In a dim mountain hall, lit only by bioluminescent moss and fungus, a gelatinous ball of ooze slowly trundled after a bulbous freak of meat.
The slime marveling at the new sights, the goblin marveling at the slime, and the moss and fungus marveling at the density of the rock they were trying to carve a niche in.
The slime quickly drank in the limited sights with its mana senses. It had no idea the plants were glowing of course, its mana sense allowed it to see regardless of trifling things such as light. So long as mana existed, the slime would have no problem seeing.
The slime, ever curious, oozed up to a patch of moss, whereupon it began dissolving the plant.
"Tastes like nothing," is what it would be thinking if it could think in words.
Slimes don't have tastebuds.
"Dumb thing, no eat light. Need light to see things from," said the irate goblin.
The slime moved away from the moss patch which was now bare and smooth. Not because it understood but because it ate the moss already and wasn't interested in it any longer, having gained nothing.
The slime moved over to a glowing mushroom, whereupon it dissolved it.
"Tastes like moss," is what the slime would be thinking, if it was capable of intelligible thought.
The moss tasted like nothing. Slimes dont have tastebuds.
"Hey stupid ball! I just say no eat light! You want to get lost?" said the increasingly irate goblin.
The slime moved away from the smooth corner of floor where the unfortunate mushroom had previously been situated. Not because it understood the goblin but because the mushroom tasted like nothing, just like the moss. Of course the slime's sense of taste was simply based on the amount of mana it could gain through dissolving.
The slime bounced over to a rock, whereupon it started trying to dissolve it. The rock however had other plans and refused to meet its demise easily.
"Tastes like mushroom," is what the slime would be thinking, had it been capable of thinking in a way any sentient race would be able to understand.
The rock had no mana in it. It was just a rock. The only reason the slime could see it is because of the mana around it conforming to its figure.
"Dumb dumb jelly! No eat rocks! Goblin use rocks to kill bat. How you expect we to catch bat with no rock?" said the maddened goblin.
In this way, a duo never before seen in the history of the realm ventured forth into the unknown.
It should be said that goblins have no mana sense. Of course there are some prodigies that later become goblin shamans if they survive, but in this aspect the goblin's intelligence worked against them. Many unthinking animals had keen mana sense and would easily identify the glob of experience that the slime was. Magical races like dragons and brakens would have killed the slime on sight. fortunately for the slime, the goblins were a non-magical race similiar to humans and beastfolk, who's only chance of identifying a slime would be through hearsay or developing their magical prowess.
The slime's luck stat was working overtime keeping the slime alive. Had it met one of the many beasts prowling the corridors of the mountain it would have been eaten in a flash.
The slime inspected the creature before it once again, as it babbled. It was intrigued by the noises emanating from the creature's mouth. Perhaps it could make noises too?
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It tried to make noises.
It promptly failed.
Disheartened, the slime decided to continue observing the weird insect in the hopes of learning the secret of the noises.
At the same time, Dookarook had a brilliant idea. The slime was his pet so we would teach it words! Then when he said "fetch bat" the slime would fetch him a bat! His mind was clouded by hazy thoughts of lazing about whilst the slime did all his chores.
He pointed to a random pebble who had made its home in their path.
"Rock," he said.
The slime pointed a tendril at the rock.
The goblin nodded thinking this would be much easier than he thought.
They continued on their journey for a few minutes.
Suddenly Dookarook turned around and faced his companion.
"Rock," he said without pointing at anything.
The slime wobbled in place.
It then started hopping backwards, or as backwards as a slime can hop without having any discerning features.
"Where is dumb thing going?" Dookarookthought to himself. He followed the slime, curious.
A few minutes later they arrived at a familiar section of tunnel. The slime pointed at a rock.
"What in snot? Why it come back here to point at rock? We pass many rock!" he thought to himself. He sat on the ground a thought for a while. Eventually he realized that the slime had come back to the exact rock he had pointed to before when he had said "rock".
"Stupid! Rock name not rock! Rock is rock! All rock, rock!" It yelled.
"Why the hell is this disgusting mass of tumorous flesh screeching at me about the rock?" is what the slime would have been thinking if it had been grammatically versatile.
The slime, with its boundless intelligence, had immediately realized that the insect was trying to teach it sounds. However it had thought that "rock" was that specific rock and not all rocks.
Dookarook frantically pointed at a bunch of different rocks, saying "rock" repeatedly in a desperate attempt to get the slime to understand that all rocks were indeed, rocks.
As they walked, every time the goblin passed a rock, he would point at it and say "rock." Then the slime would also point at it.
After a few minutes, the goblin turned around, looked at the slime, and said "rock."
The slime pointed at a rock.
"YES!" screeched the ecstatic goblin menace. Visions of the blob bringing it rocks whenever it needed a rock flashed before its eyes.
The slime had obviously figured out by now what a rock was. At first it had been confused when the goblin pointed at rocks seperate from the first rock, thinking the goblin was wrong and that the first rock was the only rock. It eventually realised that it wouldnt make sense for every seperate rock to have a different noise associated with it. After all it had seen grass before.
And with that farcical display, the slime learned its first word.
They continued.
The goblin said rock.
The slime pointed.
The goblin screeched "yes".
This happened so many times the slime was forced to learn its second word. It assumed "yes" meant that the goblin was agreeing with it since the goblin said it every time the slime pointed at a rock.
Keep in mind that the "yes" from the mana menu was not actually a word. To the slime "Y" was simply a feeling of affirmation and "N" was a feeling of rejection. In time when the slime began to think in terms of words, the mana would automatically assert itself in the form the slime would understand best.
In due time, they arrived at the cavern the goblin had harvested bats from before.
"Cave," said Dookarook.
He gestured widely with his hands, encompassing the cave.
The slime grew 6 tendrils and pointed them in all directions.
"Yes."
They continued.
The goblin pointed at itself.
"Goblin," it said.
The slime pointed at it.
"Yes."
The slime at this point was feeling quite amazed. This insect knew so many noises for different things!
The slime stopped suddenly.
Dookarook, no longer hearing the soft "plops" that had accompanied him through their journey, turned around.
"What dummy?" he said.
The slime extended a tendril and looped it around to point at itself.
Dookarook scratched his head.
"Dunno." he said. He had no idea what the slime was.
And with that word the slime realised that he was a Dunno, the smartest Dunno ever probably! The slime was now determined to know all the noises. Now that it knew how to ask the goblin what the noise for a thing was, it began pointed at everything that caught its mana-eye.
"Moss."
"Mushroom."
"Bug."
And that was it. They were in a mountain so there wasn't really a lot around. The slime didnt yet differentiate body parts, it thought the whole goblin was just "goblin".
However it was still extremely excited. It now knew what those crunchy things were that it was dissolving way back in its life! They were "bug!"
It wondered what the noises for all the other things it had encountered were.
Step by step, they approached the goblin village hidden in the mountain cave.