The ashlands were restless. Heat shimmered across the soot ridges, thin drafts carrying the faint hiss of burrowing insects and the squeals of ember-rodents darting between fissures. Every sound seemed sharper now, every vibration digging into Zeke's awareness as though the land itself mocked his fragile balance.
He lingered at the fissure mouth, glow dimmed low beneath his cloak of Darkness. The cracks left by the serpent's coils still ran faintly through his membrane. Each stretch leaked a wisp of mana, a slow bleed he could never quite staunch. Assimilate had fed him, but it had not mended the core instability. Every resonance left him closer to tearing apart.
But still he pressed forward.
"I cannot stop. Stagnation is death. Growth demands risk."
He split into fragments, four this time, threads of CTL stretched taut to hold them steady. They quivered but did not snap. Each fragment slid across the soot more smoothly than before, shadowed forms flowing like liquid night. Small progress—but progress nonetheless.
Rodents scattered nearby, sparks glowing faintly against the soot. Zeke dimmed until his glow vanished entirely. One fragment flared suddenly, a burst of Light slicing through the gloom. The rodents squealed, dazzled, scurrying in confused arcs.
Darkness-cloaked pseudopods lashed outward. Fire crawled along them, searing unseen. Two bodies split open with sizzling cracks, sparks flaring before Assimilate drew them in. The rest fled, but Zeke widened his Split, fragments herding them into a trap. Whips cracked, and one by one, they fell.
When he rejoined, his glow guttered. Threads quivered, frayed by the strain, but he had done it. His fragments no longer collapsed the instant he spread them.
The System stirred faintly, whispering of cleaner motion, sharper precision.
But even in victory, sparks bled. His edges sagged, thinner than before. Every success came laced with weakness.
"Each step forward, another fracture. Am I building strength—or digging my own grave?"
He pushed further. Back in the nest, he cloaked himself in Darkness and then flared Light. For four breaths he vanished entirely. His body was gone—unseen, unfelt, as though he had slipped between worlds.
On the fifth breath, his threads tore violently. Pain seared his mass, sparks bursting from cracks. He collapsed into the reservoir, trembling as water hissed against leaking mana.
Progress, yes. But unstable. Always unstable.
He turned to Pseudopods next, unwilling to relent. Limbs lashed across stone, each strike sharper, cleaner. Cracks splintered into shards beneath his blows. When he wrapped two pseudopods together, the force crushed stone outright. Fire burned along one, Darkness cloaked the other. Together they struck in tandem—a whip of flame and a blade of shadow. The resonance thrummed like a predator's heart.
The System stirred again. His limbs felt sharper, quicker, more precise.
But every lash bled him thinner. His body trembled after each strike, fissures widening, mana draining in ragged streams. His glow dimmed with every improvement.
Weapons sharpened, but his vessel frayed.
He slithered deeper into the ashlands. The ground beneath him hissed faintly, vibrations prickling. Burrows trembled. Then the swarm erupted—ash-burrowers, carapaces glowing with ember cracks, mandibles clacking in shrill fury.
Zeke dimmed low, then flared Light. The swarm screeched, dazzled, staggering. He lashed pseudopods cloaked in Darkness and Fire, slicing across their shells. Carapaces cracked, sparks spraying into the ash.
They scattered, but he Split into five fragments, threads straining like overdrawn bowstrings. He herded them, clumsy but determined. One fragment slipped, nearly collapsing, but he forced it steady. The fight stretched long, each strike costly.
By the end, dozens of broken carapaces lay dissolved. Assimilate surged, essence bolstering his pool until he felt near bursting.
But the instability lingered. Sparks hissed from cracks across his form. His glow flickered like a failing ember. He sagged against stone, trembling.
Power, yes. But always bleeding. Always on the edge.
He dragged himself back to the reservoir and collapsed into it, his mass slumping beneath the surface. The water hissed faintly where mana leaked from him, rippling in slow waves.
His scholar's mind stirred even as exhaustion dragged at him.
"Split grows. Pseudopods sharpen. Resonance lengthens. But instability festers. Threads strain with every gain. I climb higher, yet the foundation crumbles beneath me."
He remembered Cass on the rooftop, laughing in the sun. "You'll cook your brain, idiot. One day you'll push too far."
Zeke pulsed faintly, bitter. Perhaps he already had.
But he could not stop.
"Power without stability is collapse. There must be a way to bind myself tighter. To hold mass firm, not scatter it. To compress."
The word lingered like a stone at the bottom of his reservoir. Not yet real. But closer.
He pulsed faintly, gathering his threads. Each fragment pulled tighter, each limb steadied. His will hardened like stone. Instability pressed harder than ever, but he endured.
The System stirred once more.
[Split Lv.3][Pseudopod Lv.6][CTL +2][WIL +1]
His awareness sharpened, threads steadier, limbs cleaner. He was still fragile, still leaking, still closer to collapse than safety—but the progress was undeniable.
He quivered faintly, whispering into the stillness.
"I will endure. Even if it breaks me, I will endure. Compress will come. Until then—I grind."
System Update
Status
Name: Ezekiel Ashbourne
Race: Prime Slime (Unevolved)
Level: 11
Affinity: Fire (Basic), Light (Basic), Darkness (Basic)
Stats
STR: 6
AGI: 6
VIT: 9
WIL: 8 → 9
RES: 11
MNA: 35
CTL: 10 → 12
Skills
Active Skills:
Split (Lv.3): Divide body into fragments. Fragments sustain longer, strike in coordination, but mana drain is heavy.
Assimilate (Lv.5): Absorb weak matter or energy to recover energy; chance to retain minor traits. Cleaner, more efficient absorption, but increasingly demanding.
Pseudopod (Lv.6): Tentacle-like appendages with whip precision and crushing power. Limited to two, but refined.
Passive Skills:
Amorphous Body (Lv.6): Immune to blunt trauma, flexible morphology. Reshapes seamlessly under combat pressure.