Chapter 21: Gift For World's Best Slime Girl
...
It was night. I had just got done with my evening training with Simon and Kem, and like usual, I was heading to Suu's. While walking through the forest I was carrying my usual supplies, consisting of my swords, knife, food, water, late night snacks, a change of clothes, a hand mirror and, most importantly, Suu's gift.
While everything else was on my person or in my bag, I was carrying the yellow poncho inside a small box made from out of light. It gave off only the faintest glow, so it wouldn't be noticed in the dark, and I had shaped it to look like an ordinary gift box with a bow.
While strolling I was humming a tune as he made his way through the trees, bushes, and otherworldly fauna until he finally reached my destination.
At the clearing, I smiled as the roar of the waterfall sounded and went closer. I squatted down, coated my legs in light, and, combined with my physical strength, jumped.
'Hyup!" My hair whipped as I went higher and higher and went through the waterfall and towards the cavern entrance. I used my light to slow myself down and keep myself dry from the water before landing on my feet, sliding across the ground until I came to a stop. I dispersed the light around me and grinned while pumping my fist.
"I'm getting pretty damn good at this." I smiled triumphantly before turning my back on the entrance and heading further inside.
I went deeper into the cavern, walking past rows upon rows of blue gems embedded in the walls. I had only learned yesterday that these special minerals are called Undine Crystals, and naturally, that had me thinking about Suu and her relationship to Undine. It was honestly a shock to learn that things seemed to be almost the same here as they were in Monmusu.
I wasn't mad about it. Suu had a past just like I did, and if she ever wanted to tell me about it, then it was her choice. Besides, I would rather not ruin my chances of getting a contract with Undine just because I stopped talking or distrusted her possible daughter.
I said this before, and I'll say it again. I liked Suu. I trusted her a bit more than the villager. She was kind and fun, and, more than anything, she reminded me of my previous world. It didn't make a lot of sense, but I didn't care. Suu was the closest thing to home. Whether she was a descendant of Undine, a creation, or something else entirely, it changed nothing. If anything, it made me trust her more. Her connection to Undine was more than enough for me to know she wasn't someone I needed to be wary of.
Of course, that feeling didn't go so far that I would tell her about my past life or anything because, for one, I didn't think she would care, because I really didn't want to get into explaining the possible multiverse because I didn't know how this shit worked and because I didn't know whether Ilias was watching or not.
"Damn it, that bitch is really bothering me?" I grumbled. I hate all of this.
Eventually, I reached the end of the cavern and stopped in front of the pool of icy blue water. I expected to see Suu, but instead I was met with an oval-shaped, transparent blue blob staring back at me.
"…What?" I blinked in confusion with my mouth slightly open.
It had two green oval eyes, tiny appendages that I assumed were hands, and a little tendril sticking out from the top of its head with a yellow tip at the end. It looked small enough to fit inside a bucket.
It was weirdly cute. Like a pug. Or a blobfish.
I raised an eyebrow at the thing, questioning what it was doing here before looking into those familiar emerald eyes. "Sssssuu?"
The slime girl blinked before bouncing towards me and jumping into the air. I let go of the box, allowing it to float besides me while I catch it in my hands. Suu immediately affectionately rubbed her cheek against mine, getting a laugh out of me.
Holding her above me, I say, "You really are full of surprises." Her eyes squeezed shut in what I could only assume was a smile.
I shook my head and carried her over to the pool before sitting down. "So this happens when you don't have enough water?" I asked, and Suu nodded.
Then the tendril on top of her head detached and dipped into the pool, immediately beginning to absorb the water. I starred in wonder as her little body started expanding and wriggling in my arms, growing larger with every passing second.
"Oh, wow." The blue blob gradually reshaped itself into a feminine form, but it didn't stop there. She continued to grow taller and more developed until she eventually reached the size of a fully grown adult.
"...Wow." Because I had been holding her while she absorbed the water, I ended up having an incredibly well-endowed woman on top of me. Lucky me.
My hands were around her waist while hers rested against my shoulders as she straddled me. I could only stare bewildered for a moment, taking in just how different her adult form looked compared to the tiny slime I had been holding seconds earlier.
Suu smiled mischievously at me before suddenly pulling me into a hug. "Mmff!" My face was buried against her chest, making my voice completely muffled.
"Suu, let me—" I couldn't even finish before something went horribly wrong. My body slipped into hers. "WHOA!"
I sank straight through her watery form and suddenly found myself surrounded by water. Air escaped my mouth as I struggled to get out. I'd used my light to pass safely through the waterfall, but I had forgotten to keep it coating my body.
Summoning my light, I pull myself free and stumble backwards, gasping for air. Water dripped from my hair and face as I glared at Suu. The slime girl tilted her head curiously.
"Suu!" I gave her a stern look. "Seriously, you have got to be more careful when doing something like that!" I'm not Kimihito. I don't let that shit slide!
My slime friend's expressions immediately changed. Her head lowered as she mouthed a quiet apology. She looked like she was about to cry. Despite her mature appearance, she didn't behave like an adult.
My anger dissipated almost immediately. I wasn't really mad about it, but she's got to know that accidentally drowning someone wasn't good. Not everyone would be so forgiving.
"It's alright," I said, calming down as I reached over and patted her head. "I just want you to understand that if you want to hug someone, then you need to make sure they are safe, ok." I told her and she gave me a nod. "Good." I brought her over for a hug, this time using my light to protect me.
Suu smiled in content as she leant forward, resting her head on me. It was awkward due to our size difference, but I wasn't complaining. "For goodness, sake." I halfheartedly sighed as I stroked her head. "You're so much trouble, you little scamp."
Suu only let out a content purr, making roll my eyes. Nobody said coexistence was easy.
We soon settled down. I was drying my hair with a towel. The entire time Suu was watching me with pouty lips, unable to help because she would get the towel wet. I couldn't help staring at Suu's adult form from time to time, which made drying take longer, especially since she wasn't using her tendrils to cover herself.
I was suddenly very glad I had brought her gift because I didn't know how long I could keep pretending that wasn't distracted. Speaking of which, I turned around and retrieved the glowing box. "Suu, I have something for you."
Her head tilted curiously as I brought the box over and set it in front of her. "Open it," I nudged her.
Doing as I asked, Suu opened the box. Her eyes widened. Inside was the yellow poncho. She looked at the gift, then back at me. "It's for you," I said. "Try it on."
Suu immediately attempted to put it on. And immediately failed.
I couldn't help but smack my head for not thinking about that before stepping in to help. The most difficult part was getting her arms through the openings, but after guiding her through it, I fastened the strap around her waist and buttoned everything into place.
Once finished, I pulled out the small mirror I had brought with me from my bag. "Alright. What do you think?"
Suu gasped as she stared at her reflection, turning from side to side. It fit perfectly, conforming to her fluid body without looking strange or restricting. She looked fantastic. That went for her small and big forms, sure, but her adult form was the bomb.
So, you like it? "I asked her with a bright smile.
Suu didn't answer immediately. She looked at me with trembling lips and immediately beamed in happiness. "LUUUKKAAA!" she shouted my name for practically the first time and nearly jumped for joy before rushing towards me with her arms out.
"Wait—" I was met with a bear hug as Suu swung me around, peppering my face with kisses.
"Hey, Suu! Calm down!" I was left completely powerless as she hugged me tightly, my face once again buried against her giant mamories, although thankfully the poncho meant I wasn't about to drown this time.
I couldn't help feeling embarrassed by all the affection, but I didn't have the heart to stop her. She was thrilled. And seeing her like this made me happy too. 'I'll have to thank Mr Adams properly for this when I see him again.'
Suu eventually pulled away and began hopping around excitedly while spinning her arms. Yep, this was going to be a very productive night.
...
With our little powwow over, we went outside. I was standing in the middle of the clearing about to train my abilities. Suu sat across from me atop her mossy rock, sporting her poncho in her adult form and looking great in it.
Out of the corner of my eye I could see her playing with the hoddie, putting it on and off and giggling to herself. Since she got it, she's been very happy.
Bringing my attention back to training, I start things off by taking a deep breath. I then exhale as I focus on bringing out my light. At this point it felt like second nature. Instead of having to close my eyes to search for it, I could call it at will. I still needed more practice if I wanted to quickly draw it and slash or blast things apart in a split second, but that was something I would learn in time.
Decision-making, quick reflexes, and appropriate power usage—all those were things I needed to learn and hone for fast-paced battles. Call me conservative or whatever, but I knew my limits more or less. Unless I could do it without repercussions to myself or my surroundings, then you wouldn't see me blasting my problems away.
That is unless I was extremely desperate.
'Knife.' My right hand glows as I manifest a light knife construct. Lately, since my right eye changed, I have been feeling more attuned to bringing out my powers.
My body heats up as my right eye glows dimly. I had noticed it happening when calling my powers. If I recall correctly, Canon Lukas's eye changed when his Keepsake Ring was broken, getting him to bring out his full power and defend his village from an archangel. I guess this is what happens when I tap into these powers early.
Instead of getting it all later, I was using whatever limited amount my body can safely use. I wasn't even sure that the hundred percent reserves that I currently had were truly my limit.
Usually I would've been afraid that my body would start turning to stone, but nothing happened, not even when I used a large amount like I did that one, but besides feeling weakness and passing out, I recovered just fine. I even went to the village doctor for a checkup and still got nothing. Ok, maybe that might not have been the best idea given the man has never studied a Nephilim's body before and the guy had no idea how magic worked, but who else was I going to ask?
This led me to the conclusion that the ring was indeed keeping me safe. I was functioning in that perfect middle ground where I was a badass that could spam as many light blades as I wanted, and only needed a moment to recover to do it all again.
All things considered, I was confident I stood among the top thirty or twenty in the world. If you're wondering why I put myself so low, it's because MGQ Paradox had a shit ton of enemies compared to the original.
I swear if I find out Ilias was the mastermind behind my reincarnation. I'm going to fuck her in the pussy with a spiked light dildo. No Vaseline!
Back to the knife construct, I made it with 0.5 percent of my reserves. At this point that would be my go-to. I stared at the small golden blade in my hand. I stab and move with it with skills unbefitting of a rookie. Flipping it over in my hand and jabbing down before switching to my other hand.
I toss it in the air, letting it flip above my head as my eyes glance at a tree at least five meters away from me, leaves slowly falling between me and the target. Narrowing my sight on the target in front of me, my hand moves to catch the falling dagger, and in a quick motion I shoot it, a trail of light following it.
THUNK.
The knife hit its target, not only striking the tree but also three leaves in its wake as well. The leaves are now being stuck between the tree and the knife. I already knew the amount of power I put into a construct determined how strong it was, not taking weight and cutability into account; more power equaled more durability, destructiveness, and lethality, but I digress. The point is I wanted to know whether that same rule applied to its size.
I would soon learn that it was not.
Calling for it to return, the light dagger whizzes back to me in almost the same speed as I've thrown it, but I catch it just as easily. Flipping the knife above me, I did some tricks with it before spinning it around my finger. Suu was clapping in the corner.
Stopping, I grab it with my right hand. "And… extend." The knife gleamed and began lengthening, reaching above my neck, then my head, and so on.
The blade continued to grow upward. Five meters. Seven. Ten. "Well damn. " I made some large constructs before, but at this point I was creating a Minecraft flair.
Suu stared at what I was doing with a beaming look, her hands clasping her face.
I kept staring upward as the ridiculous thing stretched more, reaching the seven-tent meter range. There didn't seem to be a limit, and the strength hadn't changed either. If I wanted to, I could snap this thing between my legs, but considering I was basically superhuman without sun boost, that was still impressive.
Back to the topic, the same tiny amount of energy was still there. I was simply making the construct longer, reshaping its form. "Ok, this is starting to get mildly concerning."
Thankfully, increasing its size had nothing to do with adding power, so no incidents happened. That being said, lengthening and extending light constructs would come in handy for sneak attacks. I could make a staff and let it right at an opponent's chest, and not only would they get super hurt, but they would also get sent back Sun Wukong-style. And I thought phasing was dangerous.
"That's enough of that." The blade did as told and ceased.
It remained perfectly upright because I wanted it to. Otherwise, a ten-meter knife would've been like holding up a very long and thin branch. I wasn't Gin Ichimaru from Bleach. If the weight and control of my light did not depend on me, this blade would have tilted and fallen. I'd have to use my strength to keep it from doing that.
I dismissed the blade and scratched my head. "Good to know." I rubbed my hands. "Now what's next?" I begin thinking. Getting an idea, I snap my fingers and turn to my ever-lovable slime girl. "Hey, Suu, do you want to help me?"
I didn't have to wait long before the familiar blue slime came bouncing toward me. She immediately perked up when I explained what I wanted. In seconds she was standing a couple of feet away from me, a pile of rocks she had gathered beside her.
I raised my hand forward and straightened my palm. I had seen something similar in Naruto and wanted to see whether I could recreate it with my own light. For this, I closed my eyes and focused on the sensation of energy inside me.
'Wrap around my hand. Enhance and add more power.' The energy rose through my body, traveled along my arm, and gathered in my palm. When I opened my eyes, a faint golden glow covered my hand, and a grin spread across my face.
Light armor had its perks, but summoning your magical power directly out of your body and channeling it to a single point as the magic swam out of the spot where it was concentrated was awesome as shit.
I didn't feel uncomfortable, and the power I was releasing was around 10 percent. It rolled out of my body, but it wasn't out of my control. It's similar to the time when my power became uncontrollable and continuously slipped away from me.
This time, the light was reinforcing my hand directly, slipping out of my body but only in an appropriate manner that wouldn't end up putting me in a bad spot. This technique could make a huge difference in close combat. I wasn't terrible at straight hand-to-hand fighting, but my real specialty lay in my swordsmanship.
Maybe that's why canon Luka keeps getting pinned down by every monster girl he meets and can only struggle. Heh.
Being able to reinforce my strikes with light could help compensate for that, and who knows, maybe I can enhance my weapon with my light in the same way I'm doing with my fist. I already put a pin in that to try later. Right now, I had other things on my mind.
I moved my palm slightly, studying how the light shifted with it. I could even feel the energy gathering toward my hand to keep it stable, but considering I'm not doing anything with it, there's nothing happening. It was just circulating around my hand, so I wasn't losing anything. Now if I did start blasting and making a construct out of it, that would be a different story.
Clenching my fist, I look to Suu and give the go-ahead. "Ready whenever you are."
She happily picked up a rock, reared back her arm, and tossed it. Now Suu was stronger than a human, given she is a slime who, from my observation, gets stronger the more water she absorbs, and that's not taking into account her possible relation to Undine. Blah blah blah words, words, words. What I'm getting at is that I think Suu is twice, maybe three times, stronger than the average man.
I had asked Suu to throw them as hard as she could, and despite her reluctance, she obliged. Of course I had shielded myself with some protection under my clothes. I even conjured a helmet so she wouldn't worry. It wasn't the same thing as what I'm doing with my hand, where it is directly inside my body.
The stone came at me, and I slapped it.
*POOF!*
The rock didn't stand a chance and exploded into dust. I whistled. "Okay. Again."
Suu nodded and prepared another one. It came flying, but this time, I kept my hand open and simply gave the light an instruction to destroy upon contact instead of me having to go and hit it myself. The rock hit my palm.
*POOF!*
Once more, dust scattered through the air. I looked at my hand, flexing my fingers. "One more time, Suu, if you don't mind."
Suu gave me a thumbs up and went for another throw, and this time I caught it without destroying it. I stared at the perfectly intact rock before tossing it behind me. "Hmm. Lethal or nonlethal. Active or reactive. Probably even ranged."
That gave me some very dirty tricks. If I formed a sword, its durability might not even matter. I could simply phase the blade through someone's defences, then make it solid again once it was where I wanted it. I could probably even move light inside them.
Was that cheating? Yes. Was it cruel? Abso-fucking-lutely. Would I use it? I really want to say no, but I don't want to make any promises.
I breathe out a weary sigh, my hand pressing against my forehead. "Whatever, I'll just toss that with the rest of my problems."
Looking to Suu and the large piles of rocks besides me, I shrug and ask her to throw everything at me. I only really needed those three to run this test, but since she had so many, I figured we might as well use them all. Suu practically had a shit-eating grin on her and grabbed them all with her hands and tendrils. Cracking my neck, I lower myself and bring my right palm.
Narrowing my eyes, I send a challenging smirk to my slime girl. "Bring it, you big-titted hottie." Suu knew exactly what I was saying and merely smiled, but the competitive glint in her eyes was very apparent.
Suu shot the first one at me, but I slapped it to dust. "That's the best you got, squirt."
She proceeded to check two more, but those were quickly dealt with. Yeah, she had a lot more where that came from, both literally and figuratively, with the large amount of stones she had and how fast she was throwing them.
Five more came at me along with a couple just behind them. I swatted and swiped them all.
*POOF!*
*POOF!*
*POOF!*
*POOF!*
They were all dusted. We kept it up until she ran out of stones to throw.
...
..
.