I assumed the rather angry looking arachnid would leap straight at me. That's usually how these things go. What I did not expect was for the thing to dart forward, zigzagging wildly, the 'tak-tak-tak' of its many limbs akin to heavy raindrops felt through my connection with the ground.

Hofuck! This thing is fast!

I'm literally unable to blink and I nearly miss its approach, sharp fangs already mere inches away from my membrane. I take it back, I didn't think this through! Warping myself to the side and away from the fangs, which seem to be dripping some kind of oddly translucent substance, I use my still-extended tendril to thwap it.

There's very little force behind the blow, what with my sudden motion and the fact that the temporary appendage is only ten or so centimetres long, but I manage to score a lucky hit against the inside of one of its many leg joints, the leg trembling a bit and putting off the quick turn the spider tries to make in order to have another go at me.

I've got you now! Taking advantage of the momentary stumble, I gather myself and leap onto the monster's face. Or at least, I try to. Damn, this thing's reflexes are no joke! It's definitely the fastest monster I've seen so far, including myself in the census. The monster bobs down and to the left, leaving me to grab hold of a small section on the right of the thorax and head, the rest of my mass getting caught in the two front legs on that side of the spider's body.

It's better than nothing! I immediately set to eating, the hairs covering the surface of its exoskeleton dissolving in moments. My opponent does not appreciate this, writhing and shaking in that quintessentially spidery way that gives me the heebie-jeebies, multiplied ten times over by the fact that I'm currently latched onto said spider.

Hey, I'm not enjoying this either pal! Suck it up and kick the bucket already if you want it to be over!

Rejecting my suggestion, it rears back, unable to angle its fangs into me due to my efforts in shifting my mass every time it tries to grab hold of me for leverage. A wall-crawler though it is, spiders aren't actually sticky, it turns out, and slime membrane- much like bathtubs -is apparently one of those surfaces spiders can't grip. The spider's failing attempts to manoeuvre me into biting range grant me almost a full five seconds of digestion, and with my molecules at +3, the amount of damage I manage to do is notable, if not particularly grievous.

The small section I'm attached to is now completely bald, the exoskeleton there eaten away to the point that I'm confident I could smash it with one good Pound, considering it wasn't all that thick to begin with. I'm just about to spread myself across to weaken a new section, when I notice the spider's abdomen curl under, the stinger there poised to stri-

Hold on, where's the stinger? Are you trying to web me? I cackle internally. Hahaha, you think gluing us together will improve your situation?! Wow, monster's can be real dumb sometimes!

The abdomen tenses, undulating in the same movement I witnessed just before it webbed up that hyena mere moments before. My confidence, however, is shattered like an anvil carved from ice dropped off the side of a cliff onto the rocks below, when a transparent, thickly viscous, concentrated liquid shoots forth, covering my membrane and slipping through the gaps I made to let my molecules loose.

What the-?

Suddenly, my existence is white noise, mind-numbing pain flashing through my body wherever the substance makes contact. I can feel my membrane breaking down against my will, viscous streamers burning rivers of pain through me as they ride my internal currents. I imagine this must be what an ant nest experiences when it has liquid aluminium poured into its tunnels, veins of molten metal spreading through me, searing and eating into my body.

Throwing myself off the spider like I just touched a million-volt electric fence, I can barely form a single cohesive thought through the pain. Some part of me knows that I need to get rid of whatever this stuff is before it kills me, but it's inside me! I can't just wipe that shit off!

Desperate, I feel my slime instincts rip control away from me. The same ones currently screaming 'get away, get rid of it, purge it, JUST GET IT AWAY!'

Mass quivering, I push away everything that hurts, completely dissolving any membrane that could retain even a trace of this hell, regardless of the exceptional risk to my structural integrity. As for the streamers of white hot pain eating through my insides, I push them away as well, shoving all my pain to one side of my body. Then, barely remaining conscious through the sensation of being eaten alive, I compress the border between what mass I have left and what mass is laced with this deadly substance, my improved malleability allowing me to cinch myself down until I look like I've been strapped into a particularly avant-garde corset.

With a final twist, I dissolve the cinched membrane, losing only a few drops of mass before reforming it, sealing the site of the impromptu field amputation.

I'm instantly freed of pain, the sensation suddenly nothing but a bad memory. My unharmed- yet significantly smaller -body, however, is left trembling like I'm back on that plate at bridge night. Looking over at the significant portion of mass I just severed from myself, I watch on in horror as it bubbles, shrinking and dissolving, soon no more than a tacky residue that elicits the same visceral reaction I had the first few times I laid eyes on a severely rotted animal corpse, or a particularly nasty piece of roadkill.

The transition between my previous and current state of being is jarring, having gone from experiencing the worst pain I have ever felt in my life, to feeling not a single blemish nor minor echo of lingering pain anywhere in a mere instant. As a result, my psyche is reeling, trying to come to terms with what the actual fuck just happened. That level of pain easily eclipsed multiple broken fingers and that time I was electrocuted for-

GAH! Leaping to the side, I barely avoid another shot of pure, concentrated pain, the need to glare at my newly appointed least favourite being in existence so strong I mould the requisite eye slits to do just that. Grimacing in satisfaction, I see it didn't come out of its own attack unharmed. The legs I was attached to are trembling almost as much as I am, vicious burns covering said legs and the monster's underbelly from the not-inconsiderable splash back of whatever it coated me with.

Was that some kind of acid attack? From the way both of us are bubbling, I'd say it's at least likely. Though, there must be more to it than that, I realise, taking note of the numbers in the corner of my mind. I've been dropped to a mere seven hit points after being forced to purge so much mass, but it's the number below that which has me concerned.

My Mana has dropped from five down to three for the first time. I'm confident I haven't suddenly learned how to sub-consciously cast magic, and manipulating my body has never consumed Mana before, so it must have something to do with that attack. The acid, or whatever it was, didn't just burn, it felt like it was eating me.

Could the monster's attack have some kind of Mana-consuming effect? If so, I realise, I might be in a better spot than more magically-inclined monsters. I have no idea how to actually use the Mana I have, so losing it doesn't effect me at all right now.

It still bloody hurts though, I groan, the pair of us keeping our distance from each other as we circle each other around the tunnel. The spider skitters back whenever I twitch forward, unwilling to let me near enough to get a hold of it again, yet unable to make enough distance from me to have the freedom to take pot-shots with that acid of hate.

Unfortunately, the spider still has the advantage over me. I've been trying to corral it away from the walls, but it's just too damn quick! I'm unable to stop it's latest attempt to scurry for the high ground.

No!

Desperate to prevent a ranged battle, one I'm guaranteed to lose due to my absolute lack of suitable capabilities, I commit to a risky dash forward, throwing myself after the arachnid and rolling as fast as possible down the shallow decline.

The moment I commit, I realise the gravity of my mistake. Watching the half-bald head turn to me with what I swear is a triumphant gleam in its eyes, I see the abdomen I've been trying to avoid twitch and orient itself toward me. Dammit, it's been curling its abdomen around to fire at me from the front or side so often that I forgot it's most dangerous from behind!

Who forgets that the back is most dangerous from the back?!

Caught off guard and moving much faster than normal, having spent a few seconds of rolling to build up speed, I'm unable to stop my forward momentum as I watch the spider's muscles pulse, my mind oddly calm.

Well, damn. Guess this is it. I was never much of a fighter anyway, I'm surprised I lasted this long... Hopefully my next life isn't as-

A mere moment before the final wave of abdominal constriction heralds my demise, I glimpse something in my opponent. I don't know if it's in the way they shift their legs, how they hold themselves, or some kind of change in the gleam of multiple, pitch black eyes. Whatever it is, the vibe the spider has been giving off has changed. Looking at the monster about to kill me, I see something that stops my train of thought like the hand of God herself coming down and picking it up off the tracks.

Satisfaction. Superiority. The self-assured knowledge that whatever damage I inflicted upon it was due to nothing more than dumb luck.

Everything in my perception freezes, as if the pause button of the world has just been hit. Out of nowhere, I feel a surge of defiance bubble up from somewhere deep inside me, some dark little lock-box carried over from my past life, something small that I never liked looking at. This rising defiance brings with it a release of unfamiliar emotions, memories of laughter (not the friendly kind), and thoughts of rebellion entertained for mere moments before being locked away.

I was never in a position to do much of anything during my other life. I was simply the unlucky sort, and the kindness I paid out never had the time to come back to me before I kicked the bucket. I was able to live, and although I had a pretty privileged upbringing my poor luck led into a less than stellar life after... after I left home. I didn't have the worst life, so I didn't complain, I helped people when I could, and good things happened sometimes, regardless of disciplinary action and the sort.

Then I was reborn here, and I was given the opportunity to change. I had options. To run and hide, yes, but also to stand and fight. Here, I not only have the opportunity to choose what my life is, I also have the tools to make that choice a reality.

And I did! I beat a plant as big as a house, I discovered literal magic, and I saved someone! Actually, seriously saved someone from near-certain death.

This monster's self-satisfaction, their resolute dismissal of all my efforts thus far... I realise it burns me. I've never really had this response to someone insulting my efforts before, regardless of the regularity with which it happened. But something in the tilt of the spider's head makes me think it's unimpressed with what I've achieved in my life. Like it's saying "Oh, you thought you've done something impressive? Your achievements are meaningless, I'll just eat you and go about my business."

Like hell what I've achieved is meaningless! Saving that slime wasn't meaningless, surviving in this unfamiliar world hasn't been meaningless, and doing things because I want to do them IS NOT MEANINGLESS!

I feel actual, real anger swelling within me, a truly unfamiliar emotion. I never get angry, I just... don't. But the frozen look of satisfaction on my opponent's alien face has me more worked up than I think I've ever been, even worse than that time the thugs around my neighbourhood wouldn't accept mugging me in return for letting go of the old guy they ran into on my nightly walk home from work.

I'm not giving you the fucking satisfaction! I may not've stood up for myself in my past life, but if this world has taught me one thing, it's that I can change! I'm a slime now, for crying out loud! What point is there in acting like the same weak little human I was?

I want to live! I want to meet more of my kind, and have fun with them! I'm not going to let myself become some spider's side dish!

I'm gonna-!

Very rudely, it appears freezing time in order to have an existential epiphany during a near-death experience doesn't have an open ended time limit. The world deciding now is time to start moving all of a sudden, the spider's abdomen has commenced squeezing, stripping me of my chance to make my grand declaration of character development.

How very dare! This was my epic narrative advancement moment, you're ruining it with your stupid, inevitable attack!

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

No time left to think, I eschew avoiding the acid shot that's coming, pretty sure there's no dodging at this range. Instead, I turn my roll into a tried and true javelin leap, making myself as small a target as possible while simultaneously stretching my body out to give me a chance of having some mass left when I'm inevitably forced to amputate again.

It's down to you two now, Lady Luck & Spider Bastard, my arch nemeses. Give me your worst!

Spider Bastard doing just that, I see a broad spray of acid, thicker and wider than the last, eject from the monster's behind. It approaches rapidly, covering every avenue of escape. This thing had an attack like this in reserve? Damn, I never stood a chance...

My earlier bravado evaporating in a instant, I observe the approaching net of ravenous pain with resignation. So much for fighting to the last. I couldn't even get clo-

The first threads of the spider's attack hit me, unbelievable pain searing into my memb-

Uhhh... where's the white hot agony?

At a complete loss as to why I'm slipping past the deadly spray without so much as a bump in my flight, I notice that wherever the substance touches me, a piece of my membrane is being left behind. I didn't even notice the first time, since keeping myself in this javelin shape for more than a second requires me to constantly shift and mould my mass, my membrane barely doing anything to hold me together for the duration of the process.

Landing directly in front of the spider with a soft plop, the both of us just stare at each other in surprise for a solid two seconds. In the process of the pair of us try to figure out what the heck is going on, my still-active rear vision clues me in to what just occurred. Looking at the stuff on the ground, it doesn't run or pool like the earlier acid shots. Rather, it drapes itself over the tunnel floor, maintaining the vaguely net-like shape that eclipsed my sight a moment before.

Maybe you aren't so bad after all, Lady Luck. Either that or you're a different Lady to the one from my world, in which case, I think this may be the start of a beautiful friendship.

It's webbing. The spider must have been planning to immobilise me and finish me off with the acid once I couldn't dodge. It would have worked too, if I hadn't accidentally nullified the effects of the sticky substance by leaving behind whatever part of my constantly shifting form stuck to it. Heck, my body might not even stick to it as is, I didn't even lose a single HP from the meagre amount of mass the web managed to pry off me.

That final realisation is all I get before the spell between us is broken. Far too close to try for another shot, the spider tries to accelerate away at top speed, but its heavily damaged leading legs stumble, buying me the precious seconds I need to latch onto its behind. A new idea percolating in my mind, I loop myself as far as I can around my unwilling steed, ending up as an arch on the top side of their abdomen just above the bit a the end it uses to shoot stuff.

I think it's called the spinner, or something? Either way, I latch on tight, well away from both the dangerous back end and the sharp fangs, and get to work.

Ignoring the spider's flailing, I extrude a small part of myself and Pound away at the monster's exoskeleton right in front of my vaguely arch shaped form. Thankfully, my Physicality isn't reduced by my size, so I'm still able to exert my full strength, though the impact isn't quite as meaty without the extra weight behind it. Regardless, after a few hits I hear and feel a definite crack, accompanied by a shrill squeal from the wild, Halloween-themed bronco beneath me.

My success proves well timed, the cracked carapace giving me a secure anchor point by which to hold on when the spider almost immediately flips itself onto its back and rolls around, trying to dislodge me. Its Physicality mustn't be all that high, I find myself thinking, feeling nary a tickle despite the wild beast on top of me trying its damndest to squish me. I raise a mental eyebrow a moment later, my opponent flipping right-way-up and running straight into the wall, where it flails me into the stony surface repeatedly with its abdomen.

I wonder if my complete lack of reaction to being slammed around like this has something to do with the damage nullification from Malleable? If so, that's pretty nifty!

In any case, I can get back to work now that I'm not pinned to the ground. Pushing into the small cracks as hard as I can, trying to spread them wider, I'm rewarded with a sharp snap!, a small, triangular piece giving way beneath me to reveal the flesh compressed underneath.

Hearing the sound of another acid shot, I see a small puddle of the stuff bubbling on the wall behind us. It only takes a moment for me to realise what the spider is up to, turning away from the wall and rapidly approaching it abdomen first. It must be trying to pin me to the wall like I'm a tail and the acid is a donkey!

Can't you just let a slime work in peace?! I doubt I'll be able to slip away, the danger zone is too big, and if I let go of the anchor I've made, I might be thrown off afterwards. Grimacing, I remain anchored, raising the rest of my body up into four tentacles hovering over my position.

I am not looking forward to what comes next.

Trying to space my temporary appendages evenly to ensure I'm as stable as possible for what I'm about to attempt, I silently cry out when the ends make contact with the acid on the wall, my tentacle-legs bending under the weight of the spider's backwards run.

Focusing on maintaining the elasticity that gives me my bounce, I strain beneath the effort required to both keep the majority of my body off the wall, *and* compress my appendages as much as possible. Finally, I can't hold it any longer.

A silent roar echoing forth from my subtle frame, I release my 'legs' like coiled springs, pushing off the wall in a move that surprises the spider, suddenly forcing it to stumble forward.

[Bounce has reached Level 4]

Oh, you liked that did you, Mr. Attenborough? I should think so, it bloody well hurt! Twisting off the acid soaked tips of my tentacles like balloon animals, I sever the little bulbs, losing two hit points in the process. But my plan worked! I'm a slime prodigy! A- a slimigy...!

No! Even better, a PRIME! YA-HAHAHA!

Turning my attention below to the chink in my opponent's armour, I take advantage of the momentary confusion to grab hold of the little triangle of carapace with all four limbs and pull. With a crack that travels through the monster's whole abdomen, the section of natural armour tears free, exposing a bare chunk of flesh and innards to my... tender embrace.

Ignoring the monster's truly frantic wriggling, I ooze inside, coating everything I can lay my slime on. I immediately set to eating through the spider from the inside out, clearing out the bulk of the abdomen in just under a minute, though its initial struggles die down after only about twenty seconds, dissolving right alongside a large sac-like organ that I imagine was probably important.

I have to say, this is an effective way to take out my opponents, even if it is pretty gruesome. The taste and slime-feel of being buried in monster internals is rather distracting on my journey through the thorax to the brain, but I don't quite make it there before I get the notification informing me of my victory.

[Congratulations, you have defeated a Level 4 Spider Hatchling]

[You have received XP]

Letting out a silent whoop of elation, I pump a temporarily non-metaphorical fist inside the dead monster's newly formed thorax cavity. I don't care if it was just a hatchling, a win's a-!

[You have reached Level 5. Due to reaching the maximum level for your Tier, you are granted the opportunity to evolve.]

.....

Staring at the notification blankly, the expression soon twists to one approaching hunger, the hit points and Impurities I'm currently buried in all but forgotten. In fact, I barely register receiving another Skill point. Instead, I have eyes only for the screen floating in my mind, pinned beneath my intense scrutiny.

Finally. Finally, finally, finally!

I crow my exultation, overcome with emotion. All of my hard work, all that time spent pushing myself to take this life by the scruff of the neck, it's finally paid off! I can evolve, I don't have to be a baby any more!

Impatient to see what awaits me, I need to actively fight myself back from opening the little prompt floating off to the side of my consciousness. Before that, I should at least secure a place to study what comes next in safety, the last thing I want is to be distracted or rushed. Ideally, I'd hole up at home, safe and secure, but I can't risk returning just yet, not with the Big Ol' Fuck No possibly still roaming around back there.

No, instead, I'll have to get creative. It takes a few minutes, and I end up basically clearing out the spider's insides to make it transportable, but I soon have the carcass butted up- literally, abdomen first -against the wall behind a stalagmite a short ways down the tunnel from the trussed up hyena, verified dead by-way-of lethal poison overdose by yours truly. Hopefully, anything that passes by will focus on the far more obvious meal, giving me some time to make a quick escape if it comes to that.

Climbing inside my hollowed out 'shell'ter- hehehe -I manage to convince myself to do a quick inventory before getting started. Eating the spider's insides bought me one Impurity, my current total of thirteen hit points, and time for my Mana to seemingly refill of its own accord at some point since last I looked.

Hm, this is the first time a kill hasn't returned me to full health, even considering that I haven't finished the meal. Maybe the acid ate away too much of its body, leaving less for me to eat? I had to avoid a few bits that still had some of the nasty stuff burned into them as well, disregarding the small pockmarks of dissolved flesh. Or maybe spider's just aren't as hearty as other monsters? It certainly didn't feel quite as filling...

In any case, I can't delay a second longer. Pulling down the prompt I've been constantly stealing glances at over the course of my preparations, I let it eclipse my field of vision.

[Due to reaching the maximum level for your Tier, you are granted the opportunity to evolve. Please choose from one of the following evolution options.]

I can't wait! I wonder if I'll get anything super interesting? Probably not, I tell myself, trying to manage my expectations a little bit. I'm only a baby, there can't be that many options so early on...

Still practically vibrating with excitement, I 'click' the prompt.

- Evolution Options -

[Blue Slime]

[Green Slime]

[Catalyse Mana Heart*

*Requirements Met: Excess XP / Mana Heart undetected]

Three?! I have three whole options?! Giggling to myself like the mouse that got the cheese, I stare in wonder at the pathways laid out before me. At least, until I reach the last option, whereupon I don a satisfied smile.

There it is! I knew there was a better way to get one a Mana Heart of my own! Vindicated in my decision to save the curious object rather than use it for a hack job power-up, I start with having a look though this bottom option. I may as well, seeing as none of the others have requirements. I have excess XP? I guess I was pretty close to levelling up before I beat that spider, nice to know whatever is running this system made a use for situations like that.

Reading through the evolution description, I feel my metaphorical smile stiffen, nutty in its brittleness.

[Catalyse Mana Heart: Instead of evolving, this option will allow you to choose to forgo advancement in order to catalyse a Mana Heart within your body. Mana Hearts are dense concentrations of pure mana that provide a number of benefits, such as increasing the potency of a monster's mana, or mana reliant abilities.

Possessing a Mana Heart can also improve the general potency of the evolution process.]

This is crazy! I have to give up growing stronger for now, but the trade-off is wild! Just having a Mana Heart will improve my Mana capabilities! (Or is it mana? I've been capitalising it in my head 'cos, you know, Mana, but I guess it'd get old fast if everyone in my old world put that kind of emphasis on something like Electricity...)

Anyway, getting back on track, if this choice doesn't give me access to some kind of magic skill, I'll turn into a hat just so I can eat myself. But it's the last line that really piques my interest. The prompt doesn't tell me the nitty-gritty of how it can empower my evolution, and I get nothing when I try to ask for further details like looking at my Skill descriptions, but I imagine I'll be able to pull up more detailed information once I actually have one.

Rereading the first paragraph, I wince at the sole source of my hesitance. I'll be stuck as a baby for however long it takes to reach my next evolution, who knows how long that'll be, but the trade-off is too good to pass up! If I look at my potential growth like I'm a pet-monster in a normal game system, rather than the weird blend going on here, it's common sense to raise me as young as possible so I can pick the most potent options and get the most out my growth.

The 'can improve' bit does leave me a little nervous, since there might be some random chance involved, but so far, the system in this world seems to reward effort and risk taking first and foremost. There's always a chance the pattern could change here, but some vague feeling flitting through my currents makes me doubt that.

If I can figure out how the Mana Heart works so that each and every evolution after catalysing it is empowered, I could build myself up into something truly special by starting from what I imagine is the floor of my particular lineage.

I'm tempted to take a look at my other options, but I can't allow myself to be side-tracked. I need the best foundation possible if I want to survive as a slime in this world, and I'm willing to gamble that the risk inherent in choosing to remain a baby of my species at this point will end up rewarding me down the road. Anyways, I'll still be a Baby Blue Slime come my next evolution, so these options will likely still be here. I have no idea what the description means by 'improve the general potency of the evolutionary process', so who knows, I might even get better ones!

Resolute despite my nerves trying to trick me into checking the others out 'just in case', I make my choice.

[You have chosen to catalyse a Mana Heart. In order to commence catalysis, choose the effect your Mana Heart will have upon integration with your mana reservoir.]

Hold up, there's still a choice to make? Another prompt appears before me, this one presenting just two options.

[Concentrated Mana Heart: The mana contained within your Mana Heart is condensed and concentrated, increasing the yield of any amount spent to fuel effects which use this resource.]

[Potent Mana Heart: Your Mana Heart will act as a focus and amplifier for effects which use this resource, heightening their potency and overall effectiveness.]

Looking back and forth between the two options, I find myself at a bit of a loss. How am I supposed to know what I should pick when I can't even use magic yet? I don't even have a baseline for how much the simplest of spells costs, or how stark the potency increase might be!

In the end, I go with my gut. I can't see myself as a pure caster, it just doesn't feel all that me, so I probably won't be investing super hard into flinging spells around, but what catches my eye is the identical wording found in both options. 'Effects which use this resource'. Maybe there are Skills, mutations, or some such that rely on mana, but aren't necessarily spells? In any case, I want to have as many options as possible available to me at once. Cooldown builds in games are some of my favourites, and the Concentrated option sounds like a roundabout form of mana cost reduction, which could be huge if I don't end up figuring out how to increase my mana pool soon.

Anyway, what's the point of being able to shoot off a spell that's twice as powerful once, only to miss, when I could shoot two spells, hit with one, and finish the target off myself?

My mind made up, I select the Concentrated Mana Heart. There's every chance this could be a mistake, and there's nothing to say I'll be able to change my choice later if that turns out to be the case, but I'll make do either way. The fact that there are only two options makes me think they're just as strong as each other, so it'll all come down to how I decide to use my mana in the future anyway.

No point working myself into a tizzy over knowledge I don't have yet!

With that out of the way, I settle in to see what happens, eyes glued to the notification floating before me.

[Commencing catalysis of Concentrated Mana Heart...]