The Slime sat in a glass box inside a Mana barrier in the middle of an alchemical laboratory. No, it was not in his Sanctuary. That would have been too nice! Glad they decided to put unnecessary breathing holes in the top this time. No, this one was somewhere in the palace, and it was incredibly dull, sitting here while Haemish and the rest were out. He had been dumped here after his captors had finished their meal, not deigning to give him anything to eat while they gorge themselves. Pile of rotting fish guts, the lot of them! Whew, I feel better. I got it out of my system. I am so damn hungry! This glass-Volcanite box is just not doing it for me; I need organic matter.

His wits had slowed, which was the longest he had gone without any food. Even tree matter would have been acceptable. He already tried to poke a tentacle of slime out of the holes at the top, and the Mana had stopped him, but gases were able to permeate the barrier. Unfortunately, Aarav didn’t know how to make himself a gas or even safe. What if he got blown away? That would have all kinds of unpleasant side effects like potentially dying.

This time the box he had was in was very spacious, but there was no privacy. Where was he supposed to chill and think? Get away from prying eyes and hands. Most importantly, what was he supposed to do here all day? Like inmates, he could spend all his time training and waiting for the day he got out. But wouldn’t he be best served by trying to ingratiate himself to Haemish and the rest? That Rion was a hard sell, but from what he could tell, Marteen was a family man, and Taler was ridiculously naïve. As the designated weak link, he would be a good target. Let’s do this.

If he was going to be left alone for long periods, he should use the time wisely. What would be the most valuable Skills to him in the upcoming days? First, to take stock, he gained a good amount of Weight and experience by consuming the glass jar and then the glass box where he currently sat. The difference was noticeable to him, but maybe the others wouldn’t notice? He had not consolidated in a while, and so he had been the same size for a time. If he were to Consolidate now, there was no chance of hiding it. He would go down to about a fifth of the size. There was no way they would fail to see that. He needed a way to increase his size without being detected and without varying his volume. Only effective Density should change. They wouldn’t be able to detect that so quickly, right? They didn’t have any weighing scales that he could see, and they might not think to check that.

“Good morning!” Haemish crowed as he walked in. He was looking exceptionally chipper, considering the gruelling day yesterday. I guess people don’t have grogginess in this world? Stats must play a role as well. I feel like I've been slow at getting up, though.

“Stop being so blasted happy, first thing in the morning!” Huh, I guess that theory was wrong. Rion walked in a couple of minutes after Haemish and shattered Aarav’s hopes. I don’t think Rion is a morning person, and Haemish most certainly is.

“Are you kidding me! You left me high and dry yesterday! You all eat like there’s no tomorrow, and I have to sit here, haven’t eaten anything in like…twenty hours? I need sustenance!” Haemish looked at him, confused.

“You need food? Really? I didn’t realise that.” Who was this guy? And how could he possibly think that a living, breathing – okay, so not breathing exactly – creature could survive without eating or some kind of sustenance? Was he an idiot?

“How many living things do you know that can survive without some type of nutrition?” Aarav was a little peeved at the audacity of this guy.

“You could have told me yesterday, you know?” Haemish blanched and mumbled.

“And when exactly was I supposed to tell you? Huh? I wasn’t supposed to be speaking! In the kitchen? When you dumped me in here like garbage and then walked out? Huh? Tell me, when?” Aarav felt a little light-headed after that rant, but he wouldn’t back down.

“You are talking now, though…” is Haemish being sullen. Rion, ever the practical man, walked up to the nearest counter and picked up what looked like bricks. Does he expect me to eat construction material? Then the Volcanite would have done it.

“Umm, can’t eat bricks even if it looks like I can. It doesn’t do anything for me nutrition-wise.” Rion continued to move with the brick silently and dropped it into the slot at the top. It was solid, dense and very, very painful. “Hey! What the hell! You just dumped a brick on my head!”

“It is food, a nutrient block. If you can digest this, then it will give you everything you need. Also, it’s like dropping a fist, so it shouldn’t hurt. Otherwise, you're even weaker than we thought.” Aarav continued to grumble but saw that he had only lost a couple of points of Health. He would have that from stubbing a toe, a tentacle? He didn’t have toes unless manifested, and he chose not to display any limbs other than eyes, nose and ears and mouth, which he kept closed. He had manners.

“Uh right, thanks. I am fine, thanks. No pain, no damage, thanks?” then he completely ignored the other two people in the room and encompassed the brick in its entirety with his body. He felt the difference the second he started Consuming. His hunger disappeared, and for the first time, he wanted to taste the food he Consumed. It might look, feel and act like a brick, but it was no brick, and it was flavourful.

It might have just been that all the food he had eaten thus far had been entirely tasteless, either raw, bloody, disgusting, rotting or all of the above. He reflected that it had been a challenging start to life, but he had been free. Now he would earn that freedom again while using these people to get what he wanted. Taler, my friend, you and I are going to talk.

In the meantime, he continued to gnaw at the brick. A couple of minutes in, he remembered to bring Consume Blorenar to bear so that he could take in the nutrients faster. He should have used that in the night on the Volcanite, but he didn’t have enough MP to keep it going all the time, especially when recoveries were still only at ten per cent. He was ten days into the fourteen-day countdown to restore his regenerations to normal levels, and once again, Aarav reflected on how much of a burden it was. But there had not been any choice. Whether it was Aarav or Resh that created it, it could not have gone any other way. Of course, he would fight for survival.

Ten days ago, he couldn’t have imagined that he would be here, in the palace of a King and a weird country and the custody of a fat old man, not because he was rotund and old but because in a world where there were stats and people could be superhuman why would you choose to be fat? He didn’t look that old, so he had organised things in that department. Did that mean he was choosing to be Overweight or was there something else to it?

After doing a few calculations, he realised that maths was not his forte and gave up halfway. He thought that he might be able to sustain Consume Blorenar for a few hours, but he was a little lost beyond that. I guess my intellect is not adequately high enough for complex Maths yet or is it Acuity that needs to rise? Knowing that he would understand it better soon was sufficient for no. It wasn’t a matter of if, but when.

Once he started up, Consume Blorenar thought, he would not handle any distractions. “I don’t like talking while I eat. Don’t even look at me. I need to focus on this.” Five hours or so was a long time for one brick of food, but it would be worth it in the end.

Aarav started up Consume Blorenar and focused on consuming the food underneath him. His body enveloped the brick, so it could only be seen either through his body or from underneath. Initially, it felt odd doing this with people around, like David Blaine doing one of his endurance challenges, with the glass tank and everything. But once he focused and shut out everything else, he was fine.