It's my life!

Chris was preparing himself, that feeling of crossing a bridge between two species was there.

[Come on Chris. They are just Slimes; this is not evil. If I want to have any say in my life then I should be able to stand on my own, right?] Chris let out a large exhale, he felt a conflicting urge. It reminded him of getting ready for a large presentation, he had everything down, it just FELT like it was wrong.

[Get loose, and just heal my friend. That is it.] Chris was lightly jumping and trying to throw the jitters out of his feet.

Sarah took a Slime from the bag and tossed it down at Chris, it landed with a plop and immediately registered him as food.

"Hey little guy! Do you need a heal?" Asked Chris. The Slime was shaken as it felt something new. Then Chris began his attack process, [Direct the light into the tattoo, point and AIM at the Slime and…] "FIRE!" shouted Chris as the wave of light flew from his fingertips and landed on the Slime.

A similar scene occurred where the body of the Slime seemed to sizzle, Sarah watched as his methods were being streamlined, so she tossed another Slime.

[Okay, just have to refill the tattoo-] he noticed that another Slime landed with a plop. "Shit!" Chris took a few steps back as both of the Slimes were coming at him.

"Hey buddy, do you want to be my friend?" Chris said to the new Slime, it was stopping as it felt the "new" sensation, but the other Slime was charging, it did not care about this feeling as it wanted blood.

[Okay…now back to the original one-] Chris was cut off as he watched Sarah throw another Slime.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?" Shouted Chris as he realized her plan.

[ALL Slimes are my friend, how about that?] He kept walking backwards but closed his eyes, he was trying to be accepted by the Slimes near him. It was like being pulled in many directions, but he would need to make this fast or he would be stuck fighting a single creature at a time…

[Come on, come on…] The stretching feeling was getting worse, it was going to snap if he kept pushing.

[Okay…2 at a time? Twins?] He tried to think back and remember his father and mother. They would both be needed to get over this hurdle.

[Equal love…just spread over the two.] Chris felt the SNAP and 2 more Slimes were now available as targets.

He opened his eyes and a Slime was flying at him, it stuck to his body and began to dissolve.

[ENLIGHTEN THIS MOTHERFUCKER!]

Light shot from his hand and curved into the slime that was on him. It turned purple and sloughed off like it was dried glue.

"What the…" Chris saw that the other Slimes were just meandering over to him. It was like they were curious if anything. An idea struck him, [How about I make them my friends and then I can cast freely. If they only want to kill me when I have attacked, then that is GREAT news.]

Sarah watched as Chris made changes to his plan, he was trying to apply his ability in its most efficient manner, and he wasn't doing a bad job. She felt another 2 Slimes become "different" in her mind, it still was subtle, but it could be felt by anyone with well-tuned instincts.

She decided to throw all of them, "Don't die!" she said as she turned around and began to walk out of the sewer.

"WHAT!? BITCH! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!" Shouted Chris as he was ignored by the woman.

There were 13 Slimes that were recovering from landing on the ground.

[FUCK. FUCK. FUCK. FUCK. OH FUCK.] Chris turned around and began to run away, he would need to use a strategy to get out of here.

"Okay, FUCK, man, I need torches…" He leaned up against the side of the tunnel as he tried to catch his breath.

"Okay…she PROBABLY isn't trying to kill me-" Chris let out a sigh.

"…But she isn't going easy on me."

He rubbed his forehead as he began to think, [Okay, I don't ACTUALLY know what happens when I make them my friend, will they hurt me? Probably, but fuck barbs…not the point, hehehe.

So, if they are chasing me then I can feel them come into my radius and I should be able to apply the "friendly" connection between us. But how do I deal with them coming at once?] Chris facepalmed, [I need an AOE spell…not sure where I would get that, but there have to be drawbacks other than mana cost, right? They probably have long ass cast times, or ready times…] It clicked in his head, [I need instant cast skills! And a FUCKING SHIELD because that shit burns, and it isn't like I can heal myself…] He let out a frustrated noise that you would expect from a grounded teenager.

[Not the time, Chris. Not the fucking time. Deadly baseballs are inbound.]

Chris closed his eyes and began to feel the Slimes, one by one, they were converted to his "side."

[Damn, that is so much easier…] He could feel the response time become lower; it was like a muscle that he had learned to flex with his mind.

[I could do this all day!] He thought as he began to ready the spell, but he didn't let it go right away. The light was crackling at his fingertips and it was glowing from the inside. All of his finger bones and blood vessels could be seen as the light radiated out, leaving his flesh looking a transparent red tint.

The second spell was queued up and he could feel it try to go into the fingers, but it was rejected.

He fired it off and it flew to the Slime in front, causing it to sizzle and begin to attack roll, but almost immediately, another attack was followed up causing it to die and fall into pieces.

"THAT is how you CAST SPELLS, BITCH!" He felt his hands, the light was clearly taking a slight toll, but he could feel more power laying within.

[Again.] Chris thought as he began to feed the light into the tattoo, then he held it.

Releasing the 2 waves of light, it caused the Slime to die in a record kill time.

[Again.] Chris readied himself and went through the motions, it was actually relaxing if he focused on the word.

[Again.]

[Again, again, again, and AGAIN.]

He kept firing off the wave of light that represented the "word" that lead to enlightenment for a random Mage.

��

…

"Hu…hu…hu…" Chris was breathing heavily when all of the Slimes were dead. Even though the spells were costing no mana, he felt the mental strain of casting over and over.

[I bet nobody else has ever casted this much in a few minutes…damn.]

He could feel that his personal mana was coming back to him, but this river of "healing" mana was endless, it was a sweeping storm.

Chris looked at the bodies of Slimes that had punctured, dissolved, and turned into ash. There were so many, [I am a Slime serial killer…ha.] He stood up and walked to each Slime, some of them did not have any cores, he only got 8.

Then he walked up to the ladder and looked back, [Should I bury them? I'll ask Sarah.]

He climbed up and got out, the Sun was shining brightly and there were no clouds to be spotted, but Chris had a frown.

Sarah squinted as she noticed that nothing was wrong with his body, "What is wrong?"

He shook his head, "Ah. It is just that feeling again, I feel like I should bury them.�� Sarah looked at him with her eyebrow raised, [That needs to be worked on…but progress.]

"Don't worry about that, how many cores did you get?" Asked Sarah.

"Only 8, I check them all, but some of the Slimes turned into ash and it looks like they don't have cores when they turn into ash." Chris scratched his head and felt the cores in his pocket.

"How do you feel about casting spells? Do you think you could do it a lot?"

"Probably, but I do feel like I just took a math exam so it might not be a good idea to do it all day."

Sarah nodded and they walked back to the Adventurer's Guild building. Bethany was standing on a stool and placing books back into their slots on the shelf. A man was sitting next to her and he was missing a foot.

"Sarah, is this the one you rushed off to?" The man stood up on one leg and was right around six-feet tall. He had a nice blonde beard but everything else was average, just a random looking Joe.

Sarah nodded and introduced him, "Chris, meet your new best friend, his name is Mike."

Chris awkwardly waved, "Ah, hello! How are you doing, Mike?" Mike looked Chris up and down and said, "Well, at least he has manners, it is good to see that these days. I am doing pretty bad, what about yourself?"

Chris was taken aback by his honest answer, "I am doing alright, I just murdered a bunch of Slimes, but I think I am managing."

Mike just nodded and waved him over, "Come, take a seat." Chris walked over to the table and sat in the open chair.

"Chris, I am going to be honest with you. I don't know if I will be the right teacher for you."

Chris leaned back, "Teacher? Teacher of what?"

Mike looked at the ground then at Sarah who nodded, "Well, I specialized in Life magic, but Light magic is close enough to where most of the Runes overlap. Sarah wants me to take you in and train you for a few years."

Chris shook his head, "Um, mister, I can't just sit around here. There is a world out there I-" Chris stood up and walked over to Sarah.

"Sarah, what is this?"

She had a confused look on her face, "This is what you asked for, what is the problem?"

Chris shook his head, "I-I can't stay in one town. If I do, I will get comfortable. I will pioneer steel production or make something crazy, and someone will hunt me down and take the idea." Chris leaned in closer, "Sarah, those bandits, your power is…frankly…insane. Why would you hide?"

She looked back at him, "Because, I have made a lot of enemies, I told you this."

Chris shook his head, "Sarah, you can dispatch an entire sewer filled with Slimes in a minute. There is power in that, but people are targeting you, meaning that you are not as powerful as you could be."

Sarah smiled, "Idiot. You don't know the first thing about it." Chris shook his head, "I know that this WON'T work. I know that…if I stop pushing myself, I WILL get complacent. I might be the strongest level 5 to ever exist, but I will die to anyone. How did you gain your experience after you got out there with the people?"

Sarah looked at Bethany, "Chris, stop. You are not ready for anything like-" Chris shouted, "I KNOW I AM NOT READY! THAT IS THE POINT!"

He continued, "How many tutors did you have, how many resources did you have? What did it amount to without YOUR effort?"

"NOW, I want to become a man, I NEED to push myself forward. I can't get up and go to the sewer, kill some Slimes, then come back and study magic. That doesn't work for me…I promise you. I can FEEL the urge to follow your plan and be complacent, that is what I always feel…

I need to be challenged. I want to explore this world, I want to meet new people, go new places, I want to be better, and I can't do that when I am sitting in a small town while a war starts and rages. I could be out there, helping wounded people, VICTIMS!

I know it isn't very safe, but it all feels dangerous, and I don't want to get settled into MORE bad habits…I…I am a creature of habit, I love schedules. I love little plans that we can execute everyday to make ourselves feel better, and I TRIED to do that, but it keeps getting interrupted. Sarah…I…I think I need to walk my own path. I think I should have buried the Slimes. I think you would make me into a great soldier, but I want to be my own person…"

Chris felt the urge to cry, but he knew he was right.

[If I falter here, then none of this means a DAMN thing. I don't want to be like Frodo…waiting for purpose from a power old person. I want to be like Sam, take it into my own hands. I want to be lost in the middle of the wood, with me and myself and have no direction to walk in.]

Sarah smiled at him, "Okay."

"Wait….okay? Okay?" Chris shook his head, [Damn, did she just play me.]

He looked over to Mike who was laughing, "HAHAHAHA! TELL HER, KID!"

"Wait…I thought-"Sarah cut him off, "You THOUGHT, you keep THINKING, but you finally FELT. The first step to becoming a man is to listen to YOUR HEART. Identify who you are, you are there."

The memories came rushing back, [Identify pain…it is the first step.] It was the voice of the man who wrote the Spell Model.

Chris looked down at his arm and felt a searing pain, "AHHH!"

Light was shinning out of the tattoo; it was being erased.

"NOOO!!!" Chris clawed at it, he thought it was leaving him.

Sarah and Mike began to clap while Bethany said, "Congratulations Chris, you have learned your first Spell!"

"What? Really?" Asked Chris, as he was freaked out at the sudden pain and disappearance of the spell.

"Yup, now go apologize to Mike, he would have made a great teacher for you!" Sarah turned Chris away and giggled with Bethany.

[Ah, right…I was pretty rude, I should probably apologize.] He stopped for a moment to double check with his "heart", but it agreed immediately.

Chris walked over to Mike and sat down with him, "I am sorry for speaking to you like that, I am sure you would have made a great teacher, and I would love to hear your thoughts on Spell Theory if you have time."

Mike looked at Chris being so sincere and laughed, "Kid, the only thing I could help you with is felling a tree. I can teach you to lay a log on a silver piece, but I can't teach you a damn thing about magic. Hahaha!"

[What? Oh…well fuck me then…] he put his head down, it was time for a little nap.

(AN: I don't know how this will be received. I tried to tie this stuff into Sarah's story. Then I made her treat him slightly worse over time, I was trying to display an over-involved mother, or an over involved helper. Sarah grew up as royalty with a silver spoon and she could never find herself, until she lived with the common people, then went her own path. That is what Sarah was doing. Showing him what it is like for someone to decide everything for you, and the power and privilege it is for someone to choose for them self.

Mike, Mathias, and Shay are all children of Sarah, they are all free. They choose their own paths, but Chris was an obedient duckling, so she did the one thing he asked to NOT to do.

Let me know what you think…I hope I made this a little obvious to a few people, but it also will allow Chris to move on from their side.

P.S. I might be a little late tomorrow, we had a death in the family and I will be gone for a larger part of the day.