Rock. Grass. Grass. Grass. Rock.
[Skill Acquired: Analysis]
Hard Rock. Soft Grass. Soft Grass. Hard Rock. Magic Hard Rock. Magic Hard Rock taste good. More Magic Hard Rock?! No more magic hard rock!?
[Conscious Sensing of Magic Detected. Extra Skill Acquired: Magic Sense]
SOOO MUCH MAGIC!!! MAGIC EVERYWHERE!!! EAT!!!! EAT!!! EAT!!!
[Skill Acquired: Scouting]
[Skills Analysis, Scouting, Predate, and Magic Sense have met required proficiency. Evolving into Unique Skill: Processor]
Yay! These magic rocks taste real good. Apparently, they taste that way because they have lots and lots of something called 'magicules' stored in them. Since my body needs magicules to survive, the more I eat, the stronger I get. Then, I just spit them back out of my Processor's stomach as normal rocks.
The place that I was sliding around in was the place that I was born in, too. Generally, it was made of rocks and trace amounts of water, but there was lots of dirt and grass, too. I liked the grass because, when I squeezed the magic out of it in my stomach, my body got a little stronger, like I was getting more from each grass.
Grasses with lots and lots of magicules were like bonuses, because they'd grow these cool looking white leaves, like the same color as my body, and then I'd get a biig boost when I squeezed the magic out of them.
Unfortunately, I wasn't the only slime who liked the grasses and the magic rocks. There was this blue slime that seemed to randomly wander around the hallways, stealing my food. I didn't like him. I'd met a few other slimes throughout my life, mainly in the less magicule concentrated areas of the caves, where I'd been born, but they mostly stayed away from the places with lots of magic snacks, and they'd eventually burp out whatever they ate when their stomachs got full. This one wouldn't do that, and I didn't like it. If he just ate all the grasses, then they wouldn't gather magicules for me anymore.
I tried to steal the magic stuff from him before he could get to it, but he just kept eating and eating. Pretty soon, the most magic places of the cave would be totally empty of grass. If that happened, the only thing gathering magic would be the rocks.
I wanted to eat him, but his aura was big and scary.
I wanted to bring more grass into the more magicaky places, but it wasn't worth the long journey to the other parts of the cave to get it.
Finally, I saw my opportunity to get rid of him. He slid right into the water between the big grassy area and the place where all of the yummy magicules seemed to originate, and immediately disappeared beneath the water.
But then things began to go wrong. The water began bubbling. Lots of magic looked like it was being released down below, and the stupid blue slime started practically flying, skimming the surface of the water as he went.
In the same direction that the magicule currents tended to come from.
'No stealing my magic!' With that thought, I jumped right into the water and began to move the magic around me to propel myself through the waves.
…
(Rimuru POV)
'Can you hear me, small ones?'
What? Small one, that can't be anyone but me, right?
'You can hear me, can you not. Respond to me!'
'Shut up, Baldy!' I thought as an experiment. Not like the guy could hear me.
'Mr. Magic Man!?' At almost the same time, I heard a small voice in my mind. Female and young, maybe? She sounded quite awed.
'You dare call me bald!? Rather bold of a slime. I'd hoped to show my first guest in a while some kindness, but it seems you're in a hurry to die!' Uh-oh! He can read my mind! Geez, could've warned me first! And I suppose calling someone who you couldn't see 'baldy' was probably a bad idea, too. Worse if it was true, I might've touched a nerve.
Naturally, I immediately apologized. In reply, he began laughing.
'Mr. Magic Man! I knew you'd break him!' The second voice accused me.
'How fascinating. You cannot see me? Most slimes are low-level creatures,, incapable of thought. It is a rare one that ever leaves the place of its birth.' The first voice seemed to disregard the second voice's accusation of him being 'broken' completely. He seemed to be more curious than anything else. Well, this was my first conversation in my new life. If he wanted to know about me, I was happy to oblige.
'Are you both unique monsters? Perhaps named, even, based on the astonishing regenerative powers you showed, blue one?'
'Uhh… I'm sorry, I've only been alive for about ninety days.' I replied, not understanding what he meant.
'Mr. Blue kept stealing my magicules!' The girl sounded rather like a child having her favorite food taken from her.
'Hmm. I suppose with your sentience, neither of you were destined to be mere slimes. Named monsters are those who have been assigned an exclusive name. But only ninety days? Ridiculous. Are you Uniques, then? Blue slime, answer.'
'Unique meaning…?' I was lost
'I have a unique skill! The speaky lady called it Processor!' The other slime (presumably) added.
'A unique monster is an individual who has suddenly attained unusual abilities. They tend to be born in areas with high magical concentrations… Perhaps from the magicules that leaked out of me, then? I suppose that explains the white one…' Alright. Based on my prior world's knowledge, this dude's been leaking magic all over. This other slime beside me was born from it, and has been eating it up ever since, mutating and gaining a Unique skill of its own from it. Then, the dude's magicules created another slime. Me, and I began stealing its dinner. No wonder the other slime felt so young mentally.
'Hmmm. No monster has ever come close to approaching me in the past three hundred years, but if you were born from my magic, then perhaps indeed you can touch me and survive!'
'Wait… Daddy?!'
'No!' He replied immediately, 'I'm one of the types of monsters that have no reproductive ability to speak of.'
'Really? I guess it makes sense… if I just spontaneously burst out from magic or whatever, you wouldn't need it, huh?' I realized.
'Daddy…?' The other slime still seemed to be stuck on that.
'Yes. Very few, indeed, are the monsters that possess intellectual abilities such as yours, or even that of the small one beside you. Among all monsters, only magic-born have sentience in the way you or I would understand it.'