Drip-Fed Pt. 02

"What a ghastly way of digestion," Aclysia commented for herself, looking at the resulting boneyard. Feeling like she would go crazy if she didn't hear some voice every now and again, she had picked up the habit of monologuing.

The slime was slowly coming to the idea that there were different things expressed by the change in tone in the metal fairy's growling. It had yet to decipher what though. It also didn't try particularly often, feeling that, without ears, that was a lost cause.

"I wonder..." Aclysia flew over to the site of a grip-root and plucked one rabbit's skull off the floor. The grip-root moved out of instinctual response, but was unable to find the flying fairy itself. Taking off with the skull, she dropped the acquisition in front of her awakener. "...could you eat that and get one of your new Growths?" she had spent the last few days deciphering the slime's abilities and, unorthodox as they were, found them to be rather simple to understand. At least the base of it.

The slime, wondering the same independently, began its encapsulation of the mortal remains. For a start, it found that the rotting flesh bits tasted most foul. It recoiled a bit at the taste, almost tempted to just not eat this and get something different. However, since the taste was already in its everything, it might as well buckle up and get done with it. For science.

At least the bone tasted okay. Not particularly intensive, but the steady, slightly sweet taste washed out the bitter, disgustingly sweet but also sour mixture of rot. It was like rinsing down a serving of putrid fish with honey mixed with water.

The result was nothing. While the slime felt sated, no new Growths revealed themselves to its mind. Eating corpses was, apparently, not an option. To be more exact, eating things it hadn't killed itself wasn't, the slime had continued growing from the tree long after the lack of branches had finished it off.

It wasn't growing anymore though, so a stationary plant like this was pretty welcome. Also, those vines looked like they would be of help. There were varying sizes of them, so the slime could hopefully get something that grew with it for a bit.

"What are you doing, awakener?" Aclysia asked as the slime simply crawled over to the vines. "Should you really.... Right, there is no reason for me to worry," she scolded herself for being silly, having forgotten for a moment that her awakener was a blob with only one internal organ.

The grip-root had absolutely no way of harming the slime, even as it dragged itself within its reach. The green vines wrapped themselves around the amorphous creature, but failed to grapple anything. In return, one of those very vines got stuck in the slime, who then proceeded to slurp it up like spaghetti, only very slowly.

Because that put its membrane into a peculiar state of vulnerability, the slime was very careful in this process. If the grip-root had pain receptors, it could have sensed what was happening now and jerked away, leaving a giant hole in the slimes side. Because the goop creature was aware that such a wound would have been devastating to recuperate from, even though not impossible, it limited the amount of root inside it any time so that, if the worst-case scenario came about, the wound would be shallow.

Luckily, the plant stayed blissfully unaware about its ongoing digestion. Noticing this, the slime soon sped up by pulling more of the vines inside it, increasing the ongoing digestion.

Despite this it took the slime over three days to eat the entire plant down to the roots. Hours spent repeating the same process. Start at one vine, slowly dissolving it towards the centre, move back out, get onto the next vine. The longest ones were easily triple the slimes size, putting them at around a metre, but only a few centimeters thick.

"I notice that you are done," Aclysia spoke up, having spent the time whirling around the surrounding area and keeping watch. She was pretty weak in her current stage, but she could take care of some pests that would interrupt her awakener.

The slime grew out a vine appropriate for its size and attempted to use it as an arm. Only it couldn't. Confused, it grew a second one, the result being the same. They simply flopped around. Aclysia fluttered down and folded her moth-like wings, black and white like most of her, behind her back, making it seem like she had a fuzzy cape.

"Are you not able to use these?" the metal fairy wondered, touching vine. In response, it coiled around her, or attempted to as Aclysia took to the air again, the wings beating so fast they became a mere grey blur behind her back. The vines were quick enough to secure a grip on a trotting animal's foot, not on an alert fairy.

Realizing that it couldn't control the plant part, the slime quivered in frustration. The indication here was pretty clear, Growths based on greenery could only do what they were supposed to instinctively. That made them inherently less useful to the slime.

At least it got a nice size boost out of it, so eating a second one would be worth it. Even if only to finally grow beyond what those pesky eagles would try to take on a surprise and deadly flight on.

Aclysia, a bit confused as to why her awakener had tried to grab her, but not upset in any way, saw the slime pulling the green vines back into its body. Then it went to search something. When that something turned out to be another grip-root, which it began to devour in much the same process, she resigned herself to another few days of boredom.

Luckily, she was a patient girl.

"Yo, Hizulu, watch out!" a different voice ripped her out of her thoughts. It was berating, deep enough to be identified as male and generally annoyed. "If you run too fast around here you may break your ankle! Grip-root and all that."

"Sure, sure," a second, upbeat and clearly female voice answered. A sniffing sound accompanied her approach. "I am just smelling something amazing, I tell you!"

The woman that came into view was a beast kin, a breed of humanoids that took on animal traits. They had been a staple in the omni-verse since their inception, and many gods saw it as their goal in life to think of new animals just to cross them with humanoids and see which resulting female had the cutest ears. There was a figurative war in heaven whether anybody could even challenge the cat girls in that regard. It had actually been literal for a little bit, but that was a story few ever talked about.

This particular specimen was of the dog variety. Wolfish ears peeked out of her brown hair and her deep tanned body moved over the ground on all fours as she continued sniffing her way around. A fluffy tail wagged at her lower back. Judging by the light leather armour and the crossbow strapped to her back, she was a ranger.

She was also a cute young thing, in her early twenties, with a round face and lively brown eyes. Her body was lean and athletic, she didn't have a killer-figure but because of how good of a shape she was in there were few men who would have scorned her. Unluckily for most guys, she had too much energy to be chased after.

The man accompanying her was one of those men who didn't care about her, namely because her personality was way too much upkeep for him. Also, because he was her instructor from the Brancher's Guild, the organization that was out to explore the leaves of the omni-verse.

He was strict, stood tall and wielded the unorthodox combination of a sorcerer's staff and plate armour. Being somebody who liked his life and often went on solo-quests in his youth, he had specialized in a way that was versatile. On his face, showing the beginning of wrinkles, was a near constant scowl and he checked the sky every few seconds. Every other second he used to check if his gelled back black hair was still sitting in place.

"What are you looking for, Hemle?" the dog girl, Hizulu, asked.

"Either an eagle or a vulture, that's what we are here for, remember?" Hemle asked. His job was to protect that energetic girl as she went out to tame her first proper pet.

"Ah, right!" Hizulu perked up for a moment, "I completely forgot!"

Hemle shook his head, why was he stuck with this kind of airhead again? Right, because he needed to finance his son's magical college tuition. 'Do it for him,' Hemle thought, he generally liked his job as an instructor, but days like these made him wish he was stuck in a pencil-pusher profession instead. "Just what are you after though?" Hemle asked, sniffing. "Huh, now I actually smell something nice too." His human nose finally picked up on the pheromones.

That was what Aclysia picked up from her position in the tree.

The slime noticed two giants heading for it and, in response, flattened itself next to a tree. There was no way it was going to fight those titans. For a moment, it cursed just how huge it was in comparison to its original droplet state. It would have had no problem hiding from those oddly-shaped things back then. Come to think of it, weren't they shaped like Aclysia, but just scaled up? Also, they were continuously letting out growl sounds.

It took a few more sentences out of the two before the slime finally got that they were communicating with those sounds. In other words, the metal fairy had tried to inform it of things. Now the slime felt like an idiot.

An idiot that was also confused by the humanoid body shape. Two of the three he had met so far moved on two legs, only the one that was now approaching him moved on four. Where was the logic in that? Were the metal fairy and the metal-skinned one hurt and somehow managed to keep their balance on just two legs? Seemed unlikely, but that was the best the slime could come up with at its current sample size.

Either way, the tailed one was steadily approaching and it did not like that. Moving would have immediately given away its position. Then, the immense quivering of the creature's likely nose finally made the slime realize what was at fault there. Immediately, it ceased pheromone production.

"Gotcha!" the brunette shouted as she grabbed the slime.

"Hizulu, are you insane?!" her instructor immediately scolded her as she raised the blob of amorphous slime off the floor. "Grabbing a slime is the quickest way to get ones gloves dissolved! Have you forgotten the lectures already? Always poke a slime with a stick first to see if it is a biting, non-biting or sinkers species!"

The difference between them being whether it was a slime that immediately tried to gnaw on what was touching it or not. Alternatively, there were slimes that didn't have an outer membrane, thus having the hand 'sink' right in. Usually those weren't acidic, but it was still a worthwhile thing to check.

Didn't quite work for this specimen, since it was sapient and could make the decision every time it was encountered, but still.

"Yes, yes, sure, but look, I think he likes me!" Hizulu answered, waving around the kitten-sized unmoving blob in her leather-clad hands. "If it is a he, could be a she, are you a she?"

The slime had opted not to attack the enormous creature just yet. If they tried to eat it, the acidic blob would try what had worked with the eagle, namely sacrificing some of its current mass to burn the inside of their mouths and then flee when they lost interest.

Hopefully they weren't as vengeful as ants, otherwise that plan would be turn into a pile of shambles quicker than its nucleus would.

"It's a slime, it's an it!" Hemle kept lecturing the beast kin. "Which is weird enough in and of itself, Ctania is an explored leaf and slimes are only reported to have been seen on the watery continent north of here."

"Must have swam a long way then," Hizulu guessed. The slime was wondering if it could jump off and used a bounce to run away.

"Impossible, if it lives here its not a saltwater slime, it would have never survived," came the prompt answer. "It must be one of the chaotic aligned deities trying to change up this leaf."

"Didn't you lecture us repeatedly about how this is a safe world?" asked Hizulu. "The covenant would prevent all gods aside from the original thirty-three from getting involved with it, would it not?"

"Uhm..."

"And the original thirty-three usually announce changes to safe worlds, do they not?"

Hemle quietly cursed the girl for remembering the one thing of his many classes that smashed his best theory. "Well then, I am as clueless as you are," he admitted and went back to scowling. "Anyhow, kill or leave it, we should continue searching for an eagle."

"How about I try taming this instead?" asked the dog girl. While the smell was slowly waning, it was still fresh and pleasant in her nose. Very alluring, she wanted to cuddle this soft thing and use it as a pillow.

"...mhm," the battle mage didn't put it aside immediately, he thought of the practical implications. "It is a rare occasion, so you may get yourself something good if you do. Or it might be a regular old, green slime that does nothing special and you will have to hire me for help a second time."

"That's fine," Hizulu decided. Even if the slime did turn out to be useless, she would just keep it at home or in the ranger's farm. At her level of aptitude, she could only keep up one mental connection to an animal or monster. She put her eyes intensely on the thing.

The slime, only sensing that things were suddenly silent, kept standing still. An anticipating gust rolled over the mountainside, causing the leaves of nearby trees to rustle with the whispers of a fateful meeting. The sun peeked through the clouds, even the sparrows kept their quiet.

"Uhm...I can't seem to do it," Hizulu stated.

Must have been a fateful meeting elsewhere.

"Are you sure you are applying your mana correctly?" the instructor asked, crossing his arms over his crystal-tipped spear-staff hybrid.

"Channelling it through its nucleus, should be easier than the normal application," usually the process of taming involved the difficult act of channelling a ranger's mana through an animal's heart and brain at the same time. With slimes only possessing a nucleus, which was usually a pretty basic brain, there had been training animals that should have been harder to tame. "It just straight-up doesn't work."

"Greetings," Aclysia finally made her entrance by flying in front of the ranger's face. "My name is..." she was interrupted by the dog girl shouting in surprise and falling backwards, tossing the slime into the air in the process. "...Aclysia," she continued all the same. "You are incapable of taming this slime due to its status as a sapient being."

"Oh, okay... that's weird," Hizulu said, rubbing her shapely butt while looking at the metal fairy. The slime, in the meanwhile bounced twice from the excess force. It did not like the feeling of its nucleus being catapulted through its body whatsoever. If it could, it would have puked. "I mean, I know there are slime people, but I haven't heard of a sentient slime yet."

"Sapient, she said sapient," corrected Hemle. "Sentient means that it can perceive and feel things, all slimes are sentient to some degree. Sapient beings are able to think and plan." He looked at the metal fairy. "Nevermind all of that, did you say Aclysia?"

"That is my designation, correct."

"The divine quest sent by the 33rd god, Hashahin?"

"That is one of the names my, usually bored, creator goes by, correct."

"...It has been 64 years since your arrival on this world has been announced, ceaseless Brancher's, Walker's and Climber's have tried to find you and now you appear before us randomly," Hemle shook his head in disbelief. "I will take your divine quest!"

Divine quests didn't have their name for show. They were of unparalleled difficulty, length but also reward. Whether it be legendary weapons, favours from the gods, complete control over one of the many leaves of the dimensional trunk of the god's home dimension in the omni-verse, even immortality wasn't out of the picture.

As such, they were immensely coveted. Sadly, getting to be on one was more often random than per will. If one was lucky, they got picked by a god and put on the path. Others were given by walking through a door at the right time. Some gods just wanted to see who could give them a certain amount of tribute first before handing out the quest.

So, when one had been announced to have its starting point in a safe world, everyone had scrambled to get there. In his youth, Hemle himself had tried to find it, hence why he had a greedy look in his eyes now.

"I have to disappoint you, my existence is already marked with the mana of the slime," Aclysia informed the instructor, leaving both him and the beast kin dumbfounded.

"You want to tell me, that a slime that nobody knows where it came from is strolling around this place," Hizulu began.

"Affirmative."

"And that it is a sapient creature."

"Affirmative."

"And..." that was Hemle talking, "that it took the divine quest that people have been searching for, for over sixty years."

"Affirmative," Aclysia's answers kept coming somewhat monotonous. She had wished for a conversation, but her serving nature kept her words to simple confirmations.

"If I kill the slime, does it become open again?" Hemle asked.

"Affirmative, albeit I rather you wouldn't," the metal fairy answered.

"I don't care!" the instructor opened his folded arms and gripped his weapon tight. Killing a small green sapient slime or foregoing a divine quest, even for an ex-adventurer the choice there was pretty obvious. "Where is that thing?!"

The slime was pretty close, just a few metres ahead to be exact, sitting in the hole where a grab-root had been before and disguising itself as the same. It had taken the first opportunity to do that, as everyone seemed to be distracted talking to each other.

Being an experienced instructor, Hemle dodged the annoying plants for the whole hour he ran in circles in search of the slime, before Hizulu finally convinced him that he had another job to do. Luckily, the slime had disabled its pheromone track and it would be more careful with that thing in the future.

"I'll be back," the battle mage guaranteed and then went back to watching the sky. Aclysia waved him goodbye.

The slime stayed in the ground for a couple of days. "Awakener, they are gone," no amount of speaking from Aclysia could persuade it that it was safe. Just because it now knew she was trying to communicate with it with those sounds didn't mean it was suddenly aware what she meant. Didn't help that it still only heard her tone and couldn't discern the words.

For the moment, it would be a plant. An absolute vegetable, just sitting around and being inconspicuous. Those two Aclysia-esque things, those bi-pedalled freaks of nature, they scared the slime. Because they were strong in a way the slime hadn't encountered yet. They were the first things that felt like itself, like they had more goals than just surviving. That made them unpredictable.

The slime wasn't fundamentally against unpredictable things, on the contrary, it really liked the entertaining value of it. The fun stopped when they could kill it though and the way the metal-skinned one had stomped around most certainly made it feel like he wanted to do exactly that.

Even if the slime was to move, the question was where to. The energetic one had found it through the pheromones, so the tree stump was out. That area was positively drenched with the stuff. Maybe it would serve as a distraction because of that, so not all was bad.

While the slime still pondered about its next moves, occasionally getting nudged by Aclysia's tiny index finger, something rather unexpected happened. A young deer ran straight into the slimes grab-roots. That was a nice gift from fate. Although the total of twelve tendrils the slime had grown (the current maximum of Growths it could maintain) were pretty few for a grab-root, it had chosen the sturdiest ones out of instinct.