Wow, long time no see. This was the second story I ever made(first was The Swarm) and I recently fixed it up, implementing the things I have learned these last few months, to try and improve it somewhat at least. This story was made to practise the status/stats popups, to prepare for a VRMMO story I wanted to make. Unfortunately, I found out just how much work they were to create. So, this story died off. The VRMMO story was never born either. Recently, they released a way to make easy boxes, so I tried it out, and found it to be acceptable. However, I dropped all the hp/mp/sp things, that only exists in games, and made a slightly more realistic status. It might look weird and useless, but well, not sure how else you would measure many of those things in the real world. In case you are confused about the actual numbers, like 10 IQ, well, don't be, it's currently broken for all of them(read, I haven't bothered to get accurate stats for them yet, since they are still normal humans, with no change from an average person from our world. Just imagine your own numbers there if you really need something).

If you are an older reader, I strongly suggest you go back to Chapter 1, and read it again. I have made many changes on it, and you probably doesn't remember the story anyway. If you feel like that would be too much work, well, at least check out Chapter 2. That one have over doubled in size and have a new character. Chapter 1 is still fairly similar, story wise, and is really just an intro.

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The light enveloped Simon. He shrunk and shrunk. Not just in height, but his limbs too. He turned rounder and rounder. The confused onlookers could only stand and wait. What can this possibly be?

Finally, it stopped. Sitting in the circle was a… blue blob. Round like a water balloon, about a meter in diameter. A fist-sized black nucleus floated around in the center of the blob. As Simon tried to move, his body simply wiggled or bounced up and down.

“Pffuahaha!! A slime!” Andrew couldn’t contain himself, and burst into laughter. “Oh... I’m so... sorry, Simon…” He managed to squeeze out between the laughter attacks. To see a baby griffin rolling around on the ground, with the front claws clamping the beak shut, trying to stop the laughing attacks... Well, it was an odd sight, to say the least.

Everyone else covered their mouths with their hands, trying to contain their giggles. Who could blame them? Simon's transformation was just so unexpected, and the way he bounced and wiggled around, just looked too funny. Even the acolytes and trainers struggled to keep their faces in check. Only one person remained unfazed by the sight. Peter Riest.

“Enough! Have some respect!” Peter roared out. The sudden outburst managed to silence all the laughing attacks. “Tell me Simon, what does your skill say now?”

“...”

“Simon? You can hear me right?”

“...”

“Wriggle twice if you can.”

The slime wriggled twice in response, which caused some mild laughter to spring up again. An angry look from Peter silenced them again.

“You can’t speak?”

The slime wriggled twice once more.

“Well, that’s a problem. Hey, Andrew, what is this slime thing you spoke of?”

“You never heard of a slime? They are common in games and such. Eh…” Andrew coughed, before continuing. “I mean, they are often mentioned in stories…”

“Oh?” Peter raised an eyebrow. He thought for a bit, before saying: “Never heard of them myself. Maybe it’s because you are from another place. Maybe they don’t exist here. What do you know about them?”

“Well, they are usually weak. They have great adaptability and… not much else. Ask Simon, you know, he is one.” Andrew never claimed to be some kind of slime expert. Apart from them being easy to kill in games, he didn’t know much else. Besides its appearance, it might not even be remotely similar to the slimes types Andrew knew about. Better to remain silent, than to risk misinforming everyone. Would be embarrassing if he was wrong.

Peter nodded. Indeed, asking Simon, the actual slime, was a much better idea, than to stand around guessing. “Since you can’t talk, just show us for now. You can tell us later.” Peter said to Simon.

The blue slime rolled off the circle. Apparently that was one way to move the body. It squirted a thin and powerless water beam. Like somebody took a leak. The water beam reached about one meter, until it hit the ground, creating a small puddle of muddy water. Simon maneuvered the water beam to draw a line in the dirt floor.

“Oh… that is very… good. You can produce water? Might be very useful, not for combat, but as a support.” Peter dug deep to come up with some ways to praise the ability Simon used.

“Can you drink the water? Actually, would anyone want to drink it?” Anne asked.

Simon felt wronged, and put full force into his new ability. He created seven beams of water, making the ground around him wet.

“Oh, even more water. Maybe this have some uses, after all.” Peter said. “Aren’t I right, everyone?”

“Uh, yes.” Andrew said.

“If you say so.” Helena said.

“Sure.” Sten said.

Simon felt like they didn’t appreciate him very much, so he started rolling, while water spurted out from him. All over the dirt field. The formerly hard packed dirt field, turned into a muddy field.

“Ah, head priest, he is ruining the dirt field!” An acolyte ran up to Peter and complained.

“Why does it matter? Isn’t it the same as when it rains?” Anne asked. She looked up, seeing the open sky. No roof or anything that looked like rain cover.

“Actually, no, it’s not. We have a rain barrier on the temple. Actually, it’s a full weather barrier. Wind, smoke, mist, rain, even the harmful beams of the sun are unable to damage the temple area. The training field have been in this state for thousands of years. Now, it’s a muddy plain. Ah, the water even wiped off the magic circles.” Peter said with a sigh. He shook his head at their misfortune. However, he didn’t know how to stop Simon either.

A few acolytes ran after Simon, trying to grab him, but even if they got close, as soon as they got a grip, he slipped out. Simon seemed to think it was more of a game, than they actually trying to stop him. Simon pretended to not hear their shouts.

It wasn’t until Simon shrunk by half and wrinkles formed, slowing him down, that he finally got caught. “Damn you, look at what you have done!” The acolyte pulled Simon’s sides, stretching him out like an arm sized rope. All that did, however, was to pull out more water from Simon, squirting it on the acolyte holding him. A dark, wet spot covered his crotch area. “Ah, you bastard!”

The acolyte that caught him, swung him in the air, then threw him down into an empty crate. “You! Stay there for now!”

Peter sighed once more. “Call for fire mages! We need to dry this area.” He commanded the acolytes, and they immediately ran off.

Peter turned to the other four heroes. “Now, the rest of you. You should head back to your rooms. No more training today, it seems. You two, revert the transformation.”

After a minute of struggling, Andrew gave up and asked: “How do I do that?”

The question stunned Peter. “Eh? You just… turn it off? Think it in your heads. Or say it, if that helps.”

“Transformation… off!” Andrew shouted. “De-activate! Shut down! Peter! Help!” Andrew ran up to Peter and bit his robe, pulling it. It was kinda cute, ignoring the fact that there was a twenty something man inside of the baby griffin.

“What is going on?! You can’t get out from your transformation? This… has never happened before. Ah, but don’t worry, it has a maximum of twenty-four hours, then it automatically reverts back, whether you want to or not. Let go!” Peter said, as he pulled back the robe from Andrew’s mouth.

“Ah, don’t know what came over me, it felt… appropriate.” Andrew spit out some of the fabric. His bite created a fist sized hole in Peter’s robe.

Peter sighed for the third time in a short period of time. Both his ancient training field and his most precious robe, that he wore for special occasions, like greeting the heroes or when the king or high ranked nobles came to pray at the temple, were now ruined. “Sten? What about you?”

“No.”

“Anne, can you put away your bow?” Peter said, and hope at least one hero could function like a normal person. Not counting Helena, that did not have any summon or transformation abilities.

“Yep, look.” She clutched her hand, and the bow imploded into itself, and got sucked into the hand. “Look, I got a tattoo in my hand now.” An around five centimeter long tattoo of the bow appeared inside her hand.

“Well, that’s good. Yeah, Sten, you are too big. Stay here for now. I can bring some tent for you to live in. The rest, follow me. Let’s pick up a good spell book for Helena. Simon… can stay in the crate for now.”

Peter led Andrew, Anne and Helena inside the temple.

Sten stood still, staring straight forward, his arms hanging by the sides. Seemingly unfazed by the wait. At a glance, one might mistake him for an odd statue.

Simon on the other hand… he was very confused.

What is going on?! Why did they throw me in here? It’s just a dirt field… Ahh, I only wanted to show them my water manipulation skill. Well, since it never registered as a skill, perhaps I only spit out the water, like you do with your mouth. Or the other thing… No, let’s not think about that... I'm a slime now? Not what I expected, but sure. Slimes have some interesting abilities. What does my transformation skill say now?

Transformation: Transform into a slime, a magical creature. Consume to grow.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Consume to grow? Anything? Even rotten food? Simon could not find anything to consume, so he let that thought go. The crate covered all sides, making movement, besides a small wiggle room, impossible. He could only see up. Now that he thought about it, how exactly did he see? With just a single organ in the body, how could he do anything? Human logic could not help Simon with understanding the magical slime creature.

Simon gave up trying to understand his new form, and started to look for food again. Just like before, he found nothing. Only the crate, which could not be counted as food. Or could it? Simon, as someone who just turned into a new creature, still had all his old habits left and only looked for actual food.

Simon decided to wait in his crate in silence, until someone would pick him up.

After about half an hour, Simon heard loud voices. Hey, it’s getting kinda hot in here...

***

Two fire mages, male and female, arrived to pray at the temple. Both at similar age, the early twenties, and with red hair. They were not acolytes, the ones that trained to become servants of the temples, but simply normal fire mages. They served in the local garrison, and their above average skills in fire magic, earned them quite the reputation amongst the stationed troops. Born and raised in Istaria, they had never left it for more than a day's travel.

They entered the great hall, where a statue of Istus stood. The statue, five meter tall, sculpted with the finest white marble, held a burning torch in the hand. Not a marble torch, but an actual torch. An ancient artifact, given to them by the gods, and as long as the fire burned, the gods would hear their prayers especially clear from this location. Over a hundred people formed a queue, waiting in silence to pray. The two mages sighed as they saw the line, but their determination to pray at the statue overcame their sloth.

“Let’s just wait…”

“Yeah, we need to make sure they hear us.”

It was possible to pray anywhere, after all, it would be too inconvenient to gather at a temple every time one needed to pray to the gods. However, the torch helped to clear the distortions that filled the world. Pray at home, and the prayer would be distorted, and hard to understand. Some gods didn’t bother to focus too much on those.

Even though the purpose of the temple was to honor Istus, he allowed everyone to pray here, even the ones that wanted to pray to the other gods. Most religious people took it upon themselves to pray the Great Temple of Istus, at least once in their lifetime. Of course, the ones that lived in Istaria did it more often. There were other special praying temples in the world, but this one was the largest in both size and grandeur.

Finally, they arrived at the front of the line. They got down on their knees, and clasped their hands. They bent their heads and closed their eyes. While it was possible to simply say the prayer inside the head, many liked to say it out loud. After such a long wait, standing in line, having finally arrived in front of the magnificent statue of Istus, not many felt the need to hide their prayer. Unless, of course, the person wished for something that most people would frown upon. Like misfortune of others.

The male mage went first. “Istus, the god of light, I ask of you, please spice up our lives. The life in the garrison is boring, nothing ever happens. I also wish to enter the royal academy, with my sister, and advance our knowledge about fire magic. Also, please bestow upon us, some awe-inspiring heroes. That is all.” He got up and the female mage began.

“Great Istus, what he said. Ah, except, change the part about ‘sister’ to ‘brother’. Bye.” She got up and they nodded to each other.

“That should do it. Now all we can do is wait.” They began to walk towards the exit.

“Fire! Fire mages! Anyone here a fire mage?” A group of four green robes acolytes rushed in.

Everyone in the room turned towards the acolytes, but after they heard their requirements, they got back to training their patience in silence. Fire mages are not rare, but not common either. Earth and water mages are the top two most common, with the least common being the dark mage. The reason for that is the fact that humans live off the earth and water, but avoids the dark. Or so the wise ones believe.

“Here! We! We are!” The two siblings rushed forward, waving with their hands.

“Me too! Take me!” Another split off from the line and rushed forward.

“Me, meeee!!” A fourth fire mage appeared.

“Uh, we just need two. Who should we pick?” The acolytes discussed amongst themselves.

“Strongest is the best right?”

“No, we need control, not power.” They nodded, that was the best choice.

“Let’s have a small competition.” One stepped forward. While thin haired, he had a ridiculous comb over to cover his balding head. “Since time is of the essence, the test will be quick and easy. Give acolyte, Al Froman, here a quick and easy haircut.” He gestured to the man next to him.

Al Froman wore a shocked expression on his face. “No, not my… hair. It’s my pride!” His black and fluffy hairstyle was around thirty centimeters thick. Instead of going downwards like normal hair, his hair actually went up, and formed a giant helmet around his head.

The balding man slowly shook his head. “Sadly, it’s against the rules. This is good opportunity to get rid of it, don’t you think?”

Anger flashed in Al’s eyes. “You are just jealous!” He spoke very loudly, causing the whole great hall to hear him.

“Behave yourself, acolyte! You disgrace yourself in front of the worshippers! We can do this the easy way, or the hard way. Don’t make us restrain you.” The balding man glared at Al, who shrunk back, and resigned himself to his fate. The balding man turned to the face the fire mages. “Now, fire mages, you each have one side on his head. The one that gets closest to two centimeters in length, will win.”

As he said the word ‘win’, four flames ignited and shot out towards Al’s head. One was a fire beam, and it cut a large hole into the hair, but only a hole. Next was a meter long flame, and it burnt all the way down to the skin, making terrifying burn marks appear on his skin. Al clenched his jaw, but only grunted slightly in response to the pain.

The two fire mage siblings formed fire whips out of their flame. The almost white glow of the fire whips showed off their incredible heat. They were the thickness of a finger and the length of the body of the user. While it was possible to extend it, upwards to five meters, that made it weaker and harder to control.

Their assignment was to cut the sides of the head, and they swept down with their fire whips, resulting in a quick and accurate slash. As it neared the shoulders, threatening to cause horrific burn marks, the fire mages pulled back their whips. A large portion on the hair fell down from each side. The two crescent shaped clumps of hair were in one piece, not falling apart, even as they hit the floor. The remaining hair on the head was slightly burnt, but the fire faded quickly. The repulsive smell of burnt hair spread out inside the great hall.

“Impressive! Let’s see. First, you only made a hole in the hair. Second, you burnt down all the way to his skin, and hurt him. Third, very good, it's around four centimeters. Fourth, even better, you got three centimeters. We have our winners.”

“Like a baby’s butt! Smooth Skin!” Al healed himself. In contrast to his dark skin, he was actually a light mage, the most common type in the temple. Uneducated commoners sometimes thinks the ones with dark skin have a higher chance to become dark mages, or practise any of the dark arts, however, it has no relation at all. His formerly burnt and disfigured skin, turned back to its former healthy appearance. Al took one last look on the hair on the ground, sighing quietly to himself. That will take time to grow back… goodbye my friends, your sacrifice won’t be in vain.

“Now that Al’s hair is more presentable, we must hurry. The explanation will continue as we walk.” The balding man walked back the way he came. “Follow me.”

“We are heading to the training field. It’s made out dirt, and have been in perfect condition for thousands of years. Sadly, we had some trouble with a water creature that squirted water all over the field.”

“Water creature? It was the hero, Simon!” One of the other acolytes said loudly.

The siblings stopped in their tracks, a single word echoing in their minds. Hero? They both came to their senses at the same time and shouted out simultaneously: “Hero?!”

“Ah, yes… That is why I said water creature.” He said as he glared at the acolyte that couldn’t keep the secret. “Anyway, yes, there is a hero. Might aswell tell you, there are five of them in total. Don’t ask me about the-”

“Yes! They are so cooool! A golem, a griffin, an archer, a healer and a slime. Not sure what the last one is, but the griffin said it was a slime. He is the one that poured water on the field!” The same acolyte said with great excitement.

“Wow!” The siblings were too shocked to say much else.

The balding man rested his face, more specifically his eyebrows, on his fingertips. “...Now that the entire secret is out… Anyway, your job is to dry the plain. Get it done quickly, there is a new training session in one hour.”

“Not just that! The golem smashed his head with a training hammer! Guess what happened! The hammer broke! And so did his head! Yet, he was fine!” The excited acolyte continued.

“Impossible!” The siblings were too astonished. Heroes are amazing!

“Eh, forget it...” The balding man gave up and walked in silence. Once the hero fanatics started talking, there was no stopping them.