Haemish’s question was pragmatic. If Aarav had not been so excited to try out his new body, he might have considered it before wasting the last hour trying to stand up and walk.

“I hadn’t considered that! I am going to go.” I should have considered it myself. Adding a torso and skull to the mix will change my centre of gravity, and I would have to relearn walking all over again. But damn it, I was so excited to be able to get on my two feet again!

Just before Aarav headed back into the room, this time on his hand and knees, now I know why babies start with this.

“Resh! Wait, I would like you to meet someone.” Then the round man turned to the boy beside him who had still failed to say a single word after the initial question.

“Ahh, hello! Sorry, how rude of me not to introduce myself. I am Resh!” Aarav said to the boy.

Haemish nudged the boy forward in an attempt to jolt a few pleasantries out of him. After a moment of visible taking hold of himself, the buy finally answered. “Boren, my name is Boren.” The words seemed to bring him back to the land of the living, and he smiled slightly.

“Well, it is very nice to meet you.” Aarav replied.

“Boren, the animal I had in my hand yesterday, you asked me about it?” Haemish then gestured pointedly to Aarav to indicate what the blob had been.

“Ahh! What-ohh.” A few things clicked into place for the boy, like listening to the machinery whirring.

“Haha, yes indeed, it is I! The lump of skin.” Aarav said theatrically.

“Incredible, how did you learn to speak so well? Have you grown up in Darf? You almost sound like you from here. A few pronunciations here and there; otherwise, I would say you are a true-bred Darfan.” Boren’s excitement was palpable.

“In a sense, you could say I grew up in the forest. I have been roaming there until someone –.“ Aarav stared pointedly at Haemish but without heat, “kidnapped me and brought me here!” then he removed the bite by smiling without teeth.

Boren looked at Haemish before turning back to the Slime. “So, Resh. Why do you look so different from when I saw you yesterday?” Aarav reflected how children always went straight for the heart of the matter.

“Well, Boren. I can use and manipulate parts of the creatures that I eat, and it’s quite an interesting ability.”

“Incredible!” Boren whispered in genuine awe of the Slime.

“Prince Boren is the youngest son of our illustrious King Borowyn, Resh,” Haemish said by way of a complete introduction. Boren had left out that he was royalty. Indeed, at the mention of his royal lineage, Boren winced before looking up at Haemish and smiling again.

“I forgot to mention it.” Conveniently, Aarav, though.

“Ah, your highness! Aarav said, attempting a seated bow that ended with his arms dragging on the floor as he rolled his body forward. Then he raised his head again and smirked at the boy, and he received a smile in return.

“Glad to see you too getting along. Now, Resh, you have some things you need to be getting on. I just wanted you to meet young Boren here. You two may have more in common than you think.” Haemish laughed at their incredulous looks. Though Aarav reflected that appearances could be deceiving, the Slime was less than a year old as far as the older man was concerned. Even if it conversed more maturely, that was not necessarily an indicator. Maybe Slimes matured faster than people. Who knew?

“Very well then. It was very nice to meet you, Prince Boren. I hope that we will be able to meet again soon!” With that, Aarav attempted to get off the chair, slipped on the smooth floor and fell to the ground. Very embarrassing, the Slime thought. Boren stepped up to help him to his feet again and aided him in getting to the storage room.

“Ha, thanks, Prince Boren.” Aarav huffed out.

“You are very welcome, but please, can you call me just Boren? It is very annoying when everyone insists on the formalities, and I have enough people calling me by my title to want to tear my hair out.” The young prince said as he opened the door to the room and guided Aarav into it.

“Not a problem, Boren.” Aarav had not encountered much royalty, so he was not enamoured with propriety yet. He could omit the titles, though, and he might even say he preferred it.

His little escapade finished, he got down to the serious business of finishing the meal of bones in front of him. “If you wouldn’t mind shutting the door, please!” he said to Boren as the boy retreated. Nodding subtly, he shut the door behind him.

Aarav heard his faint footsteps as he left the lab but ignored it after the first couple. He had important tasks to be about; Haemish was right about that much.

Aarav Identified the remaining parts of the skeleton, trying to be very precise with Consumption, making sure to take the limbs cleanly. Now only the torso and skull remained. Hopefully, the ribcage and spine would not take too long, and the head could follow after that.

Now that Aarav effectively had a limitless supply of Mana, he relished the time he had to Consume. Consuming Blorenar, his World Talent was so powerful that it made doing any eating tasks simple. It had not seemed so at first, but the results spoke volumes.

Settling in, he took a massive bite of a rib. It would take a while, but he knew it would be worth it in the end.

***************************************************

Ten hours and many Mana potions later, Aarav debated whether he had made a mistake. He was sure he had calculated that twelve hours would be enough. For some reason, he was just barely halfway, but then something magical happened. Aarav could have cried with joy.

Your Skill Greater Consume has increased to Level 45!

Congratulations, your Skill has reached the Third Plateau Level 45! Your Skill Greater Consume has evolved into Supreme Consume. You can now Consume 5g of matter per Skill Level, and experience gained increased from 3 Exp per gram Consumed to 5 Exp per gram Consumed. Continue to Consume Weight, and you will soon be able to engulf the world!

Yes! He had been hoping for a significant boost as he saw the Skill creep closer and closer to Level 45. This boost was massive. He looked at the description again before dismissing it. That last sentence seemed a little ominous, but it was still a choice, so nothing to worry about now. Just because it alluded to something he would be able to do in the future did not mean he had to do it!

Ignoring the tone of the message was not difficult when the gains he had just received were so significant. With a little under half the torso left, some of the ribs and most of the spine, he was done in only three hours and with more experience gained than ever.

Your Skill Supreme Consume has increased to Level 46!

...

Your Skill Supreme Consume has increased to Level 52!

Aarav smiled with delight at the gains he had made in so short a time. Without those supposedly useless Mana potions, he would not have been able to gain anything close to what he had. He might have still been begging for scraps out in the forest. And he had not Consumed and Consolidated even once yet. His fastest path to power would get even faster with the Mana potions!

Aarav looked at his Luck stat, and the description was suitably vague as one would expect of a Luck stat.

Type

Stat

Amount

Description

Mythic

Luck

51.8

Chance of good things happening.

What did that description even mean? It could be anything. Was it because of his Luck stat that he had made it to the palace? It would indeed be a stroke of good fortune. If being captured and brought here in captivity and potential death turned out to be his salvation and return to glorious civilization.

Deep and meaningful thoughts, but for another time, he could not afford to be distracted right now. There were more messages for him to attend to with the torso done.

You have Assimilated 1 Human Torso (Skeleton Only). Congratulations! You can manifest your torso at the cost of 0.1 Mana per minute! You require a minimum weight of 5 kg to grow this skeletal part.

Oh, is that it? I didn’t receive anything more? No benefits from a successful Assimilation? That was a surprise, and this was the heaviest section of a skeleton. He had hoped to get something for it.