I feel like I overslept.

Rather than ‘opening my eyes’, it was more like willing myself to consciousness. I was greeted by that familiar blue haze that characterized my vision.

Still here, huh? Guess that’s it then.

There was that blinking in my peripheral vision again. I focused on it. It was almost becoming a natural thing to me now.

Level up!

Tiny Slime Lvl.2 → Lvl.3

Vitality - 5 → 6

Intelligence - 3 → 4

Dexterity - 1 → 2

Ah? I thought it was odd before, but don’t you normally level up by … y’know, doing things? Or killing monsters and whatnot? At least, I thought that’s how most ‘games’ worked. Maybe my view was distorted. This world might have an odd view of common sense.

Well, I’m not going to complain.

You have been afflicted with Mana Poisoning!

You have absorbed or been exposed to higher doses of Mana than your body is able to process.

Okay, I lied. I’m going to complain.

I rolled towards the middle of the cave, before getting on dry land with a wet squelch!

Uggh. Was it me who said about not having to deal with PMS cramps? I feel so fucking bloated right now. I want to throw up. If I have a stomach, I’m pretty sure it hurts right now.

My body began to seize up. I had to push a sense of panic to the bottom of my non-existent heart. I gradually began to feel better.

It took me a moment to rock out of my stupor before I realized a trickle had formed below me and met up with the puddle I’d been relaxing in. I’d apparently expelled a small rivulet of water.

I continued laying there for a moment, gradually regaining vigor.

Fuck, I think I just did the Slime-equivalent of throwing up. Or ... or pissing myself? God, I don't know. Anybody got a book on Slime physiology?

No? Figures.

Mana Poisoning, huh?

Huh indeed. Safe money is on my little pond’s water having this ‘Mana’ stuff in it. I’m not satisfied with that explanation, but it must be special somehow. Might explain the whole leveling up business too. Gonna have to be careful not to fall asleep in it again.

I’ll just treat it as overeating. Don’t want to get fat.

I feel like I should make a joke about my figure and ‘round being a shape’. Well, I don’t need to worry about getting fat if my body fat percentage is 0. Beat that, diet bloggers. …

Bah. This sucks.

I rolled towards the center of the room. I seemed to be more or less okay now.

Well, I could try to stay here and keep drinking this magic kool-aid. Might even level up, assuming I don’t poison myself and die.

Orrrr I could go outside my cave and hope I don’t get eaten. And die.

The nice thing about a desk job is your daily choices usually won’t result in death. Emphasis on usually.

Well, time to bite the bullet. Let’s take a peek, shall we?

I rolled towards the small crevice and began squeezing through it. It was roughly my size at first but quickly narrowed into a crack that couldn’t have been more than a few inches.

What disturbed me most was how easily I managed to squeeze through. I guess I really am amorphous after all.

My first impression of this adjacent room was that it appears to be more or less empty. I couldn’t see very far, but it was definitely larger than my ‘home base’.

I kept circling around to the left, keeping a few feet away from the wall. The ground in this room was less moist, a rough mix of stone and dirt. There seemed to be some moss growing on the walls, and there were fewer stalagmites and the like.

As I was rounding a sharp corner, I noticed something quickly crawling towards me.

I froze. Before I had a chance to react or evaluate the situation, a swarming mess of legs was upon me.

“Blltrpph!”

Oh God, too many legs! Centipede? On my head? Way more likely than I thought.

Shhaaaa!

Ow! The fuck?

You have been afflicted with Paralytic Venom!

You have taken piercing damage! -1HP

Oh, you little shit. If I still had legs I would squish the fuck outta you right now.

That being said, … it stings!

I could feel this over-sized bug trying to wrap around me, all while injecting some sort of liquid into me.

But I was confused. Given that I was currently veeeery not-human and had no circular system, how would the venom affect me? I was basically a blob of dubious, liquidy origins. Could I expel this venom similar to how I did that water?

I felt my body seize up, when my non-existent stomach again felt nauseous.

The answer was yes, it would seem I could.

The injection site was numb and not very responsive, but I could still feel the ‘slime-flesh’ the centipede was attempting to dig into.

I didn’t seem to be taking more damage. The rate of venom injection had tapered off. I was siphoning the excess outwards, and so I kept perfectly still.

Despite some considerable discomfort, it would seem the initial bite was the worst of things. I don’t know if the centipede thought its prey was now paralyzed, but I wasn’t moving. Rather, I checked my Status menu while it squirmed around.

Confirming, I was still only missing ‘1 HP’. For whatever that’s worth.

Since I seemed to have some free time, I briefly contemplated on what would happen if my HP was reduced to zero.

Probably not a great idea. Even if there’s nothing in particular I want to live for, dying really has no appeal. I’d rather not try. Besides, I really, really hate losing.

My little buggy friend seemed to take my immobility as a successful hunt, as it had stopped injecting venom and seemed to be surveying the situation.

Well, since you’re done I do believe it’s my turn.

—Slime Bullet!

I shot the thing point-blank right in its head. There was a small crunch noise from the impact and it was blown off me.

I sat immobile for a moment, as the now-headless bug twitched on the ground.

And then it stopped. After waiting for a moment, all its legs had finally quit twitching. It would seem I was the victor.

Huh. So there are things that want to eat me out here. Go figure, what a surprise.

I suppose I should be glad that the thing was so incompetent at the task.

You’ve killed a Small Cave Centipede!

Experience awarded. Level up!

Tiny Slime Lvl3 → Lvl.4

Strength - 3 → 4

Vitality - 6 → 7

Ooooh! So you can level up by killing things.

Wait, isn’t that a little bit fucked up? Wouldn’t it have repercussions on an ecosystem if individuals just recklessly killed things for the sake of inflating their numbers?

… Questions for later. Survival first.

I scanned my surroundings for any other disturbances but found nothing. Even the twitching from the centipede had long passed as I remained immobile and tense.

The best course of action was to retreat and wait for my MP to recover.

But first …

I rolled towards the ex-centipede, who was curled up on the ground motionless. Despite my initial alarm, even with my reduced size it was still notably smaller than myself. Probably around 5 inches long, 1 inch in diameter.

My consciousness dimmed.

—Devour!

A tendril of slime lashed out towards the fallen bug, firmly grasping it and sucking it into my mass.

Despite mental protests and notions of disgust, I watched in eager anticipation of what was going to happen when I activated this skill. It was a morbid fascination akin to dissecting a frog or a child trampling an ant.

Crrrkk! Slrrrrp! CrkKKkk!

I waited. The centipede’s corpse was quickly crushed, folded, melted and finally absorbed.

Hot. This feeling inside my body. …

Hah. … Hahaha!

Who knew? Who knew a bug could taste so delicious?

Skill unlocked! Attribute increase!

Paralytic Venom Lvl.1 Acquired!

Dexterity - 2 → 3

Vitality - 7 → 8

Ahh, how satisfying. I’m kind of hoping there are more of you somewhere. Hmhmhm.

Oh, right. Time to retreat.

I quickly worked back towards my safe spot, dipping my ‘legs’ into my little lake’s waters. Assuming this water does contain Mana or whatever, it should be beneficial to my recovery. Now it’s just a matter of time and meditation.

And so I rested. When I stirred again, I noted my status. Really, when I analyzed the numbers and categories compared to previous, it told wonders.

Status Menu Name : n/a Race : Tiny Slime Level : 4 HP : 20/20 (+1.2/hour) Stamina : 16/16 MP : 8/8 (+0.26/hour) Strength : 4 Vitality : 8 Intelligence : 4 Wisdom : 2 Dexterity : 3 Luck : 30

HP seemed to be related to both my Vitality and Strength. I could form a better basis with more data points. It would appear Intelligence governed how much MP I had. Data was still too limited. Wisdom and Dexterity I still wasn’t sure on, nor Luck.

Well, it was a good baseline.

I decided on a goal. I’d explore this cave system, and if there was a way out I’d find it. After that, I’d work on the next goal. I couldn’t communicate with people, assuming people were still a thing. That would have to remain a long-term goal, as it was off the table for now.

I mentally began to charter a small map of my surroundings. It was still limited, but I’d hope to expand it as I explored.

Map!

For now, I’d recovered and felt well enough to make another attempt at exploring. With any luck, all I’d run into were those delici— rather, disgusting centipedes. And then I’d eat them to level up.

I wonder if it’s normal for a Slime to simply eat things to get stronger?

I felt an odd hunger stirring in me.

What was it exactly? Anticipation?

Strange. I haven’t felt like this in quite a while.

Doing something when I don’t know how the result will end up.

Can’t get ahead of myself. I can be excited once I make sure I don’t turn into a monster’s lunch. I would think statistically that I was doomed, but I tried to keep the naysaying to a minimum.

I exited my Home Base back into the adjacent cavern, slowly creeping around the edges of the room. Rolling quietly, I was on high alert for any other potential predators. As I was moving around the corner, I began to notice numerous fine threads in a small alcove.

In the middle of a rather impressive net was a spider.

I wasn’t entirely surprised considering there was a centipede, given they seem fond of eating each other.

What did surprise me was the size.

It was easily much bigger than the centipede I’d encountered earlier. Roughly a full foot if you included its leg span. Basically, it was about my size, though not as voluminous.

While I was relatively confident I could grapple with those thin legs, I wasn’t as sure of its venom. If I had to bet, I’d say I should be fine.

I hate gambling.

Given these facts, I decided to get the jump on the little sucker.

Taking a moment to hold my figurative breath, I did my best impression of taking aim.

—Slime Bullet!

There was a dull thunk! as a glob of my slime tore through one of the spider’s meaty legs. My aim was off. Its web was torn, and the unexpected ambush seemed to have knocked it free to the ground.

There was a little ‘notification’ that popped up in the corner of my vision, but I didn’t have time to check it out. Apparently losing a leg doesn’t qualify this spider as ‘dead’ or ‘immobile’.

It hissed right at me, then sloppily charged.

Even missing one leg, it was still dextrous enough. Despite my dim-lighted vision, I could still see two drops of venom fling off the tips of its fangs.

—Slime Bullet!

I repeated the previous action, again missing my target slightly and veering off to claim another two of its legs. Luckily, it was now missing three of four legs on its left side and could only twirl in agony and assumed rage on top of the ground.

I held my ground as it twirled around. Sadly, I lacked the MP to finish the job. I was hesitant to approach the spider given those venomous barbs it was waving around.

Did they have spiders this freaky back home? Gods, I hope not. Maybe in Australia.

Those beady little eyes are unnerving. I’m glad there’s no light here to reflect them back at me.

All I needed to do was wait at this point. The thing would likely bleed to death if it wasn’t in a state of shock already.

Or rather, I thought it would bleed to death. I watched as the spider ejected the three injured legs at the base of its torso and continued to do what I assume was watch me carefully.

Well, fuck me. Should I take the easy way out and go rest up? I might miss the chance to kill this thing. It could run away or get eaten by one of those centipedes.

I decided to risk it.

Now it just became a matter of how to go about squashing the little creepy crawly.

I tried to recall the sensation when I’d used devour on the previous centipede. A tendril had shot out of my body and constricted around the thing. Shouldn’t I be able to do something like that normally? Minus the digestion.

My body is amorphous, I’d assume I’m able to stretch it as I see fit. Kinda like when I’m squeezing between rooms.

I just need to surround this thing and squish it inside myself.

… That sounds disgusting. Hnngh.

Readying my figurative heart, I braced myself for a moment before springing towards the spider. With its limited mobility, all it could do is react to my charge and ready its fangs.

I felt a prick as I began grappling with the spider, drawing it inside me.

You have been afflicted with Toxic Venom!

You have been poisoned!

You have been stabbed! -2HP

Damn it, that hurts!

I could clearly sense it pumping more of the toxins inside me. I imitated the actions I’d taken against the centipede as best as possible. I siphoned the toxins out of my body, but a disgusting feeling remained in the areas it had touched.

A stinging, burning sensation was left in the venom’s wake, but I was forced to ignore it.

Controlling my body as best as possible, I pressed down on the spider as hard as I could. After 15 seconds of struggling, I heard its abdomen make a sick squish! This was followed by another snapping noise as its thorax finally caved under the pressure.

After a few stray twitches, I’d received another mental note.

You've killed a Small Cave Skitter!

Experience awarded. Level up!

Tiny Slime Lvl.4 → Lv.5

Strength - 4 → 5

Vitality - 8 → 9

Intelligence - 4 → 5

Wisdom - 2 → 3

Dexterity - 3 → 4

Oooh. It came again.

As much as I’d love to do a ‘level up’ dance, it’s time for the main course.

—Devour!

Munch. Munch. And crunch.

It’s strange, the taste of this spider is objectively horrible, but it gives me a much stronger warmth in my belly than the centipede before. It’s like eating something that tastes bad, but has a great aftertaste?

Normally I’d think it should be the other way around, but I’ve little time to contemplate this phenomenon.

Status Menu Name : n/a Race : Tiny Slime Level : 5 HP : 20/23 (+1.5/hour) Stamina : 18/18 MP : 10/10 (+0.32/hour) Strength : 5 Vitality : 9 Intelligence : 5 Wisdom : 3 Dexterity : 4 Luck : 30 Status : Poisoned ( HP -1/minute, 4 minutes, 32 seconds remain.)

I’m still poisoned. Luckily it doesn’t appear to be life-threatening.

As I finished checking my status, the spider has been reduced to a viscous goop that was quickly absorbed into my body.

Skill unlocked!

Toxic Venom Lvl.1 Acquired!

Skill "Toxic Venom" has combined with Skill "Paralytic Venom" to produce Skill "Multi-Venom Lvl.2"

I quickly scurried back to my new home. While I was fairly confident I could flee or outright beat another centipede or spider, I didn’t want to push things. That poison still had to run its course as well.

In a brief moment, I was back at my little lake and quietly meditating to help recover lost MP and HP.

It was going to take a while, so I found myself soon dozing off.

… … …

Skills Acquired! Skill unlocked! Skill increased!

Sneak Attack Lvl.1 Acquired!

Slime Bullet Lvl.1 → Lvl.2

Meditation Lvl.1 → Lvl.2

Amorphous Lvl.1 → Lvl.2 Skill List Amorphous Lvl.2 Devour Lvl.1 Meditation Lvl.2 Slime Bullet Lvl.2 Magic Sensory Lvl.1 Multi-Venom Lvl.2 Sneak Attack Lvl.1 Map!