Chapter 456: There's Always More

First [Dissection], and now you… Looks like dealing with a legendary monster was more of a deal than I thought.

I expected [Chimeric Mimicry] to reach max soon, especially with all my personas using it daily, but its progress felt like a crawl until the medusa pushed it over the finish line. There were always several factors involved when determining proficiency gains, such as risk and first-time bonuses and whatnot. Unfortunately, I think the routine way we all treated my transformations was the biggest detriment.

It doesn't matter that you're transformed into two humans, two elves, and a dwarf at all times if you aren't putting any effort into it, or so I assumed. Even if we included our slime armies, where we tried to get creative with the minions, apparently that still wasn't enough. Was [Slime Mastery] just too good at this point? Honestly, that might have been the case.

But just shapeshifting with slime alone couldn't replicate the medusa's abilities, and it was the last push I needed. Well, I've been saving the points for this grand occasion, so no need to wait!

<Trait [Chimeric Mimicry LV MAX] has become [Chimeric Mimicry LV 11]. Trait Points remaining: 10.>

The blow of suddenly losing ten trait points hurt, since they were definitely my most valuable resource at the moment, while skill points felt almost disposable. It was funny, in a way, because when I first started, I had to do so much to get my first few skill points and felt like I was drowning in trait points. Of course, I still had my emergency reserve of Legend Points, but after seeing how else they could be used, I was extremely reluctant to spend them that way.

I had been waiting expectantly, but after several minutes had passed and no further notification appeared, I realized I must not have been the first to uncap this trait. I couldn't help but sigh in disappointment, but even if I had known it was taken, I would have made the same choice. [Chimeric Mimicry] was too good not to upgrade, and I had to hope that whatever mimic creature had achieved it before me had chosen a suitable upgrade that I'd need to discover.

But without whatever upgrade it had requested, I knew what reaching this uncapped level meant for me and all of the traits I could borrow. Yes, with one purchase, I had suddenly uncapped every trait I could borrow, including the already powerful [Petrifying Gaze] and my beloved [Tempered Reinforcement]. Heck, even lackluster traits like [Enhanced Claws] were probably stupidly good now that they were uncapped.

Let's see what my budget is now. It would have been one hundred before uncap, and uncap levels count for more… So I'd guess maybe one twenty?

I opened up the trait description, and it was still as I remembered from when I first got it, except it now targeted [Slime Mastery] instead of [Morph Slime]. I had hoped the description would change to explain what the uncapped upgrade was, but that was clearly asking for too much, since none of my other uncapped traits or skills revealed their secret. Then I found what I was looking for, and I thought there might be some kind of mistake.

<Trait budget: 242.>

Wait… What!? No way… This can't be right?

I genuinely thought the system might have been making a mistake, and I feared the repercussions that might entail, until I thought about it some more and wondered if this was the upgrade chosen by whoever first uncapped the trait. It was, after all, a sensible upgrade: more points- what more could you ask for? [Chimeric Mimicry] was already extremely flexible in its applications, so a bigger budget was perfect.

Let's see…. I could now have twenty-two borrowed traits at their maximum level at once. Which is double what I normally could do. That number seems intentional, so I guess that was the upgrade?

Before this absurd number, I expected enough points to max out eleven traits, with a few extra points on the side from my first uncapped level, but now it looked like the formula itself had changed. If I was right, I would have two eighty-eight points at [Chimeric Mimicry LV 12].

Wow. With this many points, do we even need to do our slime minion trick where we disconnect them? Actually, yeah, probably. It would be better to let Sylbera use more dwarf traits and Sylthaeryn more elf traits permanently, and I'd still have more than enough to go full medusa-worm-whatever.

I was a happy slime, with more points than I knew what to do with; if only my actual trait points were this bountiful, then I wouldn't be dreading the single point I'd likely be spending to recover [Personal Rift].

With nothing really left to try out, I left a note for Sylthaeryn and Sylvester about the newly upgraded [Chimeric Mimicry] and prepared to return to Tanglebay. After a quick flight away from Glimmerock, I teleported home to the warm welcome of my companions.

"Syl!? Why the heck are you a snake?" Vee screeched, jumping backward.

"Oh. I got this from the boss we fought. Pretty cool, right?"

"Why does it have four arms? And wings? What the heck did you fight? Or are you messing with it?"

"A medusa. I added the wings to fly from Glimmerock, but the arms are natural."

"I guess I should have known from the snake hair… Wait, shit, don't look at me, I don't want to turn into a statue!"

"Relax, I have the ability turned off. Actually, I guess I'm not a default medusa since I moved the special eye to the palm of my hand; a genius idea, don't you think?"

"Don't wave a deadly hand-eye at me!"

"It's turned off!"

"Gods… Why can't you just be your normal slime self? Why do you have to be a snake? Is this because you're jealous of my arachne evolution?"

"A little, but I thought this was cool. Do you not like snakes?"

"Does anyone?"

"I like snakes," Sylbera chimed in.

"I also like snakes. Very tasty," Yuzz added.

"I don't think you two count…" Vee whined.

I rolled my eyes. "You're one to talk. I think more people are scared of spiders than snakes."

"Yeah, but I'm not a spider right now," Vee declared, pointing at her short human legs.

"Fine…" I grumbled, losing the cool snake tail and replacing it with legs. Then I relaxed further and melted a bit as I went into my goopy elf form.

"Much better," Vee sighed with relief.

"Better? Syl looks like a melting blue elf," Yuzz retorted, shaking her head and heading off.

Since I had returned, I caught Vee up on the situation while we ate, and she appeared quite happy that I had succeeded and even claimed another slime core. It was great having such a supportive friend, even if she did incorrectly hate snakes.

Wait… Is that why she hates my giant worm? I always thought it was because of the crazy self-destruct, but was it actually just because it looked vaguely like a snake?

Vee wasn't too interested in our time in the labyrinth, and in fact it seemed that she was not fond of what we'd gone through at all. She insisted this maze wouldn't be on her list for the second and third challenges.

She was quite surprised that I'd earned an achievement, since we had previously thought only Leon got those. I added asking Keldenar about that since he tended to have better information than the stubborn crab, who wasn't even here in the first place.

Hopefully this banishment pays off; I want my damn [Dungeon Master] qualification! The people yearn for the slime dungeon!

I was totally not biased; I knew that the world would be better off having a slime dungeon, and it would be the best dungeon in the world. Way better than a stinky undead dungeon, or a vengeful mutation dungeon, or a cowardly octopus dungeon.

I even had plans to ask Keldenar to advertise it. Heck, if things went well, I could even announce it myself during my diamond-rank promotion and say that it was something I discovered during my travels. The issue was still finding a good location, but with [Soul Sight] that shouldn't be too difficult, and maybe I could even set it up near Keld. If we combined our resources to make teleporters, then I could have foot traffic across the world to my exclusive slime dungeon!

I can almost taste the slime cores now… Boy, I can't wait.

The last thing I discussed with Vee before I went and accepted my secondary class was [Spatial Erosion] and [Fold]. I would teach her the latter soon, and she seemed genuinely excited. The former, however, was again something she couldn't purchase unless she officially took the Riftmancer class, and when I described what I did with it, she was clearly conflicted.

"You… Teleported a monster into the ground?"

"And into a tree. Who says dimension mages don't have any offensive spells?" I joked.

"Yeah… Honestly, that's kinda scary. Like even with [Phase Out], I can't say I'm not worried I'll make a mistake. I'm honestly shocked you can do that."

"Well, I'm planning on taking it apart and seeing if I can turn it into a spell. Or integrate it with my [Coordicore]."

"Well, I'm definitely interested if you can keep it by itself. Maybe you can use it to fix up [Displaced]?"

"I hope so, although they seem to work together. Either way, whatever I manage, I'll share with you."

"Thanks as always, Syl. Although I can't help but feel all these tempting skills are a plot by that woman to get me to properly dedicate myself to magic."

I could honestly see it, and as her friend, I made sure to support her crazy theories, just as she did for me. Most of the time. When she wasn't trying to be the voice of reason.

"Speaking of which… I noticed that the shunting is related to dimensional weight. So, I thought, what if I could teleport a [Sub-Core] into a monster as an attack?"

"No. Bad Syl. Stop trying to kill yourself."

"It worked on the tree. I feel like it would work on a monster too; I can shove my dimensional weight around. It could be my killer move."

Vee sighed. "I can't believe you want to telefrag monsters. Aren't you scary enough already? Do you really need another way to kill things?"

I partially agreed, but I still felt like this was worth exploring. If I was fated to be dimensionally heavy, then I felt like I should abuse it, and yes, I already confirmed that [Mass Slime] did not affect my dimensional weight.

With that out of the way, I went to see Logan and Pi, the ever-present defenders of our island. Logan was currently asleep, growing big and strong, so I took the class change crystal from Pi and looked at my options. What I immediately noticed was that I could pick between modifying my first or second class, and when I picked the latter, it only showed professions, just like the system had warned me.

It seemed that my options hadn't really changed, which was a little surprising after everything I had done up until now, but maybe that was because I hadn't updated it in so long. I knew it tallied things up and applied them retroactively when it could, but whether it did so at full efficiency or not, I couldn't say.

Well, that shouldn't matter anymore. From here on out, I'll always have my secondary class, so I can reap the full benefits.

I selected my old class, Runecraft, and my head exploded into a cacophony of system notifications. I wanted to scream to make it stop, and that was when I received a very helpful message.

<Would you like a summary?>

Please! Make the pinging stop!

There was blissful silence. I let out a happy sigh and waited patiently, and then a beautiful screen listed everything that had happened.

<Class Runecrafter LV 37 -> 61.>

<Profession Points: 5 -> 13.>

<Profession:

[Rune Engraving LV 3 -> 7]

[Rune Framework LV 8 -> MAX]

[Rune Tracing LV 5]

[Rune Design LV 5 -> 8]

[Runecrafting LV 4 -> 6]

[Rune Inspection LV 6 -> 7]

[Rune Filigree LV 3 -> 4]

[Rune Repair LV 2 -> 3]>

Wow, that's… More than I expected.

I knew I had done a lot, especially if you considered the two spatially compressed rooms I had managed to recreate. Then there were my spell orbs, the enchantments I had stolen from Saltport, and so forth.

The first thing I did was spend a point on [Rune Framework], which upgraded it to [Runic Lattice]. This just let me create more complex interconnected runes, which… I had already done, on my own. I looked at the list of skills and couldn't help but wonder: did I even need them at this point?

Maybe I'd grown too used to throwing everything into [Skill Deconstruct], but I was genuinely tempted here. I had gotten this far without really using my profession skills; wouldn't it be better to grind them up and keep going as I have up until now?

Okay, let's take a step back before I do anything impulsive. It looks like I still have more summary to look at.

<Classes unlocked: Rune Counterfeiter, Rune Archeologist, Ancient Runecrafter, Runic Smith, Rune Historian, Diplomat, Arcane Farmer, Spell Tutor, Spellseeker.>

Huh…

A lot of these made sense, especially considering what I'd been doing. My theft of other people's runes, my exploration into the lost runes in the labyrinth, my tinkering with spell orbs and other metals, and apparently even some exploration into rune history. Diplomat was probably from dealing with the elves and Keldenar, and Farmer was probably thanks to Vee and maybe Logan.

Then there were the last two, which were honestly surprising. The first one I could understand, as I had tried my best to teach Vee magic, but I didn't think I would be rewarded with a profession for it. Then there was Spellseeker, and honestly I had no idea what it was for.

Is… Crafting spells considered a profession?

Just the fact that I had used "crafting" in my thoughts should have indicated a solid yes, but then why had I never earned this before? If crafting spells was the case, then I had done that numerous times before.

I do have the [Spell Architect] Emblem now. That could be the difference. Or is it something as silly as that I only created non-combat spells recently?

If the differentiation between combat class and profession was that blatant, then yes, this was from me creating [Map], my first non-combat spell. Sure, [Rift Door] was before that, but since it was part of [Dimension Magic], I guess the system felt otherwise?

Or it was the Emblem. Let's just say it was the Emblem.

I shook my head. I was clearly focusing on something that didn't matter to avoid deciding what I should do. Did I want to change my profession? Probably… Especially after realizing I had just received a bunch of upgrades and it didn't even get me excited.

Sylvester said he knew I liked enchanting, but I think deep down I just like magic more. Enchanting was always just a means to get more magic, and crafting my own spells is more fun than enchanting. Besides, who says I can't do both? Just like Vee isn't a farmer, but she likes planting plants.

I had made up my mind, but rather than throwing everything into [Skill Deconstruct], I first donated at least one point in every skill to Sylvester. I giggled to myself, wondering if he was panicking at suddenly being gifted a bunch of skills, and when I was done, I finally opened [Skill Deconstruct].

I'll share the knowledge with him too, but right now it feels like stuff we already know. Well, whatever, I like the idea of a clean slate.

Trusting my gut, I began the process, and even though it was back-to-back skills with clearly a lot of levels, I was never at risk of passing out. Maybe this was a sign that I was right, that I'd grown more knowledgeable than these skills, or maybe they didn't have much to offer to begin with; who can say.

When my profession page was finally clean, I gathered all the knowledge and made a neat little memory package to send to Sylvester. I was somewhat passing the torch over to him, something I had tried to do before, except this time I was going to go even further in my pursuit of knowledge.

<Class Runecrafter LV 61 swapped to Spellseeker LV 1.>

<Your class has revealed the following skill: [Spell Codex].>

Before I look at that, let's send some of these levels to Sylvester too. That way he can jump right back into it when he gets his second class slot. Plus it frees up the weight on my soul, so it's a win-win.

Finally, I looked at the new skill I was offered, and honestly, I don't think I could have ever expected this was the result.

<[Spell Codex]
A shared codex of spell constructs and formulas created across generations, all in the pursuit of greater knowledge and the ultimate mastery of magic.
You may spend favors to receive spell guidance on a spell construct, either to fix a fatal flaw or to seek improvement. Alternatively, you can purchase blueprints of spells submitted to the codex.
Favors can be earned through several methods:

• Occasionally you may challenge yourself with an unsolved spell formula, earning favors based on the difficulty.

• You may submit custom spell constructs to the codex, earning favors based on its complexity, completeness, and uniqueness.

As a reminder, favors are not necessarily quantified, but fear not, as if you continue the pursuit of greater knowledge, you will never find yourself lacking.>

After reading it several times, I felt stumped because I still wasn't sure what to make of it. I saw no real downsides to this skill, but it really seemed to fly in the face of everything I had known previously, and it seemed too good to be true.

The only frustrating part was that favors weren't explicitly quantified, and it felt deliberately exploitative. I liked having points, a direct number I could tally, and this ability denied me that convenience.

Alternatively, since I can't see a number, maybe I won't feel the urge to hoard points? Hmm… Is this actually a good thing?

I couldn't tell, and until I bought and used the skill, I probably would have no idea; so I did just that.

<Skill [Spell Codex] obtained. Profession Points remaining: 11.>

Oh great… Looks like it doesn't have levels either. I guess that's an error in the description.

I activated the skill, and a large book appeared before me, though I could tell it wasn't actually there, with that same system-menu feel. I didn't know the system could do something like this, so I quickly opened [Skill Deconstruct] to see if I could take it apart and steal this bit of information, only to find it wasn't listed.

I felt cheated, since the description clearly didn't say I couldn't take it apart. Just like it didn't say the skill had no levels. I grumbled to myself as I looked at the book and found it extremely impressive.

Despite being a book, I could interact with it almost telepathically, and turning the page would instantly take me to what I was looking for. It had a section for existing spells, though they were only in name, and then a section for unsolved puzzles or for submitting my own spells.

The description hadn't mentioned it, but I noticed the "unsolved puzzles" included ones that needed improvement, not just broken or half-finished constructs. I quickly put two and two together and realized what this meant.

Wait! Hang on, does this mean that this is like an active community? So I submit my spell for improvement, and someone else takes it up as a challenge? But… How would that even work? What if there are no other Spellseekers around? Unless… Time is irrelevant?

It was a shocking thought, but at the same time I felt wonder as I stared at the codex. Would I be able to use it to somehow communicate with ancient mages? Could they help me? And could I take some of their knowledge for myself?

Hang on… What's stopping me from stealing the blueprint I'm supposed to help solve? Or is that why they don't quantify favors, since you can kind of get free knowledge at the same time? Huh… This is wild.

There was a limit to this "free" knowledge, though, as it looked like harder challenges had longer cooldowns before the next task. So a simple spell would only put the codex on cooldown for a day, but something grand could be a week, maybe even a month. Not only that, but you couldn't start another challenge until you finished the one you had taken, or you could forfeit and receive a penalty of at minimum double the cooldown period.

It made sense; otherwise, you could take a challenge, try to steal some information from it, and then just give up, contributing nothing to the codex or the magical community. I wondered if someone in the past had exploited this loophole, which was why it wasn't mentioned in the original skill description.

Between this new skill, my current projects, and my desire to build a dungeon for myself, it really seemed like I was going to be embracing the hermit life soon. Of course I still had some other things to settle before that, like reporting to Keldenar, getting promoted, and keeping my promise. I was still nervous about that last one, but I was a big slime; I couldn't be a coward forever, and I had the amazing body-double excuse at my disposal.

Feeling like another chapter of my adventure was coming to an end, while the next was about to begin, I looked over my profile and smiled. I had come a long way, and it was also starting to look a little cleaner than usual.

***

Name: Syl [Demon Slayer]
Race: Chimeric Cluster Slime (Prismatic) LV 29
Class: Riftmancer LV 30 || Spellseeker LV 1
Status: Healthy
Mana: Overflowing

Emblems:
[Experiment]
[Unique]
[Apex Hunter]
[Elven Legacy]
[Dungeoneer]
[Nature's Bane]
[Manhunter]
[Banisher]
[Branch Head]
[Demon Slayer]*
[Spell Architect]
[Novice ???]
[Dungeon Master] (Pending…)

Legend Points remaining: 9

Traits:
Slime:
[Primordial Slime LV 20]
[Slime Mastery LV 18]

Core:
[Core Collective LV 13]
[Core Storage LV 8]
[Sub-Core Alpha LV 8] [Sub-Core Beta LV 8] [Sub-Core Gamma LV 8]
[Sub-Core Eta LV 8] [Sub-Core Delta LV 8] [Sub-Core Theta LV 8]
[Sub-Core Epsilon LV 8] [Sub-Core Iota LV 8] [Sub-Core Zeta LV 8]
[Sub-Core Kappa LV 8] [Sub-Core Lambda LV 8] [Sub-Core Mu LV 8]
[Sub-Core Nu LV 8] [Sub-Core Xi LV 8] [Sub-Core Omicron LV 8]
[Sub-Core Pi LV 8] [Sub-Core Rho LV 8] [Sub-Core Sigma LV 8]
[Sub-Core Tau LV 8] [Sub-Core Upsilon LV 8] [Sub-Core Phi LV 8]
[Sub-Core Chi LV 8] [Sub-Core Psi LV 8] [Sub-Core Omega LV 8]

Mimic:
[Chimeric Mimicry LV 11]
[Chroma Shift LV MAX]
[Consuming Osmosis LV MAX]

Attributes/Other:
[Soul Mastery LV MAX]
[Enhanced Vitality LV 7]
[Magic Resistance (Greater) LV 3]
[Curse Resistance LV 6]
[Illusion Resistance LV 4]
[Sonic Resistance LV 2]
[Spatial Resistance LV 5]
[Prodigy]

Senses:
[Soul Sight LV MAX]
[Soul Sense LV MAX]
[Soul Vision LV 8]

Trait Points remaining: 10

Skills:
General:
[Universal Language]
[Skill Deconstruct]
[Equipment Swap]
[Split Personality LV 8]
[Dissection LV MAX]
[Tracking LV 3]
[Perception LV 6]
[Aerial Finesse LV 5]
[Aquatic Finesse LV 5]
[Thunder Step LV 5]
[Elemental Step (Basic) LV 4]

Tamer:
[Companion Bond]
[Companion Training LV MAX]
[Companion Growth LV 13]

Combat:
[Tranquil Flow LV 5]
[Attack Mastery (Greater) LV 5]
[Affliction Mastery LV 9]
[Exploit Weakness LV 8]

Magic:
[Mana Dominion]
[Elemental Praxis LV 7]
[Corrosion Magic LV 8]
[Arcane Magic LV 5]
[Light Magic LV 4]
[Dimension Magic LV 7]
[Healing Magic LV 2]
[Death Magic LV 4]
[Counter Magic LV 5]
[Personal Rift LV 7]
[Spatial Severing LV 5]
[Spatial Suppression LV 4]
[Folded Geometry LV 3]
[Spatial Erosion LV 2]
[Rift Beacon]
[Ritual Casting]

Sneaky:
[Vanish LV 8]
[Assassinate LV 8]
[Identity Fabrication LV 12]
[Rogue Expertise LV 5]
[Magical Subterfuge LV 6]
[Trap Mastery LV 6]

Skill Points remaining: 23

Profession:
[Spell Codex]

Profession Points Remaining: 11

***********************************************************

***********************************************************

Authors Notes:

Extra long chapter because when I saw that this weekend was my upcoming break I knew I needed to finish it. I didn't want to leave you guys waiting till Monday for the last chapter, so I hope it was worth it.

Hopefully I got the end of book profile right, I had to kinda rush it to get it out and while I did check a few times I've made mistakes in the past (that my editor thankfully checks before amazon, yay!) My introduction of progress summaries has made my checking a lot easier, I kinda wish I did it sooner in hindsight.

I feel like a lot happened this book, especially in terms of power gains as its probably the biggest upgrades I've given Syl... Ever? Like I'm still slow rolling out things with [Primordial Slime], but [Slime Puppetry] was a whole new level. Not to mention all the stuff going on with Riftmancer and [Dimension Magic].

Anyway... Just thought I'd let some of my thoughts out, sorry if I rambled, I hope you have a great weekend and Syl 7 will be returning in 2 weeks!