I wearily sat on the subway, viewing digital art, paintings, on Instagram. These paintings were my favorite ones. They depicted an alternate reality where slimes revealed themselves to be controlling the world.
The artist was a very eccentric one too. It felt like they had watched too much Slime anime. The artist released another piece of art depicting angels and demons fighting with each other in a colosseum. The slimes watched the angels' demise in the seats in the background.
As cool as it was, I couldn't hold my sadness back. The artist was too underrated. People couldn't value proper art probably.
I popped a heart below it, and messaged the artist. I thanked him for another great piece.
But heavy screeching came from everywhere, the subway shuddering and rumbling.
[Initiating the System.]
What? I blinked once. I waved the screen before me. It remained in its place.
I refreshed the artist's profile but their profile depicted a slime laughing deviously. The blue box hadn't left my sight.
*This couldn't be...* I knew many things in my life. Especially, from playing video games and reading a few litRPG novels. If the System was initiating, prepare for the tutorial. I tappered with my legs.
I had been a part of a group, forum, called the Slime Conspiracy too. They specialized in cracking down people that could be slimes. I mostly laughed at the claims. _Slimes are everywhere! Everyone, grab your waifus and fight! God and Anime be with you! Viva waifunia!_ One had actually typed this out, word for word.
It had all started out from Area 51 and spread throughout the internet. Ever since the failed Raid Of Area 51, they had been working on cracking down monsters on their own.
Well, I guessed, having only a hundred people fight for Area 51 had been kind of cringe.
I was there for snickers, but a few of them took it way too seriously. They were enacting an emergency live chat at this moment, titled, *The Slime Apocalypse is here! Monsters are everywhere! Grab your katanas and anime pillows! God and Anime be with you all!*
I hopped right into the chat.
- Izuna-chan69: Monsters are running outside, rampaging my block XD I'm bringing my battle axe. Good hunt, preppers!
- LizardBeliever42: Mark Lizardberg is really a lizard! Check the news!
- Zith-sama: Yess! No student loans!!!! (っ˘ω˘ς)
- SteveLover69: This is a great time to read! ☆⌒ヽ(*'､^*)chu
I began chortling. It was just funny. That was it. Like, I couldn't believe anyone would write such claims. They were sweating their out their gamer instincts and anime powers like the military didn't exist.
But this felt like what the paintings were depicting. Cold crawled all over my body.
I checked the first painting Mystique had painted. Slime rested on a subway, giving a pep talk. I couldn't tell what it was all about; there were no dialog bubbles.
Suddenly, I received an email. It was Mystique, the artist I had been following for years. I had never given them my email. Strange...
But - when I was about to check the contents - one of the passengers turned into a liquid-like thing on the ground. It was a round, blue thing. It quivered into shape, then turned around. It blinked with cartoonish eyes. A bit anime for me.
"We-came-in-peace," the slime articulated, waving a paw at us. The compartment turned red as the smile's face distorted into a vicious grin, its surface scarlet. "Hahahaha!" the slime cutely made an devilish laugh.
But the people weren't scared. In fact, I, Wiexy, was the only one, scared. It was on the exhibit. While the slime continued its cutish laugh, I opened the email
- Mystique: To my sole *real* fan. I hope we can talk sometime.
- I'll send more, later. For now, this is what I have to give. Peace.
- [bubble.sys]
[System Configurations Done!]
[Good Luck, Have Fun! Users!]
[Ghost About To Form!]
My vision turned bluer than before, reality warping all around me. My eyes painted people with cartoonish textures. The slime turned even more cartoonish, vibing about. Even the people changed looks. What was once a disgusting fat man turned into a... well, it was still the same to my eyes. The outside world, at evening, pleased my eyes with a darker bluish sky, stars sparkling lightly. "Wow..."
This was real. I gulped loudly. These coll digital pieces turned out to be a forecast of the future. Somewhat. Though, Mystique had had a habit of moving from one platform to another which was kind of unpleasant.
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I messaged Mystique whether it was a coincidence but they didn't message me back. Weird. No, it wasn't weird. It was understandable. He was in an apocalypse. He may be fighting with dangerous monsters in this instant.
A screen popped up on the ceiling. It was the president turning into a slime mid-interview. It confused every passenger at first. (It was still cute.) Red flags rolled down the sky scrapers windows, zooming out.
It skipped to a Mark Zuckerberg giving a press conference. But his skin turned green, slit eyes gazing intently. He licked one of his eyes.
"I knew it!" one fat man exclaimed. He seemed to be the person who would believe the moon landing had never happened. The screen showed more and more figures turning into monsters.
It outraged people. Some screamed, some held their heads, some held firm before the revelations. I only readjusted my hoodie. Despite the circumstances, I had gotten used to such. Your life could change in an instant.
The slime at the end of the wagon was humming to himself, twirling glances around. "Any questions?"
I didn't ask. *'What, it's just a slime,'* you may ask. Yes, it was just a slime. But the slime conspiracy theorists had called them even *gods.*
"Who are you working for, the UFO, the Illuminati, or the New World Order?" the man - who had exclaimed earlier - asked.
The slime exclaimed excitement, "Ahhahahahahhh!" It blushed all around its surface. "Ahh. No, none of those."
He checked the other people, confident. "People, we are outnumbering it! We can easily pry everything out!" He put his hands up, his face firm. He turned back, walked up to it. "Spit it out!" He spat on it.
The slime's color turned slowly to red, imaginary veins popping on its forehead. "You don't seem to know who you are ordering around!" Devilish horns formed on forehead. "Lemme teach ya respect!" It gushed into slime juices like venom, eating away the people that had once cornered it. It formed back into its slime form. But it left nothing of those people. After cycling its body, the slime spit out the bones of them. Not whole skeletons, only small bones. Its color returned to its default blue. "Gotcha!" it said happily.
My heart raced, my eyes wide. I fidgeted my phone up, tapping on the link.
[Package Detected!]
[Receiving Packages!]
I had no idea what it could do but I trusted Mystique enough. It couldn't be a coincidence. I fidgeted the ground with my toe. _.sys file extension..._ I had never heard of one.
[Config Modification Saved!]
[Passive Skill Gained: Level 1. Comic Bubbles!]
[Passive Skill Hidden!]
White thought bubbles detailing their thoughts formed by the remaining passengers' heads.
_Mom?!_
_Where is my emergency knife?!_
_What should I do...?_
_What is she doing?!_
Nothing more happened.
_Cool! Keep it doin! Yes! Great!_
Huh? What? I squeezed myself through the crowd. One student was taking selfies with the slime. At the same time, the slime was posing and gave many expressions for her.
No one dared to move. Sweat trickled down their faces, brows, cheeks. Still, this one young girl with a pink hair was taking multiple selfies, sticking her tongue. Even with the cute expressions the System was giving me of her, I chuckled. Even in an apocalypse, one could be enjoying their time.
[Ghost Configuration Finished!]
[Unlocking Profile!]
[profile]
user: Wiexy;
coins: 1;
level: 1;
class: none;
skills: [...]
stats:
- strength: 1;
- agility: 1;
- endurance: 1;
- vitality: 1;
- constitution: 1;
- magic: 1;
- luck: 1;
points:
- stat: 0
[Ghost Realizing!]
A wireframe body rose up before me, skin slowly tinting it in. She brightly grinned at me. "Oh, we finally meet!" she said, hugging onto me. He kept trying to pry myself free but I couldn't, light breasts touching my hoodie.
She let go of me, cloak with blue strikes pulsing about fluttering around her showy clothes. Just a black sports bra and jean shorts. She hopped away, now holding a cardboard with the words, *New Event: Subway Massacre!* Her eyes glowed bright blue, bright blue hair fluttering about. She swapped the boards, *Only Five Can Remain!*
She gave me a toothy grin. "New Event, Wiexy-sama."
I flinched, shivering deep within me as I read the white bubble next to her face, _Wiexy is such a dummy, argh!_
People cried out behind.
Some guy was crying and knelt down on the floor. "Mom, is that you?"
"Boss?! Shit!"
"Mommy!"
"Holy, shit. The perfect man!"
So, the System had examined your alter-ego, your dreams, or desires. Smart.
But I couldn't see theirs.
I took out my phone, wanting to check if I could see her.
She frowned at me. "Master, you shouldn't be using that." With a grimace, she took away my phone.
I tried to take it away but she began hopping around the space lithely. She kissed me on the cheek. I blushed, grinding teeth together. But, before I could seize it back, she deftly threw it out of the compartment.
She watched me, smirking, cloak fluttering. "My master needs only me," she declared, leaning fingertips to her chest. Well, now, shit. I hoped there was a way to contact Mystique for future packages. Above her, _I'm so cool, he's totally into me,_ could be read.
[Event Penalty: Death!]
Most people's bubbles spiked up for some reason.
"What do you mean death?"
"Mommy?"
"Go fuck yourself, boss!"
"I'll kill you!"
But some bubbles were the other way, more sinister, dark.
_Finally!_
_Let's go!_
_Kill, kill, kill!_
_I've been waiting for this all my life!_
The Ghost tossed me a phone, thin as paper. "Use this." She grinned. On the touch of the screen, she pleasured silently. She didn't notice as she had closed her eyes. But I had functional eyes. And I couldn't take them off of her.
Anyway, I took a selfie with the slime.
[Slime#345 Is Giving a Gift!]
[Gift: 69 coins!]
"Thanks," I said, flashing him a wink.
It winked back, blushing fiercer.
"Uhm..." the girl turned mute.
"Wiexy."
"Oh."
But, before we could talk to each other, the people erupted into cries.
"Please, someone, stop him!"
"Call the police!"
"Aaah!"
We introduced ourselves fast. She was Kiriole, a member of a family running a dojo or something. His father taught swordsmanship, and she had been going there but this all came in the way. And here she was. I flushed when she showed me her katana in her bag.
About me... well, I was Wiexy. And I was a gamer... and an anime enjoyer. What a backstory. If it was that clean...
But the screams rang about, noisier as the time went by.
I couldn't just wait. "Kiriole, what should we do? Live or die?"
Kiriole shuddered. While I waited for her reply, I checked the rewards out.
[
Rewards:
- Experience!
- Double EXP boost for an hour
- Coins: 15
]
I didn't know what I could do with the coins yet, but I welcomed the experience and the double experience boost. Her eyes rested on the crowd, crazed. She still hadn't gotten to an answer.
I sighed. "Give me the sword."
"Can you wield it?" she asked.
I couldn't but we would end up dead if we didn't do anything. "Yes," I lied.
She handed me the sword.
"Thanks," I said, hefting it.
I didn't know what would happen if I killed people. But - since slimes controlled the System - it seemed self-explanatory that I would gain experience, and possibly coins.
On my first step, blood gurgled under my foot. _Disgusting..._
Suddenly, one man stepped out, blood drenching his school uniform. *The rat.* Anger boiled inside of me.