Shaking my metaphorical head in defeat, I slump, letting the point of my blade thunk into the grass in front of me. This is getting me nowhere. Unwilling as I am to take it, there's a far simpler option for finding the prey I need to get stronger. Looking off in the direction of my new, well secured home I debate stopping by there to rest before heading out, but dismiss the idea with a wince. If I'm honest with myself, I'm just stalling, and this is no time to rest on my laurels.
Strike while the iron's hot!
That's the saying, right? Not that I've ever done any blacksmithing...
Having spent a few minutes crawling through the undergrowth, I find myself back at the small tunnel through which I first discovered this questionably bountiful paradise. I had hoped to get some easy food here from relatively defenceless plants, but instead, I discovered that if they aren't relying on stealth, plant monsters have defences that are annoyingly difficult to circumvent for a slime.
Without my scavenged weapon I wouldn't have stood a snowflake's chance in hell against the Vine Parasite, and losing it to the attack by the Toothed Flower before has highlighted in glaring detail how important having a sharp weapon is when fighting plant monsters.
Also...
I won't lie to myself, I'm ashamed of how scared I am at the idea of venturing back into the tunnels. My memories of that first day spent twitching at anything that moved fill me with cold dread even now, despite being stronger than I was then.
I need to do this, if for no other reason than to find out if I was right to think I was so far out of my league down here. I have the mutations and skills to run away if things get hairy now, but I need to know...
...I need to know whether or not I jumped the gun, deciding my only option was to steal the leftovers of other monsters and hide myself away.
Alright. First, my objectives! No point going down there to just wander around, I need something to work towards.
My number one objective is to take out either a mole-dongo or another one of the monsters I saw down here on my first day.
Second is mapping out the area. I'll treat this cavern as the centre point and work my way out to get an idea of my surroundings. Who knows, I might even find the exit!
Third, or, more accurately, objective one-point-five; reach level four. I'd love to hit level five but I should keep my goals attainable, I have no idea how much XP I was rewarded for either of my victories so I can't figure out how the rewards scale. It's safe to assume I get more XP for beating something of a higher level than my own, and the reverse for something lower, but I don't have a clue how steep the difference is.
A tentative sub-goal is to look out for some of my slime brethren. I know they're down here somewhere, but I haven't seen any so far aside from the unfortunate I glimpsed briefly immediately after being reborn. I could really do with someone to talk to about everything that's happened and if there's gonna to be anyone I can communicate with, I'd expect it be my own kind.
It feels wrong for a slime to be on their own. I don't know if it's some lingering human instinct or one present in all slimes, but I ache for the company of my own kind, bouncing around and generally carousing together.
I never got that in my old life either, so it'd be a nice change.
Shaking myself free of unproductive thoughts, I crawl into the tunnel. I'd like to speed it up by rolling, but the blade sticking out of me makes that more or less impossible. Unable to speed up the process, I turn to considering the tactics I might employ against the monsters I've seen so far.
With the addition of Engulf into my Skill-set I can probably pull off the comedically effective 'slime-on-the-head' move, but I'm not sure how risky that'll be for me. Despite Soften being at level four, I can't turn myself into a proper liquid, so I'd basically be putting myself at point-blank range with the teeth of whatever I'm fighting.
I'll probably still test it out, but maybe against one of the mole-dongos rather than the toothy hyenas...
I'm sure Engulf will come into use later, but for now I think my health pool and overall size is just too small for it to be my go-to method. One of the main reasons I want to focus on getting levels right now is so I can figure out how to increase my stats. I've been given zero clues as to how I'm supposed to go about that, getting nothing from either of my victories that would indicate progression toward some kind of stat buff.
Maybe it's like D&D, and I have to reach a certain level to receive the opportunity to increase my stats? Or maybe I evolve like a Pokémon and that raises my stats?
I simply have too many questions that can only be answered by actually getting out there and gaining levels. So, out there I go!
Arriving at the lip of my tunnel dug halfway up the wall, I look out over the larger stone tunnel. Glancing both ways before crossing the underground street, I slip out and bounce to the left. I came from the right when following the scarab, so I may as well see what the tunnels are like in the opposite direction.
Now that I know what they are, I find my attention drawn to the crystals spread throughout the tunnel. Sometimes gathering into spiky growths like the one that spawned the little fern, they run along the walls and roof in thin traceries, weaving in and out of the rock like skinny sea serpents, branches splitting off at random.
I crawl through the tunnels for a couple minutes, alternating between taking the left and right turns, when I feel a vibration through the floor that alerts me to the presence of something around the next bend.
Quickly pressing myself against the rightmost wall, I slowly ripple alongside until I arrive at the T-junction, retracting my blade so I can sneak a peek around the corner. Keeping myself low to the ground, I see what appears to be an open space, similar to the cave I passed through briefly while following the scarab.
There seem to be a couple other tunnel entrances on the other side of the room, but my attention is grabbed by the rather unexpected sight surrounding the room's only feature.
Taking up the centre of the open space is a pool of water fed by a dripping stalactite, an eclectic mixture of monsters surrounding it. Seems like the vibrations are coming from a pair of posturing hyena-things off to the side of the group.
Maybe one of them was talking smack?
I begin to wonder why such aggressive monsters are palling around together at the literal local waterhole, when I remember a key social contract common to animals that live on the savannah from one of Mr Attenborough's many documentaries.
So, water must be pretty scarce down here, huh? I lucked out finding that cavern then, I don't have to worry about the precarious power dynamics of a place like this just to get a drink.
In any case, the smaller one appears to have backed down, slowly retreating in my direction with its hackles raised. Ahh, perfect!
Glad I don't have a malicious smirk to stifle, I shadow the monster as it stalks away from the communal water source, practically oozing frustration.
Wanting to wait until we get far enough away from the cave that I'm confident any sound we make won't travel, I think about how to ensure I deal the most damage possible to this thing when I catch it off guard.
Settling on simplicity over a cleverly concocted scheme, I gather myself together when I judge we've gone far enough. Making sure my blade is secure, I aim for the soft joint where its front-left leg joins its torso.
Circulating my slime for calm, I perform a quick one-two run-up before launching myself at the unsuspecting target.
Pound!
The monster's yip of pain and surprise tremble through my body as I slide free of the blade and onto its body proper, leaving it embedded an inch deep in the hyena's side.
Not giving it a chance to recover, I spread myself over its broad shoulders and start breaking down the hide there, making sure my body is far enough up its back to avoid that wildly snapping forest of teeth.
Ride 'em cowboy! Wooo! I'd probably have been flung off by now without Engulf keeping part of me latched around the base of its neck, my slime eating through there as well, bubbling away against the muscle beneath.
After almost a minute of struggle, the hyena topples over, unable to snap at me and unable to deal any damage to my soft body when it knocks me against the floor or walls.
I think it probably had something to do with the sucking wound in the monster's side sapping its strength...
[Congratulations, you have defeated a Level 2 Monster Hyena]
[You have received XP]
Victo-!
[Engulf has reached Level 2]
Oh, a skill level, awesome! You're lagging behind a bit Engulf, but I'm sure you'll come into the limelight soon!
It's unfortunate that my most damaging attack forces me to taste my opponents before eating them though, I'm not looking forward to fetid fur on top of the unique grossness of monster. Eh, there's no way I'm giving up the Impurities, but complaining makes me feel better.
....Blech. I wish it make it taste better too...
[Organism detected. [Initial]Profile: Monster Hyena unlocked.]
[One of many monstrous beasts common to the First Atrium, its many teeth and sharp claws only become larger as it grows.]
Eesh, this thing's teeth are already terrifying, you're telling me they get bigger? That's just unnecessary! Its head would need to be massive just to fit any more inside, let alone bigger ones!
[You have consumed 1 Impurity]
Finishing the meal twice my size only takes a couple minutes, Digestive Molecules +2 once again proving their worth. Pulling up my status, I eye the three Impurities at the bottom hungrily. One more and I can upgrade my Mana Receptors to +4!
Name: Luke
Species: Baby Blue Slime
Level: 3
HP - 15
Mana - 5
Physicality: 8
Fortitude: 8
Thought: 24
Wisdom: 19
Skills: Pound [Lv.3], Soften [Lv.4], Bounce [Lv.3], Stealth [Lv.4], Engulf [Lv.2]
Mutations: Mana Receptors +3 , Digestive Molecules +2 , Motive Molecules +2 , Membrane +1
Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.
Skill Points: 1
Impurities: 3
Turning away, I pick up the scarab blade off the floor where it fell out during the scuffle and retrace my steps back to the watering hole. We'd immediately gone a completely different direction to the one I came from when mapping the place out, so I need to get back to somewhere I know A.S.A.P.
Passing a tunnel that broadens out further down to be even bigger than the one I spawned in, I spy something strange out of the corner of my Mana sense. It looks like a boring old collection of rocks, piled against a wall that looks like it's had a semi-circular bite taken out of it.
The thing that gets my attention is how neat the pile is, one rock stacked atop the other to make a pyramid of individual stones. The regularity of the shape after nothing but natural formations so far is so jarring I'd have stumbled if that were still possible.
My return to the watering hole forgotten, I investigate this oddity, my mind awhirl with possibilities. Crawling right up to it, I can tell there's no way it was made naturally. Even the stones themselves are too uniform, each one a nearly perfect flattened dome.
This has to have been made by people! What reason would a monster have to stack rocks like this? Glomping amongst the pile, the structure slightly larger than myself, I taste the oh so vague blandness of rock, a bit of stone dust... as well as something light and kind of smokey.
These must have been used to make a fire pit! Humans, or some other race, might have come through here! Taking a look around the wide section of tunnel, I imagine what it might look like with people milling about. This must be some kind of rest point where people exploring the Dungeon can take a break.
Proper adventurers! My metaphorical eyes shine as I imagine running into a classic D&D party traversing the tunnels.
Oh, my mistake, that's just the softly glowing glyph of yellowy-gold light imprinted into the wall.
.....
Huh?
Dashing up to the the wall, I stop just shy of touching it, marvelling in the first splash of colour I've seen in days. Don't get me wrong; I like blue, it's a nice colour, but mono-coloured everything gets boring after a while.
In contrast, this bright yellow hue stands out to my perception like a miniature sun back-dropped against the sky, knots and loops of Mana bound together to build a complex design.
The collection of knots is fiendishly complex, I doubt I'd be able to figure out how it worked unless I unravelled it, and even then I'd probably lose track of where all the parts are supposed to go. The best I can tell, there are three tassels coming off three points, each the tip of what looks like a complicated triangle Celtic knot, which is where the Mana turns that goldy-yellow colour. Moving towards the centre, the corners of each vaguely triangular shape meet in centre and interweave together to form a kind of mesh, minuscule currents of Mana running through the whole thing.
Hold up.
At first glance, I thought this was some kind of carving or painting, but that's not right. The Mana is floating a few millimetres off the rock, Mana being absorbed into the design by the three tassels and joining some kind of flow. Inching forward to peer closer at the curiosity, I see that each thread that makes up the knots of Mana are actually a kind of shell, inside of which a current of energy twists, spins, splits and turns, until its previously pure blue colour shifts to yellow-gold.
Mhm. Yeah.
I have no idea what the heck this thing is.
I mean, it's obviously some kind of magic! But what in the heck does it do?! How does it work?
Alright, let's focus up! There's every chance I have an honest to Attenborough magic spell right in front of me! How can I be complaining when there's proof actual, literal, magic exists!
Taking in everything I can about the fascinating whatever-it-is, the first thing I try to decipher is it's shape. Starting at a random one of the tassels that are drawing trickles of Mana from the rock, I try to follow the thread...
...and immediately lose track of it. I try each one, but it's the same every time. The knots are made up of multiple gossamer threads through which the pure blue Mana flows, even passing through each other in multiple places. I mean, there's no rule I'm aware of that says that two currents of Mana can't occupy the same space, but it's playing merry hell with my Mana sense.
By the time I've worked even this much out I have a headache. This must be an incredibly finicky spell, so many tiny details! I wonder what it does?
Hesitant, I crawl a mite forward. Surely just touching it won't do any harm? This is a rest stop (probably) I doubt these people would put anything super dangerous so close to where they sleep.
Nodding with a blatantly thin veneer of confidence, I resolve that doing this won't blow up in my face. I reach a nubbin forward, pausing just before I make contact.
C'mon bro, don't be a wuss!
...but I am a wuss...
......
Oi! Where's your clap-back, inner monologue?!
Cringing back slightly, I nonetheless bring my trembling appendage up to the glowing shape, discovering two things as I make contact.
Firstly; there's nothing to make contact with, my nubbin-like arm passing through the Mana and making contact with the unblemished wall instead. Whatever this is, it's made solely of Mana, nothing more.
Secondly; whatever it does, it's activated by touch.
I feel the strangest tugging sensation, like someone just grabbed hold of a thread sunk deep into my core and yanked it gently, an infinitesimal thread of pure blue Mana leaving me and entering the knot-work design, causing the whole thing to pulse with light, before falling inert.
Oh shit! I broke it!
Yanking back, I stare in horror at the complete stillness of the once alive weave of Mana. GAAHHH, what did I-!?
All of a sudden, my doom spiral is interrupted by the sound of gently sliding stone, an even square two body lengths wide pushing out from the wall centred on the inert design.
Uhhh...
Maybe I didn't break it?
Creeping forward, I angle to come at the square of stone from the right corner. It seems to have slid only a few inches out, the sides still perfectly flush with the wall. I can barely even see a seam. Crawling up to the side, I poke the smooth, unmarked stone, leaping back in preparation for-!
Nothing.
Satisfied that it isn't going to blow up just yet, I move up against the inch or so of exposed rock and push the edge. It's not easy without hands, but I have enough surface area to compensate, and whatever this thing is operated by- magic runners or something -the thing slides out smooth as silk.
Satisfied that I've got enough space now, I jump up on top of the stone block. Or I would, if there was a top. Instead, I flail a bit as I pass over a lip an inch or two wide and land atop a sheet of something stiff, the coarse texture scraping against me while I struggle to find purchase on the uneven surface. Is this canvas?
Finally settled into a domed puddle in the middle of what is evidently a long drawer of some kind, I get my next shock.
It seems like I've been experiencing a lot of those recently.
I'm sitting on the ghost of a sheet of canvas. Or rather, correcting myself, it looks like a ghost to my Mana sense. There's almost none of the ever-present energy, well, present. It's similar to one of those beams of light you can only see sometimes when dust floats through it. Visible, yet definitely not solid.
Intrigued by this anomaly, I slide down the edge between it and the wall of the stone drawer. It's not a particularly comfortable trip, the canvas seems to repel my body, so getting a grip on it is bloody difficult.
That, and it feels like I'm dragging my body across sandpaper. Not a vibe.
Squeezed into the corner at the bottom of the space, canvas above and beside me, I realise my mistake and crawl towards the front of the drawer. Whatever's in here must be wrapped inside the sheet, a realisation that proves correct when I pass over a few layers of the canvas' stiff edge. Not sure what to expect, I look inside and see a tube of the same ghostly substance, so tightly wrapped that I can't figure out what it might be from sight alone.
Flexing my membrane, I don't give up. There's no way I can lift whatever is packed in here, it's way bigger than I am, but neither am I out of options! It's taken me an embarrassingly long time to consider paying attention to them, but I have much more accurate senses than simple sight.
Slipping into the biggest gap I can find between the tightly packed objects, I pay close attention to the texture and flavour of what I'm crawling through. Having pushed myself into the minuscule amount of wiggle room tight as I dare, I feel the familiar bunching of rough blankets on one side, the taste of dust bunnies and sweat on my membrane. Against the other are rods with a metallic taste, like I'm licking a pole. Each one is approximately the thickness of an arm and slips by me surprisingly easy.
Okay. Blanket, metal pole, canvas...
This sounds like camping equipment. Am I in some kind of storage locker?
A sudden brainwave has me wriggling out hastily, bounding to the ground in my excitement to push the stone drawer all the way open.
If this stuff is camping equipment then there'll be sleeping mats. If there's sleeping mats, then they'll be designed to be big enough for whoever is using them. Which means...
If I can figure out how big the people are, I can figure out how big I am!
Of course, there's no guarantee the people who left this here are even human, but it's a start! Even if they aren't, there's every chance they're humanoid, which is good enough for me!
Pushing the drawer all the way out isn't difficult, and to my utter surprise, neither is unravelling the canvas. It takes me all of ten seconds of dedicated searching to find the folded edge of the canvas covering, a trio of toggles which are easy enough to manipulate holding it closed.
Despite a brief struggle with the far too big flap of canvas, I succeed in the end, revealing my objective; a whole bunch of hazy, indistinct, not-much-at-all.
Wobbling happily, I slide all over it. Here are the blankets, the rods... there seem to be some locked boxes tucked up at the back I can't get into...
Ah, here we go!
Slipping down between the blankets, I feel a firm floor with a bit of give that has an unfamiliar taste. This must be one of the sleeping mats! I wonder what it's made of?
Rather than spending ages trying to move the blankets, I just follow the taste to the front of the drawer. Lucky for me they laid their mats flat along the bottom rather than rolling them up.
Starting from the edge where I am, I slide along between the blankets and mat till I no longer taste the latter. I didn't feel and bulges or curls, so I'm almost certain it's flat. Crawling back on top, I turn around and measure how many body lengths I travelled on my way back to the front of the drawer.
Okay, eight slimes tall... I'll take half a slime off to account for foot room, just in case. So, if an average person is seven-and-a-half slimes tall, that makes me...
I'm the size of a head?!
Looking back on my experiences up to now with that in mind, most of the monsters I've seen are the size of dogs, if that! I thought I was in some kind of hellscape filled with huge beasts, but no. It turns out I'm just a little bugger!
I- I'm not sure how to feel about this...
On the one hand, it's good to know I haven't been thrown into the deep end of this world. On the other, this life has already been terrifying, and I'm at the bottom of the scale. I've been getting stronger, which is great, but seeing the sheer size difference between me and a person is a lot to take in.
Well. I've discovered a tenuous scale to measure myself by... I'm not sure what to do now. I mean, there's a whole heap of stuff here I'd have jumped on if I was a person, but it's all either too big for me or not useful for a slime. I can't even take one of those curious locked boxes, they're double my size- or, by another metric, two heads wide -and barely budge when I try to move them.
All that's really left for me is to put everything back the way I found it and make sure no-one knows I was here. It's unlikely anyone would jump straight to tampering-by-slime if they got suspicious their stuff had been messed with, but it never hurts to be careful.
Crawling up to the front of the drawer and the design of Mana that revealed it, I push-
-and feel that tugging sensation again. The Mana pulses once more, tiny threads of the stuff pulling out from the stone and filling the knotted design, the whole drawer sliding itself closed with a soft scrape of stone on stone.
I watch in silence as the compartment closes flush with the wall, nothing to mark it's existence beyond the soft yellow-gold glow of Mana.
It's a push lock.
My stupefaction is matched only by indignation. A push lock? That design was super complex, is it really that hard to make a spell that closes and opens something?! Magic might not be worth it if it's that hard, I sigh to myself, shaking my metaphorical head.
Well, there's no point worrying about it if I can't even use the stuff yet. I won't make any judgements until I see how it works for myself.
Pushing thoughts of mages and conjured lightning storms to the back of my mind, I start my way down the big tunnel I've found myself in. I know my way back to the pool from here, it's not far, and once I'm there I'm confident I can get back to my verdant abode. I may as well take this opportunity to explore a little further, especially considering this is the first sign I've seen of civilisation.
I have to say, this tunnel really is massive. Knowing I'm (probably) the size of a human head, I can see it's tall enough for a person to jump and only brush the tips of the stalactites, and easily the same wide. For me, it's cavernous, my tiny self glued to the left wall in case something comes by.
After a minute or so of crawling, I notice something feels off. It takes a bit to figure out what's different, looking up and down the length of the slightly downwards-sloped tunnel.
There aren't any offshoots, I realise, finally figuring out what's bugging me. All the other tunnels I've seen have side paths or branches. Instead, although the path turns slightly every now and then, the only way is forward.
My pace slows momentarily when it occurs to me that there won't be any escape routes if I run into something I can't handle, but I quickly swallow my nerves and continue onwards.
Two minutes of crawling have gone by, my uncertainty a constant companion now, when I hear an... odd noise.
Plop!
It sounds wet, yet not, like something thick slapping the ground. There's something about it...
Plop, plap!
...Something familiar...
Scrrrrrape!
SPLAT!
Bounding madly for the sound I suddenly recognise, I feel like I've been hooked up to a live power line, body shaking as my thoughts run so fast they whine inside my head.
Please, don't let me be too late!
Flinging myself around the gentle corner a short distance away as fast as I can, I come into what looks like a crossroads, a pair of tunnels flanking the one I'm exiting letting out into a broad circular cave, a single tunnel on the other side leading further ahead.
I barely pay any of that a speck of attention. Every fibre of my being is focused on the mole-dongo digging at a small rent in the wall, widening the gap with it's tough claws. A quiet part of my mind pipes up with the possibility that it's the result of a past fight between larger monsters, and I should stay wary.
The rest of my attention is fixated on the little blue slime hiding inside said rent in the wall trembling with fear, little pulses of light flickering across it's surface like strobes. I'm shocked to find some instinct deep within me can understand meaning in the lights, each flicker an impression, an emotion or a thought, blending together into a watercolour painting of collective meaning and intent.
The repetitive ripple of Mana dancing across the tiny slime's membrane is easy enough to understand. Simple, direct, and raw with fearful emotion.
"Help!"