I collapsed into a gelatinous puddle. I simply could not do anything else. Up to this point, I had been running off of the faint, near impossible hope that none of this was real and that everything so far had been an elaborate nightmare. Yes, I treated the recent events as real, and I made goals for myself in case it turned out that this is my new reality, but...I still had hope. Unconsciously so.

This new screen obliterated any chance of that.

I kept it in my vision, not moving, not thinking, not feeling. Just...laying there. To be honest it was a bit nice, to just settle in and simply exist. Until the memories began to surface. Memories that I tried to summon while I was in the void, but that had refused to come to my call. Memories that, in the midst of everything I had done, restructured themselves, hidden under the layer of possible insanity.

...But I was not crazy, huh. It was not a dream. This was real.

I remembered my family. Siblings, both parents, a home that finally belonged to us through years of paying off the mortgage. I remembered the overwhelming feeling of general uselessness as I contributed so little to...everything, considering the health complications I developed. My physical capability reduced just enough to make regular work all but impossible, but not enough of an issue that the government would provide assistance. I remembered sinking deeper and deeper into depression, joining millions of others in the country in the desperate struggle to find meaning in such an ambivalent life, knowing that there were others worse off making more of themselves than we were, yet unable to somehow do the same.

I remembered the various video games and books that I threw myself into as a distraction, hoping to find something there that would give me a purpose, only to see the same story playing out over and over just with various twists.

I remembered walking out of the house one day in emotional turmoil, a multitude of feelings clashing and boiling up inside of me, threatening to explode if I did not move, do something, anything.

I remembered the passing truck. A cable securing its massive payload suddenly snapping, the force whipping it out at violent speeds. Straight for my neck. Then there was nothing.

Until I woke up in the void.

Until I chose to fight for my life, my new, second life.

Until I was told that I am a disaster in waiting.

I did not know for how long I lay there, in a puddle wide enough to blanket a house, but...I had the thought, once again, that time no longer mattered. Not to me. Not in the way it used to, at least. But at some point, the slime that encompassed the entirety of my new being shook. I suppose it was the equivalent of a human shaking itself out of a mental fog...but I pulled myself back together. Literally. I appreciated the internal humor despite not being able to laugh.

Letting out a mental sigh, I refocused on understanding this new world. Now knowing that I was stuck with the hand I have been dealt, I was determined to think things through before leaving. I looked at the screen once again.

Arc - Doombringer

Designation: Dungeon Boss

Category: Slime

Disaster Rank: Unnatural

Feats: 5/5

Feat Description

Associated Ability

Eliminated: creator

Mana Manipulation

Eliminated: place of birth

Ambient Mana Siphon

Defeated: Tier 1 Dungeon Boss

Expansion Manipulation

Defeated: member of native species (2/2)

Native Language Acquisition

Defeated: members of invading species (5/5)

Enhanced Consumption

Okay...First. I have a name. Arc...with the postfix of Doombringer. I did not know if this name was assigned to me at the point of the upgrade or if Malevin had named me so at creation, but a name is a name. I resigned myself to using it. Who else would, though? Can others see it through some identification magic? Only time will tell, I guessed.

Second. Disaster rank. Remembering the warning I was given at birth, I assumed this is a result of my status being elevated to reflect that I am somehow a disaster. A Disaster, actually, the distinction seems important. This might mean that there are other Disaster monsters besides myself, even if not at this current time. The fact that there is a whole “Protocol” for it suggests so, because there would need to be others to base it around. Also, the fact that there is a ranking at all means that there is a difference in strength between Disasters...or perhaps just a difference in progression. After all, a ranking can go up or down.

That made me wonder what the next level is...As the ranking clearly replaced the level system I came to expect from my many years of gaming.

Third. The feats and abilities. Oh boy, that is a lot to unpack.

It looked like it took five feats to acquire my Disaster Rank, Unnatural Disaster. Will it take five more to reach the next rank? I wondered if those feats were static or if they came from a pool of possibilities...for instance, instead of defeating a Tier 1 Boss, maybe I could have collapsed a cave system? I do not know, I could not think of any solid requirements beyond what the screen told me that would have generated the same result, but it may not matter. I will keep the thought in mind, however, in case my rank changes once again.

Focusing on the feats that I do see, however, brought about several revelations. Especially the part about killing “members of the invading species”, of which there were five. I just...killed a party of five.

The thought stopped me short for a moment. I just killed five people. How did I not react to that sooner? Why did it escape my attention earlier? I spent so long dwelling on my resurfaced memories but neglected to show any concern about the first time I took human life? Suffocated them, broke their bodies, then dissolved them into nothing but lumps of mana...as if it was nothing? But then...did they matter? I mean, yes, life is...precious...and I was once human...like them...but…

I reached out with a tentacle to slap the ground. Not out of frustration, but...unconcern. It did not make sense. I...was detached from the whole matter. Perhaps this was the only time so far that I was thankful for not being able to connect to any emotion. While I recognized what I should be feeling, or at least the range of what should be there, I could not bring myself to actually experience it. And that was the only reason why I could push on with what I was learning, setting aside the callousness with which I treated my former fellow species.

Speaking of which, humans...appeared to be the invaders here? Humans are...aliens to this world? Then...why did they look so...primitive? And...who are the natives?

One answer came more quickly than the other. If human adventurers were invasive, and if one of my feats involved killing two members of the native species, and the only entities I have killed so far included humans, dungeon mobs, dungeon cores, and fairies...then I could only conclude that either the cores or the fairies were the true natives of this world. So...fascinating. I was not certain what to do with this information, but I knew it was important to know.

Lastly...the abilities. Did I gain them when my ranking updated, or at the time that I accomplished the feats? Were the gains independent of the rank up or entirely dependent on it? I would need to test that later, for there was no way for me to figure that out now. At the moment, all I could do was test out what those abilities did.

Native Language Acquisition...if I inferred correctly, would have to deal with either the dungeon cores or their partner fairies. I would need to meet another core to test out my suspicion, but… Thankfully there are still two other dungeons rather close by. I will pay them a visit.

Ambient Mana Siphon...I thought I was already doing that back in my birth dungeon, but seeing this made me wonder if I was simply absorbing the same mana that made me or specifically unclaimed mana. I suddenly noticed that the ambient mana that surrounded me in this boar dungeon no longer felt hostile to me, and that I was able to consume it as well. Was that a result of the skill or of me destroying the source of the mana? Once again, I would need to enter another dungeon to figure it out.

Mana Manipulation and Expansion Manipulation...seemed to encompass things that I was already doing, at least to some extent. I mean, while attacking the cores, I did use my internal mana to crush and shatter them, but...I suppose that might not have been true manipulation. More like wailing away with new limbs as opposed to throwing a practiced punch. Still, the skill could be talking about external manipulation instead...likewise, with Expansion, I did pull off that trick with compressing and then explosively releasing myself inside that barrier cage, but again, I could liken that to pulling in my legs to kick them outwards. Maybe this skill is about adding or reducing mass? I will need to experiment with that too.

Finally, Enhanced Consumption...which I would love to try if there was anything around to consume. I had already eaten everything alive. Great. Here I thought I would make solid progress before leaving, yet I clearly have to find other creatures or people to test myself on in order to learn anything. The irony.

There was one last thing I needed to do though...I mentally closed the screen after doing my best to memorize all that was there, just in case this did not work. Crossing mental tentacles, I called out in my mind. Dungeon Rank.

It opened! Finally, I knew how to view my status- wait. It is the same page. The same...completed...page. Nothing about...what to do...for the next rank…

...I hate this world.