The headache still throbbed. Al groggily opened his eyes, frowning. Shaking his head. His vision was blurry, yet the dash of orange was apparent. Slowly, his vision gained clarity, and the dusk sky greeted him.

“Shit,” Al said. Massaging his temple. He stared at the sky that was slowly turning dark. But something felt odd. He caught something shimmering like a bubble in his vision. His hand reached out for the sky, and felt it. It was a transparent elastic wall of some sort. He didn’t know what it was, and he assumed it was either shielding him or he was trapped in something.

Yet something flashed before his eyes. It was as if a blind just retracted right in front of him. He questioned what he saw, and the headache wasn’t making it any easier for him. Groaning, Al propped his body up and looked behind him.

“Slime?” Al said. Looking at his slime thin and long, different from how it used to be. The green slime configured its own body and returned to its squishy, round shape.

“It protected me,” Al said. Realizing what the shimmering cover was meant for.

“Thanks, Slime,” Al said, smiling. “And I think I should give you a name . . . Um, how about Flubber? You good with Flubber?”

The slime bounced in place as if showing her acceptance.

“Now why the hell did I faint just now?” Al asked. Probbing through his mind, trying to seek an answer for that sudden fainting spell. To his knowledge he had no history of medical illness before, and the last time he went to a clinic was because of a nasty runny nose.

“The taming skills?” it was the first thing that came in mind. “It’s either the skill had a limit or my ‘MP’ or the equivalent of it in this world reached rock bottom.”

Al traced back the number of times he tamed, and the count reached fourteen. He compared with his status, and the simplest comparison he could make was doubling his intelligence stat. It wasn’t for sure, but it was the most plausible.

“So fourteen time is the limit, huh,” Al said. Staring at both of his hands, trying to feel whatever energy that was responsible in allowing the taming skill. It could be mana. It could be aether, or it could be anything that sounded unique. But the question was whether Al could feel and control it with his will.

“Yup, I can’t feel a thing,” Al said. Tilting his head a bit. “But I wonder how… let’s call it ‘mana’ for now, I wonder how long my mana takes to regenerate.”

Questions kept on coming, and for a system it was kinda flawed in a way. Al questioned why it didn’t include a mana bar and health point bar. Keeping it grounded to reality perhaps? He thought.

Nonetheless, time was all he got to find it out. He stood and stretched his body. Pulling those sore muscles as he got ready to reap some experience. Four slimes slid through the grasses, showing themselves. Puking out half-disintegrated fruits and dead insects as if telling Al to eat. The man grimaced in disgust. But appreciated the effort from these little guys. He asked to combine with Flubber and they did it without question, raising Flubber to level eight.

With what left time he had before night took over, Al scurried through the plains. Reaching his hand through those viscous fluid of slimes and crushing their cores to smithereens. By the time it was dark. Al gained three levels.

[Congratulation! You have reached level 8]

It was a good reward despite killing only slimes. He could not imagine what his level would be if he killed that Bludhound again. On the other hand his Tamer level also leaped to a level that he was satisfied.

[Congratulation! Tamer level have reached level 5]

[Please choose a new skill.]

A new list came up, catching him off guard.

- Familiar Heal

- Roar of Rage

- Name Bestowal

He watched and he stared. Hoping there would be a description provided for each of them. Sadly, it didn’t happened. Al went down the list as their names probably spoke for themselves. A healing skill, and a buff skill. While the last one was rather odd. He wondered whether this skill had anything to do with him not being able to change slime’s name in the status to Flubber.

“Is giving a name that much of a big deal?” Al asked. In the past for Pokemon giving a nickname to a mon might be difficult, seeing he needed to find an expert. But these days, giving a nickname was as easy as pushing a single button. So he dwelt on it further whether giving a name really was enough to be registered as a skill.

“Logically speaking I should go for either the buff or the healing skill,” Al said. “But a skill solely for giving a name does sounds interesting.”

He stood there with gooey fluid dripping from the end of his fingers. Thinking deeply on which skill he should choose. The cold wind blew, swaying his dark brown hair as then he made his choice.

[You have gained Name Bestowal.]

[Name Bestowal(Lv.1); Giving a name to a familiar, parting a part of the user to the beast he or she control. The amount of quintessence parted will influence the transformation of the familiar.]

[Through the knowledge gained by Name Bestowal, the user can now detect the elements in one’s own body.]

[Quintessence: 20/140]

Every second was a time for learning. Al took this new knowledge in as perhaps he did pick the best skill out of the three. Quintessence, huh? A bit of a mouthful, but I guess it has its own charm than your ol simple mana, Al thought. Bringing his sight at Flubber. Should I try right now?

His hand was itching to try the new skill. Dying to know what sort of transformation would happen if he gave a part of him to Flubber. Al mouthed the words of magic for the skill, and by the end of it, a question and a warning came through.

[Please decide the desire quintessence you want to part with.]

*Warning* Bestowing a name will permanently deduct quintessence from the user. Please choose wisely.

“Hmm. Let’s start small, I’ll go with ten,” Al said. His confirmation brought a change in his body. His eyes widened as he felt something was sucked right out of the breath in his lungs, and he could see it. A faint white mist escaped through his mouth and flew right towards Flubber.

The mist blended in with Flubber and the green slime started to faintly glow. A timer appeared, dialing down from ten minutes as if it was a countdown for the transformation to be complete.

Al’s knee grew weak. Falling on the ground as his eyes were sunken and his throat parched. Whatever that did happen, it sucked. He made a mental note to be more prepared in the near future as Name Bestowal was definitely not your ordinary giving-a-name process.

Ten minutes went by, and the glow died down.

The size of Flubber that Al was proud of was no longer there. It was replaced a small little bugger. The same size of the original green slime. Yet now Flubber was different.

“Flubber?” He stared in confusion, weirded out by the thing he was seeing. Flubber’s shape was more tear drop-like as the transparency was no longer there, being more opaque in its light green. But the biggest change was Flubber having a defining face. Well, to be more precise it was only an eye and a mouth.

Flubber jumped towards Al, smiling. It even let out a sound similar to a faint cackle. He didn’t know how it could, and he didn’t want to dive further into such thing. Al accepted the change as it was, and brought up Flubber’s status window. A single glance was enough to make him exclaimed.

“Whoa,” Al said.

Flubber(Lv.7)

Species: Smile Slime

Rank: Uncommon

Personality: Docile

Evolution: Not Possible

Attacking Power: 5

Defensive Power: 4

Speed: 3

Intelligence: 6

Skill: Corrosive Spit. Physical Damage Reduction.

The change was significant. The most prominent was the rise in intelligence, and despite the evolution still remained impossible, Al saw this as a big win. His first try was satisfying, and seeing Flubber’s status made him confident that Flubber could fight side by side with him more effectively.

But his smile froze.

By the grace of the moonlight, a huge shadow dimmed the light around him. He turned and he saw that single bright red eye. Coming closer as the wing silently flapped. Then the beak flew like an arrow. The ground cracked, and debris flew. Yet there was no sign of a man with a hole through his torso.

Al was on the ground, face flat. By the nick of time, Flubber made the clutch. Tackling Al right at the side, sending him away from the danger of death.

Al ran before he got up. Stumbling on all fours, before finding his pace on his two feet. The man didn’t even dare to look back, making a beeline towards the closest tree line he set his eyes to. Yet a brief glance to his sides made him stopped.

Where’s Flubber? Al thought.

He traced his sight at where the One-eye Nightraven was, and he was shocked.