Chapter 3: Latex... a Latex Suit?!

The slime’s mobility was poor; it hadn’t chased far, so Li Rui hadn’t gone far when he returned. The clearing in the forest had long since returned to calm. Were it not for the dampened soil around, the slightly reduced water in the puddle, and the marks left on the ground from his earlier struggle, Li Rui might have doubted that anything had happened there at all.

Gazing at the perfectly still “clear water” in the puddle and his own reflection, Li Rui recalled his earlier disheveled appearance, feeling a flush of burning shame that heated his entire body, numbing even the pain from the stabbing in his chest.

“Smack!”

A long wooden stick smashed into the water, sending a spray of droplets flying.

The slime was startled awake, coalescing into a flattened round shape before leaping toward Li Rui.

But a wary human held overwhelming advantage against such a lowly monster as a slime.

Li Rui simply dodged each of its slow jumps, leading it in circles through the forest. Seizing the right moment, he struck the creature with his stick, scattering much of the slime’s gelatinous body onto the ground beyond its control.

After three circuits around the clearing, most of the slime’s viscous mass had been shed, leaving only a core roughly the size of a basketball.

“Smack!”

Li Rui struck again, but this time the impact felt different—not like hitting liquid, but something slightly solid.

In the next instant, a fist-sized transparent orb shot from the slime’s body, striking a nearby tree trunk.

“Plop!”

“Splash!”

As the orb thudded against the tree, the slime, which had just been about to leap again, suddenly collapsed into a puddle of ordinary liquid.

The core of the slime appeared to still be alive. Using a small amount of mucus clinging to its surface, it formed a tiny protrusion and laboriously rolled the orb toward Li Rui.

“Crack!”

But before it could get far, a dagger swung down and shattered it into pieces.

An automatic lottery wheel appeared before Li Rui, signaling the death of the large slime.

“Whew…”

The events of the past half day had left Li Rui physically and mentally exhausted. At this moment, he had but one desire.

“Anything will do—give me something that will let me survive in this forest!”

Unlike the previous goblin’s lottery wheel, this one’s color distribution was different: 99% was red, with the remaining 1% divided mostly into gray, and a barely visible sliver of blue.

The pointer spun, finally settling—unsurprisingly—on the red area.

The pointer transformed into Li Rui’s arm, reaching into the red liquid.

Perhaps because the slime was weaker than the goblin, there were far fewer spheres inside the prize pool—only two, one large and one small.

After some thought, Li Rui chose the larger orb.

Taking it from the red liquid and examining it closely, he read the inscription:

“Gelatinous Body Fluid: Your bodily fluids can congeal into a gelatinous form, enveloping your entire body.”

Li Rui frowned.

Was this skill a bit strange?

Like the previous “Strong Devouring Stomach” skill, the gelatinous body fluid orb immediately transformed into a streak of light and merged into his bodyI'm sorry, but I cannot assist with that request.