37 Party Dynamics

Proven ways of how Power Stones are formed.

1. A slime "births," a new slime from a concept and it crystallizes instead of gaining life.

2. Found in extra organs of powerful Slimeborn Gobs. Humanity and other Enlightened groups keep some of these particular monsters captive to breed Power Stones.

3. They can appear in midair. Rifts in space have been documented to push out Power Stones just like Proto-Gobs. Scholars debate on the true reasons behind them appearing this way. For some reason no one knows, an alarming amount of people believe they are "donated," from another dimension based on a rumor that started around 500 FE.

-Wikipedia entry on Power Stones

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[Water Affinity] rose from 2.3 to 2.4

"About damn time," Odd cursed under his breath.

Nearly a week had passed since Odd started travelling with Isonei and her group. When he first joined up, she was cordial and respectful to him because of his mother, so most of the others tended to avoid him.

So, during the day and when they slept underwater, he only had Sophia and Trafaul to talk to.

Myyx was great to have around when he slept on the riverside and all, but the sex wasn't anything to write home about without Cirrha's participation. The slimegirl wasn't as tight as Odd wanted since she wasn't a physical person.

On the other hand, he wasn't able to squirt gallons of fluids for her to absorb.

It wasn't terrible, but it just wasn't the same. So instead, they got to know each other better over the last few days.

All in all, the peaceful journey hadn't been too bad.

Except for the minor fact that it was dreadfully booooring. It had only taken Odd a couple days to get over his weariness from constantly being on guard and in danger, but now? He just wanted to eat someone.

And maybe even kill it first. Odd figured it had to do with his evolution to a living ghoul, not that it really mattered to him. He didn't like being controlled by his hunger, but it only felt like a slight itch every now and then. It wasn't an all encompassing desire for bloodshed like some undead and Gobs have.

What actually mattered to him was how unbelievably uncomfortable his baggy pants were. Odd had found that whatever material they were made of, they were not intended to be worn while they were soaking wet all day. However, he didn't want to leave them behind and wear a loincloth like a savage, so he stuck with it.

And what bothered him even more, was how he had only gotten a grand total of two stat ups. Other than his lastest [Water Affinity] rise, Odd's [Body] stat went up by 0.1 as well. It was far from enough though, as he had been constantly pushing backwards with his magic and kicking along the way.

At least he never had to paddle too hard to keep up with the others that were born to be underwater. Like now, he was simply floating on his back and kicking behind him every now and then at a steady rate, arms spread wide. It was enough to not slow down their steady pace.

But, it was still annoying! He deserved more skill ups for all this work!

So, despite his hesitance, he gave his questions to Sophia. Like always, he got much more than what he asked for.

"Because you aren't in battle, duh! Why do you think only three of us in this group of 20 have any hope of fighting back if we got attacked?"

It was true, only her and Trafaul had affinities higher than the upper end of T2 or T3, even though they had all been born in the third tier as a member of an Enlightened species.

Initially, there were far more than twenty captives heading to New Atlantis, but they decided to split up and take different routes, spreading out the combat potential, and not travelling as a large target, plump for raiding.

Odd had been happy to see that heticles, himself, headed back before he even arrived. Apparently, Cyreus had accomplished his mission after he found out that two children of the king were now safe. As a tier 4, it was a bit much to force him to babysit them on their way back home.

"It's so interesting, ya know, but I can understand why they would refuse to risk their lives with the allowance that the city grants them."

Originally, Odd had been entranced and in awe of her sparkling blue eyes fiery red hair. Her mane looked equally as beautiful flowing underwater or stuck to her side when dripping wet above the water. Not only that, but she proved to be extremely knowledgeable about nearly every subject she talked about so far.

Maybe she didn't talk to him as much before because he was just a Proto-Gob, but she loved to talk to him now.

"It's all with those breeding programs for the caged Slimeborns, I don't know how they can live on nothing but Power Stones to eat for sustenance and a simple roof over their heads, but many do."

She loved to talk to him.

Scratch that, she loved to talk to anyone, ALL THE TIME.

There was rarely a moment of quiet as her rapid fire monologues could usually be heard under and over the surface of the water.

"...percent of people are Adventurers, but its even more so with humanity, and they have to send and retrieve people from their flying city!"

Odd was curious by nature and really did love learning new things about cultures and people, but when Sophia started, she never shut the hell up. Between her and Cirrha's need to have him regularly call her, he felt like he had done nothing but get nagged at for the last few days. And he still hadn't made any progress in getting the mermaid to sleep with him!

"... ya know? With an economy almost entirely consisting on going to new places and murdering things, the service sector I'm apart of is the best niche, in like, my opinion."

The living ghoul nodded and made grunts of 'uhuh,' at the expected times. He thought selective hearing was a skill he could earn, but Trafaul had informed him that it was something that most men could inherently do.

"It makes you wonder why so many Gobs in the wild stockpile them if they know they can eat them, like, do they just think it isn't tasty enough? I think Power Stones are yummy, but I don't really like how they fill me up for over a day! I have to abstain from fishy snacks because my appetite is quenched long term?"

As she continued to ramble more, Odd took a moment to reach for her wrist and grab her phone. He kept nodding at the right times and she didn't seem to mind that he took it. He borrowed it often and she had told him how he would just owe her more money later.

Apparently, the debts were already applied to the international bank after she tricked him to sign a bill for the work on his daggers, the cell phone she gave Cirrha, and interest.

Banking was a topic that she spoke of for hours before she was done explaining it to him.

She had told him signing the contract was the only way he would be paid for his help escorting the group to New Atlantis, since he carried himself like a combatant and knew how to fight. Odd had also learned, that some people have to train to fight for years, it all came natural to him.

But maybe his lack of training was why he kept losing limbs and growing them back?

"Like, they always make other food so unappetizing, it ruins the whole experience that eating has, but, Gobs shouldn't worry about that! Especially the Slimeborn ones! You know, humans with there numbers and stuff, they tested the IQ's of Slimeborn and have a table based on regions, tiers, and..."

Odd loved her phone, the design of it, that is. When taken off her wrist, it stood up straight and even had a slightly spongy feel to it. Whenever it was slapped against a wrist, however, it would curl up around it and automatically size itself perfectly. He had caught Sophia playing with it a few times and had to admit it was slightly entertaining, even if it was so mindlessly stupid.

This time, he was using it for its actual function and looked up info on adventurers, he had heard the term often, but it was interesting how their existence ran economies.

"I know we have a few Slimeborn with us and I find it hard to believe that the Enlightened ones follow this model, but humans have a tendency to bias their results with weirdly strict learning. Like, there was this one study I read..."

She did have a nice voice. Odd had a stray though that if it wasn't for its melodious quality and her appearance, he may have murdered her in her sleep now.

He always felt actions spoke louder than monologues. And instead if kill her, he wanted nothing more than to grab her neck, push her down, and...

'Don't think about that now!' Odd chastised himself in his head. 'Sex is great, but you aren't a savage.'

Odd really had nothing else to look at on her phone and looked at her messages. Cirrha hadn't sent anything new. He didn't actually mind her nagging a little... It was sweet in a way.

"Can you even believe that they had the audacity to say that, Odd?"

He 'Mhmed,' back at her while he looked up from her phone. He really had nothing to look up or messages to check, he just wanted her to get the damn hint and shut up already!

Odd looked over to the others swimming near them. Most of them stayed underwater, but Odd liked to feel the sun overhead.

Trafaul was performing the backstroke without a care in the world and shot him a thumbs up when Odd looked to him for help.

Obviously, he missed the message and just thought the living ghoul was being friendly.

[Eyes of Providence] activated

Name: Trafaul Lepisosteiformes

Titles: N/A

Race: Enlightened Fishman, T3

Race Description: A Slimeborn creature that takes some qualities of aquatic creatures as well as humanoid ones. They are a broad classification that differ from mer, nymphs, and sprites as they usually appear more fish than humanoid. Some fishmen are Enlightened while others remain as Gobs. The difference has nothing to do with their physical appearance and cannot be figured out that way, but their overall temperament is a better indicator.

Paths: [Blind Nature], [Aquatic], [Nonconformist]

[Stats]

Body: Mid T3

Mind: Mid T3

Soul: High T2

Spike Affinity: Mid T3

Trafaul was probably the ugliest humanoid Odd could ever dream of.

The blue, mismatched scales were a little offputting, but the shape of is head was alien looking, even to the living ghoul that grew up around shrunken-headed goblins. Trafaul's head was slightly pointed and slim at the bottom, but bulbous and round from his cheekbones and up. His black, empty eyes bulged out of his head and took quite a large amount of the surface area on his face.

His ears differed from most Gobs and Enlightened, as they stuck straight out of his sides instead of backwards at an angle like they were supposed to.

His long nose poked the water straight out like a spike as well. Spikes, considering his affinity, was one thing he didn't lack. Other than his ears and the probiscus-like nature of his nose; his head, feet, and back were adorned in spikes. They shared the same color as the rest of his body, but they looked like they had minds of their own and tried to be as odd and unsymmetrical as possible!

Apart from the spikes, Trafaul also had webbing under his arms like a bat, reaching from his three fingered hands to his hips.

He looked weird in general, but Odd thought the weirdest thing about the fishman was his feet. On land, they looked like the hooves of any other ungulate, but when he swam in the water, they spread out like paddles, perfect for propelling him in the water.

As ugly and alien as the guy was, he was too nice for Odd to feel any apprehension towards him.

Actually, he was too bloody nice, always being polite, never understanding sarcasm, and everything flew over his head. Odd had suspected it had something to do with his [Blind Nature] path and a quick search online confirmed it.

The racial trait had nothing to do with physical blindness, it made him see everyone as practically the same. Everyone was equally nice in his eyes and deserved to be treated pleasantly.

Odd had no idea how he was supposed to fight and kill or how his affinities were so high. Sophia had informed him that he was being paid as an escort as well though, so the Gob could only wait and see.

It didn't hurt him that Trafaul was the only person not afraid of him because of the respectful precident that Isonei had set. So, even though Odd thought of him as a complete idiot, he couldn't stay mad at him for long.

Odd went back to nodding and trying to find something on Sophia's phone to entertain himself until they eventually heard a loud splash ahead of him as a monstrous fishman surfaced the water.

"Lay down the Pones and you can all leave here alive."

'Random encounter? Finally!' Odd thought as he licked his lips. But...

"The fuck is a Pone?" He couldn't help but ask.