Supreme Magus novel Chapter 291

"Even if can be dangerous if let grow unchecked, a slime is not a monster. By definition, a monster is a sentient creature that naturally harbors hostility towards mankind.

"Despite having the intelligence and the means to communicate, monsters see us as we do with cattle. That’s why magical beasts are not considered monsters, because they are capable of understanding human speech and cooperate with us.

"The same applies to Evolved monsters that are called as such simply because they don’t resemble animals anymore and because we humans need to put tags on everything.

"The slime is not a monster because it lacks both sentience and hostility. It’s a mindless natural scavenger that preys mostly on small animal carcasses. The more they eat the more they grow in size, until they split generating two individuals that are the exact copy of the original one.

"Some researchers even hypothesize that all existing slimes have spawned from a single one over the millennia, but I digress. What matters to you for this exercise, is that all the slimes on your desks are identical and we have more to spare.

"So even if you mess up, you can get a replacement."

A snap of Vastor’s finger made a slime appear on the desk in front of him. He quickly cast Scanner, making the slime deflate while its fluids spread inside the tank

Some students shuddered, imagining the same thing happening to a human patient in front of them.

"Is the Scanner spell harmful to the patient?" Lith asked.

"Ten points to Lith for his scientific curiosity and admirable work ethic."

Once again, each assigned point was a knife in the heart of those that despite having the same question didn’t ask it, fearing it was a stupid one.

"No, it’s not. However, some students get carried away in excitement and attempt to manipulate the life force with messy consequences."

At that point, Vastor taught them Scanner. Less than five minutes later everyone had mastered the spell and were using them to study their own test subject.

"Professor, my slime keeps moving around. Is there a way to hold it still?" Asked a boy.

"Sure, you just have to kill it." Vastor replied with a sneer.

"Do you expect a heart to stop beating or the blood to stop flowing to make your life easier? Consider the slime as an involuntary muscle."

Lith was amazed by the slime’s composition. Despite being liquid looking, once seen through the Scanner spell it actually resembled a stack of gelatinous lego bricks. To move they would slide along each other, swapping their position like a treadmill.

Each brick emitted a red pulsing light that defined its contours, its individual vitality, providing a living map of the whole creature. Even if the bricks appeared to be capable of independent movement, after further examination Lith noticed a red pathway connecting all the nearby bricks.

He then used Invigoration to compare the two skills.

He hoped that just like clothes, the thin barrier between the slime and his hand wasn’t enough to block his magical sense. Through Invigoration Lith could sense the creature’s life force, its feeble mana flow, but no life force or any organ.

To Invigoration the slime appeared like a huge single-cell organism.

’Seems fake magic just beat us this time.’ Lith was amazed and kind of frightened by the discovery that even Invigoration had limits.

’For now.’ Solus eased his paranoia with her soothing voice.