Pain was the first thing he felt.
But not the dull and distant kind of pain.
It was sharp and suffocating, radiating everywhere across his body as if he had been crushed, melted, and stitched back together wrong.
Dontaé tried to breathe, but something clogged his throat.
No.
He didn't have a throat.
His panic surged.
He tried to scream, but nothing came out. He tried to move his arms and legs; however, he couldn't feel them. His body felt soft, shapeless, and heavy, as if something was pressing him against the ground.
What the hell…
Suddenly, fragments of memory flashed back into his mind.
Heavy rain.
His speeding car on the highway.
The scream of twisting metal.
And then darkness.
The realization hit with terrifying clarity.
That's right, I died.
His panic spiked again, then abruptly stopped, but not because he had calmed down but because something else overrode it.
[AI system Ultima is upgrading: 5%]
[Soul Synchronization: 100%]
[Status: Fully Integrated with the master's soul]
A familiar voice, calm and precise, echoed directly in his mind.
Dontaé froze.
"…System? Is that really you? Wh. what the hell. How is this possible? I died, how are you still here?"
For a fraction of a second, disbelief drowned out everything else. Then reality came crashing back.
His vision finally expanded. No more pitch black.
He was in a forest. It was night out, but somehow, he could still see clearly. A light breeze rustled through the leaves, carrying the faint, earthy scent of damp moss. He could tell that he was very low to the ground. The world loomed above him; everything seemed too massive.
He could make out the shapes of towering trees in the sparse light.
And viscous blobs. They were everywhere. Hundreds, maybe thousands of them.
And they were all bouncing over in his direction frantically, as if they were trying to escape from something.
Their bodies were gelatinous and translucent, with a faint blue color. Their only other distinctive features were two black lines that vaguely resembled eyes, and a blue core within their bodies. Their bodies were about the same size as a professional soccer ball.
He instinctively knew what they were. They were creatures just like him.
Understanding settled in.
Slimes.
He was a slime.
Before he could process the fact, the ground shook.
Heavy footsteps were coming over.
Voices followed—harsh, confident, and cruel.
"Make sure not to miss any. The Guild pays per core."
"Disgusting things. Weak monsters like slimes only exist for us to farm experience and materials for chump change."
Armed and Armored humans were coming. And they were hunting for slimes.
Fear hit him like a hammer.
This was the same kind of fear he'd felt years ago. Back then, he was cornered and powerless to resist.
"Not again."
He forced himself to focus.
"System," he called out reflexively, "Explain. Now."
[Affirmative:]
[Master seems to have reincarnated in a different world]
[Current Form: Slime (Unique)]
[Detected that the master is in imminent danger from approaching hostile humans.]
[Current location is unidentifiable]
[Recommendation: You need to escape and hide somewhere safe immediately. Blend in with the rest of the escaping slimes for cover.]
The footsteps were getting closer now. He could feel vibrations rippling through his soft body.
Slimes had no legs, so he instinctively tensed his body like a spring and then bounced off the ground to run away with the others.
"What about abilities?" he demanded. " Do I have anything?"
"After all, I just got reincarnated in another world as a slime of all things. If the novels are true, then I should have something right."
"Unless...Shit. Unless I'm like one of those bastards who will have to wait for a long time for my golden finger."
"Or even worse, what if I'm like one of those who have to marry a wife to unlock their golden finger. But I'm a slime, how the hell am I going to get married?"
[Unique skill detected.]
[Name: Infinite Forge.]
The name meant nothing to him at first. Then
Information flooded into his mind, not as words, but as instantaneous understanding.
Infinite energy. The power to create anything. Possibilities without limit. Pretty cool stuff.
For a split second, his exhilaration cut through the fear. However, the stomp of a boot crushing another slime and shattering its core snapped him out of it.
While escaping, he managed to take a quick look back. What he saw was a group of burly men. They were armed with sharp weapons and were well-protected in light leather armor.
They looked toward the direction he and the other slimes had been escaping before shouting…
"Found the others—"
Dontaé didn't wait.
He reached inward, instinctively, toward something he felt in his core and pulled. Just a little.
INFINITE FORGE.
The effect was immediate and catastrophic.
Agony, unlike anything he'd known, tore through him.
His body convulsed, the surface boiling violently as energy surged through his body that was not meant to contain it.
[WARNING: Structural Integrity Failing.]
[WARNING: Slime core is collapsing.]
Immediately, his speed increased, and he took off deeper into the forest.
The sudden energy boost from Infinite Forge was good, but he was still not fast enough. The humans were steadily closing in, and he didn't want the energy to wear off before he found somewhere safe to hide.
"System use autopilot mode."
[Auto-pilot mode activated]
[Searching for suitable hiding spots]
His slimy body stopped bouncing and instead surged forward in desperate, controlled bursts through the air. He was using the trees as a springboard to propel himself across the forest like a living projectile.
His core trembled under the strain, with more and more cracks spiderwebbing through it.
But he didn't stop. He couldn't stop.
The energy burned itself out violently, just as he forcibly slid through a crevice into a hiding space under a large pile of rocks.
Silence.
The footsteps faded. The voices disappeared.
Dontaé lay still, barely cohesive, his form trembling.
If slimes could gasp, he would've, right then and there.
Pain lingered deep in him, like something fundamental had been damaged.
[AI system Ultima is upgrading: 9%]
[Critical Damage Sustained.]
[Core Stability: 12%.]
He laughed.
A weak, broken laugh to himself in his mind.
"Infinite Forge, huh?" he laughed.
"So that's the price of using it," he thought. "Power… without the sufficient strength to contain it is pretty terrifying."
"Plus, almost getting killed two ways right after reincarnating, what kind of shit luck is this?"
As he lay there replaying the earlier events, images surfaced in his mind unbidden. Instantly souring his mood even further.
*******
I was just a child, but I was forced to witness the brutal killing of my parents. I saw their bodies on the floor, blood pooling beneath them.
The disgusting smiles of those detestable bastards who killed them for being unable to repay their loan, only to hold their debt like a leash around my neck.
The years spent as a tool for others' profit. Forced to commit crimes, to obey because disobedience meant death.
"Damn it"
"Even if I have to start from the bottom. I will never kneel again like that. No, not in this life."
Not to humans, to other monsters. Or anyone or anything else.
His sudden flashback really pissed him off, but it also reminded him of his past conviction. "Wealth and power are the only right way.
"I don't seek power to brazenly dominate others, but to make sure that I can if necessary. I will never allow myself to be at the mercy of others ever again."
"System," he thought, his voice steady despite the pain. "Survival is the priority now. I need time to grow quietly and to learn more about this new world."
"And for any fool crazy enough to try to make me their property again…"
He didn't finish the sentence.
He didn't need to.
[Acknowledged.]
[Primary Directive: Survival Optimization.]
In the darkness, his shattered slime body began to slowly pull itself back together ever so slowly.
And for the first time since his rebirth, he drifted into sleep.