Knights had arrived. The metal on their armor was a deep black along with a riveting gold as a highlight on some of the pieces. The armor appeared to be heavy and the plating covered their entire bodies.
"Captain! We found him! He's unconscious!" Said a knight.
"Where?"
The Captain had a different appearance however, he had some armor plating that was the same color palette as the rest of the knights… but his armor was extremely light looking. He had leather in places where the plates lacked to reach. His hair was long and looked like some sort of blond color. It was up in a ponytail and he had red eyes. He had a metal arm guard that fully covered his right forearm, and a light plate on his left. Also he had this giant ass buster sword behind his waist. I don't even know how he could carry it.
"Right over here sir!"
"Wha-what happened here?"
His face was twisted in disgust as his eyes viewed the brutal mess I had created. Blood stained the ground as butchered corpses were laid out.
"Look into it immediately, and get Percide along with his belongings safely secured."
The knight captain then turned toward one of the knights.
"You, prepare the priests!"
"Understood."
⊰───────•✦•───────⊱⊰───────•✦•───────⊱⊰───────•✦•───────⊱
|Traveling~|
⊰───────•✦•───────⊱⊰───────•✦•───────⊱⊰───────•✦•───────⊱
Hmm…
Black and gold... I've never seen that before. How rich are these guys? Their Captain also feels more on the powerful side. Not exactly sure how powerful though he just emits… an aura. I don't really know another way to describe it.
All I know is that he is dangerous and currently it would be impossible to win if I fought him. The priests had used what I think was a heal spell of some sort on me. So if I did lose any strength it was back up. All of the knights and priests thought I was unconscious which is a good cover for now.
"Rehtruf hcum woh?" Asked the Captain.
A knight replied, "Tuoba evah ew llew-"
I learned that even after absorbing the merchant. I still can't understand what the people of this world are saying.
I whisper, "Stratum."
My status window popped up.
Okay, skill tab... that's what I thought…
————————————
Active Skills:
-Absorption, Lvl 6;
-Form Shift, Lvl 3;
-Spell Creation, Lvl 1;
-Storage, Lvl 1;
-Language Master, Lvl -19;
————————————
It only improved by one level…
I have a long way to go huh?
Well I'll just take a nap for now~
⊰───────•✦•───────⊱⊰───────•✦•───────⊱⊰───────•✦•───────⊱
|SIX HOURS LATER|
⊰───────•✦•───────⊱⊰───────•✦•───────⊱⊰───────•✦•───────⊱
yawn
"I needed that badly~"
I sat up and stretched a little.
"Ekawa si Percide retsam!"
"Huh-"
Ah…
I forgot where I was.
The Captain and a few other important-looking people had run into what I think was my room after hearing I woke up. I purposely kept grabbing my head like I had hit it. Of course everyone there was gullible. Percide must have been more important than I thought... I mean I know he was the guild master and all, but this seems a little much for just the head of a merchant guild…
Sucks for them~
After some time I made my way to the library, since not knowing the language of this world would backstab me sooner or later.
"Let's see…"
"This book looks like it would probably help."
…
I have no idea what it says.
A maid replied, "Koob yrotsih a s'taht ris ha."
I have no idea what she said either…
"Such a pain. Excuse me for a bit."
I then whispered, "Even though you have no idea what I'm saying…"
I walked out towards a terrace that I had seen when I was heading to the library earlier.
||FORM SHIFT||
The slime retracted back into my body revealing the human form I had woken up with… my clothes were also made of this slime so there weren't any problems.
"Ah~"
"Much better."
"The easiest way for me to level up my [Language Master] skill is to kill more people."
…
"I could have absorbed those bandits…"
I clenched my fist and lightly hit the balustrade.
"Shit."
I jumped off the terrace.
"Time to hunt~"
⊰───────•✦•───────⊱⊰───────•✦•───────⊱⊰───────•✦•───────⊱
|Some Alleyway…|
⊰───────•✦•───────⊱⊰───────•✦•───────⊱⊰───────•✦•───────⊱
"Ah no please I-I don't have money!" Said a girl.
"Well then we'll take something else from you." Said a bandit.
A second bandit pushed her against the wall.
"Hi~" I said from behind the bandits while waving at them playfully.
"Ereht seog ohw!" The bandits quickly turned around. One of the bandits pointed his sword toward me. It looked like a claymore.
"You shouldn't carry such dangerous weapons…"
"Let me take care of that for you~"
||ABSORB||
I started absorbing his sword, sending the two bandits and the girl into shock.
"Ah~ let's try something… new?"
||FORM SHIFT||
My hand released some of the slime and it began shifting into the form of the sword I just absorbed. Just like when I morphed into Percide, it made an exact replica of the sword. Though it was pure red this time instead.
"Oooh~ so that's how it works."
"RETSNOM …retsnom-m!" Screamed one of the bandits as he charged at me.
"Slow."
I sliced his head off with my hand? Sword?
We'll go with a sword.
"W-what is this…" said the girl.
"AAAAAH!" yelled the other bandit who tried running away.
"Let's try another thing!"
"We'll call it… ah!"
"SWORD BOLT!"
I bent my arm slightly before throwing my arm at full strength forward, releasing the sword. It shot out at a high velocity making a giant hole in the bandit's chest. The sword then slammed into the ground, small amounts of smoke coming off of the blade. Light burn marks remained on the bandit's corpse from the sword's speed.
||Skill Acquired: SWORD BOLT, Lvl 1||
"A new skill? Lucky~!"
I called back the slime sword to my main body. Now let's try absorbing them!
||ABSORB||
The slime tentacles rose from my arms and shot out at a high speed fully covering the corpses…
"Th-this- h-he's worse than the bandits…" whispered the girl.
I absorbed the two remains of the bandits. Now for my status window.
"Stratum."
My window popped up.
Alright now let's see…
————————————
Active Skills:
-Absorption, Lvl 9;
-Form Shift, Lvl 5;
-Spell Creation, Lvl 1;
-Storage, Lvl 1;
-Sword Bolt, Lvl 1;
-Language Master, Lvl -16;
————————————
I was right. The more people I kill and absorb the better my language mastery will get!
"I-I need to get away…" The girl whispered again.
B-but how?
Then she spotted a small dagger next to her feet. She looked up to see the man facing away from her rambling on in an unknown language.
She quickly picked up the dagger and ran straight at me.
I quickly turned around, her blade stabbing into where my heart should have been.
She was breathing heavily.
I should play the part right~?
COUGH
I spat up blood. Though it was just a more condensed version of my slime~
She stepped back, "I-I did it…?"
She looked at her hands.
I smiled as I held my body still. Look at that face! It's going to despair once she realizes nothing. Fucking. Happened~
My eyes started glowing a tinted red.
I ripped the dagger out of my chest swiftly.
||ABSORB||
"Heh-" said the girl.
"I-I-I stabbed his heart though!"
I smiled at her gently.
"Bye bye~"
I grabbed her throat lifting her body quickly and crushed it.
Her body going limp.
"More XP!"
||ABSORB||
"Let's see my status now!"
"Stratum."
My window appeared again and I checked the 'Active Skills'.
————————————
Active Skills:
-Absorption, Lvl 9;
-Form Shift, Lvl 5;
-Spell Creation, Lvl 1;
-Storage, Lvl 1;
-Sword Bolt, Lvl 1;
-Language Master, Lvl -13;
————————————
"Wait… three whole levels! From one person?!"
"That's just free!"
"Hahaha!-"
…
"Ah shit."
How long have I been here?
I'm supposed to be acting as Percide… I ran back to the terrace.
||FORM SHIFT||
That was a close one...
"Percide drol!"
One of the maids was yelling as she walked down the hall before she saw me.
The Captain also came running as he spotted me.
"Percide!"
"Oooh hey… Captain?"
He looked at me puzzled. Considering he doesn't know my language it makes sense.
I walked inside and decided to head toward my room. Sleeping is one of the things I'm best at!
⊰───────•✦•───────⊱⊰───────•✦•───────⊱⊰───────•✦•───────⊱
|A FEW DAYS LATER|
⊰───────•✦•───────⊱⊰───────•✦•───────⊱⊰───────•✦•───────⊱
I was sitting on top of the manor's roof. Looking down over the town below.
After a few days of being in this world, I've learned something important. Of the people I absorb I don't get access to all of their memories. This is linked to my [Absorption] skill being at a low level still. To go with this leveling up is getting way harder…
I've been hunting alleyway bandits to pass time, but it's starting to show little to no effects.
"Stratum."
————————————
Active Skills:
-Absorption, Lvl 11;
-Form Shift, Lvl 7;
-Spell Creation, Lvl 1;
-Storage, Lvl 1;
-Sword Bolt, Lvl 3;
-Language Master, Lvl -9;
————————————
Maybe I should try learning some magic?
I have the [Spell Creation] skill, so it could be useful…
"Alright, let's go try it out!"
⊰───────•✦•───────⊱⊰───────•✦•───────⊱⊰───────•✦•───────⊱
|A Field just outside of Town|
⊰───────•✦•───────⊱⊰───────•✦•───────⊱⊰───────•✦•───────⊱
"So the first step would be to channel my mana right?"
I made an attempt to circulate my mana… however, I don't know what that even feels like.
"What's… the first step?"
"Maybe I use the skill?"
||SPELL CREATION||
Let's try envisioning what I want the spell to be… so we'll just do a fireball. Now what…? Do I just try imagining it?
So a hot burning ball… has different levels of heat… explodes into flames on impact… probably quick… I opened my eyes to see these cyan gears made of mana with all the properties I thought of. I started connecting them together as they started to turn and make clicking noises.
That should be good enough… right?
Um…
Do I say the name now?
I threw my right arm out.
"FIREBALL!"
The gears shattered and reorganized around my right arm. Forming some sort of sigil in the palm of my hand, to my surprise, a blazing purple ball of fire went flying out of it.
The tree that was around thirty feet in front of me was now burning purple.
"Ah…"
"I did it…"
"Why am I… dizzy though…?"
I collapsed. My body falling back into the field.
||Skill Acquired: Fireball, Lvl 1||
||Effect 'Mana Exhaust' has been applied due to Mana reaching zero!||
||Due to an unprecedented version of; Basic Skill: [Fireball], the title 'Magician's Crusade' has been granted! Title benefit: Mana can never hit zero!||
⊰───────•✦•───────⊱⊰───────•✦•───────⊱⊰───────•✦•───────⊱
|A FEW HOURS LATER|
⊰───────•✦•───────⊱⊰───────•✦•───────⊱⊰───────•✦•───────⊱
"Uuuugh-" I groaned.
"My head… hurts…"
I slowly sat up.
It was now evening. I could tell the sun was nearly gone.
I'll get back to the manor first, then I'll check my stat window…
I walked back into town and headed for the terrace.
"I don't feel like changing my body, so I'll just slip into my room for now…"
I snuck across the halls of the manor, making sure to avoid anyone nearby.
I got to my room and quickly shut the door behind me.
The room was a dark blue as the shadows set in.
||Skill Acquired: Stealth, Lvl 1||
A new skill?
"Stratum…"
"I'll take a look at everything this time…"
————————————
Name: {Still Processing Personality}
Species: [???] Slime
Level: 12
EXP: 28/2,400
————————————
[Titles]
'World Ender'
'Monster in Human Clothing'
'Otherworlder'
'Magician's Crusade'
————————————
[Stat Points]
Strength: 174
Speed: 192
Perception: 201
Health: 250,000
Mana: 5
Intelligence: 67
Wisdom: 43
Luck: 4
Remaining Points: 32
————————————
[Skills]
||Passive:||
-Quick Learner, MAXED;
-Sentient Mind, MAXED;
-Chantless, MAXED;
||Active:||
-Absorption, Lvl 11;
-Form Shift, Lvl 7;
-Spell Creation, Lvl 2;
-Storage, Lvl 1;
-Sword Bolt, Lvl 3;
-Fireball, Lvl 1;
-Stealth, Lvl 1;
-Language Master, Lvl -9;
————————————
"Huh?"
"I don't have a name?"
"What does it mean that it's processing my personality?"
Well… I'm kind of calm and maybe ambitious…? Eh. Fuck it.
"Though I'd say I'm pretty cynical if I had to describe an overall trait…"
||Name: {Still Processing Personality}; has been granted a name! Updating…||
||Name: Cynical; has been given to [???] Slime!||
||All Stats increase by 5!||
That's… not what I expected but still great.
The word 'cynical' is about believing that humans are motivated purely off of their own interests or distrusting their motives. It has some other meanings like distrusting human sincerity and something else. I think it fits well for me though considering my final goal. So ta-da! Cynical!
Thank you system~!
||~Mana: 1/10~||
"I also need to raise my mana more…"
It increased greatly since the last time I checked it, from what I saw it started at two.
Then it gained three from me using the fireball, and it gained another five from my new name.
I need to make more magic. Though I shouldn't do it until I pass out…
"I'm excited this shit is so cool!"
I then tried taking a step toward my bed, my body then fell face first onto the cold hard floor. I heard metal armor approaching, so I quickly took on Percide's form. The knight captain swung open the door.
"Percide!"
His expression changed from worried to confused as he looked toward the ground.
It was kind of embarrassing.
⊰───────•✦•───────⊱⊰───────•✦•───────⊱⊰───────•✦•───────⊱
Today we hunt more bandits, I need to get my [Language Master] skill out of the negative levels. I can't understand anyone around me and this hinders my progression massively.
I can't gather information, steal- I mean borrow money from Percide, read about this world, learn magic more efficiently, or even find out how I can raid 'Hellion's Purgatory'.
"Alright bandits~ come on out!" I whispered.
I started running along the roofs of the medieval based town.
"Resolc yna emoc t'nod-d!"
I heard someone yelling from an alleyway on my right side.
"Gotcha~"
I jumped off into the alleyway and ran up behind the bandits.
||SWORD BOLT||
Two crimson swords formed in my hands almost instantly and flew toward the bandits' bodies. They pierced them, their bodies becoming lifeless corpses. I then quickly slit the throat of the helpless civilian. This was one; because he saw me which could lead to him telling someone what he witnessed, and two he is also valuable xp…
||ABSORB||
"Next!"
I continued this for around seven to eight hours before getting bored.
"Ehhhhh-"
"So boring…"
I was laying on a roof with my hand hanging off the side.
yawn
"What time is it?"
I looked up toward the bright sun. It was a little past noon if I had to guess…
"Stratum."
I checked my skill window again.
————————————
Active Skills:
-Absorption, Lvl 14;
-Form Shift, Lvl 8;
-Spell Creation, Lvl 2;
-Storage, Lvl 1;
-Sword Bolt, Lvl 6;
-Fireball, Lvl 1;
-Stealth, Lvl 3;
-Language Master, Lvl -1;
————————————
"It's so close to zero now…"
"Just one more person~"
I can take my time I guess... Well let's head back… I'm tired of this.
"Hey- that's mine!" Yelled a girl.
"What's the commotion about?"
I looked over the roof to see someone running away with a bag. I looked back at the road he came from to see a girl trying to run after him.
sigh
"I'll help just this once."
"This is also a good time to test how my magic works on living things."
I started running along the rooftop after the man, then I jumped in the air above him…
||FIREBALL; MODIFICATION, PURPLE FLAMES OF HELL||
"Heh? Modification?"
A cyan-blue sigil appeared on the back of my hand and an immense amount of heat built up in my palm. It illuminated the sky with a blaring purple light for a second… then I spun and threw the ball of fire at the thief. It burnt a hole straight through his chest and around three feet into the ground.
I landed and collected the bag.
"Maybe I should be more careful…"
The girl caught up and saw the thief's corpse.
"Gab ym ha!"
Oh shit-
She's already here?!
Do I say something…? I mean she won't understand it anyway but still.
Ah- fuck my eyes are purely red. Can I change them…? Why are my eyes even red?
||FORM SHIFT||
I started using my skill to try and change the red that fully covered my eyes. I started retracting it, revealing a bright red iris and a dark black pupil. I looked a little more human now… the yellow-gold '01' was still there for some reason. I turned around and looked at her.
"Uhhh…"
Shit what do I say?
She looked a little puzzled, but thankful that I got her bag. She took it out of my hand gently.
The girl had blonde hair in twin tails, pointy ears, blue eyes, and a light warm smile. She wore a light black dress with white stockings and black shoes. She had earrings, and hair clips on her bangs. She was also short? Probably around five foot seven, so around your average… human? Wait- pointy ears? This is a fantasy esc world… So an elf?
I then turned back and looked at the corpse.
"Well I can't just leave it here. Can I?"
||ABSORB||
||NOTICE: Skill [LANGUAGE MASTER] has returned to Level zero! The Language Barrier has slightly diminished!||
||NOTICE: [LANGUAGE MASTER] has become a Passive Skill!||
Hoh? It finally hit level zero… and now it's passive?
"Knaht you." the elf girl said.
"No problem?"
She then lightly smiled at me.
The oddest part wasn't that I was talking to an elf. It was that she didn't question my [Absorption] skill. I just ate the thief's corpse in front of her, but she doesn't even seem to care. Plus the hole in the ground from my fireball…
"I'm Esther Adelaide, ecin ot meet uoy."
"Esther?"
"Sey!" she said excitedly.
I need to level up my [Language Master] skill more…
This is kinda hard to understand. It's like I'm hearing things in reverse or some shit.