Chapter 127: Cascading Events

Chapter 127: Cascading Events

Things had been going well for 'Gramps.' While there were minor hiccups and occasional disappointment from one of the experiments, it was a resounding success in the grand scheme of things. After all, you must break a few eggs to make an omelet. Finally, some proper recognition was shown of the countless traits he poured his blood, sweat, and tears into. He had been in such a positive mood that he even took some time to design a new monster species or two; it had been ages since he last felt so inspired.

He turned his attention to one of his favorite subjects lately, the slime. It had been some time since he last checked in on Syl, as it was now called, and while he enjoyed watching live, being able to binge through the logs and skip or fast-forward through boring parts had its own merits. The last time he was watching, Syl had just killed a mutated nature boar spawned by the system's overflow catcher. At the time, Gramps couldn't help but chuckle at the irony of it, as Syl had inadvertently caused the buildup through a cascading series of events and now had directly disposed of it.

He thoroughly enjoyed what he saw and strongly approved the idea of seeking out a floating island; the only thing better for growth would be heading toward another dungeon. He enjoyed watching Syl take out the griffins and elementals and was currently fighting a large group of pegasi. When it happened, Gramps couldn't help but do a spit-take of his coffee as he witnessed the slime cause a system error.

"What the hell have you done now..." He muttered, his voice carrying the weight of his disappointment and concern.

Checking the logs, the [Sub-Core] trait seemed to behave above its intended parameters. When he originally designed it, he found the idea full of fun potential with its almost barebone AI functionality and the ability to set nearly pseudo procedures and subroutines programmed to them. Syl demonstrated minor proficiency in using them almost completely unaided. Gramps had hoped the process would have been faster, but rather than exploring them further, Syl kept getting distracted by silly things like magic.

The problem was Syl's core was the only mana source, and the subs drew from it directly. Syl had made the mental argument that [Mana Slime] was a source of mana; technically, this was true, and the [Sub-Cores] agreed and took Syl's demand as an order and, rather than pulling mana from the core, pulled the raw liquid mana flowing throughout the slime. It was a gross violation of the system, but rather than anger, Gramps couldn't help but chuckle at the absurdity of it.

Syl was the only slime with the trait at the moment, as none of the wild slimes had randomized it yet, and some of the [Dungeon Masters] were strangely hesitant to try out a beta trait on their directed monsters.

"It's amazing how one dungeon master dies while testing out a new alpha feature, and suddenly, everyone is scared to be a tester. No courage. Bah!" Gramps barked with bitter dismay. "I'll have to fix the trait now and then fix Syl's during the next evolution."

He continued to watch and shared Syl's grief over losing the valuable yellow slime core. That would have been an amazing acquisition, as the yellow slime was shockingly old for one of its kind; obtaining [Voltaic Slime LV 7] in the wild was rare. He continued to watch the events unfold.

He wasn't too fond of Syl getting involved with a spirit but couldn't help but laugh as the spirit swore to an oath far larger than it could have imagined. He had no doubt if the spirit truly wanted; it could have wiggled itself around it, but it seemed genuinely grateful for being rescued and enjoyed Syl's company. This was fortunate, as even if the spirit wasn't shrewd enough to nefariously wiggle out of an oath, it would gradually be freed from it if Syl ever shared the secrets with others. A secret between two individuals is robust, but a secret amongst a large group might as well have no meaning.

He skipped over large portions of the magic segments, although he saved it as a potential bargaining chip with her. While Gramps was known for his love of traits, she was known as the Mother of Magic. He was already on rather friendly terms with her, and if he showed her that his subject was showing great fondness for her domain, he might have a favor or two lined up in his back pocket.

While Gramps wasn't that fond of pranks, he found himself in a light chuckle at the downfall of the alicorn. The rest was mostly business as usual; again, a large magic portion was skipped and set aside for potential bargaining. Then, Syl was confronting a [Spirit Candidate].

"This should be very interesting..." Gramps said, on the edge of his seat.

When Syl struck the final blow, a victory sealed not through Syl's admittedly powerful magic but due to the combination of multiple slime traits together, Gramps suddenly found himself off his chair and cheering.

"Ha! Who cares about magic? Just stack all your traits together and dominate the competition! That's what it's all about!" He celebrated.

Then, the errors started appearing.

"Shit! What now?" He exclaimed, his jubilant mood now soured.

He read over the logs and frowned deeply. This was not good. The system somehow thought Syl was a spirit, and the one error assumed minor at the time was now spiraling into something larger. His immediate thought was to delete the issue, Syl. That would be the normal, appropriate response. But Gramps found himself chewing on his thumb with concern, trying to puzzle out another solution.

There were multiple other experiments, and Syl was only one of them. But Syl had numerous traits that he had lovingly designed and even picked the evolution he had custom-made. To say Syl was an ideal experiment for his purposes wouldn't be an understatement. Not to mention, Gramps had quite a few bets placed on the damned slime ball.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

He hid the error logs and started to leave. He needed at least two others to approve of an emergency solution because, at the rate this slime was causing system errors, it wouldn't survive until its next evolution without intervention.

"I can probably get her on my side. I probably just need to mention Elementalist and tell her Syl created those new debuff spells... No doubt she knows of them but likely hasn't investigated who made them yet."

"Who else could I easily get on my side... Even though Syl spared the troll, I doubt he would help me." He scratched his head vigorously as he tried to think of potential allies.

He mentally went through some of the other less promising experiments; offering some help was likely his best chance. Gramps was well known for his trait-creation wizardry, often pushing the system's limits, and nearly any of the others would be grateful for one of his more inspired works. With a flash of enlightenment, he had his idea.

"The crab!" He exclaimed, slamming a fist into his palm. "Yes. He was desperate; I could offer a custom trait, maybe even a custom evolution tailored for it."

With a wave, multiple floating screens appeared before him, and he pulled out some of his summarized logs. They were quite a mess, and Gramps couldn't help but snort at the disorganized mess. The crab was rather cowardly and far too focused on defense; it seemed far too interested in collecting shells, and it evolved into a hermit crab as a result. Why it didn't pick a mutation or stronger species evolution was beyond Gramps' understanding, but he could work with this!

"A trait based on shells collected, or perhaps a trait that lets one build a custom shell... Yes! I can work with this!" Gramps said triumphantly, his creative juices flowing, and he stormed in that direction. It was time to collect his potential allies.

***

To my surprise, Trixie was even more helpful and cheery than normal. She looked like the cat that got the cream. I didn't even ask; she gave generous information and tidbits freely and openly while I tried to recreate the water beam spell. Apparently, it was a rather common, if advanced, spell that most water affinity mages would be taught when apprenticing, as it could be rather easily upgraded as one progressed.

The basic concept was to focus the power of [Torrent] down to a much smaller area, creating a dangerously destructive effect. This would train a mage's control as they manipulated a rather basic spell. Then, once mastered, a mage would be expected to add additional [Torrent] constructs to the existing spell, as if layering it. The increased power would cause the spell to be much harder to focus, and this repeatable process was, in theory, a constant form of growth until you reached a point where the exponentially increasing difficulty became far too much for even an Archmage.

Aquillia had layered the spell three times, whereas Trixie could only do it twice. While Trixie had [Water Magic], she preferred to focus on her other talents. The initial step was promptly completed, and with a little bit of pixie guidance, I added the second layering without much trouble and immediately got to work on focusing down the spell back to its pinpoint. The powerful pressurized water beam was immensely satisfying, even if I could immediately tell it lacked the oomph the undine's version had shown.

Trixie explained that the other forms of magic usually have similar practices, but unless I obtained Nature affinity, I'd need to improvise it myself or seek another teacher willing to share their knowledge, as that was all she could show. The Mage's Guild would likely be my best bet, but I was a little unhappy that Dewi's teachings were being rapidly replaced. Then again, Dewi had seemingly made his discoveries with little outside help, perhaps just some of the Adventurer's Guild knowledge they were willing to share with him.

After applying the concept, I knew I could eventually do the rest myself, so Trixie and I chatted about my previous escapades instead of continuing since it was already late. Trixie said that while my effort to train nonstop was admirable, I should set aside some time to "smell the roses."

Before sleep, I made sure to withdraw enough slime to restore Gamma. My tub was nearly overflowing, but I didn't want to be caught unaware. We planned to fly around the island tomorrow, searching for the new spawns and clearing them out until, eventually, my yellow slime would spawn. I'd also gratefully eat any new and interesting monsters, as I'd never say no to some new profiles or to refilling my slime reserve.

My mind felt like it was going in overdrive as I thought of all the possibilities, and like I had predicted, I found myself struggling to eventually fall asleep. I took a brief glance at my profile, noticing that my Emblem had been removed. I'd need to remember to equip a new one in the morning.

Name: Syl

Race: Chimeric Mimic Slime (Blue) LV 21

Class: Elementalist LV 3

Status: Healthy

Mana: O̴̥̔̍v̶̧̐̈͒̈́͋e̵͈̔̈́͑͒r̴̢̡͎̖̗̻̾͗̓̚f̶̰͚̣̭̙̀̐̅̿͘͝l̶̨̧̼͈̬̕ỏ̴͍̝͉̱̤̦̅͌̈́͝ẘ̷̖̜́́̉͘ḯ̴̖̈́̈́̔̅̀n̴̛̞̦̦͍̝͒́͝ḡ̴͈̭̏

Emblems:

[Experiment]

[Apex Hunter]

[Elven Legacy]

[Mana Conception LV 6]

[Life Sight LV 3]

[Thermal Vision LV MAX]

[Eagle Vision LV 2]

Trait Points remaining: 17

Skills:

General:

[Universal Language]

[Equipment Swap]

[Dissection LV 6]

[Mapping LV 5]

[Tracking LV 2]

[Identify LV 5]

[Multitasking LV 5]

[Perception LV 4]

[Aerial Finesse LV 4]

Combat:

[Tranquil Flow LV 5]

[Attack Mastery (Lesser) LV 7]

[Affliction Mastery LV 5]

[Exploit Weakness LV 3]

Magic:

[Water Magic LV 5]

[Fire Magic LV 5]

[Corrosion Magic LV 5]

[Ice Magic LV 5]

[Arcane Magic LV 2]

[Mana Manipulation LV 5]

[Magic Efficiency LV 4]

[Counter Magic LV 2]

[Elemental Shift LV 3]

[Elemental Adaptation]

[Ritual Casting]

[Mana Suppression]

[Meditate]

Sneaky:

[Vanish LV 6]

[Sneak Attack LV 6]

[Identity Fabrication LV 6]

[Acting LV 4]

[Rogue Expertise LV 4]

[Magical Subterfuge LV 2]

[Subtle Afflictions]

Skill Points remaining: 15