I am a slime — a slime unlike any other.
While other members of my kind are still eating grass, eating small bugs, and acting as humble foragers, I have already grasped the essence of a hunter and begun to use my advantages to hunt living creatures.
I spare no effort, using my round body to climb to high places, dropping from the sky to completely envelop the heads of my prey when they pass by.
Then, I just need to wait slowly for the prey to suffocate, gradually lose their vitality, and conclude the hunt perfectly.
But today’s prey is a bit strange.
The time spent enveloping them has far exceeded the past, yet there is no sign of death, and they even have the strength left to struggle violently.
“How is it? Is this the true reflection of your inner heart, Mr. Slime?”
“It doesn’t matter even if you don’t have intelligence; I’ll just assume that’s what you’re thinking, ahaha.”
Ning Lan laughed out loud, but as soon as she opened her mouth, a large gulp of pure but sticky liquid poured in, so she quickly shut it again.
Before, when she was in trouble, she had wondered if she could “drink” the slime dry from the inside.
However, after drinking several large gulps in a row, her stomach felt bloated, yet the slime’s size didn’t seem to change at all.
She didn’t know where so much water came from inside a slime.
But she was still one step ahead.
After all, it was the elf who was suffocating; what did it have to do with her, a mushroom?
It wasn’t that she didn’t need to breathe at all, just that compared to a normal human, her breath-holding time was longer.
For example, in a suffocation play, she could last until the end… wait, that didn’t seem to be a competition of endurance.
Anyway, in the short term, besides feeling uncomfortable, her life was not in danger.
Therefore, she had plenty of time to slowly search for the slime’s core, not feeling anxious at all.
According to the information on the System Panel, she knew that slimes were monsters that existed based on Mana Crystals.
Their bodies were composed of roughly 70% water and 30% pure mana.
As long as the Mana Crystal existed, they could quickly recover no matter what damage their bodies sustained.
This was why no matter how much she drank, she couldn’t finish it.
Of course, the regeneration ability had a limit.
The time it remained effective depended on the total amount of mana — that is, the length of the MP bar.
And slimes, which were born with the skill Mana Storage, were leaders among many low-level monsters when it came to mana capacity.
The Mana Crystal was likely a transparent, pure crystal that seemed to blend perfectly into the slime’s pale blue, transparent body, making it almost impossible to distinguish with the naked eye.
If she hadn’t vaguely seen the outline of a small square, she wouldn’t have realized where the slime’s weakness was at all.
‘Found it.’
Staring ahead, her violet pupils contracted slightly.
Ning Lan picked up her staff and pierced the slime’s body with the gem-tipped end, destroying the transparent core.
It was like cutting through tofu, without the slightest resistance.
After a crisp sound like jade breaking, the slime’s round body seemed to lose its restraint, spilling all over the ground like a punctured water balloon.
Wiping her face haphazardly, Ning Lan panted heavily in a sorry state.
The long-awaited air moistened her parched lungs.
Her chest heaved, and the lingering aftereffects of suffocation completely faded after a moment.
[Individual Level Increased: LV 3 > LV 4. Basic attributes increased]
She leveled up again, simply because she had dealt with one slime.
By comparison, it seemed easier for a mushroom to gain experience and increase its level; perhaps that was the advantage of being weak.
But leveling up was for the sake of increasing attributes and expanding the System Panel, yet a mushroom reaching Level 10 might not even be worth a fraction of Level 1 for some monsters.
Thinking of this, this accidentally discovered advantage also became tasteless and complicated.
Besides the harvest from the level increase, Ning Lan had another discovery.
This body was even more useful than she had imagined.
It wasn’t just about suffocation.
Thanks to the symbiotic state caused by the Mycelium, many injuries that would be fatal to biological creatures became less dangerous.
This had already been verified under the Wolf King earlier.
As long as she didn’t die on the spot, things like a large hole in her stomach, broken limbs, or internal hemorrhaging could slowly recover.
Since she hadn’t tried it, she wasn’t sure, but her future actions could perhaps be bolder, using the element of surprise just like she did against the slime.
As long as she could become stronger, a little pain could be endured with gritted teeth.
Next was how to eat the slime.
After losing its mana, its body had turned into a pool of pure water.
The only thing left was the shattered Mana Crystal.
She couldn’t just put something that looked like a stone into her mouth and chew it, right?
That would be a really “tough” dish — the kind that would go crunch when eaten.
She just didn’t know if the elf lady’s teeth were strong enough.
Holding the egg-sized Mana Crystal in her hand, the young girl moved it toward her mouth several times but then moved it away hesitantly.
After repeating this, Ning Lan gave up on the impulse to try.
She felt that if she really tried it, she would be no different from a little brat who grabbed mud and stuffed it into their mouth.
The key was still the Mycelium.
Like a plant’s root system, absorbing nutrients and transporting nourishment, it was the mushroom’s real mouth.
Ning Lan gathered the broken crystal pieces on the ground and then used her skill to sprinkle some spores on them.
Perhaps because the skill level had increased, the mushrooms grew a bit faster than before.
Milky-white sticky threads wrapped around the Mana Crystal like a layer of fine snow.
A few tiny Purple Mushrooms sprouted from the side, like soldiers guarding a core.
Ning Lan thought for no reason that it would be great if they really were soldiers.
With such a convenient existence as Mycelium, it was a pity not to develop like the Zerg.
She just had to wait…
It felt like a long time had passed, but fortunately, the Mana Crystal was indeed a size smaller than before.
As long as there was a change, she could wait, even if it was like a certain download progress bar, as long as it wasn’t an unreachable shore.
‘Okay, it is a bit annoying. Can’t I watch an ad to speed it up…’
[Check successful. Title effect activated. Obtained skill: Decomposition LV 1]
[Decomposition]: Accelerates the process of breaking down and digesting food.
She had finally succeeded — the first skill obtained through a title.
‘The path to the rise of mushrooms will start from here. I will never forget your help, Brother Slime…’
The smile on Ning Lan’s face was overflowing, completely unstoppable.
Even the elf’s cute and youthful face seemed to have its art style corrupted.
After a moment, she composed herself and planned her next development.
The effect of Decomposition was a timely help; she believed she wouldn’t have to wait so long the next time she ate a slime core.
It was a convenient skill, but in the end, it was only supplementary.
She had to obtain offensive skills to supplement her output methods.
Using a staff as a club was just a temporary measure.
Even if she really took the path of a battle Priest, the elf lady’s fragile stats wouldn’t support it.
Without powerful numbers and ridiculous mechanics, one shouldn’t think about amazing maneuvers.
Of course, she couldn’t keep bullying low-level monsters to farm them forever.
If you farm too many fish, you become a fish yourself.
This didn’t align with her original intention — now that she had been reborn in Another World, wouldn’t she be living in vain if she just remained a lazy slacker and slacked off like before?
If eating gives feedback and hard work gives rewards, who would just lie down?
She didn’t seek the top of the world, but she at least wanted to become a person of high status.
At the very least, she should reach the level of that Wolf King.
But hunting other monsters felt too dangerous.
Was there a monster that was both safe and provided levels for her to practice on?
“There is, there is! Even a slime that can ambush me can’t kill me. Wouldn’t other slimes be even simpler?”
“So, let’s continue hunting slimes.”
This wasn’t intentional farming; how could grinding mobs be called farming?
If she really could reach the level of the Wolf King by killing slimes, then it wouldn’t conflict with her original intention either.
Becoming invincible by playing it safe was still being invincible, after all.