episode_0030

Am I tired?

I just felt sorry for myself for feeling so burdened by even being alert to my surroundings.

Susssseu..

As I heard a mysterious sound coming from somewhere, a chill ran down my spine… An eerie feeling ran through my whole body, my skin started to grow, and then cold sweat began to flow like crazy.

Since I was born with only a kitchen knife from my previous life, the sight of me holding up Jane’s dagger was extremely sloppy no matter how I looked at it.

Unstable breathing.

A posture full of trembling.

Eyes urgently searching for the source of the sound through highly sensitive nerves…

Know. That I no longer have the strength to run away or protect myself.

But still, for me, this small dagger was the only way to protect myself, so I just held it up.

“haha..”

A mysterious creature that shows only a blurry afterimage in places where the green moss’ luminescence does not reach.

I could see the surroundings thanks to the moss glowing with green light, but even that was nothing more than the faint light in this dark space.

Perhaps there were limits to brightly illuminating this large cave? It was a situation where I couldn’t see my surroundings as much as I thought.

As I stared at something approaching little by little, the mysterious being began to reveal itself.

Slippery…

A strange form of life that I have never seen before…

An oval shape so smooth that it gives goosebumps all over its body.

Elastic-looking exterior texture.

An inexplicable sense of disconnect arose from the way it barely maintained its shape, as if it were shaking, and I myself began to reject the existence of this creature.

I couldn’t quite accept it.

Yes. It was gross… and scary.

＇Okay.. just sleep＇

‘That’s the monster I saw in the book.?’

[Slime]

It has an oval shape of about 50cm and mainly lives near clean water or minerals.

Slime is a monster that uses acidic mucus to protect itself, and does not pose a threat as long as you do not touch it first.

It mainly has the characteristic of {ingesting} minerals and transforming and evolving to use them.

Even in my past life, it wasn’t a beast-like monster that you would only see in a zoo.

Having seen so directly a monster of a heterogeneous form that I had never seen before in this life, I calmly raised my dagger and used my {Check Information} ability to quickly find out the characteristics of [Slime].

After confirming that there would be no problem as long as he didn’t make a hasty move or attack first, I let go of my tense nerves and watched the [Slime] approaching little by little.

Slippery…

[Slime], which boasted a heavy size about the size of an adult’s face, showed curiosity and changed its shape little by little, as if it was interested in the Janes dagger I was holding.

Slippery!

Stretch it elongatedly.

It’s as if they’re trying to roll up into a circle and jump.

＇What you want is this dagger..?

Understanding this [Slime]’s habits and judging from its actions up to now, I took Jane’s dagger, the only one that would protect it… I carefully took out Jane’s armor made of steel, which was too big to wear, and [Slime] came closer. began to attract attention.

Rattling.. Seueuugh..

＇Shows interest..＇

just as expected. After checking Janes’ armor, [Slime] began moving around like a puppy looking at a snack, probably because it was interested in Janes’ shaking armor. Honestly… if I didn’t think it was a monster, I thought it was cute enough that I would want to raise it.

So I don’t play around anymore, I give Jane’s armor made of steel to [Slime], and I tell him to step back for a moment and observe the situation.

‘eat.’

Passs…..

[Slime], which swallowed part of the armor into its body at once, made a sound as if carbonation was being removed from a drink, and at the same time, it stopped its active movements as if it was trying to melt the armor made of steel, and remained completely stationary.

It’s like a snake that swallows a huge meal and falls into a deep sleep to digest it.

On the other hand, I could not let down my guard, so I carefully observed the [Slime] that had stopped moving, and while resting, I discovered something that seemed to be a weakness.

＇That.. is definitely a magic stone..＇

The shape of a stone lump visible in the middle of opaque mucus.

Even if the magic stone, which can be said to be the source of the monster’s power, is discovered, the monster called [Slime] is something that cannot be ignored…

In a way, it was natural that the acidic slime of [Slime], which even dissolves minerals, would dissolve human skin like jelly, and even if an attack with a dagger were successful or missed, the damage it would suffer would not be negligible.

So, rather than being hostile to the [Slime] that had stopped moving right in front of me, I had no choice but to choose a friendly relationship while observing and slowly giving this monster what it wanted.

Slippery…

As a few hours passed, the [Slime] was showing an inexplicable behavior that seemed to be happy, shaking its jelly-like body as if it had completely {ingested} a part of Janes’ armor, and its opaque color changed to gray, albeit very slightly. It became cloudy and soon appeared discolored.

＇The color has become darker..＇

Knowing that this was {consumption}, a characteristic of [slime], I was able to somewhat understand why the author of [The Book of Monsters] wanted to observe and experiment with monsters. That curiosity was aroused for me too.

“Are you full?”

Fortunately, when I saw [Slime]’s non-hostile behavior, I quickly felt at ease, so I threw a little more of Janes’ armor… and began to reflect on the contents of the journal at the back of the [Monster’s Book] that suddenly came to mind. do.

‘For sure..’

＇I said it was definitely a homunculus..＇

Homunculus’ journal written on the last page of [The Book of Monsters].

It was none other than the part where a crazy experiment was clearly written about implanting a monster’s magic stone into a human heart.

Perhaps what I need most right now is the strength to protect my own body.

However, it was almost impossible to develop strength through such a harsh environment and limited resources, but for me, who met all the conditions to become a homunculus, it was a moment of choice that I had no choice but to make.

Slippery…

After watching the [Slime] consuming Janes’ armor as if it was so delicious, I immediately showed a solemn expression as if I had decided on something, and I decided to immediately put my carefully thought into practice.

＇You said that what you need to be careful of is the attribute of magical power, right?

***

How many days have passed like that?

Since there was no light coming into the cave, it had been a long time since I had forgotten the concept of time, but even so, I managed to satisfy my hunger with green moss and flowing spring water, conserving food as much as possible, and hunting down the [Slime] left alone nearby.

Knowing the characteristics of [Slime], which only had an interest in moisture or minerals and was wary of those who posed a threat to it, I used Janes’ armor as bait and the moment I tried to {consume} it… a dagger tied to a thick tree branch. As a result of hunting by attacking the magic stones of [Slime], I was able to acquire a lot of magic stones.

Of course, in the process, the leather straps and tree branches that held the dagger together dissolved in the acid of the slime and had to be repaired repeatedly, but since Janes’ dagger was a weapon made of [titanium], the acidity caused by the slime It seemed to hold up to some extent.

No, on the contrary, it was excellent and effective in hunting [Slime].

I was able to find out this information by checking the titanium properties of the dagger using the {Check Information} ability.

[titanium]

Titanium ore is a very rare ore that is not easily found.

It is mainly buried deep in the ocean where magic power cannot reach, and because it is a metal with very high magic resistance, not just anyone can process it.

Popularly used iron and copper, or expensive aluminum, etc. are metals with a high purity that cannot be compared to other metals, and only the “Dwarf” race that knows how to handle the “ignition” property can process them. It is said that it can be done.

Because it is a dagger made of titanium, which has such a high magic resistance, it was supported by magic stones and from the perspective of [Slime], who maintained its form, it felt like a fatal “poison” that paralyzes the entire body.

At the end of such an arduous hunt, he was able to obtain a magic stone with the same “Must” attribute as me, and after taking out a large pile of [Slime] magic stones from his bag, he decided to put his planned plan into action.

‘I guess this is enough..??’

just as expected. As I was checking the inside of the bag, the [Steel Slime], whose appearance had recently changed, came closer to me and started chattering.

This guy was the same [Slime] that I first encountered in the cave. As a result of continuously feeding Janes’ armor and observing it, it had evolved into a completely different entity called [Steel Slime].

＂Not much time left now..＂

“I can’t give you any more..”

He probably thought he was giving Janes armor and ran towards him, but in reality, the remaining steel armor was almost tattered.

[Steel Slime]

It has the same properties as regular slime.

The shape of the body can be freely modified and firmly fixed.