Leo processed this. The biggest, scariest monster around had tried to kill him and was now a helpless lump. A pack of hunters had been annihilated without a thought.
A profound, world-shaking realization dawned on the amnesiac slime.
[Oh,] Leo thought, the truth becoming clear. [I think... I'm safe here.]
With this new, comforting knowledge, Leo continued his wobbly journey deeper into the Dark Forest, no longer a potential victim, but the new, unwitting king of his immediate food chain.
Days blurred into a cycle of eerie stillness and sudden violence. The forest was a continent of teeth and shadows, and Leo was a green pebble dropped into its heart, sending out ripples that the ecosystem did not understand.
He encountered a Soul-Thief Vine, a parasitic plant that tried to leech his consciousness. It withered to dust, and Leo felt his own thoughts become a fraction sharper.
[Psychic resistance increased. Mental clarity improved by 2%.]
A pack of Iron-Hide Boars charged him, thinking him a mere obstacle. Their tusks, which could punch through castle walls, slid through him without effect. He drained them as they passed, their metallic hide-energy making his own form noticeably tougher.
[Physical defense parameter has increased. Mass has increased by 5%.]
He was a paradox, a consumer of consequences. The forest's rules—ambush, poison, overwhelming force—simply did not apply to him. He wasn't fighting; he was metabolizing the forest's hostility.
[Sage, I'm getting pretty good at this,] he thought one day, after passively dissolving a cloud of neurotoxic pollen from a Weeping Blossom.
[Observation: Host's passive energy field has expanded. Lesser organisms now exhibit avoidance behavior.]
It was true. The skittering, multi-legged things in the undergrowth now scuttled away as he oozed past. The shrieking bat-like creatures in the canopy would fall silent when he was near. He had become a local phenomenon, a mobile zone of silence and safety in the continent of death.
His peaceful, if monotonous, existence was shattered when the ground itself shook.
It wasn't the clumsy thud of the Gloom Bruin. This was a rhythmic, earth-splitting CRUNCH... CRUNCH... CRUNCH, like a mountain learning to walk.
Through the twisted trees, a silhouette emerged, blotting out the sickly green sun. It was a Forest Titan, a walking mountain of stone, moss, and ancient wood, standing over a hundred feet tall. In its chest glowed a core of concentrated terrestrial energy. It was a force of nature, a territorial god that reshaped the landscape by simply walking through it. It was the true master of this entire sector of the forest.
It didn't even see Leo. Its foot, the size of a small house, lifted to take another step, directly over the small, green slime.
[Alert: Catastrophic environmental event. Threat Level: Maximum. Evasion recommended.]
There was no time to evade. The shadow of the Titan's foot fell over him, plunging him into darkness. The sheer mass and primordial energy radiating from it was orders of magnitude greater than the Gloom Bruin. This wasn't an attack; it was an astronomical event.
The foot came down.
CRRRUUUNCH.
The impact sent a shockwave that flattened trees for a mile around. The Titan continued its slow, deliberate walk, completely unaware.
For a moment, there was only dust and silence. Then, in the center of the newly-formed, titanic footprint, a green puddle quivered.
Leo had been flattened. Completely. For a fraction of a second, his cohesion had failed under the unimaginable pressure.
And then, just as instantly, he pulled himself back together. The energy of the impact—the sheer, overwhelming kinetic force—had been absorbed. It was more energy than he had ever felt. It didn't just refill his reserves; it overcharged him.
He wasn't just a mound now. He was a small hill of vibrant, glowing green slime, pulsing with power.
[WARNING: Energy capacity exceeded. Vessel stability critical. Forced evolution in progress.]
The Titan, feeling a strange surge of energy from beneath its foot, paused and slowly looked down. Its single, glowing eye focused on the growing, pulsating green mass in its footprint.
Leo felt a change. Not just growth, but an unlocking. A door in his mind, one that [Sage] had been desperately holding shut, was blown clean off its hinges.
[Sage? What's happening?]
[The passive absorption threshold has been breached. The [Adoption] protocol can no longer be suppressed.] [Sage]'s voice was different—strained, almost awestruck. [Host must choose. Consume the energy to solidify this form, or... direct it. Define a new one.]
The Forest Titan, now intrigued and slightly alarmed, raised its foot again to stomp down with deliberate force.
Leo looked up at the descending mountain of stone and life. He didn't see a threat anymore. He saw a template. He saw a form that could walk through this vast forest without being disturbed.
He made his first conscious, world-altering choice.
[I want to be safe,] he thought. [I want to be strong like that.]