Currently, ninety days have passed since I was reincarnated as a slime. To be precise, ninety days, seven hours, thirty-four minutes, and fifty-two seconds.
How can I state it so precisely? That's thanks to the correction effect of my Unique Skill, Great Sage.
Man, this skill is seriously convenient. When you're in a jam, just ask Great Sage! It'll answer anything.
According to Great Sage, it took exactly ninety days for the skill to take root. By "take root," it meant the skill had bonded with this world.
I thought "take root" meant it bonded with me personally, but apparently my skills weren't at the level of simply "bonding"—they were carved into my soul.
That said, it explained that it had accessed the Voice of the World—which can't be replied to as-is—and hijacked it.
I didn't understand a single word, of course.
Apparently, normally there's no skill convenient enough to have words echo in your mind in response to questions.
The Voice of the World is supposed to echo only when the world undergoes a transformation, or when skills are acquired or "evolved."
It seems Great Sage took the liberty of repurposing those words to answer my questions.
That kind of thing doesn't exist in my old world, but apparently it's normal here.
Mind you, skill acquisition and "evolution" don't exactly happen on a regular basis either. You can apparently acquire a "skill" on rare occasions when the world recognizes some kind of growth. "Evolution," on the other hand, is something completely out of reach for ordinary people.
Well, it kind of made sense and kind of didn't, but I had no choice but to accept it at face value.
Great Sage may now answer my questions, but it's purely reactive and has no will of its own.
If I don't initiate the conversation, it won't reach out to me. That's the disappointing part.
Still, being able to play catch—even one way—is nice.
Having a conversation with your own skill would've been written off as a weird delusion back in my old world, but…
So, sitting in complete darkness with nothing better to do, I fired off questions nonstop.
As a result, I confirmed beyond any doubt that I had become a slime (viscous organism = unspecified life-form).
I also figured out why I didn't need food or sleep.
Slimes in this world don't need to eat as long as they can absorb Magicules. In areas where Magicule concentration is low, they absorb monsters or small animals to replenish them.
This makes it rare in this world: slimes in Magicule-sparse regions are actually fiercer and stronger. Normally, the higher the Magicule concentration, the stronger the monster.
In other words, this place was packed with Magicules—so much so that I didn't even need to eat.
As for sleep: 《Answer. A slime's body is a collection of identical cells. Each individual cell is simultaneously a brain cell, a nerve cell, and a muscle cell. Therefore, the computational cells take turns resting, rendering sleep unnecessary.》 So where were my memories stored?
Perhaps something like a RAID setup on a PC hard drive?
When I thought that, the response came: 《Roughly correct.》 Great Sage was surprisingly good at playing along.
So, the Great Sage's skill effects I was curious about were: 《Answer. The effects of the Unique Skill Great Sage are as follows: Thought Acceleration: Boosts cognitive processing speed to one thousand times normal. Analytical Appraisal: Analyzes and appraises targets. Parallel Processing: Detaches target phenomena from thought and processes them independently. Chant Annulment: Eliminates the need for incantation when casting magic. All of Creation: Comprehends all non-concealed phenomena within this world. These are the five primary abilities.》 All of Creation? I thought, "Does that mean I have access to all knowledge without lifting a finger?!" But…
In reality, it only allowed me to access information related to things I'd actually encountered—things I could conceivably know about.
In other words, I needed to have seen something at least once, but then I could analyze it.
But Chant Annulment—did that mean once I learned magic, I could cast it without chanting? Wait, did magic actually exist?!
The answer was yes.
Once I knew that, I was desperate to learn magic.
I asked Great Sage on a whim if it could be done, but naturally, that was a no.
But then, it hit me.
Could I link Great Sage's Parallel Processing to Predator's analysis function?
《Answer. It is possible to link Predator's analysis function with Great Sage's Parallel Processing. Would you like to link them? YES/NO》 Of course, yes!
That said, there was nothing to analyze… Wait, though?
The grass I'd eaten to kill time and stowed away in my stomach—what was that stuff? Well, I had nothing else to do, so I might as well have it analyzed.
So, I got right to it.
· · · 《Analysis complete...
Hippokute herb: An ingredient used in medicinal salves. Grows exclusively in areas with high Magicule concentration. Fusing the herb's juice with Magicules produces a Recovery
The weeds I'd been hoarding to kill time…
A blessing from out of nowhere.
I immediately got to work producing Recovery Potions and medicinal salves. Of course, since my body was manufacturing them internally on its own, I couldn't really feel the process.
Analysis took less than a second, and each item was produced in under three seconds. I could make a hundred in five minutes.
I had nothing to compare them to, so I wasn't sure about quality, but an appraisal labeled them "High Quality."
A satisfying result, presumably.
Seriously, whether it was analysis or production, the speed was insane.
When I asked, apparently it's normally much slower.
Linking Parallel Processing was absolutely the right call.
Just to test it, I unlinked the process and produced one the normal way. It took fifty minutes.
The time savings were terrifying.
Seems I'd lucked into a highly compatible skill. Completely by accident, too…
There were some weeds mixed in, but almost all of the grass growing here seemed to be Hippokute herb.
Bracing for a worst-case scenario, I began devouring every last blade of grass in sight.
At the same time, I was diligently producing Recovery Potions inside my stomach.
After all, I was still trapped in total darkness. There was nothing else to do—or rather, nothing else I could do.
At this point, my guard was completely and utterly down.
Sure, it was my own skill, and it was purely reactive, but having someone (?) to answer my questions had gone straight to my head.
I hadn't detected a single other living thing in ninety days, and I'd faced no danger to my life—certainly a contributing factor.
In any case, I had let my guard down.
*Plop!* Huh?
That was the only thought I had for a split second.
My body suddenly felt lighter and heavier at the same time—an extremely unstable sensation.
Could it be… I'd fallen into water?
In ninety days, I'd never felt a single drop of water fall on me. I'd assumed I was in a cave with no rain or indoors. That complacency had cost me.
I seemed to have slipped and fallen into some kind of stream. There probably aren't rivers indoors, so maybe I'd fallen into an underground lake inside the cave…?
Up until now, I'd been moving step by step through complete darkness, testing each foothold.
But after getting the skill explanation and getting cocky, I went on a feeding frenzy with Predator's ability…
I'd neglected to check what was under my feet.
That's just the kind of guy I am!
I always get carried away and screw up.
It was the same at work— "Leave it to me! Piece of cake!"
That kind of idiotic response had dragged me into hell more times than I could count.
The resentful glares of my junior colleagues came flooding back.
Seriously, what kind of idiot runs full speed in pitch-black darkness?!
I wanted to lecture myself.
If I survived, I'd give myself a talking-to. Although knowing me, I'd regret it but never learn!
Wait, I still had time to be philosophical about it.
The current reality was that I couldn't even flail around in panic, because I didn't have any limbs to flail—but still.
This is it.
What a short life—or rather, short life as a slime.
I steeled myself for the suffocation I expected any second.
…
……
………
The suffocation never came.
Why? Maybe I hadn't fallen into water after all?
Times like these called for my go-to: Great Sage.
I immediately fired off a question.
《Answer. A slime's body is powered solely by Magicules. As oxygen is not required, no breathing is performed.》 Come to think of it—I hadn't been conscious of it, but I hadn't been breathing at all.
Huh. Took me ninety days, but I learned something new.
That said, falling into water was definitely what had happened.
I wasn't going to die, but I was still in a tight spot.
What to do.
I couldn't tell if I was floating or sinking.
With no arms or legs, I didn't feel like I could swim.
If I sank to the bottom, could I crawl along the floor back to dry land?
Or would I just drift, neither sinking nor floating?
Rather than drifting, it felt more like being in a cradle—gently rocked by small ripples. It was surprisingly comfortable…
There wasn't really a current. It felt more like a lake than a river—no sense of being carried anywhere.
I bobbed up and down, but showed no signs of sinking to the bottom.
I might stay like this forever.
This was a serious problem.
What to do.
Then— My brain cells—i.e., my slime body—came up with a terrifying plan!
What if I swallowed a massive amount of water and shot it out like a water jet propulsion system to move around?
The moment I thought of it, I did it. There was nothing else to do, after all.
But I had no idea this idea would lead to a fateful encounter…
The idea itself was good. At least—if I'd been facing a different direction, this encounter wouldn't have happened.
But as if guided by fate, I started moving in one particular direction.
First, I used Predator's stomach capacity to drink enough water to fill roughly 10% of it (※unbeknownst to me, the water level dropped noticeably).
Then I released it all at once.
The sense of release was overwhelming.
《Skill Acquired: Water Jet Propulsion》 A voice suddenly echoed in my mind.
It was the first time I'd heard it consciously. This must be the Voice of the World.
Great Sage never initiates conversation, so there was no mistaking it—but it sounded remarkably similar.
But I didn't have the slightest bit of leisure to dwell on it right now!
Whooom! Acceleration slammed into my body, and I was launched forward with such force it felt like I was flying through the air—in the direction I wanted to go, at least.
Honestly, it might have been a blessing that I couldn't see.
In the pitch dark, all I could feel was my body hurtling through the water at terrifying speed.
Correction.
No—if I could have seen, the terror would have been just as bad. But not being able to see was also absolutely terrifying.
If you've ever ridden a roller coaster in the dark at a theme park, you might have some idea what I mean.
Back in my former life, the one time I'd experienced it—at a certain mouse-dominated theme park—came rushing back.
The difference was, this time there was absolutely no safety guarantee.
I wanted to punch myself for thinking up water jet propulsion.
Think of it, then do it immediately?! What an idiot! Basic safety checks come first!!!
Bwahahahahah…
Terror scrambled my thoughts beyond repair.
How long would this acceleration last… And just how much water had I blasted out? Right as I thought that— BOOM! BOING!!! Rumble, crash!!!
And then the excruciating pain came… or rather, it didn't.
Huh? It didn't seem like I'd taken any damage… Or had I, but simply couldn't feel the pain?
《Answer. As you have acquired
And Predator's assistance? I wasn't sure what that meant, but I said "yes" for now.
That instant, I felt a significant chunk of my body vanish. Then, gradually, I sensed my volume returning to normal.
Apparently, it had devoured the damaged parts, analyzed them, and repaired the damage.
What a convenient body. Maybe next time I'd experiment to find out how much I could lose before becoming incapacitated. It didn't seem like losing a portion affected my mobility… That said, I had a feeling it would only end badly, so I'd better keep it in check.
Yep. I'd actually become cautious for once.
This time, I had a huge stock of Recovery Potions, but I didn't even need to use them.
Either way, losing 10% of my body sounded like a severe injury, but it turned out I could recover in about ten minutes.
Next time I took damage—which hopefully wouldn't happen—I'd try using a Recovery Potion.
So, what kind of place was this?
Once I confirmed my body had returned to normal, I started sizing up my surroundings.
There could be dangerous monsters nearby.
I seemed to have surfaced, and it wouldn't be surprising if monsters that couldn't cross water lived here.
I began moving cautiously.
Lately it felt like every time I said "cautiously," things went south—but that was probably just my imagination.
Or maybe that thought was my mistake…
(Can you hear me, small one?)
Something had spoken.
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