Syl-Chapter 249: Wrestling with Negotiations

"So, are we going to try that magic wrestling thing?" Vee asked, her voice brimming with excitement and anticipation.

"Either the sky is going to fall, or you really want to work on the shortcomings!" I teased.

"The latter, so doomsday is still away from us," Vee chuckled. "Even the [Pocket Space] out of range is massive! Imagine if I could steal stuff from range by using a network of webs! Or even deploying my traps at range, or portals, or something!"

"All of those ideas sound great! At first, the best idea I had was point-blank [Fireball] spells!"

"Considering you're such an explosion freak with all the slime bombs, I'm not surprised in the slightest."

"My first magic teacher was a Pyromancer, so I've definitely been influenced by the glory of the simple yet majestic [Fireball] spell," I admitted. "It's great for sneak attacks, though, and works with the skill quite nicely."

"Wonderful, so when can we start?" Vee asked eagerly.

I looked at my partially constructed spell and felt a bit frustrated—I didn't want to leave my current fixation alone until I hit a roadblock.

It's going to be pretty boring on my end. It will be like when Trixie and I first did it, and she manhandled me. Vee won't have the skill levels or experience to do much beyond struggle in vain. Plus, she doesn't have any cheating helpers like me… Wait, that's it!

"You can do some magical wrestling with my [Sub-Cores] while I continue to work on this spell," I replied.

"Your cheating extra hands?" Vee asked. "Won't they wipe the floor with me? They seem to be able to handle almost everything."

"I actually have four new cores, all super low-level, so their functionality isn't that great," I answered. "I created them while trying to desperately use up slime from the teleportation mishap, although it didn't help in the end, and I still ended up sacrificing Alpha!"

"You haven't eaten enough to regrow it?"

I shook my head. The food, while tasty, was not sufficient for producing slime mass, and I needed some monster meat—preferably fresh from the source.

Either that or I get a brown slime core… I vaguely recall them being able to eat plants? Or was that a different slime type… I know gluttonous would've let me eat anything!

I looked over my four new cores, which I had abandoned since their creation. I didn't even think I had allowed them to join the experience-sharing network yet. I double-checked, and sure enough, Lambda, Mu, Nu, and Xi were all still at the first level.

I was about to add them but stopped myself. If I did, they'd no doubt gain some rapid levels from the help of everyone else and rapidly grow in processing power. I already had a skill advantage over Vee with [Mana Manipulation LV 7] and [Counter Magic LV 5], so I wanted to keep my [Sub-Cores] as dumb as possible for a somewhat reasonable opponent.

I'll let Vee play with Lambda first and can swap in Mu, Nu, or Xi during level-ups. That way, Vee will keep fighting level one opponents and hopefully grow fast enough to fight them at level two, and so on. Plus, Vee will get an experience bonus from [Companion Training]!

I explained the idea to Vee, who agreed and was quite happy to take on a more reasonable opponent. After I spent some time giving orders to Lambda and ensuring that it would never escalate to a situation where Vee was taking significant damage from Mana burn, I let the two of them train.

If this works out, it can be a good way to sneak in some training whenever we have some time to burn.

Meanwhile, I continued my relentless pursuit of perfecting the strange spell I was working on. It was not worth the repeated failure and backlash if it was just a simple spell to gauge the temperature. However, my true goal was to gain a significant boost in [Dimension Magic], and I was determined to achieve it as custom spells had benefited my growth rapidly.

I was so fixated on it that I didn't even notice the elves walking into the room, and Vee had to shove me to wake me up. I quickly formed a telepathic connection so Vee could actually talk to the others.

"Sorry!" I apologized sheepishly. "I was sort of in the zone and really concentrating on this."

"Honestly, I almost feel like I should apologize for interrupting whatever spell you were working on," Llewel replied. "I'm not sure what you were trying to accomplish by adding heating and cooling properties to… that… but it looked rather complex and impressive. I've never really seen someone brute force spell creation like that before—it's quite hazardous."

"The backlash sucks, but I've honestly grown used to it," I replied.

"Wonderful… the slime is a masochist," Paeris snorted.

"I wouldn't say that," Llewel disagreed. "Suffering towards a goal is worth it. I've had to do so myself, albeit in a significantly more cautious manner due to the nature of the subject. Also, from what I observed, Syl has definitely formed a systematic method—there's a method to the madness."

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I nodded, "Back when I first started customizing spells, I had no idea what I was doing at all. I barely had any ranks in [Mana Manipulation] and still had the basic [Mana Sight]. Once I got [Mana Conception], I was able to make far safer modifications, although I still do the brute-force trial and error."

Llewel shuddered and shook his head, "Trying to do that at that stage… I can't even imagine. I do hope it was at least with basic forms of magic, or you were quite literally skirting with death."

"Applying Corrosion to Fire and Water was my first custom spells," I answered. frёewebηovel.cѳm

"Corrosion…" Loreleia murmured, sounding displeased.

"Disgusting!" Paeris spat.

Llewel, on the other hand, seemed both intrigued and puzzled, "How would you even apply those two together? Were you trying to create acidic water?"

"Debuffs and afflictions," I answered. "I first started creating debuffs for each element and then later began creating afflictions for each, like adding continuous burning effects."

"So you gained earlier access to later spells by applying another spell's concepts to it," Llewel replied. "I guess that's the benefit of branching out rather than focusing all in one like myself."

"I never thought you'd compliment something as vile as [Corrosion Magic]," Paeris remarked.

"I understand it's an affinity opposed to our culture," Llewel responded. "But at the end of the day, it's still merely a tool like any other form of magic and can be utilized properly and ethically."

"Bah! Next, you'll be contemplating the ethical uses of necromancy," Paeris retorted. "With undead laborers, we can achieve so much! Our people can focus on enriching themselves while the menial tasks are handled."

"Necromancy is a step too far, but isn't that exactly what the Kingdom of Keld has proven? Golems provide all the heavy lifting and mundane tasks, while the scholars can focus on culture and technology."

"Ah yes, let's all just take up the class that only appears every few centuries or so—"

"Enough!" Loreleia said, silencing both of them instantly. "You two have gotten far too sidetracked. I'd like to get to business to see if we can proceed with our alliance or not?"

Everyone in the room nodded to her words. Loreleia then gestured for me to speak.

"I've thought it over with Vee, and honestly, I can't see a reason not to accept your offer," I replied. "The benefits are good, and I'd like to build bridges rather than burn them. I don't know what the future will hold, but I can't imagine everyone will accept the truth about me or Vee."

"Excellent. I can certainly agree that you'd always have a home here in the future, should you so wish," Loreleia quickly agreed. "Are there any other terms or requests you'd like to make? Either of you, for that matter."

"Indeed, you could even become the companion to an elven prince or princess should you so choose!" Paeris said. "There are many candidates that would love to form a companionship with you, and there would be many benefits toward you as well. Training, resources, knowledge—these could all be yours."

"Hey, don't try to poach my [Bonded Companion]!" I responded.

"Yeah… I have to agree with Syl here," Vee said, much to my relief. "I mean, maybe I'm misjudging, but I don't think any elven royalty is going to be swearing an oath to the gods to me like Syl did. Plus, since Syl and I are in this whole [Experiment] situation together, we have ample reasons to cooperate."

"Disappointing…" Paeris muttered.

"But!" Vee interrupted. "As for what you can offer me? Well, I won't say no to any skills, training, or advice on evolution. I'm personally wanting something a little less… monstrous. Being able to talk would be nice, but I'd love to change my form or something like Syl."

"That can certainly be arranged, and I apologize for Paeris' forwardness," Loreleia said. "If you can think of any other requests, they can certainly be amended to our agreement, assuming they aren't absurd. Likewise, I'll leave a clause open for extra compensation should something be lacking, as I can't promise you we have the knowledge you seek."

"You make it sound like it's going to be a contract," Vee replied.

"That's because it will be," Loreleia replied with a grin. "That way, you can be assured that you will be compensated fairly, and any fears of betrayal after the fact will be alleviated. Likewise, I wouldn't want you to risk holding back anything for fear of reprisal."

"Huh… neat!" Vee replied.

"I must admit I like that sound," I replied. "Could we have something about keeping secrets? I'd rather not have some of my abilities revealed."

"Certainly," she readily agreed. "Even if you didn't push for one, I would have. You will undoubtedly learn some secrets of ours through this ordeal, and I'd rather they not be spread after the fact."

I nodded.

"And your main request was a pink slime core," Loreleia replied. "Anything you'd like to add?"

"Skills or training both interest me, as I doubt you have any information about slime evolutions."

"Scarce, as most evolved slimes are encountered in dungeons or in extremely rare or absurd circumstances," Llewel replied.

"I've learned Enchantment through an Apprenticeship. I wouldn't mind learning some Alchemy and adding it to my profession list. I also would love to have both my profession and class, although you elves get it naturally, so I'm not sure if that can be arranged…"

"Unfortunately, no. We get it unlocked for us for free with age," Llewel answered. "But I'd be more than willing to teach you some alchemy. Unfortunately, I don't have the [Apprenticeship] skill. I could look into purchasing it or unlocking it from some of my peers."

"Alchemy aside. What type of skills would you be interested in?" Loreleia asked.

"My gut tells me magic, but frankly, I think I need some Tamer skills. I only have [Companion Bond] and [Companion Training]."

The three elves stared at me like I'd dropped a massive bombshell on them.

"Not even [Companion Growth]?" Llewel asked.

"No? What does that do?" I asked, genuinely curious.

"It provides bonus experience for the Tamer and Companion," Loreleia answered. "It's considered a necessity; otherwise, you are constantly hindering both of your growths through the forced experience split. Although I do understand humans see companions differently, and try to hinder their growth and prevent evolutions as much as possible."

Now it was my time to stare at them dumbfounded. There was an entire skill dedicated to granting more experience, and I didn't have it!

"How many monsters have you two killed to be at this level with the split?" Paeris asked.

"Oh man, we fought so many kobolds and demons and everything! Syl literally exploded their entire outpost!" Vee said excitedly.

"And we were on our own for a long time before that," I answered. "Other than taking out the elf assassin and the Outeatus group, our experience gains have been quite limited since we joined up. So I'd absolutely love to get my hands on this [Companion Growth] skill!"