What is this feeling? The monster thought. It feels kind of… fluffy. Is this feeling coming from that light? It was standing on the edge of a pool of water. The water itself was captivating. A silvery-red in color, the refractions causing beautiful designs to play all around it. This single pool of water was the single most beautiful thing it had ever seen, and deserved to be bathed in. Yet, for some reason, this little monster felt uneasy about entering.

What’s the matter? Are you scared? It inquired of itself.

No! Of course not! It shot back at itself. I’m never scared. This is just a… preparatory wait. Savoring the moment before experiencing true happiness. That must be it.

Why wait, though? All of your pains and aches will fade away. That heartache you feel will be mended. Just as before.

Before? But… that would mean that… someone would not be mean to me. It felt off… like it couldn’t remember anything from just a few moments ago.

Yes. Those bitter feelings of losing the one you trusted will no longer pain you so. You know that this is true. So, why wait? Its thoughts certainly made a lot of sense. Why wait for the sweet release from this horrible feeling?

---ewb!---

A voice echoed through its mind like a soft breeze. It was full of hope and… something else this creature couldn’t identify. A warm feeling of some kind. It made the monster feel comforted.

“Just another hop, and you’ll be able to be free~!” The thoughts that seemed to be its own changed at the end of their persuasive phrase. The creature felt like it was out of place in its own mind.

Almost like it isn’t… me? That didn’t seem right. Surely it was its own voice reasoning with its fears to encourage it to do something great, right? All doubts melted away as a wave of that euphoric desire washed over it.

Of course they’re me, silly. Who else would talk in your head? That was a fair point. Who else would be in its head except itself. The creature was about to hop into the pool with all abandon when another thought struck it.

Wasn’t there someone else who spoke in my mind? A… This monster thought that there was something that was missing. Someone who was missing, who was important to it somehow.

[“So, what do you say? Friends?”]

A memory that seemed more distant than a week ago popped into its mind. ...Friends?

---se wa----p. ---b, I do----t to---se you!---

There it was again. That voice that brought those strange feelings of hope and warmth. It almost reminded the monster about lounging in the Sun, letting its warmth soak into its body. There was someone who told this monster about that. Who was that? Why can’t I remember! It struggled with all its might, until -

--- You have broken free of the enchantment, Death’s Allure.

“Aylia!” Newb called out in its mind, realizing that there was a large plant thing right in front of it. Oh no…

The slime monster attempted to leap back away from the thing right in front of it. Some sort of primal instinct told it that this thing was very dangerous. However, Lady Luck was not on this ovoid’s side this time. Several vines shot out from the plant, plucking Newb out of the air.

“Newb! Thank goodness you came to your senses!” Aylia cried out. “This plant in front of you is actually housing a kind of Faerie, known as a Nightcaller. It is able to harm Souls, and consume them, then will usually possess the body of its prey for a time. The creature can kill me, and will probably take your body!”

That… wasn’t good. The vines that held Newb had little sharp hooks in them. It struggled and even attempted to thin itself down, but to no avail. Its strength was dearly outclassed, even tightening as the slime allowed it more purchase by slimming down its body. Not only was it immobile at that moment, it also felt its Mana draining away from it.

The plant had risen up out of the small pool, which had to be very deep to actually hold it. Its long stem rose up to almost three meters from the ground, and was topped with a beautifully colored head, like that of a large rose. In fact, the base of that head was a deep red, which gradually lightened until it was almost pink near the top.

The head began to open up, the petals and sepals unwrapping one from the other. The blooming ‘flower’ revealed the body of a small human-like creature, appearing to be that of an 11 or 12 year old child. It was feminine in its appearance, and she was sitting within the flower as if it was a throne. Her skin was pure white from the center of the body, but darkened with red in her extremities. Her hair was the same deep red as the base of the flower upon which she sat. She was clothed in hundreds of smaller petals, covering her like a fine dress that fell to her calves.

Newb didn’t know what to do. Judging by the strength in the vines, if it cast Magic Missile, it would probably be squashed before it could do more. It could not shrink down too much because that would cause it to be weaker over all, and would also allow the she-plant to gain easier access to the orb that housed his friend. While it was still planning on having a long conversation with her about what had transpired and hopefully clarify what she could all do, that would have to wait. Conversations could be had after they lived through the current nightmare.

“Ahhhh, I see that you have broken free of my enchantment. How unexpected. Poor thing… now you’ll have to suffer as I suck out and eat your Soul~” The faerie cooed. It hadn’t ever attempted to converse with something outside of its own mind, but the slime guessed that this would be the time. It made its first attempt at talking.

“G---gree---” the almost talking jello couldn’t seem to get the words out. It calmed itself down, and then made another attempt. “Greetings... Lady of the Forest.”

“... You can speak?” The woman turned her head to one side, curiously staring at the little blob monster. “This is as unexpected as before. You must be rather special, for your kind do not usually talk… nor have any of them smelled as delicious as you~~”

“I am… different from others. Or so I am told.” The slime didn’t want to speak too quickly, and tried to remain calm. Both were challenging to accomplish, but it thought that it was doing pretty good at it. “I have come to this forest in search of its Boss. I desire to fight it and win, but I do not wish to fight such a…” the jello paused, thinking of something to ‘praise’ this creature with. Hopefully something that would belay its execution.

“Beautiful woman.” Aylia supplied. “Call her beautiful, even as much as to compare hers to others.”

“... such a beautiful woman, one who is more so than others I have seen before.” Granted, it had not really seen too many of them. Not since that one day that it could actually see, before the Advens could not raid its home anymore. “I have not seen such beauty in all my days.”

“Charming, but such flattery will not spare you from being my evening meal.” The faerie sighed, then smiled deviously. “And even so, I am not yet grown enough to be called a woman of my kind.”

“Apologize to her, then compliment the flower… From what I understand, that is as much a part of her as the main body.”

“I am sorry to have assumed that you were grown up. I did not know.” Judging from the scathing look that crossed the plant-lady’s features, that was probably not as smooth as it should have been. “I mean to say that you look quite old-”

“Mature!” Newb swore it could hear a light smacking sound echo through its mind for a moment.

“-Mature for your age. And my, what a lovely shade of red that your flower is. The color suits you.” The slime quickly tried to correct, as that scowl deepend briefly. The scowl was then quickly replaced by a toothy grin.

“Why thank you. It was nice to know that a sightless creature such as yourself would be so observant,” the not-yet-a woman stated. “You can talk, see, and even appreciate the art of groveling. Such a pity that I will have to kill you.” The vine that was holding the two friends pulled them closer to the ‘main body’. She stood from her seat, the flower forming a small platform for her to stand upon, and she held her hand out to reach for the oval shaped mass of gelatinous goop. Newb saw that her fingers had very sharp blades protruding from them, and suddenly, it decided to ‘grovel’ a little more, all the while attempting to put together something that would help them escape.

“Wait! Please, wait, all powerful one!” The vine stopped about half a meter from the girl, and she did not yet touch the slime. “I have something that might interest you. An item of great power. If you kill me, you won’t be able to obtain it!” While Newb didn’t actually know if that was true, it believed anything within its Cache would disappear once it was deceased.

The girl shaped monster placed her hand upon her chin, thinking it over. “Good. Keep her thinking about a possible reward so we can get out of this. I would like to tell you more about her, but my ability to scan her is currently being blocked, probably by the same power that stole all your Mana.” Aylia offered.

“Go on.” The flower-girl said, a glint reflecting in her eyes. If a slime could gulp, it probably would have right then.

“So, this item recently came into my possession-”

“No, wait! Get her to put you down first, or at least in a better place than ‘about to die’!” Aylia sounded like she was explaining something to someone who did not know how to bargain. Which was true.

“- And all you need to know right now is that I won’t tell you anything else unless you put me down.” Newb nodded the top part of its body for emphasis.

The faerie girl raised a single, perfect eyebrow, and took a small breath. “No. I can’t not trust that you would run away as soon as you were able. You’re too tasty a treat to allow you to do so. So how about this - I will consider your request if you tell me more about this ‘object’ you recently found.” She smirked, knowing that she had the better hand dealt in this situation.

The slime thought it over, then sought help. “What can we do, Aylia? If I try to wrap myself around the vines, I would be stuck even more. If I try to be small enough to slide free, she will tighten her grip even further. I have no Mana at this moment, can’t move, and can’t access my items stored away easily. If I show that I have Magic at my disposal, I will most likely be killed. If I attempt to use Voracity on her, I will most likely lose, then be killed.” Newb ranted for a moment, rather bleak in its thoughts. “Is there anything that you can see?”

The spirit was quiet for a moment, then said, “Can you stall while I look through your options?”

“I’ll try.” And the trapped pudding truly did hope that its attempt would be enough to buy some time...

*************

**

Name: Newb

Species: Slime, Æther

Age: 1 month

Power Level: 13 (22%)

Life: 331/331

Mana: 0/130

Physical F:

- Might: 45

- Finesse: 20

- Agility: 24

- Vigor: 61

- Grit: 19

Mental F:

- Intelligence: 35

- Awareness: 14

- Willpower: 19

- Caliber: 24

- Resolve: 28

Bonus:

- Allure: 10

- Voice: 5

- Luck: 36

- Soul: 28

Souls (1/1):

Aylia, Spirit of Light

Abilities:

Ætherial Slime Body

Unlimited Potential

Æther Awakened

Voracity

Minor Regeneration

Soul Vessel

Analyze

Skills:

Augment - Untrained (87%)

- Enhance

Body Manipulation - Amatuer (58%)

- Evader

Cache (6/15) - Amatuer (15%)

- Store Anything

Dodge - Amatuer (47%)

- Improved Reaction

Energy Absorption - Amatuer (63%)

- Healer

Energy Expulsion - Amatuer (96%)

- Brawler

Iron Will - Inept (90%)

Mighty Blow - Amatuer (66%)

- One Punch

Resistance - Amatuer (1/5 +1 Moderate)

- Conductive

Stealth - Amatuer (96%)

- Hidden One

Stealth Attack - Amatuer (53%)

- Faint Attack

Toughness - Amatuer (99%)

- Physically Tough (20% damage ignored)

Resistances:

Heat, Minor I

Sonic, Minor III

Acid, Minor II

Talents:

Lucky

Gutsy

Collateral Damage

Soloist

Energy to Æther

Dweomer

Spells:

Inner:

- Invisibility

- Minor Rejuvenation

Outer:

- Air Propulsion

- Magic Missile (4)

- Shockwave

Spoils:

Slayer - Slaavich

**

This is what Newb’s Stats currently looked like. Aylia read over them once. Then a second and third time. Nothing popped out at her as a solution to their problem. Come on! Think, think… She tried to push herself to find the miracle that would save them both.

Then she called up what was in its Cache:

Cache (6/30):

- Serrated Shortblade

- Minor Essence of Sonic

- Orb of Power (Purple)

- Bone Club, Large

- Bone Club, Large

- Essence of DeathAcid

The DeathAcid! That might work if Newb could apply it to one of its spells... She then remembered that the slime had said it was ‘out of Mana”. That would mean that it did not have the Mana required for any of its spells, and would need to receive outside help. She called up the logs of the last few minutes and saw that Newb’s Mana would deplete at a rate of 5 per second. That means that everything would have to be in place before the jello monster received that Mana.

Now came the most glaring problem to the plan - Where would Newb get the Mana for any of its spells? Aylia decided that she would need to look through her own options of how she could help.

**

Name: Aylia Zenth

Species: Spirit (Praetorian)

Cores: -Unavailable-

Power Level: 32 [LOCKED]

Spirit Level: 5 (62%)

Mana: 515/515

Soul: 166/166

Mental:

- Intelligence: 125

- Awareness: 52

- Willpower: 78

- Caliber: 109

- Resolve: 32

Bonus:

- Voice: 15

- Soul: 67

Link Traits:

Scan

Vessel

Connected Soul

Other:

Limited Administration [Unavailable]

**

Scan was something leftover from her days of being in the Dungeon Heart. This allowed her to identify a few key Stats from a creature near her. As soon as she had Newb as her Vessel, the Trait, Vessel, appeared. She had recently discovered that this was the source of her power gain, and Newb’s reduced EXP gain. Her ability to view the slimes Stats probably was left over from when she used her Administration to alter it into her new vessel, but she wasn’t entirely sure.

However, Connected Soul was new… Being a Spirit was different from being alive not only because of the obvious reasons, but also because the ‘system’ did not populate messages for them. This meant that Aylia had to specifically look at her own Stats every time that she wanted to know where she was. It was extremely annoying, and she hoped that someday, a Trait would allow her to receive those messages again. It would simplify everything.

Connected Soul

“Let our bond grow!”

You are able to assist your living vessel in a limited manner.

This would include, but is not limited to: Empowerment, Replenishment, and Support.

Well, that might help. Aylia then thought it would be worth a try, but could not test it. If the Nightcaller was able to absorb Mana, than she might notice the moment that they try anything even remotely related to Mana. Alright, now we have a plan… Here’s hoping that it works!

*************

Newb was currently explaining about the process on which it had acquired the item that it was using as bait to its captor. And she had a very bored looking expression on her face. That might be because of where the slime had started.

“...And so, finally after four weeks of being killed over and over again, I started to feel like my world was being very limited by the Dungeon I used to call home. It felt like it was purposefully allowing me to remain at the bottom of all existence. I mean, can you even believe that? Who would’ve thought that-” After Aylia had told it to stall, the jello had started at the beginning. It was not planning on telling her anything of importance anyway, such as everything it had done after it decided to raid its own dungeon, but she could at least hear about its woes from its early life.

“Silence, you stupid creature!” And this looked like the moment that this Nightcaller had heard enough.

--- You have suffered 98 Life from being struck.

Which meant that a vine strongly smote the talkative jelly. “I asked you about why this orb would be enough for me to let you live, but you have tried my patience for too long, and I am no longer in the mood to coddle to my food!”

The girl's fierce gaze locked onto the slime, causing it to shudder involuntarily with fear.

“Newb, I have it! Here’s the plan -” And just in time to. As Aylia explained what she would attempt, Newb became more and more doubtful that it would actually work. When it verified that with its resident spirit, she merely responded with three hopeful words - “It has to.”

The scary plant-lady was crimson with anger. The vine holding it drew it in close to her, so that they were blob to face. Then she brought her hand up to caress it. “You and that second Soul will help me in my own quest for power.” She said this not with loud words, or screaming, just in a matter-of-fact manner. And that terrified the soon-to-be dinner.

“I have one of the artifacts from the First Creator.” Newb responded flatly. The faerie grew quiet, looking intently at the slime with a hunger burning within. As she was distracted by its comment, the monster discreetly took out the DeathAcid Essence into its body. The part of it that was hanging below the vine, and currently out of sight from the soul-eating girl.

“I’m ready,” it relayed to the spirit within. At that moment, if felt a surge of Mana like it had never felt before. This plant-lady also noticed that something was wrong, from the way that she narrowed her very dark, crimson eyes.

--- You have been infused with 100 Mana.

Immediately upon seeing that notification, it enacted the plan, which was - Use the Mana from Aylia to Augment Shockwave with the Essence of DeathAcid. And so it did. The power burst forth from it, tearing the vine and flower apart. The acid empowered Spell burned everything that it touched. The plant never stood a chance.

She had attempted to close the flower around her, but considering that all the vines within five meters of the slime shaped epicenter were pulverized, the petals torn asunder, and the stalk of the plant broken, Newb figured that she would be dead. Or wishing that she was. The response of the plant-lady to danger was impressive though, as it saw the following messages.

--- Your mana has been drained for 50 points.

--- You have suffered 231 Life from having your Soul damaged.

--- Due to your Mana pool being overdrawn, you are now suffering from Mana Burn:

- Augment, Cache, Energy Absorption, and Energy Expulsion are disabled until you are no longer suffering Mana Burn.

- All your Spells will be inaccessible until you recover your Mana in full.

The overwhelming feeling of pain shot through the small ovoid jello, causing it to almost pass out. However, through sheer willpower, it managed to stay conscious, avoiding the damage that could have happened from falling. The Nightcaller had screamed in pain, her sharp blue claws gouging a chunk of gelatinous mass from its body. Lucky for both Aylia and Newb, it did not contain the small blue-green orb within.

The plant-woman was then blasted away from them, slamming into the ‘wall’ of vines and thorns. The last thing that Newb heard from the she-monster before her own Soul left her body was this, “Curses be… upon… yo..uuuu…”

After it was certain that that particular monster would not harm it further, it collapsed. The world around it faded away into nothingness as its sight-enabling Ability deactivated from its own unconsciousness. The voice of Aylia calling its name was the last thing it registered before the darkness and silence claimed it...