Gushi’s origins weren’t as surprising compared to the game-like status screens he was looking out now.

“For a person who performed a Blood Rite, you’re awfully quiet now.” His inner voice spoke, or his superconscious, or the pyramid…He hadn’t decided on the correct title yet.

“Better yet why don’t you call me your inner goddess? You could even imagine me swooning over your clueless tendencies on a grey chaise lounge.” A wicked laugh echoed in Lark’s head.

“Is that it? Are you some kind of deity? The dangerous presence noted in Gushi’s journal?” Lark asked aloud. Gushi’s antenna bobbled at the sound of its name.

“If I were a god, wouldn’t it be easy for me to resolve all your problems right now instead of putting you through a trial?”

The voice was better at deflection than he was.

“And do you think you still have the time to dilly-dally with my existence? I’ve already provided a big hint for the clueless you.”

Lark pressed his injured thumb against his whitening knuckles. The concentrated pain drove him to ignore the voice as if it were a figment of his imagination. Without wasting any more time, he reached out towards Gushi’s box.

The black box disappeared under his touch and Gushi’s dossier appeared within the sea of his consciousness as a dry sponge dropped in water. Imagine a handwritten case file that might have taken days to comb through by a detective. Somewhere in those documents contained damning evidence to put away the criminal, and instead of taking days or weeks to create a murder board, it took only a second to compress and compile all that data with a simple search, leading Lark to find the clincher!

Gushi’s Stats
Title: Converted Buoyant Slime
LVL: 1
Happiness: 90%

STR: 9
DEX: 16
INT: 20
MG: 14
SPT: 2
LUK: 12

Gushi’s Skills

1) Engulf: Innate Skill - Rank E - User can swallow and hold any material with an upper limit of 120 lbs. Effects: Absorption or storage.

2) Flexible Body: Innate Skill - Rank E - User can maneuver without restriction from bone structures.

3) Boiling Body: Innate Skill - Rank E - User’s body burns hot! Effects: Burn damage around the user for two seconds. Body expansion up to three times the original size. Skill in effect until cancellation. Cooldown: 5 minutes.

4) Transform: Magic Skill - Rank F - User can modify up to one structure of their body. Effects: Lasts until the skill is canceled. Cooldown: 1 minute.

5) Perception: Magic Skill - Rank F- User can sense an object’s nature within a 50-foot radius. Effects: Gushi's color changing antenna. silver - neutral, red - danger, green - magic treasure, and blue - spirit treasure.

Apart from Lark’s curiosity towards Gushi’s unique Perception skill, his mind drew closer towards the Engulf skill and its absorption effect.

His heart thundered. If what he proposed could be possible to save Wangshi, then the Engulf skill was more special than what he initially thought.

“Gushi…” Lark started in an apologetic tone while bundling Gushi up from his doughy state. “I’m sorry for yelling, but I really need your help.”

Shaping itself into a respectable slime, Gushi hopped out of Lark’s arms and stood upright in its delectable pudding pose. Pleased by his slime’s intelligence and sensitivity, Lark couldn’t hold back an appreciative smile. But knowing that time was of the essence, he quickly commanded Gushi to first use Boiling Body. Steam emitted off the refrigerator-sized Gushi as he towered over Lark and Wangshi.

“For now, I need you to Engulf him like how you saved me last time from the bad guys.”

Following Lark’s order, Gushi compacted himself horizontally and rolled over the unconscious Wangshi.

Trusting his companion to not suddenly absorb his butler like a slime crystal, Lark directed his attention towards his Trinity Watch.

“Scan!”

Another black box appeared in front of the Gushi-Wangshi flavored jello. Unlike the other boxes before, this one contained limited information, and surprisingly there were options listed.

“Item: Slime-engulfed human. (Trash)

Your slime engulfed the damaged butler, so here we are.

Options:

A) 100% Absorption: Gushi eats the butler and absorbs all the experience points. Depending on the slime’s intelligence and analysis, he can gain unexpected abilities.
B) Partial Absorption: Gushi eats away the parts you direct it to. Same effect as above.
C) Damage Absorption: Gushi absorbs and stores damage. Available due to unique properties in slime fluid. Stored damage can only be used on anything that touches the slime. (Will not resolve Wangshi’s paralysis state due to limited rank)
D) Store Wangshi into a chamber for later use. (No time limit).”
E) Spit out Wangshi like a human cannonball. (Learn the attack skill: Propel!)”

“While all these options look so tempting, I think I’ll go with option C.” He frowned at the watch.

“Your loss. I thought option A was the best,” the voice replied.

“Gushi, can you absorb Wangshi’s injuries?” Lark asked.

Once again, steam raised out of Gushi’s body. The viscous fluid inside Gushi foamed over Wangshi’s body like a cleanser, lifting away the dried blood from his skin. From what Lark could tell, the foamy substance stored away most of the trauma caused by the acupuncture process. Seeing that Wangshi was still in one piece, Lark announced the next step, “This part is tricky, but use partial absorption on the biopatches on Wangshi’s feet, chest, and neck.”

Then he noted grimly, “Simultaneously, otherwise, he will suffer another blockage.”

Without breaking a sweat, Gushi activated his Engulf skill and the biopatches seamlessly melted away. A new box popped up next to Lark, notifying him that Gushi learned a new skill called Patching.

Patching: Magic Skill - rank F - A quick fix. User can ‘patch’ up physical damage. Effect: Pain-blocker and speeds up natural healing.

Nice! Unexpected, but awesome nonetheless. At the moment though, he didn’t have enough information to compare the efficiencies on healing between ‘Damage Absorption’ and Patching.

“Great job, Gushi! Next, I need you to absorb and store the tiny needles from Wangshi’s body. There are three located on his head and chest area. Also use your new skill, Patching, instead of Damage Absorption.”

Lark used scan again on the human-slime combo, and a black screen popped up with an item description and similar options.

“Item: Slime engulfed human. (Trash)

Updated: After removing the items used for acupuncture and using both damage absorption and Patching, your butler is no longer in pain caused by his internal injuries and there’s no scarring caused by the needles. However, due to the hemorrhaging and broken meridian pathways, your butler suffered a significant amount of spirit damage, which caused his paralysis and unconsciousness.

Options:
A) 100% Absorption: Gushi eats the butler and absorbs all the experience points. Depending on the slime’s intelligence and analysis, he can gain unexpected abilities.
B) Partial Absorption: Gushi eats away the parts you direct it to. Same effect as above.
C) Store Wangshi into a chamber for later use. (No time limit).”
D) Spit out Wangshi like a human cannonball. (Learn the attack skill: Propel!)”
E) Rank up the Patching skill to Rank E. (Will allow Gushi to quick fix spirit damage.)

Lark’s jaw clenched, but he swiped away the black boxes anyway. He looked at his Trinity Watch and asked it, “Do you know how I can quickly rank up Patching?”

The voice replied, “I don’t know why you keep looking at the watch when you can clearly hear me in your head and stop referring to me as ‘you.’ It’s rude. If calling me your inner goddess is too embarrassing then give me a good name. But anyways, let’s take a step back. Rank ups from the lower levels are easy but can take time and luck. Here’s a hint: Take a closer look at the other options.”

“I’m telling you, I’m not going to let Wangshi get eaten…” Lark frowned and sat down on the floor to reconsider all his options.

“Good. Relax. A little meditation can help clear your mind.”

He wasn’t sure if soothing was the voice’s strong suit, but he took the advice and crossed his legs while closing his eyes. Knowing Gushi and Wangshi couldn’t go anywhere and that the danger passed, he took several deep breaths.

It wasn’t the first time he’s done meditation. Once, he tried it at his therapist’s encouragement and the other time was during Instructor Fuego’s martial arts class. Both attempts made him sleepy, which was a good thing considering how stress made him into a zombie for a while. Now, wasn’t much different until he heard the peal of a bell. His eyelids sank and his breaths turned slow yet rhythmic. Even if he wanted to yawn, he could not. That’s how enchanting the sound of the bell was to him.

Deeper and deeper, he felt himself let go, chasing the sound of the bell with his ears at first and then his eyes wanted to find the bell too. So he opened them, searching within for the sound. While he could hear the sweet chime, he still could not see it.

It was scary not being able to see. Unable to tell what was up and down or left to right, how could he find the bell?

“Colors, forms, depth, text, pictures… Eyesight is necessary to perceive the world,” the voice beckoned. “Give me a name and you will be taken to harbor.”

“A name for a sentient pyramid, who speaks with hints and sarcasm?” His wonder and enthusiasm for meditation ebbed. “The great mythological Sphinx of Egypt reminds me of you. So, I will call you Sphinx from now on. Acceptable?”

“Not bad. I was found in the desert too once upon a time, but maybe you knew that already.” Sphinx’s crisp voice penetrated the white space Lark found himself in. True to his words, the Sphinx harbored Lark in an unfamiliar location deep in the recedes of his conscious. At the mention of the desert, Lark could see his feet buried in the white sand. He looked around and saw that the sand stretched for miles in all directions.

“Where are you, Sphinx?” Lark spoke, feeling his lips move and his throat throttle. “Actually, where am I?” Staring upwards, without a sense of measure, he saw no ceiling nor did he feel a sense of ending. The world was as blank as a canvas; a white expanse.

“You must keep calm or the world will splinter and kick you out,” Sphinx said. Turning his head towards the sound of Sphinx’s matter of fact tone, he saw a humanoid dressed in white robes sitting on a white, bricked wall. In this colorless world, if it weren’t for the fact that Lark could sense distance, forms, and textures, he wouldn’t have been able to tell where things began and ended; it would’ve looked like one huge white blur.

“Sphinx?” Lark walked towards the brick wall that was no higher than three feet. The person he called Sphinx smiled, but Lark was unable to see the rest of Sphinx’s face that was hidden by his hood and whitish hair. Oddly, the person he was looking at felt both unfamiliar and familiar at the same time. Lark curved his head down to see the rest of Sphinx’s face.

Seeing and believing are two different things as many might intrepidly say. There hardly ever comes a time when this saying might go into use, but now was one of those moments.

Unmoving like an ice sculpture, Lark could only stare at what would be almost a mirror image of himself if he fell into a bucket of white paint.

“I thought I told you to stay calm,” Sphinx said as one brick fell out of place. He looked at the shocked expression on Lark’s face and sighed. “Too much? Unfortunately, I’m no god. But I am you and you are me; I’m just the better-looking one.”

The clone even had the same humor as him.

“I am a reflection of who you are and who you are afraid to be.” The clone’s intense, ghostly orbs caused Lark to take a step back; it was as if they could pierce through him. Another few bricks fell onto the white sand. Lithe limbs dropped onto the sand; it was a graceful and even beautiful movement in Lark’s eyes. Quiet steps, yet a powerful presence drew closer to him, and all he could do was continue to stare, mouth gaping.

“This place is desolate, my owner, why don’t you conjure up something for us to sit and talk comfortably,” Sphinx said and stood at a distance that didn’t invade his personal space. Sphinx’s hood was no longer on, and Lark could see Sphinx’s hair styled in the same messy, aloof way he liked his own hair.

But he didn’t like this. Whatever this was. He pressed his thumb against his knuckles, but he didn’t feel the pain shoot up his arm like before. The cut on his thumb was gone.

“While pain makes a good distraction, you’ll eventually become numb.” Sphinx folded his arms together as if he were a professor of great insight. “If you can’t do it, I’ll do it for you.”

With a wave of his white-clothed arm, the Cyan Cottage appeared in the white desert. From Grandma Rune’s flowery scented garden to the blacked out curtains of the octagonal turret; it was all here. Even the water flowing from the cherub’s penis was not lacking.

“The things you’ve seen, scanned, and analyzed will all show up in this chamber for you (or me) to study. Exciting, right?” With those words, Sphinx walked up to the doorway and placed his eye in front of the peephole. In disbelief, Lark watched the door click open.

With a crafty look, Lark was sure he couldn’t pull off himself, Sphinx entered the doorway with an all-knowing smile.