The Monster Tamer Who Hates Monsters

Chapter 6: Building Blocks

The earthy, slightly bitter taste of the Desert Bloom still lingered on Victor’s tongue, a foreign but welcome sensation against the dryness. He swallowed the last mouthful, the faint crunch of the plant almost painful in the silence. His stomach still growled with a hollow ache, a profound emptiness that even the sparse greens couldn't fully sate, but the immediate, desperate pang had subsided. He looked at his slime, still dark blue, still quivering, and knew, with a chilling certainty, that his journey had just truly begun.

Daniela was already moving, her stride purposeful. "Come on, Victor," she called over her shoulder, her voice cutting through the heavy air. "No time to admire your pet puddle. We need to put some distance between us and that 'big one' you sensed."

Victor pushed himself to follow, his muscles protesting with every step. "Where exactly are we going?" he asked, trying to keep pace. The slime, a darker shade of blue now, continued to trail silently behind him, its agitated pulsations slightly calmed but still present.

"North. To the industrial district," Daniela replied, not slowing. "It’s a hub for scavengers, but it's also got heavy structures. Better chance for long-term shelter and maybe more supplies than this open graveyard." She glanced back, her eyes sharp. "Unless you have a better idea, 'Monster Tamer'?"

Victor shook his head. "No. No, you're right." He hated the idea of more dark, confined spaces, but the thought of staying out in the open was worse. "Just… try to avoid the big monsters this time, okay?"

Daniela snorted, a dry, humorless sound. "Oh, sure. I'll just ask them politely to step aside. This isn't a walk in the park, Victor. You're learning that, aren't you?"

"I am," Victor admitted, his voice tight. "Faster than I ever wanted to." He risked a quick look at his slime. "Can it… can it still sense things, even when it's not 'scouting'?"

"Your guess is as good as mine," Daniela said, shrugging. "But if it twitches again, you better tell me immediately. I don't fancy running into another 'big one' unprepared."

They walked in silence for a while, the crunch of their boots and the distant, unseen whispers of the wind the only sounds. The sky overhead remained a bruised, unhealthy plum color, casting long, distorted shadows across the ruins. Victor kept his gaze fixed on Daniela's back, trying to emulate her confident stride, though his own legs still felt like lead.

Then, faint, almost lost in the desolate expanse, a sound reached them. "Help! Is anyone there?" It was a human voice, thin and strained.

Victor stopped dead, his heart leaping into his throat. "Did you hear that?"

Daniela had already stopped, her head cocked, listening intently. Her hand instinctively went to the hilt of her machete. "Yeah. Sounds like trouble. Stay low, Victor." She started moving again, more cautiously now, angling towards the sound.

"Trouble? Or… other survivors?" Victor whispered, hope and fear warring within him. He hadn't seen another human since waking up.

"In this world, they're often the same thing," Daniela murmured, her eyes scanning their surroundings. "Keep your slime ready."

The cries grew louder, more urgent. "Please! Someone! He's hurt badly!"

They rounded a crumbled wall, and the scene came into view. Three figures huddled together in the debris-strewn courtyard of a collapsed office building. One was lying on the ground, clearly in distress, clutching his leg. Another, a woman with short, practical hair, was kneeling beside him, her face etched with worry. The third, a burly man with a weathered face, stood protectively, a crude metal pipe clutched in his hand.

"Hey! You! Over here!" the woman called out, seeing them. "We need help!"

Daniela approached cautiously, her machete still at her side, her eyes assessing them. "Who are you? What happened?" she asked, her voice firm.

"My name's Rina," the woman said, looking up, her eyes desperate. "This is Jaya, and… this is Kian. He got caught in a collapse. His leg… it's bad. We think it's broken, and he's bleeding a lot."

Victor felt a familiar surge of panic. He hated the sight of blood, hated injuries. He could already see the dark stain spreading on Kian's trousers. He took an involuntary step back, his gaze flickering to his slime, hoping it would somehow make itself invisible.

"We tried to stop the bleeding, but we don't have much," Jaya added, his voice gruff, gesturing to some makeshift bandages that were already soaked through. "And we don't have any pain meds, or… anything for infection. He's fading fast."

Daniela knelt beside Kian, her face grim as she assessed the injury. "That's a nasty break. He's losing too much blood. You're right, infection will set in quick. Do you have anything? Herbs? Anything at all?"

Rina shook her head, tears pricking her eyes. "Nothing. We've been looking for hours, but everything's either toxic or gone. We barely have water."

Victor's heart hammered. He knew this feeling: helplessness. But then, a thought, cold and unsettling, wormed its way into his mind. The slime. The foraging. The safe plants. He'd seen it discern edible from poisonous. Could it… discern medicinal?

He found himself speaking before he could censor himself. "Wait. What kind of… what kind of herbs do you need?" His voice was hesitant, almost a whisper.

Rina and Jaya looked at him, then at Daniela, confusion on their faces. Daniela, however, had turned to Victor, her gaze intense. She had heard the subtle hint in his tone.

"Victor, what are you suggesting?" Daniela asked, her voice low. "Don't tell me your 'puddle' can also moonlight as a field medic."

Victor flinched at the sarcasm, but desperation pushed him. "It… it found food for us. Safe food. It knew what was toxic and what wasn't. Maybe… maybe it can find specific plants? For healing?" He gestured vaguely at the slime, which had stopped close to his foot, now a lighter blue, quivering almost imperceptibly. He felt a faint surge of that unsettling connection, a response to his distress.

Jaya scoffed. "Him? And that… thing? You're going to rely on a blob of goo to save Kian? We need real medicine, not some urban legend."

"We don't have real medicine!" Rina shot back, her voice raw. "Anything's better than nothing, Jaya!" She turned to Victor, a desperate plea in her eyes. "Can it really? Do you think it could find… for blood loss, we need something to help clot. And for pain, there's the 'Nightshade Lily', if you know what that is. It's rare, though."

Victor knew the name. Nightshade Lily. Poisonous in large doses, but a powerful painkiller in small. He’d read about it in some forgotten survival guide from his old life. But the idea of his slime touching it, then him potentially handling it… a wave of nausea.

"Nightshade Lily is dangerous," Daniela warned, her eyes on Victor. "One wrong move, and Kian's dead. But for clotting… we need something like Bloodroot. Small, red flowers, usually in damp, shaded areas."

"The slime… it can find it," Victor said, trying to project confidence he didn't feel. "I just need to… tell it. And it can bring it back. Clean." He focused his gaze on the slime, forcing himself to push past his revulsion. "Slime. Listen. Kian needs help. Find Nightshade Lily. And Bloodroot. Bring them here. Safe. Clean. And fast." He visualized the plants, their properties, the urgency.

The slime, as if sensing the gravity of the situation, began to pulse more rapidly. It elongated, stretching its pale blue form. Jaya gasped, stepping back, gripping his pipe tighter. Rina stared, her mouth slightly agape.

"What in the hell is that?" Jaya demanded, pointing at the expanding slime. "It's… it's growing! What is it?!"

"It's Victor's monster," Daniela stated plainly, keeping her eyes on Victor. "And right now, it's our best shot at keeping Kian alive. Stand down, Jaya. Let it work."

The slime flowed out, a ribbon of pale blue, ignoring the wary stares. It moved with an unexpected speed, darting around debris, seeming to glide effortlessly across the rough ground. Victor felt the mental tether, a focused urgency radiating from the slime. It wasn't aimless; it had a clear directive.

Rina watched, her eyes wide. "It… it actually understands you?"

Victor nodded, his focus still on the slime. "I… I think so. It found food for us earlier. Specific, safe food."

They waited in an agonizing silence. Kian groaned, his breath coming in ragged gasps. Jaya continued to eye the distant, moving slime with suspicion, but Daniela stood firm, her crossbow still on her back, but her hand never leaving her machete.

Minutes stretched into what felt like an eternity. Then, Victor felt a strong, clear tug on the mental tether. The slime was returning. And it was fast.

From around a pile of rubble, the slime reappeared. It was no longer a ribbon, but a more compact, basket-like form, glowing with a slightly darker, more intense blue. Within its translucent mass, Victor could clearly see several small, reddish roots and a cluster of delicate, bell-shaped flowers with dark petals. They were perfectly clean, devoid of any soil or grit.

"Holy… it actually did it," Rina whispered, her voice filled with awe.

The slime stopped a foot from Victor, then gently pulsed, allowing the plants to slide out onto the ground. Victor stared at them, a complex mix of triumph and profound disgust churning in his gut. They were real. And they were exactly what Daniela and Rina had described.

Daniela immediately knelt, carefully examining the plants. She sniffed the flowers, her brow furrowed in concentration. "Nightshade Lily," she confirmed, then picked up one of the roots. "And Bloodroot. Impressive, Victor. Very impressive." She looked at him, a flicker of genuine respect in her eyes. "How did it know to keep them separate? Nightshade is potent."

"I… I just asked for them by name, and for them to be 'safe' and 'clean'," Victor stammered. "I guess it interpreted that as meaning 'keep potent things separate'." He still couldn't bring himself to touch the plants directly.

"Never thought I'd see the day a slime was more useful than half the scavengers out here," Jaya muttered, his suspicion still evident, but a grudging respect was creeping into his tone. He looked from Victor, to the slime, then back to the herbs.

"Alright, Rina, help me," Daniela said, taking control. "We need to prepare this carefully. Jaya, keep watch." She swiftly and expertly began to crush a small portion of the Bloodroot, applying it to Kian’s bleeding wound. "This should help staunch the bleeding. And for the pain… just a tiny bit of the Nightshade Lily, carefully, just on his lips."

As Daniela and Rina worked, carefully treating Kian, Victor watched, a profound exhaustion settling over him. He was still terrified, still disgusted by his 'pet,' but seeing it provide such undeniable, life-saving aid… a strange, unfamiliar emotion bloomed in his chest. It wasn't pride, not exactly. More like a stunned vindication. His 'useless blob' had just saved a life.

Jaya, after a minute, came over, his pipe still in hand, but his stance less aggressive. He looked at the slime, then at Victor. "So… that thing. It's yours?"

Victor nodded, swallowing. "Yeah. The System… it forced me to tame it."

"System?" Jaya repeated, a questioning look. "Never heard of a System that forces you to tame a puddle." He paused, looking at Kian, whose breathing was slowly becoming more even, the bleeding now visibly slowing. "But… it worked. It actually worked."

As Kian began to stabilize, his groans lessening to faint whimpers, Rina looked up at Victor, her face smudged with dirt and worry, but her eyes held a new, complex expression. It was a mixture of awe, relief, and a profound, unsettling curiosity. "Thank you," she said, her voice soft but sincere. "You… you really saved him."

Jaya nodded slowly, lowering his pipe. He looked at Victor, then at the quiescent blue slime, still quivering faintly by Victor's leg. The initial skepticism was replaced by a wary respect, tinged with an obvious unease. "Yeah," he said, his voice quieter now. "Yeah, you did. That… thing you've got there. It might be terrifying, but it's damn useful."

Victor felt the weight of their gazes, the unspoken questions in their eyes. He looked at his slime, then back at the new survivors, their faces a mixture of fear and gratitude. He was still the reluctant tamer, still the scared civilian, but the monster he controlled had just proven its worth. And in this desolate world, that worth might just be the difference between life and death – not just for him, but for others too. He had no idea what to do with this new reality, or what it truly meant for his place among them.