The four fell from the sky and crashed into Gate, bundling off the side of the pyramid. In the nick of time, Cori panickly activated Swift Steps and clumsily teleported everyone back to the ground.
"Oof!" went everyone with one loud thud.
"Is everyone alright?" asked Sky bouncing away from the heap.
"I think both Gate and Shanson are knocked out," Cori answered jumping off both Gate and Shanson.
"We're slimes, we don't get unconscious that easily" answered Gate sassily.
"Well, perhaps but not Shanson."
Everyone looked back at the slime with the drooping halo. As if by instinct, Meimei sat on the unconscious slime and grabbed the halo habitually. An engine sound buzzed through the halo, signalling that it was now in car mode.
"Meimei, just wake Shanson up," Gate commanded.
Snapping out of her role as a driver, she slightly twisted the halo and fitted it back over Shanson's head. Taking out a loaf of sweet bread from her inventory, she smacked it against the unconscious slime.
Attracted by the aroma of food, Shanson instinctively recovered and bit onto the bread.
"Why didn't you do that in the first place," Cori thought but was too unbothered to ask. "Erm, guys I need to go for training. Catch up to you all tomorrow!" he said, taking flight into the skies and teleporting to his next destination- the Queen's Hall Training Ground.
Just as the future Alice had predicted, the duchess was waiting for him even though he finished his "supposed training".
"I see you remain unsatisfied with your progress," the floating duchess said before Cori could speak.
"Ya...," Cori answered, "... about that..."
"Today, we will learn to teleport things to us. Are you ready for it?" she asked.
"Uh...huh?" Cori replied stunned.
"Since you already know that skills can evolve based on effort, teaching this to you should be easy and cometh as second nature," she explained drifting over to Cori with a gentle smile. "With your current level, you should be able to evolve it to this stage without any repercussions, now watch."
The duchess summoned an ice sword and struck into the ground. "Come," she ordered. The sword was absorbed by particles of light and reappeared on her hand. "You can also do it like this, go!" she ordered again and the sword disappeared from her hand and reappeared between the walls.
"As long as you know where the object is, you can teleport it from any place within your radius. So today we will learn how large your radius of teleportation is and the objects that you can teleport to yourself," she smiled and gently tapped Cori's head.
A surge of electricity coursed through him and like a switch turned on, he could see his system alerting him, "Evolve swift steps?" Cori answered yes without a single hesitation.
The duchess threw a bag of items into the air and teleported them in concentric circles with Cori as the centre.
"Now try to teleport each item to you and back into its rightful place. Once you are successful, today's lesson will end here. On the other hand, if you can't do it, you will have to practice it until you learn it," she advised.
Cori took out his paws and said, "Here!"
Nothing reacted.
"Swift Steps"
Cori teleported to the item. The lady giggled at his attempt which reminded her of her training days. The golden slime sheepishly returned to the centre.
"Let me give you a hint, imagine the object as you before you gained this advanced skill," she said.
"As me?" Cori looked at her puzzled, struggling to find the answer. "Maybe I have to move the portal instead of getting the item moving to the portal," Cori deducted. This time when he activated his skills, he imagined the portal taking little steps toward the item, consuming it slowly. As expected, the red gem teleported on his paws. Utilising the same theory, he activated his skill and imagined it engulfing the item and returning it to its former place.
The lady nodded in satisfaction, smiling ear to ear from her student's growth.
After doing it a hundred times, Lady Mavia summoned 100 walls and placed them in random locations. "Now use your skill and line up the walls," she challenged. Cori with his infinite pool of spirit faced no difficulty with the task, the only issue was it took too long. Growing impatient, cracks and chips appeared on the walls which were not completely teleported.
"Do it slowly, it will become second nature once you get the hang of it," the fair lady advised, her voice cool and calming.
Taking a deep breath, Cori teleported the walls from the ground up and sideways with his skills. He could feel the toll of teleportation weighing on him as it sapped away gnawing his mental stats.
"Here, take this," Mavia said teleporting a small brow bag to him. "One pill will momentarily increase your mental fortitude by a hundred. This bag should be enough for you to complete the task."
Cori swallowed the pill.
"The only side effect is insomnia, so try not to take too much or you might not be able to sleep for the next 3 days," the duchess added.
"... thank you," Cori replied hesitantly.
18 pills later, Cori finally completed the task. Luckily, his physique purified the toxins and did not experience any side effects.
"Alright, you are ready for the next phase. Do you have any familiar objects with you?" the Lady asked.
Cori took out some gems he looted from the castle.
The lady unfazed continued, "Now you place them randomly around the place. Return to the centre and close your eyes to teleport them to you. This time you need to memorise where they are."
The golden slime obliged. With his perfect recall skill, this assignment became particularly easy. The lady happily concluded the lesson and Cori returned to his quarters for dinner. Feeling lazy, he imagined himself being engulfed by the skill and dropping him back into his room.