[Shrubley, the Monster Adventurer] Chapter 51 – Blooming Essences

Shrubley was a good student, even if he had progressed slower than all the rest of his group. Despite the recent changes, he was still a few levels behind the next weakest person, Smudge.

His Copper Rank easily made up for the difference, but that would only hold for as long as it took the others to gain the additional essences necessary.

And nobody knew how long that would be.

“The Countess explained it to us,” he reminded them gently. “You can gain as many levels as you like, but unless you have at least three essences, you’ll never reach Copper. From there, raising your rank is as much about improving your essences as it is about improving yourself and your levels.”

“The Countess said we were nearly ready to go out and find some essences for ourselves,” Cal said thoughtfully. He looked at her down on the stretcher. If it was possible for a skeleton to frown, Cal did so then. “I feel so vulnerable without her.”

Even the slumbering dark oppa appeared to agree. His long body curled up on her chest and neck, huddling as close as possible to his mistress.

Shrubley perked up and patted Cal gently on the scapula. “It will be okay,” he promised him. “We are together again, and there is much strength in unity. She will improve, though I cannot say how quickly. My healing ability is rather weak.”

“It is amazing that you can do it at all.”

“It was the last essence I needed. You now have two, don’t you?”

Cal nodded.

“What did the Mirror essence give you?”

All eyes turned toward the skeleton, who fiddled with his bones nervously. He wasn’t used to being the center of attention and when he was, it was always bad.

This was new territory for him.

“I… well, it’d be best if I showed you.” He raised a bony hand and wriggled his fingers. He always did that when he did magic. Shrubley was sure he didn’t need to, but it seemed to make him feel better.

In Shrubley’s limited worldly experience, confidence almost always made things turn out for the better. That was part of why the self-assured Countess was such a good leader and teacher.

Now overconfidence, that might be something to watch out for.

A rectangular mirror grew like ice forming in the air itself as it hung between Cal and the group. The skeleton stepped behind it, practically disappearing but for his feet and legs sticking out beneath it.

The front of the mirror reflected the world around them perfectly without the slightest imperfection.

Shrubley ambled over to him and looked at the mirror from the rear. The back was completely opaque, like frosted glass. He could barely see the light, such as it was, coming through.

There was no way he could make out any shapes.

But Shrubley had a quick mind and was good at guessing. He looked up at Cal then to the back of the floating mirror. “You can see through it.”

Cal gasped and looked down at his friend. How did he know?

“I guessed,” Shrubley told him.

Can you hear my thoughts?!

“No, I can’t hear your thoughts.” Shrubley said and then let out a little giggle. “I’m just guessing again. It is easy to guess what many people are thinking if you know them well enough.”

That was an incredible feat, considering Cal didn’t have much in the way of expressions.

I’m thinking of the color red, Cal thought hastily, just to be sure.

Shrubley looked up at him expectantly but didn’t seem to have heard him this time. Phew. If a skeleton can’t have thoughts in the safety of his own skull, I don’t know what the world is coming to! Even if he is my best friend.

“You’re right,” Cal told him. “I can see through the mirror, but I can also do this.” He raised that hand again and wriggled his bones like pale worms.

From the other side of the mirror, a tiny fiery streak shot out and curved around in an arc right back at the mirror.

Slyrox dove for cover, expecting the mirror to shatter. Shrubley sidled to the side for a better view, trusting in his friend more than logic.

Slyrox, with both mitts over her head, looked up at Shrubley, then the mirror. She ducked again as the fire bolt streaked into it and… bounced harmlessly away again.

Cal made the fire bolt contort itself into complicated loops and shapes, always pinging itself off the mirror’s surface. He was even able to conjure another fire bolt with his hand, juggling the two horizontally across the space with surprising ease.

“That is amazing!” Shrubley said once he helped Slyrox up to her big floppy feet.

Slyrox clapped her mitts excitedly but stayed well out of the streaking flames’ path. “Pssh-koh! If Slyrox gets new essence, she wants Fist essence. Make muchly big fist.”

With a wave of Cal’s skeletal hand, the mirror melted, leaving no trace behind.

“I do rather enjoy it,” Cal said, beaming with pride. “I can see out of it up to a hundred or so feet away. I’m able to cast out of it and reflect any spell away from it, but I’m only able to make the one mirror right now. I think as it gets stronger I’ll be able to make multiple. Then we’ll be cooking with necroflame!”

Smudge, seeing that Cal had shown off his new ability, was eager to do the same. He plopped, jumped, and rolled over to the assassin’s body and began to eat it.

Everybody watched, though not entirely out of interest. They all knew that, as a slime, Smudge could eat just about anything. It was kind of their thing. They ate rocks, grass, dirt, literally anything you put into a slime would eventually break down.

And the large serpentii’s body was no exception. A faint orange glow surrounded Smudge as he absorbed the assassin’s body, pulling it into his pink gelatinous form which swelled in size to accommodate the new mass.

Smudge made a few bashful “pyuus” as he did so, but otherwise seemed fairly distracted. Normally, when he ate, he was fully focused on what he was doing. Now it looked to Shrubley as if his little friend was intently working on something.

That Orange glow must be from his essence. What does a spatial essence do, exactly? With Cal’s Mirror essence, it created something and manipulated space in a way, but what about Smudge’s Hunger essence?

The fact that Smudge’s Hunger essence and Cal’s Mirror essence were both the Orange type piqued Shrubley’s interest greatly. Each of those essences appeared to do drastically different things, and yet still belonged to the same dimensional color category.

As it turned out, it allowed Smudge to eat just about anything without suffering the typical effects of a slime’s insatiable appetite. As Smudge ate, he continued to grow larger and larger, but the moment he ate all of their would-be assassin, he began to shrink.

It was a sight to see for sure.

Perhaps Smudge really could have eaten my essence gem, Shrubley thought in wonder.

In just a few seconds, the slime was back to his small, slightly squashy self, an orange glow coalescing within him. After a moment or two of deep, thoughtful contemplation, the slime popped three gems out.

Shrubley did his best not to think of the direction that the gems came out as his rear, but it was… well, literally the other side of the slime’s face.

It wasn’t that Shrubley was averse to such bodily functions. Not that he ever experienced them. He was a shrub. But he understood the workings of the world and knew that fertilizer was highly prized.

However, it was one thing to prize it, and another thing to watch it being made in front of your very eyes.

Nobody knew what to do with the three gems, but Smudge looked very pleased with himself and, perhaps, just a little relieved.

“Did he just–?” Cal started to ask.

Slyrox barreled into the group and scooped up the three gems with gleeful greed. “Know nothing?! Is special gems! Only bestest slimes can do, very rare, cannot train slimes where I come from. Very hard. Muchly difficult.”

Cal would have sniffed if he had a nose. “What are they?”

The koblin plucked the red gem and held it up. “Is called [Heartgem],” she explained. “Slime eats body of creature to heal itself and digest, yes? Like us. We eat, heal, become stronger, but we do… other things. Secret things.” She looked sharply at Shrubley and Cal.

When it seemed that her message sunk in, she continued, “Slimes muchly efficient. When have more health than need, make gems!”

Shrubley was the first one to realize what she was saying. “But that’s on your world. How can Smudge have an ability from another Shard?”

Slyrox shrugged. “Is not precisely same. Not called [Heartgem] where I from.”

Cal reached out a hand tentatively. “Do they smell?”

Slyrox looked at him and then tapped the side of her mask that looked like a complicated little filter, as if to say, “how should I know?”

He rolled the small finger sized gem in his bony palm. “She’s right,” Cal said in awe. “It’s a [Heartgem].”

“What about the others?” Shrubley asked.

“This is [Enduragem],” she explained while she held up the small green crystal. “Recovers stamina. This blue one is [Spiritgem], recovers mana. Muchly useful!”

Shrubley nodded and watched with a little sliver of greed as Slyrox took all three gems and put them into her little [Kobbie Bag] tied to her belt. “Keep safe, use in emergencies!”

Cal brought his fingers up to his nose hole.

“Can you smell?” Shrubley asked. He wasn’t sure if he had ever asked before. It seemed like something he’d do.

“Yes,” Cal said. “And it smells like strawberries. I… did not expect that.”

“What did you expect?”

Cal gave him a look. “Nothing pleasant.”

Despite that, Cal still tried to surreptitiously wipe his hand on his velvet cloak once they decided they had rested enough and needed to get going before a passing band of serpentii happened upon them.

There was only so long that Sose’s barrier would hold, as Slyrox had said. And though there was no longer a body to rouse the snakes, there was plenty to suggest there had been one.

Shrubley didn’t know if that mattered, and he didn’t want to find out.

“You now have two essences. Smudge has one, and Slyrox has one still,” Shrubley said as they made their way through the woods.

“Five more essences to acquire seems like a tall order,” Cal said, seeing where Shrubley was going and knowing he struggled with math.

“The Countess had an idea about where we could get some essences,” Shrubley said, looking back at the large and unconscious form being dragged by slithering snake skeletons.

Shrubley approved of recycling, and you didn’t get much better at recycling than necromancy.

After a few minutes of silence, Shrubley added, “I may be able to bring that down to four essences.”