Respawn.
For the hundredth time—or maybe the thousandth—Kai opened his eyes to the gloom of the Mud Pits. The cavern was the same as always: glowing fungi dripping with moisture, a foul swampy stench, and the half-submerged throne that mocked him with every return.
But this time, he wasn't the same.
His body pulsed. His gel was thicker, denser, heavier with unseen weight. Inside him, his core glowed brighter, as if greed itself had taken root in its crystalline shell. Every inch of his slime rippled with energy that hadn't been there before.
And Kai felt it.
Strength. Vitality. Dexterity. The foreign essence of the player he'd consumed had fused with his own flimsy existence.
"Oh… oh hell yes." His voice bubbled out as he flexed, bouncing experimentally.
He launched higher than he ever had before, slapping into a stalactite with a wet splut! before plopping down again. He wobbled drunkenly, but even the impact hadn't hurt.
He quivered in delight. For the first time in this nightmare cycle, pain hadn't followed his actions. Instead, exhilaration rushed through him like an adrenaline high.
A prompt shimmered across his vision.
[Devour Successful: +2 STR, +1 VIT. Rusted Sword acquired.]
Kai's core swirled as he focused inward. There it was—floating awkwardly inside him—a battered, corroded blade. A weapon. His weapon.
At last.
He squeezed his gelatinous body around it, forcing it outward until the blade poked free like a stick jammed in jelly. The sight made him cackle.
"Finally! The Slime King arms himself! Fear me, mortals!"
He flailed the sword wildly. The blade wobbled like a wet noodle, arcs of slime dripping with every swing. It was absurd, ridiculous, and glorious all at once.
"En garde!" he crowed, attempting to thrust.
The sword sagged. His slime grip loosened. He tried holding it upright, tried bracing it like a lance, even tried riding it like a broomstick.
SSSKRRRRRCH!
The weapon fizzed, hissed, and dissolved into sludge, eaten away by the acid that made up his very body.
Kai froze. Then sagged.
"…The mighty Slime King, king of… recycling bins," he muttered bitterly.
For a long moment, he sat in silence. The echoes of his humiliation weighed heavier than the damp air. A king at last—only to corrode his first weapon before he could even swing it properly.
But then the rush hit again. That intoxicating sense of being more. Stronger. Faster. Sharper. The weapon might have been destroyed, but its essence had joined him.
And the truth became undeniable:
He didn't have to stay weak.
For the first time since his endless deaths began, Kai felt something spark in his chest. Not despair. Not humiliation. But hunger.
He began to experiment.
Stretching across the mud, he discovered he could spread his body thinner, wider, until he resembled a glistening puddle. He retracted, then spread again, testing how far he could camouflage himself against the swamp floor.
Interesting.
When spread thin, the slime trail became slick. He slithered back and forth, smearing the ground with a sheen of mud and mucus. The idea came naturally: a trap. A battlefield advantage.
Kai quivered, excitement bubbling through him.
All this time, he'd been rushing blindly at players like some disposable tutorial mob. Now, with his new awareness, he saw it clearly: he wasn't bound to their patterns. He could set his own.
He widened the slick near the chamber's entrance. A broad patch of slime disguised beneath shallow swamp water, glistening innocently. Then he drew back, hiding in the shadows near the throne, tendrils coiled like snakes ready to strike.
Now he just needed prey.
Minutes stretched into silence. A bead of impatience rolled through him. Would no one come? Was word spreading too quickly?
Then—
Squish. Squish. Squish.
Voices.
"Careful, guys, the forums said the slime boss is bugged."
"C'mon, it's just a slime. Don't tell me you're scared."
"No way can this little blob actually kill anyone. It's the tutorial boss, for crying out loud."
Kai's grin widened. Oh yes. Perfect.
Three adventurers stepped into view: a warrior with dented chainmail, a cleric hugging a chipped wooden staff, and a wiry ranger clutching a shortbow.
"Alright, let's farm this thing and get out," the warrior said confidently.
The cleric giggled nervously. "Easy potions, easy exp."
The ranger frowned. "I don't like this. Something feels… off."
Good instincts, Kai thought. But too late.
The warrior took point, stomping toward the throne.
Squish.
His boot slid on the slime-slick patch.
"Wh—whoa!"
He flailed wildly, losing his footing.
That was Kai's cue.
From the muck, a spike shot upward, hardened slime skewering the warrior straight through the chest. His eyes bulged. His scream echoed. Then his body shattered into polygons, scattering light across the chamber.
[Devour Successful: +1 STR.]
[Corruption +1]
The rush slammed into Kai like a drug. He quivered, drinking in the surge, every pulse of his body singing with newfound might.
The cleric shrieked. "G-Garreth! No!"
She stumbled backward, slipping in the slime. Her staff fell from her grip as she landed hard on her back.
Kai lunged, tendrils whipping across the mud. Acid hissed as it splattered onto her robes, eating fabric and flesh alike. She writhed, screaming, HP bar dropping in chunks until her body burst into fragments of light.
[Devour Successful: +1 WIS. Item Acquired: Cracked Wooden Staff.]
[Corruption +1]
The ranger froze. His bow clattered in shaking hands. "No, no, no, this isn't right… it's not supposed to happen!"
Kai grinned, rippling toward him.
Inside his core, something stirred. Knowledge. Instinct. The shape of a spell he hadn't known moments ago. Mana gathered, burning hot.
He let it loose.
"Fireball."
A sputtering orb of flame shot forward, wobbling slightly before smashing into the ranger's chest. It exploded with a fwump of smoke and searing heat. The ranger screamed as flames devoured him, then dissolved into polygons.
[Devour Successful: +2 DEX. Item Acquired: Shortbow.]
[Corruption +1]
Silence.
The cavern stank of burnt fungus and charred mud.
Kai pulsed in the center, trembling. The stats, the loot, the skill—all of it hummed inside him, stronger than before. His body buzzed with stolen power, every inch alive with potential.
He was evolving.
Not just a respawnable boss. Not just a joke slime.
A predator.
Kai raised a spike high, slime trembling with exhilaration.
"You first," he whispered, voice bubbling with dark glee.
Then, softer. More dangerous.
"…then your loot."
The echoes of battle faded, replaced by the quiet drip of water from the cavern ceiling.
For once, Kai wasn't afraid of the silence. He basked in it, every ripple of his body humming with the thrill of victory. His first true hunt. His first real kills.
He squelched over to the pile of half-dissolved gear left behind—burnt leather scraps, cracked chain, useless shards.
He absorbed them eagerly, though most dissolved into sludge before his core could claim anything useful. Still, the act itself filled him with giddy satisfaction.
"So this is what it feels like to win," he whispered, voice bubbling with amusement. "Not respawn. Not die. But win."
He slithered back to his slime-slicked trap, inspecting the sheen of mucus across the floor.
Already, ideas frothed in his mind. He could make multiple patches, layer them across the chamber, force enemies to stumble exactly where he wanted. And if he paired them with spikes or fireballs… oh, it would be beautiful.
Kai quivered with laughter.
They thought him the weakest tutorial mob. Disposable. Pathetic.
But he was rewriting the script.
And the next wave of adventurers to enter his domain?
They wouldn't face a boss.
They'd face a monster who learned.
_______________________________________
[STATUS — Kai]
Race: Tutorial Boss — Slime King (Bugged)
Level: 5 EXP: 78%
HP: 135/135 MP: 55/55
Corruption: 10
Evolution Progress: 5%
ATTRIBUTES:
STR 8 → 11
DEX 5 → 7
VIT 9 → 10
INT 4
WIS 4 → 5
LCK 1
TITLES:
• Tutorial Boss • Bugged Entity • First Blood
TRAITS:
• Boss Entity (Instance-bound) — Respawns in 10m at Mud Pits throne.
• Acidic Body — Contact deals minor acid dmg; corrodes common items.
• Amorphous — Squeeze/flow; partial split; weapon penetration reduced.
UNIQUE:
• Devour Glitch [Unique][Corrupted]
Consume slain players/creatures to absorb stats, skills, and one random item.
Higher targets = higher corruption. No hard cap.
SKILLS:
Slime Spike (Racial) — Create hardened spike; scales with STR.
Acid Spit (Racial) — Short-range cone; corrodes gear.
Split (Minor) — Divide body briefly; halves stats per part; short CD.
Absorb — Pull loose items/fluids into body; store "internalized."
Fireball Lv.1 (Stolen) — 10 MP; small explosion; friendly fire on.
RESISTANCES:
Slash +30% • Pierce +15% • Blunt -10% • Fire -25% • Poison Immune
EQUIPMENT / INVENTORY:
• Internalized: Cracked Wooden Staff (fragile), Shortbow (D)
• Misc: Newbie Coins ×19
KILL LOG (Recent):
Lv2 Cleric → +1 WIS, Cracked Wooden Staff
Lv2 warrior → +1 STR
Lv3 Ranger → +2 DEX, Shortbow