He sat in stunned silence for a moment before opening his status screen to see the results, and to his delight, the notices were accurate. His intellect and wisdom had only increased by five one-hundredth of a point, but he now had a mana stat, though to his disappointment, it was zero of one. “If there are no diminishing returns, I can get my intellect and wisdom up to one by consuming nine-teen more mana grass, and with mana, I might be able to get a vision spell or skill. I wonder how long it will take to regenerate one mana?” In an attempt to see how long it would take to regenerate one mana, he decided to take the opportunity to work on his timekeeping skill. After two minutes of keeping time, to his dismay, he had yet to regenerate even a fraction of a mana point. “What the heck, do I not regenerate mana or something?” He mentally slams the status screen shut, fuming at the system in frustration. “Fine, it does not matter right now; I don’t even know how to use mana yet. Finding and consuming more mana grass is far more important at the moment. If I can eat at least nine more, my mana stat should hit ten.”
Embarking on a journey, unsure of where he was heading, he rolled around, determined to find more mana grass. Despite discovering how to ooze around while eating the mana grass earlier, he preferred to roll around like a little ball. While oozing was a more efficient and accurate method for engulfing food, it was a much slower technique for long-distance travel. To the credit of his newfound mobility, it took him less than a minute to randomly slam head-first into an unknown object, pulling back in delight and alarm. Attempting to identify the source of the collision, he reaches out to the object, focusing on his sense of touch, pressing his form against the smooth, waxy surface of what seems to be another mana grass. Inspecting it more closely, feeling the texture of the plant to the best of his ability, despite his blindness, feeling a sense of triumph at having found his target in such a short amount of time. While he could not know for sure, the obstacle at least felt like mana grass.
Enveloping the plant’s stem in his form with practiced ease, demonstrating his rapid development, he falls back into the slow, monotonous routine of consuming the mana grass. He focuses his sense of touch on the sensation of the dissolving pant matter while keeping time with his mental clock, his mind wandering in contemplation. “Well, this is about as much fun as watching paint dry. At least I’m getting better at this whole process. If I can keep this up for an hour or two, it will bolster my mental stats and mana pool significantly. Unfortunately, I can’t just sit here and eat grass for that long and do nothing else. I need to develop new skills, with some being far more important than others. First, I need to figure out a way to see as soon as possible; randomly wandering about blind until I hit something is not a good idea. The next thing I smack into might smack me back. Yes, but the question is how.” He controls the collapse of the mana grass this time to prevent any unforeseen problems, allowing him to streamline the consumption process. “The problem is I don’t have any sensory organs, and my only sense seems to be my sense of touch, leaving me with very few options.”
He sighs in frustration. “I could probably figure out a way to extrude a piece of my body and use it as a walking stick, and I’ll develop several unique skills in the process, but it will not solve the problem of getting attacked without warning. Snakes have pore eyesight and taste the air to perceive their surroundings or something like that. So, how the heck do regular slimes perceive their environment? Okay, calm down; in theory, I should be able to figure out a solution to this problem. Perhaps I could use my sense of touch to feel the sound waves in the air to feel the directionality of the sound waves as they impact my body, like being able to feel the base of loud music. Unfortunately, without a constant source of sound, I don’t know how to train this. Good idea, but let’s put a pin in it for now.” He sits in the silence of his mind, considering his options while focusing on developing his skills. To his surprise, around three minutes into consuming the new stalk of mana grass, he received a new message from his system.
“Congratulations, you have gained the skill [Counter Level One].”
“You know, letting me know when I get a new skill is amazing, but I still wish you would explain what these new skills did.” He sighs internally, his thoughts going unanswered by the system as he continues consuming the mana grass. He contemplates the new skill, mulling it over in his mind, talking to the system as though it were an actual person. “What the heck does this mean; are you just informing me that I know how to count now? That would make some sense, but why counter and not count? There must be a reason behind this, or at least I hope so. Winter said that you recognize repeated actions as skills, so I’m guessing you view my attempt at making a clock as more advanced than simple counting but inferior to an actual clock. There is likely a reason behind the naming convention, but aimless pondering will get me nowhere. I’ll have to ask someone other than Winter since I don’t think she will be keen on answering any more of my questions. Talking about systems gives me an idea. Winter said there are other assessment abilities…” He trails off in thought, trying to remember what Winter had said. “It was something about being able to sense the strength of other beings and compare it to your own. That would imply that there are extra sensory abilities. If that’s the case, I may be able to develop a sensory skill to sense my surroundings. Perhaps if I were to–” The system sounds in his mind again, cutting off his train of thought.
“Congratulations, you have gained the skill [Augmented Sense – Touch Level One].”
Smiling internally, he immerses himself in his sense of touch, focusing on the sensation of the dissolving plant matter in his body, hoping to perceive some grand difference in his sense of touch. To his disappointment, he is unable to perceive any noticeable change. Despite his initial lack of progress, he continues pouring all of his focus into his sense of touch in a desperate attempt to perceive any difference. After another moment of inspection, he notices a subtle shift; the plant fibers appear more detailed than before and seem to stand out more, and the texture of the grass is more pronounced. The feat, simple as it may be, fills him with joy over the growth of his perception of the world around him. It is a simple skill, but it is something that he could recognize as a genuine skill. While he had gained other skills up to this point, this was the first time he saw an actual change in his ability, regardless of how slight the enhancement may be, justifying the time and effort he spent working on it. Content with his new skill, he resumes his monotonous timekeeping routine of consuming the mana grass. Without any further interruptions, he finishes consuming the second mana grass within a couple of minutes, rewarding him with the familiar voice of 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.”
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He directs his thoughts to the system, opening the holographic status screen in his mind to verify his new stats. And like he was hoping, his intellect and wisdom had risen to point one, and his maximum mana had reached two, but to his disappointment, he had yet to regenerate any mana. “Looks like there are no diminishing returns at the moment, but why can’t I regenerate any mana even after all this time?” He glares at the zero of two mana stat, mocking him with its presence. “You know I wanted to try and use mana to solve my sight problem. Can you at least take pity on me and advise me on the proper way or skill needed to regenerate my mana?” Sighing in frustration, he continues talking to the system. “You know, it would make things easier if you would give me more information. Like, I don’t know, a description of what skills do, my mana and health regeneration rate, how to use mana, or how about a simple help function. Okay, I get it. You’re the strong, silent type, but can’t you throw me a bone?” He sits in the silence of his mind for a moment before letting out a silent sigh and shutting the status screen.
Selecting a random direction, he heads out, searching for more mana grass to continue bolstering his mental stats. Once again, to his surprise and delight, he slams head-first into more vegetation in less than a minute, making him a little concerned. Reaching out with his sense of touch, he identifies the vegetation as mana grass within seconds. “Why is there so much of a valuable resource in this area? Is it just that common, or is it being cultivated by someone? Hay system, you would tell me if I’m eating someone’s garden, right? No, I don’t suppose you would.” Sighing again at the lack of response, he directs his focus back to the plant, enveloping its stem with practiced ease and falling into his training routine within seconds. “I would like to think mana grass only affects slimes or maybe all beasts, but that is probably too much of a pipe dream. There is a chance that the mana grasses’ effect on me has something to do with my unknown skill, but that seems unlikely, given the name of this plant. Winter said there are shortcuts to improving one’s stats, so I’m guessing mana grass is one of these shortcuts she was talking about. So, here’s hoping that mana grass is a prolific, common grass type because the other options are not very good for my health.”
The nameless slime continues his monotonous routine of consuming the third mana grass, focusing his improved sense of touch on the dissolving plant matter while counting the seconds away in his mind. The consumption of the first two sections of the grass passes in silent boredom. However, that changes once he finishes pulling the third section of vegetation into his gelatinous form, causing the familiar voice of the system to sound in his mind, breaking the silence with a new message that he has been waiting for with anticipation.
“Congratulations, you have gained the skill [Immersion Level One].”
He is ecstatic over acquiring this skill, causing his form to sway back and forth. He would be jumping for joy in celebration, but unfortunately, his lack of appendages limits his ability. “This is the best skill I have gotten! Out of all my skills, immersion has proven to be the most useful. The counter and augmented touch skills are fine, but their utility is limited. I discovered the ability to pull things into my form early on, and the difference in effort and concentration needed to use it has noticeably improved over time.” He sits in contemplation, considering what Winter had told him. “Winter said I needed to practice a skill with intent and energy. I don’t know what power I’m using, so I can assume the only thing I need to worry about is gaining experience with a skill, but the question is, why did it get recognized as a skill now? I feel like I’m missing something; there must be more to it than that, or I would have gotten a multitasking skill by now, considering I was actively dividing my attention between keeping time and focusing on the feeling of the dissolving grass.”
He continues to contemplate the rate and function of his skill acquisition. “I don’t know when I started training [Attention Level One] or how I even trained it, much less how long it took me to get the skill, but I know it took roughly ten minutes to gain [Counter Level One].” He considers the passage of time before he continues. “I gained [Augmented Sense – Touch Level One] after counter, but if I consider the time spent consuming the mana grass, it would likely be around ten minutes as well. Could it truly be that simple? Do I merely need to practice a skill for ten minutes for the system to recognize it as a skill? No, that’s not quite right. I just gained [Immersion Level One], and it only takes a few seconds to pull something into my body, so there is no way I have used it for that long. I’m missing something.” He sighs in frustration. “I’ll worry about it later once I gain more skills and information.” Fortunately, he did not have to wait long for further information about skills as two more system messages rang in his mind just two minutes later, giving him some additional insight into how skills work.
“Congratulations, you have gained the skill [Mana Cycling Level Two].”
“Congratulations, you have gained the skill [Digest Level Two].”
He sits, considering the two newly leveled-up skills, as he pulls the remaining mana grass into his form. “Digest is a skill that I started with, and it reached level two after consuming almost three pieces of mana grass over roughly fourteen minutes. Mana cycling, on the other hand, was the first skill I gained, and I have been using it constantly. Hay system, what’s up with this inconsistency?” He quips at the system in annoyance. “Okay, let’s think this through. I have been using mana cycling far longer than digest, so why are they both leveling up simultaneously? No, that’s not quite right. Typically, when I get a list of messages, there is no break between each message, but this time, it was different; there was a handful of seconds between the messages. So, it’s unlikely the timing of their level-up is related.” Poking at the slowly dissolving vegetation in his form, he considers this new development.
He sits pondering over all the information he has acquired about skills in his short time, coming to a simple realization. “So the way I see things, there are a few possibilities. System, feel free to correct me if I’m wrong. The first option is that different skills have different criteria for acquisition and leveling up. I don’t like this because that means I’m just shooting in the dark in an attempt to gain skills. The second option divides skills into two categories, active and passive; it is similar to the first, but it allows for targeted acquisition of skills. Passive skills don’t require any specific action to level up. Instead, they progress automatically over time as long as they are in use. Mana cycling would fall into this category; I have not actively used this skill once, but it has already progressed to level two. On the other hand, to acquire or level up active skills, I need to use them directly. Immersion would be considered an example of an active skill that only progresses when used. I have only used this skill ten times, and it already reached level one. The third option is that my ability to gain and level skills is strictly up to my understanding and experience with a skill, and that would mean my knowledge of mana cycling is just poor. I really don’t want it to be this option.” He sighs in frustration. “Guess you’re not going to tell me if I’m right or wrong, Ms. System?” Continuing his monotonous routine, he ponders his skills as he pokes at the dissolving remnants of the mana grass dispersing into his form, waiting for the system messages with anticipation. As the last remnants dissolve away, he hears the familiar sound of the system ringing in his mind.
“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.”