The week passed uneventfully. I slept every other day, spent about 3 hours working every day, a total of three hours at the library, and spent the remainder of the time making mana crystals. By the end of the week, I had made 116 more mana crystals, and spent 90 on more slimes, 7 more on recharging mana, and 7 more on daily food expenses. A modest gain for a week’s work, especially for an E rank. Then again, I did have easy access to neutral mana and no housing or personal food costs. The remaining 12 crystals would be saved for a rainy day. Or tax day, whenever that is. What was it in Aurelia again, 50 mana crystals a month for an E rank? I’m going to have to start saving up for that.

With the space gained from absorbing all 10 slimes, I returned the Spiderilla’s terrarium to its former 2,000 square feet, and made another 5 terrariums where I would put other monsters in the future. I wanted to expand Rhannu’s space further, but I’m likely already pushing the amount of space I can have with only 10 slimes and Rhannu eating up the mana.

Besides that, I still needed to make the pond, fill the floor of Rhannu’s and the Ostean Giant Flytrap’s terrariums with dirt, and get some actual plant life. The quality of Rhannu’s space is just as important as the quantity. But that work would have to wait for tonight. With the post office gig done, it was back to daily training with Geistig.

We met at the docks, and the others were absent again. Before anything else, I pulled a mana crystal out of my subspace and handed it to Geistig as repayment for the one he gave me when we first met.

Geistig narrowed his eyes. “You’re already able to keep up a body enhancement while making a crystal?”

“No, but I did find a way around it.” I replied.

“Sylas, I really don’t want to have to explain to Roshanee how my newest apprentice died while I wasn’t watching.” There was a slight roughage to his voice, like he was legitimately angry at the progress I made.

“Don’t worry, I’m being safe.”

“I doubt that.” Geistig commented in the same harsh voice before dropping the topic with a sigh. “The collective finally got back to me about your limb training. Assoziieren will be working with you over the next few days until you get better control of yourself.”

“Someone is actually coming here? I thought they would just be lending you their expertise through the collective.”

“It’s… A little bit of both, actually.”

I gave him a puzzled look.

“Just give me a second, it’ll be clear soon.

Geistig placed his hand on his forehead gem, and the purple fire and strings emanated from it. “Geistig is prepared. We request consciousness transfer with Assoziieren. Beginning now.”

The purple flame grew blindingly bright, and I had to turn away. When the flame died down, nothing in particular seemed to change, other than Geistig’s voice.

“Top of the morning to you, laddy. I reckon you are the one known as Sylas, correct?” He spoke in a voice entirely different from usual. Feminine and slow.

“Uhm, Geistig? No… Assoziieren?”

“The one and only, except for all the others.” She smiled. “Now let’s get to it, we don’t have all day. Get into that Filii Spatium Polypus form of yours, and we’ll begin.”

I nodded my head, and dove into the river. A few minutes later, I surfaced as one of the E rank Polypus. I waited for her to make the mind bridge, but couldn’t feel anything. How are we supposed to communicate without the mind bridge?

“I’m a druid, not a mage. Don’t need no mind bridge to hear you think.”

Wait, what? So you can just hear me think? What if there’s something I don’t want you to hear?

“Same thing you do against any nonphysical foreign mana. Shield yourself with your own mana, and hope I don’t try to pry. Has Geistig not taught you this yet?”

“No, not yet.”

“Well, if it’s really bothering you, let me give you a hand.”

Ideas and actions that were not my own began brewing in my head. My mana pooled towards my brain and liquefied, then solidified into a thin barrier surrounding it.

“Now memorize how I did that, break it down whenever you want to communicate, and build it back up afterwards.” Assoziieren instructed aloud. “You’re going to want to get used to making and deconstructing them quickly, as that’s going to be one of your only defenses against nonphysical attacks.”

“Thank you, Assoziieren.” I thought, taking a few minutes to deconstruct and reconstruct the mental barrier before and after the sentence.

“Alright, let’s get started. I’m going to extend my perception to your body through your mind, and construct some artificial connections between the two. They’ll only last the duration of my stay, but it should help kickstart the creation of your mind’s natural connections.”

“And how exactly are you going to do that while I have my mental barrier up?”

“Oh, that’s simple sweety.” She smiled and tilted Geistig’s head innocently. “I’ll just drill through your flimsy mental barrier.”

I don’t like the sound of tha— ow! That hurts!

“There we go. I made sure to keep your barrier in-tact, so it should still prevent your stray thoughts from leaking. Now, let’s get started.”

---

The whole process of getting adjusted to the extra limbs and organs was both uneventful, and uninteresting. It basically felt like what I had been doing before with every other part of the Polypus body, except now there were more things to control. It was nice being able to swim in place without clouding up the river with ink, though.

Since I didn’t have much else to do, I practiced turning off and on my monster body enhancements. It took a good bit of concentration, but so did everything related to mana. I’d been assured that mana manipulation gets easier with rank and practice.

The six or so hours passed by, and Assoziieren relinquished Geistig’s body back to him while I returned to Rhannu’s form.

“Where were you while she was in control of your body, Geistig?”

“I was in there with her. She offered to let me sleep through it, but I was interested in the spell she used. It’s a bit more complex than what I can learn in a few hours, but I should learn it by the end of the week. It may come in handy another day.”

“So how are you paying her back for the help? How should I?”

“The collective doesn’t work like that. We offer the help we can when requested, and request help when needed. From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs. As for what you can do to pay me back, don’t bother. IGAG reimburses me for the costs of mentorship.”

“Sure, the city pays you back, but what about me? What am I doing for you?”

“Paying your taxes, and indirectly me, hopefully.”

“I will. Tax day is the last day of every month, correct?”

“Every Husaramian month, so you’ve got another two weeks. I know it’s difficult when you’re first starting out, so let me know if you need an advance.”

“I should be good, but I’ll let you know.”

We said our goodbyes, and I shifted into pigeon form to head north along the stream, outside the mana well. With the mana well problem mostly taken care of, it’s finally time to start working on making the terrariums more comfortable.

---

Every morning was spent with Geistig and Assoziieren working on my body enhancements and part association. By the end of the week, I could move all 10 limbs and control both the ink and venom sac simultaneously, though only my original 4 tentacles had a great degree of fine control.

Every night was spent gathering materials for the terrariums. Since phasing materials into my subspace took far less time than regaining the mana to do so, I was able to find a convenient schedule where I would sleep for ¾ of an hour while waiting for my mana to regenerate.

I phased into my subspace to admire my work. The Ostean Giant Flytrap terrarium was filled about 6 inches deep of dirt, and the Flytrap itself was moving around on its roots, as I suspected it was capable of.

As for Rhannu’s terrarium, a good third of it was filled with a fully functional pond. Its base was made of clay, fire-dried by Rhannu with a few trees I phased into it. Inside the pond was pond-grass, fresh water, and a few live salmon. Topsoil and grass lined the rest of the terrarium, six inches deep except for a mound around one apple tree in the middle.

Rhannu himself was lying down on the ground around his shed while all ten of the baby slimes were climbing over him. Some were rubbing against him affectionately, and others were playing tug of war with some loose sticks or other objects.

I cleared my throat, and Rhannu opened his eyes.

“Someone looks like they’re having fun.” I commented.

“Perhaps I am. You’ve done good work here, Sylas. Thank you.” Rhannu smiled. The first genuine smile I’d seen from him since I first arrived here.

I held back a tear. “There’s still a lot to be done, but we’ll get there in due time.”