Chapter 53: Repairing

“Alright! Little to the left, little more…” Barney directed.

The reconstruction was slow and steady, but with Adam having annihilated every goblin, troll and orc in the fledgling Kingdom of Monsteria the people of Dryholm could now trade freely, and rebuild.

Julia’s stretchy body and superior strength also helped.

Currently she was using herself as a makeshift crane, hauling out a giant boulder over the ruined walls.

“And alright, right here!” Barney shouted, Julia letting go and sighing in relief as the tension was suddenly released, her arm snapping back and splitting her into two as she rolled backwards, into the Templar himself.

“Hey dick.” Twolia spat, the drop disintegrating before getting close to him.

“Glad to see you’re rebuilding,” Adam laughed, the villagers looking at him with some reverence.

His skill, Perfection, granted him a golden glow that made it difficult to miss him.

The golden slashes of light he’d used to eliminate the horde were also hard to look away from.

The knowledge that he could wipe the province off the map singlehandedly, made him impossible to look away from.

“I thought you were scouting out that area with ol’ Henrek?” Barney asked, casually approaching the man before suddenly lunging to try and get a sneak attack in with his fist.

Adam raised his pinky, completely stopping Barney’s attack like he’d just hit a brick wall.

“ARGH Damnit, ya too fast still,” Barney laughed as he shook his hand, feeling the pulsing of a fracture already.

“One of the benefits of the Holy Path. Perhaps your daughter will properly inherit that Dragon Blood skill eh?” Adam laughed.

“Bah, I just get that ol’ XP boost lil’ Julia got from hittin’ ya and who knows what I could find for myself!” Barney laughed, attempting to place an arm around the Templar, but Adam had stepped away in the blink of an eye.

“While I appreciate the affection and intention, I must decline.” Adam explained clearly, tossing a book towards Julia.

“What’s this?” Julia asked as she walked back into herself.

“Something I thought you’d find interesting,” Adam explained before disappearing once again.

“Blergh, hate it when he does that…” Julia grumbled as she opened the book.

“I can’t read this.” Julia said flatly.

“Hmm, anyone ‘ere what can read?” Barney shouted, the peasantry shaking their heads.

“I-I can sir!” Hans shouted from the watch tower.

“Get over here then!”

Quickly running down, the short looking man unceremoniously handed the book and began to read.

“48th experiment… Results have been unsuccessful… Slime material contains the soul but does not have capacity for…” Hans trailed off as he read ahead, looking up at Julia and back at the book several times in quick succession.

“Lemme guess, that’s from wherever the Pink one was.” Julia sighed as she rolled her eyes.

“Y-yeah it uh… Hold on…” Hans quickly flipped through what was revealing itself to be an alchemists notebook.

“I have received an interesting slime sample from… the former Vicar of Dracons.”

There was a beat of silence as Barney realized how many listeners there were.

“C’mon let’s read this in the wall tower.” Barney muttered, Adam had dropped this

…

“Argh, alright, let’s start straightenin’ some things out… Official Kingly things…” Barney grumbled as he looked at the group he’d assembled.

The notebook contained a lot of troubling information regarding Pinklia’s creation and what Vicar John had done after escaping and he needed to try and figure it all out.

Barney, May, Bluelia, Hans, Rufus and Garf all sat at the round table in the wall tower, while the two toddlers of Lilly and Autumn were playing in a makeshift pen so they didn’t wander towards the large fire.

“Go on and spit it out already, I was busy preparin’ today's dragon meat.” May grumbled.

“Y-yeah I’m sorry ma’am but you know how Julia-”

“Pinklia.” Bluelia interrupted.

“R-right, Pinklia, how she got here from Burtcons and how she eats.” Hans explained as he laid out the alchemists journal.

“Bah, what about it? Poor lass was a mess and starvin’ when she got here!” May sighed.

“Well, let me just read this all from the beginning…” Hans sighed, taking a deep breath to prepare.

“I have received an interesting slime sample from the former Vicar of Dracons. He claims it was once a person and wishes me to try and heal it. I suspect the man has gone mad, however this sample is utterly fascinating to me nevertheless. It appears to be functionally identical to a regular slime, however it possesses no will, no capacity to exert itself, it simply reacts to stimuli as if it were brainless.”

“Yeah lemme tell you, it wasn’t pleasant! All I could do was feel time pass and things on my surface,” Bluelia interjected, visibly shuddering at the memory.

“R-right, but this is the part that’s concerning…” Hans coughed as he flipped to another page he’d marked.

“I’ve made a breakthrough, this slime DOES seem to possess a soul of some kind, it is alive but immobile, disabled in some ways perhaps. The Vicar left weeks ago, but I will be sending him word of the news. Now that I have identified the spirit of this creature, I can now begin my experiments in earnest. Having grown my own mass I have plenty of material to experiment with.”

“Well, duh, of course I have a soul. See?” Bluelia scoffed, revealing her skill tree.

One large Legacy Skill labelled Slimenoid, with two skills branching off of it.

A tier 1 skill labelled “Elemental Resistance”, and branching off of that, a tier 1 skill labelled “Greater Ice Resistance”.

Everyone in the room stared at it in shock.

The first to break the silence was Garf.

“Hmpth, that’s odd.” Garf remarked monotonically.

“What the hell…” Bluelias gasped, she had been getting XP and skill points, but without anywhere to spend them she figured she’d become like Utarou or Adam, a new Blessed Being.

Without thinking about it, she unlocked the skills, her slime colouring becoming a slightly darker and deeper blue.

“Aurgh Saviour vivisected… All this skills nonsense ain’t for me,” Barney grumbled as he rubbed his temples.

“I-I guess I should finish…” Hans coughed as he awkwardly flipped to the final marked passage.

“I’ve managed to change the gel’s physical properties without damaging the soul! The process was grueling however I believe the mechanism should be replicable should I find any more of this peculiar slime. A high temperature and exposure to a specific set of compounds was all that I needed to do! I will leave the recipe somewhere safe, and I will not inform the Vicar of this. I fear this development in mana storage may make me a marked man by the church. Should this book be found outside of my lab, assume I am dead. Should you attempt to replicate this experiment I apologize for my secrecy, but with the church possessing the skill Perfection once again means I need some kind of leverage should the monster craft accusations come.”

The room was silent.

“The… The Church has the other Grey Julia… right?” Rufus asked anxiously.

“Yep… This is why I needed you all here. I can’t tell if we’re being threatened or if a cure for that other Julia is being proposed.” Barney sighed

“Bah! Who cares, you have the real Julia right here!” Bluelia scoffed, kicking her slightly more navy coloured legs up onto the table.

Everyone looked at Bluelia.

“R-right?”