1 Friendly Neighborhood Slime!

*Screeeeech

*BANG

Alex's body flew forward. It was late at night and Alex was just leaving his part time job working at a nearby supermarket.

He had just finished his shift, and he was walking back to his apartment, but as he was crossing the street, a black sports car sped around the bend in the street, colliding with Alex and killing him almost instantly.

As Alex lays flat on the cold asphalt with a pool of blood surrounding him, he couldn't help but lament about his fate.

He was born into a relatively normal family, but around the time he turned 8, his mother ended up getting cancer, and after fighting the disease for 2 years, she finally ended up passing away.

His father was the only remaining family he had, but the emotional, mental, and physical strain that his father acquired over the years from working three jobs to pay for the treatments for his mother ended up being too much, and less than half a year after his mother passed, his father died from a heart attack.

Having no other family member willing to take care of him, Alex ended up in the orphanage system. Due to his life circumstances, Alex developed a cold appearance and showed no emotions to anyone. This ended up making it worse for him, as he never got adopted by the multitude of potential parents because none of them want a child that doesn't show emotion.

Spending the next five years at the orphanage, he only had one friend, a skinny boy with pale skin, freckles, messy dark brown hair, and bulky glasses named Rory.

Both boys were the silent type, resulting in them having no other friends in school or at the orphanage. They bonded over their love for books and comics. They used the imaginary worlds as an escape from their unfortunate lives.

Although they didn't talk to others, when it was just the two of them, it was the most enjoyable times of both their lives, they truly loved each other like brothers.

At 15, Alex and Rory ended up applying for jobs nearby, because at their orphanage, the kids were kicked out at the age of 16, forcing them to provide for themselves.

Alex got a late night part time job stocking the shelves at a supermarket, and Rory got a job at a nearby library to clean up after hours.

Both boys rented a crappy one bed, one bath apartment in a cheap part of the city to save money, and they went to school during the day, and worked at night. Although tiring, they felt a sense of accomplishment to make money and provide for themselves.

Alex couldn't help but feel bad for leaving his friend all alone in the world, and he wished Rory would be able to move on and be successful in life.

'Ahhh...' His consciousness, like everything else around him faded into darkness.

-----

Alex awoke, but he couldn't feel his body yet he was in extreme pain. He moaned in pain and gradually opened his eyes.

'Where am I?' All around him was thick forest, and the sun's rays pierced through the dense foliage illuminating the figure of Alex.

Alex went to stand up, but found himself unable to stand.

To be exact, he was unable to move anything, it was as if his limbs were non-existent.

'What happened to me?' He tried to remember what happened, and his memories soon flooded back to him.

He was hit by a car and died.

He was pissed. The car was obviously speeding and the light was red, and yet he doubts anything would happen. There was no one around, so the car probably ran after hitting him.

Although he was angry, now he was confused, how did he end up in a forest after he died. Is this heaven?

'No no no this can't be heaven. Where are the angels and gold and white buildings' he snickered to himself. Surveying around him, all he could see was the dense forest, there was nothing else. After some failed attempts, he soon looked at his body, or at least tried to.

He couldn't see his body, and moving his limbs were impossible.

'Am I a cripple now?' As soon as he had that thought, there was a loud bell noise in his mind.

[Ding!]

'What?' He was amazed. In his mind, there was a screen showing what people in video games call a status. Although he had never played any video games because he was too poor, he knew about them because it was impossible to avoid, almost every teenager has played them.

[Status]

Name: Alex

Level: 1

Gender: N/A

Race: Slime

HP: 2

MP: 0

STR: 1

DEF: 2

VIT: 2

AGI: 1

DEX: 1

INT: 1

WIS: 1

Skills: None

'Haaah? What the hell is this?' His confusion reached new levels.

Reading the screen, Alex could see that his name was displayed and other basic information.

'What the f*ck! Gender N/A and I'm a SLIME!?!' Currently having a life crisis, Alex didn't know what to do anymore.

'No wonder I can't move my arms or legs, I don't have any!'

He soon became depressed, his stats were abysmal, nearly 1 for everything. He wanted to shed a tear, but slimes can't cry so Alex quickly scratched that idea.

*Slosh slosh

Alex suddenly heard noises that reminded him of boots walking through mud.

Looking to the side, he saw it. It was another slime.

Around the size of a basketball, it was sliding and jumping across the grass, with no destination in mind. It looked as if it was simply wandering. Its green color and constantly jiggling body made for a disgusting yet slightly cute look where Alex couldn't decide if he liked it or not.

'What should I do? In video games I think you have to kill monsters to level up? How do I even kill it I'm a slime!' Alex was screaming internally, as he couldn't speak in the first place.

Deciding to try to defeat the other slime, Alex charged forward in an attempt to catch it off guard.

Well, charging isn't the right term for it, because Alex was moving at the speed of a walking adult.

Soon reaching the oblivious slime, Alex jumped, landing right on top of the enemy slime. If not for the hair raising gurgling noise the slime made, Alex would have doubted if he did any damage.

After bouncing off the top of the enemy slime, Alex went on the offensive once again, rushing the slime and body slamming it. This seemed to work, as the slime bounced back and soon made another noise before falling apart.

[Ding!]

[Defeated Rank F Slime!]

[EXP Gained]

[Level Up!]

"Yahoo!" Alex yelled, yet all that came out was gurgling.

Checking his status, Alex saw his new screen.

[Status]

Name: Alex

Level: 2

Gender: N/A

Race: Slime

HP: 4

MP: 2

STR: 2

DEF: 3

VIT: 3

AGI: 2

DEX: 2

INT: 2

WIS: 2

Skills: Acid Shot

'Hmmm so it seems like most of my stats went up by 1 except HP and MP. This means I'm two times more powerful than before!' Looking on the bright side, Alex got excited for getting stronger.

'I have to admit, having the status makes it seem like a game. I still don't know where I am but I'll have to get stronger before I can investigate' he pondered.

'Well, no time dwelling on what I don't know. Time to hunt some slimes!'

Finding his next target, Alex decided it was time to check out his new skill.

Rushing up to the unaware slime, "Acid Shot!" He yelled in his mind.

The next second, a ball of some liquid shot out of Alex's body and hit the enemy slime. After it landed on it, a sizzling noise was made before the slime gurgled, and accepted its fate, falling apart onto the ground.

[Ding!]

[Defeated Rank F Slime!]

[EXP Gained]

Celebrating his new increase to killing power, Alex went on to go look for more juicy EXP.

-----

Alex killed 13 more slimes for the next 4 hours before he decided to stop.

[Status]

Name: Alex

Level: 5

Gender: N/A

Race: Slime

HP: 10

MP: 8

STR: 5

DEF: 6

VIT: 6

AGI: 5

DEX: 5

INT: 5

WIS: 5

Skills: Acid Shot, Inspect

As he looked at his status screen, he thought about his next moves. While he was disappointed he didn't get any new attack skills, gaining the inspect skill made him happy.

Suddenly, Alex felt a feeling of hunger wash over him.

'Wait... What do I eat? I'm a slime, so can I just digest anything?' He started moving towards a nearby bush.

After leveling up multiple times, Alex gained better control over his gelatinous body, so he slightly expanded his body to encompass some leaves from the bush.

The leaves slid into his body, and once they were inside, they started dissolving until there was nothing left.

Continuing to repeat that process until the bush was bare, the feeling of hunger that was plaguing Alex's non-existent stomach disappeared.

'Seems like I don't need to eat any specific foods, anything can make do' he thought.

Wandering the forest some more, Alex killed any slimes he came across.

"Keek kik ki-ah"

Alex tensed up. He hadn't heard those noises before, which means there was something other than slimes in this vast forest.

Peering out from behind a bush, he saw it. It was a disgusting green humanoid monster around the size of a small child, and it was carrying a rusty dagger.

"Inspect!"

[Rank E Goblin]

Unfortunately, the inspect skill didn't provide much else, but that information was plenty. The monster was a goblin, and it was Rank E at that. The slimes that Alex had been killing all this time were Rank F, one rank below this goblin.

After wandering the forest and killing slimes, Alex had advanced to level 6, so he was feeling more confident than before.

'Let's try this out, I'm a higher level than before I think I can win.' He prepared his acid shot skill.

Slowly and silently creeping up behind the goblin, Alex released his skill.

"Acid Shot!"

The ball of acid flew out from his body, landing dead center on the back of the creature.

A loud sizzling noise was made and goblin screeched in pain.

"KI-AHHH!"

It turned towards him and started rushing. Because of Alex's close proximity to the ground, and goblin had to slightly bend forward before thrusting the rusty dagger in his direction.

Before the goblin had the chance to stab him, Alex launched himself at its face.

Making contact, the goblin yelled again while staggering backward clutching its forehead.

Preparing to use acid shot again, he took a small distance away from the goblin before launching another attack.

"Acid Shot!"

Luckily, the goblin was still distracted by getting hit in the face by a mere slime, so it was unprepared for the second long distance attack.

Landing on the ugly face of the goblin, the acid went to work, burning the poor monster's skin with its corrosive effect.

Not long after, the goblin fell to the ground in pain. Alex took this opportunity and rushed the goblin, smashing against its body time and time again, adding bruise after bruise on the small green body.

Finally, after what seemed like minutes, the goblin died.

[Ding!]

[Defeated Rank E Goblin!]

[EXP Gained]

[Level Up!]

Alex was ecstatic. He killed a goblin! His non-existent heart was pounding, and his body was filled with adrenaline.

He was excited to see his new stats after gaining so much experience.

[Status]

Name: Alex

Level: 10

Gender: N/A

Race: Slime

HP: 20

MP: 18

STR: 10

DEF: 11

VIT: 11

AGI: 10

DEX: 10

INT: 10

WIS: 10

Skills: Acid Shot, Inspect

He couldn't believe it. His stats were finally all in the double digits. This fight was worth the effort to Alex.

Just as he was planning to go off and fight more goblins and slimes,

[Ding!]

[Congratulations for getting to level 10!]

[After each level up, user can add undistributed stats.]

[New skills acquired!]

'Huh? What's this? I got new skills for reaching level 10? Also now I can add stat points to my desired stat?' Alex was happy with this new advancement. He quickly rechecked the skills page after getting the system announcement.

Skills: Acid Shot, Inspect, Absorb

[Skill: Absorb

When user digests a magical being, they have a small chance to acquire one of the beings skills.]

'Too amazing! This is the best!' Alex screamed internally.

This new skill was just too good! Not only will Alex add undistributed stat points, he can also get new skills after digesting the monsters he defeats.

Alex was now more determined than ever. Moving towards the dead goblin, he couldn't help but feel a little apprehensive.

'Good thing I don't have a sense of taste, or I guarantee that I would not be doing this' he thought to himself.

Moving to engulf the head of the goblin within his body, his natural acids began digesting the goblin corpse.

It was a disgusting process, as one could see every part of the goblin dissolving in the slime body, starting from the skin, then muscles, then organs, and then lastly the bones.

'Come on skill, come to papa' Alex was wishing for a new skill to increase his battle strength.

[Ding!]

[New skill acquired!]

"Let's go! Luck is with me today!"

Skills: Acid Shot, Inspect, Absorb, Nimble Fingers

[Skill: Nimble Fingers

Passive skill that adds +1 DEX]

Alex couldn't help but sigh, he was hoping for an attack skill, but he got a passive.

'Better than nothing I guess. Kinda funny how I don't even have fingers anymore' laughing internally at his fate.

Going back to wandering the forest, Alex didn't come across any more goblins, but he found multiple slimes, helping him to level once more to get to level 11.

He was still searching for another goblin when he heard voices and footsteps.

Panicking, Alex dashed to a nearby bush, and hid inside it.

"Yeah man, this dungeon is really boring, when are we going to go to a harder one? This place doesn't even have anything other than slimes and goblins."

"I know it's boring Kane but we need to get to level 10 first so we can get our second skill before we go to a harder dungeon to level up more."

"It's too bad that the slimes and goblins here only give the lowest grade magic cores, we can't make any good money off killing them."

"Haha but did you hear about...."

"...."

The men got too far away.

Alex was utterly confused. He thought he wasn't on earth, but it seems like he is, because he clearly recognized that they were speaking english just a second ago.

The second part he didn't understand was what they were talking about dungeons and how they don't make much money off selling magic cores from slimes and goblins.

'Am I really on the earth I know?' Alex couldn't help but wonder.