Winter, having left the little slime to his own devices, the only question is, what will he do now? He sat in contemplation for a moment, considering his options. “What am I supposed to do now? I guess the primary thing is to get stronger. The only question is where to start. Quest. Evolution requirements. Help?” He directed his thoughts to the system, attempting to gain some help or direction, but the system remained silent despite his endeavor. “Well, that’s not very helpful. Winter said something about eating the grass around here, so I guess starting with that would be wise. There is a possibility she could just be messing with me, but without any other starting point, this is my only option. Now, the only question is, how do I accomplish that? I’m a slime, and in fantasy, slimes are a common gelatinous creature that swallows anything and everything whole, digesting it over time. So, I should be able to dissolve anything that I put in my body.”
He directs his attention, focusing his sense of touch on the plant he has been leaning against. “I guess you are the grass Winter was talking about, or at least I hope so. How am I supposed to eat you?” He presses against the grass, continuing to roll over against it, pressing as hard as he can, trying to force the plant into his body for consumption. His body deforms around the grass, separating like splitting a cube of jello, causing him to pull back in surprise at the sudden wound. To his delight, the split portion of his body reformed, merging back together automatically, sealing the split in his form. “Looks like my body wants to maintain its shape automatically. That saves me a lot of trouble; it would be problematic if I had to maintain my body shape and structure.” He leans against the grass again, rolling his body into it, his body deforming around the stalk of grass. While he cannot pull the entire plant into his body, he can surround the base with his form.
“That was a little harder than I expected, but it worked. What should I do now? Do I need to have eating thoughts? Should I check my status screen for-?” The holographic status screen appears in his mind at the thought of it, displaying his stats and skills for him to view. Looking through his skill list, he finds two skills that may work [Digest Level One] and [Lesser Slime Acid Level Three], but now the problem is how to activate and use them. He tries to focus on the skills, hoping to get more information, but after waiting a moment, nothing happens. With this failing, he tries calling out the skills in his mind. “System, analyze [Digest Level One]. System, use digest. System, activate digest…, digest on…, use digest on the grass.” Trying the same tactics with lesser slime acid also had no result, leaving him fuming in frustration. “How the heck do I use these skills? Okay, let’s think this through. Food is digested in the stomach using acid; since I’m a slime, my entire body can be considered one big stomach. So, am I just overthinking things? Could it be an automatic process? He focuses internally on the grass, immersing himself in his sense of touch, straining to discern any changes in the plant’s structure. To his delight, he could feel pitting across the smooth, waxy surface, its structure dissolving bit by bit. He was making progress; it was slow, but the breakdown rate remained consistent.
Continuing to concentrate on the sensation of the dissolving plant, he could feel the fibers breaking down and dispersing throughout his system. However, after several seconds of concentration, he realized the consumption of the plant into his body would be a time-consuming and laborious process. Loosening his stringent focus on the dissolving plant, his mind wandering. “This will take a while, and I need to get stronger as fast as possible, but how can I accomplish that; where do I start? Gaining as many skills as possible and leveling them up should help, but my primary goal needs to be improving my stats. With my stats at their current level, I would not stand a chance if something attacked me. Based on what Winter told me, endurance training, running, and weightlifting should be a viable way to improve my stats, but how sh-.” He felt movement from the grass, pulling his attention away from his thoughts. Immersing himself in his sense of touch again, he could feel the plant’s stalk splinter piercing his body as it shifted to the side, splitting his form. His attempt to flee the sudden and violent outburst from the plant met with complete failure, his form being pierced and broken by the falling vegetation before he could even react.
Taking a few deep breaths to recover from the shock, he focuses on the sense of his form, inspecting it to evaluate the damage to his body. To his surprise, he could feel his form pulling back together, forming around the shards of plant matter piercing his body. With the absence of pain as an immediate concern, he calls up the system status screen to see how much damage he sustained. To his surprise, the readout did not indicate any additional damage to his body or core health since the last time he viewed the information. Confusion growing, he immerses himself in his sense of touch again to inspect his body and the plant, hoping to alleviate his confusion. After a few seconds of investigation, the situation becomes clear. His consumption of the plant’s stem weakened the structural integrity to such a degree that it collapsed under its weight. However, his body reformed around the plant, disregarding its existence. “I knew my body would maintain its form automatically from my earlier experience, but it works better than I could expect. Perhaps as long as parts of my body are not destroyed or scattered, I can reconstitute myself. Though, I’m definitely in no hurry to test this theory. Well, I should probably get back to consuming this thing.” Repositioning himself to cover as much of the plant’s stem as possible, he continues the slow digestion of the plant.
While focusing his sense of touch on the dissolving plant matter, his mind wanders back to improving his situation. “Improving my physical stats is the most important thing I can do to improve my survivability, but given my current circumstance, I can’t actually do anything to bolster them. It’s not like I can start lifting weights as a slime, so I should probably focus on improving my skills. Gaining new skills and leveling up my current ones is my best option. I should probably start with something simple. Focusing on my sense of touch should give me a corresponding skill if I understand things correctly, and digesting this plant should improve my [Digest Level One] to level two at some point. Splitting my focus between two different skills might give me a multi-tasking skill, but I don’t have a second skill to focus on. Making a new skill is my best bet, and it will let me test how this world functions, but I should start with something simple. Hmm, I wonder if I can make a clock or something? I don’t know what time it is, but that’s not important; I don’t need to make a clock, just a counter to keep track of time; it might even improve my intellect stat.”
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Visualizing a counter in his mind, he counts the seconds as they pass by while concentrating on his sense of touch to observe the dissolving plant matter in his body, splitting his focus in hopes of gaining a new skill. The plant matter inside his body was dissolved and absorbed by his form after only counting for twenty-eight seconds. To continue consuming the grass, he follows the length of the fallen plant, forcing it into his body as he moves forward, skewering himself on the grass like impaling a jello cube. With his repositioning complete, he continues his split-focus training. Consuming the next section of grass took about one minute, according to his rough estimate of time, assuming his count was correct. This realization causes a flood of concern to wash over him. The realization that his initial interaction with this plant took place over a minute was shocking. His breathing quickens as his thoughts race. “That’s right, I’m effectively experiencing sensory deprivation. It can distort my perception of space, time, and even the connection with my physical body. None of this is good. I need to stay calm and focus. Work on what I can control. I have my sense of touch, limited as it may be, and I can keep track of time to a degree.”
Taking a few deep breaths to calm his mind, he continued following the length of the plant, forcing it into his form. Halfway through the process, he stopped, realization hitting him like a ton of bricks. “Slimes can pull things into their body, so I should be able to do something similar. Let’s give this a try.” He focuses on the plant sticking out of his body, and after several failed attempts, he finds success. He found the sensation reminiscent of sucking on a straw, but its use is limited because of the size of the grass. However, it allows him to pull the plant into his form while moving forward, making the process much easier. As the process of consuming the grass proceeds, he is happy to have learned how to pull things into his body, allowing him to funnel the leaves of grass toward the center of his body, preventing them from falling away and being lost. At the two-minute and thirty-eight-second mark of his monotonous count, the familiar sound of his system’s voice sounds in his mind, breaking his focus.
“Congratulations, you have gained the skill [Attention Level One].”
To his delight, he gained a skill, though not one he had expected. “Well, that’s not what I was expecting. Perhaps it’s because I have been focusing on the grass for so long. System, assess [Attention Level One]. System, analyze [Attention Level One]. System, what is the function of [Attention Level One]? Why can’t I get any information about my new skills? Winter said the functions of this system were limited; I guess I’m just expecting too much. O great Winter, Queen of the Frost Mountains, could you please bestow this lowly slime with the knowledge of analysis skills?” He sat in the silence of his mind, waiting for a response that never came. “Humph, that seems like a no. Well, back to eating this grass, I’m almost done with this section.”
He continues his slow consumption of the tasteless grass, focusing on the texture as it slowly breaks down, absorbing into his body. He pulls the last remnants into his form, his mind drifting as he contemplates the experience. “The consumption rate seems to vary based on the part of the grass I’m digesting. The plant’s stem takes considerably longer to dissolve and absorb than the loose leaves, getting easier as I move along. I was able to consume one grass in five sections, so my best guess is it will take around five to six minutes to eat one grass on average, depending on size. I’ll need to pay closer attention to my count next time.” He focuses on his sense of touch, honing in on the feeling of the plant breaking down and absorbing into his body. “I wonder why Winter told me to eat this stuff. She didn’t give me any real reason. Is she just messing with me, or will there be a benefit of some kind?” Realization hit him like a bold to lighting; it would have been impossible to consume this plant in such a short amount of time if he had not developed the ability to pull things into his body. “If I had not been able to funnel the leaves into the center of my mass, keeping them bundled up, I would have had to collect them individually, taking more time and effort. Perhaps Winter just wanted me to learn this skill, though the system hasn’t recognized it as a skill yet, so who knows? But if that’s the idea, why not just tell me?”
He sighs, frustrated at his lack of understanding about the world. “Acquiring and improving skills is hard, or at least getting the system to recognize them as skills is. I managed to gain one skill, and it’s not even one I was trying to acquire, and the system provides no information about the skill other than the fact that I have it. What’s the logic behind gaining skills? What criteria am I missing to progress my actions as a fully recognized skill? I can still pull things into my body despite the action not being seen as a skill, while I gain other skills without even trying. There has to be some rime or reason behind this.” He sighs, pushing the plant matter around his body in annoyance. “Winter said that skills will be recognized as such with enough practice, though she also said they don’t exist. I refuse to believe there isn’t a logical system behind these skills. However, despite the variety of skills I have been using, I have made no progress in developing them. Never mind, keep pressing forward, focus on the objective, and remain calm. If I gained one skill, I should eventually gain others.” Annoyance and disappointment swirl around his mind over the lack of progress and understanding despite his attempts to focus his mind. Until a sense of satisfaction rose as he felt the last remnants of the plant matter dissolve in his body, absorbing into his form, resulting in his mind receiving a barrage of messages from his system.
“Congratulations, you have consumed one unit of [Mana Grass].”
“Congratulations, your [Intellect] has been increased by [Point Zero Five] units.”
“Congratulations, your [Wisdom] has been increased by [Point Zero Five] units.”
“Congratulations, your [Maximum Mana] has been increased by [One] unit.”