Disclaimer: I don't own Tensura so don't sue my ass.
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To the far west of the continent, on the border between the Western Nations and the Barren Lands lies a desert kingdom known as Coleus. It serves as an ironclad defense against the malignant monsters that plague the land. For these reasons, they host many times the regular amount of adventures and soldiers than actual citizens. Citizens are also demanded to military service with the option to pursue the role of a tactician if they are too weak. Their lives are built around hunting and ending monsters.
The kingdom boasts an Arabian-style culture and cityscape. Its people usually wear very light and exposed clothing and reside in cities centered around oasis such as the kingdom's capital Herbaria. Although children and those who spend most of their time indoors, like merchants, tend to have fairer complexions, though, the majority of its residents sports relatively browned skin due to the harsh sun and the countless hours spent outside confronting monsters.
Coleus features a traditional monarchy ruled by a King or Queen with a council of ministers. It has a traditional social system, with nobility and upper class members, but their standing does not prevent them from serving in the military.
Today was however a joyous day for the Princess of the kingdom. Zubeia Coleus was about to go on her very first pilgrimage. She had dreamed of exploring the world outside the inner chambers, with her not being allowed to interact with outsiders or peers. Though the maids that served her were of similar age, they weren't of the same class, so she really couldn't even speak to them either. This only fueled her curiosity and desire to experience the world. Her desires were so intense she awakened her own unique skill [Wisher] which allowed her to visualize the true nature as well as intentions of a person. Currently, only her parents know of its existence and demanded she kept it that way.
The Coleus family strictly followed the tradition of their people. As tradition dictates, the first born must become a warrior regardless of gender.
"Farewell father and mother, I will head off to slay the magic beasts." Zubeia spoke with a dignified bearing, masking her happiness with a serious face. She was currently in the royal hall, speaking to her parents. The royal hall exhibited a sense of opulence, signifying the wealth and power the family held.
Like the standard attire of Coleus, she was dressed in extremely light and exposed clothing. One might think she was going to a party if it weren't for the light armor she wore and high grade sword on her waist. Her outfit only accentuated her beauty. She was a gorgeous, brown-eyed brunette, blessed with lovely assets.
"My daughter, before you leave. I would like you to meet the bodyguards I and your mother assigned for you." The king Raksa Coleus gestured with his hands to his guards. The next moments, two individuals stepped into the room, bowing in reverence to their king.
"We pay our respects to the king." They both said in unison. One was male and the other was female. They both had tanned skin, evident of their existence and valor in combat against the fierce magic beasts. "They will accompany you on your journey to vanquish the monsters on the border." The king said, with a bright countenance. It was obvious how proud he was of his daughter. To him, it hadn't been a few years since his daughter was barely half his height but now she will become a warrior and fight in great battles. 'They grow up so fast.' He thought.
'Are they going to assess my performance during the expedition? No, if they were, mother and father would have told me. Hmm… they do look strong.' Zubeia thought. She wasn't pleased at all, it was supposed to be her journey. She was now being cushioned again by her parents. Since childhood, they had sheltered her from various experiences, which naturally led to Zubeia's lack of common sense. Despite this fact, she possesses a great sense of justice.
Ultimately, she couldn't go against her parents wishes. She also knew they were just paranoid and worried about her. So, she decided that the best course of action was to accept their suggestion.
"Thank you, father and mother. I will be on my way now," She said before leaving with the aforementioned two following behind her.
As the door was closed shut, a huge sigh escaped both the king and queen's mouth. They both basked in the silence of the room.
The next moments, the queen's face contorted in irritation. Turning to her husband. "Raksa, are you sure about this? If anything were to happen to my daughter, I will never forgive you." The queen Zenobia says, her heart aching at the thought of her daughter getting hurt. Taken aback by her words, the king replied "I am well aware of the danger, but we can't keep her here forever. You have noticed the curiosity of our daughter, have you not? Forget about tradition, eventually, she would have ventured out on her own and left us. At least this way, we can still be in her life," he said.
"I see your reasoning but I can not help but worry about her."
"Be at ease my love, I sent the strongest support in the kingdom," the king said with a smile while grasping his wife's hand. He never doubted the men he personally trained, not even for a second. They were the best of the best, possessing great strength and skills in the art of the sword. Additionally, they still had potential for even more growth.
'I'm just hoping she gets some experience from this, and become stronger because one day she will have to take up the mantle of a ruler.' Raksa thought, clenching his other arm with an optimistic disposition.
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A few miles off of the outskirts of the Kingdom of Coleus.
{"Man or a Monster" by Sam Tinnesz}
'‹~ Are you a man or a monster? ~ Are you a man or a monster? ~ Are you a man or a monster? ~ When you look at yourself…are you a man…or a monster? ~›' Jamie sang along with the music playing in his head and bounced through the hot desert. With the mental enhancements of his skill [Philosopher], Jamie's mind operated more akin to a powerful super-computer. While some might have abused these abilities to get stronger, Jamie used them mainly to indulge in his whimsical desires.
«Notice. This is a waste of my abilities.»
'No it's not! You can never go wrong with a classic like this!'
«Wa—»
'Shhh it's about to get to the best part—‹~ You can't take back the damage you've done….Oh! You can hide, but you can't run….no, you can't take back the damage you've done….Afraid of what you might become….A man or a monster? ~›'
As the breeze swept through the area, Jamie felt the surge of energy coursing through his liquid form. With finesse, Jamie effectively regulates his bodily functions. His vigorous movements appeared refined, matching the beat of the song proceeding in his mind. 'Even though it's been around a year, it still feels kind of trippy to know I wasn't human anymore. It seemed like something straight out of a manga to me. Hopefully, I can make it in this world.'
'By the way [Philosopher], could you give me a report on the inventory skill?' Jamie inquired, his thoughts were a mix of melancholy and optimism.
«Notice. The process requires an additional 40% energy. It is advised to hold off on further creation of skills until the minimum recovery of energy.»
'Like i suspected, creating more skills requires more energy. Since I'm mostly made of energy, expending past my limit would probably result in being a goner.'
As Jamie passed an oasis, the outline of the kingdom progressively got bigger. The boy jammed to his tunes as he sifted through the data pertaining to his skills.
'That reminds me, what does my [Motion Manipulation] skill do? Since it's the evolution of [Accelerate], I'm pretty sure it increases the speed of objects but better, right?'
«Answer. [Motion Manipulation] controls the action or process of moving. It can be applied to an object or the master, mainly inducing motion to the intended target and manipulating that induced motion in a myriad of ways. Additionally, it is possible to influence other physical laws such as momentum, inertia, and more.»
'It seems kinda like telekinesis.'
'I can see it being a great pair with a gun if we decide to make those in this world or maybe a bunch of knives? Other than that and moving things with it, I can't think of any other applications.'
'I'll probably depend on your understanding of it [Philosopher].'
«Acknowledged.»
'Ok, let's try it out,' he thought as he concentrated his vision on a large sedimentary rock in front of him. As Jamie focused and utilized [Motion manipulation] to move the rock, it seamlessly shot up and traveled through the air as Jamie willed it. Changing it's direction and course with every jerk of his slime body. Speeding up, the rock rushed towards another rock and the resulting impact shattered both rocks.
'Not bad at all,' he thought, rolling over to his sides in satisfaction.
Suddenly, Jamie's [Malice Perception], [Seismic Perception], and [Mana Perception] started going haywire. Screaming at him about the impending danger. He was unable to pinpoint the exact location of where the attack would be coming from and of course he was alarmed by this.
The constant erosion of the surrounding area by the wind and the abrupt concentration of magicules brought an eerie feeling to the boy.
«Warning. Suspected attack from below.»
However, it was too late as In those moments, the sands beneath Jamie parted. Revealing the huge mouth of the monster which swallowed him whole. It was a giant sand worm monster that erupted from the ground and dove right back into the sea of sands.
Within the stomach of the beast, Jamie was contemplating his idiotic actions. If it weren't for his skills, he might have been isekaied once again.
'I guess I shouldn't have delegated the majority of my attention and processing power to playing music in my head. Plus it was a bad idea playing with that rock in the open like that.'
Jamie swirled within the monster and remained unafraid. He was aware of his many resistances and his composition as a corrupted slime which seems to be deadly to material life-forms. So he believed the monster ate poison at best and should gradually be getting weaker. After a short while he decided to make his move.
Concentrating, Jamie transformed his material body into that of a spiked ball then he infused himself with [Fighting Aura] and further refined his displacement with [Motion Manipulation], increasing his speed and strength. His form pierced right through the stomach of the monster and pulverized its internal organs.
"Eeiicckkk!!" The creature screeched in pain, unable to fight back against Jamie's mangling of its insides. Not too long after, Jamie surfaces from the ground and wiggles his amorphous body to get rid of the dirt on him.
«Notice. Through [Furnace], the required energy has been acquired. Commencing completion of skill… Successful. The Extra Skill: [Inventory] is acquired.»
'Great. Now I can better store things. I was thinking of experimenting a little bit, I wonder if i can store things that were spiritual in there.' Jamie thought.
After the short battle with the giant sand worm monster, Jamie sensed the presence of people rushing over. Perhaps on mounts, with how fast they were moving. He felt ecstatic at being able to see and converse with people once again. However, remembering he was a monster, that excitement quickly went away. Earlier, as he snuck past the soldiers guarding the long wall, Jamie had consulted his unique skill [Philosopher] on the matters of humans and to his dismay he discovered the discrimination all nonhuman species experienced. Especially monsters and Majin were put down by humans, never compromising. He even discovered the religion that branded monsters as Nemesis of God.
'I'm not going to lie, 'Nemesis of God' sounded tough as hell even though it's just racism and is not supposed to make monsters look cool or anything.'
'So you're telling me people just kill monsters with no worries? That's screwed up. Aren't they aware there are intelligent monsters that may hold a grudge?'
'It really is easy to be tempted over to the dark side, isn't it?'
«There is a high probability that the species known as humans are influenced by the generations that came before them. Thus, they are likely to hold a grudge of their own.»
«Additionally, the chances of an intelligent monster spawning are exceedingly low.»
'Whatever, they shouldn't mess with me or i'll send them to see Jesus. I'm not so little as to let them walk all over me.'
Despite his apparent idiocy, Jamie understood for creatures like him, it was survival of the fittest and knew he couldn't just waltz into town. Being caught by humans or another stronger monster meant death. He had not come across another intelligent monster so he could see himself taking care of monsters if they became a problem. Humans on the other hand, he could not imagine ending them unless they gave a reason to. That was how twisted and far gone his humanity had eroded. The monsters he encountered tought him it was the law of the jungle in this world; eat or be eaten. Additionally, he felt no apparent sympathy for the humanity of this world after the confirmation of all their atrocities by [Philosopher]. Knowing all this, Jamie naturally decided to avoid the people. Though, he could not keep himself from sneaking into the town.
Focusing kinetic energy into the bottom part of his viscous form, Jamie accelerated with a great show of speed. He stabilized his velocity with [Ultraspeed Action], enabling control of his movements.
The men on their Sand Lizards rode past Jamie's traversing form, only one man noticed the faint traces of aura that passed by them. Chiffial Jahil, a relatively muscular man in his fourties with sharp eyes and short red hair. Looking to the side, he couldn't help but ponder.
'Interesting. I could have sworn I felt a monstrous aura. Perhaps I imagined it.'
But soon after he cleared his thoughts, as he saw the corpse of the nightmare in front of him.
"What in the world happened here?" he said, his voice laced with concern. Normally, it would take a platoon of Holy Knights to defeat a monster of this level. It could have been either an extremely strong person or monster who brought down this monstrosity. For their sake he hoped it was the former because they could at the very least determine their motivations.
Marquis Chiffial Jahil was born into the Marquis Jahil family of the coleus kingdom. He achieved enlightenment at an early age and could be seen as a once in a lifetime genius who's might is second only to the king himself. The worried look on the noble's face really didn't bring any reassurance to the other men that came along. Knowing this, it is only natural to be wary of such a potential adversary and acknowledge their formidable power.
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In an alleyway, behind an old, worn-out building, near an oasis, a fluctuating pile of toxic sludge appeared. Jamie had decided to take human form for the first time in his new life.
With a thought, the conversion of his bodily mass and physical constitution began to change, forming a taller figure from the gathered form. The concentration of magicules and gooeyness swirling in a peculiar manner. Not long after a skeletal structure was conjured followed by multiple layers of flesh.
A moment later, standing there naked was Jamie in his old body. However, all the signs of illness were gone. His appearance was serene and somewhat beautiful for a male.
A rather cute boy with fair skin and bright eyes which possess purple and violet shades that harmonize around his irises. He has a uniquely styled ebony-black hair that stick out almost like spikes. His facial features were excellent, looking around the age of 13 to 15 years old. He sports a relatively slim and fragile build that gives him a feeble impression. In spite of that, he felt unending strength flowing through his body, like he could do anything.
He cracked a grin on his face when he viewed himself with his [Mana Perception]. Moving his head left then right, he took in the familiar feeling he long forgot. Then his fingers twitched which escalated to his arm and his whole body. He ran his fingers through his hair, which elicited an odd sensation. As he tried to take a few steps, he stumbled and fell into the puddle of water close by.
'Right… I haven't walked in years.' He thought to himself, wiping away the water on his face.
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Amazing, this is some intense euphoria shit right here. I staggered and shifted my body in exaggerated motions, trying to maintain my balance with my legs or arms and performed various stretches, exercises, and movements athletes normally did. I effectively reacquired my ability to walk in minutes. I also tried out my voice, and i got to say hearing my voice again brought a smile to my face.
"Lalalala…lalalala."
"Kekekeke." A giggle left my mouth and I couldn't help but continue to laugh louder.
"Hahahaha!"
Utilizing [Freak], [Philosopher] and I were able to recreate the human anatomy with relative ease. I sure as hell didn't understand how that was possible as I was certain I was made out of some viscous substance. Nevertheless, I felt my bones, muscles, nerves, and a heart beating. [Philosopher] please explain.
«Answer. They can be perceived as Pseudo-organs chemically synthesized with the information in the master's memories. Employing Morph allows for the restructuring of the master's molecular structure. Your cells are still that of a corrupted slime so it is possible to switch between forms whenever you desire.»
‹Molecular Structure?›
«Affirmative. The arrangement of atoms in molecules that make up cells within the master's body.»
‹Oh! Like my DNA?›
«Affirmative.»
Huh I didn't think slimes had DNA. I should've figured with you always talking about my contaminated slime cell thingies. Never mind that, I missed all these sensory input; sight, smell, and hearing. I just realized I could eat food and actually taste it now. My willy is also here and as strong as ever. However, deep down, I could feel I didn't need them and could survive without them whenever I wanted.
Apparently, slimes aren't even supposed to have a gender or libido. It was the influence of my [Freak] that made it happen.
With a wave I turned my hand back into my original viscous slime tentacle and partially transformed some of the ooze into a dark, tattered cloak that covered my entire body. [Freak] had a transmutation effect when combined with the fluidity of my slime body, granting me seemingly endless possibilities with how it could be applied. Though, it is limited to specifically my body and of course it doesn't let me create life, that would be truly terrifying if I could do that.
"It really doesn't matter how you look at it, forming matter from the body is nothing to scuff at either. It's crazy how versatile [Freak] is, seems almost too good to be true. Heck, not like I'm complaining—it's my skill and what good is abilities if you can't abuse them?" I commented about my skill as I watched my arm shift into a multitude of different shapes and sizes, conjuring all sorts of weapons and objects. The applications made me question if I was supposed to have the skill in the first place.
"Now, I have something on, I shouldn't draw too much attention."
Just for the kick of it, I took a shonen protagonist pose as I effectively suppressed my aura. It was a strange feeling suppressing my magicules and aura, almost like holding in a nasty fart.
Grinning, i headed towards the town square which seemed lively and had plenty of people around. The place was relatively packed and noisy, with lots of people carrying bags, tools, and weapons. Moving some things I couldn't recognize back and forth through the streets. It had an Arabian Night kind of feeling, almost like i was Aladdin or something.
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A/N: Hello there, I'm the author. The chapter was meant to showcase a bit more of Jamie's personality, mainly his free spirited and callous attitude, often prone to unusual tendencies. Additionally, we see how his unique skill [Freak] continues to push the boundaries of a unique skill. He's even skeptical of his own ability. In the current timeline, he's a couple hundred years in the past prior to the earlier Tenma Great War. Man I suck at world building but I'm going to try anyway. Please feel free to suggest anything you like or anything that will make the Mc or story interesting and I will try to make it happen. Sorry i cut the chapter short, I was kind of busy. I'll try to make the next one longer. I would also appreciate it if you commented as I lose motivation to keep writing really fast. It's so bad, I have to listen to playlists of NEFFEX songs just to write. So please say something and help me get better at writing. Thank you bye.