Chapter 6

Teaching Moments

~<(0)>~

An orb of water hung in the air, a foot above the ground, rippling and bulging across its surface, glowing softly in the shade of the trees above. A spell circle was slowly rotating below the orb of water, and barely a foot away a very excited slime was barely able to contain her excitement. “Mother, look!” the slime squealed inside her own head, her distraction causing the water ball to suddenly dart horizontally at a speed great enough that the tree it impacted sent off splinters of bark. “{I see, Ophelia. You were doing a wonderful job. However, your inattention caused the spell to malfunction in an unexpected way.}” she mentally directed the slime to look to where the water had impacted. Ophelia felt embarrassed, doing the equivalent of a mental blush at the sort of admonishment by her mother. “I suppose it did, didn’t it. I’m sorry Mother.”

Lyrei waved off the apology with a thought. “{I don’t need an apology. Mistakes are bound to happen while learning. The important thing is to learn from them and get to a point where you no longer make that mistake. Don’t stress too much over it, though. You are making massive strides, far faster than anyone else would be able to achieve. I would imagine it is due to the massive amount of sheer knowledge you possess due to me.}” The former elf had been teaching the young slime girl how to control her thaumic energy levels. While Ophelia could cast a great number of spells with the sheer amount of thaumic energy she possessed, she completely lacked any amount of control. It wouldn’t do to try and throw a firebolt and end up unleashing a firestorm to rival a volcanic eruption by mistake. Water was a good start, mostly harmless. She looked through Ophelia’s eyes at the splintered bark of the tree. ‘Mostly’.

“{This definitely does emphasize my point about needing to keep your magical expenditure in control. A properly controlled spell is the difference between life and death in certain situations. Perhaps the life in question is not yours, but life is still something to be considered. There is a reason that laws are put into place to protect people from things like murder.}”

“I can see through your memories,” began the slime, “civilization is so very complicated, I don’t understand how so much of it works.”

“{Most of it is held together by the collective beliefs of a number of people. A lot of it sort of… just functions. Once something is big enough, even if it is on the path to failure, it is generally moving so slowly that action can be taken to fix the problem. I personally think that a lot of society doesn’t actually work, and it is simply propped up time and time again, making the fall happen that much later. There is a reason I worked in the sciences.}” That thought made her mood fall, enough that Ophelia was able to pick up on it.

“You miss it, don’t you mother?” she asked tentatively.

“{I do. It was the largest part of my life after all. After the Saturation Project, I dedicated practically all my time to furthering the development of the sciences. I think I would go back to it. But… others will continue the work. It may take time, but I’m sure it will happen eventually.}” It was weird to think, but the world would almost certainly move on without her. She had felt so integral, and perhaps she was. She had outlived her peers, and they had been replaced in time. The younger races lived and died so fast, and they too were replaced. She hadn’t been alive during the time that ancient humans had drunk the Tears of the Goddess, Kasira. And no one from that time was still alive, or at least none were still in society, which meant that they too had been replaced. If life was some sort of massive machine, it was severely inefficient, but it also meant that ultimately the individual cogs could be replaced in time.

“{Honestly, I would rather be here at this point. It’s hard to say that you awakened motherhood in me, but it’s what seems to have happened, and here I am teaching you about the world. It was obviously quite foolish of me to think that I would last forever. I’m sad that I don’t have my staff though, that has a certain amount of sentimental value to me, probably the oldest thing I own; Or… owned.}”

“Do you think we could go retrieve it?”

“{While I think in practice it would be easy, there is still the issue that at best, they would likely notice it missing, and at worst, we would be found out.}”

“Is that such a bad thing? Why don’t we go talk to the elves? You’re still alive, we can convince them of that.”

“{Unfortunately, I don’t think it’s that easy. I’m positive that the reason they found me so fast, when statistically they should have spent a lot longer wandering through random tunnels, is because they were using an Object Bond trace on my staff. I’d left in such a hurry I’d forgotten to grab it. Object bonds are quite stubborn, and don’t disappear unless certain conditions are fulfilled. The fact that they didn’t discover us after you absorbed me means that the Object bond failed after that point. As far as they are concerned, I am dead. Beyond that, I imagine they think that I have been completely destroyed. I’m not sure if I have a soul as it stands now. I’m not sure if You have a soul either. I feel like it would be difficult at best to prove that I am me and not simply you using my memories to pretend to be me.}”

Ophelia was horrified, “I would never do that. That is, just awful!”

“{I know you would never intentionally do it. Though I cannot rule out the possibility that you are doing it right now. You could be simulating my mind right now, and I am not sure either of us would know it.}”

The slime was visibly shaking, though no one was there to watch it, “Please no… that can’t be what’s going on. Are you just a voice in my mind, born from a mistake I didn’t even know I was making?”

Lyrei tried to exude as much comfort as she possibly could, “{I said it is a possibility, not the absolute truth of the matter. I don’t know whether that is happening or not. And, for what it’s worth, if it is happening, does it really matter?}”

“How could it not matter?!” shouted the slime into the recesses of her mind.

“{If we are unable to ascertain the difference right now, what does it change? I think I am me. I have memories of being me. I do not have your memories. Maybe if we had some sort of method of ascertaining whether or not my soul is present, we could determine this properly.}”

“Then let’s do that!” Ophelia was feeling desperate now.

“{I can’t, Ophelia}” Lyrei rebutted, “{I would need my staff. And even if I had that, I don’t even know if it would give a proper reading under the current circumstances.}” In truth, she knew the first part wasn’t true, and had no idea on the second part. However, she didn’t want the slime to pursue something that might distress her even more depending on the answer. She felt real enough after all. Did it matter if she was the original Lyrei or not? She had learned something from her teaching of Ophelia over the past several days. While the slime possessed all of Lyrei’s knowledge, it was layered similarly to her own mind. Ancient thoughts that she barely remembered were still there but were at the very bottom. Things that she had never thought about too much were also near the bottom. Things such as how her body worked, the various high-level laws for magic, as well as certain other basic things in regard to magic or how the world worked, were right at the surface. Anything else, Ophelia had to look for. That was why Lyrei teaching Ophelia was working so well. She could teach the slime the ideas of something, and with the right triggers satisfied, Ophelia was able to pick up the new skill incredibly fast. Honestly, it had been giving her ideas for packaged learning, which could speed things up considerably for people. However, what this ultimately meant, was that despite containing the sum total of Lyrei’s memories, Ophelia didn’t have an innate sense for what memories were there beyond a surface level. Lyrei had spent a relatively short portion of her life working with magic detecting and affecting the soul, and it was over 1000 years ago. It was effectively hidden, and unless Ophelia really looked for them, the memories of that time would remain hidden by all the other memories.

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Ophelia accepted that answer begrudgingly. “So, proving it’s really you would be difficult. What are we supposed to do? Avoid them? Do you think they will come looking for me? You were sent in to destroy me after all, weren’t you?”

“{I think destroy is a harsh word. We didn’t know anything about what we were dealing with except that it contained the sum total of the thaumic energy of the Central Leyline Convergence Reserve. You are quite dangerous as you are already, simply by being a slime. But you are made of gelid thaumic energy, and crystallized thaumic energy, and have enough energy to level at least a continent, if not more at this point. With that sheer amount of energy, you or, well, anything else able to contain it all, would be the most powerful, and thus most dangerous being on the planet. I don’t know what would have happened were it not for me. It’s entirely possible that the team would have attempted to neutralize you. I think the Ice was working rather well, honestly, limiting your mobility.}” she gave the mental equivalent of a shrug. “{I imagine that you’re right though. Especially considering as far as they are concerned, I’m dead. Massive Thaumic Locus, slime that killed Lyrei Araphine, and presumed loose into the world at large.}”

“I wouldn’t do anything. I don’t want to hurt anyone,” Ophelia protested.

“{I know you wouldn’t. However, I’m going based off of what they know, and how they’re going to act. Even setting aside the fact that they saw me being pulled into your body, elves are rather… xenophobic.}”

“They would distrust me since I am not an elf.”

“{Basically, yes. I think it’s possible that we could garner some sort of trust, given time, but I think for the moment it’s best to just avoid people. The way I was tracking you in the caverns was using thaumic sensor equipment. With most of your slime inside… wherever it is that it goes, your thaumic signature is substantially lower than the Entirety of the Central Leyline Convergence Reserve at maximum capacity. I think that unless you pull the majority of your body out of that central place, you should be rather invisible to those scanning methods.}”

“That is a relief. I don’t want them to come after me, and I don’t want to have to hurt or kill anyone. I wish that they could just… leave me alone and let me be me.” It was frustrating, to say the least. All she had done was exist, and that alone seemed to have caused problems. This fact Lyrei had assured her multiple times was not her fault, nor should she be ashamed about actions taken while she was literally unable to know better. Ophelia partially believed this, but at the same time it was hard to do so, with the entire Elven Empire apparently wanting her destruction.

“{Had it not been for the complete lack of proper maintenance on the Center Leyline Convergence Reserve, you honestly wouldn’t even exist, due to there being a low amount of gelled thaumic energy in the cavern. At least… as far as I can tell you wouldn’t exist. You would think that being on the inside of a slime would make it easier to discern its inner workings. You’re completely different from any other slime I’ve ever encountered or known of, and yet, you still seem to be a slime of some sort. I am almost certain that you don’t understand the genesis of your own existence, to be fair, I think most of us are not fully aware during birth or whatever species appropriate reproduction method is applied.}”

“I am truly that different?” Hearing her mother talk about other slimes in the world had brought a glimmer of hope to her heart, one that had been quickly extinguished as she mentioned the myriad differences. “You say that I resemble a traditional slime. Do you think it is because I was born into the thaumic slime?”

Lyrei pondered this for a few moments before responding, “{While that is technically possible, I also think it’s rather unlikely. There are dozens of other smaller caverns to store and buffer excess thaumic energy throughout the leyline network. While I say smaller, they are still not insignificant in size. I think that if you had spontaneously spawned from the gelled thaumic energy, this could have happened in multiple places around the globe. However, this has not, to my knowledge at least, happened at any of these other locations. Furthermore, the Central Leyline Convergence Reserve was filling up for millennia, and you did not spawn during any of that time, until somewhat recently. Your sense of time is somewhat muddled due to lack of cognitive ability, but I don’t think you were in there for more than a century, certainly not thousands of years. Also, from what you described, you started to absorb the gelid thaumic energy very slowly, not all at once. This suggests that if you were to spawn anywhere, it could have been at any number of these buffer sites. While it is impossible to rule out the significance of your appearance at the largest of these sites, I do not think that the sheer amount of concentrated thaumic energy is the sole reason you were brought into being.}”

The slime was struggling to wrap her mind around what Lyrei was saying. “Are… you saying that I’m not a normal slime because I didn’t just… spontaneously appear from the thaumic slime, but… something caused me to spawn in it?”

“{In essence, yes. Slimes are caused by high concentrations of thaumic energy forming rudimentary intelligences and forming an equally rudimentary body to go with it. Their actual individual intelligence can vary, but overall they are incredibly unintelligent; less intelligent than your average animals. While that can certainly be said about earlier versions of you, I don’t even think that can be said about you when I came across you in that cavern. You weren’t unintelligent, you had the intelligence of something between scorpions, fish, and centipedes, and lacked any form of sight basically due to not even knowing that was an option. Beyond that, your ability to change the makeup of your body is also something that traditional slimes are incapable of. Generally, slimes will be made up of the most abundant element in the area of their creation. Water slimes are most likely to appear near lakes or rivers, lava slimes are likely to appear near volcanoes or magma. And though rare, slimes composed of liquid metal are sometimes encountered deep underground in areas rich with metallic ore. None of them are really able to alter their form to any great degree. However, as you have demonstrated, you’re capable of converting water inside of you into ice, you’re able to convert your body into thaumic crystals, and back again. You’re able to emulate my biology to a high degree. Well enough that your eyes work. Eyes are rather fickle things, and difficult to get working properly. While you haven’t yet, I’m sure that you could emulate my body to an even higher degree of accuracy, to the point it would be difficult to tell you’re a slime.

In addition to that, on the note of your body, it is absurdly massive. I don’t think you comprehend how big you truly are. While you are able to hide the majority of it, your true size is….” She pushed a few thoughts… memories really, toward Ophelia, to emphasize her point. “You are as big as a sea. Not even a small sea, but at smallest a medium sized sea, possibly bigger. That Cavern was designed to hold ALL of the energy in the leylines, plus buffer amounts, in case we needed to work on the leylines dry. You literally contain the entire world’s amount of thaumic energy, at least… the normal amount the world is supposed to have in the leyline network. It’s no wonder we detected you moving around in the caverns. Slimes generally aren’t able to maintain a certain size before either splitting into two slimes or dying.

Oh, and on that note, I still don’t fully understand what that is.}” By that, she was referring to the central most portion of Ophelia, where she was able to put her slime to hide it. “{Traditional slimes have a slime core that houses their intelligence, or at least what passes for intelligence. If it’s damaged, the slime will generally expire shortly after. But it’s solid, not… some sort of gateway like this is.}”

“I don’t know, I’ve always had it as long as I can really remember. I’m able to feel things on the other side. Like, I can feel the rest of my slime over there. I don’t really know how to explain it. At least, not in addition to how you’ve explained it.” It was weird being under this type of scrutiny and made her a little uncomfortable. It helped that it was Lyrei that was doing the inspection.

“{I’m sorry, I think I got rather off topic there. Perhaps with the appropriate spells we can discern exactly what is going on with… your core. That is not the point I was trying to make, however. My point is that you are not a traditional slime. You are made up of a substance that has never been seen in a slime before. You are far more intelligent than other slimes, even if this has been accelerated by consuming intelligent beings; You have shown that you are quite capable of learning on your own as well. You are capable of changing the makeup of your body in massive ways. And finally, your sheer size is… many, many times greater than any other slime. Period. As far as I can tell… you are unique.}”

Ophelia wasn’t sure how to feel about Lyrei’s deduction. She was apparently completely different from anything else in existence. “Did you know this when you wanted to capture me?”

“{In truth, I hardly knew anything about you, save for the fact that you looked different, and were the most thaumically active thing in the entire cavern system. I had an idea that you weren’t simply a normal slime, due to the fact that even then you were abnormally large. But if asked, I would have assumed you were just an abnormal specimen of a slime.}”

“It feels weird being unique. At one point I didn’t know that any other living creatures existed. I thought I was the only one for a long time, until I found that first mushroom. Now, I guess I am the only one, at least of my kind. Do you think I… could reproduce like the slimes you were talking about?”

Lyrei was a bit stunned, at a loss for words. She quickly recovered, sounding only a bit flustered. Had she had a body, she would have had a bit of a blush. “{Ah, I don’t think so. I don’t know for sure, of course. But I think that would have to involve splitting your core. And I don’t think that is something you can do. That said, I don’t think there is any harm to giving it a try.}”