'Ah...'

I stared in stunned silence, then frantically ran to where the yellow slime once stood as fast as I could. Using as many tendrils as possible, I desperately searched for remnants of the violet core.

'No!' I screamed in desperation.

I felt like crying if that were even physically possible. This felt like my biggest setback ever; this was something I had truly wished for, and blinded by my desires, I shot myself in the foot. I found what looked like melted tiny shards of the once beautiful violet core and desperately absorbed them, but nothing happened. There was no updated profile, and there was certainly no core integration.

'All that effort, all that pain, and nothing to show for it!' I slammed tendrils against the ground; their form fluctuated wildly in my anger.

'Five [Sub-Cores] gone!' I kept lashing out until I eventually calmed down a little. Then I began to think. I needed to find some solution; I couldn't accept wasting this opportunity.

'Okay... First, there might be another yellow slime on this island.' I pointed out the obvious solution. 'But I need to come up with a better plan. I didn't fully understand how great of a weakness I have to lightning... I need to defeat it without destroying the core.'

'The second option would be to force one to spawn. If I keep killing everything on this island, surely, eventually, a new one will spawn. Assuming what I know about monsters spawning, it will likely be low-level, and I could probably take it out even now. Its core won't offer me as many traits, but I could, in theory, repeat the process and get another.'

'While working on the second solution, I could train for the chance at the first solution. I need something to defeat it without damaging the core. Poisons immediately come to mind, but us slime are immune to those. If I were Simon, I could just attack its lifeforce directly.'

I started reading through my traits and looking over my magic; I needed to find some slime weakness that would be effective without damaging the core. Fire, Acid, and Arcane all had to be immediately discarded. I pondered Water as a solution momentarily, remembering how I defeated the green slime in the past by washing it, but I was far too afraid to use Water anywhere near a yellow slime again.

'That leaves Ice... I don't think [Icicle] or [Frostbite] will leave the core undamaged.' I mused, then vaguely recalling something, I looked over [Cryo Slime]. 'Thwarts slime mass from being frozen solid... Huh.'

The thought had frightened me at the time, but perhaps now it was my solution to this problem. If I froze the yellow slime, I could pluck the core out. No slime, no generating lightning between the core and membrane, right?

'If I find one before I work up a real plan, I can attempt using [Slime Shot] and [Cryo Slime]. However, I'd prefer to train [Ice Magic] and take advantage of our natural weakness to magic. There has to be a freeze spell or something.'

I nodded in satisfaction. After my outburst, settling down and assessing the situation had given me some catharsis. Now, in a better frame of mind, I needed to solve my health issue first.

Name: Syl [Dungeoneer]

Race: Chimeric Mimic Slime (Blue) LV 12

Class: Shadowcaster LV 13

Status: Dying (Critical)

Mana: Ō̵̯͇̞̜̥̜̲̬̼͉͙̻̜̉̅̈͝v̴̼̤̈͑̃̀̆͑͛̐̊̈̍̔͜e̶̢̛͖͓̦̤͉̰͍̭̣̯̔̏̓̿̋̌̓͒͛͗͝͝r̵̢̢͓͚͖͕̲̫̞̟̼̬̯͋̊ͅf̴̛̪̯͖̍̋̈́̎͐͑̈̍̇̿̐͂̚l̴̢̡̛̛̬̟̖̪̟̖̹͍̹̩̐̇̓̉̽̈́͗̈̈̔̈́̀̕ő̴̧̫̣͙̹͙̺̻̗̗̜̳̆̅̑̌̾̒͝ẘ̷̛̼̻̦͔̱͉̞̿̓̏̔̋́̊̊̚͝í̸̛͖̳͕̗̥̬͙̤͚̓̅̎͋̾͒͠͝n̶̢̖͎͚̬̯̼̘͖̳̘̜̹̯̎̂́͠g̶͖͕͕͒̓̍̽̊̆̏͌́̐̑͝

It did not look good, and I only had one remaining [Defy Death] since I still dared not risk the new trait level being retroactive in giving me another trigger. I still had no idea what was happening with my mana, but it didn't seem harmful. Deciding I needed to heal up, I transformed into the badger borrowing [Raging Regeneration] and promptly activating it.

I could feel my core healing, but a bubbling anger grew inside, threatening to undo my catharsis. Clearly, the trait did a little more than it said it did, but it did have raging in its name. Thankfully, I managed to keep it forcefully contained to a mild simmer thanks to the remnants of my willpower trait that had combined into [Soul Mastery]. When my health was finally full, the effect stopped, and I sighed in relief. Although the status menu still showed the exact same garbled mess for my mana.

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

I had the pegasus profile to review and my new skill. I chose the latter because it likely had a more direct upgrade for my path.

'Yes.'

<[Tranquil Flow]

Entrust yourself to the flow.

When activated, it greatly enhances evasion capability by allowing one to be maneuvered with the flows unconsciously.

While activated, mental interference is greatly reduced; however, sufficient opposing emotions can temporarily break the state, and you cannot enter it again until it is sufficiently corrected.

Drains mana over time and accumulates mental fatigue while activated.

Only one state can be active at a time.>

'This sounds really, really good.' Was my immediate reaction. I also had another tickling thought, 'Is this a skill related to my Water Affinity? All the talk of flowing reminds me of water, like a leaf on a stream. If so, it's about time! Compared to Air and Earth, I've been feeling very neglected. A movement skill would be great; I want compensation for not having [Wind Step].'

'Not being able to passively use it like [Evasion] doesn't sound like too much of a burden; once I get my [Sub-Cores] back, I could probably set up a routine for them to activate it as a reaction.'

What was once a faint sense in the back of my mind, subtly on the lookout for threats, went silent. Honestly, it freaked me out a little at first, I hadn't even noticed the sense growing all this time, and its sudden absence felt awkward and uncomfortable. I mentally triggered [Tranquil Flow], and my mind immediately calmed, a sense of peace warmly flowing through me. It brought about a sense of calm readiness for anything, but I couldn't see the full extent of this new skill and state since there were no present threats.

I thought of keeping the skill active. The mental fatigue felt easily manageable, likely due to the combined benefits of [Core Refinement] and [Soul Mastery], and normally, I'd be unconcerned about mana expenditure if not for its current garbled condition. I deactivated the skill for now and almost immediately missed the calm state.

'Well, I'll try it again as soon as I encounter something. My biggest concern is that I can't even feel my mana usage right now.'

I looked over the [Equine] profile that the pegasus had granted me, which I now realized was because it was a monster branch from a normal horse.

'Why not just call it a horse profile, then? Was someone feeling strangely inspired when they created this one?' I questioned.

Gramps was the only one I had met, but he mentioned others, and the wildly differing skill and trait descriptions made it apparent that they had differing creators.

The pegasus had both [Wind Magic] and [Aerial Finesse] as starting skills. I immediately checked if I could grab the magic and was unsurprised to be denied. It still felt right to just confirm it, especially with the oddities currently plaguing my profile. As for traits, they had a few attribute enhancers like strength and even could empower their hooves, but what caught my eye was a trait called [Enchanted Wings].

I couldn't buy [Enchanted Wings], but it was a prime target for mimicry. It enhanced any formed wings with natural mana and allowed near unhindered flight capabilities, explaining why they were so unnaturally graceful. It also increased flight speed and maneuvering with every level; I could only imagine what combining it with a decently leveled [Aerial Finesse] would accomplish.

'Hell, compared to the griffins, they barely even flapped their wings. It's almost like they had a freeform movement. Despite me literally eating one alive, it had no trouble controlling itself in the sky; meanwhile, that griffin took a tumble.'

Wanting to test it out, I transformed into my elf form and then created pegasus wings, immediately copying the [Enchanted Wings] trait. With barely a flap, I lifted off the ground.

"Okay... If the griffins were considered flying, this feels like cheating." I commented, easily maintaining a stable elevation barely off the ground.

I flew up a little higher and tried shapeshifting around, transforming into some of my other monsters and even recreating the chimeric form I used to explore the mines. Perhaps it was an aid from my trait because each transformation had the wings rapidly shift to an appropriate matching size without any additional input from me. This led to me staying airborne with barely even a drop. All the transforming midair clearly impressed the system, as I was rewarded with a level-up.

I tried replicating the same midair transformations without [Enchanted Wings], and while it was possible, it was a much clumsier affair, and I hit the ground more than a few times.

'I think the benefits greatly outweigh the loss of my mimicked trait budget.' I finally concluded, making a mental note to always pick this trait if I ever wanted to do anything wing-related.

I ended up settling on a vaguely humanoid form with wings coming from the back. I was tempted to use an elven form but settled on using a smaller size for easier mobility. I used Hobgoblin as the base, taking [Thick Skin] and throwing in enough elf features to qualify for [Elven Reflexes]. [Draconic Scales (Lesser)] was surprisingly applicable for goblins, giving me the impression that dragons could breed with almost anything.

I tried to take [Ironbark], but it seemed there was some interference between it and the combination of [Thick Skin] and [Draconic Scales (Lesser)], so I settled on taking [Earthen Carapace] and [Barkskin]. Even at their diminished efficiency, I hoped they would reduce another electrifying encounter.

Finally, I kept the form partially transparent to allow a wide view range; I didn't dare limit my visibility in this situation, and I hid my core by changing it to the same transparent blue. Ready and eager to move on, I gave another flap to return to a semi-hovering position and cast [Arcane Armor] to finish my preparations.

'Here's hoping this trains [Aerial Finesse] and both my slime traits as well.'

After a quick consultation with [Mapping], I regained my bearings and headed towards the lake ruins again. I began my mental ordering out of habit, only to sadly realize that none of my [Sub-Cores] had survived that encounter. I felt a strange loneliness I hadn't felt for a long time; even though they couldn't talk or think for themselves, I had a peculiar companionship for my eager helpers.