I picked up the boxes the delivery had brought me and went straight to my room. I didn't waste a second: I opened the portal to my spiritual world and brought the items inside.
As I entered, the slimes began to gather around, as if they knew something important was about to happen. Their round, translucent bodies vibrated gently, a wet murmur that echoed across the empty island.
I took the Auralux Stone and began crushing it with my hands until I had manageable fragments. I counted approximately 200 slimes, all attentive and aligned.
I scattered the fragments on the ground. Immediately, the slimes began devouring them. Their bodies expanded and contracted as they absorbed the energy within the stone, and the island trembled slightly under the flow of power.
When they finished, the expected happened: they began to multiply.
From the initial 200, they quickly grew to 1,500. Their bodies glowed faintly, moving with greater agility. I could see their round forms moving precisely around the stones, consuming every last fragment.
A system window appeared in front of me:
Available Slimes: 1,500
There was a sliding bar to measure how many slimes I could sacrifice. After thinking it over several times, I decided to sacrifice 1,000, granting me 1,000 evolution points, one point per sacrificed slime.
With the rest, I focused on five specific slimes and prepared the Spectral Mantis Leg for evolution. Each slime would spend 200 evolution points to absorb the properties of the material.
When the process finished, the five slimes hadn't changed much externally.
They were still round, but now each could form a single limb from any side of its body. The limb perfectly replicated the shape of the mantis leg sharp and sturdy. At first, they displayed it passively, but when I gave the order, they moved it with precision and force, as if they knew exactly how to attack or hold something.
It was a small change, but enormous in terms of potential. Knowing I could command them to form strategic limbs opened many possibilities for the future.
Satisfied with the evolution, I paused to observe them.
"All right, guys… now let's test your new power," I said, and their excitement was evident in their bubbling movements.
I searched my island for areas with scattered stones. Though most had been devoured, some fragments remained for testing. I ordered them to strike the stones with their new limbs.
The impact was brutal. Each slime hit with concentrated precision and force, and the stones began to fracture and shatter. Some fragments flew several meters away from the force of the strikes. The energy they could focus in a single limb was far greater than anyone would have expected from such small beings.
Satisfied, I asked them to test with trees. I pointed to a group of medium-sized trunks that had survived the slimes' initial hunger. Each strike was enough to splinter and topple the trees in seconds. The combination of strength and concentrated energy was impressive.
But I didn't stop there. I was curious how far they could go.
I opened the portal to the real world and brought in a thick piece of metal, one that normally would require special tools to cut. I placed it on the ground in my spiritual world and commanded the slimes to strike with their limbs.
The result was astonishing. The metal bent and broke easily, as if it were butter. Each strike from their sharp limbs left deep grooves, until finally the metal was reduced to small fragments, as if it had never been strong.
I watched silently, admiring the potential of my creatures. My slimes, the ones everyone considered "trash," had shown their true value. And this was just the beginning.
As I observed them, I thought about the system bar and the endless possibilities:
If I get more rare resources… if I bring special minerals or parts of other monsters…
The slimes could evolve even faster, and their power would multiply exponentially.
I leaned back, taking a deep breath. The island was still empty, but in my mind, I could see the future: a round, adaptable army, capable of forming strategic limbs and destroying any obstacle.
I smiled, planning my next steps.
Tomorrow: school. The test was approaching, and my slimes were ready.
But now… it was time to experiment and prepare. To discover just how far they could go.
And so, amidst pulverized stones, shattered trees, and shredded metal, I felt a mix of excitement and satisfaction. The true growth of my spiritual world had just begun.