After we left Alfresco…

In a little worse condition than we entered it with.

We started heading north east toward a fishing town. I still had my wanted level, and it was probably even larger now since Deadeye destroyed an entire fort.

Thanks to Ode though, we had more than enough resources for Esther to survive since I didn’t need anything.

We distanced ourselves a decent bit from Alfresco with [Flight], before traveling the rest of the way on foot. Using magic too much gets a little repetitive and it’s not like we were in a rush either.

The fresh air felt great as we walked along this old dirt pathway. I could smell the trees, the grass and all the other things that I had yet to fully take in since coming here.

It was such a step up from my old world. The greenery instead of the dreary dead gray. The fresh new air instead of the old recycled air…

“This is the life~”

Esther and I were walking slowly down the winding dirt road.

Not a single person in sight.

I had my hands behind my head as we walked. Thinking about it…

I haven’t really seen any other monsters in this world, I mean yeah I defeated that Ancient Dragon. However, I haven’t seen a single other monster yet. I did hear about goblins and other weaker monsters being out on the continents, but physically seeing one with my eyes?

Nope. Not a single one.

“Ode, you there?”

<Yep.>

“Could you send Risible out?”

He hesitated for a second and looked back toward Four and Risible.

They were practically at each other's throats playing chess.

Each piece they moved had a heavy slam down onto the board, until Four flipped the entire table.

“What the fuck I was winning!”

“No you weren’t-”

Risible grabbed Four’s collar and started shaking him back and forth pretty violently.

…

<Yeah he’ll be right out.>

The light blue orb expelled itself from my body with the yellow-gold ‘99’ carved into it. It warped and shifted into Risible’s human form.

Looking at him closer, without having to worry about him turning me in for cash.

He seemed like the type to be a playboy. I could definitely see girls falling left and right for him.

Risible matched our pace and started walking on the right of me. He wrapped his arm around my shoulder and sighed.

“I swear I’m going to kill Four soon.”

“Uh huh…”

I was being a little cautious around him, but it’s important that I connect with all the variants.

⊰───────•✦•───────⊱⊰───────•✦•───────⊱⊰───────•✦•───────⊱

|A FEW HOURS LATER|

⊰───────•✦•───────⊱⊰───────•✦•───────⊱⊰───────•✦•───────⊱

We were sitting around a campfire as we talked.

Risible and I were arm in arm as we laughed.

It turns out that we were very similar, and that means I found a best friend for once.

Well I mean technically speaking he was me… but that doesn’t matter.

Esther went to bed early. Now that we had Risible with us she had her own separate tent, since she needed her privacy.

“So Risible, how did you even catch up with us? Y’know back in the fort.”

He had a large smile on his face before he answered.

“Well that’s what my abilities are based on~ air manipulation.”

“Air manipulation?”

“Yeah, anything to do with the air. I can take the oxygen away and suffocate someone… albeit only temporarily. Change the wind currents, modify air resistance, etcetera etcetera.”

So that’s how he did that…

That’s overpowered as fuck, and with the right combo-

“What about you Cyn?”

“Me?”

I pointed toward myself.

“Yeah, what are your abilities?”

“Uhhh…”

Well I hadn’t really thought too much about that.

“Risible, could I see your stat window so I can get a basis on what mine is?”

“Huh- yeah sure. Stratum.”

The blue window appeared in front of him and he slid it over to me.

————————————

Name: Risible

Species: Regulus Slime

Level: 103

Rank: A

EXP: 301,416/952,831

————————————

[Titles]

‘Monster in Human Clothing’

‘Otherworlder’

‘Flirtatious’

‘Master of the Wind’

‘Alcohol Deprivation’

————————————

[Stat Points]

Strength: 369

Speed: 251

Perception: 316

Health: 250,000

Mana: 424

Intelligence: 145

Wisdom: 98

Luck: 77

Remaining Points: 22

————————————

[Skills]

||Passive:||

-Sentient Mind, MAXED; 

-Chantless, MAXED; 

-Air Manipulation, Lvl 43;

-Language Master, Lvl 17; 

-Integral Requisite, Lvl 5;

||Active:||

-Gust, Lvl 47;

-Air Cutter, Lvl 23;

-Tempest, Lvl 28;

-Glory, Lvl 3;

-Flirt, Lvl 34;

-Stealth, Lvl 12; 

-Mana Control, Lvl 15; 

————————————

“You’ve got some interesting skills here… What’s this [Glory] skill?”

He looked down in disappointment and quickly spoke.

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Ah- alright.”

Just by looking at his window I could see some similarities to mine. Risible had ‘Otherworlder’ and ‘Monster in Human Clothing’, but he also had one offs like ‘Flirtatious’.

Skill-wise he was almost 100% different. He kept [Integral Requisite] but lost [Quick Learner] and all of his skills seemed air or wind related now.

“Okay, well going off of your window I guess mine is directly off of my body. Or maybe magic as a whole?”

“Ooh~ magic related huh?”

Risible and I talked for a bit more before heading to bed for the night.

I mean yeah we don’t really need to sleep, but it passes time quickly so I still enjoy it. I looked toward Risible to see that he reverted to his slime form, his color was a light blue like the color of his eyes and his core had the yellow-gold ‘99’ carved into it.

“Why did you go back to your slime form Risible?”

He looked at me… I think.

“Why are you still in your human form?”

“Fair point.”

“You should try sleeping in your slime form, it’s pretty comfortable.”

Hmm… is it?

I started retracting my body into the small spherical slime form. My core had the yellow-gold ‘01’ carved into it and my body was now a red color like my eyes. Somehow it was pretty comfortable, almost like this sort of warm feeling.

⊰───────•✦•───────⊱⊰───────•✦•───────⊱⊰───────•✦•───────⊱

When I woke up my head was ringing, I groggily sat up and started making my way toward the entrance of our tent. I opened the door to it and took a step outside while being a little wobbly.

“What the fuck…? Why do I feel like complete shit?”

I don’t know what was causing it, but I felt terrible.

Esther was already up and turned toward me, her body immediately froze up once she made eye contact with me.

“Um… Cyn?”

“Huh-? Yeah? What is it?”

My voice was a little distorted from usual like there were two overlapping each other.

“How do I say this nicely… uhh-”

“What? What’s wrong?”

She was a little hesitant before she answered.

“Well- you… look a little different…? Almost like a mixture of you and Risible…”

Esther quickly covered her mouth as my face went to shock.

I ran over to the river next to our camp and looked into the water hastily.

Once I did, I noticed a large amount of changes in my appearance. For starters my left eye was now a yellow-gold ‘99’ and my right eye was my ‘01’, my hairstyle was closer to Risible’s and my hair color was black. I now had two streaks of color in my hair, on the left split it was light blue like Risible’s and on the right one was a red like mine. My attire had also changed, my clothing was now similar to Risible’s bartender feel, but I still had my trench coat though it was now fully unbuttoned. Also the lime green coloring was split, my right half was lime green still while my left was a silver-like color. My collar was now bent downward and I had these black pants on with black dress shoes.

I felt a small ringing in my head like I had just woken up again when my mouth suddenly started moving.

“What the fuck…?”

“Hey wait, you're here too Risible?!”

“Cyn?!”

My body suddenly stumbled forward and we slipped into the river.