Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken novel Chapter 1

It's dark.

The darkness envelopes all, preventing me from seeing any shape or figure.

Where am I? Besides, what had happened?

Wasn't there someone making fun of me, calling me a... sage?... no, a great sage.

With that thought, I regained consciousness.

My name is Mikami Satoru. A 37 year old, nice guy.

While saving my kouhai[1] from a some street slasher, I got stabbed instead.

Alright~, remembered. I'm okay. No time for panic.

And really, could a cool guy like me even panic? Hah. That's as likely as a grade school kid shi**ing his pants.

When I tried to look around, I finally noticed. I can't open my eyes.

That problem aside, when I attempted to touch my head... I noticed my arms don't respond. And even more perplexing is the fact that I cannot tell where my head is.

Alright, time to panic.

Oi, oi, give me a sec here.

Just an hour please, let me catch my breath. They say that you should count prime numbers at a time like this, no?

1, 2, 3, Daaaaa!!!

Wrong! That's not right. One is not a prime number, is it?

No no, who cares about that.

No time for this foolishness. I mean, aren't I in trouble?

Are~? Hey, what the heck happened?

Maybe... I mean what if it is too late to even consider panicking?

Gathering my thoughts, I confirmed that I am in no way in pain.

No pain. Feeling pretty good.

Neither hot nor cold. Actually, a really comfortable atmosphere they've got here.

I can relax a bit thanks to that.

Next, let's check the limbs. Forget about them fingertips, I can't even move a muscle...

How could that be?

It's not like one can lose their arms and legs from being stabbed... so what happened?

And still, I cannot open my eyes.

Without seeing anything, I am in utter darkness.

Dread and unease slowly creep their way into my heart.

Could this... be what they call a vegetative state?

Consciousness separated from nerve endings"immobile... is this what it is?

No, no, no, no! Please don't let that be true!

Just when I thought I was saved... vegetative state? What could be worse? Even losing a half of my body would be preferable!

And yeah, both outcomes would be terrible. But to be alone in this darkness, without any senses... isn't that just hell?

Having imagined the worst scenario, panic has quickly turned into despair.

I want to think it over.

They say that when people are confined in darkness, they quickly go mad. I happen to be in that state right now, and cannot even kill myself.

Rather than despairing, the only thing I can do is go insane, huh?

And then,

*Touch*

There was a sense of touch.

Hmm? What is...

All my senses were focused on feeling that sensation

With a horizontal stroke across my belly (?), I felt something akin to grass.

Focusing my entire consciousness on that area, I slowly began to make out the shape of my body. And by the way, the grass's tip felt prickly against my body.

It kind of made me happy.

Yet, I'm still in complete darkness. And although I regained only one of the five senses, I could finally feel again.

Amused, I decided to try to head towards that grass.

*Zururi[2]*

I could feel my body move.

It... moved?!

At that time, I was pretty certain that I was not on top of a hospital bed. Under my belly (?) I could feel some hard " rock, maybe.

I see... though I don't really get it, I am not in a hospital.

Moreover, my eyes still can't see.

Can't hear anything either, but it could be just that I've gone deaf.

Although I don't know if i am facing it or not " I can't feel my head, after all " I'll head towards the grass. I'll learn about myself through contact.

No scent in the air either. Could it be? Did I also lose the sense of smell?

And seriously, I just can't understand the shape of my body.

I really don't want to accept it, but it seems sleek, jelly like"the kind that is really famous in RPGs"the appearance of that kind of monster.

I have been entertaining that possibility in the back of my head for a while now.

No, no... there's no way. I mean, no matter how... it just can't be.

For the time being, let's set those fears aside.

Thus, I decided to try the last of the five human senses that I've ignored up until now.

But... I don't even know where my mouth is. What to do...?

ŠActivate Unique SkillŽPredator? YES/NO‹

Suddenly, there was a voice in the back of my head.

Wha... what was that?

Unique SkillŽPredator...?

And... what was that voice?

I thought I heard a strange voice while talking to Tamura before, but I guess I wasn't just hearing things, huh...

Is someone there? Yet, somehow that doesn't fit. More than someone being here... it's more like words appearing in my mind.

The voice lacks intent; like the voice that would come from a computer, calling it synthesized would perhaps be most accurate.

For now... [NO!] is my response.

I am Japanese who can say no, after all.

Bringing up the words [NO] in my mind, I wait for a response. Yet it did not come. I waited for a bit, but felt no voice.

Seems like I won't be getting a second question. Did I choose wrongly? Could this be a game that ends when I don't choose [YES]?

I thought that it would be the same as in an RPG"the same question repeating until I chose [YES]... I guess I was wrong.

Asking a question and then leaving... what a rude guy.

Though I have to admit, hearing a voice did make me slightly happy.

I slightly regretted the decision.

Well, nothing can be done now.

I guess I'll go back to trying to taste something.

I moved my body towards that piece of grass. While verifying my sense of touch, I leaned my body on the piece of grass.

I envelop the object with my body to confirm what it is... and I was right"it is, in fact, grass.

While touching the grass, the piece that was in contact with my body melted. And while I was worried that my body had melted, it seems to have been the grass only.

And thus, I understood that by melting the grass it was incorporated into my body.

It seems, the grass melted because it entered my body. In other words, rather than enveloping it, I seem to have swallowed it.

And by the way... it had no taste.

This is, in other words, that kind of thing.

I'm not a human.

That is, I seem to have died from that stab wound, right?

And that was not a question, I am completely certain of this fact. And thus, rather than a hospital bed, I can confidently say that I am at some rocky place where grass grows.

What happened to Tamura?

And Sawatari-san?

Has my PC been properly disposed of?

Some suspicions still remain. But, fretting over this won't achieve anything at this point. I have to decide what to do next.