Takeo was in Elder Karima's parlor, in the back of her... store. While he was comfortably seated, he wasn't feeling at ease. He had spent his week getting acquainted with the Valley, the village, and its people. He had gained some confidence in fighting for his life, along with his trusty Slimes. Jello was still alive and well, if a bit less voluminous than before. Slowly, over the week it has digested the remnant of stones and dirt but for some reason, it didn't grow back to its original size. Their communication stayed at the most basic level of wants and needs, and it wanted to stay hooked on his shoulder, like the Blurbs in the street.

It looked like a spunky little brown bird, feathered with jelly-made grass that seemed to sprout behind its head like a mane. The Slime wasn't uniform in color as had expected Takeo, but instead had shades of gray, highlighting its fake muscles, and patches of greens in its feathers. Fun fact, Jello hadn't bothered to make feet, and kept the bottom of his body round. It severely hampered its ability to move though. Consequently, it remained affixed to his shoulder. The young man had tried to coax it into turning into a parrot, but Jello got it wrong and now didn't want to change back. While the result was cute, it did earn him a few strange looks.

Kids never stopped harassing him about Duels and Tamer tips, but he didn't quite understand what he could tell them. And he really wasn't about to unleash his Slime on kids, he wasn't a monster. And now, he stood under the judging case of the Elder, who was looking at him with a stern look. "I see you have been... training," she said, her voice a bit raspy. She wasn't in a cackling mood that day.

"Well... Sort of?" Takeo answered, hesitant. He'd found himself a place in the delta by the lake that was isolated enough, surrounded by reeds and high grasses, with some sort of plum tree to give him shade. He had been pleasantly surprised to find that place during one of his hikes. It was about ten minutes from the village, but nobody ever came his way. It provided a shield of privacy, it was spacious enough for him to move around, and it was close to clear water. He would put Jello on a branch, overlooking everything for him, and he would summon another or two Slimes in the reeds, just in case.

Practicing on the other hand... wasn't as easy as she made it look. He had only a few examples of Soul usage attempt to mimic, like the dome-like thing the Elder had done when they first met. But even trying to make his domain, as Connor had called it, grow was a lost cause. But he had tried and tried and tried again. And when he grew tired of failing, he tried something else. If he couldn't grow the whole thing, maybe... he could grow just a finger-worth of it?

As it turned out, he could. And it had been almost easy. Especially when he tried to elongate one of his own fingers. He quickly found the limiting factor though. Because in fact he wasn't really growing it, and more like stretching the whole canvas that was his domain into his finger, reducing the size of the rest of it. It was a bit like a balloon, he could inflate it, but it would be at the expense of the rest of the balloon. It had been fun to try and stretch his finger to the size of his arm, and strangely enough, it didn't hurt. It was just... weird. He tried to understand if it gave him any advantage, but he hadn't found any. He left that under the "maybe useful" category in his book.

But the balloon analogy had given him several other stupid ideas. Maybe he could wrestle it like a balloon into shapes? He had seen clowns do that, and he had found that funny when he was a kid. Well, he wasn't a kid anymore of course, but that was for science! Using his elongated finger, he had tried to make a loop, knotting it on itself. While it had been a bit weird, it had worked. The most interesting part was that simply twisting the elongated finger did something unexpected. It had created a sort of tube. Which in fact turned his elongated finger into a balloon attached to his hand by that cable. It reminded him of his blobby form because just like it, fog was circulating inside the tube, albeit very faintly. There was absolutely no blue Qi energy going through it though.

Besides that, he only found out how to glow brighter for a short time. He could, if he wanted make his finger glow, though he could only see it when he was in meditation. But even awake, he could do it. He couldn't see it then, and it was harder to do, but he could feel it. It was strange, and once again, he didn't know what to do with it.

"Then, show me," the Elder said, tersely. Takeo was reminded that this woman did in fact have a lot of responsibility here, and he couldn't afford to waste her time. He nodded and closed his eyes. Getting into Deep meditation without his Ability wasn't as easy, but it also had some advantages. He was a bit more aware of his surroundings, but in exchange, everything he did felt less responsive, and less accurate. He focused on his finger, elongated it, then twisted it into a tube, and left just a little bubble at the end of it. Another fun fact about this technique was that he could have a very long tube without impacting his domain much. When done, he made the little bubble glow brightly in his mind's eye. He kept the feeling well in his mind and opened his eyes.

"I'm not sure what I'm doing honestly Elder," he explained a bit abashed. "I'm sorry if I'm wasting your time."

The Elder looked at him, and then at his finger. "You are not wasting my time, Takeo. You are learning. And you are doing well. If anything it proves you can use your Soul Energy," she said, her voice a bit softer. Takeo was elated. He truly had been stressed over this meeting, and having her approval was a relief.

"Thank you, Elder," he said, bowing his head. "I'm not sure what I'm doing though. I'm just... trying things. Does it have a name? Does it have a use?"

She looked thoughtfully at him as if pondering a hundred different things behind her wrinkled face. "A name? Probably. A use, most certainly. But that's for you to find out." She paused and then added. "Very well, I will give you a task. I want you to find a Tamerling, and bring it back to me. You have until the end of the day. If you succeed, you will have passed your first test, and get another week of treatment. If you fail, you will have to leave the Valley," she stated solemnly. He could almost feel his book writing this quest in bold characters. "Little Lizzy will show you the way. She won't assist you in any way, you will have to be the warrant of your own survival. Do you accept?"

He had known this was coming. That had been the deal to begin with, so he wasn't surprised. But he was a bit worried. He had no idea what a Tamerling was, so he hazarded a question. "What is a Tamerling, Elder?"

She cackled, and it was a bit scary. "You will find out soon enough. Now go, and come back before the end of the day." She waved him away, and he bowed again, before leaving the shop. Only to be stopped by the gruff of his neck by a younger woman covered in dark clothes. Only eyes showed through the veil, and they were bright green.

He yelped at the unexpected contact and tried to get away, but she was stronger than she looked. "Hey! What are you doing?" he asked, a bit panicked.

"Where do YOU think you are going, BOY?" she spat.

He shivered under the assault. "Outside?" he answered, a bit confused. A cackle came from inside the Elder's abode.

"Don't traumatize him, Lizzy," she chuckled, "That's not the kind of job I have for you today, and you know it." The grip on his neck relented and he sprawled on the ground heavily. "Now, you both have a job to do, get to it."

The green eyes glared at him as if he was the one at fault. "Follow me," she said, turned around and dashed away. He scrambled to his feet and tried to follow her. She was deceptively fast, and he had to run to attempt to keep up with her, but even that wasn't enough. He was out of breath in no time, and she didn't even seem to have reached her peak.

"WAIT!" he yelled, but she had already disappeared on the highway trench that led down the village. He cursed and tried to follow her, but he was already too far behind. He had no idea where she was going, and he had no idea what a Tamerling was. He was in a bit of a pickle. On a hunch, he decided to go to the Lake and see if he could find her there. He ran as fast as he could, and he thanked his recent training for that. Sprints weren't part of his daily routine, but he would add them from now on. As he left the fifth level to reach the pontoon that led to the Lake and beyond to the Delta, he saw her running at a crazy speed. She was already halfway to the Delta.

He took another few breaths and ran after her. His new body was way more resilient than his previous one, but his endurance wasn't infinite. He had approached a few Guardsmen who were training by the side of the road once, and they had told him that in case of emergency, they were expected to be able to run around the valley in less than ten minutes. He had laughed at the time because his best time was around three hours. But seeing Lizzy run, he was starting to understand. The little beads of power slotted on his right hand truly had an effect he shouldn't underestimate.

Running on the pontoon was a new experience. It was a bit like running on a trampoline, each step weighed on it, making it dip a bit. It was a bit disconcerting at first, but he quickly got used to it. When he had observed Lizzy, he hadn't seen her bounce much, it was more like she was a feather, not weighing anything. Feeling feathery didn't seem to solve the problem though. Besides, he didn't exactly want more speed right now, if anything, he wanted to reach the shore in one piece, without a broken leg due to a misstep or a slipup. The leather slippers that Connor had made for him weren't exactly made for running, and this week of intermittent running had already worn them down quite a bit. He would have to ask for a new pair soon. I could probably fit some odd jobs in the village to get myself some pocket money, he thought. I hate being a burden to Xander and Connor...

Despite his morose thoughts he still managed to reach the shore and the nearby delta in a reasonable time. He had lost sight of Lizzy, but there was only one road and he knew it well enough to know that there was nothing of interest on the way to the Delta. This road went from the shore to the Purple Forest. It crossed the second and last true road of the Valley, the one that went all around above the three cliffs. He continued his run, the slope was barely noticeable. On his left, the Cliff that hosted the village was slowly getting smaller, and on his right, the myriad of small islands that made the Delta were beginning to show themselves.

Most were barely more than a few rocks sticking out of the water, but some were big enough to host a few trees, just like his. He had spotted a Heron once, the nightmarish animal had been standing on his one leg, looking for fishes with a dozen shadowy tentacles. Otherwise, the Delta was mostly inhabited by harmless critters and a few lost Frogs. According to Xander, the Lake water themselves weren't safe to dive into, but no one had warned them about the Delta's water. So far, nothing untoward had happened to him, but he was still wary of it.

There was only one bridge that crossed the Delta, and the next one would be right in front of the Purple Forest. He had never been there and didn't plan to go there alone. Still, Lizzy was waiting for him at the bridge. She was sitting on the railing, bored out of her mind. She didn't even look at him when he arrived. He was a bit out of breath, but he was still able to talk. "Hey, you could have waited for me," he said, a bit annoyed.

"And why would I do that?" she answered, her voice a bit raspy. "You are not my responsibility, and I don't care if you fail or not." She seemed angry for some reason he couldn't fantom. What did I do to her? he wondered.

"Is there a problem?" he asked, a bit confused.

"Bah! Shut up, and let's go, the warrens are not far," she ordered, jumping off the railing and walking away. He followed her, a bit annoyed. He didn't like being treated like that, but it was on her. So he let it go. So, my prey lives in a warren? he thought. That's a bit unexpected. I thought it would be a beast or something.

He followed her in silence, and soon enough, they left the Delta behind them and entered the hills that did the transition between the Purple Forest and the northern reaches. Unlike the tundra biome of the eastern mountain and the Fields of golden and brown grasses of the southern Plateau, these hills were covered in verdant grasses, sprinkled with flowers of all colors, with hot spots of trees here and there. This whole area didn't span more than a few square kilometers and was a welcome return to normalcy, something that was familiar to him. At least, so long I don't look too closely at anything, he amended.

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Lizzy stopped in front of one such hill. It was dotted with numerous holes in the dirt, and he could see a few small creatures running around. They looked like rabbits, but they were purple and sported a crest of white fur on their back, as well as a long tail that ended with a sharp bony spike. Their fluffy cheeks were white as well and gave them a goofy look. They hopped around, seemingly unconcerned by their presence.

"Is there anything you can tell me about them?" he asked, a bit worried. He didn't have any net. He might have some leftover vines in his book somewhere. He would have to check, it was filled with all sorts of things these days.

She snorted and left in a flash. "Good luck," she said, her voice a bit muffled. He was left alone, and he didn't know what to do.

"Well, it must have something to do with Soul Energy," he guessed aloud. He summoned one Slime and told it to keep watch over him, but not to kill anything unless he got attacked. Thinking about it, he summoned a second one with the same directive a minute later. Fleeing will be the better part of valor here, he observed, But to flee effectively, I'll need these guys to slow them down.

Then he triggered his Stasis Ability. It had the double advantage of putting him in Deep Meditation, but it also gave him a fair boost in his defenses. When he opened his eyes once again, he was in the deep darkness of his mind. He could see the three Slimes he had summoned. He had made that discovery earlier in the week. The darkness around him wasn't just void. He should have understood that already, as he had witnessed the Elder's domain or whatever that had been. But he had been too busy being scared to think about it. Anyway, he could see his Slimes, and he was connected to them with fine cables of Soul Energy. These cables were long and thin. But more important, they didn't draw on his domain limits. They just went through it. They were also heavily laden with Mana, and a slight blue capillary of Qi energy was flowing through the cable to reach the Slime. Themselves were a bit different, foreign in a way that he could only intuit. They had their own pulse of golden energy, and it limited itself to their own body, with a slight domain around them. His cable just went through their domain and disappeared within, their domain acting like a privacy field.

Another of his observations was that their spatial disposition seemed to match reality. If they moved outside, they would also move there. What he didn't understand, for example, was why he couldn't spot anything else besides them. No fish, no bug, no plant. Well, for the last one, he posited that it was because they didn't have a soul. But for the rest, he had no idea. He hadn't made many experiments with that sight, and maybe that was something he should do, right now. The Elder hasn't sent me here for nothing. There must be some lessons to learn.

He wondered if he could summon another Slime while meditating. Now that's an interesting question, he thought. One that could open a whole lot of new possibilities... He tried to do it but felt something hampering and preventing him from doing it. Still, many things had happened in his Soul Body at that moment, it was hard to keep track of everything.

Hmmm, he mused. Could that be because of the Stasis? There was nothing like the present anyway, so he left his Stasis, and returned to Deep Meditation, this time on his own. He tried to summon a Slime, and this time, he succeeded. Everything happened very very quickly, a cable sprouted from his abdomen, thrust itself right above the ground, and a Slime suddenly manifested itself. For a brief instant, he even had a glimpse of its insides. Sadly too short. It was in all ways identical to the other two as they had spawned. Now of course his first two guardians were getting adapted to their current environment, and even with his obscured Soul Perception of them, he could get the whiff of their grassy smell. The last one was pristine, yet unmarred by the world.

Happy with his new discovery, he filled in another dozen questions that would need to be answered in his Book. He was thankful he didn't have to leave meditation to write in it. Consulting his notes on the other hand was still out of his reach, but he would get there. He was sure of it.

So, step one: How far can I see my little test Slime? he wondered and ordered the last slime to go to the top of the hill. From his mind's eye, he could only see eternal blackness, and his new companion getting further and further away. He tried to focus on it, and he could see it a bit better, but it was still very faint. As he had experimented already, Willpower and Intent were the keys to everything in this strange space. Thus, he pushed his Willpower to the max and focused on his Slime. And then, as if by magic, which it probably was, he was now standing right above him. His little blobular avatar's cable sprouted out of the slime's cable end. He still couldn't see anything else, within or without the slime's domain, but he was right next to it when "it" happened.

He saw the surface of the slime's domain ripple. It was a bit like a pond when someone decided to throw in several pebbles. Nothing untoward happened, but the poking continued. Then, a flash of bright light appeared, and a small tendril of golden energy popped out of nowhere. It snaked its way across the void and carefully probed the Slime's domain. Seconds later, another few appeared from all around the poor Slime. Seeming reassured by the lack of reaction, their probing became more aggressive, and they started to poke into the Slime's domain. Intrigued by this development, Takeo just hovered there, watching the scene unfold.

The Slime's radiant energy didn't react and soon got pierced through, popping the domain like a soap bubble. Then all five golden snakes rushed within, digging into the Slime body. It barely shivered at the passage, but this time at least, he felt it. Then ensued a protracted battle between all snakes. His Guardians innards weren't much more developed than its physical body, the golden structure that kept it together was thin and looked fragile, but besides that, he could only see three little stars hovering in the middle of it.

The snakes were turning around the Slime's cores, spitting at each other. One grew a sharp-looking scythe and tried to slice one of its opponents. In response, it glowed even brighter, sparks appeared when the clash came to be, and the scythe was deflected, but not without leaving a mark. Dark gray debris fell from the snake's body and floated within the poor Slime. The others were trying to nibble at each other in a game of cat and mouse.

So, glowing reinforces the durability of things here? He dutifully recorded everything he saw in his book, for later review. He still didn't understand their endgame, and their little wargame would last a few more minutes at this rate. His gaze left the battle and turned toward his cable that seemed to connect or feed the Slime, and so that it ended in a quite strange manner. It had formed a sort of bulb at the end of it. A very faint glow was emanating from it, So something quite fragile? he thought. The bulb encased the three stars, something the snakes didn't seem to have noticed already. Inside that bulb, there were hundreds of fine golden filaments that were connecting the golden star to the bulb. His blue Qi capillary had plugged itself into the Slime's blue Core, just like the fog's canal did with the White Core.

Tamer-ling! His mind shouted as he reached some sort of revelation, Are they trying to get control of my Slime?

The little war for his Slime had seen his first victim, as one snake got chomped in two. The Slime's body was now a mess of decaying dark remains. Emboldened, the little snake rushed toward the cores and collided at high speed with the bulb. It was deflected, but the bulb was now dented and fractured. Takeo's mind reeled at the impact. Thanks to this, he could clearly feel "where" that bulb was, and pushed his Soul Energy toward it, like he had done with his finger. The bulb didn't grow back to its original shape though, but it did glow brighter under his efforts. Numerous little radiant waves of golden energy just ran along his cable toward the bulb. The snake didn't try again, in its moment of weakness it got sliced open by the scythed one.

Soon, only two contenders were left. The scythed one and one that looked like it was composed of golden steel cable instead of finer golden filament as the others. Neither had weathered this deadly battle unscathed, but the scythed one was clearly the worst for wear. Its blade was dented and broken in several places. It was strange to think that these things were made of Soul Energy. In solid form, they looked like they were made of golden metal. Its opponent's cables were worn and frayed, but it still had a globally uniform shape. Its strategy was the dumb one, it was just trying to outlast its opponent and letting them break themselves on its body.

Takeo was fascinated by the display. So many questions were popping into his mind. Is that how they hunt? They capture their foes and kill them without them giving a fight? he wondered. And then there were the many hows of their techniques. He hadn't seen any of them attempt to repair themselves, or even to grow back their lost parts. Is it because they can't? Or is it because they don't know how? he mused, Or maybe they don't have enough energy to do it? Or is it simpler just to abandon that stray part of their Soul Body and regrow one new?

The scythed one lost its last tooth abandoned the fight, and fled. The remaining contender, the winner, didn't pursue. It just floated there for a second, basking in its glorious victory. It approached Takeo's Bulb. Then it opened its mouth very very wide in an attempt to swallow all the stars in one go. But it just chomped on the bulb. It was a bit comical, because, it didn't seem to have "seen" it. It stayed there, frozen in surprise. Comically, it tried to swallow again, and again, showing more and more frustration at the lack of results. Takeo felt the pressure though, each time the snake tried to swallow it, he had to flare his Soul Energy to keep it at bay. But, his bulb was already broken, and no matter what he did, each chomp added a new crack to it, and soon it would break completely.

He decided to let it happen, for science. When the ultimate crack resounded in his soul, the slime simply vanished from his sight. Leaving only a snake with an oversized, closed mouth. Takeo's cable was hovering there, broken, spilling some Mana and Qi. It hurt Takeo something fierce. But it wasn't the usual kind of pain. He had tuned out the pings from the Slimes some times ago, as they turned out to be quite the chatterboxes, and his two Guardians had been getting anxious about the disappearance of their brethren. He couldn't quite distinguish who was who, nor what they were saying, but their distress was plain for anyone to hear. Jello seemed the least concerned. He had seen a dozen of his Slime mates disappear in the past week, and he knew somehow that he had another destiny than them.

Takeo quickly opened his eyes. He wanted to observe what happened next. On top of the hill, he could see his slime, now greenish with grass, and a few flowers sprouting from its body. It was lazily rolling toward one of the warrens under the watchful eyes of a Tamerling. The little rabbit-like creature was looking at it with greed and hunger in its eyes. He was suddenly scared, for himself. Could these things actually get a hold of me and control me like a puppet?

"Now isn't the time to get scared," he said to himself, trying to psych himself up. "Let's review what has happened in order, and then I will try to get a plan." He didn't sound as confident as he wanted to. He summoned his Book.

First: They probe the Slime's domain.

Second: They poke and pierce the Slime's domain.

Third: They take out the competition.

Fourth: They swallow the Slime's cores.

Fifth: They control the Slime's body.

If he didn't want to be captured by these creatures... he would have to prevent them from doing any of these steps. Easy. Well, the first one was strange, because it showed prudence. Maybe, other creatures than slime did react to the probing? he mused. Or... They just don't see it, and they are in the dark like me? Now that was an interesting thought. They did seem somewhat clueless about many things. He remembered the snake that had tried to swallow his bulb, both the first one and the last one.

He scratched the first step and replaced it with Trying to find prey. They obviously didn't use the same method as the Elder, or he'd had his domain blasted already. It still looked like soft probes. He went back into meditation extended his finger, and touched the Slime's domain. And felt it. New development! Nice! And then for some reason, the bulbous end of his probe just went through his Slime Guardian's domain, without popping it. It had been allowed inside, and now he could see the three stars again, but also a faint shimmering of golden energy where the domain still was. So the slime HAD felt the probing as well. He pondered, But what about my first sacrifice? It hadn't reacted. Was it because it had understood his intent?

Still, he'd gained a new "skill" of sorts, he could pat around blindly in the dark to get a feel of what was around. Which was great. Although, not what he needed. Maybe. Idly, he tried to sprout as many "fingers" as he could, extending them all around him like some creepy hedgehog. Surprisingly, he could make a few dozen of them, before running his domain ragged. They only extended barely a meter around him, if he could judge by the distance between them and his Guardian Slimes. Then, with an effort of Willpower, he tried to make them finer and longer, poking all around him. He was burning in a golden fire, it wasn't painful, but it was draining. And yet his tendrils extended further. When he finally reached his Slimes, a few meters away, he'd also reached his limit. He was drained. But within his mind, he could feel everything around him. For some reason, some of his tendrils connected to blades of grass, highlighting them in his mind's eye. Ants, bugs, and a few worms were also discovered.

Maybe, that's how they feed, usually... And their little war was for larger prey? He still took curious notes about the innards of his captured critters. Unlike the Tamerling, he couldn't control them. Probably because his tendrils have only breached their domains without intending to, and didn't do whatever they did to the cores. His marveling didn't last too long though. He was on a time limit and he needed to get better results. Thankfully he had a plan. He would cheat. He released his tendrils and they disappeared. Some of his used Soul Energy came back to him, but not everything, he was still taxed by his efforts.

He opened his eyes and looked at the Tamerling's Hill. After all, he only needed one, and catching one Slime had taken them several minutes. Besides, there was still the next hill. He nodded to himself. "Right."

He summoned another two Slimes with some difficulty, and ordered them: "Go kill every Tamerling on this hill! Get me the bodies back when you're done." Without a hitch, they rolled into a war of vengeance. Takeo opened his Book and waited. His patience was rewarded soon enough and two Tasks appeared in his Book: Kill 10 Tamerlings and Collect 10 Tamerlings bodies. He nodded to himself. That's a good start.