Right now, aside from a lingering dizziness, Levi felt better than ever. No… he felt a little too good.
If Levi's body was only the size of a large dog when he first hatched, after this slumber, it had inflated like a balloon to the size of a young calf. If the kobolds who had forced him to flee for his life were to stand before him now, they wouldn't even reach his knee!
In addition, bony horns had begun to grow from his temples towards the back of his head. Sharp bone spurs were also emerging from the joints and tips of his wings, as well as the end of his spine. His skull was slightly oversized, and his entire body, from head to tail, had a streamlined curvature, as if preparing for his future flights among the clouds.
But unlike other silver dragons, his hind legs were noticeably thicker than his forelimbs. Perhaps it was the subconscious influence of his human soul affecting his glandular secretions.
This development allowed him to maintain a bipedal squat for extended periods, freeing up his forelimbs for other tasks.
In a way, his physique was more akin to that of a red dragon. If any other metallic dragons were to see him, they would probably assume that Levi's unknown, deadbeat dragon dad had been cheated on by a red dragon…
For a fleeting moment, Levi felt an unprecedented surge of confidence, so much so that the thought of immediate revenge crossed his mind:
"Should I go stew those damn kobold whelps right now?"
But then he immediately recalled the scene of the kobold tribe hurling stalactites like a salvo of cluster munitions, and he couldn't help but shiver.
He felt a sense of unease. Those kobolds, barely as tall as a human, were surprisingly formidable in a fight. They were nothing like the weaklings from the novels of his past life, the kind that a novice adventurer could kill two of with a single swing.
Perhaps… this is the legendary high-magic world.
"Too risky, too risky. Even if I could kill them, who knows what kind of powerful backer they might have. As the saying goes, for a dragon, revenge is a dish best served five centuries later… I should just lay low and focus on developing. Once I reach adulthood! Hmph! Mere kobolds! They'll be nothing but dust!"
After finishing his Q-style self-consolation, Levi turned his gaze back to the little thing in front of him that was constantly squeaking, "Mwee."
This slime was a translucent silver color and about the size of a basketball. At first, on the verge of sleep, Levi had thought it was a hallucination. But now, it was clear that this was indeed the legendary slime—the janitor of nature, the cleaner of the world, and the mobile experience point for rookie adventurers.
He glanced briefly at the 'river of blood' in the cave and could roughly guess the brutal 'dragon-slaying' war these cannon fodder had waged…
These guys actually wanted to eat me… they've got some nerve. Levi's gaze towards it became wicked and playful.
He lowered his body, spread his wings covered in menacing bone spurs, and slammed a claw onto the poor slime's head. He stuck out his forked tongue, licked the corner of his mouth still stained with slime corpse residue, and questioned it in Draconic:
"I am the Silver Dragon Adjudicator! The Wing of Frost! The Star of Canaan! The Master Above Shadows! The Co-ruler of Corell and the Astral Sea! And you! You dare to steal my sacred blood while I slumber! You… shall pay the price!"
"Mweeeeeeeeeeeeeeee~"
Faced with the silver dragon in the throes of a chuunibyou episode, the slime felt it had never encountered such a terrifying existence in its life. Its jelly-like body rippled continuously with the cold air blasted from the dragon's mouth. Then, as if a hole had suddenly been poked in its body, it began to spray out translucent bodily fluids…
The slime had peed itself in terror…
"Ugh… clearly not intelligent enough for a normal conversation. Then what good are you to me! Go play over there."
Levi let out a sigh of disappointment, awkwardly retracting his cringeworthy pose. He flicked the evolved slime with a claw, sending it flying into a corner with a thwip like a glass marble. He rubbed his jaw, where bone spurs were beginning to grow, and began to plan his next hunt.
Although there was still plenty of slime goo left in the cave from the pile of corpses, and he had been forced to eat so much of it while sleeping, now that he was awake, Levi wanted to find some more normal food. Even if he had to rely on this stuff to survive, he couldn't just sit here and eat through his reserves.
But hunting with the body of a silver dragon, without the protection of his kin, he would likely be targeted by powerful entities in minutes. Being eaten would be the most merciful outcome.
What was more terrifying was the thought of being captured by some psychopathic spellcaster. Being locked in a cage and bled daily, or being forced to become a dragon-shaped "stud" for breeding experiments with all sorts of bizarre monsters… that would truly drive him mad…
What concerned him even more were the twisted monsters from Sylvie's imprint, the ones that even the dragons of the astral sea couldn't handle. It made him suspect that some strange, cataclysmic event had occurred in this world, something he was just too low-level to be aware of yet.
No… maybe I've already come into contact with some of it…
Levi suddenly remembered the dream, where a flood of text, like some kind of strange virus, had exploded in his vision. The names of things alone were mind-boggling, and it was clearly not in a normal state.
He was especially wary of that request to requisition his current biological body! It made his blood boil and filled him with caution.
Who knew what terrible consequences would occur if his body was requisitioned by that unknown entity. Fortunately, it seemed to be following some kind of principle.
No… its operating logic seems to have serious problems, too. Those contradictory command requests are proof enough. Luckily, the connection was severed for some unknown reason in the end. He had no desire to become a puppet he couldn't control, a tool-dragon manipulated by some system-like entity.
It seems dangers still abound.
In short, before he got stronger, laying low was the right move…
But how could he hunt without attracting the attention of powerful beings?
"Hmm… right… Sylvie's[True Polymorph]!" Levi's eyes lit up at the thought.
However… it seemed the only thing he had eaten in large quantities so far was slime. Did that mean…
As he searched for the information related to [True Polymorph] in his mind, it was as if an instinct engraved on his very soul took over. The cells in his body began to change rapidly, shrinking and becoming translucent.
With a splat, a glistening blue slime landed on the ground.
"Mwee~ (How amazing!)" Levi, now successfully transformed into a slime, examined himself with wonder. He was completely unaware that he had just become the first silver dragon in the history of Corell to transform into a slime, and he felt no shame at all for turning into a lower life form.
It was common knowledge that all dragons, whether the good-aligned metallic dragons, the evil-aligned chromatic dragons, or the mostly neutral gem dragons, were born with the pride of a predator at the top of the food chain.
This pride meant that even when they shapeshifted, they would mostly choose powerful forms like a Balor demon or a High Elf.
Later, as the race of humans gradually rose to prominence on the stage of history during the void left by several successive elven civil wars, eventually pushing the elves off the stage entirely, some dragons began to choose human forms. But it was still not the mainstream choice.
Only a race like the silver dragons, who naturally enjoyed a playful life, liked to transform into humans or elves to become adventurers and mingle in human kingdoms.
But then another problem arose… Sylvie's [True Polymorph] was predicated on consuming a relatively complete biological specimen…
Levi didn't think he had such… acquired tastes… so he temporarily dismissed certain ideas.
Just as Levi was pondering this in his slime form, the silver slime that had nearly been blasted to bits saw Levi suddenly transform into one of its own. Its eyes lit up, and it excitedly wriggled over to Levi like a caterpillar in a mating dance, rubbing against this strong and beautiful kin.
His thoughts interrupted, Levi glanced at the clingy weakling. A flash of inspiration struck his mind. His round body extended a tentacle and, with a splat, sent the slime flying out of the cave. He then quickly followed, wriggling along.
"Mwee-mwee~ (Pipi-mu! Let's go!)" Levi excitedly experienced his new body, eagerly embarking on his first hunt in this new world.
"Mwee~" The poor little slime let out a pitiful cry for mercy.
Levi used a small extended tentacle to herd his newly acquired slime teammate to a wasteland not far from the riverbank. He found a low bush to hide in and then kicked his slime teammate out into the open with another tentacle.
This was Pipi-mu's first time so far from the riverbank. The fear of dehydration and the danger of being spotted by predators made it tremble. Every time it tried to crawl back into the bush or flee towards the river, a tentacle would shoot out from the bush and drag it back, all while it cried out with "weak, pitiful, and helpless" screams.
But there were very few creatures living near the riverbank. Pipi-mu was almost dehydrated before it finally attracted a predator.
An underground Kuo-toa.
The Kuo-toa trudged over, only to find it was just a nearly dehydrated slime. It spat on the ground, a look of disgust and contempt on its face, and turned to leave.
Their tribe had been 'driven out' of their riverbank habitat after their ecosystem was destroyed by a sudden infestation of these slimes. They were forced to eke out a living on the surrounding wasteland, which meant they had to return to the river periodically to rehydrate, lest they turn into self-made salted fish jerky while walking.
It wasn't particularly hungry right now, so it had no interest in a food item like a slime, which was all water.
"Dammit, useless trash. Looks like I have to do it myself!"
Seeing the prey he had waited so long for about to turn and leave, Levi sent the useless slime flying with a tentacle and leaped out of the bush himself. In mid-air, his form twisted, and he transformed into a Piranha-like fish with a mouth full of sharp teeth, landing with a splat on the barren ground.
"RUA… RUA… RUA…" He rolled his eyes and flopped around on the rocky ground, like a salted fish on the verge of drying out.
"Goo-gah?" The Kuo-toa heard the noise behind it and whipped its head around. It saw the slime collapsed on the ground, twitching, and not far from it, the suddenly appeared fat-headed piranha.
The Kuo-toa's limited brain could not comprehend how this plump fish had appeared here. With its meager intelligence, it probably assumed it had been caught by the slime and brought ashore, only to escape!
In any case! This was a gift from the heavens!
"GOO-GAH!" The temptation of food made the Kuo-toa abandon all thought. It charged towards the salted fish with its coral-tipped trident, its short legs pumping!
The moment the Kuo-toa leaped.
"RUA!!!" The seemingly helpless fish suddenly underwent a transformation. In the blink of an eye, it swelled into a silver beast the size of a young calf. It snatched the airborne Kuo-toa by its tail, swinging it in a perfect semi-circle through the air before slamming it into the hard, barren rock with a sickening crunch…
"Goo-gah? Goo-gah-goo-gah! (A silver dragon? Oh, Tiamat! Send down your divine power and strike down this shameless, despicable dragon!)"
The Kuo-toa, its head bleeding and bones shattered, uttered its final curse. It was completely unaware that it should have been calling upon the Platinum Dragon God, Bahamut, or Tamara, the Mother of Silver Dragons and Lady of Mercy, to eliminate this disgrace to the silver dragon name.
Though it probably wouldn't have made a difference either way…
Seeing the fish-man was still breathing, Levi lifted the poor creature and slammed it onto the ground a couple more times. Hmm… finally out of breath.
"Mwee~ (Pipi-mu! Clocking out, let's go home!)" The silver dragon snapped its blood-stained claws and transformed back into a deceptively harmless-looking slime.
With its left tentacle, it dragged the Kuo-toa, which had died with its eyes wide open, and with its right, it dragged the life-weary Pipi-mu. It wriggled all the way back to its nest by the riverbank.
But as soon as he entered the cave, Levi was stunned by the scene before him.