"So does this mean I'm the first [Experiment] evolving?" I asked. I wondered if this technically meant I was eligible for a reward if Gramps won a bet.

"No. You're not even in the top five, even with this early evolution." Mother immediately responded.

"Your class is stealing a lot of your experience..." Gramps explained, and I could tell he was a little frustrated.

I swiftly changed the subject before he set my class to minimum distribution or something else equally drastic.

"Now that I've already agreed to evolve, is there anything you can tell me about it?" I asked, my anticipation palpable.

"Nope. This is being kept very hush-hush, and I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise." Gramps answered. "There won't be any notifications, so don't be paranoid about it. Just check your profile afterward."

"Does this mean I won't get a sneak peek at the other slime species?" I asked, feeling a little down. "I used them from my previous evolutions to understand which slimes I should hunt down."

"Hmm... Perhaps I can arrange for them to be shown to you when you officially achieve level thirty." Gramps replied and waited as if expecting approval or disapproval from the others.

"S-sounds fine," Unc responded.

"I don't mind," Mother added.

"Excellent," Gramps replied. "Just giving you another heads-up, but expect quite a few traits to be merged. Your new trait made quite a few of them redundant. Honestly, your profile is a bit of a mess; you should do more of that."

"Yes... I was hoping to get more visions and merge them into a super vision." I replied honestly.

Gramps chuckled. "Good. Good. Also, your old evolution got a renaming. It's now just Chimeric since it upgraded your previous Mimic evolution. Apparently, calling it Chimeric Mimic felt redundant to some of the others."

"It is a mouthful, especially if further mutations are picked." Mother pointed out. "Rather keep it short and sweet."

"B-but longer names are cool!" Unc argued.

I didn't mind either way; I hardly ever showed my true race. Arguably, if anyone could get through my [Identity Fabrication], not having the word Mimic visible in my profile might mislead someone.

"Oh. Speaking of names, Gramps, you left some notes in the trait [EM Field]." I pointed out. There was a pregnant pause followed by some intense, rapid-fire conversation among the three. Once again, the contents of the talk were obscured heavily by the low humming noise.

"Well. That's embarrassing. Thanks, Syl. I'll get that cleaned up immediately."

"And fix the name." Mother added sternly.

"Yes..." Gramps grumbled. "Also, this goes without saying, but we will be removing the [Spirit Candidate] emblem."

"Makes sense. I don't really want random spirits attacking me either." I nodded along. "Which, by the way, are totally unfair. Why can't I eat any of them? First the ghosts and now these."

Mother was the first to respond, "Well... You've certainly created a little monster, haven't you?"

"I-I thought we disabled the evolution contingency?" Unc questioned.

"No. That's just Syl being Syl." Gramps defended me. "[Consuming Osmosis] promotes eating other monsters, not to mention coupled together with [Chimeric Mimicry], and then just general slime growth."

"Fascinating... Perhaps I should get you to review my most promising subject, too." Mother said with some suggestive allure.

"Very well. Anything else before we go?" Gramps asked.

"I have a few more questions..." I meekly pointed out.

"Good! Now get going, you little slime ball, stop breaking things, and calm down a little."

"Of course..." I muttered, half-expecting it.

I could have given Gramps the excuse that he didn't want to reveal too much while surrounded by his peers, but my gut told me otherwise. He had far too much fun dropping me into the void with outstanding questions.

***

Instead of waking up to a blinding light, I awoke to a grim and dark room. The tree fort, which had been our home for almost my entire island journey, now looked withered and decayed. Cobwebs littered the room, and it looked thoroughly abandoned. Even my beloved bedtub looked like it had stood against the test of time.

"What the hell happened here? How long was I out for? Where's Trixie?" I wondered.

I plopped out of my bedtub and headed downstairs, which looked similarly disastrous. I looked around, trying to find any hints or clues, until I spotted a hagged and heavily aged Trixie nodding off on a chair.

"Trixie?" I questioned.

"Syl...? Is that you...?" Trixie asked, coughing between words. "You've finally returned."

"H-how long was I out for?" I questioned.

"Seven..." Trixie paused. "Thousand years..."

"What? No... That can't be..." I said, dumbstruck.

"I'm afraid so..." Trixie said, giving a sad yet soft smile. "But I kept my promise and waited and waited..."

I shook my head in confusion at the unexpected notification. Then the entire room felt a little... Wrong. I turned to the decrepit pixie and hidden beneath her sullen features, I could see what looked like the biggest shit-eating grin I had ever seen.

"Oh! You bitch!" I shouted.

Suddenly, the room... Popped. It was just like I had left it, the wrongness instantly gone. I had plenty of questions for her about illusions and whatnot, but it finally felt like I had found a missing puzzle piece to all of Trixie's shenanigans.

Trixie was hosing herself with laughter, so much so that she fell off her chair and was now rolling on the ground. My glare soon became a slight chuckle; she had gotten me good.

"Alright. Good one, Trixie... Now, really, how long was I out for?"

"Seven... Days." Trixie said, sticking her tongue out.

"Yikes... It took an entire week... I didn't expect that. Sorry, Trixie."

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

"No problem. I hope it was worth it and resolved your... Issues?" Trixie asked and fluttered over. "Interesting... Very interesting... You're no longer making me think you're a spirit, and your mana lake seems to be gone... Wait, you now have SIX rivers?"

"I'm actually not sure what happened yet. I haven't looked at my profile."

"Well! Get on with it; I want some answers because this is bizarre!" Trixie declared. "Oh, wait. One more thing, before I forget."

She fluttered over to what looked like a rough, small wooden chest, opened it, reached in, pulled something out, and casually tossed it toward me. "Catch!"

I frantically grabbed at the small object, nearly fumbling it before catching it with a quickly formed tendril. Getting a closer look at it, I saw a familiar-looking violet sphere.

"You got me a slime core?!" I said excitedly.

"Yup. The bugger spawned two days ago. I hope it's all good for your eating thing?" Trixie questioned.

I wasted no time devouring the core and mentally cheered when I saw it was successful.

"It worked fantastically. Thanks Trixie! Now, I don't need to get revenge for your prank." I said half-jokingly.

"That's a relief. I wouldn't want you exploding this poor tree." Trixie giggled.

I looked over my new profile. It was time to get some answers.

Name: Syl

Race: Chimeric Cluster Slime (Blue) LV 1 (-8)

Class: Elementalist LV 4

Status: Healthy

Mana: Overflowing

Emblems:

[Experiment]

[Apex Hunter]

[Elven Legacy]

[Dungeoneer]

[Nature's Bane]

[Manhunter]

Traits:

Slime:

[Mana Slime LV 11]

[Acid Slime LV 7]

[Poison Slime LV 6]

[Blaze Slime LV 6]

[Cryo Slime LV 5]

[Voltaic Slime LV 6]

[Morph Slime LV 7]

[Pseudopod LV 7]

[Slime Shot LV 7]

[Slime Burst LV 6]

[Vaporize Slime]

Core:

[Core Collective LV 8]

[Core Storage LV 6]

[Sub-Core Alpha LV 5]

[Sub-Core Beta LV 5]

[Sub-Core Gamma LV 5]

[Sub-Core Delta LV 5]

[Sub-Core Epsilon LV 5]

Mimic:

[Chimeric Mimicry LV 7]

[Chroma Shift LV MAX]

[Consuming Osmosis LV MAX]

Mana:

[Mana Circulation LV 7

[Mana Reinforcement LV 7]

[Mana Infusion]

Attributes/Other:

[Soul Mastery LV 7]

[Enhanced Vitality LV 5]

[Magic Resistance (Lesser) LV 5]

[Curse Resistance LV 1]

[Illusion Resistance LV 1]

[Prodigy]

Senses:

[Olfactory Sense]

[Dark Vision LV MAX]

[Mana Conception LV 6]

[Life Sight LV 3]

[Thermal Vision LV MAX]

[Eagle Vision LV 3]

[EM Field LV 2]

Trait Points remaining: 7

Skills:

General:

[Universal Language]

[Equipment Swap]

[Dissection LV 6]

[Mapping LV 5]

[Tracking LV 2]

[Identify LV 5]

[Multitasking LV 5]

[Perception LV 4]

[Aerial Finesse LV 4]

Combat:

[Tranquil Flow LV 5]

[Attack Mastery (Lesser) LV 7]

[Affliction Mastery LV 5]

[Exploit Weakness LV 3]

Magic:

[Water Magic LV 5]

[Fire Magic LV 5]

[Corrosion Magic LV 5]

[Ice Magic LV 5]

[Arcane Magic LV 2]

[Lightning Magic LV 2]

[Mana Manipulation LV 5]

[Magic Efficiency LV 4]

[Counter Magic LV 3]

[Elemental Shift LV 4]

[Elemental Adaptation]

[Ritual Casting]

[Mana Suppression]

[Meditate]

Sneaky:

[Vanish LV 6]

[Sneak Attack LV 6]

[Identity Fabrication LV 6]

[Acting LV 4]

[Rogue Expertise LV 4]

[Magical Subterfuge LV 3]

[Subtle Afflictions]

Skill Points remaining: 15

Chimeric Cluster Slime... It was an interesting name choice. I wasn't entirely sure if I was sold on it, but considering I never showed myself, it wouldn't matter. It was also interesting to see that I could see the levels that I still needed to pay off for this early evolution. Next, I looked over my new trait, which was easily identifiable.

<[Core Collective]

When determining if a Trait or Skill is usable or in effect, all [Sub-Cores] now function as if the primary slime core. In addition, should the primary core be destroyed, a [Sub-Core] will immediately be subsumed and become the new primary core.

All [Sub-Cores] now contain their own circulation of mana, taken directly from the Soul rather than being distributed from the primary core.

This trait enhances every core's basic functionality and teamwork capabilities and moderately improves durability, scaling with level.

Core creation time and cost are reduced by 10% and 5%, respectively, per trait level. However, core creation cannot be initiated while in combat.

All cores receive a renewable shield that will prevent one instance of immediate destruction. The shield is renewed by expending 10% of the core's base slime cost while out of combat.>

I spent so much time repeatedly reading the trait that Trixie left me to start knitting in the corner. This new trait was a doozy, and I finally understood Gramps' cryptic hint. I frantically started searching for what was missing from my profile. I found out I was missing [Core Refinement], [Defy Death], and [Slime Conversion].

I could understand missing [Core Refinement] as it was now baked into [Core Collective], and I could, with great reluctance, understand why they took [Defy Death] from me. If my [Sub-Cores] were now considered equals, then would they each get their own death shields, or would we share a pool? The former would greatly benefit me, excessively so, while the latter would honestly be a huge downgrade for me. I could only assume this was a compromise for Gramps and me. In theory, I have more lives now than before.

But why did he take away my [Slime Conversion]? Was it to prevent further errors? Was it because he was unhappy with how much slime I could generate for free? I got given a new valuable way to expend slime and then robbed of one of my sources of income. I frantically looked at the blue slime profile, I would instantly rebuy it, and the trait was... Gone?

Unfortunately, my complaints fell on deaf ears, and I could not overrule Gramps or possibly one of the others. I gave some orders to my [Sub-Cores] and noted they seemed far more responsive than normal. My next test would determine if Gramps' had screwed me over or not.

I ordered Gamma to use [Elemental Shift] and align to Fire. And Gamma did it. Not fully believing it, I ordered Delta to shift to Ice and Epsilon to shift to Lightning. Both did it.

'Well... This certainly changes things. My immediate thought is to keep one to each element and have them focus exclusively on that element. I'll have to test how [Ritual Casting] works now; I can only assume that a Water-aligned core won't be much help if assisting with a Fire spell. Obviously, if I'm fighting like a Fire demon or something, I'd swap everyone to Ice.'

I immediately thought of having one focused core and one helper core aligned per element. Since my new evolution and trait wanted me to get more cores, I instantly purchased four more, one for each of my current elements.

"What happened to my trait points!?" I cried.

Trixie jumped out of her seat in a panic. "What? Syl?" She questioned in confusion.

I pulled on my memories and was sure I was sitting on seventeen trait points before I evolved. They had just disappeared for no reason. I was fuming. First, they took away [Slime Conversion] and now robbed me of ten trait points!

"I'm missing ten trait points!" I informed the pixie while frantically searching my profile for any hint or indication.

"Did you make a few upgrades or something you forgot about?"

"No. I'd been saving my points up... I've only bought one upgrade, which only cost a single skill point." I immediately replied.

"Hmm... What about Tiering or Uncapping?" Trixie asked.

"I have no idea what either of those are..." I replied, then vaguely recalled a thought. "Actually, didn't you once ask me if I was uncapped?"

"I did. It was the only way I could explain you casting over ten spells at once. Wait. So your [Multitasking] isn't above ten?"

"What? No, it's only level five." I replied.

"It's only level five!?" Trixie shrieked.

"Yes? And isn't ten the upper limit anyway?" I asked.

Trixie shook her head in disbelief. "Okay... I will need an explanation on how you cast so many spells at once after this, but no, ten is not the limit. You can pay points to uncap a trait or skill above. Not every trait or skill is compatible, and to do so, you need to pay ten points. Are you sure none of your traits are above level ten?"

I searched through my traits again and found a trait I had often skipped over as it was so far in the back of my mind. My first-ever trait maxed out so quickly I had almost forgotten about it.

[Mana Slime LV 11]