Chapter 75: Tournament Day 3 (Part 2)

[Are you kidding me right now?] - Karen

[Haaa?!? Wha yoo lookin at?!? Huh?!?] - Jim

[Hey is this okay? This guy is drunk off his ass!] - Karen

[I'm not Officer, Drunk!] - Jim

[What the hell?!? Am I supposed to fight him or what?!?] - Karen

[If yooo ain't gonna come to meee, Imma come to yooo!] - Jim

Karen wasn't sure what to do about this, after leaving Rose's VIP box she'd made her way down to the prepatory room, nervous about the coming crowd she would have to deal with. And right when she'd finally worked up her nerve enough to come out onto the Arena and face her next opponent she'd instead found a piss-drunk rotund man with what could charitably be called Dad bod. The man, appropriately named Jim "the Bartender", apparently really did run one of the most popular bar's in the city. And while it was in one of the less reputable area's of the city it was still known to be completely safe due to the owners beating the crap out of anyone that caused a patron any grief.

She, of course, didn't know any of this and only saw a drunk middle aged man with a little bit of a belly facing off against her like it was no big deal.

[And let the roooound, BEGIN!] - Judico

[Hey are you kidding me, what is this guy gonna- AH!] - Karen

Deaf, or at least ignoring, to her complaints, she heard the announcement of the beginning of the match and for the 4th time since the beginning of this Tournament she found herself surprised as her vision went from normal to straight at the ground in a matter of seconds. She'd been hit by something, something made of... glass?

Dissolving the remains of the glass tankard that had hit her she righted herself slowly, building up her body by reforming it instead of standing up. The blow, while it had been powerful, had done nearly no damage to her because of her viscous slime. In spite of that it had done a great job of tripping her up, much to her embarrassment.

[The hell was that, old man?!?] - Karen

[I'm not old! Jus... Blerg!] - Jim

[Ew ew ew! NOOOOO!] - Karen

[Phew, sorry bout that lass... well then here I-] - Jim

[Nope! You stink! Stay AWAY!!!!] - Karen

Focusing her sight back on the drunk old man in front of her she noticed a pile of bottle's next to him that she hadn't seen before, one of which he was enthusiastically drinking out of. Had he thrown one of the empties at her?!? The hell?!?

Pissed that she'd had a beer bottle basically tossed at her head she yelled at the distant drunk who promptly vomited after attempting to defend himself. Turning her head away from the disgusting sight she saw the crowd do the same, all of them nauseated by the sight the same as her.

Jim, finally finishing his... relief, apologized and began walking her way much to her horror, the smell already wafting her way. Panicking at the thought of fighting someone that had just vomited she began backing away while thinking of a way to get rid of the man at a distance.

[Long distance?!? Long distance?!? What can I do long distance?!?] - Karen

[Why ya runnin lass? Aren't we gonna fight it out?] - Jim

[Oh god! Nooo! R-Run away!] - Karen

Scouring her mind for a long range attack she could do she kept her focus on the man behind her as she retreated. The crowd, while understanding of her reasons, had begun to get restless with the lack of actual combat and jeers were starting to spread through the stands. She needed to deal with this soon.

[Think think! Ah!] - Karen

[Come on lass, if yor gonna run ya mite as well give up. Huh?] - Jim

Running out of space to retreat on top of having no options her mind raced in circles in her panic until suddenly something came to her. It was like a ability she didn't know she had was laid bare. She knew she hadn't had it before but it was like something had just finished inside her.

Turning to face the old bartender once more she concentrated on his feet and suddenly tendrils of Slime reminiscent of the vines that Arbor had used erupted from the ground, throwing dirt and rock in all directions as they did so. Continuing whatever instinct was pushing her she continued onwards and a massive blob of slime rose out of the ground before forming into a familiar shape.

[RAAAAAAAAAA!] - Giant Fucking "Flower"?

[Whaaat the fuck?!?] - Karen

[Huh? Isn't that?!? Oh shit!] - Jim

It was that giant Rafflasia from her previous fight! Except, she somehow could feel it distantly as if it were an extension of herself. Ignoring the incoming headache from controlling a much larger body than herself she gave it instructions to "deal" with the smelly insect in front of it and felt a confirmation in her mind as it roared at the much more sober man in front of it. Realizing that the tone of the battle had changed his face became much more serious as he staggered away from the Giant Flower shaped Slime thing, seeming to barely dodge each blow by chance as he did so.

[Hahaha! I don't know how I did this but go forth and get rid of that smelly old guy! Hahahaha!] - Karen

<That kind of hurts my feelings, I'm only 11 ya know...?> - Jim

Elated that I wouldn't have to get within smelling distance of the vomit man I celebrated my discovery of... whatever this was. The Slime Flower enthusiastically following my orders as it flailed it's slimy "vines" around in an attempt to crush the life out of the smelly old dude. Caught up in my excitement at dealing with him without actually getting close to him I missed his mumbled complaint as he drunkenly staggered around another blow.

[What. The. Hell?!? How are you still dodging these?!?] - Karen

[Ya gonna have ta do more than that to take me down lass.] - Jim

[Dammit dammit dammit! Fine!] - Karen

I was shocked, after finding out I could somehow summon that giant flower thing I thought that Bartender dude would be finished in short order. But somehow he just dodged everything while upending yet another bottle of booze that kept magically appearing in his hand. Where was he even getting those?!?

Tired of waiting for her summon to finish the man and sure that enough time had passed for the smell to dissipate I decided to finally get in on the action, giving another order to the exhausted looking Slime flower to trip up the man wherever it could. Feeling a confirmation in my mind I braced my slime against the ground before bursting forward with extreme momentum, I'd finish this before I had a chance to find out if the smell still lingered.

[Woah! Have at ya lass!] - Jim

Rushing straight in for my blow I was taken by surprise when a bottle came flying straight at my head, forcing me to swerve around it so it wouldn't completely stop my charge. Jim, taking advantage of my slower advance, stumbled forward as his fist impacted my shoulder a slight pain emanating from the blow. Contrary to the minimal damage however I suddenly felt the lurch of weightlessness as I flew backwards until I hit the Arena barrier with a splat, my liquid body oozing down the wall slowly.

Reforming myself at the bottom of the wall I once more noticed the odd lack of actual damage in spite of the apparent force of the impact and even Jim seemed surprised at my apparent shrugging off of what should be massive damage. Wait? Is he just...?

[Are you literally just hitting me? Without any special technique or mana involved like at all?] - Karen

[Well yeah, why?] - Jim

[You... don't have much experience with monster's do you?] - Karen

[Imma bartender, what 'da yoo expect?] - Jim

[Oh sweet mother of- you might as well give up now, you'll never actually hurt me the way you're doing it.] - Karen

This was ridiculous, she felt robbed! Her opponent, physically strong enough to throw her around like a ragdoll and using some sort of Drunken Fist technique, was skilled enough to actually give her a run for her money. But he didn't have any mana control. None of his blows seemed to actually hurt her in any meaningful way, in fact even though he was tossing her around like that last blow it had done no lasting damage at all. The actual damage from the blow healing before she had even impacted the far wall. Ironically this kind of person was the perfect candidate for becoming a student at the Academy, skilled but with a massive flaw that they could train him in.

[So that was... yeah.] - Rose

[Yeah, I kind of feel sorry for the guy actually. He's pretty strong, it's just...] - Karen

[Bad Matchup.] - Malaise

[Right? I mean he probably would have been able to put up a better fight if he was... well, against a normal slime.] - Karen

[Huh? Normal Slime? What do you mean?] - Veronica

[Oh right I forgot you guys haven't seen my Status yet, I'd shown Aus-Rose so I didn't even think about it after that. Here.] - Karen

The room was deathly silent when I returned, the Tournament was having a break to allow for people to grab food or run errands, same as every other day except they'd extended the time for some reason. Although I suspect that they took it had to do with the speed at which the first 2 matches of the day had ended. They were only planning for 3 matches afterall. My own match, seeming like it would take a while, was actually finished fairly quickly when I realized that my opponent couldn't actually harm me in any meaningful way so I put on my best Actress face and proceeded to put on a little performance so as to not make him feel bad. Jim, quickly realizing that he was outmatched, also only put on a show to make it less embarrassing when he went down.

Finally Rose broke the silence though with a brilliant conversation starter. Yeah okay I'm lying that was absolute shit! Contrary to the awkward start however it did spawn a topic for us to talk about, me. I'd never really thought about my status in quite a while, not really having a reason to monitor it and as a result I'd nearly forgotten it even existed. Which is why I'd never actually let Aus-, I mean Rose's, and my new friends know about my special circumstances beyond just being reincarnated.

[Wow your stat's are really high an- what's wrong?] - Malaise

[The Hell is that?!?] - Karen

[I don't understand?] - Malaise

[Maybe she's gone crazy?] - Veronica

[No you don't get it, my species changed?!? Austin come look at this!] - Karen

[What's up an- woah! You're stat's are way higher than they were last time!] - Rose

[No not that, look!] - Karen

Pulling up my Status was easy however, luckily even though I hadn't bothered in over 5 months I'd not forgotten how to actually do it and- What the hell is that?!? Scanning over my Status page I briefly noted that I was now 2, guess that must have happened sometime in the last 5 months, before noticing few differences and one major one. My stats, whilst being slightly higher than a few months age weren't what stuck out to me however. What did was the fact that my species had changed to Humanoid Mana Slime!

The other's, however, didn't notice what I was getting so worked up about. This was the first time they'd seen my Status page afterall so while they might be slightly interested in the high stat amounts they were completely clueless to what it was that had set me off. Even Aus-Rose didn't immediately realize what I was referring to, commenting on my higher stats instead. It wasn't until I pointed directly at my new species that her eye's filled with recognition.

[Oh? Huh, what's a Mana Slime? Oh and look at that you're 2 years old now, congrats!] - Rose

[Well I guess it must have happened while you were gone an- That's not important right now Austin Sauce, you moron!] - Karen

[Hehehehehe, it's not really that big of a deal if your species changes right? I mean you're still a slime afterall?] - Rose

[I hate to interrupt you and your friends Young Miss but that thought is incorrect. Changing your species is only possible through two possibilities, either Evolution or a traumatic event. Slime's tend to follow the second one.] - Annabelle

[Okaaay? And?] - Rose

And yet she still didn't get the importance of the change, granted neither did I but I knew it had to be worth more than a cursory glance and a shrug... probably. Laughing at my reaction to her non-reaction Rose tilted her head cutely, nearly causing me to get a nosebleed1yes I know she doesn't have blood but she's still thinking of her human reactions and it felt to her like she was about to get a nosebleed even if that wasn't what was happening as I had to resist jumping her right then and there. SHE WAS SO CUTE!!!! Clueless, BUT CUTE!!!

Luckily Annabelle understood what the big deal was about and explained what exactly was going on. But a traumatic event huh...?

[Hah... I keep forgetting that this kind of stuff was taught during the 5 month's you were away. What she means is that changing species is a big deal, especially since it allows you to breakthrough a lot of things you couldn't have beforehand. Like her Endurance stat for instance, I've only heard of a few individuals with a stat that high and all of them went through Evolution to get it.] - Malaise

[Huh, I wondered why it broke 100.] - Karen

[Hey? You think this has anything to do with that whole Undead Assassin thing?] - Veronica

[...Ate them.] - Shade

[Ohhhh right! You did absorb those Undead guys didn't you?] - Malaise

[I... guess? I don't really remember much of that until Rose showed up but I guess it did happen?] - Karen

[You think you might have absorbed something that changed how your body works? They did have those strange swords with them.] - Veronica

[...swords, when hit, weakened...] - Shade

[Oh right I do remember feeling weak when I got stabbed right before I blacked out!] - Karen

[Hmmm, what could that be-] - Rose

[I apologize for interrupting your conversation once again but could you describe to me about these swords you spoke of? You didn't mention them before.] - Annabelle

Sighing, Malaise proceeded to explain why it was such a big deal, following Annabelle's explanation with her own, more long-winded, version. Of course what stuck out to me was the part where she pointed out my Endurance stat that I'd only just noticed broke 100 since I last saw it.

While I was contemplating the meaning of all of this, coming to no solid conclusions, the person we least expected to have any meaningful input cut in, suggesting that this might all be traced back to that attack from a little over a week ago. Shade also agreed, nodding as she brought up how I'd ended our fight. Although I didn't remember much of that fight to be honest.

This broke the dam as we all then started coming up with our own hypothesis' for what had caused it, settling on either those Undead or, and more likely, the weird weapons they'd used. Our discussion once more attracted another rare interruption from Au-Rose's personal maid, her gaze serious as she asked about the weapons we'd been discussing.