World Seed: New Rules

by Justin Miller

  I smiled slightly and looked down to her. “This is too much for some of them to take in, so I’m sure that there are many that are unsettled by this. Some even downright reject it. But, life goes on. Whether the cashier at the grocery store is a well mannered young man or an elf, you pay for your purchase and move on. There will be a bit of hesitation towards the more drastically altered people, but most likely there are a few that barely notice any change in their life at all.”

  Celeste listened to what I said, nodding her head slightly. “I see.. Still, it’s quite amazing. When you said that everyone had been human just a few days ago, I had expected mass panic. Aside from what you read about the more fanatical religious followers, there doesn’t seem to be much trouble. “

  “Pretty much. There’s probably going to be more changes soon. Once a few people get high enough level to study the enchantments worked into spaceships, there will likely be a race to develop the first interstellar voyage. That will cause a whole new level of excitement, I think.”

  The holographic woman nodded her head slightly. “I see… To think that the world you came from is one where you are restricted to a single sun, and yet you have these devices capable of sending you all the way to Hascion, and even seem to hold sway over the flow of time. It seems well beyond the ability of your planet, no offense… So where could they have come from.”

  Once again, I cast my sight over towards the Seed. “That’s a very good question, and it’s one that is getting very tiring. My best guess is some other dimension. If it was simply space that was crossed, and the time ratio was the same, I would believe it might be an alien race. But the time difference wouldn’t make sense in that case. Best I can think of is that it connects to another dimension where time moves five times faster than here.”

  Celeste thought about it, looking over towards the Seed. “Is it really?”

  Chapter 5: A Day At The Beach

  That night, I devoted all of my attention to cultivating Void Affinity. For the first time, aside from the jungle planet, I even decided not to sleep first. I needed to get this one to 10% as soon as I could, so that I could finish securing my house. After that, I could begin working on the others. I had decided at this point that I would log into the game to finish my training after my house was secured, and have my AI alert me if there was a call for me.

  With that, I’d be able to finish my element training a lot sooner, and not end up falling behind. Over two weeks in the game now, if they devoted a single officer to training up as some kind of mage or soldier during this time he might already be able to take care of things. However, I was still called early in the morning once again. Moving down to the living room, I accepted the call.

  This time, Faraday had a rather tired look on his face as he spoke. “We’ve got another slime issue. This time, it looks like they’ve joined together to become bigger, so our usual methods aren’t working. Think you can handle it? It’s down at the beach.”

  “Should be alright.” I nodded my head, and again the call ended.

  “So, a big slime this time. Still want to study it?” Celeste smiled as she appeared at my wrist again.

  “Would like to, yeah. Depends on the situation. If it’s attacking people, I’ll have to stop it. But if there’s nobody around, I can take my time.”

  After I spoke, Celeste nodded, fading away. Stepping out of the house, I went ahead and created my wings again, before taking off into the sky. It may be a bit more tiring to fly instead of taking a car, but it was much better for my wallet. And, for not at least, I had to be careful with how I spent my money.

  Just a few minutes after I set off, I was already approaching the beach, and could clearly see a giant blue slime slowly walking up and down the shore aimlessly. The size of it should have been somewhere around fifteen meters in diameter, and I could make out over a dozen slime cores inside of it. Most likely, these were all water slimes that had formed in the bay and had come together before making their way to shore.

  From another point of view, that was at least a dozen Seeds of Water in this slime, most of them probably medium grade. Although they did not have much worth yet in the real world, it shouldn’t take too long before enchanting catches up and people start needing them. No matter what, I absolutely couldn’t use the void breath and simply suck away these cores. Especially since I did still want to study it.

  Nearby, there was a group of officers who all had their guns trained on the slime, as if waiting to see what it would do. Not like their guns would do anything to it, but it probably makes them feel better. Before I landed, I mumbled under my breath. “Celeste, can you identify?”

  Giant Water Slime

  Level: 20-25

  Mana: 1000

  Health: ???

  Key Affinities: Water

  Special Abilities: ???

  The information appeared in my Cybernetic eye, and I nodded my head as I landed. So this thing is stronger than a couple dozen water slimes individually. Might even raise a level after I defeat it. My landing space was about ten meters in front of the giant slime, and I immediately sent out my Mana Sense to study it.

  It seemed to be able to detect my mana, because as soon as I began studying it, a bit of slime lashed out from its body like a whip heading straight for me. It was easy enough for me to dodge, and I ducked down away from it. However, after the whip passed over me, I remembered the very important fact that I had large wings sticking out of my back. This realization came right around the time that I was sent tumbling off to the side, cursing as I cancelled the spell.

  Standing up, I found that the slime had already reached me. Its body quickly wrapped around my own, and I could feel its slimy substance all over. It was, in a word, gross. Thankfully, though, it did not burn my body with acid like the plant slime. Instead, it felt like it was trying to suck out all the water mana from my body. Well then… two can play at this game!

  I began drawing in water mana from the slime all around me, while it was drawing the same mana in from me. In a strange sense, this was like a form of cultivation. Although I wasn’t quite as good at drawing in water mana as this slime, I wasn’t at too much of a disadvantage. Now I understood how the thing ate, at least. A plant slime dissolves whatever it touches with acid to consume the nutrients, while a water slime absorbs the water mana to dehydrate creatures.

  So as to avoid becoming slime food, I began releasing a bit of lightning mana to mix in with the water mana it was absorbing. It didn’t seem to like that much, as it recoiled away from me, practically spitting me out in the process. Once again, I tried to study it with my Mana Sense, but it shied away from my mana. Seems like it’s afraid of lightning mana. Not surprised.

  Even when I wasn’t releasing any lightning mana, it seemed to have remembered what my mana felt like and avoided it. As such, I didn’t really get a chance to study the slime like this. Shaking my head, I couldn’t help but sigh as I was left with no real alternative but beating it until it was a single normal slime, and then taking my time to study it like I had the plant slime.

  Raising one hand, I began firing off shadow blasts, which burrowed into the water slime and dispersed, making it turn into a dark murky color. Seeing this, I was a bit surprised at the combination effect, but still felt that I had control over the shadows I had fired. As such, I kept firing them. Before long, it looked like a giant black blob, unable to dodge fast enough to avoid the repeated blasts.

  Once I felt like the shadows had taken root enough to act, I started using them to wrap around the cores of the slime one by one, pulling them out and back to me. After each core was removed, the slime grew visibly smaller, until I had taken out all but one core. Strangely, at that point I felt like there was a disturbance in the shadows within the slime, like they were being devoured.

  The slime had stopped shrinking at roughly six meters in diameter. I had honestly expected it to become even smaller, but I was too busy being surprised by what it was doing with my dark mana to car
e. In under ten seconds, it felt like all of the dark mana inside the water slime had been eaten, but the slime’s murky appearance hadn’t changed.

  The slime’s element has changed. It’s registering as having equal parts Water and Dark Affinities now. Celeste’s words appeared in my Cybernetic eye, surprising me. Well… if I had known that could happen, I would not have played it like that!

  Still, I had retrieved a total of nine medium-grade Seeds of Water, and five lesser-grade ones. Into the inventory they go, and once more I tried to study the mutated slime. This time, it did not shy away from my mana, which confused me. Either way, I studied it as much as I could while it made its way closer to me. This time, it seemed intent on swallowing me up again rather than lashing at me first, which made me worried. However, I did not feel an aura which suggested acid in the slime, but still… Nope nope nope, all of my nope.

  Unlike lightning mana, when I wielded the power of light mana, there was plenty to work with nearby, as it was still early in the day. As such, it took far less mana to attack the slime with condensed lasers! Though this wasn’t as strong as plasma, it still had the effect of burning an ant with a magnifying glass. Except this ant was several meters wide.

  It recoiled again from the light mana, so naturally I kept shooting more at it, its size slowly reducing. Become my study material!

  After a few minutes of this extremely one-sided exchange, the slime had been reduced to less than half a meter wide, and barely had any power to move itself anymore. Or, well, that was the impression I got at first. Nobody told me to expect that when I got close to it, its shadow would suddenly spread out and rise from the ground to lash at me!

  It seemed to have become more intelligent by absorbing the second element, as the shadows tossed me around for a moment like a ragdoll, lashing at my front, back, legs, head, and finally throwing me into the water. Owww…

  When I pulled myself out of the water, the slime had returned to its full size, making me want to cry. “That is so not fair, you aren’t allowed to trick me like that.”

  My health by this point was fairly low, having just twenty points remaining. I cast a quick Alchemic Heal to fix this situation, and then wondered just how I could kill an intelligent slime. The most obvious method was to remove its core like I had been doing before. However, with how dark the waters of the slime were, I was unable to even see where the core was for this slime. Looking around, I saw one thing that I could probably use here, and there was even plenty of it.

  Tapping into the earth mana, I made the sands rise up. Go, filter the goo for me! I grinned as I sent a large mass of sand into the slime. Although it was more difficult to control the sand after it had entered the slime, it did not show signs of being devoured like the dark mana had been. The last thing I needed was an even more intelligent slime to fight with.

  The blackish water slime rushed towards me again, and I hurriedly sifted through the mass of goo with the sand into I struck something solid. Then, with a thought, all of the sand in the slime surrounded the core and yanked it out. The result was… messy. The slime, which had been just a couple feet in front of me, practically exploded in my direction, covering me from head to toe in black sludge.

  You have leveled up!

  Bringing my hands up, I tried to wipe the gunk off of my eyes, which failed spectacularly since my hands were also covered in it. Instead, I decided to walk into the water and wash off briefly. Once I was able to see again, I brought down the pile of sand holding the slime core. Looking it over, I saw that what should have been a pure blue core now had a mix of blue and black along its surface. You can make dual element seeds? Good to know…

  I decided to put the core away in my inventory with the rest of the slime cores, and looked over at the mess that had once terrorized the beach. I hate slimes.

  Since my work here was done, I once more grew my wings and flew off, heading home. I was already at 9% Void Affinity, and felt like there was just a small amount left before I broke through. And, as I suspected, after cultivating for about another hour once I got home, I finally got to 10%. With this, I was able to quickly cover my entire house in a void field spell formation.

  Good, now my home should be safe against monster spawns. Or random burglars for that matter. I smiled, and began work on my slime studies! Using my own void abilities to suppress the void field around me, I took out one of the medium-grade Seeds of Water. At the same time, Celeste appeared at my wrist, looking curiously at it. “Are you going to try to make a slime? Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

  “Nope, not in the slightest. However, if it’s just a tiny slime, I can destroy it if it becomes a problem.” I smiled confidently, and began feeding water mana into the element seed. Very gradually, I could see water droplets converging around the seed, the first step to it becoming a slime. However, since the area was sealed off with void mana, there wasn’t a good source of water mana to use here aside from myself and the other seeds. To test something, I turned my left hand into a clawed fist, and pricked my right thumb. After dropping a single drop of blood on the slime, I noticed a slight change in its aura.

  After the change, it began rapidly sucking in the mana I was giving it, as if starved for more. I could feel the air around me becoming dry, and even the water mana in my own body was rushing out to meet the slime. However, this lasted for only a few moments, before the slime’s body had grown to be roughly four inches in radius. Unlike a normal slime, it had two air bubbles next to each other that gave it the appearance of eyes.

  Yay, I made a slime! Now… to see if I can communicate with it… I put my hand on the top of the water slime’s head, and sent a message into it with water mana. ’Can you understand me?’

  I was awarded with another ability, just a copy of the last ones saying that I could speak with water creatures. However, looking at the slime, it didn’t seem like it could answer me. Its bubble eyes ‘blinked’ by popping and quickly reforming. So, instead, I told it to move to the left, which it did so. So, it can understand me… but isn’t smart enough to answer…

  I decided to perform a test, and used the same animal companion bonding magic that I had used on Yin and Yang. I honestly hadn’t expected it to work on a monster, but sure enough the effect took hold without a problem.

  You have made an Animal Companion bond with an Advanced Water Slime.

  Please choose a name for this companion.

  Advanced water slime? Is that because of the blood? I thought it over for a moment, before looking down at the slime. “Yo.” Now I had my three stooges, Yin, Yang, and Yo.

  Chapter 6: What Will They Become?

  With the Void Affinity training complete, and even the new addition of my water slime, I decided to head into the game. However, first, there were a few things I needed to take care of. Looking down at Yo, I sent him a command with my water mana to not resist what I was about to do. He blinked his eyes(popped his bubbles?) confusedly at me, but when I wrapped my mana around him, he did not resist. I noticed that it took roughly five times as much mana to send him into my grove as it took to do the same with either bird, but that was to be expected given that he was a monster.

  Next, I left an instruction with the house AI to send me a message in the game if I get a call, and then sent Celeste back into the grove. Finally, I went back up to my Seed, cancelled my Aspect of the Bird spell, and climbed in. Been awhile since I logged in, wonder what’s happened with the Klax…

  Soon, darkness surrounded me, and then I found myself lying on a small bed, a strange device strapped to my arm. It kept beeping at a fairly regular interval, which made me think it was measuring my heartbeat, and I slowly sat up.

  “Ah, he’s awake!” Someone called out, and a woman in a white uniform with a red cross on the chest came over. “Sir, are you alright? Do you need anything?”

  I blinked, a bit surprised at the situation, and then it hit me. I logged out on a bench… and it’s been several days since then… I coughed a bit, loo
king to the woman who seemed to be a nurse. “How long was I out?”

  “We found you shortly after the rescue summon, and that was seventeen days ago.” She answered simply, a bit relieved that I seemed to be okay after checking whatever it was strapped to my arm. “There were a number of cases similar to yours around the same time on other planets, and we found that they were all travelers. Though, you seem to be missing your companion.” She looked down to my wrist, but blinked in surprise when the metal bracelet appeared in a strand of blue light. “Ahh, right.. we were told you were a druid.”

  I looked myself over once, and checked my inventory. Thankfully, nothing was missing from my inventory, but… “I was wearing armor when I… ‘fell asleep’. Do you know what happened to it?”

  “Hmm?” The nurse tilted her head curiously, and then got up to go talk to one of the doctors. After a few minutes, she came back, shaking her head. “You weren’t wearing any armor when you were found. Before we heard reports of other cases like this, we thought you might have been mugged.”