Taldur 

I stood still for some time rolling the name around my nonexistent tongue, 'Taldur the destroyer, Taldur the bringer of swarms, Taldur the all devourer.'

Lescar picked out a good name, it just stuck the right way, it really went well with some quick names I threw together, a flexible and reliable thing to call my own.

I was quite pleased, I spent a little more time focused on intimidating names.

'Taldur the cockroach king, Taldur the unseen poison, Taldur the seeping corruption, Taldur the jaws beneath the earth, Taldur, he who must not be-'

"Hello....? Taldur?"

I would have blinked if I were able as Lescar waved her hands about in front of my face.

"Yes, what is it Lescar?" I said allowing Lescar to address me by that new name as she was the one who had given it to me.

"Are you okay you have a pretty big hole in your..." Lescar's voice trailed off as she pointed at injury in question, some expression of anxiety on her face.

I was in such a good mood now that I had a name, that I had quite forgotten about the literal pain in my neck, and why was Lescar so concerned all of a sudden? she had been hesitant and a little rebellious before. suspicious...

I studied Lescar's earnest expression, she was more open and her demeanor showed that she truly felt concern or was very good at acting as such.

Studying her expression further I discounted that possibility, Lescar was not an adept actor yet, she would be someday if things went as planned but currently, her face was an open book, her very obvious concern was almost touching.

Almost.

Apparently something I had done recently had tipped her in my favor, was it when I took that sword to the neck for her? probably.

I felt the gaping hole in my defenses with a feeler, it was a sizeable hole where the joint of my neck met my body, underneath it I could see some of my muscle matter twitching uncovered in the recent damage.

That blow had been a near call, that mage had far more offensive powers than he had been letting on, such a human thing to hide.

The wound had not stopped leaking, as it dribbled a slow drizzle of yellow goo something I knew was akin to my blood.

Despite how close it had come to being lethal, the wound itself did not particularly hurt and the bleeding had mostly stopped at this point.

I gave Lescar a calculating look, if her worry was genuine, an opportunity was available, to both test and expand upon such feelings.

Part of any relationship was something known as reciprocation more commonly known as 'returning the favor' or 'the gratitude of exchange'.

I did not need or require it myself, but if Lescar felt she was drawing closer to me it would be good to offer her an opportunity to do so by giving her a chance to reciprocate my aid.

After all the more she was attached to me the stronger the chains that bound her to me, friendship was both a transaction and a shackling burden, she could shackle herself to me as much as she pleased. 

In the end, it would only benefit me more.

Glancing at Lescar again then at my wound I said, putting on a guise of a troubled voice.

"MMMmmmm... yes... now that you mention it, this is quite the little sore, rather painful actually."

I experimentally moved my joints being sure to emphasize the pain in my voice "Uuuuuurrrr...  I might need to lie down." I groaned letting my legs crumble beneath me pathetically.

Dropping to the ground as if I could no longer sustain my own weight I let my body go limp, Legs twitching with the occasional spasm, 'perfect.'

I looked up wondering whether my 'professional' acting had worked and was not displeased with the results.

Lescar's concerned eyes widened slightly, expression turning into full-on panic before a determined look settled over her face and she ran off shouting back as she did.

"Wait there Taldur! I'm getting something, I'll be back! Don't worry, just stay still!" 

A small part of me said to myself hearing her words, 'If I were really as badly injured as I was portraying myself to be, that sentence was mostly redundant', it was not a well thought out phrasing, Lescar was at loss for what to do, and in that flash of confusion, I could see it.

I smirked in my heart as I watched Lescar dash away, Lescar was 100% truelly, and most certainly, worried for me, she cared.

Tanking that hit for her had been a good decision, it had sparked the catalyst for positive change, Gratitude.

Gratitude was a powerful emotion and useful, stripping some of the remaining walls away from Lescar that had insulated her from my influence, with her heart more open to me, shaping her into a worthy and powerful tool was now possible.

My little thief girl might come to hate me in the future but not before I forged her into something grand and when she realized that, she would thank me.

Of course, such things were far off and distant, and conditions were not yet ideal for such molding, for now, more immediate concerns were at hand.

Feeling a wet sensation on my neck that wasn't from my blood I remembered that I had picked up Dewey before entering the cave, wanting to keep the slime close due to its upcoming ascension, which reminded me...

I glanced over at the dead male mage who had given me the wound,  furrowing my non-existent eyebrows in the process of Dewey making its way onto the top of my head.

Again humans had defied my expectations and proved more dangerous than expected, first when Lescar had put up a valiant struggle, and now once more when the mages from that band of adventurers attacked.

It was foolish of me in that battle to assume I had won before I actually had, I had forgotten that there was a reason humanity was the apex of all life on earth and had paid for that blunder, I'd survived and come out on top this time but in the future better tactics and methods were in order if my survival was to be maintained.

At least I had not come out of the fight empty-handed, I thought with some optimism, I had acquired 5 new meals, the other four bodies being devoured by the swarm, and more importantly another level or more accurately, I had capped out the last human mage giving me just enough Exp.

That meant I was ready to evolve or 'ascend' as the system phrased it, I had already received the notification that I would ascend on the next rest, but still was uncertain on the difficulties or dangers that might be possible in the process.

A little test was in order, and I knew just the slime for the job.

Curling my feelers back around, I peeled the sticky slime off my head before placing it on the floor in front of me.

"Dewey, rest."

My order was simple and direct, I didn't want to confuse the snot.

Dewey wobbling in front of me jiggled curiously, a note of inquisitiveness in its bearing.

"???????? ....... ???"

Apparently the slime was unsure what to make of this order and just sat there, if it had eyes I'm sure it would be staring blankly at me, I needed to make things clearer.

"Sleep," I said, "Go to sleep, go dormant! Rest!" emphasis picking up in my voice.

The slime jiggled questioningly again before it figured out what I was trying to convey.

"?????? ..... ........ !!!!!!!!! !!! !!!!!"

Its movements slowing, the slimes normally glossy and springy sheen faded and its movement ceased altogether, 'was the slime resting already? that was fast.'

All there was to do now was to wait and watch, I did not want to miss a single detail of the transformation process. 

I sat waiting for the slime to change, waiting for Lescar to come back, whatever happened first, it wasn't Lescar's arrival that occurred first.

Dewey's round body began to swell rapidly, the blob expanding like a balloon filling up with helium, 'fascinating,' I eagerly observed, the organs normally visible through Dewey's translucent green slime were gone, dissolved, disappeared entirely, apparently, Dewey did not need that particular set of organs anymore.

It looked like Dewey's entire body was being reconstituted, completely remade, the slime continued to puff up, its diameter was now almost twenty times that of its original size, 'was Dewey becoming huge?!'

I hoped not, I doubted a giant slime would be much more useful than a small one, I carefully eyed up the bulging slime, turns out I needn't have worried, the swelling looked like it had stopped.

I looked at my slime he was massive even though Dewey had stopped growing, it was almost taller than Lescar 'was this-'

As I was finishing my thoughts the enlargened slime began to vibrate, trembling violently and slowly changing color, going from a deep green to almost clear before Dewey began to glow as if a lightbulb had turned on inside it.

'It's not done,' I realized.

Having changed to almost pure white Dewey began expanding again, his rotund body was already approaching my size as the light from within thrummed and grew brighter.

'How big was this slime going to get?'

It was already beginning to take up all the room in the cavern, if it got any bigger I would have a problem!

The slime continued swelling and growing brighter with each passing second, the trembling reaching new levels as it surged like a raging ocean.

'Oh no...' I whispered to myself staring at the slime who now towered over me like a collapsing dam.

'I think it's going to blo-'

KA-SPLAT!

Vast volumes of globular slime flew in all directions covering the entirety of the cave in clear oozing mucus, the walls were covered, the floor was covered, the ceiling was covered... I was covered.

I may have been living in the sewers for some time now, being used to all sort off unpleasant stinks and foul substances, but this... this was disgusting.

"Uhhhh.... Just dandy," I growled wiping a sheen of slime off my head with an antenna and tossing the wet clump onto the already slime ridden floor.

"That was not what I expected," I complained, carefully polishing my compound eyes so that I could actually see again.

When I finally cleared my eyes of mucus the creature I saw in front of me shocked me, made my proverbial jaw drop.

Dewey was... Dewey was...

Absolutely the same! indistinguishable! What is this joke! He was not even bigger!

{Dewey- (Gunk slime) has Ascended}

{Dewey has Ascended into a blue gunk slime}

Well, 'no change' was technically incorrect, Dewey had changed from a snot green to a swampy blue, and a small single blue tendril with a white ball thing on the end protruded from the slimes center mass, but what was the difference between the slime now and before aside from that!

I cracked open the menu and rushed to the familiar's menu.

Dewey - blue gunk slime (Caeruleum quisquiliae gelata (mutant variant))

Level 1

N/A

age 2 weeks and 5 days

MIND- 0011

BODY- 0022

SOUL- 0180

Current traits and abilities, perk points remaining 0

- Stunted 

- Silent (soundless)

- Inquisitive

- Regenerative 

- Vastly increased digestion speed (peptic acid storage condensed)

- Increased balance (enlarged statocyst)

- Siphon cavity (hyponome)

- Elastic nervous system

- Engorge (Innate)

- Periscopic optic stalk

 

'Great, so Dewey was still largely useless.'

It was so far, disappointing, but expected, considering how very easy it was to level this slime it would not make logistical sense for Dewey to grow powerful quickly.

Two new traits had appeared in Dewey's stat screen but I wanted to check out Dewey's new species or subspecies first.

Activating analysis, a skill that was still my most favorite, I gleaned more knowledge into slimes.

Blue gunk slime (Caeruleum quisquiliae gelata)

An extremely rare subspecies of the common gunk slime that sometimes appears in slime populations spontaneously, the blue gunk slime differs very little from its green counterpart, sharing the same eating habits, nature, and overall threat to all but most feeble and helpless of people.

One of the few substantial differences is that the blue gunk slime is blue and slightly superior in all regards to a regular gunk slime, another is that the blue gunk slime can swell up to swallow things slightly larger than itself much like the Vermillion slime but far weaker and less drastic.

Two more differences exist that set the blue gunk slime apart from its more common cousins, one, the slime breeds far slower and at a lower rate, and two, the blue gunk slime is prone to growing primitive eyes.

Even though these slimes possess eyes, they still regularly fail to recognize danger, and are killed just the same as normal gunk slimes.

Outside of rudimentary knowledge, most people have not even heard of Blue gunk slimes as their rate of appearance and relevance are very low, overall.

I stared at the description before voicing my thoughts.

'Not an impressive description at all! slimes are so very weak,' I said to myself, looking down at the still unmoving slime.

Dewey was still just a blob, not a killer blob, or a jelly of doom, just a blue blob, but he was a better blob then yesterday and perhaps one day in the future my tiny, puny slime would be an entity to fear.

'Maybe one day... Far into the future...'

As I had wistful thoughts, the little blue slug stirred, shivering and shuddering before hopping on the spot with a wet pop.

"????? !!!!! !!!!! !!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!"

Unlike me, Dewey seemed very pleased with itself, twisting, gyrating, flexing its new eyestalk, the white angler lure like orb glowing with a gentle luminescence as the blue jello examined its bodily makeover.

After a few more seconds of the slime appreciating its new form, the opaque orb that was the creature's eye looked at me, bobbing merrily as the slime bounced on the spot.

"!!!!! !!!!! !!!!!"

The slime was looking very merry indeed, ecstatic even.

"What? Do you like your new look?" I asked slightly amused by the jolly jelly's animated behavior, the slimes simple happiness was was very plain to see and infectious, Dewey was seemingly unharmed and more springy than ever.

The test was a resounding success, if very messy, I looked at my cave, it was drenched in a thick coat of mucus.

Antenna crossed my own transformation would be a cleaner one and with less exploding, I doubt my constitution could hold up against that, I had never exploded and pulled myself back together and I wasn't wanting to try it today.

Although I still had to ascend, so the risk was acceptable and unavoidable, however, I would do that later when Lescar returned.

Watching my evolved slime wobble and shake in pure simple joy, I considered my plans, having little else to do as I waited for Lescar, reassessing the validity and merits of the plans. 

I wanted to reach the surface, to scout it out, Identify the threats, competition, and resources, I intended to seize power, to bend all that I could to my will, to take the whole world as mine if possible.

My heart wanted it, my ego desired it, my hunger endorsed it, and my pride demanded it, I would carve out a throne or die trying. 

I had promised to make Lescar a queen and I intended to keep that promise, but to do all that, venturing to the surface was a must.

Going to the surface was something I had been planning to do for some time, and now that desire was even more reinforced, the sewers were no longer safe for me and my familiars and the reasons to stay were dwindling.

Not that we had ever been safe down here, but now that I had tangled with humans and decided our course, it was even more imperative we reached the surface before I missed the opportunity to nip issues in the bud.

I could deal with one of the issues, the foolish adventurers who had entered my domain, they were already dead but that was not the issue, the issue was that they had died by my claws, in my glade.

I would need to conceal the corpses, hide them away, I could not leave any traces of my involvement in their demise, the adventurer's bodies had to be properly removed in a way that wouldn't attract attention to me or my familiars, Lescar in particular.  

I already had thought up a means of hiding my involvement, it involved the remains of that large troll I fought earlier, eating the flesh of the humans would be fine but I needed the bones intact for the next part.

Framing dead trolls might be considered shameful but I cared not, what mattered was that no one knew me or my familiars were involved and that the humans didn't find my Glade and forest until I was ready for them.

Hiding the forest would be an inevitable failure, eventually, the forests spreading dominance and my influence over it would be noticed, but the best results in the times to come, would come if the forest remained undiscovered for as long as possible.

The forest was a part of my strength, I knew that now, and that strength had to be saved for the right moment, not squandered on avoidable human incursions.

If I could preserve that strength until later, I was certain I could tear ownership of this land out from underneath the reigning powers.

Lescar, in the days since I had acquired her, had told me many interesting things, little tidbits, snippets of the conditions on the surface and from what I could deduce, it was a real dystopia, a veritable shit hole or at least it was for the poorer less privileged citizens above.

The city-state of Octaal was part of an alliance of neutral lesser powers called the Hershiine alliance, small nations that had banded together in order to preserve themselves against the hulking empires either side of them, that being the Sol Impurium and the Crescent theocracy.

All very dramatic sounding national powers to be sure, but largely meaningless to me at my minuscule scale of power for the time being.

No, for now, the most interesting thing was the city of Octaal itself, according to Lescar's own words the city was full of slums winding streets and constant gang fights between the underworlds more shady denizens, many of the citizens lived in poor or harsh conditions often resorting to extreme measures to support themselves and loved ones, the city was full of desperation and resentment, a volatile mixture to be sure.

While many suffered, the nobles and upper class prospered, unaffected by the suffering of the people below them, the lords and ladies flourished, neglecting to take care of those under their stead preferring to indulge in or hoard away their riches rather than ceding it back into the realm, bunch of prideful idiots, they have created the perfect recipe for their own downfall. 

It was just too perfect! If any of Lescars words were to believed, the upper caste was practically begging for someone more capable to rip the city from their clumsy hands with their poor management of the city, an unhappy populace, extensive general unrest and high rates of crime? It was a wonder no one else had toppled the city yet.

Of course, there was every chance others like myself had also seen this opportunity, or that there was far more to the events than the surface details prescribed, Lescar's info could even be full of holes and misinformation, there were all sorts of possible reasons for the cites current state, and none of that could be verified until I reached the surface.

I continued ruminating on the possible actions and methods I could use, eventually coming to settle upon one particular theme strongly.

To take over and control the city, I would need more servants, loyal ones, or at least reliable ones, I had no more collars, so forcefully acquiring some more was presently impossible. 

'Although Lescar did mention that slaves were bought and sold as a commodity in this city, hmmm...'

That was worth looking into.

I was thinking on that matter more deeply when she returned, Lescar entered the room and said in an enthused voice.

"I'm back! I went and found my satchel so I could bandage up that wound..."

Lescar stopped speaking and just stared wide-eyed at the slime all over the cave and the new and improved Dewey, who was still bouncing up and down on the spot.

"Dewey grew up" I answered simply as Lescar's eyes bored questioningly into me.

"Uhh ok..." Lescar said eyes still curious but knowing she likely would not get another answer out of me.

Treading carefully Lescar made her way over to me, avoiding the deeper puddles of sludge on her trek towards me, smiling but still looking a bit uncertain and nervous as she held out a coarse-looking roll of yellowed cloth, waiting for my response.

I watched Lescar some more and did not respond, I wanted to see how she would react.

Taken aback by my lack of response Lescar had a look of wary bafflement as she asked me quietly

"Can I bandage your neck, Taldur?" 

Apparently, she preferred calling me by name rather than by my title as her master, this was allowable and her response was sensible.

"Yes..." I answered and after a pause and a moment of consideration I added softly, "...Please"

The smile on Lescars face lost the last of its nervousness and became bright and genuine, it was a surprisingly attractive look on her.

Gratitude certainly was disarming.

Lescar, with smooth movements born of frequent practice, wrapped up my injured neck, cleaning the wound with some herbs she had in her bag before tieing on the makeshift cloth bandage.

It only took her a minute at most to do this and I was not displeased with her work, the bandage was firmly bound around my injury tightly leaving enough room for general movement but binding the wound tight enough so that nothing leaked out.

Lescar had more skills than I gave her credit for, too bad it wouldn't be very significant given my ability to heal damage to my familiars while inside my forest.

"Not bad," I commented on Lescar skill, nudging the cloth with a feeler.

"Yeah," Lescar said conversationally while making a few tweaks to the bindings, "I used to get a lot of bruises and cuts when I was younger so my older brother taught me how to clean myself up."

The fact that Lescar was even telling me this was another confirmation of her more positive feelings to me, it tickled my good mood.

Feeling positive I asked curiously, with unfeigned interest.

"What else did he teach you?"

"Oh, a lot of things," Lescar said nodding her head with her eyes closed, "almost everything I know really."

That was an answer too wide for me to broach right now so I picked another to dive into.

"Do you have any other siblings?"

"No, well... Not technically, I do have some friends though."

Lescar looked at me with slightly narrowed eyes as she thought about something and asked.

"You're not planing on conscripting those friends or something are you?"

That bit of feistiness I had learned to tolerate sparked in Lescars eyes again, she was not entirely wrong, I had certainly considered it, it was a definite possibility. 

Any connection Lescar had could become one of mine. 

Preferring to be honest on this one, I answered.

"Maybe, but that frankly depends on how capable they are or how willing they are to associate with me." 

Lescar's eyes narrowed further and her grip on my bandages became more forceful, then she sighed and looked at me the suspicion gone, replaced by some expression of exasperation before speaking plainly.

"I am not sure any of them would want to help us or more specifically you, unless you did something really nice for them, they are pretty materialistic people."

That's fine,' I thought to myself 'solid transactions were simpler than loose favors'

Having little I felt like saying, I stayed still allowing Lescar to finish up.

Lescar concluded making the final adjustments and gave a critical eye to her own labor.

"it's done, It should stop your uhh... 'insides' from leaking out anymore," Lescar said rapping an undamaged section of my chitin.

"Thank you," I said and meant it this time, this chat with Lescar had been eye-opening, I had always planned to make her loyal to me through one means or another but friendship actually did look like the most promising route, Lescar responded very well to positive reinforcement.

Not knowing my internal thoughts Lescar smiled softly and began packing away the remaining materials as she asked pointing a hand at Dewey.

"What happened to the slime?"

'Hmmm' I considered wondering whether or not I should answer that question, it was a relatively benign question so I decided to indulge her.

"Dewey ascended, achieved his next best form, became a greater being"

"Ascended?" Lescar said looking befuddled, "I don't..."

Obviously Lescar had no idea what ascension was, understandable, it looked like another system limited process, I doubted I would see any other slime doing this-

I remembered the shade and vermilion slimes that lived in my forest, they had once been gunk slimes too before converting into what they are now, was that the same as ascension or was it something else entirely?

More questions without solid answers, I'm sure I could eventually hunt down the answer but I had more practical things to do and little time for pursuit.

I rose to my feet being sure to steady my limbs beneath me then spoke to Lescar.

"Ascension is the process through which a creature grows stronger by becoming something else."

I pointed at the still happily hopping Dewey.

"Dewey here just reached that stage before everyone else."

As if receiving praise Dewey nodded his one eye up and down agreeing with my statement.

"!!!! !!!!! !!!!!"

"So will that happen to me too?" Lescar said looking alarmed, she did not look too happy with the concept.

"Honestly Lescar, I don't know," I admitted, shaking my head "Maybe it will or maybe not, you are human and my powers seem to be having some peculiar effects on you."

Lescar looked a little disturbed at the prospect of becoming something else, so I decided to tell her of my own upcoming ascension.

"I myself have also reached the point of change and soon will need to rest," I said touching Lescar on the shoulder "Could you watch over me Lescar? while that happens?"

I was certain she wouldn't refuse me or sass me at this point, the brownie points I had acquired today ought to guarantee me that much at least.

Lescar's shaken expression disappeared and her face turned impassive before developing a warm and slightly impish smile.

"Sure... Partner!"

'Got her.'

I walked over to the least slimy space in the cave before leaning back on my haunches, Lescar following behind me.

I checked on Roulette and Dwayne with a quick cursory glance at the familiar menu before I settled down, keeping my familiars safe was a wise decision if I wanted to use them later.

I gave one last look at my surroundings, Dewey was waving his eyestalk like a dogs tail and Lescar was watching me with keen eyes.

"Well goodnight," I said habitually.

"Rest well," Lescar said softly.

"!!! !!! ...........?"

I let sleep take me, it happened swiftly, I was more tired than I had realized.

'go figure...'

zzzZZZZZzzzz

The Narrator

As the cockroach who wished to be a king lay down to rest, the first of his followers, Lescar Gestalt, the girl who would be queen, watched over him diligently.

She still had her doubts about the Devil under her watchful vigil, but now those doubts were nebulous and indistinct, she no longer feared and hated the devil she was bound to, but rather felt a hopeful light rising within her, when he rose, so too would she, when he grew, so too would she, when he took the right to rule, so too would she take her claim.

She felt it in her heart, but did not yet comprehend what it meant, they were intertwined now, inseparable, unstoppable, fates bound as one.

The world would soon learn this truth and it would only learn it when red ran like rivers and the sky rained ash.