Capítulo 2: 02. My Preys = My Skills
Calm down, calm down!
But then again, what the hell was that?
I felt a peculiar sensation on my body as the grass beneath me started to melt. With that, I could now tell that the components of the plant life beneath me were being absorbed into my body.
So, that's how it worked? Instead of having a mouth to eat with, I just ingested the plant matter with my whole body? It sure didn't taste like anything. In the first place, could I taste something without a mouth? Hell nah.
Although I had a guess before, now I am sure.
I was no longer human. So, whether I was turned into a monster in that 'Gate' or the so-called reincarnation cycle from the religion teaching happened to me without my memory being erased, I didn't really know.
I trained my senses back inside my body. And my body responded with a rhythmic motion.
Boing, boing.
Sproing, sproing.
It didn't take long to figure out what my form exactly was.
Oh my gosh! I used to be such a handsome, attractive young man. But now… I'm so fluid! So aerodynamic!
I could picture it in my mind already. Hell, it was kinda cute, if anything! If you guys took a poll, I bet 90% of the people would have the same answer as me.
Well, not like I'd hate it, though. Since I was surrounded by monsters at that time, I was resigned to my death. Now, I could only accept the fact that I'd been reborn as a slime.
Oh right, something popped up inside my head a while ago. I wondered if I could check that out.
I began to concentrate. Slowly, but surely, my consciousness plunged into the deepest part of my body. Or you could say the realm of consciousness or something from the religion teaching.
Inside it, I could see the surroundings even though I couldn't see my own body. But, there was something weird with my sight. I could see the HUD (heads-up display) or status bar, as if I was inside a game.
I could see my status.
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Name: -
Race: Slime
Tier: 9-C, Street Level
Abilities:
Ultimate Skills ▼
▶Blessing of Azathoth
▷Condition Infinitum
▷Predator
▷World Travel
▶Blessing of Nyarlathotep
▷Spiritual Attack Resistance
▷Abnormal Condition Resistance
▷Pain Resistance
▷All of Creation
Intrinsic Skills ▼
▶Absorb
▶Dissolve
▶Self-Regenerate
Unique Skills ▼
▶Condition Infinitum
▶Predator ▼
▷Predation
▷Analysis
▷Stomach
▷Mimicry
▷Isolation
▶World Travel
▶Shapeshifter
▷Synthesis
▷Separation
Extra Skills ▼
▶All of Creation
Common Skills ▼
▶None
Tolerance ▼
▶Spiritual Attack Resistance
▶Abnormal Condition Resistance
▶Pain Resistance
Arts ▼
▶None
Magic ▼
▶None
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Wow. Just wow. What's up with those skills? Where did I get those?
I couldn't believe what I saw.
'But hey! Where's my name? Can I rename it myself?'
With that thought, the name bar glowed as if it asked me to fill in the name. So, I just thought of my own name, and the name bar was filled afterward.
Cool. It seemed this status bar could react to my thoughts. With that, I inspected those carefully from my tier level.
My tier is at the street level. And from the description, I understood that my strength was at least three-fold greater than an ordinary adult human. And it seemed, above that was tier 9-B.
'I see. The lower the tier, the stronger you are.'
But, I didn't really know how to increase my tier. Did I need to gather exp points? Or perhaps something else? Well, I could try it later.
I have two Ultimate Skills, and all of them are blessings. That means someone, or rather, more than one omnipotent being, was responsible for my current situation. It wasn't that I wasn't grateful to them. Rather, it was too scary that I was on the radar of someone powerful enough to grant skills to me.
But, what could I do? Since they gave me a new life, I should cherish it, right?
I shouldn't care that much for now. Let's go back to explain my skill first.
Condition Infinitum is a Unique Skill to make my condition have no limit and can keep gradually increasing, essentially forever. Be it my talent for strength, speed, magic, etc., it becomes limitless and immeasurable.
'I believe that this skill is too broken!'
The next one is Predator. It has five sub-skills:
Predation: absorbing the target into my stomach.
Analysis: studying and analyzing absorbed targets. In the case of craftable items, duplicates can be produced as long as required materials are present. In the case of successfully analyzing a skill or magic, the same technique can be acquired.
Stomach: absorbed targets can be stored, providing basically unlimited storage space.
Mimicry: replicates an analyzed target's form and racial characteristics, with capabilities equal to or above the original.
Isolation: essentially sealing.
'Another broken skill. And the Mimicry… I can transform into a human once again. But, this is troubling. I'm not some maniac who enjoys killing people. But at that time, I killed some people because they wanted to kill me, though. Yosh! If it's self-defense, then it's justifiable.'
I continued to check my other skills.
World Travel: it has a half-year cooldown, but it can be used to travel through the omniverse.
I didn't really understand the concept of the omniverse. But, when I thought about it, I remembered the universe, which comprised all of existence in the entire galaxy. And if multiple universes were called a multiverse, then the omniverse was multiple multiverses, no pun intended.
'Why did I get that skill? Does that mean I'm not in my original world anymore? It sounds unbelievable. But, I'm gonna check that later.'
It seemed that because of something like becoming a slime, my surprise at something like that was lessened.
Right, let's continue.
I got three kinds of resistance: Spiritual, Abnormal Condition, and Pain. These things didn't need to be explained.
The last skill from the blessing, All of Creation. I thought it was something to create life. But, I was wrong. This skill was basically to comprehend anything as long as I have basic understanding, be it creating new techniques or copying any techniques.
'If I combine this skill with the Analysis from the Predator skill, does that mean I have the possibility to copy any skill, magic, or anything as long as I absorb the target into my stomach?'
Damn, I couldn't help but feel overjoyed when I thought about it.
The next one is Shapeshifter. It seems I gained this skill after receiving two blessings simultaneously. Shapeshifter has two sub-skills: Synthesis and Separation.
As the name suggests, the Synthesis skill can be used to transform two or more different targets into a single entity. This includes skills, magic, or techniques. Meanwhile, Separation is completely opposite.
'My skills are top-notch!'
I could only cheer myself.
Aside from those skills, I also gained three racial skills: Absorb, Dissolve, and Self-Regeneration. But, I only care about the latter skill. After all, self-healing is so important, especially after I experienced something inside the gates to fight against monsters.
After understanding all of my skills, I withdrew my consciousness from that realm. And…
'Ah, so dark! I have no eyes after all!'
I tried to imitate Brook's joke.
But, I really wanted to do something. It was uncomfortable not being able to see my surroundings.
With that, I began to concentrate.
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I didn't know how many hours had passed. Or was it already more than a day? Anyway, I didn't feel hungry because the grass or any materials I absorbed became my energy.
At a certain point in time…
[Area Perception successfully acquired]
'Oh, this is it! Finally, I can see my surroundings, and it's 360°. It's white and black just like an old television that my old man told me about. Well, at least I can see now.'
Hop
Hop
Hop
I jumped from the lowest to the tallest branch of the tree. And it seemed I was right. My perception range was limited, so I couldn't see anything farther than 10 meters. But, from the thick leaves in the surroundings, I was certain about that. I was in the middle of the forest.
Or perhaps, a zoo?
I feel so lonely right now. Yet, even if I could find a human being, that person might kill me right away. I'm a monster after all.
For now, what's in my mind is how to get stronger by utilizing my skills.
Condition Infinitum, wasn't it? To be frank, I feel so lucky to have this skill. And with Predator, I could mimic myself to be a human. But then again, if I wanted to transform my appearance into a human, I had to eat a person. This was something that is conflicting in my heart right now. I'd only eat when necessary, not just because I wanted to.
But, I'm a monster now. Should I really care?
What if… If I already transformed into a human and act like a nice guy, but people still wanted to kill me after knowing that I'm a monster, then what should I do?
Honestly, I don't know if I should act like an ordinary human or act like a chill monster.
Acting like a chill monster means…I still have human morals, but I would retaliate when people act unreasonably against me.
Or perhaps, I could get stronger than humans, so they wouldn't act recklessly against me. And since I have the World Travel skill, I could go to another universe if the people here couldn't accept me.
It was just, I wondered if this was another world. I have to find a human settlement after getting a little bit stronger.
I didn't realize that when I thought a lot of things in my head, an army of ants stepped on my body as they didn't realize that I'm a living being as well. Perhaps, those ants didn't feel a threat from me, so they dared to step on me as a way toward their nest or something.
An idea popped into my mind.
'Predator!'
I activated my Unique Skill, and my body became a jelly-like liquid to swallow those ants into my body. It's a good thing that I didn't have a sense of taste. Otherwise… ugh! I couldn't imagine…
A moment later.
[Ground Digger successfully acquired]
[Exoskeleton Armor successfully acquired]
[Vibration Sense successfully acquired]
[Air Current Sense successfully acquired]
[Mimic: Ant is available]
This was unexpected. I didn't think killing some ordinary ants could grant me four skills at once. And after absorbing the ants, I could transform my body into an ant as well.
If I could gain some skills from some ants, did that mean I could also gain some other skills from different animals or insects as well?
Knowing this certainly made me excited.
But, I couldn't recklessly hunt since I wasn't familiar with the current situation.
It might be good if I reincarnated into another world as a slime, and the surrounding forest was just a typical habitat for an ordinary monster. But, what if I was still in my original world, and all of a sudden, an outbreak of the gate occurred near me? As a weak monster, what could I do except get killed once again?
I encountered monsters ranging from E-rank to the peak of B-rank before I died. So, I can tell that the current me is pretty weak compared to other monsters from the gate.
I can't let my guard down.
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I didn't know how many days had passed since I couldn't see the position of the sun. Moreover, I'm in the forest. Since the day I absorbed the ants, I have yet to absorb another animal or insect. But, I had an idea about which one I should absorb first. My choice was a venomous spider.
Since I have Poison Resistance, would it be better if I could use poison as well? However, a venomous spider was considered rare. So, even though I couldn't get a venomous spider, it didn't matter that much. After all, what I'm after is the thread and spider sense.
Anyway, after searching for so long, I finally found one. I didn't understand the spider species. But, as long as it looked scary, then that spider would be my target.
I absorbed the spider and began to analyze it inside my stomach. Then…
[Sticky Thread successfully acquired]
[Danger Sense successfully acquired]
Why??? Why did it become a Danger Sense? I need a refund!
But well, it was still spider sense. So, I shouldn't complain that much. After absorbing the spider, my vision seemed to be upgraded. With ant eyes, my vision only covered up to less than a meter. However, with spider eyes, it was upgraded to around 4 meters.
I immediately used my new skill, Sticky Thread, connecting my thread to one tree before launching myself with momentum and smoothly navigating the arc between trees. Yep, yep. I swung my body just like Tarzan, an iconic jungle maneuver that often involves a combination of strength, agility, and precise timing.
That was so fun.
Having so much fun, I didn't notice there was no tree in front of me but a huge river. Well, I should be okay, right?
Plop!
I fell into the water. Ah, help! I can't swim! I can't breathe… Breath??? Do I still need to breathe? Oh. It seems I'm fine. Huu, that scared the shit out of me.
I looked around to see if I could find another prey. But, what kind of aquatic animals might be useful for me? Hmmm, wait a sec!
I got an idea. Then, I began to absorb a lot of water before spewing it rapidly in a certain direction. A torrent of water was created, pushing me upward toward the surface. And then…
[Water Jet successfully acquired]
[Water Current Control successfully acquired]
[Water Pressure Resistance successfully acquired]
Yay! I'm such a genius. Kudos to me! Thanks to the skills I gained, I successfully landed at the riverside.
Whether it was accidental or not, I saw an eagle eating its prey not far from me. I didn't want to bother it too much because I like eagles. But, it suddenly attacked me as if it regarded me as a danger. What else could I do except to strike back?
With that, I decided to use my thread and absorb the eagle.
[Air Pressure Resistance successfully acquired]
Status de energia semanal
-- Ranking de
Poder 
-- Pedra de
Poder