After informing Esmeralda of her plans, Clarity and Amy ended up spending the rest of the night at her shop.

Esmeralda had somewhat refined her plans for testing Clarity's absorption ability, and had several items on hand she wanted to try out. Through their experiments, they found that Clarity was capable of absorbing only one material from a bar of mixed metals, but it required extreme concentration and precise control on Clarity's part, which she kept messing up. However, that didn't dim Esmeralda's excitement in the least, as she went into a long speech about all of the great uses such an ability could have if perfected.

Amy, for her part, was perfectly happy trying to teach Clarity some small, easy spells that she knew after learning of Clarity's odd affinity for magic. For the simple spells, Amy merely had to repeat casting magic until Clarity was able to copy the process.

“You know, if all of my students could learn magic this easily, I'd be the greatest magic teacher ever” Amy giggled, recalling her painfully slow lessons with her mage students yesterday.

The small earth bullet and the invisible wind slash she taught Clarity had no apparent changes apart from a slightly increased mana expenditure, but Clarity's fireball came out pale blue instead of Amy's bright red one.

“Hmm... Magic is often a matter of perception and will, rather than simple reality. Your fireball burns just as hot as any other and causes similar levels of damage. I suspect the blue coloring is merely due to your own perception of your magic” Amy lectured.

After getting carried away with the impromptu sleepover, none of the three got a single wink of sleep before noticing the sun's first rays beginning to shine through the easternmost window of the shop. Clarity wasn't bothered at all, but both Amy and Esmeralda looked like pandas by the time they were done.

“Oh wait! One more thing” Esmeralda stopped Clarity as she and Amy were about to head out to meet Rob the merchant at the adventurer's guild. “Take this with you!” she shoved a large silver ring into Clarity's hands.

“Wow” Amy whistled “A storage ring? Those are expensive. Mine cost me 20 gold.”

“It's not that expensive... I enchanted it myself, so the materials only cost about 5 gold. It's not built for aesthetics, it's a purely practical ring, so nobody is going to pay top dollar for it” Esmeralda replied shyly. “Just consider it a loan! I already put those clothes we got you yesterday inside!”

“Thank you, Esmeralda” Clarity did a small bow “you've helped me a lot since I came here.”

“Don't worry about it! That's what friends are for.” Esmeralda replied “And be careful out there with the natives, I've heard they can be really weird sometimes. Even weirder than the adventurers around here!”

“Sure” Clarity agreed, fitting the ring around her left middle finger, as Esmeralda placed a “closed” sign on her door and locked up the shop so she could get some sleep while Amy and Clarity left for the guild hall.

When they arrived, they found a sizable crowd of rambunctious adventurers already outside, training in the yard. Clarity hurried inside to avoid distracting them when more than a few began to stop what they were doing to stare at Clarity, with Amy hot on her heels.

Inside they found Rob sitting down to eat in the guild mess with three heaping plates of food piled in front of him. Upon seeing their entrance, he waved dramatically and called for them to join him.

“Glad you could make it!” he called as they came closer “Would you care to join me? Feel free to pull up a chair!”

“Just a coffee for me” Amy grumbled tiredly, while Clarity politely refused the offer with the explanation “I'm sorry, I don't eat food.”

“Don't eat food? You've got to be kidding me!” Rob sputtered. “I'm so sorry! That's horrible! I don't know what I would do without food!”

“Lose a few pounds, probably” Amy grumbled under her breath as she ambled off to grab her drink at the counter, though if Rob heard her he didn't show it.

Looking at his watch, Rob addressed Clarity “It's 7:30 right now. It's a bit early, but if we leave now we'll make it to Eden City by mid-afternoon. Unless you need more time?”

“I'm ready whenever” Clarity agreed “But aren't you going to finish your food first?”

“Of course I am!” Rob shouted indignantly “I'll be done in five!”

Over the next five minutes, Clarity came to understand the true meaning of a black hole. Even Amy, returning with a steaming hot cup in her hand, openly gaped as the large man in front of them did his best impression of a magician, and made the food simply disappear.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

“Hey” Amy whispered “Who do you think is faster? Your absorption or his eating?”

“...” Clarity refrained from answering, preferring not to think about the matter any longer.

“Ah, that really hit the spot” Rob exclaimed, patting his stomach in satisfaction. Throwing several bronze coins down on his tray next to his now empty plates, Rob led the trio out of the dining area to the back of the guild hall.

Behind the building they found Rob's wagon, right next to a large stable..

“One second, let me grab that armor I promised you before I get ol' Betsy hooked up to the wagon!” Rob yelled as he clambered up the wagon and began rummaging through a small wooden chest situated next to an assortment of random goods that all appeared to hold mana to Clarity's senses.

“Does that chest have a space enchantment? It's kind of small for armor.” Amy pointed out.

“Nope!” Rob pulled his hands out of the chest, each containing a small piece of armor “Here it is!”

'Damn, you've got some good taste' Clarity couldn't help but acknowledge as she stared at the pristine, incredibly skimpy steel-wrought bikini armor straight out of an 80s amazon warrior flick. 'Based on my video game knowledge that armor would definitely have top tier defensive stats.'

“What the hell?” Amy shouted, glaring hostilely at the fat merchant. “This isn't that kind of establishment! We're adventurers, not hookers!”

“What? No! I swear, I meant nothing of the sort! Intimidation, awe, camouflage, the aesthetics are as much a part of armor as the practicality, no? Sure, this armor may be a bit racier than your average armor, but as a historical piece based off my world's history, there's nothing odd about wearing it here!”

“Besides” Rob pointed out, handing the two small pieces of armor to Clarity “Didn't we already agree that she would wear the armor I provided while guarding my goods?”

Amy glanced at Clarity as the slime girl appeared naively innocent of Rob's sinister intentions. “Listen, Clarity, I'm not so sure this is a good idea” she whispered.

Knocking the metal thong and bikini top together, Clarity asked “Isn't it sturdier than the clothes you gave me before?”

'I remember how revealing that dress you gave me was' Clarity chuckled at Amy's discomfort.

“That... that's different! Listen! There's nothing wrong with exposing some cleavage, but this is a bit much. This doesn't cover your backside at all! There's no way this is proper!”

“Oh... then what if I wear this with it?” Clarity asked, pulling out a long, black, wrap-around cape that Esmeralda had purchased for her earlier.

“Great idea! Every knight needs a good cape!” Rob agreed.

Amy grimaced but finally relented “Fine, just make sure this guy doesn't try to touch your body while you're wearing it. That's considered... improper in our society.”

“Of course” Clarity nodded 'If he tries I'll just smack him around a bit and loot- I mean, take recompense from his goods.'

While Rob entered the stables to find his horse Betsy, Clarity quickly stuffed the metal bikini under her sweater and then, a few seconds later, focused on putting her current outfit into the storage ring on her finger.

“Wait! Not out here!” Amy exclaimed, looking around to see if there were any bystanders watching, before realizing that Clarity already had the metal bikini in place beneath “Huh? That's a pretty nifty trick.”

Rob returned with Betsy just as Clarity threw the heavy cape over her shoulders. Hitching the horse to the wagon, he gestured for Clarity to get onboard as Amy waved goodbye with one last “Be careful” thrown in.

“We'll be back before you know it! Maybe I'll even sell out early and we can return ahead of time.”

Clarity sat beside him as Rob lead the wagon through the town. Clarity pulled her cape tight around her to avoid becoming an even bigger spectacle than usual. She felt surprisingly revealed on their trip out of town.

'Now that I'm not wearing them, I do kind of miss my clothes. If nothing else, they did a good job of hiding my core. I don't care about my goo, but my core is tied to my life now.'

“We should make it to Eden City in four to five hours” Rob explained, handing her a small white pebble. “Hold on to this, it's a guest pass for Eden City. They have a small barrier they purchased from the Eden Empire that makes people and monsters incredibly uncomfortable when they come near the city, unless they hold one of those specially designed passes. Some humans power through the discomfort, even without a pass, so they can live in safety, but most weak monsters won't even think of getting close!”

The first half of their trip was completely uneventful. Rob seemed able to talk endlessly about nothing, his voice fading into background noise as Clarity spent most of the time taking in her surroundings. She observed crumbling roads, houses in various stages of disrepair, and a few farms with what appeared to be squads of men holding large spears or pitchforks guarding them,

'It looks so different around here than it did when I last entered slime forest... I guess it's beginner's forest now, heh.'

As they were rounding an old, dilapidated apartment building, Rob had to bring his wagon to an abrupt halt as what appeared to be an old, gruff adventurer with leather armor and a large, rusty sword jumped out in front of them.

“Stop if ya know what's good for ya!” he yelled.

“What's this?” Rob demanded “Do you have any idea who I am? The cities I supply will not stand idly by if you interrupt my trade! Plus, a drop-out adventurer like yourself is no match for the guard I've hired!” he gestured towards Clarity. Secretly he was thanking his lucky stars he hadn't left earlier as he had planned, without an escort.

Clarity rose from her seat as the old adventurer advanced threateningly, raising his sword as though he would rush forward at any moment. “What the hell is that?” he muttered, stopping, as he finally took a good look at Rob's guard.

“Now!” shouted a voice from the side. Suddenly, a group of five men in army fatigues rushed out of the apartment building, each holding a large automatic rifle in their hands. The adventurer in front of the wagon pulled back as they opened fire.

Clarity panicked as she recognized what they were holding, but before they could fire, she stood in front of Rob and anxiously dumped her entire mana pool into reinforcing the metal shell around her core. 'I'll be damned if I'm going to get shot to death again!'

A slew of bullets tore through Clarity, ripping hundreds of small holes through her cape in only a handful of seconds, as they clinked off of the bikini armor Rob had given her earlier, leaving noticeable dents in the material. Her goo did little to stop them as the bullets tore through her, only slightly slowed down, puncturing more holes through her cape on the way out, and an unknown number of them continued on to hit poor Rob behind her.

Fortunately, the reinforced metal heart in the center of her chest remained unblemished. Not a single dent or scratch could be found, and Clarity briefly wondered if she had wasted too much mana in her panic to reinforce it, before deciding it wasn't worth worrying about right now. 'Better safe than sorry.'

Behind her, Rob cried out in pain as the men ran out of ammo, and began to look up in astonishment at the odd, pale blue woman with glowing eyes who had just eaten five full mags of ammo without any apparent harm.

“My friend gave me this cloak” she muttered with annoyance. She immediately charged the men with guns, leaving the old adventurer standing in front of the wagon in shock as she bowled through his companions like a bunch of bowling pins.