Syl [A Slime Evolution LitRPG]

<Evolution options are now available.>

I can evolve already? What?

I awoke from an unexplained darkness only to see this message front and center in my vision. I had no idea what was going on and in a desperate effort to gain some clarity, I looked to see if there were any prior notifications. To my relief, there were and I scrolled through them.

<Blade Wolf LV 6 defeated. Experience gained.>

<Racial Experience threshold reached. Slime (Blue) is now LV 10 (MAX).>

I found myself staring in surprise at the strange notifications before me. They were familiar, and yet at the same time they were utterly shocking to me.

Only level ten? Blue slime? Where were all my mutations? Where was my prismatic slime? Is this a bad dream!?

I looked around in panic, confirming my surroundings as the forest where I'd fought the blade wolf, and nearly died in the process. Back then I hadn't taken advantage of my slime nature to its proper extent and had failed to live up to Gramps expectations before he had to step in and save me.

I felt horribly weak, and I nervously opened my profile to see if it was true. Sadly, it was.

Name: - [Apex Hunter]

Race: Slime (Blue) LV 10 (MAX)

Class: -

Status: Dying

Mana: Ebbing

Emblems:

[Experiment]

[Apex Hunter] *

Traits:

[Mana Slime LV MAX]

[Acid Slime LV 4]

[Pseudopod LV 4]

[Slime Density LV 3]

[Slime Shot LV 3]

[Shape Slime LV 3]

[Consuming Osmosis LV 1]

[Core Refinement LV 4]

[Core Storage LV 3]

[Sub-Core LV 2]

[Mana Circulation LV 2]

[Mana Reinforcement LV 2]

Trait Points remaining: 1

Skills:

[Dissection LV 4]

[Mapping LV 2]

[Stealth LV 3]

[Sneak Attack LV 1]

[Improved Accuracy (Lesser) LV 2]

Skill Points remaining: 1

<[Evolution Available].>

No way…

This was bad. I had somehow gone back in time to the forest, when I was just a helpless little blue slime struggling to fight wolves and frogs. Before I'd even evolved. Before I'd gained a class. Before I'd even received my name!

My name is Syl, damn you!

<Confirm profile name: "Syl"?

Warning: This cannot be modified again without system privileges.>

Yes!

That was one problem resolved, although I still felt terrible. I'd lost so much of my abilities, so much of my efforts, my friends, my goals, my treasures, all gone!

Vee… She must just be a normal spider right now…

More and more thoughts dawned on me. How had I gone back in time, was this something Llewel had done to me? He was the only Chronomancer I knew. Also, if I had gone back in time, why had I kept my memories but not my abilities?

This means Sylthaeryn is still alive… Did Llewel send me back to save her? Can Chronomancers really do that?

I genuinely had no idea and his class had always been a big mystery with him keeping a lot of his cards hidden, even after I became the [Branch Head].

I sighed. I was feeling hopeless, as even if I had the knowledge, what difference could I make in my current state? Even if I evolved right now into my mimic slime, just like before, there was no way I could win against Keaton Stanton and his goons by myself.

Even if I tried now, wouldn't Sylthaeryn just think I was a monster? She'd probably kill me!

I sighed again, feeling like it was my only option. I didn't know what to do, or how to proceed, so I looked at my evolution options hoping it would provide some glimmer of hope.

Well, I'm instantly writing off Green and Purple Slime. If I had Orange I might have a chance, but just like before there's no point in evolving my species until Prismatic. That only leaves mutations… Gluttonous, Parasitic, Aquatic, Mimic, Predation and Queen…

Mimic had been my original choice and it had served me well. I almost instinctively wanted to pick it up again, knowing how it had faithfully served me up until now, but I still gave the others a look over again, just in case.

<Predation Slime (Blue)

A mutation of an existing slime species, this slime targets and hunts prey like a veteran assassin.

This mutation gains unique traits to blend into the environment and eliminate its own sounds and smells, in combination to make it nearly undetectable.

Advanced cases of this species are said to be able to detect lifeforce and conceal their lifeforce and mana signature.>

I nearly picked this back then… It might give me a chance to assassinate Keaton, but I know that in the future it's actually a pretty crap choice.

Once again Mimic Slime was looking like the obvious best choice, but I couldn't help but wonder if my bias was talking. With Aquatic Slime I could try to control the pond and use it as a weapon, and it might even give me [Water Magic] as a skill.

Magic… I really could use some magic right now…

I suddenly paused. I had kept all my memories, other than how I ended up here, didn't that mean I had my knowledge of magic? Or, better yet, my blueprints from [Skill Deconstruct]?

I made an attempt to make a basic spell construct, just a simple [Water Orb], and to my surprise and joy it almost succeeded straight off the bat. I had magic!

Alpha is currently destroyed thanks to that damn wolf… If I had a helper I could probably handle some spells. My current core isn't capable enough on its own without [Core Collective] or even just a higher level of [Core Refinement]. I also don't have [Mana Weaving]... No, wait, it was [Mana Manipulation] first, right? Ugh…

Despite having the memories of the skills, I couldn't summon them forth from the system. At best I could try to seek them out, or perhaps try brute forcing them and gaining them through discovery.

Well, one thing is for sure, if I have magic then Aquatic Slime is somewhat useless.

Queen would have been a big buff of stats, but I'd be shooting myself in the foot by immediately grabbing a final evolution. Gluttonous could have been useful, especially being able to effortlessly control vast amounts of slime mass but part of me was extremely reluctant to do so.

Vee would tease me nonstop if I actually picked it.

Finally there was Parasitic, something that sounded interesting but I had previously quickly written off.

<Parasitic Slime (Blue)

A mutation of an existing slime species, this slime finds itself a host body to consume and replace from the inside.

Lacking its own capability, it uses its host traits and skills to compensate for its own.

Rare cases exist where this mutation has lived symbiotically with its host, but most involve a hostile takeover.>

If I had a decent body, this could let me kill Keaton…

I glanced over to where the blade wolf should have been, only to find I'd already fed it to [Dissection]. If only I was sent back a few moments earlier, this would have been a perfect strategy.

Ugh… What other monsters are there… There was the bear matriarch, but I'd need to find it and I'm not sure if I could even control it at my level. I could take over a goblin… But Keaton is stronger than a goblin. Those badgers were strong, but it's probably the same issue as the bear—can I even control it?

I had genuinely considered this might have been my option, and to be honest I was vaguely interested in where this evolution might've led me. From my memories, this had only ever been an option at my first evolution and I'd never seen it again. Why?

It's probably incompatible with Mimic, if I had to guess. Or maybe it was to tempt me away from picking Mimic, which I assume Gramps wanted me to pick? And after that, the person gave up?

I wasn't sure. Truthfully now it was bugging me and I wanted to pick it, even though I knew it wouldn't be enough to kill Keaton. After returning to the safety of my tree, I began to ponder, hoping to brainstorm an idea or solution. I was drawing blanks until, once again, I found myself inexplicably drawn to the Parasitic Slime mutation.

Shit… Am I fixating on this again because I'm curious? I need to think of a way to save the damn elf princess!

It suddenly struck me like a bolt of lightning. I only needed to prevent her death, I didn't need to kill Keaton, not immediately anyway.

Rare cases exist where this mutation has lived symbiotically with its host… What if I join forces with her after she is attacked? Would I be able to heal her as a Parasitic Slime?

I was tempted. Truthfully I had no idea if this crazy plan would work, but it felt like the best chance I had, baring somehow finding myself a pink slime.

I'd even considered purple slime as an option, as if I was lucky and got a powerful poison at the start, then I could theoretically kill Keaton. Sadly, as far as I knew, it was random what poison a purple slime started with and I could end up something equally useless. I knew one of the purple slime cores the badger was sucking on had Bloodrot, but I didn't know if I could fetch it in time, or if I was even capable of grabbing it.

Back then I had pretended to be a badger, so I'd need to pick Mimic and level it up enough to fool it. But Sylthaeryn would probably be dead already by the time I accomplished all of that…

I wasn't sure if I'd talked myself into a corner, but it really felt like Parasitic was the only solution with a chance. Sighing for the umpteenth time, I moved deeper into my hidden home inside the tree and opened up the menu to confirm my choice.

<Confirm Parasitic Slime (Blue) evolution?

Warning: Evolution will cause the body to torpor until complete.>

I was about to confirm it when I had a sudden feeling of dread inside me, and no it wasn't because of my selection, it was more like I was forgetting something that I'd regret. I wasn't sure where this feeling came from, but it felt genuine so I took the time to properly think about it.

Something that can't be done after I evolve… Wait, is it that thing?

To help us survive through the first stage of the [Experiment] we were all given a system helper that could recommend traits based on our needs. I had previously thought I had done a good job milking it for some future purchases down the line, but with my future knowledge, I now knew I had barely scratched the surface.

I only have one trait point, so I'll definitely be stocking up on things for the future. Let's see… Can I ask for unique slime traits? I mean I even know the name! Show me [Heal Slime]!

To my surprise the system actually listened to me, but despite showing me all these traits I frustratingly couldn't make a single purchase for any of them due to "lacking the base core structure necessary for compatibility," according to the system.

However, I didn't end my trait recalling spree there and started going through the list of all the generic slime traits I could remember. If I gathered enough of them, I could probably fuse [Slime Mastery] for myself. I did try going straight to [Slime Mastery], but the system told me I needed to obtain it through trait fusion.

So Gramps had already created [Slime Mastery] back then already. I wonder if he always planned for me to go that route, or if he was just on an inventing spree with the slime stuff. If it's the latter, I can certainly relate getting lost in the sauce.

When I ran out of slime traits to call out, I moved on to some of the generic traits I had picked up in the future. I had plenty of vision, sight and sense traits that I was missing so it was like a window shopping spree. There were a few resistance traits, but I didn't think I'd be spending my valuable trait points on them anytime soon.

Finally I tried to see if I could uncover any generic traits I hadn't gained in the past, but either the trait helper was sick of me, or I wasn't providing the information it needed. One thing I had discovered was that while [Chimeric Mimicry] seemed out of reach for me, [Shapeshifting Mimicry] might not be as its error message claimed I lacked the transformation ability required.

If I improve my [Shape Slime], or better yet, get [Slime Mastery] again, can I just grab [Shapeshifting Mimicry] without needing to evolve? Although I suppose I need to get [Morph Slime] before I can even consider all of that…

I had experienced all of this, I doubted there was anyone in the world more familiar with slime and controlling it than me, even if my current profile didn't reflect that. If I could use my future knowledge to shore up my past self, wouldn't I rapidly gain progress?

Well, it's all hopeful wishes at this point. I don't even know what I want to buy first, honestly I think an additional [Sub-Core] would help me the most. It's not like buying [Chroma Shift] will help me right now. Anyway, I think it's finally time to evolve!

I was about to confirm it when again something was itching in the back of my head. I sighed and thought what it could be, and after perusing my current lackluster profile I finally felt what was missing.

[Prodigy]! Where's my [Prodigy] trait! Hey, system helper, give me my [Prodigy] trait! I know I have it!

<Slime species is incompatible with the human trait [Prodigy].>

Not true, I had it before. Also don't lie to me, the human trait is [Untapped Potential], [Prodigy] is from Reincarnation Points! In fact, I should have it now, or maybe a remnant of it that wasn't cleaned out properly. Please restore it for me!

<...>

At least have a look for me. Humor me, if you don't find anything I won't mention it again. In fact, I'll evolve right now and then it'll be impossible for me to contact you again, right?

<Very well. Scanning subject Syl for traces of [Prodigy].>

That better be a real scan, or I'm going to complain to Gramps!

<Previous purchase of [Prodigy] found… Restoring purchase.>

<Trait [Prodigy] restored.>

Thanks! You're the best. Now to keep my promise.

I quickly confirmed my evolution. Part of it was keeping my promise, but the other was in case the helper decided to take my sole remaining trait point as the price of restoration. I needed to be extremely frugal whenever possible in these trying times.

<Evolution in progress.>

I was swallowed by the all too familiar darkness, wondering how Gramps was going to react to all of this.

***