#2. Lv.10 First Evolution!
#2. Lv.10 First Evolution!
The temperature dropped. Night had fully settled in, and with it, my Heat Sense sharpened noticeably. More animals were stirring too.
'Nocturnal.'
They say a lot of animals are nocturnal, and apparently it's true. My Presence Detection and Heat Sense both registered countless creatures on the move. Some of them were the big ones that had been asleep all day.
Not the kind of thing I could take in a fight right now. I kept Stealth active and focused on Presence Detection. Whatever they were, they soon moved on.
'Whew.'
Took ten years off my life.
If I'd poked at them out of curiosity, I would've taken a fatal hit. By now, eating leaves gave me almost no sense of satiety. The System had stopped bothering to print a message every time, either.
It was time to start hunting — I could feel it.
But first, I decided to take stock. What weapons did I actually have? If you could call them weapons, the Tentacles were it. Beyond that, my only move was smothering something with my body.
'I guess what I've been doing is about right...'
Use Stealth, bait them in, and pounce. That was my one golden pattern.
I'd devoured three field mice that way and pushed Predation up to level 5, but my Level still showed no signs of budging.
It felt like a game.
You know those weird humps where the experience curve suddenly spikes at certain levels? That's probably what Level 10 was. At the pace I'd been going, three mice should've been more than enough for a level-up. Or was there some other condition?
Like a boss. Eat something bigger.
But I didn't want to take risks. That first mouse I'd hunted — you remember how close that fight came to killing me? Just thinking about it still made my heart pound. Wasn't there an easier way?
[Red squirrel consumed. Satiety increases.]
Even after taking down a squirrel, the Level didn't go up. Yeah, there was definitely some kind of condition.
The proof was that the System was only talking about satiety. Experience Points were conspicuously absent, which meant my EXP had probably already hit the cap.
'A condition... I have a guess.'
[Level 10 Achievement Condition: Consume an animal weighing 3 kg or more.]
This time it told me outright. Maybe because my EXP was maxed out?
Even so, I felt my nonexistent eyebrows furrow. Three kilograms. That meant something on a completely different scale from a mouse or a squirrel.
'Wild boar. Raccoon. Leopard cat...'
Animals that came to mind right away. Way too dangerous. Beyond dangerous — impossible. I'd get torn apart in an instant and end up like some passive ability from a respawn game. Except, obviously, no respawn.
I couldn't think of a single easy target. Cats, stray dogs... all of them moved in packs.
'Damn it...'
Were wild animals always this strong? If I'd had to survive out in nature with no city infrastructure, I probably would've been weeded out immediately. Wasn't there some kind of oversized rat? Nutria popped into my head for a second, but then I remembered a video by some red-masked Newtuber and decided against it.
'Those things can take a person's finger off if you're not careful.'
Besides, they live in rivers, not mountains. Not like I could even find one.
Nutria was out. I needed something with no real use of limbs, teeth that weren't razor-sharp, and nothing like a boar's brute strength...
An idea hit me. I activated Heat Sense and Presence Detection. Plenty of animals popped up, but the one I was looking for wasn't easy to spot. Time dragged on and it still didn't show. Was it just not here? Just as I was about to give up, I finally found it.
'......!'
Even at a glance, it looked well over three kilograms. A drooping body. Slow. No limbs. No teeth.
It didn't even seem to have a concept of wariness. I got right up next to it and it still didn't react. Just to be sure, I used Presence Detection point-blank to scan its overall shape. There was no mistaking it — this was exactly the creature I'd pictured.
'In the whole wide world, what could possibly be a free-er meal than a slime?'
Big, slow, weak... truly the ultimate prey. The only catch was that this one looked a little bigger than me. Was it not a Lesser Slime?
That might mean a bit of danger. I swept a Tentacle across the ground, grabbed a decent-sized rock, and flung it. My Tentacle skill was already level 3 — it had gotten a little more capable. The slime immediately curled around it, thinking it was food. Nice try. Even a slime can't dissolve a rock. Realizing its mistake, it gurgled and spat it right out.
'There we go.'
This time I threw dirt instead of a rock. Against any other animal it would've been useless — but this was a slime. The only sense it had among the five was touch, and unlike me, it was a genuine single-celled organism with no capacity for tricks. If something didn't touch it, it couldn't detect it at all.
It swallowed and spat out every handful of dirt I threw, but it had its limits. Eventually, half-choked with soil, the thing went limp and sagged.
Even then, I didn't let my guard down. I checked it over and over before I started tearing into it from the outside.
'Thank you for the meal.'
Some people might point at me and call it cannibalism. Call me a savage for eating my own kind. So what?
'Mm, look at that chewiness.'
Let me state this plainly: eating something weaker than you is the law of nature.
[Slime consumed. Satiety increases.]
[Lv.10 Achievement Condition satisfied.]
[Experience Points at maximum. Lv.9 → Lv.10]
[Additional Status values unlocked.]
[Tentacle (F) Lv.3 proficiency at maximum. Tentacle (F) Lv.3 → Tentacle (F) Lv.4]
[Predation (F) Lv.5 proficiency at maximum. Predation (F) Lv.5 → Predation (F) Lv.6]
It had been a long road. I'd lost track of how many days had passed. Nearly got murdered by a mouse, scraped by eating leaves and bugs — one pathetic slime.
But that was about to change.
Evolution.
In evolutionary theory, evolution isn't about becoming a superior species — A giving way to a better B. It's about the species best adapted to its environment surviving by natural selection.
A tiger isn't superior to a cat, and birds aren't superior to dinosaurs. But I dare say it: Charles Darwin was wrong. The theory of natural selection is wrong.
At least in fantasy, evolution absolutely means becoming the superior species.
[Available Skill List]
1. Tentacle (F)
...
41. Weak Sight (F)
I'd finally managed to acquire Weak Sight. The world in front of me opened up a little. I could barely make out shapes, but I could see.
'Finally...!'
Waves of emotion washed over me. At the same moment, the [Evolution Available List] appeared. Sight had been the key all along, just as I'd expected.
Except — unlike what I'd pictured, it wasn't a message window hovering in the air. It was something I couldn't describe... I couldn't guess its shape, and even looking at it, I couldn't understand it.
'......?'
I reached out with a Tentacle. It passed right through as if nothing was there. But the moment I recognized it, the same way the [Available Skill List] had worked, a message rose in my mind — neither visual nor verbal.
[Evolution Available List]
1. Slime
2. Poison Slime
3. Amorphous Mucus Body
Before I knew it, the [Evolution Available List] — no, that indescribable something — had vanished. What had that even been? Anyway, three messages had surfaced. Options 1 and 2 I understood. What in the world was number 3? Wasn't an "Amorphous Mucus Body" just a slime?
'Now that I think about it.'
I'd been wondering if I could use my newly acquired Observation on it somehow. I was about to drop the idea — how do you observe a line of text floating in your head? — when—
[Slime: An unintelligent, feeble, dull-witted creature. Can dissolve whatever it touches.]
The message I'd been hoping for appeared. Observation — my experienced new hire already boasting Lv.2 proficiency — had come through. Told you it was a broken skill. My instincts weren't wrong.
The problem was, I already knew that much. For it to really become useful, the proficiency probably needed to climb a lot higher.
'Let's check out those "additional Status values" while I'm at it.'
[Lesser Slime Lv.10] [EXP acquisition disabled]
EXP acquisition disabled... So the System was basically telling me to stop hanging around as a Lesser Slime and evolve already.
'Right. Time to evolve. Let's see what we've got.'
[Poison Slime: An unintelligent, feeble, dull-witted creature. Can dissolve whatever it touches with poison.]
So if a regular slime was just acid, Poison Slime was poison plus acid? The description basically added two words — "with poison." Nothing about it grabbed me. If I had to choose, Poison Slime was probably better, but still.
Finally, I used Observation on the Amorphous Mucus Body.
[Amorphous Mucus Body: An unintelligent and feeble creature. Can dissolve whatever it touches.]
All three had nearly identical text. The Poison Slime seemed a little rarer at least, so maybe that was the pick? But the Amorphous Mucus Body's description was missing the word "dull-witted." That tilted me in its direction.
'Between the basic Slime route and the Poison or Amorphous routes, the latter two are definitely better.'
Something flashed — a pull I couldn't name — and I went, "Huh?" In that instant, my Tentacle moved on its own.
Press—
[Evolution into Amorphous Mucus Body commencing.]
'Wait! I didn't choose anything yet!'
—My consciousness sank.
***
"Alright, alright. Eun-ha had it rough, you said?"
"That's what I'm telling you! You weren't even listening, Senior!"
The senior gave his junior a clean smack on the head for sticking out her tongue, then turned to complain to the Team Leader.
"Team Leader. Don't you think this kid needs some discipline? She's way too loose."
"Come on, she used to be our team's one and only flower. Cut her some slack."
"She's not even on our team anymore, sir."
"That's exactly why you've been single your whole life, Senior!"
"Why, you little—!"
While the senior and junior were busy grappling, the Team Leader spoke up again.
"Speaking of which — what about that thing? You two went to Jirisan yesterday. Did you find anything?"
"Nothing. Jirisan's way too big. You think we can search every inch of that place?"
"Fair point. That's why I sent Eun-ha along, actually."
"This one didn't find what we were looking for — just spent the whole time staring at a slime."
"A slime? Why?"
The Team Leader gave her a puzzled look. Eun-ha, the junior, shook her head from side to side, indignant.
"No! It was a special-type slime, I swear! Senior doesn't know anything!"
"You're really asking to get disciplined right now!"
"Hey now. Woo-taek. Let's hear it. What did our Eun-ha see?"
"Well, see..."
Once Eun-ha finished her explanation, the Team Leader told her to head out. She puffed out her cheeks, asking if he didn't believe her either, and walked off. Soon, only Woo-taek and the Team Leader remained.
"That girl... Haah. I'm sorry, Team Leader. I haven't trained her properly."
"Forget it. She's that young and already stuck in a place like this — how frustrated do you think she is?"
"There are still limits."
"Fine. Handle that yourself. Take some of the other team members and go out there a few more times."
"If I may be blunt, Team Leader — aren't you putting a little too much stock in one anonymous tip?"
"I'd like to think it's just an anonymous tip, but apparently the tip came from Gowon."
"Gowon? You mean the High Plateau?"
"Yeah. Word is Gowon quietly slipped it over to us."
"But why would they do that? It's their kind of work..."
"They don't have the manpower. The old-timers probably found it annoying and tossed it our way."
"...Even so."
"Anyway, that's how it is. Let's put in the work."
"Understood."
***
'That was a good sleep.'
For the first time since becoming a slime, I'd actually slept. Even if fatigue wasn't really a thing, the refreshed feeling of waking up after a deep rest — I felt like I'd properly recharged for the first time in ages.
'Pretty sure I evolved there at the end...'
[Faint Sixth Sense (F) Lv.1 proficiency at maximum. Faint Sixth Sense (F) Lv.1 → Faint Sixth Sense (F) Lv.2]
'......?'
I furrowed a brow I didn't have.
Wait. Had that final involuntary selection been the Sixth Sense skill? Felt like the very axe I'd trusted had just come down on my foot. The back of my neck was stiff with regret.
Fuck. The fantasy worlds I knew weren't like this... Slime life was worse than a dog's.
[Due to Evolution, several skills have been strengthened and added.]
[You may now review your possessed skills.]
'......!'
At the System notification, I reflexively pulled up my skill list.
[Possessed Skills]
Predation (F) Lv.6, Tentacle (F) Lv.4, Heat Sense (F) Lv.4, Weak Regeneration (E) Lv.4, Faint Stealth (F) Lv.5, Observation (F) Lv.4, Presence Detection (F) Lv.2, Faint Hearing (F) Lv.3, Faint Sixth Sense (F) Lv.2, Weak Sight (F) Lv.2, Physical Damage Reduction (E) Lv.1
[Remaining Skill Points: 1]
Ten skills. When had I racked up all of these? I'd thought I barely had anything, but seeing it laid out like this hit different.
Without my even noticing, the overall skill levels had climbed. A couple of skills I didn't recognize at all — or that had shot up dramatically — stood out.
First, Weak Regeneration (E) Lv.4. The skill I'd originally had was Weak Regeneration (F) Lv.2. Not only had the grade gone up, but the level had jumped with it.
'Evolution bonus? Or maybe a base skill that comes with this species?'
Skills like Predation and Observation had grown quite a bit too. And the biggest surprise was Physical Damage Reduction (E) Lv.1 — a skill I'd never even had before.
Even just from the name, the effect was obvious. For someone like me, short on combat skills, a damage-reduction skill was more than welcome.
I tried nibbling on some leaves and noticed my body actually felt smaller than before the evolution. Even the texture was stickier, fitting the "mucus body" name. Did that mean my moisture content had dropped?
[Amorphous Mucus Body Lv.1] [EXP 0/342]
Did evolving really have to reset the Level too...?
And 342 — I had no idea how much that was. I'd probably get a feel for it once I hunted something.
As it happened, enough time had passed during the evolution that my stomach was hollow. I immediately deployed my two detection skills and started searching for something I could eat. The smaller body made me more agile, but the moment I tried to approach, my courage failed me — because the target was, of all things, a chicken.
'...Yeah, that one's probably not happening.'
Evolved or not, a chicken was a chicken. Do not think about fried chicken. A squirrel was maybe 300 grams at best — a chicken could easily top a kilogram. Sure, it was a wild chicken, probably not that big, but with my reduced body surface area, fighting it was a bad matchup.
I tried to run. The problem was, the chicken was faster.
Clucking and flapping, it came right at me. I threw up Stealth a second too late. The effect was faint — maybe Stealth just didn't mean much once the enemy had already locked on.
Even at a full sprint, the speed difference was overwhelming. A flapping, waddling dash from a wild chicken was too much for something vaguely slime-shaped like me to shake off. In no time, its beak was lunging to peck me.
'Crazy! How is that thing so sharp?!'
They say birds are the descendants of dinosaurs. Hard to argue with that now. The chicken's beak looked disturbingly like a raptor's claw from the movies. It caught up fast and started pecking at me mercilessly with that claw-like beak.
'......?'
It pecked me. It pecked me, but...
It didn't really hurt?
"Bwaaaak?"
The chicken looked baffled. So was I.
Was this... actually doable?