Chapter 2 – A Peculiar Existence

I am bored!!! Yes, nothing to do. Every day is the same. Now, you could say if things are boring, why am I not simply doing something to entertain myself? The answer to this question is that even if I were to do something and something were to happen, I need to say quite frankly that I don't see a reason why it should matter to me. Why should I do something if there's no reason for it? Would there be any meaning to it? The answer is an explicit "No"! For example, why would a fight to the death be of any importance to me if there's not even a reason to be alive in the first place? It's not like such battles happen all that frequently to me. Usually, I manage quite fine. But the same logic can be applied to most other things I could do right now. That isn't even all that much. At the moment, I could crawl further on the ground, in this direction or another, crawl onto a tree, or look for something to dissolve, although there'd be no point to it, as I'm currently topped out. Huh? Yes, I’m a slime, so what?! Did anyone tell you that I’m not allowed to have deeper thoughts? Well, too bad, as that’s just how I am. If I were to explain why I am like this, it could have something to do with the fact that I’m already ten years old. What’s strange about that? Well, most slimes do not survive that long. Though thinking about it, I guess even before, I wasn't like all the other slimes. Certainly, my light green slime and violet core are similar to others I’ve come across, but that isn’t what I mean. No, it's that I did something very uncommon for slimes. I learned. I gathered experiences and impressions throughout my existence and grew with them. Both in size and in mind and skill. This is what made me exceed my former boundaries and become more than I was. This made me who I am today. Someone who's excessively bored! So, what should I do to alleviate this issue? All I can do is either proceed with moving or just stay where I am. As inaction is less likely to lead to anything happening, I decide to keep on moving. Unfortunately, I have no real purpose or direction I'd like to take, so it comes down to the same. Most creatures leave slimes alone, as we aren't quite edible, which means that they won't even do me the favor of coming to me. I mean, I know how to sneak up on them and have some other tricks ingrained in my core, but currently, there is little need for that. I dissolved all of the creatures that one can find here so often that I perfectly know the exact composition of every last one of them. They simply offer nothing novel to me anymore. Now, thinking about it, there could be one course of action I could take that might offer me some distraction. I could approach a human settlement. I haven't done so in a long time. Not since I got too large to effectively hide there anymore. Even compressing my slime as much as possible won't help in this regard. I mean, I'm already doing so and still would reach a human at the hip. I certainly won't give up on my mass, as it is my slime that determines my combat potential, and leaving it behind strikes me as fundamentally wrong. That's a slim thing, you know? So yes, it wouldn't work out. Yet at least something would happen then. Yep, it's decided! Let's head out of the forest and straight to the humans! I proceed crawling towards where I assume the humans to be. It's nice to at least have a direction. This is a form of purpose that makes me want to pursue the effort. If anything, it's at least a way to spend time. It gets dark, then bright, then dark again. All the while, I continue crawling. It doesn't matter how long it takes; what is important is that I have a reason to proceed with this. Always proceeding to where the forest becomes less dense and less deadly for humans. While I move further on, at one point, I catch a glimpse of light in the darkness of the nightly forest. I should state at this point that slimes are quite well-suited for the night, as our vision is more of a sense that goes out from my slime in all directions at once and allows us to keep track of our surroundings. This works no matter how dark it is. In addition, slimes don’t need to sleep. It might help if I spend up to three hours in a state of rest, as this enhances my mental capabilities, but real sleep is not needed. Might be one of the advantages of the fact that the center of my consciousness is a crystalline structure. So yes, the fact that it's night doesn't change a thing for me. As it is, I’m able to determine the nature of this light. The light glowing in the distance has to be a campfire. And because I know the nearby area and know that more primitive humanoids as the likes of goblins, only use those in permanent settlements, which were not built here, I conclude that the only sort of humans who dare to come this deep into the wilderness are adventurers. This is great! Humans, so close to me! You need to know, humans are one of the greatest forms of entertainment I’ve encountered. They are so much more interesting than the usual monsters or animals I encounter in the wild. Those only live shallow, repetitive lives, governed by their primal programming. In this sense, they are not much better than my fellow slimes. Yep, I tried interacting with them, but other slimes simply aren’t self-aware. While communication doesn't work if neither party has any means of doing so, slimes can link minds when the cores are connected by our bodies. If you can even call this static mash of instincts and directives the others work upon a mind. The only response I got after countless tries of communicating was, “Move, search, devour, forward.” Over and over again. From all of them! Can anyone blame me for eventually giving up? Maybe I should have tried harder to keep a slime alive until they started getting at least some semblance of consciousness. However, the disappointing results in this regard made me give up on this project. One time, I even made a second core, but the resulting yellow slime with orange core was very disappointing, as unresponsive as it was, so I abandoned it. As far as I know, experience is needed to become self-aware. Yet, as I don't know what led me to become as I am, I’m not too keen on investing time, resources, and risk so much only for it to fail because my species is simply not made for self-awareness. Sometimes I wonder if we even are the same species. Forgive that thought, but it’s hard to believe I have anything in common with those idiotic, repetitive, gluttonous things that only showed interest in devouring stuff. But humans, oh, they do the most peculiar and interesting things. All their interactions follow a certain order of conduct that I never came to discern in its entirety. And believe me, I've tried. For many years of my existence, I spent sneaking around villages, hiding myself as best as I could. All for the chance to get another glimpse into them. Something that would tell me more about their nature. I processed every single little thing I could gather. Yet inconveniently, all this thinking not only expanded my horizons but also my core. It seriously went from the size of a marble to the size of a very small child’s fist. On its own, that would have been bad since having a bigger weak point is something that would be targeted by a certain species that is after me. However, it also allowed me to control more mass if I was able to get enough nutrients to make it. I assume it went like this: My enhanced thinking forced the core, the center of my consciousness, to expand to keep up, but since that is also the thing that controls the liquid that makes up my body, that increased as well. The unfortunate result was that I became too big to continue my observations in those villages. Once I got inevitably caught, there was always the same kind of reaction. Fear, panic, and calling for help. It was back then that I learned about adventurers. Okay, I interacted with them before, but it was at this time that I came to know of them as dedicated hunters of creatures like me. Back then, they were quite a nuisance, with how many they sent after me. I would like to point out that I’m not particularly hostile towards humans and stopped hunting them on purpose once I began studying them. It would've been weird to end their existence after I tried so hard to become more familiar with them. That is to say, I have no problem killing attackers regardless of their identity. There were so many parties like this that were sent after me, which I neutralized. And in general, I consider a boost in sustenance always positive. Since, as I said, I’m bored in an unbearable manner, I think I'll draw closer and see what they're up to, as this could turn out quite interesting. If they notice and want to fight me, they’re isolated, and I can still deal with them. After all, I became quite proficient in making use of the unique properties of my body to hold my own. I'll admit, I was, and probably still am, a little obsessed with humans, but this has a very good reason. To me, who gained some form of sentience, the sentient humans have always been of greatest importance to me. This simple reason makes me feel a certain sense of familiarity. As if I could understand, the humans manage to understand why I am as I am. Things being like this, I’m closing the distance in the stealthiest way I’m able to perform. My green color helps me a lot blend in with my environment, while I pay attention to staying covered by all this greenery. As I draw closer, the shine of the campfire becomes brighter to my all-directional vision. And there they are! Our typical group of four, sitting on self-made benches of lumber around the fire. Let’s see if I can determine what we have here: The easiest is a big guy with an enormous sword hanging from his back. That’s the common vanguard, a close combat fighter, who crushes most of the common foes and even can use the width of the sword to shield himself a bit, like this, he ensures that any dangers to those fighting behind him stay at a distance. Next is a rather slim guy, especially in comparison to the brute next to him. I can see a small crossbow and daggers. Well, the crossbow indicates that he fights from range, yet as it's a small version and I can't see too many bolts on him, I would say that the daggers are his main weapon, with a high probability of being poisoned. Not like this would be of concern to a slime like me. So his role would be to attack the flanks of the opponent, aiming for weak spots and contributing by weakening or killing the creature. Now for the rest. Two girls are sitting next to each other. One has a staff, the other nothing but the book she is browsing right now. That is tricky to figure out. First, the girl with the staff. The problem is that she is quite small, if not completely underdeveloped. I just can’t think of her hitting anything with this thing, hoping to do any damage. I mean, in comparison to the vanguard, she looks like she would get blown away by a gust of wind. The only use I can see would be as a walking pole. Well, if not like that, I can at most see her aimlessly throwing a tantrum in an attempt to hold smaller critters away. Hey, this could be it! Coming from my past encounters with mages, this staff should be too cumbersome to perform offensive spells. That would indicate that she has no offensive abilities. The only reason for someone like this coming along with such a group is utility. That concludes that this girl is a supporter, to be precise, a healer. From now on, she’s recorded as healer-girl. And last but not least, if the girl before needs that staff but the other one doesn't, and she is, according to her clothes, not fit for any form of close combat, there is only one possibility. A mage. Well, mages are always a surprise; you usually can't tell what exactly they'll do until they do so. Nevertheless, since I’ve never had many problems with anything they used, I am not too concerned. All in all, we’ve got here a very balanced group that might hold their ground against most of the monsters this area has to offer them. Now I want to hear what they have to say. After all, eavesdropping on humans is how I gradually developed my sense of speech. I have to point out that even though I don’t have ears, I can hear just fine by subconsciously analyzing the vibrations of frequencies with my body. Developing this skill was a necessary step to improve my understanding. I also realized that giving words to your thoughts helps a great deal in developing your way of thinking. As a side note, it’s also helpful to get information on the people who want to kill you. "Do you think we have enough pelts here to rest easy for a while?" (brute) Ah, they're talking about hunting. I also developed a lot of more or less efficient hunting strategies, because I needed to get myself sustenance. I am, of course, capable of dissolving other things, but those aren't nearly offering as much gain to me. Dirt, for example, contains almost no nutrients for me. Even if I don’t have a sense of taste, as humans do, knowing that I’d be wasting my time dissolving it compared to a living being doesn't sit well with me. There were some plants and certain plant parts that worked somewhat better, but overall, it’s only something for emergency sustenance, as the slime I'm gaining from them feels less responsive, and it's a hassle to filter the energetic parts out to leave the rest behind. In the end, it comes down to the fact that flesh is the best source to sustain me. Among my useful strategies to obtain food, there are all kinds of stuff, like creating pitfalls by dissolving the ground, ambushing my prey from above, or taunting monsters to attack. However, these humans instead seem to rely on tactics and team formations. Yet these humans are safe for now, as I wish to see their interactions rather than determine who is the better hunter. "Hm, there’s a lot to consider, but I think we've had a good run until now. We came through all our encounters unharmed and managed to bring them down without damaging the parts too much. If we get those back to town, we can soon afford two weeks in an inn and still get all our necessary expenses done!" (daggerboy) "I hope you don't plan on just goofing off on our profits. We'll never advance if we don't save a bit and invest in our equipment." (mage) It sounds quite nice how leisurely they can interact with each other. Chatting about their business, making plans. That's so much better than just existing without purpose. "Totally. It's just nice to imagine a comfortable vacation after returning from an assignment. Getting proper rest for body and mind is just as essential in our business as equipment and skill. Everything has to come together for our performance. I mean, look at Lea." (daggerboy) "I, I hope it won’t take too long. I don’t like the wilderness. You are constantly on edge for anything that might throw itself at you, especially in the forest!" (healer-girl) Sure, the forest is dangerous. I can attest to this. Well, not as much for me, as slimes don't make for good prey and I'm strong, but that doesn't mean there wouldn't be plenty of hostile creatures around. On the other side, it's quite likely that they would fight me as well, were they to become aware of my presence. I know humans tend to be especially hostile to oddities, as the hunt on my species proves, which seems to be very new, as I found out. And I need to admit that I am an oddity, no way around that. Yet the healer girl is rather frightened than hostile, the way she's trembling. Which I find soothing. If something is scared in this manner, it often doesn't pose much of a threat. "Don’t freak out like this. Although you're not the strongest here, we others are always vigilant. Especially, Luck here has a keen eye and is going to shoot anything with absolute precision before it can draw close." (mage) "Aw, you flatter me. I only dabbled a bit into this technique that this B-rank showed us." (Luck) Well, so much for that, I need to say. I'm right here. They ramble on for quite some time after this, and I learn nothing overwhelming. Not that their personal information wouldn’t be interesting. It’s very entertaining to delve into their relations. It seems the mage and healer girl learned together to use their magic at an institution called "the academy", and after their graduation, enlisted in the guild. Healer-girl would seemingly have been able to just take a job in town with her abilities, but decided against it. At the guild, around a year ago, they came across the brute and dagger boy, aka Luck. Those two seem to have done their training directly at the guild. While I didn’t learn much about the brute, it seems that daggerboy is something like the unofficial leader, as he knows how to disassemble the prey, has a profound knowledge of plants, and makes most of the strategies they use. That might have something to do with him being the one who looks for weak spots in the fight, so he developed that kind of skill. So I stay low until they’ve finished and change to one night guard, while the others sleep. They can’t see me in the greenery, because the only thing different from my surroundings is my violet glowing core. The light this one emits is so dark in color that it still blends well with the night. For the next two days after this, I followed that group at a safe distance. I even left a third of my mato to better manage to do so. Yes, I know what I said before, but I got kind of hooked up in this and want to keep it going. During this time, I realized something about their group. Because they fought more than once against all kinds of beasts, their battle strategies were laid open to me. As I thought, the brute takes the front together with daggerboy, who closes the sidelines. Healer-girl makes sure that no one drops out and even boosts their stamina to ensure that everyone is always in peak condition. The mage is of the lightning element and uses energy bolts to stun the beasts. This allows the group to get in precise hits without damaging the fur too much. Something that seems to be fairly important for them. I'd like to mention that I don't particularly like this element, as getting hit by this disrupts my control over the slime. Anyway, now for my discovery. They are protecting the healer, who is both defenseless and their lifeline if they get hurt. So, putting effort into keeping her alive is only natural. What I didn’t get was: Why would they focus so much on defending the mage!?! Even if something got through, her stunners should be more than enough to defend herself. But it seems they all treat her like something fragile. Logic would dictate the way I see it, that the small healer-girl with the short brown hair, who looks as frail as anything else, should be their center of concern to ensure survival. Still, for some reason, with or without ongoing fights, they always seem to look for the mage. I mean, even if she’s not as bodily strong as those fighting at the front, she is considerably taller than healer-girl and by no means as fragile as her. Maybe her waist-long purple hair, which could be linked to her lightning aptitude, is an eye-catcher that attracts the eye. But if you work together for the mentioned amount of time, you should be accustomed to the color by now. It’s plain stupid to neglect your healer-lifeline like this, and it’s not only the frontline that is acting odd. The healer-gir, as well, is watching the mage when she should look more for the frontline since there is a higher probability of injuries. And when you have to scan the sidelines for attacks, you should concentrate on your own, as the other one is covered. Yet, every single one of them is looking to the mage! What a terrible strategy! But let's keep watching since it doesn't concern me.