The mud pool in the ancient waterways was filled with slimes.
They ate mud.
They consumed the spiritual energy in the soil and grew.
[Mud Monster: Eat mud. Then you will grow stronger.]
'Ah, f*ck. It might as well tell me to eat shit.'
The slimes endlessly ate mud and spat it back out.
They gained a tiny amount of nutrients and spiritual energy in the process.
But that mud had passed through countless slime stomachs before coming back out.
It was essentially a life of endlessly eating their own shit.
'Pig feed would probably taste better.'
More importantly, it was tasteless and had no nutritional value.
The spiritual energy was hardly worth mentioning.
They lived by relying on that faint spiritual energy.
Yet even that was better than eating nothing.
'I'm hungry.'
He eventually surrendered to his hunger.
He ate the slimes' shit.
[Mud Devouring: Devouring increased minutely.]
'Fucking sweet. Am I going to become insanely strong at this rate?'
In webnovels, Devouring abilities were tremendously powerful.
All kinds of abilities and levels rose simply by eating.
'Slurp. Munch.'
Even so, eating tasteless mud was an ordeal.
He imagined becoming a mukbang YouTuber and eating delicious food.
Merely watching them made him want to eat.
Mukbang videos were perfect for mindless viewing.
As he continued eating mud......
[Mud Devouring: Devouring increased minutely.]
The occasional notification was like a dash of seasoning.
[New ability registered: Acid Production.]
'I knew it. Devouring wouldn't be complete without a special ability.'
It seemed he had unlocked some sort of hidden ability.
He ate the mud with even greater enthusiasm.
[Mud Devouring: Devouring increased minutely.]
Obtaining Acid Production did not produce any dramatic change.
Slimes were creatures similar to jellyfish and sea anemones.
They ate, digested, and expelled.
Acid was produced during that process.
Acid Production minutely improved his ability to digest mud.
'Ah, f*ck. I've been an idiot this whole time. There's good food right beside me.......'
***
That food was the other slimes.
Slimes contained a greater concentration of spiritual energy than mud.
They had accumulated faint traces of spiritual energy by eating mud.
'They should be more nutritious too.'
For the demon race, Devouring their own kind was only natural.
He felt no reluctance about eating them.
He approached a nearby slime that was diligently eating mud.
Then swallowed part of its body.
[Mud Slimes possess Acid Resistance. Devouring is impossible.]
'Ah, this game is fucking shit.'
It had felt great when it happened to someone else, but it felt fucking awful when it happened to him.
Being told that you played like a fucking asshole was the highest praise for a reason.
Now he understood exactly why.
This was the ultimate fucking shit game.
The slime whose body had been partially eaten retaliated.
It also attempted to use Devouring.
[Mud Slimes possess Acid Resistance. Devouring is impossible.]
[New ability registered: Acid Resistance.]
Now he understood why the slimes did not use Devouring on one another.
Using Devouring on each other was like Dumb and Dumber.
Still......
'Ah. This is surprisingly fucking sweet.'
He had already gained three abilities.
If he kept growing like this.......
'Growth, my ass. There's nothing here but mud to eat.......'
The mud pool inside the waterway was not very large.
Many slimes occupied a small, almost completely sealed space.
There was a limit to the nutrients and spiritual energy available to consume.
'There's only one way. I need to eat more than the others.'
[Mud Devouring: Devouring increased minutely.]
[Acid Production: The ability to secrete acid increased minutely.]
Fortunately, the rate at which he could eat and digest mud gradually increased.
Given enough time, he would be able to claim more nutrients and spiritual energy than the others.
If he kept growing, he could monopolize the mud pool in this waterway.
The others would wither and die.
BUZZ—
He was imagining himself as a mukbang YouTuber and gobbling down mud like a pig when......
Something flew over and landed on the slimes' bodies.
[Mud Slime Bloodsucking Mosquito: Feeds on a slime's bodily fluids and lays eggs. Ability: Bloodsucking.]
Bloodsucking mosquitoes flew in from somewhere and landed on the slimes.
Then they quietly sucked out their bodily fluids.
The victim slime's body shrank, and its spiritual energy diminished.
Then the mosquitoes moved on to other slimes and did the same thing.
'Wow. Those bastards deliberately take only enough to keep from killing them.'
They needed to leave the slimes alive so they could return and drink from them again.
That was how a parasitic relationship formed.
'But... aren't those things idiots? They just sit there while their fluids get sucked out.'
The slimes kept eating mud, unaware that mosquitoes had even landed on them.
'Uh-oh.'
Spiritual energy suddenly drained from his body.
His body also shrank slightly.
He could see the shit on someone else's face......
But not the shit on his own.
A mosquito had quietly landed on him, drained his bodily fluids, and flown away.
'All the spiritual energy I worked so hard to gather.......'
He thought he understood why all the slimes were about the same size.
Whenever they were about to grow, the bloodsucking mosquitoes regularly drained their bodily fluids and spiritual energy.
'How can I deal with those things......?'
He had to deal with the bloodsucking mosquitoes if he wanted to grow.
'Right. I have Devouring.'
Despite possessing an excellent ability like Devouring, the other slimes simply let themselves be victimized like idiots.
He just had to devour the bloodsucking mosquitoes that landed on them.
He crept toward a slime on which a mosquito had landed.
Then he jumped with all his might.
WHOOSH—
BUZZ—
SPLAT—
The slime's body was slow, while the mosquito was fast.
It noticed him and took flight while he was approaching and jumping.
[Mud Slimes possess Acid Resistance. Devouring is impossible.]
[Acid Resistance increased minutely.]
The slime he had suddenly attacked instead of the mosquito retaliated in surprise.
[Mud Slimes possess Acid Resistance. Devouring is impossible.]
[Acid Resistance increased minutely.]
The two fought like Dumb and Dumber for a while.
'Isn't there some way to deal with those mosquitoes?'
He pondered how he could catch them.
'Right. I'll lure them with food.'
He decided to use himself as bait.
Once he grew larger and accumulated spiritual energy, a bloodsucking mosquito would come to drink his bodily fluids.
'Slurp. Munch.'
He once again imagined himself as a mukbang YouTuber and ate diligently like a pig.
BUZZ—
Once his body grew large enough and he had accumulated some spiritual energy......
A mosquito came to drink his bodily fluids.
SPLAT—
Catching the swift mosquito was not easy.
Several times, he did not even notice that one had landed on him.
But he could not give up.
No. There was simply nothing else for him to do.
Compared to this place, his cramped room with a computer had been heaven.
There was nothing he could do except eat mud.
'Still, I'm a slime... Can't I do anything except eat? Ah. There is one thing.'
Slimes were amorphous life-forms.
They could alter parts of their bodies.
As he wriggled around and transformed his body......
[New ability registered: Body Transformation.]
He could freely extend and contract his body.
He extended a tentacle and shaped it like a hand.
BUZZ—
SMACK—
After several attempts, he caught a Mud Slime Bloodsucking Mosquito.
'Devouring!'
He swallowed and digested the mosquito.
[New ability registered: Bloodsucking.]
'There it is!'
He had gained the best possible ability for his current situation.
He shaped a tentacle into a funnel.
Then he attached the mosquito's proboscis to its tip.
He approached another slime and quietly inserted the mosquito's proboscis into it.
The proboscis pierced the slime's hide.
'Bloodsucking!'
He sucked out the other slime's bodily fluids just like a bloodsucking mosquito.
The slimes did not even notice that their fluids were being drained.
'Devouring!'
His body grew larger as he sucked in the other slime's bodily fluids.
The amount of spiritual energy in his body also increased.
The slime whose fluids he had completely drained shriveled up.
After fully consuming one, he approached another.
The creature remained oblivious to the approaching danger.
It died shriveled and dry while shoveling mud into its mouth.
'This is absolutely fucking sweet. Heh heh.'
Slimes were unbelievably stupid.
'If the others are all like this.......'
He was a genius.
Among idiots, the least stupid one was a genius.
Members of the demon race, such as Demon Beasts and Demons, were generally less intelligent than members of the human race.
His greatest ability was not Devouring.
It was his superior intelligence compared to other members of the demon race.
'All right!'
He began devouring the other slimes in the waterway's mud pool.
His body grew, and the amount of spiritual energy gathering within him began to rise.