Syl

Chapter 38: Spelunking

Once I was deep enough in the hole, I deposited my equipment and reverted to my comfortable blob form. It was far easier to travel like this without the need to worry about legs or cramped conditions. During the monotony of travel, I looked at the new skill I earned.

Deceive others with your presence, actions, and words.

Take on false roles and blur the lines of truth.

The effectiveness of your deception is based on skill level and circumstantial evidence.>

'Is it just me, or do some of these descriptions feel like they've been written by different people?' I wondered, 'I'm assuming I got this because I've not been entirely truthful to the goblins. Not to mention, the majority still think I'm Tarz.'

My vision received a much-needed improvement as the dark cave suddenly lit up, and I could see further along. The first point of trouble that came in my spelunking was when I reached a fork in the tunnel, both leading far into the dark. I shifted into my wolf form and started sniffing each direction for the fresher trail.

'Time to put this nose to work.'

Both forks had scent trails, but thanks to my skill and mimicked traits, it was simple to find the fresher one and head in that direction. I ran into my first straggler when the badgers retreated, which was occupied with eating the remains of a goblin. It snarled and growled at me, probably thinking I was a wolf after its meal.

Rather than fight as a wolf, I rapidly dropped the form while withdrawing slime mass, enough to plug the tunnel. Cramped and tight spaces were definitely to my advantage, and it was a simple matter of flooding forward until I engulfed the badger monster. It did try to claw at the wall of slime and tried to retreat when it saw it was ineffective, which was when I sent the tendrils to grab it.

I continued to travel along the tunnel until I came across what looked like another cavern breach. Before sticking my head out, I gave it a quick sniff in my wolf form and caught multiple scents.

'I think I found their nest.'

I could have gone in guns blazing and come out fine, but I had a new form and skill to give a workout. Shapeshifting into a badger, I picked out the following traits to copy: [Enhanced Claws], [Enhanced Strength], [Thick Skin]. I could have mimicked a higher level of [Defy Death], but I didn't want to risk using more than my own single use, and then when I turn back into a slime, I just suddenly explode and die.

I cautiously entered through the breach and into a cave expanse. It was much larger than I expected, possibly a natural cave that the monsters spawned directly in, and then they branched out or perhaps another entrance from elsewhere. Surprisingly, it wasn't completely dark, and a few bioluminescent mushrooms were growing along the walls.

The badgers were either sleeping or eating, and I mentally held my breath when I neared one, but it barely glanced at me. Grateful for my successful disguise, I continued to scout the cavern, and that was when I spotted the nest and the largest monster I had ever seen, easily twice the size of a bear.

Its front claws were comically big and seemed to leak a dark liquid. Its black and white fur had spiked protrusions emerging from its back that were also slowly leaking. The image that came to mind was if a badger ate a porcupine, and then the porcupine tried to burst out of its back. As if it wasn't happy with its overall spikiness, its tail was also fully covered in bristles.

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Worthy.

Looking at it with [Mana Sight], it didn't have much of an aura, but then I caught sight of a small orb of mana between its paws. I approached cautiously and discovered it was currently chowing down on a slime! Its slime was purple, and it contained an apple-green core. I wanted that core.

'I recall purple being a poison slime type. So this monstrosity is literally eating poison?'

Suppressing my urge to jump in and grab it, I wondered if I could convince the creature to share its food. I was currently one of its kind, so let's test my [Acting] skill. I sat near the creature and started to make mewling noises to get its attention while staring at the slime. The profile hinted that these monsters communicated with a pheromone gland in the posterior, so I just hoped my [Shapeshifting Mimicry] and [Acting] would cooperate. Unexpectedly, it made a hissing noise at me, but not out of anger and instead what felt like a warning.

'Is it warning me that it's poison? What a good parent or... boss? I'm still not sure about the whole monster society thing going on.'

I kept insisting that I wanted to eat it. The monster seemed to be thinking for a moment, and I was waiting for the rejection but then started digging in the nest. Plucked out with its stupidly large claws, it dropped an even smaller slime in front of me.

'What the hell, is it keeping a nest full of snacks for itself?' I thought and stared at the smaller purple slime with a notably weaker aura, 'So it's letting me have a trial taste with the weaker one?'

Resisting the deep urge to just gobble it down, I kept up my act by taking a small nervous first nibble. When nothing bad happened, I ate a bit more. The giant monster actually had a nervous smell at first, but as I kept eating and showing no ill signs, the smell was slowly replaced with something similar to pride. However, my patience had run its course, and in a single big bite, I chomped down on the core.

'Yes! Yes! Yes!' I answered impatiently.

My celebrations were interrupted by a growl and getting smacked by the badger. I thought it might have turned hostile, but I just smelt hints of anger and disappointment. I faked a yelp noise while scurrying away. It didn't follow, thankfully, and resumed snacking.

This slime contains harmful poisons and toxins, producing an assortment of harmful or deadly effects on its victims.

Different effects can be mixed at a reduced potency for each combination and limited to trait level.

The potency of any malignant condition scales with trait level but can also be affected by outside factors such as dilution, concentration, or delivery method.

Additional effect types must be acquired through sampling poisons, toxins, or venoms.

Available effects: [Paralysis].

Compatible with other slime traits.>

'And I thought [Acid Slime] was crazy... Not only does the trait have levels, but it has its own included catalog that I can expand by sampling. It always comes back to eating things. Maybe I need to consider gluttonous at this point...'

I looked at the updated slime profile from the new species. Common traits were [Slime Shot] and [Slime Burst], which made sense because how else would it deliver its poison? The rare trait made me scared when I read its name alone, thinking it was a self-destruct button, but the description disarmed my paranoia.

Allows slime mass to be vaporized into a gaseous form, dispersing into the air.

This conversion process is irreversible, and the expended slime mass is unrecoverable.

This trait has no levels.

Compatible with other slime traits.>

'So the common purple slimes would spit their goop at foes to poison them, while the rare ones can emit noxious gases. Sounds utterly horrendous, and I'm so glad that I'm immune to poison.'

I wanted this trait, and I happened to be surrounded by tons of free experience. Who knew that cave spelunking could be so rewarding?