Syl

Chapter 47: Improv

'Ugh! Why couldn't they just run away? Did I ham up the act too much?' I screamed internally as the adventurers seemed to laugh at my threats.

I was so relieved when they failed to identify me, and I thought it would add to the threat, especially when they screamed about my mana levels. They rallied together even when I created my fake spell and hoped to intimidate them with the raw mana level. Either [Acting] was working overtime, or maybe the mages weren't so knowledgeable as they seemed to think it was a spell, despite just being a slimeball combo.

They even fired at me while I was doing my evil speech, the nerve! I panicked at that, but neither Alpha nor Beta reacted, and I had to hold back my relief when it harmlessly bounced off my "mana barrier". Did they think I wasn't even worthy of using [Power Shot] on? I used [Slime Burst] and gave it some scary-sounding name, taking inspiration from the rather evil-sounding spell names that Krutz himself had.

One of the humans rushed up to challenge me. I thought this might have been the end for me, but perhaps he was overestimating his own capabilities as he was easy to dodge with [Evasion] and [Enhanced Agility]. Keeping up my act, I disguised an acidic poison slime spear as another spell and gave it another cringe-inducing name. It did far more damage than I expected, and he fell. I yoinked his weapon and deposited it. If I survived this, I'd gladly eat it and add it to my profile collection.

'Wow. Shit. Maybe I shouldn't have used Bloodrot. After how much the bear resisted Bloodrot, I didn't expect it to be this effective.'

'A new skill? No time to read it, unfortunately.'

'Looks like the potion wasn't enough to save him... Quite an intimidating class name. I guess he thought he'd stop my spells directly?'

I sensed them starting to ignore me and slaughter the goblins, as they likely wanted to deal with me last as a group effort. I couldn't allow this, as I needed them at least partially still occupied to make my escape. I threatened them with another ball of slime, and it caused absolute panic among the adventurers.

'I guess the aftermath of my fake spell has unnerved them.'

They all screamed for someone to stop me, and that was when I saw two blazing red mana auras erupting across the battlefield. Having seen the explosions of fire and smoke from previous fireballs, I quickly decided that this might make the perfect opportunity for "Krutz" to fall.

I braced for the impact and just prayed to Gramps that I had stacked my defenses high enough to survive. They collided with me, and I felt Alpha and Beta immediately withdrawing slime mass from my reserves to regenerate my defenses as they burnt away in the intense heat. I dropped the skull scepter and ripped off the burning remains of Krutz's outfit.

'Shit. Won't they realize I'm still alive if they don't get a kill notification?' I suddenly thought and then hastily gave my last performance, screaming profanities mixed with death cries and ranting about essence. I hoped it was dramatic enough. I even screamed while morphing my throat to give a horrific melting gurgling death rattle.

I dropped a portion of my acid poison sphere on the ground to make it a little more believable. Maybe they'd see the bones melting of the other dead goblins caught in the blast. I reclaimed the rest, as I desperately needed slime mass, and kicked off [Slime Conversion].

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Despite covering myself in layers and layers of defensive slime, I could feel my core taking damage from the intense heat.

'Shit. Shit. Shit. I thought I'd be fine as long as I kept regenerating my outer layer!'

I cycled my waste water from my storage to try to cool down, but it almost instantly turned to steam. Even when I escaped the raging inferno and sneaked away, my core still took persistent damage. I began to deposit the superheated slime in storage while withdrawing from my reserves. Despite being away from the inferno, using all my water, swapping out my slime, and everything else I could think of, I still received a notification that terrified me.

I dreaded the second notification and my last line of emergency defense, but thankfully, it never came. I felt awful, and I never expected my core boiling alive in my own slime to be one of my near-death experiences. Everything hurt. I crawled into one of the huts and had to decide what to do.

'I could just melt down and hopefully find a cave or something... Or perhaps I could use this situation to get into the city. The goblins had some information, but clearly, the humans had more. If I don't get more knowledge, I worry about what will be used against me in the future. Maybe I can even get a class?'

'My immediate thought is to turn into a simple blue slime. Perhaps the humans would take me back to the field? But I don't know what my profile would say. I don't think I can fake my levels, and if they see a high-level blue slime, then who knows what they will think. Worst case scenario, they see my evolution, and then the jig is up.'

I considered turning into one of the four humans, but what if they knew them and asked questions? I'd be unable to answer or replicate their knowledge. I had to act quickly. I turned into Syl and habitually auto-equipped my clothes.

'No, these are too good. I need to look like a prisoner.'

I deposited my clothes again and then threw myself to the ground, covering myself in the dirt. With my usual outer defenses disabled, I hoped to add some scratches and bruises. This plan did not work until I dedicated some mental processing to allow injuries to be mimicked. Thankfully, [Shapeshifting Mimicry] seemed up to the task and perfectly replicated some nasty looking injuries. I rapidly searched my inventory for something to wear. I pulled out my goblin cloak, tore it a bit, and put it on. It barely covered me, which was likely suitable for a prisoner, and I was glad I lacked the shame of nudity.

I used some tendrils to bind my limbs with some cloth and rope that I found inside the hut, and finally, I gagged myself. I hoped my [Acting] skill would be up to the task as I could hear the adventurers roaming around. I quickly scrambled through the profile for traits to mimic, hoping to help my situation. I first looked at the starting traits available to me.

As a mystical race with a unique history and enshrouded in mystery non-elves are affected by a minor charm condition when interacting with an elf.

The charm success rate scales with trait level but is always restricted to minor effects, such as making the elf seem more presentable, their words more enticing, and their appearance more attractive.>

'Gramps... Ugh...'

Elves are deeply in tune with their body and naturally highly agile and dexterous.

Improves reaction speed, agility, and dexterity scaling with trait level.

Prohibits the traits [Enhanced Vitality] or [Enhanced Strength].>

'A better version of [Enhanced Agility]? Do they stack? I'm sure my [Evasion] skill will be happy. It's my first time seeing a trait forbidding another trait, but I can still mimic the trait despite owning [Enhanced Vitality]. Seems like a loophole, although once again, I'm denied my [Enhanced Strength].'

As the guardians of nature and to represent their heritage, all elves can communicate with plants and non-magical animals.

The level of understanding and the willingness to offer aid is based on trait level.>

'Hey, plants, can you save me? No thanks.'

[Ageless] and [Lowlight Vision] could be easily ignored, as I had the superior [Dark Vision], and I wasn't sure if slimes even could die of old age. I wished my elf profile was complete, and I looked at one of the only unique traits I could see.

One of the chosen paths, the elven archer is to be feared, and their talent with a bow is unparalleled.

Bows will receive a proficiency bonus to accuracy and damage based on trait level.

This trait can be activated to mark any visible weak points, and ranged attacks against them will inflict bonus damage based on trait level.>

'Oh! This is similar to that thing the Blade Wolf could do, except with added bow stuff. I have a spare slot, so why not?'

I wondered what other unique and starting traits I was missing out on. My final trait selection was [Elven Glamour], [Elven Reflexes], [Elven Marksmanship], and [Mana Well]. My own [Mana Well] was still struggling to gain any levels, so maybe I could give it an artificial boost like I did with [Mana Sight].

I debated grabbing another [Sub-Core], but I dared not risk the slime mass that I needed to repair my suffering core and defend myself. I wasn't even sure if I could safely withdraw the boiling slime mass stored away during my frantic attempts to stay alive.

My thoughts were interrupted when I heard a commotion outside, and with what sounded like a kick, the door splintered, and a man and woman entered. The man held two swords at the ready while the woman held a knife edge between her fingers. I put on my best look of fear, which was actually pretty accurate at this stage - I was taking a massive risk. I quickly warned Alpha and Beta against any attack and to focus purely on internal defense.

'Time for an encore performance, I hope you're up to the task [Acting].'