"Absolutely not," Rin stated. His voice was flat, as flat as it could be when it sounded like a wet spoon hitting a sheet of mercury.
He tried to cross his arms in defiance. Instead, his right side merged seamlessly into his left, forming a slightly lopsided, vibrating dome.
"Oh, come on, Saint of Steel!" The Goddess of Reincarnation; an entity currently masquerading as a shimmering, annoyingly cheerful teenager, clapped her hands. "It's exactly what you asked for! You wanted a life with no stress, no 'bone-breaking' responsibility, and plenty of 'wobbling in the sun.' Well? Wobble!"
Rin, the semi-metallic puddle formerly known as a Hero, tried to glare. Since he didn't have eyes yet, he settled for directing a surge of intense disapproval toward the Goddess's aura.
"You said I could be a slime," Rin retorted, his voice vibrating the astral ground. "You didn't say I'd be a silver-gray, mercury-puddle kind of slime! I can't even stand up! I'm a mess!"
"You're a unique mess," the Goddess corrected, leaning close. "You think I didn't see what you were trying to do? You thought, 'I'll be a cute little water slime, eat some grass, maybe help a farmer, and never fight again.' Sorry, honey, that's not how the cosmic balance works."
She poked Rin's new metallic membrane. It resisted with a firm, springy tension, then jiggled with a distinct shhh-luck sound.
"You had an innate, S-Rank ability to control and manipulate metal, Rin. I can't just delete that; it's tied to your soul," she explained, her tone softening with mock pity. "So, I improvised! Since your soul is obsessed with metal, your body had to be compatible. Say hello to your new life as an Iron Slime!"
"Iron?" Rin squeaked. He tried to take a deep breath, but only succeeded in expanding his liquid mass, making himself look like a silver-coated blueberry about to pop. "Iron is heavy! How am I supposed to move? How do I even see?"
"You don't have eyes; you have [Blindsight]. It's much more effective for detecting incoming fireballs," she added brightly. "And you have a System to manage it all!"
A translucent screen materialized in Rin's perception. It was basic, blue, and irritatingly optimistic.
[STATUS]
Name: Rin (Former: Saint of Steel)
Race: Ancient Iron Slime
Rank: SSS (Potential) | Current: F-
Special Skill: [Divine Transformation]
"Wait," Rin said, attempting to shift his mass again and only achieving a weird, sloshing spin. "Divine Transformation? And SSS-Rank Potential? I thought slimes were F-Rank fodder!"
"They usually are," the Goddess said, a truly malicious smile finally breaking through. "But you're not just a slime. You're a slime made of metal. A slime who, in his past life, could make a battleship dance. You wanted to be a puddle, Rin? Congratulations. You're a puddle of almost infinite power."
Rin wanted to punch her. He really did. He mentally activated [Divine Transformation], intending to sprout a massive tail and whack the smugness off her face. Instead, a tiny, perfectly formed metallic toothpick extruded from his center. It stood upright for two seconds, then slowly folded over, exhausted.
"It's going to take some practice," the Goddess giggled. "But don't worry, I sent you somewhere... stimulating. Have fun, my little metallic Sovereign!"
Before Rin could protest, the astral realm dissolved. The cheerful light was replaced by suffocating, damp darkness and the smell of rot and old ore. His silver, heavy, wobbly body hit the cold ground of the Labyrinth with a wet, heavy, and deeply unsatisfying THUD.
Rin, the SSS-Rank Slime Sovereign, lay motionless, waiting for his first [Blindsight] ping and seriously regretting his negotiation skills.
It was just another day inside the Labyrinth of Eternal Despair.
"Sigh... what a joke," Rin grumbled, shaking his body in disbelief. "Who the hell named this place? I was expecting something intense, but this is just stupid."
He had been stuck on the bottom floor for years. It made no sense. Why was he at the very bottom? And more importantly, why were all the monsters here Level 0?
"I have to kill a hundred Level 1 enemies to level up, but there are none! Level 0 doesn't even give EXP. What am I supposed to do, bully the scenery?"
Frustrated, Rin bounced away, his heavy iron body making a loud clink-thud with every jump. He hopped to the edge of the floor, coming across the same wide river that had given him trouble since he arrived.
He stared at his reflection in the water—a smooth, metallic sphere of liquid silver. He opened his status window mentally since he didn't have eyes, watching the blue numbers hover in the air as he did every day to pass the time.
Name: Rin
Rank: SSS | Level: 0
Exp: 0/100
Race: Iron Slime
Abilities:
[Absorption] - Melt down and absorb matter for nutrition/EXP.
[Armored] - Hardens the body; scales with level.
[Tentacles] - Morph the body to create appendages.
Special Skill: [Divine Transformation] - Transform into any form copied (Slot: 1).
"Same thing as always," Rin thought, his metallic surface rippling with a sigh.
He needed a way across that river. He was currently stuck in the "Newbie Zone," a place where monsters were friendly, calm, and didn't attack first. The only way out was to wait for a higher-level monster to wander across the river so he could kill it, or find an Evolution Mana Stone.
But finding a stone was a pipe dream. Every other sentient creature in this hellhole wanted one to level up, and adventurers from the outside world would surely be hunting them too.
"I'll just have to wait until some adventurers open the Labyrinth doors. Then I can finally leave," Rin muttered. He took a deep breath, his body inflating like a silver balloon before exhaling in frustration. "But they won't be here for a long time. Sigh."
Rin was right. To get to him, adventurers would first have to survive the dense forest outside and the local monster hordes. Even if they were "Level 0," in large enough numbers, they could still turn a human into a snack.
Rin settled back into the dirt, a heavy puddle of SSS-Rank potential, waiting for someone—anyone—to come along and break the boredom so he could leave this place.