I never realized how hard it would be to know how to feel a certain way but be utterly incapable of expressing it. I wanted to be annoyed at how this system worked for me, but even though I knew it intellectually, I could not actually feel the annoyance. I was getting rather tired of only getting half the experience. At least, my mind was. Or something.

I should probably stop thinking about it. The more I did, the more confused I become, and ultimately it is just a waste of time.

Having decided to ignore my lack of feels from then on, I proceeded to my first solid goal. Enter another dungeon and test out these new abilities. As I made my way back to the entrance of the boar dungeon, I actively sucked up the surrounding mana, probably increasing my size marginally in the process. At the moment, I figured I was at least the size of the now deceased boar Dungeon Boss, if not a little bigger. As the mana in the atmosphere was much lower than any living creature, or dungeon core, I did not expect to gain much from absorbing it, but why waste a free resource? I doubt anyone else would come here to use it. Would it even last long without the core supplying and maintaining it? Somehow I figured it would dissipate or scatter through the rest of the world, like water evaporating and joining the air. I had no intention of eating a core and watching how the ambient mana reacts afterwards. I would rather just consume it all.

My musings lasted until I reached the entrance. By that time, all of the remaining ambient mana was absorbed by me, leaving the dungeon air to feel the same as the expansive space connecting all of the dungeons. Not stale, exactly, just...normal, I suppose. Generic. Flavorless.

Huh. Now that I think about it...the dungeon mana did have a sort of...flavor to it, did it not? I guessed I did not feel the difference with the first dungeon because that was all I was exposed to at first, but after consuming so much more from other sources, I began to realize that different sources provided different...tastes. I would have to explore this much more, later.

In the meantime, I had to make a choice. There were two active dungeons remaining, the one with the entrance shaped like the mouth of a snake, and the one with two golem looking statues flanking it. Judging by how the boar dungeon had a boar shaped entrance, I figured that the images gave a fairly good indication of what type of monsters lay inside. With that being the case…

I slithered on over to the snake dungeon. Well, I say slither, but I honestly had no idea how to describe the way I move. I did not give it much thought so far, but the sudden attention to my mode of transportation immediately made me less coordinated. I slumped to a stop, uncertain of how to move forward. However, I was not new to this phenomenon.

Back when I was human- really, I should say “in my previous life” instead, I read an article or something somewhere about how the mind and body works together to function. I remember understanding something along the lines of how walking is a subconscious effort. Walking, breathing, a lot of actions that humans do everyday require a lot of moving parts to cooperate with each other. The brain handles most of that on a subconscious level, or else humans would get overwhelmed trying to actively control that much information. People do not think “move the left foot forward by this much distance, bend the knee at this angle, shift the hip this much, flex the toes properly” and so on every time they want to take a step. Instead, the mind releases that control over to the body and the lower layers of the brain. At least, that is as best as I could understand the article.

I figured that the same principles applied here. Although I did not grow up with this body, I was already able to mostly get it to do what I needed so far. I have been in combat multiple times, with at least two creatures that had the chance to kill me, and I turned out just fine. Instead of actively worrying about how to move myself on a basic level, I should learn to trust that my body knows how to work itself and simply give it the direction.

Of course, I do need to learn the equivalent of throwing punches and kicks, but I have already made progress on that so far. Some day, though, I will need to revisit the basics so that I can have full control over myself.

Humans cannot handle the information overload. I...was no longer human. Their limitations do not apply to me. I need to learn the limits of a slime.

And so far, those limits seem to be so high that I cannot even see them.

I relaxed my thoughts and focused once again on getting to the snake dungeon. My body cooperated with me and...slithered forward. I will figure out a word for it eventually. Just...not now.

Soon enough, I found myself at the new entrance. I did not hesitate to push my way inside, once again experiencing the sensation of pushing into a place of higher pressure. The ambient mana was also hostile towards me, but it felt more insidious than straightforward aggression. I supposed it matched the personality of the monsters inside. Before making my way further in, I started my first experiment. In the boar dungeon, I had not bothered trying to absorb the ambient mana until after the dungeon core died. For the most part, I spent the entire time there fighting, so it never occurred to me to make the attempt. Unfortunately, that does not help me in figuring out if I had the skill before my rank upgraded, but I could at least see if I could absorb this mana before cutting off the source. With that in mind, I opened myself up to the surrounding mana, pulling it into my body.

UGH...what...what is this...nauseating feeling…

I quickly closed myself off from the Mana Siphon, trying to contain the small amount that I already absorbed. I could feel my body weakening bit by bit, but slowly. This...was completely unexpected...wait...could it be mana poisoning?!

An insidious flavored ambient mana in a snake dungeon, of course...I should have seen that coming. Idiot!

Berating myself for doing something so risky, I frantically tried to rid myself of the foreign mana. An idea quickly popped into my head. Rousing my own mana, I swished it around inside of me, creating a rotation that surrounded the snake mana, for lack of a better term. I pushed it all together into a ball, not caring for how much of myself was mixed into it, as long as the foreign mana was gathered into one spot. I planned to push the whole thing out of my body even if it reduced my size somewhat. Just as I was about to do it though, I noticed something…

The poisonous mana...had weakened?

Yes...I could feel the effects slowly weakening and abating, as if I were getting used to it...maybe…

Before I could delve deeper into this train of thought, a sound distracted me. A low hiss rang out, calling for my attention. The another hiss joined it. And another. Soon, the entryway of the dungeon was filled with a dozen hissing voices.

Moving carefully, I let the ball of mixed mana slide deeper back inside of myself, while still rotating my own mana around it. I did not know if it would do anything, I could not be sure that it was my efforts that caused the poison to weaken, but it could not hurt to try. Not more than it already did, at least. I did learn, though, that I could absorb ambient mana now, just...with possible consequences. That needs to be explored.

But at the moment, I had a party to attend. With the hosts being so generous, it would be rude not to attend the feast.