Victor dreamt of his childhood days, of his ma and pa, of childhood friends and of fragile love. It felt that he had been dreaming for days, every chapter of his miserable life was slowly passing by.

Days upon days of media consumption flashed in his brain. Movies, where he could never be, but never stopped wondering about. Novels and comic books, which gave him stories to reflect on and pass the time. Video games, where he was the hero of his own story, where he made his own choices. It was the closest he felt akin to a safe space. The only worlds he felt he had a place in.

Some days haunted him, manifesting in his mind like a nightmare. His Faults, and errors. The public humiliation he suffered, domestic trauma, and the pains of being a growing student. It kept playing in his head. Over and over. Where did it all go wrong? What could he have done differently? How could he have done it? And so it went on, again and again.

He kept swimming in an ocean of his memories.

An ocean?

Swimming?

He felt like he was Swimming in an ocean of slime and gelatin…

Slime..Gelatin..Goo…

‘I'm in a sea of goo!’, he started panicking. ‘I'm in sea of fucking goo.’

He tried kicking upwards but could not feel his legs but they were not there. He tried pedaling his arms, but they weren't responding. He couldn’t move his toes or fingers, they weren’t attached. No tongue to wag Or taste. No nose to scrunch, no nose to smell.

Yet somehow he could breathe. His body was full of very, very small holes, and he was breathing simultaneously, everywhere, all at once.

He felt small, really small like he was reduced to a toddler-sized child again.

He wanted to scream to ask for help. He pleaded to higher powers, in his mind, to be free of this horror.

Nothing answered him. This was a strange feeling. He had no mouth, thus he couldn't scream.

He had tried seeing, looking around but barely had proper vision. His eyes barely responded. He was in a dark room, he could see dampness, through the light that broke through very small cracks in the wall. And what looked like a door. Something was wrong with his eye, like both were stuck together and he could see the front and the back at the same time. Everything in a Circular circumference.

Though he didn’t have ears. He could partially hear muffled sounds echoing. Bubbling liquid and what sounded like slurps and slushy movements. Squelches and wet gurgling. There were things in the room with him, moving up and down. Sometimes touching him, other times slapping him. They moved and they sat still and they moved again.

He felt something he hadn’t felt since he was a little child. He wanted a pillow, a pillow to peek at what he was looking at. Without exposing himself to the horrors of the darkness.

He really wanted to see.

You have leveled up a skill

Dark Vision (lvl 2) (passive)

His vision had suddenly become clearer and progressively better. He could see what he couldn’t before, even areas fully void of light, did very partially thanks to minor light exposure.

Legions of greenish amorphous floppy beings. Lay there in the room with him. It was terrifying to say the least. Like an army of leeches, appeared out of nowhere while you had been sleeping on the floor. And they just stuck to the ground and did nothing but burble and gurgle.

‘Oh yes, I remember now.’

Everything had slowly come back to him. He had died.He had died with someone comforting him.

‘Marcus, he said it wouldn’t be over.’

Reincarnation protocol_Successful

Memory check_Verified_(Marcus's Gift)

Body transition_Successful

Humanoid traits preserved_failed

Humanoid appearance preserved_failed(incompatible)

New classification Ooze_ Successful (classification: epidendrum Gigas)

You have successfully reincarnated.

Request “system” knowledge for questions required.

‘Ooze?Ooze! Well was that just it then, he was reduced to giant mold duster and he was to spend the rest of his life in this damp, dark, dim-lit cave. Hell no! He wanted to human again’

‘System make me human again!!!.”

Request unacceptable.

Prerequisites not met.

Currently impossible.

Meet recommendations before requesting to evolve.

‘What is the recommendation to become human! Answer me system!’’

Human evolution requirements:

Be a high-level monster

Become a humanoid

Prove your humanity to the rulers of this world.

Alternatively bypassed by special conditions.

He had wondered if it had been some kind of sick joke, like maybe, this was a prank pulled by his former co-workers. Perhaps he somehow survived the fall, and was hooked to some high-tech coma simulation device. It wouldn’t be impossible, he had heard of a case of a woman surviving the fall from a plane. Not to mention the technology was there.

‘No…. no… no… no, they wouldn’t waste money on his existence.’ he thought immediately.

Perhaps this was one of the many thousands of buddhist or hinduist world’s and what Legionnaire had said earlier was true, and that maybe he was subjected to a eternity of monster torture to atone for his sins before moving on. What would his crimes be, too much video games, life not spent well, suicide?

‘Marcus…he needed to find him. For better or for worse or probably the damned men he spoke of.’

Regardless, he wasn’t going to do nothing about it and wait here for his next life cycle. What even was the life cycle of an ooze?

“S…t…a…t…u…s….” the former human tried to gurgle.

(Additional status information hidden until necessary)

Status Information

Race:

Ooze (Slime)

Hp:

10/10 (-90 hp, racial debuff)

Mp:

1/1

Name

Victor

Class

Dungeon Janitor

Titles

Basic monster +1 str/+1 Dexterity, former human (retain basic mental attributes) +20 WIS + 35 INT

Level

Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

1

Alignment

Chaotic good

Attributes

Strength 1 (Meek)

Dexterity 1 (immobile)

Wisdom 20 (Former fool)

Intelligence 35 (above the IQ minimum)

Constitution 5 (feeble )

Charisma 0 (uninteresting)

Undistributed stats

0

It was obvious that he had lost his human attributes and traits, what bothered him was that it seemed that the system was intentionally mocking him. He was one-hundred percent sure, the descriptions for the stats were unnecessary and didn’t have a function.

Someone or something controlled this system, he would have to find out what eventually.

It was fine to him, he knew he would get stronger, he knew he would evolve. He just needed to know where to start.

He peered around scrutinizing. He tried communicating with the creatures around him but they appear to be akin to brain dead animals, or very likely only function a certain way. This isn’t going to work.

He could see behind him, more cavern holes which probably lead to deeper parts, very likely he was on the top floor of a very large caving or tunneling system, that would explain the streak of light that had broken through. In front of him was a set of two large doors and beneath a staircase which led upwards,

He was inside someone’s basement or beneath it. Dungeon cleaner started to make a lot more sense. And it didn’t excite him one bit.

He started to wiggle around, and struggled at first to move different gooey parts of him without moving the body as a whole whole. Victor started to make minor strides, but each great step ended up being a wobbly mess, often the contact with the new ground sending him stumbling. Or tipping him off balance.

Over the course of 5 minutes, he moved what he estimates to be one meter. It was inefficient at best ,and useless at worst. Parts of his gelatinous existence, being left behind on the trail.

-1HP lost mass

9Hp: remaining

That proved to be very troublesome. He immediately wanted to scuttle back. And hoped it would let him recover the lost hp. It felt hopeless. He wished he could sigh aloud, so he imagined it.

‘Sigh’

He thought. Which certainly didn’t help.

You have leveled up a skill

Ooze manipulation level 1

It seemed that moving was worth the effort. And so he did attempt to move back, and he successfully recovered his gooey mass. But more surprisingly he didn’t lose any of his by moving backwards again. Ooze manipulation likely led to him stabilizing and manipulating his body shapes. In video games amorphous creatures can often take on many forms, he was counting on that principle.

He noticed he was significantly smaller than his peers. Curiosity got the hold of him. So he casted observe on fellow Ooze.

Monster: Infantile ooze

Hp: ??

Weakness: Fire, limb dismemberment

??? additional information locked

‘Infantile ooze?’ he wondered. Why was that they were much larger but he wasn’t considered an infant slime monster. He was also nosy about what additional information would be revealed, and would it be possible to gauge private information this way…

The doors to the basement stairs just flew open. A large thump sounded on both sides of the doors, as they mechanically clicked into place. Unnatural Light shining down into its depths Two figures slowly walked down the exposed basement stairs.

Click! Click! Click!

Then the cave was suddenly lit. Each click of a finger, turned on a light.

‘Magic!’. He recognised immediately.’And not the chanting kind’

Two figures appeared from above the basement door.

A girl with medium bronze skin, lilac hair in a bob cut, standing at what looked around 4 feet 11, with pointy ears. She had a comically pointed hat and wore a dark blue robe. A mischievous frown on her face and a violent gleam in her eyes. A staff in her hands, she started impatiently tapping the floor with her very large safety boots.

Her companion, a tall fellow compared to the elvish dwarf beside him. Who wore a classical black suit and tie, with a white shirt underneath. His hair was slicked back and glistening, there was a significant amount of makeup on his face. The earrings on his earlobes. Confirmed the flamboyant nature of this tall man.

There was something amusing about them, like they were the epitome of parody. Something only seen in a work of fiction. He would dare to mock them if he had a mouth.

“Oh my lady Seraphine, the cleaners have multiplied again,” he purred as he stared at the masses of oozes. “ You may have fed them too much.”

“No matter Edrik, we’ll just dispose of them tomorrow, after we dispose of every accident” she nonchalantly dismissed the issue.

That didn’t sound good at all.

“Minions! Bring in the minotaur.” She commanded. With a squeaky voice.

“As ya command Lady Seraphine.” which sounded to him like the most rough English accent he had heard.

A group of armored goblin-like creatures appeared running down the basement, each of them storming the basement. Each moving for dear life as they carried in a massive bull like beast. Though they were less than a 20, combined with the mass they were carrying, it sounded like an army marching.

It appeared to have human-like legs, a bull’s head and Fur, an oxen tail. The elf looking girl didn't lie, a minotaur after all then. Something he had only seen unreal stories.

This world likely had epic tales of its own. He would like to see it if he got out of this body.

They threw the overgrown bull on the ground. All but one goblin marched back to the basement door. He moved behind the elf and the butler man.

‘The chain of command was visible here’

“Gormack, you traitor, i knew you had a soft side but treachery,” She walked up and down, left then right. She was frustrated, her hands shaking violently. She pulled her hat off and rumbled with hair using all of her fingers, she closed her eyes. “How could you Gormack, i really liked you but you set me back at least 6 months!”

“Lady Seraphine, I mean no disrespect, but the experiments you are doing are immoral. “ The minotaur bowed his head below. “If the Council of wizardry were to find out about your experiments they would hunt you down. I had to stop that particular case, if only to protect you”

“I don’t care what those groups of fools think,Nothing but hags and greybeards who mocked me for centuries. Centuries! She overemphasized that part.

I had a plan, a risky plan, but a plan nonetheless and I will have what.” she paused. The manner in which she phrased it made her sound like a spoiled child. Her face contorted and twisted.

She held her finger out, and aimed at the chest of the beast and shot a beam of light through him, leaving a literal hole. Pieces of blood and organs start leaking through. Victor didn’t want to get hit by one of those.

“MOOO AAAAAAAAHHHH!!!” The minotaur bellowed. His roar was so loud it shook the cavern , Victor's gelatinous body literally started trembling due to the vibrations. The noise echoed deeper and deeper, indicating various hollow parts which may have existed in the cavern. Now he knew at least

“Where is the girl, Gormack…” She whispered. He didn’t reply, he said nothing further.

She shot another hole through him, the beam torching one of the oozes near him. Victor started moving to the back of the cave in fear of being ‘collateral damage.’

The terror didn’t stop. As he was subsequently shot with more holes.

“Tell us where the cat is , Gormack, and we will send you back home, albeit back very…crippled,” The butler demanded. Doing an obnoxious walk-up to the minotaur, he put his slender fingers on the minotaur’s head.”What will it be Gormack my dear?”

Implying more than simple torture, Victor wouldn’t want to be caught by this one. He needed to get out of nowhere. The thought of them catching a sentient pile of goo terrified him.

“I will tell you nothing freak!” He spit in the butler’s face.

“Disgusting beast, how dare you…” He made the spit disappear with a wave of his hands.

Another interesting but largely superficial act of magic, Victor thought. He would have to learn, it would be very convenient.

“My Lady, he will tell us nothing, If I may dispose of him. Edrik pleaded.

“No he was my minion, he is my responsibility.” she replied

AN enormous amount of pressure suddenly erupted from her Staff. The room had darkened as if all the ‘light’ had been sucked into, concentrated in the wooden staff which held an orb-like structure, now shining brightly.

“Gormak., my once faithful servant, do you have anything to say?” She questioned him one final time.

“I regret nothing, my dark lady.”

“Then I hereby sentence you to death!”

She raised her staff, swung it forward and something ethereal escaped from it. Like a nasty spirit. Entering the minotaur, who stopped breathing shortly after and soon he fell on the ground. The thing had crawled out of the minotaur and crawled back into the sphere. The light slowly returned.

“Come on, Edrik, we have work too,” she said, happily skipping away as if she didn’t just execute her follower. ” First thing is first, I would like Tea and cookies.”

“Your wishes are mine, dark lady.”

He stopped to address the Goblin leader.

“Close the doors, behind us ragtag, don’t want anything unnecessary coming into the keep,” he whispered.”Get a shaman, tomorrow if you can, we need to clean up, misbehaving spirits.”

“Yes, general. It will be done.” he saluted.

And the butler-general left.

Ragtag came up to the corpse.

He spat on the ground.

“Rest in shit, Gormack, guess who’ll be taking ya job now,” he started laughing then shook his head subsequently. “I'm gonna miss ya chap.”

Victor swore he saw a tear in the grotesque goblin’s face.

He left shortly after, closing the basement door behind him.

Victor pondered on what had just happened. That said they would be disposing of the oozes, that meant he would have to escape some way or another. He looked to the basement door and then at the caverns leading who knows where. There was only one way out, but he wanted to see what was going on in there.

Something unexpected happened and he noticed every ooze in the room had started gravitating towards the corpse of the minotaur. He had sudden pangs, like his stomach was hungry but he felt throughout his entire gooey body. Before he knew it , he was on top of the minotaur.

Why did he suddenly move so fast?

Status effect : Assimilation frenzy. Move 5 times faster when extremely hungry

He questioned nothing. His body moved on its own, wrapping itself on the muscular arm of the dead beast. Enveloping and then settling. Slowly degrading the skin, fur, flesh and bone of the beast.

‘Hmmm, taste like beef, raw beef’

This was wrong, very wrong, he had just participated in the act of consuming a sentient being. There was no going back from this. The deed had been done. He did not know what compelled him to do it. Perhaps it was the monstrous nature of being a monster, or maybe because he was a dungeon cleaner.

He had questions that couldn’t be answered.

Absorption complete

* 150 exp

Congratulations you have Leveled up!

You are now level 2

His role as an ooze was clear now. Assimilate dead things. Become stronger.

He was moving somewhere. Now he needed to decide what he would do.