@Zeroth@SilverPaw@Searat@Kazemitsu

'Magic really is an actual concept here in this world.' Ed thinks to himself as he took in what Jason had said to him.
According to what he had understood so far: magic is something that can be taught to others, skills reliant to magic require mana and the glowing crystals that would supposedly replenish a large amount of said mana, you can develop and practice these skills to further strengthen them, and some creatures have natural affinity to some magicks.
Ed then heard Jason offering him lessons on magic. This piqued Ed's interest. "I thank you for your generous offer Mr. Jason. I would take your offer in a heart beat but I am unsure if I even have the skill or talent to harness magic." Ed really wishes that he can. "Is there a way for me to check if I have any skill or talent in harnessing magic?"

When the lizard came to a halt before Naji, Scott watched for a moment with bated breath, frozen by his own nervousness. But then the lizard drew its head back. In his condition, the other pixie wouldn't even survive that. Scott felt his heart pang. He wouldn't be able to get there in time, would he? And even if he did, would he even have managed to live past the first blow? Dark clouds filling his thoughts, Scott raised his hands to his head. And he looked away.

Coward. You stupid coward. You could have done something. Trying would have been better than doing nothing at all.

Scott curled up into a ball, covering his ears, squeezing his eyes tightly shut. Trying to block out what his own head was saying to him. But there wasn't any defence from it. His breath quickened, and in his throat, there was the horrible feeling of wanting to throw up.

Just ignore it. Just ignore it. Just ignore it.

Warm tears fell down his cheeks as he tried desperately to recover from his spiralling, dizzying descent, panic overtaking every atom in his body. Why couldn't he stop? Why?

---

The feeling faded after a few minutes, though for Scott, it took an age. Covered in sweat, and grime from the cavern floor, he opened his eyes, blurry from their extended closure. As his vision refocused, he began to reconstruct himself, what he could see, hear, feel. He needed to establish it, stabilize it.

He saw stalactites. Or were they stalagmites? He saw the soft glow of distant mana crystals, fainter than they used to be. He saw rock, stone and dirt. He saw herbs over by the water, in the soft mud that the pool created. He could feel the ground beneath him, felt the small bits of gravel that clung to his skin. Felt the sting of his eyes as his tear ducts stopped flowing. He could hear the pounding of his head, blood pumping to and fro inside, trying to carry oxygen and nutrients to where they were needed. And he could hear the soft murmuring of voices, people in some conversation.

Wait.

Slowly, he broke out of his fetal hold, raising his head and twisting around. He saw Ash and the wisp from before, as well as the lizard that had been freed. Eventually, the wisp broke off, floating down over to where the bodies of the two goblins lay. A wave of simultaneous guilt and relief washed over him. Naji was alive! ...And currently chowing down on an eyeball.

That turned his stomach just enough for his earlier nausea to take effect. Again Scott turned away, and let whatever happened, happen. It was not pleasant, to say the least, but he didn't exactly have an option here, either. Once that was done, he gathered his strength, and fully aware that he didn't quite look the best, given his tear-stained cheeks and whatever other detritus he had managed to gather, Scott pushed himself out of his hiding spot. He staggered slightly on the landing but managed to stay upright. He began to walk over to Ash, hoping that she wouldn't reprimand him for his... inaction.

Now that he was closer, he noticed the scars and wounds that the lizard had. His heart panged, and he bit his lip. He'd known the Goblins could be cruel... anyone could, really... but he never understood why creatures sought to hurt one another. He fully intended to just approach her and give a simple 'Hey, Ash', but that idea was cut short when the other lizard bolted, before tumbling over. And then Ash bluntly smashed it on the head, trying to show herself as the stronger one. And Scott couldn't help himself.

"Hey, Ash- wait, don't hurt it!"

---

@Zeroth@SilverPaw@Searat@Kazemitsu
"I thank you for your generous offer Mr. Jason. I would take your offer in a heart beat but I am unsure if I even have the skill or talent to harness magic." Ed responded, "Is there a way for me to check if I have any skill or talent in harnessing magic?"

'What an interesting thought' Jason mused. He hadn't considered whether or not certain races were completely unable to use magic. However, the fact that as a slime; a creature meant specifically for tanking damage, could learn magic, likely meant that it could be learned by anyone.

After pondering this for a few moments, Jason finally reached his conclusion."Seeing as how I learned magic by literally just spitting rocks at Asura, I'd imagine anyone can learn it. Besides, one of my currently unusable skills is labeled as [CURRENTLY INCOMPATIBLE], so I'd imagine that one can LEARN any skill, but whether or not you can USE it is what varies depending on your species, race, or perhaps other skills. But I do believe that you should be able to both learn and use magic."

Just as he finished explaining his thoughts to Edward, another idea came to mind,"Also, would you mind if I tested something on you real quick? It's completely harmless, and is only so I can try to further develop my skills."

---

---

It was not at all unnoticed by Asteria how quickly Jason turned serious. So, not so much an annoyance as he was someone to be careful around, even if an ally. Though that went without saying for just about anyone, really. “I agree that we protect each other to the best of our abilities except for situations where the protector would have to expose him or herself to lethal danger. Even with the existence of healing magic and possibly other healing items we should still be careful. I agree on the sharing of information, whether new or old; whatever any of us know that the others don’t can likely be useful to all of us. The mana thing I’ll refrain from deciding either for or against until you give us more information,” Asteria replied. An alliance was one thing, getting used by Jason (or anyone else, for that matter) quite another.

“Interesting that a slime can learn magic. Perhaps so could a Dire rat. That would be worth testing out just to see if it can be done or not,” Asteria commented. “Do you think you could use that telepathy you mentioned to inform Mother Rat here that we are all allies? Though maybe you should test it one of us first – which I am assuming is what you wanted to test out anyway? You really should be clearer on experiments like that,” the female Dire rat finished dryly. So much for ‘sharing information’ already. Not that she expected this to go perfectly, but really.

“As for checking what you can or cannot do, Ed…I have recently obtained a skill called Monster Analysis I. That could help,” she added.

@Zeroth@Searat@Kazemitsu@Guy0fV4lor

---

Rain snaked her head around from the goblin she was brutalizing. He'd died before she'd ever touched his throat, but that hadn't stopped her. This was a quick meal, since that Pixie had melted.

She glared daggers at Crispy and the two helping him escape. They were enemies, and this was terrible.

Such a wasted opportunity.

"Everyone pack up if you want to live. They're gone, and it's going to get brutal in retaliation."

Who were these creatures? They worked together well. And that Wisp talked about humanity and stuff. Maybe they were all Humans?

Odd.

Had she killed any humans reincarnated? Not that it necessarily bothered her, if she was going to be honest. But the thought gave her pause.

She stopped at the goblin that the other lizard had attacked, tearing out this throat for good measure, assuming the lizard hadn't taken care of it himself yet. It might already have died, but you just couldn't take chances in a turf war.

"No chances." she muttered.

Shaking her head, she started to sink in the opposite direction of Orchard, away from the fire.

"We can't take on an army... Not yet."

Not that she entirely believed it herself, though.

Oh, how she wanted to watch that big guy's flesh melt.

---

The feverish rage that encompassed Digbie had faded when the <Woodland Pick^TM> was picked up, and he was kind of relieved to see that. He held the pickaxe close to him as he watched the two goblins get away. Despite Crispy being a bit of a jerk to him in the past (well, if his memory served him well he was), this green skinned digger still felt kind of glad he got away. It was only because the two were still kind of siblings in some weird way. Otherwise, Crispy was a dick.

He wanted to save the goblin girl, though. She seemed really cool. Maybe she could fashion a good pick for him.

A few moments passed before Digbie's stomach churned a little in his gut, making a semi-audible sound. Ah yes, he was still kind of hungry. Thankfully, the charred rat he threw earlier wasn't completely gone. Digbie went up to the charred carcass of the rat and kicked a bit of dirt onto it, putting out the remaining flames it was covered in. After that, Digbie grabbed the beast's tail in one hand and pulled it as he followed the lizard who took charge. She seemed to have more of a level head than Mourningstar, since she actually said something somewhat sensible.

While he trailed behind the new lizard, Digbie tried his hardest to analyze the beast he was dragging, seeing if it was at all edible underneath the charred hide. At the very least, he wanted to try and inspect it for what he could see about it.

---

@Zeroth@SilverPaw@Searat@Kazemitsu
Though seemingly skeptical of Jason's intentions, Asteria, like Edward, agreed to the terms of the alliance. Well most of the terms anyway, yet was seemingly taken aback by the clause regarding mana crystals.

"I understand why you may be offput about having to cede any mana crystals you come across to another alliance member. The reason for such a tenant is that magic uses up a great deal of mana, there are two ways that you can regain said mana, at least, as far as I know. The fist method is sleep, the second, by using mana crystals. Therefore, in order to be able to consistently use magic skills in battle, they require mana crystals. The reason I ask that those who have no magical skills give their mana crystals to those with magic based skills is solely on the grounds that mana crystals are essentially useless to those without magic abilities, again, as far as I know." he exlained before stopping to listen to Asteria's next statement.

"Yes, that is exactly what I planned to test!" Jason explained with a chuckle, "I apologise for the oversight in my explanation, but yes, I am going to try using my telepathy on you both. Also, I am trying to gain the skill monster analysis, which I think I can work on by using my [Tremor Sense I] skill to non-invasively view the inside of your bodies, similar to an x-ray. Now Ed, would you be so kind as to be my first volunteer?" he finished, once again slowly moving towards Edward.

Ed listened and understood what Jason and Asteria told him. There was a great possibility that other creatures had a knack for certain kinds of magic and skills restricted to some species. Though what confused him was that Asteria 'obtained' a skill called [Monster Analysis I] and Jason claimed that one of his skills was 'labeled' [CURRENTLY INCOMPATIBLE] What did they mean by that? Are there ranks and degrees of skills that are usable? And what did Jason mean 'labeled?' Did that mean there was a means to check if skills you have are usable or something?

Ed was snapped back to reality when he had heard Jason asking him to be the first volunteer to this [Tremor Sense I]. Truth be told, Ed was not very excited to be the guinea pig of this experiment but he too was rather curious what the skill do if it were some impromptu version of an X-ray or FMRI scan. "I'm not too sure about this Jason, but I cannot deny my scientific curiosity to what would happen." He walks closer to the slime. "I do hope you know what you are doing..."

"Please Edward," Jason jokingly retorted,Of course I know what I'm doing..... Mostly.

As Edward moved close to Jason, the slime extended several pseudopods, firmly pressing them into multiple spots around the dire rat's body, before channeling [Tremor Sense I]. Once Jason had seen the full layout of his comrade's body, he drew back all but two of the pseudopods, and touched the two sides of the rat's head. Centering his mind on the 'focus' hard, Jason pushed mana into the 'invisible connection' between himself and Ed, sending forward the thought, "Can. You. Hear. Me?"

Pulling away, Jason awaited Ed's response.

Ed simply looks at the slime as its pseudopods vibrate as if sounds were being produced from within them. It was a rather strange but not unwelcomed experience to the young dire rat. Ed simply stares at the slime as it pulled away and offered him a expectant look. "Uhh..." Ed rubs the back of his head awkwardly as he tries to formulate a response. He wasn't too sure what was supposed to happen. "Thanks for the...massage?"

Frowning, Jason looked about the ceiling for a cluster of mana crystals. Spying some, he used the last of his mana to cast [Stone Shot I], knocking the cluster down before flopping over and snatching up the crystals.

3x Mana Crystal added to inventory

Absorbing one of the crystals, Jason sighed with relief as he felt his mana replenish. Extending two pseudopods, and touching one to each side of Edward's head once more, the slimy mage cleared his mind and focused deeply on the 'invisible connection'. This time, as mana built up, Jason held onto it, not allowing it through thrice the amount of mana had built up. This time, he was going to try something small, picturing the word 'Test', Jason pushed the thought into the mana amassed, and drove both through the 'invible connection' to the point that he finally felt the thought completely exit his mind.

Outside it was then. If Crispy is right, the goblins took the big hole that lead out of the cave, which also means big tunnels. The fact that there were so few goblins left behind much mean most of them were with Rattleskull. For better or for worse Orchid would be safe there. But she was worried about the “for worse” part. Was Rattleskull the type of goblins who would punish those who fled? Would he demand answers for why Orchid vanished during their hunt?

Orchid wasn’t sure. But she was positive she could talk her way out of the situation somehow. She just needed to stay alive and get to Rattleskull. She could hear goblins up ahead, so she knew she was getting close. ”Don’t die Crispy. We’re close. And I still need to learn fire.” Once Orchid could definitely hear goblin chatter she sped up her pace as fast as she could, carrying Crospy if he was too sluggish to keep pace. ”Rattleskull! Help! Bonfire was attacked!”

As she was getting closer, something tugged and yelled into her ear. Surprised and frighten Orchid swiped at the pixie, snarling at the fairy. "Piss off! Haven't you monsters had enough? Or are you here to finish the job!?" Between swatting at the pixie, Orchid would try to grab the flying humanoid, even snapping her teeth on the off chance of biting it's head off.

Asura watched and listened as the other two bounced ideas and rules and such back and forth. He didn't have any input on it really since he wasn't a magic user and as a tank based monster he had no problems taking a hit of fifty for someone. Jason wanted to test the slime telepathy thing more which got Asura to shake his 'head'. "I think the telepathy doesn't apply to other creatures, Jason. The only reason we can talk is because we were human in the past. Mother Slime seems to vaguely understand speech but hasn't tried making any sounds to mimic us." He stated, Jason would have a while to get the telepathy to work since it didn't look like he tried to understand how slimes interact to begin with.

Since they were chatting and testing things, Asura decided to test something for himself. He knew his range was limited, but with his malleable body he should be able to do something at least medium ranged. Using the pseudopod as a base he started to extend the 'limb' to see just how far he could without using momentum and before gravity took hold and dragged the limb to the ground. It would be a slow boring process but he needed to know. Once he figured out how far he could go he pulled back and added a little momentum to see if it went further. He was trying to whip but he needed to see his own bodies limits beforehand.

Pool Party (D2)
@Searat@Kazemitsu@Guy0fV4lor@SilverPaw

---

As Asura explained to some degree “how do” to Momma Slime, the blue blob seemed to tremble with confusion. She watched as Jason spoke and her surface membrane quivered slightly as he spoke vocally to Asura, the vibrations of his voice rippling across her. Then she suddenly undulated in alarm as a Dire Rat appeared—followed by two more!

Mother Rat kept her distance as Asteria approached the other group of monsters. That male from before was there, but so were three slimes. The larger Dire Rat stayed low to the ground, ready to spring--either to fight or fly--and sniffed the air with rapid whiffs. Momma Slime pulsed with suspicion, but neither Asura nor Jason seemed to be reacting violently yet.

Jason spoke in what he no doubt believed was a charming voice, but when he got loud Mother Rat opened her mouth to hiss, while maintaining her distance. Mother Slime shifted her mass. But the other monsters never displayed any overt hostility, and merely interacted in their strange ways that neither of the natural creatures understood.

Jason experimented with his magic. Ed and Asteria questioned the terms of the Alliance. Asura mostly observed, until he had a chance to pipe up. But all of their voices, the vibrations they were making that shook the air and produced a sound, were being received. Mother Rat’s ears twitched. She had stopped hissing, and for now had merely crouched down not too far from Asteria. But now, her eyes held a sort of curiosity. Every so often, she would thrust her nose closer to the group, scenting and listening. Her tail swept back and forth pensively behind her.

You are experiencing a Fast Rate of Skill Progression.
You are experiencing a Fast Rate of Skill Progression.

Momma Slime’s surface membrane continued to ripple. Then, after some time, she shifted her mass back to a more centered “stance” of sorts--she seemed relaxed. Then her surface began to move on its own, without the vibrations of the others’ voices. At first, one part of her simply formed a roll of sorts, flopping over the other part. It made a wet slap. Then she reformed into an orb, and...made an odd sucking sound. Part of her inflated into a bubble. Then the bubble was drawn into her mass--and when it popped, her body vibrated with a sound somewhat like a belch. She undulated from side to side...and then…

“Blrblrblbrlbble.” said Momma Slime.

Mother Rat perked up at the sound, but then she stood up on her hindlegs for just a moment. She turned her snout this way and that, then looked at Asteria and squeaked before settling back down. If the rest of the group looked around as she had, they would see that other creatures were coming to the Pool for water, but right now it seemed that all of the other monsters were giving this group a wide berth. Though they had all experienced their share of “random encounters,” it seemed that even the simple minded monsters of the cave had more sense than to attack a much stronger force than themselves...

Ardur The Pixie

Making a Gamble >>>> A New Mount /// day 8 // Morning

Ardur figured the goblin might try to attack him or swat him away. He could only watch as the goblin blindly swung at him and tried to shake him off. The pixie dug his toes into her shoulder and clung closer to her ear. He hoped that the goblin physiology was similar to humans as he griped and twisted her ear with one hand and jammed his fist into what would be a pressure point behind the jaw with the other.

“Now listen here, if you didn’t realize by the glowing aura you got right now from my shield spell. I’m here to help. Crispy is no longer a threat and could be a good teacher as long as he remains useful. He can always die another day.” Ardur lessened the pressure on her jaw and ear but still held on. “Now I took a gamble, I thought you were smarter than the other goblins. So if you stop swiping at me, I’ll tell you if there’s more shots coming in. got it?” A simple thing to understand for sure while he both watched their backs and kept an eye out for any more of her funny business or other goblins.

@Lucius Cypher
@Zeroth

Orchid snarled as she took her bag off her bag and tried to sack the fairy, even if she can’t grab the thing directly, she could still be netted, probably. ”You’re going to get us both killed!” Orchid snarled quietly to the pixie so Crispy couldn’t hear. ”They’re going to kill you, and probably me too if I don’t help! Get out of here. If you want to leech off of me you’re going to need I be more subtle than glowing on the fucking dark.” Orchid hustles forward, lowering Crispy down to the side while taking a rock out of her back in case more monsters show up.

”After getting ganged up on by all those other monsters, I’m not in a rush to start trusting a new one!” Orchid says with a lot less subtly. ”I don’t know what your game is but I don’t trust you, fairy. Our goals might align right now but that doesn’t mean I’m putting any faith in you. You want to stick by me fine, but know that the moment I smell treachery, no shield is going to protect you.” Orchid says with much more sophistication and eloquence than any of these goblins have been able to muster so far. ”Now piss off! At least have the common sense to hide instead of being close enough to bite.”



@ReusableSword@Zeroth

“We’re not catching up to them at all.” Still flying in pursuit of the two Goblins and their surprise Pixie ally, Oberon found that he and Mourningstar could just about keep pace with the retreating figures if they pushed themselves slightly but were completely unable to gain any ground. This was even despite the fact that they didn’t have to deal with the uneven ground or navigating obstacles. “We won’t gain any ground unless they slow down or stop.”

Even so the Wisp didn’t show any signs of giving up any time soon. “They’re going to lead us wherever they want if we just keep following them like this. What if they have a trap planned, or reinforcements waiting?” If anything it was extremely likely they the retreating Goblins were leading them directly into the waiting arms of another group of green-skinned barbarians. “We can’t handle that by ourselves.”

Coming to a stop Oberon lowered himself to the ground, abandoning the fruitless chase for now. “Do you even have a plan? And don’t just say ‘catch them’. We should go back to the others for now.”

@floodtalon

Once more Orochi could feel his fangs tear through Goblin flesh, the taste of blood no less pungent than moments prior when he'd attacked Crispy. He internally cringed as the odor overtook his senses, though whatever constitution he possessed stopped the lizard from gagging. He just had to hold on, the venom would take effect soon and then the greenskin would be down. As if answering a silent prayer, the goblin soon collapsed... though now Orochi found himself hurtling towards the stony floor!

The lizard hit the ground hard, his scaly body almost skipping across the stone a short distance before he skid to a stop belly up and winded. Then he saw it, the same goblin he just brought down getting up with club in hand and looking very, very pissed off. Orochi's mind screamed at him to move, but he couldn't quite work up the strength to get up and dodge. He wouldn't be able to get out of the way this time, Orochi sealed his eyes and braced for the impact...

But it never came. Instead he heard the sound of a body hitting the floor, curiously he opened his eyes and saw the goblin lying on the ceiling? How did that make any sense? Even if this was a fantasy world shouldn't gravity sti- Wait a minute, I'm still upside down aren't I? Mustering the strength he could, Orochi flipped himself over, and slowly he rose to somewhat unsteady feet.

"Not going to lie, that hurt quite a bit." The lizard said to nobody in particular, as he made his way over to Rain and Digbie. "She's right... we may have wiped out these ones but there are way more goblins than we can handle. Plus, I think they're going to be a bit more wary from now on. So there goes the element of surprise. Let's get out of here, I don't want to end up as a trophy." Though it pained him to say so, he knew that Rain was right. If they stuck around too much longer, that would be game over for them. He looked up to Digbie and spoke " By the way, that's Rain. Rain, this is Digbie. Now that we're introduced, lets bail."

@Zeroth@Gardevoiran@Old Amsterdam

---

@Zeroth@SilverPaw@Searat@Kazemitsu
“Oh, I understand perfectly well what your motivation as well as reasoning behind such an arrangement would be,” Asteria stated rather business-like though also with a hint of sarcasm in answer to Jason’s attempt to persuade her to get her to accept his last term of their alliance.

Deciding to be open about her hesitation, she continued. “However, what we have agreed on so far for this group is sharing information and protecting each other. There was no mention of sharing resources whatsoever with the exception of you pretty much wanting those crystals for yourself. And no offense, but even if they are renewable, they are still a precious resource as far as I can tell, and as such technically beneficial for anyone to have even if they can’t use them,” she took a moment to pause in what has come across as a slightly aggressive diatribe, which wasn’t exactly what she’d been going for. Asteria sighed and modulated her tone back to neutrality.

“Whether you mean well with that clause or not I simply have several concerns. For one, I don’t fancy spending my time mining those crystals for your benefit. Even if you make a case that we as a group should stockpile as many of those as we can, we can’t disregard the possibility of other former humans being around, which I am fairly certain is the case. And personally, carelessly depleting resources and then getting blamed and resented by the other magically inclined human-souled monsters is not my idea of fun. Not to mention we all know back from Earth what the costs of trying to create a monopoly are, don’t we?” She finished, a hint of challenge in her tone.

Asteria shook her head slightly, thinking on what she’d said. “I apologize if I came across as weirdly hostile. Nonetheless, the point still stands. And we haven’t even had time yet to discuss whether we have any short-term or long-term common goals beyond survival,” she sighed, hoping to get some of these issues resolved. There were so many things to consider with a potential alliance. Though if they managed to get these things sorted out and organized themselves, they could surely reap benefits worthy of the effort it took.

Ed gave the slime a very perplexed and slightly afraid look as the two pseudopods on each side of his head vibrated thrice as intense as before. The vibrations were strong enough to vibrate the young dire rat's head with significant force. If Ed had describe the feeling, it would be having two electric massagers pushed together with his head in the middle of the two...minus the pain the hard plastic would have done to his skull. "I don't think your experiment is working, Jason." The experiment itself may have been a unsuccessful one but if Jason was correct, even failed attempts would help improve the skill none the less.

Ed then tries to speak with Asteria. "Don't worry about it. All your concerns are really good points to be discussed if we are going to be something of a party." Ed was not sure but by the way she spoke and reasoned out the possible flaws in the alliance even before the cases arose, he could easily guess that Asteria was a very intelligent individual and quite possibly going to be the brains of the party.

You are experiencing a Fast Rate of Skill Progression.
You are experiencing a Fast Rate of Skill Progression.

"Oh, to the contrary my dear friend" Jason chuckled, "I've just received two system messages saying quite the opposite... As for you Asteria, I believe you mistake my intentions with that request. I have no wish to deplete the crystals, and I am not asking that you mine the crystals for my benefit. The reason I ask for them; in the event you happen across some, is that I may better protect my allies and friends. For you see, once my mana is depleted, I lose access to nearly half of my abilities, and will become a burden upon the group. However, if you do not wish to accept such a request, I shall not forcefully hold you to it." he stated before focusing his mind once more on the 'invisible connection', allowing mana to pool once more, and shoving the thought 'test' into the mana, through the 'connection and completely out of Jason's mind.

"If you still have more than half of your abilities even without mana I wouldn't worry about it too much. I might occasionally bring you one but honestly you are probably much better suited to getting them yourself when you need them. It's not like I can carry more than one what with being a rat, and even if I tried doing so I might put myself in harm's way. So I'll just be using my own judgement on that," she shrugged, kind of brushing him off - partly because she wasn't impressed at the way he either actively avoided discussing her worries or was too involved in his current experiments to do so.

"Another thing. Mother Rat just brought to my attention the fact that those other monsters, presumably not human," she nodded towards the lake "are avoiding us. So they do recognize our numerical advantage and do not wish to attack us. If we happen to want to hone our combat capabilities we might have to split up. That would have its own risks however." She paused, taking some time to think about Jason's magical attempts as well as to observe the Monsters among their group, who were strangely but thankfully peaceful - and did that monster slime just try to speak?! Shaking her head, Asteria decided to ignore them for now and addressed Jason again.

"By the way, if you are attempting telepathy magically, we might actually need to develop some kind of magical abilities ourselves first. Though..." she trailed off, wondering if there was a way to find out what someone's skill did. A higher level of the Monster Analysis skill or a different kind of analysis skill could do something for them, but she didn't think anyone here had that. There was also the fact that this world kind of worked like a game, and system messages tended to appear in reaction to doing something significant - as Jason had just confirmed - but she hadn't a clue if there was a way to access more information of that nature the way one would if they were actually playing a game. If there was, that would have more worrying implications which Asteria honestly didn't want to contemplate too closely.

Slightly annoyed with Asteria's seemingly constant attempts to skew the portrayal of his intentions, Jason let out a heavy sigh, "Look Asteria, I can already tell that you don't trust me, or want to. Y'know what? Just scratch the whole fuckin mana crystal clause, because even when I say it's not an absolute priority, you seem to want to portray it as one..."

"Just have a little faith in me, that's all I ask. I know I might not be the best communicator, but I'm a lot smarter than you'd think. Though you seem to think I'm purposely not telling you things, It's just me assuming you already know or understand what I'm talking about or trying to say... he explained, pausing for a few moments, "Now, in terms of training our combat abilities, that may be a time we need to split up. However, once the goblins come back to the cave, being in a group such as how we are now would be vital for overthrowing Rattleskull, the 'Boss Monster' of the cave. As for telapathic communication, most slimes can communicate between each other naturally with a weak form of it. Also, knowing slimes, it is unlikely that normal slimes wield magic abilities, but until I can figure out how the mechanics of this telepathy work, we won't know for sure. All I know is that I'm close to gaining a new skill, if you wait just a bit longer, I promise it will be worth the wait, and afterward, I can show all of you our base of operations."

Turning his attention back to Ed, and clearing his mind once more, Jason deeply focused on the 'invisible connection'. As mana built up, he held it back, not allowing it through until five times the normal mana had built up. Picturing The sound of someone saying 'Test', Jason pushed the thought into the mana amassed, and drove both as far as he could through the 'invisible connection' until he could feel the presence of the thought no more.

"Fair enough," she blinked at his outburst. "I don't actually have that much info on this world, so I assume a lot. And from what you've said, mana or rather those crystals are one of the things that could be construed as the equivalent of oil, so..." She didn't think further elaboration was necessary. "And the trust will come as we work together," she shrugged again. When she spoke again it was in reference to what Jason's current experiment. "So, once you are close to a skill, you just try doing the same thing until it succeeds? With added variation I guess. Is your telepathy also a proper skill then? And maybe not even magical, that's interesting." For now, she decided to wait until whatever it was he was attempting to do succeeded. Though now that she had the time to do so, she used Monster Analysis on Edward, Mother Rat and even tried to do it on herself to see if she'd get any notion of whether a Dire rat could learn magic if it turned out that's what they needed or wanted to do.

The time Jason had finished his discussion with Aesteria, He had already seemingly amplified the vibrations five fold. Initially there was only slight tingles, but now there was a static like sound in his head. Was this the end goal of Jason's experiment?

Ed couldn't be sure and chose to stay silent. Though Jason said something about 'System messages.' Was that random thought in my head about that 'level up' not a delusion of his? Was it something part of the world they were in or maybe we are all just delusional and slowly sinking deeper into the proverbial rabbit hole? Ed then stared at the slime as it focused intensely at him. 'He's really focusing hard trying to do that telepathy thing...' Ed thought While Jason tried to make results, Ed had began reasoning on how the mana and magic thing worked. 'Maybe that's how you use magic in this world? You just focus really hard on something.'

Ed then tried to relax and imagined the mana as an invisible force. Ed then imagines the force surrounding his body to create something of a cover around his body, nothing too complex. Only a cover surrounding his body. Once he finished visualizing it, Ed then imagines the mana surrounding his body go rigid and hard, like a protective layer of armor of some sort. He didn't know if it would work, but at least he was trying.

"That is correct Asteria! Now be quiet for a moment, I think I've nearly got it!" Jason said as he focused his mind once more.

You have no MP remaining.

Grumbling, Jason begrudgingly used another mana crystal.

Used a Mana Crystal.
MP is fully restored.

With his mana now restored, Jason once again deeply focused on the 'invisible connection'. Letting his mana build up, he held it back, not allowing it through until three times the normal mana had built up again. Picturing both the sound of someone saying 'Test', as well as the word itself, Jason pushed the thoughts into the mana amassed, and drove it all as far as he could through the 'invisible connection'.

Ardur The Pixie

A New Mount >>>> The New Mount Is Feisty /// day 8 // Morning

Again Ardur kept close to the back of the Goblins head to avoid the swipes at him and sighed. She was making a bit of sense so that was good. “As you wish.” He spoke while getting ready to find another route off the goblin and up towards the ceiling. Looking back for a moment to see most of the pursuers pulling back and away from her and crispy.

“Looks like most of your attackers are pulling back towards the small fire again.” He mentioned as she began to slow down and equip herself with a rock. The pixie remained silent while the goblin spoke her peace, “what you don’t trust a harmless pixie? No matter.” He couldn’t help but smile for a moment before leaning in toward her ear and whispering, “If they ask about the shield just tell them you rubbed a pixie all over you until it did something.”

Ardur couldn’t help but giggle as he spotted another stalactite above them that had several places to perch and stay out of reach and out of sight of the other goblins. “Names Ardur by the way, it’s nice to meet you.” No one said he couldn’t be civil even in these trying times. With that last part he let go of the back of the goblins head and flew up to the stalactite. Once there he would take a moment to rest before experimenting some more while he waited for the other goblins.

Perched in the ceiling near the duo the small pixie was again interested in the shield spell of his. Casting it on himself or another without concentration seemed to make it totally envelop the user. But perhaps with a bit of concentration he could shield specific areas of himself. With this in mind the pixie would begin to try to focus his shield spell to just his fists. The pixie hoped that this would give these areas more protection than if he just cast it on himself. If it worked, Ardur would spend his time striking the stone with his shielded hands to try to chip away at the stone while watching the goblins down below.

@Lucius Cypher
@Zeroth

@Searat@Kazemitsu@Guy0fV4lor@SilverPaw

---

Your efforts have culminated in a new Skill!
Skill Gain: Telepathy I!
Channeling Mana through thoughts creates Psychic-type abilities. At Rank I, this skill can only be used when you are in physical contact with another creature. This skill can only send simple thoughts or emotions. This skill is currently only one-way transmission. This skill is an Active Non-Offensive Spell and consumes MP.

Your efforts have increased your ability with a Skill!
Skill Rank Up! Limited Shapeshift I > Limited Shapeshift II!
Stamina drain decreased. You can now project your body at longer ranges (up to five feet). You can now increase the “mass” of a shape, though your total mass and weight cannot change--as an example, you could form a dense blob at the end of your pseudopod to strike an enemy with. You can now create slightly more complex geometric shapes.

You are experiencing a Fast Rate of Skill Progression.

Just as it seemed Jason really wasn’t getting anywhere, even after attempting to use all of his MP and force the skill through, something felt like it just…clicked. Jason formed a thought, visualized the travel of that thought through himself and into Ed, and he placed Mana within that visualization. Thought became reality, and magic became mentality.

“Test!” said Jason’s voice, inside Ed’s head.

Ed’s own experiment seemed to be having some results, but as of yet he didn’t feel anything completely different...there did seem to be, however, a warm tingle flowing through his body, almost like feeling his pulse...But this certainly wasn’t the beating of his heart or the pumping of his blood, he somehow knew instinctively.

Asura, too, seemed to have finally achieved some headway in his manipulation of his shape. He had, of course, been practicing for a while with the way he rolled all around the cave...and his stunt with the whip seemed to have been that final bit of oomph he required.

Mother Rat seemed to sense that something was going on with Ed, and moved closer to Asteria, looking between her offspring and their fellow Dire Rat. She sniffed the air tentatively once more, then looked pointedly at Jason, following the connections of his pseudopods back to Ed. She let out a whuffling sigh.

---

@Lucius Cypher@ReusableSword

You have faced dangerous odds, and survived. Your experiences have culminated into new power! You are now Level 3! Your Max HP increases! You have new Skill Points you may distribute as you please!

Unspent Skill Points:
5

Current Skills:
Use Light Equipment (--)
Pacify Animal I (1.0)
Stronger I (1.5)
Crafting III (3.125)
Material Analysis I (1.2)
Monster Analysis I (1.1)
<UNUSABLE SKILLS>
Muffle (0.7)
Deception (0.6)
Charm (0.3)
Charisma (0.2)
Alert (0.2)
Stone Shot (0.3)
Slash (0.3)
Warcry (0.2)
Pierce Resistance (0.4)
Blunt Resistance (0.1)
Blood Drain (0.3)
Taboo (0.5)
Smash (0.5)
Skewer (0.2)
Mental Resistance (0.1)
Fireball (0.2)
Mana Orb (0.2)
Focus (0.2)
Magic Analysis (0.1)
Faster (0.1)
Overwork (0.1)
Intercept (0.2)
Defender (0.2)
Rabid Fit (0.1)
Paragon (0.3)
<UNUSABLE SKILLS>

You have faced dangerous odds, and survived. Your experiences have culminated into new power! You are now Level 2! Your Max MP increases! You have new Skill Points you may distribute as you please!

Unspent Skill Points:
5

Current Skills:
Shield I (1.3)
Lesser Flight II (2.45)
Minor Heal II (2.6)
<UNUSABLE SKILLS>
Keen Sight (0.1)
Keen Ear (0.1)
Muffle (0.5)
Physical Conditioning (0.9)
Alchemy (0.5)
Crafting (0.3)
Taming (0.3)
Faster (0.2)
Magic Analysis (0.4)
Mana Orb (0.1)
Fireball (0.1)
Focus (0.3)
Throw Voice (0.1)
Mana Strike (0.4)
Point Strike (0.1)
Charisma (0.2)
Dextrous (0.2)
<UNUSABLE SKILLS>

As Orchid and Ardur fled the battle, once they were out of range of the other monsters--or at least it seemed they weren’t being pursued anymore--system messages suddenly appeared to them. While they decided what to do with this information however, there were other pressing matters of concern.

“Youngling? Who you whisperin’ to!?” Crispy shouted, looking around this way and that despite being temporarily blinded. He uncovered his eye for a moment--the splinter Ardur had stabbed him with was gone, apparently not being deep enough to lodge itself in his sight organ, but the eye was still covered in blood. He might not be blind forever, but it seemed it would take a while to heal...unless maybe the Herbs could do it.

But now, the goblin and pixie would find themselves less than a hundred yards from the entrance to the cave. All of the fallen rocks and dead bodies of monsters caught up in the landslide had been cleared away. The sunlight was almost blinding, and warm in a way much more comforting than Crispy’s bonfire had been. Three goblins were standing under the archway, apparently in conversation as they were turned away from Orchid at the moment and huddled together. They looked to be standing guard, or at least on lookout…

---

@Old Amsterdam@Gardevoiran@King Cosmos@CriticalHit

You have faced dangerous odds, and survived. Your experiences have culminated into new power! You are now Level 3! Your Max Stamina increases! You have new Skill Points you may distribute as you please!

Unspent Skill Points:
5

Current Skills:
Stun Fang I (1.9)
Poison Spit I (1.5)
Muffle II (2.4)
<UNUSABLE SKILLS>
Crafting (0.2)
Alchemy (0.4)
Alert (0.3)
Stealth Kill (0.25)
Poison Glob (0.9)
Fireball (0.025)
Warcry (0.1)
Poison Fang (0.1)
Blunt Resistance (0.1)
Smash (0.1)
Rabid Fit (0.3)
<UNUSABLE SKILLS>

You have faced dangerous odds, and survived. Your experiences have culminated into new power! You are now Level 2! Your Max MP increases! You have new Skill Points you may distribute as you please!

Unspent Skill Points:
5

Current Skills:
Use Light Equipment (--)
Tremor Sense II (2.05)
<UNUSABLE SKILLS>
Soil Manipulation (0.8)
Stone Shot (0.6)
Quake (0.5)
Rock Spire (0.5)
Stronger (0.5)
Crafting (0.3)
Fortify (0.1)
Point Strike (0.2)
Smash (0.1)
Throw Item (0.2)
Monster Analysis (0.1)
<UNUSABLE SKILLS>

You have equipped a Woodland Pickaxe! This item consists of a Curved Stick and another type of stick bound together with vines. It can be used as a weapon, but is more effective as a tool. Allows you to dig and harvest materials from the earth more effectively. Power up. Weapon durability up.

You have faced dangerous odds, and survived. Your experiences have culminated into new power! You are now Level 3! Your Max MP increases! You have new Skill Points you may distribute as you please!

Unspent Skill Points:
10

Current Skills:
Minor Heal I (1.5)
Lesser Flight I (1.5)
Shield II (2.9)
Magic Analysis II (2.1)
Mana Orb I (1.2)
<UNUSABLE SKILLS>
Meditation (0.2)
Mana Shape (0.2)
Focus (0.2)
Lesser Status Heal (0.3)
Monster Analysis (0.3)
Material Analysis (0.1)
Plant Analysis (0.1)
Mental Resistance (0.2)
Wall (0.1)
Faster (0.2)
<UNUSABLE SKILLS>

You have faced dangerous odds, and survived. Your experiences have culminated into new power! You are now Level 2! Your Max Stamina increases! You have new Skill Points you may distribute as you please!

Unspent Skill Points:
5

Current Skills:
Stun Fang I (1.3)
Poison Spit I (1.4)
Scribe I (1.0)
<UNUSABLE SKILLS>
Monster Analysis (0.2)
Crafting (0.2)
Alchemy (0.4)
Muffle (0.4)
Stealth Kill (0.2)
Pierce Resist (0.1)
Slash Resist (0.1)
Faster (0.2)
Rabid Fit (0.1)
<UNUSABLE SKILLS>

[[Everyone in the party has leveled up, but I’ve only responded to those who have posted so far in the interests of post length and number of mentions.]]

Though Mourningstar and Oberon were separated from the others somewhat, it seemed like the entire ambush group had survived the encounter. The three goblins were all very much dead, and though Crispy had escaped he was at least wounded. The battle showed that the monsters, while perhaps lacking individually, could be a formidable force together. And now, even individually they would be more powerful, according to the System…

But Crispy had been having trouble feeding his fire this morning because of the cave in. And now, after the battle, the bonfire had begun to die down, leaving a rather large and deep pile of ashes around the firepit...along with something that glowed ever so slightly not with the deep red of fire, but with a calming blue color…

---

@Duthguy@Rune_Alchemist@CollectorOfMyst
As Danny looked at the Pixie after analyzing the dead Goblin, he received another message just before he turned away to retch.

Used Monster Analysis I!
Effectiveness at 100%.
Pixie
A tiny humanoid Fey-type Monster. While somewhat intelligent, they lack empathy towards one another even compared to beasts like Goblins. Capable of flight and healing magic, but not physically strong or skilled enough to fight or use weapons well. This one is unusual.

Meanwhile, Ash took a more forcible stance with the wild lizard. As she slammed its head into the dirt it’s tail thrashed for just a moment. But finally it seemed to understand its predicament, and kept its snout shut. Remaining perfectly still, even after Ash lifted her claw, it seemed to be waiting. It obviously didn’t want to be hit, and so far every time it had been hit had been after interacting with the female lizard. It watched her warily, but didn’t dare provoke her wrath again.

You have temporarily dominated a Fanged Lizard! Fanged Lizard reluctantly joins your party! Dominated creatures will only remain under specific conditions.

Scott called out for Ash not to hurt the beast, and even as he approached it didn’t move, though it’s eyes and tongue flickered in his direction. If it were possible for reptiles to sweat this one likely would have been dripping.

Orchid sighed and rubbed her head as the pixie finally left her alone. She had no intentions of getting chummy with him; this was a savage world and if he was willing to waste Crispy once they were done with him, Orchid wasn't going to expect him to be anymore merciful to her. And considering her own plans, of course she'd deserve it too. All the more reason she'd have to tread carefully. Soon a menu popped up saying that Orchid had leveled up. New skills to spend too. She thought about trying to increase her Stronger skill to level 2, but after that last skirmish Orchid realized that she lacks a combat skill. Smash seemed like a skil she could utilize, if she had to guess she just uses it to hit things really really hard. Taboo was also a skill she could get but she wasn’t so sure what that did. Was it some sort of curse?

”I’ll figure out witch magic later. For now I should get something I can use right now.” And so Orchid put five skill points into Smash. She heard Crispy asking Orchid who she was whispering to, so she looked around for Ardur and snarled. ”Just some bug who was following us. I got rid of him.” Digging through her pack, Orchid applied a healing herb to Crispy’s eye. At least this is how she figured they were used. She should probably find Ash and see if she learned how to make any medicine yet. For now, they needed to press on.

Orchid could see sunlight at the end of the tunnel. It was comforting, yet at the same time ominous. Just how was it like outside of the cave? She didn’t know. But it was likely better than at the bonfire. ”C’mon Crispy. We’re almost out.” Orchid would help the fire goblin up and head to the cave entrance. While she hoped that these goblins were friendly, she kept a rock in her hand in case they weren’t. If they were hostile she was going to put this “Smash” skill to good use.



@Zeroth

Ardur The Pixie

The New Mount Is Feisty >>>> Oooo Shiny /// day 8 // Morning > Afternoon

Ardur was honestly caught off guard when the menu popped up in his head. He did remember something about the lesser flight from earlier in the day but to actually achieve levels was something almost entirely alien to him. Not once did he believe that there were even levels to be had or worked towards. He hadn’t killed anything but it did say something about survived dangerous encounters. Perhaps it was just faster to level by killing things like in video games back home or this was the only way to level? More experimentation was needed.

Ardur continued to mentally go through the list of features available to him. By the looks of the unusable skills it must be the skills he hasn’t gotten up far enough yet. And here he had 5 points to spread out as he saw fit. With this the pixie put 4 ranks into Lesser heal II to hopefully bring it up to Lesser Heal III and put the last skill point into Taming bringing it up from (0.3) to (0.4) how fun it will be to have Steve as a pet. Was the only thought that came to mind from this. But seeing how physical conditioning was only a point off the small pale pixie decided to work on it instead of acquiring it right away.

After spending all his points and remembering what skills were at what level, the pixie returned to his study of the goblins below. Taking in careful consideration of their physical features and weak points that he could find. The pressure point he had hoped to use didn’t seem too effective and even with the injury to the goblins eye he could only hope that whatever it was that the goblin placed in Crispy’s eye wasn’t going to be able to heal him. Ardur would spend several more minutes watching the duo before they kept up their pace toward the cave entrance.

Feeling content with the goblins and the way they were going. Ardur didn’t hang around or follow them, the ceiling was getting lower, and he knew he wouldn’t be able to hide from them forever. With this in mind, the pixie began flying back toward the goblin camp being sure to strain and flex his muscles to try to get the conditioning skill up to that final point. This however did make him a little slower, but he didn’t find it too troublesome to get back to the goblin camp.

He was trying to figure out if he could find ash or one of the others he had worked with the other day. If none could be found Ardur knew he could always go back up to the larger crystals in the ceiling and practice his magic more. Finding a small perch overlooking the fire and some cave Ardur noticed a few interesting things.

For one the fire had finally died down to hot coals and something seemed to be hidden under them, something blue. The other interesting thing other than the amount of dead goblins around was what looked like a rather large slime and a few others by or in the pool. He doubted he would have been able to see them if the fire was still going strong. So with this in mind Ardur would decide to go through the pain and discomfort of moving hot coals with nothing but his hands and new heal spell and see what was so shiny underneath these coals, while still keeping an eye out for predators. He might be compulsive, but he isn’t all that stupid, at least he hoped.

@Lucius Cypher
@Zeroth

@Zeroth @Rune_Alchemist @ghastlyInc @CollectorOfMyst

After his stomach had settled down Danny wondered why the Pixie was stated to be unusual by his analysis. It being a former human seemed the most likely explanation, to him but he didn't have enough evidence and wanted to avoid confirmation bias as it could also refer to the fact that it was almost starving earlier. Hoping it was done eating eyes he turned back around to the corpse.

He suddenly realized that once again he had neglected to introduce himself. "Hey completely forgot to do this earlier but my name is Danny. And yours?"