Chapter 25: Eating for Knowledge

Chapter 25: Eating for Knowledge

Upon waking, I noticed that my slime had significantly diminished in size, and at first, I was greatly concerned that my new evolution made my slime deteriorate at an increased rate. When I deposited my wastewater, I confirmed it was only an insignificant amount extra. Thankfully, before I went into a neurotic panic, I noticed a little orb floating inside me - my [Sub-Core] had regenerated.

The cost paid was significant to regenerate it, and in the future, if I need to regenerate it, I should sleep on the heavier side with excess slime mass to be safe. I withdrew some slime from my savings, set my [Sub-Core] to reinforce, then finally exited the tree and shapeshifted into a wolf. I borrowed the [Enhanced Nose] trait and couldn't believe the significant difference, even though it was only level one due to being restricted to the same level as [Shapeshifting Mimicry].

I spent most of the morning running around trying to sniff out anything, going into sections of the forest I had left previously unexplored. Having the wolf's smelling power made me wonder how astronomical the Predation slime would have been being able to detect lifeforce itself.

Some deer and jackalope were all that I found, which I could effortlessly absorb, neither of which had any worthwhile traits, but I did learn about the [Sprint] and [Leap] skills. I'd practice transformation later and continued to hunt. While heading further south, towards a dense odor, I ran into something I hadn't seen in a long time.

I almost missed the smelly pig creatures, although they now felt so beneath me that I didn't even need to use my tree jellyfish strategy. Instead, I just leaped at it while in wolf form, partially undid the transformation, and glomped the boar into my acidic goo. I hoped I could find more and started to run around frantically to sniff one out.

Deciding this was taking longer than I had hoped, and I wanted to increase my search speed - I tried using [Mana Reinforcement] on my legs, which took some effort, but the result was my legs feeling sturdier. The effect was noticeable, and I was definitely running faster, trying to catch a whiff of that dense odor again.

My expanded search radius eventually bore fruit, and following a trail, I found another boar that even had visible battle scars that had healed up over time. Unfortunately, for the veteran boar, it also fell to the slimy glomp of death.

I had finally reached level two after evolving. I had almost missed the fact that my level had reset after evolution, which answered another of my past questions of why the Rage Boar and Gigatoad gave me so much experience despite being lower level - they were both evolved creatures.

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It was very odd to have the knowledge of something without the attached memories of where it came from, which only made me question what Gramps had done to me. I did wonder why he took my memories of my past life away, and I could only assume it was so that I couldn't go and seek revenge for being poisoned. My first conversation with Gramps made it sound like reincarnation was a frequent occurrence, and if it was plagued by the dead coming back to seek revenge, the world might devolve into chaos.

The loud voices of the men snapped me back to reality as I watched them pass by. One of the men had a fancy cloak with matching armor and was holding a piece of paper and pointing; at his waist was an ornate-looking rapier, and I mentally approved of his weapon choice. The other two men had a sort of vagabond look going to them, and they had unkempt blades and dirty leather armor. The elf wore strange armor that looked crafted out of leaves, and at her back was a bow and quiver that screamed loaded with money, the bow especially looking like a work of art. Finally, the cat-like creature was by her side; it was slender, and I got the impression it might have been faster than the Blade Wolf.

The fancy man was talking obnoxiously loud while they walked, and the cat-like creature was glancing around while its ears were perking, which caused me to tense up with worry. I was frozen as I watched them leave, and the last thing I saw was the elf scratching behind the ears of the cat.

When the tension faded, I turned back into a wolf, hoping its nose would inform me if anyone approached while making haste back home. Nothing eventful happened, and I wasn't lucky enough to find the last boar I needed before I spotted my familiar tree.

I checked my mana level, curious how much the drain from enhancing my legs would be while continuously maintaining the reinforcement on my core. My mana showed Surging, which meant it only dropped one level - not bad. Now, I'd test out the new creatures I could transform into; the deer and jackalope came easily.

I assumed I was getting bonus experience for the quality and also for a new form. I likely accumulated only regular amounts of experience throughout the day while shapeshifted and using mimicked traits. I hoped [Chroma Shift] wasn't far behind.

Lastly, I tried turning into a boar; the transformation was a partial success, but some of the parts were either droopy or the incorrect size. I spent the rest of the night trying to become a boar, hoping to leverage practice and my trait level to fill in the profile gaps. Before I finally decided to call it a night, I was very close to finishing the boar shape; it was certainly serviceable, and I could run around looking like one - if you ignored the transparency.

Tomorrow, I had plans to visit some old friends and get a necessary profile that may hint at some traits and skills specifically for me. It hinged on me ranking up my [Chroma Shift], but I was confident I could get it either in the morning or during the trip.