Chapter 215: Pixie Chaos

"Is there something wrong with that hat?" I asked Trixie.

"Other than taking up my favorite sitting spot?" Trixie replied with a sigh.

"I did get it from a Cat Sith..." I admitted. "The dungeon spawned it, and the hat, or crown, has been attached to me ever since..."

"Oh!" Trixie gasped with surprise.

Trixie left her favorite seat, fluttered down, and repeatedly poked the hat rather aggressively.

"Nope. Looks fine to me, although I think it tricks people into thinking you always had the hat?" Trixie replied.

"How? Is it messing with their memories?" I asked.

Trixie giggled and shook her head. "Nothing as absurd as that; it’s sort of like a perception filter. It’s pretty harmless, nothing to worry your slimy little head about."

"Can it... Do anything?" I questioned. "Something beneficial for me."

"Well, it can transform into other hats," Trixie pointed out as if that were obvious.

"No... I knew that. I meant, does it have any other benefits?" I asked.

"Well, why didn’t you say so?" Trixie teased mischievously.

She hummed and smiled as she poked the hat a few more times. She scratched her chin, licked her fingers, then shrugged.

"At the moment, no. It might once it grows a bit," Trixie answered.

"It can grow? Should I be concerned?"

"Hardly! You should be celebrating!" Trixie replied. "I’m sure people would kill for a magic item with potential."

"Okay... Any idea what it could develop then?" I asked again. "And how is it growing?"

"No idea, and from some of your leaking Mana. Just what a growing hat needs to grow big and strong!" Trixie giggled.

"Of course..." I sighed. "Anyway, with that out of the way, let me introduce you to my friend Vee."

I gestured towards the spider, who was staring at the pixie with great hesitation.

"Nice to meet you, Vee! I’m Trixie the pixie!" Trixie said with a twirl.

"Oh hell, what a stupidly ironic name..." Vee replied.

"You’re telepathically connected..." I informed her.

"What!? But I didn’t even agree, what the hell?" Vee cried out.

"Yeah... Trixie can do that; she’s a master of telepathy..." I warned.

"Oh balls... That sucks..." Vee grumbled.

Trixie, on the other hand, giggled. "What an interesting friend you’ve found."

"She won’t force us to dance evermore, right?" Vee hesitantly asked.

"What?" Both me and Trixie asked in unison.

"Okay... Guess that’s not a thing..." Vee muttered embarrassedly.

"I dare say she’s even jumpier than you were..." Trixie commented. "Although, she hasn’t tried to explode the room yet."

"You were exploding rooms back then, too?" Vee questioned.

"No, that was different. It was more like a burst or pop than an explosion. I couldn’t detonate back then," I tried explaining.@@@@

"You can detonate now?" Trixie asked with worry.

"Oh yeah, I’ve eaten an orange slime!" I answered excitedly.

"Gods... What has been unleashed upon the world..." Trixie grumbled.

"If you think that’s bad, she became a giant worm and exploded!" Vee exclaimed. "Took out an entire underground kobold area! I thought the mountain was going to come crashing down!"

"It wasn’t that bad... I held back a little," I downplayed.

"That was holding back?" Vee questioned.

Trixie giggled. "Sounds like I’ve missed out on quite a lot of fun. So, are you just relaxing here in Dwarfville, or do you have plans?"

"Well, I’ve been trying to tutor Vee with some magic, and I even have a quest to do so," I replied.

"And I got a quest to visit the beach!" Vee added enthusiastically.

"Magic tutoring is good. Has she broken through her Mana aura yet?" Trixie asked.

"I swear I’m tempted to reveal the truth just to try to repair the reputation of slimes..." I grumbled.

"I think you’d just damage it further; you’re far away from a normal slime," Trixie giggled.

"I think anyone in this [Experiment] is far from normal... I wonder if any of the others have been revealed," I mused.

"Beats me, I’ve certainly heard nothing, and you’d think strange new powerful monsters appearing would be on the rumor mill," Trixie shrugged. "The fairy queen and the dwarf king certainly didn’t mention anything."

"You talked with the dwarf king?" Vee questioned.

"Yup, he’s a decent fellow; I delivered a letter from the fairy queen as an excuse to teleport here. Saved me a lot of flying with that clever maneuver!" Trixie said smugly. "But enough about me and people wearing silly hats, tell me about being a dimensional spider? You must have all sorts of cool threads, right?"

"I... Do..." Vee replied hesitantly.

"Trixie likes to knit," I quickly added. "She had me create a bunch of spider silk when she learned I could shapeshift."

"Oh nice, like the Weaver class I took?" Vee asked.

"Oh dang, you replaced me with a better model... I’m wondering if I should start feeling jealous!" Trixie pouted.

"I wouldn’t call myself exactly a knitter..." Vee said dismissively. "I mostly want to see if it lets me make better webs, traps, or maybe some protective wraps?"

"Mind showing me what you’re working with?" Trixie asked.

Vee looked toward me, and I gave her a reassuring nod.

I felt Vee ease up a little from our bond, and she spun a small amount of [Rift Thread]. I noted she appeared to be braiding it somewhat, although I still found it almost impossible to see and look at. She presented it rather proudly.

"What the hell is that?" Trixie asked, pointing toward the otherwordly creation and looking as if she’d seen a ghost.

"[Rift Thread]!" Vee said proudly.

"That’s terrifying!" Trixie replied with a shudder. "How are you even touching it safely? That stuff is like... A void of nothingness."

"Yeah, it was not fun to be on the receiving end of it," I replied. "The fact it’s so hard to detect is what annoys me."

"You’d probably need a special sense... Or be able to see how it removed all the essence in the area it occupies," Trixie mumbled.

"Hey, that’s how I spotted it!" I replied happily.

"Stop disassembling my secret weapon like that..." Vee grumbled.

"Hey, don’t worry, your secret weapon is safe with us," I reassured her.

"Yeah... I think any other spirit would laugh at me if I told them I’d seen a spider who could weave threads of effectively anti-essence," Trixie added. "It’s almost as unbelievable as a walking talking slime."

"So, what are your plans?" I asked Trixie, trying to move away from the slime-teasing subject.

"Honestly, I was hoping to just follow you around a bit and see what chaos happens around you. You really caused a lot of turmoil with that floating island," Trixie answered.

"More chaos than what happened with the kobolds?" Vee questioned.

Trixie looked toward me expectantly.

"No..." I replied. "The worst I did on that floating island was freeze a lake; the explosion over there turned all the essence rather chaotic."

"Oooh! Chaotic essence?" Trixie said excitedly, then snapped back and looked at me questioningly. "Wait, since when could you see essence?"

"After I ate an ant princess," I answered.

"Oh... That explains it," Trixie nodded.

"That doesn’t explain anything!?" Vee replied.

"Ants lay their eggs where there is optimal essence flow," Trixie responded, then she turned toward me with a shit-eating grin. "Does that mean you got another egg-laying trait?"

"I have no idea what you’re talking about..." I attempted to dodge the question.

Trixie was about to say something when Vee spoke first.

"Please, no talk of egg-laying; it reminds me of the awful Broodmother evolution option I have," Vee begged.

"Agreed! No talk of eggs!" I immediately added.

Trixie giggled but nodded. "I think we should definitely investigate the chaotic essence area."

"I’ll add it to the list," I agreed. "I also wanted to see what monsters it might spawn."

"Although we must be extra careful if there’s another assassin..." Vee said cautiously.

"Ha! I’d love to see an assassin try to sneak up on me!" Trixie gloated.

We made quite a powerhouse team with the three of us, and I actually hoped another assassin might confront us.