It Started with Slime - Chapter 92, Beginnings

Aarav couldn’t take his eyes off the King, the man was an enigma. The light show he had just been dazzled with was even grander than the palace around them. The Oath having just settled on him was not as weighty as he though it would be. But it did feel like there was a second membrane over his existing skin. Like a very snug pair of tights, over his whole body. An odd and very claustrophobic sensation but it didn’t trigger his phobia because he was getting out of the box.

At first he had tried to fly out but he was too big for that so he opted for a different option, that of crawling out on his belly, slithering out to hang half in and half out of the box. None of the bearers seemed inclined to pick him up so he just waited there, it was much better than having to remain in the box or sitting on the floor.

“So…am I free to go?” Aarav was a little leery of having to take the Oath but if he truly got some freedom to move around the palace…then he could learn to accept that for now. It was the best possible outcome all things considered. No point in arguing further.

“Yes within reason, we will have a room organised for you and you can communicate you specific requirements if there are any from the staff. They will be notified that you are a guest of House Frelaine…” the man of dust spoke and Aarav looked up at him. There was a pause at the end, the threat implied. What is it wth these people and the trust issues? I am super weak right now! I might be strong in the future but for right now I am so weak it probably doesn’t even matter.

Aarav was honestly getting tired of it, the prejudice was understandable, he wasn’t even human but it was ridiculous when he had done nothing to even threaten the people here. It made very little sense to him. Why were they this cautious of something as tiny as he was? It didn’t make sense and if he was really such a huge threat then why would that leave his to roam relatively free like this? Threats were handled in one of two ways, lock it up and throw away the key, or ‘remove’ the threat. This third option was new to him and this capture-but-not-cage mentality had him questioning every incarceration situation he had been in, both legal and not.

Pushing himself out of the box he allowed his wings to help him glide a little more gracefully than just plopping onto the ground. He wings were not even enough to allow him to glide, his body having gained a lot of weight recently, but it was still better than the alternative. Once on the ground he shuffled off toward the entrance double doors. It was slow progress; even with manifested legs the slowest humans in the rom were faster, quickly outstripping him as they left the King’s presence to be about their days’. Aarav just wanted to get out as quickly as possible before the King decided to change his mind about a dangerous monster in the palace.

Once out of the doors…Aarav was at a loss. It was unfamiliar ground and new exploration of territories. Of course, consult your map! Opening up Mental Map the looked through the areas explored, there was his part of the forest. Then the area around the village and up to where the chase had concluded, then out to his Santuary...at some point he was going to have to ask Haemish or someone about that...and then there was the path they had taken to get to the palace, it was all laid bare in Mental Map and as soon as he had opened and a viewed it he received the alert.

Your   Skill Mental Map has increased to Level 2!

Alright! Looks like it only increases when I open the map though, will need to do that regularly. It is a really useful skill it seems. Oh, almost forgot! Aarav went through speaking a few words of each of the languages he knew, Darfan was already done for the day so his masteries increased by a single percentage point in each language. New knowledge dripped into him like particularly persistant intervenous line.

Aarav was feeling a little lost after looking at the map, he might know all about where he had been, he could see the plan view of the parts of the palace he had visited, but that didn’t mean he knew where to go next and what he should or could do now. Sighing, he decided to start at the Haemish’s lab. It was the best place he could think of but in his head the words kept repeating themselves, leading the lamb to slaughter...going straight back to your captors, huh Stockholm?

Reluctantly making his way back he continued to admire the decor but the opulence did not appeal to him the way it had on the way in, maybe now that he was free-not-free it didn’t have the same appeal? The gaudiness just looked decadent to him now. His depressed state lasted for about as long as it took him to get around the corner and then he was met with fast stepping boots. Quickly stepping out of the way to avoid the quickly moving people he gained their notice.

“Oi! What’s that!” one woman screeched pointing in Aarav’s direction.

“Madam, I assure you I mean no harm, the King released me from captivity just a few short minutes ago.” Aarav affected a posh British butler, thinking it might establish some rapport with the staff.

“IT TALKS!!! Quick Henrietta! The broom!” there was no warning before a broom slammed down on Aarav.

“Ahh! Stop! What are you doing!? I am a vassal of the throne!!!” Five strikes and about a full hundred HP later the words finally worked their way through.

“What! A vermin is a vassal of the King!? And I am talking to a vermin...” the woman having burned through her adrenaline fainted dead away and had to be carried off by the rest of the befuddled party.

Aarav assessed the damage and grumbled to himself.They could have given me a royal escort...bet they knew this would happen. Then he reflected again...and I would have thought they were a guard, I could have asked for an escort...at the moment I like this better. A little autonomy would not go amiss.

The route to back to the lab while clearly marked out was long. Really long on his short stubby feet and with very low speed and therefore moment capability. Come to think of it...I have never tried to run...either I am walking, climbing or flying...or swimming I suppose.

Without thinking about it too much Aarav focused on the sensations coming from his legs, lifting and falling and he walked. How was it possible that he had never tried running...maybe system established limits were wearing on him more than expected. As he synchronised his mind with the unconscious movement he pushed them to move in their prescribed rotation a little faster. They responded reluctantly. Not wanting to go faster than they could accord with his established speed. Each cycle they creaked a little faster forward and each rotation was an additional burden on his already emotionally taxed mind.

But he would not relent. One cycle turned to two then ten then twenty. Aarav was perspiring from the mental exertion more than the physical. He had plenty of stamina left and willed his body to use it.Make the skill damn it! Aarav continued to urge his body forward. His stamina began to tick down as he had wished but no skill came forward. In his estimation most other skills had manifested much more quickly and he wondered why this one was taking so long. Fifty rotations passed and finally.

Congratulation!   You have gained the Talent Run!   Focus your attention on your Legs expend up to 2.1 Stamina metre to increase   your speed by a maximum of 210% on top of your walking speed based on Earth   and Sky Legs being Level 21.

He had underestimated his speed, it seemed according to the map he was only about ten minutes away from the lab at his current speed. It seemed he had found the perfect place to experiment. Getting up to maximum speed was easy as thought and once he was crusing along at around six and a half kilometre an hour or four point two if you were weird and liked the imperial system. Those British people...he had been in England for a while in his travels and never gotten used to it.

A minute into his ten minute run to the lab he pettered out...he ran out of Stamina...