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Re: Rabbit Eyes [Draft]
[Arc 2] Chapter 41 - Origin ; Lestia [Part 3]

[Arc 2] Chapter 41 - Origin ; Lestia [Part 3]

Name Lesser Cave Slime (Hikari Shinkawa Lestia) Level 1 Unused SP 0 Rank 1 Race  Slime Gender Undetermined Occupation Undetermined Alignment Neutral Class Undetermined Health 10 Mana 0 Strength 1 Dexterity 1 Luck 2,000 Intelligence 1 Defense 0 Magic Defense 0 Equipment   Traits Leader, Undeterred Titles Transmigrated One, Miracle of a Goddess, Monster Passive Skills Partially Intangible LV1, Acidic Body LV1, Immortality, Potential Absorption LV1 Active Skills Status Check Foreign Elements

Monster Aptitude [0%], Chaos Serum

Huh? W-what is this?

Race... ...Slime...?

...!!!

What have I... become. I'm not... a human?!

I tried to groan but I can't seem to groan.

I began to come to to a conclusion that there were no vocal organs on my body...

When I looked away from the window that appeared before me upon entering this place, it disappeared abruptly.

?! No! No! No! Come back! Return! ...!!!

Did I accidentally trigger something to remove that window that seemingly held some important information?!

I didn't know how to re-open that window!!!

...

Okay, calm down. At least f-for the time being, I'm safe.

I don't feel uncomfortable anywhere. There's no pain on my body, and I actually feel pretty good...

Let's feel around and see how my other bodily functions fare...

I can't see without any eyes.

I can't hear anything without ears.

Also, when I attempted to touch my head… I noticed my arms don’t respond.

And what's even more disturbing was the fact that I cannot tell where my head is.

No response from my limbs either. I can’t move a muscle…

...

I still can feel and touch things with the surface of my body though.

There seems to be some kind of rough and uneven surface I'm lying on.

The temperature seems pretty decent inside my body too, feels like it's neither hot nor cold...

Neither hot nor cold... ...Actually, a really comfortable atmosphere I've got here.

I can relax a bit thanks to that.

I've always been pulled into pretty precarious situations in school during the bullying phase after all.

There's seemingly nothing much that can faze me now at this point.

This was why I used to be very social, as I could adapt very well to the changes in my environment; I could read the flow and go along with it quickly.

My body feels sticky...

Okay... calm down... Lestia...

Remember who you are.

You are Hikari Shinkawa Lestia. 18 years old.

I arrived at this white space after being killed by my school teacher.

Then a mysterious girl who called herself Ruler told us to go to another world to become heroes.

But she sent me last, realizing that I wasn't meant to be here because I didn't have the qualifications to become one.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

Then after discussing for a bit, she sent me down here before warning me about something.

...

I feel like crying. Can I cry here? No one is looking right...?

...

No... one...

...

I began to panic, as I tried to send an order to my entirely foreign body to move.

Move! Move! Move! Moveee!!! Someone!!! Is someone there?!!!

But of course, I didn't manage to say that at all vocally. I only struggled in vain as I became more and more afraid of the solitude in this place.

In this place...

And still, I cannot open my eyes.

Without seeing anything, I am in utter darkness.

Dread and unease slowly creep their way into my heart.

Could this… be what they call a vegetative state?

Consciousness separated from nerve usually denoted with immobility… ...is this what it is?

No, no, no, no! Please don’t let that be true! This must not be true!

If it is so, I will... I will most definitely.

Most definitely, go insane.

Just when I thought I was saved due to the current safety of my being...  ...vegetative state?

What could be worse? Even losing a half of my body would be preferable!

And yeah, both outcomes would be terrible. But to be alone in this darkness, without any senses...

...Isn’t that just hell?

Having imagined the worst scenario, panic has quickly turned into despair.

I want to think it over.

They say that when people are confined in darkness, they quickly go mad. Especially in my case, since I was most definitely not right in the head anymore ever since I was medically diagnosed with Eremophobia, a fear of being alone...

I happen to be in that state right now, and cannot even kill myself.

At least give me a television set to play in the background; I don't think I can survive in here for long without any semblance of life to talk to...

Rather than despairing, the only thing I can do is go insane, huh?

Then, ...

*Touch*

There was a sense of touch.

Hmm? What did I…

All my senses were focused on feeling that sensation.

With a horizontal stroke across my belly, I felt something akin to grass.

Focusing my entire consciousness on that area, I slowly began to make out the shape of my body.

The grass’s tip felt prickly against my body, and it made me feel a little better.

It was a little ticklish even, and it made me feel slightly more relieved that I was actually not alone...

Inorganic as the object might be...

Yet, I’m still in complete darkness.

And although I regained only one of the five senses, I could finally feel again.

I decided to try to head towards that grass.

A wave of rustling was heard.

I could feel my body move.

It… moved?!

Under my belly, I could feel some kind of hard object... probably a rock.

I see… though I don’t really get it, I am no longer in school, nor the white space anymore.

Moreover, my eyes still can’t see.

Can’t hear anything either, but it could be just that I’ve gone completely deaf in this body.

Although I don’t know if i am facing it or not, I can’t feel my head.

I’ll head towards the grass back and forth a few more times...

I’ll learn about myself through contact.

No scent in the air either.

Could it be? Did I also lose the sense of smell?

...

Slowly but surely, I began to understand my body structure.

I really don’t want to accept it, but it seems sleek, jelly like.

The kind that is really famous in RPGs; the appearance of that kind of monster.

I had been denying that possibility in the back of my head for a while now.

No, no… there’s no way. I mean, no matter how… it just can’t be true...!!!

I decided to try the last of the five human senses that I’ve ignored up until now.

But… I don’t even know where my mouth is.

...I'm beginning feel starvation within me...

Race Instinct triggered; Monster Aptitude has been raised by 1%. [1%]

Eh?!

Suddenly, there was a voice in the back of my head.

Wha… what was that?

Monster Aptitude…?

And… what was that voice?

It sounded pretty similar to the girl who called herself Ruler.

Is she around?!

...Yet, somehow that doesn’t fit.

More than someone being here… it’s more like words appearing in my mind.

The voice lacks intent; like the voice that would come from a computer, calling it synthesized would perhaps be most accurate.

Trying to talk to the voice mentally, I realized quickly that it wasn't an actual person.

My hopes of a conversation partner were quickly dashed.

Saying something incomprehensible and then leaving… what a weird person.

Though I have to admit, hearing a familiar voice, even if I didn't know Ruler that well, did make my current situation slightly more bearable.

Since there was no explanation on what Monster Aptitude meant, I went back to trying to taste something. 

I moved my body towards that piece of grass. While verifying my sense of touch, I leaned my body on the piece of grass.

I envelop the object with my body to confirm what it is… and I was right.

It is, in fact, grass.

While touching the grass, the piece that was in contact with my body melted.

!!!

And while I was worried that my body had melted, it seems to have been the grass only.

And thus, I understood that by melting the grass it was incorporated into my body. It seems, the grass melted because it entered my body.

In other words, rather than enveloping it, I seem to have swallowed it.

It had no taste at all, but I felt my hunger satiated a little.

This was the point where I was finally convinced that I’m not a human.

And that was not a question, I am completely certain of this fact.

And thus, rather than our previous world or the white space, I can confidently say that I am at some rocky place where grass grows.

What happened to my other classmates? Did they become a slime too?!

Some suspicions still remain. But, fretting over this won’t achieve anything at this point.

I have to decide what to do next. Staying here isn't healthy for my mental state... in fact, I'm beginning to show some symptoms of my mental illness already... even in this foreign slime body.

Getting used to my body quickly, I figured out how I looked and how to maneuver this body.

My body moves with rhythmic motion.

In that pitch black darkness, I had managed to make out my appearance.

It was a sleek and sophisticated look, akin to those monsters in the beginner hunting grounds the nerd guys in class had shown me before in an 'R. P. G.' game.

I had in fact, become a slime.