--- The day after.
[Flower Slime Evolution Progress: 20%]
[Ghost Slime Evolution Progress 2%]
Jack cursed the system. One whole mug of piss and he only got 2%? Aria needed to pee 50 times for him to evolve. He was already in the kitchen, filling a mug with water.
The right door opened and Aria came in, yawning, her arms stretching out. Her sharp fangs glinted in the morning light.
"Good-"
"Drink this," Jack interrupted her, shoving the water mug to her.
She grabbed the cup and the water was surprisingly clear. She raised an eyebrow at her slime companion, not putting anything past him.
"This isn't your piss right?" Aria's weary eyes were still full of suspicion.
"It's just water," he said.
Aria gave the mug one more long, hard look. With a sigh she gulped it.
"See? Safe," Jack said, happy to have started the day without having to beg for her bodily fluids again. Then she coughed.
"Ew..." she pushed the mug away, "I forgot how terrible water tasted after not drinking it for so long."
Her expression soured, as though she'd just licked a rusty nail. Jack's heart stopped. It couldn't be. There was no way she disliked it.
"Don't you need water to live?"
She shook her head, "Only blood... Speaking of blood."
Her hand reached for Jack and she took a bite. Literally.
She tore a chunk off him and ate it. Like he was a gummy bear.
"Oi!" he wiggled.
"If you need me to pee then you have to keep me hydrated," she said.
His plan to evolve into a Ghost Slime was getting more complicated. Now not only does he need to get Aria's piss but he has to feed her. He slapped his head.
The left door open and Jeanne came in. She had a different glove on. A white glove with gold patterns, she had pickedit out from the clothes they had gotten.
She saw Jack with a bite mark on him, and Aria licking her lips.
"Jack."
"I didn't do anything," he said. His squeaky voice sounding defensive.
Jeanne's eye twitched. She strode into the room with purpose, her newly gloved hand a stark white beacon.
But seeing these two an idea lit up in his mind.
"Aria drink Jeanne's blood."
Both of the girls growled at each other.
'"Fuck no," Jeanne said.
"A disgusting priest's blood. I'd rather drink maggot blood." Aria crossed her arms.
"Look," he pleaded, trying to make this simple transaction sound like a treaty negotiation, "You bite her, I grow stronger. Then I can help you kill the Vampire Slayer faster."
Jeanne let out a harsh, humorless laugh, cutting through Jack's pitch like glass. "Let her bleed me? You must be jesting. Letting a... creature like that put her mouth on me, defile what little sanctity I have left?"
She stared at Jack.
"Do you wish to sleep in the sock for an entire month?"
Aria scoffed. The anger Jeanne had directed at Jack, she found pathetic.
"You truly are a priestess oh wait," Aria leaned closer "Ex-Priestess. All of your holiness means nothing now."
Before Jeanne could retort, Jack said, "Since she's an ex priestess that means you can drink her blood."
Aria's smirk crumbled, replaced by a look of utter betrayal. Jack had turned her own weapon against her. He noticed a small tremble in the hand resting at her hip.
"No!" Both yelled.
Lucky for them someone knocked on the door, it was Laurel. She entered with a basket of berries and breads on her arm. The moment her eyes landed on Aria and Jeanne she knew there was a problem. However she was a professional and she chose to ignore the tension. She placed the basket down on a small moss table, her movements fluid and practiced.
"Breakfast is served. Also your schedule for the day has been finalized." Laurel took out a small scroll and unfurled it.
"Jeanne D'Amain, due to your background in holy magic, the Sacred Vestele has requested your presence for a consultation regarding purification skills."
She then turned to Aria, whose crimson eyes narrowed at the word 'guild'.
"Aria Voss, you'll be with Jack," Laurel paused, a flicker of something unreadable in her eyes, "He will be helping with the collection of Yreon roots in the Whispering Gardens. Yreon roots are a crucial rune component."
Jack tilted his head, "I thought I was supposed to go to a dungeon and get stronger."
Laurel nodded, "Originally you were supposed to train with the young elves at the Grove of Valthana but someone... someone who should not be named asked for you to help them collect rune ingredients." Her cheeks flushed.
"Solana again?" Jack said, earning him a pinch from Jeanne.
"Relax I keep my promises," he whispered.
Laurel sighed, "The same someone. Please do not let her experiment on you."
Taking out the ingredients, Laurel had started cooking breakfast. She seemed to have years of experience by the way she moved elegantly in the kitchen. Jack had asked her for soup because well he's a slime. And Laurel seemed to know a special recipe that leaf slimes loved.
After breakfast was finished and eaten, Jack insisted on accompanying Jeanne to her workplace first. Just the two of them. He wiggled along the suspended wooden pathways of Urianthe, the city bustling with morning activity.
"Are you going to tell them about your holy magic?" he asked. He was hopping in rhythm with her steps.
Jeanne slowed down for a moment, her gaze fixed on the distant canopy.
"Yes. The skills remain, even if the faith does not." Her reply was quiet, a confession to the whispering leaves above them. She looked at her remaining gloved hand, flexing the fingers.
"I think I'm going to try and see the holy magic in a different way now. Maybe Yggdrasil will grant me a different path."
Hopping over a branch, Jack said mid-air, "You want to serve Yggdrasil and not Dyonis?" He was confused about which god the elves served.
"Serving another god is not something I want to do. But Yggdrasil would be my patron." Jeanne's gaze shifted back to him.
"Do you think it's a good idea?" Her question was genuine, a flicker of vulnerability in her weary expression.
"If you serve Yggdrasil that'd make you a dryad and..." Jack scratched his chin, "They're pretty cool from Earth." He was trying to lighten the mood.
Jeanne smiled, but it was fleeting.
They reached a large building grown into the bole of an ancient weeping willow, its drooping branches forming a natural, silvery curtain over the entrance.
"See you later Jeanne," he waved with a tentacle.
She glanced at the floor then back at him before picking him up and giving him a peck on his 'head'.
"Don't die," she said.
"That's the plan."