The first Aetherite slime I encountered was on the second path. It didn't look like what I had expected. In my mind, ‘slime’ meant something like a blob of glowing green goo. Maybe even with googly cartoon eyes. The slime was a blob of purple but that blob was in the middle of a complex network of pseudopod-like tendrils that expanded, retreated and branched freely as it moved, it didn't inch. It moved.
Commanding Medea to engage, I cast Hasten Swarm on it and waited from what I hoped was a safe distance.
The slime only noticed Medea when the insectoid was almost on top of it and it belched a cloud of purple from its bloblike center. The gas made me almost sick by just looking at it and Medea leapt backward. Its carapace hissing and smoking. Medea had learned its lesson and didn't charge again. It circled the slower slime creature as the latter attacked by launching its tendrils at speeds that I was sure could punch holes into a regular human from Earth. Medea meanwhile had settled into a pattern, dodge a tendril and then use its mouthparts to tear it out. Everytime it wounded the slime, purple liquid flowed out for seconds before the slime healed itself. The dismembered limbs sizzled and shrivelled into purple dust in seconds and slowly the slime was being whittled down.
And then the slime threw a larger tendril at a wall and transferred its blobby center and most of its mass through the connection. Now far too high for Medea to get to, it could focus entirely on the offensive. First it belched the purple gas and then shot tendrils at Medea as it tried to avoid the cloud. And then a separate large tendril emerged from within the cloud and almost sent Medea flying.
The slime intensified its attacks as Medea tried to avoid the barrage of tendrils raining down upon it, too fast and too many for any opening. Medea skittered in circles and tried and failed to make any distance between them as smoking holes were poked into its body. One lucky tendril attached itself to Medea’s fang and tore it out as Medea struggled to pull itself free. I had to do something otherwise my best asset would perish and I would be left without any means of fending the slime off. Slowly inching closer to the battlefield as Cold Blooded flickered, I prepared to strike.
\\Minor Stealth is now level 8!
“Induce Bleeding” My voice was barely audible to even myself amidst the hissing a d sizzling but the effect was obvious. A small gash opened up in the blobby center mass as purple goo sprayed out violently. It drenched the walls, it drenched Medea and it drenched my clothes and face and yet it kept on bleeding. Whatever that central mass was, it had to have absurdly high internal pressure. Some got into my mouth and I gagged and retched at the disgusting pungent liquid.
The slime was noticeably deflating and Medea seized the moment. It grabbed one of the now writhing tendrils between an unnaturally bending leg and single fang and wrenched the creature back to the ground. It tried to rise again but was violently slammed down. The bleeding had begun to staunch and the wound was closing but it was too late. Medea violently ripped the gash open again and extracted what looked like a purple marble the size of three of my fists out of it. The marble was secured between Medea’s lone fang and a leg that bent entirely the wrong way as it raised the orb above its gaping mouth and crushed it. Powdered slime core fell into a gaping obsidian maw as Medea changed.
Notifications flashed before my eyes along with the familiar pain I had learned to associate with class mastery but I was too preoccupied with the horror show before me to care. First Medea lurched and buckled as its damaged plates sloughed off its body. I could see strings of purple slime on the underside of those plates stretch and snap as new chitin grew to replace what was lost. The shiny black chitin segments were uncannily smooth, much smoother than what I was used to. Except for the glowing purple cracks that formed in them after just a moment. The cracks expanded and new misshapen chitin spikes pushed itself out of them with sounds of groans and cracks. But that wasn't the end of it. The spider scorpion’s legs thickened and enlarged as clawed hands formed at their ends. Each leg had four digits that each looked like one of my knives. The claws spread and then flexed before snapping shut into thicker leg tips. The tail only slightly increased in length. The scorpion-like tip fell off with a ‘pop’ and a newer, slicker tip shaped like an oversized spear end replaced it.
And finally Medea's face changed as the horrific transformation completed. The singular large eye expanded and gained flecks of purple as many of the extra eyes ruptured from within or just fell away. The fang expanded and a matching one regrew rapidly. And then the mouth elongated and gained almost human-like rows of sharp obsidian teeth that clicked in what I assumed was triumph.
\\Large Mutant Aetherite Slime slain
\\Skill Slime Physiology Knowledge Learned
//WARNING: Passive skill slot limits exceeded. You can replace a skill or refuse to equip your new skill. Unequipped skills can’t be equipped again for a period of time determined by their power. Unequipped skills do not confer any benefits but exist and count for consolidation purposes only.
Not needed.
\\Find Weakness is now level 5!
\\Enslaved Familiar's Bond is now level 20!
\\Tame Lesser Insectoid is now level 19!
\\[BLOODMAGE INITIATE] is now level 15!
\\Class mastered [BLOODMAGE INITIATE]. +2 to STRENGTH, VITALITY, WILLPOWER AND ATTUNEMENT
The slime had knocked off a massive 9% of the total mana saturation in the sector. I wasn't an expert but that slime had a couple of adjectives that I doubted were universal to Aetherite slimes. Quiraion’s Knife had to have been messing with me again. And my clothes were soaked in that accursed purple liquid that caused my skin to itch and made my hair all sticky. I was NOT having a good time.
Meanwhile Medea’s new transformation had made it larger again and it waited obediently for new orders from its mistress. I would be lying if I said that my pet didn't ooze malevolence that unsettled me at this point but I wasn't the type to argue with results.
Speaking of results, I had a new class to pick. Last time I checked, [BONEMAGE] was my highest level class with the stat bonuses to match but I had three reasons to not go that way just yet.
- My long term goal was to get rid of Knife of Quiraion or fulfill it and I wasn't arrogant enough to think that I could match a god of bones in his specialty. Just picking bone themed classes meant that I would primarily get higher quality bone themed classes and many of my skills would consolidate towards that.
- Secondly, I had to consider that I was at best a supporter from the sidelines and not a primary combatant at this point. That was all Medea. I could branch out my magic once Medea was stronger and my own stats weren't terrible.
- Finally Tiamim recommended taking it a bit slower.
No matter how much the class tempted me, I couldn't justify taking it, not at this point anyways. I examined my familiar again, Medea was now a Mana Tainted Spider-Scorpion Worker. No way would it have stayed under my taming if not for the subsequent familiar bonding. I hoped its evolution had unlocked something decent for me.
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A lot of classes centred around having an animal friend and such were now lost to me for some rather obvious reasons of enslavement. But others hadn't opened up in their steed, most probably because of my stats. Finally I settled on a class that wasn't just middling to me.
\\FOREST RANGER APPRENTICE (0/15)
You have traversed great jungles and you survived and thrived where lesser women would have perished. You have also tamed the beasts that lurk in the wild. As a [FOREST RANGER APPRENTICE], the wild is as much of a home to you as civilization is to others. You can empower and command the beasts of the wild to fell your enemies while the wild hides you in her bosom. Nature yields its bounties to you more readily than most and no more shall you fear starvation in the wild.
At higher levels, forest rangers bring the forest with them wherever they tread and legions of greater nature elementals like Dryads and Nymphs rain nature’s fury upon anyone who dares to oppose you.
MASTERY BONUSES:
+2 to CELERITY, VITALITY, ACUITY AND PERCEPTION
I had no intention of going down this path further but everything it promised already heavily overlapped with my existing skills and I was worried about the fact that I was at my skill caps. I could get rid of things that I didn't use but I had seen firsthand how seemingly useless skills could consolidate into better things and so I was in no hurry. The bit I was really after was empowering tamed beasts anyways. Furthermore my stealth was the reason I was even alive to this point.
\\Class [FOREST RANGER APPRENTICE] selected
\\Skill Tame Lesser Wild Beast Learned
\\Minor Stealth is now level 9!
\\Scavenging and Scrounging is now level 9!
\\Ranger Magic spell list unlocked
\\Ranger Magic Spell list
Muffle Sound: 15 mana
Enlarge Tamed Beast: 40 mana
Perfect. I got all that I wanted and nothing more. It seemed unusually well rounded for a level 15 class but I was used to seeing classes punching above or below their weight by now. Three skills on top of spells and one of the skills being a tame skill and the other two focusing on survival was really good. The Bone Augury path had blown Bonecrafting out of the water despite being 5 levels shorter and this one was even better than Swarmcaller. Judging by the description it had more requirements to unlock than Swarmcaller and that probably explained the discrepancy.
My new skill Tame Lesser Wild Beast was similar to its insectoid counterpart but with a lower threshold to throw off the taming effect. Only something five times as strong as the tamer compared to the six times that insectoid promised. Not that that mattered in any way to me.
“Tame Lesser Wild Beast.” I spoke aloud as Medea stiffened.
\\Enslaved Familiar's Bond is now level 21!
\\Enslaved Familiar’s Bond can absorb the skills Tame Lesser Wild Beast and Tame Lesser Insectoid.
\\WARNING: ONE OR MORE COMPONENT SKILLS WILL LOSE CERTAIN FUNCTIONALITIES BY THIS MERGER. You can preview the new skill before approving this merger.
\\Greater Enslaved Familiar’s Bond: 21
Familiars are base creatures that a person may bond with to form a life long partnership. A familiar is the closest friend of its owner and together they form a team that's greater than the sum of parts. A familiar and its master are one unit and betrayal of that bond is anathema to both. You don't have that kind of bond and now you never will. You have broken a creature's mind and warped its very nature at the fundamental level to serve your own ends and thus, somehow, you have a ‘familiar’. And yet you have taken a broken and shattered familiar and nurtured it to ever greater heights to reforge into a weapon all the stronger for its violent destruction.
With each level, your familiar has 1.5% more stats rounded down when in your proximity. The range at which it is considered to be in proximity to you is 0.5 meters per level +5. Any beneficial effects on your familiar will be 5% stronger and last 5% longer per level if you apply them yourself. Furthermore, you can mentally order your familiar to perform any task and it will attempt to do it to the best of its ability. Your familiar can also deliver touch based effects for you. Your familiar can never disobey you. Your familiar is always considered to be under the effects of any and all relevant Tame skills for the purposes of effects you apply to it even if you lack those skills. Current bonuses: 31.5%, 15.5 meters, 105% and 105%.
I approved it without much thought, the only reason I kept the insect tame skill around was that I needed it for the spells. And furthermore the bonuses were simply superior to what Medea had prior. Sure, it centralized everything on Medea and if Medea died then I would have to somehow regain them all slowly or somehow find another familiar but if Medea died even with the new bonuses then I had bigger things to worry about.
I let Medea rest for twentyish minutes before the culling began anew.
\\Aetherite Slime slain
\\Greater Enslaved Familiar's Bond is now level 22!
\\[FOREST RANGER APPRENTICE] is now level 4!
None of the slime we had encountered were remotely as big or powerful as the very first one and Medea simply slaughtered them in seconds without ever needing my buffs. They also each only accounted for 1% to 3% of mana saturation so it only took us twelve additional kills before the number was all the way down to 14%. Medea hadn't grown any more from consuming their cores either but I was almost sure that the purple flecks in its eyes were just a bit brighter than before.
After eliminating the last slime, we just returned to the teleporting array. Maybe it was because of the excitement, maybe it was because I was exhausted and hadn't slept properly but one thing had slipped my mind. I was covered in slime blood (ichor?) from my head to my toes.
Anyways, there was a picture to be painted here. A scrawny girl coated in dried purple slime juice teleports into a room with a giant spider monster with hands on its legs and a scorpion tail. The girl’s face is all purple and her clothes stick to her body because the slime’s blood had dried on her. At least there weren't many people in the teleportation room when I teleported out of the labyrinth, thank Quiraion
“Excuse me.” I squeaked and ran out of the teleportation room, my face burning. Just ignore the eyes, just ignore them all.
Dejectedly returning my vaultboard, I collected a measly tray of 19 crystals, carefully not meeting anyone’s eye as I slipped it into a cloth pouch attached to my belt. I needed proper clothes and armor, not whatever the hotel provided. Quiraion help me if this is what I was looking at for my income. A carriage ride from the hotel cost 7 crystals. Maybe I should learn more about the gods of the world instead of just calling on a dead one?
Maybe then today's mess would have been averted. In all honesty, I had no particular desire to make friends but being known as the aloof weirdo and being known as the aloof weirdo who bathed in the blood of slimes were very different things.
Leaving worrying about what my compatriots thought of me for later, I counted my earnings again. 19 crystals per day, 7 per carriage ride, twice over if I didn't want to walk. Otherwise, a decent walk that also doubled as exercise. Assuming that all contracts paid me 19 crystals then I would need to work for 53 days before the guild's contracting fees would decrease.
I didn't intend to work that long, I just needed to be strong enough to take whatever class Tiamim wanted me to. But that still left the question of expenses. Food and lodgings were secured for well over a week so my immediate priority purchases were some sort of light armor and a backpack that wasn't unwieldy enough to slow me down. Those, I didn't know the costs of but no way I had enough after just one day.
Nerry had promised to share her books with me so I was hopefully all set on the entertainment side. Really, every way I thought about it, only one conclusion made sense. I needed new armor first and then I had to look for cheap lodgings.
“Where can I find a bank?”
Banks, as it turned out, existed in New Delport but only for the wealthy. For the rest of us plebs, there was only the Exchange that took in trays of 30 small crystals for a thicker square crystal or vice versa. Apparently it was a culturally significant number because at multiples of 30, active skills evolved and classes got a lot less rigid. I would probably want to visit one in three or four days but for now I had one priority, getting back to the hotel and taking a long shower. I paid for a ride and noted with surprise that the sky was already darkening by the time the carriage arrived at its destination.
A small pile of earmarked books with cracked spines waited for me with titles like ‘Regdren’s Kindling’ and ‘The Fall of Dellia’. I smiled and after a long shower, turned on my mana lamp to read.