Hang on! I'll... I'll definitely find something for you to eat...!!!

"Haha... it's alright. Hikari... it's not... your fault..."

Inaho looked at me weakly as she laid on the ground without any strength left.

"It's... strange... After all the horrible things I've gone through, it doesn't seem like I'll cry any time soon... Am I... weird?"

No...! You're... not... You can't die... you can't leave me alone...!

Inaho's frail body looked like it could disappear like sand grains any time soon. She had not eaten for days... talking peacefully like this... was the best she could manage with her weak body.

No... no. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. There must be another way... there must be a skill that can procure food... at least something... something that can prevent her death...

...T-that's right...! The Potential Absorption...!!!

Potential Absorption LV1

Absorb matter existing within the user's body to gain potentials of skills.

Potentials can be converted to skills by absorbing the same type of matter for a set amount of times.

Potentials Herbalism 875/1000

Accessing the inner details of this skill window, I managed to open up another one. It seems that Herbalism Potential would let me learn Alchemy immediately.

Alchemy LV1

User can collect concentrates and mix solutions with herbs and materials to create various potions and elixirs with varying effects (can range from healing to creating debuffs).

Concoctions

I... I can get alchemy with this potential... there might be something I could make that could fill her hunger and fix her wounds... and to do that...

...grass... I need to eat... eat more grass... and-

"If..."

I looked at Inaho, who spoke out suddenly with a hoarse voice.

"If I die, will you... please lay me... around a bed of... blue flowers...? I've always admired blue flowers... They always appear so shiny... like stars under the moonlight..."

What... are you saying?! Are you going to give up just like this? Don't say something like that!!! I won't allow it! I won't allow you to die...!!! Inaho! Inahooooo!!! You lot, find grass and bring them to me...!!! Quickly! If there is anything edible, bring it over too!

I moved around my dead classmates around to gather all the ingredients I needed to learn alchemy.

There must be... something that I can make that can help her cope by in the meantime...!!!

But there was nothing left that I could do on my own, so I resorted to praying. Even though I was never a follower of any religions back on Earth.

Please make it in time!!! Don't... don't die! Please, please... please...

"Why the... silence...? Won't you fulfil... my last wish...?

You wouldn't... do that for... a friend...?"

...!!!

Neither words nor actions could convey the grief and sadness I felt at this moment. I cursed my body, at the fact that I had become a monster. I cursed my inorganic voice, a lack of empathy found in its tone.

I was like a robot who could not react to Inaho's emotions appropriately, even though I felt the sorrow in her words. I just could not convey any sort of human-like expressions or emotions.

I...

"Please... Hikari..."

...

...I... I got it. Where would you like to go...?

"This place... is gloomy... I think... the wide area... with... the hole we'd fallen down from... There is light there... I think... I can see the stars from there..."

... ...

"Hikari...?"

...Okay.

The place where Inaho had mentioned was just a few meters beyond this wall after using my Slime Sense, so I brought over two of my familiars and dug through it. This cave was a maze to get around, so it was faster to break through it.

Slime Veil.

I casted the skill on both of the familiars I'd summoned over. Keeping the passive of Harden Skin with my Slime Veil, they managed to create a narrow passageway directly to that wide open area within in a few minutes.

Since their flesh remained and Harden Skin did not entirely protect their hands from damage, their bloodied hands seemed to suffer from haemorrhage after getting chunked out by the sharp edges of the rock they were excavating.

But it did not matter to me. I couldn't care less about these two.

These two.

These two deserved it.

They were never humans from the start. Once they entered a situation where their lives were at risk, their animal instincts kicked in like a monster.

Lust. Rape. Cannibalism. Deceit.

They were even worse than me.

I did not feel amused by that line of thought.

They were beyond the morality of monsters if they did retained any semblance of emotions.

In the end... are humans... all the same...?

After being ordered to lay her down, the two familiars returned back to look for grass and food.

Inaho looked back at the place where we'd dug through while lying on the center of the ground where moonlight was shining through the hole from the top.

"... ...Hey, Hikari. Doesn't... this feel like a secret base...?"

...A secret base...?

I must have leaked out my thoughts through her Monster Telepathy as a summoner. That was the method she'd been using to talk to me with from the beginning. It was a fortunate coincidence she heard me then.

Anyway, she must've read the mood and decided to lighten it up by changing the topic. I immediately followed up on that.

"Yeah... it would be... cool if there was a door that... would block this... passageway. And you could... hide a button... to open it up... hehe..."

...That would sound... fun...

My response was flat, as my thoughts were gathered on finding ways to preserve her life while I looked around my Status Window.

... ...

"Ah... there's no flowers here... ..."

"..."

"!!! *cough cough*"

?! Wha-what's wrong Inaho?!

She suddenly coughed violently a few times, before speaking out after turning silent for a long while.

"I... I'm sorry Hikari... I don't think... I can sustain... my Monster Telepathy any...more... ...I guess... this is... as far... as I can go..."

No... No... please... Flowers... I'll... I'll get them... so you have to wait... you have to... you have to...

...Damn it! Damn it! Cry! Cry! Let me cry!!!

Why can't I cry! Why! Why! Why! Why! Why! Why! Why! Why! Why!

I HATE MYSELF! WHY ARE YOU LEAVING ME NOW! WHY! WHY ARE YOU LEAVING ME LIKE EVERYONE ELSE! I... I...

I felt a hand patting the the surface of my slime body. Inaho caressed me softly with closed eyes.

"It is... okay... after coming to this new... world... I have... learnt many... things... I have experienced... many things... many setbacks... many lies... even if... they were lies, I managed to find solace in... an unrequited love... ...I also ate many good food around town... and making new friends... haha... can you believe it...? Someone like me... a lonely girl like me who registered in the Occult Club back in school has... experienced this many-"

-Don't say stuff like that!!! Don't die! I won't allow ittt!!! That's right...! I can keep you alive with Slime Veil right?! I have Immortality after all...!

Yes! I can do it! I can definitely do it! I should have recovered enough to do it again!

I chanted Slime Veil repeatedly inside of my head like a broken recorder, Inaho's body continued to glow lightly from the visual effects of it. But it didn't seem to last any longer than a few seconds.

Immortality Whenever the user would lose all of their HP, HP loss will be resisted at 1. Consumes 20% of user's maximum mana automatically whenever possible to return to a previous state.

Because there was a prerequisite of requiring enough mana to use Immortality to restore their condition, it became impossible to use Slime Veil alongside Immortality which had that clause. Harden Skin as well were not carried over.

Even though Immortality as a passive skill on its own did not require mana to activate, Slime Veil had its own complicated set of rules that governed the passive skills it inherits onto other targets.

Slime Veil LV1

Target individual to create an intangible and transparent Slime Veil around them.

Slime Veils last until target individual dies or experiences a debuff strong enough to negate the effects of Slime Veil.

Slime Veil copies all Passive Skills the caster owns over to the target individual.

(Any Passive Skills that has the potential to expend resources which the target individual does not possess at the time of casting Slime Veil, will not be applied until Slime Veil is recasted with the target individual possessing enough resources to use the skill/s.)

Inaho had already expended almost all of her mana already, and she was barely managing with her Monster Telepathy which seemed to be fading away in effectiveness as time passed.

I won't let them take you away from me...!!! Do you hear me?! I won't allow it!!! I won't allow ittt!!!

But I refused to accept this situation.

"-Thank you, but it's okay... you've tried it before... it won't work... but it doesn't... matter... After all... I can finally say... that I've lived my life to the fullest... as a person... and... ...I... I can die without regrets now... It's... time... to let... go... ... Good...bye..."

Inaho's eyes finally closed, a trickle of tear went down from her left eye to her chin.

...

I continued to cast Slime Veil silently in my head, but the sudden silence from the lack of response made me fear for the worse.

I timidly asked a question.

A question... which remained unanswered for the rest of my life.

...Inaho...?