There is a story like this.
Was it said that humans were animals blessed with forgetfulness?
「The passage of time wears down even sharp pain until it grows dull, and scatters even deep sorrow into a thin mist.」
Yet there are always exceptions whom even that blessing passes by.
A mere handful of memories, engraved brilliantly in the deepest reaches of the heart.
There are those who endure long years on the strength of that single happy moment.
A hospital room where the eraser inside one's mind had wiped a lifetime of memories white.
Even amid the quiet stillness, the old man kept one person's name in his heart until the very end.
The boyish smile that bloomed as his wrinkled hand caressed a faded photograph of his wife.
And that was hardly all.
The mercenary who returned from the battlefield without an arm.
Every night, he raised a toast before the campfire with the apparition of his dead comrade.
The old dog that guarded the front of a decrepit train station for more than ten years after its owner left.
Whenever it caught even a distant whiff of the smoke billowing from a train, it wagged its tail and raced toward the tracks.
Simple yet happy memories from a time long past.
They were the driving force that let those left behind continue toward tomorrow even from the depths of despair.
And here, this tiny and adorable Slime was the same. The Slime carried its precious memories and continued onward.
***
My steps were heavy.
The garden door closed behind me, and cold air settled.
But the clock of the world turned far too indifferently for me to remain drowned in sorrow.
Like all the homework I had put off crashing down upon me at once on the final day of a long vacation.
Like every alarm I had set in the corner of a drawer going off together, shattering the peace of a sound sleep at dawn.
It was as though the laws of the world, which had fallen behind in my priorities and held their breath for a moment.
They began to rush in fiercely, filling the empty place she had left behind.
Ding, ding, dingalingalingaling!
"Meeegh!"
My transparent jelly jumped in fright at the deafening noise reverberating through my core.
My solemn contemplation shattered. My round body rolled across the floor.
[Your Soul Rank rises!]
It was a familiar sensation. Scalding heat began to swirl in the deepest part of my body.
'Ah, of all times.......'
But my grumbling was brief.
The surging heat made my core burn hot.
Could it be because I possessed the crimson jewel enshrined in one corner of my subspace, Airi's Dragon Heart?
Its overwhelming mana had clearly interfered with my core and forcibly raised my Soul Rank.
My Soul Rank rose merely from possessing it. It was indeed an object worthy of being called a primordial mystery.
It began from inside my round jelly body, and suddenly, a dazzling white light burst forth.
Flaaash.
The radiant cluster of light covered my retinas in white.
I felt a pleasant sense of weightlessness, as though gravity in every direction had been completely reversed.
A gentle warmth softly enveloped the surface of my jelly and guided me onward.
When I opened my eyes, I had already entered the familiar mental realm.
Once again, I had reached the center of this mysterious sanctuary.
Beneath my feet stretched a deep cosmos with no visible end.
Far in the distance, countless fragments of stars floated through the air, tracing faint paths.
'Haa, I feel like this has calmed my melancholy a little.'
I quivered my soft jelly and looked around.
Not far away, at the center where the starlight gathered.
As always, an antique marble altar stood waiting.
Boing, bo-oing—!
I lightly kicked off the ground and approached the altar.
Fwoosh.
Brilliant golden flames blazed atop the altar.
Three translucent cards rose from within the fire and spun round and round.
'Somehow, this feels a little different from before.'
The cards before me held mana that was a shade deeper and denser than usual.
This too must have been because I possessed the Dragon Heart.
'I need to stay focused......!'
Even before that marvelous power, I hardened my jelly and gathered my resolve.
Airi was no longer behind me, smiling gently.
I was the master of the nest now. I had to defeat the unknown enemies alone and protect the cradle she had loved.
To do so, I needed to choose more carefully than ever. I stretched out my round jelly and examined the inscriptions on the cards.
[Spit Out (Lv.1)]
[Flight (Lv.1)]
[Imitation (Lv.1)]
'Hmm, what should I choose......?'
I carefully inspected the choices floating in the air.
Each of the three possessed a dignity befitting that brilliant golden light, and all were appealing cards that seemed immediately useful.
I opened the information windows made of golden particles and began to analyze the efficiency of each skill in detail.
First, Spit Out.
This skill had an intuitive synergy with Swallow, a skill I already possessed.
According to the tooltip's description.
It affected the number of objects I could spit out at once, as well as their launch speed, accuracy, and so on.
I thought of the pile of mana stones stacked high in my subspace.
If I could fire those solid crystals of mana like bullets.
I would become an excellent cannon battery that could ravage enemies at range.
Against the backdrop of my mental realm, I constructed an imaginary battlefield.
A horde of vicious orcs charged toward me with their axes raised.
Their dull footsteps shook the earth and pounded against my ears.
Without panicking, I opened the entrance to subspace as wide as possible.
I drew up my mana and loaded my ammunition.
Then I unleashed an unrestrained machine-gun barrage of red, cherry-flavored mana stones from my mouth.
Ratatatat—!
Mana stones densely packed with sticky flame mana sliced sharply through the air.
They buried themselves squarely in the orcs' thick chests and faces.
An explosive chain reaction.
Scarlet sparks flew in every direction amid their dying screams.
The sight of those merciless flame mana stones detonating and annihilating the enemy formation.
That alone was enough to make their overwhelming firepower clear.
And if I mixed lightning-attribute mana stones into the barrage, I could even expect a paralysis effect.
If I chose Spit Out, I would be reborn as an all-purpose miniature bomber.
Next came the second option, Flight.
The name alone made it intuitive and mouthwatering.
Not only would it secure my mobility in the Black Tower, I would also be leaving the nest more often for the sake of revenge.
A Slime soaring through the sky, ignoring dangerous traps and terrain.
On reflection, it was a marvelous power that could dramatically improve the long-distance mobility that was a Slime's weak point.
This time, I injected vivid sensations into my core once again.
A transparent Slime drifted like a cloud above the thick canopy of the Forest of Beginnings.
Steel-spike traps suddenly thrust up from the ground, while swamps tugged at my ankles.
I could look down upon such clumsy gimmicks with a light scoff.
The moment my enemies launched sword auras at me in unison, I would mock gravity and shoot straight upward, evading them perfectly.
I would leisurely twist my trajectory in midair and burrow into the enemy's blind spot.
Then, from the highest point, I would plummet heavily toward the crown of my enemy's head.
A merciless falling attack that crushed my opponent. Dominating a flat battlefield in three dimensions offered a staggering advantage to both Hunters and Slimes.
Yet there was still one option left.
The final card glowing quietly beside the others pulled hard at my gaze.
[ Skill ] Imitation (Lv.1)
▸Effect: You can imitate the appearance of a target you remember.
▸Restriction: The target that can be reproduced and the duration are determined by your Soul Rank.
'Hmm......'
My core spun rapidly.
With the skill-card window open, I furiously calculated various possibilities in my head.
If I wanted to increase my combat power immediately, the first two skills would clearly be far more efficient.
As its name suggested, Imitation did nothing more than imitate a target.
It was fundamentally impossible to copy their unique abilities or destructive power.
In other words, it was closer to a support skill.
But my current situation demanded the ability to create unexpected variables beyond ordinary combat.
I had to pursue the trail of the enemies who manipulated the world from behind the scenes and drove Airi to her death.
I reflected on the scenes I had witnessed in the Black Tower during my days as a Hunter.
To the humans climbing the tower, monsters were nothing more than experience points to be cut down and vending machines that dispensed loot.
There was not a Hunter anywhere who would sit down with a low-level demonic beast like a Slime and attempt a serious conversation.
Moreover, I already knew how the absence of information could bring about results every bit as terrible as the limits of one's strength.
If I wanted to obtain the information I needed in the form of a Slime, I would inevitably have to wage battle after battle with no end in sight.
It was obvious that I would expend more resources than necessary before I could even find a clue for my revenge.
Meanwhile, the true mastermind would be watching my struggles from a safe place and laughing at me.
But what if I could use Imitation to assume the right appearance for each situation?
Everything would become far simpler.
I could slip naturally into the heart of the enemy, ask questions in their language, communicate freely, and uncover their secrets.
A corner seat in a tavern blanketed in darkness.
An illegal exchange in a back alley where ledgers quietly traded hands.
Even the very center of a hostile guild hunting me.
I would be able to stroll behind the scenes in the form of an ordinary porter or mercenary whom no one would suspect.
The power to uncover truths in places beyond the reach of a blade.
It was the absolute advantage of information over brute force, a joker card that could turn the entire game around.
'Good, I've decided.'
My decision came quickly.
Without hesitation, I stretched my round body toward the Imitation card.
Flash!
The moment I chose it, the card shattered into tiny pieces and scattered as an even more radiant golden powder.
The cluster of light surged unrestrained toward my core. Beside the small, sparkling constellation at the center of the mental realm, another glittering constellation was etched into place.
A cozy, gentle warmth.
It was like Airi's tender hand stroking my head.
As I gazed at it for a moment, my vision gradually grew distant.
***
I opened my eyes.
I was back inside a silent room in the nest.
The sensation of the cold cavern floor came vividly through the surface of my jelly.
My mana circuits felt sturdier than before, and my core beat at a steady rhythm.
I immediately drew up my mana to examine my newly acquired sense in detail.
'Imitation.'
At that moment, I pictured the clearest memory left in my mind, meticulously painting the image of myself as a child.
Shhhk.
My transparent jelly body stretched like clay, then rapidly took on a pale apricot hue.
In the blink of an eye, it began to shape a skeleton and muscles in the form of a small human child.
The familiar black hair and the still-young, round cheeks.
The frail and harmless figure of myself at ten years old was recreated perfectly.
I strode toward a clear mana stone embedded in the wall.
The unmistakable figure of a young child was reflected in its mirrorlike surface.
I reached out and stroked the soft cheek.
Of course, only the outer shell was human.
Even when I clenched my fist with all my strength, all I felt at my fingertips was the softness of jelly.
It was a form specialized solely for deception, nowhere near the force I wielded as a Hunter in my prime.
Even so, that posed no problem.
The child in the mirror raised the corners of his mouth in a broad grin.
If I looked like such a frail and harmless little kid.
I would be able to obtain the information I needed without anyone suspecting me.
Flash.
When I withdrew my mana, the human skin gently melted away.
I smoothly returned to my original form as a lustrous blue Slime.
The finest joker card for a covert counterattack was now in my hands.
'Then what I need to do now is......'
I quietly looked around and went over my plan from here.
There were matters I had been unable to ask about until now because I wanted to give her time to compose herself.
Why Airi, who had secluded herself in the nest, had gone out of her way to venture outside.
And the source of the hostility held by the girl who had been offered as a tribute by the nymphs.
The first clue to unraveling this entire tangled skein.
It ultimately lay in the place closest to me.
I gently rolled my core and turned toward the Lounge.
It was time I had put off for a while, intoxicated by the sweetness of the honey bread the girl baked for me.
Now it was time to ask Adele for the truth.