“One of you will become my familiar,” I purr. “The rest of you will be forced into a soul contract. This is non-negotiable. Are there any volunteers to be my familiar?”

Not bad for a plot made up on the fly if I say so myself. One familiar to boost my personal power? Check. Two Floor Masters to build me an army? Check.

Sure, the desire to conquer and rule is not me. Not the old me at least. But is that so bad? I mean, my goals right now are to get out of my own soul contract, deal with Quinn’s husband, and get my memories back. What do all those things have in common? I am too weak to do any of them. What could solve that? An army.

Yes, I could grind levels while advancing my understanding of Source and avoiding certain death. That is a feasable plan for gaining power through self-improvement. Alternatively, I could build an army through emotional manipulation and soul-contracts. Not only is it easier, but it will help me with my timeline. Besides, I feel really drawn to the concept of an army.

Would my dad approve of this? Depends on which one you ask.

Charles would think it is devious and clever. Hell, Charles might even help. My birth dad? Well… I’m not so sure. He had or has… I’m not sure if he is alive or not. I hope he is. My mom too… Anyway, I’m sure they’d understand that survival is paramount to honor. Besides, manipulation and bullying isn’t evil, right? At least I know mom would agree. Probably.

“I agree,” the Slime Queen steps forward. Her curvy body jiggles in an interesting way, but I do my best not to stare. Out of the corner of my eye I can see Quinn’s apprehension and annoyance levels rise. Clear warning signs of jealousy I’d be a fool to ignore. However, I would also be a fool to ignore a volunteer to be my familiar.

My fingers flutter up and down as I attempt to keep control of the other two Floor Masters. I’m not sure what I did wrong, but they know they’re being controlled. They keep boxing out the colors I manipulate. I think that isolating specific emotions allows them to contol those emotions.

They must be able to sense me changing their emotions. I feel that if I let them have their way, they’ll be able to break out of my control. Their life-force thrums with energy far greater than mine, indicating a higher level of power than I can achieve. Fighting them fairly would not be good.

With each flick of my finger, I raise and lower various emotions. My strategy? Complete and total emotional chaos. They can’t ignore the feelings I want them to have if they don’t know what feelings those are.

I look sideways at Nevasca, asking for her opinion on my new familiar. First, I send her an image of the lion-like Floor Master. Her response is an image of herself, with the Floor Master as a tiny spec at her feet. I internally roll my eyes at her. Looks like somebody is getting a little big-headed.

Before I can even send her an image of the goblin, she projects a loop of me sobbing over broken green corpses. Fair point Nevasca. A little mean and uncalled for, but fair. The jiggly and not-at-all sexually attractive slime it is. Surely Quinn will understand!

Maybe Quinn will understand…

“I agree,” I tell the slime. I slice my hand open and reach out to touch her chest over what would be a human's heart. Halfway there, I rethought that decision and grip her neck instead. I may have upped my combat abilities, but Quinn can still kick my ass. Besides, she can refract light to turn herself invisible. The last thing I need to do is piss her off through some misunderstanding and have her sneaking up on me to teach me a lesson.

Gripping the slime’s neck, I cycle my Source through like I did with Nevasca’s egg. Through her translucent skin, I can see the Source spread my blood around. The swirls and eddies of my blood in her body is mesmerizing. Like mist in the wind over a dark forest.

Unfortunately, I have little time to enjoy the sight. The light drizzle of Source I am pouring into her becomes a torrential downpour, not of my volition. The slime’s body glows and pulses as it sucks the Source out of me.

Desperation rises in a cloud of green around me. Terror grips my heart as my pool of energy is rapidly drained. My Core can’t keep up with the pure output of this bonding ceremony. I can feel the other Floor Masters slipping from my grasp. Not good. Very, very not good.

Frost forms around me as I pull energy from my environment, but it isn’t enough. Blue boxes filled with dire warnings flash before my eyes, but I ignore them. They will not help me right now. As my dad used to say, 'It isn't about the problem, it is about the solution.' What can I do?

Options. Options. What are my options? Drain the emotions from the Floor Masters? It would be a waste if that turned them into emotionless shells. Or, even worse, if they became driven by logic and rational decision making. That could only go bad for me.

My Vampire Blood energy is still recharging from my fight with Legion, but absorbing emotion to fill it seems like a solid plan. At least, the best plan I have. I don’t have a lot of time to think this through.

What if I leave them some of their emotions instead of taking it all? Leave anger maybe? How did Legion keep them from becoming mindless murders under the influence of rage? Wait. Legion. Bingo, got it.

“Legion!” I rasp, my chest heaving as I gasp for air. Burning through Source is taking a toll on my body. “Take control of the goblin and lion! Don’t let them move!”

“Yes… Master,” Legion crackles into existence beside me. In a streak of black he latched on to the Floor Masters. Black flames burst from their skin as if it was waiting beneath the surface to be ignited.

Red and green clouds of emotion devour the Masters. I recognize the emotions as anger and fear, in that order. If I didn’t know better, I would think they look… festive.

FUCK! Prickling sensations, like being stabbed by thousands of tiny swords, pierce my skin. Damn, that hurts like a bitch! My hand, attached to the slime's throat, ages before eyes. My muscle and skin wither and wrinkle, leaving loose skin on bone. Fucking slime is eating my life force! I think. I’m not sure life force is a thi- OUCH! Argh. No more messing around!

Acting on instinct, I open my mouth wide and pull at the surrounding colors. The multitude of colors flow into my mouth, like a black hole devouring a star. I try to focus my efforts on the Floor Masters, but I’m not all that focused right now. The pain clouds my mind.

The emotions pump into me, forming a white-hot ball in my stomach. Black smoke wisps off me, the waste from converting the emotion into pure energy, I think.

The ball of energy breaks into pieces inside me, rampaging through my body. Just like the colors were pulled into me, every drop of energy in my body is pulled toward the slime. The energy bounces through me, before forcing its way into the slime.

The prickling stops, giving me a moment of repite. Then intensifies. I do my best to remain regal, conscious, and silent. If anyone asks, I definitely did all three of those things.

***

“Nnngh,” I groan. I sharp vibration rocks my body. What is happening? I force my heavy eyelids open. Through the slits, I can see Honey’s face near mine.

“I need you to loosen your control on that furry motherfucker so I can make him my familiar,” she says.

I blink at her once. I try to blink at her twice, but the sweet darkness pulls me down. I try to open my eyes again, but everything is so warm and heavy with my eyes closed.

***

“Hurry up!” A sharp pain in my ribs drive my eyes open again. Honey is scowling down at me, her hands on her hips. I guess even a badass like Honey can look petulant. It is cute on her. She’ll probably kick my ass if I say anything though.

“Wha?” I manage to mumble.

“Loosen your control on the lion,” Honey enunciates each word clearly, as if talking to an idiot. Being told what to do gets under my skin a little, but honestly, I just want to sleep. I’m so fucking tired. Half my kingdom for you to go the fuck away.

“Ugh,” I moan. “Legion, do what she says.”

“… As you command Master,” a crackling voice replies in the distance.

Problem solved. Now back to sleep. I turn to my side to get more comfortable. A wall of feather and fur greets me. I smile a sleepy grin and nuzzle into it. Nevasca makes the best cuddle buddy.

“Master,” a something shakes me, preventing me from falling asleep. “Master, I need orders.”

“Who’re you?” My eyes flutter open to see a strange creature looking at me.

“My name is Kandra,” the thing speaks.

“Why do you need orders?” I ask, bleary eyed.

“Well, uh, I don’t know what to do,” the thing looks surprised.

“Don’t let anyone wake me up,” I order, sensing an opportunity to get the sleep I so desperately crave. Without waiting for an answer, I bury my face into Nevasca’s warm body.

***

Ever woken up to someone who is mad at you? They are mad at you and you have no idea what you did wrong? Did you ask them what is wrong and they refuse to answer? But you can tell they are mad because you see emotion as clouds of color?

Well, Quinn is pissed at me. Although her back is turned toward me, I can tell by her stance that her arms are crossed and she is waiting for me to go talk to her. How do I know? Because she waited for me to look at her, then she turned around and stomped off.

“Quinn, please talk to me,” I command, just like a Tyrant should. Absolutely no begging... Fine, a little begging. I know enough to know feelings of arrogance and control will get me killed if I listen to them. Maybe a born Tyrant would consider those feelings natural, but I know better.

Sure, I may have inherited the instincts of a Lesser Tyrant Empathia, but I’m a modern man. Us modern men ignore our instincts.

“No,” Quinn shakes her wings at me, not turning her head. “First you bond that slutty slime, then you give Honey a Greater Lion as a gift? Fuck that. Were you planning on having me bond with the goblin? You can shove that idea straight up your ass.”

“Quinn, darling,” I stick firmly to my guns. “It isn’t like that. Please let me explain!”

“Just go away,” she huffs. “I don’t want to see your face right now.”

I take a deep breath and let it out in a rush. She is being clear in how she fells and what she wants. The best thing I can do right now is to respect her wishes. As such, I turn on my heel and walk over to study my new familiar. Behind me, I can feel Quinn’s anger intensify, but I have no idea why. I did exactly what she said! Ugh.

I read the System updates about my familiar to distract myself on my way over to talk to her.

You have bonded familiar Slime Queen Kandra.

Familiar Bonus +2 Stamina, +1 Dexterity, +1 Wisdom

Kandra has evolved from Greater Slime to Lesser Boneshifter (Slime Variant)

Yeah, not much information. I have no idea what a Boneshifter is. I mean, it probably has something to do with the strange glowing bones that shine through her partially see-through skin. Surprisingly, being purple with visible bones doesn’t make her look like a horror from the depth of hell. More like a woman in a strange skin-tight bodysuit.

She is sitting cross legged on the ground, studying her hands in awe. I observe her grow the bones into long claws and slice at the air with them. When the bones pierce through her skin, they are blue. I have a sneaking suspicion that her skin is red, like my eyes.

Armed my hypothesis, I make fun of Nevasca, ever at my side, for not having purple eyes. Nevasca rolls her blue and red eyes at me. I stick my tongue out at her, teasing the big fur ball. One of Nevasca’s three tails wraps around my ankle, tripping me, but I can see joy eminating from her in a yellow haze. She loves being teased as much as I love giving her a tough time.

“You’re beautiful just the way you are,” I mean what I say, but that doesn't stop me from using a sarcastic tone. I blow Nevasca a kiss after getting on my feet and brushing off the dirt. She glares at me, but her tails whip back and forth. Killer beast she may be, but she has a soft spot for compliments.

“Master!” Kandra rushes over to me. She must’ve noticed me when I hit the ground.

“Hey Kandra, I wanted to have a chat with you,” I say. “First off, stop calling me master. I can feel Quinn getting more pissed off each time you do it.”

“Yes, of course,” she replies, taking a demure stance not far from me. I am suspicious about her, to be honest. The prestigious Floor Master titled the Slime Queen, suddenly obedient for no good reason? I doubt it.

“Call me Snowflake, if you would,” I smile at her, not btraying my suspicions

“Yes, Snowflake,” the way you can see her jaw moving when she talks is weird. What is stranger, is the way her skeleton isn’t human, despite her human shape. I studied that anatomy book enough to know something is off. There aren't enough bones, for one. It just looks, I don't know. Like someone guessed what a human's bones looked like i suppose.

“Kandra, tell me about your abilities,” I say.

“I haven’t figured it all out yet,” she replies, maintaining her submissive posture and tone. “So far all I know is that I can shape my bones at will.”

“Yeah, I noticed,” I agree, flexing my hand. My claws grow and sharpen the same way hers did. This soul sync thing is a two-way street, after all. Next question, “Can you change forms? To a bird or something?”

“Master-er, Snowflake. I could have changed to such a shape before our bonding, but now I feel that I have to understand a bone structure before I can copy it,” Kandra says.

That makes sense. I think I have a solution.

“You’re still part slime, right?” I ask.

“Yes,” she replies.

“Does that mean you still eat by dissolving and absorbing things?” I continue my line of questioning.

“Um, I haven’t tried,” she admits.

“I get the feeling that you do,” I ponder. “But if you don’t, it isn’t a big deal.”

She waits silently, perhaps sensing I have more to say.

“Go search the corpses for a body that suits your tastes,” I command. “If you can’t eat it, dissect it and study its bone structure.”

Kandra’s eyes light up with understanding. Need to understand bones to copy them? What better way to do that than to study a fuck ton of cadavers. Boom. Problem solved. With a spring in her already bouncing step, she trots off to do as she is told. Catching myself staring at her ass, I call out to her.

“One last thing! The body can’t be humanoid!”

She turns and gives me a strange look. Her emotions flash between disgust and intrigue. I wonder what she is thinking about. Hmm.

Anyway, maybe this will make Quinn less mad at me.