3 But...I didn't want a System!

"Hahaha, a delicious looking boy showed up!"

Kevin swiftly turned around, and was met by an interesting sight. Standing before him was a woman made entirely out of blue slime. It maintained the same color and consistency throughout most of her form, only varying at the point where instead of feet there was just a pool on the ground. She didn't even try to cover up or obscure her breasts or private parts with any kind of slime clothing, leading the pokemon to assume she wasn't here to just talk. Her words and the lewd expression on her face both solidified that conclusion.

"Ararara? Am I the first monster you've seen by any chance?" the slime girl giggled, noticing how he was staring at her.

Kevin shook his head. "Eh, more like the second. Until a few minutes ago I had this snake girl following me around. Seems like you showing up drove her away."

The slime girl tilted her head slightly in confusion. "Really?"

"Yeah, she was getting really annoying with all of the questions she was asking and the way she kept staring at me," Kevin continued, oblivious to the fact that the exact snake girl he was badmouthing was still nearby and watching the entire encounter. "By the way, do you know why the village looks so empty?"

She looked over his shoulder at the seemingly-abandoned houses and giggled cutely again. "Someone must have told them I was coming by again. The silly villagers are just hiding."

Kevin raised an eyebrow. "Oh? And why would they do that?"

"They all have this stupid fear of monsters. I only show up every once in a while to get some semen from one or two of the men, but for some reason they're all scared of me pleasuring them."

"Hm," Kevin hummed, raising a hand to his chin. "I mean, from what you're saying, none of the ones you've 'pleasured' so far have been willing. So, that might have something to do with why they're afraid of you. Not everyone is keen on being violated against their will."

Unsurprisingly, the slime girl blew a childish raspberry at him. "Well, what do you expect me to do? Go hungry?"

"You could just move to a place where people don't hate you," Kevin suggested.

The slime girl frowned. "But…the unbaptized heroes that come here are so tasty! How could you expect me to leave?"

The teenager shrugged. "It was just a suggestion. You live your life. It's not my business if the locals get raped by a sexy monster girl."

A look of elation overcame her facial features. "You think I'm sexy!? Does that mean you'd be willing to give me your semen?"

For a solid minute, he just stared at her with a deadpan expression. "No."

She pouted cutely at him. "Why not? It'll be fun!"

"That may be so, but the answer is still no."

"Come on!"

"Nope."

"Come ooooooooon."

"Negatory."

"Come ooooooooooooooooo-"

"Whining about it doesn't change anything."

"-oooooooooooooooooooooooo-"

"You're really going for it, aren't you?"

"-ooooooooooooooooooo-"

"How have you not suffocated at this point? Oh, right. Slime. No lungs. Fuck."

"-oooooooooooooo-"

"Look, if you're just going to keep doing this, then I'm gonna go," Kevin concluded, turning to walk away.

"-ooooooo- wait, where are you going?" the slime girl asked, sounding genuinely surprised at his course of action.

"Away," he stated, his face still neutral. "From you. Because you're being annoying."

The slime girl, not liking the idea of her only visible food source leaving her, immediately surged forward in an attempt to cover him in her goopy body. "No! You can't go yet! I haven't sent you to slime heaven yet!"

What she didn't expect was for him to immediately dodge to the side, narrowly avoiding getting even a single drop of her on him.

"I don't want any 'Slime Heaven' that you could give me," the Eevee said, narrowing his eyes at her. "And I would appreciate if you didn't try to rape me."

"But if you don't give me semen, I'll go hungry!" she replied with another pout.

In response, Kevin waved his arm to indicate the seemingly abandoned houses about a football field away. "There is a village right there. I'm pretty sure you could find one or two victims there and leave me alone."

"But you smell so tasty! I can tell your semen will taste so much better than any of the humans in the village."

He let out a sigh. "Something told me you'd say that."

"Plus, you're the first monster boy I've ever seen! If I can catch you, I can keep you!"

"You are entirely too enthusiastic about turning me into a sex slave," he groaned. "Look, if you keep trying to kidnap and rape me, I'm going to have to hurt you."

She chuckled, as if he was telling a funny joke. "Oh really? How are you going to do that? I'm a slime! Nothing you have on you could possibly hurt me."

It was at that moment that Kevin knew that conflict was inevitable. This girl just wouldn't take no for an answer, and it seemed like violence was the only way to shut her down. Just as he was preparing a strategy for dealing with the slimy rapist, something odd happened.

Time seemed to freeze as the world around him faded into shades of black and white. The sounds of the grass swaying in the breeze, the birds chirping, and the squishing of the slime girl's body as she moved all came to a sudden stop. Kevin himself could move a bit, but was mostly confined to a space within a meter of where he was when time stopped.

Next, a genderless voice came out of nowhere.

[ACTIVATION CONDITION: CONFLICT HAS BEEN MET. ACTIVATING EEVEELUTION SYSTEM]

"…what?" Kevin asked numbly.

[EXAMINING HOST]

[CATALOGING WORLD]

"What the actual fuck?" he said, this time a little louder.

[CLASSIFYING ENTITIES]

[DOWNLOADING AI]

"I thought that asshole said he wasn't giving me a System!" The Eevee boy shouted at this point.

[Incorrect,] a smoother, more natural voice stated. It was more feminine than the first one, but still sounded artificial. [The Being stated it would avoid giving the Host a "complicated System."]

A groan escaped from the teenager, and he would've been banging his head against a tree at that point if he could get close to one. "Fucking semantics! I bet he did this just to spite me."

[The Host is correct.]

He mentally paused, not actually expecting a response. The voice took his silence as a cue to continue.

[The Being added the Eeveelution System to the Host's reincarnation as an additional blessing and punishment. The punishment is having to deal with a System in the first place, as it knew the Host hated the idea of receiving one and making the Host's new life more complicated than it already will be.]

"Tch, figures."

[The blessing is that the Eeveelution System does not come with Levels, Stats, Inventory, superfluous and/or world breaking Skills/Talents, or a Sapient AI.]

"That's a relief," he sighed. Compulsively min-maxing his entire life would've cut into his both his time and sanity. "What do you have, then?"

[The Eeveelution System comes complete with a simplified User Interface, a list for all Forms, a catalogue of Moves, a Sentient AI, and additional features that will require unlocking]

That did all sound simple. "Wait, you said you weren't a Sapient AI, but now you're saying that you're sentient? How does that work?"

[Sentience is the ability to feel things, and the ability to perceive things. Any living thing that has some degree of consciousness is sentient, including insects, lizards, dogs, dolphins, and human beings. Sapience is the ability to think, the capacity for intelligence, and the ability to acquire wisdom.]

[I am capable of following a set of pre-coded parameters in order to assist my host. My ability to learn and think independently has been removed for the purpose of deterring accidents brought on by the development of a personality]

"Huh…" Kevin hummed thoughtfully. "You learn something new every day. Well, putting that sobering note aside, you said that there was a UI?"

[Yes. Say or Think the word "Menu"]

"Alright. Menu"

As if he were in a video game, a simple menu opened in front of him. It had a light brown background with black text, and a grand total of four options to choose from.

{Character}

{Forms}

{Moves}

{Settings}

"I'm guessing that I don't have to physically touch an option that I want to open?"

[Correct. Saying or thinking the option you wish to open will expand it]

"Alright then. Character."

The menu changed to show a picture of him on the right, and a short list on the left. It amused him slightly that the image of himself mirrored every movement he made, but he didn't want to waste time amusing himself with it, despite time not existing at the current moment. Instead, he focused on the list.

[Name: Kevin]

[Age: 17]

[Form: Eevee]

[Ability: Adaptability/Run Away]

[Type: Normal]

[Weapon: None]

"Oooooookaaaaay," he drawled out. "I get most of that, but what is with me having more than one Ability?"

[It was determined that chances of survival would be maximized if each of the eighteen Eeveelutions programed into the Eeveelution system would have access to both of the abilities displayed by members of their species]

Kevin was about to comment how that did make some sense, before something the System said stuck out to him. "Hold on…did you just say eighteen?"

[Yes]

"But the Eevee evolutional line only has nine forms, if you include Eevee."

[Correct]

"…are you going to explain?"

[No. The explanation for that is disabled by a feature the Host has to unlock]

"Haaaaaa," Kevin sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Just back out of here and go into the Forms menu."

Another shift later, and he was met by all nine images of the Eevee Evolutions. Each had their name beneath them, and were in much better detail than in the Pokemon games. None of the images showed what his hybrid form would be for each one, but the life-like depictions of each evolution were enough to sate him for now.

[This menu serves as a gallery for all of the Host's Forms. The Host may manually shift into any of these forms by navigating to this window and selecting one. The Host also may choose to naturally shift between forms from outside of the menu as well.]

"Then why even have the option to navigate here in the first place and do it?"

[The Being wanted to include variety in the System]

"Of course, it's their fault. Well, might as well go to the next option. Moves."

This time, what came up was a window with eighteen tabs. The first nine were labeled from Eevee to Sylveon, in order from when they appeared in the games. The remaining nine's labels were characterized by question marks and greyed out, unable to be opened.

[The Moves Menu contains all of the moves available to the Host for each Form. Despite having complete control of the corresponding elements of the Forms, it was determined that Moves might make acclimatization to said powers easier. Additionally, each form is able to use every move from their respective Type, even if the moves are exclusive to certain species of Pokemon]

"Soooooo…that means that my Eevee Form has access to every Normal Type move? Including Hyper Beam?" He asked in excitement.

[Correct. It is recommended for the Host to note that some moves, including Hyper Beam, have drawbacks.]

"Noted."

Finally, he moved on to Settings. Although, when that window popped up, there were only two Settings available to be adjusted.

[Window Color: Light Brown]

[Enemy Type Display: OFF]

Not waiting for the System to explain the second one, the Eevee mentally switched it from OFF to ON. Instantly, a change happened behind the semi-transparent screen, prompting him to dismiss it and check what it was.

Now, above the head of the frozen slime girl, was a floating rectangle with writing inside.

[Slime Girl]

[Type: Water]

It didn't take a genius to figure out that this would definitely be useful in the future. Sure, it was obvious that a being made of slime would be classified as a Water Type, but what about later down the line when he meets someone, or something, whose abilities weren't that obvious?

[This concludes the Tutorial. Resuming battle…]

It took him a second to register that message. "Wait, what?"

The world slowly regained its color and sped back up, until time was moving at a normal pace again. That was all well and good for Kevin, until he took into account that there was still a hungry, horny, and very impatient slime girl getting ready to launch herself at him again.

"Let me rape you!" she cheerfully exclaimed.

His mind running as quickly as possible, Kevin knew he had to make a choice. He refused to run away, as his mom didn't raise a coward, so he was left with the decision of which Form he should shift into. There were only two Eeveelutions that were super effective against water types, with neither one technically being better than the other.

In the end, he picked the one that would likely be the most useful in his current environment. Light engulfed his body as he dodged another tackle attempt, rolling across the ground and coming just as the transformation finished.

His new form was half a foot taller than his Eevee form. Luckily, the clothes he wore shifted with him and still fit, though their design changed with him. His jacket changed to a creamy yellow with green highlights around the edges, as did his cargo pants and shoes. His skin grew slightly paler, and his hair turned green. What was most interesting was that his animal ears and tail also turned green and took on shapes reminiscent of leaves. The only part of him to remain the same was his eye color.

Thus, Kevin donned his Leafeon form.

What he wasn't aware of at the time, though he would be in the distant future, was that his transformation had let loose a burst of elemental energy that could be felt for miles around. Many monster girls stopped what they were doing to look in the direction the wave of pure power was coming from, wondering what kind of monster could possibly have released it.

However, none were more shocked than the two monsters watching it happen before their eyes. The slime girl seemed stunned by the sudden turn of events, but her reaction was tame in comparison to that of one Alipheese Fateburn.

'What in the name of the First was that?!' she practically screamed inside her head, unable to keep her shock off of her face. 'Did…did he just unleash the power of a Spirit?! One that has never been recorded?! This makes no fucking sense at all!'

As part of her upbringing, her mentor had introduced her to the four Elemental Spirits: Sylph, Gnome, Undine, and Salamander. They were embodiments of the four basic elements of Wind, Earth, Water, and Fire respectively, and were some of the most powerful beings on the planet, aside from the Monster Lord herself. For this mysterious boy she met in the woods to release power that was equal to theirs, while simultaneously being unique in its elemental properties, was something completely unheard of.

Unlike Alice, the slime girl wasn't forming such complicated thoughts. Her mind was focused on how the tasty looking boy she'd been about to feed on seemingly grew older over the span of a few seconds, became slightly more androgynous, completely changed colors, and grew leaves.

As for Kevin, he felt a sense of serenity enter his mind at that time. He could feel the plants all around him, swaying in the breeze and waiting for him to call on them. His previous panic was washed away by the oneness he felt with nature, a gentle smile making its way onto his face.

What hadn't gone away, though, was the irritation and slight anger he had toward the slime girl for trying to rape him. As he looked over at her again, his eyes narrowed as he reached his hands out to his sides. "I told you that if you didn't stop, I would have to hurt you," he calmly stated. "You have no more chances."

With a mental command, vines extended from the green markings revealed on his wrists. They wound around themselves in thin braided patterns until they had fully formed a pair of organic green ropes with what looked like poison ivy at their tips.

[Vine Whip - Grass Type Move]

[Description: The target is struck with slender, whiplike vines.]

The slime girl wasn't given enough time to wonder what their purpose was before Kevin lashed out with both of them. Dual cracking sounds echoed through the air as the pair of Vine Whips snapped against her gelatinous body. What came as a shock to her was how much it hurt, despite her immunity to sharp and precise attacks. Every cell that came in contact with the weaponized plants seemed to scream in agony.

As the Leafeon reared his arms back in preparation to strike again, the monster tried to rush him. She had no intention of just standing there and accepting the punishment, after all. Instead of being overwhelmed by the tide of slime coming his way, Kevin leaped into the air with all of the grace of a dancer. The twin whips trailed behind him like a pair of ribbons, swirling majestically as their owner performed an impressive flip mid-air, before extending again at his command to catch the monster girl off-guard.

She was once again raked with the poison ivy, this time across her back, and the pain she experienced was just as great, if not greater than before. At this point, it occurred to the slime girl that maybe attacking this monster boy was a bad idea. She might've bitten off more than she could chew.

Slimy tears appeared in her eyes as she watched the transformed boy gracefully landed on his feet, retracting the whips in preparation for another attack. "Owwie! Stop hurting me, you big bully!" she whined, as if she wasn't the one who started the fight in the first place.

Kevin, still maintaining his peaceful expression, shook his head. "Unfortunately, I cannot do that," he calmly stated, his voice radiating a tranquility that wasn't reflected by his battle stance. "You started this fight, and I am going to be the one who ends it."

The slime girl's heart sank at the ominous wording. "But…I was just hungry! I don't wanna die!" she cried, more legitimate tears streaming from her eyes.

"I'm not going to kill you," he assured her with a warm smile. "I'm just going to beat you unconscious. Hopefully you will learn from this experience not to mess with forces you don't understand."

Seeing no way to win this battle, the slime girl decided to cut her losses and retreat into the forest. There wasn't even a trail of slime left behind, as she made sure to absorb any she left behind to make sure the mean man couldn't follow her.

Kevin sighed. "Hopefully the poor girl learns from this experience."

Silence once more returned to the area as he took in the subtle sounds of nature. It occurred to him that he'd never felt this peaceful before, but he was too focused on immersing himself in the feeling of oneness with the world to think too hard about it. It wasn't until the System spoke up that he was snapped out of it.

[The Host has discovered the first hidden aspect of the Eeveelution System's Transformations: Personality Alterations.]

'Oh?' he thought idly, not as alarmed by the notification as he should be. 'So, my current state of calmness is because I'm in my Leafeon form?'

[Correct. Due to the complete control over the elements associated with the Eeveelutions, the Host's mind is saturated with the elemental energies as well, amplifying certain aspects over others. Example: the Grass Type energies associated with the Leafeon transformation amplify feelings of peace, tranquility, and maternal/paternal instincts]

Kevin tilted his head to the side. 'That would explain why I went from wanting to violently harm her, to wanting to teach her a lesson about provoking the wrong people. Maybe she'll think twice about ignoring someone's warnings in the future.'

He was once again broken out of his thoughts, but this time it was by a sudden presence beside him. Retracting his [Vine Whips] back into his wrists, he calmly looked to his left to see a certain lamia who was definitely invading his personal space. Despite her neutral expression, it was obvious from the fact that she rose herself to look down on him that she was more than a little disgruntled.

"What…the fuck…was that," Alice asked slowly.

"Hm?" Kevin hummed, the smile not leaving his face. "What was what?"

The monster girl had to restrain the urge to coil herself around the boy's body and crush him. "You damn well know what I mean, you aggravating little plant," she growled. "You just unleashed power on the level of the Four Spirits. Leaving aside how that should be impossible for anyone except the Monster Lord herself, the power you displayed didn't conform to any of the four basic elements, nor the elements of darkness or light."

As if to annoy her, Kevin tilted his head in confusion. "I don't know who the 'Four Spirits' or 'Monster Lord' are, but I'm guessing that they are strong?"

That caused Alice's spiraling thoughts to come to a sudden stop. She could excuse him for stating earlier that he didn't know where he was, if only barely; but not knowing who the Monster Lord was? Even the most under-educated country bumpkins of the world at least knew of the Monster Lord. The most unbelievable part was that she could tell that he was completely genuine in his questioning.

"Where are you from that you've never heard of the Monster Lord?" she asked, slowly lowering herself back to eye-level.

Kevin thought of what the best answer to that would be. After some deliberating, he decided to go with the cryptic answer. "Somewhere farther than you could possibly imagine, and where you'll probably never reach."

While Alice sank into silence trying to decipher that particular riddle, Kevin determined it might be a good idea to check his character menu.

[Name: Kevin]

[Age: 17]

[Form: Leafeon]

[Type: Grass]

[Ability: Leaf Guard/Chlorophyll]

[Weapon: None]

That looked about right. If he remembered correctly, the Ability Chlorophyll would boost his speed while in sunlight, while Leaf Guard would prevent status conditions in the same condition. It did mean that this form wasn't as effective at night or in the shade, but that's what he had his other seven evolutions for.

Seeing no reason to remain in his current form, he mentally triggered his shapeshifting power. A blinding flash later, and he was back to his short stature, brown clothing, and sarcastic mindset. He believed that the changes would get easier as time went along, but at the moment it was more than slightly disorienting to go from a Zen state to back to normal.

Alice's mind, on the other hand, was buzzing with more questions again. How the hell did he seal that power so easily? To anyone less magically sensitive it would seem as if the elemental power suddenly disappeared, but she knew better. She could sense it deep within the boy, just waiting to be unleashed upon the world again. The idea of that was slightly worrisome.

Both were drawn from their thoughts as the door of one of the houses closest to the edge of the village slowly creaked open, an elderly woman poking her head out. She seemed relieved to not see the slime girl anywhere, but her eyes widened again at the sight of the two monsters standing a few hundred yards away. They looked even more powerful than the slime!

So, like any intelligent villager, she slammed the door shut again and locked it.

Kevin sighed. "Guess we're not getting any help from the people around here."

"You don't say," his lamia companion quipped back sarcastically.

So, they walked down the path through the center of the village. Occasionally, the curtains of a window would move to the side, only to snap back the moment one of them glanced at it.

"Wow, they really are terrified of us," the Eevee commented idly.

Alice scoffed. "Of course, they are. Humans are weak and cowardly creatures, after all. I bet all of their so-call Heroes are either hiding alongside the villagers, or have already abandoned them."

Kevin was no stranger to the word "hero," but the way the lamia said it indicated a different context than what he would be used to. He'd ask her about it later after they left.

Speaking of which. "Hey, I've got a question," he piped up.

"If it's about my body again, I am going to punch you through one of these buildings," she deadpanned.

"Well, it wasn't going to be," he stated with a hum. "But now that you mention it-"

"Don't test me. I will eat you."

"Killjoy," the teenager grunted. "Anyway, I was just wondering why you're still following me. I mean, there's a whole village full of innocent civilians for you to bother and ask for directions now."

Alice narrowed her eyes at him. "Are you saying that I'm bothering you?" she asked, her tone laced with an unspoken threat.

Contrary to her expectations, Kevin did not back down. "Yes. Every time I've done something so far, you keep asking me questions and threatening me. To the average person, that would count as 'bothering.'"

A low growl escaped from Alice as she, once again, had to hold herself back from strangling the male monster. She hadn't been disrespected this much since she lived in the Kitsune Village years ago, much less by a boy who didn't come up to her chest.

"Do you have a death wish?"

"Not really," he shrugged, kicking a stray rock and sliding his hands into his jacket pockets. "I just see no point in showing respect to anyone who hasn't shown me any. As I've said, all you've done so far is demand answers to questions you don't deserve the answers to, threaten me, and follow me against my will. In conclusion: you do not deserve any respect from me."

Alice could feel her face turning red, Whether it was from embarrassment or anger, she wasn't sure.

"You still haven't answered my question," Kevin continued.

"And why should I?" she shot back.

"Because while the questions you've asked me were none of your business, you following me around is definitely my business," he simply stated.

Alice wanted to argue against that, but she couldn't exactly do that without revealing her true identity. Sure, this idiot didn't know what her true title and position meant, but that didn't mean she wanted to be overheard by the villagers hiding around them. To say that her presence could cause an uproar of panic would be an understatement.

So, she followed Kevin's example from when they first met and told a partial truth without context. "If you must know, I set out today to travel around in the first place, before that horrible woman knocked me off course. You're just a convenient traveling companion with powers that I find interesting."

For what must've been the millionth time that day, Kevin sighed, He honestly couldn't see a reason not to take her with him. "Fine, but there is one rule."

"Oh? And what would that be?"

"You take care of your own food. If you eat mine, I will not hesitate to remove parts of your body as compensation."

Alice stopped dead in her tracks. Considering the fact that she had been planning to mooch off of him for food, and her incredibly large appetite, this would definitely be a problem. "Really? Isn't that a bit extreme?" she asked.

"No." He turned to look her dead in the eye, "I truly believe that the moment someone messes with my food in any way, shape, or form without my permission, they instantly go from a person to a victim. I'll say it again: Fuck with my food, and I will kill you so hard you will die to death."

Needless to say, Alice was starting to doubt the sanity of her now-official traveling companion.

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