So after the first test, I used it again to try and get back to the starting area near the lake. I'd like to tell you it took me but one tries to get back to the lake.

 

Turns out though, that it's a lot harder to get to the same place with one, shot, and I overshot the shot a few times, and it took me about 10 tries before I finally arrived by the lake.

 

Crashed into it actually. I'm pretty sure I scared a few creatures deeper into the lake by accident. Oops. On the bright side, I was able to wash myself off, and by Isis, did I need that shower. I was already covered in corpse after the first shot, but with 10 more shots came 10 more shots of corpse covering me all over. I was a really ugly meatball.

Sadly, no levels. Apparently, everything I crashed into was just normal animals by this point, so I didn't receive any exp. Wonder if the first shot caused them all to run.

After the shower, I was just about ready to head to nap, as I crawled over to a little space underneath a ledge, satisfied with the fact that I was faster at level 3, though not by much. And with a simple prayer to Anubis, I went into the night.

---

When I woke up, I felt rather refreshed, and I got up ready to celebrate a new day of retirement. I got up and...

I'm heavier.

Did I get bigger already?

I didn't even eat much?

So I start twisting and turning, trying to see if I did in fact get bigger, before I lock (eyes?) with a giant metal blob on my back. With shiny rocks sticking out of it.

Pardon?

What's that?

Appraisal please.

[Species: Ore Slime]

Alright, new question, why is there a slime on my back? Stolidus?

Stolidus showed up, clearly amused.

[Took you long enough. It's been attached to you since yesterday, ever since you crashed into the side of a mountain.]

The mountain? Ah, the mountain. The first one I crashed into? I didn't see a slime there.

[No, the third mountain you crashed into.] Commented Stolidus dryly. I admit, I forgot that I crashed into l3 mountains due to incorrect calculations.

The third mountain... yes that was the one where I crashed into a looming cavern, right? Yes, I couldn't quite see in the darkness, so I just slingshotted my way out of there. That also had been the last shot before finally arriving near the lake. And I was covered in flesh by that point, so it's certainly possible I just didn't see it.

But why was it clinging onto me?

[It likes you] Stolidus commented dryly. [Youve both got rocks for brains]

Slimes don't have brains.

[Cores are basically brains for slimes.]

Fair. But seriously, why is it clinging on? Is it a parasite or something? Can I even photosynthesize with it on?

[I told you. it likes you. The ore slime isn't very smart, but it sees you as a source of mana, so it's clinging on and feeding on your mana. Check you stats.]

Well that doesn't sound good.

Level:3/5

Hp: 244/244

Mana: 99/99

Spd:22

ATK: 14

Def: 480

Moves: Photosynthesis, harden, vine lash, bite, Appraisal lvl 1 stake strike, steel imbuement, turtle launcher

+[Shop]+

Skill points: 1

Points: 14

... Just realized that I have not had a mana count up to now. Hey Stolidus-

[Too Lazy!]

Ah, there it is. So is that a loss of mana or...

[Your original mana count was 120 at level 3. You've lost 21 points of mana.]

All right, time for it to die then.

[Wait. Before you do that, keep in mind that you will gain more evolutionary options if you keep it!]

I'm trying to live a quiet life, why would I want to become a rare hunt variant? That's how monsters get killed.

The ore slime, completely unaware of the situation below, begun rubbing my head, and I had to admit it felt good.

Fine, not killing. I'll remove it. And keep it like a pet or something. I'll feed it goblins or something. Or I'll get it more food when I launch myself into the skies.

Stolidus sighed exasperated, which I think is rather unfair, considering I have to deal with him. [You liked flying through the sky, didn't you?] he asked softly, like how I often saw others speak to children. Is he treating me like a child! How rude!

But I do like soaring through the skies.

But what does that have to do with anything?

[Well....] Stolidus is clearly grasping for straws, as he pauses.

He gives up.

[Let me be honest with you. You've been dropped in a relatively safe forest in regard to monsters, but relative is never quite guaranteed. At bare minimum, you'll live for a hundred years. Do you think nothing will go wrong within 100 years?]

... No, that would be stupid.

[Exactly. You'll stand out the longer you live either way, but at least if you use the ore slime, you'll have more options in regards to evolution.]

Fine.

Hey you just said use. The slime won't like, die if I absorb him during evolution right?

Stolidus rolls his eyes. [If you want, I'll get rid of all evolutions that erase him as a being and keep the ones that keep him as a secondary conciousness.]

Yes please. If I'm keeping him around, I'm keeping him around.

[sure.] Sighs Stolidus.

'You hear that little buddy?' I think as I look at the metallic slime on my back. You're with me for the long haul.

 

 

in the system world

Stolidus sighs as he plops on his ever-present pillow, just in time to meet guide 75, a guide who took the form of a hunter, nocking his arrows before shooting them at a target, in the system world. 

When systems weren't being called upon for their services, they resided in the system world, a stimulation based off the real earth and it's respective realms. 

The guides that had no assigned form in the real world could make whatever body they wanted, whereas guides like Stolidus and 75, who had forms reflective of their players, usually preferred to stick to their virtual forms. 

"Why am I stuck with such a childish player." grumbled Stolidus. 

Hunter, guide 75 snorted. "Problem?" Nonetheless, he humored Stolidus.

"My player", grumbled Stolidus, "is so childish! He decided to launch himself at a mountain!!"

Hunter raised his eyebrow at that but did not stop practicing. "Sounds fun", he commented non-committedly. 

"It's exhausting! I have to constantly reign him in! Why couldn't I have gotten a lazier player" bemoaned Stolidus. 

"Why couldn't Earl get a more encouraging guide/ Why couldn't you have been made more supportive!?" Hunter shot back. 

Stolidus had nothing to say to that. 

Hunter sighed, and sat down on a chair he made. "From what you've told me, Earl has never had the opportunity to live his youth out, but now that he's been reborn, he's letting it all out. I suspect you've been made lazy, because you're meant to hold him back a bit. You're the brakes" 

Stolidus squinted his eyes frustrated. "If guide 0 was making me to hold him back from doing stupid stuff and to do the right stuff, I wish she'd made me more energetic." complained Stolidus. 

Stolidus received a firm blow to the head. "Ow!" Hunter got up and started prepping a bola. "You're only made lazy. You continue being lazy out of your own volition. Now git! I've got a date with guide 15 and I don't have time to listen to a grumbling youth like you. 

Stolidus walked off, grumbling as he tried to figure out what to do with his player.