The earth shook as the stalactites hanging from the ceiling rattled like alarm bells. Kazil muttered an incantation, and a ritual circle glowed. At its center, a small pool of liquid jolted.

A piece of a soul. Untainted. That’s all I need.

Kazil closed his eyes, reaching into another universe. A blue planet, very much unlike this world. It was like tugging a single piece of loose thread from the sleeve of a shirt— or taking a snip of hair from an unknowing girl. He wove it into the body, infusing it with life.

The ritual circle dimmed. The transparent liquid pulsed gently as he picked it up, somehow maintaining its spherical shape. It was barely larger than an infant. He could see it filling with color, turning to a translucent purple as its body lolled back. The soft thrumming of water was all that filled the room for a moment.

“It’s done,” he whispered.

And the barrier collapsed. An explosion resounded. The entrance to Kazil’s lair was blown open. He hurriedly ran to the small stream that cut through the cavern. Running a hand over the sleeping creature one last time, he placed it back down on an open piece of parchment.

“Go, Violet,” Kazil said. “Live, child. Your species cannot be driven to extinction. Not again.”

He watched as the runes inscribed on the scroll glowed brightly, overcome by powerful magic, before the body disappeared. The parchment burned up, leaving nothing behind but ash. Behind him, his pursuers appeared. Three of them, dressed in a black armor, melded with splashes of a dark crimson. They wore an emblem on each of their chests. Golden roots of a glorious tree.

“Where is it?” the first Dark Elf asked.

“The Onyx Vanguard, Zoreth,” Kazil greeted him. “You’re too late. The ritual is complete, and the subject has escaped. Tell your God King that you’ve failed.”

Zoreth crossed his arms. “Hrmph, if you think we’ll be leaving this place empty-handed, Necromancer, you are very much mistaken.”

“Yes,” the second man said, nodding. “Because we’ll be taking you with us.”

“That’s right. We’ll—” Zoreth started.

But the second man continued. “And when we capture you, you’ll wish we killed you instead.”

“Right, and—”

“Since we’ll be torturing you for information.”

“Uh, yes, Brim.” Zoreth stared at his companion. “Anyway—”

“For information about the ritual that only you know.”

Zoreth pursed his lips. He waited for Brim to continue. When Brim said nothing, Zoreth opened his mouth. “W—”

“The ritual which brought an Arcslime back to life.”

“...”

“Because you are a Necromancer, and Arcslimes are evil!”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Zoreth sighed. “Just do your job already, Brim.”

Kazil spread his arms wide as a black energy permeated around him. “You will not be taking me today!” he bellowed.

And they took him that day.

* * *

“Mm, Daisy, stop it. That feels weird—”

I woke up with a wet feeling pressing against my face. Was it water? No, that wasn’t right. My body was already drenched, and this wet feeling was icky and sticky and—

My eyes snapped open, and I jerked up. I stared at the creature that’d been licking me. “You… you’re not a german shepherd.” I received a croak in return.

The creature that’d been licking me looked like a bloated toad, except about the size of a pomeranian. It also had six beady eyes instead of just two cute round ones, and to make things worse, each of its six irises somehow looked in different directions.

“Ribbit,” it said and hopped away.

“What the heck is that? Why am I in a cave?”

I raised my hand to wipe off the goo on my face. Except… I didn’t even have a hand.

“Uhm, what?”

I wanted to pull myself up from the ground to take a look at myself because I felt a distinct lack of any hands by my sides, but I found that my body was almost sticking to the rock and dirt. It took a bit of struggling until I finally wriggled myself free from the greedy claws of the… floor.

There was a plop, and the world around me spun. I found myself rolling towards a lake. The world tumbled around me as sharp bits of rocks poked my side. It wasn’t very painful, just uncomfortable, which made it even worse. I rolled to a halt right before falling into the body of water and slowly regained my orientation.

I looked around in a daze. “Ugh, that was close, I almost got my clothes wet—”

And finally, I caught sight of myself in the reflection of the water surface. It was clear— the water. Crystal, actually. I could see the white sand bed about six feet below the lake. But also, what I looked like was clear.

A blob of icky goo. Like someone had taken a ball of mud and dipped it in some purple paint. Except, it was me.

But… but… that couldn’t be right, right? That couldn’t possibly be me! I shook my head, rejecting reality, and the purple blob shook her head too. (Well, it was more like I was wobbling a specific part of my body that made it seem like it was my head rather than my actual head.)

It was real. I really was that weird thing I saw reflected on the water. I… I… I…

What the heck was I?

The question was answered as an image popped up in front of me.

Name: Violet [Level 1]

Species: Arcslime

Combat Power: 100

Arcane Essence: 100/100

Skills:

[Appraisal - 10 Arcane Essence]

I jolted back. “What?” The blue box as it stayed fixed in the center of my vision. “This thing… am I in a video game?”

Then I noticed what it said at the top. That wasn’t right; it called me Violet even though that wasn’t my name. My name was… Stacy! Right?

It took me a second, but I remembered my name. Honestly, I should’ve recalled my name faster since it was, you know, my name. But, like, I felt weird and woozy, alright? Here I was in a new body and in a dark cavern (I hadn’t addressed it yet, but I would soon) and the last thing I remembered was cramming for an exam. Of course I’d be a bit confused!

Also, what even was I? An… Arcslime? Was that some kind of slime? I tried to get a better look at myself, but the blue box was blocking the way.

“Get out of the way! I’m trying to look at myself!”

I tried to swipe it away even though I didn’t have arms. It disappeared the moment I spoke, but as I tried to reach for it, my entire body shook. I wobbled. Trembled. An odd sensation washed over me like I was thrust into deep waters and was involuntarily thrashing about to swim back to the surface.

Then something protruded from my body. I saw what happened from the reflection on the lake: the side of the purple blob (which was me) stretched out like a piece of purple rope. It was a kind of appendage— sort of like a pseudopod. Although, if I had to describe its shape, it was more similar to a tendril or a…

“A tentacle! Wait… oh my god, am I in a hentai?”

I was either in a video game or in a hentai. Or it could be even worse— a video game hentai!

It was all so surreal: I was an Arcslime called Violet in a dark cavern standing next to a six-eyed toad. I could only think of two scenarios that would lead me to this situation.

The first scenario was that I somehow hit my head and suffered a concussion while studying late at night. Everything I was experiencing was just fever dream induced by all the meds they pumped into my body and I was going to wake up any time soon in a hospital bed surrounded by my friends and family.

Either that, or I was dead, and this was my next life.

Or even worse… this was hell.

I searched for the pools of lava and tried listening for the screams of tortured souls.

“Nah. Not a single tell-tale sign of hell. The floor isn't even made out of limestone!”

Considering the fact that I wasn’t awake from a coma yet, I was going to assume I was still dead. I took in the cavern around me, staring at the six-eyed toad.

“Well, this is my life now, I guess?”

“Ribbit.”

“Right, I guess I should figure out how to move first.” After all, I was pretty much a ball of purple muck. Moving would be pretty difficult, right?

As it turned out, I didn’t even need to drag myself forward. I thought I’d need to use a tendril to sluggishly crawl around, but my body just seemed to glide in any direction I wanted to go. I could even jump!

“Woah, this is weird,” I said as I bounced along the edges of the lake.

“Ribbit,” the six-eyed toad croaked. It was standing a little bit nearer to me than the last time I saw it.

“I bet I can jump higher than you.” It hopped closer as I continued bouncing. “Yep, I definitely jumped higher than you— wait, can you even understand me?” I paused, and another, even more unsettling question settled in. “Actually, how am I even talking?”

This time, the six-eyed toad responded by licking me in the face.

“Hey— that tickles!” I drew back, laughing as its long tongue shot out once more to lick me. “Stop it,” I giggled. “Stop… it… owowowow!”

I yelped as the uncomfortable feeling was replaced by a sharp, stinging pain. I instantly leapt back, narrowing my eyes at the six-eyed toad.

“What… are you?”

[Toxic Toad - Level 3 (Combat Power: 60)]

A small box overlaid itself over the creature in my vision.

“How did I do that?” I blinked.

Except, I didn’t have eyes, so I wasn’t even sure how I was blinking. But this wasn’t the time to question the complexities of how I was talking and blinking with neither eyes nor a mouth.

This Toxic Toad was dangerous. It licked its lips as a green liquid dripped from its tongue. Was that what had hurt me just now? Also, were those tiny little barbs on the surface of its tongue?

I backed up slowly. “Look, I don’t want to hurt you,” I gave it a warning, “but I’m not going to die again this soon into my new life.”

Truth be told, I wasn’t even sure how I was going to back up that warning. However, one thing I noticed earlier was that I had a higher Combat Power than it had. I would beat it in a fight. Somehow.

…

Oh, who was I kidding? I was a slime! How was I supposed to beat that six-eyed frog? Heck, it was bigger than me! (Even if just barely.)

The Toxic Toad hopped once. “Ribbit,” it threatened.

“Stay back, I’m warning you!”

“Ribbit,” it said menacingly.

“I said—”

“Ribbit,” it decided, and leapt towards me as its tongue hung out of its mouth, ready to lick me.

“Eek!” I threw myself to the side, fully expecting it to pounce on me.

To my surprise, I found myself standing six feet to the left of the Toxic Toad when it finally landed. Its six eyes blinked one after another in confusion, before turning to face me. A vicious grin spread across my face. Or at least, I’d like to think so.

“Seems like you messed with the wrong blob, pal.”

“Ribbit.”

“Too late for apologies!” I yelled as I hurled myself at the Toxic Toad with all my might.

I barreled through the air with the force of a cannonball all the while bracing myself for the impact. It tried to hop out of the way, but it was too slow. I struck it down mid-air, knocking us both to the very fringes of the lake.

The clash echoed in the cave, sending ripples over the still water’s surface. The ground shook from the intensity of the battle as the Toxic Toad pulled its bloodied body up—

Oh, who was I kidding? It was a battle between a frog and a blob. It wasn’t very epic.

But I felt invigorated. It was like I was an action hero facing down the bad guy during the climax of a film. And while the Toxic Toad didn’t look like it was on the cusp of death, it certainly looked like it’d been hurt from the attack.

“That’s right! Want some more?”

It got back to its feet and opened its mouth. Its tongue lashed out like a whip. I flattened my body, ducking under the attack.

“God, you’re supposed to run away when I say that! You’re not actually supposed to want some more!”

I bounced around the Toxic Toad before slamming myself onto its back. It let out a wheezing noise, before I used its rubbery body to rebound into the air and crash back down onto it.

“Take this! And this! And this!”

I battered the Toxic Toad, managing to avoid all of its counter attacks, slowly wearing it down. After a few minutes passed, I found myself growing both tired and hungry, for whatever reason.

“Are you finally done?”

“R-ribbit…” it gasped, and collapsed.

“Finally, it’s over,” I sighed in relief (metaphorically) before collapsing too. In that instant, a screen popped up over the Toxic Toad’s body.

You have defeated a [Toxic Toad - Level 3 (Combat Power: 60)!

You have absorbed its Physical Essence!

You have advanced to Level 2!

- Arcane Essence +20

This flood of notifications filled my vision and I quickly dismissed them— somehow. It was a mental thing. I wanted them to go away, and they vanished. It took me a moment to process them, then I straightened (which, in the case of being made out of goo, I became less blob-like and more ball-like.)

“That was… wait, how do I see that thing again— the thing that appeared earlier and showed me information about myself?”

Just by thinking about it, it appeared.

Name: Violet [Level 2]

Species: Arcslime

Combat Power: 120

Arcane Essence: 110/120

Skills:

[Appraisal - 10 Arcane Essence]

“Ok… so, I’m Level 2 now? And I’m stronger, too.” I tried to parse this information. “But why’s my Arcane Essence only 110 out of 120? Wait, is it because I accidentally used that [Appraisal] thingy on the Toxic Toad? It does use 10 Arcane Essence…”

Trailing off, my musing was interrupted by a rumbling of the stomach. My stomach. Although, I didn’t have a stomach. I imagined the sound a hungry stomach made because I was that hungry. Then I glanced over to the side.

I stared at the dead Toxic Toad. My stomach metaphorically rumbled once more. And a thought crossed my mind.

“I’ve always wondered what frog legs tasted like.”