Victor woke again from another involuntary period of sleep. It had happened more than once, in these small moments of his new existence. He assumed it was a survival mechanism, as the other oozes he had observed would rest for a moment and then move around the circumference of the small cave room.
He had try’d counting the time, but that had made it worse. It made him irritable, and he would find himself ‘Sliming’ around anxiously. He did not know what hour it was, he had just hoped it was the same day, The sun hadn’t set. Which meant he still had time to decide on what to do.
He had leveled up before he fell asleep. It was probably time to pay attention to his stats and abilities.
‘Status’ he commanded.
Status Information
(Additional status information hidden until necessary)
Race:
Ooze (Slime)
Hp:
11/11 (-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
2
Alignment
Chaotic good
Attributes
Strength 1 (Meek)
Dexterity 1 (non-existent)
Wisdom 20 (Former fool)
Intelligence 35 (above the IQ minimum)
Constitution 5 (feeble )
Charisma 0 (uninteresting)
Undistributed stats
5
Initially he wanted to up his intelligence, as he thought being a little smarter would help come up with a good idea but…
Tampering with the user's intelligence and wisdom. May have unexpected consequences. Not recommended.
The message was cryptic in of itself. He wondered how sentient the ‘system’ was. Was it an Ai or an advanced machine program? Alas he decided he'd rather not deal with ‘unexpected’ consequences right now.”
So he pumped most of his stats into his strength ability. Dying was probably a common thing for a monster in this world, he rather be able to hit back than simply sit and take it.
STR+5
New values:
Str 6( Ineffective)
Hopefully he is able to kill something now other than an insect. However he was concerned about how he was going to fight them. The
Now that that was settled, he should focus on the issue at hand. The ooze-human wriggled and slithered himself, in the direction of those basement doors.
He needed a way to get in. There was no lever or a switch handle on this side of the door. It must have been a one way entry inside and out. It made him wonder why they didn’t move around this way. There could have been a lot of reasons. Security protocol not to let anyone in or perhaps it was to keep out unwanted things from the cave below. What horrible horrors could be lurking beneath. Ultimately It wasn’t worth speculating, he decided.
There was only one way in then, slipping by. He would have to wait for them to enter and hope they wouldn’t spot him. He noticed a crack in the wall not too far from the lever. Deciding it is worth investigation. He dashed to it as quickly as he could.
The problem was it was at least a meter above him. He looked for obstacles to move such as a large rock but there was none inside the small cave hall,
Peering back at the other oozes. He noticed one was stuck on a wall. Which gave him the idea of climbing too.
Initially he kept sliding down perhaps because he was moving too fast, or maybe his body was concentrated in the wrong places and his weight was horribly distributed.
Yet he didn’t stop trying. He tried to spread his body mass to his lower section. Like that of a table. Which didn’t help at all.
You have leveled up a skill
Ooze manipulation level 2 ( passive)
Something had changed in his body. And he got a weird idea stuck in his all of a sudden.
‘It must be the effects of the skill.’
He tried flattening the lowest part of his amorphous body like that of a cup’s bottom. And slowly trying to become taller over time, trying to become thinner in his top section. Like the contrast to a triangle and a pyramid.
Somehow through sheer will and concentration he managed to do it. Standing upright like a fat traffic light cone and a dorito chip dipped in sewer gunk. He managed to see inside. Although he had no head, he could move his ‘eye’ anywhere on his body which probably came with risks of its own.
It was dark on the other side and damp. He could vaguely hear the dripping of something like a wet tap. Perhaps someone forgot to probably close a tap. There was movement inside, small movements. It could've been a small animal, he doubted it was a small humanoid. Too soft and yet too loud to be a rat. He hoped it wasn’t a big insect. Who knows what creatures they may have kept as pets.
He could hear sudden movement now. Only vaguely seeing the room. It was an empty room, a proper basement floor, and pipes ran through it. There were container’s likely things of value stored in there. Lights were on.
He could see two goblins carrying someone. A human woman, barely clothed in what he would use to describe clothing more akin to tribal rags. She didn’t move or respond. The way they were carrying her without care made him think she was dead. They stood in front of the door. And turned something, likely a lever. And the door opened again.
They maneuvered carefully down the stairs. And threw the corpse at the masses of slimes.
“All in a day’s work, one few more of the vermin to find.” the smaller goblin said.
“Ey mate, dontcha think we ought to get a little reward for this,” The taller one consulted the other.
The other goblin scoffed. Shook his head. “What more dya want? You want that. A corpse!” he pointed at the dead body. “You already took everything she had on her. You wanna do something messed up.”
“Why i would never, all i’m sayin is. A day’s wage ain’t worth all this death and destruction. At Least we should sell that piece of meat to a witches coven, maybe a vampire’s court. You know they need them fresh. They pay extra for young girls.”
“You’re a sick fuck. Be thankful, I don't tell the wizard about this. Then she’ll fucking torch you.”
“You wouldn't !” he sounded more than concerned, on the verge of tears.
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“Try me!” The goblin looked offended. “I vouched for you know, working for great actors such as Lady Seraphine ain’t easy work. SO behave. Be civilized or I'll send ya back home in a drove.”
The threat made the tall one shut up. They turned around and walked off..
Victor knew he had an opportunity to leave already but he was interested in the girl. She deserved a burial at least. He didn't know her. Or who she was. But he couldn’t let the oozes eat her.
That would be thing he thought.’
The goblins saw him near the door.
“Look boss, dis one almost slipped through the door.” the tall one said. Pointing at victors small body.
“Not my head, not today,” The smaller one said. Grabbed victor like you grab a bowl of hot goods and tossed him into the back of the cavern. Making him collide with the ground.
You Collided with the ground
* 2 hp
That hurt, that really fucking hurt. He was going to get these goblins. They were going to suffer.
Sure his health may have regenerated overtime but he found that wholly unnecessary.
The lever shoved down and the door shut immediately. They had left.
An Opportunity wasted, but he’d find them and then he'd gut them all. Maybe torture the tall one longer for his grotesque nature. The fat one he decided will throw down a cliff. To even the scores. But for now Victor had greater issues.
He stared at the girl. It was a shame, honestly. He would make sure these people would pay for harming a innocent. Karma will come around.
‘Was she innocent, he didn’t even know her.” He thought.
She was a ginger, with sprouted freckles in her face .Had longish hair that was braided and knotted, hanging below her neck. There was a marking etched on her shoulder, a tree with lots of vines and curves, very much like a tattoo but seemed much more organic. Like it was painted with blood or something
He wondered if he should pray for her soul. But what use would that be if she was just going to be reincarnated into something else.
He silenced his thoughts and then he could hear it.
A heartbeat
The girl was alive, she was still breathing. He needed to do something. The Oozes were moving toward her, slowly but surely, they would eat her alive. If only he had a usable limb or something to keep them away.
He had tried blocking them. Shaping himself akin to that of a wall, in hopes they would deter from their objective. Which was a futile endeavor. They would circumvent him, flank or crawl under and overwhelm him.
The thought came to mind, he could shape himself to a partial degree, what if he shaped himself a proper limb then. Then he could smack them away He imagined an arm coming into existence. Which was to no avail . but he remembered what he did before maybe…
He felt a strange sensation in him and then a gooey appendage sprung forth. Chemically it felt was weird, like a third arm had just sprung out of his human body.
Skill obtained
Limb manipulation (lvl 1)
‘It was a tentacle thingy’.
He could retract it, or bring it out. Make it longer, more dense. Change it to his desires and more importantly, He could hit stuff with it.
He fashioned it akin to a whip.
Natural weapon equipped.
Tentacle whip (lvl1)
He started whipping at the creatures in hopes of driving them away.
‘WHIP!’
You have dealt 6 damage to Infantile ooze.
‘WHIP!’
You have dealt 3 damage to Infantile ooze.
‘WHIP!’
You have dealt 6 damage to Infantile ooze.
‘WHIP!’
You have dealt 8 damage to Infantile ooze.
‘WHIP!’
They started retreating to the cave walls, and made no aggressive maneuvers against him. He ‘whipped’ one for good measure.
You have dealt 12 damage to infantile Infantile ooze. (critical )
You have defeated Ooze
You gained 10 exp
‘Oops’
It fell to the ground, started dissolving like jelly losing its texture. He didn’t mean to kill just to send the right message to his ‘siblings.’ He then got the bright idea, to absorb its contents. But first he should focus on the safety of the girl.
He casted
Analysis Leveled up! Analysis level 2
Human: wild druid
Hp: 25/250
Weaknesses: Not known.
Effect status: Vulnerable. (Sneak attack damage x3); affected by unknown illness
??? additional information locked
She was just barely alive. If he was truly a monster he could have eaten her, right here and now. The monster part of his brain said that it was alright. But he was not a monster, at least not in soul.
He thickend his tentacle whip, in hopes of making it less of a weapon. He touched her face with his tentacle. In hope she would wake up from her sickly slumber, in fear of her being frightened by him. He took as much distance as possible.
Her eyes worked their way open. She looked beyond frightened. Immediately crawled to her back, disregarding her injuries.
“Stay back!” she shouted at him.
Victor felt genuine terror in her voice. He retracted his whip.
And simply stared at her. He tried speaking but was useless. He could gurgle some liquids around which was all he could to do at the moment.
She merely stared in confusion. As if he was supposed to bludgeon her SHe started coughing wildly. Blood fled her mouth. ANd the most unnatural thing started happening.
She started growing fur all over her body, slowly covering every inch of her skin. Her muscles and limbs twisted in unnatural ways , her face became more deformed like that of a beast. A tail grew out of nowhere and Her eyes started being slitted like that of a cat.
In a few more moments she had become something akin to a werecat.
One wrong move here and he would die. He made another whip limb form his mass and waved it around him in hopes of deterring her. SLowly moving back form the massive cat.
He casted observe to gauge her abilities
Human: wild druid (panther)
Hp: 75/767
Weaknesses: Not known.
Effect status: Fire attacks ; affected by unknown illness
??? additional information locked
A big mistake as it agitated her.
She let out the a crazy loud wail. Which sounded like a woman screaming bloody murder. Making Victor’s jelly shiver and then She lunged. He didn’t get a chance to parry as she and pronged clawed him.
You lost -10 hp
And he let his mass fall down on the ground in hopes, she would spare him not harm any further. She stopped thankfully. Then high-tailed deeper into the cave.
Victor realizes he may have made a grave mistake here. He needed hp so he immediately slithered towards the Ooze infant he had killed earlier.
The pain wasn’t as bad. It seemed oozes felt pain differently than humans. But it did hurt, nonetheless. Which didn’t seem to bother him for some reason and he sat on the dead body of his ‘sibling’
Absorption complete
* 20 exp
* 5 Hp
Absorbing the ooze was much faster than that of the bull man yesterday, maybe it was the mass, maybe it was his level. The very little pain he felt disappeared. Which was a dangerous thing, pain is an indicator that something somewhere was wrong. What would happen if he got into a fight and didn’t notice it.
He could suddenly hear sprinting from afar coming from the basement door, and so he scattered to the walls. In hopes none of the goblin guards would find it strange, Most of the other oozes scattered from him. He didn't care and just stuck to the darkness.
He had enough of this cave it was time to leave.
The door opened, And he hid himself.
Skills
Effect
Active skills
Analysis (lvl 2)
Each level allows the user to see information of enemies and foes alike.
Passive skills
Dark Vision (lvl 2)
Allows the user to see in the dark. The greater the user’s ability, the easier the visibility.
Ooze Manipulation (lvl2)
The ability to morph and shape one’s body.
Limb manipulation (lv1)
Allows the user to shape their limp in any form. The higher the level the easier the complexity of a shape. Every 3rd level of this skill allows the user to form an additional limb.
Special skills.
Passive regeneration (Slow)
Recover 0.5 hp per minute
Past-life memory retention
Retaining one's memory after reincarnation is a special reward not easily granted.
Acidic Absorption (race)
The ability to break down and absorb any organic compound. Chance to attain Victim’s skill on completion.