Next up, the centipede. I hardly wanted to mimic that guy, what with how
it looked and all. Its breath had about the same range as the black snake's,
and its form was about the same size as well. As I figured, trying to use it in
slime form limited the range to only about a meter. It could come in handy for
a surprise attack, I supposed, but if a foe was already within that radius, I'd
be sunk unless I transformed or ran, so…
The lizard's armor, as I mentioned, put up zero resistance whatsoever to
Poisonous Breath. I couldn't expect much from it. Besides, I already had
Resist Melee Attack, so there wasn't much point. Using it in slime form just
made my external surface a bit tougher, kind of like the metallic slimes that
show up in that one RPG series and give you lots of EXP. It gave a nice metal
sheen to my light-turquoise body; whatever it did to me must've changed the
way the light reacted to my surface. I didn't want to test how I took damage
with that on, though, so its effect remained a bit of a mystery. That little extra
tint might help scare my foes into submission, though.
That about wrapped up those three. The real meat, so to speak, lay in the
other two. They were pretty darn fascinating.
First, the spider. Who wouldn't want to imitate that famous superhero
who does all the spidery stuff? Firing webs from his hands powerful enough
to let him swing around skyscrapers, and all that?
Sticky Thread, it seemed, was originally meant to let the user encase their
prey in webs, rendering them immobile. But could I use it to do some fancy
web-rope slinging of my own? Let's try it. Point it at that tree branch,
and…
Whoosh! …Swiiiiiiing...…
So, uh, on to Steel Thread.
What? Sticky Thread? Never heard of it. Just some skill that leaves you
hanging around motionless in the air. Pass. On to Steel Thread.
I guess this is meant to block your foe's attack. The spider uses it to help
it create an effective (i.e., labyrinthine) web, the Sage told me. So I busted a
thread out and whipped it against a tree.
Whoosh! Snap!
And lopped the trunk right off.
With Magic Sense, I could tell that this Steel Thread would be extremely
difficult for the naked eye of a human to detect. If I worked with it a little, I
bet it could be a decent weapon. I spent a little time doing just that in case it
would come in handy later.
Finally, the bat. To be honest, out of this entire zoo, I had the greatest
expectations for the bat.
But—I mean, geez, Drain. If it hits, you could use 70 percent of your
target's skills for a limited period of time. Big whoop! Predator was far
more effective. Talk about a precipitous drop in quality. And what's the point
of sucking someone's blood when you can just analyze their data instead? I'll
just toss that one aside.
Ultrasonic Wave, on the other hand, piqued my interest. This skill had the
effect of confusing your foes or making them lose consciousness, but it was
originally used for echolocation. Just like bats back on my home planet, you
could use these sound waves to suss out exactly where you and other objects
were positioned.
But the skill didn't matter to me. The sonic waves it emitted did. This
slime was about to get his voice back. Talk about a stroke of luck. Instead of
having to reinvent the wheel from the cells I had, I could just absorb a
relevant monster and take the skill for myself.
Can I form it into a voice, though? That's the tricky part. So I continued
my research. Restlessly, forgoing all sleep (not that I needed it), I walked
around for three days and three nights, testing it out.
The end result:
"I COME FROM OUTER SPACE!"
Perfect!
It was still a bit distorted, like someone tapping at their throat while
yelling through a box fan, but it was definitely a voice! Now all I had to do
was fine-tune it!
Trying my best to calm my excitement, I began the long, arduous voice-
adjustment process.
These supersonic waves were so useful. I thought I remembered reading
something about a weapon that used sound waves. A sonic buster or sonic
blaster or something like that? Could I do that?
Received. There is a chance that the skill "Super Vibration" may
be derived from "Ultrasonic Wave." This cannot be acquired at this
time.
So I need to derive it or change the skill somehow? Not much to go on,
but nothing doing for now, I guess. Not like everything's gonna be handed
to me on a silver platter. Maybe I'm getting too greedy, but the more cards
in your hand, right?
No need to push things along too fast, though. Obtaining vocal cords is
a huge coup by itself. I should be happy with it.
Looking back, I'd obtained a ton of skills in pretty short order as I
wandered around, continuing with my research as I aimed for the exit.
And while it took some time, I eventually made it. The outside. The first
time I got to bask in the sunlight of this world.
Feels as if it's been a while, going outside like this. It has been several
months, come to think of it. Hopefully the light wouldn't burn or melt me
like a vampire…although as a monster, I would reportedly have an
instinctual knowledge of what would be dangerous to my continued
existence.
People do things they know are bad for them all the time, right? No joke.
We could learn something from these monsters.
The cave, it turned out, was in a forest. The exit was just a hole at the foot
of a mountain—more of a small hill, really, which stood out against the vast
trees that surrounded it. In fact, thanks to the dense foliage, this hill was the
only point you could see the sun from. Take a step into the forest, and all
appeared to be dim darkness again.
Climbing to the top of the hill, I saw some kind of strange pattern carved
into it. A magical pentacle or something? Sure seemed like it. Maybe those
adventurers I bumped into were responsible? Guess it doesn't matter much.
A wise man keeps away from danger, as they say.
I sidled off.
A fair amount of time had passed since I left the cave. The sun was
starting to set, which indicated that I must have reached the cave exit right
around midday. I had a surprisingly accurate internal clock, and it would've
been nice if it could've aligned itself with a standardized sense of time.
And the moment I thought about it, it happened. Sheesh. Is it this easy to
do stuff like that? This Sage is one heck of a personal assistant to have
around.
Anyway, it was now past four in the afternoon. About time to prep for
dinner, but sadly, I no longer had to eat. I could, but the meaninglessness of
the gesture would probably just make me feel empty inside.
So I kept messing around with the new skills I'd obtained from the
monsters I'd consumed in the cave. How to use them, neat ways to combine
them, whatever else I could do with them, et cetera. Speech was a particular
focus.
That was what occupied my time as I continued down the path I'd found.
No particular destination. It would've been nice if there was a town or
village with someone nice I could've talked to…but everything had been
incredibly quiet over the past few days. After getting attacked so frequently
in the cave, I hardly got any attention at all outdoors. Just once, while
practicing my elocution, a pack of wolves started stalking me. I tried to
threaten them—"Ah?" I said—and that was all it took.