If two people performed alchemy together, would the experience points double? It turned out the answer was no.
Apparently, the Alchemy skill couldn't be activated by two individuals simultaneously. Furthermore, while split, my parameters were halved, which meant the failure rate doubled.
What a trap! Even though I had cleared the main story, having my parameters cut in half was a heavy blow.
"I failed... and it was just a basic potion... even though I'm the big sister..." Miti lamented.
"It’s okay," I reassured her. "Honestly, it's better that you failed with a simple medicinal herb. It actually earned me the 'First Alchemy Failure!' achievement reward."
"Fuehh. I’m so sorry! Even though I'm supposed to be the big sister!"
So much for splitting up to divide the workload. That was a disappointment. We decided to merge back together and handle the alchemy properly. I figured manual labor like tending the field would be fine since it was essentially an automatic success.
"By the way, did you ever conduct a contact investigation with your second character, uo?" Alto asked.
"Yeah. But Miti-chan might not be a good reference. My hands just sank right into her body."
"Ah... Miti-chan is a slime, after all, uo."
It seemed Alto had tried to pet Nika-chan all over, but she was repelled by the game's boundaries everywhere except for the head and limbs. However...
"As I thought, the restrictions were quite lax during combat training, uo. I even managed to get a spanking, uo."
"What?! You spanked Nika-chan's butt?!"
"No, I’m the one who got spanked, uo. I couldn't bring myself to hit the butt of a girl who hasn't done anything wrong, right, uo?"
Then what on earth did you do to her...? Ah, I see. You were plotting that 'contact investigation' mischief. Alto-chan, the one actually providing the body for the character, was just caught in the crossfire of your antics.
"...I really want to go to that shop again, uo. Let’s invite Penpen and all go together, uo!"
"That’s a good idea. All six of us this time, then?"
"I think the second characters can just stay home and watch the place, uo."
"Lord Spirit, what are you talking about?" Miti-chan asked.
"It's nothing, Miti-chan. Right, Alto?"
"That's right, uo~"
By the way, Miti-chan’s speech settings were configured to allow Home friends to hear her, so she could converse with Alto even while I was in my Halo state. Alto-chan could have joined the conversation too, but she was staying unusually quiet.
"Anyway, my recommendation is Judo, uo! Karate is all about striking, but Judo is about throws and grappling! It’s the kind of thing that doesn't even start until you make physical contact, uo!"
"What an ulterior motive. I'll have Penpen craft a Judo uniform."
"I’m also looking forward to that swimwear she’s researching, uo. For now, let’s just keep supplying her with cloth, leather, and whatever else we find, uo."
I wondered if I could use alchemy to create things like waterproof cloth... though, since that fell under crafting, Penpen had likely already figured it out.
"Lord Spirit! I want to try Judo!" Miti-chan chirped.
"Hey, is it even possible for a slime to do Judo?" I wondered aloud.
"Miti-chan doesn't have joints to lock, and if you tried to grab her, she'd probably just slip right through your fingers, uo. It might be different if she mimicked bones properly, but..."
"Her constriction moves are pretty lethal, though," I noted. "She used to wrap around a researcher's head, squeeze, and then—pop."
"That’s not constriction, uo! That’s just crushing her enemies! That’s a grip-crush technique, uo!"
Well, she was also dissolving them with acid at the same time, so she hadn't actually needed to apply that much physical pressure.
"I guess that means Miti-chan should just master her own unique brand of Judo..."
"I understand! I'll do my best at Judo!"
"Wait, wait. If you call it Judo, the practitioners in that field will get angry, uo. At the very least, you should call it Slime Baritsu, uo."
"Baritsu?" Miti tilted her head.
"What's that? Slime aside, what even is Baritsu?" I asked.
"It’s a fictional martial art used by a famous detective character, uo. Apparently, the real-world inspiration was something very similar to Judo, uo."
Heh. Alto was surprisingly well-informed about trivia.
"Her special moves involve swallowing things whole, piercing them, and digesting them. Do you really think that qualifies?"
"Isn't that just... not a martial art anymore, uo? Though, I guess if you consider it a slime's method of bare-handed combat, you could technically call it a martial art in a broad sense, uo."
"Well, it has 'Slime' in the name. In this world, whoever claims the name first wins."
"Slime Baritsu! Slime Baritsu!" Miti-chan cheered, clearly taking a liking to the name.
"By the way," I asked, "what kind of combat style does Nika-chan use?"
"She's basically a brawler, uo. I’m having her use a mace for now, uo. Since she spent all her time doing strength training and wasn't anywhere near a weapon shop, she's a total amateur with tools. She mostly just hits things as hard as her Strength parameter allows, uo."
"And just how high is that attack power?"
"She can home-run a charging boar from a dead sprint, uo."
Wow. That was terrifying.
"She probably couldn't handle the Elementalion—that Great Turtle—but she might be able to crack the shell of a Young Turtle, uo. Provided the store-bought mace doesn't shatter, that is."
"Why not have Penpen make a custom mace for her? You should go find the materials and bring them to her."
"If we're talking mace materials, I guess ore is the way to go, uo."
Actually, knowing Nika-chan's strength, a simple iron bar might be all she really needed.