BANG BANG BANG! The noise continues to increase as I enter the laboratory… The sight I see is something I hadn't expected. Some of the slimes had escaped the metal container I had placed them in. The container didn't have a lid but it was far higher than they could jump, this made it easier to remove and put them back once I was done experimenting… I have no idea how they managed to escape. The loud noise comes from the slimes working together to weaken the wall and break free. Wood has started to peel and chip from constant attacks, they might have been doing this for days.
I haven't been back to the laboratory in weeks. All of my time has been taken up with completing the first draft of the dragon automaton. All of them are different now as well, over the course of an unknown amount of time. They have all been changed into the type of slime with a core in it… I guess I should start from the beginning. I pick up the slimes and put them back into the topless cage… I need to figure out how they got freed. I wait… Minutes pass. I'm about to give up when they finally show me how they got out. The slimes pile onto each other in one corner just enough for 3 of them to escape. HOW!?
Slimes have never shown any ability to work together. They've never shown any intelligence what so ever. These slimes are working together to free some of them… It seems that one of those who made it out of the cage is the original. His color is still a slightly different shade than the rest…. I'll need to do more research but it also appears that they're trying to escape as well. Slowly wearing down the weakest part of the room to escape. I let them beat on a wall as I pull one of the still caged out to run some experiments on.
I examine it closer… It appears to be a regular slime still from the description I'm getting. I poke and prod it… Unlike slimes I've done this too originally it just sits and takes it. Normally they would be constantly fighting to get free with their feeble strength. Constantly launching attacks against me but this one is far more passive than normal… Until I try to poke inside to the newly formed core. It goes berserk trying to break free of my grip. For some reason, it is fighting intensely against me messing or even touching its core.
“I'm sorry slime, this is what I have to do to learn.”
I say, I know he can't understand me but it is if the thrashing slows slightly when I say it… It is as if it is trying to learn what I'm saying. I pull out metal tongs I had taken from a blacksmithing set for experimenting and try to poke into the slime. I have to hold it down with a flat board so it can't move, my hand would only slip out of holding it if it struggled intensely. I go to pull the core out and it disintegrates. The core is so fragile that any attempt to remove them will only destroy it… What happens next is also a surprise.
The slime starts to violently shake. In the next moment it explodes, spraying slime gel everywhere even covering me… It appears they need these cores to survive after they form. I turn to look at the slimes now and they are all visibly shaking. It is like the they are in pain… From experimenting I had ruled out that they cannot feel pain. I move to pick up slimes now and put them back but the 3 outside all huddle in a corner attempting to get as far away from me as possible. The 2 normal colored slimes out front protecting the discolored slime… These can no longer be considered normal slimes… They are a new race of slimes entirely.
I get close to them and sit down in front of them… Then try to speak.
“Can you understand me?”
No response.
“Is there any way you can communicate?”
No response.
“Are you afraid of me now that I've killed one of you?”
...The slimes shake slightly. I have no idea what it means, if it is a yes, no or they are just moving by my voice. More testing will be done but as I am right now… I need sleep. I've been dead tired from working on the dragon and haven't gotten a good nights sleep in so long… I need sleep before I continue. I toss the remaining slimes back into the cage and find a lid to slide on top of it. Even if they work together I doubt they will be able to lift it. I head to bed and the moment I wake up I go get food and head towards the laboratory again.
Heading inside I can see they slid the board I had laid over top of the cage a few inches. Not enough to free them but eventually it would have been enough. I doubt they have any grasp on time. They could have been beating on this wall for weeks constantly working towards a goal with no sleep or food. Speaking of food. I pull the cage off and throw in a few pieces of meat.
“Breakfast is here.”
Each seems to absorb a piece… I had brought more than enough for each of them but I had only thrown in enough to feed all but 1… I want to test and see how they deal with it. Just as expected, and unexpectedly at the same time they share the food between them. They mash against each other and cycle the food between them. I didn't expect them to be able to do this but it seems to rapidly deteriorate the meat. Far faster than a normal slime would digest something. It works the same way a pond would work compared to a raging river. The river is going to thrash anything that enters it far faster than what a motionless body of water would do.
It seems to get smarter and smarter. I need to learn more but first, I should try to tame it. I try… And try… And try for what seems to be hours when it is only minutes with no luck. I give it more food and then try to tame it again… I repeat this process about 3 times when I'm about to give up.
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“If this doesn't work soon I might kill a few of you and then try again.”
It looks like they are shaking from what I am saying… I think they can understand my intentions now. Even if they can't understand me it seems the tone in my voice is effecting them… How's about a dragon's roar then? I change into my dragon form, giving off a good roar I can see them visibly shaking… Perhaps finally ready to surrender. I attempt to tame them again, focusing instead of just at the discolored one… I try to tame all of them together now.
Monster tamed hive-mind slime
Hmm… It seems that they aren't just a singular slime any more… More like a collective all working together. Perhaps that is how they've started to get smarter. When a single slime doesn't have the intelligence to learn. Several slimes put together seem to be able to… So under that theory, perhaps adding more slimes to them would increase the speed at which they learn… Perhaps even get stronger at.
“Stay here for now.”
I give them the order but don't put them back in the cage. I doubt they will try to break out anymore and I just close the door behind me. I head towards Shienta and travel my normal route, capturing any slimes I come across… I managed to gather 6 fairly quickly before returning… It should be enough to test this theory. Putting them into a void pouch with metal covering the floors and walls designed specifically for capturing slimes I head back to the laboratory. The hive-mind is still just sitting where I had left it.
I head into the void storage and grab out a single slime… Putting it in front of the rest of them. I wait… Then wait… Then wait some more… I'm about to move them into a smaller area when I decide to give the hive-mind an order.
“Take over that slime.”
In the next moment all of the other slimes start attacking the regular 1. Ganging up against it so it has no time to react, one of the hive-slimes even getting behind it to cut off escape. In a few seconds they disperse from it. I look very closely and can see what appears to be a tiny, tiny pebble inside the slime. With that, I know that the regular slime has been converted to a hive-mind slime… So is this 1 under my control now?
“New slime can you do a trick for me?”
All of the slimes start jumping into the air.
“No just the newest one.”
My question confuses them… It appears they can understand somewhat but still can't comprehend what I'm saying. I point at the new one now, singling it out from the rest before saying.
“Jump.”
Now only the one I'm pointing at jumps. The rest sit motionless. I say.
“Stop.”
It stops. I proceed to continue testing the remaining slimes pointing at each one to confirm they all can move separately. Having some jump together and even getting control over all but a single 1. If I can get them to follow orders more closely this will be far better than they are right now. I pull out the 5 remaining slimes, 1 at a time and feed them to the hive-mind. There are now 13 altogether. A dozen normal ones and the discolored main brain slime… I look closely at it now… Close enough to determine that its core is bigger than the others. Each must continue to grow from the time they've spent as a part of the hive-mind.
“Alright follow me. Since you are now under my control, we can start putting you to use.”
As I leave none of them follow… I think the sentence was too big for them to grasp.
“Follow.”
The whole lot of slimes starts following after me. We enter the gates of the fortress and I start getting weird looks. A group of men who were in the middle of training stop to watch me and the collection of slimes following behind me. In all honesty… I see no fighting potential in these slimes. I had started working on them entirely for non war reasons but with the sheer number I could get into the collective hive-mind. They could potentially become a huge part of my war strategy later on… I'll have to tell the beast tamers to start collecting slimes… On second thought, I could just give them a hive-slime to convert slimes as they go… I continue to walk into the entrance of cave now. People step out of my way as the collective of slimes follows behind me bouncing fairly quickly, perhaps at twice the speed of normal slimes.
We stop at the kitchen first. I separate 3 of the slimes. Giving 1 to each of the main chefs under the order of. “Follow their orders.” to each. Continuing further into the fortress cave I stop by the armory next, dropping off 2 more slimes to help clean the metal equipment. Then 2 go to the medical bay for disposing of and cleaning off used utensils and medical waste. Altogether I still have a good number of slimes… I head to the beast tamers and drop off the remaining hive-mind slimes for recruiting more… I think perhaps having a limit would be fine but until I get over 100 they should still be easily manageable. I only keep the odd colored slime with me… It can follow me around and be my personal one for now. I need to figure out more about these slimes as I go. Having one close by will be the quickest way to see what they are capable of.