Chapter 449 : Hidden Milestone

My progress through the labyrinth had increased tremendously after my encounter with the gray slime, and not for the reasons you might suspect. Nu was definitely putting in the work as the freshly appointed master of the rift, but that wasn't the reason. No, I had just gotten significantly better at everything across the board.

My explosions were bigger, my acid was more acidic, my Mana was even more absurdly ridiculous, and so on and so on. I even received notes from all of my personas asking, "Why did we suddenly get so much stronger?"

[Primordial Slime LV 20]!

Yes, I had thought the simple and inevitable level up of my signature trait was just a numeric increase and had just been happy to avoid the potential trait point cost, but I was wrong. It seemed that, just like my class, skills or traits also had their own equivalent to "milestones" every ten levels.

The first ten was when you could uncap it and get a new feature, potentially even a Legend Point if you were lucky. Then after another ten levels, everything received a big improvement across the board. This wasn't listed anywhere, but boy could I feel it in my slime traits. It might have been an exaggeration, but the jump from nineteen to twenty felt more significant than the combined weight of eleven to nineteen.

Will I get another big boost at thirty? I certainly hope so!

Anyway, I wanted to leave a message for all my personas that I had grabbed the gray slime core and we could now adjust our weights, while also describing my theory about [Primordial Slime] reaching its milestone, but that was a bit much for a letter. Instead, I compiled my thoughts into a packet of information and shared it with everyone through [Split Personality].

In response, I received even more messages through [Core Storage], all of them celebrations and excitement over our newfound ability. I was a happy slime, and so were my other mes.

Shortly after that, I saw that a portion of our ocean of slime had been siphoned; no doubt the personas were reinforcing their bodies to higher-density levels now that weight was no longer a potential issue. It had been a genuine fear of mine; imagine being so damn dense that if you tripped, you cracked the road, or squashed some poor unsuspecting passerby. Not to mention the cackling laughter from Vee, who would never let you forget that embarrassing moment.

Then came another realization: if [Primordial Slime] got this much of an upgrade, then what about [Slime Mastery]? The biggest upgrade I would have wanted was a further increase in the control range of [Slime Puppetry], and level twenty promised that. I made sure to leave instructions for the personas to practice their [Slime Mastery] whenever possible, so we could reach that point as quickly as possible.

Of course, if I happened to stumble across more slimes, that would speed up the process, but they would need to be slimes that had actually leveled up their other traits. Eating a bunch of blue slime would get me nowhere, as they almost always only had [Mana Slime]. The gray slime I had just eaten had plenty, as did the black slime, but those seemed annoying to find.

Maybe silver slimes from the dwarves? If I'm not misremembering, those had decent levels in [Shape Slime]. Speaking of which, I still need to somehow find a gold slime and copper slime, assuming Gramps got around to making that last one.

My plan in that regard was to establish my slime dungeon and spawn a gold slime in for eating. As the premier and likely only slime dungeon, it would be very fitting for me to be able to create them. As for the copper slime, I had hoped to repeat the process, but that required it to actually exist outside of Gramps' list.

Heck, if he wants, I'll make the copper slime! If Ygdran is allowed to make special fruit, and that other one is allowed to make weird spliced mutations of monsters, then why can't I make a new slime? I'm being perfectly reasonable! Way more than that cowardly octopus who was making his own cult, that's for sure.

Chuckling to myself, I continued spreading out through the labyrinth, searching for the way forward while keeping an eye out for any more collapsing passageways. Things felt like they were progressing smoothly, and eventually I fortified a position to camp for the night.

I briefly considered teleporting home, but I didn't want to piss off the labyrinth master by leaving and coming back. Plus, there was a chance that by exiting, I would cause the maze to shift and I would lose all the progress I had made. No, instead I'd happily set up a makeshift home and have my slime minions guard me throughout the night.

***

I woke up the next day refreshed and ready for adventure. The first thing I did was consult my [Map] and send out a large scouting force to confirm that everything had remained the same. To my relief, it did, as I would have had to take drastic measures if the labyrinth master tried to pull a fast one on me.

As for the night, it appeared I had been attacked by stone monsters called gargoyles during the night, but my [Sub-Cores] had taken care of them. These were like the ugly distant cousins of mimics, and if I had to describe them, it would be horrible-looking creatures that pretended to be statues only to come alive and ambush you.

Their ability to shift between stone and flesh was mildly interesting, but certainly not something to add to my favorite borrow list. Why make stone skin when you could reinforce it with lesser dragon scales, or an obsidianite carapace empowered by [Tempered Reinforcement].

A source reminder: the chapter on the NovelPhoenix site is the author's posting; this copy appeared without approval, and reading there supports the writer.

With unhindered access to greater density than ever before, I was playing around with upping my defenses and managed to counter several traps, breaking them in the process. Honestly, it was pretty funny seeing some powerful enchanted giant guillotine blade crash against me, only to shatter itself in the process. Only I could realistically do this, though, and for my minions, it was easier to let them be sliced in two and recombine them through [Slime Puppetry].

What was quite interesting was that I ran into a section of the labyrinth entirely occupied by kobolds. There were so many of them that I thought they might have breached the maze and started living here, but when I saw how dumb they were, I realized they had to have been spawned by the labyrinth.

It was quite cathartic sending my own horde of monsters to fight them, and I remembered the crazy battle outside of Dhoggurum. If I had [Slime Puppetry] back then, I could have done something absolutely crazy and fought back with my own army.

Actually… Maybe that's not a bad idea? I wonder if they still have that lesser dragon? Last I heard, they had not actually found it, and the whole reason for the kobold attack remained a mystery.

That was one thing I had asked about repeatedly while at the elves, as I had kind of been abducted in the middle of a war. I had heard the war ended not long after my unfortunate explosion, but I hadn't heard the final results until I spoke with Keldenar.

Using his privileges, he checked the adventurers' guild records and found that the kobolds eventually retreated after suffering too many losses. The dwarves had tried to find the supposed lesser dragon instigator to slay it while its forces were weakened, but were ultimately unsuccessful. Of course, Trixie had said that there was a good chance that the chaotic essence was the reason for the kobolds, but that would mean it was my fault.

Nope. I bet that's just what the lesser dragon wants us to think. Blame it on the slime while you hide away and grow your kobold army. Well, after I'm done here, I might have some free time to stop by and see you!

With my giant worm form, I should be able to easily locate their stronghold and finally get my tendrils on that tasty dragon flesh. I'd already defeated that salamander, which was like a lesser-lesser dragon, so it was only fitting that I progressed to the next stage, and then I'd be potentially ready to fight a normal dragon.

And then what… A greater dragon? Who knows? I'll see when I get there!

The kobold portion of the labyrinth was quite disappointing, but it had stirred my appetite for the real thing. I collected my forces and moved on to the next part of the labyrinth, which was evidently the minotaur section.

Every corridor was long and thin with multiple crossroads, and there was a good chance that when you reached it, you'd have a pair of minotaurs charging at you from both sides. Being crushed between two massive bullmen was not a pleasant thought, but for these dumb brutes it was a fatal weakness.

Honestly… I said it before, and I'll say it again: who charges headfirst into slime? Vee made fun of silver slimes for falling into lava, but these minotaurs literally charging into my mouth are even dumber. I've seen plants with more brain cells than these dumb oafs!

Of course, all these various minotaurs came with a plethora of strength-related traits, something I should have been happy about, but I was genuinely worried it would give me brain damage. Sure, I had my personal issues about being called weak by the system, and my natural lack of strong muscles and bones without borrowing them was extremely apparent, but not if it came at the cost of my thinking power!

Well, I guess that's what minions are for. They are allowed to be dumb.

So yes, I started fighting minotaurs with minotaurs, and thanks to the power of cheating, mine were always victorious. It wasn't my fault the labyrinth could only send minotaurs made out of flesh and blood at me, while mine were forged out of adamantite [Metal Slime]! Needless to say, the reason I was doing this was in hopes of finally getting that last level in [Chimeric Mimicry], which I felt had to happen soon.

Of course I wasn't just sitting back and letting my minions do everything. I was making sure to support from the sidelines, getting plenty of usage out of [Folded Geometry] and [Personal Rift]. I had even decided to make the latter more thematic, as whenever I tore open an aperture, I would have Nu emerge from it with chaotic flailing tentacles. It was very amusing.

<Class: Riftmancer LV 28 -> 29>

<Skill Points: 23 -> 24>

<Skills:

[Folded Geometry LV 5 -> 6]

[Spatial Suppression LV 2 -> 4]>

The experience was relatively decent. Honestly, I had hoped to reach thirty by now, but maybe it was slower because there weren't any shenanigans going on with Vee and my personas all in a party. Then again, compared to the constant fights against yetis and wendigos, this dungeon was a cakewalk.

[Spatial Suppression] got a good workout against the kobolds earlier, and I finally got to use the "crushing between dimensional boundaries" portion of the skill. It was supposed to only be accessed at higher skill levels, but the kobolds were just that weak against it. I could freeze them in place by releasing my [Personal Rift] in the area and then pop them like grapes in a press.

[Folded Geometry] finally leveled up, and I took the opportunity to finally use [Skill Deconstruct] on it. I received a wealth of information as a result, and I found myself eager to upgrade my [Coordicore] with the newfound insights.

At the same time, losing the skill did more than I had realized, with many of the quick maneuvers I could pull off now no longer available. If I had known it was subtly improving my spatial combat, I would have praised it more; instead, I thought it was gathering dust on the side.

I'm sorry to have doubted you! Don't worry, I should have you back soon!

Or at least that was what I thought until I remembered that it was actually three skills in one. I could probably make spell versions of all individually, but that would likely net me [Folded Step], [Folded Guard], and [Folded Comprehension] rather than the superior [Folded Geometry].

You know what… It might be a tiny bit of a waste, but I can spare a skill point. You deserve it.

<Skill [Folded Geometry LV 1] obtained. Skill Points remaining: 23.>

Of course, I still planned to incorporate it into [Coordicore], which might make its levels skyrocket. Then, when I made my move to make [Dimensional Praxis], I could deconstruct [Folded Geometry] again and get another boost of knowledge.

I could do the same with [Personal Rift], but only if it doesn't cost me a trait point, which I have a sneaking suspicion it will.

With Elementalist, I had happily thrown away every skill I had, and because [Elemental Praxis] seemed to absorb all the related skill proficiencies, I hadn't been able to earn them again for free. I could buy them manually, but it never felt worth it.

[Personal Rift], however, was a monumental exception. The skill was monstrous with so much potential, and even when I inevitably made [Dimensional Praxis], I still wanted to have [Personal Rift] gracing my skill list. My love for this skill bordered on slime trait levels, as unbelievable as that sounds.

If only you didn't eat up a trait point… I need a better way to earn them. I should ask Vee if her final evolution has done anything in that regard. Maybe one of the ascensions you can pick is just a bundle of trait points? That would be nice…