For some reason, immediately after digesting it, I felt a little... better. The world seemed a little bit less confusing. It was a strange feeling as if I was on the bottom of the ocean and barely managed to lift myself, some light finally reaching me. I was still far away from the surface though.
But, that wasn't the most important right now! I had gotten a new skill. That's what the little prompt said. To be honest, I had no clue how it worked, and I had never seen something like that before. But I trusted it. Why? I don't know, but it seemed just right to go with the flow. My body felt different. And I knew that if...
Ssscchh
With my newfound energy, I walked/rolled to the nearest crystal. I say it as if it took a second or two, but it took much more time. I kind of sat on it, my slime body coalescing around the crystal as I could, and I just... ate it. It wasn't really eating, the process wasn't the same that the one I had to eat the insect. Rather, it started to fizzle, and some sort of.. blue smoke came out from it. I even felt my body heat up a little bit, but it didn't burn. Could I be burned? I should try one day. Or no? Meh, we'll see.
I felt the crystal gradually become smaller and smaller, leaving a small gap in the stone, where it lay before. I still felt hungry. Huh, so it was bullshit? That isn't fair. I almost died. At least give me a useful skill! This thing even burned some of my energy! Not fair.
As I continued to revolt against the injustice of the Universe in my head, I, at first, didn't feel the powder slowly entering my body. It slowly made its way towards my core, or rather my body made it go towards there.
Oh... When I felt it, I stopped complaining. This skill wasn't so useless after all. I felt the outer layer of my core disintegrate the powder in mana, and that mana made its way towards the centre of my core, where it got absorbed. The core of any living being was its heart, and, based on the species, it had a different way of functioning. For lowly species like mine, it simply used the brute mana to move around.
Wait. How the hell do I know that? Why...
Thud
Before I could have a mental breakdown from all the new things I had to process, the same sound that woke me up repeated itself. Something metallic hit the stone floor. For some reason, it had stopped for a moment, and only now began again. It also sounded... louder. 'Okay. That might be a problem.' I thought to myself. So, I decided to first finish eating, or rather, absorbing the crystal in my core. For some reason, I was kind of scared. What was that thing that fell? I had no idea to know. So, I was scared. Maybe it was a monster? Maybe I would di-
[New energy detected. Processing...]
'What? Processing? Ey, hurry up or else..'
[Processing complete. Energy has been classified as "Pure Mana".
"Pure Mana" is being converted into experience points. Processing...]
...
The first process took some time, or I think it did. And it kind of pissed me off, not gonna lie. But... Did this prompt run on an old Pentium computer or what? I mean, I didn't know much about Systems, but I knew they were supposed to be fas-
Wh-what ?? Again this feeling. As if something or someone forcefully implanted.. things... inside of my head. And it wasn't even clear... It was as if someone cut the knowledge that I should've had. Rectification: What bothered me right there and then wasn't knowing too much. It was knowing too much about something I knew too little. It's as if I had seen the footprint of an enormous beast. I knew that it was big, and could have some basic info. But I felt like I missed so much... and I had no fucking way to know more! Yeah. It was, simply put, frustrating. That's what I felt.
[Processing complete. 50 experience points have been added to your status.
95000 until the next stage]
'Status? What's that?'
...
For some reason, I had expected the prompt to reply to my thoughts. Spoiler Alert: It didn't. Like, at all. Was 50 experience points a lot ? Maybe. How was I supposed to know? It didn't change the fact that... I had 95 000 points left. 95. Fucking. Thousand.
I cursed this uselessly slow prompt, before setting back to my original plan. Investigate what was that thing. And not die. Yeah, not dying sounded like a good idea. Maybe I should eat some more rocks before heading there? So I could fight it if anything? Better be safe than sorry I guess.
'That crystal seems big enough. Let's go there'
I began to move. I felt a little stronger now. My speed had increased, it seemed, but I still felt as if was painstakingly slow. I had set my target on a crystal that dominated this portion of the cave, casting its light all around it. 'I hope it gives me more than 50 experience points.' I looked around, especially at the ceiling. It didn't change, no matter how much I looked at it. It was to be expected. Still, it had a somewhat mesmerising allure. I couldn't help myself but to just stare at it, like a kid staring at the stars in the nightsky.
Plop
One thing I had forgotten to do was... looking in front of me. And I hit something. Something that wasn't a rock.... and it started moving.
'Ah.'
Damned ceiling.
