Zim the Slime Chapter 2 Preview

'So, you are a mental entity manifested to express Zim's newly aquired wisdom through my apparent status as a Great Sage?' Zim questioned curiously.

[Affirmative,] Great Sage, as Zim chosse to refer to it, answered with a female voice that was not unlike a computer.

'I am honestly surprised you do not sound like the AI of Zim's old computer,' Zim commented as he moved his body experimentally. 'Very well, I have been reborn. And I am a creature known as a slime. Unless Zim is incorrect, this body is amorphous, liquid-based, and possesses no phyical organs, correct?'

[Affirmative. You are also immune to all temperature based damage, and electricity.]

'So that was your voice I percieved as I was dying,' Zim realized with a hum as he examined his surroundings. Or tried too. He could only see within a small range, and even that was colorless and ill-defined. 'Slimes possess no proper form of sight?'

[Not inheriently, no. Slime naturally navigates via touch and sound, allowing you a limited range in perception without an additional skill.] Great Sage provided.

'Zim will remedy that one day, however I must,' Zim stated in annoyance, adding to his ever grow to-do list. 'Can you see my memories?'

[Affirmative.]

'Concerning, but nothing I can do about it I suppose. Is there any important detail about this world you can tell me without further prompting then this?' Zim inquired, getting the feeling that this reincarnation thing meant this world wouldn't be simple.

'There are three items I believe to be of importance to you: This world is high in magic but low in techology. Humans are one of but not the only major creatures of this world. There are no Irkens here,'

'Magic? I now regret not taking that training course in Anti-Thaumaturgy warfare,' Zim grumbled. 'Next question, what did I just eat?'

[Confirmed. Analysis complete!  A Hipokute Herb: A valuable herb that only grows in areas rich in magicules, used as an ingrediant in salves and healing potions,] Great Sage answered.

'I can already assume that Magicules are a special energetic material found in all lifeforms used to perform this world's magic?' Zim guessed dryly.

[Affirmative.]

'And Zim's slime body can absorb an infinite supply of this and other material?' Zim questioned, knowing his body was very finite in size, as far as he could tell.

[Affirmative. However, this is not a result of a Slime's Species Skill, but rather your Unique Skill, Predator,] Great Sage corrected.

'Predator? I have the impression this is not refering to mere skills as a primitive hunter?' Zim questioned with mentally narrowed eyes.

[It allows you to injest objects, analysis them with your body. You can than aquire that object's skills. Once the analysis is complete, you can than mimic the object. The stomach stores the objects you injest. Additionally, it can also isolate harmful objects that cannot be analysised,] Great Sage elaborated.

Zim sat there in silence, processing the implication of that. 'Zim has...an assimilation power?' he summarized slowly.

[In the simplest terms, yes.]

'That is.....useful in such insane porportions that Zim is not sure where to begin,' Zim thought in awe, and a bit of glee at the idea of taking the strengths of his fallen enemies and incorperating them into himself. But that was some time from now. 'Can I convert those plant within my body into, what was your term? Healing potions?'

[Affitmative.]

'Well, Zim has little better to do and having first aid remedies is a must in this situation,' Zim said, resigning himself to this task. 'Besides, Zim must test this liquidous form.'

Timeskip

Zim was not sure how long he spent scrounging through the cave, collecting the plants into himself. He had no pak to keep time for him, and even if he assumed this world had a day-night cycle similar to Earth, he was clearly in a cave with no way to sense the rays of a sun. That said, he discovered various useful qualities of his new form.

For one, it did not require sleep. While he hadn't as an Irken either, he knew most creatures did require it and was happy to not have to deal with that evolutionary defect. He also did not need to eat, drink, or expell waste. It also did not have an inherit weakspot as it possessed no vital areas. His shape could stretch and shift on the fly, which greatly helped in collecting the herbs, and later the Magicule Ore.

[Inquiry. How did you know to collect the ore?] Great Sage asked.

'It was of crystaline shape and I could feel an energy to it when I touched it. You mentioned the herbs are rare, so I assumed the Magicule Ore was even more so,' Zim deduced.

[And how did you know know what the ore was called?]

'Eh? That's really it's name? I just made up that name as a place holder,' Zim explained in surprise.

[....]

The back and forth with his mental encyclopedia asside, Zim found himself growing mildly curious about his location. It was rich in magic, and unless he had missed the exit, it was a very large cave system. Still, while he didn't know enough about this world to say anything with true certainity, it seemed unlikely that the first place he appeared in would just be a place naturally potent in these rare susbstances for no reason, let alone an area of such that had not been picked clean by local sapients. There was something else going on here, he was almost sure of-

'OH MY IRK, I AM FALLING!' Zim mentally screamed in alarm as he accidently speed-rolled his way off a cliff. 'I have no pak, no jets, no GIR! I am-'

[Terminal velocity would not cause sufficient damage to kill you,] Great Sage informed abruptly.

'Oh. Well, nevermind th-OH NO! WATER! IT BURNS! IT BURNS!' Zim cried out dramatically as he tried and failed to force his slime-body out of the underground lake he had fallen into.

[?????]

'THIS IS THE END OF ZIM! AGAIN! OH CRUEL NEW WORLD!' Zim wailed on, waiting five seconds before glancing around. 'Eh? What gives? Why is Zim still among the living? Did I reinacarnate again?'

[As a slime, water do not have an acidic affect on you. Further, even if you were still Irken, this water is not containmenated as it was on the human world you knew in your past life. Finally, you also have Pain Nullification,] Great Sage informed bluntly.

'Ah, yes, right, of course,' Zim accepted awkwardly. 'We never speak of this again.'

[Confirmed.]