All-You-Can-Eat

The mission: devour everything in the room without the owner noticing. But first, the owner's in the way.

… Actually, wouldn't eating the contents of those material shelves be a dead giveaway? Should I wait patiently… or snack on stuff outside his field of view…?

Yeah, game-wise, snacking outside his field of view is definitely the right call.

So I stealthily extended my tentacles. Fortunately, Slime tentacles are transparent and hard to notice.

First, I'd head for the bookshelf behind the owner lounging in his chair. I anchored my tentacles to it and slowly inched my core along the ceiling. Successfully made it onto the bookshelf.

"Kukuku. Then I'll secretly eat from the materials behind him… but I'll leave the covers intact!"

Books have covers, after all. If I wanted to avoid getting caught even if the owner looked this way, I should eat only the contents first… I gnawed a hole through the top of the bookshelf, threaded my tentacles through, and carefully probed for books—like pulling a single block from a Jenga tower—then chomped. Munch munch.

Oh, this was parchment. Proteiny～ flavor. And apparently the data from the books I ate got recorded in the menu.

This was great. I could just keep eating without worrying.

I extended my tentacles further and kept nibbling away at books. They didn't taste great, but my Predation skill was steadily racking up experience points. Nice… Oh, hit Lv 2.

Finished the top shelf, so I moved on to the next one down. The owner… hadn't noticed! All clear! Munch munch, munch munch.

Alright, this bookshelf was conquered! It was now just a hollow shell with only the covers left.

Then the owner suddenly stood up with a clatter.

Startled, I quietly retracted my tentacles as the owner started walking around the room. Oh, was this the next phase? Heheh, very well. Time to show off some serious eating skills.

The moment the owner turned his back, I rolled off the top of the bookshelf. Using my tentacles to cushion the landing, I touched down softly and slipped under the desk. From my new base of operations, I carefully extended my tentacles to observe the situation.

… Hmm, looked like he'd started doing maintenance on the lab equipment. Everything except the flask was still mostly intact, after all.

Well then, I'll eat the contents of this desk while I can. I'll bore a hole from the side and munch on whatever's in the drawers!

Don't mind if I do! Crunch crunch crunch crunch…

… The bookshelf had more to eat, I guess. But in terms of useful intel, this was quite a haul. While the bookshelf was mostly dictionaries, encyclopedias, and reference books, the desk had administrative documents about research budgets and such.

Let's see. What's this? Material costs? Oho, Leprechaun horns and Sahagin fins. Slime fluid, Goblin… well, Slimes can eat anything, so I'll just munch on whatever I find without worrying.

And I learned that the bald owner was a senior researcher for a country called the Majark Republic.

His research goals were achieving immortality and creating the ultimate biological weapon. The budget was decent, but he was being pressured to produce results if he wanted more funding.

No wonder he'd want to complain about having his expensive flask broken. I totally get it. Every era, every world — budgets are always tight… Well, I'll still be helping myself to everything!!

Now then. That was enough documents. I wanted to start eating those materials. But they were near the owner… Maybe the phase would change soon? Just as I thought that, the owner started heading back this way. Crap. Where do I hide? … The floor!

I hurriedly carved into the floorboards. If I could pry up one board, my core could just barely slip through… hurry hurry hurry… got it!

I quickly slipped into the hole I made by prying up the floorboard, then flipped the board back into place. Phew, safe for now.

Ah, there was dust piled up under the floor. Sigh, well, might as well eat what I could. Predation, predation. Oh, hello there, Mr. Mouse. chomp crunch bleurgh

… Sigh, I miss the boar steak Penpen had grilled for me…

Now then, I'd slipped under the floor, and this was quite the bonus stage.

I could gnaw holes through the floorboards from below and extend my tentacles anywhere to eat. Plus there were mice.

I needed to be careful with my posture so the Halo didn't poke through to the floor above, but lying on my back seemed to work… What even was "on my back" for a Slime???

Whatever. For now, I'll nibble on the documents scattered across the floor, thinning them out just enough that the owner won't notice.

Munch munch chomp chomp. Speaking of which, keeping parchment documents in a place with mice… wouldn't they normally get gnawed on and damaged? Wasn't this management way too sloppy? I thought while gathering more intel.

Demon Soldier Project? Hmm. Seemed like basic research on mixing various things together.

The story mentioned something like "I wanted to know what I originally was," but just looking at the materials, there was so much mixed in that I couldn't tell what the base was. Slime, Goblin, demon, beastfolk, fetus, human bones, animal bones, horns, monster innards, magic stones, dirt, wood, grass. Even minerals mixed in. Wow, wasn't that amazing? It had eaten everything. Peak Slime behavior right there.

The theory that it was originally a Goblin had emerged too. Munch munch.

However, it seemed I couldn't eat glass. Maybe because I digested things by dissolving them with acid? Even aqua regia, the strongest acid, can't dissolve glass.

… Hm? Oh. Baldy left his seat. And walked out of the room.

…

Wasn't this bonus time?

I immediately emerged from under the floor and returned to the room.

"HYAHAA!! IT'S ALL-YOU-CAN-EAT!!"

First, I reached for the material shelf.

Eeny, meeny, miny, moe… ALL OF IT! Predation, predation!

Muuunch munch munch. Yup, bitter. Hard. Gross. Tasteless. Dry.

None of this was food, I thought while devouring it anyway. Only a Slime could eat this stuff.

There must have been some rare materials in there. By the time I emptied the shelf, I'd reached Lv 6.

"Man. Waiting for Baldy to leave was totally worth it."

Taste aside, the EXP was delicious.

… Couldn't eat the flask fragments. But I could store them in my inventory. Yoink.

Anything else I could eat? Oh, could I tackle the desk? No, not yet. But what about the drawers? Got it! Munch munch!! Next, the chair! Munch munch munch!!

Rolling across the floor, I absorbed and digested any books or documents I touched. Munch munch munch, so gross! But digest I shall!

Ooh, my body had gotten bigger. Could I tackle the desk now? Mmm, not yet! First, let me devour all those hollow book covers from the bookshelf! Oh wait, I should disable the alarm bell too. Munch munch.

"Ora! Medicine cabinet! You're gonna be nutrients too!!"

I forced my tentacles into the gap with a crack, destroyed the lock from inside, and… medicine cabinet open!!

Whew, lots of drugs in here. It was like a drink bar!

I opened the lid with a tentacle and dipped one into the purple liquid.

A sharp, tingling bitterness. Poison, the absorbable kind. I splashed it over my body like a shower and absorbed it. Couldn't eat the glass bottles, so into the inventory they went. This green one is… oh, looks like a healing potion. Don't mind if I do. Glug glug

I opened them one after another. Glug glug, glug glug glug. Meanwhile, I rolled around absorbing the documents on the floor, the carpet, and finally even the desk and bookshelf. Crack, creak, CRASH! Munch munch munch!

I felt like singing cheerfully—la la la la!

"Level up, level uuuup! Nice, I've grown back to my original size!"

And before I knew it, I'd reached Lv 8 and the room was completely empty.

Mission complete, yay!