Chapter 109: A Slime Who Rules
The council meeting was over, although Tanaka’s mind was very much still occupied with the discussions. The Varkesh envoy had given them enough to consider, from the apparent fifty-two warriors heading towards Eldoris from the north that had enslaved human mages to find something, although even Karesh was unsure as to what.
The corrupted forest was another matter entirely, and Tanaka could not simply ignore any of it, but sitting in this council hall staring at a map would not bring any of the answers he wanted. He looked at Sora, who was still standing by the door. "I’m going to the pond." Sora blinked. "The pond? Why?" Tanaka looked outside the window. "Because at some point, thinking about things becomes counterproductive." Sora laughed. "Running away from your problems then?" "For a few hours." "Fair enough."
They left the council hall together, and by the time they reached the pond on the west side of Eldoris, Tanaka was already feeling better. The pond had changed somewhat since his last visit. Where there had previously been little more than a natural pool, there was now a thriving aquatic community. A number of slimes floated across the surface of the water, bumping into each other occasionally, while moss turtles lazed around on the edges with shells covered in thick green moss, aquatic kobolds swam from one shore to the other, and several serpentkin slipped beneath the surface. The pond was alive, and Tanaka smiled as he took it in. "Not bad." Sora looked around. "Far from it."
He looked at the water as the human body that had been with them vanished and a small blue slime fell into the water with a splash. Tanaka laughed. "Already back to normal?" Sora surfaced next to him. "Swimming is easier like this." "Admittedly." One of the aquatic kobolds spotted them and swam over. "Lord Tanaka!" Tanaka greeted him. "How’s everything going?"
"Well. We’ve been teaching the younger ones how to swim properly," the kobold said, indicating the deeper parts of the pond. Tanaka looked at the slimes. "I think they’re having more fun than learning though." "They can do both." A small slime suddenly bounced into Tanaka, followed by another, and Tanaka caught one against his body. "You’ve all grown." The little slime wriggled happily. Sora swam around them. "They want to race." "Already?" The aquatic kobold laughed. "They’ve been waiting." Tanaka stretched out across the water. "Fine."
The race was practically instant. Sora shot forward in slime form, pressing his body flat against the water, while the aquatic kobolds shot after him and the serpentkin used their long bodies to whip themselves forward, and Tanaka followed, experimenting as he swam. He flattened himself, narrowed himself, then pulled himself back slightly before sending himself forward, and the change was instant as his body adapted and moved more naturally with every stroke until another change occurred within his Soul Record.
Skill Acquired: Water Movement.
Tanaka stopped as Sora floated back. "What happened?" "I learned a skill." Sora brightened. "From swimming?" Tanaka focused on the information within his Soul Record. "Looks like it." It was not a particularly strong skill, but the meaning was simple enough that Tanaka immediately understood the mechanic. Skills were not just obtained by defeating monsters or copying abilities, although there was value in both; some skills could simply be learned through action and adaptation, and when a creature spent enough time doing something that their body and magic adjusted, and when that adaptation became great enough, the Soul Record recognised it as a skill.
That explained some of the powers different monsters had awakened over the years, and Tanaka smiled because that knowledge was useful. Sora floated closer. "What else can you learn?" "I don’t know." Tanaka looked towards the deepest part of the pond. "Let’s see."
They dived as the water closed over them, and Tanaka continued downwards as the pond became darker and colder with every metre, rather than trying to fight his way back to the surface. His body compressed under the pressure before adapting, and something else changed within his Soul Record.
[ Skill Acquired: Drowning Resistance.]
Tanaka paused, for a slime did not really breathe in the same way a human did, which made it an amusing skill, but when he continued downwards he realised what it actually entailed: his body was becoming resistant to the dangers of staying submerged. As the pressure increased, his body adjusted once more. Skill Acquired: Water Resistance. Tanaka smiled, for it was not a powerful ability nor something that would be useful in a major battle, but the fact that his body had been able to learn something so simply through experience was an interesting test. He broke the surface where the aquatic kobolds were waiting.
"Have you learned something new?" Tanaka nodded. "Three skills." Their eyes widened. "Three?" "Water Movement, Drowning Resistance and Water Resistance." The kobolds looked at each other and one of them smiled. "That’s how many aquatic monsters develop their abilities." Tanaka turned towards him. "Training?" "Alongside habit and environment." The kobold tapped his chest. "Our bodies have changed because we’ve spent so much time in the water. We’ve learned how to move within it, how to submerge and how to endure things that normal land dwelling kobolds couldn’t." Tanaka nodded, finding that more interesting than he expected.
Evolution and skills were connected in more ways than he had previously considered; a monster did not always need a dramatic battle to become stronger, since sometimes simply surviving within the same environment for a long period could change them, and sometimes repeated actions could become abilities, sometimes both at once.
Sora floated beside him. "So should I start doing this too?" Tanaka laughed. "You’re the one with Skill Theft." "But it doesn’t mean I can’t learn normally." "Fair enough." Sora began to practice his own underwater movement while Tanaka watched, with slimes continuing to play around them, moss turtles slowly creeping along the shore, and the serpentkin teaching Sora how to turn without wasting effort while the aquatic kobolds showed him how to dive without disturbing the surface.
For a while Tanaka simply watched, until one of the aquatic kobolds suddenly stopped and looked towards the northern end of the pond, and Tanaka followed his gaze. "The water," the kobold said. Tanaka’s expression changed. "What about it?" "The current coming from the north has changed." The kobold pointed towards the stream that ran into the pond, and Tanaka’s senses sharpened. "How has it changed?"
"The water has become darker in places," the kobold replied. "There are fewer fish flowing downstream." The serpentkin surfaced. "We’ve also found dead plants in the current." Tanaka looked towards the stream. "Why didn’t anyone report this?" The aquatic kobold lowered his head. "We weren’t sure it was important. We thought something upstream had died." Tanaka moved towards the stream. "Do you want to show me?" The group followed him.
A narrow stream ran into the pond from the north. The water looked normal at first, but Tanaka spotted something on the surface where a thin dark film clung to some leaves near the shore. He moved closer, for it was neither mud nor oil, and the residue shimmered with a faint magical presence. Tanaka’s expression darkened. "This came from upstream." The serpentkin nodded. "Yes." "How far upstream?" "We don’t know." Tanaka reached out and touched the water, letting his senses run along the current for a moment until something faint brushed against his awareness: a trace of corrupted mana, and he immediately pulled back. Sora noticed. "What is it?" Tanaka stared at the stream.
"The water is carrying corrupted mana." A tense silence fell over the area as the aquatic kobolds looked at each other. "From the north?" Tanaka looked towards the forest as the strange feeling from earlier finally made sense. The corruption was not just affecting the land; it was spreading to the water, which meant the creatures living throughout the forest were being exposed in more ways than one. He looked at the small community that had been living normally because the contamination had not yet reached them in dangerous amounts, but that could change. He turned to the aquatic kobolds. "Keep everyone away from the northern stream for now." They nodded. "What about the pond?" "Keep using it, but if the water changes any further, let me know." The serpentkin nodded. "We will."
Tanaka looked at the dark residue once more. He had come to escape the problems with the north, but the pond had reminded him of them. Sora floated next to him. "So much for escaping." Tanaka laughed despite himself. "I was expecting that." He looked at the water one last time before turning away. "Worth it." Sora tilted his body. "Because you got new skills?" "That too."
Tanaka glanced at the pond. "But mostly because now we know the corruption is spreading into the water." The two slimes began to swim back towards the others with Tanaka’s mood lighter than when he had left the council hall. He had not solved any of the problems, nor had he found out what the Varkesh were looking for or where the corrupted mana source was, but he had learned something valuable. The forest was no longer simply a northern problem; it was beginning to reach towards Eldoris through the water.
Tanaka stopped beside the pond and looked north, where beyond the Dominion’s walls Varkesh continued to search, and whatever they were looking for was close enough to Eldoris that its corruption had already reached his people.