Chapter 3 – To Find Meaning

- Slime - Now that two days have passed, it seems that the group is about to leave the forest. Regarding my observation, as soon as they leave the greenery, there will be no cover, making it impossible to follow them any longer. To be honest, that is rather vexing for me since I had finally found a way to get over my boredom. As this thought becomes more and more unacceptable, I’m getting closer to the point where I would take any risks, just to prevent myself from returning to that terrible routine. In this way, I’m so far already that I would even go to confront them directly. The problem is, while I’m confident that I would win a fight, if not eradicate all of them, this is not the outcome I’m looking for. I wouldn’t gain anything from this. Because things are like they are, instead, I would like to start a little experiment. The thought is as follows: "Humans are, in general, against all oddities." This much I’ve learned so far. But if I could somehow become more familiar, maybe I could prevent an attack, nd for the first time, interact with sentient beings. That would be a dream come true! Because I need my mass for my plan and as a safety measure, I’m going to dissolve the leftover beast corpses that my adventurer group is leaving on their way out after disassembling them. While it feels like a waste to me that they leave all this flesh behind, I surely won't complain about the fact that I can take advantage of their actions. Like this, I’m getting close to 100%. Naturally, I increase the distance to the safest manageable level while I’m growing. Finally, it’s starting; the group leaves the forest and instead enters wide grassy plains. I flank them a little and try to get in front of them, because at this point, it would be a real pain if they decide to ignore me and just endlessly go forward after all my planning. After I’ve nearly managed to get directly in front of them, they suddenly stop. Hmm, it seems like I’ve been spotted. "What’s wrong?" (brute) "I think I saw something in the grass in front of us." (Luck) "Yes, now that you mention it, something is moving there. Stay behind me!" (brute) "I believe I can see it better now. Is that… liquid … a slime? The thing is green, so it is hard to make out." (Luck) "It’s difficult to say at this distance, but if it is, maybe we should leave it. We already made our quota of these things, and it’s not worth the destroyed weapons only for a shattered core." (mage) "True. It didn't start moving in our direction, so it probably isn't on our trail yet. Let us go past it. Those things are slow and pose no real danger. Just don’t touch it. Let someone else take it out later on." (Luck) Now it's time to bring my plan to a conclusion. My thought is, if I want to interact with them, I need them to become the least hostile as possible towards me. And the way to achieve this is by looking like something they are familiar with, or even better, something that they commonly protect. I thought that healer-girl might be a good target for this, since protecting her should come naturally, by all means. Yet now, according to my observation, the mage might be better. First, the healer-girl only has to be protected because she’s defenseless, but I don’t assume they will think the same about me. But also, the mage has more volume, which is beneficial, as I don’t need to go out of my way and can contain my body mass. So, the mage! For the first time, I get a good picture of her while she stands open in the sunlight, without any trees or bushes in the way. Like I’ve seen before, she has waist-long purple hair, pale skin, and a well-defined face. Also, she is more than a head taller than the small healer-girl. While her chest is not extremely huge, you could say it is quite present. Even though I never gave thought to human aesthetic standards, I at least admit that there are no obvious flaws in her appearance. "H-hold on! I-is it just me or is this slime somehow odd?" (healer-girl) "True, this thing is much bigger than the average slime. Even so, this would simply mean that the job would be harder, so let’s stick to the plan and leave it be." (Luck) "I-it started to move!" (healer-girl) "Calm down, it’s only a slime. There is nothing to… Ehh, what is it doing there? That looks weird." (mage) I completely imprint this picture I now have of the mage and begin. First, I pull myself up to become as tall as her. At this point, the group just stares in disbelief at me, taking in my every movement. That is good for me, as they stay defensive and let me work. As soon as I’ve got enough mass in all respective areas, I start to shape myself. I let sticky strands fall behind me from the top till the middle, bring two tendrils out of my body, separate the bottom part of mine vertically, and overall, try to get closer and closer to the picture I’ve ingrained in me. I can feel it when the half-fluid liquid starts to grow more concrete, forming a nose, ears, shaping itself into legs, and arms, until it even develops fingers. The shape is closing more and more on the intended goal until it feels practically identical to the picture inside. Finally, I open my eyes. As I’ve said before, normally I have an all-around view and get a picture of everything in my environment. Though now it seems that I, by imagining my own body with eyes, tricked myself into this way of seeing. This is quite the sensation for me because I am getting more details than ever before about the observed area. It seems that I’m now putting all the concentration that I generally use all around me, only on that which I’m looking at. The compensation for this is that my all-around view is dulled to at most 25% of what my eyes are now capable of perceiving. Like this, I can still make out movements around me, but without concentration on the respective part, there is nothing concrete. So I take a short look at myself. My core is, at the moment, slightly under the chest, and naturally, I’m still green-translucent, yet for the rest, I look exactly like the mage I pictured, and I need to say, it feels comfortable. So much so that I think I could stay like this. After I’m done checking myself, I look at my adventurer group. Well, I guess the correct term to describe their look would be "perplexed". Some even have their mouth agape. As I have the initiative, I try to calm them by giving them the best smile I can. One of the things I’ve learned is, "People in friendly relations smile at each other!", so I try this approach. Ahem, what’s the meaning of this, dear mage? I’m pondering why her well-defined face distorts in such a serious manner. "ZAP" And like this, I get hit by a lightning strike. "Eluca, what was that? Everything okay?" (Luck) "What! Did we not see the same thing? This thing took my appearance, looked me directly in the eyes, and grinned like a maniac! For god’s sake, it targeted me and not one of you reacted!" (mage/Eluca) "Well, Eluca has a point! We shouldn’t leave something like this unattended." (brute) "So you,u t, oo vote to engage it, Ron?" (Luck) "If we don’t, I’m through with all of you here!" (Eluca) "O-okay, I’m with you." (healer-girl) Tsk, did I ever mention that I hate lightning? No? Just so you know, even if it doesn't hurt me, it gives by far the most annoying feeling you could imagine. For me, it feels like I’m stunned and lose contact with the targeted area. Because I somehow got accustomed to this shape, it stays firmly, even if my control gets disrupted and I become numb for some seconds, but needless to repeat: I don’t like this feeling! When I get a hold of myself after a few seconds, I recognize some shouting and see that their vanguard starts to close the distance. Well, so much for my plan. The Brute, now Ron, is unsheathing the sword on his back while coming at me. I just barely succeed in positioning myself in such a way in front of him that I can evade a second lightning strike from the mage, who, for some reason, seems pretty much set on attacking me. To be honest, I can understand her a little bit. I mean, I’m imitating her, so it’s not too farfetched to feel mocked by this. But by all means, this is very aggressive, and I said it before, I’m always holding my self-preservation above everything else, even if this means I have to respond here in a deadly manner. Things being like this, I prepare myself for everything Ron has got for me. He starts to tighten the grip on his oversized sword and goes for an overhead swing. I let my core sink to my belly and prepare for the impact. I’m not very accustomed to my new body shape, and jumping around would be disadvantageous for me like this. However, I’m not fazed by what has to come. My body is, in its structure, still the same as before, and to aim precisely at my core with this thing is close to impossible. Even more, as you might’ve assumed, my density is currently at its highest, since I pushed it all into the shape I took. Like this, I’m confident in taking this strike. While my opponent prepares the attack, I brace myself by holding my arms in a way, crouching down, and putting my head and shoulders together, to bring more mass in line with the strike. I even start to vibrate to absorb the force of the impact as best as I can. Braced like this, I’m ready for the strike that will come and merely wait. And wait. And wait... Well… what happened? I look up, only to see Ron still holding his sword above his head with a look on his face that I can’t place. At that moment, daggerboy/Luck shouts. "Ron, what the heck are you doing there?! That thing is just imitating Eluca’s appearance! Don’t get deceived like this! Otherwise, it will get a hold of you and we’ll be done for!" (daggerboy) This awakens him from his stupor, and he strikes directly at me. However, because it got interrupted midway, the force is not even close to what I anticipated before. Like this, I let the blade sink close under my shoulders. Needless to say, this didn’t hurt. "Zssschhh" And then I start to release my dissolving enzyme. At the speed it consumes, you can easily watch how the blade starts to corrode in an instant. Soon, it will lead to its complete dissipation. While the corrosion progresses, Ron, with all his muscles, certainly tries to get it out, to the best he’s able. The problem is, while slimes lack muscles and hard body parts, making hits and all other uses of force impossible, we still excel in other ways. As we can use our body's full potential, literally to the last drop, our strength is incomparable. Also, at my current density, I’m a good deal heavier than him. To be precise, in his attempts to break my hold of his sword, Ron is fighting a lost battle. He would have an easier time trying to pull a tree out of a sea of tar. It’s just a matter of seconds until he will only have the handle left for himself. By disarming him like this, I hope to end this disordered situation by limiting their possible actions. While Ron and I are locked as we are, I catch movement on my left. It was to be expected that, while I obstructed the line of fire for the far too aggressive mage, daggerboy would do his job and attack my side. An instant later, a bolt from his crossbow is fired with disturbing precision at my core. The good thing is, with my density and because I move my inside mass constantly, the bolt had no chance of finding its target. As he didn't want to get in the way of Ron’s strike and focused on maintaining the survey of the situation, he kept his distance until now. But to his misfortune, he could not foresee that I would take the strike as I did and now be more than able to react to him. Thus, with my quickly reshaped arm, I reach out in his direction, in a way that my palm points at his face and… Slime bullet! This is a neat little trick I’ve developed myself. I form a part of my mass inside my body with the highest possible density and control its abilities. Then I separate it by pressing it into the form of a small sphere. When all preparations are done, I abruptly increase the pressure behind it and create low pressure in front. This leads to me expelling the sphere at high velocity in the direction I want. Doing this naturally costs mass and energy, which equals the loss of combat potential, so it’s a risky action that should only be used carefully. Yet, at the same time, it’s enhancing my possibilities, and like this, my means of survival. Because I now have arms, I thought I could directly use this opportunity to test if I can use one of them to aim the shot more precisely. It seems Luck got surprised by an attack no one has ever seen a slime use, since I catch him unprepared with a shot at his face. "Arrgh. Shit, what’s that?" (Luck) He still manages to raise his hands before the projectile hits him. But that’s okay. As I’ve said before, I am not going for the kill. To clarify, the slime bullet itself normally has no deadly potential, because we are still talking about mere liquid. Even if the speed is considerably high, it’s not able to penetrate the body. As long as I’m not hitting a weak spot point-blank, there should be no more than a fierce sting, let alone any real damage. Yet, I can control the properties. For example, I could put my dissolving enzyme inside. The effect might be lower than when used in my body; still, serious injuries aren’t out of the question. But as I said, I wasn’t aiming for this. Instead, I lowered the liquidity quite a bit and created an especially sticky kind of glue. If Luckhade had gotten any of this in the eyes, he would have been blinded for the near future. Yet, he was able to protect his face. Though his hands are now glued to his forehead, he needs to ensure nothing flows into his eyes. "Shit! …is this stuff? It won’t come off!" (Luck) While I did not make it so far to take him completely out of the fight, I’ve got a minute or two like this, so I can finish my job with the sword without a problem. Now, Ron realizes that his weapon won’t be of use to him any longer, and Luck will not help him any time soon. Like that, his complexion changes. "Damned monster. I’m gonna crush you!" (Ron) Oh! It seems he got frustrated and lifted his fist to punch me. But… Ahem… Pal… I don’t think you should do this. You see, I’m currently dissolving something, and because I am, at the moment, not controlling where the enzyme is released, save for specified parts like the bullet, you really, really should NOT put your hand inside. That’s what I’d like to say, but being mute, obviously can’t. And so I get punched. "Zack" "Aaaahhhhhhhhh!" (Ron) Hah… As expected. Ron’s hand sinks into me without any real resistance, and the reaction starts. Since it is much less sturdy than the metal I was working on, his flesh melts in a blink. By the time he understands his mistake and pulls his hand out, the damage is already done. No, I did not try to hold his hand inside. That would be cruel, and I’m no monster… Ohhh… Well, never mind what I perceive; his hand is now a bloody pulp, and even the bones should be severely damaged. "Oh no! Ron, here!" (healer-girl) It seems that healer-girl is now doing her job and casts a healing spell on his hand. WIt wIt would be if this helps. Yet I assume that the condition is severe, and even if the wounds get closed, completely restoring the former state should not be possible like this. At least it seems that healer-girl can stop the bleeding, but the process takes time, and his hand should suffer a lasting decrease in usability. While Ron kneels wailing while holding his hand, for which I don’t blame him as his nerves should be on fire, I become aware that my original finally succeeded in flanking me and thus got a free sight of me. "Zap" I! HATE! LIGHTNING!!! Because I was prepared this time, I managed to limit the effect by guiding the charge through the current inside me to the ground. Still, I don’t like this feeling of numbness in the slightest. To prevent more nuisances like this, I’m going to engage my almost-twin. Walking is still new to me, so I’m considerably slow, and gliding like always seems rather appealing, but I guess I can cope with it. "Zap" "Why is this thing not going down!?” (Eluca) "Stop! ‘Zap’ Die! ‘Zap’ Die! ‘Zap’ Die! ‘Zap’"(Eluca) Okay, someone earned herself a fine beating right now! In a blink, I can, despite my slow pace, close the distance to the abrasive lightning-thrower. When I draw close, I can see how her expression becomes fearful. Still, that doesn’t stop her from shooting at me again. "Zap" Oh, girl! You are so done! Even if copying your appearance can count as an offense in your direction, I think the first lightning strike should have balanced it out. Now I’m going to set the scales right. Because the little mage is walking backward to maintain her distance from me, I decide to use another trick of mine. Normally, I use this to hunt and kill fleeing prey. However, this time, catching is enough. In an instant, I throw all my mass in the direction of the mage. By doing so, I can move faster than I would generally be able to in the direction I want. Like I assumed, my mage gets completely taken by surprise when I suddenly come flying at her. Well, I haven’t aimed for her body. Instead, I catch my form directly in front of her, bring my right leg forward, take a stance, and swing my arm with all I’ve got into her face, where the current explodes. My double is instantly sent flying. Yet there's no need to worry. Although I hit her with considerable force, she should be fine. Slimes are simply not fit for a brawl. My impact energy may have been high, but the fist is still liquid, so no real destructive power. On the other hand, getting this directly in your face should still hurt. I start pondering how I should fare from this point on, as suddenly a movement behind me engages at an alarming speed. I barely manage to evade two slashes to my lower part. Concerning is that this was close to the place where I’d left my core. It seems that Luck was able to peel the glue from his face and rushed directly at me. "I’m ending this now, abomination!" (Luck) Like this, he starts to engage me with consecutive strikes aimed at my core. As I’ve no real choice, I activate my enzyme and try to deflect his daggers with my hands. Because he can’t touch them, his movements get easier to handle. Still, he won’t stop his attacks. Having an opponent that aims for my center of existence is very unnerving, and even if I’m partly at fault for starting this, I can’t let him aim for my life without retaliating. Till now, this fight was never really dangerous, so I could hold back, but his way of fighting is precarious for me, and I’m just one wrong move away from getting my consciousness stabbed, which I hold quite dear. I won’t allow that! Having made up my resolve, I let the next stab come, only to shift myself away at the last moment. With a big windup, I strike at him in a wide, inward arc of my right arm, which he narrowly escapes by jumping backward. At this moment, I lift my left arm, aim, and… Slime bullet! … Pierce his skull with my bullet. Yes, I know, didn’t I say before that a slime bullet can’t do that? It’s true, a slime bullet is made of liquid. Even with all its force, in the end, it will just splash as soon as it hits the target. I would need more than twice the power and speed with a direct point-blank shot to allow the fluid to gain the force necessary to overcome the flaws of its physical composition. To pull off something like this, I would need to shape myself accordingly, get time for mental preparation, and still hit the target at the closest possible distance. You simply cannot do that during a fight. So yes, it is impossible to penetrate a head with my liquid. However… What can penetrate a skull is a small, sharp, and pointy piece of metal, as you might find in large swords when they get partly disintegrated. Embedded in a hull of slime, shot at high speed, close range, at the opponent's face! Hit like this, all I get from Luck is a surprised look before he drops dead. Just so you know, I see this as self-defense. Until now, I have given them quite some lenience. I mean, it’s not my fault that they get so hostile when I stand in front of them. "No! Luck!!!" (healer-girl) It seems healer-girl tries to pull off a healing spell, hence the name, but there is no chance of success. The metal is still embedded in his brain. Even if she can get him back to life, it would only harshly prolong the inevitable. So it would be better to let it be. I guess I should accept that this experiment is a failure. However, it’s not completely without results. This new form of mine has its merits. So much so that I think I might maintain it. Also, that moment where Ron stopped his attack… I might be on to something there! Speaking of the demon! While I’m pondering how I should continue from here on, I’m suddenly tackled from the side. "I WILL CRUSH YOU!" (Ron) Ron throws himself at me with all his mass. Because he was rather imprecise, my core is not harmed, but right now I need some room to maintain this state. As he tries to scatter my body, I answer by expanding all the mass I compressed until now. Like that, I grow to my full volume. Since I can’t keep my shape like this, I’m only a big accumulation of moving mass. This way, I can send Ron swimming inside me, setting him almost completely helpless. Well, almost. While his panic is apparent to me, he still tries to do whatever he can to my core, because the hate he holds against my person seems to be even bigger. Squirming and whirling inside me, he tries to somehow finish me, but I can keep my core away from him. "Zap" No! Not now! It seems my nemesis and the mage that wields it are back in action. This was a hard hit, which leaves my body quite numb. At this moment, Ron tries to reach my core with his good hand, but he is slowed by the fact that the lightning did hit him as well. Oh no, you don’t! The way things are now, I have no choice. Without hesitation, I activate my dissolving. I quickly cover Ron’s head to make it quick and dampen his screams. The skin melts, the muscles vanish, and the bones disintegrate. The good thing is that I only need seconds before he’s done, because I use more energy to quicken the process. Well, I’m also gaining, so it's no loss. Because this outcome wasn’t wanted, I look around as soon as I make it back into my new base form. Both remaining girls are now kneeling on the ground. Healer-girl sobs without holding back, while my mage simply stares at me. By the way, the name of the mage was Eluca, huh? Like this, I realize that I, despite my age, never came to have a name. I look like a human now, and humans have names, so a name might be pretty important. As I have her appearance, at this point, I think there is no problem if I also orient myself with her in this regard. Well, a little bit of me should also be present. So then… hmm… Eluca… me, a slime body… slime liquid, luca… liq… Liqu!!! That’s it! I think that works! Has a nice ring for me! I am now Liqu the slime! Feels like a huge step in my development as a sentient being. Don’t look at me like that. This was a very important moment for me, and I don’t feel burdened for defending my life. At this point, we all might just call it a day. The lightning strikes weren’t nice, but after killing her friends, I believe I can forgive her. So I would like to stop our quarrel now before it gets worse. The issue now is that I should calm them down somehow, to prevent them from attempting any more foolish actions. Recollecting what happened, I ask myself what I could have done better. My body seemed to at least have some kind of effect, but not enough to prevent attacks. What else could I have attempted? Oh! Speech! If I could have warned them what they shouldn’t do, maybe my more violent approaches wouldn’t have been necessary. The problem is that I’m mute. However, I’m smart, so I should be able to figure something out. So what do I know about "speech"? Well, speech is the usage of sound in a controlled, amplified manner to send information. This leads the attention to the point that the sound, or "voice", is the most important thing here. Which means I need to figure out "voice"! I know that voices are made at a place close behind the throat, where several elongated strands are set in vibration to create a sound. This is something you inevitably learn if you are always busy with the death cries of creatures dissolving inside you. However, I guess I can replicate this. I form a hole in my mouth at which end I leave several slime strands, formed after what I think are the vocal cords. Prepared like this, I go to Eluca, who seems still kind of apathetic. My movement throws her out of this, as she reacts to me. I look at her from an appropriate distance, set my chords in vibration, and give my best. "hELLooo! mYe nAeme ieeZ Liiieequuuu! ieetzzz nieEEEEZzze to meeeeEEEAAAT yUUuuuuu!" (Liqu) Huh, that was a bit more hanging, syrupy, and far more high-pitched than planned. But for the first time, I think I did well. Eluca doesn’t seem to agree. This, at least, is told me by her distorted face and the welling tears. "Aaahhhhhh!" (Eluca) "Zap, Zap, Zap" And now she shoots one lightning bolt after another. Okay, now you’ve done it! I wanted to play nice, but you just had to pull this, hah? Well, since there is no big effect, she soon drops down completely exhausted. I could kill her. Yet, after I took her appearance, killing the original would feel somehow weird, as if I would try to replace her. The same goes for using my dissolving on her face. As much as it’s tempting. Also, I need to admit that meeting me was quite unfortunate for her group, so I should show a bit of sympathy. Still, I want a bit of payback. I’ve already hit her, so this time, I guess that I’ll instead simply lift and throw her a short distance. However, when I come closer and she begins squirming helplessly under my outstretched hand, I spot movement on the right. It seems that now the healer-girl is running at me. For real? What do you think will come from something like this? As there is no need to take measures, I simply proceed to wait for whatever is going to happen. Immediately before I catch my mage, she comes close, jumps in front of me… And leaves me stupefied. Instead of going for me, she threw her staff away, rushed to Eluca, and is now holding her tightly in her arms. "W-What are you doing here, stupid? Quick! Run as far as you can!" (Eluca) I would admit that this is not the best survival strategy, little girl! "No, no! I won’t let go! I can’t lose you too! Don’t wanna, don’t wanna, Waaaahhh!" (healer-girl) "I-it’s going to kill us both if you stay! Please, just leave me! It’s okay! Please just don’t force this on me!" (Eluca) I believe we have some kind of misunderstanding here. I would try to talk again, but after that last attempt, I’m not so confident in my communication skills. "It’s okay, I won’t let go! It wouldn’t matter if I escaped if you were not there anymore! I… just can’t leave! Sob!"(healer-girl) "Lea…" (Eluca) Okay, you’ve got me. When you hold her like this, it’s not like I could throw her. I mean, you’re holding her so tight that you two seem to have completely forgotten about me. However, it looks nice. To go so far for something that everything else vanishes from your attention. That one can feel like this is so… This is just absolutely… Unfair! Why can you guys find someone important to you, but I have to be like this, huh? You can go around interacting with others, while I can only hope you are too scared to try to kill me! Why am I not allowed to have someone like this? Something that holds a reason for me? I want this too! I’ve had enough of you two! I’m leaving! Do whatever you want with each other! I just don’t care! Like this, I go away without even glancing at them. I’m sure, at this moment, they aren’t even recognizing my existence. Slowly, I walk back into the forest. Yes, walking! I determined that if I keep this shape and gain this skill, my basic speed will increase. Floating like a wave with my fully extended body might be fast, but as I leave the current behind by doing so, it’s far too wasteful and certainly too exposing. Slowly creeping on the ground might consume less energy, but considering everything, this is a good tradeoff. While I don’t believe that running is possible, because I would step through my legs before I come to speed, overall, it has better energy consumption. Like this, my unsteady steps carry me back into the depths of the forest. After some time, I float myself against a tree and try to calm down. That whole ordeal took its toll on me. I don’t think that I was entirely wrong with my shapeshifting approach, as there was some kind of reaction. Nevertheless, I guess I need to realize that they will never come to overlook what I am. Furthermore, I don’t think that I will ever come close to what those two had. Something vexing! And somehow depressing, because I know that there is no chance that I can even start to build a relationship with anyone, slime or human, as there is no one who is like me in this world. But still, I’m envious. I’m desperate to have something important to me. Something that gives me a reason. Something I can hold dear. Just someone! One. One would be enough! I think I'm gonna make a friend!