Sam turned to her side; this mattress was so comfortable. She jerked her head up in surprise. Mattress?
"What the hell," she mumbled, sitting up in bed. The realization hit her, "Oh, I'm in my soul again," she grumbled, getting up. Looking around, she noticed she was in her room this time. "Huh, so maybe fixing the figurines is helping me mend my soul? Either that or it could just be getting better slowly over time."
Sam noted everything else was as she had left it before exiting her apartment bedroom. Fishing the T.V. remote and kitchen knife out of her inventory, she put them back in their respective places, mindful of Parish's rebuke about taking them out of her soul in the first place. Not knowing how she had gotten here or why, Sam figured she might as well visit the figurines in the other room.
They were right where she had left them, still broken and disfigured. She didn't know how long she had been asleep but figured Lupie would wake her if there was trouble, so Sam pulled up her chair and snatched the broken Technogog off her pedestal. She went to work repairing the figure's legs.
Sam stood and stretched a few hours later, replacing the figure back on her pedestal. One leg was completely repaired, and Sam was confident she could finish the other with another sitting. “I can probably have you back to one hundred percent in a week or so if I spend most of my time here." She told the figure.
As she turned to leave, Sam thought she caught a hint of a smile gracing the figurine's features. Then, touching the glowing exit rune with her toe, she vanished from her soul.
The Technogog Arcana figurine hopped off her pedestal as soon as Sam's projection disappeared. She tried walking around on her one good leg but fell several times. The last time she fell, she didn't move again.
With a sound of annoyance, the hidden figure strode out of the obscuring fog, long violet and black hair trailing behind her, waving in a nonexistent wind.
Annoyed or not, the new figure was gentle when she picked her sister up and carried her back to the pedestal where she belonged. Placing her back, the long-haired woman watched as the Technogog resumed her position before returning to the fog and her resting place.
Sam’s soul rested again under the watchful gaze of the Collective.
***
Sam heard and felt Lupie sniffing her when she returned to reality. “Hey, I said buy me a drink first,” she said, a little annoyed with the Bloodmorph. She pushed the enormous beak out of her crotch before even opening her eyes. “Beak?!?”
Sam's eyes snapped open, and she stared into the brown eyes of an eagle? "No, not an eagle, a freaking griffon!” Sam thought, panicking.
“She is deciding our fate,” Lupie provided helpfully through their chat.
"No shit," Sam replied as she stared at the majestic creature in front of her. It, or ‘she’ as Lupie said, somehow always knowing the gender of things, had an eagle’s head with the sleek body of a lion. Even though Lupie said it was female, the griffon had a mane like a male lion. Only her mane was composed of feathers, not fur.
“Do you like what you see?” The griffon asked in a raspy voice.
“I, um, am not sure yet,” Sam stumbled over her words. Unnerved by the large creature’s proximity. “Are you going to eat us?” She asked, figuring she might as well find out now. She didn’t know how strong this griffon was but planned to fight until her last breath, as she had done once on this planet so far.
The griffon laughed, a throaty sound coming from her beak. She shook her head like a horse before saying simply, "No." Then, with a leap that cleared the treetops, she spread her wings and flew away.
"Holy shit, that was close," Sam said, watching the griffon fly out of the canyon.
"I am sorry, mistress," Lupie said, nuzzling to get her head under Sam's arm so she could rest her head in her lap, "I tried to wake you, but you would not respond."
"It's okay; I accidentally entered my soul. I guess there isn't a way for you to contact me in there," Sam said soothingly and stroked Lupie's head, comforting the giant blood beast. "Looking back in the direction the griffon flew away, Sam couldn't help but wonder why the creature had come only to sniff her and then leave. She said as much to Lupie, who surprised Sam with an immediate response.
“She smelled you from afar and needed to determine if you were a threat,” Lupie said with surety.
“Well, I guess we passed inspection then,” Sam said nervously.
"Yes, we did," Lupie agreed, finally letting Nul out of the blood sack she had wrapped the slime in as soon as she detected the griffon.
The little slime was sound asleep, utterly oblivious to what had happened. Sam could only shake her head in amusement at how utterly unprofessional they all were. Maybe some training would do them some good.
***
Lupie informed Sam she had only been asleep for a few hours, making her think she must have awakened in her soul almost as soon as she fell asleep. Since it was still early, they continued their slow walk toward the location on her map she pinned as the canyon exit.
***
"This is what they call an exit?" Sam rhetorically asked as she stared up the canyon wall. They were at the place Snaky had indicated, but instead of the long winding path Sam expected, there was just more rock wall. The only difference was that this wall part was slightly less vertical than the rest. "It's only a few degrees from being vertical like the rest of the canyon walls," she complained.
Lupie burst into a cloud of blood to resume her humanoid form. Walking to the base of the wall, she looked back with a mischievous grin and said, "Race you!" before activating her Final Push skill and leaping up the wall at lightning speed.
"Hey, no fair! I have Nul!" Sam called after her cheating friend. Then, she thought to herself, “I have Nul!”
Shaking the little slime awake, Sam asked, "Do you have enough energy to portal me to the top of the canyon right there without hurting yourself?" She pointed to the distant edge she wanted to reach.
A portal opened in front of Sam, and without hesitation, she leaped through immediately, shooting mana threads out to grab onto the boulders near the top of the canyon. With a simple tug of her magic Sam pulled herself and Nul to the top of the massive gash in the planet. Turning, she looked down to see Lupie barely halfway up and laughed. "Gotta think smarter, not harder, little girl!" Plopping down in the tall grass after surveying her surroundings to make sure they were alone, Sam waited for the silly little cheater to arrive, giggling at how much fun she would have rubbing it in that she had won the race.
***
“No fair you cheated,” Lupie pouted for the tenth time as they continued their journey. She had refused to turn back into her wolf form, instead insisting she had been robbed of a guaranteed victory and for Sam to admit it.
Sam was having too much fun with the pouty Bloodmorph to stop anytime soon. "I think if anyone won, it was Nul," she said, getting a sound from the slime that Sam took to mean it agreed.
“Nul wasn’t even racing!” Lupie wailed, lamenting the unfairness of this horrible reality.
This went on for over an hour, and Lupie was only mollified once Sam promised her a rematch at the canyon or some equally high place.
As they walked and playfully argued, Sam observed the Beastlands properly now that she could get a better view of the rolling hills covered in waist-high grass of various shades of green and brown that swayed and rippled like water in the near-constant gentle breeze that cut across the plains. The sheer openness of it made Sam feel small and insignificant. Compared to the forests and mountains she had seen so far in this world, the vast openness of the Beastlands made her feel a heartwarming sense of freedom.
Lupie must have felt the same because she eventually relented in her arguing and switched back to her beast form to run and frolic in the grass, doing zoomies around Sam and Nul, crying out from shear joy as she zoomed by them faster than the top speed of most cars from Earth, the ground shaking with her heavy thumping footfalls. Eventually, she snatched up Sam and Nul onto her back, and together, the three of them cut many kilometers of paths in the tall grass as Lupie explored, running back and forth, sniffing everything she found.
They barely made it another ten kilometers with Lupie’s zig-zag course, but Sam didn’t care. She wasn’t in a hurry. Plus, she felt like they needed this downtime. It felt like a balm to her soul. “My soul…is this how souls are healed? With days filled with happiness and freedom? If not, it should be,” Sam mused to herself as their path took them toward a small copse of trees. The sun was waning, so they decided to see if the little group of trees would be a safe place to spend the night.
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
The grove was already occupied by a small herd of antelope-like creatures that bounded off as they approached. Had her faithful steed not worn herself out, she would have probably tried to run one down for dinner. But as it was, Lupie collapsed exhausted in the center of the grove and was snoring long before Sam ever started the fire.
The Safe Zone notification came quickly. Sam wasted no time cooking raptor and Gilabear steaks for the three of them, waking Lupie when they were ready. The giant wolf stayed awake just long enough to eat, then passed out again with a contented sigh. Sam knew Lupie must be tired if she didn’t even transition into her humanoid form for the meal.
Not feeling tired, Sam assumed her usual position, leaning back against Lupie. Segmenting a part of her brain for meditation, Sam checked Nul's stats on a whim. Curious as to how the slime had progressed so far.
Nul
Race: Void Slime; Collective [Level 12]
Class: Void Mage [Level 9]
Health: 423
Stamina: 323
Mana: 894
Attributes:
STR – 19
VIT – 26
END – 20
AGL – 17
INT – 38
WIS – 51
Free Attribute Points 0.
Abilities:
Slime [Level 4]
Void Manipulation
Void Sight [Level 8]
Class Skills:
Void Infusion [Level 1]
Void Step [Level 11]
Racial/General Skills:
Identify [Level 5]
Class Spells:
Void Bolt [Level 10]
Void Tunnel [Level 8]
Racial/General Spells:
Summon Lesser Beast [Level 1]
Resistance(s):
Cold [Max]
Pain [Max]
Poison [Max]
Mental [Level 3]
Spirit [Level 32]
Void [Max]
"Well, you leveled up quickly, didn't you, little one?" Sam asked the void slime sleeping in her arms. She wasn't sure why Nul was sleeping so much, with its stats being as high as they were. She could only guess it was simply out of boredom.
Sam went ahead and checked Lupie's as well. It had been a while, and she wanted to see what she was working with.
The Defeated [Summon of S.A.M.]
Race: Lupine Bloodmorph; Elite; Unique [Level 37]
Class: Bloodmorph [Level 35]
Blessing(s): Void Touched [Epic]
Title(s): A Grade Above; Death Runner
Health: 9825
Stamina: 6021
Mana: 3151
Attributes:
STR – 124
VIT – 422
END – 211
AGL – 202
INT – 101
WIS – 145
Abilities: 2/10
Blood Manipulation
Void Compatibility
Class Skills: 2/7
Blood Recovery [Level 23]
Void Coating [Level 9]
Racial/General Skills: 3/7
Final Push [Level 18]
Identify [Level 5]
Stealth [Level 16]
Class Spells: 3/5
Blood Harvest [Level 8]
Blood Spike [Level 8]
Void Spike [Level 9]
Racial/General Spells:
Howl [Level 5]
Resistance(s):
Void Magic [Level 29]
Blood Magic [Level 61]
Sam could only gape at the insane power of her companion, thinking, “She’s like a super-fast tank that can stealth attack! And she says she would submit to me?!? How could she even think that?” Then Sam remembered her bracelets and how she could infuse her body with magical energy to add to her impressive strength and speed. Still, she wasn't confident of the outcome of a fight between her and Lupie.
“No wonder she doesn’t wake up when giant snake men freak out a few feet away.” Sam thought with a quiet chuckle, stroking the Bloodmorph's side lovingly. "She's more powerful than any of her kind, yet when it comes to me and her friends, she is the most gentle and innocent blood monster a girl could ask for."
The only incident worth noting that night happened only a few hours before sunrise when a shrill scream of a creature dying echoed across the plains only to cut off sharply, leaving Sam to wonder if it had been one of the creatures they displaced from the trees meeting its fate. The Safe Zone stayed up, and Lupie and Nul didn't stir, so Sam chalked it up to nature doing its thing and let the incident pass from her thoughts soon after.
They were on their way again early that morning after a breakfast of leftover steaks, just as fresh as the previous night, thanks to the suspended animation of storage abilities.
With nearly twenty more kilometers to travel, Sam decided they should spend one more night in the plains about five kilometers from the location Snaky had given them. That way, they could arrive early enough to leave and make some reasonable distance from the tribe should they find the people there less than inviting as the Naga had been before he noticed Nul.
Lupie, now refreshed, took advantage of her topped-off energy reserves to chase down a couple of the antelope-like creatures that wound up being called Wind Antilopinae. Sam was beginning to wonder if the System was translating the names of things into words she would understand instead of giving her the actual names of things. Since there was no way for her to know currently, she dismissed the thought.
Despite Lupie's begging, Sam did not immediately cook the meat she looted from the Bloodmorph's kills but promised to make something delicious that night. Lupie reluctantly agreed, and they set off again, continuing their slow, meandering pace.
Nul was more talkative today, chattering and asking questions incessantly with Lupie and Sam. “Why is the grass that color? What makes colors? Does the grass taste good? Void step…no, it doesn’t taste good! Void step! Can you make the grass taste good?”
Sam was having a blast listening to the little slime's curious questioning and was already laughing at its antics. So, when Nul teleported off her head and stuffed several mouthfuls of the green and brown grass into its gaping maw before spitting and spluttering, she nearly fell off Lupie's back, she cackled so hard.
Finally managing to get ahold of herself, Sam asked Nul, "Was it toxic?" Then, remembering the void slime was immune to poison, she changed her question, "Why did you think the grass was edible?"
“Because of the antilopinae,” Lupie answered for Nul.
“Oh, yeah, they were eating it when we spotted them, weren’t they,” Sam remembered.
“You gave me tasty grass before too!” Nul supplied.
Sam scrunched her brow at that. When had she fed the slime grass? Then she remembered the herbs and vegetables she had made them eat and realized Nul had probably assumed all 'grass' was edible and good. She had to laugh at that but still thought she should use this as a teachable moment. So, taking Nul off her head, she held the black ball of doom in front of her so it focused on what she had to say, "Nul, I know you have the identify skill. What I want you to do today while we travel is find as many things as possible to identify. If you get it to a high enough level, it will sometimes tell you if what you are looking at is edible." The slime's eyes opened wide in understanding. Sam could already see the wheels turning, so she quickly set some boundaries, "Just stay within portal distance of Lupie or me, and don't pick fights with groups of monsters or creatures above your level, okay? Oh, and stay in range of our party so we can communicate.”
Sam then shared her map with the excited little slime, and Nul disappeared with a final shout, "Void Step!"
Nul wasn't the only one identifying everything they encountered as they traveled. Sam was just as interested in the local flora and fauna of the plains. Upon closer inspection, she found many herbs and vegetable plants hidden in the tall grass.
Their travels slowed to a crawl after a while because Sam stopped to harvest every edible she identified and even some she wasn't sure of.
Wild Garlic: Edible
It can be consumed raw or cooked.
Wild Onion: Edible
It can be consumed raw or cooked.
Sam couldn't believe how many wild edibles there were on the plains. In addition to the onions and garlic, she found less familiar edibles like Plantain, Burdock, Amaranth, Wild Leek, and others she didn't recognize. All the while, Nul was teleporting all over the place, sending them a message through their chat every time it found something edible.
This continued until around midday when Nul sent a message chilling Sam to the bone, "I find Carmine Death Blossom alchemy ingredient!”
“Don't pick it, Nul!" Sam screamed into her interface, searching franticly for the slime's location on her map. Thanks to the guidebook she had purchased, she knew that Death Blossoms only bloomed above the graves of powerful dead beings. Picking a death blossom was like gambling with your life; sometimes, nothing would happen, and you would wind up with a rare and expensive ingredient. But there was as good a chance picking the blossom would awaken a powerful undead creature that would rip you and your party apart! Usually, only high-level individuals ever tried to harvest the rare flowers because of their inherent dangers.
“High-level people and ignorant void slimes,” Sam thought, cringing when Nul appeared in front of her with a beautiful red flower resembling a tulip held proudly in an appendage. "Oh no," She said as the ground started to shake.
Before Sam could tell Lupie to run, a geyser of earth exploded up from the plains a few hundred meters to her left. A crimson blur shot from the erupting soil to soar into the clear blue sky, leaving a red streak behind.
Sam traced the trajectory of the creature Nul had awakened as it made a wide arc to finally slam to the ground in front of them, creating a small crater upon impact.
When the dust settled, Sam eyed the monster as it slowly stood from its crouched pose and reached its full height. Giant leathery wings the color of blood unfurling to expose a fully nude three-meter-tall woman with skin the color of her wings. A long tail with a spade tip undulated behind her, nearly scraping the ground around her feet, which had nasty black talons extending from her toes. The woman smiled with a grin of pure evil, exposing a mouth full of black fangs that perfectly matched her raven-black eyes. When Sam took in the woman's long curving black horns protruding from her forehead and her long black hair reaching her waist, all she could think was, “Is she a daemon?”
"Thank you for releasing me, little slime," the woman purred in a seductive voice, "For your assistance, I will make your deaths quick and painless." She chuckled like she had said something amusing, "It is the least I can do for one of the Collective."
Sam identified the woman or monster or whatever it was in front of her.
Daemon Succubus [Level ???]; ????; Affinity – Mind, Blood
Sam’s final thought before the crimson daemon blurred into motion was, “We are so screwed.”