Chapter 3: The Slime Settlement
Morning came early.
A ray of sunlight peeped through a crack in the cave roof, illuminating one corner of the cave.
The sleeping slimes began to stir one by one.
Some yawned, stretching their gelatinous limbs, while some bounced lightly towards the water pools in the cave.
Tanaka watched all of it with interest.
"Do slimes even sleep?"
He certainly hadn’t.
Well, not in a human sense, anyway.
He had merely...napped.
His consciousness had wandered off while his mana recharged.
As soon as morning came, he was wide awake with no sign of fatigue.
"Convenient."
A small slime bounced up to him.
Boing.
Tanaka chuckled.
"You again?"
The little slime circled him twice before nudging him towards the side of the cave.
"You want me to follow?"
It bounced up and down excitedly.
Tanaka followed the little slime, which led him deeper into the cave.
It was much bigger than he had expected.
Yesterday, he had only seen a small part of it.
The tunnels stretched on and on in all directions.
Rooms with fungi growing from the ceiling dotted the place, while others held water pools where slimes gathered to drink water and replenish mana.
Another room was filled with pretty stones of all colors: blue, green, and amber.
Many slimes were rolling the pretty pebbles around happily.
Tanaka stopped dead in his tracks.
"Pretty."
The little slime looked at him, then the stones, then him again.
Without hesitation, it pushed a blue crystal towards him, about the size of a marble.
"For me?"
Boing!
Tanaka stared at the little slime in confusion.
The blue crystal sparkled nicely under the morning light, impossibly pretty.
He swallowed the crystal whole.
The crystal floated off next to his core, undissolved.
"I just wanted to look at it."
The little slime bounced happily nonetheless.
Tanaka chuckled.
"I guess this is mine now."
His first treasure.
It wasn’t much, but he liked it.
Very much.
"So shiny..."
Several nearby slimes gathered around him.
They began pushing all sorts of colorful stones towards him.
Blue, green, purple... One particularly round pebble had a few golden specks scattered across it.
Tanaka’s eyes widened.
"They’re all pretty."
Soon enough, he had a small collection of shiny stones.
The little slime bounced happily around his collection.
Tanaka couldn’t help but smile.
"I’m acting like a crow."
Or perhaps
like a slime.
The whole village stiffened.
A hunting party returned.
Unlike yesterday, though, Tanaka observed their actions with interest.
The big slimes carried various fruits inside their bodies, while some had roots tied to their waists.
One big slime even had several glowing mushrooms inside its stomach!
Not a single one dissolved as it exited the big slime’s body.
Tanaka was impressed.
"So that’s how they carry their stuff."
One of the bigger slimes dropped several berries near the center of the room.
The whole village gathered around the berries.
Not a single slime tried to take more than one berry.
The berries were...shared freely among the slimes.
Each slime ate one berry before bouncing off to the side.
The little slime next to Tanaka pushed a berry towards him.
"For me again?"
Boing.
Tanaka ate the berry carefully.
It dissolved almost instantly, sending a warm feeling through his body.
"That’s actually delicious."
The berry had given him a small amount of mana.
Just enough to notice.
"So monsters recover mana by eating..." Tanaka muttered.
Another useful bit of knowledge.
He glanced at his Soul Record.
It should have updated by now, since his mana had changed.
[ Soul Record
Name: None
Race: Lesser Slime
Rank: F
Magic Core: F
Skills
• Survivor Lv.1 ]
That was it.
Tanaka was actually quite pleased.
It hadn’t been a full day, after all.
His skill hadn’t leveled up, but at least his mana had increased slightly.
Hopefully, it would continue to do so soon enough.
Tanaka felt a familiar pulse.
The elder slime.
It slowly bounced towards the middle of the room, where the hunting party had gathered.
All the slimes gathered around the elder one.
Though no one said anything, it was obvious that the elder slime was giving orders of some sort.
Several hunting parties formed.
One would go berry gathering, another would collect mushrooms, and yet another would get fresh water.
Tanaka was impressed.
"They don’t have language..." He muttered.
"but they have society."
Simple and effective, yet so incredibly fascinating.
His admiration for the slime village grew by the second.
Suddenly, the elder slime locked eyes with Tanaka.
"Me?"
The old slime bounced lightly.
A smaller hunting party broke off from the others.
Only four members, all bigger than Tanaka.
Even the little slime next to him seemed excited.
The elder pushed Tanaka gently towards the hunting party.
"Wait."
"You actually want me to go?" His little companion practically screamed.
The hunting slimes didn’t seem to mind, though.
They waited patiently as Tanaka glanced towards the cave entrance.
Yesterday...
They had stopped him from leaving.
Today...
They were encouraging him to go.
"Guess I’ve been promoted." Tanaka chuckled.
He bounced after the hunting slimes.
The forest outside the cave was beautiful.
Tanaka could almost mistake it for a game.
It smelled nice, with the cool scent of damp earth, and the air was filled with birdsong.
Sunlight filtered through the thick leaves above, casting interesting patterns on the forest floor.
Everything was so...alive.
Much more lively than any game he had played before.
Tanaka’s eyes feasted on the colorful flora and fauna.
Strange flowers, giant mushrooms, butterflies with crystal wings, and a squirrel-like creature with glowing nuts... They were all so fascinating.
"Amazing."
Tanaka almost forgot about the reason he had come here until his little companion bumped into him.
Hard.
Boing!
"Huh?"
The hunting slimes all froze.
Something was moving in the bushes ahead.
It slowly came out, revealing...a rabbit?
Tanaka quickly crouched behind some rocks.
His core pulsed rapidly.
The rabbit was strange, too.
It had white fur stained with blood around its muzzle, and long, cruel claws took the place of tiny paws.
Its fangs glinted wickedly in the morning light as it stared directly at the slimes.
Tanaka’s happiness deflated.
"That’s, definitely not a normal rabbit."