"Yes." Nobi nodded. "Gel Morph—a rare skill—is the racial shapeshifting skill of the Shape-Shifting Slime race."
"Shape-Shifting Slime…" Slime#47 muttered, interested.
Nobi grinned. "Shape-Shifting Slime isn't a powerful race. It's better for scouting and investigation, but it pales in combat compared to something like a Lesser Elemental Slime."
Young Slime nodded. 'Elemental Slime was my top pick.'
Then she proceeded to explain the mechanics and the method of using the skill.
After a few moments, Young Slime focused his mana and tried to shift his body.
Slimes had viscous bodies—jellylike, fluid bodies. They didn't have a fixed shape.
They naturally had a ball-like form due to gravity.
He could control his body and reshape it perfectly, but gravity always forced him back.
Gel Morph defied that.
He tried shaping himself into a human—two legs, two arms, and a face with eyes, nose, and lips.
Then he injected mana to maintain the structure, resisting gravity.
The next moment—
'It failed,' he noted.
Only one arm remained. The rest of his body melted back into slime under gravity's pull.
"Continue practicing," Nobi said, returning to her sword training—Whoosh! Whoosh!
"Multi Phantom," Young Slime cast.
Boom!
Thirty clones formed.
He didn't even need to order them. They nodded immediately.
They all shared his memory up to the moment he created them.
Time passed as everyone focused on training…
One time, he managed only two arms.
Another time, only two legs.
Once, only the head remained.
After a few hours—Poof!—all the clones disappeared, and Young Slime broke into sweat.
"Here." Nobi noticed him, pulled out a blue liquid flask, and tossed it over.
Thud!
Young Slime caught it.
"It's a mana recovery potion," she explained. "Rare rank. Its name is Elixir of Intermediate Mana Recovery."
Young Slime gulped it down—Gulp!—and steadied himself.
"Thank you," he said sincerely.
He really needed mana recovery.
'I should help her out,' he thought. 'I have to repay her somehow.'
After a few hours of tireless training, he finally ran out of mana again.
Gel Morph was a rare skill, and it burned through mana fast.
Phantom had been Common, and Multi Phantom Uncommon—so he could train those for days without fully draining himself.
But a few hours of Gel Morph—combined with Multi Phantom—emptied him.
'The Multi Phantom is different from other skills,' he mused. 'It uses less mana…'
----
A full day passed.
Finally, the effect of Multi Phantom showed as a notification flashed.
[ Ding! You have acquired Gel Morph {Rare}! ]
[ —Skills—
…
—Gel Morph {Rare} Lv.1—
—Proficiency: 1/100
—Change body shape into humanoid form and others as desired.
—Note: Still too inefficient due to Lv.1.
—Note: Takes too much mana to maintain shape due to irregular control ]
'I need to level it up quickly…' he thought, reading the panel.
"Good. You did it," Nobi said cheerfully.
She glanced at a disfigured, grotesque slime child—multicolored jelly forced into a humanoid outline.
Slime#47 had managed a humanoid shape, but his facial features were off.
His eyes, lips, and nose looked wrong—misplaced and uneven.
Even his sparring uniform had resized to match the distorted shape.
His height was around a human child of six years old—107 centimeters tall.
Nobi's lips twitched. She covered her mouth to hide a smile.
"It's better if you train more," she said innocently. "Instructor Thomas might kick you out for looking so disgusting."
Young Slime felt embarrassed, rubbed his forehead. He nodded quickly.
"Finally… legs," he muttered.
He kicked the air, did a few flips, and tried turning his head.
'This Slime body is too flexible,' he realized.
He could rotate his eyes around his body, but humans had eyes fixed in one place.
He'd felt it would look weird if his eyes appeared behind his head.
After a few minutes of experimenting and getting used to the humanoid form—
'I just need to acquire human senses. Then I'll feel human again,' he mused, staring at his child-sized, multicolored jelly palms.
"Twenty-three days remaining. I have to get faster," he muttered, tense.
He wanted the power from the trial.
More than that, he wanted to create a safe place for his slime family—and for his other followers.
And he hadn't forgotten the truth,
If he failed, slimes would definitely die in this world.
He didn't want to lose this world's slime family—especially after learning each timeline was a real world.
Taking a deep breath, he muttered, "Should I increase the clone skill further… or focus solely on Gel Morph?"
After a few moments, he decided to focus on Gel Morph.
Training rare skills required mana potions, because he drained himself quickly.
And thirty clones were enough.
More clones would divide his resources further, leaving him with too little energy to cast a rare skill even once.
After all, Phantom skill divided resources between the main body and clones.
He thought for a few moments, then formed a plan.
"Multi Phantom!"
Boom!
Thirty clones reappeared.
They nodded and split into two groups of fifteen.
One line faced the other—two rows, perfectly aligned.
"Gel Morph!"
They used the skill.
One by one, they shifted into a human child shape. The sparring uniforms resized with them.
"Your nose is too large."
"Your right eye is too small. Your left is twice as big."
"Your lips are far off."
"Your hands are reaching your legs. That's bad."
"…"
"…"
"…."
The slimes in front pointed out irregularities.
The slimes opposite nodded and adjusted their bodies under the feedback.
Meanwhile, the main body Slime#47 meditated to recover mana.
----
After a few hours…
[ Ding! Gel Morph proficiency +1! ]
[ Ding! Gel Morph proficiency +1! ]
Under this method, after a few more hours—
[ Ding! Gel Morph {Rare} has leveled up to Lv.Max! ]
The main body grinned as he lay on the ground—now in the shape of a perfect six-year-old child, 107 centimeters tall.
He's an adorable slime kid with multi coloured jelly body.
"Good… very good." Nobi clapped, praising him. "You almost look human—except for your multicolored jelly body and bald head."
She grabbed his hand. "Let's go to Instructor Thomas quickly."