Help! I Got Parasitized by a Slime

We were headed back into the woods of all places. We hadn’t been walking that long, more than an hour maybe? Two at most. The sun was still high, and we had plenty of daylight. Though the tall old trees certainly seemed eager to swallow up the light as we ventured deeper down the path. It was definitely spooky, but we were on a path, and I wasn’t alone.

And the whole point of this was for me to face my fears, so… I couldn’t really complain.

“So…” Galine sighed, still trying to make sense of things.

I forced myself not to brace. It was good she was talking, it was good she was trying to make sense of it rather than running.

“Essentially, there's a second voice in your head? And otherwise this Candy doesn’t… do anything?” she asked.

“Pretty much,” I nodded, “well, I mean, all our stats are merged. Technically, I’m a Mythic Empress Slime Hybrid, and rather than a profession, I have the Symbiotic Dyad Path. So… I guess I kinda have a monster’s system?”

She shook her head. “That's… I’ve never heard of that before.”

All I could do was shrug. “There is kinda more,” I forced myself to continue. “I um… yes, Candy is a voice in my head, but she lives inside me, literally through me. If you cut me open, you’d encounter her slime.”

Galine looked at me with slight horror. “And you’re not dissolving? Can you feel her? What…”

“Yeah,” I chuckled. “It’s fucking weird. I had a whole… meltdown about it. But no, she doesn’t harm me directly. It’s symbiotic. We share skills. I can actually dissolve stuff like a slime would.”

For emphasis, I crouched down to pick up a twig, holding it between two fingers as I used [Digest]. It was underwhelmingly slow, but after a few moments, the two ends of the twig fell to the ground, the material between my fingers gone.

“That's… wow,” she muttered. “So… what is your class? If you don’t mind me asking.”

I flushed slightly with embarrassment. But she deserved the truth. “Uh… Dungeon Matriarch,” I mumbled.

“Hmm?” she frowned, not hearing me.

I cleared my throat. “Dungeon Matriarch.”

She nodded slowly. “And that involves… what? Building a dungeon like a colony of slimes would?”

“Yeah,” I nodded. “It seems like it. It's part of the reason I wanted to get out of the city. Candy really wants me to set up the dungeon core so it starts harvesting experience for us.”

Galine just stared at me in disbelief. And I knew his going to only get worse. I was on day three of the latest batch of gestating slimes. I didn’t know if she simply hadn’t noticed my… bulge or if she was simply being polite. Regardless… secrets were a crushing weight on my shoulders. And honestly… I needed someone else to know, so I didn’t feel so crazy.

“We can also create slimes,” I sighed. “That's why I had those cores to sell.”

“You… You can create monsters? You mean summon them?” she frowned.

I shook my head. “No… we create them. Well… we haven't really experimented with anything too much. This is all pretty new. But we definitely create them.”

“Wow, I can’t believe this,” she muttered.

“The Tavern Crew knows,” I quickly added. “Mostly, I… left out the more uncomfortable stuff.”

Galine stopped walking to properly look at me. “You’re serious about all of this?”

“Yes, I swear,” I chuckled. “Fuck, man, I’m normally compulsively honest. I hate keeping secrets. I’ve been filled with so much anxiety over all of this that it’s just become my new baseline.”

She rested her hand on my arm and squeezed gently. “Okay. I suppose what they say about outworlders is true.”

“Yeah,” I nodded, letting out a sigh of relief at her hand on my skin. It felt like an olive branch. “So far it's definitely seemed like it.”

“Creating monsters is… wow,” she huffed. “I… Sorry, I just feel speechless. How do you even do that?”

I grimaced. “Uh… that's one of the uncomfortable stuff. I…” I shook my head, simply pressing a hand against my swollen abdomen to reveal it behind the baggy robes.

Galine followed the motion. “You’re… expecting?”

“Slimes,” I ground out.

“No,” she huffed, shaking her head.

“Yeah, “ I nodded, unable to look at her. “I… also have a skill that lets me implant them with a slime ovipositor to finish incubating in someone else,” I flushed, face beet red.

Galine set the basket down so she could run her hands over her face. “That's insane. That's… that's fucking insane.”

“Yeah,” I agreed with a chuckle. “Apparently, it’s to increase slime output, given Candy couldn’t evolve into a Brood Mother slime.”

“Let me get this straight,” he sighed. “You got parasitized by a slime, which promptly decided to hijack your body and skills, and then, in desperation, it permanently fused to you. And you gained the ability to create dungeons… and grow slimes… inside yourself and inject them into others?”

I squeezed my eyes shut tight. It really did sound fucking insane. “Yes,” I nodded. “That's… yeah.”

Galine just shook her head. “I’m not sure I’ve ever heard something quite so ludicrous.”

“Everyone is a critic,” Candy grumbled.

Now was not the time for her to add her thoughts on the matter.

“I know,” I smiled, pained. “I know it’s fucking crazy. My life has been totally crazy since I got here. But all I can do is roll with it and… I really do like you, Galine. I’m sorry that… I’m so complicated.”

“You don’t need to be sorry, I’m just still wrapping my head around it all,” she smiled.

“Candy says hi, by the way. She thinks you're very pretty,” I offered flatly.

Galine’s ears tinged pink. I wasn’t sure I had ever met someone who blushed that obviously. “Um… Hi, Candy,” she chuckled.

“No, I didn't," Candy huffed. “You just said you don’t lie, and here you are lying!”

“You’re going to tell me you don’t think she’s pretty,” I internally rolled my eyes.

“Fine, but you have to ask her if she will incubate our slimes for us,” Candy demanded.

“I am not–” I cut myself off. “Sorry. Internal… thoughts.”

Galine blinked at me.

“Please, Pamela, making slimes like this is so slow. And she is a horse lady, I’m sure she can fit so many inside–”

“Shut up!” I snapped. “Just… today is not the day for that. Patience. You are not helpful with people stuff.”

“I am trying to be helpful with slime stuff,” Candy scoffed.

“Are you speaking to her now?” Galine asked.

“Yeah,” I answered. “Sorry, I don’t… I can’t hold two conversations simultaneously.”

She chuckled. “I am so glad you brought wine. I feel like I’ve lost my mind.”

I nudged her with my shoulder. “Same, girl, same,” I snorted.

Galine picked the basket up, and we continued silently for a few minutes. “She can see everything you do?” she asked.

“More,” I replied. “I don’t really know how, but… yeah. And I quote ‘not limited by eyeballs.’”

That made Galine laugh. “And when I kissed you… I kissed her?”

“Yeah,” I nodded, grimacing.

“Wel...” she sighed. “I should probably get to know her then.”

“Please don’t,” I groaned. “She’s unbearable.”

“Hey! Why are you always so mean about me?!” Candy whined. “Tell her I want to get to know her. And that… um… I think she’s pretty and… um, not the incubating thing, but maybe ask if she likes slime? Wait no… um…”

I did my best to tune her out.

“Was she saying something?” Galine asked.

I nodded.

“You have a way of… glazing over,” she shrugged with an amused smile.

“Sorry, I can’t really not hear her,” I grimaced.

“It’s okay,” she shrugged. “This is a lot and definitely very weird, but… I really am amenable to meeting her.”

“She can only talk to me,” I grimaced. “Which… I realize it makes me sound crazier, but–”

“Tell her that her fur is really pretty,” Candy eventually decided.

“She says your fur is really pretty,” I begrudgingly grumbled.

Galine smiled. “Can I… see her? Can she come out?”

“Uhh…” I blinked. “I don’t think so.”

“Nope,” Candy sighed whistfully. “I’m stuck under your skin pretty much, which really sucks. I bet she would feel so good in my slime, all slippery and delectable,” she mumbled.

I cleared my throat, trying not to picture that and promptly failing. “Uh, no, she can’t.”

“Alright,” Galine hummed. “Well…” she trailed off, shaking her head. “Thank you for trusting me. I know this can’t have been easy.”

I grinned, relieved. “Thanks for listening.”

“Of course,” she nodded, smiling. “Let's go have supper, I think I’m rather done with trying to solve puzzles for one night,” she chuckled, offering me her hand.

I took it. “That sounds perfect.”

Reinvigorated, we continued our walk.