Syl: Chapter 204

Chapter 204: Companion Casting

"Okay, so how does this [Ritual Casting] work?" Vee asked.

"No idea! As I said, I've only ever done it with myself, but it should be rather intuitive."

Vee didn't look too pleased with that response, so I quickly asked her to cast [Acid Dart] and hold it. She somewhat reluctantly did so, and then I tried to reach out to her spell. Thanks to the companion system, we were in a party, so in theory, we were seen as cooperators, and I hoped it would be enough.

I was expecting something similar to when I used [Counter Magic] when I connected to her spell, but the actual results were entirely different. Rather than hooking up to her spell from the outside and manipulating it, the spell seemed to become half mine, and consequently, I took half the burden.

I could sense Vee's Mana pool and my own sort of working in tandem with the spell.

"Good lord! Is that your Mana!?" Vee responded in astonishment.

"I did say I was a Mana slime!"

"Understatement of a century! That's insane!" Vee said, visibly upset.

"Yours is also impressive!" I tried to say reassuringly.

"How would you know? You just said you've only ever done this with yourself!" Vee countered.

"Shit... Right," I cursed, realizing my verbal screwup. "Well, I'm sure yours will also be impressive once you either level up [Mana Well] or fuse it into [Soul Mastery]..."

"Sure, sure... Blame the traits," Vee giggled. "Okay, so we're sharing this spell now. What's next?"

"Well, I'm going to modify it!" I responded.

"Uh... Be careful?" Vee said hesitantly.

"Don't worry—I've done this countless times! Even if I fail, it's just a bit of a pain-splitting headache, nothing to worry about. My first time, I brute-forced it until I finally succeeded!"

"Uh..." Vee stammered. "That's not exactly reassuring! I hope you understand that!"

"Like I said, that was ages ago; I'm much better at it now. Watch!"

"Wait-"

I started manipulating the spell. It was a little less fluid than my normal operations, but by flexing the might of my superior skill levels and calling on some assistance from my personal helpers, I began making up the difference.

"Wait, I thought this was 50-50? Why do you have so many hands? What!? How are you moving it that way? Wait! Slow down! Argghh!" Vee began a string of mental complaints.

"Behold!" I said, marveling at my completed spell. I had reconstructed my improved version of [Acid Dart] combined with [Dissolve].

Vee stared at it silently; I figured she was basking in its magnificence.

"What the hell even is this? Is this the same spell?" Vee questioned.

"Of course it is! I just combined it with an affliction, creating a dart of acid and leaving a continuous acidic remnant depending on how much Mana you feed into it."

"I... See?" Vee said, tilting her head. "No, sorry, that's a lie. I don't see anything."

I suppressed a sigh and began explaining the magical construct before us. I pointed out the various components one by one, and gradually, Vee started understanding more and more of it.

The biggest downside was that she only had [Mana Sight] rather than [Mana Conception], so she lacked many finer details I was trying to point out. She literally could not see them.

However, when I finished my explanation, not only did I gain a level in [Companion Training], but Vee also happily claimed that she had gained one in [Mana Manipulation].

"Okay, I think that's enough theory. Let's fire this bad boy at one of the elementals!" I said eagerly.

"Finally!" Vee said, relieved. "I want to see what this can do!"

I nodded, and then, together, we both finalized the casting, sending the bolt of green luminous energy slamming into the golem and coating it in the affliction.

"Woah! Awesome!" Vee waved her little front legs happily.

"Let's do another at a different target!" I said excitedly.

This time, I formed the spell and waited for Vee to join. There was a brief hesitation, but she linked up, and I rapidly shifted it to the superior version. Then we tossed it at another elemental and happily watched our results.

"Oh! It said I discovered [Dissolve]!" Vee shouted. "And I gained another level in [Corrosion Magic]; what the heck? So fast!?"

"I wonder if that's because I'm forcing you to cast the spell at a much higher level than you normally could? Combining that with whatever boost [Companion Training] is giving."

"I hope you get [Dimension Magic] soon so we can work together on that! Because honestly, it makes very little sense to me."

"That's unfortunately up to Mother, I don't know when I'll get my discount."

"Well, it's not like we're in a rush. We can just keep grinding away here for a bit, head home, and build up a bit of a routine. I'm sure she'll give it to you in no time!" Vee asserted.

"I hope so..." I wondered. "For now, if you initiate spells, I'll help you a bit by giving them a boost. Let's see if we can power you up a bit."

"Sounds good to me!" Vee enthusiastically replied.

I tried assigning Alpha and Beta to assist Vee. I was curious if that would work, but when she cast her spell and saw them automatically reaching out and helping, I felt a mixture of relief and excitement.

I had no idea I could do that with my [Sub-Cores]. I know I had one hold the [Frostclaw] spells for Pelopi, but technically speaking, this is a far more advanced order. They're now joining someone else in their [Ritual Casting] and boosting it. If my cores didn't become inert when separated from my slime, I could give one to each of my friends, and they'd always have their own personal helper. Think of the possibilities!

I found myself grinning and hoping that one day I'd find a way around my decoupled slime predicament.

***

"What exactly are your intentions with this?" Gramps questioned angrily. "I feel like you're directly interfering with my [Experiment] by having her tutor your own one. Syl should be going out and killing monsters and evolving, not playing magic tutor to a spider."

"Her name is Vee now," Mother said condescendingly.

Gramps harumphed. "I don't care about her name; I care about the fact she's delaying my enjoyment."

"Well... It wasn't me who forgot to properly clean a soul, now was it?" Mother questioned.

"Once I discovered the oversight, I promptly locked the offending affinity," Gramps defended himself.

"It still allowed the little slime access to traits it probably wouldn't have had access to," Mother retorted.

"Hardly!" Gramps snapped. "While [Core Storage] indeed has some roots with Dimension Affinity, it is a rare trait available to quite a few slimes. How else would they store away their excess slime mass?"

"And what tier are those slimes? No doubt four or five at a minimum, I'd presume? And yet Syl had it at the first tier?" Mother elaborated.

"We all agreed on the [Experiment] Emblem, which gave some assistance with trait selection. Syl is hardly the only one to gain a few gems out of that and only had it for 10 levels!" Gramps argued.

"Look at it this way, now we can potentially look into further collaborations if Syl and Vee stick around together. I'm sure you wish to see more of what such an advanced spider can accomplish? [Rift Thread] alone has wonderful applications..." Mother divulged.

Gramps hummed in thought. He had to admit that it was an intriguing offer, although part of him wanted Syl to eat the spider and mimic its traits.

Although knowing that easily distractable slime, it will be used once or twice before something else leads Syl by the nose. At least I'm seeing some amazing usage of [Nitro Slime] and [Metal Slime]. I can't wait to see what further slime traits will be combined.

"What you say is... Reasonable," Gramps relented.

"Of course it is!" Mother replied haughtily. "Plus, they might need it with how fast that stupid dragon is progressing..."

"I still can't believe we agreed to that..." Gramps groaned.

"Well, I'm sure if our spider and slime work together, they can beat it. Wouldn't that be a wonderful meal for them to share?" Mother pressed.

"You're a manipulative woman... But I must admit I see the merit in some mutual cooperation," Gramps acquiesced.

It was certainly a strange situation. While they had certainly predicted a possibility of a [Experiment] bonding to a regular individual outside of the trials, they never expected one to bond with a fellow [Experiment]. Sure, the possibility of mind control or forced subjugation was always an option, but mutual cooperation like this? The stars had certainly aligned bizarrely.

The two subjects were at present in the elemental dungeon, which had long been conquered by the dwarven species. Gramps, in particular, found the event hilarious as he'd never been overly fond of the [Dungeon Masters]; they'd always felt like a combination of brownnosers and scavengers picking at whatever scraps they could find.

Sure, once in a while, one of them would finally prove themselves worthy and get a minor role as an assistant to one of them, but Gramps had always found it beneath himself to have a subordinate like that.

However, perhaps I might have to make an exception for Syl if it ever heads down that road. Gramps admitted.

"Oh? Is that [Ritual Casting]?" Mother questioned as they watched the display.

"It appears so. Syl has made ample use of the skill by using it in tandem with the [Sub-Cores]," Gramps answered.

"Well, this is certainly an interesting training method..." Mother admitted. "Like a clay sculptor sitting behind their student, hand in hand, guiding them into shaping their masterpiece together!"

Gramps harumphed. "How vulgar."

Mother gave a teasing wink. The result was a surprising success, and pulling up an information log, she saw Vee had made a substantial amount of progress.

"Hmm... That's considerably more than I would have expected her to get?" Mother queried.

Gramps also pulled up the results and looked it over. "Interesting... Syl has a few experience-boosting traits, and now Vee has one, too. I wonder if there's a strange feedback loop happening?"

"Something to investigate," Mother paused. "Eventually..."

"Eventually..." Gramps chortled.

What happened next left both of them a little stunned. Syl started assigning [Sub-Cores] to help Vee and then left her to her own devices.

"Those little helpers are something else..." Mother admitted.

"I must say I didn't think of assigning them like that. Syl is certainly full of surprises!" Gramps cheered.

"And this will undoubtedly boost Vee's training speed. Remarkable!" Mother joined in the jubilations.

"S-so, when can Leon join the t-team?" Unc suddenly spoke up.

Both Mother and Gramps flinched and turned to see the individual who had somehow snuck his way in.

"Who's Leon?" Both asked in unison.

"L-Leon! He's g-great; I think he would make a perfect team m-member!" Unc replied happily.

"No... Seriously, who is Leon?" Mother questioned again.

"He's an adorable hermit c-crab!" Unc said proudly. "The little guy has really started coming out of his shell ever since his latest evolution. That t-trait you designed for him really helped a lot!"

"Oh... The crab..." Gramps muttered halfheartedly. He'd almost completely forgotten about that subject.

"Really now. You designed a custom trait just for this one?" Mother accused.

"It was part of the deal to step in and fix those errors Syl had caused with the spirits and Mana traits..." Gramps admitted.

"Oh, right..." Mother nodded. "That fiasco."

"S-so? Don't you think Leon would be g-great?" Unc asked.

Gramps and Mother turned to each other and began trying to communicate with their eyes and facial expressions alone. Both were a little worried about what Unc had overheard.

"Sure..." Gramps muttered reluctantly.

"Although we don't know when they will meet up. I presume Leon is somewhere in the water?" Mother asked.

"Yeah! But he's been heading toward the coast. It looks like he got into some t-trouble with the mermen, and they've been ch-chasing him to shore. I'm sure they will meet up in no time!" Unc replied happily.

Gramps pulled up a map between the coast and the dwarven empire and chuckled internally. They were practically a continent apart.

"I'm sure they will meet up eventually..." Gramps said, trying to hold back his laugh.

"W-wonderful!"