Slime Baritsu

Two people doing alchemy means double the XP! … is what you'd think, but nope.

Apparently the alchemy skill can't be activated by two people at the same time.

On top of that, being split halves your parameters, which doubles the failure rate.

What a trap! Sure, I cleared the story, but with half my parameters…!

"I failed… even though it's the easiest potion… even though I'm the big sister…"

"Don't worry about it. If anything, it's good we failed on herbs. We got the 'First Alchemy Failure!' achievement reward from it."

"Fweeh. I'm sorryyy! Even though I'm the big sister…!"

So yeah, splitting up to work separately was a bust. Shame.

Time to merge back together and get on with alchemy.

I wonder if farming would be okay, though, since it basically auto-succeeds.

"By the way, Tria, did you do any contact testing with your second character, yo?"

"Yeah. But Miitei-chan might not be a good reference point. My hand just sank right into her body."

"Oh right… Miitei-chan's a Slime, yo."

Alto had tried petting Nika-chan all over on her end, but apparently got blocked on everything except the head, hands, and feet.

However.

"As expected, it was way more lenient during combat training, yo. I could even do butt spanking, yo."

"What!? You spanked Nika-chan on the butt!?"

"No, I'm the one who got spanked, yo. You can't spank a kid who hasn't done anything wrong, yo?"

Then what bad thing did you even do… oh. You were scheming with that whole "contact testing" business. Alto-chan, who's lending you her body, got totally caught in the crossfire there.

"… I wanna go back to that shop, yo. Let's invite Penpen and go with everyone, yo!"

"Yeah. This time with all six, huh."

"The second characters can stay home for that, yo."

"Spirit-sama, what are you talking about?"

"It's nothing, Miitei-chan. Right, Alto?"

"That's right, yo."

By the way, Miitei-chan's speech settings are set to 'Allow Friends in Home', so she can talk to Alto even while in Halo mode.

Alto-chan could join the conversation too, but she's been quietly keeping to herself.

"So anyway, my recommendation is Judo, yo! Karate is all about strikes, but Judo has throws and grappling! You literally can't start without body contact, yo!"

"Such ulterior motives. Let's get Penpen to make some judo gis."

"I've got high hopes for the swimsuit she's been researching too, yo. For now, let's send her all sorts of fabrics and leather."

Maybe I should try using alchemy to make waterproof cloth or something… oh, but that's crafting territory, so Penpen's probably already on it.

"Spirit-sama! I wanna try Judo!"

"Hey, can a Slime even do Judo???"

"Joint locks won't work on Miitei-chan, and even if you grab her she'd just slip right out, yo. If she mimicked herself all the way down to the bones, it'd be a different story, but…"

"Her chokeholds are strong, though. She wrapped around a researcher's head, squeezed, and it went pop."

"That's not a chokehold, yo! That's crushing, yo! That's a grip strike, yo!!"

She was dissolving him with acid at the same time, so it didn't actually take that much pressure.

"Guess Miitei-chan just needs to master her own style of Judo, then…"

"Got it! I'll do my best at Judo!"

"No no no, calling it Judo is the kind of thing that'll get the real Judo crowd on your case, yo. At least call it Slime Baritsu or something, yo."

"Baritsu?"

"What's that? The Slime part I get, but Baritsu?"

"It's a fictional martial art that a famous detective character supposedly used, yo. Apparently the source material was something close to Judo, yo?"

Huh. Alto sure knows a lot.

"The finishing moves are swallowing whole, impaling, and digestion, but you're still okay with that?"

"Isn't that just not a martial art anymore, yo? I mean, if you think of it as unarmed combat for a Slime, then in the broadest sense it could count as one, but…"

"Well, it's got 'Slime' in the name, so we called dibs."

"Slime Baritsu! Slime Baritsu!"

Miitei-chan seems to like it too.

"Come to think of it, what kind of attacks does Nika-chan have?"

"She's basically a brawler, yo. I've got her using a mace for now, yo. She spent forever doing strength training, and there weren't exactly weapon shops where she was, so she's practically a novice with equipment. At best she just swings with brute force, yo."

"And her attack power?"

"She can home run a Boar's charge head-on, yo."

Wow, strong.

"Granted, Elementarions like the Great Turtle are still out of her league, but she could probably crack a Baby Turtle's shell, yo. As long as the store-bought mace holds up."

"Why not have Penpen make one too? Just find the materials and bring them to her."

"For mace materials, it'd have to be ore, yo."

Heck, even just a plain iron rod might be enough.