"Damn, it's tough. My [Dissolving Liquid] can't melt it."

After the forest turtle left, I thought I'd eat the red ogre it had left behind since I hadn't had breakfast yet.

As expected, the red ogre's body was too tough to dissolve. It's obvious, really—just because it's dead doesn't mean its [Toughness] decreases significantly.

"Let's find something else."

There's no point in fixating on inedible things, so I left the red ogre before other monsters arrived. There probably aren't many brave enough to approach after hearing such battle noises, though.

I considered lying in wait to hunt any approaching monsters, but the risk was too high in my current state, so I decided to wait for another opportunity.

The thing is...

HEALTH: 9/30

My [Health] was pretty low. My body was also noticeably smaller than usual.

"Ugh, now that I'm calming down, the pain is really hitting me..."

The aftermath of the battle had gradually worn down my [Health]. At the time, I was too excited to notice the pain, but now that I was calm, it felt like my whole body was being pierced.

Do slimes have an adrenaline-like substance in their brains? Actually, do I even have a brain?

At least I don't seem to have skin, so wounds exposed to the ground or air don't hurt more.

Thanks to this, even though my body was significantly smaller due to my injuries, I could still move without issue.

"Besides, it'll heal if I leave it be."

Skill Details:

Self-Regeneration: Constantly regenerates injuries and lost parts.

It's a skill that slimes are born with. The healing is slow, but I'd be fully recovered in about an hour or so.

I continued moving away from the battlefield, eating a few berries along the way, and stopped once my [Health] had mostly recovered.

"Alright, let's do this!"

I psyched myself up. I'd decided to become like those giant beasts. To do that, I needed to train.

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The quickest way to get stronger is by raising my [Level]. Using the [Crushing] method, I could easily hunt weak monsters.

But that wouldn't work against higher-level monsters. I needed more proactive offensive abilities, or I'd hit a wall eventually.

So I started training to acquire attack skills. The forest turtle had given me an idea of what kind of attack skills to aim for.

"Slime..."

I concentrated and extended a part of my light blue body, trying to make it as thin and long as possible.

A slime's body is usually like a slightly flattened curling stone. If I don't focus, it naturally takes that shape, which must be its natural state.

But that doesn't mean it can't take other shapes. The further from the flattened stone shape, the harder it is, but with effort, some transformations are possible.

Whether it's due to my [Level] up or evolution, it's easier to transform than before.

"Grrrr..."

I kept transforming, and eventually, I was satisfied with the result. I made a thin whip with a small bump at the tip as a weight.

Ideally, it would be like the forest turtle's vine, but making it that thick would use up all my volume.

The whip I made, slightly thinner than a garden hose, was long enough without using too much volume.

Since I couldn't stray far from the flattened sphere shape, half of my volume had to maintain that form, but it was still long enough to be called a whip.

"Alright, let's start...!"

I fought to keep my body from reverting to its original shape and swung the whip.

I swung it all the way back and then struck the tree in front of me.

**Smack.**

It made a disappointing sound.

The whip just grazed the bark, not even leaving a scratch.

"Hmm, the first attempt failed."

The Jewel Slime's body isn't elastic like a regular slime; it's hard. I can change its shape at will, but external forces don't affect it much.

So if I could get the speed right, I should be able to peel off some bark. The failure was simply due to my lack of skill.

Since the Jewel Slime's body only moves by its own will, just swinging the base like a normal whip wouldn't move the rest.

I needed to make the base, middle, and tip move seamlessly together.

"Well, I didn't expect to get it right on the first try."

From here on, it's just continuous practice!

For a while, I kept swinging the whip.

I gradually got the hang of it, got used to maintaining the transformed state, and even acquired some skills.

As these changes took place, the sound of the whip changed.

**Thwap! Thwap! Thwap! Thwap!**

As I swung the whip repeatedly, the satisfying sound of it hitting the trunk echoed. The whip's speed and the time between swings improved significantly.

The scattered wood chips showed the whip's power.

"Slime! (Not enough!)"

But I wasn't satisfied with that.

I aimed to be the strongest! I needed to keep training.

So I continued whipping diligently. Even when the ominous sound of creaking wood echoed, I didn't notice and kept practising.

"Whoa!"

Suddenly, I heard an ominous sound—

Crunch~Boom!

I was carving away at a tree from one side, creating a large dent near the base.

It's not hard to imagine what happens if I keep carving away at the dent.

"Yikes!"

Too absorbed in my whipping, I failed to activate [Escape] in time and got hit on the head by the falling tree.

Unnotified Information Recording Area:

Jewel Slime acquired Skill: [Flexibility Exercises].

Acquired [Skill: Whip].

Acquired [Skill: Continuous Attack].

Acquired [Skill: Concentration].

Acquired [Skill: Compact Whip].

Acquired [Skill: Consecutive Strikes].

Integrated with [Continuous Attack].

Acquired [Skill: Folly].