[Slimy Slime] Chapter 26: Cleaning up and taking stock. What a tiring day to be a slime.

I was tired. Tired tired tired. So tired.

But there was work that I needed to do. And I did it. Brutal, dirty work. They came at me like animals, and I slaughtered them. Like animals. Well… they were animals but I didn’t think that was too important really. I felt like my mind was full of fuzz. I decided to take stock.

I was in perfect health and my MP was at half, all of the wolves lay dead or scattered, my mindless minions had disappeared a while ago, and the sun was starting to rise. The wooden walls of the dungeon I had made were flat on the ground. I glanced to my right, my hob-goblin friend laying on the ground bleeding, but not that much anymore.

All in all… things were going amazing! I was alive, my new friend was alive, and that was really all that mattered. Better yet, I’m pretty sure we’d wiped out most of the wolves nearby. Alright, I may be overselling it, this damn forest seems to have a never ending supply but nope! Nope! I’m done with being angry or negative or any sort of thing like that.

Right now? Now is the time for rewards!

I looked down at all the bodies… that I’d have to eat…

I sighed. A slime’s work is never finished it seems.

****

It was done. I hadn’t let a single dang body be absorbed by the dungeon. I’d eaten them all. I’d felt… weird eating the Alpha. He had tried to eat me, had eaten me, and now I’d eaten him. Something was seriously fucked up with that.

It had taken time, so much time. My Hob-goblin friend, god I need to learn her name, was already doing better. I’d gathered some blood and poured it into the full heal potion. It was almost done but honestly, she already seemed to be doing better. It was weird to remember that unless you literally carve pieces out of someone, and maybe even then depending, people are going to basically heal back up within a day. Man, that must make war a bitch. No, I was thinking too innocently. That must make war brutal. Any wounded might as well be fully healthy soldiers you left lying around.

I tried not to think about that. No negativity! Only positive thoughts now! And speaking of positive… it was done! It was finally done! No more blood or guts or bones or any more nasty stuff! I’d eaten it all.

Blegh

But that meant rewards!

[General/Crown/Evolution/Dungeon

Name: Slimy Slime

Free stat points: 63

HP: 278/278

MP: 160/160

STR: 49

AGI: 27

DEX: 27

CON: 26

END: 27

INT: 26

WIS: 26

SPI: 26]

I had missed a few wolves. A shame. Now… having suffered a nearly life and death experience… okay no. Having died again, I should probably think about my strengths and weaknesses and only raise the things that-

NOPE!

[General/Crown/Evolution/Dungeon

Name: Slimy Slime

Free stat points: 63 (37)

HP: 278/278 (281/281)

MP: 160/160 (162/162)

STR: 49 (50)

AGI: 27 (30)

DEX: 27 (30)

CON: 26 (30)

END: 27 (30)

INT: 26 (30)

WIS: 26 (30)

SPI: 26 (30)]

Alright, that was looking a little cleaner now but… hmm. The problem is… putting stats into HP and MP. Every 1 point in HP is 6 more HP and every 1 point in MP is 4 more MP. The only annoying part is that even if I had a million HP or MP… it doesn’t actually affect my regen. That was a… mixed bag. I was still a pretty weak slime. Even if I had more HP, that just means more hits till I die or maybe get injured, it doesn’t really give me more defense. With my potion, sure, I could just heal but relying on my items… I hated that idea. I’d already been saved from death more than a few times from a single item and I was sure that couldn’t last much longer. I had a lot of points but just not enough. I’d have to bump up HP and MP another time.

[General/Crown/Evolution/Dungeon

Name: Slimy Slime

Free stat points: 63 (0)

HP: 278/278 (287/287)

MP: 160/160 (166/166)

STR: 49 (50)

AGI: 27 (35)

DEX: 27 (35)

CON: 26 (35)

END: 27 (35)

INT: 26 (35)

WIS: 26 (35)

SPI: 26 (35)]

Ah, yes, perfect. Time to finalize.

Holy shit.

I could feel my whole body changing at once again. The energy surging through me as I increased in power in every single way. I was becoming, what, nearly 50% stronger in every single metric? Insane! I would have easily killed that Alpha like this… I was starting to think I was even more broken than I thought I was…

[General/Crown/Evolution/Dungeon

Name: Slimy Slime

Free stat points: 63 (0)

HP: 287/287

MP: 166/166

STR: 50

AGI: 35

DEX: 35

CON: 35

END: 35

INT: 35

WIS: 35

SPI: 35]

I remembered one of Knowledge’s lessons. God those hours were long.

“A Gen 0 monster typically has 35 stats in total. An average Commoner classed human, around 80.”

Ignoring HP and MP for a second… I looked at my nearly 300 stats… God damn. Crowned monsters were no joke. Even though I was a Gen 1… that was ridiculous.

Which made the fact that I nearly died to a Gen 1 Dire Wolf even more annoying. I had to have at least double the stats of that guy right? Well… no. He was old, he could’ve eaten countless wolves. But there had to be some kind of drop off point or something I wasn’t getting. No way a creature like that wouldn’t just turn around and eaten all the wolves around him. Part of me was excited to find out what it was. Unlimited infinite growth when everyone has it, sounds horrifying.

I looked around my… courtyard? Huh. The things you obtain as a sentient slime in a forest I suppose. Most of it was still in absolute shambles. Getting underneath the walls for the dead wolves underneath had been a pain. Actually removing the walls, the broken wooden spike shooters, and cleaning up all the damage and mess was also slow going. My dungeon was eating it all back up, but it probably wouldn’t be done for at least a few more hours. My astra grass circle was surprisingly unharmed so that was great.

But there’d be no studying today. Sigh. I really liked studying astra. Oh, speaking of. I shot out a bit, just to make sure I didn’t gain too much. I didn’t bother really keeping track of how much I had. It went up too fast and I shot it out too quickly. It was weird how little I felt from doing that. I was literally draining my own lifeforce. Was it because I was a slime, my skills, or because that was just how Astra worked? Mysteries I’d love to dive into but sadly, now wasn’t the time.

Instead…

[General/Crown/Evolution/Dungeon

Summon time: 10 seconds

Time stored: 64 minutes

Crown types: [Immunity Type] [Enhancement Type]

Authorities: [Sustenance Authority] [Life Authority] [Minion Authority]]

My crown was… slightly annoying. Specifically, summon time and time stored. Because the first was a lie. Kind of. I was not strong enough to wield my crown. Not for long. Eventually, I’d evolve into a being that could keep it active forever.

Could being the keyword. It had gone from 5 seconds to 10 seconds when I’d evolved into an Acid slime, a Gen 1 monster. Eventually, Knowledge assured me, it’d become N/A. Meaning that theoretically, I could keep the crown out forever.

Except for the next part. Having the strength to hold something is not the same thing as having the strength to swing that same thing around. I generated (2(Gen#))^2+60 minutes per 24 hours. Fucking math. At least it wasn’t hard math. 2 x 1 = 2. 2, to the power of 2, equals 4. Then add 60. So 64 minutes per 24 hours. Even if I had the strength to wield it, it would still drain that time away. I wouldn’t generate 24 hours worth of time, till I was a Generation 19 monster. That was 18 evolutions from now! And that was saying nothing about actually using the powers I had, that would just be keeping my crown active 24/7.

A crying shame but oh well. Speaking of evolution… might as well look at the next part. As part of my Crown system, I’m able to view my next evolution and the one after that. A damn helpful ability.

The problem was the next ones were…. Rough.

[General/Crown/Evolution/Dungeon

[Acid Metal Slime:

Gain 3 Astra per day

+3 CON

+1 WIS

Requirements:

20 Astra

Absorb and Melt 20 metal objects

Absorb 5 oz of Adamantite

Skill Gains:

Aqua Regia - Your Acid is enhanced to levels almost never seen in the world. Now capable of melting all metals and materials, as long as they are not protected by magic.

Metal Casing - You now have an incredibly durable outer shell made out of adamantite. Few can break through your shell. It’s also incredibly shiny.

General info:

A Metal Shelled Slime that houses an intense acid within. They say that seeing a shiny metal slime brings good luck.]

Getting some adamantite was going to be really hard! That stuff still cost over a billion mana to produce. On the other hand, once I had some of it, I could then make two pounds any time I wanted with sustenance authority, which would be awesome. But that was way too far away. I’d never be able to save up enough mana for it and I was stuck in a forest for a year. And that was just that one. The one after it…

[Rainbow Metal Slime:

Gain 6 astra per day

+5 CON

+3 WIS

Requirements:

100 Astra

Absorb and melt 1000 metal items.

Absorb 5 pounds of Adamantite

Absorb 1 pound of Mythril

Absorb 1 ounce of Orchicalum.

Skill Gains:

Aqua Regia Enhanced - Your acid has evolved to begin to be able to even melt through Magic itself.

Rainbow Casing - You now have an incredibly durable outer shell made of an Admantite and Mythril mix. Your shell is nearly indestructible and magic is half as effective. It shines like a rainbow in the light.

Skill Loss:

Aqua Regia

Metal Casing

General Info:

A legendary slime almost believed to be a myth. Legends say that seeing one is a sign of unfathomable wealth and riches.]

How. The fuck. Am I supposed to do that?! Oh I tried to ask the dungeon for Mythril. It was twice as expensive as Adamantite. As for Orchicalum?

It had refused. Simply refused.

This was a Gen 3 monster! Wtf?! Generations are broken. I know that some lineups go as far as Gen 14 and some only go up to Gen 7 but… not all paths are made equally, that was for goddamn sure.

The worst part, was that this wasn’t the lineup I wanted to be in! I wanted to be a Core slime and then a prince slime. Then probably king, then emperor, and then who knows?! The problem is that you can’t go sideways through generations. I can go from 3, down to a 2 option and become a Gen 4… but I can’t evolve from a (typically) Gen 2 monster to another Gen 2 monster. God that’s going to get confusing. Personal Gen and Typical Gen. There, fixed it in my head.

Oh god, wait. Can’t other monsters do that? What if a dragon decides to go back to, I don’t know, a snake monster or something but with the power of a dragon?! This world is horrifying!

I need to get stronger, for so many reasons. The dungeon is apparently a call out for all challengers, a goblin chieftain is probably out and about, I have someone who is factually stronger than me coming to do much worse than just kick my ass in less than a year, and if I ever want to see my God and Goddess buddies again, I got to empower myself. Hell, simple survival nearly failed because of an overgrown wolf!

This evolution… it was going to block my path forward entirely. Adamantite was nowhere near me! There was only one option… I needed to discover a secret evolution. They existed but… that didn’t mean I knew what they were. What on earth could an [Acid Slime] secretly evolve into?

While I thought about that, I turned over to my friend. At least that was what I thought we had become! We’d fought and bled together, battled the forces of evil, we were nakama even!

She looked at me and let out a bunch of growls and grunts and other horrible sounds that all translated to.

“What… now?”

That was such a great question my friend! Now… I learned how to speak goblin!

Or well… more like how to speak at all!

How does someone talk without lungs?!