“I am afraid I cannot answer that for you now. Powers far greater than mine have sealed my lips. You may learn the reason in time but for now, let it be. That is the most I can say.” Aarav was not surprised that he would not learn the reason, and the question had needed asking. No, what had surprised him was that Haemish had given any answer at all.
Aarav realised that his mouth was open, and he quickly shut it. Hmm, curious old man, you have layers like an onion. I am eager to know more about what you hide under that chubby facade.
“In any case, right now, we have more important things to be about!” More important than you telling me why you're leeching away bits of me? But Aarav let it go; one of the disadvantages to embracing this new ‘hospitality’ was that he did not have any bargaining room.
“Right, okay, so what are those things of great import that we need to do?” Aarav asked, playing along.
“First, you need to eat the rest of the skeleton; if I remember correctly, you only took on three limbs and were decidedly wobbly last I checked.” Haemish let the comment lie.
“Yes, well, it isn’t as though I have ever walked upright in this life, have I?” Aarav retorted.
Haemish ignored his jibe. “Then there are a few people I would like you to meet.”
“Showing me off to your friends?” Aarav chuckled.
Haemish returned the cheer, “Something like that.” Then he said in a more serious tone. “For now, I am thinking the best option is for you first to do the other leg, that way, you can try practising walking around and such. I think that makes the most sense. If things go the way, I hope that will then-well, we shall see when we get there.”
“You can’t leave a thought hanging like that? It is tantamount to torture. Just tell me what you have in mind for me. It is my life, so shouldn’t I have all the knowledge?”
“Hmm, not to get your hopes up, but it might make things easier if you have a humanoid form. That is all I can or will say at the moment. Please do not pester me, further apprentice! You have important things to be doing!”
This guy likes using the word ‘important’, but he isn’t wrong. That second leg will be a game-changer for me. Aarav decided to cut his losses in the conversation and head to yesterday’s haven, the storage room.
Upon entry, he found the nutrition brick that he had partially Consumed yesterday. He had forgotten about it, but more than two-thirds remained. That will make a nutritious breakfast! He decided to indulge for a few minutes for getting started on the second leg. He had to eat, and the limb was the equivalent of stale bread.
So, after a quick twenty minutes of chowing down on the breakfast bar, Aarav switched to the leg and began knawing on that. Meanwhile, outside he could hear the sound of people moving around. Taler’s chirpy voice came weakly through to Aarav’s ears. “Good Morning, Taler!” Aarav called, preempting an intrusion while he was working.
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“Morning Resh!” came the muffled reply through the wooden door. No entry was forthcoming, so Aarav understood that the man did not intend to interrupt his work.
After speaking a few pleasantries, Aarav could focus again on the work and quickly realised what he had forgotten. Damn, I need Mana Potions! How can I keep forgetting this stuff? I am supposed to be brilliant! “Uhh, Haemish, Master! Can I speak with you quickly?” Aarav called out.
The door opened, and Haemish stood there without crossing the threshold. “Yes?”
Aarav gave him a toothy grin that he thought would be endearing. Haemish’s wince said he might have been less than successful. I need to get that Charisma up. Ugh, failing to be convincing in two lives out of two, check! No, that wasn’t entirely true. He had gotten Ami out of scrapes in the past.
It still was unclear what Charisma did; it referred to influence and magnetism in some cases. But it was beauty or elegance in others. Aarav had never understood how the standard of physical appeal was measured, so it wasn't easy to know how it would manifest. For example, would he become a shinier version of himself? Or would he have more pull in discussions? It seemed one of the more abstract attributes, but at the same time, it was a negative one right now, and so probably irrelevant.
Aarav frowned at how quickly he was side-tracked. Would that get better with Focus?
And he was side-tracked again, just that easily. A few seconds had passed in the real world, and Haemish was staring at him. “Ahem, yes. I need a Mana Pot-“
“No! You are having too many of them. I told you yesterday that these potions were addictive and not good for you to have so many of!” Haemish was about to close the door firmly on Aarav protests and reasoning. Rude! When Aarav thought of a potential counter-argument.
“What about the weak ones!?” Aarav exclaimed over Haemish’s indignant grumbling. “I can use the same one you gave me last time if you have something similar. It doesn’t matter how slow it acts! That should be good, right? You said those have a lesser effect? That way, I can use as many as I need to and get the job done!” Aarav finished with the cherry on top, “I will finish the job significantly faster.”
Haemish’s interest was piqued, “How much faster?” Aarav was already regretting his last words.
“Um, maybe half again as fast?” Twice the speed, old man, and six times the experience for my skill and a higher Assimilation chance and...wow, this World Talent is insanely powerful! But Aarav did not need to tell Haemish all that.
Haemish was surprised, “Interesting, just with Mana, you can boost your Skill to that degree? It is a slow working Skill, so it makes sense to have an active component that would speed it up if needed. You will need to tell me more about this Skill and what it does.” Yeah, right. That is my piece de resistance! No way I’m giving you the inside information on my Skills or Talent! Also, at the cost of 100MP per hour, it is more than I can manage without a bit of cocktail assistance.
“Yes, with my Mana and Mana Regen so low, I can only sustain the boost for a short while before I have to stop. It makes for a very inconvenient handicap to my progress. Did you say something about pushing myself once?” Aarav intoned.
“Hmm, did I say something like that? Yes, that does sound like me though I can’t remember saying it to you specifically. I have perfect recall, you know, so it would be embarrassing if I couldn’t remember something of that sort.” Haemish raised an eyebrow with an ‘I caught you’ look. It was a rookie mistake, and one Aarav likely wouldn’t have made if he had been more focused instead of looking to the second leg of bone.
Final attempt, “I didn’t say you used those exact words, but I understood your implications. Please help me out here, Master. I am trying to make the most of each hour and minute I have. Mana will go a long way, and I can even use the trash you are not planning to use anyway? Stuff that takes hours to work is fine!” Aarav knew that he sounded a little whiny and needy, but they were usually surprising effective in situations like this.
Haemish gave a massive sigh like the world’s weight was on his shoulders with this request. He popped out and back again within a couple of minutes, time that Aarav did not waste on the skeleton leg but instead engaged with a delicious meal of brick.
“Here you go. We have a lot of failed potions, and I didn’t have the heart to throw them away, but they are yours since you seem to want them so badly.” Haemish shook his head disbelievingly. This creature really would use up anything and everything to grow.
“Thank you so much, Haemish. You can leave them there, and I should be able to use my arms to tip them over for the contents, and I need to take them at specific intervals for the optimal result!” Aarav’s smile was bright and cheerful, and even Haemish found that he was grinning alongside him.
“Oh, and one final thing, bear in mind that none of those potions is exactly alike. Some of them are slower, some faster, some last longer but restore less Mana, things like that, so be aware and plan accordingly.” Those were Haemish’s final words as he stepped out of the doorway and closed the door behind him, leaving the Slime to get to work finally.
That first bite of bone was sweeter than a brick now that he had Mana Potions to spare!