Candy has requested a joint evolution through the Title [Symbiogenesis].
Title [Symbiogenesis] will change your race, class, and profession. It will combine your statuses. This change is irreversible.
Do you accept? Yes/No.
I stared at the words. “What the fuck?” I muttered.
“Pamela?” Martrix asked, looking incredibly awkward as she stared at me. “What’s up with the muttering?
I blinked, noting Kimrel and Petven also giving me puzzled looks.
“Sorry,” I flushed with embarrassment. “System shananagins, I’m still getting used to it. I just… uh… give me a sec,” I sighed, turning back to the prompt.
“What did Frida say about a mythic slime?” Kimrel frowned. “What is going on?”
“One’s been leeching Pamela’s experience,” Martrix supplied. “We’ve gotta get it out before…”
Kimrel nodded with a grimace. “Shit.”
“Just… one sec,” I waved them off. “Candy, what is this?”
“It’s the final form of the co-existence path,” Candy explained, as if that made any more sense. “I literally can’t offer you anything better. I’ll still get to benefit from [Protagonist’s Progression] and… you’ll be an… equal party in this… partnership,” she continued, though the words did sound like they physically pained her to say.
I frowned, trying to puzzle out exactly what that meant. Part of me still didn’t care. It was too little too late. I didn’t need a stupid partnership with Candy. And yet… I was curious.
“What does that mean, Candy? And you’d better be honest, or so help me god I’ll throw the both of us off the highest cliff I can find,” I asked. If curiosity killed the cat, I was going to be backed over and run over a second time to keep me down for good.
“We’ll become one. Two minds sharing a body, my core fusing with your heart,” she sighed nervously. “My life will be tied to yours and yours to mine. I know I’m not good at this, but that will make it so I’ve got no choice but to figure it out. And it’s like what you said, stronger together.”
Permanently fused? Two minds sharing a body? I… no!
“I don’t trust you,” I shook my head, not remotely knowing what to think.
“Pamela, please,” she went right back to begging. “I’m not lying, use [Analysis]!”
Well… fine, she did have a point.
[Symbiogenesis]
A Mythic tier evolution of the Epic Title [Symbiosis]
This title is granted to the most strongly bonded of symbionts and hosts, allowing them to fuse into one even greater entity.
Ohhhh…. I could see vaguely where this was going. We had come full circle. I had wanted a “hot symbiote thing.” Though I was deeply disappointed if Candy was going to be my Venom.
And not to overly nitpick but… Candy and I were not remotely strongly bonded. Rather the opposite, actually. But granted how much of my power she had absorbed, maybe that changed things.
Still… what the fuck…
“You would really rather have your well-being tied to mine rather than simply go find a different host?” I asked. I didn’t care how good [Protagonist's Progression] was. That was weird.
“I don’t know,” Candy warbled. “Everything is so confusing and not like how things are supposed to be for me. But you said it yourself, humans work together because it’s beneficial for the both of them.”
I snorted. “This is a little more extreme than collaboration.”
“But then I won’t hurt you as much. I don’t like hurting you because then you say things that make me feel all icky,” she responded.
Well… not the ideal reason for not wanting to hurt me. But again… it was progress.
“Pamela? You sure you’re good?” Martrix frowned.
“Yes,” I sighed. “Just thinking. I’m going back to sleep. Just… wake me up when Frida gets back, alright?”
Martrix nodded. “Sure.”
I tugged the blanket over me and rolled away from them, unable to use my now missing arm to prop up the pillow to truly get comfortable. It didn’t matter. I wasn’t going to sleep. I just needed to think.
Did I want to be permanently tied to Candy? Well… no. But… it would give me a bridge back to the power I had lost in a roundabout way. And… Candy had grown on me weirdly, like mould.
I was angry with her. She had done wrong by me. Could she do better? Could I grow to care for her?
Yeah… I… I was pretty sure I could. It was stupid to need such life-altering magic to ensure we were on the same team, but… so be it. I… I didn’t have anything else going on. I had just lost a fucking limb, I needed some slack from the universe.
Obviously, Candy would do whatever she could to live. She was desperate, but she wasn’t exactly devious and cunning. She was… trying.
Still, the image of being permanently bonded with a slime was a strange one. Though maybe not that much more than the current situation. She was, after all, still slithering around inside me.
If I agreed, what would I lose?
Nothing really.
Fuck.
“You promise you want to do better?” I asked.
“I promise,” Candy confirmed. “I really, really do!”
Maybe I was a fool to believe her. I mentally prepared to get backed over several times, the stupid, curious cat I was.
You have accepted [Symbiogenesis].
Pain lanced through my chest, making me gasp. Why why why why why why why did everything have to hurt? I cursed, feeling like my heart was about to explode. I gasped through clenched teeth, thrashing against the bed.
Immediately, Martrix, Petven, and Kimrel were at my side, trying to figure out what was wrong.
A sharp weight seemed to sink into me. I clutched at my chest as I felt it. A crystalline thing sliding into the fleshy meat of the very organ that kept me alive. I collapsed back into the bed, sweat bleeding down my temple when it was finally done.
Merger has been completed.
Stats have been combined.
HP has increased to 15.
MP has increased to 21.
SP has increased to 8.
Strength has increased to 10.
Agility has increased to 11.
Endurance has increased to 11.
Vitality has increased to 12.
Wisdom has increased to 25.
Intelligence has increased to 30.
Perception has increased to 27
Willpower has increased to 31.
Holy shit! Finally, some stat increases. Oh, that felt good. Literally, a pleasant tingle warmed me, a refreshing stretch of my capabilities. Oh, and the mana! 20 points more! Finally! Maybe magic wouldn’t come naturally to me, but Candy was full of the stuff. Fuck, I was already delighted, and the messages kept coming.
Race has changed into the Evolution Mythic Empress Slime Hybrid.
Class Royal Plort has been acquired.
Profession has changed into the Path Symbiotic Dyad.
You have gained the Evolution skill [Digest].
There was just so much to take in, but I was currently being crowded. “I’m fine,” I sighed, sitting up in bed and pushing my concerned friends off me. “Sorry, I’m fine. I just levelled up my stats, and it really surprised me.”
Martrix frowned skeptically. “You were in pain.”
“I’m fine,” I repeated. “Can I just… please have some space. Okay? Sorry.”
They all backed off.
“I formed a symbiotic relationship with the slime, okay?” I sighed, too frazzled by everything to maintain this lie, too. “Her name is Candy, she’s a total bitch, but she’s rational and not pure evil or anything, so… yeah.”
“Has she been assimilated?” Petven whispered conspiratorily.
Martrix just stared at me blankly. “Candy?”
“Yeah,” I nodded.
“She has a… name?” she frowned.
“She can also talk,” I added, tapping my head.
“Right,” Martrix mumbled. “Well… okay. We should still probably have Frida check you over again, and you definitely owe us a proper explanation.”
“Totally,” I yawned. “Can I just… finish my thing?”
Martrix glanced at the other two. Kimrel nodded. “More cards?”
“Fuck it,” Martrix snorted.
Mercifully, I was left to my own devices once again.
“Candy?” I asked.
“I’m here,” she replied weakly. “That was… a lot.”
“Oh, um yeah,” I agreed. “Are you okay?”
“My stats went up, and I… I can feel you now,” she added, a turn of phrase that could mean a lot of… different things. “Oh… are you okay?” she hurried to add.
“I think so,” I blew out a breath.
“Good, because you need to run before that human gets back with a bunch of nasty mages,” Candy harrumphed, some strength seeming to return to her. “Also… I’m really hungry, so… a snack would be nice… um please.”
I blew out a breath. At least some things didn’t change.