Akira had no idea how much time had passed since he first became a slime. Hours? Days? Time felt meaningless in this dim, endless cavern. His new senses were strange—limited to heat, movement, and vibrations in the ground. It was like living in a world painted with blurred shadows and faint echoes.

Surviving as a creature so low on the food chain wasn’t glamorous. His days consisted of devouring small insects, fungi, and patches of glowing moss clinging to damp walls. Each meal brought a faint improvement, like sharpening a dull blade one stroke at a time.

[Consume skill activated. Acquired traits: Glow Moss Luminescence (Minor).]

“Great,” Akira muttered to himself. His voice echoed inside his gelatinous body. “I’m a nightlight now. Guess that’s one way to light up the party.”

His core emitted a faint blue glow, illuminating a small radius around him. At first, the light was a comfort in the pitch-dark cavern. Now, he realized it might as well be a giant sign screaming, Eat me! to any predator nearby.

Still, the glow had its uses. It helped him navigate the jagged terrain, dodge hazardous pools of stagnant water, and avoid the sharp crystals jutting from the ground. But the biggest danger came from things that could see his light before he saw them.

Akira pressed forward cautiously, his gelatinous form rippling with each movement. His slime body let him squeeze through tight gaps and absorb shocks from falls, but it lacked any real defense. He was just a small, wobbly blob trying not to get squished.

As he moved, his instincts flared—a faint tremor in the ground, a shift in the air. He froze, stretching his senses outward. Something was nearby, heavy and deliberate in its movements.

Then, he saw it.

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A Cave Lizard slithered into view, its elongated body covered in rough, gray scales. Its glowing yellow eyes locked onto him, and a low growl echoed through the cavern. The creature’s forked tongue flicked out, tasting the air.

“Oh, you’ve gotta be kidding me!” Akira squealed internally. His core pulsed with panic.

The lizard lunged without hesitation, its jaws snapping shut inches from Akira’s body. He rolled instinctively, his gelatinous form bouncing awkwardly across the rocky floor.

“Think, think!” Akira panicked. He had no strength to fight head-on, no magic to rely on. All he had was his slimy body and his wits.

The lizard whipped around, its claws scraping against the ground as it prepared for another strike. Akira spotted a narrow crevice in the wall—too small for the lizard but just big enough for him. With a desperate leap, he flung himself inside, wedging his body into the gap.

The lizard slammed into the wall, its claws scraping at the entrance. Akira shivered as he felt the vibrations of its growls and strikes.

“This is bad. If I stay here, I’m dead. If I leave, I’m dinner!”

Then he noticed something. In the crevice, a cluster of sharp, crystalline rocks jutted from the walls. They weren’t much, but they gave him an idea.

The lizard thrust its head into the gap, snapping its jaws. Akira stretched his slimy body toward the crystals, coating them with his viscous form. As the lizard lunged again, Akira compressed his body, launching the crystal shard like a slingshot.

The makeshift projectile struck the lizard in the eye. It roared, thrashing wildly. Akira took advantage of its pain, slithering out of the crevice and darting to the lizard’s flank.

“Time to gamble,” he thought grimly. He extended his tendrils, latching onto the lizard’s wounded eye. As the predator flailed, Akira activated his Consume skill, trying to absorb whatever he could.

[Consume skill activated. Acquired traits: Minor Scale Resistance, Weak Venom Gland (Unusable in current form).]

The lizard threw him off, its movements sluggish. Injured and frustrated, it snarled before retreating into the depths of the cavern.

Akira collapsed in exhaustion. His core flickered dimly, his gelatinous body trembling from the effort.

“Not exactly a heroic victory,” he muttered, “but I’ll take it.”

As he rested, Akira reflected on the fight. He wasn’t strong, but he could outthink his enemies. If he wanted to survive, he would have to use every advantage, no matter how small.

And this world wasn’t going to make it easy.