6 - I'm not a bad slime

Black flames, mixed with their red highlights, erupted from her body at once and began consuming everything around her. All while she mentally prepared herself for the pain that was to come.

╭⋞|POV: Rimuru, 1 month later|≽╮

(Note: I know at this point Rimuru is not named, but for convenience I will call him Rimuru)

Rimuru was sliding across the ground, bored. He had nobody to talk to but his skill Great Sage. SQUI SQUI as he was slurping up plants and crystals, he was asking great sage a barrage of questions to pass the time as he wandered aimlessly.

As a chunk of magic ore dissolved inside his body, he thought, "Oi, Great Sage, how do you work?"

«Answer. I consist of 5 effects.»

«Hasten Thought. This boosts perception by a thousand times.»

«Analyze and Assess. This allows efficient analysis and assessments of a target.»

«Parallel Operation. Separating analysis from the regular thought process if chosen to do so.»

«Cast Cancel. Removes casting period for magics or other associated skills.»

«All Of Creation. Provides full coverage of all unsuppressed matter and phenomena in this world.»

Rimuru thought to himself, "All Of Creation sounds strong."

«Notice. It is possible to link, Unique Skill Predator with Unique Skill Great Sage. Do you wish to link them?»

«Yes/No»

Rimuru then thought, 'Uhh... Yeah? I don't really have much to analyze though...'

And so it continued on. He was wandering the cave, talking to himself for a long time. Until suddenly he felt something strange. It was fire.

"Great sage, What's this?"

«Answer. The hipokute herb currently being absorbed is under the effects of a Skill.»

«Analyzing...»

«Conclusion. The hipokute herb was being utilized by, Unique Skill Sacrifice.»

Rimuru's slime body formed a question mark in surprise. He wondered, 'Where is it coming from...?'

«Solution. If you continue straight forward for 5 miles (8.05 km) you will arrive at the source.»

Nodding in acknowledgement, Rimuru thought, 'Well, It's not like I have anything better to do...'

Sliding along the ground, he was moving straight towards the goal. He wanted to know what had that unique skill. He ventured across the uneven cavers through a barren wasteland which had no crystals, herbs, and barely any magicules left in the air.

Nothing notable was in the surroundings at any point. No monsters, nothing to snack on, nothing to talk about or analyze, all that was left was stone. Stone walls, corridors, caverns. It was like walking through a stony wasteland.

It took... who knows how long to get there. Probably hours, without sight and without the sun or anything, it was impossible to tell.

«Answer. It took 5 hours.»

Rimuru then thought, 'An hour? I'm fast heh.'

«Notice. The average time it takes to walk a mile is half an hour.»

Rimuru then thought, 'Buzzkill.'

«...»

'What? I'm not wrong.'

«Answer. I am not sentient, therefore I cannot be a buzzkill.»

'...'

«...»

'Anyways... What was the source of this sacrifice skill?'

«Answer. They are right in front of you.»

'They?... Is it a person?'

«Answer. Upon looking at your memories, they are the individual you attempted to save when you got stabbed.»

'Wait... They reincarnated with me? More importantly... Are they human?'

«Answer. They are currently going through an artificially induced evolution. Most likely from the aforementioned Unique Skill Sacrifice.»

'Pssh, lucky... I'm out here as a slime and they get to evolve or whatever... when will I get to evolve?'

«Answer. Evolution is initiated upon meeting certain conditions, those conditions vary immensely and cannot be determined at this time.»

'Hey! Aren't you supposed to know everything? Useless skill...'

Sliding forward a little bit, he felt himself run into something really hard. It felt like an egg, a very, very dense and reinforced egg. Rubbing a bit of his slime self on it.

He felt how sharp the egg was, and... how warm it was? It seemed to be burning with the flames from before, just on the inside this time. His thermal resistances were defiantly letting him touch the egg. He could tell.

He "scratched his head" a little as he backed away. The person he attempted to save was right in front of him. He wanted to say so much to her, and talk about this new world, too.

But she was in some sort of egg. Undergoing some sort of evolution. So he asked great sage, 'So... how long is this evolution going to take?' 

«Answer. It should take about one month.»

Rimuru thought, '....a MONTH? It's going to be so boring to wait that long...'

He slid a little bit away from the egg. He used a little slime tendril to scratch his head, and he thought to himself, 'Well... now that I know where she is I can come back whenever... so I might as well keep moving forward'

Sliding across the ground, he was moving ever closer to Veldora.

╭⋞|POV: Andromeda, 1 month later|≽╮

CRRRACK

The final bits of her evolution were complete. She broke her way straight out of the egg, well... more accurately she ate her way out. Still, she freed herself from the constraints of the egg, and she broke her way out to the barren wasteland of a cave around her.

Hungry from the evolution, she wolfed down the glistening egg, which was made of dense magic ore. After taking a chance to breathe, she lets herself fall backwards into the ground with a loud THUD, forming a crater where she landed.

She looked at her body, it wasn't completely human... but at least it was human shaped. She had a lizard like body, webbed feet, and a long face which resembled that of the lizard she was before. She was happy with how it turned out, she felt so refreshed now that she had arms and legs.

As she rubbed one of her hands across her majestic, galaxy-like scales, she thought, 'Ahh... finally I feel normal again. Being a lizard was so uncomfortable...'

She had evolved into a lizardman. A new type of lizardman. While functionally the same as any other lizardman, she retained the special abilities of her previous form as a spatial lizard. She was still able to teleport small distances every so often.

Standing up, she thought to herself, 'Now that I'm effectively a human... maybe I could finally experiment with some stuff.'

But when she looked around, she realized how much her skill had actually sacrificed. Thinking about it, she realized her skill was a little overboard... but she really wanted to keep testing it out. She was simply curious on how far it would go. She was truly a scholar at heart.