Syl-Chapter 260: Slimy Subterfuge

I continued my spell tinkering, and when Vee finished eating, I encouraged her to continue spell wrestling with Mu, Nu, and Xi. Thankfully, she took my advice and went about it with minimal complaints.

Some time passed, and eventually, Paeris returned, accompanied by Llewel. Once the room was secured, I let everyone join the telepathic conversation, and we got down to business.

"Greetings, Syl, I trust you're enjoying the better accommodations?" Llewel asked.

"Not being dimensionally trapped is wonderful!" Vee replied before I could.

Llewel nodded, "I can understand the feeling of helplessness; it's extremely unpleasant—like trapping a water mage in an active volcano."

"I'd argue it was worse than that, personally," Vee replied.

"As bad as an antimagic zone?" Llewel asked curiously.

"I don't think either of us has experienced that," I answered.

"If it's anything like being continuously Mana burned, then I'd have to say it's not as bad," Vee admitted.

Llewel chuckled, "It's not as uncomfortable as Mana burn or as lethal, but while in the zone, any external spells unravel before you can cast them. The only way around it is to cast spells internally, but once they leave your personal aura, they would rapidly fall apart."

"Sounds dreadful," I commented.

"It's certainly unpleasant," Llewel agreed. "Thankfully, classes that can create them are scarce, so you'd only really find one in a dungeon."

Paeris cleared his throat while staring at us and looking a bit peeved.

"Right, we should get business out of the way first," Llewel said. "Paeris mentioned you wanted to show your water mastery to me for evaluation. At the same time, I have the magical item to conceal your affinities."

Llewel reached into his pocket and pulled out an ornate-looking ring. He handed it to me. I quickly began to roll it around between my fingers and inspect it closer. However, it appeared mundane visually, and even my [Appraisal] upgraded [Identify] failed to reveal any secrets.

"Congrats, Syl!" Vee cheered.

"For…?" I replied curiously.

"That looks like a big fancy engagement ring!" She answered, I could sense the bemusement in her voice.

Llewel suddenly choked and began coughing as he tried to recover.

"Har har," I groaned while Vee began to giggle.

"P-please don't make jokes like that," Llewel replied.

"Is Syl not good enough for you?" Vee teased.

"No, but I'm not looking for anyone in that matter, elf or otherwise," Llewel replied sternly. "I'm also far too young to get married."

"Hm… Not a bad idea, actually," Paeris suddenly spoke. "Also, you're almost 150 years old, hardly too young to complain about marriage prospects."

A look of shocked dread flashed across Llewel's face, "I don't know what's more horrifying; you making a joke or going along with such an insane idea."

Paeris chuckled, if I could even call it that, as it was so devoid of even a hint of humor, "I just think it would be a good interim method of preventing would-be suitors from approaching Lady Sylthaeryn when she starts living in the capital. It would also provide a good excuse for you to stay close to her."

"I love that idea!" Vee replied enthusiastically.

"I don't…" I whined.

Llewel's expression suggested that he agreed with me, although rather than outright rejecting it, he was mulling over the logic of the plan.

"It would also help cement your joining of the Feirelle branch," Paeris added.

"Genius!" Vee exclaimed.

Traitor…

"I suppose that does make sense," Llewel answered, much to my regret, "Although we should ask Mistress Loreleia what she thinks of the idea."

"Look at it this way, Syl. Would you prefer having a bunch of elven princes trying to woo you?" Vee asked before giving a quick snicker, "Actually, that works for me too. Imagine all the elven hotties falling over you!"

"Please, no!" I groaned, resisting the urge to slap her across the room.

"It's a considerable possibility. Diplomatic marriages between branches are relatively common, and once the Mistress announces her intention to ascend to a High Elf, many will seek to ally with our branch. If she succeeds, they gain a powerful ally; if she fails, they can assimilate our dead branch into their own." Paeris explained.

"If it's that big of a deal, I'm surprised you don't want Syl to entertain the idea. Wouldn't you want extra allies? Or are you worried about screwing it up?" Vee asked.

"With proper time and practice with her new skill, I don't doubt Lady Sylthaeryn would be capable of it," Paeris answered; I was half-expecting him to disparage me. "However, what happens when Lady Sylthaeryn wishes to explore the world again? There's a good chance the merging branch family would be against it. Furthermore, it could be used as an opportunity to undermine the Mistress, which I will not allow under any circumstances!"

"I thought we wanted to put bait out?" I asked.

"Correct, but not Mistress Loreleia," Paeris reiterated. "In fact, such an arrangement would also draw any would-be assassins towards Llewel, which would also benefit us."

"Kill the fiance, and you can get to the true prize. It makes total sense!" Vee agreed.

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I turned to Llewel, hoping he'd be more against this, but to my horror, I found him nodding along in agreement.

"Surely you don't want to be bait?" I asked. "I don't think you can recover from knife wounds as well as me."

Llewel chuckled, "No, in that regard, I'm definitely not. But attacking a Chronomancer would be quite foolish, and I do have contingencies against such actions."

A dark expression glossed over his face, chilling me to the core.

I'm really glad we didn't go with our plan to attack him!

Paeris nodded, "Good. It sounds like we are in agreement. I'll go inform Mistress Loreleia while you discuss her water magic."

Before I could even protest, he promptly left the room. I sighed while turning awkwardly to face Llewel.

"Apologies, Syl, once he sees a benefit for the branch, he relentlessly pursues it," Llewel said. "In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if he continues to try to bribe Vee or even yourself to join the branch as a [Bonded Companion] or otherwise."

"Friend poaching is not allowed," I protested.

Vee giggled, "At least I'm hard to bribe. I bet if he rolled out a wheelbarrow full of slime cores, you'd be begging to join!"

I opened my mouth to refute, but then I wondered what species of slime cores it could be, and I failed to come up with a reasonable excuse.

"Moving on," Llewel interrupted to my relief. "That ring will conceal your affinities. It also appears utterly mundane and is immune to most forms of [Identify], and unless you are willing to destroy it, even a master enchanter would struggle to see what it truly is."

I looked at the ring I was still holding. True enough, even [Soul Sight] showed nothing. Part of me was even tempted to say it was so ordinary that you'd find it suspicious, but I held my tongue and placed it on my finger. There was no notification or prompt, and I felt nothing either.

This isn't some elaborate prank, right? I can feel the snickering glee building up inside Vee.

"Excellent," he replied cheerfully. "So, Paeris mentioned that you lack proper mastery of your elements and asked that I examine your current progress and offer any advice or guidance I can."

I nodded, "I wasn't exactly sure what he was talking about. The closest thing I could imagine is how elemental monsters create their bodies."

"It's actually not that dissimilar," he surprisingly replied. "Or you could say that the elementals are doing a poor version of what true masters of the elements can produce."

"Wait, really? A hydromancer can do more than a water elemental?"

"If you are just referring to how they create their bodies—yes. Elementals saturate their respective element in their Mana and then incorporate them into their being. A water elemental would take some time to incorporate a lake into their body. A true hydromancer, however, can make the very water submit to their will without the need to saturate it with their Mana."

"That seems crazy; what's stopping them from just grabbing an entire ocean?" Vee asked.

Llewel chuckled, seeming quite amused by such a question, "Well, they would need the willpower to exert over that large body of water and then additional willpower to even command it to do anything—so we are quite safe from someone claiming the ocean."

I sighed, "Well, I can't do that. I've not been offered a skill or trait that would allow me to do it, and if it's some secret like breaking through your Mana aura, then I've not accomplished it either."

"Perhaps your class just unlocks it later," Llewel suggested. "Unfortunately, my own water affinity is severely lacking, so I can't even qualify for the class and thus can't provide you with a demonstration. Would you mind showing what you showed Paeris?"

I nodded and withdrew water-colored slime into my palm. From there, I began forming it into the whip shape I had made earlier before splitting it into various tendrils and implements.

"Remarkable," Llewel praised.

"Oh, we're just scratching the surface of what Syl can do with those tentacles!" Vee commented.

"I don't doubt it for a second. I've witnessed silver slimes create weaponry and such, but nothing of this caliber. There's also the oddity of me being unable to currently tell its slime despite me knowing the truth of the matter," he paused to think, rubbing his chin and occasionally pinching the bridge of his nose. "Do you have deception skills or traits to block [Identify]?"

"I have a few things," I responded, beginning to list some of the traits and skills that made up my slimy deception repertoire.

We spent some time going through my profile. I didn't show him the descriptions, but I did give him some explanations of traits and skills I felt comfortable enough sharing. However, I still held some cards to myself and didn't give him the unabridged breakdown.

To my surprise, after some thinking, he came up with a reasonable idea.

"This [Chimeric Mimicry] sounds like a potent trait!" Llewel praised. "I think there's an unintended synergy going on between it, [Magical Subterfuge] and [Roleplay]."

"Really? [Magical Subterfuge]?" I asked.

"Why the heck would that work with [Roleplay]?" Vee asked.

"For when you want to shout [Fireball] and then actually cast something else," Llewel explained.

"That actually works?" Vee asked, sounding dumbfounded.

"Surprisingly well, if you're skilled enough," Llewel replied; he then shook his head and chuckled before continuing. "A boy I grew up with used to shout [Fireball] for everything that all of his opponents in duels would never believe him. He had conditioned so many opponents to expect the opposite that when he actually cast a real [Fireball] spell, they were completely caught off guard!"

Oh gods, there's an elven version of Dewi!

"That… is so dumb," Vee sighed.

I grinned as I pulled up the skill description and shared it for both to see.

<[Magical Subterfuge]

Beguile your magical opponents by concealing your spell constructs from their sight or manipulating them to distort their true intent.

This skill and its levels can be used to achieve these effects alone, but to truly utilize either option, it must be paired up with a compatible skill.

Stealth Bonus: [Vanish] (Excellent Efficiency)

Deception Bonus: [Roleplay] (Great Efficiency).>

"Oh! This used to say [Acting], and if I remember correctly, it was poor efficiency!" I said excitedly.

"Yeah, but I don't see anything about disguising slime as spells mentioned in it," Vee added.

"I did say it might be an unintended synergy," Llewel reiterated. "You want to beguile your opponents and distort the true intent with your water slime there, don't you?"

"Definitely, but I didn't think that would be enough. It seems far out of scope for its intended purposes," I replied.

"Well, true, but that's where your great deception bonus comes into play," Llewel explained. "But, like I said, it is just a guess on my part. On the other hand, you also have the benefit of that slime radiating such an extreme amount of Mana that, logically, I can't see it as anything but a spell."

"It was a plan I had before I got a class and learned real magic," I replied, feeling a little smug. "It worked out, and with [Acting], I even gave it a cool-sounding name!"

"Surely not? It doesn't even have a spell construct thing," Vee replied.

"Honestly speaking, you don't need to confirm everything to make someone believe it is real. If you've made a good enough appearance, an enemy mage will assume you're proficient enough to hide your constructs or have an enchanted item capable of doing it," Llewel said.

"If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck…" Vee mumbled.

"A profound analogy!" Llewel praised.

Vee grumbled incoherently.

"So I can keep using my slime and pretend it's manipulated water?" I asked.

Llewel nodded, "Although some people might tease you for using it as a bit of a crutch or handicap. Recall I mentioned that an elemental infusing the water with its Mana has a lesser effect? Well, one way to enhance or reduce the amount of willpower needed is by smothering it in your Mana."

"So everyone would think that I don't have enough willpower to do it without using Mana saturation?"

"Precisely," Llewel answered. "Although, having said that, most elemental mages do keep a storage device full of their respective element already infused with their Mana. An emergency backup usually."

"That works out even better for me; I can just pretend to withdraw my personal stash of infused water!"

"And while it might be a tad bit embarrassing needing to use the handicap, even if that's not truly the case, most naysayers will go silent when they see your level of proficiency and control."

I grinned happily and winked at Vee.

Looks like I get to be a cheating slime, after all.

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