Welp… that's it. No screaming this time around. Time to spread my nonexistent arms and embrace death.
The end.
Just kidding ~
As if I’d die so pathetically ever AGAIN. Never ever ever.
Now, to commence Operation: I Wish I HAD A Plan.
What? It’s a great name. And yes, it’s actually a plan. And no, the plan isn’t to completely wing it.
Well, I lied a little bit. The actual name is simply, H.A.D. Standing for Hide, Appraise, and Destroy. And while it’s not completely winging it, a good chunk is precisely that.
Slowly siding back, I felt my slimy backside press up against a wall. The big fish was glaring at me, but did not decide to make any movement. Keeping one eye on the creature, I swiveled my other eyestalk around looking for a suitable crevice.
Locating one, about ten or so meters away, I instilled my emotions and repressed my doubts. Internally counting down, just to get myself psyched up.
3….2….1….GO!
And off I went. Scurrying across the ground like the agile slug I am. My sudden movements seemed to wake the bonehead from their stupor. Not that I had time to care, heck, even if I did I probably still wouldn’t.
Within a couple seconds, the fish was right on my tail, literally and figuratively speaking.
Great, this was totally going to be down to wire. Geez, I could have complained about how much this sucks, but it is what it is.
Finally making it to the crevice, I swan dived in, only to have the edge of my tail chomped off on my way in.
GUH! That hurts! Ouch ouch ouch. GRRRR. Oh, I am so going to kill you for that, fish-san. Just you wait.
Ignoring the pain, I’m relatively safe. The crack I chose is way too small for the bonehead to stick their ugly mug into. So now the first step, being hide, is now complete.
Next is appraisal. But before that….I want to see what my own status is looking like.
|
Name: Race: Grey Slug Gender: N/A Condition: Injured Level: 1 |
| EXP: 0/1000 |
| HP: 6/10 | MP: 1.5/5 | STA: 6/10 |
| STR: 1 | INT: 5 | DEX; 15 |
|
Danger Rank: G- Titles: Migrant, Loved by a Goddess, ???, ??? Racial Skills: Slime Secretion LV 1 Acquired Skills: Appraisal LV 1, Night Vision [Incomplete] Unique Skills: Thoth |
Dang. It’s pretty bad. But I think I can make this work. For now let’s appraise fish-san.
I focus my eyes outwards, outside the crevice I put myself in. The creature in question was bashing their head in trying to get to me. What an idiot.
APPRAISAL.
BING!
|
Name: Race: Tiamatian Eel Gender: Male Condition: Hungry Level: 4 |
| EXP; 45/250 |
| HP:15/19 | MP:0/0 | STA:7/15 |
| STR:13 | INT: 1 | DEX:12 |
|
Danger Rank: G Titles: Racial Skills: Hooked Fangs LV 2, Night Vision Acquired Skills: Hunger Resistance LV 3 Unique Skills: |
Now that I think about it….this is the first being I’ve appraised. Cool. Let’s actually focus and take a closer look, shall we?
Tiamatian Eel, huh? Probably a dungeon exclusive? Gender...whatever. Doesn’t matter what he is, cause he’ll be dead soon, but I’ll call him Eel-kun for now on. What? Japanese honorifics rock. All of them do,but chan is the best though.
Aw, you’re hungry Eel-kun? My condolences….SIKE! I bet my tail was rather tasty….don’t worry about the bill… Rather than that, you’ll be paying with your life.
No comment on comparing his experience needed to mine. Sometimes life just aint fair, you know? Maybe because it’s more difficult for me, I’ll have a better evolution or something?
Anyways, did he really hurt himself trying to get to me? Well that’s actually great. I could use all the help I can get. He’s definitely stronger than me, and I’ll most certainly lose in a straight up head to head fight. But why would I ever do that? All is fair in love and war, right?
With that…. the appraisal phase of the plan is now complete. Moving on to the final phase...haah. Hopefully I get strong soon so I won’t have to go through meticulous strategies to take out weak opponents. But that’s enough complaining. I gotta do what I got to do. Moving on to the final phase...being destroy.
Fortunately, I’ve already come up with a plan. Frankly, I’m surprised myself by my adaptability, but enough rambling. Let’s get started.
With my mind resolute, I shuffled towards the cracked opening of the crevice. Peaking out, I found Eel-kun still desperately trying to get in. Perfect.
I lined up my mouth, opened wide, and fired! But fired what exactly? Slime, that’s what. That racial skill, Slime Secretion, which I thought would be totally useless is actually pretty cool! It allows the user to create and expel slime from any part of their body. Kind of grossy, but also wicked cool.
The slime hit Eel-kun dead in the eye. I doubted that it did any damage, but it did blind him and cause him to back up. Which gave me an opportunity, one that I couldn’t pass up. Wasting no time, I pop out of my little hiding spot. Frantically searching for,yep, another cranny to slide into.
Finding one that met my new requirements, I dashed to it. Within the time I had found the new hole, Eel-kun had regained his composure and started chasing me.
I led the miserable fool straight into my trap. MUHAHAHA-AGH! How’d I choke while evil laughing in my head?!
Well….whatever. I dove into the nook, finding myself having ample space.Well, I am only a couple of centimeters big anyways, you know? Eel-kun on the other hand? Not so much. From my estimate, he’s about 120 centimeters long and 30 centimeters wide. So when he tried to follow me, he didn’t quite make it.
He was only a couple of centimeters off from making me his lunch. But luckily for me, he didn’t quite get there. He was tightly wedged in the crack, unable to pursue me any further, and also powerless to leave. I planned to take full advantage of his dilemma.
See the thing about eels is, they need to have their mouths open in order for them to get oxygen to their gills. So I wonder what would happen if someone were to clog an eels mouth with, I dunno, some type of slime. Would the eel die? Let’s experiment~
And so I opened my mouth again, filling it up with slime, and spewed the substance right into Eel-kuns’s maw. He thrashed violently in a desperate last attempt to take me out. But it was in vain. A few minutes later, he suffocated.
BING!
|
15 Experience points earned. |
Whaaat?! Only 15? But that was a stronger opponent, shouldn’t I get a bonus or something? Wait. He was only G rank. From what I understand that's still pretty weak. So, maybe I did get one? I don’t know and there’s not really a way for me to find out. But what I do know is, it's going to take forever to level up.
BING!
|
WARNING! STAMINA IS DEPLETED! |
Fuaa~h. Getting sleepy. I guess that Slime Secretion skill uses stamina. I’ll just take a nap.
*°*
Wake up, sleepyhead~
Fuaaa~h. Man that was a good nap. I’m kinda hungry though.
Eel-kun seems to have some moss or maybe algae growing off of him. I guess it's plausible with the crystals giving off some light. Still though, a bit too convenient for my taste, but who am I to complain.
Thanks for the food! Om nom nom!
Mhmmm, this is really really good.I wasn’t expecting much but this is delicious.
But I’ve eaten like five bites and I’m already full. I was always a light eater in my last life, and it seems like that’s still the case. I’m glad, I’d rather not be one of those gluttonous protagonists. Stuffing my face all the time is totally not my thing.
Though I do wonder, maybe gray slugs were considered herbivores because they had no chance of hunting anything? I’m full now, but I should check that when I have time.
Now that I think about it, I should also appraise the corpse so I can get a better idea on the traits of Eel-kun’s species.I know, I know, should’ve done that earlier, but sometimes you blank in life or death situations , you know?
BING!
|
A fresh corpse of a Tiamatian Eel. |
Fudgesicles. So you can’t view a creature’s status board. I guess that makes sense. Well, the more you know. Note to self, APPRAISE EVERYTHING FIRST BEFORE YOU KILL IT, IDIOT!
Oh yeah, Maua. I know it hasn’t been long at all….but I think it’s time we had another talk, you know?
EHHHHH?!
You know, the MC PoV is rather amusing to read.
To be frank I'm rather looking forward for more as I can't see MC surviving at all as it would need to kill around 66 fishes just for a Level Up and I doubt things would go as smoothly as it did in this chapter so the same strategy wouldn't work all the same at all and that's not even counting that it had to sleep after a kill which would also waste too much time it simple can't afford as its lifespan is horrible.
I’m glad you’re enjoying it.
Now, honestly I won’t go too deep to avoid spoilers, but let’s address what we can shall we? Normally you’re right, there’s no feasible way to survive this. However, while it’s undeniable slug-chan has a ton of things stacked up against them, they do have some advantages. One, they have human intelligence compared to the barely conscious sea dwellers. Two, they have a skill that legitimately grants other skills as long as they comprehend it. Three, they seem to have a literal, while a bit of an airhead, goddess on speed dial. Slug-chan shouldn’t have too much trouble coming up with strategies, they were a Special Ops captain before with plenty of experience.And the sleeping was due to already having dwindled stats before going into the fight.So while it definitely won’t be smooth, I think its plausible they could tough it out. And as far as the life span, that’ll get touched on next chapter. But here’s a hint in case you’d like to make a guess: LV 1. I’d love to see what you’d come up with.
Yikes, totally went on a tangent there.
Do your best, slime-chan! It's a tough dungeon world out there and I eel for your struggles
I sea what you did there. Shrimple yet sofishticated.
I instilled my emotions and repressed my doubts -> stilled(?)
wake the bonehead from their stupor. -> from its stupor.
time to care, heck, even if -> care. Heck,
Within a couple seconds, the fish was right on -> remove comma
bonehead to stick their ugly mug into. -> stick its ugly
It's pretty bad. But I think I can make this -> bad, but
All of them do,but chan is the best though. -> do, but chan is the best.
more difficult for me, I'll have a better evolution -> remove comma
Kind of grossy, but also wicked cool. -> gross
The slime hit Eel-kun dead in the eye -> remove extra space from before start of sentence
Frantically searching for,yep, another -> for, yep,
having ample space.Well, I am only a -> . Well
making me his lunch. But luckily for me, he -> lunch, but luckily for me he
were to clog an eels mouth with, I dunno, some type of slime. -> eel's....slime?
to take me out. But it was in vain. -> out, but
But what I do know is, it's going to -> maybe "What I do know is that it's going" ?
for my taste, but who am I to complain. -> complain?
this is really really good.I wasn't expecting much but this is delicious. -> really, really good. I ...much,
I'm glad, I'd rather not be one of those -> glad;
traits of Eel-kun's species.I know, I know, -> species. I
life or death situations , you know? -> situations,
view a creature's status board. -> view a dead creature's
Yeah, Joziah really doesn't come across as a battle hardened, emotionally traumatized veteran who had one sh**** situation after another for their entire lives. At least they aren't being super mopey, depressed, bitter and cynical about everything? It's certainly much more fun to read about a character like Joziah than yet another grimderp dark and emo MC.
(Checks other comments) slime/slug chan? Yeah, that works better since Joziah is their former name
Slug-chan and Maua make a great pair of airheads together.
delima
dilemma
Awwwup!
Perhaps "om nom nom" or "chomp" instead? That's a mildly confusing onomatopoeia you came up with, here.
Timatian
Tiamatian
Hopefully you skip most encounters, or Slug-chan finds a better way to gain experience in the future, otherwise levelling up is going to be a long, tedious slog, possibly destroying any inspiration or motivation you have to write...
And yes, I'm proud myself for managing to use "slug" and "slog" in the same sentence.
Thanks for the corrections and suggestions as always. It’s very much appreciated. And honestly, I never planned on showing most encounters. I feel like that would not only be incredibly hard for me to write, but also super boring for you all to read. So yeah, most encounters with creatures, with exception to the notable ones, will be off screen so to speak. Slug-chan definitely has some grinding to do. And you should be proud, that’s some stellar word play. Don’t mind me, just gonna put that into my notes for future use.
ut I’ve eaten like five bites and I’m already full. I was always a light eater in my last life, and it seems like that’s still the case. I’m glad, I’d rather not be one of those gluttonous protagonists. Stuffing my face all the time is totally not my thing.
would also be helluva bill to pay like got to get rich to fund that appetite lol
EXP; 45/250
I Knew something was wrong with the whole 0/1000 EXP that I saw when she first used status, also, this table used a semi-colon instead of a colon. Plus, MC could probably use appraisal to get a quick peek at the actual night vision skill to advance her own one.
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