.'' My vision received a much-needed improvement as the dark cave suddenly lit up, and I could see further along. The first point of trouble that came in my spelunking was when I reached a fork in the tunnel, both leading far into the dark. I shifted into my wolf form and started sniffing each direction for the fresher trail. ''Time to put this nose to work.'' Both forks had scent trails, but thanks to my skill and mimicked traits, it was simple to find the fresher one and head in that direction. I ran into my first straggler when the badgers retreated, which was occupied with eating the remains of a goblin. It snarled and growled at me, probably thinking I was a wolf after its meal. Rather than fight as a wolf, I rapidly dropped the form while withdrawing slime mass, enough to plug the tunnel. Cramped and tight spaces were definitely to my advantage, and it was a simple matter of flooding forward until I engulfed the badger monster. It did try to claw at the wall of slime and tried to retreat when it saw it was ineffective, which was when I sent the tendrils to grab it. I continued to travel along the tunnel until I came across what looked like another cavern breach. Before sticking my head out, I gave it a quick sniff in my wolf form and caught multiple scents. ''I think I found their nest.'' I could have gone in guns blazing and come out fine, but I had a new form and skill to give a workout. Shapeshifting into a badger, I picked out the following traits to copy: [Enhanced Claws], [Enhanced Strength], [Thick Skin]. I could have mimicked a higher level of [Defy Death], but I didn''t want to risk using more than my own single use, and then when I turn back into a slime, I just suddenly explode and die. I cautiously entered through the breach and into a cave expanse. It was much larger than I expected, possibly a natural cave that the monsters spawned directly in, and then they branched out or perhaps another entrance from elsewhere. Surprisingly, it wasn''t completely dark, and a few bioluminescent mushrooms were growing along the walls. The badgers were either sleeping or eating, and I mentally held my breath when I neared one, but it barely glanced at me. Grateful for my successful disguise, I continued to scout the cavern, and that was when I spotted the nest and the largest monster I had ever seen, easily twice the size of a bear. Different effects can be mixed at a reduced potency for each combination and limited to trait level. The potency of any malignant condition scales with trait level but can also be affected by outside factors such as dilution, concentration, or delivery method. Additional effect types must be acquired through sampling poisons, toxins, or venoms. Available effects: [Paralysis]. Compatible with other slime traits.> ''And I thought [Acid Slime] was crazy... Not only does the trait have levels, but it has its own included catalog that I can expand by sampling. It always comes back to eating things. Maybe I need to consider gluttonous at this point...'' I looked at the updated slime profile from the new species. Common traits were [Slime Shot] and [Slime Burst], which made sense because how else would it deliver its poison? The rare trait made me scared when I read its name alone, thinking it was a self-destruct button, but the description disarmed my paranoia. Allows slime mass to be vaporized into a gaseous form, dispersing into the air. This conversion process is irreversible, and the expended slime mass is unrecoverable. This trait has no levels. Compatible with other slime traits.> ''So the common purple slimes would spit their goop at foes to poison them, while the rare ones can emit noxious gases. Sounds utterly horrendous, and I''m so glad that I''m immune to poison.'' I wanted this trait, and I happened to be surrounded by tons of free experience. Who knew that cave spelunking could be so rewarding? Chapter 39: Badger Badger Badger Chapter 39: Badger Badger Badger I planned to target any badgers on the outskirts of the den. If not for their [Defy Death], I could have used [Sneak Attack], so the plan was instead to surprise engulf and combo [Acid Slime] and [Poison Slime]. I snuck up on my first target, happily eating the remains of one of the goblins. I jumped and expanded to engulf, hoping my slime would muffle any sounds from the creature. It flailed wildly but wasn''t strong enough to escape such dense slime. The paralysis poison was sadly too weak compared to my acid, and the creature died before it took hold. Then, I transformed back into my disguise and walked to my next target. It was a simple and effective method and easy to replicate. ''Yuzz is going to be so happy with all this fur.'' I thought with a mental chuckle, picturing the overeager crafter vibrating with excitement. After reducing the monster badger population, I found one far away enough from anything else noticing, even if I was slower. I wanted to see the effects of [Poison Slime], so I disabled my acid before engulfing it. Like the others, it frantically tried to escape and slowly began losing its motor control. It must have suffocated shortly after the poison stopped it squirming. I was a little disappointed in the poison, but it was only level one, so it was all up from here. I reread the description of the trait. ''Affected by outside factors such as delivery method, huh...'' I mentally mumbled, ''Skin contact is probably the worst delivery method, so ingestion or maybe direct access to the blood?'' I gazed at the big monster badger and found it lazily sleeping, completely unaware of the danger. I moved on to my next target, although I was running low on badgers now. This time, after engulfing it, I stabbed it with a replicated dagger on a [Pseudopod]. The results were noticeable, and it stopped moving long before suffocating. I immediately bought the new trait. Unfortunately, testing my new attack method would have to wait, as I did not want to wake up the sleeping beast, and I could hazard a guess that the badgers would make a noise when inhaling poisonous fumes. I turned back on [Acid Slime], but I only wanted it to melt enough to create exposing wounds for the poison. I caught the unsuspecting monster and proceeded as planned, and the conclusion was a far quicker application of the paralysis poison. Satisfied with lowering the numbers, it was finally time to deal with the big boss. The remaining badgers felt a little too risky to take out without alerting others, and ultimately, the big one. I wanted the element of surprise, my fight with the Blade Wolf still fresh in my mind. I crawled up the cavern wall sneakily until I was above the monster, and then I started to grow. I silently praised [Adhesive Slime], which made clinging to the roof effortless. ''I swear my head is ringing with so many notifications...'' I groaned, ''Why won''t it just die already...'' To my surprise, it gave up on trying to attack me and then started to dig, its claws practically gliding through the rocks. I moved my cores to a safe spot and clung tightly to its body with my slime mass. As I lost vision of the cave, I saw numerous badgers had collapsed to the ground, having succumbed to the paralysis. The giant badger kept digging while I kept leaking slime into its wounds. Suddenly, the digging stopped, and like the flip of a switch, it became dead still. Then it jerked and dug some more and stopped. Then again, and stopped. ''What the hell?'' I questioned before finally the notification arrived. ''Oh... I forgot about my emblem. I guess that explains all the traits and skills. It wasn''t kidding around with the experience bonus.'' I stared at the giant corpse, and [Dissection] frantically pointed out the valuable parts. Claws, fangs, spikes, fur, this thing was a buffet of treasure. I started to chow down, and now that it was dead, I seemed to have little to no trouble digesting it. It was quite horrific how little of the monster remained inside, with its insides thoroughly melted away. Once again I questioned how it had continued to fight for so long. ''I don''t think I''m going to break even with my slime mass spending, but the rewards were certainly worth it.'' Looking at the new poison type, it would dangerously hamper natural regeneration or healing and literally cause your blood to rot into a runny black sludge. It sounded like a hemotoxin on steroids. ''So that monster would cut you with its massive claws, and assuming you didn''t die outright, then you''d uncontrollably bleed to death from the Bloodrot.'' I puzzled together with the profile and sample, ''I guess it''s a good thing I fought it alone, or there would be so many dead goblins.'' Chapter 40: Poison Chapter 40: Poison Searching the updated profile with the evolved badger, I found the source of its partial immortality. Through your rage, you will persevere. Rapidly convert mana into health, efficiency scaling with trait level. Upon activation, the regeneration will not stop until health is full or mana depleted.> I wanted it. ''Damn it!'' I crawled out of the escape tunnel to the sight of so many paralyzed badgers. My [Sub-Core] suddenly started firing at their bodies, which made me realize it still had its standing order, which I canceled to stop wasting slime. ''That gives me an interesting idea. Maybe I could give it self-defense orders? It would always be waiting to jump in to help. I''ve definitely not been utilizing it properly except for nightshift work.'' I''d deal with the badgers later. My first priority was to check the nest. Using [Mana Sight], I found the spot and melted a path to it, revealing a very emaciated-looking purple slime. ''Huh... Was this the badgers bedtime snack?'' Now, I had to deal with the badgers, seven of them at my mercy. From an outside perspective, it might have seemed cruel, but these things showed no sympathy when they invaded the goblin cave. I first tested out Bloodrot by making a small dagger and cutting two of the badgers. The effect was not at all pleasant to witness, as the blackened blood seemed to spread throughout the creature and leak rapidly from the open wound as if the body were trying to eject it. They both eventually died, and when I dissolved them, I noted they gave less slime mass than I was used to. Next, I got to finally test out my [Vaporize Slime] trait. I felt a bit unsettled seeing my slime turn into a gas, and the unfortunate monster who breathed it in started coughing up blackened blood. I had to give it another dose of Bloodrot gas before it eventually died. Less effective than the open wound application, but very nasty. I tried out an acidic gas next, and the results were horrific and ruined almost every bit of harvestable material. [Dissection] scolded me for being so wasteful. I would have vomited if I had a stomach, which was saying something since I literally melted things to eat. I''d probably need to lock this away as a last resort or invest more in [Enhanced Willpower]. Next was trying out the sleep poison on the three remaining lab rats. I tried three different delivery methods: ingestion, inhalation, and injection. Inhalation seemed to work best, and I watched the creature gradually fall asleep. Next was injection, and lastly, ingestion. I delivered three swift [Sneak Attacks] to execute the badgers. ''How much experience did that damn apex badger give me?'' I wondered when I saw the notification, ''If the bear matriarch is also an apex, I will get another two levels at this rate.'' After harvesting all the badgers, I had a small net positive in slime. Although, tonight''s [Defy Death] training would make that a loss, which made me consider getting the rare blue slime trait [Slime Conversion]. Spend mana to generate slime mass. There is a daily conversion limit, scaling with trait level.> I had three trait points and a skill point. I immediately tried to purchase [Prodigy] again. ''Annoying...'' There was a skill I saw the Blade Wolf use that I could see from its profile, [Wind Step]. Move a short distance with near-impossible speed, even in mid-air. Skill level determines mana efficiency and maximum chained usage.> It sounded like a must-buy to me, and having aerial mobility couldn''t be understated. ''No! Gramps, why!?'' I slammed a pseudopod against the cavern floor, ''What the hell is Air Affinity now?'' Stolen story; please report. Obviously, I got no answers, so I''d need to ask one of the goblins. Before leaving, I did snack on some of the glowing mushrooms, adding to my [Mushroom] profile. I kept thinking about my traits purchases during the return trip to the goblin cave. I was feeling good, and powerful, but Gramps had still pointed out that magic was my greatest weakness. My first purchase went towards the much-delayed magic resistance. Adds a minor amount of passive magic resistance to offensive spells and spell effects, scaling with trait level. Resistance can be temporarily disabled to allow effects to pass. Beneficial spells from oneself automatically overcome resistance.> Next, I didn''t want to be bleeding slime mass every day, and with [Vaporize Slime] being added to my arsenal, I needed to be able to replenish my resources. Speaking of resources, ever since I got [Elven Legacy], I don''t think I''ve ever seen my mana level drop below Overflowing. So if elf bullshit is going to give me more mana than I know what to do with, I better spend it. I immediately activated it and felt my mana trickling away and slime mass generating, which I routinely compressed and stored away. I spent a lot of time thinking about my next purchase. I was tempted to save it, but I knew we were fighting the bear matriarch soon, and I''d likely gain two if not more, trait points from that. After much internal debate, I settled on purchasing a second [Sub-Core]. It felt like they had so much untapped potential, especially if I started leaving them with standby orders. ''A new [Sub-Core].'' I mentally responded, and a large quantity of slime mass immediately began to compress to an impossible level until forming another small red core. This was certainly unexpected. My cores could have their own little party amongst themselves. I was concerned that my second would never catch up to the first unless I deliberately hampered the first''s growth, not to mention if I wanted to add a third and beyond. [Core Refinement LV 4] [Core Storage LV 4] [Sub-Core Alpha LV 3] [Sub-Core Beta LV 1] [Consuming Osmosis LV 3] Mimic: [Shapeshifting Mimicry LV 3] [Chroma Shift LV 2] Mana: [Mana Circulation LV 3] [Mana Well LV 1] [Mana Reinforcement LV 4] [Mana Sight LV 1] [Slime Conversion LV 1] Attributes/Other: [Enhanced Intellect LV 2] [Enhanced Vitality LV 2] [Enhanced Willpower LV 2] [Magic Resistance (Lesser) LV 1] [Dark Vision LV 3] [Defy Death LV 1] Trait Points remaining 0 Skills: General: [Universal Language] [Dissection LV 5] [Mapping LV 2] [Tracking LV 1] Combat: [Evasion LV 3] [Melee Weapon Proficiency (Lesser) LV 2] [Ranged Weapon Proficiency (Lesser) LV 1] [Improved Accuracy (Lesser) LV 2] Sneaky Stuff: [Stealth LV 4] [Sneak Attack LV 3] [Identity Block LV 3] [Acting LV 1] Skill Points remaining 1 Chapter 41: Tests and Preparations Chapter 41: Tests and Preparations As I sat in my abode, I began thinking of ways to test the [Sub-Core]. I was currently in my elf form to train my mimicry skills and [Mana Sight]. Since Beta was at capacity, continuously withdrawing slime mass, I''d only be using Alpha for these experiments. I pulled a rock from my storage and held it in my hand. "Okay, Alpha. If something is going to hit me, I want you to catch it with a [Pseudopod]." I threw the rock upwards and let gravity do its job. Before the rock could hit my head, a small tendril emerged from the back of my head to catch it. "Perfect. Override that order, and now, if a threat is going to hit me, then use a [Pseudopod] to catch or deflect it." I repeated the rock toss and this time, there was no tendril to catch it, and the rock harmlessly bounced off my head. To test the boundaries of the order, I formed a dagger in one hand and used it to stab my other hand. There was no defensive reaction, so I upgraded the dagger to a sword and aimed it at my core. This time, a tendril emerged and grabbed my wrist. "Good job, Alpha. So you''re smart enough to know what a real threat is." I''d definitely be setting an order to defend from any real threats. But first, I had to spend my [Defy Death] before bed. Either I was growing used to harming myself, or the extra level of [Enhanced Willpower] was helping me go against my emotions. Still not enough for level up, unfortunately, I dragged myself to bed feeling the pain in my core. I woke up to an unexpected amount of notifications. I had figured [Mana Circulation] would level up soon since it came with [Mana Reinforcement], but it seemed to have slowed down recently since I was struggling to expend large amounts of mana. [Mana Well] took forever to level up, and I was unsure what method would improve its experience gain. Most surprising was Beta gaining a level already, truly showing the power of receiving donated experience from Alpha. ''Good job getting your junior up to scratch, Alpha.'' I used my entire allocation of [Slime Conversion] immediately, which was enough to offset my daily slime loss but not enough for the repairs on my core. Hopefully, that will be resolved in the next level or two. I visited Yuzz to fetch my repaired goblin outfit. Sadly, my secret request wasn''t ready yet, and as I predicted, they had the badger carcasses from the farm waiting for me to harvest. At least it was extra food. I wasn''t sure what to do with my badger parts yet. I''d likely trade them for something useful, but at the moment, it seemed like they had more parts than crafters. I was going to head to the training ground when I ran into Garz. It looked like it was time to hunt the bear matriarch. As the default sneaking expert, it was my job to check the cave out. I snuck in carefully and spotted one cub currently sleeping. I exited the cave and informed the goblins. They quickly got to work setting up some spikes made from wood and other various traps. Crafting traps wasn''t my thing, so I just chatted with Caz and Nez. One of the scout groups came running in a panic. The matriarch had been spotted and was returning. I wondered what an evolved bear would look like, as the wolf and badger were quite distinct, whereas the boar had seemed simple by comparison. The goblins positioned behind the various spikes and traps on the ground, bows drawn and ready. I snuck off to the side, readying my ambush once the conflict had begun, hopefully landing a good [Sneak Attack]. "Too bad I can''t drop down with four greatswords this time," I muttered. I planned on using a spear with paralysis and a dagger with Bloodrot. I hoped detonating a few spearheads inside of the bear would distribute the paralysis poison, while I knew the Bloodrot worked better with cuts and open wounds. As if announcing her arrival, I could feel tremors in the ground. How big was this damn bear? The goblins tensed. The bear that emerged seemed to want to mock my previous assessment of the badger as the biggest creature I''d seen. She was perhaps three or even four times larger than the bears I had fought in the cave. Unlike other evolved monsters, there wasn''t a unique tail, oversized fangs, or poisonous claws. Instead, she had what looked like rocky protrusions growing amongst her fur and forming almost a shell of rock over her limbs. "She''s evolved again!" I heard Krutz shout. The announcement shook through the goblins, but with their Chief to guide them, they seemed to have a determined resolve. ''So this will be my first double-evolved monster. I can''t wait to taste the profile.'' As if answering my thoughts, my mind tickled. Worthy. Chapter 42: Earthshaker Chapter 42: Earthshaker When the bear roared, the ground shook as if answering her rage. Nez raised his shield, which flashed with light and immediately drew the attention of the matriarch. The goblins on the outskirts fired arrows at the two bears trailing behind to draw them away from the fight. Krutz raised his skull scepter, which swelled in dark glowing mist. "[Condemnation of Sloth]!" He shouted, and the dark mist flung itself at the bear and clung to it like a miasma. The effects were immediately noticeable, as she was in midstride towards Nez and suddenly was moving in slow motion. Caz and Garz, rather than firing a hail of arrows, both were firing single powerful shots that caused their bows to creak from the strain. They had to aim carefully, as any arrows hitting the rocky carapace seemed to bounce off harmlessly. Despite moving at a slower pace, she barreled through the spikes and traps. Before joining the melee fight, I decided to do some sniping of my own from stealth. The combo of sticky acid and paralysis was my ammo of choice, and while I didn''t think my shots could penetrate her defense, I hoped the slime would seep into the cracks and deliver the poison. I kept firing until her entire back was coated in bright purple slime, and I hoped the extra visibility would warn the goblins not to touch it. I could already tell my [Apex Hunter] emblem was doing good work. By this point, the bear had engaged with Nez and Borz. Nez, to my disbelief, did not dodge the bear''s claw attacks and instead parried the blow by slamming his shield against the claws, causing the shield to flash when they collided. Not to be outdone, Borz twirled his spear like a baton and thrust it deep into the bear, blood splattering to the ground when he yanked it out. When I arrived at the back of the bear, I could hear the acid fizzing away as it tried to melt through the flesh. I lunged with my spear to pierce deep into the rear of the bear, finding a small spot of flesh not covered in the rocky carapace. Then I detonated the spearhead, reformed it, and stabbed again. The matriarch roared in pain, and once again, I could feel the ground tremoring. I started slashing at any gaps I could find with my dagger, replacing her normal blood with blackened rot. I wondered if it was possible to paralyze such a large monster. I wasn''t sure if it had poison resistance like the badger or just a natural resistance from evolution, levels, or something like vitality. I was internally debating swapping to only using Bloodrot since I could visibly see it having an effect when the matriarch had enough of our onesided attacks and decided to up the ante. The earth rumbled, and when she roared, it erupted. The ground around her exploded into a shrapnel of rocks and dirt. Other than slightly losing my balance, I was unaffected, and it didn''t even trigger Alpha''s defense protocol, so I kept up my attack. The goblins were not so lucky, and Nez took a blow from a bear paw that sent him tumbling across the ground. Thankfully, there was no death notification, and he seemed to be slowly standing back up. Black sparks arced across the bear''s body, and it roared in discomfort. I activated [Mana Sight] and could see the bear glowing in a brown aura while Krutz''s was black. The bear''s aura flashed a deeper brown while it slammed its paw to the ground. A stalagmite erupted from the earth towards Borz, and he tried to dodge to the side but took a grievous wound to his torso. I kept stabbing and detonating spears in any gaps I spotted on the bear. I really hoped the paralysis would take hold. The bear thrashed wildly, desperately trying to get me off its back. The goblins did not look good after taking the brunt of the rock shards, and Krutz was now firing black energy bolts at the bear from his skull scepter. Caz scored a critical hit and landed a direct shot into one of the bear''s eyes. Meanwhile, Garz had stopped shooting, and it looked like he was trying to extract Nez from the fight, whose legs were shredded by rock shards. With another roar, the bear flung a boulder created from the earth towards Nez and Garz, then another at Krutz. Krutz easily dodged and countered with another black energy bolt, but Nez could not move, and Garz had to abandon him and dodge to the side. After detonating one more spear, I abandoned it for another Bloodrot dagger and started running along the back of the bear and cutting wherever possible. I ran up to the back of its head and made cut upon cut, blackened blood leaking out of the creature. I could see it powering up with another surge of earth mana, and I worried for Garz, who was now the only member on the frontline. I was about to abandon my disguise and go full tentacle slime monstrosity when the bear suddenly stopped moving. It collapsed to the ground, but there was no notification, so it was still alive. The buildup of earth mana released another burst of dust and gravel all around, Garz taking the brunt of it but not taking any life-threatening injuries. Krutz was panting heavily, barely holding onto his skull scepter, and his black aura looked like a sputtering candle. Garz looked like he had been to hell and back, covered in dirt, cuts and bruises, and the blood of Nez. Caz looked surprisingly fine, only taking some minor cuts and bruises. The goblins all stared at the unmoving bear with relief and confusion. I hopped off its back and approached its head. "I''m going to finish it off from the inside." I declared and thrust a fist inside the bear''s mouth before anyone could respond. The bear tried to growl at me, but all that came out was a gurgle, and I could see the hatred in its remaining eye. I poured slime mass down its throat and told both Alpha and Beta to go wild. Both sub-cores immediately took control over portions of slime inside the creature, and I could sense them making all sorts of tools to cut, puncture, and spread the Bloodrot acidic slime. I was hoping for Beta to get another level, but the matriarch didn''t have enough life left in it to hold out that long. The goblins looked like they wanted answers from me, but most were too tired to complain. Krutz''s mana was dangerously low, from my visual estimation. All of the goblin''s eyes suddenly went wide. They likely had all received their own notifications as well. There wasn''t much left of the bear between the Bloodrot and acid, but [Dissection] wanted the rocky carapace. I put it in the back of my mind and frowned at the notifications I had received. Why did I only gain a single level despite my [Apex Hunter] emblem? I would have expected two or even three levels from this fight. Something smelled wrong, and it wasn''t the rotting bear. Chapter 43: Choices Chapter 43: Choices The bear profile told me that the matriarch was originally a Greater Bear and then further evolved into a Greater Earthshaker Bear. I could assume that if I picked another mutation evolution, I''d get something extra appended to my race. The ''Greater'' evolution seemed awful if I compared it to the options I had available for my first evolution, and if I had to summarize it, it just made her ''more bear'' like adding two bears together. I wondered if that was what happened if you failed to meet any other evolution conditions. I didn''t see any poison resistance trait or skill in her profile, but she had [Enhanced Vitality 6], so either that or her race levels were the source of her resistance to my paralysis. She had [Digging LV 5] and lived in a cave, so maybe that was enough to trigger the evolution condition. Speaking of evolutions, I assumed the Badger received its evolution from its habit of eating poisonous slime. I wondered what new evolution options I''d have. Earthshaker gave her the traits [Mana Circulation], [Earthen Carapace], and the skill [Earth Magic]. I now had two skill points, and magic sounded like a good choice with my currently stupid amount of mana. "Bullshit... First Wind and now Earth. Do I even have an affinity?" I mumbled to myself. I was brought back to reality when Caz approached me and patted me on the back. "Good job." She said with a grin, "Don''t know what you did. But that bear is super dead." I nodded and looked around. A large group of goblins were carrying back the two other bear carcasses to the village while another pair were transporting the remaining cub. It also seemed like Krutz and Garz had already left. Nobody was approaching the bear''s corpse, which was still leaking black blood. "Did you get a lot of experience from that fight?" I asked. "I got two class levels. I don''t think anyone expected the matriarch to have evolved again." Caz answered, and I had to hide my frustration. "So, what are you planning on spending your skill points on?" "I have enough to increase [Power Shot] now." We chatted a bit, and I even got Caz to share the skill description. It felt like the ranged equivalent of [Sever Strike], and I wasn''t sure if I wanted to buy it, but at least I had another option available. I hoped it would be compatible with [Slime Shot], but I wasn''t willing to risk it until I had a more stable source of skill points. I told Caz I was going to harvest the bear and I''d return later. She nodded and left with a wave. Engulfing it in slime resulted in a quick harvest. Other than the rocky carapace that [Dissection] ranted about, the claws were the only other thing worthwhile that wasn''t ruined. I slowly walked back to the cave, giving myself some time to think. Garz had been distant since the battle with the humans, and it felt like Krutz was intentionally hiding something. He seemed almost reluctant to show me any skills and left without saying anything. Only gaining a single level from a double-evolved monster while meeting the condition for [Apex Hunter], however, was my greatest source of distrust. I had not thought of a trait to purchase by the time I got home, and I quietly went through my practice routine. Nobody came to visit, so I proceeded with my horrible before-bed routine. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. I was relieved to finally get a level in it, which meant I had another extra safety net. Although I didn''t dare risk trying it out now, what if the added use wasn''t immediate and I died right now? That would be a difficult conversation to have with Gramps. I crawled into my hole and went to bed. "I always wondered what actually using it would do. I need to get myself a storage bag." "If I find one, I''ll be sure to give it to you." The outfit was similar to my goblin outfit but with large amounts of bear pelt rather than the scarce patches. The iconic part was the cloak included a hood this time, although Yuzz needed to make holes in it for the elf ears to poke through. I used her room to change back to a goblin and set up a new outfit. Then I swapped to an elf and back to a goblin, with full outfit swaps between each transformation. "I think I love this skill," I told Yuzz and gave her another hug, this time goblin-sized. I thanked her and gave her three of the harvested badgers as thanks for her work and for giving me her skill. Shortly after I left, I ran into Garz, who told me Krutz was looking for me. I nodded and followed along. Garz did not look well and ignored all my attempts at small talk. When I saw Krutz, however, he greeted me with a friendly smile and welcomed me into his hut. Worthy. At this point, it was clear that was the equipped effect of [Apex Hunter]. ''Wait... When I spoke with him after the badgers, I don''t think he triggered my emblem.'' I thought, ''Which means after one fight, he''s now above or equal to me... That does not feel right.'' "So Syl, are you ready to finally get your class?" Krutz responded with a smile. "You unlocked the ability?" I questioned, hiding my suspicion with a winning smile. "Yes, I have. I''m sure you''re very excited. It will only take a moment. You will receive a notification like a party request. When you accept it, it will allow me to guide you into selecting a class." He explained and held out his hand. I wanted to believe him. Everything had been friendly before now. I took his hand, which initiated a black glow between our grasp, and Krutz gave a reassuring smile. "Make sure you accept it. Otherwise, you won''t get a class." He repeated, and then a prompt appeared. Do you accept?> My memory immediately flashes back to Sylthaeryn. This felt similar, yet different. With her, it felt like a partnership between us, while this felt entirely one-sided. I had only one answer. ''NO!'' Chapter 44: Duplicity Chapter 44: Duplicity I pull my hand away and glare at him. I did not sense any immediate open hostility, and Krutz gave me a sad, almost apologetic smile. I mentally tell Alpha to defend against anything and Beta to counterattack any hostilities. Meanwhile, I start secretly withdrawing slime mass and releasing a transparent-white vapor of sleep poison. If my doubts were wrong, I could potentially dodge questions about them getting sleepy, but Bloodrot or paralysis poison was likely a point of no return. "I want to give you the benefit of the doubt, Krutz, but you just tried to enslave me. I''ve had that tried before." Krutz sighed and shook his head, "If you were my subordinate, I could give you a class." "No." My response was immediate. I refused to risk being a mind puppet. "The humans are coming. My scout spotted them this morning. Over twenty of them." He continued. "I don''t see why that means I must become your slave." "I plan to leave. The tribe is doomed, like my previous one." He continued and slammed a fist against his table, "But I will survive. Continue to grow until I can exterminate them all." "And you thought you''d take me along?" "Yes, and a small party of the highest levels. The humans will think they killed us all with the sacrifice of the tribe here. Then we wait for the world to spawn new goblins and take over the tribe, just like I did before." His words felt... Oddly convincing? He had planned this out, and there was some logic behind it. ''Wait, what?'' I questioned as suddenly a fog lifted from my mind. I activated [Mana Sight] and saw that Krutz was emitting his dark mana, and a small portion was floating toward me. ''Has Krutz been influencing my mind? Is this the first time, or has he done it before?'' The thought horrified me, and I had no idea such subtle influence was possible. "If you wanted me to join you, why didn''t you say so rather than try to enslave me?" "You''re very powerful, Syl. I''m not entirely sure what type of monster you really are, but we''ve all witnessed your strength. I wanted reassurance that I wouldn''t be your next meal like the badgers, bears, humans, or Tarz." I had to admit I had been on an eating spree. Perhaps it was my slime instincts, or my intense desire to survive that gave me the goal to seek strength. Out of everything Krutz mentioned, the only one that really struck me was the mention of Tarz. I had killed her out of pure greed to get a new profile. I could have eaten a corpse for the profile, but I didn''t. I saw her just as another monster to eat. I had to push back, this wasn''t the time to have an existential crisis. "You! What did you do?" He shrieked while waving his scepter around, black mana gathering, "Fine, I don''t need these weaklings to kill you myself. [Condemnation of Sloth]!" "Huh..." I responded aloud, genuinely surprised. Meanwhile, Beta wasn''t going to let an attack against me go unpunished, forming and controlling two tendril spears aimed at stabbing Krutz. He raised his scepter and formed a black disc which deflected one of the spears, but the other scraped across his torso. Garz was firing arrows, which were easily blocked or appropriately ignored by Alpha, who had also taken control of two pseudopods to do the task. He''d need time to fire another [Power Shot], but this was a difficult task without support to give him the uninterrupted charge time. Alpha stuck to defense as ordered but would try to slam a tendril into Garz to force him to dodge and abandon his shot. I kept dispersing sleep gas and hoped Garz would fall asleep soon. Levels must have determined resistance, and Garz and Krutz were the two highest-leveled goblins. I fired a burst of sticky sleep slime at Garz, which he failed to dodge, coating him in the goo. I could hopefully put him out of my mind to deal with Krutz, and I trusted in Alpha to stop Garz if he tried anything before succumbing to sleep. Krutz was struggling to dodge Beta''s tendrils. Clearly, he was not a frontline fighter and had neglected his [Evasion] training. He fired a black bolt of energy at me, but I dodged to the side. Being able to see the mana building up helped my predictions. Krutz was not pleased with my dodging and changed strategy. I could see the immense amount of blackened mana building up. "[Agony]!" He shrieked. Unimaginable pain suddenly wracked through my body, putting even my [Defy Death] training to shame. Black sparks danced across my skin and through my core. While I was distracted by the pain, he fired a black bolt at me, exploding a large portion of my goblin body. The destroyed slime flaked away into black specks. With that amount of explosive damage, I couldn''t risk such a small form. I was initially worried his magic might be able to pierce through me like that green slime, but it seemed his spells had differing rules and properties. I deposited what remained of my outfit thanks to [Equipment Swap] and swiftly abandoned my goblin form, swelling to a size that dominated almost the entire room. Thanks to my translucency, I could now see my entire surroundings. Garz was finally unconscious, so I mentally told Beta to avoid drowning him in slime. I had made sure all three of us were transparent and matching the color of my slime, gotta make it hard to spot our glowing weak points. "A slime? A bloody slime!? What mockery is this?" Krutz had lost it and was cackling as he spammed black bolts against my swelling size, "[Condemnation of Sloth]!" I felt the movement and manipulation of my slime slow down to a crawl, which made me unable to simply overwhelm him. Each time I attempted to grab him with tendrils, he would hit me with another [Agony] spell and halt me in my tracks, then he''d continue blasting away at me. He was blasting slime while backed up against the wall with rapidly depleting mana, and I knew he''d run dry or succumb to the sleep poison. At least I was gaining experience from this. While on the last dregs of his mana and on the verge of passing out, he reached out with a blackened hand. "Submit! Submit! Submit!" He screamed frantically till his last breath when he collapsed to the ground. I picked up his unconscious body, and I had a brief thought of sparing him before pulling him into my slime. I could forgive Garz, or at least leave him alive and go our separate ways, but I would not forgive someone trying to take over my mind. I made sure to exclude all of his equipment before I turned on the acid. ''And he said Chieftain was a class, but it was an emblem... Was anything he told me even true?'' Chapter 45: Farewell Chapter 45: Farewell ''Now what.'' I asked myself. I wasn''t sure what to do or what I could even do. The goblins had lost their Chief even before I killed him since he planned to abandon them. I wanted to help them, but Garz''s words still cut deep. Perhaps I could help them escape and then leave. If I left, then I''m sure Garz could step up and be the new Chief since he was now the strongest remaining goblin. I was surprised nobody had come to investigate the commotion, or did Krutz maybe order the goblins not to be around? It''d probably be bad for his image if they witnessed him killing Tarz, who had become a hero amongst the goblins who didn''t know the truth. I felt sick, and thoughts of forever banning my Tarz form came to mind. I needed to talk to Garz. I turned into my elf form and equipped my gear, then walked over to the sleeping guards and gave them another dosing of sleep gas. Skill will be revealed and obtained with [Identify].> ''Well, gee, thanks... But none of my profiles have [Identify], and Krutz took his secrets to the grave.'' I took away Garz''s weapons and bound him with a tendril, making sure to gag him since I figured he might scream when he woke up. I withdrew some water from my storage to splash his face, but he was out cold. While waiting for him to wake up, I started investigating the items I took from Krutz. I found his storage bag and turned it inside out, as Garz had shown me before, and out popped a mindboggling amount of food and a few bits of jewelry. I deposited the food back in the bag and added the rest of my badger pelts and claws. I disarmed the sleeping guards and threw their weapons into the bags as well. I planned to give this to Yuzz with the intention that the supplies would help the escapees. I wasn''t sure what the jewelry was, but I refused to blindly put it on after the last one caused a notification. I tried swinging Krutz''s creepy skull scepter, but it didn''t do anything, and I couldn''t make it emit the black mana. I started to deposit everything until I reached the storage bag, which refused to go in. "I guess if this was possible, you could have infinite space if you just kept putting storage bags in storage bags." I looked over the hobgoblin profile and could see why they preferred focusing on classes, as they only gained [Thick Skin] and [Enhanced Claws]. I had four trait points to spend now, and while I was worrying about how I''d negotiate with Garz, I recalled a trait I had completely disregarded. Increases your charisma and social presence per trait level.> I hoped this would help me convince him, and it likely would synergize with my [Acting]. Garz seemed lost in thought until he finally broke the silence with a simple question, "Why do this for us?" "It''s probably a stupid reason, but you were the first to talk to me. Even if you secretly hated me, I don''t want you to die. Also, I don''t want Yuzz to die." Garz gave a small laugh, "You right. Very stupid reason. But okay." We hashed out a bit more details, and then I finally let him go. We would make an emergency announcement, and I''d ask for volunteers while designating Garz as the new leader. Garz said to expect a lot of goblins to volunteer as they all deeply respected Krutz. Honestly, I felt bitter about that, as he was willing to abandon all of them, and now I was turning him into a hero. Garz was going to assemble the meeting, but that gave me some time to say goodbye to Yuzz. Which unfortunately meant I needed to turn back into Tarz. I waited for Garz to leave so he wouldn''t see and then headed to her hut. I gave her an abridged version of the situation and told her I was volunteering to stay behind. I left out the part that I was turning into Krutz. I also gave her the storage bag and gave her the instructions. "You don''t have to volunteer. You could come with us. Don''t waste your talent." I laughed, hoping to give her some reassurance, "I said I''m staying, but I have no intention of dying. Maybe we will meet again, and you''ll be a master crafter." We parted with a hug, and I left, but not before witnessing her start stuffing her new bag. I entered my little home for the final time, shifting to Krutz and equipping his outfit. I also unequipped my [Apex Hunter] emblem and mentally focused on [Identity Block] to block everything. Everyone gathered, and we explained the plan, telling the goblins to grab what equipment and food they could and immediately start retreating to the tunnel. A small squad formed with Garz and Caz to head into the badger tunnel first to ensure it was still safe. Then, we called for volunteers to delay the humans. Garz was right. We had far too many volunteers and were forced to turn down enough to protect the civilians. I couldn''t believe that my conversation with Garz and this little speech was enough to gain a level. Then again, there were probably over two hundred goblins listening to my every word. What did Krutz do to gain this degree of loyalty? My parting with Garz was just a simple nod, he wanted nothing further to do with me. I had a lot of points I could have spent, but I was unsure on what to buy. I was tempted to grab another [Sub-Core], but held back when I remembered the slime mass it expended to create it. Once everyone was inside the tunnel, I used my "Chieftain Magic" to collapse the entrance with a burst of acid. Our scout, who was supposed to return already, had missed the deadline and was most likely dead. Which meant the humans were close. We all took our positions. ''I better make it out of this alive, or Gramps will kill me.'' Chapter 46: Acting Chapter 46: Acting The air was tense, but the goblins were talking about how many humans they were going to take down. Remembering how the sniper could kill a goblin with a single arrow made me wonder if any of them had ever fought anything stronger than a bear. At least they had courage, even if it was foolish. ''Although I guess I''m also a fool for sticking around.'' I looked over my mimicked traits available from the hobgoblin profile. I needed to focus on survival, so I picked out [Thick Skin], [Enhanced Agility], and [Enhanced Vitality] since they would be two levels higher than my own trait. I still had a spare slot but was struggling to find an all-around defensive option. I did find two defensive traits, [Fire Resistance] and [Earth Resistance], available to the hobgoblin. Did that mean they had a natural inclination to those elements or something else? I decided I''d keep the mimic slot open, and if I saw rocks or flames thrown about, I''d grab it. My decision came sooner than I expected, as the archers on the palisade screamed an alarm before the entire wall became ruined in multiple fiery explosions. ''Why did it have to be magic...'' I cried mentally, as my [Mana Sight] could see the vivid red aura, ''Alpha, Beta, focus entirely on keeping us alive, please.'' I felt them coordinating together using [Slime Density] and [Mana Reinforcement] to the absolute maximum. As they entered the cave, I knew it was time to put on a show. Moments earlier... "We''ve found their lair. Looks like they''ve claimed a cave and dug in. They even have a crude wall." Whitney explained. She was a rogue class who specialized in scouting and disarming traps. "Nothing a good fireball can''t solve," Dewi replied with a smirk. He was one of the few mages in the raid and focused on his love of pyromancy. "I wish you''d take this seriously. They''ve already killed four adventurers." Whitney sighed, shaking her head. "I still think Old Tom is paranoid. Sam was cocky and probably fell into an ambush or something." Dewi answered stubbornly. "Kathryn had a good head on her shoulders. She''d keep him in check." Whitney pointed out. Their conversation was interrupted when the raid leader approached. Roderick was a hulk of a man with a massive tower shield strapped to his back and an enchanted flail at his waist. He was one of the highest leveled and highest ranked in a small guild like this and would likely retire and become the Guild Master eventually. "Right, everyone. We are going to start our assault. We suspect there might be a high-level goblin shaman or even multiple magic goblins. Make sure no monsters get out of this cave alive." Roderick spoke with authority "Should we look for any hostages or prisoners?" One of the random adventurers asked. "Yes, but their guild tags went dead, so any survivors are highly unlikely," Roderick replied. The group nodded and drew their weapons. As they approached, the goblins on the wall started shooting arrows that failed to make the distance. The two mages opened up with two fireball spells. The balls of burning mana crashed into the palisade with explosive force, and the crude defense burst into fiery splinters. Once the wall and its occupants were confirmed destroyed, the mages snuffed the flames out, and the heavily armored adventurers led the charge into the cave, shields raised. They entered the cave, and what met them was a small army of goblins ready to fight. Standing behind them was a hobgoblin holding a skull scepter with a menacing aura. "Foolish humans! You dare to invade our home?" The hobgoblin declared, but the adventurers chuckled at the audacity of such a creature. "It blocked my [Identify]!" Whitney shouted. "Mine too!" Another joined in. "Can anyone read it?" Roderick demanded. "I sense a ton of mana! He''s covered in the stuff!" Dewi shouted, not entirely believing his [Mana Sight]. Shocked murmurs ran through all the adventurers present. The hobgoblin seemed to take delight in their fear and started to cackle. "Yes! Have you foolish humans realized your mistake? Leave now or suffer my wrath!" It threatened and raised its hand, forming a large dark purple sphere in the palm of its hand while it waved the skull scepter around as if trying to conduct an orchestra. "Did it kill itself to deny us the experience?" Eliza asked. She was the other mage who contributed to the fiery explosions. "That''s a level of hatred I didn''t think possible," Dewi replied with a whistle. "I mean, just playing demon''s advocate, we did invade their cave. It even told us to leave before attacking." Whitney retorted. "Yeah, but imagine letting that thing live and get stronger." Eliza pointed out. "Bloodrot... If it got stronger and cast that spell over a village or city." Evan replied, his voice shaking. "How many casualties?" Whitney asked, seeing the horror in Evan''s eyes. "Five..." Evan replied dejectedly, "Four were too low level and could barely resist the poison. Alek died challenging the hobgoblin directly." "Shit... Didn''t he just get his first advanced job? What a waste." Dewi replied shaking his head. "Spellbreaker. He probably thought he was invincible against a mage." Whitney answered. "Spread out and search," Roderick suddenly commanded, "Healers and Mages rest, and recover your mana." They ransacked the cavern as they searched. There were a few ambushes from surviving goblins who screamed bloody murder for the death of their Chieftain, but nothing that couldn''t be dealt with. There was no sign of the hobgoblin, other than the remnants of its scepter. It looked like it was truly dead. "Roderick!" Whitney shouted and came running up. "What is it?" "Kurt found a prisoner." "One of the four?" He asked, feeling a bit hopeful. "No, that''s the strange thing... It''s an elf girl." "An elf?" Roderick asked, scratching his chin. "Didn''t I hear about an elf coming to the city a week or two ago? Then she recently disappeared." Dewi asked. "You''re right. I recall the Guild Master freaking out and wondering if she was going to join the guild." Roderick commented. "Well, you better go save her before she drowns in Kurt''s drool." Whitney responded, "Poor girl looks like hell. Evan, we might need a healer." Evan stood up with a firm nod, "I''ve recovered enough mana, show me." Roderick sighed and followed. Dewi also tagged along after chugging a mana potion. "I''ve never met an elf before. This should be exciting." Dewi chuckled. "If you behave like Kurt when you see her, I''ll personally stab you," Whitney warned. Roderick just sighed and hoped this elf wasn''t going to cause trouble. Chapter 47: Improv Chapter 47: Improv ''Ugh! Why couldn''t they just run away? Did I ham up the act too much?'' I screamed internally as the adventurers seemed to laugh at my threats. I was so relieved when they failed to identify me, and I thought it would add to the threat, especially when they screamed about my mana levels. They rallied together even when I created my fake spell and hoped to intimidate them with the raw mana level. Either [Acting] was working overtime, or maybe the mages weren''t so knowledgeable as they seemed to think it was a spell, despite just being a slimeball combo. They even fired at me while I was doing my evil speech, the nerve! I panicked at that, but neither Alpha nor Beta reacted, and I had to hold back my relief when it harmlessly bounced off my "mana barrier". Did they think I wasn''t even worthy of using [Power Shot] on? I used [Slime Burst] and gave it some scary-sounding name, taking inspiration from the rather evil-sounding spell names that Krutz himself had. One of the humans rushed up to challenge me. I thought this might have been the end for me, but perhaps he was overestimating his own capabilities as he was easy to dodge with [Evasion] and [Enhanced Agility]. Keeping up my act, I disguised an acidic poison slime spear as another spell and gave it another cringe-inducing name. It did far more damage than I expected, and he fell. I yoinked his weapon and deposited it. If I survived this, I''d gladly eat it and add it to my profile collection. ''Wow. Shit. Maybe I shouldn''t have used Bloodrot. After how much the bear resisted Bloodrot, I didn''t expect it to be this effective.'' ''A new skill? No time to read it, unfortunately.'' ''Looks like the potion wasn''t enough to save him... Quite an intimidating class name. I guess he thought he''d stop my spells directly?'' I sensed them starting to ignore me and slaughter the goblins, as they likely wanted to deal with me last as a group effort. I couldn''t allow this, as I needed them at least partially still occupied to make my escape. I threatened them with another ball of slime, and it caused absolute panic among the adventurers. ''I guess the aftermath of my fake spell has unnerved them.'' They all screamed for someone to stop me, and that was when I saw two blazing red mana auras erupting across the battlefield. Having seen the explosions of fire and smoke from previous fireballs, I quickly decided that this might make the perfect opportunity for "Krutz" to fall. I braced for the impact and just prayed to Gramps that I had stacked my defenses high enough to survive. They collided with me, and I felt Alpha and Beta immediately withdrawing slime mass from my reserves to regenerate my defenses as they burnt away in the intense heat. I dropped the skull scepter and ripped off the burning remains of Krutz''s outfit. ''Shit. Won''t they realize I''m still alive if they don''t get a kill notification?'' I suddenly thought and then hastily gave my last performance, screaming profanities mixed with death cries and ranting about essence. I hoped it was dramatic enough. I even screamed while morphing my throat to give a horrific melting gurgling death rattle. I dropped a portion of my acid poison sphere on the ground to make it a little more believable. Maybe they''d see the bones melting of the other dead goblins caught in the blast. I reclaimed the rest, as I desperately needed slime mass, and kicked off [Slime Conversion]. A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. Despite covering myself in layers and layers of defensive slime, I could feel my core taking damage from the intense heat. ''Shit. Shit. Shit. I thought I''d be fine as long as I kept regenerating my outer layer!'' ''A better version of [Enhanced Agility]? Do they stack? I''m sure my [Evasion] skill will be happy. It''s my first time seeing a trait forbidding another trait, but I can still mimic the trait despite owning [Enhanced Vitality]. Seems like a loophole, although once again, I''m denied my [Enhanced Strength].'' As the guardians of nature and to represent their heritage, all elves can communicate with plants and non-magical animals. The level of understanding and the willingness to offer aid is based on trait level.> ''Hey, plants, can you save me? No thanks.'' [Ageless] and [Lowlight Vision] could be easily ignored, as I had the superior [Dark Vision], and I wasn''t sure if slimes even could die of old age. I wished my elf profile was complete, and I looked at one of the only unique traits I could see. One of the chosen paths, the elven archer is to be feared, and their talent with a bow is unparalleled. Bows will receive a proficiency bonus to accuracy and damage based on trait level. This trait can be activated to mark any visible weak points, and ranged attacks against them will inflict bonus damage based on trait level.> ''Oh! This is similar to that thing the Blade Wolf could do, except with added bow stuff. I have a spare slot, so why not?'' I wondered what other unique and starting traits I was missing out on. My final trait selection was [Elven Glamour], [Elven Reflexes], [Elven Marksmanship], and [Mana Well]. My own [Mana Well] was still struggling to gain any levels, so maybe I could give it an artificial boost like I did with [Mana Sight]. I debated grabbing another [Sub-Core], but I dared not risk the slime mass that I needed to repair my suffering core and defend myself. I wasn''t even sure if I could safely withdraw the boiling slime mass stored away during my frantic attempts to stay alive. My thoughts were interrupted when I heard a commotion outside, and with what sounded like a kick, the door splintered, and a man and woman entered. The man held two swords at the ready while the woman held a knife edge between her fingers. I put on my best look of fear, which was actually pretty accurate at this stage - I was taking a massive risk. I quickly warned Alpha and Beta against any attack and to focus purely on internal defense. ''Time for an encore performance, I hope you''re up to the task [Acting].'' Chapter 48: An Elf Chapter 48: An Elf "Holy shit, is that an elf?" He asked and almost immediately dropped his guard. "How the hell did goblins capture an elf?" She questioned and lowered her arm but still kept the weapon ready. "That hobgoblin, most likely. That thing was unnaturally strong." I made a muffled noise and wriggled in my bonds. "Easy now..." The woman responded and gave me an investigative look, "Her name''s Syl... No class... Odd? Race, Elf, Level... 27!?" "Fuck... That''s almost three ascensions!" The man cursed, "Is that how elves raise themselves? All trait points? I can''t even imagine surviving without my class levels. Maybe that''s why she got captured?" ''What the hell is an ascension?'' I wondered to myself. "Maybe... I''m going to get Roderick. Don''t untie her till we get back." The girl continued and reached into her pouch and pulled out a blanket, which she draped over me to cover up the almost-nudity, "And you better not touch her either... I can see you drooling." "Hey! I''m an asshole, not a rapist!" "Good. Keep it that way." She gave him a slap over the head before exiting. He shook his head, sighing, and sheathed his blades before sitting on the ground. "Sorry about that. Hopefully, we can untie you soon, maybe even get you a heal spell or potion." ''Ugh! Potions! I had a healing potion! Why didn''t I drink it? Instead of sitting here with my seared core.'' "I''m Kurt. She said your name was Syl, right?" I nodded. "You really have no class?" Nod. "Man, that must suck." Nod. "Was it by choice?" Shake. "That''s fucked up. Maybe you could join one of the guilds and get one." My eyes widened in shock, and he seemed to notice my interest. "Oh yeah, the Adventurer''s Guild is pretty great," Kurt said with a big grin, "If you do join, make sure you get Tabitha to register you. She''s great, and I owe her one." "Sorry... I didn''t know." Whitney said while undoing my bindings and helping me put on the robe, "On the outside, it didn''t look so bad at the time... Sorry." "...thank you..." I responded, hoping it was the best meek and fearful impression I could do. The robe was ill-fitting, too large, and yet too short, leaving a large portion of my legs bare. Which made me realize how much taller elves were than the other races I''d encountered so far. Whitney handed me a canteen, "Water... I have some jerky too if you''d like." she pulled out another small wrapping of cured meat. I chugged the water greedily, hopefully giving a good act, "...thank you... Food too, please..." She handed me the package with a soft and sad smile. I ate the meat and was pleased with the small amount of slime mass it generated. I was glad I practiced fake eating with the goblins. Eventually, the rest of the group reentered, and another new face was in the group, although I recognized him as one of the fire mages. My core felt uncomfortably warm. "Holy shit, it really is an elf." He said, looking up at me, "Wow, you''re tall." "Dewi, keep it in your pants." The large man interrupted. "Sorry, Roderick. I''m just fascinated. This is one of the legacy races." Dewi said apologetically before his jaw hit the floor, and he started babbling incoherently while covering his eyes. "What''s wrong with you?" Kurt said, slapping him on the back. "Mana..." Dewi spluttered out. "I don''t have a potion if you''re dry," Kurt responded. "No! Her mana is off the charts!" Dewi corrected, "I know history says elves are masters of the arcane, but this is ridiculous." I instinctively backed away a little, which caused Dewi to eat a backhand from Whitney. Roderick cleared his throat, which caused the others to hush up, "So Syl, I''d rather not leave an unarmed lass out here. Would you be willing to come back to town with us?" "...yes... I don''t want to stay here." "And unless Kurt was talking crap, he said you expressed interest in joining the guild?" I nodded, maybe a little too excitedly. Would I finally be getting a class? Was it that simple? The previous wounds of betrayal were still fresh, and I almost didn''t want to hope. "See, I told you. Tabby is gonna be so excited." Kurt chuckled. Roderick cleared his throat again, trying to remain professional, "Well, if Dewi wasn''t overreacting, I''m sure the guild would be happy to have a promising recruit such as yourself. Now, let''s get out of this dreaded cave." I nodded and followed the group. Evan checked up on me again and seemed relieved I was no longer at death''s door. I thanked him profusely, but he acted like it was nothing. If only he knew how much slime mass he had saved me, I could easily buy two [Sub-Cores] with the savings. They formed an almost protective perimeter around me as they escorted me out of the cave. I gave a last glance at the destroyed remains of the tribe, I hoped the rest were safe in the deeper caves. There were a lot of curious whispers and chatter amongst the other adventurers, and the exoticness of an elf was the undeniable cause. There were even some suggestive comments and leers from some of them until Whitney flourished a knife. ''Maybe I shouldn''t have picked [Elven Glamour]...'' I thought bitterly, but the damage was already done. "We''ll assemble camp nearby, spend the night here, then head home in the morning." Roderick declared, and the rest of the group nodded, "Missy, I hope you don''t mind if I ask you some questions?" ''Oh no, get ready for round three [Acting]!'' Chapter 49: Camp Stew Chapter 49: Camp Stew The adventurers gathered around a large backpack and started pulling out camping supplies. I was surprised to see storage bags were so common, considering the entire goblin tribe had only two, and I wondered how the large backpack compared to my own [Core Storage]. Roderick pulled out a large pot and placed it on a stand, then Dewi placed some wood under it and ignited it with a small burst of fire mana. Evan did a small incantation, and water slowly trickled into the pot. Roderick started pulling ingredients out of a much smaller, higher-quality bag and placing them in the pot. "Hope you don''t mind me cooking while we chat. I like to keep my hands busy." Roderick questioned, to which I gave a simple nod. "So, missy, my first question is, why did the goblins keep you alive? Capturing prisoners alive is a rarity for them, and if they do take prisoners, they usually give in to the temptation of a meal and essence, as they call it." I was glad it was a simple question, and I had already thought of a plausible half-truth, "Yes... I have a rare [Dissection] ability and used it to negotiate." "Oh? Would you mind showing me?" "It''s a secret of my race, but I don''t mind offering you my services as thanks for the rescue. Just without any prying eyes." "Ah. I can understand wanting to keep secrecy. The guild does respect our privacy rights, after all. Once the tents are up, perhaps you can use one." "Gladly. Although I must warn you, it doesn''t leave much meat behind, only the valuable parts." Roderick gave a hearty laugh before replying, "Well, that shouldn''t be a problem, missy. Not many people eat monster meat in the first place unless they are absolutely desperate." Roderick continued to stir the contents of his pot while adding a few extra ingredients and then breaking out some powders. It was a surreal sight, a giant man joyfully hunched over a cooking pot. After doing a taste test, he finally resumed his questioning. "You gained a lot of levels without a class. Was that intentional?" "I was never given the opportunity for a class." "Bugger me, you elves are weird, no offense. How did you even kill anything?" "A lot of racial traits, and I have proficiency with a bow." "Racial traits, hey? Us humans aren''t so lucky in that regard." He scratched his beard in thought, "I''m sure we can wrangle you up a bow for the journey tomorrow. I''d love to see what a classless archer can do." I nodded. I was glad things seemed to be going smoothly. I avoided any lies, and everything I said was technically the truth. Eventually, everyone gathered around, as the campsite was ready, and it was time to eat. It seemed the humans separated into groups of up to six individuals, which I guessed was due to the party size limit. Roderick portioned out a serving for Dewi, Whitney, Evan, Kurt, himself, and me. It seemed his group was taking custody of me for now. I gladly ate the meal, as I''d take any opportunity to replenish even a minuscule amount of slime mass. I was glad I had become quite good at fake eating through my interactions with the goblins, although I hated the monotony of pretending to chew. The meal discussion was about the goblins and the success of their emergency quest. It sounded like they were terrified of my Krutz performance and disgusted by his use of Bloodrot. I made a mental note to keep that poison hidden. I had to hide my surprise when I overheard this quest started due to blue slimes going missing. ''Is this whole thing my fault? I mean, they tried to eat me first. I''ll never forget that blue slime with the rose-red core...'' When it seemed like their discussion about the goblins was nearing its end, I asked a question burning in my mind, "Um... Has anyone ever tried making peace with the goblins? Since they also have [Universal Language]..." "Claws, fangs, what''s left of the fur... Do you want anything else? Bones?" I asked, inspecting the wolves. "No, we don''t need the bones. I''m surprised you''re offering to have a go at the fur." They left me some tools, various-sized knives, and strange-looking blades and wished me good luck before closing the tent behind them. I had to resist the urge to eat the tools and add to my profile collection. I waited a bit, ensuring that nobody was secretly peeking at me, and then formed a ball of slime in my palm, giving it a transparent white appearance. I enveloped the carcasses with it and quickly harvested it. I was relieved that despite the unfresh state, they still gave me slime mass, albeit reduced. I placed the various parts in separate piles and then waited. ''If I leave too early, it might be completely unbelievable, although I have no idea what an appropriate time for [Dissection] usually takes...'' I sighed deeply and tried to consolidate my thoughts and feelings. ''It''s strange, they seem genuinely friendly... I don''t know if that''s just because I''m an elf or if that is their nature. This adventurers guild thing sounds interesting, and I''d finally get a class. Am I being naive and stupid?'' ''I just hope I''m not walking into another trap... I don''t think my sanity could handle it. If that happens, I might willingly give in to that evolution craving they mentioned. Assuming I even have a choice in that matter... It can''t be as simple as evolving and suddenly losing my mind immediately, right? The worst part is I''d need to evolve in the first place to get an answer from Gramps.'' I sighed, thinking enough time had passed, and left the tent. Whitney was the first to notice me and came over. "You can''t be done already, surely?" ''Shit.'' I cursed mentally and gave a nod. Whitney took a peak into the tent and saw all the pristine materials displayed on the table. Her jaw practically hit the floor. "Am I being pranked?" She questioned while looking over the materials. The rest of the group noticed the commotion and came to investigate. "Lass, I can see why you wanted to keep this a secret..." Roderick muttered while closely examining the fur, "I thought you were joking about harvesting the fur..." Evan whistled, very impressed with the results. "If this is an elf thing and not a you thing, I can understand why nobody wants to mess with the Elven Kingdom." Dewi stated, "Imagine how much materials you''d get from something like a dragon." Kurt had gone pale as he stared at the materials. He did seem squeamish around the corpse earlier too. "Have you ever harvested boars before?" He asked, stammering a little. "Yes, I''ve harvested many boars, even some in this forest," I replied honestly. "Fuck." Chapter 50: Back to the Beginning Chapter 50: Back to the Beginning Dewi immediately pointed an accusatory finger at Kurt, "Your mysterious benefactor!" "What''s this now?" Whitney asked. "No-" Kurt tried to stop Dewi, but it was too late. "Kurt here found a bunch of boar hides mysteriously left behind in the forest, all perfectly harvested." "Oh. I wondered what happened to those." I commented, remembering my first tree home. It felt like ages ago, before even my first evolution. "I waited around! I didn''t see anyone or anything for hours, so I figured it was abandoned. There were no tracks either." Kurt tried to defend himself. "I don''t mind. I only did it for the skill training. Plus, you rescued me." I replied earnestly, as I didn''t care about a few boar leathers. Back then, I might have been a little peeved, but compared to the stuff in my storage now, it felt like a pittance. Kurt looked relieved until Whitney spoke up, "Syl. You''re terrible with money, aren''t you?" ''Am I? I know what money is, but I was a noble in my past life, likely with a silver spoon in my mouth... Is that influencing me? Or is it because I''m a monster? I care more about slime mass and experience than money...'' When I didn''t respond and seemed far too lost in thought for a simple question, Whitney groaned, "Talk about a culture clash... If those were monster boars and harvested even half as good as these wolves you did, those were worth a good amount of coin." Kurt turned pale again until Dewi threw him a lifeline, "How about Kurt pays her inn fees for a week while she settles in as an adventurer?" "That sounds reasonable. Don''t you agree, Kurt?" Roderick added, giving Kurt a hefty pat on the back. Kurt nodded frantically. With that resolved, we started getting ready for bed, and they organized a sentry rotation, excluding me. I found out my sleeping arrangement would be sharing Whitney''s tent. I panicked, as I''d be leaving myself horribly vulnerable by not sleeping in a hole, not to mention that when I slept, my form would melt. I gave Alpha and Beta orders to work together to upkeep my form and to wake me up if anything threatened me or if the form failed. I hoped that would be enough, and found myself experiencing my first case of insomnia. Too bad I couldn''t use sleep poison on myself like that giant badger. Despite all my worries, I woke up unattacked, and my form was stable. I hated that my first thought was wondering if they didn''t attack me to lure me into a false sense of security. At least Alpha and Beta showed the fruits of their labor, and after activating [Slime Conversion], I felt like I had enough slime mass to add a third [Sub-Core]. ''New.'' ''Yes.'' [Sub-Core Gamma] will receive donated experience from [Sub-Core Alpha] and [Sub-Core Beta] until level equilibrium.> ''Welcome to the team, Gamma. Start withdrawing slime mass, and Beta will store it. Just avoid the superheated slime at all costs.'' Perhaps I could turn it into a weapon somehow because it would certainly add an extra punch to my [Slime Burst]. I also set Alpha the task of reacting and creating injuries. Hopefully it would be enough, but at least this way I wouldn''t risk forgetting about it in the heat of the moment. I was alone in the tent, and I could overhear Dewi and Evan chatting in the camp. They were discussing the battle yesterday and the hobgoblin. One part in particular got my attention. "Mana siphoning?" Evan asked. "It''d explain his strength and also her terrible condition," Dewi replied. "As if I needed another reason to hate that hobgoblin..." When I exited the tent, I noticed Dewi and Evan sitting casually around the campfire. They seemed to be enjoying some drinks while chatting. Dewi was the one to spot me and beckoned me over. Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. "Syl, just the person we were looking for." Dewi said cheerfully, "Maybe you can help us with a mystery. Elves are born with [Mana Sight], right?" "It''s not a human-only thing, right?" Kurt asked. "Maybe elves call it something else." Dewi pointed out. "Every ten race levels, you get access to a one-time special purchase, usually something like an affinity." Evan explained, "Supposedly, the Gods gave us this to compete with monster evolutions, but..." "They''re kinda shit." Kurt interrupted, "That''s why we put all our experience towards our class." "Unless you''re a mage. Then you might want an ascension or two to fill out your elemental repertoire." Dewi pointed out. ''None of this was in the human or elf profiles... Shit...'' "I''d want another elemental affinity," I replied, hoping it was the safe answer. "As to be expected for our future master of the arcane. I hope you''ll tell the Mages Guild in the capital that Dewi started you on your journey of magical mastery." "I can''t tell if you''re serious, or you just want to butter her up and hope to get into her pants..." Whitney said, running her finger across a knife threateningly. "Probably both," Kurt said with a smirk, causing the group to laugh, except for Whitney who gave both a backhand. We eventually reached the forest clearing, and I could see the walls in the distance. Everyone visibly relaxed when they saw the familiar walls. I felt very conflicted when I walked past the blue slimes. I was back again, and this time, entering the town. "Crazy that this all started because of missing slimes," Whitney remarked. "That''s our main economy you''re talking about," Kurt said, to which she scoffed. "And our main source of mana potions," Dewi added. "Glad I''m not a mage then. You won''t catch me drinking sewer potions," Whitney said, shaking her head. "You do know active skills use mana. Right?" Roderick pointed out. "Then I guess it''s a pure passive loadout for me." She countered. "Tabby had nearly the same response. Is it a girl thing to hate slimes?" Kurt asked, then turned to me, "Syl?" I wanted to laugh at the absurdity of the question. "No, I don''t hate slimes. Except maybe green ones." "Once you''re a mage, you''ll love them. They are free experience! One little spell, and they go pop!" Dewi said with a smile. Although, to me, it looked rather sinister. I internally shuddered. We reached the gate to which the guards greeted the returning group. Roderick explained my situation and paid my entry fee for me. I stuck closely to the group when we entered, not wanting to get lost. "First, we will head to the guild to hand in our report. And get Syl registered, assuming you were serious about joining? Seriously, no pressure. You could easily get a job as a dissector." Roderick said. "I''d like to join and finally get a class. And even without Dewi''s insistence, I''ve been interested in magic." "Great answer!" Dewi and Kurt said together. "Once you''re registered, we''ll show you to one of the best inns in town, where Kurt will pay for your first week''s stay." Roderick continued, "I''ll add a second week if you butcher these wolves for us, and a portion of the money from selling them." "I''ll help you get some clothes with that since you have no money sense," Whitney added. I thanked them all and genuinely smiled. I was dumbfounded at how friendly they were being. Maybe Roderick sensed my true feelings because he added, "When you''re part of the adventurers guild, we''re all like family, and we look out for our own." Chapter 51: The Adventurers Guild Chapter 51: The Adventurer''s Guild I received plenty of attention as we walked the streets to our destination. People pointed and stared, and I felt quite uncomfortable with the attention. I regretted that my only human forms were of the four dead adventurers, but that would have likely led to much worse attention. An elf was a mystery, but a dead person suddenly coming back to life was a miracle. I was fortunate that this town was so small and unconnected they didn''t seem to have much information on elves, which could only help me. I still had the goal given to me by Sylthaeryn to deliver her pouch to another elf, but judging by their isolated community, that might prove to be troublesome. However, that isolation seemed to be a stroke of fortune for me since I could hopefully play up my lack of worldly knowledge as a culture clash. The building we reached was massive and looked out of place with the rest of the rather rustic and rural town. Noticing my curiosity, Roderick explained that the Adventurers Guild was a global entity and received funding from outside. All nations participated at least somewhat with the guild, except for the elves. This was one of the reasons why elven adventurers were so few and far between, and successfully recruiting one could be seen as a mark of pride. Entering the building, I was shocked at the amount of people inside. There was a small section for food and drink, where people seemed to be getting quite rowdy and celebrating the victory and embellishing the tale of the battle. One adventurer claimed I had bound a demon to my soul and achieved an evolution beyond hobgoblin. Hilarious. There were many counters with staff and a massive noticeboard filled with pieces of parchment. Rather than going to one of the open counters, we seemed to be waiting for a particular staff member. I shifted a little uncomfortably at the stares I was getting and could easily overhear the lewd remarks from the drunks. ''I guess these pointy ears aren''t just for show...'' I thought bitterly, and I''d almost bet one of the traits I was missing from the profile was a hearing enhancement. One of the groups came over and handed drinks to our entire group, a celebratory drink, they claimed. It looked like Roderick and Evan wanted to decline, but Whitney, Dewi, and Kurt had already partaken in the revelry, and somehow, even I found myself with a drink in hand. Roderick told me numerous times that I didn''t need to drink, but I wanted to try fitting in, and I didn''t see any risks - even if they were stupid enough to try to poison me in public, I was immune. ''Wait... They actually tried to poison me?'' I thought curiously and read the descriptions. I felt relief when I realized that the first was just alcohol, which had an inebriating effect and was indeed the point of the drink. The second, however, was insidious, and it seems the drunk humans had a rather lustful nature, or perhaps this was intended as a prank, and they hoped to make a fool of the elf. There were some laughs and chuckles from their compatriots back at their tables as they saw me drinking. Roderick seemed to be reading the mood and whispered, "Everything alright?" "Yes. Although it seems someone slipped an aphrodisiac into my drink." I nonchalantly responded. Roderick was aghast and struggled to hide his anger, "What? Are you sure?" "I received a notification," I explained, "But you''re welcome to take the drink and sample it yourself. Although unless you have a trait to resist poisons, I''d suggest against it." "No. But thank you for not causing a scene. I''ll personally make sure their actions are reported." Roderick said. He took my drink from me and secretly siphoned some of it into a flask. "I was wondering what you spent all your trait points on. I can definitely approve of getting poison resistance." Roderick added with a light chuckle. Eventually, we headed to an empty counter staffed by a friendly-looking girl. She seemed very pleased to see the party returning and even gave Kurt a friendly shoulder slap. "Tabby, we''ve gotta celebrate tonight!" Kurt shouted. "Yeah, sure, if you''re buying." She responded with an impish grin. When she noticed me, her eyes went wide, "The early returners had mentioned an elf, I thought they were bullshitting..." "Nope, Syl here is real." Kurt replied, "And best of all, she wants to join the guild." "Really!?" She exclaimed loudly, causing quite a few people to stare at her outburst. "Yes, really. I''ll be giving the guild master a full report, but you can proceed with her assessment and registration." Roderick replied. "Fuck. I guess I''m buying drinks tonight. Assuming I''m registering her." "Damn right!" Kurt cheered. "Kurt''s got money troubles again, so he needs the charity," Dewi said smugly. "I''m not surprised. Kurt''s wallet is like a leaky bucket. I''ll go get the crystals!" Tabitha said and headed into a backroom. Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. "I''m going to go report to the guild master." Roderick said and handed Whitney a small pouch, "Here is the registration fee. I''ll see you all later." Roderick gave me a knowing nod as he tapped the flask at his side, then left with a friendly wave. "I''m heading home for a bath and then to the temple. See you all later for dinner. Good luck, Syl." Evan said with a wave. When Tabitha returned, she had a rather ornate box in her grip. She placed it on the counter and opened it, revealing three intricate crystals with glyphs and sigils carved into them. "Right. Do you want to rush this or get the full new recruit experience?" "Rush, I''m sure," Kurt said, looking a bit bored. Whitney overheard me and nodded, "Exactly. I''d never have picked Rogue if I didn''t have Air." "Don''t worry, Syl. In three more levels, you can hopefully get Fire." "I''d recommend Earth and have the potential to get Nature. Elves supposedly have a high affinity with that. I''m honestly surprised you don''t already have Earth." Tabitha commented, resuming her professional attitude. "I already have Whitney trying to convince her to become an archer instead of a mage. I don''t need you tempting her away from the path of pyromancy." Dewi said with exaggerated outrage, "Do you girls have a grudge against me?" Both girls laughed at Dewi''s expense before Tabitha spoke again, "Also, bear in mind that this is only a basic affinity crystal. You''d need to go to a larger branch or perhaps the Mage''s Guild in the capital for a more thorough examination and check for a rare affinity." I nodded, and she returned the crystal to the box before producing the last crystal, "Lastly is your class selection. Remember, you can come to the guild and change it for a small fee if you are dissatisfied." Was this it? This simple? I grab a crystal, and I get my class. No manipulation, no mind magic, no servitude? It honestly felt unreal at this point. I grabbed the crystal, and like with my attributes, a window appeared before me. Warrior Scout Mage Hunter Rogue Assassin Crafter Alchemist "Woah! I only had three." Kurt exclaimed in surprise. "Damn, Syl, what were you doing in that forest," Whitney commented. "Mage!" Dewi said excitedly. Tabitha cleared her throat loudly and glared at her friends. They apologized, and she began her explanation. "Warrior, Scout, and Mage are basic classes. Everyone has the first two, but Mage requires you to have the trait [Mana Circulation]. Crafter is similarly the basic non-combat class." "Hunter and Rogue are intermediary classes, and both usually come from advancing through Scout class. Likewise, Alchemist is one of the advancements of Crafter." "Assassin is an advanced class, usually unlocked through advancing Rogue. Don''t answer, as the guild respects Trait and Skill privacy, but I''m assuming you have a decently leveled [Stealth] and [Sneak Attack] at a minimum since you already qualify for the class." "It''s one of the classes I''m interested in... Hopefully soon." Whitney said, "I''m surprised you have Hunter but not Sniper." "Classes are still being explored and experimented with every day. There''s a reason some of the temples say it''s purely up to the Gods. Who knows what truly gives some people access to certain classes earlier or later than others? While we have repeatable evidence, certain aspects still feel entirely random or up to fate." Dewi explained, like a seasoned scholar. We were all staring at him dumbfounded when he chuckled, "Just because I like having fun and acting the fool doesn''t mean I am one." "So I can change class for a fee?" I asked and broke the silence. "Yes." "Can I lose an option? If I don''t pick Assassin now, do I risk losing it?" "No, once you qualify for a class, it is always available." "While I am tempted by the thought of starting with an advanced class. Like I said earlier, I want to try magic." I needed some outlet for all this mana, and [Elven Legacy] would boost me towards magic. Dewi was grinning while frantically nodding his head. Chapter 52: Classes and Spells Chapter 52: Classes and Spells "Oh, I got given a skill point," I blurted out. "The first one is always free. That''s how they get you." Whitney joked. "You should have also received a skill revelation, possibly more," Tabitha pointed out. I nodded, "Just [Water Magic]." "Definitely grab that, as leveling up a magic skill will unlock other magic-related skills for you in the future." Tabitha further explained, "As you level up your class, you will potentially have more skills revealed to you. You could also receive a revelation from defeating an insanely strong monster, completing a dungeon, finding a rare item, or meeting some other strange requirement-" "Honestly, it can be frustratingly random at times." Kurt interrupted. Tabitha cleared her throat, frowning at being interrupted before finally continuing, "It''s just how the Gods decided it. Anyway... You could also receive a class advancement as a revelation, which, if accepted, will immediately change your class. If you don''t accept it, you can swap to it later, so think before blindly accepting, especially if it''s a different class type." "There''s plenty of stories in the guild of a Cleric receiving a revelation and suddenly becoming a Paladin, only to find out their healing spells are either not as effective or efficient, or they have lowered mana capacity," Dewi added, to which everyone nodded in agreement. "Your class affects your attributes?" I asked curiously. "Yes, although it''s also one of those hidden things not fully understood. But you can apply some common-sense and basic patterns to them. High levels in a magic-related class will buff spells and mana, whereas a warrior will receive a boost to strength or fortitude." Tabitha answered. "Does that mean if I swap to a different class, I''d lose all my progress?" "Not... Exactly. Ugh... I wish the Gods would just explain this to us." Tabitha groaned. Clearly, I wasn''t the only new adventurer who asked this question. "From research and observations, even if you swap to a completely unrelated class, your previous class history does have some minor effect on your attributes in the long run." Dewi tagged in to explain, "And higher tier jobs of the same type fully inherit from their predecessor. So all bonuses gained from a Scout would automatically be applied to a Rogue." "Shouldn''t everyone just level up all the classes available? Even if it''s minor bonuses." Everyone except Dewi looked horrified at my suggestion, and he laughed, "Of course, the girl who doesn''t need to worry about dying of old age would suggest that. But us normal humans unfortunately don''t have that luxury and try to get as much as possible before time takes its toll." "... I think that''s mostly everything." Tabitha said wearily, "I''d suggest bugging Dewi for magic questions. Anything else you''d like to ask me?" "Could I ask for any skill suggestions?" "Ah! Of course, but don''t you dare spend your first skill point on anything but [Water Magic]." Tabitha stated with a finger wag. "[Identify] is a classic, and it''ll let you see the level of monsters and help you judge whether to fight or flee. [Mapping] is great, especially if you want to explore dungeons. [Cooking] is another a lot of adventurers pick up if they do a lot of extended duration quests or a lot of traveling. [Dissection] is useful if you want to harvest monster parts out in the field." She displayed each skill for me, although I already had two of them. I didn''t think I''d need [Cooking] unless I wanted to further my disguise, but I wanted [Identify]. <> Provides basic profile information about the target. Skill level increases the likelihood of successful identification. Functionality can be improved through other skills.> Adds affliction statuses to the [Identify] menu, providing information on the contamination percent and remaining duration.> ''The mystery skill revealed itself! Now I''ll be able to see when my poisons are applied and when they will expire.'' I was a very happy slime. My celebration was interrupted by Dewi and Whitney chuckling, "I don''t think you need to tell Syl here to get [Dissection]." "Don''t-" Kurt pleaded, trying to stop Dewi. "Syl here is a master of the skill, such perfect harvests you''d never believe your eyes." Tabitha seemed intrigued, and Dewi pulled out a portion of the wolf fur, showing it to her. Tabitha carefully examined it, then seemed to come to a realization as she pointed at Kurt. There was a back and forth between them when Whitney explained the situation and outcome, to which Tabitha agreed that Kurt paying my inn fees was a fitting punishment if I was going to claim it was thanks for being saved. While they chatted, I wanted to grab my first magic skill. This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. I felt the knowledge and information pour into me and received my first-ever spell. I immediately knew how to cast it and its potential uses. Which, sadly, were not much. It was a small ball of water that could do a minor amount of concussive damage at best, as it would pop on contact. I held out an open palm and cast the spell, and a small ball of water formed that hovered slightly above my hand. Thanks to [Mana Sight], I could see the blue aura of water mana contained in it. Dewi was the first to notice and gave me a sad smile. "Your first spell, I''d congratulate you, but sadly, water magic is rather dull at the low levels." He said and held out his palm, forming a swirling vortex of flame. "Hey! No spells in the guild hall!" Tabitha scolded. "One thing I need to tell you about magic is that you are not limited to the default spell you learned. Instead, that spell shows you the limit of the current level of your magic, and creating custom spells is where a good mage shines, and a mediocre mage falls into obscurity." Dewi shaped his vortex of flame into various shapes and patterns before it vanished. I tried to do the same, and by pulling on my knowledge of using [Shape Slime], I managed to morph my plain orb of water into some simple geometric shapes before it popped and splashed over all of us. "Hey! Not bad at all for your first try. Probably pushed in too much mana for a first-level spell, but you''ll get there." "This is why I said no magic in the guild hall..." Tabitha looked furious. Dewi chuckled and seemed to be gathering both Air and Fire mana, which then swirled around and dried all of us rapidly. I could only assume this was what he meant by a custom spell, as I doubted such a combat-focused system would give something as ordinary as clothes-drying magic. "I hope you''ll accept my apology for my apprentice''s mistake," Dewi said, laced with sarcasm and including an overly dramatic bow. Tabitha rolled her eyes, "Let''s just finish registration so she can get settled at the inn and get some real clothes." She pulled out another crystal and then a necklace that I recognized. She handed me the necklace and instructed me to put it on. I did, but there was no prompt, unlike the last time. I was worried that this was how my secret would exposed, but then she held out the crystal, which gave a soft glow and resonated with my necklace. [Sub-Core Beta LV 4] [Sub-Core Gamma LV 1] [Consuming Osmosis LV 4] Mimic: [Shapeshifting Mimicry LV 4] [Chroma Shift LV MAX] Mana: [Mana Circulation LV 5] [Mana Well LV 2] [Mana Reinforcement LV 5] [Mana Sight LV 3] [Slime Conversion LV 2] Attributes/Other: [Enhanced Intellect LV 2] [Enhanced Vitality LV 3] [Enhanced Willpower LV 3] [Enhanced Charisma LV 2] [Magic Resistance (Lesser) LV 3] [Dark Vision LV 3] [Defy Death LV 2] Trait Points remaining: 3 Skills: General: [Universal Language] [Equipment Swap] [Dissection LV 5] [Mapping LV 2] [Tracking LV 1] [Identify LV 1] Combat: [Evasion LV 3] [Melee Weapon Proficiency (Lesser) LV 2] [Ranged Weapon Proficiency (Lesser) LV 2] [Improved Accuracy (Lesser) LV 3] [Affliction Master LV 1] Magic: [Water Magic LV 1] Sneaky: [Stealth LV 4] [Sneak Attack LV 4] [Identity Block LV 4] [Acting LV 4] Skill Points remaining: 1 Chapter 53: Multitasking Multicasting Chapter 53: Multitasking Multicasting While following the group, I decided to ask Dewi a question. If he was going to claim I was his apprentice, then I wanted some magic advice. "So Dewi, do you have any skill or trait suggestions for me?" "Hmm... Traits I''m assuming you already have [Mana Circulation], [Mana Well], [Mana Sight]. Perhaps [Mana Reinforcement]?" "... I have that one too..." "Then I''m afraid I can''t help you there." Dewi replied with a shrug, "For skills, I''d rather not interfere with what your class will suggest to you, but there is one exception because it''s a prerequisite that most fail to get." <> Performing simultaneous activities is easier and less mentally taxing.> I frowned at the skill. Didn''t I already do this? Why had I not gotten it? Or does delegating tasks to [Sub-Cores] not count? "Judging by your expression, you''re either wondering why you don''t have it already or are very underwhelmed. The skill description is a little misleading, and it also lets you maintain multiple threads of thought as well. It''s far beyond just doing two things at once." Dewi said with a laugh, "But more importantly, you need this to get [Multicasting], which lets you cast more than one spell at once." Sadly, Dewi would not show me the [Multicasting] skill and said I would be better off earning it for free, or if I completely sucked at it, my class would eventually show it to me. I nodded and secretly purchased [Multitasking], spending my last remaining skill point. I wasn''t sure what effect I was supposed to notice or feel, and I wanted to try magic, but I figured it might cause a commotion, so I tried browsing through some profiles and going over my status menu while continuing to walk and follow. It seemed relatively doable, and I had the vague feeling it lowered the upkeep of my mimicry by a small amount. The real test would be with magic, and I wanted desperately to see if my cores could cast magic. After an agonizingly long walk, we finally reached the inn, a large multistory building with eye-catching colorful shingles. "Whitney, Dewi, Kurt! Glad to see you made it back in one piece." A large and friendly man greeted us. He gave all of them a hearty slap on the back that caused them to lurch forward. "Trevor! I hope today''s lunch will be spectacular to impress your newest guest." Dewi replied, trying to give his own slap but lacking the impact. Trevor finally noticed me and gave a big smile, "Nice to meet you, miss. The first time we''ll be servicing an elf. The wife will be bragging for days." "Nice to meet you, Trevor. I''m Syl." "Kurt will be footing the bill, so make sure to give her your best room." Whitney chuckled. Kurt sighed but nodded his reluctant confirmation. I quickly opened my status menu and saw I had dropped to Flooding, so I shook my head in answer, "My mana level is still great." "You better not show that to Dewi." Whitney pointed to the [Water Whip], "At least for a day or two. Otherwise, you might shatter the already fragile master-apprentice illusion he''s built up." Whitney handed me a much longer robe; it was a much more pleasant fit than the one borrowed from Evan. She also handed me a pair of sandals that were a bit too large for me. "Just temporary until we can get you a good solid pair of boots. Can''t have you traveling in dungeons, caves, or swamps with poor footgear." Due to my extended practice session, we were late for lunch, but Trevor had set aside a plate for both Whitney and myself, and we ate alone where she told me her plans to get me measured today, and tomorrow, I''d be geared up. She also said that Roderick would be bringing the wolves tonight for harvest. When I took my first bite of food, I was speechless. Whitney laughed and explained that Trevor was a retired adventurer who hung up his sword to become a Chef and that his [Cooking] skill was so high that you''d be granted minor status buffs just from eating it. Apparently, Roderick was so inspired by Trevor''s story that he immediately purchased the skill himself and took charge of their group''s camp meals ever since. While I wasn''t inspired enough to grab the skill myself, not that I had the points anymore, I did want to purchase a trait. Artificially adds both a sense of taste and smell. This trait can be voluntarily disabled and has no trait levels. Unlocks traits and skills that require these senses.> Now, I could further enjoy the meal as it slowly dissolved. For once, I didn''t mind that this meal was inefficient in the mysterious slime mass exchange rate. The rest of the day, Whitney took me to various shops to get measured and sized up for proper clothing. I tried to protest, but she was having far too much fun playing dress-up. After a long afternoon of being dragged around, we finally settled down for drinks and dinner. I excused myself after the dinner to fulfill Roderick''s harvest request, as I gained no benefit from the ale and had to turn off my taste to swallow my first mug. I did try tasting the wolves, curious to see if I''d need to turn off my taste frequently, but maybe due to my slime nature, I found it quite edible. Although, I still ended up turning it off, as I didn''t want it to ruin the lingering taste of that amazing meal. When I returned, the group was extremely inebriated. Much to my horror, I was offered a "cocktail" by Tabitha, Kurt and Dewi that was on fire. A special celebration drink they called it. I politely refused, I did not want to drink fire and relive the experience of my core melting. At least I found out that alcohol was apparently flammable, perhaps I could throw a burst of ethanol transformed slime at a fire mage and make them self-combust? After a rowdy night with the group, I finally lay on my bed, instructed my [Sub-Cores] to keep watch while maintaining my form, and slept. Chapter 54: Shopping Spree Chapter 54: Shopping Spree "I can''t believe our mysterious elf was captured by goblins..." Harris muttered after receiving the report. Roderick had just returned from the goblin extermination quest and filled him in on the details. They were both seated in his humbly small office and sharing a stiff drink. "Evan was horrified by her condition. Whatever they did to her, it was not pleasant." Roderick replied, "She might be deeply traumatized by the experience, and I''m unsure if it''s affected her memory or if she''s a young elf truly ignorant of the outside world." "She didn''t mention the Stanton boy at all?" "Nothing." "He intercepted her as soon as she stepped into this town, then she went missing, and he didn''t even report it to the guild or anyone. It smells fishy to me." "Well, my group is sticking around her for now. If he tries to cause any shit, we''ll be the first to know." "You thinking of offering her a position in your party?" "Maybe... She''s very talented and has all the markings of a potential adventurer with a bright future, but I wonder if she''s not too much trouble for us. Hell. I think Evan and myself are the only ones who can resist her passive charm." "You think she''s a noble? I know all elves are born with that trait, but usually, only the nobles invest in it. Gods... Has the fucking Stanton brat caused a diplomatic incident?" "She''s only got one name on her profile. But, if she is one, she''d have no trouble finding someone to overwrite her name temporarily." "Yeah, plenty of them like gallivanting around incognito and amusing themselves amongst the common folk. Ugh..." "We''ll keep an eye on her, don''t worry." "Thanks, Roderick. I''ll try to poke around the Stantons and deal with our pranksters..." I woke up fresh and ready for the day ahead. I wasn''t surprised my mimicry had gained a level, as this was now the longest I had ever remained shapeshifted into a singular form. I yearned to let loose and blob out. If all went well, I''d get some equipment with Whitney, and then later, Kurt would show me the local dungeon. When I had asked where I could safely practice magic, it was Dewi''s first recommendation, and Kurt seemed eager to progress in his Dualblade class. Being immune to alcohol had its perks, as now I had plenty of time before the others roused from their slumber to practice magic. My first goal was to make a [Pseudopod] mimic [Water Whip]. I cast the spell and closely examined it. I then formed a tendril and started shifting its colors to match. Without [Mana Reinforcement], it looked nearly identical at a glance, and only under extremely close scrutiny could you notice even a minor defect. With [Mana Reinforcement], its mana aura seemed far beyond the second level [Water Whip] could produce. When Whitney arrived, my mana level had not dropped yet, so I activated [Slime Conversion] to not waste the regeneration. After a good meal, she seemed much happier and promptly dragged me back into town. When I asked if they''d have completed outfits by now, Whitney said they would likely alter already-made stock to fit me, although I should never underestimate a high-level crafter. The outfits she had arranged for me were two robes, one in a light shade of green and the other a pale sky blue, and three pairs of boots. I was also introduced to the horrors of underwear; did I really need all this extra clothing? I guessed it wouldn''t matter once I assigned it all to an equipment profile. I got replacement arrows for my quiver, and Whitney suggested I keep the bow as a backup in case I ran out of mana. I internally laughed at the thought; it was still bottomless from my perspective. Another suggestion was to save up for a storage bag first and foremost and then consider getting a staff, scepter, or tool with a magic catalyst. Getting a bag felt like a waste, and the magic catalyst sounded much more interesting, but I couldn''t reveal my [Core Storage]. Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. ''Maybe I could use Sylthaeryn''s bag as a decoy? Although I''d need a reason why the goblins didn''t take it from me... Should I say I left it in the forest? Maybe I could use Kurt to my advantage.'' "I actually had a storage bag... I wonder if Kurt found it when he found my boar hides?" I said, dialing up the [Acting] to the max. I fastened the bag securely and smiled, then withdrew the Gigatoad skin and presented it to Whitney. With [Mana Sight], I could see a faint aura within the skin, which might have explained why its outside was resistant to the green slime. "Think I could trade this for that staff?" Both stared at the skin I held with disbelief. "I can see why you didn''t care about the boars..." Whitney responded. "Can I take back my inn fees?" "No, even if Syl is secretly an elven princess with riches beyond our imagination, you are paying off your punishment." Kurt sighed but nodded his head reluctantly. "As for if this is worth it or not... Maybe, once again, your harvesting is flawless, which means there are basically no lost materials. However, Gigatoads aren''t exactly rare. My monster knowledge isn''t the best, but I think their materials are for water and minor acid resistance." Whitney explained. I pulled out the rage tusk and showed it off. "Imagine the kind of spear you could make with that..." Kurt mumbled, looking envious, "I don''t suppose you have sword materials in there." "Or daggers," Whitney added. I mentally examined my storage, going through all my various battle spoils. I figured the bear and badger materials would need to stay hidden for now, the badger having Bloodrot and the bear being a double-evolved monster. Since they had no risk of deteriorating, I could present them once I had established myself as an adventurer or perhaps in another town. That only left the Blade Wolf. I pulled out the materials one by one, causing both of them to start to shift uncomfortably. "Is that the forest king?" Whitney asked. "More like was the forest king..." Kurt corrected. "I think I understand why you had Hunter and Assassin in your starting classes and why your level is so high." "Man... I wish I was an elf," Kurt mumbled. Both of them were staring at its tail, "That would make an excellent sword." "Funny, I was thinking it would make an excellent matching pair of daggers." "No way!" Kurt protested, then turned to me with pleading eyes, "Syl, you gotta sell it to me! This will start the legend of Dualblade Kurt!" "Well... Mister Dualblade, who can afford the staff Syl wants?" Whitney responded, cheekily sticking out her tongue. "Oh...You dirty bitch..." Kurt glared. As they bickered and fought, I wondered what I would get from that new core. I hoped it was delicious. Chapter 55: Burning Desire Chapter 55: Burning Desire While we traveled back to town, I was discussing my trade with Whitney. Since my purchase was an already completed object, she was taking some loss on the trade as she would need to pay a crafter to complete the item. I offered her the other Blade Wolf parts so she could sell or use them. She tried to refuse until Kurt pointed out how "cool" it would be to have more matching gear. Whitney promised to pay me back the difference, but my mind only cared about eating that core. When we reached town, Whitney said she would meet us at the store as she had to withdraw money from the guild and ran ahead. Kurt tried begging a bit more now that Whitney was gone, but he wanted me to wait weeks for him to earn enough to buy the staff. I told him that I could always harvest other parts for him in the future and that I wanted to collect other catalysts like that. That at least cheered him up a little bit. Whitney finally arrived, paid the store owner, and proudly handed me my new staff. I thanked her and handed her all the Blade Wolf parts, and she placed them in her storage bag. Kurt and I were going to quickly grab our stuff from the inn, as I needed to deposit my equipment in my "storage bag". Whitney said she needed to commission a magical smith and crafter, then perhaps meet us in the dungeon afterward or later tonight. While walking to the inn, I faked placing the staff in my storage and quickly ate the slime core. ''Yes''. Trait [Blaze Slime] gained. Trait [Slime Shot] gained. Trait [Slime Burst] gained.> ''Fused Core? That''s new. Does that mean they combined multiple slime cores together to make that catalyst? It would explain the plethora of traits I just gained. Truly a delicacy.'' I examined the notification and spotted that [Core Refinement] had improved despite not being in the slime profile or the absorption message. Was this because of it being a fused core? Maybe Dewi would have some knowledge of the slime cores as catalysts. I looked over my brand-new trait eagerly. This slime has the ability to survive and thrive within extreme heat and can rapidly control the temperature of its slime to generate equivalent outputs that it uses offensively. Maximum temperature levels and modification speed scale with trait level, and also affected by outside factors such as compression. This trait adds fire resistance to the slime core and slime mass, which scales with trait level until eventual immunity at max level, but also prevents taking damage from extreme heat. Compatible with other slime traits.> ''Where were you when I took two exploding fireballs to the face?'' I grumbled mentally. I gained no experience, so they were already dead, but it still counted for my [Consuming Osmosis]. I glanced at the updated profile, which painted the picture that these slimes either shot their superheated slime at people or exploded with it - nasty. There was also another trait they sometimes developed [Thermal Vision], which let them detect heat signatures and locate living beings. It was a tempting purchase, but I already had [Mana Sight]. Maybe I could eventually unlock it by mimicking a red slime and borrowing its traits. "The unarmed ones are a piece of cake, but the ones with weapons usually have class levels and can be a little tricky." ''Even skeletons can have classes...'' I grumbled and threw the skeleton into my storage. I''d have to try eating it later. Our passage ended in another room filled with debris and grim furnishings like open caskets and tombstones, certainly fitting the theme. There were three skeletons this time, one of which had a sword. "I''ll handle the swordsman. I want to get some parry practice in," Kurt announced and abruptly rushed forward as if assuming I agreed to his decision. I had Alpha and Beta each cast [Water Whip] to try binding the skeletons, and the spells materialized on either side of me, lashing forward to grab the skeletons. I was glad that hands weren''t a requirement to cast spells, and I admired the magical effects floating around my person. I then kept casting [Water Orb] at each of them until they died. Since Kurt was taking his time with his skeleton, I rapidly enveloped them in a pseudopod and set acid to the max. [Dissection] practically scoffed at me for even daring to question if there were any valuable parts on such a worthless monster. The slime mass generated was barely more than a tree, and I could see why Kurt had called this place a money sink. Wow. Their profile was also terrible! They had one trait [Undead Fortitude] that let them continue to fight at full strength until they ran out of lifeforce and did not require limbs or organs to function. I could already do all of that fresh from the slime field. I patiently waited for Kurt to finish, which was when his parry finally broke the rusty sword of the skeleton. ''What!?'' I immediately tried to purchase it. ''How? I got assessed. I only had Water, and now I suddenly have Fire?'' I questioned, thinking rapidly, ''It must have been the red slime core. That''s the only explanation unless Gramps is suddenly playing a prank on me.'' "I wish their weapons would last longer, barely get any practice in..." Kurt mumbled and turned to me, "Why do you look so shocked?" "Oh... I gained a level up. I didn''t expect it so soon." "Yeah... I miss those early level-ups. This Dualblade class takes forever since it''s intermediate." ''Damn it! I wish Kurt wasn''t here. I want to try out this new spell!'' I cried mentally. He continued to lead the way, and I did sneak a small spell, producing a tiny flame at the tip of my finger. I could see the Fire mana for myself before quickly snuffing it out. The spell let me target a nearby location and create a flame there, which would continue to be fueled by my mana. Although, I assumed if it naturally spread to any combustibles, then I wouldn''t need to supply mana. Getting my tendrils on more slime cores suddenly skyrocketed in value. "Oh, right! Tabby suggested getting [Identify]. If you do, make sure to always use it on a new monster at least once. Apparently you get a bonus or something?" Kurt suddenly commented. ''Oh... I had completely forgotten about that. Maybe I was too harsh on Kurt.'' I thought to myself before thanking him on the suggestion. Chapter 56: Dead Easy Chapter 56: Dead Easy The next room we entered had rotting corpses rather than skeletons, slowly lurching around mindlessly and even wandering into walls. Their senses must have been really bad as they hadn''t detected us yet. I used [Identify] on the group, as suggested. "Ugh, Zombies..." Kurt mumbled, sheathing his swords and pulling out two small clubs from his storage bag. "They don''t seem too bad? The highest is only level 8." "Their body parts keep moving until you kill them, knock the undeath out of them or something. Means I can''t use my swords, or I''ll be making more enemies." "They seem slow. Instead of engaging directly, want me to start blasting them from here, then if any reach us, you can deal with them?" "Sounds like a good plan. We could probably even back up and kite them. Assuming you have the mana?" I grinned, "Mana is one of the few things I don''t need to worry about." I cast my spell four times with the aid of my three [Sub-Cores] and fired them simultaneously, one at each zombie. I hoped [Sneak Attack] did apply to spells, and this seemed like the perfect test condition. The spheres of water exploded on contact, and the zombies finally reacted, turning to face us and shuffling forward. Kurt whistled, impressed with the display, as I continued my barrage of water spells. The weaker zombies even halted a little with each blast, and I was impressed with the amount of concussive force inside these magical water balls. Eventually, the weaker zombies stopped moving, and when only the strongest remained, Kurt stepped in and dealt two crunchy blows to its head and torso, collapsing it. "I thought Dewi said Water magic was boring? Cause that seemed pretty cool to me." Kurt said, and gave me a thumbs up, "You good on mana?" "Thanks. I''m all good. The low-level spells don''t seem to use much." I replied and started storing away the zombies. "I guess I better pick up the slack on the next group of skeletons. You''re definitely on zombie duty after that display. Also I gained a level, we''re making good progress!" We continued exploring the first floor, and the next pack of enemies we found was a mixed group of skeleton archers and zombies. I lured the zombies away from Kurt with a barrage of water spells, and he began to engage the skeleton archers. His dodging skills were impressive, and he even deflected an arrow with his sword. His confidence or skill levels must have been pretty high to showboat like that. I also took a quick peek with [Identify] to grab the first-time bonus on the skeletons. I tried to restrain the zombie duo with [Water Whip], but despite lacking in speed compared to the skeletons, they far exceeded them in strength, and the magical density of the water was not enough to hold. I swapped to using a disguised [Pseudopod] to grab one of the Zombies and hold it in place, then pelted the remaining with repeated casts of [Water Orb]. Since Kurt continued to play with his foes, I sneakily ate both zombies. I was surprised how much he trusted me to keep them off his back; were all adventurer parties like this? The restrained one died rapidly once engulfed in acid slime, and then I ate the remains of the last one. Again, they were extremely disappointing in terms of slime mass, which seemed to be a recurring theme of the undead. While I waited for Kurt to finish killing the last one, I looked over the profile and spotted [Undead Fortitude] and a new one [Undead Resilience], which was what let them keep fighting even when chopped into bits. Resilient was a bit of an understatement, in my opinion. When Kurt finished off the last archer, I had gained another level. ''Hmm... No skill revelation this time. Although, if I suddenly got offered another previously missing element, I would''ve been utterly confused. Actually, I have a skill point, and I''ve seen [Earth Magic], so let''s give it a try...'' The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ''Damn...'' "Sure. Just don''t hit me." Kurt laughed and swung his blade halfheartedly, causing it to bounce off when he connected. He then redoubled his effort, and the bubble burst on contact, splashing outwards and soaking him. I, however, was bone dry, so I gave him a smug grin in response. "Looks like it can only block light attacks unless I can work on improving it. If I''m correctly understanding the utility part of the spell, I could also use it to move easier underwater." Kurt''s eyes widened at that, "Can you cast it on other people?" "I think so..." I replied and tried casting the spell on Kurt. When the bubble of water formed around him, he started smiling happily. "We could explore the pond!" He shouted excitedly, "Ever since I was a kid, we wanted to search the pond for treasure." "I think there''s just frogs down there." "No, no, no. You need to work on your sense of adventure, Syl. Plus, monsters sometimes hoard treasure." I unfortunately couldn''t deny that. I was a monster, and I certainly had a hoard of treasure. I shrugged and started heading towards the staircase, which prompted a surprise notification for me. If I focused my mind, I could mentally picture the path we had traveled in the dungeon. What a wonderful upgrade! Our first encounter on the second floor proved one application of my bubble, as it had numerous skeleton archers that all shot at Kurt. Their arrows bounced off harmlessly, and I formed my own bubble when they started to shoot at me as well. We both stood there curiously until the archers ran out of arrows and then charged at us to strike with their bows, which also harmlessly bounced off the bubble. "I kind of feel bad for them." Kurt laughed. "If they had [Power Shot], we might have been at risk of getting hit. And the zombies could possibly break the bubble outright." I had already tried [Water Orb], which could go through my bubble, so I tried casting [Water Whip] and lashed out at one of the poor skeletons. After a few good smacks and cracks, it crumpled to the floor. It was nice to see that my spells could synergize, and it reminded me of combining my slime traits for some amazing combinations. Curiously, I formed a [Pseudopod] and tried to pass it through the bubble, and it also passed through unimpeded and with no visible damage to my bubble. After easily destroying the skeleton, my slime tendrils demonstrating their superiority over their watery duplicate, I decided to see if the bubble allowed anything to pass outwards and drew my bow. I activated [Elven Marksmanship] and saw no markings appear. I could only assume that the undead had no weak points, which meant that my mental scolding for forgetting to use it earlier could be reduced. I fired an arrow and it passed through, then fired a few more until the skeleton died. Kurt clapped excitedly. "Do you think you could make my bubble smaller? Then maybe I could swing my sword through." I couldn''t seem to modify the spell once cast, so I tried casting it again on him in a smaller radius, which thankfully seemed like a simple customization. Once formed, I ended the original casting, and it detonated outwards, splashing the remaining two skeletons. Kurt wasted no time and swung his blades, which could now pass through the barrier, and he bullied the two skeletons until they perished. "This bubble spell is awesome!" Kurt shouted excitedly and I could only nod happily in agreement. Also, it appeared all my spellcasting had rewarded my efforts. Chapter 57: Undead Critters Chapter 57: Undead Critters Now that Kurt had a renewable defense, we started progressing much faster through the dungeon. It seemed our slow pace was to avoid injury and the dreaded "money sink" of this dungeon. Although it was still too slow for my liking, I already imagined doing some solo hunting myself, unrestrained by my disguise. We breezed through till we reached the next room, which had the gimmick of keeping us occupied by a swarm of zombie rats while skeleton archers would pelt us from a distance. "Weird, they are seen as single entities despite being hundreds of rats..." I commented. "Dungeon monsters are strange like that. Or maybe it''s the Gods? Imagine throwing a fireball at a thousand zombie rats, and even if they were only level 1, you''d get so much experience." "Perhaps they were a single Zombie Rat, and each took the Swarm mutation?" Kurt laughed, "You''re asking the wrong person if you want to talk about monster ecology." While we were having our casual conversation, the little rats were trying their hardest to penetrate the bubbles. Kurt had simply strode up to the archers and dispatched them with ease. Together with my [Sub-Cores], we started blasting into the swarms of rats with [Water Orb]. The kill notifications only appeared when enough of the swarm entity was considered dead. Once the swarm was more manageable, I used a disguised tendril to smash into them and get some sneaky devours. I had some notifications to go through. Looking over the profile while Kurt searched for loot, I discovered that rats were not monsters, much like the level zero animals I had killed in the forest ages ago. By becoming a zombie, it had turned into a monster, and then Swarm was a special type of mutation. Very strange. It had no combat applications, with a long incubation time, and unless I felt like punishing an entire town or village with long-term consequences, I didn''t see why I would need this. It was also a disease, so why it was considered applicable to my clearly labeled poison trait was very confusing. Since it was safe to do so, I curiously looked through my two class revelations. Allows your raw mana to operate outside of your being without dissipating. Also allows greater control over mana, which can aid in creating custom spells. Skill level determines; maximum manipulation, mana efficiency, and the time before dissipating. Unlocks further Mana-related Traits and Skills.> ''Yes! Instant purchase!'' I mentally celebrated. I had so long ago wanted to try using something like [Mana Reinforcement] on other things only to be denied. Back then I wanted to use it on tusks or fangs, back when I needed to actually worry about conserving my slime mass and dared not use the regular [Slime Shot]. I then looked at the second skill. It improved accuracy and damage with attack spells. It immediately reminded me of my two existing weapon skills. "Oh no... Not another one." I grumbled at the second skill, to which Kurt looked at me confused until I explained, "My class revealed the magic version of weapon proficiency, and my profile is feeling quite bloated..." Kurt chuckled, "I know that feeling. You should consider Fusing them then. It costs a point, but it''s well worth it, especially if you find another compatible skill later on that joins it." "Fusing?" I questioned. "Uhh... How do I explain this? You open your menu, and you kinda group your stuff together." I nodded. "Then you grab all the ones that you think are similar at once. Then, if they are compatible, you get a prompt." I nodded and looked at [Melee Weapon Proficiency], [RangedWeapon Proficiency], and [Improved Accuracy (Lesser)] and tried selecting them all together. Becomes Skill: [Attack Mastery (Lesser) LV 4]. This will cost 1 Skill Point.> The next room contained a mixture of zombified and skeletal wolves. The skeletons were fast but unable to break our bubbles, while the zombies were slightly slower than a regular wolf. Our impromptu strategy was to avoid the zombies while whittling down the skeletons. My goal was to earn the magical attack skill for free, so I wanted as much contribution as possible. I told all my cores to go wild with the [Water Orb] spell, while I focused on using [Water Whip] and trying to manipulate it as if it were slime. Taking a page from Kurt and his clubs, I tried just adding a ball of dense water at the end of my whip and swinging it around like a flail, bashing into the wolves. "You''re supposed to be a Mage, and now you look like a Fighter!" Kurt said with a laugh. "Well, I did mention I have weapon proficiency, evasion too." The fight was clearly in our favor, so much so that Kurt was willing to crack jokes while fighting. My own bubble burst eventually, but I recast it quickly. I had to assume that there was a damage threshold in addition to its duration limit, as I was making sure to avoid the zombie wolves. When Kurt''s broke, he barely missed a beat before swapping to blocking and dodging with his weapons until I could recast it. Eventually, it was only the zombies left to slog through. Just as before, I managed to eat one of each wolf with a disguised tendril during the heat of combat. While the rats became monsters from their undead transformation, the wolves didn''t evolve and seemed to be considered the same tier or grade as a regular wolf, just undead. I didn''t know what to call this, as it wasn''t a mutation and most certainly not an evolution. When Kurt killed the last zombie wolf, he cheered. "I leveled up from that!" I congratulated him before looking at my notification. ''Two levels to go...'' Unfortunately, despite our great defensive situation, there was one thing I hadn''t considered - stamina. The next room we cleared was sloppy, meaning I had to recast Kurt''s bubble multiple times, and his kill count was falling behind. When we finally finished mopping up the zombie warriors, I could see that Kurt could no longer continue. "Perhaps you should head back? I don''t think Whitney will be joining us." "No..." He said between a long drink of water, "I can''t leave you alone in the dungeon." "I''m sure I can keep going for a bit longer, especially if I cast while retreating backward." "No doubt, but guild policy is we went in together, so we leave together." I frowned but eventually relented. Now that I knew where the dungeon was, I could sneak out tonight and do some solo training. I looked over my gains from that last fight, another level, but sadly, I still didn''t earn enough for the magic attack skill. Our trip back to the first floor was uneventful, but when we reached the first floor, some of our path back was blocked by a few freshly risen undead. If any reached Kurt, he defended himself, but compared to the second floor, their lower quantity and levels meant I dispatched almost all of them. With only two rooms before reaching the entrance, I finally got it. ''It makes me wonder, did my class show me the skill because I was close to earning it myself? Or was it purely random? I had been casting [Water Orb] for almost two days straight, so I was likely close even before it showed it to me. It would suck to purchase a new skill when I was so close to earning it for free. Gramps should offer a refund system or something...'' When we exited the dungeon, it looked like it was late evening. We had clearly lost track of time down there. I wondered if there was a skill, trait, or item that could help keep track of time. When we finally reached the inn, Kurt practically collapsed onto the table and ordered his meal. Whitney approached from the bar and chuckled at the sight of Kurt. "I thought you might be ending your dungeon run soon. Sorry, I couldn''t make it back in time." "You could make it up to us by showing me the appraisal skill," I asked, trying to give her my best imitation of her cheeky smile. I still had another level to get in charisma, after all. "Oh, you found loot and leveled up! You''re practically a veteran adventurer already." She said, returning the grin and showing me [Appraisal]. It simply allowed me use [Identify] on magic items. I still had some stuff stored away from Krutz and the four adventurers, so being able to check them and any future items seemed like a good idea. I bought it and asked Kurt to pull out the ring we found. "A poison resistance ring..." I muttered. "Common but useful," Whitney commented. "You can have it, Kurt. As thanks for the dungeon trip." Kurt gave a tired thumbs up from his collapsed state. "You sure? Poison resistance is handy for a fresh adventurer. You never know what monsters have poison or venoms." Whitney asked curiously. "I don''t think that ring can beat my traits," I said confidently, getting a good laugh out of Whitney. Chapter 58: Grinding the Dead Chapter 58: Grinding the Dead When everyone retired to their rooms, I decided to take my stroll back to the dungeon. I had so many new tools I wanted to try unimpeded by my disguise. The streets were mostly empty except for the few pub crawlers or the late returning adventurers heading to the guild. I was fully prepared to sneak in if I was denied entry, but the guards let me enter the dungeon again and only cautioned me not to push myself too hard and try to avoid going beyond the first level if I was going solo. I''d planned on sticking to my disguise until I reached the second floor. It was a pity that the undead were immune to poison, as I wanted to try mixing water magic with my poison slime. The first room was only two skeletons, and I wondered how long it took the dungeon to spawn new enemies as I quickly took them down with some water magic. The next room had some zombies, so I grabbed them with two disguised pseudopods and turned up the heat with [Blaze Slime]. There was an extremely unpleasant smell as the corpses began to boil, and I was forced to turn off my sense of smell. In the last room of the first floor, I restrained a zombie and a skeleton and tried using [Kindle] to defeat them. The flame was more effective on the zombie than the skeleton, and it eventually ceased its monstrous movement. Compared to [Water Orb], it was not as easy to use, as I couldn''t just rapidly fire it without a fuel source. As I climbed down the stairs to the second floor, I recalled the flaming drinks and had a brilliant theory to test. The first room of the second floor had skeleton archers that I quickly dispatched with two precision slime shots empowered with sticky, heated acid. The acidic part of my slime didn''t seem to be improved with the combination, but the monsters appeared to die quicker by taking damage from two sources. The next room had what I was looking for - a horde of zombie rats. I fired a burst of sticky slime containing only ethanol. The small zombie rats struggled from the adhesive coating, and that was when I cast [Kindle]. Flames erupted and spread across the entire floor rapidly, and I worried about my equipment being damaged, so I cast [Bubble] and watched as the rats squealed in rage while burning to smoldering cinders. With two quick actions, I had cleared the entire room with startling efficiency. ''Holy shit... I didn''t expect it to be that good. I can see why Dewi likes burning things.'' I held out a tendril and contained the ethanol to only the tip, then cast [Kindle] on it. The tip continued to burn as long as I kept providing it with ethanol-infused slime, and my regular slime was unaffected and undamaged. I was glad to see the natural fire resistance and heat immunity already working. For a brief moment, I transformed the tendril into a flaming sword before cutting off the supply. It looked impressive, but I doubted it would be as efficient as sending out a burst of sticky flammable slime. These low levels in a basic class were shockingly quick, especially since I was no longer splitting experience with Kurt. I had gained two levels by clearing the first floor and two rooms in the second floor, but no further revelations from my class. I swapped to an empty equipment profile and then transformed into all the new forms I had acquired - zombie, skeleton, both undead wolves, a red slime, and the zombie rat. The rat was a horrible disguise, as my core was sticking out. One of my favorite traits gained a much-deserved level up, all the perfected first-time transformations earning it a bundle of experience. I settled on transforming into a red slime and mimicked [Thermal Vision], hoping to earn the trait for free. Coordinate with other spellcasters to form Grand Spells. Each participant with this skill adds to the ease of the spell''s formation in a reduction in time or complexity. This trait has no levels.> ''Interesting... Are you revealing this to me because I was coordinating with my [Sub-Core] to form a single spell? I''ll keep trying that and see if I unlock the skill. If I don''t, I''ll just ask Dewi about it.'' As much as I wanted to continue playing around with my spells, I needed to work on getting my proficiency skills to level three before fusing them. I could likely get Ranged and Magic while working together in a party, but I was concerned about Melee. Also Kurt mentioned the next floor requiring a mage, so I''d likely get my chance then. That reminded me I had a big hammer in my storage to eat and all the undead sitting in my storage. I threw them out and started to devour them, along with any rusted weapons I had, hoping to complete any outstanding profiles. The zombie barbarian''s war hammer reminded me of the fancy hammer I took from that adventurer, which also needed to be eaten. ''Okay, I have three [Sub-Cores] and five [Pseudopod]. Each of you take one tendril and form a hammer or maul since it seems effective against the undead, and I''ll take two and channel my inner Kurt.'' I entered the next room that contained a mixed batch of zombie wolves and skeleton warriors. Rather than precision dual-wielding, it was more like a murder ball of tentacles and hammers flailing around and pulverizing any of the mindless undead that approached. It felt pretty great to be on the top of the food chain so far in this dungeon, and unlike the adventurers who had to worry about injuries or expending resources, for me, this was free experience. Chapter 59: Apparitions Chapter 59: Apparitions My tentacle murder ball strategy was very effective, and I proceeded to explore after quickly eating. Also, I looked over my notifications to see what I had gained. . Restrict your mana aura to a reasonable level unless within close and observable contact. It is considered rude to blare your mana aura like a beacon constantly. This trait has no levels.> ''I can''t help but feel insulted by this skill...'' I activated the skill, and when I glanced at myself with [Mana Sight], I could see that my mana was subdued, but close examination broke the illusion rather quickly. While being ''polite'' sounded nice, I was much happier about not being easily noticeable at a distance. The next room contained the stairway down to the next floor, but there was another pathway, which I presumed led to another path here. I decided to explore another room on this floor before heading down, hoping to gain the proficiency level. After defeating the room full of zombie warriors and skeleton archers, I reached my goal. ''Time to head down!'' The next floor had an eerie atmosphere and lower lighting conditions. I wondered what I''d run into down here. The first room contained three spectral entities that floated around, and a quick [Identify] told me what they were. When they spotted me, the objects in the room began to levitate before being flung at me. I was unamused with junk being thrown at me and turned on my acid to melt anything that got stuck in my slime. I swung a tendril at one of the entities, and it soared right through it. They all began to giggle at me in an ominously whispery tone. I joined in a spell construction with my [Sub-Cores] and fired a large fiery bolt at one of the apparitions, striking the creature, and it wailed in pain before dissolving into nothing. I didn''t expect to one-shot the apparition, so I toned down and fired a regular [Fire Arrow], but after taking two, it also dissolved into nothing. ''No! I want to eat them for the profile!'' When I snuck towards the next room, I saw two interesting ghosts armed with ghostly weapons. ''Interesting... So I shouldn''t get complacent even if it''s an old monster. I wonder if I could delegate this. Gamma, I want you to identify monsters for me.'' ''Gamma, stop!'' I screamed mentally, and the flood of notifications ceased. ''I think that would have driven me insane. I wonder how specific I can be, or could I have Gamma filter these for me? Worth a shot.'' I tried a few experiments, and I could indeed have Gamma filter the identification for me and only show it to me if it met my criteria. The best discovery was that Gamma could use my knowledge, and if I knew, for example, that class was an intermediate (like sniper), I could filter for it. My final order became for Gamma to use [Identify] once on any monsters I encountered and then only display it to me if it met any of these conditions: it was a new monster, the race was above level 10, it had an unknown class, a class above basic, or if it had a class above 10. I''d likely revisit this as I grew, perhaps adding other conditions or raising the filters. Once again, I was blown away by how versatile this trait was and made a mental note to praise Gramps, assuming he made it. With my testing complete, I had to deal with these two unaware ghosts. I formed my two empowered spells and launched them at the two ghosts, and once again, the spell proved too powerful for them to handle. Or perhaps it was the added [Sneak Attack] if it was applying, but I''d likely only find out if it was applying on a proficiency notification. I hated this floor of the dungeon despite it being ideal with my style of magical assassination, as I felt these monsters were taunting me with their unobtainable profiles. The next room only contained poltergeists, which I knew couldn''t harm me, but I still dispatched them from stealth. ''New spell! Still no fireball yet...'' This new spell created a small explosion emanating from myself as the focal point. I cast it once in the empty room, and a fiery explosion burst around me. The size of the blast was a little disappointing, not even half the size I witnessed from one of Dewi''s fireballs. Still, it seemed useful if I ever was surrounded. Once again, I resumed my sneaking around. I was curious that I''d yet to see any of those loot chests. The next room had a massive staircase downwards and was guarded by another one of those floating black cloaks. I was pleased that Gamma proved one of my orders was correct, and I started forming two empowered [Fire Arrows]. Perhaps because of my new level in [Fire Magic], these two seemed far more impressive than before and could hold a decent amount more mana beyond their previous limit. Once I felt the spells trembling with mana and threatening to unravel, I launched them at the creature. Both struck simultaneously, causing it to let out that horrific wail before dispersing into flame. I cheered as I received a flood of notifications. Would you like to swap classes?>. Chapter 60: Shadowcaster Chapter 60: Shadowcaster ''What the hell is a Shadow... Caster?'' Would you like to swap classes?>. Shit. I needed to make a decision. Tabitha had warned me that I should be careful of blindly deciding, especially if it was a different type of class. But the name of this class hinted at casting spells, so I could safely assume it was still magic-related. Also, aside from fighting ghosts, my slime abilities were still vastly superior to my class. ''If it''s bad, I can swap back. If it''s good, I can get a headstart on skill revelations... Yes, swap class.'' . ''Uh. Yes?'' Helps the user hide their presence, greatly scaling with skill level. Obscures the user''s Lifeforce and Mana while the skill is active.> ''Oh, now it greatly scales? Well worth the point. I had no idea skills could upgrade like that. Obscuring my Lifeforce reminds me of one of my prior evolution options. Now let''s grab the new magic.'' ''Acid magic! No doubt it''s weaker than my [Acid Slime], but now I could use it while in my disguise.'' I fired the spell, and a luminescent green magical dart shot out at high speed, sizzling into the wall. I copied its size and coloring and fired an acidic slime shot, giving my mimic skill the praise it deserved for replicating it with one glance. I compared the damage between the two, and I''d say the spell was easily less than half as effective as my slime. I excitedly descended the stairs, eager to see what the next floor held. Eventually, the steps ended, and I stood in front of a massive archway with glowing sigils decorating it. It certainly gave the impression of the final challenge of the dungeon. When I approached it, a notification appeared. As a beginner dungeon, retreat is allowed.> ''Oh. So, some dungeons lock you in? Good to know...'' Since retreat was an option, I felt obligated to enter and at least see the final challenge. I entered the room, which opened up into a large circular arena fully decorated with the graveyard motif and surrounded by marble pillars with ominously glowing runes carved into them. At the center was a massive four-armed skeleton equipped with a spear, sword, mace, and shield. It had a few bits of fragmented and corroded plate mail scarcely covering it that was unlikely to protect it but certainly added to its threatening presence. It stood there silently, waiting for its challenger to approach and duel it in honorable combat. ''Wait... Is this thing lower level than me?'' I equipped [Apex Hunter] and felt no tug of worthiness from this monster. Some quick and rough head math made me estimate I had around five more combined levels than it, give or take. It felt extremely disappointing, as I would have loved the boosted experience and the free skill point. I hoped it would at least give me enough for my evolution. Before I engaged with the creature, I needed to prepare myself. I withdrew slime mass and engorged myself to an impressively girthy blob. I felt like I wouldn''t be able to dodge it physically, so instead, I wanted to take a page from my [Sub-Cores], which had demonstrated a much more efficient dodging method in the past by purely maneuvering their cores out of the attack''s trajectory. Since it still refused to move, I would exploit its arrogance. Even if I was at a higher combined level than it, I would gladly take this free opportunity. After all, I had proven that levels weren''t everything by defeating foes above my own. I prepared a massive burst of maximum density sticky-flammable-acidic slime and held it ready to launch at a moment''s notice. Then, I coordinated with my cores to prepare two fully empowered [Fire Arrows]. This finally caused the creature to stir, but it still would let me make the first attack. With a burst, the slime combination covered the creature, and then both flaming bolts rocketed into it, one smashing into its skull while the other entered its chest cavity. The entire skeleton ignited in rapidly spreading flames. Its bones rattled in anger, and it charged forward with weapons pulled back, ready to swing. I ordered Alpha and Beta to continue coordinating more empowered [Fire Arrow] spells and had Gamma spam [Acid Dart]. Meanwhile, I took control of my slime mass, forming all my tendrils and shaping four of them into replicas of the two-handed maul I had devoured and one of them into a shield. I regretted not trading for a tower shield like Roderick to add to my profile collection. Before it reached me, I gave it another thorough coating of my slime combo, which ignited promptly upon touching the monstrosity. Its spear was the first weapon it lunged forward with, and I tried casting [Bubble] to block, but it instantly popped upon contact with the spear. Luckily I was prepared, and with the help of [Evasion], I maneuvered my core out of the way. I swung my weapons at the creature while trying to block its sword with my shield. I did manage the block, but even with all my traits working together, it wasn''t enough, and it sliced through the fake shield and cut partially into my slime, thanks to the reduced velocity. When the mace came down upon me, I shifted the impact area with [Elastic Slime] in addition to my regular defenses and watched as the blunt weapon bounced off my slimy hide. Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. ''Ha! Glad to finally have a use for that trait. Also, I''ll be eating this spear, thank you.'' The effects of my weapons were decent, although it did parry one of my pseudo-mauls, which splattered against the shield. I looked forward to eating all these weapons. I clung to its spear and started eating it immediately. The sword, unfortunately, wasn''t deep enough for me to keep my hold on it, and the monster reclaimed it before I could eat it. I was having quite a lot of fun battling this monster, using a full combination of all my traits and skills. Sadly, it was not durable enough to keep up against the onslaught, and its form was falling apart as it melted in my acid or burned to cinders. I grabbed its four limbs with my tendrils and started to pull, I could hear its bones creaking up until the point I ripped them from its sockets. Shortly after that, its entire form went limp, and I had won. While I devoured the skeleton, I looked over all the notifications I had been ignoring. ''Now that is some big upgrades, long overdue for the acid.'' "I see... You wish for it to safely evolve. Yes, that would be hard to do outside. Very well." I didn''t dare move as I heard this one-sided conversation, but it appeared I had been saved. The Dreadlich cleared its nonexistent throat and looked towards me. "Syl, I would like to apologize for disrespecting your dungeon challenge. Please forgive me." I shifted into my elven form to converse, automatically equipping my outfit. It stared at me with intrigue. "Interesting... A mimic slime? Such a rare species, you must have some highly trained skills and traits to fool even me and to think you were actually that elf from yesterday." "I... Yes. So you''re going to let me live?" "Yes. The Great One wants you to evolve and speak with him. I''ve locked the entrance to the dungeon so nobody will be able to disturb you." Was he talking about Gramps? That was the only one I could think of who knew about me and wanted me to evolve. "The adventurers might question why I''m missing for an entire day." "Just say you were trapped when the dungeon closed. It is partially the truth since I''ve been told not to let you out until you evolve. I''d suggest doing it soon, as testing his patience is not wise." "I see. Thank you. I just want to get my traits and skills in order first." "Ha! I can imagine, although if you''ve come this far, I don''t think any brand new ones would affect your evolutions." I nodded at its advice. I''d look now and then see if gaining any new traits or skills changed my options. Perhaps I could even ask the Dreadlich for advice? I opened up my evolution list and gasped at the amount of options. Species Evolutions Available: Mimic Slime (Red) Mimic Slime (White) Mimic Slime (Yellow) Mimic Slime (Pink) Mimic Slime (Silver) Mutation Evolutions Available: Gluttonous Mimic Slime (Blue) Aquatic Mimic Slime (Blue) Doppelganger Slime (Blue) Alchemic Mimic Slime (Blue) Predation Mimic Slime (Blue) Chimeric Mimic Slime (Blue) Magma Mimic Slime (Blue) Cloud Mimic Slime (Blue) Special Evolution Available: Queen Mimic Slime (Blue) Chapter 61: Evolution Consultation Chapter 61: Evolution Consultation ''Interesting... So Green and Purple are no longer options, and the Parasite mutation.'' A dangerous member of the slime species, often found near sources of magma or high-rank dungeons. Its red slime can generate temperatures equivalent to the magma it often inhabits, and even approaching one can be deadly. Battles with this species are often compared to fighting against a Fire Mage and should be countered with Water or Ice magic. Their cores are highly desired and sought after for their usage as Fire Mana Catalysts or inside Dwarven Forges.> ''Well, that explains my staff. I''ve already integrated one, so this is a skip.'' A deadly member of the slime species, often found in frosty mountains, icy tundras, frozen lakes, or high-rank dungeons. Its white slime contains vast amounts of cryo-energy and can cause rapid freezing and damage living tissue on contact. Battles with this species are often compared to fighting against an Ice Mage and should be countered with Fire or Lava magic. Their cores are highly desired and sought after for their usage as Ice Mana Catalysts or for creating frozen storage for alchemical reagents, monster parts, and food.> ''Is deadly better or worse than dangerous? I imagine this would give me Ice affinity and likely cold immunity. I wonder if I could purchase or trade for a catalyst. Or travel to an ice region? I wonder how rare they are.'' A deadly member of the slime species found almost exclusively in dungeons and rarely on floating islands. Its yellow slime can generate sparks between its core and outer membrane and even discharge bolts of lightning. Earth and Nature magic is recommended to counter this slime, and Lightning magic should never be used against it, as it only empowers it. Avoid using metal or water near this slime, or you will be targeted by it. Their Cores are highly desired and sought after for their usage as Lightning Mana Catalysts and experimental Mana-Tech.> ''Floating islands? As in unconnected landmass, or do they mean literally floating, like in the sky? If it''s the latter, then that sounds like an amazing place to explore, and what amazing profiles would I be able to find there? Lightning sounds interesting, although I wonder if it wouldn''t directly counter me due to my nature as a blue slime. I''d need to use my stealth skills to ambush one or, if possible, trade for a catalyst.'' An extremely rare form of slime species coveted by the world as its iconic slime is the primary component in superior healing potions. They do not spawn naturally and are only scarcely found, sometimes occupying Healing Fountains inside of the largest dungeons. Their Cores can be utilized as Healing Catalysts or ground down into a vital component in Regeneration Elixirs. The prize for selling such a slime is untold riches from some of the most powerful nations. Some even consider it a crime to kill such a creature.> ''Nope! Never. I don''t need more reasons to be harvested. What would this even give me personally? Healing magic like Evan, I suspect. I can''t regenerate mana with my blue slime, so the signs point to pink slime being unable to heal me personally. However, perhaps it would increase my vitality if my assumptions that [Mana Slime] is partially responsible for my absurd mana capacity. It seems slimes and dungeons go hand in hand, so seeking them out has great potential for me.'' A somewhat dangerous and very sturdy slime, a strange characteristic amongst slime, it is often found deep underground near ore deposits or within dungeons. This slime has the ability to harden its silvery slime into metals similar to the ores it''s devoured and forms dangerous blades and spikes to attack and defend itself. Its sturdy nature means that mundane weapons are completely ineffective, and even enchanted weapons can struggle to damage one. Like most slimes, it retains its weakness to magic and is one of the only known ways of defeating it. Fire can weaken its form, Ice can slow it down, and Lightning is usually deadly. Their cores can be utilized as Earth Mana Catalysts, but attempting to pry the liquid metal from the Dwarven Empire is daunting.> ''I think this is the first time I''m considering a species evolution... The benefits sound amazing, and it sounds like it has something similar to [Poison Slime], where I can sample metals. Not to mention Earth affinity, which could mean even more magic. Although exploring the Dwarven empire sounds compelling, and once again, I could go dungeon hunting instead.'' ''Well. That''s the end of the species evolutions. The winner is most definitely silver in my eyes, but I wonder what my mutations have to offer.'' A mutation of an existing slime species, this slime has an endless hunger it constantly seeks to end. This mutation can efficiently turn anything into slime mass and grow to tremendous sizes; plants, animals, even rocks, this slime devours all. Due to their ability to devour an entire ecosystem into a wasteland and lack of subtlety, they are often quickly exterminated.> Almost no information is available for this species and rumored to be only a theoretical possibility.> ''Another path from my original mimic choice, although it sounds weaker than Doppelganger. The option of making my own forms is appealing and was what I had tried to do early on. I could likely mix and match parts, and possibly even traits too.'' Unlike Doppelganger, I didn''t feel the urge to pick this. But emotionally, at least, I liked the sound of this more. ''But isn''t that stupid? Picking a likely inferior option over emotions. I want to survive, after all.'' I moved on to look at my final choices. A mutation of slime that is said to only be found on floating islands. This slime has the ability to transform and control its slime into a cloud-like substance and slowly fly around. Its primary form of attack, suffocation, is extremely deadly and feared amongst careless adventurers. However, due to its inability to reasonably protect its core, it often dies swiftly.> ''Floating islands again? Now I assume they do mean they actually float in the sky with all the mentions of clouds. While flying sounds tempting, swiftly dying is a no-go. I''m guessing my early kill strategy of suffocating boars and [Vaporize Slime] led to this.'' The apex of a particular slime species, this evolution is the final destination for any slime species as it turns away from self-growth to progeny. The Queen Slime loses the detriment of decaying slime mass and instead produces new slime mass over time, which is a necessity for its new goal and ability to create entirely new slime cores. Slime cores birthed by the Queen that become independent slimes become the base slime species, but on rare occasions, can also be born with any of her other mutations. For this final evolution, the Queen Slime gains a boost to all its attributes and traits.> ''As tempting as it sounds, this would be my final evolution choice. I''m unsure when that is, but I''ll consider it then.'' My thoughts muddled over my options, so I decided to ask the Dreadlich some questions. "Hey... So... Would you be willing to give me your thoughts on my evolution options?" "Oh? Slime evolutions. Fascinating. Yes, I''d gladly like to hear what has been presented to you. Your kind don''t often live long out in the wild." I went over all my options, and when we reached Alchemic, the light flared inside its skull. Instantly, I was being coerced into taking Alchemic and even threatened to choose it until the Dreadlich collapsed to the floor lifelessly again. It picked itself up again, dusting off its robe. "Well... I''ve been thoroughly informed to ignore my personal interests." We continued through the list, and then it started to scratch its chin in contemplation. "If we ignore Alchemic, then Doppelganger and Chimeric are the winners. Doppelganger reminds me of my early necromancy days when I started with weak undead and kept finding more powerful corpses to raise. I''d take that, eat the biggest adventurer in this town, move to the next city, and repeat the process." "Now Chimeric, on the other hand, reminds me of my later days, when I grew bored of simply resurrecting corpses as is. I started to experiment, mix parts, and create whatever I fancied. I fondly remember my first Bone Hydra with a different monster skull for each head! I think you could have a lot of potential in the future, assuming you survive that long." "There is one obvious flaw in my thinking. I''m approaching this with reference to my accomplishments and comparing it to necromancy. Doppelganger does something my necromancy could never do - copy everything. Even if I killed and raised a legendary swordsman, there''s some inherent loss, and not all the traits or skills remain, and certainly not the emblems." "I would like to say that it is a case of guaranteed power versus potentially greater power, but there are too many unknown factors, especially if you throw creativity into the mix. Anyway. Those are my thoughts. Good luck, little slime." I gave my thanks and looked at the notification that had appeared at some point during our conversation. I mentally cheered at [Apex Hunter] getting the last level I wanted in Charisma. Becomes Trait: [Soul Mastery LV 6]. This will cost 1 Trait Point.> ''Yes.'' I was tempted to fuse [Attack Mastery], but I still lacked a level in ranged weapons. The Dreadlich had said any new traits and skills obtained this recently shouldn''t affect my evolutions, and I couldn''t see any new options since gaining [Soul Mastery]. I also tried fusing my slime traits, but none of them in any combination led to anything. Perhaps Gramps hasn''t thought of any yet? Maybe I can ask him to work on them? "Thanks for your consultation. I guess I''ll evolve now." "Not a problem. It was a fascinating discussion, and I''m considering raising my own slime pet for research. We can speak a bit more afterward." I nodded and opened up my menu. I hoped I was making the right choice. Chapter 62: A Long Overdue Discussion Chapter 62: A Long Overdue Discussion Warning: Evolution will cause the body to torpor until complete.> ''Not like I have much choice. I''m locked in here with a magical skeleton who can kill me instantly with a wave of a staff... Yes.'' "Fascinating as always. I wish I still had evolutions left in me..." I felt my core burning, swelling with power, and the world began to fade. "... I should have offered a bucket or something... My dungeon floor..." The last words I heard before the void consumed me. I found myself once again in the familiar infinite void and placed on a chair. While I knew Gramps could hear my thoughts, I had a neurotic concern that one day, I''d accidentally mess up talking to myself in my head and talk out loud, revealing something slime-related while disguised. So I shifted form, sitting in the chair for real this time. "Syl, so good to see you again!" The loud and cheerful voice of Gramps erupted. I opened my mouth to reply but was immediately interrupted, "Before we start, I need to clarify that I am not responsible for creating the elves. I even voted on putting severe population restrictions on the race and for their racial emblem to be usurpable." Gramps was evidently displeased about all the badmouthing I had been doing ever since I read their profile. "Why is their profile so ridiculous? Compared to everything else I''ve seen so far?" "It''s a long story... But the gist is we adopted a soul from another world as a test to see if bringing otherworldly essence would be profitable. That soul bargained to start as an elf, which used to be a simple race back then. He went on to achieve immeasurable success; he freed the elves from enslavement, stopped a demon incursion, brokered peace amongst the racial nations, and achieved absolute mastery in the arcane. When we approached him to reward him at the end of it all, he instead turned us down and asked if he could leave behind his legacy to the elves. He spent every Reincarnation Point, every bit of goodwill, every achievement and accomplishment, and the current elf is the result." "Why don''t elves rule the world then? If they used to be enslaved at one point, I''m assuming that not all of them could let bygones be bygones." "Yes. We had to step in after the fact and set severe restrictions on them. Their race is practically infertile, and the usurping of their emblem allowed a lot of powerful competition. This did lead to some unfortunate culling of their race, but eventually, another peace treaty was brokered, and the world reached an equilibrium. But enough of a history lesson, I''m sure you have much better things to ask." "Thanks." I replied, pausing with a big sigh and dropping my largest concern first, "Am I going to lose my mind from evolving?" "Ha! No, not at all. In fact, that is one of the things this experiment is testing: if we should remove that evolutionary impulse from intelligent monsters." "That''s a relief. So why did I start without a class? It seems intelligent monsters are supposed to start with one." "That was intentional! I specifically requested it." Gramps casually dropped the bombshell. I restrained myself from facepalming, "... Why?" "Tell me, Syl, what do you think of Traits compared to Skills?" "I''ve only recently begun to experiment with Skills, but so far, my Traits feel superior." "And the rest of the world? The goblins and humans you encountered?" "They all seemed to think Traits are worthless. The goblins even thought evolutions were pointless." "Exactly! I worked so hard on so many of those Traits, and the majority of the world thinks it''s useless! I wanted to prove them wrong, show that they are all idiots for changing their experience distribution." "Huh... I honestly forgot I could change the distribution." "Well... You can''t. I disabled that and nearly set your class distribution to the minimum when you went out of your way to unlock a class. However, I was overruled and told I was interfering with the test results. Bah!" I silently thanked whoever stopped Gramps. "Can you blame me? You were so close to your next evolution. You were going to be the first. At first, I questioned why you were protecting those goblins, but then it paid dividends. I thought it was a stroke of genius, then you went and joined the adventurers, made no progress to evolving, and then went and got a class which only further delayed it." "Looks like we are out of time... Good luck, Syl, I''m rooting for you!" "Wait! When''s my next evolution? How many evolutions do I have left? Can I gain-" I heard Gramps chuckling as I fell into the void. "Always so many questions..." I woke up to a barrage of notifications. I felt amazing. "Nice joke, Gramps. You could have told me it was going to combine some traits." Freely manipulate and change your slime mass into whatever shapes and forms you desire, limited only by your creativity, knowledge, and available slime mass. Furthermore, the characteristics of slime mass are configurable on the fly to change density, adhesion, elasticity, or even texture. Morphing speed and maximum density greatly scale with trait level. Compatible with other slime traits.> ''Wow. Talk about an upgrade. Although, this makes me wonder what the purpose of [Pseudopod] is now. Not only did it not combine into this trait, but my evolution also gave it a level up. I guess Gramps must have further plans for it.'' Enhances an existing trait that allows bodily transformation or manipulation and greatly bolsters shapeshifting into any creatures, or objects. This trait level, knowledge of the targets, and practice all affect the accuracy and capabilities of the forms in an additive or substitutive manner. Forms can be freely modified, such as changing size or making other adjustments, and can also be combined, including limitless partial transformations. The combined level of both traits reduces any physical discrepancies between your natural form and shapeshifted forms. While transformed, traits the targets possessed can be mimicked, provided sufficient knowledge about them and any required bodily parts are currently manifested. The maximum level of mimicked traits are capped to [Chimeric Mimicry], but quantity restrictions have been removed and limited with a trait budget. Trait budget: 25. Enhanced trait: [Morph Slime LV 7].> I had to reread this one a few times, and each subsequent completion left me dumbfounded by the improvements and possibilities. I could combine forms and cherry-pick the best traits from my forms, limited only by a budget that I assumed would grow with the trait level. I looked around and noticed the floor around me had been elevated to form an impromptu bowl. I noticed my clothing folded into a neat pile outside the bowl. I probably should have deposited that before evolving, and was glad it had survived the process. I grabbed and deposited my outfit with a tendril. I shifted into my elven form and sighed with relief when it perfectly matched my original form. I had some bubbling anxiety that my changed traits might have impacted my form. I tried something simple by changing my teeth to the wolves'' and successfully mimicked [Enhanced Fangs]. I admired the intimidating set of pearly whites that added a rather horrific quality to my previously elegant elven form. Since I set [Enhanced Fangs] to the maximum, it took up five points of my budget. I was curious about traits without levels, so I shifted my fake innards and mimicked [Robust Stomach] from the goblins. I was very pleased when I saw it only cost a single point from my trait budget. While I was shifting hobgoblin claws to one hand and bear claws to the other, the room began to darken, and a familiar swirl of black shadowy energy erupted, revealing the Dreadlich. Gamma remembered my order and I smiled when I recalled Gramps telling me to milk some recompense. Chapter 63: Recompense Chapter 63: Recompense Whitney, Kurt, Roderick, and Dewi sat around a small table in the Adventurers Guild. There was quite a lot of activity in the building, with people trying to make sense of the situation, rumors and gossip buzzing in the air, and some even making bets. "It''s almost been two days," Whitney said while impatiently tapping her foot. "Her guild tag says she''s still alive. Don''t worry so much." Kurt replied, "You should have seen her blasting through the dungeon. I doubt a few undead could stop her." "Are we sure she''s even in the dungeon?" Whitney snapped back. "The guards said that she entered, and they warned her to stick to the first floor," Roderick answered. "To think she''d trigger a Dungeon Trial. I didn''t even think that was possible in a beginner dungeon." Dewi murmured, scratching his chin, "Clearly, I have an eye for talent if the Gods even agree with me." "I can''t believe you''re joking about this. She could be dying right now. Why did she go to the dungeon by herself? It''s so stupid. Ugh!" Whitney raged and threw her empty mug at the wall, causing some of the other occupants to curse at her. "Look. Tabby says she''s still alive, so have some faith in her. When we were partied up, we didn''t even take a single injury. She''s got a water shield spell, and she can blast those undead to pieces without breaking a sweat." Kurt said, trying to reassure her. "The guards will report to the guild as soon as the dungeon reopens," Roderick added. "My theory is that she hit thirty, and it triggered the Trial. And if she followed my advice with her ascension, she could burn her way through the undead." Dewi postulated. "That reminds me, you said Water was shit. I think all the undead she killed would beg to differ." Kurt said, pointing at Dewi. "I mean, can you blame me? The only caster with Water Affinity is Evan, and he uses it to fill canteens. Besides, nothing beats a good old Fireball." "I dunno... Those water flails looked really cool." "Greetings, Syl. Congratulations on evolving. I hope your talk with the Great One was riveting." "Thanks, Simon," I replied, and he visibly shuddered. "Please... Don''t call me that." He interrupted, and when I stared at him in confusion, he explained, "Fear the mighty Dreadlich Simon. It just doesn''t invoke fear. The Great One refuses to allow me to change my profile, says it''s too amusing." "Sorry, I didn''t know. I guess that''s why you only block your name, which I had no idea was even possible. I can only disguise my profile or block it entirely." "Oh, that''s rather simple. You merely identify yourself and focus on the part you wish to obscure. Since you no doubt have a mimicry-related trait, you can probably manipulate it more than simply blocking it." I identified myself, which I had no idea I could do. Then I focused on my name, thinking block. "Thanks," I replied, then returned my profile to normal. "You''ve been unconscious for just over two days. I''d advise you to keep this in mind for your next evolution and ensure you can find somewhere to seal yourself." "Two days... Shit. How am I going to explain this to them." "If I were in your position, I''d just kill them all. But, the Great One says you could claim you received a Dungeon Trial, which is when one of the Gods orders us to trap an individual or group inside as either a test or a culling." ''Culling!? Gramps is more ruthless than I thought...'' "If you don''t mind me asking, what is your role?" "I''m the caretaker of this dungeon. I managed the ambient flow of essence in this region and utilize the excess into monsters and treasures, which the adventurers try to claim." "But why? I think you could singlehandedly destroy the entire town." "Indeed, but as a caretaker, I''m prohibited from attacking them directly. I am getting something out of this ordeal that makes the effort worthwhile." "I see..." "Yes. Now, about your reward for beating the dungeon and your compensation for... Killing you." A chest appeared in the room, which I opened and found a bow. "Huh." "Yes... I wasn''t sure what to give a slime, but considering you carried a bow, I figured this might be useful. For an insignificant amount of mana, this bow can generate a nocked arrow when drawn." "Thanks," I replied, pulling back on the string, and an arrow appeared. "Unfortunately, I''m limited to what I can spawn. As for your compensation... The Great One suggested I spawn a monster to consume and offer you some skill training. The former, I''m again limited, and the latter, I''m unsure of what I could train you on as I do not sense Necrotic Mana within you." This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it "Can you spawn any slimes?" I asked enthusiastically. "I''m limited to nothing above Blue and Green." "I''ll gladly take a Green slime. As for skill training, I have an idea." "Let''s hear your idea then." "Can I shoot arrows at you to raise my proficiency? I have an emblem that gives me bonus experience when fighting higher-level monsters, and you meet the criteria." "I see... Unorthodox, but I suppose I can accept that. Those arrows can''t harm me." I spent the next while firing arrows at Simon. He was correct in that they couldn''t harm him. I triggered [Slime Conversion] to get some bonus experience and had [Mana Sight], [Lowlight Vision], and [Thermal Vision] all active. I certainly took Gramp''s advice to heart and made some considerable gains before Simon lost his patience and ended our training session. I had hoped he would have let me cast [Acid Dart] at him. I looked over my gains. ''Time to finally fuse them! Having one skill for all my attacks together is much preferred, and since the new trait doesn''t differentiate between attacks, I can feel confident it would apply to my slime attacks as well.'' Becomes Skill: [Attack Mastery (Lesser) LV 6]. [Sub-Core Gamma LV 4] [Consuming Osmosis LV MAX] Mimic: [Chimeric Mimicry LV 5] [Chroma Shift LV MAX] Mana: [Mana Circulation LV 5] [Mana Reinforcement LV 5] [Slime Conversion LV 3] Attributes/Other: [Soul Mastery LV 6] [Enhanced Vitality LV 4] [Magic Resistance (Lesser) LV 4] [Defy Death LV 3] [Prodigy] Senses: [Olfactory Sense] [Dark Vision LV 3] [Mana Sight LV 4] [Thermal Vision LV 1] Trait Points remaining: 4 Skills: General: [Universal Language] [Equipment Swap] [Dissection LV 5] [Mapping LV 3] [Tracking LV 1] [Identify LV 3] [Multitasking LV 1] Combat: [Evasion LV 3] [Attack Mastery (Lesser) LV 6] [Affliction Master LV 1] Magic: [Water Magic LV 3] [Fire Magic LV 3] [Corrosion Magic LV 1] [Mana Manipulation LV 3] [Mana Suppression] Sneaky: [Vanish LV 5] [Sneak Attack LV 5] [Identity Block LV 5] [Acting LV 4] Skill Points remaining: 4 Chapter 64: Mistaken Identity Chapter 64: Mistaken Identity Simon must have been tired of me killing his undead, as the room I entered had only two regular skeletons. We coordinated to empower two [Acid Dart] spells, which immediately destroyed their skulls, causing them to collapse into a pile of inanimate bones. ''Surely I should have unlocked [Ritual Casting] by now? The worst part is I don''t even see the unknown skill on my profile. Can some things just not be earned at all?'' The next room had two zombies, which also went down in one spell each. I was hoping to reach level two in [Corrosion Magic], but if Simon was being frugal, then it wasn''t likely. I could hear the sound of some fighting up ahead, so it looked like I was going to meet up with the group. I hoped [Acting] was up to the task as I immediately started to fake fatigue and injury, even giving myself a slight limp. When I entered the room, I saw five figures busy finishing off a small group of skeletons. One wore a fancy cloak with pristine leather armor and held an ornate-looking rapier, while another was a large man wearing plate armor armed with an equally impressive longsword and buckler. The remaining three were practically wearing rags compared to the first two. ''Who the hell are these people? Actually, the one guy with the fancy cloak looks a little familiar. I like his choice of weapon.'' When they finished killing the last undead, they turned to face me with weapons still drawn. Mister fancy cloak grinned triumphantly. "You are an idiot thinking you could get away from me. Did you really think changing your name and class was enough to fool me? I''d recognize you anywhere, Sylthaeryn." ''Oh, shit. They know her.'' "Master, you should deal with her quickly so we can get out before the guild notices the dungeon has reopened." The knight replied while the other three began to try to flank me as if to prevent my escape. "Yes, yes, you''re right, Edmund." He agreed and flourished his weapon, "I don''t know how you survived, but your luck has run out." "Well boss, since she shacked up with the adventurers, ya know they have a saying... What happens in the dungeons, stays in the dungeons!" One of the thugs mentioned, cackling at his own joke. I began to laugh, causing all five of them to look a bit startled. I remembered now, this was the guy who was traveling with Sylthaeryn, and now he''s just admitted that he was the one who had tried to kill her. "Looks like the reality of her situation has made her go mad." Keaton chuckled, composing himself. "No. I''m laughing because of how weak you all are." "Fucking elf, think you are superior to us, I put you in your place before, and I''ll do it again. Grab her!" Two of the thugs moved in to grab me, and I could only chuckle as it was time to try out what my new evolution could do. Two tendrils burst out from either side towards the approaching men, and at the end of each one was a set of claws from the Venom Barbed Badger, enhanced with the appropriate traits. Their shock and surprise were short-lived as both tendrils disemboweled them before retracting back inside of me. Their lifeless bodies collapsed to the floor. "What!? Has she sold her soul to become a demon? What was that!?" Keaton screamed, his eyes filled with abject terror. "Sir, get behind me!" The knight interceded. "Your first mistake was trying to kill her. Your second mistake was trying to kill me. And your final mistake was assuming I''m an elf." I chuckled, "At least now I can avenge her. So thank you." Five tendrils emerged from my back, each with a different end, as I decided to maximize my new trait. There were five heads: a wolf, a boar, a bear, a badger, and a panther. Probably not as cool as Simon''s Bone Hydra, but I had limited animal profiles to work with. I figured I''d feed Keaton to the panther tendril as it was her original companion. ''So I gained two class levels and one race level. Not much, if I''m honest. I''ll check this skill afterward.'' ''At least I got a rapier out of this exchange. I''m happy for the profile.'' ''Oh? Wait... Have I never considered eating armor? It feels stupid in hindsight. Although, I''d just be faking the appearance. But if I can get enchanted armor like Simon mentioned, that would surely be extra protection that my slime can''t replicate. Although... If I can get a silver slime core, perhaps that''s irrelevant.'' I had cleaned up all traces of our scuffle and retaken my injured appearance. I started walking back, and it seemed Simon had no intention of throwing me any more monsters as the walk back was completely undisturbed. <> Sense hidden foes or threats around you. Success chance and maximum radius scale with skill level. Sensory traits can increase this skill''s success chance.> ''Unlike my previous revelation, I think this is an instant purchase. Hopefully, I can ask Whitney about the other one, assuming I''m not emerging from here as public enemy number one.'' When I reached the dungeon entrance, I saw it was late afternoon. Shockingly, there were no guards by the entrance and no signs of a confrontation. Keaton must have bribed the guards or thoroughly hid the evidence if he disposed of them. I made my way to the inn cautiously, but everything seemed normal beyond a few stares and points from some townsfolk. I arrived at the inn unaccosted, and when I entered, Trevor seemed relieved to see me. "Gods, I''m glad you''re back, Syl!" "It''s certainly been quite an ordeal," I replied, giving my best impression of a fatigued smile. "I swear, Whitney was about to burn down the dungeon to get to you. Speaking of, why are they not with you? They were waiting for the guards to report the dungeon unsealing." "There were no guards in sight when I left the dungeon," I replied honestly. "That''s not right... They were under strict order to immediately report to the guild, and even so, someone is supposed to guard the entrance at all times." Trevor frowned deeply. He sent off one of his staff to call the group and tell them I had arrived at the inn an absolute mess but safe. Trevor even handed me a healing potion, practically shoving it down my throat. My core filled with a soothing sensation, and I could tell my unseen wounds were healing. "Go wash up, you look like shit. I''ll leave a huge plate of food for you." "Thanks, Trevor." "And congrats on beating your first Dungeon Trial! You earned that emblem!" He said proudly. He looked like he wanted to slap me on the back but was restraining himself due to my injuries. ''I don''t think Simon would agree with you.'' I chuckled internally. Chapter 65: Reunion Chapter 65: Reunion I went upstairs and cleaned myself off, swapping into a fresh robe. When I returned to my room, there was a large plate of food, water, and what looked like a bottle of wine. I threw my ruined clothes into a corner of the room and quietly ate my food. I wasn''t sure what my next goal was. Gramps had told me to live my life and explore the world. The only thing that came to mind was consuming more slime cores and monster profiles, as my evolution had removed my restrictions. My new emblem also encouraged me to hunt for more dungeons. There was also my class and progressing through the adventurers guild. I certainly wasn''t starved for options. ''I think I''ll ask if it''s possible to get ice or lightning catalysts here and if there are any other dungeons. I wonder how far away the Dwarven Empire is and if traveling to it is an option. Getting my tendrils on a silver slime would be my first choice.'' A knock on the door brought me back to reality. "Come in," I replied, and the door opened to reveal the whole group. I was surprised at the sudden prompts until I quickly remembered Gamma''s orders. I was honestly shocked at Roderick''s level and a little afraid. That was a lot of levels in what I could only assume was an advanced class. Whitney immediately rushed to my side, followed shortly by Evan. I hadn''t seen him since the trip back, so I was a bit surprised. "You''re alive! Thank the Gods!" Whitney squeezed me tightly. "At least you''re not as bad as last time," Evan noted and began to cast a healing spell on me. "Thanks, Evan. Trevor gave me a healing potion, which helped a lot. I also had a bath and change of clothes." "Locked in a dungeon for over two days. Lass, the trouble really seems to like you." Roderick said. "It wasn''t so bad. I earned a lot of experience." "I told you she''d manage. I had full confidence in you, Syl." Kurt said proudly. "A new class, an ascension, and an emblem. You surely proved yourself." Roderick nodded. "Wait, new class?" Dewi suddenly asked before looking at me and frowning, "A hybrid class? Did you not get an intermediate pure caster class?" "This was the first and only class offered to me so far. I thought it might help and figured I could always swap back if it wasn''t ideal. It''s been good so far, although it''s been offering me some Rogue skills now." Dewi scratched his chin before asking, "If you don''t mind me asking, what''s your highest magic level?" I didn''t see the harm in answering, "Three." "You likely overqualified on the one half and underqualified on the other, which is why you were offered a hybrid class," Dewi explained. "She did qualify for Rogue and Assassin right out of the gate." Whitney replied, "Honestly, I think it''s a good thing. You''d be wasting all your previously built-up experience on a pure class." I thanked him and sighed as I sat on my bed. ''Keaton must have done something.'' I bought my two new skills. After the flood of information washed through my mind, I sighed in relief. While I didn''t have that evolution addiction, I certainly was addicted to gaining new skills and traits. It was bizarre to suddenly have a bunch of thievery information inside my head, but I wasn''t going to complain if I got to avoid and disarm traps in the future. I cast [Water Orb], then had Gamma join me in the spell. The ease of our coordination made our previous attempts look like an absolute joke. A regular version of the spell was about the size of an apple, and when I solo enhanced it, it was about the size of a watermelon. Together now with this trait, I wasn''t sure if we would even reach a limit as now it was nearing bear size. I stopped the size increase and then started to compress the water. I was happy to see that I could apply my slime knowledge in such a fashion, and I imagined this version of the spell would have a particularly violent explosion when it hit. When I started noticing the spell construction threatening to unravel, I had Beta join us, and immediately, the spell reinforced itself and was perfectly stable. ''I cannot believe they disregard this skill, even if your partner died or left you. Or perhaps it''s not as effective between two different individuals? I guess they wouldn''t be able to instantly communicate full intent mentally and expect their partners to obey without question or hesitation.'' I had Alpha join in, then tried to hand over the spell to my [Sub-Cores] entirely. The spell immediately threatened to collapse, and I had to quickly rejoin to prevent damaging my room. I didn''t realize how much my own mental capacity contributed to the spell. I stared at my remaining trait points. I wanted to keep a small reserve in case I discovered something in a profile. ''I can definitely afford to buy one more. Is two too greedy?'' After humming and hawing for far too long, I decided to buy two more. Gramps had personally made this trait and vouched for its effectiveness, and [Ritual Casting] now further proved its usefulness. I integrated both into the experience link and had them immediately join our spell. I then eased off my contribution to the spell. They struggled to hold it at first, but I held off on rejoining unless it started to dangerously unravel. My intervention was thankfully not needed, and the five [Sub-Cores] worked together to hold it. While I left them to maintain the spell, I wanted to see what I could do with [Chimeric Mimicry]. I changed one of my hands to the badger claws - sized down appropriately. I had previously failed to mimic evolved monsters and assumed I just couldn''t for some reason. Was this an upgrade from my evolution or due to a higher level in my mimicry trait? I suddenly regretted not trying them again before evolving in hindsight. I formed the rocky carapace from the Earthshaker Bear along my arms and stared at the tangled mix of thick black fur and rocky protrusions. It was definitely the trait, despite me not having the prerequisite Earth affinity, but it felt considerably weaker. ''It''s still better than nothing. If I get Earth affinity, will the copied trait have its full power? The Dwarven Empire is sounding more enticing.'' I wanted to try mimicking some of the undead traits I had taken from the dungeon, [Undead Resilience] in particular, so I could potentially maneuver amputated body parts. The trait finally applied when I created a fully undead arm. I chopped it off, and it remained under my control, which was fascinating. The unfortunate part was that as soon as I tried to change the arm into anything but an undead arm, the trait immediately ceased, and the limb fell into a puddle of lifeless slime. I kept experimenting and eventually, with inspiration from the undead wolves, crafted a zombified bear arm, which I could still control once severed. After my success, I felt like I should get some sleep. I looked at the notifications I had ignored while my [Sub-Cores] were hard at work. ''Great job. I wonder if that''s [Prodigy] at work, although it is five cores working together and three donating all their experience.'' After setting up some slime depositing and withdrawing loops between them, I finally lay down to sleep. Despite being unconscious for two days while evolving, I knew it hadn''t counted as real rest. ''Tomorrow, I hope to get some information about my goals.'' Chapter 66: Hybrids and Ranks Chapter 66: Hybrids and Ranks I woke up feeling refreshed and ready for the day, but it still felt too early to head downstairs, so I decided to experiment a little. Now that I had so many [Sub-Cores], I realized I''ve never tried to remove one or have one in slime separated from my body. Stupid, in hindsight, but I had been distracted with everything going on lately. I maneuvered Epsilon towards my hand and plucked it out. I examined it carefully, then put some of my slime mass inside a mug and dropped Epsilon inside of the slime. Nothing happened. I then placed my finger inside the slime. ''Interesting. Epsilon, I want you to continuously wiggle the slime mass inside of this mug.'' The slime mass started to wiggle and writhe in the mug. When I removed my finger, immediately, the slime mass stopped moving. ''Well, shit. I thought perhaps it would retain orders even when separated.'' I recovered the slime mass into my one arm, which I shifted into a zombie arm. I severed the arm and retained control over it with [Undead Resilience] but lost my link to Epsilon even though I could still control the arm. It was infuriatingly baffling. ''Maybe an evolution or trait will solve this in the future.'' I thought before reattaching the arm and allowing Epsilon to rejoin again permanently. The last thing I wanted to do was test how free I was with morphing. I created a pseudopod and then added bristles to it, stolen from the Venom Barbed Badger. ''I''d hate to be hit by that.'' I chuckled. I then morphed it into the Blade Wolf''s tail, and when I swished it around. With the high level in both my traits, it felt near perfect. My thoughts immediately turned to trying to get a silver slime so that I could add metal to the tail blade, which likely would even improve it further than the original. ''Enough playing around. Let''s head down.'' It was just Dewi, Whitney, and Kurt at breakfast. Evan had temple duties, and Roderick was assisting the guild master. The reason for Evan''s devout inclination was it could be difficult and tedious to level up Healing magic, as you''d actually need to heal injuries or ailments and couldn''t just cast at targets or monsters. His encounter with Bloodrot had ignited a fire under him to improve his magic. I mentally apologized, as it sounded like the infamy of Krutz would live long in this town. After a spectacular breakfast, we headed to the Adventurers Guild. Tabitha was giddy as she congratulated and thanked me repeatedly for passing my Dungeon Trial. I was confused as to why I was getting thanked until Kurt pointed out that since Tabitha "recruited" me, my achievements would earn her a bonus. ''At least that explains why she''s filled her head with so much class and skill knowledge despite using none of it herself.'' Tabitha led us to a small office for our discussion, as apparently, the information would be a bit sensitive and might "piss off" some of the regulars. "With Syl''s levels, class options, and now solo dungeon achievement, the guild wants to promote her to Silver Rank," Tabitha explained. "I can see why you wanted to keep this private. That would certainly anger the locals. Some newcomer comes around and suddenly outranks people that have been struggling along." Dewi replied. "Yeah, I still need to scrape off my rust," Kurt added, "If I hadn''t seen Syl in action, I''d be grabbing a pitchfork myself." "Huh... That might explain your lack of Nature Affinity now that I think about it." Tabitha murmured. "What do you mean?" I asked. Obviously, I knew the truth, but I''d gladly take any extra ammunition for my disguise. "While Affinities are usually completely separate, there''s a theory that it''s impossible to be born with opposites. Corrosion is said to be one of the opposites of Nature." We chatted a bit longer before Tabitha asked the others to leave, mentioning that the guild master and Roderick were due shortly to arrive to discuss my quest. When they left, Tabitha turned to me. "Those three are some of the good ones, so no need to worry, but in the future, I''d be a bit more reserved with your personal information. Knowledge can be valuable, and some even trade it. You never know when you find a rare skill or trait, and then you could potentially sell it." "Thanks for the warning." "Are there any questions you have for me? I''m technically your handler, so I can offer advice or guidance since it''s in my best interest." After thinking a bit about how I''d broach the subject, I finally spoke, "I want to get a lightning and ice catalyst, preferably one from a slime core. Is that possible here?" "Wow, Whitney wasn''t kidding when she said you had expensive taste. Unfortunately, you won''t find them in a small town like this. The only reason there was a fire catalyst here was the merchant specifically imported it to try to make a fortune from our two resident fire mages. Unfortunately for him, one is broke, and the other hates catalysts." "I see... How rare are the two slimes? What if I wanted to collect the cores myself?" "White slimes are pretty common, and the main issue is reaching their location, while yellow slimes are on the rare side, but you''ll occasionally run into one in a dungeon." "What about on floating islands?" "Okay. Seriously, Syl, are you a spoilt rich princess or something?" Tabitha looked at me enviously before she sighed, "Floating islands aren''t too hard to find since their locations are monitored since the monsters they spawn can sometimes make problems for us ground folk. And yes, you''d find yellow slimes on them quite easily. The biggest issue is trying to pay for the travel. You could probably buy five catalysts for the price of one trip." "That much, huh..." I replied, trying to think of a solution, "Are there any other nearby dungeons?" "Sadly not. And ours isn''t ideal. I''m sure you''ve heard the joke before, but if not for the blue slime farm, our town would likely collapse. It''s great that the dungeon is regulating the flow of essence so that we have a radius of safety from monster spawns, but if it had a more profitable theme, our little town could have become a city by now." I must have looked disappointed while I was lost in my own thoughts as Tabitha tried to encourage me. "Don''t look so down, Syl. On the positive side, if you''re looking for bigger and better things, you might really like your evaluation quest." I was about to ask what she meant when there was a knock at the door, followed shortly by Roderick entering the room, followed by a muscular and slightly elderly-looking man I''d not seen before. Chapter 67: Guild Master Chapter 67: Guild Master "Well, well. Seeing is believing." Harris said, "Not that I doubted you, but seeing the actual emblem on your profile certainly adds to the flair." I could only assume he was referring to my [Dungeoneer] emblem. I spoke up, "Nice to meet you?" "Yes, sorry, where are my manners." The man said with a friendly smile, "I''m Harris and leader of this branch until Roderick here finally takes over and lets me retire." "You''ll be bored out of your mind as soon as you retire, unless you plan on taking up cooking like Trevor?" Roderick said with a grin. "Cooking? Nah. Maybe smithing or farming. Put my strength to good use." Tabitha cleared her throat, and the two men stopped their rambling back and forth. "Right. So. Let''s get this out of the way first." Harris said, raising his right hand. A soft light enveloped him, but [Mana Sight] didn''t reveal even a hint of magic. "By my authority as Guild Master of Stantondale, the contents of this discussion are not to be revealed to any other party outside and remain strictly confidential." I grimaced at the name of the town, which I had just found out. As he finished speaking, I noticed my necklace and Roderick''s shone brightly. Tabitha also had a hint of a glow around her while Harris spoke. "I agree," Roderick said, and his necklace dimmed. "I agree," Tabitha said, the faint aura around her receding. I looked around confusedly. "One of the perks of being Guild Master, comes with the emblem." Harris said with a grin before explaining, "If any of us violate this after agreeing, that individual will be immediately expelled from the adventurers guild and our profile blacklisted and published to all branches." "By making it official, we hope you''ll trust us, Syl," Tabitha said. I nodded, "I agree." "How...?" I murmured at the notification. "Long ago, a great hero saved the world, and her request from the Gods was to make an organization to unite the world, which then became the Adventurers Guild." Harris explained, "The Gods accepted her request and gave us the emblems and tools needed. Every now and then, another great hero makes a final request, which gets added to the growing list of benefits." "This seems oddly specific, though," I questioned. Harris laughed, "If my memory is still good, I believe there was a dark time in the guild where lawlessness and thuggery were prevalent. Adventurers threatening towns or only offering to help if paid exorbitantly, backroom deals, absolutely disgusting behavior happening behind the scenes. So the request was some way to enforce guild law, so to speak, which led to things such as this." "Thanks for the explanation." "No problem. Anyway, let''s get down to business." Harris said, taking a seat. "I did some investigating. The guards were bribed and, supposedly, threatened. Although I have my doubts on the latter, we found them piss drunk." "Bribed to leave their post?" Tabitha asked. "And inform the Stanton boy when it opened up," Roderick added. "But why?" Tabitha asked. "Well. I have my suspicions, but I assume he was after the elven legacy emblem." Harris replied. ''I knew this emblem would be trouble.'' I thought bitterly. After lunch, Tabitha took me shopping for supplies. When I mentioned I didn''t have money on me she laughed and said I''d better make sure I get my Silver promotion. When I reached Silver rank, I''d receive one of the upgraded guild tags, which could make purchase orders with almost all city vendors. Tabitha demonstrated by swiping her own employee tag on a small crystal the shop owner had. "Your tag keeps your balance. It''ll stop if you try to exceed your balance. The shop owner then comes to the guild and can withdraw the payment, although we do vet purchases to ensure you aren''t being scammed." "Does that happen a lot?" "Some adventurers are... Special. You try teaching commerce and bartering to a Barbarian or Berserker." "I''m just glad I don''t need to worry about keeping track of money." "Whitney really wasn''t kidding. You are hopeless." Tabitha expressed, dumbfounded. "Was this another request to the Gods?" "Yes. A dwarf king wanted a better way to facilitate trade of wealth between nations without needing obscene amounts of security. The Adventurers Guild recently adopted it, so the enchantment required is a bit rare and thus only limited to Silver and above members." ''I wonder if I get to make a request if I pass this experiment.'' I thought to myself while being dragged from shop to shop. After Syl and Tabitha left, Roderick and Harris were alone in the office. Harris visibly sighed and seemed to deflate in his chair. "Do you think she bought it?" Roderick asked. "Gods, I hope so. The last thing we need is a war between the elves caused by our shitty little town." Harris responded while rubbing his temples. "You still think she''s a noble?" "With that presence, I''d almost guarantee it. Regardless, someone has their eye on her. Who''s ever heard of a Dungeon Trial in a beginner dungeon? I almost think it was a warning for us not to fuck up." "What I don''t understand is why she came back when she knew he''d try to kill her. Or why she didn''t tell any of us." "Maybe she''s testing us, seeing if we humans are keeping up the peace treaty? Maybe she''s giving us a chance to prove that one bad apple doesn''t spoil the bunch. Maybe she wanted revenge on Keaton and knew he''d come after her. Maybe she lost her memory and had no idea who Keaton was until he attacked her in the dungeon. I could make a hundred speculations." "Maybe I should reconsider trying to become Guild Master of this branch if I have to worry about all this crap. Travel the world, get to Gold rank, kill a dragon. Sounds much more fun." Roderick said with a cheeky grin. "Ha! I''d recommend it, although your fiance?e might leave you if you don''t settle down." Harris countered. "Is there a reason for all your concern, though?" "My Grandfather survived the war, and he''d always tell me the horrors they faced, entire battalions wiped out with a single spell. The forest itself turned against them. All because of greed. I''ll be damned if some greedy lesser noble dooms our entire race." "Heavy..." "Sorry, Roderick. Forgive a slightly paranoid old man." Harris said, then smiled, "It''s not all doom and gloom. If she becomes a successful adventurer, perhaps we can get a foot in the door on getting the elves to sign on with the adventurers guild." "That''s quite an ambition for someone who said he was looking forward to retirement." They both laughed at that. Chapter 68: Leaving Town Chapter 68: Leaving Town After grabbing all our supplies, we headed back to the inn for a farewell party, although I found out that the rest of Roderick''s team would also be coming to defend the rear caravans, so it wasn''t really goodbye yet. There was plenty of drinking, and they convinced me to partake in the fiery beverage. I only relented since I had my partial fire immunity. After the party, I fooled around with my mimicry. I wasn''t going to be able to use it much while on this caravan, unfortunately, as I needed to keep up my disguise for a bit longer. I enjoyed the company, and they were fun to be around helpful, and genuinely kind individuals, but I craved being unrestrained. For my adventurer disguise, I was happy being basically a pure elf, as it had the most benefits, but there was one trait I wanted from the human profile. Greatly increase the speed and ease of learning new traits and skills. This trait has no levels.> It took a bit of trial and error, and I had to identify myself a few times till I had enough human parts, but my profile still showed my race as an elf. I had high hopes for [Untapped Potential], especially if it worked together with [Prodigy]. <> Receive extra experience towards improving traits and skills. This trait has no levels.> My final adventurer loadout was the following: Elves are deeply in tune with their body and naturally highly agile and dexterous. Improves reaction speed, agility, and dexterity scaling with trait level. Prohibits the traits [Enhanced Vitality] or [Enhanced Strength]. One of the chosen paths, the elven archer is to be feared, and their talent with a bow is unparalleled. Bows will receive a proficiency bonus to accuracy and damage based on trait level. This trait can be activated to mark any visible weak points, and ranged attacks against them will inflict bonus damage based on trait level. As a mystical race with a unique history and enshrouded in mystery non-elves are affected by a minor charm condition when interacting with an elf. The charm success rate scales with trait level but is always restricted to minor effects, such as making the elf seem more presentable, their words more enticing, and their appearance more attractive. As the guardians of nature and to represent their heritage, all elves can communicate with plants and non-magical animals. The level of understanding and the willingness to offer aid is based on trait level. [Mana Sight LV 6] [Enhanced Agility LV 6] [Lowlight Vision] [Untapped Potential] I had tried to copy [Mana Well] or [Enhanced Intellect], but both were unavailable. It looks like the fused trait [Soul Mastery] prevented me from doing so. Strangely, I could copy [Enhanced Agility] despite it being somewhat baked into [Elven Reflexes]. I thought I''d keep it for now and see if I noticed any difference. "Thanks for the help, Tabitha. I''m glad you put up with all my questions." "Hey, it''s the least I can do. I''m going to get a big raise once you reach Silver." Kurt looked at me and gave a cheesy grin and thumbs up, "I''ll catch up and meet you out in the world, Syl! Once I''m Silver, I''m heading out. Try to leave some monsters for me to kill." I laughed and gave him a hearty pat on the shoulder, "I''ll tell them to look out for Dualblade Kurt." "Damn right!" The group laughed and also said their farewells. It was a three-day trip, and the group would likely stay in Kaerlin for a bit before returning. When I enquired what we were protecting, I could only groan at the response - slime and mana potions. The merchant was a portly-looking man named Darius. He was well-mannered and seemed excited by having his caravan protected by Roderick and a rare elven adventurer. If I had my chimeric evolution before joining the guild, I could have created an amalgam disguise for myself and avoided a lot of attention. ''Well, I can always do that when interacting outside the guild.'' "Are bandits really going to want to steal slime?" I asked Roderick, who was seated next to me on one of the wagons. There were four carriages, with ours at the front. Whitney and Dewi occupied the rear carriage. Evan, being a healer, shared one with one of the merchants in the center. Roderick was handling the horse since I had no experience handling animals. "You''d be surprised, lass. Mana potions can get pricey if they are high quality. More mana means more healing, more spells, more everything. Nobles have their kids chug the things like water so that they can raise their magic skills." I nodded at the explanation and made sure to keep watch. Perhaps I''d gain some experience with [Perception]? "Keep your eye out, but I don''t think we will see anything till tomorrow. Too close to town. So you can relax a bit." Roderick said. It was boring, so I had plenty of time to practice [Mana Manipulation] while looking around. The occasional conversation with Roderick was welcome, and I was looking forward to camp tonight when I could discuss some magic with Dewi. "So why are you out and about, if you don''t mind me asking?" I couldn''t be honest here, but Gramps'' suggestion did resonate with me, "I want to explore the world and fight a ton of interesting monsters. Learning more about magic seems interesting, so I might visit the guild that Dewi keeps going on about. I also want to go see the Dwarven Empire." "That''s quite the bucket list you''ve got there. Sounds like being an adventurer is the ticket to all of that. If you do visit the dwarves, a quick way to get into their good books is to offer them a good drink. The stronger, the better." "Thanks. I appreciate all the advice you and your group have given me." "I can''t speak for the others, but I like raising new adventurers. It''s why when I got asked to dial back on the adventuring, I knew raising the next generation would be my new goal." "Like Kurt and myself?" "Yeah, Kurt''s getting there. Lad''s certainly got the determination. I''d have him join our team officially if we weren''t disbanding. Feels like a disservice to have him join only for a few months." "That''s a shame. Your group works well together." "Yeah, but when we got together, we knew we all had greater ambitions than being adventurers in a small town. Dewi wants to join the Mages Guild as if that wasn''t obvious. Evan''s being recruited by one of the larger temples and wants to spread the healing around. Whitney''s plan is private, so you''ll have to ask her." The rest of the day was uneventful, as Roderick had expected. We stopped to make camp. After showing me the supplies Tabitha had purchased for me, Roderick taught me the basics of setting up the small tent. I then had the group explain how they usually did watch rotations during the night to avoid ambushes. ''Well, when I''m solo, I''ll just melt a hole to hide in. Much safer than all this.'' Chapter 69: Caravanning Chapter 69: Caravanning During the evening, I had some magic tutoring with Dewi. I showed him my empowered [Fire Arrow] and [Acid Dart] as well as the modifications I had managed with [Water Whip]. He seemed reluctant to critique my customization of the water spell and was upset that I hadn''t given the same love to my fire spell. "Empowering a spell is a rather basic customization, and the sheer quantity you are maintaining without causing the spell to unravel is impressive. I''m just upset you haven''t tried to tinker with it in other ways." Dewi bemoaned. "She only recently got fire magic, though." Evan countered. "I know..." "I''m open to suggestions. When I saw the whip spell, it was relatively simple to come up with the idea of adding a ball of compressed water on the end. I''m basically just adding a [Water Ball] at the tip." I explained. "Who the hell thinks to compress water?" Dewi asked. "It''s what happened when I empowered the [Water Ball] spell," I answered. Obviously, the real inspiration had come from treating the water like slime and my talents there, but I couldn''t admit that. "Sure, okay. But then, why haven''t you tried to make a fire whip?" "That sounds like a good idea to burn your hands." Evan commented, "Oh... I''m suddenly realizing what happened to your hair and eyebrows when you first gained magic." "With risk comes rewards." Dewi said with a smirk, "Anyway, you could manifest the spell away from your hands. Or perhaps use that bubble spell to make a flame shield?" "Oh sure, surround yourself in the magically fueled fire. What could possibly go wrong?" Evan said, dripping with sarcasm. I pondered a bit, as it wasn''t a bad idea. Thanks to the red slime core I had eaten, I was practically immune to fire now. Although, it would be a more offensive shield than defensive, as I couldn''t foresee it blocking any attacks. "I didn''t think I could use a spell from another affinity to construct a new spell. I thought creating a magical whip was something inherently special to water magic." Dewi chuckled before answering, "Sorry, sometimes you''re such a prodigy and do things so naturally that it''s always surprising when you don''t know the basics." "I''d hardly call custom spells basic..." Evan shook his head. "Anyway, think of the spells you''ve learned as patterns. Now, you just need to apply that same pattern to another element. Simple!" Evan was about to say something before Dewi gagged him by slapping his hand across his mouth. His explanation made sense, and I was willing to try, although not in the way he wanted. I took the "pattern" for [Fire Arrow] in my mind and started to build it with water mana. After some trial and error and tweaking, eventually, I had a water arrow floating in my palm. "See, I told you!" Dewi exclaimed triumphantly, "Although I was hoping you''d have made a fire whip." "I''m not. I''d rather keep my hair." Evan said dryly, "Regardless of what insane expectations this hothead has, that is not a simple thing to do." "Don''t be so dramatic. I was trying to do it the second I got my first Air spell." Dewi scoffed, "Besides, it looks like Syl has a decent level in [Mana Manipulation], so I had zero doubt." Despite Dewi''s begging, I didn''t attempt the fire whip. If the spell went wrong, I didn''t want to explain why I was unharmed by a backfired spell. I ended up agreeing to take the midnight watch with Whitney, which proved extremely valuable as she gave me some tutoring in [Perception]. However, it brought up some bitter memories of the brief tutoring I received from the goblins. Whitney''s skill must have been extremely high, as, by the end of the shift, I had gained a level up in the skill and two of my traits. "That''s rather brazen of them," Roderick commented, looking a little surprised. "Should I go ahead of the caravan and destroy the barricade?" "You could. But it might be a trap to leave the caravan defenseless." "I guess the other option is to proceed as a group, and I take out anyone that approaches." "More reasonable than leaving the caravan alone. Remember that is your quest goal. Lots of adventurers tend to get hotheaded and rush after glory." "Actually, I have an idea too. Dewi did say I should practice some custom spells." During one of our conversations, Dewi mentioned that elemental magic had a benefit over others in that you utilize existing materials to cast your spells. Normally, this was used to save mana, as it was far cheaper than creating water from scratch. "Fire and Water is lucky in that it is rather cheap to cast, even if you create it. Although, Air is the ultimate in efficiency as it''s everywhere. Casting Earth magic from scratch, however, is extremely expensive." Dewi had said. I planned to create a custom version of the [Bubble] spell on each caravan. Being classified as a buff spell, it would maintain itself until sufficiently damaged or its duration expired. I also still had a stupid quantity of water in my storage, which I now could put to good use. I went to the rear caravan for my first cast, which the rest of the group watched curiously. I didn''t care about the mana savings and wanted to get rid of the excess water, but it would simplify the spell a little if I could skip the creation portion. As I withdrew the water, I immediately started casting the spell, grabbing my [Sub-Cores] to help with the assistance. The formation flowed effortlessly with the backing of my five helpers, and I even added extra density to the water and some mana reinforcement since I had so much leeway with the spell. I likely could have made it even more impressive, but I worried about going too far. The spell snapped into place and formed a clear bubble focused on the caravan, large enough to encompass the entire entity and include the horses. I was honestly very happy with the results. I explained that it would follow the focus point and that projectiles could easily pass outwards. I also explained that in the dungeon, it could easily block skeletons but not zombies, although I wasn''t completely sure about the strength of this modification. "Damn... I was worried about her being corrupted, but I forgot about myself." I overheard Dewi mumbling. "What do you mean?" Whitney asked. "Kurt was right. These water spells are pretty awesome." "Guess you should swap your experience distribution and get Water affinity next." Whitney chuckled. I cast the spell on the remaining two caravans, each now protected by a bubble, before finally going to my caravan and casting it. I didn''t want to test whether I could modify the spell to allow entry after casting it, so I just saved ours for last. "Very impressive spellwork there," Roderick commented when I returned, "and good thinking." "I think I might have accidentally converted Dewi to Water magic," I said with a chuckle. "Now that is bloody hilarious." I took position on top, on the lookout for any approaching danger. Roderick had warned me not to hesitate if anyone approached, and I said I''d melt the barricade once we got close enough. "I''m just glad you didn''t say you''d immediately explode it with a fireball. Dodging burning debris raining down is not fun." Chapter 70: Bandits Chapter 70: Bandits The caravan continued down the road as the crude blockade approached. Syl stood atop warily, looking around for any approaching hostiles. Roderick almost felt sorry for whatever brigands decided to ambush the merchants, as they likely had no idea what they were dealing with. Roderick had seen an impressive magic cast like this before, so he was no stranger to the wonders possible through enough mana and dedication, but never had he witnessed it used so casually. When they were within shouting range of the barricade, a lone man stood atop it and shouted at the group. "Surrender your goods, and we''ll let you live!" He demanded. "Do I offer them surrender?" Syl whispered. "You can, but they are dead either way. Banditry receives the death penalty, and they know that." Roderick answered. She seemed to think for a brief moment before nodding and raising her hand. Multiple luminescent green magic darts formed and fired rapidly at the barrier. "Shit! Fire at will, men!" The man screamed before one of the projectiles struck him. From behind the barricade, arrows began to rain down, but all the projectiles harmlessly bounced off the bubble spell. Tarps began to lift off, with men hiding in the holes. Roderick overheard Syl muttering a complaint about her [Perception] skill not being high enough. Roderick was ready to intervene but halted when he saw a ball of water flying toward one of the holes. Despite its small size, when it collided, it erupted into a massive torrent of water, flinging the bandits across the ground, and one body even bounced off the bubble. "Gods. So much water in such a tiny ball. No wonder she''s tempting Dewi." Roderick chuckled. Syl cast her spells with brutal efficiency, and Roderick was rapidly beginning to understand why Harris was so concerned. This was one elf who had seemingly never touched magic before. Imagine what a Grand Magus or Archwizard could do. ''I''m glad she''s on our side.'' A few bandits reached one of the bubbles, but their attacks couldn''t penetrate the magic defense. Roderick noted that they were barely above level five. Syl took out the ones near the bubbles with arrows from her enchanted bow. Roderick thought the dungeon must have sensed her former archery skills and rewarded her appropriately as the deadly bow took life after life with ease. ''I bet those archery skills took out the Forest King. I''d almost say it''s scarier than her magic, with how she hasn''t missed a vital point.'' Roderick thought to himself. "Come on, Syl, where''s the fire magic?" Dewi shouted nonchalantly. "I''m worried it might damage the bubbles!" Syl responded, finishing off the last melee combatant. The remaining bandits were cowering behind the rapidly melting remains of their barricade. "We surrender!" one of the men screamed, dropping to his knees. Syl turned towards Roderick with a questioning look, but he shook his head. ''I''m glad she has a conscience, even if it is bandit scum. I hope nobody takes advantage of her goodwill.'' Roderick thought. He was also relieved that she took the quickest method to execute them, an arrow to a critical vital. Some adventurers liked to drag it out, which was unfortunately understandable when you''d witnessed some of their more gruesome crimes, and Syl could easily do that with her corrosion magic. Once the last of the bandits were dealt with, Syl melted down the last of the barricade and then washed away any remaining acid from the path. Roderick was about to question why she was doing that when he realized it might have harmed the animals or even damaged the caravan. ''Well, she''s certainly getting full marks.'' He thought with a chuckle. "Well. We gave her a junk bow, and she was recently a prisoner. Can''t exactly blame her for not being her best." Evan pointed out. "Kurt said she was looking into skill fusions like Attack Mastery." Whitney answered, "If they fused for a higher rank, it might explain the better performance." "Ranged, Accuracy, Magic..." Dewi started counting off with his fingers, "Melee?" "With how much Kurt was bragging about those water flails, no doubt," Whitney answered. Dewi whistled, "Must be some nice bonuses all added together." "So you''ve heard our thoughts. What about you, Roderick?" Evan asked. Roderick sighed. He wasn''t happy because his complaint sounded like nitpicking or attacking her character, but it was a truth in the harsh world, "My only concern is that she''s too naive. When the bandits surrendered, she wanted to give them mercy. I worry that attitude will lead to her being taken advantage of, or worse, a knife to the back." There was silence from the group while they pondered Roderick''s words. The first to break the silence was Evan, "I agree. She''s probably better off working solo jobs or auxiliary roles in bigger operations than joining a dedicated group." "Yeah, I can imagine some asshole not sharing the loot with her, and she''d think it was normal. The guild automatically splits quest rewards, but any bonus loot or treasure is unmoderated." Whitney added with a hint of frustration, "Running solo would certainly let her put her stealth skills to use as well." "And then she doesn''t have to worry about collateral damage." Dewi said nonchalantly, "As much as I love you guys, not needing to worry about blast radiuses is so much fun." That earned him a slap from Whitney, although mostly in jest. They continued to chat throughout the night. About their plans in Kaerlin and teasing Roderick about his upcoming wedding. Until Whitney excused herself to take a nap before her watch was due. I woke up eager for my watch duty with Whitney. The day had felt like a bust, and I gained almost nothing from that encounter, so I hoped to salvage something with some [Perception] tutoring. All the bandits put together gave me one class level, and even my customized bubble spell hadn''t leveled up my water magic. My single class level didn''t even give me a revelation. ''Well, at least I proved it was possible to improve the spell. And at least the chat with Dewi was fruitful.'' Dewi had pointed out that another way to modify a spell was to split it into multiple projectiles. So far, my spell modifications have only conformed to the principle "bigger is better.". I would have thought multiple projectiles would have fallen under multicasting and Dewi admitted he also had the same thought until he reached [Fire Magic LV 6] and received the spell [Fireflies], which created hundreds of tiny little flames with a single casting. "When I first got the spell, I had thought I got scammed." Dewi had admitted, "I mean, the previous level was [Fireball]! I was expecting something with more oomph, but then I realized I was being taught the building blocks of splitting a single spell into multiple projectiles." He demonstrated this by forming five fire arrows in a single casting. I had tried to replicate it by forming two water orbs, but it was tricky even with me observing it firsthand. Dewi had hoped that by showing it to me early, I''d find some success before one of my learned spells installed the knowledge directly. Likewise, he couldn''t wrap his head around compression, as it baffled him, and even when I demonstrated it to him multiple times, he couldn''t replicate it. He also said what I was doing seemed physically impossible, but it was happening right in front of him - so he couldn''t deny it. He also theorized that, in reality, I was compressing the water mana and not the physical water. ''It''s too bad I couldn''t just tell him that I had gotten the inspiration from my old [Slime Density] trait.'' I thought bitterly. I did wonder if I''d ever feel comfortable enough revealing my actual race to someone. Would they believe me if I said I won''t go evolution crazy? Maybe I could build up a positive reputation in the guild. Or the alternative is to get strong enough that revealing myself wouldn''t put me at risk. ''Well, that''s for future me to worry about.'' Chapter 71: Silver Rank Chapter 71: Silver Rank This time, our evening watch went uninterrupted by wolves, and the night seemed peacefully calm. I graciously received more advice and tutoring from Whitney on my [Perception] skill, and she also said tomorrow, since an attack was unlikely, she would give me some locks and tools to practice [Rogue Expertise] on. During the last leg of the journey, Roderick agreed to swap seats with Whitney, and I got to work on trying to pick the locks. After succeeding a few times, she handed me a strange metal object and instructed me to dismantle it and then put it back together. It took a lot of trial and error, but eventually, I was successful and instantly rewarded. The tutoring bonus was no joke, and after discussing it with Whitney a bit, she also said she was exploiting the first-time bonus. "Whenever I meet a new smith, I ask them to make a lock and ask if they have any blacksmith puzzles. No matter their skill level, it''s triggering the first-time bonus." I thanked Whitney for the valuable nugget of information, but she brushed it off, saying it was the least she could do after I supplied her with such fine daggers. Eventually, Kaerlin came into sight, and it was massive. I stared in awe at the city, which seemed circular in design and surrounded by an outer and inner wall. Whitney explained that since Kaerlin didn''t have a dungeon to regulate essence flow, there was a lot more monster activity, so the city required much sturdier fortification. We had to show our guild tags at the gate to gain entry, and unfortunately, I was attracting a lot of unwanted attention. I seriously needed to consider creating a human disguise. Before we left for the guild, Darius and Roderick approached me. Darius thanked me profusely for protecting his shipment and wondered if I''d be willing to be hired for the return journey in a week. Roderick politely refused for me and said that his group would gladly take the quest. Darius seemed a bit disappointed but eventually marked my job done. I was surprised that I didn''t even need to return to the guild to be paid, although we were still going there to report in and for me to receive my Silver promotion. During the trip, Roderick explained that one of the reasons for the quest system behaving like this was to reward any final heroic deeds. Since your guild savings could be left behind in a will to your next of kin, it could encourage someone to give a last-ditch effort to defeat a disastrous monster. "Doesn''t that encourage people to be suicidal?" I questioned. "Possibly for some truly desperate. But the intent was that if you were going to die anyway, rather go out in a blaze of glory than a quiet whimper." Roderick said proudly. Kaerlin was cram-packed with people - it actually made me feel uncomfortable. I followed the group closely to avoid losing them in the crowd. The adventurers guild was located against the inner wall, supposedly for the convenience of the city''s inner circle inhabitants. The building was massive, easily dwarfing the town''s branch. The group chuckled at my surprise. "This isn''t even one of the biggest guilds." Dewi pointed out. We entered and officially reported our arrival, which was the polite and recommended thing to do when first arriving. Then, the others went to find an inn, leaving only me and Roderick behind. Roderick took me to the second floor, where we sat inside a well-decorated room and waited for a guild staff member to arrive. Thankfully, we didn''t wait too long before a tall woman with short raven black hair entered the door. I estimated she was older than Roderick but younger than Harris. Although her armor looked light, it brimmed with mana, and sheathed at her waist was a long and thin blade. I could see it crackling with a thick and yellow mana. ''Wow, the guild doesn''t joke around if it can crank out high levels like this.'' Both she and Roderick immediately cracked smiles at seeing one another and embraced in a friendly hug. "Roderick, you bastard, good to see you still kicking around!" "I''ve still got a few quests left in me before I settle down for my desk job." "I still think you should at least get to Gold, but I guess slime town doesn''t mind." "Hey, you won''t be mocking slime town soon when our Silvers go loose on the world." "If this is what I get for Silver, I can''t imagine what Gold or Platinum get." "I won''t spoil the surprise," Lisa said with a wink. Silver also came with other benefits. I would have a higher selection of quests available and be granted entry to any guild-managed higher-level dungeons. I could also access the guild''s knowledge library, although some of it was restricted to higher ranks, and could make requests of the guild''s craftsman, information brokers, and so forth. The rates were usually cheaper than third parties, but sometimes, you simply had to go elsewhere if you wanted truly unique or specialized services. "I''m assigning Luke to be your handler while you are here. He''s a little on the young side, but he grew up here, and is a polite hard worker. When you come in tomorrow, ask one of the receptionists for him." Lisa said, "Any quests in particular you''re interested or specialized in?" "I''d say monster extermination, especially any with rare or harvestable parts," Roderick informed. "Oh? Someone actually bothered to learn the [Dissection] skill?" Lisa asked with intrigue. Roderick let out a hearty laugh, "Lass, you gotta show her. I bet you''ll blow her mind." I shrugged and pulled out a few of the harvested wolf parts, and the Gigatoad hide. I wanted to sell my parts anyway so I could potentially buy a slime core. Lisa looked frantically between the materials and stared at me. "Good prank, Roderick," Lisa said with a chuckle. "It''s no prank. I gave her a carcass, and a few moments later, she popped out with it harvested. She even somehow salvaged the fur." "A looting skill?" Lisa mumbled to herself. "Looting skill?" I questioned. "An extremely rare skill given by the Gods. Usually at birth or by doing some major accomplishment." Lisa answered, "It turns monster corpses into treasure, but can only be done shortly after their death before their essence leaks out." I shook my head before answering, "That sounds amazing, but I don''t have anything like that. I can''t give the details, but it involves [Dissection]." I answered. "I can confirm that, as the corpse I gave her was already starting to rot," Roderick added. "Why the hell are you even bothering with adventuring?" Lisa answered with utter honesty. "I want to explore the world. Not to mention the experience." I answered. "Spoken like a true adventurer." Roderick laughed. I ended up dumping all my materials onto the table, as Lisa said the guild would pay for it all. I still kept the evolved badger and bear parts as I''d planned to hand those in after doing some questing, so other than the Gigatoad, it was just a few bear, boar, and wolf parts. Lisa said I could expect it to all be deposited into my account promptly. We finally left the guild and started walking to the nearby inn where we would be staying. Roderick had said it was a little pricier but worth it for the safety and convenient proximity to the guild. Also, much to my disappointment, he admitted that the food was not as good as Trevor''s. ''Damn...'' Chapter 72: Books Chapter 72: Books We had a bit of a celebratory dinner at the inn for my promotion. Roderick''s retelling of Lisa''s reaction was full of amusement, and the rest of his party laughed along. Whitney asked if we would be questing together while they were in the city, but Roderick had advised against it. He said that regardless of my actual contributions, it would be seen as their party babysitting me and would be bad for his and Lisa''s reputation for approving my promotion. I lay down in my bed and sighed. Everything since the goblins had felt like a rush lately, although part of that was my fault for rushing into the dungeon. Part of me wondered if I should try to tell them the truth, Whitney might accept it, as she seemed closer to me than the others for some reason. Dewi was another candidate, as his fascination with magic and knowledge might be enough to sway him. I could even try to bribe him with mana potions. Using [Identify] on my tag revealed my name and rank, likely to avoid people faking it by swapping the chain. Progressing through the guild seemed to hold a lot of benefits, and their interactions with the system and skills were fascinating. Could I make myself so reputable that my true origins wouldn''t even matter? The counter to that would be that I''d be so valuable I couldn''t be allowed to roam free. When I woke up, I skipped breakfast, as this inn didn''t include it with the room. The others hadn''t woken up yet, so I headed to the guild to see if I could meet Luke and find an interesting monster to eat. I asked the receptionist to meet him, but apparently, his shift wouldn''t start for another hour. I instead asked if I could see the library, and after confirming my Silver rank, they led me to a large room filled with books. I was introduced to the librarian and stared in shock at the shortest man I''d ever seen. He had a wispy black beard that nearly touched the floor and was stout and built like a rock. ''A dwarf!'' I thought to myself. "Gods, an actual elf left the bloody forest!" The dwarf interrupted my thoughts, "I thought I had drank too much when I heard the rumors yesterday." He slapped himself as if to check that he wasn''t still drunk, then blinked a few times, examining me closely. "Nope. You''re real, or I''m dead drunk." "I''m Syl. Nice to meet you." "Fuck, and you''re polite? Aren''t all you tree huggers hoity toity with a twig up your arse?" He slapped himself again. I could only stare in confusion as the dwarf continued to slap himself. I wasn''t sure if beating yourself up could sober you up. I recalled Roderick telling me that dwarves loved alcohol, so I withdrew one of my canteens inside myself and added a hefty amount of ethanol to the contents, then faked withdrawing it from my pouch. I offered the canteen to the dwarf. "What''s this pigwash you''re offering me?" He asked, taking a big sniff, and his eyes widened in surprise, "And you know dwarf custom as well? I must be dreaming." He took a swig and stumbled. I immediately cursed mentally. Did I screw up? I mean, it was coming from a trait labeled [Poison Slime]. While my mind was frantically going through escape plans and disposing of the evidence, the dwarf corrected himself and looked at me with a big grin plastered on his face. "Gods, that''s a powerful drink, no flavor, and pure kick." He said with a hearty chuckle and took another swig, followed by slapping his desk repeatedly. "I feel like a mule just kicked me in the head!" He said, although, despite his words, he seemed pleased. ''Who the hell wants a mule to kick them in the head?'' "If you''re drinking this stuff, I swear you must be a reincarnated dwarf trapped in an elf body." He said, giving a hearty chuckle, "At first I didn''t like how it sticks to the back of the throat, but I think its growing on me. Honestly its extremely thick like trying to drink custard. I guess maybe that''s why its so potent." ''Oh... I forgot to lower the density of it, I''m so used to compressing my slime automatically now I assume its my default.'' "Glad you liked it." "I guess I''ll have to speak to Luke about that." "Good plan. Luke''s a good kid." I spent the next while rapidly paging through the books, using all my cores to search for any mention of the word slime. The catalyst book sadly didn''t go beyond the basic elements, and slime catalysts were absent beyond water and fire. Us blue slimes could be used as a water catalyst, but the author lambasted it as extremely wasteful and would harm the mana potion industry. The first bestiary dealt with Iron to Bronze rank monsters, and it only mentioned blue, green, and purple slimes. The blue entry included a detailed description of how to capture one and transport it safely. I had to resist the urge to destroy the page. For the other book, it mentioned red, white, and yellow. I found it a bit odd it didn''t mention silver and pink. I was getting a little disappointed until, near the end, there was a page on orange slime. I eagerly read it. Orange slimes are exclusively found in Silver-rank and above dungeons and are currently rated an upper Silver-rank threat. Orange slimes do not engage directly and instead lay traps by coating areas of the dungeon in their slime mass, which they can remotely detonate at will. The slime is usually a dull orange when inert and glows brightly when detonation is imminent. DO NOT walk over orange slime patches, even if you feel the slime is far away, as they have an innate tremor sense and can feel your steps throughout the dungeon. It is recommended to take another path than walk down a trapped hallway. If you must pass through its territory, then sufficient quantities of water can wash away the slime in an emergency. The ideal solution is using Ice spells, which will render it permanently inert by freezing it. Initially, they were considered a Gold-rank threat but were reduced as they don''t actively hunt outside their territory and can be entirely avoided with a little common sense. Praise the Gods that they do not spawn naturally in the outside world. Currently, there is no known use for their slime or cores. Another slime I had to add to the list, although perhaps only once I had obtained a white slime and presumably ice magic. Although, if I did encounter one, then I could wash it away. I placed the three books back on the desk with Thern. "I''m surprised there doesn''t seem to be a slime catalyst for air." "Perhaps from one of the mutations? Maybe one of the slimes on a floating island." Thern replied. "Are there any floating islands nearby?" "There is one that can float within a few day''s travel of the city. Thankfully, its usual path doesn''t float over the city, or we''d have to worry about monsters raining down on us." He consulted his ledger, then went for a stack of scrolls and started looking through one, then looked at a calendar. "Should be within range in a week or two. It floats to the West of the city. Good luck chartering a flight." "How does one usually get to one?" "The magical route is making good friends with an advanced air mage. Otherwise, a monster tamer who''s tamed a large enough flying beastie." ''Well, I can hopefully just fly myself.'' "Assuming I could find a method, are there any restrictions?" "No, just getting onto one is trouble enough. They are almost like mini-dungeon ecosystems with all the unregulated essence and can be quite dangerous." "Well. I guess I better start working on getting to Gold. Thanks for the help, Thern." "Always happy to help someone who shares booze as good as this! I can''t wait to tell my pa we might be having an elf visiting. He''s gonna lose his shit." I thanked him and let him keep the canteen. I said I''d bring him a refill when I came next to visit, and the pure joy on his face was quite a sight. I left the library and hoped that Luke was finally in. Chapter 73: Quests Chapter 73: Quests I had lost track of time in the library as Luke had arrived for at least an hour or two. I decided I''d ask Luke if there was a skill for keeping track of time, and it would certainly help if I decided to live in a dungeon or cave for a while and eventually return to civilized society. Luke was a short boy, probably no older than fifteen. As if showing the wealth difference between branches, this branch had individual booths engraved with sigils that dampened sounds to prevent eavesdropping. Luke also offered to take me to a private room if I felt the sigils weren''t good enough, although he personally vouched for them. "So Miss Syl, Master Lisa tells me to emphasize jobs with harvestable monsters, but do you have any preferences or a particular fighting style?" Luke asked, "You can be vague if you want, but it helps to prevent sending a Nature Mage against any monsters with fire abilities or warriors against ghosts, for example. I''m sworn to secrecy, on my honor and Master Lisa''s." I blinked slowly at the endless words coming from the boy''s mouth, "No problem, Luke. Offensively, I''ve got Water and Fire magic. I''m also good with sneaking and can use a bow in a pinch." I decided to keep my Corrosion magic a secret for now. Mostly just to see if the other branch had shared that knowledge with this one. Luke took in my words and nodded as he shuffled through some parchment. "I think I got one that''s perfect for your Water magic... There''s a small silver mine nearby, which was invaded by a salamander." Luke began, "Their scales are worth a lot, although they can be tricky to harvest. The only issue is they breathe fire and can be exceptionally deadly. How good are you at dealing with fire?" ''I mean, I''m practically immune.'' I chuckled to myself. "Not an issue. I can handle some fire." "Noted, just be careful. I''d even recommend buying a Fire resistance potion if you don''t have one already." Luke warned, "But thankfully, they are rather weak in vitality, and if you can bypass its defensive scales, they go down rather easy. Drowning it with Water magic is another option." "Since you are heading in the area, you might as well take a general extermination quest for rock elementals. If you can harvest their mana crystals, they are worth a lot, and the miners will be thankful." Luke also said, pulling out another piece of parchment, "They are slow so easy to deal with by any good mage. Their cores can be a bit fragile, so be careful when you''re harvesting." I couldn''t see any reason not to, so I also accepted it. I''d likely kill any monsters whether I had a quest or not, so it was nice to be paid for the effort. After a moment of looking through his documents, he found a final quest for me, "You''re not scared of spiders, are you?" He asked, and when I shook my head, he smiled, "Since you have Fire magic, these should be easy for you. You can burn their nests and get quite a few easy kills." "Twenty seems like a big jump in numbers compared to the elementals?" I queried. "Ah yes, this quest is a bit variable; Silver rank spiders will count as five, Bronze will count as two, and Iron will count as one. Your guild tag will allocate them all automatically, so you don''t need to worry about that." "That''s certainly convenient. Thanks a lot for the quest advice, Luke." He blushed and gave a cheery smile, "No problem at all, Miss Syl, just doing my job. Do you have any other questions or requests?" I nodded and asked if there was a skill or trait that helped with keeping track of the time. Luke nodded and fetched an older staff member to show it to me, as since he was so young, he didn''t have the points to spare on a utility skill. The skill was simple; it was called [Time Keeper] and was unranked and thus likely only available through purchase. The trait felt a little barebone as it told you the current time, and you could also use it to set a timer. I didn''t purchase it, but was glad to have the option now. For my request, I asked if the guild could find me any slime magic catalysts and noted I was looking for Ice and Lightning in particular, although I''d gladly take any that wasn''t water. I''d gladly take some free levels in any of my other slime traits. Luke nodded and said he''d check in with the supplies and local stores for me, and it would only cost a minor finders fee. I made sure to mention that I''d gladly take even a raw slime core, as maybe it would be easier to find than a finished product. Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! I thanked Luke for his time and hoped he''d be successful. I told him to let Lisa and Roderick know I was heading out if they asked for me. When I was leaving the guild, a few adventurers approached me to ask if I wanted to join them on their quests or if I needed any help on mine. Roderick had warned me that this was very likely, not only due to being an elf but also due to my high levels and unique class. "Use your other eye, you idiot!" "...Right, sorry." I tried firing more arrows, but now that they were looking at me, they blocked their vitals with their arms. The arrows still struck, and I could see the blood, but they just seemed to shrug it off. "She''s a feisty one, ain''t she?" "Would make a good wife." "She''s too small for you two, I call dibs." "You the smallest. You can''t call dibs." The humans had thankfully backed away from the orcs during my distraction. I was feeling quite repulsed by these creatures. It was no wonder the humans didn''t trust us monsters if this was what the other intelligent monsters had to offer. The level of intelligence here was highly questionable, though. The shaman waved his hands and launched a rock at me, which I dodged with a quick sidestep. I then rapidly channeled an empowered [Fire Arrow], aided by my [Sub-Cores], and launched it at the shaman. "Oi, she''s magic too!" The shaman shouted before the fiery bolt pierced into his chest cavity. He staggered backward and was trying to rip the flaming bolt out of his chest. I quickly fired two more and he went down. "Ha! Can''t call dibs if you dead!" One of the orcs shouted and kicked the smoldering corpse. "Big talk for such a little guy! Then he goes and dies! Stupid, Flurk!" "The first one to grab her gets her!" The other orc shouted, his companion grunted in acknowledgment, and they both charged at me. I broke out of my momentary stunned confusion and ordered all my cores to form [Fire Arrows] in tandem and fire at will. Magical projectiles continued to barrage the orcs, and they didn''t even bother trying to dodge or anything. Their mindless lack of self-preservation shocked me, and I could only assume it was due to their lack of feeling pain. The weaker orc died before reaching me, and the other swung his axe, although with such a slow and easily telegraphed attack, it was simple for me to dodge. I continued to dodge his blows, causing him to scream in anger before he finally fell to a few more flaming arrows. ''Honestly, I think that was one of the strangest fights I''ve ever had...'' I doused the flaming corpse before stuffing it into my storage, then proceeded to repeat the process with the remaining two. I''d eat them once I was off the road and away from witnesses. The humans tried to thank me for the rescue, but I waved them off and continued towards my quests. I''d wasted enough time with this short distraction, and I didn''t feel like repeating the same song and dance of them being fascinated by an elf. Chapter 74: Into the Mine Chapter 74: Into the Mine I was so eager to get away that I forgot to look at my gains from that fight. I peered over the notifications. I was very pleased with [Evasion] finally gaining a level, and both Delta and Epsilon closed the gap. Only gaining a single level in class felt a little disappointing, especially since it had no new revelations. I was feeling the newfound difficulty of raising my race levels now. Thankfully, there were no further distractions by the time I reached the mining camp, which looked mostly deserted except for a few rather jumpy-looking guards. I introduced myself and said I was with the guild here to exterminate some monsters. After they got over their initial shock, they looked thankful and relieved that someone was finally going to deal with the monsters. "Usually, the spiders and elementals get cleaned out pretty regularly, but ever since the salamander moved in, they''ve been growing in numbers." One of the guards explained. "No worries. I''ll be dealing with it." I said, flashing my Silver tag, which caused them to look very happy, "Please don''t let anyone else come down. I don''t want them accidentally getting caught in my magic." "Of course, Miss Syl, thank you for the warning." They saluted, and after awkwardly copying the gesture, I entered the mine. My [Dark Vision] immediately kicked in, and I also traded [Nature Commune] for [Thermal Vision]. Once I got a bit deeper, I''d throw away my disguise. I also blanked my name and class, as it felt like as long as I didn''t blank everything on my profile, I''d be gaining at least some benefit from my mimicry levels. If my class was more generic, it might have been fine to leave it alone. When I got a bit deeper, I withdrew the orcs and devoured them. Like the other humanoid monsters, [Dissection] was silent in valuable parts, and I only kept a single right ear from each orc to show the adventurers guild. The orc profile suggested they were on par with a hobgoblin, indicating that they spawned naturally as a higher monster tier. I could only assume that was similar to how yellow slime could spawn without originating from the lowest blue slime. I noticed they could not take [Enhanced Intellect] and chuckled to myself a little, as it felt like a severe understatement. The reason for their indifferent attitude to my attacks was they had a racial trait [Pain Suppression], which I had no desire to purchase, but I may borrow it when I decided to work on leveling [Defy Death]. When I entered a larger chamber, I felt like I could finally test out wings. I grabbed the wings from the Blood Bugs, enlarged them, and reinforced them with mana. When I didn''t achieve liftoff, I added an extra pair of wings and reduced my size somewhat. After some trial and error, I managed to get a half-decent hover going. While I was glad to finally have some success with the idea I had so long ago, my gut told me I should seek out stronger wings if I wanted to go higher. Now that I had satisfied my curiosity with the wings, I turned into the Venom Barbed Badger. I was tempted to use the bear matriarch as the base form, but I felt like I might struggle to fit in the mineshafts, and the badger also opened up digging options. I swapped out the badger nose for a wolf one and added some rocky hide for defense, then spawned two tendrils and formed them into the Blade Wolf tail. I identified myself, curious about what it would even show. ''Simon had said that I should be able to manipulate it more since I have a mimicry-related trait... He didn''t and could already block his name, so I should be able to do more.'' I experimented a little while wandering down one of the passages with a scent. My goal was to remove my name, as monsters normally didn''t have one, so if I was mimicking one, I should be able to remove it rather than block it. I kept mentally poking and prodding my name while trying to mentally prompt it by thinking thoughts of hiding or removing it. I felt like I was on the verge of something, but maybe I needed a bit more levels. One thing I did manage while experimenting with my class was changing its display. The profile updated, and looking at my quest counter, this counted as a Bronze-rank monster. [Dissection] finally had some work to do and harvested the small little scythe blades from its frontward legs. The evolution path was interesting, as it came from a different branch than the giant spider and then further evolved. I also read through the poison''s description, which was a nasty piece of work. The simplest way to describe it was a lethal version of my paralysis poison. I would have thought paralyzing an opponent was enough already to leave someone helpless, but apparently, this spider had other plans. I kept exploring the tunnel when my mana sight caught something in one of the walls. I finally got to put my digging claws to work and put them to good use, revealing a fist-sized nugget of silver. I gave it a quick identification and appraisal to answer my question. I had to resist my desire to absorb it, as I was concerned that it wouldn''t retroactively apply to the silver slime trait if I got it later. I reluctantly deposited it and continued my journey through the webbing, occasionally burning it away with [Kindle]. I could hear the sounds of combat echoing through the tunnel. I wondered if the different spider species were fighting one another or if it was another monster. The wolves worked together, but I wasn''t sure if spiders held that same camaraderie, especially between different species branches. I shrunk my form to a smaller, stealthier size and let [Vanish] do its work. The first monster that I noticed was another jumping spider, lobbing its blobs at something. I also saw the unevolved form of the jumping spider, and instead of lobbing poison, it fired webs in a similar manner. I slowed my pace and sneaked forward more to notice what they were fighting - a pile of rocks. ''So that''s a rock elemental. Guess the spiders aren''t happy with its presence.'' Luke wasn''t joking when he said they were slow. By the time it completed swinging its rocky limb, the spiders were nowhere near the point of impact. The strength behind the blow was terrifying, shattering the rocky floor with ease. A few giant spiders were hanging from the ceiling and shooting webs at the elemental, seemingly answering my question about them working together. While they were all distracted, I decided to try an experiment. I lowered tendrils of slime and snaked my way into the room, and while they progressed further in, I started using [Vaporize Slime] and leaking ethanol gas throughout the room. I was tempted to use one of my other poisons, but it would only affect the spiders since the elemental seemed to be shrugging off whatever poisons the spiders were lobbing at it without any care. I kept my tendrils the same color as the floor, and that, combined with [Vanish], seemed to prevent the spiders or the elemental from noticing me. I continued to watch the fight with amusement while I laid my trap, only occasionally moving a tendril out of the way of a spider''s landing zone. When I felt like the room was primed I rapidly formed an empowered [Fire Arrow] using all my [Sub-Cores] and flung it at the golem as quickly as possible. Before I could even think that this might have been a bad idea, the room erupted into an explosion of flame that would''ve made Dewi drool with envy. If my ears were real, I think they would have burst. The mineshaft trembled, rocks fell to the floor, and I had a moment of panic where I thought I might be burying myself alive, but then I remembered I could dig myself free with [Acid Slime]. Notifications flooded my mind as I weathered the blast. I was extremely thankful I wasn''t stupid enough to enter the room, as my tendrils directly in the room had been scattered to the winds from the shockwave. Chapter 75: Afflictions Chapter 75: Afflictions ''Okay, note to self, no explosions underground.'' I grumbled as I looked at the partially caved-in room. I turned on my acid and, combined with my claws, quickly freed myself from the slight rubble that had fallen on top of me. The lack of a death notification confirmed that the rock elemental was still alive, and I saw the rubble consolidating and forming into its vaguely humanoid figure again. ''Damn, does it look bigger than before?'' I wondered to myself. Fire magic was clearly not the way to go against the rock, which left water and acid, or I could try to eat it with slime. Dewi had said my magic skills were falling behind my rogue skills, so I was leaning towards getting some more magic practice. While it was slowly freeing its limbs and consolidating the nearby rubble into itself, with my [Sub-Cores], we formed three groups of two and targeted the rocky legs of the elemental with [Acid Dart]. As if sensing my building mana, it turned to face me as the first barrage of spells blasted against its rocky hide. With [Mana Vision], I noticed that it was trying to reinforce its body by infusing the rock with more mana that shone brightly from its rock-crystal core. It felt like I was fighting an alternate version of myself in some ways, as it had a fragile core (according to Luke) protected by rock and even used [Mana Reinforcement]. As fast as I could melt its legs, it was reforming them, and I wondered if we would be trapped in a perpetual stalemate. I regretted not asking Luke for more information and wondered if I should ignore trying to preserve the valuable core. Since the creature did not threaten me, I kept this up longer. It took a while, but I noticed it was getting smaller each time it reformed, and some excess rock was sacrificed to reform its legs. [Mana Sight] also revealed that its aura of mana grew considerably weaker through each reformation. ''So I could destroy its resources or wait until it runs out of mana. Likely, that''s how adventurers defeat slimes without damaging their cores. Well, unless they have crazy death magic like Simon.'' I cheered as I finally got a new spell. I read over the description while my [Sub-Cores] weakened the rock elemental. The spell was a debuff, and it lowered physical defense. While I wish it had lowered magical defense, I was glad to get a spell under the debuff template finally. I ordered them to stop attacking the elemental, which was now only the size of a small dog. It had lost almost all available material, and its mana aura was sputtering out. I cast my new [Erode] spell on it, and much to my surprise, Gamma showed me its [Identify] profile. [Erode] 30%: 4min remaining.> ''[Affliction Tracker]!'' I shouted mentally. I had completely forgotten the skill since it was baked into [Identify]. It didn''t help that shortly after getting it, I fought the undead, who were immune to all my afflictions at the time. When the rock elemental approached me, I grabbed it with a tendril. It tried to squirm, but in its reduced state and with so little mana, it couldn''t resist. I tried eating some of its rock, but it didn''t count towards unlocking its profile. Like slimes, it appeared I needed to eat the crystal core. However, I would not eat this one, as I still hadn''t solved my issue of killing it without damaging the core. I planned to absorb the next rock elemental I found right from the start, so I wanted to use this one to meet my harvesting goals. I kept dissolving away at its rock, although the first to give out was its mana, and the rock encasing it crumbled away into loose debris. With the help of [Dissection], I isolated the valuable crystal core and cleaned off all traces of rock until only a beautiful crystal remained. It looked like a clustered star and was colored like brown-stained glass. I deposited the crystal and then harvested what I could from the smoldering remains of the numerous spiders taken out in the explosion. While there was little on offer from the spiders beyond a few fangs and tiny scythe blades, I did gain another skill level. I was surprised it took this long, and I could only blame the undead for their lack of resources, which prevented it from being the first skill to reach six. I checked my quest progress and only had a quarter of the way to go with the spiders, although, at the rate I was killing them, I was sure I''d go above my quota. If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ''Especially because I want to try out some afflictions.'' I decided to buy the trait. I had quite a few points remaining, and since it had no levels, I''d likely be unable to earn it for free. Another reason I wanted the trait immediately was in case my next class level gave me a revelation now that I had the trait unlocking new skill options. While winding through caverns, I accidentally returned where I had started before encountering my first spider. I shook my head and consulted my [Mapping] skill to retrace my steps. There must have been a tunnel I missed somewhere. When I finally found an opening that had partially collapsed and dug through, I suddenly received an update. When I activated the skill again, a minimap appeared within my vision that showed my immediate surroundings. I could see the tunnel passages, revealing another tunnel that had also partially collapsed. ''Tabitha wasn''t joking about this being a critical skill for adventurers. While Simon''s dungeon was pretty small, navigating a larger one without something like this would be a nightmare.'' I finally found another spider; it was low-level but enough to test my afflictions. The first one I wanted to try was [Poison Mist]. While the spider tried and failed to bite and poison me, I cast my spell, surrounding it in the strange purple mist. [Poison Mist] 20%.> ''That description isn''t exactly helpful...'' I complained. The longer the spider remained in the poison mist, the higher the percentage ticked up. When it reached one hundred, a duration finally appeared. When the purple mist started to fade, I recast the spell. As long as the spider was within the mist, the duration did not begin to count down. However, I still wasn''t sure what the mist was doing besides that it had vaguely poisoned the spider. I formed a tendril into a rapier, perfectly copying the one I had eaten from Keaton, and with two quick stabs, injected [Poison Slime] into the spider using paralysis. I watched as the first stab applied seventy percent to the spider, the second reached the maximum, and the spider immediately collapsed and froze. [Poison Mist] 100%: 4min remaining. [Paralysis] 100%: 7min remaining.> In an effort to experiment, I used [Vaporize Slime] on some more paralytic poison slime. It slowly added to the duration that was ticking down. While thinking about what to try next, I was interrupted by a sudden notification. I was frustrated that it had died, and I assumed [Poison Mist] was the culprit, as I had kept the two wounds to inject paralytic slime minimal. I could only conclude that [Poison Mist] did damage over time, although when I dissected the spider, I couldn''t exactly see traces of the poison, unlike my paralysis poison. Its organs looked fine, and other than the two stab wounds, it had no visible damage or harm to it. ''I mean, it is a magic spell. I guess it just does magical poison damage or something.'' Chapter 76: Debuffs Chapter 76: Debuffs While hunting for more spiders, I found a passageway with a highly sulfurous scent, which I figured was the pathway to the salamander. I decided to avoid it for now, as I wanted to experiment with more spiders and still needed to kill three more earth elementals. With some backtracking and alternate tunnels, I finally found another giant spider. I trapped it within slime and force-fed it sleep gas until it eventually fell unconscious. What was interesting about it compared to my other afflictions so far was that it had a midway point that inflicted the [Fatigued] condition. I''d have to ask Luke if the guild had a lexicon of status conditions. Now that I had a valuable test subject, I wanted to experiment with the Debuff spell construct. I picked Water Magic for my tests, as I worried both Fire and Corrosion would kill the spider if something went wrong. I didn''t want to sound ungrateful, as the defense Debuff sounded extremely valuable, but I wanted to reduce magic resistance or perhaps even affliction resistance. Working with my cores, I started dismantling the spell construct for [Erode]. I spent hours trying to combine the Debuff construct with water mana, and I had to reapply sleep poison to the spider to refresh the dwindling duration multiple times. One thing Dewi had not told me about this was that magical backlash sucked big time. When the spell failed to form, it would not only waste the mana expended entirely but cause it to explode within my core violently. The damage was primarily superficial, likely due to the backlash not being too significant, but the mental strain was taking its toll. I borrowed the orc trait temporarily, but mental damage, or whatever this was, seemed to ignore their pain nullification. During my hours of spell modification, two more giant spiders came to investigate one by one. The hours of silence and lack of explosions must have made them feel safe to escape whatever hole they crawled into. At least it wasn''t much effort to capture them, and now I had a backup in case my first spider met an untimely demise. Between my tinkering of the spell, I would also cast [Erode] unmodified to examine the spell a little closer and hope to find some hidden insight. Finally, all my trial and error paid off, and I had a new Water Debuff. I held the formed spell in place and examined its construct proudly, and all the corrosion patterns were successfully rewritten with water mana. I thoroughly memorized the spell pattern before casting it on one of the spiders, and a new Debuff appeared. ''Yes!'' I cheered before I was flooded with notifications. Before I looked over my new spell, I cast [Permeable] again on another spider and cheered at my success. I''d go as far as to say this was my very first official custom spell and not just an enhancement or customization of an existing spell. I was absolutely giddy as I looked over [Torrent]; it seemed simple in execution and was a large burst of concussive Water. I cast the spell against one of my [Permeable] spiders and watched its body launch against the cavern wall, where it splatted into its untimely demise. With the spell affecting such a large area, its intended use was likely to get enemies away rather than deal damage. ''Perhaps I could focus it down and concentrate it into a more offensive use.'' I pondered, ''Although I want to finish experimenting with my debuffs before I get sidetracked with customizing another spell.'' I cleaned up the remains of the splattered spider before I started my next batch of spell tinkering. I was replacing it with Fire this time, and my tinkering took less than half the time as my first spell. The reason was that, in my first approach, I discovered that I couldn''t just replace the entire pattern with Water, as parts of the pattern were the Debuff portion. But now I could start tinkering with [Permeable] instead of [Erode] and focus on replacing the Water with Fire. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. Once again, I examined the completed spell carefully before I cast it. Compared to the Water one, its formation had some very minor adjustments. It was more complex than simple find-and-replace, much to my disappointment. The ease of making the required minor corrections was likely thanks to my latest level in [Mana Manipulation]. I cast the spell and grinned with glee at the new Debuff. ''No! Damn, that''s expensive...'' I tried a few different skills, and the cost scaled directly, which was horrifying. I definitely would need to ask someone about this. Interestingly, when I tried to upgrade [Attack Mastery (Lesser) LV 6], I got an error message. ''I guess I don''t have to worry about that with traits since I have [Mana Slime] at ten. Not that I think I''d ever want to use trait points on buying upgrades.'' There were things I still wanted to experiment with, but I was not feeling great mentally from all the magical backlash. I actually considered hiding in a hole and taking a nap. I was concerned that I could be blamed if someone came looking for me or the salamander left the mines. I continued through the remains of the spider tunnel, casting [Flammable] into [Fire Arrow] to swiftly deal with any arachnids I came across. The effects of [Subtle Afflictions] were remarkably noticeable, as none of the spiders noticed when I debuffed them. The [Sneak Attack] bonus seemed to be applying a fifty percent bonus to my affliction. If I empowered the spell, which also boosted it by half, and combined it with [Sneak Attack], I could effectively double it. Stacking multiple effects together seemed incredible, and I wondered if it could go beyond one hundred percent. Perhaps doing so would allow things to go through immunities? It was definitely a thought worth exploring once I had more levels. Much to my disappointment, I couldn''t find any more Bronze-ranked spiders, so I didn''t gain a level when I ran out of the multi-legged nuisance to eradicate. I had completed my spider quota a while ago, but I was beginning to worry because I still needed to kill three more rock elementals, and I couldn''t find any. I consulted my map, but the only pathway left was towards the smell of sulfur and likely the salamander. ''Well, hopefully, they are down there. They could also be above ground; the quest just says they are in the area.'' Chapter 77: Salamander Chapter 77: Salamander While continuing down the tunnel toward the scent and my ultimate goal, I did manage to come across a single rock elemental. It didn''t notice me, and I managed to land a fully boosted [Permeable] on it. Now that it was primed and ready for my assault, I cast and held [Torrent] with Alpha while the rest paired up and held two empowered [Water Orbs]. We coordinated our attack, but the [Torrent] was far faster than anticipated and blasted through the rocky hide of the elemental. Chunks of rock were blasted under the high-velocity water, rapidly eroded into crumbled rock and mud when they struck against the walls. When the orbs hit, what little remained of its body was thoroughly soaked, and the orb''s detonation from opposite ends rapidly crumbled what remained of its rocky hide into a muddy slurry. I could see the elemental trying to reconstitute its form with [Mana Sight] as it desperately tried to flood the earthen slurry with its own mana. I could see the water interfering with its attempts; it was a rock elemental, not a mud elemental, after all. Combining [Sneak Attack] with a Debuff and another attack spell was a deadly combination. It was great to see my skills interacting, bringing back fond memories of when I combined multiple of my slime traits. Speaking of my slime traits, I regretted hardly using them in this excursion. I had evolved and gained new strengths, but with my low skill levels, I had prioritized them. I could have simply engulfed the rock elemental and assaulted it with [Acid Slime], but then I''d gain experience, further advancing my class without allowing my skills to catch up. I approached the elemental, rapidly burning through its mana, grabbed it with a pseudopod, and began to work on the [Dissection]. Any more spells risked shattering its valuable crystal, and if I wanted to purchase slime cores for myself, I needed all the money I could get. ''Still, I wonder what the salamander is even doing in a silver mine?'' Sneaking through, I eventually found a giant red lizard monster lazing on a pile of unrefined silver ore. It was currently snacking on the charred remains of a spider. Blackened bones and a few random weapons and tools surrounded the pile. I noticed four significantly melted remains of an elemental crystal. ''What, do you think you''re a dragon or something sleeping on a treasure hoard?'' I questioned. The salamander was mainly red except coated in an outer layer of blackened scales that seemed to pulse a deep orange in tune with its breathing. It was about the size of an overgrown horse, definitely one of the most diminutive evolved monsters I''d ever encountered. I assumed it must be on par with the Earthshaker bear and myself regarding monster tier, although I also had almost twenty class levels to rely on. ''Not to mention, I''m basically immune to fire. I think I''m this thing''s worst nightmare.'' I''d be taking full advantage of my skills here by starting the fight by laying down all the available debuffs and landing a major [Sneak Attack]. I started off with [Permeable], then [Erode], and finally [Flammable] just for the extra experience. When I emerged unharmed from the flame, I could see the despair in the creature''s eyes. Its blackened scales were no longer accented by the fiery glow but instead looked like the last coal embers. It tried to retreat, but I was far too fast for it as I promptly blocked off its retreat paths with tendrils. It tried lashing out with its front claws and even biting with its maw, which probably still held some threat to ordinary creatures; I''d give it a personal rating of more potent than the wolves but weaker than badgers. It was straightforward for me to grab the creature by its limbs and lift it up so it was helpless. It flailed and tried launching some weakened flames, but nothing I couldn''t handle. I engulfed the entire creature in slime; its natural body temperature was very high, and in desperation, I could feel it briefly flaring to some extreme temperatures. Compared to its hide, internally, it was fragile, and it died shortly after I invaded and turned up the acid. [Dissection] happily pointed out all the valuable parts. I was a little disappointed I didn''t gain a class level, too, but that was short-lived when I looked over the new profile of the creature. It had two traits that were both juicy targets for mimicry: [Inferno Sac], which was the improved version of [Fire Sac], and [Draconic Scales (Lesser)]. Being able to breathe fire was very impressive, and I couldn''t wait to try it out, but the scales were fascinating. Provides high defense and minor resistance to most elements, scaling with trait level. Unlike true dragon scales, however, it does not provide magical resistance as your draconic lineage is far too distant and inadequate.> I applied the scales to myself and admired them. Most surprising was that I could apply the trait to myself even when in a human or elven form, hinting that both races could have a bloodline with a dragon. I was just happy I had another trait I could use while adventuring without creating some elf-salamander hybrid form. As for harvested goods, its flame organ, scales, claws, and fangs were all identified as valuable. I could feel [Dissection] proudly showing off the work of the preserved flame organ, which was by far the most valuable part. Despite being extracted, the organ still pulsed with a dangerous level of heat, definitely not for unprotected hands. After depositing it all, I formed my own organ, filled it with mana, and let out a small belch of blue flame. While an immediate thought was creating a hydra of salamander heads, all belching fire, my freedom of form meant I could also, in theory, just place the organ in my arm and create my own channels to let it erupt from my hands. I let my mind wander happily while scavenging what remained of the salamander''s small treasure hoard. Chapter 78: Quest Complete Chapter 78: Quest Complete Thanks to [Mapping], I thoroughly searched the rest of the tunnels and pathways and regretfully concluded that I couldn''t find the final rock elemental. I was prepared to start heading back to the mine entrance, but first, I wanted to try each of my new forms to claim the first-time and perfection bonuses. The orc form felt solid and robust. I liked the raw strength it held over a regular human and, in particular, against my frail, by comparison, elven form. Still, I couldn''t see myself using it over a bear or some other chimeric monstrosity form. In theory, I could potentially infiltrate the orcs, but I certainly didn''t want to rehash my goblin experience. I had already tried the elemental forms, so I skipped them and tried out the spiders I could access. Much to my embarrassment, coordinating eight legs took a few attempts, but I was easily skittering up the tunnel walls shortly after. The web creation traits were intriguing because I was only imitating the organ, so it felt strange that I could produce a web. Examining it closely, I discovered that the trait substituted the likeliest available resource to create the phenomenon, which, in my situation, was a pittance of mana. Unfortunately, the trait alone wasn''t enough to give me the instincts and creativity needed to make a proper web, and my best effort was a crude star shape that might trip someone at best. If I ever used this trait, I''d have to stick to spraying it out, although again, I could accomplish so much more if I just used slime with maximum adhesion. I found the salamander form lacking overall, and if not for the two traits I stole, I''d likely never use it. It was frail, lacked strength, and wasn''t that nimble. The only things it had going for it were its impressive scales and extreme firepower, both of which I could borrow without significantly applying its form. It was almost a one-trick pony, which likely brought it far until it met something that directly countered its one trick. I shifted back into my disguise and practiced adding scales under my robe and experimenting with trying to use the [Inferno Sac]. I discovered that without borrowing [Fire Resistance], I couldn''t handle the maximum output of the trait without burning away my slime. I''d need a higher level of [Blaze Slime] to handle it without fusing some Hobgoblin or Salamander into my form, which could take the trait. ''I should be thankful that recreating the organ itself is enough for me to borrow the trait; if I had to add even more salamander parts to take it, I''d ruin my disguise.'' Speaking of disguise, I thankfully remembered that I needed to remove the [Identity Block] on my profile. I was glad my warning was adhered to, and nobody ventured into the mines that I was aware of. Dealing with the consequences of being discovered was a bridge I hoped I wouldn''t be forced to cross any time soon. I exited the cavern to a late afternoon sun and a few terrified-looking guards, whose expressions were relieved when they saw it was me. "Thank the Gods you survived, ma''am. We all feared the worst when we felt that terrible explosion," one of the guards said. ''...Sorry, that was me.'' I mentally apologized before responding. "Thanks for the concern. Do you know how long it''s been since I entered?" "Well over a day." He answered, "I pray you were successful?" ''That explains my mental fatigue. I worked through an entire night without realizing it.'' "The salamander, spiders, and elementals are dealt with. I thoroughly searched the entire mine and couldn''t find any more." The guard''s expressions brightened, and the few miners still in the vicinity cheered at the news. It sounded like the miners didn''t get paid unless they worked, which didn''t sound fair to me - it wasn''t their fault that a monster invaded because it wanted to imitate a dragon badly. I took out the raw ore in my storage, leaving only a single piece and the mana-enriched piece I had discovered for future sampling. "Good to see you again, Miss Syl." "Hey Luke, all my quests were successful; it was a pretty fun experience." "There was some concern that something went wrong. We expected you to return sooner; the time between completing your spider extermination and the salamander was quite significant." "I may have gone overboard on the spider extermination; I cleared out the entire mine. I was also searching for rock elementals, which proved difficult because the salamander had killed quite a few." "Huh... That''s slightly odd behavior. What level was it?" "Five. I think it recently evolved." Luke slammed the table, causing me to flinch in surprise, "Wait, it had evolved?!" "I believe so. It was an Inferno Salamander, if that helps?" Rather than helping, Luke seemed to go slightly pale. He began frantically shuffling through papers and muttering to himself; when he found what he was looking for, he read it carefully and then shook his head before finally speaking. "I double-checked the original request. They definitely said it was a normal salamander. The request wasn''t that old; I don''t know how it evolved so soon..." He bowed his head, "I''m so sorry, Miss Syl. I put you in danger by recommending this quest." Confused by the display, I quickly tried to calm him down, "It wasn''t that much of an issue. Your advice helped a lot as its insides were extremely weak, and I got a lot of experience and practice with my [Water Magic]." "No. You don''t understand, Miss Syl. This is an upper Silver-rank threat; if it was a higher level, this would have been a low Gold-rank. Sending a lone, freshly promoted Silver-rank adventurer against something like this is a suicide mission." "Well, it''s good I''m trying to get promoted to Gold as soon as possible," I said with a smirk, hoping to ease his concern. He sighed at my utter refusal to accept the gravity of the situation, "We might have to if it truly was as easy as you are appearing to make it." "Anyway, let''s get down to business. I got plenty of materials to show you." Chapter 79: Loot Dealing Chapter 79: Loot Dealing "Ah! Miss Syl, please don''t dump them on my desk; we have a room for this!" Luke frantically said when I piled a few parts on the desk. I nodded and deposited them away, causing him to look relieved. He led me to another room with plenty of tables and minor shelving. Interestingly, almost no two tables were made from the same material. Some were wood, while others were stone, and even a few were made of metal. Seeing my curiosity at the various tables, Luke spoke up, "Depending on the monster, their materials can be hazardous; we''ve had some monsters burn a room down or melt straight through the floor!" "Oh... Right, if I took out the inferno sac, it''d probably burn your desk, maybe the whole room?" I replied, scratching my chin. Luke had a complex expression of paled horror and genuine excitement, "Y-you actually managed to harvest its flame gland?" he stammered out. "Yeah, it''s in great condition. Want to see?" "No! Miss Syl, please wait! I''m going to get Mister Thern. Please wait right here, and please do not take out the organ, no matter what!" Luke shouted frantically and darted off. I shrugged and started pulling out the various other materials I had harvested. For the most part, I put them on one of the wooden tables, but I laid out the scaled hide on one of the stone tables in case it had any residual heat. By the time Luke arrived with Thern in tow, I had laid out all the spider fangs, spider sickles, earth crystals, and orc ears. "Blimey! Someone''s been busy. Good to see you again, Syl." Thern said with a cheerful expression. "Good to see you again, Thern. Yeah, I had a quest to clear out the silver mine." "Master Lisa wasn''t joking when she said you were a harvesting fiend," Luke said before he slapped his mouth shut. "Ha! That she is, and this is some mighty fine work except for the few melted earth crystals." "That was the salamander''s work, not me. I recovered them from its nest and wasn''t sure if they were still valuable." "Ha! It sounds like its tiny bit of dragon blood overwhelmed it." Thern chuckled, then ran his hands over the scales, "This is mighty good. You should get some armor from this and replace that cheap robe you''re wearing." "I was considering just selling it, but..." "Nope! No buts, you''re trying to make Gold rank, so you need to start looking like a Gold-rank adventurer! Your pointy ears can only do so much for your appearance; you must look the part, or people will doubt you." "Mister Thern is right. Image can play an important part in your adventuring career and is how you can be requested for special quest assignments or receive favors from higher-ups if you''re famous enough." I couldn''t argue with any of his points, and fame was one of my ideas of reassurance if I was ever discovered or wanted to reveal myself. Plus, having some extra defense beyond my slime and mana couldn''t hurt. "Also, if you get it commissioned here, I can do the enchanting. Then I can waive the fee in return for some more of that alcohol." Thern said, followed by a hearty chuckle. "Enchanted gear... That sounds very useful. I had someone recommend self-repair and size-modification to me." "Those are some universally good options. Size modification is great if you ever want to sell it later for an upgrade." Thern replied. Luke sighed, "It belongs to one of the nobles here, and he wants you to have dinner with him publicly at Moonsong." "Oh! Moonsong is the best restaurant in Kaerlin." Thern replied, "Although getting involved with nobles is nasty business, I bet he just wants to raise his own public profile by being seen with an exotic elf." "Yes... Master Lisa agrees. He''s harmless, according to her, but he just wants to use you for social standing." "I don''t really mind. I''m technically using him too, and if I can get my core, I''d consider it a win." "Aye. Not to mention free food. Although looking at your harvests, you''re probably not lacking for coin." "Very well, Miss Syl. I''ll inform Master Lisa to confirm the details. As for your fire catalyst, I just need you to swipe your tag at the reception here, and then I can give it to you." Luke said, then gestured to all the materials, "So what are your plans with these harvests? Do you want to keep any or have a request for our crafters?" "Sell them all, but I''ll take up the offer for the enchanted armor." "Ha! Excellent!" Thern said, giving me a hefty pat on the back. "You can drop off my alcohol in the library when you''ve got it. It''s a pleasure doing business with you!" Luke took me to a different section of the guild building, which appeared to be where their crafters resided; it was like a mini marketplace with all sorts of trinkets, potions, and items being displayed. The first thing was going to one of the armor crafters, who used a skill to immediately get my measurements and then suggested what type of armor to make once we told him the materials he''d be working with. Ultimately, he recommended a black leather armor design to match the scales and fit more with the rogue theme. He vehemently refused to use Draconic Scales, even lesser ones, to make a robe, and Luke agreed it fit the Shadowcaster theme more to wear something more Rogueish. With a quick swipe of my guild tag, the deposit was made, and then we made our way to the vendor, which had my catalyst. Different from the staff I had previously acquired, this one looked less impressive and was a small scepter with a much smaller core. I promptly paid for it and stared at the slime core happily, eager to consume it. "Would you like to try it out at the training ground, Miss Syl?" Luke asked. It sounded like a good idea; I had never used a catalyst before, and if I needed to fake one, it would be nice to know the effects. I would even consider getting myself a non-slime core if it turned out to be useful. "Gladly. Thanks for the suggestion, Luke. I didn''t know the guild had one." "Most city guilds do. Ours even managed to get a golem from Keld to use for training practice." "Keld?" "Oh, I''m surprised you''ve never heard of it. It''s an independent city formed by a former adventurer, Keldenar the Golemancer. He retired from adventuring and formed an entire city staffed entirely by golems. The residents who live there have all manual labor taken care of by the golems, so they are free to do research, crafting, or even just live comfortably." "He just retired and formed his own city? I''m surprised the nobles allowed him to do that." Luke chuckled, "A lot of them certainly tried to stop him. He took unoccupied land with no dungeon, which was infested with monsters, conquered it himself, and set up shop. He practically built the entire city in an instant with hundreds of golems. Plenty tried to force him into one of the kingdoms but soon realized their folly in confronting a Diamond-rank adventurer who can create infinite soldiers." "What did the guild think?" "Oh, they love it and gave Keld their full backing. Nothing better than having someone who can stand up to even Kings or Queens and help protect the guild''s values." ''That''s very useful to know... It certainly makes my plan to rank up in the guild to protect myself more viable.'' Chapter 80: Damage Test Chapter 80: Damage Test Luke led me to an open courtyard at the back of the building, a large open area only cut off when it reached the inner city wall. There were circles lined with glyphs and people inside dueling, a small archery range, and a few wooden training dummies. Up against the wall was a singular humanoid construct. It was a little larger than an orc and had no face; instead, it looked uniformly made from an unknown material. "It''s level forty and only used for training?" I said to Luke, looking somewhat shell-shocked. "The larger branches have even higher-level ones, multiples, or ones for specific training regiments. This one is mostly generic except for being more durable and providing an excellent damage target." That was another bombshell. What did he use for himself if these were the ones he would give away? Were other Diamond ranks this strong, or was he an exception? A startling power level made me realize I still had a long way to go. "Damage test!" A voice shouted. I looked over to see a swordsman had approached the golem. The golem pulsed, and I watched its body light up with mana as it rapidly reinforced itself. The swordsman, not to be outdone, also began to emit mana, which rapidly focused into his falchion. There was a momentary blur as the man leaped forward and swung his blade, which let out a piercing howl as it sliced through the air before crashing against the golem. The golem made no effort to move or block, taking the blow fully. The blade itself shattered, but not before leaving a clean slice about the size of a hand. Cheers erupted from the few onlookers, but the swordsman was silent. The golem tilted its head as if staring at the swordsman before its mana flashed, and the small cut seemed to disappear. Then it went dormant again. The swordsman looked upset, and a few other members walked up to reassure him. "Hey, it''s better than last time!" "Yeah! Don''t give up, plus you used a disposable weapon." I watched them walk off before turning a questioning look to Luke. Before I had the chance to ask, he answered. "If you can impress the golem, then you get a reward. Usually, it''s a small magic item like a ring or something that would provide a minor boost to an up-and-coming adventurer." Luke answered, "You should definitely consider trying it, Miss Syl.'' I paused to consider it. I didn''t see the harm in trying it, although a problem came to mind. "Most of my damage comes from [Sneak Attack], though..." "That''s not a problem, Miss Syl, as you can ask the golem to turn around and face the wall. Otherwise, none of our Rogue classes would stand a chance." "Alright then, although I want to test the catalyst first to see which element I should use." "Magic Practice," Luke uttered to the golem, and it took a different stance before flashing with a different mana barrier. He then backed off and eagerly waited for me to demonstrate my magic. I held the small scepter, channeled fire mana into it, and formed a simple [Fire Arrow] spell. The simplest way to describe the mana catalyst was that it was like my [Sub-Cores], except... Really stupid. It needed to be handheld through the formation like a lost child before it finally boosted the spell. I cast the empowered spell at the golem and felt rather dismissive of the effort required, once again giving me a vast new appreciation for my [Sub-Cores]. After several more attempts at using the catalyst, I decided against using it, and I also suspected the golem was resistant to fire. "I think I''m going to go with Water magic. The catalyst was interesting, thanks Luke." "Of course, anytime Miss Syl." I nodded and placed the token in a pouch, as I was concerned about putting the strange object inside my [Core Storage]. Eventually, one of the staff members asked if I could clean up the water, which had partially flooded the area. I agreed and gathered it in one spot using [Water Orb] before depositing it in my storage. My success reinvigorated many other adventurers, and soon, there was a line to challenge the golem. Since I had nothing more I wanted to do in the training area, Luke suggested we see if Lisa could inform her that I''d accept the noble''s request and ask about the token. While on the way there, I withdrew the catalyst inside myself and promptly devoured it. Trait [Blaze Slime] gained. Trait [Slime Burst] gained. Trait [Thermal Vision] gained.> It wasn''t a fused core this time, but I still gained quite a lot from it. Surprisingly, this slime must not have earned [Slime Shot], although I was glad to get a boost to thermal vision, which now only needed one more level to reach the maximum. I hoped my new levels in [Blaze Slime] would mean I could use [Inferno Sac] without burning away slime. Lisa''s secretary told us she could see us in half an hour, so Luke and I chatted briefly. He asked me basic questions about magic, which I answered as best as possible, mainly stealing from my conversations with Dewi. Most of my dealings with magic were based on feeling and experimentation rather than studying, so I had to fall back on his explanations. Luke was mainly undecided about the class he wanted to pursue and was currently level three in Mage, Scout, and Warrior. "Is there anything in particular you''d like me to look for as potential for your next quest?" Luke asked since it would be at least a day or two before I would head out again. "I''m looking for something large and flying. I''m unsure if the area has any large bird monsters or the equivalent." "I hope you''re not planning on upgrading from salamander to wyvern or drake next," Luke chuckled, "There are flying monsters, although mostly only when the floating island is nearer, then they like to pluck horses from merchants traveling the road." "If you can''t find a flying monster, try something unique or new. Avoid any monsters from my previous quests, and preferably no orcs." "Why no orcs?" "I already dealt with a few on my way to the mine. I did leave their ears in the room with my materials." "Oh, so that was you? One of the merchants said they were saved from orcs by a random adventurer, but they ran off after killing the orcs. I''ll ensure you get the general bounty for dealing with them." "Thanks, Luke. So I''ve already fought orcs, so I''d prefer a new monster I haven''t encountered if there are no flying ones." "No problem. I''ll keep that in mind." It wasn''t long before the secretary finally let us into Lisa''s office. Chapter 81: Moonsong Chapter 81: Moonsong Lisa''s office was well-furnished but cluttered. Loose parchment and paper were scattered on every available surface. I looked around in shock and horror and wondered how she could find anything in this shamble. Seeing my reaction, she chuckled. "Word of advice, Syl. Never become a Guild Master." "I wonder if I should warn Roderick," I replied, earning a good laugh from Lisa. "So what can I do for you two? I''d heard you cleared out the silver mine. Thanks for that." "No problem. I gained a lot of experience and apparently earned a fortune, according to Thern." "Oh?" Lisa asked inquisitively. Luke cleared his throat before responding, looking somewhat embarrassed and unsure of how to breech the subject, "The salamander evolved into an inferno salamander, and Syl dealt with it and harvested its flame organ perfectly intact, as well as its lesser draconic scales." "It evolved, and you still took it on? I didn''t expect you to be so reckless." "I thought the quest description was generic, like my other quest, which just said to kill spiders. I didn''t know the original quest was for a regular salamander." Lisa and Luke groaned in unison before Lisa said, "You''re not exactly wrong. That generally applies to mass kill quests, but the quest description is supposed to be precise if it''s for a solo monster." "I''ll keep that in mind in the future, but I dealt with it, I''m unharmed, and the miners get to continue their work. I don''t see a problem." "For you, maybe, but this is going to be a paperwork nightmare when we tell the city their quest was severely out of date or they lied about the submission," Lisa answered, rubbing her temples. "Not to throw more on your plate, but Syl accepts the noble''s dining request," Luke added. Lisa shrugged, "That''s actually not too bad. Johnathan is decent as far as nobles go. I''ll let him know, as I expect he will want to take you to dinner tomorrow evening." She looked me over and paused before asking, "Please tell me that''s not your only outfit." "I had another robe, but it was destroyed in the dungeon, and then I have leather armor." "Nope! No way! I''m lending you an outfit. You will not be representing the guild dressed like that," Lisa said, gesturing at me. Luke also seemed flabbergasted at my answer but lightly defended me, "Not that it would be appropriate for dinner, but she is getting a set of armor made from the draconic scales." "Good! If you approached me looking like that, I''d refuse your promotion even if you slayed a dragon. You look like a fresh Iron-ranker when you''re a Silver shooting for Gold." Lisa said, exasperated, before continuing, "Where''s your femininity, Syl? I know you''re friends with Whitney, who''s quite the tomboy, but even she likes a good outfit." I could only shrug at the accusations. Maybe I was doing Sylthaeryn''s elven form a disservice, but I was a slime and felt very indifferent about it. At least the armor would potentially protect me, so it had a purpose. The ambiance of Moonsong was a sight to behold, as the entire establishment was darkened and illuminated by artificial starlight and a sizeable ornamental moon in the center of the building. Unfortunately, [Mana Sight] broke the illusion set up by the establishment, revealing it all as objects with minor enchantments inscribed. I thanked the staff and was led to a table where a well-dressed man was seated. Seeing me, he stood up and gave a short half-bow to greet me. "Miss Syl, thank you ever so much for accepting my request. I must say, the rumors do not do your appearance justice at all." "Thank you, Mister Green. I''m glad to have the opportunity to see the inner city and make your acquaintance." I replied, leaning heavily on [Acting] and [Elven Glamour]. "Please, please. Call me Johnathan; the only Mister Green is my father, and until I succeed him, I''m not worthy of it." "Very well, Johnathan, but please just call me Syl." "Gladly." He said with a charming smile. He offered me a seat, and the waiter brought some water before Johnathan ordered proper drinks, which I left up to him since my knowledge of food and drink was limited to consumption only. "If you don''t mind me asking, what brings you out of the forest? We very rarely see elves." "Adventure, mostly. I want to travel the world, and my current goal is to reach Gold rank." "Ah yes, the wanderlust and fame of adventure. Sometimes, I regret choosing the merchant life." "It seems to be doing well for you. You''re the highest non-combat job I''ve ever seen." "Thank you for the compliment. I can return it by saying you''re both the first elf and Shadowcaster I''ve ever seen, and judging by your purchasing power, you must be extremely successful." "Purchasing power?" "Ah, do forgive me. One of my merchant skills gives me an impression of the wealth someone owns and another of how much their potential to earn is, and you are quite frankly off the charts. I''m truly grateful that my instincts told me to part with our magical tool and meet you." "That''s very interesting. I''ve heard very little about non-combat classes and only met a Chef and Crafter. How do you even level up?" "Quite a common question, actually. I definitely can''t attack monsters with my bank account, not directly anyway." Johnathan replied with a light chuckle, "Depending on the job, we earn experience by partaking in its natural activities. So, as a merchant, I gain experience by earning money, buying or selling goods, establishing trade deals, and even providing customer satisfaction." "That actually sounds fascinating. If I didn''t have to give up my current class, I''d want to try it." "Well, you could always swap back and forth, but..." In a hushed voice, he leaned forward and said, "Now, you didn''t hear this from me, but I''ve heard it is possible to get a second job, although the details of which seem to be a closely guarded secret." "That''s... Wow," I replied, baffled, as I couldn''t sense that he was lying, at least not directly. This was going to be a fascinating evening. Chapter 82: Cryo Slime Chapter 82: Cryo Slime "I''m glad that caught your attention. I wish I had more information to tease you with. Still, the most I managed to suss out myself was that everyone with one of these additional classes is either a Diamond-rank adventurer or closely related to one." "So adventurers on par with Keldenar?" "Well... I''d say it''s hard to be on par with him, but yes. The rumors say he has an enchanting class with the powerful magical artifacts he exports, not to mention the layers of enchantments on his golems." ''I guess I can ask him or Gramps, whichever comes first.'' I decided. We continued to chat for a bit while we drank and ate. Johnathan mostly asked me for some stories of my adventures and what monsters I had fought. He was highly pleased to hear that I was responsible for the silver mine being back in operation, as apparently, his family did business with the owners. In return, I was told about some of his most successful trade deals or the famous people he had done business with. Thankfully, Johnathan remained mostly humble, but most of his stories went utterly over my head. The food was a delight and at least on par with Trevor''s work, although the portions left a bit to be desired. "So originally, I was going to sell you our spare freeze tool, but my merchant instincts tell me I should sell you our best one instead." Johnathan said while we were settling down to a light after-dinner drink, "And after such a pleasant evening, I most certainly want to agree with them." He placed two objects on the table: golden metallic cages with intricate engravings. Housed in the center were two pale turquoise cores. One was notably larger, reminding me of the difference between the two fire catalysts. Without a doubt, I wanted the larger one, as it was likely another fused core. "I don''t suppose you''d be willing to part with both?" I asked, trying to hide my desire. "Sadly, I must keep one myself; otherwise, I won''t be able to transport large amounts of perishable goods. However, I''d gladly try to source another one for you." "Please do. And yes, I''d gladly take your best one off your hands if you''re willing." He gestured for me to take the larger one and pulled out a crystal necklace similar to my guild tag. We tapped crystals to complete the purchase. The guild would vet the purchase for me, but I doubted he was willing to scam me at this point. He suddenly went wide-eyed and looked at me in shock. "Wow. You must have really wanted that. This singular transaction just gave me two merchant levels," Johnathan said, rubbing his chin. He was clearly debating whether to sell me the other one and even when I prodded, he reluctantly held firm. "I''m surprised you didn''t gain any racial levels, even if you''ve changed your distribution." "Ah no, that is a common misconception. The vocation experience is only for the class itself. If I want to earn any racial experience, I''m forced to hire adventurers or mercenaries to slay some monsters with me in a party." Johnathan explained, "It''s quite common in the noble circles, although I just got a few levels to make my daily life easier. But others sometimes pay their way all the way to some absurd levels. Some adventurers earn a fortune being partied with a noble family." "Can''t say that interests me, I wouldn''t want to share my experience with anyone not pulling their weight." "I don''t blame you, and my merchant skills tell me that you''re earning way more than them anyway." Johnathan chuckled, "I think we should do business in the future, Syl. It will be immensely profitable for both of us. Tell me, what else are you looking for?" "Originally, I was looking for magical slime catalysts, but I''d be willing to accept even raw slime cores. I''m currently looking for any cores other than blue slime, although my current preference would be a yellow or orange slime core." Johnathan went silent for a moment, deep in thought, although I could overhear his slight mutterings thanks to [Perception]. "Magecraft? Alchemy? Enchanting? Or something else...?" He shook his head and smiled, "Sorry for my ramblings. It''s a bad habit I''ve failed to break. Regardless of your intention, I will keep my feelers out for you." At the end of the evening, Johnathan escorted me back to the gate. It was a surprisingly entertaining evening, and I''d potentially made valuable contact and finally got my tendrils on a new core, with the prospect for more in the future. "Thank you for a most amazing evening, Syl. Please do send Guild Master Lisa my regards." "Thank you as well, Johnathan. I''m glad I didn''t turn down your request." Before heading to the guild, however, I asked around for somewhere to purchase barrels, which is how I eventually ended up at a carpenter''s, requesting thirty barrels. The owner was baffled at my requested quantity but only had ten in stock. I paid upfront and said I''d collect the rest when he was done, throwing the ten into storage. It was a good thing he didn''t have the stock on hand, as it looked like I''d need to level up my storage skill again if I wanted to fit the total amount I requested. Using [Vanish] and finding a quiet alleyway, I withdrew a barrel and filled it with alcohol slime by placing a hand inside it before resealing it and depositing it again. Then, I finally headed to the guild; before dealing with Luke, I visited Thern and dropped off his barrel for the enchanting work he''d be doing. We exchanged greetings before I dropped the barrel in front of him. "What''s that you got there?" "Your barrel of alcohol you requested." "Wait, that''s full of the booze you gave me last time?" "Yes. I''m getting more barrels made as well." Thern groaned, "I know I said barrel... But what I actually meant was a keg... I didn''t expect you to actually get a literal barrel." "Oh... I didn''t know there was a difference." I replied with a shrug. "Well, the damage is done. I''ll just have to put even more effort into my enchanting to be worthy of such a prize!" Thern replied with a hearty chuckle, "What do you want? Elemental resist? Protection? I probably have enough for something like poison immunity... Maybe a little attribute boosting?" "That''s... Wow, I didn''t expect enchanting to have so many options." "Aye, although you''re limited by the materials available and the piece of equipment. Being made of draconic scale, yours should be able to handle quite a load, and I have a good supply of materials available from my old job." "What about magic resistance in general? Or mental protection?" "Mental protection would work on an accessory or headpiece, not armor. I can do general magic resistance, but it''s far less effective than just getting something like fire resistance." "I''d rather have the broad resistance. I already have traits for individual resistances and immunities." "Ah! Right, you do have a ton of racial levels; it makes sense you''d grab a lot of defensive traits. I keep thinking of my old human customers who didn''t bother with traits... Well, a general magic resistance and protection enchantment sounds ideal for you, on top of the size-altering and self-repair I already planned on doing." "Thanks, Thern, I can''t wait to get it." "If the crafting isn''t done already, it should be today. Then I''ll need a day or so for enchanting, so you''ll get it soon and finally look like a proper adventurer." "That''s some fast work..." "You''d be surprised how fast someone with a dedicated crafting class can churn out equipment with all the skill bonuses they have available." "Thanks, Thern. I''m going to look for my next quest. Try not to drink the entire barrel in one sitting!" "Ha! I think even a dwarf would struggle to survive that much!" Chapter 83: Charity Quest Chapter 83: Charity Quest "Good morning, Miss Syl. I hope you had a pleasant evening?" "Morning, Luke. It was certainly worth my time. I got my prize, and it sounds like Johnathan will try to hunt down some more for me." "I''m glad it worked out then. Master Lisa did mention that it''s very beneficial to have a merchant connection." Luke replied, "So, what can I do for you today?" "I''m ready for my next quest. However, I''d also like information on an intermediate caster class. I want to potentially get some skill revelations that I believe my hybrid class won''t have access to for some time." "I see. It can be beneficial to round out your build with a dip in another class, and plenty do so. You''re lucky that you''re dipping into a class you''re already part of, so it shouldn''t set back your progression at all - if you were asking to dip into something like Warrior, I would have strongly advised against it." "It''s good to know I''m not doing something stupid or taboo. My only issue is that I still need to receive a class revelation for an intermediate caster role. Tabitha mentioned that there were requirements, some of which are known while others are hidden." "If you''re willing to wait a bit, I''ll check with one of my coworkers on what knowledge can be shared. Regrettably, I''m not too familiar with many intermediate classes yet." "Thanks, Luke. Also, I have Lisa''s dress to return. I''ve already cleaned it." Luke''s cheeks reddened slightly before he nodded, "Ah, yes. I''ll see that it''s given back to her." I didn''t have to wait too long for Luke to return, which I was grateful for, as I had a few others trying to recruit me to join them on their quest. While I was open to the idea eventually, I still had many things I wanted to try out as a slime. "Sorry for keeping you waiting. The natural progression from Mage would be Sorcerer. Of course, this ignores obscure or specialized classes focusing on a particular element." "That sounds like what I want; I''m not planning on specializing in an element. Not yet, anyway." "Right. The most common way to unlock it is to get one of your elements to level five, but others have unlocked it by getting two elements to level four. There are other reported cases of someone unlocking it by getting a magical-related skill to level five rather than an element. More importantly, there''s a minimum mana requirement, although I believe you far exceed that." I glanced over my status profile. It had been a while since I bothered looking at it, and perhaps I had neglected it lately. Name: Syl [Dungeoneer] Race: Chimeric Mimic Slime (Blue) LV 4 Class: Shadowcaster LV 9 Status: Healthy Mana: Overflowing Emblems: [Experiment] [Apex Hunter] [Elven Legacy] [Dungeoneer]* Traits: Slime: [Mana Slime LV MAX] [Acid Slime LV 7] [Poison Slime LV 5] [Blaze Slime LV 6] [Cryo Slime LV 4] [Morph Slime LV 7] [Pseudopod LV 6] [Slime Shot LV 6] [Slime Burst LV 6] [Vaporize Slime] Core: [Core Refinement LV 6] [Core Storage LV 5] [Sub-Core Alpha LV 4] [Sub-Core Beta LV 4] [Sub-Core Gamma LV 4] [Sub-Core Delta LV 4] [Sub-Core Epsilon LV 4] [Sneak Attack LV 5] [Identity Block LV 5] [Acting LV 4] [Rogue Expertise LV 2] [Subtle Afflictions] Skill Points remaining: 6 The most straightforward solution would be to get [Fire Magic] to level four or [Mana Manipulation] to level five, as I had been rapidly gaining levels through all the spell tinkering I was doing. [Water Magic] leveled shortly before I fought the salamander, so it was unlikely to reach five before my next class level. If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. "Thanks, Luke. I must redouble my effort before I gain my next class level." "Not a problem, Miss Syl. I''m happy to be of use." Luke replied with a beaming smile, "As for your next quest, I couldn''t find any flying monsters, but they should start coming in within a week as the island approaches." "That should be fine. Anything else interesting or unique in the meantime?" "Well... Currently, the biggest request is to deal with the uptick in orc activity. It seems the three you dealt with were not an isolated case, and they''ve been raiding the roads to the north." "I''d rather not fight more orcs unless there''s nothing else?" "Some adventurers who witnessed or heard about your display against the training golem have made a personal request about whether you''re willing to sell any magical knowledge. The guild doesn''t mind whether you accept or deny such requests, and it can certainly be profitable." "I''m not struggling for coin at the moment. Maybe if it was a slime catalyst." "Yes... I can quite comfortably say that you will not struggle for coins anytime soon. There''s a bidding war going on over the inferno sac you acquired..." "Really? I knew it was valuable but didn''t expect that much." "You can thank Mister Thern for that. He mentioned it to his father, and now the dwarves are fighting the local noble over purchasing it. The dwarves want to turn it into a furnace heart, while the noble wants to turn it into a magical catalyst." "If I get any choice in the matter, I''d rather it go to the dwarves. I plan on visiting them, and it sounds like a good way to earn some favor." ''I wonder if I couldn''t just trade it for a silver core...'' "Sorry, Miss Syl. Once you handed it over to the guild, it became our responsibility. Especially now that it''s gone further than the expected sale value due to its rarity. As you may or may not know, the guild takes a small portion of the sale as a handling fee, although since your items came in already harvested, it''s much smaller in your case." "Oh..." I said, disappointed. "It''s not just the guild wanting the income. It''s also for the protection of the adventurers. Sometimes, especially if things go to auction, unscrupulous individuals try to bribe or even threaten the adventurer into relinquishing their find to them." Luke explained reassuringly, "On the positive side, I think it will end up with the dwarves in the end. Mister Thern always tells me never to underestimate the stubbornness of a dwarf." "Alright, I guess that makes sense," I reluctantly replied. I already had a plan in place to get my silver core, so it may be better this way, or I''d be throwing any plans Thern made upside down. The boisterous dwarf had seemed quite eager for me to visit them. "So... As for unique monsters, there is one that came to mind that I think you''d be great for, but..." "But?" "The pay is terrible; the farmer can''t afford much, and it''s been overlooked. A plant monster has taken root in his field and killed all his crops, and if it''s left for much longer, the soil will be barren soon. It''s a charity case, which makes many adventurers reluctant, but it would be good for your progress to Gold rank." "Sounds good to me. I''m sure it''s harvestable regardless if the pay is bad." "It could be. The monster is known as a Plant Horror. They start out small and graft any plant, including trees, into their form to grow in size and strength." Luke explained, "Anything they''ve grafted is basically a super version of what it was normally. Medicinal herbs are now double as potent, fruit is twice as sweet, but you''re just as likely to find one that has only grafted weeds or poisonous plants." "So potentially, it could be extremely valuable or hazardous and worthless." "Exactly. Not many are willing to risk the luck of the draw, especially for such a low payout." "Sounds fun, and if it''s worthless, I can easily deal with it using [Fire Magic]." "Great. The farm is also to the north, so I will give you the orc extermination quest just in case you run into any. There''s no set limit or penalty if you come back without killing any, but at least this way, you''ll get properly compensated." "Can''t I just bring back the ear?" "You could, but because orcs have class levels, they could be anywhere between a Bronze and Silver rank threat. We can''t tell that from an ear alone, so you''d be compensated the same if you killed a level two warrior or a level twenty barbarian." "Then I can''t see any reason not to. I certainly won''t complain about the experience." I thanked Luke for his assistance and headed out. Once I broke into the streets, I utilized [Vanish] to head towards the gate. When I arrived at the gate, the guards seemed to recognize me. This time, they saluted me and wished me good luck on my quest. I wondered where the new politeness came from as I walked again down the familiar road. I immediately broke out my spell construct and started to work on the tinkering. I kept Alpha to assist me while I had the remaining four work on rapidly cycling through casts of [Kindle]. My hope was that either I''d get [Mana Manipulation] to five or my [Sub Cores] would get [Fire Magic] to four before we encountered a monster. Walking down the road with four flames flickering around me was quite a sight, causing some fellow pedestrians to mutter complaints about adventurers while others just looked on with curiosity. At least this proved I wasn''t the first to focus so heavily on training skills if this was a regular enough occurrence to complain about. While traveling, I headed towards the quest marker, which eventually led me off the road and into the wilderness. I didn''t mind too much since this was leading directly to my destination, and once I was further away from the road, I could settle my curiosity with [Cryo Slime]. I saved my progress with my still incomplete spell tinkering and let Alpha join the others with casting [Kindle]. I cast an unmodified [Torrent] spell toward the wilderness, the water bursting from the magical circle. With [Cryo Slime] at the absolute minimum temperature I could utilize, I thrusted my icy hand into the magical circle. Soon, what was just a column of endless water was quickly filled with long shards of ice and the occasional more hefty chunk. Ice fragments were scattered everywhere, and being propelled by the water, the level of destruction was far beyond what I initially imagined. While combining water with ice seemed obvious, I had yet to consider the potential of using [Torrent] as a delivery mechanism. What if I added [Poison Slime] or [Acid Slime]? Or what if I tried to combine [Torrent] and [Acid Dart]? I felt absolutely giddy with excitement at the possibilities. I also tried the opposite, utilizing [Blaze Slime] and thrusting my hand again into the circle. Immediately, there was a loud hissing sound, and the water became violently bubbly, with some steam bursting forward. Overall, I preferred the results from adding ice to the water, but I couldn''t imagine anyone or anything being happy being on the receiving end of either. While thinking over my results, a sudden notification halted me in my tracks. Chapter 84: Plant Horror Chapter 84: Plant Horror I cheered at the rush of new knowledge filling my mind once again. This time, it looked like [Fire Magic] was teaching me something unexpected - it could not only create destructive fire but also generate heat and warmth. I was immediately reminded of the custom spell Dewi had demonstrated and was shocked that he used a fourth-level spell to do something as simple as drying clothes. I picked up a rock, cast the spell on it, and watched it slowly heat up. The heating process would speed up if I increased the mana flow. However, I couldn''t think of any immediate practical applications, and it was vastly inferior to [Blaze Slime]. To confirm this, I picked up another rock. I activated the trait to the maximum, causing the small rock to heat up rapidly, far beyond the spell''s capacity, even though this was transmitted through contact while the spell directly affected it. "I guess they can''t all be winners. The next level is [Fireball], so at least I have that to look forward to." "What?" I questioned and looked around. Nothing. I checked my profile; everything had stayed the same. I continued looking around frantically and couldn''t spot anything. As far as I knew, I had just randomly gained a skill point from... nothing? It couldn''t have been from [Apex Hunter] as that gave a prior notification. ''Are you screwing with me, Gramps?'' I questioned, but it remained unanswered. I even checked my quests; both still needed to be completed, and as great as the guild was, I doubted they had enough privilege to award skill points. By the time I reached the farmland, I still had no clear answer and could only assume Gramps had something to do with it. The farmer and his family were extremely grateful for my presence. "Thank the Gods you''re here... We thought no one would take up our quest until our land was sucked dry." The farmer said, leading me to the field in question. In the center of the field, I could see a large mass of vines, flowers, and corn plants. The field looked almost barren, and the remaining plants were withered and dying. As if whispers on the breeze, I heard quiet sobbing and pleading for the pain to stop. I looked around questioningly and realized it was coming from the field. I had forgotten entirely about the trait [Nature Commune], but the plants must have been truly desperate to reach out like this - not even the tree I had dug into had said a word of protest. Despite its size and level, it left less of an impression on me than the salamander I had just fought. My gut told me this creature was relatively weak. ''Does this creature not evolve?'' I wondered. Luke had said they grafted plants to themselves and grew in size and ability, which sounded far different from any monster I had fought previously. "Don''t worry, I''ll deal with it," I told the farmer and plants. "Be careful, ma''am. It killed one of my farmhands with a strange spore." The farmer warned, and I nodded, watching him retreat back to his home. One by one, I cast my debuffs on the creature, who hadn''t noticed my presence yet. The obvious solution would be to kill it with fire, but I was vaguely concerned about the collateral damage to the nearby plants, now whispering with hope. ''This trait is a little off-putting... I should stop using it unless I need to.'' Since [Fire Magic] was out, and [Water Magic] seemed stupid against a plant that left only slime or acid. I directed each core to form the [Acid Dart] spell and launched an opening salvo, hopefully, boosted by [Sneak Attack]. The spells struck successfully, causing the plant mass to tremble and rapidly break off any plant segments before rapidly regrowing them. I heard the whispers of the plant life and then immediately removed the trait from my mimicked profile. While I felt good to do a small good deed, if I was going to constantly hear their voices, I would go insane. I turned to my previous notification Would you like to swap classes?>. ''Yes'' . . ''Wait, you can get trait revelations from your class? I mean, yes!'' See the flow of mana and its underlying complexity throughout the world. Mana conception can see through obstructions based on trait level. Trait level also determines the minimum level of mana to be detected and the detection range and complexity of mana formation.> ''Does this mean what I think it means?'' I questioned and immediately formed and held [Poison Mist]. Looking closely, I could identify the individual components of the corrosion mana and see the concepts it held, such as poison, duration, and damage. Looking at [Erode], it held the concepts of weaken, duration, and debuff. When I compared it to [Flammable] and saw all the parts I had dug out and replaced with Fire mana, I could only be shocked at how I had blindly brute-forced myself through what should have been a delicate and careful operation. ''Well. I can thank my cores for that. Now let''s get that new magic.'' Like all first-level spells, it was basic in its function. Casting it, it created a long, pointed shard of ice that I could fire. Staring at the spell and its mana, I recognized it as similar to what contaminated my [Water Orb] when I touched it with [Cryo Slime], which held the concepts of freeze and cold. The door erupted when I approached the farmhouse, and the farmer and his family looked ecstatic. The harder I tried to brush off their thanks as no big deal, the harder they pressed to thank me. When one of his daughters questioned why it had rained, I explained that I had cast a spell to help the fields recover. The farmer and his wife almost choked up in gratitude, and I had to practically flee the scene before a newfound barrage of praise overwhelmed me. Looking over the profile of the plant monster proved my earlier theory correct; it did not seem to evolve and instead just existed. Like my slime, it had a bunch of interconnected traits that started with it grafting plants to itself, which led to another trait allowing it to empower grafted plants, mutate grafts, fuse grafts, and eventually procreate grafts. The one I fought must not have gotten further than empowering or mutating its grafts, judging by its lack of available arsenal. While I could mimic the chain of five traits, I didn''t feel the need or want to, as I''d need to keep natural plants and nurture and care for them to see any benefit. I found one trait worth the occasional mimicking, [Solar Rejuvenation], which would increase vitality and mana regeneration in direct sunlight. Since elves had their connection to nature, I hoped it would be compatible with my elf form, but sadly it was not. The minimal amount I could get away with was adding vines around my arms and shoulders, like some strange scarf. ''Well. It''s not like I''m desperate for another form of mana regeneration.'' Chapter 85: Orcs Chapter 85: Orcs While my first thought was to create an ice debuff, I was too excited to finish tinkering with the [Poison Mist] spell and replace it with fire. [Mana Conception] made my previous efforts feel childish, a success only earned through sheer stubbornness. I was nearing completion of the spell when I overheard voices nearby. "I''m telling you, I saw lots and lots of mana go into the sky!" "Don''t think you smart now just because Big Bro taught you a few tricks." "Smarter than you, at least!" I looked towards the source and saw two orcs bickering amongst themselves, heading towards the farm. I cursed under my breath; obviously, what I did would have potentially attracted anyone with [Mana Sight]. I was so distracted by my spellwork that by the time I noticed them, it was far too late to try to use [Vanish], not to mention that I currently held a significant amount of mana between my palms. "Look, a pretty lady! Lots of mana. Told you I was right." "You didn''t do anything! It was all thanks to big bros help." While I usually overlooked their levels as no big deal, I noticed the shaman was increasing his racial levels, unlike the humans and the goblins. I understood they felt no pain, but blindly attacking humans just seemed suicidal. Now, they had incurred the wrath of the guild and had an unlimited kill quest assigned to them; what were they thinking? "Honestly, do you orcs want to die? You all seem suicidal..." I asked, my curiosity burning, "You attack the humans relentlessly." "Pretty lady asking the same question as Big Bro." The shaman commented. "Answer is simple! Humans give the most levels." The barbarian stated proudly. It was a surprising answer, but I agreed a little. Monsters didn''t usually have classes; an equivalent amount of experience would lead them to evolve, while humans would just progress in their classes. Evolutions seemed like a far more substantial power jump than I had seen from class levels. "Yes. But humans coordinate together, and you''ve attacked too many, and now they''ve set out on a quest to kill you all." The shaman seemed worried at my response, but the barbarian only gave a guttural and mocking laugh, "Girl, like you try to scare Murk, but Murk is one of the strongest. You are only level one! Weak!" I knew where this was going; I had three subcores cast [Erode], [Flammable], and [Permeable] while the rest joined me in completing the spell. The debuffs landed on the charging barbarian without any issue, and he didn''t even notice. "So many spells..." The shaman muttered although he made no effort to assist. I dodged blows from the barbarian''s large club while we finalized the spell, and after confirming its completion, I cast the unknown spell at the orc. A red powder erupted from my palms and coated the orc before his body rapidly burst into a conflagration. ''Strange. I''ve cast fire spells before, and they''ve certainly set things on fire, but they''ve never left an affliction like this.'' The duration started to tick down when the powder dissipated, like [Poison Mist]. I tried casting other fire spells, like [Fire Arrow] and even [Nova], but neither seemed to affect the affliction. I was surprised the shaman was not assisting, especially as I kept dodging in circles around the barbarian. Without much fanfare, the orc eventually succumbed and collapsed unceremoniously to the ground. "Murk never listens to anyone... So stupid." The shaman said, shaking his head. "You''re not going to attack me? Isn''t he like family or a friend?" I asked curiously. The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. "Orcs believe strong survive. If you want something, you prove you are stronger and take it. You proved you''re stronger than Murk, and he was weak." "I see..." "You use magic so good. Like big bro." He commented, "Also, you say the same about humans wiping out us orcs for revenge." I had to hold back on my killing intent until we arrived at a stone structure notably taller than the others. "Big Bro! It''s Zook!" I followed after him and seated on the floor was a tall and lanky-looking creature. It also had the greyish skin of the orcs, but its limbs looked almost artificially elongated. It was gaunt, and its tusks were notably larger. It held a spell construct of crimson-red mana I did not recognize between its hands. It looked up with a smile to greet Zook until it spotted me, and its face turned into one of confusion. "A human? No wait... An elf?" The creature questioned, "How Zook? She''s far higher level than you..." "You misunderstand Big Bro. This one talks like you, also warned us that humans will work together to kill us." A great look of concern overcame the strange creature. "I told them to stop... They won''t listen." "If you can''t stop them, the Adventurer''s Guild will hunt you down until there''s none left. I''ve seen them do the same to an entire goblin tribe." "Ha! Goblins are weak," Zook swiftly replied. "Who are you? Why have you come here?" Odark questioned, giving me a questioning glare. "Does the term [Experiment] mean anything to you?" Odark was so shocked by the question that the spell he held immediately collapsed, his eyes wide as dinner plates. "Zook. Can you let me speak to her privately?" "Sure, Big Bro," Zook replied and left us. Odark stared at me long and hard before finally speaking. "I knew I wasn''t the only one, but how is this fair? Look at me and look at you. How is an elf a monster?" I couldn''t help but laugh at his first question, although I''d probably also complain if I didn''t have all the facts. "I''m not actually an elf if that''s what you think. Although I won''t reveal the truth for my own safety." I stated, "But if you started as an orc and were surrounded by other orcs, then I think you had a far more forgiving start than I did." "Being attacked for stepping out of line or beaten for questioning dumb decisions. You''re sadly mistaken if you think this is a happy community." He retorted. "From the very moment I was reborn, I had to fight for myself¡ªalone. I couldn''t even speak to anyone. It was kill or be killed." I said, shaking my head, remembering my early days of fighting wolves and boars, "Besides, you''re the highest level amongst the orcs I''ve seen, not to mention you''ve evolved. I''m sure you could win and take leadership." His face contorted into a pained expression, "I could. I did. It wasn''t for me. When you''re at the top, everyone challenges you to take your place; I had to kill so many, too many, who refused to surrender or back down. I just stepped down and hope they occasionally take my advice." "I''m guessing this underground tunnel network was your idea?" "Yes... I knew the humans would come for us; the orcs refused to stop attacking, so I thought at least I could hide us away." "I don''t think hiding away will solve the issue. The adventurers will find you eventually. I''d suggest convincing them to leave or leaving by yourself." "I can''t just leave them... They''re basically my family... A really shitty dysfunctional family, but still. There''s good ones like Zook." "Well, anyway. More important for us is discussing Gramps and this experiment." Chapter 86: Claims Chapter 86: Claims "Your stupid slime killed my salamander." A disgruntled youthful boy said scornfully. "It ate him and harvested him for parts, too. Quite pathetic," a womanly voice, filled with amusement, said with a chuckle. "Now, now. There were no rules against the experiments killing each other; the only thing was preventing any of us or our staff from directly interfering." An elderly voice replied, trying to defuse the situation. "It feels unfair that your slime has class levels." The boy complained. "My demon has class levels." A voice countered. "My subject does as well." Another added. "Even my moping sack of shit has one. Who cares?" "You''re all so lucky... Mine still hasn''t even left the ocean... Just keeps hiding in its shell." A dismayed voice replied. "Well... Still, you gave it too many traits!" The boy swapped his form of attack. "Bah! All of those traits existed before it was even born. The only trait I''ve created since is a simple fusion trait." "Indeed. I''ve confirmed as well. There is no foul play." The womanly voice responded. "Also, with how lost he was to his instincts, adventurers would have dealt with him anyway. At least this way, he got to grow another experiment." The elder pointed out. "You bastard..." The boy muttered in outrage through gritted teeth. "Besides, I''d sooner complain about the literal dragon than a little slime." Another voice added. "Don''t mock my slime. You should see how much it''s got stored away. I''d hardly call it little." "Yes, yes... I''m sure it''s quite the glutton." "Remind me why we agreed to allow a dragon?" A voice interrupted. "I believe the argument was that it''s starting as a baby, which should be enough of a handicap." "Really? In adventurer terms, even a baby dragon is a Silver-rank threat. That hardly sounds like a handicap." There was an awkward silence before someone cleared their throat and finally responded, "In our defense, when we accepted the condition, none of us had worked on dragons before or in a very long time." "You know... There was a saying in my old world: ignorance of the law excuses not." After that statement, there was a loud kerfuffle and plenty of shouting and curses before a loud whistle broke the chaos. "Look. What''s done is done." The elderly voice said, "If you want to prevent the likelihood of our experiments killing each other, I believe I have a solution. I believe the mistake was not giving them [Universal Language] at the start. My own subject was extremely upset about that." "You have a point. We originally excluded it to prevent contamination, but the experiment has been going on long enough that giving it now shouldn''t interfere." "I mean, they could just work to get a class. It doesn''t feel right to give the slackers a free skill." "Do you honestly expect his crab to ever get a class?" "Hey... I''m sure he will eventually stop collecting shells." His evolution gave him new strength, and when he seized leadership, he entered the period of his most explosive growth. He was constantly challenged and forced to kill, which led to him gaining many levels until he grew tired of it all and forfeited his position. It sounded absolutely barbaric, and he would even be attacked in his sleep by the more conniving orcs. I was staggered by how much he poured out on me; he seemed desperate for someone to vent his frustrations. "I''m surprised you''ve stayed with them." "Where else would I go, looking like this?" I tried to answer him, but I couldn''t think of anything. The best he could maybe do was hope for an evolution or mutation that would allow him to change form, but I didn''t know how feasible that was, and I didn''t want to give him false hope. Regardless, if he stayed with the orcs or couldn''t convince them to leave, the adventurers would slaughter him with them when they were eventually discovered. The awkward silence was interrupted by screams and wails echoing through the underground tunnel complex. Odark''s mood plummeted, and he stared at the ground. "Oh no... Not more..." He muttered under his breath. "More what?" I asked. "Claims..." I remembered what the orcs said about me and how the ones on the road had tried to capture me. A horrid feeling welled inside me, and I sprinted out the door to the source of the cries. "Hey! You can''t!" Odark tried to protest. I ran unimpeded through the crowd by either dodging or simply sliding through the gaps with my malleable form. I hoped my gut was wrong, but I couldn''t help but feel dread as I got closer and heard sobs and pleading amongst the cries. A group of women and children were tied up and looking beaten. [Identify] showed them as merchants or crafters, none of their levels above single digits. A guttural feeling of hatred swelled inside of me. Maybe it was hypocritical since I had killed humans before, but those were adventurers seeking battle. I didn''t mind the orcs fighting adventurers, as they would naturally conflict, but these were defenseless noncombatants. "Hey, it looks like one of the claims escaped!" An orc said and grabbed my shoulder from behind. I spun around and reflexively transformed my arm into a blade armed with [Acid Slime], [Blaze Slime], [Mana Reinforcement], and the highest compression available. The orc had no time to react as the blade cleaved straight through his neck, sending his head careening through the air. There were gasps, shocks, and even chuckles from the orcs. Some mocked the orc for dying so pathetically. One of the captured women spotted me and, with tears in her eyes, pleaded, "Please save my children!" before one of the orc capturers backhanded her, and her body crumpled into unconsciousness. Some of the orcs laughed at her final cry, but I was already churning mana through the [Inferno Sac]. One of the orcs ordered me captured, although the nearby crowd was already approaching me before the order even arrived, each one with a glint of desire in their bestial eyes. With the roiling flames built up in the organ from my rapidly available mana, I opened pathways along my torso and limbs and vented the blue flame around me. The orcs immediately around me were vaporized in the intense flame, while the others nearby were charred lumps. While the orcs didn''t have high levels, the startling ease at which they fell to the blue flame made me realize why Luke and Lisa were so worried about me fighting the salamander. Unfortunately, my robe was lost to the attack, revealing the draconic scales that coated my form, which, now that they were shown, I spread to cover the rest of any exposed skin. "Release them, and I''ll let the rest of you live!" I demanded, pointing towards the orcs that held the prisoners. "That''s no claim!" "It''s some lizard thing!" "Kill it!" The orcs started shouting, completely ignoring my demands. Some threw weapons at me while the shamans cast spells that launched rocks at me. While keeping them distracted with spells and weapons forming in my hands with help from Epsilon, I dedicated Alpha to control tendrils and snake them along the ground to attack the orcs holding the prisoners. Meanwhile, I had Beta, Gamma, and Delta coordinating to empower a [Bubble] spell on the prisoners once the orcs were removed from their vicinity. When Alpha sent the signal, we all coordinated together. Tendrils grabbed the orcs by the legs and dragged them toward me and away from the prisoners. Ropes and bindings were cut with tiny and well-placed shots of acid slime to prevent the captives from being dragged with them. Then, the water barrier was cast and rapidly formed, the speed and complexity easily overshadowing my work on the caravans. I hoped it would be enough to protect them from any collateral damage, but I dared not go too overboard with the [Inferno Sac] or pull off the explosion I did in the mineshaft. Releasing poison gas through [Vaporize Slime] was another option I considered, but the threat to myself didn''t warrant it right now, and I didn''t want to gamble [Bubble] being able to stop it or not - even though I was confident it would. "Stop!" A voice shouted and pleaded throughout the din of battle, "Stop fighting!" But the orcs just continued attacking. Despite the deaths and the grievous wounds, they all seemed elated and reveled in the thrill of battle. If their weapon broke on my mana-reinforced scales, they instead used their fists. If their dominant arm was limp and broken, they''d effortlessly swap to the other and continue. If their legs were crippled or severed, they would crawl towards me. Their shamans launched rocks at me, often hitting an orc if I dodged or causing minor lacerations on them from the shrapnel burst from the rock rupturing on contact. ''What a terrifying race. Sadly, I don''t think this will end no matter how much you shout and beg, Odark.'' Chapter 87: Blood Chapter 87: Blood As one of the more giant orcs charged at me, I instinctively raised my scaled arm to block. The axe, infused with mana, flashed with deadly intent. With ferocious speed, the axeblade hurtled down and sliced through my arm. The orcs, sensing victory, cheered out. But I wasn''t done yet. I swiftly grabbed the falling arm, temporarily reconnecting to it before triggering [Slime Burst]. The limb burst and spread adhesive acid slime on the nearby orcs. Despite the orcs'' resilience to pain, the flesh-melting acid was a testament to my determination, often incapacitating weaker opponents immediately. With a quick mental calculation, I reformed the arm, now equipped with a mimicked shield. I used it to block an incoming blow, anticipating the orc''s move. Then, I countered with acid-laced spikes that emerged from the shield in retaliation. My [Sub-Cores], always at work, filled the air with multiple magic circles, firing multitudes of [Acid Dart] spells. This was my most effective magic against the orcs since any blocked spell would damage or destroy their equipment, further weakening them. Like a beating heart, a building pulse of mana began to fill the air. It washed over the entire area, its power palpable. The magic rippled over me, but I seemed unaffected. However, the orcs seemed to freeze in place, their movements halted by an unseen force. Looking towards the epicenter of the spell, I saw Odark leaking a vast quantity of that strange red mana. "I said stop!" He screamed. Odark didn''t have an absurd quantity of mana like myself; in fact, he had less mana than Dewi or Evan, by my estimation, but when his mana dimmed, it seemed to pulse back to life abruptly with the rhythm of a beating heart. "You traitor!" One of the orcs shouted. "You should be working with us! Kill our enemy!" What started as a few individual complaints soon took over the collective. Odark seemed shaken but recollected himself. "I haven''t betrayed anyone! I stopped her, too!" he declared, and then, looking at me, he witnessed that I was moving unimpeded. He looked startled, "How did you resist my spell?" I could only shrug, as I had no idea what he was talking about. One of the most giant orcs I had ever seen seemed to be forcing his way through the crowd, his muscles straining against whatever magical spell Odark had cast. "Odark! Cease this foolishness at once! You will be banished forever if you don''t destroy this foe right now!" He screamed with guttural fury. "The chief has spoken!" "Big Bro must fight!" "Kill our enemy!" "Kill! Kill! Kill!" The orcs seemed overcome by the declaration of the orc chief. Odark was frantically rubbernecking at all of them before his gaze landed on me and he uttered a breathless apology. Whatever spell held the orcs had vanished, and the orcs erupted in elation. "Big Bro is going to kill you!" "You''re done for!" "Let the blood flow!" "Salamander? More like a dragon. How is this fair..." Odark said in disbelief. "Big Bro you can do it!" "Take more of our blood!" "Kill it!" Again, the orcs sacrificed their blood to replenish Odark''s supply. He also cut his own arm again, as well as his torso, to add fresh new blood of his own to the mixture. ''If he can keep regenerating his own blood, he''s formed quite an exploitative loop with his class and race. My slime is self-synergizing, but my exploitative synergy is that emblem combined with [Mana Slime].'' Unfortunately, once again, my spells seemed insufficient. I had endless mana, but my lack of skill levels against an opponent who was also built to endure meant that I needed to resort to using my slime. One thing bugged me: where was Odark getting the mana from? His aura would diminish and then suddenly flood with more life; surely his regeneration didn''t include mana, too? The lack of his mana aura being replenished while his wounds were closing finally gave me a clue. Did he have a way to convert blood into mana? I could convert mana into slime, so why couldn''t he convert blood into mana? Or perhaps health into mana? That would explain why he wasn''t continuously replenishing his blood weapon pool with his own blood; he needed it primarily to replenish his mana. While we traded blows, I considered how to deal with the situation. My immediate thought was to build up enough blue flame to obliterate him in one go. I formed three [Inferno Sacs] inside my chest and started to fuel them with mana, ensuring my attacks kept him distracted while I built up for my finishing move. Abruptly, I received a prompt that I could not ignore. ''What? Gramps? Since when can you give me quests? Why should I risk sparing him? I know he''s a fellow experiment, but he''s trying to kill me.'' Reward: Skill revelation.> ''Sure... Twist my arm, why don''t you? I''m assuming I only need to spare him, not the orcs. This had better be useful.'' Reward: Skill revelation (useful).> ''Fine!'' I relented, wondering why Gramps was suddenly interfering. I know he prevented Simon from killing me, but that was partially Gramps''s fault. This seemed different, and I was surprised he would deny me so much experience and, no doubt, a decent profile, too. I mimicked [Elemental Amalgamation] and confirmed I could control the blue flame, which was drenched in my mana. I erupted the blue flame from multiple newly formed exits and formed a ring encircling Odark and myself. The orcs surrounding us were likely quickly dispatched by the intense flame, and any survivors were surely not long for the world. I couldn''t imagine many things surviving that. Odark stared at me, a mixture of rage and horror at what I had done. ''I need to beat him but not kill him. But he can regenerate like crazy... Don''t I have something to stop regeneration?'' I thought rapidly, then recalled something I had previously forbidden myself from using, ''Bloodrot!'' Chapter 88: Anger Chapter 88: Anger "There! I can''t believe I agreed to this. He should have just become slime food and expedited the next evolution," a disgruntled elderly voice complained. "The others would have complained if your subject had ended not one but two others in such a short time, even if it was unguided." A motherly voice replied. "They left their starting regions; don''t blame my slime for their actions," the elderly voice retorted, the disagreement clear in his tone. "Yes, that''s why I''ve allowed you to compensate it. It''s a stroke of luck that it''s registered in the adventurer system. Otherwise, we would not have been able to communicate with it without major interference." "Yes. Masquerading as an adventurer has definitely been an unforeseen boon." "Besides. I''m curious if this will positively affect the orc subject''s growth now that he will be forced out of hiding behind his brethren. If it does, I''m sure you could use the fact to gain a favor or boon." "Yes, yes. I know. I also know he''s one of the very few remaining monstrous humanoid subjects, so his data is valuable. That is the real reason I listened to your request. Certainly not to keep the drunk from throwing another tantrum." "It is strange that most of them died." She said, trying to change the topic of conversation, "The goblin subject, for example, did much worse than an ordinary goblin spawn. The wild goblins your slime lived with were much more impressive in terms of accomplishments." "Perhaps it''s our fault for not cleaning them enough?" He postulated, "Most of those deaths could have been avoided if they weren''t so deadset on trying to reintegrate with humanity." "Too much, and they might as well be wild spawns. Too little, and they get themselves killed by stupidly approaching humans or become mentally unstable with their situation and fail to adapt to their new body. It''s a good thing we tried differing amounts amongst the subjects." "Indeed. Funny how I''d say the salamander was cleaned too much while the orc was cleaned too little." "I''d be most interested in seeing what parameters you set on your slime subject." "Perhaps after the experiment is completed, we can share notes." The elderly voice responded, the tiniest sliver of worry in his voice, "More importantly, I have a new trait I''ve been working on that I''d love to show you." "Y-you killed them all!" Odark shouted, frantically looking around in the burning circle. "I''m sure they''ve done much worse, what with their claims." I spat. Odark was taken aback at that response, staring at the ground in denial, "That may be true... But they didn''t deserve this!" I felt anger building up inside of me that I struggled to suppress. The orcs believed in being strong, and enough strength justified any action. Odark obviously holds some fairytale morals from his previous life, where the strong can resolve problems without any loss of life. I couldn''t even call it hypocritical; it was plain stupid. Moments ago, he had decided to kill me to satisfy the orcs so he wouldn''t be exiled. Why was my life less than theirs? Less than his? What about the human captives? If I had died, they would have died or worse. "Didn''t deserve this? I can only imagine how many humans the orcs had killed or captured before this, especially to have an unlimited extermination quest against them. I didn''t see or hear any captives since my arrival, so I can only imagine why they didn''t survive." "I know that! But still! They were like my family!" He protested. For some reason, that just angered me more, "So your brother is a murderer, and you let him get away with it because he''s family." "How should I know? Evolve again and ask your one. It''s probably all part of this experiment." "What am I supposed to do now?" He asked. "How should I know? But if you continue attacking and capturing humans, expect adventurers to show up and exterminate you." "I di-" "Yes, you did! Maybe not directly, but you could have led these orcs, tried to change them, or at least not cooperated with them. You made this entire underground network for them to raid and pillage from. Don''t act like your hands are clean." "...I just wanted them to be safe." "And they used this safety to attack civilians. You run into an adventurer who tries to kill you? Defend yourself. I don''t care. But attacking noncombatants is another whole story." "I won''t attack civilians..." He muttered. "Good. I suggest heading north and away from civilization. The adventurers will continue searching for orcs, and I will tell them about this underground network, just in case stragglers return." "I under..." He started and then collapsed. His eyes were wide in confusion as his body refused to move. "It looks like the paralysis finally took hold. I finally overcame your regeneration," I said, walking over to him. I could feel the fear in his unblinking eyes. "Stop panicking. I already said I wasn''t going to kill you, but I got civilians to get out of here. I will put you to sleep, and when you wake up, I''ll be gone. I suggest you immediately leave before the adventurers come. Nothing will stop me if I see you or any orcs here again." I warned. He tried grunting, but other than his erratic breathing, it was like he was dead. I closed his eyes and covered his mouth and nose with a slime mask emitting the sleep gas. There was evident reluctance from him trying to hold his breath, but he was helpless, and eventually, he was forced to breathe it in. I watched as it overcame his resistance, and eventually, he was unconscious. I covered him in some light dirt and walked away. "Right... I''ll look at that later... Along with all the other notifications I''ve been ignoring." I muttered to myself. I looked at my state and sighed, equipping my leather outfit. I needed to, at some point, just buy a bunch of clothes to devour for backup outfits. I approached [Bubble] and, momentarily grateful that it held, dismissed it with a light pop. The humans inside were shocked at the sudden dismissal and stared at me with shock. The woman who got struck was still unconscious, but the other was holding the three children tightly. I withdrew one of the health potions I still had and handed it over to the lady. "It''s over. You''re safe now..." I said, trying to sound reassuring. The woman broke down into tears as she accepted the potion; she took a small sip herself before portioning it out to the children and then giving the remainder to the unconscious woman. The two girls looked terrified, but the boy seemed to have overcome his fear and now had a spark of life in his eyes. "The Dragon Knight has saved us!" He shouted proudly, smiling through his previously tear-stained face. ''Dragon, what now?'' Chapter 89: Dragon Knight Chapter 89: Dragon Knight "Honey... Calm down." The woman tried to calm her son down, but now he was practically bouncing. "But it''s the Dragon Knight!" He protested. "Dragon Knight?" I asked. "It''s the hero in his favorite story..." She answered, looking apologetically. "Oh? Could you tell me more about this Dragon Knight? I''m curious." "Because you have the power of the dragon!" he said dramatically. He gestured wildly with his arms and ran his hands down them, making sound effects with his hands before finalizing his performance by pretending to breathe fire. I was silent. I didn''t know how to respond. I had hoped that the barrier and all the orcs would have been enough to block most of what I did from view, but this child saw me using draconic scales and erupting in flame. "Sorry miss... My son is too excitable." The mother apologized, sensing my discomfort. "No... It''s fine." I said, trying to dismiss my discomfort while searching for a solution. As if being thrown a lifeline, I felt my [Acting] skill was prodding me to lean into the Dragon Knight facade. "I just need you to keep my secret," I said, holding a finger over my mouth. "I need to keep my power as the Dragon Knight hidden from my enemies." I winked and transformed scales over my single finger. The boy''s face lit up with unbridled enthusiasm. "Of course! Otherwise, dragons will come for you if we don''t keep your secret." He said as if it were common knowledge, "We will keep your secret just like Squire Clyde and Princess Leanne." "That''s right, Hayden. You girls agree, right?" The mother said. The girls quickly agreed with her, while Hayden went on a little tirade about keeping secrets for the greater good to defeat the evil dragons. Internally, I sighed in relief that the boy was so impressionable. I carried the unconscious woman on my back while the others followed closely behind me. Thankfully, we escaped the tunnels without any trouble. However, seeing how late it was in the day, I realized we couldn''t reach the city before twilight approached. "I don''t think we can make it back in time. While I have some minor camping supplies, I don''t know how safe it would be." "There are some farms nearby. Perhaps one of them would be willing to help us," the mother suggested. I brightened up at the suggestion, "Excellent idea. I know just the place." Before heading towards the farm I had helped earlier, I distributed water to all of them. The minor display of magic seemed to brighten up the children a little from their unfortunate situation. About halfway to the destination, the unconscious woman finally awoke and was startled until the other woman settled her down. We took a short pause for water and for her to regain her bearings before we continued the journey. The girls were quiet, but the boy was still enthused and asked many questions about adventuring and some of the monsters I had fought. While it was a bit tedious, it seemed like a good distraction for the victims, as even the silently crying girls were listening to the tales. I obviously avoided mentioning any orcs when retelling my escapades. By the time we reached the farm, it was well past sundown, and everyone was highly exhausted. One of the farmhands must have spotted us approaching as a group came to investigate, armed with farming tools; when they recognized me, they had a bright smile. "Good to see you so soon again, ma''am." The farmer replied cheerily before glancing at the rest of my group. "Orcs captured this group," I explained. "I freed them, but getting them to Kaerlin in their condition wasn''t feasible. They had some minor injuries, which a healing potion fixed up, but they were tired and quite traumatized. I had hoped we could stay for the night so I could return them in the morning." Meditation can be used to stave off the effects of sleep deprivation, but it is not a true substitute. Beneficial effects scale exponentially the longer the trance is maintained. This skill has no levels.> ''Well... I would have ignored this because I don''t need mana regeneration, but the sleep part is interesting. Could I meditate and have my [Sub-Cores] continue my activities? They already can do work while I sleep.'' <> Cast and maintain an additional spell per [Multitask] level. Thoroughly complex spells may require more than one level per spell.> ''Ugh... I totally forgot about this skill. I don''t even try to cast multiple spells alone when all my helpers can easily assist or cast independently. I wonder what counts as a complex spell to take up more than one multicast slot.'' Allows detailed creation of fake profiles that can greatly obfuscate attempts at identification. The more believable the profile through physical features or closer to reality, the harder it is to pierce, and it is directly aided by traits or skills that provide shapeshifting or illusion. Displaying a mismatching race, an unearned emblem, or a locked class will lower the success chance of obfuscation. Adjusting levels to higher than earned will also lower obfuscation. Can still be used as the basic [Identity Block].> I had to reread the description a few times before it finally sank in. Gramps wasn''t kidding when he said it would be a useful skill revelation. This was a massive upgrade to [Identity Block], perhaps an upgrade I would have received if I had taken the Doppelganger mutation or possibly earned through an advanced rogue class. Finally, I had a solution to a problem: my name. A typical monster would be unnamed, so a mimic pretending to be something else would go undetected. However, despite my near-perfect disguise, my name would still be shown whenever I transformed. I could block my name, as Simon had shown me, but that still added a level of suspicion in myself that I didn''t want. Also, if I tried to pretend to be anyone other than my Syl persona, I would be forced to block my name, which, if someone had a higher level of identification, would immediately rat me out. Of course, I could be wrong; I didn''t know how often people blocked their profiles in public, as Simon was the first one I had come across, but asking the adventurers guild that question wasn''t a path I''d like to tread. The other immediate benefit I could think of was if I manually set my race to elf in my profile, then I could risk being a little more generous with my transformations if I mixed parts. While I didn''t expect anyone to constantly have me under [Identify] surveillance, this way, if I slipped up, my race wouldn''t suddenly change without my knowledge. Syl the elf suddenly changing into Syl the chimeric monstrosity because I reflexively borrowed a trait in an emergency would have been horrible. I decided to buy everything except [Multicast], which I was determined to earn eventually. This still left me with many skill points, making me very tempted to purchase a skill upgrade. ''Should I try brute force [Water Magic] to level five and immediately upgrade it? Or Should I do the same with [Ice Magic] and bring it to the same levels as my other elements?'' I pondered. My reluctance to do anything with my points was becoming a rather recurring anxiety about making the right choice. ''I''ll ask someone at the guild tomorrow. Lisa might be a good option since she''s the highest level I''ve seen. Then there''s Thern, who is knowledgeable, and there''s Dewi if they are finally back from their quest. Well, let''s look at [Identity Fabrication].'' Chapter 90: Fabrication Chapter 90: Fabrication When I opened my basic profile, I was introduced to a very different interface from the one I was familiar with. I could mentally select a portion of the profile and had the option to edit it directly. I removed my name. I changed my name. I created an entirely different identity. The most fascinating part was that I could instinctively tell when a particular section of my profile aided or hindered the disguise. Changing my name seemed neutral unless I removed it, and then it was a hindrance, but if I morphed into a monster, it was seen as a boon. According to the system, hiding my currently equipped emblem was seen as neutral, but I knew socially it would be strange for me not to have it equipped¡ªso many people had seen my [Dungeoneer] emblem. Driven by a sense of curiosity, I embarked on a journey of experimentation with different emblems. I tried my hand at faking some, such as [Chieftain], [Guild Master], and [Guild Staff], all of which were classified as massive detriments. The only other emblem I knew of was [Bonded Companion], which was a penalty until I transformed into a monster, and then it became a benefit. ''I could pretend to be a companion. That''s interesting. If I was roaming around in a dungeon, it would prevent me from being attacked if I was spotted by another adventurer.'' ''I should try to find more about companions. Sylthaeryn''s class was Tamer, if I recall correctly... I''ve not run into any in the guilds yet.'' I continued to ponder before having a small epiphany, ''Could I pretend to be my own companion?'' I reverted my profile to normal but manually set my race to elf. Then, I formed a ball of green slime in my palm and had Alpha maneuver into the blob. Visually, it now looked like I was holding a small green slime. I tried to apply the profile multiple times, but it kept just overwriting my own. ''Come on, if it''s possible to [Multitask] spells, then surely it''s possible to fabricate two profiles...'' I complained. In hindsight, I should have thought of it sooner, but in a moment of frustration, I shouted at Alpha to use [Identity Fabrication]. ''Well done, Alpha! Although I think you''re being a little too humble by saying you''re only level five!'' I laughed with glee at the success, ''Actually, can you add [Bonded Companion] too?'' Despite it being technically Alpha''s profile, I could feel a penalty on the level because it was my skill. Green slimes would evolve at ten, so it made sense why it was complaining about it. I repeated the experiment with my other cores one by one. Beta, disguised as a purple slime, and Gamma, disguised as a red slime, could go up to level twenty without penalty, while Epsilon, as a white slime, could only go up to level nine. At first, I thought something was wrong, but then I recalled that white slimes were technically the same tier monster as myself, which meant that Epsilon was being limited by my own level limits. Speaking of level limits, I could freely swap between Warrior and Scout up to level eleven without any detriment, which meant that my class qualification was enough to satisfy the system, and it was using my Mage level as the reasonable limit. As if that wasn''t enough, whoever created this skill must have also worked on [Equipment Swap] as I could save ready-made profiles for quick application. All my experimentation even increased my skill level, much to my satisfaction. I was feeling rather shitty about the situation after Odark, but this definitely brightened my mood. Everyone was asleep when I silently returned to my cot and quickly joined them in slumber. The following day, it was decided that the owner and some farmhands would travel to the city proper to get tools and hire additional hands for the replanting of the fields. This meant the two widows and children could be carried in a cart pulled by a donkey, and I offered to escort them just in case. To keep myself occupied, I worked on creating a new debuff spell with my newly acquired [Ice Magic]. Due to [Mana Conception], this was far simpler than ever before despite the much more complex mana. I was a little hands-off on the spell creation and left it primarily to my [Sub-Cores], which allowed them to flex their new level and processing power. This allowed me to instead entertain the children with [Kindle] and [Water Orb] by shaping both into various patterns or shapes. While the children laughed and giggled at the silly shapes, they had no idea about the intense mental battle I was having to try to actively hold more than a single spell. Regrettably, by the time we reached the city gate, I still hadn''t received the [Multicasting] upgrade and instead gained a different prompt that caused me significant emotional damage. This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. The worst part was that this new skill level gave me no benefit or ease in holding my two individual spells. I had to fight my inner demons to not just buy the upgrade then and there out of spite, and I wondered if Dewi had pranked me about telling me not to buy it. After a quick explanation to the guards, I parted ways with the group to head toward the adventurers'' guild and report on the situation. Before I left, there was a tug on my clothing, and I saw the boy giving a friendly smile. "Thank you for saving us. You''re a hero! When I grow up, I also want to be an adventurer." He said, trying to give his best dazzling smile. He then placed his finger over his lips and winked. It seemed like he was more than happy to keep my secret. I returned his smile, giving him a quick ruffle on his head. "If you do, I''d recommend the Stantondale branch, ask to speak to Tabitha. That''s where I started my adventuring career." "They are little lizard monsters, like a goblin mixed with a dragon. They mostly live underground; if you do go with Thern, you''ll see plenty." Lisa replied, rolling up the map and handing it to her secretary, "Send a team of scouts to confirm." Once her secretary left, she continued, "I must say your successes are remarkable. I know all adventurers hide a trick or two, but you keep overachieving. You''ve also gained many levels rapidly, exploiting the risk bonus factor to the maximum." "Yes, although the downside is that my skills are falling behind my class levels, or at least that''s what it feels like. I''m tempted to change my experience distribution." Lisa frowned, "I would say don''t do that, although I know we humans are biased because we don''t have many good traits to choose from. I know dwarves have some enviable traits, and I can only imagine what elves get." "I hope you don''t mind the frankness of my question, but how do you spend your skill points? I''ve saved a large amount in case I want to purchase a lot of skills, and I''ve never touched upgrading." "Never?" Astonished, Lisa replied, "I know some diehards do that and try to earn every skill proficiency, but the Gods gave us these points to spend; it feels foolish not to." "My concern was buying the wrong thing, especially if I knew I could upgrade it with some effort." "That''s a good mentality, but what if having an extra level is the difference between life and death? Especially, as a spellcaster, getting another new level opens many doors to new spells or components." "That''s a really good point. Then do you recommend prioritizing my highest skill or bringing up my lower skills to match?" Lisa sighed with great exaggeration and rubbed her temples, "Now that is the question everyone asks, and nobody knows the right answer. Raising your minimums gives you more flexibility and could unexpectedly save your life while raising your maximums gives you trump cards that could solve a situation effortlessly." "Now you understand why I didn''t want to spend any," I replied, frustrated. Lisa laughed, giving a knowing smile, "Fine, fine. I''ll tell you what I did, maybe that will give you some ideas. I focused on my highest skill where possible unless I unlocked a vastly more powerful skill. For a relatable example to you as a spellcaster, I focused a lot on my [Air Magic], but I immediately swapped my focus when I unlocked [Lightning Magic]. It was a higher tier of magic, and I felt it had more opportunity." "That sounds like a very reasonable approach." "It worked out pretty well for me," Lisa said with a smirk, "However, you''ll need to tailor it to your specific situation. Undoubtedly, you have at least one form of experience boosting, and some skills are easier to level than others if you can easily exploit bonuses like risk or first time." I nodded, "I''m also reluctant to upgrade a skill unless it had just leveled up manually or was brand new. Although... Even with new skills, I''d feel reluctant to do it; it seems like level two is so simple for almost all of them." "I think you''d struggle to find anyone who wants to buy an upgrade midway unless you were sure you hadn''t progressed it in some way. There are no refunds, and if you were more than halfway to gaining the level manually, you''d be basically losing a skill point!" "Glad to hear I''m not the only one a bit panicky about spending my points." "If you''re just starting out, it can be terrifying. Also, while yours is a little extreme, it''s not even the worst I''ve seen; Luke can''t even decide on a class and keeps flip-flopping between the three starters." Her secretary returned with refreshments, and Lisa invited me to settle down. It seemed like we still had much to talk about. Chapter 91: Goals and Armor Chapter 91: Goals and Armor "So what made you swap to Sorcerer?" Lisa asked, sipping at her tea. "I wanted to see what magic skills I might miss out on. I had Tabitha drill into me about the theme of my class and how it would potentially limit me." I responded. "And? Get anything good?" Lisa asked eagerly. I responded with a mischievous grin and cast [Icicle] floating above my palm. "[Ice Magic]... Very impressive." With a pleased grin, Lisa said, "And I''m assuming you didn''t spend an ascension on that?" "Nope. I got it as soon as I swapped to Sorcerer. If not for running into the orcs, I would have practiced it a bit more." "Honestly, I wish I could promote you to Gold already." Lisa said with a sigh, "You''re punching far above your weight class. Hell, you''re one level from another ascension. I can only imagine you''ll pick another element." "I was actually thinking of picking Lightning if it''s available." "Ha! Trying to butter me up?" "Only if it gets you to show me [Lightning Magic]." Lisa paused momentarily before nodding, "Sure, I don''t mind. But why not wait for your revelation?" "I want to swap back to Shadowcaster, which means I won''t get the revelation until thirty. Also, it would be a sneak peek to see if I don''t have it already." Lisa nodded and showed me the skill, but I got the same missing affinity prompt when I tried to buy it. But now I didn''t have to stay locked to the Sorcerer class and had the flexibility to return to Shadowcaster, which I hoped would lead to more exciting traits like [Subtle Afflictions]. "Nope. Missing affinity." I said, shaking my head. "That''s a shame. Well, hopefully, it''ll be amongst your selections at forty. Otherwise, you can try again at fifty. I''m glad you aren''t abandoning your hybrid class; I''m eager to see what you unlock once you get an advanced class." "Speaking of classes, how come I''ve not seen any humans with the Tamer class?" "That''s a pretty sour spot," Lisa chuckled, "The main reason is that the time investment isn''t worth it, especially if your bonded monster dies; you''re immediately set back massively. It''s also hard to unlock unless you''re willing to pay money to buy a raised wolf or something to meet the requirement." "Why would you buy a wolf? There''s plenty in the forest." Lisa laughed out of nowhere, almost spilling her drink. "Convincing a wild monster to assist you without the bonding skill is not easy. I have no idea how you elves do it." "Oh, I can actually answer that," I replied, showing the [Nature Commune] trait. As the guardians of nature and to represent their heritage, all elves can communicate with plants and non-magical animals. The level of understanding and the willingness to offer aid is based on trait level.> "Shit. That''s not fair." Lisa immediately replied, obviously reading the trait, "I guess this is why you''re still dumping so much experience into racial levels rather than focusing on your class." "Some are more practical than others. While this one can be useful, you didn''t have a field of corn thanking you for fighting a Plant Horror." "Oh Gods, the corn spoke to you?" Lisa replied, laughing hysterically. "I guess that explains how you can easily unlock Monster Tamer. You just go find a wolf or something and overpower it with your trait to help you." Lisa stated after recovering from her laughter, "Wait. Is that why you''re asking Luke to look for flying monsters? And Thern, about the floating island? Are you trying to hitch a ride on a tamed monster?" "The child I saved mentioned him. His mother said it was his favorite story." "It''s not just a story." Luke interrupted, "The Dragon Knight was a true hero from before the Adventurers Guild was a worldwide organization. The records prove it, and he practically saved an entire kingdom." "Sounds like you''re a fan. Did he really have the power of a dragon?" "He had draconic ancestry. Dragon blood is powerful and can have long-lasting impacts on an entire lineage." Luke explained, "Although not everyone related awakens to the draconic bloodline, those who do gain scales, sometimes wings, and flame breath." "Sounds like a guarantee for success and fame." "Yes and no. Ever since the Dragon Knight, anyone with the bloodline has been viciously hunted by dragons¡ªthey refuse to allow a lesser race to steal their power. Or so they claim." "Steal their power? Really?" I questioned; it sounded absurd. "Yes. The kingdom used to have two dragon rulers, but the Dragon Knight grew mighty enough to slay them both and free everyone. This caused a scare amongst the other dragons, and they started slaughtering anyone holding their blood." Luke said, looking rather sad, "It''s why the children''s story tells people to keep it a secret; it''s a warning to stem a slaughter. You never know when someone will awaken it, and if they do and the dragons find out, then an entire village could be torched from the sky." "That''s terrifying..." "Yes. It''s why the general consensus is never to get involved with dragons. Even some of the Diamond-ranks still avoid them." ''Well. At least this gives me some more reassurance the kid will keep my secret.'' I thought happily. Surprisingly, we didn''t head to the armor crafter but to a small locked room filled with boxes. When we reached our destination, Luke pulled out a large locked box. "Your completed product is sealed in this box; you just need to place your guild tag on it to complete the purchase and claim it," he said. I nodded and placed the necklace against the box. Both objects shone briefly, and the chest unlocked with a clicking noise. "Impressive." "Another innovation from the Merchants Guild that we''re copying," Luke explained. I opened the chest, and inside was the blackened leather armor crafted from the salamander''s hide and scales. I lifted it and couldn''t help but be beyond impressed, and despite being lightweight, I could tell it was far sturdier than its appearance suggested. When I used [Mana Conception], I could only gasp as I saw the intricate runes and sigils housed within the armor. It was like a tapestry of epic proportion, far beyond my knowledge, and I couldn''t even dream of how Thern had layered this into the armor. Protection, Magic Resist, Silent, Self-Repairing, Size-Modification.> "I think Thern went a little overboard," I murmured, beyond impressed. "I sat in on some of his work. He said he was brimming with energy, so he kept going." Luke commented, then walked towards the door, "I''ll give you some privacy to change. I''m sure you''re dying to wear it." I placed the full set of equipment in my storage and started allocating it to a new equipment profile, then swapped to it. Upon equipping it, I could immediately feel its enchantments magically reinforcing me. I moved around in it and noted that the armor didn''t make any noise, which explained the Silent enchantment, and even my bodily sounds were minorly subdued. I enlarged one of my arms and noticed the armor effortlessly adapted, always fitting perfectly. ''If I ever run into Simon again, I must thank him for recommending that enchantment. This armor is amazing; the only downside I can see is that it''s limiting easy access to slime; I''m now limited to my hands and head.'' I thought while admiring it, ''Perhaps I should forgo boots or create fake boots from slime.'' I removed the boots and noted that they didn''t affect the enchantment at all. The primary source of the enchantment seemed to be incorporated within the torso portion of the armor. Seeing that the boots weren''t required, I decided to devour them on the spot. [Dissection] seemed to be screaming at my decision to destroy such precious resources, and it took far longer than I thought it would¡ªshowing the strength of the scales, craftsmanship, and enchantments. Then, I perfectly replicated the boots and smiled in satisfaction. Chapter 92: Aftermath Chapter 92: Aftermath Slowly, Odark regained consciousness. He clambered to his feet, dirt falling from his torso, and looked to see that his arm had regrown. Their underground cavern was eerily quiet, and he looked around at the massacre. Despite being healed, his body felt sluggish, a clear sign of low mana, so he activated [Blood Conversion] to burn vitality into mana and then nearly collapsed. "Shit... I''m still infected by whatever she did to me." He didn''t understand what power she had used against him, but it drastically interfered with his [Regenerate] trait. He had dumped almost all of his trait points into improving the skill when he got it and then relentlessly trained it whenever possible, and it was currently sitting at level eight. But despite that, the poison stopped him. He cut a small gash into his arm and noticed his normal purplish blood was oozing a blackish substance. He had thought himself invincible, [Blood Magic] combined with [Regenerate] created what he thought was an exploit to infinite mana, and never in his wildest ruminations did he ever consider something could directly stop his regeneration trait. "I even confirmed that fire and cauterizing the wound wouldn''t majorly interfere with my regeneration. What the hell did she do to me?" He asked himself. It was one of the first things he checked to ensure he didn''t end up like the famous Hydra story he could vaguely recall. He started walking towards his hut to grab his few possessions and scarce food supply. He threw all of it into the storage bag he was given, looted from a dead adventurer. He considered going to the butcher room and claiming what was there, but he knew the source of that meat - humans. It was a line he still had yet to cross due to the brief flashes of memory he still had of his past dull and ordinary life and his family that he couldn''t even recall the faces of anymore. "What the hell was she? [Identify] said she was an elf, but surely elves don''t have scales, regeneration, and fire breathing. Even if this is a fantasy world, that''s far too unbelievable. She even admitted to not really being an elf, so it must be some counter to [Identify], just like she countered my [Regenerate]." He started to question and ponder out loud. He always had better luck piecing things together when he used rubberducking. He continued to throw whatever he could salvage into the bag, then started to head towards the exit. He looked back at the home he had helped create with feelings of regret and guilt. He wanted to vomit but managed to hold it back. Thoughts of revenge briefly entered his mind, but he dismissed it when he recalled Syl''s genuine threat. "Sounds like an excellent way to become charcoal. Salamander, huh? I''m guessing that''s the fantasy version, not the amphibian. She''s like an amalgamation of multiple things; I said chameleon because she hid her scales, and axolotl would explain regeneration, salamander for fire, and then she had poison, too. Something like a Komodo dragon or Gila monster?" He sighed and started heading north. While he was upset at losing his family, if you could even call it that, at the moment, all he cared about was surviving another day. He knew south would lead to the city, and she had warned him that the adventurers were out for blood. He deeply regretted his decision, and ever since being reborn into this world, he felt like he had made one mistake after another. He had chosen the orcs because he knew they would have had his back and continued to look up to him, even if they disagreed with his morality. Syl was an unknown factor, and he had no assurances that she wouldn''t just leave him to live or die by himself, so he had thought the orcs a safer option, but he had severely underestimated her. "Hindsight is a bitch... I lost a possible ally because I was worried about being isolated, and now I''m truly alone." "So? What do you think?" I asked Luke as I exited the room and showed off my newly donned armor. "Amazing!" Luke exclaimed, eyes wide. "The best armor I''ve ever seen was made of Mythril, and this is my first time seeing Draconic armor." "Lesser Draconic." I corrected. "Even lesser Draconic is superior, in my opinion," Luke said, frowning slightly at my nitpick. "Mythril is probably slightly more durable, and they are both relatively equal in weight, but you''d lose out on the flexibility, and being from a monster, it has much higher natural mana retention." "Mana retention... Right. I got a skill for that." "Yes, that is one of the main benefits of getting enchanted equipment. You can strengthen the enchantment by reinforcing it with your mana, and it should prevent hostile mana from affecting it until it overpowers your own." The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. I trickled my mana into the armor itself, and after overcoming a small barrier, it suddenly drank in my mana like parched earth. I had to assume the barrier was either Thern''s mana or the crafters, who were likely testing the armor before finalizing the product. Finally, I had found a use for [Mana Infusion] other than when I pretended to be an elemental. "I have got to thank Thern for this," I said proudly. "You''ll have to come tomorrow. Today''s his day off." "Huh... I wonder what he does on his days off." "Mister Thern usually goes on some small quests. He says fighting monsters gets his blood pumping after sitting still for so long reading and enchanting." "Well, it turns out there''s been a substantial uptick in banditry, but only in the south as if they are targeting only this one trade route." "But, not only was it this one route, but only specific merchants as well," Roderick added. "That''s suspicious," I commented. "Indeed. Which is why we investigated and uncovered a large smuggling operation for mana potions," Whitney continued. "It was so boring!" Dewi interrupted, "The single moment of fun I had was burning down their hideout..." "Other than the battle against the leader and his goons, it was probably something Whitney should have done alone, to be fair..." Evan pointed out. "So? What happened?" I asked. "Well, a particular family from our hometown wanted to monopolize the trade. If you weren''t distributing through them, you''d find your goods stolen and sold on the black market." Roderick continued. "It was a long job, but we managed to find their hideout, claim a lot of incriminating evidence, and destroy their operation." Whitney grinned. "These guys will be returning home, but I''ll be sticking around to finalize some more details and eventually heading towards the capital to investigate further under an official request from the Merchants Guild." "Yeah, Whitney has entered the big leagues with this request," Evan said, and Roderick nodded along. "Congratulations! I hope you''ll let me buy a round of drinks to celebrate?" "Gladly!" Whitney beamed, and Roderick placed the order. "Wait, when did you become a Sorcerer?" Dewi suddenly blurted out. "Ha! I was waiting for you to notice, but you kept sulking." Whitney mocked. "I wanted to see if I was missing out on anything from a pure caster class, but I plan to swap back." "No," Dewi said, frowning. "Well, you can, but at least get Sorcerer to ten before you do. Trust me on this." "Alright. I''m guessing you''re going to be cryptic again about it." "Of course. Why ruin the surprise?" He grinned, "So, did you get anything cool from Sorcerer?" "So far, the best thing I got was [Mana Conception]." "So early? You must really be tinkering with your spells a lot." Dewi said, rubbing his chin. "I also got this," I said, casting [Icicle] above my open palm. "Now that is cool!" Dewi said with a grin, "Pun, fully intended!" Everyone at the table groaned. Chapter 93: Catching Up Chapter 93: Catching Up "Okay, okay. Jokes aside, [Ice Magic] is impressive, and you''re close to your next ascension point." Dewi said, faking an apology over his terrible pun. "Yes. If I''m lucky, I hope to get [Lightning Magic] next." Dewi whistled through his teeth, "You and me both... Probably one of the few ones that matches my fiery personality. Although I''ll probably pick up [Water Magic] if [Lightning Magic] isn''t on my list and hope it''s there if I ever get to thirty." I nodded along. I had already pieced this together from prior conversations without asking it directly, and this confirmed my theory that you couldn''t control your choice of ascension perks. On one hand, it made sense; otherwise, you''d have everyone picking something crazy like Lightning affinity as soon as they reached level ten. While I could understand the Gods wanting to add an element of randomness to it, it only further dissuaded humans from picking race levels as they weren''t even sure if they''d get what they wanted reaching those ascension milestones. ''I wonder if I should take notes of my thoughts to give to Gramp next time, although perhaps he''s already reading them.'' "Please, no magic talk at the table," Whitney grumbled. We continued to catch up and conversed about my promotion to Gold. "It sucks we are seen as your sponsors. Otherwise, we could have done a dungeon together." Whitney lamented. "Yeah, that would have been fun. Although no reason we can''t do one together afterward." Roderick added, "But the guild needs proof that you can work on an impromptu team. There are huge expectations for Golds, such as getting recruited to repel nation-level threats." "Makes sense, and I''d gladly do some dungeons with you guys," I replied. "Are you going as a caster or a rogue?" Whitney asked. "Caster, surely. You''d greatly impress your evaluators if you can get your [Ice Magic] up to a decent level beforehand." Dewi said. "Lisa suggested I go as both, truly flexing my hybrid role." "That''s good advice, although I think you''re leaning more heavily on magic right now, right?" Roderick asked. "I bought some locks and puzzles to level up [Rogue Expertise], and I''ve also banked quite a lot of skill points." "Good girl." Whitney grinned, "Perhaps we could do some [Perception] training. Hell, if your [Stealth] skill is high enough, you could even help me get some valuable experience." "We''ve got to do some magic practice as well. I want to see what you''ve been tinkering with to have earned [Mana Conception] already." "You''re making me feel left out. The best I could offer is some first-aid training since you don''t have a Holy affinity." The usually quiet Evan said with a chuckle. "You can join me in feeling left out." Roderick laughed, "The best I could offer is some basic cooking or party leadership, and the latter could get her in trouble with whichever party she joins if she questions the party leader''s judgment with my sensibilities." "And the former could lead to her giving them food poisoning if she doesn''t invest the points in it." Dewi joked. "Let me guess, air affinity?" "Yeah. Otherwise, I would have recommended it to you, although, to be honest, if not for your armor, I would swear you have no scent at all, and even that''s extremely hard for me to pick out unless I''m right up against you." ''We slimes are probably the cleanest things ever, and since I can spotlessly clean my armor by giving it a dissolving slime bath, I bet nothing could be cleaner,'' I thought to myself. We continued our training game until late into the evening when I suddenly failed to spot Whitney a single time. Even trying to use [Thermal Vision] gave me nothing; it was like she didn''t exist at all. After numerous defeats, she finally revealed that she had been hiding her cards a little and that, like me, she also had an upgraded version of [Stealth] called [Shadow Stealth]. "It''s a bit more conditional than yours. As long as I''m in shadows or the cover of darkness, I get massive boosts to stealth, and it practically eliminates my presence." "Eliminating your presence is certainly a good way to describe it." "Unfortunately, I can''t turn it off now, so let''s finish this with some traps," Whitney suggested, and I nodded. This was where I learned that Whitney had some trapmaking skills. She set up some relatively harmless traps for me to train with in disarming and spotting. Once she was satisfied with my progress, she led me to her room, where she pulled out a large storage bag and an ornate gilded chest. "This is the reason most dungeon groups fail," Whitney said while gesturing to the chest. "Is this a metaphor for greed or something?" I asked. "Ha! That''s a good one. Why don''t you examine this one closely? But do not open it." I carefully examined it, and after some intense concentration, I finally noticed some oddities along the chest opening and hinges. "I think it''s trapped?" I asked expectantly, pointing out my two observations. "Correct, and this is how we Rogues earn our keep in dungeons." Whitney said with a smile, "The dungeons will prey on our natural greed and expectation of riches and often trap chests; it''s your duty to identify them and either disarm them or determine if it is safe to bring the chest along with if it''s too difficult to disarm yourself." "Rather nasty and insidious," I commented. "They really can be, so it pays to be safe rather than sorry. This one used to release poison gas, but I''ve removed the canister, so it''s good for practice since it rearms itself upon closing." She explained, giving a pat on the chest lid, "I''ve unfortunately long outgrown it, so I''m probably going to donate it to the guild so Tabitha can have any aspiring rogues train with it." Whitney was a great person, willing to share knowledge and help her fellow adventurers. I hoped I''d be able to find a monster with the [Eagle Vision] trait she wanted on the floating island, then show it to her and hopefully repay some of her generosity. I at least offered to buy her dinner and drinks for now; it was the least I could do for such a kind person. She spent the last moments of the evening giving me a thorough rundown on spotting and disarming the traps for the chest. While I didn''t gain any skill levels despite her tutoring bonus, I felt I was on the verge of achieving another in both very shortly. Today was a great day. Chapter 94: Combust Chapter 94: Combust "You created a spell that makes things easier to burn?" Dewi exclaimed in shock. We were seated at the inn enjoying brunch after he had demanded some of my time to talk magic. I had been discussing with him some of my progress since we last spoke and all my spell tinkering. The rest of his party had vacated long ago. "I think it can even overcome fire resistance with enough level and effort," I answered. "Prove it," Dewi''s voice was firm, his demand clear. "On what?" "On me." I stared at him dumbfounded, "You want me to cast a debuff on you?" He simply nodded and stared at me, unblinking. I sighed and reluctantly started casting the spell. As the spell was constructed, I saw him trying his utmost to glean as much knowledge as possible. His eyes were focused with deadly intensity as if he was trying to get the spell to break under the pressure and reveal its secrets. I even held it for a while to give him some more time with it before finally unleashing it upon him. "Flammable! I''m flammable, Syl! This is amazing!" he cried joyfully, causing the other patrons to look at him with concern or annoyance. He immediately cast [Kindle], thrust his other hand into it, and retreated it shortly after. "That burnt me! I can''t believe it." He replied, chuckling like a lunatic. "Yes... Fire burns." I replied deadpan. "Of course, my beautiful protegee, but I have [Fire Resistance] after numerous cases of self-immolation." He explained, "Now, with enough power, you can overcome resistances, but this... this is elegant, something I didn''t even know was possible." "So far, only one thing has resisted it initially: the salamander. But after some trial and error, it eventually took the debuff." Dewi pondered momentarily before responding, "The salamander probably had [Fire Immunity]... That''s brilliant. I swear I could kiss you right now." "No thanks." I immediately rejected his offer. "I also created a sort of poison... fire... It keeps telling me to name it when I cast it." "That means your spell was truly unique!" Dewi smiled, then frowned, "You haven''t named it yet... Then how do you keep casting it?" "What do you mean? I just replicate the same constructed form." Dewi facepalmed and groaned, "I don''t know whether to call you brilliant or stupid. You''re casting your spell completely unaided by the system. If you name the spell, it will be like any other you''ve learned through levels, and you should be able to call upon it through its name effortlessly." "So that''s why sometimes people call out their spells. I had wondered what the reason was. Originally, I had thought it was a requirement to cast a spell, but I''ve never had to shout [Water Orb] or anything like that." Dewi looked distraught and sat in silence while he mentally recovered. "Okay." After taking a deep breath, he continued, "Firstly, saying your spell aloud can help your mental recollection of the spell, and call upon the system to aid you. This is especially useful for custom spells." He paused, staring at me expectantly, and only continued when I nodded. "Saying it mentally works as well, but if you haven''t been doing even that, I can only assume you have amazing processing power between those pointy ears of yours.." He took a deep drink before continuing, "The second reason is for party dynamics, which I can understand you not knowing due to being solo. Kurt was rather lucky you didn''t have any devastating spells when you partied up with him. Now imagine Roderick is in a group of enemies, and I just fling a [Fireball] out of nowhere. He''s likely to get caught in the blast, but if I call out my spell, he knows it''s coming and can raise his shield to protect his handsome mug." "See! I''m basically fireproof at this point. Hell, my clothes are actually fireproof. It was the best investment I ever made," Dewi said, laughing maniacally. "You''ve got to be joking..." I said, shaking my head. "No jokes. The public indecency fines were getting out of hand." Dewi laughed again, "Now cast your custom spell on me." I cast the spell with extreme reluctance, ensuring it was completely unempowered. "Are you absolutely sure?" I asked again. "Yes!" Dewi shouted. I sighed, finalized the casting, and saw the burning affliction appear on Dewi''s profile. "Combust." "That''s a good name!" Dewi said, grinning despite being visibly on fire. "This is a very interesting spell. It''s a bit of a slow burn, but this duration would be amazing for boss fights." "Aren''t you in pain?" I asked, concerned. "It''s not comfortable, but I wouldn''t say pain exactly. It''s sort of like rubbing nettles against your skin." Dewi uncorked a potion bottle and took a small sip. "Now, I just feel uncomfortably warm, like being trapped in a sauna." I could only sigh. I was starting to question all the previous advice he had given me. I knew he was a pyromaniac, but this was surely beyond reason. The worst part is that some of me wondered if I could do something similar to level up my [Magic Resistance (Lesser)] trait, and unlike him, I could borrow [Pain Suppression]. We then spent a large portion of the day going over the spells. Unfortunately for Dewi, none of his affinities gave him the concepts required to create the effect. From his knowledge, he would need to get access to Corrosion or Dark Affinity himself if he wanted to replicate the spell. For all my effort, he gave me some personal tutoring in [Fire Magic]. He gave some pointers on increasing the efficiency of my empowered spells and suggested adding the [Heat] spell to all my existing fire spells to increase their damage. "Raising the temperature of your Fire spells is a quick and dirty way to give them more bang." He explained, "I''m sure the opposite will be true when you get deeper into [Ice Magic]." I didn''t gain any direct skill-ups, but I was sure I had made a good chunk towards them. While the day didn''t feel as fruitful as my activities with Whitney, it was still an interesting experience. Before I left the guild, I asked if I could withdraw some money to keep on hand. I still wasn''t entirely sure about the currency. Beyond that, it went from copper to silver to gold. To keep it simple, I just asked to withdraw a hundred gold. It sounded like a good round number to me. "Are you sure, Miss?" The receptionist asked. She seemed a bit confused, and unfortunately, Luke wasn''t available. "Yes. Do I not have enough?" I asked, presenting my guild tag. She seemed to be looking at something visible only to her when her eyes went wide. "Ah! No, you have more than enough. I''m terribly sorry, Miss Syl. Please tap right here, and I''ll get your gold immediately!" When she returned, I thanked her and deposited it promptly. Her expression visibly relaxed when she saw I was securely storing it. ''I guess she was worried about me walking around with cash on hand.'' I thought curiously. I thanked her for her help and wished her well before leaving. Chapter 95: Forest Stampede Chapter 95: Forest Stampede The next few days felt like a blur as my time was split between Whitney and Dewi. The downside was that I wasn''t gaining experience towards my next level up, a fact that nagged at me. But on the other hand, my skills were receiving much-needed attention, and I couldn''t deny the value of that. Thanks to Whitney''s direct tutelage, I made leaps and bounds of progress with my Rogue skills. I also felt like my [Vanish] was so close to a breakthrough that I could taste it. In my time with Dewi, I finally unlocked the elusive [Multicast], which was an integrated upgrade into the [Multitasking] skill as I predicted. I was frustrated at how long it took for me to get this, and I still wondered if I''d even use it, as my [Sub Cores] could do the job for me with far greater efficiency. I was also on the verge of a breakthrough with [Fire Magic], and Dewi was practically bouncing with anticipation for the day he could witness me casting my first [Fireball] spell. I had always thought [Water Magic] would get to five first, but Dewi had other plans with tutoring boosts. While I didn''t get as much numeric evidence of progress while training [Fire Magic], I did, however, get experience with adding the [Heat] property to all my current fire spells, raising their temperature and thus their damage significantly. I knew I could add it to my future spells with a little effort and without Dewi''s guidance. In private, I tested out fully empowering one of my newly modified spells with the aid of my [Sub-Cores] and was startled when the flames started to turn blue! And, in my own time, I managed to unlock the next level of [Ice Magic] and complete my Ice weakness debuff, called [Frigid]. The new spell seemed simple in that it would create a patch of clear frozen ice, a deceptive trap to cause an enemy to slip up, but it also revealed to me a brand new spell component of placing a sustained magical effect on the terrain. I immediately wonder about applications such as creating a patch of fire or acid. ''Or maybe frozen acid? Would that work? Would you slip, make more contact with the acid, and then melt? I have no idea, but it''s worth exploring eventually!'' I had also decided to see if Dewi''s crazy training method had any merit in an effort to raise my [Magic Resistance (Lesser)] trait. Unfortunately, the magic I had access to I had gained from consuming other types of slimes, meaning that I was inherently resistant to my own spells. While I could pick and choose between turning on [Acid Slime] or raising and lowering my temperature through [Blaze Slime] and [Cryo Slime], respectively, the resistances those traits gave my core weren''t optional. The most effective and restrained method I found was exposing my core and then keeping a sustained [Kindle] spell directly under it. ''I mean... It makes sense. Why would you want to suddenly become weaker to fire? Even without [Pain Suppression], it feels more like a slightly uncomfortable tickle, and it takes ages before my health drops at all. Gone are the days where I nearly boiled to death.'' While the slower change of pace felt a little odd to me, I knew that from their perspective, there was a good chance that we wouldn''t meet again for a long time since their group was disbanding and going their separate ways. Whitney was staying for another month or two before moving to the capital, and Roderick would be settling down, eager to spend quieter days with his future wife. Meanwhile, Evan and Dewi would return home, grab their things, leave for the capital together, and go to the church and Mage''s Guild, respectively, marking the end of their shared adventures. Also, I received word from Lisa through Luke that they had found the underground tunnel complex built by the orcs and killed the few stragglers who tried returning to it before ultimately destroying the entire thing with the help of a Geomancer. The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Close to their day of departure, Roderick burst into the room with a grin on his face. "There''s a monster stampede in the forest, and I snagged us the quest to dispatch the cause." Whitney and Dewi cheered while I looked at him questioningly. "Monster stampede?" "Monsters are fleeing the southern forest; remember we encountered a lot of fresh spawns? All the recent deaths in there must have caused a bottleneck in the essence, which collated into spawning a higher-tier monster," Roderick explained. While everyone chuckled at the comment, I raised my hand, "Actually... That might be possible." "I didn''t know you suddenly added Monster Tamer to your repertoire. You were really busy while we were after the smugglers," Roderick laughed. "I haven''t." I corrected him, "It''s an elf trait. Although I can''t guarantee success." "Works for me. It''s better than running around the forest for days and hoping we find whatever the cause is. No offense, Whitney," Dewi said. "I''m sorry. I don''t see your beloved fireball finding the monster for us." Whitney said sarcastically. "Well..." Dewi said, scratching his head, "I could set the forest on fire, and if it burns down, we should be able to find the monster easier, assuming it survives." Evan slapped Dewi on the head, "No. Stop trying to solve everything with fire." "Five gold, he tries to solve his application to the Mage''s Guild by setting the paper on fire," Whitney said with a cheeky grin. "Ha! You''d be robbing me with such an unfair bet like that." Roderick responded with a bellow of a laugh. The next day, we attempted our plan. Although Whitney had an idea, the hardest part was capturing a low-level beast without killing it. When we encountered a small pack of wolves fleeing, Whitney disappeared in a blur, appearing behind the wolf and striking it with the pommel of her dagger. The monster''s body practically crumpled to the ground, and the others scampered away, yelping in terror. "Shit, Whitney, did you kill it in one blow," Dewi said in shock. "I''m pretty sure it''s still alive; now we can tie up its limbs and have Evan heal it." She replied. "Great. Now I''m healing monsters, what''s next?" Evan said with a sigh. I chuckled mentally as, unbeknownst to him, he''d already healed one twice. Once the wolf was secured, Evan cast his healing spell, and when it finally awoke, I attempted to communicate with it. I had mimicked the trait at its maximum level, hoping to overpower the monster through sheer trait levels. When I tried to mentally reach out to the wolf, it shockingly didn''t respond with a voice but with vague images and feelings. I could feel its terror and question why I had captured it. ''Why can plants communicate with words, but this wolf can only communicate in pictures and feelings? Is this wolf dumber than corn, or is this the trait just being stupid?'' I grumbled. This was not at all what I expected. Chapter 96: Follow the Wolf Chapter 96: Follow the Wolf I tried communicating with the wolf verbally, and while it seemed to understand me somewhat, it wasn''t until I attempted thinking in images and feelings that it fully comprehended me. I gave it the picture of it helping us track the monster, to which it responded with horror, and I saw flashes of massive tusks and trees. It seemed the wolf doubted I could beat the monster, to which I responded by mentally giving it images of the monsters I had killed - starting with the salamander, which was easily my most impressive kill. I could feel the wolf''s uncaring for the salamander; it didn''t understand its power, so I continued showing it images of foes. It seemed a little impressed with my killing the bear and badger. Even my mental image of Krutz and Oday wasn''t enough for this stubborn canine. I was getting frustrated at how the wolf seemed uncaring; it was too stupid to realize the threats I had faced. I had thought showing it the wolf I killed would be detrimental, but now I was pissed off. I showed it the Blade Wolf and proudly expressed my feeling of victory over defeating it. I was expecting the wolf to be outraged over me, killing one of its own kind, but surprisingly, it instead sent back feelings of shock and awe. Suddenly, the wolf was sending me images of it declaring me its new alpha, and it was thoroughly impressed. Finally, I requested its aid to find the monster so that I could kill it, and it frantically agreed, and I could feel its sense of pride through the strange communication bond formed from the trait. When I finally looked up from my intense, silent stare-match with the wolf, the others stared at me with unbridled anticipation. "Well?" Dewi asked. "It''s agreed to help lead us to the monster. Also, I got brief flashes of what I think was the monster; I saw trees and tusks." "That''s half helpful. Tusks probably means a boar-type monster. As for trees... I mean, we are surrounded by them," Roderick replied. "Well, I''m certainly not afraid of any trees. Trees fear me." Dewi cackled. Despite their trust in me and the trait, everyone was cautious before we released the wolf. If it so much as snapped at someone aggressively, Whitney was prepared to end it with an instant [Sneak Attack]. Behind the scenes, I had convinced the wolf that the others were part of my pack, and it seemed eager for us to kill the threat in the forest. As the tension mounted, I could see the relief wash over their faces when the wolf flopped onto its legs and shook itself like a wet dog. "I can''t believe this is working," Evan said, shaking his head. The wolf sent me images of running and following, and I told the group. Then we started running after it deeper into the forest. I felt bad for Roderick, whose armor was clanking with every step, but despite it all, he had a cheesy grin plastered on his face. "Wait till Harris hears about this." I overheard him chuckling to himself. ''Those extra levels in [Perception] have certainly made a difference.'' We were moving well until the wolf abruptly stopped and started growling. Images of danger and enemies flooded my mind, and I quickly warned the group. "The wolf senses danger; I''m unsure if it''s our target." Everyone drew their weapons, and Whitney and I activated our respective stealth skills. Meanwhile, Roderick stood in front, directing attention towards himself as he rattled his mace against his shield. Then we spotted what the wolf was snarling at¡ªa giant walking tree! "Oh, it''s a treant!" Dewi cheered. "Syl, debuff it with [Flammable], please!" I followed through with his request, landing a solid sixty percent fire weakness debuff on the target thanks to [Subtle Afflictions]. If I had empowered it, it would have been almost one hundred! ''I wonder if it goes above one hundred. I hope so; otherwise, I''ll have reached the limit at the next level of [Fire Magic].'' "[Fireball]!" Dewi cast, and an explosion of flame erupted from where the walking tree was. "One shot!" Dewi exclaimed, cackling with delight. "The monster is ahead. I sent the wolf away." "Thank the Gods, this last leg of the journey hasn''t been fun." Roderick sighed before drinking from his canteen. "It wasn''t that bad." Whitney shrugged, looking no worse for wear. "So. What''s the plan?" Evan asked. "I''m fine with anything, but combining my spells and Syl''s debuff seems like a recipe for success." Dewi grinned. "Right. We ran into one treant, so we can assume more. Dewi and Syl, your first priority will be to take out any treants while I grab the target''s attention." Roderick started explaining. "Whitney will deal damage safely from behind while I hold aggro; as soon as you two are done clearing out the minions, you can join us in hopefully finishing the monster." "I''ll give us all a general buff and then focus on avoiding attacks and preventing or healing damage from the target. I''m assuming you two won''t need any help with treants," Evan said. "Nope. We should be able to make short work of them." Dewi said confidently. "Agreed. Focus on the true threat. I''ll also be sure to land at least one debuff on the target; it should help." I said. "Excellent!" Roderick said with a toothy smile. Roderick took the front position while Whitney and I faded into the background with our stealth skills. Dewi took the rear, with Evan placed in between. Much to Roderick''s relief, the forest suddenly opened up into a spare clearing without a single rooted tree, and the reason became apparent when we gazed in and spotted a platoon of treants guarding an extremely large boar monster. The boar monster had bark for skin and was a fearsome sight to behold. Its rough, brown exterior resembled an age-worn tree, making it blend in seamlessly with the forest surroundings. Its razor-sharp tusks protruded from its snout, glinting dangerously in the sunlight. The creature was massive, on par with the Bear Matriarch I had fought with the goblins. The boar''s bark-like skin looked surprisingly resilient, offering protection against most mundane attacks. Its size, strength, and bizarre appearance made it an intimidating opponent. "A unique monster," Roderick said in a hushed breath. "Unique?" I whispered softly. "It''s a pretty rare phenomenon outside of dungeons," Dewi answered. "The buildup of essence has spawned a fully formed monster of a higher tier than normally possible. Usually, monsters follow evolution paths or gain a mutation, but in cases like this, they''ve crafted a unique being from scratch." "We''re lucky it spawned in such a low-level area; it''s had no chance to gain any additional levels since spawning." Evan pointed out. "True. But just because it''s level one, don''t underestimate it. It''s spawned in with skills and traits at a certain level." Dewi cautioned. "Although another benefit is that it won''t have had much time to practice and understand its abilities, it will likely be fueled entirely by instinct, which obviously has its own unpredictability, but at least we won''t need to worry about a scheming monster that can plot and deceive." "Everyone''s going to be so jealous," Whitney said happily. "Aye. This will be a lovely feather in my cap before becoming a Guild Master. I can''t wait to rub it in Harris'' face." Roderick chuckled. I was also very excited, and [Dissection] quivered in anticipation; a unique monster meant lots of unique and rare resources, and I couldn''t wait to harvest them. The profile would also be tantalizing, although I suspected Nature Affinity would be required judging by the creature''s pronounced name. Chapter 97: Fireball Chapter 97: Fireball "Give me a few minutes'' headstart to cast my debuffs. Everything goes undetected, and I get a bonus if I do it from stealth." I requested. "Sounds like a good idea," Roderick said, turning towards Whitney. Whitney nodded, "I agree, and I vouch for her stealth skills; no way that monster is detecting her." "Start with the treants, then I''ll open with a [Fireball] to drag them away," Dewi said. "And I''ll taunt the boar," Roderick added, gesturing to his massive tower shield. "Before you go, let me cast my buff," Evan said, and we gathered in a tight circle around him. We were all enveloped in a brief light, and I saw a new condition added to my profile. "It''s a luck bonus; it helps with accuracy and evasion." He explained. "Thanks. It won''t take long. Then we can get this fight started." I said and stealthily maneuvered into position. When I had a good line of sight of all the monsters, I started weaving my spells, landing [Flammable] one by one on each treant. Then I started casting an empowered [Erode] on the boar, hoping to debuff its physical defense for Whitney and Roderick. ''It should be an exciting thing to see. I hope they appreciate it.'' It all landed successfully, and our foes were none the wiser. I was in the middle of empowering [Flammable] to cast on the boar when the group erupted from the clearing, and I heard Dewi and Roderick shout out in tandem. "[Fireball]!" "[Taunt]!" ''Shit. I should have cast [Flammable] on the boar first.'' The fireball crashed against the boar''s head and erupted in an explosion of flame; it was a notably larger explosion, but from how I witnessed the mana flowing, Dewi must have sacrificed some damage for a wider area of effect. Both immediately darted in the opposite direction, and then I successfully cast my spell. ''Of course, now you have decided to level up. Well, not like an extra minute duration would matter in the grand scheme of things.'' As expected, the treants rushed towards Dewi, unhappy about being partially on fire. The boar let out a guttural roar as it charged towards Roderick. It clashed against his giant shield, and his feet dug into the ground, being slightly pushed backward. Appearing from nowhere, Whitney abruptly appeared above the boar''s head, dual-wielding her two daggers and plummeting down, stabbing them into the back of its head before retracting them and disappearing again with a skill I recognized. ''[Wind Step]. I''m so jealous.'' I changed position to chase after the treants, shambling towards Dewi, leaving the other three to deal with the boar while we cleaned up the angry trees. Dewi raised his palm and launched another spell, "[Fireball]!" which again detonated in a larger explosion. The tree directly hit seemed to falter after being caught in two explosions, but Dewi must have continued to prioritize the area of effect over direct damage as it wasn''t dead yet. ''Or perhaps he''s conserving mana to deal with the boar since these are only minions.'' I joined the fray and cast two of my improved [Fire Arrow] spells from behind at two treants in the rear, both only slightly empowered to prevent going into blue flame territory. [Sneak Attack], [Flammability], and being weakened by two [Fireball] spells meant two dead treants. x2 Dewi grinned and gave me a thumbs-up before responding with three of his own [Fire Arrow] spells. One targeted the severely weakened treant and killed it, while the other two converged on a single treant and also killed it. x2 "Dewi!" I exclaimed excitedly. "Great. I''ll stick to [Fire Arrow] for now, then." While I doubted I''d use any ice or water spells against a monster so clearly weak to fire, I still wanted the debuffs present when I tried out the [Decay] spell. I was quick to apply both [Permeable] and [Frigid] to the monster, and then I rushed in close to cast [Combust]. In retaliation, a series of roots burst from the ground and tried to impale me, but I effortlessly dodged them. Afterward, the roots kept trying to grab at me, and I got a sense of reverse de?ja? vu as it reminded me of when I tried to kill the Blade Wolf with my tendrils. "How the hell is it targetting me so well with these roots while clearly focusing on Roderick?" I asked aloud. "It''s a root monster!" Roderick answered before blocking another blow and smashing his mace against the boar with a resounding clang. "Well, that''s annoying," I said, waving my hand and casting both [Fire Arrow] and [Combust]. The roots writhed in pain as they burnt, but I was happy to keep dodging while they burnt to death. Whitney had swapped her strategy to go for the boar''s limbs to reduce movement, cutting huge gashes against its tendons. Root monsters also spawned to try to grab her, but she was gone before they even emerged. Her hit-and-run tactics were remarkable, although very energy-intensive. I tried casting [Poison Mist] a few times for another affliction, but it seemed that unless I targeted its face, it wouldn''t apply. An open wound might have also worked, but it patched those up so abruptly I didn''t have a chance. With five empowered afflictions on it, I decided to finally cast [Decay]. I tried empowering the spell, but it refused any additional mana in a way I had never seen before. ''I guess that makes sense? It does a set amount of damage by purging all afflictions on the target, '' I thought before casting the spell. From my perspective, a swirl of purple mana surrounded the monster before vanishing. The boar suddenly screamed in pain and partially collapsed from the unexpected damage it took. "Holy shit! It just lost a crapton of life out of nowhere!" Evan exclaimed suddenly. "It must have been a lot to cause you to swear. What happened?" Roderick chuckled, releasing another solid blow that let out a resounding crunch. "The hell, did it just get tougher? I used a skill but did less damage." "Ah! I''m sorry I purged its debuffs. I''ll cast them again!" I apologized and immediately worked on casting [Erode] again. "What? Why?" Whitney shouted, looking disgruntled as her blade didn''t penetrate as deep. "The spell deals damage based on the number of afflictions on the target. I''d never cast it before, but it seemed appropriate." I explained, casting my spell, "[Erode] is up again! [Flammable] is coming up next!" "Good to know!" Roderick shouted, repeating his previous action and grinning in satisfaction. "That''s probably a spell you should call out," Dewi suggested, forming multiple [Fire Arrow] spells and holding them back until [Flammable] was applied again. The boar was struggling to stand up, so I handed over the [Flammable] spell to my [Sub-Cores] to complete while I rapidly cast [Ice Patch] under it. The ground beneath it was coated in a slick layer of ice, and it fell over itself again. Roderick laughed joyously and began rapidly pounding at the boar with his mace. "[Flammable] is back up! Also, I froze the ground under its feet; It should stop it from moving around for a bit." I exclaimed after my [Sub Cores] finished casting the debuff. Dewi wasted no time and flung all his flaming arrows at the boar, each causing wails of pain and rage. "Good job, lass, you''re learning on the job!" Roderick said proudly. "It''s close to death. If you can repeat that spell from earlier, I think it will finish it off!" Evan shouted. "I will do that. But how can you tell it''s close to death?" I asked while preparing to cast the debuffs again after quickly casting another [Combust] and setting the oversized pig on fire again. "I have a trait that lets me see lifeforce. It''s meant to be used for healing, but it can also be used like this." "Please show me that trait!" I begged. "Sure? It''s your trait point to waste." Evan replied, confused at the sudden request. "But please focus on the giant boar trying to kill us first!" "Ha! And you were upset that you were the only one not teaching her anything. Looks like you got your wish." Dewi teased. Chapter 98: Frosty Chapter 98: Frosty The pig was not happy about being assaulted while slipping and sliding, all thanks to the icy ground below it. It thrashed around and tried to gore whoever possible with its elongated tusks, but Roderick ensured his shield was in place every time to block it. Despite the absolute beating that shield was taking, it looked only minorly dented; likely, it was enchanted and undoubtedly boosted by a skill or two from Roderick. Whitney''s voice rang out with excitement, "This creature is so helpless; I''ve triggered [Sneak Attack] enough times to even gain a skill level!" Likely sensing that its own efforts weren''t helping, it seemed to call out to the forest again, a burst of green mana flowing throughout, and then a heavy creaking of wood could be heard. Trees were freshly animated as treants and uprooting themselves to aid their creator. "If we kill the pig, the treants should return to normal," Dewi suggested, not entirely confidently. We would find out shortly, as the final two debuffs landed upon the boar, and then I began casting [Decay] again as fast as possible. When the spell was completed, the scene repeated, and suddenly, the boar shuddered as it took the unseen magical blow internally. Evan was the first to cheer, obviously having seen its lifeforce plummet firsthand. We joined in with the celebration, but the boar let out a guttural squeal that chilled me to the core. "It must have [Defy Death]; get back!" I shouted in warning. The boar seemed to grow in size and, in its increasing thrashing, nearly gored Roderick, but with his good instincts and perhaps my warning, he managed to block it with his shield in time. There was a horrific metal rending sound, and Roderick was sent tumbling backward, his beloved shield nearly folded in half where the boar had struck. "Shit. Roderick, you okay?" Whitney asked, appearing by his side. "Just got the shit kicked out of me, but I''ll live." He responded. Now that everyone was out of melee range with the boar, I rapidly increased the area of the frozen ground. Worse, I could see it building Nature mana below the ground, obviously trying to use roots to free itself from its slippery situation. "What''s the plan, Syl?" Dewi asked, seeming unsure of the trait I mentioned. "From my perspective, it should be dead," Evan shouted while running towards Roderick, a healing spell primed and ready. "We need to expire its extra lives. I think it''s combining [Defy Death] with a [Rage] skill or something to give an immense last stand." I explained while putting extra effort into reinforcing the frozen ground, as now roots were trying to break through. "It''s trying to free itself with roots, I''m reinforcing the ice to stop it." I had one of my [Sub-Cores] cast [Poison Mist] by its head, and the affliction applied after some time. I could also see the boar''s mana aura plummeting at a rather rapid pace. "Shit. [Rage] skills usually scale based on low health." Dewi muttered, glancing at the damage Roderick''s shield had taken. "We can''t fight it directly; you keeping it trapped until it finally dies is the best option." "We''ll need to deal with the treants then," Whitney said, appearing next to us. "They were heading towards the boar, but now it seems like they are targetting Syl. We''ll need to protect her from the angry trees." "Great, I get to burn some more trees!" Dewi chuckled. Roderick had equipped a smaller backup shield, and the party had reformed and started assaulting the approaching trees. I could only be grateful that the trees weren''t built for speed, as this gave them plenty of opportunity to hopefully be dealt with. Dewi was throwing caution to the wind now and was prepared to run out of mana; he chugged a blue potion and started flinging [Fireball] spells rapidly at his own group of trees. Roderick must have used a group taunt as he managed to pull four treants to himself and began parrying and smashing with his mace. Whitney took a low stance before dashing forward. Her daggers seemed to have an elongated coating that I recognized as Air mana. Each swing of her blades as she twisted and parkoured through the treants ripped large chunks of bark out of them. Most surprising of all was Evan. Never once had I seen the healer do anything besides support, but he pulled out a small golden dagger and made a slashing motion through the air. "[Smite]!" He exclaimed, and the dagger shone with a brilliant light before a golden blade of energy appeared above one of the treants and cut down into it. He repeated the process; the golden immaterial blade would form and cut deep into the trees each time. The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. "I hate this spell. It costs far too much mana for what it does!" Evan complained. Roderick was the first to break the silence, "Did we all just get an Emblem?" "I believe so. That''s an unexpected surprise." Evan said. "Everyone''s going to be so jealous!" Dewi chuckled, "We gotta all equip it before we return to the guild, then walk in together." "Forget the Emblem. I finally unlocked Assassin!" Whitney said, positively beaming. "Congrats!" "Well done!" "About time!" Everyone cheered respectively. "Anyone else get anything good?" Roderick asked curiously. "I got a revelation for [Arcane Magic]," I answered, "I''m assuming this is why you told me to stick to Sorcerer until ten?" Dewi replied by giving a thumbs-up to my answer. "Well... Now we just need to defrost our prize. I''m assuming you''ll harvest it for us, Syl?" "Gladly," I replied. "I''m sure Dewi won''t mind melting the ice for us," Evan said. "Guys, have you read the Emblem?" Dewi asked, a grin starting to appear on his face. There was a moment of silence as we all took a moment to read it. Achieved by defeating a Nature-based Unique Monster, or over 200 Plant Monsters. Deal 20% bonus damage to Plant Monsters or Nature Constructs. Equipping this emblem will cause Fear (Lesser) to all Plant Monsters.> "Do you know what that means?" Dewi asked. "It''s a pretty good bonus," Whitney answered. "No," Dewi replied, still grinning wildly. Suddenly, Evan''s eyes widened, and he shook his head, "Oh Gods no..." Dewi, now having a victim to his joke, suddenly laughed loudly, "Now, the trees really will fear me!" Evan groaned, but Whitney and I couldn''t help but chuckle, and even Roderick struggled to hold back a smile. Chapter 99: Triumphant Return Chapter 99: Triumphant Return Once Dewi had replenished his mana, he set to work on melting the ice. The rest of us, in the meantime, rummaged through the treants'' remains, hoping to find any salvageable pieces of wood. Dewi, our resident expert, enlightened us about the unique properties of treant wood. He revealed that the wood underwent a permanent transfiguration during the transformation into a treant, making it an invaluable material for crafting staves and bows. I managed to gather enough broken bits to consume. With great care, I initiated the consumption process within myself, feeling the power of the treant profile unlock. ''Lots of overlap with this profile and the [Plant Horror],'' I grumbled mentally, ''I hope that boar has something nice.'' The best trait was [Ironbark], which made its bark as hard as reinforced iron, which clearly was why we were harvesting them. Strangely enough, despite being as hard as iron, it kept its vulnerability to fire. I took a moment to comprehend the new form of magic I had just learned. It seemed that this magic was based on the fundamentals of pure mana rather than an element. This first spell would let me manipulate objects by surrounding them with my raw mana; however, the efficiency was greatly improved if the object contained my mana. It sounded like I finally had a good use for [Mana Infusion] other than pretending to be an elemental. When Dewi noticed me sifting through the treant remains using my new spell, he beamed, "I told you it was something good, and if you get it to two or three, it gives you a defensive spell." "You don''t know? Surely you''d have it already." I asked curiously. Dewi chuckled nervously as he scratched his cheek, "I don''t actually have the skill... It says my mana isn''t pure enough." "I would have thought you''d have enough... I mean, with all the spells you fling around." I questioned again. "True, but you''ve failed to notice that I only fling around fire spells with reckless abandon." He chuckled, but I could sense it was self-deprecating. "Fire is all I''ve got. Even when I took Air affinity for my ascension, it was extremely impure, and I have to only assume I''ll have the same luck with my level twenty ascension." "I''m sorry..." I said nervously; I hadn''t seen anything besides his fiery confidence, which was extremely jarring. "If you get enough levels in [Mana Well] or fuse it into [Soul Mastery], would that not help?" Dewi smiled, much more reminiscent of his usual self. "That''s the plan; leveling them up is just an absolute pain. I''ve been using trait points to speed up the process, but it''s still taking forever. It''s also why I want to join the Mage''s Guild and see their available resources." My [Mana Slime] trait clearly did much more for me than I realized. I knew it was the main source of my ludicrous capacity. Still, if it was also raising the purity of my mana and thus all my other affinities, then perhaps that explained why I''d gain a new affinity just from absorbing another slime core. If all red slimes could use [Fire Magic], it would surely have said so in their evolution profile or the adventurer''s book I read. ''Is this why Gramps had me start as a blue slime rather than a green slime?'' I wondered. ''I know he picked a slime because he wanted traits to get more attention, but I''d always considered [Acid Slime] a vastly superior trait. Heck, look at [Poison Slime] and being able to build a sample list; no other trait even comes close to the complexity of that one.'' Unfortunately, we were too far out to return without camping for another night. Dewi convinced me to swap to the new emblem so we could all brag about it on our return. During our evening watch, Dewi also requested that I keep casting [Flammable] on him. When I asked for a good reason, he explained that by lowering his resistance, he would earn more experience towards his next level of [Fire Resistance], as without it, he was too close to immunity that he was earning nothing. I agreed and made a mental note to do the same to improve my [Magic Resistance (Lesser)]. When we exited the forest the next day, we confirmed with any groups we saw that the job was complete. Roderick was the liaison, while Dewi proudly showed off his new emblem. There were hints of jealousy from some of the groups, but any ill-will was quickly squashed when the source of the threat was explained. In reality, what was originally advertised as a mid-level silver threat had clearly been an upper-silver or lower-gold. ''Sorry Lisa, I bet that''s more paperwork for you.'' Eventually, Evan pleaded for me to keep Dewi occupied, as his bragging had rapidly become obnoxious and was liable to cause a feud. Luckily, my choice of distraction was beneficial to me, as I had him help me add [Heat] to [Fireball] and [Combust], the latter of which was exceptionally tricky due to its dual nature, and it kept him fully distracted until we finally reached Kaerlin. I tried to give the quest hand in a skip, as it was Roderick''s duty as the party leader and quest-taker, but I was dragged along to show off our group''s success. The final straw for me giving in was realizing that this might be Roderick''s last big quest as a full party. He''d probably do the odd quest or two that required his rank, especially if that forest spawned something nasty again, but everyone else was moving on while he was settling down. We entered the guild hall like returning champions, and I instinctively felt myself reaching out to [Vanish] and trying to slink into the shadows before Whitney grabbed my arm. My fellow rogue didn''t seem to share my love of working from the shadows, and she also relished in the attention. I could only be grateful that Dewi''s antics and Rodericks''s general loudness kept the eyes mostly off of me. Evan and I exchanged helpless glances; at least I wasn''t alone in my suffering. I graciously let Roderick handle all the explanations; my only contribution to this social encounter was withdrawing the harvested monster materials. During the cheers and shouts, Luke approached me and pulled me aside. "First, well done, Miss Syl." He said politely. "Thanks, Luke. I don''t know how they do that." I replied, gesturing to the showboating between the trio. I spotted Evan sitting quietly in a corner, nursing a drink. "A lot of adventurers are in it for the glory." Luke said with an apologetic smile, "But anyway, what I called you for is I have some good news for you." "Oh? Did you manage to find another slime core for me?" I asked, hopeful. Luke winced at the question, "Sorry, no... But I''ve met your other request; there''s a bounty out to kill a pair of griffins spotted raiding the western roads." I couldn''t help but immediately smile, "Sign me up, Luke." Chapter 100: Next Steps Chapter 100: Next Steps Luke gave me the details of where the griffins were last spotted; the direction I had in my head from the quest was further west than I expected. He also gave me a short briefing on what to expect; it sounded like it was just a big lion bird to me. He said I could hopefully lure it in with some fresh meat and even suggested I consider buying a small animal to act as bait. As much as I would have liked to rush off and try to find them immediately, I wanted to recuperate a little and say goodbye to the others. There was a good chance I wouldn''t see Dewi and Evan again until I visited this so-called capital, as I wanted to try heading towards the floating island as soon as I got a proper form of flight. I then headed to sit with Evan, opting out of the retelling of the battle and copious amounts of drinking. "I noticed you in conversation with Luke. Are you already planning your next adventure?" Evan inquired, his first drink still mostly untouched. "Pretty much. I had asked him to keep an eye out for any large flying monster quests, and he reserved one for me that came in while we were out." I answered. Evan grimaced, "I hate flying monsters... Some intelligent ones know to target healers, but you can''t exactly body-block something that flies." "It''s a pair of griffins. They didn''t sound too bad from the briefing." "Nope. Griffins aren''t too bad, just territorial, and tend to flee when wounded." "What flying monster did you deal with?" "Harpies..." He said and finally took a drink. "Can''t say I''ve heard of them." "Think bird woman; an apt comparison would be flying female orcs." "Oh..." I murmured. "Yes. I nearly got captured if not for Whitney having a good aim with her knives." Evan chuckled, "Although the landing was not fun. First time I had to heal my own broken legs." "A perfectly valid reason to want to avoid flying monsters." "I''m glad you haven''t lost all your commonsense to Dewi," Evan chuckled. We chatted a bit more before I remembered to ask him to show me that lifeforce talent. Evan seemed genuinely surprised I would want such a talent. "Seriously, while it has its rare moments of usefulness against monsters, it''s primarily used for healing." Evan tried to warn me. "Until you reach level three, the range is abysmal, and you must be face-to-face with a monster. And until higher levels, you basically can only differentiate between alive or dead." "Even so... I''m sure I''ll eventually find a use for it. And it''s only one trait point, hardly worth having buyer remorse." "Only one trait point, she says..." Evan sighed, facepalming, "Then again, I suppose you do have more race levels than most adventurers well into their advanced classes." See the flow of life in other beings. Trait level determines the applicable range and the ability to determine variations in lifeforce. A sufficient trait level can allow penetrating through the lifeless.> I didn''t hesitate to purchase the trait; I still hoped to gather a bunch of sense-related traits and combine them into some super omni-sense. Also, detecting life was an advantage of one of my mutation options, and now I was getting it for free. "Thanks, Evan," I replied with a smile. "It''s your point to waste." He sighed, "Activate the trait, and you''ll see why." I nodded and activated the trait, seeing a reddish aura around only Evan. I examined him up and down and tried glancing at other people at a distance but couldn''t see anything. "As I said, it''s really bad at low levels. Because you can see my lifeforce aura, that means I''m alive, and that''s all you can detect at this level. Eventually, you''ll be able to see when the aura diminishes as someone who''s injured." "I see... Well, it''s something to work towards. How much can you determine?" "I can determine if someone is at full health, below half, or on the verge of death. Next level should give me another in between full and half." I thanked him for the explanation and decided to just leave the skill on permanently for now. I had plenty of mental processing to spare and always had the option to delegate it to a [Sub-Core]. I was correct in predicting that the drinks at the guild wouldn''t be the end, and we went to a restaurant situated along the inner wall for a celebratory feast. It was an enjoyable evening. The party retold some of their time adventuring together and discussed their futures. Out of all the parties who could have found me in the goblin camp, I was glad it was them. The next morning, I woke early and headed to the adventurers guild. I was happy treating the last evening as my farewell to the group, and I was sure I''d run into them again. I took the first available staff member and requested a class change, and after paying the small fee, I swapped back to [Shadowcaster]. Once I left the city, I started practicing my magic again. I had a lot to work on, so I appropriately distributed the tasks amongst all my [Sub-Cores]. I honestly didn''t expect a flying monster so soon, but a lot had happened since I started making my initial plans. I thought I''d have more time but couldn''t risk losing this opportunity, so getting it out of the way now would be better. I could always spend as much time as I wanted on the island and just fly back. Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. ''I could just live on the island for a while; there was no time limit on that dungeon Lisa wanted me to do.'' I thought happily, as it would be refreshing just being a simple slime again. I noted the gold coins I never used in my storage; I had wanted to experiment with creating a different persona and figured I''d need funds outside my adventurer tag. ''I even thought of the perfect name for my disguise, Sylvester.'' I chuckled to myself. Sylvester would be an older gentleman, borrowing a lot from that cleric I had fought as a goblin and stealing some mannerisms from Gramps. I had planned on having a big old wizard beard and would have pretended to be a sorcerer. I had thought joining the adventurer''s guild for a second time would be too risky, so I could join the merchants guild instead and maybe try out one of the crafting classes. Moonlighting as an old sorcerer looking to get into alchemy or enchanting sounded like a reasonable excuse. ''Well, nothing is stopping me from doing that after the floating island. I could rejoin the city as Sylvester rather than Syl. As long as my guild tag says I''m alive, I think they shouldn''t worry too much.'' The travelers I saw along the road gave me a wide berth, wary of someone openly practicing magic, although the ones with children pointed and stared in amazement, and I would always give them an extra flourish to show off. Between [Arcane Hand] floating objects and making shapes with [Kindle] or [Water Orb], I was quite the impromptu performer. Speaking of magic, I had decided to set aside [Fire Magic] for now. It was by far my most advanced thanks to Dewi''s aid, and the rest now desperately needed to catch up. If I combined [Flammable] with [Combust] and a [Fireball], I don''t think there is much that would survive. At the moment, [Water Magic] felt like I had hit a bit of a dead-end. I had tried repurposing [Combust] into a water spell, but something about the concept of water didn''t mesh well with the damage over time aspect of the spell. I''d need to find another concept or something to merge with it, and I figured that progressing further in [Ice Magic] would likely be the solution as the interactions I saw between water and [Cryo Slime] showed a lot of promise. [Corrosion Magic] still felt like one of my strongest options, and creating a new debuff and affliction was always my immediate priority. While I was using it in a more supportive role for my other affinities, I had two ideas I was experimenting with; creating an acidic affliction and a poisonous debuff. Both were possible, but portioning out the specifics for the individual components of Corrosion was the tricky part, and I hoped I''d gain a level in [Mana Manipulation] soon to help me progress. This difficulty was inherent to working with one mana type; when I combine Fire and Corrosion, it''s like working with oil and water, and they don''t try to inherently mix. However, working with the individual components that make up Corrosion is like combining different colors of water and preventing them from just blending together. I needed to work with the separate red and blue colors; letting them mix to create purple was not an option. ''And that''s not even taking into account Necrotic damage...'' I mentally grumbled. I had tried to tap into that aspect of Corrosion a few times, but anything that made up the [Decay] spell was far beyond my current comprehension. It made me wonder if it should have been a higher-level spell or if this was just something inherent to all forms of intermediate magic. [Slime Conversion LV 4] Attributes/Other: [Soul Mastery LV 6] [Enhanced Vitality LV 4] [Magic Resistance (Lesser) LV 4] [Defy Death LV 3] [Prodigy] Senses: [Olfactory Sense] [Dark Vision LV MAX] [Mana Conception LV 5] [Life Sight LV 2] [Thermal Vision LV MAX] Trait Points remaining: 9 Skills: General: [Universal Language] [Equipment Swap] [Dissection LV 6] [Mapping LV 4] [Tracking LV 1] [Identify LV 4] [Multitasking LV 2] [Perception LV 4] Combat: [Evasion LV 4] [Attack Mastery (Lesser) LV 6] [Affliction Mastery LV 4] Magic: [Water Magic LV 4] [Fire Magic LV 5] [Corrosion Magic LV 4] [Ice Magic LV 2] [Arcane Magic LV 1] [Mana Manipulation LV 4] [Mana Suppression] [Magic Efficiency LV 3] [Meditate] [Ritual Casting] Sneaky: [Vanish LV 5] [Sneak Attack LV 5] [Identity Fabrication LV 6] [Acting LV 4] [Rogue Expertise LV 4] [Subtle Afflictions] Skill Points remaining: 12 Chapter 101: Bait Chapter 101: Bait "I can''t believe she left without saying goodbye. I swear she''s like a cat." Whitney complained. "Ha! Perhaps we should put a bell on her then." Roderick chuckled. "I tried that. Unfortunately, her new armor would probably stop us from hearing it," Whitney moaned, her voice tinged with disappointment. "Perhaps she just doesn''t like saying goodbye," Evan suggested. "And it''s not like this is final. You''ll see her again when she gets back." "Yeah, think of poor Evan and me. We won''t see her again until she decides to visit us in the capital." Dewi pointed out. "Hopefully, by then, I''ll be a respected member of the Mage''s Guild. I can put in a good word and officially recruit her myself, earning me some bonus points." "Assuming there''s a guild left after you join them. I''m predicting smoldering ruins in a month." Whitney joked. "No, no. I''m pretty sure the building is reinforced against magic." Dewi replied, scratching his chin in thought. "Maybe I shouldn''t travel with you." Evan muttered, "Wouldn''t want to risk being thrown into prison as an accomplice to arson." I woke up the next morning feeling amazingly refreshed, which is hilarious, considering I was in a hole in the ground. Despite the minimal mental tax of holding a form, returning to slime for a good night''s rest just couldn''t be beat. ''Maybe I should buy myself a big, fancy bathtub, the ultimate slime bed.'' I pondered the idea, ''Although I''ll need to work more on getting my [Core Storage] to the next level. I can''t believe I''ve run out of space...'' I peeked into my storage, almost entirely occupied by an ocean of slime. While debating what to do, I came to a realization. ''Wait. Is this even my maximum compression anymore? [Slime Density] was integrated into [Morph Slime] and gained an extra level or two...'' I started withdrawing portions of my slime and tried compressing it again. Some of it was already at the new maximum, clearly generated after the trait fusion, while a large amount was still at the old maximum. I had automated the process of dumping excess slime into storage so long ago that I had completely forgotten about needing to do any maintenance. ''Alright, let''s set my [Sub-Cores] to sift through all the slime and recompress it. Goodluck!'' I mentally cheered at being able to delegate the work. This had the added benefit of working towards my next [Core Storage] and [Morph Slime] level, as they would need to withdraw it to compress it further. ''It''s too bad I can''t interact with my internal inventory. That would be certainly handy, or maybe that''s a feature at a higher level?'' I continued walking along the path toward my mental quest marker. It was extremely early in the morning, so I had the road to myself. I occasionally observed the progress my [Sub-Cores] made with the task, and I wondered if perhaps I had given them a potentially endless task - how would they differentiate between the slime confirmed at maximum density and not? "In the worst case, I could try to use the bug wings and hope it''s enough. Maybe if I just create like ten of them?" I was busy thinking of contingency plans when it finally happened. I was contemplating if I could build a slime pillar towards the island when there was a sudden loud screech, snapping me back to reality. A large shape had swooped down and plucked Beta from the ground; the slime leash rapidly thinned out when it stretched to its maximum before snapping when I didn''t think to expand it quickly enough. "Beta!" I shouted in horror as I saw it falling from the sky like a lifeless blob and splattering on the ground in the distance. Unbeknownst to the griffin, what it thought was a meal had lost its form as soon as it lost connection to me. I hoped Beta survived the fall; otherwise, I''d have to wait until tomorrow to regenerate it. The griffin was climbing high up into the air, preparing for another divebomb. This time, I reinforced the tendril to Alpha and planned on being dragged up with them. Unlike before, I wasn''t going to be caught by surprise as I waited for its inevitable attack. As it appeared again, with a high-pitched screech, I saw it grabbing Alpha. When the griffin started ascending, I retracted the tendril leash and pulled myself towards it. The griffin seemed to notice something was amiss and tried releasing its grip on Alpha. This monster was intelligent enough to attempt to use gravity as its weapon, but I commanded Alpha to grab on. In what I could only assume were panicked screeches as it realized its prey was a predator, Alpha inverted and burst out like a maw clamping shut over its clawed front legs. I had already swapped over to a different profile, deposited my armor, and discarded my disguise, all while the wind rushed past me. Now, as pure slime, I fired all my cores through the tendrils connected to Alpha and watched the slime mass rapidly follow after. ''It''s been a long time since I used the slime grapple. I''m glad it still works.'' I thought happily. The griffin was not happy; it had stopped ascending and instead flapped in place while it tried to rip and tear with its razor-sharp beak. I had Alpha defend with [Acid Slime], and when its attempts to bite were countered by burning pain, it frantically stopped. It immediately did a nosedive and tried aerial maneuvers to shake me off. But with all my cores safe and sound close to its body, I had already begun the process of enveloping its entire body tightly with slime except for its wings. In what must have been a panicked last-ditch effort of barrel rolls, it lost control of its flight and violently crashed to the ground. Its body and my slime scraped across the surface, causing a trail of blood, slime, and feathers. I had wrapped my cores in a pocket of dense slime and set the elasticity to the maximum, hoping it would protect them. Somewhere, through the violent, uncontrolled tumbling across the surface, I received a notification. ''I mean... It kind of killed itself, not that I''m complaining about free experience.'' I gathered my bearings and checked that all my [Sub-Cores] were accounted for. I had lost a lot of slime mass across the ground, but honestly, it felt like a drop in the bucket at this point. I looked at the mangled corpse of the griffin and sighed as [Dissection] berated me for ruining a large portion of its valuable parts. I was surprised that its feathers were considered valuable, but very few were intact after that terrible landing. I let [Dissection] salvage what it could and happily ate the rest. I was excited to review the new profile, but I had a more pressing concern. I needed to check where Beta had fallen. I shifted into a wolf to run faster, and thankfully, [Mapping] made it easy to find my previous location. After a brief search, I saw a blue puddle and a slightly scuffed and cracked apple-green core. I immediately grabbed the core with a tentacle and plunged it into my slimy depths. ''That''s a relief... Sorry about that, Beta.'' I could feel slime mass being used to repair the tiny fractures in the [Sub-Core], but I was just grateful it wasn''t destroyed. ''Now let''s have a look at what that griffin had to offer.'' Chapter 102: First Flight Chapter 102: First Flight The first thing I noticed about the griffin was that it had the trait Whitney had told me about. Increases eyesight by 80% per trait level. In addition, your vision will be protected while moving at high speeds.> I wasted no time purchasing it, immediately trying it out and getting a sort of binocular effect and greater clarity at a distance. I could see why Whitney had coveted the trait and couldn''t wait to show it to her. The other traits were as expected, enhancing its claws or hide. It had a few weird ones to help it survive at high altitudes or protect it from the cold. None of that applied to me as a slime, so I skipped over it. Then, I spotted a single skill and eagerly read its description. Adds systematic corrections to maneuvering while airborne, scaling with skill level. Including but not limited to personal flight, mounted, or acrobatic.> ''This sounds a little insane, doesn''t it? It makes it sound like it kicks in as soon as I''m no longer touching the ground. Maybe even potentially improving my maneuvering with my slime grapple.'' I was about to immediately purchase it but hesitated for a brief moment. A pessimistic thought bubbled up inside. ''I swear, Gramps, if it tells me I need Air affinity for this, we''re no longer friends.'' I felt immediate relief when the error didn''t pop up. Once the information was finished being written to my core, I felt I had a good introductory understanding of how I''d attempt to fly. I wasted no more time and shifted into a copy of the griffin, deciding to start with a working form before I started creating some chimeric form. ''Could I just slap big giant bird wings on the back of my elf form and fly? Although I get the feeling that if I get enough levels in [Aerial Finesse], even if I can''t now, I will eventually be able to do so.'' I started off slow, but eventually, I was mildly airborne, and immediately, I could feel the skill kicking in. Even at level one, I was surprised at the amount of aid it offered. I started off low before gaining some confidence and increasing my ascent. When I heard some screaming below me from a group of travelers. ''Oh shit... I''m showing up as a high-level griffin, aren''t I?'' I thought in dread and started to fly away from the road. Perhaps most strange of all were a few scattered bits of land floating above the primary mass. Most were tiny in size, barely large enough to stand upon. I quickly spotted one that was different and held a singular, massive tree, its roots deep enough to penetrate entirely through and dangling far down enough to nearly reach the primary island below it. I found myself flapping in place in a hover, staring at the scenery. It was spectacular. Should I go to the big tree first? What about those ruins? They might have treasure! The mountain could hold its own secrets; I could spot a cave or two. And who knows what monsters could be hiding inside the forest of rainbow leaves? My daydreaming was rudely interrupted by two identifications pinging in my mind I looked around frantically, worried that they had snuck up upon me, but I realized they were still at a safe distance and not apparently hostile. The two elemental forms floated amongst each other, twisting, twirling, and intertwining like some strange mating dance. The cloud elemental was relatively easy to spot, but the air elemental would have been nearly impossible to see without [Mana Conception]; both housed a glowing vortex of what I assumed was Air mana in the center of their being. That vortex was their true form, like how the rock elementals had a crystal core. ''I get the unfortunate feeling that I won''t be able to eat these two for a profile... This is like those ghosts all over again.'' I grumbled. Judging by the amount of mana contained in their vortexes, I predicted that the cloud elemental was the evolution of the air elemental. I had the feeling I''d probably need to kill them with magic, but I decided to approach in a vain attempt that I might be able to devour them. When I approached the two elementals, they immediately became hostile, much like the rock elementals. The air elemental sent out a buffet of wind against me that ruffled my feathers and threatened to send me in a tumble. Meanwhile, the cloud elemental rapidly approached me, and as I was recovering from my nearly failed flight, it started to surround my head with a dense cloud. I formed a [Pseudopod] and lashed out at it, but as I predicted, it just soared through the cloudy substance. Despite its hostile action, the cloud elemental didn''t appear to be doing anything. I was very confused until I realized it was probably trying to suffocate me. I chuckled as I ordered my cores to fire a basic spell of each affinity at the elemental to see what would harm it, but not before casting all my debuffs first, as I needed all the magic experience I could get. [Water Orb] displaced the cloud, [Acid Dart] soared right through it, [Icicle] didn''t appear to do anything that I could see, and finally, [Fire Arrow] seemed to remove any cloud it flew through, briefly flaring up a little brighter than normal. The elemental made a visible effort to dodge and get as far away from it as possible. ''Looks like they don''t like Fire... Now that I think about it, Dewi did mention that Air feeds Fire, which was why he picked it.'' I quickly cast [Nova] and managed to burn away a large portion of the cloud elemental. It was now rapidly retreating away from me, and I ordered my [Sub-Cores] to aim for its glowing vortex with [Fire Arrows]. Meanwhile, I was buffeted by a burst of wind again by a very angry little Air elemental. I managed to recover from a tailspin and decided to focus on trying to dodge in the air. I glanced briefly at where the cloud elemental was and noticed the vortex of air mana had completely exploded; not a single bit remained of the elemental. ''I hate fighting enemies I can''t eat... Since the air elemental is smaller, let me see if I can''t engulf it.'' I started flying towards the air elemental, which decided to change tactics of attacking me directly rather than attempting to drop me out of the sky. I saw mana gathering into a disc of rotating wind, and it fired it at me. Despite the forewarning and adequate [Evasion] skill, I still didn''t completely dodge the fast-moving disc that tore through my wing. I felt myself plummeting out of control as I regenerated the wing rapidly. ''It''s too bad I don''t have dragon wings. These bird wings are very fragile...'' I recovered from my failing flight just in time to dodge another incoming disc. It was oddly humiliating that I had defeated the evolved monster easily, but now the little air elemental was causing me such grief. I gave up on my plans to swallow it and ordered my [Sub-Cores] to barrage it with [Fire Arrows]. It was aggressively chasing after me now, so I retreated backward while dodging another incoming disc; it was a lot easier to dodge while retreating rather than approaching, and the pesky elemental soon learned that the hard way when a [Fire Arrow] connected with its vortex and it popped in a flash of flame. Chapter 103: Up and Down Chapter 103: Up and Down ''Well, that was annoying. As much as I want to fly to my next destination, let''s land on the edge and slowly progress inward for now. There''s a good chance other flying monsters will attack me if I make myself so visible.'' I flapped down slowly to the island''s edge, my wings beating against the wind. Finally, I landed on the solid ground, a wave of relief washing over me. Just as I was about to appreciate being on solid ground again, two notifications suddenly popped up. ''Landmark?'' I questioned and activated my newly upgraded [Mapping] skill. Looking at my mental map, I could see some places, most notably Stantondale, Kaerlin, and Glimmerock, were now named and marked. Weirdly, the forest, the mine, the farm, or even the goblin cave did not have any names or markings, despite me mentally knowing that was their location. ''Perhaps they aren''t notable enough? Or not specifically named. Hmm...'' I canceled my griffin shape and was partway into transforming into an elf when I stopped it abruptly. Instead, I just reverted to my default slime form, feeling the familiar fluidity of my gelatinous body. I stretched out, loose and free, forming all my [Pseudopods] and giving them a much-needed wiggle. ''How long has it been since I was just a regular slime?'' I asked myself, ''Well, I can''t exactly call myself regular anymore.'' I peeked over the edge briefly before retreating when I felt a mild sense of vertigo; it was a long way down. I chuckled to myself and questioned why I felt such a fear. I bet I could survive the fall; even if I didn''t, [Defy Death] would kick in. Hell, I could likely recover if I transformed into a griffin quickly enough. ''Okay, so let''s set some goals. The main priority is to find a yellow slime, above all else. The secondary goal would be to find interesting monsters to eat and explore the island. Tertiary would be to work on my skills and traits.'' ''I should probably set up a base of operations, a home away from home. Having a known safe area to return to is preferable. Although in an emergency, I could just dig down.'' After thinking for a moment and recalling the island''s topology from my prior observation, I made a decision. ''The lake and that overgrown ruin would probably be ideal; they''re central to the island, and having access to all that water could be useful for offense or defense.'' As usual, magic practice was my go-to activity when traveling. I was very curious about what the next level of [Arcane Magic] and [Ice Magic] would provide. The slowness of Arcane, however, really bugged me. I was sure I should have reached level two by now. ''Is it the spell that''s at fault? Does [Arcane Hand] just give crap experience?'' I wondered, trying to think of the difference between it and my other forms of magic. ''Not being able to use it in combat is definitely a downside; I know that gives more experience than usual... If only there were an arcane arrow spell or something...'' I mused. ''Looks like they want to keep me up in their domain. That''s rather frustrating.'' While I didn''t feel at risk, I didn''t enjoy being manhandled and thrown into the sky like a ragdoll repeatedly. If they could dodge six [Arcane Bolts], then I''d need to redouble my effort. ''I''ve never had my [Sub-Cores] try this before, but it should work!'' I would have all of us use [Multicast] combined with [Arcane Bolt]. I gave the order and physically felt the mana in my body strain; what was normally a continuous, rapid flow of mana suddenly became a violent deluge. I felt a strange... Pain? Something wasn''t happy with what I was attempting to do. Did I not have enough flow to output the mana I was trying to use at once? ''Come on! I''m a bloody walking mana potion! I should be able to do this!'' I screamed in protest. Something deep in my core popped, for lack of a better word. Then, it felt like it was going to split in two. Suddenly, garbled notifications appeared, temporarily blocking my vision. I had an immense sense of dread. ????? ????? Then, against my expectations, my [Sub-Cores] complied and began each firing two [Arcane Bolt] spells simultaneously. I wanted to cheer mentally, but I was struggling to focus. I wanted to join them, but I had to keep us together at this point. Whatever I had done, the mental impairment had been beyond expectations, and if I were human, I think I would have blacked out. Relegating myself to the cheerleader of this situation, I watched the cores work together in tandem to provide a bullet hell pattern of magical bolts that caused one pegasus to dodge into another. Once one slipped up, they all focused fire and barraged it endlessly. It was not a pretty sight, and soon, a rather mangled pegasus was plummeting. I thought I was finally out of trouble and would be landing shortly when, again, I was lifted up into the air. Three more stupid horses had appeared. I was mentally cursing when a flash of light blitzed toward the group of pegasus, followed by the rumble of thunder. Energy crackled between the horses, and they seemed temporarily stunned before another bolt struck them, and soon, three charred corpses were plummeting. I called off my cores and was hoping to focus on defense. I searched for the cause of the lightning, and then I spotted it. The yellow slime was far larger than any other slime I had seen, bordering between boar and horse size. It had a large violet core that crackled with energy. Most strange of all, the slime undulated rhythmically, almost like a bellows or a coil being wound up and released. It even had two [Pseudopods] on top, spread out in a v-shape, lightning arcing between them. I only had a moment to admire it before it fired another bolt from the v-shape that fried the remaining pegasus; I hadn''t even noticed it was rapidly retreating away. I felt threatened by this slime but also awed by its power. Its base slime species was technically on par with my two mutations, and if I didn''t have my class levels, it would technically be higher level than me. My admiration was abruptly interrupted when I slammed into the ground with a squelch. Chapter 104: Thunderstruck Chapter 104: Thunderstruck Despite being a victim of gravity, my slime cushioned the landing, so I didn''t appear to suffer much damage from the impact. I reformed my shape while I regained my bearings. I opened up my status to check my condition, as I was a little concerned since I felt odd. Name: Syl [Dungeoneer] Race: Chimeric Mimic Slime (Blue) LV 10 Class: Shadowcaster LV 11 Status: Injury (Minor) Mana: O???????????????????v????????????????e?????????????????????????r?????????????????f???????????????????l??????????????????????????????o?????????????????????w????????????????????i????????????????????n???????????????????g???????????????? ''Oh no... What''s happened to my mana? That doesn''t look good.'' I groaned. I had also gained a class level at some point during that scuffle, but my notifications were a mess. There was the pegasus profile, which was labeled [Equine] for some reason. I had also gained a new spell level, and... Something happened to my traits. I decided to put that all aside for now; I wanted that yellow slime more than anything else. I quickly confirmed that I could still use mana, firing an [Arcane Bolt] at the ground. ''Hopefully, it''s just a visual problem... I''m sure Gramps will notice it and fix it.'' If that yellow slime was anything like me, I knew it would be heading towards the meal it secured. If I was lucky, I could ambush it while it ate and secure that delicious core for myself. I started heading in that direction while quickly examining my new spell. The new spell [Arcane Armor] sounded great; it would create a mana barrier on myself, shimmering and protective, like a second skin. It brought back memories of the transparent slime coating I used as a goblin, which hilariously gave my previous deception a little validity. Unlike other forms of defense, however, it seemed to prevent a fixed amount of damage before expiring based on the amount of mana expended and seemingly limited by my [Arcane Magic] level. I hesitated to experiment with it too much, but I figured a good defense would benefit me. However, when I tried to cast an empowered version, it refused the extra enhancement. I cast an enhanced [Arcane Bolt] and blasted the ground, relieved that I hadn''t somehow lost that functionality with all the mana strangeness. ''I guess it''s like [Decay] in that it has its own internal scaling. I''ll have to see if I can take it apart or apply it in other ways later.'' I heard what sounded like an explosion going off in the distance near the yellow slime, different from the thunder cracks, but I couldn''t pay attention. I needed to escape. I had a momentary realization when Alpha tried to use the Earthshaker that the description of yellow slimes mentioned using earth or nature magic against them. I had to assume rock and wood had some protection against the ruthlessness of lightning, but without the affinities, I could only give inferior imitations. Still, it was better than nothing; even the draconic scales proved useless. I had no time for aesthetics and merged whatever was possible with the nature boar and rock bear, creating some chimeric monstrosity out of necessity and grabbing both [Barkskin] and [Earthen Carapace]. I recast my armor spell again as I scrambled away, just in time for another bolt to lash out against me. I tried to evade, but the speed was far beyond me, and I heard the familiar shattering sound again before what remained of the lightning reached me. It struck, and the pain was immense. Once again, it penetrated through me, but I noticed considerably less lightning had reached my delicate innards. The bark and rock seemed to partially insulate me against the lightning. As I tumbled across the ground, the sound of another explosion went off. I was filled with regret at my overconfidence and my lack of preparation. I had access to the guild''s library; why didn''t I do research on what yellow slimes or lightning could do? Or asked Lisa about it, as it was her element. I had read the warning about using water against it, which seemed to be my primary affinity as a blue slime, and even if it was some time ago, it was stupid for me not to consider it. I had two more [Defy Death] triggers left, so I had to make sure I got away before they expired. I heard another violent explosion going off, and I finally glanced toward the source while refreshing another [Arcane Armor]. The yellow slime was surrounded by fire, and less than half of its original slime mass remained. Something had attacked it, but I had no idea what. I saw it building up another bolt of energy, and as I turned to retreat, I noticed a large [Fireball] forming next to me. I was confused. In this strange state of seemingly broken mana, I hadn''t even noticed the spell pulling on it. I hadn''t ordered an attack; why was the spell being formed? My stunned thoughts weren''t fast enough, as when the bolt of lightning shot towards me, the [Fireball] launched as if counterattacking. That sparked my memory. ''Beta! No!'' I screamed, unable to stop the attack. I had remembered too late. I had given Beta a counterattack order and never dismissed or replaced it, just like how Alpha had moved to defend my life automatically under another order given at the same time back when I was confronting Krutz. Perhaps because the attack was visible, [Evasion] had tried to give me an early warning. I dodged as fast as possible, my body practically surging out of the way with alien movement only possible as a gelatinous slime. I wanted to cheer when I saw the bolt wouldn''t strike me directly when I noticed it curved partway and redirected into me. I wanted to scream at the unfairness of the situation, but pain overwhelmed me after I heard the familiar shattering sound. By now, I had lost count of how many times [Arcane Armor] had been destroyed. I had lost all my [Sub-Cores], and I likely only had one [Defy Death] trigger left. Then I heard the explosion. If I had a heart, I was sure it would have stopped when I saw the flood of notifications. . Chapter 105: Plan B Chapter 105: Plan B ''Ah...'' I stared in stunned silence, then frantically ran to where the yellow slime once stood as fast as I could. Using as many tendrils as possible, I desperately searched for remnants of the violet core. ''No!'' I screamed in desperation. I felt like crying if that were even physically possible. This felt like my biggest setback ever; this was something I had truly wished for, and blinded by my desires, I shot myself in the foot. I found what looked like melted tiny shards of the once beautiful violet core and desperately absorbed them, but nothing happened. There was no updated profile, and there was certainly no core integration. ''All that effort, all that pain, and nothing to show for it!'' I slammed tendrils against the ground; their form fluctuated wildly in my anger. ''Five [Sub-Cores] gone!'' I kept lashing out until I eventually calmed down a little. Then I began to think. I needed to find some solution; I couldn''t accept wasting this opportunity. ''Okay... First, there might be another yellow slime on this island.'' I pointed out the obvious solution. ''But I need to come up with a better plan. I didn''t fully understand how great of a weakness I have to lightning... I need to defeat it without destroying the core.'' ''The second option would be to force one to spawn. If I keep killing everything on this island, surely, eventually, a new one will spawn. Assuming what I know about monsters spawning, it will likely be low-level, and I could probably take it out even now. Its core won''t offer me as many traits, but I could, in theory, repeat the process and get another.'' ''While working on the second solution, I could train for the chance at the first solution. I need something to defeat it without damaging the core. Poisons immediately come to mind, but us slime are immune to those. If I were Simon, I could just attack its lifeforce directly.'' I started reading through my traits and looking over my magic; I needed to find some slime weakness that would be effective without damaging the core. Fire, Acid, and Arcane all had to be immediately discarded. I pondered Water as a solution momentarily, remembering how I defeated the green slime in the past by washing it, but I was far too afraid to use Water anywhere near a yellow slime again. ''That leaves Ice... I don''t think [Icicle] or [Frostbite] will leave the core undamaged.'' I mused, then vaguely recalling something, I looked over [Cryo Slime]. ''Thwarts slime mass from being frozen solid... Huh.'' The thought had frightened me at the time, but perhaps now it was my solution to this problem. If I froze the yellow slime, I could pluck the core out. No slime, no generating lightning between the core and membrane, right? ''If I find one before I work up a real plan, I can attempt using [Slime Shot] and [Cryo Slime]. However, I''d prefer to train [Ice Magic] and take advantage of our natural weakness to magic. There has to be a freeze spell or something.'' I nodded in satisfaction. After my outburst, settling down and assessing the situation had given me some catharsis. Now, in a better frame of mind, I needed to solve my health issue first. Name: Syl [Dungeoneer] Race: Chimeric Mimic Slime (Blue) LV 12 Class: Shadowcaster LV 13 ''Well, I''ll try it again as soon as I encounter something. My biggest concern is that I can''t even feel my mana usage right now.'' I looked over the [Equine] profile that the pegasus had granted me, which I now realized was because it was a monster branch from a normal horse. ''Why not just call it a horse profile, then? Was someone feeling strangely inspired when they created this one?'' I questioned. Gramps was the only one I had met, but he mentioned others, and the wildly differing skill and trait descriptions made it apparent that they had differing creators. The pegasus had both [Wind Magic] and [Aerial Finesse] as starting skills. I immediately checked if I could grab the magic and was unsurprised to be denied. It still felt right to just confirm it, especially with the oddities currently plaguing my profile. As for traits, they had a few attribute enhancers like strength and even could empower their hooves, but what caught my eye was a trait called [Enchanted Wings]. I couldn''t buy [Enchanted Wings], but it was a prime target for mimicry. It enhanced any formed wings with natural mana and allowed near unhindered flight capabilities, explaining why they were so unnaturally graceful. It also increased flight speed and maneuvering with every level; I could only imagine what combining it with a decently leveled [Aerial Finesse] would accomplish. ''Hell, compared to the griffins, they barely even flapped their wings. It''s almost like they had a freeform movement. Despite me literally eating one alive, it had no trouble controlling itself in the sky; meanwhile, that griffin took a tumble.'' Wanting to test it out, I transformed into my elf form and then created pegasus wings, immediately copying the [Enchanted Wings] trait. With barely a flap, I lifted off the ground. "Okay... If the griffins were considered flying, this feels like cheating." I commented, easily maintaining a stable elevation barely off the ground. I flew up a little higher and tried shapeshifting around, transforming into some of my other monsters and even recreating the chimeric form I used to explore the mines. Perhaps it was an aid from my trait because each transformation had the wings rapidly shift to an appropriate matching size without any additional input from me. This led to me staying airborne with barely even a drop. All the transforming midair clearly impressed the system, as I was rewarded with a level-up. I tried replicating the same midair transformations without [Enchanted Wings], and while it was possible, it was a much clumsier affair, and I hit the ground more than a few times. ''I think the benefits greatly outweigh the loss of my mimicked trait budget.'' I finally concluded, making a mental note to always pick this trait if I ever wanted to do anything wing-related. I ended up settling on a vaguely humanoid form with wings coming from the back. I was tempted to use an elven form but settled on using a smaller size for easier mobility. I used Hobgoblin as the base, taking [Thick Skin] and throwing in enough elf features to qualify for [Elven Reflexes]. [Draconic Scales (Lesser)] was surprisingly applicable for goblins, giving me the impression that dragons could breed with almost anything. I tried to take [Ironbark], but it seemed there was some interference between it and the combination of [Thick Skin] and [Draconic Scales (Lesser)], so I settled on taking [Earthen Carapace] and [Barkskin]. Even at their diminished efficiency, I hoped they would reduce another electrifying encounter. Finally, I kept the form partially transparent to allow a wide view range; I didn''t dare limit my visibility in this situation, and I hid my core by changing it to the same transparent blue. Ready and eager to move on, I gave another flap to return to a semi-hovering position and cast [Arcane Armor] to finish my preparations. ''Here''s hoping this trains [Aerial Finesse] and both my slime traits as well.'' After a quick consultation with [Mapping], I regained my bearings and headed towards the lake ruins again. I began my mental ordering out of habit, only to sadly realize that none of my [Sub-Cores] had survived that encounter. I felt a strange loneliness I hadn''t felt for a long time; even though they couldn''t talk or think for themselves, I had a peculiar companionship for my eager helpers. Chapter 106: Icy Innovation Chapter 106: Icy Innovation The convenience of flight, even when merely hovering slightly above the ground, couldn''t be overstated, and I found it strangely pleasant. Good thing I was planning on staying up here for an extended period, as I felt reluctant to be permanently grounded when returning to Kaerlin. Hopefully, I could have enough fun with wings to get it out of my system. ''Reaching Gold-rank, retrieving my core from the dwarves, and then... perhaps, just perhaps, I could risk revealing my true self to someone I trust?'' I mused uncertainly. If it didn''t work out, I could abandon Syl, the adventuring elf persona, but I didn''t want to risk burning that bridge until I extracted the benefits I had already lined up for myself. ''If I make monster friends, they risk getting hunted down. Not to mention, they supposedly go crazy if they evolve too much. Ideally, I''d find another experiment, like Odark, just more likeminded.'' While I pondered, I kept myself busy by working on my [Ice Magic]; it felt extremely weird to be solo casting after growing so used to always having my [Sub-Cores] to always give a little bit of help. Rather than spam casting [Icicle] repeatedly, my approach was to try to convert as many of my other spells into their icy counterpart and confirm if discovering a spell gave bonus experience. I started with [Water Magic] since I knew there was some compatibility between the two elements. It was easy enough to begin replacing [Water Whip], and I soon found myself with an icy version. Giving it a swing and realizing how impractical it was, the whip''s flexibility was the point, and having a frozen rigid version was stupid. Perhaps modifying it to create a different weapon would lead to something, but I was a spellcaster, and even if an ice greatsword sounded cool, why would I do that? I started working on [Bubble] next; this made more sense as I was sure an icy version would offer a more defensive solution from the reinforced solidity. It would be much more disposable than the original spell, as I knew it would lose the ability to allow outward passage. While working on this customization, I paused with a thought, rather than replacing the Water mana, couldn''t I corrupt it with Ice? I started to trickle some Ice mana into the spell, and slowly, like dyeing cloth, the Ice mana began to bleed into the Water, corrupting and transfiguring it to match. I smiled with satisfaction and wondered if any other elements would have such a convenience. ''Who knew my little fun with freezing water back then would result in this.'' I promptly cast the spell, targeting a flower for the first cast. The way it materialized was visually appealing; a floating icy point apparated and then permeated outwards, encapsulating into a fully formed dome. Satisfied, I stopped moving and cast it upon myself. ''Guess I wasn''t the first to think of this idea either.'' That reminded me I hadn''t cast the rather useless ice whip twice to get the discovery. So I cast the spell again, even though I''d likely never use it again. ''Wow... I don''t like that. Why bother adding create to the name? Feels really redundant.'' I grumbled and smashed the ice whip against the dome, causing the whip to shatter. ''I bet whoever did this claimed all the weapons for consistency...'' I paused and smirked, ''What if I can find one they didn''t get, then give it a different name convention, ha!'' While it was a little petty, going through all the ice weapon spells would probably give decent experience. But first, I needed to get out of the frozen dome. When I moved inside it, the unmistakable difference to [Bubble] was that it didn''t move around with me. Forming a reinforced tendril, I slammed it against the ice and was quite impressed with its robustness. Activating [Acid Slime], I melted an impromptu doorway and inspected the larger dome from the outside. I liked what I saw, although I''d likely make some minor modifications and turn it into a half-dome to prevent trapping myself inside. Approaching the next room, I peeked inside and saw what could only be described as a torture room. It had stone slabs with metal restraints, various sharp tools covered in grime, and what looked like large stone basins, their insides stained in a dark reddish brown. "Okay, so add evil mad scientist to the mix." I chuckled nervously. I approached what looked like a large steel box with a small window and started to take a peek inside when a gnarled hand reached out and tried to claw my face off. I hadn''t seen it coming, so it did make contact but failed to penetrate my [Arcane Armor], the magical second skin briefly becoming visible at the point of contact. "Ha! Nice try, creep!" I mocked, feeling a little happy about all my preparations paying off. Whatever was in the box made a long, hollow moan and started banging against its prison. "Sounds like a zombie... But worse?" I questioned aloud. When the greyish-black arm reached out again through the bars, I quickly threw out an [Identify], realizing I''d need to do it manually for now. The result confused and shocked me. "Since when do monsters have names and classes?" I wondered, "Are you an experiment?" The only response I got back was more moaning and banging against its prison. "No, you can''t be, Gramps made it sound like the experiment thing was recent...ish?" I pointed out, more to myself than the screaming undead, "So I guess that can only mean you used to be a human before turning into... This." Unfortunately, the wailing monster gave me no answers, and the only way I was going to find out more was to let it out and devour it. Pointing a finger toward the locks on the metal box, I fired a little [Acid Slime] at each of them and waited for the creature to escape. Since I had the time to prepare while it broke free, I cast two [Icicle] spells and held them both, slowly empowering them. "I feel like my [Sub-Cores] deserve a raise... Doing this by myself really sucks." I chuckled. "Well, after the barrage of [Arcane Bolt] spells, I''m surprised that didn''t happen earlier," I commented and was about to start working towards a third [Icicle] when the metal box burst open. The starved ghoul was a haunting sight, its emaciated frame barely held together by tattered, soiled farmer''s clothes. Its sunken eyes burned with an insatiable hunger, and its bony fingers twitched as it reached out, seeking sustenance. The ghoul''s pallid skin clung tightly to its skeletal form, accentuating every protruding rib and joint. Its gaunt face bore a perpetual grimace, with lips drawn back to reveal yellowed, jagged teeth. "Shit! That''s hideous!" I cursed in surprise and launched both [Icicle] spells at it; one pierced directly into its chest while it barely dodged the other. It then let out an ear-piercing shriek echoing throughout the underground. Before it lowered itself into a pouncing position, I heard the distant sound of more metal banging. Chapter 107: Ghoulish Chapter 107: Ghoulish At the sight of the battle-ready ghoul, I immediately triggered [Tranquil Flow], and a serene warmth washed over my mind and emotions. The ghoul leaped forward, its claws and fangs hungering for flesh. Moving with a calm and fluid grace, my body effortlessly evaded its attack. It lunged again, its hostility a mere force to be diverted, and my body seamlessly glided out of harm''s way. ''The attacks are like currents... And I''m just following the flow.'' Its lack of success seemed to fuel its hungered desire even further, and somehow, it stepped up its savage assault to another level. Curling its hands together as if trying to disembowel me, it pierced forward. Having entrusted myself fully to the state of mind, my body opened up, and its piercing strike sailed through the gap in my torso. The creature leaped backward, a new hesitancy on its face. ''Shit, I didn''t mean to do that!'' I started to panic a little; I hadn''t expected to lose myself in the state that much; it conformed with my gelatinous and fluidic form so much that the action had felt perfectly natural to me. ''Shit. Wait, what if I use this and go all jelly while in disguise? There''s no way I could explain that away. Shit. Have I made a mistake by picking this skill up?'' Abruptly, the state ended; my little neurotic episode was too opposing for it to remain active. The ghoul''s claws struck against [Arcane Armor] again before I realized what had happened. Then, its fangs sank down, and I heard the familiar sound of the barrier shattering. In a panicked response, I erupted with all my tendrils at once, all of them aimed at the ghoul in an attempt to push it away from me. The abrupt change in form was completely unexpected, and the six tendrils slammed it against the wall so hard that settled dust was disturbed. Realizing my mistake, I immediately began working on killing the ghoul, triggering [Acid Slime] and rapidly melting away at it. I was horrified at its strength; it took nearly all six tendrils to restrain it. It screamed endlessly until it died, and I could hear the banging in the distance getting louder and what sounded like hinges being broken. I briefly glanced over its profile, confirming it was undead and seeing traits related to blood-feeding and unholy strength. What startled me was that I could see a clear link from human to ghoul among my profiles. I''d look into it in more detail later; I had what sounded like a horde coming for me. I worked to quickly form a half [Ice Dome] spell and cast it at the other doorway, hoping it would give me a little more time before the other enemies arrived. Since I wasn''t flying, I swapped out [Enchanted Wings] for [Inferno Sac], and it would be my emergency backup if things got too out of hand since past experience told me the undead didn''t like fire. ''It always comes back to fire; no wonder Dewi likes it so much.'' I tried to calm myself down and reactivate [Tranquil Flow], but I was not in the right frame of mind, and it rebuffed me. I''d have to get in more practice later and see if I could somehow keep with the flow without it morphing my body if I was in disguise. I''d hate to lose such a powerful skill by limiting its availability to only slime time. Maybe another [Sub-Core] order? I could hear bashing against the ice, so I began casting [Ice Patch] to freeze the entire floor. Then, I lifted myself up to the ceiling with some adhesive tendrils. Transforming my core to match the stonework, I hoped to remain undetected as I withdrew slime and started to spread out, claiming the entire ceiling as my domain. I maneuvered the formed [Flame Sac] into a corner, hoping to keep it safe and secure as my emergency backup plan. ''Well, if they attack and rupture the organ, that works too.'' I chuckled to myself. I tried to use [Life Sight] to try to get a prediction on their numbers, but either they were out of range, or the undead were excluded. [Thermal Vision] wasn''t a help either; "as cold as a corpse" came to mind. With [Mana Conception], I could see tiny black dots, probably some form of death-related mana that fueled these creatures. "More metal samples for my future silver slime," I said with a grin. However, I still hadn''t found any real valuables, and my inner treasure hunter was feeling rather disappointed as I walked from room to room. Eventually, I stumbled across a locked reinforced door and hoped I''d finally get something. The door was described as mana-treated wood, and the reinforcing was mana-enriched iron. I saved a decent quantity of both in my storage before devouring the rest. Beyond the door looked like a small study, although the bookshelves contained nothing but rotting or crumbling tomes. On the desk, however, was a book that somehow seemed to survive the test of time. I immediately approached it and melted the tiny lock that kept it securely closed. I immediately started skimming through the book, and almost unsurprisingly, it sounded mostly like the ravings of a mad lunatic. Why have the Gods forsaken us humans? Why are the dwarves and elves favored over us? Why can we not evolve? There must be a solution; I refuse to accept that we are forced to be shackled to this mortal fleshbag. I''ve seen a simple wolf evolve into a hybrid between wolf and man, so surely there is another path for us? I will find it! The author seemed to blame the Gods a lot and seemed exceedingly bitter. He tried all sorts of things, even performing operations on test subjects, replacing their organs, limbs, and even brains with those of monsters. It mentioned him dabbling in necromancy, monster taming, and even failing at demon summoning. Through my advancements in the necromantic arts, I have found a new type of monster that transforms what it feeds on into an entirely new race! I feel like this is the answer I''ve been searching for! The only variable to overcome is that they are automatically enslaved after transitioning, and they become seemingly mindless, hungry beasts. But I think the solution is actually rather simple; I just need to kill the creature before the enslavement is complete. Yes, finally, I will transcend! That was the last entry, and I closed the book with a frown. "Man, this is some creepy shit," I muttered, shaking my head. "Tell me about it." A soft yet high-pitched voice replied. Chapter 108: Trixie Chapter 108: Trixie Upon hearing the voice, I immediately swiveled in the direction, taking an offensive stance, tendrils out and a [Fireball] spell rapidly forming within my palm. Tucked into the corner of the room as if forgotten was a silver birdcage, and inside it, sitting in a cross-legged position, was a tiny winged girl looking at me. She had extremely long, disheveled golden hair splayed along the cage''s bottom. Sprouting out of her back were what looked like butterfly wings, except translucent and dull. The clothes she wore looked like nothing but tiny brown rags, more suited for wiping a table than being worn. The word that immediately came to mind was slovenly, and as if to answer my thoughts, she started scratching her stomach with a bored and tired expression. I immediately threw out an [Identify], hoping to find out what the strange creature was. "What the hell are you?" She asked before I could ask the same question. "Have I been asleep so long that goblins are now blue and have grown wings?" "I''m not a goblin, at least not in the conventional sense," I replied, my words hanging in the air, pregnant with unspoken truths. "Oooh, are you one of Mister Gloomies experiments?" She asked. I immediately latched on to the word. "Experiment? Are you also one? Do you know which God?" She chuckled, slapping her thigh, "Hell no, I''m not one of his little lab rats." Then her expression turned a little serious, "And if you''re mentioning the Gods, I don''t think you are one of them either." "Oh..." I responded, feeling a little deflated. It made sense, unfortunately, as this lab felt far too old for Gramps'' experiment. "So, do you mind doing me a favor and letting me out?" She asked, now cleaning the inside of her right ear with a pinkie. I was immediately cautious. I had no idea if Trixie was a friend or foe, and in my partially vulnerable state, I didn''t feel like taking the risk. "Perhaps..." I replied, trying to size her up. "What are you, and why are you captured?" "I asked you first..." she said, puffing her cheeks. "But fine, I can show some deference to my potential rescuer. I''m a pixie who was captured and being used for ingredients by Mister Gloomy." "A pixie? Trixie the pixie?" I replied, frowning at what felt a little contrived. "Yup. Chose the name myself, glad you like it." She said, retrieving her finger and examining it before flicking whatever filth she had accumulated on the tip. "And Mister Gloomy was using you for ingredients? How?" "Wow, you really know nothing huh. Pixie dust, of course." She said and, as if to answer my question further, stood up and started shaking herself like a wet dog. A gold dust emanated from her like mushroom spores and lightly settled along the silver cage floor. She seemed friendly enough, but I wasn''t totally convinced. I decided to swap to my [Apex Hunter] emblem to see if she triggered a reaction. Trixie seemed to trigger a response from the emblem, but it wasn''t the one I was familiar with, as if the emblem itself was confused about whether she was worthy or not. ''Well, shit. That just makes me even more worried.'' "So? Gonna let me out, blue goblin? Blueblin?" She asked, giving a toothy smile, "Judging by how this place has gone to hell and back, I''m assuming Mister Gloomy is gone or dead, and I''d very much appreciate being free again." "Maybe... Tomorrow, though, I need to rest first." I replied. If I was going to let her out, I wanted all my [Sub-Cores] and [Defy Death] triggers back, so I was prepared for the possible betrayal. I sighed and looked at the cage; from what my senses told me, it was mildly enchanted but didn''t seem enough to keep someone captured. I did an [Appraisal] to understand what this was before I attempted to eat it, and it was revealed to be Lead Silver. I could only assume it was some form of alloy; perhaps that was why she was contained. I placed a hand on the cage and started digesting it, I almost expected some form of resistance, but it dissolved away at remarkable speed, making me wonder how it even kept her contained if it was so fragile. As soon as the roof of the cage melted away, Trixie fluttered up; her dull wings were now bright and vivid, shimmering like a rainbow. I cautiously stepped back while she stretched and took a deep breath, her entire body becoming more striking in color, like a fresh coat of paint. I was about to breathe a sigh of relief when Trixie suddenly smirked. Black horns suddenly appeared on her head, a black tail, and her rainbow butterfly wings were replaced with bat wings. "You fool!" She cackled right before I unloaded all three [Inferno Sacs]. The room erupted in blue flames, and the bookcase, desk, cage, and everything else were vaporized in a scorching inferno. Then I activated [Slime Burst], exploding two large salvos, one armed with [Cryo Slime] and the other [Blaze Slime] and both with [Acid Slime]. The two contrasting slime types violently reacted to each other, and the entire room sounded like it was about to collapse; I rushed out of the room and prepared to see if anything emerged. "ARE YOU CRAZY?!" A shrill voice screeched from the slowly dying flames. I paused in confusion, but not before holding a variety of offensive spells each between me and my [Sub-Cores]. An extremely wide-eyed Trixie appeared before me; the black tail, wings, and horns were gone. I tensed, ready to unload my barrage of spells on her. "What is wrong with you!?" She shouted at me, but before I could say anything, she kept up her verbal assault. "Holy shit, how high-strung are you that you can''t even take a joke!?" I tried to open my mouth, but she interjected. "I''m a bloody pixie; everyone knows we play pranks! What the hell have you been through to be tenser than a violin string? That can''t be healthy; you must learn to chill out!" "And what the hell was that? Are you secretly a glamoured dragon? No, you can''t be because I''ve met dragons who are not nearly as trigger-happy as you; what the hell is wrong with you!?" She was panting heavily, having not stopped once to breathe during that entire tirade. I didn''t know how to react, so I stared at her in stunned silence, my offensive spells still ready to fire. "Damn it, Blueblin, say something!" She screeched at me. "S-sorry?" I stuttered out. She sighed and groaned while pulling at her hair before finally responding, "Look, I''m sorry, too. I had no idea I''d be staring death in the face over a prank. I guess I should have gotten to know you more first." After finally gathering myself back up from the initial shock, I responded, "Yes, you should have. I don''t think anyone would trust a random monster to be playing a joke or prank." "What?" Trixie looked at me dumbfounded, "I''m not a monster. Honestly, that''s a little insulting." "Sorry... Does that mean you''re a race like the elves or dwarves?" I asked curiously, slowly easing up on my tension. "Ew. No way." Trixie responded with a look of disgust. I couldn''t help but sigh, full of emotional exhaustion. This was going to be a long day... Chapter 109: Spirit Chapter 109: Spirit "Well... I''ve freed you, so I guess we can part ways now." I said, my voice laced with a hint of impatience, not wanting to deal with the pixie anymore. "Don''t be like that, Blueblin. We might have gotten off on the wrong foot, but I''m sure we can resolve our differences." Trixie responded, patting herself and causing a comical amount of soot to fall from her person, the bright, vivid coloring returning to her once more. "Stop calling me Blueblin... My name is Syl." "Well, Syl, not all of us have [Identify] or go around rudely identifying everyone we run into." "You''ve clearly never been around humans for very long; I feel like everyone has it." "Yes, well, that''s just one of the reasons we try to avoid them," Trixie said, then vanished from sight. I frantically scanned my surroundings when I felt something appear atop my head and tried to grab it with an impromptu maw of slime. The source of the disturbance was the pixie. "Woah!" Trixie said as my slime passed through her, and she fluttered upwards. I tried to grab her with a tendril, but it also seemed to just go right through her as if she were intangible, like a ghost. "So, I''m guessing you''re a mimic, huh?" Trixie asked, looking far too relaxed despite my attempts to engulf her. "Did you lose your chest, and that''s why you''re so grumpy?" "What? No?" I replied, disgruntled and confused. If she was like a ghost, then that means magic would work, and I subtly cast my debuff spells on her from my [Sub-Cores]. I watched as my debuffs stacked up on her, and then, in a blink, they all vanished from her. "Oh. I didn''t expect such a rich meal of mana." Trixie replied, patting her exposed stomach, which she had pushed out exaggeratedly. "Y-you eat mana?" I asked, a bubbling worry of what that meant for me as a slime made of mana. "Us pixies are one of the spirit races; we are essentially beings of mana," Trixie explained, "We normally passively eat any ambient essence, which is how I survived being trapped for who knows how long, but direct mana makes a great snack." She approached me, and I tried to swat her in retaliation, but once again, my tendrils passed through her. I didn''t like this situation at all; it felt like I had no control over it. I cast [Frostbite] and [Combust], but both cleared away, with Trixie looking at me smugly and patting her belly. I tried casting more direct spells, but they either passed through her or vanished inside her. I fled, trying to think of a solution as I tried to make my escape to the outside. ''I can fly away if it gets risky; I doubt she can keep up with the pegasus wings.'' I thought to myself, she hadn''t attacked me yet, but that didn''t stop my mind from imagining her treating me like a delicious meal. When I burst free to the outside world, I traded the [Inferno Sac] trait for [Enchanted Wings] and soared into the sky¡ªcarefully watching the hidden stairwell with the help of [Eagle Vision]. "A little dramatic, don''t you think?" Trixie''s voice rang out, and I found her seated atop my head again. I wanted to scream; I had no idea how she kept up with me, let alone suddenly appeared from nowhere. I tried to think of solutions, perhaps poison gas. Or I could prepare [Decay] and cast it before she ate my debuff spells. "I have no idea what''s going through that crazy head of yours, but I don''t mean you any harm. Seriously, Blueblin, I mean Syl. Calm down." She said, patting my head with her tiny hand. "Besides, if I harmed my rescuer, I''d become an outcast. You have my word." I groaned, letting out an extremely reluctant sigh. "Maybe... But it relates to what I am, and I still don''t feel comfortable sharing that." I answered honestly. "Ugh. If I swore an oath, would that make you stop being so paranoid?" Trixie asked, looking fed up. "I don''t know. Maybe? Look, my situation is complicated, and I''ve built up a lot of things I don''t want to risk crumbling down right now." "Such. A. Control. Freak." Trixie said, shaking her head disappointedly. Then she started to talk aloud in another language I couldn''t understand or recognize even partially. I tried to say something, but when I opened my mouth, she held out a finger and wagged it as if warning me to wait. Trixie has sworn a Spirit''s Oath to keep your secrets and not use them against you. Do you accept?> ''Well. Shit. Can''t get more real than that.'' I thought to myself. Even just reading the words before me gave me a sense of their binding power and the feeling that if Trixie betrayed them, there would be dire consequences for her. "I accept," I said aloud. Golden chains glowing in a rainbow luminescent light abruptly appeared and began to drape over Trixie, then bound tight across her torso and limbs. A golden lock appeared between the two chain ends and clicked shut, causing the chains to glow and then vanish in a starry sparkle. "Whew. That was overly dramatic. So, feel like talking now?" Trixie asked, looking at me expectantly. The strange thing was that I did feel like my secret was now safe with her. This was far beyond whatever the Adventurers Guild did, which was a poor, barebones imitation in comparison. "Okay... So... I''m a slime." I said slowly and almost immediately regretting it. I expected some shock or surprise, but instead, Trixie looked angry. "Syl, seriously. I swore a Spirit Oath. Do you have any idea how bad that would be for me if I broke that? Surely you can trust me now." I blinked in confusion, trying to explain, "No, really, I-" "No buts!" Trixie interrupted, shaking her head with a look of betrayal, "Seriously, this is far, far worse than you trying to kill me for the prank. You''re honestly making me doubt my judge of character." I kept trying to explain, but Trixie kept interrupting me, and I grew increasingly frustrated. After one interruption too many, I screamed at her to listen, causing her to flinch in response and gasp when I thrust my hand into my head, grabbing Epsilon, who was housed there, and ripping the [Sub-Core] out, holding it out in front of me. "Trixie! I really am a slime!" I said, frustrated out of my mind, showing her the core and waving it around as proof. Trixie stared at the core, almost as if she couldn''t believe her own eyes, before she started laughing almost uncontrollably. She eventually calmed down, wiping tiny tears from her eyes, "Okay, Syl, that was an amazing prank. It was way better than mine," she said, still giggling. "What? No, this is real; I am a slime." I responded, freely morphing my limbs and even stretching out my face. It looked like Trixie was about to try to deny it again, but she eventually seemed to accept that I wasn''t joking. "Wait... You''re actually serious?" I nodded, causing Trixie to stare at me rather sheepishly. I couldn''t understand why it was so unbelievable that I was a slime; she even considered me potentially being a mutated elemental, so why was a slime so unbelievable? The absurdity of it made me almost want to know the reason why before my mana situation. Chapter 110: Chains Chapter 110: Chains "This is crazy. I trust you, but the reality of this situation is just too absurd," Trixie exclaimed, her head shaking in disbelief. "Is it really that absurd? I know Gramps said I was an [Experiment], but I didn''t think I''d be that different from the others." I questioned. "Ha! Did you give one of them a nickname? That''s cute." Trixie giggled, "So what''s this experiment?" "Well, I got told I died before accomplishing anything and got offered a chance, which led to me waking up as a slime. I''ve also encountered another [Experiment] who was born an orc and evolved into a troll." I explained briefly. "Eww... They seriously put someone in an orc?" Trixie started fake gagging, "I''m guessing you must be an old soul then?" When I stared at her blankly, she continued talking. "You die, get your life judged, get rewarded or punished, then get thrown back into your next life once your soul gets cleaned." "Yes... That sounds about right from what I''ve pieced together." "So they''re sticking old souls in monsters... Very interesting. I wonder if it''s from boredom or if they are trying something new." Trixie murmured, placing her finger on her lips in thought. "The orc, as disgusting as that is, makes sense at least. Even something like an animal monster would make sense, or an elemental, maybe a demon." "But not a slime?" "No. How do I explain this.... Uhh..." Trixie started grumbling and scratching her head. "Have you ever interacted with a monster or monstrous humanoid other than this orc troll?" "I lived with goblins for a brief time," I answered. "Okay, good. So, they technically don''t have souls. Or at least not a soul like the humans, elves, dwarves, and so on. But they are still alive and think and feel; I''m sure you''ve experienced that." "Yes, they had their own tribe, loose organization, and understanding of skills and traits." "Exactly. Now, to drop it down a level, even animal monsters have feelings and instincts. They''ll breed, form packs, nests, and so forth." Trixie continued, and I nodded along, "Dropping it another level, even elementals, which are like semi-sentient bundles of mana, have bare minimum instincts and feelings. They usually guard an area rich in their element and feed their desire to grow and eventually become something more." "Okay. Then what about slimes?" I asked, hoping to get to the point. "Slimes have none of that. They don''t think. They don''t feel. Their only instinct, if you can even call it that, is to eat." Trixie explained. "The world treats them either as pests or as a resource. Even livestock gets treated better; slimes just... Are." I frowned. What she said did corroborate with some of what I experienced, especially with how dumb some of my brethren acted. I recalled the orange slime entry in the book, which sounded anything but stupid. "But I''ve read about some slimes setting traps and doing things that suggest intelligence. Like an orange slime." I replied, hoping for an explanation. "Yes. And you''ll note that all of those are dungeon-based slimes. They are mindless drones directed by the Dungeon Master; consider them movable traps or a controlled dungeon hazard." Trixie disputed, "Even a Queen Slime doesn''t have the pack or maternal instincts; they will literally eat over ninety percent of their offspring." I must have been showing a grim expression as Trixie smiled at me softly, "Hey. Don''t worry; none of that matters to you. You''re basically an entirely new species at this point. Very cool." "Right... Thanks." I replied. ''Is more being added to her oath?'' I wondered, trying to recall the exact wording of the notification. "You''ve come a long way from a little blue slime... I guess that explains your mana and why it tastes so good; you''re like a monster half a step into becoming a spirit." Trixie commented, "Although, why did you come to this floating island?" "I''ll tell you now, but I just have a question. Does your oath involve all my secrets?" I asked curiously. Trixie paused, then started thinking. The chain briefly appeared again in its entirety, and after she examined it a bit more closely, she shuddered. "Shit." "I came looking for a yellow slime to absorb and gain its trait," I said promptly. Multiple extra links got added to the chain, and Trixie stared wide-eyed. "Wait, absorb it?" She asked, her voice a little panicky before the full force of the chains wrapped around her. I chuckled nervously as her future fear must have reared its head again. "Well, shit. You got me there..." Trixie sighed deeply as the chains disappeared again, "I guess this is my own fault; I had no idea what a big little secret the blue goblin could be hiding... It was just too much of a tantalizing puzzle. Guess I''m fully on team Syl now." Despite what she said, she candidly didn''t seem too concerned beyond those brief restraining moments. Quite frankly, I felt like this worked out well for me, at least emotionally, as I could vent some secrets and frustrations to someone now. Although mentally, I still felt like I wanted to get away from this meddlesome pixie and whatever future pranks she would cook up. "Well. Getting back to your mana situation... I''m a little stumped, to be honest." She said, sitting on my head again. She likely wanted to examine my mana closer or have another treat, which I allowed for now. "Beyond your mana being turned up to eleven and stuck there, I can''t sense anything wrong with it. Maybe you''re using more mana than normal when you cast, but it seems to regenerate so fast that it doesn''t matter?" "Ha... I wonder if I''m stuck like this till I can speak to Gramps; hopefully, he will notice it before then." "Don''t worry about it so much, let''s focus on the now." Trixie said patting my head, "So you wanted a yellow slime? Surely, they aren''t too hard to find up here." "I did find one, but I accidentally killed it... My plan was to either find another or force one to spawn." "That''s a shame, but your idea is pretty sound, especially if you kill or get rid of the two creatures hogging all the essence." "Wait, two things are stealing the essence? I know you said you passively feed on it." "Yeah, I take a tiny amount, although, after your spells, I probably won''t need a refill for days. Longer if I keep sitting on your head." Trixie replied, then licked her lips, "Seriously, your mana is delicious. I think I''d want to keep you around even without the oath." I was slightly startled by the random skill increase, but then I realized we were still in the sky during this entire conversation. With how perfectly I was floating in place, I don''t even know if I could call it flying at this point. I guessed that [Enchanted Wings] was likely pushing my skill to improve rapidly. "Something wrong?" Trixie asked, noting my silence again. "I just realized we were flying this entire time. I''m surprised nothing came to attack or investigate." I replied. "Oh, they certainly came to investigate. I''ve just been hiding them and us." Trixie said with a giggle and waved her hand. The air shimmered and abruptly changed, revealing a completely different scene. A herd of pegasi circled us as if searching. They seemed to notice the change and started to whine and snort aggressively. I turned to Trixie as if expecting an answer, but she had vanished. "Damn, pixie..." Chapter 111: Pegasi Chapter 111: Pegasi The air surrounding all the pegasi rippled as they all started commanding it to follow their whims. Part of me was glad this would be an interesting challenge against so many [Wind Magic] users, but on the flip side, it would have been so much simpler to handle all these flying horses if they tried to fight with their hooves. With a burst of speed they clearly didn''t expect, I charged directly toward the nearest pegasus, throwing my armor into storage and turning into a gelatinous flying maw as I engulfed it midflight before it could escape. Chaos erupted from the rest of the pegasi, startled by what had happened. They all became much more flighty and panicky as they formed their magic. I regretted not trying to grab multiple in that first charge, as I doubted they''d let me get within close range again. The captured horse was already dissolved, so I could try evading any wind blades coming at me as I shrunk down from a giant blob with random wings back to a more refined form. I felt [Tranquil Flow] trigger as per my previous order and found myself again in the strange trance as I freely started eluding the incoming wind blades. It was a shame I hadn''t yet acquired lightning magic, a skill I had seen prove effective against swift foes. However, as indicated by their profile, their lack of enhanced ice resistance presented a prime opportunity for me to hone my [Ice Magic]. I commanded my [Sub-Cores] to pair up and cast [Frigid] on each pegasus while Alpha remained at my side, ready to assist. Together, we unleashed a relentless barrage of [Icicle] spells in retaliation. As I watched the pegasi deftly dodge my spells, a wave of discouragement washed over me. I couldn''t help but wish I had more offensive spell constructs at my disposal, a feeling of frustration and determination mingling within me. ''I currently have various projectile shapes, but they don''t differ too greatly in the grand scheme. I have a close-range damage burst, a dust that applies ailments, an explosive projectile, and... Whatever I can classify [Torrent] as.'' ''There''s some component in my debuff spells that lets me apply them from visual range, as long as I overcome their resistance. Sort of like a perception-based attack? Although it must be a very high-level concept if I can''t even determine what or where it is in the spell construct, let alone try to understand it or utilize it. Then, I could apply afflictions the same way or maybe even make a fireball explosion spontaneously appear in a spot. Now that would be awesome.'' Aside from the [Frigid] debuff being applied rapidly to each and every damn flying horse, the fight was feeling a bit like a stalemate. I couldn''t hit them, and they couldn''t hit me. I tried to see if I could cast [Ice Dome] on one of the pegasi, but the spell fizzled. I knew it was likely because the spell was technically still classified as a buff, which the system self-managed to only apply if it was determined to be beneficial or, at the minimum, non-harmful, which clearly was not the case here as I imagined it would have surrounded a pegasus and cause both to be forced subjects to the whims of gravity. I had only the briefest of chats with Evan over the explanation of buffs, as I didn''t find myself that interested in them at the time as there were so many weird rules around them, like if the target person determined you as hostile, then they could automatically deny a buff being cast by you. At the time, it made me wonder why the inverse [Bubble] worked on the nature boar, and I could only guess it was because the system didn''t determine it as harmful, and the boar was too stupid to deny a so-called buff. Although to be fair, it was raging at the time and likely wasn''t thinking anything other than kill kill kill. I noticed the pegasi were doing something to break the stalemate, seeing a large vortex of mana swirling around me controlled by a group of four working together far out of range. I tried flying further, but they shifted the vortex along with me. I could swear the stupid horses laughed at me as they made various noises and even curled their upper lip at me mockingly. But it didn''t seem to be doing anything, and eventually, the other horses even stopped firing blades of wind at me, and all just joined in on the mockery. "Oooh. Looks like they got you good. You''re totally caught in their ultimate trap." Trixie said, laced with sarcasm and bored mockery, as she appeared by my side from who knows where. I shifted enough to speak but failed to; only a strange sound came out, which became softer and softer with each attempt. "Use your head. I''m talking to you telepathically." She answered. "Oh," I replied mentally, not expecting it. "What''s this trap? Other than not allowing me to talk." "They''ve stolen almost all the air around you. You''d probably have noticed it sooner if you didn''t have what looks like [Enchanted Wings]." Trixie answered, "They think they will suffocate you, which is absolutely hilarious, by the way." "Oh... Yeah, us slimes don''t breathe." The last of the [Frigid] spells had been cast now, and now it was time for a barrage of [Icicle] spells so large it couldn''t be avoided. It started out with six tiny magic circles being formed, which then split into twelve. The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Trixie somehow whistled in our mental conversation, "Very nice usage of spell splitting..." Then twelve became eighteen, and I could hear the audible gasp echo in my mind from the pixie. Then, the hailstorm was unleashed as I magically fired the barrage of spells. The look of utter panic from the pegasi was a sight to behold, and they frantically began taking action, some even hiding behind their allies. As if she could read my mind, she responded, "Not all skills will be winners, and I bet any human would love whatever you are mocking." I groaned while feeling a little concerned that she read me so easily. I tried thinking about whether she could read minds, but she didn''t say anything, so my suspicion received no confirmation or denial. "I''m surprised there are so many of these damn horses. Surely the island doesn''t spawn this many naturally?" I asked Trixie while cleaning up some of the last remaining ones. "If you go to the giant tree, you''ll get your answer," Trixie answered cryptically. "And you''ll need to if you hope to spawn your yellow slime." "Let me guess, I''m going to have to deal with a lot more of these damn horses?" I said, sighing. "Yes, and the sooner, the better," Trixie said, sitting on my head again. I wanted to protest, but I still found myself unable to deal with the pixie. "Ugh... I wonder if I could get my next level in [Ice Magic] before then. I need something to deal with them better." Trixie smiled, "Well... If you do me a favor, I''ll help you." "Help me how?" I questioned, then quickly added, "And it depends on the favor." "I could hide your projectiles from their vision, but only against the pegasi since they are annoying and disgusting. The rest you need to handle yourself." Trixie stated. I remained silent for a while, hoping she would explain who or what the others were, but she instead started humming while waiting for my answer. "And the favor?" I eventually asked. "It''s nothing big, and if you want your yellow slime, you''d need to deal with her anyway. The other one messing with the essence on this island is a real bitch, and I want you to kill her for me." Trixie said with an attitude that was as if asking to borrow a cup of sugar. "Really? Who and why?" I probed for more information. "I won''t spoil the surprise, but she is another type of spirit. From what I can tell, you''re directly suited to counter her completely." Trixie answered, giving an evil smirk that looked a little misplaced on the bubbly pixie, "As for why... Well, she''s been here for a long time and no way she didn''t know I was trapped here, too. So she left me to suffer for years without help, so she deserves to die." "A little harsh, don''t you think?" "I think when you meet her, you''ll agree with me. She''s a real bitch." Trixie giggled, "Anyway, I can promise you as long as she is here, you won''t get your yellow slime to spawn." "Can''t I just ask her to leave?" I asked. "Ha! That''s a good one. She''ll attack you for even suggesting it." Trixie giggled. "Tell you what. You can try telling her to leave, but the deal is that once the fighting starts, you don''t show her any mercy." "Alright then... I''ll agree to that," I answered, to which Trixie happily started petting my head and humming a whimsical tune. You''d swear she hadn''t just asked me to kill someone for her. Chapter 112: Up the Tree Chapter 112: Up the Tree While flight was an option, I decided to stick to the ground as we approached the giant tree to delay getting there and avoid making myself a flying target. Once I was close to or under it, I hoped to stealthily make my entrance to avoid being thrown around in the wind again. I was determined to level up [Ice Magic], so I resumed my previous cycle through weapons, hoping to reach the next stage. Meanwhile, Trixie was still sitting on my head, sometimes watching me, other times humming with her eyes closed as if my head was her personal relaxation couch. She had asked me why I was practicing [Ice Magic] so hard, and I explained my plan to freeze a yellow slime for capture. I had expected a comment or remark, but instead, she hummed to herself and continued lounging about. ''Damn, looks like they got this one too.'' I cursed. I tried making variations between shields or weapons, but they all fell under minor modifications in the main spell category. [Create: Ice Hammer], for example, was the catchall for maces, hammers, mauls, and even clubs. I had started to work on modifying [Torrent] when Trixie suddenly interrupted me, "Wait till your next level of [Ice Magic] before you work on that. Trust me." I reluctantly stopped my work and debated whether to take the explosion part of [Fireball] and make an ice shard explosion or modify [Arcane Armor]. Recalling how arcane mana seemed to just soak other elements up like a dry sponge, I decided it might be an easy win, and any extra defense options were a welcome addition. "So what do you get if you absorb a yellow slime?" Trixie asked while I was in the middle of tinkering. "You mentioned its trait, which I assume is its lightning. Anything else?" I paused to consider whether to tell her, but considering it would add to her oath, I shrugged and said, "If it''s like the previous slimes I ate, I will gain Lightning Affinity." Trixie squeed with glee and patted my head excitedly, "Really? Is that why you have so many affinities? That''s amazing; your mana would become even more delicious!" "Please don''t eat me." I chuckled with only a hint of fear. "I think I could say the same thing to you after what you did to all those pegasi." Trixie giggled, "So you''d just be missing Earth and Air from the basic elements then..." "I have a plan to get Earth, probably. Air... I don''t think I''ll ever get it; it''s continued to elude and taunt me with traits and skills I can''t acquire," I grumbled. "True... I''ve certainly not heard of an Air slime..." Trixie muttered, deep in thought, while twirling her hair. Leaving her to her schemes, I gladly continued to work with [Arcane Armor]. I was certainly right that it greedily drank up the Ice mana and rapidly shifted and changed; all I needed to do was maintain its shape and not let it deform from the new mana type, which, with all five of my helpers, was a greatly simplified task. ''If the future Arcane spells are like this too, then I can rather simply add a new spell for each element. It''s too bad that the reverse isn''t true.'' "If you can get three elements to level five, or five to level three, you might get a solution to your problem..." Trixie muttered, seemingly having thought long and hard. "I have four above three already, so I just need to get Arcane to three?" I questioned. "No. Elements, not affinities. Corrosion and Arcane are out of this equation." "Right... Anything else?" "Probably at least level twenty in your class. More wouldn''t hurt, but I think that''s the minimum." "Thanks, Trixie. Guess I''ll have to wait and see the surprise." "Yup. No more hints for you, or you will ruin the surprise." She teased and returned to her lazy nap. "We should put her in her place; his majesty shouldn''t be trifled with such a pompous servant." Another replied. "Indeed." "Agreed." I couldn''t believe what I was hearing; it was insane. "So I''ve been listening to their private conversations. They think you''re trying to proposition their ruler, and they seem to be quite intimidated by your mana." Trixie suddenly explained while the unicorns began to circle me. Their horns began to glow, and I knew it was time to fight. I leaped towards the nearest unicorn and prepared to devour it with acid. I gave my [Sub-Cores] the command to debuff all of them. "The nerve!" "The audacity!" The unicorns shouted in disbelief that I would willingly defend myself. I formed two tendrils of opposite densities and flung them toward the unicorn before it could do anything; whatever spell was forming on its horn fizzled as one tendril clobbered it while the other engulfed it. "Guards! To arms! This peasant is revolting!" One of the unicorns blared aloud, and I noticed some pegasi immediately reacting and approaching. The other unicorns began firing beams of light from their horns. The spell buildup was long, but the projectile speed was terrifying. The fired beam of light penetrated straight through my head, and I wondered what type of magic or trait it was. "[Light Magic], fast and high penetration but relatively low damage." Trixie suddenly explained unprompted. "Or at least that spell is, be thankful these mares are absolute amateurs." Witnessing the large amount of pegasi rapidly approaching, I ordered four of my [Sub-Cores] to start firing, hoping that Trixie would uphold her promise. Meanwhile, Alpha and I would deal with the unicorns, who were now all debuffed with [Frigid]. I cast [Frost Armor] and was rapidly enveloped in protective ice before another light beam struck against it. When it hit the ice, it seemed greatly hindered, and the single powerful beam split into a multitude of minuscule ones that couldn''t even penetrate my slime. "Ooh! Refraction!" Trixie cheered. I wanted to complain about her commentary, but I shut my mouth when I noticed a pegasus getting absolutely skewered by multiple icicles. [Frostbite] easily applied to one of the nearby unicorns, ice rapidly forming and piercing into her as it spread. "Huh... I thought you didn''t have freeze?" Trixie curiously asked, "Oh... Is it just ice damage? How the heck did you figure that one out." "I dunno... It''s poison ice..? I''ll explain later." I replied mentally while focusing on trying and failing to dodge unicorn lasers. I was extremely impressed with [Frost Armor] reducing the impact of their spell. I felt very confident until one of the unicorns charged me from behind, stabbing into the armor with her horn before firing a point-blank laser. Unfortunately, the beam directly hit one of my many [Sub-Cores], but thankfully, was unable to deal enough damage to break through the previously cast [Arcane Armor] on it. "Oh, don''t mind me. I''m just thinking aloud." Trixie chuckled as I reverse-engulfed the unicorn that had charged at me. Chapter 113: Horsing Around Chapter 113: Horsing Around Unlike the pegasi, the unicorns felt far less threatening as they struggled to dodge any of my attacks. Their beams of light, while initially scary due to their speed and penetration, were not as deadly for me. With their wind, coordinated teamwork, and evasive speed, the pegasi would have been my primary concern if not for whatever Trixie did to hide my spells. With my spells hidden, I no longer needed to unleash an improbable barrage and hope to hit them, and their effectiveness was greatly enhanced. The pegasi were like delicate glass cannons that relied entirely on their speed and aerial maneuvering to survive. They only required a good hit or two to take down, and often, gravity would finish the job. I barely paid attention as my [Sub-Cores] continued their task of dealing with them; it honestly felt great to have the team back together. The unicorns were either screaming in panic or bloody murder as they tried to deal with me, accusing me of treason, regicide, and even homewrecking. I tried my best to tune out their words and wished Trixie hadn''t maintained the connection. Some of the more advanced unicorns attempted to counter my attacks with blinding flashes rather than their offensive beams of light. Yet, their efforts were in vain. Even when my normal vision was impaired, I could still rely on [Mana Conception] or [Life Sight] to maintain my advantage. Without warning, a thunderous sound, followed by a resounding neigh, reverberated from the hollowed tree. Emerging from the shadows was a majestic creature, a horse-like being with both pegasus wings and a unicorn horn. Its pearlescent coat, more radiant than any unicorn''s, shimmered in the light. Its mane, a vibrant kaleidoscope of colors, was a testament to its regal nature. "Wow, how many names does someone need?" I questioned. There was a cacophony of laughter from Trixie before she struggled out her next words, "You... You gotta listen to this guy." "I''d rather you not-" I tried to reject the offer, but Trixie did her own thing, and suddenly, I had another voice blaring in my head. "Loyal subjects, why do you fight?" The alicorn spoke; even mentally, his voice was flowery and pompous. One of the surviving unicorns spoke up, "Your majesty! This pegasus monster has been sent to assassinate you! Clearly, an agent of chaos! Her form twists and turns like the monster she truly is!" The alicorn examined me and... smiled? His upper lip curled and showed his pearly whites. "Good heavens, what a fantastic mare. Your potential is outstanding." "Your majesty!" The unicorn protested, "She killed many of your concubines!" "We can spawn more as long as I hold this essence nexus, but an enchanting specimen like this doesn''t come along so often... She''d make an excellent broodmare." He replied and fluttered his eyelashes as he gazed at me. I wanted to vomit, but Trixie just kept laughing. "Your majesty! You can''t; she is but a peasant!" The unicorn begged, and against my expectations, the alicorn snarled and, with a swipe of his horn, formed a blade of light that decapitated the unicorn. "Good. Her voice was droning on." He chortled to himself and began to pompously trot towards me, "Good concubines for the harem are so hard to find, but you, my dear, could be my number one broodmare. Our children would be legendary; we could overthrow my brothers and claim the kingdom!" "Uh... No thanks," I replied instinctually. "Now, now, my dear. I do like a bit of feistiness, but I''m not opposed to breaking in a new mare." I had enough of this and was about to go full slime chimera on him when Trixie spoke up, briefly holding back her laughter. "Please keep pretending to be a pegasus. Then, later on, shapeshift into something male; the uglier, the better, please!" When I didn''t immediately agree to her request, Trixie quickly added, "I''ll give you a reward or something! Please, I haven''t laughed so hard in years!" I still had no idea where Trixie even was, and it seemed she could quite easily control the direction of these mental conversations. Her strength and abilities were still a great unknown, so I reluctantly grumbled an agreement. Meanwhile, the pompous alicorn kept regaling me with his glory. Since he was so full of himself, I decided to layer out all my debuffs beforehand by keeping the conversation going. "Your... Majesty..." I forced out, "Why are you controlling this essence nexus?" "Well, my dear, one as great as myself can never have too big of a harem. I was hoping to eventually find myself an excellent broodmare, and it seems my prayers have finally been answered with your arrival." "Marvelous. Breathtaking. Spectacular! I simply must have you!" I cringed and quickly dodged a second golden sword, which apparated from the opposite side of the original, forcing me to block one while avoiding the other. "Okay, so I can do that, but mine have a limited range compared to his." "Yes? Just move the anchor point or recast the spell if that''s too hard for you? " Trixie answered, sounding dumbfounded. "Anchor point?" "Okay. Who was your magic teacher? I''m going to have to seriously give them a piece of my mind." Trixie huffed. "You''re creating custom spells, are on the verge of having two affinities of magic at level five, and yet you don''t know what an anchor point is!?" "Look. I''m mostly self-taught, and the one teacher I had believed everything could be resolved with a good [Fireball] spell." I answered while forced to form a second ice shield to block the now faster-moving swords. "Of course, it was a bloody Pyromancer!" Trixie exclaimed. "This explains so much..." I tried to approach the alicorn, but he was more than happy to keep fleeing while slashing at me with his swords. Occasionally throwing out a blinding flash of light in hopes of tripping me up, but [Mana Conception] was more than enough to still see the magical blade trajectories. I caught him with another spell barrage, but he smirked and healed himself again. "Well, there''s no way I can explain anchor points to you mid-battle." Trixie sighed, "How about you submit, then give him a show." Trixie''s gleeful delight bled through the telepathic link. Mentally, I sighed in resignation, but outwardly, I pressed hard on my [Acting] skill. I briefly considered if adding elven ears to my pegasus would be enough for me to borrow [Elven Glamour], but I decided to not risk it. When his blades clashed against my ice shields, I let go of the spells completely so they shattered and allowed the blades to cut into my flank. Alpha, still following my prior orders, made the wounds look realistic despite not causing any genuine damage. "Your majesty! I''m no match for you... I submit." I declared, hoping my performance was enough. I worried I was hamming it up too much, but [Acting] seemed to feel like this was the right choice. "Yes!" The alicorn responded, his voice dripping in arrogance and glee. The hunger in his eyes made me want no part of this, but Trixie kept egging me on to continue. The alicorn smugly approached, and I showed no outward hostility or movement. His lip curled up as he showed his teeth and dramatically flicked his mane in the wind. "Let me heal you, my broodmare, then get you cleaned up, and we can proceed to our castle." He replied and nuzzled against my neck. Holding back the urge to vomit, he cast a healing spell, and Alpha faked the wounds closing up. "Do it!" Trixie ordered. I positioned myself closer to him, placing my head on his torso, which seemed to delight him. Then, I triggered my shapeshifting. The ugliest creature I could imagine was the orc, so I made the largest and nastiest orc I could recall. My head was shifted into an arm, which grabbed onto the prince, not allowing him to leave. "Wh-what!?" He stammered out in confusion. My body rapidly rippled and transfigured; I ensured the orcish face was right up close and personal. Perhaps I still had [Acting] on, as I instinctually gave a nasty grin of rotten tusks. "Hey, handsome," I replied out loud, trying to do my best orcish guttural imitation. The alicorn prince screamed in shrill and pure terror, yet that was still outdone by the sheer volume of laughter that erupted from the pixie. Chapter 114: Old Tactics Chapter 114: Old Tactics After the scream came the panicked attempts at escape from the alicorn prince, but I had ensured I was tightly wrapped around his barrel with my arm and an accompanying tendril. "No! Unhand me, foul beast!" He demanded as he slammed a golden sword deep into the orcish face. The orc head had no core inside, so there was no real risk to me, and once again, I felt obligated to put on a bit of a performance. Either [Acting] wanted an encore, or Trixie was seriously rubbing off on me as a bad influence. I had the head grin maniacally despite having a sword embedded in it and licking its lips. The prince, in a state of panic, continued to cast spells and make frantic attempts to dislodge me. But I had already enveloped his entire body in slime, firmly establishing my hold. In the past, when I had covered monsters, they had been more than willing to harm themselves in an attempt to kill or remove me. But the alicorn prince was different. His golden weapons of light swiped at me with extreme hesitancy, his fear of self-inflicted injury palpable. Just as I was about to unleash the full force of my [Acid Slime], a stern reminder from [Dissection] halted me. This prince was a treasure trove to be harvested, not a mere enemy to be dissolved. Reluctantly, I had to resort to the old suffocating invasion, a method my low-level self would have been proud of. My tendrils and slime sought any and all available entry inside the alicorn; once again, he screamed in mental outrage and panic. He begged and pleaded, offering me riches, mares, if I only spared him. He cast multiple healing spells on himself as [Life Sight] showed me how much he bounced between death and life. I had introduced some Bloodrot poison to hinder his healing, which caused even more panic from the prince. There were accusations of being a pestilence demon, and he seemed to swap to another form of magic that didn''t seem to do anything. I was trying my hardest to just block him out, and at some point, Trixie cut off the connection, which I was grateful for, as I didn''t want to hear him mentally screaming until the very end. Unsurprisingly, he began to plummet, unable to maintain airborne through the pain and near-death state even with his magical flight, which was when I fully enveloped his wings to protect them for [Dissection] and withdrew a mass amount of slime to provide enough cushioning to protect the resources; I didn''t dare risk the ire of [Dissection] after failing twice with the griffins. My [Life Sight] must have leveled up, but I ignored the notifications for now, as I could see the alicorn''s in much more detail. As each second went by, a large chunk would suddenly vanish until nothing was left. Our landing was much bouncier than I expected, and I partially reduced my outer density between each bounce in the hope of slowing us down. ''A much better crash landing than the griffin, at least!'' Fate must have hated my positive attitude as I noticed our current trajectory heading off the floating island. Seeing the inevitable outcome, I quickly made plans, withdrawing more and more slime mass. Once we crossed the edge, I''d form as many wings as possible. I''d be a giant fat blob of slime with wings! It would be very stupid-looking, but hopefully enough to keep myself and my prize from plummeting to the ground below. Bouncing off the side, I put my plan into action, and with a little bit of strain and perhaps a few wings too many, I stabilized and flapped myself back towards the island like a massively overweight bird. When I landed, I let out a sigh of relief and let [Dissection] get to work by assigning it to my [Sub-Cores]. I sighed deeply. "Wow, Syl, you''re pretty scary, you know," Trixie said, finally reappearing before me. "Remind me not to get on your bad side." "Sure... I hope it was worth it." I responded. I wasn''t tired or hurt per se, more just emotionally and mentally drained or perhaps coming down from a combat high. "Oh, definitely. That orc bit you did was outstanding! I thought I would die of laughter," Trixie responded, giving me a standing ovation. "Are all royals and nobles like that?" I asked. Admittedly, I didn''t have the greatest sample size. Trixie shrugged, "Ehh... I think it differs from race to race and person to person. The fairy queen is a real pleasure. The dwarf king is cheery as long as he isn''t sober. All the elves are pretty friendly to my kind. I''ve always avoided humans and got captured the one time I didn''t, so I can''t help you there. This assumes none of the thrones have changed while I''ve been stuck here." Trixie knew a surprising lot, and I wanted to poke for more information, but I could almost feel the mental glee oozing from her as if she was just waiting to deny me. The way my emblem behaved around her also made me suspicious that she was more than what she appeared to be. Or maybe she was just really old and had lots of random tidbits rattling around in her head. Deciding to ignore the pixie for now, I turned to the vast wall of text from all the notifications. The first thing I did was look at my proficiency increases. I was eager to see if I had finally reached the next level of [Ice Magic]. "Well, that''s one mystery solved." I looked over the two new profiles I had gained. Both the unicorn and alicorn updated the [Equine] profile. It was the natural evolution path of either unicorns or pegasi, which made me wonder why the unicorns were put above them. Not wanting to dive into horse politics, I looked for any traits or skills I would want. Anything the unicorn had was in the alicorn profile, so I promptly ignored it and looked over the alicorn in more detail. It had quite a few traits I had never seen before; [Enchanted Horn], [Curse Resistance], [Divine-Touched], [Telepathy (Lesser)], and a familiar friend [Magic Resistance (Lesser)]. Over in skills, it had [Light Magic], [Recovery Magic], and [Holy Magic], and I failed to meet the prerequisite for any of them. [Divine-Touched] raised the efficacy of [Light Magic], [Recovery Magic], and [Holy Magic] and raised resistance against [Dark Magic]. None of that applied to me, so I could ignore it unless I needed a half-effective dark resistance. [Curse Resistance] seemed interesting. I prodded Trixie for an answer, to which she frowned and replied, "Basically, everything you are doing with [Corrosion Magic] and more. It''s good to have if ever fighting warlocks or demons." Remembering warlock and Krutz and his attempted enslavement, I hastily bought it. [Enchanted Horn] was amazing, and I wish I could have bought it, so it would have to be a prime candidate for borrowing instead. Raises spell power by 5% per trait rank. Spells focused through the horn become more real.> "What the hell does more real even mean?" I questioned Trixie. "Oh, that''s pretty easy to explain. So, anything created by magic would be more substantial. Like his swords of light, they had a sort of weight to them despite being made entirely of light mana." Trixie explained. "Now, it''s not going to make it actually a sword, but you can surely understand the benefit. You''re using ice, which is already pretty substantial, so you probably never realized it, but if you tried to do the same with fire, it''d go right through." "Huh... Thanks, that actually weirdly makes sense. At the time, I thought, ''Well, that''s magic,'' but I didn''t think further about it." "Yeah... No need to think too hard on it." Trixie chuckled. Mentally communicate to 1 target per trait rank within visual range. If the mind is unwilling, mental resistance must be overcome to establish a connection.> "Well, that''s pretty simple. Although I''ll probably stick to borrowing it, I don''t know if I trust myself to talk to people mentally." "Yeah... You''re kind of an open book in that regard." She patted my head before fluttering off, "Now, let''s go claim our new tree fort before someone else steals it!" Chapter 115: Cleanup Chapter 115: Cleanup A sense of victory washed over me as I confirmed the successful harvest of alicorn horn, mane, hide, and feathers. Trixie and I leisurely flew back towards the tree, observing the lost and uncoordinated pegasi still in the air. Trixie, with her enigmatic demeanor, seemed to be concealing our presence, ensuring we remained completely undisturbed. Her actions, shrouded in a veil of mystery, were a puzzle, evading even my most rigorous attempts to sense or identify them. Any attempts to question her about it were met with a smug smile and giggles as if I were a child asking why water was wet. As we returned to the tree, the scene was a chaotic mess, the aftermath of the battle starkly evident. The once serene surroundings were now marred, the ground littered with fallen pegasi and unicorns, their lifeless bodies a stark contrast to the vibrant atmosphere that had filled the air moments ago. Despite their equal monster tier, the unicorn horns were much more valuable, and I felt a sense of duty to start harvesting them. "Right... You take care of all this mess, and I''ll handle the inside of the tree. I bet it''s like a barn in there." Trixie declared, her voice filled with a mix of determination and anticipation, and fluttered off inside, her wings a blur of motion. I wasn''t going to complain about being told to eat and harvest, so I started gathering the carcasses with pseudopods and bringing them to a giant blob of slime, which I was designating the [Dissection] zone. To facilitate this, I let my [Sub-Cores] control portions of slime while I got to sit down and relax. Occasionally, one of the pegasi would fly past as if searching for the tree, but it would fly past and not even react to me. ''Seriously, how incredibly powerful is she?'' I wondered, my awe and concern for her growing with each passing moment. While I delegated the boring work, I played around with [Frost Grasp], as I desperately wanted to add its freezing property to other spells. The [Icicle] spell currently felt more like it did more piercing or stabbing than anything ice-related. Still, I had hope that if I added the freezing property to it, then any icy shards stabbed into an enemy would slowly emanate and freeze them. Then, the next step would be to add [Chill] to the spell, further improving it. From there, I might have a working template for future ice spells. I was still moderately upset by the difference between intermediate and beginner spells. Nothing shown so far was impressive in an isolated use case, and instead, it provided a very complex building block for you to work with. Although I probably skipped quite a few steps, I could only assume that, normally, a mage would have quite an impressive repertoire before reaching my point. Spells like [Fireball] and [Torrent] were immediately useful; meanwhile, [Chill], [Ice Patch], and even now, [Frost Grasp] seemed niche in usage. ''Calm down, Syl, one step at a time...'' It was already quite dark when I came out of my tinkering trance. I must have felt very safe to have gotten so absorbed in my work. Glancing over to the tree, I noticed a trailing line of rabbit-sized stick creatures carrying all sorts of garbage and bits before heading towards the tree''s platform edge and dumping it over. I could sense the small amount of Nature mana contained in these creatures. ''Are these Trixie''s?'' I wondered, watching the strange creatures work. "Don''t you dare eat them!" A warning shot through my mind. Not wanting to tempt fate, I ignored them and continued my work until, much later, Trixie approached me and gestured toward the tree with a big grin plastered on her face. "Our home away from home is cleaned and ready!" She announced excitedly. "Come on in, I''ll show you around." I followed her, a little excited to see what was inside. Despite the giant hole, there was actually still a large portion of the tree undisturbed, likely to prevent killing it entirely. I was surprised at the edges'' smoothness; some of it looked almost like it was naturally formed rather than cut out or crafted. There was a table that looked grown out of roots, two matching chairs, and on the outer wall, some wooden benches grown out of them directly. The walls were covered with freshly grown vines and ivy and decorated with floral arrangements, creating a very pleasant and peaceful atmosphere. "I''m surprised they managed to do all this...." I muttered. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. "No need to apologize; you freed me after all. I just wish I could find that corpse bastard and stick it to him." Trixie sighed, "Seriously, Syl, never trust a human." "Uh..." I muttered, not sure how to respond to such a statement. "Don''t tell me you have human friends?" "Well... Something like that. I''m technically part of the Adventurers Guild and have built up an entire persona. I''ve gone on quests, saved farmers, defeated monsters, and they even want to give me a promotion." Trixie paused momentarily before responding; I wondered if I had upset her, "That''s pretty impressive for a slime. Although you involve yourself in risky business, humans are smart and scheming... I''d hate to see you captured and experimented on." I shuddered. It was like Trixie had specifically targeted one of my greatest worries; "Not all of them are so bad... At first, I was very scared of them. They harvested me when I first appeared, and then I watched one obliterate a green slime. Then I fought some while protecting some goblins, and they seemed... Weak? Then I somehow ended up being rescued by them, became an Adventurer, had one try to kill me, survived, and got promoted. Honestly, it''s been kind of chaotic. But I''ve made a few I''d likely consider friends..." "I still think it''s far too risky; I just hope you''re strong enough that you''re prepared for it the day it inevitably happens." Trixie warned, then added, "You''ll have to show me your disguise in the morning; I want to see how you fooled them." "Sure, it''s been pretty good so far. Although it draws far more attention than I''d like, I''m considering creating another persona." "Interesting... Well, the more tricks, the better, in my opinion." We continued to make some more small talk late into the evening; being so open for a change was honestly rather pleasant. "Are we safe being out here? There was still quite a lot of pegasi flying around." "Don''t worry, nothing will find us while I''m around," Trixie replied with unshaken confidence. "Anyway, it''s been a long day, and I''m sleeping. Toodles." And just like that, she seemed to immediately fall asleep, the telepathic connection dropping. While I had faith in her capabilities, I still set up some orders to wake me up in an emergency and replaced my [Arcane Armor] on myself with orders to be refreshed if it expired. I opened [Mapping], the new landmark feature showing me how close we had now drifted towards Kaerlin, although Thern had said that it didn''t get close enough to actually pass over the city. ''I hope surviving pegasi don''t cause any problems below. Although, perhaps there was a good chance the alicorn might have ordered them to do so. He definitely seemed like the type to do that.'' I wondered. ''Well, I''m sure there are plenty of other capable adventurers; they can handle a few stragglers. Hell, I''m sure Lisa could blast them with lightning. Now that is a scary thought.'' Sleep came relatively easily despite my concerns as I sank deeper into my tub. I made a mental note to claim this tub for myself when departing this island. Chapter 116: Pixie Lessons Chapter 116: Pixie Lessons I awoke the next morning bright and early; Trixie was still asleep, snoring loudly and contorted in her hammock in a precarious position. I decided to sneak outside and continue working with my spells until she woke up and supposedly would help train me. Regardless of whatever help she offered me, I wanted a proper, usable offensive ice spell and immediately brought all my [Sub-Cores] to help with the task. My concentration finally broke when the tiny pixie floated over, grumbling almost as if she had a hangover. Her appearance was once again slovenly, like when I had first met her. She nonchalantly floated over and collapsed against my slime, her arms out wide like she was trying to hug a pillow and rubbing her face against my outer layer. "Ahh... You''re refreshingly cool." She sounded very pleased. I was so stunned by the action that I nearly let my spell collapse if not for my helpers holding it together. Either she had a newfound trust in me, or she had the utmost confidence in her own abilities. I certainly couldn''t imagine anyone allowing a known acid slime so close to themselves. Regardless, I didn''t want to tempt fate by attempting anything against her, and as much as I didn''t want to admit it, she was slowly growing on me. "What are you doing?" I eventually asked when she had still not moved or done anything beyond trying to press herself against a larger surface area of slime. "Breakfast... Well... Brunch..." she murmured; even telepathically, I could feel the tired tone in her voice. As if to soothe my worry, she promptly added, "It''s just the mana you''re leaking; you''re passively generating more than you''re actively spending..." I kept my concern silent and continued to tinker away. Occasionally, she would watch my work, but she didn''t add any commentary or correction, so I had to assume I was at least heading in the right direction. I lost track of time again, and eventually, she fluttered off me and stretched herself. "Okay, I''m up. Can you continue that later, please?" she asked, pointing toward my in-progress spell. "Sure," I agreed, letting the spell dissipate after ensuring the progress was saved amongst my cores. She nodded, then held her hand out, a skill or trait hovering above her palm. Redacted.> "Can you purchase this trait?" She asked curiously. I was slightly concerned about the trait''s description being unavailable, but I tried. "Nope. Requirements partially met, it says." I answered. "Damn. Well, that would have potentially solved your strange mana combination. Guess you will have to evolve further or try something else." She shrugged, shaking her head, "Well, you promised to show me your disguise, so let''s see how you fooled those humans." Seeing no reason not to, I shifted into my elven form while auto-equipping my armor that appropriately resized itself. It was previously resized to fit my hobgoblin form, and I couldn''t help but be so grateful once again for the enchantment. Once fully formed, I did a little twirl and smiled at Trixie. "Well? What do you think?" I asked. Trixie stared at me long and hard. "I did not expect an elf. I''d swear you look familiar, too, like someone I know, their sister or daughter perhaps..." "Her name was Sylthaeryn... That''s about all I can remember. She did have another name, but my memory of that is a bit fuzzy..." "That water spell only has the instruction to shoot forward from its anchor point," Trixie said and also cast a tiny [Water Orb] spell, which splashed harmlessly against me. "Now, you need to learn to move the anchor point. Obviously, there are now risks involved in casting it away from outside the safety of your aura, but we will go into those details when you''ve actually accomplished it." Trixie further explained, and then I saw the [Water Orb] forming above me and firing directly downwards, again splashing me with harmless water. While I was basking in the newfound revelation, another ball of water hit me from behind, and then two dropped on top of me. I frowned at Trixie, who was now giggling after proving her point. "Okay. I get it and can probably think of hundreds of good uses for it. It would probably trigger my [Sneak Attack] if I cast spells from behind monsters." "Yes!" Trixie exclaimed joyously, clapping her hands like a proud parent. She held another spell construct in her hand, and then I watched the construct start to orbit around her before flying up into the sky and firing another water ball at me. I could have dodged, but getting a little wet meant nothing to me. "Now, what I just did there is more advanced. It''s easier and safer to cast it at a point and be done with it, but in the case of your ice weapons, you could learn to keep up the casting and have it follow after your target." I nodded, thinking of the potential possibilities and applications. It certainly was like a whole new world of magic was being opened to me. "But! First things first, we need you to actually form your anchor point outside of your aura. It''s going to suck, big time, and if you''re anything like me, then your instincts will be screaming at you not to do it." I smiled; this genuinely sounded amazing, and I was more than willing to put up with some inconvenience to learn something this useful. Hell, I brute-forced so much mental backlash trying to create my first custom spell; this sounded far less strenuous. "Thanks, Trixie. I can''t wait." I said happily. "No problem. We''ll make you a magical force to be reckoned with!" Trixie beamed; she seemed genuinely thrilled. "Now, let''s start with the mental exercises." Trixie kept me busy late into the night with her training course when she abruptly announced that she was too tired to continue and fluttered back into the tree for sleep. I wouldn''t say she was a bad teacher, but she and I might have had more in common than I realized, and suddenly, I wondered if this was how I made Dewi feel. Many of her explanations were based on feelings and emotions, and when I struggled to produce any results or understand her explanation after numerous failed attempts, only then did she offer a slightly more typical explanation. The gist of it was that I needed to overcome a mental block that is ingrained as soon as someone learns their very first spell, and I needed to project my will outside of the safety of my so-called mana aura. Trixie''s original explanation was to meditate and think of projecting myself outside of my body, which then became an attempt to visualize my perception point changing. Her last attempt at trying to aid me in understanding the concept was to try to have me personify myself as a target. "This rock is you, Syl. Now, because you are this rock, you should have no problem projecting a spell from it. You are the rock. The rock is you." Trixie had said sternly, wagging her finger. "Be the rock, Syl." Shockingly, that explanation had helped me the most, and through great mental strain, I had formed a partial start at a spell construct next to the rock. My mind reeled at the attempt, and like Trixie had pointed out, a deep-seated instinct screamed out to me that what I was doing was very dangerous and that I should stop. After that, I failed to form another partial construct for the rest of the evening. She was so excited when I had made that initial partial success, and now I felt like I had let us both down. I had tried to ask Trixie why this was such a massive hurdle to overcome, but she only frowned. "I wish I could tell you, Syl. But I worry that if I tell you, it''ll only reinforce the mental block," Trixie explained. She must have sensed my oncoming protest and reassured me to stop me. "I promise I''ll give you a proper explanation as to why, the risks involved, and how best to overcome them. But please trust me on this." Feeling low on resolve, I returned to work on my ice spell before eventually also turning in for the night. I hoped a good night''s rest would help me recover enough to overcome this block. Chapter 117: Safety Override Chapter 117: Safety Override The next day was a continuation of the same, a relentless cycle of almost succeeding, only to be plunged back into the depths of failure. I turned to Trixie, hoping for a glimmer of advice, but her response was a genuine, regrettable denial. "I certainly hope I don''t have to overcome this each and every time..." I said with a hint of anxiety. "Thankfully, it stays broken once you''ve overcome the mental block," Trixie replied. "That''s a relief... I think I''d give up if you said otherwise." I admitted, my voice tinged with gratitude. "Is there a skill or trait for this?" I asked, hoping there was perhaps a purchasable solution. After a pause to think, Trixie replied, "No... But it''s very good training for [Mana Manipulation]. Also, once you''ve achieved it, I believe it might open up some skills for you in the future." "That''s a shame... I''ve had things I wanted to do in the past, but until I got the right skill or trait, it seemed utterly impossible. Like I was blocked on a reality level." "Think of it like agreeing to terms and conditions. Or a safety waiver." "What?" I asked, puzzled. "Are you sure you want to do this? Are you really sure?" Trixie giggled, but the joke went over my head. I also tried ordering my [Sub-Cores] to attempt it, but they ignored the order. Whatever this was, I had to overcome it myself, and I just hoped once I had broken through, it would apply to them as well. It was late afternoon when it finally happened. An invisible barrier in my mind shattered, and far outside of my so-called "mana aura," I formed the basic spell construct for [Water Orb]. There was an immediate flare of dread, and I wondered if I was about to be punished, but then it entirely faded away. I let the spell cast, and it fired off into the distance. Then I immediately attempted it again, and like Trixie had said, there was no resistance at all. I ordered my [Sub-Cores] to cast, and they followed through. I couldn''t help but cheer. I was extremely worried that they wouldn''t be able to after they blatantly ignored my earlier order, which I didn''t think was even possible. "Excellent! Well done, Syl. I knew you could do it." Trixie said with a bright and cheery smile as she petted my head. "Now, I can explain the risks and consequences without potentially scaring you off entirely or reinforcing the block." "Right," I replied, eagerly nodding. "Okay, construct another [Water Orb]," Trixie requested, and I did so. "The first risk is an obvious one; someone else can seize your spell," Trixie said and held out her hand toward my spell. It shimmered slightly, and I felt it ripped from my control. A feeling of raw and pure violation washed over me, and then the spell was aimed at and hit me. "That is the weakest threat; only amateurs will do something like this, as most casters are usually heavily resistant or immune to their own affinities." Trixie explained, then chuckled before adding, "And if they aren''t, they are idiots. Of course, if you have allies, they might turn your spell against them, which could be tragic..." I nodded in agreement, remembering how Dewi had ensured he was fireproof. Since I mostly acted alone, the idea of my spells being turned against allies didn''t seem that likely, and I was mostly immune to all of them as far as I knew. "Cast something a little bigger for the next demonstration, please. Preferably something, not water." I cast [Fireball] this time, holding it in the air. Trixie reached out and seized the spell. Again, I felt violated, and the spell exploded as the construct dangerously unraveled. I felt something inside of me burn away. "The second risk is someone disrupting your spell and causing you a backlash, which will burn your mana. Against lesser foes, you can overcome this, and there''s an entire skill for this, which I''ll give you afterward." Trixie explained. "So that was the... Burning feeling?" I asked. "Look, I never said I was the master of analogies, but I thought it might help?" Trixie puffed out her cheeks, looking a little sulky. "Right. Sorry, Trixie. Thanks for trying." I said, giving an apologetic bow of my head. "So, I suppose the more important question is, how do I stop this?" "Well, you have a few options. Let''s start with the simplest: cast your spell fast enough that it can''t be manipulated." Trixie said, nearly instantly casting a [Water Orb] before me that splashed against me. "That requires practice. I think a few skills might help, but nothing beats good old practice." I nodded along, "Makes sense." "The second method, and my favorite, is hiding your spell. If they can''t see it, they can''t seize it." Trixie said, another ball of water forming before casually being launched at me. This time, I couldn''t see her spell workings; the water just appeared from nowhere. "Unfortunately, you aren''t compatible with my method, so you might need to discover your own." "Is it an affinity requirement?" I questioned. "Yes." My mood immediately plummeted, and I sank my face deep into my palms and let out a frustrated groan. Trixie seemed surprised by my sudden outburst. "Bad experience with affinities or something?" She questioned. "It feels like whenever I want a trait or skill, I''m blocked by a missing affinity..." I moaned. "Yeah... Well, look on the bright side; not many can gain a new one by eating a slime?" Trixie replied with a shrug. "Yeah. You''re right. Still disappointing, though." Trixie cleared her throat loudly. "Anyway. While you can''t use my method, you can still hide your spells. Form them behind an opponent, above or below them, and so forth. Just try not to form them too close; if they are within someone else''s aura, they are easier to detect." "You say that, but I can''t detect yours at all, and I''m pretty sure you''ve made them within mine." I pointed out. "Easier, not guaranteed," Trixie replied with a cheeky smile. "There''s a decent chance once you''ve used it a bit, your class might give you a solution. You mentioned [Sneak Attack], so I assume it''s some sort of roguey-spellcaster isn''t it?" "Yes. It''s a hybrid class, from what I''ve been told." "Good. There''s even a chance you''ve met some prerequisite just by breaking through the restriction. Look forward to your next level up." Trixie said with a wink. I tried casting a few times; if I pulled in all my cores to help and avoided empowering, I could cast excessively fast. Even Trixie was greatly impressed by that spellcasting speed. I knew [Magic Efficiency] also reduced spellcasting time, but I couldn''t exactly focus on training that skill in particular unless I spent some skill points to directly upgrade it. I questioned Trixie about it, but she said I should just cast lots of spells outside of my aura, which would be a risk bonus. I was practicing with [Icicle], determined to get my [Ice Magic] to five while working towards my modified version. Trixie agreed with my approach to add [Frost Grasp] and [Chill] to it, although she pointed out that spell modifications weren''t exactly her thing. "As fun as it is to watch you trying to turn this island into a glacier, I''m going to bed. Tomorrow, I''ll show you a new skill, and we can practice defending your spells for when stealth or haste fails you." "I can''t wait!" I said with a beaming smile, "Thanks again, Trixie." Chapter 118: Final Lesson Chapter 118: Final Lesson While I waited for Trixie to wake up, I again continued my work on enhancing my spell. To better understand [Frost Grasp] and practice speed casting, I had my [Sub-Cores] rotate through the castings of the spell at a distance. Icy, ethereal hands formed briefly to freeze a nearby rock or flower in the distance before disappearing. I hadn''t noticed it at first with spells like [Icicle] or [Water Orb] due to their minimal cost; it seemed that forming the spell outside of my aura incurred an additional fee, a percentage of the original spell''s cost factored over the distance. In the heat of combat, I didn''t anticipate this to be a significant issue; it felt more like a safeguard to prevent long-distance spellcasting. ''Or at least limiting them to one or two while waiting for mana to regenerate.'' I noted. While the idea of spell sniping didn''t interest me much at present, I did see good use in it for rapidly expending my mana so that I could work on my mana-related traits, which had become an issue since I was, in theory, always capped out. The only problem was that while I could sense mana leaving me and a rough approximation of the quantity, my actual capacity levels were completely unavailable. Trixie could somehow feel my mana levels due to her nature, but I didn''t feel comfortable leaving it in her hands; it would be like relying on someone to tell you when to eat or breathe. I was on the verge of what felt like a breakthrough when the pixie abruptly appeared and seized the spell out of my grasp. I tried to struggle and fight to hold it, but it was beyond me and broke apart. The frustration was overwhelming, and I wanted to scream in anger. Still, I managed to hold back since, with my [Sub-Cores], I could recover the point of progress relatively easily, and Trixie probably wanted to prove the point that I needed to work on my defense. "I don''t know whether to applaud your insight of working on a spell outside your aura to train multiple skills at once or slap you for putting yourself at so much risk," Trixie said with an exaggerated sigh. "I figured it would be worthwhile if I knew I was in a safe area." I defended myself. "True enough, I suppose. We are safe up here, thanks to me, but I hope you''ll remember you won''t always have me around." I nodded in agreement. I planned to be very aware of my surroundings if I tried something like this again. "It''s frustrating that I can''t just drop the spell once you''ve claimed it. I would have thought that would be a reliable defense." "Technically, you''re right; that''s the best to do if you''re desperate and don''t feel confident in wrestling back control. You just lack the capability to even do that right now." Trixie said and presented a skill. This skill allows spell constructs to be seized or reinforced. Skill level determines your base attack and defense but can be further enhanced through knowledge, mental attributes, or other magic-related skills and traits. Defend your spells or dominate your opponents!> I hastily bought the skill; I was sick of feeling like a toddler trying to stand up to an adult. I was glad that the skill level wasn''t the only determining factor, and I wondered what other skills or traits would aid. The obvious two were [Mana Manipulation] and [Mana Conception], but I glanced through my others to see if anything stood out while reading through the description. ''Reinforce... Huh...'' I thought. "Trying to think of what works with the skill?" Trixie asked despite giving me a knowing smile. "Yeah... I have the [Mana Reinforcement] trait and thought it might work. But the description mentions the body specifically, so now I have my doubts." "Maybe? You might need to find a different teacher, though. I certainly don''t focus on reinforcing my spells; I prefer trickery and deception." Trixie replied. "Now, let''s try out your new skill!" We started off with me trying to defend my spell. Now, instead of feeling like a toddler, I felt like maybe a child or teen trying to protect myself, and [Mana Manipulation] was my knife. Trixie explained that the quickest way to defend myself if I was willing to take some mana burn was to rapidly disrupt my own spell; we practiced back and forth doing that. Trixie would seize my spell, and I''d defend it by quickly throwing it into a tangled mess. Trixie was gentle with me, but I felt like I was making progress and was eager to try attacking later on. During our practice, I had the errant thought of wondering if [Ritual Casting] would apply to this and had my [Sub-Cores] join in with destroying my own spell. "True... Against non-spellcasters, I''m perfectly safe, and then against another caster, what are the chances they have [Counter Magic]?"I pondered aloud, "Actually, do they need to have broken through their own aura to use it?" "No, but learning the one without the other is rather strange. But I''ve certainly seen stranger things." She gave me a big wink. "If you can''t find someone you trust to practice with, I suggest you do what you were doing earlier by modifying spells outside of your aura. Also, you should practice changing a spell; that would be a good tool in your arsenal, but it''s another way to practice." "So cast [Water Orb] and upgrade it directly into [Torrent]." "Yeah. Or, if you want to really get creative, change it into an ice spell." Trixie nodded as if agreeing with herself. "Great. Sounds like a fun change of pace. Now I just need to complete my spell modification, and then we can deal with the other essence thief, right?" Trixie fluttered over to take a seat on my head. She sat cross-legged and started humming to herself as she arced her back backward and had her eyes shut tight. She rocked back and forth, trying to make up her mind. "You could probably take her now... But it might be worth getting some genuine combat practice before." "Sounds good to me. There''s probably a few pegasi still, although I didn''t notice them flying past." "No, I think they fled the island; maybe there are a few stragglers, but without a leader, they become rather dumb." Trixie replied, "But new monsters have been spawning, and I''m sure you haven''t explored the entire island." "Yeah, I wanted to explore the lake." Trixie shook her head, "No. Not there. That''s where she is." "Ah... Okay, well, there are plenty of other smaller floating islands. Not to mention a rainbow-colored forest I didn''t explore and some caves." "Good. Plenty of options for tomorrow!" "Now, if only I could solve my messed-up mana." "From what I can tell, other than messing with your status and occasionally draining the mana from your slime, it doesn''t seem to be doing much?" Trixie said, shrugging. "Wait, it''s draining mana from my slime?" I asked in a panic, Trixie nodded, "Shit, I didn''t even notice. I don''t even know what the repercussions of that would be." "I dunno... Normal slime?" Trixie responded, unsure. "Mana slime is my normal, though..." I tried looking at my slime reserves, but I wasn''t entirely sure if it had diminished at all or not. I had gained a lot from the pegasi and unicorns. ''Well, I can always just make more too.'' I told myself and activated [Slime Conversion]. "Well... That''s not good." Chapter 119: Feathers Chapter 119: Feathers "What''s not good?" Trixie asked, peeking down from my head to stare at my face. "I have a trait that lets me convert mana into slime," Trixie looked at me horrified, so I quickly clarified. "My own mana." Trixie visibly relaxed, her tiny form shifting on my head. I could understand her fear-if she was a being of pure mana, as she claimed, the thought of being converted into slime was surely horrific. "It was useful when I couldn''t find a food source or just wanted extra slime for a situation," I continued, "but now it''s causing issues. I even received an error message." Trixie pondered for a moment, then spoke up, her voice tinged with concern. "It seems you''ve unwittingly created a paradox. You''ve identified your slime body as a mana source, but you also possess a skill that creates slime from your mana. It''s like trying to create slime from slime, and that''s been deemed prohibited." "Okay... I can somewhat understand that. My only issue is that I had effectively infinite mana before this, so I certainly felt like I was creating slime from nothing before this." I questioned. "This is a bit of a history lesson, "Trixie began, her tone serious. "In the past, the Gods have been rather lenient with creatively using exploitative loopholes, which your ability probably fell under. However, they have a strong aversion to duplication glitches." I sighed, but there really wasn''t anything I could do right now, so I just had to accept it. "I''ll have to defer to your wisdom..." Trixie chuckled, and we both went to our respective beds. Despite my comfortable bath, sleeping that night was a bit harder. As usual, I had the morning to myself, and I was determined to finish my first modification to [Icicle] before Trixie awoke. Considering she had been effectively asleep for years if not decades, I would have almost expected her to have a surplus of energy. Maybe it was due to [Mana Manipulation] reaching a new level, but I found my task far easier this time, and I finished adding the freezing property to my spell. I immediately cast it, and the ground where the frozen shard penetrated started slowly freezing in a growing radius. The way [Frozen Grasp] worked was I could keep the ethereal hand apparated, and it would keep repeatedly applying the effect at the cost of additional mana sustaining the spell, so I wondered how it would work now that I had transferred the effect over to a one-time projectile. After a few repeated casts and trying out different levels of spell empowerment, I concluded that there was a time limit per spell based on how much mana I crammed into it. "This would make a great affliction... And debuff... I should modify [Frigid] and [Frostbite] next before trying to add [Chill]. More tools in the toolbox rather than just one big one." "Talking to yourself again?" Trixie asked, I hadn''t even noticed her arrival. "It''s probably a bad habit, but I find it helps." "True. By the way, I have no idea what [Frigid] and [Frostbite] are, but I can throw in a recommendation of trying to swap out the fire in your [Fireball] spell." My eyes widened at that suggestion. When I originally thought of that, I had pictured it just being an explosion of icy shrapnel, but if I could make it an explosion that froze those caught in the blast, that had potential. "You don''t have fire or ice, right?" I asked curiously, having only witnessed water and nature. "Nope, but I have a friend who does. Hopefully, he hasn''t kicked the bucket yet..." "Oh..." I felt a bit awkward, "Well... I mean... Don''t let me stop you." "Ha! You can''t get rid of me that easy, Syl." Trixie said with a wink, "But when you go back to your human city, I might go pop in and visit some people." "Oh. Surely you could just go invisible or whatever you do, though?" I asked. "I could, but I''d rather not risk it. I''d offer the same to you, though. Wouldn''t you rather come with me after this island business?" I hesitated; while personally, I''d consider Dewi or Whitney closer friends, the relationship wasn''t built on honesty, and Trixie knew the real me. "Maybe if I didn''t already have some plans arranged. There''s a good chance I''m going to the dwarven empire in a month or two, and I''ll get a silver slime core from them." "Oh! If you''re visiting the dwarves, perhaps that''s where we can meet up." Trixie responded positively, "Unless I find you before then. But if there are too many humans, don''t expect me to show myself." "I wonder why they didn''t cut it up into more manageable chunks; it looked mostly whole." "Beats me. It''s a little strange." Trixie replied; I could almost feel her shrugging through the mental bond. A short while later, another harpy left the cave with what looked like limbs clutched in her claws. She left, flying higher up the small mountain to what I could only assume was another cave. "The plot thickens... Those looked like humanish legs and arms," Trixie mumbled. "So it wasn''t my eyes playing tricks on me." "Like I said. Monsters. Beyond all your slime nonsense, because honestly, that''s another entire can of worms, I don''t think you truly understand how unique you actually are." "Right. Well, I think we''ve observed enough. I guess I''ll take out the guards, and we can sneak in." I effortlessly stacked [Erode] and [Frigid] on the two guards, then started to cast four [Icicle] spells distantly above and behind them, aiming for their heads. "Showoff." Trixie teased. With the spells completed, I coordinated their firing so the pair would be hit simultaneously. The frozen shards pierced directly into the harpy pair and dropped them both nearly instantly. Their bodies then began to freeze over rapidly. "Okay... I didn''t expect that." I said, a little shocked. "I told you they are frail... You debuffed them twice, hit them with [Sneak Attack] and a status ailment. Not to mention two empowered spells each. Talk about overkill." Trixie shook her head. "What next, [Meteor] on a goblin? Maybe throw in [Assassinate]?" "Stop. Stop. I get it..." I grumbled. We sneaked over to the two frozen corpses, and I quickly ate both. [Dissection] was telling me they were worthless, so I only saved an ear each for proof. I was surprised that their feathers weren''t worth anything, but then I realized that despite the different colorings, they matched up with the ones I found in the ruins before I discovered the underground lab. Disappointingly, the harpy profile was full of traits that I already had or better, the only exception being [Screech]. It was described as a sonic-based attack whose primary focus was stunning and disorientating but was apparently lethal to lesser foes at high levels and close range. I briefly shifted into one to try it out, causing Trixie to stare at me. "So now you can instantly turn into one of them? That hardly seems fair," Trixie said with a frown. "Yeah... Something like that, it''s a mix of two evolutions and a rare trait." I halfheartedly explained. "You!" Abruptly, she went wide-eyed and pointed an accusatory finger at me, gasping, "You were trying to eat me!" I shifted into a rather flawed mimicry of demon Trixie; after all, I had only seen her using it once and had no benefit from [Consuming Osmosis]. The form was also obviously goblin-sized rather than pixie-sized since my cores wouldn''t allow me to go too small. Obviously, I had no traits or anything, only pure visual mimicry. "You fool!" I replied, cackling in her mind. Trixie went from outrage to astonishment to joining in on the cackling laughter in record time. Only my orc transformation against the prince got more of a reaction out of her. "Okay. Okay. I forgive you for trying to eat me, Syl. I guess I did kinda deserve it at the time." Trixie said, recovering from her wheezing laughter. I wondered how she was so emotive during these telepathic conversations, as faking being out of breath was a bit extreme. "I forgive you too. Now, let''s see what''s in the cave of horrors." I replied. Chapter 120: Harpy Cave Chapter 120: Harpy Cave The entrance to the cave loomed before me, a vast maw that seemed to have been carved out to accommodate the harpies'' frequent comings and goings. I morphed into a more amorphous form, clinging to the ceiling and blending in with the roughly worked stone, my colors mirroring the cave''s dark tones. "Wow. Way to make me feel useless in this expedition." Trixie teased before giving a playful wink and disappearing from my sight. As I approached the opening, I was taken aback by the lack of additional security. It was either a sign of the harpies'' arrogance or their underestimation of potential threats. The air was filled with a cacophony of echoing sounds, a bizarre mix of squawks and throaty laughter. Inside were the two harpies I had seen earlier, along with the pegasus strung up and bled over a crudely shaped stone tub that must have seen much use as it looked permanently stained and caked with leftover blood. There was also a strung-up body, looking very similar to the ghouls I had fought except hardly emaciated; it was in the process of what looked like regrowing its legs while one of the harpies was busy butchering off his arm. What once might have been a decent robe was now nothing more than a crude toga at best, crusted and layered with long-aged dirt and blood. His eyes seemed hollow and lifeless like he had lost the spark of consciousness. One of the harpies grabbed a filthy stone mug in her talons with unnatural dexterity and, in a practiced motion, fetched some of the unicorn blood and force-fed it to the ghoul. "Oh shit. It''s Mister Gloomy. I wondered what happened to him." Trixie''s voice rang in my head. "They''re... Feeding and harvesting him." I replied. "Trade in some blood for some regrown meat. It''s quite clever, although I can''t say that looks appetizing; even regrown, it looks half-rotted already." "He''s a ghoul. They''re some form of undead. His book mentioned an undead monster that could turn humans." Trixie snorted a laugh, "Serves the bastard right for locking me up. I was going to complain that I can''t get my revenge on him, but it looks like he''s spent years being nothing but bird chow." "I''m surprised he doesn''t just kill them. He''s a much higher level than them, and I can tell he''s not lacking in mana." "Yeah... That is odd; it''s like he''s under a compulsion spell, but I can''t sense any foreign mana on him at all." I shuddered at the mere mention of compulsion, and Trixie seemed to pick up on it. Her voice unexpectedly softened, and I could feel almost like a mental hug. "Guess I don''t need to explain to you how vile compulsion can be." Having seen far too many limbs being harvested, I began debuffing the two harpies and the ghoul after they were done. This coincided with them swapping positions, and the other one cut into the ghoul, becoming extremely surprised at how quickly she lobbed off the limb. "Have you been holding back on the hunts?" The one harpy questioned the other, surprised at the apparent display of strength. "N-no? The blade just sunk straight through. It''s never been like this." "Really? Strange..." The other responded and grabbed another cleaver before hacking into another limb; it went flying off. They both squawked in confusion but soon began cackling in delight. "This will make our job so much easier!" "Yes!" Using the unexpected distraction to its full extent, I rapidly formed my spells behind the two as they examined the ghoul and fired the razor-sharp shards of ice again. It seemed Trixie was right about my overkill, as a single spell for each was enough as it pierced their fragile skulls and began to freeze over their bodies. I lowered tendrils and started dragging the bodies upwards. "Couldn''t you have just done that from the start?" Trixie asked. "Yes, but I wanted the magic practice." "Ah. Yes, very good, I was testing you. The easy path isn''t always the right path." I would have rolled my eyes if I had any at the poor attempt to sound like a wisened sage. Meanwhile, Trixie appeared visibly and waved a hand directly in front of the ghoul''s face, trying to force a reaction, but it simply stared listlessly. She touched him, and I watched her siphon off a tiny amount of his mana before she made a retching sound. "Well, nothing''s wrong with his mana except it reeking of death." She fluttered back to me and siphoned a little from me. "Cleansing your palate?" I asked. "Yes. He''s truly rotten on the inside and outside, spiritually and physically. On the other hand, yours is pure and has a bounty of flavors... I honestly might be a little addicted to your mana." "There is overlap with some of the spell concepts. Although I believe yours is limited to physical slowing, like making it harder for something to move its joints as if they were slowly freezing up." Trixie explained. "There''s a much more powerful slow effect that affects everything; magic, projectiles, or even thoughts!" "That''s... Terrifying." "Yeah. But don''t worry about that; you shouldn''t run into advanced magic for a long time." I smiled at the levels I had gained; I was now over halfway to my next evolution. It was a little disheartening how slowly I was accumulating race levels. I had to hope the dungeon I was doing for my gold promotion would have some decent experience despite being split amongst the party. I quickly looked at the new skill. Beguile your magical opponents by concealing your spell constructs from their sight or manipulating them to distort their true intent. This skill and its levels can be used to achieve these effects alone but to truly utilize either option, it must be paired up with a compatible skill. Stealth Bonus: [Vanish] (Excellent Efficiency) Deception Bonus: [Acting] (Poor Efficiency).> "Holy shit! This skill is amazing!" I exclaimed happily. "Oh?" Trixie asked curiously. I extended out a tentacle and displayed the skill to her, as it would take me too long to describe it. I also purchased it immediately. "Very nice. I suspected you''d get something as soon as we broke through your wall. I used to have this skill, and it''s a game-changer." Trixie said with a hint of what I assumed was pride bleeding through the telepathy. "I hope you have skills that are compatible with it to get the bonuses." "I have both; my stealth says excellent, but my deception says poor," I answered. "Then lean on the stealth aspect until you find the missing piece; either way, you''ll level up the skill." "Will do." Emblem Achieved: [Manhunter].> "Oh wow. An emblem too, today just keeps on giving." <> Achieved by killing over fifty humanoids or someone with the [Slayer] emblem. Deal 20% bonus damage to humanoids and gain a large circumstance bonus in tracking them down. Equipping this emblem will cause Fear (Lesser) to all humanoids. The hunter has become the hunted.> "Well, shit," I muttered. "What''s wrong?" "It sounds like I''ve accidentally become an enemy of humanity." "What?" Trixie asked, sounding genuinely baffled. Chapter 121: Harpy Nest Chapter 121: Harpy Nest I promptly showed Trixie the [Manhunter] emblem; she stared at it momentarily before chuckling. "That hardly makes you an enemy of humanity, Syl; stop being so dramatic." "Even if I''m being a little paranoid, surely this isn''t a good thing? I''d certainly distrust someone if they had this emblem." I retorted, my voice betraying a touch of anxiety. "Just don''t equip it then unless it''s your only emblem?" "Aren''t there ways to detect emblems? I have one that specifically says it''s immune from identification." Trixie''s nose scrunched up as she pondered. "There are... But it would require a really powerful artifact, class, or emblem. Reading someone else''s profile isn''t just something anyone can do. Maybe royalty?" I gave a dark, halfhearted chuckle, "If they could read my profile, I think I''d have more to worry about than just my emblem." "Exactly! You''re much more likely to encounter someone with either a lie detector skill or a truth spell. They''d probably just ask you if you had any illegal emblems or something, but even that is a bit of a stretch even for your endless paranoia." "What makes you say that?" "Well, I mean, the races aren''t exactly peaceful; if you were in the military, a bounty hunter, or even a bandit slayer, you''d inevitably earn that emblem, so I doubt it''s actually illegal. As long as you aren''t secretly dabbling in something like Necromancy, I think you''re fine regarding their morals." I thanked Trixie for her explanation and looked around the room to see if there was anything else noteworthy. Embedded slightly below the floor was something that gave off the soft glow of mana, so I quickly melted a path to it with some tendrils. I found a transparent geode of glowing grey crystal, so I threw out a quick [Appraisal]. "Floatstone?" "How else do you think this island is up here?" Trixie answered. "Drop it from high up." I lifted the strange rock with a tendril and let go, but it just sat in place instead of falling. Trixie poked the rock, and I saw her siphon some of its mana. The rock started to drift slowly downwards. "See. The entire base of the island is absolutely jampacked of the stuff. It can grow if you stick it in the ground and overfeed it mana. It''s pretty valuable, but you need a ton of it to do anything useful." "Great, maybe I''ll harvest some when it''s time to leave." "Just don''t take too much, or you''ll drop the island." I looked at her in horror, but she only giggled. I couldn''t find anything else of value or note, so we left the cave sneakily. We slowly flew up higher while I tried to spot another one of the harpy caves. I also tried out [Glacial Aura] to pass the time while searching, and just like Trixie had informed me, I could now visibly see the range of my mana aura, which was a pretty impressive radius around me. I noted it seemed to be centered around my core, which made me wonder if I could cast it from a [Sub-Core] and then position it in a tendril to artificially move the aura. "I''d suggest you finish your other spells before you start trying to tinker with a custom aura; the difficulty for those is an entirely new level," Trixie said. "How hard are we talking? I''ve brute forced a custom spell before I even had [Mana Conception], and while it was painful, it was worth it." "I''ve never successfully modified one," Trixie replied honestly, a tiny amount of what felt like shame bleeding through, "But... I''ll give you the advice I was given. Rather than modify the spell directly, take it apart until you only have the aura component remaining." "Thanks for the tip. Honestly, this is very impressive, and other than [Fireball] and mass casting, I felt like I''ve lacked a good area of effect option." "Just be warned that you must actively select targets to be considered an ally. Otherwise, the aura will affect them unless they are in your party, then the system automatically assists you." The chatter was wild, and Trixie just kept laughing and laughing, although she had somehow lowered her mental voice so that there was more ambiance to their conversation. Inside the cave, it could only be described as a giant nest. It honestly looked like one massive fire hazard, and I had to restrain my inner Dewi so that I did not just toss a fireball into the group. I saw three other harpies of similar low levels and one much larger harpy. I had to do a doubletake when I spotted her, as she was massive compared to the others, and I wondered how she even fit inside the cave. While the other harpies seemed to vaguely represent different birds like eagles, hawks, or even ravens, when I saw this one, all I could think of was a fat turkey. Shaman seemed to be the monster equivalent of Mage, so she wasn''t that advanced and likely was missing a prerequisite to get her intermediate caster class, but regardless, she had evolved. I knew I had been burned by overconfidence before, but it felt a little hard to be threatened by her. "Daughter, why have you left your post?" The large harpy demanded. I quickly ordered [Permeable] to be cast on everyone. Meanwhile, I tried my best [Acting]. "Mother, I spotted many horses approaching; I came for help." "That royal bastard! I''ll pluck his feathers and remove his horn!" She screeched. "Go, daughters, kill them, and then we will deal with the prince." I followed the three after copying their little bow to the queen. Once we burst out of the cave, I began my preparations. Flying without my [Enchanted Wings] trait felt terrible, and I was ready to slot it in as soon as the battle started. I called them to wait, and they paused mid-flight, staring at me in anticipation. "What is it, sister?" "I just wanted to discuss strategy before we fight the horses." "Who are you pretending to be the smart one? Ha!" "Yeah, you weren''t even smart enough to bring your spear. Stupid Skree." I rapidly ordered a [Torrent] spell cast above each of them, aimed downwards, as I didn''t feel that [Water Orb] would be enough. I wanted to empower and compress the spells, but the harpies were getting antsy, so I prematurely fired them off. None of them sensed the impending spells, and when the violent flood of water struck each of them, they were rapidly sent plunging into the ground. I also fired six [Water Orbs], two each, after them. I wasn''t sure if my spells or gravity finished the job, but there were three kill notifications almost immediately. "Sheesh. That was pretty brutal." Trixie commented. "You seem to keep forgetting that they are fragile and going for overkill." "I thought [Water Orb] wouldn''t be enough, and I was also worried that my water spells wouldn''t have enough killing power." "I mean... Kinda? I''ve certainly seen some very powerful water spells throughout my day. Although, in your case, unless you are fighting something inherently fire-based, you''d likely be better off using water to boost ice and lightning spells." "Soak them and then freeze them?" "Exactly! But obviously, stick to water for now. I don''t think Miss Fatty Bird will cause you much trouble. I''m surprised you even bothered luring the other three out of here." "Seemed right in the heat of the moment," I replied with a shrug. I collected my spoils, not wanting to waste the potential slime mass, and then started heading back towards the cave to deal with the queen. Trixie revealed herself so I could cast [Permeable] on her a few times, as we both seemed hopeful that I''d hit both milestones together. "What does this spell even do? I''ve never seen it before." She asked. "It gives Water weakness debuff. I''ve got one for each of my elements." Trixie smiled brightly, "I think you will love the surprise at level twenty." Chapter 122: The Surprise Chapter 122: The Surprise It didn''t take long to return to the cave. The familiar jingle announced my presence, and I transformed into a harpy, hoping to catch the queen off guard with a [Sneak Attack]. But to my surprise, despite her earlier promise to prepare, the harpy queen was simply lounging and feasting, her regal demeanor contrasting with her lazy actions. "Daughter, you''ve returned so soon?" The harpy queen''s voice, a mix of curiosity and concern, filled the cave. "Mother, the winged horses have retreated. The others are in hot pursuit," I hurriedly reported, my mind already strategizing for the impending battle. I began cycling through all my debuffs, preparing for the fight that was about to unfold. She gave off a hearty, cackling laugh with the food still present in her mouth. Honestly, I wondered where her unfound confidence came from, as I would have put her far below the alicorn prince''s threat level. I quickly started casting an empowered [Torrent] behind her, the spell forming and beginning to empower. "No! Too close!" Trixie tried to warn me telepathically before the harpy queen swiveled backward to stare at the forming spell. "What? Magic?" Her voice was filled with confusion, and her eyes widened in disbelief as she stared at the forming spell. While the harpy stared at the spell, I hastily completed it with full focus and fired it off. Then I rapidly formed more [Water Orbs] to fire from behind. The burst of water from the [Torrent] spell met a stalagmite of rock that abruptly burst from the cavern floor to intercept it, causing the stream of water to bisect. The harpy cackled another throaty laugh before the balls of water struck her, and her laughter turned into a shrill screech. The cavern violently shook as her unending wail continued, echoing and reverberating throughout. I was immediately grateful that my slime senses didn''t explode from the relentless sound barrage. The sonic-based attack seemed to penetrate my slimy form, losing some of its ferocity as it went through my highly dense slime to finally be halted against the [Arcane Armor]. The magical defense was not infallible; however, a steady trickle of damage infiltrated through, causing recurring dull pain in my core. "Gods, shut her up!" Trixie pleaded. I wasted no time forming as many [Torrent] spells as possible, firing rapid bursts of water at her from all directions. I also shifted form, ballooning out into a fat salamander to hopefully put more distance between my outer membrane and my cores. With plenty of defensive traits and a sparkling unicorn horn, I looked ridiculous but felt powerful. When the spells hit the harpy, she finally ended her brutal cacophony but retaliated, forming a large blade of wind that struck against my reinforced hide. "Shapeshifting monster! You dare defile my nest and pretend to be my daughters! I''ll feast on your supple flesh and feed you to my chicks!" The harpy taunted. I fired a small barrage of [Water Orb] spells, but she raised her hand and formed a wind wall that caused the light projectiles to be blown off course. I immediately swapped back to two [Torrent] spells, one clearly visible in front of me as a distraction while the other was hidden in the corner of the cave, compressing and empowering. I sensed a large buildup of mana below and above me, and one of my cores triggered [Tranquil Flow], but only my cores moved out of the way as a rocky maw formed from the cave to bite through my slime. The harpy had formed multiple stalagmites and stalactites to create a brutal combination, like being devoured by giant rocky fangs. "Foolish creature attacking a shaman surrounded by rock and earth!" The harpy mocked, thinking herself the victor as fake blood oozed from the rocky penetrations. I would have laughed if not for the strange sense of calm provided by the state. The rocky protrusions did not hit any of my cores, so I was completely unharmed despite visually looking terrible. I fired off the front [Torrent], which the harpy blocked with another impromptu rocky barrier. "And now I''ve stopped your last desperate attempt at salvation. Grovel before-" She prematurely mocked as my secondary spell, with far greater compression and empowerment, went off, ripping straight through her side and taking out one of her wings entirely. She snarled in pain, and if looks could kill, I''d be obliterated on the spot. [Life Sight] showed her at least half-life after that exchange, although without more levels in the skill, I had no idea if she had barely crossed the threshold or was near death. She formed a makeshift compress out of rock and earth while simultaneously sending out an intense gust of wind at me to try to buy herself time. The wind was inconvenient but not nearly enough to stop me as I oozed out of the confines of the rocky fangs. The look of shock and horror on her face caused Trixie to burst out laughing, and I found myself chuckling along and accidentally prematurely ending [Tranquil Flow]. ''Shit, I really need to work on that.'' I scorned myself. I cast two [Water Whip] spells behind the harpy, and I must have gotten the range right outside of her aura as she didn''t immediately detect it. At the same time, I kept her distracted with some halfhearted water projectiles shot at her but were no real threat due to the ongoing gust of wind. Either she was really a birdbrain, or my performance was beyond adequate because I could see her once grim expression slowly twisting into hope with a tinge of arrogance again. I coordinated my attack at the same time she swapped from her makeshift first-aid to fire a shrapnel shower of rocks at me, further propelled by the still ongoing gust. Despite the increased velocity, the rocky shrapnel wasn''t sufficient to even scratch my stolen dragon scales. Aided by my [Sub-Cores], I flexed my will, causing the two watery whips to burst from their magical constructs and wrap around the harpy. She squawked in sudden surprise before the watery whips surrounded her like live tentacles, the control of which was effortless on my part from a solid mental image of using my own slimy pseudopods. Before she could shriek, her mouth was bound shut, and the two whips began constricting tightly on her entire form. The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. "Oh. This sounds good. Elementalist?" "Bingo!" Trixie said excitedly, giving a big thumbs-up. ''Yes.'' . Shift your elemental alignment to gain bonuses for your chosen element to the detriment of your others. The chosen element receives the following benefits per skill level: 10% spell power, 5% reduced mana usage, 10% spellcasting speed, and 5% resistance penetration. Other elements lose the equivalent gains while opposing elements lose double. Derived elements receive halved bonuses when aligned. Unaligning or shifting to a different element triggers a 5-minute cooldown, which can be circumvented once per skill level and refreshed with a 10-minute rest.> "Trixie, what is this skill?" I asked, bewildered by how much better it was than anything I had seen before. "Welcome to the advanced classes, Syl," Trixie said with a grin. "And yeah... Some of the advanced skills are just giant walls of text." I wasted no time purchasing the skill, but then I read the description a few more times, trying to wrap my head around it. Most of it was self-explanatory, and I could assume that if I aligned to Water, I''d get a penalty to Ice and double deficit for Fire. I was only unsure what a derived element was and what this meant for my non-elemental affinities like Arcane and Corrosion. I asked Trixie in hopes of an explanation. "Your Arcane and Corrosion spells will completely ignore anything to do with this; they are not elements. As for derived elements, well... You''ll find out soon enough; I''d hate to ruin the surprise." Trixie said with a cheeky wink. "Also, I think you''re wrong about Water giving a penalty to Ice, but that''s for you to figure out." I thanked her for the clarification and was glad to know if I could still fall back on Arcane and Corrosion if I found myself in the wrong elemental alignment for a foe. Also, while some part of me screamed not to, I bought one upgrade level for [Elemental Shift], as I was concerned about only having a single cooldown-free shift. ''Yes.'' I felt a little safer having two emergency shifts per combat. Also, I still had another skill to look over, so I brought it up. Adds elemental affinity to the [Identify] menu, providing information on what to avoid and exploit. Information might be unavailable if [Identify] level is insufficient, but it can be unlocked through practical application.> This skill was a perfect complement to my new class''s identity. With it, I could determine a monster''s element, try to directly oppose it with bonuses from [Elemental Shift], and then pile on even further with my weakness debuffs. Purchasing it was a no-brainer. I tried it out on Trixie, but there was no change, so I tried it on the dead harpy queen and saw both wind and earth. "Well, eat up, and then let''s go home for now. I''m sure you have new toys to play with, and you still promised to show me all your transformations." Trixie said with a pleased nod, slowly taking out her makeshift earplugs. I nodded happily in agreement. Chapter 123: Egg Chapter 123: Egg "Come on, show me, Syl! You can''t hide it forever," Trixie urged, her eyes gleaming with anticipation. "I really don''t want to... Look, I''ve got much more interesting monsters." I replied, my body shifting and contorting into the massive form of the earthshaker bear. "See, I fought this one with the help of a tribe of goblins." "That''s cool, but I want to see you lay an egg." Trixie pouted. Trixie had been going on and on since we left the harpy cave. I had hoped she would tire of asking when we reached the giant tree, but unfortunately, her determination was unwavering. The harpy queen''s profile was a major disappointment, mostly removing restrictions from the default harpy profile for vitality and strength. It likely came with some stat boosts, like my own queen evolution had offered. There was a singular new trait, [Egg Laying]. Regrettably, Trixie had overheard me reading the trait and made it her new goal for me to try it out. The trait mentioned that the eggs would be unfertilized and nearly demanded the user seek donations from other races to correct this. I shuddered just at the thought and wished I could forget the whole thing. "Come on, I want to see how it works. Will your egg be a slime, a harpy, or both? How would you even make an egg? Can the egg be eaten? I have so many questions." Trixie droaned on endlessly. A part of me knew my willpower would eventually fail me, and I''d give in, and once I realized that I couldn''t help but sigh deeply and wish to get it over and done with. "Fine! Once! Then, we never speak of this again. Promise?" I relented. "Promise. Yay! This is so exciting!" Trixie said, clapping her tiny hands. With deep reluctance, I shifted into the harpy queen and borrowed the trait. I activated the trait, which took some mana from me to artificially simulate the trait, and suddenly, I felt an egg inside me. Rather than eject it naturally, I simply reverted to slime and slinked away, leaving a fresh, large, harpy egg. I even threw an [Appraisal] at it. Trixie frowned slightly. "With how simple that was, I think you just made an enemy of all mothers worldwide." "I don''t want to talk about it," I grumbled. "I honestly expected it to just be slime, but that looks like a genuine egg." "It seems when I borrow a trait, it uses mana to create it, rather than whatever the creature''s natural method would be." "Oh, so you''ve tried this before?" Trixie asked as she somehow removed the top portion of the egg and revealed its yolky insides. It honestly looked like an overgrown chicken egg to me. "Yeah, I can turn into a few spiders with [Web Spinning]. I originally thought it would just use my slime to imitate it, so it was quite surprising at the time." "Show me?" Trixie requested before sticking her finger into the yolk and licking it. Unlike the harpy, I had no reservations against this and quickly turned into the highest-tier spider I had access to and created some web. Trixie poked and prodded it a bit, then shook her head before turning to ask me a question. "Can you make the non-sticky kind?" I didn''t even know spiders had other kinds of web, but I realized she was right when I looked deeper into their profiles. Once I had the knowledge, the trait was more than happy to produce the required result. Trixie poked and prodded it a few more times, then rubbed her face against it happily. "Well. I was going to suggest you open an all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet, but if you can create infinite spider-silk, that would be an even more awesome idea." She said with a mischievous grin before the silk vanished. "Maybe I should go pick up the Tailor class; that could be fun..." I produced some more silk for Trixie to play with since it cost me nothing, and then I moved on with my plans. I used [Identify] on myself, revealing Water, Fire, and Ice. I noted that Water was brighter than the other two, perhaps indicating it was my main element? Or maybe it was bodily related, hinting that I should attack with whatever Water''s weakness was. As Trixie had pointed out, Arcane and Corrosion were not elements and didn''t appear. ''I wonder if the guild''s crystal uses a bastardization of [Element Tracker] to determine affinities. If so, then there possibly a further upgrade to [Identify] that gives all affinities.'' I activated [Elemental Shift] and was mentally presented with my three options; I chose Ice. I felt something ripple through my mana, but otherwise, I felt the same. [Identify] now showed Ice in a much more prominent position, whereas Fire was subdued and barely legible, and Water looked pretty much the same as before. I began casting a few of my Ice spells, noting the noticeable difference between them before I changed my elemental alignment. I then moved to Water, and strangely, they seemed stronger than before. Then I swapped to Fire, and the difference was drastic. Previously, if I empowered them enough, they were on the verge of turning blue, but now they almost felt cold, like dying embers more than roaring flame. If Dewi ever saw the [Fireball] I cast, it would have brought me utter shame. I swapped to Water and repeated the experiments a little hastier; Ice still felt stronger than normal but nowhere near its aligned state, whereas Water had received a massive buff, and Fire was still greatly diminished. Before I swapped to Fire, I wanted my element unaligned. This time, I hadn''t reached the cooldown, so nothing happened, and instinctually, I knew I had the option to bypass this, which I did. Then, I cycled through all three elements and noticed that all three were stronger than before. "What the hell''s going on?" I asked but noted Trixie was either not around or not paying attention. "Maybe I''ve been relying on Trixie too much, I should figure this out myself... Let''s see..." First, I tested out Arcane and Corrosion, and both seemed slightly stronger than I recalled, but they were nowhere near my elements. This led me to try to remember my previous conversations regarding magic and elements. I could quite easily assume that an advanced class increased all my stats higher than an intermediate or beginner, and now that I wasn''t a hybrid class, my magic stats were getting the full attention. I also recalled Dewi explaining that Pyromancer massively boosted his Fire spells, but everything else received small penalties. If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. "I guess that means as an Elementalist, I receive a boost to all Elemental spells and likely slight penalties to everything else?" I pondered, "And perhaps I''m not noticing those penalties due to the bonuses from a pure caster class and also going from intermediate to advanced." Happy with my theory, I''d run it by Trixie before bedtime. I finally shifted to Fire and teased myself by trying Water and Ice first. As expected, both were severely diminished, which made me very concerned about the flexibility I''d be losing as I''d be giving up two of my elements to empower one, unlike when I aligned to Water or Ice. Finally, I cast a [Fireball], and my doubts began burning away. The fiery explosion was already majorly transitioned into the more powerful blue flame, and I couldn''t help but cheer excitedly. I quickly cast another [Fireball] but began to empower it, watching the ball become entirely engulfed in burning blue. "So my spells have only just caught up to the strength of that salamander... And to think that people honestly think traits are useless. What a joke." I chuckled to myself. I played around with my newly acquired blue flame spells for a bit. It was honestly far too much fun, and once again, I felt the temptation of the Dewi path casually trying to sway me. When I finally got it out of my system, I turned to address the big elephant in the room. [Corrosion Magic LV 4] It was arguably my most promising magic, as I had improved everything else through it. Nevertheless, I felt like I had neglected to focus on it directly, and I knew as soon as I got [Lightning Magic] that it would effortlessly steal away my attention. I had two unfinished projects, a debuff for afflictions and an acid affliction, and after giving it some thought, I decided the latter was likely easier to accomplish. "And if I create an acid affliction, I could probably take that as a template and add it to [Acid Dart], which sounds like a terrific idea." I immediately got to work, throwing all my attention and cores to the task. I had forgotten I had gained a level in [Mana Manipulation] since I last worked on it, which meant that in only an hour or so, I had already surpassed my previous work on the spell. Although, admittedly, that wasn''t exactly hard to do with how little progress I had actually given to it, and I felt a little ashamed when I first saw it after I had one of my [Sub-Cores] conjure up the saved partial project. ... "Damn, I guess I can''t expect all my ideas to be unique, especially if I''m limiting it to only one type of magic," I complained to myself; I had sort of expected to be naming the spell, and I had already planned on calling it Melt. "Well, I guess Dissolve is more fitting..." I had thoroughly lost track of time, entering an almost trance as I poked away at the spell with my full attention. It had taken less time than I had thought, and I nearly wondered if I was also gaining a boost due to my class. It still wasn''t nightfall yet, so I decided to jump straight into trying to apply [Dissolve] to [Acid Dart]. "Well, let''s get to it." ... I felt a poke against my core; I abruptly screamed in horror and flung out tendrils and acid in retaliation. I frantically looked around and saw a rather pouty-looking pixie tapping her foot expectantly. "Finally, I got your attention," Trixie said with a sulky pout. "Look, you need to get some sleep before tomorrow; you need to be in tip-top condition for your upcoming fight." I looked around in confusion and noticed it was well into the twilight hours. I felt a bit sheepish at how I had somehow completely neglected my surroundings this entire time, but when I saw the amazing progress I had made, I understood why. The spell was on the verge of completion, and I knew I could finish it off when I inevitably awoke before the lethargic pixie. "Right, thanks Trixie. Sorry about ignoring you." I said and started to follow her inside. She exaggeratedly sighed before smiling, "I''m not that upset. I just want you to do your best for tomorrow. I think you''re ready to finally conquer this island for real." I nodded, still curious about this still unknown foe. I tried questioning Trixie as I relaxed in my wooden tub, but she said she didn''t want to spoil the surprise. I also asked her about my theories regarding my Elemantalist class and was immensely pleased when she confirmed my suspicions. "I can''t believe I already reached an advanced class; everyone else made it sound like it''s the end of the road." [Defy Death LV 4] [Prodigy] [??? LV 0] Senses: [Olfactory Sense] [Dark Vision LV MAX] [Mana Conception LV 5] [Life Sight LV 3] [Thermal Vision LV MAX] [Eagle Vision LV 2] Trait Points remaining: 13 Skills: General: [Universal Language] [Equipment Swap] [Dissection LV 6] [Mapping LV 5] [Tracking LV 2] [Identify LV 5] [Multitasking LV 4] [Perception LV 4] [Aerial Finesse LV 3] Combat: [Tranquil Flow LV 5] [Attack Mastery (Lesser) LV 6] [Affliction Mastery LV 4] Magic: [Water Magic LV 5] [Fire Magic LV 5] [Corrosion Magic LV 4] [Ice Magic LV 5] [Arcane Magic LV 2] [Mana Manipulation LV 5] [Magic Efficiency LV 3] [Counter Magic LV 2] [Elemental Shift LV 2] [Ritual Casting] [Mana Suppression] [Meditate] Sneaky: [Vanish LV 5] [Sneak Attack LV 5] [Identity Fabrication LV 6] [Acting LV 4] [Rogue Expertise LV 4] [Magical Subterfuge LV 1] [Exploit Weakness LV 1] [Subtle Afflictions] Skill Points remaining: 13 Chapter 124: The Final Source Chapter 124: The Final Source As expected, I awoke before Trixie, who had somehow managed to entangle herself even more in her hammock. I stealthily made my way out of our expansive tree fort and resumed my practice. I was becoming increasingly adept at merging a basic projectile spell with an additional effect, a skill I was eager to master as it would enhance all my basic attack spells. ''I''m a little surprised I haven''t earned an emblem, skill, or something for all my work. Maybe I can ask the guild about that; surely there''s a glossary of common emblems and how to go about achieving them. Although Whitney did mention that people like to hoard their power.'' As predicted, I finished my spell in roughly two hours and was testing it out quite happily. After the initial acid struck and did its melting damage, it would linger around and keep going. It was reminiscent of my adhesive acid slime shot combo, and once again, I couldn''t help but feel a mix of excitement and confusion, a familiar feeling in my magical journey. ''Seriously. I discovered a custom spell, then merged it into another spell to mimic something I could do two evolutions ago... I''m starting to understand why Gramps was so upset.'' After only a few more casts of my newly renovated [Acid Dart], I finally got the level up. As the spell''s information was written to my mind, I couldn''t help but chuckle. The spell would take all afflictions and debuffs from a target, halve their current duration, and spread them in a cloud released from the target. Anyone caught in the released cloud would have one chance to resist or receive all the spread afflictions and debuffs at the newly halved duration. I immediately thought of a scenario where I could cast [Contagion], then [Decay] on every target but one, then cast [Contagion] again and repeat the process; that was until I continued going through the spell and realized that it somehow marked what it spread and prevented them from being further spread. ''That''s a letdown. My own fault for jumping to conclusions before finishing reading.'' Even if I couldn''t keep spreading the same conditions repeatedly, it was still an amazing spell, and, in the right situations, it could save me a lot of time and effort. From what I understood, there was no friend or foe component to this, and it would only exclude me from the targeting. I didn''t have a target to try it out on right now, but I cast the spell and held it to scrutinize it. Like [Decay], it was a doozy to comprehend, and vast sections of the spell construct were like staring at a foreign language. The only section I felt comfortable modifying was the one I recognized as the cloud shape it would take when cast. ''Or maybe spores would be more appropriate than a cloud in this case? Either way, I think I''d want to convert this to a projectile. For both safety''s sake and for a range of options. How often can I expect enemies to be conveniently grouped up?'' Unlike [Decay], I could pump more mana into it, but judging by the increased mana going straight to the cloud portion of the spell, I figured it would only increase the emerging cloud size. Definitely not a spell to use amongst friends in its current state. Happy with the current state of my spells, I went back to trialing [Elemental Shift]. Sleeping on it overnight, I thought I should see if my [Sub-Cores] could align themselves. I ordered one of them to use the skill and, with bated breath, watched them do it. My celebration was again premature as I saw the triggered skill apply to me rather than my [Sub-Core]. ''Is it because they don''t have mana channels?'' I wondered, recalling Trixie''s explanation. ''Does that mean, in theory, I could shift the mana in my slime?'' I was extremely tempted to try it out, but I had a fight coming up and didn''t want to risk breaking my mana, traits, or profile any further. As if preordained, Trixie emerged right when I contemplated trying it out ''just a little.'' "Morning..." Trixie said, mid yawn. "I don''t know how you get up so early." "Morning. Technically, I can go for a day or two without even sleeping, based on previous experience." "There''s a trait for that... The higher you get it, the less sleep you need until you eventually stop entirely." Trixie said, her distaste clearly visible. "I don''t know why you''d want to rid yourself of one of the few pleasures of immortality." I shrugged and decided to change the subject, "So, anything you can tell me about this foe?" Trixie sighed, "I wish I could, but if I interfered, we would be severely punished." She paused, scratched her head, and then shrugged. "Correction... I''d be punished, but you''d be caught in the collateral crossfire." While I would have preferred some more information, it wasn''t like I had a choice if I was to believe Trixie, and so far, her track record was pretty spotless other than the occasional prank thrown in. Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. "So, where to?" I asked. "Look, even if you''re upset, you aren''t allowed to act against a candidate unless you want to be banished." The undine responded after gathering some false courage. Trixie smirked. "Yes. I certainly can''t attack you directly. Or even help someone against you." Despite the open hostility in Trixie''s words, the undine seemed to grow more confident in herself. Was she an idiot? Trixie glanced at me and gave me a cheerful smile. The undine finally seemed to notice my presence. "Who''s this blue goblin?" She demanded. "This is my good friend, Syl," Trixie replied, and I gave an awkward wave in response. The undine seemed to examine me closely and then shuddered. "Y-you''ve brought another water spirit to challenge me? I know you''re upset, Trixie, but be reasonable." "I don''t know what you''re talking about..." Trixie said, giggling to herself. The undine turned to me, "Look, I don''t know what she told you, but you should give up. I''m far stronger than you, and I''ve been gathering essence here for decades. I''m one of the furthest along water spirits." I sighed, not really understanding the situation fully. "Look. I just want the island essence to return to normal to get a yellow slime to spawn." I thought my explanation was reasonable, but the undine glared at me and shook her head. "I am not leaving the island; I claimed this essence nexus. Even if I left temporarily, reclaiming it would take me forever." "Can''t I just give you mana like I''ve given Trixie? I don''t see why you need the essence specifically." The undine looked shocked at me, but Trixie just laughed. "She''s not eating, she''s leveling up. As spirits, we can channel great quantities of essence into direct experience; it takes longer than killing monsters, but it''s far safer and easier." "You can just sit on your backside all day and gain free levels!?" I exclaimed, horrified. "Well, only the lazy or the cowards do it. I only did it briefly when I was first born." Trixie answered. "Is that why she''s only an intermediate class?" I asked. "Yeah, she''s probably neglected to train her skills, so she lacks the requirements. She''s probably trying to just brute force her way through." Trixie answered. "Oh, big talk from little Miss Prodigy!" The undine said, shaking her head. "Not everyone is as barbaric and lucky as you; it''s no wonder you got yourself locked up." I couldn''t believe my ears. The human nobles'' leeching experience from adventurers was bad enough, but this was beyond that. While I could hardly call myself weak and pathetic right now, I definitely didn''t start that way; I had to struggle just to survive my first day, almost eaten by my brethren. Meanwhile, this undine just sleeps in her lake all day and just levels up for free, with no risk, no struggle, just pure privilege. I refused to back down. Especially because she was standing in the way of my yellow slime. "Last chance, Aquillia! Leave, or I''ll take you out." I warned. Aquillia snorted, "Big talk for a little one. Trixie can''t help you; you''re all alone, and this is my domain." She raised her arms outwards, and the entire surface of the lake shook. Chapter 125: Undine Chapter 125: Undine I knew I''d lose in a battle of Water versus Water, so I shifted my alignment to Fire as I figured it was the directly opposed element. I hesitantly ordered a [Flammable] cast; my concern was that she could pull a Trixie and eat my debuffs. Simultaneously, I prepared two [Fireball] spells that promptly promoted to the superior blue flame. The lake quivered, erupting with multiple water geysers, a testament to her power. However, unlike the [Torrent] spell, these lacked velocity, and despite their superior numbers, I deftly maneuvered through them. The combination of [Enchanted Wings] and [Aerial Finesse] proved to be a game-changer, enabling me to dodge and weave with precision. ''Finally, I can use the pegasi tactics for my benefit!'' With my two spells ready and no sign of my debuff being countered, I launched them in opposite trajectory arcs, anticipating a collision and explosion if the undine dodged. To my surprise, she raised her hand and conjured a large water barrier instead of evading, a likely modification of the [Bubble] spell. ''I suppose I can''t assume that she only slept and passively leveled. That would be far too convenient.'' When my spells collided with the barrier, the fiery blue explosion was massive, completely obscuring our vision of each other. I hastily cast another two spells, this time from above and well outside her aura range, then fired them downward, hoping for a good [Sneak Attack]. The duo of explosions boomed through the surroundings, flame erupting again. I mentally grouped my [Sub-Cores] into two groups while keeping Alpha as my dedicated helper. I ordered one group to cycle through all my debuffs while the other group''s task was to repeatedly form and hold a [Fireball] at the ready. At the same time, I borrowed [Inferno Sac], formed three organs in myself, and began channeling mana into them while I performed an aerial charge. My mind raced. It had been a long time since I had tried so many simultaneous actions at once, even with delegating to my helpers. Whether by instinct or dumb luck, I sensed the large buildup of mana just in time to dodge to the side as a tiny beam of water jetted out and parted the smoke cloud. It was aimed at my center of mass, but thanks to my dodge, it struck against one of my arms, eviscerating it nearly entirely. ''Since when could water do something like this?'' The parted smoke revealed a very angry and upset undine, her facial features contorted into a nasty snarl. Her body was simmering, with vast amounts of steam leaking. Before I reached her, I witnessed her spell this time, the tiniest ball of water forming at the tip of her finger before firing another tiny beam of water aimed directly at my head. [Tranquil Flow] triggered, and my head retracted inside of myself, allowing the dangerous spell to pass by me. The shock on her face was priceless, and that was when I reached her. I erupted with flame and also, point-blank, fired the prepared spell. Her water platform rapidly shifted with unparalleled speed, covering her entirely with almost a second layer of skin and making me think of slime. Trying to seal the deal, I tried to cut into them as tendrils burst from my form, each armed with a different weapon or claw, and I tried to slice into her. Unfortunately, my tentacle armaments passed straight through the undine, her body taking on a watery constitution similar to my slime as she plummeted toward the lake. I knew she was still alive; there was no notification yet, and I tried to blast her with as many fire spells as I could, even swapping over to [Fire Arrow] for speed and precision. Countless blue flame arrows struck against her form, each taking out a chunk of her visible mana, but not enough to seal the deal before she fell into the lake. "Shit. So close," Trixie cursed. The lake trembled again, the level diminishing rapidly and the water losing some of its crystal clarity. Then, a large sphere of water began to emerge from the lake, with Aquillia in the center. I wasted no time blasting it with a few [Fireballs], causing massive clouds of steam to burst from it, but it replenished itself directly from the lake faster than I could boil it. "I must say I''m almost impressed. Who knew you were actually a Fire spirit in disguise? You would have easily defeated me if I wasn''t in my domain." Aquillia said in a taunting manner via telepathy. Any wounds or burns she had previously seemed entirely gone. Trixie looked like she wanted to say something but seemed forced into silence. I kept trading blows with her by firing [Icicle] spells, but she would eject it as soon as it began freezing over. Returning to [Tranquil Flow], I hoped to aid my dodging of her deadly water lasers, but the speed and quantity she was outputting quickly became too much even for me. I kept losing limbs, watching them plummet below, and an extremely unlucky beam struck Gamma, tore through its [Arcane Armor], and shattered it in a near instant. I had a brief flash of anger but managed to narrowly suppress it. Instead of trying to dodge with my body, I put extra emphasis on my cores dodging out of the way, as my slime was far more expendable than a core. I spread out my six tendrils from my back like spider limbs. I ordered a consistent barrage of [Slime Shot], in addition to my [Icicle] spells, hoping to overwhelm her ability to eject the frozen projectiles. My plan was working! Suddenly, Aquillia stopped firing her deadly beams and focused on defending herself. As if to dissuade me from celebrating early, her sphere began violently churning like a whirlpool. Suddenly, my attempts to freeze her sphere seemed greatly diminished, and any ice chunks became ground up into a slurry. "Ha! Nice try, but as long as I do this, I''m safe from your freezing." She taunted with her regained momentum. I glanced at Trixie, who seemed to be gazing downward instead of looking at us. I curiously followed her gaze and saw large chunks of ice in the lake below me. It took no time for me to puzzle out the answer; anytime my slime body was obliterated, it fell below and was still made up of [Cryo Slime]. I immediately knew what I needed to do. I ordered all my cores to extract, pulling from my vast stockpile of slime, starting with my segmented reserve of [Cryo Slime]. My body began to swell rapidly, losing shape and form, and even forming multiple copies of wings was not enough to keep me airborne. "What? What are you doing!?" Aquillia shouted. What she witnessed greatly disturbed her, and it seeped through the telepathic conversation. Trying my best not to plummet into the lake, I began sectioning off segments of slime, dropping the payload below. With varying built-up pressure, I also triggered [Slime Burst] to scatter my slime both near and far. Aquillia began to laugh nervously, "Trixie, I think your champion is self-destructing. It''s truly a pathetic last resort." Trixie said nothing, still staring below, and instead gave a rather sadistic smirk; Aquillia instantly became unsettled and then also followed the pixie''s gaze. Aquillia screeched, almost on par with a harpy. "Stop! Stop defiling my lake! You vile monstrosity!" I expected her to start attacking me, but instead, she began trying to churn the entire lake she did her sphere. However, I could see she was losing the battle this time as my slime seemed to swirl amongst the water without easily losing its cold temperature. The cost was great, but I was determined to win this battle. With her distracted, I stopped vomiting copious amounts of slime and instead cast [Glacial Aura] from all my cores and charged at her. I swelled more in size and thrust all my tendrils into her sphere. She finally noticed me and screamed. The water lasers were rapidly fired, and she even attempted another new spell I had never seen before; she sliced as if wielding a blade with a continuous beam that cut through me like butter, but as long as it didn''t hit a core, it would just be distributing more of my frosty slime. Through the combined effort of my [Glacial Aura] and [Cryo Slime], with the occasional [Frost Grasp], her sphere finally began icing over. She was shrieking in hysterical rage as the frost crept toward her like an unstoppable assassin. She started begging and pleading, but I ignored her. I presumably couldn''t stop the assault now, even if I wanted to. When the ice reached her, I saw in real time as her mana began to deplete at a rapid pace. [Life Sight] showed nothing, but I expected as much for a spirit as a being of mana. When her mana reached a dangerously low level, the pure water mana began to be corrupted with ice, as if it no longer held the strength to prevent the taint from spreading. With a last dying gasp, she froze entirely and abruptly burst into a sparkle of impossibly bright mana. Chapter 126: Levels Galore Chapter 126: Levels Galore "I did it," I said with relief. Although I glared briefly at the sparkly rainbow cloud, that was all that remained undine, which denied me a new meal full of traits. If all spirits behaved like this, then I was putting them on the shitlist just like those damn ghosts. I made a mental note to lodge a complaint with Gramps; too many things were immune to being eaten. I had half expected the undine to suddenly pull out another trick and instantly thaw my ice or perhaps reveal another spell I had never seen before. That water beam spell was something else; the weirdest part was that I could tell it was based on the [Torrent] spell. All my cores and I had seen her cast it enough times, and I was sure if we joined forces, we could puzzle out replicating it. But first... I had far too many notifications waiting to be read. I shifted to a more comfortable form and plopped down on the frozen lake. It had been far too long since [Apex Hunter] was triggered; it made me wish there was a feasible way to replicate its effects for training sessions. There was a chance Trixie was somewhat triggering it, but if so, the effects were greatly diminished, as if it knew there weren''t any real stakes at risk. These were all traits and skills that had been long outstanding in gaining a level up. At first, I wondered why [Vanish] was included, but then I recalled it was now applied to spells via [Magical Subterfuge]. This was a major milestone, which meant I went from a trait budget of thirty-six to a whopping forty-nine, and all my mimicked traits could now go up to level seven! With how much I stay permanently transformed and mimic traits as if they were my own, I expected it sooner, but it seemed like as soon as any of my skills or traits hit level five, they slowed to a crawl. Definitely, something to question. I was a little disappointed that this only gained a single level, but I had hardly used it since gaining it, and if I was desperate to level it up, I could just eat some more cores. Hopefully, Johnathan was doing merchant things to get me some more. Another useful bunch of skills that managed to make some gains. Stacking [Prodigy] with [Apex Hunter] for boosted experience was so satisfying. In hindsight, I should have tried to do some more sneaky spells to power-level this skill. Also, it was upsetting that Aquillia either couldn''t or wouldn''t cast her spells outside of her safety zone; I would have loved to have worked on [Counter Magic]. Although I was leaning towards wouldn''t; if she was a being of mana, risking herself like that would have allowed me to potentially drain her dry if I seized her magic. I was shocked that [Exploit Weakness] gained two levels. I would have thought it would only gain experience when it applied [Vulnerability] and would have been hard to level up. I could only theorize that whenever I triggered an application, whether it was already applied or not, then it was gaining experience. Perhaps my barrage of [Fire Arrows] caused multiple triggers and boosted the skill greatly; she did have a ton of debuffs at the time, so the chance of success was likely near guaranteed. I was pleasantly surprised to see this gained a level. I was upset that I didn''t flip between elemental alignments to grind away at the skill, lost in the heat of battle. However, since it did gain a level, this potentially meant that just being in an elemental alignment was enough to gain some experience. Or perhaps casting spells that get boosted by the alignment? Regardless, I was happy. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. I gasped. Gaining four race levels was huge. I only needed another nine levels, and I could evolve again and gain another sneak peek at what other slimes were out there. Perhaps, more importantly, I could get Gramps to wake up and fix whatever was happening with this half-spirit mana thing. I was also once again extremely grateful for [Identity Fabrication], as otherwise, I would be showing an absolutely ridiculous elf level when disguised. Only two class levels. My reaction was harshly the opposite of my race levels; I was astounded that it was so low. Were advanced classes this hard to level up? Is this why Tabitha had said she would have warned me against choosing Assassin as my first class? ''Actually... I should probably dip into Assassin and then go back to Elementalist; I could probably get a skill or two that way. I assume there would be no downside now that I''ve already invested in an advanced class.'' Finally, I looked at my new skill. While elementally aligned, you can imbue your [Mana Reinforcement] directly with the element, gaining defensive properties and other enhanced effects based on the chosen element. This skill has no levels, and its effects scale off a combination of [Elemental Shift] and [Mana Reinforcement].> Okay, this sounded fantastic, but I would have loved some details on the so-called ''other enhanced effects.'' The defensive properties were likely not as valuable for me, assuming they would give me fire resistance while aligned with fire. Regardless, it was only a single skill point, and I loved experimenting, so I grabbed it. "I''m all ears." "A [Spirit Candidate] is someone with the potential to become a Grand Spirit and oversee a major magical aspect. Think of it almost like nobility, except actually important. In Aquila''s case, she was one of the candidates trying to preside over Water." "She would literally rule over Water?" I questioned. "Eh... Kinda? She would be tied to it and responsible for rainfall and water-related disasters, ensuring a balance of Water Mana throughout the world... Lots of admin. And work... Lots of boring work." It was on the tip of my tongue. I had to ask. "Are you a Grand Spirit?" "Bah! You''d never catch me doing such boring work. I don''t need some fancy title to boost my ego." Trixie guffawed. "Maybe if they made a Grand Spirit of Pranks, I''d consider it." "Right... So what should I do about this?" "Honestly? Nothing. You''re not wearing the emblem, so you''re automatically disqualified. You''re supposed to proudly wear it so other candidates can attempt to remove the competition. The most qualified candidate would be promoted if the current Grand Spirit of Water kicks the bucket or retires." "And she would have gotten that by just sitting around here?" "Yeah... It''s certainly not the best qualification. I doubt she was really in the runnings, but being a high level is usually seen as worthy enough." "Yeah... I can''t say that appeals to me," I admitted. "I''m not going to get in trouble for killing a candidate, right?" Trixie giggled, "I''m glad we agree. And no, candidates are expected to be able to survive against monsters. If I had taken her out directly, there might have been some trouble." "So... I can get my yellow slime now?" I asked, trying to look on the bright side and avoid the things outside my control. Trixie paused and breathed in deeply, her eyes shut tight. "The essence flow is returning to normal for the island, so regular spawn rules should be resuming very soon." "How long does it take for monsters to spawn?" "Depends on the area, but since floating islands are self-regulating, there''s likely a daily batch of spawns. There''s currently a lot of built-up essence; Aquillia going pop has flooded the place." Trixie began explaining, tapping her finger against her lip. "If you''re lucky, I''d say as soon as tomorrow; otherwise, maybe a week at most? Assuming you do some daily monster culling." "Great! I can''t wait!" I said with newfound optimism. "Just try to avoid breaking something else." Trixie giggled. Leaving the frozen lake behind, we started heading towards our tree fort. I shifted to a water alignment and started toying around with replicating that impressive water beam spell. I couldn''t help but giggle at the thought of Dewi complaining about compression again when I eventually showed him this spell. I was feeling absolutely giddy. Finally, the yellow slime core was potentially in my grasp again, and I was armed to the teeth to get it. Chapter 127: Cascading Events Chapter 127: Cascading Events Things had been going well for ''Gramps.'' While there were minor hiccups and occasional disappointment from one of the experiments, it was a resounding success in the grand scheme of things. After all, you must break a few eggs to make an omelet. Finally, some proper recognition was shown of the countless traits he poured his blood, sweat, and tears into. He had been in such a positive mood that he even took some time to design a new monster species or two; it had been ages since he last felt so inspired. He turned his attention to one of his favorite subjects lately, the slime. It had been some time since he last checked in on Syl, as it was now called, and while he enjoyed watching live, being able to binge through the logs and skip or fast-forward through boring parts had its own merits. The last time he was watching, Syl had just killed a mutated nature boar spawned by the system''s overflow catcher. At the time, Gramps couldn''t help but chuckle at the irony of it, as Syl had inadvertently caused the buildup through a cascading series of events and now had directly disposed of it. He thoroughly enjoyed what he saw and strongly approved the idea of seeking out a floating island; the only thing better for growth would be heading toward another dungeon. He enjoyed watching Syl take out the griffins and elementals and was currently fighting a large group of pegasi. When it happened, Gramps couldn''t help but do a spit-take of his coffee as he witnessed the slime cause a system error. "What the hell have you done now..." He muttered, his voice carrying the weight of his disappointment and concern. Checking the logs, the [Sub-Core] trait seemed to behave above its intended parameters. When he originally designed it, he found the idea full of fun potential with its almost barebone AI functionality and the ability to set nearly pseudo procedures and subroutines programmed to them. Syl demonstrated minor proficiency in using them almost completely unaided. Gramps had hoped the process would have been faster, but rather than exploring them further, Syl kept getting distracted by silly things like magic. The problem was Syl''s core was the only mana source, and the subs drew from it directly. Syl had made the mental argument that [Mana Slime] was a source of mana; technically, this was true, and the [Sub-Cores] agreed and took Syl''s demand as an order and, rather than pulling mana from the core, pulled the raw liquid mana flowing throughout the slime. It was a gross violation of the system, but rather than anger, Gramps couldn''t help but chuckle at the absurdity of it. Syl was the only slime with the trait at the moment, as none of the wild slimes had randomized it yet, and some of the [Dungeon Masters] were strangely hesitant to try out a beta trait on their directed monsters. "It''s amazing how one dungeon master dies while testing out a new alpha feature, and suddenly, everyone is scared to be a tester. No courage. Bah!" Gramps barked with bitter dismay. "I''ll have to fix the trait now and then fix Syl''s during the next evolution." He continued to watch and shared Syl''s grief over losing the valuable yellow slime core. That would have been an amazing acquisition, as the yellow slime was shockingly old for one of its kind; obtaining [Voltaic Slime LV 7] in the wild was rare. He continued to watch the events unfold. He wasn''t too fond of Syl getting involved with a spirit but couldn''t help but laugh as the spirit swore to an oath far larger than it could have imagined. He had no doubt if the spirit truly wanted; it could have wiggled itself around it, but it seemed genuinely grateful for being rescued and enjoyed Syl''s company. This was fortunate, as even if the spirit wasn''t shrewd enough to nefariously wiggle out of an oath, it would gradually be freed from it if Syl ever shared the secrets with others. A secret between two individuals is robust, but a secret amongst a large group might as well have no meaning. He skipped over large portions of the magic segments, although he saved it as a potential bargaining chip with her. While Gramps was known for his love of traits, she was known as the Mother of Magic. He was already on rather friendly terms with her, and if he showed her that his subject was showing great fondness for her domain, he might have a favor or two lined up in his back pocket. While Gramps wasn''t that fond of pranks, he found himself in a light chuckle at the downfall of the alicorn. The rest was mostly business as usual; again, a large magic portion was skipped and set aside for potential bargaining. Then, Syl was confronting a [Spirit Candidate]. "This should be very interesting..." Gramps said, on the edge of his seat. When Syl struck the final blow, a victory sealed not through Syl''s admittedly powerful magic but due to the combination of multiple slime traits together, Gramps suddenly found himself off his chair and cheering. "Ha! Who cares about magic? Just stack all your traits together and dominate the competition! That''s what it''s all about!" He celebrated. Then, the errors started appearing. "Shit! What now?" He exclaimed, his jubilant mood now soured. He read over the logs and frowned deeply. This was not good. The system somehow thought Syl was a spirit, and the one error assumed minor at the time was now spiraling into something larger. His immediate thought was to delete the issue, Syl. That would be the normal, appropriate response. But Gramps found himself chewing on his thumb with concern, trying to puzzle out another solution. There were multiple other experiments, and Syl was only one of them. But Syl had numerous traits that he had lovingly designed and even picked the evolution he had custom-made. To say Syl was an ideal experiment for his purposes wouldn''t be an understatement. Not to mention, Gramps had quite a few bets placed on the damned slime ball. The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. He hid the error logs and started to leave. He needed at least two others to approve of an emergency solution because, at the rate this slime was causing system errors, it wouldn''t survive until its next evolution without intervention. "I can probably get her on my side. I probably just need to mention Elementalist and tell her Syl created those new debuff spells... No doubt she knows of them but likely hasn''t investigated who made them yet." "Who else could I easily get on my side... Even though Syl spared the troll, I doubt he would help me." He scratched his head vigorously as he tried to think of potential allies. He mentally went through some of the other less promising experiments; offering some help was likely his best chance. Gramps was well known for his trait-creation wizardry, often pushing the system''s limits, and nearly any of the others would be grateful for one of his more inspired works. With a flash of enlightenment, he had his idea. "The crab!" He exclaimed, slamming a fist into his palm. "Yes. He was desperate; I could offer a custom trait, maybe even a custom evolution tailored for it." With a wave, multiple floating screens appeared before him, and he pulled out some of his summarized logs. They were quite a mess, and Gramps couldn''t help but snort at the disorganized mess. The crab was rather cowardly and far too focused on defense; it seemed far too interested in collecting shells, and it evolved into a hermit crab as a result. Why it didn''t pick a mutation or stronger species evolution was beyond Gramps'' understanding, but he could work with this! "A trait based on shells collected, or perhaps a trait that lets one build a custom shell... Yes! I can work with this!" Gramps said triumphantly, his creative juices flowing, and he stormed in that direction. It was time to collect his potential allies. *** To my surprise, Trixie was even more helpful and cheery than normal. She looked like the cat that got the cream. I didn''t even ask; she gave generous information and tidbits freely and openly while I tried to recreate the water beam spell. Apparently, it was a rather common, if advanced, spell that most water affinity mages would be taught when apprenticing, as it could be rather easily upgraded as one progressed. The basic concept was to focus the power of [Torrent] down to a much smaller area, creating a dangerously destructive effect. This would train a mage''s control as they manipulated a rather basic spell. Then, once mastered, a mage would be expected to add additional [Torrent] constructs to the existing spell, as if layering it. The increased power would cause the spell to be much harder to focus, and this repeatable process was, in theory, a constant form of growth until you reached a point where the exponentially increasing difficulty became far too much for even an Archmage. Aquillia had layered the spell three times, whereas Trixie could only do it twice. While Trixie had [Water Magic], she preferred to focus on her other talents. The initial step was promptly completed, and with a little bit of pixie guidance, I added the second layering without much trouble and immediately got to work on focusing down the spell back to its pinpoint. The powerful pressurized water beam was immensely satisfying, even if I could immediately tell it lacked the oomph the undine''s version had shown. Trixie explained that the other forms of magic usually have similar practices, but unless I obtained Nature affinity, I''d need to improvise it myself or seek another teacher willing to share their knowledge, as that was all she could show. The Mage''s Guild would likely be my best bet, but I was a little unhappy that Dewi''s teachings were being rapidly replaced. Then again, Dewi had seemingly made his discoveries with little outside help, perhaps just some of the Adventurer''s Guild knowledge they were willing to share with him. After applying the concept, I knew I could eventually do the rest myself, so Trixie and I chatted about my previous escapades instead of continuing since it was already late. Trixie said that while my effort to train nonstop was admirable, I should set aside some time to "smell the roses." Before sleep, I made sure to withdraw enough slime to restore Gamma. My tub was nearly overflowing, but I didn''t want to be caught unaware. We planned to fly around the island tomorrow, searching for the new spawns and clearing them out until, eventually, my yellow slime would spawn. I''d also gratefully eat any new and interesting monsters, as I''d never say no to some new profiles or to refilling my slime reserve. My mind felt like it was going in overdrive as I thought of all the possibilities, and like I had predicted, I found myself struggling to eventually fall asleep. I took a brief glance at my profile, noticing that my Emblem had been removed. I''d need to remember to equip a new one in the morning. Name: Syl Race: Chimeric Mimic Slime (Blue) LV 21 Class: Elementalist LV 3 Status: Healthy Mana: O????v????????e???????r???????????f????????????l???????o?????????????w????????i???????????n??????????g????? Emblems: [Experiment] [Apex Hunter] [Elven Legacy] [Mana Conception LV 6] [Life Sight LV 3] [Thermal Vision LV MAX] [Eagle Vision LV 2] Trait Points remaining: 17 Skills: General: [Universal Language] [Equipment Swap] [Dissection LV 6] [Mapping LV 5] [Tracking LV 2] [Identify LV 5] [Multitasking LV 5] [Perception LV 4] [Aerial Finesse LV 4] Combat: [Tranquil Flow LV 5] [Attack Mastery (Lesser) LV 7] [Affliction Mastery LV 5] [Exploit Weakness LV 3] Magic: [Water Magic LV 5] [Fire Magic LV 5] [Corrosion Magic LV 5] [Ice Magic LV 5] [Arcane Magic LV 2] [Mana Manipulation LV 5] [Magic Efficiency LV 4] [Counter Magic LV 2] [Elemental Shift LV 3] [Elemental Adaptation] [Ritual Casting] [Mana Suppression] [Meditate] Sneaky: [Vanish LV 6] [Sneak Attack LV 6] [Identity Fabrication LV 6] [Acting LV 4] [Rogue Expertise LV 4] [Magical Subterfuge LV 2] [Subtle Afflictions] Skill Points remaining: 15 Chapter 128: Hot-Spring Chapter 128: Hot-Spring In a truly astonishing turn of events, Trixie had awoken before me. It was a surprise I couldn''t quite fathom. Before leaving my bathtub bed, I confirmed that Gamma was successfully restored and appropriately filled myself out with a bit of reserve slime. Outside, I found Trixie, a sight to behold, trimming branches from the giant tree with an almost assembly line of Branch Sprites. The way she orchestrated the process was nothing short of ingenious. The sprites would bring her a stick, she would cast a spell, and a new sprite would be formed. Then, equipped with what I could only describe as a tiny leaf glider, they would wander to the edge of our tree island and jump off. "Morning, sleepy head," Trixie greeted me with a mischievous grin, her eyes twinkling with amusement. "Morning... Dare I ask what is with all the sprites?" I asked. "I figured this would make our task easier, rather than flying around aimlessly for days on end," Trixie explained. "The sprites will send me a mental note when they encounter a monster, or if they are killed, I''ll know where, and then we burst onto the scene." "I mean... Not to complain about [Ice Magic] because, honestly, it''s pretty cool." I started. Trixie rolled her eyes at the terrible pun I had stolen, but I caught a hint of a giggle. "But that seems vastly more useful than the majority of spells I''ve unlocked. Aren''t Ice and Nature supposed to be on the same tier?" "They are, and I guess it depends on what you''d define as useful. One of the primary concepts in [Nature Magic] is ''giving life,'' while it undoubtedly has some combat uses, I find it better suited to more utility roles like this." Trixie explained while she continued to work. "The ''freeze'' concept of [Ice Magic] is downright deadly; it''s likely one of the scariest in all elemental magic. I can''t think of a single nature construct I could craft to stand up against it, so while you get little to no utility, you''ve got a stacked deck in the killing department." "Thanks. Sorry for whinging." I said sheepishly. "Hey, no worries. If you get your hands on Earth, you may also get yourself Nature. Then you''ll see my point more clearly when you''re wondering why you get a spell that creates brambles while others can shoot bolts of lightning or freeze something to death." We chatted for a bit longer, and eventually, Trixie stopped creating more Branch Sprites. She sat atop my head to top herself up with mana, as it was much preferable to her eating some of the essence on the island, and she was only skimming the top off my passive regeneration. True to her words, she started getting information about the island from her minions and communicated with me that the largest buildup was near the lake. We rushed over to the still-frozen wasteland. "Shit. I should have expected this." Trixie sighed as we saw what had spawned by the lake¡ªice elementals. Seeing the various forms of the elemental was interesting, even though I knew at the heart they were technically the same being with the same traits. I could probably harvest the elemental core from the solid variants, but I could almost imagine the slurry or snow poofing into nothing when they died. I shifted my elemental alignment to fire and was ready to start killing; then, I recalled my newest spell [Contagion]. While the situation wasn''t ideal since I didn''t need anything other than [Flammable] at the end of the day, I was still curious about my new spell and its effectiveness. The elementals were meandering about, having not noticed our presence. I picked one of the most central ones as my target and began my barrage of debuffs. I was about to cast [Contagion] but was suddenly inspired. "I can cast my afflictions at range now!" I realized. [Combust] and [Frostbite] were still both limited to their close-range magical powder form of distribution, as I had only applied [Dissolve] to [Acid Arrow]. While I still wanted to free them from such an unideal limitation, it didn''t matter right now. I wanted to cast [Combust] on my target, then [Contagion], spreading everything. I held an empowered [Contagion] at the ready, boosting the spore radius to its current maximum, and then, with perfect timing, cast my spells. [Combust] applied to the elemental and started to take burning damage, but before it could react, [Contagion] went off. A transparent blackish cloud of mana burst from the elemental, spreading out in a wave around it. I saw all its ailment durations get halved, and that was when I saw them all get applied to the nearby elementals. "Damn, Syl, you''re like a walking bio-hazard," Trixie commented. "And you complained about my little twigs, honestly..." I winced at the harsh comment. "I guess it''s easy to get blinded by what we don''t have..." I accepted that answer; it made sense since my Water Affinity gave me an improved version of [Evasion]. I shifted to Ice, and another strange sensation filled me when I reinforced again. I tried to puzzle out what this gave me but couldn''t think of anything, and Trixie''s answer was ''Cold.'' Eventually, we exited the water. Trixie had warned me that if I stayed too long, we might end up with the opposite problem and find Steam or Hot-spring Elementals in the morning. Chunks of frost still floated near the edges, but Trixie said it would likely even out eventually. We returned to our tree for a rather pleasant evening. I was hopeful for better results the next day. *** "Hey, how''s your crab doing?" Gramps asked, approaching his target. "H-hey... He''s doing okay... He still refuses to leave, though; I don''t know what to do." "Well, I was just thinking that we have a unique opportunity to explore shell-based evolutions and traits!" Gramps began, making sure to lay it on thick with attempted pizzazz. "I was even thinking of designing a trait myself; I think your crab would love it. It might even give him some newfound confidence." "R-really!?" He replied, startled. "You''d do that for me? I mean... Him?" Gramps chuckled. "Of course, my friend, we wouldn''t want to lose such valuable test data. Would we?" "N-no. Of course not." He replied almost immediately. "I''m glad we see eye to eye on the importance of keeping the experiments going," Gramps said, giving him a good pat on the shoulders. "There''s another subject that''s fallen into very unfortunate circumstances." Gramps swapped his tactics, taking a more regretful approach. "Oh no... Is there not something you can do?" Gramps tried not to smirk; he felt he had landed his hook. "Not alone. But... Perhaps with some help?" "I-I''ll help. It''s good to stick together. Though... Depending on the severity, we might need someone else." Gramps gave himself a mental high-five. "Don''t worry, my friend, you can leave that to me. Now, let''s see what we can do about your crab. I was thinking of possibly a trait that lets him build a custom shell; the scalability would give him some confidence, and if we make some of the materials required for later upgrades only acquirable outside the ocean..." "He''d be forced to leave! That''s brilliant!" He cheered. Then, as quickly as the joy came, it vanished. "But how... Would we give it to him? He''s already lost his trait helper, and his next evolution is far away." "I can just give him a [??? LV 0] trait the next time he picks up a shell, then let it unlock after he''s collected a few more. Since he''s not my subject, it wouldn''t be against the rules." "Huh... Why didn''t I think of that?" He paused. "Won''t the others complain?" Gramps chuckled. "Who do you think I stole the idea from? I''m certainly not the first to throw some zest into this event." They continued to walk off and throw some ideas around, although, in the end, it would be wholly Gramps''s design that was implemented. But that was no excuse not to let him feel like he helped contribute, even if the truth showed otherwise. ''Well, that''s the easy part done. Now I just need to convince her...'' Chapter 129: Yellow Hunt Chapter 129: Yellow Hunt The next day, Trixie''s minions found two more sources for us to investigate. I was hopeful for our plan, but when the first monsters we encountered were a bunch of fresh harpies, I couldn''t hide my disappointment. Dispatching them was a simple experience; I just had to align myself to Fire and detonate a sneaky [Nova] amongst their group, thanks to [Magical Subterfuge]. I couldn''t help but compare myself to the adventurer I had seen at the start of my journey who obliterated that green slime. Only Trixie''s repeated reassurance that spawned monsters weren''t "living" kept me levelheaded. If I got a wish from Gramps, that would definitely be high on my list of changes. Assuming I survived long enough to become a Queen Slime, I''d feel a little reluctant that my own children were nothing but mindless slimes to be slaughtered wholesale. The other monster we investigated was a freshly spawned griffin. It was currently hunting some of the regular animals that would also be spawned on the floating island, not brave or strong enough yet to risk descending to the surface. I had asked Trixie if I should be culling the normal animals too, but she had said it would be rather pointless as they took up almost no essence at all, and I risked leaving any monsters after we were gone with potentially no food to hunt. Rather than exploding it out of the sky, I wanted to try a more preserving approach using [Ice Magic]. I shifted my alignment to ice and began debuffing the griffin before casting multiple [Icy Grasp] spells at range. Seeing a griffin flying around suddenly frozen solid and starting to plummet out of the sky was unbelievable. The alarm bells from [Dissection] blared, and I flew with the utmost haste to its landing spot. Then, I swelled into a giant slime cushion to catch my prey. "That''s worth a gold star," Trixie replied happily. The pixie seemed to take great pride in my magical accomplishments after she trained me to use it better. Before returning to our home, Trixie started replacing some of her Branch Sprites that hadn''t survived and spreading them out more around the island in hopes of finding my yellow slime. Despite wanting to be more proactive, I was now forced to wait, so I just passed the time by modifying my already existing spells; in particular, I wanted to upgrade [Frigid] my ice debuff to include freezing. I had thought about creating an entirely new debuff to handle that aspect. Still, it felt much more natural to incorporate freeze into an existing spell, and [Decay], my big debuff and affliction nuke, promised that damage was based not only on the number of ailments but also their relative strength. I was in a routine loop of waking up early, doing some magic practice until Trixie woke up, and then running around the island using her like a monster sensor. After a lot of searching, we finally found the day spawn¡ªAir Elementals. My mood soured, and I wasted no time detonating multiple [Nova] spells midair before promptly leaving. Overall, it was another day of dismay. I kept psyching myself up with bubbling anticipation, only to be disappointed. Trying to find some silver lining, I at least successfully modified [Frigid] near the end of the day. The next day, we awoke to the familiar sound of cracking thunder. My hopes were immediately reignited at their peak. Both Trixie and I raced towards the source. "Looks like luck is finally on our side," Trixie said. "I''m also sensing quite a bunch of Lightning mana." "I''m honestly so excited. I can''t wait to see what [Lightning Magic] has, not to mention my new trait!" "And you''ll be one step closer to getting Air, too." Trixie pointed out, although she still withheld exactly how I was supposed to make that happen. We arrived on the scene, and my mood plummeted harder than that frozen griffin. I cursed. Trixie sighed in disappointment and was about to try to say something before I unleashed on the elemental. The lightning elemental hadn''t spotted us yet and seemed preoccupied with darting in and out of a cloud formation. With practiced precision, all my debuffs were fully unloaded before finally [Decay] was cast. With an almost pop, one moment, the elemental was darting around and sparking into the cloud; the next, it burst like a static discharge followed by a small thunderclap. I barely glanced at my level up, and there was no point in searching for something to eat from the elemental, so I headed home. "Come on, Syl. Cheer up." Trixie pleaded. "It''ll happen eventually. I don''t want to give you false hope, but the chances are higher now that there''s been some lightning mana discharged into the environment." "... Sorry. I''m still bitter about how close I was originally. Part of me expected it to just naturally line up after we dealt with the alicorn and undine." "Look. I''m also disappointed, but don''t let that dampen your mood. Just think of it as extra time to get all your ducks in a row before you get utterly lost in playing with lightning." I knew she was right, and I was just being impatient, but it was still a bitter pill to swallow. I decided to continue plucking some low-hanging fruit still on my to-do list, like adding [Combust] to some of my fire spells. In an effort to cheer me up in the evening, Trixie changed the subject to the other disguise I had briefly mentioned to her. Sylvester. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. "No. I don''t think that will work; the last time I tried to sneak up on one, it shocked me as soon as I got close enough. I''m almost positive it didn''t know I was there, so it must have just been triggered by proximity." "And judging by your last attempt, you can''t solve this with a [Fireball]?" "No..." I admitted bitterly. "I''m going to freeze it, then eat it." Trixie nodded. "Sounds good to me. Good luck!" I was about to cast [Frigid] but held back at the last second. I was so afraid of doing too much damage and breaking the core. Instead, I cast a single [Frost Grasp] spell, alone, unempowered, and as basic as possible, and gently poked the yellow slime with the phantasmal hand. Within mere moments, the slime was completely frozen over and... dead? With all my speed available, I rushed down and swallowed up the frozen slime, my emotions racing with anticipation. ''Yes!'' I screamed. While I immediately wanted to look at the new trait, I rushed to confirm my other goal. I tried to purchase [Lightning Magic]. "Yes! Yes! Yes!" I shouted triumphantly. The spell installed into my core was somewhat underwhelming compared to my struggles to get here, but I couldn''t care less. I finally had it! At its base, the spell would create a spark of lightning to strike a very nearby target, but I knew I could simply cast the spell at range, thanks to my training. Having the very first lightning spell be essentially melee only, I somewhat understood why Lisa became a warrior hybrid. Finally, the moment of truth, I looked over my new trait. Even though it was only level two, I was still immensely satisfied. This slime can store and generate lightning sparks; the maximum generation, storage, and output are all scaled with trait level. The maximum storage is a guideline and not a true limit; however, exceeding the limit will cause violent, uncontrollable discharges within its proximity. To facilitate gathering and storing electrical energy, the slime can toggle into being an active lightning rod, causing nearby bolts to redirect towards it. This trait adds lightning resistance, which scales with the trait level until immunity is reached at the maximum level. Furthermore, the slime core is insulated from its own lightning or electrical shocks, preventing the slime from killing itself. Compatible with other slime traits.> My mind was overwhelmed with excitement, and I felt the urge to give a long overdue happy tendril wiggle. However, one big question was on my mind: What the hell was electrical energy? Chapter 130: Sparks Chapter 130: Sparks "Judging by your reaction, I''m guessing that was a success?" Trixie asked, fluttering over. I shifted to my familiar elven form and rolled my fingers while casting my new spell, causing sparks to surge between my fingers. "You tell me," I said with a cheesy grin. Trixie took no time taking her usual seat atop my head and breathed deeply. "Wow, you have practically pure lightning affinity just like that." I nodded and discharged the spell towards the ground. There was no booming thunder, more like a light crackling noise as it erratically surged vaguely in the general direction I had aimed it. "This might be a good opportunity to tell you that one in three lightning mages end up killing themselves directly or indirectly," Trixie said unexpectedly, her voice carrying a note of concern. "I hope you''ve got some lightning resistance or a way to prevent shocking yourself." "That''s concerning..." I replied, unsure if she was joking or not. "Hey, fire mages are one in five. It''s not that bad!" Trixie giggled, her laughter echoing in the air. "Well. Luckily, I don''t need to worry about fire at this point. As for lightning... I''ve got some resistance now, and apparently, I can store it. Although, I''m not entirely sure how that works." "Only one way to find out!" Trixie said, leaving her spot and flying to a safe watching distance. I shifted back to a regular slime form, wanting to witness what happened with full transparency. After ensuring that [Voltaic Slime] was active, I cast [Spark] at myself. The spell honed in on me with the utmost precision, and once it hit my slime, it started to arc around within. I now had a vague sense of my capacity and was beyond the limit. Trixie stared in fascination, her eyes twinkling as they followed the sparks inside me. Due to the trait, the profile, or witnessing the yellow slime at work, I knew I would need to perform a similar undulating action to generate more. Although copying that while disguised would be terrible, I wondered if I could use cycling between slime decompression and compression within myself to generate the same effect. I created small pockets in myself to perform the action, and after a bit of trial and error, I managed to start generating tiny sparks within the pockets. By increasing the cycling frequency, I could induce them faster. "Okay, that''s very pretty," Trixie admitted. At that stage, I reached my capacity rather quickly, and the arcs were no longer contained within my slimy center and instead started to surge across my outer membrane. It would make a great offense or defense from anyone in melee with me, although admittedly, that was already the case with plenty of my other slime traits. I let it build up some more, and then, instead of just surging across, it violently discharged towards anything nearby. Happy with the results, I tried to control the surging energy into a bolt and wanted to direct it toward a distant tree. The power surged to a singular point inside me, then bursting with unparalleled speed, erupted from my slimy form toward my intended direction. The bolt struck the tree, followed by a rather unimpressive thunderclap. The bark was blown off at the point of contact, and the energy seemed to travel through it, leaving scarred pathways. I found myself both equally impressed and unimpressed. The effectiveness of the overloaded lightning bolt was inspiring, but the diminutive size of my bolt and its effective destruction paled in comparison to what I saw that yellow slime pull off. I knew it was an unfair comparison, like comparing a [Fire Arrow] to a [Fireball] spell; it likely had far more levels in the trait than me, but I still couldn''t help but feel a small wound in my personal pride. Trixie, on the other hand, was clapping excitedly. "That was very impressive. I don''t know what you did, as that clearly wasn''t a spell, but it was very flashy." "It''s my new trait. I can store, generate, and discharge lightning." I explained, a familiar oath chain briefly appearing on Trixie. "Well, I''m certainly glad I''m not a lightning mage. You''d literally just grow stronger anytime I cast a spell." "That''s the hope at least. However, if I don''t increase the trait and, by extension, my capacity, I think I could still be in trouble. I only get lightning immunity at max level." "What. Obviously, you can''t do that." Trixie looked at me with utter disbelief. "I have multiple different forms of vision; I thought it would be enough if I could see clearly inside it. Even a tiny spell inside the stomach or somewhere with a large enough open space." I explained. "Well. I''m glad you understand that you need a clear image to cast; that would''ve been the first hurdle. However, casting inside someone else''s mana aura greatly pushes against what the world deems permissible." Trixie explained. "The world and the system just do not allow it; imagine how easily you could kill someone by just forming a fireball inside of them. Likely, it was once possible until the Gods put a stop to it." "Yeah... I guess. I''ll ask Gramps next time I speak to him. I just thought it would be a neat idea." Trixie shrugged. I instead decided to cast three [Spark] spells per pegasi. The spell constructs rapidly formed around them before discharging the basic lightning spell. Unlike earlier, when I cast the spell, it seemed far more precise this time, and I directly targeted the closest pegasi each. They each let out pained wails before dropping. "You sure you don''t have [Assassinate]?" Trixie asked, pointing at the two charred horses. I shook my head and started heading to claim the spoils. I was met with shrieking rage from [Dissection] when I noticed the damage done. Yeah... There was no way the precious feathers were surviving that experience. Whoops. Satisfied with the results, we started to head back to our home again. My number one priority now would be to create a debuff, which would hopefully be enough to level up my magic and see what else it had in store for me. When we arrived, Trixie turned to me, looking a little sad. "So. Is that it? Are you planning on heading to the humans now?" I shook my head. "No... I''m not exactly in a rush, and I''d like to get another yellow slime or two, if possible." A brief look of relief flashed over Trixie before she gave a cheeky grin, "Well, aren''t you a glutton. Eating one slime isn''t good enough for you?" "I did qualify for a gluttonous evolution at one point," I couldn''t help but chuckle. "But getting another yellow slime will let me easily level up the trait. It''s horribly low level due to a first-time penalty and the slime not having the trait very high." "Sure. Sounds fun. In the meantime, could I get some more silk?" Trixie asked, putting her hands forward and making a gimme motion. I gave in and produced some more spider silk, then immediately started on the lightning debuff. Trixie thanked me and was about to leave before she gave me a warning, wagging her finger sternly. "No lightning bolts towards our tree home. I don''t want lightning-scarred wood." "Sure. It''s not like I make a habit of destroying trees..." I replied with a shrug. I briefly recalled some of my earlier experiments back when I lived in the forest and chuckled nervously. ''Well, I don''t go destroying and eating trees now.'' I mentally corrected myself. "I heard that!" Trixie''s voice rang in my head. "Damn, telepathy!" Chapter 131: Routine Island Life Chapter 131: Routine Island Life By now, crafting debuffs had become a well-practiced routine. I executed the familiar motions, swiftly replacing them with Lightning Mana. With [Mana Conception LV 6] and [Mana Manipulation LV 5], I felt akin to a surgeon wielding a scalpel instead of a blunt knife. The longing for the next level of [Mana Manipulation] was palpable, and the prospect of tinkering with Arcane Mana without corruption was tantalizing. In a remarkably short time, my latest spell was born, and I reveled in the gratification of a well-executed job. I also theorized that aligning to Lightning with [Elemental Shift] facilitated the ease of working with it. The new debuff was called [Conductive], which made me realize that none of my new debuff spells had ever informed me that I had discovered a new spell or unlocked an existing one. ''Onto my never-ending list of questions for Gramps, it goes. Seriously, I could write a book at this stage.'' And it went without saying that manipulating and creating a custom spell was amazing for experience, or maybe that was just me abusing [Prodigy] and [Elven Legacy]. And just like [Ice Magic], it seemed like I wouldn''t get offensive spells right out of the gate; I honestly expected level two to give me something like [Lightning Bolt] or some form of ranged spell, but instead, I got a concept. ''I shouldn''t complain too much; it is a really good one, after all.'' As its name implied, the [Lightning Rod] spell caused nearby Lightning, both natural and magical, to try redirecting into the target. Seeing a spell recreate my newest trait was a little funny. What was very interesting was that this was clearly a debuff spell, but if I didn''t have and understand them already from [Corrosion Magic], I might not have realized it. ''It would have been strange if only one form of magic monopolized all debuffs. I wonder what other spell forms I may miss by merely not understanding them enough.'' Before heading off to bed, the last thing I checked was casting [Lightning Rod] and then observing it with [EM Field]. I targeted a stone and watched it unnaturally light up to a glowing yellow. I cast [Spark] nearby and watched the crackling lightning energy go straight for the rock. ''I''ll want to combine this with [Conductive]; I can''t even think of a scenario where if I''m making something weak to Lightning where I wouldn''t want it to also attract it. But only after I make a ranged spell, I can''t have my only attack spell be limited to melee or moving the origin point.'' *** Unfortunately, I didn''t finish creating a projectile spell before Trixie woke up. If I had to describe it, Lightning Mana didn''t like being contained and struggled like an unruly child. But, with my current capabilities, I could certainly force it; I just needed more time. The spawns for the day were more harpies and, weirdly, a singular water elemental in the lake. This island really liked spawning harpies; Evan would hate it. Lightning spells were devastating against the harpies, and the poor water elemental basically went pop with a single spell. I shuddered, thinking that I had almost the same fate. "I can''t imagine you''re getting much experience from this island anymore." Trixie pointed out. "No... Definitely not; risk plays a big factor in experience gains, and this almost feels like bullying. I''ve basically conquered this island. If not for really wanting another yellow slime, I''d leave." "Well, enjoy it while it lasts. Once you move to a high essence zone, you''ll look fondly back to these relaxing times." "I wonder if that''s why high-level adventurers retire and become Guild Masters in these areas. I''m assuming they haven''t leveled in a long time." "That or pickup a non-combat job. No need to constantly seek out bigger and tougher monsters to fight. I''m definitely swapping to [Weaver] or [Tailor] when I visit home." "Are you sure I can''t convince you to come with me?" "I''d say the same to you. I still think you should abandon the adventurer shtick and come with me." "...Maybe after I deal with the dwarves. I don''t know how easily I''d ever get access to another silver slime." Trixie chuckled at that. "I kinda feel the opposite; you helped me out of a pickle with that cage. If you really wanted to, I''d feel obligated to allow you." "Well, then, just call it a favor between friends. I haven''t gone evolution crazy yet," I said with an exaggerated wink. "And the world lets out a collective sigh of relief," Trixie giggled. "I don''t think we could handle an evolution-crazed slime that can mimic and eat anything." *** One afternoon, while tinkering, I had an errant thought regarding [Elemental Shift]. Previously, I had tried to cast it via my [Sub-Cores] and failed, as they lacked any individual mana, which made me wonder if I could theoretically activate it on my slime. If I could have even one more active element at a time, that would greatly benefit me. The biggest example I could think of would be having active Water and Lightning, as while they weakened each other when I changed alignment, they worked well together in practice. Soaking a foe with Water magic before blasting them with Lightning was a deadly one-two combo, but I had a limited number of shifts during a fight. When exploring what caused my slime to be used as a mana source, I narrowed it down to my [Sub-Cores] when they were trying to pull more than my natural mana output would allow. So, while I couldn''t access my slime mana, they could. Following that train of thought, I ordered Alpha to activate [Elemental Shift] on my slime. I anxiously watched my slime with [Mana Conception], hoping and waiting for it to change element. Alpha was certainly trying to do something, so I ordered Beta to join in. Perhaps we simply needed more mental power. I was currently Lightning-aligned, and slowly but surely, I watched as the slime around my two cores gradually shifted to Water. I ordered the others to join in, and then, in a flash, my slime was now of a different elemental alignment. Transferring vision rapidly to Alpha, I checked on my own core and mentally cheered when I saw it was still clearly Lightning. "Oh no..." "Shit, shit, shit! What have I done." I screamed and shifted wings before flying as fast as possible to the tree. I found Trixie casually trying to weave with the spider silk. "Syl?" She asked, looking confused as to why I had burst in. "I''ve done something. Gramps is sending me messages." "Wait. Directly?!" Trixie exclaimed, her eyes wide. "Yes. I''m going unconscious in less than 10 minutes. Can you protect me?" "Uh... Sure. Do you know how long?" "I have no idea. To be honest, I''m terrified. I think I just royally screwed up. Shit." I was panicking. "Of course, Syl. Just go sit in your tub before you pass out and scatter across the floor. I promise I''ll look after you." Trixie said, trying to reassure me. I nodded frantically and rushed out; I had no idea how much time I had left. I hurriedly threw myself into the tub, and Trixie gave me her best smile and a thumbs-up. "Don''t worry, Syl. You''re safe with me." She said a gentle smile on her face. "And I''ll be here when you wake up. No matter how long it takes." I was about to thank her when the world abruptly went black. It was time to face the music. Chapter 132: Tribunal Chapter 132: Tribunal Things were once again under control from Gramps'' perspective. He had secured a solid conspirator by completing a few new traits, which, in all likelihood, he would have created anyway, as once he got a new idea, he seldom would let it sit and rot. At the same time, he devised a solution that not only solved the cascading errors caused by the slime but also allowed him to explore his domain further. Furthermore, Syl had acquired a yellow slime and was already well underway with customizing the new magic, which would be excellent bargaining potential. Yes, things were lining up perfectly like a chain of perfectly stacked dominos. Armed with a plethora of documentation and footage, he approached her. "My my. It is an odd occasion where you''re initiating a conversation." The motherly voice said, brimming with curiosity. "Well. Since this is your domain, I thought I''d bring this to your attention. One of my subjects has made remarkable progress that I thought would delight you." Gramps responded diplomatically. "Really? You allowed one of your subjects access to magic? I thought you scoffed at the idea and were going to purely limit them to nothing but traits." She asked, her suspicion immediately evident. "I nearly did," Gramps admitted. "But this one has shown remarkable creativity, so I let it slide. It''s achieved four elements, two of which are advanced, Arcane, and Corrosion magic." She seemed genuinely surprised by this statement. "How? Show me." Gramps held back from showing his glee at baiting the hook and started showing some of the documentation he''d gathered, revised, and thoroughly purged of errors. "A slime did all this. Surely you jest?" She immediately objected, but Gramps remained silent to allow her to continue to read. "Yes... I see... Core integration, I forgot we even gave them that ability. I knew about the same species reinforcing one another but had no idea they could cross-integrate like that." Gramps remained silent, allowing her to solve the puzzle pieces he''d carefully arranged. "And slimes have extreme mana purity. Fascinating..." She mumbled as she read. "Started with Water... Gained Fire... Shadowcaster? Not what I would have picked... Oh yes, obviously for Corrosion. I see..." Suddenly, she jerked upward and slammed her hand on the document. "[Permeable]!? [Flammable]!? Why does this slime have access to those? Aren''t they restricted to boss monsters or magic items?" Gramps raised both of his hands up, trying to calm her down. "It figured them out by brute force editing the [Erode] spell." When her face showed no sign of believing him, he presented the relevant footage. Finally, she relaxed, although she winced every time the magical backlash triggered. "As for how or why? Well, that''s more your domain than mine. I don''t investigate magical matters." Gramps added. As if to satisfy her own curiosity at this point, she started pulling out some of her own logs, rapidly scanning them far beyond the capabilities of mortals. "It appears they created the effects by simply hijacking portions of the magic system." She said with a frown. "Lazy... Although I wish they''d simply told me this instead of hiding it, I would have officially registered it." "It''s also already replicated the effects of [Frigid] and [Conductive]." Gramps pointed out. "Spoilers..." She grumbled as she returned to reading the documentation Gramps had provided. Then she came across the custom spells. "I''ve been wondering who was responsible for creating [Combust] and [Frostbite]... To think you were the one blocking the information." She grumbled, chewing her thumbnail. Finally, she had read and seen enough. She leaned back in her chair, closed her eyes, and massaged her temples. "Alright... You have my interest and attention. What is it you want?" "Well, this lovable little slimeball has caused some minor system errors. I''ve gained lots of valuable data from it and don''t want to lose such a promising subject. I thought you''d sympathize after seeing its dedication to magic." She sighed deeply; he was going straight for her weak point. "I''m assuming you''ve already got another accomplice." "Of course. I wouldn''t waste your time otherwise." She gave a dry chuckle. "Of course. And I''m assuming you''ve already thought of a solution to solve and prevent future errors?" "Naturally." She paused to think. Tapping her finger against her chin. "I want full unrestricted access to observe anything magic-related." Gramps hated giving others access to his personal assets, but it was a reasonable request. "That can be arranged." Without warning, two red screens appeared before Gramps. Errors, countless errors. Everything was going so well, so why could the little slime not just sit still? He immediately started to suppress the errors, but they were escalating. "What have you done now, Syl!?" Gramps demanded as he frantically scanned the logs. "The slime has become a half-spirit? Very, very interesting... You were holding out on me." The motherly voice murmured, now tinged with curiosity and desire. She had rapidly accessed the error logs Gramps had tried to keep hidden by cross-referencing against the slime. "Give me a good reason why I shouldn''t flag this slime for immediate deletion. This is far beyond the acceptable amount of errors for a single individual." She demanded. I heard a spitting noise, followed by loud coughing. "What?" Gramps uttered between coughs. "Yes. Syl, you''re already almost there, and I think you''d be a wonderful spirit. You''re already friends with one, defeated another candidate in battle, and have very pure mana. You''d fit right in." Mother continued. "What would Syl even qualify for? There''s not a slime spirit." Gramps asked, now recovered. "No, no. No slime. You''ve already got Ice, Water, and Lightning - you''d make a wonderful Storm Spirit. Or perhaps something more esoteric, like a Mana Spirit? That could work, too." Mother answered. "But what about the experiment?" Gramps demanded. "Call it a success? Follow one of the other candidates? Or consider this part two as a spirit?" Mother replied. They continued to bicker back and forth, but I started to focus on what was offered. Did I want to become a spirit? I didn''t even think that was possible, but now it was on the table. No more pretending to be an elf, no more risk of being found out as a monster. I could join Trixie; I was pretty sure she would be delighted to show me the ropes as a spirit. It sounded exceedingly positive if I looked at it in isolation. But what would I be giving up? No more being a slime. Did I hate being a slime? Maybe at first, but I''d long since grown into and comfortable with my slimy form. No more collecting slime cores, adventurer shenanigans, or collecting traits. I could live without the adventuring, but I''d be saying permanently goodbye to the people I knew. Although Thern was still an option, Trixie had said spirits got along with elves and dwarves. I''d also potentially lose out on Earth affinity and magic, assuming I was correct about the silver slime having that. Unless spirits could gain affinities? "Can spirits gain affinities?" I asked. "N-no," Unc responded. The other two were still arguing, although the contents of their argument were drowned out by a low humming noise. "That''s not great... I was close to gaining Earth." "That''s p-pretty good. But being a spirit is p-probably better? Although, getting a custom evolution from G-gramps is very tempting." "I just wish I knew what it was. I somewhat know what''s on offer as a spirit, but an unknown evolution is risky. Also, the spirit option doesn''t come with the level penalty, I''m assuming?" "N-no. Spirits don''t evolve. M-mother would probably take your current combined levels." "Right... No further evolutions either." I muttered. "B-but you could become a Grand Spirit! You''re already a candidate. That''s worth like two normal evolutions." Unc pointed out before quickly adding something as an afterthought, "By the way. If you ever come across a crab, p-please be nice to him." "Sure?" I agreed, not understanding the purpose of the request but not wanting to offend the disembodied voice. Unfortunately, as helpful as Unc was trying to be, he was just making my decision even more difficult. Eventually, the other two finally stopped and rejoined us. "So, Syl, what do you think?" Mother asked. "Is there nothing you can tell me about the evolution option?" I asked. "Yes. I can say one thing about it. It will let you do what you tried to do originally." Gramps answered in a very careful manner. Despite not seeing any of them, I could swear I felt the glare in Mother''s eyes as she judged his words. As good as Gramps words were, they made me question everything. I had tried and failed at countless different things. Was he talking about recently, in the past? Was it a beneficial thing I was trying or something bad? Gramps has had my best in mind in the past; I vaguely recalled him mentioning that he had given me the Chimeric evolution, and Doppelganger was offered by one of the others. Surely, I could expect it to be at least on par with Chimeric, right? And at the core of everything, I still wanted to be a slime. "Okay. I think I want to go with the evolution option." "Are you sure?" Mother questioned. "Spirits are immortal, you know. You could live forever with your friend... Trixie." I could''ve sworn I heard paper shuffling before she gave Trixie''s name. "Aren''t s-slimes already immortal?" Unc asked, and the feeling of dread filled the void. Although I couldn''t see it, I could swear some dangerous glares were being directed towards Unc. "Yes... I suppose that is true," Mother reluctantly agreed. "But as a spirit, you could directly interact with essence. Truly, you may never get this offer again." Now, that was something I hadn''t considered. However, when thinking of interacting and using essence, the first thing that came to my mind was Aquillia sleeping and passively gaining experience. The offer almost felt like honeyed poison. "Yes. I''m sure." I responded a little more confidently. At the heart of it, I still wanted to be a slime. Perhaps I was giving up the opportunity of a lifetime, but I''d be abandoning all my goals and slimy ambitions. I wanted to eat one of every slime core at a minimum! There was a very loud sigh. "Very well. I still expect full access to the magic-related logs and feeds. "Of course," Gramps responded. I swear I could feel great pride and joy radiating in his words. Finally, the sense of dread left the void. Now, I just needed to hopefully get some answers before being ejected again, like Gramps seemed to love to do. Chapter 133: Forced Evolution Chapter 133: Forced Evolution "So does this mean I''m the first [Experiment] evolving?" I asked. I wondered if this technically meant I was eligible for a reward if Gramps won a bet. "No. You''re not even in the top five, even with this early evolution." Mother immediately responded. "Your class is stealing a lot of your experience..." Gramps explained, and I could tell he was a little frustrated. I swiftly changed the subject before he set my class to minimum distribution or something else equally drastic. "Now that I''ve already agreed to evolve, is there anything you can tell me about it?" I asked, my anticipation palpable. "Nope. This is being kept very hush-hush, and I wouldn''t want to spoil the surprise." Gramps answered. "There won''t be any notifications, so don''t be paranoid about it. Just check your profile afterward." "Does this mean I won''t get a sneak peek at the other slime species?" I asked, feeling a little down. "I used them from my previous evolutions to understand which slimes I should hunt down." "Hmm... Perhaps I can arrange for them to be shown to you when you officially achieve level thirty." Gramps replied and waited as if expecting approval or disapproval from the others. "S-sounds fine," Unc responded. "I don''t mind," Mother added. "Excellent," Gramps replied. "Just giving you another heads-up, but expect quite a few traits to be merged. Your new trait made quite a few of them redundant. Honestly, your profile is a bit of a mess; you should do more of that." "Yes... I was hoping to get more visions and merge them into a super vision." I replied honestly. Gramps chuckled. "Good. Good. Also, your old evolution got a renaming. It''s now just Chimeric since it upgraded your previous Mimic evolution. Apparently, calling it Chimeric Mimic felt redundant to some of the others." "It is a mouthful, especially if further mutations are picked." Mother pointed out. "Rather keep it short and sweet." "B-but longer names are cool!" Unc argued. I didn''t mind either way; I hardly ever showed my true race. Arguably, if anyone could get through my [Identity Fabrication], not having the word Mimic visible in my profile might mislead someone. "Oh. Speaking of names, Gramps, you left some notes in the trait [EM Field]." I pointed out. There was a pregnant pause followed by some intense, rapid-fire conversation among the three. Once again, the contents of the talk were obscured heavily by the low humming noise. "Well. That''s embarrassing. Thanks, Syl. I''ll get that cleaned up immediately." "And fix the name." Mother added sternly. "Yes..." Gramps grumbled. "Also, this goes without saying, but we will be removing the [Spirit Candidate] emblem." "Makes sense. I don''t really want random spirits attacking me either." I nodded along. "Which, by the way, are totally unfair. Why can''t I eat any of them? First the ghosts and now these." Mother was the first to respond, "Well... You''ve certainly created a little monster, haven''t you?" "I-I thought we disabled the evolution contingency?" Unc questioned. "No. That''s just Syl being Syl." Gramps defended me. "[Consuming Osmosis] promotes eating other monsters, not to mention coupled together with [Chimeric Mimicry], and then just general slime growth." "Fascinating... Perhaps I should get you to review my most promising subject, too." Mother said with some suggestive allure. "Very well. Anything else before we go?" Gramps asked. "I have a few more questions..." I meekly pointed out. "Good! Now get going, you little slime ball, stop breaking things, and calm down a little." "Of course..." I muttered, half-expecting it. I could have given Gramps the excuse that he didn''t want to reveal too much while surrounded by his peers, but my gut told me otherwise. He had far too much fun dropping me into the void with outstanding questions. *** Instead of waking up to a blinding light, I awoke to a grim and dark room. The tree fort, which had been our home for almost my entire island journey, now looked withered and decayed. Cobwebs littered the room, and it looked thoroughly abandoned. Even my beloved bedtub looked like it had stood against the test of time. "What the hell happened here? How long was I out for? Where''s Trixie?" I wondered. I plopped out of my bedtub and headed downstairs, which looked similarly disastrous. I looked around, trying to find any hints or clues, until I spotted a hagged and heavily aged Trixie nodding off on a chair. "Trixie?" I questioned. "Syl...? Is that you...?" Trixie asked, coughing between words. "You''ve finally returned." "H-how long was I out for?" I questioned. "Seven..." Trixie paused. "Thousand years..." "What? No... That can''t be..." I said, dumbstruck. "I''m afraid so..." Trixie said, giving a sad yet soft smile. "But I kept my promise and waited and waited..." I shook my head in confusion at the unexpected notification. Then the entire room felt a little... Wrong. I turned to the decrepit pixie and hidden beneath her sullen features, I could see what looked like the biggest shit-eating grin I had ever seen. "Oh! You bitch!" I shouted. Suddenly, the room... Popped. It was just like I had left it, the wrongness instantly gone. I had plenty of questions for her about illusions and whatnot, but it finally felt like I had found a missing puzzle piece to all of Trixie''s shenanigans. Trixie was hosing herself with laughter, so much so that she fell off her chair and was now rolling on the ground. My glare soon became a slight chuckle; she had gotten me good. "Alright. Good one, Trixie... Now, really, how long was I out for?" "Seven... Days." Trixie said, sticking her tongue out. "Yikes... It took an entire week... I didn''t expect that. Sorry, Trixie." This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. "No problem. I hope it was worth it and resolved your... Issues?" Trixie asked and fluttered over. "Interesting... Very interesting... You''re no longer making me think you''re a spirit, and your mana lake seems to be gone... Wait, you now have SIX rivers?" "I''m actually not sure what happened yet. I haven''t looked at my profile." "Well! Get on with it; I want some answers because this is bizarre!" Trixie declared. "Oh, wait. One more thing, before I forget." She fluttered over to what looked like a rough, small wooden chest, opened it, reached in, pulled something out, and casually tossed it toward me. "Catch!" I frantically grabbed at the small object, nearly fumbling it before catching it with a quickly formed tendril. Getting a closer look at it, I saw a familiar-looking violet sphere. "You got me a slime core?!" I said excitedly. "Yup. The bugger spawned two days ago. I hope it''s all good for your eating thing?" Trixie questioned. I wasted no time devouring the core and mentally cheered when I saw it was successful. "It worked fantastically. Thanks Trixie! Now, I don''t need to get revenge for your prank." I said half-jokingly. "That''s a relief. I wouldn''t want you exploding this poor tree." Trixie giggled. I looked over my new profile. It was time to get some answers. Name: Syl Race: Chimeric Cluster Slime(Blue) LV 1 (-8) Class: Elementalist LV 4 [Multitasking LV 5] [Perception LV 4] [Aerial Finesse LV 4] Combat: [Tranquil Flow LV 5] [Attack Mastery (Lesser) LV 7] [Affliction Mastery LV 5] [Exploit Weakness LV 3] Magic: [Water Magic LV 5] [Fire Magic LV 5] [Corrosion Magic LV 5] [Ice Magic LV 5] [Arcane Magic LV 2] [Lightning Magic LV 2] [Mana Manipulation LV 5] [Magic Efficiency LV 4] [Counter Magic LV 3] [Elemental Shift LV 4] [Elemental Adaptation] [Ritual Casting] [Mana Suppression] [Meditate] Sneaky: [Vanish LV 6] [Sneak Attack LV 6] [Identity Fabrication LV 6] [Acting LV 4] [Rogue Expertise LV 4] [Magical Subterfuge LV 3] [Subtle Afflictions] Skill Points remaining: 15 Chimeric Cluster Slime... It was an interesting name choice. I wasn''t entirely sure if I was sold on it, but considering I never showed myself, it wouldn''t matter. It was also interesting to see that I could see the levels that I still needed to pay off for this early evolution. Next, I looked over my new trait, which was easily identifiable. When determining if a Trait or Skill is usable or in effect, all [Sub-Cores] now function as if the primary slime core. In addition, should the primary core be destroyed, a [Sub-Core] will immediately be subsumed and become the new primary core. All [Sub-Cores] now contain their own circulation of mana, taken directly from the Soul rather than being distributed from the primary core. This trait enhances every core''s basic functionality and teamwork capabilities and moderately improves durability, scaling with level. Core creation time and cost are reduced by 10% and 5%, respectively, per trait level. However, core creation cannot be initiated while in combat. All cores receive a renewable shield that will prevent one instance of immediate destruction. The shield is renewed by expending 10% of the core''s base slime cost while out of combat.> I spent so much time repeatedly reading the trait that Trixie left me to start knitting in the corner. This new trait was a doozy, and I finally understood Gramps'' cryptic hint. I frantically started searching for what was missing from my profile. I found out I was missing [Core Refinement], [Defy Death], and [Slime Conversion]. I could understand missing [Core Refinement] as it was now baked into [Core Collective], and I could, with great reluctance, understand why they took [Defy Death] from me. If my [Sub-Cores] were now considered equals, then would they each get their own death shields, or would we share a pool? The former would greatly benefit me, excessively so, while the latter would honestly be a huge downgrade for me. I could only assume this was a compromise for Gramps and me. In theory, I have more lives now than before. But why did he take away my [Slime Conversion]? Was it to prevent further errors? Was it because he was unhappy with how much slime I could generate for free? I got given a new valuable way to expend slime and then robbed of one of my sources of income. I frantically looked at the blue slime profile, I would instantly rebuy it, and the trait was... Gone? Unfortunately, my complaints fell on deaf ears, and I could not overrule Gramps or possibly one of the others. I gave some orders to my [Sub-Cores] and noted they seemed far more responsive than normal. My next test would determine if Gramps'' had screwed me over or not. I ordered Gamma to use [Elemental Shift] and align to Fire. And Gamma did it. Not fully believing it, I ordered Delta to shift to Ice and Epsilon to shift to Lightning. Both did it. ''Well... This certainly changes things. My immediate thought is to keep one to each element and have them focus exclusively on that element. I''ll have to test how [Ritual Casting] works now; I can only assume that a Water-aligned core won''t be much help if assisting with a Fire spell. Obviously, if I''m fighting like a Fire demon or something, I''d swap everyone to Ice.'' I immediately thought of having one focused core and one helper core aligned per element. Since my new evolution and trait wanted me to get more cores, I instantly purchased four more, one for each of my current elements. "What happened to my trait points!?" I cried. Trixie jumped out of her seat in a panic. "What? Syl?" She questioned in confusion. I pulled on my memories and was sure I was sitting on seventeen trait points before I evolved. They had just disappeared for no reason. I was fuming. First, they took away [Slime Conversion] and now robbed me of ten trait points! "I''m missing ten trait points!" I informed the pixie while frantically searching my profile for any hint or indication. "Did you make a few upgrades or something you forgot about?" "No. I''d been saving my points up... I''ve only bought one upgrade, which only cost a single skill point." I immediately replied. "Hmm... What about Tiering or Uncapping?" Trixie asked. "I have no idea what either of those are..." I replied, then vaguely recalled a thought. "Actually, didn''t you once ask me if I was uncapped?" "I did. It was the only way I could explain you casting over ten spells at once. Wait. So your [Multitasking] isn''t above ten?" "What? No, it''s only level five." I replied. "It''s only level five!?" Trixie shrieked. "Yes? And isn''t ten the upper limit anyway?" I asked. Trixie shook her head in disbelief. "Okay... I will need an explanation on how you cast so many spells at once after this, but no, ten is not the limit. You can pay points to uncap a trait or skill above. Not every trait or skill is compatible, and to do so, you need to pay ten points. Are you sure none of your traits are above level ten?" I searched through my traits again and found a trait I had often skipped over as it was so far in the back of my mind. My first-ever trait maxed out so quickly I had almost forgotten about it. [Mana Slime LV 11] Chapter 134: Goodbye Glimmerock Chapter 134: Goodbye Glimmerock "One of my traits is eleven now... But I definitely didn''t buy the upgrade... Did Gramps buy it for me? That hardly seems fair; I want a refund." I moaned. "I don''t know whether to say congrats or sorry..." Trixie said with an odd frown. "Getting anything above ten is a huge accomplishment. Not many people have that many points, especially considering how hard it is to even reach level ten." "Well, I feel robbed. What even is the point of going above ten?" "Well, I can''t confirm or deny since I haven''t reached that point myself yet. But supposedly, the uncapped levels are worth more. I''ve heard rumors of anywhere between two and three regular levels." "So a trait gives me a sense in a ten-meter radius per level; the extra levels might give me twenty?" "Or maybe fifteen or thirty? I honestly don''t know." Trixie replied with a shrug. I looked over the trait in question... This slime contains a rich and dense concentration of pure mana based on its trait level. Mana Slime is a highly sought-after resource used mainly as an alchemical reagent, and its price can vary based on its purity level. It can also be ingested raw for emergency mana recovery.> "Of all the traits to pick... It had to be this one... If it was [Acid Slime], I could probably melt through anything and everything! I don''t even really understand this one." I continued my tirade. Trixie sat on my head and gave her answer after a brief moment of concentration. "Your mana is more pure, as unbelievable as that sounds. I... I don''t think I''ve tasted something so delicious before." "Great. I made myself even tastier and more valuable... The humans will be lining up to take me to the slime ranch for harvesting." Trixie winced. I had told her after all about my brief experience as a farmed slime. Never again... I had even fantasized about destroying the farm and getting some form of revenge in my darker moments. "Not to alarm you... But, you''ve shrunk a lot..." Trixie pointed out with a look of mild panic. "Huh? Oh, right, I bought four cores..." I mumbled and started pulling from my reserves to reinvigorate my form. "So. What did you do to fix yourself, and how do you cast so many spells? I want some answers after all this waiting." Trixie said with a slight pout. I gave an abridged version of my new trait and my experience with the Gods, skipping over most of their conversations and not telling Trixie I could have become a spirit. I also explained my [Sub-Cores], how I used them to cast spells, and how they now had their own mana channels. While I trusted Trixie''s oath and friendship at this stage, I held back telling her that the [Sub-Cores] were now my extra lives. "Well... You completely destroyed my theory. I had thought you were using the cores like some strange magical catalyst to get access to the other elements, and that''s why they were floating inside of you." Trixie replied, scratching her head while pondering. "Now you''re telling me they are your functional personal spellcasters. And that they just got upgraded from apprentices to full-blown mages... That at least explains all the extra mana flow I''m sensing from you." "And solves me overloading myself and using my slime as a mana source. I will probably set up some form of hierarchy for my cores and have a dedicated leader and their support." "Hilariously, you''ve stumbled upon setting up your cores like the elven military," Trixie said with a smirk. "Oh?" "Yeah. It''s why the humans fear them so much. Almost every elf has identical affinities, so they are perfect matches for [Ritual Casting]. You''re a one-slime army." "I know you said you''re old as dirt, but how do you know this?" Trixie chuckled. "No problem. Just thought I''d try to tempt you. Just please be safe around all those humans." "Of course. Same to you, don''t end up trapped in another cage for years." Trixie shivered. "Never again..." Before bed, I shifted Alpha to a Water alignment, as I didn''t have a dedicated [Sub-Core] donning the blue slime guise yet. One of the new recruits would have to take up that mantle once they caught up in levels. I then assigned each new core an element and paired them with their leader. I wanted to keep myself mostly unaligned and then shift where appropriate, joining one of the dedicated elemental teams or acting as a versatile elite. I also set up the new cores with some minor repetitive tasks to continuously work on, mostly internally withdrawing and depositing slime mass. I also tested if my new trait allowed my [Sub-Cores] to act outside my slime or in separate slime, but that was still impossible. Another evolution, perhaps? Or maybe it was a rare slime trait? Perhaps controlling disconnected slime was treading too close to elemental territory? Hopefully, I''d find a solution at some point, although keeping thin tendril connections between us allowed me to entertain the idea of multiple bodies. The next morning was a surprise. I had thought of potentially leaving in the early morning. Perhaps Trixie knew I didn''t like saying goodbye and was prepared. She had a grin of smug victory plastered on her face. "Thanks again, Syl. For the rescue and the fun time." The pixie said, giving me a small hug against my head. "You''re welcome. Thanks again for everything. Regardless of the ups and downs, it ended up being a huge positive in the end." "Do you have any gold?" Trixie asked. "Perhaps a coin?" I pulled out one of my gold coins and presented it to her. She briefly glowed with magic and touched the coin; it glimmered with a persistent rainbow-colored hue. "There. That''s my mark; I''ll try to find you with the dwarves." Trixie explained. I nodded. Trixie gave a bright smile and started to frantically wave. "Farewell for now! See you around Syl! Stay out of trouble!" "See you." Then, without warning, she just vanished. Part of me hoped she was still there, just invisible like always, but with my new [Illusion Resistance] trait, I could vaguely feel that this time it was different. I still had many questions about the strange pixie, but I couldn''t deny her help and the fun I eventually started having with her. "Well. I have to get the dwarves now." I said, looking at my new rainbow gold coin. I consulted [Mapping] and saw that Glimmerock was now quite far away from Kaerlin; however, with my new flight, it would be relatively simple to get within walking distance. I had lost track of time, but I knew I still had at least another two months to meet Thern''s deadline. I doubted the dungeon would take a month, which meant I still had some time for myself. I briefly considered staying on the island a bit longer, but I felt like I''d be beating a dead horse at this point. I still had a lot of [Lightning Magic] to work on, but I could do that anywhere. However, there was one thing I still needed to do, so I went back to the room to grab my bathtub. I was filled with relief when I saw that it had been stored successfully. "I should consider getting it enchanted. Self-repair, at least, maybe a mild heating?" I took one last look at the island, flying around at top speed in my now iconic "Blueblin" form. With a smile and a wave, I started flying towards Kaerlin. Flying was so convenient that I knew I would miss it being grounded once I was back in the city, so I took the scenic route, spending plenty of time flying around amongst the birds and clouds. When I got close enough to the city, I stealthily landed in an area I was sure was clear by using [Eagle Vision] from up above. Then, I shifted forms, taking on my new appearance and persona, which I''d worked on with Trixie. Sylvester. I started aligning all but two of my cores to Ice to fit in well with my fake Cryomancer class. I left Alpha and Zeta aligned to Water. My goals were threefold. First, to see the success and likelihood of creating a new identity. Second, to investigate another guild and see what crafting classes had to offer. Third, I wanted to experience not being the elf in the room. "Now... Am I more interested in learning Alchemy or Enchanting?" I wondered while walking towards the road, stroking my now goateed chin. Chapter 135: Sylvesters First Day Chapter 135: Sylvester''s First Day It was late afternoon when I finally reached the city gates; thankfully, I had shaved off an entire day''s travel time by flying most of the way. There wasn''t any foot traffic leaving the city, and I was forced to join the line to await entry. When it was finally my turn, I approached the gate confidently. "Do you have identification?" The guard on duty said as I approached. "I do not. I hope to join the merchants guild." I replied. The guard seemed to be waiting. "Sir? Do you have identification?" He asked again. My confusion seemed to only fuel the guard''s impatience. He was clearly losing his temper, and I could feel the tension in the air. "Sir, if you''re going to waste my time just staring at me, I''ll kick you to the back of the line," he said, looking extremely unsatisfied. I blinked in confusion a few times. The gears finally turned, and I suddenly realized my screwup. I was trying to talk to him telepathically! I had clearly spent far too much time with Trixie. I faked clearing my throat. "Apologies. No, I do not have identification; I hoped to get one when I joined the Guild." The guard frowned, shaking his head before grumbling. "Of course... No identification. Great..." The guard fetched a clipboard and started writing down on it. "Sylvester. Level twenty-five... Cryomancer?" He frowned. "Are you not with the Mages or Adventurers Guild?" "No. I didn''t feel the call to adventure, and I''ve never been to the capital to register with the Mages." I answered. He nodded along, then stared at me intently; I had the vague sense he was using a skill on me. "Any known criminal record?" "None." After getting his confirmation, the guard visibly eased up and looked much more friendly. He finished writing something down and then held out his hand. "It''s five silver for entry with no official identification. If you obtain one within two days, you can reclaim three from the guard post." I pulled out a gold coin and handed it to him. He frowned, looking at the coin before letting out a sigh. "Let me guess, you don''t have anything smaller?" "Afraid not. I have some coppers and one silver." I replied, taking note of the coins I had taken from the adventurers. "But, how about this, you can keep the remainder if you''d be willing to escort me to the merchants guild? As both a thank you and an apology for taking up your time." The guard looked shocked before giving an absolutely cheerful grin. "Gladly, sir. Are you willing to wait a bit for me to swap shifts?" "Of course. Thank you for your valuable time." I said, giving a small, polite head bow. Sylvester was a refined gentleman after all, so said [Acting]. True to his word, it didn''t take long for the guard to fetch me from waiting beyond the gate. He looked positively cheery, and it was shocking how one gold coin could change someone''s personality so quickly. While the Adventurer''s Guild was built against the inner wall, the Merchant''s was actually built into the wall. It was a massive building with ornate and colorful tilework on its rooftop. I had the vague sense that the building existed on both sides of the wall, likely a dedicated commoner and noble entrance. "Of course. I just didn''t want to get your hopes up in case I was wrong." James said. "What was being offered was a fully paid apprenticeship under a master enchanter, with the only payment being the creation of two specific enchanted items upon reaching sufficient level." "Quite frankly, that sounds amazing." "Indeed. I''m unsure if you''re aware, but a true master can assign you the [Apprentice] emblem, which boosts all learning rates under their direct tutelage. Depending on the master, the boosts can be unbelievably potent, and with how desperate and high profile this request was, I believe they might be pulling on the best of the best." James said excitedly. "I honestly had no idea. Now you really have me hoping the clerks didn''t mess up." I chuckled. James scratched his cheek sheepishly. "I apologize; I probably said too much. If it makes you feel any better, I''d lose a huge signing bonus, so I''d share some of your pain." "Well, that would certainly lighten the sting to know I''m not alone in cursing the lack of proper paperwork." I joked. "Can I at least register in the meantime, or should that wait until tomorrow?" "We can proceed with the base registration for so long. Would you like to pay a gold to upgrade your guild tag for transactions?" "Please do. And I''m assuming I can deposit my coin here?" "Of course." We proceeded with the required paperwork. Compared to the Adventurer''s Guild, it was quite the process; after I paid my fee, I was given my new tag registered under Sylvester and my unique signature. I was a little worried about my previous registration, as Syl might have backfired at this point, but thankfully, nothing came up. I deposited eighty gold coins and kept the remainder for emergencies, including the ninety silver coins I received as change. "Thank you very much for joining the Merchant''s Guild, Sylvester. I hope tomorrow brings both of us good fortune." "Thank you, James, you''ve been most helpful. One last thing, is there an inn you could recommend to me?" "Of course, the one right across the street is affiliated with us, and you''ll receive discounted rates. They are one of the few inns who regularly import and store frozen seafood, so you''d be in for a rare treat." I thanked him again, wished him a pleasant evening, and looked forward to our meeting tomorrow. Heading toward the inn, I was greeted by the friendly staff and swiped my new tag for payment. I mentally cheered at once again, not needing to worry about fiddling with coins and learning the price of things. The meal was indeed seafood, and I had the choice between fish or crab... Recalling Unc, I decided to try the former. Just in case the latter caused some divine punishment. It was certainly tasty, a step up from the Adventurer''s Inn, but still a downgrade compared to Moonsong or Trevor. I briefly considered if I should learn the cooking skill, but then realized I could probably just buy some tasty food and keep it in storage. Besides, as a slime, nothing was truly sweeter than eating a fresh new profile and earning vast quantities of slime mass. No, wait, correction. Nothing was truly sweeter than a fresh new slime core! Within the privacy of my own room, I shifted myself and some cores over to Lightning. It took no effort to resume my progress toward combining [Conductive] and [Lightning Rod]. I had only briefly resumed the spell combination when I realized that I hadn''t touched this since evolving, and now I would potentially see the benefit of my newly upgraded cores. Curious about their improvements, I gave them a direct order to help me combine the spells and found their unseen hands far more helpful and productive than normal. ''Was [Core Refinement] giving me that much of a boost? Or is this the teamwork capability mentioned in [Core Collective]?'' I wondered. Before my usual bedtime, I had a completed combined spell. I was exceptionally surprised; I had left it near completion before my forced evolution, but I thought I''d need at least another day or two before finalizing it. Unfortunately, I had nowhere to safely test the spell, so I''d have to keep it in my back pocket for now. Satisfied with a well-done job, I returned everyone to an Ice alignment and called it a night. I was eager to see what tomorrow would bring. Chapter 136: An Irrefutable Offer Chapter 136: An Irrefutable Offer The next day, I awoke with a surplus of time; my guild visit was scheduled for after lunch, allowing me to explore the city from a fresh perspective. I donned a new set of simple robes and left the inn. The transformation was remarkable; I no longer felt the weight of countless eyes on me, and people didn''t shy away. I blended in with the crowd, spending hours wandering, visiting open markets, and sampling various foods and snacks. ''It''s a pity [Consuming Osmosis] doesn''t work with food, for whatever reason. Although, perhaps that''s what stops me from eating a dragon steak and getting a free profile?'' An unexpected encounter during my exploration was with pickpockets. It seems I didn''t venture into the city much as Syl, always heading straight to my destination. But now, either my elf guise was too intimidating, or my current appearance was seen as an easy target. The reactions of the would-be thieves were quite amusing, as they delved into my pockets, which were purely for show, only to find nothing. I couldn''t help but miss the giggles of my now-absent tiny companion. ''This could be a decent way to level up [Perception]...'' It felt like the perfect moment to head to the guild, so I set off. Upon entering the building, I joined the line, prepared to wait. To my surprise, I didn''t have to wait long before James approached me directly, looking equal parts frantic and grateful. "Sylvester, I''m so glad you came. If you would please follow me, the client wishes to speak to you." James said. "Well, it certainly beats waiting in line." I chuckled and followed him. Heading through the door, James led me deeper into the guild. Using my mental map, I figured we had crossed the wall and were now technically within the inner wall. It was subtle initially, but everything from the floors to the furniture seemed suddenly nicer. We eventually reached what looked like a private meeting room with leather couches arranged circularly around a very ornate table. A golden egg-shaped device in the center of the table was engraved with what looked like enchanted runes. James told me to get a seat and that the client would arrive shortly. While I waited, I stared at the strange egg, the most interesting thing in the room. The intricate carvings into its structure tickled the back of my mind, looking overly familiar to something but different enough to perplex me. Eventually, the door opened to two well-dressed individuals. I immediately recognized one, and my mind went into a brief frantic panic. I immediately wanted to leave the room, only holding it together with some heavy reliance on [Acting]. I didn''t feel up to interacting directly with someone I knew as Syl. Johnathan looked dressed down compared to when I met him as Syl, and it looked like he had advanced his class. His racial levels, however, were a shocking disappointment, only gaining a single one since I last saw him. Gregory, on the other hand, was old and had a magnificent long and grey wizard beard. Instead of an accompanying robe, he wore a trim-fitted two-piece suit in a brown shade. My extra senses also picked up another individual entering the room stealthily. If not for [Thermal Vision], I might have missed her, as her strange, full-bodied armor seemed to greatly blend her into the background. ''A warrior tank hybrid with a rogue? I can only assume she''s his bodyguard. If I were a noncombatant, I''d probably also feel hesitant entering a room with a potentially unknown person with a combat class.'' They both sat without saying anything, and the bodyguard took a corner position out of my direct line of sight. Well, for my human eyes, at least. Finally, James entered and closed the door behind him. "Mister Green. Thank you so much for your valuable time. This is Sylvester, who I mentioned in my report." "Thank you, James," Gregory spoke while Johnathan uncomfortably stared at me. "Before we potentially waste Mister Green''s time, would you kindly inject the device in front of you with Ice Mana?" "Very well," I responded politely, extremely thankful I was immune to nervous sweats. I placed my hand on the golden egg and focused on filling it. Almost immediately, as I began, Gregory made an unexpected comment: "Oh, good. He already has [Mana Infusion]." The engraved lines on the device drank in the mana and soon shone brightly in a pale, almost white blue. I could sense the device would take no more, and I removed my hand. "Good. At least he actually managed to fill it, unlike the last one." Gregory muttered, pulling out a small handheld device that looked like a stick encrusted with five identical gems lined up in fixed intervals. "Now, the real test..." He touched the tool against the egg, and all five gems immediately lit up. He stared at the tool with astonishment, stashing it in his pouch and pulling out a nearly identical one except with a different wooden finish. He touched it, and again, all five lit up. He frowned deeply before pulling out another one, this time with eight gems, and when it touched the egg, all eight shone. "Well. Either all three of my tools are defective, or we have found our man, Sir. It appears he wasn''t a braggart when he informed James of his Ice mana purity." This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. "And you''re sure, Greg?" Johnathan asked, the first words since he entered. "Positive. He has the highest purity Ice mana I''ve seen in quite some time. I''d almost suspect he''s someone''s bastard son." I felt extremely uncomfortable with them talking around me, even though I was sitting before them. It was a stark contrast to my previous interaction with Johnathan. Johnathan looked like he swallowed a lemon but gave a curt nod. "This is our goal," Gregory said, pointing towards the golden egg. "A magical tool that will create a cold freezing aura that preserves perishables." I looked at the egg in a new light. Were those intricately carved sigils some modification or alternative version of my Ice spell constructs? I was more interested after hearing that tidbit, and Gregory smiled eagerly, perhaps noticing my interest. "But if you have one or made one, why do you need me?" "Well, I made this one, but it was carved using Arcane mana. It''s perfectly functional, so long as you always have someone on hand to fill it up with decent quality Ice mana." Gregory explained. "Now, should you accept and are capable enough to learn, I will have you create two of these carved out with Ice-mana. The end result will be that anyone can fill up the tool with raw mana to get the desired result." "And I''m assuming that if the mana in the carving isn''t pure enough, it won''t function?" I asked. "Precisely. Or it will function but be so inefficient that it would need a near-constant mana supply to even work. The purer it is, the more easily it corrupts Arcane mana." ''Well. That''s an unexpected revelation. Who knew I was my own worst enemy when working with Arcane mana? It nearly instantly corrupts into other mana.'' "Couldn''t you get around that by using a material aligned to Ice?" I asked curiously. Greg smiled; perhaps he liked inquisitive minds? "Yes, but-" "That''s what I''m trying to get around!" Johnathan interrupted. "I''m trying to replace two ice core tools with these so that I can sell them to a very important client." Suddenly, the situation clicked. Johnathan was trying to free up the slime cores to sell to me! I felt stupid for not connecting the dots sooner, perhaps put off by not wanting to interact with someone I knew and by his very different behavior. Did he treat all commoners like this? Was it because I was currently a man? Or was it purely because he was desperate to impress an Elf? Maybe it was even simpler than that, and he was just desperate for more merchant levels since our last transaction apparently gave him two. ''Shit. I guess I''m in now...'' While I would have loved to have left him to stew, now it was in my best interest. I''d effectively get free training and two slime cores! I obviously could be wrong about Syl being his important client, but who else wanted slime cores other than me? "Okay. I''m interested, but are you training me only to make these and then abandoning me? Or am I actually getting properly trained?" I asked curiously. Gregory actually looked offended by my insinuation. "I''m obligated to train you to the best of my abilities when I assign you the [Apprentice] emblem. I am not leaving someone linked to me directly no better than some back-alley enchanter." Having taken enough time to ponder, I nodded. "Very well. Then I''ll accept your offer." The tension in the room suddenly deflated. James immediately looked relieved, and Gregory gave me an enthusiastic nod. "Excellent. I leave the rest to you, Greg." Johnathan said and promptly left the room. Mari actually approached me, I would have suspected something, but I sensed no hostility from her. She put her hand on my shoulder and leaned in to whisper. "I''m impressed you could detect me. Also... Just between us, while your backbone could be seen perhaps as courageous or admirable... You might be executed on the spot if you behave like that before any noble other than Mister Green." Then, she promptly left. She practically rushed out the door before I could respond or say anything. "I won''t keep you any longer. Meet me tomorrow bright and early. I hope your desire to learn is as much as your inquisitiveness." Gregory chuckled. "James, make sure you revise his admission so he can enter the enchanting rooms." "Thanks, Gregory. I look forward to it." I smiled. "Can I call you Greg?" Gregory snorted a laugh. "Sure. But tomorrow, it will be Master Greg, and I won''t tolerate any tomfoolery." I nodded, and he left. James turned to me and gave me an awkward smile. "I don''t know whether you''re brilliant or insane. Maybe both." I couldn''t help but laugh at that, giving him a pat on the shoulder and thanking him for everything. Having nothing else to do, I decided to head back to the inn, where I had a pleasant late afternoon and evening before retiring early to my bedroom and finishing the day off with my regularly scheduled magic practice. Chapter 137: Circles and Spheres Chapter 137: Circles and Spheres After shifting into a new wardrobe and eating breakfast, I headed towards the Merchant''s Guild. While part of me thought it could be fun to rock the boat, I didn''t necessarily want to antagonize the man who was going to be teaching me. After all, if our relationship soured, he might still only teach me the bare minimum despite his claim of not wanting his name attached to a failure of an apprentice. I had thought I was early, but James was already at the Guild and ushered me deeper into the building. Once again, I found myself crossing the imaginary line into the noble section of the building. The room I was led to looked almost like a personal study combined with a tiny laboratory. Multiple large workbenches were loaded with various metal objects forged into strange shapes, while another contained multiple glass spheres. There were all manner of little tools that I couldn''t name, ranging from pliers to strange-looking writing implements. There was also a sizable bookcase and a moderately sized chalkboard hung against the wall. I sat on one of the couches while James offered me some tea as a refreshment; he returned with a large pot and two cups and was soon followed by Gregory. "Excellent. I''m glad to see you arrived early, Sylvester." Gregory said, taking a seat and pouring himself a cup of tea. He added precise amounts of milk and sugar to his drink before taking a deep sip. "I thought it prudent to be amicable to my teacher. I found Enchanting fascinating when I came across it, and I''m eager to see what I can learn." "Of course. To gauge your knowledge, tell me what you know about Enchanting and noncombat classes in general." He requested. "Very well. Noncombat classes earn experience by fulfilling the class''s identity, and a chef levels up by cooking, for example. However, you earn nothing towards Racial levels. I''m also assuming that experience amount is determined by the finished quality or its impact." "Correct. You can also earn experience by raising your linked class skills. In fact, if you practice and raise your skill while assigned to a different class, when you swap back, you might be accompanied by some surprise level-ups as your class catches up to your new skill level." "Fascinating. That explains why an acquaintance of mine was working on tailoring and weaving despite not having the class at the time..." I murmured, scratching my chin. "Regarding Enchanting, I know there are two types - permanent and temporary. I''ve seen someone draw a temporary enchantment with their finger for a quick solution. Still, the primary purpose I know is to permanently enchant equipment, which uses its wielder''s natural mana to fuel it." "A little barebone, but I''m glad you didn''t lie or try to pull anything out of your arse," Gregory said, nodding thoughtfully. "You''re correct that the general purpose of Enchanting is for equipment; this is why having access to Arcane mana is a minimum requirement, as it needs to be pure to be usable by any client. Imagine buying armor with a protection enchantment that required you to have Fire mana; we''d have a lot of dead guards and adventurers, I can tell you that much." "Now, the higher tier of Enchanting would be specific enchantments fit for purpose. A device that creates a flame, produces water on demand, or keeps a chest of food frozen and preserved. Even without the user being naturally capable of doing this. For example, in the Adventurer''s Guild, a few of their enchanters can create battle items, such as a wand that can shoot out a lightning bolt." "Now. Before you get all excited, most of those inscriptions are patented, and you''d need to pay a fee to access them. They can be quite... Pricey, but they often end up paying for themselves in the long run. For example, the simple storage enchantment costs fifty gold to procure, but that investment is a nearly endless source of revenue as everyone needs or wants dimensional storage. If you buy access to the patent, I can include it in your curriculum." "Wow..." I said, barely hiding my excitement. "Do I need to buy a lot of patents, or are those included in this apprenticeship?" Gregory gave a knowing smirk, "Do not fret. Your gold is safe; most common inscriptions are freely distributed, and my own will be given to you freely. The only exception is the Ice inscription, which Mister Green has already paid the required patent fee on your behalf." He paused, cleared his throat, and tried to speak as clearly and slowly as possible. "The refrigerator inscription." "Re..frige..rator?" I asked, stumbling horribly across the unfamiliar words. "Horrible name, I know," Gregory said with a brief chuckle and a shake of his head. "Some upstart adventurer created it. Wonderful principle, a truly profound design, and absolutely revolutionary in its usage. But, Gods, what an awful naming sense." "I have to agree..." I said with a nod, still trying to pronounce the unfamiliar word subconsciously. "So. Any other questions?" Gregory asked. "When can we begin?" I said with a smile. Gregory gave a friendly chortle and stroked down his massive beard. "Good. I''m glad you''re eager. I just need to give you my Emblem, and you need to swap your class." He then raised his hand and pointed a finger at me. "I nominate you, Sylvester, as my next apprentice." I was slightly worried about that declaration; how strict was the name requirement? But thankfully, two notifications appeared before me. Do you accept?> <> While under the direct tutelage of your master, you will receive bonus experience towards your class and skill progression. He paused. "Refrigerator inscription is two separate but interlocking circles overlayed over the bottom and top hemispheres." "So a good enchanter must find where they can make a circle or sphere or otherwise resort to the framework solution?" I asked. "Precisely. Now, let''s go over reading some of the basic inscriptions." He said, grabbing a large book and placing it before me. "This is yours to keep unless you flunk out. It should make some good bedtime reading in your evenings." When I opened the book to the first page, I was welcomed to a simple circle with one glyph inside. Despite the page title labeling it a "Rank 1 Strengthening Inscription," I could actually read and understand the glyph. "Now. Assuming you didn''t lie about following my instructions, can you tell me what this does?" Gregory asked in a stern tone. "It''s called a strengthening inscription, but it actually reinforces the overall durability," I answered. "Excellent. Yes. Anything with this would receive an extremely minor durability reinforcement. Good for common tools, and it''s simple enough that you can easily miniaturize it to place at the bottom of a handle, for example." He flipped through the book until he stopped at the page labeled "Rank 2 Strengthening Inscription," which contained the previous rune I recognized and an additional new one. "The number of runes, sigils, or glyphs within an inscription determine its rank, but you can''t just slap a bunch together. They must be carefully selected from compatibility or offset enough to enter an equilibrium." "Now, if you look here..." *** "I think that is enough for one day." Gregory finally announced, sitting down with a satisfied look on his face. It had been a blur of going from page to page, with him first having me try to explain the rune myself before he would help or explain its concept. It was almost like learning an entirely new language or alphabet, except greatly enhanced via [Rune Reading] and [Apprentice]. I hope you gained at least one level in reading?" Gregory asked. I looked over my notifications eagerly. "Level three in [Rune Reading] and level four in my class," I eagerly answered. Gregory looked slightly taken aback. He blinked and stared at me several times, possibly using [Identify]. "I know my skill ranked up after my last [Apprentice], but this seems a little excessive..." Gregory muttered in confusion. I knew the likely source and decided I better be open about it, "Oh. I have the [Prodigy] trait. It gives me a-" "[Prodigy]!? Yes, yes, I know what it does." Gregory interrupted and started tugging at his beard. "I think you''ve all but confirmed that you''re someone''s bastard son at this point... This is an unexpected surprise. I''ll need to readjust my lesson plan to consider that; this is remarkable and truly wonderful. I wonder if I''ll get any bonus from [Apprenticeship], there was that one rumor... What luck! Ha!" I let Greg go on with his ramblings as I awkwardly ran my fingers along the spine of my new book. My memory was really good thanks to [Soul Mastery], but I wondered if I could have my [Sub-Cores] also read and memorize them. I was sure a big part of my education would require me to memorize the contents of this book and possibly others. Could I even order my [Sub-Cores] to read while I slept? Now, that was an idea worth exploring. "Ah. I got carried away; please forgive me, Sylvester. I suggest you grab [Rune Etching]; perhaps tomorrow, we can try having you draw your first circle. Please do review what we covered today in your book." Gregory said, now looking almost as eager as I did this morning. "I apologize, but I need to run off and redraft... Almost everything. If I''m a little late tomorrow, please forgive me." We shared a very brief goodbye before he practically stormed off. I left the Guild after storing my book and waved farewell to James. It was already evening, so I rushed to the inn, ate my meal, and went straight to my room. "Alright... Let''s see what we can do." I said eagerly, plopping the book on my bed and bringing my [Sub-Cores] to attention. "Oh, right, I should buy that new skill..." "Wait..." I said, frowning deeply while looking at the notification in more detail. "I was distracted at the time, but Profession Points? Also, shouldn''t I have two remaining? I''m level four?" While slightly distraught about the missing points, I knew I could question Gregory about it tomorrow, and rather than worrying about it, put it in the back of my mind while perusing through my book. Chapter 138: Rune Etching Chapter 138: Rune Etching The next day, when I arrived in the lesson room, there was a note written on the chalkboard informing me that Gregory would be a little late and that I should take the time to practice drawing circles of differing sizes. ''I mean... How hard can it be?'' I thought, intrigued by the unexpected challenge of the task. I picked up a piece of chalk and began drawing my first circle on the board in almost no time. I then drew another one, slightly smaller, and nodded in satisfaction at the result. ''Am I being weird again? This doesn''t seem hard... Maybe I''m just a circle-drawing genius,'' I joked to myself. I wracked my mind, trying to think of a reason why I was finding such easy success in a task that Gregory clearly thought I might have a little trouble with. The only thing that came to mind was perhaps the steadiness of your arm and hands, while I had practically unparalleled and perfect control over my slime as long as it was close to one of my cores. I also tried ordering one of my [Sub-Cores] to control my arm and draw the circle, which they also did with the utmost precision. ''Just another reason to be glad I''m a slime. And to think Mother wanted me to become a spirit. Ha!'' Thankfully, Gregory arrived before I ran out of chalkboard space; he entered the door looking slightly flustered. "Apologies for being late, Sylvester." He said upon entry. "I hope you haven''t had too much trouble with drawing circles-" He stopped as he saw the board covered in them. I gave a grin. "It''s been going pretty well." "I can see that." He said, blinking a few times. "And here I was going to recommend you the [Steady Hand] skill or perhaps [Body Control] trait if you were struggling. Or do you already have one of those?" "I don''t have either of those, but perhaps I have something similar?" I asked. "Well, I would have only been able to offer you [Steady Hand], which is a common skill picked up amongst crafters. With [Body Control], you might need to pay someone from the Adventurer''s Guild to show you; it gives you more precise control over your muscles and such. Some people swear by it, but the idea of potentially needing to relearn something as simple as walking sounded far too high of an entry requirement." "Sounds a little extreme," I said with a chuckle. "Indeed! But anyway, since your circles are looking spectacular, we can move on to working on your [Rune Etching] skill." I gave an enthusiastic nod, and Gregory gestured for me to join him at one of the work benches. From his storage pouch, he pulled out dozens of square-shaped pieces of wood of varying sizes before finally pulling out a small tool that looked a little like a metal toothpick. "So, [Rune Etching]. It''s the starting point for all Enchanters, and you''ll likely find it extremely limiting and frustrating to work with. Enchantments made with it will eventually burn out; from the moment they are activated, they are on borrowed time. Once you move past it, its only purpose is for trial and error or rush jobs until you unlock [Rune Tracing]." Gregory held out the long metal toothpick for me to grab, "Essentially, you''ll be using this tool to scrape into the wood while letting your mana flow into the tool. It''s made of a metal that is conductive of mana, although it''s one of the cheaper options. Too much conductivity and you''ll overload what''s possible for [Rune Etching]. Furthermore, circles created with [Rune Etching] cannot exceed rank three inscriptions. If you wish to practice them, you''ll need me to make the circle for you until you get [Rune Carving]." I nodded along as he kept explaining. The normal progression was [Rune Etching] into [Rune Carving] into [Rune Engraving], limited by inscription ranks three, seven, and ten, respectively. On the other hand, [Rune Tracing] was what I had witnessed Thern do when he traced a temporary enchantment with his finger, and in theory, it had no rank limit as long as you could imbue enough mana into the temporary circle. Gregory then proceeded to wrap the piece of parchment around the table leg; I could see how the inscription was still whole despite being distributed over an uneven surface. Seeing the realization on my face, he smiled, "Hopefully, this illustrates the importance of having a good mental image." "Couldn''t you apply a marking or ink to get the correct distribution and then enchant it?" Gregory chuckled at that. "I''m glad you asked so I could slap that foolish idea from your mind. Lesser Enchanters sometimes use stencils to assist them, but the quality is degraded when finalizing the enchantment. The excuse given is that the ink or paper or whatever they use between the enchantment target causes interference, but I say the system knows a cheat when it sees one and applies appropriate judgment." It was an interesting idea and seemed plausible from what I had seen of Gramps and Mother. After all, they had robbed me of precious [Slime Conversion] and ten trait points! Although part of me wanted to test the limits of this cheating theory, could I do the engraving with my slime? What if I formed the rune shape in slime, filled it with mana, and melted the full inscription in one go? Would that work? "I can see you''ve got ideas running around in your head. But learn to walk before you try running!" Gregory said with a chuckle. We continued with another set of strengthening enchantments and then tried a few of the other basic ones. The one that intrigued me the most out of the basics was one that reduced the weight of the enchanted object; I had no idea such a thing was possible through enchanting. The other interesting interaction was when I added the fire resistance enchantment, requiring me to give a lot more mana for the enchantment to actually stick. It was an interesting thing to witness, and Gregory said there was another entire area of study where people researched the optimal material for each enchantment. Still, in theory, you could simply overcome it with enough mana and grit. "I think that''s enough for the day. Tell me what you''ve managed to achieve." Gregory said after examining my last piece of wood with a very satisfied nod. I pulled up my notifications and began reading them to him. "Excellent. You''re clearly getting the perfection bonus. Honestly, I almost wish we could set up shop in a dungeon or something and stack even more bonuses!" Gregory said with a smug, toothy grin. "Perfection, [Prodigy] and [Apprentice]... Even so, it seems I gained even more levels than yesterday, numerically, and that''s without considering the higher experience requirement per level?" I questioned. "Rightly so! Today, you''re actually doing what your class wants you to do! Yesterday''s levels were purely from raising your class skills, but now you were doing the job!" Gregory said, giving me a pat on the back. "Ah! That completely slipped my mind..." "Don''t worry about it. It''s your first class where you don''t need to kill things to level up; I expect a lot of confusion in the coming weeks." "Speaking of which... I have a question. I seem to be missing a lot of skill or profession points?" "Oh. Silly me." Gregory said, tugging at his beard. "You only get a profession point every three levels. Try not to be wasteful with them; I''ve got an optimal path for you to follow, so please do not take anything until I tell you to." "Not a problem, Master Greg. I''m quite a point hoarder." I said, grinning. We talked a bit more before finally departing. Greg said he might soon ask me to do some actual enchanting jobs as it would be a good way to earn experience and some coin. While enchanting random bits of wood was certainly a way to progress, if the enchantments were actually going towards a useful purpose, I''d earn some more experience. I was instantly reminded that I had given Johnathan two levels just for being a "satisfied customer." ''I wonder if that''s why Yuzz was always so happy to work on stuff for me... These profession classes are really something else.'' Chapter 139: Progress Chapter 139: Progress Before I knew it, I had spent over a week with Gregory, learning the ins and outs of being a basic Enchanter. Once Gregory saw how well I took in his lessons, combined with my gains from [Prodigy] and [Apprentice], it became a relentless pace of nonstop learning. I''d swear he was more excited than I was to learn new things and eager to get me out of [Rune Etching] as quickly as possible. Despite all that, and even with the multiple stacking bonuses, once we hit level five, it was like we had hit a brick wall, and the push to level six was grueling. Practically every scrap of wood Gregory could come across was eventually laid before me to etch into. The reason for our mad rush was for me to purchase [Rune Carving], which, from the explanation I got, was a tiered skill like Trixie had mentioned to me, meaning I would need to pay upwards of five points to tier up [Rune Etching] into it! Gregory was similar-minded to me in that he hated to waste points, but after a long discussion, we decided to stop at level six. The benefits were far too great to have early access to [Rune Carving], which would open up many new ways for me to work and learn simultaneously. Not to mention, Gregory had said there were other ways to make up for the points later. When I finally got the notification, both of us cheered so loud that we had some of the guild workers check up on us to ensure that everything was still okay. ''Yes!'' I had never agreed to a prompt so quickly before. And with my remaining point, I was instructed to finally purchase [Rune Framework]. It was nice to finally get a new skill, as I had been sitting on only [Rune Reading] and [Rune Etching] for so long. [Rune Reading] had reached level five in this time, although since I couldn''t enchant anything above rank three, it was a little meaningless. [Rune Framework] would allow me to design the complex layouts required to link multiple circles together and would be necessary for our next learning steps as I sold my services to insulate housing for Winter. My other skills offered by the class were either a little disappointing or something I''d purchase later. [Rune Inspection] would let me judge the quality of individual runes or an inscription as a whole, which might have been useful if I was self-taught. But I had an expert as my master, and I''d grown a little attached to hearing him say "perfect" when judging my work. At level ten, I was offered [Bartering], which was likely when basic enchanters probably started to try earning an income. Level fifteen had offered me [Rune Carving], which felt deliberately taunting. I also still had [Rune Design] from [Apprentice], which was all about designing custom runes and likely far above my level. Gregory was initially surprised I had been offered that, and one evening, while discussing it, we boiled down the likelihood of it coming from the fact that I had worked on customizing spells. Supposedly, the two were very similar, and judging by how I could almost recognize some of the patterns from my spell constructs and concepts, I could see why. While Gregory applauded my gumption, he recommended holding off until I get [Rune Tracing] as it would be the safest option when experimenting with unknown runes. One reason we hoarded these early points was the potential to upgrade to [Rune Engraving] early. Ultimately, the decision would be mine to make, but Gregory had said it would speed up my growth tremendously, and he was authorized to throw many more resources my way if I had access to it. I figured this was potentially Johnathan trying to get an earlier return on investment, but I was honestly tempted to do it earlier myself. While I was enjoying my time as Sylvester, I still had a commitment I refused to abandon as Syl. Realistically, I could throw another month and a half into this before Syl needed to return and head out toward the dungeon. Getting to gold rank, visiting the dwarves, and getting my silver slime core was infinitely more important than potentially getting another white slime core. Realistically, I''d likely abandon Sylvester to the wind if I needed to, and I could slowly piece together the class myself. However, what paused me about that was I''d be completely screwing over Gregory, with whom I''d formed a very amicable master-apprentice relationship. If Sylvester disappeared mid-training, then Gregory would end up in hot water with Johnathan, and there would be skill and level penalties for breaking [Apprentice] as well. I still had plenty of time to consider and reassess it, so I left it alone for now. My biggest reason for wanting to get [Rune Engraving] as soon as possible was brought about by an errant thought: Could I engrave my own cores? From everything I understood about Enchanting, it seemed likely. In theory, I could try it already with [Rune Carving], but I was a little worried about my cores exploding when the carving reached its lifetime. "Hey, Gramps! I exploded myself by enchanting my core! Whoops?" Was not a conversation I wanted to have. It was likely an irrational fear; enchantments were relatively safe, but something about it bugged me. I''d maybe test on one of my [Sub-Cores] once I received the basic training on spherical enchantments. I also tried out my theory of using slime to etch, and it worked! Sorta... The etching worked perfectly for about two seconds before the piece of wood violently exploded. My theory was that it had far too much mana for [Rune Etching] to handle, which was why I was super excited to try out [Rune Carving] and eventually [Rune Engraving] with slime! The issue was clearly [Mana Slime], and even when I dropped it down to the minimum density, it was just too much. Perhaps if I evolved away from a blue slime, I''d be able to toggle the trait instead of being all mana slime all the time. That''s not to say my entire life was nothing but enchanting. I still spent my evenings and sometimes mornings working on my magic. I spent a lot of much-needed time consolidating all my spells for each element to each have a basic applicable template. For Ice, I successfully added the freeze concept to everything and then combined [Chill] into all the spells, greatly enhancing their effects. I also further upgraded [Icicle] to include [Frostbite], and while it was a bit of a mana hog to combine so much into one spell, it is now exceptionally deadly. With one spell, it would deal both Ice and Piercing damage from the initial hit, and then it would permeate both a freezing effect and ice damage over time. I tried to work a little with [Glacial Aura], but Trixie was not joking about its difficulty. I solidly put it on the back burner for now. For Fire, I replicated what I did with Ice and worked on adding [Combust] to all my damage-related spells, as they already had [Heat] from when I was training with Dewi. Fire was a lot easier to work with, and I wasn''t also trying to juggle an advanced ailment concept, so it was almost no effort at all. Water... Was in an odd place. I didn''t have an affliction or ailment for it. Instead, I just kept working on applying more compressed [Torrent] spells together. I had nearly matched the output I had seen from the undine. Since I didn''t have any spell combinations to make, I instead investigated my unused [Rain Cloud] spell. Honestly, I almost felt like it was on par with [Glacial Aura] in terms of complexity, which, coming from a basic element, was certainly saying something! My immediate thought was to try to make a fire or acid rain, but without a lot of trial and error in a big open area, I was reluctant to proceed further in case I burnt or melted down the inn! If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Lightning was shockingly fun, pun intended! And my enchanting practice actually helped me out a bit with this one. I would bring some of my pieces of wood enchanted with durability or magic resistance back home with me, and thanks to [Lightning Rod], it became a relatively safe way to test my spells! Well, that was after I learned how to soundproof my room by creating multiple dampening enchantments and covering the floor, walls, and ceiling with them. Before soundproofing my room, I had caused a minor panic when I first cast [Lightningbolt], which I thankfully explained away as an enchanting accident. Speaking of [Conductive], I finally tested my combination of it and [Lightning Rod] and was most satisfied with the result. However, I received a strange series of notifications once I cast it. It was strange; I had definitely cast [Conductive] before but had no prompt to name it or discovery notification. Searching my memories, I noticed this oddity with all of my debuff spells; the debuff had a predetermined name, and I had just copied it for the spell. When I cast my other debuffs once, I received bizarre prompts for all of them. I hoped this meant I gained bonus experience for discovering or creating these spells because I felt I needed any edge to reach level six sooner. The level five wall was no joke. With debuff and attack spell covered, I naturally started working on an affliction. Lightning was similar to Fire in that it seemed naturally highly compatible with the "damage over time" aspect, which I had previously kept calling poison. It barely took up an evening and a morning to create it before I cast it on one of my pieces of enchanted wood. I was honestly struggling to think up a name for this one as I stared at the piece of wood sparkle with tiny zaps of lightning coursing through it. The strange behavior was due to [Lightning Rod], which made my lightning affliction stick to something it probably shouldn''t be able to. ''I dunno... Call it [Zap]?'' I thought with a shrug. ''Unregistered!?'' I screamed in protest. ''... Does this mean Mother hated my name? What''s wrong with [Zap]? [Create: Ice Stupid] is fine, but you have issues with [Zap]?'' I mentally shouted to the void. I went silent at the new notifications as the new spell was injected into my mind. Like the name implied, it would make a lightning ball, which would drift in the direction it was cast in until colliding or disappearing. Anything too close to the ball would be shocked by arcs that discharged from the ball. Casting the spell but not releasing it, I could see that empowering it would increase the ball''s size and likely the arcs'' range. ''Come to think of it, it''s kind of like my [Voltaic Slime] when it''s overloaded. I bet this would go well with [Lightning Rod].'' Even with [Lightning Rod] and soundproofing, I dared not cast even a tiny version of this spell inside. [Corrosion Magic] and [Arcane Magic] had unfortunately taken a backseat during this time, even if I wasn''t currently an Elementalist [Elemental Shift] made it so much easier to work with elemental mana in general. I still wanted to create a poison debuff, but other than that, I felt like I was in a relatively good spot with [Corrosion Magic] as I had already added damage over time to [Acid Dart]. I didn''t have a good excuse with [Arcane Magic]. It certainly wasn''t as exciting as my other magic when I first got it. When I initially ran into the hurdle of trying to create an affliction or debuff, I abandoned it for easier solutions. However, with Enchanting and all my gains on my other forms of magic, I felt like I was on the edge for my next level in [Mana Manipulation]. I promised myself I''d give it some much-needed attention as soon as I got that long-awaited and glorious notification. Speaking of gains, the newly formed cores had almost caught up, having reached level four and likely soon to hit that horrible wall that was level five. I was tempted to grab one more [Sub-Core] for an even ten, but after my stolen trait points and my level debt, I decided to save those precious few points. The evening I got [Rune Carving], Gregory even took me out to Moonsong for dinner to celebrate. It was an unexpected surprise and made me even more determined to impress him tomorrow. Regrettably, I was forced to wear a suit, which made me feel strangely uncomfortable after wearing mimicked slime clothes for so long. If the suit wasn''t a rental, I would have eaten and copied it on the spot. Oh well. At least the food was amazing. Name: Sylvester [Apprentice] Race: Chimeric Cluster Slime (Blue) LV 1 (-8) Class: Enchanter LV 20 Status: Healthy Mana: Overflowing Emblems: [Experiment] [Apex Hunter] [Elven Legacy] [Dungeoneer] [Nature''s Bane] Skills: General: [Universal Language] [Equipment Swap] [Dissection LV 6] [Mapping LV 5] [Tracking LV 2] [Identify LV 5] [Multitasking LV 5] [Perception LV 4] [Aerial Finesse LV 4] Combat: [Tranquil Flow LV 5] [Attack Mastery (Lesser) LV 7] [Affliction Mastery LV 5] [Exploit Weakness LV 3] Magic: [Water Magic LV 5] [Fire Magic LV 5] [Corrosion Magic LV 5] [Ice Magic LV 5] [Arcane Magic LV 2] [Lightning Magic LV 3] [Mana Manipulation LV 5] [Magic Efficiency LV 4] [Counter Magic LV 3] [Elemental Shift LV 4] [Elemental Adaptation] [Ritual Casting] [Mana Suppression] [Meditate] Sneaky: [Vanish LV 6] [Sneak Attack LV 6] [Identity Fabrication LV 6] [Acting LV 4] [Rogue Expertise LV 4] [Magical Subterfuge LV 3] [Subtle Afflictions] Skill Points remaining: 14 Profession: Enchanting: [Rune Reading LV 5] [Rune Carving LV 1] [Rune Framework LV 1] Profession Points Remaining: 0 Chapter 140: Rune Carving Chapter 140: Rune Carving "Now, this is where the real fun begins!" Gregory said excitedly. Some tools, ranging from farming implements to blacksmithing, were placed on the workbench, and over a dozen more were sitting in a barrel. Two barrels full of weapons, separated into swords and spears, were also on display. [Appraisal] showed me everything was iron or bronze, nothing too fancy. "I''d love to have you working on spherical enchantments, but first, we need to get you used to your new skill and your new tool," Gregory said with a cheery smile as he produced what looked like a well-maintained tool. If the previous one I used for etching looked like a toothpick, this was a scalpel. I gingerly held it and gave it a trickle of my mana to see how it flowed, and wow, this tool was a greedy boy as it slurped up my mana. I could see there was clearly an enchantment to aid the flow of mana and produce a sharpening effect on the tiny blade. "Carving requires a lot more mana; after all, you''ll need to be able to mark even metal! Also, I hope this goes without saying, but be careful not to lose any fingers!" Gregory said, giving a bearded grin. "Is this a silver-steel alloy?" I asked curiously. "Indeed, good eye! Silver, like other precious metals, is a good mana conduit, and the steel is for durability." "Why not gold or monster parts?" "Cost and waste mostly. At least for a [Rune Carving] tool, it would be frivolous. For [Rune Engraving], I''ve seen plenty of tools made from all sorts of things. Somehow, befriend and outdrink a dwarf; perhaps you can get your hands on some Orichalcum or Adamantine. I''ve even seen some nobles brag about one made from Mithril, a relic reforged from the Elven war. Then you get the real exotics; one of my old teachers had one made from dragon bone! Blasted thing could make the most ravishing Fire enchantments I''d ever seen but was utterly useless for everything else." ''That silver slime is sounding better and better...'' Gregory started me off by enchanting the tools with only durability. It was my first time doing the rank four version, but it came out almost perfectly. I was so used to being frugal with my mana to avoid destroying an etching that I had subconsciously held back a bit too much. My second attempt was far better, and Gregory happily claimed it was perfect. My goal was to enchant all the tools with durability. When I was halfway through the barrel, Gregory told me to swap to rank five durability. "Remarkable..." Gregory muttered as I placed the last tool aside. "Something wrong, Master Greg?" "I''m shocked at how you''re still standing. Bloody hell, you have easily doubled my mana capacity. I expected us to take a lunch break ages ago, but you just kept going, and I didn''t want to disturb you..." "I have a really high level in [Mana Circulation] and [Mana Well]," I explained. Holding back the truth that I had already fused [Mana Well], just in case. "And at least twenty-five levels in an intermediate combat class..." Gregory said, tugging at his beard. "Ten levels in Sorcerer, too," I added, as it was already part of my backstory. "Do you not have a combat class?" "I believe almost twenty levels in Mage when I wanted to become an adventurer like every child does when they are young. Then I learned I could earn double my weekly adventurer salary in a day with enchanting! Never looked back." Gregory chuckled. "Although I''m extremely jealous of the attributes yours is clearly giving you. Maybe I should see if Mister Green will pay for me to get some Sorcerer levels." "I didn''t realize professions get fewer attributes..." I murmured, trying to recall what Tabitha had told me. "Just how the world works, I''m afraid. It makes logical sense, though; I run out of mana and simply have to take a short break, maybe have some tea. An adventurer runs out of mana, and they might end up as monster food." "Now, before we go and have lunch, let me quickly show you something..." I must have frowned because Gregory chuckled in response. "Even if you can go, I''m starving, and it''s not like the weapons will run away." "Good day, Sir Dwarf. I am Gregory''s [Apprentice], Sylvester." I said as politely as possible. "Hmm... Well, aren''t you polite? Keep working; don''t stop on my account, lad." Thern said as he started inspecting my work extremely closely. I felt extremely uncomfortable and even asked Alpha to stop me if I was about to make a mistake. Although, at this point, I had done so many of these, it was almost routine, even with the added pressure of another Enchanter critiquing my work other than my own teacher. Abruptly, Thern chuckled, and I could see a sort of goofy smile beneath his bushy beard. "Well damn. Looks like I owe Greg some coin and a drink. Name''s Thern; sorry for giving you the stink eye." "Not at all. It''s a pleasure to meet someone else who knows Master Greg." "I dunno who''s luckier, you or him," Thern said. "Beg your pardon?" I asked. "You got one of the few Enchanters I still respect in this city," Thern said, producing a small flask and taking a swig, then pointing towards my work. "Half the bastards in this place wouldn''t be teaching you efficient work like this; you''d be drawing fancy squiggles that look pretty and either fade in half the time or are barely effective." ''Wow... Greg said his standards were high, but I had no idea.'' I thought. "But then he lands a fucking [Prodigy] on his doorstep. It''s mind-blowing!" Thern shouted and chuckled. "Even I''d be tempted to try to get back into the trade to teach, just for the bragging rights!" "You left?" I asked. Syl knew, but Sylvester didn''t. "Aye. Got offered a strange combat enchanter class and took it. It''s a hella lot of fun, but nearly caused my parents to disown me." Thern said with a hearty grin. I frowned. "Not that I''m not grateful for the work, but... Couldn''t you do this and a better job?" Thern laughed so loudly I thought I had said something wrong; he was practically wiping tears from his eyes. "Aye. I could do this; hell, I could Engrave it and make it permanent. But then, how would the youngins ever learn anything? Or earn their coin?" Obviously, I didn''t put the puzzle together quickly enough, so Thern promptly continued. "You definitely had a combat class before this; you don''t have the crafter money mindset yet." Thern chuckled. "It''s like an unspoken agreement so the next generation has a chance. Imagine everything was permanently enchanted unless it broke. You''d struggle to find work. In this same hypothetical, imagine all the great enchanters kicking the bucket; what now? We have to start from scratch." I nodded along, continuing to work. "It''s also great for repeat customers," Thern said, giving an exaggerated wink. "Of course, if one day you want to permanently enchant your own house or even a friend or family member, nobody is gonna come kicking down your door or anything. But... If you enchant an entire town, city, or even a district, there might be some... Consequences." He gave a toothy smirk before bellowing with laughter. He watched me for a few more moments, then shook his head and chuckled before walking away. "Keep well, lad." "Thank you, Mister Thern." I was most grateful I didn''t run into anyone else until I finally finished for the day. Chapter 141: Time Crunch Chapter 141: Time Crunch I felt like I had almost enchanted half the city and wondered what favors or deals were pulled to allow me such exclusivity. However, I did note that I didn''t step a single foot into the actual inner city, so either they had arranged permanent enchantments, or my work wasn''t fancy enough for their tastes. After just over two weeks, I made considerable gains, and despite spending almost every waking hour enchanting what felt like everything, I only reached level four. This was with two guaranteed experience boosts and potentially a third if [Elven Legacy] was getting involved. Did Enchanting qualify? It was Mana and arguably Magic-related. I was extremely worried I wouldn''t hit my self-imposed deadline. I''d also need to focus more on enchanting in the evenings instead of magic. Which made buying [Rune Tracing] and [Rune Design] a no-brainer. Now, while neither of these would directly increase my [Rune Carving] experience, I had hoped that if I made a discovery and carved it, I''d get some sort of new bonus. Something akin to my presumed spell discovery bonus. It was a long shot, but I was starting to feel desperate. I didn''t want to let Greg down. However, I also planned to try doing some more [Rune Carving] in the evenings; for that, I would need a test subject. A small part of me cringed at spending another precious trait point, but this was the only way I could achieve this without sacrificing a lot of slime mass. My other cores were too high level at this point and would cost me a fortune of slime to constantly remake them, which is why I rejected the [Sub-Core] experience network for the first time ever. I''d add Kappa officially to the team once this enchanting journey was over for some well-earned power leveling. I wanted to try [Rune Carving] my own slime cores. Originally, I wanted to hold off until I got [Rune Engraving], but in hindsight, perhaps that was foolish. I hadn''t even confirmed if I could Enchant a "living" core, so waiting until I had the best resources and skills before trying could have ended with immense disappointment. If it worked, I could practice on Kappa, destroy the core, and reform it. Thanks to [Core Collective] reducing the time by 80%, what would have taken 8 hours would be just under 2, and by using low-level [Sub-Core] and reducing the cost by 40%, I would hopefully not hurt my slime bank too much. Plucking the core from my body, I first gave an incrementally tighter squeeze until a small crack appeared. Mentally recording the force required to start damaging it, I allowed it to heal before beginning the next part. I slowly and cautiously brought the tool to its surface. A small part of me shuddered from remembering how close a knife was to my core when I was at my weakest, but thanks to [Core Collective], even freshly spawned, Kappa was far more durable than I was back then. I hadn''t learned spherical enchantments yet, so I''d start with a simple circle overlayed to take up a hemisphere, and the obvious choice was a simple strengthening rune. It was a nerve-wracking experience, but when I carved the final stroke, the entire inscription briefly shimmered and settled on the core. "Success?" I asked myself. From everything I could tell, it worked, so I applied the previous amount of force to the core. No cracks appeared, but with my excitement bubbling, I kept applying force until one did. "This potentially changes everything... The question is, will it healing destroy the enchantment? Also, will the enchantment remain, or will it be freshly smooth if I restore it from destruction? Honestly, I hope it''s the latter; otherwise, I''ll be stuck with a lower-rank rune forever..." I waited for the crack to restore, but the enchantment stayed. It was strange, as arguably, the core had a chunk carved out and missing, but somehow, it could differentiate between a wound and a benefit. That left one more thing to confirm, and with a heavy heart, I crushed the core and dissolved its shards. I was immediately surprised that eating the remains of the core gave me nothing, but perhaps that would have been seen as an exploit? If it gave me no slime mass, maybe I could keep the shards in case it had another use or value? "There was one slime type whose shards were used in potions or something... I think it was the pink one?" I tried recalling to myself. With nothing to do but wait the requisite amount of time, I started practicing [Rune Tracing] and immediately found an unexpected hiccup; I could not make any runes above first rank with it. "Well, shit. I guess that means no tracing rank sevens for a long time..." I muttered as I returned to the basic runes. Greg had praised my memory as "eidetic," but honestly, I could cheat by asking one of my [Sub-Cores] to show it to me. They seemed to have no issue recalling anything I had shown them or asked them to do, frighteningly so. Greg had been most grateful that we could skip a lot of time that would''ve been set aside for simple memorization exercises. I''d never watched a [Sub-Core] be formed outside of a new trait, where it would instantly compress down into the perfect orb with aid from the system, and I previously had to always be asleep for them to regrow normally. It was like watching a constant whirlpool of ever-increasing slime slowly build into a tiny piece of solid crystal. Once that initial crystal center was formed, it would uniformly swell in size until, eventually, Kappa was reborn. "Perfectly smooth! No enchantment!" I cheered happily. If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. This was the best outcome, in my opinion, and I eagerly began the next set of carvings. It was time to cram in some extra effort! *** "No. Your work remains astounding. But... You feel like someone about to go to war." Greg said, shaking his head. "I''m not sure I understand?" "Your pace is remarkable. Not once have you asked for a break. Not once have you complained about a workload; in fact, you''ve asked for more." Greg began answering, then sighed. "It reminds me of... People who were trying to get their affairs in order. Or... Someone being threatened." He turned to me with an extremely serious expression on his face. "Is Johnathan or anyone from the Green estate threatening you?" I blinked in confusion, his tone and expression demanding utter honesty. "No. I''m not being threatened. What makes you think I was?" Greg let out a long sigh as if relieved. "I was worried he was pressuring you. It seems he''s expecting his client to return in less than a month, and he asked me if there were other ways to speed up your progress. I was worried he perhaps thought my reports were inaccurate and trying to push you..." I chuckled at the hilarity of the situation. "No. I guess that''s my fault, in a way... I''ve got a commitment coming up, and I can''t refuse it. I was trying to reach our goal before I had to leave." Greg seemed pleased with my honesty but also confused. "We can continue your training when you return. That''s certainly no reason to work yourself to death." "I... I''m unsure how long it will take, a few months at minimum, perhaps even a year?" "Well... I certainly wouldn''t mind waiting. Johnathan, on the other hand... Might be a bit upset." Greg chuckled as he tugged at his beard. "But it''s not like you''re tied to his estate. I''d take a bit of heat, but nothing I couldn''t handle." "I don''t want to put you through that." I immediately rejected the idea. "Is there no way we can speed things up?" Greg let out a genuine laugh at the absurdity of my statement coming off the previous tension. "Without being wasteful with money... It would be hard. Getting you to do more complex inscriptions would be ideal." I snapped my fingers. "What about if I buy some patents?" Greg was tugging his beard more, his usual indicator of being deep in thought and running through the idea. "Yes... If you buy the patent for the storage inscription, we could enchant some crates and chests. Even if they will fade in half a year, plenty of merchants would jump at the chance for extra capacity!" I pulled out my guild tag and smiled. "So, where do I pay?" Greg chuckled and opened the door, gesturing for me to go first. "Let''s go get you licensed. Then we can start the lesson immediately and have James bring some chests or crates from the warehouse." "Sounds great. The storage bags adventurers carry around have always fascinated me." "As it should. An adventurer created that one, according to the history books. Dimensional magic is an absolute rarity, so the ingenuity of transcribing it into an inscription that works regardless of affinity was a truly world-shattering accomplishment." Greg paused and chuckled. "I''ll also request a catalog of available patents for you to borrow; you can look through it for anything that tickles your fancy." "I''d love that. Thank you." "No problem at all. We even have one with the adventurer patents; after all, every boy dreams of crafting and holding a magic sword!" Greg said with a happy chuckle. Chapter 142: Final Stretch Chapter 142: Final Stretch After paying the fee, my guild tag was apparently appropriately marked to show that I was authorized. I also received a piece of parchment as a receipt that I could use in case someone asked for proof that I could access the inscription. I was a little shocked at how much security was around it until Greg mentioned that half of it was due to this particular enchantment''s potentially dangerous nature, and even qualifying to teach someone else was apparently extremely strenuous. Obviously, I didn''t foresee myself teaching anyone enchanting, so it was a bit of a moot point. With other less dangerous patents, you''d be given a parchment copy of the design, or with the really complex ones, even a small booklet with detailed instructions. Spherical ones were extremely hard as attempts to replicate them on pages had been difficult, and simply having someone paid to teach was far less costly than trying to create a magical tool to display the three-dimensional inscription. True to his word, Greg gave me two small books to borrow, each a catalog of the various patents for sale. It was a simple name, short description, and associated price, with sometimes an additional fee listed if tutoring was required or available. Then, we returned to our workroom, which had already received a few small crates. "Right. Unlike our previous lessons, I''ll demonstrate, and then you''ll need to first replicate it on the chalkboard or parchment." Greg said as he pulled out his own tool. "While I have confidence in your ability to replicate this, it is better to be safe than sorry, and wrongly drawing this enchantment can result in injury." "No problem." I agreed. He opened one of the crates and inspected for a solid area where he could carve the enchantment. You wanted it to be safe and secure because if it became too damaged, you could lose whatever contents were stored inside. The inscription was like a true work of art, and I struggled to recognize a single portion. Where other inscriptions and runes had seemed quite similar to some spells I''d known, these were completely foreign. My [Rune Reading] was trying to decipher it but failing miserably, I got some vague interpretations about converting and expanding, but it was actually starting to hurt my head. When Greg finished the final stroke of the pattern, an ominous hum permeated the room before it settled down. "I swear I hold my breath every time I finish that final stroke. That sound is the thing of nightmares." Greg said with a chuckle. "I''m just glad this is a circle enchantment, not a sphere." "There is an upgraded version of this that is a sphere, but it''s costly and difficult. You must pay for and take an exam before you''re even considered. The exam is a thousand gold, and the patent is another two thousand." I gave an impressed whistle. "Considering this one was only fifty, that''s pretty crazy." "Seriously, Sylvester, dimension magic is no joke. I know you''re inquisitive, but don''t mess with this. That hum terrifies me because I''ve seen many enchanters lose their hands in it, if not worse." Greg warned. "As for the upgraded version, it causes objects placed inside of it to be paused in time, for lack of a better word. Food won''t spoil, ice won''t melt, and drinks stay warm. Even a year later, whatever goes in comes out as if it were the very same second." ''My [Core Storage] does that...'' "Anyway. That''s neither here nor now." Greg interrupted my wandering mind. "I suggest you study this as intensely as possible, then start practicing it on the chalkboard." I studied the inscription while ordering my [Sub-Cores] to save the design. Other than the extremely complex circle, which was the entire linchpin of the enchantment, the rest were a lot of [Rune Framework] lines designating the interior volume of the crate as the source, with plenty of redundant lines drawn in. I asked Greg about it, and he confirmed it was so that the contents wouldn''t be lost or damaged if one line was damaged. Then, I started replicating it on the chalkboard. Even though it was correct the first time, Greg made me repeat it a few more times and pointed out some small irregularities to fix up. It was admittedly nitpicky, but Greg warned me he had high standards before he took me on. Finally, after filling the chalkboard multiple times with the exact same inscription, Greg was satisfied for me to attempt it. I wasn''t willing to lose a hand to a failed dimensional storage, so I ensured my [Sub-Cores] would correct me. It was an intense experience, far worse than when Thern was staring at my work. It felt like Greg was preparing to potentially jump in to warn me at a moment''s notice. With bated breath, I completed the final stroke, and the hum filled the room as I quickly retreated my hands from inside the crate. "Excellent. Truly excellent. I wish I had your memorization." Greg chuckled. "Now, before you undoubtedly start enchanting endless amounts of crates, let''s have lunch." *** There were boxes and crates¡ªso many boxes and crates. Thank the gods that I didn''t get muscle cramps because repeating that complex circle for hours upon hours every day was gruesome even for me. Some days, I would even just order some [Sub-Cores] to pilot my body for me because even I was starting to take mental strain. I''d started losing track of time and hoped I still had leeway to work with. Maybe Syl could bribe Thern to delay his trip? I honestly wasn''t sure anymore. "I hit level five..." I mumbled as I quickly tried to upgrade it. ''Yes! Gods, yes!'' "Truly!? That''s fantastic!" Greg shouted loudly as he grabbed my shoulders in a half-hug, the excitement getting to him. "I just upgraded it... I got two entire levels from it, reaching five. That''s... Insane." "Bah! I''m surprised it wasn''t more with all of us dedicated to you reaching it!" Greg said, slapping my back. "I still got a point... Should I get [Rune Repair]?" I asked. "Normally, I''d say yes. But... I think you should get [Brand]." Greg said, grinning proudly. "Really? Isn''t it pretty useless?" I questioned. "How else will you permanently mark the tool you will make? I want to point to the name Sylvester on it and say, ''He was one of mine!''" Greg said before laughing. I found myself joining in the merriment and purchasing the skill. Having a skill in my profession list without "Rune" in the name was a little funny, but this was a universal skill amongst the professions. You could activate it whenever you completed a craft, and it would mark the target. One time, Greg even showed me a Baker with the skill, and [Appraisal] showed me that every one of her muffins was branded. They were also the damn best muffins I had ever tasted. After we cleaned up the room, I was almost immediately dragged to Moonsong for a celebratory dinner that Greg had fully paid for. I dared not think of connections he pulled to somehow get a booking on the same day. While we were settling down after dinner, he pulled out a small box and softly slid it across the table. "Really Master Greg? You''re spoiling me." I said with a chuckle. "Open it first before you give me any lip. I''m still your Master for a few more days yet!" He guffawed. I shook my head and slowly opened the box; inside was an immaculate, enchanting tool with replaceable heads of varying sizes, from a toothpick to a scalpel, the largest looking like a letter opener. [Appraisal] told me it was made out of Electrum, and unlike my previous tools, it looked brand new. [Mana Conception] and [Rune Inspection] together showed me intricate designs perfectly flowing throughout the tool with matching [Rune Framework] that would link up between each of the different heads to the handle. I couldn''t believe the detail and beauty of the device. Seeing my speechlessness, Greg slapped me on the shoulder. "I can''t let my [Apprentice] just use any old piece of junk. I''d be laughed out of the guild!" I could only smile in stunned silence. I finally looked at the [Brand] and nearly choked when I saw Gregory and Thern. Greg gave a massive grin, clearly realizing what I had seen. "You impressed a dwarf; that''s good work. He did the forging, and I did the enchanting. Make sure you buy him a bottle of the strongest alcohol you can before you see him again." "And what about you?" I asked. "Oh? You want to give your old Master something... Well... Let me think..." He said before breaking out into a smug grin and chuckling. "That damned refrigerator egg better be bloody perfect; I want to be able to brag for years!" Chapter 143: Rune Engraving Chapter 143: Rune Engraving Having finally achieved [Rune Engraving], we could move on to some of our final lessons. That''s not to say my Enchanter journey was over; far from it, I still had much to uncover in my own time, and I had barely touched spherical enchantments beyond the fundamentals. Greg had even described it as having reached the starting line, and I''d be registered as a fully licensed Enchanter within the Merchant''s Guild with Greg''s name backing my credentials. I wondered if I was perhaps setting a record for graduating from [Apprentice], but Greg had heartily laughed at that thought. While I was by far his fastest graduate, I wasn''t even close to some of the training Royals got. He explained that they would receive tutelage from someone with an absurd level in [Apprenticeship] while likely also having [Prodigy] and combined with legendary artifacts that could either boost experience or understanding and an ocean of elixirs and potions. "So we''ve finally reached [Rune Engraving], and thus, I need to explain what we mean by permanent enchantments." Greg began his lecture as I eagerly waited to absorb the knowledge. "Generally, we break down permanent enchantments into two broad classifications. The first and most common by far is unpowered enchantments, and I''d say these easily make up more than seventy percent of all engravings. The inscription is unpowered, and you must channel mana through it to activate it. Think of a tool that you only activate when needed, and our refrigerator egg also falls under this category, except it has been combined with a storage component. This includes most adventurer equipment, which passively siphons off mana from their wielder or wearer to power the enchantments. It need not be said, but most [Rune Carving] enchantments do this as well, but the difference is that the Carving will fade as mana flows through it, but the Engraving will not. Unless the Enchanter is grossly incompetent, using the wrong tool, or the object itself is of poor quality, of course." "The second is passively powered enchantments. The enchantment is always on through accumulating mana or mana generated from the object itself. The first option usually leads to an extremely large enchantment, as mana-gathering arrays are inefficient unless you combine your engraving with high-quality materials designed to entice the mana into the enchantment. The second option is the more common method of the two, and this is where monster parts usually come into play." "For example, instead of using our refrigerator inscription, we could enchant a white slime core, which is practically pure ice mana. The slime core being aligned to Ice means we wouldn''t need someone with Ice-mana to do the inscription, and it would be permanently on. We usually add another inscription to act as a switch, temporarily breaking the enchantment so it can be turned off if required. The downside of this, aside from potential resource scarcity, is that the quality of the material will significantly affect the quality of the result. A poor quality core could lead to an enchantment barely cooling a room, while a high-quality one could potentially even freeze its owner." I asked a few questions, such as how I added material to an engraving, and Greg demonstrated. He showed a specific head for the engraving tool that could absorb resources, usually in liquid form, and distribute them along with the enchanting mana flow. Greg did a relatively small enchantment to not waste resources, which in this case was a tiny coin of mana-enriched silver. The coin easily melted in a small flask he rapidly heated. He then dipped the head of his tool in the faintly glowing silvery liquid, and it sucked it up to the last drop. Greg then proceeded to enchant as normal, and soon, there was a beautiful glass ball of permanent light. He also explained there was a skill I''d unlock later on now that I had [Rune Engraving], which allowed you to designate a source as your material and incorporate it without needing a tool, presuming very precise mana control. Now that we had reached this point, I had finally been given access to the refrigerator inscription. I was immediately grateful it wasn''t a spherical enchantment as I had expected, but instead, it was two highly interwoven circle enchantments. The bottom enchantment was entirely related to storing and distributing mana, acting as a battery. The top enchantment was the cooling and freezing effect, and while originally it had felt oddly familiar, now armed with [Rune Reading] and quite a bit of experience and theory crammed into my core, I now could recognize parts of it as a modification of [Glacial Aura]. Unfortunately, translating spell constructs into runes or inscriptions wasn''t a simple process, and it was one of the things I wanted to study in my own time once I was free from the obligations I had set myself. But still, it was nice to see a visible sign of my progress. Greg had me practice both circles individually before we worked on the interlinking mesh formation. The bottom one was simple, I had worked with storage functions before, and this was just a more advanced one. I was happy to have it added to my rune collection for free. The top part was the tricky part and involved many complex runes I''d never drawn before, but with the aid of all my helpers, I was soon drawing it without error. Happy with my results, we moved on to enchanting one or two fake eggs made from iron or copper. Our actual end product was to be made from electrum, a gold and silver alloy that practically went hand in hand with magical tools due to its natural tendency to contain and distribute mana. It was the gold standard. Heh. The copper and iron eggs wouldn''t last long, and the metal would warp after one or two uses, but it was a great way to check my work. I was extremely grateful we didn''t immediately move to the end product because I had made a careless mistake on the mesh of the copper egg, which meant its storage would drain into the freeze effect quicker than intended. I was a little distracted during the engraving as I needed to ensure I was pulling only Ice mana, and I had become far too familiar with pulling only Arcane for all of my previous work. With a deep engraving of ice mana, any raw mana injected into the finished product would be rapidly transformed into Ice. Hence, the storage component was vital for this egg, not just for prolonged usage, but to give an appropriate amount of time to buffer the raw mana becoming Ice. High-purity Ice mana was needed to overcome any leaked affinities from the user, as not everyone could produce pure Arcane mana on demand, and even raw mana would contain small traces of their affinity. This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. Thankfully, my second attempt at using the iron egg was a resounding success once I told my helpers to double-check my work. It honestly started to feel like I could do anything if we all put our cores together, and I was eager to see what else I could accomplish with [Core Collective]. One amusing thing about enchanting with Ice Mana was that it made the room absolutely nippy, and Greg would be forced to wear a large fluffy coat and gloves if he wanted to closely observe. I luckily got to handwave any such necessity by claiming [Ice Resistance] from my Cryomancer class. Once Greg and Thern tested the trial refrigerator eggs and gave them a thumbs-up, we proceeded with the first real attempts. I was surprised by the dwarf coming to observe, but apparently, Greg had been bragging, and there was a small bet going on about how successful my first real attempt would be. It was likely the most intense enchanting session of my life, with two sets of eyes closely observing and critiquing my every stroke. Thankfully, I had nine hidden helpers to protect me from potential screwups. "Bloody hell! I feel like a dwarf runt being drunk under the table." Thern exclaimed when I finished the final stroke. "I told you my [Apprentice] is precise!" Greg said smugly, stroking his beard. "Scarily so," Thern said, wasting no time to examine the finished product. "I''d swear you were one of those fancy enchanting golems if I didn''t just watch you do this before my eyes..." "Oh. I heard about those. Supposedly going to revolutionize the business." Greg answered before I could question. "I heard they can only do one enchantment, though?" "Aye. One was shown before my Pa, made the most perfect lines I''d ever seen but could only do one enchantment and nothing else." "Good for mass production, but..." Greg said, stroking his own beard now. I thought it would even the playing field if I could give him something similar. Thankfully, it wasn''t that hard to find out what affinities Greg had by just querying his enchantment specialties. He was born with Fire and Light, then added Water, Earth, and lastly, Wind in his attempt to get Ice. It was a long shot, and after some secret research by looking into some of the Merchant''s Guilds catalogs, I had the perfect idea. I handed him the long, thin wooden box and smiled teasingly. "Really, Sylvester? You didn''t have to get me anything." Greg said although he couldn''t hide his smile. "It''s nothing, Master Greg. Just something I picked up in my travels before I arrived here." "Bloody, open it! The suspense is killing me!" Thern shouted, causing Greg and me to laugh unexpectedly. Greg gingerly opened the box, and his eyes widened. "Is that what I think it is?" Thern asked. "I believe so..." Greg said as he gingerly touched the immaculate white horn in the box. "Shit! Lad, do you want to become my [Apprentice] next?" Thern asked unabashedly. "I don''t know if I can spit out another unicorn horn..." I chuckled. "Do you even have Light affinity?" "I don''t, but bloody hell. Where''d you even find the thing?" Thern asked. "I passed by Glimmerock on my way here," I answered. "I had heard there was an incident with the adventurers getting attacked by pegasi..." Greg muttered. "Aye! The things were out for blood. Never seen them go that crazy before; an emergency quest was even put out. Probably ruined plenty of young gals'' imagination of the ''majestic creature.''" "I can imagine... My niece loves to draw them and unicorns." Greg said with a slight frown. "Well. I can''t say I see the appeal after being attacked by them. At least I got a fancy horn from a dead one." I shrugged. "Fell from the island? I wonder what caused such a ruckus up there." Greg asked. "I have an idea..." Thern said, giving a chuckle accompanied by a cryptic smile. "Not going to share?" I asked, and Greg nodded in agreement. "I''ll hopefully get my confirmation in a week or two. But, see! You should go pick up your combat class again. You never know what you''ll find outside of the city walls." Thern teased. "Why bother when I have such a generous [Apprentice]?" Greg countered, causing Thern to sputter. "Honestly, Sylvester. Thank you." "You''re very welcome. Master Greg." Chapter 144: Sylvesters Last Day Chapter 144: Sylvester''s Last Day With the pressure gone, Greg and I spent some more relaxing time polishing up the last few skills and lessons. I also ensured access to a few other good inscriptions, like resizing, stealth, and, of course, mental resistance. I paid what felt like an arm and a leg for the entire set of mental resistance runes all the way up to rank ten. Sylvester''s pockets were practically empty, but I could always do some work or make a donation as Syl if I was truly desperate. Greg also bragged nonstop about the unicorn horn and his plans for it. I was a little surprised at how happy it made him, and I hoped that if I returned as Sylvester, I could see the final result in the future. I also finally took the plunge to fully enchant my cores; after much trial and error on Kappa, I came up with the final results. For my [Sub-Cores], I engraved them with durability and self-repair. The synergy between the two couldn''t be overstated, and I hoped that it would save me a lot of slime mass in the future from repairs. However, I went with mental and magic resistance for my own core, which also had a synergy bonus. Being mentally controlled again was still one of my biggest fears, and while the slow regeneration of self-repair was tempting for my own core, I''d rather have the extra safety. Using the tool on my own core was... An experience. I was extremely grateful I could borrow [Pain Suppression] from the orcs. Otherwise, I don''t think I could have completed it. I guess I could have ordered my [Sub-Cores] to do it, but even though I trusted and relied on them, I felt compelled to do this myself. It had the added benefit of seeing more of what [Core Collective] offered me; I could freely and instantly switch my vision between all my cores, far greater than before, and even have multiple perspectives simultaneously. I still couldn''t separate my [Sub-Cores] from myself, going completely inert when losing a direct slime connection to myself, so I wasn''t entirely sure how useful having numerous perspectives at once was. Perhaps that restriction would go away if I uncapped [Core Collective]? Or maybe another slime or trait held that ability? ''Maybe my next evolution will be the Chimeric Range Cluster Slime... Heh.'' I also finally let Kappa join the [Sub-Core] experience network. The time for rapid trial and error was gone, and now I could hopefully practice with [Rune Tracing] alone. Hopefully, Kappa would be power-leveled to five in no time. Now that I didn''t need to spend every waking moment breathing enchanting, I finally returned to [Arcane Magic]. I was now armed with a higher level in both [Mana Manipulation] and [Mana Conception], and I wanted to finish that debuff. It took two evenings to wrestle the mana into cooperating until I finalized the spell, and after casting it, I was rewarded. The debuff [Hexed] inflicted magic weakness; I had my suspicions and was beyond speechless when they were confirmed. How deadly would a [Fireball] be if they were double debuffed? Or a [Lightning Bolt]? If I had to take a guess, assuming both debuffs were at an equal level, [Hexed] would be less effective than [Flammable] or any other specifically targeted debuff. When I asked Thern for magic resistance on my armor, he mentioned that the more effective option was focusing on a specific defense rather than having broad, generalized protection. So, I could only assume the same applied offensively. Now for my new spell, [Aegis] instantly created a small shield that, from what I understood, was highly effective against spells. It could also block physical attacks, but it seemed more of a side benefit and wasn''t nearly as effective as its primary purpose. Interestingly, the spell didn''t cost a lot of mana to cast unless you maintained it where it had an almost exponentially increasing cost. Block an attack and let it go as soon as possible was the clear impression I got. Once the [Aegis] was in place, it couldn''t be moved, and interestingly enough, it could even support my weight. If I didn''t already have wings, I could make "steps" by cycling between two [Aegis] spells. My goals were accomplished, and my time likely completely ran out. It was time to say goodbye to Sylvester for now, anyway. I looked over my profile at my final results and smiled happily. The only thing that shocked me was the fact that despite all the Engraving I did, it was still level one! Name: Sylvester [Apprentice] Race: Chimeric Cluster Slime (Blue) LV 1 (-8) Class: Runecrafter LV 18 Status: Healthy Mana: Overflowing Emblems: [Experiment] [Apex Hunter] [Elven Legacy] [Dungeoneer] [Nature''s Bane] [Manhunter] [Apprentice]* Traits: Slime: [Mana Slime LV 11] [Acid Slime LV 7] [Poison Slime LV 6] [Blaze Slime LV 6] [Cryo Slime LV 5] [Voltaic Slime LV 6] [Morph Slime LV 7] [Pseudopod LV 7] [Slime Shot LV 7] [Slime Burst LV 6] [Vaporize Slime] Core: [Core Collective LV 8] [Core Storage LV 6] [Sub-Core Alpha LV 5] [Sub-Core Zeta LV 5] [Sub-Core Beta LV 5] [Sub-Core Gamma LV 5] [Sub-Core Eta LV 5] [Sub-Core Delta LV 5] [Sub-Core Theta LV 5] [Sub-Core Epsilon LV 5] [Sub-Core Iota LV 5] [Sub-Core Kappa LV 1] Mimic: [Chimeric Mimicry LV 7] [Chroma Shift LV MAX] [Consuming Osmosis LV MAX] Mana: [Mana Circulation LV 7] [Mana Reinforcement LV 7] [Mana Infusion] Attributes/Other: [Soul Mastery LV 7] [Enhanced Vitality LV 5] [Magic Resistance (Lesser) LV 5] [Curse Resistance LV 1] [Rune Design LV 3] [Runecrafting LV 2] [Rune Inspection LV 5] [Rune Filigree LV 3] [Rune Repair LV 2] [Brand] Profession Points Remaining: 0 Since I was leaving and traveling, I had a good excuse to swap back to my combat class. I was a little worried about changing my class, but when I asked if I could do so privately, James nodded as if it was the most common request in the world. Without fanfare or complications, I switched to Elementalist and changed Sylvester''s profile to show Cryomancer. I had almost expected Johnathan to make an appearance, but instead, I just got a nicely written letter thanking me for my services and to not hesitate if I wished to sell my services to the Green estate in the future. On the other hand, Greg looked proud and handed me a card that showed me as a licensed enchanter, authorized by the Kaerlin Merchant''s Guild and directly apprenticed under Gregory. My guild tag was also updated with these credentials, but the physical object was useful when dealing with someone who couldn''t access it. "And with that. I believe you''ve graduated from your [Apprenticeship]." Greg said, giving a nod. ''Well, that''s a relief. I would have hated to lose some of my levels after all that effort...'' Greg took in a deep breath. He looked like he was about to pass out. "I gained three levels..." Greg murmured as if not believing it himself. Thern woke him from shock with a signature slap on the back. "You lucky bastard!" From what I understood, the skill levels gained by his [Apprenticeship] were based on multiple factors: speed, efficiency, lesson quality, satisfaction from the target, and final results. Greg had heard [Prodigy] would likely give him an extra level by default, and Thern had confirmed that rumor. Either Greg truly went above and beyond, or another factor was at play. I had two theories, but I obviously couldn''t voice them. One was that he had effectively trained me and all of my [Sub-Cores], so he was accidentally rewarded for "extra" students. The other theory was that he had taught a monster; how many people could honestly say that accomplishment? ''Well... Not that Greg could brag about that, unfortunately.'' I said goodbye to Thern and James at the guild, but Greg walked me to the gate. Thern told me to visit the dwarves sometime, which I couldn''t help but find hilariously ironic. James simply thanked me and hoped to do business together in the future. I probably should have interacted with him more, but it seemed this guild''s handlers were a bit more hands-off than the Adventurer''s Guild. Or perhaps Sylvester just wasn''t as high-profile as to warrant additional attention. "Send letters if you can. And please come visit again." Greg said. "Thanks for everything, Mas-" "No! Just Greg now." He interrupted with a chuckle. "Thanks, Greg. I''ll try to stop by if I get an opportunity, or at least send a letter or two through the guild branches," I said. We exchanged a solid handshake and said our final farewell. Then Sylvester left the gate. Unfortunately, I had to keep up appearances, so I walked quite a distance before finding an appropriate opportunity to head off the road and shift. I took some time to blob out for a bit before finally assuming my Syl persona. I also equipped my [Dungeoneer] emblem and ensured my profile reflected everything correctly. Then, I casually strolled back to the city while openly practicing my magic again as I began shifting all my cores into different elements. I was returning to my two of each type, except I would keep Alpha and Beta unaligned and on [Corrosion Magic] or [Arcane Magic] duty. I had Kappa join Zeta to fill the missing gap for Water. When I reached the gate, I was immediately set upon by one of the guards. At first, I was cautious, but then he bowed before me. "Miss Syl, it''s so good to see you back! Can you please report to the Adventurer''s Guild directly?" He asked politely. "Sure? Is there a problem?" I asked curiously. "Quite a few people have asked if you''ve returned." He said with a chuckle. I nodded, and after flashing my adventurer tag, I headed in. I had grown used to walking about the city as Sylvester and being just another head in the crowd, but unfortunately, that time had ended. Assuming I hadn''t lost my chances with Thern, I hoped the dwarves would be less unabashed about staring and talking about the elf. I hadn''t even reached the guild yet when I saw a familiar figure rapidly approaching me. Clearly, someone had already told the guild I was back. I braced myself for impact as she flung herself at me. "Syl! You''re back!" Whitney exclaimed as she practically hung from my neck. "H-hey..." I struggled out. "Good to see you again." "I can''t believe you were gone for so long! We knew you were still alive but thought you''d be back long ago." "Well..." "Some said you got lost in a dungeon!" "Actually-" "Others said you went back to the elves!" "..." "People were worried you might have been kidnapped. Or the orcs came to take revenge on you. Or-" "Stop!" I said, placing a hand over her mouth. "I''m fine. I was on Glimmerock for longer than I expected..." "So you actually got up there?" Whitney said as if not believing me. "I got countless griffon and pegasus feathers, beaks and claws, and even unicorn horns to prove it," I said with a hesitant chuckle. "You really don''t hold back, huh..." "I guess not. I learned a bunch, killed a bunch, leveled up a bunch, and now I''m back." Whitney looked at me up and down, likely with [Identify] too. "What class even is that? I don''t think I''ve ever heard of an Elementalist before." "It''s pretty rare. Think Dewi''s Pyromancer class specialized except for Water, Fire, Ice, and Lightning." I answered. "For now, anyway." "You actually got Lightning? Holy shit, Syl!" Whitney gasped. "I got something else, too," I said with a wink and tried to subtly show her the [Eagle Vision] trait. Whitney''s eyes went wide; there was a brief pause followed by another impromptu hug. If she wasn''t trying to strangle me before, now she was clearly trying to finish the job. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" She said excitedly. You''d think I just gave her a pink slime core or something with how excited she was. "I''m glad you like it," I eventually said when she started to calm down. "I hope this makes up for my absence." "Well, you''ve certainly bought me off. I''ll put in a good word with the others." Whitney said with a giggle. "Hmm... I didn''t realize my absence would be taken so badly." I replied, scratching my cheek. "Thern was quite upset. Apparently, you''ve delayed something or other. But lately, he''s stopped complaining and has been pretty cheery. Lisa thought you were the reason pegasi went wild. Luke has just been plain worried." "Hmm... The pegasi might be my fault." I answered honestly. "Well... I hope it was worth it because you know how much Lisa hates paperwork!" Whitney said teasingly. I rolled my fingers in a small flourish, letting a little bit of Lightning Mana crackle and spark between them. "Definitely worth it," I said with a grin. Chapter 145: Friendly Interrogation Chapter 145: Friendly Interrogation Entering the Adventurer''s Guild while chatting with Whitney, I noticed a few cheers and jeers as people who clearly recognized me saw that I had returned. There were some murmurings about my "strange new class" and people pointing out my high level. I noticed Luke rushing to meet us. "Luke!" I said cheerily. "It''s good to see you back, Miss Syl. Master Lisa wants you to report to her office immediately, please." Luke replied with a bizarre blend of concern and relief. Others must have overheard it, and immediately, the rumor mill got to work. Was she in trouble? Did she accomplish something? Is it an interrogation about her strange class? And all other whispers flooded the hall. I tried to ignore all of it as best as possible. Whitney said she''d talk to me afterward after making me promise I wouldn''t suddenly run off again and left with Luke, so I was alone heading towards Lisa''s office. While climbing up the staircase, I saw Thern peek his head out of the library. "Well, look who finally decided to show up!" He sounded gruff and upset but soon cracked a wide grin and gave a full belly laugh. "Sorry for missing our arrangement, Thern... I spent a lot longer on Glimmerock than I expected." I explained. It was half-true. "I can''t wait to see all the bits and bobs you''ve undoubtedly brought back," Thern said, nodding. "You''re lucky that I''ve made some arrangements; assuming you don''t spend a month in the dungeon, you''re supposed to go clear!" "So the offer still stands?" I asked hopefully. "Aye. I argued it wasn''t safe to transport the new furnace heart by regular means and got authorization for something... Special." Thern said, giving a big wink. "It''s too bad you didn''t come back sooner; I would have loved to have shown some of your materials to a friend. No doubt you''ve brought some ripe for enchanting." "And here I thought your only friend was at the bottom of a mug." Lisa suddenly replied, causing us all to flinch. You could almost feel the crackling of thunder in her eyes. Thern laughed. "Better not keep her waiting; she''s got a shocking temper." "Good thing I''ve got a sparkly personality." I countered, giving my own sparkling demonstration of Lightning Mana. Thern backed up, howling with laughter. "Bloody hell, keep that away from my beard!" I couldn''t help but grin, and Lisa even chuckled at that. "You''ve certainly opened up a lot more," Lisa commented. "Aye. You''ve definitely come out of your shell since I last saw you. A lot less stiff. Nothing like the thrill of adventure, ey?" I paused. Had I? I spent a lot of time with Trixie and regularly joined in with her antics. Had she opened me up? Was I that easily influenced by the people around me? I also spent a long time interacting with people as Sylvester... "Absolutely," I replied. "Well, let''s head to my office to get your official report," Lisa said, and I followed after telling Thern we could chat later. As I sat down, I wondered if this would be an interrogation or a pleasant conversation. But her secretary brought some drinks and snacks immediately to set the mood. "So. Welcome back; I take it you did manage to get onto the floating island?" "I did," I replied and began retelling my account. From griffons to elementals to eventually fighting pegasi. I decided against any mention of Trixie; the pixie was my friend, and she was utterly terrified of being captured by humans again. I didn''t mention the ghouls either, as I had no proof of killing them. I mentioned fighting pegasi and unicorns and eventually discovering the prince. When I mentioned finding an alicorn, Lisa was actually startled; they must have been extremely rare. I mentioned that once I dealt with the unicorns and the alicorn, the pegasi seemed lost and distracted, and I took out the ones I could. I had thought she might question me, but it seemed like she would hold back questions until the end. I finally mentioned dealing with the harpies, as I had kept proof of them. I mentioned the other monsters I had fought and ultimately came across and harvested a yellow slime. I secretly withdrew Epsilon as proof of my yellow slime core, ensuring it was wrapped in a thin slime layer to hide my engravings. Obviously, I had to keep Epsilon touching my hands at all costs. Lisa was tapping away at her desk in thought. "So it seems you were accidentally responsible for the wild pegasi attack." "I''m sorry... I had no idea. Was it bad?" I asked. "No casualties, thankfully, quite a few injured, but nothing career-ending. It also brought some unexpected resources to the city. That''s not to say it was a good thing, but from what you described, it could have been much worse." "Honestly, anything at all to give the pencil pushers." Lisa sighed. "It''s an advanced mage class focusing on elemental magic in particular. Think Pyromancer, Hydromancer, and Cryomancer all wrapped into one." "What about Geomancer, Aeromancer, and Electromancer?" Lisa asked curiously. "It''s called Electromancer... Seriously?" I questioned, and Lisa nodded, suppressing a light giggle. "Alright, well, to answer your question, yes, it includes those, but I don''t have Air or Earth affinity." "Yet. I''m assuming?" "Fingers crossed." "It sounds remarkable. I''m a bit sad you''ve abandoned a hybrid class, but it sounds almost like you''ve found something beyond that." She paused, then shrugged. "A hexa class?" "No idea. But I''m enjoying it so far; I''ve never felt stronger." "I''ll bet. It''s your first advanced class, so you''ll gain amazing attributes." "Speaking of which... I previously qualified for Assassin, and I was thinking of dipping in to see if I could get a useful skill or two before immediately swapping back. Any reason not to?" "Now that you''ve already stepped into advanced classes, not really... How much do you know about cumulative levels?" Lisa asked. "First I''m hearing of it, to be honest." Lisa nodded as if expecting that response. "It''s a bit hard to quantify, but your class levels per rank add up together. All your beginner classes add up to a number, your intermediate add up to another, and your advanced another." ''Sounds kind of like how my monster evolution levels used to add up to my elf level.'' I thought to myself before giving a nod of understanding. "Your cumulative levels make it harder to level up. Dip your toes into too many classes, and you might find yourself struggling harder than your peers to progress further." "How bad is it?" "Honestly, no idea. It''s not like people have worked it out to a science. Supposedly, it differs from person to person, too. The more spiritual people even call it, the weight your soul can carry." Lisa paused for a dramatic effect on that bombshell before chuckling. "I just use common sense and don''t invest a bunch of levels in a class I''m not interested in." "So... Good idea or bad idea to dip into Assassin?" "I''d say go for it. It''s one level, and you were already a Rogue Mage hybrid. Maybe it will make the upgrade of Shadowcaster appear sooner to you, or maybe some Elementalist Assassin, who knows? At a minimum, you''ll get an upgrade to [Sneak Attack]." Lisa said with a wink. I nodded. Trixie had already hinted that there was a skill called [Assassinate], so it made perfect sense. I also wanted to dip into Monster Tamer; knowing what skills it had might give me more opportunities for reasonable excuses. We chatted for a bit more before Lisa said I should go to one of the harvest rooms and dump my goods. Then, she would join me with Thern and Luke to catalog it. I started dumping my goods on various tables, ensuring the alicorn parts were away from the unicorn or pegasi. I stacked the harpy ears in one corner, then placed all the griffin bits in another. I only had a few ice elemental cores, most of which didn''t survive my explosive detonations. At least they weren''t melting, oddly enough. Sadly, I had no proof of the wind elementals, cloud, or even my victory over the undine. Not that I was going to tell anyone about that fight. When the gang arrived and entered the room, I noticed Whitney had joined them. Their astonishment at my newest collection was priceless. "Bloody hell! This is even crazier than your salamander hunt!" Thern shouted as he stared around the room. Lisa was more reserved in her astonishment, "I almost feel like she killed more pegasi solo than the adventurers and guards..." Whitney was silent, her mouth wide as if trying to catch flies. Luke gave a tired chuckle. "She was gone for so long... I honestly expected more." "There would have been more... Sadly, they couldn''t be harvested... Damned elementals." I said bitterly. Chapter 146: Forced Vacation Chapter 146: Forced Vacation Everyone was eagerly examining the materials. Luke was trying to catalog everything, Thern was inspecting the quality, Whitney was testing the sharpness of some of the claws, and Lisa looked like she was trying to ponder something. "Any materials you planning on keeping or having crafted?" Luke asked. "Hmm... Not really. The only thing I want to keep is the alicorn horn." I pointed out. "So everything else is up for grabs." Thern looked like he had sucked on a lemon as he glared at the unicorn horns. "I wish I had bloody Light affinity..." "You could always hire her to hunt something for you. I''m sure there are many appropriate monsters when you go home." Lisa mentioned. "Aye... That''s a good idea." Thern agreed. It took a while, and there were some questions about the monsters and how it was to fight them. Luke and Lisa looked almost relieved that some of the parts weren''t in absolutely pristine and perfect condition. I felt the need to defend myself and pointed out how they would''ve been without the griffon''s horrendous crash landing. Lisa was especially happy that I had killed a Harpy Queen. "As impressive as all of this is, that might be your greatest long-term accomplishment. The roads and routes wherever Glimmerock is currently floating will be much safer without a Harpy Queen capturing men." Lisa said. "We might need to set up some sort of annual quest to encourage people to try to reach and explore Glimmerock. Letting monsters spawn in such large quantities unpruned is especially dangerous..." "Maybe encourage the nobles to invest in a small airship?" Whitney suggested. "I''m sure they''d be greatly tempted by the monsters it spawns. I mean... Did anyone know it spawned unicorns?" "Not from the records I''ve read..." Thern said, scratching his beard. "Harpies and griffins were a known and the usual stuff you''d find on a floating island. But it seems this one has become rather Fae-ish, for whatever reason." "Well, maybe a certain elf can tell one of them about her recent adventures," Lisa said with a suggestive wink. "Johnathan?" I asked with a frown. "He''s asked when you''re returning nonstop. I don''t know what you did to him on your dinner date." Lisa chuckled. "I didn''t know you were dating someone..." Whitney said, looking slightly offended. I wasn''t sure why. "It was one dinner. He made it a request. Otherwise, he wouldn''t sell me a white slime core." I pointed out. Lisa chuckled, joining in. "I can vouch for that; sorry for teasing. Johnathan was looking to gain more influence and thought being seen in the company of an elf would help his business." Whitney looked slightly relieved at that and nodded her head. Weird. We finished up and left the room. Luke and Lisa said they might have to auction most of the stuff off unless they could devise another solution. I made sure to tell them I was in no rush. I headed off with Whitney, and we shared a pleasant evening at the inn, where I was coerced into retelling my story again over food and drink. I would''ve thought I should rush to the dungeon, but instead, I was told to spend a few days unwinding and relaxing. I spent a day shopping and chatting with Whitney, buying far too many clothes as usual. We also stopped by the guild, where I requested a chance to swap my classes privately. "Could I not just buy one of these crystals?" I wondered aloud. "You could... But if it''s not linked to a city, it won''t work. They are quite expensive and heavily regulated. Not to mention, as soon as you left the city walls, it would cease to function unless you returned." Luke explained. It sounded like there was more there, but frankly, I didn''t care at the time. As soon as I heard I couldn''t just carry the crystal around with me as I adventured, I lost interest. Whitney wished me luck, and I was given a crystal to make my choices. I hadn''t expected it, and nobody warned me, but when I swapped classes like that, I felt my Mana plummet. Yet, on the flip side, I felt like my mind had sped up abruptly, and my perception of the world slightly slowed down. Was this the effect of having an absurdly high agility? Just an absolutely immense amount of speed and reaction time. I pulled out my alicorn horn and flourished it with unnatural speed and precision. ''Weird how swapping to Enchanter didn''t affect me this much... This is certainly interesting.'' I wondered before looking over my new skills. While I usually accepted any upgrade immediately, I was slightly concerned after [Evasion] became [Tranquil Flow] and lost some more generic usability. So, I made sure to look over the two skills first. Adds bonus damage to attacks on unaware or defenseless targets, scaling with skill level. This bonus damage partially ignores most forms of mitigation and resistance if executed from stealth.> <> Adds bonus damage to attacks on unaware or defenseless targets, greatly scaling with skill level. This bonus damage moderately ignores most forms of mitigation and resistance if executed from stealth. Once per day per skill level, you can trigger an [Assassination] attack that deals 2x+0.1x per level. If the target is aware of you, the bonus damage is reduced by half. ''Only one?'' I thought curiously. I had made two of those refrigerator eggs. "I''m most grateful, although if you have more, I''d be willing to purchase them too?" Johnathan looked like he was about to say something but instead gave a toothy smile before making a script change. "Don''t worry, Syl, I''m sure I''ll come across another one sooner or later, and then we can share each other''s company again." ''Bastard is holding out on me to secure another dinner date...'' I thought grumpily. Sadly, I couldn''t act on my Sylvester knowledge and just had to purchase the one white slime core graciously. The rest of the dinner wasn''t worth mentioning, and when I got back to my room, I ate the delicious core. Trait [Cryo Slime] gained. Trait [Slime Density] gained.> ''Now that is a big level jump!'' I thought happily. [Morph Slime] had been stuck at seven since my Chimeric evolution, and my latest meal had finally pushed it over the edge. Being a combined skill, it must progress much slower since it was [Shape Slime] and [Slime Density] wrapped into one skill. At least, that was the only reason I could think of. I practiced a bit of [Rune Tracing] in the evening, which was now part of my evening before-bed rituals, and wondered what Lisa wanted to chat about... I cleaned Lisa''s dress with the power of slime! Some part of me wondered if Lisa gave me a different one this time because she wanted to borrow my cleaning services again. After having a casual breakfast with Whitney, we headed towards the guild. Luke strangely told me to head towards a small enclosed training room rather than Lisa''s office, and Whitney was unfortunately not allowed to follow. "Syl, I hope the evening was pleasant?" Lisa asked, wearing a lot more casual clothes than I had ever seen her in before. "It was alright... I think he''s sold on trying to get access to unicorns, so at least that was positive." I handed her the box. "Here''s the dress back; thanks for letting me borrow it." Lisa opened it up, and I caught a very satisfied smile on her face before she closed it. "No problem at all, any time." "So what''s the meeting about? And why not in your office?" I asked. "I have a proposition for you. I had to get permission first, which took longer than expected... But I finally got approval yesterday. If you accept it, the guild wins, I win, and you win. It also has the added bonus of potentially solving your transportation issue, assuming you weren''t just bragging about your near-endless Mana." Lisa said. "I''m listening..." I said, unable to hide my curiosity. "In exchange for some of the materials you brought, I have been authorized to show you one of my skills. It''s one I think you''ll really like." Lisa said, waggling her eyebrows. "You needed permission to show me one of your skills?" I asked, extremely confused. "Yes. In addition, you''ll need to swear to the guild that you won''t share it with anyone else unless you request authorization." "Why...?" I said, feeling very confused. "Whitney mentioned people hoarding skills and traits... Honestly, I don''t really like the idea." Lisa smiled sadly. "I understand your frustration. But it''s in the interest of safety as well. Imagine giving a young adventurer a powerful skill he or she didn''t really earn or wasn''t ready for. They might feel invincible and head to an early grave. Or worse, use it for shameful purposes." I sighed reluctantly. "I suppose." "The skill I want to give you is from my advanced class... So I needed permission to share it. I could easily give you [Lightning Magic] because... Well, if I''m completely honest, I didn''t believe you''d get Lightning Affinity." Lisa chuckled. "But you could easily swap to Sorcerer or something and get the skill; I just saved you some time and effort once you were qualified." Seeing my interest raised, Lisa continued. "Some concerns were raised, but after your accomplishments and when I mentioned the significant contributions you could offer us, I convinced the pencil pushers. So, what do you say?" I nodded and smiled. "I swear to the Adventurer''s Guild not to share your skill without receiving authorization." I half expected some notification or something or for Lisa to make me repeat it while she used some [Guild Master] emblem ability, but instead, she just nodded and smiled. "Good! I''m trusting you, so have a look at this bad boy!" She said excitedly. I held my breath in anticipation as she held out her hand, revealing the skill. Move a distance with lightning-fast speed, even in midair. However, the final destination must be on the ground, or the user will suffer significant internal lightning damage. A thunderous discharge is released at each point of arrival, scaling with skill level, and can be willingly reduced but not entirely negated. Skill level determines Mana efficiency, maximum chained usage, and distance traveled.> Chapter 147: Ride the Lightning Chapter 147: Ride the Lightning Staring at the skill, I was filled with anticipation. Could I really buy this? A small part of me was nervous, but I pushed past it and proceeded to try. I felt so much relief, and it must have been clearly visible as Lisa gave a cheery smile. "Great. Now, before you start zipping and zapping around, I need to give you some demonstrations and warnings," Lisa began her lecture. "First, a common-sense warning; do not use it inside any city. You''ll spook everyone with the thunderclap at your arrival points and likely shatter some windows or send a noncombatant flying." I nodded. "Secondly, do not go airborne with it until at least level two. Trust me, you do not want to be on the receiving end if you cannot ground yourself." I nodded. It was easily understandable from a human perspective, although I was tempted to see how it would interact with my [Voltaic Slime]. "Thirdly, if you haven''t already, invest in the [Lightning Resistance] trait or get some gear. You can certainly afford the latter." Lisa said with a chuckle. "I''ll now give a quick demonstration and just a sample of one of my ideas. You''ll undoubtedly find your own ideas and potential; I cannot even imagine what a full spellcaster can do with it." Then Lisa''s body began to crackle as she bolted up into the air. I now understood why this room was on the ground floor yet took up both the first and second floors in vertical size. When she arrived, there was a small shockwave and crackle of Lightning. Her body was now coursing with jolts of lightning. "You have." She started speaking before bolting a short distance and regaining any lost height. "Seconds," She said, reappearing with more surging energy. She bolted again and reappeared. "Between jumps" "Otherwise" "You break." At this point, the amount of energy surging around her was quite frightening. She disappeared again in a flash of Lightning. She landed on the ground, and all the built-up energy surged violently downwards. "The chain." She gave a small bow, and I reflexively clapped at the demonstration. Lisa must have liked that as she gave a big toothy grin. "So it builds up until discharged through the ground..." I started questioning my observations. "Or yourself. Seriously, always keep one jump in reserve for the touchdown," Lisa interrupted. "I was also restraining the bursts between each jump; you''ll want to work on that as soon as possible if you want to use it safely among party members." I nodded and wondered if I could use the lightning attraction aspect of [Voltaic Slime] to further mitigate that. "Okay. Last thing. I want to show off a bit." Lisa said, giving a cheeky wink as she walked over to a corner of a room where I noticed what looked like a storage bag and started pulling out an extremely impressive-looking sword. [Rune Reading] was immediately triggered, and I could see several inscriptions purely for gathering and holding mana. Leaving the city, I felt refreshed and free; I gave the guards a friendly wave as I winked, disappeared, and appeared in the distance to the sound of booming thunder. I chuckled to myself at their shock and surprise and triggered the skill again. It was time to ride the Lightning. Lisa was right; this was an extremely fast way to travel, albeit very mana-intensive. I had bragged about my mana, but even my reserves started to drop at the skill''s current inefficient levels. When it reached level two, I immediately tried to chain an airborne combination, moving diagonally upward and downward. I was pleased with the results; chained usage seemed noticeably cheaper than separate skill activations. This greatly reduced my travel time as I needed far fewer breaks to replenish my mana reserves. My nighttime camp was my good old burrow-into-a-hole trick, and I even dug out a large enough area to pull out my bathtub! I spent the evening doing some much-needed [Rune Engraving] on my precious tub; it desperately needed some self-repair enchantment at a minimum, which I combined with a small storage inscription, which I filled up with mana. This way, it would have a reserve of mana to pull from if it needed to repair itself and wouldn''t be subject to any degradation. Then, I sank into the tub for a very pleasant night''s sleep. On my second day of travel, I decided to experiment with [Voltaic Slime]. I was correct that its attraction function could greatly reduce the bursts at each arrival point, making it much safer for bystanders. Sadly, I couldn''t do anything about the sound, but that was better than shocking someone accidentally who happened to be wearing too much metal. As for the redirected Lightning, [Voltaic Slime] was enough to contain it, and I could discharge it normally in directed bolts of my own. Feeling confident and knowing I had plenty of backup protections, I decided to see if [Voltaic Slime] was enough to handle the backlash from not grounding myself. I had every core cast [Arcane Armor] and aligned everyone to Lightning for the presumed increased resistance. Then I bolted into the air and waited... The energy surrounding me began to surge and arc internally. I now understood what "internal lightning damage" meant, as the built-up energy discharged directly inside my own core. My [Arcane Armor] meant nothing, but thankfully, it didn''t seem to be too much damage, likely due to my high resistance from both [Voltaic Slime] and [Elemental Adaptation]. It stung a lot but was siphoned off rather quickly into my slime and partially filled the capacity of [Voltaic Slime], and I fired another bolt upwards to free up my capacity. Then, I triggered the skill once into the furthest horizontal distance and another back diagonally downward to safely discharge. ''Okay... So I can already survive and use the negative side effect of [Thunder Step]. The pain sucks... I could always turn it off through the orc trait. But the damage, at least from one jump, doesn''t seem that much. I''m unsure how much energy is stored per jump chain, but I''d rather not risk it right now.'' I hoped it would be a good way for me to train [Voltaic Slime] without casting [Lightning Magic] at myself. The skill hit level three late into the early evening, drastically increasing my travel speed. Referring to [Mapping], I could have reached my destination tonight, but I instead decided to call in the early evening and arrive first thing in the morning. This way, I also got to spend another underground evening in the comfort of my bathtub. There was no chance of blobbing out in the dungeon with the party I ended up with. ''If I had known I''d get [Thunder Step], I might have considered engraving lightning resistance into my core. I could destroy my core, but that seems... Shortsighted.'' I shuddered, even thinking about it. I was extremely reluctant to test out my new lifesaving method. On the last leg of my journey, I wondered what the poor travelers might have thought about hearing the booms of thunder across the distance. Would they believe some monster was doing something, or would they shrug it off as an adventurer thing? I had to assume the latter, as otherwise, why would Lisa have suggested that I use this as my travel method? Or perhaps she''d thought I''d get the thunderclaps under control quickly. I gave a small mental apology to any travelers I might have spooked before proceeding with my next three consecutive jumps. It didn''t take long before my [Eagle Vision], combined with my significant elevation, spotted the huge amount of tents in all varying sizes and colors surrounding what looked like a giant hole in the ground. It all lined up with the destination [Mapping] pointed me towards, so I landed nearby before casually strolling the final distance. I figured arriving in a bolt of thunder in the middle of the tents would not earn me any friends. And if [Mapping] and common sense weren''t enough, my [Dungeoneer] emblem also tickled the back of my mind, informing me there was a dungeon nearby. <> With extraordinary effort and luck, you have completed a dungeon solo. Or perhaps you over-leveled and stomped a low-level dungeon? Either way, congrats! Dungeon loot earned has a higher chance of being enchanted. Equipping this emblem will slightly increase the chance of dungeon loot dropping and allow the user to detect nearby undefeated dungeons.> I had slightly forgotten that the emblem would point me toward dungeons I hadn''t beaten yet. I wondered if the loot bonuses would make me a sought-after party member. Despite my precautions, when I arrived, I could hear some groggy adventurers complaining about "bloody lightning mages." I had clearly awoken some of them earlier than they liked. It was a little surprising seeing the variety of setups; there were food tents, vendors, and even a sort of pawn shop where you could sell your dungeon loot. Unfortunately, despite the general grogginess of the early morning, quite a few people noticed the clearly visible elf approaching. I headed toward the absolutely massive tent, which looked like something a circus might set up. Thankfully, as I approached it, I saw the clearly labeled sign declaring it the Adventurer''s Guild. Chapter 148: Recruitment Woes Chapter 148: Recruitment Woes Entering the tent, I was met with the sight of many tables and benches occupied by various colorful individuals wearing assorted gear and weapons. I had to block out my notifications as Beta nearly blinded me by trying to [Identify] everyone in the room. Thankfully, only the most perceptive of the adventurers noticed my entrance, causing quite the look of confusion and startlement at their tables. I did my best to ignore the unwanted attention and strolled to what I had to assume was the reception desk; behind it sat a man who looked more bear than human. "Shit. I just lost ten gold." He grunted as he saw me. "I''m sorry?" I replied. "It''s my own fault. Lisa said you would arrive a month or two ago, and when you were a no-show, I started calling you her imaginary elf friend," he said as he scratched at his arm. "There seems to be a lot of bets around me..." I mumbled uncomfortably. "Don''t take it personally. Us guild staff get bored sometimes after living a life of constant danger. Name''s Bert. Nice to meet ya." "Syl, nice to meet you too. As Lisa said, I''m here for my Gold promotion test." "You and half the lot here," Bert grunted, pointing towards a large wooden board. "Those are the people recruiting party members. If they aren''t lacking your role, or you don''t find one you like the vibe of, you can sit around here until one does." "Thanks, Bert." "Just be careful, don''t just accept the first party you come across. You need to trust these people to have your back in the dungeon down there." I nodded and thanked him again before heading to the board and reading through the various recruitment attempts. There were certainly a lot of them, and it quickly became apparent that most parties lacked a healer. I doubted I''d ever fulfill that role unless I lucked across a pink slime core. Originally, Lisa had said I could''ve fulfilled a caster or rogue role. That changed after coming back with my new advanced caster class, and she said I should advertise myself as a dedicated caster or a debuffer and caster. However, she said I could still advertise myself for the rogue role if I was desperate. Either I had bad luck, or most teams already had a dedicated caster, as I couldn''t find anyone actively seeking one out. Two parties were looking for a rogue, so I figured I''d at least talk to them. The bottom of the poster had a tent number to seek out the parties, so I memorized them and left the main tent. That... Did not go well. After they got over their initial shock of "holy shit, it''s an elf!" when I explained my position, they began trying to find the most polite way of letting me down. The party leader was at least courteous, but he said he didn''t feel like trusting his team''s lives with someone who had only touched a hybrid rogue class and then promptly abandoned it. I supposed it was understandable, so I left them after thanking them for their time. The second party... Well. I got practically chased out of the tent. The woman seemed absolutely furious, and I had no idea why. Her other team members had seemed eager for me to join, but then she suddenly turned sour and rejected me outright. Lisa had mentioned that hybrid classes had a sort of stigma against them, but I had no idea it was this bad. So, without more direct leads, I was forced to wait in the main tent. Since I had time to kill, I started working on my arcane affliction, only briefly pausing when someone inquired about my purpose here or tried to ask me some questions about elves, which I politely refused. There were one or two recruitment attempts, but they all had the caveat that I''d join their Company upon completion, which Whitney had warned me against. I wanted to remain a freelancer, able to explore where I wanted when I wanted. Honestly, I wished I could''ve just gone and done the dungeon myself, but the point was to prove I was capable of teamwork. The entire first day was a bust, I was offered to rent a tent, but I politely turned it down and said I''d camp in the forest. Once I was sure I was safe and far away, I melted myself down into a hole and spent the night in comfy sleep. I was anticipating another quiet day, but fate must have decided to mess with my expectations. I was suddenly accosted by a rather rude young man. He and his group decided to strike while Bert was on break. I reflexively thought this might have been some noble arrogant bullshit again, but when [Identify] told me otherwise, I figured I might have developed a bias. "So this is the elf whore who''s trying to sleep her way to Gold?" He said with a nasty smirk. ''What?'' I thought to myself. It was such an outrageous claim I didn''t even know how to respond. "And she''s only level four in her class; she must have been spoon-fed and carried her entire life." His friend claimed. "Hey, maybe if you show us a good time, we''ll carry you through the dungeon," Colin said, pointing towards him and his buddy. "No," I responded. "Think about it real carefully, girl. Nobody is going to want to party with such an infamous elf. We might even let you follow our party around if you''re good enough," Ted said with a wink. "Like a mascot! Brilliant idea." Colin laughed with a snort. When Bert finished the countdown, it all happened at once. The deluge of Water Mana swirled above my head. The spectators gasped. Colin actually flinched. Three overlapping magical circles formed and instantly shrunk to their minuscule size. Colin burst forward at a surprisingly fast speed. The spell was completed, and the air screeched as the water laser tore through the air at a downward angle to ensure no audience injury and aimed directly at his chest. It happened in a blink. Colin had a gaping wound through his entire torso. His eyes were wild in horror and shock. He vomited blood. Someone in the audience screamed. Then, there was a bright flash of magic, and suddenly, the gaping wound was gone as if it never happened. The only evidence it had occurred was the clean circle where his armor and underclothing once occupied, his vomited blood, and the deep and precise hole where the deadly spell had continued its trajectory. I wondered if he would cry foul, but instead, he collapsed to the ground as if entirely spent. Rather than rushing to his friend''s aid, Ted began screaming and running away. Every witness was eerily silent. While I didn''t expect a standing ovation for my victory, I hadn''t foreseen this awkward and stunned silence at all. "The winner is Syl," Bert said, breaking the stunned silence. Bert then pointed toward Colin. "Somebody please grab the brat since his friend left him." There were murmurs; one of the larger adventurers hefted Colln up, and everyone began awkwardly leaving. I walked back, unsure of how to handle this outcome. "Told ya it was a bad idea," Bert said as we shuffled back to the tent. I didn''t respond. I kept trying and failing to understand why my victory had achieved this result. Nobody approached me for the rest of the day. The next day was more of the same, and I began feeling extremely frustrated with this situation. I was the one challenged; why was it my fault I had won? I didn''t ask Colin to insult me or spout his petty insults and drivel for his crony to try to stack the deck against me. Whispers, terrified glances, and rumors continued to spread around me. I wanted to lash out, but I knew it would make it worse. I began frantically thinking of solutions. I could likely solo the dungeon, but that wouldn''t meet the so-called requirement. It was a stupid requirement, in my opinion. I also thought maybe I could instead get to the dwarves as Sylvester and abandon going as Syl? Perhaps I could say I wanted to get a silver core for enchanting? Bert approached my table and sat down, giving a deep sigh. "You scared the shit out of ''em." "I was the one challenged," I said angrily. "I know." "I just wanted to be left alone." "I know." "He called me a whore who didn''t earn her rank." Bert grimaced as he shook his head. "You''re completely in the right. You''d likely be praised if you were anything other than an elf." "Why?" Bert sighed deeply before finally responding, "There are a lot of stories about elves from the war. Most people shrug them off when they grow older, knowing it was overblown propaganda or stuff to scare kids into line." Seeing my confusion, Bert chuckled. "If you don''t go to bed early, the elves will come get you! Stupid shit like that." "... I see..." "Yep. And, unfortunately, you kinda brought that irrational fear into reality yesterday. I don''t know much about Water mages, but I''ve never seen one blow a hole through a person before." "I wanted to end it quickly. I thought if I proved capable, it''d prove I could carry my own weight, that I''d earned my rank," I admitted. Bert nodded. "Yeah. You can''t afford to take chances as a spellcaster; you''re not a frontline fighter. I understand why you did what you did perfectly, and most people probably agree as well." "But I''m an elf." "But you''re an elf." I sighed. Once again, things couldn''t be simple. I just hoped it would turn around soon, or my plans would be ruined. Chapter 149: Misfits Chapter 149: Misfits There was one silver lining about all this mess, I had plenty of time to kill and continue to practice magic. Kappa had joined my other [Sub-Cores] at reaching the dreaded level five, and I had completed my Arcane affliction. As I delved into the intricacies of the spell, a chilling realization dawned on me. This spell, [Mana Burn], had the potential to harm Trixie. While I prayed I would never have to use it against her, the thought of having it as a weapon against another pixie was a relief. Just when I thought the day was a lost cause, a figure caught my eye. She was a sight to behold, with a wild mane of fiery red hair and an outfit that could only be described as a loincloth and tunic. But what truly caught my attention were the cat ears perched on her head and the large, bushy wolf tail that swayed behind her. ''Human?'' I questioned immediately. She looked nervous, her tail swishing, and she placed a bright red apple on the table before me as if it were an offering. "Please don''t eat me, Miss Elf. I just want a moment of your time," she said nervously, gesturing towards the apple. "What the hell kind of rumors are being spread about me? I''m not going to eat you." I said with a hint of frustration; her ears twitched. "Oh, thank goodness. I''d make an awful meal. I''m all stringy and no flavor." She said with a nervous chuckle. I frowned. "Moving on... What did you want to talk about?" "Wow, just like that? I didn''t even need to bribe you with more apples?" Pelopi said curiously. Seeing my lack of a response, she added a second apple to the table before continuing. "My party needs another member to get through the dungeon. We''ve gotten to the first mini-boss but haven''t beaten it to get to floor two!" I felt a sense of relief. "I''m looking for a party to conquer the dungeon. I''d gladly consider joining yours. Could I meet the rest of your team before making a decision?" "Of course!" She said, her tail wagging energetically. "Our party is called the Misfits! You''ll fit right in!" "Misfits?" "Because we''re a bit of an eccentric bunch. You''ll see when you meet the other two," Pelopi said. I grabbed my apples and followed her out of the main tent. She started leading me towards a rather shabby-looking tent near the outskirts of the encampment, which had what looked like a few burn holes in it. Before we entered, she handed me another apple. "You can give this to Eliza to break the ice. She''s a bit of a weirdo, but I''m sure you''ll love her." ''She is calling someone else a weirdo? Kettle meet pot.'' Pelopi dashed into the tent before I could ask her any further questions. "I''m back, and I''ve brought us a potential party member!" "Someone actually wants to join us?" A man''s voice came from inside. "Don''t say that! You''ll scare her off!" Pelopi shouted. I slowly entered with my guard slightly up. Inside was a rather large man, without even a single hair follicle on his body and completely bald despite looking only in his early twenties. His skin was littered in scars, and he was wearing some sort of armor that reminded me of the salamander I fought, except that it was made out of the skin rather than the scales. Another girl with long blonde hair and pale skin was lying on a bedroll with a book in her hands. She was wearing a light blue robe that I could see held some minor defense enchantments at a glance. Upon seeing me, both of them reacted in startlement. Eliza dropped her book on her face, and Ian jumped back a few feet before tripping and stumbling over what looked like a large axe lying on the ground. "Wow, guys. Way to ruin your first impression!" Pelopi said with a giggle. "Are you crazy!?" Ian shouted, trying to recover from his stumble. "I don''t want to get eaten in the dungeon or have my organs splattered across the ground! I like them inside of me; that''s where they belong!" "She already agreed not to eat us," Pelopi said. "I''m not going to eat anyone!" I shouted with frustration. "That''s not what the rumors say!" Eliza said. "Yeah. We heard you blasted some young swordsman to pieces." Ian added. Pelopi was trying to secretly gesture toward the apple in my hand. I sighed and lobbed it toward Eliza, who initially tried to cover her head with her arms. The apple bounced off her head and landed on her lap. She gasped when she noticed what it was. A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. "Ian. I think we can trust her." Eliza suddenly said. Ian groaned, and Pelopi giggled. "I think I''m starting to understand why you''re called the Misfits," I said, shaking my head. I was desperate, but was I this desperate? "Damn." Ian and Eliza both said at the same time. "Don''t forget me!" Pelopi said, flailing her arms wildly. "So I''m a druid, except magic is hard, so I can only really make plants grow. Instead, I like to claw things to death." "She has four affinities, and she barely uses one..." Ian said, shaking his head. "At least she can make these seedpods that explode when there''s fire. It works well with me." "And infinite apples." Eliza pointed out, handing Pelopi some apple seeds from her fruity remains. As weird as their party was, it seemed to be working out for them. I could definitely fill a magical damage dealer role in their group and perhaps a rogue on the side since it''s clear they currently have no method of dealing with traps. "Well. Looks like I wasted a trip." Another voice said, raising the tent flap. "Whatever it is, we didn''t do it!" Pelopi shouted before leaping backward like a startled cat. Jet looked extremely confused. "Right... Well, Lisa asked me to come as a favor when she heard from Bert you were having some difficulty finding a party." "How did you get here so fast?" I asked. "[Shadow Step]. I can move between any connected shadows." Jet answered. "I''m starting to feel like there''s a step for everything," I chuckled. Unfortunately, my joke fell flat with the others. "Anyway... It looks like you''ve managed to find a decent party, if a little unorthodox." Jet said with a firm nod. "Damn. Did you try to recruit a bigshot or something, Pelopi?" Ian asked. "I mean, she is an elf." Eliza pointed out. "How many elf adventurers do you know?" "One," Pelopi answered cheerfully. I cleared my throat, trying to get back on topic. "So what was Lisa''s plan? If you don''t mind me asking." "I was going to throw together a random party and join as an examiner. Any group would jump at the opportunity to have their dungeon run officially examined, and it would stop any further... Incidents." "Yes! Please examine our run!" Ian shouted frantically. "Why do we want someone to examine us?" Pelopi asked before I could. "Assuming we don''t screw up, we''d be basically assured to get promoted if our run was officially signed off," Ian answered. "Oh! That sounds good. Yes, please!" Pelopi said, giving a short, frantic bow that caused her cat ears to flop forward. "Huh... I didn''t know it wasn''t a guarantee. I thought you just had to clear the dungeon." I said, scratching my head. "Heavens no. The only time that happens is if someone behaves exceptionally well above their rank," Jet said, and the way he stared at me gave a hint of what he meant. "Usually, you need to meet a minimum number of quest turn-ins, recommendations from guild staff, well-respected third parties, and so forth." "Then why are so many people here?" I asked. "I can answer that," Ian replied. "The dungeon clear is the minimum and often seen as the stepping stone; most people try to get it done first so the guild starts paying attention to them." "Correct." Jet said. "Sounds like I really did things out of order." I chuckled. "From what Lisa has told me. Yes. Yes indeed." Jet answered. "So, will you join our party?" Pelopi asked, trying to give her best puppy dog eyes. Jet examined each of us and then shrugged with a smile. "Sure. I''d hate to waste the trip, plus it''ll be fun to see what this party of misfits can do." "Hey, that''s our group''s name!" Eliza said with a toothy grin. "Just don''t expect me to carry you. I won''t use my enchanted weapon and will appropriately scale myself down to your level." Jet replied with a chuckle as he ominously sunk into his own shadow. "We leave tomorrow!" "Damn, that''s creepy." Ian chuckled. "Damn, that''s creepy cool, you mean." Eliza corrected. Chapter 150: Fitting in with Misfits Chapter 150: Fitting in with Misfits "Okay! Proper introduction time!" Pelopi declared and began pointing one by one at everyone. "Eliza." "Ian." "Syl." Finally, she pointed to herself. "Pelopi." I had no doubt they had probably immediately used [Identify] on me, but formally introducing ourselves still felt nice. Which was likely the point Pelopi was trying to make. "So what can you tell us about yourself, Syl?" Ian asked. I started briefly explaining some of my spells when Eliza held out her hand to stop me. "No, no. This is about you, not what you can do." Perhaps they noticed my aversion and thus started with themselves to break the ice. "So we grew up together in a small village," Ian said, pointing to himself and Eliza. "Childhood friends and now a couple," Pelopi added, to which Eliza and Ian groaned. "Dawnwood. Name aside, it was a real shithole. It pretty much only exists to send lumber and wood to the capital." Ian continued. "That''s where I''m from," Pelopi said. I held out my hand to pause the story, an unresolved curiosity now on the tip of my tongue. "Why does everyone call it ''the capital''?" "It''s cause the name keeps changing!" Pelopi answered. "Changing? That sounds terribly inconvenient for everyone." I replied with confusion. "Right... Only our kingdom really does that." Eliza said, scratching her head. "Whoever is the current ruling noble family names it after themselves. It''s sort of a tradition." "It''s currently the Keaburgs," Pelopi chipped in. "Suddenly, Stantondale makes a lot more sense..." I muttered. "Minor nobles who don''t participate in the fight for the capital usually just settle down in a small town or city and rename it," Eliza explained. "It''s not so bad. At least we aren''t ruled by a never-ending royal family like the Outeatus Kingdom." Ian pointed out. I had to hide my surprise. I had no idea there even was another human kingdom. "I used to be from a noble family," Pelopi said. "You don''t need to be that honest with me..." I said cautiously, mostly because I didn''t want to be that open. "Don''t worry; she tells everyone about it," Eliza said, shaking her head. "We found her living in the forest like a feral child. We basically raised her ourselves and were forced to take her with us when we left to become adventurers." "You act like this stray wouldn''t have willingly followed us wherever we went," Ian chuckled. "Yup!" Pelopi agreed. "So I ran away, lived in a forest, and was found by these two. They seemed nice, so I followed them, and the rest is history!" "That''s... Extremely abridged." Ian frowned, pinching his brow. "Your turn." Pelopi declared, pointing to me. I sighed before beginning. "I basically left the forest to explore the world." "Where''d you start out?" Eliza asked curiously. "Stantondale... There was an incident with goblins, and I was found by another adventuring team. I hung out with them, and they explained the guild to me and recruited me. I already enjoyed hunting monsters and getting stronger, so it seemed like the best idea." "I can''t say I recognize the name. Do you know what its main trade was?" Ian asked. "Blue slime farming," I answered. "Ah... One of the mana potion farms." Ian nodded. "I feel sorry for the poor slimes..." Pelopi said softly. My opinion of her instantly increased tenfold. "Supposedly, I have extremely high purity mana; at least, that''s what the guild said." "So Pelopi''s is either impure or something else?" Eliza asked. "Honestly, I have no idea... I thought purity only mattered for enchanting." I replied, then scratched my head as I tried to puzzle together something even remotely plausible. "If I had to hazard a guess, I''d say it''s like her Earth and Nature mana are bleeding in?" "I hope that doesn''t mean Lightning is bleeding into your Water." Ian chuckled. "Screw Lightning. She said one of her affinities was Corrosion." Eliza replied although I could tell she meant it as a joke with the tone and accompanying grin. "See. This is why I ran away. The magic stuff is way too hard. I had four magic tutors, three of which would shout at me for getting it wrong." Pelopi said, swishing her tail. "Being a noble sucked. Who cares about some fancy extra name." "Forgive me for asking, but aren''t your parents worried about you?" I asked. "No. They found me when I registered for the Adventurers Guild and promptly disowned me. Apparently, I brought shame into the family tradition. Good riddance," Pelopi growled. "Oh. I''m sorry." I replied a little awkwardly. "Anything you can tell us about elves?" Eliza asked curiously. I hid my flinch behind a pondering scratch. I could make some educated guesses based on the emblem and traits I had read and some of the little bits about the elf war I had picked up on from others. I could''ve said nothing, but it might turn around and bite me if I kept dodging this question. "I don''t know how common knowledge this is, so forgive me if I''m repeating myself." I started, and now I had their undivided attention, which was a little uncomfortable. "But Elves generally follow a chosen path, such as mastery of the bow, magic, nature, and so forth." Unfortunately, with my incomplete profile, I could only be vague. I''d only seen the [Elven Marksmanship] trait after all. "The biggest being magic since our progenitor was a Master Magus, which is the path I''m also following. I have dabbled in archery and monster taming, though." This was an extremely minor dabble, especially with the latter. I''d only grabbed the class and one skill. Nobody interrupted me, so I must have been doing well so far. "Elves are also seen as guardians of nature and almost universally have an affinity with Nature magic. We''re also deeply in tune with our bodies, and while a little on the frail side, we are highly dexterous and agile." I said, pulling inspiration from the [Nature Commune] and [Elven Reflexes] descriptions. "I want to be a guardian of nature!" Pelopi said, causing Eliza to giggle. "That was great. I only heard from my great uncle, who said the elves turned an entire forest into a living weapon. He used to joke that he became a lumberjack to take revenge against the trees." Ian said with a chuckle. I nodded. "I''ve seen extremely impressive nature magic bringing trees and anything plant to life. Unfortunately, I don''t have a Nature affinity." I said regretfully. "I''d give you mine if I could. Other than growing apples, it''s very uncooperative." Pelopi said with a frown. "If you didn''t have Nature affinity, you wouldn''t be able to be a Druid, though." Eliza pointed out. "Crap, I forgot about that! Sorry, Syl, I''ll have to rescind my offer." Pelopi said, sticking out her tongue teasingly. I couldn''t help but chuckle. "Don''t worry, maybe I''ll pick it up with my next ascension." "Yeah, you seem to be on a roll with that. I don''t think I''ve ever seen someone with such a high race level." Ian pointed out. "It''s all of you I don''t understand," I replied. "Everyone I talk to seems to hate their race levels. But I suppose that maybe elves are blessed in that regard compared to humans?" "Yeah... Other than some attribute boosters or resistances, I can''t say I''ve ever seen anything worthwhile." Ian admitted. "Speaking of levels, your class is advanced, right?" Eliza asked. "Yes, and from what I''ve been told, it''s extremely rare," I answered. "Judging by your levels, I''m assuming you''re still intermediate?" "Yes, although we''ve all qualified for a generic advanced class, we''re waiting for a more specific or rarer one before we take the plunge into advanced classes," Eliza answered. "I received similar advice," I replied with a nod. "I had the Assassin class unlocked for a long time but only took a level in it after I had already completed a few levels in Elementalist." "So you are a super elf magical assassin!" Pelopi gasped. "Maybe without the super unless I manage to get an Umbral affinity," I teased with a wink. Eliza joined in with the teasing. "Yeah... I''d have to agree after seeing that Jet fellow disappear into his shadow." ''I wonder if there''s a shadow or umbral slime? Maybe black? Unless that''s Death affinity... Assuming there even is a black slime. I''m sure there''s at least one for every color, right?'' We chatted for a bit longer, mostly while I followed them around as they restocked some supplies from the various vendors. Honestly, the whole dungeon business seemed extremely lucrative here, considering the large setup, despite being nowhere near a city or town. Perhaps it was due to the variety of an ever-changing dungeon? I wondered if there was any chance for me to get a new slime in the dungeon, and if so, I just hoped it didn''t have some strange mutation that would make it unharvestable. We eventually said our farewells in the early evening, even though I was offered a spot in their tent. I would enjoy my last night in my comfy bedtub before I was stuck in the dungeon for who knows how long. Chapter 151: Into the Dungeon Chapter 151: Into the Dungeon After waking up and preparing myself, I headed towards the party''s tent. I had expected them to still be sleeping, but when I arrived, they were busy folding it away and packing it into a rather poor-looking storage bag. [Rune Inspection] told me it was close to the end of its life, maybe a month or two at best. "Might want to get that replaced soon." I pointed out. "Yeah... I wish they weren''t so expensive. Hopefully, we''ll have a good haul of loot in the dungeon." Ian grumbled. "No promises, but I might be able to help with that. I''ve got a high level in [Dissection] if there are any valuable monsters, and my [Dungeoneer] emblem increases the chance of enchanted loot." I explained. "Wow, you actually leveled up [Dissection]," Eliza said, gnawing on an apple like a squirrel. "I tried. I thought it would be easy if I used animal claws." Pelopi said, then shuddered. "I was wrong." "Blood and guts everywhere..." Eliza shuddered as well. "That''s a pretty cool-sounding emblem," Ian said, ignoring the other two. "I''ve heard of similar things, although apparently, they can sometimes upset the dungeon." "Correct," a disembodied voice said before Jet slinked out of the shadows. "The [Dungeoneer] emblem basically strongarms the dungeon into expending more energy on loot, which it is sometimes not too happy about. Although it''s not nearly as bad as someone with a looting skill, they really hate those." "Lisa mentioned a looting skill as well. Isn''t it just like an instant [Dissection]?" I asked. "Yes and no. It does have that function, but it also turns the monster''s dead essence into a drop." Jet answered, "And considering dungeons feed on essence, that''s like stealing its meal?" Ian asked. "Correct again," Jet said with a smile. "Has everyone got everything? Is there no need for last-minute supplies? Remember, we will likely be camping after each boss." "As ready as I''ll ever be," I responded. "All good on our end," Ian said, tying the bag closed. Before we left, we had a small debate about who should be the party leader. It was eventually settled on Ian. I didn''t want to be evaluated as a leader, and I confirmed that I was trying to be a solo operative and fit in where needed rather than leading my own group. Ian, Eliza, Pelopi, Jet, Syl.> We had briefly discussed whether we should find a final party member, but Jet recommended against it. "The Misfits are an officially registered party; to claim proper credit, they need over half of the party members to be from their group." Jet explained. If they were a proven registered party, then they would find it easier to get group quests assigned to them or attract prospective members or even temporary members. Name or party recognition was apparently super important for adventurers. We headed to the giant hole in the ground, where I saw a spiral walkway dug into the ground. There were also ropes if you wanted to skip walking and rappel down, but we took the safer option. When we reached the bottom, there were seven doorways, five of which were shut tight. "Looks like lots of parties are still in the dungeon." Jet noted. "Who''s going to pick the door?" Eliza asked. "Flip a coin?" Ian suggested, and the rest of us all nodded, except for one. "Boo. That''s not fun." Pelopi whined. Any wounds he did suffer were closed up with dark energy; it was a rather unpleasant form of healing, very different from Evan''s. Rather than a golden glow of soft, warming light, instead tiny black tendrils would form and almost actively stitch the wound closed in a rather fleshy and gruesome display. That only left Jet, who was still only halfheartedly shooting at a monster. I was quite curious; whenever he fired a bolt, the monster seemed to be hit twice. Delegating my combat to some [Sub-Cores] so I could investigate further, I eventually discovered, thanks to [Mana Conception], that there was a faint trickle of umbral mana in the shadow of his crossbow bolts. Whenever that umbral-enchanted shadow bolt hit the monster''s shadow, the monster would react as if struck by a real bolt. ''I hit your shadow, so you take damage. That''s insane!'' I mentally shouted at the absurdity. I obviously recalled Trixie''s words about not being too envious of others, especially when I had so much going on myself, but whatever was going on with his Umbral affinity seemed extraordinarily fascinating. It didn''t take much longer for us to finish off the rest of the strange goblin monsters. Then, we regrouped and had a small post-battle celebration. "That went really well!" Pelopi said, her bloody bear arms turning back into her dainty human ones. "Despite their oddity, it wasn''t that much risk," Eliza said. "I didn''t even need to spend my holy pool." "Yeah, this first floor seems quite good so far," Ian said with a big grin. I just hope the second floor doesn''t have some nasty surprises. Do you have any idea what this floor even is?" "It''s the Merged mutation." Jet explained after he reappeared from collecting any undamaged crossbow bolts. "It just takes two or more monsters and mashes them together. Usually, each room will have a primary monster; in this case, it was goblins, and then every goblin will be Merged with a random other monster." "I would have called it the Chaos Mutation," Pelopi said. Jet shrugged. "We should hurry. If we''re fast enough between battles, I can keep my holy pool from leaking, and we can hit the boss with a full tank." Eliza said. "What about looting?" Ian asked. "Cut off any claws or fangs and throw them to me, I''ll properly harvest them tonight. My storage doesn''t let things rot." I said. Ian let out an impressed whistle, and everyone quickly got to work, hacking off limbs as quickly as possible and bringing them to me. Pelopi handed me the entire octopus head of the goblin. "Can you store this for me?" Pelopi asked. "If I''m lucky, I can use a tentacle or two to add it to my beast transformations." "Sure," I replied, hoping to keep any leftovers. I hadn''t gotten an octopus profile yet, and I was curious if these Merged monsters would even give me one. Their unknown [Identify] profile caused me to have some doubts. "How does that even work?" I asked curiously as a follow-up. "I have to do a ritual where I meditate on the beast, ingest some of it raw, and then, if I''m lucky, I can awaken it within me," Pelopi explained. "It has to be a non-magical monster, so no unicorns or dragons for me..." "Why do you even want tentacles?" Ian asked, scratching his bald head. Pelopi wiggled her fingers. "Tentacles! Imagine what I can do with them." Eliza nodded sagely. "I understand." I also found myself nodding; my [Pseudopods] were sometimes wonderfully useful. I wouldn''t be alive here today without them. "What?" Ian asked, looking flabbergasted. Our rapid advance into the dungeon brushed over his confusion. This would be fun. Chapter 152: First Floor Chapter 152: First Floor "So what''s this holy pool you mentioned?" I asked as we continued to move forward. "If you don''t mind me asking, that is." "I don''t mind. It''s a bit weird, and as the group healer, I want you to believe you''re in good hands," Eliza responded. "So, imagine I have two buckets. When I use Dark healing on someone, I fill up the one bucket with Dark Energy. Then I can use that Dark energy to cast offensive spells; you might have seen me casting [Dark Bolt]." I nodded. "Right. So when I damage something with Dark energy, it gets ''Purified'' into Holy energy, which fills up my other bucket. I can use that energy for big or quick heals." Eliza explained. "That sounds incredibly useful," I responded. "What''s stopping you from just keeping them both full?" "Well... Both buckets have holes; if I don''t use them quickly enough, they start to leak into me. When the Holy bucket leaks, it heals me like a soft regen. Which is pretty great, in all honesty. However, when the Dark bucket leaks, I take the injuries stored in it. You had your stomach cut open? My stomach starts to rupture." "Holy shit. That sounds dreadful." I replied in honest shock. Talk about a brutal healing method. Eliza nodded. "That''s why I try to spend the Dark pool as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, I can''t heal normally without spending my Holy pool, so I''m incentivized to generate it as quickly as possible." "And let me guess, you need Mana to access the buckets?" I asked, after puzzling together how I felt like her class worked. "Yeah. If I''m ever without Mana, I can be in for some trouble if my Dark pool isn''t empty." Eliza admitted. I pulled off my Mana Regeneration ring and handed it to her, "You can borrow this for the dungeon." She looked surprised, then shocked. "Are you sure? What about your own Mana?" I chuckled. "Not to brag, but Mana is one of the things I seldom have to worry about." "Is that an elf thing?" Pelopi asked, her ears perked up. "You could say that," I said with a wink. "Damn. I want to be an elf." Pelopi said, her tail swishing frantically. "Heads up! Next room ahead." Jet interrupted our conversation. Surprisingly, there were only two monsters this time, but they were both huge. They looked like giant bullmen, except one looked like he was made out of bark. The other had the lower half of a horse; it looked absolutely ridiculous. "Minotaurs?" Ian asked. "I think so," Eliza replied. "That one looks like a treant," I said, pointing to the wood one. "And the other one looks like a Centaur. Which is kind of funny considering Minotaurs are half bull and half man, so we have half bullman and half horseman." "So half man, quarter bull, quarter horse?" I asked. The group muffled their laughter. Even Jet smirked. "Tanking both might be a problem; those giant weapons look dangerous," Ian admitted. "Let''s focus on the half-tree one. I''ll debuff it, and it should go down quickly. I''ll also try freezing the other one to maybe give us more chance, but no promises how effective that will be." "I can also help try to restrain the horse one." Jet admitted. "Sounds good, like a good damage race to me," Pelopi said excitedly. "Our specialty." Eliza winked. I started casting all my debuffs from outside of the room before we entered. [Hex] and [Erode] for both monsters and then [Flammable] and [Frigid] respectively. Then I gave a thumbs up, and Ian rushed into the room and charged towards the treetaur. He ignited midcharge and tried to slam his axe into it, but the monster blocked with its own weapon. Pelopi joined the fray and started trying to hack into its rear with her claws. Meanwhile, Jet and I had to tie up the other one quickly. I began casting [Ice Patch] to hopefully ruin its traction and then began firing [Icicle] spells from behind. It bellowed in rage as the ice slowly crawled over it from the piercing icy projectiles stabbed into its body and galloped forward with fury. [Ice Patch] weirdly didn''t seem to be affecting it much, and that was when its own shadow seemed to reach out and trip it. "Damn, it''s a lot sturdier than it looks." Jet grunted as I saw him looking like he had just run two entire marathons. I tried to puzzle out what he meant, then realized he was perhaps talking about my changing the origin point of my spells. "Do you mean moving the anchor point for my spells?" "Is that what you call it?" Jet asked with genuine curiosity. "Well. It definitely wasn''t on your guild file. Admittedly, I don''t know too much about spellcasting, but I''ve definitely seen Lisa cast [Ball Lightning] and my share of [Icicle] spells, but they''ve always originated from the Mage." I opened my mouth to respond, but Jet held out a finger to pause me. "You aren''t in trouble. I''m just letting you know that only elite members of the Mage''s Guild usually do something like that. Hell, it''s one of the things they brag about against the Adventurer''s Guild. I assume you haven''t joined their guild in your floating island absence?" "No. I didn''t join the Mage''s Guild." I replied. "Which means you figured it out without being legally bound by them," Jet replied, releasing a soft chuckle as he shook his head. "You could earn a lot of clout if you shared that within the Adventurer''s Guild." "I... I''m not sure if I can." I said hesitantly. I probably could share it; Trixie hadn''t said to share that, only my class. However, I didn''t want the knowledge and learning methodology of it to somehow link back to the pixie. I owed her that much, at least. Jet nodded. "I understand. I just thought I''d put it out there, especially if you might have shared it for free. Rather, at least earn your worth, ya know?" "Thanks for the suggestion and the advice." "No problem. Lisa is a good friend who told me to look out for you. I can sort of see why now." Jet chuckled. "Anyway, let''s pop this bad boy open. There are no traps, but it is locked." He twisted his tool with a single fluid motion, and there was a multitude of satisfying clicks as the chest opened. "I can cheat with my shadow." Jet said with a wink as he walked away from the box. Inside was a singular bracer. I picked it up and chuckled as I tossed it towards Ian. "I know you have the whole take damage thing going on, but I think this might stop you from losing your arm next time." He clumsily caught the bracer, not expecting the toss, and looked it over. Eliza looked it over and then nodded in agreement. "Please do. I don''t want to see your arm lopped off." Eliza admitted. Ian nodded and put it on, and with a flex of his arm, a transparent tiny buckler of a shield appeared floating near his arm. "Woah! Ghost shield!" Pelopi said before throwing a rock at it. "Hey! Watch it!" Ian complained just as the rock struck the shield and harmlessly bounced off. "It kind of reminds me of the [Aegis] spell," I said, demonstrating it. "However, it doesn''t look like it costs incrementally more mana the longer you hold it." "It doesn''t look nearly as strong as that spell either." Eliza pointed out. "Still better than nothing. If it saves your arm even once, it''s worth it." Jet said. "You guys sure I should have this?" Ian asked. "I''m not the one on the frontline," I admitted. "Don''t look at me. My arms turn into bear claws. I can''t wear something like that." Pelopi said. "Guess it''s settled then," Eliza said, patting Ian on his bald head. "I just hope it doesn''t burn and break," Ian muttered. "It shouldn''t... It''s enchanted for defense and durability." I said. "Plus, it''s dungeon loot, which makes it extra special." Jet added. "They usually have extra effects even our best enchanters can''t replicate yet." "Huh... Cool." Ian said, looking at the bracer with some newfound awe in his eyes. "Less talking, more killing! We gotta kill the boss before Eliza empties herself." Pelopi shouted and started heading towards the exit. "Oh shit. Right." Ian said and started hurrying after her. We rushed after the crazy druid. Chapter 153: First Roadblock Chapter 153: First Roadblock We managed to catch up with Pelopi before we reached the next room. Ian was a little upset by her tomfoolery but soon forgave her. "Aren''t you worried about traps?" I asked. "The first floor doesn''t have traps," Jet explained. "Although it is better to be safe than sorry." "Is that a universal dungeon rule or just for this one?" I asked. "This dungeon specifically, although it''s quite common for most multi-floor dungeons. Obviously, the big labyrinth maze dungeons are only a single floor, so the traps are there from the beginning." "Also... You didn''t have a rogue in your party." I said, pointing to Ian. "How exactly did you expect to get past the second floor?" "Well, originally, we planned on mostly farming the first-floor mini-boss," Ian explained. "Although we did consider me being a human trap detector." "Please never do that in the future. I say as both guild staff and a loyal member of the rogue class," Jet said authoritatively. "Yes, sir..." Ian grumbled, causing Pelopi and Eliza to giggle together. The next room we had to deal with was a small group of ogres. They were smaller than the minotaurs but a larger pack, and they had several random monsters smashed together with them. The most troublesome had clearly been merged with a salamander and seemed to almost copy Ian in setting itself on fire. Both were at a stalemate in dealing damage, so we mostly left them to wail at each other while we cleaned up the rest of the room. The most unfortunate of the random monsters was an ogre merged with possibly a harpy, griffon, or another feathered monster. Despite having massive wing arms, it couldn''t fly at all and just flapped desperately in an attempt to soar towards us. It promptly died while flapping like an idiot. Once again, ice played a big role in our victory, and I got to show off my versatility in targeting the monsters'' weaknesses. We chopped off what parts we could before rushing to the next room. I had assuredly sneaked a piece or two extra into my storage for slime food. Much to my regret, I had gained no levels, so I was beginning to suspect my built-up experience debt. The next room made me wonder if I had already upset the dungeon. We faced yetis as the group theme; giant white wooly monsters entirely immune to ice. The pack was smaller again, clearly a much bigger threat individually than the ogres, but still not at the minotaur level again. This time, I got to bring out the [Fire Magic] and gleefully joined Ian in setting them on fire. Other than a single iconic enemy per room, most of them seemed entirely random in their monster distribution. That led to one of the yetis having giant, meaty crab claws instead of hands, so it immediately snapped its own weapon in half before charging at us. The truly unfortunate yeti, however, was one joined with some form of vine plant monster, and it burnt spectacularly when it made contact with Ian. The troublesome enemy for the room was a yeti made partially out of granite, clearly merged with either an elemental or a golem and covering for its weakness to Fire. We spent quite a long time wailing on it until it eventually died. Arguably, I should have used [Water Magic] and blasted it with the deadly water beams, but at the time, I couldn''t think of a way to safely use them in coordination with two party members fighting and dodging in melee combat with it. So, taking the simpler option, I swapped to using [Acid Dart] despite not having any of my elemental advantages. ''Seriously, Gramps? I''m going to tell Mother you''re stealing my Elementalist experience!'' I mentally threatened the void. "The mini-boss is likely coming up next," Ian announced while we were looting what we could. "What can we expect?" I asked curiously. "It''ll mostly be focused on this floor''s theme but have a minor effect from the next floor," Ian answered. "How would that apply to this Mutation?" Eliza wondered aloud. "It''ll be three or four monsters slapped together at a minimum." Jet answered. "So, another horsebullman?" I joked. "That would be great! That rock yeti was not fun..." Pelopi mumbled, chewing on one of her horribly misshapen bear claws. "That certainly would be the least dangerous option." Jet agreed. "Which means we definitely should expect something much worse." Eliza pointed out. I kept peppering it with [Lightning Bolt] spells whenever possible, which it clearly didn''t like as it kept trying to sway toward my direction before Ian controlled it to stay focused on him. I would have thought he might blindly take some pincer wounds from the monster to fuel Eliza, but instead, he was thoughtful about it and would either deflect a pincer with his axe or dodge to the side and only take a grazing blow. There was a brief scary moment where it unhinged its mandibles wide and breathed a frosty breath on Ian, but he roared in response and exploded in flame to counter it. I kept feeling something was wrong with the monster; weirdly, it had yet to do any fire attacks against us. I could understand it sticking to ice in an attempt to counter Ian, but the rest of us would''ve surely been prime targets for some molten rock and fire. Things were going well; we were almost in a battle rhythm, and with its tail looking extremely weakened, I decided to try to remove it from the equation. "Heads up, Pelopi! Stay clear of its rear!" I shouted before triggering [Thunder Step] and appearing near its side rather than its rear. I shifted myself and some extra cores to Water alignment and began trying to recreate the thin blade of water I had seen in the final moments against the undine. With all the debuffs stacked together, I was pretty sure I could entirely remove the tail now that it looked thoroughly mangled from all the damage Jet and I had caused it. I began casting the spell; four perfectly overlayed [Torrent] spells, compressed together in an absolutely tiny spell form. With so many of my cores now aligned to water and my new skill levels, it looked perfect and perhaps even better than what I had seen Aquillia use. With an upward sweeping motion, I cast the spell and targetted the scorpion tail; the water screeched through the air and scored the dungeon floor and wall in the path it traveled. In the path, it impacted with the tail and, with a gruesome sound, sliced through the tail and sent it into a spinning loop into the air. The scorpion screeched in rage as its tail stump leaked its purple fluid, which likely still posed a slight threat if it got into someone''s face. Still, I''d rather have some purple goop to the face than a giant stinger stabbing through it. "Thanks for making my job easier!" Ian cheered. "Thanks for the warning!" Pelopi said, looking slightly startled. It was looking great. Now we just needed to finish off the last dregs of its health, and we''d be done with the first floor. That was when something seemed to shimmer above the scorpion''s main torso. I blinked rapidly and started swapping through all my different visions and senses, finally landing on [Electro-magnetic Sense]. I had marked the monster with [Conductive] so it shone brightly according to this vision, and that''s where I saw the faint, blurry outline of what looked like another torso from just above and behind the scorpion''s head. I could see the faint traces of something long ending with three-prongs in the blurry torso''s hands. The blurry image suddenly lurched, and I could see a vaguely feminine form holding a trident. It was already mid-thrust before I could shout my warning, the hidden trident stabbing deeply into Ian''s shoulder before being ripped backward and tearing flesh with it. "Ian!" Eliza screamed before a golden light enveloped him and rapidly closed the wound. Ian immediately backed off, holding his axe in a defensive stance in front of his body. "What the fuck hit me!?" He screamed. "I don''t know? I didn''t see anything!" Eliza answered. Pelopi was frantically scanning the room as if looking for hidden enemies. I realized nobody else had resisted the illusion, although glancing at Jet and his lack of surprise made me rethink that. "It''s hiding its other body behind an illusion!" I shouted my answer to the others. "About time!" Jet shouted with a chuckle. "You kids forgot all about the second mutation!" The scorpion woman thing was now behaving more defensively; it looked like we still had round two to win before we could move to the next floor. It was as if knowing it was an illusion, combined with my resistance trait and my senses, that more and more of its hidden features were being perforated. Suddenly, the odd feeling I had regarding the monster made more sense, and even its molten rock body was a complete lie! It had no fire and was almost entirely ice with a few bits of rocky carapace. Everyone was taking defensive positions, staring at the wounded scorpion with newfound caution and worry. Other than some bloodstains, Ian looked healthy and ready for round two. "Still... If the dungeon is already throwing illusions at us on the second floor, I hate to know what the third floor will have." I overheard Jet mutter to himself. I readily agreed, and I wondered what cruel fate chose these particular mutations for the dungeon run I was on. Either the dungeon was out to get us, or was Gramps a lot angrier at me than I thought? I shook myself out of my negative thoughts; it was time to finish this fight. Chapter 154: First Rest Chapter 154: First Rest "There''s another torso above the scorpion head, armed with a trident!" I shouted to the others. "Also, the molten rock is a complete lie; the thing is almost entirely ice!" "Good to know fires back on the menu," Ian said, squinting above the scorpion''s head. "I don''t know how to block or fight an invisible second body." "Can you mark it somehow?" Eliza suggested. "I''ll try!" I shouted. I shifted my alignment to Lightning and used my last swaps to change a few cores to Fire. Then I coordinated casting [Electrocute] with some helpers and had a second team work on casting [Combust]. Both spells went off directly near the humanoid portion of the monster. I knew it was risky, but since it had shown no apparent casting of spells, I felt relatively safe going against Trixie''s teachings. Both spells went off without a hitch while Ian was fighting off the advancing pincers; the scorpion screeched as its squishy humanoid portion was wreathed in flame, and lightning surged over its body. "Hey! I can kinda see it a little bit now!" Pelopi cheered. "Yeah, a little... Shit, the second floor is gonna suck if everything is like this." Ian said with extreme displeasure. At this point, I had broken through the illusion entirely, so I had no idea what they were seeing. I could only imagine it was floating flames and sparks in a roughly humanoid shape. A bolt of black energy slammed into the monster''s humanoid torso. "Less talking, more killing!" Eliza declared. We continued fighting against the monster, mostly trying to land blows against its extra torso, which seemed far less protected than the rest of it. That didn''t stop me from launching a few well-placed fireballs and lightning bolts at its rear, which was now almost entirely unoccupied by the rest of my party. The monster was definitely slowing down and looking close to death when Pelopi leaped onto its back and started going absolutely feral against the defenseless torso. Tearing through with savage fury. "I should have jumped up here as soon as the tail was gone!" Pelopi cackled a little maniacally as she became increasingly coated in blood. The monster had tried to turn to defend itself with its trident, but it could not fully swivel the secondary torso. It eventually dropped its trident, clanging to the floor unceremoniously, and held its hands over its head as if trying to defensively crouch as Pelopi kept up the absolutely one-sided and brutal assault. I didn''t even get a chance to cast [Decay] when the monster suddenly collapsed into a twitching heap on the ground. Its illusion must have dropped entirely as the rest of the party gasped. "Hell yeah!" Pelopi screamed, throwing both arms into the air. Ian meanwhile collapsed onto his rear, letting his weapon clatter to the ground. He seemed far too tired to celebrate at the moment. "We did it!" Eliza cheered, although also a little halfheartedly. She must have blown through a lot more mana than intended when she threw that emergency heal on Ian. "Good job, everyone," Jet said, giving a simple nod. "I''m glad it''s dead. I still can''t believe its illusion was so hard to pierce..." I sighed. "It can be tricky unless you have [Illusion Resistance] or other special senses," Jet explained reassuringly. "For me, I knew about the torso because I saw its full shadow even through the illusion, but I had no idea it was faking the fiery appearance." "I do have [Illusion Resistance] and other senses, though..." I grumbled. "Please share that with us!" Pelopi begged. "I want to see what I''m hitting on the next floor." "It''s not restricted, is it?" I asked Jet. "Ah, of course. Lisa told you about that," Jet replied. "No, resistance traits are freely shareable, and since they help prevent death, their price is regulated if you plan on selling." "Regulated?" I questioned. "If you try to sell it for an unduly amount, the guild will either take it from your savings or undercut you on all future sale attempts. We want as many adventurers to come back home alive as possible." Jet answered. "Not to mention traits in general aren''t worth as much." ''I hope Gramps didn''t hear that.'' "Hmm... Well, I don''t mind sharing, especially if it makes the next floor easier for the party. Anyone got any other resistances to share?" I replied. "[Fire Resistance], if that wasn''t obvious already," Ian answered. "Oh, I also have [Fear Resistance]." "[Poison Resistance] from my noble days..." Pelopi murmured as if looking through her profile; she must have sensed our gazes upon her as she followed up. "What? It''s totally normal; any self-respecting noble family trains their child to survive poisons. I was fed small doses until I got the trait." ''Should I laugh or cry?'' I thought bitterly. "Glad I''m not a bloody noble..." Jet whispered. "Well, they are the type that would benefit the most from an illusion mutation, so I expect at least a few." Jet answered. "That''s not to say there won''t just be a random spider or something with illusions; there definitely will be some of those. But, if the second-floor boss isn''t some type of Fey, I''ll eat my hat." "But you don''t have a hat?" Pelopi questioned, tilting her head. "Exactly my point." Jet smirked. That caused all of us to chuckle, except for Pelopi, who the attempted humor was lost on. So, instead, she came to me and requested the octopus. I handed it to her, and she cut off some tentacles before returning it to me. Then she sat cross-legged and started pulling out all sorts of knickknacks and placing them in a circle around her, even lighting a candle. It was a bizarre sight, and while I wondered if any of that was even required, my question was answered when Eliza whispered to me that most of that was just for good luck and superstition on Pelopi''s part. Leaving the rest of the group to do their own things, I headed inside my tent to start my [Dissection] after requesting Ian to see if he could remove the pincers from the scorpion. I started pulling out all the various monster bits, and after pulling out Alpha as a disguised green slime, I proceeded to work. That was when I noticed something was wrong. I was gaining slime mass, [Dissection] was happily identifying the rare parts to keep, and Alpha was doing an amazing impression of bonded slime, but [Consuming Osmosis] was not triggering. "Shit!" I heard Pelopi curse from outside before hearing something cluttering across the ground. "What''s wrong?" Eliza asked. "My ritual isn''t working..." Pelopi said before something else clattered. "Surely there''s enough parts to try again?" Eliza suggested. Clearly, this was a known problem with her druid thing. "No. It''s not working at all. I''m not even reaching that part." Pelopi explained in a huff. "Maybe the next floors will have something for you?" Ian asked. "What about trying the scorpion?" "But I wanted tentacles!" Pelopi moaned. "Hey... We can go to a coastal city next, or maybe try to find an Aquatic dungeon?" Eliza negotiated. ''So it''s not just me... Is it because they''re merged monsters? [Identify] couldn''t even give them a name. If the monsters on the next two floors don''t give something, I will be extremely annoyed.'' "I suppose..." Pelopi grumbled. I emerged shortly after and displayed the results of my [Dissection]. "Bloody hells, Lisa showed me some of your work, but seeing it right after the fact is something else." Jet laughed. "You any good at extracting venoms? I''d love to get a vial of whatever''s in that tail." "Yeah, if you have a container, I can do it. I just need to drag the parts to my tent," I answered. "Gladly!" Jet said, and I watched the shadows under the severed tail writhe and swirl as if alive. Slowly, the tail was dragged toward my tent. "Did you expect me to touch it with my hands?" Jet said with a cheeky wink before handing me a few empty corked vials. I was thankfully left alone to do my work while I could overhear Pelopi dry-heaving. She must have tried to eat some of the scorpions. Even the boss gave me no profiles. Much to my disappointment, however, it did trigger [Poison Slime], so it was the merged monsters, not the dungeon, that prevented me from adding to my collection. The sad part, however, was that the scorpion''s venom was [Neurotoxin], which I had already sampled. ''At least I got a bunch of slime mass... And money, I guess?'' I grumbled as I watched my slime carefully, extracting the stabby part of the tail and the inner part of the pincers while dissolving the rest. ''And an especially well-earned skill level! These random merged monsters must have triggered a first-time bonus for every single harvest.'' I obviously got to cheat at extracting the venom; I could just exclude it and watch as it became a fluid floating harmlessly inside of me, which I carefully ejected into the vials. After I handed the vials to Jet, he whistled happily. I also showed off the harvested pincer and tail. "I swear you could quit being an adventurer and become a professional harvester," Ian commented. "Yeah, but where''s the fun in that?" I replied. "I just hope it''s nothing illegal, or I''ll have to dispose of such good work." Jet said as he started into the vial. "It''s [Neurotoxin]," I answered. "Oh? Nice, that''s only restricted and not entirely illegal. Wonderful!" Jet said happily. Everyone else began settling down as we started pulling out meals and starting a campfire. We had cleared the first hurdle, and our spirits were at an all-time high. Chapter 155: Second Floor Brawl Chapter 155: Second Floor Brawl We split the watch schedule between Pelopi, Ian, and myself. Eliza also offered to take a shift, but we rejected it so the healer could have a full night''s rest. We excluded Jet since he was technically here as an evaluator. We didn''t expect the dungeon to attack us during the night, so it felt a little moot. During my shift, I spent most of my time poking around with [Lightning Magic], although I had to keep it quite subdued or risk waking up the others. Since I knew all my other elements were now at the dreaded level five, I wanted to focus on catching up rather than individual progression. The biggest issue I was having was trying to find something that would be useful for this dungeon. I initially thought about creating a lightning explosion using [Fireball] or [Nova]. I reined in my desire for wanton destruction when I realized catching my party members in the collateral would be far too easy. With my other available concepts and pieces, I wasn''t entirely sure where else to go. Perhaps I could just do something similar to [Torrent] and create a tiny thin [Lightning Bolt]? Would that work? ''Wait... Have I even added [Electrocute] to my other spells yet?'' I mentally cursed myself. In my head, I had completely written off adding my afflictions to everything already, forgetting that I had just created a new one. I still needed to add [Mana Burn] to [Arcane Bolt] as well, but that could wait. I immediately began combining [Electrocute] and [Lightning Bolt]. I decided to ignore [Spark] for now, and trying to mess with [Ball Lightning] at this stage seemed unwise. I tinkered into the late evening until I was positive that everyone else was asleep. I walked far from the other tents and ran my hand along the dungeon wall. "Hello? Are you friends with Simon the Lich?" I whispered. I had no idea if the dungeon could hear me, but since it seemed to be paying attention to my [Dungeoneer] emblem at least, I figured it was reasonable to assume it could. "So... I understand my emblem is causing you an issue. How about a trade?" I asked to the dead silence. "Well... I''ll assume you are listening and can''t talk to me. It''s probably rules about us [Experiments], or maybe you''re forbidden to talk to adventurers? I have no idea what the rule is for Dungeon Masters." "Anyway... I want a slime. I know you can probably spawn them. I need either a Pink or Orange slime." I continued. I wished I had more information about what other colors were available. I didn''t want to just throw random colors out and hope for the best; rather, I would stick to the ones I knew existed. "If you can spawn one of those slimes for us to fight. I''ll unequip my [Dungeoneer] emblem." I offered. Unfortunately, there was still no response or even a minor indication I wasn''t just talking to a literal wall. "I have no idea how it works on your end. But I can falsify my emblem, so I''ll display the fake for my party, and then I''m sure you''ll not be pressured to give any more extra loot." "So as soon as I see one of those two slimes, I''ll swap emblems. And it must be a real slime. I know the next floor is going to be full of illusions. If you taunt me with a fake slime, I will return and solo this dungeon." I threatened the wall. "It was great chatting with you. I hope you''ll consider my offer," I said. I gave my best friendly smile and stroked the wall, partially transforming my arm into a swarming mass of tendrils as I winked. I then returned to the camp and continued my uneventful watch. No monsters appeared, and there was no indication that my message had been received. At some point, I also dissolved more of the scorpion carcass for slime mass, not wanting to sacrifice such a vital resource. *** "Alright, everyone, ready to conquer another floor?" Ian shouted cheerfully in the morning. There were some vague murmurs of agreement from his other two companions. Clearly, he was the sole morning person of the misfit trio. "Yeah, I''m excited to see what monsters we will encounter now that they won''t be randomly slapped together," I responded. "If you ignore the fact, we might think we are fighting an orc, and then it''s a goblin who stabs us in the shins." Jet pointed out. "Well, with [Illusion Resistance], I hope that won''t be the case," Ian said. "Syl had the trait and still was fooled. I didn''t, and I was partially fooled." Jet countered. "If you have any extra senses, I''d suggest focusing on them; they can help pierce the veil. Like the wrongness of its shadow helped me see reality." "I have good hearing and smell," Pelopi suggested. "Smell is probably good. I don''t know of many illusions that could hide their smell." Jet replied. "I''ll hopefully keep things burning or electrified. Hopefully, that will help." I offered. "Electrified?" Pelopi asked. "It''s the affliction my [Electrocute] spell causes. The little lightning sparks cause damage over time." Pelopi nodded energetically before handing me an apple. Honestly, the number of apples she was producing was becoming a little insane; we had apples for dinner and breakfast, and I often spotted her or Eliza gnawing on one between fights. "Hey... Whatever happened to the trident that stabbed me?" Ian suddenly asked as he looked around the room. "And the monster''s corpse." Eliza also pointed out. "Ah, shit." Jet grumbled. "The dungeon probably claimed the weapon when we weren''t looking. Probably going to reuse it for some other encounter." Ian, understandably, took out his anger rather brutally on the last few stragglers, mashing them into an unrecognizable pulp. Even after finishing the fight, poor Pelopi did not look great even after a holy cleansing from Eliza. "Can you wash her?" Eliza asked me. "Sure. Hold your breath." I said. Pelopi nodded through teary red eyes and closed her mouth shut. I cast the reversed [Bubble] spell and rapidly filled it with water. Ian and Jet politely looked away. To ensure she was cleansed enough, I grabbed [Elemental Amalgamation] and took direct control over the water already infused with my mana, which began to swirl and scrub her down as best I could. I even threw in a [Heat] spell just to show off a bit. Then, with a flick of my wrist, I pulled all the water off and flung it against the dungeon wall. Pelopi blinked rapidly a few times in confusion. "That might have been the quickest and best bath I''ve ever had." She abruptly ran towards me and squeezed me tightly in an abrupt hug, her tail swishing frantically. "Thank you so much, Syl! Absolutely everything was burning!" "I''m guessing because of your sensitive nose?" I said as I prodded her with a [Heat] spell to help remove any residual dampness. "Yeah, what was with that? I thought this floor was supposed to be illusions?" Ian asked. "Pheromone induced hallucinations." Jet answered with a frown. "You could conceivably say it''s an illusion adjacent, but certainly not what I would have expected." "Do you think the dungeon is upset that we all bought [Illusion Resistance] yesterday?" Pelopi asked as she vigorously rubbed her nose. "Maybe..." Jet muttered. "So what''s next, heat-based monsters using mirages?" Ian asked. "Shit, I hope not. One hot head is enough for me." Eliza chuckled. "Hallucinogenic spores, maybe?" I offered. "Bloody hell, that''s a thing?" Ian asked. I nodded. "I fought a Plant Horror that could do it." "Well, if it spores, at least that should be resistible with [Poison Resistance]..." Jet said with a heavy sigh. "I''m not really sure how to counter pheromones or fricken mirages." "If it''s based on the heat, I have [Glacial Aura]. Hopefully, enough [Ice Magic] thrown about will oppose it." I suggested. "Hopefully." Jet agreed. "I wonder why the dungeon is so mad?" Pelopi asked. "Surely Syl''s emblem isn''t enough to cause this?" Eliza asked. ''Is it because of what I said to the dungeon last night? Shit...'' I worried. "Maybe Syl could turn it off?" Ian suggested. "No way!" Pelopi immediately refused. "It''s a decent suggestion," Jet said, scratching his head. "Why not, though, Pelopi?" "Because. Look!" Pelopi pointed to the end of the room, where another chest was visible. "We already got more loot!" "Well. That''s a pretty good reason to keep it going." Ian said with a chuckle and a nod. "Certainly hard not to agree with more loot." Jet agreed. "And now we know the dungeon is out to get us, we can be more prepared for illusionadjacent bullcrap," Eliza said with a smirk. "Agreed," I said happily. I was glad to keep the emblem going, hoping the dungeon would cooperate in giving me a slime. If it really was targeting us, the fact we survived this rather unfair trap would certainly make it rethink its position. I hoped anyway... For now, we had ants to gather and loot to grab. ''What an exciting start to the second floor.'' Chapter 156: Shocking Illusions Chapter 156: Shocking Illusions Jet and I began looking over the loot chest while the others cut off ant parts into smaller chunks for me to harvest later. Other than a few pieces of chitin and mandibles, it didn''t seem like the ants were that valuable when I glanced briefly over them. "Glad to see you''ve settled in nicely with [Thunder Step]," Jet commented while he worked. "You definitely remind me of Lisa back when she was active; she also used to zip zap around like that, although without the fiery explosions... And a lot more thunder and lightning." "It was the most disruptive move I could think of at the time," I replied. "If I had thought about bursting into enemy lines, I probably would have worked a little more on using the built-up energy or perhaps complementing it with a lightning spell." "Oh? You''ve already started figuring out how to use the side effects. I''m assuming Lisa showed off her sword?" Jet asked. "Yeah, and I have some decent resistance to lightning, but not enough to ignore the damage." "I could siphon the damage off of you!" Eliza interrupted. "Hmm... Not a bad idea," Jet mumbled. "I had thought you were maybe still very fresh with the skill and didn''t want you to kill yourself, but with this party composition, it might be a good idea." "Yes! I''ve never siphoned lightning damage before." Eliza said, pumping her fists in celebration. "Ian''s also built up so much resistance; it''ll be nice to be on a full tank for a bit." "Cheating on me already..." Ian said, shaking his head. "And to think I gave up all my hair for you." "As if you could afford the oils to keep it from burning." Eliza teased. Pelopi rubbed her nose in irritation. "Burnt hair smell... Bleh..." The chest clicked and opened up, revealing an amulet amongst a stash of gold coins. "Oh. Interesting..." Jet said as he eyed it. Despite never seeing the enchantments before, they must have been low rank enough as [Rune Reading] fully comprehended it almost instantly. "[Water Resistance] combined with... [Water Breathing]?" I said, a little unsure after puzzling it together. "Oh, your [Identify] is better than mine." Jet chuckled. "With a name like Oceans, I could only tell it was water-related." "Being able to breathe underwater would be amazing!" Pelopi said cheerfully. "We''d need two more, though." Ian pointed out. "So... Sell and split it?" Eliza said. "Boo!" Pelopi said, puffing out her cheeks and her ears drooping. "You can always buy it from the party if you want it that badly," I said, the others nodding in agreement. "Speaking of which... If we come across any slimes, then I want to buy or claim the core." "Feel free to. Assuming you can kill one without destroying the core." Ian shrugged. "She''s got [Ice Magic], remember." Jet answered. "Most of our intact cores come from them unless you got [Death Magic]. Or you can do it the old-fashioned way and repeatedly remove its slime until you starve it out. I''ve also heard of some adventurers who can even pluck the core directly out of the slime mass." It took all my restraint not to visibly shudder at hearing that horrific way of killing a slime. I realized that other slimes did not have [Core Storage] as I''d never seen it in any of the various profiles, so assuming they ran out of slime or their core was removed from their slime mass, that was it. We finished storing the ant parts and splitting the gold. Ian temporarily wore the amulet just in case the dungeon threw water monsters at us to counter his fire. At this point, we were all a little paranoid that it was out to get us. Eliza was extremely excited about the next room as I agreed to take some damage from [Thunder Step] for her to siphon. "Was that dark lightning!?" He shouted excitedly. "Hell, yes!" Eliza shouted; dark energy was coursing through her arms and staff. She fired another crackle of dark black lightning toward something else. "This is the coolest thing ever!" Pelopi had recovered and was now tearing into one of the cone monsters on the ground, having already brutally ripped off its tendrils. "You better step up your game, Ian, or Eliza will run off with Syl." "That''s not fair!" He chuckled, stepping up his fiery blaze to a higher grade that also coated his axe in flames. "I''m just an ordinary human; you can''t expect me to compete against an elf." Not wanting to be left out, I kept throwing around [Lightning Bolt] spells and occasionally doing a single hop [Thunder Step] into [Voltaic Slime] discharge. The single jumps were much more manageable and didn''t leave the entire party quaking. Eliza looked like she was having the time of her life, laughing maniacally while firing the black lightning surges toward wherever there was a hint of life. I figured she had to be using [Life Sight] to make sure she was hitting something real. Thankfully, there were no more surprises, and we cleaned up the rest of the room without too much trouble. We could all see the clearly horrific monsters, with the illusions now broken. They were like fleshy stalagmites or stalactites with endless rows of jagged teeth. Their tendrils were either smooth or tipped with barbs. "You going to try to eat those?" I asked Pelopi, pointing to a particularly nasty-looking tentacle. "No way," Pelopi immediately rejected the idea. "That''s far too gross, and even if it wasn''t, it''s a magical monster, so it doesn''t work with my class." "They''re also poisonous, so definitely not a good idea." Jet quickly added. "I think it was called [Spitebite]? While not at all deadly, it sends your sense of pain into overdrive." "Oh... That explains why I actually felt something." Ian said almost casually. "I was a little surprised. Reminded me before I got my pain resistance skill." I threw some barbed tendril tips into storage while sneakily withdrawing one inside myself. ''Weird that there was a poison that just caused hurt, but oh well. Another for the collection.'' We also gathered some of their teeth; apparently, they made really good arrowheads or sawblades. While we worked, Jet explained that the monsters usually live in caves, naturally camouflage among the rocks, and are predominantly ambush predators. Combining an ambush monster with illusions was nasty, but at least it was more in line with what the dungeon should have been throwing at us. When we were done collecting our spoils, I had even eaten enough loose parts to finally satisfy my [Consuming Osmosis]. Looking at their profile, I immediately noticed [Thermal Vision], which might have explained why they mostly ignored me and went primarily for Ian, even without his taunt. Having barbed tendrils in my collection and their razor-sharp maw were pretty interesting for mimicking. Trait-wise, they had [Natural Camouflage], which helped them blend in with the environment, and they also had [Illusion Magic]. ''Of course...'' I grumbled mentally. We also discussed my [Thunder Step] usage and concluded that I should stick to only single jumps if I wasn''t going to discharge safely on the ground. While I could handle it, and Eliza had enough to drain the damage, it was putting her at the near max of her dark pool instantly, and she was actually a little worried she wouldn''t be able to drain it fast enough. She was clearly very reluctant about limiting it, as she found the black lightning it generated both fun and extremely effective. I didn''t mind either way; happy for a way to train my skills and traits. "So... Left or right?" Ian asked, pointing towards our two options. "Flip a coin?" Eliza suggested. "Might as well. With our luck, it''ll be a dead end anyway, and we will end up backtracking." Jet said with an exaggerated sigh. "Bad luck, but plenty of loot!" Pelopi said positively. "Guess that''s the silver lining." I chuckled. We flipped a coin and headed down the left passageway. Chapter 157: Delusions and Blurs Chapter 157: Delusions and Blurs Our passageway was again trapped behind illusions, frustrating even Jet. Ian stepped on a pressure plate that was completely missed, being far too heavy to be triggered by Jet''s shadow, and was stabbed in the leg by a spear that emerged from the wall. Luckily, Eliza was still topped up on Holy energy, so it was healed almost instantly, but it was frustrating how dirty the dungeon was being. And what was the result of our struggle through the heavily trapped passageway? We entered a large room with the door closing behind us and enemies flooding the room. They were large multi-winged bat monsters armed with [Air Magic] and sonic-based attacks. Luckily for us, they couldn''t avoid Ian''s area taunt, and a lot of them ended up burning to death when they came into contact with him. Most frustrating was they were emitting a constant hum that echoed throughout the room and afflicted us with an auditory hallucination to hide their projectiles rather than themselves. While I certainly was immune to poisons and pheromones, as evidenced by my harpy encounters, sound, and sonics were a definite weakness of mine. ''This must be how the pegasi felt when Trixie hid all my [Icicle] spells.'' I thought. I kept blasting lightning to kill them as fast as possible, joined by Eliza''s dark lightning. Pelopi actually used some magic when she ran out of the biting variety of bats to fight; she conjured up a strange spiky seed pod that exploded rather violently with an accompanying tiny spark of flame. I had to refresh my [Arcane Armor] twice during the encounter, as it was broken by the hidden blades of wind. Thankfully, we came out of the encounter with a victory. ''Okay... Seriously, this is getting annoying now. I want to level up my class!'' ''What!? An actual usable spell right out of the gate?'' I could not hide my shock and surprise. "You get something good?" Pelopi asked me curiously. "Yeah... I just reached level four with [Lightning Magic]; I just learned [Chain Lightning]," I responded, trying to understand the spell''s implications. I cast and held the spell to start my deciphering. "Oh shit," Jet said, looking a little pale. "If you thought Pyromancers and wanton [Fireball] spells were the number one cause of friendly fire... You''ve never been in a party with damn [Chain Lightning] in the arsenal." "Hmm... I can tell it sort of bounces between nearby targets?" I responded. "Ha! That''s an understatement." Jet shook his head. "The bigger the spell, the more bounces, jumps, chains, or whatever you want to call it. Not to mention, it can hit the same target twice, and yeah, it does not differentiate between friend or foe." I nodded in confirmation; there was nothing about targeting beyond the initial target, which means it was likely semi-random but likely influenced by proximity and factors like conductivity. It shouldn''t hit any friends if I threw a bunch of [Lightning Rod] debuffs on enemies. ''Actually... if I fought a big enemy, couldn''t I use [Voltaic Slime] to bounce between me and the enemy? Or would [Voltaic Slime] fully absorb the bolt and therefore no more bounces?'' I wondered. Unfortunately, I couldn''t exactly reliably test that, as no doubt the others would question why I was willingly casting an offensive spell against myself. I also briefly glanced at what was clearly the [Chain] portion of the spell, as the rest was pretty much just [Spark] and [Projectile]. It was complex as all hell, and I wondered what other types of magic it would be compatible with. Could I make bouncing flames? [Chained Fireball]? Definitely something to look forward to. The strange bat monsters didn''t have much for us to harvest, mostly just their fangs. Their relatively small size meant I could toss a few into "storage" and withdraw them internally. That was at least some silver lining¡ªmore profiles! After the horror of the first floor''s giving me nothing, I was extremely happy to have my doubts stifled. As suspected, the Gust version had [Air Magic], while the Fanged variety had [Blood Drain]. The Acoustic portion gave it the [Auditory Delusion] skill, which, of course, required an Illusion affinity. I had to assume the Mutation also gave it the affinity, as otherwise, it was rather lackluster in terms of what it gave the bat monster. My Mimic mutation, for example, didn''t give me an affinity, but they gave me extremely powerful traits and skills in exchange. Both, however, had an interesting trait [Echolocation]. Unfortunately, the trait was incompatible with my species, which I guess made sense since slimes didn''t exactly have ears or mouths. Still, it was undoubtedly something nice to have in my back pocket for [Chimeric Mimicry]. However, there was a new trait I could buy [Sonic Resistance], which I grabbed because I hoped it would prevent future sound-related threats. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. We carefully backtracked and took the other option, which led to a fork, and we again decided to flip a coin. However, this time, Pelopi insisted we take the route the coin didn''t choose. Which... Lead us into another trapped room full of elementals. But not just any elementals, no... The worst part was we couldn''t accurately deduce their numbers or even which elemental we were fighting as they blurred together and heavily obfuscated their numbers. "I bloody called it!" Ian shouted as we engaged the enemies. I threw as much Mana and empowerment into [Glacial Aura] as I could after aligning to Ice. [Icicle] would be my main attack, but I threw the occasional [Bubble] spell around to protect my allies. Eliza paused as she scratched her cheek in thought. "The only use I could think of would be to cut Ian so I could siphon bleed damage off of him." "Nope! Vetoed!" Ian instantly rejected the idea as he wildly flailed his arms in protest. "Well... You heard the baby; I guess it''s all yours." Eliza giggled. "Plus, it definitely suits you more." "Yes. Very appropriate for the magical elf assassin." Pelopi nodded in agreement. "Could you not cut yourself?" I asked curiously, then chuckled. "Wow, that sounds horrible out loud and out of context." Eliza smirked. "I can''t siphon from myself. Probably to prevent me from doing some loop where I take damage from my leaky dark pool and then siphon that." "And one of the main reasons I try to damage myself as quickly as possible so she has some Holy to heal herself." Ian quickly added. We chatted a bit longer while eating apples and evenly distributing the gold from the chest. I tried out the dagger a few times, which was pretty fun; thankfully, I didn''t make myself look like an idiot due to [Attack Mastery (Lesser)]. ''I think I''ll pay the points to tier it up when it reaches level eight...'' This room, despite locking us in, did have another exit so we could continue our journey deeper into the second floor. Once again, we carefully journeyed forward with Jet out in front, followed by Ian, while the rest of us followed at a safer distance. The idea was that if Jet failed to detect another illusioned trap, Ian might trigger it and be in a much better position to survive than the rest of us. "I wonder if the dungeon is finally taking pity on us?" Ian joked since we had yet to encounter even a single trap. "Maybe. It''s been highly unusual." Jet wondered. Suddenly, Jet paused and frowned. "What?" Ian asked. We all took a ready stance. "Did you not hear that?" Jet said as he walked a few paces. Eliza, Pelopi, and I were too far away to hear reliably whatever Jet was talking about. Ian seemed to be thinking as he also took a few steps. "It sounds... Squishy?" "That''s what I thought too..." Jet said, frowning hard as his shadow tried to interact with the floor. "Is that... Sizzling?" Ian suddenly said. "Run!" Jet screamed as he threw himself into his shadow. Ian stumbled backward into a run when the entire corridor before us suddenly erupted in an explosion. I reflexively threw up multiple [Aegis] spells to shield Pelopi and Eliza behind me. "Ian!" Eliza screamed out amongst the deafening blast. Big Announcement! Big Announcement! Hi all! Lunadea here! I''ve got a bunch of announcements. Our beloved Syl has wandered all over Royal Road and will soon be wandering over to Amazon to explore what''s going on there! Unfortunately, that does mean the story is going to get stubbed, as KU pays so much, and I enjoy things like paying my rent and being able to write more Syl. The story will get stubbed from RR on November 9th. It''ll be live on Amazon on November 11th! I want to express my appreciation to each and every one of you for being a part of this incredible journey. When I first started writing about Syl, a neurotic little slime (and Gramps!), I never imagined the overwhelming support it would receive. Your encouragement and enthusiasm have been the driving force behind my continued writing, and I can''t thank you enough. I''m truly excited to see what the future holds for us and Syl! So, on November 1st, there will be a $5 Slime tier (10 advanced chapters) and a $10 Slime Core tier (25 advanced chapters). There are also going to be a few new vanity tiers that offer nothing besides a fancy Discord role and maybe a personalized thank-you note from me. Again, there is nothing extra besides vanity and being able to support me. There''s a $15 Sub Core, a $25 Trixie, and a $50 Gramps tier. For my existing Mana Core followers, I haven''t forgotten about you. The tier will also be locked on November 1st, and you''ll be treated like the other vanity tiers. Thank you for giving more support when you didn''t need to. Rest assured, I''ll share the preorder links with you as soon as they''re available. The audiobook is currently undergoing its final check, and I''ll update you on its status as soon as I have more information. Your patience and understanding are greatly appreciated. Thank you all for understanding and supporting me on the journey! Luna. Chapter 158: Orange You Glad Chapter 158: Orange You Glad Jet stepped out of a shadow behind us, looking haggard despite avoiding the explosion. He glared at the resulting destruction in horror. The smoke and rubble made visibility difficult, but [Life Sight] still showed Ian alive. Eliza wasted no time rushing forward to his aid. "Ian!" She shouted again. "H-hey... I''m alive." Ian said loudly; blood was leaking from his ears. "Bloody thing nearly triggered my [Last Stand]." Pelopi turned on Jet and grabbed him by his shirt. "What happened!?" She demanded. "Trapped hallway. I think it''s an orange slime with illusion or camouflage or some other shit..." Jet explained bitterly. "A slime did this?" Pelopi said, almost confused. "Dungeon ones are no joke. They protect the dungeon with brutal efficiency, unlike their wild counterparts." Jet said with a frown. ''Huh... Do they not know they are controlled directly by the Dungeon Master? Trixie really dropped a lot of knowledge on me...'' I wondered. ''Well... It looks like the dungeon is meeting my request, although maybe a bit reluctantly since it clearly tried to kill us.'' Ian looked like hell, and Eliza spent the last dregs of her holy pool trying to heal him before pulling out a potion and forcing him to drink it. Once it looked like he could stand on his feet and comprehend things, Jet rapidly approached him. "Sorry, I couldn''t pull you in with me." Jet apologized profusely, even going as far as to bow his head. "[Shadow Step] doesn''t let me take passengers." "Hey... No big deal. I''m the tank; I''m meant to take damage," Ian replied. He tried to shrug it off with a wave before wincing in pain. "I thought you were fireproof?" Pelopi asked. "Explosions aren''t fire... I''ve taken a [Fireball], this was... More." Ian said, shaking his head with another wince. "Well. We need to turn around and take the other passageway now." Jet said. "Normal procedure is to avoid orange slimes like the plague." "I''m willing to risk going after it," I said, raising my hand. "I''ve got both ice and water, which the guild book suggested using against them." Pelopi clung to my arm and started pulling me away. "No! Too risky..." While I was appreciative that she cared, I wanted that slime core. "Look. You can all stay safely here while I go in. I can protect myself well enough and can even [Thunder Step] away if something gets really bad." I said. "Is it really worth the risk?" Eliza asked with a frown; she had lost her cheer after seeing Ian in such bad condition. "I''m confident in my abilities. I''m perfectly suited to counter it and can safeguard myself with [Arcane Armor]." I said. The three misfits still seemed unsure, but Jet nodded. "I do agree that you are the textbook counter for it having both Ice and Water magic. Frozen orange slime can no longer detonate." "Then we can go together," Pelopi said, but Ian shook his head. "No. What if Syl misses a spot? This orange blob is clearly able to hide its slime traps." Jet said. "Syl does have an escape skill and good reaction time. Not to mention at least three defensive spells from what I''ve seen in this dungeon alone." Pelopi pouted but reluctantly agreed. "We''ll head back to the previous room and rest up." Jet said. "And wait for your victory notification! Make sure to kill it extra dead for me," Ian said with a grin. I waited for the others to safely retreat before I turned to the passageway. "Right... Orange slime time." I said, struggling to hide my grin. I did feel a little guilty about having Ian caught in the blast, but I couldn''t help but feel giddy about the potential of a new slime core! I activated [Glacial Aura], dumping as much mana as possible into it to increase its range and effect. Then, I carefully started walking through the passageway. I could see something beginning to frost over like a trail across the walls and floors. Once it froze over, I could see its bright orange coloring. I also activated [Cryo Slime] to drop my temperature as low as possible, hoping to further fuel my icy presence. Whenever I spotted a large portion of slime beginning to freeze over, I would hasten the process by casting [Frost Grasp] on it. ''Well... I expected that. I didn''t see any illusions in its profile after all. Not to mention, I don''t know if I even can integrate a mutation.'' I had some ingrained knowledge of the trait installed directly into my core, so I wanted to test it out. I triggered [Nitro Slime] and primed my fingertip with the intent of it exploding only forwards. It did so without issue, almost like a miniature [Nova] spell. I tried changing around its parameters, as I understood I could even change the type of explosion to be more slime scattering. The result was a blast scattering slime outwards, reminiscent of [Slime Burst]. ''Huh... Actually, that''s weird. I didn''t see [Slime Burst] in the orange slime profile at all. Is that because it''s redundant?'' I triggered [Slime Burst] and noticed that the similarity with[Nitro Slime] was undeniable. Curious about their interactions, I tried activating both at the same time. ''Well... That answers that question. Yes?'' Please confirm.> I paused to think it over. Honestly, I couldn''t think of any reason not to integrate it. I had no idea how big the penalty would be, but in reality, even a single additional level in [Nitro Slime] would be better for me in the long run. Having come to my conclusion, I confirmed. ''Two levels! Not bad! Straight over the dreaded level five.'' With the improvements, I could definitely feel greater control over the trait. It seemed like now I could even do an almost entirely shockwave-based explosion, and it seemed like now I could prime my slime to detonate on contact rather than purely on a trigger. Hell, I could even keep a detonation almost entirely internally by controlling its direction. I withdrew a bit of useless monster part inside myself, then triggered an internal blast and watched it be vaporized. ''An... Implosion? I think that''s the word?'' I wondered curiously. ''Of course, I could also fire a [Slime Shot] of primed slime and have it detonate midair, or even better, attach it to my target with [Adhesive Slime] and then trigger the detonation. Or go with the on-contact explosion. Or prime it to go off when something steps on it, which unleashes a payload of [Acid Slime]? So many options!'' I chuckled as I needed to calm down and report to my party before they came to investigate. I''d have plenty of time to play around with the trait later. But before doing that, I continued along the corridor with [Glacial Aura] active to clean up any left behind traps until I saw the next room and confirmed there wasn''t another slimy ambusher. I stopped at the next room and smiled. "Well. A deal is a deal. Thank you. I absolutely love the orange slime," I said in a happy whisper. I doubted I''d get a chance to meet the requirements of the [Apex Hunter] emblem, so I swapped to [Nature''s Bane]. Then, I visibly disguised my profile with [Identity Fabrication] to display [Dungeoneer] again. "I hope that takes the pressure off. Thanks again." I gave an energetic wave to the dungeon wall before starting my journey back. I returned to the rest of the team without issue. They all looked relieved, and Ian looked much better after receiving some TLC from Nurse Eliza. "You''re back!" Pelopi cheered. "We got the kill notification a while ago." "I''ve been avenged!" Ian cheered. "Yup. Problem solved." I said with a thumbs up. "I also checked until the next room and cleaned up any remaining slime." "Great job." Jet said. "I guess we don''t need to backtrack." "Well, unless the room is a dead end." Eliza pointed out. "Did you check?" "Oh... No..." I replied sheepishly. "Sorry." "Glad even you can make mistakes." Ian teased. "Well, let''s get to it then," Jet said as he motioned to the exit. "Hopefully, the dungeon has fewer surprises left for us." The others packed up their things, and we started retracing our steps. "Did it put up much of a fight?" Pelopi asked curiously. "Not really? Once I cast [Frost Grasp], it pretty much died on the spot." I answered. "Ice magic is cool like that," Jet responded, causing a groan from the misfits. Guess they weren''t a fan of puns. Chapter 159: Jinxed Chapter 159: Jinxed Despite my reassurances, everyone was extremely careful as we retraced our steps. I even joined the vanguard with [Glacial Aura] active, just in case. Interestingly enough, the dungeon had already cleaned up all the mess, and any damage from exploding slime was gone. We reached the room again without incident and peeked inside. It was mostly empty except for a small fountain and a large ornate door, which indicated that it was the boss''s room. "Look! The boss room is just ahead," Ian exclaimed, his voice filled with excitement and anticipation. "And a fountain; I''m surprised we''re getting a safe zone," Eliza said curiously. "Unless I''m mistaking the layout?" "No. This does look like a rest area." Jet confirmed as he glared at the water. "Are you worried it''s poisoned?" I asked, pulling out one of my flasks and placing it inside the fountain while absorbing some of the mystery liquid through my arm. From what I could tell, no notifications or anything significant happened. "Yeah. As stupid as that sounds." Jet said with a sigh. "Dungeon fountains are supposed to be rejuvenating waters. But this dungeon has been anything but ordinary since we reached the second floor." "Oh! I read about those. They''re like weak healing potions, right?" Eliza asked. Ian gestured for my canteen, so I handed it over to him. He poured some of the contents on some of his wounds and massaged it in with his free hand. As he continued the work, the damaged skin slowly started looking better. "Amazing!" Ian said happily. "Too bad this one didn''t come with a pink slime, or we could pretty much regrow some limbs with that fountain." Jet pointed out. "Is this dungeon big enough for that?" I asked curiously. Jet shook his head. "Regrettably, no. I was just joking. Otherwise, we could have been set for life." We took some time to collect some of the healing water and rest up while Ian rejuvenated himself. "So, do you think we should take the boss on now?" Jet asked. "Kill the boss! Get the loot! Sleep!" Pelopi declared. "I''m ready and willing," I responded but turned to Eliza. "But your Holy pool is tapped out, isn''t it?" "Yeah... But unless we backtrack to the other passageway and find some monsters to fight, that will not change." Eliza responded. "I can always generate some on the fly, especially if you do your zip-zap step and I siphon your damage. I''m more concerned about Ian." Ian let out a smirk as he gestured at his now healthy-looking skin. "Oh, I''m good to go. This water has me as smooth as a baby''s bottom." "Okay," Jet said with a nod. "Sounds like we will be attempting the boss then. We know it''ll be illusions and whatever the next floor is, so be careful." "And probably a Fey, or you''ll eat your hat," Pelopi added. "Yes..." Jet frowned before giving a light chuckle. "I might need to buy a hat..." We made our preparations and were in generally high spirits as we snacked on some of Pelopi''s apples and ironed out our opening strategy. No matter what enemy was thrown at us, my job was to harm myself with [Thunder Step] so Eliza could rapidly refill her reserve. We entered the room and waited... Weapons were drawn, and you could almost sense the held breath as we all anticipated what this menacing floor would finally throw at us. A black cat appeared in a poof of rainbow smoke and glitter. Then, as the smoke began to disperse, we saw that it was no ordinary black cat. Its fur was black like midnight, and on its chest was a white patch of fur in a starburst pattern. On its back, it had tiny dragonfly wings that glimmered like an iridescent rainbow. On top of its head was an adorably small crown tilted to its side as if worn with a casual demeanor. Nearly right after that, one of my [Lightning Bolt] spells became extremely unruly and burst within my grasp; I felt a backlash of mental anguish straight to my core while the violent lightning was stored within [Voltaic Slime]. I had never seen my magic behave like this except when I was attempting to brute-force my spell creations, so it was utterly baffling. "Is this the [Jinx Aura]?" Eliza questioned. "Oh bloody hells. That''s ridiculous!" Ian shouted, right as his axe seemed to slip out of his hands almost comically. "I don''t suppose you have [Dispel]?" Eliza asked me with concern. "Anything stronger than a poison or disease is beyond my current Holy magic level." "No? Should I have it?" I questioned before blasting another [Lightning Bolt] at the cat. Successfully this time and juicing it with some of the discharge stored within [Voltaic Slime]. "It''s one of the spells from [Arcane Magic]!" Jet answered while pulling out a different crossbow from his magic storage. "Mine''s only level three!" I replied. "Balls." Jet muttered. A hammer struck against my [Arcane Armor], finally shattering the barrier, and at the same time, a sword sliced along my arm. Blood leaked from my arm, and I clenched it in pain with my other hand. "Bloody hell, that hurt..." I grunted as I recast [Arcane Armor]. "These weapons seem to hurt a lot more than normal. Even I''m taking some pain." Ian said angrily. I then stared at my arm in shock. It hurt. Why? My arm wasn''t real; it was slime and anything not striking my core was meaningless. ''So why the hell did that hurt me?'' I asked in utter confusion. Even when I told Alpha to fix the wound, it still was there... Bleeding as if my arm was real, and only when Eliza''s Holy magic embraced me, did the wound finally close up. It made no sense; it didn''t seem real. I told my [Sub-Cores] to continue the battle in my place while keeping up my facade, which they seemed to have no problem understanding. Their new level of intelligence, after my latest evolution, still needed to be fully explored, but it appeared they easily understood my intent. Once I confirmed their performance was believable, keeping in line with my usual displayed adventurer power level, I could focus internally on trying to puzzle out this conundrum. The cat was a Fey, so it was something like Trixie. This was the second floor, so illusions were the theme, and the third floor seemed to be ghosts... The more I puzzled together, the more wrong the situation was. Was this entirely an illusion? But then, why did it feel so real? Illusions surely couldn''t actually deal damage? ''Or... Can they?'' I questioned and recalled a similar discussion with Trixie about a certain trait I had acquired from the prince. I pulled it up. Raises spell power by 5% per trait rank. Spells focused through the horn become more real.> ''More real!'' I exclaimed excitedly to myself. ''They are illusions, but the cat must have a trait to make them more real. That''s terrifying, I''m glad it didn''t just make an illusion dragon to eat us or something.'' As if to confirm my new understanding, the wrongness of the room seemed to become rapidly apparent. The glowing magical weapons started to turn more shadowy and ethereal, proving their falsehood, and if that wasn''t enough, I received a sudden prompt. "It''s all fake!" I shouted aloud with glee and noticed that even the bloodstain on my arm vanished with my proclamation. The cat glared at me with utter abhorrence and loathing. Chapter 160: Declawed and Decrowned Chapter 160: Declawed and Decrowned "What do you mean it''s not real!?" Ian shouted as he was fighting off a group of imaginary swords. Now that I had broken through successfully, the entire fight seemed almost comical. "All the weapons are an illusion! You need to disbelieve it!" I shouted. To prove my point, I used [Thunder Step] to appear next to the cat and attempted to backhand one of its floating swords. There were some yells from my party members for me to stop, but I knew it wasn''t real, and my hand passed straight through the blade despite some of their gasps and astonishment. The cat growled, and then its shadow erupted with shadowy spikes toward me; I reflexively threw up an [Aegis] and saw the dark spikes crash against it. "Okay, its shadow can apparently attack!" I warned as I retreated to a safe distance with another [Thunder Step]. "Is that why it cast [Eclipse]?" Jet said with a frown. "Bloody hell. No stupid monster cat will use my own affinity against me." Jet seemed to accept what I said easily enough, and soon enough, he ignored the illusory blades that passed through him. Eliza joined shortly after, as it seemed her inability to siphon the illusion damage had spoken volumes to her frame of mind. Ian and Pelopi, however, were struggling desperately to overcome it. I wondered if it was due to their failure to resist one of the numerous curses the cat had flung at us, and unfortunately, the cat seemed to know this as it focused its assault on them and tried to ignore us. While throwing [Lightning Bolts] at it was all fun and good, it had an enormous mana pool and thus effective health. I had the perfect new spell to try out ¡ª[Mana Burn]! When I cast the spell on the cat, it screeched with rage. Its shadow flickered wildly and lost all cat-like resemblance, instead looking like it belonged to one of my chimeric monstrosity forms. Everyone reacted with shock, and that was when its shadow rose from the surface, detached itself from the cat, and flung itself at me with burning hatred. I threw up an [Aegis] in reaction, and the shadow monster tore through; as soon as I heard the familiar shattering sound, I threw up another, and this time, it finally halted its trajectory. The shadow slithered around and over the [Aegis] before flinging itself towards me again. "Focus on the cat! We have to kill it before its shadow gets Syl!" Jet ordered. "I still can''t hit the damn thing!" Ian shouted in frustration. "Eliza! I''m going maximum burn!" "Right!" Eliza confirmed. Ian erupted with newfound firepower, the tips of his flames even turning blue with the intense ferocity. Under the insane heat, his flesh was in a constant flux of charring before returning to normal, while a massive amount of dark energy was being constantly siphoned. With her free hand raised, a black flame formed, and then, rather than her usual dark bolt, a flamethrower of black conflagration streamed from her palm. Pelopi kept up her [Fire Arrow] spells while running away from the swords chasing her. She sprinted and dodged with feline grace. Jet replaced his crossbow again, this time with two identical handheld ones, and began firing a torrent of shadow-infused bolts at the cat. Meanwhile, I had my shadowy pursuer hounding me with dreadful ferocity. I tried casting spells at it, but it seemed completely ineffectual against the shadow. The closest I got to harming it was with bright light generated from either [Fire Magic] or [Lightning Magic], which seemed to stun the entity temporarily. This thing was like my worst nightmare: immune to debuffs, immune to afflictions, immune to magic, and likely even immune to slime. I tried casting some [Lightning Bolts] at the cat when I got the chance but received a scolding from Jet. "Worry about keeping yourself alive, Syl! It''s a damage race right now!" Jet shouted. "We''ve got this!" Eliza said reassuringly. I nodded as I used [Thunder Step] to evade the shadow once more. It almost instantly rebounded off the dungeon wall when it missed me and was again like a projectile seeking to end me. I made sure to at least order any expiring debuffs and afflictions refreshed to my cores, especially [Mana Burn], which seemed to be double dipping in the damage department. ''I had presumed destroying mana would deal damage like backlash does; it seems my assumption was correct. So since mana is being destroyed and mana is its health, it''s stacking together. No wonder it sicced its shadow on me exclusively.'' With the number of [Aegis] spells this shadow was chewing through, I was honestly beginning to worry even I''d run into some mana issues. It was becoming a balancing act of trying to estimate whether I should avoid it with [Thunder Step] or block it with [Aegis] depending on its incoming velocity. What made matters worse was the [Jinx Aura] was affecting both my skill and magic, as sometimes I would trigger [Thunder Step], and it would just fail, and I''d be left standing on the spot looking like an idiot. [Aegis] failing was awful as the magical shield would form and instantly shatter without blocking even a single blow, wasting a considerable amount of mana in the process, not to mention the backlash, which felt like taking a hammer to the core. Not fun. After our game of cat and mouse, it seemed to finally reach a level of its remaining life when it recalled its shadow to deal with the others. With only Pelopi and Ian taking damage from its illusions anymore, it needed to take out the others. It seemed Eliza was its next target as the shadow flung itself at her; I immediately threw up two [Aegis] spells to block it. "It''s coming for Eliza!" I shouted. This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. "Shit! Ahh! We were winning this race! Stupid ghost cat! Stop cheating!" Pelopi screamed. From my perspective, its mana was dangerously low, so I made the impromptu decision to try to seal the deal with [Decay] and also triggered [Assassinate], even if the bonus damage would be halved for the cat being fully aware of me. With six debuffs at least, eight if I included the ones I had merged, and four afflictions, I knew it would be a big chunk of damage, and I prayed to Gramps that it would be enough to end this. "I have no idea what this does," I said with a mumble. "Well, it''s not magical," Eliza said. "Yeah, [Appraisal] is showing nothing." Jet agreed, having recovered from his coughing fit. I stared at them in bewilderment before responding. "It''s definitely magical. I can see three different types of enchantments at least, and my [Appraisal] calls it the [Cat Sith Crown]." "That''s... Odd?" Jet said curiously. "Toss it here?" I threw the crown over to him, and he examined it closer. "[Appraisal] still shows nothing... Not even a failed [Identify] notification." Jet said, scratching his head in puzzlement. Eliza and Pelopi also took a closer look, but both concluded it was showing up as non-magical in Pelopi''s [Mana Sight] and Eliza''s [Mana Conception]. "So Syl''s the crazy one for once." Ian joked. "Think it''s the cat''s revenge for you breaking its illusion?" "I hope not..." I mumbled. Pelopi placed the crown on her head and gave a mocking and snooty laugh befitting a pompous noble. "Bow down before Princess Pelopi!" She joked. The crown suddenly poofed off her head. "Your crown''s been stolen, your highness." Ian roared with laughter. Pelopi frantically grabbed at her head where the crown once was. "Well, shit. It''s definitely magical if it can disappear." Jet said. "But where did it go?" I asked curiously. Pelopi suddenly pointed to me. "Crown thief!" "Oh. It appeared on Syl''s head again..." Ian said. "That''s handy?" "Or worrying... An unknown magical item has attached itself to her." Eliza pointed out. "This bloody dungeon... I swear." Jet grumbled, taking another drink. "It doesn''t seem harmful," I said, hoping it was true. At least no scary notifications or garbled text was appearing. "Although if I''m forced to wear this thing, I wish it was a hat rather than a crown..." As soon as I said that, there were some gasps from the others. Jet spat out his drink and started coughing. "What!?" I said with worry. "Definitely a magic crown," Eliza stated. "It''s a magic hat now!" Pelopi corrected. I reached up and pulled it off my head. What was there now was a round-brimmed cap with a large bright red feather attached to it. "Huh..." I mumbled, staring at the strange... Hat? Chapter 161: Hats, Axes, and Claws Chapter 161: Hats, Axes, and Claws We were all staring at the crown-turned-hat in bewilderment. To everyone else, it appeared utterly mundane and only revealed its true nature to me, its apparent new owner. Its abnormal attachment to me and its tendency to return to my head or even sneak into my [Core Storage] was a mystery that kept us all on edge. The latter was extremely alarming, and I couldn''t shake the feeling that the crown was playing a prank on me for trying to get rid of it. Finally, Jet spoke up. "Okay, take everything I say with a mountain of salt because I''m pulling on some utter dregs of secondhand information, but I think it''s become soul-bound to you." "How and why?" I asked with concern. "I assume because you dealt the final blow on the cat. It''s the only thing that makes sense." Jet answered. "So, is this a good thing or a bad thing?" Eliza asked, her curiosity piqued. To everyone''s surprise, it was Pelopi who answered. "Soul-bound items are unusual but not that rare. I know my family had one; I was supposed to inherit it one day. It just means nobody, but you can use it." "That''s vaguely in line with what I heard," Jet responded, scratching his chin. "I heard a swordsman who was soul-bound to his sword, and only he could unsheathe it. It also apparently couldn''t cut him." "And I got a hat..." I replied with deadpan disappointment. "A transforming hat," Ian corrected with a cheeky grin. "Although I can sympathize with the disappointment of not getting a cool magic weapon." We spent some time exploring the limits of the crown''s transformations. Anything considered even loosely as headwear and head accessories was up for grabs, including ribbons, hairclips, hoods, helmets, masks, and even bizarrely, a scarf as long as it was one of those large ones that covered one''s mouth. Also, nobody was able to remove it from my head except myself, which further added to its mysteries. I ended up settling for an oversized black witch hat as I recalled Kurt mentioning that any self-respecting mage would have an iconic hat. The Misfits all heartily agreed with the decision and wondered why I didn''t have an impressive mage hat sooner. Jet muttered something about stereotypes but otherwise shrugged and said it looked good. Finally, after our distractions, we looked at our loot chest. The group''s disappointment over only one reward chest was greatly diminished when they saw its utter size, which easily dwarfed any of our others. Ian excitedly clapped his hands together in prayer. "Please give me a new weapon! Please, please, please!" "You never say wishes out loud," Pelopi scolded him. "Everyone knows that." "Hush you. I''m begging this wonderful and generous dungeon to give me a new toy." Ian replied. "With your magnificent hallways. I love how you''ve decorated the place, by the way, and your combinations for this run have been masterfully deceptive." Eliza leaned over to Jet to whisper into his ear. "Does that work?" Jet gave a subdued chuckle. "Probably not, but let a man dream." Even without Ian''s unwavering optimism, we were all excited to see what was in the chest. After confirming that it was not trapped, illusion or otherwise, Jet finally opened the chest. Everyone held their breath. "Yes!" Ian cried out in victory. Inside the chest was a golden-orange double axe. The entire thing seemed impossibly made from a single material as if carved out rather than forged. It also hummed with a now recognizable combination enchantment of auto-repair and sharpening. Most startling, there were also two mystery enchantments on each axe blade that I wasn''t entirely sure what they did. Once again, it was beyond my own [Rune Reading], except I could tell that the enchantments were almost the direct opposite of one another. One axeblade had a reddish glow, while the other had a blueish glow. ''A reversed effect depending on which axeblade you use?'' I wondered to myself. "A bit of an ominous name." Jet said and turned to me. "Your [Appraisal] telling you anything better?" "It''s got repair and sharpening, and each blade is... Different." I replied with uncertainty. "Opposite effects, as far as I can tell." "Well, there''s one way to find out!" Ian declared. We all looked at him expectantly as he reached towards the axe with zero hesitation and picked it up. Then he ran the back of his free hand along the blueish side, causing Eliza to scream at him. He pulled his hand back and revealed... Nothing? Not a single wound. "Shit. Don''t tell me I finally got a weapon drop, and then it can''t actually cut anything!" Ian said with disappointment. "I told you not to say your wish out loud! You ruined it!" Pelopi replied. "I can''t believe you!" Eliza shouted before punching him in the shoulder. "What?" Ian said with a playful shrug and grin. "I figured you still had some Holy pool to heal me with. It seemed the quickest way to see what it does." Jet cleared his throat. "Putting aside superstitions and... Impulsive decisions. Syl said each side was the opposite effect, so..." "Right!" Ian interrupted with glee as he reached towards the red side. "Don''t!" Eliza shouted in an attempt to stop him. But again, without hesitation, he touched the axeblade. "Ouch!" Ian said as he immediately pulled his hand back, a rather deep cut on the back of his hand despite a rather gentle touch. Eliza immediately reached for his hand and spent some of her remaining Holy pool to heal it. Thankfully, it did close up without any concern. However, she still punched him repeatedly in the shoulder for his recklessness. Jet sighed and walked away, once again reaching for his flask. It had been a rough day for our party. Well, maybe not for me. Today was wonderful for me, thanks to that orange slime. The axe obviously went to Ian, as he probably would have fought someone over it. Likewise, the crown was now mine since we literally couldn''t remove it from my possession. I hoped Thern or perhaps Trixie would know what the crown did and how to remove it if I wanted to. Thankfully, it would happily sit inside my [Core Storage] so I could easily hide it away if I needed to slime out. "I''m just thinking of the future!" Ian defended himself. "That''s also only assuming Ghostflesh here can''t deal with them." Pelopi reached out to touch the axe handle and winced in pain as she retreated her hand. "Hot!" "Oh... Well, it is literally a flaming axe." I responded sheepishly. In curiosity, Ian also touched the handle but shrugged as it didn''t seem to harm him. It was a low-level spell cast at the bare minimum; after all, no need to bring out the blue flames for a demonstration. "Glad I''m not the only one with [Fire Resistance]," Ian chuckled. "One of my original magic teachers would point-blank cast [Fireball] on himself," I explained. "Good old Pyromancers sharing the love of [Fireball] with the world." Ian gave a toothy grin. I then tried to give Pelopi a crash course in basic spell modification. Unfortunately, her skill levels in magic were rather lackluster, and she only had [Water Magic LV 3] and [Fire Magic LV 2] for our anti-ghost options. She had [Nature Magic LV 5] and [Earth Magic LV 2], but it sounded like none had anything to deal with ghostly entities since they were extremely physical despite being magic. I possibly needed to apologize to Trixie for criticizing her teaching talents as I struggled to explain things properly just as much, if not worse than she did. Pelopi was growing increasingly frustrated when her attempts to reshape [Water Whip] failed. "Is it because claws aren''t a weapon?" Ian asked. I shook my head and cast my own version of the watery claws. "No. It just requires a lot of trial and error and practice. I usually spend all my free time tinkering with spells; my [Mana Manipulation] is level six through proficiency alone." "Bloody hell." Ian shook his head. "No purchases at all?" "I''ve been... Reluctant to spend my points..." I admitted. Eliza snapped her fingers. "I have an idea! Pelopi, how fuzzy can you make your bear claws?" Pelopi shifted her arms in response, showing full fur, paws, and claws with no hint of her human appendage remaining. "Okay. What if Syl ice claws for you?" Eliza said. "Assuming they aren''t too cold for you to handle." "Huh... That''s not a bad idea." I responded. ''Especially if I just move the anchor point to Pelopi''s hand, I could just have one of my [Sub-Cores] maintain it for me and forget about it.'' "Isn''t Ice too physical?" Ian asked. "True... But if I added [Frostbite] to the tips of the claws, perhaps..." I started responding, then paused to begin my spell work. Inspiration had struck! I started shaping my water claws to fit over her paws and extend like a giant clawed gauntlet. Once I was happy with the design, I started replacing the Water Mana with Ice; thanks to the frozen sharpness, they looked quite savage. Then I started experimenting with [Frostbite] to see if it could be kept contained only to the claw portion of the icy gauntlet. Strangely enough, this partial modification of an existing spell seemed remarkably easy. Perhaps this was due to just slightly limiting an existing effect rather than trying to add a brand-new one? Either way, I was happy the gauntlet portion wouldn''t be giving Pelopi an affliction. Happy with the result, I cast the spell by maneuvering the anchor point and situating it onto her arm. Pelopi shifted uncomfortably, perhaps feeling the subconscious effect of a spell within her personal aura. I was about to finally cast the spell when a sudden prompt appeared rather unexpectedly. I paused as a smile began rapidly forming on my face. ''Oh! So your stupid little create spells never got to claws, huh?'' "What''s got you so happy?" Eliza asked. "Apparently, the spell is entirely new. So, I get to name it." I replied. "That''s so cool!" Pelopi replied. "Okay, you''ve convinced me to work more on my magic! I had no idea you get to name spells!" "What are you going to name it?" Ian asked curiously. "For simplicity, I was thinking something like ice claw, but giving it something more impactful could be fun," I replied. "Well... You have Frostbite already, so what about Frostclaw?" Eliza suggested. "That sounds like a dad joke..." Ian chuckled. "I love it." "Frostclaw sounds awesome!" Pelopi cheered. I had to agree; it was a great-sounding name. Much better than [Create: Ice Claw] or whatever other garbage that other mage had created. "Frostclaw," I answered to the system message. I couldn''t hide my victorious smirk. Chapter 162: Ethereal Chapter 162: Ethereal Casting the new spell encased Pelopi''s arm in the icy gauntlet. I had to quickly warn her not to touch the claws under any circumstances. If we weren''t in the middle of a dungeon run and I had more time to endlessly tinker, I would have tried to scrutinize how buffs work and try to apply that to the spell. Pelopi spent some time swinging around her new toy and scratching the claws against the dungeon walls. It looked like she was trying to break it, but as long as I kept holding and maintaining the spell, it would repair the damage at the cost of some of my mana. When I finally released the spell, it cracked and crumbled off Pelopi''s arm, leaving behind some wet and cold-looking fur, and when she shifted back, it was bright pink. "Okay... It''s a little chilly but really fun!" Pelopi said, trying to warm up her arm. "I''d say we could wrap up your arm, but I don''t know how much warmer that would be than them being literally bear arms," Eliza replied. "Do you have [Ice Resistance]?" I asked, to which Pelopi shook her head. I rummaged through my profiles and found the trait sitting with the orc profile, then displayed it. "You''re like a walking treasure trove of traits," Ian joked. "She does have nearly fifty race levels." Eliza pointed out. "Are you beelining for your next ascension that much?" I chuckled, hoping to hide the fact I needed to lie to answer the awkward question. "I want to get all the elemental affinities since it ties directly to my class." "That makes sense," Pelopi said, then held out her other arm. "I''m ready for another test." I cast the spell, and she had fun practicing and swinging the icy claw around, leaving frosty scratches on the walls and floor. "I wonder if giving her a new toy will come back to bite us..." Eliza muttered while watching the unrestricted vandalism. "Let her have some fun," Ian replied, poking her. "She''s had a rough second floor with all the illusionary nonsense, and I bet even with those magic ice claws, the ghosts aren''t going to make it any easier for her..." Since [Frostclaw] wasn''t designed with the intent to hurt the wielder, even the first level of [Ice Resistance] combined with her bear arms was enough for Pelopi to comfortably wield it for an extended duration. I was asked if we could do it with any other elements; most notably, Pelopi wanted lightning claws, but I couldn''t see a way to mimic the effect of a gauntlet as it was far too immaterial of a concept. The rest of the evening went by with not much other details. When it was my turn to take watch, I made sure to wander away and thanked the dungeon again for the orange slime. There was no reaction again; even if it was a coincidence, I thought it better to be safe and polite. I also spent some time doing some very minor testing with [Nitro Slime] and what were the implications of "primed slime" since, according to the description, it retained its state for the duration. I formed a small sphere of slime and primed it, then placed it on the floor, completely separated from me. Unlike any of my previous attempts to separate my slime, it actually kept its form. As amazing as that was, it unfortunately was the limit of the extra control, and I couldn''t reform it once it was separated as usual. I also tried placing a [Sub-Core] in another sphere of primed slime, but despite the sphere retaining its shape, color, or any other modifications I had made before priming it, as soon as it left my grasp, the [Sub-Core] connection was broken. Unconnected slime control was still beyond my abilities, and I wondered if it was even possible. I certainly hoped so. If I had been willing to take the risk, I could''ve created a gauntlet of primed slime for Pelopi and perhaps made a solution for lightning claws that wouldn''t harm her. It was something potentially worth exploring, especially when I got my tendrils on that silver slime. I could make a metal slime sword that was actually detachable! For half an hour anyway... Finally, before my shift was over, I looked over my profile. There had been quite a few changes, and I couldn''t help but glare at my unmoving Elementalist levels. A lofty goal I anticipated would be all my [Sub-Cores] reaching level six together; that would be a glorious cascade of notifications. Name: Syl [Nature''s Bane] Race: Chimeric Cluster Slime (Blue) LV 1 (-3) Class: Elementalist LV 4 Status: Healthy Mana: Overflowing Emblems: [Experiment] [Apex Hunter] [Elven Legacy] [Dungeoneer] [Nature''s Bane]* [Manhunter] Traits: Slime: [Mana Slime LV 11] [Acid Slime LV 7] [Poison Slime LV 6] [Blaze Slime LV 6] [Cryo Slime LV 7] [Voltaic Slime LV 6] [Nitro Slime LV 6] [Morph Slime LV 8] [Pseudopod LV 7] [Slime Shot LV 7] [Vaporize Slime] Core: [Core Collective LV 8] [Core Storage LV 6] [Sub-Core Alpha LV 5] [Sub-Core Beta LV 5] [Sub-Core Gamma LV 5] [Sub-Core Eta LV 5] [Sub-Core Delta LV 5] [Sub-Core Theta LV 5] [Sub-Core Epsilon LV 5] [Sub-Core Iota LV 5] [Sub-Core Zeta LV 5] [Sub-Core Kappa LV 5] Mimic: [Chimeric Mimicry LV 7] [Chroma Shift LV MAX] [Consuming Osmosis LV MAX] Mana: [Mana Circulation LV 7] [Fire Magic LV 5] [Rogue Expertise LV 4] [Magical Subterfuge LV 3] [Subtle Afflictions] Skill Points remaining: 13 Profession: Enchanting: [Rune Reading LV 6] [Rune Engraving LV 1] [Rune Framework LV 7] [Rune Tracing LV 5] [Rune Design LV 3] [Runecrafting LV 2] [Rune Inspection LV 5] [Rune Filigree LV 3] [Rune Repair LV 2] [Brand] Profession Points Remaining: 0 *** Everyone woke excited for the day, although without Jet, none of us would have known the actual time, thanks to the dungeon''s artificial lighting. I thought he bought the skill [Time Keeper], which I had previously scoffed at, but he had a magical device that kept track of the time. It was a strange circular device with two arms that told you the time together. I would have thought it entirely mundane, but it had the tiniest sliver of an enchantment on it that, as far as I could tell, merely made the arms spin. I had wondered who came up with such a strange device, and thankfully, there was a [Brand] on the device indicating that its creator was Keldenar. ''So the Golemancer made these? Very interesting... I still have his invitation to visit his kingdom from that damage test. Perhaps I should bump my visits priority after the dwarves?'' With us finally ready, we started heading down the stairs to the final floor. Like the transition from the first to the second, it immediately stepped up in quality: the floor looked wonderfully paved, and the walls even had sconces. Before we reached the first room, I cast [Frostclaw] twice for Pelopi and had my two Ice [Sub-Cores] hold it. Thankfully, the upkeep cost was minimal, and Pelopi had seemingly gotten used to the discomfort of having my spells within her aura. We reached the first room without any traps, and inside, we could hear a yipping noise and chattering. Peering inside, we saw a bunch of little lizard people in various scaled colors, and most importantly, they all had different opacity levels. The lancers were only mildly transparent, whereas the three magical varieties were barely visible and even floating. "I bet how see-through they are is correlated to how ethereal they are," Eliza whispered. We all nodded in agreement. Which meant that it was my primary duty to deal with them, and I''d target the healers first. Ian and Pelopi were itching to try out their new weapons, so we didn''t do any further planning. Ian once again burst into the room, and Pelopi sprinted afterward while making a beeline towards the snipers. I used [Thunder Step] to appear midair beside one of the clerics, startling him as I cast a point-blank [Lightning Bolt]. Due to the sheer number of kobolds being thrown at us, I didn''t expect them to be too difficult to dispatch, but I didn''t expect my first cleric to basically be blasted into nonexistence. Even with all my various bonuses, it seemed far more effective than normal. This was further proven when Eliza''s black lightning from siphoning my self-damage demolished one of the other healers. Eliza didn''t have as many stacking bonuses as I did, so it was a rather strange sight, further proven when she stared at her hand in bewilderment. The lancers came in two varieties, one with a large twohanded spear and another with a short spear and shield. The shielded ones had [Taunt] and made sure to use the skill on us. [Taunt] was interesting; even if you resisted it, which I did, it still had a minor effect on you. If you attacked anyone but the taunter, you dealt reduced damage and had a constant nagging feeling in the back of your head. Failure meant you were compelled to attack the target, but these kobolds must not have had the skill at a high level as none of our group failed to resist. Ian swung his axe with excitement clearly visible on his face. He was testing out the blue enchantment side, and this time, it diddamage the lancer with which he was directly engaged. With well-practiced precision and a flick of his wrists, he instantly rotated the weapon around for his second swing on the red side. The second swing caused a huge bloody gash in the kobold, dropping it on the spot. With both kobold clerics down, I moved on to the geomancers, easily dispatching another with a [Lightning Bolt]. I felt a buildup of mana, and [Tremor Sense] detected huge vibrations below me, so I used another [Thunder Step] to go directly upwards. The ground erupted upwards into a deadly batch of rocky shards and spikes as if the ground was trying to eat me. In response, I threw a quick [Aegis] spell below me to block any shrapnel and watched Eliza take out another geomancer. Pelopi, meanwhile, was tearing through the kobolds, bouncing around the room like a flea before pouncing down on the small lizards and tearing into them with the icy claws. Any slashes she made would become a deadly frozen gash creeping over the kobolds before they poofed out. It was greatly upsetting that the ethereal theme likely meant there would be nothing left to harvest for this entire floor. Jet had tried shooting a few of the casters but soon switched to helping Ian with the lancers. It appeared he was dealing less damage than he liked against the more transparent variety. Thanks to their see-through nature, they didn''t seem to have solid shadows, which appeared to be reducing his usual method of attack. ''Such a strange interaction.'' I thought to myself before blasting another geomancer. "Can you save a pyromancer for me!" Ian shouted aloud. "Want to test the axe?" Eliza questioned. "Yup!" Ian replied with a grin as he cut into another lancer. Hilariously, the pyromancers were the least dangerous of the lot as the [Fire Arrow] spells it cast against Ian barely singed his skin. Likewise, the snipers were somewhat ineffectual, as Pelopi downright ignored some fired arrows. One of the snipers started becoming more opaque before firing an arrow, and this time, it left a flesh wound on her. An interesting observation for the post-battle talk. We didn''t take much longer to clean up the remaining kobolds, and Ian was slowly approaching the lone pyromancer left. I would''ve thought it might have cowered or begged, but it kept fighting mindlessly, showing a clear difference between dungeon-spawned monsters and others. Ian swung down with the red side, and it barely scratched the kobold, who responded by casting [Nova] right into Ian''s face, also doing almost nothing. With a big grin, Ian swung with the blue side again and tore straight through the ethereal kobold with a strange ripping noise. "I bloody love this axe!" Ian shouted aloud. "Red side for flesh, blue side for ghosts!" "Ghostflesh makes sense now..." Jet murmured. I definitely needed a thorough copy of the blue enchantment; perhaps I''d finally find a way to eat ghosts if I could somehow apply it to myself. Or could I possibly create an enchanted weapon with silver slime? ''Although how would I eat it then? The enchantment would break as soon as I turned the ghost weapon into slime for dissolving? If I combined it with [Acid Slime], would any dissolving be enough for a profile? Questions, so many questions...'' "Who cares about your silly axe? These claws were outstanding!" Pelopi boasted with a beaming smile. "I killed so many stupid ghosts!" "On the other hand, these ethereal ones seem to give me a lot of trouble..." Jet said, shaking his head. "They don''t have full shadows, so it''s reducing my umbral damage, and then my actual bolts don''t deal full damage due to their ethereal nature..." "I noticed one of the snipers briefly become opaque before firing." I pointed out. "So, at least for the physical damage dealers, they''re also hampered." "Which was why the mages were at maximum ghostliness." Pelopi agreed. "On the flip side, they were very weak..." Eliza added. "I know the lightning I''m siphoning from Syl is strong, but it was certainly not that strong before." "Ethereal entities take more damage from magic in exchange for their physical resistance or outright immunity." Jet explained. "It''s definitely a tradeoff." "Guess that''s good for me." I chuckled. "Well, until the dungeon starts stretching the definition of ethereal, like I''m half expecting it to do." Jet grumbled. "Hey, all things considered, the dungeon was pretty good to us so far." Ian argued. "Nothing like crazy pheromone ants on the first room of the second floor." "I bet it''s luring us into a false sense of security..." Pelopi speculated. Ian faked outrage with a gasp and ran his hand softly along the dungeon wall. "Don''t listen to the cranky catwolf, you beautiful dungeon. I love the axe, by the way..." "And to think I was worried about Syl, but he''s about to cheat on me with a stinky dungeon and an axe." Eliza joked. "To be fair. It is a beautiful axe." Jet responded. "Boys and their toys." Pelopi shook her head. "You''re one to talk, Miss [Frostclaw]!" Ian countered. We all couldn''t help but laugh at that exchange. So far, so good with our entrance to the third floor. Chapter 163: Phantoms and Shadows Chapter 163: Phantoms and Shadows The third floor was not what we expected. As we continued through it, we found ourselves relaxing more and more after the stressful second floor was put further behind us. While Ethereal was annoying, our composition was quite suited to counter, especially since Ian''s new axe could harm them. Our next encounter was with Phantom Yetis, and even though Pelopi had to give up using [Frostclaw], we still dispatched them relatively easily. Honestly, it was a bit weird how much the dungeon seemed to favor the large white furry creatures as this was their second appearance, and Ian boasted that the dungeon must really like him since it was throwing something he so effortlessly countered. He technically didn''t even need his new axe to beat them since they were extraordinarily weak to fire. I would have loved to have gotten my tendrils on their profile to see if there were some hidden gems for the dungeon to keep throwing them at us. Unfortunately, any cool and interesting monsters I saw on this damned floor were nothing but a tease, and it looked like the few monsters I got to eat on the second floor would be all I would be getting. Well, except for my orange slime, which was the true prize. Our loot for the yeti was some ordinary chainmail armor and some coin, much to the rest of the group''s disappointment. Everyone else was suspicious that the dungeon wasn''t being so ruthless on this floor. Pelopi still claimed it was trying to lure us into a trap, while Eliza wondered if the dungeon was just trying to get rid of us as soon as possible, as even the trapped hallways seemed to be gone. Ian defended the dungeon''s virtue, while Jet had no comment and still seemed extremely peeved about going through so many crossbows against the cat. Our next encounter was against headless knights called Dullahan. Their blackened armor and weapons looked extremely impressive and intimidating, which seemed to favor greatswords that they could wield one-handed. At first, we wondered how their being Ethereal would help such a clear physical monster, but they cleverly were only keeping their heads ghostly while their body remained entirely physical. The Dullahan hid their vulnerable ghostly heads inside their chest cavity, trying to exploit their intangible dual nature to their benefit. This rapidly turned in our favor as [Lightning Bolt] nearly killed one in a single blow, likely due to all the energy surging inside such a convenient conductive metal trap. After that demonstration, the remaining Dullahan hilariously all withdrew their heads from their chests with great haste. Seeing a dungeon monster act with such a determined effort to save itself was peculiar. I wondered if the dungeon master was taking a more direct approach, something like a course correction on what was supposed to be a challenging encounter suddenly being too easy. Sadly for the Dullahan, I could still just throw [Conductive] on their vulnerable head specifically, and it would help redirect my spells toward it. Dewi might have said [Fireball] was the solution to everything, but now I had begun to wonder if the true solution wasn''t [Lightning Bolt]. Noting that the Dullahan head was an entirely separate target, I cast [Conductive] on both the head and body of one and then cast [Chain Lightning]. The body tried to block the bolt of magical energy with its body, as it knew trying to dodge with its head wasn''t viable. The result was the [Chain Lightning] violently striking into the armored body before sparking off into the head, then back into the body and repeating over and over until the Dullahan exploded into dead ghostly mist. Thankfully, the remaining energy within the spell was not enough to jump toward any further targets, and it was discharged safely. "Well... That was shocking." I said with a nervous chuckle. "As I warned, the spell can be extremely dangerous." Jet shook his head. "At least you aren''t using yourself as a conduit like Lisa once tried." ''One in three lightning mages end up killing themselves... I''m starting to think Trixie wasn''t just joking around.'' These monsters also proved that Ian''s axe had a limit; it wasn''t called Ghostflesh for nothing, and the red enchantment seemed to give no additional benefit against their blackened armor. At least it still dealt damage, though, which could not be said for the blue enchantment, which seemed incapable of dealing even blunt damage against corporeal targets. ''I''ll need to be careful if I successfully reproduce that enchantment effect. Imagine if I put that enchantment on my core and made myself permanently unable to deal damage to non-ghosts. I''d be forced to destroy my core.'' Other than my lightning, Jet was actually the most effective against these heavily armored foes. His umbral crossbow bolts seemed to pierce through any and all defense, and it was abruptly clear he was not holding back. It was surreal to see the actual bolt ricochet off the armor relatively harmlessly, only for a puncture wound to abruptly burst from seemingly nowhere. ''My debt is almost paid off...'' After a brief respite, we swiftly continued since there was no loot to gather or corpses to harvest. Our theory that the dungeon was trying to get us out of it as soon as possible was called into question when the next room was full of rock, crystal, and earth elementals, clearly in retaliation to my abundant use of lightning. Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. To make matters worse, they didn''t just have a generic Ethereal mutation; instead, they had one that clearly skirted the theme''s edges. Shadow. I would have thought Jet would have thrived against such foes, but it appeared that would not be the case, as it seemed the Shadow mutation gave a generic resistance against almost everything due to its strange sort of ethereal nature. Big tanky earth elementals with improved resistances... "Well... This is going to be a slog." Ian grumbled. And a slog it was. We dispatched most lesser elementals without much trouble, but the Crystal variety was highly resistant to magic even before its Shadowy mutation. It finally went down after a lot of combined effort from Pelopi and Jet, absolutely pummeling it with endless attacks. It finally cracked, shattered, and collapsed into a lifeless, hazy black blob. That only left the Obsidian one, which, despite our best efforts, resisted almost everything we threw at it. Water and Corrosion seemed the best available out of my magic options, but even that produced a lackluster result. Seeing [Waterjet] fail to penetrate the elemental despite [Permeable] and [Hexed] being applied to it was extremely demoralizing, and I wished I could have gone full slime on the blasted thing. The way we finally dealt with the monster was boring but effective. I cast [Mana Burn] on it, and we waited till it eventually ran out of mana and died. Sure, there was no glory, and it wasn''t very fun, but we won against the blasted thing. We each had to take turns kiting the slow and cumbersome monster around the room, as Ian did not have the stamina to handle the task for the full duration. "So boring!" Pelopi whined. "I didn''t expect the dungeon to throw such a high-tier monster at us, although thankfully, it was just one of the durable variety." Jet said. "Evolution crazy...." Eliza muttered. "It''s a pity; imagine if we could have civilized goblins on our side." "Goblin adventurers would be kind of fun," Pelopi giggled. "It''s been tried and failed far too many times, unfortunately." Jet shrugged. "It never ends well." "Boo! That''s no fun." Pelopi whined. "Hey, don''t shoot the messenger," Jet waved his hand. "Go complain to the Gods." "What about [Bonded Companions]?" I asked curiously. "Yeah! Monster Tamers!" Pelopi agreed with unbridled energy and enthusiasm. "Damn, you aren''t giving this old man a break." Jet chuckled. "You''re not that old yet." Ian countered. "Compared to you lot, I feel like I am." Jet teased. "Now, I''m no expert, but from what I understand, the bond helps keep the sanity in check, but if the monster evolves too quickly before a well-established relationship, the companion becomes feral and must be put down." Pelopi flinched, and her ears drooped in disappointment. "Brutal," Ian commented. "Harsh," Eliza agreed. "Hey, I said I''m not an expert!" Jet defended himself. "There are probably other ways around it, like dominating the beast until it complies or perhaps tricking it with snacks, or who knows." Rested up, we continued onwards, only to be met with an extremely large set of ornate doors not long after. "Final boss room already?" Jet murmured, unable to hide his surprise. "The dungeon must genuinely want to get rid of us," Eliza giggled. "Hardly any traps. No forked passageways. Looks like the dungeon is treating us well." Ian said passionately. "Almost no loot though," I added. "I''m not going to complain! I can''t wait to see the sun again!" Pelopi cheered. "So... The final boss will be all three mutations?" I commented. "A mismatch of multiple monsters with illusions and ethereal..." Jet answered, then shook his head. "I get the feeling I''m going to despise this." "Look on the bright side; at least you don''t need to eat your hat anymore." Pelopi teased. I could''ve sworn I felt my oversized witch hat tremble at that comment. Chapter 164: Boss Time Chapter 164: Boss Time "Well, I''m ready," Ian said excitedly, softly tossing the axe handle between his hands. "Remember, retreat is an option." Jet warned. "You have already passed in my books." "Thanks, but..." Eliza started replying. "We want to kick this dungeon''s butt!" Pelopi roared. "Don''t get me wrong, I fully agree." Jet smirked. "I''m just fulfilling my guild staff obligation." He pulled out his [Splinterstorm] crossbow and stroked it with a glint in his eyes. "I think we all want some... Revenge." Ian pointed to his axe and chuckled. "I don''t know if I''d say revenge, but I want to finish the job." "Remember to be on the lookout for illusions..." I warned. "The worst part is, thanks to the first floor, it will be a huge mystery..." Eliza sighed. "I''m assuming the boss will just be a big unknown with [Identify]." "Yes, which is actually very unfortunate." Jet grumbled. "If we knew what type of ethereal monster it was, it could help, like the difference between a phantom and a shadow." "Anything but pheromones again..." Pelopi pleaded as she rubbed her nose uncomfortably. "Our usual opener?" I asked Eliza. "I''m still pretty topped up on my Holy pool, but I won''t say no to more black lightning," Eliza replied happily. "Just please wait till I use [Taunt] first," Ian groaned. The Misfits did some last-minute emergency potion distribution, and then everyone finally declared they were fully ready. At the same time, Jet pulled out a black cloak and hood that he draped over himself. I tried to have my [Sub-Cores] memorize any enchantments they saw in the brief moments before it activated, causing his features to become heavily obscured by an oppressive shadowy aura. Then... We entered. The room was large and circular, with massive marble pillars reaching the ceiling arranged fairly symmetrically. At the center was a giant magical circle with intricate sigils and embellishing glyphs. It looked majestic as it shone brightly with vivid magical coloring. It was also clearly fake, as [Rune Reading] showed that the entire thing was a bunch of Filigree. ''Well... Points for presentation.'' The boss hadn''t appeared yet, and everyone split up to avoid being clumped up, our ranged combatants taking position safely behind a marble pillar. Finally, Ian approached the center with Pelopi in the wings, ready to pounce. The room flickered with magical lights, and the fake magic circle put on a wonderful display. Thunder crackled, and there was a booming, echoey laugh. Transparent barriers enclosed the circle, and then, within the circle, a tremendous eyeball appeared. ''Huh...'' The eyeball rotated and blinked while the room hummed with magical energy. Then, multiple tendrils burst out from the eyeball, each with a different claw, appendage, mouth, or even more eyes. ''Ripoff! I already did that in Simon''s dungeon.'' I joked to myself. "Oh gods, is that an Eyedra?" Jet muttered. "As in... A hydra of eyes?" Eliza asked. "Yes." Jet responded. "Although it seems to have replaced its eyes with... Everything." With that out of the way, I shifted my alignment to Water and began firing [Waterjet] spells to cut down the number of threats we needed to watch out for. Hopefully, the eyeball didn''t have regeneration or anything, and they would stay trimmed. The eyeball must have hated what I was doing as it sent a handful to directly assault me before I zipped away, thanks to [Thunder Step]. ''Man, I love this skill. As awesome as magic is, I wonder what I''m missing out on from the non-casters.'' I couldn''t help being curious. Eliza was making sure to use marble pillars as cover as she darted around the battlefield and occasionally threw out a variety of blackish blades and piercing spells. Ian was doing his job well and was being assailed by multiple tentacles of all varieties while she was sucking up the damage and trying to dish it back out. He was swinging his axe around with reckless abandon and a battle-frenzied grin. Occasionally, his axe would pass straight through an illusioned tentacle, but he took those in stride before swinging again. The Eyedra was relatively clever with its usage of intangibility as it would try its best to partially shift a tendril where either Pelopi''s claws or Ian''s axe would swing through. Pelopi would follow up any failed shredding with the [Frostclaw], while Ian would pivot into using the blue blade to rend through any ghostly shenanigans. Jet, true to his word, was not holding back. The man was like an undefined shadowy blur of a presence on the battlefield, and if not for the occasional volley of bolts being fired, I would''ve sworn he had left us. From where I saw his bolts land, he tried his best to target the eyestalk tentacles exclusively. Speaking of which, those mini-eyeballs were quite nasty and would cast relatively basic low-level spells from a wide variety of magical affinities. No big spells were being cast from them, and while I didn''t know the exact spells of the affinities I didn''t have, I presumed nothing went above second-level spells, as they matched the mana quantity of [Fire Arrow] and [Acid Dart] that was being flung around. It was like each eyeball tentacle was a poor man''s [Sub-Core], and I soon spotted that the color of the iris seemed to determine what spell affinity the tentacle could cast. ''Are we seriously fighting a bargain bin version of myself? Just with added illusions and ghostly bullshit instead of all my cool slime traits.'' I so desperately wished I could throw around some slime right now and assert my dominance over this crude impersonation. My cockiness backfired, and I must not have been random enough with my [Thunder Steps] as when I reappeared from my latest jump, the giant eyeball fired a beam of pure arcane energy directly at me. I threw up a [Aegis] spell, which shattered nearly instantly, then rapidly started throwing more and more behind one another to stop the arcane deathray. I sadly had no time to see if that was a spell or trait as the eyeball seemed to take my momentary distraction as the perfect chance to strike. Hidden eyestalks suddenly appeared with an entirely black iris. They reeked of Death mana, and suddenly, I felt a slow and draining pain in my core. ''A low-level [Death Magic] spell?'' I wondered. I cast [Arcane Armor] on my core directly, and the constant pain was more than halved. I was grateful they were limited to this basic spell. If they could just rip the life force right out of me, I would''ve been in some serious trouble. Not that I was going to let it slowly siphon me, as I quickly ordered Zeta and Kappa to remove those eyeballs with [Waterjet] while I kept defending myself. ''No idea how many spells you can [Multicast], but I''ve got my army of cores on my side!'' I would''ve loved to have said it was a flawless execution, but the Eyedra wouldn''t let me destroy its Death eyes without some struggle as they began to weave and dodge like slippery snakes. My surroundings darkened dramatically, and my shadow spread as if suddenly growing. Abruptly, a vaguely humanoid shape half-emerged and pulled out a crossbow from the shrouded pit. "Need a hand?" Jet''s familiar voice asked although it sounded strangely distorted. "I mean... If you''re offering," I responded. "I''ve got all eyes on me right now." Jet chuckled, although it sounded far from reassuring, thanks to his distorted voice, before firing a volley of bolts with pinpoint accuracy. When the Death eyes tried to be tricky with their evasion, he simply targeted their shadows, which ruptured the eyes into lifeless stumps. Between Jet and my two Water cores, soon all the ambushing eyes were dealt with moments before the giant arcane laser finally fizzled out. "Strike now while it has to recharge!" Jet''s voice echoed from every shadow within the room. Everyone flinched and spouted a variety of curses from sheer shock. "I''m glad he''s on our side..." I heard Eliza mutter before all three Misfits burst into action, and I happily joined them; it was time to turn the tables. Chapter 165: Eyedra Chapter 165: Eyedra With Jet''s declaration, we had believed this was our moment to end the battle. Fueled by determination, we unleashed as a collective force, holding nothing back. Whether Jet''s knowledge was lacking or he had underestimated the boss monster, our chance was met with a ruthless counterattack. The remaining eyestalks tried to cast a barrage of spells to intercept; arrows of fire, darts of acid, balls of water, blades of wind, and shards of rock attempted to make an unrelenting barrage against us. Meanwhile, the tentacles with added appendages tried to stab, cut, shred, pincer, or even just body block if all else failed. Despite the mounting wounds, Ian remained an unstoppable force. His resilience was awe-inspiring as he shrugged off the repeated blows with seemingly little care. His toughness must have been off the charts, and he clearly had only one objective: to plant his shiny axe into the giant eyeball. ''Then again, he does have the utmost confidence in Eliza to keep him breathing.'' Pelopi, due to her choice of attack, was also forced to engage in melee, and unlike Ian, she couldn''t just barrel through. Instead, she started dodging and weaving while pouncing forward, even using some of the tendrils to vault herself further forward. The way her body contorted and flexed was shockingly impressive. ''She''s supposed to be a human, yet here she''s impressing me with her body control, and I''m a slime!'' With ample energy being siphoned from Ian, Eliza threw out black bolts like there was no tomorrow. It would have been funny if it manifested as her own black tentacles, but it seemed that if the damage source was too varied, that was the default fallback. Rather than trying to strike the central eye, she targeted the limbs that had abandoned any idea of self-preservation to stop the incoming adventurers. Jet was the luckiest of the bunch; being entirely ranged, he didn''t need to charge forward to deal damage. As I wondered what he would do while not holding back, it was answered as his own shadow lifted itself off the ground, and he casually tossed one of his spare crossbows. It nodded silently as if receiving an order and began its covering fire. The eyeball was desperate, throwing out illusions to stop the group. Lousy illusions. Who would honestly believe a flawless wall would suddenly appear in front of them without any source at all. The Eyedra was certainly no Fey with its attempted trickery. Pelopi and Ian charged through the illusions without hesitation, and neither Jet nor his shadow failed to hit their mark. That left me. Since its defenses were supposedly lowered and it was already debuffed, I began throwing out afflictions before the melee began. It would have been amazing if I could have sealed the deal with [Mana Burn], but the Eyedra had such vast quantities of mana that it was not a viable option. Still, every little bit of damage would help. Since I knew Pelopi would be engaging in melee and she was still armed with one [Frostclaw], I decided I''d use [Icicle] on the Eyedra since it would avoid collateral damage on the rest of the party. Perhaps we could build up enough freeze ailment together. But first, I opened up with a trusty [Fireball] spell so I could brag to Dewi the next time I saw him. The spell detonated in a spectacular explosion of blue flame that thankfully dispersed before Ian or Pelopi arrived. Sadly, its high magic resistance was clearly showing, and I couldn''t help but be a little disappointed in the lack of damage. This was further emphasized when I threw out a [Lightning Bolt] to see it almost disperse against a membrane of protective skin tightly covering the Eyedra. [Icicle] was more effective due to its more physical nature, but even that was quite disappointing. When Ian finally reached it and swung his axe, causing a huge bloody gash into the eye, easily outdoing all the cumulative damage I dealt to the central eye in a single hit, I couldn''t help but feel a little jealous. Pelopi also began slashing into it with unbridled feral ferocity. She even started growling and looking a lot more bestial with each swing of her claws. ''Guess this is their chance to shine. Oh well, I''ll start on tentacle cleanup duty then.'' I shifted most of my cores over to Lightning and ordered them to start casting [Conductive] on all tentacles in sight. Integrating it with [Lightning Rod] was still one of my proudest magical achievements, and I was going to have some fun. Swapping over to [Electro-Magnetic Sense], I looked for the largest cluster of now brightly glowing tentacles and began casting and firing an empowered [Chain Lightning] spell with glee. It. Was. Glorious! The bolt of lightning struck the tentacle, sparkling and crackling with overwhelming energy. It was fried into a charred husk before the spell bounced to the next nearest target. Between all the sparks and crackling thunder, it was like a miniature fireworks display was going off as the spell bounced around the room. When I spotted another juicy cluster, I wasted no time hurling out another spell to chain between the tentacles and wipe them out. The eyeball was covered in horrific wounds when it suddenly surged with arcane energy and released a shockwave, knocking everyone back. It began slowly floating upwards as interlocking hexagonal barriers started to form and surround it. Any remaining tentacles, even stumps, it had was retracted to within the safety of the barrier while it stared menacingly at us. Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. "Damn, guess we don''t have enough damage to kill it in one go." Jet grumbled in his still distorted voice. His shadow was trying to regain itself, but it looked far less substantial now. "My legs!" Ian began yelling in panic. We all stared at him as he tried to crawl away further away from the Eyedra. His legs looked roughed up but perfectly fine, yet he was yelling as if he was amputated. "On the plus side, if it tries to cast outside of its barrier, I''ll make it pay," I said. "We need a way to dispel through that damn barrier," Eliza said, chewing on her thumbnail with frustration. "Oh," I responded in shock. "I''ll try [Dispel]." "I thought you didn''t have it?" Eliza asked with an accusatory tone. "I actually got it after the cat boss..." I admitted. "It kind of slipped my mind with everything else going on." "Great!" Jet replied. "Everyone, get ready!" I began preparing to cast [Dispel], dumping a considerable dose of mana into it as I wasn''t entirely sure how much I would need. I had not used the spell and figured more would likely lead to a more favorable outcome. The Eyedra must have known what I was doing as it risked casting another spell behind me, the black scythe of death mana forming before my [Sub-Cores] grabbed it for me and shredded it with ruthless efficiency. Perhaps truly frantic, it attempted to cast two spells simultaneously, but again, my [Sub-Cores] jumped into action and ripped them apart. ''Haha! Thanks for the free level!'' I taunted in my head. ''Even without my help, it''s ten against one; you got no chance, you bloated eyeball.'' Finalizing the spell, I informed everyone; they all readied attacks, waiting for it to go off. Well, except for Pelopi, who was still mindlessly smashing against the barrier in her hulking bear form. The spell went off, and the barrier briefly dropped; everyone barely landed a single attack before being shunted backward, and the barrier returned. "Well... That kinda worked?" Ian said, rubbing his head. Pelopi roared in agreement. Or maybe in complaint? I had no idea; I wasn''t fluent in bear. ''Unless [Nature Commune] works? Does Pelopi count as a non-magical animal?'' I wondered. My curiosity couldn''t be contained, and so I tried it out. No response. I doubted Pelopi was dumber than that wolf I tried to speak to, so unfortunately, she must not have been a viable target. "So, do we just keep trying to kill it one hit at a time?" Eliza asked. "I''m surprised it reformed so quickly..." Ian grumbled. "It wasn''t fully destroyed." Jet answered. "What do you mean?" Ian asked. "I thought that was the point of [Dispel]? It destroys magic, right?" "If you totally overwhelm the spell, it does. Otherwise, it can briefly turn it off." Eliza answered. "That barrier is absolutely crazy, so I kind of doubt Syl can completely overpower it." "Hey..." I complained, feeling a tiny bit insulted. "No offense!" Eliza apologized. "So..." Ian said awkwardly. "Strategy session?" Everyone else agreed. I grumbled out mine, still feeling a little soured. Chapter 166: Acidic Solutions Chapter 166: Acidic Solutions "So... Any ideas?" Ian asked. If I had my way, we would just be smacking it between my [Dispels], but the others seemed reluctant. It would be a slow and steady way to victory since we could see the Eyedra was slowly regenerating over time. If I used a giant combination casting with all of my [Sub-Cores] and a massive chunk of my mana, I would be relatively sure I could just overpower the Eyedra''s reinforced barrier. Still, it would be an enormous display of power that I probably couldn''t explain away as "elf things." The Eyedra was more than happy to glare at us from its protective bubble and lick its wounds. Only occasionally attempting to cast a spell outside when it thought our guard was down before my [Sub-Cores] would shatter it. I had thought of seizing the spell and trying to drain the Eyedra that way, but that would also be a massive revelation that would be hard to explain away. The Eyedra also kept using [Death Magic], with which I had zero familiarity, furthering my hesitancy. What if I accidentally modified it, and it killed everyone in the room? "We need something to keep damaging it even while it hides away," Eliza replied. "We could try a poison or something, perhaps? Jet suggested. He had dropped his full shadow mode and was looking haggard. Whatever that was, it evidently took a lot out of him to do it for an extended period of time. ''Actually, everyone other than Pelopi and myself looks exhausted. I guess that''s why they aren''t happy about extending the fight out longer.'' "Poison or Acid could work..." I mumbled. "But the problem is its intangibility." "Actually, that might not be a problem. It''s been remaining tangible more often when I smack it with the blue blade." Ian said and proudly patted his axe. "It really hates the ghost-hitting enchantment for some reason." "So. Does our super magical elf assassin have some awesome poison for us?" Eliza asked teasingly. I paused to think. Ideally, I''d use Bloodrot [Poison Slime], but that would undoubtedly be an illegal substance. My other big option would be [Acid Slime], which would certainly cause tremendous damage to the Eyedra with its reduced defenses and its absurd potency. The only issue was how to deliver it, as even if I borrowed a potion vial or similar, I doubted it would survive the full extent of [Acid Slime LV 7]. While pretending to be lost in thought, I started experimenting inside of myself. I formed a potion bottle out of slime and primed it with [Nitro Slime] after filling its center with my highest concentration and density of [Acid Slime]. Unfortunately, the slime bottle melted, and all the slime rejoined inside me again. I grumbled in annoyance as I felt my [Sub-Cores] fend off another attempt of [Death Magic]. I needed [Acid Slime] to prevent the [Nitro Slime] from melting. Ideally, I''d just mix the two and be done with it, but I planned to have one of the others toss the bottle at the Eyedra, likely Jet, who could no doubt do it perfectly hidden once the Eyedra became tangible. I was extremely worried that handing a bottle literally made out of [Acid Slime] would likely melt their flesh, even if it was in a primed state. I repeated the process again, but this time, I coated the inside of the slime bottle with a mix of [Nitro Slime] and [Acid Slime] and primed both. The final result was a bottle outside of [Nitro Slime], a full container of maximum [Acid Slime], and the mix layered between. Sloshing the bottle around, I noted that the primed mixture successfully contained it, and there seemed to be no interaction between the two primed layers. Happy with the result, I pulled it out from my "bag" and held it up for the others to witness. "I really didn''t want to use this..." I lied. "But this is an extremely powerful non-magical acid." I swished the bottle around, letting the contents swirl. The fake bottle was semi-transparent, while the acidic contents were bright green. Jet whistled, sounding quite impressed. "Is that... Green slime?" Eliza asked, frowning. "Something like that..." I answered reluctantly. "I''m shocked it hasn''t melted that bottle into goop," Jet replied. "If it''s as powerful as you say it is, there''s not much that can keep green slime contained." "Which is why I''m extremely reluctant to use this." I lied again, hoping it sounded reasonable. "No doubt. I bet an alchemist would try to rob you for it." Jet chuckled. "Indeed..." I grumbled uncomfortably and presented the bottle to Jet. "Ian makes it tangible; you throw the bottle at it." Jet hesitantly accepted the bottle. I admittedly was a little nervous about him touching it, but there were no adverse effects. "Well, I like that plan." Jet grinned. "Me too." Ian agreed. Pelopi roared. "True... Anyway, let''s claim our final chest. I want to be out of this damn dungeon right after." Jet responded as he started walking to the back of the room, where a large, ornately decorated chest awaited. Ian nodded but snuck me a quick wink and thumbs up before following after Jet. "At least the dungeon isn''t being skimpy on our final reward..." Jet admitted before looking over the chest. Surprisingly, he discovered a single trap on the chest, linked to a micro-crossbow hidden within the fake lock. He disarmed the trap with relative ease and then dismantled and removed the micro-crossbow. He was eagerly examining it as he muttered to himself. "I bet I could get this as a wrist mount..." Jet said, barely hiding his enthusiasm. "Reloading it would be a bitch, but if I had it coated with a poison or something, it would be great for emergencies..." "Forget your toy!" Ian complained. "What about the loot?" Inside the chest was a crossbow, although unenchanted and made of a strange wood that made Jet curious. There was also a set of hide armor, which came in a stunning bright orange with black stripes, enchanted with self-repair and size-changing. The inside was also full of various coin denominations, although the vast bulk seemed to be silver rather than gold to make up a more impressive quantity. Finally, there was the true prize, a ring of pure black metal with three individual transparent gems arranged in a triangular formation on the large setting. "Bloody hells." Jet said when he spotted the ring. Each tiny gem held an identical intricate spherical enchantment that I hastily ordered all of my [Sub-Cores] to save the blueprint. Once again, it was beyond my [Rune Reading] level, but the name given by [Appraisal] was rather self-explanatory. "Does it do what it says on the tin?" I asked Jet since he seemed to have some idea. "Yes. You cast a spell into the ring, which is saved in one of the gems. This one has three sockets and is a very good find." Jet explained. "Oh? How big is the range?" I asked with genuine curiosity. At the same time, I examined the ring from different angles to ensure my cores were recording every minute detail. "Lowest is one, highest I''ve heard about is six." Jet answered. "High-ranking nobles love them; they usually store them with an offensive and healing spell." "That sounds perfect for Eliza..." Ian mumbled. "Assuming she can store one of her healing spells, she''d have an emergency heal in case her Holy pool is empty." "An excellent idea." Jet agreed. "But..." Ian said with a little dismay. I noticed he was looking at me, and I pieced together his concern. "Don''t worry, I don''t want it." I chuckled and gave a reassuring smile. "It''s fascinating from a magical perspective, but I don''t think I''d have much use in storing a spell." ''Well... At least in ring form...'' I admitted to myself. ''If I could find a way to replicate this spherical enchantment on a core, or perhaps even slime when I get my silver core, then who knows what possibilities there are.'' Ian looked relieved and then a little guilty. "Are you sure? You''ve not exactly gotten much loot from this dungeon for yourself." "Ian''s right." Jet admitted. "You took a dagger for your friend, but otherwise, there''s been nothing for you." ''Well... My real prize was the orange slime core.'' Not that they know about that. "What are you talking about?" I smiled mischievously. "I got this amazing hat." Both of them blinked in confusion, staring hard at the hat. "I honestly forgot about the hat..." Jet admitted. "Same..." Ian agreed. "Well, if it makes you feel any better, just let me witness both storing and using a spell from the ring a few times for educational purposes," I said. "That''s more than reasonable." Ian smiled and then burst into laughter. "Hell, I bet Eliza will beg you to store a [Lightning Bolt] in the damn ring!" "I understand completely," I said, giving a finger flourishing of sparks. "I''ve been finding Lightning very addictive." Chapter 167: Stunning Advice Chapter 167: Stunning Advice Pelopi and Eliza eventually joined the rest of us, the former now wearing a new set of clearly disposable clothing. We brought both of them up to speed and started discussing the loot distribution. Pelopi was quite disappointed with the loot on display until I pointed out that the hide armor was good for her since it held self-repair and resizing. I was glad to repurpose the advice I had received from Simon. I hadn''t bothered to invest in it, opting for most of my attire, other than my salamander leathers, to be pure slime for now. Pelopi was hesitant to try out the armor with some partial beast shifting, not wanting to ruin the attire until I pointed out that even in the worst-case scenario, if she slightly damaged it, the outfit would repair over time. The childlike glee on her face was quite the sight when she found the outfit freely expanded to match her shifting. Jet took the mundane crossbow, some coin, and the trap crossbow, which was not technically a reward, but he seemed to be counting it. Ian obviously didn''t want anything and even said he''d forfeit some of his portions to pay for Eliza''s ring. He was quite happy with his axe. Nothing really caught my eye outside of what I had already taken, although the Misfits had sort of forced the [Cloak of Slowfall] onto me. Eliza argued that if I used it in combination with [Thunder Step], I could safely glide without worrying about gravity and rain death down on monsters below me. It felt like a waste for me since I had wings and could fly, but that was not true for Syl the Elf, so I reluctantly accepted it. Eliza was absolutely thrilled with the ring and immediately sought to confirm that it worked with her type of magic. Luckily, her Holy pool hadn''t completely drained yet, so she rapidly tested out a few spells. It was a complete success, and I got to witness the enchantment in action very directly. As Ian predicted, Eliza immediately asked me if I could store two [Lightning Bolt] spells for her. I had asked if she wouldn''t prefer [Chain Lightning], but Ian practically screamed his objection. Jet also cited safety concerns, and Eliza very reluctantly agreed. I had to wear the ring to store a spell, but other than that restriction, it was easily intuitive. I stored and cast a few spells, trying to further investigate the enchantment where possible. A rather neat feature was that the clear crystal gem that housed the enchantment would glow when it stored a spell, and its glow color was related to the spell''s affinity. Needless to say, Eliza tried out a few [Lightning Bolt] spells herself, which I happily refilled. Perhaps we were excessive in our testing and tomfoolery, or I was just that close after using [Lightning Magic] so often, as I received a rather sudden notification during our fun. ''So [Lightning Magic] also has its own ailment!'' I thought excitedly. From what I could tell from the spell, it inflicted the [Stunned] ailment, temporarily preventing the receiver from moving. Unlike any other ailment, though, its duration was minuscule, and if I understood it correctly, even if fully boosted, it would not exceed a few seconds. "Something wrong?" Eliza asked. "Oh, sorry, I just got a new spell..." I replied, realizing I must have stood there utter silence. "Is it better than [Chain Lightning]?" Eliza asked curiously, unable to hide a clearly mischievous grin. "Eliza... No..." Ian cautioned. I cast the new spell and watched my hand begin to spark at an extreme frequency, accompanied by a loud buzzing-ticking sound. Compared to [Lightning Bolt], it seemed different and was a blueish-purple color. Jet suddenly leaped backward, cursing and swearing up a storm. "Gods!" He shouted, recovering from his panic. "You scared the life right out of me." "Sorry?" I said, unsure. Jet seemed to recover and shook his head. "No... No, it''s not your fault. It''s Lisa''s." "Explain?" Eliza asked. "That spell," Jet pointed harshly at my hand. "Lisa thought it was a hilarious prank to use it on us since it didn''t deal damage. Needless to say, I''ve been... Conditioned to react a little uncouth due to it." "Yeesh. Glad I''m not in your party." Pelopi expressed. "How bad can it be?" Ian said, shrugging. "I would''ve recommended getting some more animal shifts, but that already seems to be your priority, so I''ll say you should try giving some more attention to some magic." "As Syl demonstrated, there are other uses for magic, and if you could add some magic claws or even some crowd control via some plants or vines, I think you''d add a lot more to your versatility." Pelopi nodded, although she looked like she had been fed a lemon with that last statement. "Ian. You''re the party tank, and you fulfill the role tremendously well. You take the damage and dish it back out, and your self-immolation style to work in tandem with your dedicated healer is outstanding teamwork." "My suggestion, although I''m pretty sure you''re aware of it, is that you''re rapidly becoming fireproof, although it seems your class has given you an extremer flame to compensate for that. I don''t know how that will work out when you reach immunity, as that tends to be very cut and dry." "My one issue with your style is that there are some attacks you just cannot take. Right now, you throw yourself into the damage, and I worry that when you need to tank an opponent that needs to be avoided or blocked, you could end up in a dire situation. That shield bracer is a start, although you seemed to have forgotten it existed after you got your shiny new axe." Ian facepalmed and groaned in frustration. "Damn it! I completely forgot about the bracer!" "Eliza... Your class is the most absurd of the bunch, and that''s putting it lightly. I''ve never witnessed a healer that heals through damage, but I have to say it was fascinating. The cooperation and teamwork between you and Ian are enviable, and I applaud the kill-it-quickly fighting style." "I won''t rehash what I said about Ian''s eventual fireproofing, but just be aware of it as that was your most reliable source. Your new ring has thankfully shored up your biggest weakness; your Holy pool being empty at the start of a fight." "I wish I could give you some solid or confirmed advice, but because your class is so unknown to me, I can only make suggestions. I hope they bear fruit for you in the future... The most pressing thing would be to learn more thoroughly what you cannot siphon, as demonstrated in our last fight where Syl was left damaged, unbeknown to you. The other suggestion would be to investigate further into what spells you can cast from your Holy pool. Buffs come to mind, but even things such as regeneration spells or area healing could be ideal focus areas." Eliza nodded. "Thanks, I''ll definitely look into both." "Syl. Your class is terrifyingly adaptable and potent; it is a textbook example showing that not all classes, even on the same tier, are equal. I genuinely wish we had more people like you to show youngsters not to rush to their first advanced class, and I''m so glad that none of the Misfits have picked one yet." "Your debuffs alone would be enough to put you on any party, but you also can capitalize on those yourself and brutally target weaknesses. I really liked how you were willing to help Pelopi out; I just wish you had offered something sooner. You''re a bit of a lone wolf, and it shows." "Now, there''s nothing strictly wrong with that, and I''d honestly say you''re already better than the average solo temp I''ve worked with. So, take it more as an advisement than a criticism. Notably, on your offensive side, you could have suggested some tactics for some of your more collateral spells to shine, like [Fireball] and [Chain Lightning]." "The Eyedra gave you a bit of a struggle with its high magic resistance, but honestly, if you''re in a party, you should rely on others to cover that weakness for you. I''m most assuredly not going to tell you to be a master mage and warrior." Jet paused and scratched his chin. "Actually... Yeah, that''s something to work on; rely on others a little more. Assuming you actually desire to join more parties in the future anyway." I paused to let his advice sink in. It was definitely true and solid advice, assuming I was just a mage. Obviously, in reality, my fallback would be my slime. Still, it was true that I felt myself holding back, perhaps a little too much, and I should have coordinated a bit more so I could throw around [Chain Lightning] without needing a massive setup with [Conductive]. But what truly had me thinking was Jet''s last comment. Did I want to be in parties in the future? While my time with the Misfits was pleasant, I enjoyed being fully open and myself in my adventures with Trixie. Although I''d hardly say Trixie and I had much teamwork in that regard, as in actual combat, her biggest contribution was making my [Icicle] spells invisible. ''Well, once I''ve got my silver core, I can reevaluate how much I want to moonlight as an adventurer. The solo work definitely still suits me.'' We all continued chatting and sharing random thoughts and advice, thanks to Jet''s icebreaker. Overall, it was a pleasant group conversation that helped pass the time ascending the massive staircase. We eventually reached the end, where it was blocked by a hatch; opening it, we were welcomed by the fading afternoon sunlight. "Sunlight and fresh air!" Pelopi joyously exclaimed. "Dungeon officially complete!" Eliza said happily. "And now we can celebrate the night away!" Ian cheered. "The gods know I need a stiff drink..." Jet sighed. It certainly sounded like it would be a night of festivities. Chapter 168: Farewell and a Letter Chapter 168: Farewell and a Letter A serpentine body coiled up as it watched the latest group exit the dungeon. A sigh of relief escaped from its mandible mouth. "To think I was threatened by a slime..." The horrific amalgamation muttered. "At least it was restrained by its disguise. When I encountered it, it tore through my dungeon unabated." A skeletal voice replied from a shimmering image. "You know I don''t respond well to threats, Simon." It snapped back. "And it''s your fault it has that damnable Emblem." "Regrettably, our hands are tied. It''s the pet project of one of the gods." "Yes... And what a strange project it is... The one silver lining is the next Dungeon Master who comes across that pest is in for a nasty surprise." The strange creature started to chortle maniacally. "I would have thought you might have been pleased to see another chimeric monster," Simon said slightly mockingly. "You could even claim to be its distant cousin." "Yes... Just like you are related to those mindless zombies." The creature retorted, once again clicking its mandibles. "Your body parts can even be pulled off." "Now, now. It was just a joke. Besides, at least you haven''t encountered the dragon," Simon responded. "Word on the grapevine is that it practically destroyed Juniper''s entire dungeon." "A dragon... Honestly, what were they thinking... Although that''s hardly an accomplishment, her dungeon is just one giant tree. Of course, it would burn down," Its mandibles clicked together as it paused. "I think the slime is potentially far worse with its growth potential." "I''ll agree there. From the report you sent me, I see it''s drastically shot up in power since I last encountered it." "And now it''s armed with the power of an orange slime... So much for the restrictions of not letting dungeon slimes ever escape." Simon chuckled. "Well, at least it''s not our problem anymore. You could almost say we both got off lightly." "Indeed... I find myself looking forward to hearing what becomes of our coworkers in the future." *** It was interesting that as soon as we left the hatch exit for the dungeon, it immediately shut and vanished as if it no longer existed. [Tremor Sense] even showed me that the entire tunnel was being sealed away. ''Who knew Dungeon Masters could do such rapid landscaping?'' It was a little concerning that the Dungeon Master could extend its influence beyond what would be officially considered the dungeon. Could they, in theory, spawn monsters above ground if they so wished? I had to believe they didn''t because of rules and restrictions set by the gods. We were only a short jog away from the encampment, and we did so triumphantly. The Misfits were extremely proud of themselves and glamouring in the attention, while Jet and I were happy to be in the shadows. Sadly, unlike Jet, I couldn''t literally hide in the shadows, and this Elf persona was far too noticeable. ''When I make another disguise, I''m certainly taking a page from Sylvester''s book. I wonder how feasible it would be to get a Dwarf profile? If the Dwarves have criminals, I could sign up for some bounty-hunting and get one that way. Dwarven warrior? Alchemist or Blacksmith, maybe?'' We headed to the Guild''s tent and reported our success. During this time, we also dumped all our loot that we weren''t keeping and recorded what had already been distributed. I was relieved that the Guild took charge of selling and redistributing the spoils, as getting involved directly with money was the last thing I wanted to do. There was a lot of open transparency where each member would receive a report, and you could raise a formal dispute if you were unhappy with the result, but it sounded like it was far too much work for me. I could just go hunt some more monsters and earn money that way; no need to penny-pinch. As was clearly custom for adventurers, our group started partaking in copious amounts of alcohol. Even Jet, who was supposed to be a staff member, was chugging like a champion. When Ian was intoxicated enough, he started bragging about our dungeon adventure to the entire tent and giving his own boastful retelling of our encounters. Occasionally, Eliza corrected him; other times, the listeners turned to Jet as if looking for confirmation of the tall tale. Other parties who had witnessed an illusion floor were shocked at the ruthlessness the dungeon had thrown at us. Apparently, their encounters usually involved just a few additional fake monsters thrown into the mix as a distraction or a goblin disguised as an orc. The highlight of the retelling was clearly our boss battles, and the audience gasped when we mentioned fighting an Eyedra. We continued late into the night, and when things started to settle down, I was propositioned by the Misfits. I had expected them to offer me a spot in their group, so I politely turned it down, citing my goals to head towards the Dwarven Empire now that I had completed my task. This was where I discovered that Pelopi was a clingy drunk. She started holding onto my arm, refusing to let go, and nearly sobbing while begging me to stay with them. Despite the heartbreaking scene, I had to firmly decline, although I threw in the notion that if our paths crossed again, I''d be more than willing to join their party again. It cheered her up a bit, and thankfully, Eliza pointed out that their group needed to get to Gold first. Unlike myself, they still had some more quest requirements to fulfill. When it was finally time to leave, we said our farewells for the evening. Pelopi was still somewhat snotty and teary, but she gave me an almost crushing hug. Eliza and Ian gave me high-fives and then wandered to their tent. Jet approached me, looking almost miraculously more sober than moments ago. "I bet you''re going to disappear in the morning." I gave a small smile. "Guilty... I''m not a fan of saying goodbye." Jet chuckled before replying. "No, don''t worry, I understand. I already had my initial evaluation sent through Bert. Lisa can promote you as soon as you get back, and you can be on your journey with Thern." "Thanks, Jet. I appreciate it." "No problem. Hiccups aside, it was a fun dungeon run, and it reminded me of my glory days." "You''re starting to sound like Roderick." He shrugged. "I made Gold; that was my end goal. I hope the climb beyond doesn''t scare you off." "I guess we''ll see..." I replied, unsure of what exactly to say. "Take care, Syl. Enjoy the Dwarves, I''m sure you''ll fit right in with how you handle your booze." Jet said, chuckling to himself as he walked off. "Take care, Jet. Thanks for showing up." Walking off into the night, I found myself a safe haven to burrow into, making sure I was well outside of what I assumed was the dungeon''s reach. I burrowed down and withdrew my glorious bedtub before blobbing out entirely. *** As sleep overcame me, I found myself floating in my mind. It was slightly similar to the void I had grown used to where I had conversed with Gramps. Abruptly, numerous textboxes appeared before me, stacked neatly like multiple reams of paper. The front textbox was clearly a letter addressed to me, so I started reading it. If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. You finally paid off your debt. Took you long enough! As previously agreed, I''ve given you a list of base slime species you do not know about. I also included ones that your previous evolutions skipped over due to their lower tier; otherwise, this list would be just two slimes! I didn''t bother including mutations, as I presume you were seeking more targets to hunt for rather than casual evolution perusal. I wish you luck in your hunt and ever-growing collection. ~Gramps. PS: I received a complaint about you threatening a Dungeon Master. While I find the idea laughable, please do not become a repeat offender with the same Dungeon. PPS: Mother was delighted by your dabbling into Enchanting. I found it a little dull, but I applaud your use of it on your cores.> ''Thanks Gramps! Also, is he encouraging me to try to exploit more dungeons? I mean... I was going to anyway, as I don''t think I''d get pink slime any other way. Unless I go rob royalty.'' I mentally waved the textbox away, and it flew off before dispersing into motes of light. The next textbox was immediately recognizable, a slime evolution profile, and I eagerly started reading. A dungeon slime that attacks by crushing foes under its extreme weight as the slime has the strange ability to freely adjust the weight of its slime. While its method of attack can be exceptionally deadly, the slime itself has no additional resistance or immunities and can be easily dispatched unless caught off guard. Its slime cores seem to offer no known uses and are considered not worth the trouble of attempted harvest.> ''Interesting... Being able to change my weight would be interesting. I could have everything at maximum density and then just reduce my weight. Conversely, a heavy-weight [Slime Shot] could be interesting?'' A scarce and harmless slime found deep in untamed wilds or, occasionally, an unsuspecting farmers'' field. Its slime is like a highly nutritious fertilizer that causes rapid plant growth, which aids it greatly in its seeking of sustenance. A rarity amongst slimes is this slime''s almost vegetarian nature, as it prefers to eat plants over meat, which usually produces far more slime mass. Their cores can be utilized as Nature Catalysts but are highly coveted and protected by the Elves.> ''Interesting... So the dwarves have Silver, and the Elves have Brown. While I don''t think I''d care about the ability to make fertilizer, I have to assume this would give me access to [Nature Magic]. Although... If their ability to more efficiently process plants into slime mass is a trait, then that might be very valuable for me now that I no longer have [Mana Conversion].'' A harmless and often times friendly slime that can emit a glow even in the darkest depths. Surviving on roots, fungus, and tiny bugs, this slime is considered almost an endangered species, as any environment in which it could theoretically spawn is far too hostile for such a low-tier monster to survive. Some adventurers have even claimed to have taken them as a cute pet and household cleaners. The uses for their core are unknown due to scarcity.> ''Harmless? Friendly? Pet? And they can GLOW? What is even in glowing when traits like [Dark Vision] exist? The only reason I don''t write off this entire slime is to complete my collection and in the hope that it could possibly offer me [Light Magic].'' [Prodigy] Senses: [Olfactory Sense] [Dark Vision LV MAX] [Mana Conception LV 6] [Life Sight LV 4] [Thermal Vision LV MAX] [Eagle Vision LV 3] [Electro-Magnetic Sense LV 4] [Tremor Sense LV 2] Trait Points remaining: 8 Skills: General: [Universal Language] [Equipment Swap] [Dissection LV 7] [Mapping LV 5] [Tracking LV 2] [Identify LV 6] [Multitasking LV 5] [Perception LV 4] [Aerial Finesse LV 4] [Thunder Step LV 4] [Companion Bond] Combat: [Tranquil Flow LV 5] [Attack Mastery (Lesser) LV 7] [Affliction Mastery LV 6] [Exploit Weakness LV 4] Magic: [Water Magic LV 5] [Fire Magic LV 5] [Corrosion Magic LV 5] [Ice Magic LV 5] [Arcane Magic LV 4] [Lightning Magic LV 5] [Mana Manipulation LV 6] [Magic Efficiency LV 5] [Counter Magic LV 4] [Elemental Shift LV 5] [Elemental Adaptation] [Ritual Casting] [Mana Suppression] [Meditate] Sneaky: [Vanish LV 6] [Assassinate LV 6] [Identity Fabrication LV 6] [Acting LV 5] [Rogue Expertise LV 4] [Magical Subterfuge LV 4] [Subtle Afflictions] Skill Points remaining: 13 Profession: Enchanting: [Rune Reading LV 6] [Rune Engraving LV 1] [Rune Framework LV 7] [Rune Tracing LV 5] [Rune Design LV 3] [Runecrafting LV 2] [Rune Inspection LV 5] [Rune Filigree LV 3] [Rune Repair LV 2] [Brand] Profession Points Remaining: 0 Chapter 169: Returning I woke up feeling refreshed and ready for the day, but my mind was still relatively buzzing with the information I had received from Gramps. While I was eager to capitalize on seeking out the other types of slime, that would have to wait until after the Dwarves and I got my tendrils all over that delicious silver slime core. Reluctantly crawling out of my bathtub, I stored it away and began to exit safely to the surface. ''I''m sure Thern will want to leave almost immediately. However, there''s a brief stop I want to take before I head back to Kaerlin...'' I was about to [Thunder Step] away when I realized I''d probably be waking up a bunch of hungover adventurers¡ªit was barely sunrise, after all¡ªand decided to shift into a griffin and soar into the air. [Aerial Finesse] combined with [Enchanted Wings] was a blessed way to travel, and I happily soared through the sky. ''Man, I missed flying... I must figure out a good excuse for my persona to fly.'' I abruptly realized that I still had my giant hat to worry about, which would be detrimental to my monstrous disguises. However, when I looked at it, I noticed it had already transformed into a very subtle, small hairclip, barely visible and clipped securely behind one of my ears. ''I keep forgetting this hat exists... I definitely didn''t change it myself, but if it responds to my intent, then it''s a little more useful than I realized. Although other than being transforming headwear, I still don''t know if it has a beneficial effect.'' Once sufficiently away, I started to add [Thunder Step] while in flight. My top speed was significantly improved, although the backlash was fierce when I chained one too many jumps. ''I really wish [Voltaic Slime] was a higher level...'' I consulted my [Mapping] and saw that Glimmerock was, regrettably, a great distance away. Trying to take a small detour to attempt another yellow slime hunt just wasn''t feasible unless I wanted to further risk Thern leaving me behind. Sighing to myself, I continued my journey towards Stantondale, ensuring that any large multi-chain jumps were safely discharged into the ground. Combining flying with [Thunder Step] shaved off almost two days of travel time despite the greater distance to Stantondale than Kaerlin. However, that was also with a higher level [Thunder Step] skill, which meant I could do far longer chains, so my rough mental calculation was a guesstimate at best. I also caught and ate a few wild monsters I spotted on the way. While it felt like bullying, and the experience was clearly not worth mentioning, I wanted to build up a bit of a reserve of slime mass. My latest acquisition, [Nitro Slime], was simply amazing, and I wanted to try it out in various ways and see what it was capable of. However, I would require sufficient slime mass to do this, as the trait utterly destroyed the slime when it detonated. It was a fascinatingly powerful trait, and a few monsters on the way fell victim to my experiments. One of my most nefarious experiments was when I made a tiny bunny and primed it to hold its form, then left it on the ground near an unsuspecting wolf. I would have thought the bunny''s utterly lifeless and frozen state would have made the wolf suspicious, but it wasted no time in savagely biting on the fake bunny, which then detonated. ''While leaving explosive traps behind is one thing, my ability to mimic and disguise the bombs as something else is frighteningly powerful. Gods... Imagine if I could move them? I could make homing bombs, like tiny pigeons, to fly at a target before detonating.'' During the evenings, I spent some time looking into [Stunvolt]; the obvious application would be to see if I could add the stunning concept to my other spells or create a greater affliction effect like I had with [Frostbite]. I wasn''t exactly sure how that would work because of the short duration of the stunned ailment. Freezing something was basically a finisher; not much could survive the final stage of the ailment, whereas stunning was rather easy to apply but extremely short-lived. ''Perhaps rather than a build-up, I could work on it by applying the condition periodically. Then it would stun the target briefly every few seconds? Would that work?'' It was definitely something worth exploring. *** When I neared Stantondale, I halted all [Thunder Step] usage and stuck to flying high in the sky, trying my best to blend into the background by maximizing my transparency. By the time I had officially arrived, it was late afternoon, so I spent some time casually waiting and practicing my sustained flight and [Eagle Vision]. I patiently waited until the evening approached, watching the people go about their final day activities from the sky. ''It''s slightly horrifying to think they have no idea I''m here... If I were a crazy monster, what would be able to stop me from flying over the town and dropping [Nitro Slime] bombs on them? Which... Is what dragons apparently do to kill anyone who awakens their bloodline... Yikes.'' Once sufficiently dark, I shifted into a small blue slime form and slowly descended as stealthily as possible. Once I landed, I hid my wings away and threw my magic hat into storage. The fact that it could be easily thrown into storage gave me comfort over the strange item supposedly soulbound to me. ''To think I''m back here again...'' I thought, feeling slightly nostalgic as I watched the slimes bouncing around me. Their numbers had greatly replenished since my last feast, and it seemed the humans had grown tired of them being feasted on. There was also now a rudimentary fence surrounding their extremely large enclosure. The fence wouldn''t stop any slimes from escaping, but evidently, the hope was that it would keep any predators out. It was a shockingly high amount required, and the field was starting to look barren of slime life. My guilty conscience rose as I realized I was eating away the primary income for the town. ''Uh... Maybe I can make it up to them? I mean, my slime is far better than this garbage... Although saying that, I still can''t even feel or see a difference between this trait now and when it was still at level ten.'' I started pulling out some of the empty vials and containers in my storage, ensuring they were both clean and empty and ready for me to fill them with my own slime. I confirmed it was only [Mana Slime] and filtered it down so it wasn''t ultra-dense. I scattered the containers on the ground, hoping it would be good enough compensation for my meal. ''It''s a good thing I have quite a few canteens and the vials I took from that ghoul lab.'' Feeling slightly less burdened by my conscience, I sprouted wings and flew straight up. While flying high up in the sky, I also flew over Stantondale, seeing the few windows illuminated by the lights within. I also pulled out the adventurer tags I had taken back when I was with the goblins and dropped them inside the town one by one. ''Hopefully, someone finds these... I should have returned them ages ago, but I kept forgetting I had them.'' Part of me wanted to drop in and say hi to Roderick, Tabitha, and Kurt, while my stomach desperately wanted me to visit Trevor''s Inn for some, no doubt, high-quality food. Sadly, I had to give up on either idea; it was far too risky, and I didn''t want the disappearing slimes linked back to me even if I gave some compensation. I soared into the night sky with the stars and moon guiding me while I headed toward Kaerlin. I briefly glanced at the mountain deep in the forest and wondered if the goblins had survived... Something to look into when I didn''t have obligations. *** When I neared Kaerlin, I shifted my trajectory toward the dungeon so that my arrival would make more sense. Landing down stealthily, I shifted back to my elven persona, stretching and confirming my profile, and everything was in order. Then, after a bit of stretching, I grinned as I began my thunderous arrival. I couldn''t help but chuckle as the guards and citizens waiting in line were startled when I arrived. I even overheard some muttering from the older guards bemoaning Lisa. ''Sounds like Jet wasn''t joking when he said she was a bit of a prankster back in the day...'' Thankfully, there seemed to be no resentment, and I was let inside the city with minimal interaction. Despite not getting told to head straight to the Adventurer''s Guild, I still made my way there, seeing no reason not to report in and see if Thern hadn''t grown tired of waiting. ''I wonder how the dwarven city will compare... Hopefully, I won''t have as many eyes always staring at me.'' Arriving at the guild without issue, I politely waited until Luke had finished dealing with his current client. While waiting, a few other parties asked me if I was interested in joining for a quest, which I had to politely decline, saying I had prior obligations. Unlike the fiasco at the dungeon, there was no outburst of anger or insults thrown at me. ''That situation still really bugged me... I wonder what that guy''s problem was? My paranoia can''t help but feel like it was somewhat staged.'' Finally, Luke arrived, smiling brightly. "Good to see you again, Miss Syl." "Pleasure to see you as well, Luke. I''m back from a successful dungeon run." "I did receive Sir Jet''s communication and gave it directly to Master Lisa. She told me to send you to her office as soon as you reappeared." Luke paused and chuckled. "Some bets were going on if you were going to be gone for months again." "As fun as that would''ve been, I don''t think I could keep poor Thern waiting any longer. Assuming he hasn''t left me behind already?" "No. He''s still waiting and mentioned that he wants to drag you off as soon as you get your new tag. By force if necessary." I couldn''t help but wince, feeling remorse for leaving him waiting for so long. I made a mental note to expedite giving him some more alcohol slime. We exchanged a few more pleasantries before I headed to Lisa''s office. ''Gold-rank, here I come!'' Chapter 170: Gold Interface Chapter 170: Gold Interface "I''m glad you didn''t bring an army of angry horses this time." Lisa joked when she first saw me. "Have fun in the dungeon?" "Aside from some issues getting started, it went pretty well. Thanks for sending Jet." I answered honestly. "No problem. He was just sitting around gathering dust. I hope he didn''t spook you with his shadows?" "Just some mild jealousy; it certainly looked useful." "Yeah, I wish I could send my shadow to fetch snacks for me," Lisa admitted. We reviewed Jet''s report, and she confirmed some of the oddities we experienced in the dungeon. I also gave a report on [Thunder Step] and how I found it. I couldn''t stop singing the skills praise, and Lisa seemed thrilled that I had no buyer''s remorse. I also asked how things were in the city, and that was how I found out that, unfortunately, I had missed Whitney, who ended up taking her assignment in the capital to further hunt down the smugglers. I pulled out the enchanted dagger and showed it to Lisa. "Is there any way I could have this sent to her?" I asked, lightly tossing the dagger into the air before it poofed and reappeared in my hand. "I found it in the dungeon, and I think it''s perfect for her." "Oh! A returning weapon, those are pretty nifty. We once found a javelin that had that enchantment." Lisa said rather enthusiastically. "It''s also got an enchantment that causes bleeding and then a combination of self-repair and sharpening," I added. "Wow... I had no idea you could give advanced appraisals." Lisa said, looking genuinely surprised. "I must remember to add it to your guild profile when I update its rank." "So I''m Gold?" I asked. "Cause otherwise, I think Thern will kill me." "So, I think it''s safe to say you''ve passed," Lisa said proudly. "Now, normally, for Gold rank and above, we would have a ceremony..." "Oh no..." "But!" Lisa interrupted, holding up a single finger. "I know you''d hate that, so we will skip the big presentation." I sighed in relief. "Thank you." "No problem. Besides, Thern would kill me if I held you up with a big ceremony. He''d leave with you right this moment if he had his way." "That reminds me, I need to do some shopping..." "Yes. Please bribe the very grumpy dwarf, especially if you have more of that crazy alcohol he loves so much." Lisa said, chuckling. "Sorry... I''m guessing that''s my fault." "Heavens no. His enchanting buddy has apparently been an insufferable braggart." Lisa responded. "His words, not mine." "Oh..." As if summoned, Lisa''s door slammed open, and a grumpy-looking dwarf entered. "There you are!" Thern grunted, pointing a meaty finger at me. "Finally crawled out of the dungeon, I see... Good! We leave tomorrow morning, bright and early. Meet you at the guild reception." Before either of us could say anything, he stormed out. "Oh. I almost forgot," Lisa said, pointing to the dagger. "We can have that sent to the capital branch for Whitney." "Thanks, that sounds perfect," I said happily. I had already memorized its enchantments, so I had no use for it myself. "So you got a cloak and a dagger... Not exactly the best dungeon loot for you, all things considered." Lisa said. "I also got this hat," I said, pointing to the giant witch hat. Lisa looked at me with genuine confusion on her face. "Didn''t you always have that hat?" "No. I definitely got it in the dungeon. It came from a Cat Sith." I pointed out, wondering if this was some bad prank. Lisa frowned and scratched her head. "Are you sure? I genuinely can''t picture you without that hat; it perfectly suits you." "I would have absolutely remembered having a shape-changing hat," I said, demonstrating how to change it into a tiny crown. Lisa looked startled at first, then smiled. "Okay, that''s a pretty great hat; one of our diamond ranks has a robe that can become any other form of clothing. Although... Her robe actually comes up as magical, whereas your hat looks utterly mundane no matter how much I look at it." "We theorized that only I can see its enchantments because it''s soulbound to me," I answered. "Fascinating, but other than the convenience of having a hat for every occasion, I can''t say I''m that impressed. Jet mentioned that Eliza got a spell-storing ring with three slots!" Lisa replied, then frowned as she pulled out a sheet of parchment from her desk and quickly read through it. "Actually... His report doesn''t mention your hat at all..." Lisa said, frowning, and then she burst into laughter. "I get it. You''re both playing a prank on me; Jet pulled you in to get some revenge for old times'' sake?" I sighed. I felt like we were going around in circles; clearly, something Fey-related was happening. "Sure. It looks like you figured it out." "Ha! Brilliant. You almost had me going there." Lisa chuckled. When I was leaving, I even overheard Lisa asking her secretary if she liked my new hat. The secretary replied almost instantly, "Didn''t she have that hat when we first met her?" ''There''s something funny going on, and I feel like my only hope for an answer is Trixie since the cat was a Fey. Still... What a strange effect. It appears utterly normal to anyone but me, and it somehow convinces them that I always had it.'' When I was exiting, I subtly showed Luke my new tag, to which he grinned happily and gave me a thumbs up. I was glad they knew I didn''t want to make a big deal about it and were happy to keep it hushed for me. I proceeded to go on a shopping spree, buying a few new flasks and some kegs this time since Thern had previously scolded me for buying barrels. I also purchased some empty chests and food supplies before finally retiring to the inn. Once in my room, I began to work. I filled the kegs with alcoholic slime, as well as some flasks and canteens for Thern. At the same time, I began enchanting the chests I bought with the storage enchantment. Despite using [Rune Engraving] and the proper tool, the enchantments would only be temporary as I was carving them directly into the chests without a medium such as gold or electrum. I could have used another method to make them permanent, such as adding a gathering array, but it felt like too much effort when I just wanted disposable chests to store the kegs and barrels. I wanted the chests to make the handover of the alcoholic slime simpler and to also draw less attention to how crazy my storage space was. As if the ever-growing capacity for my [Core Storage] and its timeless feature wasn''t bad enough, it also seemed to somehow get around one of the biggest restrictions when working with storage enchantments. Putting a dimensional storage into another one. If you had two storage chests and tried to put the smaller one into the larger one, it would just refuse to enter. No matter how much you wanted to force it. An unbeatable and invisible force would prevent it, and the chest would bend and break sooner than enter. For some reason, I had no restriction on my [Core Storage] and could easily throw any storage chests inside it. This was part of the explanation I was given when I was learning the storage enchantment from Greg, although he said there were storage artifacts from dungeons that could circumvent this restriction. For example, some Diamond-rank adventurers would find an amulet, ring, or bracelet with a dimensional space feature. So, I began enchanting chests and throwing barrels and kegs into them once they were filled and sealed with alcoholic slime. The chests could then be put on a wagon or cart. ''Actually... Thern never mentioned how we are traveling...'' I thought curiously. ''Oh well. Tomorrow will tell. Hopefully, it''s not too long of a journey.'' Chapter 171: Travel Arrangements Chapter 171: Travel Arrangements The next morning, I awoke bright and early and hurried to the Adventurer''s Guild. The graveyard shift workers, who were still on duty, were taken aback by my early arrival. When I mentioned that Thern had instructed me to be there early, they couldn''t help but chuckle. However, they also confessed that even Thern''s usual arrival time was still a good hour or two away. "I can at least take your luggage so long." One of the staff members offered. I nodded and placed my various chests on the floor. The man was startled momentarily before giving a firm nod and then rubbing his hands together energetically. He then started lifting the chests one by one, somehow balancing them in a tower formation. Some of the other staff joked about him showing off to pretty girls again as he trundled to deliver the chests. Despite what the staff had said, Thern did, in fact, arrive sooner than they expected. Before even greeting him, I silently handed him a flask. He stared at it briefly, twisted the cap off, and took a swig. He immediately started coughing, followed by laughter. "Ah! That''s the stuff!" Thern said, sounding much more pleasant than yesterday. "It''s good to see you, friend. Again, I''m sorry for the wait." I apologized and handed him more flasks, which he eagerly accepted. "It''s not that bad. I''d be taking the long way home if not for you." Thern admitted. He pointed to an obsidian-colored chest in his luggage, which was highly locked up with multiple chains and enchantments. "In here is a brand-spanking new furnace heart, all thanks to that salamander you dealt with," Thern explained. "Right... I had wondered who won the bidding war," I said, recalling my conversation with Luke. "I had hoped the dwarves would win it so I could negotiate for another silver slime core." "Ha! Well, you''ll certainly have the money to potentially negotiate. Although you could also sell your services, many beasties live around us with valuable parts." Thern said. "So I could do a bunch of hunting quests and get another core that way?" "Aye. My pa has already told some of the higher-ups that you were the one to secure the inferno sac." Thern answered. "Just make sure to do it through the Adventurer''s Guild branch, so you have some diplomatic protection." "Diplomatic protection?" "Just in case some scoundrel tries to renege on a deal. Then the full weight of the guild can be dropped upon them." Thern said with a hearty chortle. I followed Thern as he led the way; we stopped off at the library, where he collected a few of his things before heading towards a deeper section of the guild. I hadn''t seen this section before and wondered where we were headed. Did the guild have some sort of staging area for wagons or something? Thern unfortunately refused to answer my query and instead just chuckled with a "wait and see" response. We had to enter through three locked doors, and my tag briefly glowed as we passed through each one. I turned my head to Thern, showing my concerned curiosity, and he smirked. "Security. It''s checking that you haven''t stolen that Gold-rank tag. Congrats, by the way! Bring me something fancy to enchant, and I''ll do it for free." Thern replied, showing a toothy grin. The final door led to a large room with a massive circular dais. Hundreds of glyphs and sigils decorated the platform engraved in gold, a stark contrast to the almost pitch-black stone the main structure was made of. In the center of the dais was a waist-high column, also fully engraved but made out of pristine marble, and at the tip was a beautiful-looking crystal sphere. I briefly thought it might have been a slime core, but upon further inspection, it seemed to be an artificially made crystal. Seeing my shock and surprise, Thern couldn''t help but laugh. "First time seeing a teleportation room?" "I didn''t even know they existed..." I admitted. "Aye. Most people don''t. They are quite expensive to use and with very strict security." Thern answered and then patted the black box holding the furnace''s heart. "Our trip is being sponsored by the Empire! They don''t trust such a valuable object being transported by ordinary means." "I''m not going to complain... But I''m sure we could handle some bandits between the two of us." "No doubt," Thern admitted confidently. "But I guess all the smuggling going on here in Kaerlin has made some of them worry. Not to mention the pegasi and orc attacks... But look on the bright side; their paranoia gets us a comfy trip!" "Sounds great. So how does it work?" "Ha! I don''t blame you for asking. Unfortunately, this is one of the rare occasions that I can''t actually explain something Enchanting related." Thern admitted, almost looking slightly embarrassed. "I''ve spent months staring at these glyphs, trying to decipher them, but it''s like it''s written in multiple bloody foreign languages. All I know is that you place a keystone in two of these and then channel mana into the orb, and it works." "Keystone?" "And how many other coworkers have you brought home with ya?" Thern''s mom snorted in response. Thern facepalmed while fiercely groaning. "Just cause I work with the humans doesn''t mean I''ve adopted their taste in woman, ma! I''m still a dwarf at heart." "That''s a relief on a poor mother''s heart," She responded. "Bah! The only way to relieve your black heart would be to throw it into a volcano." Thern spat. Then, both dwarves abruptly started laughing so hard that tears began forming in their eyes. I dropped my spell and looked at the two, feeling lost and confused. "I have no idea what''s going on..." I mumbled to myself. "My son is saying you''re too skinny to be a wife. And I don''t blame him. Are those humans starving you or something? You''re practically skin and bones!" Thern''s mom responded. "Ma!" Thern shouted. "Sorry... Sorry... Forgive an old bat for being brusque; I haven''t had my morning drink yet." I pulled out a flask and handed it to her, immediately making the woman burst out with a devilish grin. "Boy, I think I like this one!" "Ma!" "You''re right. Where''s my manners." The woman chuckled. "Name''s Thessa; pleased to meet ya!" "Syl. Pleasure to meet your acquaintance." Thessa nodded, then finally took a swig of the canteen. She kept drinking and drinking before finally stopping and letting out a breathy sigh followed by a belch. "Well, slap my tits; that''s probably the strongest drink I''ve ever had!" Thessa exclaimed happily. "Did ya think I was fibbing to pa?" Thern questioned. "I thought maybe you''d lost your gut living out in the sun with the humans," Thessa admitted. "But I''m happy to be proven wrong. Although you''ve clearly gotten rusty if that teleportation was anything to go by!" "You can insult me, but never insult my work! I copied the keystone design perfectly!" Thern shouted back. "Then explain what went wrong with the teleportation? It clearly needed more Mana to compensate for your screwup." Thern reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of parchment with what looked like black markings on it. He stomped over and angrily thrust it towards his mom. "Good thing I took a rubbing of the finished product." Thern defended himself. Thessa examined the piece of parchment with the utmost scrutiny. "Hmm... I''d give this a less than five percent deviation... Not bad, boy!" She said, scratching her chin. "But then what the hell happened?" "I thought maybe the guild might not have charged the mana battery enough," Thern said. "Surely they wouldn''t be that stupid," Thessa said. "Although the only other possibility is too much dimensional weight." "Dimensional weight?" I asked. "It''s not exactly an official term, but we use it to describe the phenomenon. Basically, you can''t cheat teleport costs with dimensional storage." Thern answered. "But even with the extra chests, it wouldn''t have cost that much more Mana. I mean to explain that you''d need an absolutely massive amount of dimensional space, on par with an artifact storage!" Chapter 172: Dhoggurum Chapter 172: Dhoggurum As if answering his own question, Thern suddenly looked at the pouch on my hip. The bag made out of ornate-looking leaves was still an unresolved mystery. He hummed in thought, perhaps thinking that the bag was potentially an artifact. Honestly, I was beginning to think it may be as well, as despite my advancements in skills and traits, including my profession, I couldn''t make heads or tails of the bag. ''I wonder if the bag is soulbound to Sylthaeryn? If it''s at all like my hat, then that would explain a lot. Although... Then why did she ask me to give it to another elf? Is it perhaps soulbound to the elven race specifically?'' Thern chuckled. "It''s my fault. I should have asked how much you have stored away personally, especially after what I''ve seen you pull out from harvests." "You also should have explained the emergency procedure," Thessa grumbled. "You bloody nearly drained yourself dry trying to do it yourself..." Thern looked quite embarrassed as he sighed. "You''re right. Sorry, Syl. I hope it didn''t drain you too much." "It didn''t seem that bad..." I answered honestly, which caused both Dwarves to stare at me in astonishment. "I know you brag about your Mana capacity a lot, but even so... It should have been horrible since the conversion ratio is so poor," Thern said, scratching his beard in thought. "What would have happened if we didn''t pay the Mana?" I asked. "Your storage bag would have exploded," Thessa answered. "The teleportation platform has safety measures that ensure it teleports anything living first." ''I wonder how that works for my [Core Storage]...'' I couldn''t help but wonder with morbid curiosity. "But enough of that!" Thessa said cheerfully. "Come, come. Let''s get you unpacked and settled in." Before we left, Thessa claimed the keystone from the platform and gave Thern another scolding, saying that the first security measure was to immediately remove it after teleportation. Under his mother''s verbal thrashing, Thern could only sigh and nod. Then, we both followed her out of the room after each grabbing a chest. I got an abrupt notification when I first stepped beyond the door. "Dhoggurum?" I muttered and activated my [Mapping] skill. Suddenly, the room swayed, and I nearly fell over. As if expecting that Thern caught me before I fell. I could only thank the gods my [Sub-Cores] handled keeping my disguise intact. "Ha! Lisa owes me a bottle of whiskey!" Thern joked. My vision stopped spinning, and my [Mapping] skill seemed to finalize what it was trying to do. It zoomed out drastically, and I saw we were to the distant north¡ªabsurdly far from Kaerlin. "What... Happened?" I murmured, confused. "Your [Mapping] skill updated with a new distance. I bet you had never traveled this far before, but Lisa said she was sure you had." Thern explained. "First-time teleporters usually experience this." "Some... Warning would''ve been nice." I grumbled. "Aye. But then, I wouldn''t have won my bet." Thern smirked. Once I had recovered, we continued out through multiple stone doors that slid into their holding like the previous one. The security was very impressive compared to anything I had seen in the human city. After following her through passageways, we eventually came to an almost familiar sight: an Adventurer''s Guild reception. The layout was eerily similar, except nearly everything was carved from stone, and barely anything was made from wood. And it went without saying that almost everyone present was a dwarf, except for a few humans scattered about. Thern gestured for me to follow him to one of the reception desks, where we needed to register our arrival. The receptionist was a little surprised to see me hand over a Gold tag. "Blimey. I thought you were escorting an elf ambassador or something. I can''t believe one actually joined the guild." The dwarf said as he twirled the tip of his pointed beard. "Ha! Wait till she starts doing some quests here; then, you''ll be in for a real shock and surprise!" Thern bragged and gave me a big wink. Then we followed after Thessa again, who was tapping her foot impatiently. One thing I was immediately grateful for was the dwarf''s attitude towards me; I could see they would look a bit surprised at my appearance but then almost immediately pushed it aside and went about their day. On the other hand, the few humans blatantly stared and promptly started gossiping with their companions, as I had grown reluctantly accustomed to. Exiting the Adventurer''s Guild, I was welcomed to the sight of the city. "This would make some mighty fine armor... And you harvested this yourself?" Thessa asked, examining the rocky carapace. "You should''ve seen it back in the guild. A room full of stuff this good." Thern chuckled. "Why the bloody hell are you running around killing monsters then?" Thessa asked, flabbergasted. "You could sit safely in a room and make a fortune." I couldn''t help but grin before I answered. "But where would the fun in that be? Where''s the adventure? I get to explore, kill monsters, and level up." Thern burst out with laughter. "Aye! Spoken like a true adventurer!" Thessa sighed deeply. "I really don''t understand you lot. Stick me in a forge all day, and I''d live a happy life." "Well... Think of it this way. Without people like me, you wouldn''t get to see and use stuff like this." I replied. "Don''t you start using facts and logic to dissuade me now," Thessa chuckled. "A mother wants her son to stay safe and sound." "Ma!" Thern grunted, looking mightily embarrassed. "Hush you. You''ll always be my baby boy no matter how big of a beard you grow." It was a relaxing and pleasant time, and later in the afternoon, Thern''s father arrived home. He looked nearly identical to Thern, except his beard was groomed to perfection and even had some braids and jewelry tied into it. He was almost the spitting image of a well-off merchant and had a bit of a beer belly going on. While Thern and Thessa were quite boisterous, Darmod was polite and a little reserved. It seemed Thessa wore the pants in the relationship. However, when he saw the barrels I had brought and sampled some, there was a twinkle in his eye, and he suddenly became very enthused and energetic. "Syl. We are going to make a fortune!" Darmod said enthusiastically. "Well... I''m honestly more interested in a silver core than money." I answered. Thern again couldn''t help bursting out with laughter. "My pa didn''t believe me when I said you wanted that." Darmod grumbled a bit at being caught off guard like that but nodded. "Well, it''s a good thing my son convinced me otherwise. I should be able to requisition your silver core by lunchtime tomorrow." "Yes! Please do!" I said, unable to hide my excitement. "And please let anyone know I''m willing to work for more, even doing some hunts." I made sure to point out the rocky carapace I had harvested. Darmod couldn''t help but blink in surprise. "Yes... I''ll be sure to do it. Just to confirm, this will be a dead slime from a common metal." "Yes. Anyone is fine. Why would that matter?" I asked. Darmod fiddled with one of his braids before asking his own question. "How much do you know about slimes eating other slimes?" "When a slime eats another, it becomes purer," I answered. "Alright, that''s good, so I''m not accidentally revealing a dwarven secret." Darmod chuckled nervously. "Silver slimes, when they eat another, not only become purer, but they also take on any metals the other slime accumulated." "Why is that an issue?" I asked. "Because if you have a slime that can produce gold, why would you want to contaminate it with tin?" Darmod responded. "The slimes are stupid, so they mix all of their absorbed metals together." "Ah... So they create unexpected alloys." "Yes. That''s why if any slime with a common metal is found, it is usually swiftly disposed of. We dare not risk it being consumed by another and causing a contamination." We continued to chat into the evening before finally calling it a night. Despite my glorious bed, I felt like I would struggle to sleep because of my unbridled anticipation. Chapter 173: A Feast Chapter 173: A Feast "Roderick!" One of the staff members burst into his office. "We might have a situation." Roderick groaned as he stared at the mountain of paperwork on his desk. Harris had certainly kept this aspect of the job in the dark from him, and he was undoubtedly having some second thoughts lately. "What''s the issue?" Roderick asked, trying to hide his displeasure. "Old Tom says something happened to the slimes. He''s requesting an urgent meeting with you and Harris at his house." "Don''t tell me the goblins are back..." Roderick muttered angrily. The staff member could only gesture in confusion. He hadn''t received any more detail about the situation. Roderick grabbed his coat and briskly left the guild. ''I swear if it''s goblins again, I''ll personally shove my shield down their throat...'' Roderick arrived at Tom''s house, knocking and hastily entering to escape the cold. Harris had already arrived and was casually chatting with Tom; judging by their relaxed disposition, it appeared the news hadn''t been brought up yet. "Glad you could make it," Harris said. "Paperwork keeping you busy?" Roderick grunted a response while Tom gestured for him to take a chair. "So, what''s happening, Tom? Is it the bloody goblins again?" Roderick asked. "I''m not actually sure what it is..." Tom said, frowning deeply and exposing his tanned wrinkles. "Many slimes have gone missing, presumably killed, but it''s not like the last time." Old Tom reached under the table and pulled out a bag, which he opened on the table to reveal various flasks, canteens, and potion vials. "What''s all this?" Roderick asked. "These were left in the slime field," Tom answered. "Each one seems to contain slime." "So some bastard harvested our slimes and left behind a consolation prize?" Roderick spat, feeling frustrated. "I don''t think that''s the case," Tom responded. "I had my alchemist friend look at it, and he nearly lost his mind." "What do you mean?" Harris asked curiously. "He said it''s the purest slime he''s ever seen. Far beyond anything ever recorded." Tom replied. "He asked me if I knew who refined it." Roderick sighed as he massaged his temples in frustration, a headache brewing. "So some mad alchemist experimented on our slimes?" "Sounds plausible..." Harris muttered, then he picked up one of the vials. "Maybe you''re too young to recognize this, Roderick, but this potion vial is ancient." Old Tom actually nodded. "That''s what bugged me too. Vials in that style haven''t been around for decades." "So what does this mean?" Roderick sighed. "Do we have to worry about some powerful ancient alchemist wizard?" "Well, considering he left behind payment. Perhaps not?" Harris responded. "Any idea how much this is worth?" "My buddy says it''s worth a fortune. Easily more than we''d make a year if not more." Tom shrugged. Roderick had mixed feelings, but Harris actually started laughing. "Sounds like we lucked out. A mysterious alchemist drops by and advances our income by a year?" Harris chuckled cheerily. "Perhaps..." Roderick admitted. "We need to keep this hushed. We can''t let the Stantons hear about it." "No complaints from me. Those bastards would steal all the money." Tom spat. "I''m more worried about them using the money to flee before Whitney finishes her investigation," Roderick said in a hushed tone. "Sure. Sounds good to me," I replied calmly. "I was going to go hunting anyway, regardless of their opinions. I want to see what''s out there!" "I can''t wait to see the regret on their faces when they didn''t jump on your offer sooner," Darmod said with a smirk. "And when they run out of that alcohol, we can fleece them good!" Once we left the restaurant, I finally looked at my new trait. This slime contains the properties of various ores and metals and can harden and transmute itself at will to mimic them; the strength and advantages gained heavily depend on the type of metal chosen. While the slime''s usual outside factors, such as density, affect this trait''s usage positively, its primary scaling comes from its level, and the strength of its metals will be significantly hindered if they surpass the trait level. Different metals can be mixed at a reduced strength for each combination except for compatible and proven alloys, which provide a small bonus. Additional metal types must be acquired through sampling ores, metals, or alloys. Available metals: Tin. Compatible with other slime traits.> ''Interesting... Unlike my other traits, it''s heavily dependent on both the trait level and the metals I have available. I''m glad I didn''t pick this as my evolution option. Also, I wonder what hindering metals above the level means?'' I secretly started depositing small pieces of various metals inside my stomach to dissolve. ''Also, I just realized the trait only showed tin as available, meaning it wasn''t retroactive. I''m glad I decided to save my metals.'' ''Interesting. That silver ore is classified as different.'' ''I''m so going to catch Trixie and prank her when I see her! Assuming my [Metal Slime] level is high enough to mimic this correctly.'' Unfortunately, I''d have to wait till I got home to eat my adamantine hammer and mithril rapier. I couldn''t think of a way to sneakily deposit them inside my thin, elven frame. I was curious about what else I might count as an ore, so I started withdrawing other things and taking a small nibble out of them. Most of my tests were unfruitful, but I did get one shocking revelation. ''Seriously, floatstone is an ore?'' While I desperately wanted to start experimenting, I couldn''t leave as Darmod was playing tour guide for me. Although I could swear his tour was just an excuse to go on a city-wide drinking binge. I looked over the silver slime profile and noticed it had [Shape Slime] and [Pseudopod]. This go-to combo was a blast from my past, and I wondered how different my life would have been if I had started as something other than blue. When we finally started heading back, we picked up some food from a stall on the way home. I was curious why, but it became quite apparent when we arrived at an empty home. "Ma''s gonna be stuck in the forge all night." Thern chuckled. "I wish you never told her about that new forge heart," Darmod joked. Finally, alone in my room, I pulled out my mithril rapier and adamantine hammer. Surprisingly, both took quite a while to dissolve despite the full might of my [Acid Slime]. The adamantine especially seemed to refuse to dissolve until I cast [Erode] on it to assist in my digestion. ''I gained a level just from sampling metals! Ha!'' Eagerly, I formed a [Pseudopod] and then activated [Metal Slime]; I started with iron as I assumed it would work flawlessly despite the low level. A metallic sheen glimmered, and I watched my slime take on the new trait. I started shifting the tendril into various weapons and couldn''t help but be amazed at the perfection. Previously, my weapon mimicry was as close to real as possible; anyone observing likely could not tell the difference, but now, not even I could tell this wasn''t an iron sword, and I knew it was literally my slime. ''Okay! Let''s try out mithril!'' I mentally changed the metal selection and watched in real time as it transmuted from gray into silvery blue. It was beautiful; it was magnificent. Then, the sword flopped like a wet noodle, and if I wasn''t keeping tight control over its density and form, I knew it would be falling apart before my very eyes. ''So... I''m guessing this is the significant hindering mentioned in the description.'' It was a little disheartening to see such a loss of control over my slime; I knew I could have made a stronger sword without the trait at all compared to this result. But I knew it held significant potential, and leveling it up would be one of my highest priorities. Chapter 174: Cavern Questing Chapter 174: Cavern Questing Syl After much testing, my current limit with [Metal Slime] seemed to be iron. Copper and lead were both perfectly usable, but iron seemed to be my best option in terms of weapons. I also could predict that the next level would likely give me access to Silver and possibly Bronze. Despite the momentary disappointment at not being able to immediately use the best metals, the trait itself was fascinating, and it brought me fond memories of my initial testing with my slime when I was first starting out. It was intriguing that despite my prior work with [Chimeric Mimicry] and [Morph Slime] being what I would call nearly flawless, now armed with [Metal Slime], I couldn¡¯t help but notice that any formed weapons seemed better. I always struggled to mimic sharpness, even with the combination of complete profiles, high trait levels, and plenty of practice, but now it was beyond compare. The inherent compatibility between all my slime traits was simply outstanding; I felt like giving Gramps a standing ovation. ¡¯I didn¡¯t even need to make the mental adjustments or anything myself; it¡¯s like my mimicry trait automatically knows what traits to incorporate.¡¯ Finally, having exhausted myself, I called it a night. I couldn¡¯t wait to head out and start using [Metal Slime] against monsters. *** "I wish I could¡¯ve joined ya for some hunting. But I need to go get Ma out of the forge." Thern said during breakfast. "No problem, Thern. Family comes first, and we can go on a hunt next time." Thern shook his head. "I¡¯m not worried about Ma. I¡¯m worried about the other dwarves probably stuck there with her. But I¡¯ll definitely take you up on that rain check." After breakfast, I left the house, saying farewell to Thern and Darmod. I was extremely thankful for [Mapping]; otherwise, I might not have found my way back. ¡¯Sure, it might be efficient. But it¡¯s certainly confusing needing to traverse multiple floors.¡¯ While the guild was busy, it didn¡¯t take me long to finally get an available receptionist. She looked cheery enough and had a similar giant beehive hairstyle, except it came with a big single braid hanging over her shoulder. "Good day. Do you have a quest to post for us?" The dwarf asked with a cheery attitude. "Ah. No, I¡¯m an adventurer and looking for some quests." I said, pulling out my tag. "Ah, shit! Sorry, sorry." The dwarf apologized nervously. "I heard the rumor but didn¡¯t think it was true. I thought maybe you were one of the elves from the embassy." I hid my surprise at him mentioning other elves and decided to ask Darmod about it later. I still had the bag I was tasked with returning, after all. "Nope. Freshly promoted to Gold and looking to prove myself." I answered. "Looking to impress someone? Hmm..." The dwarf responded, tugging at her braid. "Well, I think your first two quests can be the permanent ones for killing Worms and Kobolds. There¡¯s no penalty for not doing them, and you never know when you will run into either." I nodded and accepted both. "Now those always earn goodwill, especially if you can kill a worm. Those bastards are always threatening our wards." The receptionist explained. "As for what else will make people look at you... Let me look at your quest record and what we have available." I nodded and waited in silence. "Okay. Your profile says you¡¯re really good at mass exterminations. That is a lot of orcs you killed there!" The dwarf said excitedly. "An ant princess was spotted forming a new nest nearby. If you can exterminate it before she sets up and becomes a queen, you¡¯d be making a big splash!" "Any different to dungeon ants?" I asked. "The regular drones will be on par, maybe even dumber than dungeon minions?" The receptionist said with a shrug. "The ant princess, though, will be smart and is the real threat. She will also try to run away, so make sure to seal the deal." "Sounds good to me." I agreed and accepted the quest. ¡¯I hope the worms or kobolds have better traits... I already have an ant profile, so there¡¯s not much hope there unless the princess has something... Wait!¡¯ I realized I already had an ant profile! I threw everything into storage and shifted into a giant ant, making sure to pick up the various pheromone-related traits. ¡¯I¡¯m sure I can use this to find the ant nest!¡¯ I thought happily as I continued my search. Sure enough, after exploring a bit more, I began to find many trails left behind, all heading toward a unified direction and previously invisible to my normal senses. Feeling quite happy about a well-executed plan, I started following the trail and saw a few drones meandering about. Unlike the previous ants, they were bright red and busy harvesting what they could. ¡¯That¡¯s a bit on the nose, isn¡¯t it?¡¯ I crawled up a large mushroom and watched them continue to work. The numbers were quite considerable, but they were all low-level. The nest most likely held some higher-tier ants. ¡¯I know [Nitro Slime] is very effective... But could I combine it with [Metal Slime]?¡¯ I began thinking of how I could effectively combine the two. One idea that came to mind was to create a shrapnel-style bomb that would explode and cut up the ants. While that would certainly satisfy my inner Dewi, I wondered if there was potentially a more elegant solution. I especially wanted to toy with more cost-efficient ideas. Sure, I could detonate a small lake¡¯s worth of [Nitro Slime] and probably kill nearly anything, but it felt wasteful. Since [Metal Slime] had made me think of my past tactics, I wondered if I shouldn¡¯t explore that. I could create metal projectiles to shoot like I had once done with tusks and teeth. I thought of the giant frog and the boar I had attacked from the inside and wondered if I could apply that method somehow? ¡¯Metal spikes or needles that are primed and detonate from the inside? Could that work? I could even coat the tip with [Acid Slime] for enhanced penetration.¡¯ The idea sounded good, and I started experimenting by using both traits to design thin needles. Once I made a few and chose my favorite design, I locked it in, created a few more, and then primed them to hold their shape. ¡¯The conditions I can set with [Nitro Slime] will expand with further trait levels. How amazing would it be if I could set the exploding condition for after you are inside? The on-contact explosion is probably too quick. My other option is a 5-second delay, but that feels too long. Hell, if a monster is too small, the needle might be outside of it before it detonates!¡¯ I was searching for a solution when the obvious one struck me. I could set them as on-trigger and then use a [Sub-Core] to monitor and detonate once the needle had penetrated. Given how high-spec they had become after evolving, I was sure they could easily handle the task. With a salvo of iron needles formed from [Metal Slime], tipped with [Acid Slime], and primed with [Nitro Slime], I began sneaking about for some good firing angles. Like an assassin, except with explosive needles rather than poison, I began my assault. Needles fired out unbeknownst to the ant drones going about their business and pierced rather effortlessly through their carapace. Thanks to the various skills and traits I had accumulated, it was far more accurate than I had realized, and as each needle pierced through, they detonated. ... ¡¯Haha! Nice, good, excellent!¡¯ I cheered as the explosive needles were far more effective than I realized. The ant drones were popping before my very eyes. ... <14 Skill Points are now available.> . ... Chapter 175: Metal Urchin Chapter 175: Metal Urchin I was extremely happy with the results; my explosive metal needles were far more effective than I could¡¯ve realized at the time. While the [Metal Slime] trait was clearly being carried by [Nitro Slime], I was sure they¡¯d both be pulling their own weight when I had proper access to better metals. Just imagining an adamantine needle exploding gave me chills. ¡¯Still... [Nitro Slime] is terrifying. I can understand why they don¡¯t allow orange slimes to spawn outside of dungeons. The only thing stopping it from being my ultimate secret weapon is the fact that it destroys the slime mass. Ugh... If I hadn¡¯t lost [Mana Conversion], I wouldn¡¯t even need to worry about resource costs.¡¯ I had a bunch of notifications to go through; I had thought all of them would¡¯ve been ant deaths, but I came across a shocking revelation. <14 Skill Points are now available.> ¡¯Huh... Either I was really close to a level up, or perhaps the Eyedra had leftover experience after I paid off my debt.¡¯ I thought, surprised I had gained a level so soon from such low-tier monsters. Then, I looked at the new skills. . ¡¯I was so distracted by [Metal Slime] that I completely forgot to check whether I had gained Earth affinity!¡¯ <[Earth Magic LV 1] spell [Rock Lob] learned.> ¡¯Success!¡¯ I cheered happily. ¡¯Although now I¡¯ve gained Earth before Air... Seriously, Trixie, you promised me Air affinity!¡¯ The spell it gave me was rather simple. I could pull up a rock, rapidly mold earth into a rock, or even apparate a rock entirely from Mana, although at quite a cost. While it was inherently extremely simple, the fact that it was so variable in its mana price was at least interesting. ¡¯I bet the type of earth affects the cost. Something fine like sand probably costs more compared to something coarse like gravel.¡¯ Then, I pulled up my new skill. <[Elemental Harmony] Enter a trance to increase your natural Mana flow and Mana regeneration, which is greatly enhanced by the elemental essence of the region and affected by your [Elemental Shift] skill level. Beneficial effects scale exponentially the longer the trance is maintained. If you are aligned to match a region element, a small portion of these benefits are granted passively if sufficient elemental essence is present. This skill has no levels.> ¡¯Oh. This is clearly an upgrade to [Meditate].¡¯ I realized and pulled up the skill to compare. <[Meditate] Enter a trance to increase your natural mana flow and mana regeneration. When I finally found the nest, I was surprised at the level of camouflage the ants had adopted. The nest was well hidden under some collapsed towering mushrooms, and if I hadn¡¯t had the trail to follow, I wouldn¡¯t have spotted it that easily. ¡¯Can that really be called tracking? I followed a trail directly left behind...¡¯ I shrugged. Trying to understand how big the nest was, I activated [Tremor Sense] and saw that it was quite a sprawling network below me as numerous blips appeared through the sense. ¡¯Okay, it¡¯s ant extermination time!¡¯ As I neared the nest entrance, I saw it wasn¡¯t entirely undefended. Three large ants were hanging from the underside of a mushroom. ¡¯I wonder if I could sneak in and assassinate the princess?¡¯ I pondered as I quickly shifted into an appropriate fire ant drone disguise and continued forward. At first, it seemed like my plan was perfect, as the ants showed no hints of hostility. But when I neared them, I suddenly caught a new whiff of a scent that clearly meant "intruder." Two of the three soldiers immediately tried to seize me with their massive mandibles, which was when I abandoned my ant form and swelled out to a far more impressive, blobby form. I opted to use the silver slime¡¯s natural method of attack as iron spikes protruded from my body, and I formed bladed pseudopods. The soldier ants had a much more robust carapace, so I had to target weak points to get past their defenses. Meanwhile, a hail of magical forming rocks was lobbed at the third soldier who remained behind. The strategy executed by these fire ants seemed to be to lock something in place with their mandibles and then unload their [Flame Sac] point blank. Some drones even appeared from the nest, trying to hold me down. Unfortunately for them, you can¡¯t hold a slime in place, and even if they could, I was so fireproof at this stage that it was a joke. With much poking and prodding, I managed to stab through into one of the soldier ants and had the invading tendril burst outwards like a sea urchin of iron spikes. It was certainly an effective method of attack, and the ant died shortly afterward. While [Acid Slime] would have made penetrating much simpler, I wasn¡¯t sure how mixing my slime traits affected experience distribution. If the cause of death was acid, I presumed it would gain the lion¡¯s share of experience, which made me hesitant to use the deadly slime. ¡¯Ugh. I¡¯m being stupid again.¡¯ I admitted. I sent an order to my remaining [Sub-Cores] to cast [Erode] when I was engaging in melee with the ants. This way, I could continue using [Metal Slime] as my offensive. When my metal-bladed tendrils started cutting through the ant carapace, I grinned maniacally as I formed more weapons, becoming a whirling blender on the poor ant. I gained a newer appreciation of my defense debuff and wondered if this was how Roderick and Ian had felt. With both soldiers dead, I was prepared to take on the third when I noticed it battered and broken with countless rocks and shards around him. Alpha and Beta had shown no mercy and clearly were having quite some fun with [Rock Lob] as they crushed the ant. I quickly ate what I could and began my descent into the nest, only to be met with a wall of drones that all unleashed their [Ember Sac] in unison. I wanted to giggle at the tickle of embers, as even Dewi had trained himself on much harsher flames. ¡¯Talk about a perfect opportunity to use [Contagion]!¡¯ I fiendishly thought. [Erode] was cast on the most central ant, and then a boosted [Contagion] sent out a massive cloud of the debuff, infecting every ant present. While I would have loved to have spread something crazy like [Electrocute] or [Frostbite] and watched the ensuing chaos, I had another fun idea planned. I opted to morph into a metallic boar and charge forward into the crowd of ants; as I broke through their ranks with my mighty charge, I gave the order to control and erupt into as many spikes of slime as possible to all of my cores. So much slime mass was being directly manipulated I was forced to withdraw more as an endless sea of spikes, prongs, and drills burst outwards. Seeing such well-executed and precise control over my slime mass was so satisfying. ¡¯Should I call this the metal urchin of death? Or is that too edgy?¡¯ I couldn¡¯t help but snort at the terrible joke. Perhaps driven by instinct, when an ant was killed, it was immediately dragged in by hooked tendrils and promptly eaten and absorbed. It was a little surprising to see my [Sub-Cores] actually understood my desire to train [Metal Slime], and thus, only my center of mass became the designated eating zone to ensure no kills were made with [Acid Slime]. ¡¯My last evolution really gave them a boost. I probably haven¡¯t scratched the surface of what¡¯s now possible.¡¯ I thought as they continued to cull the drones. Chapter 176: Ant Assault Chapter 176: Ant Assault ¡¯These ants are worth a pittance of experience. I hope I at least get a level from the princess.¡¯ After cleaning up the ant mess, I realized I was slightly on fire. It was not hot enough to cause any real damage, but the rather consistent flame was noticeable. It was nearly identical to my experimentation with creating the flammable adhesive slime. The profile of the soldier ant revealed the source; they had a fluid gland that created the strange flammable substance. It looked like they could spray it from their rears if they developed the right trait for it, but otherwise, it was flowing throughout their body, and it would likely coat anything that killed or wounded them. ¡¯Really brings a whole new meaning to sacrificial soldiers.¡¯ The fluid also served as a marker, making me realize why so many ants were charging me so suddenly. I must have been like a beacon to them. A simple rotation of my slime cleaned off the residue. Being underground, the area was likely full of Earth essence, so I swapped my own core over to Earth alignment to hopefully gain some of the new passive benefits from [Elemental Harmony]. At the same time, I wanted to see how Earth affinity affected [Mana Reinforcement] with [Elemental Adaptation]. Although I could hazard a guess it probably increased my defenses. I continued my delve deeper into the ant nest. I had to rein in my overconfidence; my near defeat on the floating island was still relatively fresh in my mind. But it was getting hard not to when I saw ant after ant erupting with metallic spiky protrusions after being invaded by a tendril. ¡¯It really makes it hard for me to judge these quest ranks; I¡¯m not struggling at all here! I guess the average person might struggle against a swarm? But I think anyone with any decent amount of [Fire Resistance] could have done this.¡¯ I watched as another ant failed to penetrate my defenses and then was swiftly torn apart by one of the [Sub-Cores] in retribution. Getting into physical contact with me was already bad enough for most enemies, but seeing jagged spikes of metal burst out in retaliation was quite a sight. ¡¯I guess, unlike the adventurers, I don¡¯t need to worry about my body taking wounds. Although even if I did need to worry about my slime body, with [Metal Slime], I¡¯m probably tougher than tanks like Ian and Roderick. Just as long as nothing hits my core... But once I get enough [Metal Slime] levels, I can probably create a coating around them, my own personal armor.¡¯ All the activity in the ant tunnels meant that [Tremor Sense] was getting a workout, although I delegated the information to my [Sub-Cores] as trying to process it myself was a little too distracting. Likewise, Alpha and Beta kept throwing rocks around, and they didn¡¯t take long to reach the next level in [Earth Magic]. As far as first-level spells went, [Rock Lob] was pretty mediocre, and it would likely have barely threatened the ants at all if not for [Erode] ruining their defense. <[Earth Magic LV 2] spell [Rampart] learned.> The new spell lets you pull up the earth into rough structures; the main use was clearly to make walls, as the name implied. At least that was the base intent, as with enough levels in [Mana Manipulation] and some effort, you could force more elaborate designs. The more Mana you dumped into the spell, the more refined the result. I sealed off a tunnel behind me as an experiment, and when I threw my entire magical weight into the spell, the resulting wall closely resembled granite in terms of toughness. Finally, unlike [Rock Lob], this spell wanted you to use existing resources, as the cost to create even the simplest earthen wall from pure Mana alone was astronomical. My self-proclaimed endless supply of Mana was put in its place. Of course, unless I was flying, I couldn¡¯t see a reason to ever need to create it from Mana alone, and I¡¯d be far better off using many more available options in that scenario. ¡¯When I¡¯m forced into some non-slime downtime, I must investigate pulling apart this spell and replacing Earth with Ice. It¡¯s my only other Mana type with such a strong physical presence. You can¡¯t exactly make structures out of Fire and Lightning. Arcane is a possibility... But if maintenance cost is anything like [Aegis], then it¡¯s a no-go.¡¯ ¡¯Princess, you appear to be slacking off. Your subjects are at a higher level than yourself.¡¯ The rest of the room seemed to be a hatchery as there were white oval-shaped egg things slightly squirming, being grabbed and taken away by some drones. They immediately spotted me, causing the two bodyguards to snap their mandibles threateningly and flash with a red-hot glow. The princess also seemed to glow, and then I witnessed her release a glowing aura that permeated throughout the entire chamber, and a glow settled onto her two bodyguards. ¡¯Is that a buff aura? I¡¯ve never seen another besides my [Glacial Aura] and that cat¡¯s [Jinx Aura]. I hope that¡¯s a trait I can mimic.¡¯ The uncharacteristic display of intelligence also gave me a nagging feeling in my mind, so I grabbed [Telepathy (Lesser)] and mentally reached out to the princess. A soft, bubble-like shield surrounded her mind and attempted to prevent my reaching out, but I broke through easily with a small flex of my mental might. "Hello!" I reached out. "INTRUDER!" The ant princess screeched out with an almost alien-like mind. "Are you an [Experiment]?" I questioned. "LEAVE OR DIE!" She responded and was clearly trying to shove my mental connection away. I tried a few more times to speak with her, but she kept repeating, "Leave or die." I broke the connection because I did not want the alien voice screeching in my head and wrote off the princess¡¯s possibility as a fellow [Experiment]. Not wanting to be outdone by the ant aura, I cast [Glacial Aura]. The icy, ethereal Mana spread out and flooded the entire room. The ants really didn¡¯t like that, and now the two guards started hastily charging at me. Meanwhile, I saw the princess sneaking towards one of the exits. I had Alpha and Beta, my two personal earth mages, cast [Rampart] to seal the exits. At the same time, I shifted into a more bulky form by shifting into a mostly earthshaker bear body while reinforcing it with [Metal Slime]. And so, as a silvery-gray earthshaker bear, I met the royal guards in a head-on collision. The impact was audible. The first guard I ran into was sent backward, digging in its heels, while the second guard clamped down on me with its scorching mandibles. A powerful clanging noise echoed throughout the sealed chamber as the ant repeatedly tried and failed to penetrate. Now that I had Earth affinity, the borrowed [Earthen Carapace LV 7] trait was operating at full defensive capability, and it was reinforced with [Metal Slime] and [Mana Reinforcement]. Not to mention whatever defenses my increased density would provide. There were minor scuffs and scratches, but my metallic rocky carapace was unharmed otherwise. ¡¯I guess I¡¯m an ironshaker bear now!¡¯ Chapter 177: Playground Chapter 177: Playground I was extremely happy with how tanky I had become. I only wished I had a bigger monster form to mimic. Still, my chimeric evolution added flexibility to my forms, so I started to swell and grow my size far beyond the original earthshaker bear. ¡¯It¡¯s disappointing I didn¡¯t manage to get a yeti or ogre profile from the dungeon; those looked really strong. I hope I can find something big and brutish down here.¡¯ While I still loved magic, there was something inherently fun about turning into some giant oversized monster and smashing my foes. Speaking of magic, my [Glacial Aura] was clearly building up its effect as the ants started to become noticeably slower, and some of the weaker drones collapsed and began to freeze over. To counter this, the royal guards started leaking heat from their bodies, a misty haze rising from their carapace as their bodies began to glow softly. They also started vomiting out flames to try to melt me. Realizing she was trapped, the princess joined more directly in the fight and started fluttering around the large chamber and lobbing globs of spit at me, which seemed to react harshly with the flames present and further fuel their intensity. ¡¯Okay, everyone, metal urchin!¡¯ My body rippled and burst outwards with hundreds of protruding spikes. The full form of my seven [Pseudopods] formed and began more directly assaulting the two royal guards. Not to be outdone by their mandibles, my tendrils were tipped with fangs, claws, and weapons from various profiles as they started to pierce, crush, and slice into the ants. Since I was the leader, I delegated full bodily control over the cores and decided to focus on the princess. She was fluttering around a lot more anxiously now, so I started firing my metallic needles at her. She must have had either a danger sense skill or evasion as she promptly began dodging; unfortunately for her, all my needles were also explosive payloads, and it was easy to catch her off balance by detonating them once they were behind her or when they were glancing past her side. The two royal guards flared up with even more strength when I attacked the princess and began pushing back. They ignored all wounds and attacks and just mindlessly pushed forward to eliminate the threat to their princess. Their berserker mindset was offputting, especially when I saw that some of their wounds began congealing and sealing up. ¡¯Okay, team, let¡¯s throw in some [Bloodrot]!¡¯ The order was immediately received, and the metallic weaponry glinted with a dark maroonish tint. When the next batch of wounds was caused on the royal guards, their wounds started to fester, and that congealing goop was nowhere to be seen. While I was happy to have countered their healing, I did start to receive a rather notable complaint from [Dissection]. It appeared these ants were quite valuable. I pushed the objection away and continued my fight; I was having too much fun right now. I found myself toying with the princess, using the combat to get some thorough practice with [Nitro Slime] and some more advanced attacking maneuvers. By leading her around with needles and explosions, I could lure her into taking hits she really shouldn¡¯t have; I also played around with the idea of leaving needles embedded into the wall and then only detonating them when she dodged closer. This chamber had become my trapped explosive playground, and I was setting the rules.No?v(el)B\\jnn The battle continued; the guards must have died at some point, as I noticed the chamber had become quiet except for the sound of explosions. At this point, the princess had stopped trying to attack and was frantically trying to survive the explosive gauntlet. However, my amusement ran out when the princess frantically abandoned reason and charged at a wall, trying to burrow furiously with her superheated mandibles. I sighed, disappointed, and lashed out with [Cryo Slime] tendrils to drag her back. When the icy slime even grazed her, she violently trembled. Frantically thrashing, my tendrils began to drag her back into the room, but then she died far sooner than I expected. ¡¯Huh... I knew [Cryo Slime] was effective... But that effective?¡¯ I couldn¡¯t help but wonder. ¡¯Sure, she was damaged, with less than half her life force remaining, according to [Life Sight].¡¯ I could have easily conquered this battle if I wasn¡¯t so focused on leveling up and trying out my newer traits. [Dissection] was still giving me some attitude, but I shrugged it off, as the princess was in good enough condition to harvest fully. And while the royal guards looked like moldy sponges with numerous holes and Bloodrot festering, their mandibles were still in adequate condition. As I ate and harvested, I looked over my notifications. ¡¯I guess that might be why she died so easily. No royal guards, no special damage mitigation. Well, and these ants are super weak to Ice.¡¯ I tried mimicking both traits at once, but it looked like I couldn¡¯t cheat the system like that. The princess¡¯s aura was from a strange gland, and it would affect any progeny. I tried using it myself, hoping my [Sub-Cores] could¡¯ve been loosely classified as my offspring, but sadly, that was not the case. The regeneration also came from a gland; while I could use it, it was a little impractical. With [Inferno Sac], I could send Mana into it to generate the flame nearly instantly, and this [Regen Gland] functioned that way, except at a much slower rate. Store and use later, rather than spend and use now. I tested to see if the fluid could be stored outside the gland, but it rapidly faded upon removal, even within my [Core Storage]. ¡¯An exploit fix?¡¯ I guessed. The princess also had egg laying... I ignored it. ¡¯Trixie must never find out.¡¯ I vowed. The flammable spit was interesting. It was also stored in some gland sac thing, and [Dissection] seemed to be preserving it. I tried sampling it, but it didn¡¯t trigger anything, so I just stored it in some canteens. ¡¯I literally just bought these canteens before the teleport, and I¡¯m emptying them already... I need to get more conventional storage.¡¯ Then, I saw the final trait in the princess¡¯s profile. I gasped. <[Essence Sight] See the natural flow of Essence in the environment. Higher trait level allows further understanding of Essence concentration, elements, and condition. Trait level determines detection range.> ¡¯I knew another sight trait existed!¡¯ I celebrated. I tested to see if I could buy it, and it was compatible with my race! However, I rejected the purchase and instead opted to borrow it and earn it that way. Now that my race levels were more irregular in frequency, I needed some scrimping, especially if I wanted to potentially uncap or uptier a trait. ¡¯It shouldn¡¯t take too long to unlock it if I also borrow the human trait [Untapped Potential].¡¯ I reasoned and shifted into a goblinoid form. ¡¯Still... Why does the ant princess have it? I thought only spirits were involved with Essence.¡¯ Thanks to [Chimeric Mimicry], I borrowed and activated the trait at level seven. The room erupted with previously unseen colors and substances; I quickly canceled the trait and recovered from the surprise. ¡¯Okay... That was a lot of information...¡¯ Instead, I borrowed the trait at level one. It was much more manageable this time, although it didn¡¯t tell me much except that this room had Essence. I began gradually adding more levels to the trait; the slower pace allowed me to become accustomed to it and parse the additional information each level provided. First, I understood the Essence concentration, then the primary element, and then, as more levels were added, I could tell what the minor elements were present. The final packet of information contained any recent changes to the Essence flow. Putting this all together, I could tell this room had a high concentration of Essence, which had recently spiked. All the ant deaths explained that. Also, while the primary element was Earth, there was a lot of Fire element originating from below the chamber, and the egg pile was on the closest hotspot. ¡¯So... The ant princess has this trait to find a good nest location?¡¯ I reasoned. ¡¯But... Then why didn¡¯t the harpy queen have the trait? Or do harpies not care about their nest location as much. Or is it because they are monstrous humanoids rather than just plain monsters?¡¯ Sadly, neither of the two profiles could answer the question, although, in the grand scheme of things, it didn¡¯t matter other than to feed my growing curiosity. ¡¯Speaking of curiosity...¡¯ I thought as I stared at the Fire Essence source below. ¡¯I wonder where this goes?¡¯ Chapter 178: Exploratory Mining Chapter 178: Exploratory Mining I briefly considered not exploring the unknown source of fire essence. But in the end, I loved a good mystery too much, and perhaps it would hold something interesting to eat, or maybe it would be one of the other quest targets I was supposed to exterminate. ¡¯A quick peek, and then I¡¯ll head back. I¡¯m sure I¡¯ll be home in time for supper!¡¯ With acidic tendrils as my tools, I began my burrowing descent towards this heated source. It was certainly not the most exciting time, so I kept myself occupied trying to create my earth debuff. ¡¯What would an earth weakness even be called? Rocked? Soiled? Dirtied?¡¯ As I descended deeper, the rock density and the ambient heat increased. Eventually, I reached a layer of blackish rock that was remarkably warm to the touch. ¡¯I¡¯m so glad I can¡¯t boil alive anymore. Otherwise, this would¡¯ve been a really stupid idea.¡¯ [Tremor Sense] told me that beyond this rock, it opened up into what appeared to be an open cavern. With excited anticipation, I continued through. As I broke through, a vast and lengthy cavern was revealed, where a river of molten magma flowed with a mesmerizing, fiery glow. The intense heat radiating from the magma river made the air shimmer, and the distant rumbling of the flowing magma echoed throughout the cavern. Using adhesive tendrils to latch onto my entry hole, I lowered myself near the magma, feeling the heat wash over me and marveling at the raw energy before me. I poked the river a few times; it seemed like my resistances were enough for my slime to not burst into flames on contact, although I wasn¡¯t about to take a dip. I also tried looking down both ends of this river using [Eagle Vision], but both weren¡¯t entirely straight and curved off. I wasn¡¯t sure which end of the river to follow, and there didn¡¯t seem to be anything below the surface, at least within range of my current position. Borrowing a higher level of [Essence Sight] again, I discovered that one path headed towards more fire essence. My decision was made. I took on my regular winged blueblin form for its convenient flying size and began to fly carefully down the tunnel. To my surprise, I wasn¡¯t the only flying creature in these tunnels, and there seemed to be a few fire elemental bats fluttering around. For the most part, they seemed non-hostile and would actually flee from me. Their low numbers, low tier, and inedible status made me defeat only one with [Frost Grasp] before ignoring them. The magma river, however, was extremely intriguing, and occasionally, I¡¯d see what looked like fish coated in blackish glass. I paused and attempted some fishing experiments by trying to catch some by dipping my [Pseudopods] into the molten river. It took quite a bit of trial and error, as I was almost fishing blindly. The only vaguely reliable sense or vision I had to use was [Life Sight], as the strange fish didn¡¯t appear with [Mana Conception]. They were clearly the same temperature as the magma itself, so they blended in when I used [Thermal Vision]. The area and creatures were not conductive, so [Electro-magnetic Sense] was also a bust. When I eventually caught one, it was quite a nutritious feast despite its lack of levels, which fell more under critter status than a monster. They were called obsidian fish, and when I noticed some other creatures in the magma, they all had obsidian as a prefix to their species. I was mostly minding my own business when my fishing expedition was interrupted by the sound of some immense rumbling. I flew towards one of the walls and pressed against it to try to get a sense of where it was coming from with [Tremor Sense]. Whatever it was, it was making such powerful vibrations that it was being picked up despite my lack of trait levels. ¡¯Is that... Two of them?¡¯ I pondered, trying to decipher what I was feeling. If I read the trajectory correctly, they would appear further ahead in this tunnel, closer to the source of fire essence. I hastily flew towards it, hoping to catch sight of whatever it was as it approached. Even with my debuff assistance, it didn¡¯t look like the obsidian worm would succeed. It was tricky to compare myself to regular monsters, but this made the gap between evolutions especially apparent. I began preparing some of my explosive needles with eager anticipation when I paused. I looked at my needle and then the sheer size of the damn worms. ¡¯Right... Needles aren¡¯t going to cut it.¡¯ Thanks to eating almost an entire ant nest, I had an excessive amount of slime mass, and the delicious meal before me would undoubtedly return any investment made with interest. Thus, I started upgrading from needles to spears while watching the two worms continue their wrestling match in the magma lake. ¡¯It¡¯s too bad I don¡¯t have a profile for something more exotic like a harpoon. Perhaps I need to visit a coastal city next?¡¯ The increased weapon size also gave me more room to work with. The design I finalized had a spearhead of [Acid Slime] and [Metal Slime], while the shaft replaced the former with adhesive [Cryo Slime]. I liked this design as I could readily replace the payload contained in the shaft depending on the monster, and I quite easily predicted these worms would be weak to Ice and Cold. I alternated between iron and bronze for my metal choice, as I had no idea which was better. Then I mixed [Nitro Slime] into the entire creation and primed it. Happy with the finished product, I told my [Sub-Cores] to remember this configuration and set up most of them to handle the production. ¡¯I¡¯m tempted to throw in some [Bloodrot]... But if I ruin that harvest, I think [Dissection] will kill me. Not to mention, I¡¯d hate to ruin the meal for myself.¡¯ My blueblin form wasn¡¯t ideal for the rapid internal creation of my exploding spears, so I was forced to swell in size and latch onto the ceiling. I had all of my cores spread out as much as possible and was disguising myself as part of the ceiling with individual stalactites that each housed a core. ¡¯I think this is the largest amount of slime mass I¡¯ve ever pulled out and controlled at once. Actually... This is almost like an adaptation of what Gramps¡¯ emergency contingency did to save my life against that blade wolf.¡¯ With my position secured and doing my best to blend in with the ceiling, I began my assault. The cores not assigned to production would join me in the firing line. With the element of surprise and my high trait levels, the dozen or so spears were launched and met their target with startling efficiency. About half of those ricocheted off its exterior, and I had them detonated to avoid wasting the payload, causing a light splattering of [Cryo Slime]. Another half stabbed in but didn¡¯t make it fully inside, but they were in a perfect position to at least coat the worm after detonation. Finally, the remainder penetrated deep into the worm and unleashed their full strength. The worm ululated in pain, echoing throughout the cavern, resembling an endless cacophony of gravel and metal being pulverized together. The other worm tried to take advantage of this momentary respite to land its own chomps into the foe but desperately winced away when it took in a mouthful of what must have been some residual [Cryo Slime]. ¡¯Come on, it¡¯s just a bit of cold slime, don¡¯t be such a baby! I¡¯m doing all the work here!¡¯ I kept firing spears and having them appropriately detonate depending on the outcome. Any that ricocheted hurt me on an emotional level, as it was like throwing slime away. Sure, I had the slime budget to afford this, but it still stung. Things were going relatively well, although I noted that the obsidian worm was still flailing around like an idiot. It had taken one mouthful of slime; surely it wasn¡¯t that bad? ¡¯Or... Is the inside of their mouth a giant weak point? Maybe their stomach can¡¯t handle the slime?¡¯ I had attacked monsters in the mouth before, but seeing those rows upon rows of teeth made me shudder. I would not want to stick my tendrils in there, but perhaps I could make one accidentally swallow a slime bomb? Judging by the vast amount of lifeforce the tempered worm displayed, I might have to. Chapter 179: Worms Chapter 179: Worms Now, the only issue left to figure out is how to aim my projectiles into the mouth. The worms didn¡¯t really close their mouths, and they were huge in size, so it wasn¡¯t an impossible target. But, with the amount of time they thrashed around and refused to stay in one place, it wouldn¡¯t be easy. I kept producing spears and my attack on the worm, although I was reserving more in storage for later usage as I¡¯d probably need to get closer to secure some shots down the gullet. My chance of victory wasn¡¯t in question; it was just the time required and resources expended. ¡¯I seriously can¡¯t believe how much damn health this thing has. Did the dwarves scam me into taking this quest?¡¯ I knew there wasn¡¯t a penalty for failure, but personally, I refused to accept the outcome. I tried studying the two worms as they fought and wrestled. Besides their sheer size and mouths, they weren¡¯t exactly high on the threat list. They weren¡¯t even particularly fast. Trying to find potential weak points, I noted that they had no eyes, which made me wonder how they were sensing each other. ¡¯I would have thought [Tremor Sense], but I don¡¯t know how effective that would be while in magma. [Life Sight] would be a valid option; the two are both like beacons of life.¡¯ For now, I just continued to safely observe and strike from afar. Trying my best to understand the two monsters while building up my projectile stockpile. After quite a bit of back and forth, I was beginning to lose hope that I¡¯d discover something else to them other than their hatred of eating [Cryo Slime]. That changed when the two worms crashed into one of the pillars inside the magma lake that connected the floor to the ceiling and shattered it. Suddenly, both worms frantically started trying to eat something within the pillar, even going so far as to partially ignore each other except when fighting over the scraps. I wasted no time using [Eagle Vision] to locate their target. Between the rubble of the collapsing pillar, I noted some ores within. ¡¯They eat minerals?¡¯ That revelation certainly explained some things. Clearly, the worms had some way to detect nearby ores, which they seemed to delight in eating. It also further explained why the dwarves had such a hatred for the damn things; imagine if one of them ate your gold mine! I¡¯d certainly be furious. If that were the case, would the smaller worm look like a tasty snack to the big one? It was coated in obsidian, after all. Perhaps the rarer the mineral, the more flavorful it was for the worms? If that was the case, then maybe I could fool the worm into eating a slime bomb by making it out of a rare or valuable metal. Rather than anything too complicated, I made a silver sphere with a [Cryo Slime] center and primed it so that it would keep its shape. Then, using [Slime Shot], I fired the bomb toward the two worms that had resumed attacking one another. I wasn¡¯t expecting much; it was, after all, just a quick theory thrown together. But against my expectations, as soon as the silvery sphere was within a certain distance of the two worms, they both seemed to home in on it and desperately seek it out. The blasted obsidian worm swallowed the thing whole, much to the frustration of both me and the tempered worm. Despite my anger, I didn¡¯t detonate it immediately, as I needed the obsidian worm to stick around longer to keep the tempered worm occupied. I swapped from spear to silver ball production and began launching them toward the worms. Again, when the silver spheres neared the worms, they ravenously sought them out. Seeing the greedy obsidian worm trying its luck again, I needed to prevent it from eating it, so I detonated the first one, likely sitting in its stomach. A huge chunk of its life force immediately depleted before my very eyes, and it continued to drop rapidly by the looks of things. I hoped I hadn¡¯t accidentally killed it too soon with the world¡¯s deadliest candy. The obsidian worm immediately howled in pain and thrashed around, ignoring all the tasty treats the tempered worm consumed gluttonously. As long as it kept eating, I kept spitting out silver balls, and only once the obsidian worm had recovered did I finally start the detonation. The chain reaction of all the silver balls going off was extremely audible, even with the nonstop wailing from the obsidian worm. I squealed with joy when I saw each detonation removing another vast chunk of lifeforce and spreading out the deadly [Cryo Slime]. The damage the one bomb had done to the obsidian worm was impressive, but this was on a whole other level, not just due to the number of detonations but also because the tempered worm was fully debuffed. However, by my rough estimation, the worm would still live. ¡¯Ah! I should have used [Assassinate]!¡¯ I cursed my lack of hindsight. Unlike the tempered worm, the obsidian worm¡¯s defenses held little remaining protection against my attacks once it was debuffed with [Erode]. It felt good to be on top of the food chain again as I watched it¡¯s rapidly depleting life. When I estimated it was close enough to death, I threw out another [Decay] to finish the job. Like before, the purple mana of the spell swirled around the monster, but in what felt like a less dramatic fashion than the [Assassinate] empowered version. Then, unceremoniously, it was over. <15 Skill Points are now available.> Before the obsidian worm could start to sink, I rushed over to it and threw out tendrils to try to grab it. Unfortunately, I was nowhere near strong enough to stop it from sinking, so I made the executive decision to dive down its gullet and eat it from the inside out. As I had suspected, the worm meat was delicious and nutritious, and I saw a much-needed replenishment of my slime mass. Rather than depositing it, I let it balloon out and aid in consuming the worm. I ordered everyone to get to work and follow the instructions of [Dissection]. When I broke through to the fleshy interior of the magma lake, I couldn¡¯t help but flinch reflexively. Not that I was afraid of the magma, but I borrowed [Fire Resistance] as a precaution. I was initially surprised by how little was being saved from the worm; it seemed like, other than a few choice obsidian scales and its teeth, everything else was designated for eating. But the true prize would be the evolved one. I had wanted to avoid looking at the worm profile until I ate the bigger one, but I realized that I would likely require it to aid in locating and retrieving it. So, I compromised by skimming through it. The worm had [Tremor Sense], as I suspected, but also [Mineral Sense], which must have been how it sensed the ores. They were otherwise entirely blind, not even having something like [Life Sight] to sense nearby foes. Sure, they lived underground, but having such a crippling weakness to anything flying seemed very detrimental. Borrowing the trait and beginning to transform into a worm myself, I could sense that the obsidian in its hide was being detected. And at the bottom of the lake, I could see my true prize glowing like a sun in all its glory. All of my newly acquired slime began repurposing itself into facilitating my giant obsidian worm form. The transformation was startling, and having the entire massive body exclusively under my control was a bizarre feeling. I had never been in a body nearly this big before. ¡¯You know... I had nearly given [Nitro Slime] the award of best trait ever. Still, the fact that [Chimeric Mimicry] is pretty much singlehandedly allowing me to control this entire form by itself is certainly eye-opening.¡¯ The best part about my new worm form was that, unlike the original, I was not limited to being blind and could easily create transparent pockets for a [Sub-Core] to see out of. Not that there was anything to see at the moment aside from the depths of the magma lake. And so I wormed my way to my next meal and hopefully a good trait or two. Chapter 180: Eating Rocks Chapter 180: Eating Rocks When I finally reached the tempered worm, I wasted no time diving into a presumably delightful meal. I had tried to dig in like any of my previous meals, but even with my [Acid Slime], I had some issues with the worm. If anything, it seemed sturdier than when I was fighting it. Adapting to the situation, I shrunk my worm form down in size and ate at the fleshy interior to get around the conundrum. While I perused the profile, I let the rest of my [Sub-Cores] and [Dissection] continue the work. <[Tempered Reinforcement] Increases a monster¡¯s physical defense in proportion to its heat level. Affecting most, if not all, forms of natural armor it may have. The base defensive boost and the maximum heat bonus scale with trait level. This trait also greatly boosts resistance to all forms of heat, but it comes at the cost of equal vulnerability to cold.> ¡¯Very interesting... I guess I left it a bit too long in the magma, so it¡¯s all gone hard. But if cold lowers the defense, then I¡¯ll just add [Cryo Slime] in with [Acid Slime] for the harvesting.¡¯ Before I gave the full go-ahead to all my [Sub-Cores], I personally tested the theory with the directed guidance of [Dissection]. The difference was outstanding, and I was back to my familiar harvesting capabilities in almost no time. ¡¯That¡¯s good. Otherwise, I might have needed to drag this sucker out of the magma lake.¡¯ Letting the gang get back to work with the newfound knowledge, I was about to continue perusing the profile. But an unexpected notification interrupted me. <[Obsidianite] has been sampled. [Metal Slime] updated.> ¡¯What!? I ate basically the other entire worm and didn¡¯t get anything, and now you update? What the hell is obsidianite?¡¯ [Metal Slime] held no answers for me, and so I was forced to scour through the monster¡¯s profile for the answer. That answer was also frustratingly inadequate; the best I could put together was that this unknown metal was formed during the monster¡¯s evolution. ¡¯It¡¯s like the rocky obsidian evolved into a metal... Maybe the dwarves will know?¡¯ I tried using [Metal Slime] to form some myself, but it was impossible at my current trait level, like both mithril and adamantine. Possibly even worse, it was hard to tell the difference in my slime falling apart. The evolved worm¡¯s only remaining trait was [Volcanic Stomach], which let it rapidly convert rock into magma that it could spew out. It was pretty cool, although [Tempered Reinforcement] was the true prize and ripe for mimicry. As far as I could tell, nothing stopped me from borrowing the trait and heating myself up with [Blaze Slime]. No need for a magma bath. ¡¯[Volcanic Stomach] is probably how it¡¯s supposed to heat itself up if there¡¯s no other source nearby.¡¯ As for the traits both worms had, [Mineral Sense] seemed useful, and perhaps I could combine it with [Electro-Magnetic Sense] and [Tremor Sense] in some combination. Both worms had a trait called [Obsidian Scales], which seemed to be an alternate version of [Earthen Carapace], with the caveat that it also required Fire affinity. I did try using both at the same time, but they seemed mutually exclusive. The deciding factor was that [Earthen Carapace] was incompatible with [Tempered Reinforcement]. They also had [Rock Connoisseur], an unranked trait that allowed them to eat rocks and raw minerals for food. The trait mentioned rarer minerals as more nutritious and delicious. I thought it might be a good way to exploitatively generate slime mass, so I tried mimicking it and eating some rocks. Firstly, the amount of slime it generated was so infinitesimal that I could only assume Gramps, or someone else, had perhaps had some foresight to prevent me from doing something like this. Secondly, despite the trait claiming the rock and minerals were delicious, that couldn¡¯t be further from the truth. ¡¯What a scam. I can¡¯t believe I toggled [Olfactory Sense] on for this disappointment.¡¯ Eating and harvesting the second worm entirely took far longer than expected. I was beginning to worry that Thern might get worried about my absence if I didn¡¯t return home in time for supper. ¡¯Not that I think I could eat another bite after that meal.¡¯ I chuckled to myself. ¡¯Hopefully, I can also get [Mineral Sense] for free... What would that combination be? I want to doubt it¡¯s [Soul Sense], but maybe Gramp¡¯s felt uninspired with the names again.¡¯ To my surprise, I met a squad of dwarven guards on patrol in the tunnel. They were more surprised to see me, but a flash of my guild tag to confirm my identity was all that I needed to do. They became jovial once they realized I was an adventurer, and one even offered me a flask as a reward for "a hard day of adventuring." I thanked him and accepted it, even going as far as to chug some of it on the spot, much to the delight of the dwarves. "Are ya sure you aren¡¯t a dwarf trapped in an elf body?" One of the guards joked, causing quite a joyous ruckus from the group, which I joined in on. I waved goodbye and continued my journey, wishing them a safe return. The guards at the gate were similarly happy to see my return and curious about what quest I had been on. When I mentioned that I had taken out an ant princess, quite a few guards offered to take me to a tavern to celebrate with multiple rounds of drinks. It felt nice to be appreciated for the job. I politely turned them down and told them I had a friend waiting for my return, which they accepted without too much fuss. If they had pressed the issue, I might have given in to the social pressure. If I hadn¡¯t been concerned about potentially causing Thern and his family some worry, I would have returned to the guild to report my completed quests. So I beelined towards his home, my [Mapping] skill actually being helpful this time thanks to retracing familiar ground. I still had no idea how the dwarves navigated this city unless they all had it. Knocking on the door, I waited patiently for a response. ¡¯Wait. Shit. What if they¡¯re sleeping? How do the dwarves tell how late it is without a sun?¡¯ My momentary panic was put at ease when Darmod opened the door. He gave a big grin, seeing me safe and sound. "Syl! Glad you made it back in one piece," Darmod said cheerfully. "Yup. It was a rather fun experience; hopefully, defeating an ant princess is good enough to prove my worth," I answered. Darmod gave an impressed whistle as he led me into the house. "Definitely. Those ants are a real menace," Darmod answered. "I think any dwarf in the world would buy you a drink if you told him you killed a princess or queen." Thern was seated at the table with a few mugs of ale on the table. There was no sign of Thessa. "Ah, you¡¯re back!" Thern chuckled. "I was worried you¡¯d be gone for months again." "I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m sorry. I should have returned from the floating island sooner," I apologized again. "Bah. Don¡¯t listen to Thern; I bet he¡¯d be gone for a year if he was on a floating island," Darmod chuckled. "Did you manage to drag your mom from the forge?" I asked curiously, noting Thessa¡¯s absence. "Aye. Kicking and screaming," Thern shook his head. "And she bloody passed out as soon as her head touched the pillow." "That¡¯s good. I wanted to ask her about a metal I found, but it can wait till tomorrow," I explained. "Oh? I¡¯m not a smith, but being married to one, maybe I can help?" Darmod offered. "Sure. It¡¯s not a big deal, but I found some obsidianite." I answered nonchalantly. Thern was busy taking a drink while I was talking to Darmod, and when I finished speaking, he immediately spat out a spray of ale. While Thern was coughing and spluttering, Darmod appeared frozen in a state of shock. Chapter 181: Obsidianite Chapter 181: Obsidianite "What?" I questioned the two dwarves. Thern tried to say something, but it just came out as a splutter of coughing. "Did you say obsidianite?" Darmod asked in an almost hushed tone. "Yes. I got some from a worm I killed." I answered honestly. "Bloody beards," Darmod muttered. "You said she was special with coming back with crazy shit, son, but I think you undersold her." "Shit!" Thern eventually yelled after recovering enough, "Why didn¡¯t I come with ya? Of all the bloody luck!" "Can someone please explain what the big deal is?" I requested. "Obsidianite is a very rare metal. To say people have died trying to get some wouldn¡¯t be an exaggeration." Darmod started to explain. "What makes it so special?" I asked. "It didn¡¯t appear that much better than adamantine." "You¡¯re right that, in most cases, it¡¯s not that different from adamantine," Thern answered before Darmod. "However, while adamantine can rarely be found and dug up, this bloody stuff is rare to an extreme. It doesn¡¯t form naturally and cannot be created artificially. It can only be obtained from a select few monsters through the godly power of evolution." "Huh... What about feeding it to a silver slime?" I suggested. Thern¡¯s face scrunched up, evidently greatly disturbed or disgusted by the very idea. "I¡¯m sure it¡¯s been tried... Like bloody throwing money away," Darmod answered, also looking bothered by the suggestion. "But you¡¯d either need a silver slime that spawned with obsidianite as its metal type, or it would be ruined by the slime mixing the two metals together." "And I¡¯m guessing obsidianite has no alloys," I replied. "Nope. None of the legendary metals like to play nice," Thern answered. "Well... Are you going to show us?" Darmod asked, licking his lips. "Aye. You can¡¯t leave us high and dry by teasing us like that," Thern agreed. I shrugged and pulled out one of the largest fully intact scales from the worm, gently placing it on the table. Thern¡¯s response was to start cussing up a storm, while Darmod was beginning to look particularly sweaty. "Gods... It¡¯s fully intact," Darmod said, shaking his head. "You really don¡¯t half-arse anything, do ya, Syl?" Thern chortled. "I mean... I had no idea," I shrugged. "My [Dissection] skill told me it was valuable, so I grabbed it." "This one scale is probably worth more than our damn house," Darmod explained. "Huh... Think I could get some silver slime cores?" I asked. Thern groaned as if expecting my question while Darmod stared at me as if I had grown a second head. "That would be such a waste!" Thern exclaimed. "I know you have your kinks about the bloody slime cores, but we¡¯re talking about a piece of valuable obsidianite. Bloody beards, just imagine a forge hammer or inscriber made from it!" "I mean... You can certainly have those," I responded. "I just want some silver slime cores since I¡¯m unlikely find them outside here." "What do you mean?" Thern asked, looking puzzled. "I didn¡¯t say that was my only piece-" I began answering. "Gods!" Darmod shouted, standing up so quickly that his chair tipped. "H-how many do you have!?" Both dwarves stared at me so hard it felt like they were trying to drill into my mind with their gaze. Their abnormal reaction to this entire situation made me feel uneasy. [Acting] must have agreed, as I was getting a subtle hint that I shouldn¡¯t reveal the truth. "A few..." I responded hesitantly. I slowly pulled out a few more; with each one I pulled out, the dwarves looked increasingly frantic, so I stopped when I reached five. I got the odd feeling that if I revealed that I had harvested almost the entire worm, minus the scales I ruined, I might get attacked. Both dwarves were speechless for quite a while, staring at the obsidianite with a mixture of concern, envy, and awe. I was growing increasingly uncomfortable when Thern finally broke the silence. "We can¡¯t let anyone find out where they came from." "They¡¯re going to find out eventually," Darmod countered. "Nobody can keep five large intact pieces of obsidianite a secret. Gods, doesn¡¯t the Adventurer¡¯s Guild know she took a worm kill quest?" "Yes, but the guild would never sell out an adventurer, especially not one who¡¯s reached gold-rank," Thern disagreed. "I dunno, son, greased palms can tempt foolish dwarves," Darmod replied. "I don¡¯t really use weapons," I answered honestly. "I have a bow I earned from a dungeon ages ago that¡¯s gathering dust. I¡¯m pretty heavily focused on magic." "Bah. Mages," Thessa scoffed. "What if you run out of Mana? Always good to have a backup." "Well...." I stammered. Perhaps hoping to gain some ground on his mom, Thern chuckled and answered. "I don¡¯t think Syl here has ever run out of Mana; I know you don¡¯t have [Mana Sight], ma, but she¡¯s got enough to light up the entirety of Dhoggurum." "Well, ornamental then!" Thessa replied. It was rapidly beginning to look like she wouldn¡¯t take no for an answer. "Well... I do like rapiers," I answered. Thessa sighed, "Of course... Something dainty..." "Never disparage the client¡¯s choice, dear." Darmod chuckled. "You¡¯re right," Thessa said reluctantly. "At least she didn¡¯t say something silly like a bow. Sure, I was hoping for a big warhammer or battleaxe, but I¡¯ll just have to make do." "Maybe it¡¯s a little late to bring this up again, but I still haven¡¯t understood why obsidianite is so good," I said. "I know it¡¯s rare since it¡¯s only from monsters, but what makes it special to use? I¡¯m hoping it¡¯s not purely decorative for its rarity." "Heavens no." Thessa chuckled. "Let the smith do the talking, not the merchant or enchanter." Darmod and Thern nodded in agreement. "Obsidianite is nearly as durable as adamantine. Through its godly creation and monster evolution, it¡¯s lost all the brittleness of obsidian and has become a true metal worth using." Thessa began explaining. "You¡¯re probably familiar with mithril being a Mana conductor. Obsidianite is a little similar in that regard; instead of conducting it and distributing it, it drinks it up and stores it, using it to reinforce itself." "To add to what Ma is saying, if you have either Earth or Fire affinity, it will naturally enhance the obsidianite. Earth adds to its durability, while Fire refines its edges," Thern explained. "That¡¯s... Honestly, very impressive," I conceded. "I thought you¡¯d like that. Especially since you have Fire affinity," Thern grinned. "Actually, I just recently got Earth too." "Bloody beards, girl! Will you have every affinity the next time I see you?" Thern exclaimed. "Even better then!" Thessa cheered. "What about some obsidianite armor? A nice set of full plate to seal your defense." The dwarves were going back and forth so fast that I couldn¡¯t find the opportunity to speak up. "You really want her clanking around in full plate?" Thern asked. "Her previous class was a rogue mage hybrid. I¡¯m pretty sure she still likes being sneaky." "I do," I admitted. "Although I wouldn¡¯t say no to an armor upgrade." "Hmm... I could add some small platings to your existing leathers. Like studded leather, except far more expensive," Thessa chuckled. "What¡¯s this made out of?" "Inferno Salamander," I replied. Thessa whistled and nodded, looking very excited. "Made from the original owner of that new furnace heart," Thern added. "That¡¯s perfect," Thessa answered happily. "The natural Fire affinity in the armor will blend well with the obsidianite. I would have thrown it away if it was made of something like fish scales." Using [Equipment Swap], I exchanged it for one of my spare robes and handed it over to Thessa. To my surprise, she began examining it on the spot. "Hmm... Good, the maker knew what he was doing. Also, damn, do you bloody elves not sweat at all?" Thessa asked. "Of all the racial differences possible, I think that might be cheating too much," she shook her head and then swiftly changed the subject. "I¡¯m assuming the runes are your handiwork, Thern?" "Aye. I¡¯ll need to redo them when you¡¯re done with the rework," He replied. "Good. I¡¯m glad to have more evidence proving you haven¡¯t gotten rusty," Thessa poked. "You¡¯d have broken a poor mother¡¯s heart." "Quit the act, you forge devil," Thern quipped back. "So... About payment," Thessa said mischievously. "I can put a deposit down or something," I answered, pulling out my guild tag. "Ahh... I¡¯m afraid Thessa¡¯s Forge only accepts trade as payments for the foreseeable future," She chuckled. Of course, the dwarf wanted some of the obsidianite herself. However, I saw no reason to refuse, as apparently, I had more than they knew what to do with. Chapter 182: Saber-Rattling Chapter 182: Saber-Rattling A plan was being put together by the three dwarves, and I left them to continue their work. I really didn¡¯t want to get involved with money and negotiations, so I felt like delegating the task to them was more than appropriate. Darmod was the merchant, after all, and I trusted Thern to keep his family from potentially scamming me. Thern also reconfirmed that he would come out with me on some adventuring tomorrow. I saw no reason to refuse, but sadly, that meant I would need a slight pause on my [Nitro Slime] testing and [Metal Slime] training. Well... If I get more silver cores from this trade deal, I guess the latter wouldn¡¯t be so much of a downside. Plus, I get to see a Glyph Mage in action! I already had Enchanting covered, so I could probably unlock it myself, and it would be added to my list of potential class considerations when I¡¯d gotten everything I wanted out of Elementalist. Since slime was unfortunately a no-go tomorrow, magic was back on the menu, so I spent the rest of my evening hashing out an [Earth Magic] debuff. It took surprisingly little effort, and in no time, I had accomplished it. Hmm... I don¡¯t know if I¡¯m sold on that name. I¡¯d almost say [Fracture] should be the armor debuff, and [Erode] should be the earth debuff. No? I don¡¯t know if you¡¯re listening, Mother, but that¡¯s my feedback! I wondered if [Soul Sight] would help further my spell tinkering when I got it. [Mana Manipulation] was undoubtedly the key player, but progressing in [Mana Conception] allowed me to identify a lot more spell concepts and Mana types. I was wildly curious but restrained myself as I wanted to get more [Essence Sight] levels before the fusion into [Soul Sight]. And so, I called it a night with nothing immediately pressing. *** "I swear you¡¯ve woken up the beast in both of ¡¯em; I¡¯ve never seen Pa and Ma so excited before," Thern said as we headed towards the guild. "No offense, but you also had quite the look in your eye," I pointed out teasingly. "If you understood enchanting and saw the state of my tools compared to some of my peers, you¡¯d understand my excitement," Thern defended himself. "Damn, Greg has been eating it up with his bloody unicorn horn tool. If only I had a Light or Holy affinity... And tools with dual Fire and Earth are also rare." "Hmm... Would not normal obsidian also work? Or perhaps one from an obsidian golem or something?" I couldn¡¯t help but ask. "I could¡¯ve, but I¡¯d bankrupt myself with frequent tool replacements. I¡¯m not the most delicate when using tools, as is common with most dwarves." "Ah... That makes sense," I agreed. The guild wasn¡¯t too busy when we arrived, and soon enough, we were in discussion with a handler. I reported my successful ant princess extermination, and Thern requested to be assigned the same quests that were assigned to me already. At some point during our conversation, the handler looked absolutely startled and wide-eyed but rapidly recovered, shaking his head. I barely caught it and wondered if I had imagined his composure breaking. Maybe he¡¯s just having a rough day. Probably recovering from reveling too much last night if the other dwarves are any indication. I swear they have at least one tavern on every street. "Been a while since I got to stop kobolds; this should be fun," Thern grinned happily when he got his quest, and we left together. Our trip to the gate was uneventful, and we mostly just made small talk with Thern leading the way. I was grateful to follow, as I felt I might still get lost with how this city was structured, even with [Mapping]. Once again, the city guards were ecstatic at our arrival and gave us a series of shouts and cheers at our departure. When we were out of sight of the gate, I turned to Thern with a questioning gaze as he had added his own contribution to getting the guards worked up. "Us dwarves love a good fight, so adventuring is basically in our blood!" He began explaining. "For any good dwarf, defending the home and people is seen as honorable, and with how brutal it can be down here, it¡¯s instilled in us from a very young age. Adventuring doubly so, as you protect the home from current threats, prevent potential future threats, and risk your life to do it! Right out there in the open, not behind a wall or nothin¡¯! There can be no greater honor!" Thern gave me a hefty pat on the back, and we chuckled as we continued down the familiar passageway. *** "Badour, lad, what¡¯s got you so worked up?" The dwarven guild master asked. "Oh... Right... That..." Badour pretended to recall. "But that was ages ago, right? Bygones and all that, especially if there¡¯s coin to be made." "Bloody beards, lad; if your work is as half bad as your talent in lying, I might need to hire some new staff," Lukhek joked, causing Badour to pale. "Some of the elves involved are still alive and kicking! Of course, it¡¯s still relevant to them, even now!" "Oh... So is this reminding us to choose them over the humans?" "Maybe... It¡¯s certainly convenient timing, but I could just be poking at shadows," Lukhek admitted. "I can¡¯t say I¡¯ve ever heard anything good about the Outeatus royals. And it¡¯s hard to sympathize with a family all sired by a human supremacist who called himself a God King. I mean... Bloody beards, we know that the gods literally exist; that¡¯s at least blasphemous or foolish. On the other hand, what about the ordinary people of the kingdom? Surely they aren¡¯t guilty..." "I... Uh? Sorry, Master Lukhek, but this is going over my head," Badour admitted. "Sorry, lad. I¡¯m rambling. A curse of old age. I¡¯ll let you run off now. Thanks for bringing this to my attention," Lukhek said, giving him a friendly shoulder pat. "Thanks, Master Lukhek!" Badour said with a quick salute. And you aren¡¯t old, sir; you have plenty of years left to dedicate toward protecting Dhoggurum!" Lukhek watched the lad run off and chuckled to himself. Cheeky little brown-noser. Still... He wasn¡¯t sure what to make of this. It should at least be mentioned to the diplomats that the elves might be taking this exceptionally seriously. Using his [Guild Master] emblem, Lukhek brought up a secondary menu that was not unlike one¡¯s own personal profile. He quickly searched for any other recent quests this adventure had completed or undertaken. Oh, it looks like she still has a quest for worms and kobolds in progress. I¡¯d swear she was a dwarf looking for a promotion. He thought with a chuckle. Then he noticed two payments had already been made on the worm quest. Most of these things were entirely automated, thanks to the glorious gift from the gods. In fact, some adventurers never even bothered to mention a completed quest; it was more of a friendly formality or for a bit of bragging. Or someone trying to make a statement? Lukhek wondered. Using his authority, he looked at the payments; one of the two seemed a bit too high, according to his memory of worm quest payouts. That¡¯s odd... What kind of worm would give so much gold? Now that his intrigue was poked, he couldn¡¯t help but start following the trail. He pulled up quest records and started looking for the ones related to worm extermination. When he found the list close to the payment amount, he couldn¡¯t help but gasp. These are all tier-five worms! Bloody beards! He clutched at his table to steady himself; it was such a startling discovery. I want to believe she had hidden helpers outside of a Party... But gods, if I¡¯m wrong, this could be a grave warning to us dwarves! Screw the bloody God King¡¯s seed and their bloody coin; it can¡¯t be worth risking something like this! Feeling slightly flustered, he rushed out of his office. He needed to tell one of the noble families about this and hoped they¡¯d intercede in the diplomatic discussions. Bloody beards! Our great ancestors¡¯ teachings always mentioned that we should be wary of digging too deep¡ªto control our greed! *** Relaxing in his chair while rolling a small marble ball between his fingers, Gramps couldn¡¯t help but smirk. "I hope she can take the constructive criticism over her spell names... That¡¯ll teach her to get upset over some placeholder traits," Gramps chuckled to himself. Chapter 183: Glyph Mage Chapter 183: Glyph Mage Explosions rocked the cave¡¯s corridor, sending rocky shrapnel flying. "Take that, you scaly bastards!" Thern shouted triumphantly as he threw another glowing stone down the corridor. Shortly after, another explosion rang out, encrusting the rock and enemies in an icy residue. A small tunnel abruptly emerged from our side, and a small ambush squadron of kobolds was sent to flank us. Thankfully, I had [Tremor Sense] active and could feel their approach through the rocky floor. I immediately threw out a [Chain Lightning] spell at the first target after they breached, causing a cacophony of yips and yaps from the affected tiny lizard people as the dangerous lightning magic chained between them. Behind us, another set of explosions went off as the trap that Thern had left was triggered. "Ha! I told you they¡¯d try to sneak behind us!" Thern gloated before casting a spell to seal one of the passageways with a rocky wall. Thern¡¯s class was... Interesting. He had Fire and Earth Magic in his repertoire and occasionally used both effectively when the situation called for it. However, any spellcaster could accomplish that, and that¡¯s where his Glyph Mage got to show off a little. Thern could rapidly create a set of offensive enchantments pretty much at will. They were like hostile or unstable versions of larger enchantments, like spells stored within an object just waiting to go off. His favorite application was storing an explosive glyph on a rock or something and throwing it at an enemy. He¡¯d also shown that he could leave a glyph behind, as he had demonstrated with his trap, with trigger conditions to go off. I couldn¡¯t help but draw comparisons to my own [Nitro Slime] trait and its usage, except while mine was sort of taken care of thanks to the trait system, Thern had to draw in his instructions and conditions. However, one aspect that was quite interesting was that Thern¡¯s glyphs weren¡¯t limited to only his affinities, and he could pull on a variety of tricks from once beneficial enchantments now turned malicious. Of course, if he actually had the affinity himself, it would be better, and that¡¯s where I could help him. Thern could create an almost blank glyph, just waiting to absorb some Mana, and it would rapidly transform itself. Taking full advantage of how Arcane Mana was so transmutable. Thern could enchant a bunch of rocks, and if I just briefly channeled my Mana through the bag, it would convert all of them. Like Eliza, Thern had also become quite a fan of having Lightning added to his arsenal but soon requested Ice instead, as it was "making his beard fuzzy." Another interesting use for his class was he could quickly apply glyphs to himself and others, applying an enchantment as if it were a buff rather than a permanent effect and not requiring one to wear armor or some magic item. Thern had given both of us physical, earth, and fire resistance quite rapidly to deal with the kobolds. The class¡¯s intention clearly focused on utility more than offense, but Thern seemingly took that theme under advisement only. Only a crazy dwarf could think of using unstable enchantments as a weapon. When he explained it to me, I thought of potentially using an unstable storage enchantment, but Thern said it didn¡¯t work that way. Instead of sucking up the space and destroying whatever was in it, when Thern applied that enchantment offensively, it instead ejected a concussive force as if expanding the area. In fact, quite a few enchantments behaved oddly when turned into unstable glyphs. Weight reduction, used offensively, briefly applied a downward crushing force to those caught in its explosive residue, and it was clear that Thern had done many experiments to discover the strange variety of effects. Preparation was mandatory for his class, but with practiced fast rune tracing or using a skill he had picked up that let him instantly apply a template, albeit at a reduced effect, he overcame such burdens. When that wasn¡¯t enough, he also had a backup weapon that looked like a combination of a hammer and a pickaxe. On one end, it had a large flat hammerhead; on the other, it had the sharp, pointy end of a pick. While it looked like a tool for heavy excavating, Thern made it look like a deadly weapon he had spent years honing. I sensed the survivors of the trap behind us approaching, so I turned around and cast a barrage of [Rock Lob], as I still needed to work on getting my [Earth Magic] up. The hail of rocks battered against their shields and armor. They cursed and hissed, throwing ranged projectiles and their own spells in retaliation, bouncing against my [Arcane Armor]. The kobolds were strange creatures. Since I had only seen the dungeon variety before this, I wasn¡¯t sure how ones not under its influence would behave. I thought they¡¯d behave similarly to goblins since they reminded me of them, but they had a more savage feralness to them. As soon as they spotted us, they flew into an almost murderous rage and, in particular, focused a lot of effort on attacking Thern. I would have described goblins as cunning but cautious, but the kobolds were cunning and vicious. The goblins I had encountered used traps and strategy occasionally, where the kobolds lived and breathed it. The tunnel we were trying to travel through had all sorts of hidden ambush points and devious devices designed to deal with intruders. While the goblins were numerous, the kobolds felt endless. Or was the goblin tribe I met just on the small side? Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. We were making good progress down their tunnel when suddenly there was a rumbling, and the entire tunnel felt like it would collapse. [Tremor Sense] was basically screaming warnings at me, and I quickly began casting [Rampart] to create makeshift supports. "I wonder how they got rid of all the sand, though..." I murmured curiously. "Well! That¡¯s something you can help with!" Thern said happily as if expecting that question. "Start using all this sand to make some dense hand-sized rocks for me; the more spherical, the better. You¡¯ll be helping clear our way, give me more ammunition to throw glyphs on, and train your [Earth Magic]." I nodded in agreement. It was reasonable, and I didn¡¯t have anything better to do. "I wonder how many kobolds I¡¯ll need to gain a level up..." I couldn¡¯t help but wonder aloud. "A lot... But we might start seeing some of their elites, now that we¡¯ve kicked the hornet¡¯s nest. Especially if they decided to abandon this entire tunnel," Thern answered. "What do the evolved kobolds look like?" I asked. "It depends. Some revert to a more monstrous form, like salamanders or small drakes. They abandon their intelligence and are handled like wild beasts by the typical kobolds. Others become just a bit bigger, similar to hobgoblins," Thern answered as we continued working. "The ones you really need to watch out for are the ones that start looking more draconic... Their scales are the first thing to notice, not unlike that salamander you harvested, and some even get vestigial wings. You see one of those buggers, you kill it immediately!" "I wouldn¡¯t think only one evolution further would be that much of a threat?" I asked curiously. "No, it¡¯s the threat of what they could become," Thern answered. "Each evolution after that, they become more draconic, and soon you got a lesser dragon on your hands." "Surely one monster isn¡¯t that bad?" "Aye. You¡¯d be right. It¡¯s still nowhere near a real dragon, not even close. But the kobolds worship dragons, and one of those can unite multiple tribes together, and soon you have an entire kobold warband out for blood and conquest." Thern sighed. "It¡¯s a pity cause lesser dragons give very good materials and are incredibly rare. But the risk isn¡¯t worth it." I would¡¯ve loved to get my tendrils on a lesser dragon, but it sounded like that wasn¡¯t going to happen. A real pity. Of course, I had taken some nibbles on the kobolds that attacked us, but there wasn¡¯t much other than having a cool new form to mimic at some point. So, if we went deeper into their territory, I hoped to get more of their profiles from their various evolutions. They were still interesting, though. If I understood their profile correctly, they would be born with a random elemental affinity and then gain a spit based on that element, as well as the appropriate resistance. Rarer ones could even get corrosion! Although it seemed they only got half of it, either poison or acid. The idea of a little lizard goblin spitting acid was quite the image. Eventually, we broke out to the fungal cavern once again. After all our efforts, I was rewarded with two level-ups. Sure, it wasn¡¯t the biggest surprise, but it was still very welcome. I had been using the skill when I could, and watching the area¡¯s essence gradually rise from the dead kobolds was likely worth quite a bit. <[Earth Magic LV 3] spell [Shatterquake] learned.> And, as expected, my [Earth Magic] leveled up. Of course, Thern took full credit for this, and I let him have it after he had to dig us out of this mess. As for the new spell, it was one I was quite familiar with... As that damned bear had given me a very up-close and personal experience! The spell had two components. One was that it could quake the ground to cause instability, which Thern said was quite good for knocking someone off their feet. The other was that it could violently shatter rock, creating and launching hazardous shrapnel. So, tremors are created in the earth and soil, while rock is shattered. That¡¯s pretty cool. However, I wonder if that ring of erupting rock spires was just the bear using [Rampart]... Chapter 184: Kobolds and Dwarves Chapter 184: Kobolds and Dwarves Thern began collecting all the rock balls I had made for him and placing his glyphs on them individually. Once they were ready, he would put them in a small storage pouch he had that was rapidly accessible. "These are pretty good spheres!" He complimented me while he worked. "If you ever decide to take a break from all the monster killing, you should maybe look into enchanting. I dunno if you know this, but spheres are pretty important with high-level enchanting." "The way you¡¯re using it certainly looks entertaining," I chuckled, hoping to dodge the question. "And I thought I¡¯d seen it all with the damage-dealing healer." "Now that sounds like a fun class!" Thern responded. "Where the heck did you see one of those?" "One of the members of a party called The Misfits. We ran the mutation dungeon together. They had a shapeshifting druid, a burning barbarian, and a dark healer," I explained. "Well, I¡¯ll give them points for a good Party name," Thern laughed. "Now, let¡¯s find us another tunnel!" It didn¡¯t take Thern long to find another one, and then we were again engaged with kobold defenders. Now that I had a higher level of [Earth Magic] and since we were surrounded by rock, I started using [Shatterquake] to explode shrapnel on nearby walls. "Bloody beards! Was that you?" Thern questioned while slamming his hammer into a kobold. "Yes? I wanted to try out the new spell," I answered while casting it again, this time below a group of kobolds trying to shoot us with arrows. "A warning next time would be nice!" Thern scolded. "Sorry! I¡¯m used to solo fights." "I can see that. You are like a one-elf artillery mage," Thern joked. It didn¡¯t take us long to defeat the initial defenders, so we quickly took a recovery break. Thern, of course, drank from his flask. "I had no idea you could do that," He finally spoke up. "What? You literally just took credit for my [Earth Magic] leveling up not even an hour ago," I responded. "No, no, not that!" Thern clarified. "You¡¯re casting that spell so far away! Is that a trait or skill or something? I know I¡¯m not exactly a traditional spellcaster, but mine can¡¯t go nearly that far out!" "Oh..." I replied. I hadn¡¯t even realized I was technically casting outside my Mana aura. "It¡¯s not a trait or skill; it¡¯s a technique that allows changing the anchor point of a spell." "No kidding?" Thern asked, scratching his beard. "Wait... Isn¡¯t that Mage Guild stuff?" "Yeah... Jet mentioned something like that to me as well," I sighed. "Don¡¯t fret; if it¡¯s a secret, then my lips are sealed," Thern reassured me. "I¡¯m not sure if it¡¯s a secret or not... I just wasn¡¯t taught by anyone from the guild. Jet mentioned it would be quite an opportunity if I wasn¡¯t bound by any agreement not to share," I explained. "I sorta understand. They¡¯re quite a strict bunch, so they could take it as someone on the inside leaking their teachings," Thern said, nodding to himself, "Well, I don¡¯t think you need to worry about any of that here; there¡¯s no Mage¡¯s Guild branch in any dwarven city." "That¡¯s a little surprising. I would have thought they¡¯d at least have a branch in Dhoggurum." "Eh, it¡¯s all bullshit politics. Don¡¯t worry about it," Thern brushed it off. "Now, let¡¯s get back to fighting some kobolds before they decide to close this tunnel off again!" We continued pushing deeper into the tunnels. It was strange that we were almost getting less resistance to our assault than the first time as if the kobold¡¯s attention was elsewhere. I had mixed feelings watching Thern bruteforce his way through the kobold traps, most of the time breaking them with destructive force. Thinking about the time I spent with Whitney and Jet to disarm traps, I began to feel like I had wasted my time. To think I was supposed to be the rogue, but Thern just breaks them... Maybe I¡¯ll get my chance on the dungeon I do solo? We finally met some real resistance when we were ambushed by a group of kobolds leading a pack of salamanders. "I hope you¡¯ve got enough [Fire Resistance]!" Thern joked as he quickly scrawled a new enchantment on himself. "I dealt with an Inferno Salamander; I think these whelps will feel like a warm breeze by comparison." Thern burst into laughter. "Good combat banter! I love it! This is the dwarven way!" Two of the older-looking dwarves seemed shocked, while the group¡¯s youngsters looked upset. "Ah! I¡¯m so sorry, sir! Ma¡¯am! Uhh..." The dwarf started stammering and apologizing profusely. "Don¡¯t tell me they¡¯re going to steal our tunnel; we were here first!" One of the dwarves complained. "Yeah... I¡¯m so close to getting my next class; I could almost taste it... What rotten luck." "Oi! You little punks sure have some mouths on you!" Thern said gruffly, albeit in a joking manner. "Sorry, sir..." The party leader tried to apologize again. "Na, don¡¯t be lad. It¡¯s all good," Thern shook his head. "We were mostly just blowing off steam... I¡¯m sure we don¡¯t mind letting you have the experience?" Thern turned to me and shrugged questioningly. I didn¡¯t really need much time to make my decision. "I don¡¯t mind. The experience is kind of bad..." I admitted. "Although, what about the evolved kobolds? We did stir up trouble earlier." "Bring ¡¯em on!" One of the dwarves shouted confidently. Thern, on the other hand, was stroking his beard in thought. "We could babysit a bit until the inevitable tunnel collapse?" Thern suggested. "It¡¯s better than going home early, at least. Get to help the next generation of dwarf adventurers and all that." The leader seemed thrilled with the suggestion, and most of the group did, although the two younger dwarves seemed disgruntled. I overheard some especially rude remarks about Thern¡¯s use of babysitting. I shrugged. "I don¡¯t mind. Does it earn me some points with the guild?" Thern laughed. "I¡¯ll put it on your record. In case you ever want to join the guild staff." Thern winked. There was some discussion amongst the dwarves, and eventually, they agreed. Both Thern and I watched the group leading the charge down the only unexplored path since we¡¯d cleared out our own respective tunnels. "So... Do we just watch them? How does this work?" I asked once they were out of earshot. "Aye," Thern answered. "Watch, and if anything too deadly happens, intervene. If we spot any evolved monsters, kill ¡¯em right away. Although I get the feeling we won¡¯t be here too long, the kobolds will probably drop the tunnel soon, so be ready to help me with the ceiling." I nodded and began my watching... Some of me was a bit upset at not getting to train my skills or traits, but I supposed I would get back into the thick of it tomorrow. The one benefit was that it was interesting to see a full party work together from the sidelines; I had always either been in the thick of it myself or the target of it. Thern was getting surprisingly invested and often shouted suggestions or warnings to the group. There was even some praise or cheers at a well-delivered blow. I decided to just watch in silence, looking for any good opportunities. The other dwarves seemed quite jumpy about me, considering they had tried to attack me in the tunnel. Thern and I only needed to intervene once; an ambush with a pack of salamanders practically dropped on the group came out of nowhere. It got a little frantic, and while there were some wounds amongst the group, thankfully, nobody had died. <16 Skill Points are now available.> Well... At least that¡¯s good. There was a huge rumbling accompanied by the sound of explosions and quakes. Thern and I both jumped into action, hastily casting [Rampart]. "Everyone gather round!" Thern shouted. "There¡¯s gonna be a lot of digging in the future." A few breaths later, we were joined by the Geomancer in the dwarf group. He recovered from his shock and helped create earthen pillars to support our makeshift structure. Thern looked at him and smirked. "Lad, I hope you have [Sand Pit], or I¡¯m going to be a very grumpy dwarf." Chapter 185: Politics Chapter 185: Politics By the time we finally escaped the tunnel, everyone was extremely tired and grumpy. Well... Except for me, I felt pretty good, all things considered, the benefits of being a slime. Since there were so many of us, fresh air apparently became an issue for the dwarves, but Thern and the party leader had come prepared, and both had a dimensional storage container containing fresh air. "Any smart dwarf keeps at least one of these things; you don¡¯t want to be trapped underground and suffocate," Thern explained. I guess being buried alive is a common occurrence for them... That¡¯s rather unsettling. Thern and the Geomancer had to repeatedly work overtime casting [Sand Pit], but the lad had far less Mana than Thern and frequently took breaks to recover. Meanwhile, I kept compressing the sand into spheres, even though Thern was unlikely to need them anymore. Occasionally, I¡¯d throw out [Shatterquake] to contribute to our excavation by breaking apart a large enough rock into more manageable chunks for our two diggers. To boost morale and also aid in their recovery, I pulled out some of my "alcohol" to share with the group. Thern chugged it as soon as it was in his grasp, while the rest of the dwarves were initially hesitant. Although once they all had a few sips, they were hooked and singing praises. "Is this recovering my Mana?" The Geomancer asked, looking astonished. "I always had suspicions about that myself," Thern answered. "Whenever I had a hard day full of enchanting, nothing put the spring back in my step than some of that glorious booze." "I guess the secrets out. I like to think it gives it the extra kick," I replied, relying heavily on [Acting] to save the day. "Ha! What next? You gonna start mixing in health potions?" Thern said, laughing uproariously. "Either that or antidote," I teased. "Sorry, I don¡¯t think even the gods could make your booze palatable if you mixed in that gunk," Thern replied, shaking his head. "Please don¡¯t," The other dwarves agreed. It seemed everyone hated the taste of antidote potions. Nobody wished to continue, so we all headed back to Dhoggurum together. The group seemed quite happy, and it looked like they had made good progress despite the kobolds ending their adventure early. They had also become much more amiable to Thern and me, and some brown-nosing was happening with the former. When we finally got back inside the city, we said our goodbyes and headed back home. "Sorry about that. I¡¯m sure you usually get to do far more exciting stuff," Thern apologized unexpectedly. "No worries. I¡¯m sorry my luck didn¡¯t activate, and we couldn¡¯t kill a lesser dragon or something rare and interesting," I responded. "Ha! Now, that would have been a story," Thern chuckled. "Still, it feels good to get a bit of a workout. Feels like it¡¯s been too long since I did some good monster hunting, even if it was just a few kobolds." "Too much sitting around enchanting?" "Mostly. That and paperwork," Thern shuddered. "What¡¯s your next plan? Going to go find a good quest to hunt? Take a break?" I paused to think a bit, then nodded before responding, "Maybe a small break... I want to do some shopping. Do you think I could get one of those timekeeper tools?" "Oh, you want a clock? I¡¯m sure my Pa can point you in the right direction," Thern answered. "Great, thanks," I replied cheerfully. *** The next day, I went on a shopping trip. While I would have appreciated it if Darmod had accompanied me, he was a little too busy negotiating with the Flinthearts. Thankfully, he did at least give me a list of shops to check out and which ones to avoid. Having a merchant¡¯s opinion was always good. "Just that a monster has taken residence in their orichalcum mine," Darmod answered. "You can meet Kaldrour Flintheart at the guild for more details; he¡¯s dying to meet you." "Sure, sign me up." *** Elsewhere... Two individuals were seated in a grand chamber adorned with opulent furnishings and extravagant decorations. The walls were draped with rich, heavy curtains in deep, royal colors and scattered intricate tapestries depicting historical battles and tales of valor. Wall display cases showcased rare and valuable artifacts, intricate sculptures, and ancient tomes. The room was also adorned with gilded mirrors, which added a sense of grandeur and expansiveness. The room¡¯s centerpiece was a large, polished marble table surrounded by ornately carved chairs upholstered in sumptuous fabrics. The table adorned elegant candelabras, casting a warm, flickering light across the room. As a finishing touch, a small serving area was discreetly tucked into one corner, offering a selection of fine wines, pastries, and other delicacies to indulge in. "It¡¯s been decided that we will continue our trade agreements with the Outeatus Kingdom, but only for necessities and luxury goods. Arms and armor are off the table," The dwarf spoke before sipping his wine. "I hope this is satisfactory to The Grove." "More than satisfactory, my old friend," A lithe elven male replied before gracefully sipping his own cup. "After months of refusal to budge over the promised wealth, I¡¯m frankly surprised that The Empire has so abruptly come to reason." "Oh? Are you going to play the fool, Tamnaeth? After you made such a blatant power display," The dwarf chuckled. Tamnaeth was immediately suspicious but hid it behind a mask of utter composure. Power display? He¡¯d done no such thing. Had one of the elders interfered with the lack of progress in recent months? He had reassured them multiple times that things were still within expectations. While something had been suggested originally to remind the dwarves not to trust that savage kingdom, it was deemed far too risky at the time. When dealing with their stout allies, if you were too forceful, they tended to dig in their heels and oppose you out of sheer stubbornness. "Come now, Loldraeg. Surely you can indulge me," Tamnaeth threw on as much social charm as possible, even though it was notoriously ineffectual against the dwarves. "For old time¡¯s sake?" "Fine, fine," Loldraeg chuckled, giving a knowing wink and grin. "I understand the need to gloat and bask in the glory of a job well done. I¡¯ll give it to ya." Tamnaeth gave a tiny smile as he drank from his cup. He patiently waited for Loldraeg to continue. "I don¡¯t know whether to call it a stroke of genius or madness. Sending an elf to join the adventurers guild was startling enough on its own, but going out of her way to accept multiple quests to turn dwarven goodwill towards her was smart thinking. Singlehandedly taking out a fire ant princess and two royal guards, and, by estimating the numbers, likely almost the entire nest. You know how much we dwarves hate those blasted ants... And then, the cherry on top is having her defeat a tier five monster, presumably also by herself. But not bragging about it openly, and instead subtly handing it in with the completed ant quest to an inquisitive staff member, who would question the sheer numbers... Combining goodwill and a reminder of your fangs all in one neat package. Truly brilliant," Loldraeg said, raising a glass to toast. Tamnaeth was shocked. He had not heard any of this; it took all of his social prowess not to let his mask crack. He couldn¡¯t sense any falsehood in Loldraeg¡¯s statement, but it sounded outlandish. Would the elders really send someone to join that guild? They always scoffed at the idea and said it was beneath us. While killing a tier-five monster isn¡¯t that unbelievable, it would have to be of someone with some degree of pedigree. Would any parent accept their child dirtying their lineage by joining that group of rabbles? Even if it was for a good cause. Tamnaeth merely smiled, accepting the toast. "Thank you for the indulgence, old friend." "Anytime. Personally, I think any coin accepted from that kingdom isn¡¯t worth it," Loldraeg admitted with a sigh. "Those coffers reek of blood, but the lust for wealth has tempted many young dwarves..." "I can¡¯t see even the staunchest of our elders complaining about trading a few amenities," Tamnaeth replied, waving his hand dismissively in gesture. "Besides, I assume even that trade will be guarded for snapping mutts." Loldraeg nodded. "Of course. Should any of that cursed seed think themselves another God King, they¡¯ll be swiftly reminded why their forefather failed." They continued to exchange pleasantries. Meanwhile, Tamnaeth kept thinking about that elven agent in the Adventurer¡¯s Guild. I¡¯ll have to pay them a visit... I¡¯m curious about who they sent and why I wasn¡¯t informed. I understand the need for some undercover action, but not even coming to greet me when I¡¯m in the most authoritative position for this region is almost insulting. Still... It certainly has garnered results. Chapter 186: Meetings Chapter 186: Meetings I was heading towards the Adventurer Guild that morning to meet with Darmod¡¯s friend, Kaldrour Flintheart. I had yet to interact with any dwarven nobles, so I wondered how their demeanor would differ from the human ones. But if he was friends with Darmod, then he surely couldn¡¯t be too bad. When I arrived, I asked one of the staff members to help me find the meeting room where I was supposed to wait. "Ah, Miss Syl, good morning. Sir Flintheart hasn¡¯t arrived yet. However, another gentleman has requested your presence. Would you be willing to do so?" Are they already trying to bribe me so I do not take the quest? Word sure travels around fast... Well, I¡¯ll accept the meeting so I can at least warn Darmod and Kaldrour who it was. "Sure, I don¡¯t mind since I got some free time," I replied politely. The dwarf looked relieved at my acceptance. I was led to a rather ornate room filled with rather fanciful decorations and a surprising amount of pastries and wine. Oh? Are they trying to butter me up? "Greetings, it¡¯s nice to finally meet you," a gentle and refined voice said. "I hope your time in Dhoggurum has been pleasant." Rising from his seat was a lithe elven male with long silvery hair, perfectly straight and prim. His outfit was an immaculate tunic brimmed with defensive enchantments, leaving him both fashionable and protected. It¡¯s an elf! I thought with astonishment. I know I kept hearing they had some diplomats here, but I never suspected I would run into one soon. Does that mean the Flintheart¡¯s enemies are the elves? No tiers or elements... Did my [Identify] partially fail? Also, he has two classes! "You may call me Tamnaeth. I¡¯m the currently assigned elven authority to this region," Tamnaeth introduced himself before I could say anything. "Syl, it¡¯s nice to meet you," I responded. "Syl? You¡¯re using an alias?" The elf spoke while he seemed to be examining me more closely. "You look..." He paused, his face looking like he was either weighing up options or running calculations. Has he seen through my disguise? Recovering from my initial shock, I remembered the request I had been given by Sylthaeryn. "I was told to give you this," I said. Reaching for the bag and removing it from my person. I held it out. The elf suddenly went pale. His composure almost instantly shattered. His eyes widened, and his pupils constrained. "I-I¡¯m terribly sorry!" He spluttered out, his once dignified composure broken. "I had no idea. You¡¯ll receive no interference in your duty from me!" The elf suddenly started moving toward the door as if his life depended on it. "No, wait, I need you to take this." I tried to protest as he continued his exit. "I understand. Message received. I¡¯m truly sorry for risking your cover, my lady," Tamnaeth said as he practically fled the room. When the door swung closed behind him, I could only blink in utter confusion. I¡¯d been left holding the bag. "What the hell just happened?" I asked myself. *** Tamnaeth took controlled breaths as he rapidly reapplied a mask of composure and regalness. He didn¡¯t want any of the dwarves, be they common or noble, to see that crack in his social armor. Gods... I can¡¯t believe they sent one of the vines. But that bag is proof enough. Is there something bigger at play here than just the Outeatus Kingdom? Which branch would willing to send their child outside of the Grove? He recalled what his [Identify] had told him. I know I¡¯ve been stagnant in progressing my racial levels ever since picking up this diplomat position, but still... That was humbling. Not to mention her class¡ªmight it be a rare or hidden one? It reeks of someone¡¯s prodigious progeny, certainly above my pay grade. And with a racial level that high, I wonder what her other classes are? No way that singular advanced class is the entire story... Tamnaeth shook his head, attempting to dispel his curiosity. No, I must not interfere. I¡¯ll send a message back to my elder and seek further instruction. I must not jeopardize her mission; her threat was clear enough. He scoffed at that. "Those scoundrels? No way, they are a bunch of lesser nobles like myself. I doubt the Grove would give them the time of day." "Huh... Well, I¡¯m willing to help. So what¡¯s moved into your mine?" "A spider monster known as ¡¯The Terror¡¯," "¡¯The Terror¡¯?" I replied deadpan. "Some adventurers started calling it that, and it became a named monster," Kaldrour answered, shaking his head. "Quite a lot is unknown about the bugger, but it used to be a Trapweaver Spider and was notoriously tricky as it would lay devious traps that befuddled even some veteran adventurers." "Used to be?" "It¡¯s likely since evolved... But the result is unknown," Kaldrour answered. "Interesting..." "I¡¯m glad you think so. It¡¯s terrified any lower-rank adventurers, and the high ones I¡¯ve tried to hire to take care of it get bribed to look the other way," He shook his head. "I don¡¯t want to send a bunch of mustached younglings to their deaths." "That¡¯s honestly very respectable. Still, I¡¯m surprised that the other adventurers are so easily bribed..." "I think that¡¯s why they¡¯ve been drumming up the name ¡¯The Terror¡¯ so much." He answered. "Anyone I¡¯ve hired hears it, then when is offered free money to just not complete the quest, well... You can understand why they¡¯d accept money with zero risk." "Well, I can¡¯t see them bribing me," I answered honestly. "Killing a rare monster and getting who knows what parts from its harvest sounds far more enriching." "Ha! You really are a true adventurer; Darmod wasn¡¯t kidding." "So kill the monster, and the quest is done? Anything else?" "Honestly, if you can even just get it out of the mine, I¡¯d consider it a success. Even though it¡¯s got the nickname ¡¯The Terror, ¡¯ it¡¯s rather unsuiting. Many of the initial adventurers that went against it were allowed to escape, and only the ones that truly threatened its life were killed." "That¡¯s rather unusual behavior..." I replied. "Indeed. I care more about my mine than its death, so if it¡¯s safer to just make it flee, then please take that objective. Don¡¯t go dying on my account." "Anything I should know about my potential bribers?" "I presume they will try to contact you while you¡¯re on the way to the city gate. If you reject their offer, I¡¯m unsure what they will attempt, so please be careful." "Oh? Would they send some hired goons my way?" He grunted angrily. "I honestly wish I could say no. But it¡¯s feasible. The one is rumored to have some extremely seedy connections, but I keep hitting dead ends whenever I¡¯ve tried to dig deeper." Please send me some scumbag thugs my way! I thought eagerly. If I get to kill some scoundrels, that¡¯s a free dwarf profile for me! "Can I ask a... Sensitive question?" "Of course. My lips are sealed," Kaldrour replied with a firm nod. "If they do send some thugs my way... Do I have to resort to non-lethal methods?" "Ha! Part of me wants to say yes because even scumbags deserve a second chance, but the rules of self-defense are extremely clear here," Kaldrour spoke. "If they threaten your life, then their own is forfeit. I¡¯m pretty sure the Adventurer¡¯s Guild has a similar policy about defending its own, no?" I nodded. "It does... Just wanted to make sure there wasn¡¯t some dwarven law or something I¡¯d be breaking." Kaldrour chuckled. "It¡¯s always good to check. So, if I haven¡¯t scared you off, are you sure you want the quest?" "Glady. Plus, helping you out is how I get myself some more silver slime cores." Kaldrour burst out laughing. "So Darmod really wasn¡¯t kidding about that... Well, I¡¯ll gladly put in all my effort with that regard, even if you can¡¯t clear out the mine." He leaned over and spoke in a hushed whisper. "That obsidianite is going to make all of us very rich." With no further questions, I happily accepted the quest. Thankfully, it came with a convenient [Mapping] tracker, so I was unlikely to get lost this time. A chance at a dwarf profile and some new spider monster. Sounds like I¡¯m in for a fun time. Chapter 187: Scoundrels Chapter 187: Scoundrels Walking towards the gate, I looked for the potential contacts. I wondered if they would perhaps not approach me since I was a supposed elf, or was their greed enough to ignore that? It didn¡¯t take too long for a rather posh-looking dwarf to intercept me. "Miss, might I have a moment of your time?" The dwarf asked. "Ten silver slime cores," I responded. "I beg your pardon?" The dwarf asked befuddled. "That¡¯s my price to not clear out the orichalcum mine." The dwarf¡¯s shock and surprise were so apparent that I thought his eyes would pop out or his jaw would hit the floor. "Surely you¡¯re joking?" "Nope. That¡¯s my price. Gold, jewels, or anything else has no value to me. If you want to bribe me, then that¡¯s my price." "I-I... I could maybe get one?" The dwarf stammered. "Not good enough, sorry." "Two! I meant two!" I kept walking. "Silver slime cores are rare. Even if they are trash ones killed. You can¡¯t be serious!" The dwarf failed to reason with me. "Surely you don¡¯t want to face The Terror!?" "I¡¯m completely serious. Sorry, we couldn¡¯t go do business. I¡¯ve got a spider monster to deal with." I replied with a shrug. The dwarf¡¯s bafflement was soon replaced with rage. "Don¡¯t you know who I am?" He shouted in outrage. "Should I? Any fool willing to stop a gold-rank adventurer with a fully legalized quest must not be worth knowing." His face flipped through various emotions before he settled back on anger. "How dare you! You¡¯ll regret not taking my offer." "Maybe... Or you¡¯ll regret not saying yes to my ten silver cores. Bye." I walked off, leaving the dwarf once again utterly baffled and upset. I did throw a quick [Identify] his way just so I¡¯d have a name to give back to Kaldrour. I hoped he bought the act enough to send his thugs to stop me; I wanted a perfectly legal reason to get my tendrils on a dwarf profile. Surprisingly, someone else attempted to bribe me so I would not complete the quest, but I didn¡¯t even bother talking to that one. I¡¯d given my price, and they were still trying to throw useless things like gold coins at me. I mean... If I wanted gold, I¡¯d just make it myself. Well... Once I get a higher rank in [Metal Slime] anyway. I chuckled to myself. The route to the mines differed from my previous exits, so I had to rely fully on [Mapping] to point the way. I wonder what kind of spider it is. Trapweaver sounds very enticing. If it has some great trap-related traits, they could be combined nicely with [Nitro Slime]. I really need to look up if there¡¯s a trapper class or something. Leaving this gate, I was welcomed to extremely vast tunnels with dedicated walkways and tracks for transportation, as well as many, many dwarves. The majority were laborers accompanied by the occasional guard patrol. Wow, the dwarves really don¡¯t half-arse anything... I think this is my first time seeing minecarts. Seeing this many dwarves made me doubt if they would send any thugs my way, which was somewhat disappointing. However, that soon faded when [Mapping] started leading me towards tunnels with far fewer dwarves. That further emptied out when I began taking a tunnel that looked practically abandoned. I guess this must lead to the Flintheart mine. They¡¯ve really been suffering if it looks like this has already been abandoned. I wonder how he¡¯s been meeting the quotas. Is he buying from someone else and passing it off as his own? I started going down the tunnel at my own pace when I heard multiple footsteps rapidly approaching. "It¡¯s this way, right?" "Must be. Look how abandoned it is." "So, do we just rough her up?" "I guess that depends on how cooperative she is or not." How the hell? At least it should have shocked him through the mace!? I protested. "Ha! I told you she¡¯s never fought anything but monsters!" He sneered. I clicked my tongue in annoyance and began "multicasting" with my [Sub-Cores]. [Arcane Armor] was reapplied, while two [Fireballs] were formed and launched at the backline, which was my first priority to takeout. To keep the spellbreaker occupied, I fired another [Lightning Bolt] at him, forcing him to smash it with his mace. "Gods, so many spells!" The geomancer shouted in surprise. "Her [Multicast] must be an insane level!" "Shut up and get the wall behind her, then get rid of her footing." The sniper shouted. The fortress knight threw himself to block one of the [Fireballs] while the mirror knight¡¯s shield glimmered brightly, and when the spell made contact, it was reflected directly back at me! Okay, this is getting annoying! I grumbled angrily as I cast [Aegis] to block my returned spell. Clearly, their strategy was for the two tanks to defend their backline. Then their spellbreaker could get up in my face while the three of them provided supporting fire. An earthen wall was erected behind me, and the geomancer began casting [Sand Pit] to further trap me. I had my Ice aligned [Sub-Cores] cast [Glacial Aura] while I began casting a [Waterjet] spell at the mirror knight. Surely there was a limit to what he could reflect? The pressurized water beam struck his shield violently, sending him a few feet back. It looked like he had initiated the reflection but could only aim it to the side and not directly at me. I kept the spell going to see if he had a time limit on his reflection, but the way the dwarf smirked made me think otherwise. "Keep wasting your Mana knife ears!" While he was trapped, I began peppering the fortress knight with [Acid Dart] spells. While he was incredibly tanky and probably had various elemental resistances, I doubted he had something to protect him from the corrosive acid¡ªespecially if it destroyed his precious shield. The spellbreaker had reached me by now, and even though he was well within the range of my aura, he seemed to be hardly affected by it. He swung his mace at me, and when it made contact with my protection spell, it caused it to instantly shatter. At the same time, my [Waterjet] spell abruptly ended, and my [Glacial Aura] winked out. What!? Two crossbow bolts were timed perfectly to coincide with my defense going down. I had no time for a spell, so I triggered [Tranquil Flow] to dodge. I dodged both of them, but then one of the bolts seemed to correct its trajectory, embedding itself into me. "Got ya bitch!" The sniper jeered as fake blood oozed from the wound. My feet had also sunk into the completed sand trap, and it looked like a rather unfortunate situation. The spellbreaker moniker seemed not just for show, as it quite literally broke or disrupted my spells. I triggered [Thunder Step], abandoning the slime that made up my feet to avoid any potential hindrance. "The hell!?" "Bloody beards!" "That¡¯s not a spell!?" The dwarves shouted in shock and surprise as I chained a few jumps until I ended right above the sniper. "Got ya..." I muttered as I grabbed him moments before the [Thunder Step] backlash began. Using him as a conduit and utilizing [Voltaic Slime], I channeled as much of the surging energy directly into him as possible. He screamed out in pain, and I watched the bar representing his life force plummet, but it wasn¡¯t enough to kill such a high-level dwarf so easily. The marksman and geomancer backed off while the two knights charged at me. Both used a skill intending to prevent me from dealing enough damage to kill their companion. That was frustrating, as while I wasn¡¯t mindless enough to be forced into attacking the mirror knight, it meant that everyone but him now took reduced damage. I had made up my mind; no survivors. I instructed my [Sub-Cores] to cast [Rampart] to seal off the remaining tunnel entrance and kicked the rather limp and screaming sniper dwarf, sending him tumbling toward his two knight companions. The fortress knight caught him while the mirror knight interceded between us. "I got you, Gotmela!" The fortress knight said, reaching into his pouch, likely for a potion to administer. "What¡¯s all this sticky gunk stuck on your chest?" He questioned while trying to pull at it, but it seemed far too slimy and adhesive for his gauntleted hands. The mirror knight was glaring at me, waiting for me to make any indication of casting a spell. I simply smiled. "Boom." And an explosion echoed throughout the now sealed tunnel. Chapter 188: Anti-Mages Chapter 188: Anti-Mages Despite the dramatic explosion, the dwarf was still barely alive. I had expected a kill notification, but it appeared that [Taunt] reduced my damage a lot more than I realized. Which means I need to defeat the mirror knight first. "Kastramri! Why didn¡¯t you reflect the spell!?" The fortress knight screamed in anger. "That wasn¡¯t a spell!" He defended himself. Internally, I rapidly created four explosive needles and withdrew them between the fingers of my clenched fist. At the same time, I kept up internal production so that I would have a good supply of needles. "Looks like she might have some assassin training!" The mirror knight shouted before he smirked. "Not that it will do much against a tank. I¡¯ve got you countered pointy-ears!" Although I made a throwing gesture with my hands, I was actually utilizing [Slime Shot], which was far faster and more accurate than anything I could try to replicate. The mirror knight brought up his shield, but the reflective glimmer did nothing since it was not a spell. To my surprise, the needles went straight through the shield and pierced into his armor and flesh. The dwarf uttered an angry and shocked yell moments before I triggered the detonation. Four simultaneous explosions reverberated throughout the tunnel, startling everyone present. The marksman seemed to have lost her cool, but the geomancer was now trying to skewer me with spires of rock and earth. I dodged the first few before reapplying my [Arcane Shield] and throwing out [Manaburn] to hopefully siphon her resources. However, that wasn¡¯t enough for me, and I also fired more needles at the geomancer and marksman. I needed to try to deal with them before that damn spellbreaker got back into my face. The marksman took a direct hit, but to my astonishment, my projectiles aimed at the geomancer were intercepted by what looked like floating basalt rocks. That¡¯s an interesting way to defend yourself. I wonder if it¡¯s a custom spell or something at later levels. "I can smell the metal in those needles; you won¡¯t trick me!" The geomancer spat right as I detonated all the needles. Interesting... I wished I had more time to think and examine what was happening, but I had the mirror knight and spellbreaker engaging me in melee. Seeing the fortress knight still trying to recover the sniper, I knew I needed to take him out. With two sturdy dwarven bodies blocking me, both designed to counter direct magic, I was forced to reveal one of my secrets. I began casting [Chain Lightning], and both immediately readied themselves to stop me. I guess their classes allow them to sense Mana or when a spell is being cast. It¡¯s too bad for you; I¡¯m not casting the spell directly. I fired the spell after moving the anchor point directly above the fortress knight, who was administering a potion. The bolt of surging lightning Mana struck him directly and then began to bounce back and forth between him and his patient. The two magical counters looked baffled momentarily before becoming furious. The spellbreaker rushed to strike me with his hammer to disrupt my casting. But he was too late. To everyone¡¯s surprise, once the sniper was slain, the spell then ricocheted towards the mirror knight after bouncing to the fortress knight one last time. I must have underestimated how much I juiced the spell, as it seemed to still have plenty of Mana for some additional bouncing. I had no idea the spell would stop targeting something once it was dead. Is that because [Conductive] fell off once he died? Despite being effectively caught blindsided, once the spell hit the mirror knight and dealt some damage, it unraveled entirely and dispersed. To me, that felt unfair, but I suppose it was some antimagic skill from his class. The spellbreaker¡¯s mace once again crashed against my [Arcane Amor], instantly shattering it. He wasted no time throwing follow-ups against me. I dodged the first blow and tried throwing a [Aegis] to block a second, but it might as well have been wet paper, and his weapon crashed into my arm as a result. My arm splattered into a misshapen form from the powerful blow; I couldn¡¯t believe it overcame my defenses so easily. I had [Mana Reinforcement] on constantly; it made no sense! Even though it hadn¡¯t hurt and wasn¡¯t genuine damage despite Alpha faking an absolutely bloody mangled mess, I used [Thunder Step] to get out of direct contact with the spellbreaker and mirror knight. As if expecting that the spellbreaker heckled at me. "Bloody coward! Get back here and fight! Or are you so scared after your Mana failed you?" Can I really not use any Mana against those two? Crazy that there are classes like this. There better not be a class or skill that disables traits, or I¡¯d be absolutely screwed. I pretended to "heal" my arm by chugging from an empty canteen. Causing the dwarves to glare in outrage when it "recovered." "What a rich bitch, affording potions that good," The mirror knight spat in disgust. I hummed curiously as I wondered what his angle was. Is he asking me to spare him and the geomancer? My curiosity was interrupted when a lightning bolt struck me out of nowhere; I turned to the source and saw the mirror knight looking incensed. Even with [Voltaic Slime] siphoning off a large amount of the spell into my storage capacity, it still hurt as I was not entirely lightningproof yet. Seeing my pained face caused him to glee in delight, and then he unleashed a fireball at me. Then, another fireball, and he kept going. He¡¯s not a spellcaster. Where the hell did he get these spells from? He¡¯s certainly not casting them. That lightning bolt was especially powerful; was that mine? Unbeknownst to the mirror knight, the fireballs he was unloading on me were doing almost nothing. Unless he had some blue fire secretly stored away¡ªhe just wasn¡¯t hot enough. It gave me the perfect opportunity to think. I guess it¡¯s a good thing he doesn¡¯t have more lightning spells... Is that how he dispersed my [Chain Lightning]? Does he store the spell inside himself to use later? Then he must be emptying his collection to try to kill me. Even with all the fiery smoke and explosions, I could still make him out clearly. He must have run out of [Fireball] spells, as he was now resorting to [Fire Arrow]. Mindlessly firing at the singular spot, he last saw me. Before the smoke and flame cleared, I ordered all [Sub-Cores] to create a batch of needles, and once I had a sufficient stockpile, they all fired out in a spray. It oddly reminded me of Jet¡¯s [Splinterstorm], seeing that many go out at once. The dwarf became a living pincushion as he spat out blood. He seemed about to say something when there was a soft click followed by multiple detonations. When the explosion¡¯s echoes finally started quieting down, I could hear someone cursing at himself. "Bloody hells... Bloody beards... Gods..." I looked and saw the fortress knight shaking his head. "What the hell did they sign us up for? An easy target? Bloody fools!" The dwarf continued to rant. He looked terrified when he saw me looking pretty much unharmed from the fire spell barrage. He dropped his shield and weapon and held up his hands. "I surrender! I¡¯ll do whatever you want!" Well, now I¡¯m extra glad I didn¡¯t go slime monster on them. It would have been quite a blow to my conscience to kill someone who¡¯s actively surrendering like that. Even if he probably still deserves it. "Fine. But I won¡¯t hold back if I see your face again," I warned. He visibly shuddered. "Hold back? That was you holdingback? Bloody crazy elves..." He must not have wanted to say the last part out loud as he immediately shut his mouth and looked about to soil himself. I pointed to the exit and just glared at him. "Go! Before I change my mind." He nodded, grabbed the unconscious geomancer, and started running, even leaving his weapon and shield behind. Then he awkwardly halted as he reached the rock wall I had thrown up, which was currently blocking his hasty escape. I sighed and began casting a spell. Using [Shatterquake], I made the wall explode outwards away from them and unsealed the passageway. I didn¡¯t have [Sand Pit] yet, so an explosion was the only way out unless I melted it with acid. Seeing the entire wall explode like that into rocky shrapnel made the dwarf nearly drop his unconscious companion. He briefly bowed his head and then ran. I don¡¯t think letting him live will come back to bite me... Worst case, they send more dwarves to attack me, and I still have my ultimate trump card. I didn¡¯t expect him to try to save the mirror knight after he had abandoned his camaraderie, but I was surprised he left the marksman behind. Then I saw she was dead; I had just missed the notification. The spellbreaker had long passed out from his wounds. Even if I gave him a potion, it was unlikely he¡¯d survive, not that I had any intention of saving someone with such a troublesome class. Seriously. Damaging my lifeforce directly through Mana burn is not fun. I don¡¯t think I could ever become immune to that form of damage. I twirled my spear before stabbing down to finish the job. Chapter 189: Derived Dwarves Chapter 189: Derived Dwarves I had several notifications to look through but had more pressing concerns. I threw up another wall with [Rampart] to reblock the passageway and gain relative safety and privacy. Right. Time to eat up and get that dwarf profile! I looted the scoundrels of their valuables and turned up the [Acid Slime] to the max. Great. Now, I¡¯ll be able to make a dwarf persona at some point. Besides their equipment, they all had exactly 100 gold coins in a small pouch. I threw pretty much everything into my [Core Storage], although I frowned as I puzzled together the implication of the coins. Did they seriously only pay 600 gold to take me out? I¡¯m insulted being worth so little! At least... I assume that¡¯s a little? I have far more than that in my guild account, after all. With that out of the way, I pulled up the dwarf profile and began my perusal of their traits. I probably wouldn¡¯t be able to buy any myself, like the elf ones, but they would all be prime for borrowing. I began looking at every trait, but my confusion grew as I went through each one. <[Dwarven Resilience] What doesn¡¯t kill you only makes you stronger! This goes double for your belly. A tough dwarf is a good dwarf!> What? <[Prospecting] Smell the bounty within the rock! Those stones aren¡¯t just for looking pretty!> Is this just [Mineral Sense]? <[Stubborn Willed] Your mind is your own, but your anger gets the better of you!> Anti-mind control? With anger management issues? <[Forged Skin] Your skin is tempered to withstand rock and flame! Those puny pokers won¡¯t do much, either.> Elemental resistances? Defense? <[Stunted Strength] Dynamite comes in small packages, so let your fists do the talking! You won¡¯t be winning any ballroom dances, however.> Strength buff and an agility debuff? <[Stone¡¯s Blessing] All things Earth come naturally; the bounty of the stone will never leave you wanting.> Earth... Magic? Earth Affinity? Details, please! <[Capable Hands] As long as it¡¯s Metal or Rock, your hands will do the talking! Let them guide you and your tools.> Why would hands talk!? <[Underdweller] The ground is where the home is. Never get lost, and be safe in the stone¡¯s embrace.> Is this how they navigate their city? An entire trait for that? Does it do more? I paused, letting it all slowly digest. I think I hate them? What the hell are these descriptions!? Nothing Gramps could have ever written! I thought some of the Elf trait descriptions were a little flowery, but this is a whole other story! I can probably guess what some of these do, but that doesn¡¯t make it any less frustrating! Since I was in a sealed room, and none of my senses or visions could sense anything, I blocked out my entire profile. Then, I began testing a few dwarven shapes. Male, female, bearded, giant hair, stocky, buff, and all sorts between. A fully completed profile really makes the difference. I also took the time to shapeshift quickly into a few kobold forms since I hadn¡¯t tried that out yet. Feels mostly like the goblins, except with a lizard tail. I thought, flicking my tail around. Returning to the dwarf forms, since I hadn¡¯t settled on a persona idea yet, I mostly stuck to copying one of the dwarves I had slain. Once again, I found another race compatible with the dragon scales trait. I threw on all the dwarven traits I could and started playing around with my form. I started trying to blend the elf and dwarf profiles, but I noticed it leaned more toward dwarf than elf. Is this because I¡¯m lacking the full elf profile? I really need to complete that... Could I eat that Tamnaeth guy? No... That¡¯s probably not a good idea, even if he did run away and refuse to take the stupid bag. If he tried to kill me, that would be one thing, but being annoyingly smug and then running away certainly isn¡¯t enough justification. Don¡¯t want to go full evolution crazy, haha... My strange dwarf-elf hybrid could, in fact, take traits from both races! This means that I could, at some point, cherry-pick the best to create my ultimate non-slime form! Part goblin, part kobold, part elf, and part dwarf! I chuckled and began moving on to all the notifications I¡¯d been putting off. Great! Should I fuse it now or wait a bit longer? I¡¯m tempted to wait till five to get the maximum benefit! Another stack, which means an extra 5% damage bonus! I¡¯m glad it¡¯s just there in the background, adding to everything. Actually... That¡¯s probably why my [Decay] dealt so much damage against that worm, even with the [Assassinate] bonus. If I understand correctly, I gained another four debuffs for its final tally. <[Corrosion Magic LV 6] spell [Caustic Cloud] learned.> Oh! Oh shit! I just got sixth-level magic! I¡¯m shocked it wasn¡¯t Fire or Water... Although, now that I think about it, I¡¯m technically using a bit of [Corrosion Magic] with every debuff or affliction I cast, even if its primary Mana is now Fire or something. So maybe I shouldn¡¯t be surprised [Corrossion Magic] was the first to reach it. I took the time to quickly understand the spell. As its name implied, it was another spell based on the acidic portion of Corrosion Mana. Interestingly, this gave me another look at the "cloud" component that [Contagion] also had. Except in this case, this cloud lingered in a set area rather than spreading and dispersing immediately. I began casting the spell but held off on its final completion as I examined it more thoroughly. Getting a closer look, I could see that it wasn¡¯t an apparated effect but more like an orb I could deposit at a location and explode into the hazardous cloud. Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author¡¯s preferred platform and support their work! I finished the casting and watched as the sickly bright green orb was flung out and hit my targetted wall. It burst into a similarly colored cloud, partially obscuring, and lingered around for far longer than I had expected for a base spell. When it finally dispersed, the contaminated rocky area looked significantly goopy. Talk about a rather horrific spell. A cloud of acid that melts whatever is inside. I mean... I could do the same with [Vaporize Slime], but it wouldn¡¯t linger around unless I kept fueling it with slime. Also, Mana is basically free for me. Sucks that it¡¯s another spell without any distinction between friend and foe, though. Gods, if I wasn¡¯t getting some insane resistance from [Acid Slime], it would affect me, too! Sadly, there were no more skill or trait notifications. I had really hoped [Metal Slime] or [Nitro Slime] might have gained something, or even [Earth Magic], but clearly, I hadn¡¯t used any of them enough. Finally, I looked over my level-ups. <12 Trait Points are now available.> <17 Skill Points are now available.> Both race and class levels are always nice! Those assholes were at least worth decent experience. Also, my class is revealing a trait! Those are pretty rare! Let¡¯s see what we¡¯ve got; please be something good! <[Derived Element (Basic)] Select a Basic Element and gain it as an Affinity, with Mana Purity levels greatly influenced by this trait level. One¡¯s Mana Purity can influence this trait, notably its leveling speed and, to a minor degree, the starting Mana Purity. The trait points invested will be partially refunded if the owner gains the extra affinity through other means, such as Ascension.> It took me a while to fully comprehend what I had just read. Was this finally my solution to the lack of Air Affinity for so long? Trixie wasn¡¯t lying! I couldn¡¯t believe it. While I trusted Trixie¡ªrelatively speaking¡ªI had somewhat assumed this was a long-building prank on her part. [Soul Mastery LV 7] [Enhanced Vitality LV 5] [Magic Resistance (Lesser) LV 5] [Curse Resistance LV 2] [Illusion Resistance LV 3] [Sonic Resistance LV 1] [Prodigy] Senses: [Olfactory Sense] [Dark Vision LV MAX] [Mana Conception LV 6] [Life Sight LV 5] [Essence Sight LV 3] [Thermal Vision LV MAX] [Eagle Vision LV 3] [Electro-Magnetic Sense LV 4] [Tremor Sense LV 3] Trait Points remaining: 11 Skills: General: [Universal Language] [Equipment Swap] [Dissection LV 7] [Mapping LV 5] [Tracking LV 3] [Identify LV 6] [Multitasking LV 5] [Perception LV 4] [Aerial Finesse LV 4] [Thunder Step LV 4] [Wind Step LV 1] [Companion Bond] Combat: [Tranquil Flow LV 5] [Attack Mastery (Lesser) LV 7] [Affliction Mastery LV 6] [Exploit Weakness LV 5] Magic: [Water Magic LV 5] [Fire Magic LV 5] [Corrosion Magic LV 6] [Ice Magic LV 5] [Arcane Magic LV 4] [Lightning Magic LV 5] [Earth Magic LV 3] [Air Magic LV 1] [Mana Manipulation LV 6] [Magic Efficiency LV 5] [Counter Magic LV 4] [Elemental Shift LV 5] [Elemental Adaptation] [Ritual Casting] [Mana Suppression] [Elemental Harmony] Sneaky: [Vanish LV 6] [Assassinate LV 6] [Identity Fabrication LV 6] [Acting LV 5] [Rogue Expertise LV 4] [Magical Subterfuge LV 4] [Subtle Afflictions] Skill Points remaining: 15 Profession: Enchanting: [Rune Reading LV 6] [Rune Engraving LV 1] [Rune Framework LV 7] [Rune Tracing LV 5] [Rune Design LV 3] [Runecrafting LV 2] [Rune Inspection LV 5] [Rune Filigree LV 3] [Rune Repair LV 2] [Brand] Profession Points Remaining: 0 Chapter 190: Trapping the Trapper Chapter 190: Trapping the Trapper With [Shatterquake], I smashed through the wall the enemy geomancer had cast, clearing the path to the mine. I left the remaining roadblock intact for safety and deterrence, a silent warning to unwelcome visitors. Alright, take on the spider monster, grab some orichalcum for the profile, and return to the guild triumphantly! As I approached the mine, the scene was one of thorough abandonment. Tools and picks were scattered about, and minecarts were upturned, likely further acts of petty vandalism from the enemies of the Flinthearts. Carved into the bottom of one of the minecarts were the words "GO AWAY." They really went all out with the spooky ambiance. I chuckled to myself. And as if to prove that the mine had been captured by a spider monster, there was an endless sea of webbing scattered about. I cast [Wind Cutter] at the mine entrance to clear the way, and to my surprise, while it did break most of the minor webbing, a large portion remained intact. That¡¯s some tough web... Good thing I¡¯m a slime, or I could end up stuck. Let¡¯s turn on the acid and melt my way through. But before I officially entered, I spent some time organizing my cores. I now had two new elements to level up, even though I had really wanted to work on [Metal Slime] and [Nitro Slime]. I aligned each pair of [Sub-Cores] to Earth, Air, Lightning, Ice, and Fire. Water was the odd one out, but I figured it wouldn¡¯t be useful against a spider monster unless it evolved into some Lava spider. I kept myself aligned with Air, hoping to level up the trait. Speak of the devil... That¡¯s some utterly absurd leveling speed! It can only be my [Mana Slime LV 13], right? Not even [Prodigy] gives that much. It¡¯s too bad my [Air Magic] and [Earth Magic] don¡¯t level up that fast. I stayed in my mostly elven form in case I had any unsuspecting visitors and powered up my defenses by borrowing the [Draconic Scales (Lesser)] trait and ensuring my outer layer was reinforced with [Metal Slime]. Stepping forward into the webs, they all gave way effortlessly. While they may have been able to withstand my basic Air spell, they were no match for the might of [Acid Slime LV 7]. I started using all my senses to try to understand the mine¡¯s layout, and at the same time, I grabbed [Mineral Sense] to find the nearest deposit of orichalcum. After wandering the abandoned mine for quite some time, I questioned whether this spider existed. I had run into absolutely nothing living so far. I had found some orichalcum with relative ease and sampled it immediately; it wasn¡¯t enough to grant me a level, but my gut told me I was close. Is this spider even here? I couldn¡¯t help but question. Or is it luring me into a trap? It is a trapweaver, after all. Maybe it¡¯s avoiding me since I¡¯m destroying its webs just by walking into them? As I was contemplating this, I suddenly fell face-first into the ground. My body impacted the ground with a metallic clang due to my metal layer. I blinked in confusion and turned my gaze to what had tripped me. What had been my feet was now a puddle of slime and had been entirely separated from my body with an impossibly clean cut. I stared at my leg stumps in confusion, watching Alpha producing a fountain of fake blood. What the hell just happened? I cycled through all my available senses to examine the spot closely. Rather than find something, it was more like I found nothing. Or, rather, an absence of anything. A thin line of nothing was running low across the ground like a tripwire. I could only vaguely pick it up due to the utter lack of even essence in that minuscule spot. I regrew my feet and crawled over to the spot. I carefully avoided any major contact with the abnormality, stretched my arm out, and ran a single finger over the place. My finger fell off. I watched as the appendage fell to the ground and splattered from its lost form. What the hell? Before I could question it further or experiment, the abnormal spot vanished. The absence of essence rushed to fill in the tiny gap. This has to be the spiders doing, right? Did it realize I had discovered its trap? Then, was it removed before I could test its capabilities? I giggled to myself as all of the planted bombs in that same vicinity were immediately triggered in response. To anyone else, it would have seemed like a chain reaction, but I had plotted to hopefully catch it in my own trap. I didn¡¯t get a notification, so either it¡¯s still alive, or I missed it... I went to examine the resulting explosions, but I couldn¡¯t see any blood or limbs in the resulting rocky carnage. I slowly returned to my resting spot but encountered no opposition. According to my clock, two hours passed. I spent some of that time gleefully examining the strange device and praised my foresight in purchasing it. In addition, I was swinging a sword made of [Metal Slime] around and changing its form partially midswing in a desperate attempt to level up the trait again so I could eat the core sitting in my storage. Did I scare it off with that explosion? I couldn¡¯t help but wonder. Strangely, it had made no further attempts to investigate me or my various devices being planted. I sighed and sat up from my spot. I guess it¡¯s forcing my hand. Unfortunately, I¡¯m in a position where I have to attack to break the stalemate. I stepped through the room doorway, and suddenly, my vision twisted. What!? I found myself no longer stepping out from the rest point, and instead, I was hurtling down into what looked like a deep chasm. I blinked in confusion and sprouted wings, halting my descent safely. I examined my surroundings cautiously. Other than this pit drop, there seemed to be no further hostilities. How the heck did I get here? Where exactly am I? Activating my [Mapping] skill confirmed that I had been teleported, as my map had a notable gap. I was still within the orichalcum mine but far deeper and below. I flew to the point where I had appeared, and the only evidence left behind was a small bit of spiderweb rapidly fading away. I clicked my tongue in annoyance while trying to locate anything else out of the ordinary. This just further proves that the spider evolved... But what kind of evolution lets it teleport me? Dimension magic? That¡¯s a terrifying thought... An evolution or mutation just outright gives a monster something scary like that. Though... Would it have even had the time to get used to a new skill like that if its evolution was recentish? Unless Flintheart was understating the timeframe. It¡¯s not like most normal monsters have skill points to spend unless it also got the [Apex Hunter] emblem? I doubt it has a class, or Flintheart would have mentioned that. I sighed. There was an obvious elephant in the room I had been avoiding. I¡¯m probably dealing with another [Experiment]. It explains the lack of killing, the cautious behavior, and even the strange evolution. Although... Dropping me down a pit would certainly have been lethal under normal circumstances. I continued searching for any clues, but the trail was cold. Now, do I try to reason with him or her? I¡¯d certainly like to chitchat with another experiment. Having someone else in the same situation as me would be nice. Another person who gets to know the full slimy details, perhaps? Although... After Odark, I have no idea if that¡¯s a good idea anymore. But! He wasn¡¯t the most emotionally stable, living the orc lifestyle and whatnot. Maybe this spider will be better mentally, having lived alone? Why did it decide to live inside this mine rather than escape elsewhere? If it can teleport, then surely it isn¡¯t trapped here. I nodded, my mind made up. I¡¯d certainly give diplomacy a try. At worst, I¡¯d get a nice new profile to eat or perhaps another bribe to let the [Experiment] escape and live? Either way. I complete my quest and get my silver cores! Win-win-win for Syl! Chapter 191: The Terror Chapter 191: The Terror But first, I need to find that spider... If it even is a spider anymore? Honestly, it¡¯s starting to feel like it has evolved into a ghost, with how I¡¯ve not even caught sight of the damned thing. I paused, realized the possibility, and groaned. Please don¡¯t be a damned ghost! *** She was right! I can¡¯t believe she was right! A small spider frantically thought to herself as she scurried away toward her den. She couldn¡¯t believe the absurd situation she was in when she had finally gotten some peace and quiet from the nonstop dwarf attacks. But now some crazy exterminator elf was after her! She thought back to the warning given to her by the mysterious voice during her last evolution. "There¡¯s a good chance you¡¯ll run into an... Elf in the near future." The bodiless womanly voice expressed. "I don¡¯t think you currently have the strength to prevail, so I suggest you improve yourself drastically." She hated the voice, especially how it always spoke in a "mother knows best" sort of manner. Like she was a damn child. It was the reason she was in this situation in the first place! A brand new life it had enticed her with, filled with possibilities and unknowns. The only payment was some of your old memories, a real bargain, right? Sure, she got the brand new life she was promised, only the hidden caveat of being reborn as a damned spider! She couldn¡¯t believe her misfortune; where was the disclaimer on this deal? Please note that this new and exciting promised life has no guarantee of being even remotely human. That should have been my warning! She cursed to herself. And only some of my memories? I can¡¯t even remember my old name! What I was left best with feels so random and useless! She pulled up her profile quickly to look at her condition. As always, she grimaced when she saw the new name the dwarves had somehow given her. Name: The Terror [Manhunter] Race: Riftweaver Spider LV 25 Class: - Status: Injured (Minor) Mana: Draining My Mana is looking atrocious. Why did teleporting that elf cost so much, Mana! I barely moved her any distance at all! And why isn¡¯t she affected by [Manhunter]? The fear effect worked on the dwarves, so it should work on elves, too! I¡¯m only halfway to my next evolution, so it¡¯s not like I can pull something out of my ass to gain the upper hand. She began spinning more [Rift Thread]; it was her best weapon remaining after her Mana had plummeted so spectacularly. Her latest evolution was spectacular, and she felt like she could take on anything, or so she had thought until this elf proved otherwise. Sometimes, I really wish I could have a do-over with my choices. Picking the Shrinking mutation was a mistake of note; make myself small and cute, and maybe the dwarves will stop attacking me? Ha! Good joke, past-me. Nobody finds spiders cute... She paused and tried to think on the bright side. Although... it did allow me to qualify for this dimension evolution since dimensions are apparently related to size. Or something. Ugh, all this stuff makes my head hurt. Maybe I should have taken her advice and picked a magic-related evolution sooner? She pondered the thought a bit before shaking her little head. No... While some spite may have influenced my decision, Trapweaver was definitely the way to go. I wouldn¡¯t have survived as long as I have if I hadn¡¯t been bunkering up in this booby-trapped mine. Following along with [Thread Mastery] and [Spatial Sense] became increasingly problematic as the elf moved far too quickly, making tracking her difficult. She made the snap decision to upgrade [Spatial Sense] using some trait points to further increase its vision radius. Immediately, her field of vision increased, and now the elf wasn¡¯t instantly escaping from her vision¡¯s boundary. Okay! Trap time! I can use her reckless speed to my advantage! But before that, she quickly threw up a boundary web between herself and the entrance to her home. By creating an entire frame of [Rift Thread], she could create makeshift portals by imbuing it with some of her Mana. It was how she had originally sent the elf plummeting into the pit trap. Feeling a little safer, she started creating lethal tripwires in front of the elf. She barreled straight through one, leaving a gash that initially made the spider cheer at success, but the elf kept going. Despite the massive amount of blood produced, the wound was seemingly almost superficial with how quickly it closed up and how she ignored it. Stop cheating! You must suffer some penalty for all the blood you¡¯ve been losing! She created more tripwires, but now the elf was prepared, and right when she thought she finally had her, the elf suddenly burst into lightning and appeared an even greater distance away. It was so absurd that it bordered on the unbelievable. Just how many tricks could one person have? Were all elves like this? None of the dwarves had displayed anything nearly as good as this, and even the ones she struggled to defeat fell victim to gravity. Why was I born a stupid spider when I could have been born a killer elf? Look at her! She gave up on trying to create more tripwires; she was wasting what precious [Rift Thread] she had left and instead was preparing for a last stand. She still had her teleport trap on the doorway, and when not operating remotely, she had far greater control over her threads. I guess I¡¯m testing using it as a direct weapon now. I wish I had the foresight to practice this some more, but I never imagined none of my traps would work. If she was desperate, she could even undo her shrink and return to her full size or even pump it up and try to crush the elf. Hell, maybe even use her old fangs like when she first started. Would my fangs even work? Or would they also melt? She shuddered at the thought. At the same time, she confirmed that she still had avenues of escape using [Blink]. She could hear the sound of rock exploding as the elf destroyed a path towards her den. That¡¯s when she finally came face to face with her would-be assassin. She stared at the beautiful elf with envy, a far cry from her monstrous spiderly form. She tensed, expecting a sudden attack, and was ready to use [Blink] at a moment¡¯s notice, but instead, the elf just stared at her as if trying to solve a puzzle. It was like a silent standoff, with both parties slowly examining each other, but neither committed to taking the first hostile action. The spider could feel fatigue slowly building up on her, like a creeping poison. The tensity of the situation was clearly getting the better of her. Since the equipped effect of the [Manhunter] emblem wasn¡¯t doing anything, she decided to swap it out for [Apex Hunter] as a troublesome thought was niggling in the back of her mind. As soon as the new emblem was transferred over, a familiar voice tickled the back of her mind. Worthy! No, no, no! She¡¯s stronger than me? I already suspected it, but having it so bluntly confirmed is rotten! And then she felt her heart sink as the elf suddenly smirked. Dread immediately assailed her, and she instinctively reached for [Blink], only for it to fail spectacularly, and she barely moved a few inches. No, why!? She demanded, the fear gripping her as she pulled up her profile. She had ascertained she had the Mana previously, and it had been recovering too. What she saw next robbed her of all remaining hope. Mana: Drained What did she do to me? Chapter 192: The Spider and the Elf Chapter 192: The Spider and the Elf Finally, I was face to face with the spider I had been hunting for so long. It had finally screwed up and revealed its hidden network of webs running along the ceiling when it tried to use them to attack me. [Tremor Sense] had picked up the constant vibration along the threads, and then I simply had to follow it back to its source. The frantic attacks against me as I progressed only made my task easier. It was impressive that it could use this setup almost like a control center and watch the entire mine from safety. I was hesitant about being teleported away again, but when I investigated more thoroughly, I saw that the entire entryway to its den had a thin perimeter of empty space. I could bet that crossing that invisible boundary would find me relocated again. When I first spotted it, I noted its Mana was fairly diminished and quickly threw out a deceitful [Mana Burn] affliction to eat away at its reserves. The spider showed no reaction to my subtle spell, so while my affliction nefariously got to work, I continued silently observing it like it was observing me. The spider had a sleek black form and many outstretched legs with menacing grace and sharp ends. Unlike the other spiders I had fought, this one lacked powerful-looking fangs or a rear end that could fire projectiles. Its front legs, however, seemed more tool-like compared to the other spiders, like something that would belong to a tailor or weaver. Strangely, it was covered in threads I wouldn¡¯t have noticed at first glance if not for [Mana Conception] making them light up like colorful lights. It looked like it had wrapped itself up in protective layers it had weaved. And all this thread had come from highly evolved spinnerets; I couldn¡¯t even imagine how it compared to the base ones I could mimic. However, what was mostly confusing was its size. The spider wasn¡¯t even bigger than a wolf! All the previous spider monsters I had fought were giant and menacing; even the smaller jumping variety appeared fearsome. It had an almost creepy-cute appearance if I had to describe it. That¡¯s tier five, right? Quite a high level for such a little monster. Then again, I¡¯m almost there myself, and technically, my entire being is contained within my tiny core. Not having even a single elemental affinity is strange, but I guess if it got something absurd like Dimension, it can¡¯t exactly complain. I¡¯d bet it probably has Corrosion, too. What really gave me pause was the almost impossibly hidden threads it had wrapped between the front legs, almost like a garrote wire. Now that it was attached to the spider, I noticed it had a blackish-purple sort of Mana coloring. So that¡¯s Dimensional Mana, right? I can barely comprehend it; it feels downright alien. My thoughts were interrupted when my [Sub-Cores] brought a change in the situation to my attention. [Apex Hunter]! I cheered and equipped my own one to compare results. Unfortunately, I didn¡¯t receive the mental tingle, so my combined levels must have surpassed the spider. I found myself giving a small smirk at the situation. The spider suddenly jumped as if I had attacked it and teleported a few feet across as if trying to escape when its Mana hit rock bottom, causing its escape to spectacularly fail. Its multitude of eyes seemed to blame me for its predicament. "Sorry! Can¡¯t have you running away," I tried to explain. Perhaps the spider perceived my words as a threat, as it tried to repurpose the boundary into a barrier to prevent my entry into its den. Seeing the net of strange thread blocking the entrance, I couldn¡¯t help but be intrigued; how would it react to magic? I cast a simple [Water Orb] spell and watched it get sliced into bits as if portions of it were swallowed up. The spider reacted to this by sealing up more gaps in the web. I cast a [Fire Arrow] directly on one of the webs and watched the spell disappear on contact. Remarkable. It¡¯s almost like an all-eating void. I even threw out a [Lightning Bolt] and watched the bolt of magical energy lose its form and disperse. The spider looked like it was growing increasingly anxious if I was reading its shaking legs correctly, so I decided to halt my experiments. "Damnit, just talk to me!" I shouted as it leaped for me again. A bunch of the threads in the chamber seemed suddenly commanded by it and were trying to hinder my movement. "Fine, if I have to force you to submit, I will!" I shouted. Another [Wind Step] got me away from it, and then I launched a barrage of spells at it by letting my [Sub-Cores] go wild. Two [Fireball] and [Wind Cutter] spells went hurtling towards the spider. Meanwhile, [Shatterquake] was activated from both sides, sending a wave of rocky shrapnel flying toward its flanks. [Glacial Aura] became active to slow and hinder the spider, and I launched another [Lightning Bolt]. I had thought it quite an impressive barrage of spells, but the spider surprised me by erecting makeshift web shields to catch the rocky shrapnel on its flanks. It dodged one of the [Fireball] spells while the remaining one was swallowed up by a net of that strange thread. The [Lightning Bolt] crashed into it but still seemed less effective than I had hoped. [Glacial Aura], however, was in full effect, and it appeared that even its network of hidden threads in its lair was starting to get a little frosty. "Oh? Not a fan of the cold?" I taunted. The spider hissed at me, flicking a thread at me. I dodged, but it looked like it had expected that as another one of those strange threads awaited me and sliced through my arm. "What a waste," I commented as I regrew an arm. The spider looked outraged. I held out the freshly grown hand, but instead of casting a spell, I used [Nitro Slime] to create a small explosion to scatter a spray of [Cryo Slime] throughout the area. Again, the spider surprised me by first shrinking and then expertly dodging most of the slimy shrapnel, but it couldn¡¯t help but catch a few scattered sprays and encounter the deathly chill encroaching upon it. It then charged at me, shifting between its shrunken and enlarged form in a rather unorthodox approach. I fired a flurry of [Icicle] spells when it suddenly shrunk and vanished. The spot it once occupied only held a small circle of thread attached to a connecting line across the floor. "What?" I questioned. I received the warning too late from my [Sub-Cores] as the spider had somehow teleported behind me and attacked. With its size enlarged again and its front appendages stretched outwards with interconnected thread, it went straight for my head. Its garrote wire of that deadly thread cut through my neck like a hot knife through butter. From the disconnect, I temporarily lost connection to the [Sub-Core] I had housed in my head and to my primary normal vision. A frustrating experience that would have likely killed most others. Using [Life Sight] as my eyes, I exploded with a barrage of [Pseudopods] toward the spider. Each tendril was armed and tipped with [Metal Slime] blades and spears. The spider had clearly not expected such a counterattack from a headless corpse and was caught off guard, and my blades cut and spears pierced as best they could, although its threaded armor was putting up a much greater defense than I would¡¯ve thought. If slashing and piercing were not going to be effective, I rapidly morphed the ends into metallic bludgeoning implements like hammers, maces, and morningstars; I had plenty of variety to choose from. The array of tendrils continued to assault the spider, which was trying to defend and counterattack. It would slice off a tendril, only for it to regrow shortly after. At the same time, I was spreading out a growing radius of slime on the floor to catch any severed appendages. "Well, you made me stop fighting like an elf, so good job!" I said with a newly formed head. There was a frantic panic in the spider¡¯s eyes as it tried to defend against the endless assault of tentacles. "We can keep playing until you feel like talking." Chapter 193: The Spider and the Slime Chapter 193: The Spider and the Slime I cut off her head! Why is she still alive!? The spider frantically panicked. She stepped in and felt whatever was leaking onto the floor, burning the tips of her paws. And now the floor is lava! Not literally, but why is it burning? What is this blue goop? What is going on? This is far too strange! Does nothing make any sense? Using her thread manipulation, she ascended up and off the surface. The spider silk was almost invisible due to its thinness, so it nearly looked like she was flying, not unlike an actor performing wire-fu. Normally, she would avoid using such measures as it made her feel a little queasy and preferred to have all eight of her legs firmly on the ground, but desperate times called for desperate measures. The elf smirked, seemingly increasingly amused by the situation. It looked like she was melting, yet her size didn¡¯t diminish at all. Can all elves do this? What kind of horrific world is this? That stupid voice called her an elf. Again, something reached out to her mind; it felt alien and wrong, so she instinctively slapped it away. The elf claimed it was to talk to her, but she wasn¡¯t about to start believing an elf that could clone itself, survive decapitation, and melt. I bet that¡¯s how she puts the brain parasites into me! Nope. No. Rejected! And that was when the tentacles appeared. The floor was growing tentacles reaching out to grab her! It was absolutely horrific, and the acrobatic maneuvering required to keep out of their grasp made her want to hurl. But dodging wasn¡¯t all she was doing; as she grappled around the room, she was layering wires of [Rift Thread] to collapse into a constricting trap when she was done. Hopefully, even the elf couldn¡¯t escape a straightjacket made of [Rift Thread] if it didn¡¯t outright kill her. She tried again to [Blink] to a better vantage point to avoid the slimy tentacles. However, her Mana was still completely empty, so she was forced to defend herself by bisecting the tendril with some of the [Rift Thread] she was keeping close on hand for offensive usage. Mana: Drained Why has it still not recovered even a little bit!? She wanted to cry. What was once her domain had somehow become a living nightmare. The floor was attacking her, tentacles were everywhere, and a smug elf was mocking her right in the middle of it all. Well, we shall see who has the last laugh! Feeling newfound confidence in her network of interlinking threads, she snapped one of the supports, which caused a cascade of the threads to collapse inward. An all-encompassing net, allowing nowhere to run unless the elf could instantly dig down. Victory is within my grasp! The spider thought hopefully. Even the elf seemed surprised by the sudden turn of events; she finally reacted and began unleashing a barrage of spells in all directions at the inwardly collapsing web. But it was all for naught! Fire, Lightning, Water, Earth, and even Air all disappeared into the void of the web! The spider had thought she had seen it all when spikes of bronzed metal burst outward from the elf in various shapes and sizes as if trying to puncture or cut the thread. But once again, it was futile. The elf even used a new form of magic. A neon-green spell that sizzled as it flew through the air, but it also was swallowed up. With each failure, the spider felt more and more confident. Eight magical shields suddenly apparated out of nowhere, surrounding the elf and providing it an almost complete hemisphere of protection. It¡¯s useless! Quit struggling so much already, you damned monster elf! When the enclosing net touched the shields, she had expected them to immediately eat through them, but clearly, her overconfidence was showing. When the [Rift Thread] met the unknown spell shield, magical sparks discharged from the contact point in a hodgepodge of everchanging impossible colors. She could feel the tension on the threads; the elf had somehow stopped her trap! No! No, you don¡¯t! She rapidly repositioned herself and assumed some more direct control over the trap with [Thread Mastery]. It was mentally fatiguing, but at least it cost no Mana, so it was something she could still do. Who would win? These magical shields or her net? Cracks started appearing in the eight shields, and the spider felt glee bubbling up. She exerted even more mental will upon the threads; the crushing enclosure was her ultimate victory! The sound of glass shattering echoed throughout the den. The shields had lost. The constricting web surged forward unimpeded and enclosed entirely upon the elf. Victory! Squelch! The entire elf¡¯s body became like paste being forced through a strainer. The spider nearly vomited at the sight; it was utterly gruesome. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. Wait! She¡¯s reading my mind? The spider panicked. "Not mind reading... [Telepathy]," the elf corrected. "Though apparently, if you habitually talk to yourself with your inner voice, it can basically be called mind-reading. I certainly ran into that issue." Oh balls... The elf giggled. "At least you had the mental strength to cut off our connection. Try being forced to talk to a pixie who could sneakily intrude without you knowing." I don¡¯t care about that; why are you trying to kill me!? The spider demanded. "Well, you tried to kill me first, technically..." The elf pointed out. "Unless you want to say most people survive losing their legs and arms when they walk into this mine." I guess that¡¯s true... The spider admitted. "As for why, well, this mine belongs to a dwarven family I work for. They want to get back to business, so they employed me to make you leave." The spider gulped. "Non-lethally was an option," the elf shrugged. "As long as you leave their mine, they are happy." That¡¯s a relief. "Plus, I might anger Gramps or whoever is the god you¡¯re assigned to if I just eat a fellow [Experiment]. Although I will say after seeing your abilities on display, I¡¯m certainly tempted..." Don¡¯t eat me! The spider shrieked back mentally. "Ow!" The elf flinched. "That was loud... How the heck did you make my ears ring? I don¡¯t even have ears. Anyway... I currently do not have plans to eat you, even though it is tempting. Assuming you¡¯re going to stop the hostilities." I gave up already, didn¡¯t I? I have no Mana to do anything and no more stamina to spin more threads... "Huh, so it does use stamina..." The elf replied, then began going on a tangent. "It just uses Mana for me; I have always wondered about that. I guess since I don¡¯t have that as a resource, it just taps the closest substitute?" Uhh... Miss... Elf? I have no idea what you¡¯re talking about. "Oh!" The elf snapped out of it. "Sorry about that, I have a tendency to get... Distracted. Also, the name is Syl." I¡¯d say it was nice to meet you, Syl, but honestly, you kind of ruined my day. "Sorry about that..." Syl apologized, looking a little sheepish. "But like I said, the dwarves want this mine back." I guess I¡¯ll have to pack up and leave then... Better than being eaten. I can¡¯t believe what a scam this life was. I get born a spider, and you get born as some elf demon. How is that fair? "I¡¯m frankly surprised you still think I¡¯m an elf after everything you already witnessed," Syl replied with a shrug. "No, I¡¯m a monster just like you. A slime, actually..." You¡¯re a slime? "Yes?" Syl replied, astonished. Really? "First Trixie, and now you, too?" Syl replied, looking rather annoyed. "Why does everyone not believe me? I can maybe understand normal people not believing it, but surely a fellow [Experiment] shouldn¡¯t find it that strange?" Sorry if I offended you... Just... The few slimes I ran into weren¡¯t exactly... She waved one of her front legs in a gesturing manner as she pointed to Syl. All of this... Everything... They were kind of useless blobs? Syl sighed deeply and shook her head. "Okay... I do understand a little. Although, in defense of slimes, I¡¯ll say that I¡¯ve fought a lot of spider monsters before, and most of them were underwhelming, too." I watched a slime fall into magma. Did any of the spiders do something that stupid? Syl paused and then reluctantly shook her head, looking oddly depressed. "No..." What a strange... Slime? The spider couldn¡¯t help but think. Chapter 194: Bigger on the Inside Chapter 194: Bigger on the Inside Damn... She really got me there. I don¡¯t think there¡¯s any monster that I could say willingly killed itself. I mean... I could argue that the monsters were idiots for throwing themselves at me. But that just sounds cocky. "Moving on!" I said quickly, trying to brush aside the subject. "So I introduced myself. Do you go by ¡¯The Terror¡¯ or just Terror?" "Neither, please... I hate that name; I can¡¯t believe someone could force a name on me!" The spider responded mentally. "Funny story; I had my name forced upon me, too," I replied. "Even Though I¡¯ve grown to like it, mine actually sounds like a name more than a title. Do you have a past name or one you¡¯d prefer? What about Terry?" "No... I can¡¯t remember my past life¡¯s name..." the spider responded somberly. "And please, no name even remotely close to this stupid terror nonsense. I wish I could get rid of it." "Technically, I could change it for you, but it comes with some attachments," I admitted. "What sort of attachments?" She asked curiously. "I could bond you as my monster companion, and then I¡¯d be able to rename you, I think? It¡¯s what happened to me." "I... I don¡¯t know if I¡¯m ready for that level of commitment," she said, clearly hesitant. "I can understand; I¡¯m not even certain if I can bond you," I confessed. "It also puts a different Emblem on you, probably to show civilized society that you aren¡¯t a hostile monster." "Wait. It would let me leave this dank cave and rejoin society?" She asked. "Oh, right, I should probably explain. So I¡¯m moonlighting as an adventurer, despite being a monster, and I¡¯ve got a whole secret identity sort of thing going on. Anyway, some adventurers have a monster companion, and from what I understand, you¡¯d be my responsibility, but it would let you enter cities." "That¡¯s crazy. You¡¯re a monster pretending to be an elf?" She asked. "I also pretended to be a human at one point... And a goblin... And a pegasus... I do a lot of shapeshifting." The spider stared at me in disbelief with her eight eyes. "That¡¯s so unfair..." She eventually responded. "It was an evolution option; it took a lot of work to get. Maybe you¡¯ll get a humanoid spider form later?" I suggested. "Nothing I¡¯ve seen before, and I¡¯ve evolved three times already..." "You started at tier two then? That seems a little unfair... Then again, you started in these caves while I started on a farm and in a relatively peaceful forest. If you ignore the packs of murder wolves, anyway." "Tier... Two?" She asked. "Oh. Do you not have [Identify]?" I was shocked. She shook her little head. "It¡¯s a skill that lets you see a monster or person¡¯s race and class levels. Well, mine recently leveled up, and now I can see the tier of monsters. You¡¯re currently tier five, and I¡¯m tier four," I explained. "Wait, I¡¯m a tier higher than you, but I still lost?" "Well, I also have a lot of class levels, and I probably have a higher combined level than you. My [Apex Hunter] didn¡¯t even trigger on you, sadly..." "You have a class?" The spider asked in disbelief. "I¡¯ve been wondering about that for forever. Mine¡¯s been blank since the start; I thought I¡¯d get one from an evolution eventually." "Yeah, that¡¯s why I joined the adventurers in the first place. I heard they could get me a class and snuck myself in. They have this magic crystal that lets you pick one." "C-could I use the crystal?" "I don¡¯t see why not. But you¡¯d need to join the Adventurer¡¯s Guild... Or sneak in. Maybe I could ask to use one privately and let you use it?" I entertained the idea. "Why only maybe?" "They have this whole... Linked system setup... Thing, a wish from the gods, it¡¯s kind of crazy. There could be a restriction that only guild members could use the crystal, for example." "Oh..." She replied dejectedly. "I mean, I could be wrong!" I replied reassuringly. "I¡¯m just a bit pessimistic and neurotic about these sorts of things. There¡¯s also the issue of trying to sneak you in; the dwarven city is heavily fortified." "If you¡¯re trying to reassure me, you¡¯re doing a lousy job!" She shouted, sounding exasperated. "Sorry..." I shrugged. "No... I¡¯m... Ugh..." She started trying to reply. "It¡¯s just a lot to take in." I pulled out some fresh, hot food from my [Core Storage] as if it had just been cooked. The spider stared at it enviously, and I placed it in front of her. The author¡¯s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. "Here. Since you lost your lunch earlier." I offered. She stared long and hard at the food. "Why are you doing this?" "Well... I feel a bit bad coming in and taking your home away. I¡¯d probably feel the same if someone took away my tree back in the day. Hell, I felt that way even when I lost my goblin cave... Even though they were secretly betraying me. Well... A few anyway, most of them were decent; I hope Yuzz is doing well." <[Dimension Magic] An extremely advanced form of Magic. Allows one to manipulate Dimensional Mana. Grants one default spell per level.> I blinked. Gods, that¡¯s a big one. But I don¡¯t think I have Dimensional Affinity? Thought so... Wait... I have Dimension Affinity? But it¡¯s been locked? By who? Gramps! Why!? Sure, what¡¯s the fee? Shit! That¡¯s so expensive! Ten whole points!? I mean, I can afford it... I¡¯m sure it¡¯s worth it, right? Woah! What the heck? A quest for a discount? Sign me up! I was staring at the messages, utterly dumbfounded, when suddenly, a panicked voice echoed in my head. "Syl!?" The spider shouted, breaking me out of my stupor. "Are you still there? You¡¯ve kinda gone blank as a statue for a bit there..." "Oh... Sorry, I was receiving a Quest." I replied, still somewhat confused about the whole situation. "A Quest? What for?" The spider asked. "Mother wants me to teach you magic, I think..." The spider looked startled. "That controlling bitch! She¡¯s the reason I attacked you in the first place! She told me a powerful elf was coming, and I was doomed if I didn¡¯t get better at magic as soon as possible and stop slacking off! The nerve of her! What a control freak after she put me in this horrible body!" Before Gramps or anyone else could remove this Quest, I rapidly formed a tendril and slapped the spider across the face. "What was that for!?" She demanded. "Sorry! I got a quest." I tried to explain, although it wasn¡¯t a very good reason. "You slapped me for a quest!?" She sounded furious. "Mother gave me a trait point discount!" I tried to deflect the blame. "That bitch!" I half expected another quest, but sadly, it looked like I wouldn¡¯t get another discount so easily. Chapter 195: Exchanging Stories and Offers Chapter 195: Exchanging Stories and Offers "Okay..." I said with a nod. "So I guess she wants me to help you with magic because you¡¯ve got [Dimension Magic], and she is the goddess of magic." "She¡¯s the goddess of magic and chose to put me into a spider?" She asked. "Surely there were better options?" "I guess you could have been a slime, like me?" I suggested. "I meant something more... Human..." She grumbled. I shrugged. "From what I understand, they wanted to test traits, and monsters were ideal for that." She grumbled more curses. "Okay. I mentioned this earlier, but how about becoming my [Bonded Companion]?" I offered. "I think it¡¯d work out well for both of us." She took a while to finally respond, clearly thinking it over. "I¡¯m not saying no. But I¡¯d like some more information." "How about I do you one better?" I replied and presented the skill for her to read. <[Companion Bond] Form a bond with a willing monster. Accepting the bond cannot be forced by any means. The monster will receive the [Bonded Companion] emblem, a requirement for future companion-related skills to function. Your [Bonded Companion] is always treated as a Party member to you. You may only have one [Bonded Companion]. If the monster lacks basic intelligence and language capabilities, it will receive an initial mental improvement and the [Universal Language] skill to facilitate communication between the two individuals. The bond lets both individuals know one another¡¯s health status and allows greater cooperation as their bond grows. As the bond grows, further bonuses will be given. A [Bonded Companion] still has free will; however, [Order] commands can be given to give temporary situational bonuses in extreme circumstances. The [Bonded Companion] only gains these circumstantial bonuses if it agrees with the [Order]; otherwise, it can attempt to resist with its Willpower against your own, and depending on the severity, a permanent bond penalty will be applied. This skill has no levels.> I gave her all the time she needed to read through it and digest the information. "And having this [Bonded Companion] Emblem would stop adventurers attacking me?" She asked. I nodded. "Do you have any idea what these further bonuses are?" She asked curiously. "Uh... There was a skill. I didn¡¯t take it... I wonder if I can still show it to you?" I murmured and started poking through my profile. "No... I don¡¯t want to buy it," I grumbled and started mentally poking the different parts of the prompt. "Come on, display it! Ugh... What if I focus on that part? Maybe?" <[Companion Training] Your [Bonded Companion] receives additional skill experience when you are training them and minor additional experience for kills earned together. Bonuses experience scales with skill level and bond level.> "Ah!" I exclaimed happily. "Can you see that?" She nodded. "I can. Although, like the last skill, it tells me I do not have the required class unlocked to buy it." "Interesting... I guess that¡¯s to stop sharing skills you aren¡¯t qualified for. Well, not that I¡¯d recommend the Monster Tamer class to you. You¡¯d probably be good with Mage or Rogue and maybe even get the hybrid class between them. Shadowcaster was really good, in my opinion, despite the stigma." "Syl! You¡¯re going on a tangent again!" She exclaimed. "Sorry... I find this stuff kind of fascinating," I admitted. "So I¡¯d be able to get a class?" She asked. "I don¡¯t see why not? If you¡¯re my system-registered companion and everything," I answered. "I¡¯m a Gold-rank adventurer, so I reckon I have some clout. I could even lie and say I want to privately change my class and let you use it." This was when she earned the [Apex Hunter] emblem, as she had killed some notable monsters above her own weight class by leading them into traps. It was clear she had put a lot of time, thought, and effort into designing her traps, and I had invalidated the majority of them by existing. I felt a little guilty. Once again, [Acid Slime] proving it is one of my top traits after all this time. One day, she encountered dwarves and discovered there was sentient life. She tried opening communications with them, but they had a kill-on-sight mindset instead. "I thought maybe it was my scary appearance that was offputting... So I vowed to make myself seem less... Monstrous," She explained. "Either my intent was acknowledged, or I met some hidden condition, as when I evolved again, I had the option for a mutation I thought would help." She took a mutation for her second evolution option, Shrinking, as she had hoped it would have allowed her to appear less threatening to any more people she encountered. However, she admitted she also wanted it because she was terrified that a future evolution would make her far too big to get around. She hadn¡¯t fully understood the evolution torpor and that this one would be far longer. She thought she was safe in her booby-trapped home when some dwarves found her unconscious body and kidnapped her. She awoke in the orichalcum mine stored in a box with some rocks. She had immediately tried using her shrunken form to appear harmless to the dwarves, but they weren¡¯t having any of that. "Some of them even accused me of being an ant! I look nothing like an ant!" She mentally screamed in protest. That was when she was forced to kill. Her combination of rare evolution and mutation and her traits related to manipulating and producing various forms of spider thread helped her get the upper hand on the dwarves. Fighting dwarves with class and race levels meant she entered an overly explosive growth period. "When I evolved again, I thought of leaving this place... I could use [Blink] to go pretty much anywhere I wanted, and I usually use it to leave and hunt for food. But I had grown accustomed to living here. And the dwarf attacks had nearly stopped entirely." "No, I understand entirely. Although your period of peace and quiet was due to outside influence. Once ownership of this mine is transferred, the attacks will likely return in full force," I informed her. "So either way, I need to leave. I just get to choose if I join you or run wild in the caverns again." "The choice is yours. Either way, I¡¯m willing to throw in some magic lessons to satisfy Mother enough to get my discount," I offered. She paused, thinking it over some more. I felt like she was on the verge of accepting, so I tried to sweeten the deal. "I can promise you good food as well. Not to mention, taking a class will give you an abundance of skill points. Way more than the scraps you¡¯ve gotten from [Apex Hunter]. Also, It¡¯s not like the position is permanent. If you wish to part ways down the line, I could let you go..." "You¡¯ll take this oath to never use [Order] on me?" She asked. "I swear on Gramps and my slime cores." "Okay... I think I¡¯m willing to accept." "Yes. I swear to never use [Order] on my [Bonded Companion]." "I accept," The spider replied. I had expected a repeat performance of the golden rainbow chains appearing to bind me to my promise. Instead, an iridescent black thread apparated and plunged itself into me. It wrapped around my core before tying into a knot. "Huh... I didn¡¯t expect that," I answered honestly. "It was your idea!" The spider said, clearly a bit shocked by the strange display. I nodded. "Yeah, but the Spirit version was more... Flashy. It had chains and rainbows and-" "Please don¡¯t go on another tangent..." The spider begged. "Now, how do I become your companion?" "Well, I hope you don¡¯t slap this mental handshake away," I joked as I activated the skill. A connection between us reached out. It was interesting. Immediately upon accepting it, I could vaguely sense her location. It wasn¡¯t like any of my normal senses, more like a compass in the back of my head. I could be spun around with my eyes and senses closed and immediately point toward her. "What do you mean you¡¯re in perfect health and full Mana!?" The spider shouted in outrage. Chapter 196: Vee Chapter 196: Vee "Well... To be honest, you didn¡¯t really damage me," I admitted. The spider stared at me long and hard. The turmoil going through her head was evident even without [Telepathy]. "I decapitated you," she responded. "You cut off a hunk of slime," I responded. "Aren¡¯t you literally a slime, so how does that not hurt you?" "Technically, it¡¯s more like my... Appendages?" I tried to answer. "Anyone else losing an entire appendage would be hurt. I certainly can¡¯t just shrug off losing a leg, and I¡¯ve got eight of them!" She complained. "It¡¯s like if you¡¯re fighting a rock elemental," I tried to explain. "The rocks are just what they control; in reality, they are the crystal center. It¡¯s the same for me. The slime is just something I control to make up my body." "Okay... Sure... But what about your Mana being full?" She asked. "You were throwing around spell after spell pretty much with reckless abandon." I shrugged. "You¡¯re not going to like this answer... But I¡¯m a Mana Slime. That and everything I¡¯ve picked up along the way means that I could almost say I have endless Mana, and even if I do spend it, it regenerates rather rapidly." "You¡¯re right. I don¡¯t like that answer... You¡¯re telling me you¡¯re literally made out of Mana?" "No, I¡¯m not a spirit. I¡¯m still a slime at the end of the day," I replied. Seeing her still not understanding, I tried to explain it further. "Think of it more like I¡¯m a walking Mana potion rather than the concept of Mana itself?" "Okay... I guess..." She relented. "So what have you done to my Mana?" "Oh..." I realized I hadn¡¯t canceled my order to have [Mana Burn] refreshed and quickly did so. "I had an affliction cast on you; it burns away Mana. It¡¯s really good if you ever fight spirits. I¡¯ve stopped it refreshing." "Well, that just seems unfair..." She replied. "It¡¯s effective, but not usually this effective. Normally, my opponents start with full Mana, so it can take a while to empty them unless they expend a lot themselves. I fought a monster that regenerated more passively than I could burn away." "My Mana emptied itself when I caught you in my portal trap... I didn¡¯t expect it to be so expensive to teleport you such a short distance!" She explained. "Oh... Yeah, I¡¯ve been told I¡¯m dimensionally heavy," I murmured. "You¡¯re dimensionally fat?" The spider asked bluntly, clearly unamused. "I have a dimensional storage, and you didn¡¯t teleport just me but everything inside my storage." "That¡¯s... Absurd... Even if what you¡¯re saying makes sense, the amount in your storage must be utterly ludicrous!" I chuckled. "Well, you said you¡¯re bigger on the inside. I am, too. I have a lake of slime hidden away." "How much have you eaten to have a lake of slime!?" She exclaimed. "Well... I do spend a lot of it, but I recently ate two worms, so I gained a lot." "You ate two worms? Two entire worms!?" "Oh yeah, they were delicious." "I see..." She sounded defeated and quickly moved away from the subject. "So, can you rename me now?" "Sure, we can try that," I replied happily. "Do you have any ideas for your name? Because I really want to call you Terry for some reason." "No! Not Terry! Ugh... It needs to be something short and cute so I can repair my tarnished image." I didn¡¯t think a cute name would help a monstrous spider, but I held my tongue. We spent some time going back and forth, throwing out random names or even sounds thrown together that sounded vaguely namelike. She was oddly picky about it, but after having the name of "The Terror" thrust upon you, I guess I could sort of understand. Not everyone can get a great name like Syl on the first try. "Vee," she said. "Vee," I repeated. "It¡¯s short and unassuming," she explained. "It¡¯s definitely short. Only three letters like my own, I can see the appeal." "I think we have a winner," she said rather happily. "Now I just need to figure out how to actually do this..." I replied. I tried thinking of the wording Sylthaeryn used when she had given me my moniker. "I shall grant you the name, Vee," I declared with a slightly authoritative tone. <[Bonded Companion] The Terror has been renamed Vee.> "Syl! You¡¯re going on a tangent again!" Vee interrupted. "Sorry..." "I¡¯m astonished you managed to get anything done if you tend to go on these mental tirades so often," Vee teased. "So it looks like no magic lessons until I get a class or you unlock [Dimension Magic]." I don¡¯t suppose you¡¯d be willing to let me unlock it early, Mother? Sadly, there was no reply. I guess she wouldn¡¯t take me at my word alone. "Okay... So, I have an idea regarding the city and the guild. Exactly how small can you shrink?" I asked curiously. "Extremely!" Vee said proudly and shrunk to a size that would easily fit into the palm of my hand. "I usually don¡¯t go this small since while it makes me harder to hit, I think it reduces my defense. I try to balance it out to be agile and maneuverable, but I can¡¯t be stomped to death." "That¡¯s a really good idea," I complimented her. "When I¡¯m not pretending to be an elf, I have a smaller form I¡¯ve hybridized, which is about the size of a goblin. I find the smaller profile definitely helps avoid getting hit." "Thanks..." Vee said happily. "So, is the idea that I sit on your shoulder and look like a perfectly tamed companion?" "Yeah! Well, I had initially hoped you could go down to about the size of a dog, but I reckon this will work out even better." "I¡¯m glad my original idea of looking small and cute will finally be able to pay dividends." "Yeah, I¡¯d definitely say you look cute like this," I agreed. "Thanks!" Vee sounded very happy. I offered her my shoulder, and she leaped up, taking a comfortable seat thanks to her diminutive size. I began walking toward the exit. "You know... I think I could get used to traveling around like this," Vee joked. "If you didn¡¯t cost so much to teleport, I¡¯d offer to take us both straight to the exit." "Well, when we leave the dwarven lands, I can also take you on some flights. Some incredible things are up in the sky, like floating islands!" I explained. "Right... Flying sounds interesting. Although, at the moment, I¡¯m happy to stay more grounded until I get a bit better with [Blink] and [Dimension Magic]..." "Yeah, having an emergency teleport to the ground in case you fall would probably be good. Although, can¡¯t you make something with your webs?" "Like a parachute? Maybe..." Vee replied. "Parachute?" I questioned. "It¡¯s a safety device if you¡¯re falling out of the sky," Vee answered. "Never heard of it. Although my memories are quite scrambled since becoming a slime..." "Right... We both got quite screwed in that regard. Kind of crazy that they would take all of that from us." "I figured it was so we couldn¡¯t get revenge or meet up with anyone we knew in a previous life. Apparently, I was poisoned to death by my elder brother. On my birthday, no less." "The hell?" Vee sounded outraged. "What kind of shitty family is that?" "A noble one, apparently... I was a noble prodigy with latent dimension magic and died without accomplishing anything... Then Gramps offered me a second chance, and I ended up as a slime." "Wait... So you¡¯re from this world?" Vee asked. "Yes? Aren¡¯t you?" I asked curiously. "I definitely don¡¯t think I¡¯m from here originally... I certainly don¡¯t remember there being magic, monsters, elves, and dwarves!" Vee replied. "Huh... Interesting. I¡¯ll have to ask Gramps on my next evolution," "How close are you?" Vee asked. "I think my next one is at 50." "That¡¯s going to slow down when you get a class. Your experience will be split among your class and race. As for me... I¡¯m quite far; I¡¯m only 5 levels into my current one, so another 35 to go." "Bummer..." Vee said dejectedly. "Well! I have a plan for that. If we get you a class and head to the nearest dungeon, we could do some extreme leveling!" "Dungeon? Where they keep prisoners?" Vee asked, tilting her head. "Nope, a dungeon where monsters spawn nearly endlessly! Experience galore!" "Oh... Well, if you think it¡¯s for the best. I¡¯ll defer to your judgment since you¡¯re the supposed adventurer." I nodded happily. It sounded like a wonderful idea. And perhaps I can convince the dungeon to spawn a slime for me? That would be great. Chapter 197: Bonding Threads Chapter 197: Bonding Threads It was surprisingly easy to chat with Vee. Our struggles as relatively weak monsters and discussing our various troubles at the start were an almost instant bonding experience. Although I¡¯d argue my start was a lot harsher, I¡¯d started at tier 1, after all, barely considered a monster according to the system. On the other hand, Vee had her own unique challenges, having started at a higher tier and faced different obstacles. Although I did gain an extra evolution choice and ten extra levels that way compared to her. I wonder if that¡¯s what¡¯s being factored into why [Apex Hunter] thinks I¡¯m a higher level than her? I was relieved to see my makeshift barricade intact when we left the mine. With a cast of [Shatterquake], I unblocked the passageway by exploding it into shrapnel. I had half expected another ambush, but either they were waiting further ahead or had truly given up. "That¡¯s [Earth Magic], right?" Vee questioned with a tilt of her head. "Yeah, it¡¯s the third-level spell," I clarified. "Hopefully, I¡¯ll get something a little more directly offensive with [Dimension Magic]..." Vee muttered. "When we get to your lessons, perhaps we can take a basic projectile spell and modify it to accept Dimensional Mana?" I suggested. "However, we can start there once we get you [Corrosion Magic]. Its first level spell is called [Acid Dart] and would give you a good firsthand showing of the basic spell components." I demonstrated the spell by firing the brightly colored acidic dart against the wall. The rock melted away as the acidic magic continued to eat at it. "That is a first-level spell?¡¯ Vee asked, sounding surprised and doubtful. "Oh..." I realized my mistake and recast it completely unmodified. The result was far less impressive without the additions I had made to it. "I forgot I had customized the spell; that second one was the original. You can take components of spells and, with some trial and error, mash them together." "Okay... I can see why she wanted you to teach me. I don¡¯t think I¡¯d ever discover any of that if I¡¯m working with only [Dimension Magic]..." "Don¡¯t sell yourself short. You discovered the connection between those coordinate spells and your [Rift Thread] all by yourself. If you had seen what the dwarves and humans had to resort to to create a teleportation platform, you¡¯d be shocked. I can only assume the natural compatibility between the spell and your thread is providing some natural support." "Thanks..." "No problem. I should probably take that [Companion Training] skill... Would probably help." "You don¡¯t have to waste a skill point on me," Vee rejected the idea. "Oh... I mentioned this before, but class levels give you skill points. I¡¯m currently sitting at 15, so I definitely have some wiggle room." Vee sighed. "You have 15 skill points just sitting around? That¡¯s crazy!" "Well, when you figure out it takes 10 to uncap a skill, it doesn¡¯t seem like that much. Not to mention 5 or fewer points to uptier a skill." "You make me feel like I¡¯ve been living under a rock..." Vee sighed. "Technically, you have been," I teased. Vee groaned at the bad joke, and I bought the skill. "Once I¡¯m done with Elementalist... Maybe I should consider Monster Tamer again?" I postulated. "Who knows what other skills there are?" "I mean, that sounds great... But maybe only do that after we confirm whether I¡¯m staying long-term? No offense..." Vee suggested honestly. "Oh yeah, no problem!" I agreed. "I want to get Elementalist to maybe 20 or 30 to see if I get any good milestone skills." "Do classes evolve?" Vee asked. "No, but there are natural progressions," I began explaining. "A normal Mage would go to Sorcerer and then Archmage, for example. A specialist would go Mage to Pyromancer to Arch Pyromancer. These are broken into the class categories; basic, intermediate, and advanced." As we walked back, that became our topic of conversation. I also finally went over my notifications from our fight. Obviously, there were no class or race levels, but I still made some progress. "Ah!" She screeched mentally, having spotted it moments before the [Aegis] spell appeared between them and the dangerous frozen shard shattered upon it. "See, I¡¯ve set up a reactionary defensive spell for you," I explained. "You didn¡¯t have to literally shoot a spell at me to prove your point!" Vee shouted as she frantically waved her front little arm legs to demonstrate her outrage. "I thought seeing is believing..." I teased her. "Anyway, as long I can sense the attack coming, then a shield like that will appear and attempt to block it." "Point made... Sure, thanks," Vee grumbled. When we reached the dwarves, she was still tense, and I could feel some of her emotions bleeding across the telepathy bond. She was terrified of the dwarves. Likely, her entire confidence against them was due to being surrounded by her previously impenetrable fortress of tricks and traps. Most of the dwarves didn¡¯t even notice her on my shoulder. The few who saw her seemed to shrug it off, and only one nosy-looking older dwarf seemed to take offense. "Elf girl! That better not be an ant you¡¯re bringing into our home!" He demanded. "She¡¯s a spider. I bonded her as my adventuring companion," I explained relatively politely. I thought the dwarf might complain, but he adjusted his goggles while appearing to take a closer look. "One, two, three... Eight!" The dwarf mumbled. "I guess you¡¯re right; that ain¡¯t no ant. Apologies." I waved it off. "Don¡¯t worry, I understand, I fought a Fire Ant Princess the other day; she was a nightmare." The dwarf¡¯s demeanor immediately flipped. "Ah! Good, so you know how terrible those six-legged bastards are! I¡¯m glad you¡¯re a good adventurer who knows where the real threats lie! Sorry for the misunderstanding. Let me buy you an ale?" "I¡¯d love to, but I need to report my latest quest¡¯s success. Another time, maybe?" "Ah, no problem. Sorry for taking your time, miss. Thanks for keeping peace!" The dwarf said joyfully, waving us off. Once we were a further distance away, Vee turned to me questioningly. "Okay, how the heck did you do that? You handled that situation perfectly. Much smoother than our conversations." "I have a skill called [Acting], I lean on it quite heavily for these types of awkward situations... It¡¯s gotten me out of some real jams in the past," I answered over the telepathic link. No reason to let anyone hear my side of this conversation. "I see..." Vee muttered. "I wish these damn dwarves would stop calling me an ant, though. As much as I hate being a spider, I wish they knew the difference. What¡¯s their deal anyway?" "The ants multiply their numbers at an out-of-control rate and dig endless tunnels into the dwarven defenses. As clearly evident, they hate them with the burning passion of a thousand suns, and even the slightest hint of a nearby nest gets an extermination quest promptly issued." "Well... I¡¯m extraordinarily glad I didn¡¯t pick the Broodmother evolution then if they hate monsters that spawn and multiply that much." "Was it a final evolution for you?" I questioned. "I think so. The description mentioned the word ¡¯final¡¯ a lot; I was too scared to pick it... Plus, I didn¡¯t like the idea of laying eggs..." Vee admitted. "On that we can agree on! Laying eggs is terrible and should never happen no matter how much a pixie complains." "Uh? Moving on... Did you get Broodmother evolution? I can¡¯t imagine how slimes reproduce, or do you simply split your slime in half, and now there¡¯s two of you?" "I wish. Slime separated from me just turns into useless goop on the ground," I bemoaned. "But to answer your question, I have a Queen Slime evolution. It mentioned significant boosts to all stats, and it would let me create slime cores. I figured I¡¯d pick it when it was the end of the road." "A Queen evolution sounds way cooler than Broodmother. I don¡¯t think I¡¯d ever pick it, even if it promised me great stats. Even if you¡¯re vouching for me, if the dwarves react that badly to ants, imagine what they might say if a teleporting spider was suddenly reproducing." I nodded. "Point taken. A swarm of teleporting spiders sounds horrifying," I teased. By now, we¡¯d finally reached the dwarven gate. Vee was staring at the massive construct with awe. Let¡¯s hope my [Bonded Companion] emblem is enough for these dwarves... Chapter 198: Spider Pageant Chapter 198: Spider Pageant We reached the gate without issue but were stopped when I attempted entry. "Err... Miss, is that monster registered?" One of the guards asked, pointing to Vee sitting on my shoulder. "Nope, I bonded with her while on my quest. I¡¯m unsure what the procedure is to get her registered and accepted entry," I responded and flashed my gold-rank identification. The dwarf nodded. "Good, so it¡¯s not my eyes going bad. I thought maybe I missed you carrying her out." He chuckled. "For a newly tamed monster, there¡¯s a procedure to follow, forms to fill out, and a test to be administered. I¡¯ll send one of our runners to the guild to fetch an evaluator for you. You¡¯ll have to wait outside till you¡¯re given the all-clear." "Sure, no problem; any idea what the test involves?" I questioned. "I think it differs from monster to monster?" The dwarf answered, scratching his beard. "It¡¯s not a very common occurrence here, but I did see a dwarf one time bringing a badger. They made it do a few tricks and let him go inside." "Someone tamed a badger?" I asked in apparent shock, recalling how vicious those things were. "Aye. They make good diggers if you avoid the claws... And teeth... And don¡¯t step on their tail..." He paused and then let out a hearty chuckle. "Actually, I kind of see your point! I¡¯m sure your little spider will be no problem!" I nodded and stood off to the side, allowing traffic to pass unimpeded. "So, what do you think? You up for doing a few tricks?" I questioned Vee mentally. She gave a sort of shrugging gesture with her little front arm legs. "I mean, if I have to so they don¡¯t kill me, I guess it¡¯s not the most humiliating thing I ever did. Vomiting in front of you during a life-or-death situation was probably way worse." "It wasn¡¯t life-or-death..." I corrected. "It certainly felt like it to me. I thought you would either melt me in the ooze or put brainworms into me. Maybe even both?" She replied. "I do not have brainworm powers..." I complained. We spent some time waiting for the guild to send its representative. Eventually, a small group of dwarves came to the gate and pointed to me at the waiting point. "Ah, Miss Syl, sorry for the-" the dwarf began before pausing. He stared in surprise, which transitioned into shock. One of the other dwarves was the first to speak. "Is that a tier-five creature!?" a scholarly dwarf blurted out. She looked amazed. Everyone tensed up. A few reached for weapons. "Isn¡¯t that the extermination target?" Another dwarf asked. "Syl..." Vee whispered with worry. "I promised I¡¯d keep you safe," I reassured her mentally. I held up my hand. "Firstly, the quest was to remove her from the mine, not specifically to kill her," I first clarified. "Secondly, it was reported that she never attacked dwarves outright, even letting them escape if they retreated. Finally, I¡¯ve successfully bonded her, as the Emblem shows." Some of the dwarves grumbled in complaint, while a few nodded in agreement. "That may be true, but that spider still invaded and took over a vital dwarven mining operation!" One of the dwarves complained. "Not by choice. She was planted there, captured while she was in an evolution coma," I retorted. That got a big reaction out of them. "That¡¯s a big accusation to make; I hope you have some proof to back that up?" A grumpy dwarf asked. "Well, the spider did appear out of nowhere..." Another commented. "Would the fact that I learned it from Vee herself count?" I questioned. "Preposterous!" The grumpy dwarf blustered. However, the scholarly-looking dwarves raised her hand. "No, she does have a point. A bonded companion can convey feelings, images, and eventually thoughts through the bond if it reaches sufficient advancement." "Plus, can¡¯t elves talk to monsters?" Another dwarf questioned. I was about to correct him, but another dwarf interrupted. "Non-magical monsters only; clearly, this spider qualifies as that," The scholarly dwarf clarified. What followed was me effectively asking Vee to do some tricks: Go here, jump there, climb that, retrieve this, and give the scholar dwarf a handshake. "This is very demeaning..." Vee grumbled. "I feel like I¡¯m participating in a dog pageant." I had no idea what a dog pageant was, but I begged her to endure it for a little longer. Then, I had to ask Vee to demonstrate a few, but not all, of her abilities. They had clearly never heard of this strain of spider before, or if they had, it was extremely rare. I didn¡¯t want to reveal Vee¡¯s full capabilities, nor did she. "We have to show them something... What about just growing and shrinking and a bit of web manipulation?" I suggested. "Don¡¯t show your [Rift Thread], and definitely no [Dimension Magic]!" "Yeah, that¡¯s fine, I guess..." Vee agreed. "Vee, could you grow a bit? Maybe about the size of a large wolf?" I requested out loud for the sake of appearance. Vee nodded and then began to slowly grow. She could have done it in a mere instant, as I knew from our fight, but clearly, she didn¡¯t want to cause the dwarves to get a fright. "Remarkable!" The scholar shouted in surprise. "I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve ever heard of anything outside a dungeon with something like this. I can only imagine the storied life such a specimen must have lived through to evolve in such a way." Then Vee began her thread demonstration. The scholar clapped her hands excitedly, and even the grumpy dwarf seemed surprised. She weaved some threads into some intricate patterns, and while they looked visually impressive, I knew they weren¡¯t as good as the traps she had spun during our encounter. It was becoming quite a spectacle, and now we had accumulated many onlookers. We were about to move on with our next demonstration when a runner came sprinting frantically. "Stop!" The tired dwarf shouted, almost falling over with exhaustion. He was desperately clutching something in his hands. Everyone turned to his gaze. He held up his hand and waved what looked like a letter in his hand desperately. "I have a missive from the embassy!" He shouted amongst gasped breathes. "The embassy?" The scholar looked confused, and then she tilted her head at me. "I guess this must be related to you. How on earth did they hear about this so quickly?" "Friends of yours?" Vee questioned. I shrugged in response to the dwarf before mentally replying to Vee. "No idea... The last elf I met ran away in a panic; I thought I had offended him or something. It was a bizarre encounter." "Bloody spies," The grumpy dwarf spat. The scholar accepted the missive, broke the seal, and began reading it. She frowned and then sighed. "Well, that¡¯s a bloody bummer..." She cursed. "I had no idea questioning an elf about the capabilities of a [Bonded Companion] was a diplomatic offense. I guess we will have to stop here..." "What!? It¡¯s a bloody monster; who gives a shit?" Grumpy yelled. "Kratot!" The scholar screamed at him. "If you¡¯d stop interrupting me, you¡¯d stop putting your foot in your mouth! Or would you like to explain to the bluebloods why The Grove is now personally pissed off at us?" He shut his mouth, now looking a little worried. She cleared her throat. "As I was saying... The missive clearly indicates, as per our long-standing and prosperous agreement with our wonderful elven allies, [Bonded Companions] are to be treated as any person would. It is a sacred bond not to be besmirched by ignorance." Grumpy looked visibly pale. "Woah, did you know all of that?" Vee asked me curiously. "I had no idea... Although I¡¯ll take the win for us." I replied. "I apologize profusely for making Vee perform these probably humiliating tests..." The scholar replied and bowed her head. "I hope she will forgive me." "No problem. I wanted to follow the guild rules," I replied. The original runner also decided to finally make his appearance. "Sir Flintheart has vouched that Miss Syl has more than enough to compensate any loss or damages suffered," he replied, handing over a hastily scribbled-together document. "Well! Looks like things are lining up very well for us!" Vee exclaimed happily. I agreed, although I was still a little concerned. Why were the elves sticking their nose into my business? Chapter 199: Spider Classes Chapter 199: Spider Classes "Well... I guess welcome to Dhoggurum, Vee!" The scholarly dwarf said politely. Vee nodded, which gave the dwarf much delight as she basically gave the dwarven equivalent of a happy squeal. I guess she¡¯s a fan of monsters. I suppose it makes sense why they sent her to administer the test. "So, can we get her registered with the guild?" I questioned. "Missive or not, I¡¯d like her at least officially recognized." "Most certainly!" She said happily. She gave the gate guards the okay, and after Vee shrunk down again and perched upon my shoulder, we walked inside. Vee was awed by the amazing city. "Holy crap!" Vee exclaimed. "To think all of this was right nearby. But why is everything so... Square?" "Ha! I had a similar reaction. Apparently, it¡¯s a giant cube for efficiency," I replied. There were some odd looks at a spider sitting on my shoulder, but it seemed most people shrugged it off as adventurers doing adventurer things. "By the way... My name is Jasgra," the scholarly dwarf introduced herself. "I¡¯m sorry for that whole debacle. I hope it hasn¡¯t negatively affected your opinion of the guild." "No, I understand you were doing your job. Grumpy, on the other hand..." I muttered. "Kratot? Aye... Grumpy is a diplomatic way to describe that bundle of sunshine," Jasgra responded. "I have a question: Once Vee is registered, can I get her a class?" Jasgra nodded. "While it¡¯s not a rule, it¡¯s so extremely encouraged that it might as well be a requirement. After all, if the [Bonded Companion] has its experience distributed toward a class, then it becomes much easier to stave off any craziness from evolution." She smiled relievedly. "You actually made my job a lot easier. I thought perhaps you might have requested she not get a class." Vee and I tilted our heads as if in sync. Clearly, neither of us understood why that was the case. Jasgra chortled at the sight. "Most monsters, even companions, do not get very good class selections," Jasgra explained. "You¡¯ll get some rather simple classes, and it¡¯s generally seen that it would weaken a monster by extension, as every race level would normally be towards the next evolution, which just cannot compare to what most basic classes would offer it." "Oh, that sucks!" Vee complained. "I don¡¯t think that¡¯s the case for us. I mean, I had a lot of good classes to pick from," I reassured her. We arrived at the guild without much issue, although our entry caused a scarce few adventurers to shout or scream in surprise. Anyone throwing a wild [Identify] at Vee would be in for quite a surprise if they had it at level 6 to see her tier. "We¡¯ll handle the quest and... Everything else tomorrow," Jasgra said. "But for now, let¡¯s get Vee registered, and then you can go home for a well-deserved rest, no doubt." The registration process was considerably simpler than I thought it would be. They effectively took my tag and linked it to another sub-crystal. "I¡¯d suggest the smallest one we have available so as not to interfere with her shrunken form, although it will cost a bit more," Jasgra pointed out. "No problem, I¡¯ll gladly pay the extra," I confirmed. "I appreciate the suggestion." Jasgra was happy and went to fetch the crystal. It was tiny, and even at Vee¡¯s smallest size, it looked like she wouldn¡¯t have any problem with it being too cumbersome. "Although... I¡¯m not sure what to do about her necklace or chain to keep it equipped," Jasgra said, scratching her head. "I suppose we could commission one to be made with the highest-grade resizing enchantment we have available and hope for the best?" "Bah! Don¡¯t bother with any of that!" Vee said, holding out her little front legs as if reaching for the crystal. "Vee has an idea. Can you hand it to her, please?" I asked Jasgra. She handed the little crystal to Vee, who grasped it gingerly between the two legs. Then she began spinning a web, using her control over the spider silk to thread it and bind it to herself. "There! My threads grow with me, so no issue of it snapping or slipping off," Vee declared. "I would¡¯ve said this feels almost like a dog collar, but this crystal is remarkably lovely, so I¡¯ll treat it as glorious jewelry instead!" "Okay... I guess it¡¯s better than a Scout, which just sounds boring!" Vee admitted. "How come I got nothing better than Mage, though?" "You¡¯re probably missing the prerequisites..." I paused and tried to recall what I had at the time. "I think I had [Mana Manipulation LV 3] at the time?" "Oh... I don¡¯t even have that skill, so it makes sense," Vee nodded her little head in agreement before touching the crystal again. "Oh, free Skill Point!" Vee said excitedly. "Wait... It didn¡¯t show me a skill this time? That seems unfair!" "I got shown [Water Magic]... Which was my only basic affinity at the time." "So I¡¯m supposed to learn a basic Mage class with an advanced form of magic? That seems pretty garbage." "Let¡¯s see if you can learn [Corrosion Magic] now?" I suggested and showed her the skill. I had received a revelation from an intermediate class, but now that she had a spellcaster class, there was some hope. "Oh!" Vee said excitedly. "[Acid Dart]? And the entire thing was just installed into my head! Why couldn¡¯t [Dimension Magic] be this simple?" I shrugged. "If you have two other skill points, let¡¯s grab [Mana Manipulation]." "Sure, you¡¯re the magical teacher here... Any other recommendations?" Vee asked. I thought long and hard while giving her [Identify] would be a good general convenience; to further her magic and make my job easier, [Magic Efficiency] was probably the winning choice. I had received the skill from an intermediate class revelation, but she could buy it without issue. Can you buy skills one class tier ahead? Or is there something else at play here? "How are your trait points looking?" I questioned. "I¡¯m sitting on a few; I was saving to buy the next level in some traits, but they get really expensive," Vee replied. "I had to buy the next level of [Spatial Sense] to keep track of you." I felt a small part of me die on the inside. She¡¯d been spending all her points to buy upgrades? What about saving for uncapping? I dreaded to think of the points she had effectively flushed down the drain, and I hoped I would never find out. "I¡¯d... Suggest not buying upgrades. If a trait or skill gets to 10, then you can spend 10 points to unlock it going to 11 and beyond." "Oh?" Vee tilted her head curiously. "That¡¯s a lot of points. Although I don¡¯t know if I¡¯d ever get a trait or skill to level 10... That seems like a lot of work." "Okay... Let¡¯s see if you have any of the Mana and Magic traits... I got a few I can show you." We spent some time reviewing her traits. She had [Mana Circulation], [Mana Reinforcement], and [Mana Infusion], which explained most of what she did with her threads. She lacked [Mana Well], and I explained to her that it could be combined with other mental traits to form [Soul Mastery]. I offhandedly mentioned that if she picked up all the physical traits, there would also be a [Body Mastery] fusion trait. I¡¯m a little sad I can¡¯t get that one since I don¡¯t exactly have a body... Still, with [Chimeric Mimicry], I can just keep borrowing the stuff I can¡¯t buy for myself. I absolutely need to uncap that immediately when it gets to max level. She didn¡¯t have [Mana Sight] to my shock and horror. I could not believe she had gotten as far as she had without it, and I practically screamed at her to buy it on the spot. I felt some minor sympathy for Mother and understood why she gave me the quest to teach Vee. When we finished our impromptu trait and skill lesson, I noticed I had some unviewed notifications. I pulled them up. Oh! But I just showed her some traits and skills? That counted as training? Wait... Was she allowed to buy [Corrosion Magic] and [Magic Efficiency] early because I was "training" her? If that is the case, I feel a little better about her getting access to them early. I waved my thoughts away and turned to Vee. "Let¡¯s go home. I have some friends to introduce you to." "Sounds good. I¡¯m starving for some of that delicious food you promised me," Vee said, responding excitedly. I wonder if Thern and his family like spiders? Chapter 200: Explaining and Introducing Chapter 200: Explaining and Introducing "All done?" Jasgra asked politely. "I think so; thank you for letting us use this room for so long," I replied. "Not an issue," Jasgra said with a dismissive wave and a chuckle. "Now, what class did you pick out for little Vee?" She took a glance and must have used [Identify]. She must not have expected what she saw because the startlement on her face was on full display, but it almost immediately veered into what looked like amazement. "M-mage? Vee qualified for a caster class? That¡¯s astounding!" Jasgra whispered but practically broke out into an excited shout at the end. "Yes, I hope to teach Vee some magic," I answered honestly. "Ahh, why wasn¡¯t I born an elf?" Jasgra sighed, shaking her head. "I heard how close you can be with your companions. To have a bond at this level already, I just can¡¯t help but be jealous!" "Just to confirm, spellcaster classes aren¡¯t unheard of for a companion, right?" I questioned. Jasgra shook her head. "Unheard of? No. Rare as hell? Absolutely!" "Great. I didn¡¯t want to step on any toes in the guild," I replied. "Not at all. I assume you changed her experience distribution to focus on her new class to speed up the teaching?" Jasgra asked, then slapped a hand to her mouth. "Ah... Sorry, that was rude of me. My curiosity got the better of me." "No, it¡¯s fine," I waved off her apology. "I didn¡¯t change any distribution as I thought it required a different crystal." Jasgra looked at me in disbelief. "You¡¯re gold-rank, right?" I pulled out my guild tag and pointed to it. Jasgra nodded. "Good, then my eyes weren¡¯t playing tricks on me. Your gold-rank tag has that feature. Just hold the tag in your hands and think about distribution ratios. You should get a visual representation to interact with mentally." I nodded and pulled out the tag. Sure enough, something appeared in front of me. It resembled a floating rectangle with the number 50 on both sides. Above the floating 50 number on the left was a stick figure of a person, and on the right was a symbol of a sword and staff crossing each other. In the center of the rectangle was a protruding circle that looked like it could be twisted one way or the other. Mentally I reached out to the knob and tried to twist it towards the sword and staff. It wouldn¡¯t budge. I thought perhaps I was doing something wrong, so I tried turning it the other way. This time, it twisted, and I watched the number on the left grow while the number on the right shrunk. Looks like Gramps still won¡¯t let me change it away from my race. I grumbled and changed it back to equal distribution. I noticed that there was a similar rectangle floating above Vee¡¯s head. "I can change your experience distribution between race and class. Do you want it changed at all? It¡¯s currently set to equal," I mentally asked Vee. "Hmm... My next evolution is far away. Perhaps I should change it to class to catch up to you?" Vee asked. Before answering her, I checked that I could change the distribution to favor her class. Surprisingly, there was no issue with adjusting it, and I could go all the way to a 90-10 split. I tried the opposite, and to my surprise, I could not lower Vee¡¯s class below 50. Looks like Mother really wants Vee to learn magic. I relayed the info to Vee. "Sure, set it to 90-10. It might as well be for now if it¡¯s that easy to change later," Vee replied. I did so and nodded, turning back to Jasgra. "Thank you for the assistance. I had no idea.¡¯ "Ha!" Jasgra slapped her knee with a grin. "I bet they told you about the Interface feature and forgot to tell you anything else. I hate that blasted thing, bars and crap floating everywhere." "Sounds about right..." I grumbled. The interface was the first and only thing Lisa told me about my new rank. "I¡¯ll just mention it, but the norm is to set the distribution towards their class for [Bonded Companions]," Jasgra began explaining. "Especially if they are still rather feral, as it gives one time to develop the bond and stave off any evolution-craziness. Not that it looks like that applies to Vee..." "Vee and I decided to focus on her class, but thanks for the information." "A pleasure to help. Thanks for putting up with my nosey curiosity!" Vee and I waved goodbye and left the guild. "You seriously need to explain this evolution thing? What¡¯s the deal?" Vee asked with concern. "Okay, it¡¯s not actually that big of a deal for us," I said right out of the gate. "Normally, the further a monster evolves, the more power-hungry and crazy it becomes. I had it described to me as they fester an endless desire to grow and evolve further by anymeansnecessary. " The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. "Yeah, her name¡¯s Vee, she¡¯s pretty great," I said. "I see..." Darmod muttered, stroking his beard. "Well... Any friend of yours is a friend of mine. Welcome, Vee! Thern is going to lose his mind." Darmod began walking inside with boisterous laughter. "Why am I going to lose my mind?" Thern shouted from deeper into the house, clearly overhearing us. "Our friend Syl here has a surprise for you!" Darmod shouted back. "Did she bring back some more obsidianite or some other mythical artifact or something?" Thern questioned, sounding almost tired. "Or something..." Darmod laughed. We entered the dining room, where Thern sat alone. It looked like his mom was likely out doing some late-night forging again. "Now, what did you do this time?" Thern asked before he noticed Vee. It was a good thing he wasn¡¯t drinking, or he might have spat it out, to his shock and surprise. "Bloody beards! You went and tamed the monster?" Thern shouted in question. "Her name¡¯s Vee, approved by the guild and everything," I stated. Vee waved one of her little front legs. "Nice to meet you!" She said mentally, although I was the only recipient. "Vee says hello," I relayed. "I can bloody see that! Gods, how intelligent of a critter is she?" Thern asked. "Very, one of the smartest I¡¯ve come across," I answered. Other than Odark, it was true that I hadn¡¯t exactly met intelligence amongst them, although being an [Experiment] was possibly cheating. Does Simon count? I wondered. Thern sighed. "I see... I¡¯m surprised you managed to get her to agree to the bond then, or you must have bribed the hell out of her! Then again, I don¡¯t know how you elves do all your taming; I¡¯ve only read and heard that it¡¯s legendary." "Well, I am giving her magic lessons," I admitted. "Gods, a magic-wielding spider!" Darmod and Thern shouted. "I didn¡¯t even know monsters could be taught magic unless they were a monstrous humanoid," Darmod said. "The worst part is I completely believe Syl will be able to do it," Thern grumbled. "No matter what insane thing comes out of her mouth, she seems to do it with her full effort." "So I take it Vee gets your approval?" I asked. "If you¡¯re vouching for her, then sure! Although, I¡¯m still going to be adding some warding around my room and bed!" Thern joked, although maybe with a hint of truth. "Great, I promised Vee here some great dwarven cuisine, and she¡¯s been drooling ever since." "I hope that¡¯s our food and not literally dwarves," Darmod teased. "No way! I can¡¯t go back to non-cooked food anymore!" Vee protested mentally and shook her front legs frantically. "Vee definitely wants real food. Not something that¡¯s all beard." Both dwarves howled with laughter, and soon, Darmod began cooking up a storm. "So, you mentioned something spicy to report?" Darmod asked. I nodded and began explaining the whole mine plot, the bribes, the attack on me, and how they planted Vee. It was quite a long retelling, but thankfully, we had plenty of food to keep us all occupied. Vee spent the time graciously devouring anything put in front of her while letting out mental squeals of pure joy. Two dwarves, a spider, and a slime. What a strange gathering. I chuckled to myself. Chapter 201: Core Deals Chapter 201: Core Deals When it was time to go to bed, I noted that Thern was true to his word and set up a warding at his door. Even with Vee¡¯s friendly attitude and my reassurance, he seemed determined not to take any chances. Vee took a spot in the corner of the room near the ceiling and spun a little web hammock for herself. I had to admit it looked both rather cute and very comfy. As for myself, I wasn¡¯t going to risk sliming out, so I had to use the bed provided and gave out orders for my [Sub-Cores] to be on the lookout for any nightly mishaps that could occur. While I didn¡¯t sense any foul thoughts leaking through our bond, and our cooperation was in her best interest, it still never hurt to be safe. The next morning, I woke up before Vee. Looking at her, she had somehow contorted herself into being wrapped up entirely in her own web. It looked hilarious, and I had to stifle a giggle. It¡¯s weird how I¡¯ve become such an early riser lately. Oh well, I have more time to practice. While waiting for everyone else to wake up, I took the time to practice with [Metal Slime]. I was so close I could taste it, and then I could finally chow down on that spare core of mine. Reminiscent of my days starting out with [Shape Slime], I started going through a gauntlet of replicas and imitations of various weapons and tools. I also tried mimicking orichalcum, but it was beyond my current level, and the strange metal was turning into a mushy goop. I really wondered how the dwarves used silver slimes for their work. If they had one that had something crazy like adamantine or mythril, then it must be guarded like a national treasure if it had leveled up enough to integrate it without issue. Or is it perhaps easier for them since [Metal Slime] is their primary trait? Like how [Mana Slime] is always active for me? Which makes me wonder what will happen if I evolve away from being a blue slime. I must say I¡¯ve grown rather attached to my coloring, but that could be remedied no matter what slime I pick. If I lost my natural Mana capabilities, I could be in for a bit of a shock. Gramps would need to offer me something amazing to pick an evolution over another mutation, though. Assuming I have some exciting ones left to unlock, I could always go for one of the eye-catching ones I had seen previously, like the alchemic slime. My thoughts were interrupted by Vee finally waking up. She tried to violently shake herself free until she realized her situation, and then, using her trait, manipulated the threads until they untied and released her. "Morning," I greeted her verbally before reaching out with [Telepathy (Lesser)]. Vee accepted the connection after only a brief hesitation. "Morning..." Vee grumbled. "That was certainly embarrassing." I chuckled and wondered how she would react if she saw me blobbing out in my bedtub. I really wished I could use it. "So, what¡¯s on the agenda for today?" Vee asked. "We have a meeting with Darmod and Kaldrour Flintheart," I replied. "I need to tell them the full story, get paid, and ask them for a few requests on my own." "Oh... I hope they aren¡¯t going to be mad about me living in their mine for so long," Vee answered hesitantly. "Darmod is going to meet with him first and explain the situation. That way, it won¡¯t be a bombshell when he suddenly is face-to-face with the monster that had been giving him greyhairs." "Swell..." Vee responded. "Don¡¯t worry. Even if the entire city went against us, I reckon we have a good chance of escaping," I replied. "You could use [Blink] to escape, and I could turn into a worm and tunnel away." "The idea of you suddenly turning into a giant worm is frightening and absurdly hilarious," Vee giggled. "Yeah... But I still don¡¯t think it would ever come to anything like that; like I said, I¡¯m relatively high up with the guild, and even the elves have sanctioned our bond," I reassured her. "And you mentioned having no connection to these elves?" Vee asked. "None..." I shrugged. "I tried to speak to one, but he ran away. I plan on visiting their embassy directly and trying to get some answers or throwing a bag at them as a last resort." "Very strange... But everything about all of this is truly bizarre!" Vee admitted. I shrugged again. "Wait till you meet Trixie, then you¡¯ll truly see weird." "And she¡¯s the pixie... Right?" Vee questioned. "Yeah, she¡¯s a real prankster, but her heart is in the right place," I nodded. "Of course, the fairies and pixies are pranksters..." Vee muttered. We went downstairs when we heard Thern making breakfast; we both waved in greeting. Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. Kaldrour was beyond happy, "I honestly think you might have saved my family¡¯s business with this. I don¡¯t know how I can repay you for this." "Slime cores, I bet," Darmod joked as I opened my mouth. I chuckled and nodded. "Well, I do have another silver one," Kaldrour admitted. He placed it on the table and rolled it towards me with the flick of his finger. I hastily grabbed it and couldn¡¯t stop smiling. "I¡¯m glad to see you¡¯re happy. I¡¯ll make sure we both work on trying to acquire some more for you," Kaldrour replied. "Why the hell do you want something like that?" Vee interjected. "Sure, it¡¯s a little shiny, but you¡¯re a slime, not a magpie." "I eat them," I responded mentally. I felt a little shudder from the spider on my shoulder. "Well... To each their own," Vee replied. "I can¡¯t say it looks too appetizing myself... Now that steak we had last night, on the other hand! Delicious! Exquisite! Spectacular!" I had to hold back my laughter at Vee¡¯s attitude as I stared longingly at the slime core I was twirling between my fingers. I was so desperate to eat them; I now had two! But I knew there would be no refunds for the lost experience, so I needed to exercise patience even though it was causing me mental turmoil. "So, what¡¯s your next plan? More quests? Sightseeing? Going on a spending spree?" Darmod asked. "I was wondering if there was a dungeon or something nearby?" I asked curiously. "I¡¯d like to start training Vee here and deepen our bond." Kaldrour and Darmod both looked at each other and chuckled. "A dungeon, huh?" Darmod asked. "That can certainly be arranged!" Kaldrour winked. "I feel like there¡¯s a joke I¡¯m missing..." I grumbled. "Sorry for teasing, I¡¯m just surprised you haven¡¯t noticed or heard about it," Kaldrour responded. "So we dwarves have conquered an entire dungeon." "Conquered?" I asked, tilting my head. "It¡¯s been subjugated," Kaldrour answered. "We effectively control and regulate its spawns and everything and make a tidy profit out of it." "A very tidy profit," Darmod emphasized, nodding happily. "How?" I asked. After everything I knew about dungeons and their masters, it sounded preposterous. "Well, we built an entire city on top of it!" Kaldrour declared and pointed down below us. "The dungeon was themed around elementals, so it¡¯s great for profits! You can either harvest their crystal centers or, in the case of ones spawned out of rare materials, you can harvest their literal body." Ugh... An elemental-themed dungeon? That¡¯s terrible for me, but probably good for experience and training... "Some lucky dwarf encounters a gem golem, and they can make a wonderful profit by reselling its corpse," Darmod explained. "It almost reminds me of the slime farms..." I muttered. "Bah, these are even better than the slime farms, as you get profits and experience simultaneously!" Kaldrour scoffed. "And you don¡¯t have to worry about an unfortunate accident," Darmod added. "Nothing like losing your prized blue slime because someone nicked its core." It took all my effort not to shudder. "Wow... Sucks to be a slime, I guess?" Vee joked. I was not amused. Chapter 202: Dungeon and Mirror Chapter 202: Dungeon and Mirror "So, is there any difference between this conquered dungeon and a normal one?" I asked. Kaldrour nodded. "The spawns are more regulated, and in some cases, we¡¯ve even ensured only certain types of elementals can spawn by changing the environment of the rooms. The spoils from the elementals are also taxed by the city." Wow... The poor dungeon master, has it been bullied into submission? I wondered. "And if you have any looting skills or emblems, you are asked not to use them!" Darmod quickly added. "We don¡¯t want to starve the dungeon or break the delicate equilibrium that¡¯s been established." I nodded. Well, it¡¯s not like eating any elementals will help me out since they all seem to come from the same profile. But that probably means trying to coerce the dungeon into spawning a slime for me is off the table. I should probably hold back on sliming out, but there¡¯s no reason for me not to use [Metal Slime] and hopefully get it to the next level! "No problem. It sounds like a great place to train and get some levels," I agreed. "Wonderful. I¡¯ll ensure you have access and that someone guides you to the entrance," Kaldrour cheerfully replied. "You need access? Is it not controlled by the adventurer¡¯s guild?" I questioned. "No," Kaldrour shook his head. "The dungeon is fully maintained by the city itself, and thus, it falls outside the guild¡¯s regulation." "Oh..." I mumbled, not really understanding. "The Adventurers Guild was established by humans first; we dwarves took a while to accept its existence," Darmod explained. "We had our own way of doing things for centuries, and so concessions were made when we finally allowed it to operate within our borders." "So... If I said I wanted to train specifically on spells, what would you recommend?" I questioned. "What kind of magic?" Kaldrour asked. "Corrosion," I replied and elaborated in case they weren¡¯t familiar. "Acids and a few afflictions." Kaldrour hummed in thought before finally responding. "Probably the rock elementals. That way, you can damage their outside body without too much fuss. If you went to train on something like the crystal or metal elements, you might get some people angry that you¡¯re intentionally damaging the resources!" "You¡¯re serious?" I questioned. "Deadly serious, we weren¡¯t kidding when we said we¡¯ve conquered the dungeon and maintained its equilibrium. We¡¯ve turned it into a glorious harvesting ground." "Oh... So as long as I keep the crystal cores relatively intact, people won¡¯t mind?" I questioned. "Pretty much," Kaldrour nodded in agreement. "There are fire elementals, too, but I worry with their partially incorporeal nature, your magic would immediately destroy their crystal." "How do you usually go about gathering their crystal?" I questioned. "Water, mud, or even enclosing them in an airtight room. Eventually, the elemental burns itself out and dies. It¡¯s a rather brutal method but the best way to gather their crystals unharmed. They are one of the best sources of pure Fire Mana, and we use them to power some of our extreme forges." "Makes sense," I said with a nod. "I guess we will hunt a few earth and rock elementals before eventually going on some quests." "Sounds good to me! Earth crystals aren¡¯t used often, so don¡¯t be too beat up if you destroy a few." As if sensing my next question ahead of time, Darmod quickly spoke up. "We sometimes grind them down and use them to enrich the soil. It can help with plant growth. Although sometimes they just throw the crystals in a dungeon room to shift the room¡¯s elemental alignment toward Earth." "To influence the dungeon spawns?" I asked. "Bingo!" Kaldrour said excitedly. "If it¡¯s high enough, we get some really good ones." I wanted to question that mindset. As far as I knew, the dungeons could seemingly spawn anything they wanted, so either they¡¯d tricked the dungeon, or the dungeon was tricking them. Or perhaps there are certain rules around the spawning? Is it cheaper to spawn a monster that matches the element in the room? However, that wouldn¡¯t explain the vast variety I saw in that last dungeon... "Tamnaeth, reporting for duty!" He dropped deeper to his knees. "This sprout is honored for being graced by your presence, and I humbly ask how may I serve the great Feirelle branch on this blessed day?" "First, confirm the name of the individual you saw," the assistant responded. "[Identify] reported her name as Syl," Tamnaeth responded hastily. "It seemed like a shortened name or nickname, so I presumed it was modified." "Describe her appearance as best as you can remember," the assistant spoke. Tamnaeth hastily responded. The more he described, the more agitated the Feirelle branch head seemed to get. "And she tamed a monster spider, you say?" The assistant asked. "Yes, a Riftweaver Spider, tier five, named Vee," Tamnaeth replied. There seemed to be a commotion between the assistant and the Feirelle branch head. "Mistress, I understand your agitation, but..." "Paeris," A commanding voice echoed out. Tamnaeth felt the urge to kneel even harder. "I do not know or care, but that sounds exactly like my daughter. She even bonded a companion!" "Mistress... I understand... But, her leaf fell from the sprig; it can¡¯t be her," Paeris, the assistant, pleaded. "The description matches her perfectly; she even had her golden oak bag!" She continued. "And now it¡¯s revealed that she has the Tamer class too; this is far too much of a coincidence." Paeris tried to say something but was interrupted as she continued talking. "Her sudden disappearance goes unexplained to this very day, and yet you wish me not to act? No. I will get my answers to why she left home. Either my daughter is alive, or another branch has the gall to imitate her," The Feirelle branch head spoke. "Dispatch Llewel to retrieve her by any means necessary." "Yes, Mistress..." Paeris mumbled. "Tamnaeth," She spoke. Tamnaeth flinched. "Keep an eye on her, but do not interfere. I do not wish for her to flee until Llewel arrives." "I understand," Tamnaeth said, bowing his head. The imposing woman looked ready to leave but paused and glared at the communication mirror. Tamnaeth thought perhaps he had done something accidentally to offend her when she suddenly waved her hand, and the watery reflection shimmered a vibrant spray of colors until a small black splotch was revealed. "This device has been compromised!" She declared angrily. Tamnaeth felt a pit in his stomach beginning to swell; he gulped and was ready to take some of the blame when she raised her hand and waved it again. A crack split the mirror in half, then shattered into countless pieces following an earsplitting screech. He stared at the sight and let out a sigh of relief. "At least I¡¯m not taking the blame... But who would snoop on such a meeting?" He couldn¡¯t help but wonder. "Were they interested in snooping on our ongoing relations with the dwarves, or is this related to the Feirelle branch?" He paused and began thinking. The Feirelle branch was remarkably close to the trunk. Was someone plotting against them? Was one of the outer branches looking to increase its influence, or was one of the other inner branches trying to retain control? "It¡¯s all certainly possible..." Tamnaeth admitted. He then thought about his meeting with Syl. She undoubtedly had the [Elven Glamour] trait at an extremely high level, indicating close ties to a branch. The fact that she might have been the Feirelle¡¯s lost daughter was certainly plausible. "If it is her, why did she disappear only to join the adventurers guild?" He continued to wonder. "Not to mention coming to visit the dwarven empire..." He sighed and shook his head. "This is far above my pay grade. I need a drink..." Chapter 203: Acid Magic 101 Chapter 203: Acid Magic 101 Entering the dungeon was bizarre. The entire thing felt far more clinical than I had ever expected. At first, the guards checked that I didn¡¯t have any controversial Emblem equipped and then had me reassure them I didn¡¯t have any looting skills or traits. I offhandedly mentioned [Dissection] just in case, which caused the guards to actually look very pleased. "We will be expecting some good harvests then!" The one guard had cheered. Once inside the dungeon, the entire thing was labeled with floor markings and signs to indicate the area. Heck, some of them were even color-coordinated! "Are all dungeons like this?" Vee questioned. "Not at all," I immediately answered. "The first dungeon I ever did was undead-themed, and the entire place felt like a rotted-out crypt. The first floor had wandering zombies and skeletons." "Wow, sounds almost like a haunted house at an amusement park!" Vee replied excitedly. "The second dungeon I did was more like an underground cavern, although as we got deeper, the flooring got better. The final room with the boss felt like an almost underground temple." "Neat!" Vee responded. "I¡¯m presuming we won¡¯t be able to do anything like that here?" "I doubt it; they even gave me this!" I replied, gesturing towards a little pamphlet the one guard had handed me. On it was a list of rules and regulations. "Apparently, killing a boss monster causes unnecessary strain on the dungeon and should be avoided without express permission!" "Bummer... Well, if getting class levels is as quick as you said, hopefully, we will be out of here, and we can either go find another dungeon or explore the caves!" "Yeah, there¡¯s some kobolds I wouldn¡¯t mind getting some revenge on... They dropped an entire tunnel on top of me the last time." Vee winced. "Yeah... I ran into those little lizard buggers too. However, rather than collapsing a tunnel on top of me, they kept trying to throw chains and nets at me. I think they wanted me as a pet, or perhaps they prefer their food live." "Or even try to domesticate you for your spider silk; no doubt it¡¯s super good quality." "Gee, thanks! Trying to butter me up?" Vee teased. "Well, if it gets you to show me some of your traits, then sure!" I teased back. By now, we had reached the Earthen section of the dungeon, as indicated by the floor tiles, which were now taking on a browner tinge. I pulled out the map and started following it toward the area that spawned the lower-quality elementals. The room was sealed with a door that didn¡¯t match the dungeon¡¯s decor and a corresponding lever; I pulled it, which raised the door, revealing a room entirely made of loose gravel, rock, and mud. At the center of the room, attached to the ceiling, was a giant brown crystal that positively radiated Earth essence. Rather than being singular, it looked like it was created by grafting multiple crystals together. "Wow! Pretty crystal!" Vee exclaimed. "Looks like that is how they¡¯ve ensured the room is aligned to earth," I explained. When we entered the room, the piles of rocks began moving, and a freshly spawned elemental rose from the rubble. "Right, so I¡¯d suggest trying to kill it by only using [Acid Dart] to familiarize yourself with it. Once you¡¯ve gained some Mage levels, you¡¯ll have more skills I can use to help you purchase and make better progress." "Sounds good to me!" Vee said and hopped off my shoulder. She began somewhat clumsily casting the spell, and I watched the familiar luminous dart of acidic energy form and fire at the rock elemental. Immediately after the spell struck, the elemental became enraged and started lumbering towards the source of its ire. "Unlike with your coordinate spells, you should be able to pour more Mana into the spell construct to empower the spell," I advised. "More Mana, got it!" Vee replied with excitement. More and more [Acid Dart] spells began forming and firing at the elemental. I¡¯d sort of forgotten how the unmodified spell was, and even though Vee was melting through its rocks, it would reinforce its form by collecting from the plentitude of available material scattered about the room. "Uhh... Not to disparage your teaching, but I don¡¯t think this spell is going to cut it!" Vee replied as she dodged out of the way of a slow, lumbering fist. "That¡¯s cool... Is my butt really that big?" Vee asked. "It¡¯s pretty accurate, I¡¯d say," I replied. I primed the tiny sculpture and placed it on the ground before her. Vee curiously poked at it before picking it up and examining it closer. She seemed somewhat impressed by the silver replica of herself. "Couldn¡¯t you make a fortune doing stuff like this?" Vee said as she poked the lifelike sculpture. "Well... It will only stay like that for 36 minutes. After that, it will revert to a bunch of slime," I answered honestly. "If you were running a scam operation, that could be pretty good!" Vee nodded. "Although it¡¯s a pity it¡¯s got such a short time limit." "Well, I don¡¯t think turning it into tiny replicas was the original intention of the trait. I sort of figured this might be a useful idea to trick enemies." "Wait, what is the original purpose?" Vee asked curiously. "And how would you trick your foes? I don¡¯t think throwing a tiny silver spider at someone is the best distraction, although I give it points for absurdity." I chuckled as I picked up the silver spider sculpture and tossed it at one of the somewhat inert earth elementals. When the metal clinked against the rock, I triggered the explosion, which detonated and caused the top half of the elemental to crumble apart. "The hell!?" Vee exclaimed in shock. "It exploded! I know you could create landmines, but that seems somewhat absurd!" I somewhat ignored her outburst and continued my explanation. I formed a bronze sword between my hands and gave it a tiny flourish. "I thought if I created a sword or something if an enemy took it, I could then detonate it in their hands." I threw the sword at the remains of the elemental before detonating it again, causing the last remnants of its life to plummet. "That¡¯s brilliant and nasty!" Vee blurted. "Did I mention that I¡¯m glad I¡¯m on your side?" I couldn¡¯t help but laugh at that. "I think your threads were much scarier. I was stacking so many defensive traits, yet they cut through my arms like butter. Sure, it¡¯s not the most mobile of attacks, but the results if it lands are terrifying." "I mean, sure... But mine is like a hidden threat; yours is like... Manipulative trickery? If that makes sense?" I tilted my head questioningly, and Vee continued talking. "They don¡¯t see my attack coming. It¡¯s humane, sort of? Meanwhile, you¡¯ve tricked them into thinking it was something beneficial, and then the table is turned!" "How¡¯s that a bad thing?" I questioned. "I¡¯m not saying it¡¯s bad... Just... Crafty, cunning, deceitful, underhanded..." Vee continued. "I suppose..." I relented. "But if it works, it works!" I created a little replica jackelope in my hand and winked at Vee. "Oh, what the hell!?" Vee shouted. "That¡¯s even nastier than I thought! That looks like an actual rabbit!" "Yeah, I tricked a wolf once with this. Boom!" I giggled. "Wait..." Vee paused. "The duplicate you left behind! Were you planning on tricking me and blowing it up?" "Maybe?" I responded. "I definitely had it guarding the exit, so to speak. It really depended on whether you were in a talkative mood." "You sure you haven¡¯t gone evolution crazy?" Vee pressed. "Just a regular amount of crazy," I teased. "I mean, I was turned into a slime; nobody comes out of that normal, I think?" Vee looked at herself and sighed. "Yeah... I guess, as a spider, I can¡¯t judge. Anyway, I leveled up! So I can grab that new skill." "Great!" I cheered. "Hopefully, when you take that, I can help train you more directly." Chapter 204: Companion Casting Chapter 204: Companion Casting "Okay, so how does this [Ritual Casting] work?" Vee asked. "No idea! As I said, I¡¯ve only ever done it with myself, but it should be rather intuitive." Vee didn¡¯t look too pleased with that response, so I quickly asked her to cast [Acid Dart] and hold it. She somewhat reluctantly did so, and then I tried to reach out to her spell. Thanks to the companion system, we were in a party, so in theory, we were seen as cooperators, and I hoped it would be enough. I was expecting something similar to when I used [Counter Magic] when I connected to her spell, but the actual results were entirely different. Rather than hooking up to her spell from the outside and manipulating it, the spell seemed to become half mine, and consequently, I took half the burden. I could sense Vee¡¯s Mana pool and my own sort of working in tandem with the spell. "Good lord! Is that your Mana!?" Vee responded in astonishment. "I did say I was a Mana slime!" "Understatement of a century! That¡¯s insane!" Vee said, visibly upset. "Yours is also impressive!" I tried to say reassuringly. "How would you know? You just said you¡¯ve only ever done this with yourself!" Vee countered. "Shit... Right," I cursed, realizing my verbal screwup. "Well, I¡¯m sure yours will also be impressive once you either level up [Mana Well] or fuse it into [Soul Mastery]..." "Sure, sure... Blame the traits," Vee giggled. "Okay, so we¡¯re sharing this spell now. What¡¯s next?" "Well, I¡¯m going to modify it!" I responded. "Uh... Be careful?" Vee said hesitantly. "Don¡¯t worry¡ªI¡¯ve done this countless times! Even if I fail, it¡¯s just a bit of a pain-splitting headache, nothing to worry about. My first time, I brute-forced it until I finally succeeded!" "Uh..." Vee stammered. "That¡¯s not exactly reassuring! I hope you understand that!" "Like I said, that was ages ago; I¡¯m much better at it now. Watch!" "Wait-" I started manipulating the spell. It was a little less fluid than my normal operations, but by flexing the might of my superior skill levels and calling on some assistance from my personal helpers, I began making up the difference. "Wait, I thought this was 50-50? Why do you have so many hands? What!? How are you moving it that way? Wait! Slow down! Argghh!" Vee began a string of mental complaints. "Behold!" I said, marveling at my completed spell. I had reconstructed my improved version of [Acid Dart] combined with [Dissolve]. Vee stared at it silently; I figured she was basking in its magnificence. "What the hell even is this? Is this the same spell?" Vee questioned. "Of course it is! I just combined it with an affliction, creating a dart of acid and leaving a continuous acidic remnant depending on how much Mana you feed into it." "I... See?" Vee said, tilting her head. "No, sorry, that¡¯s a lie. I don¡¯t see anything." I suppressed a sigh and began explaining the magical construct before us. I pointed out the various components one by one, and gradually, Vee started understanding more and more of it. The biggest downside was that she only had [Mana Sight] rather than [Mana Conception], so she lacked many finer details I was trying to point out. She literally could not see them. However, when I finished my explanation, not only did I gain a level in [Companion Training], but Vee also happily claimed that she had gained one in [Mana Manipulation]. "Okay, I think that¡¯s enough theory. Let¡¯s fire this bad boy at one of the elementals!" I said eagerly. "Finally!" Vee said, relieved. "I want to see what this can do!" I nodded, and then, together, we both finalized the casting, sending the bolt of green luminous energy slamming into the golem and coating it in the affliction. "Woah! Awesome!" Vee waved her little front legs happily. "Let¡¯s do another at a different target!" I said excitedly. However, perhaps I might have to make an exception for Syl if it ever heads down that road. Gramps admitted. "Oh? Is that [Ritual Casting]?" Mother questioned as they watched the display. "It appears so. Syl has made ample use of the skill by using it in tandem with the [Sub-Cores]," Gramps answered. "Well, this is certainly an interesting training method..." Mother admitted. "Like a clay sculptor sitting behind their student, hand in hand, guiding them into shaping their masterpiece together!" Gramps harumphed. "How vulgar." Mother gave a teasing wink. The result was a surprising success, and pulling up an information log, she saw Vee had made a substantial amount of progress. "Hmm... That¡¯s considerably more than I would have expected her to get?" Mother queried. Gramps also pulled up the results and looked it over. "Interesting... Syl has a few experience-boosting traits, and now Vee has one, too. I wonder if there¡¯s a strange feedback loop happening?" "Something to investigate," Mother paused. "Eventually..." "Eventually..." Gramps chortled. What happened next left both of them a little stunned. Syl started assigning [Sub-Cores] to help Vee and then left her to her own devices. "Those little helpers are something else..." Mother admitted. "I must say I didn¡¯t think of assigning them like that. Syl is certainly full of surprises!" Gramps cheered. "And this will undoubtedly boost Vee¡¯s training speed. Remarkable!" Mother joined in the jubilations. "S-so, when can Leon join the t-team?" Unc suddenly spoke up. Both Mother and Gramps flinched and turned to see the individual who had somehow snuck his way in. "Who¡¯s Leon?" Both asked in unison. "L-Leon! He¡¯s g-great; I think he would make a perfect team m-member!" Unc replied happily. "No... Seriously, who is Leon?" Mother questioned again. "He¡¯s an adorable hermit c-crab!" Unc said proudly. "The little guy has really started coming out of his shell ever since his latest evolution. That t-trait you designed for him really helped a lot!" "Oh... The crab..." Gramps muttered halfheartedly. He¡¯d almost completely forgotten about that subject. "Really now. You designed a custom trait just for this one?" Mother accused. "It was part of the deal to step in and fix those errors Syl had caused with the spirits and Mana traits..." Gramps admitted. "Oh, right..." Mother nodded. "That fiasco." "S-so? Don¡¯t you think Leon would be g-great?" Unc asked. Gramps and Mother turned to each other and began trying to communicate with their eyes and facial expressions alone. Both were a little worried about what Unc had overheard. "Sure..." Gramps muttered reluctantly. "Although we don¡¯t know when they will meet up. I presume Leon is somewhere in the water?" Mother asked. "Yeah! But he¡¯s been heading toward the coast. It looks like he got into some t-trouble with the mermen, and they¡¯ve been ch-chasing him to shore. I¡¯m sure they will meet up in no time!" Unc replied happily. Gramps pulled up a map between the coast and the dwarven empire and chuckled internally. They were practically a continent apart. "I¡¯m sure they will meet up eventually..." Gramps said, trying to hold back his laugh. "W-wonderful!" Chapter 205: Training Experiments Chapter 205: Training Experiments Vee and I spent almost an entire week making periodic visits to the elemental dungeon. Surprisingly, the biggest hurdle was not the experience but her skill progression as she rocketed through the early levels of Mage, thanks to the plethora of monster experiences, even some of which I had siphoned off. Unfortunately, Vee did not have [Prodigy], and trying to share it with her didn¡¯t seem possible, as it appeared as a garbled message when she viewed it. Clearly, it was a leftover from my previous life that Gramps must have left behind, either intentionally or accidentally, and that was why I got access to it. Likewise, my Dimension affinity was subsequently locked. Not that I can complain about that too much. At least I can unlock it with trait points, which I can¡¯t say about other rare affinities. I somehow doubt there¡¯s a slime core that would grant me that! I tried to give Vee as much guidance as possible, which helped my [Companion Training] skills grow exponentially. Even [Prodigy] couldn¡¯t explain this rapid growth. I could only speculate it was due to the nature of my lessons being so advanced that I was getting some disproportionate experience bonuses due to perceived difficulty. After all, the system probably never expected an intelligent monster to be trained, and anyone who successfully taught a normal spider magic would deserve to be significantly rewarded. I knew we also needed to nurture our [Companion Bond] to receive further boosts and features, so I started trying to confide more in her. The results were mixed, but it seemed an easy way to her heart was through her stomach. This is higher than Kindling... Right? I couldn¡¯t help but wonder. We were in the same situation from this whole [Experiment] ordeal, so cooperation was mutually beneficial. During our magical training, I finally reached the next level of [Metal Slime]. Once that was met, I wasted no time eating both the silver slime cores I had been waiting for. I was a little sad not to get to the next level of [Morph Slime], but at the end of the day, I really wanted the [Metal Slime] levels. I promptly started trying to see what new metals I had access to. A plethora of alloys and high-quality metals had suddenly become available; steel, electrum, lead-silver, and even orichalcum. The latter was extremely exciting because I found out that it was effectively the evolution of enchantable metals! Move over gold and electrum; there¡¯s a new boss in town! Orichalcum was both highly Mana-conductive and yet far more durable than gold! This meant that creating an entire enchanted weapon was much more reasonable, and it was in extreme demand as you could use it in vast quantities without risking the structural integrity of your forged goods. This also explained why the Flinthearts were in such dire circumstances with their mine being taken over. Adamantine and Mithril seemed still out of reach, although I was willing to bet that the next level would unlock at least one of them entirely. Obsidianite, despite being described as on par with Adamantine, was even further out of reach, making me wonder how the system was judging my usable materials. Now having access to much higher quality metals, I had begun trying to experiment with [Rune Engraving] while my [Sub-Cores] assisted Vee. The idea was simple: create a metal sword out of slime and then try enchanting it. Since the slime was all part of my extremely malleable body, I could engrave it directly from memory without needing a tool. It seemed far too easy, and I had expected it to fail, but surprisingly, it worked! "I¡¯m glad you¡¯re so optimistic! We should try adding Dimensional Mana to a projectile spell construct again!" I said with a fiendish grin. Vee¡¯s horror and dismay bled through our telepathic bond. "Oh no... Not again!" She cried. That experimentation had been particularly unsuccessful for us. Well, for Vee, since I still didn¡¯t have access to Dimensional Mana. Even with my own version of a magical training boot camp, Vee¡¯s [Mana Manipulation] was still woefully inadequate. I had tried begging and pleading with Mother to give me the discount so I could help Vee directly, but perhaps she couldn¡¯t modify the quest anymore. Vee suggested she was just "being a bitch" and was likely being delighted by Vee¡¯s mental suffering. Vee received intense backlash whenever she tried to work with the Dimensional Mana and the spell fell apart. One time, it was so bad I even gave her a healing potion to help her recover; another time, it had almost emptied out her entire Mana pool! Seriously... Who gives someone [Dimension Magic] to start with? Even though I can¡¯t remember anything about my past life, I bet I had at least one basic magic to work with! It¡¯s a pity I don¡¯t remember anything, or I could have pulled some lessons from my past life. Assuming past me actually could cast some [Dimension Magic] spells. While Vee struggled to get some type of result from the stubborn advanced magic, I continued trying to see what I could accomplish with enchanting [Metal Slime]. Spurred on by my memory of Ian¡¯s amazing dungeon axe, I wanted to try replicating the effects of that and the spell-storing ring I had given Eliza. I had thoroughly memorized the enchantment for both and even requested my [Sub-Cores] keep their own record of them. Whether it was useful or not without understanding was a mystery, without even considering if my [Rune Engraving] level was sufficient. I began trying to create a replica of the axe to aid in reproducing the engraving. Then, I started working with shifting to place the enchantment on the axe. The axe replica in my hands exploded into a burst of slimy goop, thoroughly coating my nearby vicinity. I blinked a few times in confusion and then remembered how dangerous a failed enchantment could be. It¡¯s a good thing that was only slime, or that could have been dangerous! I heard Vee giggling, no doubt amused at seeing me fail so spectacularly. I kept repeating my process carefully and methodically, trying my best to ensure I wasn¡¯t screwing up the enchantment somewhere. After my third failure, I began to get annoyed. Wait... Perhaps I need to use orichalcum instead? I¡¯ve been using steel since it seemed the best for weapons at the current stage, but maybe the enchantment is too powerful, and it¡¯s overloading it? I tried again, this time using orichalcum, and got much further along before the weapon exploded, albeit in a considerably less violent fashion. I kept trying and eventually concluded that perhaps my [Rune Engraving] skill was not up to scratch. Well, at least I know what I will add to my training regime. I hope Greg doesn¡¯t find out that it¡¯s still at the first level after all this time. I moved on to the spell ring with the ghost-killing axe out of reach. I used my [Sub-Cores] to shape the blueprint in ordinary slime to examine it in better detail. From what I could see, this enchantment had three main components: the circular enchantment, which housed the spell inside the crystal sphere on the ring; an enchantment around the ring that allowed the user to interface with the magical item; and a final enchantment that linked the individual spherical enchantments in each orb to the ring and provided vital protection to the user. Ugh... I wish I had more practice with spherical enchantments. But... In theory, I don¡¯t need to copy everything. I don¡¯t need a wearable ring; I just need a sphere that can hold a spell and then release it violently. I don¡¯t even need the safety features! The idea I had in my head was a sphere of orichalcum slime, enchanted to store a spell and then primed to hold its form. Then I throw in a spell, probably a good [Chain Lightning] or something equally powerful, and toss the ball at something. And then... Boom! I chuckled to myself as I began experimenting... Announcement: New Story and Book News announcement: new story and book news hi all, i have a few things i¡¯d like to announce. first of all, i¡¯m releasing a new story, bookbound bunny! (temp cover for now) "books contain countless wonders." arakil, once a god of magic, found himself at odds with other deities. imprisoned within his grimoire, he had to wait until the perfect person came along. that person was a bunny girl named lily. an orphan with a frail body that ruined her chances of being an adventurer. but, she had a talent for penmanship and a thirst for knowledge - the perfect foundation for a mage apprentice. seeing the opportunity to train a new pupil eager to improve their life, and sensing a chance to work towards his own freedom, arakil teams up with lily to foster her magical abilities. it¡¯s a more lighthearted, cozy, progression fantasy than syl, but i hope you¡¯ll give it a shot. writing it was a lot of fun, so i hope you enjoy reading it. syl¡¯s book 3 is also almost done on patreon, which hopefully means i can send it to the editors as soon as possible to smooth the release between books. speaking of book 3, here¡¯s the almost final full cover, only missing the blurb: honestly speaking, this is my favorite one. i love the dark, moody colors and the glowing fungus. once again, big thanks to tsuu and mango media for these amazing covers; i love them. and... that¡¯s it, i think, for the news. thanks again for your continued support! ~lunadea Chapter 206: Sharing is Caring chapter 206: sharing is caring time flew by, relatively speaking. i was highly immersed in my experiments while offloading a lot of my magical training workload to my [sub-cores]. the bottleneck was definitely vee¡¯s skill training, as she was rapidly gaining levels in her basic class from the elementals even though i was siphoning some of the earned experience through our [bond]. speaking of which, my class and race levels felt extremely stagnant from this endeavor. despite the countless elementals vee had slain, i¡¯d only gained a single level in both. <12 trait points are now available.> <16 skill points are now available.> we should probably move on to some higher-quality monsters. i hoped to get vee to an intermediate caster class before we stopped using the dungeon, but it was beginning to feel like that wouldn¡¯t happen anytime soon. vee had been tempted to spend some of her skill points on upgrades, but i warned her away from that and instead gave her more skill options from my collection. of note was teaching her [identity block], [identify], [mana suppression], [meditation], [multitasking], and even [aerial finesse]! the latter was an unforeseen boon, giving vee much-needed extra three-dimensional movement while teleporting about or swinging around using her threads. she loved it. vee already had things like [sneak attack] and [stealth]. i¡¯d tried seeing if i could give her [identity fabrication] as it would be useful to go incognito, but it told her she lacked a form of shapeshifting or illusion. this was also finally the tipping point for vee to share some of her own findings. <[blink] teleport a distance into any unoccupied space. you can move through almost anything, but you will be shunted and take appropriate damage if you attempt to enter an occupied space. skill level determines mana efficiency, traveled distance, and reduces damage from shunting.> of course, this was a no-go for me; i lacked the affinity until i paid the unlock fee. i kept checking to see when it would be further discounted, but there had been no change in that regard yet. while it seemed inferior to [wind step] and [thunder step] in terms of distance traveled, the ability to go through things was something i¡¯d love to add to my repertoire. <[spatial sense] this trait allows the user to sense spatial rifts and areas of expanded space. it also allows one to determine the dimensional coordinates of objects and individuals. higher trait levels determine the accuracy of coordinates and the detail of spatial anomalies detected. this trait can be used with existing vision or at 5m per trait rank to see within a radial perimeter.> this trait was baffling, and once again, i was denied it because i lacked the affinity. i¡¯d asked vee how she had used it to "see" me since i couldn¡¯t comprehend it from the description alone. "oh. i used the radial perimeter feature, and then i tracked your individual coordinates moving." vee explained. "you tracked my coordinates moving...?" i asked, feeling genuinely baffled. "well, you were the only thing moving in the mine, so it was relatively easy to track, except when you moved out of the radius," vee answered. i could only accept her answer and hoped i¡¯d understand it better once i had the affinity and tried it myself. <[trap mastery] your traps are harder to detect based on skill level and receive an additional synergy bonus with [sneak attack] and other similar skills. works with, but is not limited to, traps, tripwires, lures, pitfalls, snares, and triggered or time-delayed attacks.> this was the real prize i got from vee, and no doubt how she had earned those other classes. apparently, it had come with her evolution and had rapidly leveled up since using her thread to incapacitate her foes had become her primary method of attack. vee also showed me [phase out] and [shrink], but both were sadly incompatible with my race. the latter was pretty useless to me unless i wanted to reduce my core to a smaller size. however, [phase out] seemed like an amazing escape option, shifting your body partially to a different dimension. i guess i¡¯d need to mutate into some kind of dimensional slime to be able to take that. maybe if i unlock the affinity and start messing with the magic, i¡¯ll get some good options? there was a frustrating lack of progress on the [dimension magic] front. i¡¯d hammered vee thoroughly through the basic ranged attack spell construct, and she could even manually create a ranged acid spell without resorting to the system provided [acid dart]. but... the dimension mana refused to play ball, and the construct continued to violently unravel and give vee a mind-splitting backlash. either vee¡¯s level was still insufficient, or we were missing a crucial component. if i think about it logically, what would firing a bolt of dimensional mana do to something? fire mana burns, lightning mana shocks. dimensional mana... teleports? makes things bigger on the inside? sets coordinates? ... ... oh! it finally happened! i was so excited; my hard-working [sub-cores] had finally earned their much-deserved level up. poor alpha had been helping its brethren catch up for so long. sadly, it was a little hard for me to tell how much they had improved. i could vaguely tell they were firing off spells slightly quicker and perhaps responding to orders better, but it wasn¡¯t like i had taken exact measurements of their performance beforehand. speaking of absurd leveling, though, the award for most ludicrous, without a doubt, went to one trait in particular... [derived element (air) lv 6] all my traits and skills had gotten stuck at level five; this one just breezed past! i¡¯d progressed in a few other skills and traits during our time here. [essence sight lv 4] [eagle vision lv 4] [tremor sense lv 5] [electro-magnetic sense lv 5] [wind step lv 3] regarding the elemental crystals, we seemed to be making a tidy profit from our routine incursions. a few times, we were asked if we wouldn¡¯t prefer to hunt some of the more profitable elementals, but the dwarves changed their tune once the idea of us potentially melting some of the rarer resources came up. "i think we should add some variety," i suggested. "what do you have in mind?" vee asked as she finished off another rock elemental. now that she had her own [erode] spell, she had become rather proficient in slaying them, although i still let my [sub-cores] give her an artificial boost. "i was thinking kobolds... or maybe something big, like another worm?" i questioned. "i¡¯d prefer kobolds since they are easier to kill... i don¡¯t think i could handle a worm," vee replied. "what? the worms are pretty easy; you just need to target their mouth!" i replied, astonished. "target their mouth with what? i have a few acid and poison spells; otherwise, i can make coordinates," vee replied. "[rift thread]?" i replied sheepishly. "yeah, but i thought the point was to teach me magic, not just kill things for fun ¡¯cause you¡¯re bored," vee teased. i sighed. "you¡¯re right. well, maybe we¡¯ll find a lesser dragon or something cool with the kobolds?" "i certainly hope not. that sounds terrifying. a dragon?" vee sounded aghast. "emphasis on lesser. i¡¯m sure with a killer slime and spider, it would be no match for us!" vee made a shrugging gesture. "sure, why not? especially if it gets me out of you telling me to ¡¯imagine myself as a rock¡¯..." "hey, the rock method works!" i defended trixie¡¯s training method. "i¡¯m evidence of it working, no problem." "you¡¯re a mana slime with like a super core brain..." vee replied. "you¡¯re anything but normal." sadly, i couldn¡¯t argue with that. still, i was excited for a change of scenery and a chance to test my spell orbs. maybe i can even have vee fight some of my slime? would that count as training? i wondered as i plotted our next course of action. Chapter 207: Combat Trials chapter 207: combat trials "it feels good to be out of the city!" i exclaimed excitedly. "i guess... i hope you packed me a lunch in your storage?" vee questioned, her tone more playful than demanding, as she sat on my shoulder in her extremely shrunken form. "you better be careful, or you¡¯ll become a bloated spider..." i teased. "ha! even if that were true, my stomach is in a pocket dimension, so i can eat as much as i want without changing physical size!" vee smugly snapped back. "i have to say that¡¯s a weird ability for a spider..." "a dimensional spider," vee quickly corrected. "it¡¯s not as useful as your storage, though; i can¡¯t use it to store and retrieve stuff unless i feel like vomiting. where you can just pluck things out willy-nilly." "agreed. honestly, without it, i¡¯d have to either be a lot more frugal with my usage by having almost no reserves or take up a much larger form," i said as i gestured to my elven body. "i don¡¯t think i could have this form unless i reach some level of super compression or something... actually, maybe uncapping [morph slime] would do that?" "you going to show off some of your shapeshifting for me since we will be deep in the kobold caves?" vee questioned. "might as well... it¡¯s been some time since i got to stretch out the slime, and as long as i manipulate my profile, it should be good." we continued to mentally chat as we walked to the fungal cavern, waving to the occasional patrol through the tunnels but minding our own business otherwise. once we reached the cave, i immediately started poking around with [tremor sense] to see if i could spot any tunnels. "not sure if your [spatial sense] can detect any kobold tunnels..." i suggested. "i¡¯ll give it a shot, but i don¡¯t think its range is as good as your [tremor sense]," vee replied. we spent some time scouting out the rocky outskirts of the cavern, and eventually, i found a hidden entrance buried under rock and rubble. "jackpot!" i said excitedly. using my recently acquired [earth magic lv 4], i finally got to put [sand pit] to use and started transmuting the rock and rubble to clear a path for us. once the hole was big enough, we both jumped in. my magical digging must have notified the kobolds, as shortly after our arrival, a small detachment attacked us. vee began throwing out [acid dart] spells, artificially boosted by the [sub-cores] i had assigned her. since we were entering an enclosed space, our poisonous and acidic fumes would undoubtedly become prevalent; i cast the [zephyr shroud] buff on her to keep her air supply fresh and clean. as for my own magic, i had [force bolt], which i had not really tried that much since acquiring it. i cast it at one of the kobold geomancers at the back, fully empowered and with an upward direction set to the max. when the arcane projectile struck the kobold, his body was dramatically flung upward, and when he crashed against the ceiling, his relatively frail body became pasted. "holy shit, you gibbed that guy!" vee shouted while she continued to melt the kobolds with acidic magic. some of the kobolds began trying to retreat when i withdrew one of my spell orbs and used [slime shot] to fire it like a cannon. once the small orichalcum orb struck the kobold, it exploded, followed by a surge of sparking lightning. i knew lightning was the way to go! those rock golems were just the exception! the retreating kobolds didn¡¯t survive the blast, and vee easily finished off the remaining ones to fight. "this feels almost like bullying..." vee commented. "yeah, these low-level kobolds aren¡¯t much," i agreed. "but once we go deeper into their domain, we will start seeing real resistance. the only reason i sort of went all out was in case they start trying to collapse the tunnel on us when they retreat." "oh, i fully agree with that decision. i¡¯d rather not have the entire mountain dropped on my head!" vee replied. "well, since thern didn¡¯t come with us, it won¡¯t be as bad. i¡¯m a good burrower, so we can dig ourselves out or toward them," i explained. "you can turn into a mole or something?" vee asked. i grinned, and since the coast was clear, shifted into the badger i had defeated long ago. while my slimy form shaped itself, i could hear vee¡¯s exclamations of surprise and shock as i changed right before her eyes. "or something..." i responded as i lifted up one of my sharp front claws. "we could... although we would need to set it up beforehand?" vee began thinking. "or... maybe i could set portals up and then teleport the exit portal? would that work?" vee questioned. "go for it, i¡¯ll make sure no kobolds ambush us while you work," i offered. vee nodded and began spinning some of that impossible thread. she created two circular frames from her web before reinforcing them with additional threading. to my surprise, she lifted them up as if they were solid rings, and after examining them closely, she began casting her two spells. i tried my best to examine the spells, but they were utterly alien to me, even if i could vaguely recognize them as dimension mana now. i couldn¡¯t help but think mother was callous, expecting vee to suddenly comprehend all this without guidance. the fact that she had figured out how to make portals with the spells alone was already miraculous. when she was done, the two discs shimmered vibrantly. she immediately tested her work by placing a leg through the one portal, and it poked out of the other side. "okay, the portal is set up!" vee said excitedly. "although i worry about the portal¡¯s integrity if i teleport it, these usually stay at fixed points, and i¡¯m not sure what effect such drastic movement would have on them." "well, we will throw through a spell orb, so it should be fine?" "yeah, i definitely wouldn¡¯t recommend one of us going through a potentially unstable portal..." vee shuddered. "who knows where you could end up?" "probably wherever the original kappa went..." i replied with a chuckle. "kappa?" vee asked. "a brave coworker who sacrificed itself for the greater good," i answered while failing to hide my cheeky smile. "sacrificed how?" vee asked with a hint of worry. "i was trying to see if i could further expand space..." i began trying to explain. "i put expanded space on top of another expanded space, and kappa went poof into a pinprick of a tiny void hole." vee remained silent, and i could sense her dumbfoundedness at my previous statement. "did you accidentally create a black hole?" "yes? no..? maybe?" i replied confusedly. "i¡¯m not sure what that is. it was certainly a black void hole... if that counts?" "you know... forget i asked. i think the world would be safer if we avoid going down that rabbit hole," vee replied, hesitantly chuckling. "how about we try out these portals instead?" i nodded and pulled out a bunch of spell orbs i had prepared. vee stared at my small stockpile, and i could sense a hint of exhaustion from her. vee positioned the one portal on her back with a makeshift harness she had created with more thread wrapped around herself. "okay... so, i¡¯ll teleport the exit portal and give you the go-ahead, and then you can throw your balls through the entrance portal on my back." "sounds good to me!" i replied excitedly. "... just checking... but they won¡¯t detonate unexpectedly, will they?" vee asked nervously. she kept glancing at the metallic balls clinking together as i walked. "i fully control when and where they explode," i answered, hoping to relieve her. "i can set up triggers, but i figured that manual detonation would be better for an experiment." "perfect!" vee replied, relief flooding through. we continued our journey deeper into the tunnel when the perfect test opportunity presented itself. the kobolds had set up a small barricade and were hiding behind it. they hurled hisses, insults, and threats at us when they spotted us. vee wasted no time, manipulating the exit portal between her front legs. i had expected some magical poof or flashy display of otherworldly energy, but instead, it simply vanished as if it were never there in the first place. "bombs away!" vee informed me, a nervous hope in her emotions. i grinned and began tossing the balls through the portal. thanks to my connection to them and being able to pinpoint their location, i felt each orb vanish and appear behind their fortification. vee and i shared a glance. she raised one of her legs, and i gave her a thumbs-up in return. "boom!" i giggled and flipped the metaphorical detonator on every spell orb simultaneously. Chapter 208: Kobold Outpost Chapter 208: Kobold Outpost The kobolds¡¯ cacophony was immediately drowned out by an all-encompassing explosion that echoed throughout the cavern. Following the blast were powerful discharges of lightning, gouts of flame, a deluge of water, a gust of air, and rocky shrapnel. Concerned about Vee¡¯s safety, I threw up a rocky wall using [Rampart] between us and the point of the explosion. Notifications soared through my head, and Vee must have been experiencing something similar, as her gasps and surprise could be heard through our mental link. "Holy shit! We did it!" Vee screamed excitedly, then added. "Holy shit, what have we done? How many did you throw through?" "Enough?" I replied with a giggle. It was glorious. When the energy had finally dispersed, we peeked around the corner to take a gander at the result. Almost nothing had remained of the kobold¡¯s makeshift barricade, and it looked like there were no survivors. Vee used [Blink] to appear on the ceiling, then quickly maneuvered around to confirm we had no hidden foes. "I think we got them all... That was crazy, I can¡¯t believe it worked!" "Definitely ups the value of [Dimension Magic]... I can¡¯t even imagine what a fully-fledged archmage could do with it," I responded. "You mentioned it was super rare, right?" Vee questioned. "Gramps made it sound like I only had it because of the Reincarnation Points I had spent in my prior-prior life," I answered honestly. "With monsters, it seems like as long as you evolve that way, you can gain the affinity, although you have to meet some hidden requirements to unlock it as an evolution option. I can only suspect that your shrinking must have counted as a foray into [Dimension Magic]." "Huh... If that¡¯s the case, then I probably unlocked shrinking because I kept crawling into tiny gaps to hide..." Vee responded. "Good thing I¡¯m not claustrophobic, or I¡¯d have never gotten it." "Sounds about right. I got offered an aquatic mutation just because I had spent considerable time near a pond, and I got offered gluttonous just because I ate a lot." Vee burst out laughing. "Judging by all the kobolds that have vanished as we explored, I can absolutely understand that." I shrugged as I formed [Pseudopods] to collect the spoils. "If I want to use [Nitro Slime], I have to expend my slime. Likewise, anything I shoot off with [Slime Shot] is probably not coming back." "Hey, I¡¯m not blaming you," Vee quickly replied. "You¡¯re effectively using your body as an expendable resource, so it makes perfect sense you want to stock up on as much as possible." "Yup. I can¡¯t take on bigger forms without it," I explained. "Other than having variety, one of the reasons I like magic is that it¡¯s a good backup plan in case I can¡¯t use slime or I¡¯ve run out for whatever reason." Vee nodded. "Well, I¡¯m glad that [Dimension Magic] is rare, or I suppose there would be many people doing things similar to this..." Vee gestured around to the blast site. "You know... I wonder if that¡¯s why I was poisoned?" I speculated. "Your past life?" Vee questioned. "I thought you said your brother was worried you¡¯d take his position." "That¡¯s what Gramps said, but..." I mumbled. "I¡¯m not sure much about siblings and whatnot since my mind is a mess, but I¡¯m pretty sure killing family isn¡¯t normal?" "Yes, Syl. Killing your family is definitely not normal..." Vee answered deadpan. "Well, perhaps my brother was egged on by someone else?" I questioned rhetorically. "If someone outside of our family knew [Dimension Magic] was a potential threat, then my jealous brother becomes a pawn in a scheme to take me out." "That¡¯s a lot of speculation..." Vee admitted. "But judging by how crazy some of the nobles of this world sound, it¡¯s plausible. Hell, it might have even been another race; maybe the dwarves or elves didn¡¯t want humans to have a dimension mage?" "The plot thickens..." I joked. Vee giggled. "Well, moving on, I finally got offered a new spellcaster class!" "Shadowcaster?" I guessed. "Spoilsport!" Vee whined. "But yeah... You were right that I had a lot of overlap from rogueish skills, and my spellcasting skills aren¡¯t high enough to qualify for a pure caster." "You going to take it?" I asked. "Yeah, I¡¯m tired of being just a mage for over twenty levels!" Vee replied. "Yeah, that dungeon gave you a lot of levels..." I mumbled. "It¡¯s a pity you¡¯re lacking skill experience boosters." "Lesser dragon scales, it was from a salamander. Apparently, dragons can breed with pretty much anything, and it¡¯s highly compatible..." "It¡¯s a bloody worm, Syl!" Vee screeched mentally. "Why on earth would a dragon breed with a worm!? No! Do not answer that! I need my mind bleached..." "Good, because I¡¯m about to breach into the cavern!" I informed her as my wormy form struck against the wall. It was an incredibly dense stone, and if not for this worm being utterly ludicrous in its digging capabilities combined with [Acid Slime], I might have struggled. But with a triumphant roar, I broke through and was promptly assaulted as a hail of spells and projectiles crashed into my wormy form. The open cavern looked like a miniature fortress; its walls were lined with kobolds of various classes and weapons. The fortifications seemed likely crafted from [Earth Magic], as they appeared unnaturally carved or abruptly erected from nowhere. I noted that they seemed to have a small division of captured badgers and other subterranean monsters. Suddenly, the dwarf¡¯s dislike of the tiny lizards made sense; they were far more militarily organized than anything the goblins ever did. "I think we discovered one of their outposts!" I informed Vee. "Be careful to not get caught in the crossfire." "Roger!" Vee responded before I sensed her momentarily vanishing via [Blink]. I sensed Vee teleporting deeper into the cavern through our bond before she grappled herself up onto the ceiling. The small army of kobolds was so focused on attacking the giant worm that nobody even noticed the tiny dimensional spider. Once their initial attack didn¡¯t do any apparent harm to the giant worm in front of them, one of the leaders surprisingly called for the kobolds to halt their attack. They then launched a satchel filled with ores using a makeshift catapult off and away from the settlement. Oh, they clearly know the worms seek minerals to eat. I guess it¡¯s standard procedure for them to lure them away if they get too close. Too bad for them; I¡¯m not actually a worm! When I didn¡¯t immediately lunge for the bag of minerals, the kobolds seemed to know something was up, and as if in unison, they launched another attack wave against me. Spells, spears, bolts, and arrows crashed against my worm forms scaled hide, so I lunged toward the kobolds. Some of their elites appeared to be waiting for that, as attacking a worm meant giving more direct access to the large open cavity, which was the mouth. Makeshift bombs and canisters containing strange fluids were thrown in, and I received half a dozen notifications of random lesser poisons being unlocked for [Poison Slime]. I let out a roar and began thrashing about, crashing into their walls and breaking through their fortifications. "Syl, you okay!?" Vee¡¯s slightly panicked voice asked. "Oh yeah, they tried to poison and explode me, but I¡¯m resistant and immune to both," I answered. "That¡¯s kind of hilarious. Disguises are pretty overpowered if enemies keep trying to target weaknesses you don¡¯t have," Vee pointed out. "Like going for the head?" I teased. "Look here, you..." Vee grumbled. "If you were anything but a slime, that would have worked. I¡¯m pretty sure even normal shapeshifters die without a head!" Having a mental conversation with Vee while thrashing about as a giant worm was surreal. Some of the braver kobolds had even started mounting my body with hooks and claws while trying to find joints between the carapaced plating to stab at. "So... What¡¯s your plan?" Vee eventually asked. "I... Kind of want to explode..." I admitted. "You... Want to explode?" Vee repeated, sounding extremely unsure. "Like self-destruct? Why?" "I think a big enough explosion will finally get me my next level of [Nitro Slime]!" I informed her. "Sure... Go for it..." I could sense Vee¡¯s reluctant agreement. I giggled and began my preparations. I let my [Sub-Cores] somewhat auto-pilot the body while beginning to form a multitude of spell orbs inside myself. If I was going out with a bang, I wanted it to be the biggest bang possible. I also needed to ensure a route to escape, so I made a slime encasing to house all of my cores. The plan was to prime everything moments before firing out the encasing towards the ceiling, detonating the wormy body, scattering the orbs, and then detonating them. Completely over the top? Definitely. A waste of slime? Probably. But I was nearing the limit of [Core Storage] again, and unless I started being a bit more extravagant, I¡¯d be running out of room soon enough. I¡¯d been eating remarkably well recently and could hopefully find another worm or two to eat, probably? Showtime! Chapter 209: Self-Destructing Worm Chapter 209: Self-Destructing Worm "Uh... How big is this going to be?" Vee asked nervously. "Big!" I responded gleefully. "Make sure you¡¯re at a safe distance." "That¡¯s... Ugh... Great..." Vee mumbled, and I sensed her teleporting and putting greater distance between herself and my worm body. The kobolds kept attacking my body, with great aid from a full contingency of geomancers. Together, they were pulling out large spires of rock and trying to form makeshift shackles to prevent me from wiggling about. Makes sense... The mouth is the diggy part of the worm, so it would be a good way to restrain one. I had to applaud their ingenuity and felt somewhat bad about what I was about to do. But... The levels wouldn¡¯t come themselves, and I had somewhat of a grudge against the little lizards for their continued tendency to drop entire tunnels on me. Plus, they had tried to capture Vee; hell, they¡¯re trying to capture me right now, from the looks of things. One larger kobold was gleefully rubbing his palms together as if he¡¯d made the score of the century. Yeah... Screw you, buddy; I¡¯m not some pet for you to control. This whole situation is going to blow up in your face. After making all my preparations, I primed everything, which caused the worm¡¯s body to remain still. The kobolds began cheering as they rapidly created more earthen restraints. I split open a large opening in the worm¡¯s body, which caused the kobolds near that body segment to retreat while frantically pointing and panicking. Then, with my biggest [Slime Shot] to date, I fired out my slime capsule, housing all my cores to safety. The kobolds hissed and pointed. They looked extremely wary, and a few potshots were fired at my rapidly flying slime pod. Instead of taking the blow, I rapidly morphed my pod into a new body and triggered [Wind Step] into a huge chain of [Thunder Steps] to frantically escape. With a big grin, I triggered the detonation. Boom! I had expected a large explosion, as this was the most [Nitro Slime] I had used to date. My expectations were severely underestimated. Suddenly, with a deafening roar, the slime reached a critical mass and erupted in a dazzling explosion of color and energy. The abrupt flash illuminated every corner of the cavern, scattering kobolds, slime, and explosive force everywhere. The sound was like hundreds of thunder strikes going off at once; I had never heard anything like it. Rock and debris were tossed aside, kobolds were rag-dolled around, and, more importantly, the spell orbs were explosively distributed further around the cavern. Some detonated immediately, crashing too violently into an object, but most of them seemed to endure the blast to unleash their payload when I triggered them. I knew [Nitro Slime] gave me an explosive resistance, but it hadn¡¯t occurred to me that it offered this much defense against blasts. As the chaos settled, the remnants of the explosion sparkled like gemstones across the cave floor. A sea of spell orbs littered the ground, and slimy remnants scattered about. I¡¯d almost suspected I wouldn¡¯t need the secondary detonation, but then I noticed there was actually a large number of surviving kobolds. Who knew what lifesaving skills, traits, or magic they must have used. As for myself, while I had retreated in the distance, I was still caught in the shockwave and sent hurtling deeper into the cavern myself until I splattered against a rocky wall. My blueblin form was tough, but the impact splattered me like an egg; however, my dense, slimy interior prevented my cores from crashing against the rocky wall too violently. As for my own core, I did indeed strike against the rock, and I was filled with a horrifically abrupt pain that echoed throughout my entire being. If not for my own self-inflicted [Defy Death] training back in the day, I might have said it was the worst pain I had experienced. When I recovered from my brief daze, I looked at how my [Sub-Cores] had fared. I had expected some damage, but thanks to the enchantments I had engraved on them, they looked in very good condition, rapidly sealing up thanks to the repairing enchantment. However, my core felt terrible, and I had to start wrapping it in slime and trying to recover it. I somewhat regret not putting physical defense and repair on my own core... But I¡¯m sure my magical and mental resistance enchantments will pay off one day... "Holyshit, Syl... Are you okay?" Vee questioned mentally. Her voice rattled in my mind like a bad headache. "One... Moment..." I replied as I triggered the secondary explosions. While the previous explosion was dazzling and insane in its sheer scope and size, this multitude of explosions was like a kaleidoscope of color as various spell orbs detonated and violently unleashed their stored spells. Vee squeaked in shock, and I felt her teleporting away again. Far too many notifications were blaring through my mind, and I ignored them as I pried myself off the cavern wall. I groaned as I tried my best to nurse my slightly cracked core and then took a glance at what was left of the explosions. "Well... There was a kobold outpost there..." I muttered out loud. It was utterly insane. Where my wormy form had once lay restrained to the floor, there was now a massive scar deep into the ground. What was once stone fortifications were now rubble and shifting over to other visions; I could see the entire area was now a chaotically scrambled mess of magical essences. This novel¡¯s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. Nope, but good to know! I guess all my exploding spell orbs were enough to qualify me. I¡¯ll consider it at some point, although if the only effect is placing temporary hazardous enchantments using [Rune Tracing], I might give it a skip... My spell orbs using [Rune Engraving] are already superior to what I saw Thern pull off. Tempting... Very tempting... But I need to stick with Elementalist for now. Who knows what I¡¯ll get at level 20 or 30? Finally! It only took creating hundreds of exploding spell orbs to finally get it! I¡¯m sorry for slacking Master Greg! Vee had returned at some point. "Are you done exploding things?" "Yes... for now," I answered. "Sorry, I was going through a lot of notifications." "Tell me about it... You skyrocketed my class levels with that stunt," Vee replied. "Should we go home? I¡¯m honestly feeling exhausted after... That." "Might as well. No rush, right?" I said with a chuckle. "No rush..." Vee sighed. "Says the slime, who turned into a giant worm, broke into a kobold stronghold, and then exploded everything!" "On the plus side, I got my next level in [Nitro Slime]?" I said with a smile. Vee sighed again. "I¡¯m hungry... And tired... I need a nap..." Having returned to my elven form, we escaped from the smoldering remains of the kobold tunnels. While I had expended far more slime mass than I had ever previously, I had no doubt gained a large amount of experience I wouldn¡¯t have under more routine and regular circumstances. "Well... That was... Fun?" Vee said. "The explosive finish was certainly a spectacle," I replied with a grin. "I could have done without that... I thought it was the end of the world. You effectively made a magical worm nuke! That was utterly terrifying." "Nuke?" I questioned. "No!" Vee shouted. "Forget I said anything... I think it would be better for everyone." I shrugged and gave a short chuckle. "Sure. Either way, I think we made some good progress. Good levels, good training, some decent experience." "I have to admit you¡¯re right," Vee responded, albeit with some reluctance in her tone. "Our cooperation with the portals was certainly worthwhile. If we mess around with them again, I think I¡¯ll reach the next level of [Dimension Magic] soon enough." "That¡¯s something to look forward to," I replied positively. "Hopefully, it gives you a usable spell on its own at the third level, or we have a breakthrough in trying to make a dimensional projectile or something more practical." "Now that would be great," Vee giggled. "And we still need you to break through your Mana aura... Then you can cast spells without their anchor point!" I said excitedly. "Oh no... Not more ¡¯be the rock¡¯ training..." Vee groaned. "Hey, it really worked, trust-" "Syl, look out!" Vee interrupted with a screech, and I sensed her rapidly teleporting away. Before I could respond or sense anything, notifications rang in my mind. <[Sanguine Dream] has been sampled. [Poison Slime] updated.> And a massive black blade burst outward from my chest. Someone or something had stabbed me from behind! I glanced at the source and saw a lithe shadowy creature grasping the blade it had thrust through me. Chapter 210: Shadowy Elf Assassin Chapter 210: Shadowy Elf Assassin "Nothing personal girl... It¡¯s just business..." The dark, broody voice muttered as he pulled back his blade. A spray of red came out with it. I clutched at the "wound" and turned to see my assailant. He had a shadowy form clinging to him that obscured almost all of his features. None of my senses could see him; it was as if he had no life, mana, or even presence. While I was frustrated at having my [Identify] blocked, what couldn¡¯t be hidden was the pointed ears on his body. An elf had attacked me. "Why...?" I mumbled, hoping that [Acting] was doing its work. "Like I said, nothing personal..." The shadowy elf muttered. "I¡¯m just cleaning up loose ends that the humans should have finished." Humans? The Stantons? Does this have to do with why Sylthaeryn was murdered? He then reached for the bag at my side¡ªthe bag she had entrusted to me all that time ago. Part of me wanted to just let it be taken. She said to give it to an elf, and he was one... But if he was part of the plot that killed her in the first place, then I couldn¡¯t allow that to happen. Plus... He attacked me, and I still haven¡¯t finished my elf profile... I made the snap decision to fight back rather than feign death, and I reached for his hand. He must have had a skill or trait to sense it as he rapidly retreated. "No point in fighting it, girl... The poison will kill you soon enough; why suffer for your last moments?" The assassin tried to reason. I snorted. "I¡¯ll go down fighting!" I launched [Lightning Bolt] at him, but he dodged. He clicked his tongue in annoyance and began swooping toward me like some kind of shadowy creature. "Syl!? What¡¯s going on?" Vee asked with worry. "Elf assassin trying to kill me; he thinks I¡¯m the elf who died back in the forest..." I explained telepathically while I launched a barrage of [Fireball] spells at him. The elf must have had some advanced form of [Evasion] as his dodges were almost poetic in their execution. Before this, I would have said Whitney was one of the most agile people I¡¯d ever seen, and he made her look like a clumsy toddler. "Can I help?" Vee asked. "If you can find an opportune moment, then do so; I don¡¯t know what level he is, so he might be dangerous. Don¡¯t risk your life if you don¡¯t need to!" I warned Vee. "I¡¯m not going to just watch you die!" Vee replied. He crashed against an [Aegis] spell I formed to block him and shattered it in a single blow. Then he pulled out a second blade, much longer and thinner than the shortsword he had first stabbed me with. "I hate fighting mages..." He grumbled to himself. "The feeling is mutual," I snapped back. I used [Earth Magic] to cast a giant [Sand Pit] spell between myself and him, hoping the terrain would be beneficial, but he seemed entirely immune to the hazardous terrain. "I¡¯m not going to die..." I informed Vee. "I have a death prevention trait... And he thinks I¡¯m an elf... In the worst case, I can pretend to be dead. You, on the other hand, don¡¯t have a second chance." Vee didn¡¯t respond, but I could sense her hesitation through the connection. I kept up the dance with the elf assassin, trying to barrage him with various spells. Subtly casting debuffs on him worked, although while observing him, I watched as they seemed to fall off him one by one at set intervals. A trait or skill to remove afflictions? Or maybe magical equipment? I wish he wasn¡¯t covered in that shadow cloak so I could get an idea of what is going on under the hood... Even when I brought in [Sub-Cores] to blanket him with spells, he either dodged them all with inhumane grace or vanished into the safety of a shadow.@@@@ "Your profile originally said you were a marksman... But to think you swapped to becoming such a powerful caster in such a short time... It¡¯s almost a waste," The assassin mocked. "I didn¡¯t know combat banter was part of an assassin¡¯s repertoire?" "It helps keep the opponent on edge and opens them up to mistakes..." The voice replied, echoing from an unknown location. I felt a blade running through my side, but it was all superficial despite the blood show Alpha was putting on. "Like so..." The voice mocked as he vanished again. "Although I¡¯m dumbfounded at how much [Poison Resistance] you must have. That dose was large enough to put down an elephant, yet you stand and fight..." When his shadow creatures dispersed, he seemed mildly annoyed but still retained his confidence. I couldn¡¯t think of any further preparations to be made, so I figured now was the time to slime out. I retreated the core in my elf body into the ground but close enough to maintain the form and then primed the body. Setting the entire body on a hair trigger to detonate when he touched it. I also laced the inside with as much nastiness as I could think of, such as a steady supply of razor-sharp shrapnel made out of a combination of [Metal Slime] and [Poison Slime] while returning the favor of Bloodrot. I missed him emerging from the body¡¯s shadow, but when his blade touched, the trigger went off without even a second of thought. The detonation was immense as my body was entirely made up of some of the best of the best slime. Of course, my body would be the highest density possible, and while it was a painful loss of slime, defeating this foe would be a much greater reward. His body was sent scattering to the ground, and his remaining shadow seemed to be trying to protect him. He was groaning painfully on the ground and rapidly feeding himself pills and potions. That was when I emerged from the ground. My "body" resurfaced nearby, and tendrils of slime burst out. Without my [Sub-Cores] thoroughly distributed, controlling this quantity of spread-out slime mass would have been extremely difficult. My slimy tendrils tried to grab him, but even injured, he was absurdly fast. He cursed and muttered. "What the hell is this!?" The assassin demanded. "Me..." I chuckled darkly, trying to best imitate his creepy tone. The assassin burst out laughing as if all the puzzle pieces fell into place. "The girl was already dead... I got sent out to kill some creature wearing her skin... What rotten luck..." Tendrils continued to burst out from the ground, and the assassin continued to dodge. "No wonder my poisons didn¡¯t work... And even I¡¯ve been infected with Bloodrot?" He continued to curse. "On the plus side, you¡¯ll be a wonderful meal for me..." I taunted. The elf actually shuddered. "No... I¡¯m getting far, far away from here, demon!" More and more tendrils burst out and started firing slime at him. Now, I was holding nothing back and ensuring I detonated as much [Nitro Slime] as possible with lacings of various other slime traits. His panic was palpable as he tried to retreat as much as possible. What was once a shroud of shadows was barely scraps, and his elven body was now visible. I¡¯m not letting you get away! I ordered all my [Sub-Cores] to catch him by any means necessary. "Hey, Syl, try to lure him over in my direction!" Vee¡¯s voice suddenly sounded serious. I acknowledged and relayed it to all my cores. We began forcing his hand to change his retreating path. His pills and potions must have finally kicked in as he was starting to pick up the pace. "Sorry monster looks like I¡¯m going to live to tell the tale!" The assassin taunted. I growled in frustration. No! No! No! This was something I had always worried about; someone finding out the truth and escaping. I shouldn¡¯t have revealed myself. Why did he survive my body bomb? What else can I throw at him? Pessimism oozed out of my very being, watching the shadow elf getting further and further away. Suddenly, my negative thoughts were flooded with a counter emotion. Confidence. The source could¡¯ve only been Vee, and I wondered what she had planned right before I witnessed the most absurd sight ever. The elf¡¯s body soared off into five arcing segments. I blinked in confusion. "Don¡¯t run into the [Rift Thread]!" Vee warned. I paused, and realization struck me as Vee continued mentally talking. "I set up an entire web net here, and it looks like our elf assassin is utterly blind to it!" Vee continued, and now I understood where the confidence had come from. The little spider had done it! Chapter 211: Tangled Web Chapter 211: Tangled Web I quickly checked my notifications to ensure he was actually dead and that it wasn¡¯t some trick. Did we just get attacked by a baker? "Well, everyone has to have hobbies... Or maybe it was his cover story? Baker by day, assassin by night," Vee replied with a giggle. "You¡¯re talking your thoughts aloud again, by the way..." "Oh... Sorry..." I mumbled. "So... Good news, or maybe bad news?" Vee spoke up again. "Apparently, I usurped some [Elven Legacy]?" "That¡¯s very good news, actually..." I answered. "Assuming nobody finds out... Otherwise, you sort of have a small target on your back." I felt Vee shudder. "They can¡¯t see it, right? I have that [Bonded Companion] one showing." "I was warned there might be either a rare skill or Emblem that would let someone see your profile, but it¡¯s exceedingly rare," I answered truthfully. "No one would assume you have it, whereas everyone who knows about the Emblem knows I have it when I go around in my elf disguise." "Right... So all elves have this..." Vee mumbled, probably reading the description. "Interesting. The buffs seem very good; I can understand why someone would be after it." "On the positive side, it means your magical training just got easier," I pointed out. "Less time required for brain hurting is always ideal... But what will we do about the fact that the elves attacked you?" Vee asked. "Grab our stuff and leave?" I answered. "The only reason I was sticking around was to wait for Trixie and get my slime cores. But if assassins are coming after me now, there¡¯s no reason to stick around." "Should you say anything?" Vee suggested. "Why?" I asked as I liked the idea of getting out before the fire got out of control. "Well... You¡¯re the one who said you¡¯re kinda a big-shot adventurer," Vee began answering. "Surely, attacking a Gold rank is bad, right? Not to mention you¡¯re friends with one of the dwarven nobles, which has got to be a faux pas?" "You¡¯re right... And there¡¯s the possibility the elf ambassador didn¡¯t know about this assassin," I replied. "What makes you say that?" Vee asked. "He said he was trying to finish the human¡¯s job..." I answered with a sigh. "It seems like whoever wanted to kill Sylthaeyrn really had it out for her... He also tried to take the bag. I had originally tried to give it to the ambassador, but he refused to take it, making me believe he might be clean." "Talk about a big mess... Can¡¯t you change your elf disguise?" Vee suggested. "I could... But how would I suddenly explain looking completely different?" I replied. "Magical plastic surgery?" Vee giggled. I had no idea what she was talking about and could only shrug. Vee sighed, likely upset about my lack of understanding of her joke. "I¡¯m surprised you even copied her in the first place." "Back then, I could only copy things exactly," I explained. "I also didn¡¯t have a complete elf profile, so she was the only base model I could compare it to, if that makes sense." "Kinda?" Vee answered. "Speaking of which... I better go collect the elf. I need to complete the profile and see if he has any magical goodies for us," I said and began searching for his remains. It didn¡¯t take long, and Vee helped me locate them. I promptly ate what I could while separating out and cleaning any loot. To think I¡¯d complete this profile so randomly after all this time. Pelopi always joked that I was a super magical elf assassin and was literally attacked by a shadow elf assassin. Perhaps there was some truth to her words there... I was eager to examine the new traits I had unlocked, but first, I examined the gains I had received from defeating such a strong foe. <15 Trait Points are now available.> <16 Trait Points are now available.> "Oh, this sounds promising!" I said excitedly. "That does sound cool," Vee said, tilting her head. "But how or where does it redirect it to?" "If I understand this properly, I think it makes magic somewhat slide off you. So rather than being directly hit by a [Fireball], it is treated more like a glancing blow," I explained. "Oh man, I¡¯d kill for a ring like that!" Vee responded. "Sure, you can have it," I offered. "I don¡¯t have fingers, Syl..." Vee replied deadpan as she waved her little front legs. I sighed and placed the ring over her front leg; it flashed as it resized to fit snuggly. "What!? Magical resizing rings?" Vee asked. "Yeah... Did you think everyone has the same ring size?" I questioned. "I... No...?" Vee sounded somewhat dejected. I giggled. "Sorry, I¡¯m teasing you, I found out about it the hard way. I could probably enchant anything you wanted to resize, within reason." "Sure!" Vee said with renewed optimism before breaking out into a small giggle. "As long as they don¡¯t explode like those spell orbs!" "Enchanted items don¡¯t normally explode..." I informed her. "I¡¯m taking them very much away from their intended uses with my spell orbs... I don¡¯t think anyone thought of intentionally detonating a very valuable enchantment." "Yeah, that would be literally throwing away money," Vee agreed. "That reminds me... I wanted to investigate how the dwarves use their silver slimes..." I mumbled. "Wanting to become rich?" Vee asked with a head tilt. "Er... I mean richer?" "More idle curiosity... It could be a new method for me to use my own slime." "So... Report the assassin, corporate espionage, and then possibly leave?" Vee asked. "Ideally, I¡¯d like to wait a bit longer for Trixie to show up..." I sighed. "But if they will keep throwing assassins at me, then I¡¯d rather not. Even if it¡¯s an opportunity to gain some really good experience. What if someone stabs me while I¡¯m walking in the street? I can¡¯t exactly explain away a gaping wound in my fake chest." "Tis but a scratch," Vee giggled. "Uhh... It might as well be for me, but I don¡¯t think the dwarves would accept that excuse," I replied. "Sorry... It¡¯s a joke..." Vee sighed. "Damned scrambled memories..." "I¡¯ll try to remember to laugh the next time you make it," I offered teasingly. Our journey back to Dhoggurum was a little tense. Both of us were anticipating another potential assassination attempt, so we were on extreme guard. The fact that the assassin had fooled my various sensory traits was disheartening, and I wondered if my lackluster [Perception] skill was to blame. Whitney would be upset that I¡¯ve been slacking on it... But I¡¯ve practically gone full spellcaster at this point. Vee had sensed him before me thanks to him entering the radial range of her [Spatial Sense], and I was envious of the trait. Once again, I was extremely tempted to buy the affinity unlock, especially after I had gained some trait levels. No... Be patient, Syl... I will need the points to uncap traits... At 10 points a pop, it was pricey. I had so many slime traits I would unquestionably love to uncap. But despite our shared paranoia, we reached the city without any further attack. I really hoped it was a lone operative sent out to do the job, not a full squad. The guards let us in without question, and once we were behind the city gates, we both sighed in relief. "So, who are we going to tell about the attack first? Thern, the Flinthearts, or the guild?" Vee asked. I took some time to think and nodded. "I¡¯d say the guild, they are the bigger entity..." I replied. "Then we can tell Thern and his family, and I¡¯ll probably offer to move out. I¡¯d hate to bring assassins into his family home." "It¡¯s regrettable, as I think I was slowly growing on those dwarves, and the food has been great. But it makes logical sense..." Vee agreed. "What makes you say you¡¯ve been growing on them?" I asked teasingly. "Thern finally stopped warding his room against me," Vee pointed out. I couldn¡¯t help but laugh at that. Chapter 212: Report Chapter 212: Report I also remembered I needed to decipher the new poison I had acquired; it must have been potent as it caused my trait to level up. Lost in the thought of being attacked, my new traits and level-ups had almost been a footnote in the day¡¯s activities. Sanguine Dream... It certainly sounds ominous. Rather than naturally occurring like Bloodrot, this appeared to be a manufactured poison. But that was the limited extent of my attempts to break it down; perhaps I needed to become an alchemical slime to diffuse the ingredients. Or maybe I just need to learn alchemy in general. Although I don¡¯t think alchemists normally imbibe their own poisons. I then recalled that the dwarves specifically had a trait relating to hazardous consumption and wondered if I needed to correct my assumption. The Sanguine Dream was particularly nasty, causing the victim to enter an almost eternal slumber. It was a slower build-up than the other sleep poison I had, and you could fight off the effects, but once you succumbed, you presumably wouldn¡¯t awaken. Even attempting to form it with my slime was a struggle, and I wondered if it was beyond my current trait level. I had no problem creating Bloodrot even when my [Poison Slime] level was lower... Or did I? I guess it could have been more potent... Or is this just a limiting factor for manufactured poisons? "Hey Syl, we¡¯ve reached the guild..." Vee interjected.@@@@ "Oh... Thanks... I spaced out a bit," I replied. Vee giggled, and we entered the guild. I didn¡¯t need to turn in my quest since it was just an indefinite "exterminate kobolds," so I instead requested a meeting with someone higher up. That led to me sitting across from Lukhek, the guild master. "Good evening, Syl. I hope you¡¯ve enjoyed your time in Dhoggurum?" The dwarf politely asked. "It¡¯s been enjoyable and very profitable," I answered honestly. "And I even got to meet Vee here." I nodded to my spider companion, taking her usual seat on my shoulder. She gave a little wave with her front leg. "Aye... That caused quite a stir," Lukhek chuckled nervously as he scratched his beard. "Still, it seems to have worked out in the end, and Jasgra hasn¡¯t stopped talking about how amazing it was to witness an elven companion in person." "Unfortunately, I¡¯m not here on pleasant terms..." I admitted, breaking the ice. "Oh gods, who¡¯s done what now?" Lukhek grumbled. "I¡¯ll box their bloody ears off!" "None of yours..." I said, pulling out the assassin¡¯s blade and placing it on his desk. Lukhek took a grim expression, presumably from using his own [Appraisal.] "An elf assassin attacked me while we were out taking care of some kobolds," I explained before he could say anything. "I wasn¡¯t sure who to turn to, as his identity was completely blocked. I thought I¡¯d just inform the guild." "Bloody hells..." Lukhek murmured. "Good on you for living to tell the tale... Did the body survive?" "No..." I replied awkwardly and turned to a half-truth. "Acid doesn¡¯t tend to leave much behind." "Aye. Perfectly understandable. You can¡¯t hold back when your life is on the line!" Lukhek agreed heartedly. "Still... Why would an elf assassin be after you?" I shrugged. "He said he was here to finish the job the humans failed to do. There might be a report on it, but I was attacked by a group of humans in the Stantondale dungeon..." "Bloody hell, what enemies have you made?" Lukhek shook his head. "I expected one of the first elf adventurers to make some waves, but you¡¯re making a tsunami!" I opened my mouth, but he held his hand out and shook his head. "Forgive me, I shouldn¡¯t be blaming the victim..." Lukhek sighed before pulling a flask from his desk and taking a deep swig. "As a member of the guild, you have our full support. Attacking one of our gold ranks might as well be declaring war... Do you have any suspicions that Tamnaeth is to blame?" I shook my head. "I actually feel like he¡¯s unrelated. I tried to give him something, which he refused, while the assassin tried to steal it from me." "Thank the gods!" Lukhek cheered, taking a victory swig. "At least that¡¯s one silver lining. Assuming you are alright with it, I can ask him for assistance and if we need to set up any additional security measures..." "Aye, she¡¯s got the forge fever," Thern agreed. "Still... I¡¯m not happy about you leaving. I brought you to Dhoggurum; I feel responsible for your safety." "Well, I was planning on leaving the city sometime soon anyway," I replied honestly. "I was mostly just waiting for slime cores and to see a friend." "That¡¯s the pixie you mentioned, right?" Darmod asked. I nodded. "Trixie. She said she would meet me here, but who knows, she might have gotten lost or distracted." "Spirit folks have absolutely no sense of time, and coming from one of the other long-lived races, that¡¯s saying something!" Thern declared. "Like... I know you elves don¡¯t age, and we dwarves easily live half a millennium, but those spirits are another story entirely! I bet that pixie thinks it¡¯s been a few hours since she last saw you!" "Well... That¡¯s not ideal," I said, pulling out the coin she had marked and staring at. "I¡¯m not telling you not to stay... But, if you have more important things to do, prioritize those," Thern commented. "Right..." I agreed. "Well, I¡¯m definitely for leaving. I want to see what this VIP suite has for food!" Vee said, excitedly waving her front legs. "What¡¯s Vee¡¯s opinion?" Darmod asked curiously. "She wants to eat the inn food..." I replied with a giggle. "Traitorous glutton! And after I cooked you so much damn food!" Darmod said, feigning outrage. Vee made a shrugging gesture, causing Thern to cackle with laughter. We discussed it a bit more, and I finally convinced Thern to let me stay at the inn. We also discussed potentially teleporting back to the human lands and away from the assassins. It was good to have options open, but I didn¡¯t want to end Thern¡¯s vacation early on my part. I¡¯m tempted to just wander around. If I turned into a worm, I could burrow in a random direction and explore quite quickly. I could even make a slime pocket for Vee to be safe and sound. Alternatively, I could ask to be teleported somewhere close to Keld and visit the golemancer. When Darmod brought out my renewed armor, I gasped in surprise. My renewed salamander leather armor looked glorious. I could see the obsidianite reinforcements and the resettled enchantments being applied. I had almost forgotten about the armor as I had grown fond of making fake slime clothes. "Okay... I¡¯m jealous..." Vee replied, staring at the armor. "I¡¯m grateful for the magic ring you gave me, but I¡¯d feel a lot safer if I had some armor or something. Hell, do you even need armor?" "A lot of good it would do me against [Rift Thread]... Still better to be safe than sorry," I teased. "As for armor... I¡¯m not sure; it would need to be resized with you." "Forgot about that... Maybe I should focus on my weaving and make my own armor!" Vee declared. "If you do, I could ask Thern to enchant it for you. Or I could do it myself, although I might need to buy some more patents," I informed her. "That sounds great! Otherwise, maybe I should get more rings! I have only one, and I have more legs to work with!" Vee said excitedly. "We can go on a shopping trip," I suggested. "If we are going to be stuck in the city for a bit, we might as well use my funds." Vee was so happy and excited about that offer that I almost suspected our bond level had grown just from that. It was nice to see her settling in. Now that she had the [Elven Legacy] emblem, we also had some potentially easier magic lessons to look forward to. I also questioned Darmod about the slime cores, and it sounded like Flintheart would provide me with some during our next meeting. That tickled my fancy, and I wondered if I¡¯d get my tendrils on a violet core. Either way, any extra cores will be appreciated. I might as well start trying to get all my slime traits capped out! After that, Vee and I left for the inn. Lukhek hadn¡¯t been joking, as it was massive and well-decorated. It immediately made me think of some of the buildings I had seen in the noble district of Kaerlin. Entering the establishment, we were drowned in the bluster of joyfully cheering dwarves. After a quick flash of the note, I was soon shown to our room, which had far more than the basic essentials. Closing the door, the entire din of the bar and common room was instantly halted, much to our relief. Vee excitedly explored the room before declaring a portion of it her own and spinning a web. Well... Let¡¯s see what the next few days bring... Chapter 213: Ring Shopping Chapter 213: Ring Shopping "Woah! There are so many rings!" Vee said excitedly as she peered around from her position, sitting on my shoulder. Her enthusiasm was infectious, and I couldn¡¯t help but smile at her excitement. We were currently exploring the adventurer¡¯s section of one of the market districts, a place that never failed to ignite a sense of wonder. The various equipment on display-weapons, armor, trinkets, tools, and all sorts of enchanted jewelry-were like treasures from a fairy tale, proudly on display for all to see. The tight security only added to the mystique, making this probably one of the most intriguing areas in the entire city. I had personally looked over a few of the staves and scepters, but none seemed to be made from slime cores, so I immediately dismissed them as worthless. I wonder if Flintheart bought everything already? That was an exciting thought and made me eager for our next meeting. "Some of these look really pricy. Can you really afford them?" Vee questioned. "No idea! We can keep tapping my guild tag until it runs out!" I said excitedly. "You really should learn how much money and things are worth..." Vee muttered. "Nope!" I rejected the idea. "That sounds like far too much of a headache. The guild verifies all the purchases and whatnot, so I don¡¯t need to worry about money." "You pull apart and combine complex magical spell formula... And a little accounting is what scares you off?" Vee asked in disbelief. "Magic is fun. Money is not. It¡¯s that simple," I answered. "Well... That tracks..." Vee sighed. "I guess I¡¯ll prioritize the good ones for when your magic credit card¡¯s balance runs out..." "I can always sell some more obsidianite..." I pointed out. "Ah yes... The emergency worm fund," Vee giggled. We continued perusing the diverse wares for anything that potentially tickled Vee¡¯s fancy. I had a few dwarves trying to offer me various weapons and trinkets, but it all seemed very pointless. I noted that none of the armor dwarves approached me; I was wearing my freshly renovated salamander armor, and perhaps they could appraise its worth. When Thern or Darmod finally pull Thessa out of the forge, I must thank her for the work. Or maybe I should pay a visit? The fact that it¡¯s scaring off dwarven merchants must be a testament to its quality. I couldn¡¯t find much use for anything besides a new metal to sample or a slime core, so I merely admired the crafts and occasionally tried to examine the enchantments. Interestingly, many of the highly valuable objects were hidden behind a piece of glass that seemed to obscure most of the enchantment beyond a simple appraisal. Undoubtedly, it was some form of protection against someone seeking to steal an enchantment design. Although... How many enchanters could copy an entire enchantment from a glance or even a one-time examination? I know there are traits and skills for memory stuff, but even so, Greg would never do an enchantment without thoroughly practicing and understanding it. Maybe that¡¯s the point? By hiding it away, they stop someone from even attempting to risk it. "The variety is mind-blowing!" Vee exclaimed. "I don¡¯t know how they came up with so many ideas... Strength, resistances, temperature, it almost seems endless!" "Most of it is translated from actual magic, or at least components of it," I explained. "I worked on a refrigerator enchantment, which had components from some of my ice spells that I could vaguely recognize." "They have fridges!?" Vee was flabbergasted. "Yes...?" I answered. "Someone else invented the design. I just used it." "Interesting..." Vee mused. "Any suggestions on what rings to get? The two that catch my eye the most are protection and fire resistance." "Maybe something to help your magic?" I questioned. "Like what? Are there rings that boost Mana capacity?" Vee asked. "Oh!" I exclaimed excitedly. "I have another ring for you!" I pulled out the Mana regeneration ring I had won from that golem and held it toward my shoulder and her. "What¡¯s it do?" Vee asked as she poked it. "Mana regeneration," I answered promptly before frowning. "Although... I don¡¯t think it has a size enchantment on it." "Could you add one?" Vee asked. "Shouldn¡¯t be too hard; it¡¯s one of the relatively simple ones," I answered and looked over the enchantment. Weirdly enough, there seemed to be a spot specifically left empty to apply the enchantment. Huh, is that an oversight? Did someone forget to complete it? "Woah, quite the light show!" Vee spoke up, causing me quite a scare. "Who¡¯s your secret admirer?" "Uh... I can only assume it¡¯s that Keld person," I answered. "Considering I got the ring from one of his golems." "So you solved his puzzle, and he¡¯s interested in seeing you?" Vee asked. "I mean, he was already interested in seeing me," I said as I pulled out the invite I had gotten after completing the golem test. "So... Road trip?" Vee questioned. "It¡¯s definitely up there on my list of locations to visit..." I admitted. "If nothing else comes up, it can be our next spot." "Awesome! I hope it¡¯s on the surface; I¡¯d love to see the sun and moon again," Vee replied. "It¡¯s on the surface," I confirmed. "But... I heard he forcibly occupied an uninhabitable wasteland nobody else could or wanted." "So definitely not a scenic trip to the beach then..." Vee joked before giving a startled leap. "What!? Who? Where?" "What¡¯s wrong?" I asked the strangely behaving spider. "I... Got a strange notification..." Vee said, looking very spooked. "Oh?" I mumbled curiously. "I got a quest to visit the beach..." Vee answered. "I didn¡¯t even know that was possible. The reward just says ¡¯good things.¡¯" "Well, we will add it to our list of places to go," I replied. "Considering the vague reward, I assume it¡¯s not a quest from Mother." "No idea..." Vee admitted. "Rather creepy, though... Are they just watching us constantly? Or listening to our thoughts and conversations?" "That¡¯s... A good question, actually..." I whispered with some curiosity and concern. I knew Gramps had commented about enjoying watching my escapades, but how much did he actually watch? "Well, we can do nothing right now, so there¡¯s no sense worrying about it!" I said as I removed the ring and flicked it to Vee. Vee caught it with a thread and securely placed it on one of her unoccupied legs. "Wow, I¡¯m really becoming a fancy spider now with all this jewelry!" Vee giggled excitedly. "If we want to get really fancy, you should start looking into weaving some armor for yourself and seeing if we can enchant it," I said excitedly. "It would be more like... Wraps... Or bandages than armor... Can you really enchant that?" Vee asked. "There are certain enchantments that only grant their effects when appropriately applied," I began answering. "But nothing inherently stops me from putting any enchantment on it. Of course, the end product might be completely useless, but I certainly don¡¯t mind throwing some resources towards experiments." "Neat!" Vee enthusiastically replied. "Well, I¡¯d love some more protective weaves, anything to keep me alive and kicking." "Which reminds me, I can show you some resistance traits. I¡¯m already immune or unaffected by most of these, but I figured I might as well show them to you in case there¡¯s any you want." "Is there an anti-brain worm resistance?" Vee asked somewhat jokingly. "[Curse Resistance], I believe," I said, avoiding her bait and displaying the trait. "Spoilsport..." Vee pretended to whine before giggling. "And once you¡¯ve bought those, we can continue your magic lessons!" I informed her with my own mischievous grin. "Can¡¯t we continue our vacation for a bit longer..." Vee mumbled. "You just got an Emblem that should boost your magical learning," I pointed out. "Let¡¯s see if we can¡¯t get you your third level in [Dimension Magic] or better allow you to break the aura barrier!" "Noooo...." Vee whined. "Not more, ¡¯become the rock,¡¯ training...." "Clearly, you aren¡¯t rocking hard enough!" I joked, causing Vee to groan. This damn spider needs to learn to appreciate a good pun! Chapter 214: Pocket Magic Chapter 214: Pocket Magic Despite my expert guidance, Vee still failed to become the rock. On the positive side, she was making headway with her [Dimension Magic], and we began experimenting with finding a reliable way to use her portals. Since we were inside the city, we kept the experiments to a minimum, such as not throwing explosive spell orbs through them, for example. Speaking of spell orbs, I made a massive discovery: now that I had my next level of [Rune Engraving], I could store more complex spells! Access to the higher tier of magic certainly upped their potential, and I was closer to my goal of having the spell orbs contain debuffs. That way, I could create mines that weakened enemies that triggered them. Perhaps I¡¯m going a little overboard with the explosions, but I have resources to burn, and it¡¯s simply too much fun! I still want to check out that spot with the crazy ambient Mana from the mass detonation. Then, it finally happened. While practicing with Vee, she suddenly seized up and froze, clearly deep in thought. "Syl! I think I just got a usable spell!" Vee exclaimed, her eyes sparkling with excitement. "Although it has a horrible name!" "As long as it¡¯s not ¡¯create: dimension sword,¡¯ I think I¡¯m okay with any name," I teased, a playful smirk on my face. "It¡¯s called [Pocket Space], and if I understand correctly, it lets me store something in my Mana pool!" Vee answered. "Not the worst name..." I mumbled. "It sounds similar to my own storage trait. Definitely useful then!" We did not want to risk an unknown spell on something irreplaceable or valuable, so we selected a simple chair as Vee¡¯s spell target. When Vee began casting the spell, I couldn¡¯t help but notice similarities between it and the storage enchantment I had thoroughly memorized and practiced. With a magical poof, the chair was swallowed into a purplish void and vanished from a spot. Vee squeed with excitement, and I couldn¡¯t help but join in on the celebrations. Then Vee began casting the spell again, almost in reverse, and falling out of the purplish void was our missing chair, except falling a short distance to clatter across the ground. "Oops... I misjudged how it would come out," Vee said sheepishly. "Who cares? That was really good! I bet that spell will be perfect for training your [Dimensional Magic] levels!" I said excitedly. We dedicated a significant amount of time to trial and error with the spell, determined to understand its full potential. I was beginning to wonder if it was just better than my [Core Storage] in every way imaginable when Vee made a discovery. "Okay... So it looks like stuff stored in the spell is using up my Mana capacity," Vee informed me. "What do you mean using up your Mana capacity?" I asked in confusion. "Like it¡¯s lowering your maximum permanently?" Vee shook her head. "Only while something is stored... Like it¡¯s reserving the Mana." "That¡¯s not too bad if it¡¯s recovered as soon as you withdraw it," I replied. "I just wish I could understand the values..." Vee sighed. "I thought it might be based on weight or size, but if anything, storing one of my rings was far more taxing than storing the entire bed and dining table, chairs included!" "Oh.!" I exclaimed, snapping my fingers in realization. "That¡¯s the dimensional weight thing! Probably..." "So the ring has more dimensional weight... Because it¡¯s magical?" Vee pondered. "I think so," I replied with a nod. "But it shouldn¡¯t matter too much if you simply maintain growing your Mana capacity," "Yeah... I¡¯m working on leveling up that [Mana Well] trait so then I can combine it into [Soul Mastery] like you suggested," Vee replied. "I¡¯m jealous you will get to have [Soul Mastery] and [Body Mastery]..." I grumbled. "Well, I¡¯m jealous you can¡¯t be stabbed!" Vee countered. "I think that¡¯s way better than being able to combine a few traits..." "True... Not having squishy vital organs and blood is definitely a boon," I admitted. "Although your evolution seems to have resolved some of that giant weakness." "Yup!" Vee agreed. "I¡¯m certainly glad most of my organs are safe and sound inside my personal organ dimension, or whatever it is." "Pocket organs? Pocket viscera? Pocket innards?" I started making name suggestions. "Please stop..." Vee grumbled. I giggled. "Sorry, I couldn¡¯t resist." Vee just shook her head. "Actually... This spell is probably a great way to train any traits related to Mana¡¯s capacity and regeneration," I pointed out. "Having such a convenient high-usage spell on demand is perfect for leveling. My big ones are extremely flashy, not for indoor usage at all."@@@@ "Aww... But Syl, think of the food we might get there!" Vee mentally protested. "Good! Cause I turned the bloody bastard down!" Lukhek said with a grin. "How dare he insult our dwarven defenders! I even put some extra guards around the inn, just in case." "Thanks for being so thorough," I replied. "Of course! Like I said, we protect our own," Lukhek answered. "Still, at least he¡¯s also doing an investigation, and from what my eyes and ears have told me, he¡¯s either the best actor in the world, or he¡¯s being honest. From what they overheard, he mentioned something about a rival branch." Lukhek shrugged, clearly not understanding what that meant. I had no firm idea either, so I couldn¡¯t judge. Was a branch a family, an organization, or perhaps a nobility? There were too many possibilities. "Also, Kaldrour Flintheart is looking for you; asked to set up a meeting tomorrow afternoon if you¡¯re free?" Lukhek asked. "Yes! Thank you," I replied immediately. Is it finally slime core time? I hoped. After warning me to stay vigilant, Lukhek left shortly afterward. I began continuing my spellwork for some time after when there was another knock at the door. A bit annoyed at the constant disturbance, I wandered over to the door to open it. "Syl!" A shrill voice screamed with joy. I was momentarily shocked when the tiny winged pixie bolted over and hugged my face. "Trixie?" I mumbled. "That¡¯s my name, don¡¯t wear it out!" Trixie giggled. "I missed you! I was stuck in so much politics and nonsense; it was ridiculous! They actually blamed me for being absent for so long? Like, hello? You could have sent someone to save me!" "Woah... Calm down a bit..." I said, not expecting to be on the receiving end of so much unbridled energy. "Wow, your Mana is even more ridiculous! I¡¯m totally hooked!" Trixie exclaimed, making exaggerated sniffing noises. Gesturing the tiny creature into the room, I closed the door behind us so we could have some more privacy. "I missed you too... I was worried you weren¡¯t going to come. Also, I have a friend to introduce to you," I said and gestured toward Vee, sitting in her webbed-up corner. "You made friends with a spider?" Trixie questioned. "Not just any spider... She¡¯s like me," I replied in a hushed whisper. "She¡¯s a slime?" Trixie asked, instantly switching to telepathic communication. Again, she proved her superiority with this ability by giving me no chance to even agree to the connection. "No, she¡¯s actually a spider... Just she¡¯s also part of the whole [Experiment] thing..." I replied. "She can¡¯t talk aloud, so I¡¯ve been using telepathy to talk to her." Trixie nodded. "Great, I¡¯ll add her to the conversation then..." I was expecting to hear Vee¡¯s mental voice, but instead, I saw Trixie frowning, almost glaring directly at me. "What. Is. That?" Trixie demanded, pointing at me. "What is what?" I asked curiously. Trixie fluttered to my head and slapped her hand against my hat, causing it to flip up and fall unceremoniously to the floor. "What is that!?" Trixie said, pointing to the hat. Before I could answer, Trixie fluttered up and sat on my head. She took a moment to settle down before letting out a sigh of relief. "Ah... Much better..." Trixie muttered. Was Trixie upset with the hat¡¯s Fey origin or simply upset that it had taken her favorite sitting spot? I could sense a ton of confusion coming from my bond with Vee, and it looked like there would be a lot of explaining to do. Chapter 215: Pixie Chaos Chapter 215: Pixie Chaos "Is there something wrong with that hat?" I asked Trixie. "Other than taking up my favorite sitting spot?" Trixie replied with a sigh. "I did get it from a Cat Sith..." I admitted. "The dungeon spawned it, and the hat, or crown, has been attached to me ever since..." "Oh!" Trixie gasped with surprise. Trixie left her favorite seat, fluttered down, and repeatedly poked the hat rather aggressively. "Nope. Looks fine to me, although I think it tricks people into thinking you always had the hat?" Trixie replied. "How? Is it messing with their memories?" I asked. Trixie giggled and shook her head. "Nothing as absurd as that; it¡¯s sort of like a perception filter. It¡¯s pretty harmless, nothing to worry your slimy little head about." "Can it... Do anything?" I questioned. "Something beneficial for me." "Well, it can transform into other hats," Trixie pointed out as if that were obvious. "No... I knew that. I meant, does it have any other benefits?" I asked. "Well, why didn¡¯t you say so?" Trixie teased mischievously. She hummed and smiled as she poked the hat a few more times. She scratched her chin, licked her fingers, then shrugged. "At the moment, no. It might once it grows a bit," Trixie answered. "It can grow? Should I be concerned?" "Hardly! You should be celebrating!" Trixie replied. "I¡¯m sure people would kill for a magic item with potential." "Okay... Any idea what it could develop then?" I asked again. "And how is it growing?" "No idea, and from some of your leaking Mana. Just what a growing hat needs to grow big and strong!" Trixie giggled. "Of course..." I sighed. "Anyway, with that out of the way, let me introduce you to my friend Vee." I gestured towards the spider, who was staring at the pixie with great hesitation. "Nice to meet you, Vee! I¡¯m Trixie the pixie!" Trixie said with a twirl. "Oh hell, what a stupidly ironic name..." Vee replied. "You¡¯re telepathically connected..." I informed her. "What!? But I didn¡¯t even agree, what the hell?" Vee cried out. "Yeah... Trixie can do that; she¡¯s a master of telepathy..." I warned. "Oh balls... That sucks..." Vee grumbled. Trixie, on the other hand, giggled. "What an interesting friend you¡¯ve found." "She won¡¯t force us to dance evermore, right?" Vee hesitantly asked. "What?" Both me and Trixie asked in unison. "Okay... Guess that¡¯s not a thing..." Vee muttered embarrassedly. "I dare say she¡¯s even jumpier than you were..." Trixie commented. "Although, she hasn¡¯t tried to explode the room yet." "You were exploding rooms back then, too?" Vee questioned. "No, that was different. It was more like a burst or pop than an explosion. I couldn¡¯t detonate back then," I tried explaining.@@@@ "You can detonate now?" Trixie asked with worry. "Oh yeah, I¡¯ve eaten an orange slime!" I answered excitedly. "Gods... What has been unleashed upon the world..." Trixie grumbled. "If you think that¡¯s bad, she became a giant worm and exploded!" Vee exclaimed. "Took out an entire underground kobold area! I thought the mountain was going to come crashing down!" "It wasn¡¯t that bad... I held back a little," I downplayed. "That was holding back?" Vee questioned. Trixie giggled. "Sounds like I¡¯ve missed out on quite a lot of fun. So, are you just relaxing here in Dwarfville, or do you have plans?" "Well, I¡¯ve been trying to tutor Vee with some magic, and I even have a quest to do so," I replied. "And I got a quest to visit the beach!" Vee added enthusiastically. "Magic tutoring is good. Has she broken through her Mana aura yet?" Trixie asked. "I swear I¡¯m tempted to reveal the truth just to try to repair the reputation of slimes..." I grumbled. "I think you¡¯d just damage it further; you¡¯re far away from a normal slime," Trixie giggled. "I think anyone in this [Experiment] is far from normal... I wonder if any of the others have been revealed," I mused. "Beats me, I¡¯ve certainly heard nothing, and you¡¯d think strange new powerful monsters appearing would be on the rumor mill," Trixie shrugged. "The fairy queen and the dwarf king certainly didn¡¯t mention anything." "You talked with the dwarf king?" Vee questioned. "Yup, he¡¯s a decent fellow; I delivered a letter from the fairy queen as an excuse to teleport here. Saved me a lot of flying with that clever maneuver!" Trixie said smugly. "But enough about me and people wearing silly hats, tell me about being a dimensional spider? You must have all sorts of cool threads, right?" "I... Do..." Vee replied hesitantly. "Trixie likes to knit," I quickly added. "She had me create a bunch of spider silk when she learned I could shapeshift." "Oh nice, like the Weaver class I took?" Vee asked. "Oh dang, you replaced me with a better model... I¡¯m wondering if I should start feeling jealous!" Trixie pouted. "I wouldn¡¯t call myself exactly a knitter..." Vee said dismissively. "I mostly want to see if it lets me make better webs, traps, or maybe some protective wraps?" "Mind showing me what you¡¯re working with?" Trixie asked. Vee looked toward me, and I gave her a reassuring nod. I felt Vee ease up a little from our bond, and she spun a small amount of [Rift Thread]. I noted she appeared to be braiding it somewhat, although I still found it almost impossible to see and look at. She presented it rather proudly. "What the hell is that?" Trixie asked, pointing toward the otherwordly creation and looking as if she¡¯d seen a ghost. "[Rift Thread]!" Vee said proudly. "That¡¯s terrifying!" Trixie replied with a shudder. "How are you even touching it safely? That stuff is like... A void of nothingness." "Yeah, it was not fun to be on the receiving end of it," I replied. "The fact it¡¯s so hard to detect is what annoys me." "You¡¯d probably need a special sense... Or be able to see how it removed all the essence in the area it occupies," Trixie mumbled. "Hey, that¡¯s how I spotted it!" I replied happily. "Stop disassembling my secret weapon like that..." Vee grumbled. "Hey, don¡¯t worry, your secret weapon is safe with us," I reassured her. "Yeah... I think any other spirit would laugh at me if I told them I¡¯d seen a spider who could weave threads of effectively anti-essence," Trixie added. "It¡¯s almost as unbelievable as a walking talking slime." "So, what are your plans?" I asked Trixie, trying to move away from the slime-teasing subject. "Honestly, I was hoping to just follow you around a bit and see what chaos happens around you. You really caused a lot of turmoil with that floating island," Trixie answered. "More chaos than what happened with the kobolds?" Vee questioned. Trixie looked toward me expectantly. "No..." I replied. "The worst I did on that floating island was freeze a lake; the explosion over there turned all the essence rather chaotic." "Oooh! Chaotic essence?" Trixie said excitedly, then snapped back and looked at me questioningly. "Wait, since when could you see essence?" "After I ate an ant princess," I answered. "Oh... That explains it," Trixie nodded. "That doesn¡¯t explain anything!?" Vee replied. "Ants lay their eggs where there is optimal essence flow," Trixie responded, then she turned toward me with a shit-eating grin. "Does that mean you got another egg-laying trait?" "I have no idea what you¡¯re talking about..." I attempted to dodge the question. Trixie was about to say something when Vee spoke first. "Please, no talk of egg-laying; it reminds me of the awful Broodmother evolution option I have," Vee begged. "Agreed! No talk of eggs!" I immediately added. Trixie giggled but nodded. "I think we should definitely investigate the chaotic essence area." "I¡¯ll add it to the list," I agreed. "I also wanted to see what monsters it might spawn." "Although we must be extra careful if there¡¯s another assassin..." Vee said cautiously. "Ha! I¡¯d love to see an assassin try to sneak up on me!" Trixie gloated. We made quite a powerhouse team with the three of us, and I actually hoped another assassin might confront us. Chapter 216: Three Gluttons Chapter 216: Three Gluttons We chatted longer and discussed what we should do in the coming days. My biggest concern was talking with Flintheart to see what slime cores he had wrangled up for me. Vee only had food on her mind but was otherwise willing to go along for anything. I wondered if Trixie would have better luck teaching her the rock method than me. Will I still get my discount if I tag in Trixie to help? I hope so... Trixie wanted to see the chaotic essence we had mentioned but wanted to hang around me otherwise. I got the vague impression she was probably shirking some of her duties, but I didn¡¯t mind having the extra company. The topic of investigating the silver slime operation also came up, and to my surprise, Trixie seemed very excited about that idea. "We can sneak in! I¡¯ll have a perfect chance to show off my talents and shine!" Trixie said happily. "What¡¯s your specialty?" Vee asked. "S-e-c-r-e-t!" Trixie teased. "Illusions..." I answered. "Noooo!" Trixie groaned in an overdramatic fashion. "Why ruin the surprise, Syl?" "I just think if we¡¯re going into potentially risky situations, we should know what to rely on," I answered. "You¡¯re probably just bitter that you couldn¡¯t see through them when we first met!" Trixie said, sticking out her tongue. "Maybe..." I admitted. "Although the Cat Sith we ran into had some utterly terrifying illusions. They basically could hurt you if they hit you. Imagine my surprise when a sword hit my slime hand, and it actually hurt me!" "Oh yeah, anything like that is nasty... Real illusions are not fun," Trixie giggled mischievously. "Real... Illusions?" Vee groaned, sounding extremely upset. "Talk about an oxymoron... That¡¯s so stupid..." "It¡¯s magic," I replied with a shrug. "Yup. Magic," Trixie agreed. "Stupid magic..." Vee grumbled. "Careful, or I might get another quest to slap you," I teased. "You have got to tell me about that one!" Trixie begged. Vee groaned, and I made a mental note to buy her something nice to eat as an apology. We continued having a rather fun evening together, chatting about nonsense before having a good dinner and then trying to give Vee a bit of Trixie¡¯s magic bootcamp. Unfortunately, Vee still refused to acknowledge the power of the rock method. *** "I see you¡¯ve brought a friend..." Kaldrour said, looking relatively surprised by Trixie sitting on my head. I relegated my magical hat to a fashionable hair clip to accommodate Trixie retaining her favorite sitting spot. Now that Trixie had mentioned it would eventually grow, I wanted to keep it on me as much as possible. Seriously, what new ability could it acquire? I hope it will protect me from mind control; that would be the best outcome. It¡¯s funny that Vee was also worried about brain worms. I wonder if that¡¯s a reoccurring fear among us [Experiments]. "Trixie, meet my friend and business partner, Kaldrour Flintheart. Kaldrour, meet my old friend and adventuring buddy, Trixie the pixie," I introduced the two. "Pleasure to meet you," Trixie said courteously. "Aye. Good to meet you. I guess I shouldn¡¯t be too surprised that our mutual friend even has ties to the spiritfolk," Kaldrour said with a small bow. "Indeed, Syl here seems to make a habit of making some powerful or influential friends," Trixie giggled. Vee also gave a little wave, to which Kaldrour waved back. Trixie offered to connect Vee to our conversation, but to my surprise, she opted not to. "I¡¯d rather they not discover I¡¯m a fully thinking, talking spider..." Vee said nervously. "Like... I know they¡¯ve been lenient with the whole elf-bonded companion thing, but I get the feeling they might react a bit differently otherwise." I hated to admit it was possible. Who knew how they would react. It was one of the biggest reasons I hesitated to tell anyone else. Plus, I had to admit that a small part of me feared letting Vee talk to others. What if she told them my secret? It was probably just a dose of my usual neuroticism and paranoia, but still... "So, have you managed to find my slime cores?" I asked eagerly. "Indeed!" Kaldrour said excitedly. "I scoured the markets, buying anything and everything I could find." I was bubbling with excitement as Kaldrour began placing various objects on the table. A scepter, a caged device, and another strange magical item. All of them had a juicy slime core housed within them. I wanted to drool. Another cracked silver core was also carefully added to the collection. "This is amazing!" I replied joyously. "Woah... Those are some strong emotions coming from you..." Vee commented. "Like I¡¯m feeling almost secondhand giddiness, if that were even possible." "And this isn¡¯t even the best part!" Kaldrour said happily. I gulped in anticipation. Something better? What could it be? This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. With a confident grin, he reached into a bag and pulled out something resembling a fishbowl. Inside was a tiny, glowing violet slime. I immediately stood up and slapped my hands against the table. Trixie almost fell off my head. Kaldrour chuckled happily. "Good to see it had the intended effect!" "I can¡¯t believe you managed to find one!" I replied happily. "Aye, they are rare buggers ¡¯cause they die so often," Kaldrour admitted. "I managed to buy it off a buddy who wanted to give it to his nephew. They make good but very expensive pets. Hopefully, this one lives longer with you than it would with that boy." I hid my embarrassment behind a chuckle. Unfortunately, I couldn¡¯t see this violet slime living very long. I wanted its core! I was so grateful for all the supplies that I immediately pulled out another small chunk of obsidianite and placed it on the table. Trixie stared at it with confusion, while Kaldrour seemed to be almost a mirror of my previous excitement. "I see you¡¯ve been holding back a little extra for a rainy-day fund," Kaldrour asked, wiggling his eyebrows. "Or, in this case, a reward for an exceptionally well-done job!" I answered honestly. "Bloody beards, I should quit my job and become a slime core trader in that case!" Kaldrour laughed uproariously. "I had no idea you were so flush with cash..." Trixie whispered. "I¡¯ve had some very successful hunts," I answered. "Adventuring pays absurdly well." "Not to discourage you, but I don¡¯t think the average adventurers earn anywhere close to what you¡¯ve been doing," Kaldrour pointed out. "Although, keep up the good job! You could buy yourself a dwarven nobility if you wanted!" "Ew, don¡¯t become a noble!" Trixie teased. "Way too stuffy... No offense." "Ha!" Kaldrour slapped the table. "None taken. It¡¯s definitely got its ups and downs. I could certainly do without the long meetings, but the food and drinks are always good! Not to mention some of the perks and privileges." "I guess..." Trixie shrugged. "I prefer being a free agent." Kaldrour shrugged back, clearly not really wanting to argue with a pixie. "So what¡¯s this about an assassin coming after you?" Kaldrour asked. "I hope it¡¯s not over the help you did with regaining my orichalcum mine." I reluctantly took my eyes off the violet slime tempting me and shook my head. "No. It¡¯s elf politics, I believe. The assassin wanted to take something off me as well." Kaldrour looked somewhat relieved. "No offense, but I¡¯m glad it¡¯s not a mess I dragged you into. Although I believe Lukhek and Tamnaeth are looking into it?" "So I¡¯ve heard... Although I¡¯m thinking of leaving sometime soon, so I might miss the next assassin..." I attempted some dark humor. "Oh? Back to the human lands? Or back to the Grove?" Kaldrour questioned before quickly adding. "If you don¡¯t mind me asking, that is..." "I got an invitation to Keld, and Vee wants to see the ocean," I replied. "Oh, Keld! I¡¯ve heard good things about Keld; the golems coming out of that place are masterpieces," Kaldrour said excitedly. "If you do go, please drop the Flintheart name. I¡¯d love to do business with them!" "Sure, I don¡¯t mind," I answered. Kaldrour looked over the moon. My stint as Sylvester had taught me there were some big profits in the golem industry, especially the enchanting variety, as Greg and Thern had bemoaned. It looked like Kaldrour was very eager to break into the golem industry and expand his profits. We chatted a bit longer before he eventually left for his next meeting. I stared hungrily at all the objects on the table. "Wow. Talk about clever: using merchants and adventuring to get yourself more cores!" Trixie said mentally, establishing a link between the three of us immediately. "It¡¯s very unfair if you ask me!" Vee whined a little jokingly. "Syl is basically paying to win!" "It¡¯s not like I use money for anything else..." I said. "Beyond your snacks and ring collection." "Well, if you¡¯re throwing money around, I¡¯d love a new dress or something..." Trixie said without a hint of shame. "Sure... After I do some eating myself..." I answered. "I think we could ask Syl anything right now and get an agreement," Vee teased. "Definitely got slime cores on the brain," Trixie giggled. "If you were a slime, you¡¯d understand. Nothing else even comes close!" I defended myself. Trixie pointed to the tiny violet slime in the fishbowl. "Are you really going to eat that cutey?" "Yes," I replied with zero hesitation. "I think it might give me Light affinity. Or, at the very least, give me the ability to glow." "Poor little guy... Doomed to be eaten by the big mean elf slime," Vee teased. Trixie looked like she wanted to tease, but to my surprise, she held back. "Gaining the Light affinity would be good... Your collection of delicious Mana would be even better!" "Wow... We really are all gluttons, aren¡¯t we?" Vee commented. "At least you¡¯re admitting to the glutton club..." I teased. "I¡¯m kind of forced to... I earned a trait called [Overeating] last night..." Vee admitted with some horror in her tone. "I¡¯m genuinely surprised Syl hasn¡¯t earned that trait!" Trixie replied. "Is it because I don¡¯t technically eat?" I pondered. "I don¡¯t even have a stomach." "The trait mentions increasing stamina regeneration based on how full your belly is... So, probably?" Vee somewhat agreed. Vee did show me the trait, and I was met with an error incompatible with my race. It was slightly annoying, but it¡¯s not like I needed to regenerate stamina. "Well, time to eat!" I said excitedly as I lifted the scepter with the red slime core. "Seems like a real waste of a magic item, don¡¯t you think-" Trixie tried to say as I stuffed the scepter inside of me. Oh! Any slimes that had [Slime Burst] will help me towards my next level of [Nitro Slime]! Very nice! "And she ate it... Very nice..." Trixie sighed. "I got a new level in [Blaze Slime] for that!" I said excitedly as I reached for the white core. "Wait, that one is actually useful!" Trixie whined. "Do you know how expensive refrigerator enchantments are?" "A little. I can make them after all," I replied before gulping down the device. Trixie¡¯s protest fell on deaf ears. "What did that one get you?" Vee asked curiously. "A level in [Cryo Slime] and [Slime Shot]!" I said happily. "I was joking, but this really is pay to win!" Vee protested. I nodded as I reached for the odd device; it looked like someone¡¯s science experiment had gone wrong. The yellow core was wrapped in copper wires, and a strange black substance coated what looked like handles. I looked towards Trixie, almost expecting her to protest again "I don¡¯t know what that is, so go ahead and eat it," Trixie shrugged. "It sorta looks like a battery..." Vee muttered right as I plopped it down the slimy gullet. "And it¡¯s gone..." Vee grumbled. "Yeah, but well worth it!" Trixie added. "You should have seen what the first yellow slime gave, Syl! So many sparks! Crackle pew!" "You ate a yellow core and got lightning powers?" Vee asked. "Yeah, it was a trait called [Voltaic Slime] and Lightning affinity, which let me buy [Lightning Magic]," I explained. "I think I see why they made an entire economy out of them," Vee replied. "Only a few are harvested for their actual slime..." I pointed out. "The cores being magic catalysts is sort of a happy coincidence. It¡¯s a pity I can¡¯t get my hands on a purple or green slime core." "You just had a slime core buffet and want more?" Trixie teased. I stuck out my tongue before popping the silver core in my mouth. I thought for sure I would have finally gained a level in [Morph Slime]... But I guess since it¡¯s a fused trait, it¡¯s much harder to level up? A real pity... And then my gaze fell upon the violet slime jiggling in its glass container. Chapter 217: Luminous Chapter 217: Luminous "Poor little guy... He watched you eat the corpses of his cousins in front of him, and now you¡¯re going to eat him, too!" Trixie teased. "I don¡¯t think slimes have any kinship; right when I was first reborn, I watched one blue slime eat another," I pointed out. "And now you are going to perpetuate the cycle! How tragic!" Trixie continued her overly dramatic theatrics. "Oh please... After both of you have so routinely teased me about how dumb slimes are, I bet that violet slime doesn¡¯t even know where it is," I shook my head. "Syl¡¯s got a point there," Vee responded. "This violet slime would probably walk straight into lava!" After unsealing the glass fishbowl-like container, I upended it to free the violet slime. It jiggled when it landed on the table before slowly crawling around. "Look! It¡¯s absolutely terrified of Syl! It wants freedom!" Trixie teased. I snorted, pulled out a tiny piece of food from my [Core Storage], and placed it in front of me. Almost immediately, the violet slime started heading towards it. "Absolutely terrified..." I repeated deadpan. "Don¡¯t go towards the evil elf slime, Wiggles! It¡¯s a trap!" Trixie exclaimed. "Wiggles?" Vee replied. "What else would you name a slime?" Trixie shrugged. "Wiggles" was now before me, slowly snacking on the tiny piece of meat in my fingers. I stared hungrily at the lapis blue core floating in the violet slime. "It¡¯s literally eating out of the hand of its predator... I don¡¯t even know what to say," Vee chuckled. "Goodbye, Wiggles..." Trixie feigned crying. "You were too dumb for this cruel world." I grumbled and considered caging the mouthy pixie in some lead-silver. I formed a tiny [Pseudopod] from my fingertips and fired it out like a needle lance, piercing the lapis blue core and instantly dragging it in. Yes. <[Luminous Slime] This slime can produce a bioluminescent glow, even in absolute darkness. The color of the glow relates to the coloring of the slime mass. Compatible with other slime traits. This trait has no levels.> "Well... That¡¯s severely underwhelming," I complained after reading the trait. Seeing and sensing my two companions¡¯ confusion, I shared the description to show them both. Vee shrugged and called it a boring trait while Trixie howled with laughter. "I mean... What did you expect?" Trixie choked out between giggle fits. "It¡¯s literally known as a pet that glows in the dark..." "Yeah, yeah..." I waved off the snickering pixie. Meanwhile, I dug through my profiles for the alicorn and began looking for my real goal. Yes! I was so excited. Then, the next line rained on my parade. <[Light Magic LV 1] spell [Lantern] learned.> "Really..." I whined. Trixie once again burst into laughter, leaning so far backward that she did an accidental backflip as she floated through the air. "What? What¡¯s so funny?" Vee questioned. I sighed and cast the new spell I had just learned rather than explaining. It formed a tiny little floating ball of light that illuminated the room. "Oh... That¡¯s kinda pretty," Vee commented. "Although, don¡¯t we all have [Dark Vision]?" Trixie snickered. "Yes. I think Trixie knew what the first spell I would get was," I sighed. "Hopefully, I get a good spell sooner or later. I saw some rather impressive [Light Magic] when I fought unicorns and an alicorn." "Hey, at least it¡¯s better than my first two levels of [Dimension Magic]!" Vee tried to say reassuringly. "Right..." I responded. "Damn, when I get [Dimension Magic], I¡¯m going to have to get through those early levels as well!" "Assuming you don¡¯t MacGyver some weird spell and breeze through the levels," Vee added. "What?" Trixie and I asked in unison, the former barely recovering from her laughter. "You know, you always make custom spells and whatnot," Vee explained. "I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve ever heard of that being called MacGyver?" Trixie said curiously. "Oh... It¡¯s like making something out of nothing but scraps," Vee explained. "I feel like Syl could probably brute force something useful out of those concepts." Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. "Oh... Okay, I like that meaning!" Trixie replied happily. "MacGyver? MacGyver... MacGyver!" "You could also use jerry-rig..." Vee replied. "It sorta means the same thing." "Oh, that one sounds familiar," I nodded. "But yeah... I¡¯ll definitely be doing a lot of trial and error as soon as I get [Dimension Magic]." To illustrate my point, I began hastily and forcibly constructing a projectile version of [Lantern]. Once completed, I harmlessly threw the glowing spell toward Trixie. It shone dazzlingly before harmlessly crashing into the pixie and disappearing. "See!" Vee exclaimed. "My point exactly!" "Yeah, but shooting a glorified glowing ball of light is hardly what I¡¯d call a good spell," I sighed. "Tasty, though!" Trixie said, licking her lips. "Wha?" Vee was startled. "It¡¯s a bit complicated, but Trixie eats Mana..." I answered. "Only tasty Mana, though! Syl¡¯s is the best!" Trixie replied, giving a big thumbs up. "Okay, so we fed Syl. What¡¯s next?" Vee asked, trying to change the subject. "It¡¯s too early to do our espionage..." Trixie mumbled. "Should we do some shopping on Syl¡¯s wallet?" "Either that or go explore the chaotic essence," I replied. "Tough choice!" Trixie complained, genuinely struggling to decide which idea she liked more. "Just don¡¯t forget there might be another assassin waiting for you outside..." Vee warned. "I¡¯d almost say that makes going outside more tempting," I answered honestly. "That last one gave me a lot of experience." "I suppose..." Vee agreed reluctantly. "Onward to adventure then!" Trixie cheered before fluttering to her usual resting spot and thrusting a fist forward. I shrugged, and we started heading towards the gate. To our surprise, while I wasn¡¯t denied exit, some of the guards warned me against doing so. When I pressed that I wanted to go out to explore and do some monster hunting, they reluctantly agreed to let me pass before warning me to be vigilant and careful. "Wow, they¡¯re really giving you the VIP treatment," Trixie noted. "They didn¡¯t previously," I sighed. "I really think we should consider leaving this place soon." "Not going to stick around till you get more silver cores?" Vee questioned. "Frankly, I think I got more than I ever expected. My [Metal Slime] trait is almost at the level cap!" I replied happily. "You¡¯ve really been eating a lot then!" Trixie exclaimed. "What¡¯s the next slime on your target list?" Recalling the shopping list Gramps had given me, I mumbled and pondered a bit. "I¡¯d really like to get a pink slime to heal others, like Vee, but I think that might be impossible..." "Aww... Thanks!" Vee blushed. "Oof... Yeah, even if you have abundant wealth, that might be impossible unless you¡¯re also politically powerful," Trixie replied. "You¡¯d probably be better off trying to raid a random labyrinth dungeon until you get lucky." "Adding labyrinth dungeon to our to-do list then," I chuckled. "Before or after the beach?" Vee questioned. "Depends on if we find one between us and the beach, I suppose." I shrugged. "Other than that, black slime looked really powerful!" I energetically replied. "There was the brown slime, but I think we¡¯d need to go visit the elves to get one of those." "The fertilizer slimes!" Trixie snickered. "Would that give you Nature affinity?" "It¡¯s my best guess," I answered. "Hmm..." Trixie mumbled as she scratched her head. "I could probably try to arrange a trip to the elves." "Is that wise? It was the elves who sent an assassin after all," Vee asked. "I guess I¡¯d need to take on a different persona then... It seems this one has some history," I sighed. I¡¯d grown oddly attached to this form, being my oldest disguise. "Boo!" Trixie whined. "You¡¯re so cute like this, though." "It¡¯s better than being stabbed in the back," Vee commented. "I¡¯m sure it didn¡¯t even hurt one bit," Trixie replied dismissively. "True..." I mumbled. "I¡¯ve also set up a bit of a contingency the next time someone decides to get stabby with me. "That sounds delightfully cheeky; what did you do?" Trixie asked curiously. "My fake blood will be primed [Nitro Slime], so then I can detonate their blade and hopefully disarm them or even take them out!" I grinned. "That¡¯s diabolical!" Trixie giggled mischievously. "Almost as good as the time you seduced the alicorn!" "What...?" Vee cried. "Actually, no, don¡¯t tell me! After imagining the dragon worm, I already have enough images that need bleaching." "Worm?" Trixie repeated. "I can turn into a worm now, and it¡¯s compatible with one of my dragon heritage traits," I answered. "You can turn into a worm?" Trixie didn¡¯t seem impressed, so she snapped fingers when she realized it. "Oh! The giant mineral-eating ones, yeah, that makes more sense!" We continued our three-way mental conversation as we headed toward the fungal cavern. Vee and I had grown somewhat familiar with the location, but this was apparently Trixie¡¯s first time seeing the environment. "Wow! So much glowing fungus!" Trixie exclaimed as she pointed to every little strange plant or thing. As we headed toward the last known location of the tunnel I had dug out, Trixie suddenly tensed up. "Woah... What the heck has happened here?" Vee looked around confusedly. "I don¡¯t see anything?" Borrowing a better level of [Essence Sight], I looked around and immediately saw what had caused Trixie such an extreme reaction. The natural essence flow was anything but natural; it was warped beyond recognition, and I struggled to make out what elements had been mixed into this hodgepodge of essence stew. Oh nice, I got my level! I can fuse them now. But we heard a strange guttural growling before I could investigate that thought. We all stared down the hole and toward the source, a bizarre and dreadful amalgamation of creature parts and elements. "Well, that¡¯s peculiar..." I muttered when my skill failed. The creature wasn¡¯t moving towards us; if anything, it sounded in agony as it continued to moan and occasionally lash out against the wall. "What exactly did you do to this area?" Trixie asked. I rapidly created a spell orb and showed it to Trixie. "That¡¯s new," Trixie replied before examining it further. "I don¡¯t see how this would have caused it, though." Before explaining, I quickly infused it with a spell, showing it could store a spell. "I made a bunch of these and detonated all of them." "I¡¯d say hundreds, but that might be an overestimate," Vee added. "Oh..." Trixie seemed to have made the realization. "And you killed a bunch of kobolds, too." "An entire fortress," Vee explained again. "Right. So lots of unresolved essences," Trixie pondered. "I suppose we are relatively far away from the dungeon... Or perhaps it didn¡¯t want to regulate it due to the nature of all the elements mixing in. It¡¯s very unnatural for this area to be so flooded with ice and lightning, not to mention corrosion." "Why¡¯s that an issue?" Vee asked. Trixie pointed to the strange creature. "You wouldn¡¯t expect an octopus to spawn in a desert or a yeti in a volcano, right? It¡¯s pretty much the same principle. But it all had to go somewhere, and it threw them together into... That." That was a certainly apt description of the strange creature. If I wasn¡¯t looking straight at it, I would¡¯ve sworn it was both wet and on fire simultaneously. Not to mention melting, yet clearly solid, and occasionally cracking with lightning. Vee nervously chuckled, "I guess we should be thankful you haven¡¯t got [Dimension Magic] yet..." Trixie gasped, "Oh wow. That could have been bad! I¡¯d highly suggest not exploding anything with Dimension Mana!" I sighed, "I wasn¡¯t planning on that... Besides, as Vee pointed out, what would they even do? Set coordinates?" Trixie giggled almost maniacally before responding, "Unstable rips in reality that portal you into non-existence would be my guess." Is that where the original Kappa went? I couldn¡¯t help but wonder. "Anyway... I¡¯d suggest killing them. I reckon you¡¯d be doing them and the world a favor," Trixie said. "Do you think they¡¯re safe to eat?" I asked. "Eww..." Vee gagged. "Count me out. I¡¯ve grown accustomed to eating proper food!" "That goes double for me!" Trixie quickly added. "I don¡¯t want to be anywhere near those bloated essence bubbles when they pop!" Oh well... More for me. Chapter 218: Essence Sludge Chapter 218: Essence Sludge "I¡¯d avoid using any magic that made them..." Trixie suggested. "That¡¯s... All my magic!" I complained. "Well, not Light!" Vee corrected. "Great, I¡¯ll flashlight them to death!" I complained. "You know what a flashlight is, yet look at me like I¡¯m talking crazy half the time!" Vee whined. "What? Flashlights exist... They¡¯re pretty common adventuring tools," I answered. Vee grumbled very loudly at that comment. "I guess I could use [Rift Thread] to attack them," Vee sighed. "If you didn¡¯t use Corrosion, I could have used that..." "It¡¯s not like I could have predicted strange sludge monsters to be created from a few bombs," I defended myself. "You could try making an attack spell with your new spell." "Wouldn¡¯t that just potentially put them in my storage?" Vee questioned. "I¡¯d rather not let the strange amalgam monster into my secret Mana storage." Trixie nodded, "I agree with the little spider. No telling what storing something like that would do to your Mana." I sighed, "Fine. I¡¯ll just go all slime monster on it." "Good luck!" Trixie said before hopping off my head. I began casting my debuffs, only to watch none of them apply to the monster. Worse, it seemed casting them had triggered the monster to wake up, as it suddenly jumped up and looked directly toward us. "I did say no magic!" Trixie teased. I grumbled and began readying myself. The monster was barreling towards us. "Want me to try [Rift Thread]?" Vee asked. I shook my head, "Let me have a go at it first." Not wanting to get my armor dirty with whatever the creature was, I deposited all my gear and began shapeshifting into a somewhat blobby form myself while sprouting all my [Pseudopods]. I had thought of going into my blueblin form, but I wanted some more mass between my cores and this creature. "All this time, and you turn into a big jellyfish?" Trixie asked, sounding disappointed. I ignored the mouthy pixie and began surging forward with my tendrils to grab hold or strike the creature. At the tip of each tendril, I fashioned various weapons or monstrous armaments and reinforced them with [Metal Slime]. I had gained a new level, and so I¡¯d successfully unlocked the ability to copy the properties of adamantine perfectly. That caused Trixie to shut up, and she whistled as if impressed. When my tendrils touched the creature, there was an almost caustic reaction. It was definitely harmful to the touch, but I seemed relatively immune, thanks to my plethora of resistances from my various slime traits and multiple reinforcements. The amalgam let out an alien roar, and a surge of elemental energy exploded off it. It was undoubtedly a wave of all the elements I had used in my bombs. Of everything, the lightning would have been the most threatening, but it was easily within the capability of my [Voltaic Slime] to store. My tendrils began slicing or bashing into the creature while others tried to grab hold and lift it up while trying to pull it apart. Attempting to catch the monster seemed impossible as its substance was almost slime-like, and bits would just give way. One of its limbs tried grabbing my tendril and pulling me towards it. Rather than allowing such a thing to occur, I decided to cut off the limb and give it to the creature. But not before priming it with [Nitro Slime]. "Oh no, you¡¯ve been disarmed!" Trixie teased. I chuckled before triggering the detonation. Vee sighed, perhaps growing weary of my constant explosions, while Trixie was flabbergasted. The creature itself was none too pleased. It had lost parts of its form and began thrashing about. I continued assaulting it with a swarm of weaponized tendrils, but no matter how much I beat on the amalgam, it wasn¡¯t dying. I¡¯d also tried to dissolve some of it with [Acid Slime], and to my horror, it seemed I couldn¡¯t dissolve it. Trying to use [Life Sight] revealed nothing as if it wasn¡¯t alive in the first place. With no other ideas, I kept trying to beat it into submission. Hopefully, when it stopped moving, it would be dead. I just kept bashing, cutting, and occasionally exploding on the creature. "Uh... Are you going to kill it?" Vee asked curiously. I sighed. "I¡¯m trying, aren¡¯t I?" "It doesn¡¯t seem to want to stay dead..." Trixie mumbled. "I¡¯m open to suggestions?" I said impatiently. I wasn¡¯t exactly struggling, but this was undoubtedly growing on my nerves. I even tried throwing a spell at it on occasion, but that only seemed to renew it. "Oh... Is it eating the essence to keep living?" Trixie suggested. "I guess it will die eventually when the essence runs out." Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. "That could take ages!" I complained. "Take turns or something? I don¡¯t know..." Trixie sighed. "Sure... Might as well tag me in," Vee replied. "Gives me a chance to see if weaving these threads makes any difference!" Using all my tendrils, I punched into the creature, sending it hurtling into the cave wall before retracting everything and retreating. Vee took the opportunity to [Blink] to my spot and pulled out countless strands of [Rift Thread]. "Woah, where¡¯d she get so much of it from?" Trixie asked. I noticed Vee was casting [Pocket Space], and it explained where she was keeping her ample supply. "Doesn¡¯t it weigh a lot?" I couldn¡¯t help but ask. Vee giggled before answering, "Hah! Compared to that canteen of slime you gave me, this is trivial. It weighs practically nothing at all!" Vee began weaving a boundary around the creature, like a giant cage of the deadly thread. "Why¡¯s Vee calling you fat?" Trixie asked. I sighed before responding, "I¡¯m dimensionally heavy, apparently." Trixie hummed before asking her next question, "Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" "Good in the sense that someone can¡¯t teleport me without a hefty cost," I answered. Trixie nodded and added, "But it¡¯s bad if a friend tries to teleport you." "Pretty much," I agreed. "Other than Vee, I can¡¯t see it happening too often. If I use the city teleport platforms again, I can just offer to pay the Mana cost myself." When the creature finally reconstituted itself enough, it aggressively lunged toward Vee. It clearly couldn¡¯t sense the trap waiting for it and rapidly began losing chunks of itself to the reality-slicing threads. Despite losing large portions of itself, it kept going forward. "Oh! I think that¡¯s working!" Trixie said excitedly. "Unlike when you were smashing it and exploding it, Vee is actually just outright removing some of it from existence." "So a big enough weave of the thread would just remove it outright?" I suggested. Trixie vibrated nervously at that comment. "Yeah, as terrifying as that sounds, it should work. Like a giant flyswatter of anti-essence." "Okay... Giant flyswatter... I think I can make that?" Vee replied. What next was a Vee frantically trying to weave between [Blinks]. She would weave a portion and vanish when the creature got within range. When it escaped the web, Vee would teleport in, and when it reentered, Vee would poof out. It was gradually wearing down the creature, and even without Vee completing the weave of interlocking threads, it would no doubt eventually succumb to its own mindless drive. Vee eventually had a small blanket-sized portion of weaved [Rift Thread]. She tied the ends of the blanket to other threads before manipulating it on some sort of pully-like system, causing the blanket to spread out to its full area. "Oh gods, that is horrible..." Trixie mumbled. "I do not like that one bit; it¡¯s like looking directly into nothingness." Even I had to admit it was uncomfortable. What were usually hard-to-spot tripwires of infinite-cutting potential were now woven together into a death blanket. Pulling on the strings of her impromptu creation, she sent it gliding and engulfed the strange creature. There was no roar, no wail, or anything. Where once there was a creature, there was now nothing. "I did it!" Vee said excitedly before clumsily trying to recollect the terrifying blanket. "That wouldn¡¯t work on you, would it?" I asked with a gulp. "It sort of would," Trixie answered, albeit reluctantly. "Unlike that creature, I¡¯m very affirmed in my existence. It would hurt and deal a lot of damage, but I wouldn¡¯t be removed with a swipe. Likewise, I don¡¯t think it would kill you in a single hit." "Good to know..." I answered. "Cause it cut through my slime like butter." "Actually, I think you¡¯re much safer than me in that regard," Trixie explained. "What made the individual threads so dangerous is their almost infinitely small surface area, so it could cut you basically no matter what. Woven together like that, I don¡¯t think it can cut you." To both our relief, Vee stored it away using [Pocket Space] and began cleaning up what threads she could. Splintered threads seemed to fade away after a short time, so it wasn¡¯t like leaving them behind would cause any random wanderers some harm. "Okay, I love this spell," Vee said happily. "I can keep so much stuff ready for battle. Preparation time has always been my biggest issue; now, with [Pocket Space], I can use my downtime to my advantage!" I nodded, "I sort of do the same with my [Core Storage]. I keep ready-made slime, and lately, I¡¯ve been keeping constructs out of [Metal Slime] and [Nitro Slime]." "Well, I¡¯m certainly feeling left out," Trixie pouted. "I barely have pockets, and the ones I do have could fit a few grains of rice." "What would you even keep?" I asked. "Stuff..." Trixie grumbled. "Stuff..." Vee repeated. "Stuff..." I joined in on the teasing. The pixie seemed very offended and disappeared in a huff. Vee and I couldn¡¯t help but laugh at its absurdity. "Should we see if there are any more?" Vee suggested. I shrugged, "Might as well." We started heading down the tunnel towards the impact site of my giant detonation. [Essence Sight] informed me the area was better but still greatly disturbed, and we spotted a few more lumbering hulks. Oh, I should fuse the traits! Yes! I had expected the new sight to just be the three combined into one, but it somehow seemed more than that. I tried examining Vee and using the new trait to determine her Life, Mana, and Essence. Since I was relatively useless against the monsters unless we wanted to keep them restrained, I let Vee continue to fight them while I tried to adjust to the new vision or at least regain my previous levels of sight. I¡¯m in trouble if I can¡¯t use [Mana Conception]. If I can¡¯t tell what¡¯s Mana or Essence, how am I supposed to construct my spells? I sat on a nearby rock and began casting familiar spells I had previously constructed together. I started feeling uneasy as I went through my more intimately familiar spells, which were not as I remembered them looking. When I looked at a specific section of a spell I knew housed a particular concept or element, instead of their normal appearance, they were almost corroded by extra information that I couldn¡¯t decipher. It¡¯s almost like someone has spilled paint over my favorite book or piece of art. I know what¡¯s under the paint but can¡¯t see it. Driven by curiosity and concern, I tried ordering my [Sub-Cores] to do some basic spell procedures. I had a new element to work with, so I told them to create a debuff for it. Remarkably, my little helpers seemed to have no issue following my order. I watched as their many invisible hands created a spell I had only a vague understanding of. This works... But I kind of hate it, I liked making the spells myself... Eventually, they stopped, and I stared at the foreign spell construct floating before me. I had no idea if it would work or not, so I cast it at one of the black blob monsters Vee had yet to engage with. I guess that¡¯s the light debuff? I wondered, right as another notification popped up. <[Light Magic LV 2] spell [Flash] learned.> And it¡¯s not an attack spell... Great. This makes a flash of blinding light; I reckon that could have some uses... I hoped I wouldn¡¯t have to wait too long for that laser spell. If the unicorns had it, then hopefully, it would be within the next level or two. I couldn¡¯t see those buffoons having too high a level in the magic. Chapter 219: Tea Slime Chapter 219: Tea Slime "What you doing?" Trixie asked me curiously. "I thought you¡¯d be playing with new toys, but you seem to be rehashing some old ones." "I fused [Soul Sight]... I¡¯m having some issues differentiating the components that made it up," I explained. "Oh... Yeesh, that¡¯s not good," Trixie looked concerned. "That bad?" Trixie shrugged, "It depends; knowing you, you¡¯ll figure it out in no time or cheat and find another way around it." "I guess I could try using my [Sub-Cores]; they seem to have no issue doing what I used to," I mumbled. "You¡¯ve also picked probably the worst spot to try this in," Trixie pointed out. "There¡¯s so much essence, not to mention all the chaos and random elements being so haphazardly mixed together. Ideally, you¡¯d be in an almost essenceless area, or at least with good control. As a pretty awesome spirit, if I do say so myself, I¡¯d offer to help you, but I don¡¯t really want to touch any of this essence." "Controlled essence... So, a dungeon?" I asked. Trixie snapped her fingers, "That could work!" "Guess we can return to our old training ground with the rock elementals once Vee cleans up here. I still need to train Vee some more, so I¡¯ll get my discount, so it¡¯s probably a good idea." "I can¡¯t help with Dimension or Corrosion stuff," Trixie sighed. "At best, I could offer some emotional support with the rock method." "It probably doesn¡¯t help that she¡¯s trying to do it with [Acid Dart] either," I suggested. "I at least got to try it with [Water Magic], but Vee¡¯s only options are [Dimension Magic] and [Corrosion Magic]." Trixie nodded, "Probably, but don¡¯t look so glum! We¡¯ll put that spider through the magic boot camp!" "Please, no boot camp..." Vee replied, sounding partially annoyed. "You left me to fight all the monsters while you two sat around having a tea party?" Trixie giggled, "If this is a tea party, it¡¯s the worst one I¡¯ve ever attended. Where¡¯s the scones?" "We don¡¯t even have tea..." I shrugged. "The best I could offer you is some alcoholic slime." "Why do you have alcoholic slime?" Vee asked. Trixie seemed very amused by this change in topic, "Are you trying to mix things and see what happens? Or were you attempting to get yourself drunk?" "It¡¯s one of my traits," I answered. "They made a trait for alcohol slimes? The dwarves would love you," Trixie teased. "No, it¡¯s from my [Poison Slime] trait," I corrected. "Oh... That kinda makes sense," Vee spoke up. "How does that make any sense?" Trixie asked. "In terms of biology... I think the body treats alcohol as if it were a poison. It¡¯s why they call it intoxicated," Vee answered. "Is that true?" Trixie asked me. I shrugged, "Beats me. Vee¡¯s either right or confidently incorrect. But it does fall under my [Poison Slime] trait." "Coffee would fall under it, too, I think," Vee added. Trixie made a dry, heaving noise, "Bleh, coffee? Why would anyone drink that horrid stuff... Don¡¯t you dare make my delicious slime taste like coffee!" "Well, it¡¯s the caffeine part specifically that I¡¯m talking about," Vee mentioned. "If alcohol counts, then caffeine probably does too." "Great! I¡¯ll have to get my tendrils on it and try it out. Hopefully, it adds to the trait," I replied happily. Trixie shook her head, "Too risky. Don¡¯t do it, Syl!" "You know... Tea has caffeine in it, too," Vee pointed out. Trixie gasped, "Tea-flavored slime? Hmm... Maybe that¡¯s worth the risk." "I¡¯m morbidly curious to see what a pixie hopped up on caffeine would do..." Vee said with a giggle. "She¡¯ll probably be bouncing off the walls!" "We¡¯ll add it to the list!" I replied. "But magic training must come first! And my regaining proper control over this new trait." "Boo, that¡¯s not fun," Vee whined. "We¡¯ll have plenty of time to eat and drink afterward," I offered. "But I still need to qualify for that discount so I can start working on [Dimension Magic] with you." "You just gained [Light Magic]," Vee countered. "Isn¡¯t that enough?" "Don¡¯t get me wrong, I¡¯m sure [Light Magic] will get good eventually, but this advanced magic is sitting right before me!" I argued. Trixie giggled, "Well, you¡¯ll need to have sorted out your [Soul Sight] before then! Also, good job, Vee. The area is looking much cleaner with those abominations taken care of." "Yeah, yeah," Vee shrugged it off. "At least it gave decent experience. Not to mention trying out a new use for my [Rift Thread]." I looked over my own gains. Thanks to [Bonded Companion], I received quite a haul from Vee¡¯s accomplishments. I felt a little dirty taking from her spoils, but we were considered as always in a party now. The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. I could argue that my [Sub-Cores] would have defended her if she was in danger. I still haven¡¯t rescinded that shield order and don¡¯t plan to. <16 Trait Points are now available.> <19 Skill Points are now available.> <[Magical Overcharge] Allows the user to greatly overcharge spells, increasing their potency at the cost of additional Mana and subsequent Manaburn proportional to the intended boost. Further skill levels not only increase the maximum boost but also provide better efficiency in the Mana to potency conversion and small mitigation of the resulting backlash.> Huh? This seems practical, but I¡¯m skeptical about the Mana burn part. I¡¯d be directly damaging myself when, otherwise, I don¡¯t often actually take any real damage. I wonder if it¡¯s possible to gain resistance to Mana burn? Maybe if I use this enough times, I will gain it. Although I¡¯m not looking forward to willingly hurting myself again. We spent some time chatting and looking around to see if any of the strange black sludge abominations had spawned, but only a few had. Trixie even gave it a more thorough examination and informed us that the area was self-regulating. We then started heading back, only taking minor detours for Trixie to sample a few of the glowing mushrooms. Vee had cautioned her about eating strange plants, but Trixie claimed spirits couldn¡¯t get poisoned. Vee was rather unhappy to hear about that, especially when I mentioned I was also immune. "I can¡¯t believe you¡¯re making me jealous of not being born a slime..." Vee grumbled. "It definitely has a lot of plus sides..." Trixie agreed. "I think it¡¯s usually offset by their complete lack of intelligence." "I mean, you¡¯re both seeing me now, but things weren¡¯t always this great," I admitted. "You¡¯re forgetting the part where I was literally manhandled by a child. I struggled to fight boars and wolves." "Yeah, a poorly balanced start, but big potential payoffs," Vee agreed. To our surprise, we reached the city again without any issue. I was almost sure that we would have been attacked. Vee brought up that perhaps they were afraid of Trixie, but the pixie burst out into laughter. "I keep myself hidden most of the time, only selectively letting people see me," she explained. "If someone unwanted could see me, then I think we¡¯d have a much bigger problem on our hands than whatever this assassination plot is." I had no idea how the pixie¡¯s confidence in her invisibility measured up to her actual proficiency, but I had no reason to doubt her at this stage. Either way, if someone did attack, I had another ally on my side. We grabbed an early dinner and headed straight to the dungeon. I was not pleased about my current situation with not being able to use the individual components of [Soul Sight] and wanted it resolved immediately. I¡¯d offered for Trixie and Vee to do their own thing, but they tagged along. Vee was happy after a good meal, and Trixie was curious to see Vee trying to learn and see if I could work my way out of the predicament. She also clearly loved any excess Mana I happened to be leaking. When we approached the dungeon, the guards halted us and specifically singled out Trixie. I wondered if there was some issue, but it turns out they just requested that she not mess with any of the dungeon¡¯s essence. "I thought you were invisible?" Vee asked. Trixie scoffed, "Well, outside I am. It¡¯s a bit rude to do it inside cities; they might think I¡¯m some scoundrel or ne¡¯er-do-well." Meanwhile, I had a bigger question, "I didn¡¯t think a spirit would be capable of overpowering a Dungeon Master¡¯s control over the essence." "Maybe in a particular room, but I couldn¡¯t do much with it," Trixie explained. "At best, I could siphon a little and feed on it. I wouldn¡¯t be able to force something to spawn or anything like that. I¡¯d basically just be robbing the poor dungeon." "Guess my dream of a pink slime is still a ways off..." I sighed. "I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll conquer a labyrinth dungeon in no time and be feasting on the poor pink core in no time," Trixie said reassuringly. When we reached our training room, the rock elemental spawner, I asked Trixie, "So, do you think I could manage in this room?" Trixie nodded and gave a big thumbs-up, "This room is great! It¡¯s very, very boring, but great! I¡¯ve never seen such a strangely orderly flow of essence before." "I guess the dwarves really did beat the dungeon into submission..." Vee chuckled nervously. "I¡¯m sort of glad I¡¯m no longer their enemy." "Oh yeah, you do not want to do that," Trixie immediately agreed. "Never underestimate the stubbornness of a dwarf. There¡¯s a story about a party of dwarves who died killing a dragon." "Died killing a dragon?" Vee repeated. "How the heck does that work?" "Wait for me to finish!" Trixie pouted. "Anyway, they were apparently being chowed down on; the dragon was big enough to chomp them in one bite. And the legend goes that in their sheer stubbornness, they worked together to cause the dragon to choke to death!" "Ahh! The attack them from the inside strategy!" I replied excitedly. Trixie shrugged, "More like making the best of a bad situation." "Yeesh... I don¡¯t think I could be that persistent in going down fighting; I think I¡¯d just accept my fate at that point," Vee admitted. "Attacking from the inside works great, though," I replied. "Early on, I used it to defeat quite a few foes. I had a Gigatoad swallow me so I could attack it from the inside out!" "Ew..." Vee whined. "With your shrinking and teleporting, attacking from the inside would probably work great!" I added. "No thank you!" Vee rejected the idea. "Teleporting out would probably work," Trixie said, rubbing her chin. "But you can¡¯t teleport inside someone." "Why not?" Vee asked. "Mana Aura?" I replied in question. "Bingo!" Trixie said. "Same reason you can¡¯t spawn a [Fireball] inside someone¡¯s stomach." "I think I¡¯d rather spawn a [Ball Lightning]... Or [Caustic Cloud]!" Trixie shuddered, "That is absolutely horrific! And the exact reason why you can¡¯t do it! Probably!" "Damn, I really need to learn this stupid Mana aura thing..." Vee grumbled. "It¡¯s certainly useful. Just imagine what you could do with [Pocket Space]," I pointed out. "Yeah... I know, but I¡¯m not feeling very much like the rock," Vee whined. "Good thing I¡¯m here! I have a hundred percent success rate!" Trixie said excitedly. "Oh? That¡¯s actually pretty reassuring," Vee responded positively. "How many students?" Trixie pointed towards me, "One!" Vee groaned, "I should have seen that coming..." Trixie burst into laughter until Vee threatened her with the [Rift Thread] flyswatter. We talked it over and decided to leave the training for now with Trixie while I focused on familiarizing myself with [Soul Sight]. "Once you work it out, you¡¯ll probably wonder how you ever functioned without it," Trixie said, hoping the alluring taunt would work on me. And she was definitely right; such a tantalizing prospect greatly appealed to me, and I wanted to see what it had in store for me. I activated [Soul Sight] and tried differentiating between Essence, Life, and Mana. I spent what felt like hours staring at various aspects of it. Casting a spell, holding a spell, staring at Vee or Trixie directly, and even slowly beating an elemental to death, hoping to see what its lifeforce depleting looked like. I soon realized afterward that an elemental was probably not the ideal target for this study, being mainly composed of what I assumed was Mana and Essence. Maybe I¡¯m going about this the wrong way... Perhaps it isn¡¯t actually individual concepts but more like parts of a bigger whole? I can¡¯t differentiate between them because there¡¯s nothing to differentiate? All three forces make up the so-called Soul? I paused to think about it some more. No... That can¡¯t be right. My spell doesn¡¯t have lifeforce, but it should have a blend of Mana and Essence. Huh... Maybe? So I began getting lost in trial and error, ignorant of whatever training Taskmaster Trixie was putting Vee through. Chapter 220: Looking for Trouble Chapter 220: Looking for Trouble "Ugh... I think I¡¯m so close..." Vee whined. "I just hate that absolute feeling of dread right at the end. It¡¯s like multiple alarm bells all going off at once." I nodded sympathetically, "It was pretty bad. I absolutely hated it." "Come on, it¡¯s not that bad... At least from what I can remember," Trixie shrugged. "I wouldn¡¯t trust your memory. You¡¯re, how old exactly?" Vee questioned. "Old. From what I could tell, she spent at least a hundred years in a cage," I replied. "Hey!" Trixie cried out. "Don¡¯t go revealing a lady¡¯s age!" "You never cared about it before..." I pointed out. While Trixie grumbled her complaints, Vee and I continued our banter. "So, how¡¯s your training going? Better than mine, I hope," Vee asked. It had been rather fruitful, much to my relief. Effectively, I had at least regained my previous usage of [Mana Conception] and could filter it out from Lifeforce and Essence. I¡¯d basically been overloaded with new information and needed to learn how to break it down. It certainly didn¡¯t help that I¡¯d gained extra levels higher than my original [Mana Conception], which also threw me for a loop. There were more details in the concepts baked into my spells that I¡¯d previously been unable to comprehend. So, I was dealing with a combination of foreign and new information. Now, I just needed to regain my functionality with [Life Sight] and [Essence Sight], and then I could start looking into the benefits of using this combined approach. At least in terms of magic, I knew that having essence would no doubt help isolate singular affinities. I explained my results to Vee, and while most of it seemed to go over her head, she still congratulated me. Since I¡¯d at least made my goal, we decided to retire for the evening, much to her relief as she was utterly exhausted. The next day, I decided to introduce Trixie to Thern and his family, and to my surprise, Thessa was actually present. She looked far thinner than I recalled, no doubt absolutely locked away with her new toys to play with. I also had that habit, so I couldn¡¯t exactly fault her for the behavior. All around, it was rather pleasant. Thessa met Vee for the first time, which was humorous as she hadn¡¯t believed Thern and Darmod when they¡¯d told her I¡¯d tamed a powerful spider monster. As for Trixie, it was mixed results. Darmod was interested in seeing if the pixie knew anyone he could open potential trade agreements with, while Thessa was oddly cautious around her. Thern, on the other hand, requested some pixie dust, to which Trixie was more than happy to do a little dance over a bottle for him to collect some. "Enchanting ingredients!" Thern said boisterously. I quizzed him a bit on the uses, and it could effectively be added to some of the lesser materials to boost its Mana conductivity. Even a sprinkle added to some silver solution would boost it to gold, if not better. At this point, I could produce Orichalcum on demand, so I couldn¡¯t really see a use for it myself. Not to mention, thanks to my latest slime upgrades, I could now make Adamantine and Mythril. I had wondered if Mythril would have replaced Orichalcum, but it seemed the latter still stood out in terms of pure Mana conductivity. However, Mythril was far lighter and more durable, and blades utilizing it were unnaturally sharp. Adamantine was the complete opposite. Dense, heavy, extremely resistant, and almost reluctant to receive enchantments and the like. I¡¯d certainly use it if I ever fought against a spellcaster, and I created a circular casing to protect my cores. Who needs armor when I can just make casings! I¡¯d need to test which was better in the long run: an enchanted Mythril case or one made from Adamantine. Or better yet, maybe once I reach the max level or uncapped [Metal Slime], perhaps I can mix the two. I need so many points to uncap things! I need that discount, Mother! There was also Obsidianite to consider, and I wondered how that would change things. Seeing Thern¡¯s new enchanting tool and Thessa¡¯s new hammer made of the stuff was extremely impressive. All three dwarves tried to convince me to have some more stuff made out of the material for myself, hoping to lower the outstanding amount from my share of the wealth. Quite frankly, I didn¡¯t really care about it and tried to wave it off, but it seemed the dwarves weren¡¯t happy about being "in debt" with me. Even though I¡¯d repeatedly said, I don¡¯t see it that way. I¡¯d even offered the condition that if they ever came across a slime core, they could hold it for me in reserve or something. When Trixie mentioned wanting some rather fancy clothes, Darmod jumped on the opportunity. This caused Vee to mention rings, which I brought up for her. The relief on his face made me wonder what sort of turmoil he was going through. I¡¯d just asked for slime cores; surely they weren¡¯t that hard to come by? Then again... With how fragile they can be, I guess it could be challenging. How many adventurers actually try to kill them without damaging the core or are even capable of doing it. Maybe I¡¯m literally monopolizing the entire market here. Just call me Syl, The Slime Core Baron. Hehe... After leaving Darmod with a shopping list for my two friends, Thern and Thessa with a crafting order, and a wonderful meal, we returned to our inn. "So, when are we going to do the slime farm raid?" Trixie asked curiously. "Uh... I thought we might need to do some research and prepare," I answered. "Also, I don¡¯t think we¡¯re raiding them; we¡¯re just observing. As much as I want some more silver cores, I don¡¯t exactly want to kill their prized slimes." Vee gasped, "Who are you, and what have you done with Syl?" "Ha, ha... Very funny..." I droned sarcastically. "If they somehow trace it back to me, I¡¯d rather not have an entire nation after me." "Good point!" Vee quickly agreed. "I¡¯d certainly not want to be caught in the guilty by association part." "You might accidentally cause a diplomatic incident between the elves and dwarves," Trixie pointed out. "Which would be hilarious, by the way." "Oh no! Don¡¯t go starting race wars! Bad pixie!" Vee scolded. "No wars... Just a bit of mischief," Trixie winked. "Maybe this is a bad idea..." I admitted. "Agreed, I feel like it would be a very Fey thing to cause us to be caught!" Vee warned. Trixie pouted, "I wouldn¡¯t do that! Can¡¯t you two take a joke?" "Only if it¡¯s a good one," Vee replied. Trixie gaped and went speechless. Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author¡¯s preferred platform and support their work! "Too far, Vee..." I said. "Sorry, Trixie, you¡¯re plenty funny." Trixie, while sulking, patted my head, "You¡¯re the only one who understands me, Syl..." Vee sighed, "Drama queen..." "Maybe a little," Trixie admitted. "Okay... So, if we do do this, what¡¯s our plan?" I asked. "Do we even know where this place is?" Vee questioned. "Yeah, it¡¯s in the industrial sector, obviously," Trixie replied. "What makes you so sure?" I asked. "Well, no doubt it would be near the forges. Surely you¡¯d want to keep your slimes near where the metal is made?" Trixie explained. Vee nodded in agreement, "Sounds reasonable." "Okay... So look around the industrial sector near the forges," I said. "I could probably sniff out where there¡¯s a lot of earth essence, which is probably where the slimes are kept," Trixie added. "What are you, part bloodhound now?" Vee asked. "Haha, nope! But I might as well be, woof!" Trixie teased. Vee groaned, "I regret saying anything..." "Moving on..." I interjected, hoping to change the subject, "We find the location and hopefully sneak in?" "I can shrink more," Vee said. "Should help with getting in anywhere sneakily." "As long as it¡¯s not bigger than my cores, I can probably get in anywhere," I added. "I could always melt a bigger gap, but I¡¯d rather avoid leaving any trace behind." "I¡¯m already small," Trixie added. "And I can make us pretty much invisible." "I really don¡¯t like the term ¡¯pretty much invisible.¡¯ Can you not be more specific?" Vee asked with concern. "Baring someone with the incredibly rare racial trait [Truesight] or an absurd level in [Illusion Resistance], we will be covered," Trixie said with a frown. "Wow. That sounds like an awesome trait," I commented. "I don¡¯t suppose you have it to show me?" Trixie shook her head, "It¡¯s extremely rare. I¡¯m really not joking. Like I think only mythical monsters have it." "Mythical monsters?" I asked eagerly. Trixie sighed, "Of course you¡¯d be interested in that. Stuff like phoenixes, dragons, gorgons, the biggest of baddest monsters." "Sounds dangerous," Vee commented. "Sounds delicious," I chuckled. "Of course, you¡¯d want to try to eat a dragon," Trixie sighed. "You don¡¯t mess with dragons, silly." "It¡¯d go very well with the tasty worm I ate," I joked. "Yeah, until you take a face full of dragon fire..." Trixie pointed out. "Don¡¯t say I didn¡¯t warn you." "I¡¯m almost fireproof!" I replied. "I think you need way more than ten levels to be immune to dragon fire..." Trixie mumbled. "Count me out then! If you want to fight a dragon, I¡¯ll teleport to safety!" Vee informed me. "I mean... Not now, but eventually. It¡¯s something to aspire to!" I countered. "I aspire to live a long life with lots of food," Vee responded. "Preferably with me on the eating end and not the eaten." Trixie giggled, "Sorry, Syl. It looks like you¡¯ll have to become a solo dragon slayer." I shrugged, "More experience for me, I suppose." "I think you¡¯re forgetting [Bonded Companion]," Vee joked. "Wait... No... That seems unfair!" I complained. "I take a risk to take on some colossal dragon and have to share my spoils..." "I was only kidding..." Vee admitted. "It probably has a range limit..." Trixie mused. "It would be strange for your [Bonded Companion] sitting at home a continent away to get experience from you." "Oh wow, imagine that! I could be sitting at a cafe and gaining experience!" Vee said excitedly. "Is this my version of Syl¡¯s pay-to-win with slime cores?" "There¡¯s a big flaw in your master lazy plan," I grumbled. "You won¡¯t let me do it?" Vee asked. "I don¡¯t think a cafe would let you in without Syl," Trixie explained before I could. "Oh... Right, the whole spider monster thing..." Vee sighed. "Do you think I could get a shapeshifting evolution?" "I can¡¯t say I¡¯ve ever heard of one... Maybe something illusion-based?" Trixie offered. I hummed in thought at the potential idea, "Seems risky; imagine someone bumping into you, and they go right through you instead." "Very true, that¡¯s how I got captured," Trixie divulged. "I thought I was flawless, but Mister Gloomy noticed things passing through me. He kept it a secret until he revealed his trap." "I think I see where Syl gets that reckless streak from," Vee quipped. "Hey..." I objected. "Nope! Syl was like that way before meeting me; I¡¯m innocent," Trixie grinned. "Hardly..." I opposed. Vee nodded, "Pixies and Fey are never innocent; that¡¯s what all the stories say." "Slander!" Trixie snapped. "Who wrote these books? I¡¯ll pull some strings and get them taken care of." Vee chuckled nervously, "Good luck with that... It¡¯s stuff from my scrambled past life." Trixie clicked her tongue in annoyance, "That certainly complicates things..." "Uh... Can we get back to the silver slime farm espionage?" I spoke up. "We¡¯ve gone on quite the tangent." "True... Well, we needed to kill time anyway," Trixie shrugged. "Even if this place doesn¡¯t have a true night, being underground and all, people still follow sleep schedules. We definitely want to strike under the cover of darkness!" "More like the cover of a magically illuminated city..." Vee corrected. "Only a mild inconvenience if we put our heads together!" Trixie said triumphantly. This is either going to go super well... Or end in disaster... Either way, it should be fun. *** Name: Syl [Nature¡¯s Bane] Race: Chimeric Cluster Slime (Blue) LV 11 Class: Elementalist LV 15 Status: Healthy Mana: Overflowing Emblems: [Experiment] [Apex Hunter] [Elven Legacy] [Dungeoneer] [Nature¡¯s Bane]* [Manhunter] Traits: Slime: [Mana Slime LV 13] [Acid Slime LV 7] [Poison Slime LV 7] [Blaze Slime LV 7] [Cryo Slime LV 8] [Voltaic Slime LV 7] [Nitro Slime LV 7] [Metal Slime LV 8] [Luminous Slime] [Morph Slime LV 8] [Pseudopod LV 7] [Slime Shot LV 8] [Vaporize Slime] Core: [Core Collective LV 8] [Core Storage LV 6] [Sub-Core Alpha LV 6] [Sub-Core Beta LV 6] [Sub-Core Gamma LV 6] [Sub-Core Eta LV 6] [Sub-Core Delta LV 6] [Sub-Core Theta LV 6] [Sub-Core Epsilon LV 6] [Sub-Core Iota LV 6] [Sub-Core Zeta LV 6] [Sub-Core Kappa LV 6] Mimic: [Chimeric Mimicry LV 7] [Chroma Shift LV MAX] [Consuming Osmosis LV MAX] Mana: [Mana Circulation LV 7] [Mana Reinforcement LV 7] [Derived Element (Air) LV 6] [Mana Infusion] Attributes/Other: [Soul Mastery LV 7] [Enhanced Vitality LV 5] [Magic Resistance (Lesser) LV 5] [Curse Resistance LV 2] [Illusion Resistance LV 3] [Sonic Resistance LV 1] [Prodigy] Senses: [Soul Sight LV 8] [Dark Vision LV MAX] [Thermal Vision LV MAX] [Eagle Vision LV 4] [Electro-Magnetic Sense LV 5] [Tremor Sense LV 5] [Olfactory Sense] Trait Points remaining: 16 Skills: General: [Universal Language] [Equipment Swap] [Dissection LV 7] [Mapping LV 5] [Tracking LV 3] [Identify LV 6] [Multitasking LV 5] [Perception LV 5] [Aerial Finesse LV 4] [Thunder Step LV 4] [Wind Step LV 3] Tamer: [Companion Bond] [Companion Training LV 6] Combat: [Tranquil Flow LV 5] [Attack Mastery (Lesser) LV 7] [Affliction Mastery LV 6] [Exploit Weakness LV 5] Magic: [Water Magic LV 5] [Fire Magic LV 6] [Corrosion Magic LV 6] [Ice Magic LV 5] [Arcane Magic LV 5] [Lightning Magic LV 5] [Earth Magic LV 4] [Air Magic LV 4] [Light Magic LV 2] [Mana Manipulation LV 6] [Magic Efficiency LV 5] [Magical Overcharge LV 1] [Counter Magic LV 4] [Elemental Shift LV 5] [Elemental Adaptation] [Ritual Casting] [Mana Suppression] [Elemental Harmony] Sneaky: [Vanish LV 6] [Assassinate LV 6] [Identity Fabrication LV 6] [Acting LV 5] [Rogue Expertise LV 4] [Magical Subterfuge LV 4] [Trap Mastery LV 3] [Subtle Afflictions] Skill Points remaining: 18 Profession: Enchanting: [Rune Reading LV 6] [Rune Engraving LV 2] [Rune Framework LV 7] [Rune Tracing LV 5] [Rune Design LV 3] [Runecrafting LV 2] [Rune Inspection LV 5] [Rune Filigree LV 3] [Rune Repair LV 2] [Brand] Profession Points Remaining: 0 Chapter 221: Sneaky Slime Chapter 221: Sneaky Slime Before our outing, we first returned to the inn to prepare. While I kept most of my supplies and such on hand, I potentially had ten problems I would need to handle for optimal sneaking. And so, I needed to make a dropoff if we were going to do this, one that I was incredibly reluctant to do. When we reached the safe confines of my room, I sighed and began slowly extracting my [Sub-Cores]. Vee looked curiously at me, while Trixie looked horrified. "Syl... What are those!?" Trixie demanded. "[Sub-Cores]..." I answered hesitantly. "I thought we talked about this! No becoming a Slime Queen and taking over the world!" Trixie shrieked. "What?" I replied in shock, then looked at the core in my hand and felt like crawling into a hole to hide my embarrassment. "No! No, no, no. These are not my children!" "Aren¡¯t they just the cores you¡¯ve been collecting?" Vee asked curiously. "Although they seem a lot more... Refined than those, and are those engravings?" "Syl..." Trixie repeated with concern on her face. She probably would have been tapping her foot impatiently if she wasn¡¯t floating. "What the heck have you been doing?" I couldn¡¯t help but frown. I thought for sure I had told Trixie about my [Sub-Cores]. Either I was misremembering, or she had forgotten. "These are my [Sub-Cores], like mini-helpers that cast spells, manipulate slime, and so forth," I explained. "Is that why you eat so many of them?" Vee gasped. "No, those I really did eat. I made these ones myself," I elaborated. "Making slime cores?" Trixie asked with an accusatory tone. "That¡¯s sounding very Queenish to me." "I¡¯ve been able to do this since... Forever," I defended myself. "I¡¯ve just increased their quantity... A lot. I¡¯ve also enchanted them for protection and defense. I began pulling out a few more cores. Vee looked at them curiously, while Trixie looked especially concerned. "Why?" Vee asked, breaking the silence. "Well, they¡¯re costly to make and replace; even repairing them can be painful," I explained. "I see... But why are you suddenly removing them?" Vee questioned. "Well, I can¡¯t exactly go sneaking around with ten of these jingling inside me," I answered. "If I want to take on much smaller and compact forms, I sadly need to temporarily remove them." "Can you not just poof them into storage?" Vee questioned. "Nope, I can¡¯t," I sighed. "Which is kinda odd since I can store dead slime cores in my storage, but not these." Vee gingerly poked one, causing it to roll. "So these aren¡¯t children?" Trixie questioned. "No, they can¡¯t even function when outside of my connected slime," I answered honestly. That answer caused the pixie to genuinely sigh with relief and ease up. "I¡¯m surprised you have so many..." Vee murmured. I grinned. "I could technically have more; I haven¡¯t found the limit yet, and it just costs a trait point and slime. They are invaluable; who do you think has been helping you train or casting shield spells on you?" "Wait! Really?" Vee exclaimed. "I¡¯m going to pretend I didn¡¯t just hear that..." Trixie whined. I shrugged at Trixie before returning to Vee, "Yeah. I can set commands on them. I¡¯ve had some commands to protect me, or you, or make it look like I¡¯m bleeding if attacked, and so forth." "Woah, that sounds brilliant!" Vee exclaimed. "Shouldn¡¯t you not be doing this then? It feels really dumb to leave them behind." "I¡¯ll take one or two..." I replied, scratching my chin. "But I can¡¯t see me needing them for this. The objective is to be as sneaky as possible, after all." "No offense, but I hope you¡¯ll bring the one you ordered to protect me," Vee giggled. "Sure, why not," I agreed. Trixie seemed to be mulling something over. If she didn¡¯t come out of it, I would give her a good poke, but she eventually sighed and seemed to mostly return to her old demeanor. She did give some of the [Sub-Cores] a poke and, at some point, even sat on one, which seemed to provide her some much-needed reassurance. "Are you checking to see if they have Mana?" I asked. Trixie flinched slightly at my accusation and sighed, "Yes... It was one way for me to confirm they weren¡¯t alive." I gave a teasing wink before touching one of the inert cores with a finger. Trixie frowned deeply, no doubt realizing that it now had Mana as it was linked to my own pool. "Well... At least it needs to be connected to you," Trixie mumbled. "For now, anyway," Vee added. "Watch Syl get an evolution later that skips that." Trixie groaned. "Or a trait. It¡¯s something I¡¯m kind of hoping for," I admitted. "Imagine what I could do then? I could give all my friends a [Sub-Core] helper of their own. Wouldn¡¯t that be pretty great?" Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. "I¡¯d love one! Please give me one!" Vee responded instantly. Trixie was still grumbling to herself. "Do you not want one?" I asked teasingly. "Imagine if it had my Mana leaking from it even if you were away." "Your own portable buffet!" Vee said excitedly. "That does sound tempting..." Trixie admitted. "But the thought of you being able to be in multiple places at once is oddly terrifying." "It would be great for my disguises," I pointed out. "I could be Syl the elf, Sylvester the human, Syl the slime---hell, I could even remake Wiggles for you!" I had Alpha mimic the violet slime and create a fake profile saying Wiggles to demonstrate what I was talking about. Trixie looked genuinely surprised while Vee laughed hysterically. "Wiggles is back from the dead!" Vee teased. "So long as he stays connected to me forever, he is," I pointed out. "For now..." Vee added. "Let¡¯s hope so!" I cheered. Trixie sighed yet again and shook her head, "Okay... Are we going to do our sneaking mission now?" "Ready when you are," I replied. "Same, I¡¯m all legs on deck," Vee answered. "Great. Let¡¯s go before I start questioning my past judgments," Trixie declared, fluttering towards the door. Once we left the inn, we headed toward as deserted of an alley as we could find. Once Trixie declared she had cloaked us, I began blocking out my profile, and Vee did the same, shrinking it even further. First, I took the random form of as a non-descript dwarf as possible. "Really? Lern?" Vee spoke up. "That¡¯s the name you¡¯re going with?" "I would have loved to have used another Syl-ish name, but I wanted something I could throw away," I answered. "Where the hell did you even get that name from?" Trixie asked. "I just took Thern and replaced it with an ¡¯L,¡¯" I answered. "I guess it really doesn¡¯t matter. Still, I¡¯m glad you didn¡¯t name me," Trixie teased. "At least I don¡¯t name my spells [Create: Ice Stupid]..." I grumbled. Trixie gasped in shock, "You¡¯re insulting the great and powerful Archwizard Frostius? He revolutionized the entire world of [Ice Magic]!" "Really?" Vee asked. "No, not really," Trixie responded. "That is a pretty stupid name, though." "Right!?" I chuckled. "I¡¯m glad someone finally agrees with me." "Probably one of those wizards who love shouting their spells out loud," Trixie huffed. "Yes, let me just announce to all my enemies that I¡¯m going to be throwing a [Fireball]!" "I heard it was so party members can react to your spells," I answered. Trixie shrugged, "Eh... Still dumb, just use [Telepathy]." "I don¡¯t think everyone can just get [Telepathy]..." Vee groaned. "Anyway, I think we¡¯ve reached the industrial district." I looked around, and it looked like Vee was right. The surroundings had almost entirely become various workshops, and some of the dwarves were either carrying crates of raw resources or sealed boxes of presumably finished products. With Trixie mostly obscuring us and Vee shrunk down to hide within a fake coat I¡¯d made, almost nobody was paying us attention. Now, the only question was, where did we go? "I think we should go where there¡¯s the most fire essence," Trixie explained. "No doubt that¡¯s where the forges are." "Makes sense..." Vee replied. "You should try using your [Soul Sight]; get in some practice!" Trixie informed me. I nodded in agreement and began utilizing the trait. It was tough, as now not only did I need to try filtering for the fire essence, but I was getting a lot of feedback from all the dwarves surrounding us, their lifeforce and Mana interfering with my results. When I started having no real luck, Trixie suggested we go to a quieter corner for me to focus. Once there, it became a lot more manageable, and once I examined it enough, I began noticing the familiar sight of the fire essence. "That was pretty fast..." Vee replied. "I almost thought we might be here all night." "If Syl had no experience using [Essence Sight] before fusing it, that might have been the case," Trixie answered. "I¡¯m presuming Syl tracked or worked with fire essence before." "Actually, yes, I found a fire ant nest and used it to find lava and giant worms," I explained. "And to think I spent most of my life living in an abandoned mine..." Vee mumbled. "Beats spending a century trapped in a cage!" Trixie responded. "I¡¯m honestly surprised you¡¯re still sane after that..." Vee whispered. "Who said she¡¯s still sane?" I joked. "Meh... Time stops being a factor once you¡¯ve lived as long as I have," Trixie shrugged it off. "It helps that I can meditate and effectively hibernate for years." "Still... That¡¯s kinda sad, isn¡¯t it? What of your friends growing old and dying around you?" Vee asked. "Other than you two, I don¡¯t really have mortal friends, and I¡¯m not too sure about Syl dying of old age," Trixie replied. "Wait... So I¡¯m the only one who¡¯s going to grow old? I¡¯ll be a granny spider, and you two will be young forever?" Vee cried. "I¡¯m sure there¡¯s a trait... Or item... Maybe a potion?" I offered suggestions and turned to Trixie with a hopeful expression. "Oh yeah, who knows what you could find in a dungeon. Potentially countless things to extend your lifespan, if not remove it entirely," Trixie revealed. "Or who knows, you could do your monster cheat thing and evolve into something functionally immortal. Hanging around Syl will probably trigger some strange evolutions for you." "Spider slime!" I joked. "As cool as you make a slime look, I don¡¯t think I want to be one," Vee admitted. "Yeah, imagine living up to this goofball¡¯s reputation," Trixie quipped. "I feel sorry for Syl¡¯s kids," Vee sighed. I was going to complain, but Trixie beat me to the punch. "No Queen evolution!" The pixie screeched. "Yeesh... Does that go for my broodmother evolution, too?" Vee questioned. "Oh gods... Why did you have to tell me that," Trixie groaned. "I don¡¯t know... It¡¯s probably not as bad as having multiple Syl¡¯s running around doing who knows what." "I¡¯m worse than hundreds of dimensional shrinking spiders?" I questioned. "Oh... Shit," Trixie answered. "I hadn¡¯t even thought of that. Spiders usually have a hundred per egg sac, don¡¯t they?" "Small tiny spiders, maybe, but I had nowhere near that many siblings when I was born," Vee answered defensively. "Not that I have any desire to pick the broodmother evolution..." "Good. Probably for the best," Trixie advised. "Imagine if they did something stupid like building an entire nest out of that [Rift Thread], or worse!" "That could be bad..." I admitted. "Plus, eggs are evil and should never be mentioned again." "It was one time!" Trixie objected. "One time too many..." I whined. Our conversation entertained us while I followed the trail of fire essence poorly. Thankfully, as I used it more and more, I became far more proficient in it and started recognizing the other bits of essence mingling around. I¡¯m tempted to just keep it on permanently until I grow used to it. Although I might get far too distracted by everything flowing around. We reached an absolutely massive structure that was blazing with fire essence. So much so that it drowned out the ambient earth essence into almost obscurity. "Well... If they¡¯re doing any important forging or smelting... I think it¡¯s in here," Trixie replied. "I swear we were right next to a volcano." "Just a reminder... I¡¯m not fireproof," Vee declared. "Well, unless you¡¯re planning on taking a dip in the smelter, I think you¡¯ll be fine," I teased. "You could always go through the pyromancer training arc," Trixie suggested. "What¡¯s that?" Vee asked gullibly. Trixie grinned mischievously, but I answered before she could get Vee to agree to anything stupid. "They set themselves on fire or detonate [Fireballs] near themselves to train resistances." "That sounds... So dumb!" Vee replied aghast. "Do hydromancers drown themselves? Do geomancers bury themselves alive?" "Sometimes... It¡¯s kinda dumb but effective," Trixie replied nonchalantly. "It¡¯s better than training mental resistances anyway." "Why?" Vee asked. "Take a guess," Trixie responded. Vee made some suggestions, but Trixie shot them down one by one. I also thought about it, and I think I had an answer. "Is it due to pain resistance traits or skills?" "Bingo!" "Do those only work on stuff that physically hurts you?" Vee questioned. "Bingo!" Trixie repeated. "Huh..." Vee muttered. "I guess I won¡¯t be training mental resistances anytime soon." "So, fires on the table?" I questioned. "We¡¯ll have to do a raincheck until I get a pain resistance trait..." Vee replied nervously. "Pity, either way we have a heist to make!" Trixie giggled. Chapter 222: Infiltration Chapter 222: Infiltration With only two cores to worry about, I had a much smaller repertoire of forms available. However, I couldn¡¯t help but feel like I was partially naked, which was highly disconcerting because I hadn¡¯t felt like that ever before. I mean, technically, I run around naked all the time; I don¡¯t think you can count my slime as clothes. I¡¯ll return my other cores to their proper place once we return to our room. Vee shrunk down to the most diminutive size I¡¯d ever seen. Trixie cast some sort of spell on all three of us, and I turned into a big fat rat after depositing my hat. "Really? Of all the things you turn into, you picked a rat?" Trixie questioned. "It¡¯s either this or like... A spider? We¡¯ve already got a spider on our team," I said. "I could turn into a bloodbug or a small worm if you¡¯d prefer, or maybe a jackalope or a wolf?" "No, no, it¡¯s fine..." Trixie sighed. "I guess a rat at least makes sense in the dwarf city; they would be very confused to see a wolf down here." "Which is probably why Syl picked it," Vee pointed out. "Exactly!" I agreed. Trixie grumbled a bit, and we started trying to sneak into the building. It had several windows and ventholes, so we had plenty of entry points. Trixie also explained that rather than making us directly invisible, she applied a sort of filter over us. "Why not just make us invisible?" Vee asked before I could. "This works better," Trixie explained. "Invisibility is great if you¡¯re confident nobody will detect you, but if they can, then you stick out like a sore thumb. However, if you instead make their perception a little off, and you¡¯re being inconspicuous, they won¡¯t notice you in the first place!" "So, like my hat?" I asked. "Eh... Kinda?" Trixie shrugged. "Rather than making people think we were meant to be here, they think nothing of us. Just like seeing a faceless person in the crowd." "Neat!" Vee replied excitedly. Even in rat form, I could easily climb up the wall of the building thanks to adhesive slime. Trixie booed a little, hoping I would do something dramatic like sprout spider legs and become a rat spider. Vee and I sighed and prayed the pixie wouldn¡¯t give us away for a good laugh. Thankfully, we made it inside without anyone spotting us, or at least not making a commotion if they did. It was a significant relief for me and Vee, but Trixie acted like it was the most natural outcome in the world. "Okay, let¡¯s stick to the ceilings for now," I whispered mentally. "Roger," Vee whispered back. "You... really don¡¯t need to whisper," Trixie droned. "It just feels like the right thing to do," I replied, and Vee agreed. "I suppose, although it¡¯s definitely a bit silly," Trixie sighed. With Vee and I clung to the ceiling and Trixie slowly fluttering after us, we began going from room to room. We briefly scanned a room before moving on to the next, and we saw a lot of furnaces and forges, weapon racks, and armor stands. One room was literally just a room of raw metal ingots, which I casually perused to see if there were any new metals for me, but I came up short. Vee and I both held our breaths whenever a dwarf walked under us, but Trixie just groaned and called us amateurs. I was forced into using [Soul Sight] again and trying to pinpoint the largest source of fire essence, hoping it would give us a better location. There was just so much fire essence throughout the whole building that it made it really tricky to proceed. However, with some guidance and hints from Trixie, I eventually found a slight distinction, and we started going in that direction. Unlike the previous rooms, this one was clearly locked with what looked like blast doors, but it still had vents for the room to expel whatever heat was inside. Vee and Trixie made it through without any issues, but it was an extremely tight squeeze for me. It was highly unpleasant having the bars of the grate scrape against the edges of my core, and on more than one occasion, I was tempted to melt my way through. They giggled at me, struggling to pass my core through the gap. "Guess you need to go on a bit of a diet, Syl," Trixie teased. "And to think you teased me about gaining [Overeating]..." Vee joked. "It¡¯s not like I can change the size of my cores!" I protested. "I could have probably teleported you with a portal," Vee offered. I groaned, "Why didn¡¯t you say something sooner?" "That probably would have been a terrible idea," Trixie said. "[Dimension Magic] uses a lot of Mana, if those teleportation stone discs are anything to go off of, and teleporting Syl would have made it even worse." The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. "Yeah, Syl is dimensionally heavy," Vee giggled. "So you¡¯re suggesting they might be able to detect spells?" I asked, trying my best to ignore the teasing. "Yeah, it¡¯s always possible," Trixie answered. "I¡¯m assuming Vee doesn¡¯t have anything to hide spellcasting yet since she hasn¡¯t broken through her Mana aura." "No, not really," Vee answered. "It¡¯s on the to-do list," I replied. "Good, good," Trixie responded happily. "Now, let¡¯s see what they were hiding in here." Following the trail of fire essence leaking out, we were met with the sight of an absolutely massive furnace-cum-cauldron. It had massive vats of molten metal blazing with an extreme amount of enchantments and an entire array of magical devices. At first, I thought they might have been red slime cores, but it appeared these were made from other parts. Each vat had channels and valves that could be opened to pour the liquids out into a centralized one. I wondered if this was how they created alloys or if it had another purpose. "Wow... It¡¯s hot in here," Trixie whined. "Yeah, this is not pleasant at all..." Vee agreed. "Syl, can¡¯t you turn into an ice slime so we can cool down?" Trixie requested. "Sure, it¡¯s pretty simple," I replied. "Just make sure not to turn too cold; we don¡¯t want to get frostbite!" Trixie warned. I shrugged off her warning; I knew perfectly well how to control my slime. Since we were attached to the ceiling anyway, I abandoned my rat form and instead blobbed out. I activated a low level of [Cryo Slime] and motioned with a tendril for Trixie to come over. The pixie wasted no time flying into me and then letting out a relieved sigh. Seeing Trixie so happy, Vee cautiously approached before touching the slime as well. "That¡¯s so cool, you¡¯re so cold!" Vee said excitedly. "And now you know why I enjoy sitting on Syl¡¯s head so much, the pinnacle of slime comfort," Trixie giggled. "You could probably make a killer waterbed or maybe a beanbag?" Vee suggested. "Why would anyone sleep in a bed of water?" I asked. "I think the mermen do," Trixie answered. "No... It¡¯s not literally water; it¡¯s a mattress full of water, and it jiggles," Vee explained. "Interesting..." Trixie said, rubbing her chin inquisitively. "I see. Well, I sleep in a bedtub, so who am I to judge?" I said. "Aww, you kept the bedtub I made for you?" Trixie asked happily. "I even enchanted it!" I answered excitedly. "Huh... Why aren¡¯t you using it at the inn?" Vee asked. "I¡¯m way too scared to drop my disguise in civilized areas," I replied. "Especially sleeping; who knows who might be watching?" "Well, hopefully, once we leave the dwarves, you can start using it again," Trixie encouraged. "Speaking of which... Do you have any idea what the hell that is?" Vee asked, gesturing one of her legs towards the massive construction. "No idea! It looks like an artificial volcano with all the glowing molten metal!" Trixie guessed. I stared at it for longer and began examining it, using my neglected [Eagle Vision] to get a closer look. "Ah... Shit, I forgot to show you this," I said to Vee and offered her the trait. "Oooh! That sounds super useful! Thanks!" Vee marveled. "How the heck did you get that?" Trixie questioned. "Griffons, although an adventurer friend of mine told me about the trait and said many adventurers hoard the good ones," I explained. "Of course, they hoard the good stuff to themselves, damned humans," Trixie grumbled. "Hey, I used to be human," Vee complained. "You sure? How do you know you weren¡¯t a dwarf, elf, or something in between?" Trixie teased. "None of those things existed in my last life!" Vee objected. "Hmm... Sounds like a very boring world," Trixie shrugged. While those two goofed around, I kept examining the contraption further. Initially, I had thought it was for alloying stuff, but when I looked at two of the connecting vats, they appeared to have the same colored solution in each one. Why mix two of the same metals together? I wondered. I shared my findings and original theory with the others. Trixie also thought it might be used for alloying, but Vee had no idea. While we were discussing possibilities, two dwarves walked into the room, dragging a cart modified to have a vat on top. "Quickly now, I want to head straight to the tavern after this load!" one of the dwarves expressed. "Yeah, yeah," the other dwarf shrugged it off. "I¡¯ll join you after I¡¯m done feeding them." "Make sure you hurry over; I¡¯m pretty sure it¡¯s your turn to buy!" the first dwarf chuckled. They continued to make small talk about food and drink before dumping a silvery solution straight into one of the vats and activating an enchantment on it, igniting the vat with fiery life. Moving to the unoccupied vat, they opened a reinforced crate and began throwing silver bars into it. "What the hell are they doing?" Trixie questioned. "Melting silver bars by the looks of things..." Vee answered. "Weird though, I could¡¯ve sworn they poured some silvery metal into the first vat, so they are mixing silver with silver?" Trixie postulated. "Or silver slime with silver bars?" I suggested. "That sounds kind of dumb; why would they even need to do that?" Trixie brushed it off. "Well... How do they get the silver slime to stay solid metal?" I pondered. "Mixing it with real silver metal? Really?" Vee questioned. "That sounds a bit dumb." "No, I think what Syl says makes sense," Trixie replied. "I am the slime, after all," I asserted. "Well, can the slime expert please explain? I¡¯m very lost..." Vee complained. I chuckled before agreeing and going into my semi-explanation. I started by first explaining my own slime, which, when detached from me, always reverted back to my natural state¡ª[Mana Slime]. Sure, I could take on the aspects of the other slime types, but after time, it seemed to always revert back to my default if separated from my core. I then explained that a silver slime¡¯s default state would presumably be [Metal Slime], so even when separated, it would still be whatever metal it was copying. "I always wondered how they got around the fact that even if it was considered a metal, it would still be slimy goop after some time," I clarified. "Even if my slime always reverts to [Mana Slime], the same can¡¯t be said for any solids I make. Silver slimes have [Shape Slime] so they can make spikes or blades to attack, but it wouldn¡¯t stay solid." "And so they mix the slimy metal with real metal and reforge it?" Trixie asked. "That¡¯s my guess," I agreed. "But wouldn¡¯t mixing it with slime lower its purity?" Vee objected. "I guess the dwarves worked out a perfect ratio of slime to metal?" I suggested. "So they¡¯re effectively doubling their metals... That¡¯s genius!" Trixie said excitedly. "Syl, we should totally duplicate metal bars! Think of the fortune we would make!" "Why?" I rebutted. "It¡¯s not like we need more money..." "We could have a hoard of gold!" Trixie countered. "And do what with it? Swim in it?" Vee asked sarcastically. Trixie gasped, "I was just going to suggest collecting it and staring at it, but swimming in it sounds even better!" Vee groaned at Trixie¡¯s remark while I continued observing. Chapter IV - I Chapter IV - I I floated in an endless void for what felt like an eternity until a simple wooden stool appeared. I stared at it briefly and then suddenly found myself sitting in it. Oh no, why am I here again!? Did I die in my sleep? "Syl, Syl, Syl..." Gramps¡¯s voice echoed in my head. He sounded tired. "You¡¯ve really done it now." What did I do? I¡¯m innocent! "I wish that were the case, but unfortunately, my hands are tied," Gramps continued. "I¡¯ve received endless complaints about you, and now I¡¯m unfortunately forced to punish you." I shuddered. So I¡¯m dead? Just like that? All my hard work gone? "Well, I have some good news in that regard. I¡¯ve pulled some strings with an old friend, and he said he¡¯s willing to take you. Unless you¡¯d rather die and start from scratch?" Do I get to keep living my slimy life? Sign me up! "I thought that might be the case," Gramps chuckled. "I will warn you, though, that his world is quite different from our own, and you won¡¯t receive help from the system." Does that mean I¡¯ll lose all my slime powers? My traits? My skills? "Not exactly," Gramps reassured me. "You¡¯ll lose the system¡¯s assistance, so you won¡¯t receive automatic help or installed knowledge. However, you¡¯ve grown so close to most of your natural abilities that I¡¯m confident you¡¯ll figure it out." Great. I¡¯m always up for a challenge! "Excellent. Well, good luck, Syl," Gramps said. As always, my chair vanished, and I found myself plummeting into the void below. "¡ªOh, I almost forgot, there¡¯s no Mana in this new world!" Gramps added as an afterthought. What!? I¡¯m a Mana Slime! How do you expect me to¡ª My protest halted as the darkness consumed me. *** I awoke to the sound of rustling leaves and grass. I immediately surveyed my surroundings cautiously and found myself in an unfamiliar forest. Well... This is a bit nostalgic, starting in a forest. Better this than in a bucket on a slime farm! I examined myself and was in my usually blobby slime form rather than my elven disguise. I quickly tried to withdraw additional slime but found my [Core Storage] oddly empty. Wait... Do I even call it that anymore? Status! Profile! There was nothing. No text boxes and no notifications¡ªit felt eerie and isolating. Gramps said there was no system, so I have to do everything myself now. Considering I could still access my storage, I guess I was familiar enough with using it. With a rather lackluster amount of slime, I would typically fall back on my magical repertoire, but nothing happened when I tried to conjure a spell. I went through every element and affinity I had, but not even a spark of magic and Mana was produced. Well, shit. I spent the next moments examining what slime abilities I was familiar enough with. I could form pseudopods without any issue and morph my slime quickly; likewise, changing my slime density was still very natural. I started cycling through some of my slime traits, and while it looked like I hadn¡¯t lost any of them, their effects seemed somewhat diminished from my approximation. Okay, this sucks. Even my [Acid Slime] has been reduced, which is something I use all the time. Surely the system wasn¡¯t helping me that much? Or was the system help that I wasn¡¯t supposed to be an acid slime to begin with? Unfortunately, my questions were met with more eerie silence, and I had to give up on that thought. I had one final thing to check: my sub-cores. I had six in total, including my own core. This is quite a downgrade from what I was sitting on previously, but I suppose I should have been grateful to have any. Can I make more? Do I know how to make more? Uh... Probably not. I tried giving them a few instructions to test them out and was horrified at how poorly they performed. Gone were my loyal and active helpers; instead, I had some lobotomized drones that could perform a single instruction at best. I guess their self-thinking and order interpretation was entirely handled by the system. I¡¯m not sure what I¡¯m going to use them for now. My thoughts were interrupted by a savage roar as a massive fanged beast emerged from the treeline. It was orange with stripes and looked ferocious. The creature looked like it might have been trying to escape from something, but I had one thought on my mind. Food! Gathering what slime I had, I fired out a tendril of slime, attempting to latch onto the beast. The creature was entirely caught by surprise, and I pulled my entire slimy body toward it and tried to smother it with as much slime as possible. The beast tried to get rid of me but failed. Using my tendrils, I hardened their edges into blades of metallic slime and began cutting into it. It didn¡¯t take long for me to defeat the beast, and I didn¡¯t even need to use my old suffocation tactic! No experience gained, no level-ups, to think I¡¯d miss those little pings. I began eating away at my meal and felt immense relief when I saw I was generating slime mass as usual. While my acid slime was diminished, I still finished the corpse in almost no time, but when I got to the creature¡¯s center, I was shocked¡ªit had a core! Is this a slime monster? No, that can¡¯t be... That was definitely meat that I was eating! I tried examining the strange core I had found, but it wasn¡¯t like any slime core I could recognize. Even without the system¡¯s help, I didn¡¯t feel the same kinship with this core. Do monsters in this world all have cores? That would be interesting! I guess I¡¯ll need to hunt some more to find out. Next, I tried to eat it to see if I would gain anything from it. What shocked me the most was that unlike my own cores, it was actually quite solid and hardly fragile¡ªI was immensely jealous as I had to go through so much effort to reinforce my own core to a fraction of this durability. Still, with enough pressure and acid, I managed to eat the core, but I hadn¡¯t gotten any system notification or a new power. I did feel a rush of... something, but whatever this strange energy was, clearly, it was beyond my current understanding. Well, whatever. I¡¯ve got slime mass now. Let¡¯s get a more humanoid form in case I run into anyone! Immediately, I started trying to craft my old form, and while it was a little bit of a struggle, I succeeded. Unfortunately, I didn¡¯t have my armor, so I¡¯d need to make clothes. That was where I finally found a use for my dumbed-down sub-cores, as I had one of them maintain the form of the robe I had created. I¡¯ll upgrade to better defenses when I get more slime. Guess I better start hunting. I was about to leave when a group of men suddenly entered the clearing, holding spears and swords. They looked startled to see me, and the leader of their group spoke up. "Girl! Have you seen the tiger beast that was running this way?" he questioned. Oh, I can understand them! "I defeated it!" I proudly declared. The hunters seemed shocked by my revelation. "How? Aren¡¯t you a mortal? Yet I see no injuries on you." "Don¡¯t lie to us, girl! You haven¡¯t even reached Foundation Building," another hunter spoke. "I definitely defeated it," I reiterated. "Then where¡¯s your proof? Where¡¯s its pelt, its fangs, or its beast core?" "I... ate the core," I answered. The hunters were shocked and looked at me in horror. "The demonic path has touched one so young? What will the elders say..." "That explains the lack of a body..." "Little one, you must not give in to the demonic path!" I frowned, "I¡¯m not sure what this demonic path is. I was just hungry." Sadly, that didn¡¯t alleviate their concern; if anything, they looked more tense. One of the older men with greying hair closed his eyes and held out the palm of his hand toward me. "I don¡¯t sense the demonic taint on you; perhaps there is still hope," the older hunter said. "But there is definitely the Qi circulating on you. We must take you to the elders; perhaps you can be saved." I nodded happily, "Sure!" I followed the men, who were keeping me at arm¡¯s length and with weapons drawn as if I were a hostile animal. I wasn¡¯t sure if they were strong or not, but considering they were such a large group hunting only a single tiger that I defeated easily, I felt confident. When we reached the village, I saw many others looking in curiosity or pointing fingers in my direction. Eventually, the elder was called and came outside to meet me. "This one defeated the tiger beast," the lead hunter explained. "Truly?" the elder questioned. "This junior must have quite some latent talent!" "Yes, but she ate the beast¡¯s core," the hunter confirmed. The bystanders gasped, and whispers of "demonic" were on the lips of everyone present. The elder¡¯s expression grew firm, and he reached into his robe to pull out something; it looked like a paper rectangle with painted symbols. Some form of enchantment? "Banishment!" the elder cried out as the talisman exploded into a burst of light. Before I could even react, the light struck me and passed straight through me. But... nothing happened, and I was fine. Was that magic? I tilted my head curiously at the old man, who looked much more relieved. "There is no demonic possession!" the elder declared, and the rest of the village began easing up and smiling. "Junior, you are young and clearly have talent. To take down a tiger beast by yourself, you must not succumb to the temptations of the demonic path!" the elder declared. "Why ruin a bright future with quick gains? That way leads to shaky foundations and ruin." "I... understand," I replied with some doubt. "What do you recommend?" "Good!" the village elder said. "I¡¯ll write to the Sect and mention your good deeds. That tiger beast threatened our village; they will want one like you as a disciple." "With your talent, maybe you can even qualify as an inner disciple!" the lead hunter said. "But even an outer disciple would be fortuitous! A far better life than toiling as a mortal." I nodded, deciding to go along with the flow. Soon after, I was offered room and board with one of the hunters who had a spare room, and a feast was even prepared in celebration of the tigers¡¯ defeat. To my disappointment, most of the meal was rice, providing me with almost no slime mass. Perhaps sensing my disappointment, one of the villagers mentioned that I¡¯d be able to eat spirit rice if I joined the Sect. Okay, so is the Sect like a guild? I¡¯m really going along with the flow here, but it¡¯s certainly better than the alternatives. This way, at least, I can try to get some more information. *** The next day, I was awoken and told to freshen up and make myself presentable. As a slime, that was no trouble as I could instantly clean myself, so it was mostly for show on their part. Then, I was to wait at the elder¡¯s house until the Sect representative arrived. The elder was excited but also anxious and repeatedly warned me not to be rude and to follow any instructions closely. I immediately compared the times I dealt with nobles and agreed to be on my best behavior. "Looks like the Sect has sent someone!" the elder said proudly as he pointed out his window to something approaching in the distance. I squinted and tried to use my [Eagle Vision] from before, but sadly, it appeared I was stuck with normal vision for now. The flying dot drew closer, and eventually, I saw a man in a white robe flying through the sky. I¡¯d seen flying before, but what shocked me was that he was doing it by standing atop a sword! Okay... That¡¯s got to be magic, right? The elder rushed me outside to greet the elder. He bowed deeply and pushed my head to copy his actions. "This one greats you," the elder said. "You spoke of a found hidden talent?" the robed man asked. He looked extremely young, almost ageless, and I found it strange that the village elder was showing such reverence. "Yes, Senior. This girl was found in the forest having defeated the rank two tiger beast that was plaguing our village," the elder explained. "I do recall there was a mission posted asking for aid in its extermination," the man muttered, stroking his chin. "And you say this one defeated it? A rank two beast?" The elder nudged me. "Yes. Senior," I replied, finding the phrasing a bit confusing. "I defeated the tiger beast." "Do you have the beast core as proof?" the man asked. "I do not," I replied hesitantly. "I... ate it." Something in the air tensed, and I felt like my life was suddenly in danger despite the man¡¯s face remaining as serene as a lake. "A demonic cultivator!?" the man demanded. "Senior!" the old village elder pleaded. "I used a banishment talisman on her; she is not possessed! Only misguided! One of our hunters also mentioned that he sensed no taint on her; she has yet to succumb to the demonic ways!" "Having tasted it already, she should be slain on the spot," the man declared. Oh shit. I prepared to get ready to fight and wondered if I could take him. "However, to defeat a rank two tiger beast before even Foundation Establishment shows talent. Perhaps we should invest in this one." "Y-yes Senior! You are most wise!" the old man said. I bowed my head as well, mimicking the village elders¡¯ actions. "Very well, I shall take her," he said, handing the old man a small pouch. The village elder smiled and bowed multiple times, thanking him profusely before scuttering away, leaving me alone with the Sect man. "I am Senior Lei. Do you have a name, Junior?" he asked. "Syl... Senior Lei," I replied cautiously. "Syl... A strange name," he snorted before pulling out his sword. He released the sword, and it floated parallel to the ground. He then gave a tiny hop before landing on it. "Get on, junior," he ordered, pointing to the open spot in front of him. I jumped on and, to my surprise, found it relatively easy to stand on. Lei snorted again at my reaction, and abruptly, the sword took off into the air without warning. This has got to be magic. It¡¯s flying so effortlessly it puts even my old flying traits to shame, and those came from magical monsters like the pegasus! Senior Lei did not make small talk, so I was left to cautiously observe the surroundings and try to get the lay of the land; it appeared we were heading towards a mountain. As we approached the mountain, I saw that buildings had been built all along it, growing in opulence the closer they were to the peak. But we didn¡¯t head to the peak and instead stopped about a quarter of the way up. "Senior Lei, what can I do for you!" a chubby man said, coming out from the building. "Junior Wang, I have a potential recruit for the Sect," Lei said. "Oh, splendid!" Wang replied with a cheerful smile. "Junior sister, you will love the Azure Dragon Sect! We are the best of the best! Hopefully, you pass the evaluation!" I bowed politely while wondering what the evaluation would be. "I would hope so; she appears to have some heritage based on her strange ears," Lei replied. "That mortal village fool didn¡¯t even realize it, and I only had to give him spirit stone scraps for the recruitment." Oh... I left my elf ears. Well, it sounds like it¡¯s gotten me some favorable treatment. "Senior Lei is most wise!" Wang replied. "I¡¯ll fetch the Spirit Crystal for you." Wang hurried back into the building while Lei stood around looking imposing. I glanced around at my surroundings, trying to take it all in, but I felt hopelessly out of place. "Assuming you get a good evaluation, it will look favorably on me for recruiting you," Lei said. "What do you get out of it?" I asked curiously. "Contribution points are worth much more than some measly spirit stones. With enough contribution points, you can buy cultivation resources that would otherwise be unattainable even with a fortune," Lei explained. I suppose it¡¯s like how the Guilds had their own craftsmen and gave discounts and preferential treatment to members. I have no idea what these cultivation resources are, but hopefully, they will still benefit me as a slime! Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. While we were waiting, another person on a flying sword arrived. Unlike Lei, he looked older, and atop his sword was an extremely young boy. "Senior Wu, it¡¯s good to see you," Wei said, giving a tiny bow. "Uncle Wu, when can I get tested?" the boy impatiently asked before the man could respond. "Patience Yuan," Senior Wu said to the energetic boy. "Junior Lei, I¡¯m surprised to see you here." "I found a prospective student for our Sect," he replied, gesturing to me. I gave a tiny bow in return. It seemed everyone did a lot of bowing in these parts, and I didn¡¯t want to offend. "Ha! What a shame you¡¯ll be evaluated on the same day as me!" the boy boasted. "You¡¯ll look like an ant next to a mountain!" This brat... I¡¯ll have you know I¡¯ve eaten worms bigger than you! Wang came back holding an ornate box, nearly stumbling and tripping as he arrived. He presented the box, but Wu took it rather than Lei. Wu opened the box, revealing a crystal in the shape of a five-pointed star. He gestured for Yuan to approach. "Watch this!" Yuan boasted, rubbing his hands together. He placed his hand on the crystal, which began to emit a soft glow before one of the pointed tips started to glow with a fiery red. At the center of the crystal, a strange symbol also appeared, although I had no idea what it meant. Oh! This is like the affinity tests I did with the Adventurers Guild. "Such intensity!" Wang exclaimed. "As expected of the Wu family, your fire cultivation knows no bounds," Lei said. Yuan sneered at me, clearly delighted with his results. Lei took the box from Wu, who wanted to leave, but the Yuan boy refused to go until he saw my result. "This will evaluate your spirit roots and see what we are working with," Lei explained. I nodded and touched the crystal myself, wondering if my previous affinities would transfer to this. To my relief, the crystal began to glow shortly after I felt it, and then, one by one, each tip started to shine in a unique color¡ªgreen, red, brown, silver, and finally blue. "This..." Lei whispered. "All five elements! Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water!" Wang exclaimed. "That¡¯s good, right?" I asked and couldn¡¯t help glancing at the boy. "Good?" Wei repeated. "It¡¯s¡ª" "Terrible!" Yuan blurted out before laughing hysterically. "Isn¡¯t more better?" I asked, not understanding. "Spoken like a know-nothing commoner," Yuan taunted. Lei looked visibly upset. "The more elements you have, the worse the chance for Qi contamination," Wang explained. "A pure single element is much more favorable. Dual elements are sometimes also sought after, but it requires a lot of commitment to split your cultivation in two like that!" "Her roots are exceptionally pure, though, despite all five elements," Wu mentioned to our surprise. "And the evaluation hints that she might have the Ice Physique as well as some partiality to Space-Time." I guess that¡¯s my [Cryo Slime] doing it, and I can only assume my [Core Storage] or latent Dimension affinity is the result of the Space-Time result. So, in this world, are Dimension and Time combined into one? "Senior Wu is very right!" Wang replied joyfully. "An Ice Physique is extremely rare! I¡¯m sure the Azure Dragon Sect will be happy to have such a rarity!" "How does it compare to my Phoenix bloodline!?" Yuan demanded. "You can¡¯t really compare a bloodline and a physique," Wang tried to explain. "There¡¯s no way it¡¯s better than my bloodline!" Yuan shouted. I tried to ignore the brat and turned to Wang, who seemed more than happy to explain things. "What does this Ice and Space-Time mean for my evaluation?" "Junior Sister is eager to learn!" Wang replied joyfully. "I suggest you abandon your other four elements and focus only on Water as your gains there will interlink with your Ice Physique. You¡¯d benefit from one and a half paths through one!" "What about Space-Time? Could I also do another element if I¡¯m gaining one and a half through Water?" "Foolish," Lei spat. "Senior Lei is right," Wang nodded. "You can only cultivate one element at a time when absorbing Qi into your Dantian, and you only have so much time. Better to focus on one to maximize your benefits; otherwise, you will be stuck in lesser realms while everyone else around you surpasses you. As for Space-Time... that is a tricky one to cultivate and not something you should touch until you have at least broken through Foundation Establishment into Core Formation!" I nodded as Wang spoke, digesting his words as best I could. What he said made sense, but I couldn¡¯t help but want to feed my nature of having it all. I had five elements; shouldn¡¯t I cultivate them all? My Sub-Cores are dumbed down, but I wonder if I could have them gather this Qi for me for each element? It would be like when I was aligning them and having them specialize¡ªI even have the exact right number as if Gramps was preparing me for this! "I challenge you!" Yuan shouted; his patience had snapped from being ignored. "Young Master, is that wise? You might be seen as picking on an outer disciple," Wang said diplomatically. "Shut up, fatty!" Yuan shouted. "I want to prove the Wu Phoenix Bloodline cannot be matched by some stupid Ice Physique!" Wow... Even in different worlds, nobles are a bunch of assholes. I really want to slap this kid. "Young Master, she hasn¡¯t even received training yet. Would that really be considered fair?" Wang tried again. "One¡¯s upbringing is part of their own strength! As is luck. Her misfortune of being born ill-fated is her own fault!" he replied. What nonsense!? I could barely hide my shock at his arrogance. "It¡¯s alright, Wang, let the duel happen," Lei said. "As long as Young Master Yuan promises not to cripple or kill my recruit, it should be fine." "Are you sure, Senior Lei?" Wang asked. "The villagers claim she killed a rank two tiger beast single-handedly," Lei said. "I believe she should be able to survive the duel, and it might even allow her to join as an Inner Disciple instead of an Outer Disciple." "Truly? A rank two tiger beast!?" Wang cried out and looked at me. I nodded in response. Yuan was grinding his teeth in frustration until Wu patted him on the shoulder. He visibly eased up and seemed to downgrade to silently simmering. I ended up agreeing to the duel, and we headed over to what looked like a slightly elevated stone platform that had been made into an arena. The rules explained that there was no intentional killing, and it was only until surrender, knocking out of the arena, or being unable to continue fighting. I considered taking a fall after putting up a fight but decided against it when he kept sneering and smirking at me. I wanted to teach this kid a lesson and always wanted to punch a noble in the face. "Begin!" Wu shouted as he chopped the air. "I¡¯ll teach you to respect your betters!" Yuan yelled. Then he took in a deep breath, and the crowd gasped. "He hasn¡¯t even joined the Sect and can already mold Qi?" "As expected of the noble Wu family." "So much Fire Qi! Does he have a bloodline?" Oh... is he doing magic? I used to be effectively immune to fire, but I¡¯m not sure if that¡¯s the case anymore. My body is as reinforced as I can make it, but I don¡¯t want to get boiled alive, so let me try to use [Cryo Slime] and lower my temperature! The boy belched out a torrent of flame from his mouth. It was unlike any spell I had ever seen before. I tried to dodge, but it was in such a sweeping, wide arc that I could not escape unless I revealed my slimy nature. The flames crashed against me, and the boy laughed mockingly while the crowd gasped. I sighed with relief when I felt like my slime wasn¡¯t being destroyed by the flames and was, in fact, being somewhat suppressed by my icy temperature. "What happened to non-lethal!" Lei cried out in frustration. "Forgive Young Master Yuan," Wu said in a mocking tone. "You know how youth struggle to hold back." But at that moment, I leaped out of the flames, unharmed and directly in the face of Yuan. I¡¯d never really fought with fists, so I threw out a clumsy punch, which landed only due to his shock and surprise. He cried out and took my punch directly to his face. My strength left a lot to be desired since I couldn¡¯t reinforce my body with Mana, but I still managed to send him tumbling across the arena floor, thanks to some slime decompression in my arm. Really feels like the old days. I haven¡¯t had to use my slime like this in ages! The crowd murmured and gasped at my unharmed state, and when Yuan kept screaming and crying on the floor, they were shocked. I didn¡¯t even hit him that hard? "Healers!" Wu shouted, and two individuals rushed over. "His face has been almost entirely frostbitten!" one of the women shouted and touched his face. "We need to thaw it and heal it simultaneously, or the flesh will die and leave a permanent scar," the other healer explained. Both healers released a green and red magical glow, respectively, which seemed to soothe Yuan¡¯s wound. Shortly after, he stopped screaming. Wang rushed up to me to congratulate me. "Junior sister, well done!" he shouted and patted me on the shoulder before letting out a cry and clutching his hand. "Junior, you must calm yourself, or you¡¯ll freeze yourself," Lei shouted at me. "While the Ice Physique is powerful, you will eventually succumb to it without proper training and forever encase yourself in permafrost!" Whispers of "Ice Physique" went around the arena. I nodded and pretended to calm down when, in reality, I just stopped using my [Cryo Slime] ability. This seemed to relieve both Wang and Lei greatly. "To think the Ice Physique can stop even flame techniques!" one spectator shouted. "And just touching her is dangerous, truly a formidable blessing! I¡¯d hate to exchange pointers with her." During this commotion, both Wu and Yuan seemed to have snuck away. I wanted to rub my victory in the brat¡¯s face, but I would have to settle with the fact that he had slinked away with his tail between his legs. "How did I do, Senior Lei, Senior Wang?" I asked. "You did amazing!" Wang replied, still shaking and blowing on his hand to warm it up. "To directly take on a fire technique with no Qi of your own was outstanding. You must have unconsciously done some body cultivating despite having no cultivation background¡ªa natural savant!" Lei, however, was more reserved, "You exceeded my expectations. You will undoubtedly earn a place as an Inner Disciple after defeating a Core Disciple in such a manner." "Young Master Yuan is to be a Core Disciple!?" Wang cried out in horror. Lei nodded, "Unfortunately. So, while your accomplishment is good, you¡¯ve no doubt made a powerful enemy. I¡¯d advise in the future, if you fight him, to perhaps take a fall or risk further escalations." Ugh... Politics... Even dying twice, I can¡¯t get away from it! "Come, Junior Sister, don¡¯t look so glum! I¡¯ll get you properly registered and treat you to a good meal!" Wang replied cheerfully. "Thank you, Senior Wang, and thank you for the advice, Senior Lei," I said and gave a curt bow. "Junior Sister, you can just call me Brother Wang!" he laughed. "I don¡¯t like having Seniority attached to me; it comes with far too much responsibility." I nodded and followed after them both. *** As an Inner Disciple of the clan, I was given quite a lot of privilege and even had my own tiny house! Apparently, Outer Disciples had to live in large dorms or tents if they were truly unfortunate. Meanwhile, Core Disciples even had their own tiny mansions in the Sect! The best I¡¯d ever stayed at were inns, so getting a small house to myself was a blessing, in my opinion, and it certainly beat living inside hollowed-out trees. I was given a Sect token, which showed my status and cultivation rank and would also store my contribution points. I found it eerily similar to my Guild tag and was quite horrified when I learned that it would allow others to see my location within the Sect¡ªthis world clearly didn¡¯t respect privacy! Even though I was an Inner Disciple, I was at the bottom of the barrel regarding hierarchy and was still in the Qi Refining stage. Qi was this world¡¯s equivalent to Mana, and its usage directly empowered every living being, human or monster. I had thought that meant everyone in this world was a spellcaster. However, unlike Mana, Qi had plenty of other uses and could be used to create magical effects, bodily enhancements, and other spectacular results. It was like Magic, Traits, and Skills all combined into one resource! My first few days were spent learning how to feel Qi so I could start absorbing it, as this was a crucial step to reaching the next stage of cultivation. It took far longer than I¡¯d liked, and I had to question whether my old [Prodigy] trait failed to be transferred to this new world. Once I could sense Qi, I had to learn how to meditate and absorb it, but that wasn¡¯t enough; I¡¯d have to slowly refine it into my own personal resource. When I wasn¡¯t doing chores for the Sect, I spent most of my days meditating near significant water sources. These were abundant in Water Qi, and they wanted me to focus on that and abandon my other four elements. Of course, I wouldn¡¯t take that lightly, so I immediately started experimenting with my [Sub-Cores] to see if I could convince them to absorb Qi for me. I assigned each core to a different Qi element, and after some trial and error, I managed to coax them to do it! If I have five elements, I¡¯m going to use five elements! I wasn¡¯t an Elementalist for nothing, you know! I learned sadly that at this stage, even if I had gathered Qi, I could only use it internally, as external Qi usage was the hallmark of being in the Foundation Establishment stage. That meant that Yuan was an entire stage above me, and yet he still challenged me! If I had free time, I spent it with Brother Wang, as he was still routinely in contact with me and likely my only friend until I had more achievements to my name. Senior Lei had swiftly abandoned me after getting his contribution points, although Wang defended him, saying that he was likely worried about repercussions with the Wu family. Being able to gather five times more Qi than I should have meant that I soon found my body fully saturated in it. The speed of my growth raised suspicions, and my dark past of eating a beast¡¯s core was revealed. Demonic Cultivators would eat beast cores to hasten their cultivation, growing directly in power through kills. However, the Qi was apparently tainted that way, and while it was rapid, it was building unsteady foundations. It was highly frowned upon and often outlawed entirely, so many accusations were thrown my way. Thankfully, on further investigation, I was cleared of not having any demonic Qi within me after a Sect Elder thoroughly examined my Qi. My fast progress was then attributed to my Ice Physique and pure spiritual roots. I did eat a beast core... I wonder if my slime nature prevented it from contaminating me? It was certainly something I was tempted to try again in the future when I didn¡¯t have so many eyes on me. Learning techniques was interesting and very reminiscent of how skills were installed with the system. The Sect had techniques stored within jade slips, and when you injected them with Qi, it would perform the technique for you in your mind and give you an idea of how to control and manipulate the Qi. However, just because it was instilled into your mind did not mean you could use it instantly. Depending on the difficulty, rank or grade, and compatibility with the individual were all factors in being able to interpret and master a technique. Qi Refining techniques were all body-based, which made me nostalgic for my [Thunder Step] or [Wind Step] skills. While most were movement-based, some allowed the user to use Qi to reinforce muscles or skin, enhance vision, or even forcefully imbue their blows. The Sect gave me three techniques for free, one in each category: movement, offensive and defensive. If I wanted more, I¡¯d need to use Sect contribution points to buy them. I was just happy to finally be able to use this mysterious new resource known as Qi and start empowering myself! Shortly after that, I finally reached a point where my body would no longer accept Qi, and I was told that I had reached my bottleneck and would need to breakthrough into Foundation Establishment! While it sounded impressive, it was a relatively minor achievement at this early stage. It simply required me to refine all of my Qi, which was described as gaseous, into liquid Qi. Once all my Qi was refined, I would be officially in the next stage of cultivation! As an Inner Disciple, I was actually provided with a pill to help this process. It would boost my Qi gathering and allow me to increase the pressure more swiftly, enhancing my breakthrough. I hesitantly swallowed the pill and prayed to Gramps that I¡¯d still benefit from it despite being a slime. My worries were thankfully unfounded; when I started the process, it felt like the Qi was flying towards me! I calmly meditated in my house and attempted to breakthrough, the pressure of all the Qi gathered by my multiple cores building and building to a crescendo. I had plenty of experience compressing slime mass, so I tried to create a parallel in this process. Once it officially began, I was so excited that I compressed my first drop of liquid Qi, which seemed to float in a strange void within my core. I kept pulling and pulling until I could pull no more, and after what must have been hours flew by, I no longer had any traces of gaseous Qi. "Success!" I cried out happily. *** Upon confirmation of my new cultivation rank, I was immediately awarded a new technique, an external Qi water move¡ªWater Crescent! The Sect was grooming me to be a water cultivator, and I had no idea that I still wanted to dabble in all elements. But if I wanted to do so, I¡¯d either need to discover the techniques for myself or earn many more contribution points to buy them. The Water Crescent move was highly compatible with me, forming crescent moon-shaped blades out of Water and shooting them. It was far more impressive than the old [Water Orb] I had first learned as a Mage, and I was eager to master it. While meditating at the creek, Yuan and his gang of cronies approached me. He immediately sneered at my "lackluster progress" and boasted that he was already at the Late Foundation Establishment, the peak of this rank, and about to enter Core Formation! "I challenge you to a duel!" Yuan cried out. "I¡¯d rather not," I rejected, taking the advice given to me by Wang. "I need to focus on my cultivation and earning sect points." "Oh? I forgot how poor you were," he snickered. "How about this? We can each bet 100 sect points! I¡¯ll even give you 2 to 1 odds!" That tempted me. I¡¯d get 200 points just like that? I doubted he¡¯d be able to overcome my slime nature even if he was at the peak of this cultivation rank. "Alright," I agreed. After arriving at the dueling arena again, it looked like a crowd had already gathered. No doubt Yuan wanted to publicly humiliate me and had set this up beforehand. I sighed in regret, feeling like I¡¯d fallen for a trap. Lei had told me to take a fall in any future duels, but I had hastily agreed to a wager. No way I was going to lose my 100 points to this cocky bastard¡ªconsequences be damned! We each took our respective fighting spots while he continued to snicker and taunt me. It was clear that while he achieved growth in strength, his personality still left much to be desired. His cronies also happily joined in on the jeering and were attempting to turn the crowd against me¡ªan easy feat thanks to my lackluster reputation. I really should have focused on gaining more face; other than Wang, I don¡¯t have any allies. "As your senior and superior, I¡¯ll even grant you the first move!" Yuan boasted confidently. "Sure," I agreed, hiding my smile. With a swift motion, I gathered my Qi and activated my Water Crescent technique, sending the blade of Water soaring at him. While some of the crowd praised my quick and clean execution of the technique, Yuan had no doubt on his face. That was when a fiery aura erupted from him, and my blade of Water struck it, evaporating in a near instant. "Flame Shroud!" someone in the crowd shouted. "That¡¯s an advanced technique!" another exclaimed. Well, shit. Looks like he isn¡¯t all talk this time. "Come, Junior, let¡¯s exchange pointers!" Yuan taunted before exploding towards me with a fiery movement technique. He already has elemental techniques for movement, defense, and offense; how much more biased can you get!? I activated my defensive technique, Qi Shell, to strengthen my arms and block his blow. At the same time, I triggered [Cryo Slime] to start rapidly cooling down my body, as I was still terrified of being boiled alive again. His blow struck with a resounding punch, but I¡¯d blocked all its impact. I likely didn¡¯t even need to use my defensive technique because my slime constitution is exceptionally good at blocking blunt damage, but I wanted to keep up appearances. However, now that he was close, I could certainly feel the heat radiating from his Flame Shroud technique. "Hope it¡¯s not too hot for you, Junior," he taunted. "I¡¯m feeling rather chilly myself," I retorted before striking out with a leg kick. He managed to block it in time, but unlike before, his exposed flesh didn¡¯t have frostbite. Yuan showed a fiendish grin as if this was the outcome he hoped for. "Your Ice Physique is nothing compared to my mighty Phoenix Bloodline!" he declared to the excited roar of the crowd. We continued our melee brawl, each trying to combat the other with our elemental auras¡ªfrost versus flame! Although while he was burning Qi to utilize his, mine was all-natural, and I knew I¡¯d eventually outlast him. In an attempt to break our stalemate, he breathed out a torrent of fire that easily dwarfed his display on that fateful day. The fire washed over me, and I ensured I kept [Cryo Slime] at its limit, so I escaped unscratched, causing Yuan to become highly agitated. He kept taunting and insulting me, which only further fueled my desire to defeat him. But I had only basic techniques, while he was given advanced ones and even the Water Crescent I was so proud of paled in comparison. But I¡¯m a slime! I circulated Qi as if activating a technique, causing Yuan to immediately use his movement technique to leap backward in a fiery explosion. He then cautiously eyed me, waiting to see what I was doing. I withdrew slime from my [Core Storage] and began expelling it from my palm, ensuring it came out in the appearance of Water until I had a long flowing tendril that I flourished around the arena. "Is that a water whip technique!?" one onlooker shouted. "To form such a technique in Early Foundation Establishment, this Junior Sister must be extremely gifted with Water!" Yuan was gritting his teeth as he glared at me. "Your water whip will meet the same fate as your crescents! Or did you forget that they were burnt to the crisp!?" "Evaporated, not burnt," I corrected him. "But you¡¯ll find this is a much more advanced technique." "You dare!?" he snarled and burst forward in another fiery explosion. I couldn¡¯t help but grin at how easy he was to taunt as I manipulated my slime whip to strike him. He made no effort to dodge or block, having complete confidence in his Flame Shroud technique, and so he was utterly defenseless when it hit him and sent him careening off course. "Syl struck him!" Wang cried out in joy. "Junior Sister Syl has clearly produced a masterful technique!" The crowd was immediately whipped up into a frenzy; nobody had expected this outcome, especially not Yuan. "How!?" he demanded through bloody teeth. "Did you forget my Ice Physique?" I teased. "I simply chilled my water as it¡¯s in contact with my body." Yuan laughed darkly, making me wonder if he¡¯d lost it. "I see... Yes, I should have expected as much! Then I¡¯ll bring the full force of my bloodline to this fight as well!" He then spat out a mouthful of blood, which seemed to instantly feed the flames surrounding him. What was once bright glowing flames became a sickeningly crimson color that screamed danger to me. "Phoenix flame!" a spectator cried. "Junior Sister, watch out!" Wang screamed. But Yuan exploded back into the fight with intense ferocity. I manipulated my slime whip to strike him, and while the whip didn¡¯t burn away, it actually seemed to hit a solid barrier when it collided with the flame. "What!?" I shouted in disbelief. "This is no ordinary flame peasant!" Yuan mocked as we traded blows. "The phoenix bloodline allows me to give flames substance! No longer ethereal!" To demonstrate his point, he swiped at me, but at the end of his hand was an aura of flame claws, and they began to cut into me. I quickly activated my defensive technique, causing a clanging sound as the claws ricocheted off just in time. If I don¡¯t end this now, I¡¯ll be revealed! I haven¡¯t practiced creating fake wounds enough since my arrival! Never did I think he would be able to pierce me like that! "Ready to surrender?" Yuan taunted. "Never!" I rejected and flexed my slime whip, causing jagged edges to form along it, looking like icy crystals. "Yuan turned up the heat, but Syl has brought winter!" a spectator cried out. "It¡¯s cold enough to form ice shards! That looks horrifying!" Yuan gritted his teeth. Clearly, he didn¡¯t like the look of my upgraded whip, which I was still expertly manipulating¡ªit was part of my body, after all. But his fiery spirit refused to waver, and I knew I¡¯d need to break his emotions down even more. These cultivators say that the battle can be won in the mind; let¡¯s see how Yuan deals with this. Withdrawing more slime and sending it to my whip, I had it split into three from its singular tendril! The crowd went ballistic while Yuan¡¯s face began to visibly pale. I ensured that the whips behaved in as monstrous of a manner as possible, making it look like I was holding onto a horror of the depths rather than a Qi weapon. The effect was undoubtedly dramatic, as I could sense fluctuations in Yuan¡¯s Qi due to his deteriorating confidence. This is my chance! I burst forward using Qi, focused on my legs, and sent out my weapon to attack. Yuan panicked and tried to defend himself. He blocked the first tendril but lacked the limbs to stop the other two, which I manipulated with deft precision. The second tendril struck his solid flame, but his spirit was broken, and when the third hit, it penetrated straight through and landed a horrific cutting blow as it racked across his body. Yuan yelled out in pain, and almost instantly, his fiery aura vanished on the spot. He fell to the floor, gasping and writhing in pain, as where the bladed whip had cut into his flesh was now rapidly forming frostbite and necrosis. "Young Master!" one of his cronies shouted as they rushed to his aid. Immediately, all attention was on him as people rushed to help him. I sighed and retracted my whip, disappointed that I wouldn¡¯t get the proper recognition for my victory. "You fiend, you intentionally tried to cripple him!" someone accused me. "What? I barely touched him and immediately retracted my weapon after striking him!" I refused. "You¡¯ve clearly gone too far! This is not the way of the Azure Dragon Sect!" "You used truly demonic techniques! Trying to corrupt his blood with ice!" The accusations kept coming, I couldn¡¯t believe how quickly everyone was turning against me. Wang tried to defend me, citing Yuan¡¯s higher cultivation and use of his phoenix bloodline, but he was drowned out as the majority seemed to deem that I was the one who went too far. I caught a glimpse of the little shit smirking, even through the pain he was experiencing. You bastard! You plotted this so you¡¯d win no matter what! Then, the air trembled, and everyone went silent. A deathly aura filled the air, suppressing everyone present. Appearing from nowhere was Senior Wu, who had initially brought Yuan. "My boy, what have they done to you?" he asked. "That vile peasant tried to contaminate my noble blood! She tried to cripple me, if not assassinate me!" Yuan spat. His cronies immediately agreed with him. "What? I didn¡¯t!" I denied it immediately. "He sought me out. He challenged me. He¡ª" "Enough!" Wu shouted, like a thunderous boom. Wu then appeared before me with an oppressive aura that froze me on the spot. "For attempting to cripple someone of the noble Wu bloodline, I will shatter your cultivation in return!" Wu declared. I tried to say something but felt paralyzed by his killing intent. "Be thankful that I¡¯m merciful and not crippling you! You can atone by starting over!" He declared and thrust his hand forward. His hand penetrated through me like nothing, and he immediately grasped my core! Terror struck me; he was literally holding onto my very being! "Such a solid dantian," he whispered, almost sounding regretful. "Properly atone by losing all this progress!" He squeezed, and I instantly felt my core shatter! The entire world began drowning in darkness. I felt disconnected from all my slime, no longer connected to it or anything. "Elder Wu, what did you do!?" someone shouted in horror. "What?" Wu shouted. Darkness took me. *** I woke up with a gasp as I looked around the room frantically. I looked around in a panic, feeling like I¡¯d just had the worst night terror ever. "Have a bad dream?" Vee asked, sounding tired as if she¡¯d just woken up. "I-I¡¯m not sure..." I whispered in response. Was it really all just a bad dream? Chapter 223: Smelting Chapter 223: Smelting Glancing down below, it looked like the dwarves were finishing their task. The metal bars were melted, and the channels for the two vats were opened. The two liquids merged in the central vat with a satisfying sizzling noise. That wasn¡¯t the end, as they used an enchanted tool to mix the solution while making small talk. "Wow... Those dwarves are braver than me; I don¡¯t think I¡¯d be willing to be that close to molten metal," Trixie said. "The heat must be unbearable..." Vee agreed. "They have [Forged Skin] as a racial trait, so I think they can take the heat," I answered. "I wonder if that could have stopped me boiling alive." "You... Boiled. Alive?" Vee gasped, unbelieving. "At this point, I¡¯ll believe anything Syl says. It¡¯s crazy what this slimy goofball has done," Trixie said. "I was trying to fake my own death in a fiery explosion," I began my explanation. "I used a [Fire Resistance] trait back then, so I figured I could take it. Then I found out the resistance doesn¡¯t include heat... Not pleasant." "Bloody hell..." Vee muttered. "Yeah, big yikes from me," Trixie agreed. "Although I¡¯ll give you points for a dramatic presentation." "At least it worked," I added. "Also, it looks like the dwarves are moving to their next step." The dwarves looked satisfied with their job and began moving to the next step. They set up a collection of ingot molds and finally opened another valve, distributing the newly mixed molten silver solution into the molds. Once they were satisfied that the mixture had been distributed to all the molds, they began packing away their tools. The one dwarf was clumsily packing away the tools, evidently eager to head towards the tavern. "Cheers Vazmet! See you later!" the dwarf said abruptly, heading toward the door after his last hastily completed task. "Yeah, yeah... Just leave me to finish the job," Vazmet grumbled as his coworker rushed off. With the dwarf called Vazmet heading off, we followed after him quickly. He had mentioned feeding, and that could only mean the slimes in my eyes. I wondered how the dwarves¡¯ farm and containment compared to the rather lackluster security that Stantondale had used. We followed him deeper into the facility until we reached a large set of locked doors. Once he placed his key in and turned it, the entire door seemed to rotate and twist out. "Wow... Is that an airlock?" Vee questioned. Trixie and I stared in confusion at the spider, and she gave a defeated sigh and dropped the topic. Continuing our stealthy pursuit of the dwarf, he started heading down a large set of stairs with a single rail designed to accommodate the carts the dwarves were pushing and pulling. When we reached the bottom, it looked like we had finally reached our destination. The dwarf, Vazmet, grumbled angrily about so many steps and unlocked another door. Heading in quickly before he closed the door behind himself, we were welcomed to a rather large and elaborate room. On one of the walls was a set of giant adamantine executioner axes. In the center of the room were four pits, and crawling along the ceiling to get a better vantage point, we saw a singular silver slime in the middle of all but one pit. I wondered how they kept the slimes contained in the pits and noted that the walls were slanted inwards, lipped, and coated with a strange substance. Probably something non-adhesive, I¡¯d assume? Vee and Trixie were snorting with giggles and laughs. "What¡¯s so funny?" I asked. "That slime is named Silvy..." Trixie pointed. "Yeah... Any relation?" Vee teased. "Very funny..." I sighed. "I¡¯ll be sure to make the same joke with the next spirit or spider we run into." Vee giggled, "I doubt we will run into another spider with a name even close to Vee." "Yeah? But what about one with a terrible name, like Terry?" "Ugh... Okay, don¡¯t remind me," Vee sighed. "I presume they named the slimes to keep track of their metals... Smart," I said, changing the subject. "Yeah, I guess that means Goldy over there is probably worth a fortune!" Trixie said excitedly. If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. "We aren¡¯t going to steal the dwarves¡¯ prized slime!" Vee shouted and then turned to me. "Or eat it!" "I mean... I wasn¡¯t planning on it..." I grumbled. "It¡¯s tempting, but my trait is almost maxed out, so I¡¯d be committing a huge felony for not much. I can wait for Flintheart to find me another, or perhaps I¡¯ll get lucky and find one in the caverns or the next dungeon." "Wow, Syl¡¯s being reasonable around slime cores; who¡¯d ever have thought it possible," Trixie sniffled as if drying fake tears. "They grow up so fast." "Maybe a lead-silver cage will stop all this slime bullying," I taunted, causing Trixie to flinch and raise her hands in surrender. We watched the dwarf continue his duties. He seemed to mostly be returning some items to various crates. I noted that other than those adamantine axes, the room was utterly devoid of even a hint of metal. I guess the slimes do occasionally escape their pit, and this stops any risk of them eating something terrible. I¡¯m guessing the adamantine axes aren¡¯t possible for them to eat, so keeping them around is safe. "Alright, boys and girls, feeding time!" Vazmet shouted happily. The three slimes made no indication that they¡¯d acknowledged his declaration. They truly were as dumb as rocks. To my surprise, rather than throwing refuse or scraps, the dwarf actually threw chunks of what looked like relatively fresh monster meat. I learned that fresh monster meat gave the most slime mass personally, so the dwarves clearly knew what they were doing. I had expected the dwarf to toss the meat and leave, but he carefully watched them. I wondered why he was so meticulous until he began to walk over to fetch one of the axes. "Damn it, Cooper, you¡¯re too fat again!" the dwarf complained. I ignored my two snickering companions and watched as the dwarf prepared himself. He tied a rope to his waist, fastened a wooden bucket to his belt, and fetched what looked like an enchanted wooden buckler. Then he jumped into the put with Cooper. "Oh, is he going to fight the slime?" Trixie wondered. "Harvest it, I¡¯m guessing, from the bucket," I answered. "Come now, Cooper. Let¡¯s get this over with so I can go home and grab my drink..." the dwarf grumbled as he cautiously approached the slime. When Vazmet got in range, the silver slime vibrated slightly before shooting metallic spikes towards the dwarf. With well-practiced motions, the dwarf blocked the spikes onslaught with the enchanted buckler, pivoted himself, and immediately brought down the axe toward the extended spikes. A clunking chop sound resonated through the room, and the metallic spikes were trimmed. Cooper immediately retracted its pruned stubs while the dwarf quickly tossed the spike ends into his bucket before they liquified. "Huh... That¡¯s an interesting way to harvest them," Trixie commented. "How else would they harvest them?" Vee questioned. "When I was a helpless blue slime, they just grabbed us and held us over a bucket," I shuddered. "Then they used a knife to separate our slime from our core." "Oof, sounds horrible," Vee sympathized. "I¡¯m guessing you couldn¡¯t just stab them with spikes like that?" "Ha, nope!" I chuckled grimly. "I could barely form a single tentacle back then. It was really tragic." "Yeah... It¡¯s too bad you weren¡¯t born a silver slime," Trixie said. "You have almost the perfect name for it. Syl. Silver. Sounds very similar, no?" "Har har, hilarious..." I droned sarcastically. "My name comes from Sylthaeryn. Supposedly to leave a small mark on the world or something." "Wow, that¡¯s a bit egotistical," Vee commented. "She was dying at the time... I can¡¯t exactly blame her," I answered honestly. "Plus, I like the name. It¡¯s grown on me, and I don¡¯t think I¡¯d want anything else even if I could change it." While chatting, the dwarf repeated the dance with Cooper twice before being satisfied with the slime¡¯s newly diminished size. He rushed to the edge of the put, slapped his buckler on his back, and began clambering up the rope. "Wow... He¡¯s got some good upper body strength," Vee commented. "He is a dwarf; they¡¯re naturally quite strong," Trixie explained. "Yeah, they have quite a selection of traits, although the descriptions are a nightmare," I laughed. We observed the dwarf pack his things away and begin heading toward the door with his bucket in hand. Presumably, if one of the other slimes ate that slime mass, they¡¯d also be contaminated by its metal qualities, so it had to be removed from the room. We rushed after him when he opened the door, not wanting to get locked behind. Although Vee could¡¯ve presumably teleported out, or worst case, I melted an escape tunnel. "I wonder if I can sell the dwarf harvesting methods..." Vee explained. "Who¡¯d even buy it?" I sighed. "Good point... It¡¯s not like many others have silver slimes like the dwarves," Trixie sighed. When we made it past the giant door, we breathed a collective sigh of relief. "I still can¡¯t believe we came all this way and aren¡¯t going to steal or take something..." Trixie continued to grumble. "Really? What¡¯s with you?" I asked. "It¡¯s her Fey nature; she can¡¯t help herself; she simply must be mischievous!" Vee explained. "I can stop myself perfectly fine!" Trixie harumphed. "Come on, guys. We can go celebrate with some food or something," I offered diplomatically, which got both of their attention. Getting out was even easier than getting in, and with almost no effort, we were out on the streets again, with me in a rat form again as we looked for a good spot for me to revert to a dwarf so we could leave this district. "As fun as that was... And I guess interesting, did you actually gain anything beneficial from it?" Vee asked. "Not at all, I reckon," Trixie responded. "Although I did get to show my amazing skills." "It was mostly to satisfy my idle curiosity, but it does potentially have a factor for me," I explained. "I wanted to get a rough idea of what to expect if I ever did a species evolution. While I¡¯m particularly attached to being a blue slime, I can¡¯t deny that Vee¡¯s mention of getting a species power-up intrigues me." "Can¡¯t you just change your color to blue?" Trixie suggested. "Yes, which I¡¯ll probably do if I¡¯m ever in slime form," I agreed. "But I wouldn¡¯t permanently have [Mana Slime] anymore, in theory." "That¡¯s a big nope from me then!" Trixie immediately responded. "Surely Syl being stronger and safer is better than being able to eat some Mana?" Vee pressed. "Yes..." Trixie sighed. "But it¡¯s not just me I¡¯m thinking about. Wouldn¡¯t you lose a lot of your magical capabilities then? It would need to be a very massive gain to trade for that." "I¡¯m actually not sure..." I admitted. "The risk is potentially losing my massive Mana pool, but I wouldn¡¯t lose my [Mana Slime] trait... So I¡¯m not even sure if that fear is valid." "I have no clue. What are the risks of losing the [Mana Slime] trait?" Trixie asked. "Well, unless your new species changes the trait, I¡¯d say very minimal," Vee responded. "I had some traits upgrade or merge into new ones, but otherwise, I don¡¯t think I lost anything with my two species evolutions. It¡¯s been nothing but positives." "Thanks for the confirmation," I said happily. "I still have plenty of time to decide, and I won¡¯t truly know until I see whatever options are listed for me. Pink or Gold tempts me already based on their supposed scarcity." "We could go rob some royalty?" Trixie suggested, with a particularly devilish smirk plastered on her face. When we returned to the inn, there was a look of relief on some of the dwarf¡¯s faces, and I realized they must have been some of the guards set to watch us, but in a sort of incognito disguise. When we got back to our room, I first retrieved my [Sub-Cores] from my hiding spot and, with gleeful joy, inserted them back into myself. Finally, that awkward naked feeling was gone, and I felt immense comfort. "Right, so food then magic training?" I suggested. "Sounds good!" Trixie and Vee replied in unison. Chapter 224: Routine Progress Chapter 224: Routine Progress After our successful espionage mission, we sort of fell into a routine. We would spend most of the day heading to the managed dungeon to do some magic practice, and then we¡¯d spend the evenings doing some rather lavish meals as a reward. Occasionally, we would meet up with Thern, although he still seemed much more hesitant around Trixie than Vee. It was a pretty humorous discovery that the dwarf was fine with the monster spider more than the pixie. Then again, at least with Vee, you can see her levels and whatnot. With Trixie, you just see her name, which is certainly unnerving. While the focus was still on getting Vee caught up on magic, that didn¡¯t mean I was neglecting my own. I¡¯d regained all my prior usage with my new [Soul Sight] trait, which meant I could start trying to find the latest features I¡¯d unlocked in it. I also needed to raise three forms of magic to level five to round out my repertoire. Unfortunately, [Light Magic] was categorized as intermediate magic, so it would require some more effort, but [Earth Magic] and [Air Magic] were ripe for the picking. <[Light Magic LV 3] spell [Light Beam] learned.> I¡¯d finally gained the attack spell and was very excited by the prospect until I realized it seemed far weaker than what was used against me. I then recalled the alicorn had his magical horn, but I couldn¡¯t produce the same results even with that. "Most likely a custom version of the spell, like how you layered [Torrent] spells," Trixie suggested. "Or perhaps he was using a higher level of [Light Magic]?" "[Light Beam]... They should have called it [Laser]," Vee remarked. "Although I guess calling that a laser would be a bit pitiful. Maybe laser pointer." "It¡¯s my first offensive [Light Magic]! Don¡¯t tease it!" I objected. "Don¡¯t worry, Syl. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll be shooting solar beams in no time," Vee said reassuringly, although I had the vague sense she was still teasing me. <[Air Magic LV 5] spell [Soaring Gale] learned.> To my surprise, this was, in fact, a low-level flight spell. When I thought about the other spells, level five usually gave something big, but this might have taken the cake. Well, assuming you couldn¡¯t sprout wings. It had been mentioned before that air mages could fly, but I didn¡¯t expect it so soon. The way it was discussed previously made it sound like there was a scarcity, but level five wasn¡¯t that hard to reach. When I actually cast the spell, I understood why the supply was short; Mana efficiency. The spell was quite a Mana hog, and anyone with subpar Mana reserves or Air affinity would be drained dry. Rather than granting you the ability to fly, like the [Enchanted Wings] trait, it propelled you in a direction for a duration by surrounding you in a windy nimbus. The spell had two Mana reserves you could fill, one handling velocity while the other had duration. It felt more like flinging yourself than flight, and if you kept it solely to yourself, you could get some reasonable usage out of it. Trying to get others to fly was another matter entirely, and I wondered how they did it. Vee mentioned that perhaps they would use something relatively buoyant, like a balloon, so they would only need to worry about the trajectory. Personally, the spell almost felt worthless for me. I could sprout wings and fly, but I supposed it could be good to fling an ally either towards our target or out of harm¡¯s way. However, I definitely had some fun casting it on Vee with the velocity set to the minimum and duration to the maximum, which caused the spider to flail slightly a few inches off the ground. <[Earth Magic LV 5] spell [Geokinesis] learned.> I was baffled when I received this prompt, but I went from confusion to excitement when I started looking into the spell. This was evidently the basis for the spell the dwarven geomancer used to defend herself. The spell lets you inject Earth Mana into rock, soil, ground, and so forth and then manipulate it directly. I tested it out a few times by making some rocks float around me, much to my own amusement. "Those types of spells are amusing; they often say the only limit to them is your imagination and Mana supply!" Trixie said gleefully. "Why isn¡¯t there an equivalent for my other affinities? Or did Earth just get it sooner than the others, or am I expected to craft them?" I immediately asked. "The others do have it. I¡¯m not sure why Earth gets it first," Trixie shrugged. "And please don¡¯t waste your time trying to piece it together for the other elements. You¡¯d just be wasting your time, and I doubt you¡¯d get rewarded for it." "Waterkinesis sounds kinda fun, though," Vee commented. "[Hydrokinesis]," Trixie corrected smugly. "And what¡¯s the point? Syl can shoot deadly water beams and make it rain. Moving some water with your mind seems dull by comparison." Trixie¡¯s explanation dampened my mood on receiving the other versions of the spell. But if anything, it would make a good way of counter-pranking the mischievous pixie. I¡¯d also made some gains in my traits; some of them were highly overdue in my books. [Mana Circulation LV 8] [Mana Reinforcement LV 8] Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. [Derived Element (Air) LV 7] I can¡¯t believe how fast that [Derived Element] has leveled up... I¡¯d asked Trixie if she knew what happened when it reached max level. Sadly, she didn¡¯t have the answer but made an educated guess that it might grant me the whole affinity and potentially remove itself from my trait list. My general skills also saw some good gains. [Multitasking LV 6] [Thunder Step LV 5] [Wind Step LV 4] I¡¯d occasionally used my step skills while casting spells simultaneously, which conveniently seemed to level up [Multitasking]. Ironically, the skill might have never leveled up if I hadn¡¯t done that, as I still liked to delegate multiple spells to a [Sub-Core] rather than do it myself. It was just so much more efficient. And, of course, thanks to all the magical training, I gained quite a few headway with my magical skills. [Mana Manipulation LV 7] [Magic Efficiency LV 6] [Magical Overcharge LV 2] [Counter Magic LV 5] [Magical Subterfuge LV 5] Out of all these gains, [Mana Manipulation] was definitely the one I was most excited about, as it meant I could further customize my spells. I had high hopes of figuring out the homing component of the [Fireflies] spell and adding it to some of my other spells. I imagine homing [Ball Lightning] would be incredibly effective. All the spellcasting meant [Magic Efficiency] would naturally go up, and I even got to practice some [Counter Magic] with Trixie. Although it was a struggle to get the pixie to partake in that activity. "This isn¡¯t fun anymore..." Trixie groaned. "You¡¯ve gotten too good at this!" "I can stop using my [Sub-Cores]..." I offered. "Th-that¡¯s cheating!" Trixie exclaimed wildly. "I¡¯d be using them in any normal circumstances. I don¡¯t see how using my own trait is cheating..." I teased. The pixie fumed, and only when Vee joined in some playful taunting did I get a few rematches, enough to get a single skill level. It was better than nothing. I¡¯d also very briefly tried out [Magical Overcharge]. I didn¡¯t like it, and Trixie agreed with me unconditionally. As a being of Mana, no doubt it would quite literally be burning away her life to use such a skill. Vee thought it was potentially valuable, and when I offered her the skill, she was met with an unfortunate error: she lacked sufficient Mana capacity. "I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll be able to buy it once you get [Soul Mastery]," I replied. "I suppose..." the spider grumbled disappointingly. "It¡¯s probably a safety thing," Trixie suggested. "Can¡¯t have young mages burning up their entire Mana supply in a panic. Hitting zero Mana is no good, even you non-spirits." "Oh, trust me, I know..." Vee sighed. "Oh? Being a bit reckless with the fancy [Dimension Magic]?" Trixie asked. "Hardly..." Vee said and pointed toward me. "Syl left [Mana Burn] on me while keeping me hostage." "Syl! How could you!?" Trixie gasped in outrage. "It was the only way to stop a silly spider from teleporting away," I explained. "This one was refusing my [Telepathy] because she was afraid I would plant brainworms in her." "It¡¯s a perfectly valid fear!" Vee objected. "You even admitted to being scared of being mind-controlled or enslaved as well." "Yeah, but not through brainworms..." I replied. "And certainly not through something as simple as [Telepathy]," Trixie pointed out before starting to cackle maniacally. "Plus, it¡¯s not like the brainworms require your permission." Vee yelled and started trying to smack Trixie for that remark. The spider really had a phobia against it. The only thing I¡¯m slacking on is my sneaky rogue stuff... It¡¯s a pity our covert operation didn¡¯t level anything up. We¡¯d settled so much into our schedule and relaxed that I¡¯d almost completely forgotten about the assassination attempt. So it was a bit of a surprise when Lukhek appeared again at my door, abruptly reminding me of that whole ordeal. "Good to see you again, Syl," the dwarf said politely. "With how spry you¡¯re looking, I assume there¡¯s been no hint of our shadowy friends." "It¡¯s good to see you too, Master Lukhek," I responded. No, it¡¯s been so quiet I almost forgot I was attacked in the first place. I hope everything has been alright with the guild." "Good. Good," Lukhek responded happily before forming a slight frown. "For the most part, it has been smooth sailing... But we¡¯ve heard some disturbing activity lately, and I wondered if you¡¯ve seen or heard anything." "We¡¯ve mostly been in the dungeon, so I¡¯m unsure how much I can help. We went out once, but nothing really happened," I answered. "Aye, you haven¡¯t been out recently, but before the whole assassin ordeal, you did take out almost a record number of kobolds," he said. "Oh... This is about kobolds?" I questioned. Oh, gods... Did I still have the kill quest active when Vee and I went and had our fun? Lukhek nodded, "Outstanding work; I can see that you more than earned that Gold rank. But with how many you killed, combined with other killings in the guild, we should have been entering a quiet period. But that is not the case; in fact, there seem to be more kobolds than ever!" "That doesn¡¯t sound good..." Trixie spoke, injecting herself into the conversation. I¡¯d expected Lukhek to flinch, but the dwarf barely battered an eye at the sudden pixie appearance. "It¡¯s not good at all," Lukhek shook his head with evident disappointment. "Which was why I wanted to know if you saw anything strange with the kobolds when you were out killing or if you have any idea why they might be spawning in such strange numbers?" I wracked my mind trying to think, but I was drawing a blank. I even had a quick consultation with Vee to see if she recalled spotting anything, and even between the two of us going back and forth, we struggled to think of anything noteworthy. Is the chaotic essence the reason for so many kobolds? I thought we cleaned it up, though... I didn¡¯t want to admit that, so I grasped at one of the few available straws. "They were collecting monsters..." I offered. "Taming or enslavement?" Lukhek immediately questioned. "It was a warlock chieftain, so definitely the latter," I replied. "Warlocks..." Lukhek spat. "If they¡¯re getting rarer classes like that, then a lesser dragon might be pushing them. Especially if it was a chieftain." "How rare are we talking?" I asked. "I know they have a ton of geomancers." "Like... One in a hundred, maybe even worse than that," Lukhek answered. "An affinity for dark magic is once in a blue moon amongst their kind without outside influence." "So, what do you want Syl to do about it?" Trixie asked in an almost demanding tone. "For now? Nothing," Lukhek responded with a dry chuckle. "I¡¯ll be putting up a big bounty quest for warlocks if, for some reason, you want to make even more cash. But at the moment, we are still in the information gathering stage for a bigger plan, if we need one." "No chance of just heading to their main nest and wiping them out?" I queried. That had been the response Stantondale rallied against the goblins, after all. Lukhek shook his head, "There¡¯s far too many of them. It¡¯s like trying to cut off the head of a hydra; two more pop up. Consistent culling and encouraging them to avoid Dhoggurum has been our tried and true method. Besides, a big shift in the dungeon ecosystem like that would open up a power vacuum for another potentially worse monster species to thrive." "What about a hit squad for the lesser dragon?" Trixie suggested. "We sometimes do those, but we¡¯d need confirmation that one exists. Sending glory seekers on a wild goose chase is a recipe for disaster I want to avoid. We can¡¯t afford to lose any good adventurers, and yes, that definitely includes you." After that, Lukhek didn¡¯t stay around much longer and took his leave. Trixie and Vee immediately turned to me as if questioning my intentions. "I mean... I¡¯d like to kill a lesser dragon if possible," I admitted. "Assuming it exists," Vee pointed out. "What if all the chaotic essence is the reason for the kobolds." "Extra essence. Extra spawning," Trixie agreed. "Just like one the floating island." "The warlock was before the chaotic essence," I deflected. "Probably... But I still think this is partially your fault; maybe it was brewing, and you accidentally sped it up?" Trixie suggested with a smirk. I hope I wasn¡¯t to blame. But either way, I¡¯d be helping clean up the mess if it got to that point. I¡¯d gained plenty of experience from the last kobold culling and had new toys to try out. Chapter 225: Siren Chapter 225: Siren We were casually strolling around Dhoggurum, minding our own business, when suddenly, a strange high-pitched noise began echoing throughout the city. All the non-dwarves looked around in panic, but the stout dwarves all abruptly stood at attention as if they¡¯d been prepared their entire lives for this moment. Some of the humans were eventually calmed down, but everyone seemed to be on edge, waiting for the blaring siren to cease and answer the question on everyone¡¯s mind. "Attention, citizens!" a magically amplified voice echoed throughout the whole city. Once again, the non-dwarves were surprised, and those who panicked were hushed to shut their yaps. "Attention, citizens!" the magical voice repeated. "Dhoggurum, our mighty city of rock and stone, is under siege!" Gaps echoed throughout the crowd, followed by angry jeers from the dwarves. "I repeat. Dhoggurum is under siege. A vile force of darkness, spawned from the depths, is en route. The accursed kobolds have forgotten their place and seek to harm us! It¡¯s up to us to stop them and put them in their rightful place!" Cheers and thunderous stomps of feet could be heard echoing throughout the city. "Brothers, sisters! Those who wish to defend our home head to the nearest garrison¡ªwe will not yield! Our allies and visitors, if you wish to aid our cause, we will accept any help, military or otherwise. Adventurers! An emergency quest has been issued; seek the guild for assignment to earn your riches and glory! For Dhoggurum!" "For Dhoggurum!" the dwarves chanted in unison. I¡¯d almost expected a panic from such an announcement, but the dwarves began heading off so orderly that it seemed practically pre-prepared. Some of the confused humans got caught in the buzz and followed along, looking slightly sheepish. "Well... I guess the kobolds are coming for us!" Trixie said mentally. "This seems like a pretty big deal..." Vee mumbled. "I assume we¡¯re going to help?" "If there¡¯s any chance at killing a lesser dragon, then I bet this is it!" I replied excitedly. "The only thing we need to ensure is that we don¡¯t get assigned to a squad or party. Otherwise, we will need to hold back or risk blowing our cover." "And here I was hoping we could sit on the wall and play tower defense..." Vee grumbled. "Just so you¡¯re aware... I can¡¯t actually attack them," Trixie pointed out, casually dropping quite the bombshell on us. "As in... You can¡¯t actually attack?" Vee questioned. "Are you all smoke and mirrors?" "Trixie has [Water Magic] and [Nature Magic]," I swiftly answered. "So I¡¯m guessing it¡¯s something else?" "Bingo!" Trixie replied. "I can throw out some support from the sidelines, but officially, I¡¯m not really allowed to attack and kill things directly." "That sounds stupid..." Vee muttered. "Is that why you¡¯ve never joined my party?" I asked. "Even back on the island..." "Bingo again!" Trixie giggled. "It is a bit stupid, but rules are rules, and as a spirit, I need to take them very seriously." "An oath?" I asked. "Something like that," Trixie said with a shrug. "Also, you really shouldn¡¯t mention those to others." "A bit late to that," Vee snickered. Trixie stared at me with quite a judgemental look plastered on her face. "Er... I sort of took an oath with Vee," I answered. "How? You aren¡¯t a spirit. Explain!" Trixie demanded. I gave her a brief rundown, and Vee confirmed it. Trixie looked absolutely flabbergasted, and it actually took her a while to recompose and snap back to reality. "You took an oath... To the gods!?" Trixie screeched. "Yes?" I confirmed hesitantly. Trixie was tearing at her hair before she slumped and sighed. "Well... As oaths go, that one isn¡¯t that bad," Trixie admitted, although her tone was still venomous. "As the receiver of said oath, I¡¯m delighted with it," Vee admitted. "And while I know now that Syl would have probably never used that [Order] thing on me, I¡¯m still glad to have utter certainty." "The content of the oath is fine... Like I said, it¡¯s got no glaring flaws other than the fact you can¡¯t use the positive benefits of [Order]," Trixie once again admitted. "My concern is bringing the gods into it. You don¡¯t want their direct attention on you for silly nonsense." "Uh... I hate to break it to you, Trixie, but the gods are very much involved with the both of us," I pointed out. "Yeah, we¡¯re both [Experiments] for two different gods," Vee added. "There¡¯s even a third god if you count Unc, although he seems to be a bit of a loose addition compared to Gramps or Mother," I further added. The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. Trixie scrunched her face up tight before relaxing it and letting out a massive sigh. "You¡¯re right... I guess the gods, and you were already mingling long before this. Just... Be safe, okay?" "Well, as safe as I can be," I chuckled, hoping to lighten up the mood. "After all, I plan on jumping directly into whatever this kobold fiasco is!" "Oh... Right, we should probably hurry, or Lukhek might get mad," Vee said. With Trixie on my head and Vee secured on my shoulder, I hastily headed towards the guild. The turnout was absolutely massive, and I almost wondered if we weren¡¯t even needed. "Wow... I almost feel sorry for the kobolds with this many adventurers," Vee joked. We stood in line and watched as everyone came and went in a remarkably orderly fashion. There were a surprising amount more humans in the area than I had previously seen, which struck me as slightly odd. "Definitely making me slightly rethink revealing the truth..." I admitted. "Were all these adventurers just hiding in the pubs, or what?" Vee chuckled nervously, "Yeah... Please don¡¯t, or at least give me enough warning so I can teleport to safety." "Definitely not a good idea," Trixie agreed. "You might have better luck telling the elves the truth, although they might ask to bond you on the spot!" "Unless they¡¯re willing to swear a similar oath, I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll be accepting any bonds, thank you very much," I grumbled. "How the heck would that even work?" Vee asked. "Like... Do they get me for free? A bond-chain or what?" Trixie shrugged, "No clue... It¡¯s definitely uncharted territory." We kept waiting for our turn, a slightly surreal experience. When exiting, quite a few humans seemed to shoot dirty glances my way. "Are they upset I have a pixie on my head?" I asked as I recalled Trixie saying humans hated her kind. "Oh no, I¡¯m invisible," Trixie answered. "Poofed as soon as I saw so many of them. Just now, one of them whips out a pixie cage and catches me." "Surely they can¡¯t do that in the dwarf city?" I asked. "Oh, it¡¯d certainly be a diplomatic incident," Trixie agreed. "But I¡¯m still not taking any chances. What happens in a creepy dark alley stays in the creepy dark alley." "Yeah... Better to be safe than sorry," Vee said approvingly. "They¡¯re probably glaring at me; I am a creepy spider, after all." "No way! You¡¯re an adorable shrinking spider!" Trixie vehemently objected. "Well, I doubt they¡¯re glaring at the super hot elf," Vee countered. "Maybe they hate the pointy knife ears?" Trixie joked. "No way, the pointy elf ear thing is super cute. I¡¯m pretty sure I knew people who would kill to have real-life elf ears," Vee objected. Trixie gasped in shock, "Why would anyone want elf ears? Do they eat them or something? That¡¯s super creepy!" "No!" Vee shouted. "As in, they wanted elf ears in place of their own on their head! Not amputated off. I swear you-" Vee¡¯s rant was interrupted when she saw a familiar smirk and stifled giggles coming from the pixie. She swatted at the pixie, and there was a bit of a slap war going on between my head and shoulders. This probably looks absurd to everyone else, with Trixie being invisible. When we finally got inside, the layout differed from what I recalled. The booths had been changed in an improvised manner, with a sign advertising either a role or a task, and adventurers would head toward the one they wanted or best suited them. A desk for healers, fortifications builders, wall defenders, tanks, ranged damage dealers and partied groups were just a few of the many designations on display. "I think that one probably suits us best," Vee said, pointing one of her little legs forward. Following her motion, I saw a desk labeled "Strike Squad" and figured that definitely was the closest to our needs. "Damn, I was hoping we could¡¯ve been wall defenders," Trixie said sarcastically. "I guess with your [Nature Magic], that could have been very useful," I replied. "An army of Branch Sprites!" Trixie gleefully giggled. "Although I think that would violate my restrictions. Not to mention, I don¡¯t think there¡¯s enough wood for that unless we start breaking some furniture." We headed toward the desk, the dwarf assigned to the post seeming slightly surprised. "Are you here to register for your party?" the dwarf asked. "Nope, just me and my [Bonded Companion]," I answered, "Alright..." the dwarf grunted. "Would you like to be assigned with an open party?" "No thank you, I¡¯d like to be able to independently operate," I replied. "Of course... Another glory seeker," the dwarf sighed. "Well, whatever, do you need me to explain your role?" "I assume it¡¯s to take out high-value targets or disrupt the enemy directly?" I asked. The dwarf nodded, "More or less. The key targets are warlocks, as there seem to be quite a few enslaved monsters in their army. Otherwise, go for healers as the next priority, followed by any other spellcaster. Can you handle that?" I nodded, "Sounds good to me. I have two movement skills and some upgrades for [Sneak Attack]." The dwarf¡¯s expression brightened. "Great! It sounds like you¡¯ll be a perfect little mage slayer." I received three quests, two of which provided locations. The dwarf explained that the first location was my top priority to roam for targets, and then I could move on to the other location if targets ran out or if the quest was completed. None of the quests had completion conditions, so their completion had to be manually controlled. When I asked, my suspicion was confirmed. "If the third quest completes itself, you should immediately return to the city!" the dwarf warned me. "Otherwise, just kill as many kobolds as you can see!" I thanked him for explaining, and he handed me a badge indicating my task. The dwarf explained that if I showed that to any of the guards, they would assist me to the best of their capabilities within reason. "That¡¯s rather clever of them using quests as a sort of impromptu communication system," Trixie pointed out. "Sucks you guys don¡¯t have phones or something to talk with. It¡¯s a form of long-range communication," Vee commented. "While we don¡¯t have these phone things you mentioned, we do have a few magic items that allow communication," Trixie explained. "Dungeon rewards or crazy inventions from artificers. Although most of them are quite cumbersome. You could also uncap the [Telepathy (Greater)] skill and get some pretty immense range!" "Did you uncap it?" I asked curiously. "Gods no!¡¯ Trixie rejected it immediately. "That¡¯s a one-way ticket to being the errand pixie of some bigshot, doing nothing but facilitating communications all day, every day. Can you even imagine how boring that would be?" "A magical call center... Now I¡¯ve heard everything," Vee chuckled dryly. Dhoggurum was abuzz with dwarves forming rank and file and heading toward their set locations. Judging by the massive defensive formation surrounding the city, I doubted the kobolds were even capable of breaching its defenses. The location I was heading led to a new district and eventually a gate. The dwarves on duty were momentarily confused by my presence until I explained and showed them the badge I had been given. "Hunter squad ¡¯ey?" one dwarf grunted happily, giving a toothy grin and thumbs up. "Be sure to kill many of those scalie bastards for me!" "For Dhoggurum!" the dwarves chanted in unison as they opened my exit door. All three of us gasped in synchrony at the environment opening up before us. The clang of metal echoed off the stone walls as the dwarves stood shoulder to shoulder along the battlements. As I peered out into the dim expanse of the cavern, the flickering light of torches painted the approaching kobold horde in a chaotic dance of shadows. Their crude war cries¡ªa shrill cacophony¡ªricocheted through the cavern. "That... Is a lot of kobolds!" Trixie gasped. And I had to agree; this was simply unbelievable. Chapter 226: Artillery Chapter 226: Artillery "Oh wow, the temptation to just turn into a giant slime-worm and go barreling through them is almost overpowering," I chuckled. "Please don¡¯t..." Vee replied nervously. "Please do!" Trixie countered with a massive grin. With a shoulder angel and devil, I decided to keep my sanity and not succumb to temptation. It would have been glorious, but that would be the end of Syl, the adventurer. I wasn¡¯t ready for that commitment just yet. While we were admiring the view, the kobolds and dwarves exchanged magical artillery, mainly in the form of rock projectiles being hurled at each other. The occasional [Fireballs] streaked across from either side, but they always seemed to sputter out before reaching their target. "And this is why getting past your Mana aura is important," Trixie informed us. "If you could form your [Fireball] further away and closer to the target, you wouldn¡¯t have them sputtering out like that." "I¡¯m working on it!" Vee moaned with a hint of irritation. "I¡¯m sorry that I can¡¯t imagine myself as the rock, flower, or anything outside my spidery body." "You¡¯ll get it, don¡¯t worry!" I said reassuringly. Almost immediately, I could sense the relief coming from my spidery companion. Wow, our [Companion Bond] has really grown fast. I guess I¡¯m the first thing that has offered her anything other than death, so she¡¯s attached herself to me quite rapidly. It was definitely a reassuring thought, and I was also extremely grateful to have someone with whom I could share my situation more directly. Trixie was great and all, but arguably, she had no real stake in any of this. She could leave us and wash her hands of the matter entirely if she wanted. Well, those are some negative thoughts, I grumbled and shook myself free of them. I can¡¯t exactly blame her if she wants to avoid the potential drama with a monster in disguise¡ªnot that I think she would. A large rock hurtled upwards towards the dwarven battlements, but a group of mages joined to stop it moments before it crashed into the rampart. The dwarves cheered before flinging it back towards the kobolds, their casters attempting to seize it but only managing to send it plummeting to the ground early. But to their dismay, the rock kept much of its momentum despite being slammed into the ground and began bowling into a group of kobolds. "Man, this is crazy..." Vee muttered again. One of the dwarves in charge must have spotted us as he rapidly approached. "Adventurer sent to reinforce us?" he questioned with a happy grunt. "Will you be joining the artillery line?" "No, I¡¯m part of a hit squad," I answered. "Really?" the dwarf asked, looking me over. "I thought you¡¯d surely be part of the artillery mages with that much magical power." "I guess I prefer to get closer to the action," I replied with a dry chuckle. "Aye, I can understand that," the dwarf nodded in agreement. "Well, good luck out there then. Try not to get hit by any stray boulders!" Before I could respond, the dwarf returned to the firing line and started shouting various orders to some of the mages present. "He was joking... Right?" Vee questioned nervously. "I don¡¯t think so," Trixie replied. "Is it too late to join the artillery division?" Vee suggested. "That sounds boring, though," I answered. "And it¡¯s not like you can fire [Acid Darts] that far." Vee sighed, "Maybe we could do portals?" "Don¡¯t be such a scaredy-spider!" Trixie countered. "I¡¯m sure Syl will keep you safe if you can¡¯t [Blink] away in time." "I certainly don¡¯t plan on being hit by a giant rock," I stated plainly. Rather than diving right in, we continued to observe the long-range exchanges and question some of the dwarves on duty. I wondered when more close-range operations would be done and discovered that a group was being formed to do some hit-and-run tactics. "Sounds like the perfect distraction for us," Trixie pointed out. "Agreed," I said with a nod. The group leaving the battlement was a well-armored bunch of dwarves, with the occasional human also present. When they were being lowered, the kobolds attempted to fire some spells and projectiles directly at them, but they were met with shields and barriers promptly formed to block and counter. Rather than going down with the group, I simply jumped off the ledge and utilized the slowfall enchantment on my cloak. Trixie and Vee clutched on tightly as I drifted down, with the former screaming with delight. "You can fly; why are you finding this so fun!?" Vee questioned the pixie. Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. "Yeah! But flying and falling with a magic cloak into an army of kobolds is another thing entirely!" Trixie gleefully responded. There was the occasional shot at me, but with [Wind Step], I could easily avoid any projectiles fired my way or by throwing up an impromptu [Aegis] spell. "Oh wow... That is very different from [Blink]..." Vee replied, sounding somewhat distraught. "Oh... I kind of forgot I had passengers. It¡¯s a good thing I didn¡¯t lose you!" I said somewhat nervously. "It¡¯s a movement skill, so yeah, we get taken along for the ride," Trixie explained. "Although we would¡¯ve been left behind if you used [Blink]. So it¡¯s a good thing it¡¯s movement and not teleportation!" "Would it work with [Thunder Step] too?" I pondered. "Yes, but please don¡¯t!" Trixie immediately answered. "Yes, please do not shock the spider!" Vee quickly added. The dwarf squad was already beginning their harassment, quickly darting into action before retreating behind a barrage of attacks from the support on the battlements. Not wanting to just sit around and wait, I began quickly maneuvering to a good vantage point while ensuring I was using [Vanish] and presumably aided in some way by Trixie. "I don¡¯t see any warlocks..." Vee muttered. "They¡¯re probably much deeper in; no way they would be around the frontline," Trixie replied. "Guess I¡¯ll just throw out some random spells and help," I suggested. "Yeah! Give Vee a good demonstration of casting outside of your Mana aura!" Trixie agreed. I quickly aligned myself to Lightning and grabbed my helpers. Together, we started spawning [Ball Lightning] spells right in the middle of clusters of kobolds. Shrieks of outrage and cries of agony erupted in cacophony from the tiny lizards, and they began frantically trying to avoid the abruptly appearing spells. "Wow, that looks like cheating," Vee responded. "Hardly... If they had some better mages, they could easily counter those spells or at least dispel them," Trixie replied casually. Either Trixie was hiding us very well, or my [Magical Subterfuge] and [Vanish] were working wonders, as despite casting multiple spells directly into the kobolds, they didn¡¯t seem to spot their source. Vee, not wanting to do nothing was starting to toss out debuffs to some of the more elite kobolds. She had [Subtle Afflictions], so at least they weren¡¯t detectable, and when I decided to finally move to a new spot, she began throwing out [Acid Dart] spells, too. Sadly, the kobolds were not worth much experience. They were little more than fodder sent into a grinder in hopes of delaying the dwarves until the more elite forces made their way. Or perhaps they were hoping to either tire out the stout defenders or burn through their valuable resources. Sneaking in further, we began seeing some of their enslaved monsters. Most of the monsters were badgers and ants, but I even spotted a rare salamander or a froglike creature in the mix. "I didn¡¯t think they would be able to control ants..." I asked out loud. "I think they¡¯re even easier to control if you kill their princess or queen; then they are nothing but mindless drones," Trixie answered. "Yikes. Good thing the ants aren¡¯t too strong!" Vee replied. "Yeah, no fire ants in this batch, which is probably good..." I added. I thought I might need to be much more cautious in my approach, but it seemed like neither the kobolds nor their monsters noticed me infiltrating their ranks. A massive rock came quite close to our location, and despite Vee¡¯s mental screams, we were far out of reach from it being an issue for us. I capitalized on the rocky distraction to toss out further spells and greatly hinder the marching kobolds. "I¡¯m super tempted to throw out some spell orbs..." I whispered mentally. "Really? Haven¡¯t you caused enough environmental destruction?" Vee questioned. "A few won¡¯t hurt, I¡¯m sure..." I chuckled darkly. "Please be the voice of reason, Trixie!" Vee begged. "I must say I¡¯ve been curious to see what caused such chaotic essence, so I¡¯d say go for it!" Trixie excitedly said. Vee sighed, "I guess I deserve that for trusting a pixie to be reasonable." Trixie stuck out her tongue and blew a raspberry toward Vee, who tried to reciprocate, but only a strange hiss was produced. I maneuvered myself to a relatively safe spot and then withdrew some spell orbs. Unfortunately, I couldn¡¯t be very subtle with these, so after launching them, I¡¯d need to be on the move to avoid any kobolds attacking my previous position. With my ammo loaded, I began launching a few orbs toward large clusters of kobolds or monsters with the help of [Slime Shot] while hastily abandoning my prior position. Unlike my spells, the orbs soared through the air and were quite quickly noticed by our foes. Some of them tried to block them with spells or shoot them down, but they were made from orichalcum, freshly produced from [Metal Slime], and unless they really put in an effort, they would be unable to stop them. "It¡¯s like you¡¯re literally shooting away money," Trixie gasped in disbelief. "What did you think she was doing!?" Vee questioned. "I mean... I had a general idea of what she was up to, but seeing them flying out in such quantity is another thing entirely!" Trixie responded. I giggled a little maniacally and, with a wink to my companions, said the magic word, "Boom!" Detonations went off, releasing their various stored spells. Out of my improved spell orbs, the ones with [Poison Cloud] were arguably the most effective, and when combined with [Gust], they spread the hazardous cloud into a much more effectual area. Seeing that result, I hastily made mental notes to combine various spell orbs into sets. If I could find optimal pairings or more, think of what I could accomplish! "Wow..." Trixie said, sounding particularly flabbergasted. "You definitely couldn¡¯t do that when we last met." "Syl¡¯s totally gone mad scientist on us..." Vee moaned. Chaos erupted from the kobolds, and I even heard some shouting in commands in [Universal Language] rather than their own reptilian language made from various clicks and hisses. "Wow... They were not happy about that; looks like there¡¯s a kill order to hunt you down!" Vee warned. "Well, good luck to them!" Trixie smirked. "Between Syl¡¯s stealth, us moving around, and my illusions, they¡¯d need to be pretty damn good to spot us!" "You¡¯re raising flags talking like that..." Vee warned. "Flags?" I questioned. Before Vee could answer, a wave of fire burst forward and swept toward our location. I quickly cast [Bubble] on myself, enveloping both companions and threw up a quick [Aegis] to block the brunt of the wave. "See! I told you!" Vee cried. "Bah! That fire was hardly targeting us directly; more like it was fired in our general direction," Trixie scoffed. When the flames died down, I saw a small squadron of salamanders pointed in our direction, flames still roiling in their mouths. Accompanying them was a bunch of kobold pyromancers with flames smoldering between their clawed grasp. "Everyone okay?" I questioned. "I¡¯m fine... Thanks," Vee responded. "Yes, but I think they spotted your bubble..." Trixie pointed out. And right the pixie was, as the kobolds pointed in our direction. If the [Bubble] spell wasn¡¯t enough, the evident lack of burning in our general area was another giveaway. "I guess it is hard to be stealthy if you¡¯re surrounded by a giant bubble..." I admitted. "Well, just kill them quickly and then run away," Trixie suggested. "And drop the cartoonishly giant bubble!" Vee shouted. Chapter 227: Salamander Squad Chapter 227: Salamander Squad With a pop, I canceled my enlarged [Bubble] spell and began casting a normal-sized one in addition to [Zephyr Shroud] on Vee. As the spider had said many times, she was not strictly fireproof, and I didn¡¯t want her to take any unnecessary damage. It appeared that when working together, these salamanders could really turn up the heat. As if instinctually understanding my intent, Vee used [Blink] to leave my shoulder as soon as the final buff completed and began flickering closer, yet out of the direct firing range of the salamanders. When she finished gaining ground, she started casting weaves of [Acid Dart] and firing them at the kobolds. Immediately, I felt my helper core reaching out to help, and I remembered that I still had yet to rescind its assistance order. I felt Vee¡¯s initial confusion at her spells being empowered, but it was soon replaced by what felt like gratitude. "Oh wow... That¡¯s some good teamwork, I¡¯m feeling a bit left out," Trixie stated. "[Companion Bond] and [Ritual Casting]," I explained. "And don¡¯t be; we worked well together when you hid my spells against those pegasi!" "I see..." Trixie murmured. "I would¡¯ve scolded you for leaving yourself so open by casting outside your Mana Aura with reckless abandon, but it looks like casting through [Ritual Casting] is mitigating that." "How so?" I asked while throwing up multiple [Aegis] spells to disrupt some oncoming [Fireballs] directed toward me. "It looks like it¡¯s using Vee as the anchor point, probably because she¡¯s the spell¡¯s origin, and you¡¯re boosting her," Trixie answered. "Huh... That¡¯s good to know, I¡¯m surprised it¡¯s not more common," I replied. "It¡¯s pretty niche. Wouldn¡¯t it be more effective for you to cast these spells yourself rather than help Vee?" Trixie asked. "Sure, but nothing is stopping me from doing so," I replied and demonstrated so by casting two [Force Bolt] spells at two salamanders. "Not to mention, I wanted Vee to get more spellcasting experience." The magical arcane bolts flew forward and struck both salamanders, applying directional force to each and sending them hurtling toward one another. They cried out moments before colliding and looking mightily upset. "Point made," Trixie nodded as she barely contained her impish grin. "And that was hilarious!" Vee capitalized on the two tangled salamanders by casting [Poison Cloud], grabbing both into the hazardous green cloud. That caused the kobold pyromancers to refocus their efforts on the deadly spider, which was actively attacking their enslaved pets. Vee was definitely being more reckless, but my direct aid allowed her to do so, as she knew I¡¯d have her back. She teleported directly behind a kobold pyromancer before simultaneously casting [Pocket Space] while swinging her front legs as she withdrew a deadly amount of [Rift Thread] and tore through the kobold. Despite being carved asunder, the lizard monster still surged with Fire Mana and threw out one of the largest castings of [Nova] I¡¯d ever seen. Either [Blink] had a cooldown, or Vee was caught off guard as she didn¡¯t teleport away. Thankfully, my [Sub-Cores] were still watching over her, and by the time her [Bubble] broke, she was already defended by [Ice Dome], [Rampart], and multiple [Aegis] spells. "Wow... Overprotective much?" Trixie teased. "What are you, her mom?" "That was my [Sub-Cores]," I brushed off, feeling a teensy bit embarrassed; they had really gone overboard on the protection front. Unfortunately, the kobold pyromancer¡¯s last fiery sacrifice did little to his allies, as it looked like they were all effectively immune to flame. This probably explained why they ran as a squad together and why other kobolds appeared to be avoiding the immediate area. However, by the looks of things, they had their hands full dealing with the shock troop of dwarves who were repeatedly battering their frontline. "Wow, thanks for the save!" Vee said gratefully as she blinked out of the [Ice Dome], looking perfectly unscratched, and continued her assault on the kobold pyromancers. I didn¡¯t want to steal her training, so while she tangled with the fire team, I began indirectly casting some more explosive spells into any large cluster of kobolds I could spot, and with [Eagle Vision], I could spot plenty of juicy targets. By the time Vee finished mopping up the last of the pyro-salamander squad, the area around us looked overly vacant, and we stood out like sore thumbs. I wanted to immediately retreat and continue our stealthy scouting for valuable targets when, out of nowhere, a squadron of monsters suddenly appeared before us. A large bird monster crackled with lightning, a snake that appeared to be oozing water, a pair of fiery hedgehogs, and even a yeti. That¡¯s strange... Why are they all level 30? My question would have to wait as the group suddenly attacked in unison, targeting me specifically. "Eep!" Vee squeaked as I rapidly activated [Wind Step] multiple times to obscure my location as a barrage of four elements crashed in my prior location. Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. The monsters looked oddly strange as I observed them, and I felt like [Soul Sight] was trying to tell me something about them. However, the way they coordinated in harmony made me confident they came from the same source. "Wow, someone has it out for you," Trixie commented, looking slightly flustered. "More experience for us," I replied with a grin. "Which ones do you want, Vee?" "I don¡¯t really want to deal with ice and lightning..." Vee said, sounding somewhat weary. "Works for me," I replied before dodging another combined assault. Vee once again used [Blink], appearing almost directly adjacent to the water snake and firing a quick barrage of [Acid Darts]. To her dismay, the snake seemed to sense her immediate presence and managed to dodge all the spells aimed at it with a perfect fluid-like motion. "Oh? I might need to get a bit serious!" Vee taunted. "She does know they can¡¯t hear her, right?" Trixie asked. "Don¡¯t spoil her fun," I argued back. The only issue was that the monsters were in a bit of a cluster, clearly wanting to work as a unit rather than separating. Also, it seemed like the snake was ignoring Vee despite her direct attack against it, with its gaze still laser-focused on me. Well, since they seem to lack an earth representative, I think I can use [Rampart] to separate them. Then Vee and I can pick them apart. And since I have all eyes on me, I have the perfect plan! "Shut your eyes!" I shouted over our telepathic link and threw everything I had into the [Flash], my latest acquisition from [Light Magic]. The Light Mana built up into a crescendo before bursting outward like a sunburst from my spot. It must have been utterly blinding in the dark, dank cavern, as even kobolds nowhere near our position wailed in agony from the sudden bright display. "Oh wow, that was bright!" Trixie whined, perhaps not closing her eyes in time. My distraction appeared perfect, as the group of strange monsters was momentarily unmoving. So, I rapidly moved on to phase two, using [Rampart] to create an earthen wall dividing the group. "Awesome!" Vee said excitedly as she teleported out of sight behind the wall to deal with her targets. Thanks to our bond, I could still sense her, which was a somewhat reassuring feeling in the back of my mind. With just the two hedgehogs and the bird to deal with, I was looking forward to having some fun with them. I had yet to reach [Water Magic LV 6], so this might be the opportunity to push myself over the edge. Aligning to water, I began to cast [Waterjet] aimed at the fire hedgehogs, I had thought I¡¯d easily score a direct hit, but to my surprise, they flared up and rocketed towards me as if they were living fireballs. I could have let them slam into me and engulf them with my slimy body, but I still wanted to retain my elven persona for now, and so with the aid of my [Sub-Cores], we threw up a rapid defense. [Aegis] spells delayed the rocketing hedgehogs, and then an impromptu half [Ice Dome] sealed the deal. When they crashed against the solid ice, I countered by immediately casting [Waterjet] again at their impact spot. Magical, deadly, compressed beams of pressurized water fired out, boring straight through the inner wall of the icy dome and hopefully skewering the hedgehogs. Since the backside of the dome was open, I used a chain of [Thunder Step] to back out and then reappear on the flank, ready to cast another batch of spells. Appearing on the scene, one of the monsters had been struck, and its body was flickering like a dying candle. With haste, I threw together another [Waterjet] and fired directly at the monster, slaying it on the spot. Then, to my horror, I watched as the hedgehog not only faded away into dying embers, but the remaining one seemed to feed on its fiery energy and get reinvigorated. It had only been grazed by the initial [Waterjet] and looked arguably better than ever. "Oh gods, don¡¯t tell me this is more ghost bullshit or something!?" I cried out, feeling extremely upset at the lack of a body to eat. "Or something..." Trixie replied, sounding annoyingly vague. I glared at her in annoyance and noted she looked rather frazzled herself. Oh... She did ask me not to use [Thunder Step]. I felt a tiny pair of accusatory eyes attempting to bore holes through me as she fluttered off from her usual sitting spot and kept a safe distance. Her departure was right in time as the falcon came crashing next to me in a thunderous burst of energy. Rocky shrapnel went scattering as crackling energy burst outward from it, scoring the earth and the nearby vicinity. I felt my [Voltaic Slime] being charged straight to its maximum capacity, which meant the overload began striking against my cores. This was where I discovered that despite a good coating of adamantine [Metal Slime], it was still conductive, and the energy overload began to burn my internals. I really need that full lightning immunity as soon as possible... Needing to offload the energy, I quickly fired out my own electrical burst straight back at it. When I heard a cry from Trixie. "No!" the pixie screamed, but it was too late as the bolt of surging energy crashed into the bird monster and empowered it. "Oh... shit," I complained. With a mighty cry, the falcon extended its wings outwards to their full length in almost a pose of triumph. Then, it seemed to practically disappear with newfound speed as it was at my side and attempted to gash me with its beak and talons. To its dismay, it struck against my newly reforged armor and, despite its best effort, barely scratched it with its claws. However, its beak did manage to partially pierce through before meeting my reinforced, slimy exterior. Then, with another flash, it retreated and appeared to be gathering energy. Meanwhile, the flaming hedgehog hurled itself at me again, looking more like a comet than a fireball now. I grumbled in annoyance at how these weird monsters were trying to make a fool of me, and so rather than blocking or defending, I went on the offensive and fired multiple [Force Bolts] at the hedgehog, fully reinforced with the power of all my [Sub-Cores] and the directional vector set to the maximum and aimed directly at the hawk¡ªhopefully. The quickness of my casting and the hedgehog¡¯s relatively runaway-propelled direction meant it couldn¡¯t avoid the magical bolts crashing into it. It halted midair in an almost comical fashion before soaring towards the hawk. "Kwek!?" the thunder hawk squawked in surprise before it took a faceful of burning hedgehog. "Okay, this spell is hilariously useful," I giggled with glee. The hedgehog looked outraged while the hawk was recovering poorly. I began forming more spells to hopefully finish it when an abrupt pain began erupting through my entire body. It felt like something had taken a bite out of me while hundreds of tiny blades raked across my skin. I cried out in pain, feeling relatively unfamiliar with such an unfamiliar feeling, and dropped my spells as I desperately clutched myself. My form slightly wavered as I tried to defend or cover myself from the unknown assailant. "Light spell, now!" Trixie¡¯s voice ordered me. Clenching through the horrible pain, I fumbled through and cast a quick [Flash] spell. The pain immediately ceased, and I heard a chittering hissing noise. Looking down at the source, wrapped around my shadow, was a strange elongated creature with hundreds of legs. "Oh, gods! And I thought I was a monster!" I cried out at the horrible abomination and began rapidly casting more and more [Flash] spells at it. The creature released my shadow and began to slink away in retreat, much to my relief. It hissed defiantly at me and chomped its mandibles threateningly. "I guess they had more cards hidden," Trixie commented. "Go check on Vee!" I quickly shouted to Trixie. Our bond told me she was in good health, but I was terrified that there might be more hidden assailants that could strike at her. Trixie gave a mock salute before vanishing, hopefully going to check on our spidery companion. I shot a dirty glare at the centipede and sighed as I noticed the other two had recovered from their friendly fire. "Round two, I guess..." I sighed and considered pulling out a plethora of spell orbs to blow this area to smithereens. Chapter 228: Strange Monsters Chapter 228: Strange Monsters I could effectively ignore the hedgehog and hawk, but that centipede was another story entirely. It needed to die immediately, and I wouldn¡¯t give it any more chance to attack my shadow. Seriously... Shadow abilities seem to be damn annoying. First, the elf assassin, and now this bug, I¡¯d almost assume they were related if it wasn¡¯t for the fact it¡¯s a monster. I knew the shadow creature would be intangible, meaning that most of my attacks would not work on it. However, it really hated the [Flash] spell I had thrown at it earlier, and so I began quickly modifying some projectile versions of the spell with the aid of my [Sub-Cores]. Under any other circumstance, I¡¯d say these were really stupid spells, but I guess if I ever fight another shadow monster in the future, it will be good to have them in my back pocket. I still had the [Light Beam] spell as well, which was supposed to be my gateway to offensive light magic, and I began casting it in rapid succession toward the many-legged monstrosity. As soon as the first ray of light was emitted, the creature hissed and dodged around like its life depended on it. Then, to further my frustration, the other two monsters began defending it as if they knew it was their trump card against me. The hedgehog would body block the beams of light, which seemed to do nothing at all to it in this weakened state. With my frustration growing, I pretended to withdraw an item and at the same time formed the [Enchanted Horn] from the unicorn profile, hoping that if I made my [Light Magic] "more real," then it would at least do minor damage to the two non-shadow creatures. I formed the horn in my hand, wielded it like a wand or scepter, and began blasting further [Light Beam] spells in succession toward the centipede. When the other two interceded this time, they didn¡¯t escape unscathed, but it was barely a flesh wound against these monsters. Seriously [Light Magic], you¡¯re really letting me down here! As if that wasn¡¯t bad enough, the three monsters began coordinating again, and I witnessed the centipede hitch a ride inside the hawk¡¯s shadow, who then burst forward to attack me. I blocked the hawk¡¯s attack and countered with a frigid blast of numerous [Icicle] spells, dealing harsh damage to the creature and beginning to partially freeze the beast thanks to all the interlaced afflictions and debuffs within. However, even with the hawk suffering considerably for its actions, it had succeeded in the task of depositing the centipede right at my doorstep. It launched from the hawk¡¯s shadow into my own and began violently assaulting my shadow. Its legs were like tiny razors gashing as it writhed through my shadow while its giant mandibles snapped rapidly and fiercely. I was slightly better prepared this time for the painful experience and threw out multiple of my modified [Flash] spells, which were held at the ready precisely for this moment. Bursts of blinding light exploded directly at the centipede, causing black smoke to sizzle from its body and forcing it to writhe uncontrollably on the ground. With it momentarily disabled again, I wasted no time thrusting the unicorn horn "wand" forward and rapidly firing as many [Light Beam] spells into the creature as possible. Unlike the other two monsters, I could visibly see this one dealing significant damage to the centipede. After the fourth ray of light punctured directly through it, it met its end and abruptly exploded into a shadowy substance laced with quite a lot of Mana. That¡¯s weird... I¡¯ve never seen a monster die like that before, even if it was a shadow creature. But I didn¡¯t have the time to dwell on the monster for too long as the hedgehog once again attempted a fiery gambit by launching itself toward me in a blazing last stand. Its burning form crashed into multiple [Aegis] spells formed by [Sub-Cores], which partially slowed it down before I gave the order for multiple [Waterjet] spells until it was defeated. Beams of water were rapidly formed before being fired off in succession, each piercing through the creature and the rocky cavern floor with little resistance. Seriously... My [Waterjet] spells have more penetration than [Light Beam]. I really need to find that spell the unicorns were using. The flaming hedgehog wasn¡¯t long for the world after taking multiple direct hits, especially from my water-aligned cores boosting the spell power, and soon it also exploded into fiery Mana that drifted through the air, almost identical to the centipede. The similarity really bugged me, and to satisfy my curiosity, I began throwing out more [Icicle] spells at the thunder hawk to finish the job. It had barely moved since its failed operation, trying to fight off the encroaching frost, and it took little effort to seal the deal. I watched closely as I landed the killing blow, and my theory proved correct. Almost identically, the monster died by exploding into a burst of lightning Mana. The revelation greatly disturbed me, even though I had expected it. Okay... What the hell was with these monsters? Once was strange enough, but three times? Annoyed and determined, I burst a hole through the impromptu hole I made and dashed through, only to witness Vee and Trixie lazing about as if nothing had really happened. "Wow, took you long enough!" Trixie teased. "Yeah, I finished my half ages ago. What kept you?" Vee questioned. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. "There was a shadow centipede... Which kind of complicated things a little," I explained. "But that¡¯s not important. Did the monsters you fought explode into Mana?" "Yeah, they did explode when they died; why?" Vee questioned. "All three of mine did; the only one that didn¡¯t was the first hedgehog that was practically eaten by the other," I answered. "Oh... Well, none of mine ate anything," Vee shrugged. "In fact, they were rather easy to defeat. They virtually ignored me once the wall came up and focused on getting back to you. It didn¡¯t take much for me to get in a good backstabbing!" "Yeah, seems they had no interest in Vee, only you," Trixie added. "Odd... Do you think it was because they want me out of the picture so they can enslave Vee since she is a monster?" I proposed. "Perhaps..." Trixie answered, although she sounded doubtful. "You have another theory?" Vee asked. "Cause I¡¯d like to know if a bunch of enemies are trying to enslave me." But to our disappointment, the pixie gave a fiendish grin and shrugged, "I¡¯ll tell you later if you don¡¯t figure it out yourselves." "Wonderful..." Vee grumbled. "Big help you are." "If I give you all the answers, you¡¯ll never grow," Trixie countered. "Bah! Don¡¯t give me some bad fortune cookie life advice here!" Vee berated. "How about we do this somewhere else?" I suggested. "I think there¡¯s a lot of angry kobolds looking our way." "Tactical retreat?" Trixie suggested. "I¡¯d hardly call it a retreat... We kicked their asses!" Vee said triumphantly. I definitely agreed with Vee¡¯s assessment as we made our way back to the dwarves for now. That still didn¡¯t stop me from throwing out the occasional spell back towards any clusters of kobolds, and Vee joined in with a few [Acid Darts] at any that came too close. As we backed off, we met one of the dwarven hit squads, who looked positively pleased to see us. Jovial cheers, boasts, and promises of drink were thrown our way as we temporarily joined up with them. We assisted in some skirmishing until they ultimately withdrew back to the fortifications. When we returned to the fortifications, healers came out and blanketed everyone in rejuvenating magic. I was grateful that my strange injuries were magically healed, as it saved me time and slime. How would I even repair damage to my shadow? Can I even repair my shadow? I wondered as I felt relief in the invisible wounds vanishing. "I almost wish these lizard bastards would attack us more often; this could be a bi-annual event or something!" one dwarf triumphantly joked. "Aye! It¡¯s a great way to ensure our defenses aren¡¯t rusty!" another dwarf joined in. "Ha! You make it sound like we should thank them," another said in jest, causing uproarious laughter among the group. I was taken aback by the dwarves¡¯ highly nonchalant attitude regarding the attacks against them. I had expected some more gravitas since their home was being assaulted, but perhaps the great success was growing on them, or maybe they were just that confident. After recovering a bit, mostly just Vee¡¯s Mana and stamina, we decided to head out again. There was plenty of experience to be gained, and the salamander squad and elemental monster trio had given me some good experience if my level-ups were anything to go by. <17 Trait Points are now available.> <19 Skill Points are now available.> <18 Trait Points are now available.> My next evolution seems so far away. I must say I¡¯m jealous of what Vee can do. That tier-five evolution she got is absolutely crazy! Like, what would I get from it? I can¡¯t even imagine. And now that my experience is being split with Vee, it¡¯s technically even further away than before. Should I change my distribution once I reach level twenty in my class? I blinked in surprise. Gramps? There were no further notifications. I could only presume it was Gramps, as he had often lamented my slower leveling speed. I made a vague commitment to change my distribution once I reached that level. Plus, if I slow down my class levels a bit, I can focus more on what I¡¯ve got. I have to admit I¡¯ve been feeling a bit stretched thin with everything I¡¯ve gained so rapidly and quickly. Like I only just got [Earth Magic] and [Air Magic], now [Light Magic] is in the mix. Not to mention, I¡¯ll be getting [Dimension Magic] soon...ish? I hope. We burst back onto the battlefield. This time, the squad heading out was much larger, and there seemed to be a dedicated force with the sole intention of halting the advancing kobolds and setting up another defensive line. Meanwhile, I headed out to try looking for targets again. Although there was still a distinct lack of Warlocks to be seen, so I just tried to be as disruptive as possible and soak up the experience points. Was the quest a dud? Did they have the wrong information? I was perplexed by this strange attack and doubly by the strange monsters that tried to ambush us. I continued tossing out mostly [Water Magic], hoping to level that up to six. It was most likely my closest to the next level if I disregarded [Light Magic]. I still don¡¯t know how I feel about that magic. I wanted that spell the magical equines used on me, but it¡¯s been quite the bummer so far. Although, at least it blinded that shadow bug. Vee seemed to be having fun, tossing out as much [Corrosion Magic] as she could muster. With all the aid I gave her, I almost wondered if I¡¯d hit the next level in that before [Water Magic]. Meanwhile, Trixie was mainly just slacking off. Occasionally, she¡¯d point out a weird-looking kobold or tease Vee for not having broken through her Mana aura yet, and at one point, I swore she was taking a nap on my head. Although even with her nonchalant appearance, it was clear she was doing something to aid us, I could still feel slight tugs of wrongness being pointed out by my [Illusion Resistance]. I was wondering if I¡¯d gain a level up when abruptly, there was an explosion of rocky shrapnel aimed directly at us. Rather than blocking it, I quickly used [Wind Step] to retreat safely from its area of effect. Trixie unceremoniously awoke from her nap, almost falling off my head and onto Vee¡¯s opposite shoulder. She stared, looked around, and then gasped as she pointed in that direction. x5 x6 "Is that... Turtles?" Vee asked curiously. The turtles, as Vee called them, looked like large lizards with massive rocky shells. They glew in that strangely mystical appearance, like the other monster that had attacked us. To my surprise, there were no hedgehogs or birds this time, and instead, there was a much larger quantity of shadowy centipedes. Not to mention the single kobold, who also had the same magical glow. "Looks like they¡¯ve changed their strategy," Trixie pointed out. "Guess someone noticed the shadow bugs had the most effectiveness on you." "Then what¡¯s with the turtles?" Vee asked. "Well, someone did put up a giant rock wall the last time. Maybe they wanted to stop that?" Trixie shrugged. I sighed. What is going on with these strange monsters? Chapter 229: Even Stranger "Okay... What the hell is going on?" I asked, staring at the nearly identical monster group before me. "What? No way, almost perfectly identical monsters that you''ve previously defeated... What a weird coincidence!" Trixie declared, dripping with enough sarcasm to drown someone. "I hate that she has the answer but refuses to tell us..." Vee grumbled. "It''s certainly vexing. I can only assume it has something to do with her oath, or she wants us to learn a lesson," I sighed. "Maybe... Who knows?" Trixie giggled. "I suggest you deal with the monsters quickly, though. The shadow ones have already started doing sneaky stuff." Two of the shadowy centipedes had indeed completely disappeared from my sight. I began flicking through my various sensory traits when Vee interrupted by pointing directly at their location and firing a barrage of [Acid Darts], which my [Sub-Cores] quickly joined in on to boost. When the seemingly harmless shadows were struck, they abruptly came to life and squirmed in pain. Not enough to kill them, they hastily abandoned a stealthy approach and instead began trying to swarm at us. "I really need to get [Spatial Sense]..." I muttered, impressed by how quickly the spider pinpointed the would-be ambushers. "You''d have it if you bought it!" Trixie pointed out. "I''m waiting for my discount!" I defended angrily, pulling over half of my [Sub-Cores] into helping me. At breakneck speed, we were taking apart the [Fireball] spell and replacing it with Light. My newfound level in [Mana Manipulation] and the combined might of [Core Collective] meant that things were going smoothly, and another unexpected boon was coming from [Soul Sight], which was finally proving its worth. Fire and Light Mana were actually closely related, with Fire and Light sharing some attributes between each other. Fire spells gave off light, while Light spells produced heat, a primary component of the former. This meant that replacing Fire with Light Mana was surprisingly easier than I had expected, even if I didn''t have a small platoon of [Sub-Cores] giving 120% effort to assist me in the task. With the rapidly completed "Lightball" in one hand, I locked down the resulting spell construct and had my [Sub-Cores] effortlessly replicate the result. What was one was now a pair with two brightly glowing balls I tossed in separating paths, hoping to maximize the explosive radius. Hey! That''s a great name! It was like the [Flash] spell I had cast beforehand, except at a much greater magnitude and area of effect. The shadow creatures wailed in agony, and even the regular monsters seemed deeply disturbed by the resulting detonation. "Holy shit! Am I blind in three of my eyes!?" Vee cried out. "Nothing some healing won''t fix... Or time," Trixie replied reassuringly. "Although some warning next time would be appreciated!" "Sorry! I figured throwing two glowing balls was enough of a signal..." I apologized sheepishly. "True, it did an absolute number on those shadow monsters," Trixie replied excitedly. "If there was one more of that spell, I think you would''ve killed them in one go!" "No! Not more!" Vee complained. "I''ll finish them off with [Light Beam]," I compromised, rapidly firing the spell and executing the almost-dead centipede monsters. As before, they exploded into what looked like Mana. I''d almost assume they weren''t real if I wasn''t getting kill notifications for each and every one of them. Trixie was staring at me expectantly as if I was supposed to have solved the puzzle already. The only thing I can think of is that these strangely remind me of dungeon monsters... The same levels on all of them make me think they were spawned this way. Do the kobolds have a captured dungeon of their own? "Since you killed the shadow monsters, I''ll deal with the rest," Vee suggested, interrupting my thoughts. I gave her a quick nod and let her go wild. I knew my [Sub-Cores] would provide aid if needed, so I resumed my thoughts. No... I thought I remembered someone saying dungeon monsters can''t leave the dungeon. The monster book I read also said something similar about being grateful orange slimes couldn''t leave the dungeon. Huh... I guess that''s technically not true anymore with me. I wonder if I''ve broken some kind of taboo with that? I was only half paying attention to Vee, although when she killed the strange kobold, I noted he also exploded into Mana, something eerily close to Nature. Everything was pointing towards these monsters being spawned, somehow, and I tried to scrutinize as much as possible with all my various senses, hoping to pick up on something when Vee killed more. Trixie must have understood I was trying to concentrate as she didn''t disrupt me, although I wished she would just give me the answer at this point as I was rapidly growing frustrated. Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. Then something different happened; when Vee was about to strike down one of the earthen turtle monsters after wearing it down, it seemed to abruptly explode before her blow landed. We did not get a kill notification this time, and I saw that the Mana appeared to be going somewhere rather than dissolving into the air. "Follow that Mana!" I declared and began chasing after it. "Hey... I''m not done here," Vee complained. "Catch up when you''re done, slowpoke!" Trixie teased. I could feel Vee''s annoyance through our [Companion Bond], but I knew she could easily catch up with some teleports. I did not want to lose this trial; it was my only answer to this strange reoccurring event. "Oh, look, more!" Trixie suddenly spoke up. I briefly looked behind and saw another trail of the strange Mana following us. Whatever happened to the first turtle must have happened to another before Vee could kill it. "Talk about a big mistake," Trixie giggled mischievously. "Also, they are tortoises, not turtles!" "I really don''t care..." I admitted. "You should!" Trixie whined. "Turtles are way better than tortoises because turtles can swim! Tortoises just walk around all slow, like they''re always late for something. And turtles get to live in both the water and on land, so they have double the fun. Tortoises? They''re stuck in the dirt all day like boring old grandparents. Plus, turtles'' shells are shinier because they are always washed in water. So, turtles win because they''re faster, cooler, and know how to have a splashy good time!" I didn''t even know how to respond to that. The rant had come out of nowhere and taken me by such surprise that I nearly had forgotten I was chasing after the retreating Mana. "O-ok?" I reluctantly agreed so the pixie wouldn''t start on another rant. "Turtles are cooler!" Vee agreed, apparently still attached to our conversation despite our growing distance. "Good," Trixie nodded with satisfaction. "Also, look, enemies ahead." "Wha-" I began trying to reply as one of those thunderbird monsters flashed right before me. "Skreee!" It screeched as it tried to rake down with its lightning-infused talons. "Oh shit!" I cried out, but thankfully, my [Sub-Cores] remained ready despite my distraction and threw up barriers to block the blow. Numerous [Aegis] spells shattered, but I had recovered my senses and fired a [Force Bolt] directly at it with the direction of "away." The spell struck the bird, and for a moment, it looked like it resisted the force-pushing effect. I rapidly threw out a second bolt, which finally overcame the monster''s resistance, and it went flying backward. With a more reasonable distance between us, I flipped to Water alignment and formed multiple [Waterjet] spells. Each spell was anchored from a different position, all pointed toward the monster, and with an ear-piercing scream, the pressurized beams of water pierced through the air. I''d almost expected the bird to dissolve before the spells connected, or perhaps it was too slow and unexpected as the monster was brutally skewered by the highly destructive [Water Magic]. "Man, you really should have taken over Aquillia''s job," Trixie teased. I ignored her and began frantically looking around for one of the trails of Mana. While I had lost sight of my original one, I caught a glimpse of one of the ones Vee dispatched after we left and chased after it. "Someone sent those to stop us chasing the trail..." I spoke my thoughts out loud. "Hey, that''s pretty close!" Trixie once again teased. "Just tell me," I demanded. Trixie shook her head, "You''ll get your answer at the end of this trail; I think they''ve realized they can''t intercept you anymore." I grumbled and begrudgingly accepted that answer. Weirdly, we appeared to be heading away from the kobolds. I would''ve thought for sure that the source of these monsters would have been well protected within the horde of the kobold army. Or do these monsters have nothing to do with the kobolds? Will an elf assassin be at the end of this trail? I wondered. I wasn''t exactly being subtle with my pursuit, and some kobolds did attempt to break off and fight me. But when I used some [Wind Steps] and threw out some spells in retaliation, they quickly gave up on that. I was still dumbfounded by the sheer number of kobolds on display and wondered how and where they''d kept such numbers. My ponderings were interrupted when Vee suddenly appeared on my shoulder. I had sensed her growing closer through the bond, and when she poofed onto my shoulder, she let out an exaggerated sigh of relief. "Wow, I caught up! I don''t think I''ve ever chained together so many [Blinks] before!" Vee exclaimed. "Glad you made it; how many more poofed before you could kill them?" I asked Vee. "Just two more; I started going straight for the kill rather than weakening them beforehand. It was getting rather annoying having my experience stolen like that." "I one hundred percent agree with you on that!" I chuckled. "Stealing experience is a crime of the highest order!" "I wouldn''t go that far, but it''s definitely annoying... Nobody likes kill-stealers," Vee replied. "I''m surprised you encountered kill-stealers out here," Trixie said, sounding very curious. "I didn''t think monsters were smart enough or deceptive enough to develop such tricks. Present company excluded, of course." "No... It''s something from my old life," Vee explained. "What''s kill stealing here?" "I''m guessing taking the final blow on a monster?" I suggested. "Guessed it in one," Trixie replied happily. "Yeah, sometimes rogue classes, especially the archer ones, will wait in the shadows to land a killing blow. You''d be horrified at what people do to gain experience." "I''m sure it''s not just the humans," Vee complained. "Oh yeah, it''s not just them," Trixie agreed. "There''s some stories of army generals taking all the kills for themselves and things like that." I gestured backward toward all the kobolds, asking, "Do you think someone is taking all their experience from them?" "Huh..." Trixie mumbled, scratching her head as if she hadn''t considered that. "Could be! Although I don''t know how many kills those ragtag group of kobolds will get. It feels like they''re throwing cannon fodder at the dwarves, hoping to waste their supplies." "That''s absurd... So many dead kobolds for what?" Vee questioned. "Necromancers do the same thing with the dead," Trixie answered. "It can be even more brutal depending on how powerful the necromancer is. You turn the corpses of your enemies into more soldiers. Terrifying stuff." "Yeah, but they''re at least dead. These are living monsters," Vee tried to protest. "Oh, did Syl not give you the talk?" Trixie questioned. I shook my head, and Trixie continued. "Monsters are kinda... Not alive? Like you two are extreme exceptions to how monsters normally behave. Monsters usually only exist to put pressure and challenge on the other inhabitants of this world." "But... I''ve heard monster talk?" Vee questioned. "Yeah? And Syl lived with goblins for a bit; it doesn''t mean anything," Trixie replied rather halfheartedly. I wanted to complain. I certainly didn''t feel like my time with the goblins was meaningless. But I also saw the orcs, and despite another experiment trying to persuade them to try something else, they had violently forced themselves back to their monstrous path. It really makes me wonder what they have in store after this whole experiment ends. Will they just have random people come back as monsters like us, or do they plan on changing how monsters are created? I would have to ask Gramps this question during our following conversation. But right now, we had a culprit to catch, and I was eager to solve this mystery! Chapter 230: Squires The trail led us away further from the battlefield. I was beginning to wonder if we were being led on a false lead, but Trixie urged us to continue following. Vee was recovering well after her rushed experience, and it looked like we would be in tip-top shape to face whatever we were about to meet. The trail went through a large formed pillar, and so we went around it as quickly as possible using [Wind Step], hoping not to lose the trail. When we rounded the corner, it appeared we had reached our destination, although rather than kobolds or elves, it seemed to be a large group of humans, presumably adventurers. I briefly considered it a coincidence that I witnessed one of their group members absorbing the strange Mana. I tried throwing out an [Identify] to clarify the situation, but the result was horribly worthless. "Trixie, they''ve hidden their levels and classes like you!" I said mentally to our group. "Wow... That''s insulting!" Trixie scoffed. "This is a terrible impression!" However, before I could reply to my pixie companion, the knight of the group spoke up. "Greetings, fellow adventurer! What brings you out here?" the armored knight, Otto, asked. My guard was immediately up; if this guy was trying to put on an act, he was rather lousy at it. Or perhaps he was just socially awkward. "You must be that famous elf adventurer I''ve heard so much about!" the group''s spellcaster said. The man looked rather gaunt, which only added to the alarm bells in my head. "I was attacked by strange monsters... And followed their trail here," I eventually spoke. "Strange monsters, you say? How dastardly!" Otto responded. "There''s certainly no monsters around here," Kaspar added; he was the one who had absorbed the Mana we were tailing. I would have pegged him as a spellcaster, but he was dressed in almost noble attire. "Holy shit, talk about bad acting! What is this crap?" Vee asked angrily. "Gee... It sure would be terrible if someone threw a [Dispel] near that Fynn guy," Trixied said sarcastically. "Yeah, the only monsters here are those kobolds. We were taking a Mana break before we got back into the action," one of the women replied. Her white robes led me to believe she was some form of cleric. I ignored their ramblings, took Trixie''s not-so-subtle advice, and threw out a [Dispel] as quickly and subtly as possible. The humans either ignored it or were caught unawares as the spell went off without a hitch, and I threw a boatload of Mana into it, causing a burst of dispelling magic to erupt around Fynn. The entire area seemed to warp and shift around the six individuals, and the reality of the situation was abruptly revealed. A summoner!? So that''s why those monsters were so strange and had identical levels. Talk about strange! Fynn clicked his tongue in annoyance, "Now, why did you have to go and do that?" "Who cares? It makes the job a lot more fun if they know it''s coming," Zara cackled. "I care; we were supposed to make it look like monsters got her!" Otto shouted, "How am I ever supposed to get promoted if we don''t follow instructions to the letter?" "Just feed her to the kobolds afterward; problem solved," Otto grinned fiendishly as he unsheathed a wicked-looking curved blade. "Or burn her until there''s nothing left," Hans said, a black flame forming in his outstretched palm before he snuffed it out with a clenched fist. "Why?" I asked angrily. "Yeah, why are a bunch of humans out to get you?" Vee asked. "For the glory of the Outeatus Kingdom, of course! Once your little package is delivered to our Emperor, it''ll be the downfall of all who crossed our kingdom!" Helmine preached dogmatically. "I''ve never done anything to your kingdom. I don''t even know where or what your kingdom is!" I snapped back. "Don''t play dumb, you filthy knife-ears!" Otto spat. "All you had to do was die quietly in the forest, and everything would''ve gone smoothly," Kaspar said, sounding annoyed. "But I suppose the Stantons didn''t really want to join our glorious kingdom as much as they pleaded." "Of course, did you really expect anything from some backwater shit-hole?" Zara snickered. You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. "Not to mention, you deliberately got in the way of our kingdom''s negotiations; we were so close to getting the dwarves to submit their weapons to our future efforts!" Kapser continued ranting. "I can''t believe they''re doing a villain monolog," Vee commented, sounding dumbfounded. "They are the villains, right?" "To anyone not human, definitely," Trixie answered. "Hell, even most humans they also despise." "I''m done," I said out loud, shaking my head. "Done?" Zara snickered as she pulled out a curved blade. "I guess you are done. I''ve always wanted to kill an elf..." "Make sure either I get the final blow or Hans, as a last resort!" Kaspar ordered. "The magic boost from the legacy emblem would be wasted on anyone else. Don''t make us have to kill you to retrieve it." "I''m done... I don''t care anymore," I repeated, feeling a lot of built-up frustration. "Syl?" Vee asked hesitantly. "Really? She''s just going to roll over and die?" Zara questioned, sounding disappointed. I shook my head, "I''m done holding back. I don''t care anymore. I''m tired of this shit that has nothing to do with me." Trixie giggled, and it sounded downright nefarious. "Any chance you can help us?" I asked Trixie mentally. "Not directly, but... I could certainly hide the area from any wandering eyes and ears," Trixie answered. "Thanks," I replied with a nod. Zara, the Gale Stalker, suddenly vanished. My senses picked up her behind me, coming in for a stabbing thrust at breakneck speed. I had some time to react, but rather than do so, I was fully willing to let it play out, as I had my newest explosive solution to anyone stabbing me, and I couldn''t wait to see it play out. But that didn''t happen, as her arm was suddenly sliced down the middle, and her weapon was nearly ruined. She screamed in shrill agony and leaped backward, clutching her bleeding arm that looked almost like a peeled banana. Everyone in the human party tensed, and the group''s darkly jovial and arrogant attitude vanished. Zara retreated to the healer, who was already casting a spell in an attempt to close up the wounds. I missed the mutterings of the healer Helmine over the shouts, but I did pick up on "impossible" and "What could cause wounds like this?" "Seriously, if every assassin we run into goes for the immediate backstab without watching where they''re going, then it''s going to be very simple to defeat them," Vee said. I could feel the confidence brimming from our connected bond. "I didn''t even notice you casting your spell and deploying your [Rift Thread]," I replied mentally. "That''s ''cause I didn''t!" Vee answered smugly. "I weaved it pretty much on the spot while they kept monologuing. Never waste a good opportunity to lay a trap!" "You bitch!" Zara screamed, dangling her absolutely mangled arm in rage. "So much for giving up! I''ll be sure to gut your entrails and string you up with them!" "I''m definitely giving up," I retorted. "Giving up on this charade. I''m done with disguises and done with going easy. I''m going to effortlessly destroy you all, and when I''m done, feed on your corpses!" "Woah... Sounding a little crazy there, Syl," Trixie said cautiously. "The perception barrier is up, by the way... But please don''t go all crazy murderer on me." Some of the humans gulped, and they exchanged utterances about "cannibal elves" and "the stories were true." "Enough!" Kaspar shouted, slamming his scepter against the floor. Five magic circles formed and completed instantly, turning black and erupting with five shadowy centipedes. "Don''t let her get into your head. We outnumber her by far, even with her two pets." "Pet!?" Trixie and Vee cried together. "On second thought, go full crazy monster on them," Trixie scoffed. "Bastard calling me a pet. He''s not good enough to be gnome fertilizer!" "You''re right, boss," Hans said and began radiating a blackened flame. Legacy race or not, she will burn all the same." "For the Emperor!" Kaspar shouted. "For the Emperor!" the others replied in unison. Wings and tendrils sprouted from my back in an abrupt and squelchy burst. The humans either gasped or stared in stunned silence as I began floating off the ground thanks to the fantastic [Enchanted Wings] trait. "By the Emperor..." Helmine muttered and began uttering frantic prayers. She was radiating buffs and other positive boons shrouding her companions. Vee teleported away with [Blink], but I could feel her close by, waiting to fight together. Our [Companion Bond] almost seemed to throb with newfound camaraderie. On the other hand, Trixie simply vanished, although I could swear I heard her giggles being swept along the breeze. I was slightly enlarging my form but remaining relatively elf-like. I once again fought off the temptation to become a giant worm and potentially seal the deal. I worried that such a large form would notify everyone of the situation here, even with Trixie''s assurance. Plus, they might run. And I''d like to have some fun! "The founding Emperor was right; the elves truly are monsters!" Otto stammered. "It''s probably just some trick or illusion!" Kaspar shouted. "It''s not. That''s really her... Or it... Whatever the elf has become!" Fynn said. "By fire be purged!" Hans shouted, and a column of blackened flame erupted from his combined palms. I felt relatively safe with [Blaze Slime] at such a high level. I briefly contemplated adding [Fire Resistance] to my borrowed traits. Instead, I opted to grab [Tempered Reinforcement] and [Draconic Scales (Lesser)] while using [Equipment Swap] to stash away any of my non-slime valuables. The two traits mixing together with my form caused scales to cover my entire body. However, perhaps thanks to [Metal Slime], they almost resembled the reinforced obsidianite scales on the worm perfectly. The familiar channels were running through the scales, and when the blackish flame hit me, they lit up like a bright furnace, and I could feel my outer layer molding and reinforcing itself. Part of me was cautious about somehow ending up in my previous situation, where I was boiled alive for my own troubles, but I confirmed I was taking no damage from the blackish flames. On a heat level, they seemed to be a step up from blue, although almost artificially. Thankfully, my two traits together had no problem with this next level of heat. "Ha! She didn''t even try to dodge!" Zara shouted triumphantly. "No! You understand nothing, girl!" Hans rebuked. "I can feel my flames; while they have struck true, they fail to burn away at her flesh." "What? How!?" Otto shrieked. "I do not know... Perhaps she is blessed with an extreme fire resistance or holds some form of fire immunity artifact..." Hans continued to explain. "Helmine, ignore Zara''s arm for now and assist Hans," Kaspar ordered. "Hans, burn lifeforce." "As you wish, captain," Hans replied somberly. With [Soul Sight], I watched Hans'' life force immediately plummet drastically, as if someone had struck him. But with that dip, his Mana soared to a new bound, and so did the intensity of the magical flames. What was a blackish flame now became one of pitch darkness. [Thermal Vision] told me it was hotter than before, but strangely, the black flames felt cold as they washed over me. Then I felt a strange tingling pain and noted that while my body was taking no damage and was continuing to be reinforced, what appeared to be my lifeforce was being very slowly burnt at the edges. "Uh... Maybe don''t sit inside that," Trixie''s voice entered my head. "It leveled up my traits, though!" I replied excitedly. "Yeah... But you don''t want something burning away at the edges of your soul; that kinda stuff isn''t quick to recover from!" "Fine..." I whined and triggered [Thunder Step], bursting out of the black flames in a jolt of electrifying energy. I slammed down right in front of Hans and swung a rapidly formed blade of Mythril [Metal Slime]. Hans nearly shrieked in horror as the blade was inches from his face before a massive barrier formed between the blade and his flesh. It shattered in moments and sent Hans hurtling backward. I clicked my tongue in annoyance and flourished my sword. "By the Emperor... Is she a dragon?" Kaspar gasped. "Or a demon?" Helmine said, gripping tightly on her golden holy symbol. Chapter 231: Healers First "You know... Now that I''m on this side, it''s funny how nobody actually knows what Syl is," Vee said. "It''s hilarious," Trixie agreed. "It''s certainly beneficial, but now dragon or demon? What''s next?" I sighed mentally. I was rather annoyed that whatever spell was cast to protect the mage had ejected him to safety after I had broken it. I eyed the holy woman angrily and knew she would be my next target. "Whatever she is, kill her!" Kaspar shouted, immediately causing his party to halt to attention. Before his party reacted, his shadowy centipedes were let off their leash and began advancing on me in a zigzag pattern. I shook my head in annoyance and cast three [Lightbomb] spells, unleashing a blinding light across the battlefield once more. "Oh, crap! My bloody eyes again!" Vee cried out. I mentally apologized, receiving nothing but annoyance and complaints in return. This time, the shadowy centipedes were immediately extinguished. "[Light Magic] was not in her dossier!" Kaspar yelled, rubbing his eyes painfully. "That explains what happened to my last batch of monsters." Seriously, why do they have a dossier on me? How can one elf be hated so much to have elves and humans conspiring to kill her? They''re horribly misinformed at the moment, but if the attacks keep scaling upwards, they could eventually grow to something I can no longer handle. I think I should just throw the stupid bag at the elf and leave. I''ve grown rather fond of this form, but if it comes with this much baggage, I will be forced to discard it. "Who cares? You''re the most flexible member of our group. Drink your potions and summon something else," Zara shouted. "It''s not that simple..." Kaspar shouted while fumbling through his satchel. Summoners certainly sound useful... I wonder what''s stopping him, besides Mana, from just summoning creatures for his teammates to fight and gaining experience? I know low-risk is penalized and high-risk is rewarded, but even so, experience is experience. However, if your Mana regeneration is poor, it''d cost you a fortune in potions! If he was stuck regenerating Mana, then he was no longer a concern of mine, and I knew I needed to capitalize on taking out more priority targets like their healer. Watching Evan and Eliza work miracles taught me that you do not want an enemy healer prolonging a fight. Not to mention, if this healer''s strange escape shield spell had other applications, then she could potentially let a runner get free. No matter what, I can''t let any witnesses live. If they''ve already got info on me, somehow, then I need to ensure they stay in the dark with as many of my abilities as possible. The healer was recovering herself first when I appeared before her, thanks to [Wind Step]. Transforming the edges of my wings into razor-sharp blades while my tendrils took on piercing ends, I had the makeshift weapons converge on her position. She looked momentarily startled but must have been trained for such situations as she immediately started casting another spell. Her spell formed and blasted me with radiant light, fracturing upon meeting with my multiple reinforced layers and barely leaving a scratch. The woman must have been prepared for it, as she was [Multicasting], and a shield was cast at the same time, which my weaponlike appendages shattered nearly instantly. Like before, once the shield shattered, her body was flung backward. This time, however, I had expected it, and with outstretched palms, I fired multiple [Slime Shots]. I was tempted to use my beloved spell orbs, but I opted instead to fire my explosive needles, as they were more accurate. I knew if they penetrated, the detonation afterward would be much more lethal. This time, the woman was much less composed and began frantically trying to swerve her body as much as possible, but it looked like her emergency escape had left her vulnerable. Some needles missed her, but most hit their mark, with some penetrating quite well into her unguarded flesh. I gave a wicked smile before triggering the detonation. Boom! I giggled. Shouts and screams erupted from the group, who had only just recovered from the blindness, to witness their healer being nearly blown to bits. Her high levels and perhaps some magic items were the only things keeping her alive, and she wasted no time enveloping herself in some radiant light and trying to heal her wounds. "Nope, sorry, but I''m not letting you stay alive," I said, determined. "Always take out the healer first!" Vee agreed mentally. "I won''t let you!" Otto shouted as he rushed to intercept. "And I won''t let you!" Vee responded, although, to everyone else, it just came out as spidery hisses. Using [Blink], Vee appeared before him and then unleashed two massive magical clouds of poison and acid. Otto cried out and halted his progress, not wanting to go through such an ominous-looking area. I quickly commanded one of my [Sub-Cores] to cast [Gust] and blow it towards the Outeatus squad. I ignored him, putting my complete trust in my spidery companion. A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. "Kaspar, do something!" Zara cried out. "I''m regenerating my Mana!" Kaspar spluttered, trying to chug Mana potions as hastily as possible. "Fynn, get to work!" "Shit, shit, shit..." Fynn began panicking. "It''s not as effective if she''s already seen my class, and she has [Dispel]!" "Amateur..." Trixie sighed telepathically. "Do something!" Zara shouted. "Even if you have to throw your body at her! Helmine is far more important than your useless ass!" I wondered why she wasn''t doing anything, but then I noted that her dominant arm still looked like ribbons. Vee had effectively taken her out of the battle entirely with her well-placed trap. I made sure to send feelings of encouragement and thanks over our bond, to which I got back some mild embarrassment. I reached Hermine before Fynn managed to do anything. The woman looked rather panicked as she noted that her healing spells seemed less effective than they should have been. "Bloodrot?" Hermine whispered in a strained tone and began frantically searching her bags for something, presumably an antidote. While she was helpless, I began stacking all my debuffs on her. The woman was growing paler by the second. I raised my bladed appendages once more just as Fynn finally arrived on the scene. The man had come with a small army of himself, although he was right about one thing; his class was much less effective if I knew his trick. As if agreeing with me, I even got a notification. Even before the unexpected level-up, I could already tell which was him, thanks to [Essence Sight] and my preexisting resistance level. Either way, I wouldn''t be upset about a random trait getting better, especially if it one day let me finally see through someone like Trixie''s trickery. Unbeknownst to him, I halted my attack on Helmine, waiting for him to get in range. The woman did notice, however, and tried to cry out a warning. "It''s a trap!" But it was too late, and I cast [Contagion], releasing the infectious black cloud into the area and successfully passing on all the debuffs to him. He spluttered and coughed while his clones began attacking me. I ignored them as they passed harmlessly through me and finally brought down my slimy weapons on Helmine. "May the Emperor smite you!" she condemned with her dying breath. <[Curse] partially resisted.> She actually cursed me!? I panicked slightly. I had no idea what she had cursed me with, but hopefully, it wasn''t anything too serious, and I''d overcome it with a bit of time. "You filthy elf, how dare you!" Fynn yelled as he lunged at me. His weapon was an adorned scimitar, and he danced with the blade that blurred into multiples. Despite resisting his major illusions handily, it seemed that if he kept the effect minor, he could still accomplish something. I tried using my long-forgotten [Tranquil Flow] skill to see if I could dodge, but he was simply too fast unless I jellified my form, and spotting his actual blade was like a tree in a forest. Not that it actually mattered, though, as when his blade struck against my blackened [Tempered Reinforcement] and [Draconic Scales (Lesser)] skin, it practically bounced off. The man continued attacking, but as he continued his assault, he began to visibly sweat and curse. His arms grew tired, and his blade was dulling. "By the Emperor, what monster are you?" Fynn cursed in question. "That''s certainly a question," I taunted. He was more skilled and swifter in the blade than me, but I had the advantage of multiple limbs. Since his weapon failed to leave a mark, I began forming more weaponlike limbs with my tendrils and began lethally sparring with him. He began parrying and dodging, but his fatigue and annoyance were piling on. When he slipped up and took a wound, the rapid start of his downfall began, as the injuries started to grow exponentially. "I-I surrender..." He whispered. "No, why should I care?" I replied harshly. Even if I felt merciful, these would-be assassins had seen far too much, and I had reached my breaking point. Doom filled his expression as he desperately tried to fend for himself. "I can tell you secrets; just spare me," Fynn pleaded. "Then tell me why you''re after me," I demanded. "We were ordered to retrieve the bag and to-" Fynn''s throat seized up. His expression paled, and desperation kicked in as he began attempting to scream or shout, but nothing but incoherent gurgling came from his lungs. "You dare try to betray the Emperor? For your worthless life? You maggot!" Kaspar exclaimed. "Hans, incinerate them both!" "As you command," Hans replied. Briefly focusing my gaze in that direction, Hans had formed a massive black sphere of fire. It was the mother of all [Fireballs] that someone like Dewi would undoubtedly fantasize about. Hans was coughing blood, and the spell grew in intensity with each cough. Old wounds on his body began to reopen, and his lifeforce was withering away while his spell only continued to grow. Fynn was shaking his head desperately as if trying to deny it right as my tendrils ran multiple blades through him. I wasn''t going to let him live anyway, but now he''d genuinely lost any purpose, and I didn''t want my experience being taken from me. <[Curse] intensity has grown.> That doesn''t sound good... I stared at the ominous notification while the growing fireball loomed in the distance. It looked like an evil sun had risen and was about to doom the world. Well, no way I''m letting that hit me! I thought as I began to use one of my movement skills. <[Curse] has been triggered. [Prison] applied.> [Wind Step] failed, and I moved barely an inch from my spot. A sinister magic circle scorched into the ground around me and shone with a pale light. I tried again to move, but without a skill, and found myself unable to leave the confines of the magical circle. Hans began to snicker as he continued sacrificing himself to his spell. I tried throwing a [Dispel] at the magic circle, but it was rebuffed instantly. I tried breaking the ground itself, but my assaults against the magical circle only flashed brighter in defiance. Thinking quickly, I began forming and firing spells as rapidly as possible. That was when numerous summoned creatures appeared and began intercepting my spells. I cursed in annoyance and began throwing out [Slime Shot] to the mix, but to my horror, the slime struck the magical barrier and rebounded-blocked by the curse. "Well, that''s not good..." I muttered. Chapter 232: Spider Time Damn, that''s useful. Vee thought as she watched her two gas spells be blown straight towards the enemies. Magic had many useful applications, and Syl was a real Swiss army knife with various spells and abilities. If Vee was honest with herself, she had given up trying to catalog or put a number to the multiple forms of magic or slime abilities that had been displayed. And all I got is [Corrosion Magic] and [Dimension Magic]. Not to sound ungrateful, but having one of the more basic forms would have been helpful. I just have to hope that once Syl gets the magic affinity, she can figure out something good to do with it or help me figure out something. I have some ideas but don''t have the skills or technique to work with the troublesome Mana type on my own. Vee used [Blink] to appear on the other side of the warrior enemy, holding the scythe. She then used [Identify] to try to get an idea of what she was up against. No idea what a Reaver Knight is. But I''m probably good as long as I don''t let that scythe-like blade hit me! While the knight was distracted, she quickly formed three spells of [Acid Dart] using [Multicasting]. [Multitasking]... [Multicasting]... Seriously, they should work on some of these skill names. I wish I had extra brains to cast spells for myself; Syl makes it look far too easy. When the spells were formed, she noticed they got a quick boost in magical power, another extra benefit she''d gained from teaming up with the silly slime. When the spells reached their peak, Vee released them and sent the sizzling darts flying towards the knight. All three struck, and he grunted in pain. Vee cheered mentally and [Blinked] to another spot, quickly repeating the attack pattern. The man was growing angry and trying to spot his assailant, but Vee was ensuring she was still small and hard to spot. Combined with the upgraded [Stealth] skill [Vanish], she''d become a good assassin. Although it would be a lot easier if I cut him with some threads. But I better stick to the magic training for now. The sooner I get better with magic, the sooner I can repay Syl. She really wants that Dimension affinity... "The spider is over there!" the woman shouted, pointing with her good arm. Vee glanced at the source, throwing out another [Identify]. Vee snickered a bit at seeing the woman who had fallen so easily for the trap. Casting [Pocket Space], she reached in and pulled out some premade [Rift Thread], and with a trickle of Dimension Mana combined with [Thread Mastery], she teleported and laid out the trap between her and the warrior. Let''s see if a good old tripwire works wonders! Vee continued casting spells at the warrior, although now that he could see her directly, he attempted to dodge or parry with his weapon. At first, Vee thought with glee that he would ruin his weapon by blocking acid, but zooming in with [Eagle Vision], she noted that his weapon was coated in what looked like blood. I guess melting his weapon would be too easy. Oh well, let''s see if he spots the trap! "You damned pet, making fun of the Emperor''s finest!" Otto bellowed angrily. "Aren''t you a page? That''s lower than a squire and a knight, right? Emperor''s finest, my ass!" Vee taunted, although it was just spidery hisses. Elsewhere, a pixie was giggling to herself and watching the action. As Vee had hoped, the knight blindly charged forward straight through her deadly trap. His one foot came cleanly off with surgical precision. He turned to correct himself in time, though, and avoided getting another amputation by instead taking a massive gash into his thigh. Regardless, he still hit the ground, and Vee capitalized on it by releasing another batch of [Poison Mist] and [Acid Mist] at him. The man coughed and spluttered while screaming bloody rage. Eventually, standing up with a false foot of hardened blood. Reaver? Blood? Vee wondered. The man looked like hell as he frantically tried to escape from deadly mists. He retreated backward to avoid the trap, but his lowered mobility meant he was easy target practice for the spider to unleash a barrage of spells. "I will not yield! You''ll run out of Mana eventually!" Otto yelled, coating himself in some form of blood armor. Vee smirked as she cast [Pocket Space] and pulled out a potion. She drank the concoction and felt her Mana reserves rapidly replenishing. "By the Emperor, did that spider just drink a Mana potion?" Zara cried out. Otto screamed out in rage. He retracted his blood armor and even his makeshift foot. Blood began to coalesce onto his weapon, which took on a much more malefic appearance of spikes and power. He continued his nonstop yelling as he launched his weapon toward Vee, the weapon spinning like a bloody buzzsaw through the air. At first, Vee thought it would collide with her traps, but through sheer luck or misfortune, it seemed to arc high enough to not get caught. Vee was tempted to [Blink] away, but then she got another much more humiliating idea. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Vee began casting [Pocket Space], and as soon as the weapon entered the range of her Mana Aura, she finalized the spell. There was some initial resistance, but with a bit of effort on her part, the weapon poofed and was deposited into her storage space. Vee cheered while Otto collapsed to the ground in disbelief. His last stand was so easily thwarted. Not long after that, she received a notification of his defeat as he succumbed to the continuous poison and acid afflictions he was plagued with. "Emperor, save us... I thought the elf was the monster, but you might be even worse!" Zara said as she glared daggers at the spider. Remaining in her position, Vee began casting spells at the assassin woman. Sadly, she didn''t have the same level of [Corrosion Magic] as Syl, as she desperately wanted the actual [Caustic Cloud] spell. With Syl''s help, they remodeled [Poison Mist] into an acidic variety inferior to the higher-tier spell. [Caustic Cloud] also had other effects they hadn''t fully unraveled like a stacking and growing intensity of dissolving power the longer you were stuck with it. Syl had tried breaking down its components but had gotten distracted by [Light Magic] or something else the crazy slime had discovered. Not that Vee could blame her, but the slime was quickly distractable and bounced between activities like a kid with too many toys. I wonder if that''s because Syl was young in the last life¡ªlike she never grew up. Or maybe I''m making baseless conjectures. Despite being disarmed, the assassin woman dodged her spells easily, causing Vee to feel rather annoyed. She debuffed the woman with [Erode], which went unnoticed, and then kept hoping for a lucky hit. I could... Set up portals. Huh. Now that''s an idea! Vee began pulling out some portal patterns she had prearranged and stored away, just in case Syl wanted to do another teleporting bomb test or she needed to make an emergency escape. With a bit of effort, she began storing the various coordinates of each circular web as exits and depositing them in a perimeter around the battlefield. Then she pulled out another small web, but each gap could be given differing coordinates. Vee had tested this in her own time but had yet to put it to any battle experience. Nothing like a live test, I suppose! Raising two of her back legs, and with [Thread Mastery], she created the construct on her back. It vaguely resembled a howdah, or perhaps a radar dish was a more apt comparison. Then, she finalized the portals by injecting each gap with one of the spread-out portals, four in total, although her web construct had room for a maximum of eight. I hope this works! Vee pleaded and began casting her spell. Trixie and Syl had explained the whole Mana Aura thing to her in detail, and Vee knew she could cast spells within that aura pretty much at will. So she had the spell originate right near one of her portal openings and fired it through. The spell hurtled out in the distance, although in the wrong direction. Oh balls... Vee grumbled. I have to remember which web goes to which portal. On the fly. By myself. Why don''t I have 10 little mini-brain helpers? With her remaining good arm, the assassin began pulling out various throwable weapons. To Vee, they looked like either kunai or shuriken, and she couldn''t help but laugh. Is she going ninja on me? This really is a fantasy world! Zara threw her weapons at Vee, and right before they launched, they seemed to be infused with Wind. They soared through the air at blazing velocity, forcing Vee to use [Blink] to escape. The woman somehow predicted her location, presumably with a skill or trait, and more throwable projectiles were already in midair. In a panic, Vee cast [Pocket Space], and moments before hitting her, they poofed into her storage. Huh... Am I projectile-proof as long as I have Mana and the storage room? Vee thought with bemusement. Zara, on the other hand, looked furious. Which was perfect for Vee, who jumped on the opportunity to cast more spells through the portals. If she could land even one good spell, the affliction would take hold, setting a ticking clock for her victory. Four spells passed through the portals, two of which went directly to Zara. Vee silently cursed her for confusing two of the portals, but her curse was brief-lived as her hope was realized. Zara sensed the unexpected attack at the last second. She dodged one spell only to be hit by the other. Vee was about to celebrate when the woman seemed to throw caution to the wind, use a blur, and appear right before Vee. Wielding her backup knife, the woman stabbed a thrust at Vee, who, in retaliation, undid her shrinking. The tiny spider became full-sized in barely a wink, and Zara''s composure broke as dread entered her eyes. The now giant spider, on instinct, lunged forward. Zara''s dagger struck against the spider''s carapace while Vee''s fangs sunk deep into her flesh. The woman screamed in agony as she began trying to frantically stab the spider. But her desperate flails started to slow down as the poison took hold, and she eventually went limp. Vee winced a little as she saw the stab wounds, pulling out some thread and rapidly creating a makeshift bandage with [Thread Mastery]. That''s weird... I thought Syl had orders on the [Sub-Cores] for shield spells. Am I out of range? Actually, I don''t think my last batch of spells was boosted either. Vee glanced in Syl''s direction, which was like a homing beacon thanks to the [Bonded Companion] emblem. Her usual elven disguise was replaced by some weird, draconic-looking creature with wings and tendrils bursting from its back, all covered in a layer of blackened obsidianite with brightly glowing channels. Damn, that looks cool! Scary but cool. Scary cool! Then Vee spotted the strange magical circle, with Syl trying to break the containment. "Syl? Are you okay?" Vee asked. There was no response. Across the bond, Vee could still sense the slime''s emotions, which were flipping between confidence and anxiety. Vee followed her gaze and saw the massive black sun. Oh shit! Vee thought and quickly used a chain of [Blinks]. Vee appeared directly behind the man, so close to the black sun that she could feel the unbearable heat radiating off it. As if that wasn''t bad enough, the entire thing had this sickening sense of wrongness to it, and instinctually, she knew she couldn''t let this hit her or Syl. Vee waited mere moments for her usage of [Blink] to recover while also creating some [Rift Thread] on the spot. She dared not cast and withdraw prepared thread from [Pocket Space], fearing the mage would sense her Mana usage. The only other combatant was the summoner, who was running away from the spot while his minions were blocking the spells Syl was throwing toward the mage. With [Rift Thread] ready and prepared to use [Blink] immediately after, Vee lashed out with a deadly whip straight for the mage''s neck. It struck some form of arcane barrier, but it was short-lived. The man finally reacted to the sudden attack, but it was too late, and without another layer of defense, he was decapitated. Vee frantically used [Blink] in rapid succession to escape, not even taking the time to recover her [Rift Thread]. Operation Save the Slime was a success! Vee thought right as the giant black sun exploded. Chapter 233: Black Sun To my surprise, Vee had taken out the crazy black flame mage with a flawless assassination. I could only dock her points for her timing. If she had been a little faster, I wouldn''t be staring down such a massive spell that was rapidly destabilizing itself. Why couldn''t the spell just disappear when its creator died. Why does it have to stick around like some doomsday weapon? My mental complaints went unanswered, and now I needed to quickly protect myself. I would no doubt still be caught in the blast radius, but at least now I wasn''t going to be its direct target. I aligned myself to the Fire element in hopes it would offer some form of protection from the evil-looking flame and then ordered all my [Sub-Cores] to cycle through every single defensive spell I had. [Bubble], [Zephyr Shroud], [Arcane Armor], the works. While they began casting spells, I grabbed every defensive trait I could think of. My form twisted and shifted as I tried to stack as many traits as possible. From scales to rocky hides to barkskin, nothing was off the table. When defense or resistance was mentioned, I grabbed it. At the same time, I was trying to create as many shells around my cores as possible. Mythril, Adamantite, Steel, nothing was off the table. I even started trying to manually hold together a shell made of obsidianite. Thanks to my delegation, I completed what I could with ample time before the spell erupted. I had done all I could, and now I could only brace for impact. I hope Vee and Trixie are okay... The explosion was actually smaller than I expected. My own self-destructing worm had far more force behind it than this spell. But sadly, what it lacked in raw explosive might, it made up for in creepy soul damage, or however Trixie had described it. The entire area was swept up in an immense sense of wrongness, as if the whole area had become unhallowed. The flames licked against my form, and I felt some of my defenses breaching. Overall, I was secure, but I felt that tingling burning around the edges of my being, like something was directly attacking my life force. It wasn''t painful; it was more like a growing fatigue as it burnt away what it could. My [Arcane Armor] shattered multiple times, each time immediately reapplied with a fresh one. It might have been the only spell actually stopping this form of damage. Worst case, if it kills me, I''ll take over one of my [Sub-Cores] thanks to [Core Collective]. Hopefully, they aren''t taking this damage since they don''t have a soul. I braced myself, but a creeping doubt infested me. The explosion had long since ceased, and even the burning had stopped. But the black flames and malignant aura still blanketed the area. Despite the level-up, I was still stuck. I tried to contact Trixie or Vee a few times, but I was alone in this cursed prison. Despite no physical pain, I felt dreary and awful. This was an almost embarrassing way to potentially die, and some part of me was apprehensive that my emergency death prevention would not be enough. But what else could I do? I couldn''t think of any other traits I could buy. Should I dump points into upgrading [Curse Resistance]? I really didn''t want to, but it felt like it might be my only option to hopefully overcome the prison and leave this area. I was frantically going through my profile when I noticed my [Magic Resistance] trait right above [Curse Resistance]. I had wanted to upgrade it from Lesser, and I had the points to do so. A way better option than using them to upgrade [Curse Resistance], at least! Yes! <[Magic Resistance (Lesser) LV 6] becomes [Magic Resistance (Greater) LV 1]. Trait Points Remaining 16.> The trait point number was different than I remembered. I must have leveled up during all the fighting but hadn''t had time to go through all the notifications. Trixie had explained that tiering up a trait was a massive bonus, and she had not been kidding. I could quickly identify the reduced degradation of my life force and felt a lot better about weathering through this situation. I was still stuck, so I reviewed my notifications to pass the time. My [Sub-Cores] would refresh my shield, so I felt safe despite the hazardous circumstances. I noted that Vee had killed Otto, Zara, and Hans. However, I saw no death notice for the Summoner, which meant either he had died to the black sun or Vee had yet to take him out. <20 Skill Points are now available.> <19 Trait Points are now available.> <21 Skill Points are now available.> <20 Trait Points are now available.> If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. I gained two levels, so that''s why my trait points changed. I had gained a surprising amount of levels. Between five high-level humans, the summons, and the random kobolds, it was a buffet of experience points. If I assumed the Summoner hadn''t died in the explosion, I might even get a third level in my race or class out of this. Other than experience, I hadn''t gained too much. However, there was one notable exception. Oh wow... This took ages. I think I was still on the floating island when this last happened? I guess fused skills require a ton more effort. <[Attack Mastery (Lesser) LV 8] becomes [Attack Mastery (Greater) LV 1]. Skill Points Remaining 19.> I had no demonstratable difference in the newly upgraded skill, but I hoped it would be as effective. And then, to my surprise, I got two sudden notifications. <[Curse] resisted.> <[Prison] lifted.> "Get out of there!" Trixie''s shrill scream assaulted my mind. I bolted with [Thunder Step] into [Wind Step], with maximum chaining to try to cover the most distance. Thanks to [Essence Sight], I could see the perimeter of this accursed area, and when I breached it, the sickly feeling finally dispersed. "Wow... That was awful," I muttered. "Jeez, you dumb slimeball doofus! You had both of us so worried!" Trixie cried. I looked around but couldn''t spot her. My reconnected bond with Vee told me she was also not nearby and was quite a distance away. "Where are you two? Is Vee alright?" I asked. "All good on my end!" Vee replied. I felt relieved. "You saved me; thank you!" I said. "I''m sure you would have survived... or something," Vee brushed it off. Anyway, this stupid Summoner guy is still around. I''ve been stalking him. I figured you might want to get some revenge." "I''m honestly surprised he survived. Or hasn''t fled yet since he did," I replied. "Well, he keeps running in circles," Vee answered. "Circles?" I questioned. "Trixie?" "Guilty!" Trixie giggled triumphantly. "I thought you weren''t allowed to interfere or something," I asked, and I started heading towards where I felt Vee was. "Yup. You''re right again," Trixie answered. "But I just so happen to be changing what he sees on the horizon; it''s not exactly my fault. He just so happens to be looking in that direction." "Your honor, I didn''t mean to stab him; he simply slipped and fell onto my knife!" Vee responded sarcastically. "Exactly!" Trixie agreed. "I''m glad you understand it. I was beginning to worry you were maybe a bit challenged since you still can''t imagine yourself as the rock." I expected Vee to scream in frustration, but there was nothing but silence. However, I could sense a burning and simmering anger brewing over our bond. I wished Trixie would stop pushing her buttons so much, although some of me wondered if that would finally be enough to get Vee to break through. It would be kinda funny if she does it through the power of spite, only for Trixie to exclaim that it was her plan all along. Actually, I bet that''s exactly what she will do! As I headed in that direction, I shifted to my elven form rather than the strange, blobby, defensive amalgamation I had tried to create. I tried consuming a health potion, but it did nothing for the strange lingering feeling. That''s not true at all, though! I''m definitely not healthy! Should I purposefully break my core and hope I feel better? No, wait, that''s stupid. I''ll maybe consider it if I don''t feel better in a day or two. Plus, who knows, maybe the Summoner has some last-minute tricks up his sleeve? If those shadow centipedes grab me again, it could be enough. When I arrived, I had expected the Summoner to potentially be out of breath, but he was mounted on a unicorn that was galloping at quite a speed. It really seemed like he had a monster for every occasion, and I couldn''t help but applaud his utility. I found my thoughts drifting toward possibilities, wondering if I should look into them before slapping myself back to reality. I had enough on my plate and so many classes and skills to explore. I wanted to look into traps, evolve, and still finish and see what Elementalist had to offer me. Besides, what would I even need summons for? The only actual benefit would be if I had my [Sub-Cores] pretend to be a bunch of monsters. I debuffed his mount before casting a deadly [Waterjet] spell. The beam tore through its legs and sent him toppling to the ground. He tumbled a bit before recovering, instantly taking a ready stance. His shadow shuddered, and a pair of shadowy centipedes emerged from it. When he saw me, he went from apparent shock to a rage. "How!?" Kaspar screamed. "How did you survive?" "Guess your friend didn''t try hard enough," I mocked. "And now you are the last loose end I need to tie up." Kaspar snarled, his fists clenching tightly. "I guess it falls to me to uphold their sacrifice in the name of the Emperor." "You and your lot started this!" I shouted. "You''ve got nobody to blame but yourselves. I just wanted to do some adventuring, but you keep sending assassins after me. In fact, thanks to you, I''ve had some immense growth, so maybe I should be thanking you?" Kaspar''s fury was momentarily snuffed out, and he looked quite concerned as he scrutinized me. Thanks for the level! He cursed, almost spitting in anger. "You should not have grown so quickly. Experience boosting traits? Some other elf bullshit from the god''s favorite race?" I''m not even an elf... Although I have looked over the human profile, I can see his point. "If your Emperors are so great, why didn''t they spend their accomplishments bettering humans?" I questioned. "Surely one of them earned enough to do something. Or did they selfishly spend it on themselves?" "What madness do you speak of?" Kaspar shouted, reaching for an ornate dagger with a bloodred jewel in the hilt. "The elves have these boons from their progenitor sacrificing everything for them," I explained. "Surely your Emperor could''ve done the same thing? Or was his accomplishments so bad that he got no offers. "You''re mentioning some things you really shouldn''t be..." Trixie warned me telepathically. "Although I do agree, their Emperor could have done something. Maybe losing the war so badly was that much of a setback for him. Or maybe he was just selfish." Kaspar glared at me as he held his dagger, "Your lies will not damage my faith." I was going to taunt him when he abruptly stabbed his own hand. "Did he just stab himself?" I asked. "Yeah... Either he lost it, or maybe he''s trying to summon a demon or something?" Vee suggested. "Evil cultists do that type of stuff, right? Blood sacrifice, summon a demon?" "How do you know that, but you can''t pretend to be a simple rock!?" Trixie shouted. "No, forget that. Syl, kill him!" "Oh shit, he is summoning a demon?" Vee asked in surprise. Meanwhile, I had already launched an attack. I blasted a [Lightning Bolt] and half a dozen explosive needles through [Slime Shot]. One of the centipedes intercepted the spell, while the other coiled around Kaspar to intercept the needles. Not good enough. I thought and detonated the needles. The flurry of explosions went off, and I noted the centipedes had died, but there was nothing about the Summoner. Not waiting for the smoke to clear, I fired a few more spells into the smoke. They hit something, but I was still not getting a kill notification. I threw out a [Gust] to get immediate answers and saw Kaspar. He was clutching his hand in pain while far too much blood was being siphoned from his arm. Around him, a glowing magical circle was forming. Vee fired an [Acid Dart], and I received my answer; the magic circle erected a barrier that ate the spell. "Damn... Too late," Trixie said. "I guess we will add demon-slayer before dragon-slayer to our accomplishments!" Vee said reassuringly. Now that sounds like something worth an Emblem! Chapter 234: Sacrificial Summoning Chapter 234: Sacrificial Summoning "Can you teleport inside?" I asked Vee. "Nope, I tried already," Vee answered. "[Spatial Sense] shows the entire area as blocked off. I don¡¯t think my [Rift Thread] is getting in." Despite Vee¡¯s guess, she tried to see if she could penetrate the barrier. Unfortunately, her fears were confirmed, and her thread struck across the barrier, causing magical sparks on contact but otherwise being fruitless in penetrating. Kaspar laughed mockingly as he clutched his rapidly bleeding arm. "Any you can do?" I asked Trixie. Trixie shook her head, "If the demon plays by the rules, no." "Really!?" Vee yelled. "This is a demon we are talking about. Surely this warrants a bending of these so-called rules?" Trixie shrugged, "Rules are the rules. Believe it or not, the demons are extreme in their following of them. As much as I like Syl, I¡¯m not about to risk angering the Fairy Queen or the Demon King. Besides, I think you two can handle a demon." "Wonderful..." Vee groaned. "Can I go all out?" I questioned Trixie. She nodded and gave a thumbs-up, "Nobody will see or hear anything going on here." "I don¡¯t understand how that¡¯s not against the rules, but whatever," Vee groaned again. The magical ritual finally reached its crescendo, forming a portal interlaced with black magical energy and blood. "Pay careful attention to what bargain he gives the demon," Trixie warned me. "Some last-second advice. I¡¯ll be silently observing from here on out. Good luck!" I silently thanked her and stared expectantly at the forming portal. At the same time, I felt like I should get some prep work and began sending [Sub-Cores] into the ground below. I had tried this against the elf assassin rather ineffectively. Still, I¡¯d make enough preparations this time by melting out a sizeable hollow surface below the ground to hold and store an arsenal of slime mass. I¡¯ll have the upper hand against this demon if I control this entire area. If I¡¯m lucky, it won¡¯t have [Acid Resistance] or something like that, and then if I devour the whole area, I could claim a quick victory. Sure, maybe it¡¯s not the most honorable of victories, but I¡¯m a slime! The portal finalized itself, and stepping out was a hunched figure. It had elongated arms ending in clawed appendages. Two pairs of leathery batwings adorned its back and two curved horns on its head. Its face was remarkably featureless, with no nose or mouth, and two gaping red holes were where its eyes should have been. It glanced around at its surroundings, a sense of hostility shrouding the area. An inhuman screech echoed from its mouthless form, causing the human next to it to visibly shudder. Even Vee and myself were not left undisturbed by the strange cry. "Demon! I¡¯ve summoned you to bargain!" Kaspar shouted, his voice cracking slightly in panic. Vee fired another spell at Kaspar, but it struck the barrier. The demon¡¯s head swiveled and stared at her. "Do not interfere!" The words were thrown into our minds as if we were forced to comprehend them. If [Telepathy] was like a mental handshake, this felt more like a mental hammer to the face. "Can¡¯t blame a girl for trying..." Vee shuddered. I sent her some reassurance and continued my preparations. Kaspar seemed a lot more confident after that outcome and couldn¡¯t help but sneer at us. His sneer seemed so exaggerated that I wondered if he was trying to bait us into attacking and angering the demon more. "Hold back..." I mentally whispered to Vee. "Seriously, I wasn¡¯t planning on trying again," she confirmed. Trixie said to listen to the negotiations carefully. Does that mean if we get into a fight before they are done, it would be unrestricted somehow? How powerful is this creature? I threw out an [Identify], but it was frustratingly insufficient for the situation. So its name is blocked, and presumably, its levels and other things are blocked. I can see it¡¯s got an Emblem; I assume that¡¯s to show it¡¯s linked to a Summoner rather than here naturally. If I kill Kaspar, is it forced to go home? My thoughts were interrupted by a loud cracking noise, like bones snapping. The demon¡¯s form was twisting and churning before our eyes. Kaspar¡¯s confidence visibly dropped, and it looked like he was not expecting this either. I guess his unfamiliarity with demon summoning is a good thing. Perhaps this is his first time having to resort to this. It certainly feels like a last-resort maneuver. Bones and flesh continued to contort until the demon looked somewhat humanoid. Its almost features-face ripped apart into a mouth, and even a nose started forming. Its excess flesh began turning into rudimentary clothes, but it kept its wings and iconic horns. This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. "You wish to make a deal?" the demon questioned from its newly formed mouth. "I offer you five years of my life to kill that elf over there!" Kaspar shouted, attempting to sound confident. The demon¡¯s newly formed face turned towards me, and I felt a scrutinizing gaze look over me. "Five years?" the demon repeated. "Five years of your paltry life would be insufficient to accomplish this task." Kaspar gulped, "Ten?" The demon cackled, a drawn-out cacophony of mocking laughter. Abruptly, its laughter halted. "Boy, stop being so foolish. If you provide insufficient payment, then this one will clearly claim your life once I am defeated. There is no reason for you to be such a cheapskate." "Cheapskate? This is years of my life we are talking about!" Kaspar responded, outraged. "Yes... Human years. So precious and few," the demon cackled mockingly. "Do you not want to serve your Emperor a victory?" "I do..." Kaspar admitted. "Surely your Emperor will reward you? Perhaps he knows a way for you to reclaim your lost years. All you need to do is survive this encounter after all," the demon chuckled darkly. I wanted to object, not liking how these negotiations were going, but I held my tongue. I did not want to risk the demon attacking me for free or perhaps giving the summoner a signing bonus. Wanting to know my situation, I equipped my [Apex Hunter] Emblem. I had almost expected the cry and feeling of "Worthy!" to echo in my head, but instead, I got a similar feeling when I first interacted with Trixie. It was as if the Emblem itself was unsure how the demon stacked up against me or if its level of deception was too great to overcome. "Twenty... No! Twenty-five years of my life!" Kaspar exclaimed. "Deal!" the demon cried out triumphantly, holding out a sinewy hand. Kaspar grasped the hand, and the magical circle suddenly flared to life again. I watched him visibly wither before my eyes as years of his life were taken from him. On the other hand, the demon became more pronounced, as if his form was being more established. "A good deal," the demon moaned happily. Kaspar took a moment to gather his breath, then pointed directly at me, "As per our contract, I wish for you to kill that elf!" The demon turned to me again, and I could feel the open hostility between us now. It felt like staring down at an angry predator. Oddly enough, now that the deal was finalized, that almost tingly feeling my Emblem was giving me had seemed to stop. Is it no longer "worthy" anymore? I wondered. I felt its gaze scrutinizing me more. "Elf?" the demon questioned. "Yes, kill the knife-eared bitch!" Kaspar demanded, thrusting his finger at me. "Just to confirm, you wish for me to kill the one known as Syl?" the demon asked again. "Yes!" Kaspar shouted, his patience running dry. "Who else would I be talking about!? She¡¯s the only elf here!" "I ask because that one is not an elf," the demon replied. "But thank you for the confirmation." Kaspar seemed flabbergasted, staring at me with apparent shock and surprise, "Not an elf? Then what the hell is she!?" Is this really how my secret gets revealed? Well... As long as I kill Kaspar, it should be fine; Trixie promised to keep the area sealed from spectators. "I do not know," the demon replied. "Some form of changeling or mimic creature, but that is not an elf." "B-but she has the bag? She matches the description perfectly. The elf ambassador even tried to protect her. How can she not be anyone other than who we were looking for!?" Kaspar demanded. The demon shrugged, "I do not know the answers to your question. Nor do I care. I merely asked and pointed out that it was potentially hindering our bargain. I will kill this Syl individual as agreed upon." "A skin walker? Some undead parading around her body?" Kaspar began muttering to himself right as the demon tensed and flew directly at me. As the demon left the magic circle, it seemed to finalize on his body, and [Soul Sight] showed a bonded connection between the demon and Kaspar. "Wait for it..." Vee whispered eagerly. I wondered if she had set up traps again. If the demon died by charging recklessly into her death web, I wouldn¡¯t complain, even if it was anticlimactic. A win is a win, in my book. The demon suddenly halted its approach. Vee muttered curses, and I realized it must be able to see her traps. Then, it did the unthinkable and raised its limb before making a chopping motion and slicing through the air. "What!?" Vee screamed aloud. "How!?" A creepy smile formed on its face as if it could hear her thoughts. Then it teleported and was right before me. "It has [Blink]?" Vee cried. Attack! I ordered. Tendrils burst from the ground around my elven form, trying to converge on the demon. It seemed unperturbed by the circumstances and tried to skewer me with its elongated arm. Bring it, I¡¯ll eat you alive! Its arm struck; at first, I thought it would fail to penetrate through my various defensive traits, but then I noted the tips of its elongated nails were brimming in what I knew was Dimension Mana, thanks to being around it so much with Vee. It went straight through what was supposed to be my body. Kaspar cheered. Vee let out a worried cry. The demon remained unphased. Meanwhile, I smirked as I turned my slimy body into an engulfing weapon. "An aberration?" the demon questioned as my body-turned-maw and perimeter of tendrils began latching onto him. I made sure [Acid Slime] was activated and my tendrils were evenly distributed between [Cryo Slime] and [Blaze Slime] as I was unsure what would work on the demon. There was an intense sizzling noise where contact was made, but I quickly noted that it would not be enough to overcome the demon¡¯s natural resistance. It can never be easy, can it? If I engulf him entirely and crush him in pressurized and dense slime, I might be able to get through. More tendrils began wrapping around the demon, who remained eerily calm despite effectively being within my mouth. Some tendrils became laced with mithril barbs to further pierce or cut through its defenses. How do I damage you? I wondered, staring at the bound demon. My immediate thought was spirit, as the demon seemed to have a body composed of a similar construction as the Undine I had fought. I began throwing out debuff and affliction spells to see what would stick on the creature, causing it to hum as if it found the situation intriguing. Even when [Mana Burn] landed on it, it seemed perfectly content to let this happen. "Are you going to just let that monster kill you? What did I pay you for!?" Kaspar screamed. The demon clicked its tongue in annoyance. There was a rush of energy in its body, and I sensed a large amount of Dimensional Mana forming. "Watch out, Syl!" Vee cried out. Thousands of tiny invisible cuts formed around the demon¡¯s body in an outward emanation. I felt my slime and tendrils be ripped apart all at once as if the demon had somehow turned itself into a living blender. Then there was a flare-up of Mana before everything within a 10-meter radius of the demon was suddenly sliced into infinitesimally small portions. "Hmm? No damage at all?" the demon questioned. I sighed in relief. Thankfully, none of my cores were within the deadly perimeter of death the demon created. Slime from my underground reserve immediately bursts upwards to continue the attack against the demon. "Very interesting..." The demon continued to postulate. "Stop fooling around and kill it, damn you!" Kaspar demanded again. "Without proper understanding, how do you expect me to vanquish such a strange foe?" the demon questioned as it sliced apart incoming tendrils. They weren¡¯t entirely destroyed, so rather than halting the attack, it merely delayed it as split tentacle burst forward as two tendrils each now. "I think I¡¯m beginning to understand what creature I face... Truly fascinating!" the demon joyfully cried out. I wish I could say the same. I thought bitterly. Chapter 235: Demon The demon continued to bask in its own confidence as it examined me. Meanwhile, I still had not found a good way to attack it. It didn''t cleanse my debuffs or afflictions, but they didn''t seem to have that much effect. I had always thought that if push came to shove, I could always rely on my slime powers to seal the deal, but now I was beginning to wonder if that indeed was the case anymore. Vee was not idle in this battle, throwing out [Corrosion Magic] and the occasional makeshift [Rift Thread] weapon. The former the demon ignored while the latter it seemed to always slice apart with its arms in a prompt fashion. I had tried seeing if any of my concoctions from [Poison Slime] would have an effect, but even the notorious Bloodrot seemed ineffective against the otherwordly being. With [Soul Sight], I examined its connection to Kaspar more closely; it seemed to flare to life with more vigor on occasion but was otherwise dormant. I guess I need to go for the summoner. I mean, I had the inkling already, but I had hoped to eat and defeat this demon on my own without resorting to its lifeline. Begrudgingly, I had tendrils burst out towards Kaspar, who cried out in horror. The demon instantly vanished, leaving a path of destruction in its wake before appearing directly next to Kaspar and banishing my attacking tendrils with a wave of its elongated arm. "Now, why did you have to go and spoil our fun?" the demon questioned. Rather than answering, I began firing explosive slime at the summoner, forcing the demon to defend him. At first, the demon blocked with its body or by counterattacking, but when my assault proved unrelenting, he grabbed Kaspar by the waste and teleported away with the human. Kaspar''s cries gave away their position, flying high above the ground. "Put me down; I don''t wish to be manhandled in this manner!" "If I left you on the ground, I''d be placing you in the belly of the beast," the demon said. More of my slime began to burst out of the ground. Each was a possible attack avenue as I fired shots at the demon. It flew with supernatural grace and managed to avoid attacks, and when I detonated them nearby in hopes of causing damage, it was once again forced to cover Kaspar with its own body. "I see your point," Kaspar admitted, staring in horror. "What matter of abomination is this?" "I believe it''s some form of slime," the demon spoke. Kaspar laughed, "A slime?" The demon shrugged, "Or something close to it. Its mass is not actually its body; wounding it deals no damage. A slime is the only such creature I can think of that matches those characteristics." "Then... You simply need to destroy its core!" Kaspar shouted. I shuddered at what I was overhearing and began tossing out even more ranged attacks. I ensured my cores were not holding back, and spells and slime projectiles polluted the air. "Easier said than done," I overheard the demon continue to explain. "It hides its true self deep within an ocean of slime." Kaspar gulped, no doubt realizing the demon''s words were accurate when it mentioned "belly of the beast." "Then, can you not help me retreat and come back to defeat this monster?" Kaspar suggested. My heart sank; this would be the absolute worst outcome imaginable. A foe with my secret, escaping and telling others. While I could abandon my disguise and even possibly rename myself, I had no idea if they had other means of tracking me. My situation felt extremely hopeless. "No," the demon replied. "No?" Kaspar repeated in question. "It is not the deal we struck," the demon answered. Kaspar seemed outraged, "Is this how you extort more years of my life from me? Even though it would be to your own benefit to fight without me in the area!" The demon shook his head, "The deal once made cannot be changed. A new bargain cannot be struck until the first is concluded or one of the involved parties has perished." Well, that''s good news for me! I thought cheerfully. "Trixie wasn''t kidding about them being sticklers for rules," Vee commented, mirroring my thoughts. "Fine!" Kaspar spat. "If it''s a slime, then its weakness is cold. I shall summon some icy minions to aid you." "The slime tried to freeze me; I do not think ice would work," the demon explained. "A mutated white slime?" Kaspar questioned. "Very well, I''ll summon a lightning creature. One of the other greatest weaknesses of their pathetic kind." "Wow, what an asshole," Vee growled. "Yeah, he''s hiding up there from this so-called pathetic creature," I agreed. Since direct ranged attacks were not working, I revealed one of my trump cards. I began preparing a barrage of spells, all originating from different points. I held them at the ready, waiting for each one to be completed, and thankfully, the demon didn''t seem to notice my preparations. Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. Meanwhile, Kaspar summoned three more of those lightning birds. I watched his Mana nearly bottom out before he pulled out another potion to consume. The birds squawked and began charging some form of lightning attack. "I''m going to fire the lightning back at them and then my spells, too; coordinate with me if you can," I informed Vee. "Roger!" she energetically replied back. The trio of birds screeched before dive bombing towards me; once in range of some of my slime, each one let off a sizeable bursting spark of electrical energy that surged through me. Kaspar immediately seemed to celebrate victory, but it was well within the means of my [Voltaic Slime] to handle it, and I began storing and redirecting the energy. The demon continued staring curiously; it opened its mouth to say something right as I fired all of the gathered energy with a bit of some extra oomph I had generated myself. Kaspar cried in shock as the massive bolt of energy was fired out at breakneck speed, the demon barely reacting in time to avoid it. Meanwhile, my spells went off. Magical explosions detonated in the air as [Fireballs] and [Lightbombs] went off. A barrage of [Icicle] spells were fired, and beams of [Waterjets] were aimed. I had thought my victory was secured, but once the spells were unleashed, the demon seemed to immediately notice their presence. It began a series of rapid teleporting maneuvers around the battlefield while holding the screaming Kaspar like a sack of potatoes. "Truly fascinating! A magical slime that can cast spells and has overcome its natural weaknesses!" the demon exclaimed excitedly. "I may have offered my services far too cheaply in this deal." I had also cast [Fireflies], hoping that the homing spells would be effective against such a tricky target. I watched as the magical fire bugs fluttered after the target as best they could, but even in mass quantities, they were ill-suited for this situation. I felt my morale drop moments before a gash struck the demon''s side. I immediately knew that Vee must have set up a trap and wondered if she had some method of predicting where they would appear, thanks to [Spatial Sense]. "I forgot about the spider..." the demon spat, although it didn''t even look like it had taken much damage. [Essence Sight] saw the magical umbilical cord between the demon and summoner pulse, and the wound rapidly sealed itself. I had my [Sub-Cores] continue their attack while I observed and tried to strategize with Vee. "Shit... We need to kill the summoner," I grumbled in frustration. "Unfortunately, that demon bastard is keeping him tight," Vee agreed. "I really thought you had them with so many spells." "Spell orb time?" I suggested. "Might work," Vee hesitantly agreed. "Hell, if you did your worm self-destruct thing, maybe you could catch them in the blast radius." "I worry they would just teleport away from the explosion radius. Even if I did multiple explosions at various points, I reckon it could teleport to safety," I admitted. "Yeah, it''s got [Blink] or something better," Vee explained. "I certainly can''t carry passengers with mine, and he does it so frequently. If only we could trick them into a trap." "That''s it!" I replied excitedly, Vee''s words triggering an idea. "Really? Great! What''s the plan?" Vee asked. "I''m going to offer a mutual surrender," I answered. "I can capitalize on the fact he wanted to kill the elf; well, she''s dead. If I beg for my life, maybe he will buy it." "I dunno... Sounds risky..." Vee replied. "I''m an excellent actor!" I said confidently. "I have the [Acting] skill to prove it." Vee reluctantly agreed, and while my [Sub-Cores] kept them distracted, I began formulating my plan. I knew he wanted Sylthaeryn dead, and then he also wanted the bag, and that would be my exploitable opportunity. Withdrawing the bag from the safety of my underground slime reservoir, I began scrutinizing it as much as possible while crafting a perfect replica of the bag. While I had not and could not eat the bag to get a perfect understanding, I was far from the little slime who spent time practicing making tree replicas from sight. No, I had a whopping [Morph Slime LV 8] and [Chimeric Mimicry LV 7] to work with. By examining it thoroughly within my slime mass and scrutinizing it with my various sight-related traits, I felt like my plan was flawless. I''d eaten plants, cloth, and almost everything in between; I had confidence in creating a perfect facsimile of the magical plant bag and even called on Alpha to give me a helping hand. My [Sub-Cores] seem to follow orders even if I can''t. They knew how to work with spell crafting even when I couldn''t correctly use [Soul Sight]. So, hopefully, Alpha''s unseen aid will give it the finishing touches it needs. With my perfect replica made, I gave it a deadly center. Nothing was off the table as I filled it with Bloodrot-laced mithril shrapnel, plenty of acid, and even some freezing slime for good measure. Then, purely for theatrics, I formed a fake humanoid body and decided to open negotiations. "We seem to be at a stalemate!" I declared and halted my attacks. "You''ll succumb eventually, monster!" Kaspar shouted back, although he was clearly not in the best of conditions because of how much jostling around he had been subjected to. "I wish to bargain for my life," I said. "Ha! You killed my underlings, humiliated me, and I sacrificed years of my life. Why would I ever make a deal with you?" "Your original target was the elf Sylthaeryn, was it not? I merely took on her form. She is dead." "Even so, a monster such as yourself should perish." "Even if I offer this bag of hers?" I asked, pulling the bag out of myself. Kaspar visibly reacted at the sight of it, and I felt like I had gotten a nibble on my fishing line. "I can take it off your corpse," Kaspar answered. "Vee, could you produce a [Rift Thread] web for me?" I asked aloud rather than telepathically. Vee abruptly appeared beside me, pulling out an intricate web of [Rift Thread] that she had clearly premade. "What is that spider doing?" Kaspar demanded. "It appears to be weaving dimensional thread... Fascinating... Perhaps even more so than the slime creature?" the demon answered. "If this bag is so precious to your efforts, then I suppose I should just destroy it out of spite," I said, motioning to bring the bag above the web. "I''ll kill you if you destroy that bag!" Kaspar threatened. "You already threatened my life, so I might as well spite you and your Emperor." Kaspar was grinding his teeth as he stared at the bag. "Would those threads destroy it?" he asked the demon. "Unless that bag has protections from dimensional rifts, I cannot see it surviving," the demon answered. "What about the whole contract thing?" Kaspar asked. "You said you couldn''t go against it until complete." "You could mark the objective as complete," the demon answered. "As long as you swear it to me, I can treat it as done. Do note that there will be no refunds." "My life for this bag?" I asked again. "Sounds like a fair trade, wouldn''t you say?" The silence was deafening as he seemed to struggle to make up his mind about my proposal. I began motioning to drop it through the web to ensure he didn''t have enough time to ruminate on it and possibly see through my deception. "Wait!" Kaspar shouted. "Yes?" I questioned, tilting my head. "I''ll agree on one condition," Kaspar said. "What is it?" "Give me the bag first," Kaspar replied. "I don''t trust a monster to keep its word." "And I''m supposed to trust you?" I asked. "Hey! Don''t push it!" Vee warned me telepathically, but I ignored her. [Acting] guided me, and I put my full faith in it. "I''m an honorable [Outeatus Knight]," Kaspar explained. "My word is my oath!" A knight that tried to assassinate me multiple times, sure... Very honorable. I wanted to roll my eyes at the crap he was spewing, but [Acting] held me firm. "I see..." I replied, pretending to mull it over. "Very well, I''ll trust you, sir knight." "Excellent!" Kaspar exclaimed happily. Excellent... I agreed. Chapter 236: Inevitable Betrayal Chapter 236: Inevitable Betrayal "How would you like me to give you the bag?" I asked. "I¡¯m most certainly not going to go down there and retrieve it from the belly of the beast," Kaspar said, shaking his head. "You can toss it up here physically or even use [Air Magic] to do so. I¡¯ve seen you cast plenty of wind spells." He summoned another large bird creature, which looked big enough for him to ride on and seemed to lack the apparent affinity effects of his previous summons. He immediately started chugging another Mana potion afterward, determined to keep his Mana levels at a steady supply. "Alright then," I agreed and proceeded to fling the bag upwards by firing it with [Slime Shot], aimed in his general direction. At first, he was hesitant, and only once he confirmed it was the bag did he send out his bird creature to fetch it. It clutched the bag and proceeded to prod and poke it a few times before it returned to its master. "Satisfied?" I asked. "Very," Kaspar said, looking smugly satisfied. "Tell me, demon, how do you measure against this monster?" "If I wasn¡¯t protecting you, I¡¯d feel confident in my victory," the demon spoke matter-of-factly. "I¡¯m hindered by my effective attack range being within a 20-meter radius." And here comes the inevitable betrayal. Just a few moments more... I need him away from that demon in case it can protect him or teleport him away. "Excellent," Kaspar said, barely hiding his fiendish grin. "Then I shall retreat on my bird and leave you to it." The demon nodded before effectively tossing the summoner towards his bird. After a minor panicked cry, he collected himself and had his commanded creature catch him on its back. "I thought we had a deal!?" I cried out, feigning outrage. "The terms have changed, and I cannot, in good faith, allow such a monster to roam freely," Kaspar sneered. "For the good of the world, I¡¯ll have to besmirch my honor. A noble sacrifice." "What a joke; I can¡¯t believe how far his head is up his own ass," Vee commented disapprovingly. "He¡¯ll get his comeuppance," I reassured her mentally. He took the bag from the beak of his bird mount and began stroking it affectionately. He pulled out what seemed to be some form of enchanted reins that connected to his summoned flying steed, which then began to turn away from me. "Proceed with the deal, demon," Kaspar ordered. The demon simply nodded. Rather than fly towards me, it merely vanished using its teleportation skill and began tearing into my fake body. Boom! The fake bag detonated. Its payload was entirely unobstructed as it went directly into and through the summoner. The demon¡¯s head immediately swiveled upwards to look at what had occurred right as more tendrils grabbed onto it in an attempt to prevent it from teleporting to aid. The demon snarled as it began tearing slimy tendrils apart, only for more to form and latch onto him. My [Sub-Cores] also started pelting him with various spells, hoping something would finally damage the creature. Vee also seized the opportunity, lashing out with a makeshift whip of [Rift Thread] into the screeching creature. That was the final straw as it began gathering energy once more. Vee teleported away, and I ensured none of my cores were nearby as, once again, the thousands of tiny blades formed an aura around the demon and sliced anything and everything into non-existence. Once it was free, it immediately used its [Blink] ability, but I knew I had already secured my victory. I had witnessed his body falling from the sky, his mount destroyed in the resulting blast. No doubt he was burning, dissolving, and freezing. Not to mention the Bloodrot-laced shrapnel. It was a truly horrendous contraption for any living creature. "No!" the demon bellowed in anger and violently struck the ground near the corpse. [Soul Sight] showed me that the strange umbilical cord between them was now severed from the summoner and burning like a candle toward the demon. "I hadn¡¯t finished claiming my meal!" the demon roared again and turned to me. "I shall ensure you suffer for your interference!" Oh, wonderful. I was hoping it would disappear instantly, but I guess there¡¯s a time limit now. The demon vanished from the spot and began tearing into any slime it could find. Previously, it had armed only its nails with the cutting imbuement, but now its entire arms were aglow as it attempted to rend through me. "Vee, stay back, I don¡¯t want you getting hurt," I told her telepathically. "Really? I can help you," Vee suggested. "He¡¯s going to fade away, I think. I just need to outlast him, and then we win. I¡¯ve got an ocean of slime between him and me, not to mention a couple of extra lives even if he does get me." The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. "Okay... But be safe," Vee warned. "Got it!" I replied confidently. The demon continued its rampage against the slime I kept throwing at it. While it was mindlessly destroying, I tried to capitalize as best as I could on the situation and find some better methods of attack. I started cycling between various forms of [Metal Slime] weaponry, hoping to find something to combat the demonic foe. Obsidianiate and Adamantite didn¡¯t seem notably effective, much to my dismay. However, there appeared to be some minor effects when I produced some piercing and slashing weapons made from Mythril. It still largely ignored my spells, which felt very disheartening. Demons must be highly magic-resistant. I¡¯ll need to do some research into how to effectively fight them. Any minor damage I did to it healed rapidly, although at the cost of the magical umbilical cord burning away faster. That was the primary reason I didn¡¯t want to simply wait it out; I hoped to get further skill or trait experience while I could. Maybe I¡¯m approaching this wrong. Perhaps I need to find something like how lead-silver worked on Trixie? I could start cycling through other types of metals, even weapons that aren¡¯t generally made of. Of course, I immediately tried to cut into it with lead-silver weapons. They were slightly effective, more so than my other attempts, so I knew I might have been on the right track. Pure silver and the Mana-enriched silver worked more effectively, even causing the demon to hiss in anger, but they did not halt its rampage. And so I began trying to mix silver with anything and everything, hoping to create an impromptu alloy that would work against the demon. I told my [Sub-Cores] to join in and experiment with alloys, hoping they would solve my problem. With its time growing slime and no doubt realizing what I was attempting to work out, it started being far more destructive in its attacks. Rather than creating a radius of destructive energy around itself, it started making some form of magical attack that cut out a cube in space. When I saw it happen, alarm bells rang in my head, and Vee, who was watching, must have seen something genuinely horrific, as she had even let out a mental screech. Bastard is destroying my slime! The nerve! I kept retreating my cores, only keeping one in range to maintain better direct control over the assaulting slime. Thankfully, it seemed like the demon lacked the proper measures to find my core, and blind destruction was its only avenue. Again, another cube removed rock and slime from existence¡ªa terrible display of power. While I was celebrating his lack of better sensory traits or his destruction being limited in range, I was interrupted by a strange notification. <[Truesilver] alloy discovered. [Metal Slime] updated.> Truesilver? I pondered and realized either one of my [Sub-Cores] or I had mixed Mythril and Silver together in what must have been the proper ratios. Mythril and silver had both affected the demon, so I formed a fresh batch of bladed weapons, including a particularly awe-inspiring rapier, and assaulted the demon. Blades cut and pierced the demon¡¯s flesh with a newfound strength. The demon¡¯s attitude instantly flipped, and he went from blind destruction to desperately protecting himself. No more cubes of destruction and no more seeking my death; now, it was purely focused on slicing incoming tendrils with its clawed hands or forming that aura attack as a last-ditch effort. I guess hoping I could kill it on the spot is too much. I thought bitterly as I watched the last remnants of its tie to the world burn away more rapidly. Tendrils of Truesilver were very effective as I tried to shackle the demon, forcing it to use its ultimate move to free itself. More and more of its lifeline burned away, and when only an inch was left, it let out a bellow. "Enough! You may have won this time, little slime, but tread carefully! Us demons hold their grudges for eternity!" And then, before I could retort, attack, or do anything else, it vanished. In a somewhat gruesome display, the demon turned itself inwards and fled into a black and red extradimensional hole that popped like a blood boil when the last bits of its form fled. "Holy shit... We did it?" Vee spoke up first. "Looks like it..." I said cautiously and began recollecting myself. "Congrats!" Trixie said, suddenly appearing. "A lot of help you were," Vee grumbled. "Hey, I kept any outside witnesses!" Trixie said. I nodded; it¡¯s probably what I cared about the most. Vee, however, was still not satisfied. "I still think you should have been duking it out with us, fighting together as a group." "I¡¯m not really the fighting type... More the mischievous and playful companion," Trixie reported. "Okay. Sure. Then why didn¡¯t you make Syl¡¯s tentacles invisible, the spells, the bombs, or something?" Vee pressed. "Um..." Trixie hesitated. "Well. I could have. But if I did, then the demon could have been less restricted." "I¡¯m not buying it," Vee declared. "It¡¯s fine, Vee, don¡¯t worry about it," I tried to reason with her. "It¡¯s not fine," Vee continued. "Sure, we got out of it this time, but what about the next time?" "I¡¯m sure Trixie would help us if we really needed it, right?" I asked. "Yeah, if I could, I would," Trixie replied, although I felt like she was still dodging directly answering. Vee didn¡¯t bother responding to that, although I could still sense her emotions in quite a turmoil from our bond. Unfortunately, I could sympathize with both their points of view. I¡¯d never really expected Trixie to ever come into the thick of it with fights, as I¡¯d never needed it before, and I was happy to have her as a supporting role and some companionship. It was more experience for me, with the occasional helping hand and some companionship. On the other hand, Vee was more worried about survival than growth opportunities. While she seemed to enjoy developing her power, it was more for the safety of additional levels. Meanwhile, I was happy to take more risks, as I could usually take them without any significant consequences. I guess I¡¯m the weird one here... Maybe I need to find Vee some more safety-related traits? I could also get some levels in a [Bonded Companion] related class. If I got a skill or upgrade that ensured her survival, then she might be willing to take more risks or overlook Trixie¡¯s shenanigans. Once I had regathered myself, we moved to claim our spoils from the battle. I gathered the remains of the summoner¡¯s corpse without issue, but we ran into a problem when we looked at the area that contained the others. "The area is unhallowed," Trixie grumbled, looking particularly unhappy. "Anything we can do about it?" I asked. Trixie sighed, "Unless you have some [Holy Magic] hidden away, I don¡¯t think so." "Great... So we must risk some soul damage to get our spoils?" Vee whined. "It¡¯s not that big of a deal," I replied. "No, it is; your soul is not looking good, Syl," Trixie informed me. "Then you should fetch them for us," Vee said. "Ugh. Fine!" Trixie whined as she fluttered into the infernal area. "So, what¡¯s our next plan? Cause I can tell we are both annoyed as hell by these attacks," Vee asked me. "I¡¯m going directly to the embassy and shoving this bag in his face, and then we leave," I answered. "Then I guess I give the elf disguise a break. Maybe we can just do some wondering on the surface." "Oh yeah, we can go see the beach!" Vee said excitedly. "Anything to get away from these annoying attacks for something I¡¯m not even related to. Now I¡¯ve got a demon grudge; how bad is that?" "Probably bad," Vee sighed. Well, at least I have a Truesilver against the next demon I encounter. I tried to think positively. Chapter 237: Slimy Results While we waited for Trixie to return, I reviewed what I''d gained experience-wise from the fight with the summoner and demon. I started with my raw levels first, eager to see if I''d reached my next big class milestone. <20 Skill Points are now available.> <17 Trait Points are now available.> "Only a single level in my class and race?" I whined. "We killed a summoner and stopped a demon; surely that was worth more!" "I did take half of it, sorry," Vee said. "Also, we only gained partial experience with the demon. It was banished, not killed." "I guess you''re right, and no, I''m not complaining about sharing the experience," I reassured her. "It''s probably also why we didn''t get anything from [Apex Hunter], or at least I didn''t," Vee added. I shook my head; I''d definitely not gained a skill point for banishing the demon. I sighed and looked over my traits and skills. Hopefully, something good happened there. Oh! I didn''t even notice! I created my full eight pseudopods and wiggled them around, causing Vee to stare at me while radiating confusion. "Are you trying to be an anemone?" Vee asked. "New trait level; I can have eight tentacles now!" I said excitedly. "What do you mean eight now? I''ve seen you have way more than that." Rather than try to explain it, I showed the trait to Vee, hoping it would clarify things. <[Pseudopod LV 8] It can create and control numerous tendrils equal to the trait level of the available slime mass. The degree of manipulation increases per level. Quantity and size distribution are limited to available slime mass. Compatible with other slime traits.> It did not. "I don''t get it," Vee grumbled. "How is this any different than what you usually do?" "This is all handled by the trait. When I change the shape of my slime overall or try to morph it into shapes, I have to almost consciously control it. When I mimic a form like a weapon, elf, human, dwarf, or monster, I have another trait, [Chimeric Mimicry], that does the heavy lifting and handles copying the form. Likewise, the tentacles made by the trait are effectively controlled for free and have much better manipulation than when I try to do it manually." Vee hummed mentally while she mulled it over before finally speaking up again, "Maybe you didn''t notice it much with being distracted. But I''m sure you had more than seven or even eight super tentacles against the demon." "Really? I know my [Sub-Cores] are pretty good at controlling my slime for me when I delegate. I wonder if that''s the reason?" I ordered Alpha to create half a dozen tentacles without using the [Pseudopod] trait. I felt the slime mass being withdrawn and forming into some makeshift tentacles. I didn''t even need Vee to point out that these were far from the highly controllable tendrils I usually use. "That''s weird..." I mumbled. "Can each of your cores make eight tentacles?" Vee suggested. "They couldn''t before," I immediately replied, then paused, "Before I evolved!" I snapped my fingers and grinned excitedly. I held out one arm and ordered Alpha to make eight tentacles on the arm. It happily complied as usual, and they wiggled with speed and dexterity. Then, I held out my other arm and ordered Beta to do the same. Another eight little tentacles formed, and I couldn''t help but cheer. "It''s per core!" I said happily. "Nice, that solves that mystery. Although I can''t see when you''d ever need, what, 80 tentacles? Unless you want to try impersonating a centipede without using your mimic trait." "Yeah, it''s definitely overkill; my previous evolution has almost set me up for letting my [Sub-Cores] act independently from myself." "But they''re still stuck to you?" Vee asked. I nodded, "At least for now, they still can''t act or follow orders unless they are connected to me. Maybe [Core Collective] will do that if I uncap it, or maybe I need another trait." "Or maybe it will be your next evolution," Vee suggested. "Very possible. I upgraded from Mimic Slime to Chimeric Mimic, which was a big jump. So maybe I''ll get a Distant Cluster Slime? I''d love to be able to use my [Sub-Cores] over a wider area." "That name is terrible; maybe something like Remote Cluster Slime?" Vee teasingly suggested. "It can be called anything at this point; I''d just be happy for the upgrade. I''m always worried about losing the connection, potentially the core, and all of the slime mass under its control." "I wondered why you don''t always spread out as much as possible unless things really call for it." "Yeah, I''m being a bit stingy and neurotic, I''ll admit. But in my defense, it is easier to move around and more compact. There''s a reason I didn''t take one of my evolution options, which was focused on just being a massive all-consuming blob." "Really? Wow, ''cause that definitely fits you," Vee teased. "That''s rich coming from the one with the extra-dimensional stomach," I retorted, looking over what other skills or traits had improved. [Derived Element (Air) LV 8] At this point, I''m surprised you aren''t at the max level yet! If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. [Magical Subterfuge LV 6] [Exploit Weakness LV 6] [Elemental Shift LV 6] [Trap Mastery LV 5] Nice. I got some good upgrades there. It''s a pity I didn''t get a level in [Nitro Slime], but its last improvement was pretty recent. I''d love to get all my slime traits to an even level eight across the board. There was also one final notification. So I did get something from the demon! I hope it''s good! <[Banisher] Increases damage against summoned creatures by 10%. Increases stability damage to summoned creatures by 10%, reducing the time they can stay anchored away from their home. Equipping this Emblem doubles these bonuses.> Not bad... But nothing amazing? I hoped for something cool and flashy like [Demon Slayer], but I didn''t kill it. I suppose this does make my next fight with one somewhat easier. "You know... I just realized we didn''t give Trixie a bag or something," Vee spoke up. "Why would that matter?" "Well, she''s tiny; how can she bring back any loot?" "Oh... Maybe she has her own storage?" I suggested. "I hope you''re right. Otherwise, we will be stuck here waiting for a while as a tiny pixie drags a big sack of loot across the ground." "While that would be pretty funny, she can create these magical little minions with [Nature Magic] to carry stuff for her if she has access to plants." "Wow. And to think I only have two types of magic," Vee grumbled. "Next evolution?" I suggested. "Or we could try to get one via a class for you." Sadly, that idea fell through. I even tried showing [Derived Element] to Vee, but it said she lacked the required class to take the trait. "Why do you even want to split your cores up?" Vee asked. "Well, if I could leave one with you, you''d permanently have a magical helper at the very least. But imagine if I could have each core take a different form? I could have my own little adventuring party or have some great disguises with monsters." "Wow. Okay, yeah, that sounds absurdly powerful," Vee agreed. "I sort of had this idea of potentially pretending to be a Monster Tamer and have my cores pretend to be a slime or something else, which was why I even had [Bonded Companion] in the first place. The idea sort of fell flat when I realized that you can''t tame slimes." "Regular slimes anyway," Vee added. I nodded. I withdrew some slime and demonstrated by having Alpha take the form of a griffin, still connected to me by a slimy tendril. "This is sort of the idea I had," I explained. "But the big risk is that if this tendril breaks, not only does the disguise break, but I potentially lose all that slime. So I haven''t risked it yet." "Makes sense," Vee agreed. We continued to chat a bit while I showed off some monster forms. It entertained us both and hopefully allowed me to gain some experience towards the next level of [Chimeric Mimicry] or [Morph Slime]. Trixie eventually showed up looking rather peeved off. As soon as she left the corrupted area, she made a few retching noises and shook herself like a wet dog. "Never again!" Trixie declared. "That bad?" Vee asked. "It wasn''t painful, but very uncomfortable," I explained. "You''re anything but normal in that regard," Trixie snapped back. "I was being serious when I said you shouldn''t be letting your soul accumulate so much damage like that. Didn''t you say one of your fears was being mind-controlled again? Well, having a weak soul would make it easier for you to submit." I shuddered. "Adding that to the top of my list of things to avoid. Soul damage. Avoid at all costs. Yup!" Vee responded nervously. "Anyway, we should head back," Trixie said. "Wasn''t there a kobold-dwarf war going on?" "Was the war even real, or was it all these Outeatus people?" Vee asked. "I think it''s real, and they were just capitalizing on the opportunity," I replied. "So what''s the plan then?" Trixie asked. "I want to throw this bag at the elves and leave," I answered. Vee nodded. "Really?" Trixie asked. "I thought you were pretty invested in dealing with the kobolds." "We can sneak out and look for the leader to assassinate or something; I could even turn into a kobold to do it or just go giant worm on them." "Wow, you must be especially upset if you''re willing to drop all pretense," Trixie replied with a hint of bemusement. "Syl, the elf adventurer, can go on hiatus for a while, as far as I''m concerned," I grumbled. "I like being on the attacking end, and I''ve had one attack against me too many." "Are you going to report it to the guild?" Vee asked. "The attempted assassination, not the hiatus." "I suppose," I shrugged. "But the elves first; I''m done with this stupid magic bag everyone seems to be after." Vee nodded in agreement, but Trixie seemed less reluctant. "You really want to go see the elves?" "I''m throwing this bag at them and leaving," I answered. "Why do you not want to see them?" Trixie rolled her eyes, "Something like that... I''m just not on great terms with a few of them." "I thought you said spirits got on well with the elves and dwarves?" I asked. "Yeah, but I''m extraordinary," Trixie giggled. Vee''s mental sigh was almost deafening across the companion bond, and I had to admit that I was beginning to agree. Trixie must have sensed it or something as she huffed and puffed in some playful anger, "Look, when you get to be as old as me, you sometimes ruffle a few feathers. And among the ageless, some grudges get held for a very, very, very long time." "Okay, if you don''t want to see the elves, then you can go tell Thern and his family what happened," I offered. "Sure, that works for me," Trixie replied happily. Moments before leaving, the pixie upturned a tiny satchel she had, and its contents magically spewed out. Bags, weapons, tools, and coins aplenty poured out. "I thought you couldn''t put dimensional storage inside each other," I murmured curiously. "My bag isn''t dimensional; it shrinks stuff," Trixie answered. "Huh, I wonder if I could make something like that?" Vee asked. "Unless you want to donate your... Skin? Chitin? I don''t think so," Trixie answered. "This is made from the skin of a monster that could naturally shrink and grow and then was enchanted to reactivate its natural properties." "Uh... No thanks, I like my exoskeleton attached," Vee rejected the idea. After removing the items from any enchanted bag, I tossed them into my [Core Storage]. When I had the time or energy, I''d go through them more thoroughly to see if they had anything worthwhile or maybe even some info to give the dwarves about their hostile actions. That would probably be too convenient if they had evidence of their orders or actions. I doubt I''m that lucky. Returning to the battlefield proper was both a surprise and a relief. Most of the kobold army looked scattered; even more, dwarves had taken to the field with the occasional human adventurer. There were massive scars and craters throughout the area, indicating there were some hefty siege attacks propelled toward the reptilian invaders. "Wow, we really missed out on some of the action," Vee said. "Yeah, but they were mostly small-fry; I doubt you would have gotten much experience," Trixie said. After making sure my profile and disguise were all correctly in place, we began our retreat back toward the safety of the city. I threw out the occasional flashy [Fireball] spell at the retreating kobolds to keep up appearances. When we got back, I approached one of the dwarves in charge and questioned him about the state of the battle. "We won today, but they will be back," the dwarf replied. "Many of them retreated and got away, and I''ve been told it was similar on the other front. They''ll regroup and attempt something else tomorrow, if not sooner. Watch the sneaky gits try to do something during the night shift." "I''m surprised they could just throw away so many lives," I commented. "Lives," the dwarf spat. "Them monsters don''t have lives. Most are motherless, spawned from essence. They don''t care how many they throw at us, as it''ll just make more spawn. We even had to cull our dungeon so it could take in some of the excess essence." I guess that''s one way to reduce a monster army from respawning. No wonder all the major cities are near a dungeon. I thanked him for his time and joined the queue to get back behind the city walls. "Well, that was pretty grim," Vee remarked. "Definitely makes me wonder what the gods were thinking when they decided to let souls come back as monsters," Trixie replied telepathically. "They must have known most of you would be killed on sight. Not everyone can shapeshift like Syl here." "Ha! If you think that''s bad, I couldn''t even understand what the dwarves were saying. Then one day, I get this [Universal Language] skill added for free," Vee responded. "Yeah, not understanding what the kid said to me while he carved me over his bucket was terrifying. Although I got [Universal Language] after being bonded." "See, hearing all this makes me think they wanted you to die. Very cruel," Trixie replied, shaking her head. "Survival of the fittest, I suppose," Vee shrugged. "Well, if we stick together, I intend to survive," I replied confidently. "After seeing you literally throw hands with a demon, I''ll agree to that!" Vee cheered. Chapter 238: Some Answers "So now that he''s dead, can you actually tell me a bit about Summoners?" I asked Trixie. "I assume you immediately knew those monsters were summoned." Trixie hummed and hawed a bit before nodding, "Okay, I think it''s fine to answer a few questions. And yes, I did know they were summoned. They''re quite different from normal monsters, even with a basic [Mana Conception] trait." "You''re calling [Mana Conception] basic while I''m still stuck on [Mana Sight]..." Vee grumbled. "I mean, I was born with it," Trixie said with a shrug. "Okay. So those monsters gave me experience. What''s stopping a Summoner from just grinding their own monsters?" I asked. "Experience debt," Trixie answered, shuddering as she did. "Every summon costs a bit of experience, with most of its cost being taken by Mana. You can''t drop down a level, but you can rack up a debt which will delay your next level." "So I wasn''t unique in being in some debt. Interesting. "That''s potentially very powerful if you get to a high level. You could just summon infinite monsters, assuming you had the Mana?" Vee asked. Trixie nodded, "It''s definitely a strategy employed by Summoners. Get to a comfortable level, and don''t worry too much about ever reaching your next level. There''s a catch, though, you don''t want to die while in debt. There are dire consequences for doing so." I''m guessing it''s similar to my situation. I died in my last life with a lot of boons before accomplishing anything and was turned into an [Experiment]. I suppose Gramps and the others can''t reap as much if they owe levels. If even Trixie worries about the consequences, it must be extraordinarily bad. It''s a good thing I paid off my debt, or maybe Gramps would have made me reincarnate as something even beneath a slime, like perhaps an ant or a bug. "Okay. That explains why they don''t just farm their own monsters; they''d be sacrificing their growth. So how does one unlock the Summoner class?" I asked. "You''re born with it unlocked or not at all," Trixie answered. "Damn." Trixie shrugged, "Not like you need the class. Honestly, I think you have more than enough going on already. [Dimension Magic] is way better than [Summoning]." "I''d disagree, but I''m guessing I haven''t exactly seen its pinnacle. Unless we count what that demon was doing?" Vee asked. "Kinda... Not many demons have magic; instead, their affinity is incorporated into their being. A form of almost natural sorcery, if that makes sense?" Trixie answered. "Not really, but thanks," Vee replied. I tried to think of an example from the many profiles I''d consumed at this point, but I was drawing a blank. At best, I could assume it was something like an organ, like the [Inferno Sac], which generated something when fed with Mana. "But yeah. You both should be super grateful. [Dimension Magic] is so scarce," Trixie stated. "What else is on par with it or above it?" I asked curiously. Trixie didn''t reply immediately, taking time to mull it over. I thought she might have given a non-answer, but she surprised both of us. "[Time Magic] and [Golemancy]," Trixie answered. "Those are the two that immediately come to mind." "Really? Making golems is on par, but not summoning monsters?" Vee asked with surprise. "Yes, because unlike summoning, they are almost unrestricted," Trixie explained. "Sure, it costs you resources and time, and your resources spent affect your results, but you aren''t paying in experience, and from what I''ve heard, there''s almost no cap on the amount of golems you can have." "I guess the Kingdom of Keld makes more sense now," I commented. Trixie snapped her fingers, "Exactly! Also, unlike [Summoning], it allows you to have other affinities. This is another reason you''d hate it, Syl, as one the drawbacks in Summoning is having no magical affinities yourself other than summoning." "Huh... That''s a bummer, but why?" I asked. "You have to remain entirely neutral to be able to summon anything. If you somehow end up with an affinity, you will be restricted to only summoning monsters that match your affinity." "Sheesh!" Vee interjected. "Now that is a big downside." "Yeah. No summoning for me," I chuckled. We had finally reentered the walls, and most of the dwarves were still cheering and celebrating. Boasts were going all around, and plenty of places offered free booze; you''d think they had just had a festival instead of a siege. I even overheard some dwarves boasting and hoping the kobolds made big attacks like this more often. Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. Crazy dwarves. Although I guess I have to agree, it''s a great experience right to your doorstep, compared to the humans in Stantondale, who were so grim about the prospects of being attacked. When we had broken from the traffic, I asked one of the city guards if they could give me directions to the elven embassy. After getting directions, I started heading in that direction. "So... [Time Magic]?" Vee asked Trixie, who had yet to split with us. "Incredibly powerful and dangerous," Trixie responded. "The downside is it takes up massive amounts of Mana to use on any big scales, so they tend to focus on one or two targets." "So I''d be perfect for it?" I asked. Trixie sighed, "Yes. You have an immense Mana reserve. But it''s something you are born with, so I don''t expect you''ll be able to get it." "Yeah, but you said the same about Dimension, and I evolved to get it," Vee countered. "A Time Slime?" I suggested with a smirk. "Punny!" Trixie giggled. "But I seriously doubt it. I can''t think of any monsters, mutation or otherwise, that have anything Time-related. It''s probably something solely for the humanoid races." "So, no walking clock monsters or something like that?" Vee asked. Trixie shook her head. "And I don''t know how you''d trigger a mutation requirement," I admitted reluctantly. "Like, you got Dimension affinity adjacently through advancing shrinking. What could I possibly do like that? Go backward or forwards in time?" "Technically, we''re all going forward in time," Vee teased. "Boo!" Trixie jeered. "Puns are great. Logic jokes are terrible." While we continued to chat, I had an idea about how I might qualify for a time-related mutation. If I found a time-based dungeon artifact, perhaps I could use it on myself. If I repeatedly exposed myself to the item equivalent of [Time Magic], that could be enough to open an option to something. Or maybe I can convince Mother and Gramps to make me one during our next talk? Still, 24 levels to go till my next evolution... It feels so far away. Vee''s massive upgrade has me feeling a bit antsy at wondering what I''ll be offered. A further progression down this mimic line, or something to upgrade [Core Collective]? Something entirely new? Ahh, I want to know! When we neared our destination, Trixie fluttered off my head and sighed. "Okay, I''ll go tell Thern and gang what happened." "Yeah, we can meet at the adventurers guild. That way, I can tell Lukhek at the same time," I replied. "Sure thing. Just so you know, I charge extra for being a messenger pixie," Trixie teased before poofing from sight. "I hate when she does that," Vee commented. "I thought I''d finally be able to see through her with [Illusion Resistance] combined with [Magic Resistance (Greater)], but apparently, I was mistaken," I replied. "Either her skills upgraded, or she was holding back the other times I had briefly seen through her ruses." "That''s slightly terrifying," Vee admitted. "I guess it''s a good thing she''s mostly limited to illusions, then?" "Well, unless she has something to make the illusions real, like the Cait Sith I fought. But I trust Trixie; she swore a spirit''s oath to me." "To you, but I don''t think I''m included in that arrangement. Plus, the stories I''ve read say to never trust fairies or pixies." "Look... I know it''s kinda frustrating when she doesn''t answer things, but she does help." "When it suits her," Vee complained. "Look... I''ll try to talk to her a bit about it. But she never really joined me with the requirement of being forced to help out. She kinda just wanted to be along for the ride, if that makes sense?" Vee sighed, "It does, but it''s also extremely unfair. We are fighting for our lives, but she can just go, ''Oops, sorry, I can''t get involved''? I feel like friends should do more than that." "She mentions restrictions a lot," I offered. "And trust me, I know she can be tightly bound to her word. I''ll speak with her. It''s tough; I feel like I''m in the middle, but I agree that if our lives are on the line, she should help. I''d help if her life was on the line, and the same goes with you." "Thanks, Syl," Vee replied. "For what it''s worth, I trust you. Although you probably knew that already from this bond thing." I nodded, "Speaking of which. We should look into finding ways to further benefit from it besides giving you some training boosts." "Sounds good! Thanks!" Vee said happily. The elven embassy was located in the noble district of Dhoggurum. Unlike Kaerlin, however, it wasn''t so strictly segregated, although it did feature more visible security and opulent-looking streets. The roads were tiled with decorative carvings as trimmings and were immaculately clean. Despite there not being a physical barrier to entry, I did have one guard ask if he could assist me, which doubled as him scoping out my intentions. However, he instantly brightened up when I mentioned the elven embassy and offered to show me the way. Yay for not getting lost again. Seriously, how do the dwarves get around this giant square maze without constantly consulting [Mapping]? The elf embassy was a masterpiece of organic architecture, seamlessly blending into the underground cavern it inhabited. Its smooth, ivory-white walls had been carved from luminous stone, etched with delicate, swirling patterns that shimmered faintly. Crystal windows reflected the glow of bioluminescent fungi, casting an ethereal radiance. Despite being underground in a dwarven city, a breathtaking garden flourished around the small mansion, fed by a magical spring. Luminescent flowers bloomed in shades of blue and violet, their petals gently pulsing like living stars. Vines with silver leaves draped over trellises, and some trees were on what I presumed was the lawn. "Holy crap, I think we found where the elf lives," Vee spoke in fascination. "It''s like he''s somehow transplanted the surface into the underground. Crazy!" I thanked the guard for his assistance, and he gave a cheery smile and waved before continuing with his day. "So... Throw the bag at them and get out?" Vee asked. "Is it wrong that I kind of want to see what''s inside?" I asked. "Oh, hell yes! I was worried I was the only one," Vee answered immediately. "I was going to suggest I [Blink] inside and have a look-see. But if you also want to, I don''t need to risk it." "Yeah... Don''t do that," I warned. "For all we know, they have some teleportation detection ward or something worse. The last time I spoke to Tamnaeth, he seemed relatively nice, if a bit nervous. I''m sure he won''t mind us having a little tour. If he refuses the bag, I can just drop it off in a room." "Sounds like a plan!" Vee agreed. As I approached the mansion, a well-dressed dwarf in what I could only describe as a butler''s attire approached. "Good day, ma''am. I hope you are well. Your eventual visit has been expected for some time." "You''re expected?" Vee questioned. "I guess that makes things easy?" I quickly replied mentally to Vee. "Thank you. Is Tamnaeth home?" I asked. The butler dwarf nodded, "If you''ll just follow me inside. I''m sure my coworkers are preparing the tea room as we speak." "Wow, you''re really getting the royal treatment!" Vee said excitedly. "I can''t wait to see what they have for us!" This silly spider and her stomach... Chapter 239: Elven Embassy Entering the mansion was quite the spectacle. It really felt like we had been transported away from the dwarven city and were now in a miniature forest home. Vee kept mumbling to herself in wonder as she stared at the various ornaments while staying in her small, compact size upon my shoulder. I followed the dwarf closely, not wanting to get lost. There are so many different plants. Keeping them all alive must take a lot of time and effort. I wonder how they substitute the lack of sunlight. Is it an enchantment or something? We entered what must have been a reception room, as it had an ornate table, plenty of chairs, and some sofas arranged around a magnificent fireplace with beautiful engravings in the marble stonework. "Tamnaeth will be with you shortly. Can I bring you a drink in the meantime?" the dwarf butler asked. "Yes, thanks," I replied and took a seat on one of the plush couches. The dwarf stared at me. "I think he wants you to tell him what you want to drink," Vee commented. "Um... Do you have coffee?" I asked. The dwarf nodded, looking relieved. "I''ll get some right away." "Really? Coffee?" Vee asked while the dwarf left. "It was the first thing that came to mind after water. Plus, you mentioned something about caffeine and poison," I answered telepathically. Vee sighed, "Figures even in the lap of luxury, you''d try to make some form of progress." "It often doesn''t work out, sadly. There was this magnificent restaurant that had all sorts of meats and dishes, but I didn''t gain a single profile or trait from eating them!" Vee gasped, "Food is for eating and enjoying! It''s not just for silly profiles or whatever. You have to take me to this fabulous restaurant!" "Sure, if we are ever in Kaerlin, we can go to Moonsong. Or, better yet, if we go to Stantondale, we can go to Trevor''s inn!" "Really? An inn better than a restaurant with a crazy name like Moonsong?" Vee asked skeptically. "Trevor had a bunch of levels in chef. His food was so good I didn''t even mind the trait point I had to spend to taste it." "I can''t believe what I''m hearing..." Vee grumbled. "I suffered with raw food and effectively cannibalism for so long while you''re lamenting over a trait point to taste food." "I don''t think you can count dwarf meat as cannibalism. You''re a spider," I countered. "Besides, I''ve eaten frogs, slimes, bugs, goblins, rocks, metals, and the list goes on." "I don''t know whether to be impressed or feel sad for you. Eating rocks and bugs." "I mean, I am a slime..." "I hope you weren''t eating them in your elf disguise. You''d break so many hearts," Vee teased. "Here''s this supernaturally beautiful elf, and she''s chowing down on some raw bugs." "No. I''m not that dumb. I learn to pretend to eat and everything. Although I will say using a knife and fork when I can just dissolve things is a test of patience. Likewise with chewing." "But chewing is the best part!" Vee whined. The door opened, and Tamnaeth entered. He was still just as I remembered him, although rather than our last time, he seemed very happy to see me. "Syl, I''m so glad you finally came to visit. I was worried that after you refused my protection offer, you would avoid visiting," he replied politely. "H-o-l-y shit. Sexy elf man," Vee commented. "And here I''m stuck in the body of a gross spider. This is the worst timeline." "Really?" I complained mentally before trying to ignore the spider and her ramblings. "At the time, I thought that if more assassins came, it would be one way to train myself further. And my new companion as well," I replied, trying my best to sound diplomatic about it. The dwarf butler came in and started handing out drinks and snacks; I could hear Vee audibly gasping at the various pastries and fruits on display. Tamnaeth nodded, "I can see that. You''ve certainly grown leaps and bounds in levels since I last saw you. Although you mentioned at the time, has the situation changed?" I nodded as I took a sip of my coffee. <[Caffeine] has been sampled. [Poison Slime] updated.> I hid my glee before replying, "I was attacked again while outside dealing with the kobolds." Tamnaeth looked furious; his teacup trembled as his grip tightened on the handle. "Rat bastards. Another shadow elf? Or hired goons?" "Outeatus Knights," I answered. Tamnaeth''s composure broke, and he actually dropped his cup. The dwarf butler was startled and immediately began trying to frantically clean up the mess. "Those retched inbred humans!?" Tamnaeth shouted, veins practically bulging on his neck. "How dare they!" "I took care of them," I answered. There were no survivors. But they were after this bag, and I want to leave it with you." I placed the bag on the counter, and Tamnaeth''s rage instantly faded. He stared at it almost longingly before shuddering a little. "I cannot take this, Syl, but I know someone who can," Tamnaeth spoke softly. "Can I leave it here? I want to be on my way and be absolved of this matter; I have dungeons I want to conquer and a world to explore," I insisted. "I''m afraid that is not an option," a new voice answered. The room had a new presence as if he had suddenly existed. At first, I thought it was teleportation, but it almost felt like he had always been in the room already. Even Vee was startled, entirely caught by surprise even with her [Spatial Sense]. All signs pointed to this not being teleportation. The newcomer was a tall, slender elf with sharp, elegant features and long, flowing platinum hair. He wore an ornate, embroidered robe shimmering with various enchantments and what looked like interwoven segments of mythril. His fingers were adorned with intricate rings, and a glowing amulet hung around his neck, radiating magical energy. Though his piercing eyes gleamed with wisdom and power, his expression was calm and composed. Worthy! The cry resounded in my head. Although such a confident outcry from my Emblem instilled a sense of impending doom in me rather than my usual joy. Vee swore, no doubt also being taken aback by the other elf. "Syl, do not fight him!" Vee warned. "Why not?" I asked mentally. "[Time Magic]! The thing Trixie directly warned us about!" This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. "Syl, please meet Llewel," Tamnaeth spoke. "It would be nice to meet you, but not if you won''t let me drop this bag off and leave," I responded. "Syl!" Vee cried mentally, but I ignored her. "For your safety and for the good of the Grove, that is not an option," Llewel spoke. Despite him offering me no compromise, his tone lacked the snark I''d almost expected it to. "If the Outeatus Kingdom is involved, then there can be no further delay. I wouldn''t be surprised if they orchestrated this kobold panic to arrange your isolation. There are probably assassins heading towards this very building as we speak." "I can handle a few assassins," I replied confidently. "And I''m not going anywhere with you. The only reason I''m even here is to drop off this bag as a courtesy, and unless you want to make an enemy of the Adventurer''s Guild, of which I''m a Gold-rank member, you will leave me alone." Llewel paused as if considering my words. Tamnaeth''s forehead was beginning to dampen as he sweated. Wasn''t he supposed to be a diplomat? You''d think he would be used to situations like this. "Damn, did that actually work? I guess you really know how to throw the right words around. Guess joining the guild was a good move!" Vee cheered. "I believe even the Adventurer''s Guild will forgive a bit of impropriety when family matters are concerned," Llewel finally spoke. "Your mother has demanded your return, and I must follow her orders." "She''s not. I''m not-" "[Stasis]," Llewel chanted; it came out so fast that I didn''t even notice him casting the spell. It was as if he had somehow already prepared it or perhaps could instantly cast spells. My body¡ªno, my entire being¡ªfroze in place. Slime, cores, everything seemed unable to respond or react. <[Stasis] is in effect.> "Syl! I can''t move!" Vee replied telepathically. Telepathy still works? "I can''t either!" I replied in a slight panic. I tried opening a telepathic bond to Llewel to demand my release or explain the situation, but my mental handshake met what felt like an impenetrable wall of barriers. My feeble handshake was rebuffed like a club hitting it. "Remarkable, no matter how many times I see it!" Tamnaeth spoke. "The combat applications for such a powerful spell must be immeasurable." "Not quite. The effect is powerful but leaves the target virtually out of time," Llewel explained casually. "While they cannot act, they also cannot take any harm. Even trying to move them from the spot would be met with extreme resistance." As if to demonstrate, he flung a cup towards me; it wouldn''t have damaged me anyway, but the object rebounded off me. While I kept trying to activate skills, traits, or even my [Sub-Cores], I could only stare and watch as the two elves conversed. "You can even try stabbing her with your glaive if you wish," Llewel further added. "I-I could never!" Tamnaeth stammered. Llewel shrugged, "Her mother said she was feisty, but I think I underestimated her evaluation. Either your report didn''t do her justice, or there''s been some remarkable growth before my arrival." "B-both, I think," Tamnaeth responded nervously. "I''m not blaming you. It''s hard for a non-caster to evaluate these things. Her Mana is extraordinarily large. It will undoubtedly be larger than my own, given some time." "I see... So what is the next step? I assume she will be furious when your spell breaks." Llewel nodded, "We will be teleporting back to the Grove." Vee and I both gasped telepathically as if we were prisoners in our own bodies at this stage. Llewel began taking out what looked like a rug from an extravagant satchel, no doubt enchanted for storage. As he unraveled it, I could see woven into it one of the most complex pieces of runework I''d ever seen. I tried to comprehend what I saw, but it was far beyond me. "That''s... What? That''s possible?" Vee muttered. "It''s almost like what my spells, but turned into even more grand patterns. This makes what I do look like I''m playing with dirt and twigs!" "Damnit, is there nothing we can do!?" I cried. "None of my spells are working, I can''t even touch my Mana," Vee answered. "I think we are going to get kidnapped by these elves whether we like it or not." "No! No, no, no!" I panicked. Tamnaeth removed the couch, causing me to remain suspended in the air in my still-frozen position. Llewel placed and fully unraveled the carpet underneath me, with Vee and me aligned in the center. "It''s a good thing her spider was close by. Otherwise, this would have complicated things," Llewel offhandedly commented, as if this was just an ordinary experience for him. "I''d hate to be responsible for separating a [Bonded Companion]." "Especially one still so fresh, Vee might''ve reverted to her wild nature. Explaining that to the dwarves would have been problematic if she went on a rampage," Tamnaeth added. "Her mother might have had both our heads for causing her [Bonded Companion] to die. I do not know what happened to her first, Shalana, but losing a second so soon might''ve driven her to insanity." "I''m not Sylthaeryn, damn it!" I screamed to no avail. I even tried a last-ditch effort to change my displayed profile with [Identity Fabrication], but even that was apparently off-limits while stuck in [Stasis]. Both Vee and I even tried calling out to Trixie. But either she was out of range, or something was blocking her. Like it or not, it seemed like we had to simply accept our fate that we would be teleported. "Wait, you''re fat!" Vee said, sounding hopeful. "Really, Vee? This isn''t the time." "No, your dimensional weight! Maybe they won''t be able to teleport us because of that!" Vee said, sounding hopeful. "Gods, I hope you''re right." The elves had seemingly finished their preparations. Llewel retrieved the bag I had left on the table, placed it on the rug, and began channeling Mana into the various enchanted weaves. "The dwarves and guild will be irate, even if this is a family matter," Tamnaeth said. "I fear the Feirelle Branch far more than the dwarves or guild," Llewel retorted. "If anyone complains, bribe them. Or bring up the fact that Outeatus Knights attacked Sylthaeryn and that we feared for her safety. She is an elven princess, after all." "Oh fuck me, you chose a princess for your disguise!?" Vee complained. "How was I supposed to know! She was in the middle of a forest dying!" I complained. Tamnaeth nodded, "They will probably think I''m blowing smoke, but I''ll try. There must be some witnesses to the battle that took place. And I''m sure there must be some record for Outeatus Knights entering." "I should bloody hope so after the fuss they caused with allowing me entry," Llewel complained. "Weeks! I even had to swear an oath to not use any offensive magic. Blasted dwarves, did they really think I was here to kill someone? I''m an arcane scholar; I have better things to do." "This isn''t offensive magic?" Vee whined. "Sounds like he''s playing very loosey-goosey with the rules." "He must have been very attentive with his words, or maybe this really isn''t offensive magic? He did say it can''t harm us. You could probably even use this to save an ally by freezing them under a deadly attack." "Right, that''s everything," Llewel announced. "Thank you for your services, Tamnaeth. I''ll tell the branch of your aid." Tamnaeth bowed. "Moment of truth..." I said hesitantly. "Yeah, let''s hope you''re fat enough to stop this teleport!" Vee attempted to lighten the situation. The magical rug began to flash rapidly as its enchantments burned iridescent and floated up, creating a three-dimensional pattern. The air thickened, and I felt the familiar tingling feeling of a potential teleportation. The process halted, and Llewel almost fell over. "Not enough, Mana?" the elf questioned in frustration. "Ha! Score one for the gluttonous slime!" Vee cheered. Then Llewel began to channel more Mana into the rug. "Oh gods, he''s going to have enough Mana, isn''t he?" I whined. "He did say he had more than you, though." The rug continued to shine, and Mana flooded out of the elf. The air was thickening again, but I could almost instinctually sense that it would still not be enough. "Blast it," Llewel complained. "What''s the issue? Is there something I can help with?" Tamnaeth asked. "I don''t have enough Mana to fuel the teleport and keep the [Stasis] spell going," Llewel explained. I was beginning to feel some hope, but then he shook his head and uttered the last thing I wanted to hear. "I''ll just activate the forceful teleport measure. What''s a few damaged objects in storage?" "Oh no... No, no, no!" I pleaded. "Syl?" Vee asked. "My [Core Storage]!" I blurted out. "All my slime and stuff¡ªit''s going to rip me apart!" "What? Surely not?" Vee questioned. I began trying to frantically think of what Thern and Thessa had mentioned, but Llewel had already made his decision. I felt an immense tearing pain deep within my core. I was the reason the teleport was failing, after all. Me and my stupidly fat storage. "Gods, can''t I pay the Mana cost!?" I begged. "Damn it!" I tried activating the trait. Nothing. I ordered my [Sub-Cores] to withdraw slime. Nothing. The pain was growing further, and I felt something in my core begin to crack. Oh, gods... I can''t even borrow the pain-reducing trait! This is basically torture! This [Stasis] spell must have a flaw; can''t I do something? Why is my magic resistance not enough? Is it the soul damage that Trixie mentioned? Or is this elf mage just that damn powerful? The only thing I can seemingly interact with is my profile. Should I buy upgrades to my trait and hope to escape? My options were minimal. But if I did nothing, my core would explode! [Core Collective] would keep me alive, I assumed, but would the next core crack and explode, too? Or would losing my primary core be enough to dump out enough storage for the teleport to complete. Then, an idea struck. It was still something I didn''t truthfully want to do. Still, it was a better option than blindly buying resistance levels and hoping for the best, and a small part of me still instinctively rebelled against such a horrible expenditure of trait points. I''ll buy new [Sub-Cores]! Maybe that will spend enough slime to lighten the load! Time was running short, and my core felt like it was barely holding together, so I began frantically purchasing. I could hear cracking noises. I almost forgot about that feature... Hah... The sound of splintering fractures rang. Just a bit more... Hold on... And then I shattered. The pain immediately ceased, and the glowing light of teleportation enveloped us. I felt like I was barely holding onto consciousness as the world warped and trembled around us before ultimately shifting into a kaleidoscope of colors. Chapter 240: Epilogue Trixie sighed as she headed towards Thern''s place. She didn''t feel like being an errand pixie but made an exception this time. She really didn''t want to deal with the elves, potentially be dragged into some official business for the Fairy Queen, and then be obligated to follow through. I''m not shirking my duty if I didn''t receive a request in the first place! Flawless logic! While she was casually fluttering about, obscured from a casual observer, the sudden sound of a siren blaring interrupted her relaxed demeanor. Did those kobolds attack again so soon? Trixie wondered. Guards were hastily forming, including some that had to be very high-level. Unlike her slimy companion, she couldn''t just use something as simple as [Identify] to get the result; instead, she could see how much essence a person was worth. "Someone attacked the noble''s quarter!" one of the dwarf guards shouted his explanation to his coworkers. "The kobolds?" another dwarf asked. "That''s the theory. But the elf embassy was attacked directly, from what I heard." The elf embassy was attacked? Trixie pondered before coming to a reasonable conclusion. Syl! Trixie began flying hastily after the dwarves, heading toward the location. At the same time, she began focusing on the enchanted coin she had given the slime. There was no signal. What? Unless the coin is destroyed or half a continent away, I should be able to sense it. Trixie panicked. As she got closer to the noble''s quarter, she could overhear plenty of screams and shouting. "Stay back!" "Don''t touch it, whatever you do!" "Bloody beards, what caused this!?" "We need to keep it contained!" "It''s eating through my [Rampart], we need something stronger!" Then Trixie saw the scene and gasped. A vast section of the nobles'' quarter was flooded with a strange blue substance leaking out into the streets. If that wasn''t bad enough, the substance seemed to be melting rapidly through anything it came into contact with. Even worse, portions of the mass were radiating either extreme heat or extreme cold, and when the two opposing forces met, they violently popped and scattered further. Slime! Is Syl attacking? Was Syl attacked? Is she going on a rampage? What''s going on!? Trixie''s panicked thoughts danced around from one idea to the other. Syl had often mentioned having almost a sea of slime stored away, and at the time, Trixie thought it was a joking exaggeration. But seeing this scene before her, she knew that it hadn''t been in jest. Trixie fluttered to an elevated position and proceeded to fly inside the district to scope out the situation and try to locate her slimy friend. With all the slime below her, the pixie had to shake her head and refocus, feeling an almost woozy pleasure from the high ambient Mana in the area. Definitely Syl''s slime, then... What made her attack? Did the elves discover her secret? Or did she just have enough time to deal with them? Or was it those human assassins again? Trixie did not like the looks of what she saw. The slime was entirely unguided and uncontrolled as if Syl had just thrown it all out in a blind rage rather than the usual control and precision. The other possibility was that the slime mass was uncontrolled because there was no longer a core to control them... Like a dead slime. No! "My friend xxx is a xxxx!" Trixie tried to shout out loud. Golden chains apparated around her throat and choked her, halting her attempted revelation. After her coughing fit stopped from the magical choking, Trixie grinned happily. If she was still held to her oath of secrecy, then Syl was still alive! But where are you then? No way you''d just dump out all this slime and flee? I know Vee can teleport, but she''s nowhere near powerful enough to teleport a long distance. I don''t think she even has the Mana capacity to do so, not with Syl as a passenger. Trixie began digging through some surface thoughts of individuals in the area, trying to understand where the elven embassy was. Most of it was pure chaos of concern and pain, understandable given the circumstances. After a few attempts, she caught wind of a rescue team trying to save the life of the elven ambassador. Found it! Trixie cheered and hastily flew that way. What should have been a fabulous building looked like it had exploded from the inside out. It was a ruined wasteland of melted soil, plants, walls, and furniture. A once proud beacon of the elves had turned into a melted wasteland of slime. The fact that it''s melting makes me think that Syl intended to attack. I thought she said she was a [Mana Slime] and only temporarily borrowed the other slime powers? But then why''s it acidic, burning, and freezing? Trixie tried drawing in the area''s essence, but the overwhelming amount of Mana was both intoxicating and partially blinding her. I''m not sensing life... Did Syl really abandon all this slime? I always took her as quite neurotic about saving and not wasting. It''s very out of character. "We have to treat it like a lava leak!" one of the nearby dwarves shouted. Trixie paused her thoughts and began listening in to the conversation. It was a squad of dwarves well-suited to hostile environments. They were decked out in full-plate armor and waded through the hazardous slime with barely a care in the world. Evidently, they were looking for survivors and pulled something akin to a raft that floated behind them. It brimmed to life with enchantments, and Trixie noted that it was likely operating at optimal conditions thanks to the Mana-rich environment. "Bah! If it was lava, we''d be having an easier time; what the bloody beards could have caused this?" One of the dwarves was clearly a geomancer, casting [Earth Magic] to funnel or divert some of the flowing slime. Unfortunately, the slime kept melting through the rock. "A crazy alchemist is my guess," one dwarf postulated. "It reminds me of a powerful green slime, but it''s blue and at both ends of the extreme temperature spectrum." "Definitely sounds like something a crazy alchemist would do; green slimes don''t usually live long enough to become this powerful unless they spawned in the dungeon." "Did the kobolds take over the dungeon?" "Dungeon is confirmed secure. This attack was isolated on the elven embassy..." "How''s the ambassador looking?" At this point, Trixie fluttered closer and noticed that one of the dwarves was on the raft, attending to an elf''s unconscious form. "He''ll live. It looks like he had several enchanted artifacts to save his life. Even his clothes survived the acid bath. On the other hand, his flesh isn''t looking good; patches of frostbite and scalding all over. He needs a better healer to regrow the dead skin; otherwise, he''s in remarkably stable condition." "Good, I don''t think the Grove would be too happy if the ambassador bit the dust." You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. "Captain, look over there!" one of the dwarves shouted, pointing towards a black mass floating in the slime. "Is that..." "It can''t be? Floating in the slime?" "Obsidianite? Did an evolved worm attack this location?" "Gods, that is a lot of it. No doubt the city will confiscate it for repairs and death benefits." "This mystery gets crazier and crazier..." Well, I''m not getting any answers from an unconscious elf. Let''s explore the mansion if it isn''t entirely submerged in slime. That obsidianite is no doubt Syl''s. Did she dump her storage out or something? Trixie spent some time investigating and trying to find something to explain what happened. As more time passed, the level of the slime dropped due to the combined effort of the dwarves getting rid of it or the slime spreading out. Trixie was beginning to feel hopeless until she finally unmasked a hint. It was heavily obscured from all the damn slime. There was a singular spot, and Trixie could barely smell the hint of transmuted Dimensional Mana. Someone used an artifact to teleport, and that''s the only reason to explain this artificially created Dimension Mana! I also sense something a lot more obscure. Time? Trixie paused and collected her thoughts to confirm her findings. An almost unbelievable revelation was reached. Did Syl get slime-napped? *** "I must say our two subjects have been working remarkably well together!" Mother spoke fondly. "I must admit, things have been going surprisingly smoothly since their partnership," Gramps agreed with only minor reluctance. "While the whole magic bribe situation is admittedly tedious, I''m intrigued to see such a rare breed of spider in action." "Well, you have only yourself to blame for that mistake. And then so clumsily locking it away. It''s almost like you begged me to make a deal with the slime." "Bah!" Gramps scoffed. "At least it looks like Syl will be focusing more on the next evolution. This whole class journey has delayed my expectations considerably." "Hmm? Do you think Syl will actually follow through with that? Especially once the milestone skill is revealed for the twentieth level in Elementalist? The temptation to get to thirty would be big." "I''ll lock the racial experience distribution myself if I have to. I''ve been waiting too long and want to see the fruits of my labor. Besides, unless that spirit mentions something, I doubt Syl will focus on it." Mother sighed, "I guess you''re right in that regard. Quite the scatterbrain. But what makes you sure Syl will pick the evolution you want?" "It''s the clearly best choice. Only an idiot would not pick it." Mother stared at Gramps before giving a smug smirk. "I know what you''re thinking, but even Syl will see reason," Gramps said. "Besides, Syl picked my Chimeric evolution over the clearly flawed Doppelganger evolution. I trust in my candidate. And even if that wasn''t the case, your candidate has certainly planted seeds in my favor." Mother hummed in thought. "So what do you make of these attacks against them?" "The humans from that one kingdom?" Gramps asked rhetorically. "I couldn''t care less, to be honest. I don''t involve myself in the world of politics and puppetry - it''s beneath me." "I just thought you might have an idea since it was your subject they were after." "The humans are boring. And outside of my jurisdiction." "Which is ironic considering one of their main complaints is that they lack good traits. Something you''re in charge of." Gramps guffawed and shook his head, "Not my problem. I was overruled and told to stick to playing with my monsters. I''m sure even you proposed some changes to the various civilized species to foster more magic?" Mother nodded somewhat somberly, "Indeed, and I was ignored. Strange that." "Th-they like the drama and politics!" Unc interjected. Gramps and Mother flinched, not realizing he had snuck into their room. "What do you mean?" Mother asked, seeking clarification. "They like the underdog, overcoming adversity and p-persevering!" Unc explained. "It''s why they asked me to give certain areas d-droughts or dangerous ocean currents." "Interesting..." Mother responded. "Bah! Hogwash," Gramps dismissed it. "How mundane and boring." Then, the unfolding event caught all of their eyes. The two monsters were confronted by an Elven Chronomancer. Mother even recognized him. He was ancient and powerful and one of only a handful of the remaining elves with access to the scarce [Time Magic]. "I hope they don''t kill him..." Mother muttered. "Who''s side are you on!?" Gramps muttered angrily. "This is disastrous. Why have the elves sent such a powerhouse to attack my subject?" "W-well, she is going around as one of the elf p-princesses," Unc answered. "What!?" Gramps and Mother replied in sync. Syl and Vee were both frozen in the [Stasis] spell. Mother noted that the magical restraint might have been resisted without Syl''s current soul damage. But in the current condition? A fool''s hope. Vee didn''t fair any better, lacking any good magic resistance skills. Syl should really share [Magic Resistance] with Vee, Mother thought. At least no harm can come to them while they are trapped like that. Then, the elves began setting up a teleportation platform. While Mother admired the craftsmanship of such a long-lost artifact, Gramps was starting to fret. "Are they abducting my subject!?" Gramps snarled. "Our subjects. And it appears so," Mother replied somberly. "S-something''s going wrong?" Unc asked. It looked like the teleportation had stopped. "Ha! There''s too much slime for him to teleport!" Gramps shouted joyfully. "You weren''t kidding about Syl''s size... My word," Mother said as she looked over the numerical value of Mana required for the action to be complete. Then, the elf activated the spell override, and the results instantly became apparent to the three present. "That shouldn''t be happening," Mother stated. Gramps sighed and shook his head, "The slime isn''t considered living. It''s a valid target for the teleport to eject." "But it''s in [Core Storage], isn''t it?" Mother asked. "Which uses the existing template of the most advanced storage enchantment," Gramps answered. Mother gasped, "Not [Pocket Space]? Why?" "I wanted it upgradable, and I wanted features to prevent degradation. [Pocket Space] lacks those benefits, and I didn''t want it tied to the magic system. Syl couldn''t cast spells at the time." Syl''s core cracked. Unc flinched, but Gramps remained steadfast. "Good thing for [Core Collective], but almost everything in Syl''s storage will be dumped out," Gramps explained. "Well, if death was the alternative, I suppose that wouldn''t be so bad," Mother reasoned. "Those poor dwarves..." Unc replied moments before the red core shattered, and a tsunami of slime burst from the location where Syl, Vee, and Llewel once were. Gramps pulled up a screen quickly and started making a few adjustments. "What are you doing?" Mother probed as she looked over. "Are you adjusting Syl''s experience distribution?" Gramps nodded, "Syl already spoke of changing the distribution once the Elementalist class hit level twenty. There''s going to be quite a few deaths as a result of this catastrophe, and I don''t want the experience to be wasted." Mother sighed and ignored the apparent tampering. Pulling up her own interface, she noted the teleportation destination. "Looks like they are teleporting to The Grove," Mother informed the two. "No! That''s even further away from Leon!" Unc cried. Gramps sighed and slammed his fist down hard, evidently done with his tampering. "I don''t know why I even bothered changing the distribution. This is disastrous. They will no doubt learn the slimy truth and execute Syl. What a waste of so much potential..." Gramps lamented. "I-I don''t think the elves will kill Syl," Unc interjected. "Unlike the other humanoid races, they seem to get along with monsters. A lot of effort is put into preventing them from succumbing to the evolution craziness. I''m sure if Syl tells the truth, things will go s-swimmingly!" Gramps and Mother shared a glance at one another. "Syl? Reasonable?" Gramps bitterly chuckled. "They''re doomed..." Mother sighed. *** Name: Syl [Apex Hunter] Race: Chimeric Cluster Slime (Blue) LV 16 Class: Elementalist LV 19 Status: Healthy Mana: Overflowing Emblems: [Experiment] [Apex Hunter]* [Elven Legacy] [Dungeoneer] [Nature''s Bane] [Manhunter] [Banisher] Traits: Slime: [Mana Slime LV 13] [Acid Slime LV 7] [Poison Slime LV 7] [Blaze Slime LV 7] [Cryo Slime LV 8] [Voltaic Slime LV 7] [Nitro Slime LV 7] [Metal Slime LV 8] [Luminous Slime] [Morph Slime LV 8] [Pseudopod LV 8] [Slime Shot LV 8] [Vaporize Slime] Core: [Core Collective LV 8] [Core Storage LV 6] [Sub-Core Alpha LV 6] [Sub-Core Beta LV 6] [Sub-Core Gamma LV 6] [Sub-Core Eta LV 6] [Sub-Core Delta LV 6] [Sub-Core Theta LV 6] [Sub-Core Epsilon LV 6] [Sub-Core Iota LV 6] [Sub-Core Zeta LV 6] [Sub-Core Kappa LV 6] [Sub-Core Lambda LV 1] [Sub-Core Mu LV 1] [Sub-Core Nu LV 1] [Sub-Core Xi LV 1] Mimic: [Chimeric Mimicry LV 7] [Chroma Shift LV MAX] [Consuming Osmosis LV MAX] Mana: [Mana Circulation LV 8] [Mana Reinforcement LV 8] [Derived Element (Air) LV 8] [Mana Infusion] Attributes/Other: [Soul Mastery LV 8] [Enhanced Vitality LV 5] [Magic Resistance (Greater) LV 1] [Curse Resistance LV 4] [Illusion Resistance LV 3] [Sonic Resistance LV 1] [Prodigy] Senses: [Soul Sight LV 8] [Dark Vision LV MAX] [Thermal Vision LV MAX] [Eagle Vision LV 4] [Electro-Magnetic Sense LV 5] [Tremor Sense LV 5] [Olfactory Sense] Trait Points remaining: 13 Skills: General: [Universal Language] [Equipment Swap] [Dissection LV 7] [Mapping LV 5] [Tracking LV 3] [Identify LV 6] [Multitasking LV 6] [Perception LV 5] [Aerial Finesse LV 4] [Thunder Step LV 5] [Wind Step LV 4] Tamer: [Companion Bond] [Companion Training LV 6] Combat: [Tranquil Flow LV 5] [Attack Mastery (Greater) LV 1] [Affliction Mastery LV 6] [Exploit Weakness LV 6] Magic: [Water Magic LV 5] [Fire Magic LV 6] [Corrosion Magic LV 6] [Ice Magic LV 5] [Arcane Magic LV 5] [Lightning Magic LV 5] [Earth Magic LV 5] [Air Magic LV 5] [Light Magic LV 3] [Mana Manipulation LV 7] [Magic Efficiency LV 6] [Magical Overcharge LV 2] [Counter Magic LV 5] [Elemental Shift LV 6] [Elemental Adaptation] [Ritual Casting] [Mana Suppression] [Elemental Harmony] Sneaky: [Vanish LV 6] [Assassinate LV 6] [Identity Fabrication LV 7] [Acting LV 6] [Rogue Expertise LV 4] [Magical Subterfuge LV 5] [Trap Mastery LV 5] [Subtle Afflictions] Skill Points remaining: 20 Profession: Enchanting: [Rune Reading LV 6] [Rune Engraving LV 2] [Rune Framework LV 7] [Rune Tracing LV 5] [Rune Design LV 3] [Runecrafting LV 2] [Rune Inspection LV 5] [Rune Filigree LV 3] [Rune Repair LV 2] [Brand] Profession Points Remaining: 0 Chapter 241: Slimenap Colors crashed and blurred together as we were ripped from one location to another. I felt myself barely holding on after being transferred to Alpha after the death by teleportation storage and, to my regret, could still feel the lingering damage from the soulfire. Vee was yelling incoherently, or perhaps my senses were failing me as we were hurled an immense distance away from Dhoggurum. Our elf captor seemed fine and utterly unaware of what had just transpired. Is that... kill notifications? I wondered as messages blurred by. I couldn''t make heads or tails of what was happening, but somehow, I was gaining experience even though I was in this helpless situation. I temporarily muted them to try to maintain whatever mental clarity I had remaining, as when we reached our destination, there was a good chance that Vee and I could be fighting for our lives. "Syl, are you okay?" Vee cried out in worry, her voice sounding slightly distorted, perhaps due to my struggle to maintain the telepathic link. I feel so... Empty... I felt absolutely haggard. My vast slime reserves had been ejected through my core, exploding, along with what seemed like most of the contents of my storage. I didn''t technically have a stomach, but I felt what I could only assume was the slime equivalent of being ravenous¡ªI needed more slime! I needed to devour something! "I''m ravenous," I groaned mentally to Vee. "Hang on there, Syl," Vee said, trying to reassure me. "We''ll get through this! Once they drop this, maybe we can teleport away; just hang in there!" I groaned in affirmation and tried to make sense of what was going on. I wasn''t sure if it was due to my condition, the ailment, or something else, but it felt like we''d been stuck here for a single moment stretched out to eternity. "I think we are in a sort of teleportation limbo," Vee explained, perhaps somehow understanding my unspoken question. "My [Spatial Sense] is going nuts; it''s like we''re stuck between places waiting to reach our destination. No... That''s not the right phrasing. More like we are waiting to get permission to arrive?" Permission? Teleporting to the dwarves was instantaneous; then again, it was set up beforehand. Our elf captor seems content, so I don''t think anything''s gone wrong. And then, with an almost pop, in reality, we abruptly arrived at our location. I had expected to be on a stone dais like our trip to the dwarven capital, but instead, we were on some form of a wooden construct with the runework still glowing at our arrival. My false body felt like it was twitching, perhaps struggling to maintain its form. I ordered my [Sub-Cores] to keep it as best they could. Alpha... I didn''t have the slime mass to recreate it without cannibalizing my available slime. Many individuals seemed to be entering the room, perhaps somehow alerted at our sudden arrival. "Llewel, you''ve returned," a stern voice spoke. I glanced around the room as best I could, noting that plenty of armed guards and one incredibly imposing elf woman were present. Oh great... More people who I can''t use [Identify] on. Wait, I''ve left Trixie behind!? "Yes, mistress," Llewel confirmed as he took a knee. "I utilized the emergency teleport as the situation deemed it necessary. Outeatus knights attempted to assassinate Sylthaeryn during a conflict with kobolds. Fearing further assassination attempts, I made the decision to seize her after she refused to return and forcibly teleport us home." "Outeatus knights?" an elf next to the woman spoke up. "Surely you jest, Llewel, they would never dare¡ª" "Silence Paeris," Loreleia demanded, interrupting him. The woman stared at me, and her expression seemed to soften for a brief moment before taking on a somewhat concerned look. "Why is she in such terrible condition?" Loreleia demanded. "Her soul looks like it''s been in tatters, and her lifeforce is on death''s door." Llewel looked horrified as he glanced at me, "I-I swear she was in no such condition before we left. Although I did have to activate the teleportation override as I couldn''t supply enough Mana and maintain my [Stasis] spell." "Release her," Loreleia stated. Llewel nodded and, with a wave, undid the affliction binding me. <[Stasis] has been removed.> With the spell removed, I fell to the floor, no longer in my frozen seated position. I stumbled weakly from the unexpectedness of suddenly being victim to gravity, and after regaining my balance, I slowly stood up. I felt a bubbling urge to lash out, to attack with all I had and throw caution to the wind¡ªto devour and replenish my lost slime! But then a voice of reason spoke up. "Syl, I''m still trapped! Please don''t do anything rash!" Vee pleaded. Vee was right. As much as I desperately wanted to attack, to give in to the rage and hunger, we were in a terrible condition. Llewel could probably wave his hand with his strange form of instant spellcasting and seize me again. Loreleia approached me rather quickly and placed her hand softly on my shoulder. "Be healed," she commanded. Her eyes flashed with a golden radiance as a prominent, towering figure with six wings appeared behind her. The ethereal figure looked odd, with trunks for legs, roots for fingers, and vines for hair, as if it were an evolution of the Treants I had fought in the forest. But before I could examine the strange apparition in further detail, it extended its hand, erupted into a spectacle of golden lights, and infused itself into me. I felt my flayed soul be stitched together and rejuvenated while any wounds and fractures in all my cores were mended instantly. Apparently, my old primary core was not alone in taking damage from my [Core Storage] being ripped open. I opened my mouth to thank her, but she beat me to the punch. "Everyone but Llewel and Paeris leave now." Some guards murmured complaints and seemed hesitant until she glared at them in turn. It was as if she was declaring that she needed no protection. Once all the guards had left and closed the door behind them, she sighed and waved her hand, enveloping the entire room in a blanket of magic. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. "You''re not my daughter," Loreleia said, a look of pain and anger flashing through her expression. "What, but?" Llewel stammered out. "I did tell you, mistress; her leaf fell!" the butler-looking elf replied, taking the opportunity to undo his imposed silence. I tensed slightly but didn''t react. Having the woman so close to me and touching me directly would typically fill me with confidence, as a slime did its best work in close quarters to grapple and consume. But my every instinct was screaming at me to flee from her. "Are you certain?" Llewel asked. "The appearance, the golden oak bag, the [Bonded Companion], everything lines up!" "The soul is not the same," Loreleia answered. "I touched this one''s soul, and it is not the shape of my daughters. It is old and misshapen." "A demon? Possession?" Llewel asked as I sensed his Mana level rising. Vee''s still trapped... If I attacked Llewel, would that break her free? Then maybe Vee could teleport herself to safety, or perhaps both of us? "No, not a demon," Loreleia replied. "I''m honestly not sure what we are dealing with. Answer me, why are you puppeting my daughter''s corpse around? Or, at the very least, mocking her visage?" There was a calm rage behind her voice that chilled me to the core. I felt terror when I met Simon the Lich, but this woman was like a hurricane compared to his storm. I found myself gulping nervously, even though it was an utterly unnecessary action for my actual biology¡ªeither a remnant from my past or perhaps an unconscious suggestion from [Acting]. "This is my own body, but I am assuming her form," I hesitantly began answering. "I knew her very briefly when she bonded me and tasked me with returning that bag to the first elf I met." I pointed to the bag, which had teleported with us. Unlike my storage, which was ripped apart, the bag seemed perfectly intact, as if taunting me. "Why, what happened?" Loreleia demanded. "How could she bond with you?" "I found her bleeding and poisoned in the forest," I replied nervously; the woman''s eyes briefly flashed with murderous intent. "Her old companion was slain, and she was on her last legs, so she bonded with me. I''m not human¡ªerr... elf." "I don''t sense lies in your words," Loreleia declared. "However, I do not know if you speak entirely the truth. I sense you are still hiding much, and you make me want to get a truthseeker to validate your entire story." "I''m alright with any truth spell or oath you require. The reason I hesitate is for my own safety and also because it might be too sensitive for those present." "It lies mistress, don''t believe it!" Paeris cried out. "I said be silent, Paeris! The next time you speak out of turn, I''ll have your tongue," she threatened. "I trust the following two, as they are both oathbound to my services. You may continue." "Good job so far, Syl; keep it together!" Vee encouraged. "I believe what I''m about to say is considered the ultimate taboo," I said, causing the three elves present to tense. "But after Sylthaeryn bonded me and requested I deliver the bag to the first elf I encountered... She used [Order] on me. Her order was to prevent her killer from obtaining her essence and legacy Emblem. She ordered me to kill her." Loreleia was so taken aback that she actually hissed. Paeris was making gasping noises while going nearly blue in the face, clearly wanting to object but refusing to disobey her again. Llewel also had finally broken from his calm demeanor and looked deeply troubled. "If what you say is true," Loreleia said, her body trembling. "Then I thank you for not uttering it out loud in the presence of others." "We should get a truthseeker to confirm it," Llewel said. "No. I do not want this to leave this room," she demanded. "The truthseeker can confirm everything else about the story, but not that. Assuming everything else is true, we can confirm it by association." "But-" "I will not have what''s left of my daughter''s memory be besmirched like that!" Loreleia snapped. "Holy shit," Vee gasped. "If you said that out loud, she might have killed us all on the spot!" That was a terrifying thought I did not want to expand on. "What else happened?" Llewel asked me. "No..." Loreleia muttered before I could respond, sounding almost weak. "Enough questioning for now. Put them both in the VIP prison together, assuming that [Bonded Companion] isn''t fake." "It''s real," I replied. "Vee and I are bonded." Loreleia nodded, only looking mildly annoyed that I spoke out of turn. "We can continue the questioning after I recover and requisition a truthseeker," she informed the other two present. "Is that wise?" Llewel asked while Paeris frantically nodded his head in agreement with the other elf. "Unless this creature¡ª" "Syl," I replied, interrupting her. "You dare?" Llewel shouted. I knew I was taking a risk, but some part of me told me to do this. It was either my gut instincts, divine intervention from Gramps, stubbornness, or good old [Acting], but I knew it needed to be said. "Sylthaeryn gave me the name; she wanted to leave her mark on the world and gave it to me to leave some small part on it!" The two male elves still looked outraged, but to my surprise, I saw Loreleia lighten up ever so slightly. "Stubborn girl..." she whispered. "That sounds just the type of idiotic and brash thing she would do with zero thought behind it. Isn''t that right, Paeris?" "Yes..." Paeris said hesitantly. "That does sound a lot like the young mistress. She often fantasized about being a legend." Loreleia nodded, "Very well, Syl. Please cooperate with us while Llewel escorts you to the VIP prison. You''ll be treated well unless proven otherwise. We can continue questioning tomorrow with a truthseeker..." "Are you sure, mistress?" Paeris asked nervously. "I am," she replied and picked up the golden-leaf bag. "Now, please leave me and cancel any obligations I had for the day." Her icy-cold demeanor seemed to defrost as she held onto the bag in an almost hug as if it were her child. Then it came crashing back in a moment as she walked out of the room, with Paeris following, scrambling to follow from behind. I turned nervously to Llewel, who seemed very conflicted by everything that had transpired. Could I take him? I briefly wondered. "I''ll be escorting you," Llewel said. "Please do not try anything stupid, or you''ll earn the ire of the mistress. Do not scorn a grieving mother." I nodded. Llewel gestured, and Vee was also released from her [Stasis]. She tumbled to the floor before swiftly recovering and scrambling toward my shoulder. "Right, if you''ll cooperate and follow me, we can keep things smooth," Llewel said as he gestured toward the door. "I think I can teleport us out of here," Vee said. "You''ve lost all your extra weight, I think I can use [Warp] on both of us!" I began following Llewel, and a few guards came into place and began joining the escort. "[Warp]?" I questioned our telepathic bond. "My [Blink] upgraded," Vee explained. "It was one of my options after all my recent levels from whatever happened between being captured and now. [Warp] lets me take objects and willing passengers with me." Oh... I hadn''t looked at all those notifications yet. "How safe is it?" I questioned. "I can guarantee that I can teleport the both of us," Vee replied. It was a risk. Did I want to be taken prisoner? I no longer had the bag, and I confirmed her daughter was dead. The truthseeker would undoubtedly reveal that I was a slime, but would they let me live? They didn''t exactly say we would be free to go after answering their questions. "I don''t want to be a prisoner..." Vee replied nervously. I had to agree with her. I had no idea if we would ever get another chance to escape like this, and their prison might have means to stop escape and teleportation. "Okay, do it," I replied. I sensed Vee''s joy as she triggered her new skill, and I felt a split-second decision that would allow me to reject traveling with her. I obviously allowed it to happen. The room warped around us, and abruptly, we were outside, high in the skyline above an ever-expanding treetop. Vee must have teleported us straight up in an attempt to escape. Below us was an absolutely massive tree, possibly grander than the entire floating island! It seemed to have buildings, walkways, and other structures growing out of it as if they were natural. It absolutely boggled my mind, but I had no time to contemplate the phenomenon. "We''re outside!" Vee exclaimed happily. "I never thought I''d be so happy to see clouds and the sun!" It was definitely nice to be above ground again, but I needed to redistribute my current slime mass into wings so we could fly away. As I made my decisions before gravity took us, the air seemed to shimmer, and we were suddenly transported again. I had thought Vee had used [Warp] again, but we were precisely back in our previous position behind Llewel only mere moments ago. As if we hadn''t even left at all, and the guards seemed none the wiser. The elf turned around and looked at both of us, mildly peeved. What the hell did he do? Did he teleport us back? Is he also a dimension mage? "I did ask you not to try anything funny," he stated calmly. "I''m willing to overlook this only once. Do not test my patience again." Vee and I gulped and found ourselves both nodding in agreement. If even teleportation wasn''t enough to escape, then we really don''t want to piss him off right now. Chapter 242: Prison We silently followed after Llewel, who was leading us to our prison. Vee''s and my own anxiety were certainly feeding off one another, and when I realized that, I quickly reassured her that things would be okay. "Maybe once we get left alone in our prison, we can plot another escape," I suggested telepathically. "Yeah," Vee agreed. "I''m just trying to figure out what the hell he even did. If he had used [Dimension Magic], I''m pretty sure I would have sensed it, thanks to [Spatial Sense]. But instead, he just undid everything I did." "Do you think he reversed time?" I suggested. "I mean, he is a Chronomancer, so maybe that isn''t out of the realm of possibilities," Vee sighed. "But if he can reverse time, that sounds utterly terrifying. How would we even fight a foe like that? How is that remotely fair? Time powers are always like the big bad boss''s power, and this guy is nothing but the lackey of that Loreleia woman." "It''s got to have limitations," I reasoned. "Maybe it''s limited to a small area, or he can only do a certain amount of time? Like nothing longer than a minute?" "I hope so," Vee said. "At worst, we play ball and hope they let us go. Trixie mentioned elves liking monsters, right?" "Yeah, that''s true," I replied. "You saw how they freaked out when I mentioned I had [Order] used on me against my will. Maybe it''s big enough that they just let us go as an apology?" "Yeah, we haven''t done anything to them unless that elf assassin counts?" Vee asked. "He was working against them by the sounds of things, so maybe we even did them a favor. I guess the biggest concern is how she feels about me killing her daughter." "It was clearly a mercy kill!" Vee retorted. "And you were forced to. In my opinion, the only thing they could use against you was the fact that you were using her appearance as your own." "I couldn''t make my own appearances back then... I didn''t even have the full elf profile," I sighed. "Maybe I should have stuck with the goblins or avoided getting involved with the humans and adventurers entirely." "Hey, don''t go start worrying about things you can''t change now," Vee scolded. "Plus, if you didn''t do any of that, you wouldn''t have met me! And I might be dead! So, from my perspective, I''m delighted with these outcomes... present circumstances excluded, of course." "Thanks, Vee¡ª" "We''ve arrived," Llewel said, giving me a bit of a startle. We had arrived at what looked like a blank wall, but when he waved his hand over it, the wood seemed to come alive and shift until it grew into a door handle. When Llewel grasped it and opened it, it opened into an immaculate and well-furnished room flush with every necessity and more. "You''ll be staying in here until Mistress Loreleia comes for your questioning and decides what to do," Llewel said, gesturing for me to enter the room. I complied, and to my surprise, he closed the door behind us after denying the guards entry. Clearly, they didn''t want the whole story to get out, for whatever reason. "Will we be free to go if my story is proven true?" I questioned. Llewel sighed and squeezed the bridge of his nose before responding, "Perhaps. If anything, you''ve benefited us by returning the bag, explaining what happened to Lady Sylthaeryn, and even revealing and thwarting whatever the Outeatus Kingdom was plotting." "I''m sensing a but?" I replied, perhaps a bit too casual, but he seemed not to mind. "But, you''ve impersonated an Elven Princess and can continue to do so. I''m honestly surprised that Mistress Loreleia kept her cool as long as she did." "I can abandon the form permanently if that makes it better," I offered. "So you can change your form?" Llewel asked, and I nodded in response. "That... complicates things a bit." "Why?" I asked. "Shapeshifters are rather notorious for treachery," he explained. "I''m not accusing you specifically of anything, and as I mentioned, you''ve actually benefited us. But I have no idea how the Mistress will react or see things through. Not to mention Paeris." "He really seemed to have it out for me." "It is his job, although he is a bit of a prude about it," Llewel answered. "He is willing to throw his life away to protect the branch. He also took the emotional brunt and helped pick up the pieces when we first heard of Lady Sylthaeryn''s demise. So having you appear as her, despite her death being confirmed, created quite a rift within the branch." "I can''t even imagine what it must be like to see your dead daughter again," Vee commented. It''s not like that''s my fault. How was I supposed to know any of this? I silently complained. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. "I can change my form now if it makes it any better?" I suggested. "Don''t for now," Llewel said and shook his head. "At the moment, it looks like we''ve returned Lady Sylthaeryn, and you''ve been put under house arrest for your antics." "Sure... if it helps Vee and I get out of here alive, then whatever," I replied. "Thank you," Llewel said with surprising honesty. "If you cooperate and don''t try to escape again, I''ll even offer my own voice for your freedom." I nodded, and Vee did so, too. "Can I get you anything? Food? Drinks?" he asked. "Food. I''m starving," I hastily replied. "Any... Dietary restrictions?" "Monster meat is the best, but I''ll eat anything," I replied. "And Vee will eat anything as long as it''s cooked." "Hey, I won''t eat anything!" Vee protested. "I''ll see what can be done and have it sent here," Llewel replied. "And just a reminder. Please don''t try to escape again; you only risk angering the Mistress." We nodded again, and he left, reaching toward the wall and grasping the newly formed handle. When he closed it behind him, the room was sealed shut from our perspective. I hesitantly held out my own hand where he did, but no handle formed. "It looks like we''re stuck here unless I melt us out or you teleport us," I said to Vee. "Uh... It might only be you who can get us to escape," Vee answered nervously. "What do you mean?" "Ever since we entered this room... well, my [Spatial Sense] has been all confused," Vee explained. "Something to prevent teleportation?" I asked. "It certainly feels that way," Vee replied, sounding very unsure herself. "Let me try teleporting just a short distance. Hopefully, that won''t anger him." I nodded, and Vee took a moment to focus. The spider poofed in a magical blur but appeared in the exact same spot she was in previously. "That''s a much shorter distance than I expected," I commented. "I was trying to move to your other shoulder," Vee replied. "It almost feels like the entire room has the same coordinates, and it''s overriding the destination, if that makes sense?" "So, no matter where you try to teleport, it will always be to the same spot?" I questioned. "Feels that way," Vee sighed. "So I''m effectively useless. Wonderful!" "Even if we can''t teleport out, you could probably cut us out using your [Rift Thread]. I could melt us out, but I''m very worried about angering them now, and honestly, if we are getting some free food, I''d like to replenish my strength." "Yeah, I think our best bet right now is to cooperate with them and hope they let us go," Vee agreed. "I guess our beach vacation will have to wait a bit." "Or going to the golem city," I added. "I was looking forward to that. Although, after everything that happened and the consequences of that teleportation fiasco, I have way bigger things to worry about." "What did happen?" Vee asked. "You''ve lost all your dimensional weight, and the bond was telling me that you died, or were dying, or something?" I gave Vee a brief rundown of the turn of events. The teleportation broke my [Core Storage] and caused my own core to rupture, ejecting my entire inventory and slime mass to who knows where. I had died in the process, but my [Core Collective] trait meant that I took the place of Alpha. It was not how I had expected my first time using the lifesaving trait to go, but at least I had confirmed it would work regardless of the circumstances. "Well, look on the bright side, you''ve still got your hat!" Vee said. I stared at the strange hat and sighed. Of course, even a teleportation accident wouldn''t get it away from me. I gingerly activated my [Core Storage] skill to see what had survived the aftermath. All my meals were gone, my slime mass was ejected, and the obsidianite parts were gone. It looked like I had lost everything but my hat and outfit until I spotted a few tiny objects still within the dimensional storage space. I pulled them out, feeling a slight ache in my core as I did so. My enchanting tool from Greg and Trixie''s coin had survived the aftermath. I didn''t know whether to call myself lucky for not losing these two sentimental pieces, but I was glad they hadn''t been ejected into the void or wherever my inventory had gone. I tried to deposit them back but received a strange notification instead. <[Core Storage] space is being repaired. Please wait.> "Great !" I moaned. "Looks like now that my space is truly empty, it''s undergoing repairs." "I wonder if that Gramps god you are always mentioning did it so you could keep your important stuff," Vee suggested. "That''s possible, although I would''ve loved it if he could''ve kept all my slime at the same time," I sighed. "Seriously. I''ve never been this starved of slime in ages. I feel like I''m about to start eating myself, and I need far more to regenerate Alpha." "Well, if you didn''t have so much slime in the first place, it wouldn''t have exploded like you did," Vee countered. "I wasn''t ever expecting to get teleported like that," I complained. "I figured if I was ever doing long-distance teleporting, I''d just pay the Mana cost myself. The fact I was helpless in [Stasis] certainly wasn''t helping either." "Well, it doesn''t help now, but in the future, I think I have a solution for us," Vee said. "Oh?" I asked curiously. "After it happened and during my level-ups, I got some notifications. I got the [Blink] to [Warp] upgrade offered, but I also got a new trait called [Dimensional Anchor]. It prevents you from being teleported!" "Certainly would have been helpful back then," I groaned. "Yes, but then I''d have left you behind," Vee countered. "So I reckon it''s a good thing. At least we have two heads to put together to get us out of this situation. I would''ve felt awful if I left you alone after all you''ve done for me." "Thanks, I appreciate it," I replied, giving the spider a little head rub with one of my fingers. "That reminds me, I haven''t looked at all the notifications," I mumbled. "I wonder what happened... Why did they suddenly happen?" "Um... when you read some of them, I think you might get a few ideas," Vee responded, sounding slightly down. I pulled up the first notification and was confused. Dwarves? I felt my heart sink a little as I pulled up a few more. I shuddered. There were so many dwarves; why had I gained experience from killing dwarves? This was absurd. And then it dawned on me¡ªmy slime. "I think I know what happened to all my slime when my storage exploded," I said to Vee, feeling a little sick. "Yeah... I think so, too," Vee replied somberly. "I''m sorry, Syl, it''s not your fault." "Then why am I being rewarded for it?" I shouted back. "This... This is gross. It''s one thing to kill when I''m defending myself or fighting mindless monsters, but this... this feels so, so wrong!" "Well," Vee said, trying to sound reassuring. "The fact that you feel that way proves you haven''t become a full monster, in my opinion. You haven''t gone full guilt-free and evolution crazy." I knew what Vee was saying was right, but still, as I looked at all the deaths I was being rewarded for, I struggled to agree. What if Thern, Darmod, Thessa, Lukhek, or Kaldrour were one of my victims? I felt sick. Chapter 243: Unfortunate Progress I browsed through all the notifications, although part of me wanted to skip to the end. Even if it wasn''t my fault, I felt partially responsible, and I was also driven by a morbid curiosity to see if I recognized any of the dwarves'' classes. In the end, I still felt upset about it, but I hadn''t seen any classes that would indicate someone I knew. What was a big surprise was that a few human deaths were on the list¡ªone even had an assassin class! I guess Llewel''s suspicions were not entirely unfounded. It really looked like those Outeatus people were up to mischief. Would they attack me again, even in the city, or perhaps Tamnaeth? Most surprisingly, there was no sign of an elf kill, which meant that despite being at the point of my storage exploding¡ªTamnaeth had survived. I didn''t want him dead per se, but I had found his survival baffling. I guess he must have had some tricks up his sleeve. Perhaps an emergency teleport or a skill or trait similar to [Defy Death]? After a thorough review, a peculiar notification caught my eye, standing out amidst the level-ups. I can''t believe Gramps messed with my experience gains. Looking at it, it seems like he set my class to the minimum amount. Why? I know I suggested doing so myself, but is he that desperate for me to evolve again? I silently shrugged and looked over the results. <21 Skill Points are now available.> <14 Trait Points are now available.> <15 Trait Points are now available.> So I hit level twenty, and he reduced it to maximize my race-level gains? At least I got my next class milestone, and it sounds like it''s precisely the one I wanted! <[Derived Element (Advanced)] Select an Advanced Element and gain it as an Affinity, with Mana Purity levels greatly influenced by this trait level. One''s Mana Purity can influence this trait, notably its leveling speed and, to a minor degree, the starting Mana Purity. The trait points invested will be partially refunded if the owner gains the extra affinity through other means, such as Ascension.> Advanced Elements are now at the tip of my tendrils... Ah... If only I didn''t spend so many trait points on new [Sub-Cores]. I started searching for options to see what I could buy with my new advanced elements. Looks like I have three new options for purchase¡ªMagma, Nature, and Steam. Magma would be Fire and Earth, Nature is obviously Water and Earth, and then Steam is Water and Fire. If I assume Fire and Air are Lighting, and Water and Air are Ice, then where''s my Air and Earth combination? I vaguely recall Dewi teasing Tabitha about being a Dust mage... After thinking about it for a bit, I finally addressed the elephant in the room. [Derived Element (Air) LV 8] I had purchased Air rather than earning it "naturally" through a slime core, which might be why I couldn''t buy Dust yet. Thanks to eating slime cores, I had already earned Lightning and Ice affinities and skipped the process. But if I hadn''t, they probably would also be locked due to my pseudo-Air affinity. Hopefully, it counts as having the full affinity when I get it to the max level. Then I can get my Dust Magic. But first I have some spending to do. <[Magma Magic LV 1] spell [Molten] learned.> The first level spell was rather unremarkable as it was effectively just a resource generator. You could either spend a lot of Mana to fabricate magma, or you could superheat nearby rock into it at a significantly reduced cost. It certainly made sense that the advanced element wanted you to be an Earth mage as well so that you could pull up rocks to convert. A small part of me wondered if fabricating magma from scratch would be cheaper or first magically creating some rocks and then converting them. <[Steam Magic LV 1] spell [Haze] learned.> Continuing the trend, the first level of [Steam Magic] just created an obscuring cloud of heated mist. With all the various traits and skills available to enhance or provide alternative senses, I wondered how useful it would actually be. I did note that you could expend more Mana to increase the temperature, so at the very least, if it was hot enough, it might be an irritant. Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! Then again... Do regular people have as many sensory traits as me? Whitney made such a big deal about [Eagle Vision]. Even Vee had only a few, although she has [Spatial Sense], which still sounds fantastic. <[Nature Magic LV 1] spell [Grow] learned.> While I didn''t have the official name, I had sort of expected this after seeing what Trixie had done with her magic. This spell literally did what it said on the tin¡ªmake plants grow. However, if I was correctly interpreting the knowledge instilled into me, I wasn''t about to start growing mighty trees instantly unless I wanted to bottom out even my impressive Mana pool. If I had to dumb it down, I''d describe it as only being able to pick two of three options: efficiency, size, and speed. Want something grown fast and efficiently? Then, your size will be limited in what you can grow. Want something big and efficient? Be prepared for a very slow-growing time. And unlike any of the other forms of magic, I couldn''t magically apparate the plant from nothing; there needed to at least be a seed. Do I need to start carrying around various plant seeds in my storage? It''s certainly something I could do once it''s repaired. Or maybe a higher level of [Nature Magic] will let me summon seeds? I certainly had a few new toys to play with, but the situation made me somewhat reluctant. If anything, I wanted to get [Dimension Magic] and perhaps brute-force an escape or counter [Time Magic]. As much as I hate to admit it, I don''t think any of my elemental magic is going to cut it against something as overpowering as a Chronomancer. Honestly, my best bet would probably be a [Nitro Slime] trap, but my slime mass is dangerously low right now. I wish I still had that [Slime Conversion] trait before Gramps confiscated it from me. "I''m not sure what you''re thinking about, but I think we should just sit still for a bit," Vee interrupted. "Assuming we can trust the elves, our best bet is to cooperate and then leave." "I do agree," I replied. "But I''d still like some contingencies in case something goes wrong. Sadly, I don''t think any of my new spells will help." "Nothing good?" Vee asked. "Unless you want me to grow a few plants, turn this room into a sauna, or spawn some magma, no," I sighed. "If I had skin and not chitin, I''d certainly love a sauna," Vee joked. "And I really don''t think the elves would be happy if you dumped molten rock into their giant tree home." "Yeah, that would certainly be a way to upset them," I agreed. "Although, with how much this tree is brimming with magical effects, I''d hazard a guess that it''s probably fireproof at a minimum." "Please don''t test that theory," Vee pleaded. "Why don''t we continue our magic practice for a bit? That''ll at least keep us busy." I gasped, "You''re actually suggesting magic practice willingly?" "Har har," Vee replied sarcastically. "I just figured it would be a good way to pass the time and stop your neurotic little brain from jumping at every little thing. Plus, you might finally complete your quest and get your discount." "I''m honestly tempted to just buy it right now," I admitted. "But you''re right. Maybe we just sit still for a moment, get some food, replenish some slime mass, and do some magic practice." "That''s the spirit!" Vee cheered. To our relief, while Vee couldn''t teleport while in this room, we still had access to our other forms of magic, so I continued trying to advance Vee''s [Corrosion Magic] and help her break through her Mana Aura. At some point during our practice, Llewel returned. I''d almost expected him to warn or scold us for what we were doing, but instead, he just observed with apparent curiosity. When he''d either gathered enough info or grown bored, he produced the food he promised. He brought a selection of meats, cooked and uncooked, and a bowl of fruits I didn''t recognize. "I apologize for being unable to provide more monstrous meat," Llewel said. "We don''t particularly eat from monsters, as it''s believed to hinder the replenishment of essence to the environment. I hope some animal meat is sufficient." "Thank you," I replied. "Although I''m surprised, I would''ve thought your [Bonded Companions] would feast on monster meat." "Perhaps you''re right," Llewel responded. "Although I admit to not following that path, instead devoting my entire being towards magical studies." I quickly threw out an [Identify] to remind myself of what we were potentially up against. "And potion making," I pointed out. "Yes, and alchemy," Llewel admitted. "It pairs extremely well with my Chronomancer class as I can both delay or speed up potion brewing time." I frowned, "Speeding up brewing, I could understand... But delaying?" Llewel actually seemed amused by the question and gave a friendly smile and nod. "Some potent ingredients have extreme reaction rates, and if you don''t move on to the next steps within a tiny window, you can ruin the entire potion batch. I''m afforded a lot more leniency in that regard, and in the worst cases, I can even do a do-over." "Do-over?" I asked curiously. Llewel flinched a bit, "I might have said a bit too much in my excitement. Forgive me for not being able to explain in more detail. Although, depending on the outcome with Mistress Feirelle, perhaps I can explain it to you in the future." "I''d like that, thank you," I replied. He nodded, "Tomorrow, the mistress will question you and confirm the whole story. Hopefully, you can answer some questions yourself at the same time." I nodded. "And with that, I''ll be off. Enjoy your food," Llewel said and took his leave. "Good job buttering up our prison warden!" Vee said enthusiastically. "I wasn''t exactly trying to," I replied honestly. If anything, I was trying to press him for a bit of info. I''m not sure if I believe the whole not eating monster meat thing, and I wonder if they''re cautious about me eating it and replenishing too much strength." "Okay, I think that''s your neurotic paranoia talking again," Vee sighed. "Because how would they figure that out? They don''t know you''re a slime!" "Still..." I whined. "It seems like they''re holding back. I need my slime mass." Vee took a bite of one of the fruits and let out an enthusiastic scream of delight. "Well, you''re welcome to all my portions of meat then! I''ll stick to all these fruits!" I nodded and began eating, making sure not to reveal my true slimy nature just in case. Sadly, It was mundane meat, and even the raw variety gave me a lackluster amount of slime mass once converted. To think back in the day I lived off this stuff. I''ve been spoiled after eating delicacies like the obsidian worm or other highly evolved monsters. I tried one of the fruits, and while it was sweet and delicious, it produced a negligible amount of slime mass compared to the meat. So I happily gave the rest of it to Vee, who delightedly devoured each one. "You know... Perhaps I could grow more fruits with [Nature Magic] and then eat them and slowly gain slime mass that way?" I suggested. "I''ll never say no to more fruit," Vee chirped. "Although, depending on where these fruits came from, you might need to grow an entire tree." I frowned and pulled out the seeds from one of the fruits. Casting [Grow] for the first time, I slowly let Mana trickle into the seed, hoping to get an idea of what I was trying to grow. A tiny crack formed, and delicate roots began to emerge. A pale shoot followed, pushing upward and breaking free into the open Air. The first pair of leaves unfurled, small and vibrant, catching the light as they trembled with new life. "I think that''s a sapling," Vee quickly pointed out. "I think you''re right," I sighed and halted any additional Mana. "I better not try to grow a tree inside the room." "Oh well, it was worth a shot," Vee said before biting into another fruit enthusiastically. Chapter 244: Interrogation I''d expected Vee to have some trouble sleeping, but after she made a small nest for herself, it wasn''t long until she was out like a light. Meanwhile, my mind kept racing about what would happen when I was questioned in the morning. I also knew that my secret would likely be revealed, whether I liked it or not. I just have to hope that the elves don''t announce it to the world or anything. Although I guess I should put some more emphasis on getting out of here alive. Worst case, I could throw everything I had, detonating what little slime I had cast every offensive spell imaginable, and so forth. I was already missing my giant worm form, as that would have been ideal for causing enough collateral damage and hopefully escaping during the chaos. However, despite some neurotic panicking, I eventually succumbed to sleep after leaving some defensive orders for my cores. I woke up to the sound of Vee snacking on more fruit. It looked like our wardens had provided more food and drink for our captivity, and after greeting Vee good morning, I began devouring what I could in hopes of replenishing whatever slime mass I could. Vee and I casually continued our lessons the rest of the morning. While we didn''t want to waste the time, we also didn''t want to expend too much of our resources¡ªwell, Vee''s in this case. We both knew that if it came down to a fight, we would likely need every scrap of Mana she had available. Eventually, the door began to form in the wooden wall, and Loreleia, Llewel, Paeris, and a newcomer entered. He looked rather elderly for an elf, which was odd as everyone else appeared almost eternally youthful. <[Identify] has been blocked.> Well, at least it was not blocked and not just his name. I honestly find those a bit more terrifying. "I trust the accommodations have been well?" Loreleia asked, to my surprise. "Yes, thank you," I responded. "Good. I''d hate to have mistreated both of you if your story is proven entirely true," Loreleia added. Great. I think that definitely improves our chances. Loreleia instructed the old elf to begin, and he began chanting out a strange spell that created a magical circle glowing with silvery runes. Once complete, he simply nodded and informed her that it was done. "Please enter the circle," the old elf instructed me. I hesitated and looked at the other elves in question. "It''s a circle of truth," Llewel explained. "It won''t force you to tell the truth; however, it will judge the validity of your words. Speak true, and it will remain silver; speak falsehoods and blacken, while half-truths or misdirections will simply cause it to tarnish." "You didn''t need to explain that much," Paeris grumbled. "I disagree," Llewel objected. "If we expect Syl to be truthful, we should reciprocate the intentions." "I appreciate it," I responded, walking to the circle. "I really wish we weren''t doing this here," Vee complained mentally. "This entire room has its coordinates messed up. If we fight here, I''m at a severe disadvantage." I had to agree; this was arguably the worst situation for us. If Vee couldn''t use [Warp] or was limited in her tricks, then we were severely on the back foot. Thankfully, it seemed like the elves genuinely wanted to get the truth of the matter and were highly respectful to us. Or maybe that''s all a trick, so we will drop our guard? Or perhaps I''m being paranoid again. Hah... This sucks; if I had more slime mass, I''d feel more confident¡ªI haven''t even recreated Alpha! Once I was in the circle, the old elf nodded and informed everyone that the circle was working and not being blocked. "Wonderful, thank you for your services," Loreleai said. Now, please deafen yourself and observe the circle''s fluctuations." The old elf bowed and, to my surprise, put in earplugs. After securing them, he fetched a chair, sat, and stared intently at the circle. He won''t know the context but will inform them if I lie. Well, not that I''m planning on doing so, so I should have nothing to worry about. "Were you involved in the plot to isolate and kill my daughter?" Loreleai asked. "No." "Did she truly bond you?" "Yes, she did." "Why did you accept her bond? Were you not sapient before the bond?" That''s an odd question... "I was alone and rather desperate for some form of ally. Before that, everything I had encountered was either trying to eat or kill me. I was honestly just as surprised when I received a system message, and I couldn''t understand her words until after I accepted the bond." "So you could think and reason but lacked [Universal Language] until it was granted via the bond?" "Yes, that''s right." Loreleia paused and looked at the old elf. He hadn''t budged or moved at all, and from my observations, I noticed zero change in the circle. "What are you?" she finally asked, sounding genuinely curious at this point. I knew it was coming and gave a defeated sigh before finally responding. "I''m a slime." If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. "Preposterous!" Paeris cried out. "The circle isn''t changing," Llewel pointed out. The old elf hadn''t moved at all, and since he was deafened and focused entirely on the circle, he hadn''t heard my outlandish answer. "You''re a slime?" Loreleia repeated in question. "A blue slime, to be exact," I replied. "Although I''ve evolved a few times since my humble beginnings." Paeris continued to make odd noises like he was being strangled, clearly not willing to believe the situation. But no matter his protests, I was telling the truth, and the magic circle was on my side. "I suppose that would explain your abundance of Mana," Llewel mused. "I can provide some further proof if you''d like," I explained. "I revert one of my arms to slime or grow some [Pseudopods]." "Please don''t," Loreleia interjected. "The truthseeker believes you to be my daughter, and we are questioning you to see if your mind hasn''t been tampered with in your absence." "Why the subterfuge?" I asked. "The situation is... delicate," Llewel responded. "That''s putting it mildly," Paeris snorted. "I promise to give you some answers afterward," Loreleia offered. "But I first need further confirmation of what happened and that you are truly no threat." "Alright," I agreed. "Can you please tell a lie," Loreleia requested, much to my surprise. "I''d rather not upset the truth spell, no offense." "While I''m ultimately grateful that you''ve remained so truthful. I just wish to confirm that it is behaving correctly," she replied. "I''m actually a demon working for the Outeatus Kingdom contracted to kill all elves," I replied in a deadpan voice. The circle flashed black rather violently before returning almost to its previous state, but there was definitely some lost luster. "A blatant lie," the old elf spoke up but otherwise didn''t flinch or behave differently. "At least we''ve confirmed it''s working and that Syl is indeed being very truthful," Llewel said, sounding relatively pleased. "Very well, let''s continue then," Loreleia said. "Can you please tell us what happened, to the best of your knowledge?" I nodded and began a somewhat lengthy retelling of my story. Since this was now the third time I had told it, I was growing rather tired of rehashing the same old topics over and over, but I didn''t want to offend the elves who presently appeared to be on my side. I explained that Sylthaeryn was ultimately betrayed by Keaton Stanton and that he had even attacked me to finish the job, but I had killed him. Thanks to the recent revelation, I could also add that the Stantons worked for the Outeatus Kingdom. I glossed over most of my adventuring stuff since it seemed irrelevant to their interests. Still, I emphasized that I had befriended Trixie the pixie just in case¡ªshe had mentioned relatively positive relations with the elves. I told them of the elf assassin attack shortly after meeting Tamnaeth, the additional attack from Outeatus knights and squires during the kobold siege, and that they had even summoned a demon. Overall, it was quite a lengthy recollection, only aided by the fact that I wasn''t constantly interrupted for further questions or clarifications as the elves mostly silently absorbed the information. "You''ve lived quite a storied life," Llewel commented with a dry chuckle. "Although, as the circle proves, it''s not false." "It pains me to admit it, but yes," Paeris reluctantly agreed. Loreleia seemed lost in thought before she tapped the old elf on the shoulder five times in succession. "Other than the one blatant lie, whatever has been said has been true," the old elf spoke. "However, I do sense that a crucial detail is being avoided, although I cannot confirm if it''s intentional or accidental." Paeris glared at me as if deeply troubled that he might have to rescind his previous statement. "Anything you can think of?" Llewel asked, clearly giving me the benefit of the doubt. "I skipped over a few adventuring things, but I don''t think it really matters for the situation," I murmured. The elves and I were left in silent thought. I tried thinking of if there was something I should be telling and even asked Vee for a lifeline. "Actually..." Paeris spoke up. "Now that I think about it, you''ve explained the situation and actions taken, but you''ve not explained why you, as a simple slime, could do all of this." "Oh, that''s simple. I''m an [Experiment] and also what is known as an old soul," I answered. The magical truth circle suddenly flared and regained its previous luster, to everyone''s surprise. Our conversation had been going on for so long that I''d almost forgotten it had started brighter. "You''re an old soul?" Llewel asked, sounding genuinely curious and perhaps a little impressed. "That''s what I''ve been told," I answered. "Supposedly, my previous life was wasted, and I was reborn as a slime." The three elves in the room actually trembled a little at my answer. "I must admit, I did not know the gods punished souls that way," Loreleia said. "Does that mean we''ve been unintentionally slaying old souls when culling monsters?" Llewel asked. "No... Surely not?" Paeris said hesitantly. "Surely the tamers would have mentioned something if that was the case." I raised my hand to interrupt them before it got out of control: "It''s a very recent thing only. That''s why I said I''m an [Experiment]. As far as I know, it hasn''t happened before, so I don''t think you need to worry about killing old souls accidentally in the past." "That''s a relief," Llewel sighed. "What''s an [Experiment]?" Paeris asked. "I''m not entirely sure of the full answer myself," I answered honestly. "But from what I''ve gathered, it seems almost like a sort of competition with bets amongst the gods. Then, they also have their own agendas; Gramps is trying to spread the words of traits, while Mother is trying to see monsters use magic more creatively. There are probably other tests, but I''m not sure. They might be thinking of using this as a punishment, to recoup reincarnation points, or perhaps even as a viable option for souls who want it. But that''s about the gist of it. It''s a little petty if you ask me." "Extremely petty," Vee agreed. "Although you forgot to tell them about me, and I''m not an old soul, so I''m not exactly sure why I''m being punished as a spider." The three elves stared at me, and then each glanced at the circle. There had been no change in it. I knew I had perhaps dropped a bit of a bombshell on them, but indeed, it wasn''t that mindblowing. "Is something wrong?" I asked cautiously "I''m sorry, but a vast portion of whatever you said was incomprehensible," Llewel said. "What? I spoke like I normally do, right Vee?" The spider nodded. "And the circle didn''t change, so I definitely was telling the truth, at least from my perspective," I added. Loreleia nodded, "I think what may have happened was that you were censored by the gods." "Does that happen often?" I asked. "No... It''s almost entirely unheard of," Loreleia answered. "I''m unsure of the human or dwarf history, but the only recorded case for us elves was our progenitor." "Oh, the one who set up the whole [Elven Legacy] and chosen paths," I replied. Llewel bit his lip, "Please don''t speak of our ancestor in such a casual manner. But you are correct." "Which means we should stop this line of questioning in case we receive tribulations," Loreleia said firmly. "Well, I hope my answers satisfy you," I said. "I really had no intention of harming your daughter or your people." She nodded, "You have. Thank you. And the fact you are an old soul has added more legitimacy to your claims. Even though you spoke truthfully, the mere fact that you are a slime is baffling. Some of our greatest tamers have tried to bond with every creature at least once, and many decades were spent trying to find some method to bond a slime due to their resource generation." I shuddered, "Slime farms..." "You''ll be happy to know that we do not engage in the practice like the humans or dwarves," Llewel replied. "We have some domesticated slimes that live freely on our farmlands." That made me feel far more at ease. If the elves were also building Mana potion farms, then I would be a walking treasure for them. "Thank you once again, Syl," Loreleia said. "After I dismiss the truthseeker, and we''ve had some food and drink, I believe you''ve more than earned some answers of your own." "Thank goodness!" Vee exclaimed. "Are you really that hungry?" I teased back mentally. "Yes, but no!" Vee protested. "I''m celebrating the fact that the elves won''t be killing us!" Chapter 245: Social Slime The truthseeker was dismissed, and shortly after, food and drink were brought out. We sat down at the ornate dining table the VIP prison was furnished with. Vee was ecstatic and wasted no time diving right in, although sadly, I couldn''t replicate her enthusiasm. Nothing would guarantee me a lot of slime mass unless I dropped my standards and avoided compressing it. I''ve grown so used to keeping all my slime at maximum density by default, and diminishing it feels absolutely terrible. I suppose for my own safety, I should reconsider lowering my standards¡ªat least for my offensive slime. After a night''s rest, my [Core Storage] was operational, so I could start storing away what slime I could and begin trying to replenish some stocks. With great reluctance, I made mental orders to keep the newly stored slime at diminished density levels, ranging from minimal to about half of the maximum. However, I''d still hold to the best of the best for my body. "Your own companion seems very well cared for," Loreleia said. "I''m impressed you managed to bond such a high-tier monster and suppress its evolutionary urges while maintaining such cohesion." "I''m surprised you can sense our bond level. Is that something any tamer can do?" I asked. "Not quite," she responded. "It is sort of an intuitive ability of high-level tamers or one who has closely been around bonded companions and seen their mannerisms. However, as the head of an elven branch, I''m required to be able to evaluate individuals so I can get aid from the system." "Well, with Vee, I''m sort of cheating a bit," I replied. "We definitely do get along. But much like myself, she''s also an [Experiment], so she''s fully sapient... sentient?" "Two old souls?" Llewel exclaimed. Vee shook her head while waving one of her front legs. "I don''t think Vee is an old soul," I answered. "She has memories of a past life in a different world from what she''s told me." "What a waste!" Llewel whined, clutching his head. "Sorry?" I confusedly replied. "Forgive him for his outburst," Loreleia said. "Otherworlders are a bit of a rarity, and with them usually come some advancements and breakthroughs from their memories of their prior life and world." "I mean, I don''t see why that can''t still happen, assuming that''s even something Vee wants to do," I replied. "Can''t say I really want to do any research or anything like that. Maybe I could revolutionize the cooking or knitting industry?" Vee teased. "I suppose that is true," Llewel said. "And it would be from a very unique perspective as a monster. Although I fear she will go mad long before she makes any fruitful gains." "We don''t have the whole evolution madness," I answered to the stunned surprise of the three elves. "Part of the [Experiment] is being free from it. It''s one of the reasons I said I''m sort of cheating with Vee." "Truly? You have no burning desire compelling you to evolve further?" Loreleia asked. "I do want to evolve," I answered honestly. "Although that''s more for my own safety and curiosity. At the same time, I also want to advance my class further and try out other classes, just like any other person. I even tried out the enchanting profession!" "Remarkable," Llewel replied. "Absurd," Paris snorted. "How many times have you evolved?" Loreleia queried. "I ask to know if you''re just at the early stages or not." "Three times and each time was a mutation. However, I''m considering my next one to be a species evolution after Vee explained the benefits she got from hers. Vee has also evolved three times but started at a higher tier than me. Also, I received confirmation from my... sponsor that no [Experiment] has evolution madness." "That''s reassuring," Llewel said. "It''s often been a very sore factor that eventually all monsters go mad. Imagine the benefits of integrating others into society, especially the more humanoid ones. I''d love to be able to make peace with the orcs." "Do you know how many others like you there are?" Loreleia asked. "I don''t. Sorry. Other than Vee here, I think I''ve only run into one, a troll, last I saw him. Although I have been asked to make friends with another one I haven''t met yet." "So, at minimum, there''s four of you," Paris murmured. "Probably a lot more, I reckon; it sounded like a big event," I reasoned. Loreleia hummed as she tapped her finger along the table, "I don''t know whether to consider this fortuitous or an ill omen. On the one hand, if the others are as amiable as you two, then it could be good. But it could also be a considerable threat. Monsters are a very potent resource that not many other nations tap into as effectively as us, and our tamers know the power their companions can hold." "Evolutions are a powerful factor," Llewel added. "And the fact that you have such a rare advanced class, too, is another factor. I''m unsure if other monsters will unlock classes like yourselves, but assuming they don''t, they will rapidly reach the upper echelons of evolutionary power." "We both got ours through the adventurer''s guild, thanks to my persona. I know the troll was born with his since he was a humanoid monster, which I admit seemed a little unfair considering my effort to get one." Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. "Even if he wasn''t born with one, his chieftain could assign one to him," Llewel answered. "Not that I''m dismissing your efforts, but he might not have been born with one. Depending on the chieftain, he might have even had a class forced upon him." "Huh... So chieftains can actually assign classes," I mused. "I always thought the goblin chief was stringing me along. Especially considering he tried to enslave me¡ªdamn warlock." "A heinous act," Loreleia spat. "And one of the most common methods of monster subjugations. Honestly, if not for you two, I would have assumed normal companion bonding was impossible between monsters." We continued to chat and make small talk before the ball was in my court, and I was given leeway to finally ask my own questions. One inquiry in particular has been burning in my mind ever since that fateful day. "What is the deal with that bag? I tried opening it but couldn''t, and I certainly didn''t expect to be potentially murdered over it." "You truly don''t know?" Llewel asked. I shook my head, "I was just told to deliver it to the first elf I saw. I tried to give it to Tamnaeth, but he refused and practically ran away from me." "As he should! Not even a branch candidate!" Paeris sneered. Loreleia raised her hand, and Paeris was silenced immediately. She mulled over her decision a bit before finally answering. "As you may know, the elven population is heavily limited by the gods¡ªespecially the main branches. When an official offspring of a branch is born, a seed accompanies them and grows with them. One of the functions is similar to a bag, although it is unique in that it is linked to the family tree. Objects can be placed in the tree and drawn from any bag. Likewise, as far as I''m aware, the bag is locked to the bloodline and has never been overcome. As her mother, I can open the bag, but not even siblings can. "Okay. So it''s a very special bag, one of the most secure storage ever, and can even transfer goods great distances. I don''t see why that would warrant someone trying to kill me for it, though." Loreleia nodded, "That is only its most basic function. It can also be planted¡ª" "Mistress, no!" Paeris objected. "Even I must admit, I don''t think it wise to mention this," Llewel somewhat hesitantly agreed. Loreleia shook her head, "Considering every truth we''ve heard today, I believe she deserves to know." Llewel nodded, but Paeris remained steadfast in his refusal. Ultimately, he was overruled, and his protest fell on deaf ears. I could offer to let them keep it a secret¡ªa goodwill gesture. But honestly, I''m so curious about this damn thing that I don''t think I could hold it in any longer. "The bag is not only a bag but still a seed," Loreleia explained. "Once planted, and with the correct ritual, it will nurture into a golden oak tree. This powerful tree symbolizes an offspring of a branch starting its own colony and is how we elves spread out into the world despite our smaller numbers." "I don''t understand," I replied. "Does the tree allow them to exceed the population restrictions somehow?" "No, although there is a superstition that newly grown golden oak trees lead to increased fertility," she explained with an amused smile. "No. The tree is a permanent gateway back to the original tree of that family, effectively creating a root network for us to traverse the world." "So if it fell into enemy hands, and they knew the correct ritual, then they could effectively teleport directly to your doorstep?" I asked. "Precisely," she said. "Although it''s even more dire than that. As my own tree links back to the origin tree. Should my tree be seized by hostile forces, they could go right into the heart of our most treasured homeland." "Oh... That''s not good," I murmured. "A severe understatement and a secret I hope you will take to your grave," Paeris threatened. "Well, clearly, someone must have leaked the secret already if they were after you," Vee commented telepathically. "Yeah, why else would they be so hellbent on attacking me?" I replied. "Excuse me?" Loreleia asked. "Oh. Sorry, I was replying to Vee," I replied sheepishly. "In hindsight, I probably should have mentioned that and offered to connect all of us. We speak telepathically." "I had no idea that slimes could even acquire such a trait," Llewel responded with curiosity and some excitement. I definitely pegged him as the eager scholar type. "I''m technically borrowing it," I explained. "I got it from an alicorn prince." I noticed a slight eye twitch from Loreleia before she spoke, "You... befriended an alicorn prince?" "Gods no. I fought one," replied. "Fought and killed, I hope," Loreleia pressed. I nodded. "And the world has become a little bit cleaner," Loreleia sighed. "Good riddance," Paeris snorted. "Anyway... I should be able to let Vee join the conversation. Assuming you''re alright with it," I offered. "The chance to talk to a sapient spider? Please!" Llewel eagerly agreed. Okay... First time I''m being the telepathy bridge. It shouldn''t be too hard; Trixie makes it look so easy. I tried reaching out to him but realized my mental hand was already preoccupied with Vee. I considered the possibility of using one of my [Sub-Cores] to establish another connection but soon realized I was probably being far too literal with my imaginative interpretation of this ability. Taking inspiration from my own slimy capabilities, I pictured the hand splitting not unlike my tendrils and formed a second-hand from the same one. With my newly formed mental hand, I reached out to perform the handshake with Llewel, who promptly accepted it. "Hello!" Llewel said excitedly through the connection. "Listen, mister, just because you''re a handsome elf doesn''t mean you can go call a girl spider! I have feelings, too!" Vee scolded. Llewel looked visibly shaken, causing a few frantic glances between the two unconnected elves. "I knew it couldn''t be trusted!" Paeris cried out. "Is something the matter?" Loreleia queried, taking the more reasonable approach. "I..." Llewel began, then cleared his throat. "Apparently besmirched a ladies honor. Please do forgive me, Miss Vee." "Forgiven," Vee replied, trying her best to sound haughty. "Since you''re such a gentleman." Vee... please don''t tease the powerful elf time wizard. "Still... I must admit I didn''t quite expect you to sound like that," Llewel said. "I did mention we are both not normal monsters," I pointed out. "Would you mind establishing a connection with the rest of us?" Loreleia asked. I nodded and began contacting her and Paeris. The latter took quite a considerable amount of time to actually accept the offer. With Vee now able to communicate with the rest, they all exchanged some pleasantries while finishing off what little food remained. "We sort of sidetracked on your questions," Loreleia pointed out eventually. "Do you have more?" "The bag was my biggest question," I admitted. "I can now understand why it was so important. And as Vee pointed out earlier, someone must have leaked the secret already if they were after it." The elves nodded. "I guess my next question would be, are we free to leave?" I asked. "You are," Loreleia replied. "However, before you rush off. I do have a proposition for the two of you." "Please tell me it isn''t an offer we can''t refuse," Vee grumbled. "I swear that you can reject it without any repercussions," Loreleia replied. "However, I do hope you will at least hear me out, as I''m certainly willing to make it worthwhile if you can aid us." I nodded. Admittedly, a little out of fear but also out of curiosity¡ªwhat could this elf want from me? Chapter 246: A Mother鈥檚 Request "A big question on our minds from this entire situation has been¡ªwhy?" Loreleia explained. "Why did my daughter run away? How did she accomplish it, and who aided her? She had neither the resources nor the capability of doing it herself." "It''s certainly something I could never figure out," I replied. "Stantondale is pretty much in the middle of nowhere and a low-ranking town, whose entire economy is kept afloat on farming blue slimes." Loreleia nodded, "Exactly my point. It made no sense, and to make matters worse, any evidence of her disappearance was thoroughly scrubbed. From what you''ve told us and from what we''ve postulated from the actions taken in Dhoggurum against you, it was clear that she was lured out as part of some trap or scheme." "To invade via planting the gateway tree bag thing?" Vee asked. "Even if they didn''t plan to invade, losing an heir from a branch is a massive blow," Loreleia answered. "It could have been a rival branch or another family looking to elevate their position through our downfall." "Ugh... politics," I groaned. Llewel gave a pained smile, "Agreed. While I''m honored to be adopted into the Feirelle branch, which has advanced my growth and studies tremendously, it has also come with its downsides. Gone are the days I could spend endlessly in my lab without a care in the world." "Bah, you still do that," Paeris snorted. "Just because you need to attend a social event occasionally is hardly a big deal." Loreleia cleared her throat, demanding attention, "Anyway. There are multiple factors at play, and the elven politics aside, these are honestly the least of my concerns. No, what I''m worried about is how the Outeatus Kingdom has gotten involved in this matter. To say our people have a history would be an understatement, and long have their rulers wished to burn the last of our groves to the ground¡ªif they could." Loreleia reached into a pouch and pulled out a relatively small book. It looked faded and damaged, with what appeared to be blood stains. She looked at the notebook with some pain in her eyes and placed it on the table. "My daughter''s diary," she explained. "It has revealed a few things to me¡ªmost notably that she did have outside help in escaping as we presumed. Sadly, it doesn''t reveal the collaborator, but it was definitely someone in the main grove who filled her head with lies and promises of the outside world." "To think someone would exploit the young lady like that," Paeris said somberly. "She mentioned wanting to make her mark on the world," I replied. "Does it have to do with that?" Loreleia nodded, "Sylthaeryn always had a wanderlust for adventure. She wanted to explore outside the grove despite the dangers and, not unlike yourself, wanted to join the Adventurer''s Guild." "Huh..." I muttered. "An odd coincidence," Loreleia confirmed. "Hence why I originally still held hope that you were her. Outside of myself and Paeris, almost nobody knew of her childish ambitions, as she kept up a strict facade for elven society. For a doppelganger or skinwalker to behave in such a manner seemed unbelievable." "Sorry..." I murmured. Loreleia shook her head, "I don''t blame you, and in a way, you are indirectly granting her wish. But... Someone did find out, perhaps someone she was secretly close to or an opportunist. And they exploited her. Her journal mentions him a few times but has no name and speaks of him praising her dreams. Sadly, she didn''t mention specifics, perhaps worried someone would read her journal and discover their plot. But it confirms that someone is undermining us, and that is where I want your help." "I''m not exactly sure how I can help," I replied honestly. "Yeah, we aren''t exactly detectives," Vee agreed. "Rather than detectives... I was hoping you could be bait," Loreleia responded bluntly. "Oooh! That makes sense," Vee agreed. "Bait?" I frowned. "I want you to assume the role of my daughter, not unlike what you have been doing already¡ª" "I haven''t been!" I swiftly denied it. Paeris glared at me for interrupting his mistress, but she surprisingly didn''t seem outraged. "Intentional or not, you have been somewhat imitating her," Loreleia replied diplomatically. "And to be honest, your disguise is at such a level that if I hadn''t touched your soul directly, I wouldn''t have been able to distinguish the difference¡ªand I say this as her mother." "So you want to dangle Syl out and hope the assassin takes a bite?" Vee asked. "Not that crude, but yes," Loreleia agreed. "I can understand I''d be putting you at personal risk, but I want those responsible brought to justice and am willing to pay a steep price to see this plot foiled." "It''s not as much of a risk as you think," Vee teased. "I''ve seen Syl here be stabbed, exploded, cut apart, and live to tell the tale." I sent Vee a feeling of displeasure, who stopped yapping and sent back feelings of concern and guilt. While it was true, I wasn''t too happy about this much of my information being revealed. Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! "I see; that does make sense as a slime," Llewel mumbled in thought. "If nobody attacks your core directly, aren''t you pretty much invincible?" "Something like that," I hissed. "All the more reason you should agree to this," Paeris said. "Paeris, stop," Loreleia ordered. "I said they are both free to leave even if they don''t agree to my request, and I don''t want the one who inherited my daughter''s emblem assassinated." Interesting... I wonder if that has any more meaning to it? "I''m not agreeing or rejecting anything until I''ve heard more. Do you have a reasonable plan?" I questioned. Loreleia nodded, "I want to formally announce that you''ve returned from a journey of discovery and training. You undertook many trials and tribulations during your travels and emerged victorious, with a rare companion and class as the prizes." "That would be spitting in the face of whoever schemed this," Vee pointed out. "Yes, and to rub salt in the wound, I want to announce that I''m seeking ascension and formally announcing you as the heir of the Feirelle branch," Loreleia explained. Llewel whistled through his teeth, sounding rather impressed with that declaration. Paeris, however, looked very disgruntled and on the verge of another outburst. "I know we joked about you being an elven princess, but now it seems like it''s potentially becoming real," Vee said in jest. "To put it in human terms, it would be like me announcing candidacy for the throne and leaving Sylthaeryn in charge of my noble house," Loreleia explained. "Sounds like a big deal," I commented. "A big deal!?" Paeris yelled in outrage. "A massive understatement," Llewel agreed. "Mistress Loreleia would be putting a massive target on the entire Feirelle branch. Whoever sought to undermine us would be forced to act." "And whoever was the accomplice would have an axe hanging over their head¡ªwill Syl, err, Sylthaeryn, reveal what was done to her," Vee commented. "Ugh... politics," I groaned again. "Now you know how I feel when you go on your custom magic rants," Vee teased. "Custom magic, too?" Llewel replied, looking chuffed. "You''re definitely following our ancestral founder''s teachings closely, an ideal candidate appearing to be rewarded and elevated through a branch." "Can''t this also be done with you instead of me? Surely a Chronomancer is a bigger deal than an Elementalist," I replied. "Llewel would be the fallback plan if you wish to wash your hands of this matter," Loreleia explained. "Unfortunately, he wouldn''t have the same impact as Sylthaeryn''s return since he is an adopted branch member. I''d also take a hit to my reputation for nominating an adopted member as the new inheritor." I wanted to groan at all the political talk. It felt like such nonsense, and I questioned why my past self even bothered wishing to be born a noble. Assuming I get the whole Reincarnation Points thing again, I''m definitely not picking Noble. [Prodigy] and [Time Magic] for the next life sounds like a good plan! Or maybe I can ask to be born a spirit and just fool around like Trixie? "Which is why I''m very much hoping you''ll agree," Llewel said. "I can even throw in my own reward to sweeten the deal!" Huh... Right, she did mention rewards. I''m not sure what I''d ask from Llewel. I could maybe ask him to cast a bunch of time spells on me and hope it gives me an evolution option. He''s also an alchemist, so I could ask for training there, maybe? "Well, regardless, I''d ask that you at least take another day to think about it before making a decision," Loreleia said. "Thanks, I was planning to discuss it with Vee," I replied. "Could you perhaps tell me a bit more about the plan? What would I need to do?" "Not a problem. Honestly, you might even consider this part of the reward, as being nominated as a branch head means you must undergo specialized training to be respected. You''d receive top-notch tutors in several fields and resources to boost your growth," Loreleia answered. Training huh... "It''s kind of like a super private school, in human noble terms," Llewel added. "Sylthaeryn was already attending it when she was contacted by whoever this conspirator was." "I see..." I replied. "Honestly, it sounds like fun to me," Vee commented. "Sounds like you''d be living a life of luxury and being rewarded for it." I nodded. It sounded appealing, although I wasn''t too happy that I''d need to impersonate Sylthaeryn. That was still a sore spot for me after the whole goblin fiasco. "And what sort of rewards are we talking about?" I asked curiously. "I could offer you almost anything, especially if I succeed in my ascension," Loreleia said. Llewel and Paeris both suddenly looked startled, perhaps not expecting such conviction from her. "You''re actually considering ascending?" Paeris asked. "It would allow me to properly voice my grievances against the Outeatus royals and start maneuvering to take out the threat," she answered. Llewel chuckled, "I''m glad I joined the Feirelle branch. To think we would be getting another High Elf. What a joyous time." High Elf? "Is there anything in particular you want?" Loreleia asked. "Slime cores," Vee answered. "Slime cores?" the three elves asked curiously. "Syl eats them," Vee answered again. I sent some disproving emotions to the gossiping spider but got what I could only describe as a mental shrug in return. Vee was right, after all. The only thing I could think of asking for was slime cores, as it was my number one request. "She eats them..." Llewel mumbled. "Outrageous," Paeris snorted. "It can be arranged if that''s what you truly wish for," Loreleia responded. "In addition or alternatively, I could offer wealth. Or if monetary value isn''t appealing, there is knowledge of skills, classes, magic, and so forth at our disposal." Oh! Now, that does sound tempting. So, the elves also hoard knowledge? I wonder what kind of rare skills I could get. My first thought would be something magic-related, although my own class will probably reveal that eventually. Alternatively, if I could get some skills from the Tamer classes without needing to progress more in them myself, that would be a boon for Vee and me¡ªespecially since my class experience has been reduced now, thanks to Gramps. However, at the end of the day, I want slime cores the most. I know the elves have access to brown slimes for their farms, and I''m not sure how coveted they are compared to the dwarves and silver slimes. But asking for a brown slime core for this big of a deal feels... cheap? I really should be using this to my advantage; I have elven royalty asking for my help. Wait, that''s it! "What if I asked for a pink slime or pink slime core?" I asked. Perhaps I was trying my luck, but you automatically missed any shots that were not taken. If anything, this seemed like the perfect opportunity¡ªwhen else would I find myself in such a situation. Loreleia seemed to mull over the request, tapping her finger against the diary''s cover on the table. "It''s achievable," she eventually replied. "And if you agree to help us, I can do everything in my authority to acquire one." Syl shoots... And scores? Chapter 247: Considerations "A pink core, huh..." Llewel whispered curiously. "I haven''t seen one since I was asked to brew a regeneration elixir. Usually, I only see pink slime nowadays." "It''s a very tall ask," Paeris commented disparagingly. "Hey, if Syl is going to be risking her life, it''s the least you can do," Vee refuted. "Besides, what else could you offer her? She''s a slime!" Vee doesn''t really know how valuable they are, but I''m still glad she''s sticking up for me. Paeris snorted in response, "Well, I wouldn''t know what to offer a slime, but any monster would be privileged to be bonded to an elf. I think offering to be companioned to one of our prestigious tamers would be glorious compensation." "No. No way," I rejected immediately. The elves seemed a bit startled by my firm and instant refusal. "You say that when you''ve got a bond yourself?" Llewel asked. "I took an oath to the gods that I''d never use [Order] on Vee," I explained. "Yeah, I wouldn''t want any brainworms controlling me," Vee said. "I see," Llewel replied, seeming quite startled. "That''s quite a commitment," Loreleia commented. "I can understand your apprehension after what transpired previously. But do know that should you wish such a connection, it can be arranged. However, I will still seek out the pink core as requested." "Thank you," I replied. We chatted for a little longer before the three elves stood up to depart and left us to discuss our decision amongst ourselves. I was really grateful that it looked like they wouldn''t be forcing us into a rushed decision. However, at the door, Loreleia stopped and made one final comment. "Regardless of what you choose, whether you leave or stay, I''d ask that, at the end, you abandon that look. I do not wish to know that my daughter''s visage is wandering around the world." I nodded, albeit reluctantly. I didn''t want to anger her, but this appearance had undoubtedly been my primary persona for so long now. That meant that if I returned to the guild, I''d be unable to use it. Now that I had the complete elf profile, I could easily create my own one, similar enough but different enough to my liking. However, it would undoubtedly raise some questions about why I had changed. If I kept it too close, I''d risk angering Loreleia and perhaps her entire branch. I definitely want to keep friendly relations with the elves. Who knows? Maybe I''ll need their help one day. Or, if I''ve got nowhere to go, I could always live here since I''ve proven that I won''t go mad. Hell, if they swore an oath, I might even be willing to consider another [Companion Bond]. When they finally left, and I disconnected the telepathic connection to just Vee and myself, she let out a long and tired groan. "What a crazy situation!" "You''re telling me," I chuckled. "What''s your thoughts?" Vee paused to think a bit and sighed, "I think it''s probably worthwhile? I mean, I think you''re getting ripped off only asking for a single slime core, but having allies with the elves sounds like a good idea." I nodded, "If, for whatever reason, we needed a place to hide safely, the elves could probably provide it. Especially these ones, since they know we are souls. I don''t know if the humans would be so accepting if they knew the truth." "But, on the flip side, you''d be making enemies with those Outeatus humans," Vee pointed out. "I honestly don''t give a rat''s ass about them," I replied bluntly. "They''ve tried to kill me multiple times now¡ªthey''re firmly labeled as enemies of mine." "True, but you''d also be making enemies with whatever group of elves was against the Feirelle elves," Vee added. "That I''m a bit more worried about," I admitted. "But if we assume they are a small faction, and we reveal their betrayal, I''m sure we''d have the rest of the elves on our side." "An excellent point; I don''t think the rest of the elves would be too fond of allying with a hostile human nation trying to get access to their big magic tree." "Although that''s also worrying... Why would they risk such a big thing just to take down the Feirelle elves? Do they have such confidence in dealing with their human collaborators after the fact, or is there something bigger at play?" "It sounds like you''ve already made up your mind," Vee teased. This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it I sighed, "I''ll admit that I''m definitely curious about the whole thing. Although I''m not too happy about pretending to be her dead daughter." "Honestly, I don''t think she was too happy about it either. But I guess she''s pushing her feelings aside until this matter is resolved. She did ask you to stop using the form after the fact." "Yeah, that''s another issue I''ll have to deal with eventually. But do you have any objections?" "Not really?" Vee replied. "I guess I''d like to know that we can teleport in case of emergencies; I don''t want to be in anti-teleport rooms and then stuck to die a horrible death. If that freedom is restored, then honestly, you''d be the biggest one at risk." "Well, like you pointed out¡ªI''m pretty good at taking a backstab or two." "Boo! Terrible joke," Vee giggled. "But yeah, any assassin would be an idiot to try to stab you in the back. You''d just turn around and eat them." "That reminds me, I''ll need to add some better food to my list of demands. My slime mass is dreadfully low," I sighed. "Either that or ask to do a bit of monster hunting or something and get it yourself," Vee suggested. "I suppose it depends on how tight of a leash they want to put on us." "That might be out of our hands, considering that Sylthaeryn literally ran away. They might be forced to watch us closely because of that." "It''s a little sad. She sounded like a bird stuck in a gilded cage," Vee replied somberly. "Promised adventure and instead used to plot her people''s downfall. Extremely scummy. Quite frankly, I want to deal with them just because of that." We chatted a bit longer until we had nothing more to discuss about the subject. We both agreed that this sounded like the best plan for now, and we wanted to have some powerful elven allies in the future. After that, we continued with Vee''s magic training. Vee had still not broken through her Mana aura, and I''d still not have gotten my discount. I was even wondering if I should request elven tutors on the subject, as maybe they could coach Vee through it where both Trixie and I had failed. "Be the rock... Be the rock..." Vee chanted over and over. We''d tried many different visualizations in the past, but I kept returning to the original one that worked for me. I had proven it true for myself, so I had confidence in it. "Ugh... This feels so wrong," Vee commented. Huh... That sounds new? "Don''t give in, keep pushing!" I shouted excitedly. "Are you sure? This is some serious call of the void shit going on here," Vee replied nervously. "I feel like you''re telling me to jump into the mouth of a starving beast!" "Once it''s done, it''s all over! Keep pushing! Trust me!" Vee kept trying before letting out an exasperated sigh and collapsing. "I can''t do it!" she cried. "You were so close!" I tried to encourage her. "Just one or two more pushes, and you might finally break through!" "Ugh..." Vee groaned. "I trust you because, holy hell, you''re sending me some positive vibes through our bond, and I know you want to complete your quest. But wow... That feeling was bad!" "I was surprised you suddenly started making progress," I replied. "I thought I''d misheard you initially; you''ve never made it this far! What changed? A sudden epiphany?" Vee was silent for a bit as she tried to think. I could feel her trying to clear away the muddied thoughts as she puzzled out a reason. "It might be the room," Vee eventually replied. "The room?" I said, looking around. "What about it?" "Okay, so you know how I can''t teleport, and the whole room feels like it''s the same spot?" Vee asked. "Yes?" "Okay. So, ever since I got my [Spatial Sense], I have pretty much left it on constantly. It lets me be prepared for ambushes, lets me be ready to use [Blink], err, [Warp] at a moment''s notice, and so forth¡ªthere''s literally thousands of benefits!" "Yes, yes, rub it in that I don''t have it yet," I grumbled. "Well! I think that''s what was stopping me from visualizing outside my perspective!" Vee replied excitedly. "I don''t understand." "When I use [Spatial Sense], it''s sort of like a graph. I''m at the origin, zero-zero," Vee tried to explain. "I have no idea what a graph is," I grumbled. "Do they not have geometry here?" Vee questioned. I shrugged. "Agh!" Vee cried out in frustration. "Well... I''m at the center, and everything around me is related to that point. That''s how I sort of see things when using [Spatial Sense]. So I have a very solid image of where I am; it''s literally plotted out for me and my senses." I nodded, now sort of understanding what she was trying to explain. "So you can''t imagine yourself casting from the rock because you''re at this origin point?" "Exactly! And I kept thinking maybe I should go about it by changing my coordinates to where the rock is. That''s sort of how [Blink] and [Warp] work." "Which is definitely not how that works," I replied. "I''m surprised you didn''t mention this any sooner?" "Well, until I was in this room, I honestly sort of forgot I was even doing it," Vee explained. "Like I said, ever since I got it, I''ve left it on permanently. It''s become such a part of my life that it might as well be breathing for me. But now, even though I have it on, this room won''t let me use it. Everything is the origin point." I couldn''t help but chuckle at the absurdity of it. Who knew that being trapped in an anti-teleportation room would lead to such a revelation. "It''s almost like we should thank the elves for capturing us," I joked. "I dunno if I''d go that far. I''m sure I would have realized what I was doing... Eventually..." I shrugged, "Well, regardless, I think you should keep pushing! If we can get you through this last hurdle, maybe I''ll finally get my dimension affinity discount!" "Yeah! Then we can really put our heads together!" Vee cheered. "Assuming I don''t also get lost in the whole coordinate thing you complained about," I joked. "Worst case, you could spend a skill point to get to level two," Vee replied. "It might be worth it with how slow [Dimension Magic] is to level up... I would''ve if I had skill points to spare back then, but I only got them very rarely from [Apex Hunter]." I looked at my skill points. "I only have eighteen left!" I moaned. "That''s plenty!" Vee yelled. "Yeah, but Gramps adjusted my experience distribution. I''m going to be stuck at my current Elementalist level for quite some time. What if I need these points for something important? I need ten points to uncap a skill!" "What if, what if," Vee scoffed. "What if the tree explodes tomorrow, and we all die? What good will your massive savings be, then? Bah. I don''t understand why you''re so hesitant." "I literally spent three trait points and skill points yesterday," I explained. "And I''ll need to spend another of each to unlock my next element. And I still need to buy [Dimension Magic]! And who knows what other traits or skills related to it!" "You''ve really got points on the brain," Vee giggled. "But fine. I won''t tell you to spend a point to get to level two." "Thank you! Now, let''s let that void call you so you can break through your Mana aura!" "You''re not meant to give in to the call of the void, Syl!" Vee moaned. Chapter 248: Quest Complete I kept pushing and pushing Vee to complete that final hurdle; now that we were so close, I could almost taste the victory! We were still left on our own, with only an elf providing more food, so we wanted to hammer out this last step before the next day, and we would ultimately make our decision. We''d agreed that accepting the offer was in our best interest. Still, if I also had [Dimension Magic], then we could have a trump card in case the situation turned on us or, more likely, another assassination attempt was attempted on me. Although I''ll still have the fact I''m a slime to fall back on. But you can never be too careful! Unfortunately, I had lost my clock in the teleportation accident, so I couldn''t tell the exact time. It was undoubtedly late into the evening and past our usual bedtime. "I did it!" Vee cried out, forming an [Acid Dart] from the opposite end of the room. Before I could congratulate her, I received a notification. Mother reduced the cost by half? Four points is still quite a lot, but I don''t think I''m going to earn any more discounts, and even if I could, I don''t think I could personally wait any longer! I quickly looked over my profile but couldn''t find any mention of the newly acquired affinity. Then again, I knew it was a sort of hidden condition, and I''d likely need some kind of advancement or device to actually see them. Only one way to know for sure! <[Dimension Magic LV 1] spell [Position] learned.> "Wait, it''s seriously called [Position]!?" I blurted out. "Oh! You finally got it?" Vee responded cheerfully. "I did, and congrats on finally breaking through your Mana aura! Hopefully, you can see the benefits already!" I replied. Vee tilted her head and cast [Pocket Space] on the table, stealing an entire plate of food into her storage. I was honestly a bit surprised she could even activate the spell, considering she said that she couldn''t get coordinates in this room, but perhaps that was only stopping teleportation? "Definitely!" Vee replied cheerfully. "I''m honestly a bit surprised by why there was so much security to unlock this... Like, I can sort of understand why you wouldn''t want anyone able to do it, but what was with the feeling of dread?" I chuckled, "Well... Anything cast outside of your Mana Aura can be manipulated by other spellcasters!" I explained. "Holy shit, you''re only telling me this now!?" Vee cried out. "Trixie did the same to me," I answered. "Apparently, knowing about it beforehand can create even more mental blocks, stopping you from finally breaking through!" "Ugh... I guess that makes sense," Vee grumbled. "Don''t worry, there''s a whole new skill around defending or concealing your spells," I replied. "I plan on helping you out with that as well." "And here I thought the magic training would be over," Vee sighed. "Well, in my opinion, this is a lot more fun. It''s sort of like magical wrestling if that makes sense," I replied. I spent a while giving Vee a rundown on [Counter Magic] and [Magical Subterfuge], explaining the purpose and the benefits of both. Likewise, I gave her a similar demonstration to what Trixie had done for me by seizing Vee''s [Acid Dart] spell and taking ownership of it. That instantly changed her mind, and she swore to diligently practice both. The idea of potentially dying over a magical backlash was terrifying, and unlike myself, Vee did not have vast Mana reserves to take the hit. Although it was late and we should be heading to bed, I still wanted to do one more thing. Cast my new spell! I wasted no time casting it, but all I got was a set of numbers, and every single number was zero! "Huh... Did the spell fail?" I asked curiously. "Hmm?" Vee mumbled tiredly. "No... It''s this room, and you haven''t bought [Spatial Sense] yet?" "Right!" I replied and hurriedly brought up the trait from memory. <[Spatial Sense] This trait allows the user to sense spatial rifts and areas of expanded space. It also allows one to determine the dimensional coordinates of objects and individuals. Higher trait levels determine the accuracy of coordinates and the detail of spatial anomalies detected. This trait can be used with existing vision or at 5m per trait rank to see within a radial perimeter.> I''m down to seven points already! To think I had almost twenty not too long ago! Ugh... This sucks! I can''t even uncap a trait anymore! I desperately need more race levels. I guess it might be a good thing that my experience distribution has changed. The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. I activated the new sense and nearly fell over myself at the odd feeling. Everything around me was assigned a bunch of weird numbers, which was made worse by the fact that this room said everything within my radius was on top of me! Vee didn''t hold back her laughter, clearly expecting this outcome. "Ugh... I don''t see how this is supposed to be helpful," I groaned. "It''s definitely not in this room. Once we get out, I can show you the ropes?" Vee offered. "You''ll be teaching for once? Shocking!" I teased. "Just be thankful I won''t be as harsh as that pixie," Vee replied. "And there''s not too much I can actually really teach you. I haven''t exactly figured it out myself beyond adjusting some of the numbers and what they mean. But hopefully, once you''re up to speed, we can put our heads together and make some real progress!" "I just don''t understand the point of the spell if [Spatial Sense] gives you the numbers anyway," I commented. "[Spatial Sense] is in relation to you," Vee answered. "[Position] is their own coordinates. It''s handy for [Blink] and to prevent someone catching you by surprise since you get a full rundown of everything within your radius. Oh, and obviously, it''s great for detecting traps like [Rift Thread]!" To demonstrate, Vee pulled out some thread and waved it around. Even with this room distorting the coordinates, my [Spatial Sense] highlighted the thread with a terrifying blackish purple coloring. "I can finally see it!" I exclaimed excitedly. "No more having to try to detect the lack of something to spot it!" "I still don''t know how you managed to do that. Searching for the absence of something sounds even crazier than a needle in a haystack!" "It certainly wasn''t easy, I''ll admit. This also means we can coordinate traps a bit better, and I don''t have to worry about getting sliced into pieces like that assassin." "Sounds like a plan, and you should grab [Blink] while you''re at it," Vee reminded me. <[Blink] Teleport a distance into any unoccupied space. You can move through almost anything, but you will be shunted and take appropriate damage if you attempt to enter an occupied space. Skill level determines Mana efficiency, traveled distance, and reduces damage from shunting.> "My precious points..." I moaned. "You''ll earn more eventually," Vee shrugged. "It''s your fault for learning like a million skills and traits. You''re utterly obsessed with collecting things." "Okay, magic aside, I get a good power boost from collecting slime cores! Imagine if I can get them all!" "You''ll collect all seven slime cores and become Super Syl?" Vee joked. "There''s way more than seven types of slimes," I answered. "It was a j¡ª" Vee tried to reply back. "In fact, I''ve already eaten eight, and if I include my starting one, I''m nine types of slime!" I interrupted. "Damn, you''ve eaten a lot of different slimes. Including poor Wiggles!" "Tell you what, if I ever take that Slime Queen evolution, I''ll name the first kid Wiggles," I teased back. "I don''t think the world could handle more Syl slimes running around," Vee answered honestly. "They''d eat everything in sight!" "Trixie was worried about the same thing, said I''d potentially be a risk to the world or something." "Yikes. I wonder if I''d also count if I ever took Broodmother?" "Don''t spiders have like... hundreds of children? Imagine a swarm of teleporting shrinking spiders?" Vee trembled, "No, thank you! That''s way too creepy!" "You are a spider!" "That doesn''t mean I automatically like them! I wasn''t a spider before! Spiders are somewhat creepy, and the fact that there are monstrous spiders here certainly doesn''t make it any better!" I nodded; it was understandable. While I didn''t hate my slimy brethren, I didn''t really feel any sympathy for killing them or desire to get closer to them. It certainly didn''t help that they were literally braindead, and most of my apprehension about their treatment was me imagining going through that myself. After that, we had nothing else to discuss and finally went to bed. We both were tired and potentially had a long day ahead of us. *** I woke up before Vee and started trying to grind some levels in [Dimension Magic] by casting [Position] repeatedly. Each time I cast it, I got the same set of numbers regardless of what object I targeted, making me doubt that I was actually earning any experience through this. My efforts to train [Spatial Sense] and [Blink] were also highly ineffective. The latter only made me shift in place like Vee had done beforehand, while the former still provided nonsensical information. If Vee had left out some [Rift Thread], I might have been able to level up [Spatial Sense] by examining it through its other function, but currently, that wasn''t possible. I considered trying out my other forms of magic, but I was far too excited about [Dimension Magic] after waiting so long to get it. It was like a carrot on a stick, always taunting me and dangling just out of reach. I began pulling out various spellforms and trying to see if I could change them now that I had access to Dimensional Mana. I obviously started with the easiest¡ªa projectile, but even that instantly broke apart. I tried it a few times, but it broke apart similarly despite my precision and caution. It''s almost like whatever is inside [Position] isn''t enough to form a spell. Not to be deterred, I began trying to see if any of my other spellforms would accept this type of Dimensional Mana. Eventually, I found that it wasn''t falling apart instantly when I started applying it to an affliction debuff. That makes sense, I suppose. I''d weaken my enemy and make their... coordinates more... readable? After I thought that out loud, I realized how stupid that sounded. Can you even resist [Position]? I''d understand resisting being teleported, but just having your coordinates read seems weird? Unless there''s something else, I''m missing. I''ll have to ask Vee when she wakes up. I continued poking away through my collection of spell constructs and found that this spell also seemed to have quite an affinity with aura-type spells. That made sense to me, and I figured it would likely allow me to instantly get the coordinates of everything within the radius of my aura. Obviously, whether that was useful or not, I couldn''t tell at this stage until I learned more about this strange form of magic. I hadn''t gained a level, and Vee was still asleep, so I tried approaching this from a different perspective, taking the spell construct for [Position] and using it with other spells. One by one, I watched the spell explode before me, not wanting to take even basic elements and certainly not happy to take in poison or acid. But I persisted, and then, to my surprise, I finally found a minor bit of success when I tried to add concepts to it¡ª[Heat] and [Chill]. I was honestly going for the kitchen sink approach by throwing everything I had at it, so I was most perplexed when these had not caused the instant failure and backlash. While I poked away at trying to merge [Heat] and [Position] with the help of some [Sub-Cores], I began to ponder why this was working even in the first place. So I started thinking about what [Position] did as a spell and realized its foremost function was providing information, much like [Identify]. Does that mean if I successfully combine this, I''d get a spell that tells me if something is hot or cold? Or maybe their exact temperature? I wonder if I should try combining all three, then? That line of thought seemed to bear fruit, as when I began working on adding both [Chill] and [Heat], the framework for [Position] became far more malleable. "What the hell is that?" Vee asked, sounding groggy. Evidently, I''d missed her waking up due to my fixation on whatever spell I was currently creating. "I think I''m making a spell that gives a temperature," I answered. "You get advanced magic dimensional powers... and the first thing you try to make is a thermostat?" Vee groaned wearily. I shrugged. I only had [Position] to work with; did she expect me to work a miracle? Chapter 249: Wrestling with Negotiations "So, are we going to try that magic wrestling thing?" Vee asked, her voice brimming with excitement and anticipation. "Either the sky is going to fall, or you really want to work on the shortcomings!" I teased. "The latter, so doomsday is still away from us," Vee chuckled. "Even the [Pocket Space] out of range is massive! Imagine if I could steal stuff from range by using a network of webs! Or even deploying my traps at range, or portals, or something!" "All of those ideas sound great! At first, the best idea I had was point-blank [Fireball] spells!" "Considering you''re such an explosion freak with all the slime bombs, I''m not surprised in the slightest." "My first magic teacher was a Pyromancer, so I''ve definitely been influenced by the glory of the simple yet majestic [Fireball] spell," I admitted. "It''s great for sneak attacks, though, and works with the skill quite nicely." "Wonderful, so when can we start?" Vee asked eagerly. I looked at my partially constructed spell and felt a bit frustrated¡ªI didn''t want to leave my current fixation alone until I hit a roadblock. It''s going to be pretty boring on my end. It will be like when Trixie and I first did it, and she manhandled me. Vee won''t have the skill levels or experience to do much beyond struggle in vain. Plus, she doesn''t have any cheating helpers like me... Wait, that''s it! "You can do some magical wrestling with my [Sub-Cores] while I continue to work on this spell," I replied. "Your cheating extra hands?" Vee asked. "Won''t they wipe the floor with me? They seem to be able to handle almost everything." "I actually have four new cores, all super low-level, so their functionality isn''t that great," I answered. "I created them while trying to desperately use up slime from the teleportation mishap, although it didn''t help in the end, and I still ended up sacrificing Alpha!" "You haven''t eaten enough to regrow it?" I shook my head. The food, while tasty, was not sufficient for producing slime mass, and I needed some monster meat¡ªpreferably fresh from the source. Either that or I get a brown slime core... I vaguely recall them being able to eat plants? Or was that a different slime type... I know gluttonous would''ve let me eat anything! I looked over my four new cores, which I had abandoned since their creation. I didn''t even think I had allowed them to join the experience-sharing network yet. I double-checked, and sure enough, Lambda, Mu, Nu, and Xi were all still at the first level. I was about to add them but stopped myself. If I did, they''d no doubt gain some rapid levels from the help of everyone else and rapidly grow in processing power. I already had a skill advantage over Vee with [Mana Manipulation LV 7] and [Counter Magic LV 5], so I wanted to keep my [Sub-Cores] as dumb as possible for a somewhat reasonable opponent. I''ll let Vee play with Lambda first and can swap in Mu, Nu, or Xi during level-ups. That way, Vee will keep fighting level one opponents and hopefully grow fast enough to fight them at level two, and so on. Plus, Vee will get an experience bonus from [Companion Training]! I explained the idea to Vee, who agreed and was quite happy to take on a more reasonable opponent. After I spent some time giving orders to Lambda and ensuring that it would never escalate to a situation where Vee was taking significant damage from Mana burn, I let the two of them train. If this works out, it can be a good way to sneak in some training whenever we have some time to burn. Meanwhile, I continued my relentless pursuit of perfecting the strange spell I was working on. It was not worth the repeated failure and backlash if it was just a simple spell to gauge the temperature. However, my true goal was to gain a significant boost in [Dimension Magic], and I was determined to achieve it as custom spells had benefited my growth rapidly. I was so fixated on it that I didn''t even notice the elves walking into the room, and Vee had to shove me to wake me up. I quickly formed a telepathic connection so Vee could actually talk to the others. "Sorry!" I apologized sheepishly. "I was sort of in the zone and really concentrating on this." "Honestly, I almost feel like I should apologize for interrupting whatever spell you were working on," Llewel replied. "I''m not sure what you were trying to accomplish by adding heating and cooling properties to... that... but it looked rather complex and impressive. I''ve never really seen someone brute force spell creation like that before¡ªit''s quite hazardous." "The backlash sucks, but I''ve honestly grown used to it," I replied. "Wonderful... the slime is a masochist," Paeris snorted. "I wouldn''t say that," Llewel disagreed. "Suffering towards a goal is worth it. I''ve had to do so myself, albeit in a significantly more cautious manner due to the nature of the subject. Also, from what I observed, Syl has definitely formed a systematic method¡ªthere''s a method to the madness." Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. I nodded, "Back when I first started customizing spells, I had no idea what I was doing at all. I barely had any ranks in [Mana Manipulation] and still had the basic [Mana Sight]. Once I got [Mana Conception], I was able to make far safer modifications, although I still do the brute-force trial and error." Llewel shuddered and shook his head, "Trying to do that at that stage... I can''t even imagine. I do hope it was at least with basic forms of magic, or you were quite literally skirting with death." "Applying Corrosion to Fire and Water was my first custom spells," I answered. "Corrosion..." Loreleia murmured, sounding displeased. "Disgusting!" Paeris spat. Llewel, on the other hand, seemed both intrigued and puzzled, "How would you even apply those two together? Were you trying to create acidic water?" "Debuffs and afflictions," I answered. "I first started creating debuffs for each element and then later began creating afflictions for each, like adding continuous burning effects." "So you gained earlier access to later spells by applying another spell''s concepts to it," Llewel replied. "I guess that''s the benefit of branching out rather than focusing all in one like myself." "I never thought you''d compliment something as vile as [Corrosion Magic]," Paeris remarked. "I understand it''s an affinity opposed to our culture," Llewel responded. "But at the end of the day, it''s still merely a tool like any other form of magic and can be utilized properly and ethically." "Bah! Next, you''ll be contemplating the ethical uses of necromancy," Paeris retorted. "With undead laborers, we can achieve so much! Our people can focus on enriching themselves while the menial tasks are handled." "Necromancy is a step too far, but isn''t that exactly what the Kingdom of Keld has proven? Golems provide all the heavy lifting and mundane tasks, while the scholars can focus on culture and technology." "Ah yes, let''s all just take up the class that only appears every few centuries or so¡ª" "Enough!" Loreleia said, silencing both of them instantly. "You two have gotten far too sidetracked. I''d like to get to business to see if we can proceed with our alliance or not?" Everyone in the room nodded to her words. Loreleia then gestured for me to speak. "I''ve thought it over with Vee, and honestly, I can''t see a reason not to accept your offer," I replied. "The benefits are good, and I''d like to build bridges rather than burn them. I don''t know what the future will hold, but I can''t imagine everyone will accept the truth about me or Vee." "Excellent. I can certainly agree that you''d always have a home here in the future, should you so wish," Loreleia quickly agreed. "Are there any other terms or requests you''d like to make? Either of you, for that matter." "Indeed, you could even become the companion to an elven prince or princess should you so choose!" Paeris said. "There are many candidates that would love to form a companionship with you, and there would be many benefits toward you as well. Training, resources, knowledge¡ªthese could all be yours." "Hey, don''t try to poach my [Bonded Companion]!" I responded. "Yeah... I have to agree with Syl here," Vee said, much to my relief. "I mean, maybe I''m misjudging, but I don''t think any elven royalty is going to be swearing an oath to the gods to me like Syl did. Plus, since Syl and I are in this whole [Experiment] situation together, we have ample reasons to cooperate." "Disappointing..." Paeris muttered. "But!" Vee interrupted. "As for what you can offer me? Well, I won''t say no to any skills, training, or advice on evolution. I''m personally wanting something a little less... monstrous. Being able to talk would be nice, but I''d love to change my form or something like Syl." "That can certainly be arranged, and I apologize for Paeris'' forwardness," Loreleia said. "If you can think of any other requests, they can certainly be amended to our agreement, assuming they aren''t absurd. Likewise, I''ll leave a clause open for extra compensation should something be lacking, as I can''t promise you we have the knowledge you seek." "You make it sound like it''s going to be a contract," Vee replied. "That''s because it will be," Loreleia replied with a grin. "That way, you can be assured that you will be compensated fairly, and any fears of betrayal after the fact will be alleviated. Likewise, I wouldn''t want you to risk holding back anything for fear of reprisal." "Huh... neat!" Vee replied. "I must admit I like that sound," I replied. "Could we have something about keeping secrets? I''d rather not have some of my abilities revealed." "Certainly," she readily agreed. "Even if you didn''t push for one, I would have. You will undoubtedly learn some secrets of ours through this ordeal, and I''d rather they not be spread after the fact." I nodded. "And your main request was a pink slime core," Loreleia replied. "Anything you''d like to add?" "Skills or training both interest me, as I doubt you have any information about slime evolutions." "Scarce, as most evolved slimes are encountered in dungeons or in extremely rare or absurd circumstances," Llewel replied. "I''ve learned Enchantment through an Apprenticeship. I wouldn''t mind learning some Alchemy and adding it to my profession list. I also would love to have both my profession and class, although you elves get it naturally, so I''m not sure if that can be arranged..." "Unfortunately, no. We get it unlocked for us for free with age," Llewel answered. "But I''d be more than willing to teach you some alchemy. Unfortunately, I don''t have the [Apprenticeship] skill. I could look into purchasing it or unlocking it from some of my peers." "Alchemy aside. What type of skills would you be interested in?" Loreleia asked. "My gut tells me magic, but frankly, I think I need some Tamer skills. I only have [Companion Bond] and [Companion Training]." The three elves stared at me like I''d dropped a massive bombshell on them. "Not even [Companion Growth]?" Llewel asked. "No? What does that do?" I asked, genuinely curious. "It provides bonus experience for the Tamer and Companion," Loreleia answered. "It''s considered a necessity; otherwise, you are constantly hindering both of your growths through the forced experience split. Although I do understand humans see companions differently, and try to hinder their growth and prevent evolutions as much as possible." Now it was my time to stare at them dumbfounded. There was an entire skill dedicated to granting more experience, and I didn''t have it! "How many monsters have you two killed to be at this level with the split?" Paeris asked. "Oh man, we fought so many kobolds and demons and everything! Syl literally exploded their entire outpost!" Vee said excitedly. "And we were on our own for a long time before that," I answered. "Other than taking out the elf assassin and the Outeatus group, our experience gains have been quite limited since we joined up. So I''d absolutely love to get my hands on this [Companion Growth] skill!" Chapter 250: Contract Magic We continued to chat and iron out the details. Most of it wasn''t worth mentioning, but a big sticking point for me was that I desperately needed food. "Are we not feeding you sufficiently?" Llewel asked, his curiosity piqued. "Don''t slimes usually just eat garbage?" Paeris questioned. "Ugh... While that might be the case for normal slimes, I''ve evolved quite a few times, and there''s no way I can survive on garbage and scrap anymore," I explained. "I also compress my slime to maintain my forms and defenses. If I don''t have the required density, then my defenses are insufficient, and I can''t establish the correct amount of realism. I suffered a huge loss from that teleportation!" Llewel blinked a few times, seemingly taken aback, "Is that why the Mana cost was so high, and I had to initiate the emergency teleport?" "Yeah, Syl is dimensionally heavy!" Vee giggled. "The amount of slime that would require that amount would be..." he frowned. "I can''t even comprehend it! Where were you storing it all?" "That''s a secret until this contract thing gets signed," I explained, and I could see the disappointment in his eyes. "So you''re requesting more food to regain strength?" Loreleia reiterated. "Either that or point me to a hunting ground, and I''ll do it myself," I replied. "Monster meat generates the most slime mass for me." Loreleia looked at Vee and tilted her head with a puzzled look. "All food is good to me! I prefer it cooked, unlike this greedy slime," Vee answered. "Although these fruits are amazing! I could eat them all day!" "I''m honestly very curious about your slime now..." Llewel admitted, stroking his chin as he tried to examine me. "I can provide a sample once we''re signed up," I offered. "As long as you replace what''s lost. It''s literally my body, movement, defenses, attacks, and everything!" "Not unlike the Fey, who are Mana beings and, with every spell cast, are siphoning away at their lifeforce," Llewel said, nodding to himself. "If that''s all, then we might as well sign it now," Loreleia suggested as she pulled out a large scroll. When she placed the scroll on the table, I could see it had already been filled with all of our discussion and requirements. Either it was a magic item, or she possessed a skill to fill out the contents during our conversation. "Feel free to give it a read-over," Loreleia suggested. "Make sure there''s no hidden fine print, Syl!" Vee emphasized. Both of us spent some time quickly reading through it. I even gave my [Sub-Cores] a vague order to read through it for any discrepancies, but seemingly nothing happened¡ªeither they found nothing, or my order was too crazy for them. There was even a clause surrounding requesting additional compensation for Vee and me. I was pretty happy with everything and had no problem signing the magical document. "So how does this work? Is it like a spirit or god oath?" I asked. "Roughly on par with the former," Loreleia answered. "What are the consequences of a breach? I''ve seen the golden chains from a near-breach from a spirit oath," I replied. "Depending on the severity of the breach, you''d be losing up to fifty percent of your levels," she casually answered. I slammed the table in shock, "Half of my levels!?" "I can promise you that I have far more levels to lose than you, little slime," Loreleia replied. "And losing them would be dire; I would fail at my ascension to a High Elf immediately¡ª[Identify] me." I did so and noticed she had partially revealed more of her profile willingly. "Max level!" I cried out. "I didn''t even know that was possible for non-monsters... How high is that, if you don''t mind me asking?" "A hundred levels," she answered. "And that''s just my race level; I have far more in classes and professions." I gulped. "So, at the max level, can you become a High Elf? Is it like an evolution? Can dwarves and humans do this?" Vee asked. "Dwarves, yes, humans, I''m unsure," Loreleia replied. "Not many humans live long enough to reach it; unlike monsters, it is still not guaranteed." "That''s so cool. I bet the entire Elven Council is full of high elves!" Vee said excitedly. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. "It''s considered the minimum qualification," Loreleia casually replied. I nodded and looked over the contract quickly again. I had a newfound fear of potentially breaching it. Thankfully, from what I was reading, the breach protection was more for our benefit rather than theirs, as the only realistic way I could breach it was if I revealed any elven secrets to their enemies. Even our task of helping them uncover the scheme''s perpetrators against Sylthaeryn and the Feirelle branch was explicitly worded as "to the best of my abilities." That was a huge relief, as I didn''t want to get punished for failing to help them. "I can''t see anything wrong with this," I replied, looking at Vee. "Nope, no hidden clauses; seems solid to me!" Vee agreed. "Wonderful, we will sign it then and finally start putting our cards on the table," Loreleia said. Signing it was a matter of touching the contract and focusing on it. We would all receive a system prompt asking if we accepted the terms and conditions. Vee and I gave each other a nod before accepting it together, causing our names to write themselves on the document. "So cool!" Vee exclaimed. Once we had all signed it, the contract shone briefly before burning up on the spot into sparkling fragments. Loreleia explained that each of us could bring up the contract by thinking about it, and the system would provide a copy for us in a notification box. Obviously, I wasted no time trying it out and soon found the magical floating contract replicated in its entirety. However, what really surprised me was that at the bottom, it had all of our names listed out, with a short status description indicating whether we were in breach of contract or not. "Forget demons and chronomancers and all that stuff; I think the real class to be scared of is lawyers!" Vee said half-jokingly. "Like magical contracts that you can take with you all the time? Sheesh! With real-time tracking on breaches? That''s terrifying!" "This feature was added by a human Otherworlder like yourself," Loreleia informed Vee. "This functionality of contracts has only been around for the last... three centuries?" "Seriously, he wasted his dying wish on contracts?" I asked. "If I recall correctly, he had a personal vendetta against the Fey and wanted a safer method of creating contracts without involving spirit oaths," Loreleia answered. "Talk about a grudge!" Vee chuckled. "Okay, so where were you keeping all that slime?" Llewel asked, changing the subject. "Oh, I have a trait called [Core Storage] that lets me store slime like dimensional storage. I think I got it due to my Dimension affinity," I replied. "A slime has Dimension affinity..." Paeris stammered, his eyes wide in disbelief. Llewel nodded excitedly, "It must have been a massive storage to contain enough slime that my own Mana was insufficient. I presume the storage ruptured during the teleportation?" "Yes, I nearly died because of it!" I replied, causing him to look both startled and energetic. "If I didn''t have a life-saving trait, I wouldn''t be standing here. Worst of all, I think all my stored slime was dumped into the elven embassy!" "Oh gods..." Llewel paled. "Is that why I''ve been unable to contact Tamnaeth?" Paeris asked. "I don''t think the embassy exists anymore... sorry," I replied somberly. "What do you mean?" Loreleia asked. "I have [Acid Slime], [Blaze Slime], and [Cryo Slime]," I explained. "I used to keep my slime mass transformed into their respective states ready to go and use on demand. All of that exploded out of me when my core shattered." "Were there deaths?" Llewel asked. "Assuming you know?" "They were mostly dwarves; I didn''t see any mention of an elf, so I believe Tamnaeth survived," I answered honestly. "That''s a relief," Paeris said, the other two elves nodded. I frowned but didn''t say anything. Did they really not care that dwarves died? I had thought the elves and dwarves were allies. "Oh, and there were a few human deaths, too, and I think they were from the Outeatus Kingdom since they had assassin classes," I added. "Even better!" Paeris exclaimed happily. "Seems my intuition was right; they were likely plotting to attack the embassy," Llewel commented. "Honestly, assuming that Tamnaeth is in good condition and that you survived your injuries, I''d say this was a positive outcome. We might have saved his life and, at minimum, thwarted whatever they were plotting." I could feel Vee''s growing discomfort, but neither of us said anything. Seeing such a blatant disregard for any non-elven life was a little startling. You know... those stories I''d heard are starting to make some sense now. And the reactions I used to get from some of the humans when they thought I was an elf... I can almost understand the human fear-mongering if all elves behave like this. I wasn''t exactly a saint, but I found this attitude a little hard to agree with. However, it wasn''t a dealbreaker, and I''d prefer to remain in positive relations with the elves where I could, even if they weren''t the "good guys." They were still a hell of a lot better than the Outeatus Kingdom! "Going back to what you mentioned earlier, we might need to hide your Dimension affinity, as Sylthaeryn definitely did not have it at birth," Llewel mentioned. "I will also admit that the corrosion magic does pose a slight risk to your identity¡ªno elf would be able to acquire it naturally. I''ll provide a ring to mask your affinities from anyone who might snoop." "How common is that?" I asked. "Not very, but considering you''ll have many eyes on you upon your return to us, it is best to be prudent," Loreleia answered. "Also, on that topic, we will need to officially rename you to finalize the disguise." "Oh, I can change my name. I have [Identity Fabrication]," I explained, and I changed my name to Sylthaeryn Feirelle to prove it. "Interesting... it must be synergizing with your disguise traits. I assume you also have a skill for deception?" Loreleia asked. "I have [Acting LV 6]," I answered. "Good but not great; we can do better than that," she replied quickly. "I''ll need to peruse through my skills, but I believe we can get you [Roleplay] or one of its other upgrades." Vee snickered but didn''t say anything. I could sense a lot of amusement coming from her through the bond. "Also, while your [Identity Fabrication] skill seems quite robust, I can sense that your noble name isn''t true, and that would go for any other half-decent noble," Loreleia explained. "Huh... Good to know; I''m glad I didn''t bother ever pretending to be a noble in the past!" "Does that mean you''ll be making Syl an official noble?" Vee asked. "Yes, I''ll officially bring you into the branch and rename you appropriately. When this is done, we will remove the noble name and return you to your Syl moniker," she answered. "While your transformation disguise is near-perfect, even fooling me if I hadn''t touched your soul, I don''t want to leave anything to chance." I grumbled in agreement. I wasn''t too happy about having my name officially changed; I''d grown extremely attached to it. "Look on the bright side, Syl, you''ll be a princess for real!" Vee encouraged. I don''t want to be a princess! "Once we upgrade your [Acting] skill, we can start some rapid training in etiquette and social norms," Loreleia added. "Paeris. I''ll be entrusting this task to you." "Yes, mistress," he agreed with a bow. Ugh... I''m going to have to deal with this jerk? Just think of the pink slime core! It''ll be worth it in the end! Shiny new core! New skills! Just gotta put up with pretending to be an elven princess and a pompous jerk! Chapter 251: Named Since we were now officially cooperating, I felt more relaxed about revealing some of my capabilities. Naturally, I started by showing off some of my shape-changing abilities and tentacles! While impressed, I was warned to obviously not show off such capabilities, as even the druid class was incapable of doing what I did. Of course, I had to evolve twice to mix so many parts like this! I also explained that I had taken the abilities from other slimes and was fully capable of taking on their primary slime property. I laid many of my cards on the table in the interest of cooperation but decided to keep a few aces up my sleeve ¡ª [Nitro Slime] and my [Sub-Cores]. Llewel took absolute delight in my slime capabilities and almost immediately jumped on potential alchemical solutions. I did warn him that over time, my slime always reverted back to [Mana Slime], its natural state. He honestly reminds me a lot of Simon the Lich. I better not ever mention that Alchemical was one of my mutation options. Likewise, with Vee, we explained her size-altering capabilities and teleportation but hid her [Rift Thread]. It would always be our ultimate failsafe if it remained entirely a secret. The elves weren''t too happy about her [Corrosion Magic]. Still, it was a significant difference compared to their displeasure with me having it, and I was repeatedly warned that any hint of it would cause my disguise to crumble. Then it finally came to the elephant in the room¡ª[Dimension Magic]. Both Vee and I had it, and we clearly made it plainly visible that we were not comfortable staying in an anti-teleportation room such as this for our own safety. "Fret not; you won''t be staying in prison, so you should have your full dimensional capabilities restored," Llewel explained. "However, be warned that desertion would violate our contract. So no teleporting away." "I can promise you that I do not want to lose any levels, and I certainly don''t want to make any more enemies. Potentially having an entire kingdom as my enemy, not to mention a furious demon, is more than enough for me!" I replied, half-jokingly. "It''s a pity that the Feirelle does not have any Riftmancers, or we could offer some tutoring in that regard," Llewel offhandedly commented. "I think having a Chronomancer is more than enough," Vee commented. Llewel chuckled, "It''s not as powerful as you think it is and is honestly more suited to utility, like how I use it for my alchemy." "Sure beats throwing around fireballs," Vee joked. "Hey!" I cried. Llewel chuckled again, "I suppose not. I certainly wouldn''t trade it for that, although I''ve witnessed mighty Arch Pyromancers performing feats that would make anything I do pale in comparison." "If that''s all, shall we take our leave?" Loreleia interrupted. "I need to make the announcement that my daughter has officially returned before any rumors or sightings of you circulate." Vee and I nodded in agreement, eager to leave the prison room. "Good. Then let''s get the last matter settled," she replied and cleared her throat. Her face became stern, her posture statuesque, while she radiated an almost aura of charisma. I unconsciously gulped at the sudden and overwhelming presence that seemed to encompass the entire room. "I, Loreleia Feirelle, Scion of the Verdant Throne, do extend to you the rarest honor¡ªan invitation to take root within the noble Feirelle Branch! "Like a seed entrusted to fertile soil, you shall be nurtured by the wisdom of our lineage, your spirit entwined with ours as saplings beneath the same golden boughs. Henceforth, should you accept, you shall be known as Sylthaeryn Feirelle, a name to be carried upon the winds of legend, as enduring as the heartwood of the eldest trees. "May your deeds be as life-giving rain, strengthening our roots and lifting our boughs ever skyward. May your valor blossom into deeds of renown, sweet as the first fruits of summer, and may your name one day stand among the great branches of our house¡ªa testament to the unbroken cycle of growth, glory, and eternal renewal. "Step forward, and let your legacy take root in the hallowed grove of Feirelle!" "I accept!" I replied, trying to sound confident. Paeris looked like he wanted to give her a standing ovation, while Llewel stared at me with a look of envy and hope. I''m guessing that speech means a lot more to them than it does to me. Considering his noble name is Fei rather than Feirelle, I''m assuming he hasn''t wholly joined the branch yet... And here I am, a random slime taking it before him. That''s got to suck, even if it''s for a good cause. "Holy crap..." Vee murmured. Then, like a deflated balloon, the overwhelming presence vanished, and she took on the more restrained demeanor she had previously. "There... it''s done," Loreleia said. "Paeris, you can take both of them to their new accommodation. You can start the training once they''ve settled in a bit." Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. "Yes, mistress," Paeris replied immediately. "Llewel, you can come with me," she continued. I''ll announce my daughter''s return and credit you for her safe and prompt return." "Yes, of course," Llewel agreed, giving a polite bow. "Excellent. I shall see you again in a few days, Syl, once you''ve settled in a bit. Should you need anything, feel free to ask Paeris," Loreleia explained. "Pardon... mistress?" Paeris asked, seeking clarification. "You shall be attending Syl here," she answered. "Truly treat her as if she was my daughter, as that is what the outside world will see. Once enrolled to become a branch head, your aid will be vital in any social emergencies and maintaining perfect appearances." Paeris looked like he had swallowed a fly, "As you wish..." I restrained myself from snorting in delight. I was gaining a butler who had no choice but to help me to the best of his abilities. Considering how much displeasure he had from my mere existence and his no shame in displaying it, it felt immensely cathartic for me. Vee and I exchanged glances, and I could feel the smugness radiating from her. "May I take a sample of your slime?" Llewel asked, producing an empty potion bottle from his pouch. "Sure, it wouldn''t be the first time," I replied, taking the glass from him. "You''ve had alchemists use your slime before?" he asked curiously. "Sold it as alcohol, actually," I answered, filling the bottle up by placing a finger inside it and ejecting slime. I handed over the full potion to him and could see the visible confusion on his face. "Alcohol counts as a poison, so I can produce it from [Poison Slime]," I explained. "Curious... does it note fade with time?" he asked. "Oh..." I replied. "Did you just scam a lot of dwarves?" Vee asked curiously. "It''s weird... Thern never mentioned the alcohol effect fading," I whispered curiously. "Perhaps it''s due to the nature of the poison itself rather than your slime?" Llewel suggested. I frowned, "I activate it just like any of my other slime traits..." "That may be the case, but once you''ve added poison to a concoction, you normally can''t remove it unless you add a neutralizing agent," Llewel explained. "Of course, there are poisons that lose their efficacy based on temperature or dilution, but I presume these effects don''t correlate to alcohol." "I honestly have no idea," I admitted. "I was only thinking about trading for slime cores." "Something we can look into if you do partake in alchemy lessons," Llewel said with a slight smile. "I look forward to returning this Mana slime sample to my atelier." Vee giggled, "Not to spoil the surprise, but prepare to have your mind blown! That slime got even a pixie addicted to it." "Interesting..." Llewel murmured as he examined the bottle and swirled the solution inside. "I do sense an extremely high concentration of Mana in it. Although quantity isn''t usually enough to satiate a greedy pixie." "Trixie would always say it was some of the purist Mana she''d tasted," I answered. "And that was before I uncapped the trait." "Trixie..." Loreleia murmured. "You know her?" I asked, hopeful. "The name sounds familiar, but to be honest, it might be from ages ago," she replied. "Well, she was trapped when I found her, so it could very well be decades!" "Sorry for interrupting, but did you say you''ve uncapped your trait?" Llewel asked, struggling to hide the excitement in his eyes. I turned to Loreleia, who made a small gesture with her hand to allow me to answer despite the interruption, "Yeah, I''ve got [Mana Slime LV 13]. I stopped there because it took far too many blue slime cores to level it up further." Llewel''s eyes widened, "Verbal confirmation of slime cores merging and increasing the trait level!" "I thought that was well known? Even the slime farmers knew that if a blue slime ate another, it would have better slime afterward." Llewel chuckled and shook his head, "There''s a difference between an observed result and factual confirmation, especially if it''s based on system evidence. Yes, it was postulated, and the slime has been alchemically tested for differences, but it was never actually confirmed that it increased the trait level as a result! One theory even suggested that the two slimes were simply combining to create a superior singular creature." "Uh... that''s definitely not true, at least for me," I explained. "I''m definitely all me. Although I do get a prompt to integrate new cores if it''s my first time encountering them." "I''ll have to procure a brown slime then for you so I can observe this firsthand, assuming you are willing?" Llewel asked. Vee laughed abruptly, "Syl will tolerate anything if slime cores are involved!" "Not anything..." I denied. "You''ve quite literally sold your body for slime cores!" Vee cried out. "You make it sound so dirty..." I grumbled. "It''s more like I donated blood, or Mana, or even food?" "Sure, sure, whatever lets you sleep at night," Vee teased. "I must say it''s nice to see such a colorful bond between companions," Loreleia commented. "Not many Tamers reach such a level as you two have so quickly." "Being able to talk fluently certainly helps," Llewel stated. "Even the [Nature Commune] has its limits, and most Tamers aren''t willing to stick to non-magical companions or lose it through evolution." "Oh yeah, I tried talking to a wolf once, and honestly, a field of corn was better at communicating," I giggled. "You... have access to [Nature Commune]?" Llewel asked, looking surprised. "I have access to all the elven traits," I replied. "I thought I mentioned it? We were discussing the whole." "Perhaps you did, and it simply slipped our minds. Or maybe we simply didn''t understand the gravity of what you said," Loreleia answered. "Does that include [Elven Glamour]?" Oh... I hope that doesn''t mean I''m in trouble? "Up to a maximum of level seven currently," I answered honestly, hoping for the best. "Excellent!" she responded positively, much to my relief. "I suggest using it to its maximum level at all times. You''ve undoubtedly made our goal of blending in much easier, which will banish many doubts." I agreed and activated the trait through [Chimeric Mimicry]. I''d probably need to redistribute my trait selection for this whole elven thing. "I don''t suppose you want me to use any traits like [Draconic Scales]?" I asked. "No!" all three elves cried out in unison. I shrunk back in surprise, "Sorry... forget I asked..." "Apologies... but recently, there was a dragon assault against one of our dungeons," Loreleia explained. "Even if the entire elven nation was unified, one must always be cautious of dragons and not try to draw their ire." "I won''t touch the trait¡ªpromise! But, if you don''t mind me asking, how does a dragon attack a dungeon?" I asked curiously. "Attack is putting it mildly," Llewel muttered, looking disturbed. "Our dungeons take the form of massive trees that you enter and climb to the top, with the final boss at the pinnacle. It torched the entire dungeon; repairing it will take years." "Sorry to hear that, I know how important they are for regulating the flow of essence." Loreleia nodded, "Thankfully, we have more than one. But even losing one was a massive blow for one of our training grounds. But enough of that. We''ve talked for far too long, and we need to make the announcement." "Goodbye, Syl," Llewel said. "We will have to chat about slimes and these traits of yours later!" Vee and I waved goodbye to the two and then turned to face Paeris. "Please follow me, Lady Sylthaeryn," he said and performed a slight bow. "Princess Syl!" Vee cackled. I caught a tiny eye twitch from Paeris as he diligently walked to the door and held it open before gesturing for me to exit. Pink slime core... You''re doing it for the core! Plus, who knows, it may be fun to order around this snooty butler. Chapter 252: Tree Home Vee hopped onto my shoulder, and I left the room. After Paeris closed the door, he began to lead us to our next destination. "This telepathic speech will be handy to keep things obscured," Paeris began explaining. "Especially in case of emergencies where I need to inform you of a situation or prevent you from making a mistake. However, be warned that Llewel did look it up after the demonstration yesterday, and some skills or traits can detect it or even eavesdrop on it, so it''s not infallible." "I''d hope they are rare?" I asked. "Llewel was unsure, as such a form of communication is not exactly a common occurrence unless dealing with the Fey," he answered. "It''s still got to beat talking out loud," Vee replied. "I bet there are vastly more abilities for listening in on a normal conversation compared to a mental one." "Yes, which is why sensitive matters should remain strictly in sealed rooms," Paeris answered. "Certainly do not mention your task without proper security." I nodded in response. As we walked, I started trying to take in my surroundings. Thanks to our attempted escape via teleportation, I knew we were inside a tree, but honestly, it felt like we were in some grand mansion instead, and I had a hard time even telling we were inside a trunk. The sheer magic of it all was truly awe-inspiring. Cycling through various senses, I could see so much life glowing through the tree, indicating that despite being majorly hollowed out, it was still very much alive and flourishing. Other than furniture that had been added after the fact, anything structural appeared as if it had simply grown and naturally formed that way¡ªeven the stairs! "I feel like we''ve fallen into a fairytale," Vee commented as she admired the enchanted wood. However, there were remarkably few elves present, a grim reminder of their strict population controls that Gramps had mentioned to me before. Instead, there were plenty of plant-based servants, far superior to the ones Trixie had mass-produced, that seemed to handle the more mundane tasks. I even spotted a friendly dryad and treant patrolling the halls, much to my surprise. I can understand why they value [Nature Magic] so much and are abhorrent to [Corrosion Magic] as clearly they need it to supplement their low population numbers. It''s probably the exact reason why they treat their [Bonded Companions] so well. The few elves I did see politely bowed as we passed; no words were spoken, although Paeris did give me a mental warning not to talk to them. It was a stern reminder that I was a noble from their point of view. I just have to hope that the elves don''t behave like the human nobles I ran into. I think I might break if I''m expected to treat everyone as beneath me and wasting my time. What are the chances that I could delegate this? If I could train a [Sub-Core] to act and talk for me, I could sit back and relax! Well, not precisely sitting back since I''d still be stuck to the body¡ªimagine if I wasn''t restricted to being connected! I could send my [Sub-Cores] out and stay in my room all day playing with magic or hunting in the forest. That would be the dream life! I also couldn''t help activating [Spatial Sense] for the first time outside of the prison room and found my head spinning. I had to applaud Vee for somehow keeping this trait active at all times. Meanwhile, I was already thinking of delegating the task to a [Sub-Core] so I wouldn''t have to worry about it. As we paced the halls and up various flights of stairs, I could sense a growing worry in my mind. This was a perfect recipe for getting myself lost in these endless halls! "Sorry, but how exactly do you know where to go?" I asked. "Years of familiarity; however, if you are concerned, you can simply ask the tree to help you find your destination, and it will provide a path for you to follow," Paeris explained. "You have a magic tree GPS system?" Vee asked. "The tree is certainly magical, but I do not know what this... GPS is?" Paeris commented, looking disturbed by the foreign words Vee was spouting. "Speaking of which, it should go without saying, but do not harm the tree." "I''m guessing the tree can and will report those things?" Vee questioned. "Naturally," Paeris replied. Wow, I''m glad we didn''t decide to use the acid-melting strategy¡ªthat could have been disastrous! "Does that mean it''s constantly watching us? Cause that''s rather creepy... do we not have any privacy?" Vee frantically asked. "No, the tree cannot be used to spy that way," Paeris answered. "It can sense presence and, depending on its familiarity with you, can identify your current location. That''s not to say it can''t detect unfamiliar intruders, but they''d be labeled as unknown presences. Since you will soon be labeled as the heir of the branch, you will be able to request the location of almost anyone within the tree." The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. "That''s convenient," I replied happily. "I''m just glad it won''t be watching us," Vee sighed. "Do you think the tree would be mad if I set up a few webs?" "Assuming they aren''t harmful to it, I don''t see why not. You are hardly the first spider companion, and such arrangements aren''t uncommon. I only request you try to keep them hidden and off the floors, as the cleaners will dispose of them." "Oh, I definitely plan on keeping them hidden," Vee replied. "I''m not going to let any assassins get the drop on us!" Oh! That''s clever... Vee mentioned being able to sense things through her web. We will have a massive advantage if she keeps our living area webbed! I made sure to convey feelings of encouragement and gratitude to her through our bond. We eventually arrived at a hallway, which formed a door handle when Paeris reached for it. Opening the door revealed a massive entryway with high ceilings and even a candelabra centered around two symmetrical open staircases leading to the second floor. "This will be your living quarters; every room here is yours to do with as you please," Paeris explained. "It''s fully furnished and supplied, but if you find it lacking, feel free to request it, and I''ll seek to fulfill it to the best of my abilities." "Holy crap, we''ve moved up in the world! We have our own mini tree mansion inside a giant tree!" Vee exclaimed excitedly. "We even have little plant servants!" I looked to where she indicated and saw that a few plant sprites were cleaning in one of the other rooms. "They respond to simple instructions even if you aren''t their creator," Paeris answered. I tried reaching out to one telepathically but was met with a brick wall. "Telepathy doesn''t work on them," I said with a frown. "No! How am I supposed to communicate with them then?" Vee cried. "Gestures or perhaps a written sign?" Paeris suggested. "Assuming they don''t perish and need replacing, they should retain any small tasks or communication methods you teach them. Or simply ask Lady Sylthaeryn to inform them." Oh great... I''m going to have to get used to that. I already miss my old name. "Teaching them a sign for fruit delivery should be our number one priority," Vee replied firmly. "Greedy spider," I commented. "Says the gluttonous slime," Vee poked back. Paeris cleared his throat, grabbing our attention. "Shall I leave you two to explore your home, or do you have any requests for me?" "Some of the promised knowledge would be great," I replied. "I don''t know whether you have any of it in written form or if it needs to be relayed verbally or from someone in particular, but I''d love some information to go through on either my class or tamer classes and what skills I could potentially learn or earn." "Yeah, if you have a bestiary on spider monsters, that would be amazing!" Vee quickly added. Paeris sighed and nodded, "Very well. Llewel has already done some preliminary research since yesterday and found some books. I''ll go fetch them while you two settle in." "Wow, he''s proactive. Does that come with being a Chronomancer?" Vee asked. "I cannot confirm, but I have experienced him quite frequently having some fortuitous foresight," Paeris explained. "Whether that''s from his class, luck, or otherwise, I do not know." "He''s totally looking into the future or something!" Vee replied confidently. "That''s what I''d do with time powers! Look into the future for stuff to warn me about." That''s... oddly terrifying if true. "Plausible, but it could just be his natural curiosity at play. He witnessed you with a rare class and you with an uncommon species of spider and likely sought some answers of his own," Paeris said. "I''m surprised you don''t know the answer. Can you not ask him? Or is that considered rude?" I questioned. "Asking sensitive details like that would most certainly be a faux pas," Paeris promptly answered. "I''d certainly say that outside of your mother, you should keep any details of your rare class or otherwise to yourself. Also, Llewel technically outranks me, as he is halfway to joining the Feirelle branch while I am merely sworn to it." "Thanks, Paeris," I replied. "Just doing my duty, Lady Sylthaeryn," he replied with a quick bow. I had to commend him for keeping up the act even though we were alone in this abode, as far as I could tell. "If that is all, I will leave you to make yourself at home or perhaps freshen up a bit. In the meantime, I will go see about securing those books for you..." he replied, making a quick headway to the door to leave. I bet he''s tired of acting like this around me, ha! I waved Paeris off and then turned to Vee after breaking him from the telepathic connection. "So... how''s the princess life?" Vee teased. "Tease me about that when we are alone and I swear I''ll recreate the exploding worm right here and now," I grumbled. "Sheesh! Okay, okay," Vee replied in a panic. "Still... looking at this place is not too shabby! I thought the inn we were staying at was luxurious, and then our prison cell was above and beyond, but this! It''s literally a mansion! In a tree! A tree penthouse!" "I''m glad you''re excited about it," I sighed. "I''m still irked about the fact that they want me to literally pretend to be her. Not to mention the way they responded to the dead dwarves..." "Yeah, they really don''t care about anyone but themselves, do they? I can sort of understand it; people would often joke that humanity would only truly come together when aliens invaded." "Aliens?" I asked, tilting my head. "Err... they come from space, little green men?" Vee offered an explanation. "Goblins come from space!?" I replied with shock. "No! Not goblins! Ugh... never mind! It''s stuff from my old life, at least I think it is. I''m still not too happy about all my memories and experiences being blended together." "Sounds like you got far more than me. I don''t know whether to be thankful for that or upset." "Well, enough about that, let''s explore the place! I bet there''s more than one bedroom, although we should probably stick to the same room for safety''s sake." I nodded, "It''s definitely better to stick together. Also, I loved the idea of you turning the place into a big spider nest." "I just have to avoid the cleaners," Vee giggled and pointed a leg to one of the plant sprites climbing the stairs. We began exploring our new home, and while Vee was ecstatic about it, I felt it was a little too much. Why the hell would I need two bedrooms, three bathrooms, a kitchen, a dining room, a lounge, and a study! And that''s not even including the entrance foyer staircase thing. I''m a damn slime and used to live inside of a hollowed-out tree or hole in the ground. Chapter 253: Positioning As fun as exploring our new home was, I was chopping at the bit to continue working on the unknown spell I was creating. I was really hopeful that completing it would instantly propel my [Dimension Magic] to level two, and then I could start trying to figure out teleportation like Vee. "Well, if you''re going to do that, I guess I''ll start laying some webs," Vee replied. "Or you can continue the magical wrestling," I offered. "No, maybe later; I''m not a fan of the headache from the spell backlash," Vee said. It''s not that bad... But I shrugged and let her do her own thing. Before continuing, I quickly tested [Position] and [Spatial Sense] now that we were out of the prison room and on more stable ground. The coordinates provided by the spell seemed much more understandable now that we were out of that bizarre room. To my surprise, if I cast it on an object while observing it with [Spatial Sense], it would update in real-time to give its personal coordinates underneath the numbers indicating its position relative to me. I can see why Vee said these go hand in hand. I can''t wait to see what the next spell does to manipulate these numbers; I want to be able to teleport things! Obviously, I could use [Blink] if I really wanted to, but there was something so much more... personal with casting a spell version of it, in my opinion. At least, that was how I currently felt about it. While tinkering with the spell, I couldn''t help but wonder if there were other ways to perform skill functions through magic itself and, thus, circumvent anti-skills. If someone had the skill [Identity Block], but you cast a spell interpreting the effects of [Identify], would it still be blocked? Well, I would need many more spell components to do that. Something to potentially look forward to, maybe? Paeris returned before I completed the spell and placed some books on one of the counters. "This is just some preliminary information, and I believe Llewel is still searching for more, so do not be too disheartened if what you seek isn''t within these. Llewel is also restricted in what he can gather, so you might have to wait till the Mistress finds time to requisition more for you." "Thanks, Paeris," I replied. "You''re most welcome, Lady Sylthaeryn. If you need anything from this humble servant, you only need to ask," he said with a bow. I didn''t want anything more for him, nor did Vee, as she had already found the food stash. So, I dismissed him because I wanted to continue practicing in peace. He informed us he would be staying in the abode across from us, so if we needed his services, he was mere moments away. It''s a little too close for my liking, but I had expected him to be living with us, so I suppose this is actually better than my original prediction. Anything we do or say is undoubtedly going straight to Loreleia. Even with the information on the table, I kept prodding along with my spell. Vee eventually started poking through the one book on spider monsters but judging by her lukewarm reaction, this wasn''t the type of information she wanted. When the spell was finally completed, I felt I had grown in my magical comprehension. I have no doubt that if I didn''t already have such a high level in [Mana Manipulation], I would have gained a level up for this work, and likewise with [Mana Conception] being fused into [Soul Sight]. Actually, that reminds me that I still need to look for other fusions... I bet I can now get [Soul Sense] and [Soul Vision]! But I threw those temptations to the side, for now, cast my newly found spell, and targeted a nearby chair. I immediately got a reading of its temperature and the ambient temperature! Seeing no harmful effect, I cast it on Vee. To my surprise, she had quite a low body temperature. I mean, the other one is just called [Position]... so what about temperature? <[Temperature] spell has been registered.> I was excitedly expecting more notifications, but to my dismay, I didn''t get a level in Dimension, Fire, or Ice magic. I had thought for sure I''d get at least level two for my troubles, but if it was being split into my other categories, then that might explain the lack of a level. Or maybe I just gained a bunch of experience in information magic? Ha! "I can''t believe you created such a complex spell just to tell the temperature..." Vee grumbled. "Sure, it''s not as glorious and pronounced as a good old [Fireball] spell, but you must realize that what it''s doing is rather crazy, right? Like this is something you''d need a skill like [Identify] to use!" I enthusiastically explained. "Why not just spend the skill point and get it?" Vee questioned. "Sure, but this way, it cost me nothing!" "You needed the super rare [Dimension Magic] and two elements... I don''t think you can reasonably say it cost you nothing!" "I got valuable experience in my skills..." I grumbled. "Oh! Okay, then, that''s definitely worth it!" Vee replied, changing her tone. "Does that mean you''ve got [Adjust]?" If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Seriously... We went from [Position] to [Adjust]? Who the hell comes up with these names!? "Yes..." I replied hesitantly. "Liar," Vee instantly accused. "The spell is actually called [Positioning]." "Oh, you''ve got to be joking!?" I cried out. "Nope. But thanks for the confirmation," Vee replied smugly. After venting about terrible spell names, I eventually sighed, "I''m close, though, I bet." "You''d be even closer if you spent the point," Vee replied. "Nope. I''ll cast [Position] over and over if I have to! Or better yet, why don''t you cast [Positioning], and I try to interpret it from your spell? We could even try using [Ritual Casting] to work together!" "Uh... is that a wise move?" Vee asked nervously. "We are talking about [Dimension Magic] here." "You said it just changes the coordinates; how bad can it be? And we can cast it on a chair or something." "I like these chairs, though. What about casting it on this useless book about spiders?" "That bad?" I asked curiously. "Terrible! Nothing beyond tier three monsters!" Vee cried in frustration. "Considering spiders start at tier two..." I mumbled. "Exactly! Utterly useless! I''m offended they even brought this book to me!" "Well, they''re obligated to help us. I bet we will have better spider books soon enough. Although that doesn''t give me much hope on whatever book they brought me." "I skimmed the one book; it''s like a beginner guide to Tamers. Stuff like suggestions for your first companion and how to care for and nurture them..." "Well, hopefully, it at least lists some skills, and then I can ask someone to share them with me." "Yeah, there were some," Vee admitted. "Still, it''s a poor first showing." "If we don''t find anything, I''ll ask Gramps during my next evolution," I offered. "You''d do that?" Vee asked expectantly. "Why not? Helping you helps me since we''re partners in this. It certainly can''t hurt to ask. I''m sure Gramps will be thrilled about a rare evolution or something; he seems determined to get that. Why else would he have changed my experience distribution?" "I guess I should be thankful my one hasn''t done something like that yet. Although maybe she''s distracted by how much you''re into magic." "She was tempting me to evolve into a spirit last time. Although I''m pretty glad I''ve stayed a slime. How else would I get to continue eating cores and adding more powers to my collection?" "Yeah, yeah, keep bragging... So are we going to try using [Positioning]?" "It''s really called that?" "Yeah. Makes sense, doesn''t it? [Position] gets the coordinates, and [Positioning] changes them." I frowned but ultimately gave up. At least it was a little better than all the "Create: Ice" spells. Vee began casting the spell, and I watched eagerly. The once wholly alien Mana and spell constructs were much more understandable to me now that I had the affinity and magic skill and could vaguely comprehend them. "Okay, so how exactly does this work?" I asked. "Feels weird for me to be on the teaching end," Vee chuckled. "But from what I''ve gathered, changing coordinates is hard. Objects are kind of okay, assuming they aren''t connected to something larger, but living things are a nightmare!" "You teleported me fine into your pit trap," I replied. "Ah! But that was a workaround I discovered!" Vee excitedly explained. "Someone or something entering the portal seems to make it guaranteed, which is why I preferred just assigning the coordinates to my [Rift Thread], which sucked it up like a dry sponge." "So you can''t change my coordinates directly?" I asked. "Trying to change the coordinates of a dwarf felt like trying to push a boulder up a steep hill. With you, it feels like trying to carry the boulder up a vertical incline." "Huh... resistances or permissions, maybe?" I suggested. "Well, it would be pretty crazy if I could just teleport anyone," Vee explained. "And honestly, I''ve never tried it on myself directly." "Why not? Seems like the first thing I would have tried." Vee sighed, "Yeah, because I''m not suicidal? And I had [Blink]; why would I do it through a spell when the skill is instant and safe?" "Well, you tried out your portals yourself." "Only after sending countless dwarfs and monsters through them! I had to ensure it was entirely safe before trying it myself. Even then, I was extremely reluctant to do it and would only do it as a last resort. But like I said, making a portal with [Rift Thread] seems to bypass the need for me to change someone''s coordinates directly." "I wonder if I could give you permission to teleport me. Would that work?" "I''d really not like to risk that right now," Vee whined. "Okay, okay, something to try out in the future when we feel more confident about it. Plus, I''ll admit I don''t want to lose another core until I get my food situation sorted out. I''ll have to ask if we can go hunting tomorrow." Vee then began a somewhat lengthy explanation of how she used the two spells. Effectively, she would cast [Position] twice, at the start and end, and then apply the endpoint coordinates to the first one. I asked how she remembered such a large set of numbers, but surprisingly, the answer was relatively simple: keeping the spell active, and then the subsequent casting of the [Positioning] spell would readily accept the held spell''s information. It was nice to see that the system provided at least some built-in help with the spell or assistance. Honestly, it felt like the bare minimum this unhelpful advanced magic provided. I wonder how Llewel studied his [Time Magic]? I''d bet that he was picked out and groomed for his position once he was discovered to have it, perhaps getting notes and supplies from predecessors? At least, that''s how I''d go about it. They said the Feirelle branch has no Riftmancers, but what about documents? Guess it''s another thing to add to our list of requests. We then went through a lengthy process of trying to assist Vee with the spell, and sadly, this was where we hit a large dead end in my power-leveling idea. As amazing as [Ritual Casting] was, it seemed to provide no assistance to a spell we did not both own. I could have manipulated the spell directly using [Counter Magic], but that might have led to disastrous results and was something both of us wanted to avoid. Backlash and Mana burning from such a resource-intense school of magic could quite easily put Vee in a dire situation. This meant that my only option was spamming the two spells available to me¡ª[Position] and [Temperature]¡ªand hoping for the best. The worst part was that I had no idea if the latter would actually give me any experience, but I was desperate to try anything. Hopefully, thanks to my spell discovery and all my experience boosters, I was relatively close to the second level. While I was spamming away and filling my head with useless numbers, Vee demonstrated the spell to me, and I got to watch in real time as she adjusted the coordinates on the book and saw it appear across the room. "I bet watching the coordinates change is worth more experience!" I excitedly suggested. "Sure, we might as well. I don''t mind getting some practice myself. I''ll also show you how it looks with my [Rift Thread]!" I instantly agreed, and she smugly told me to cast the spell on it. To my horror, the strange thread seemed to somehow have two entire sets of coordinates on it at the same time, and I couldn''t identify which one was, as they both seemed to be updated in real-time as long as I maintained the spell. "I feel like my brain is going to explode..." I groaned. "This is the genius of my [Rift Thread]!" Vee boasted. "It can have two sets of coordinates at once. And this is its partner thread, which it''s linked to. I''ll stop waving them around and let their coordinates settle so you can see where they intersect with each other." I nodded and cast the spell again while maintaining the first. Having two sets of bizzaro numbers like that floating in my mind was not a pleasant experience. "Huh... I expected you to lose your lunch," Vee teased. "I''m a slime; I don''t exactly have a stomach," I groaned in response. It was still highly unpleasant, but my uncomfortableness was soon dwarfed as I received an exciting set of notifications. <[Dimension Magic LV 2] spell [Positioning] learned.> "It really was called [Positioning]..." Chapter 254: Coordinated Cheating "Couldn''t resist and spent the point I see?" Vee asked smugly. "Huh? No way, I need to be frugal with what I''ve got," I replied. "There''s no way you got it in less than a day!" "With [Prodigy] and [Elven Legacy], I get quite a few experience bonuses, and I did create a custom spell even if it wasn''t that impressive!" "You''re honestly telling me that your silly temperature spell gave you that much experience?" "Yeah? The first-time bonus is huge! And it was only the first level. I was honestly surprised I didn''t get it immediately." "Then why didn''t I get anything for creating my portals?" "That''s a good question..." I mumbled and paused to think a bit. "Maybe it''s because you didn''t create a new spell?" "Can you tell me someone else used [Rift Thread] to create a portal?" Vee whined. "Not [Rift Thread] specifically, but I assume they have their own portals. Perhaps through enchanting? Either way, you didn''t exactly create something new from [Position] or [Positioning] and effectively were using them for their intended purposes. If anything, I''d assume you''d get bonus experience towards your [Rift Thread] or [Thread Mastery]?" Vee went silent for a while, then sighed, "Actually, I think you''re right... I did get a big bonus toward my thread traits when I first did it..." "See! I didn''t get special treatment; you just didn''t apply it magically." "Fine..." Vee sighed. "I guess at the end of the day, this was what I wanted in the first place. You''re willing to brute force and mess with dangerous spells, and I can just copy your homework." "Assuming I don''t mix it with something you can''t do... Although we both have [Corrosion Magic], so the debuff is high on my list, it probably would have been easier to change someone''s coordinates if I had to hazard a guess." "That sounds useful," Vee admitted. "Assuming I can''t get someone to step through a portal, it would be a good fallback. Then again, I could also just attack them with [Rift Thread] directly." "It will also give you a bunch of experience. Probably not as much as me discovering it, but you''d still get a personal first-time bonus." "Then what are you waiting for! Get cracking!" Vee said impatiently. "Hey, I still want to try out this [Positioning] spell¡ªI just got it! At least let me teleport a book or something!" "Okay, sure... Let me try to help you out a bit," Vee replied. We spent quite some time with me, trying out the spell with some tidbits from Vee and her usage of it. For my first time casting it, Vee helped me go through the steps and use the combination of two [Position] spells before ultimately casting [Positioning] to change the coordinates. It required a lot of mental coordination if I didn''t cheat and had a [Sub-Core] hold the spell for me. This would be amazing [Multitasking] training, I bet. Once you''d set up the prep work, applying the coordinates through [Positioning] was actually relatively simple. In almost no time, I had teleported the book from the edge of the room to the table. "Congrats!" Vee cheered. "It''s not as tough as I thought it would be; the biggest downside is needing to cast [Position] twice," I replied. "Yeah, trying to manipulate the coordinates directly without copying them over from [Position] is not fun," Vee explained. "I''ve tried it a few times, but it''s so slow and cumbersome that you save so much time by just casting the spell and saving yourself the trouble." Per Vee''s advice, I tried it out manually and saw what she was talking about. You could only change the coordinates in increments rather than all at once by copying them over and replacing them. "I guess I could just set up a routine of casting [Position] through my [Sub-Cores]," I pondered aloud. "Cheater..." Vee grumbled. "I just have to hope there''s a better way through a skill or later spell¡ªor maybe you can invent one for me." I chuckled and agreed as I certainly wasn''t averse to messing with spells as I had quite a few lifelines in case things went pear-shaped. "Oh! Maybe this will help; there''s one more interaction I forgot to mention," Vee said enthusiastically. "There is one exception from copying over from [Position], and that''s using [Spatial Sense]. It takes more effort than [Position], but you can sort of add the numbers from the sense to [Positioning] to get a much larger change in coordinates." I activated the skill and looked at the various objects with floating numbers in relation to myself. The trait was still abysmally low, so I barely had any range to it. "It can be used to fetch things," Vee continued her explanation. "You just apply the difference between your coordinates, and it teleports it to you. That''s sadly as far as I''ve gotten with it, but in theory, if you''re quick enough with the math, you could use [Spatial Sense] to replace [Position]. The big downside is you''re limited by your [Spatial Sense] levels, but you can just leave it on permanently like me and get used to it. As for the quick math... Well... I haven''t gotten any better at that." This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. My [Sub-Cores] could probably handle the math... But still, this seems exceptionally inconvenient. With how helpful so many system skills and traits are, I have to bet there''s one later on that lets you store or work out coordinates on the fly, and the only reason Vee hasn''t gotten it is that she hasn''t unlocked the Riftmancer class yet. "Couldn''t you also use this to teleport yourself? Since everything within [Spatial Sense] relates to you, you could just add that amount to your coordinates and teleport to that spot." "You could, but I obviously didn''t want to risk teleporting myself," Vee said. "I did try that with rocks that I was holding since they occupied the same coordinates. But I still found it easier to just copy coordinates with [Position]." We spent some time chatting while I shared my theories about the Riftmancer class, probably having solutions to our problems. I eventually admitted that my [Sub-Cores] could likely handle the math. After Vee ranted and raved for a bit, we decided to try it out. Within my limited range of [Spatial Sense], I ordered Beta to calculate the coordinates between two spots and then apply the result to my next casting of [Position]. Startling us both, it worked! Although there was a notable delay, Vee beat my timing by simply casting two [Position] spells simultaneously. "I guess you save on Mana, but it''s probably not worth the effort, and [Position] costs almost nothing," Vee replied. "And I say that as just a spider and not the infinite crazy Mana slime. For you, the cost is probably barely even a rounding error." "But what if I ask all my [Sub-Cores] to work together to calculate it?" "First, I''ll give you the obligatory¡ªthat''s cheating!" Vee whined. "But if you can do that, maybe you can work it out. Hell, maybe if you do it enough times, you''ll unlock the skill without needing to wait for the Riftmancer class?" I nodded and tried it out, ordering all my linked [Sub-Cores] to work together to produce the dimensional coordinates. When I cast [Positioning], the coordinates were almost instantaneously provided, and the book was teleported again. "Cheater! You dirty, dirty cheater!" Vee fumed. "Sorry?" I replied sheepishly and fought to suppress my giggles. "I can''t believe you have a neural network supercomputer or some shit; that''s absurd!" "Hey, it was my last evolution that did this!" I defended myself. "Considering all the crazy things your evolution gave, I don''t think you have any right to complain. Plus, it''s only this good because I spent so many trait points increasing my [Sub-Core] count!" "Ugh, I hate when you bring facts and logic to refute my emotional outbursts," Vee grumbled. "But if your next evolution gives you something even more absurd, I hold full rights to bitch and moan!" "I''m not even halfway..." I sighed. "That [Companion Growth] skill they mentioned will probably speed things up, at least." "It''s mentioned in the book," Vee said, pointing to the book we weren''t teleporting around. "It sounded awesome; you get it at the fifth tamer level, assuming your bond is good enough with your companion, although it mentioned asking your mentor to provide it earlier to not waste experience and also start leveling up the skill early." "I''m guessing the skill can only level up when it''s providing the bonus experience to us, so it makes sense to want it as early as possible. I want to go hunting tomorrow, so maybe we can get someone to share it before then?" "Sounds good to me," Vee agreed. "Now I want to try out teleporting myself!" I said with brimming excitement. "Crazy suicidal slime..." Vee muttered. "Oh, come on, it has to be safe! It''s my own spell for crying out loud." Vee shook her head, "Not everyone has multiple lives like you. I guess on the positive side, at least you won''t be exploding into an ocean of slime if you screw up!" "Bah! It''ll be fine!" I began casting the spell, opting to use the tried-and-true method of two [Position] spells before finally casting [Positioning] and applying the coordinates. Since this was my own spell, I didn''t get that sense of needing to confirm the teleport and soon found myself across the room. Clunk, clunk, clunk. The sound of thirteen objects falling and hitting the wooden floor echoed throughout the room, followed by the sound of rolling. But I had hardly any time to investigate the noise as a flurry of notifications interrupted me. ... "Syl, what the hell!?" Vee frantically cried out. I rushed over and began scooping up all my [Sub-Cores] as quickly as possible. Most of them were unscathed, but my four newest additions looked scuffed with minor cracks, as I hadn''t enchanted them for durability yet. I grumbled as I swallowed them up into my form one by one and felt some of my slime mass diminishing to begin to repair the four injured cores. "Okay... So teleportation works, but it looks like I only targeted my own core," I explained. "Holy shit, just be thankful you didn''t teleport your own core out of your slime!" Vee said scoldingly. I sighed and nodded. She was right in some respects, and it was something I should have considered. Fortunately, my primary core seemed to have complete ownership of all the slime I was using to hold my body together. "I guess if I teleport, I have to allocate my [Sub-Cores] too... Or maybe I need to have a collective set of coordinates? I''m honestly not entirely sure." "Well, I certainly hope you figure it out before pulling a stunt like that again," Vee sighed. "At least this proves I was right about being worried about it! Imagine if I teleported and left my lungs behind!" I chuckled, "I''m pretty sure you don''t have to worry about that." "I''ll do my own worrying, thank you very much," she snorted. "But at least this proves one thing¡ªskills help out a ton!" "I mean, we already knew this?" Vee replied confusedly. "Since when have we thought skills were useless?" I sighed, shaking my head, "No... What I mean is that the skills are doing a lot more behind the scenes than we give them credit for. I teleported using magic, and even though the system helped me, I didn''t consider that my [Sub-Cores] were being considered separate entities. But when you used [Warp], it doesn''t have to take that into consideration; it was handled automatically." "I think you''re overthinking it," Vee eventually replied. "But if you''re right, that just means that magic isn''t as cool as traits or skills if it needs you to worry about these minor details or risk teleporting without all your organs or limbs attached." "If you keep saying that, I''m going to get another quest to slap you," I teased. "You wouldn''t dare!" Vee said with feigned outrage before staring at the ceiling. "Both of you!" With such a direct provocation, I had almost expected something to happen, but either the gods weren''t watching, or Mother had already expanded all of her interference budget after discounting my locked affinity. Chapter 255: Musings on Fusions Obviously, I wasn''t satisfied and still wanted to perform a few more tests. I was very curious about the resistance to teleportation Vee spoke of, but she wasn''t willing to be a volunteer. Thankfully, my [Sub-Cores] came to the rescue, and I tried teleporting Beta from one hand to the other. It was a relatively easy experience, made easier because I opted for the safer confirmed method of double [Position] spells. However, there was no resistance. I next gave Beta the order to resist or reject the teleportation and tried again¡ªit worked! Thanks again, Gramps, for such helpful workers! If I had to describe the resistance against teleportation, it felt slippery. The coordinates were hard to hold onto, and if my grasp slipped, they would rapidly revert to their original number. It was a bizarre experience, and I understood why Vee had opted to trick targets into entering a portal and skipping this entirely. Vee even had quite a nice explanation of it from her point of view, "Unrestricted teleportation would be kinda broken, don''t you think? Like you could just teleport your enemy up into the air and let gravity kill them. Or teleport them into the ocean, or into lava, or somewhere crazy! And no, you can''t teleport them inside of a solid object and try to kill them with shunting¡ªI''ve tried." The whole shunting thing was supposed to be a drawback of incorrectly using [Blink] or other forms of teleportation and was clearly intended as a punishment for improper use. Either the gods didn''t want someone weaponizing a drawback, or someone had done it in the past, and it was rectified. "The more restrictions you put on a teleport, the easier it is to do," Vee continued, explaining her hypothesis. "Like the teleportation rug, they put us on. Assuming you could just walk off it, you''d be safe since it was slow to activate, and thus, it was hard to resist! Same with my web portals, you chose to walk through them so you don''t get to resist it." I''d hardly call what Vee did with the portals "choosing to walk through them" as she tried her darndest to trick you into entering or falling into them. Still, it was certainly something to think about, and I wondered what restrictions I could add to successfully create a weaponized version of teleportation. The obvious solution for avoiding any restrictions would be to create the debuff, which I had already presumed made it easier to change someone''s coordinates without interference. So, that would become my next custom spell priority. However, this decision had one big flaw¡ªit was absurdly arduous! I felt somewhat confident in my magical capabilities after so quickly putting together that temperature reading spell using complex concepts. My assuredness was also fueled further by the fact that I''d turned creating debuffs into a routine procedure prior to this. And, of course, this shatters my self-assurance... I suppose it''s my own fault for underestimating "advanced magic," as I''d only ever created debuffs from intermediate and basic. The step up from making [Flammable] and [Permeable] to [Frigid] and [Conductive] was quite a leap, but this really takes the cake. Fortunately, my stubbornness was a characteristic I could rely on. I was determined to keep at this task until I achieved success. The only downside was that I''d have to keep its creation somewhat under wraps, as Sylthaeryn could never have gained [Dimension Magic]. I opted to keep poking at it through the night, deciding to postpone looking at the books until the morning. I prodded away and might have even pulled an all-nighter until Vee scolded me for interrupting her beauty sleep and finally sleeping in the absurdly luxurious bed. *** The next morning, while Vee ate breakfast, I took a gander at the books provided. Vee had already mentioned that the Tamer book was pretty basic, so I looked at the one they had provided me with information on my class. The book itself was an overview of the elements as a whole rather than the Elementalist class specifically. It mainly spoke about the benefit of hyper-focusing on one element and progressing further down classes, such as Pyromancer. Sadly, almost none of the information was new to me until right at the end, when it briefly mentioned that there were rare classes that combined multiple elements together. The author noted that having the respected affinities and magic skill levels wasn''t enough as you also needed to have equal elemental purity in them so that they could harmonize together. I guess Trixie just guessed that since my Mana purity was maxed out, I''d qualify. Elementalist was briefly mentioned as one of the pinnacles of elemental magic and one of the few known ways of adding additional elemental affinities without ascendancies. I was beginning to feel disheartened that I''d wasted my time until the author mentioned a theory that the true power of the class was the ability to unify the elemental spell skills. Wait¡ªreally!? I rushed to try fusing all my magical skills together but got no result. I knew I was still missing [Dust Magic], but my gut told me this wasn''t the only reason. I tried again, this time only grabbing Fire, Water, Air, and Earth. I gasped in surprise and slammed my hands on the table, startling Vee. "Who, what, where!?" I excitedly explained it all to Vee in a flurry of words, although as I babbled on, I could feel her interest rapidly waning. "That''s cool... I guess... congrats?" Vee commented. "If it just turns four skills into one, I don''t really see too much benefit beyond removing some clutter." "One skill is easier to level than four skills, not to mention the levels get sort of combined and divided into the new total," I answered. "Right... You mentioned that before," Vee replied. "I was supposed to be working on that [Body Mastery] fusion?" Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. "And [Soul Mastery]!" I quickly added. "And then I think you can combine the two into one mega trait!" Vee nodded, although clearly, she didn''t share the same excitement about the possibility that I did. "Look, I can''t get [Body Mastery], so I need you to answer the question for me." "Just get [Slime Mastery]," Vee joked. "[Morph Slime] is kind of like that..." I replied. "I''ll ask Gramps if there''s another one. I''ve certainly tried combining [Cryo Slime], [Blaze Slime], [Acid Slime], and the like with no success." I quickly tried again to confirm, but there was still nothing. "Or maybe it''s stuck behind an evolution," Vee suggested. "When I evolved, I had a lot of traits that got swallowed up into [Thread Mastery]." I nodded at her explanation and began thinking. If there is a fusion of the slime traits, then Vee might be right that I need to evolve and stop being a blue slime. Being a blue slime means having [Mana Slime], and I probably can''t fuse it into a superior trait while still remaining a blue slime. Although, having said that, it doesn''t explain why I can''t fuse the other slime traits by excluding [Mana Slime]... unless there''s a rule about fusing that I''m unaware of? Something like "you must use all the pieces you have available"? I sighed. I was worrying about future things again when I really should have been focusing on this [Basic Elemental Magic] right before me. What prerequisite am I missing? I hope it''s not class-level related, or Gramps has really put me in a shitty situation... I continued reading the book''s last few pages, hoping to find the answer. Sadly, the book didn''t mention any prerequisites, and I could only curse the author for leaving such a tantalizing treat outside of my grasp. The best I gained from it was a hint at what [Basic Elemental Magic] would provide me¡ªharmonious control over the elements not unlike the equivalent Arch-mancer class. Sighing, I examined my profile, tried to figure out what prerequisite I could be missing, and came up with two possible theories. [Water Magic LV 5] [Fire Magic LV 6] [Earth Magic LV 5] [Air Magic LV 5] Could the reason be that I need to have these four skills at the same level? Fire reached level six, so it "fell out of harmony" with the other three. Although I could just be grasping at straws. As for my other theory... [Derived Element (Air) LV 8] In all likelihood, this is the reason. My other three elements were naturally acquired through slime cores, while this one is artificially added through the class. Hopefully, when it reaches the max level, it will behave equally to my other elements. The trait had shot up to stupidly high levels with minimal input from my part, thanks to my ludicrous Mana purity. Even my three newly derived elements had also made gains without me looking. [Derived Element (Magma) LV 3] [Derived Element (Steam) LV 3] [Derived Element (Nature) LV 3] I should focus on casting some air spells, as that definitely boosted the gains in [Derived Element]. If Paeris agrees to the hunting trip, that might be a good opportunity, as I can''t exactly use any of my slime powers of [Dimension Magic] publicly. Once again, I was feeling a bit too stretched in too many directions. I was definitely being greedy, wanting it all rather than focusing, but I felt like it would weirdly work out due to circumstances. Arguably, [Dimension Magic] was my number one priority, but I could only progress it behind closed doors, which left me to work towards Elementalist stuff publicly. My ensuing evolution would happen naturally and would be outside of my control unless I decided to go on a sudden killing spree. The final thing I checked out was seeing about fusing my sight and vision traits, which I kept forgetting about. [Soul Vision] and [Soul Sense] were both options, just like I had predicted, but I opted to not grab them at this stage. Firstly, my trait points were low, sitting at a mere seven points! Maybe I was paranoid, but I felt I needed to be more careful. Secondly, I couldn''t see any immediate benefit from fusing [Dark Vision], [Thermal Vision], and [Eagle Vision]; what would I gain from it? A few extra levels in [Eagle Vision] and possibly a new unknown effect. [Soul Sense], on the other hand, was a tantalizing option as I''d see benefits to [Electro-Magnetic Sense], [Tremor Sense], and [Spatial Sense]. But it would be a waste to fuse them at this stage without getting past the easy levels in [Spatial Sense], and then there was my other doubt¡ªI needed [Spatial Sense] right now for my [Dimension Magic] training. I was a little distraught when I temporarily lost [Mana Conception] when I combined it into [Soul Sight]. It felt like I had been ripped off for my purchase, and I found myself a little hesitant to repeat that situation. Perhaps I was being a little neurotic, but I also felt like the only reason I regained my [Mana Conception] functionality so soon was my familiarity with it. Meanwhile, with [Spatial Sense], I had barely scratched the surface, and if my doubts manifested themselves, I could be without it for days! So let''s put a pin on that until I get some more levels into it and then either become more familiar with the sensory trait or reach a stopping point in [Dimension Magic]. Shortly after, Paeris arrived looking absolutely prim and proper. I thought I might get some enjoyment out of his reactions to serving a slime, but his capability to hide it was beyond my social deductions. "I hope you slept well, Lady Sylthaeryn," he said with a bow. "Any problems with the accommodations? Your mother has emphasized that I should make you feel right at home." "Thank you. Everything is great in that regard," I replied. "Meaning there is something that can be improved?" Paeris questioned, catching on quickly. "I want to hunt something," I replied honestly. "And preferably before that, I''d like someone to share [Companion Growth] with me." I was expecting a minor protest or objection to my request, but surprisingly, Paeris nodded, "Your mother and Llewel have both suggested you go on a short hunting trip to loosen up and relax a bit. Likewise, it will allow us to evaluate your fortuitous growth while absent." Meaning they want to know what magic I''m packing. Makes sense. "As for your other request, that will be easily doable. We shall simply ask one of the Tamers to show their progress in the skill, which will double as sharing the skill." "I''m surprised we can''t just ask them to share it," I replied. "This deception is necessary. Why would you ask for a skill you already own to be shared?" he explained. "However, due to your position and my own, we can easily ask for a progress update and even have someone surrender their full profile for scrutiny." I can just ask anyone to show me skills? Jackpot! Perhaps seeing my excitement, he raised a finger, "However, abuse of such a privilege would be a faux pas and should be avoided whenever possible. Speaking of which, please inspect the level of my current skill." Paeris held out his hand and projected one of his skills for me to see and undoubtedly share. <[Roleplay LV MAX] Fully immerse yourself in fabricated identities, adopting mannerisms, speech, and behaviors to sell the illusion. Manipulate perception through convincing performances that bend belief to your whims. Beyond simple deception, Roleplay allows you to inhabit roles so thoroughly that they may begin to feel real¡ªto others and perhaps even to yourself. The effectiveness of your portrayal is influenced by skill level, situational context, and the strength of your assumed persona.> I was flabbergasted; the skill sounded utterly insane, and Paeris already had it at max level! I immediately wanted to compare it to the original description of [Acting], which I quickly pulled up. <[Acting LV 6] Deceive others with your presence, actions, and words. Take on false roles and blur the lines of truth. The effectiveness of your deception is based on skill level and circumstantial evidence.> That''s quite the upgrade! What happened to the superb but straightforward [Acting] I''d grown so fond of? This feels like you''ve gone through so many promotions that I hardly recognize you anymore!