These past days, Nolee has been constantly eating and eating, and the magical essence content within his body was also rapidly increasing.
While improving his strength, Nolee was also searching for some useful clues to determine exactly what kind of position he was currently in.
But this cave was too big. Nolee had been wandering around for several days straight and still hadn't finished exploring it.
Nolee spread his legs and sat on the ground, unable to help complaining:
"Just how big is this cave? No matter how much I wander, I can't finish exploring it."
"Squeak, squeak."
Just then, it seemed like some kind of strange sound came from somewhere. It sounded like the sound of a mouse grinding its teeth.
Nolee quickly looked toward where the sound came from. Although the sound wasn't very loud, Nolee still relied on his instinct to find where the sound was coming from.
If it had been when he first arrived in this world, Nolee definitely wouldn't have done this unnecessary thing, but so many days had passed, and Nolee still hadn't seen any other living creatures.
After all, Nolee also wanted to see what the creatures of this world looked like.
Following his instinctive curiosity, Nolee slowly walked toward where the sound was coming from.
Nolee came before a rugged, uneven wall and reached out his hand toward this place that was making sounds.
He moved a stone away.
Through the gap, Nolee could see the scene behind the wall.
What met Nolee's eyes was a peculiar scene.
A giant rat-like creature and several hundred of its kind were chattering away as if discussing something.
Noelle listened for quite a while but couldn't understand a single word.
Just then, Nolee accidentally stepped on and crushed a small stone.
"Oh no."
Nolee cried out inwardly.
The rat boss also noticed the commotion here.
It looked toward Nolee.
Just when Nolee thought he was about to be surrounded and attacked, unexpectedly, a scene appeared that left him dumbfounded.
The rat boss turned and ran, without any hesitation whatsoever.
The remaining rat群 (group), seeing this scene, all froze in place as if they hadn't come to their senses yet.
All the rats were bewildered.
"Holy crap, boss, why are you running? No wait, wait for us!"
Only then did all the rats react and hurriedly chased after.
"Wait for you? I can barely protect myself, where would I have time to wait for you?"
The rat boss squeaked while running.
Seeing this scene, Nolee hurriedly followed.
"Don't run! I'm just looking, I won't do anything to you."
Nolee explained while running and speaking.
"You think I'll believe that? You think I'm an idiot? You don't look like a good person—no, a good beast. Plus with your aura, you think this smart rat can be fooled by you?"
The rat boss rolled its eyes and turned to run without looking back.
The rat group behind saw this and hurriedly followed.
In a short while, they disappeared without a trace.
Seeing this scene, Nolee couldn't help feeling speechless.
"Am I really that scary?"
"Whatever, if you leave, you leave. It's not like I care anyway."
Noel pouted and snorted somewhat proudly.
Looking at the pitch-black road ahead, Nolee steeled his heart and resolutely chose to walk forward.
After walking for a while, Nolee couldn't help complaining to Gamer:
"Gamer, tell me, when exactly will I be able to get out?"
"Unknown. I'm just a skill, not an encyclopedia, and not some sage either. So I cannot answer your question."
Gamer answered mercilessly.
"You're really useless. Compared to Rimuru's Great Sage, you're far inferior."
Nolee said in a sarcastic tone.
"Fine, fine, fine, so that's how you want to play it. A few days ago you were saying I was your favorite skill, and now after just a few days, you're saying I can't compare to Great Sage? Let's just wait and see. Don't let me find an opportunity in the future, otherwise, hmph hmph."
Gamer thought to himself darkly.
Just then, Nolee sensed an aura, and this aura wasn't weak—at the very least, it had B-rank or A-rank strength.
Through these past days of research, plus Gamer's answers and guidance, Nolee was no longer the clueless newbie who had just arrived in this world.
"This aura, at the very least it's B-rank, at most it could be A-rank. My current strength level is A-minus, plus the old man's skills. Overall speaking, the advantage is mine."
Nolee analyzed the situation.
Then Nolee walked toward that direction.
Climbing over a small hill, the appearance of that life form emanating the aura came into Nolee's view.
The other party's entire body was emitting a faint blue glow.
A blob of blue, semi-transparent, jelly-like monster was freely shuttling through many magic ore stones and Hippogriff grass.
Moreover, wherever it passed, the things below would disappear without a trace.
"Holy crap, isn't this Rimuru?"
Nolee couldn't help being a bit shocked.
Soon Nolee came to his senses, lowered his head and pondered:
"Rimuru is still in the Storm Dragon's cave, which means Mikami Satoru has just been killed and transmigrated to this time. In other words, the Storm Dragon hasn't been swallowed into Rimuru's stomach yet. The plot hasn't started yet—no, it's just beginning..."
The more he thought, the more excited Nolee became. This way, there would be much more room to maneuver.
After all, in his previous life, Nolee was an old otaku. He had watched the classic Rimuru more than once.
He had long understood Rimuru's worldview inside and out.
"No, no, that's not right. This isn't a novel or anime. Perhaps this world isn't that simple."
Nolee thought with a serious expression.
Having watched countless novels and anime in his previous life, Nolee clearly knew that reality and anime are different. Although Noleeknew the entire plot, who knows what else this world was hiding.
Before transmigrating, Nolee also didn't believe in transmigration. He even thought this world was just a novel or anime. But when he transmigrated, he realized this wasn't illusory—this world truly existed.
It was no different from his original world, even more exciting than his original world.
Moreover, Nolee wasn't someone who existed in this world. In web novels, there's always been a theory called the butterfly effect—a tiny change can affect the development of events, let alone someone as alive as him—no, a dragon like him.
So if he wanted to live well, Nolee had to start being cautious, cautious, and more cautious. He couldn't be reckless.
Nolee continued observing this future protagonist, the future world's strongest being.
Crawling, jumping, rolling, eating ore, eating herbs—this was no different from an ordinary slime's survival method.
"However, eating so many things without excreting, isn't he afraid of getting a stomachache? Uh, I forgot, this guy's skill."
Nolee couldn't help thinking.
At this time, Gamer came out.
[Don't forget that Rimuru has the Predator skill.]
Predator: Rimuru's special skill, possessing the functions of Predation, Analysis, Stomach, Mimicry, and Isolation.
Among them, Predation can absorb target objects into the body. Targets are not limited to organic or inorganic matter, and also include skills and magic.
Stomach can store predated targets. In addition, it can also preserve materials generated after analysis. After being stored in the stomach, they won't be affected by time.
There's also Isolation, which stores harmful effects that cannot be analyzed, purifying and converting them back into magical power.
These three functions allow Rimuru to devour anything without being affected, making Nolee quite envious. Moreover, the stomach can be used as portable space, which made him more and more covetous the more he thought about it.