“There’s one,” I said.
“You’re right,” Ingo replied, his voice low. “As ordinary a slime as one could ever find.”
We hid in the long grass, watching the common slime bobble along the forest floor. It was about as big as a medium-sized dog, colored a light blue, and transparent enough to see through to the other side. It neither moved particularly fast nor particularly slow. It was an everyday, run-of-the-mill common slime that most adventurers would’ve strolled by without a second glance.
Ingo and I, however, were delighted to find it. After all, according to him, it was the easiest monster to tame.
Slimes, as their appearance suggested, were composed of fluid—the bare minimum of what would pass as internal organs, a core, and a magic stone visible from the outside. Since that was all there was to them, the process of injecting them with your own mana and turning them into your familiar was exceedingly simple.
This was not universally true, as variant species like poison slimes with impurities in their bodies could make the work harder. The same went for a slime that had recently fed on something, as the leftover residue floating around inside their gelatinous forms would impair the flow of mana.
For a master monster tamer like Ingo, that wasn’t an issue. I, however, was an amateur who’d never had a familiar before. Given that, the plan had been to start me off with a specimen that would give me the least difficulty. Nevertheless, I’d failed with every common slime we’d come across so far. Each of them had possessed impurities which had halted the flow of my mana into their bodies.
This one, however, seemed highly promising, given how transparent its body was.
“All right, Lorraine,” Ingo said. “You know what to do. Don’t worry; I’m sure you’ll get it this time. And if you don’t, all we have to do is find another one.”
He spoke kindly, so as to avoid putting any pressure on me. Although his method of monster taming wasn’t a common branch of magic, it was still magic—and it still used mana, which meant that the caster’s mental state had a significant impact on the outcome.
However, his encouragement only served to strengthen my resolve to succeed this time. Not out of any sort of prideful need to live up to my reputation as a prodigy, of course, but I would’ve been lying if I said that my ego wasn’t a little bruised. I’d never encountered a mana control technique that had given me so much trouble before.
I can do this.
Of course, I knew quite well that overthinking it could end up hindering my chances, so in the back of my mind, I reassured myself that it wouldn’t matter even if I failed. It wouldn’t cost me much.
I nodded at Ingo, then crawled out of the tall grass toward the slime. I waited for an opportune moment, and when it came, I threw the test tube containing my mana-infused blood. It struck the gelatinous monster right in the central part of its body.
To be fair, I would’ve been an embarrassment of a Silver-class adventurer if I had missed after all that care and preparation...
When I’d confirmed that the glass tube had made contact, I channeled my mana, creating a magic circle beneath the slime. According to Ingo, this was properly called a familiar contracting circle. Its exact design was rather loose, as sections needed to be altered depending on the monster, which made it surprisingly difficult to control. However, I’d practiced it on a number of slimes by this point, so I swiftly worked through the alterations with little trouble.
I began releasing my internal mana, extending it toward my blood inside the slime’s body. Soon enough...
“It’s connected!” I exclaimed.
“Good job,” Ingo praised. “Stay calm and finish the job!”
I used the sound of his voice to compose myself. I still couldn’t help but feel a slight sense of joy at how smoothly it had gone so far, but the feeling was soon stifled by the worry that getting carried away would lead to failure.
All that was left was to channel my mana through the slime’s body and connect to the magic circle below it. I could do this!
The slime writhed and jiggled as if trying to resist my magic, but its movements gradually began to weaken as my mana took control. Then, I made contact with the magic circle. It immediately began to expand, becoming a three-dimensional cylinder that engulfed the slime’s body.
I increased the amount of mana I was pouring into the monster, and the cylinder began to contract. It became smaller and smaller, finally disappearing into the slime entirely.
“The chant,” Ingo prompted.
I recited the words he’d taught me earlier. “This contract I make with my blood and mana as sacrifice. Thou shalt live for me, and I shall live for thee. Contractus de Origo!”
The magic circle flashed brilliantly, just as Ingo’s had earlier. This time though, I was ready, squinting through the glare.
I watched as the magic circle slowly fused with the slime’s core. When the two were fully merged, the light died out, leaving nothing but a slime happily bouncing in place.
As I studied the slime, a sensation tickled at the edge of my consciousness, as if it were trying to tell me something. Instinctively, I realized this was my bond with the gelatinous monster—and that it was telling me it was in a good mood. Perhaps this was similar to how Rentt’s connection to Edel felt.
✦ ✦ ✦
✦ ✦ ✦
“Well done, Lorraine!” Ingo said. “How does it feel?”
“Strange,” I replied. “Almost like I’m outside of my own body...”
Ingo made an affirming noise. “Looks like you’ve done it properly, then,” he said, surprise bleeding into his tone. “I must admit, I hadn’t expected you to achieve success so quickly.”
“Really?” I asked.
“Yes. It’s not uncommon for the mana-infusing stage to take a year on its own, and it can take just as long to achieve success with the contracting process, if not longer. That’s how it was, at any rate.” A contemplative note entered his voice. “But I suppose some people truly are born talented.”
He said the words with such sincerity that I felt a small swell of pride—pride I thought I’d long since discarded.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Now then, shall we finish here for today and head back to the village?” Ingo asked.
I nodded, but then something occurred to me. “I probably shouldn’t take this slime back with me,” I said.
“Certainly not,” Ingo agreed. “Which is why we’ll be making a brief detour along the way.”
“Where to?” I asked curiously.
He grinned. “Telling you would spoil the surprise.”