Slimey is an awful name

This time, it's white and pristine, almost heavenly. Greek-style pillars tower around me, extending endlessly into the white sky. Strange, cubic lines form a pattern on the floors. And instead of the various decorations from the previous one (degenerate as they may be), this one is empty.

"Awawawa!" I hear a strange noise coming from behind me. I turned around and saw a little girl scratching her head and waist. She's wearing a revealing, open black clothing that covers just her neck and breasts. She has white, angel wings protruding from her waists and a white halo can be seen floating on top of her green hair. Looking downwards, I see her wearing white shorts and white sandals.

"I didn't manage to stop them! But you shouldn't have listened to the creepy voices in the dark in the first place, Slimey!"

Wait, Slimey?

"Yeah, that's the monster you picked, right? I've made preparations immediately after seeing those two tempt you into accepting their powers. Seems I was still too late."

She sighed. "And you have a monster core too... I can't return you to Earth like this. No, I can still make this right. I'm sure I can convince you to be a good person."

But... I'm already a good person? At least I don't think I'm an evil person.

"Humph, that's what all Darkies say. You think what you're doing is right and just, that you can trample over other people disagreeing with your beliefs or methods."

She smiles sadly, but resolute. "But if those two can tempt you, then so can I!" She said that with so much confidence...

"Don't scoff at me! I'm Ariel, Slimey. Lion of Heaven, Lord of Air." She pumps her hand up and flies a few meters in the air. Cute.

"W-wha... Who are you calling cute?!? And why do you keep calling me she?!? I'M A MAN, DANGIT! I LIKE GIRLS!"

...Ah, I just said you're cute. Calm down. And, err, apologies, I guess?

"N-No matter! I will show you the power and beauty of the Light, then you wouldn't want to help those two perverts anymore. We need to get rid of that monster core anyway, replace it with something better."

Ariel shows me three info cards.

"We technically don't have permission to use these, but everybody else does them so there shouldn't be a problem with me doing this, right?"

Unfortunately, skimming through these, none of them seem to be good replacements for my Arcane core. These are just general buffs, with two in Charisma and one in Combat. Pass.

"What? But that core is corrupting your soul! Soon you won't be able to resist its temptations."

I laughed self-deprecatingly to myself. I know, Ariel. Experienced it first-hand, in fact. What's it going to tempt me anyway? Knowledge? I'm already tempted way before the core is within me.

I level a gaze at him. I want to use this core to find out more about my memories. Maybe it will awaken something within me, something I've lost whilst floating in the void. Or maybe not, and it will just warp my being to suit its preferences. I won't know unless I take the chance.

Ariel shrinks at my gaze, then shakes his head.

"I hope you know what you are doing, Slimey." Ariel stares at me for a moment. "However, in exchange, let me fix up your Hero's Soul."

You... knew about the Hero's Soul? And I thought it was annihilated.

"It is annihilated. However, with a bit of Light Magic, I can more or less restore it back to its original form. It will take some time, maybe a long time to fully heal, but it will heal. Besides, it will serve to counteract the corruption that your Arcane core gives out."

I see... My human and monster core are both curious about this new development. The latter doesn't even have qualms about potentially weakening its own power. I give the go-ahead.

Ariel touched my chest, where my heart is, and it begins to glow a radiant, golden light. I feel a warm embrace spread from my chest to all parts of my body. It's nice. I still feel the Arcane core in the background, though, which is reassuring.

I looked at Ariel, who was in a daze. I poked his shoulder and it snapped him back up.

"Aaah! W-what? Oh, i-it's done. The Heroic Soul should be healing now. S-sorry, that took a bit much from me..." Ariel scratches his face.

I patted his head.

"I-I'm not a kid! Don't pat me in the head." Cute.

So... what did I get for restoring the Hero's Soul?

"What? Aren't you satisfied enough that you've helped saved a lost soul from its horrible fate?"

That Hero's Soul is supposed to give +200% to Class XP when it's annihilated. Now that it's restored...

"Is that what those twins told you? Ughh, you Darkies with your obsession with material rewards. Fiiine, since you insist. The boons you'll receive will still be similar to the ones you've mentioned before, only much much weaker to allow it to heal properly. Like starting at +0% levels of weak. It giving you a boon in the first place is already stretching the magic I've given it." I groaned in response. "Buuuut, the boon should get better overtime as it heals, meaning that it can go as high as +500% or even +1000% instead of the flat +200% you've been given. It'll take a long time, though, so don't count on it too much. There, happy?" I nodded. Better have something than nothing, even if that something will take forever to come to be.

Ariel clears his throat. "Now then, if I can't replace your core, maybe I can replace your monster instead. Here."

He showed me four info cards for monsters in the Light side. Spirit is the most tempting, but the mana drain from the slime is still so much better. Pass.

"Really? There must be something... Aha!"

Ariel pulls out another set of three info cards.

"These are Divine Oaths, 'restrictions' that you can impose upon yourself for some benefits from me. Two Angel Blessings and One Divine Miracle, to be exact."

Ohh, a double-sided deal, eh? The two 'perverts' just offered me benefits without any drawbacks.

"The drawback is the damage to your soul! Haven't you learned from that Arcane core before?"

Pfff, yeah, I know I know. Still, these Oaths are kinda restrictive and vague, don't you think? Does a 'Consecrated Place' also count unholy temples? What constitutes as Guilty, anyway? Would assimilating the dungeon core counts as sealing it? And what if those 'monsters' are innocent, sapient creatures? Aligned to the Dark sure, but are just trying to eke out a living. Would they count towards Eradication?

"...You... That Arcane core of yours is acting up again, isn't it? Haah, to answer your questions. Unholy temples do not count. If you see some human committing harm to another, they are not considered innocent. The Oath should be able to prevent you if you're trying to harm an innocent anyway, so I guess hack away? Assimilating does not count towards sealing the dungeon, and sapient monsters of the Dark are still counted towards Eradication." Ariel pouts at the (what he thinks is) unnecessary explanations.

Yeah, your Oaths have a lot of vagueness to them, Ariel. I'm just kind enough to sort them out for you.

Ariel snickers at this. "Yeah, no Slimey. Those restrictions would have kicked in even if I haven't told you yet. Just saves you the time from trying to find a loophole to it."

Haah... Are there any Oaths besides these ones?

"Nope." Even on Ruyanei itself? "...No." That's a lie. "I am not lying." Sure... "Look, just pick an Oath, will you?"

Fine, fine. I'll pick 'Respect Sacred Ground'. A good neutral from all the Oaths presented, and the conditions are specific enough. Still curious about what counts as "unholy" though, hehehe.

Ariel sighs. "I see you are still amenable to reason, even if you keep trying to find loopholes on the restrictions placed upon you. For that," He presents me with six info cards. "I offer you a choice of six Angel Blessings. Unlike your filthy Monster Powers, there's no way to obtain them in Ruyanei."

Really? "Yes."

I narrow my eyes and stare. You are a terrible liar, Ariel. "W-what if there is? I'm not stupid enough to tell you them."

I perform a small cheer in my head and Ariel groans. Right, he can read minds.

After skimming through the blessings, I settled on God's Eye and Angelic Protection. More information is always good, and living to see through that information be of use is nice as well.

"Humph, I bet your core is relishing at the idea of knowing your enemies' weaknesses." Ariel puts his finger on my forehead. As I look at him, knowledge began pouring into my mind.

Ariel.

Race: Angel

Classes: Lion of Heaven LVL 50, Lord of Air LVL 50

Stats:

HP: S MP: S AGI: S

ATK: A INT: B LCK: B

DEF: A RES: B COR: F

It's a handy stat screen, though very barebones for now. Pretty standard RPG stuff, physical stats in the leftmost column, magical stats in the middle column, and other stats in the rightmost column. Only denoted in letters though. I assume I can only the get the exact numbers if I have the Pro Gamer HUD, but this is enough for now. Besides, I prefer this over numbers that don't really mean anything without a known baseline. Wait, COR..?

Ariel grins smugly. "Impressed? I am a devout angel of the Light, after all. It is only natural for me to have great stats."

I rolled my eyes, which scrolled the page on the stats screen. I didn't even know there's a second page. Or is this the last page?

Times Mistaken as a Girl: 69

Times caught thinking devious thoughts: 42

Favorite Fetish Tags:

• Submissive
• Domination Loss
• Yuri
• Vanilla

LightNet History over the past 30 days:

"H-hey! What are you looking at!?" Ariel panicked, tugging on my shirt sleeve. His face is very red. Err, just stats and their explanations. He's not buying it. "Stop it, right now!"

I willed the stats screen to disappear in panic as well, which proved to be moderately difficult. Once it's gone, I turned towards him.

"What did you see?" He stared daggers at me.

Err... Race, Classes, and stats?

He doesn't break eye contact, and instead tugs on my shirt sleeve harder.

Ok, ok... Umm... I think its 'Times Mistaken as a Girl', 'Times caught thinking devious thoughts', and 'Favorite fetish tags'.

"Is that all?" He asked again. I sighed. Apart from the LightNet history over the past 30 days where there are no entries, that's everything.

He stares for a few more second, before finally bowing his head in resignation. "Granting you my blessings has been a terrible idea." He materializes a bright feather in his hands. His face is serene, peaceful, yet melancholic. At this one moment, he looks like the epitome of an Angel.

"Don't... make me regret this!" He shoves the feather straight towards my chest, pushing me back a little. He then turns and walks away from me. W-what is his deal?

I tried to follow but I'm immediately hit with queasiness. A warm sensation radiates all throughout by body, first originating from the feather and then outwards from what I think is my core. Unfortunately, it keeps on getting hotter and hotter, to the point where I feel like I'm boiling inside my own body. It's like a typical fever, only much, much worse. My vision is blurry, my head is spinning, and I feel like I am about to puke on the floor. Worse, I feel my insides roiling, as if there's a goddamn war in there. My flesh is reshaping, reorganizing, and returning to its shape ad infinitum. Finally, the pain and sensations recede, leaving me lying drenched in sweat and shivering on the floor.

I hear faint mumbling in the background. I turned and saw a blurry, winged figure sitting right beside me. Ariel? "ImsorryImsorryImsorryImsorry-" I hacked a mean cough to get his attention. "A-a-are you ok?!? I-I just walked away to organize my thoughts then y-you collapsed and s-started convulsing on the ground..." Ariel... "I-I don't know w-what to do! You were b-burning up. I-I thought you'd be f-fine since I g-gave you my feather already. It-It's all my fault. It's all my fault it's all my fault it's-"

Gathering all of my strength, I lunged and dragged him into a hug. I stroked his head while he's sobbing on my chest. Don't worry, I'm fine. Everything's A-ok. You didn't do anything wrong. It's, uh... My curiosity got the better of me, let's just say that. It's my fault for choosing, not you...

Ariel gradually stops sobbing, and his breathing normalizes. Whew, crisis averted.

"S-Sorry for being an incompetent angel."

You are a perfectly fine angel. I know that you know that.

Ariel rubbed his eyes and smiled at me. "...Heh. Work on better lines next time, Slimey."

What?! I'm trying to be sincere here!

Ariel got up from the floor and, after a few moments, I followed suit.

"So, uhh, I think that's everything." Ariel holds his hands wide and spreads his wings out. "I'm pretty sure I've changed your mind about the whole **** monster business."

I'm pretty sure I'm partially against it already, but there are apparently some bad bitches there, so I might- Wait a second...

"However, in case you're still going to help those two perverts, I'll remind you one thing! The-"

Hold it right there, Ariel.

Ariel huffs. "What? I'm in the middle of my monologue here."

Aren't you forgetting something?

He gulps. "W-what are you talking about?"

I sighed. Ariel, you are-

"Fine fine! Jeez, can't get a single thing past you, huh?"

I haven't even started my journey yet and you are already scamming me out of my Divine Miracle.

"Y-you- I would never scam someone of something they deserve to get." So I am undeserving, you say? "No! I-I mean yes! You are a Darkie! Just because you took an Oath doesn't... Doesn't mean I should be glad to grant you those blessings and a Divine Miracle, ok?!" You're so easy to tease, Ariel.

Why am I being such an asshole today? This feels great, hahaha.

Ariel shows me another set of six info cards. Divine Miracles. All of them seem interesting. A skill that scales with magical attack, a Light version of the Dark's Final Form, basically a turtling perk, a straight up womb tattoo that mind controls others, a personal grinding dungeon so I can level up in peace, and...

Ariel's Alma...

"W-w-why is that there?!? Don't pick it!"

Why?

"Because- Because... I said so!"

That just piques my curiosity. I'm gonna pick it.

"W-wait! Fine, I'll tell you! It-It forces me to become your... Guardian Angel."

Oh, but I already have your Angel's Protection, right? What's one more?

"Apparently that one thing is already too much, judging from your body's reaction to it. If I touch you physically in Ruyanei you might as well explode."

Uh huh... Sounds like a terrible idea.

"Y-yes! I knew you would understand."

I'm gonna pick it.

"W-wait-" Too late. Clearly nothing bad has happened with stacking blessing with similar effects on top of each other, right? Surprisingly, as the gemstone entered my body and dissolves, I don't feel anything bad. Rather, I feel light, relaxed, comforted by its presence. Aaahh, it feels so nice.

I looked to the side and see Ariel pouting. "Hmmph, glad that my blessing didn't make you suffer this time." I chuckled. He's too cute sometimes.

So... Shall we go?

"Y-you! Ughh, just one more thing."

He got up and showed me a set of six info cards. Leaders of the dark, huh? Kinda similar to the ones the twins showed me. Seems each side has their own cast of interesting characters.

"That's right. Even with the twin's blessings, you should still be wary of them. They might be gunning for your power or worse, goad you into joining them."

They are already sounding more amenable to reason than the Light's heroes I was previously shown.

"T-that's just because the twins have smeared their reputation. They are NOT completely against siding with a third party fighting the Dark as well. Still, it would be hard with the current slime form you have." Ariel mumbled the last part. "I-I can vouch for your... good morals and actions, should it be required." I nodded in thanks, though I doubt his words would have that much weight.

Hmm, Reala and Loraje are both interesting characters. The twins definitely didn't mention how the current Demon King came to be. The Ancient Dungeon core is probably a neutral in this whole affair, but her powers are still aligned with the dark. Orchid and the Hornet Empress are definitely more concerned with expanding their own domains and power rather than serving the collective will of Dark, and Halicarnassus is just the Dark's version of the bitch Bishop. And, as with the Light's version of Heroes, I definitely do not want anything to do with them. It might be a tad more difficult, however, since Hali is Carnachias' pope and would surely be informed of my arrival into Ruyanei. What a pain in the ass...

"Ok, that's everything, for real this time. We can go as soon as you want."

Are you sure?

Ariel groaned. "Ughh, what now?"

Hmm... Nah, just messing with you.

"...I swear, someday I'm going to **** you in your sleep Slimey."

I just chuckled. Can I have a better name, by the way? Is Slimey the best you can come up with?

"Eh..? I thought you liked it. I think it's a cute name."

It's an awful name and you know it. What if I evolve and I'm not a slime anymore?

"You're always going to be Slimey to me, Slimey, and you're gonna have to live with it while journeying with me." Ariel flashes a smug grin.

I groaned. This is gonna be a long first day... Still, I hyped myself up for the adventure. All that previous decisions will now be put into practice. I just hope I don't spontaneously combust on my first rodeo.

Let's do this.