Jake watched as the Slime bounced around his legs, periodically stopping to nudge him by rolling into them. The way the slime moved seemed almost joyful, and it was hard to rectify its appearance with the dangerous Monster it was. John had been able to show Jake the Monster’s basic stat sheet when he had asked him to test out taking control of a Monster. However, neither Jake nor John could access the descriptions of what precisely the Abilities would allow Jake to do when he took control of the Monster. Deciding there was no time like the present, Jake reached down and put his hand on top of the Slime, who seemed to have stopped its movements in anticipation of what Jake was about to do. As he finished putting his hand on it, the Slime seemed to quiver with excitement, and Jake’s perspective suddenly shifted. Jake felt a sense of panic, realizing he couldn’t see, and because of that, Jake just wanted to sit still for a bit. However, Jake could feel the Slime’s desire to resume hopping around was becoming more insistent, so as he relinquished a bit of control back to the Slime, he pulled up its description.

Slimes

Element Affinity: Neutral

Subtype: Neutral

Prerequisites: Slime Mold Absorbed, Mana Infusion Researched

Abilities: Iridescence, Biological Network, Asexual Reproduction, Acid, Regeneration, Vibration Sense

Cost: 10 Mana

As Jake’s attention shifted back towards what the Slime was doing, he noticed that he wasn’t just in a black void. While Jake didn’t see anything, he got impressions where everything was around him. Jake wanted to get a better image of everything around him, so he asked the slime to stop hopping again. As the Slime stopped moving, Jake noticed that he had a memory of where everything was but was no longer getting an update of what was around him. Jake thought about it for a couple of seconds, before realizing that the Slime’s hopping around must be one of the ways it uses Vibration Sense. To test this out, he had the Slime move by rolling around. Jake could sense that this kind of movement was much quieter than hopping and could be used for stealth purposes, but he also received much less information from the Vibration Sense about his surroundings. To test the Slimes movement limits, Jake also got it to try moving along like an inchworm. As the Slime did so, Jake inferred from the information coming in that he received more information from the ground around the Slime, but less information was coming from the air around him than rolling. Jake calculated that this must mean the Slime would theoretically be making more noise this way due to the increased vibrations, but its body was muffling the noise. The Slime sent back a sense of unease to Jake after doing this for a while, seemingly word that stretching itself across sharper rocks could lead to cuts occurring.

Jake had some fun testing out these different locomotion methods after the initial disorientation he had felt, and how they affected the input he got from Vibration Sense. The Slime seemed confused at first, but when Jake sent images of the Slimes hopping and something running away, followed by the Slime using the crawl like movement to get close to the prey without it trying to escape, it paid attention. Jake followed this with an image of the Slime jumping onto the target, and the Slime seemed to get excited and paid closer attention to what Jake did. Jake got the sense that by doing this, he had unlocked a new pattern of behaviour for Slimes and that some Slimes would continue to follow, while other Slimes would continue the actions he had initially seen from this Slime. He suspected that this could lead to different evolution opportunities for the different patterns of behaviour for the different Slimes. Before Jake finished up with the Slime, he also wanted to test a couple of other things he hoped the Slime could learn. First, Jake got the Slime to stretch out, similar to how it had when it had crawled like an inchworm. Then instead of having it crawl again, he got it to slap it font half against the ground. Jake was satisfied to see that he had gotten a better resolution than usual in the direction that he had the slime slap in. Jake was shocked when he received a notification that a new Slime Ability had been unlocked, Vibration Probe, though he still couldn’t access the description. Jake had a feeling that most Slimes would be using this in some ways, so he tried out softer and stealthier ways to use the Ability, like tapping rather than slapping so that Slimes could use a wider variety of behaviours with the Ability.

Feeling satisfied with what he had achieved with Vibration Sense, Jake got the Slime to model its Acid ability for him. He saw that the Slime had a couple of different behaviours already set for the Ability, the first of which was to secrete some acid as a defensive mechanism to stop predators from wanting to attack it. The Slime could also shake its body after this as a kind of area of effect attack, to try and ward off multiple attackers. Finally, the Slime showed him how it spits up a gob of acid, seemingly so that it could help digest things it was having trouble absorbing, similar to how many insects and bugs digested certain foods. Seeing that the Slime had pretty good control over its body, Jake had a few ideas on other ways the Slimes could use the Acid Ability. First, Jake got the Slime to make the hole opening to let the acid out for digesting much smaller and let the acid build up a bit at the entrance. The acid then came out in a more concentrated stream and travelled much farther. Besides showing the Slime to use this as a ranged attack, Jake also sent the Slime images of how if there was a hole it couldn’t cross, it could use the stream to cause vibration on the other side of the hole so it could “see” on the other side with Vibration Sense. Jake also showed the Slime how it could climb onto the ceiling and drip acid as both a trap and as a way to monitor an area without making sounds that would give away that there is a Slime in the area.

Not thinking of anything else he could teach the Slime, Jake willed himself out of the Slime, and his body manifested again in the Boss Room of the First Floor of the Dungeon. Jake had been surprised that he had been able to have a physical body, but since John had absorbed his body, he could manifest it for Jake to use as an NPC. Currently, Jake would be unable to leave John’s domain, which he figured was probably for the best. Just because his current body didn’t have a chemical dependency on any drug didn’t mean it wasn’t still psychologically tempting for him to use. Yes, he was comforted now by the idea that there was some afterlife, and he hadn’t lost his parents forever, but drugs had long been a crutch to escape his troubling emotions. But being granted a second chance wasn’t something he wanted to disrespect, especially since it had been given to him by his brother, the one person who had continued to stand by him no matter how bad he had gotten. And he didn’t want to do anything that would upset the new family balance, like letting down Lenny or making the recent relationship between John and Gwen strained. Jake knew he could be a bit of an asshole and generally fell into the trickster archetype, but he loved his brother and knew how hard it was for him to open himself to others, and Gwen seemed like a kind and outgoing person who would be a good match for John. As he finished that thought, the Slime gave him a quick nuzzle on his legs before climbing up the wall and nestling itself in a corner, wanting to work on its stealth capabilities.

John was feeling pretty undecided about what he should do with his next bunch of Research Points. John could get both Cooking and Chemistry tomorrow; Mineral Working for 4 R.P.; or any other basic crafts, basic element, Interdimensional Internet Connection, or Mana To Electrical Power Conversion for 5 R.P. By adding Cooking and Chemistry to Dungeon Crafting would give him a lot more things to work on with Dungeon Crafting, which he hadn’t seen much use for so far. Cooking would also allow him to better practice things he could make for his date with Gwen, making it even more tempting. Mineral Working also sounded interesting since it seemed that it would allow him to do any crafting related to minerals, including stonemasonry and crafting related to gems. The other crafts would be useful, and he wanted to pick up one of the basic elements soon for experiments. It would also be nice to have access to the internet for information and to be able to show Gwen a lot of the things on it, but John had the feeling that Mana to Electrical conversion would give him a lot of benefits. Hopefully, even just having access to his laptop would allow him access to some of the design and drafting programs he had on it. Adding even some of their abilities to his Blueprints would be awesome, nevermind some of the benefits he could imagine if he could work some coding into his Abilities. So really, in John’s mind, the choice was whether to pick up the Mana To Electric conversion tonight, or Cooking and Chemistry.

Whatever choice John ended up making, he was happy with selecting Mana Infusion for his last round of Research. Besides being able to create monsters, John could now add mana into any materials being produced. John had tested it out with the leather and carapace for which he had acquired the patterns. Adding the mana had made both the materials better overall in quality, along with him having a feeling that they were now better prepared to take enchantments and other enhancements. To infuse the metals and other materials he had access to, he would first have to gain their sub-ability under Dungeon Crafting. His tests on the materials he had access to had given him two Dungeon Crafting levels, raising its level to 3. On a similar note, John’s day’s activities had also raised his Domain level to 7, and his Domain now was touching the walls of most of the buildings around him and beginning to cross into buildings. Besides the levels he had gained, Gwen’s research had also provided him with a couple of new Blueprints and benefits. John had acquired more weapon Blueprints, including Gandalf’s sword Glamdring and Gandalf’s staff, and had gained more varieties of magic rings based on the powers of the Rings described in the books. However, when John tried to Create some of these items, he found that they could not be Created until he had appropriate materials. He could make swords and rings out of lesser materials like the stainless steel he had unlocked, but they would have none of the magical enchantments that the originals had.

What had surprised John more was that he had gained partial access to the Elvish and Dwarven languages, along with some of the Elvish alphabet and some Dwarven Runes. John had asked Gwen about this; she explained how the System had been built upon a gestalt unconsciousness spread through the Multiverse. Even when a universe didn’t have full access to the System, people still had access to that unconsciousness, especially creative types. When someone came up with an idea that had a real representation somewhere in the Multiverse, the gestalt unconsciousness would guide their creativity to match some aspects of the actual alternate reality. For example, when Tolkien was coming up with his languages, the unconsciousness had directed him towards the Elvish and Dwarven languages. When creating the races that had made the languages, the gestalt had made Tolkien’s descriptions similar to Elves and Dwarves present in the Multiverse. Gwen’s explanation of this had caused John a bit of discomfort when it came to Orcs and Goblins, as he didn’t like the idea of inherently evil races of beings, but Gwen had explained that this was not true. Gwen explained that while there were Orcs and Goblins, neither was an inherently Evil race and that those present in The Lord Of The Rings more closely resemble something she called the Mal-touched. These were beings of any race corrupted by the Dark God Malthus, and the Goblins and Orcs in Lord Of The Rings had represented their Mal-touched counterparts. Gwen’s explanation made more sense to John as that was similar to Goblins and Orcs in The Lord Of The Rings lore, though the idea that Evil Gods are out there was terrifying in and of itself. As he voiced that thought, Gwen had explained that there were not many Evil Gods, like the Gods of Neutrality and Good. There was a singular Evil God, Malthus, who was also called the Conqueror and the Corrupter. As Gwen explained, at one point in history, eons, ages, minutes, years, or seconds ago, depending on your perspective in the Multiverse, where time outside of the System’s regulation wasn’t exactly consistent, the Evil Administrators and Gods had begun subsuming each other. Eventually, they combined into one hive mind, and the personalities absorbed would, at times, still wrestle for control, as the nature of Evil was to seek absolute power at any cost. Occasionally there were splits, and part of Malthus would break off, but those were usually conquered again and reabsorbed. Even the personality of Malthus changed as new personas came in and out of control of the collective. The one constant was that it wanted to rule; it was obsessed with power at any cost and anything that allowed its influence usually fell to corruption either in part or as a whole.

Malthus had been such a threat that the Good and Neutral Administrators and Gods had formed a loose alliance as time had gone on. There was still some fighting for control among the various factions, but as soon as a significant part of Malthus’ presence came to a realm, even the most isolationist of other powerful beings would join a coalition to fight back against its existence. It wasn’t necessarily because Malthus’ presence was always powerful. Generally, the more expansionist personas had to win a significant fight over the more cautious personas to justify sending more power to its forces in the area. The longer Malthus’ presence in a realm remained unchecked, the more likely it was that the more moderate and conservative personas were to agree to commit some of their power and potentially leave its presence in other spaces a bit vulnerable. So the coalition had been decided to stop any current conflicts in a realm once Malthus arrived so that they could deal with Malthus quicker.

Gwen had a thoughtful look on her face as she explained this to John, “However, Malthus is not the only source of Evil in the Multiverse, only the most powerful. Anything else Evil that gets enough power is either noticed and absorbed into the hive or is arrogant enough to believe the will be the dominant persona and tries to wrestle control of the collective for themself. They may even succeed for a time, but there are enough dominant and clever personas in Malthus that eventually others take over for a time. Generally, when a more conservative persona is in control, the Multiverse goes through a time of peace, though more localized Evils may find this an opportunity to gain their power.”

“Oh, I understand that Malthus cannot be the only source of Evil,” John replied to Gwen, “it’s not like we needed him for Dr. Mengele, The Tuskegee Syphilis Study, or Unit 731. Among the many other horrors, humans have come up with throughout the years.”

Gwen wasn’t sure what John was talking about, but she could sense a feeling of mixed horror, anger, and sadness coming from John. There was a distinct feeling of bitterness coming from John about these events, and Gwen would look them up herself or ask John about them later when he was in a better mood. “Do you have any other questions about Malthus?”

“Mainly just why they haven’t tried to take over on Earth now that it is open to the Multiverse?”

“Essentially, because Malthus didn’t find it first. The first powerful beings to notice that your realm was now accessible to them were Good and Neutral from a mostly peaceful realm. They have already begun establishing their presence here, Mahaytar being the most prominent so far. Even in their most expansionist periods, Malthus won’t commit significant power unless it is the first to a realm. Any significant loss of power for Malthus usually leads to a separation of some personas from the collective, which can be a significant loss of power until they are rejoined and interfere with Mathus’s plans in the works. So Malthus is usually more cautious and uses underhanded tactics on realms that they are not the first to, in case the other powerful beings are relatively weak compared to them. If anything, Malthus is more likely to increase his operations in other realms Mahaytar is present in, as Mahaytar will be using a bit of power from their other realms until they are fully established as a presence here.”

“So I shouldn’t be worried about Malthus showing up directly yet, but I should be on the lookout for them operating through more local powers, as I assume I am a bit of a strategic resource.”

“Right, especially as you are your world’s only Soul Repository for now. And since you are aligned with Good, you will be used to help send Evil Souls for a cleansing rebirth. Along with weakening any hold Evil has over Good and Neutral Souls that are on their journey to the afterlife,” Gwen said, her conflicting emotions of pride and worry evident to John.

“I’m assuming that this weakens Malthus and strengthens the other Gods somehow?”

“Sure. Souls going to the afterlife give up some of their power as a form of rent in the afterlife, essentially. They may also trade power for boons if they ever decide to reincarnate. The less Evil they have attached to them, the quicker their journey is to the afterlife, and the quicker their being in the afterlife will gain power for their benefactor. Sending the Evil Souls for a cleansing rebirth also keeps Malthus from taking their power, and gives them another shot to end up in a Good or Neutral Beings afterlife.”

“So essentially, I could be a target, but I’m a deterrent until the point I am available as a target, as most resources Malthus could use against me are not recoverable?” John said to Gwen with a bit of worry in his voice.

“Essentially, yes.”

“Well, that’s reassuring,” John said with irony present in his tone. “Seeing as you’re done The Fellowship Of The Ring, but I’m not quite ready for our date yet, do you want to watch one of those cartoons I was talking about? We can do it alone, or I can invite Jake and Lenny as well.”

“That sounds good, and as much as I’d like to keep to myself for a bit more,” Gwen said with a wink as she walked towards John, who blushed a bit, “I also want to get to know your brother and Lenny a bit better, and they seem like the kind of thing Lenny could enjoy.”

“Sounds good. We can watch a bit of Adventure Time, which has something in it for almost everyone. Maybe we’ll even surprise Lenny and show him an episode form one of the episodes of a T.M.N.T. show. I’m sure his reaction would be pretty cute.”

Gwen got closer to John and whispered in his ear, “It’ll be nice testing if we can make a good family unit,” Causing John’s blush to deepen as she kissed him on the cheek and turned to walk away with a sultry sway. However, John found it charming that she couldn’t completely turn away from him before a blush had developed on her face as well.