Chapter 5: Let’s Try Purifying the Spring Water

...I fell. I actually fell in.

I was slowly sinking toward the bottom of the spring, drifting gently downward.

What now?

As I sank, I thought about how to escape. But I’m the Great Demon King of Light Novels! Of course that divine masterpiece will lend me its power. Its name: That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime! Thank you, Fuse-sensei!!!!!! (Second time)

In the story, the great Rimuru-sensei sucked in pond water and used it like a jet propulsion to escape. I’ll try copying that right away.

...

Huh?

I can’t suck in any water at all! Of course not — I don’t even have a mouth (bitter smile).

While I was thinking about that, I already reached the bottom of the spring.

（Now what?）

Thanks to the light coming from the surface, some illumination reached the bottom, but the water was murky overall, so visibility was still poor.

（Anyway, time to crawl around the bottom and explore!）

The bottom wasn’t covered in sludge, which told me that the spring water itself was polluted.

（I need to figure out whether it’s been contaminated by polluted water flowing in over a long time, or if the source of the pollution is right here in the spring.）

I slithered smoothly along the bottom. When I spread my body out to move, I felt a floating, weightless sensation thanks to buoyancy.

（This feels like I’ve turned into a manta ray.）

While I was elegantly gliding along the bottom enjoying myself, two or three blackened fish came straight at me. I turned the tables and absorbed them instead. When I absorbed them, I carefully checked for toxins or anything harmful. Sure enough, I sensed some nasty components. When I focused on separating just those parts during absorption, I managed to isolate them in a section of my body.... I don’t know what exactly it is, though.

I also absorbed various grasses and moss-like things that had sunk to the bottom. There were small amounts of toxic substances, which got automatically isolated. Once I did it once, it started happening automatically after that.... Still don’t know what it actually is.

（Hm?...What’s that?）

Deeper in, I spotted something that looked like a large lizard-like creature with black, stagnant mist-like stuff drifting from its body.

（Ugh～ It’s definitely this thing that’s polluting the spring.）

The lizard-thing noticed me and swam over, opening its large mouth to attack.

Too bad for you! This invincible slime isn’t affected by a pathetic bite from a lizard wannabe like you!

I spread my body wide to the left and right, enveloping the lizard whole. It panicked and swiped at me with its claws. The speed was impressive underwater, but it still didn’t work on me. I absorbed its front leg along with the swipe. I imagined powerful digestion at full force, and the lizard was quickly absorbed into my body. Of course, I separated out all the dangerous toxic components.

This should bring peace back to the spring.

...Though it’ll probably take a long time for the water’s natural self-purification to fully work. Guess I’ll have to roll up my sleeves and help. Not that I have sleeves. Or skin. Since I’m a slime.

After failing at jet propulsion, I thought about how to take in water. With monsters, I could just wrap around them. So what about water? Here’s the answer! I shaped part of my slime body into a thin, round tube like an octopus mouth. Basically a hose. Then I started sucking water through it.

（Ooh! Success. Water is coming into my body.）

My slime body swelled up as it filled with water. I immediately separated the toxins and dirt from the absorbed water, purified it, and released it back out. I extended another hose-like tentacle and kept releasing the cleaned water.

（...This somehow feels like I’m peeing.）

I was supposed to be purifying the spring, yet I was hit with a strange sense of guilt.

Purify purify purify...

I kept muttering to myself as I endlessly purified the spring water.

---

And two months later (lol) — okay, that’s enough, right?

（Hell yeah! Perfect!）

I looked up at the water’s surface from the bottom. The spring that once barely let any light through was now perfectly clear, allowing bright sunlight to reach all the way to the bottom. I only absorbed the clearly bad fish and left the rest to the spring’s natural recovery. Eventually, the ecosystem should heal as the creatures live in clean water.

（Nice work, if I do say so myself.）

I proudly admired my accomplishment from the bottom, looking up at the surface.

（...Now how the hell do I get out of here!?）

In the end, the real problem still wasn’t solved.

---

(Now then... how should I get out of the bottom of this spring?)

I had successfully purified the dirty spring.

There was no longer any reason for me to stay at the bottom playing around like a fish.

Though swimming around lazily near the lakebed like a manta ray did feel pretty nice.

The question was how to escape from the bottom of this lake.

First, I tried spinning my tentacles like a propeller to see if I could rise up, but I couldn’t move them quickly at all underwater. The water resistance was no joke.

I also tried stretching my body paper-thin and swaying around, but I just swayed in place without rising toward the surface.

The remaining options were to fill myself with air and float up like a balloon, or to shoot out water pressure like a jet and launch myself like a rocket...

I had already managed to create a hose-like structure modeled after an octopus’s mouth to take in the spring water.

If I could perfect the image of explosively sucking in water and then blasting it out, escape should be possible.

I started by imagining a thin hose, then scaled it up into a massive cannon. I created a huge water current like a turbine spinning, steadily sucking water in.

Because I was swirling energy while sucking it in, the water pressure building inside me was insane.

Once I was ready, I pointed the giant cannon-like mouth (basically my barrel) toward the bottom of the spring.

Hyyyyyyyyyyyyyeeeeeee—

I controlled the water inside my body, preparing to fire the compressed water all at once.

It felt like a massive battleship was about to launch, but I focused seriously on doing my best to escape the spring.

(Fire!)

I mentally pressed the launch button. I felt a massive surge as the water rushed out of my body.

(Uwooooh!?)

An overwhelming pressure hit me. My slime body screamed as it felt like it was being crushed—then, with the force of a catapult, I shot upward through the spring.

ZAAAAAaaaaaaa—PPAAAANNN!!

I burst out of the spring’s surface with tremendous momentum.

(Uwaaah!?)

I was launched high into the air right above the spring. If I fell straight down like this, I’d just plop back into the water and be right back where I started. That would be bad.

(Secret Technique: Slime Flying Squirrel Arts!) 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

While thinking that, I stretched my body out paper-thin to catch the wind’s resistance.

In hindsight, making myself into a proper parachute shape would have let me descend more slowly, but it was too late to change it now.

I successfully glided like a flying squirrel for a moment, but I had zero control.

I ended up crashing straight into the branches of a nearby tree with a loud rustle.

The birds nearby were startled by the noise and flew away.

(Sorry about that. I didn’t mean any harm...)

I had slammed into the leaves and branches, but luckily I got caught on a limb and avoided falling straight to the ground.

Or so I thought—right after, my slime body slipped off the branch.

(Whoa—)

Thud. Thump. Splorch. Crash!

I bounced from branch to branch like a pachinko ball before finally slamming into the ground.

(Owwwowow... wait, does it even hurt? I’m a slime, after all.)

I had fallen from quite a height, but I wasn’t injured and felt no pain.

This was one of those times I was truly grateful for my slime body.

(That aside... I wonder if I can use this jet propulsion for other things too?)

So I decided to experiment with it for a while.

First, I took on my Derone (standing) form. I prepared the nozzle underneath my body where it wouldn’t be easily seen by others and fired with gentle power.

Bwoosh!

My body lifted slightly with the water jet.

Nice. This has potential.

Depending on the strength and duration of the jet, I might even be able to fly through the sky.

I tried it immediately.

Hyyyyyyyyyeeee—!

DOOOOM!!

PSHHHHHHHH—!!

With a powerful jet of water, I was launched into the air like a cannonball.

Wobble

The moment my posture tilted, I realized I hadn’t stopped the jet.

Oh no.

I twisted hard trying to correct myself, which caused me to spin wildly on the spot like a spinning firework, spraying water everywhere. I hurriedly cut off the water.

I spiraled down to the ground and finally took a breather.

Man, that was scary.

Come to think of it, I sprayed a ton of water all around. Might as well make use of it. I’ll water the surrounding forest.

Moisture is important, after all.

With that thought, I extended a slime hose down into the spring, made it extremely long, and started moving around. I created another hose for the output side and began watering the trees while I moved.

The mental image was basically a fire truck’s pump vehicle.

Instead of using water stored inside my body, I sucked it up from the spring and sprayed it directly.

It seemed like once I got more used to slime life, I’d be able to do all sorts of things.

While watering the trees around the spring, I thought about what I should do next.

---

After purifying the spring and escaping with jet propulsion, I was relaxing leisurely by the water’s edge.

"Aaah~ It feels so good now that the spring is sparkling clean~"

When the spring was murky, there was no reflection of light and the air itself felt stagnant. But now it’s incredibly refreshing. As a man (or rather, a water craftsman... or wait, a spring spirit?) who had successfully completed a big job, the sense of satisfaction was overwhelming. Since I was already here, I decided to stay for a while and watch over the spring.

Oh, while I’m at it, I might as well store some water inside my body.

I stretched part of my body like a hose and dipped it into the spring.

Zuzuzuzuuu~

I sucked up a large amount of beautifully clear, pristine water.

Where do I store it, you ask?

Well, I’ve awakened to a wonderful new ability!

Tara-ra-ta-ta~! I call it "Subspace Compression Storage"!

This is basically a proper skill, right?

I was worried about surviving as a slime with no cheats and no skills, but here we are!

It’s the classic light novel template ability: Infinite Storage (also known as storage, inventory, etc.). Right? Someone please confirm!

While I was purifying the bottom of the spring, I had trouble dealing with the accumulating impurities.

So I spun my energy like crazy and focused on compressing them. Then suddenly, a space opened up beyond the energy! (lol)

I was surprised, but I tried throwing the impurities in anyway. As I kept tossing them in and wondering what this was, something amazing happened...

Lo and behold!

I could now identify the names of the things I threw in!

[Poison Water Drake’s Venom]

[Details: Lethal poison. Lethal dose for an adult male is approximately 3g. Currently holding 1412g.]

Yes! It comes with an Appraisal function! This is definitely a skill, right? Right!?

I don’t know how I got it, but wow... I’ve accumulated a terrifying amount of poison (sweat).

I neutralized and expelled all the non-poisonous impurities. Slime cells are seriously impressive!

By circulating energy and imagining it, I could detoxify poisonous substances. I could also dissolve things with digestive fluids or use them as adhesive... yeah, there’s a lot I can do.

And so, I vigorously sucked up the clean water from the spring I had purified myself into my subspace storage.

[Miracle Spring Water]

[Details: Water from a polluted spring that has been purified and blessed by the Water Spirit, turning it into a miraculous spring. It has the effect of detoxifying the body and activating metabolism.]

（Oh...）

At some point, it had become a miraculous spring blessed by the Water Spirit!

When did that even happen?

So spirits really do exist in this world.

For now, I’ll take it in tons. Miracle Spring Water (lol).

Someday I’d like to cook curry or something with it. I bet food made with this water would taste amazing. If the people of this world ate it... Yeah, nice! They’d probably respond in a friendly way like "Otherworld food is so good~!"

...Though I can’t actually cook.

No matter how you look at it, a slime cooking would be way too suspicious.

The only thing I can probably do is stir a giant cauldron with a stick like a witch.

I’d at least like to reach the level where I can do some proper chopping (ton ton ton).

Besides, since I absorb and digest things, I can’t actually taste anything...

Though if I could taste the wolves, rabbits, and grass I’ve been digesting, that would probably be the worst. So maybe it’s a good thing I can’t taste right now.

In terms of abilities, I’ve become quite flexible with changing my slime body.

Moving the body still requires that swirling energy, but as long as I have it, I can change my form quite freely.

I’m currently practicing High-Speed Tentacle Launch.

The test I just did—firing two tentacles at high speed to wrap around a high branch and then pulling my body up—worked pretty well. Once I get used to it, I should be able to move quickly between trees like Tarzan or a wild monkey.

...It feels a bit sad calling them "tentacles" though. I need to train so I can move them dexterously enough to call them "right hand" or "left hand."

By circulating the swirling energy throughout my body, I can also control my overall size. If I put in some effort, I can become more than three times my usual volume. However, moving in that state is pretty exhausting energy-wise, so I return to normal size when traveling. I also tried shrinking and found I could become smaller normally too (though shrinking also uses the swirling energy).

As expected, the most comfortable form is the standard-size Derone type. Yeah.

Speaking of slimes, there’s also splitting... but I’m not confident about that yet. It’s scary. What if I can’t go back together? What if one half just wanders off somewhere? I’ll observe a bit more for now. ...I’m definitely not chickening out, nope.