[Book 1 Completed] Industrial Mage: Modernizing a Magical World [Kingdom Building LitRPG]
B2 | Chapter 40 – Unexpected Gains & a Visitor

This was such a difficult choice. Both [Mana Convergence] and [Indifference] were good, and not to mention [Focus] wasn't bad either.

Sure, [Inner Sanctum] was out of the equation, but Theodore still had trouble deciding which one to choose, so much so that he wanted to groan, only to realize he was still slime.

He mentally sighed instead, and with his brain teetering on the choice, he picked [Mana Convergence] in the end.

The moment he did so, he felt regret, but he pushed that aside in favor of the shiny new skill he'd just gotten. Because no way in hell was he going to ruin his mood! And not like he couldn't learn the other skills!

Now that he had a reference, maybe he could try and "learn" them himself! Not to mention, it wasn't like the skill he chose was bad; he just felt like [Indifference] and [Focus] were also good picks and could be useful.

Congratulations! You have evolved skill: [Meditation]!

Congratulations! You have gained skill: [Mana Convergence]!

Theodore then had a tingling sensation, and it was similar to static electricity, but softer and warmer.

Around him, ambient mana began to shift in his direction. There was no hurry, no deluge, nothing of the kind. It was just... moving in his direction, as if he had turned into a magnet for the invisible energy that saturated everything.

Holy shit.

It wasn't a massive amount. Not some raging flood that would have rendered him incoherent. However, in contrast to his pitiful passive regeneration? Miles better didn't even begin to cover it.

His previous mana regeneration rate had been like using an eyedropper to fill a bucket. Granted, the "bucket" was rather huge, but this was similar to having a yard hose drip steadily. Of course, that was only passive regeneration.

Regardless, Theodore would've grinned if he'd had a face. Would've punched the air if he'd had fists. Instead, he was in his slime form, so he didn't have a lot of ways to let his emotions out.

Not being able to resist, he transformed into a blob and wiggled excitedly. This was amazing! Absolutely incredible! He'd been worried about mana. And now he had this steady, constant influx just... happening. Without him doing anything.

But wait. If this is passive, what happens when I try to actively pull mana in?

As soon as the idea came to him, Theodore concentrated on the skill. He reached out with whatever metaphysical muscles [Mana Convergence] had given him and—

It was like opening floodgates. Like someone had yanked the plug out of a bathtub, except he was the drain. The mana no longer simply flowed toward him; rather, it poured in from all sides, rushing and streaming in as if he had transformed into a vacuum cleaner.

It was an intoxicating feeling.

[Mana Convergence] has leveled up! – Lvl 0 > Lvl 1!

Theodore wanted to laugh. Already at Level 1? He had only just begun to experiment!

***

[Mana Convergence] has leveled up! – Lvl 1 > Lvl 2!

[Mana Convergence] has leveled up! – Lvl 2 > Lvl 3!

[Mana Convergence] has leveled up! – Lvl 3 > Lvl 4!

[Mana Control] has leveled up! - Lvl 9 > Lvl 10!

[Mana Control] has leveled up! - Lvl 10 > Lvl 11!

When it came to playing with mana, Theodor didn't know anyone that came close to his level of madness.

Once he set his mind to something, he would make sure he accomplished it, and sure enough, it didn't take much time for him to level up [Mana Conversion] to level 4.

He'd just poured out his mana in massive quantity, played around with it to train his [Mana Control], and then he'd actively sucked in the ambient mana like a sponge.

Repeating the process for hours on end, and the result was pretty good.

He'd even leveled up [Mana Control]!

Theodore let the two mana constructs disperse and finally turned back into his human form. Sure enough, he was naked.

Theodore stared down at himself. Naked as the day he was born.

Man, this is annoying.

He'd been so caught up in everything that he'd forgotten about the whole clothing situation whenever he transformed back into his human form.

Wait a minute.

He was part slime now. A goddamn shapeshifting blob of goo that could apparently take human form whenever he wanted.

So why the hell was he standing around naked when he could just... make clothes?

The idea was sound, so the question was, could he?

Could he actually manipulate his slime body to create clothing? It wasn't like he needed to breathe through his skin or anything. He was slime. All of him. Every inch. He actually no longer needed to breathe at all.

Theodore felt the usual dissolution of his human body as he transformed back into his blob form. Then he concentrated. If he could make himself look human, feel human, taste things like a human, hear like a human, even make his skin like a human, why not make himself look like a clothed human?

He started simple. Just tried to change the texture of his outer layer. Make it feel different. Rougher. More like... fabric?

Holy shit. It was working.

His slime's surface wavered, then somewhat solidified. He was still essentially goo, so it wasn't solid, but it was different. It was... coarser? Like rough cotton against his... well, against whatever passed for nerve endings in a slime body.

Then he tried color. Could he make it darker? Shift from that translucent blue-green to something more... clothing-appropriate?

The change was gradual at first. A deepening of hue. Then more dramatic. His surface shifted from pale translucent to deep brown, then black. Then back to brown. Then—because he was feeling experimental—a rich navy blue.

This was incredible.

Theodore reformed into his human shape, concentrating on maintaining the changes. The result was... well, it looked like he was wearing a simple tunic. Sort of. More like, he was made of tunic.

If he squinted and didn't look too close, it could pass for clothing. The texture was right, the color was right, and it covered all the important bits.

But could he make it more detailed? More convincing?

He concentrated more intently, imagining seams, stitching. The way cloth flowed and hung. He started to carefully and slowly shape his outer layer.

Not only altering color and texture, but truly giving the appearance of distinct clothing. A shirt here, pants there. Even boots.

It was exhausting work. Like trying to paint a masterpiece while simultaneously being the canvas, the brush, and the paint. But gradually, piece by piece, he managed to create what looked like a decent set of simple clothing.

The pants were the trickiest part. Getting the legs to look right, to move naturally when he walked. But after several attempts—and a few embarrassing moments where one leg ended up significantly longer than the other—he managed something that looked almost convincing.

Theodore took a few experimental steps. The slime-clothes moved with him, maintaining their shape and texture. They even had a bit of weight to them, though nothing like real fabric. He'd need more practice to create convincing fabric.

Congratulations! You have gained skill: [Slime Control]!

Theodore nearly jumped out of his newly formed skin. A new skill? Just from figuring out how to make slime clothes?

Well, that made sense, actually.

He had been doing things with his slimy body that he had never done before. Changing texture, color, opacity, even creating complex shapes and maintaining them while in motion. The system would undoubtedly acknowledge that as deserving of a skill.

He had to acknowledge that the outcomes were really remarkable when he looked down at himself. Sure, it wasn't haute couture; it was respectable, practical, and—above all—it covered all that needed to be covered.

Theodore raised his arms, twisted his torso, and even did a little jump. The slime-clothes held their shape perfectly, moving with him like they were actually sewn fabric. Though he did wonder what would happen if someone tried to grab his shirt.

It would probably be best to keep it a secret until he could further develop his skill. Or perhaps he ought to test it out and make the necessary improvements to his "clothes" before everything else? Nevertheless, this was a game changer.

He could stop worrying about being nude whenever he changed forms. There wouldn't be any more embarrassing situations where he stood around bare-ass while trying to figure out where to find actual clothes.

He was his own goddamn wardrobe now.

Theodore couldn't help but laugh. Here he was, a former human turned slime monster, wearing clothes made entirely of his own body. It was ridiculous, absurd, and utterly insane.

And technically, he was still naked. Just... creatively naked.

God, his life had gotten weird.

But absolutely brilliant, nonetheless.

***

Days passed. Theodore worked on his refrigerator prototype. Basic concept, nothing fancy. Still had issues with temperature regulation, but it was progress.

Then the fervidite shipment from Westford finally showed up. About damn time. He immediately started organizing the materials and got everything sorted for the kiln upgrades.

Combined the fervidite with his improved [Rune Inscription], and the brick production was finally looking solid. Good quality, consistent output. That part of the plan was falling into place.

But the soil contamination problem was still a complete mess. He'd been trying to use his life and death affinities to figure out some kind of solution for the farmland.

More specifically, to discover some kind of skill. So far, nothing. Zero progress on the actual solution. But he'd made some progress toward potential skills.

The contaminated soil just sat there, useless as ever, though.

Which was very unfortunate.

Whatever. He had bricks now; bricks never disappointed him.

He'd had a long chat with his bricks, and given that they were coming in spades now, it meant he could actually start the bathhouse project.

The problem was, bricks were just the beginning. He needed pipes for water transport, proper drainage systems, showerheads, all that infrastructure nonsense.

All of that was way beyond his skill set. More specifically, it required a specific expertise he couldn't just brute force his way into like he normally would.

Perhaps it was time to call in professionals. He would need to get in touch with experts and most likely pay exorbitant prices for their knowledge.

However, the bathhouse was too significant to half-ass. With everything else going on, people needed proper sanitation. Oh, and he had once again advanced his skills:

[Slime Control] has leveled up! – Lvl 1 > Lvl 2!

[Rune Inscription] has leveled up! – Lvl 4 > Lvl 5!

[Arcane Awareness] has leveled up! – Lvl 10 > Lvl 11!

In addition to constantly tinkering with [Rune Inscription] for the refrigerator project, he had been playing with his slime mass. Additionally, experimenting with the refrigerator's weave had led to level ups in [Arcane Awareness].

All in all, he was neck-deep in planning all this stuff when his sister finally arrived. And she wasn't alone, obviously.

She'd brought the barbarian princess with her.

***

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