Just as I wanted to leave, I saw the mage's staff near the emperor slime. It was lying on the floor, not far away from it. Take it or leave it? I advanced slowly toward it, and the giant slime stirred. I think it became aware of me.

Uh, oh. What do I do? I bowed my head... OK, this does not help with slimes. Should I give up? I watched the staff again: that is as much as one or two levels for me.

I'll try to fly back at the first danger sign. So let me try to retrieve it... I approached it, and the giant slime just stood there unmoved. Slowly, hesitatingly I put my hand on the staff. Just when I gripped the staff and thought I could safely retrieve it, the slime moved an appendix over the staff. Uh ok? I lifted my hand, showing that I capitulated, and the slime only stayed there.

Hm, should I give up on that staff? At least it did not jump on me to kill me. I wanted to retire, and it raised the staff. The slime raised the damned stick in the air! Oh, fuck it! As if it would handle it to me!

I put my hand on it, but it did not let go. OK?

Does it want something in exchange for it? Animals do have an understanding of trade and bargaining, but these are slimes? The lowest monsters?

Hmm, let me try something. I went to the side and collected several spears. If it likes the stab, maybe it would like a spear in exchange? Most slimes did not seem to appreciate them, but what do I know? Maybe because most spears have that crystal at the top that sends an electrical shock? But will the slime not think that I want to attack it if I give it one spear and it gets shocked? And why does it not collect the spears itself?

I went back with my spears, put them down, then took one in my hand and demonstrated the shock from the crystal on my hand. I did it several times. It must be funny to see how I electroshock myself repeatedly; lucky me, nobody is here to take some snap-shots of me jumping and screaming.

In the end, it also sent a probe, a kind of slime tentacle and got electrocuted.

I gulped, looking at its reaction. Will it now jump at me? Was the staff even worth the risk? It tried repeatedly, and then the crystal lost the charge and was inert. It poked the crystal again, then I raised my hand, and it 'looked' at me. I took the spear in my hand again and the crystal recharged from my mana. I showed the grip on the spear and demonstrated the electrocuting crystal again. The thing poked the chrystal again, not even waiting for me to put the spear down, and then, in one go, it swallowed the whole spear. It almost dragged me to it as I did not expect the movement. Plus, it dropped the staff.

Did I just teach a slime to use electroshock spears? Well, it devoured the whole spear and the crystal in mere instants.

I took my hard-earned staff and went away. Yes, it is a good staff; it improves my mana capacity significantly, so I can now tell more potent spells. I can feel it. Cool!

I tried the lightfire spell again. It almost went through. Almost. The ring and the staff add as much as about two to three levels in spell power. The downside is that I must keep this cumbersome staff in my hands. Oh, well. I can use it as a club when need be.

I went along one tunnel. This was now an area that Andy did not know, so I was walking carefully. Is something following me? I looked back but could not see anything. The moss that grew overall in the cave and gave that strange luminescence was becoming rarer and the light dimmer.

I turned now suddenly, and there it was. Indeed something was following me: a little slime.

“Go back to mama, k?”

It looked at me... oh well, it stood there. I raised my shoulders and continued my exploration. Later on, I froze when I heard voices. It was probably a group of at least two coming in this direction. I went several meters back to a point where I could climb up on a platform. It was a similar climb as before with the two werewolves and the king slime. Once up there, I concentrated on hearing the voices. Yes, some people were coming. I looked down and saw the little slime trying to climb behind me.

Of course, it cannot; it is too steep. They will come and kill it. Oh well, a little slime...

I went down to pick it up. I'm going to get killed because of a slime! The moment when I put one foot down, it climbed on it! Yikes! It went around my ankle and rolled up on the leg. I did not know slimes could do that!

I managed not to scream. I stayed there on one foot for a second, thinking about what to do. Well, in the end, I wanted to pick it up, isn't it? I just did that. I climbed back up with the additional weight on that foot. At least it had the decency to stop above my knee. I think it got the feeling. As soon as I was up, it slid along my foot as on a slide in a fun park and landed there on the high perch near me. I could say it was smug.

Feelings. It can share feelings. Do slimes have feelings? They seem to be sentient.

As I stood there meditating about slimes, I saw them coming. It was a spear wielder and an apprentice mage. I guess they both were level one, but I cannot gauge them. My assassin identify spell would be excellent here.

Oh well, I am a level three mage with a good staff; I can jump like a flea and shoot all kinds of bolts. I should be able to finish two level one humans. As they just passed my perch, I concentrated on a dark spell. OK, Flo was in the lead, and she was trying to spell now some kind of a black bolt. I'm not sure it would be so efficient against this cultist but let her try.

She concentrated; a strange light passed my hands when she had cast the spell. Can there be dark light? Because it looked like dark light passed over my hands and staff, and... the spear-wielder crumbled once the dark light hit him.

A moment ago, he was a vigorous man holding a spear and talking feverishly with his companion, a lovely mage apprentice. Maybe there was even a romance there. Or maybe they only chatted about the recent events. Next moment he was no more but just a crumbling skeleton. Most of his flesh transformed into a kind of dust. No, not dust, but a black cloud?

“Wow, what kind of a spell was that?”

“Uhm, kind of a dark bolt. Death bolt. It was about a percentile of the power of a black angel's blast, but it seemed pretty efficient.”

“Pretty efficient? Fuck me, that guy was gone in one hit!”

She shrugged.

Talking with me, talking with myself is not good in a fight. As a result, it gave time to the apprentice mage to react. She turned agape, saw her crumbling companion and then saw me. Instantly she spelt a mini thunderbolt towards me whilst the little slime jumped from its perch and fell directly on her face. I must give it to her; the poor initiate had courage if not much brain. I guess I would have run away from an enemy that just eliminated my companion in one spell. As it was, she just turned to get the little slime on her face. Wow, like in that movie with aliens! Urgh!

The thunderbolt shook me and reminded Flo that the fight was not over yet.

I did not know slimes could jump, but I knew that they could make sudden movements. The little slime seemed to be a very mobile one.

The apprentice flailed wildly with her hands and screamed, muted screams, as the slime was devouring her face. The death bolt that Flo had said before had emptied almost completely my mana reservoir, but Flo still found enough mana to spell a firebolt. Tiny, but it perforated her thorax exactly where her heart was, and the mage fell like a carpet with a sloshing sound. OK, the sound was from the slime that got spread over her face again. As I love jumping, Flo graciously let me take the lead.

I jumped... and fell hard. I should have waited a couple of seconds. As it was, I had no more mana for my wings to sustain me, and a four-meter jump on the humid stones had not been a brilliant idea.

“Oh fuck, I think I broke my leg! You could have told me to wait!”

I felt how she rolled her eyes. Was this possible? To roll your eyes when you are not in the lead? OK, that was just a feeling.

My wings are now twenty by forty centimetres, four beautiful butterfly wings, completely useless without mana. I slapped my forehead angrily and stabbed my hand. Five or six centimetres sharp horns!

OK, stupid move. I will refrain from slapping my head in the future.

“That's a performance! We finished the two without a scratch, and now you are half dead from self-inflicted wounds!”

I rolled my eyes.

“Oh, shut up! Shit happens. You are only angry that you are not in the lead!”

I stood there watching the little slime devouring the mage's head until I had enough mana to heal me. It did not take long. Both actions. Devouring her head seemed to have healed the slime from the wounds she had inflicted it when she flailed so wildly with her hands.

I watched my leg carefully. No, probably not broken but just a crack. I healed myself and stood up.

Oh, I almost forgot: loot! I found some more coins and an apprentice staff. Thirty-seven silver and 65 copper so far. I put the new staff in my inventory box. It was weaker than mine, but if I lose it, I'll have at least some replacement. Unfortunately, holding both in my hands did not seem to add capacity, so I need to level further, or maybe I can find an even better staff?

Another ring and shoes! She had my size! Yai! Almost. A number too big, but that does not count, isn't it? The robe she wore was OK. It was a little large, especially over the bosom, but much better than my scraps. As I took her robe off, I saw she also had a medallion. I replaced the amulet I was wearing with that medallion. I'll have to identify these things to see what they are good for, but I trust they do not harm me.

I had to make a deep décolleté in the back to allow for my wings. To my luck, the robe had a small cut there to enable the owner to dress it and also a button to close the gap once dressed. So I just enlarged that cut making it the new deep decollete, and closed the button.

She must have been from a rich family or probably had some high-ranking support. Even her bra and panties were cool, but I could not take them... I know, I'll be sorry for those seemed to be high quality, but...

Fuck me; she had an inventory box! Yai!!! It was strapped to her left thigh. Why that? Doesn't matter; it is mine now! It was a bigger one with five slots, each slot a little larger than the slots of my three slots inventory box. Unfortunately, you cannot wear two such spacial items as they may inter-react, the most common thing being accelerated decay. You end up finding yourself suddenly surrounded by all your objects. That, in the best case.

Worst case explosions or weird temporary spacial strings. You don't want to risk that.

I dropped the thick belt with the inventory box, moving the items I cared about into the new box, which I strapped to my right thigh.

Cool! I found panties and bras and other clothes stored in one such slot. About forty by forty centimetres space in one slot. That's how much you can put in a piece of luggage and what is cool with these slots is that the volume counts. You are not restricted to a forty-by-forty space. I could even cram some spears in these slots.

Now, this looks much better. I watched, satisfied with how the robe suited me. It was not one of those standard robes the initiates wore, but it looked similar to them and was a huge improvement from the dirty scraps I wore before. Finally, I felt I was looking good. OK, the robe was a bit large, but it had a pleasantly loose feeling. And I think it had some weak protection charm bound to it. Not that it helped the previous owner much.

Gold! She had one gold coin in the inventory! That's a pretty rare find here.

Energized by my new capture, I looked back at the little slime.

Four hours gone, six left. It looks like I am going to have to play the whole night. Hopefully, I manage to save the Lynx, and then I can go happy to bed. To my real bed and get some sleep.

“Let's go!”

The little slime followed me happily. I know it is happy, drats, I am feeling its feelings.