Drip-Fed

“You are a very peculiar creature,” Gizmo mumbled, somewhat impressed, as he watched Apexus work on a number of problems it had presented it with in text form. Many of them were simple mathematical questions. It solved the basic ones at a moments notice, not even stopping to think for an answer no matter the numbers involved.

Normally, that would have indicated at least some natural skill with math, but the second the slime hit something more complex it slowed down to a crawl. Then, when it hit questions that had mathematical problems packed into text form, it usually wrote down an answer that utilized no numbers whatsoever but instead the tools of its body.

A sapient monster it may have been, but Apexus was still a monster. The ability to count and calculate the amount of Growths it currently maintained as well as situational thinking had always been more important than the question of how much water fit under the curvature of a twenty-metre bridge. In the first place, the slime had never asked itself something like that, it sounded like a highly irrelevant question as far as it was concerned. It wasn’t going to build a bridge, it had eaten and developed wings, it could just cross the river as it was.

As such, Gizmo decided to end the test he had devised for the slime early. Obviously enough, it had no talent for advanced math. Glancing over to Aclysia, who took the same test and had already arrived at the last question, he didn’t worry too much about his pupil’s future, however.

Drawing the letters in thin, artistic lines by dipping her finger into normal pot of ink right next to her, Aclysia mumbled her progress. “As I know the angle and the two adjacent sides I can calculate the hypotenuse, thus acquiring the height of the halved triangle. Using that as the radius for the circle at the base of the cylinder I get the volume of the figure B…” a few moments and fluid calculations latter she had correctly finished the calculation for the size of the top hat.

Gizmo gathered that test as well and, after looking over them for just another second, waved them in his hand. Magic poured out of his hands and into the Blessed Parchment, causing the inlaid spell to activated and wipe the ink right of the paper. Having only a limited amount of it and being too weak to press new sheets himself, this was how Gizmo kept his stash of writing utensils stocked up.

Apexus took the comment made by its teacher in stride. Not being told it had done something the wrong way generally meant that it had done something right, so it would take the victory. “I do have to admit that your problem-solving skills are pretty good and utilize creativity. That is good, that will get you far in life,” Gizmo elaborated, the slime glowing with pride at the compliments. “However, your handwriting is still barely decipherable, your grammar slips at points and at the speed at which you calculate anything beyond basic additions is bound to make you like a buffoon. We will practice that more in the future.” The slime deflated into a puddle that sat miserably in its bowl of a tree-trunk. Aclysia giggling a bit at Apexus’ expense only made it feel worse.

“I am very sorry, awakener,” the metal fairy apologized seeing the sorry state, flying over and landing atop the blue puddle of misery. “I find bluntness entertaining. You shouldn’t beat yourself up over it, these are problems you can fix with enough learning.”

“Indeed, rinse and repeat…” the old man laughed, an unusual undertone underneath the usually friendly sound, “getting you a proper hand would he-“ a shocked expression hushed over Gizmo’s face, then he tried to play it off by waving his hand dissuadingly. “…no, no, forget I mentioned that. It will be fine as is.”

The slime, pulling back into the proper elliptic, smooth shape, tilted its eye’s positions in perfect synchronicity with Aclysia’s head atop it. Both of them looked questioningly at their host, who continued to wave off.

“It is off no matter,” he insisted, patting the slime on the top in nonchalant fashion. Gizmo was never afraid to touch Apexus, no matter how many times he had seen the slime dissolve things within it. “You will do fine with what you have… for now,” he mumbled those last two words in a way that sounded like they slipped out against his better judgement before hastily following it up with. “Enough of math, then, how about we continue our lessons about the omni-verse we inhabit?”

That was an immediate and effective topic change, as Apexus was much more interested in hearing more about the details of the world it had to survive and eat through. “There are a couple of topics more we should clear, mostly regarding magic and fighting arts, but for now we should continue our talk from last time and clear what usually can be found on leaves.”

Confused again, the tilted eyes made their return. Apexus had been under the impression that the leaves were so different from each other in manners of appearance that linking them outside of their existential condition was impossible.

Gizmo laughed, in his normal benevolent tone, and leaned back in his chair. “I can see your befuddlement. Let me explain. Albeit we seldom know what manner of weirdness or grandeur, from the most chaotic swamps to the greatest of golden cities, the gods come up in a particular leaf, there are many similarities between them that we can explore.”

“We also haven’t talked about fruits yet,” Aclysia added.

“Ah, indeed,” Gizmo nodded, “let us keep that for the end, as we need to cover the bases before we get to the final product.” The old man stopped, his coarse throat turning his voice raspy and unpleasant before he began coughing strongly. He grabbed his teacup but found it empty. Quickly he extended a quivering hand towards the kettle, the other raised to his mouth to quell the unhealthy sounds.

Quick for an old man perhaps, but Apexus was still quicker, grabbing the uncomfortably hot thing and pouring its mentor a fresh cup. With a thankful glance, Gizmo downed the strongly herbal smelling brew and cleared his throat. After a few more gulps and repeats of the process, the sound Gizmo made no longer raised the suspicion that one of its kin was living at the back of the man’s maw in the slime anymore.

“My apologies,” the old mage mumbled, his voice mostly recovered. “My old age and its problem aside, the topic at hand: leaves, as different as they may be in execution, usually have three things that can be found in all of them.” Gizmo used the empty test sheets and the writing utensils already on the table to illustrate. “Histories, monsters and dungeons. Let’s start with the first one.”

As he spoke, Aclysia flew off Apexus and over to the alchemy area, gathering the necessary herbs to put a new kettle over the fireplace. She didn’t need the lesson and was worried for the mentor’s health. She lacked the physical strength to actually lift the thing, especially once it was filled with water, but she could do that much. Doubtlessly without a fuss, her awakener would do the rest.

“We say a history rather than a people for two reasons. Sometimes, gods like to create simple staging grounds for their newest beasts to compete for the food chain, or as peaceful paradises for herbivores to simply live out their days in. Experimental or zoo-like places without much thought put into them where the history is merely the shifting of the land over time. Other places don’t have a sapient race inhabiting it anymore by virtue of them being wiped out. Whether an apocalypse was caused by their own greed, the violent ascension of a god, a powerful adventurer wiping out the place or something else entirely, what history that place has lies in the ruins.”

Gizmo cleared his throat probingly again and nodded when the problems seemed to have been fixed for now. He took a sip of tea before continuing nonetheless. “Monsters are then the animals inhabiting the leaf. While leaves containing only animals that can be qualified as cattle aren’t entirely unheard of, their percentual share,” that was a concept Apexus barely knew what to do with, but it just accepted the point, ”is so small they might as well not exist for the sake of statistic.

“Monsters are a quick way to identify which god created a leaf, or was at least involved in it. For experienced Branchers, seeing a certain monster they have encountered many times before tells them a lot of things about the leaf as a whole. Just by seeing a dragon soar, one can deduce that there must be enough meat to feed such a creature, the colour of its scales and size usually give away the rough details of a leaf’s biome. There are people who specialize in this, but we will talk about how adventurers organize themselves, at least in my heyday, another time.”

Apexus had a hard time imagining the decrepit old skeleton as a young man capable of adventuring. Sure, the man was clearly a mage of some power, otherwise how would he have built that fence, illusionary barrier and have access to all that Blessed Parchment, not to mention the translation spell he could use. However, just trying to see him as anything younger than what he currently was, was difficult.

“Believe me or not, I was once a scarlet-haired legend,” Gizmo berated the doubtfully looking slime. Then he sighed, “Let’s move on though, the last things gods like to throw into their worlds are dungeons, a term I always found terribly unfitting. Adventurers love it, dungeons make it sound like they are heroically conquering dark prisons and dangerous places. In reality, dungeons aren’t even necessary structures. Landmarks would be more accurate, places that are unusual even in the leaf they are placed in, holy forests or castles guarded by animated armour. Simply put, places of great danger and great reward.”

“You are forgetting one aspect of the divine’s creations,” Aclysia chimed in, putting a clean bag filled with herbs and made from rough cloth on the table where she landed. “They don’t just add dungeons to the world, but also mysteries. Simple things that pose riddles or challenges to the people discovering them, often unsolved for centuries,” she gestured at herself, “I, myself, would be an example for such a mystery. Although they usually aren’t accompanied by divine quests…”

Aclysia’s voice trailed off and she blinked rapidly. Then she turned towards her awakener ever so slowly. “I never disclosed the details of mine quest to you!” she exclaimed, only now realizing this. Between not being able to tell Apexus due to its inability to understand, her physical form failing and then the simple flow of living in this house she had completely forgot about it. It wasn’t urgent, but now that she finally got the reminder, she decided to disclose it.

Gizmo leaned back, the metal fairy drew breath, the slime stared.