Syl

Chapter 112: Up the Tree

While flight was an option, I decided to stick to the ground as we approached the giant tree to delay getting there and avoid making myself a flying target. Once I was close to or under it, I hoped to stealthily make my entrance to avoid being thrown around in the wind again.

I was determined to level up [Ice Magic], so I resumed my previous cycle through weapons, hoping to reach the next stage. Meanwhile, Trixie was still sitting on my head, sometimes watching me, other times humming with her eyes closed as if my head was her personal relaxation couch. She had asked me why I was practicing [Ice Magic] so hard, and I explained my plan to freeze a yellow slime for capture. I had expected a comment or remark, but instead, she hummed to herself and continued lounging about.

'Damn, looks like they got this one too.' I cursed.

I tried making variations between shields or weapons, but they all fell under minor modifications in the main spell category. [Create: Ice Hammer], for example, was the catchall for maces, hammers, mauls, and even clubs.

I had started to work on modifying [Torrent] when Trixie suddenly interrupted me, "Wait till your next level of [Ice Magic] before you work on that. Trust me."

I reluctantly stopped my work and debated whether to take the explosion part of [Fireball] and make an ice shard explosion or modify [Arcane Armor]. Recalling how arcane mana seemed to just soak other elements up like a dry sponge, I decided it might be an easy win, and any extra defense options were a welcome addition.

"So what do you get if you absorb a yellow slime?" Trixie asked while I was in the middle of tinkering. "You mentioned its trait, which I assume is its lightning. Anything else?"

I paused to consider whether to tell her, but considering it would add to her oath, I shrugged and said, "If it's like the previous slimes I ate, I will gain Lightning Affinity."

Trixie squeed with glee and patted my head excitedly, "Really? Is that why you have so many affinities? That's amazing; your mana would become even more delicious!"

"I think I could say the same thing to you after what you did to all those pegasi." Trixie giggled, "So you'd just be missing Earth and Air from the basic elements then..."

"I have a plan to get Earth, probably. Air... I don't think I'll ever get it; it's continued to elude and taunt me with traits and skills I can't acquire," I grumbled.

"True... I've certainly not heard of an Air slime..." Trixie muttered, deep in thought, while twirling her hair.

Leaving her to her schemes, I gladly continued to work with [Arcane Armor]. I was certainly right that it greedily drank up the Ice mana and rapidly shifted and changed; all I needed to do was maintain its shape and not let it deform from the new mana type, which, with all five of my helpers, was a greatly simplified task.

'If the future Arcane spells are like this too, then I can rather simply add a new spell for each element. It's too bad that the reverse isn't true.'

"If you can get three elements to level five, or five to level three, you might get a solution to your problem..." Trixie muttered, seemingly having thought long and hard.

"I have four above three already, so I just need to get Arcane to three?" I questioned.

"No. Elements, not affinities. Corrosion and Arcane are out of this equation."

"Right... Anything else?"

"Probably at least level twenty in your class. More wouldn't hurt, but I think that's the minimum."

"Thanks, Trixie. Guess I'll have to wait and see the surprise."

"Yup. No more hints for you, or you will ruin the surprise." She teased and returned to her lazy nap.

I wondered what this solution could be, although part of me was concerned that Trixie was fattening me up so she could eat me later. I was still greatly unsure about how to treat the pixie. One moment, she's helpful; the next, she's letting a bunch of pegasi attack me. Her amount of knowledge was both useful and a worry; if she truly was old as dirt as she joked, then that might put her above even Simon the Lich.

As I neared the floating tree, I saw pegasi circling the base as if performing patrols, so I made sure [Vanish] was active to deter them from noticing me. I paused briefly to confirm my spell was complete and then, hiding out of the line of sight, cast the now-formed spell.

A translucent layer of shimmering ice rapidly formed and started to encase me, providing what I hoped would be a formidable defense. The outer layer was jagged, although not enough to cause more than a slight deterrence to an unarmed attacker. I expected the armor to be solid and unmoving, but surprisingly, it shifted along with my limbs, making a creaking, cracking noise as the joints of ice rubbed against each other.

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"I hope you aren't going to sneak in wearing that." Trixie teased, and unfortunately, I had to agree with her assessment.

I canceled the spell, and the chunks of ice cracked and fell off my body, rapidly crumbling away. I had Delta cast the spell on itself and watched the pale-turquoise core surround itself in protective ice armor.

'At least it's not [Create: Ice Armor].'

"So you're going to hide my spells from the pegasi?" I asked, looking for some solid confirmation.

"Yes, but only them. The rest you'll need to deal with," Trixie said, fluttering off my head; she gave me a mock salute and then vanished. "Good luck!"

"I wish I knew how she did that..." I muttered, cycling through every sensory trait I had available and still unable to see her.

Shifting my transparency and flying as slowly as possible with [Vanish] active, I flew towards the dangling roots, hoping to use them to ascend safely without notice. I held my nonexistent breath while I floated up to the roots, and when I made contact, I immediately shifted my coloring to match them and started to slither along them rather than fly. I felt invisible and immensely proud of my sneaking skills, completely undisturbed climbing up.

When I ran out of protruding roots to climb, I squashed myself against the soil and started to slither up again. I couldn't remember using [Adhesive Slime] that much when I bought it originally, beyond a few tree-running tricks, so I was glad it still had some functionality even though now I was flight-capable.

Reaching the lip of the landmass, I peeked over the top with great caution. Seeing the giant tree up close was even more impressive. It utterly dwarfed even the highest buildings I had seen in Kaerlin. Shockingly small structures seemed to be either carved directly into the tree or loosely attached on the sides, with a massive opening where the trunk met the ground. Pegasi flew to and from small openings, almost like bees returning to a hive, and on the ground near the entrance were other horse creatures I had not seen before. Unlike the Pegasi, they didn't have wings; instead, a majestic horn glimmered in the sunlight atop their head, and their coat coloring was various shades of pearlescent white.

I contemplated blasting them from range, but I remembered how well my badger disguise had worked previously. If I could get up close, I could easily expand and devour some of them before they knew what hit them. Lowering myself below the lip again, I examined my surroundings until I was sure there was no pegasus patrol. I shifted myself into one, changing my profile to match the disguise. I went for a decently high level to hopefully garner some respect.

'[Identity Fabrication] honestly might be my best skill. I'm pretty glad I didn't eat that troll.'

I flapped over the edge, landed on the ground, and started trotting towards the entrance. I mentally cheered when the unicorns didn't attack me, and the flying pegasi continued their patrol undisturbed. When I approached the unicorns, they snorted and trotted their hooves. Perhaps it was my imagination, but they felt sort of... Outraged? I wasn't sure what their problem was, and I tried to ignore them until one swatted its tail against my rear and another spat at me.

"Oh man, this is hilarious." Trixie's voice rang through my mind, "Your mental resistance is too high for them to talk to you; they think you're insulting them. Let me handle the connection..."

"Filthy peasant! You dare!" A voice blared through my mind.

"Sorry...?" I tried to reply mentally.

"Oh, now you respond, only after realizing you are in the presence of your betters. Such arrogance." The unicorn replied.

"We should put her in her place; his majesty shouldn't be trifled with such a pompous servant." Another replied.

"Indeed."

"Agreed."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing; it was insane.

"So I've been listening to their private conversations. They think you're trying to proposition their ruler, and they seem to be quite intimidated by your mana." Trixie suddenly explained while the unicorns began to circle me.

Their horns began to glow, and I knew it was time to fight. I leaped towards the nearest unicorn and prepared to devour it with acid. I gave my [Sub-Cores] the command to debuff all of them.

"The nerve!"

"The audacity!"

The unicorns shouted in disbelief that I would willingly defend myself. I formed two tendrils of opposite densities and flung them toward the unicorn before it could do anything; whatever spell was forming on its horn fizzled as one tendril clobbered it while the other engulfed it.

"Guards! To arms! This peasant is revolting!" One of the unicorns blared aloud, and I noticed some pegasi immediately reacting and approaching.

The other unicorns began firing beams of light from their horns. The spell buildup was long, but the projectile speed was terrifying. The fired beam of light penetrated straight through my head, and I wondered what type of magic or trait it was.

"[Light Magic], fast and high penetration but relatively low damage." Trixie suddenly explained unprompted. "Or at least that spell is, be thankful these mares are absolute amateurs."

Witnessing the large amount of pegasi rapidly approaching, I ordered four of my [Sub-Cores] to start firing, hoping that Trixie would uphold her promise. Meanwhile, Alpha and I would deal with the unicorns, who were now all debuffed with [Frigid].

I cast [Frost Armor] and was rapidly enveloped in protective ice before another light beam struck against it. When it hit the ice, it seemed greatly hindered, and the single powerful beam split into a multitude of minuscule ones that couldn't even penetrate my slime.

"Ooh! Refraction!" Trixie cheered.

I wanted to complain about her commentary, but I shut my mouth when I noticed a pegasus getting absolutely skewered by multiple icicles.

[Frostbite] easily applied to one of the nearby unicorns, ice rapidly forming and piercing into her as it spread.

"Huh... I thought you didn't have freeze?" Trixie curiously asked, "Oh... Is it just ice damage? How the heck did you figure that one out."

"I dunno... It's poison ice..? I'll explain later." I replied mentally while focusing on trying and failing to dodge unicorn lasers.

I was extremely impressed with [Frost Armor] reducing the impact of their spell. I felt very confident until one of the unicorns charged me from behind, stabbing into the armor with her horn before firing a point-blank laser. Unfortunately, the beam directly hit one of my many [Sub-Cores], but thankfully, was unable to deal enough damage to break through the previously cast [Arcane Armor] on it.

"Oh, don't mind me. I'm just thinking aloud." Trixie chuckled as I reverse-engulfed the unicorn that had charged at me.

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