Syl

Chapter 206: Sharing is Caring

Time flew by, relatively speaking. I was highly immersed in my experiments while offloading a lot of my magical training workload to my [Sub-Cores].

The bottleneck was definitely Vee’s skill training, as she was rapidly gaining levels in her basic class from the elementals even though I was siphoning some of the earned experience through our [Bond].

Speaking of which, my class and race levels felt extremely stagnant from this endeavor. Despite the countless elementals Vee had slain, I’d only gained a single level in both.

<Racial Experience threshold reached. Chimeric Cluster Slime (Blue) is now LV 6.>

<12 Trait Points are now available.>

<Class Experience threshold reached. Elementalist is now LV 11.>

<16 Skill Points are now available.>

We should probably move on to some higher-quality monsters.

I hoped to get Vee to an intermediate caster class before we stopped using the dungeon, but it was beginning to feel like that wouldn’t happen anytime soon.

Of note was teaching her [Identity Block], [Identify], [Mana Suppression], [Meditation], [Multitasking], and even [Aerial Finesse]! The latter was an unforeseen boon, giving Vee much-needed extra three-dimensional movement while teleporting about or swinging around using her threads. She loved it.

Vee already had things like [Sneak Attack] and [Stealth]. I’d tried seeing if I could give her [Identity Fabrication] as it would be useful to go incognito, but it told her she lacked a form of shapeshifting or illusion.

This was also finally the tipping point for Vee to share some of her own findings.

<[Blink]

Teleport a distance into any unoccupied space.

You can move through almost anything, but you will be shunted and take appropriate damage if you attempt to enter an occupied space.

Skill level determines Mana efficiency, traveled distance, and reduces damage from shunting.>

Of course, this was a no-go for me; I lacked the affinity until I paid the unlock fee. I kept checking to see when it would be further discounted, but there had been no change in that regard yet.

While it seemed inferior to [Wind Step] and [Thunder Step] in terms of distance traveled, the ability to go through things was something I’d love to add to my repertoire.

<[Spatial Sense]

This trait allows the user to sense spatial rifts and areas of expanded space. It also allows one to determine the dimensional coordinates of objects and individuals.

Higher trait levels determine the accuracy of coordinates and the detail of spatial anomalies detected.

This trait can be used with existing vision or at 5m per trait rank to see within a radial perimeter.>

This trait was baffling, and once again, I was denied it because I lacked the affinity. I’d asked Vee how she had used it to "see" me since I couldn’t comprehend it from the description alone.

"Oh. I used the radial perimeter feature, and then I tracked your individual coordinates moving." Vee explained.

"You tracked my coordinates moving...?" I asked, feeling genuinely baffled.

"Well, you were the only thing moving in the mine, so it was relatively easy to track, except when you moved out of the radius," Vee answered.

I could only accept her answer and hoped I’d understand it better once I had the affinity and tried it myself.

<[Trap Mastery]

Your traps are harder to detect based on skill level and receive an additional synergy bonus with [Sneak Attack] and other similar skills.

Works with, but is not limited to, traps, tripwires, lures, pitfalls, snares, and triggered or time-delayed attacks.>

This was the real prize I got from Vee, and no doubt how she had earned those other classes. Apparently, it had come with her evolution and had rapidly leveled up since using her thread to incapacitate her foes had become her primary method of attack.

<Skill [Trap Mastery LV 1] obtained. Skill Points remaining 15.>

Vee also showed me [Phase Out] and [Shrink], but both were sadly incompatible with my race. The latter was pretty useless to me unless I wanted to reduce my core to a smaller size. However, [Phase Out] seemed like an amazing escape option, shifting your body partially to a different dimension.

I guess I’d need to mutate into some kind of dimensional slime to be able to take that. Maybe if I unlock the affinity and start messing with the magic, I’ll get some good options?

There was a frustrating lack of progress on the [Dimension Magic] front. I’d hammered Vee thoroughly through the basic ranged attack spell construct, and she could even manually create a ranged acid spell without resorting to the system provided [Acid Dart].

But... the Dimension Mana refused to play ball, and the construct continued to violently unravel and give Vee a mind-splitting backlash. Either Vee’s level was still insufficient, or we were missing a crucial component.

If I think about it logically, what would firing a bolt of Dimensional Mana do to something? Fire Mana burns, Lightning Mana shocks. Dimensional Mana... Teleports? Makes things bigger on the inside? Sets coordinates?

It was a confuddling conundrum, but when looking at Corrosion Mana, I finally figured out why we were probably failing; Dimension Mana had far too many base concepts.

With [Acid Dart], the spell only used the acidic component of the Corrosion Mana. Likewise, [Poison Cloud] only used the poison component. You’d need to fiddle with the spell quite significantly to create [Poison Dart], which both Vee and I did for the juicy experience bonus.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

I tried my best to assist Vee in breaking down the Dimensional Mana into components, telling her to reference her two existing spells, but her [Mana Sight] was not up to scratch. Which meant it was another component that needed to be added to our lesson plan.

My plan for training her in this and utilizing [Companion Training] was to try to help her scrutinize and recognize the individual components of all of my [Corrosion Magic] spells.

I’d also attempted to teach Vee how to cast spells beyond her aura, as Trixie had done for me, but Vee wasn’t willing to spend too much time on the endeavor. Even with the benefits explained to her, she wasn’t willing to sit around for hours attempting it like I had done.

Either I have unparalleled focus, or I’m a very boring slime...

With enchanting, I was making some progress in creating my spell orbs, as I was now calling them. After hours of trial and error, I had finally reached a point where they would store something. The only issue was anything stronger than [Kindle], [Water Orb], or any other first-level spell would cause the enchantment to fail.

I’d then spent many more hours trying to determine why or where I’d gone wrong. I even tried increasing the size of the orbs, thinking that perhaps I needed the enchantment to be bigger, but that seemed to make no difference other than allowing a stronger version of those spells to be stored.

I finally concluded that perhaps my [Rune Engraving] level was the limiting factor. I was deeply frustrated, but I supposed I could only blame myself for slacking on the skill.

Even so, it was a great proof of concept. I created a few orbs, primed them, filled them with [Spark], and threw them like tiny spherical bombs at an elemental before detonating them. My choice of magic was subpar against an earthen foe, but the resulting light show was certainly impressive, as when the orb exploded, the stored spell went off violently.

"Yes!" I cheered at the results.

"Did you really need to create magical bombs?" Vee questioned. "I think you’ve got enough killing power already!"

"But imagine! I could build up a stockpile and unleash them all at once!" I tried to argue my case.

"You can already cast like 10 spells at once. Do you really need a stockpile of magical bombs?" Vee argued.

"True... But what if I run out of Mana?" I tried to reason. Vee just stared at me. "Okay... Yes, bad excuse from the self-proclaimed infinite Mana slime."

Vee giggled.

I shrugged. "I could give it to friends. Hell, I could give you some bombs, and then you could throw them, use some magic you don’t have access to!"

"I don’t think I’d like to carry bombs that can potentially lose their form when your traits limit runs out and no doubt discharge their stored spell!" Vee protested.

"Ugh... That’s a good point. Even if letting the primed state expire is harmless, the enchantment would break!" I sighed. "Well, at least it’s good for my landmines, as you called them. I could put [Erode] on them to lower the enemy’s defense."

Vee surprisingly nodded. "Okay, I guess that’s a good point. If you and I ever figure out this [Dimension Magic] thing, imagine it teleports the enemy away. Or, what if it teleports an enemy into more landmines!?"

I burst out laughing. "And you said I was the scary one. That sounds absolutely diabolical!"

Through our connection, I could feel Vee’s embarrassment.

"I... Uh... You’re a bad influence on me!" she cried out.

I laughed again. Still, teleporting landmines certainly sounded fun.

Speaking of our [Bond], it had certainly grown rather quickly.

<Bond Growth: Torch.>

While Mana appeared to be all related to water with its ebbing and flowing descriptors, bonds were apparently based on fire, and the stage after flamelet was torch.

The main noticeable difference to recent improvement was that I could sometimes get a vague feeling of Vee’s mood or intentions, even without us using [Telepathy (Lesser)] to link up. I had to imagine that we would potentially have a permanent link at the even higher levels without me needing to use the trait.

A few times, Thern joined us in the dungeon, which meant I had to restrict my personal training and give Vee more "hands-on" teaching than I had previously provided.

Thern was dumbfounded by the absurdity of me teaching a spider the art of magic, but could only chuckle, cheer and drink when he witnessed the results firsthand.

"You know... I think I could make some good money by betting on you!" Thern joked. "Get you to talk about your next absurd goal in front of others and then wager on you accomplishing it. Conquering a floating island, harvesting obsidianite, and now teaching a spider to be a mage!"

Vee waved her little front legs in protest.

"No offense, Vee!" Thern chuckled. "I fully understand you’re a smart girl, but it’s still absurd!"

Vee made a shrugging gesture in response.

I could only laugh.

It must have seemed like a major accomplishment to anyone who didn’t know that Vee was a special case. Or, perhaps, this was the average thing an elf could do. Jasgra certainly seemed to believe it.

At one point, I was minding my own business trying to level up [Rune Engraving] while Vee worked with the [Sub-Cores] when a cacophony of notifications went off.

<Proficiency gained. [Sub-Core Alpha LV 5] improved to [Sub-Core Alpha LV 6].>

<Proficiency gained. [Sub-Core Beta LV 5] improved to [Sub-Core Beta LV 6].>

<Proficiency gained. [Sub-Core Gamma LV 5] improved to [Sub-Core Gamma LV 6].>

...n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

...

<Proficiency gained. [Sub-Core Iota LV 5] improved to [Sub-Core Iota LV 6].>

<Proficiency gained. [Sub-Core Kappa LV 5] improved to [Sub-Core Kappa LV 6].>

Oh! It finally happened!

I was so excited; my hard-working [Sub-Cores] had finally earned their much-deserved level up. Poor Alpha had been helping its brethren catch up for so long.

Sadly, it was a little hard for me to tell how much they had improved. I could vaguely tell they were firing off spells slightly quicker and perhaps responding to orders better, but it wasn’t like I had taken exact measurements of their performance beforehand.

Speaking of absurd leveling, though, the award for most ludicrous, without a doubt, went to one trait in particular...

[Derived Element (Air) LV 6]

All my traits and skills had gotten stuck at level five; this one just breezed past!

I’d progressed in a few other skills and traits during our time here.

[Essence Sight LV 4]

[Eagle Vision LV 4]

[Tremor Sense LV 5]

[Electro-Magnetic Sense LV 5]

[Wind Step LV 3]

Regarding the elemental crystals, we seemed to be making a tidy profit from our routine incursions. A few times, we were asked if we wouldn’t prefer to hunt some of the more profitable elementals, but the dwarves changed their tune once the idea of us potentially melting some of the rarer resources came up.

"I think we should add some variety," I suggested.

"What do you have in mind?" Vee asked as she finished off another rock elemental.

Now that she had her own [Erode] spell, she had become rather proficient in slaying them, although I still let my [Sub-Cores] give her an artificial boost.

"I was thinking kobolds... Or maybe something big, like another worm?" I questioned.

"I’d prefer kobolds since they are easier to kill... I don’t think I could handle a worm," Vee replied.

"What? The worms are pretty easy; you just need to target their mouth!" I replied, astonished.

"Target their mouth with what? I have a few acid and poison spells; otherwise, I can make coordinates," Vee replied.

"[Rift Thread]?" I replied sheepishly.

"Yeah, but I thought the point was to teach me magic, not just kill things for fun ’cause you’re bored," Vee teased.

I sighed. "You’re right. Well, maybe we’ll find a lesser dragon or something cool with the kobolds?"

"I certainly hope not. That sounds terrifying. A dragon?" Vee sounded aghast.

"Emphasis on lesser. I’m sure with a killer slime and spider, it would be no match for us!"

Vee made a shrugging gesture. "Sure, why not? Especially if it gets me out of you telling me to ’imagine myself as a rock’..."

"Hey, the rock method works!" I defended Trixie’s training method. "I’m evidence of it working, no problem."

"You’re a mana slime with like a super core brain..." Vee replied. "You’re anything but normal."

Sadly, I couldn’t argue with that. Still, I was excited for a change of scenery and a chance to test my spell orbs.

Maybe I can even have Vee fight some of my slime? Would that count as training? I wondered as I plotted our next course of action.