Devour

Blink, blink.

I don't have eyeballs, but my vision is perfectly clear. Looking from the Halo's perspective, it seems I'm inside a giant flask. This place is a laboratory.

Judging by the size of the chairs, unless this is a dwarf's lab, this flask is about the size of a drum can.

The lab has more of a steampunk vibe than sci-fi, with parchment notes stuck to the walls. Given the monster materials like horns and wings on the shelves — probably ingredients — this must be an alchemist's workshop.

Through the glass, I could see that the laboratory was empty.

… Looks like no one's here right now.

Perfect for an escape. This clearly means I need to sneak out and flee.

Penpen had a sneaking mission too, but mine is more of an escape scenario.

Choosing a transparent color for the Slime was definitely the right call.

…

Crap, the Halo stands out way more than I expected… Can I turn it off? Maybe I need to learn some kind of invisibility skill? Hmm, I'll just have to do my best to hide for now.

By the way, I named this Slime-chan Miitei.

It's from "mitei", meaning "undecided" — the future is undecided, after all.

Should I aim to be the strongest? The most versatile? Or specialize in crafting…? But I'm definitely going to devour those materials on the shelf. That'll surely make me stronger!

Now then. Let me try to escape from this flask right away.

… Yeah, I'm crammed in tight. I don't feel like I can extend even a single tentacle. The lid is firmly sealed too.

Ah. But wait. I can feel my body dissolving a little. Near the top… close to the lid. It feels kind of squirmy.

Oh right, the Decay Factor, was it? Hmm, if I let my body decay, would that create some space?

"Oh, wait a sec?"

I just thought of something good. Let me try it out.

With a soft poyun, I used the Fission skill to separate the part that had absorbed the Decay Factor. So far, so good — this much was as planned.

… After waiting a bit, the separated portion rapidly decayed and melted away.

That was close. If I'd left it alone, I would've ended up like that too.

And here's where my idea comes in. Store the separated body in my inventory!

… Success! Half of my volume became "Slime Solution" and went into my inventory.

And that freed up space in the flask.

Now I can move my body! Man, that was nerve-wracking. I thought I was stuck.

Didn't expect puzzle-solving elements that use the system. I don't hate these kinds of gimmicks though.

Now, let me carefully move my body… splat, splat, splat! I rocked the flask back and forth.

A giant flask big enough to fit a person. And I had been crammed inside it.

Even if my composition is mostly water, half of that volume is still pretty heavy.

And now it's swaying.

You know washing machines, right?

When the laundry inside gets unbalanced, they shake like crazy. In other words—

Clatter. Thud, roll, CRASH!!

The flask tipped over, fell off its stand, and shattered against the floor.

Hell yeah! Escape successful!!

But at the same time, a shrill alarm rang out: "RIIIIING!!"

"Oh crap, that's definitely my fault. Gotta hide…! And cover my tracks!"

With a ptoo, I spat out the decaying Slime body — the "Slime Solution"—from my inventory onto the broken flask.

Now then… heave-ho, heave-ho. Let me stick to the top of the bookshelf, up near the ceiling, and hide… Ugh, my tentacles are slipping on all this dust. Clean up properly, will ya! Ptoo! (the sound of spitting out a clump of dust)

Just as I finished hiding and caught my breath, the lab door banged open and a bald guy in a white coat walked in.

"What the—?! What is this mess? Tch, did that Slime get uppity and thrash around?"

He picked up a fragment of the flask, looked at the gooey Slime Solution, and sighed in exasperation. After turning off the alarm, he plopped down in the lab chair and leaned back arrogantly. He sure acts important. Well, if he's the master of this lab, maybe he is important.

"Hey! Someone get in here! Clean this up!"

The man shouted, clapping his hands. Servants came quickly and began cleaning up.

Meanwhile, the man read some documents while grumbling complaints. He furrowed his brow, wondering if the flask could be repaired. It was pretty sturdy, so yeah, it was probably expensive.

But it's completely shattered, so there's no choice but to melt it down and reuse it as raw materials. He sighed and gave instructions: "Separate the flask fragments and set them aside."

"… I've gathered the basic data. Next, it's finally time for humans… Should I test on orphans first? No, the materials aren't cheap either…"

Hm? Wait. Wasn't Miitei-chan human?

Or is he the type who doesn't count beastfolk as human? Or maybe she was a humanoid monster?

Well, whatever. Doesn't matter. More importantly, I want to snack on those materials on the shelf…

Speaking of which, I wonder what Miitei-chan's combat power is like.

Still Lv 1, so probably pretty weak. But using a Slime's traits, it's not like I can't fight at all.

For now I'll just watch and wait. Stay put… Come on, baldy, hurry up and leave already.

As I was getting frustrated, a window appeared in front of me.

[Mission! Devour everything in the room without being noticed by the owner!]

Oh? So this means I can eat everything in the room?

… But first, the bald owner is in the way, so hurry up and scram already!