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Chapter Text

Everything was very, very dark. I felt like was floating in a dark sea of shadows that brushed against my body occasionally.

...

Yeah, I know. It's weird to me too, okay?

I don't remember what happened to me - just this sudden, violent pain like someone wacked it with a sledgehammer, repeatedly. I couldn't even tell where the pain was coming from - it might have been attacking every cell in my body. It must have been an advanced spell constructed with magicules, but I didn't get the chance analyze it. With every inch of my strange new form under attack, I couldn't focus. Eventually, my regenerative abilities were overwhelmed, and I faced my second death.

Or I assumed I died, but didn't really know for sure. I knew next to nothing about the attack, so I didn't know if I died. Though with that crazy level of pain, what other conclusion could be drawn?

I hoped everyone else was okay.

Hm. If I died, what happened to what I consumed with my unique skill Predator? Please don't tell me they died. I... had to help Veldora!

Great Sage! What's status of my stomach?

"Request received."

"Conducting analysis of current status of Predator."

Nice. Also, that showed that my pal Great Sage was working just fine. In that case, I was probably still on the same world, since I could use my skills. So at least it wasn't an interdimensional attack, instead just some assault on my mind. There probably wasn't any damage to my soul then too. I was actually feeling pretty tired at the moment, meaning my magical energy was probably drained.

I couldn't really do much now, could I?

I focus on moving my body forward, manipulating my form to slitter across the ground like a slug. The ground, incidentally, felt smooth and flat, a bit like glass. It wasn't hot or cold, though I got the feeling that had nothing to do with my skills. This place was an empty void, leaving me hanging out in a pocket dimension for all eternity. As a slime, I didn't need to consume and digest matter for energy, so starvation wasn't possible at least. Still, I didn't know any properties of this place, so who knows what can happen? Just thinking about it is making me shiver, see?

I mean? Strange, monstrous pain, then I wake up a pocket dimension with my energy levels crazy low?

Yeah. What the heck!

"Analysis completed."

Sweet!

I hope it's good.

"Contents of unique skill Predator are mostly secure and have received damage."

"Additionally, the seal on individual Veldora Tempest has been destroy."

Wait.

What!?

How?

I mean, I'm not complaining, but how could it have been canceled? It was caused by someone's unique skill, right? Err... was the attack caused by a transmigrator? Did they destroy it with a unique skill of their own? I... don't know. Argh!

Great Sage!

"An analysis cannot be preformed.

However, it can be determined the seal has been canceled by a magecraft construct."

Magecraft? This was the first time I had heard of this term.

"Magecraft: A type of ability that utilizes energy and reconstructs them to preform various tasks. In this world, it is used form that involves mutated clumps that are classified as magicules."

Uh. Cool.

I probably can't use its normal form, huh?

Whoever made that construct must be really powerful to destroy his seal. Incidentally, since the seal has been broken, I should be able to take him out, no problem. But... if this individual was strong enough to break the seal, they must be strong. And furthermore, Veldora and the seal were both in the vast space known as my stomach created by my unique skill. I was under the impression that only I could affect the contents.

But this person's magic - magecraft - was strong enough to break through it easily. They're scary strong.

Still, they broke his seal, accidentally or not. So thanks, pal!

I don't trust this place enough to let him out, though.

I kinda get the feeling it's going to fail, but... Great Sage! Predator! Analyze!

"Recieved.

An analysis cannot be preformed."

Okay. Fair enough. Still... there's literally nothing you can say about it?

So... now what?

Fzzzt!

Huh?

The first thing I was aware of is the sensation of fresh air entering and exiting my mouth as I mimicked breathing instinctively, oxygen entering my lungs and carbon dioxide exiting. My lips fluttered as I took another deep breath, laying in silence as I slowly woke up. My head felt like it was stuffed to the brim with cotton, so I found it hard to focus on anything as I recovered. Drowsily, I shifted to the left, feeling hardpacked dirt under my body as I did. I wasn't in that strange place anymore, with the flat floor and black void. Had I been let out of the pocket dimension?

Judging by the dirt under me, it would appear so.

I breath a sigh of relief. Thank god. That was pretty stressful.

My magical energy seemed to be replenish, as I felt refreshed and full of energy after I shook off the sleepiness. It was like I had woken up from a long nap, actually. Maybe I hadn't died after all? It was possible that the mysterious "magecraft" construct had protected me in that pocket dimension and that my body was completely fine. Well, not completely fine, since when I tried to move the magic in my body, it felt... off. I could sense it, and I could move it around my body well enough, but the way the particles felt was different from how magicules normally felt.

Other than the magic problem... Hmm... Well, my sense of touch was different than normal. Actually, now that I thought about it, everything seemed a bit off. Sharper, even. But not bad, per say.

I opened my eyes slowly, covering my face with a shapeshifted appendage that could most accurately called an arm. The afternoon sun shone down brightly on my body, turning the ground hot underfoot as I peered around myself. My vantage point was a patch of brown dirt on the ground that covered my underside with dust. Long clumps of slightly yellow grass obstructed my vision, so I couldn't see much.

However, from this, I could see that I probably wasn't near where I was before this started. I had been in a tent with the others, after all. Not on a pile of dust.

So...

Right! Then the next course of action should be to transform!

With that, I should be able to see where exactly I am.

...

...

Uhh… Why wasn't it working?

Uh, uh. Damnit! I couldn't transform? Ugh, if that construct could nullify his seal, then it could surely suppress my abilities. So how come I could use Predator and Great Sage in that void, huh? What was with this crazy construct? Great Sage couldn't give me any information on it, and now I can't use any of my skillllllsss. I take my thanks back!

Or... can I use skills?

Great Sage!

...Nothing?

Predator: Expel water!

...Nada.

After a few minutes of attempting to use my skills, I concluded that all of them have been rendered useless. This dumb magic-magecraft-magicule thing had canceled every last one of my skills. Figures. I exhaled a breath, beginning to feel stressed. Hopefully the contents of my stomach weren't outright destroyed. I had no way of knowing otherwise, so I was going to assume Veldora and everything else was peacefully chilling out in the void.

Totally.

Anyway, since sitting here wasn't doing me any good, I should try to find a place high up, like a tree or something. I stretched my body upwards as high as I could and looked around me, seeing vast plains as far as the eye could see. My slime body was still moldable like clay to some extent, though I could only just barely see above the tall grass. I turned to my right and saw a huge forest and a small structure in the distance.

Or... was it actually big?

Like... a town?

Heck yes! I silently cheered to myself and dropped to the ground. Going to the town was obviously the best course of action! If I met any humans... I wouldn't able to talk to them, huh? I couldn't use my Telepathy skill at the moment. Still, I should at least head in that direction. Maybe I can show them I'm a friendly slime somehow.

...I want Telepathy.

A voice replied to my complaint:

<Skill points to  acquire skill [Telepathy LV 1]: 300.>

<Skill points currently in possession: 10,000.>

<Use 300 skill points to acquire [Telepathy LV 1]?>

It's monotone. It rung in my head as soon as I complained.

What the heck!

It's actually quite different from Great Sage. With it... it had occurred to me that it was speaking in different language that I just registered as my native tongue. But this - it's flat-out in Japanese! Why was a voice from another world speaking Japanese? I'd understand if it was a person, but the disembodied voice in my head?

Not really?

But I got the feeling I wasn't going to get any answers...

So it kinda seemed pretty similar to the World Language, but not quite.

Also...

So skills exist in this world too? Sweet! I guess I can just buy the skill instead of training, huh? It's only 300.

Yeah!

<Acquired skill [Telepathy LV 1].>

<Skill points remaining: 9,700.>

With this new skill, I should be able to establish friendly relations with any humans I come across. I didn't know what to do next, so I headed out in the direction of the town. It was probably going to take at least half a day to travel there.

I glanced up again. Hopefully I could make it be nightfall. I was pretty sure magicules were null in this world, so I couldn't bet on stuff running away because of my magical power or anything.

Hup.

Well, if I came across any monsters, I'll just tackle them to the ground and run for my life! Simple but effective. It'll never fail, what are you talking about?

I started to slither across the hard dirt towards the town, more focused on this strange situation than my journey. Like, I think I died back there... and then I got reincarnated again as a slime? I didn't know what the heck was up with that attack though.

In the end, I reached the edge of the town and found myself staring up at the large stone wall, gaping in awe. This town appeared to be fairly advanced, to already have a wall put up, and when I glanced to my right, I noticed a long paved road leading into the town. However, there was an odd, familiar scent in the air - I could smell! - that conjured an uneasy feeling in my stomach.

Smoke.

And I didn't think it was because anyone was roasting marshmallows.

Woah, was there a war here or something?

Chapter Text

So if anyone asked me to describe a town after a big war, I would have to give them the address for this fine town right here.

Peering at the towering stone walls a bit more closely, I noticed that there were some darker patches, like something had chared them somehow. There was still the scent of smoke heavy in the early morning air, despite there being no sign of the attacking side. The wall seemed to be in decent condition otherwise, so it wasn't like this place was going to collapse anytime soon. Still, the damages seemed pretty bad, so it must have been a tough battle.

I briefly wondered what they could have done to anger the opposing side? Maybe they just had a bad day?

I glanced back at the entrance of the town, wondering if I should go inside. It seemed to be the best course of action at the moment, so I began slithering in that general direction. I was beginning to feel really hungry by now, like my stomach was eating itself. I hadn't eaten in a few hours, but that because I assumed I didn't have to. I had assumed I didn't need to consume food in this world too, but I was sorely mistaken. Did I have a stamina bar in this world?

Ugh! I was an idiot!

I just kinda assumed I wouldn't need to eat in this world too, but since I also couldn't use my skills, why would I think that everything was the same from that other world? That majorly dumb, huh? So I had all the more reason to go into the town and grab a bite to eat. I wasn't sure it this place used money or bartering, but I could cross that bridge when I got there

I advanced slowly to preserve my energy, going forward at the pace of a snail. I mean, I probably should be going a bit faster, but I was really getting worried, okay? Pushing my blue blob of a body forward, I made for the dirt road that lead into the town. It was possible that there might even be a gate blocking it, so I might just die at the entrance. That would be pretty lame.

Suddenly, I heard a sound and instinctively pressed my body against the ground. I was just a harmless pancake, nothing to see here. The source of the strange noise came into view slowly - a horse-drawn carriage.

The horse in question seemed pretty young, so I wasn't too sure why they were using it to carry that huge thing around. Did all their other horse die during the war? The carriage was more like a wooden wagon with a blanket over the top of it, nothing too fancy. One the wheels seemed to be in pretty bad shape, burns all over it. The wagon seemed to be made from mix-matched parts, so the battle must have been pretty tough. I felt a pang of pity in my heart.

I probably would have left and ran into town by then, if not for two things:

One, no one in the carriage spoke my language, and two, I spotted the fruits they were carrying.

Yeah... I was going to be a thief.

But only because I was going to die! I quickly promised to do some good deeds to make up for it, then adjusted my course to hone onto the wagon. I got to the point where I was trailing only a half of a foot away from it, feeling myself getting hungrier by the second, and tensed my nonexistent muscles. I could do this - just jump and eat enough food to last me for a bit.

It looked like they were heading towards the forest anyways, so I could probably eat to my heart's - stomach's - content there, free of guilt. 

I leaped.

I sailed through the air and slammed into the wooden floor with a painful thud, hitting some fruit while I was at it. That probably took away a quarter of my health bar, if I had one. My body was flat on the ground like a pancake again and I just laid there on the floor for a solid minute, catching my breath. I actually need you now breath, please come back... I wasn't focused on it at the time, but catching up to the wagon had been super tiring.

This better be some good fruit...

While, even if it wasn't, I would still have to eat it, or I'd die.

Wait, why didn't I just eat some grass? I groaned to myself and decided to push myself back into my regular blob shape. There. I glanced around the carriage for the yummy fruit and find a bundle of something yellow in a net. Judging by the green leaves and fruit-like shape, I'd say that this was indeed my target. I slid over to the net and look for a way to remove one in a way they wouldn't notice. While cutting the bag was a no-no, there might be a small one that I could slip out.

I hopped on top of the pile and looked at the rest of the carriage.

I grimaced at the sight.

A man and woman wearing sets of armor were laying side by side, their clothes stained dark red from their injuries. They must have been soldiers that were wounded during the war - though they didn't appear to be dead yet. The man's sides were rising and fall in an unsteady rhythm as he held a hand to his side, and the woman was groaning in pain as she slept.

Judging by the amount of the blood on the rug underneath them, they had lost a lot of it.

They were clearly dying.

Peering past the diver, they didn't seem to be going to a hospital or anything.

That kinda ruined my mood, obviously.

But I couldn't do anything, I told myself and turned away to look down at the fruit. Its yellow skin suddenly seemed a hell of a lot less appealing to me now. Uh, I should stop thinking about this before I became depressed. I leaned down to sniff the small fruit that's shape reminded me of an apple's, inhaling the sweet scent hungrily through my nostrils - that I apparently had. I wondered briefly if they might be poisonous - to end the peoples' suffering - but I shook that line of thought away quickly.

It was either eat this, or I died.

Finally finding a small one, I grabbed it in my mouth and tugged on it. With a pop! it came free, and I tumbled down onto the wooden floor below.

I froze when I heard the driver say something, but he luckily didn't check.

Not wasting any time, I chomped down on the juicy fruit. Even without an teeth, I broke through the skin easily and took a huge bite. Juicy sweetness filled my mouth as I chewed it with my gummy mouth, then swallowed. I gobbled down the food in another greedy gulp. Juice dribbled down my chin and I licked up every last drop. It was sweet and good and I wanted more! My hunger wasn't sated yet and I still needed more, so I helped myself to another fruit.

This one was devoured just as quickly as the first.

These were really great!

Just as I was ready to eat a third, the wagon stopped. My heart skipped a beat. Uh, I don't think I should be staying here. I mean, I can't even understand these people, much less communicate with them. And I don't think they're going to take kindly to the little slime that's been eating their food - my karma was going to be garbage...

So I hopped off the wagon and hid under it. Now as long as they didn't back up, I should be fine where I was. And while they went to... do whatever they needed to here, I could sneak away to the forest and eat a bunch of food.

Yay! 

I began creeping through the tall grass, keeping an eye on the people as I did. I couldn't let myself get caught. Briefly, I wonder what type of fruit that was. If there was any skill that allowed me to get more information about something - an appraisal type skill like the Great Sage...

<Skill Points needed to acquire skill [Appraisal LV 1]: 100.>

<Skill Points currently in procession: 9,700.>

<Acquire [Appraisal LV 1] for 100 Skill Points?>

Oh! It's you again.

There's a skill like that? Neat!

Maybe I shouldn't be using my skill points this freely, but didn't really know how else to get a skill like this, so the answer was yes!

<Acquired skill [Appraisal LV 1].>

<Skill Points remaining: 9,600.>

Okay.

Right! Let's try this new skill out! I turned to a clump of grass nearby and thought: Appraisal.

In time with a mild headache, the word <Grass> popped into my mind's eye. That was anticlimactic. Did I have high standards, or was this skill really stupid. Or was it simply a normal clump of grass, nothing special? That seemed more likely.

Also, I hadn't noticed it before, but that voice said it was level one.

So, what about me...

<Slime>

Mmm?

Why don't I have my name still? Not my name as a human - it would probably make me stick out like a sore thumb. There are other reasons, I think, but I'm going to ignore them for now. If I meet anyone from my original world, then I guess I could let them use it, but I was getting entirely off topic. The problem was that I had no name at all. I was thinking about making contact with human at some time, so I should get a name.

Though I didn't know how...

Did I have to get someone to name me, or was there some type of naming skill?

In response to my musings, the voice spoke up again:

<Skill Points needed to acquire skill [Naming LV 1]: 100.>

<Skill Points currently in procession: 9,600.>

<Acquire [Naming LV 1] for 100 Skill Points?>

Uh, yes ma'am.

The transaction goes smoothly, leaving me with 9,500 skill points left.

Hmm, so do I just say, I name myself Rimuru Tempest!

<Individual Slime is now Individual Rimuru Tempest.>

Nice, nice.

<Slime>

...I still don't have my name there, but the voice said it worked.

So...

...wait, why do I keep getting a headache when I use this stupid skill? Ugh. Great Sage was so much better. You're lame, Appraisal-san.

Well, it wasn't like complaining about the skill was going to me any good. Not like any god was listening, right?

Heh...

I shouldn't joke about that...

I peered at the group of people, and I decided to get a closer look. I didn't know what that group was up to, but the other guy who had been beside the diver was carrying the injured folks out of the wagon. The diver had the bundle of fruit over his shoulder, and he was placing it in front of him.

I was kinda curious, so I crept forward so that I didn't have keep stretching my body. Oddly enough, it seemed to drain my energy if I keep doing that for too long, so it would be best if I went get a front seat view of the scene. They probably wouldn't notice me since they were busy helping their friends.

In front of me was the injured people on their blanket.

The fruit had been laid out in front of the people, and the other guy kinda looked like he was praying. He looked like he was praying, anyways, but to what I couldn't tell. Maybe a nature spirit of some sorts?

He looked like a priest type of guy - kinda old and stuff.

The man sat there on his knees while diver feebly used some type of healing spell. Not that it was doing much.

Were they praying to their god or something?

Just as I was beginning to leave them to it, a chill rippled across my entire body.

Not from cold, but from fear.

Simple fear.

I found myself trembling as a huge amount of fear assaulted my poor heart, causing me to begin shaking as I stared at the forest. Something was coming. Something way stronger than me. Something that could kill me so easily, I might laugh as it happened.

<Proficiency has reached the required level.>

<Acquired the skill [Fear Resistance LV 1].>

Something emerged from the forest, all ten eyes glowing.

My Appraisal skill activated on its own-

<Appraisal blocked.>

-to show just that simple phrase.

Maybe, I really was looking into the eyes of a god.

Chapter Text

The being in front of me was actually pretty familiar to me.

The classic monster from ancient Greece with upper body of a human, and the lower body of a spider.

This individual was clearly female, I realized as my gaze drifted to her human half for a second. Luckily, she was intelligent enough to had made a bra, probably from thread, so this whole thing wasn't too weird.

She was pure white, except for her blood-red eyes that darted around until she noticed the offerings in front of her. I hoped they weren't human sacrifices or anything, but when she saw the fruit her eyes widened. It appeared that she had a bit of a sweet tooth, as she licked her lips at the sight. A tiny smile appeared on her face, so if not for the whole creepy spider thing, she would have looked pretty cute.

Minor details aside, she was most certainly a god.

Her spider body was pure white too and about half the size of the wagon. Oddly enough, she had a second head with all eight eyes intact and looking at her meal with hunger. Her second mouth was equipped with a nasty looking mandible that I didn't want to get anywhere near, though. Other than that, the only noteworthy details about her were the front pair of legs that glimmered brightly in the morning sun - two of her feet were curved into deadly blades at the joint. Spikes also dotted her abdomen, glittering like silver, just like her blades.

The very picture of death herself.

Sprouting from her head like a parasitic growth was her human body. It was attached at the waistline and also a mysterious alabaster color. Not even a healthy skin color - just white as snow and death. The spider body was covered in a velvety fuzz, so the place where the two body fused together couldn't be seen. It probably would have been really weird to see how human flesh and the exoskeleton of an insect melted together.

Weirdly enough, she also had a bellybutton, despite the fact that probably didn't really have much in her stomach.

Her hair flowed down her back and rippled in the wind as she examined the the group before her carefully. She tapped her chin thoughtfully, but I could see that she had every intention of helping them anyways.

That was when things started to get weird.

Something changed.

Not the environment or even the terrible aura that she radiated from her.

It reminded me of magicules, but it was really different actually. Maybe she was getting ready to manipulate the magical force behind this world now? It was like I could feel the magical energy just being pulled towards her as if she was a vortex of unstoppable power.

I didn't like where this was going at all.

I braced myself by bunching together my form into the tightest ball I could muster. This couldn't be the end, could it?

<Proficiency has reached the required level.>

<[Magic Power Perception LV 1] has become [Magic Power Perception LV 2] .>

Nice.

What good was this at the moment!?

Something started to appear in front of the woman, hovering in thin air and growing larger by the second. She was constructing a rune for some type of spell with a crazy amount of magic poured into it. No way that a healing spell.

This was probably taking only a few seconds in reality, but it felt slowed down for me. Not by the effect of any skill though, just fear.

I couldn't do anything but stare at that powerful rune as it was completed bit by bit, each piece falling into place carefully.

Then, the rune was completed.

A glob of energy formed and hit the people on the mat.

Oh.

It was just a healing spell. Pew! I totally knew that! I breathed a huge sigh of relief at this, my nonexistent heart beating rapidly in my chest. I was really - uh, not - scared there for a minute.

The people glowed with a heavenly white light that engulfed their entire bodies, washing over them. It gave me a peaceful kind of feeling. When the light faded, the people were as good as new. So those fruit were just in exchange for healing their people?

At least this god wasn't evil...

The people said a few words of thanks to their god, who just looked at them in silence, before she dipped her in acknowledge. A simple exchange.

I wondered if she would let me stay here...

While I was thinking this, the wagon began to roll away, the people inside it. So I guess they were just here to pray to their goddess, get their friends healed and leave, huh? I hadn't met any other local gods, but maybe this was common in this world. With the ability to block my Appraisal, she was nothing short of divine, and judging by the people's reaction to her, they must be on relatively good terms.

Huh, I would not want to be on the attacking side.

The opposing army must be a bunch of idiots to attack these guys! I mean, she could just stand there and heal their guys and slice the heads off of their enemies. With her wicked looking scythes, it would be child's play to her, right?

Maybe I shouldn't stay here?

She was probably eat me on a slice of bread if I ticked her off, so I should probably scram right about now.

Right!

Let's go!

I shivered. I peeked over my shoulder.

Uww... She was looking straight at me.

Glaring, actually. With all ten of her red eyes.

If looks could kill, huh... Yeah I would be looking at her from up in the clouds by now with look she was giving me. She seemed hostile, but not enough to pounce. I wondered how long that would last.

Seriously, I really didn't like bugs - they were creepy, okay! And this one was looking like she wanted to eat me. Yeah, I might be currently shivering like someone dumped a bucket of ice water on me.

Just focus on the hot girl, I told myself as I tore my gaze away from the extremely large spider.

Suddenly, I felt a strange sensation overcome me, like I was being probed or licked. I couldn't really describe it. Pointing being, it felt nasty.

<Slime

Appraisal in progress.>

Oh, poo.

But the monster's shoulders slumped suddenly, and she inhaled a deep breath and exhaled it slowly, as if tired. Whatever she had seen of my status, must have calmed her down. Nice to know I wasn't going to become a slime-and-jelly sandwich at the moment.

I gave her a small smile, but there wasn't any reaction.

"High school?"

The question caught me off guard. Japanese! It was barely anything, but it was my native tongue alright! High school, huh? Did she want me to tell her were I was from? Why my high school though? But I suppose my wondering didn't matter too much because:

I... couldn't speak.

Oh! But I did have the Telepathy skill! It was only level one, but it should work.

Testing it out, I thought with all my might the name of my high school.

She tilted her head at my answer, eyes widened slightly, then narrowing. Oops, was that not the right answer?

"Not Heishin?" she asked quietly, confusion in her voice as she stared at me. Was she from there? I'd heard of the place, but nothing more. Maybe she was from there...

I shook my head. Nope. Sorry, pal.

At my reply, she frowned deeply. Uh, was she going to kill me or something? I sure hoped not.

From the fact that she spoke Japanese, I could assume that she was also a transmigrator from Earth. However, I couldn't say that we were brought here was the same time, or even by the same thing. So we likely didn't know each other either.

And on closer inspection but her face looked like a fellow Japanese person. The other people looked Caucasian, but this woman was some sort of Asian supermodel, it seemed.

Her skin was milky white and she was half spider, but she looked like a normal person, other than that. Well, if she wasn't going to respond, maybe I should go next? Maybe something like a compliment or something?

"You look nice," I thought accidentally.

This... didn't receive a good reaction from the spider-girl, who narrowed her eyes dangerously at my question. Her lips curved downward just a but, but I still felt fear rising inside me. She walked up to me slowly with murderous intent, and I began to say good-bye to all of my friends again. Oh, and did I mention that bugs creeped me out? I was kinda fine with her at this point, since she was also half human, but that mandible made me feel like I was gonna to pass out.

It was snapping angrily now, as if she was planning to gobble me up for an afternoon snack or something.

Like someone flicked a switch, sudden fear overcame me.

I ran. I didn't have legs, but I ran.

Chapter Text

The small monster had stared at me for a solid three seconds and stared slithering away from me, unable to withstand my triple-intimidation combo of Fearbringer, Champion, and lastly, Intimidation. I had kept off the latter to not scare away the townsfolk, though there wasn't much I could do about the Titles. Though at this point, everyone in the town had the Fear Resistance skill, so it worked out in the end. Heck, even the slime - as it was called - had gained the skill by being around me! It was a good thing these people still regarded me as their fabled "Divine Beast", or I might be in trouble in terms of stamina.

Or not, considering I could just use Jinx Evil Eye to suck up everything's stats and all that stuff. But it might be suspicious if everyone just drops dead, huh? Though I guess further still, I would only have to keep moving to expand my map to keep running away from the Demon Lord. And that was only until Body-in-Charge managed to wear down her stats to the point where I could beat her. Not that was going to happen anytime soon, judging by the rate that Mother's stats had been eaten away.

I had checked on the vampire girl, Sophia, and since she seemed to be doing just fine, there wasn't much to do nowadays. Miss Demon Lord had went back to the labyrinth to look for me there or something, so I was free to continue to chill out near this town for a week or two.

For some odd reason, the Whatsit Empire or whatever had stopped their assault shortly after I had "died". Not that I was complaining, but why would they do that?

Never mind, I don't care.

Well, I guess I cared a bit, since when I got back to the town, everyone on both sides had already began running away while shouting about something. Heck, even the Demon Lord had run off somewhere, towards the Great Elroe Labyrinth, though she couldn't have possibly known I was there, right?

...right?

Ah, well, everything seemed to be fine now. Everyone went home and blah-blah. And some people had come a visited me near the edge of the forest, apparently understanding that I was totally not at all responsible for the Demon Lord coming and killing their people. It was just that she getting some exp. before going to smite that little boy with the Hero title, that was all.

Hah.

Ah, well, I think they kinda understood that I was still on their side.

This was all a few days ago.

An abnormality had accorded when some people had come to me for healing. At first I had ignored it, figuring it was just a stupid monster as I noticed it with Detection. That was until one of the many things filtering through my brain was the phrase: <Appraisal blocked>.

I hadn't paid it any mind when I had encountered the Demon Lord, since of course she was smart enough to use Appraisal, but this thing?

If I had had to guess, that monster had the clear appearance of a classic slime. Its body was shaped like a water droplet and a light blue color that reminded me of the sky. I hadn't seen one yet in this world, so even then I hadn't given it much thought.

After I had healed the people and they'd left though...

I of course used Appraisal and stared at the results.

It's a slime all right.

And it had weird skill I have never seen before - Slime.

And, ah-

N%I=W, though?

That would of course imply that it - He? I imaged it was that based on the name - was a reincarnation, right? The only problem was that I didn't have the faintest recollection of his second name - and I knew I said I didn't really remember anyone, but it didn't even sound close to anyone's name.

Logically, I choose to interrogate this strange slime with my broken communication skills and asked him what high school he was from and it totally wasn't the one I went too. See, I had spend all of the time that he was staring at me and trying to remember what my own school was called, and this guy just says some rando place I'd never even heard of!

Ah. Though I supposed I wouldn't have recognized it anyway, with how little I went outside in my past life...

Whatever!

Anyways, I didn't really know where to go from there, so I kinda just sat there looking at him. I think he might have been a bit smitten for me, judging by that dumb, blank expression on his face, though that might have just had been the default slime face. Since I had evolved into an Arachne, I had noticed some creepy dudes - not even the kinda attractive type of guys - giving me weird looks. I guess some people were into spiders. And I was like: "Cool. Keep your spider fetish away from me, though." It had reminded me of that, but a lot less disturbing. Still weird, though.

I had apparently guessed correctly, because the moron made a weird comment about me looking nice.

Like. What the heck.

So my guess about his thoughts was correct!

I had glared at the slime with all ten of my eyes narrowed. Fear me! Fear the monster that some incorrectly call the Divine Beast, mortal!

Ah, I'm mortal too.

But not for long, suckers! ... No offense, my former classmates who I'm abandoning on this dying world. Sorry. Hope the planet last for at least for your lifetime. I sent a prayer to the remaining 24 people in my class, then shook off the useless thoughts.

Anyways!

I had advanced menacingly and had given the blue blob a small frown - tiny frowns are more scary than any big display of angry, don't know how I know that, don't ask! At around that time, I turned on the Intimidation skill, and the rest was history!

... Now what?

I was starting to wish I hadn't scared him away. He was a reincarnation that wasn't from our class. Maybe he had been dragged into this world by something else, because I didn't think that little boy and Ariel were going to be sending attacks across dimensions anytime soon. And since we hadn't all summarily died yet, it probably hadn't originated on this planet, destroyed the MA area, and killed the planet.

And I supposed if D could send stuff across time and space or whatever, then others could too.

And speaking of D, did she have anything to do with this guy showing up here? He had that skill, so it would appear so. But why would she reincarnate a random guy into this world as well. She had a reason for us - "obligation" - but why would she drag some other person into this world? I hadn't asked about the circumstances of his death, so I didn't know how he died.

Ugh, who invited that loser into this world?

I wonder if my old pal - by which I just meant he was old, not that I knew him for long - Gulie-gulie knows about this new guy?

Probably not, huh?

...

...not my problem.

Well, I had marked him with Wisdom-sensei, so I could easily track him down if I needed to.

Maybe I'll just check on vampire girl, then head out to hunt some monsters? I could check out those mountains that my dear Mother destroyed a bit, even.

Activating my super amazing skills, I peered at the mayor's house and looked for her. I spotted her stumbling along, supporting her body by leaning on the nearby wall. My target was already walking. They grow up so fast~ I'm a proud mother, except she's not my daughter.

What?

What tiny spiders in the Great Elroe Labyrinth are you talking about? I have no recollection of such beings. None. None at all.

She was stumbling along on her toddler feet, glancing around nervously as she walked. Checking her status, I saw that she had quite a few ninja-like skills, like Stealth and Presence Detection. What was she looking for...

Maybe she was preparing to make a run for it, before the people here found out that she was a vampire? Actually, she was heading towards the library, so maybe she was looking for a way to hide the fact?

The Concealment skill might be what she was looking for, in that case.

Not my problem though.

Well, since the kid was doing just fine, I supposed I could be on my merry way then, no?

I turned my attention to the juicy-looking fruits that my worshipers left as tribute. I was quite familiar with these type of fruit by now, and I found myself wanting to try something out.

You see, when I was just a little spider, what did I lack?

The correct answer is hands!

And what could I do with these hands, you ask?

Cook!

That's right, now I could cook up a tasty meal for myself!

I'm so happy I could cry.

Seriously.

Anyways, time for Kumoko-chan's Cooking Lesson: Episode One!~

Hello, today we are going be cooking up a tasty stew with catfish and these yummy fruit! Also, we'll be adding some herbs I found lying in the forest - I don't know what they are. Where I got the bowl is not important, so let us just drop the ingredients into it. Now let's just...

Mix it up like this, until it's a paste. Hm, or maybe it's a sauce?

Sure, let's go with that!

The result is a orange paste that's sweet smelling - a human's sense of smell is very good! - and seemingly thick. I stuck a finger in it and did a taste test.

The taste is slightly salty and sweet. The herbs add a hint of something unfamiliar, but not exactly unpleasant. I don't think I had ever tasted anything like this in my past life, since my diet consisted mostly of 60-second-prep noodles and the like.

Yummy~

Real food...

My eyes are watering slightly, but that was only because of the strong scent. I swear...

I grabbed a spoon from my spatial storage, as well as some sea salt, sprinkling a pinch on it. This should be good enough.

Also...

What's a Slime?

Wisdom-sensei! Activate!

The results:

<[Slime]: A unique skill processed by slime-type monsters. Different abilities are given based on the skill level.

Level 1: Morph - Allows the user to change shape at the expense of SP.>

.......

...

Hmm?

Hacks!

Excuse me, can someone patch this?

I am the protagonist here!

I demand to speak to the manager! Er, Administator.

Oh, right. She's an Evil God...

So I guess nothing was going to happen.

Argh. Fine. Whatever. I'm not slightly jealous of that skill, nor curious of its potential. You're wrong. Boo.

I'm really confused now.

I sighed heavily. I think I'll save my meal for later...

Yeah.

I'm actually pretty interested in the uninvited fellow.

Maybe I'll investigate?

Chapter Text

I... think I lost her.

I never had thought there might be a day when I said that about a girl, but there was a first time for everything.

I was breathing heavily as I sat there for a few minutes, feeling exhaustion in every cell of my body - I had used up all of my energy and was probably going to starve. If not for the simple fact that I was in a big forest, with a bunch of tasty food just laying around. I didn't actually know what was poisonous or not, but I didn't really have a choice about the matter. It was pretty lame that I was so close to starvation yet again though.

I looked around my surrounds for anything edible.

There were a bunch of leaves and grasses around, so I decided to munch on those while I looked for something tastier. The leaves and grass, by the way, tasted like a poorly made salad - pretty plain, but not unbearable. At some point, I did come across a bush with dark red berries, but something in my gut told me those would be poisonous. That color just raised some alarm bells in my head, you know?

After a while I found some of the red fruit the spider-girl had been given and bounded up to them, mouth watering. I would have shapeshifted some teeth, but morphing my body seemed to consume energy, so I didn't.

I took a large bite, then another, and another. It was good. Soon, I had eaten so much that my stomach was aching. Maybe I shouldn't have done that?

Probably not.

I sluggishly continued on my way, grimacing as I slid across the ground. I was kinda planning on staying in the general area at least. Not because I was lonely, but because I was lonely. I groaned to myself and began using Appraisal on things.

<Grass> <Ground> <Grass> <Grass> <Tree> <Tree> <Tree> <Tree>

I couldn't do it very often, since it gave me a bit of a headache, though I was slowly getting used to it. There wasn't much to do here, so I just spammed the skill whenever I could. Maybe I could raise its level? It might never be as good as my old pal Great Sage, but maybe it could come close? Somewhat?

I sighed.

I was bored. And kinda confused and scared, but whatever.

I continued on my way, passing a lot of trees and bushes, stopping occasionally for a quick snack before going on.

Maybe I should stop and try to learn more about this new body and the world?

I was still a slime and this world had skills, but it was clearly different from the other one I was in. Because for starters, magicules didn't exist, so I couldn't really use them. Also, I couldn't use my powerful water blades to attack foes anymore, so I was pretty defenseless at this point.

Maybe I could drink some water and try spitting it out?

I didn't know what type of skills there were, so I should try to obtain some.

So far I knew I had Telepathy LV 1, Magic Power Operation LV 2, Fear Resistance LV 1, Naming Lv 1, and Appraisal LV 1.

I had Magic Power Operation since I was born, so I could have other skills I didn't know about - maybe even an intistic one? I did know that I didn't have any type of high-speed processing skill. I was seeing the world in real time, so that was kinda a pain. Still! I knew a thing or two about video games. I could do this.

And hopefully find a way to help Veldora.

Not that I knew anything about this world...

That was about when I heard the distinct sound of leaves rustling nearby. I flinched and turned slowly, swallowing nervously as I did. It better have just been the wind... but I got feeling it wasn't.

"Croak..." came the sudden sound of something nearby.

Aw man.

In front of me, was my first real foe in this strange world.

To put it simply, it was a frog.

A big frog.

The coloration was different than any frog on earth - kinda rainbow, mostly some blues and stuff - but it was a frog. It hopped forward, letting out another croak as I looked at it curiously, eyes narrowed. It might be poisonous...

I slid back a pace, and it hopped forward.

I groaned to myself, then prepared myself to run at a moment's notice. This could get ugly.

Incidentally, while I was waiting, I used Appraisal:

<Frog>

Yeah, I figured.

Oh, damnit.

At that exact moment, the frog let out a loud croak that was definitely hostile. Oh crud. What'd I do?

Geez...

The frog's throat began swelling up like a balloon - then something shot towards me at rapid speeds I probably couldn't hope to dodge. But I dove to the side anyways.

My body flew through the air as the green sphere flew over my head and splattered in front of me with a kaploosh, splashing over me. Ow, ow oooow!! Without my pain resistance, I was acutely aware of the hot sensation of the acid. Wasn't my body just slime anyways?!

Damnit, I wasn’t used to being this weak. I had to be more careful.

The grass began to dissolve and wither as the liquid sizzled dangerously on the ground and down my body. I shivered and activated Appraisal: <Acid>.

Yeah, that’s - ow! - acid, alright.

<Proficiency has reached the required level.>
<Skill [Acid Resistance Lv 1] has become [Acid Resistance Lv 2].>

Instantaneously, the pain from the acid lessened, in time with the voice’s announcement.

Gah, I hadn’t been able to dodge that at all.

But now...

My turn!

I turned back to the frog and focused on shifting my form in something vaguely wolfish. Stretching out my body until I had four limbs, I lunged forward at full-speed. Somehow, I hit the frog headfirst and bounced back on the ground.

I pushed myself back into my original shape and glared at the giant - compared to me, anyways - frog.

Heck yeah, I cheered to myself. Don't underestimate me 'cus I'm a slime, buddy!

I don't know how I managed to hit it, but let's not question good luck.

Forming something vaguely hand like, I leaned my body back a little in preparation. The frog was still stunned by my last attack, unable to move.

I punched and a ripple spread through my entire form, causing me to wince.

Direct hit!

I attack again.

A miss.

The frog had jumped back and was watching me carefully.

I pushed myself back too, painfully aware of the situation in was going to put me in.

When I bounced back, the frog narrowed its eyes dangerously at me and I suddenly got the feeling I should start running away now.

It turned its head to the side and I leaped into the air preemptively, suddenly feeling air rush under me as I did. It appeared to have tried to hit me with its tongue.

While I was thinking this, something damp hit me and sent a wave of pain through my body.

Gagh! What?

The frog had changed its direction and managed to score a direct hit on me. More pain shot through me as my small body hit the ground hard. I rolled through the dirt before finally slamming into a tree trunk, grimacing.

Agh...

I weakly pushed myself back into my original shape and faced my opponent again. Like hell I was gonna lose. I mean, if I did, I would die again. That would suck.

The frog didn't look like it was in a very good state either. The next hit would probably decide the match.

I lunged forward at top speed, pressing my body against the ground.

The frog fired a ball of acid at me, but I easily avoided it by shifting my form. Hup.

I slammed my full weight against the frog one final time. It croaked softly and went limp, the tension disappearing from it muscles as it died.

And... that's it.

I sighed deeply and slowly slumped to the ground as the adrenaline rush faded from my bloodstream, if I even had blood. I was seriously weak in this world without my trusty skills to help me. I was tired and hungry - two feelings I hadn't felt since I had been on Earth. My slime body in the other world had run on magicules, but it was clear this world didn't operate the same way.

Well, I mean, I knew that, but now it was painfully clear that this world was so much different than any I had known.

I mean - I probably had stats and stuff in this place.

The other world had skills and evolution, but this place was distantly video game-like. Considering the other world I had just been reincarnated from, it wasn't that odd, but...

Man, where's a knowledgeable dragon to tell ya how the world works when ya need one?

Helloooo?

No one?

Fair enough.

I absently used Appraisal on the frog: <Corpse>.

Yep, it's dead alright.

Umm... so I guess my next course of action should be to acquire some more methods of attack other than charging and hitting things. Maybe I should try spitting out so water to get some type of water attack. Heck, even blowing out air might work.

I glanced around, once again cursing my small size.

Just trees and more trees as far as I could see. The late afternoon sun was shining through the leaves overhead, turning the forest a deep amber color. Though I couldn't see the sun, I could assume that it was getting pretty late now.

I sleepily blinked my eyes. I hadn't slept in a while, huh?

<Proficiency has reached the required level.
Acquired the skill [Exhaust Resistance LV 1].>

And lo and behold, I had acquired a skill to help with that problem. I guess it was because I had been awake for about 24 hours at this point. The second I got the skill, some of the tiredness I was fighting to withstand disappeared like someone had flicked a switch. Honestly, the sudden change was kinda startling.

I really should name the voice...

Later.

I continued to look around the forest for a good place to hit the hay, sliding along and munching on leaves as I did.

Finally, I found a short tree with some odd branches that I could snuggle up in for the night. I hopped up in between the tree branches and tried to fall asleep.

But trees are pretty uncomfortable to sleep in, okay? Also, I was hurt pretty bad from that frog's attacks. Maybe a good night's rest would help?

Falling asleep took a while.

And before I passed out, I couldn't help but notice that there were two moons.

Chapter Text

I yawned loudly.

Or I imagined I did, but I couldn't talk with my slime body yet. Though I did have Telepathy, so I guess I could talk fine if the other person knew Japanese. Otherwise... Heh. Yeah, I couldn't really talk to anyone other than that god.

Or former-high-schooler-from-Japan-turned-god, I guess.

Or god from Japan? That just went to high school for the laughs or something?

Or maybe not even a god, and just someone so strong I couldn’t Appraise them?

Eh, whatever. The point was, I couldn't talk.

I really should learn the language here sometime. But to do that, I would have to go into the town, which would require me to A. be strong enough to survive at least one hit from a human, and B. be able to sneak past the guards. Yep, the town had guards - they had been patrolling the outside of the walls when I was there first, but I guess they hadn't noticed me at the time.

So I had to train. Maybe I could even level up? If skills had levels, then I probably had one too. But I was probably only level one at the time.

I huffed.

Right!

Training montage, begin!

First, I needed a new attack method.

I inhaled the deepest breath I could manage, filling up my lung complicity to the absolute limit, preparing to exhale it with as much force as I could muster. As I leaned back slightly, I felt something brush against my body and let out a muted squeak. I deflated like a balloon, even emitting a pfft sound as I did, embarrassingly enough.

I glanced behind me and glared at the clump of leaves. Stupid leaves.

Though maybe I shouldn't inhale that much air this time.

I took another deep breath, then quickly and carefully blew it out of my mouth. Was there even a skill for this? Like, it was obviously going to take a bit, but I didn't exactly have unlimited time now. I actually had to eat food with this new body. And sleep.

I took another breath, and I exhaled it again.

And again.

This sure was taking a while, huh. Maybe I should try it with some water? Not that I knew where a lake or a river was, but...

I could probably find one easily enough, right?

Or should I try to shoot out some pebbles? That might be more productive actually. Leaning forward so that I could see the ground below, I scanned the forest floor for any threat. Nothing as far as I could see - just leaves and bushes and the corpse of the frog I had defeated yesterday - half eaten. So that meant something was around here and hungry. Or rather, I didn't know when this had happened, so the threat could be long gone by now.

And I was pretty sure the local god wouldn't let anything too strong threaten her forest, right?

Now let's just hop down from the high tree...

I was a little nervous about the height, but I was probably going to be fine.

I slid down to the ground, landing with a soft and anticlimactic plop that squished my body into a blue pancake. I returned to my normal form with a tiny grumble and looked around me for any sign of trouble, but I couldn't sense anything. I looked around me really carefully, but nothing stood out as particularly threatening to me, so I was probably fine. I think my instincts from my other life were enough for the moment.

Hm, now that I think about it, there aren’t that many monsters around here, are there?

I mean, not that I could blame them. I was feeling a bit uneasy myself.

Ah!

I wiggled the sore part of my body tentatively. To my surprise, there wasn’t any pain. Nice. Looked like all I needed to recover my injuries is a good night’s sleep, just like in a video game. Or maybe it was a slime thing? I had had regenerative abilities before too, now that I thought about it.

That was good. I might have been in a bit of trouble if that didn’t heal.

Glancing around one last time, I set out to find some food in the forest. Eating a diet consisting of only fruits and grass was pretty weird, but I guess I did consume a lot of grass in the other world, so I couldn’t really complain…

Eating more grass, I kept my ears(?) and eyes(?) open for any sign of life, though nothing stood out as prey yet. Was I doomed to a life of eating only plants? Ew.

Ah, well, I didn’t really want to eat raw meat either. Yuck. I think I’d pass.

While I was having these dumb thoughts, I suddenly heard a faint rustling sound to my right, like something was moving in the bushes or through the grass. Whirling my small body around to face the source, I found myself looking at a big mouse-like creature with beady eyes and two wicked teeth hanging out. If I was around a half a foot to a foot, then this mouse was around a meter long, excluding the tail.

I think the muted yelp I gave in response was justifiable.

The mouse creature was sniffing the ground around my home with its brown head to the dirt. I’m surprised it didn’t notice me. Maybe it didn’t care?

I began scuttering backward through the grass keeping my body low against the ground as I did. Somehow, I got the feeling I shouldn’t try to take this on without a reliable attack method. And I mean, even that frog kinda kicked my nonexistent behind, so I probably was small-fry.

I was a slime, remember?

I was pretty strong back there due to Great Sage and Predator and my water blade attack, but now…

If I had a level, I was level one, ya know?

So I had to train!

Whirling back around, I moved my slime body as fast as I could away from the mouse.

After running for a few minutes, I finally skidded to a halt, breathing a bit heavily. Inhale, exhale. Inhale, exhale.

Hm?

While I was catching my breath, I noticed something crawling around near where I was. A small black form was creeping through the grass, barely higher than the grass itself.

<Pillbug>

I see…

<Proficiency has reached the required level.
Skill [Appraisal LV 1] has become [Appraisal LV 2].>

Oh!

Appraisal leveled up.

<Small Rolizent>

A what now?

Oh well. I might as well attack now.

Tensing my body, I spring towards the tiny insect, landing a direct hit ...though I wished I hadn't. Ew...

Let’s see… Anything, anything…

Was there a presence detection skill?

…no dice, huh?

...Hm?

A strange sound came from farther away in the grass - the sound of many tiny insect legs hitting the ground as an oversized bug crawled through the tall grass. Oh boy…

The monster pill bug snapped its oversized mandibles dangerously, glancing around.

<Rolizent>

At that moment, it turned to face me.

Oh, my bad.

“Sceeeeee!” it screeched angrily, before tucking its body in in preparation for an attack, hiding its head away as it did. Getting the hint, I dashed to the side, out of range.

A few moments later, I felt a sharp rush of wind pushing against my body as it rolled pass me. Unable to completely withstand it, I was pushed back a foot and rolled over on my back. Not that being on my back was a problem, but I was sweating a bit, breathing quicker.

I definitely didn’t want to be in the line of fire when it hits. If I was able to, I would be sweating about now.

Glancing behind me, a plan began forming in my mind…

“Hey, grass-breath!”

Not my best insult, but worked.

The monster screeched angrily, showing off its creepy mandibles as it did - eek.

Rolling up again, it began to barrel towards me at top speed.

I tensed.

Then jumped up, soaring into the air. And as a certain guy once said, things in motion stay in motion.

Crack!

With a loud sound, the pillbug crashed full force into the tree. Something green dripped from its exoskeleton slowly.

And thus, what when up came down - and rolled off the pillbug a moment after.

Victory-

-then, my body glowed white.

Chapter Text

<Experience has reached the required level.
Individual Rimuru Tempest has grown from level 1 to level 2.
All basic attributes have improved.
Level-up bonus proficiency acquired.
Skill points acquired.>

<Proficiency has reached the required level.
Skill [Slime LV 1] has become [Slime LV 2].>

For a moment, I couldn't move a muscle as I tried to process the words that had suddenly rang in my mind. I had leveled up. I could level up, more importantly, I realized as I stared down at the pill bug-like monster that I had slain just moments ago. That monotone voice had informed me of a few more things, but I had been paying attention to the sudden refreshing feeling and glow that had washed over me the second before.

So that was a level up?

...Wait!

I checked the left side of my body and found that the part of my body that had been destroyed had been regenerated. Wiggling that part of my body, I determined that it was as good as new. Oh heck yeah! So I get healed when I level up?

Uh, so what else did the voice tell me?

Ah, right! Another skill that I apparently had since birth, Slime, had grown to level two. Maybe it was why shifting my form was consuming so much energy. Maybe it was some type of skill? ...that allowed me to shapeshift? No, that couldn't be right...

If it was that type of shapeshifting skill, wouldn't it be called "transform" or "morph" or something? So if it wasn't that, then what was it? I didn't know what type of skills existed or even what most of them did, and I had no way of finding out. Maybe I should just guess skill names until I found an owner's manual?

...Hey, is there an "owner's manual" skill? Or maybe a "play-through" type skill?

The voice didn't respond.

Figures.

I used Appraisal on myself. <Slime>

Huh? Nothing changed? What a rip-off!

Wait, actually, was a slime here any different from the ones I knew? Well, I knew I had to eat in this world.

Words slid into my brain along with a slight headache:<Slime: A Slime-type monster found around and sometimes outside of the Magic Mountains. They are weak physically, but gifted with magical abilities.>

Huh? Magic? I don’t know if I have any magic…

And I’m physically weak?

Thinking about it, most of my opponents had fought me with tongue, tooth and nail. No magic in sight.

So that was effectively useless at the moment...

Well, I would just have to train extra hard now.

But first I should eat this bug. I wouldn’t normally do such a thing, but I should eat when I could in this world. Unlike before, I actually needed to eat food, so it might be a good idea to eat this. But should I really be eating this thing? Probably not, and I was honestly reluctant to try. But a balanced diet…

I didn’t really know if I was an omnivore or what, so I was at a loss. Or, ya know? I don’t seem to be suffering any bad effects from not eating a balanced diet, so maybe I’ll pass.
(Also, I can taste.)

So, now what?

One training montage later, I heard that voice tell me:

<Proficiency has reached the required level.>
<Acquired the skill [Hit LV 1].>

Ah. A skill.

Though I didn’t know how useful it would be. Seemed to be just an accuracy-type skill, but I wasn’t going to complain. Best not to complain. Honestly, I was probably lucky to be alive now.

...now that I thought about it, when did I die? Either when the attack hit or when I ended up here, I think. I’m honestly surprised nothing happened to Veldora when the attack hit me.

Not that I could do anything about that stuff at the moment.

Picking up a nearby rock in my mouth, I looked around for any foe to battle. Unfortunately, the forest seemed to be devoid of life. Well, I guess that was fine - no more dangers to my life.

I had mostly been looking around in this forest, but may I should move out for a bit? Maybe even hunt some stuff?

I guess I was already strong enough to fight off most things in this forest with relative ease anyways… Honestly, I felt like might be able-

Ah, probably not.

Don’t need to get overconfident… I think I’m pretty weak in the world. At the very least, I’m only level two. Though it is possible I could be able to evolve into something stronger. Maybe at level ten or fifteen? There were those two pillbug-type monsters where one was bigger, so it seemed like a safe bet. Though I didn’t know what would happen to me when I did evolve… Probably just get bigger, but by how much? I didn’t want to suddenly be eight feet tall or anything.

I mean, that probably wouldn’t happen, but you get what I’m saying right?

Taking a look around, there didn’t seem to be anything else around. Yeah, there didn't seem to be that many monsters around.

Uh, gez, I didn’t actually know what to do now. Eat more fruit, probably. Eating random plants worked out great last time! I wondered if there was a type of potion brewing skill, but few guesses at a name didn’t bear any fruit. My own regenerative abilities seemed to be good enough, but the more the merrier. I probably used that phrase wrong, but whatever.

Oh! I could visit that god. I mean, the fact that she’s part spider is super creepy, but, uh, other than that…

My fear of spiders and the like or my interest in the first "human" I could talk to.

Uh, I mean, she’s pretty scary even without the spider, now that I think about it. Or, well, she seemed pretty chill, if moderately (extremely) intimidating anyways, so…

I could definitely see why they worshiped her. A regal looking demihuman with the power to cure even what should have been deadly wounds? I’d probably worship that too. 

Anyway, let’s go visit her. Hopefully she forgot that thing I said, since she seemed to have taken it the wrong way or something...

Hopefully there’s not a memory skill.

<Skill Points currently in possession: 9,520>
<Acquire skill [Memory LV 1] for 100 points?>

...hey! Quiet you!
 

Well, I got back.

I also got lost a few times, so maybe I should have taken the voice up on that offer. But no matter. Though honestly, I was actually really wishing I could have Great Sage back. Testing, testing, one, two, three. As expected - nothing, not even a whisper.

Why couldn’t I use Great Sage? From what I knew, it probably had something to do with magicules, but I didn’t feel tired like when I used up them naming the goblins and Ranga and co. I just felt nothing. It seemed I could still see without my Magic Sense skill, but not being able to use any of my skills was pretty scary in a world with big monsters running around.

...Great Sage, do you copy?

....Nope.

I look around the area for any sign of life, doing the slime equivalent of squinting as I peered around the clearing on the edge of the forest. Though nowhere as good as my Magic Sense or even my human vision, my vision as a twice reincarnated slime monster managed to be fairly decent, if annoyingly poor once-human standards. I could see movement, light, and had decent color vision. Though it was blurry from time to time. Just sort of off, you know? LIke, I could deal with it - and as a blob of slime, it could be much worse - but it was weird, like that one time I tried to put on my coworker’s glass.

...yeah, I don’t like this.

I can deal with it.

But yeah, no white archene around anywhere.

Left, right. Nothing.

Now what, I wondered as I munched on some grass.

I couldn't- wait! I have an idea!

I scream out a message in my mind, using my Telepathy skill. I’m picturing that girl with my mind’s eye, trying to reach out. “Hellooo!” There's no response. Is there a range for this skill or something? Do we both need the skill for this to work? Ergh, I need a new plan… What to do, where to go.

Suddenly, a thought crossed my mind. This is such a bad idea.

Nevertheless, I turned around, a destination in mind.

Chapter Text

Hello, world~

I finish teleporting into the now crowded passageway that I once called home. Immediately after I entered, I was hit with a stray sun heated gale to the face. Oh, wait, that was from someone in the Middle Stratum using a Wind Magic spell and pushing the heat into what should have been the cool Upper Stratum. So… not sun heated?

But why would anyone in there be using magic, much less Wind Magic. And who was it?

I already knew the answer, of course. Detection-sama already showed me the culprit - a small spider-shaped monster the size of my human head. Said head-sized spider was tinted orange from the burning magma all around it, but its actual color was obvious. The spider that had unleashed that decently strong spell was now whipping out the rune for a Healing Magic spell to cancel the fire damage.

Mm-hm.

One of the babies.

One of many spiderlings running around hitting themselves and others with magic to train.

Gez, there are so many of the little buggers most people would probably faint - and considering most spiders in this world are at least a meter cubed, it makes sense. An arachophobe’s worst nightmare - and an arachophile’s best dream. Only a major arachnophile would like this scene!  If I think about it for a moment, I do remember that time Oka-chan, our classical lit teacher, proposed that we keep a spider as a classroom pet. Obviously, everyone disapproved of that idea.

...aaah, well, enough traveling down memory lane.

...What are they anyways?

I was a Zana Horowa when I laid the eggs, but these aren’t small lesser taratects at all. I mean, I’m not surprised - I’m not a queen taratect like Mother was. Though now I’m an archene...

I appraise one of the newborn spiders, bringing its status into view. There’s a bunch of weird stuff - it has magic? - but I’ve never heard of the species.

I appraise the name:

< Minimum Lesser Horo Neia: The new species produced by the Zana Horowa.>

Oooh.

Oh.

A new species? Yeah, I’m not surprised. Best not to think too deeply about this whole thing.

 But, uh, what are those guys over there doing?

“Oi, what are you doing?” I ask the nine spiders a ten-odd meters away from me with surprising ease. For some reason, I can speak easier to these individuals than anyone. That was probably longer than any sentence I ever said in my past life. I’m not expecting any reply from them, other than a clicking and hissing noise, but-

“What does it look like, Main Body?” one of the nine spiders turns towards me, seeming slightly irritated by my question. She uses the Egg-layng skill to pop out another chicken-sized egg casually, bringing to her front, and uses her spinnerets to pump out silk and lightly wrap the egg before pushing it aside.

...Um.

Telepathy?

I check my skill points, but I’ve already forgotten the exact amount, so that was a waste of time. Maybe I should get the Memory skill later? Just think about my past life until I acquire it, or something. Well, I don’t remember much from back then - not my parents' faces or anything, at least - so I should try to think about this life instead. Anywaaays...

“E-egg-laying?”

“We’re making an army,” one of the Parallel Minds explains, as if it’s obvious. “We have stuff to do and elves to kill.”

Sounds cool and all, and I was planning on doing something about those guys, but...

“...huh?” Ya wanna explain?

Kumoko-chan here with some updates from the hastily named Parallel Mind, Magic-in-Charge 3.

“We should do something about those elves soon. That weird incident may have caused them to withdraw for now, but they’re totally going to do something sketchy soon. We gotta do something,” grumbled the Parallel Mind weirdly, ruining my news impression with her stick-in-the-mud additude.

Ah, I see…

They, uh, have weird acting a bit weird lately, but-

“That’s right,” said another Parallel Mind, probably Magic-in-Charge: The Original.

Okay, so my news report was going to be about how those elf guys were clearly doing something at their hideout. I still can’t understand what it’s about, since they’re speaking in a language I can’t understand. Probably about Vampy, or even that slime, I’d assume.

“We should try to find out what those elves are doing and stop them,” muttered another one of the Parallel Minds via the Telepathy skill, super angry and raising a scythe. The cluster of spiders had stopped laying eggs to talk to me, though the spiderlings’ training went on around us.Look, if you guys don’t behave, I’m going to ditch you all again. Gez, these guys really hate elves. I mean, I do too in a way, since they’ve been trying to kidnap Vamp, but I’m not going to go out and slaughter them or anything.

I went back for these guys when I realized the elves were up to something fishy. Since they had absorbed part of Mother’s soul, and gained some of her memories, they had an inkling as to what they were talking about. I should have them teach me their knowledge of the elven language and ditch them again…

“What are they talking about?” I ask, my word count in this world skyrocketing to previously unseen heights. Where’s the book of world records?

“Errr… something about this town, I assume,” Body-in-Charge mutters half to herself. “And a rip… in space, I think?”

“So they know about that guy too?”

Oh boy...

“I don’t think so…”

Huh?

When I went back and got them, I told them I was going to investigate the elves. They seemed to be a lot more willing to cooperate after I said that.

And I know I said I was going to watch that slime fellow, but he wasn’t doing much, so I got bored and stuff. Checking Wisdom-sensei’s map revealed nothing of interest, though I think he went to check on me. He - well, I’m assuming it's a “he”, but I never actually asked for his past life’s name - seemed to be walking around the area.

I think I might ever heard, some Telepathy, but that was surely my imagination~

And, ah, they don’t?

“They seem to be confused. Their leader is talking to his underlings about the space rip,” she reported. Me and the Parallel Minds were listening in to their conversation with Wisdom, though as I mentioned, only they had a clue what they were saying. According to the Parallel Minds, the Demon Lord had trained the Mother and the other Queens to understand certain key words and basic phrases in the elves’ language.

Words like, humans, demons, magic, and stuff. Words I still can’t understand in elf language.

Ha, well, let’s not worry about that. I guess they're only blabbering about the rip that brought that guy over. I mean, I’m assuming it brought him over here to this world. If I met her again, I could try asking D.

Doubt she’d answer though.

...on second thought, I don't wanna meet that Evil God again, thank you very much.

Egh.

Hm?

Oh, it’s one of the babies. One’s stopped training for a bit. Hello.

But man, that guy’s existence caused a stir. One magic rift in space and-

Hm?

Oh, it’s another one of the babies. I hope those little brats can stay out of the way. I’d hate to commit infanticide here.

...what small lesser taratects are you talking about?

Um… you all are gathering around here a lot, huh?

Around me and the Parallel Minds. I’m standing a few feet away from them.

Hey. Why are they heading away from them now?

H-hey! Wait a minute-!

Don't crawl all over-

…

…

Don't say anything.

You guys better not say anything either.

A tiny spider leg poked me in the eye. Not that it hurt, thanks to Suffering Nullification.

Please leave, okay.

Kin Control, do your thing!

Thanks.

Right, back to business.

(Stop looking so cute, you all.)

Mr. Slime monster was just roaming around the forest doing slime monster stuff. Baby Vamp is doing baby vampire stuff. Elf Leader Guy is doing weird Elf Leader Guy stuff.

Okay, so now-

Huh?

Wisdom-sama is picking something up…

What are those elves up to now?

“They’re up to something.”

“Why are we just standing here?”

“We gotta do something.”

Mister Elf Leader Guy had said something to his cronies via telepathy, to which they nod. Hey, guys, please explain instead of just looking super murderous towards them. I mean, I’ll kill all those guys if they look like they're gonna do something to Baby Vamp, cause I’ll definitely feel bad if I don’t, but…

Man, what is up with these elves? It doesn't look like they’re going to explain.

I’ll keep an eye or two on them. Something's going to happen soon, isn't it?

Besides, it seems that a certain slime is heading to town. I guess I should keep an eye or two on him too, huh.

Chapter Text

Right.

So, I've got a few methods of attack now and have leveled up. Not sure if that's going to be enough to take a hit from a human, but retreating is always an opinion, so hopefully I'll be fine.

Time to go to town.

...I mean, actually go into the town nearby where I was. I was pretty close to the plains, even where I was, so I should be able to get into it easily enough. Ah, though there were guards around the town, though they hadn't spotted me the first time I went up to the wall. I could possibly sneak in by hitching a ride on one of the wagons heading in if I was lucky though...

So I began sliding across the forest floor in the direction of the town, jumping up occasionally to check my direction.

So far, so good. I advanced to the town without any problems.

Yeah, I know I skipped over the whole journey, but nothing noteworthy happened while I was bouncing through the tall grass – like a monster battle.

Now that I'm here… Operation: Enter Town is a go!

So… how was I gonna get in? There were a bunch of soldiers patrolling the wall around the town, holding weapons in their hands and looking around. So far I seemed to be overlooked, but I wasn't sure that was going to last if I tried to enter the town.

Gazing upwards, I looked at the sturdy cobblestone wall towering high above me, grimacing slightly at the sight. Man, that was so tall… was there a "jump" skill? Unfortunately not, it seemed. Also unfortunately, there didn't seem to be any wagons heading into town, so I was kinda lost at what to do. I probably couldn't sneak past the guards at my current level.

This is kinda depressing.

Maybe I could buy some skills to help me?

Maybe…

Concealment?

<Skill Points currently in possession: 9,420>
<Acquire skill [Concealment LV 1] for 2,000 points?>

Woah.

That's a bit pricey.

Hmm… if not concealment, then how about... stealth?

<Skill Points currently in possession: 9,420>
<Acquire skill [Stealth LV 1] for 200 points?>

Hearing that, I sighed in relief. Good, nice.

So, uh, what's the difference? Was Concealment an evolved skill or something? I seemed to remember some to that effect happening to... Heat and Cold Resistance turning into Thermal Resistance, so maybe something similar was happening here? Incidentally, none of the phrases prompted the voice to speak up.

I was genre-savy enough to BS my way through a lot of stuff, but I wasn't too sure about this whole thing. Skill points are currency for buying skills, levels, I get experience, skills, and yada-yada. Actually, on that note, where did the extra 20 skill points come from?

Well, anyways, as for the skill: Yes please!

<Acquired skill [Stealth LV 1].>
<Skill points remaining: 9,320>

Okay, so do I just think it? Stealth!

...did it work?

Examining myself a bit more closely, I noticed a slight off feeling. I guess it worked?

It seemed to be passive, not requiring any magic power or anything. At least, I was pretty sure it didn't – I hadn't noticed anything off about my magicule supply until I blacked out after naming Ranga and his pack – so maybe I was using it...

Eh, well, I seem to be doing well enough. I'll cross that bridge when I get there.

So, yeah, getting into the town was going to be a cakewalk, it seemed.

Pressing my body closer against the ground, I began to slowly sneak towards the wall, sliding my slime-y body across the dirt carefully. Creep. Creep. I was trying to keep an eye out for anyone coming down the path, though I seemed to be alone, at least for the moment. A plus for sure, but I wasn't sure how much longer I was going to remain unnoticed. Hopefully I could get past the gate before anyone noticed me here.

Slowly, I used my slime body to take another step forward, glancing around as I did.

Out in the open, I gazed upwards.

Above me, watching from the walls towering high overhead, was a guard pacing along the top. The person was clad in silvery metallic armor – if the fact that they were glittering brightly as they walked was any clue. I couldn't see a weapon on them, I was sure they were armed. Further along the wall was what I assumed was another soldier with the same equipment.

They did just have a war, after all.

Hopefully, my stealth was stronger that any of their perception skills, but I couldn't be sure. But for now, I, the bright blue blob, remained unseen.

There was a sharp drop off near the edge of the walls, so I would be forced to go onto the road for a quick second, but-

Immarunreallyfast!

And then I crashed into something, but whatever. I was out of their sight.

But umm...

In front of me was an intimidating metal grate covering the entrance into town.

Erk. Even though it was turning a shade of crimson from the rust, I didn't think I was going to be able to break through it anytime soon. Though it seemed possible that I could shrink myself smaller and squeeze through it. I hadn't experimented with the full extent of my shapeshifting abilities, though I think they're pretty good. I had used it to create four stubby legs to run on in the battle against the giant frog, after all.

Focusing on my body, I stretched out the front end of my body, concentrating.

I began to slowly crawl through the gate, feeling the metal scrape against my body painfully.

Actually, now that I thought about it, if my body was made of slime, wasn't it kinda weird that scraping some off hurt?

Though I mean, this is a fantasy world… I should just roll with it. While I was thinking these pointless thoughts, I heard something in the distance - well, it was more like i felt something, but the details weren't important now.

The sound was a rhythmic clopping sound that brought to mind horses...

Oh.

While I was thinking this, I was also focusing on squeezing through the gate, but I was having a bit of trouble. I should try to grind my shapeshifting later - which wouldn't matter now if I didn't get through the gate.

Or, wait was that a horse and carriage?

...oh, yeah. The town was kinda on low ground.

Coming over the horizon, was said carriage.

Uh, uh. I immediately started struggling through the gate, ignoring the pain in my sides. If I paid attention, I'd hesitate and die. I mean, even beating a frog is kinda tough, ya know? No way I could take on a bunch of soldiers - maybe going here was a bad idea?

Maybe I was too impatient to reunite with humanity?

Gah, this situation was messing with my head, wasn't it?

Huffing, I managed to squeeze through the gate and tumbled out, rolling over a few times as I did.

I turned around in a panic to see a sizable chunk of blue slime stuck to the bottom of the gate, stuck between one of the squares. Ek, that was actually a lot - how low was my health now? My whole body was shaking a bit, but I still had to get out of here. Luckily, there was a good place not too far from here.

Crawling over to the side of the road, I managed to squeeze under a small bush tucked close to the wall. Leaves poked my body from all directions as I squirmed uncomfortably. Moderately uncomfortable, but tolerable for now. Safe! I was feeling somewhat tired after racing over, my body aching slightly, so I just slumped to the ground to rest. Some corner of my mind took in the distant exchange between the person driving the carriage and a guard.

One of the men when into one the towers on the wall.

I guess to check the merchandise?

Ha... thank goodness I didn't try to hop on a wagon.

When he got down, he reached over to what appeared to be a lever and pulled it down to open the gate. I, of course, didn't understand a word.

After a moment, a thought crossed my mind - I didn't think I could travel under bushes and get anywhere important.

For one thing, there were only bushes and trees tucked close to the walls. I would have to go out in the open soon enough, so I would be in danger of being spotted by the guards. In that case, I had an idea!

...let's follow it.

I wiggled my slime body out from under the bush and slid towards the wagon cautiously. Catching up after a few moments, I traveled under the wagon nervously while keeping my eyes and ears open to any strange changes. I didn't want to get caught in the back wheels if they turned suddenly. To say the least, I would be in trouble. Yikes. Though other than this minor fact that could lead to me being a pancake rolled into the mud, my sneaking around is going quite well. My sneaking skills are top notch, despite them only being level one. And the more I sneak, the better my sneaking abilities become.

I wonder if there are other skills that can help me…

I heard a bump from the wagon overhead.

...but maybe I should look into that later?

This is like one of those spy games I played on my computer on Earth. I was pretty good at it, if I do say so myself.

Hm?

Oh, they appear to be turning off the main road. Darn it. I slipped past the wheels of the wagon, easily avoiding becoming a pancake.

Safe!

Huff. Though I'm getting a bit hungry. Not starving, mind you, but a bit in the mood for a quick snack. I wish there was a way to have more stamina, but I don't if a skill like that exists. I don't even know if I have a stamina bar or anything. Great Sage seemed to work in percentages, I think, for my health, but food was never a concern before.

Least I'm good at mindlessly doing stuff. Like following under this wagon.

Huff, huff.

Looking around, I saw that the bottom of houses are changing a bit. Before then were just like residential medieval homes, but now there are what appears to be storefronts. I think… we've reached the marketplace?

As I paused to examine the shops, the wagon rolled off without me.

#$%!

I quickly turned my body back and forth, on edge in a heartbeat. O-oh! A box full of fruit! I should run!

...

I don't know how I make it, but I ended up buried in the box of fruit with out anyone noticing.

Safe.

Sorry, shopkeeper, but I'm hungry.

In the meantime, I'll keep grinding up Appraisal proficiency. It was gonna be a pain, no doubt...

A wave of pain and lightheadedness hit me for the fifth time in the last two minutes, the who-knows-th time in the last hour. For some reason, people started avoiding the shop after a while, so I guess I could count that as a plus. Less people, less chance of getting caught.

Also, I raised Appraisal to level three about five minutes ago. Actually, in that case, I was going to take a break from it. The time spend on honing Water Blade was one thing, but using a skill that hurt me was another...

I don't know why I looked, but something caught my eyes.

Maybe it was because of their fancy clothes, or maybe it was something more divine, but...

Somehow, my eyes traveled up towards a couple walking through the street with somewhat tense looks on their faces. People are trying to talk to them, but I wasn't interested in them. My attention was focused on what they were carrying - my instincts were screaming at me to not look away.

A baby was in the woman's arms.

Silver hair.

Red eyes.

She looked human, but my Appraisal saw right through.

<Human Vampire Name: Sophia Keren>

Vampire.

Woah… ...wait, what?

Chapter Text

P-pardon?

A… vampire?

Oooh boy.

The vampire was staring straight at me with her striking red gaze, then opened her mouth to let out a tiny ah sound. If I looked close enough, I was sure I would see her tiny canine teeth, too big for her mouth. She was also drooling a bit, her wide eyes gazing at me in a surprisingly intelligent way for an about one-year-old baby. But she was just that – a baby. If I tried ignoring the whole “vampire” issue, she honestly just looked kinda cute. She made another ahh noise as she looked at me.

When the vampire made that second little sound, the woman looked down at her and smiled warmly.

Hmm… Appraisal. <Human Name: Seras Keren>

She was human?

Just about when I used Appraisal on her, the woman frowned slightly, then looked around nervously, seemingly spooked by something. Noticing this, the man glanced over at them and squeezed her hand tightly. Kinda wholesome if I do say so myself. Wonder what that was about?

Appraisal. <Human Name: John Keren>

...he was human too?

The man heaved a heavy sigh.

He rubbed his temple in slow circles with his thumb and pointer finger as if warding off stress. Suppose having a vampire baby was tough with all the stigma, huh? Now I was just starting to feel pity for the couple.

I mean, humans having a nonhuman baby equals curse nine times out of ten, right? Geez.

The trio had on fancy looking clothes with frills and the like, so they were probably pretty high ranking.

“A-ah…” the little vampire utters again in her underdeveloped baby voice, becoming fidgety in her mother's arms, wiggling around her body as she looked at me.

I’m a fruit, okay!?

Leave me alone…

Wiggling myself deeper into the basket of fruits, I kept my gaze on the baby vampire carefully, trying not to let her out of my sight.

...wait, when do babies even have object permanence again?

<Proficiency has reached the required level.>
<Skill [Stealth Lv 1] has become [Stealth Lv 2].>

Hallelujah.

Finally, after what seemed to be forever, she dropped her gaze and turned her attention back to her parents. They said something with a smile, pointing to the stall where I was hiding under. She made another tiny sound at that and they began walking over to the stall, where I was currently hiding in a basket of yellow fruit, which admitibly was not the best camouflage. I tried to bury myself deeper into the basket, though it was distorting my form horribly - that was still better than them finding me.

I was a monster, ya know? A friendly slime, but still a monster, nevertheless. Maybe if I could speak up, it would be fine, but there was a bit a language barrier going on. So, I stayed where I was, quiet as a mouse as they began chatting with the store owner. Hmm… was that the word for hello in this world? I repeated the word in my mind, trying to remember it. There was the question of whether it was the correct level of politeness for normal, everyday conversation, but I’’d cross that bridge when I get there.

The shop owner talked to the couple in what I assumed was a polite tone, and the sound of what I assumed was money clinking. A lot of money. Yeah, these guys were indeed loaded.

To my relief, nobody actually checked the container closely enough to find me. Though I heard some “ah, ohh” from the little vampire kid. Sophia, was it?

Jez, please be quiet, kiddo.

Though, I mean, she looks like she was about a year old. Not like she has a fully developed brain in there, right? Though, dang, she was super curious about me… I mean, aren't I just a blue fruit as far as you're concerned? I wonder what's going on in her tiny brain there. She seemed pretty smart for a baby.

Oh! The couple and the baby vampire were leaving.

Oh, thank the spider-girl god! Hallowed be thy name, by… um… I forget the rest.

Erh-hrm.

Uh, now I just gotta get out of this basket and out to the street. Which currently has people. As mentioned before, everyone’s wearing old-timely medieval clothes and walking around and looking worried as people might look after big wars. Which means that everyone’s on high alert. Which means being sneaky is harder.

Luckily for me, I have an idea!

Silence!

<Skill Points currently in possession: 9,020.>
<Skill Points required for [Silence Lv 1]: 100.>
<Acquire skill [Silence Lv 1] for 100 Skill Points?>

Neat. That is a thing. I would have looked silly if it wasn’t.

Hmm… I guess I should buy it. More stealth the better, I suppose. Yep!

<Acquired skill [Silence Lv 1]>
<Remaining Skill Points: 8,920.>

Nice. Silence, on!

...okay, that probably worked.

Now, let's see. How do I get away?

I ended up in an alleyway alone. Despite the compactness of the town, I could fit in the passage easily. Well that was one of the perks of being small. Yay me!

This whole time, I was keeping on my magic perception skill on, so I of course noticed a shift in the way it flowed.

A dark shadow suddenly loomed over me, causing a shiver to shake my slime body. Someone was behind me – damnit!

I turned around.

The strange person seemed really shady, exactly like one would expect a criminal to look like – the person was donning a long cloak that went down to their ankles, plain and unappealing to the eyes, but they hid their face under an oversized hood. Even from my position on the ground, I could only make out the pale skin underneath and the glint of their – his – eyes. Forget the vampire - my instincts were screaming at me that this guy was up to no good.

This whole time, I had had my Stealth skill activated and it even leveled up, but somehow, this guy was looking straight at me.

“Tch.” He made a short sound, seeming ready to dismiss me as insignificant and my metaphorical heart began to slow down…

...only to speed right back up when I detected a sudden violent shift in the flow of magical energy around him. Magical energy began swirling in a circular pattern - a spell!?

I barely had time to react before a sudden gust of wind started swirling around me, sending my tiny slime body flying high. Slamming against the dirt, my vision spun for a few moments.

Ow, damnit. I was starting to shake. A critical hit! My health was in the red now!

Just then, as the figure was preparing to fire his second spell at me, he suddenly paused. Then he looked upwards towards the wall, his gaze traveling up to something I couldn't make out due to my farsightedness. If I looked closely, I could sort of see something light color...ed...

Like a puppet, he collapsed on the spot.

Then, a long moment of suspenseful silence.

The thing that broke it, was the monotone voice of god:

<Experience has reached the required level.
Individual Rimuru Tempest has grown from level 2 to level 3.
All basic attributes have improved.
Level-up bonus proficiency acquired.
Skill points acquired.>

<Proficiency has reached the required level.>
<Skill [HP-Auto Recovery LV 1] has become [HP-Auto Recovery LV 2].>

<Experience has reached the required level.
Individual Rimuru Tempest has grown from level 3 to level 4.
All basic attributes have improved.
Level-up bonus proficiency acquired.
Skill points acquired.>

<Experience has reached the required level.
Individual Rimuru Tempest has grown from level 4 to level 5.
All basic attributes have improved.
Level-up bonus proficiency acquired.
Skill points acquired.>

<Proficiency has reached the required level.>
<Skill [Stealth LV 2] has become [Stealth LV 3].>

<Proficiency has reached the required level.>
<Skill [Fear Resistance LV 1] has become [Fear Resistance LV 2].>

...Huh?

My body felt refreshed, but I couldn’t say I felt the same inside.

Wha-what?

The hooded man is lying in front of me with his face in the dirt, not moving an inch. You okay buddy? I crawled forward a few inches, poking him light with a slimy appendage. Nothing, he’s a corpse. Even when I hopped onto his head, he didn’t even twitch. I… didn’t know what to do about this.

Err, I mean on one (nonexistent) hand, he was trying to kill me, but I wasn’t expecting this confrontation to end in the guy dying like that. Or at all, considering the very apparent difference in our power. Uh, what would happen if I just…

Appraisal.

<Elf Corpse>

...elf?

<Elf: A humanoid species that grows very slowly and has a long lifespan. They are especially good at magic.>

Just like in a fantasy book, huh?

Yeah, that was an elf, but, err… he was definitely dead. Huh. This is the first time in all my lives that I’ve been face to face with a dead human(oid) body.

It was weird, if I was being completely honest. I… really didn’t want to think about it too much.

I should probably be leaving anyways… I don't want to stay any longer than I have to.

Despite the feeling of dread in my stomach, I ran away.

Huh, now that I think about it, all these roads seem to be heading towards one point, aren't they? There’s the main road, the side roads, and these thin alleyways like the kind I was in now. I didn’t know where they were heading but it was pretty easy to guess: the mayor’s house. Though I wasn’t too sure there was a mayor exactly, I was sure there was something close. I was kinda at a loss as to what to do now, so I figured I could head there next, if only to check it out.

I even remembered the one word I learned.

As I trudged along the passageway, I started thinking about other things.

Mainly, that man.

Geez, what was up with that guy?

...and why did he die? How did he die, for that matter?

Did something kill him? It wasn’t me, that was for sure. I could barely kill a rolly-polly or a frog!

Well, for now, at least, I seemed to be safe.

I tried to shake off the growing feeling of unease in my gut and resisted the urge to glance around me.

At the end of the day, I tucked myself deep in a hole in the wall and drifted off into an unease sleep.

For some reason, I dreamed of a spider on a web.

Chapter Text

I woke up the sensation of rough brick against my body. Sleeping like I had been for the last few days was not good for my health, I was sure. I still wasn’t able to check my health with my Appraisal skill, so I couldn’t tell for sure what my condition was at the moment. I think did have some type of HP bar, judging by the name of one of my skills, so maybe I would be able to find out soon? Well judging by the rate, the skill’s performance improved, maybe I shouldn’t get my hopes up too soon, you know?

Well, at any rate, I had survived another night.

Everyone here what gone to bed as soon as the sun went down. I myself had taken the time to sneak closer to the center of the town a bit more. Then it was only a matter of finding a plot convenient hole in the wall to hide in. If only because I was starting to feel like I was being watched lately. If anything, that thing saved my blue behind, so I wasn’t in danger, nor was I sensing hostility, but still.

…well, at any rate, I had survived another night.

So, I had managed to get to the center of the town. It took a while, but I was there – just an alleyway or two away at the most.

I wiggled my way out of the hole in the wall I had been sleeping in, feeling incredibly dozy as I trudged out into the open. I could have sworn I had some type of resistance for this, but my memory wasn’t the best.

…gez, maybe I should take the voice up on that offer.

Ah, well, I might as well get going now.

So this was the start of my daily routine for the past few days:

Get up, look around and want better long-distance vision, and then practice that one word I knew. Well, actually, I had learned a few more words such as, “ma’am”, “sir”, and what was either “goodbye” or “have a nice day”. On that note, I had discovered a neat trick to write on the wall of the house to help with my memorization of the new words too. It had happened with I had been wishing for an ability to make my body acidic, something like an acidic body skill, for example.

This had suddenly made the ground under me start sizzling, and I had panicked and hopped around in a circle. Then I realized it was me and hurriedly turned it off. My body had felt like someone had was poking it with burning needles, but I was able to withstand and use it after a some practice - I had diligence.

Like my shapeshifting, it didn’t appear to need a word to activate it, and unlike my shapeshifting, it was absolutely free! Another attack method!

Ignoring the needles with a little difficulty, I slowly wrote out my best translation of the words into Japanese characters. Now I had a way to practice my Alternatese with little problem!

Yay me!

Additionally, my Acid Resistance skill went up a level at the end of my translation on the wall, so that was also a plus. I wished it gave me a skill to lessen the pain though.

As for the body, people ended up finding the body of the elf. I actually watched them take the body away. And for all the looking away I did with my poor vision, even I noticed the missing pieces. I think they were nervous about his death; I was too, since I didn't know exactly what killed him.

But I thought I had an idea...

I had discovered a spider web tucked into a corner a block away from my home. I found out about it when I found a stray strand of thread hanging down from the roof of the building. I was glad I couldn’t smell, looking closely at the shape that was bundled halfway up the wall.

So yeah, I had an acid attack and a spider nearby. Could be worse and could definitely be better.

When I reached the mansion today, I was greeted by a bizarre sight:

A bunch of guards were surrounding the mansion.

I cringed and quickly crawled back to safety, then peered out nervously. What the heck happened here? Did it get broken into last night?

The mansion – a large stone and wood house with three floors and a distinctive medieval look – had many guards milling around in the gardens. Said gardens were mostly filled with saplings for a certain type of tree I couldn’t name. A number of them were apparently trampled by someone. Though judging by the guards’ movements, probably not them.

Also, unlike the guards at the wall, these guards were dressed in duller colors. Don’t know why though.

I watched the scene before me, feeling an uncomfortable feeling settled over me again. I think this was a murder scene - ugh.

I still ended up watching the scene as best I could though.

Many people were walking around and the guards were doing their best to keep everyone away from the crime scene. Understandably, the citizens were upset. One of the women were crying. I wondered if the vampire had anything to do with this.

I watched as two people brought out something that appeared to be covered by a blanket. It made my heart drop, but there wasn’t anything I could do. I doubt there was a skill that could bring back the dead or anything…

I feel like I’ve just witnessed the beginning of a bad time for the town…

It left a bad taste in my mouth for the rest of the day.

I finally managed to turn away from the sight, shaking my head (my whole body, actually, but same difference) to dismiss this gloomy atmosphere. I need to do something else that staring a bunch dead bodies. Being able to properly breath with this body was doing wonders for my mental health, if I was being honest.

Awkwardly, I ran off to find the old lady who had been giving me free fruit a few block away.

The woman had been scared of me at first, since I was a slime monster with the power to dissolve stuff in acid and all, but she found out I was friendly soon enough. I had just went an grabbed a fruit sheepishly and left. Rinse and repeat until she understood I was only there for the food - though I would have liked to talk to her too.

Even as I was eating the fruit, my mind still wandered back to there.

At the end of the day, I tucked myself deep in the hole in the wall and drifted off into an unease sleep.

For some reason, I dreamed of a spider wrapping me in a web.

I woke up in a bag and kidnapped.

What else was I to assume when realized I couldn't feel the rough brick against my body, but some type of soft fabric?

For a moment, I just laid there, before the reality of the situation hit me.

Suddenly wide awake, I peered around me, realizing it wasn’t completely dark in here. A thin ray of light shone into the bag from what I thought was my right. I wasn't definitely being kidnapped right now - or slime-napped, I supposed. Point was, I probably needed to get out of here, or I was going to end up as a smear on the side of the road very soon.

In that case, I needed to find a way out this bag.

I gathered my strength and bunched up my body, shoving my weight to the side with as much force as I could manage - which wasn't much, since I didn't have any solid ground. The bag only swung back and forth in response, and I myself was jolted around helplessly for a few moments.

They didn’t even budge! The only response I got was the stranger muttering something in the Alternatese in a lax and dismissive tone. They sounded really young. Who was this person anyways? I wondered.

I managed to catch a glimpse of her. Now I could report her to the police – if I ever got out of here!

My kidnapper looked young.

She was a really young girl who appeared to be in her early or even mid-teens with an unusual hair color - by which I meant black. I hadn't seen anyone else in this world with black hair; they all had rainbow hair. There was also something fluffy around her neck. That was something I was able to tell through a hole in the bag she was carrying me in. I was currently using my acid body ability and trying to squeeze out of the hole, but to no avail. What the heck had the girl made it out of – steel?

<Spider Thread>

Yeah, sure, that made sense.

Not!

Wait, I had a Steel Threads in my other life, so maybe these were similar?

<Spider Thread: Silk produced by a spider-type monster.>

O-okay, guess not.

Gez, I’ve heard spider thread could stop a plane but this was ridiculous! But yeah, I needed to level up Appraisal more.

The weird thing was that she looked human enough: pale skin, black hair, and red eyes to looked at me with a slight glare when she noticed my escape attempts. Not that I could do anything.

Seriously, was she going to kill me or what?

She ended up dumped me out of the bag a while later involving some crazy jumping. Luckily, I don't think I have a stomach at the moment, so I was fine.

Rolling out and onto the grass, I laid there for a moment, then hopped up attentively.

What was I here for?

Where was I anyways?

Looking around, I saw that was in what appeared to be a large tent held up by a large stick jammed in the ground. I imaged it was also made of that same steel-like silk, but I didn't dare check it. Since I wasn't currently dead now, I hoped she wasn't going to kill me; maybe she had something to do with the elf that attacked me, or even the person or people that killed the mayor of the town.

For a moment, she remained silent. Her posture wasn’t threatening in the least, but I still got a bad feeling about her. I was shaking in fear - even though I myself was scared of her. The fear seemed more... external?

As for my kidnapper...

This girl had the weirdest outfit I had seen in real life.

She looked like she was around thirteen or fourteen years old, and as far as I could tell, human. Her short black hair had a stripe of white going through it and a golden band with horn-like structure jutting up. She was wearing an outlandish outfit compared to everyone else here - fur around her neck and weird cape I couldn't name that split in eight with spikes at the end.

Now, the girl – another real, breathing god – turned her attention towards me. I tried to withstand the immense pressure rolling off her like a huge wave, earning a level in Fear Resistance as I did. Thank goodness I didn’t need to, uh, expel waste, because she was scary.

It wasn’t her demeanor that was scary. It wasn’t her smile either. Both of those seemed normal and harmless enough.

But holy Spider God was I shivering – like I was in the Spider God herself’s presence all over again.

Would she kill me?

“**********~”

I didn’t understand what she had just said, but all at once, the pressure faded. I nearly passed out from the sudden drop, but I managed to hastily give her a grateful bow. Wasn’t sure if the gesture was understood though.

The girl said something in a way I assumed was apologetic, waving a gloved hand.

I nodded my blobby form.

I guess I was safe?

She said something else.

The girl flashed me a big friendly grin and crouched down on the ground to be closer to my level. I wasn’t exactly sure what she had greeted me with, but I assumed it was something like a greeting. Luckily, I was a pretty friendly guy myself, so I was sure I could at least make an attempt to communicate. Something universal like a wave of the hand – even if I didn’t have hands at the moment.

While I was thinking all this, in real time, mind you, the girl’s expression didn’t change much. That could be very good or very bad.

Shifting my body and forming a tiny hand carefully, I waved slowly at the girl. Should I play dumb?

I tried to make my face as blank as possible.

“****,” the girl said, nodding to herself thoughtfully. Tapping a finger against her chin, she asked me, clear as day, “So, you’re Rimuru Tempest-san, right?”

In Japanese.

A transmigrator? There were more of us?

…oh, right. She had kidnapped me.

(Still pretty interested though.)

I shouldn’t let my guard down here. I met her gaze with my own, not saying anything.

After a moment, the girl sighed and said in a dry yet amused tone, “I know it’s you – I have Appraisal, after all.”

…oh.

“…you did kidnap me though,” I replied after a moment. Guess I was found out.

She grinned sheepishly. “Yeah, sorry about that. I just wanted to get to someplace where we wouldn’t be overheard.” She looked thoughtfully for a moment, then added, “I was going to put you to sleep with Wind Magic, but you were already sleeping, sooo… I just put you in a bag.” Here she shrugged nonchalantly.

“Anywaaays, name’s Ariel.” She waved casually. She had a friendly and at least somewhat interested expression. "You can just call me Ariel-chan."

I bowed nervously.

Also, we were using honorfics here, were we?

Actually, so she just wanted to talk to me about something? She wasn't going to kill me or anything? I mean, if she was going to do that, she would have done it already, I think.

I turned off my acidic body ability, which wasn't actually doing anything.

The conversation seemed to die off there. I guess I should pick a topic, then?

“…why did you want to talk to me anyways?” Then belatedly, I tacked on, "Ariel-san."

Ariel's expression became much more serious.

"I was wondering if you knew about something," she said, leaning forward when she said it. Her constant smile drooped. "See, there was something that happened about a week ago..."

"...I may or may not have been born yet.. ."

She nodded at my answer. "But considering the timing, I could assume that your death might have something to do with this recent incident?"

Did it?

I wasn't sure. Honestly, all I remembered was a lot of pain before I blacked out. Then I woke up in a void with a "magecraft" construct that even Great Sage couldn't tell me about. And now I couldn't use my skills - the ones from the other world anyways.

After a moment, I nodded, then shapeshifted two arms to shrug.

The timing matched up at least.

Ariel looked thoughtful and nodded to herself.

Suddenly, a thought crossed my mind.

I cautiously asked, "You wouldn't happen to know about that spider-goddess?”

Ariel blinked and turned towards me, then seemed to process the question.

“Oh, you mean Hiiro Wakaba-chan?” the girl asked, her smile fading completely for the first time. Something flashed in her eyes, but she regained her composure too quickly for me to name it. Their relationship must be a bit complicated, huh?

…nice name though.

“…Yeah.”

I didn’t feel like adding anything else. Half because I was beginning to feel bad, half because I didn’t want to get in the middle of a disagreement between two goddess’. No siree!

“Yeah, she kinda became a local god of sorts around here. But for some reason, she didn’t want to met you?

“Let’s see…” the girl muttered half to herself, then I heard some type of distant crackling, like a radio with a bad signal. Something about it jolted some far away corner of my mind. I pushed the memory aside – I’d worry about it later. Try as I might, couldn’t quite make out what I was hearing – someone else’s Telepathy conversation, maybe?

As that when on, the little girl furrowed her eyebrows a bit more.

The corners of her mouth twitched upwards.

Finally, she said, “Gotcha, okay.”

“So…”

“So you said she looked nice?"

Her tone was really confused as she muttered it, and she gave me a look I didn't think was too good.

Uh.

"Y-yeah? Is that weird?"

Ariel shrugged. "Probably not unless you have a spider fetish or you like, ya know..." she said. When I tried to speak up, she raised a hand to tell me to wait. I could hear that bad signal again. "...you don't, do you?"

"No!"

Snorting, she muttered, "Some people in the town do-" She paused, giving me a even harsher version of that look. "Unless this means that you like high school girls?"

Wait, what? What kind of person did they think he was? Why would he-

Oh. She had asked him what high school he had went to. He had had a hard time looking at her face due to the spider part, so he hadn't looked too closely at the human part. And then he muttered that comment...

"N-no, of course not!"

She stared at him for a moment, then waved a hand. "So you can tell her you don't in a bit."

I nodded.

“So, let's get back to the topic at hand," she said. "Do you think there was any spatial distortion in whatever killed you?"

...wait, was she implying that whatever killed me came from this world?

Chapter Text

She had Detection.

She hadn’t sensed anything back then, only seen the aftermath.

That was odd.

She had been standing at the edge of a crater that had stopped smoking hours ago. It was really wide and deep, she noted as she examined it more closely with her skills. She could still sense magical energy around the pit’s border, though it got less condensed the closer to the center she got. Certain patches were less magical than others, she also noted as she kicked a rock beside her to pieces.

She couldn’t sense a spatial distortion at the moment.

She sensed the material around her – rocks, dust and ashes. The heat was unusually high – it was nipping at her skin – but not painfully or uncomfortable at all thanks to her high-level skills. Well, there was a bunch of ash around the place, so she shouldn’t have been so surprised by the way her Heat Perception was flaring up.

Around the hole was clumps of mangled clumps of dirt sprayed out as if twisted. A tree she saw before actually was twisted violently and broken. And Ariel was pretty sure she knew exactly what happened here.

Well, not exactly, but she might know what type of attack it was.

Thinking a spell name to herself, she slowly and carefully constructed the rune. She wasn’t that worried about breaking it or anything, it was just that she had a bit less than average affinity with the type. Though she did gain two levels in the skill after a certain incident involving a certain someone she was currently attempting to form a trust with. Even then, the construction still took a few minutes.

Under her command, the tree suddenly twisted like a spring then imploded.

Spatial Magic level four: Distort Space.

Not bad, if she said so herself.

But she was certain now that it was was at least partially caused by a spatial distortion.

Hmm… it didn’t seem like she could collect anymore information here.

In that case, she was going to head elsewhere – she jumped straight up and summoned a platform under her feet.

Before her, she saw many twisted spots, some miles apart from each other. She had a lot of work to do. She was going to put Operation: Ally with Hiiro Wakaba on hold for a bit. In the meantime, she would order the taratects to steer wide away from that creature.

She was much too dangerous.

Summoning the puppet taratects and watching them emerge from the yellow boxes that appeared, she gave them the order to investigate the nearby craters.

She found herself at the Great Elroe Labyrinth, Upper Stratum.

In front of her was a large spider monster known as an arch taratect - pale and looking a bit like a mirror image of the Queen. To her, she was docile creature that liked head pats, but to others she was fearsome monster that was a born killing machine – sort of. She was currently sitting down and staring at her with wide eyes.

…well, she was a spider, so of course she was staring.

Spiders don’t have eyelids.

“Okay, so can you please look out and report any strange explosions? I donno if they’re going to happen out here, but please report them if so,” she told the monster casually.

The spider nodded her head.

“’kay, bye.”

Ariel made sure to gave her a pat on the head.

For some strange reason though, she continued wandering aimlessly through the labyrinth.

At this point, she had all but memorized the layout of the upper stratum and all its winding passageways. The path she was walking down was a large passage that lead to a path well traveled by adventurers. She did particularly feel like risking the chance of talking to some random strangers, so she was going to head back around now. Though, she couldn't sense anything with Detection - nothing that sent of her Danger Perception, anyways - so she was probably fine if she just continued.

Suddenly, she felt a small tremor in the ground.

If she didn't have Touch Enhancement maxed out, she probably wouldn't have noticed it.

The part of her that Hiiro Wakaba immediately thought of an earthquake, like the ones that happened sometime in Japan, but she dismissed the idea. This world didn't have earthquakes.

She could see something ahead of her with her skill-enhanced vision that was stomping around. It was a large bipedal dinosaur-like creature with razor sharp teeth and large claws - it appeared a high ranking earth wyrm was roaming around the the area.

Well, that was fine.

...also, considering she had wiped out several high-class earth dragons such as Gakia, she might want to let this one live. In that case, she should just take a decor.

And with that decided-

"Gargh!" it roared ferociously, and Ariel turned around in confusion.

Now what? she wondered as she reexamined the area with a huff. Did some adventurers find it-

Actually, she wasn't too sure if any people were able to pass through the labyrinth, since the fortress had been destroyed.

But there weren't any humans or monsters around, right?

<Great Elroe Labyrinth Wall> <Great Elroe Labyrinth Floor> <Great Elroe Labyrinth Wall>

And, uh, the wrym-

<Elroe Funerigh Lv 17
  HP: 1,290/1,740 (details) MP: 1,890/2,200 (details)
  SP: 1,508/1,567 (details) | SP: 1,568/1,745 (details)>

-and then the skill list that she didn't care about.

Hm? Its status changed.

<HP: 1,278/1,740>

She stood corrected. It was fighting something.

Something small and white suddenly leaped forward and clung to the wrym's side like a tick. It was about the size of a human head, and looking around, she could see that there were plenty where it came from.

Another used a Dark Magic spell and fired a barrage of black bullets like a machine gun along with many other of the things. Based on what Detection told her, it was some type of spider monster. It must what had the Cooperation skill to be making its movements so in time with the other white spider beside it. Its ability to craft the runes was surprising skilled, she imaged, even without the assistance.

The wrym let loose a breath attack on the spiders, managing to hit around twenty of the things.

But of course, more simply took their place and launched a counterattack on it in the form of Poison Magic. High leveled Poison Magic, at that.

She hadn't seen anything like this before.

But then again, she hadn't seen anything like Hiiro Wakaba's evolution before either.

...

...wait, that fact wasn't reassuring at all!

Urgh.

She used Appraisal on one of the spiders:

<Small Lesser Horo Neia Lv 8
  HP: 306/320 (details) MP: 379/389 (details)
  SP: 298/330 (details) | SP: 270/335 (details)
  Average Offensive Ability: 203     Average Defensive Ability: 210    Average Magical Ability: 346   
  Average Resistance Ability: 367   Average Speed Ability: 223
  Skills:
           [HP Auto-Recovery Lv 3] [MP Auto-Recovery Lv 7] [MP Lessened Consumption Lv 7]
           [SP Lessened Consumption Lv 3] [SP Recovery Speed Lv 1] [SP Lessened Consumption Lv 1]
           [Magic Power Attack Lv 5] [Magic Warfare Lv 4] [Magic Power Operation Lv 6]
           [Magic Power Operation Lv 5] [Poison Fang Lv 4] [Spider Thread Lv 8] [Cutting Thread Lv 3]
           [Thread Control Lv 3] [Poison Synthesis Lv 1] [Cutting Enhancement Lv 1] [Cooperation Lv 2]
           [Stealth Lv 1] [Poison Magic Lv 6] [Shadow Magic Lv 10] [Dark Magic Lv 2] [Wind Magic Lv 1]
           [Fire Resistance Lv 2] [Wind Resistance Lv 4] [Dark Resistance Lv 3] [Poison Resistance Lv 8]
           [Rot Resistance 1] [Pain Resistance Lv 5] [Life Lv 1] [Magic Mass Lv 3] [Technique User Lv 3]
           [Protection Lv 3] [Strength Lv 2] [Solidity Lv 2] [Dignity Lv 1] [Overeating Lv 2]
  Skill Points: 0
  Titles: [Monster Slayer] [Foul Feeder] [Poison Technique User] [Thread User] [Assassin]>

...what.

What? "Small Lesser"? The heck was up with this thing?

She reexamined the skill list.

Ah, no, wait, it wasn't that bad.

A lot of them were low leveled and acquired through a title. Excluding the ones like the basic stat skills, species specific, and recovery-and-reduced-consumption skills, there weren't that many that were that weird.

Then the rest were obtained via skill points. Which meant they were intelligent...

Which meant it was definitely still bad...

Oh, right.

Hiiro Wakaba had the skill Egg-laying. These must be her spawn, she realized with a wince as she surveyed the battle from a far. When she had noticed the battle, she had turned on some stealth skills to cancel her passive fear aura, and it seemed to be working.

Walking closer, she stood on the edge of the battle field. The other spiders were smaller.

And weaker, she assumed.

She used Appraisal to check their stats and skills.

...yah, they were.

The rest were "Mini Lesser" and "Minimum Lesser" variants. Though she wondered what their description was.

< Horo Neia: The new species produced by the Zana Horowa.>

They were, huh.

<Zana Horowa: A powerful and undying spider-type monster that is extremely rare. Being a master of many types of magic, it can also be considered a harbinger of either death or salvation to all.>

Oh boy.

Ariel stared at that description for a while. Was that a description of the monster or Wakaba?

She definitely had to get that creature on her side.

As a side note, the wrym managed to get away with its life and a little less than a quarter of its health.

“Hey, Hiiro Wakaba-chan.”

The girl didn’t verbally respond to that. She did however glance at her and tilted her head in a perplexed way – but what did Ariel know?

Wakaba's memories showed that this girl was a bit of a loner who kept her distance from others. Ariel remembered - secondhand - that she was kind of person who didn't exactly know how to interact with other people. So she simply told herself that she didn't care about what others thought of her - after all, it wouldn't matter if she wasn't close enough to anyone anyways.

Well, that was what she told herself, but her actions didn't really line up with that.

Wakaba was a strange and dangerous enemy, but an invaluable ally to have on her side. So Ariel proposed a partnership with this someone and the rest was history. Well, she thought with grimace, not quite.

Not after what she saw in the labyrinth.

But this should keep her in line a bit more.

Besides, those things were small fry to her. And Wakaba didn't know she knew about them, so she going to sit back and kept an eye on the situation. Sending a quick order to two of the remaining puppet taratects, she thought over her question carefully.

"Did you notice anything strange about a week ago?" she asked, deciding to avoid the question for now.

She took a moment to reply.

"...Not personally."

And this was why she turned off Thought Super-Acceleration. Wakaba took a while to respond sometimes.

But, not personally, huh.

"There was some weird spatial distortion about ten miles south-east of the town," she told her, watching at her eyes widened slightly at the comment. "I was wondering if you knew anything about that."

Wakaba frowned.

"The elves were freaking out about something like that."

...huh?

"They were, huh..." she muttered half to herself. That was interesting; even the elves were unaware of it. She figured as much, considering the exchange she and Potimas had before she destroyed his remote-controlled body.

("Though I was wondering if you know about that recent event involving a spatial distortion.")

("I might, but I also have some questions for you too, if you don't mind.")

("Hmp. No thank you.")

("Well, I'll guess I'll just go and...")

(Then she crushed him.)

Wakaba nodded slowly.

"They wouldn't happen to know anything else about that, would they?" she muttered, half to herself.

She shook her head. "...they were looking into it."

Ariel frowned. Well, she would have to have one of the puppet taratects keep an eye on it... or something.

Yeah, that sounded like a good idea. She nodded to herself, almost not noticing Wakaba starting to speak up again

"...also, there was a slime that might know something." Wakaba shrugged. "He's not from our class though..."

Wha?

So, wait, there was a reincarnation from different origins? Well, maybe she should look into that.

"...I guess I'm going to go talk to him. You wanna come with?"

"No."

Oof. Blunt.

Wonder why?

Well, whatever.