[h3]Ash, Digbie, Mourningstar, Oberon, Reoth, Torrent[/h3] "Rattleskull is dead. We killed him. He was weak and didn't know his place." The goblins froze so fast you could almost hear a record scratch. "DA BIG DEMONS SPEAK!" yelled Rags Nar, as all five of them turned back to Digbie. They looked around, some of them clearly very frightened, but as they saw nothing they too began to look to the Demiblin. "W-well uh, if'n ya dun killed Rattleskull...Dat's even better!" The leader of the pack wiped his brow, trying to look as nonchalant as possible. "But I hope ya left da udda gobs alive--if dey all wiped out, we can't add 'em to our tribe! And we's gonna need all da gobs we can get. B-but, uh, we's very uh, in-grated to yas, Demi-gob!" "Yeah, we's ingrated!" "Many thankees, Demi-gob!" "We uh, we makes extra special foods for ya tomorrow too, den! Since yas already done it!" The goat, obviously irked at being turned around yet again, gave a snort and bucked lightly, kicking the goblin holding its rope down the other side of the hill. Rags Nar grabbed two handfuls of the creature's fur as it turned and charged after the unfortunate goblin. "We's be gooooooiiiiinnn!" came his voice, trailing off as his other goblins sprinted after him. [hr] [h3]Jason[/h3] As Jason's form collided with that of Bonie's, the mists swirled together around them. Jason felt confusion sweep through him--all he had wanted was to see just what kind of creature the Boss was, why it was so different from the other monsters. Well, there was also a want to see the rest of them, to know that they would continue their destiny. But Jason knew that wasn't possible for her--she had been gone too long, she hadn't had the strength to go back from the beginning, only the strength to hold on. And without them, now that they had forgotten, she would probably never get that strength... Jason and Bonie, Bonie and Jason, he, she, they, we, I, tumbled through darkness. The golden glow was the anchor, the end, the exit. The Dungeon Core pulled, harder and harder. This world, this black and white world separate from everything else, was a wall boxing him in... He, she, he, you, he was Ja-Soon Mag, he WAS Jason, he knew who he was! When Jason had done his suicidal stunt, he had hidden a part of his body within the hollowed out ground under the nesting area--a chunk of his green, slimy membrane, nestled under the edge of the collapsed tunnel Momma Slime had crushed him into. It had, of course, lost all cohesion. It was little more than a puddle. The digestive fluids within the membrane had mostly been absorbed by the dirt. Mana suffused it, and the lime "flesh" dissolved further--from dough, to putty, to goo, to plasm. And this ectoplasm, spiritually charged, evaporated into a vapor that began to take shape. [quote=System:?a50Z] YOU HAVE RISEN FROM DEATH! Undead Transformation: Earth-Hardened Slime Mage > Ecto Slime! Ecto Slime: An extremely rare undead monster. Spirit-class Undead are formed when a soul is unable to leave the corpse or reenter the natural cycle of life and death; composed entirely of the energies left within the body at the time of death, Spirits without Will cannot maintain a form for long. When they lose cohesion, they are returned to the world in another way that cannot be undone. Slimes do not normally have enough intelligence or magic power to revive as undead, and even when affected by outside sources they are usually extremely unstable. Like all undead, they seem to harbor an instinctive need to consume the living. Like many Spirit-class Undead, they are driven to feast on other souls even to the point of losing themselves. You are Undead. You have lost your physical body; Stats and Skills have been negatively affected. All base Stats have decreased. All former Skills have been Locked. [color=red]WARNING! YOU ARE LOW ON MP! You are still experiencing Mana Disorder. Natural MP Recovery has stopped. External MP Recovery is still reduced by 50%. This may prove fatal in your current condition.[/color] Skill Gain: Transparency I! Cannot be used with a physical body. Expend MP to generate clip effect through physical environments. The entire body cannot overlap objects. Canceling clip effect while partially overlapping object will cause damage and magic backlash to yourself and the object. Skill Gain: Spiritual Awareness I! --Being Undead has affected this skill.-- You have become more aware of the spiritual and living sides of the world. This will affect your interactions with certain types of [s]spiritual[/s] living monsters. At this rank, you can only [s]detect[/s] interact with a hint of the [s]spiritual[/s] world. There may also be other affects of this ability... Skill Gain: Taboo I! [color=red]You have gained a "cursed skill." Those with sharp senses may detect your true nature...Even now, the evil seed of what you've done germinates within you...[/color] Skill Gain: Levitate (--)! Your body floats by expending a very small amount of MP. Without other skills or greater magical power, you can only float about 3 feet off the ground at a slow walking speed. Moving faster, or rising much higher, consumes MP proportional to the physical effort required for such things. LEVEL UP! You have overcome a harrowing trial. Your combined experiences culminate in new power. You are now Level 7! You gain Skill Points to use as you please! Your max MP has increased (this will not restore your current MP)! [color=red]Unspent[/color] [color=green]Skill[/color] [color=red]Points[/color]: [color=green]9[/color] Current Skills: [s]Physical Damage Resistance I (1.0) Warcry II (2.175) Stone Shot II (2.6625) Rock Spire II (2.075) Tremor Sense II (2.425) Soil Manipulation I (1.15) Telepathy II (2.725) Material Analysis I (1.2) Magic Analysis I (1.55) Monster Analysis I (1.55) Mental Resistance I (1.55) Charisma I (1.15) Focus I (1.3) Limited Shapeshift I (1.6) Mind Wave I (1.2) Spell Chant I (1.3) Bounce I (1.15) Faster I (1.05) Blunt Resistance I (1.0)[/s] Spiritual Awareness I (1.0) Transparency I (1.0) Taboo I (1.9) Levitate (--) Earth Affinity (0.6) Wave Shock (0.1) Swift Swimmer (0.1) Aqua Sphere (0.7) Alert (0.1) Smash (0.5) Cleave (0.3) Blood Drain (0.7) Muffle (0.1) Crafting (0.3) Magic Resistance (0.5) Agriculture (0.3) Plant Analysis (0.3) Acid Spit (0.5) Fire Resistance (0.4) Fortify (0.2) Sensory Resistance (0.3) Mana Orb (0.5) Shield (0.5) Alchemy (0.4) Meditate (0.8) Air Read (0.4) Keen Sight (0.2) Point Strike (0.2) Doze (0.1) Blunt Resistance (0.9) Acid Resistance (0.1) Rabid Fit (0.1) Pierce Resistance (0.8) Lesser Cleanse (0.2) Dextrous (0.2) Quicken (0.3) Earth Wall (0.1) Guidance (0.1) Stone Breaker (0.1) Iron Gullet 0.1 Slash Resistance 0.2 Earth Vein 0.1 Mana Sense 0.1 [/quote] The world was suddenly so full of color and vibrancy again, it made Jason practically want to leap for joy. And leap he did, as he floated up towards the ceiling...only, he couldn't seem to come back down. And the closer he got to that shaft of sunlight coming through the ceiling, the more he could feel every inch of him recoiling from it the way you can feel that the heat coming off the stovetop will scald and scar you with its painful flames. What was more, as he looked around, even though he had finally returned to the correct world...it still looked different. There was a dark haze around everything, as if his eyes were bleary and unadjusted to the world. That sunlight, or any light really, was far too bright...but other than that, there were other pinpoints of light in this world. Purple lights, bouncing around inside cages...and other lights, lights of many colors, that settled peacefully in their shells. One of these purple lights, as a matter of fact, was down below Jason. A lone Dire Rat, scurrying along the tunnels of the nesting area, was made visible to him by the violet light within its body even though there was a layer of dirt between him and its physical body. It was...searching, for something, it seemed. It stopped near where the battle of the slimes had taken place, then scurried over to where those two assimilated Fanged Lizards had been killed. [i]Eat it![/i] yelled a sudden, urgent voice inside Jason. He suddenly became aware that there were no Mana Crystals anywhere around him...and he could feel his MP depleting like a clock ticking down... [hr] [h3]Danny[/h3] As Danny tried to calm himself and Meditate, it was extremely difficult...after all, he had so many things running through his head. Fear. Was he about to die? Could he do this in time? Would he recover enough? Would the Slime reach him first? How long could he last? He was already low on HP. Would one more hit kill him? Slowly, the yellow slime inched closer. Danny took a deep breath. He could only use the Source Crystal as a last resort. He had to Meditate. Could he do this? Did this count as being in battle? He himself wasn't actually fighting or moving right now. He was IN a battle...but he wasn't [i]battling[/i]... He felt a trickle of energy. He could Levitate again! He couldn't feel enough for any other attacks, but as the Wisp lifted into the air the Slime blurbled and angrily leaped at him once more--!