Syl

Chapter 14: Investigator Slime

'Thieves! Scoundrels! How dare they?' I raged mentally at the indignation.

I couldn't believe someone had stolen my pelt collection, which had grown daily and showed my progression in the forest. I extended a tendril into the tree hole, worried that my tusks were gone too, but thankfully, they were still there. I looked around the tree for any signs pointing to the culprit. I imagined if I had tracking or investigation skills, the system would help me, although I still had not received a single skill point. After several dozen minutes of poking around the tree like an amateur detective, I discovered two boot prints imprinted into the soil, possibly from someone jumping down from the branch.

'Human, male, approximately 20 years of age, has a slight limp and favors his left leg...' I remarked internally, while I prodded the boot prints with a tendril, 'Haha, who am I kidding? All I can tell is these are some pretty big boots. Although, I bet I could do stuff like that if I did get an investigation skill. But at least I know it wasn't an animal.'

I thought of possibly going and stealing some blue slimes as revenge for the humans taking my pelts, but honestly, I didn't need the pelts.

'Perhaps I should just consider the stolen pelts as payment for the slimes I ate before I left. Sure, let's go with that. I want to deal with the frog first anyway.'

I gave the tree some water from my storage and said farewell, as I would likely not return now that it was compromised, and I took the scenic route back towards the pond. My new rank of [Mapping], which I assume I got for finding my home despite losing the visible markings, was quite handy - it was almost like a vague voice in the back of your mind telling you, "Try going left at the next bush.".

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I came across two wolves stalking a grazing deer in a pincer formation and entered stealth mode. I wondered why wolves were suddenly appearing in the area, as I had only seen boars and the occasional deer or jackalope for days now. Ignoring my curiosity, I moved from branch to branch until I was above one of the wolves, then dropped and withdrew slime to expand myself - I landed directly on the wolf with a soft splat and engulfed it. The poor wolf did not see it coming and could not howl for aid as it drowned in slime, at least until I turned on the acid.

I cheered mentally but then noticed growling and snarling as the remaining wolf spotted me, and the deer was bolting away. The wolf was cautiously approaching, but I didn't feel fear, as it would seal its fate if it lunged at my deadly acid slime. I withdrew some tusks and used [Slime Shot] to fire them at the legs; the first two missed, but the third found its target, and the wolf let out a yelp. I wanted to practice shooting some more, but the wolf was now enraged and let out a howl before it jumped directly at me with its snarling maw.

I retreated my core to my rear end just to be safe and welcomed the wolf with wide-open tendrils. As the wolf made contact with my slime, my tendrils wrapped around it, and with a wet plop, I engulfed the wolf. It tried to struggle and free itself, but as I compressed the slime surrounding it, it simply melted away faster.

Happy with the free slime mass, I noticed my core still held my previous instructions to avoid melting the fangs or claws, which were easily harvested and came out pristine.

'Okay, [Dissection] seems to be leveling up far faster than my other skills or traits... The other night, I had the theory that trying new things gave more experience than mindless repetition, so I assume I got a bonus for the very first wolf I harvested... Or perhaps it's even per new part?'

I really wanted to figure this out because if I could puzzle together faster ways to get skills and traits, I could target those methods and work towards powering myself up more directly. I twirled the wolf fangs and claws in my slime as I stared at them in thought.

'I feel like that still wouldn't justify it leveling this fast... I wonder if I'm getting bonus experience for perfect extractions? Considering my nature as a slime, it's almost like cheating. Although, I am also not even using half the skill... Since I'm ignoring the whole accuracy and speed boost part and only using the valuable part identification.'

It felt like a sound theory, although I couldn't think of how to use a perfection bonus with any of my traits or skills except maybe [Slime Shape], perhaps if I ever got a crafting skill. I deposited my goods, stored away my excess slime mass, and grappled up to the branches to resume my trip to the pond.

'The tusks were pretty good as ammunition and easily recoverable. I want to practice shooting more - my accuracy is not great. Perhaps I could use trees as target practice? Anyway, let's look at that new skill... Status menu... No new surprises... Skills... [Sneak Attack].'

Adds bonus damage to attacks on unaware or defenseless targets, scaling with skill level.

This bonus damage partially ignores most forms of mitigation and resistance if executed from stealth.>

'What the heck? Am I becoming some sort of assassin? Although I have avoided direct confrontation with almost everything I've bumped into - so it's not entirely inaccurate.'

I reached my tree near the pond without any issue and was relieved when I noticed my few remaining pelts still hanging on this tree. I had gained a considerable amount of slime mass from the unexpected encounters today, so I planned to spend the rest of my afternoon and evening trying to get some trait and skill experience.

I withdrew all my tusks and began firing them at a nearby tree, trying to aim for particular knots and blemishes in the wood. My success rate left much to be desired, but it was plenty of fun. When I ran out of tusks, I recollected them by slapping a pseudopod against the tree and melting away the bark. I repeated this process just under a dozen times, and the remains of the tree near the end of my training looking dreadful - so I decided to try eating it.

It took a while to dissolve the entire tree, and despite eating a literal tree's worth of material, it provided less slime mass than even a single jackalope. I ignored the horrible exchange rate because my true hope was that I was gaining valuable experience towards [Acid Slime]. I melted a few other things entirely: a few rocks, a bush or two, and then headed to my tree to spend the evening practicing [Slime Shape] as was tradition.

My slime tree model was beginning to look great, with my leaves no longer simple blobs and instead looking like fuzz sprouting from the branches. I went to bed, a very happy slime.

Tomorrow, I wanted to deal with that pesky frog.