197. Day 6 Wrap-Up, Part 11
*Impregnated the Swarm Slime – One Slime Mark!*
*Fucked by the Moon Jellyfish Slime – One Slime Mark!*
*Marks Consolidated!*
*Restored the Fuzzy Red Swarm Slime – Four Slime Marks Total!*
*Romanced the Large Strawberry Moon Jellyfish Slime – Five Slime Marks Total!*
When Olindia finally deigns to withdraw her nefarious tentacles from my poor abused sphincters, I navigate my tattoo menu while the two amorous Slime girls cuddle me in post-coital bliss.
*Slime Marks – Four Available*
Slime Constitution
Slime Core
Swarm Cores
Slime Constitution (2nd Tier, see Sublist)
Greater Slime Constitution
Slime Malleability
Slime Malleability (2nd Tier)
Greater Slime Malleability
Slime Mutability
Slime Amalgamation
Greater Slime Amalgamation
Slime Mutability (2nd Tier)
Greater Slime Mutability
Slime Hair / Legs / Arms / Stature / Body
Slime (2nd Tier, see Sublist) Hair / Legs / Arms / Body
Green Slime Acid
Green Slime Acid Resistance
Stone Ooze Body
Jellyfish Slime Tentacles
Jellyfish Venom
Moon Jellyfish Form
Moon Jellyfish Luminescence
Moon Jellyfish Levitation
Fuzzy Slime Flesh Shaping
Large Slime Stature
Symbiont Body
Symbiont Amalgamation
Symbiont Consortium Body
S.C. Amalgamation
Fuzzy Slime Fur
Pink Slime Restoration
Strawberry Moon Aura
Small Swarm Slime Multitasking
Swarm Slime Distributed Intelligence
Red Slime Blood Magic
Stone Ooze Skin
Sublist:
Second Tier Forms: Fuzzy, Jellyfish, Stone
Second Tier Colors: Pink, Red, Green
Second Tier Modifiers: Large, Small Swarm, Symbiont
Third Tier Forms: Moon Jellyfish
Third Tier Colors:
Third Tier Modifiers: Swarm, Consortium
Whether due to my Fairy Companion Tooltip, or my upgrade to Third Tier abilities, it seems my Slime Ability Tree has been restructured somewhat.
*Fairy Companion Tooltip!*
Strawberry
A shade of Pink.
Swarm Cores
Creates three Cores inside the user’s body. Each of these Cores can host the user’s consciousness if the other Cores or the user’s brain is destroyed.
Greater Slime Constitution
Provides increased flexibility and greater protection against crushing / blunt damage.
Greater Slime Malleability
Allows the user to refund a Mark of any Mark Ability Tree of their choosing.
Greater Slime Amalgamation
Allows for up to three body modifications of the same body part to be amalgamated.
Greater Slime Mutability
Allows the user to transfer a third Temporary Mark to a Mark Ability Tree of their choosing per day.
Green Slime Acid
Requires a Green Slime body modification. Changes the acidity of the user’s Slime body parts at will or produces a moderately corrosive acid.
Jellyfish Venom
Requires Jellyfish Slime Tentacles. Adds a painful, stinging venom to the user’s tentacles. Potentially deadly if enough venom is administered.
Moon Jellyfish Form
Requires a Slime body modification. Adds the Moon Jellyfish form to the user’s Slime body modification.
Moon Jellyfish Luminescence
Requires Moon Jellyfish Form. The user emits a glow that sheds light equal to that of the full moon. Allows the user to project colored passive effects.
Moon Jellyfish Levitation
Requires Moon Jellyfish Luminescence. The user emits a glow that affects the surrounding air to give the user neutral buoyancy in the atmosphere.
Symbiont Consortium Amalgamation
Requires Symbiont Consortium Body. Allows the user to merge their body with a Third Tier monster, or three Second Tier monsters, or up to nine First Tier monsters.
Strawberry Moon Aura
Requires Moon Jellyfish Luminescence. The user emits a healing glow that gradually restores wounds bathed in their light.
Fuzzy Slime Flesh Shaping
Requires a Slime-type body modification. Ability to reshape any part of the user’s Slime bodyparts into conventional weapons or tools.
Swarm Slime Distributed Intelligence
Increases the body’s reflexive intelligence. The user’s body can dodge, attack, or move automatically while the mind concentrates on more important tasks. Extra appendages will act on the user’s instincts, impulses, and desires without conscious thought while the user is otherwise occupied.
Holy balls, that’s a lot of info! This Fairy Companion Tooltip is a GodBeastsend!
So, I guess ‘Strawberry’ is just flavor text. Cool, I guess. Greater Amalgamation seems kind of like a ‘Mark Tax’ for me—that’s the direction I’m headed, and it feels practically mandatory to get the next ‘rank’ in an ability I already know is good. Green Slime Acid must be an ability that was previously hidden, and now something has since forcibly unlocked it; the same for Jellyfish Venom. Admittedly, I didn’t have the time to explore the Slime Ability Tree with any serious rigor, so I’m not shocked to see I missed a few otherwise-obvious features.
From personal experience, all intelligence-related abilities have been stellar. It’s hardly a question at this point what my first Mark points are going into.
Selected Swarm Slime Distributed Intelligence!
Selected Greater Slime Amalgamation!
If I’m reading between the lines correctly, SSDI has both offensive, defensive, and potentially lewd applications. Already, I can feel my Slime Hair tendrils coiling on my head like a living thing. I’ve always been able to control their movement directly, but now they’re independently mobile while I’m not paying attention. Hopefully, the same will prove true if I’m surprise-attacked, caught off-guard, or need to fight while casting spells.
Right off the bat, I’m tempted to take Stone Ooze Skin. Part of the reason I haven’t before is because I already have Photosynthesis and Lizardman Scales affecting my epidermis. Now, I should be able to combine an additional body modification to my skin without any downsides, but there’s something to consider first.
The Slime Mark Ability Tree is a powerful one, to be sure. It’s fueled by lots of Marks from my three Slime companions, has a great deal of diversity, not to mention flexibility and depth of power. I’m finally able to contemplate strategic ‘Builds’ here.
Flexible Build – bank the Mark points for Mutability and Malleability, giving me the freedom to become whatever is necessary in the moment. The drawback is that I’ll have less experience actually using the abilities I eventually gain. There’s something to be said for picking a strategy and developing it. ‘Stay in your lane,’ as the ancient humans once said, right?
Defensive Build – grab Swarm Cores, Greater Constitution, and Stone Ooze Skin. Become basically unkillable. Even if I’m crushed by a boulder or cut into pieces, I should be able to put myself back together or survive long enough for help to arrive.
Support/Utility Build – become a second Olindia by taking all her Moon Jellyfish abilities. More healing is always welcome on the battlefield, after all.
Consolidate Power Build – borrow Brenda’s Symbiont abilities and pick one of my strong allies or a few weak ones to merge with. Maybe I could steamroll the opposition if I make an optimal choice? Or maybe this is a bit of a waste on me, considering my main talent is already effectively borrowing power from my harem? I have access to most of Megan, Suka, and Gabby’s abilities—would merging with them make me that much stronger? Marginally, sure, but there’s an advantage to having multiple powerful pieces on the board. We may be able to end the war quickly tomorrow if we strike several decisive blows all at once.
Hmm, the more I think about it, the more I want to shore up my personal fighting style while relying on my mates and allies to do their part on their own. Thinking of it another way, they’re relying on me to fight toe-to-toe with the biggest, baddest enemy on the field without going down. I’m the ‘flagbearer’ for our side—it’s paramount that I do not falter. Increasing my defense and survivability will both benefit me there. Plus, there’s no rule against me taking the other options once I eventually have more Slime Marks.
*Selected Swarm Cores*
*Selected Greater Slime Constitution*
*Selected Stone Ooze Skin*
*Switch or Amalgamate?*
Oh, what a lovely popup! Choosing the latter option, I behold my body morphing before my eyes. My green Lizardman scales now have a marble-like gleam to them… It almost looks like jade; so cool!
With that out of the way, I resume actively caressing and stroking my Slime lovers as I check Flou’s ruby tummy. She’s bearing a cute little boy, who happens to be a Hybrid Human Slime.
Maybe I shouldn’t lie here too long. I need to cross the last few items of the night off my agenda—
“Lady Mayoress, you wanted to be notified when the Hybridization Ritual was prepared?” Janine says, seeming to appear at my side while I’m otherwise distracted.
“Ah, yes, I did ask for that, erm, didn’t I?” I’m sure I must have at some point, maybe when I was giving her a bunch of instructions. My mind was still a bit blown from the Slime threesome. “Do you mind leading the way?”
“Of course, Lady Mayoress. Right this way.”
Janine the Hobgoblin Secretary directs me away from my lusty Slime companions toward a rather large assembly. These monsters haven’t gathered as part of the nightly orgy, though. They’re excited for a different reason.
“Please, everyone, be patient. There’s no substitute for thoroughness, and Spindle intends for everything to be perfect.” The diligent Weaver has set up a rope line in glowing purple velvet surrounding a complex Ritual circle diagram. Monsters from every faction in Field Town have come to crowd up against the barrier while peering inside at the working Webling. Doggins, Hobs, Harpies, and Lizardmen elbow each other to stand at the front while smallfolk scurry about their legs. “Remember not to touch anything, as the spellwork is quite delicate.”
She’s putting the finishing touches on a modified version of the Warg Ritual, decoded leatherbound tome in one hand, the primer on Ritual Mechanics in another, and her last two hands spinning dusky purple threads of magic. When Janine and I walk up, the throng parts for us while they double-take at my gleaming jade scales.
“How goes it, Spindle?” I ask from the far side of the velvet ropes. “I heard you were finished upgrading the Warg Ritual.”
She doesn’t seem surprised by my presence or question, not looking up as she continues to work while replying, “Ah, Vermillion, excellent. Spindle was afraid she’d have to restrain the applicants at this rate. Unfortunately, the risk of failure cannot be reduced to zero—thus, ultimately, the choice of selection is yours.”
Janine the Hobgoblin Secretary provides me with an up-to-date list while the crowd clamors and begs for the chance to transform themselves. I survey my people, the desperate look in their eyes, and ask my gathered monsters, “This is really what you want?” My understanding is that Hybridization is normally an evolutionary dead-end in exchange for an admittedly significant stat boost.
“Remember, Alex, most monsters here have no serious prospect of evolving themselves. At least, not without a high chance of losing life or limb. Power is precious and hard-won in this world,” says a dark-robed figure with a pointy black hat.
“Honey!” I’m glad to see Gabby has finished with her… activities… and has come to find us. I bet her tongue is, I mean, I bet she’s exhausted after identifying all those hidden Affinities! She’s got a point, too. Throwing low-Rank (Average, Below-Average, and Inferior) Second Tier monsters into a fierce battle like this is just going to create a bloodbath—and they know it.
The mob gives my little Goblin Witch a wide berth, clearing the way for her approach. Inadvertently, this gives me an unobstructed view of the monster accompanying her. It’s Bonny the bigear mouse girl! And… Is Gabby holding her hand?
“How fortuitous! Congratulations, Miss Witch, on your successful survey. Spindle assumes the lovely rodent-kin accompanying you is the treasure you sought?”
“Hey, um, Honey, you do realize that’s one of Jonny’s mates, right?”
Bonny is wearing one of the mousy miniskirts the fashionista Fleecy Sheeple designed to be more revealing than functional, along with a crop top. The flush of her features, embarrassed glances at Gabby, and the way she practically glows while seeming refreshed, tell me the Witch’s ‘Ritual’ must have finished no more than a few minutes ago. She’s more than a little confused by the situation but goes along with Gabby’s lead without objection. I doubt she has any better idea than I do what’s going on at this point.
“Ahem, yes,” Gabby self-consciously wipes the drool from her face and schools her expression, “That may be, but I’m not about to let the only Dark Affinity monster I could find out of arms’ reach.”
Dark Affinity! Bonny!?!
“Dark Affinity! Me?!?”
“Let’s not change the subject,” Gabby says, refusing to be derailed, and grins madly while exclaiming, “I want to see some Hybrids!”