It Started with Slime - Part 1

Chapter 101 - Day 2

Aarav groaned as he woke and stretched. Except there was nothing to move. "What's going on? Where are my arms and legs!" After a moment of panic, the memories started filtering back.

Wow, that dream of that first meeting with Mrs Carva had been so vivid. He had felt like he was there at that destined moment. Aarav shuddered; she had seemed so lovely that meeting except for the single look, and Ami had felt safe for the first time in so long.

Stop thinking about her! The tears once again started flowing from his eyes, and he couldn't help it. Every time he thought about what he had lost, it was like a new knife stabbed into his non-existent heart. He felt like he couldn't breathe, and the walls were closing on him.

He dived deeper into Zen Meditation; it was almost always active these days since it worked while sleeping and moving. The one thing that he had discovered about it was that there seemed to be an active and passive version. The passive effect was the actual skill that boosted his regenerations, pitiful though they were.

The active part was more interesting. Since Aarav seemed annoyingly prone to panic attacks recently, this functional part of the skill had been like a balm. In the same way, regular meditation in the old world was. It was a way to calm his raging mind when he needed it and approach the world with a cool head. Indeed, it was so effective that he had been combining it with The Way Forward is...Forward to try to overcome some of his phobias and fears that had transferred over from the other world. It had only been moderately successful thus far, but he had hoped for the future!

"Right time to get up! And also, where am I?" He had only now realised he was not in the lab, the only part of the palace where he had spent much time. Was he going to have to find his way? The first cursory glance told him he was in a bedroom on the out edge of the building. He was able to see out into the wilderness, the forest he had grown so familiar with, in the distance.

Even with the improved capacity of 1kg of Weight, his wings were still holding him back. With his weight over 2.4kg, his legs were the only practical movement method to crawl off the bed and up the wall to the window ledge. He looked out, taking a moment just to enjoy the view and take an unneeded breathe of fresh air through his nose and mouth.

Just because the air was unnecessary didn't mean he couldn't enjoy the little things. Yesterday his entire existence had changed, and then he had just jumped at the change for human limbs. Now he finally had a moment to appreciate everything that had happened. It was as yet unclear what it would mean for his future. But a small part of him had started feeling that it might not be quite as bad as he feared. After all, subjugated as he had been with the Blood-Oath, he had also gained most of a human skeleton and likely would gain the rest today. It would not end with him stuck in a slime's form.

He had always intended to move from Slime to other creatures before assuming a humanoid form, but maybe he could skip those steps and go straight to a human? Well, Pseudo-Human, he could never be fully human again.

Because breathing was for suckers. Then there was all the bathroom stuff Aarav didn't have to worry about anymore, both excellent reasons never to want to be human again.

Continuing to take in more fresh air, the Slime looked to the forest's edge and the river that ran parallel. That must be the same river I was in as a Water Slime. He could recall those times and even biting that Farmer man, Marteen's father. The motivations for doing so were unclear, but he had to assume a good reason. When he was just a ball of instincts, everything had been for the sake of survival. Though the more Aarav thought about it, the more he thought it was a stupid thing to do, that singular event had led to his eventual capture. It was also due to many stupid decisions that he couldn't understand. Eventually, it all led him here.