Chapter 03: Don't tell me I'm a...

From the moment I was born, the paths and destinies of someone like me were already carved in the stone of fate. Whether I wanted to or not, I could do nothing. Death was the end of the road for all those mere mortals who had no power to cut or change the thread of fate that connected them to an already established point.

Or so I thought until before my death.

It was a bit depressing that I had not met a beautiful Goddess as I had imagined after my death. But then again, those thoughts were just words that had no chance of coming true.

Since I was a child, I did not believe in any divine entity; they were just the creation of human thought that thought of the unknown.

But if gods did not exist, how am I alive, besides the fact that I am in an unknown place? The situation I was in reminded me of those reincarnation stories.

My imagination about meeting a beautiful Goddess vanished as soon as that thought came to my mind, and I began to inspect the surroundings without being able to move.

An unknown place.

Full of green vegetables, giant trees that soared up to the sky, and meadows that almost covered my view, I even saw that the flowers and butterflies fluttered gracefully through the air were half my size.

Wait, why am I so small?

With a gasp in my thoughts, I realized my abnormal situation.

My gaze was quite close to the ground; now, I realized why the herbs seemed quite tall, unlike my height. The problem was not the vegetables but myself!

I could not feel my body; more specifically, I could not feel the limbs I usually felt before my death; it was as if only my head was present and nothing else. I tried to utter words, but only rather unpleasant sounds came out of my mouth.

Also, at that moment, I saw a part of the golden silhouette within my vision. It was as if my skin was golden in color; that wasn't all; I saw that I had no nose...

'Nooooo, don't tell me I've turned into the golden octopus from that anime!' I screamed inwardly with all the strength I could muster.

Although it actually wouldn't be that bad since that octopus professor is pretty powerful. However, after my mind cleared of all the confusing thoughts, I dismissed the idea of having turned into that golden octopus. I didn't have tentacles or anything like that, dammit! I didn't even have an arm to support myself.

'I feel like a caterpillar...'.

I wiped away my imaginary tears with an imaginary cloth.

As I was lamenting my dire situation, I heard some noises as if someone was crawling on the ground; I tried to turn around. However, I rolled on the floor like a disoriented ball and hit the stem of a tree.

When I stopped in my position, the world was upside down; it was pretty depressing.

'Damn, am I a fucking ball?'

I couldn't help but curse again. As I was about to roll again, several ball-sized silhouettes entered my field of vision.

"..."

The white, creepily round eyes of the blue and green balls locked onto my pathetic, unfamiliar figure.

Balls with eyes? Wait... They're slimes!'

I was surprised to see these strange, round creatures moving about the place as if they were balls made of jelly. Their appearance was similar to that of the fantasy creatures known as slimes.

Those slimy, weak creatures usually inhabited the outskirts of the beginner's village.

However, as if lightning struck my mind, a realization that was anything but pleasant came over me and snapped me out of my stupefaction.

'Don't tell me I've been reincarnated as a slime!'

Considering my round body, it wouldn't be strange if I were one of those gelatinous creatures.

Is it some curse for having cursed my former beautiful appearance so many times? What a cruel fucking fate you are...

'Gods, please, even if I don't know you, put me out of this sad misery...'

If I had tears to shed, I would already be drowning in a sea of tears. However, I could do nothing but get used to it and try to survive in this unfamiliar place.

Who knows? There might even be some adventurer trying to hunt me down.

'Yes, this is misery... Do you like to see me suffer so much?'

When I turned my attention back to reality, I learned that a few dozen gelatinous balls surrounded me, just a few meters away from where I was standing.

I don't know the exact reason, but I can feel some emotions from them towards me, such as; the respect, admiration, reverence, and positive feelings that a good and loyal subject would feel towards his King.

After thinking about what could probably cause this strange anomaly, I realized I was the only golden-colored slime. Except for me, all the other slimes were dyed pale green and sky blue.

'Maybe they think of me as some kind of boss or something.' I came to a quick conclusion.

'Sigh~ if I were a slime-like that protagonist who was reincarnated as a rather cheating blue slime, I wouldn't be so depressed...'.

I pushed all useless thoughts out of my mind and looked back at the slimes, who had a look full of expectation in the back of their big white eyes.

I wondered what they wanted, but I didn't know how to communicate with them, so it was impossible to know their thoughts. I wanted them to help me get back into a good position; after all, being upside down and seeing the world upside down was not fun.

With no other option, I resorted to my one special move of the moment!

*Boing* *Boing*.

Like a small ball, I rolled across the floor and, unable to keep my balance, hit a slime, causing it to move backward.

As I rolled on the ground, I could see the puzzled gelatinous slimes looking at me before looking at each other.

I tried to control my movement to stand up, but the other slimes did not contribute and treated this as a fun game. They, too, started rolling around on the floor while bumping into each other and thus began the chain of *Boing*.

'Sons of bitches!'

I cursed inwardly at the stupid gelatinous globes crashing into my body, rolling me back and forth like a billiard ball on a card table.

If I had my original body, I would kick those stupid creatures ad nauseam, but all I could do at that moment was scream curses on the inside. I'm sure several throbbing veins were marked on my slime body.

From the fury, I feel like my body is in a critical situation as if it was at a boiling point.

This lasted a few more minutes; the slimes were having fun like there was no tomorrow, and I was entangled in the middle of them all. Fortunately, I have quite a bit of stamina; if I was still in my previous body, I'm sure I would have passed out from tumbling around on the floor so much by now.

'Die, you damn bugs!' I shouted inwardly, trying to convey my messages to them.

And as if my words were a trigger, and to my surprise, my body began to tremble at the same time as the surroundings lit up with a golden light.

*Buzzing

My body began to buzz, and I caught a glimpse of strands of golden lightning protruding and exiting my body as if snakes were searching for their prey.

*Buzzing* *Buzzing* *Buzzing* *Buzzing*.

With another loud buzzing sound, and as I wondered what the hell was going on with my body, the golden rays shot out of my body, causing several painful screams to be heard from those pesky slimes.

'...'

'... What happened? Was that an ability?' I asked.

That was the only answer that came to my mind; after all, there was no other way to explain what had happened earlier.

As I thought about how to activate the ability again, the golden aura that illuminated the surroundings faded away, and only charred slimes were left with their big white eyes staring at me.

'Tsk, even with that, they didn't die. These bugs are pretty resilient.' I clicked my tongue, annoyed.

However, I must thank them for at least dutifully staying in their places without causing another disturbance.

I was also able to balance correctly without tipping over. Since I still haven't gotten used to this newly acquired body, I thought I should practice balancing a bit. It was pretty frustrating not to have the ability to move freely.

However, just as I was about to start my training session, something appeared in front of me that I only saw in fantasy novels, and at no time in my life did I think it was possible.

[All requirements have been met!]

[Error]

[Error]

...

..

.

[An anomaly has been encountered! Please wait a few seconds!]

...

..

.

[Forcing the soul connection]

[10% ... 20% ... 30% ... 40% ... 50% ... 60% ... 70% ... 80% ... 90% ... 100%]

[The soul link has been successfully completed!]