Slime Evolution

Chapter 430 - Out of Reach

Lohan felt his own core vibrate in a way that was almost painful from sheer admiration.

The stone pulsed with that deep blue cut through with golden veins, and every pulse seemed to whisper promises of power he didn’t even know how to name properly. He could feel the density of it radiating through the air of the office, so intense that his own magical senses seemed to want to bend toward the gem, like a plant seeking sunlight.

’This is... this is simply beautiful,’ he thought, his entire gelatin stretching subtly forward, trying to get a few extra millimeters closer to that hypnotic glow.

It was at that exact moment that Lisa’s white, furry head projected itself in front of his body with a quick, not at all subtle movement, partially blocking his view of the stone.

Lohan blinked his two artificial eyes, confused for a second, before realizing the fox had turned completely around on her back, where his body was mounted, just to be able to face him head on.

Her golden eyes were half narrowed in an expression mixing irritation and something softer, almost affectionate, underneath the facade of annoyance. It wasn’t real anger, just a scolding that existed only because she cared too much to let it slide.

”No way,” Lisa said through the mental link, her tone carrying an authority that left no room for negotiation. ”I literally just reminded you, less than five minutes ago, about what happened last time you saw a mana stone that was too strong glowing right in front of you.”

”I didn’t even move, Lisa.” Lohan protested, even though he knew perfectly well the intention had been there, lurking, ready to burst out if he had no kind of restraint at all.

”You were stretching toward the stone, Halon. I saw it with my own eyes.” She shot back, not giving an inch in the argument. ”You know, sometimes I seriously wonder if I should install an alarm just to warn me whenever you’re about to do something greedy and stupid.”

Lohan felt a pang of embarrassment, but he also couldn’t help noticing, with a quiet fondness tucked away deep in his core, that she really had been right to insist on waiting for her before coming to the tower. If she hadn’t been there, staring at him like that, that stone would probably already be dissolving inside his biomass at that exact moment, and he didn’t even want to imagine the result of that.

”Okay, okay, I admit defeat,” he replied, trying to seem as harmless as possible through the subtle vibration of his gelatin. ”Thanks for, uhh, existing and stopping me from doing something stupid, I guess.”

”That pathetic excuse doesn’t even come close to being enough,” Lisa muttered, but the shape of her ears had already relaxed a bit, a sign that her anger was already dissipating.

She then turned her face back forward, looking at Yrneha with a much more composed, polite posture, as if the scolding from seconds ago had never happened.

”Lady Ylasys,” Lisa began, her voice regaining all its earlier formality. ”If I may ask, what monster did this stone come from? Its energy density is impressive, I can feel the intensity of it even at this distance.”

That was why Lisa had put herself so forcefully in front of Halon, because if even she felt it that intensely, just imagine a creature as magically sensitive and as fond of digesting things as this little Slime.

Yrneha smiled, clearly pleased by the pair’s genuine curiosity, and turned the stone delicately between her fingers, watching the light reflect off the golden veins, not the least bit bothered by the energy intensity of it.

”This one came from a rather peculiar creature,” she replied, her tone taking on an almost nostalgic glow, as if recalling a particularly fun hunt. ”A Level 23 monster.”

The silence that followed lasted only a moment, but to Lohan it felt like it stretched out for an entire eternity.

’Level twenty three,’ he repeated mentally, his processing nearly locking up from so much good and bad information colliding at once.

On one hand, knowing that stone came from such a powerful monster made his core vibrate with even greater admiration. Level twenty three was no joke, even by the absurd standards Lohan had already seen throughout his journey in Elysium.

But on the other hand, an almost palpable disappointment came along with it, a weight that slowly sank through his biomass like a stone thrown into a calm lake.

’This is way, way beyond my current reach,’ he thought, trying to process the gap between the levels with the cold logic he had developed after so many near fatal experiences.

If that stone had come from a Level 20 monster, he probably would have already swallowed it that very second, without even blinking, even with Lisa yelling right next to him. The risk difference there would be manageable, he already had enough experience digesting things in that range.

If it had been Level 21, the temptation would have been almost unbearable. He probably would have asked, even begged, to try digesting it with the utmost care, isolating the process, preparing in advance, maybe even waiting a few days to build up extra biomass as a safety reserve.

But Level 23... Level 23 was a completely different category of danger. He had already felt firsthand, or rather, felt in his gelatin, just how devastating the process of digesting a mana stone too strong for his body to process could be. The overwhelming memories, the energy pressure nearly collapsing his internal structure, the genuine fear of never waking up as himself again.

A stone of that caliber would, without a shadow of a doubt, be far too risky and dangerous for him to even consider for a single second.

”Twenty three,” Lohan repeated out loud through the mental link, disappointment clearly overflowing in his tone. ”That’s... well, that’s definitely out of my reach for now.”

”See?” Lisa remarked, turning her head back again just to shoot an ”I told you so” look in his direction. ”Good thing I stopped you from doing something impulsive.”

”I already said I’m grateful, Lisa, you don’t have to rub it in my face.” Lohan grumbled, his gelatin drooping a little dramatically.

Lisa, however, seemed to want to learn more about that specific creature, knowing that Halon would definitely digest it at some point, having more information could never hurt in a situation like this.

”Lady Ylasys, if it’s not a bother, could you describe in more detail what kind of monster this is?” she asked, tilting her head slightly. ”You mentioned hunting this stone personally, which is quite unusual considering your position.”

Yrneha laughed softly, holding the stone in her closed palm for a moment, as if caressing a cherished memory.

”You two have a good nose for interesting questions,” she remarked, sitting back down in her ornate chair. ”This stone came from a creature popularly known as the Oculis Oracle, a being that lives deep in crystalline caves very far from here. Physically, this creature has one giant eye, but instead of conventional eyelashes, it has a cluster of pulsing crystals on the front of its skull, exposed, almost as if its brain had grown out of its own flesh.”

[NunuNote: Visual Representation on Discord.gg/NunuXD]

Lohan felt a shiver run through his biomass just imagining that description.

”The most fascinating part,” Yrneha continued, her eyes shining with a scholar’s genuine enthusiasm, ”is that this creature had absurdly high mental power for its level. It rarely attacked physically, preferring to use psychic waves to paralyze, confuse, or even plant extremely convincing illusions in its victims’ minds. I’ve seen experienced adventurers completely defeated without a single physical scratch, just because their minds simply couldn’t withstand the psychic pressure.”

”A peculiarity fascinating enough for you to go out and hunt it personally...” Lisa remarked, now understanding why an archmage of that caliber would have bothered.

”Exactly,” Yrneha confirmed, pleased at being understood. ”Creatures with that kind of specialization in mental power are extremely rare in Elysium, and studying the mechanism behind her psychic attacks brought me valuable insights for my studies on Mind Magic... It was worth every minute of the hunt.”

While listening to that detailed explanation, something inside Lohan began to stir in a completely new way.

’High mental power...’ he thought, his parallel processing speeding up as he connected that piece of information to a weakness he knew all too well in himself.

He knew, more than anyone, that this was one of his weakest areas. All of his communication with other beings depended entirely on the mental link generated by Lisa, or on the Guild’s Mental Link, but when he was alone, he was just a little Slime capable of making cute gestures. If he could absorb, even partially, some kind of ability related to mental power, it could represent a monumental leap forward in how he interacted with the world around him.

’Maybe... maybe I could finally communicate more naturally with other beings,’ he thought, a spark of hope glowing inside his core.

But just as that hope arose, an equally large worry came right behind it, like an inevitable shadow.

’A creature with such developed mental power is also a big problem...’ Lohan continued the train of thought, his initial excitement quickly turning into a cold apprehension. ’This creature’s memories definitely wouldn’t be easy to digest. They’d probably be even more complex and chaotic than anything I’ve processed so far.’

He already knew, from his own painful experience, that digesting the memories of ordinary creatures was already troublesome enough, requiring time, focus, and a generous amount of biomass set aside just to stabilize the process. A creature above his level specializing in mental manipulation, whose brain literally grew out of its own skull, would be a completely different category of difficulty.