Chapter 175: Metal Urchin

Chapter 175: Metal Urchin

I was extremely happy with the results; my explosive metal needles were far more effective than I could’ve realized at the time. While the [Metal Slime] trait was clearly being carried by [Nitro Slime], I was sure they’d both be pulling their own weight when I had proper access to better metals. Just imagining an adamantine needle exploding gave me chills.

’Still... [Nitro Slime] is terrifying. I can understand why they don’t allow orange slimes to spawn outside of dungeons. The only thing stopping it from being my ultimate secret weapon is the fact that it destroys the slime mass. Ugh... If I hadn’t lost [Mana Conversion], I wouldn’t even need to worry about resource costs.’

I had a bunch of notifications to go through; I had thought all of them would’ve been ant deaths, but I came across a shocking revelation.

<Class Experience threshold reached. Elementalist is now LV 5.>

<14 Skill Points are now available.>

’Huh... Either I was really close to a level up, or perhaps the Eyedra had leftover experience after I paid off my debt.’ I thought, surprised I had gained a level so soon from such low-tier monsters.

Then, I looked at the new skills.

<Your class has revealed the following skills: [Earth Magic], [Elemental Harmony]>.

’I was so distracted by [Metal Slime] that I completely forgot to check whether I had gained Earth affinity!’

<Skill [Earth Magic LV 1] obtained. Skill Points remaining 13.>

<[Earth Magic LV 1] spell [Rock Lob] learned.>

’Success!’ I cheered happily. ’Although now I’ve gained Earth before Air... Seriously, Trixie, you promised me Air affinity!’

The spell it gave me was rather simple. I could pull up a rock, rapidly mold earth into a rock, or even apparate a rock entirely from Mana, although at quite a cost. While it was inherently extremely simple, the fact that it was so variable in its mana price was at least interesting.

’I bet the type of earth affects the cost. Something fine like sand probably costs more compared to something coarse like gravel.’

Then, I pulled up my new skill.

<[Elemental Harmony]

Enter a trance to increase your natural Mana flow and Mana regeneration, which is greatly enhanced by the elemental essence of the region and affected by your [Elemental Shift] skill level.

Beneficial effects scale exponentially the longer the trance is maintained.

If you are aligned to match a region element, a small portion of these benefits are granted passively if sufficient elemental essence is present.

This skill has no levels.>

’Oh. This is clearly an upgrade to [Meditate].’ I realized and pulled up the skill to compare.

<[Meditate]

Enter a trance to increase your natural mana flow and mana regeneration.

When I finally found the nest, I was surprised at the level of camouflage the ants had adopted. The nest was well hidden under some collapsed towering mushrooms, and if I hadn’t had the trail to follow, I wouldn’t have spotted it that easily.

<Proficiency gained. [Tracking LV 2] improved to [Tracking LV 3].>

’Can that really be called tracking? I followed a trail directly left behind...’ I shrugged.

Trying to understand how big the nest was, I activated [Tremor Sense] and saw that it was quite a sprawling network below me as numerous blips appeared through the sense.

’Okay, it’s ant extermination time!’

As I neared the nest entrance, I saw it wasn’t entirely undefended. Three large ants were hanging from the underside of a mushroom.

<Fire Ant Soldier [III] LV 22 Elemental Affinity: Fire.>

’I wonder if I could sneak in and assassinate the princess?’

I pondered as I quickly shifted into an appropriate fire ant drone disguise and continued forward. At first, it seemed like my plan was perfect, as the ants showed no hints of hostility. But when I neared them, I suddenly caught a new whiff of a scent that clearly meant "intruder."

Two of the three soldiers immediately tried to seize me with their massive mandibles, which was when I abandoned my ant form and swelled out to a far more impressive, blobby form. I opted to use the silver slime’s natural method of attack as iron spikes protruded from my body, and I formed bladed pseudopods.

The soldier ants had a much more robust carapace, so I had to target weak points to get past their defenses. Meanwhile, a hail of magical forming rocks was lobbed at the third soldier who remained behind.

The strategy executed by these fire ants seemed to be to lock something in place with their mandibles and then unload their [Flame Sac] point blank. Some drones even appeared from the nest, trying to hold me down. Unfortunately for them, you can’t hold a slime in place, and even if they could, I was so fireproof at this stage that it was a joke.

With much poking and prodding, I managed to stab through into one of the soldier ants and had the invading tendril burst outwards like a sea urchin of iron spikes. It was certainly an effective method of attack, and the ant died shortly afterward.

While [Acid Slime] would have made penetrating much simpler, I wasn’t sure how mixing my slime traits affected experience distribution. If the cause of death was acid, I presumed it would gain the lion’s share of experience, which made me hesitant to use the deadly slime.

’Ugh. I’m being stupid again.’ I admitted.

I sent an order to my remaining [Sub-Cores] to cast [Erode] when I was engaging in melee with the ants. This way, I could continue using [Metal Slime] as my offensive.

When my metal-bladed tendrils started cutting through the ant carapace, I grinned maniacally as I formed more weapons, becoming a whirling blender on the poor ant. I gained a newer appreciation of my defense debuff and wondered if this was how Roderick and Ian had felt.

With both soldiers dead, I was prepared to take on the third when I noticed it battered and broken with countless rocks and shards around him. Alpha and Beta had shown no mercy and clearly were having quite some fun with [Rock Lob] as they crushed the ant.

I quickly ate what I could and began my descent into the nest, only to be met with a wall of drones that all unleashed their [Ember Sac] in unison. I wanted to giggle at the tickle of embers, as even Dewi had trained himself on much harsher flames.

’Talk about a perfect opportunity to use [Contagion]!’ I fiendishly thought.

[Erode] was cast on the most central ant, and then a boosted [Contagion] sent out a massive cloud of the debuff, infecting every ant present. While I would have loved to have spread something crazy like [Electrocute] or [Frostbite] and watched the ensuing chaos, I had another fun idea planned.

I opted to morph into a metallic boar and charge forward into the crowd of ants; as I broke through their ranks with my mighty charge, I gave the order to control and erupt into as many spikes of slime as possible to all of my cores.

So much slime mass was being directly manipulated I was forced to withdraw more as an endless sea of spikes, prongs, and drills burst outwards. Seeing such well-executed and precise control over my slime mass was so satisfying.

’Should I call this the metal urchin of death? Or is that too edgy?’ I couldn’t help but snort at the terrible joke.

Perhaps driven by instinct, when an ant was killed, it was immediately dragged in by hooked tendrils and promptly eaten and absorbed. It was a little surprising to see my [Sub-Cores] actually understood my desire to train [Metal Slime], and thus, only my center of mass became the designated eating zone to ensure no kills were made with [Acid Slime].

’My last evolution really gave them a boost. I probably haven’t scratched the surface of what’s now possible.’ I thought as they continued to cull the drones.