Syl

Chapter 19: Slimy Stalker

When I woke up and checked my status, my mana only dropped to Ebbing this time instead of Draining. I was glad that my idea of overcoming the mana drain was feasible, possibly even as soon as the next trait level. I swapped my [Sub-Core] back to doing tendril curls to give my mana a chance to regenerate unimpeded, stored away my morning water, and headed to the pond.

The pond had a strange amount of activity, with two wolves sniffing around as if searching for something. The large amount of wolves suddenly appearing struck me as odd, and I wondered what happened to all the boars. My curiosity faded away, replaced by a hunger to replace the slime I had lost overnight - odd that no matter how much slime I had stored away, my instincts asked me to feed regularly.

The wolves were distant enough from one another that I felt confident in doing a little cloak-and-dagger. I flattened myself out and slowly lurched towards one of the wolves. When I got close enough, I formed my rapier, and instead of going for the neck, I went for the back of the skull. I wanted to test out [Sneak Attack] since it mentioned ignoring defense from stealth. When my rapier made contact, there was a minuscule black flash on the blade tip before it pierced straight through.

I wondered if that was the skill activating while I pulled the corpse in to be consumed. I was sneaking towards the other wolf when it started sniffing wildly, seemingly catching a scent and turned around.

'Did it really smell such a small amount of blood? I don't even have a nose, and I'm a little jealous.'

The wolf snarled and howled with spittle flying, and I expected it to lunge toward me in mere moments, but then it turned and began to flee. Not wanting to lose experience and a good meal, I started shooting tusks and wolf fangs at it with [Slime Shot]. Two landed before it realized it needed to try dodging while it fled. I told my [Sub-Core] to join me and commence firing, and soon, there was double the amount of tusks and fangs flying towards the wolf.

The wolf looked like a pincushion when I collected it, and the nearby ground was no pretty sight either, with tusks, fangs, and blood scattered about. While digesting the wolves and recollecting my projectiles, I had a question burning in my mind - why did I gain traits from eating slimes but nothing from other monsters?

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Gain insight and understanding from anything consumed.

Trait level determines the starting point of the consumed information and the amount gained from each supplementary consumption.>

I wondered if Gramps was tired of the back and forth, as he just shoved an answer to my question into my mind, which I appreciated as it sounded delicious. Now, I just needed to level up and get some trait points. My mana level was back to Flooding, so I set my [Sub-Core] back to reinforcing, and then it was time to head out.

Feeling confident in my [Mapping] skill, I decided to explore an unknown portion of the forest, heading out for what felt like a very long time since I discovered this pond. With how quickly I could create a new tree home thanks to [Acid Slime], I could even sleep somewhere else tonight.

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I grappled from branch to branch, rapidly traversing through the forest. I caught a few small critters during my trip, but nothing that gave me experience, so I eventually started to ignore them. Eventually, I heard voices and slowed my travel to stealthily approach. I saw two humans walking and talking: a woman with a stupidly large axe and a man with a big fancy hat and a stick. I made a mental note to try making a giant slime axe in the future.

This being my first time seeing humans in the forest made me curious about their objectives and intentions, so I cautiously observed. I felt safe in the trees, and they showed no sign of noticing my presence. They talked to each other a lot, with the woman occasionally pulling out a piece of paper, pointing, and then they would adjust their direction.

I wish I could understand them, but there didn't seem to be a trait for language no matter how I tried to phrase my questions, or at least Gramps was dead silent. They suddenly stopped, with the woman grabbing her axe, and I was worried they had noticed me when a large wolf leaped out from the bushes.

She swung her axe in response and effortlessly decapitated the wolf in a single blow - I couldn't believe it. The man pulled out a small knife and cut off the right ear of the wolf, then held the head out to her. She reached into its mouth and, with some effort, brutally ripped out some fangs, then tossed the head aside. She then walked over to the headless body and, with two swift swings of her axe, removed the front paws and somehow put them and the fangs into a tiny pouch on her waist.

'Is that pouch like my [Core Storage]? I don't see how else they would have fit.' I wondered to myself while the humans resumed their trip, 'Are they just leaving the rest of the corpse? So wasteful.' I waited until they were a safe distance away and then slowly lowered a tendril to grab the head and body.

Being a sneaky slime was paying off, so I quickly ate the wolf and resumed following. I continued stalking them for what felt like hours until it finally appeared. I stared in shock as what appeared to block their path was one of the apex predators of the forest - a green slime!

These foolish humans were about to die, but perhaps I could take out the slime afterward with my stored water. I desperately wanted its core, which could enhance my traits even further.

I watched in anticipation and curiosity. The woman pointed to the slime, possibly cursing her fate. The man stood forward; was he going to sacrifice himself for her? He raised his stick; utterly futile, that stick would melt away in nanoseconds.

The green slime was creeping towards them, hungry for its next meal. The stick glowed with a greyish light, and he swung it downwards. A blade of greyish wind emanated from the stick and flew towards the slime. The wind blade pierced effortlessly through the green slime mass and hit the core, instantly splitting it in half. Once the core split, there was a popping noise, and the green slime mass collapsed to the ground harmlessly. The man laughed, and both started to walk around the green puddle seeping into the soil.

'Was that magic? And is he laughing at it? What the hell!?'

I couldn't believe it - what I thought was the apex of slimes was so effortlessly killed. Humans were scary. Magic was scary. I felt my core shudder in fear. I was frozen as I watched the humans continue their journey, no longer wanting to follow them. When they were long gone, I dropped to the floor and picked up the two pieces of the broken green slime core.

The fractured core part was new, but I was still too much in shock to really think about it, and instead, I started heading home. I ignored everything else until I was back to my tree, and it was very late and dark when I finally reached it. I practically jumped into my hole and then finally sighed, feeling safe. The silver lining was that I gained a level in both [Stealth] and [Acid Slime], the latter being one of my best traits.

'So I think I need that magic resistance trait...' I thought to myself before drifting to sleep.