Magnifying ooze

"So. how many of them would have survived that swim.?"

As if he expected the question, Nigel pulled out a small critter he captured earlier. As the critter landed to the lake, it was immediately engulfed by the oozes and pulled to the bottom.
"None."

-Conversation between Rike and Nigel

Description

Magnifying oozes are slime, ooze-like creatures living in the waters of Atocitera.
When held, the ooze is warm, transparent, with a cyan-blue outline on the edges. In the water, it is completely invisible.
Being part of the Elemental Critter class, it has no predators as it has no nutritional value making it worth eating the ooze.

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Behavior and diet

While in its natural habitat, it survives and grows by eating minerals and impurities in the water. It won't survive long outside of the water.
Once another species come for the water of its habitat, the ooze tries to attach itself to the intruder's eyes. Even if it is not directly, the ooze can reach the eyes by shifting its mass around to achieve motion. Once it reaches the eyes, it attaches itself to its host, enhancing its vision. The ooze then survives and lives off the tear glands or whatever the host use or does to keep its eyes hydrated.
During winter, the pools of water inhabiting the oozes stay warm and open. This then serves as a lure to other beasts who will seek the heat of the water.

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Habitats

Any natural body of water, especially stale ones, can be home to Magnifying ooze. The ooze, living on the impurities of the water, clears the water out into perfect crystal clear water.
The suspicious presence of stale crystal clear water is the only indicator of the presence of Magnifying ooze. As their transparent bodies are almost invisible in the water.
If the population of oozes gets high, they will start nabbing at the edges of their habitat in an attempt to spread it and create more room.

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Spreading

As soon as the ooze matures, it urges its host to sleep close to water. After its host falls asleep next to the water, the ooze proceeds to absorb the eyes it was attached to, and move through the skull into its host's brain.
It then redirects all hydration of the body to the brain, while simultaneously absorbing both the brain and the water of the host.
This way the ooze uses all available resources of its host while pouring out its offspring through the empty eyes.
The oozes then swiftly move to the nearest pool of water, where it survives and lives until the next host gets them.
Once a pool of water contains way too much ooze, and its attempt to spread the habitat is too slow, half of the ooze's population merges into a big blob and moves in a random direction trying to move to new water sources.

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Relationship with other species

Having absolutely zero nutritional value, the ooze has no natural predators and due to its need for water, it relies on its prey's need for water to get in contact with hosts
Other species have no way to notice the oozes presence, and dead eyeless beasts are found nearby crystal clear waters by Raiders.
Beasts do not shy away from eating the carcasses that the oozes leave behind. And oftentimes they don't notice the oozes getting on them while they eat.
Raiders love these free carcasses, as they can still find valuable crystals in the beasts and monsters.
Luckily they can spot the daring oozes attempts and get rid of them before they pose a real danger. Raiders are however advised to leave the carcasses if they are alone, as they do not have anyone to watch their backs during the processing of the carcass

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Dangers, risks, handling, and use

Young and immature oozes are easy to use for their magnifying properties, being tremendous help to Observant Raiders. The adult ones on the other hand can not be removed from the hosts unless the eyes are removed in the process too.

Properties of the Magnifying ooze come in handy whenever there is a need for sharp eyes and long-distance recognition. Raiders at professions using these are often considering the use of magnifying ooze for dangerous tasks, to get the advantage of the distance.
Even though the observation is enhanced, it is still up to the Raider to use the information.
Usage of magnifying oozes is heavily monitored, as it is technically life-threatening. Worst case scenario would be if Raider died to adult ooze, and the ooze spread into the waters of the Atocite. This could technically lead to the water of the entire Atocite being purified and lacking its mineral value.
Even though that dreaded option is a possibility. The greatest fear of Raiders using oozes is that they mature while they wear them, and they end up blind regardless of precautions.
Due to that, dedicated handlers are the only ones who are allowed to handle the oozes. They are expected to recognize the age of the ooze based on its size and determine if it is still safe to use.
Ooze safe for use is supposed to be reaching no more than 75% of adult size. Once the size threshold is reached, the ooze is removed, destroyed, and a new young one is to be found instead.

Details card

Class: Elemental Critter
Element: Fluid
Material: Biological
Region: Crystal clear ponds
Kind of damage: Absorbption
Danger: 
Safe with propper usage.
Lethal if misused.
Usage: Vision enhancing
Target priority: 
Ignore.
Only dedicated people are allowed to handle it.
Retrieve on request.