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.

Nevertheless, it was quite lucky to have a deer running around these parts, to the best of the slime’s observation these more often than not strolled around at the edge of the forest below. Then again, this little assembly of trees and grass was somewhat like a miniature forest. Either way, the vines did what the vines did and were keeping the deer in place.

“I really don’t like this hunting strategy,” Aclysia crossed her arms, looking at the poor animal, struggling against the gripping greenery.

After minutes of trying, the deer managed to free its front hoof and tried to dart away, but by then one of its back hoofs had also been grabbed. The dash thus ended rather abruptly with the slime getting halfway pulled out of its earthen hiding place and the deer losing its balance. Now on the ground, it had no chance of getting up again, especial with its liquid captor snuggling back under the lawn.

It would have met a slow death of exhaustion and famine, as the slime had no interest nor knowledge or tools to end its suffering quickly. Flying down to the struggling deer, Aclysia gently touched its neck, searching for the spine. The touch seemed to calm the much larger animal. “I will grant you quick sleep,” the metal fairy promised and conjured magic.

Mana pulsated inside her god-crafted soul and filled this tiny vessel. It was impossible to wield a lot of it, it would break what she currently was. However, enough to give this sorry thing a quick death, that she could do.

That was when another unexpected thing happened, something that Aclysia should have seen coming but her inwards cast gaze failed to. There was a reason why Hemle had stepped towards the grab-roots field and that was carcasses. Every carcass attracted many things, insects, rodent but mostly one of the two birds he had been hired to find with Hizulu.

Vultures.

The grey-feathered bird landed on the immobilized deer, wary of the roots that had made its prey easy pickings. It had been circling its usual route in search of food, a route that took it around the entire mountain once per month or two, depending on the number of findings. Wherever grab-roots bloomed, these carcass devouring animals could not be far. Famished as this particular individual was, it didn’t hesitate to dirty its own beak to end the deer.

The long neck descended, the thick fur at the base standing on edge. Red blood soon sullied that grass as the curved beak of the creature drew it fresh from the young life of the deer. The vulture drew back its head and shook it to get rid of the few spurts of vitae that had spurted out of the vein it had cut open. On blood and red meat, it planned to gorge today.

Unlucky for it that the magic Aclysia had already gathered needed some sort of outlet. “My awakener will surely appreciate a feast,” she stated. She didn’t feel animosity towards the vulture for doing what she planned to do, if in a bit more brutal a fashion. Like stated, her priority lay indeed only in helping the slime.

The pin-point blade of mana she had meant to conjure to sever the nerves at the deer’s neck changed into a sharp gust of wind. Spread out like that, the force was too small to do more than cut a few feathers in twain. Aclysia’s goal wasn’t to cut, however, but for the still half-open wings of the massive bird to catch the wind. Under such conditions, the vulture lost its footing on top of the carcass, a less than optimal standing position in the first place.

Tumbling backwards, the bird fell on top of one of the unoccupied grab-roots of the slime. The creature that had taken advantage of these plants all its life now became victim to it. Nature couldn’t just be cruel, it could also create sick irony. Or a large, several day lasting meal for a slime that was only vaguely aware what just happened.

It just hoped that the kill on the deer was still eligible for its consumption and emulation ability. Since it had caught it, it should count. Right?

It did.

Eating both of those animals, much larger than the slime currently was, had taken the blob quite some time. Regardless, there it was, belly full and with a whole array of new things. Number one object of appreciation: vulture eyes. These things were so good, it almost physically hurt the slime to use them. There was so much it could now see, it was astounding.

Most of all Aclysia.

She was really cute and sexy, and that was the first time the slime had thought of anything that way. Sure, she was small, even compared to it, but she had aesthetically pleasing curves. Her simple, no longer blurry, black-white colouration and pale skin made her definitely more pleasing to look at than the boring green everywhere. Her backwards flowing hair, way too orderly for this wild, made her look like a word the slime didn’t know and would have no reference to, either ‘civilized’ or downright ‘noble’.

Before the slime knew what it was doing, it was nomming on Aclysia. Not to eat her, but just because it felt like the right thing to do. “This is weirdly pleasant,” the metal fairy said in a tone the slime thought was appreciating.

Feeling as if she got a full body massage, the divine quest giver let herself be devoured for a few minutes. Then the slime remembered that it had to go elsewhere. There would be more time to inspect her body later.

It rapidly tried out all new Growths it had, only stopping to eat off another grip-root, increasing its size and replenishing its energy. The deer’s legs and mouth were pretty useful, but overall the vulture had easily the more useful features. Not only were its legs more suitable for the slimes current size, but the beak was better at ripping stuff apart than the herbivore’s teeth were. The ability to grow antlers was kind of cool, however. Shame that, much like a shell, that would take time.

The king of all of these new acquisitions must have been the wings, however. At a total wingspan of over one and a half metres on a thirty-centimetre wide body. Sure, it was a translucent, drop shaped body, but they still managed to get the slime off the floor.

Its first attempts at flying sent it two feet forwards, fluttering and then splattering against a tree. It experienced a world of hurt when its nucleus clashed against bark from the momentum. Luckily, it stayed inside its body, so it was just like a human running their forehead against a doorframe.

It would have to experiment with that a bit more.