He looked at his new status screen.

  [Status Screen]

  [Name]: ???

  [Race]: Mana Slime

  [Rank]: F-

  [Level]: 1

  [Titles]: [Voidborn] [Newborn Slime] [World Hopper]

  [Affiliation]: None

  [World Designation]: [Aredntia — Realm of Adventurers]

  [Power Floor]: Low

  [Power Ceiling]: High

  [Survival Probability]: 20%

  [Stats]

  [MP]: 500/500

  [SP]: 50/50

  [INT]: 10

  [STR]: 3

  [DEX]: 5

  [END]: 8

  [MAG]: 20

  [LCK]: 1

  [ADP]: 10

  [Racial Skills]

  [Poison Manipulation(ES)] - Immune to all poison and can create and manipulate all poison the user has absorbed.

  [Mana Affinity(BS)] - Able to use all types of magic that uses mana.

  [Greater Skills]

  [Absorption] - The ability to consume and assimilate organic and inorganic materials to gain traits, skills, and abilities. Higher ranks improve efficiency, absorption speed, and extracted benefits.

  [Unique Skills]

  [System Synchronization] - The system is currently robotic and limited in function. As it ranks up, it develops self-awareness and human-like intelligence.

  [World Hopping] — Grants the ability to travel to different worlds, but under strict conditions:

  Time Limit: Limited time per world. (Currently: 30 days.)

  Power Lock: Always start at the lowest power in a new world.

  Return Point: Return to Eldrin when the subject dies or the time limit is reached.

  He looked at it in despair. His starting point this time was even lower than before. He wiggled a little. He was still a slime. No surprise there. He suspected that he wouldn't be a human anytime soon. He shook off the thoughts and looked around himself. Huh? Why can't I see anything? Oh, right. Mana Hazard Domain was left behind in Eldrin.

  He tried to do what he did back then. He controlled the mana inside of him and spread the mana outward. He could suddenly see again. It was that easy. That made him wonder. Can I recreate more skills I know how to use? He regretted not having time to experiment more with the skills he had. If he did, he would probably be able to recreate Webbing or Climbing.

  [Existing Basic Skill reacquired: [Mana Sense]]

  He looked around properly this time. He was in a ruin of an ancient city. That was unexpected. He thought he would be in a cave like before or in a field of grass and flower. He bounced in place, adjusting his mana to take in more details. The outlines sharpened, filling in piece by piece. Crumbling stone structures stretched around him, some standing proud despite the wear of time, but most had collapsed into jagged ruins.

  Massive stone pillars lined what used to be a grand street, now cracked and weathered. Carvings, barely legible, adorned the sides of broken archways. Most of the buildings had domed roofs, thick stone walls, and wide, rectangular doorways—sturdy, built to last. Even in ruins, the craftsmanship was obvious.

  He wobbled a little. This looks a lot like dwarven cities. Of course, he had never seen one for real before but he had seen enough arts from dad's stories that he knew what they should look like.

  Curious, he went into one of the buildings that looked suspiciously like a blacksmith. The building was more intact than others, though time had clearly taken it's toll. The doorway was wide, shaped like an arch, with what seemed like runes carved into the stone. His mana sense tingled a little as he observed a little bit of mana still left on the rune. He took a deeper look at it. Honestly, to him, it just looked like a bunch of squares and circles surrounding each other. I wonder... He pushed some of his mana into the rune.

  The moment his mana touched the rune, it flickered, just for a second.

  A faint glow pulsed through the carved stone, like a heartbeat that had long since faded but wasn’t quite dead. The symbols, once dull and meaningless, shifted. Not physically, but in his perception—like his mind was filling in the gaps.

  Then, a notification.

  [New Extra Skill Acquired: [Rune Interpretation]]

  [Allows the user to read and interpret runes easily.]

  His core pulsed in excitement.

  Wait, what?

  He wiggled back slightly, staring at the rune with renewed curiosity. Rune Interpretation? Did that mean he could read magic runes now? No, maybe not outright reading—more like… understanding them on a basic level. He looked at the rune again.

  The squares and circles that seemed like nonsense just moments ago to him were now making sense. Let's see... this one looks like it has something to do with… locking? Sealing? And this bit here… He wiggled closer. Something about… protection?

  He hummed a little. He was getting it but just by a little bit. He still didn't know what it meant but he could reasonably assume that it was supposed to protect the building. Let's push some more mana into this.

  Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

  As he pushed more mana, the rune started to shine. Not as bright as a light bulb but as bright as a firefly in the night.

  [New Extra Skill Acquired: [Rune Engraving]]

  [The user can engrave new runes to cause various effects.]

  He wiggled. Now that he had gotten the skills, he looked inside the building. He wondered what more interesting things existed. He slid inside, leaving a trail of mana behind him. He saw theat the building's interior was surprisingly intact. It was dusty, yes, but intact. The stone walls resisted collaspe and and the enchantments on the archway must have been just strong enough to keep the worst of time’s decay at bay.

  The room opened into a forge area. Though the walls were cracked like cobwebs, all the important bits were surprisingly intact. For example, the smith was well preserved, without a speck of dust on it.

  The rest of the furniture deteriorated somewhat over time. Thankfully, the books were intact.

  The books!

  He bounced in place excitedly. A puff of mana dust escaped his gooey surface like glitter exploding in water.

  Books meant knowledge. And knowledge meant skills.

  He slid up to one of the shelves, the stone beneath him humming faintly with residual enchantments. Most of the books were sealed in cases—old, dwarven crystal-like containers enchanted to ward off rot, weather, and time. He couldn’t read the labels yet, but he didn’t need to.

  He reached out with a tendril of slime and gently wrapped it around the first book he found. It was thick, bound in a strange, semi-metallic leather with a dwarven rune etched into the spine.

  [Absorbing... High-Density Knowledge Object Detected.]

  [Analyzing Content…]

  [Manual Type: Intermediate Runecraft & Forging Principles]

  [Compatibility… 82%]

  [Knowledge Integration Successful.]

  [New Basic Skill Acquired: [Runesmithing Basics]]

  [New Basic Skill Acquired: [Metal Affinity]]

  [New Extra Skill Acquired: [Knowledge Osmosis] – Gain a chance to permanently retain skills, knowledge, or concepts by absorbing written materials.]

  He stopped.

  “...I can eat books and learn magic now?!”

  His core wobbled in absolute delight.

  Then he paused again, thinking. “Wait, wait, wait—does that mean if I ate a cooking book, I’d learn how to make pancakes?”

  He began to look around in sudden, urgent excitement. "Pancakes! PANCAKES!" he shouted in his own little mental voice, echoing through the empty forge.

  He absorbed a second book.

  [Absorbing...]

  [Manual Type: Advanced Runic Constructs – Dwarven Defensive Arrays]

  [New Extra Skill Acquired: [Runic Engineering]]

  [Allows the user to design, construct, and combine runes into complex functional formations. Effectiveness depends on understanding of materials and purpose.]

  [Skill Synergy Detected: Rune Engraving + Runic Engineering]

  [Skill Fusion in Progress...]

  [Greater Skill Acquired: [Forge Script]]

  [A unique form of living rune manipulation that evolves based on the user's affinity. Allows dynamic creation of runes in real-time using mana alone. Forged runes can be shaped into tools, weapons, enchantments, and constructs.]

  He froze.

  Then he slowly, gleefully vibrated.

  "I'M A MAGIC BLACKSMITH NOW!" he screamed in his mind.

  His gooey body leapt off the floor like a bouncing ball, ricocheting around the forge until he bonked his core off the edge of the anvil.

  “Ow... Worth it.”

  He paused to admire the anvil again, and as he focused, something sparked deep within it. His mana sense flared.

  There was a rune inside the anvil.

  No—not just one.

  An entire circuit of runes embedded within the core of the forge itself. Sleeping. Dormant.

  Waiting for... someone.

  Or maybe... something.

  He placed a tendril of mana against the anvil.

  [Recognition Pattern Detected: Arcane Signature Compatible.]

  [Initiating Master Forgelink Activation...]

  [Welcome, Successor.]

  [Legacy Access: The Eternal Foundry]

  [A title may now be claimed.]

  [Title Acquired: Foundry Heir]

  [You have inherited the rights and secrets of the Lost Dwarven Foundry of Ardentia. You are now recognized as its new Master.]

  He vibrated silently. He now owned an entire Foundry? Although he didn't know what a foundry was, he was still happy that he now had something to his name.

  [The Eternal Foundry has been transferred to the user. Binding The Eternal Foundry to the World Hopping System...]

  [Bind completed.]

  The moment the final line of runes lit up across the forge, the entire room shuddered—then the city trembled.

  His core flinched in alarm. The walls pulsed with light, the runes flaring brighter and brighter until the very air trembled like it was about to crack.

  Then came the voice.

  [Legacy Recognition Complete.]

  [Dimensional Signature Identified: User — Mana Slime (Voidborn).]

  [The Eternal Foundry has chosen you.]

  His core spun in place. “Wait, wait, chosen me for what—?”

  [World Anchor Initiating... Failure.]

  [Mobile Interface Recommended.]

  [The Eternal Foundry is incompatible with this decaying ruin.]

  [Reconfiguring access point...]

  [Creating Dimensional Pocket Link...]

  The light collapsed inward all at once.

  The forge. The shelves. The glowing runes. The entire building—no, the entire Foundry—folded into itself, like someone had slammed the lid shut on a treasure chest the size of a mountain.

  BOOM.

  In its place remained only a glowing rune, hovering midair like a brand etched into reality itself. And then that vanished, too.

  He wobbled in place.

  “What.”

  A small notification pinged in his mind.

  [New System Feature Unlocked: The Eternal Foundry Interface] — Access your personal forge from anywhere across worlds. — Supports forging, enchanting, crafting, mana construction, and golem design. — Current Level: 1 (Basic Mode) — Upgrades through use, exploration, and skill evolution.

  [Title Updated: "Heir to the Eternal Flame"]

  [World Hopping Interface Synced: Foundry may be summoned as a pocket domain.]

  He wobbled again. Slower this time.

  "Did I just steal a whole city?" He was confused. He looked around. The city was no longer there so he was just in a cave. A new notification came in.

  [A new Dungeon had formed.]

  He tilted his body a little. A dungeon? Would that mean monsters are going to start appearing now? His body trembled. He didn't want to meet more monsters. He had enough troubles with a wolf and a spider back in Eldrin. But before he could despair more, he started hearing some human voices.

  The voices echoed across the now empty stone carven.

  "Are you sure this is the right place?"

  "Positive. I don't know how it could suddenly disappear. It was literally right here. It's a literal city!"

  His core vibrated while his body turned into a flat puddle of anxiety. He slid towards a rock, hiding behind it. He heard the footsteps approaching more. He peeped his head(pseudopod) out of his hiding place to see who they were. He saw two people, one with a staff with ginger hair. She was pretty short. The other one was also holding a staff but he also saw two scabbards for small daggers with white hair.

  He thought for a little. Does the ginger have a soul? My dad always said gingers don't have souls.

  The ginger girl said, "I swear if this turns out to be another mimic, I'm setting them all on fire."

  The white-haired girl replied with a flat look, "That was a bookcase, Rina."

  "It was suspicious!" she tried to defend herself. "And it tried to eat me!"

  "You tripped. On a stool."

  "Details. Potato Potata," the girl named Rina huffed and crossed her arms, which promptly caused a little puff of embers to float from her sleeves.

  "...That's not how that phrase goes," the white-haired girl muttered, eyes scanning the ruins with all the wariness of someone who’d seen one too many fire-related 'accidents' lately.

  Rina held her chin high. “The spirit of the thing still counts.”

  Meanwhile, behind his rock, Slime was actively trying to become less of a slime and more of an unnoticed puddle. This was a very dangerous duo.

  He could feel it. Fire and shadows. Instability and steel. Trouble.

  And fire.

  Did he mention the fire?

  Still, curiosity was one of his many, many flaws.

  His pseudopod crept up again just to peek a little more.

  The moment he moved, Rina’s eyes snapped in his direction.

  “Movement,” she whispered, eyes flaring gold-orange as mana spiked in the air.

  “Could be a rat,” the white-haired girl replied calmly, though one dagger slid half-free from its sheath.

  “Exploding rat,” Rina whispered back, grinning.

  Slime panicked.

  Bad idea! Abort! ABORT THE PEEKING!

  He tried to pull back, but the motion jiggled his body and sent a faint ripple of mana across the cavern—something subtle, but detectable.

  Rina’s grin widened.

  “There! I knew it!”

  She thrust her hand forward, fire coiling around her fingers.

  But before she could launch her spell, the white-haired girl muttered something under her breath.

  Shadow stretched unnaturally from her feet, flicking across the room like a spear. It slammed into the stone just beside Slime’s hiding place, dispersing into a black mist that sniffed the area like a hound.

  Slime shrieked internally.

  And then he did what any over-caffeinated, over-anxious, extremely squishy magical creature with the mind of a kid would do when cornered.

  He activated his skill Absorbption.