*jiggle*

The message appeared before the little slime. Of course the slime did not know what a message was, and the meaning imparted by the mana was lost to our friendly slime.

For though it had achieved sentience, sentience did not equate to intelligence. What is sentience without the experiences that go along with it hand in hand?

Alongside the message, a hard object seemed to be condensing within its body. Smaller than a grain of rice, yet perfectly round, it glowed softly. The glow was pulsing, and with every pulse the tiny speck grew bigger. Slowly, oh so slowly, invisible to the naked eye, with every throb a new layer of mana was fused with this miniscule orb of pure mana.

The slime noticed this speck. Of course it did, this thing was inside its body. However its insincts were telling it on the purest level that this orb was natural. Though the slime had no distinct thoughts of its own, it was still a creature of instinct. The slime gave the orb no more of its attention.

This slime of ours had survived in this paradise for millenia, but being little more than a blob of mana, it had learned nothing from his long tenure in its mountain valley.

Achieving sentience did not miraculously impart it with the ability to feel and identify emotion, to parse through thought that randomly imprinted themselves in its mind.

So if the slime was no different now the moment before, what exactly did achieving this monolithic milestone induce?

Well of course the most important thing for any sentient creature. Something simple, and yet profound on an incomprehensible level.

That is, the ability to learn.

And learn it did.

*squelch*

The slime was made to feel something it had never felt before by the loud message that had appeared. He had been startled. He had been throwing himself off of a boulder, as usual, when this message appeared.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Why was the slime throwing itself off boulders? Well in this valley there were boulders strewn about, perhaps coughed up and abandoned by the overlords of rock that towered above. The slime, having no mind of its own, had merely been wandering about for millenia. And whilst wandering, it would often wander atop the boulders, and subsequently wander OFF the boulders in a daring display of jiggly acrobatic mastery.

Unfortunately this did not bode well for the only other inhabitants of this place, that is, the insects.

The slime was many times larger than the largest insect in the area, being around two feet wide, and one tall.

And so, when the slime's flight came to an end, the lives of the poor Insects skittering upon the ground below also came to an end. Crushed beneath its bulk, the slime had killed many billions of Insects throughout its long years.

The insects had no predators other than themselves and the slime, so they had been free to reproduce unchecked. Unchecked if not for our slime. The insects would make their homes under the boulders, so it came as no surprise that the slime would sometimes manage to crush tens of insects in a single drop.

And through the mana released by the insects, after many long years, the slime had managed to accrue the required mana to achieve sentience. All creatures were able to absorb ambient mana you see, and our slime was no exception.

Of course the slime did not intentionally absorb the mana from the insects, rather upon being crushed they were trapped beneath it with the mana having only one way to go. That is, into the slime's body.

And so all the stars aligned for our little slime, and it managed to achieve something no other from its race had.

As for what the slime was feeling from the message before it, of course it did not know, for it had no concept of feelings or emotions beyond those felt instinctually by its kind.

Just as a rabbit will frighten, so too will a slime.

And so, after hopping hastily away from the message, after around 2 days of hopping, it had realized something. The message would not go away.

Already it's sentience was providing benefits, as before it would have simply kept hopping endlessly until the message went away. As beings composed entirely of mana and water particles, slimes had no need for sleep.

They were required to eat however, for all actions made by a being composed of mana would in turn expend mana.

The slime since it's inception had never needed to eat, as it was constantly steamrolling insects, which provided the slime with the mana it needed. Absorbing mana from the air was not enough for it to survive, but coupled with the mana it received from the insects night and day, it had a surplus of mana.

And so, the slime stopped hopping. It had seemed to realize the futility of its actions, a milestone on its long road to true intelligence.

However since hopping away did nothing, and the message did not attack it, the slime decided to simply ignore the message and go about its day as usual. Eventually the slime ended up on a boulder. As it hit the ground, it's body flattened like a disc, flattened so much that the edge of its body was just barely able to touch the message.

And with that the message disappeared.