Nexus Awakened (An Isekai LitRPG Gender Bender Story)

Special Chapter 6. Ignis the Slime Queen

“Squish, squish. Squish.”

It always amused Ignis just how gelatinous slimes were. 99% of a slime was just slime while the other 1% was the slime’s core that held them together.

“How does a slime’s brain work?” She further poked a small, red slime with a finger, patting its head and rubbing its cheeks.

A pair of adorable eyes stared back up at her. Slimes were not generally considered dangerous creatures and were usually at the very bottom of most ecosystems. ‘Most’. The consistency of a slime posed significant risks, especially for much larger slimes.

Firstly, slimes could manipulate their bodies like a liquid. This allowed for up to slow or rapid manipulation to engulf, trap or suffocate prey.

Yet contrary to its appearance, the consistency of a slime was nothing like a liquid. It was a solid, although, this could also be changed to a liquid-like form to make it impossible for humans or animals to remove them with their bare hands.

The biggest obstacle when it came to handling slimes was removing them once they were latched onto you. Death was certain if a slime managed to engulf one’s head. Even dangerous were the slimes who would invade every orifice or hole available to them to devour them from the inside out.

So were these despicable, brainless gelatinous balls ready to attack Ignis? Were they a plague that preyed upon the defenseless Healers?

Not exactly.

“Mn. Family of slimes. Do you want to be experimented on too?”

The monsters on the Floor of Amalgamation were passive even if they were aggressive outside of the Nexus. Slimes and most creatures too did not tend to actively hunt Healers. The phenomenon was said to be tied to why monsters like Anids favored them, although, it was likely not for pure intentions.

Slimes however, were pure of heart. They only had one primary function. Eat. Waste? Eat. Shrubs. Eat. A lost hat? Eat. A fallen Cer?

Ok. Let’s calm down a little. Ignis mused.

She began walking through the town to run small errands and checkups on clients she had operated on. The slime hopped up her arm and sat on her shoulder. Tiny slimes hopped behind her, their eyes dazzling as their ears, tails and other unique characteristics flopped with each hop.

Soon, larger slimes joined and trudged forward. A small lane of colorful slimes followed Ignis whenever she left the manor. They’d band together, stand around her and wiggle as if to declare: “My queen!”

And that wouldn’t be a wrong assumption.

Back on topic – Slimes were seen as nature’s way of removing waste due to their ability to consume anything. In short, they were bottom feeders. Underground, complex plumbing systems did not exist in most places outside of bastions of advanced civilizations such as Atlas or the Nex Megalopolis.

So, the next best thing and arguably better than waste management was using slimes. The issue with this was that there was a possibility of a Slime Revolution.

“Ignis~! Ah! The slimes are with you again! Hello, slimes!” Healers flocked Ignis whenever she came.

In fact, these Healers had been staring out from the windows for this very moment.

Ignis and her entourage of slimes were one of the few wonders of the Floor of Amalgamation, or dare they say, a marvel of the world.

“Mn. I still don’t get why follow me. But they let me experiment on them, so it’s ok. And they don’t hurt anyone.”

“Ahaha~ Aren’t they just like you in a way?” A Healer laughed.

“Yes. Because these slimes carry a piece of my genetic code. Like my items.”

“Gen attic?”

“Mhm.”

Indeed. What made these slimes so different from others was that they carried a piece of Ignis’ autonomous Will, which was her DNA. This allowed her to indirectly control them like a hive mind, but also seemingly gave them a semblance of sapience if it could be called that.

For example, slimes did not have preferences on what they ate.

However, Ignis’ slimes had clear likes and dislikes. A horse-eared slime would gladly eat carrots and apples but would avoid lemons entirely. A cat-eared slime would shiver at the sight of a cucumber but adore lettuce (much to Ber’s continued confusion).

While the slimes were visibly elated being hugged and petted by the Healers, the Black Wings sent glares that promised: “One wrong move and it’s a bullet through your core.”

“A Slime Revolution phenomenon. Got no clue why they chose you to be their acting Queen. Genetics have nothing to do with it.” A Black Wing muttered, saluting at Ignis with respect.

“It’s been like this since the start.” She said in a monotone voice, sounding dismissive but the Healers knew Ignis well enough to know that her tone generally meant the opposite of how she felt.

A Slime Revolution was a monster-related phenomenon where slimes would band together like a hive mind. They were common in civilizations that tamed them, such as those who used them as toilets. Often, a trigger in the form of the largest slime would inspire a Revolution and cause them to usurp their masters.

Ignis and her resonance with the slimes was a similar phenomenon, since they obviously considered her their Queen ever since she first arrived on this Floor. But she figured it was because she used to be a Their Body (Crimson Hunger slime).

Her daily life consisted of being flocked to by Healers and slimes. There was never a moment’s rest outside of the estate. For a girl who Corrupted because she believed she was a burden to others; this was paradise.

She finished her inspection and left as quickly as she arrived. But before she could leave, Black Wings invited her to eat with them. Of all the Healers that were fond of Ignis, the Black Wings held the highest respect for her own unique healing ability and extensive knowledge of the body.

While Frost was the founder of the ‘Cut the injured site off and heal it back’, Ignis’ knowledge allowed the Black Wings to pioneer it. They could always turn back the clock to heal injuries using their bullets, but it could not remove physical objects embedded into them.

So, they did the reasonable thing.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

Hack or shoot off the affected limb and heal it. Problem solved. The issue was when it involved vital organs or the head. Not every Healer had a skill that could prevent death. Hacking it off was not ideal in a combat scenario without a Scarlet Healer or a Perched/Mother.

Thus, they relied on Ignis to learn about the body in exhaustive detail. What parts of the head could be precisely shot off and still give the injured a chance to live? How do they navigate through volatile organs that ignore the intervention of healing magic?

It was a heavy topic for a child to dabble into. But Ignis had gone through heartbreaking trials like the Black Wings. They naturally bonded as a result. The Black Wings were notorious for their ruthless and indifferent attitude.

Ignis was one of the few people that did not project this side to.

This was her daily life during the day.

The manor often saw Healers visit her little clinic either to give her presents or for checkups. It was funny to Ignis. Healers had a guaranteed way of healing injuries, but no one other than Ignis could verify this.

An unexplained shoulder pain often meant that there was something lodged inside. Other days she’d work on a patient with a comforting smile, sometimes demonstrating in front of a band of Moons and Healers to showcase how healing magic could not hide fundamental flaws.

For instance, there was a Moon who was prone to painful heart aches. Ignis discovered that their coronary arteries were constricted due to genetic polymorphisms (genetic alteration from the norm), meaning it could not be healed, and neither did Frost have the ability to help them. This condition was called chronic or fixed vasospastic angina.

The solution was simple in Frost’s words.

A stent.

Ignis created a tiny, hollow cage-like structure to hold the arteries open. Since Healing magic did not remove foreign objects within the body, it was effectively a permanent solution. It always boggled Ignis how simple the solution was, but the difficulty came in the execution.

No one but Ignis could do this.

That was one of the few things that made her so special. She was not the type to brag. Ber did that for her. Any accomplishments or milestone she made was celebrated with an immediate feast or a night of drinks.

By night, Ignis would sleep in a bed filled with pillows and giant plush toys – a stark contrast to her sterile clinic. She was both a child and a doctor, but she always had the opportunity to be both rather than one or the other.

A framed picture of her father’s polaroid sat on a table beside her. She’d always recount how her day went to her father before she went to sleep. Her father was always listening. She knew that, and every night she’d feel a second flame in her chest slowly creep in from the dark.

“Mn… I have lots of friends now papa.”

* * *

Slimes were her biggest hurdle outside of creating an eye and a brain. The complexity of their biology came from their simplicity. They didn’t experience pain or sensation like people did.

Anywhere she went the slimes went too. Eventually, a slime large enough to swallow a person whole became her personal mount and courier. A giant, red slime with cat-like ears, slitted eyes, goopy whiskers and a long, almost racoon-like tail would hop to and from the manor into town, carrying Ignis’ letters and items.

Despite slimes being expendable beings, she did not treat them as such.

If there was something that slimes inherently possessed, then it was dignity. Slime Revolutions started over slimes being treated as toilets. But here, the slimes gradually became intertwined with the functions of the Nexus.

They became couriers.

Humanoid slimes existed in this world, and they did indeed possess sapience. But like Arachnids, there were feral and non-feral variants. Slimes were seen as purely feral creatures.

But Ignis could change that.

“Should I make a company name for my slimes? Slime Corporation? Goo Corp. Mn… I’m starting to sound like Frost. They’re cute names, but not ‘good’ names. But I like cute things. So I will go with cute. I wonder if slimes can be used as couriers outside of the Nexus. I have to ask Frost. Frost will know what to say. But I want to hear what Ber thinks first~”

Ber was Ignis’ closest friend by far. Ignis couldn’t always say what was on her mind, not even to Frost. But it was different with Ber. She was like an older sister to her. If she was ever feeling down because of Frost’s departures, or if she had something on her mind, then Ber would be there to help her bring them to light.

That woman knew more than anyone the dangers of bottling away how one truly felt.

That said – Ignis didn’t realize it yet, but her creation of products and the introduction of a brand-new system was quite similar to a Kingdom when they first received their Gift. If it continued to grow further –

– Then would it reach the same level of influence of an Atelier?

Silme Revolutions were the largest collection of banded slimes which was around 1,000 slimes.

Ignis knew she could go beyond that.