Chapter 103: Up and Down

    ''Well, that was annoying. As much as I want to fly to my next destination, let''s land on the edge and slowly progress inward for now. There''s a good chance other flying monsters will attack me if I make myself so visible.''

    I flapped down slowly to the island''s edge, my wings beating against the wind. Finally, I landed on the solid ground, a wave of relief washing over me. Just as I was about to appreciate being on solid ground again, two notifications suddenly popped up.

    ''Landmark?'' I questioned and activated my newly upgraded [Mapping] skill.

    Looking at my mental map, I could see some places, most notably Stantondale, Kaerlin, and Glimmerock, were now named and marked. Weirdly, the forest, the mine, the farm, or even the goblin cave did not have any names or markings, despite me mentally knowing that was their location.

    ''Perhaps they aren''t notable enough? Or not specifically named. Hmm...''

    I canceled my griffin shape and was partway into transforming into an elf when I stopped it abruptly. Instead, I just reverted to my default slime form, feeling the familiar fluidity of my gelatinous body. I stretched out, loose and free, forming all my [Pseudopods] and giving them a much-needed wiggle.

    ''How long has it been since I was just a regular slime?'' I asked myself, ''Well, I can''t exactly call myself regular anymore.''

    I peeked over the edge briefly before retreating when I felt a mild sense of vertigo; it was a long way down. I chuckled to myself and questioned why I felt such a fear. I bet I could survive the fall; even if I didn''t, [Defy Death] would kick in. Hell, I could likely recover if I transformed into a griffin quickly enough.

    ''Okay, so let''s set some goals. The main priority is to find a yellow slime, above all else. The secondary goal would be to find interesting monsters to eat and explore the island. Tertiary would be to work on my skills and traits.''

    ''I should probably set up a base of operations, a home away from home. Having a known safe area to return to is preferable. Although in an emergency, I could just dig down.''

    After thinking for a moment and recalling the island''s topology from my prior observation, I made a decision.

    ''The lake and that overgrown ruin would probably be ideal; they''re central to the island, and having access to all that water could be useful for offense or defense.''

    As usual, magic practice was my go-to activity when traveling. I was very curious about what the next level of [Arcane Magic] and [Ice Magic] would provide. The slowness of Arcane, however, really bugged me. I was sure I should have reached level two by now.

    ''Is it the spell that''s at fault? Does [Arcane Hand] just give crap experience?'' I wondered, trying to think of the difference between it and my other forms of magic.

    ''Not being able to use it in combat is definitely a downside; I know that gives more experience than usual... If only there were an arcane arrow spell or something...'' I mused.

    ''Looks like they want to keep me up in their domain. That''s rather frustrating.''

    While I didn''t feel at risk, I didn''t enjoy being manhandled and thrown into the sky like a ragdoll repeatedly. If they could dodge six [Arcane Bolts], then I''d need to redouble my effort.

    ''I''ve never had my [Sub-Cores] try this before, but it should work!''

    I would have all of us use [Multicast] combined with [Arcane Bolt]. I gave the order and physically felt the mana in my body strain; what was normally a continuous, rapid flow of mana suddenly became a violent deluge. I felt a strange... Pain? Something wasn''t happy with what I was attempting to do. Did I not have enough flow to output the mana I was trying to use at once?

    ''Come on! I''m a bloody walking mana potion! I should be able to do this!'' I screamed in protest.

    Something deep in my core popped, for lack of a better word. Then, it felt like it was going to split in two. Suddenly, garbled notifications appeared, temporarily blocking my vision. I had an immense sense of dread.

    ?????

    ?????

    Then, against my expectations, my [Sub-Cores] complied and began each firing two [Arcane Bolt] spells simultaneously. I wanted to cheer mentally, but I was struggling to focus. I wanted to join them, but I had to keep us together at this point. Whatever I had done, the mental impairment had been beyond expectations, and if I were human, I think I would have blacked out.

    Relegating myself to the cheerleader of this situation, I watched the cores work together in tandem to provide a bullet hell pattern of magical bolts that caused one pegasus to dodge into another. Once one slipped up, they all focused fire and barraged it endlessly. It was not a pretty sight, and soon, a rather mangled pegasus was plummeting.

    I thought I was finally out of trouble and would be landing shortly when, again, I was lifted up into the air. Three more stupid horses had appeared. I was mentally cursing when a flash of light blitzed toward the group of pegasus, followed by the rumble of thunder. Energy crackled between the horses, and they seemed temporarily stunned before another bolt struck them, and soon, three charred corpses were plummeting.

    I called off my cores and was hoping to focus on defense. I searched for the cause of the lightning, and then I spotted it.

    The yellow slime was far larger than any other slime I had seen, bordering between boar and horse size. It had a large violet core that crackled with energy. Most strange of all, the slime undulated rhythmically, almost like a bellows or a coil being wound up and released. It even had two [Pseudopods] on top, spread out in a v-shape, lightning arcing between them.

    I only had a moment to admire it before it fired another bolt from the v-shape that fried the remaining pegasus; I hadn''t even noticed it was rapidly retreating away. I felt threatened by this slime but also awed by its power. Its base slime species was technically on par with my two mutations, and if I didn''t have my class levels, it would technically be higher level than me.

    My admiration was abruptly interrupted when I slammed into the ground with a squelch.