《Slimy Slime》 Chapter 1: One mans death is that same mans isekai. It was late. Really late. Technically early really. The moon was beginning to set and it wouldn¡¯t be long now till the sun began to rise. Yesterday had been the 4th of July and of course, I hadn¡¯t gotten any sleep at all. Fireworks were just way too loud! ¡­also I had been up all night playing with fireworks but honestly, who cared about the small details like that it was my own fault. No, the night had come and gone and I had wanted to go to bed but some idiots were out shooting their guns. And boy, that was loud as hell. So nope, no sleep for me tonight, but that was fine. I was currently out in the woods, well, kinda. It was a little log cabin I had rented for the week. A nice quiet place to blow the hell out of a bunch of pure unadulterated Big Booms! It had been awesome but now, I was kinda tired. And those dang gunshots weren¡¯t letting up one bit! Boom. Boom. Boom. What, did someone die?! Why are there so many? It¡¯s 4am! Go to bed! Boom. Boom. Boom. Pain. Pain. Pain pain pain pain. My entire world was numbness and pain. I looked down at my chest from where I was laying. Blood, so much blood. Wh-at? Blood, blood blood blood, pain, focus. The gun shot. They were shooting their guns up into the air and one of the bullets must have fallen. My chest was red. So much red. Red red red. I was bleeding out and holy shit, do humans have that much blood? I tried to get out of bed and slammed into the ground. Weak. I felt so weak. Everything was starting to go numb now, even the pain. So, so weak. The life was draining out of my body. I had never felt so weak before. Moving a finger felt like lifting a mountain. I was in shock, the full reality hadn¡¯t hit me yet, my mind was burning. I was going to die. I was going to die. I was going to die. With shaking hands, I drew on the wooden floor boards with my own blood. Family, friends, they¡¯re going to find me. Find my dead body. I can¡¯t, I can¡¯t make them worry. Can¡¯t let them worry. I I ¦á Love yo Weak. Too weak. Can¡¯t finish it. Those will just have to be my final words. Love yo. Ha. Haha. Hahaha. Hahaha! Hahahaha Haha ha hah haaa aaah . . . . . . . . . . . ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­. HAHAHA! I woke up, laughing my ass off, taking in deep breaths of air like a maniac. It was a full, belly shaking laugh, from the depths of my soul. It took a while for it to subside to realize I wasn¡¯t dying. I was, I was alive? I felt tears falling from my eyes in shock as I looked down at my hands. No blood, no pain, no unearthly feeling of numbness and weakness as my very life drains away from me. As I feel myself edge towards oblivion. No, no awful reality where I¡¯m dead. Also, why was I naked? ¡°Greetings Godling.¡± ¡°Huh?!¡± I looked up and my eyes practically bulged out of my skull because what I was looking at was crazy. Before me, there was an angelic looking woman. She looked like she was dressing up in cosplay but if so I didn¡¯t know who it was. Also, well, she had wings. White wings. The more I looked the more my jaw dropped. She was, a powerfully striking figure. A golden chain tiara in her hair with a singular teardrop deep blue jewel, four white wings in an X shape across her back, wearing an extremely unusual mix of white and golden¡­ silk panties and a bra? But as if to also spit in the face of that, she wore Metal gauntlets. She was showing so much skin, I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if she told me she was going to a beach. And that didn¡¯t even touch on her eyes. Those were not normal pupils and the deep blue color to match the few gems on her body was not lost on me. It was like waking up and seeing an anime character come to life and it was extremely disorientating. ¡°What?¡± She just chuckled. ¡°Hello Godling. You have been chosen to undergo a Challenge. The challenge of ascending to Godhood. You are a special case since you are the first to undergo this challenge with memories of a past life. Usually, this sort of rite uses fresh souls, but due to a God¡¯s suggestion we decided to change the premise a bit.¡± I felt like I had just been slapped across the face. No introductions, no real explanations, the second I die I¡¯m being told about Gods and Godhood? And what was that she called me, a Godling? My brain felt like it was close to imploding. There hadn¡¯t, there hadn¡¯t been any time. Peaceful life, pain, blood, dying, now godhood stuff. It all, it all was a singular mixed event in my head. No different from getting run over by a train multiple times in a few seconds, your brain won¡¯t separate it all into separate events. And it was all becoming way way too much for me. I wasn¡¯t ready for this. I wasn¡¯t capable of this. I needed, fucking god, I needed time. I needed a second to fucking breathe. What the hell was going on anymore?! ¡°Ah, since you¡¯re still conscious, I should introduce myself and the other gods, as it would be rude not to. I, One of the Two True Gods, or progenitor gods, am called Chaos, Change, Erosion, while the other Progenitor is called Order, Stagnation, Calmness. We both made our challenges or rituals for our creations to become fellow gods and to help shape the worlds that we Two Progenitors make. All the other Gods were fellow Godlings that have ascended and took their place, as maybe you might too. Why you were chosen, you may wonder. Well, you seemed to be in need, is the reason why. Anyway, lets see what your death has empowered you with. Oh right, I forgot to tell you, but you are dead.¡± As she moved to go do, something, my mind rebelled. It rebelled at all of this nonsense. ¡°SHUT. UP!¡± She looked like I had slapped her. ¡°I just fucking died! Give me a minute here! What the fuck?! What the hell?! I can¡¯t just, I¡¯m a pretty happy go lucky guy but dying is kinda traumatic you know?! I can¡¯t just go and be like ¡°ah yes, of course, all of the things you just said make total sense and now let¡¯s keep going¡± like, what?! Just, just give me a few minutes.¡± I collapsed to the ground, holding my head in my hands. Way too much, too much. Need a moment. God, gods, I need a moment. My head is pounding. I didn¡¯t even look at¡­ her. The minutes passed by. Some of the innate pressure in my head, that maelstrom, died down into a gentle wave. It came slowly. First, the acceptance of my death. That was the most immediate thing here and next was the whole, thing here. I had died. Well and truly died. This was the afterlife, the realm of the Gods and souls and stuff. No, no, I had to focus here. I had died. A shudder of fear went through me. I had died, dead, gone, no longer here, went to go live on a farm. I was, gone. But I wasn¡¯t. But I hardly expected to wake up again and be back seeing my friends and family any time soon. I was, estranged in a way. Death wasn¡¯t an oblivion, which helped ease away the tension. I was dead, in name only. Only by pure technicality. All the important facets of being alive, of being capable and sentient, were still right here. I was still, alive. In my own way. The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. I let out a giant, massive, sigh of relief. I was dead but alive in the ways that count. Dead was just, apparently, a state of being. Like, like being cold or warm. Alive was more than that. It was your totality until you cease to be and exist. I let that pure feeling of relief flow through me for a while but I couldn¡¯t shake the next part those words had unlocked in me. I was only ¡®alive¡¯ because someone changed the rules around here a little bit. Otherwise I¡¯d be just as dead as anyone else. Okay, okay me, time to tackle the next thing. Godling, after life, potential godhood. That was, strangely easy to accept. I mean, I was dead and still alive at the same time. Dying and there being Gods? Easy stuff by comparison, everyone knows either there¡¯s nothing or something on the other side and turns out¡­ there¡¯s definitely something here after all. I couldn¡¯t quite, get a grip, on the whole being a god thing. It was too, abstract. It was just, there. But what I could get a grip on? This wasn¡¯t a nice easy package deal. This was a Challenge, with a capital C. That¡¯s what the Goddess in front of me had said. Oh shit, The Goddess! I looked up and she was staring at me in¡­ guilt? What? Huh? ¡°Godling, I apologize. I didn¡¯t mean to overwhelm you. We don¡¯t get many passing souls here and the bounds of mortality have long left us. I didn¡¯t realize how hard it would be on you to pass on.¡± ¡°Uh, no no! I, I¡¯m sorry. I shouldn¡¯t have blown up at you! I promise, I¡¯m not usually that kinda guy! It was just all, a bit too much ya know?¡± I felt like a lame boyfriend that had yelled at his girlfriend. Gah! What type of guy was I?! Still, Chaos(???), smiled and seemed relieved. ¡°All is well Godling. Would you like to continue to see how your death has empowered you?¡± ¡°Uh, sure?¡± I mean, hell, becoming stronger through dying seems pretty neat. But¡­ stronger for what exactly? ¡°Different elements play a part in what will lead to a soul¡¯s empowerment through death. For starters, there¡¯s The Reason.¡± She waved her hand and The Reason came back in full details. I saw a bullet leaving a gun and traveling through the air, before it finally landed, going through my roof and hitting my body. I grimaced hard, that was me only moments ago and it was clear it had struck right next to my heart. Hell, maybe it actually struck my heart, I wasn¡¯t a doctor. The ¡®view¡¯ panned back to the gun wielder and it was clear he was just shooting for fun. It wasn¡¯t anyone I recognized and honestly, I felt no malice towards the guy. We all make mistakes. His were dumber than most but, well, that was life. ¡°An accident. How unfortunate. It seems bad luck caught you and ended your life. It seems you¡¯ve obtained the Danger Sense skill.¡± I blinked. Bad luck huh? Well, I guess that was all it really was. But Danger Sense? That sounded entirely too useful. If I had had that a few minutes ago, I¡¯d probably still be alive huh? Guess that was the reason I had ¡°earned¡± it. Still, I don¡¯t think I wanna actually need it but I have a bad feeling about the future¡­ ¡°Next is The Time.¡± My vision swam again but this time it was a view of outside my house. It was night, dark, dusk, but the moon was slowly falling and soon the sun would be rising. It wasn¡¯t quite sunrise so I wouldn¡¯t really know what to call the time myself. Uh, super early morning? ¡°Moonset. You died right as the moon was falling to its nadir. With this timing, you¡¯ve obtained the Magic Skill (Dark).¡± My eyes widened for a number of reasons. For starters, there is absolutely no way moonset is a real thing, she just made that up. Secondly, what on earth is nadir? And third, MAGIC?! Oh boy, dying was the best possible thing to ever happen to me. And wait, Darkness magic? So I could like, uhhhh. Make, shadow clones maybe? Wait no. Make things dark? Well, I¡¯m sure I¡¯ll figure it out! ¡°Your magical skill will start at Tier 2.¡± No idea what that meant but before I could ask, she continued. ¡°Next, The How.¡± I gritted my teeth. I really hoped I wasn¡¯t about to see what I was about to see. But of course, reality was cruel. So very cruel at times. I saw the bullet fall and enter into my body and then, in X-ray, saw it as it landed right next to my heart, piercing an artery. My blood left my body in great gouts and I felt sick to my stomach. Luckily, the vision ended before I saw myself fully die. ¡°Blood loss via a speeding object. You¡¯ve gained Enhanced Healing and Physical Resistance (Piercing) at Tier 1.¡± Okay, now I really needed to ask about this Tier stuff. ¡°Wait, wait, wait. What are, what even are skills? What are tiers? What are, is, any of this?¡± She smiled at me, in sympathy and shame. A very, strong reaction that I wasn¡¯t expecting from a stranger I had really just met basically. ¡°I will explain it all, I promise you, but for now, it¡¯s best if we continue forward. There are important choices to be made and reaching the point where you can think about those choices would be best.¡± I grumbled but nodded. I wanted to know now but if I actually had decisions to make? Yeah, knowledge could wait a second, at least until I knew what I needed to decide on. ¡°Thank you Godling.¡± ¡°My name is Mark. Or, well, was.¡± Does dying make your name change? Questions for later. ¡°Thank you Mark. This next decision is very important. Very, very important so please listen closely Mark.¡± My ears were open and my eyes were laser focused. If a Goddess was telling me to pay attention I was going to pay attention. ¡°This will be the most important decision you will make. You need to choose a System. A System is what will allow you to ascend to Godhood, if you make it that far. This system will be with you for the rest of your existence. Choose wisely, Mark.¡± Alright, game face on. Godhood, system, okay, alright. Methods to become a god. I can do this. ¡°There are two systems. I will start with the Crowned Monster System.¡± ¡°The Crowned Monster System. As a Crowned Monster you Evolve to a newer generation to increase your power. You will start as a Gen 0 monster and must work on your requirements to evolve into a higher generation. How many generations it takes to evolve into a creature worthy of being called a God is up to you and luck. The fastest creature to evolve using this system took roughly 571 years, 7 months, 15 days and 24 minutes. That current god is now the God of Time and works to protect the fabric of time. The average time is around 3000 or so years.¡± My head was already rocking. Become a monster? Skills, magic, I wasn¡¯t going to be taking this challenge on earth, that was for sure. But it didn¡¯t seem like I¡¯d be taking whatever challenge this was here either. I was, oh my god. Was I being reincarnated? And I could reincarnate as a monster to become a god. That sounded, insane. I didn¡¯t have a frame of reference but becoming a whole other being? That sounded so, totally crazy to me. And 3000 years on average? My grand total of 25 years wasn¡¯t even worth mentioning in the face of that. ¡°As a crowned monster, you have access to the special Crown Ability. This allows you to manifest a crown that makes you able to command other creatures. The crown¡¯s appearance is determined by your personality and race, the crown is tied to your soul, and you will only be able to manifest it at most 5 seconds at the start. The stronger you become, the longer you can manifest your crown. Usually by Gen 7, you should be able to manifest your crown for 12 hours at least. This crown can be destroyed. If the crown is destroyed, you die. The power needed to destroy your crown outright would take more strength and effort than just outright killing you. Those of strong will or are stronger than you can resist the commands of the crown.¡± Holy crap, that sounded horrifying. Commanding others to do what I say? I mean, there¡¯s a certain form of appeal but not like that. Plus it only seemed to basically work on those weaker than me. That didn¡¯t sound useful. I¡¯d much rather have something that can help me against stuff stronger than me. Still, this was basically my option 1. Being a monster and continually evolving till I became a god. That was, weird and crazy. But it also sounded pretty amazing. What kind of monsters could I be? A dragon? Could, could I become a freaking dragon? That would be so cool. It might even be worth it. And can¡¯t plenty of fantasy esk monsters become humanoid ish? Maybe I¡¯ll be taking this option but I don¡¯t know. I¡¯ll have to hear the others. ¡°The second of the two systems, is The Human Hero System.¡± ¡°This system is a subsystem of the normal Human System. There are plenty of other Human Sub-systems, like Human King, Human Sage, Human Acolyte, etc. All these systems work in a similar method to the Monster evolution system, with each one working only slightly differently from each other. The Essence of the Human System is by going through classes like a monster evolves through generations, with each class having requirements to fill before you can change it. Your Hero part of the system comes from the fact that you can see ahead one class tier, what requirements they need, and being able to swap classes at will. Your hero system does allow you to access the other sub systems like the King System, as well.¡± Too much information but I knew more was about to slam into me. ¡°This system comes with the Markings of a Hero. To signify that you are a Hero, a tattoo with wings and halo will be somewhere on your body and will change forms depending on your personality and actions. From the amounts of wings, to the halo turning into horns, in the end it is an indicator of what others see of you and your interaction with the world around you. You will know the location of your Tattoo on your body but where it ends up being is completely random and will always be on your skin. If you show a human your mark, they will instinctively know what you are.¡± ¡°Which system will you choose?¡± I was feeling really, disassociated at this point. I had all of that happen and then all of this happen, and then was being asked to make a choice. I need, I had to think. This was important. But, basically, wasn¡¯t it really simple? Human or monster. That seemed pretty easy and simple, but, wait a minute. Something Chaos had said stuck out to me¡­ ¡°How long does it usually take for people with the Hero system to become a God?¡± ¡°On average, 1500 years.¡± What?! ¡°Do, do humans usually live that long?¡± She shot me a confused look. ¡°No.¡± Wait, wait a minute. ¡°Uh, how long will I live with the hero system?¡± ¡°Roughly 300 years provided you don¡¯t find a way to increase your lifespan somehow.¡± I blinked and my jaw dropped. Wait, wait a minute. Wait a dang minute. ¡°Doesn¡¯t that mean that most people who become Heros fail?!¡± ¡°Almost all Godlings fail.¡± That sent a cold shiver down my spine. Right, most people who probably go do this challenge probably fail and die. But, but I¡¯d have to figure out how to what, quadruple my lifespan? Could I do that? I mean I¡¯d have 300 years but, is that enough? ¡°How many people who have taken the Hero System managed to increase their lifespan that far?¡± ¡°Roughly 15% have managed to increase their lifespan to the average time it takes to achieve Godhood.¡± I grimaced. On top of an already hard challenge, I¡¯d have to do that. How many years would it take to maybe be part of that 15%? I was assuming I was better than 85% of the people that had ever chosen the Hero system? No way. ¡°What about monsters? How many people manage to increase their lifespan with the Crowned Monster system?¡± ¡°As long as you continually evolve, your lifespan is functionally immortal as a monster. Less than 1% of Crowned Monsters have gone out of their way to increase their lifespan.¡± That, that was amazing. And really made my choice easy for me. I needed all the help I could get. ¡°I choose the Crowned Monster System.¡± For the first time, Chaos absolutely beamed at me. ¡°Excellent! Now, let¡¯s begin.¡± And then came all the answers I was seeking. And Gods and Goddesses, it was just as overwhelming as before. But it was answers. Where to even begin in my own head? For starters, I was told that I¡¯d start as a Gen 0 monster. Every time I evolved, I¡¯d go up in Generation. I couldn¡¯t de-evolve or evolve into something I had previously been, but I could evolve into a lower Generation monster while going up a Gen myself. So I could go from Super cool omega monster and down to rat but I¡¯d still be Gen 20 or etc. And that mattered, a lot. Because stats were a thing. Even if I went back down to Rat, I¡¯d still have the stats of a super monster. I¡¯m sure I¡¯ll have to deal with that eventually so it was good to know that evolution down didn¡¯t necessarily make you weaker. To evolve, I needed to meet my astra requirements and whatever requirements for that evolution. Astra was, astra was apparently really important. It was, lifeforce? Soul power? Everyone generated it and older monsters and people had more of it. When Humans hit their astra limits, they died. Astra apparently caused things to age. Monsters however, usually had a cap of some sorts. I would not. That didn¡¯t make me safe though, if I generated too much Astra, I¡¯d basically explode and die. So, that was a ticking time clock but I also needed high levels of astra in order to evolve. Stronger evolutions generally required more, much more. It was life force, soul power, and evolution energy all rolled up into one. The requirements were only interesting because Chaos mentioned there were hidden evolutions. This meant that I needed to find them, asap. Those hidden evolutions could be the difference between life and death where I was going. There wasn¡¯t any information on unlocking them, but the requirements could be convoluted and annoyingly, anything. Still, there were some ideas from my days playing video games that were giving me some early ideas on what could be what. I¡¯d hopefully figure something out. And that was, it? Not really, Chaos talked for a long while and I knew there was some information that just didn¡¯t sound relevant till I was in that particular situation but overall, that was it. Now came only one more decision. Chaos looked at me. ¡°So, what monster will you become?¡± I looked at the 8 options with excitement and apprehension. Chapter 2: The Superior Power of the Slime! I had to start as a Generation 0 monster. That meant bottom of the barrel, lowest of the low in the totem pole. That was fun to say. Anyway. ¡°What are my choices?¡± I blinked because in front of me were 9 pieces of paper. Well, no, they were flat but they looked more like floating computer screens than anything else. The first listed the 8 options I had and the rest seemed to list the evolutions. ¡°Here are your choices. Please, take your time and look thoroughly.¡± Chaos gestured behind me and a beanbag chair had formed. Well, alright. I slammed my behind down in the beanbag and started reading. I wanted to know what I could become too badly to really appreciate how awesome this beanbag chair was. My god, it was really great. But no, focus Mark. [Slime: Gain 4 Astra per day +2 END Requirements: N/A Skill gains: Melt - Use your slime to corrode through materials, can melt up to Steel Tier items. Absorb - Envelops a target into your body, then slowly eat away it. This is akin to eating. General info: The lowly slime, one of the most common monster types. Do note, that you will unable to see, only able to ¡®feel¡¯ your way around the environment. Some metals, like gold, are naturally resistant to your melt skill.] PASS! Pass pass pass pass. No way. Slimes were cool and awesome and amazing, but being blind? Are you kidding me? I¡¯ll probably die before I can ever evolve into any sorta slime with eyes. My heart hurt at having to refuse but, Next. [Goblin: Gain 5 Astra per day +2 STR Requirements: N/A Skill Gains: Goblin Breeding - Able to mate with all creatures but the children will always be goblins. Children gain enhanced stats or skills depending on parents. Minor enhanced healing - Wounds close faster and blood is quicker to replenish. About 100% faster. General info: A common monster group, Goblins. They rape, pillage, and are a general menace to all creatures of the world. They tend to form communities with fellow goblins and due to this it is very rare to find a lone goblin out in the wilds.] Hmm. That¡¯s a really good choice actually. My crown abilities specifically work with people underneath me. Like a king. A Goblin King doesn¡¯t sound too bad. It wouldn¡¯t take me long to probably get up to that point with my system it sounded. I didn¡¯t exactly want to lead a roving band of evil though. Still, a solid choice because I had arms, legs, eyes, and could just leave if I wanted to. [Imp: Gain 3 Astra per day +2 INT Requirements: N/A Skill Gains: Tier 1 Magic Skill (Illusion) - Conjure and manipulate the illusion element. Minor Flight - Able to fly through the air at a walking pace. Can hover in place with effort. General info: Rare pranksters that go around and cause mischief among the various creatures. Seen more as pests than actual threats.] And that was it? Well, that was still pretty interesting. This is clearly a road leading down into magic. Chaos had explained to me that there were 20 Tiers of Magic. T1 was so weak you had to be touching something to cause anything to happen, and even then. Still, with this, I could eventually get better and better magic. Honestly, I wasn¡¯t seeing a downside. It just overall seemed like a better choice than goblin. Flight, magic, pests but not an evil threat, etc. It was currently well and truly in the lead. [Ghost: Gain 3 Astra per day +2 WIS Requirements: N/A Skill Gains: Drain - Drains a targets MP. If MP is 0 or lower, you can drain HP instead. Killing someone with Drain gives you 1% of their total stats as Free Stat Points. Ethereal - Able to pass through objects and possess objects. Hovers through the air at a walking pace. General info: A specter of a creature that died horribly and due to the traumatic death has risen from the grave. You don¡¯t have legs but you can still ¡®walk¡¯ and ¡®run¡¯ though. Can choose any base look, like wolf or elf.] I clutched at my heart. No, no way. A ghost? I was going to live, then die, and then what, stay dead but alive? No, no absolutely not. The shivers of death still hadn¡¯t left me. I wasn¡¯t ready to stay dead and live like that, no fucking way. Nuh-uh. Not happening. I don¡¯t care how cool and awesome and useful drain is, I¡¯ll probably kill myself out of fright just by looking at a mirror or go into an existential crisis of dread. [Cat: Gain 3 Astra per day. +1 AGI +1 DEX Requirements: N/A Skill Gains: Night Vision - Able to see better in lowlight environments. About 200% better or so. Silent step - Your footsteps are silent and can not be easily heard. General info: A generic cat. The bane of all mice and mayhaps men as well. To some they are pests that breed out of control, to others, a fluffy companion. Which will you become I wonder.] I blinked. Blinked again. A third time for good measure. Nope, I was looking at cat. Were, were all cats monsters in this new world? How on earth did people deal with that? Your cat could just become- I quickly flicked through the evolution pages. A PANTHER?! Your cat could just become a panther at nearly any time? What the hell? Were dogs a monster too? Were all animals? Wait, could all animals evolve? That was crazy. But also, hell no, I¡¯m not becoming a cat. No way. Over imp? I¡¯d have to be insane. [Huge Snake: Gain 5 Astra per day +1 AGI +1 STR Requirements: N/A Skill Gains: Swallow Whole - able to swallow creatures that are smaller than you. You will slowly digest them over time. Make sure not to swallow anything that might be able to cut their way out of you. Inject Venom - You are able to inject a venom into creatures that you bite. This venom slowly kills your victim. You are immune to this poison. General info: A larger than average sized snake that slithers about looking for food. You smell through your tongue instead of your nose. Commonly found in jungle environments.] Alright, that confirms it. All animals are technically monsters. So, a snake huh? Could I eventually become something like a hydra or maybe even a dragon? No, maybe a dragon is too much but a wyvern might be possible or something? Maybe one of those cool snake like dragons? Still, I can¡¯t say I¡¯m in love with the idea of being a snake or an animal at all. The first four options were at least monsters to their core. But now, animal after animal? If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. [Wolf: Gain 3 Astra per day +1 STR +1 END Skill Gains: Tracking - Able to see details that help you follow or find creatures. Scent - Able to detect and sense other creatures and objects through smell. General info: Ravenous creatures that are commonly found in wooded areas and sometimes encountered in plains. Wolves tend to naturally form communities with fellow wolves.] I had to resist a yawn. Yeah, sure, being a wolf is cool and I¡¯m sure its evolutions were amazing but I just wasn¡¯t interested at all. [Huge Rat: Gain 6 Astra per day +2 CON Requirements: N/A Skill Gains: Infectious bite - Your bites have an increased chance of becoming infected and potentially killing your victim. Carrier of illness - Your body is a carrier to a host of many different viruses and parasites. You are immune to the negative affect of these carry ons. General info: A bigger than normal rat. These fearsome creatures are hunted down before they can reproduce and cause more problems. A Huge Rat is often seen leading many smaller rats.] I grimaced. That sounded utterly awful to become and be for any length of time at all. So, these were my 8 choices. Slime, goblin, imp, ghost, cat, snake, wolf, rat. Well, I wasn¡¯t going to be stupid about this. Let¡¯s check their evolutions, last to first. First is rat. Hmm. Mhm. Hmm. I threw the paper at Chaos¡¯s feet. ¡°Burn it. Burn it right now.¡± Chaos seemed surprised but she was nice and instantly, the offending screen paper thing burst into flames, never to be seen again. If I never saw another rat, it¡¯d be too soon. The horror of some of those early evolutions alone had convinced me to never, ever, go into a city if I could help it. Shudder. The horrors. The horrors. Next is wolf. I don¡¯t know why I¡¯m surprised but I really wasn¡¯t expecting multiple werewolf options. Now that sounded more interesting. And this was only the early levels. Chaos had let slip that most monsters have an ¡°end of the line¡± of evolutions between Generations 7 and 14. I could only see up to Generation 2. What on earth would a Gen 14 Werewolf even look like? That sounded pretty godly to me. There were also just bigger and badder and more magical wolf options. So that was, neat I guess. Alright, snake. Snake was fascinating. Sure, one row seemed to lead towards bigger and badder snake, but another was clearly snake women¡­ specifically snake women and no men. Hmm. But they also led to kobolds! Those lizard, slightly dragon esk, people! A snake really might one day lead to me becoming a dragon. That was, wow. Maybe it wasn¡¯t such a bad choice after all. With a heavy sigh, I looked at cat again but more thoroughly this time. On one hand, yeah, you had bigger and badder cats. Panther into Shadow Panther or Iron Clawed Panther. But you also seemed to have Magic Cats. There was even a path towards becoming a ¡°cat-girl¡± but the less said of that option the better. Mainly because that whole line required becoming someone¡¯s familiar. And I quite liked not having to have a partner in crime. Especially when I read that to become a cat-girl you needed to have a ¡°special¡± connection with your master. Nuh-uh, no way. Ghost. I gritted my teeth but forced myself to read through the line up. And it was about as horrible as I imagined. All of the options were good and in another life, maybe. But I wasn¡¯t going to stay dead in a world where I could be alive again. I did know that if I ever ran into these things, I¡¯d probably run away screaming. What the hell even was a Soul Leech? And ghosts could become skeletons, ghouls, and zombies. Yeah, that was all hella spooky. Cool but it also just hit home too close to my heart. I didn¡¯t think I¡¯d ever develop a fear of undead but just seeing them reminded me of my own mortality. Hard pass. Ah, imp! Finally, some of the good stuff. Imp was, really weird. I knew imps were demons but some of these choices¡­ at the end of the line that I could see were devils, fey, dopplegangers and redcaps. I wasn¡¯t sure which road I wanted to go down. Devil was straight out, I wasn¡¯t evil. Redcaps were too specific on the requirements. But becoming a pixie? That could eventually probably become like a Fairy queen or something right? And doppleganger, well, I could blend right in with any town or city. I hadn¡¯t considered it before but that might be pretty important. Clearly, some monsters were fine and others weren¡¯t though. No one complained about the animals that existed, judging from the descriptions. And imps were outright called pests at worst. So it wasn¡¯t that necessary but stronger monsters, well, I¡¯d have to see when I get to wherever I¡¯m going. Now, Goblin. I flicked over to the page and was nearly blinded by choices. Goblins, goblins became so many things. Hyena people that were called gnolls, oni, a bunch of special goblins, a succubus, and more. That was, kind of a tough choice. The pure variety goblin offered wasn¡¯t expected. It would help me specialize in anything I wanted as I went down the line. With a now thoroughly confused mind, I read about slime evolutions, with a heavy heart. I wanted to be a slime, I did. It was just so cool. But I couldn¡¯t be blind. Even at evolution 0, that was just way too much. Slimes were weak starting out and if I couldn¡¯t see, anything on earth could kill me. Still, I read through the evolutions. And then my heart felt like it had stopped. I read again, and again, and again. My eyes were glued to the paper, my heart rate increasing. No way. I thought it through in my head, again and again. I tried to resist, to not choose what felt like certain death out of pure greed and ambition but I couldn¡¯t help it and the words slipped out of my mouth. ¡°I want to be a slime.¡± ¡°Excellent!¡± I looked up. Oh crap, I said that out loud. I wanted to deny it, to choose imp, but I couldn¡¯t. Slime was just too powerful! If I could master the Gen 2 option I saw¡­ no, If I could get a special evolution version of a Gen 3 I knew was there¡­ It was suddenly and quickly occurring to me that low Gen monsters weren¡¯t necessarily weak, they just had less of a max badness potential. The Gen 2 rat I saw could have wiped out a city. I¡¯m sure a Gen 7 rat could wipe out a country. So if, this was only my options at Gen 2¡­ my heartbeat was heavy and I felt like I was shaking. Strong, way way too strong. I looked back at the second and third evolution I was going to be aiming for. [Core Slime: Gain 3 Astra per day +2 STR +1 INT Requirements: 60 Astra Absorb 30 Creatures Absorb 5 Human Hearts Skill Gains: Slime core - A magical core made from solid slime, which acts as your heart, brain, and eye. You can see through your core like one Huge eyeball. Remote control - Able to control severed parts of yourself at will. General info: A slime that has eaten enough creatures to use their mass to make a core. These slimes are feared by humans due to the fact that these slimes can grow out of control.] [Princess/Prince Slime: Gain 2 Astra per day +2 Con +2 INT Requirements: 50 Astra Spend a total of 600 hours controlling your slime remotely. Skill Gains: Tier 1 shaping - Able to shape parts of your body. Now you can make cute little slime soldiers that march about. Enhanced control - You are now able to manipulate a huge amount of slime and are able sense through them. Royal core - You now have control over lesser slimes and are able to command them. Your core now sports a cute little crown to signify your royalty. General info: A slime that is actively hunted down by humans and monsters alike, before the slime evolves further.] So strong, way too strong. I could become a one slime army. If sensing through slime is at Princess level, what would king be? Could I cast magic through my slime? Become a massive hivemind? It straight up says I¡¯d be so strong that both humans and monsters will come for me. This is Gen 2, Gen 3 is obvious, but what about the rest? Chaos was clear, Every line has at least 7. That doesn¡¯t make those with only 7 weak, far from it. I can barely, kinda, imagine a Gen 4 but that¡¯s it. I have no idea what could come after that. Even at just Gen 4, I feel like I¡¯d be unstoppable. And¡­ what about hidden evolutions? Even just being able to see the other slime lines, like Metal Slime and Medicine Slime, gives me more than a few ideas. I, if I wasn¡¯t already sitting down, I¡¯d need to. Isn¡¯t this kinda really strong? Then a sobering fact came my way. Almost everyone who had tried this challenge had failed. Chaos had said so. I wasn¡¯t the first to see this combination, even if other people didn¡¯t get memories of their past life. Someone else must have tried. And they must have failed. It was easy to see why. This was declaring yourself an enemy of the world, that your potential was too high. Everyone would be gunning for me and that fervor would increase into a world wide hunt as I evolved further. It wasn¡¯t enough. I needed more or I was going to be a smear before I ever got to that point. I had to think this through and- ¡°Are you ready for your crown abilities Mark?¡± ¡­what. ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°As part of being a Crowned Monster, you get 3 authorities and 2 Crown types.¡± WHAT?! ¡°We¡¯re not sending me now?¡± She seemed to blink in confusion. ¡°There¡¯s still plenty more to go through though? We need to select your authorities, your crown typing, your skills, your items, the world to send you to, and where to send you in at.¡± I opened my mouth in shock. The Crowned Monster system already gave me a massive leg up on everyone else. Just being able to see future evolutions and their requirements were worth their weight in gold, especially since I could extrapolate from those requirements what some secret options might be. But now, apparently I was also getting a bunch more stuff, down to selecting the world and where I ended up at? My blood ran cold. That, I think I finally understood that thing scientists said about discovering ancient civilizations on other planets. The saying goes that the closer we find life to our own, the less chance we as life will make it, because other life had failed. To the point that finding any kind of advanced structure was said to be a death knell for our whole race. Most people had all of these abilities, all of these options, and I¡¯m willing to bet were far smarter or stronger or just more lucky than me. And they had all failed. Or at least most of them. Can I really come up with better synergies or ideas than everyone else? Even if all of those abilities made me stupidly OP, I was starting to really feel the pressure. Because it meant that someone else, many people in fact, had been stupidly OP. And failed. Again and again. I took a deep breath. ¡°Please show me them.¡± I wasn¡¯t going to die twice. I¡¯d find something to get me a leg up. I¡¯d have to take every opportunity and scrap of strength or I was going to hopelessly die, again. I could still feel my blood pouring out of my chest as I tried and failed to write my final goodbye. Never again. Chapter 3: Shockingly, sometimes Authority can be a good thing. As long as I have it, of course. Chaos waved her arm and the world around us changed. This entire time, I had been in a black void, totally naked, with just Chaos and whatever she decided to have appear in front of me. Now the sheets of screen paper were gone, the beanbag was gone, and we were standing in what felt like a forge? No, not quite. More like a waiting area of a forge. ¡°Where are we now?¡± ¡°I am having us move closer towards the other Godly domains while we begin the process. You¡¯ll be meeting my sister Order after this and then a host of other Gods. Each will help you along the way. Order would normally be the one you would talk to if you selected the Human Hero System but instead she¡¯ll fill you in on information that may prove important.¡± I just nodded along. This was a far more involved process than I had expected or normally read about in my books. I guess it made sense, I didn¡¯t get the sense the Gods wanted me to fail. No, quite the opposite really. I¡¯d have to ask about that later. Suddenly, with a wave of her hand, there was power. Separated on two sides were glowing, things. Boxes but they definitely weren¡¯t boxes. Containers came to mind. Containers holding stuff of immense power. On the left, I could feel Command. Authority, implied by the name. On the right, I could feel what felt like, Gentle power. Like a piece of clothing going around something. Attached but also not you. These were probably the Crown types by process of elimination. ¡°You will be able to choose 3 Authorities and 2 crown types. You can only use your Authorities when your crown is out and the passive effects from the Crown Types only apply while your crown is out. It costs Crown Time, which generates well, over time, to use your Authority. As a Gen 0, you would get 1 hour for every 24 hours. There is a mathematical formula for it, if you¡¯d like to know. At Gen 19, you would generate a little over 25 hours of time every 24 hours.¡± So, I¡¯d need to reach Gen 19 before I could manifest my crown permanently all the time. Well, that¡¯s good to know if I ever reach that far. It had occurred to me that I could just, go and become a bunch of low requirement monsters but that came with it¡¯s own problems. Take Prince slime for example. It requires Core Slime to control slime. If I became a Core slime and then into something else, I wouldn¡¯t be able to control any slime and wouldn¡¯t be able to go back to slime. Maybe I could become a different slime, but would I keep the skills I had as a core? If I wasn¡¯t careful, and even if I was, transitioning into different monster lines could permanently lock me out of certain evolutions. It would royally suck to be 1000 years into this and realize my earlier choices on day 1 meant I¡¯d never become a God. No, the risk was too stupidly high for that quick gain of power. ¡°Crown Types don¡¯t require time, beyond the time spent out. It¡¯s important to remind you that Crown Time and how long you can have your crown out, are different things. You should be able to have your crown out full for a full 24 hours at Gen 10 and able to keep it permanently going at Gen 19.¡± ¡°You can gain 2 more Authorities if you manage to slay a Hero and more Crown Types depending on the amount of creatures you rule over. If you lose too many minions you will lose additional Crown Typings.¡± That splashed some cold water on me. I was a target already. Hero¡¯s were going to be a thing where I was going and there¡¯s no way that they got nothing for killing me if I got something for killing them. I was going to be a special monster or a boss monster or something. If I played my cards wrong, they were going to annihilate me. The idea of going up against a monster or Hero who was also going through this entire process sent shivers up my spine. It was one thing to know you might not be as good as others were, it¡¯s another to think you¡¯d have to fight that someone. ¡°Are there other Godlings where I¡¯m going?¡± ¡°Ah, no. We don¡¯t put Godlings together in their challenges.¡± ¡°Then, can anyone just become a hero or a Crowned Monster?¡± She nodded at me. ¡°There is a summoning ritual for Heros and an incredibly rare spawn for Crowned Monsters. Typically, only 3 each will be on a world at any given time. While they won¡¯t select most of their abilities or have memories of their past life, they will still gain access to the systems and naturally come by many of the same skills.¡± So I have a build while they have RNG? That somehow doesn¡¯t make me feel much better¡­ Instead of worrying about running into 5 people on a whole planet, I walked over to the authorities. And had to pick my jaw off the floor. Being a God was abstract. The abilities in front of me were anything but. [True form Authority: Time consumption: 60 minutes Duration: 1 minute You are now able to temporarily change your form into your True Form. This increases your overall stats by 150%. Increases your mana regeneration by 1000% and health regeneration by 500%. What your True Form looks like is based on your personality and history. An evil creature with a history of murder and rape would have a Demonic and Infernal form. While a kind creature with a history of generosity would look Angelic and Gold. You won¡¯t know what your True Form looks like until you use it, but it is a form that best suits you, for it is your True Inner Self made manifest.] A 150% increase in all my stats? On top of a 10x mana and 5x health regeneration? This is a boss form. That¡¯s amazing. And not what had really caught my eye. While impressive, I still won most of those fights in video games. If someone can kick my ass, somehow, I don¡¯t feel becoming 2.5x as strong would be enough. No, it was the next thing that had flabbergasted me. [Creation Authority: Time consumption: 20 minutes per 4 cubic feet of material Duration: Instant You are now able to create up to 4 cubic feet of copper, sand, dirt, rock, wood, obsidian, or clay. You can freely shape the material when you create it. You will be able to create other material types with enough practice, eventually being able to create and manipulate any material. The Earth and all things of it will bend to your will.] Just, just pure matter creation? I could just make things, anything, out of thin air? Imagine if I got good enough to make multiple things at once and shape them. I could just spawn any item or creation I wanted. A 1000 years from now I could just wave my hand and boom, a whole computer could just be made or something. It was the most god like thing I had seen yet and it floored me with the idea that I could just make stuff if I selected it. The only reason I wasn¡¯t immediately picking it as one of my 3 is because I wasn¡¯t insane. This was only the second option out of nine. [Destruction Authority: Time consumption: 20 minutes per 4 cubic feet of material Duration: instant You are now able to destroy 4 cubic feet of copper, sand, dirt, rock, wood, obsidian, or clay. You will be able to annihilate more material types with enough practice, eventually no material will go unharmed from this authority. You can only destroy materials that aren¡¯t alive. Even the Earth will make way for you.] I felt bitter. Of course this existed but it just wasn¡¯t as, godly. Sure, instant destruction of anything was amazing and a godly power but it just wasn¡¯t as amazing. Humans can destroy, anything can destroy, it was creation where things got really amazing. I had always held a personal belief in my heart that I wasn¡¯t able to share with anyone. That humans were above most gods in literature and religions. You don¡¯t see the Christian god making vaccines or the steel industry. You don¡¯t see Zeus coming down and creating concrete or glass. Humans have far outpaced the Gods in most ways. Well, that was until I realized gods are a real thing. I wonder what the other gods have made besides worlds¡­ but still, this was a great Authority. It didn¡¯t really resonate with me but the ability to just remove 4 cubic feet of anything at all was undoubtedly useful. [Sustenance Authority: Time consumption: 45 minutes per 2 pounds of food or drink. Duration: Instant. You are able to create any food or drink that you have eaten or drank before. You will eat like how a true lord should.] Well there¡¯s one of my three for sure. I had to choose this. I was going to be a slime and the first word that had come to my mind when reading this was ¡°Shortcut.¡± Imagine if I ate a bit of steel. I could then just, make 2 pounds of steel. Of anything. I didn¡¯t think it had to be human food. After all, I remembered one of the things Chaos had mentioned. That food was odd in this world because for example, skeletons could eat. They just put it near their mouth, bit down, and there you go. It counted and nourished them, as weird as that sounded. Ghosts draining stuff counted as eating for them. So I was fairly sure, as a monster, and an Authority at that, that inorganic material was fair game. The options were crazy. Because it didn¡¯t say only 2 pounds, it said 45 minutes per 2 pounds. If I saved up a whole day, and had eaten an anvil before, could I create an anvil because it was food? A sword? But more than all of that, the requirements for Core Slime came back to me. ¡®60 astra Stolen novel; please report. Absorb 30 creatures Absorb 5 human hearts¡¯ I didn¡¯t want to kill people, not even if they really came after me. It wasn¡¯t because I was too kind or anything like that, it just seemed, I didn¡¯t want to kill people. And yet I needed human hearts. With this ability, would it let me count that? Absorb, for a slime, meant eat. Eat 5 human hearts. This Authority could make anything I had eaten before. If it could make a slab of roast beef or a burger, which was the meat of a cow, it can make a heart, that¡¯s for sure. I couldn¡¯t see any reason it wouldn¡¯t count it. So with this, I might need to only eat 1 human heart. And if I played my cards right, I might be able to rob a graveyard or something. Find someone that had recently died somehow. Yeah, this had to be one of my choices because it just had too much potential and was just too useful as a slime. [Space Authority: Time Consumption: 10 minutes per 10 miles Duration: 10 minutes You can now create portals to locations that you have seen or know sufficient information about, such as seeing a building''s blueprint. The portal¡¯s max size is 30ftx30ft. You and your minions can go through this portal, and you can close the portal early or increase the duration by using the same Authority on the portals. It¡¯s best not to keep the Lord waiting.] Simple, effective, and amazing. But also, lame? Like the previous Authorities either had growth or allowed me to do something amazing. If I wasn¡¯t a slime, sustenance would have been, odd, but I could still see its use in a variety of ways if you were particularly creative. This? There¡¯s no way Space Magic doesn¡¯t exist and there¡¯s no way I couldn¡¯t eventually do this and more with it over the course of thousands of years and unlimited potential monster evolutions. Pass. A passage from a book I had read came to my mind. Never take powers or abilities you can do yourself. [Life Authority: Time consumption: 360 minutes Duration: Instant You are now able to resurrect the recently slain or can heal any and all wounds and illness in the blink of an eye. What is life if not another thing for a True King to Rule over.] Oh my god. Resurrection? I had the sinking feeling that I would need this. Even if I learned healing magic, could I really resurrect people? Probably not. That seemed like, the realm of the gods or at least the truly strong. Something was brewing in me. A realization. I felt my knees go weak and had to sit down. Chaos was looking at me with worry but I couldn¡¯t focus on her. Everything was just happening too much and too fast but I wasn¡¯t that weak. I was adjusting fast I felt but that just meant that there was more room for my future to roll out in front of me. Dying, becoming a God, becoming a monster, getting hunted, probably dying, magic, etc etc etc etc etc. Now a new one was starting to sink in. I was going to be a King. Not just a monster called a King. I was truly going to be a King. A leader. A, a Ruler. I was going to have people underneath me. Sure, they might be monsters, but clearly monsters were just as much as capable of being people as anyone else. I grit my teeth and stared at Life Authority. I didn¡¯t care what others existed. I grabbed it. None of my people would die like I had. I¡¯d not allow it. I¡¯d break the world before I let people suffer for me like that. I may be trying to become a God but I didn¡¯t care anymore. I wasn¡¯t going to let myself evolve off the backs of my people. We¡¯d all go up together or not at all. If I was to be a King, I was going to be the best I could be or, or I¡¯d die trying. That was, hefty. The weight was hefty. I had been subtly ignoring it along with a million other things but¡­ ¡®Crowned Ability, let¡¯s you command other creatures.¡¯ ¡®Princess/prince slime. Royal core - You now have command over lesser slimes and are able to command them.¡¯ ¡®Crowned Monster.¡¯ It was there, staring me right in the face. Chaos had been right, it was the most important choice I would make. I had made a choice to be a King. A ruler, a leader. The Hero system was the vanguard and safekeeper. The hope in the darkness or the darkness that overwhelmed. The Crowned system was to be a King. An Emperor. I could feel now, especially as my Authority settled in me, how both led to Godhood. One would allow you to reach the height of an ideal. The one who can do the impossible, who could overcome the world. A Hero represented a God like Hercules. Mighty, great, powerful. Able to break reality, able to overcome obstacles not capable by mortal men, A Legend and Epic in the making. Their story of struggle would lead them to Godhood. Not because they reached for it, but because they would become so great the universe would bow before their might and Story and acknowledge them as a God. For what else could they be? A Crowned Monster wasn¡¯t the same. Where as a Hero was an Ideal, an all mighty existence by virtue of their Story, their Legend, their Epic and Might, a Crowned monster was a King. An Emperor and Ruler. They would Ascend to Godhood by pure virtue of their existence simply being at a higher level than any other. They were a God the same way the Christian god was a god or Odin was a God. No Feats were necessary, no great Epics. They would happen, as was only natural for any Great Being. But they were merely simply a higher existence than any other. As their Empire grew, as they became more, they would Ascend to Godhood. The Authority finished settling in me and I blinked at my own introspection. That had been, weird was a word but enlightening was another. A hero and king were diametrically opposed. They could kill one another. A Hero, defeated by a higher existence, like Hercules brought low by Zeus. Or a King, defeated by a Hero, like Loki killing Odin. Neither were necessarily enemies, but both were each other¡¯s bane. I shook it all off and got back to looking at the rest of the Authorities. I had only looked through 6 before my mind or soul had been integrated with that strange form of innate knowledge. [Dominate Authority: Time consumption: 80 minutes Duration: Varies You are now able to dominate a creature by looking into their eyes. They will become perfect slaves to you and your will. Weaker creatures can be Dominated forever while strong willed creatures can break out of it or outright resist the effect. Bow to your new overlord.] I spit on the ground. ¡°Mark?¡± Chaos was glaring at me. ¡°Ah, sorry.¡± But seriously, what the fuck. This pissed me off in a way I couldn¡¯t explain. Yes, my crown and other abilities allowed me to command or control others. No, I wasn¡¯t going to abuse that. This was completely different, it was a total enslavement, erasing the will of another. I wanted to rip the Authority to shred on principle. I knew it wasn¡¯t just me and my own emotions, it went deeper than that. The second I had selected the Crowned Monster System, it had become a part of me. Seeing this was like looking at a piece of shit that was moving around to me. Absolutely disgusting. If I took this Authority I¡¯d probably explode. It was that repulsive to me on a base level. It went against everything I stood for. Slavery was, abhorrent but it wasn¡¯t just that. This Violated what it meant to be a Ruler to me. There can be no King, without subjects. And a Slave was a dead subject. This was killing your own people and pretending you hadn¡¯t done so. No, perhaps even that could be reasoned away in my head more than this. A slave was at least still a person with free will, even if all their options were hell. This was to remove even that. It was unnecessarily cruel. I couldn¡¯t even say or think Pass, because that assumed it had ever been an option. I¡¯d rather kill myself and die, again, than ever have this piece of utter garbage be a part of me. [Magic Authority: Time Consumption: 25 minutes per Tier level Duration: 25 minutes You are now able to temporarily form a 5 foot bubble that will cancel out all magic skills and mana activated skills of those Tiers and lower. You will still be able to use magic skills and mana activations. Tier 1 would cost 25 minutes, Tier 2 would 50 minutes and so on. Magic is but another form of your will and can be taken away from those unworthy.] Huh. Hmm. Protection from magic sounds great and it¡¯s something that I could probably never, ever do with another ability. It doesn¡¯t necessarily have growth and a 5 foot bubble isn¡¯t a lot of space. I¡¯d basically have to be on top of someone for it to matter and nothing in their right mind would ever get that close to me if they knew about the ability. Most Magic would be range anyway. Somehow I doubt canceling out magic skills means that if someone shoots a fireball from a mile away, the fireball just disappears. Even if it did, I¡¯m sure dropping a meteor on my head would have plenty of non-magical ways of killing me after it went off or landed. So, it would be best used for assassination or the like. A surprise attack. I¡¯d have preferred an active offense or defense but I can work with this if push comes to shove. [Minion Authority: Time Consumption: 30 minutes + 30 minutes per minions Generation Duration: 60 minutes You are now able to temporarily summon minions from Forms that you already were. For example, if you were imps once before, you can now summon imps to do your bidding. A True King has plenty of minions fully willing to carry out whatever their Lord desires.] I was stumped on this one. It resonated with me and my goals and desires. The ones I was rapidly forming the longer I spent here. But it was also clear. I put my hand near it to get a better ¡®feel¡¯ for the Authority. It truly meant temporary summoning. As in, I¡¯d create people out of nothing and then they would cease to exist afterwards. They¡¯d last an hour and then be gone. I focused, hard. They wouldn¡¯t be technically alive. They wouldn¡¯t have souls. They would be simulations more or less. Powerful, capable, alive to an outside observer but without an inner world. Disturbing but useful. I could have an instant army or powerful monsters on hand within moments. The temporary nature of them, of having truly dead and false servants, rankled me something fierce. But the resonation was strong. It was like having to swallow bitter medicine. You knew you weren¡¯t going to actually like it in any way, but you knew you needed it. I tried to pull on that Authority enlightenment I had received earlier to understand what the hell was going on here. And to my surprise, it worked. I was going to be a King, but a King needed minions. Simple, but what if it wasn¡¯t easy? How long would it take to build a kingdom? How hard would it be to defend your land? What if you didn¡¯t have enough people to build walls? Enough caretakers for your people? A kingdom was built off the backs of others. That was a necessary part of any place of rule, of any place where there was at least 1 thing alive. Yes, the false subjects would only last an hour, but with enough time saved up, that could translate to hundreds of minions in an instant. Enough to build a city practically overnight. False minions to have real subjects. I sighed and grabbed the authority. I didn¡¯t really want it, but I needed it. I also seriously needed to get the fuck away from wherever the hell we actually were because I was basing that entirely off the feeling my soul was feeling from these Authorities. My mind was very confused why I wasn¡¯t excited for instantly having a god damn army that could be any monster I had been before. Just imagining having a bunch of Prince Slimes all making their own little armies was incredible to me. And going even further¡­? Despite the cold dread of ¡°someone has probably tried this, done this, and failed.¡± I was pretty happy with my choices so far. The last one, I naturally grabbed sustenance authority. The tipping scale was definitely metal. Being able to produce infinite amounts of metal just was way too good, let alone the human heart issue. After I had selected them all, I had expected a kind of sense of completion. Instead, I felt like I was still missing something really important. I turned my head slightly to the right. Ah. Right. That. ¡°Are you ready to select your Crown Typing?¡± I sighed and nodded. ¡°Yeah.¡± Today was gonna be a really, really long day. I was actually starting to be annoyed. Cool abilities or not¡­ how long was it going to take till I became a slime?! Slimy Slime slimes into Amazon! Hello everyone! So good to see you all again. Life has been consistently turbulent and only getting more so! Yes, I''ve been gone a long while but there is some good news! Slimy Slime has made it to amazon! https://www.royalroad.com/amazon/B0CRDK54H5 If you liked the book, want to support me, or already have kindle unlimited, why not give it a read? I''m not a professional editor and do not promise that it comes perfectly spic and span. I *do* promise that it''ll probably be fun? I mean I like it lol. Thank you all so much for sticking around and waiting and wanting to read my book. I hope this is a good start to a new year for all of you! This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. "Awesome! Does this mean the hiatus is over?!" No! lol. Sadly, no. I like Slimy Slime and I''m happy to be finally releasing this book but at least for the time being I''d like to focus on other endeavors. Namely, figuring out my new move and dealing with my job changing locations. I''m really not the type of writer that writes well while life is negative. Really the opposite, actually. But I''m still here, still writing, and I can make one promise for sure. If I ever can make a living off this, I''d write full time lol. Either way! If you like the book, give it a read, maybe throw a cough 5 star cough review or rating my way! Dusty in here huh? Alright, that''s it for now everyone! I''m hoping to see you all later this year as I continue to write and make more works. News! I have a new book! Before anything else, I want to say I''m sorry. Have you ever had bad news but you knew good news was on the horizon, so you just let things... linger? I have before and this is one such example. I won''t be continuing Slimy Slime. I knew I wouldn''t be continuing it more than half a year ago, when I self published it and it brought in basically nothing in terms of money. Hell, I probably knew when I released the damn thing on amazon and even before. And I should''ve said something. But life just kept happening. And happening. And happening. I feel like I''ve aged a decade in the last 2 years alone. And then I began to think "It''s already been so long. Everyone must already know this book is dead and gone. I''ll just, I''ll tell them when my next book is ready. Give them something. It shouldn''t take long." It has been over a year since the amazon release. Probably a year and half, realistically, since I put out any chapters for this. And your support meant the world to me. The comments, the reviews, the discussion, the enjoyment, the annoyance, and all. I would wake up excited to see what anyone said. I truly learned from this book what it meant to be an author and I found it great. At no point did you not all buoy me up. Even the failed amazon was my own damn fault from multiple hiatuses, to self publishing it myself, to more. That was entirely my own failure and one that didn''t even need to happen. The main problem was just that, I think I felt a bit ashamed. Slimy Slime was my first book and that meant I made so many mistakes. On all levels, not just writing wise. The worst was the reviews and people that seemed laser focused on the sexual elements of Slimy Slime. I realized then and there, I couldn''t even show my family my work. They were always uh, not alright with that side of things lol. Slimy Slime wasn''t meant to be a sexual book per se. The original CYOA I based my book/build on (Dance on the palm of evolution), had a lot of sexual elements and it felt wrong to not include those. I always thought goblins were, well, bestial and should definitely be more free spirited. And that someone obsessed with slimes in that way, should be a little off their rocker. It culminated in some pretty harsh criticisms up and down the board just I was starting out. I say all this, because for those reasons, my other (far more adult) story, was unable to be published. I tried. I was turned down, a lot. It killed all momentum for me to even look for a publisher for this one. I didn''t even try, expecting failure. So I thought I''d self publish, when I finally got my head back in the game. What a disaster that was. Being an author isn''t all about money. But I''m not the kind of person that can write and work full time at another job. I''ve tried, a lot. It just doesn''t happen. It''s like having two jobs and inevitably, since I don''t ''have'' to do one of them, I stop doing the one that isn''t bringing in anything. This wasn''t meant to be a blog, but I''m the kind of person who writes by the seat of my pants, and this is where it took us. All I really wanted to say was: Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. I''m sorry. I read a ton too. I know what it''s like to wait forever for more content from a book series you''ve never given up on. I should''ve put any doubt to rest, a long long time ago. Slimy Slime will not continue. But I am still a writer. I am still an author. And I want this to be my full time job. I want to look back in ten years and have a hundred books under my belt, at least. I want to make content you all enjoy or hate, that people talk about, that brings people wanting more one way or another. I want to make things interesting, spark an idea or two, introduce new concepts, make people shocked. I want to do all that and it be more than a hobby that feels exhausting. I want that to be my career! And in that vein, over the last better part of a year, I''ve made a new book. Ki Horizons.
Ki Horizons In the world of Vega, two things connect everyone. Power Level and Fear. Whether it¡¯s the standard [5] of an adult human, the [10] of a civilian pro athlete, or the [100] of an old grandmaster able to destroy buildings with a single blow. It determines your power, strength, speed, durability, and entire life. Mutai was born at [1]. Normal for a human. He remained at [1] his entire life. Unheard of for any creature. And yet, it was a peaceful village life¡­ until the Fear of the world paid his village a visit. King Vega. Ruler of the planet. Destroyer of civilizations. - Power Level [9999]... In a world of endless horizons. In a world of Ki. Where cities with flying cars exist next to lands roamed by dinosaurs; Where martial artists workout next to sentient dolls and stop by the local shop owned by a rock elemental; Where chain wraiths and zombies fight in the sewers; A world of myriad races and myriad realities. In such a world¡­ Does Mutai even stand a chance? ******** * Inspired by the Original Dragon Ball. * Features an incredibly diverse range of species and world elements. * Strips down the litrpg elements to a single Power Level (More on this in the book!) * A heavy, heavy focus on training, learning, and growing through blood, sweat, and tears. On real effort spent training. Don¡¯t expect smashing planets within a hundred chapters or anything. Do expect many, numerous training arcs and character growth. * Martial arts focused.
It''s a good book. It''s, honestly I think, a lot better than Slimy Slime. After all, Slimy Slime was my first book and technically, this is my 5th book. I''ve learned and grown in skill and I genuinely think you all will enjoy it. The above really says it all about the story and if that doesn''t sound like your thing? I get it. But if you enjoyed what I did with Slimy Slime, I encourage you to give it a shot. Thank you all for all you''ve ever done for me.