Soon his thoughts were proven right.
The gray mist drifted through the forest like descending ghosts, searching... eventually clearly pouncing toward every magical creature.
There was no precise targeting, only pure, primitive attraction.
Chen Yu's mung bean-sized eyes reflected the gray mist surging toward the swamp. His instincts roared with craving for this unknown gray mist, but reason sank him back deep into the foul-smelling muck.
Soon he discovered that hiding was meaningless. The gray mist penetrated everywhere, like true ghosts ignoring physical matter, drilling into his body.
Hiss... it felt somewhat itchy.
The slime's sense of touch was simple, almost only capable of feeling pressure and pain. This was the first time his body had experienced an "itchy" sensation.
But as the gray mist continued pouring in, the "itch" disappeared, replaced by a floating sensation, like drifting on clouds, relaxed and comfortable, making him crave it endlessly.
Wait...
It's poison!
【Willpower Check・Passed】
【Race Check・Failed】
【You have fallen into abnormal status (Greed)】
By the time he realized this, it was already too late. A strange frenzy had silently spread throughout his entire body.
His body hissed, every part of his gel convulsing with thirst, screaming for more, more mana... involuntarily floating upward, wanting to reach the source of the mana, greedily devouring, tearing, biting... completely possessing it!
The green gel head emerged from the swamp. The world that had previously contained only white noise was suddenly filled with the furious roar of heavy rain.
The wind howled, the forest trembled.
Bean-sized raindrops beat against Chen Yu's head, threads of icy cold and pain seeping deep into his mind. He jolted awake, returning from the abyss of desire.
Looking around through the hazy rain curtain, in the faint moss fluorescence, many magical creature figures seemed to flash by, some as small as mice, others as large as wild boars. Their goal was all to chase the unknown source of mana.
Even though the torrential rain had already drowned out the surrounding world, within this chaotic uproar, Chen Yu could still clearly capture the heart-palpitating howls piercing through the rain curtain.
Those were beastly roars from deep within the dense forest, low and violent, carrying a primitive, savage, immense power that instantly pierced through the slime's deepest fear instincts, making his transparent gel body tremble uncontrollably.
"What exactly is deep in the forest?"
Chen Yu struggled to suppress his instincts, submerging again.
This time he didn't dare linger outside casually, planning to return to the nest.
Halfway through swimming, he discovered a green shadow suddenly emerging from the turbid water, swallowing him.
It was Slime Mother coming out to find him.
Returning to the warm, reassuring gel, Chen Yu's tense nerves gradually relaxed.
But what made him curious was that Slime Mother seemed completely unaffected by the gray mist mana. When burrowing into the soil, he could see the Swamp Worm curled up sleeping in the soil, also completely unharmed.
Compared to the surface, it was eerily quiet underground.
So why was he affected by the gray mist mana?
If he had to say how he differed from these lower magical creatures, it was probably that he had a magic organ.
It seemed the magic organ was the key to perceiving the gray mist mana.
Squelch.
Slime Mother squeezed into the nest, placing Chen Yu back in the grass nest.
Slimes were magical creatures that needed sunlight and rain to grow, so through long day-night cycles they had evolved sleep. The routine of foraging during the day and resting at night was completely ingrained in slime habits.
He fell into the grass nest, pushing aside the small glowing specks inside. They didn't react, just sleeping quietly, their bouncy gel bodies gently rising and falling with their breathing rhythm.
This peaceful, reassuring atmosphere affected Chen Yu. Sleepiness surged out like tidewaters, gradually submerging the frenzied island, along with his reason sinking together.
He didn't know how much time passed.
He fell asleep.
Slept very soundly, very deeply.
His slightly large body rose and fell rhythmically along with the surrounding small specks.
And at the nest entrance, Slime Mother quietly guarded these little ones through the night.
...
The next day.
Clear bird songs outside the thatched cottage penetrated through the window paper. Chen Yu, lying on the bed, moved his eyelashes and slowly opened his eyes.
——
Race: Acidic Slime
Level: Black Iron Lv.2 [EXP: 6/20]
Cultivation: Qi Training Lv.3 [Spiritual Energy: 0/30]
Life Status: Healthy [HP: 80/80]
Racial Talent: Devour Digestion Lv.2
Other Talents: Acid Secretion Lv.2
Skill List: Open Yuan Treasure Scroll Lv.4, Object Manipulation Lv.3
Reputation Title: None (Unknown Slime)
——
"Huh?"
Chen Yu got up from the wooden bed, only then realizing that while his cultivation had reached Qi Training Level Three, his Devour Digestion had also reached Lv.2.
It seemed to be thanks to last night's gray mist mana.
But the cost was that when his conscious perception fully took over his body, waves of hunger immediately came from his stomach, urging him to eat.
Chen Yu hurriedly got out of bed to start a fire and cook, taking fermented bamboo shoot pickles from the jar, eating them with solid rice. He ate six large bowls before the tormenting hunger in his stomach gradually eased.
After satisfying his noisy stomach, feeling threads of warmth surging through his body, he sat back on the wooden bed, his consciousness completely immersing into the slime body.
With last night's rainstorm causing such commotion, he couldn't wait to see what had happened outside.
In the slime nest, with the arrival of morning, the small specks in the grass nest gradually woke up, blinking their mung bean eyes and hopping around.
If asked what their greatest interest was, of course it was "bumping" into the biggest brother, enjoying the thrilling moment of being bounced away. Like kindergarten slides, it was one of their few and most fun entertainment methods.
Chen Yu woke from deep sleep, his originally flat, puddle-like body gradually rebounding, becoming three-dimensional.
Ignoring the playful small specks around him, Chen Yu jumped out of the grass nest, seeing that Slime Mother had already gone out foraging early.
He burrowed out of the nest, swimming all the way under the muck, stirring the turbid water as he surfaced.
Before he even surfaced from the swamp, he faintly sensed changes in the swamp.
Huh?
Why had the water suddenly turned so green...
He moved closer to look, only to realize this wasn't water at all, but clearly numerous swimming slimes.
Their sizes were larger than his, as if they had suddenly grown overnight.
Seeing his own kind, Chen Yu originally wanted to greet them friendly, but saw three slimes surrounding him, their emitted pheromones revealing blatant provocation, as if baring teeth and saying "get out of here."
Oh...
So it's gangster slimes.
He estimated these few outsider slimes wanted to compete for swamp territory, bullying him specifically.
"Of all the slimes to pick on, you had to pick me."
Chen Yu naturally wouldn't be polite with slime gang forces. The three Poison Stinger Swords accumulated inside his body, attached with acid, suddenly stabbed out.
Thump... the poison stingers pierced into their bodies, the attached Slime Acid sizzling in the water, hurting them so much they twisted and deformed, struggling frantically, finally fleeing in panic.
Chen Yu didn't care about those three Poison Stinger Swords either. After all, these past few days playing with Poison-stinger Wasps had gotten him plenty of stingers. Some he had hidden in the slime nest, and he still had four stored inside his body.
After easily defeating the provoking slimes, the surrounding spectating slimes also recognized Chen Yu's fearsomeness, silently swimming away.
Without slimes blocking his way, Chen Yu surfaced all the way, emerging from the water.
Before his eyes was bright sunlight. Last night's rainstorm had knocked many leaves from the forest, and now sunlight could shine unobstructed on the swamp.
Even the forest's year-round accumulated decay odor had been washed clean by the rain, the air becoming much fresher.
He quietly extended a pair of eyes to observe his surroundings.
On rocks, moss-covered ground, even among branches, slimes covered every surface basking in the sun.
Looking up toward the swamp oak tree ahead—Poison-stinger Wasps collected meat materials among the branches to repair their storm-damaged nest; Moss Monsters and Swamp Worms fed under the tree as usual.
And further away, some unfamiliar figures seemed to be wriggling and crawling.
Beetles, jumping mosquitoes, giant pincer ants...
After the carnival, the swamp forest had become much livelier than before. But for the forest's weak slimes, this meant more natural enemies and predators, not exactly good news.
He thought to himself, hoping they wouldn't disturb this land's peace.
After inspecting the surroundings, a string of messy footprints on the damp ground caught Chen Yu's attention.