“Haemish, do you have another skeleton!?” he yelled out after having just kicked them all out of his Consumption room. “I need to know if you can at least get another.”

“Why?” the thick slab of wood between them muffled Haemish’s reply. “You have everything you need there. Two arms, well, one left now, and two legs and everything else, right?”

“Ye-yeah, of course, yeah, you’re right! It’s fine!” then belatedly, “thanks! Wait! I need a Mana Potion!”

“Another one! How many are you going to drink? If you don’t become addicted, you will make yourself sick. This potion is the last one for a while!” Haemish strode in flourishing a Mana potion, and once again, Aarav found it drew him in. It might be becoming a little harder to resist the allure of it, or maybe that was just in his head. The older man was about to pour the liquid down Aarav’s throat when the Boss Copycat Slime stopped him.

“Allow me!” Then Aarav raised his bone hand to take the vial from Haemish. The gripping motion was a struggle to get right, and it took a few frustrating attempts to get the appendage to close on the vial. Then once the vial was firmly in hand, Haemish let go, and Aarav let out a squawk as the hand plummeted to the ground. He managed to slow the descent just enough that when it hit the ground, it did not smash the glass, but the weakness in his arm surprised him.

He was unable to lift the vial from the ground once it landed. Instead, he tipped it over into his waiting mouth, which he rested on the floor where he could swallow the mixture smacking his lips with relish. The minty Mana flavour would never get old. The Health one tasted like iron and blood, which wasn’t as good, but the Stamina one was reminiscent of berries. It was good.

A little disappointed at the effectiveness of his newest limb, he looked at it for a few seconds, then realised that Haemish was doing the same. “Haemish, I should finish up with the rest. Thanks for this.” He followed that with a level look he would not typically have directed at a superior. He did not need sympathy right now, and he required results that would help his frame of mind.

Aarav couldn’t decide, he could go for another arm, but that would take ages, or he could try for a leg, which would take even longer. Two appendages were better than one but would a leg and an arm be better? He knew that wasn’t precisely how probability worked, just as he knew he would Consume everything eventually.

I’ll cross that barrier when I come to it. The chance of success is high, so it’s okay. Aarav got to work on the second arm, deciding to risk it and get two working ones first before worrying about skeleton legs.

The next arm took a lot less time than the first, thanks to Greater Consume breaking through the Level 25 barrier; I need to ask Haemish about that. Then, he attempted to Assimilate:

Your Skill Greater Consume has increased to Level 27!

Your Skill Greater Consume has increased to Level 28!

You have Assimilated 1 Human Arm (Skeleton Only, Right) and improved the ability to Arms of Bone Level 1 +1000 Bonus Exp! Congratulations! Your front Right Earth and Sky Leg have morphed into an Arm of Bone! Dexterity and strength of hand and arm will improve with Level. Melee Skill Bone Claw Level 1 +1000 Exp as well! Without muscle, you can control your arms with Mana @ 0.1MP per arm per minute!

Your Skill Arm of Bone has increased to Level 2!

…

Your Skill Arm of Bone has increased to Level 8!

Your Skill Bone Claw has increased to Level 2!

…

Your Skill Bone Claw has increased to Level 8!

Success! Ahem, relax, Aarav. Dignity could rot. He had arms and hands again! It was hard to contain his excitement, even at the cost of 0.2MP per minute to move them and made of nothing but bones. It was still so great having hands with opposable thumbs.

He felt the surge of power come through the limbs. Gaining seven levels at once would have that effect. He tested the newly strengthened arm against the now-empty vial and could lift it easily. Okay, stronger. The vial is lighter, though, so maybe that has something to do with it too.

All in all, he was happy with this new development. But having spent a reasonable amount of time in that dusty room, it was time to go out and find answers. “Haemish! I’m finished! Hey!” He knocked on the door with one bony arm, and again, no response. Luckily he could turn the handle with his new hands and step out into utter silence. Looking out into the corridor, he saw that everyone had left the lab. He had no idea where everyone had gone, but he was leery that he was in the room alone.

He tried to manifest his legs and walk but found that with only two legs and his arms too weak to support his bulk, walking was out of the question as he was flying since he was too bulky. Aarav huffed out an annoyed breath realising that the best course of action would be to eat and Assimilate the legs and attempt to walk upright instead of messing around with animal legs. He was getting tired of the annoying consequences of not thinking through his decisions. In his excitement to get his arm, he had not considered that they would likely replace his front legs or that they would be too weak to carry him on all fours.

If he was a more patient being, he could have learned to walk on animal paws or strengthened his arms enough to be able to move on all fours or just slither forward on his belly. He was not so patient. Time for the legs! They would be just as weak to start, but the bonus he got from the second leg would hopefully strengthen his legs enough to walk on them if one of the legs didn’t fail. He prayed to all the gods, knowing that it wouldn’t happen that way.

Having been in the central lab for a couple of minutes in his feeble attempts to walk, he accepted that no one was coming back anytime soon. They must have used the time frame of Assimilating the first arm and thought this one would take just as long. Meaning they expected Aarav to have still two hours left before he finished.

Back to the grindstone, Aarav thought with a sigh. The practice would help with the Slime’s movement training and Skill development, if nothing else. Also, there was nothing else to do since he wasn’t up for exploring the palace right now.

Once Aarav was settled in and started working on the right leg, he realised something that he had overlooked when Assimilating the second arm, which made him smile. He brought up the Skill description, the grin widened until his purple gums, and sharp yellowish teeth were also visible. A manic light entered his eyes.

Intrinsic Assimilation (10)

20x EXP Used instead in tandem with Consume X% chance to gain an ability or characteristic, +10% chance to Assimilate per body part already successfully assimilated from the same species.

If he understood the description correctly, he would have a 100% chance to Assimilate it for the next Leg. And everything else that he chose to Assimilate from it. He could gain the entire skeleton now. The limitation would be on his Mana, and Haemish said he would get no more Mana potions today. Still, he was running out of Mana fast and could not Consume the entire leg before it ran out. Consuming Blorenar was a powerful Talent, giving him a 10% boost to Assimilation. Without it, his chances would again drop below 100%. He wasn’t willing to take the risk, so he would have to explain the situation to Haemish.

Aarav was sure the man would understand, but he would need to give more precious information on his abilities and Skills. Was he being too paranoid about it? They intended to use him. He was sure of that much. He just didn’t know how or why they would. Was it worth the risk? Could he convince Haemish without giving away too much? That extra 10% to make Assimilation a sure thing seemed worth doing.