Pool.
A word that would bring forth an image of a place filled with clear water.
Clear, blue, or transparent water.
A place of joy and fun.
Somewhere, many people play with bright smiles on their faces.
A warm, cheerful atmosphere.
This place contradicted that picture perfectly.
A red pond.
Crimson red of blood.
A place filled with corpses of dead beasts. 𝗼𝐯𝐞𝐥．𝐜𝐨𝗺
Big, small, and various body parts floating in the pond, even some heads with still open eyes.
There were perfectly cut heads, limbs, and organs, but more than anything, every one of them was a creature with red blood.
The place was still and there was no smell, even while standing just some distance away from ‘this’.
Some white flowers surrounded the pool.
The flowers were, once again, a contradiction to this pool of blood.
Pure white flowers of (Light) attribute, [Dahilalily].
Flowers that are used in religious ceremonies.
The gruesome scene before me was more devastating than I can imagine right now and I knew this was going to be one of my ugliest memories.
This was horrendous, something that was the work of a devil if not the death itself.
Why would you gather something like this in a place with this kind of environment?
And why would the light attribute flowers grow perfectly in an environment of death?!
Who created this thing and for what reason? To grow flowers? Or to eat the rotten flesh?!
I wanted to understand the reasoning behind this thing but, I also just wanted to run away from this place.
This was already night and the things I was seeing right now weren’t something I could do without my special vision.
I had seen this shit, and now… there was no way I would forget it.
Even with the shining flowers around it, this was more devastating than I could ever imagine.
The area was clean, and it was nighttime in this dark forest of eternal night.
And now… something was bubbling up inside this pool of flesh and blood.
[[ Master? ]]
Celes asked in utter ‘confusion’ as we looked at the creature that walked out of this pool of blood.
It wasn’t just a creature, but, let’s say, more like a large group.
I was just as confused about all this as her, maybe more than her.
I knew these creatures very well.
Maybe they were creatures I knew the most about.
Some of the most mysterious, as well as a common group of energy beasts.
Something that ranked from most basic, unranked creatures to [Divine Beasts].
A creature that could hold any elemental affinity, any type of <Skill> or sometimes special abilities that might come close to Celes or Fern’s abilities.
These were the creatures that could adapt themselves to nature and their environment.
A creature that was used by humans in many ways that it would seem parts of their daily life.
They were abundant in nature outside this center of the great forest because of their natural division ability.
Yes, the creatures before us right now… were indeed [Slimes].
The best targets for newbies and scariest enemies of dungeon explorers.
Something that did self-reproduction in the form of cell division or something like self-cloning.
They were endless monsters in some places, numbering even in hundreds at a single spot.
They were a type of beast that was even grown in large numbers by other races.
If we say they were the same as chickens in this world, it would be true in some aspects.
Not only could we use them as food, but we can also use them in many unique ways.
Like, fire attribute slimes could be used as an oven or fireplace, we could use water attribute slime as an endless source of water, and so on.
Creating attribute-specific slime was artificially difficult, but it wasn’t uncommon.
Nobel houses who liked fun things like them specially ordered for them.
This was on and on, but… the situation before me right now was something special.
Slimes were mostly normal creatures of no attribute.
But, slimes found in this great forest were… something different from what the outside world knew.
Though I hadn’t seen a single one in my almost two years of stay in this place, Celes had once encountered such a being.
They were ferocious beings that could digest anything.
Giant creatures that sounded larger than the (Green) ranked creatures we had faced.
I had no doubt that can be that big as most of them could [Mutate] and in the process, fuse to make a unique creature than their normal shapeless selves.
Being practically immortal with their core intact, they were forces of nature.
Their special racial skill and most probably a special stat [Adaptation] allowed them to adapt to anything they wanted.
And, in this magical forest and the environment with dense Mana, they had higher intelligence than many normal creatures.
According to legends, slimes born from nature directly with pure energy bodies were mystical creatures.
Something that held a human-like intellect and was destined to reach the ranks of divine beasts.
The current slimes alive are all descendent of primordial slimes and that is believed to be the reason they can fuse their bodies and become one aside from reproduction.
Some theorize that they have the same [Origin] and that is the reason they can fuse to make a new entity.
But those were just stories.
The creatures before me were nine blobs of red flesh.
They were blood red and from the way, they jumped out of the pool of blood, seemed a natural thing for them.
They were in a shape of a blob, unlike most of the shapeless, fluid-like slimes.
I can see the shining core inside their dense, bloodied bodies, and all nine of them were now wiggling.
They jumped closer, and then the shaking intensified.
Their outer bodies started combining and, after a minute, they were fully combined as one giant blob of flesh.
The original pool had almost emptied after these blobs came out and now… it looked even more gruesome.
They gathered the limbs of dead creatures that seemed quite old in this place.
I had no idea if they did all this or not but, this was indeed a special thing to see.
The slimes were mutating into a new form and becoming a new creature before our eyes.
This was a rare spectacle, and there was no way we would miss this chance.
[[ Master? They are becoming one with each other, right? ]]
Celes asked innocently, and I answered with no other thought on my mind.
[ “Yes. They are becoming one with each other. They were-creature, then they did it and became one with each other and now, this will create a new beast.” ]
I was sincere when I said that, so she understood what I was saying.
We looked as the wiggling of the new giant slime continued, and then the slime started rolling around.
The flowers around the pool of blood started disappearing into this blob of blood and then, after consuming several such rare flowers, it started emitting a bright light.
The light was blinding, but I was seeing the process perfectly while using my [Mystic eyes] and [Mana vision].
The core inside the creature was changing from triangular to a normal sphere.
This phenomenon was something to look forward to for all the mages and humans that lived in nature, but… I never thought I would regret this decision so much.
‘Curiosity… killed the cat.’