Chapter 22: Chapter 18 – Extreme Predator Alert

After its satisfying meal of Grounded Squirret that Resh was now able to taste with its new tongue, the Copycat Slime decided to just wait until it could fly again. Allowing Photosynthesis to heal the minor wounds it had incurred and then shifting it back to MP Regen. There was no point in it trying to store up MP with the Spells cooldown being so long so it just kept Photosynthesis on MP Regen kept firing Sonic Boom whenever it could. It could save one for the next enemy it encountered otherwise it needed to get the strength of the Spell up to make it useful. Hopefully, not all of its spells would be this useless to start.

 

With Photosynthesis, Meditate, and its passive MP recovery all working together Resh would recover enough to use Sonic Boom twice each hour. It had some MP stored up to it just went ahead and used Sonic Boom until it could not use it anymore then it could wait for its MP to regenerate while it continued to explore.

 

Resh was ready to move on by this point. Manifesting its legs Resh took off over the forest floor again. It was hoping to find either another Ground Squirret or a similarly small animal. What Resh was not expecting was for the Panther to give chase. Initially, Resh had thought that it was just passing through again when the Panther raised its face to the air and turn to face it directly. That thing in the middle of its face. That was what it was using. Somehow it was leading the Panther straight too Resh! What was that thing? Resh needed it…badly! Next thing Resh knew the Panther was giving chase. The Panther was so fast compared to Resh that it was almost on top of it before Resh got to the nearest tree! Scuttling up the tree as fast as it could, Resh kept its eyes focused behind it checking the progress the Panther was making. Resh hoped that the Panther would not chase it up the tree.

 

Of course, as all Panthers do it effortlessly started climbing the tree, it was slower in the tree than on the ground and lucky for Resh terrain did not affect it much when it came to speed. Resh was still slower than the Panther and it was catching up. The one advantage that Resh could see that it had over the Panther was that it could latch onto the underside of the tree and hang there like it had seen the insects do. Resh quickly moved to the underside of the tree and did its usual Strong Camouflage and Strong Odour Alteration shifts to fully blend with the tree trunk.

 

The second Resh did that the Panther stopped its pursuit. Resh just stared at the Panther, if it needed to it would have stopped breathing. The Panther raised its face again and sniffed at the air, Resh had no idea what these creatures were all doing. But while the Panther was distracted it slowly and carefully snuck a slime appendage Camouflaged as Tree Bark and then with the gentlest of touches ran its slime tentacle over the Panthers fur as it had tried to do last time.

 

Gained Odour, Cat’s Fur! Your skill Strong Odour Alteration automatically changes your Odour to any new Odours. Your Odour is now Cat’s Fur!

 

Gained Texture, Panther Fur! Your skill Strong Camouflage automatically changes your Texture to any new Texture. Your Texture is now Panther Fur!

 

Resh read and dismissed the message from its mind, then settled in to wait out the Panther. The apex predator of the forest kept sniffing the air and checking around it, the smell of meat had suddenly vanished from the air. That was odd. Still after about an hour of not smelling meat around it. The powerful beast decided it was still hungry and needed to find something to eat so it climbed down from the tree and left the Copycat Slime to its own devices.

 

Resh was shaking badly by the time the Panther left. Taking a shuddering step it ran down the tree and in the exact opposite direction of the Panther as fast as it could. It just barely had an understanding that what it had done by reflex had somehow resulted in the Panther not chasing it anymore. But what that could be was anyone’s guess. Resh knew it had to be something to do with either Strong Odour Alteration or Strong Camouflage but it didn’t know how those things affected its enemies and the dangerous creatures around it.

 

Resh kept that thought fixed in the back of its mind, it was crucial to understanding what was happening around it. If there was going to be even a chance for it to survive, with the fog of its mind slowly lifting over the last few weeks, it had some mental power to think things through, at least to a certain extent. The mind fog felt like it was throttling it like it was choking on an unseen cord.

 

What is a cord? With that thought, its premise was forgotten and something else occurred to Resh. That concept had come unbidden to it, like a vine but made of something else. That was odd. Resh didn’t know where the thought had come from. It was the first time something like that had happened. It had thought of something that it had absolutely no notion or experience of. Wondering what it meant, Resh continued moving. It planned to get as far away from the Panther as possible.

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Resh ignored everything is passed. For some reason, however, even though it wasn’t much bigger than most of the animals in the area at the moment it still seemed to scare them all away. They scampered away as it had from the Panther. This suited Resh fine for the moment. It needed to gather its wits and shake off its fear after the close encounter.

 

As Resh kept moving it gradually calmed down and realised that there were no animals around it apart from the occasional insect that would buzz by or crawl on the ground or a nearby tree. That was very odd. Resh had not seen much while it had been chasing the Grounded Squirret but it had not been this absent of movement for its eyes to follow. This was beyond the usual abnormal. Resh continued to sceptically walk forward.

 

The sky soon opened up a few metres ahead of it. Resh didn’t know how long it had been walking but the sunlight long since faded and night had well and truly coming in, Resh’s vision was reduced to the small difference between the lighter greys of the moon shining and the dark greys of the forest. The sky, which had been a lighter grey bordering on white, was now a shade of near black.

 

Resh was feeling extremely tired and without light to see by its Perception was a thin vine to hang its survival on. In the fear and panic of running away, Resh had not used any of its MP and its SP was now almost completely depleted since it had forgotten to change Photosynthesis to recover SP, it made the switch but the boost would not kick in until morning, in the meantime Meditation would have to be enough. Using the last dregs of its Stamina it dragged its unresponsive body up to the side of a nearby tree on the edge of the forest, without even a scrap left to drag itself up the tree to greater relative safety. Just before it fell unconscious it remembered to change Strong Camouflage and Strong Odour Alteration to Tree Bark and Fresh Grass respectively.

 

Tongue of the Grounded Squirret has increased to Level 4!

 

Many Eyes of the Insect has increased to Level 14!

 

Strong Legs of the Squitter has increased to Level 12!

 

For the first time in its life, Resh had a dream. It was back in the Tree where it had evolved into an Aerial Slime the first time it had entered the realm of a Tier 3 being. The first time it had felt that pain. But this time it could see with its eyes. There was something more to this whole situation not just the pain of the instance. Resh could see something other than the forest, it was very hazy and shrouded in fog but it could make out and feel a gravelly texture against its body. But Resh knew it had never felt anything like it before. It tried to gain that Texture.

 

Strong Camouflage cannot be used at this time.

 

Resh cursed its bad luck. It needed to know what this was. There was nothing like it in the forest, that was for certain. Then that feeling and sight faded away without Resh getting a chance to look around, it had tried to move its eyes as it did in its current body but it had not been able to, the eyes seemed stuck for some reason. That was also odd. Having never experienced a dream before Resh was completely baffled. It was awake but also asleep?

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