Technically ‌, it wasn’t actually speaking. I still didn’t have a mouth, and [All-Tongue] did not bestow me with one. Regardless, I went through the motion of moving my ‘mouth’ and I was able to produce words.

For a split second, I was wracked with fear that I was still only using my thoughts as my primary form of communication, and no one could understand me. The Will-O’-Wisp seemingly didn’t have a reaction to my words and neared my body, glowing intensely.

My eyes shot wide open as I heard something. It was very faint, just barely audible over the breeze. I latched onto the noise and focused, straining my audio capabilities to their limits.

At first, all I heard were jumbled up mumbles and whispers; nothing concrete or resembling words. Then the sound warped, distorted and warbled to become unrecognizable. The pitch rose significantly, before lowering and increasing at erratic intervals. Multiple noises overlapped each other, sounding like a combination of voices, all screaming to be heard at the same time before being dragged back under. It was like the noise was tuning itself to match an unknown frequency I was producing. I had no control over this, so I merely waited and hoped it’d work.

Finally, the rampant noises settled down, condensing into a singular sound. I watched with bated breath as the Wisp vibrated and its flames flickered wildly.

…….e.

“What?” I asked. Warily, I leaned closer to the Will-O’-Wisp. “Repeat that?”

….de.

What the hell is this thing trying to say?! I felt like gnashing my teeth (not that I had any) into dust. The last thing I needed was for the Wisp to turn out to be a socially awkward creature who couldn’t string a sentence together!

..rude.

“Shit, did I say that out loud? Wait, never mind that! You can talk!” I reeled from the revelation. I’d let myself hope the Wisp could talk, but had been relying more on the expectation that the Wisp could only understand words. Being able to talk cohesively and exchange words wasn’t something I’d really planned for.

Duh.

It was a simple word, but it made me want to throw myself into the air and shout. Communication! Actual, legitimate communication! I hadn’t realized the extent to which I missed talking with other sentient beings, rather than conjuring up placeholders to curb my growing desire for meaningful interaction. It was like getting showered with water after being parched for a thousand years.

Ding!

You have used 5 Skill Points to achieve [All-Tongue]

Species: Gelatinous Cube (Level 3)

Subspecies: Insectroid Slime

Stats:

Magic Point (MP) : 20/20

Health Point (HP) : 13/15

Strength Point (SP) : 15/15

Endurance Point (EP) : 9/20

Agility Point (AP) : 9/10

Species Skills:

* [Subsumption] Level 1

* [Infirm Regeneration] Level 2

Skills:

* [Body Manipulation] Level 3

* [Weapon Generation] Level 2

* [All-Tongue] Level 1

* [0 Skill Points]

* [Available Skill Slots:5]

Hmm, so there’s a delay between getting the Skill and having the System register it. Is that what happened after the pit fight? I didn’t even know I leveled until I manually checked the stats. Then that means I could have received the Skill and level up mid-way through the fight, rather than near the end like I thought. I ruminated on the implications of this revelation. The delay seemed insignificant right now, but what about amid a battle? Was it necessary to have the stat screen up at all times in order to know what Skills I possessed? That seemed counterproductive at best, and crippling at worst.

Not that it mattered now. I refocused on the Will-O’-Wisp, trying to discern its thoughts. Its very nature as an expressionless ball of fire made it all but impossible to glean any information. The Wisp’s tells seemed to be its level of glow and how stationary it was at any given time. Was the intensity of the vibration equivalent to the amount of excitement the Wisp felt?

It would be so much easier if the Wisp’s glow was color-coded depending on what emotion it was feeling. I eyed the Wisp cautiously. Ever since it responded to my statements, it had not tried to attack me, which was a first. It seemed perfectly content to float in midair and remain silent.

Too bad I needed answers.

“Why the hell were you attacking me?” I demanded to know, sidling closer to the Wisp. The Wisp gave no sign it’d heard me and continued maintaining its silent vigil. The sight of it being so callous infuriated me to the point of derision. I summoned a sword and pointed the tip a couple of inches from the Wisp. “I’m not going to ask again.”

…Need to burn. Then eat.

An obscene amount of incredulity filled me, sending my stomach into a churning mess. Was this thing for real? My voice came out shakier than I would’ve wanted it to be when I asked, “Are you fucking serious?”

…Makes it soft.

I exhaled, using every ounce of willpower I had to hold back the urge to smack the Wisp. The sheer audacity of the Wisp was enough to make me let out a puff of air in exasperation. There had to be limits to how oblivious somebody was, and the Wisp had just vaulted clear over the line.

“Fine. Let’s say you are a maniac and want to kill me. But why bother to heal me in the first place? It’s just a waste of effort.” A Skill like the one the Wisp used, capable of fully reviving me from the brink of death to full strength, didn’t seem like it’d come cheaply. It simply made no cohesive sense to waste it on somebody, only to burn them a second later.

The Wisp didn’t answer for several seconds, long enough to make me consider threatening it again. Adding more body mass to the sword, I elongated it until the tip of the blade was barely cutting into the Wisp.

…Mint condition.

Just when I thought the next words from the Will-O’-Wisp couldn’t be more preposterous, it proved me dead wrong. I increased the length of the sword, knowing full well it would amount to nothing but requiring a way to get some steam off anyway.

Which is why I was completely taken off guard when the Wisp let out a small noise.

Ouch!

…what? I thought numbly. Peering closely at the Wisp, I couldn’t tell right off the bat whether there was something wrong with the creature. My sword passed through the Wisp like all my previous attempts. After surveying the orb of fire from top to bottom multiple times, I finally noticed a discrepancy in the usually flawless fire.

Previously, the teal fire coursed through and around in the shape of a sphere. It neatly followed the path of a möbius strip with thousands of tiny bolts of electricity crackling within, barely contained by an cumulus orb created with oxygen. The sole thing preventing a mass of explosive energy from expanding rapidly was a transparent layer of air.

Honestly, the Will-O’-Wisp, beyond the mystical aura it emanated, was a work of nature that I’ve never seen the likes of before. It was a construct of physics that I couldn’t even begin to wrap my head around, and I doubted there were many people in the world who could.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

It was for all the previously listed reasons that my ‘heart’ pounded as I took in what my actions caused. The tip of my slime-sword was disrupting the flow of the teal fire, causing it to cascade and divert over the edge of my blade. The möbius strip was completely altered and the minuscule bolts of lightning were deviating from their original course, going haywire to avoid my sword.

Is this the Will-O’-Wisp’s weakness? I’d thought back to my previous struggles. I’d always slashed and hacked at the Wisp, never truly patient enough to leave my weapon inside. I tilted my sword slightly, observing how the flow of energy changed minutely in correspondence.

Stop.

“Or else what?” I pried the sword in deeper, relishing in the tiny shiver the Wisp let slip. Finally, I had a bargaining chip to leverage. Now all I needed to do was to ensure the Wisp knew the gravity of the situation it was in. “If I let you loose, you’ll go right back to killing me, won’t you?”

Good food.

“Right. See, I don’t want to die. Or rather, I can’t die. At least not until I complete my duty. Which means we’ve found ourselves at a weird place. You want to eat me while I want to stay alive. What do you think is the only solution here?” I asked, genuinely interested in what crazy idea the Wisp would cook up next.

A hefty pause followed my question, but this time, I let it stretch. As long as I maintained the upper hand, I would be safe.

…Eat. Later?

If I had my human body, I would’ve been furrowing my forehead so hard, the wrinkle lines would be etched into my face. As it was, my slime body jiggled in response to my emotional discomfort. It’s really invested in eating me, isn’t it? But, I might be able to use this to my advantage.

I contemplated my next words. This was the most tumultuous time in our deal which would determine whether we remained enemies, or became something more. “Are you willing to follow me wherever I go, for however long I take, and swear not to kill me until I’m ready?”

It was a ludicrous deal stacked in my favor. Any sane creature would deny it in a heartbeat, but if I’d learned anything from this conversation, it was that the Wisp’s thought process was far from normal.

…Okay.

“It could take months.” I warned, making sure the Wisp understood exactly what I was saying. I didn’t want trouble later down the road that sprouted from a misunderstanding.

…Yes.

The Wisp almost sounded confused why I kept clarifying. I exhaled, wracking my brain of all the possible loose ends. When I didn’t reach a conclusion, I switched routes and examined whether there were any alternative ways of going about this.

In reality, I was stalling, and I knew why. Amara would chide me to no end if she learned I was planning on making a deal with a creature who, not too long ago, had been killing me with a vengeance. She’d probably be in the right as well. Expecting the Wisp to abide by our terms was a foolhardy dream, but I couldn’t think of another way to break our stalemate. Besides, I gained some help as a bonus.

I may not be as skilled or as smart as Amara, Rob, Tami, and Marilyn, but I did have my own brand of crazy. And maybe, just maybe, that was what I needed to escape this dungeon.

“How can I be sure you’ll follow our agreement?” I prodded.

Trust.

I scoffed. “Yeah, no. I need something concrete to prove you won’t backstab me the moment I take the sword out.”

Chagrin. Trust. Form party.

“Party?” Something told me the Wisp wasn’t talking about the standard get-together I was used to. “What party?”

I couldn’t help but get the feeling that the Wisp would roll its eyes if it had any. System party. Comrades. Together.

“System? Wait, you have the system too?” Excitement bubbled up at the implications. Was my theory that all monsters possessed a System true? Did adventurers have a similar mechanism?

Duh.

“How am I supposed to go about doing this?” I wondered out loud. I could speak now, might as well munchkins it as much as possible. This was grounds for a new experiment as well: could the System activate upon hearing my physical voice? “Unleash a party.”

Ding!

You have issued an invitation to Will-O’-Wisp to form a party. Confirm?

Yes

No

I ran over the words several times in my head. It seemed as straightforward as it appeared, but what would be the consequences of forming a party? There needed to be some side effects, or else forming a party would be nothing more than pomp. For all I knew, confirming the request would result in my soul being ripped from my body and into the Wisp.

Yet as crazy as it sounded, I trusted the Wisp. Throughout our exchanges, I’d never once gotten the impression it lied. The Wisp was callous, oblivious to a fault, and clearly had a few screws loose…but I didn’t think it was a liar.

Hoping I wasn’t making the wrong decision, I selected Yes.

Ding!

You and Will-O’-Wisp have formed a party!

I was blasted backwards. Torrents of information and data piled into my mind, bypassing every barrier I’d placed, and some I didn’t know existed. I tried to grab onto pieces of information but they slipped through my fingers before I could even gather anything. I buckled under the onslaught of knowledge, feeling like I was being torn in two.

It was like I was getting carried away in a storming river. Every time I managed to poke my head up, I was instantly dragged back down. I fought against the raging current with all I had, finally succeeding in breaking my torso through. Gasping for air, I paddled over to the nearby riverbank. I collapsed on the dry land, the sensation of gravel and sand shifting under my weight being one of the greatest feelings I’ve ever experienced.

I thought I was safe. I couldn’t have been more wrong.

I escaped the river, only to look up and lay eyes on an overwhelming presence. It was a storm, a maw, an anomaly in the fabric of space and time. There was an absence of reality; where there should be something, there was nothing. It was a haunting sight to behold. I couldn’t even begin to comprehend the sheet emptiness of it, couldn’t fathom how such blackness was possible.

Fear stabbed me in my heart when I reached a chilling realization: this black hole was the same feeling I received from the Will-O’-Wisp—simply magnified. The lack of empathy and emotions, the indescribable sense of loss and apathy…all characteristics that had emanated from the Wisp.

I stumbled back and, in my haste, tumbled into the river again. I tried to fight my way up to the surface, but the coursing current was even stronger this time. I remained submerged under the torrents of liquid, witnessing flashes of moments frozen in time pass by. Memories, I now realized. The Wisp’s memories.

I was swept along by the current and into a swirling cyclone. As I twisted and turned, the memories flew by me faster and faster, shifting into a hazy blur of color and emotion. Disjointed whispers echoed over the pounding sound of water crashing into me, promising death, war, and hatred.

Out of nowhere, I suddenly stopped moving. I hung stationary in the water, as if I was a marionette held up by strings. The cyclone continued whirling around me but not a single force pressured me. Instead, a sickening sensation formed in my chest and began spreading outward.

A coldness that reached into my bones and rattled my organs. A frigid iciness that dulled my thoughts and lowered my inhibitions—to what, I wasn’t sure of yet. A hole was where my heart should have been, a void empty of my existence. With a startle, I realized I was no longer afraid of what was to come.

I dimly tried recalling the faces of my loved ones but the images were too foggy and intangible for me to latch onto. They nearly reached the forefront of my mind before being drowned by a thousand other things. It was going to take a while to get used to not hearing her voice but—wait, who was ‘her?’

Awake.

I was flung forward, smashing into the tree. The pain was secondary compared to the rush of emotions that accompanied it, acting as a counterbalance to the soul-crushing emptiness. All the strength in my body rushed out in droves and simultaneously, I felt stronger than ever. The huge disparity in feelings threw me off balance and sent my mind into haywire, trying to organize my thoughts.

…Registered.

I snapped my gaze up, locking onto the Wisp. It appeared as inconspicuous as ever but I’d seen its true nature. The depth hidden behind its fairy-tale-like cover. It floated above me right now, its teal flames flickering uneasily, but all I saw was the gaping maw in the sky. What have I just made a deal with?

Next to the Wisp was a set of blue text, moving with the creature. Trying to take my mind off the horrifying truth, I focused on the words.

Will-O’-Wisp (Level ???)

Stats: Incognito

“Wait…can you see my stats?” I asked warily.

…Truth.

For a moment, my apprehension was forgotten as I swelled up in indignation at the unfairness of it. “How come you’re ‘incognito!?’ That’s not fa—!” I stopped myself mid sentence before I blurted out a mistake. The existential crisis I was trying to stuff down was an indirect result from learning too much about the Wisp’s true nature. Maybe keeping the amount of knowledge on the Wisp’s stats limited was the best way to go about keeping my sanity intact.

As I came to terms with the fact, the Wisp seemed to go through a crisis of its own. It shuddered back and forth, occasionally zipping up before zooming back to its original position. Snapping out of my reverie, I observed the Wisp’s actions, preparing for any movement that could be classified as hostile.

Finally, the Wisp slowed down and hovered a couple of inches from my surface. I waited for any signs that it was done with its little seizure when I heard a faint voice whispering along the wind.

…Death approaches you.