'Ha! You don't like Mary had a Little Lamb? Ha, ha, ha, ha.'
Cracking up a little bit, Hal became a little self conscious.
[Anything would be better than Mary had a Little Lamb!]
Flo expressed here opinion.
'Alright, what about this?'
'There once was a ship that put to sea The name of the ship was the Billy O' Tea The winds blew up, her bow dipped down Oh blow, my bully boys, blow (huh)'
Hal really got into singing the song and totally forgot to extract any slime souls.
[Really, the Wellerman? Okay, there is something worse than Mary had a Little Lamb!]
Even as she said she didn't like it, Flo knew that Hal was already commited.
'Oh, it isn't that bad. I am kind of liking it. The tune just goes, I don't have to think very much about the words like I had to with Mary had a little Lamb. And, and it just seems appropriate, right, since it is all about death?'
[About death?]
[Is it about death?]
Flo questioned.
'Yes, that is what I associate with the line "One day, when the tonguing is done, We'll take our leave and go." Isn't it about death?'
[Uhmmm, I don't think it means what you think it means...]
Stated the AI.
'Then what does it really mean?'
[Well, the plain fact of the matter is that the ships brought drugs. Where do you think they got their drugs if not from the merchant ships.]
Corrected Flo.
'What drugs? Is that what the 'Billy of Tea' means? Drugs? It is just a euphemism for some kind of drug or drug paraphernalia? ...'
Taking some time to think about what Flo was saying
'Well, screw that, I like my meaning better. To me it just means that the sailors are working and working till their deaths.'
Hal said eventually and then began getting back into his trance so he could reap some more mana from the skeletons.
[...]
'There once was a ship that put to sea The name of the ship was the Billy O' Tea The winds blew up, her bow dipped down, Oh blow, my bully boys, blow (huh)'
Soon may the Wellerman come To bring us sugar and tea and rum One day, when the tonguing is done We'll take our leave and go'
After harvesting the six slime souls Hal had to stop, it felt like his whole body was itching like crazy and he lost his trance. Checking his stat screen he saw that his mana was way over the limit.
[Name: Hal Genisfelt
Level: 0
Class: None
Title: None
Health points: 53/100
Stamina points: 20/100
Mana points: 52/12
Will points: 0/2
Physical: 1
Mental: 1
Soul: 1
Will: .4
Talent: Survival Instinct
Ability: Bone Realm, Soul Requiem
Magic: None
Skills: None
Pets: Goblin Soul
]
'What?'
Flo answered Hal's unarticulated question.
[You have the opposite condition from mana exhaustion. Now you have mana overload. Everyone can have more than their limit of health, stamina, and mana. However, there are many negative consequences for continuously overloading.]
'Yeah, yeah...'
Hal had become focused on one particular part of his stat screen. Then he sat back down and took ten minutes to go back into a trance. Soon he was able to sing his song.
'There once was a ship that put to sea The name of the ship was the Billy O' Tea The winds blew up, her bow dipped down Oh blow, my bully boys, blow (huh)'
[I am not even going to ask! I know you are about to do something stupid...]
Flo sent a text box which was completely ignored by Hal.
And Flo was right, because Hal extracted and then extended a slime soul back into another one of his five original skeletons. Once he was done he calmly looked at his stats again.
[Name: Hal Genisfelt
Level: 0
Class: None
Title: None
Health points: 53/100
Stamina points: 89/100
Mana points: 49/14
Will points: 0/2
Physical: 1
Mental: 1
Soul: 1
Will: .4
Talent: Survival Instinct
Ability: Bone Realm, Soul Requiem
Magic: None
Skills: None
Pets: Goblin Soul
]
Confirming his intuition, Hal then proceeded to decimate the slime population. Reaping a hundred slimes all in one go he used a few of them to replenish his mana as needed. The rest went into bolstering his skeletons with more souls.
This was the original reason he had wanted to hunt in the first place and now he had found an added benefit to fusing slime souls into his skeletons.
At the end he was sweaty and exhausted.
[Name: Hal Genisfelt
Level: 0
Class: None
Title: None
Health points: 53/100
Stamina points: 13/100
Mana points: 103/116
Will points: 0/2
Physical: 1
Mental: 1
Soul: 1
Will: .4
Talent: Survival Instinct
Ability: Bone Realm, Soul Requiem
Magic: None
Skills: None
Pets: Goblin Soul
]
'Not as many as I would have expected.'
Was all Hal said before closing his eyes and simply taking some deep breaths.
Flo let him have some time to replenish his stamina.
[Are you crazy? I thought I said that no one knows what will happen when fusing a human soul and a slime soul.]
But Hal didn't respond to Flo's question. She even started to think that maybe he had regressed into being a slime. With so many fused slime souls maybe he had forgotten how to speak.
Her worst fears never materialized, because after another ten minutes Hal opened his eyes.
"Wow, that is pretty amazing! Now, I really have a mage build!"
Just like normal he became too excited over the smallest of things.
[I don't know why I ask if you are crazy. The answer is that YOU ARE CRAZY!]
'Isn't this amazing though? I haven't even figured out how to level up yet and I have already increased my mana by ten times! Yeah!!'
Too full of himself Hal explained to Flo how amazing he was. He didn't feel like she was quite understanding!
[Hal, please, calm down. This isn't the time to be off away from your people experimenting with mana, skeletons, and souls. Why don't you go back to the people you left behind? Maybe they can keep you in check!]
Even though Flo was pleading with Hal to go back home, the AI on some level was really enjoying seeing Hal deal with the higher plane.
'Oh, they can handle themselves. There is still so much to do! If I am going to create a mobile slime farm I need a lot more bones!'
Hal took her advice and calmed down. Thoughtfully he expressed his next goal.
[What?! What do you want to make?]
'A slime farm, well not just any slime farm, a mobile slime farm. It will be better if the farm comes with me, so I can replenish my mana easier on the go. You see?'
For once Hal was explaining something to Flo instead of the other way around. Unfortunately, Hal was explaining his own thought process that lacked a few crucial pieces of information.
[What??]
'Actually, you are always asking me to ask you before I do things. Where can I find a cemetery or maybe the bones of a long dead creature?'
[Yes, I am always asking you to talk to me first. But you shouldn't ask me about a cemetery or about bones. You are not ready yet.]
Happy to know that Hal was learning from her careful instruction, Flo cautioned him.
'No, it is okay. You can tell me. I am curious.'
[I must answer if you ask. But please Hal, I have good reason to think you are not ready yet.]
Again Flo begged, knowing that he wouldn't listen.
'Alright, I will listen. Tell me where they are, but I won't go till I am stronger.'
Surprisingly, Hall decided not to go.
[Really?]
'Of course. Your advice has been invaluable. I need to listen to you more.'
He said straight and clear.
[Alright, in every beginner area there is an area for each of the main magic types. A cemetery is not very far from here to the north and there is a dragon grave yard to your west.]
'What?'
[Yes? What I unclear? Just don't go to these areas. Staying in this area will allow you to practice fighting against very low level mobs.]
Flo restated in a different way.
'No, the part about beginner areas. You said every beginner area has certain areas. You make it sound like everyone starts with a cemetery and dragon graveyard.'
[Yes, it is not just those areas. Everyone starts in the exact same environment.]
Stating it like it was Flo didn't expect Hal to react so strongly to this facet of the system.
'What? everyone has the same beginner's area? Then this isn't earth?'
He asked confused.
[Technically Earth was used to this plane. Think of the beginner area as a tile. If you go far enough in any direction you will see the beginner area repeated. Of course there is a little more to it than that. But you get the picture?]
Going into education mode Flo tried to explain it simply.
'But what about that mountain then? Is it a hologram?'
Pointing to a mountain that was so high that it could be seen above the trees despite the distance.
[That mountain is split four ways with each quarter in four different beginner areas. In other words the beginner areas are not all facing the same direction. Another example is the dragon's graveyard. Half the graveyard is in your area and the other half is in the area to your west. Do you get it?]
Not knowing if Hal's sense of direction was good enough to comprehend Flo explained anyway.
'Right, I think I got it. So my grave yard is to the west, while my neighor's grave yard is to the east. Where the areas meet the full grave yard is created.'
Hal thought about it for a while and then said a correct statement.
[That is actually right. Maybe you do have something going on in your head?]
Incredulous Flo was surprised.
'Well, how do you think I am gotten this far?'
Hal asked just to frustrate her.
[No, comment.]
Shrugging Hal turned to his skeletons who were all stone still amid hundreds of slimes. There were so many slimes that they could climb on each other to access the upper parts of the skeleton frames.
"Now, what am I going to do with all of you? What is that weird goblin skeleton doing?"
The goblin skeleton was standing again in front on another helpless skeleton, this time with its hand holding the skeleton's poor skull.
"Weird, dude, just weird. Can't I call my own pet, weird? Hgh."
Shaking his head Hal shrugged, to each his own. Live and let live.
Even though Hal had already killed off more than a hundred slimes there were still hundreds of slimes left. His greed told him that he should take all of them with him, but he didn't see how his skeletons could even walk with all this weight. Just like his arm they were actually really weak.
One thing that gave him hope was that now his five original skelly's soul fire were all burning brightly. The joints between bones were even brighter and Hal wondered if that would translate to more power. Even through the translucent slimes he could see their flames much easier than he could see Priol's soul fire.
"Well, I am going to die soon anyways. Let's test what adding hundreds of slime souls to my skeletons will do."
[Wait!]
Flo sent a few pop ups to interrupt Hal right in front of his face.
'Flo, I already have slime souls bonded to me. More won't hurt. Even though I am not receiving as much of an increase of mana points at least it is making those skellies stronger.'
Hal tried to reassure Flo.
[No, I am not going to stop you, this time. That ship has already sailed! Get it ship, sailed. Ha, aha!]
Instead Flo reassured Hal and tried to make a joke.
'Hgh? No I don't get it.'
[You know, you Wellerman song. Ships and sailing away. Right?]
'Oh, right, ha, ha, ha?'
It was clear that Hal was not getting the joke, so Flo went on.
[No, no, it is okay. I was just going to suggest that you use [Bone Realm] on all these slime cores. Aren't they the 'bone' of a slime?]
Flo clarified.
'Oh!! That is right. I just wasn't thinking of them as bone because they don't look like bones!'
Hal said excited at her suggestion.
'Wait, I thought you couldn't help me? How did you sneak that one by?'
Asked Hal after he realized he had to calm down before being able to get back into his trance.
[One of the functions that the system performs is cleaning and organizing resources. Since the slime core is a resource it is my function to clean and sort them for you. Of course you don't have a inventory yet, so I am just sliding this by on a technicality. But I hope it helps!]
Flo said as if this was nothing.
'Thank you, Flo! This was such a good idea!'
An hour later Hal had been able to calm down enough to begin a huge [Bone Realm] and [Soul Requiem] project. As he started he realized that it was already close to sun down by the time Hal was ready to work. He had misjudged the time, but didn't want to quit just when he had gotten into the rhythm.
Setting aside the goblin skeleton that was starting to show so much personality now that Hal decided to name it Priol. It wasn't the most original name, but the little guy seemed to be really happy with the name. Only to happy to move out of the way, Priol seemed to be content to just stand and stare as Hal began working. Occasionally Priol's soul fires would flare up within its skull cavity. Despite the creepy stare, Hal, was actually very happy to have the little guy. His hatchet skills would a comfort and a great benefit.
Through merging the slime cores Hal realized that despite the porous nature of the slime core there was at least twice as much 'bone' in the core as he would have expected. Somehow he had been thinking that the most he would only be able to reinforce his skeletons bones back to their previous thickness. Since the slimes had digested his bones he should loose some bone matter due to the natural consequences of allowing the slimes to feast on the bone. Actually he thought that there should be less bone, this is what his science focused brain told him to expect. Instead he was surprised to find that he was able to triple the size of all his bones.
Somehow it seemed the slimes were able to condense matter. Furthermore the bone was not even of the same type. Instead the previously white bone was not the same color as the slimes, a sick looking orangish pink. Hal had no idea what this would mean in terms of bone usability.
"Would this color make the bone weak?"
Even Flo didn't answer, but that might have been because she was done with this project he was devoting himself to.
After killing off hundreds of more slimes Hal had plenty of bone to mess around with. With little time to get back to the blind he decided to change the skeletons as little as possible. First he scaled up all the bones and then made the thoracic cavity into a barrel. Now the skeletons were all half again taller than him. Then he increased the number of ribs and extended the sternum all the way down to the hips. Where each rib was a wide band of bone and the gaps between ribs was small enough that a slime wouldn't be able to get their core through he left the shoulder area open.
Hal did this because he didn't want to see what would happen if the slimes were able to clone themselves so many times that they exploded the skelly from the inside out.
This entire time Hal had worked on the skellies one at a time, so it was a surprise, long after the sun went down, when he asked them to go back to the blind that they all of their own accord started out on their own.
Not wanting to fall out of his trance Hal didn't rejoice, but instead kept that all tamped down. There would be time to celebrate the day's work when he was back at the blind. Right now Hal had to stay read in case he made a mistake with the skelly's construction or an enemy attacked.