I was extremely happy with the results; my explosive metal needles were far more effective than I could''ve realized at the time. While the [Metal Slime] trait was clearly being carried by [Nitro Slime], I was sure they''d both be pulling their own weight when I had proper access to better metals. Just imagining an adamantine needle exploding gave me chills.


    ''Still... [Nitro Slime] is terrifying. I can understand why they don''t allow orange slimes to spawn outside of dungeons. The only thing stopping it from being my ultimate secret weapon is the fact that it destroys the slime mass. Ugh... If I hadn''t lost [Mana Conversion], I wouldn''t even need to worry about resource costs.''


    I had a bunch of notifications to go through; I had thought all of them would''ve been ant deaths, but I came across a shocking revelation.


    <Class Experience threshold reached. Elementalist is now LV 5.>


    <14 Skill Points are now available.>


    ''Huh... Either I was really close to a level up, or perhaps the Eyedra had leftover experience after I paid off my debt.'' I thought, surprised I had gained a level so soon from such low-tier monsters.


    Then, I looked at the new skills.


    <Your class has revealed the following skills: [Earth Magic], [Elemental Harmony]>.


    ''I was so distracted by [Metal Slime] that I completely forgot to check whether I had gained Earth affinity!''


    <Skill [Earth Magic LV 1] obtained. Skill Points remaining 13.>


    <[Earth Magic LV 1] spell [Rock Lob] learned.>


    ''Success!'' I cheered happily. ''Although now I''ve gained Earth before Air... Seriously, Trixie, you promised me Air affinity!''


    The spell it gave me was rather simple. I could pull up a rock, rapidly mold earth into a rock, or even apparate a rock entirely from Mana, although at quite a cost. While it was inherently extremely simple, the fact that it was so variable in its mana price was at least interesting.


    ''I bet the type of earth affects the cost. Something fine like sand probably costs more compared to something coarse like gravel.''


    Then, I pulled up my new skill.


    <[Elemental Harmony]


    Enter a trance to increase your natural Mana flow and Mana regeneration, which is greatly enhanced by the elemental essence of the region and affected by your [Elemental Shift] skill level.


    Beneficial effects scale exponentially the longer the trance is maintained.


    If you are aligned to match a region element, a small portion of these benefits are granted passively if sufficient elemental essence is present.


    This skill has no levels.>


    ''Oh. This is clearly an upgrade to [Meditate].'' I realized and pulled up the skill to compare.


    <[Meditate]


    Enter a trance to increase your natural mana flow and mana regeneration.


    Meditation can be used to stave off the effects of sleep deprivation, but it is not a true substitute.


    Beneficial effects scale exponentially the longer the trance is maintained. This skill has no levels.>


    ''Yeah... I never used this at all since I got it. I lost the sleep portion, but passively gaining some of the effects while aligned sounds ideal. Otherwise, when would I ever use this?''


    <Spend 1 Skill Point to upgrade [Meditate] into [Elemental Harmony]?>


    ''Go for it.''


    <Skill [Meditate] upgraded into [Elemental Harmony]. Skill Points remaining 12.>


    ''I effectively lost a skill point since I never used [Meditate] once... Or, would I not have been able to grab [Elemental Harmony] without [Meditate] as a prerequisite?'' I pondered. Then, I looked at my final notification.


    <Class Electromancer [II] has been unlocked.


    Would you like to swap classes?>.


    ''Nope. I''m a happy Elementalist, thank you very much.'' I replied, rejecting the class swap.


    Now, did I want to buy two more [Sub-Cores]? While I had eight points to spend, part of me wanted to save up for another uncapping or to potentially use them to upgrade Magic Resistance from Lesser to Greater.


    ''Yeah... Let''s hold off on spending more. Which means I''ll have to realign my current cores. Sorry [Alpha] and [Beta], you two will be on Earth duty for now. Although it''s not like you can''t cast Arcane or Corrosion spells even while aligned.''


    I tested it out, and while Corrosion was definitely unaffected, I did notice trace amounts of elemental contamination in my Arcane spells.


    ''Okay. I''ll just keep myself unaligned then and hot-swap as needed. At least until I decide to get more cores.'' I decided. ''Now, the elephant in the room... Do I start using [Earth Magic] now?''


    I spent some time grumbling to myself, trying to make a decision. I had just gained a new shiny toy, and I knew bringing it up to my other magic levels would no doubt help me, especially if it contained other spell components. A small part of me acknowledged my poor impulse control as I fluttered from one thing to the next, and so, with great reluctance, I decided I wouldn''t actively pursue [Earth Magic] for now.A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    ''I want to level up [Metal Slime] through usage, not to mention testing [Nitro Slime].'' I glanced at Alpha and Beta and realized I was also being stupidly greedy for wanting my own hands personally in every project. ''I could try leaving it to them. I mean, it''s probably stupid that I haven''t already... Just... Would it still be my accomplishment?''


    I knew I was being weirdly insistent on this subject, but I just struggled to let go. Of course, I didn''t need to rush into crazy [Earth Magic] right away as well.


    ''Okay... Let''s just take a step back. I''ll keep my custom spells to myself for now, no rush, but I''ll set Alpha and Beta on apparating rocks with [Rock Lob]. The mana cost will be high, as will the initial difficulty compared to using the earth available, so it might train a few of my skills and traits. Meanwhile, I''ll focus on my slime as I originally planned.''


    Relatively happy with my decisions, I gave them both the order to start grinding away. I set up some conditions that they wouldn''t do while I was actively using stealth to avoid blowing my cover, and if there were no engaged enemies nearby, they would just drop the rocks. Otherwise, they would provide supporting fire. It was a bit of a complex order, but it seemed they were easily fine with accepting such a conditional order. I also gave them a halt order if my Mana dropped below thirty percent.


    Then I started gathering and eating the remains of the ants scattered about. Using my much neglected [Pseudopod] trait to reach out and collect them. My ant profile was updated, and I found out this subspecies of ant could, in fact, expel fire and also came with a rather high level of innate [Fire Resistance]. The salamander had [Inferno Sac], which was the upgrade of [Flame Sac], while these drones had an even further downgrade called an [Ember Sac].


    ''If the soldier ants have [Flame Sac], I wonder if the princess will have an [Inferno Sac]?'' I wondered.


    Although it made some logical sense, I somehow doubted that was the case, as otherwise, the dwarves surely would have mentioned it or sought out this ant colony much sooner.


    With my meal complete and some slime mass recovered, I started following the scent trails left behind by the fire ants. One unexpected side effect was that incorporating this ant species made me understand their specific scent trails more clearly. They left odd scents of "collect here" or "food here" rather than basic communication.


    ''I guess I shouldn''t judge them too harshly. My slime brethren literally can''t think at all...''


    I made sure to take out any drones I spotted on the way to the nest, which, by following the trail, I realized was quite a distance away from the initial location given by the quest. Not that I could blame the guild; the original location was evidently just the first point of contact.


    When I finally found the nest, I was surprised at the level of camouflage the ants had adopted. The nest was well hidden under some collapsed towering mushrooms, and if I hadn''t had the trail to follow, I wouldn''t have spotted it that easily.


    ''Can that really be called tracking? I followed a trail directly left behind...'' I shrugged.


    Trying to understand how big the nest was, I activated [Tremor Sense] and saw that it was quite a sprawling network below me as numerous blips appeared through the sense.


    ''Okay, it''s ant extermination time!''


    As I neared the nest entrance, I saw it wasn''t entirely undefended. Three large ants were hanging from the underside of a mushroom.


    <Fire Ant Soldier [III] LV 22 Elemental Affinity: Fire.>


    ''I wonder if I could sneak in and assassinate the princess?''


    I pondered as I quickly shifted into an appropriate fire ant drone disguise and continued forward. At first, it seemed like my plan was perfect, as the ants showed no hints of hostility. But when I neared them, I suddenly caught a new whiff of a scent that clearly meant "intruder."


    Two of the three soldiers immediately tried to seize me with their massive mandibles, which was when I abandoned my ant form and swelled out to a far more impressive, blobby form. I opted to use the silver slime''s natural method of attack as iron spikes protruded from my body, and I formed bladed pseudopods.


    The soldier ants had a much more robust carapace, so I had to target weak points to get past their defenses. Meanwhile, a hail of magical forming rocks was lobbed at the third soldier who remained behind.


    The strategy executed by these fire ants seemed to be to lock something in place with their mandibles and then unload their [Flame Sac] point blank. Some drones even appeared from the nest, trying to hold me down. Unfortunately for them, you can''t hold a slime in place, and even if they could, I was so fireproof at this stage that it was a joke.


    With much poking and prodding, I managed to stab through into one of the soldier ants and had the invading tendril burst outwards like a sea urchin of iron spikes. It was certainly an effective method of attack, and the ant died shortly afterward.


    While [Acid Slime] would have made penetrating much simpler, I wasn''t sure how mixing my slime traits affected experience distribution. If the cause of death was acid, I presumed it would gain the lion''s share of experience, which made me hesitant to use the deadly slime.


    ''Ugh. I''m being stupid again.'' I admitted.


    I sent an order to my remaining [Sub-Cores] to cast [Erode] when I was engaging in melee with the ants. This way, I could continue using [Metal Slime] as my offensive.


    When my metal-bladed tendrils started cutting through the ant carapace, I grinned maniacally as I formed more weapons, becoming a whirling blender on the poor ant. I gained a newer appreciation of my defense debuff and wondered if this was how Roderick and Ian had felt.


    With both soldiers dead, I was prepared to take on the third when I noticed it battered and broken with countless rocks and shards around him. Alpha and Beta had shown no mercy and clearly were having quite some fun with [Rock Lob] as they crushed the ant.


    I quickly ate what I could and began my descent into the nest, only to be met with a wall of drones that all unleashed their [Ember Sac] in unison. I wanted to giggle at the tickle of embers, as even Dewi had trained himself on much harsher flames.


    ''Talk about a perfect opportunity to use [Contagion]!'' I fiendishly thought.


    [Erode] was cast on the most central ant, and then a boosted [Contagion] sent out a massive cloud of the debuff, infecting every ant present. While I would have loved to have spread something crazy like [Electrocute] or [Frostbite] and watched the ensuing chaos, I had another fun idea planned.


    I opted to morph into a metallic boar and charge forward into the crowd of ants; as I broke through their ranks with my mighty charge, I gave the order to control and erupt into as many spikes of slime as possible to all of my cores.


    So much slime mass was being directly manipulated I was forced to withdraw more as an endless sea of spikes, prongs, and drills burst outwards. Seeing such well-executed and precise control over my slime mass was so satisfying.


    ''Should I call this the metal urchin of death? Or is that too edgy?'' I couldn''t help but snort at the terrible joke.


    Perhaps driven by instinct, when an ant was killed, it was immediately dragged in by hooked tendrils and promptly eaten and absorbed. It was a little surprising to see my [Sub-Cores] actually understood my desire to train [Metal Slime], and thus, only my center of mass became the designated eating zone to ensure no kills were made with [Acid Slime].


    ''My last evolution really gave them a boost. I probably haven''t scratched the surface of what''s now possible.'' I thought as they continued to cull the drones.