And now that I am somehow geared up, I’ll hunt slimes. I cringe a little when I think that it is OK to go get burnt by slime’s acid because there is nothing in my regeneration queue right now. Big M, dude. Capital M. I’m going crazy in this forest. I am afraid of what would happen if I find a volleyball. Would you be my friend, volleyball?

Gear check time! I am not trying to distract me from my depressing thoughts. Nope.

- [Troll Horn Heavy Spear]

- [Crude Makeshift Leather armor]

- [Crude Stone Ax]

- [Goblin Toothpick]

- [Broken Troll Nails] x a lot.

I pack my stuff, and move to the edge of the slime area. Just why don’t slimes cross this tree boundary? There is something here repelling them? These trees are syrup trees. Do the slimes hate syrup?

There are two experiments I want to conduct before I begin bubble bursting. First one: kite a slime, feed it broken troll fingertips.

The slime comes. It is pink. Cute? Yeah. Remembers a game I played, named after the Norse doomsday. Boing boing boing. Time to eat. Menu? Me. I toss some broken fingertips at the slime. It greedly assimilates them by bouncing over them. I retreat to the edge, the position where the slime stands still on the staring contest.

Blub blub. I watch as my former flesh dissolves. It is rather quick. Now there is only bone and broken fingernails. The bone becomes brittle and discolored. Calcium is leaving the tissue. I see one magenta blob moving inside the slime. I keep track of it. Because of the diffraction of light and the random movements of the slime insides, it is easy to lose track of it.

After a couple minutes, the bones are gone. But the fingernails are good. No. They are beginning to dissolve, starting from the breaks. Then the enamel around their outside also begins to dissolve. Half an hour goes, and the fingernails are just think scales floating in the slime’s core.

I ready the heavy spear. It is just the right weight for me to use two handed. Twenty pounds? No idea. Not for throwing. I look at the magenta spot. Wiggles here, wiggles there, changes direction at random. Now aim, stab and back off. Miss the core. Slimes bounces forward, then bounces backwards. No tentacle. Repeat. Miss. Repeat, hit.

Ping goo colors the rocks. I am far away. There is goo in my spear tip. I think it can damage the horn. I swab with some big leaves, and then clean it with water and some fur scraps. Seems to have no dent. I pick the pemadra, it is girly pink. Next slime, please.

The next slime is black. It launches a tentacle, but I am moving backwards. Then it latches the tentacle on the rocks as an anchoring point, and launches the body forward like a slingshot. I take the slime slam in the face. Idiot. Why would the slimes have the same attack pattern? My face is melting. I’m melting. I fall on my back, and drop the spear. It rolls down.

The slime will either drown me or dissolve me, whichever comes first. My tongue is burning now, as goo enters my mouth.

- Skill [Acid Vulnerability (innate)] downgraded to 3.

Desperate, I claw at the slime like a wild beast. I open my eyes for a bit, and then I see, a black pearl floating. I claw it with my last eyesight. The slime bursts.

I roll around, and stand up. I have to run to the stream. I know the way by heart. I hit some trees in the way, but there is nothing I can do. I hear the stream, and follow the sound.

- Skill [Acid Vulnerability (innate)] downgraded to 2.

I reach the stream, and dive in with a huge splash. The water is not too deep. I’m breathing through the mouth. My nose is blocked. HP? 15%. [Burn] status, -60% HP. I scrape off the burnt flesh. Bone is showing on my cheeks. I let water run in my mouth. All the acidic goo seems to be gone. I crawl to the stream’s shore, and fall unconscious right there.

I wake up after who knows how much time, and I am now looking up at the sunlight filtering through tree leaves, with a beautiful blue sky with not too much clouds behind the leaves. Something soft is on my nape. Oh, It could be that legendary lap pillow that can heal all worries. Then a face comes into my sight line. It is a snake lady.

Yeah. A blue snake lady, with yellow and red patterns in stripes. Scaly face, serpentine frills on her head, two scaled arms, and no boobs. It is a flat torso, with no ribs visible either. The belly skin is white. No clothes. Different from some drawings I saw back on Earth, there is no waist. It is likes someone slapped two slim arms on a snake, and then reshaped the head and neck to look more human.

“Hello. How are you?” - she talks to me. Her mouth seems normal, but the teeth are serrated, and there are two long and thin fangs on the upper jaw. Oh, there is a long forked tongue there.

My wounds are way better.

“How long was I fainted?” - but not ‘me grammer’.

“Lessss than one hour. I healed you with my magic.” - She is right. [Burn] is only -15%, HP is capped at 100%. But is actually 85%.

“Oh, thank you.” - I try to lift myself, but she gentles pushes me back down. I don’t resist. I lay down my head on her lap, and relax.

We are talking in “monster speech.” Just growls and grunts, but we understand each other just fine. Funny.

She doesn’t seem hostile. But I can’t read her face. It is not that it is expressionless, but it is not much human. The eyes, they don’t have eyelids. There is a membrane that slides in and out at some times, like it is blinking. Her fixed gaze startles me. Is this the uncanny valley?

- [Charm Resistance] level 1 acquired.

“What are you trying to do, miss?” - I ask, staring at her eyes. - “Don’t delve too deep in my head, you might not like what you see.”

“Oh, what a tenaciousss troll we have here, right?” - Poker face. Unreadable.

“Look, if you do that again, I will go away.”

“I would be troubled if you went away… so please stay with me.”

She wraps her tail around my waist as I try to stand up. Then she slithers around me, and make two laps around me, one at the waist and another over the lower ribs. I turn around, and grab her arms.

“What are you doing, miss? I don’t want to hurt you.” - I am not putting strength on my hold. I hope this can have a peaceful solution.

The snake-girl tightens her body, and begins to squeeze me. -3% HP. She is strong!

I try to hold her arms, but she is slippery. One arm slips past, and she grabs my shoulder. Then she frees the second arm, as my ribs creak. 92% HP. There goes the recovery of [Burn] status.

She turns around her own waist, placing her white belly against my chest. My arms are free. Then she holds my neck, and bites me on the trapeziums muscle. [Poisoned (moderate)]. 88% HP.

I cross my arms behind her back, in an X shape, and place both my hands on her shoulders. Then I squeeze her torso. She releases the bite, and looks at me surprised.

“Let go of the tail, and stop biting me...”

She looks pained. The tail relaxes.

“Don’t even think of running away. Your beautiful scaled skin will make nice clothes for me.”

She laughs. I have not relaxed my grip.

“Don’t laugh. I can grab your head and break your neck.” - I’m at 86% HP.

“Oh, how brave. But you are already dead. I just need to wait.”

- Skill [Paralysis Resistance] level 1 acquired.

Oh, it is right. I am feeling some numbness. But its onset is slow. Must be that tick timer reduction.

“I’m dead? Just from some bite wounds?”

“Oh, don’t you know, dumb troll? Naga venom is strong. It isss a C rank venom. You will be paralyzed, then your breathing will stop. Then there will be nothing you can do before my venom kills you. It isss your death sentence!!!”

“So you are not running away, right?”

“Why would I run from my prey? If you are going to break me, try to break me now or perish.”

The numbness increase. HP is at 82%.

- Skill [Paralysis Resistance] level 2 acquired.

I release her, and lumber to a nearby tree. Then I sit down, my back leaning against the tree.

“Sit there, lets talk while I die.”

“Of course. You are a rare type of troll, aren’t you. You are dying, but I don’t feel any hostility from you.”

“I am not one to hold a grudge just because someone is trying to kill me. We are monsters anyway.”

“Hushshshshs...” - Her laughter is strange.

“By the way, why didn’t you kill me when I was lying in the stream’s margin? Wouldn’t that be easier?”

“Why would I bother with some troll carcass that washed ashore? I want to kill someone strong.”

“So you healed me to see if I was strong, so you could kill me?” - Makes no sense to me.

She coils her snake body, and then lies down over the spiral. Then she crosses her arm, and rests her chin over the forearms. She is nice.

“Yes... something like that.” - Poker face. Snake eyes. That pause...

My extremities tingle. The paralysis is getting stronger as the venom spreads through my body.

- Skill [Paralysis Resistance] level 3 acquired.

But then the turning point is reached before long. The skill’s correction offsets the paralysis advance. And there is a synergy with the poison resistance for delaying the onset.

“You are a naga, right? You called yourself that.”

“Yes, my little troll. I am Shraaizar, a Naga.” - She seems very proud of her species.

“Grendel here. A troll. So, how long do I have to live? Is this deadly naga venom one of those that take forever to kill the pray, while it writhes in agonizing pain?”

“Hushishishi… I’d rather have you find out by yourself. It will be funnier that way.” - Poker face. Can’t be read. Is she having fun?

“Ah, OK. I like a nice surprise. By the way, thanks for the healing and for the lap pillow.”

“Lap pillow? What is it?” - She tilts her head, and the tip of her snake tail wiggles. Doesn’t have a rattle. Now she is curious.

“A pillow is something soft that you can use to rest your head on as you sleep. And lap is the top part of the legs, here.” - I clap my hands over both legs.

“I have never heard of laying the head over something soft to sleep. Where can I find this pillow?”

“Oh, the humans make and use it. It is very nice. Wish I had one.”

She becomes startled when I say ‘humans’, and raises her torso up. Now she is swaying slowly back and forth.

“You! Have you been to the human town?” - she sounds angry at something. I can’t tell her that I was a human now. HP is 84%.

“Of course not.” - I shake my head, and put a hand on my chin. - “The human town would go crazy if I were to go there. But why are you angry?”

“The humans! They killed my sisters!” - she is pissed off. She looks west, towards the human settlement.

“Yeah. The humans around here are really hateful. I was having fun in the forest a few days ago, they brought over 30 people just to kill me.”

“You were having fun in the forest near the human settlement? Hushishishi… It should have been quite the slaughter.”

“Nah. I haven’t killed a single human. I just ran.”

“Are you a coward?” - She is mad. Her tail is shaking like the tip is going to fly off.

“No. Just that there were no reason for me to kill humans. And I didn’t know about your sisters either.”

“Buuut!!! You are a monssster!!! You ssshould kill the humansss when you find sssem!!! Thozze filthy murdering humansss!!! They hunt usss!” - And now she is yelling.

(This is what got your sisters killed, you know?) - No way I will say that to her.

“Ahh, what isss wrong with this troll? Wearing clothesss, not killing humansss, talking about human ssstuff!!!”

“Oh, I was a human in my past life.” - I pat the dust off my leather armor and thighs, shake my neck left and right, and smile at her.

“Preposssterousss! Liar! If you were not dying already, I’d kill you! You, are you friendsss with the humansss? Were you tamed!!!?!!!”

Oh, there is something really important. Monsters can be tamed, eh? Nice! I stand up, and hit my upwards palm with my fist.

“I am friends with only two human girls. I don’t know and don’t care about the rest. And no, I’m not tamed.” - Not so sure about the last part. Probably not. I’m me, right?

“Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa… Sssisssterssss.” - She looks down, dejected. I draw near her. Slowly.

“Have you killed many humans?”

“I killed some adventurers that came to our lands.” - She looks up to me. If she had lacrimal ducts, she would be crying now. Oh, I can read her expressions now.

I beam my best smile at her.

“Look. If you kill them, then it is alright for you to be killed by them. Some of them are rotten, but there are good humans out there. Very few of them.”

She hugs me, and hides her face in my breastplate. I place an arm against her shoulder.

“It is fine. Calm down.” - I pat her shoulder. - “How many humans do you have to kill to bring your sisters back?”

“What? There is no such thing. I’ll kill all of them and die in the end.”

“And what will you do after you kill all the humans and die in the end? What is there in the end?”

“Death?” - She tilts her head and looks at me.

“Yes, lots of death. Do you desire death for yourself?”

She becomes meek. Quite the mood swing.

“No...” she whispers softly.

“Look, Shraaizar. Look at me. Raise your head. Death begets death. There will be times, when death will be inevitable, and you will have to kill. Kill to survive, kill to eat. But death is not something that should be sought.”

“I don’t understand.”

“It is fine that you don’t understand. You will understand eventually. Also, I know why you didn’t kill me when you found me at the stream margin.”

“Eh? Did you read me? Me?” - She lifts her torso, unwrapping her long tail. She is some sixteen or seventeen feet long.

“Yes, I can read you now. You were alone. After your sisters died, you had nobody to talk to, right?”

She backs off. Bulls-eye. I walk forward, and take her hand. Smooth.

“Stay with me. I’ll talk to you, we can share meals. It will be less lonely like that.”

“I don’t mind. But you are dying!!! My deadly Naga venom!” - She frets around.

“Oh, about that. Is this Naga venom stronger than wyvern venom?”

She stares at me, wide-eyed.

“What?”