Now that he had some time to himself, hopefully without interruptions. He could streamline things a little. He didn’t fully understand how the rest of the population Managed their interfaces. But, it was becoming a little too cluttered. It was nice to know when Skills were going to level and stuff, but he didn’t need to know that all the time. Even the descriptions were unnecessary once he knew what the Skills did. The effect might be nice to keep, though, as, at a glance, he could see what it could do, but even just that would make the status much more than he wanted to see. Instead, he adjusted it all and then looked at the result:

Name:

Aarav

Species:

Boss Copycat Slime

+30% assimilate

Tier:

4

Volume

475.89

cm3

Level:

11

15

Weight

2,427.06

g

Exp / Next:

10

77

Density

5.10

g/cm3

Current

Max

Regen / hr

Health

739.00

739.00

1.60

Stamina

244.00

274.00

1.66

Mana

502.00

562.00

3.97

Name

Stats

Name

Stats

Name

Stats

Physical

Ranged

Mental

Strength

29

Speed

73

Intellect

101

Vitality

37

Dexterity

31

Acuity

93

Endurance

31

Accuracy

43

Fortitude

39

Resistance

33

Perception

30

Command

46

Charisma

-1

Reaction

91

Focus

41

Mythic

Luck

48

Skills and Spells:

Exploration:

Strong Identify (11), Mental Map (2), Water Adjacent (24), Underground Living (18), Land Lubber (28), Sneak (3)

Slime:

Intrinsic Assimilation (10), Strong Consolidate (20), Consume (24), Strong Odour Alteration (19), Strong Camouflage (19)

Healing:

Zen Meditation (15), Natural Plant Healing (19)

Senses:

Bird’s Prime Eyes (27), Sharp Mouth of Consumption (20), Ears of Echo Location (17), Smell of Watery Soil (16)

Limbs:

Earth and Sky Legs (22), A Flier’s Wings (19), Quad Worm Tail’s (16), Fins and Flippers (6), Tough Slime Skin (14)

Sapient:

Body Language Reading (1)

Melee:

Slime Club (5), Poisonous Jaws (10), Dual Wormtail’s Stab (5)

Ranged:

Slingshot (3)

Magic:

Sonic Boom (A) (9), Water Burst (W) (14), Mud Projectile (E) (1), First Aid (L) (1)

Resistances:

Pain Resistance (6), Poison Resistance (1)

Languages: Language Connoisseur (89)

Earth: English (100%), Gujarati (100%), French (66.5%), Hindi (76.5%), Swahili (56.5%), Mandarin (47.5%), German (47.5%), Dutch (46.5%), Japanese (46.5%), Italian (47.5%), Spanish (47.5%), Tamil (47.5%), Portugese (44.5%)

Blorenar: Darfan (47.5%)

Talents:

Filtration of the Mallusces, Experienced in Water, Water Feeder, Dedicated Hearing +1, Pain Killer, Body Cleansing, Touch of Light +T, Targeted Healing +T, On The Brink, Body Cleansing, Piercing Eyes +1, The Way Forward is…Forward, Run

World Talents:

Consuming Blorenar, Infinite Flight +1

Inactive Talents:

Water Born +9, Earth Born +9

It still looked like a mess, but he just had so many Skills that it would be difficult no matter what he did. This way looked a little better, if not great.

His crippled regenerations still made him grit his mouth full of canines. No, everything is fine, and they will return to normal in due time, another like twenty days or so still.

His core stats were shaping up, especially his mental stats. While physical ones left something to be desired, they were still not horrible, except for Charisma. I suppose I can’t expect too much as a Slime monster with no influence yet. Apart from Haemish and the others, for some reason, those guys are cool with me as I am. Or they're buttering me up. Will I need to raise Charisma to gain a following or barter? That would change as well, though, just was everything here did, The First Law, I mustn’t ever forget it! I might be happy with what I am right now, but it is unlikely to win me any points when getting them to follow me or listen to what I have to say to the average sapient.

Language Connoisseur is doing well! Glad I managed to get that one. A pity Darfan is the only Language I know from Blorenar, though. It would have been nice to have more than that under my belt.

Finally, after several hours of pushing with Consume bolstered by a combination of Sharp Mouth of Consumption and Consuming Blorenar in concert, he reached the next level! It happened to be a special one.

Your Skill Consume has increased to Level 25!

Congratulations, your Skill has reached Level 25! Your Skill Consume has evolved into Greater Consume. You are now able to Consume 2g of matter per Skill Level. Experience gained increased from 1.5 Exp per gram Consumed to 3 Exp per gram Consumed.

After gaining that, things went much faster. Having doubled Greater Consumption speed, he didn’t have to use up all his Mana to eat the arm completely.

Your Skill Greater Consume has increased to Level 26!

Next came the process of Assimilating. He crossed bits of Slime for luck. Even though his Luck was high, this could still fail, and then he would have wasted the last five hours. With all of the boosts, he had just under a ninety per cent chance to get, and he couldn’t wait any longer.

You have Assimilated 1 Human Arm (Skeleton Only, Left) and gained the ability Arm of Bone Level 1. Congratulations! Your front Left Earth and Sky Leg have morphed into an Arm of Bone! Dexterity and strength of hand and arm will improve with Level. By acquiring an Arm Appendage, you have gained the Melee Skill Bone Claw Level 1! Without muscle, you can control your arm with Mana @ 0.1MP per minute!

Congratulations! You have gained the Melee Skill Bone Claw Level 1! Rake your hand across your enemies’ faces and watch them bleed! Damage increases with Level. Stamina Consumption slightly reduce with Level!

Oh my god! I have an arm again! Yes, yes, yes!!! He would need Mana to make it work for now, but he would take it! Testing the new appendage was simple. Aarav raised his thumb and index fingers into the air making the ‘okay sign. It worked! It was like opening a rusty door after several years of rust had built up, and he almost lost it, but it worked. He blessedly had a hand. Yes! I did it!

He didn’t gain any levels in Assimilate, which he had been hoping for, but this was only the beginning. He would keep going with the other arm, and then who knew what else would be possible?

He had just started on the second arm when he heard a knock at the door. He couldn’t very well stop the process halfway, but it did interrupt his approach, and he lost Consuming Blorenar. It hadn’t ramped up yet after his brief respite from Assimilating the first arm, so he wasn’t too annoyed. Maybe they heard his jubilation and thought to interrupt when he wasn’t doing something more serious?

“Come in!” he called, not wanting to give anything away until he knew who it was.

“Ahh, you are done with the first arm then?” It was Haemish, and Aarav shouldn’t have been surprised. The man was as patient as an enforcer coming to collect on his debts. “I’ve been waiting outside and just heard the pause in….eating?”

Aarav reflected on the process, supposing the crunch and crack of bones were loud as he devoured them using Sharp Mouth of Consumption. It was much faster, though. Still, it was louder, requiring actual chewing instead of just dissolving it into his body. “Yeah, I’m done with the first arm. Wanna see?” Aarav waved tentacles from the sides of his body theatrically and then sprouted a bone arm from his left side. He could have moved it around and used it from any angle, but some things were what they were and not to be trifled. He was happy with the reaction that Haemish provided. Then, he heard a smattering of applause from outside as well to compliment Haemish’s expression.

Meanwhile, the ever-humble Mr Resh nodded sagely and bowed slightly at his accomplishment. It was only natural that they all be impressed. The applause faded away, and then Aarav said, “Right, off you all go. I need to try the next one, and I need to focus. Would you all leave, please!”