Announcement: My editor @warlocc seems to be quite busy with his works so he has stopped editing the translation for now. I hope he is okay and does his best for his business. I will gladly welcome him again if he wants to continue giving me his help in the future.
On the other hand, allow me to express my thanks to Chrysis, my friend on discord, who helps me edit the recent chapters.
After Poluk left,
Sila was obediently waiting where he was. He waited for hours and couldn’t see
anybody coming. In the end, he carelessly fell asleep. Sila hadn’t slept in
the game for a long time. Usually, he would circulate qi to rest instead of
sleeping. This time, however, he couldn’t circulate qi and he didn’t have a
wink of sleep, so he easily gave in to drowsiness.
He slept for a while
before waking up, sensing someone’s presence.
“Are you awake now?”
A female voice came from behind him.
Sila turned his body
around. He saw a pink-colored slime that looked similar to him. Her pink was
slightly lighter though. Surprisingly, this slime had a circular halo floating
above her head.
Poluk had told Sila
to wait for Viola. So, Sila guessed that this slime must be Viola, another
Slime Guardian.
“Hello, Madam
Viola?” greeted Sila.
“Are you the trial’s
challenger?” asked Viola.
“Yes. My name is
Sila.”
“Okay. Okay. Then,
let’s start without further ado. I’m Master Viola, a Slime Guardian who is in
charge of the magic part in the Way of Slime’s ordeal. Any questions?”
Finally, Sila could
ask about what caused him a lot of confusion.
“Yes, I have one.
I’m curious as to why slimes can’t use magic. And since we cannot use magic,
why is there a magic-type skill?”
“It’s not that
slimes cannot use magic, but rather that slimes are bonded with a single kind
of magic. This type of magic negates us to use different kinds of magic, so
that makes it looks like we slimes cannot use magic.”
“Single kind of
magic?” wondered Sila.
“Yes. Do you know
that S-grade skills always come with downsides? This magic is an S-grade skill
with a downside that prevents us from using different kinds of magic,” replied
Viola.
“Oh. I see. Anyway,
do I have to take part in the magic part of the ordeal since I’m a qi-type
player?” Sila still had this question as he knew that players can only use one
type of energy, except for Zero who is the first one to be able to use two.
“What you are about
to do isn’t related to your choice of energy type selection. It’s about racial
skills,” answered Viola.
“How is that
different?”
“It’s different. The
energy type of a racial skill doesn’t have to be the same as your own energy
type. Haven’t you noticed that your status window always shows qi points, magic
points, and psychic points even though you have chosen qi-type?” asked Viola.
Sila opened his
Status Window and found that she was correct.
Player Status: Sila
Level: 662
Race: Pink Slime
Rank: Squire
Health Points: 705,000 / 705,000
Qi Points: 835,000 / 840,000
Psychic Points: 450,000 / 450,000
Magic Points: 362,000 / 362,000
Social Status: Nameless Elder’s
Main Disciple, Varee’s Lover
“For example, if you
choose magic as your energy type but choose orc as your race which is a qi-type
race, you will become a magic-type player who can also use qi-type racial
skills in close combat. Players usually choose a race with an energy type that
matches their own. But there are also some who choose the other way around.
That’s not wrong, apparently, as that will result in a unique playing style.”
“Wow. So, the slime
race is very good, isn’t it? We have the skill of all three energy types,”
asked Sila.
Viola smiled,
“Whether it’s good or not, that depends on you.”
“What do you mean?”
“Slime skills are
too high-tier to be classified as normal racial skills. Therefore, prior to
overcoming the ordeal, all skills will be sealed at F-grade just to be fair to
other races. The Way of Slime’s ordeal can only be participated in once. So, if
you fail in any part of the ordeal, you will lose the skill of that energy
type. On the other hand, if you pass all three trials, you will obtain the
skills of each energy type,” explained Viola.
Sila’s mouth was
wide open. Wasn’t this explanation too important to not be mentioned by the
Slime King? If he had been told about this, he would have trained his slime
skills until he was confident enough to participate in the ordeal.
This was bad. He
wasn’t proficient in any skills except qi-related skills.
Slime skills are
hard to obtain since the player needs to excel in them. It may look
advantageous to have skills for all three energy types, but if he fails in
every part, he would have no racial skills at all. Another downside of the
slime racial skills is that there is only one skill for each energy type, while
the other races would possess three skills for their specific energy type. It
would be fatal for players with the slime race if they are not proficient
enough.
“We have talked too
long. The trial will start now,” declared Viola.
“Please wait, Madam
Viola,” said Sila.
“Call me Master.”
“Yes. Master Viola.
I want to say that I’m not familiar with the Colorful Slime skill yet,” Sila
said slowly.
“Not familiar yet?
That can’t be helped,” replied Viola.
Sila released a sigh
of relief. He needed to extend the time to take part in this trial first. ‘At
least, I can get more time to practice the skill first.’
“So, you fail. Okay,
you can go now,” continued Viola.
Sila was
dumbfounded. “Please wait!! Stop!! I mean, can Master teach me first?”
“You want me to
teach you?” wondered Viola.
“Yes. Normally, in
trials like these, there should be a demonstration first, right? The examinee’s
ability to do it is tested afterward.” Sila was talking about the time when
Poluk had demonstrated the use of Fluffy Slime.
“Oh, I see. No
wonder no one passed my trial except His Majesty,” muttered Viola.
Sila could hear her,
however. He thought, ‘Slime King must be very exceptional to pass Master
Viola’s trial.’
“Okay. I get it.
Look at me,” said Viola.
Then, her body’s
color changed from the usual light pink to red for five seconds before changing
again. This time, her color changed multiple times to cyan, green, brown,
yellow, and blue, respectively. Lastly, her body color changed back to red and
stopped at it.
“Okay, now it’s your
turn,” said Viola.
Sila pulled a wry
face. He didn’t get it at all.
“Umm, Master.
Usually, you need to explain how to do it first. If I try to do it by myself, I
might do it wrong. That would affect your reputation as my master. I surely
wouldn’t want that to happen.” Sila tried to force his way out by talking.
Viola frowned. ‘If
this little kid uses this skill poorly in front of an outsider and people find
out that it was me who taught him, that would indeed be bad.’
“I see. By the way,
you are such a pain, you know? When His Majesty participated in this trial, I
didn’t need to say a word. His Majesty could show me the skill flawlessly.”
Viola said, “Watch again. This time I will slow it down.”
Viola changed her
body’s color again. This time from cyan to green, brown, yellow, blue, and red,
respectively. Her color returned and stopped at cyan this time.
Then, Viola drew a
six-pointed star on the ground.
“This is the only
magic that slimes can use – element manipulation. You may have seen some magic
that can imbue an element into a weapon. But our magic is different as we are
not imbuing an element into a weapon. Instead, we change our body into that
element. We don’t use magic but we become magic ourselves.” Viola explained
while Sila was glaring at the six-pointed star on the ground, trying his best
to remember the elemental sequence written on it.
“There is a sequence
that the elements follow. Red is fire, cyan is ice, green is wind, brown is
earth, yellow is lighting, and blue is water. You can’t possibly change
yourself into an element that isn’t next to your current element.” Viola
further explained.
Sila tried his best
to understand its concept. It was very different from the concept behind
qi-type skills that are simple yet flexible. While other players might think
that qi-type skills are hard to practice, for Sila who isn’t good at
remembering, qi-type skills are easier to understand than this elemental
sequence of magic-type skills.
There are various
kinds of magic-type skills, so the complexity is incomparable to simple qi-type
skills. For qi-types, there are only the hot element and the cold element,
which are mutually exclusive. Meanwhile, for magic-types, there are eight
elements and all of them have their own unique characteristics.
Therefore, Sila had
to spend almost an hour trying to remember each element’s characteristics and
weaknesses.
‘I won't be able to
memorize all of this. I need to practice it to make my body remember,’ Sila
thought.
Sila is the type
that prefers to use his body for memorizing, not his brain. Thus, he started
changing his body color into red, cyan, green, brown, yellow, and blue
respectively.
Nevertheless, his
result was nowhere near what he had seen from Viola’s. His color changing was
too slow. Sila had to spend ten minutes to change into one color. It took him
two hours to go through the whole sequence of elements twice.
“This seems like it
will take a while. I’ll come back tomorrow, then.” Viola said before leaving.
Sila didn’t hear
what Viola said. Once he immerses himself into something, he would ignore
others.
He felt too tired so
he unconsciously fell asleep. Once he woke up, he would only eat and practice
without doing anything else. He was practicing without knowing how much time
had passed again.
Now, Sila had
shortened the time he needed to change his color to five minutes. It currently
took him half an hour to complete a full sequence. Although the time had been
halved, it would still be too long for using it in actual combat.
“Magic-type skill is
too hard. If it was a qi-type skill, I would be able to use it decently by
now,” Sila complained.
“Wait.” Sila
realized, “Mister Poluk said that every slime-race skill has more than one way
to be used. Am I practicing it incorrectly?” He talked to himself, “if I
perceive that Colorful Slime is a qi-type skill, can I use it well enough?”
Afterward, Sila
tried using Formless Soldier. He changed his body to become harder, softer,
heavier, and lighter respectively; like he was changing elements.
Although the speed
wasn’t instantaneous, it only took him one minute to complete the cycle.
Compared to changing elements, it was a lot faster.
“Although these two
skills are different in energy type aspect, their principles are very similar.
If I understand why I can use Formless Soldier quicker than Colorful Slime, I
may be able to change color faster.”
Subsequently, except
for eating and sleeping, Sila dedicated all his time to practicing Formless
Soldier and Colorful Slime.
Once his qi ran out,
he would train Colorful Slime. Once his magic ran out, he would train Formless
Soldier. Due to the fact that these two skills consumed separate resources,
Sila could train two skills without any breaks.
Time passed, and now
Sila only had to spend three minutes to complete the cycle of Colorful Slime.
As for Formless Soldier, he had already achieved the ability to use it almost
at will. It might be due to his preference for qi-type skills. Anyway, he still
couldn’t use the separate ability of Formless Soldier simultaneously as Poluk
had mentioned.
Viola who watched
him from afar couldn’t help but sigh.
“Poluk, you’re too
kind. Anyone can do it if you give that many hints away. It seems I need to
increase the difficulty of my trial a little.”
lol these Slimes are all brainless. No wonder they have been regarded as weak all this time. The leaders are so...meh.
on another note, this ability works way to well with his arm of exodia. he has moves of each type, and if he transforms into that element, won't it become stronger?
now that i think about it, the Formless Soldier also is extremely compatible with his play style and the 4 Qi Beasts.
The last one was Brightness? Translucent Slime? It sounds like Colorful Slime, but perhaps this is another kind of move.
Fluffy Slime is a Movement/Defense Type ability, while Colorful Slime is more of a Support/Buff ability that makes certain attacks stronger.
Will Translucent Slime be an attack ability, or a Hiding ability? if it makes him more noticible/less noticible, then that seems too much like the Colorful Slime ability. Perhaps it is a way to use his slime to attack? I dont know...
After practicing
changing color in sequence for a long time, Sila was finally able to get a hang
of it. Sila now realized that Poluk had given him so many hints. Changing
elements uses the same concept as changing attributes of the body with Formless
Soldier. He needed to swiftly change the color by concentrating power at once
instead of accumulating power to do so bit by bit.
It is like Qi
Reinforcement in a sense that speed plays a more important role than power.
“I can do it. I can
do it.” Sila smiled at his own success.
A mere second was
needed for the current Sila to change his element. To complete the element
cycle by sequence, only 5-6 seconds were required. Although it was tiring, he
could somehow use it in actual combat now.
Viola slowly walked
toward him. Seeing so, Sila was quick to greet her.
“Rest for a moment.
Afterward, I will conduct the trial.” Viola declared.
Sila nodded then sat
down to recover his magic points.
“I’m ready,” Sila
said after he had checked that his magic points had reached the maximum.
“Okay. The trial
shall start now. You have to change into all elements in a sequential manner,”
ordered Viola.
As he had practiced
for so long, Sila was very confident. His body changed into six colors
respectively within five seconds without fail.
Viola nodded. “Very
good. You are quite skilled.”
“So, I’ve passed the
trial, haven’t I, Master?” Sila smiled back at Viola’s comment.
Viola shook her
head. There was no smile on her face. “No! Next is the actual trial.”
Sila was shocked.
Prior to this, Master Viola had told him that to complete her trial, he only
had to successfully complete the element sequence. He didn’t understand why
there was another trial waiting for him.
“Wait, Master, why
is there another trial?” Sila questioned.
“That’s because you
have spent too much time practicing. Do you know how much time has passed?”
“One day, I think?”
Sila replied hesitantly.
Back then, he
remembered that Viola had said he would take the trial tomorrow. As Viola
didn’t appear, he couldn’t know how much time had passed. This place was always
bright without night time, worsening his perception of time.
“Wrong! Including
today, you have spent seven days practicing. That’s why the trial has to be
harder!” Viola declared.
Sila frowned. His
perception of time might have become worse. But he felt like it wasn’t possible
for that much time to have passed. He believed that it has only been two or
three days at most.
“Does Master
misunderstand something? Seven days is too long. I think that…”
“Silence! Are you
telling that I’m in the wrong? Should I give you a failing grade?” Viola said.
Sila shut his mouth.
Using the trial to threaten him like this, he had no choice but to give up.
“What kind of the
trial do I have to pass this time?” asked Sila.
Viola smiled. “Your
changing elements could be used for showing off, but in real combat, it’s still
lacking. Your opponent wouldn’t be kind and wait for you to change your element
at ease. You need to be keen and change your element at the right moment.”
Sila nodded. Viola’s
reasoning was well spot on.
“In this actual
trial, I will jump to bump into you every three seconds. Within half a minute,
if you can successfully defend against my bump at least eight times, you will
get a passing grade.” Viola smiled.
“Is that all,
Master?” Sila wondered. This trial sounded too easy to be true.
“Yes. By the way, my
attack will be an elemental one. You need to change into the advantageous
element to be considered successful in your defense. Otherwise, you will be
deemed as failing even if you can block me neatly. Do you understand?” Viola
said.
“I understand,” Sila
replied. He still thought that Viola was hiding something.
“We will now begin.
Don’t worry. I won’t bump into you with too much force. The objective of this
trial is to test whether you can choose your element keenly. Although, if you
do it incorrectly, there will of course be some minor painfulness.”
Sila got goosebumps.
How much pain is considered ‘minor’ in Viola’s dictionary?
Sila stood
confronting Viola. Both of them still didn’t change their element. Viola could
change her element freely at her will but Sila couldn’t. Sila realized that he
would be in a disadvantageous position if he changed his element first, as
Viola could change hers accordingly.
“First time is to
warm up. Wind!” With Viola’s sentence, her body turned green and she jumped
towards Sila. He then quickly changed his element to ice.
In this contest of
changing elements, Sila who was defending had the upper hand since he could
change his body into any element in the first attempt. The problem would be the
following ones since he had no time to change his element back to normal.
Once their bodies
collided, nothing happened. Viola jumped backward.
“Very good. Earth!”
Viola jumped at him again. Sila needed only a brief moment to change his
element to wind to parry her.
“Next is,
lightning!” Viola jumped forward again. Sila was calm and defended against her
by changing his body into earth element.
‘This is easier than
I thought. I have succeeded three times so far.’ Sila thought.
Viola grinned.
“Next, water!”
Sila didn’t pay much
attention. He changed his element to lightning. But as soon as Viola
approached, he was shocked.
Even though she said
she would use a water elemental attack, her actual current element was fire.
Sila lost his focus,
cancelling his change in element. He was bumped by Viola and he felt hot as if
he was burned.
“Argh! Hot!!”
shouted Sila.
“Fufu. What’s wrong?
Do I need to always tell you the truth? Ice!” Viola jumped at him with fire
element again.
Sila strengthened
his focus. He didn’t pay attention to what Viola was saying anymore. He blocked
her attack by changing his element to water.
“Don’t be too easy
to fall into a trap. Ice!” This time Viola’s words matched her actual element.
Sila defended using fire.
His worry grew.
Sometimes Viola told the truth, sometimes she lied. It caused Sila to become
confused.
“Next. Lightning!”
Viola changed to wind. Although Sila was still worrying, he tried his best to
ignore her words. His focus was entirely on the color on her body. He succeeded
in blocking once again.
“Haha. Next is also
lightning!” Viola’s element changed to fire. Sila was quick to change his to
water. However, before they collided, Viola changed to lightning at the last
moment.
“Arghh!!” Sila felt
like he was electrocuted. Viola played him by changing her element at the last
moment.
“I already told you
that it’ll be lightning. Why don’t you believe me? Next is wind!” Viola
declared. Her element also changed to wind.
Sila could get the
hang of her objective. Viola wanted him to change his element in an instant,
not changing beforehand and waiting for the attack.
Therefore, Sila
didn’t change his element. He was waiting in water element form. He would
decide which element to change to at the last moment.
As he had predicted,
once Viola came closer, she changed to earth. Sila quickly changed his element.
He respectively changed his element from water to fire, ice, and wind to block
against her successfully at the very last moment.
Viola pulled a wry
face. “This time is ice!” She shouted.
Sila panicked. Ice
wins against wind. That meant, from his current wind-elemental form, based on
the sequence of elements, he needed to almost complete the elemental cycle to
become an element that advantageous to ice. He hadn’t been able to do it in a
short time. Nevertheless, he tried his best.
Once the two bodies
collided, Sila who stayed in water form felt pain. He really couldn’t do it in
time.
“You’ve been hit
three times already. This is the last one. If you can block me, you pass. If
you can’t, you fail.” Viola said happily.
Sila tried to focus
without caring about the freezing sensation he had felt before. He needed all
of his concentration to cope with this last attack.
“The last time is,
not telling you!” Viola rushed at him.
Sila focused in this
heated battle. Although Viola said so, he could predict that she would use the
same method to force Sila to complete the elemental cycle.
However, even though
he knew it was coming, he still had no way to cope with it. He really couldn’t
change his elements with that much speed.
What Sila had
predicted turned out to be true. Once their bodies had almost collided, Viola
changed her element to the lightning.
At this moment, in
Sila’s mind, time seemed to have slowed down. Sila remembered what Poluk had
said to him. “Our slime-race skills always have more than one way that they can
be used.”
Did he really have
to change element in sequence based on Master Viola just teaching him so? Sila
realized this right before forcing his elemental form to change two steps in
reverse.
Their bodies finally
collided. Sila gritted his teeth to prepare for the painfulness.
But nothing
happened. Viola hopped backward.
“Very good. You only
practiced for five days and you’re able to change element in reverse.” Viola
complimented.
Sila released a sigh
of relief. He had staked everything on his last-ditch effort to change element
in reverse and it paid off. He felt so tired, though.
“Changing element in
reverse requires ten times more energy than in sequence. Remember it well and
don’t do it unless it’s necessary.” Viola said.
“So, have I passed
the trial?” Sila smiled.
“Yes. You have now
passed the actual trial.” Viola said.
Sila smiled again.
It was really hard but he finally overcame it. Now that he thought about it,
magic-type skills were indeed unsuitable for him. He only needed one day for
the qi-type trial but had to spend several days for the magic-type one.
“I’m happy for you.
Okay, then… prepare yourself for the actual trial – mark 2!!!” Viola shouted.
“WHAT!!?” Sila
shouted back.
“Don’t you see? Once
you overcome the actual trial – mark 2, there will be the actual trial – Z, and
then…” Viola continued her speech.
Sila listened to the
tens of trials he had to overcome. “Master, doesn’t this seem fishy? Why there
are so many trials?”
“What? It’s up to me
how I want to examine your ability. I will conduct as many trials as I need to
ensure that your comprehension of this skill is maximized. The current you can
exert only 10% of its power.” Viola said.
Sila’s mouth was
wide open. Slime-race skills were very complicated and had so much depth. If he
needed to understand them completely, wouldn’t he had to spend a year
practicing?
“Normally, just
completing the elemental sequence is required to pass, isn’t it, Viola?” There
was a man voice coming from behind.
Viola replied
without turning back. “This is my trial, Divine. You have to wait for your
turn.”
Sila took a look at
Divine, the last Slime Guardian he met. Divine’s appearance wasn’t a slime as
Sila had anticipated. He was a white-haired handsome man, leaning his back
against a wall.
“I have waited for
too long. His Majesty himself sent me to observe your trial. His Majesty is
concerned you played a prank in the trial.” Divine said.
“His Majesty sent
you here?”
“Correct. His
Majesty also told me that the whole ordeal should have been finished long ago.
But since this little brother still struck at the second stage, he ordered me
to have a look for once.” Divine said, looking at Sila.
“It’s my right to
decide whether this whelp passes my trial or not.” Viola pouted.
“Of course, you
still have the right to do so. I just want to remind you that, compared to
other slimes who had come to take the trial, is this man considered inferior in
changing element to them?”
Viola gave it a
thought. Actually, Sila’s ability to change element had reached a satisfactory
level. It was just because Sila got it easy because of Poluk’s advice that she
felt discontented.
“Geez. Okay. I’ll
give him a passing grade.” Viola said.
Afterward, Sila body
was glowing. The system sound alerted.
Player Sila has
overcome the trial of the Way of Slime (Magic Part). Skill (F) Colorful
Slime has been promoted to skill (S)Orbiting Cosmos.
Sila didn’t wait. He
immediately checked his new skill’s description.
Racial skill: (S)
Orbiting Cosmos Magic-type skill. An
art of magic manipulation. Can be used to change part of the body or its
junction to become one with the element. Decrease opponent’s
magic-based attack power by 20%. Prevents user from
being able to use any other magic-type skills.
Viola walked away
slowly. She gave Sila one last word before she left.
“Remember these
words of mine. Orbiting in the sequence is cosmos. Orbiting in reverse is also
cosmos. Changing in sequence to connect to the outer universe. Changing in
reverse to connect to the inner universe.”
Sila couldn’t
understand a thing but he still tried his best to remember her words. He then
politely said goodbye to Viola.
After Master Viola
had left, Divine moved closer to Sila.
Sila could take a
good look at Divine now. Divine was a white-haired handsome man. His common
clothes seemed ordinary but it still emphasized Divine’s elegant demeanor.
The last trial
should be the psychic part. However, Divine didn’t look like a psychic-type
player who usually wore all sorts of armor. Actually, he didn’t even look like
a slime.
“Sila, isn’t it?”
greeted Divine.
“Hello, Mister
Divine.”
“Sila has already
spent too much time in Viola’s trial so please pardon me to conduct my trial
immediately,” Divine said.
“But I’m still not
ready.” Sila felt rejected. He perceived that the trial’s difficulty must
become higher in each stage. He believed that Divine’s trial must be harder
than Viola’s.
“That’s okay. The
first half of my trial is not hard. You can even do it while listening to my
explanation. Once you overcome the first half, I will give you one task. If you
complete it, you pass. There will not be hidden rounds like Viola’s trial, I
guarantee it.”
“Is it… hard? This
psychic-part trial.” Sila asked.
“That’s a difficult
question to answer. I can only tell you that, be it easy or hard, that depends
on Sila yourself. It could be unimaginably difficult to the point that it’s
impossible to overcome, or so easy that you can complete it within ten
seconds.” Divine answered.
Sila somehow had a
sense of relief. It was a good thing that the trial’s difficulty depended on
him. He liked it more when something depended on his own ability instead of
depending on others.
Sila nodded and
closed his eyes. He focused his thoughts on activating the skill. His body
became more semi-transparent than usual.
“Okay. Then…”
Divine’s body flashed once. Afterward, the handsome man disappeared and was
replaced by a silver slime whose body size was comparable to Poluk and Viola.
This must be Divine in slime form.
“Become as
transparent as me. That’s your first assignment,” Divine said.
Sila blinked. He was
skeptical about this trial. “That’s all? There is no fighting to the death,
solving complicated puzzles, or training for several days?”
“No, there will not.
That’s all for the first half of the trial,” Divined replied plainly.
Sila nodded. Based
on the previous two slime trials, he knew that slime-race skills had the same
concept for execution. He then tried his best to focus his mind to make himself
become transparent.
“Transparent,
transparent, transparent,” Sila muttered to himself.
However, Sila’s body
didn’t become more transparent at all. Instead, it even seemed like his body
had become dimmer.
Divine who watched
nearby didn’t give any comment until time had passed for ten minutes.
“Do you want some
rest? We will have a talk while you are resting.” Divine asked.
“Rest?” Sila
confused. He just started practicing for only ten minutes and there was still
no progress.
“Or we can talk
while you are practicing, that’s fine. Could you please tell me a story about
yourself?” Divine started a conversation.
Then, Sila told
Divine about his story since he entered the game. Divine was a good listener
who smiled and listened attentively. Sila continued his story until he quit
practicing unconsciously.
“Oh, my teacher
asked me to greet Mister Divine in his stead. His name is Wu Ming,” Sila said.
“I remember him. We
fought against each other for three days and three nights. As the result of the
fight ending up as a draw, we became friends.”
“By the way, Mister
Divine, are you really a slime?” Sila asked as he felt curious by the fact that
Divine had been in human form before.
“Do I not look like
a slime?” Divine said smilingly.
“Um… If based on
other slimes I have met, then yes, sir.”
Divine smiled. “My
previous form is a result of the Psychic Body skill. It allows the user to
project a body using psychic power. Usually, the projection reflects a user’s
inner self. You could say it’s a kind of shape transformation skill.”
“So, every psychic
monster can change into human form, can’t it?” asked Sila.
“Based on your
question, I could tell that you have yet to research in-game general
information, haven’t you? Before I will answer this question, let me ask you
something first, Does Sila know whether I’m a real human or AI?” Divine asked
back.
Sila didn’t even
need to give it a thought. He had already come up with an answer. “You’re a
real person, sir. Your responses toward my action are too flawless. I could
tell because I have already met with NPC controlled by AI.”
Divine nodded.
“That’s correct. For important roles, NPCs will always be controlled by actual
people. Now it’s my turn to answer your previous question. My answer is: I
don’t know.”
“Eh? Why don’t you
know, sir?” Sila wondered. Divine seemed to be the expert regarding
psychic-type topics among the people Sila had encountered.
“Psychic Body is a
skill that projects people’s inner self outward. Well, you should know first
that the world of Monster Soul is lawless. The system only provides the basic
services for the player’s convenience. You can loot, kill, or do any evil deeds
without being punished by the system. This world will project your true self
that you might possibly suppress in the real world.
“Without laws, humans
are no different from a monster. The concept of this game reflects that fact.
In this world where moral is peeled away, we are just a monster’s soul in a
human’s body. Therefore, the inner self that is projected using the Psychic
Body skill could be a human or nonhuman. It depends on each person,” Divine
explained.
Sila listened with a
peculiar feeling inside him. Indeed, he felt that this world has allowed
players to show their true selves without restriction. Even good people in the
real world could be villains in this game.
At least, Sila now
somehow believed that Divine is a good person, as Divine’s inner self is the
elegant handsome man who caused people to feel warm and like they can rely on
him.
“Psychic-type skills
are very amazing. If I had known this beforehand, I might’ve chosen to become a
psychic-type player,” Sila expressed his thought.
“In my opinion, Sila
is suited to both qi-type and psychic-type. You don’t have to regret it at
all.”
Sila finally got a
chance to ask this question that had always been bothering him to someone who
was a psychic-type expert. “Can I ask whether a psychic-type player can read
minds?”
Divine smiled. “Have
you encountered people who can read your mind?”
Sila nodded.
“Please rest
assured. There is no skill for psychic-type players to read the minds of
others. There are only the Mind Connection and Emotion Reading skills.”
“What can these
skills do, sir?”
“Mind Connection can
link the mind between several people or monsters. People will synchronize
easier in this state. It’s commonly used for the command chain.
As for Emotion
Reading, as the name states, it allows the user to read other’s emotions and
feelings. It cannot read the actual thoughts of others.”
Sila nodded. He had
known a little about Mind Connection from experiencing it with Lookhin. As for
why Varee seemed to always know what he was thinking about, it must be due to
her own talent coupled with the Emotion Reading skill.
“Mister Divine, can
I ask, in your opinion, which psychic-type skill is the strongest one, sir?”
Sila had encountered
many psychic-type experts: Varee, Shueria, and Cross. Each person seems to have
a different way to use psychic energy. Varee’s psychic energy was usually
motionless like clear water but able to change into attack instantly. Shueria’s
was like a hidden sharp blade that could inflict damage to the opponent even
when the user was defending. As for Cross’s psychic energy, it caused the
surrounding people to feel pressure and also made itself visible to the naked
eye.
“For me to answer
this question, I must ask Sila back first: what does the word strong mean for
Sila?” Divine asked.
Sila furrowed his
brows. This simple question is unexpectedly harder than he thought. He used to
believe that being strong means being able to defeat the enemy with an
overwhelming victory. However, after thinking about it, Montra had played dirty
and won against him. Did this mean Montra was strong?
He also thought
about Lone Wolf and Zero. Although these two were unable to win against Montra,
Sila believed that they would become stronger and stronger as time went on.
Does that mean being
strong isn’t related to victory or defeat?
“I don’t know, sir,”
Sila honestly replied.
“Based on that
answer, I believe that Sila has now taken one step closer to understanding the
true meaning of being strong,” Divine replied.
Sila was confused.
But Divine continued without letting him asking further.
“Sila might have
experienced an oppressive psychic-type user that can defeat the enemy without
having to fight. This kind of psychic can even materialize the energy if it is
powerful enough. But if you ask me, this kind of psychic isn’t the strongest
type at all.”
“What kind of
psychic is considered the strongest in Mister Divine’s opinion, sir?”
“A calm mind that is
as motionless and transparent as a mirror which reflects everything. That’s the
strongest kind of psychic in my eyes.”
T/N: In raw, author uses the same word for
both “psychic” and “mind”. For the record, “psychic power” is interchangeable with “mind
power” in gaming word.
Sila frowned. “What
is the use of that against an opponent, sir?”
“We don’t have to
fight against anyone, do we? We fight against ourselves and opponents fight
against themselves. A calm mind like a mirror will reflect everything,” Divine
smiled.
“What does that
mean, sir?” Sila asked.
Divine still smiled
but did not answer Sila’s question. “That’s all of the hints I can say. The
rest depends only on Sila.”
“Hints?”
“We are still in the
middle of a trial, remember?” Divine smiled.
Sila just realized.
The conversation with Divine gave him many pieces of knowledge and ideas. It
was also enjoyable, causing him to temporarily forget that he was still in the
middle of a trial.
Sila tried to
activate the skill again. His color was slightly fader than before. However,
once his concentration rose, his body become darker again.
‘Why?’ Sila thought.
His body continued to turn darker.
Sila furrowed his
brows. The more he practiced, the darker he became.
‘Calm down. I need
to recall Mister Divine’s hint. A calm mind like a mirror will reflect
everything.’
Sila was interested
in this hint. His body became more transparent at that moment.
Nevertheless, once
he focused on becoming more transparent, his body instead turned darker again.
‘What the? Why does
the result become worse when I concentrate on it? Hmm, wait… a calm mind like a
mirror will reflect everything…’
Sila closed his eyes
and started emptying his mind. This was a basic technique that his teacher Mora
had taught him when he was very young – “Do not think too much when fighting”.
Sila was still incompetent in this aspect. He always pictured the result of a
fight before a battle even began. His teacher had warned him many times that
this would be the cause of his defeat once he fights against a skilled
opponent.
Moments later, each
thought in Sila’s mind had faded off one by one. Sila’s mind was now totally
calm. Nothing was able to disrupt his mind. It was as calm and peaceful as the
still water where no wave surfaced.
“You pass,” Divine
said.
Sila opened his
eyes. He found that his body had become quite transparent, though not as much
as Divine's.
Transparent Slime is
a skill that has a different concept than Fluffy Slime and Colorful Slime.
While the two latter skills require intense concentration, Transparent Slime
instead requires the user to calm oneself. The more the user puts his focus
onto the skill, the more likely it is to fail. For Sila, this skill was several
times harder than the other two skills.
“Now, the time for
the last half of the trial has come,” Divine said, to which Sila nodded. “By
the way, does Sila want to rest? In this latter part, I will let you fight
against one thing. If you win, you will pass.”
Sila examined his
own body. He found that he was at his best. All energy resources were filled
while he was talking with Divine.
“There’s no need,
sir. In my current state, I think I can even beat a dragon,” Sila exaggerated
to show Divine how ready he was.
“That’s good. Then,
as soon as this thing comes out, your trial shall begin,” Divine said.
Sila nodded. He
stretched his body. As days had passed, he had already become very accustomed
to moving in slime form.
“By the way, what is
the identity of this one thing you mentioned?” Sila asked.
“I don’t know. But I
think Sila knows,” Divine replied.
“Why?” Sila asked
with confusion in his voice. This is the trial Divine had prepared. How could
he know the content beforehand?
Divine didn’t answer
and hopped backward from Sila around ten meters. Next, his body flashed an
intense light. It caused Sila to temporarily close his eyes.
Once Sila reopened
his eyes, he was shocked. Divine was still standing in the same spot. But there
was one more thing stood beside Divine.
Divine referring to
it as ‘one thing’ was understandable. This creature in front of Sila didn’t
look close to anything in this world. It was just a lump of black ooze without
proper form. Its killing intent was spreading out like a virus.
This lump of black
ooze soon shrunk and twisted. It turned itself into some form similar to a
human.
Currently, it was a
three-meter tall human with three arms. Its body was distorting. Its face
revealed strong resentment.
Even though its face
and body were pitch dark like black ink, Sila was able to recognize the
identity of this thing.
Divine said softly
as if he could read Sila’s mind. “It is your own inner self.”
Sila panicked as his
dark-self dashed at him using Qi of Little Bird. Its body was also glowing red
with Qi of Little Tiger as it rushed at him at terrifying speed.
Sila was shocked
because of the thing approaching him. He had never imagined that his inner self
was this ugly. However, that wasn’t important right now. Sila was now more
worried due to the fact that this dark creature could clearly use Qi of Little
Divine Beings.
Meanwhile, Sila had
to depend on only Qi Reinforcement and the three slime-race skills. He couldn’t
circulate qi or fire hidden weapons in his current state.
Sila recalled the
time when Poluk fought against the trolls. He imitated Poluk’s actions by
changing his body to become softer and dashed toward the enemy.
His inner self
didn’t seem to be surprised by Sila’s actions. It lifted its hand which was
glowing in intense Qi of Little Tiger and prepared to strike Sila. This
attack seemed powerful as if it could kill Sila in one hit.
Once the red claw
coming Sila’s way was about to hit him, Sila immediately increased his
heaviness with Formless Soldier. His body turned black and descended down into
the ground, causing the attack from his enemy to miss.
When Sila was about
to touch the ground, he changed his body to become softer again. His body
bounced against the ground and charged at the chin of his inner self. He also
didn’t forget to change his body to become harder upon contact.
The sound of
metallic clashing could be heard. Sila panicked as he found out that his
opponent’s body was as sturdy as metal. It seemed his inner self was also able
to use Formless Soldier.
Moreover, based on
its black appearance, it seemed his inner self was activating hardening aspect
of Formless Soldier all the times. It couldn’t be easily injured like this.
Sila felt uneasy. He was
pushed back against the ground. He relied on the momentum and softened his body
to bounce himself up again with double the speed. He didn’t forget to activate
Qi Reinforcement skill this time.
Their body collided
strongly. Sila depended on the recoil to hop backward several meters. He looked
at his inner self and found that there was a crack on its chin.
Sila released a sigh
of relief as he discovered that at least his inner self wasn’t immortal.
He was slightly
dizzy though, as he still wasn’t accustomed to bouncing himself back and forth.
Sila focused his
mind and jumped at his opponent again. Although his inner self was full of
power, it was quite stupid. Sila smiled softly. He didn’t know whether he
should be happy or sad because of the fact that his inner self is stupidly
honest and relied only on direct confrontation.
Repeating the same
method to attack, he bounced upward and hit his inner self’s chin. If things
went on like this, its injuries would accumulate until it lost.
Sila charged at the
same spot. The crack on its chin was widened. Sila used this opportunity to
bounce against the ground and rush at it again for the third time.
Sila’s inner self
wasn’t just waiting for an incoming attack. Its left hand was glowing in blue
aura and swiftly moved beautifully like a little fish playing in the lake. It
grabbed Sila’s body with ease.
Sila panicked. He
was too careless and forgot that his opponent possessed Qi of Little Fish. Although
it hadn’t been enhanced with Qi of Little Tiger, the hand that grabbed onto
Sila was as hard as steel, preventing him from getting away.
All five fingers
squeezed tightly, causing Sila to feel pain all over his body.
Sila, who was in
slime form, didn’t have hands or legs to resist this predicament. He had to
rely on the hardening aspect of Formless Soldier to withstand an incoming
attack. The sound of metal grating against metal was loud.
Against Sila’s
resistance, the inner self used its right-hand empowered with Qi of Little
Tiger to strengthen its grip on Sila.
The force Sila had
to withstand increased by several times. Sila was screaming in pain. If this
went on, he would surely die. His opponent even had one remaining arm to attack
him.
Having no other
choice, Sila’s body color turned into red with the help of Orbiting Cosmos.
Sila’s body was hotter than fire as he spent all his magic power into executing
this move.
The inner self
screamed in pain. Its hands released their grasp slightly. Sila hurriedly used
this opportunity to make his body softer and struggled out of its grasp.
He then moved back
to take a moment of rest.
Sila looked at his
inner self. Its eyes stared back at him. The color on its body had changed into
bluish black. The vapor with icy sensation was released from its entire body.
Sila swallowed his
saliva. His opponent used skill after skill as though its source of power was
limitless. It was currently using the hardening aspect of Formless Soldier
enhanced with the ice element from Orbiting Cosmos. It even maintained this
state constantly.
His inner self
glared at Sila without blinking. At that moment, Divine walked in between Sila
and his inner self. He turned his head to talk with Sila.
“Let me stop this
battle for a moment. I have something to tell Sila first,” Divine said.
Sila didn’t take his
sight away from the inner self while shifting some of his attention to Divine.
“It seems Sila has
misunderstood the objective of this trial,” Divine said.
“Misunderstood?
How?” Sila wondered.
“Yes. This is a
psychic-type trial. Sila needs to depend only on Transparent Slime to achieve
victory against this thing. Otherwise, even if Sila overwhelmingly beats it
down, I will still have to give you a failing grade.”
Sila pulled a wry
face. “But, sir, Transparent Slime only causes my body to become more
transparent. I can’t see how it will help me in a fight.”
“That completely
depends on yourself. For psychic type, a resolute mind is the source of the
skill. If Sila believes that skill can do that much, it will only amount to
that much,” Divine commented.
Sila was immersed in
thought for a while.
“Then, let’s
continue. As I have said before, this trial’s difficulty depends on Sila
yourself,” Divine said while jumping backward.
Once Divine got out
of combat range, the inner self was releasing an ice-cold killing intent toward
Sila once again. Its eyes were fixed on Sila.
Since he was told to
rely on Transparent Slime, Sila closed his eyes and tried to remain calm.
Except for this method, he was clueless about what he must do.
As the inner self
witnessed Sila closing his eyes, it roared. It bared its fangs and jumped at
Sila with Qi of Little Bird at high speed.
Sila’s calmness was
rippled due to the roar. His body’s transparency became slightly dimmer.
Once the inner self
approached Sila, it lifted its claw to strike at him strongly. Sila was hit and
push away by its force, causing him to smash against the wall behind.
Sila gritted his
teeth while enduring the painfulness. ‘It doesn’t work at all.’ He thought
before opened his eyes.
In practice,
Transparent Slime was already quite hard. For him to empty his mind in
life-and-death battle, it was nearly impossible.
Sila looked at his
opponent, then, he stumbled onto something.
There was a slight
crack on his inner self’s hand. It was a very small crack that he might
overlook if he didn’t pay enough attention.
Sila hurriedly tried
to come up with an answer. He was sure he hadn’t attacked its hand before. How
does a crack appear there?
‘Was it… when it
attacked me previously?’
Sila pushed himself
out of the wall. He hopped forward to confront the inner self. He recalled
Divine’s advice. So far, Sila had overcome trial after trial because he
depended on the advice he had been given (except from Viola whom didn’t give him
any.)
“…We don’t have to
fight against anyone. We fight against ourselves and opponents fight against
themselves. A calm mind like a mirror will reflect everything…” Divine’s
sentences appeared in Sila consciousness.
“A calm mind like a
mirror…” Sila muttered.
“The strongest
psychic is a calm mind…” Sila continued.
“Calm… Mirror… We
fight against ourselves and opponents fight against themselves…”
Meanwhile, the inner
self dashed at Sila without delay.
Sila closed his
eyes. He started to understand. We fight against ourselves and opponents fight
against themselves. At that instant, everything around Sila became meaningless
for him. Everything became nothingness. What was left were only the emptiness
and stillness.
Still like a mirror…
A mirror which can reflect everything.
Sila body was as
transparent as Divine.
Divine, who was
standing nearby, gave Sila a smile.
‘Very skillful. He
is indeed more suited to be a psychic-type player. But he will have to keep
himself in this state all the time to be considered a true expert,’ Divine
thought.
Once the inner
self’s dark claw, filling with an insane amount of qi, struck at Sila’s
transparent body; Sila’s body was illuminating an intense white light. The
surroundings were covered by such light.
Then, the light
faded off. Sila reopened his eyes.
The inner self stood
in front of him. Its boy was full of cracks. It soon dissolved into particles
and slowly dispersed in thin air.
A system sound
alarmed.
Player Sila has
overcome the trial of the Way of Slime (Psychic Part.) Skill (F)
Transparent Slime has been promoted to skill (S)Moon Reflecting Mirror. Player Sila has
overcome all three parts of the Way of Slime’s ordeal. Skill (F) Heart of
Slime has been promoted to skill (S) Way of Slime.
Sila was surprised
by the fact that the Heart of Slime skill also got promoted.
Racial skill: (S)
Moon Reflecting Mirror Psychic-type skill.
An art of psychic manipulation. Can be used to change part of the body or its
junction to become mirror-like, being able to reflect power. Decreases the
efficiency of illusions by 50%. Decreases an
opponent’s psychic-based attack power by 20%.
Racial skill: (S)
Way of Slime [Sealed until player
can comprehend the way of slime.]
Sila looked at Way
of Slime’s description with a frown. It seemed he had got another strange and
hard-to-understand skill again. Slime race is indeed a very difficult race to
play.
“Why is my Way of
Slime skill sealed?” Sila asked Divine.
“I can’t answer
that. If Sila really wants to know, it’s better to ask to the slime who has
this same skill.”
“Who is it?”
“Slime King. His
Majesty is the sole slime who possess this skill. No, that’s incorrect.
Currently, Sila is another slime who possess it even though you still can’t use
it,” Divine answered.
Sila nodded. He was
bound to go back to visit Slime King again anyway. It’s due to the fact that he
still hadn’t turned back to human form even though he had passed the ordeal.
“Before Sila go, I
would like to give Sila a warning regarding the Moon Reflecting Mirror’s
weaknesses,” Divine said.
“Does this skill
have weaknesses? Sila asked. He just noticed that it’s an S-grade skill without
apparent weakness shown in the skill description.
“Although this skill
possesses very high utility and is able to counter almost every kind of
attacks, due to Sila’s own lack of experience, it currently has three weaknesses,”
Divine explained.
Sila nodded. He
could accept the fact that this skill has weakness due to his own incompetence.
He knew full well that this skill was very hard for him to use.
“First, the concept
of this skill heavily relies on emptying your mind. With Sila’s current
ability, you wouldn’t be able to activate it together with other skills,”
Divine said. Sila completely agreed with this. He was indeed unable to empty
his mind while performing other activities.
“Second, this skill
only works for attacks that you understand ability of or are familiar with. The
mirror can only reflect what it sees.
“Lastly, with Sila’s
current ability, you would only able be to use this skill in a defensive
manner. However, Moon Reflecting Mirror can actually be used to directly
perform an offensive act. All slime racial skills always have more than one way
of being used,” Divine concluded.
“How can I do that,
sir?” Sila asked.
“You have to find
the answer by yourself. I can only give you a hint: a mirror doesn’t only
reflect an enemy, it can also reflect oneself.”
A light flashed at
the edge of the cliff. Sila was standing next to Divine. They had returned to
the top of the Cliff of Heroes.
Sila looked around.
He couldn’t see Bow anywhere.
“Mister Divine… umm…
what about… Bow? Did she pass the trial?” Sila asked in a low voice.
“No, she didn’t,”
replied Divine.
“She didn’t pass?
Any of the trials?” Sila asked slowly. He was quite afraid of the answer.
“Yes. She didn’t
pass any trials.”
“You mean Bow… has
died?” Sila muttered slowly. A sadness filled his heart.
A cute girl like
that had died. Although she was only an AI, as Sila interpreted that Monster
Soul was another world, he couldn’t help but think that she was a living
creature.
“I haven’t died yet,
Big Brother.” The sound of a young girl came from behind Sila.
Sia turned his head
to look. Bow was standing there between Poluk and Viola.
“Bow!! Thank god you
are fine.” Sila smiled.
All of the Slime
Guardians gathered together, so Sila used this chance to clear his doubt.
“Why is Bow…? I
mean, didn’t you tell me that failing in the ordeal was equal to death?”
“Do you think we are that cruel?” Poluk
said, “I believe that I’m quite kind.”
“No, sir, but you
have told me yourself that if one fails, one will have to die,” Sila replied.
“It’s just a
pretense to prevent ignorant slimes from needlessly challenging the ordeal. If
there’s no such pretense, we would have no time to rest. The slime has to be
confident in their own ability to a certain extent before daring to challenge
the ordeal. This little girl is the only one who jumped down the cliff without
any thoughts,” Viola said.
Bow was dejected.
She heard that Sila had overcome all the three trials while she couldn’t
overcome a single one.
“I believe it will
take Bow only a year before Bow can pass the psychic-part trial,” Divine
commented.
Bow gave a big
smile. She indeed almost passed the psychic-part trial. The thing that
prevented her from passing was the fact that she hadn’t won against her inner
self with Transparent Slime so Divine didn’t give her a passing grade even
though it was her overwhelming victory.
Divine explained
that she won because her inner self was too weak compared to her actual body.
For the record, people like this are rare. Bow just needed to bump into her
inner self one time to make it disappear. Divine couldn’t let her pass like
this as it wasn’t helpful in real combat.
“I think it’s best
that we visit His Majesty. His Majesty must have waited for a long time
already,” Viola suggested.
All five slimes
slowly went to the palace. During their journey, there were many slimes
greeting them. Bow was boasting about Sila’s triumph along the way, causing
everyone to know that Sila had become the second slime after Slime King who
possessed all three slime skills.
There was a
commotion in the slime society. They really hoped Sila was able to release them
from the curse.
***
Slime King slowly
nodded after he heard the story of Sila overcoming the three trials from Bow.
Sila heard the story
from Bow’s mouth and felt as if it wasn’t like his own story at all. For
instance, Sila overcame Poluk’s trial without having to fight (it was actually
like that, but Bow described it as if even Poluk wasn’t worthy to be Sila’s
opponent); Sila competed against Viola neck and neck even with his low aptitude
in magic, (during this explanation, Viola’s brows were twitching, causing Sila
to break out in a cold sweat); Lastly, Sila could win against his inner self
even with his eyes closing.
Once Bow finished
the story, she stepped back to Sila. He used this chance to whisper to her.
“Bow, were you
watching me?”
“No, Big Brother. I
heard your story from Mister Poluk and explained it in a way that I
understand,” Bow smiled back.
Sila sighed. Seeing
Bow’s innocent eyes, he couldn’t reject a thing.
Slime King discussed
something with the three Slime Guardians before turning his head to Sila.
“You have overcome
the Way of Slime’s ordeal. Now, it’s my turn to grant you one… no, two
rewards,” Slime King said.
A change occurred in
Sila’s body, setting off a system notification.
Player Sila has
overcome the Way of Slime’s ordeal. Player’s status and rank have been promoted
to Blue Slime of Knight Rank, Level 1. Player Sila has
obtained the Map of the Eight Slime Seals.
Sila could feel that
his body had grown to the size of a football. His usual pink color also changed
to a blue like Poluk’s.
For the map, he
opened it and found that it was a map of Monster Soul. There were eight
colorful spots on the map. The brown spot had been crossed out though.
“This map contains
the location of all the Slime Seals. The spots are the current locations of
each dragon. Once you exterminate them all, the slime seal on this kingdom will
be broken,” Slime King explained.
Sila nodded. He had
been thinking he needed to travel across the world to search for Slime Seals.
If there was this map, it would be easier for him to find the seal.
Slime King closed
his eyes. His body was glowing in an intense golden light, enveloping the
entire palace. Once the light dispersed, there was a middle aged man standing
in front of Sila.
This man was
handsome and gave off the charm of an adult man. His hair was golden in color.
His body was muscular and lean. He was wearing golden noble clothes. A crown
which used to be on top of the Slime King was currently on top of this man.
Sila eyes widened.
“Your Majesty?”
“Yes. Why are you
shocked? This is my psychic body. I believe you have already witnessed this
skill with Divine,” Slime King replied.
“Um, yes, it’s just
that I never thought that Your Majesty is the psychic type.”
“This type suits me.
Whatever, now is not the time for this. We need to discuss the Way of Slime
skill first,” Slime King said, which reminded Sila of the reason he came here.
“Usually, all slime skills share a common drawback. They can only be used when
the user is in a slime form.”
Sila eyes widened
again. He looked at himself. Does he have to stay in this form?
“That would be
troublesome, Your Majesty. Indeed, this form can fight monsters. But if I visit
the city, won’t I become a target of the players?” Sila asked.
“You have a point.
Anyway, with you overcoming the ordeal, you can now switch form between a slime
and a human.”
Sila felt relieved.
Nevertheless, having to change form during combat was still troublesome.
“And with you
successfully passing all the trials, the Way of Slime skill you obtained will
allow you to activate slime skills even in a human form,” Slime King continued.
Sila finally smiled.
He was glad he doesn’t need to switch form during the fight since it was
somehow uncool.
“Try activating Way
of Slime,” Slime King suggested.
“Way of Slime!” Sila
shouted.
Sila’s body flashed
briefly. Once the light dispersed, he had already returned to his human form.
Sila looked at his own body and tried moving his arms.
“Now, follow me to
the Cliff of Heroes,” Slime King ordered.
“Cliff of Heroes?
Why are we going there again, Your Majesty?” Sila asked.
“If you want an
answer, just try activating the slime skills.”
Sila tried to
execute the slime-race skills but he failed. He couldn’t use even one of them.
“Your human form
still isn’t used to slime skills. Don’t worry, though. I will train you,” Slime
King said.
“Your Majesty will
train me?” Sila felt curious.
“Yes. In this
kingdom, I am the only person who can use all three slime skills so it should
be me to train you in using them.”
“But…” Sila felt it
was improper for him to receive personal training from the king of a kingdom.
“Are you doubting my
ability? That can’t be helped. I have yet to show you what I am capable of…
Hey, Poluk,” Slime King turned his attention toward Poluk.
Sila was about to
correct the misunderstanding, but Poluk had already lifted a stone the size of
a fist and thrown it toward Slime King at a high speed.
Slime King lifted
his left hand. Although his hand’s movement was slow, it connected with the
fist-sized stone at the right time with precision.
Once the stone collided
with his hand, it changed direction and headed towards Sila, moving even faster
than before. Sila didn’t have time to react. The stone flew past his face and
scraped his cheek slightly.
The explosion sound
could be heard behind Sila. He turned his head to look with a shocked
expression. The area behind him had turned into a crater with a radius longer
than 10 meters. It was as if a mini meteor had hit it.
Sila’s left cheek
was bleeding.. The blood was slowing dripping down.
“I just swept the stone
using Moon Reflecting Mirror, strengthened it using the hard and heavy
attributes of Formless Soldier, and I also imbued the elemental powers of fire
and wind into it using Orbiting Cosmos. How about it? Am I qualified to teach
you?”
“Y-yes…” Sila
replied weakly.
“Good. Everyone go
do your own work. As for you, kid, follow me,” Slime King said.
Sila went behind
Slime King. Bow also followed him.
In the town, the
Slime King was greeting all slime residents in a friendly manner. Sila admired
how the Slime King wasn’t haughty at all. All slimes also seemed to respect
their king.
Once they had
arrived at the edge of the cliff, Slime King turned his head to look at Bow.
“Bow, you should
back off now. You aren’t ready to take part in the trial. Your ability is still
lacking,” Slime King said.
“But I want to get
out soon,” Bow disputed.
“Bow, seriously,
with your ability, even if you were to go out, you would get killed by a
human.”
“But…” Bow argued.
She was making a sad expression.
Sila heard their
conversation and came up with an idea.
“I have a method to
let Bow get outside,” He said.
“What method, Big
Brother?” Bow asked. Her face was filled with happiness.
Sila lifted his left
hand up. His middle finger was equipped with a ring of triangular shape. “With
an item that can seal monsters.”
“Yes! If I were to
become a pet and let Big Brother Sila seal me inside the ring, I would be able
to go outside!” Bow felt excited.
“But Bow, you still
can’t take care of yourself. Your rank and level are still at Squire Rank,
level 1,” Slime King objected.
“No problem. I’ll
take care of her until she can take care of herself,” Sila volunteered.
“Are you sure? I bet
that all sorts of problems will come at you if you bring Bow outside,” Slime
King warned.
Sila couldn’t
understand what Slime King meant. But he was sure about his decision.
“Up to you. Don’t
regret it later,” Slime King said.
Bow was hopping with
happiness. Her body was glowing in pink light.
Player Sila has
obtained Bow - Pink Slime, Squire Rank, Level 1 as a pet with monster’s
consent. You couldn’t rename its name.
The light faded off.
Bow was smiling ear to ear.
“Kid, you should
know that the path of a destroyer and the path of a protector use different
kinds of resolve,” Slime King warned again.
“It’s my decision,
Your Majesty,” Sila replied.
“Bow is my daughter.
I will have to train you harder to ensure that you are capable of protecting
her.”
“No problem, Your
Majesty. I can endure any hardship,” Sila said while looking at Slime King with
his head held high.
Slime King giggled.
He walked toward the edge of the cliff.
“I thought I would
hold back for a bit at first. But based on the story Bow has told and your
voice just now, I believe you can endure my training. You’re the hope of the
slime race anyway. Don’t worry. I will train you until you can fight against
dragons without shame.”
Slime Kind said
before jumping into the cliff.
Sila sighed. There
was no turning back for him now. He jumped down, following Slime King.
i cant tell if Sila is playing a game and just wanting more pets, because if i was playing the game 'for real' so to speak, i wouldn't endanger a cute girl's life like that. not very gentlemanly. especially the friggin slime princess.
i cant tell if Sila is playing a game and just wanting more pets, because if i was playing the game 'for real' so to speak, i wouldn't endanger a cute girl's life like that. not very gentlemanly. especially the friggin slime princess.
Given how naive Sila is, I guess he just feels sympathy at Bow for being locked in a cage. Moreover, he might believe that, once the real danger comes, he can just seal her inside the ring.
A bluish light flashed at the edge of the forest near the harbor. Sila’s body emerged from that light. There was nobody here. Sila walked toward the port where the battle between the Four Emperors had occurred.
The current city port was suitable to be called such. There were many merchants selling their products in the stalls. Sila approached one of the merchants to ask about his current location.
The map that Sila had obtained from the Slime King wasn’t like the typical map used by other players. It was just a piece of leather with eight colorful dots. There were no symbols or words indicating where he was. It just told him about the dragon’s locations.
Sila could tell where the Beginning Island was based on the crossed-away brown dot, but he couldn’t say for sure where he was using the map.
After he had conversed with the merchant, Sila walked away.
He tried to open his map again. Now he knew where he was. The dot closest to him was the cyan dot. But there was a big problem. That dot was located in the middle of an ocean.
‘Do I have to swim there?’ Sila tensed.
Sila was currently going in the direction he had asked for. He was searching for a clue to obtain Qi of Little Turtle.
Lockheart City was a relatively large city port compared to Beginning Town. Although it wasn’t as big as the three main cities, it was very economically important. That was because all the players stepping onto the Main Continent had to visit this place first.
The economic state of this city was always booming. The city was titled as “A Gateway to the Main Continent.”
Sila was surprised by the embellishment of the city. While Beginning Town had a Chinese-like atmosphere, this city was giving off an Ancient Greek vibe.
Sila looked at the buildings. He was astonished. The details engraved in each building were realistic and even surreal. He was sometimes lost in thought and forgot for a while that this place was a virtual reality.
The first place Sila visited was the Item Shop. He spent 150,000 silver coins and 15 gold coins to purchase miscellaneous things. The gold coins were spent on the best map he could find. Sila thought he should have it since it was his duty to search for the dragons scattered around the continent.
100,000 silver coins were used to buy a B-grade tent that allowed a single player to rest inside. He decided to buy it as he was currently unable to circulate qi to release his fatigue.
Then, Sila opened his system window and turned on the navigation function available for C-grade system windows or above. Sila selected his destination as the Lockheart City branch of the Blue Pigeon information guild.
A small arrow appeared in front of him. It pointed him in the right direction while also showing him the remaining distance he had to walk.
Sila followed the arrow until he reached his destination and then watched as the arrow disappeared. The building had a Greek-themed appearance, similar to the surrounding buildings. A noticeable difference, however, was that there was a symbol of a blue pigeon hiding behind the white cloud on the signpost located at the entrance. Sila walked inside.
Inside the building, it was similar to a simple pub. There was no one inside except one long-haired male bartender who was sleeping soundly. His face fell down on the counter bar.
Sila furrowed his brows. He had imagined that the information guild should be livelier than this. He re-confirmed that he was in the right place. Then, he walked toward the chair in front of the sleeping bartender.
“Excuse me?” Sila muttered while poking at him.
The bartender woke up with a fright. “Whoa. I wasn’t sleeping, Boss! I’m just resting my eyes for a while.”
Once he realized that the person in the opposite of him wasn’t his boss, he sighed in relief.
“Hello, sir. What business do you have with our Blue Pigeon information guild?” He greeted Sila, completely disregarding the previous situation like it had nothing to do with him.
Sila also wasn’t interested whether this bartender was sleeping or just resting his eyes. He immediately got into the topic. “I want news about the Underwater Palace.”
The bartender looked Sila straight in the eyes. He was estimating whether the man in front of him possessed enough money for such information. It was due to the Beggar’s Cloak Sila was wearing.
The bartender opened his system window and clicked several buttons. He later informed Sila: “300 gold coins for that information, sir.”
Sila was slightly surprised by how expensive it was. However, he had no other choice. He took out a black credit card and handed it to the bartender.
The bartender widened his eyes. This kind of credit card was only possessed by tycoons or vice-leader level figures. He didn’t expect to see it from this man. Nevertheless, he took it and scanned the card before returning it to Sila.
“May I ask whether your system window is D-grade or above?” The bartender asked, which Sila nodded.
The bartender nodded back. Having this level of a credit card, it was not weird for this man to possess a high-grade system window.
“In that case, I will send the information directly to your inbox. You can find it in the news window, sir.”
The mail icon appeared in front of Sila briefly before disappearing. Sila opened his system window and found that there were three unusual messages in his inbox.
From Burapha 1/3 Big Brother Sila, I have something to tell you. Please contact me as soon as possible. From Varee 2/3 Why can’t I contact you? Did your avatar die? Please contact me when you have revived. From Varee 3/3 It has been too many days already. Are you facing any problems? Why can’t I contact you at all even with the ring?
Sila ignored the messages. He guessed Burapha must have finished the accessory and already contacted Varee. It was five days since he had gotten the last message. He believed those two must have already met and that Varee should have obtained the jewelry already.
About the inability to contact, it must be due to him being in the Slime Kingdom. Although the ring has the ability to contact the other wearer unconditionally, its ability was clashing with the Slime Kingdom’s setting that didn’t allow outside contact. It seemed the restriction of the Slime Kingdom’s setting was more powerful.
The Ring of Commitment wasn’t as invincible as Sila had previously thought. It didn’t allow the couple to contact and follow each other to everywhere. The special places in Monster Soul usually have a unique restriction. For example, the Slime Kingdom that only allows a slime-race creature to enter, or Sila’s Chamber of Secrets that only allows people that Sila has given Invitation Cards to.
Sila read the information regarding the Underwater Palace.
Underwater Palace The Underwater Palace is one of the four mysterious places that the players can only access once per year. On the night of the full moon in the fifth month, the Underwater Palace floats up and allows the players to enter. The place is protected by the Great Millennium Turtle, which has a low chance of dropping a scroll of Qi of Little Turtle upon being defeated. *Note: Qi of Little Turtle is one of the four Qi of Little Divine Beings. *Note: The four mysterious places consisted of the Underwater Palace, the Labyrinthine Forest Cathedral, the Cloudy City, and theTransworld Lake. More details about them can be purchased at any branch of Blue Pigeon information guild.
There was a mini-map attached at the end of the message. Sila furrowed his brows. He didn’t think this information was worth the money he had spent.
The bartender seemed to know what was Sila thinking as he was quick to explain. “Little Brother, you may think that it’s not worth your money. But this is the information relating to Qi of Little Divine Beings that the Qi Emperor himself is using, you know? It is bound to be expensive.”
Sila didn’t reply. He was concerned about the fact that there were several months left until the Underwater Palace floated up and allowed entry. He had to come up with an alternative method.
“Is there another way to go there besides waiting for it to float up?” Sila asked.
“Don’t be rash. Okay. Since you have already purchased the information, I will give you this additional tip for free. Actually, for those four mysterious places, you don’t have to wait for the specific time. But that’s up to your ability.”
“What do you mean?” Sila asked. He was hopeful.
“Just go directly. But it’ll obviously be harder. For instance, you have to dive into the bottom of the ocean to fight Great Millennium Turtle underwater instead of waiting for it to come up. As for the Labyrinthine Forest Cathedral, you have to pass through its maze-like structure instead of waiting for it to appear. For the Cloudy City, you have to fight in the sky instead of waiting for it to descend. As for the Transworld Lake, there is a method but I don’t know what it is.”
Sila tried to think of a way for him to reach the bottom of the ocean. Moreover, he would have to fight the Great Millennium Turtle underwater. It was indeed too hard, especially when he wasn’t able to circulate qi like this.
“Is there a way for me to stay underwater for a long time?” Sila asked.
“There is. I will give this information for free. But I think it won’t be helpful to you,” The bartender said.
“Yes? What is it?” Sila was glad to hear that there was a way.
“You have to become a merperson or have a friend who is one. I have heard that this race can breathe underwater and also possesses an ability that allows an ally to breathe underwater for a while.”
“Merperson?” Sila repeated the word.
“Yes. From our Blue Pigeon information guild’s research, there is only one player who is playing as a merperson. To search for one particular player in the entirety of Monster Soul, even our Blue Pigeon information guild is not confident. There is no information at all regarding this player. We currently believe that he or she must be a new player or a fameless player.”
Sila smiled. Coincidentally, he was an acquaintance of that particular player. That player must be Burapha. It seemed that there was a need for Sila to contact Burapha.
Sila opened his friends window to contact Burapha but he found that the opposite party was currently offline. He had no choice but to leave Burapha a message.
The bartender saw Sila contacting someone immediately so his reporter’s instinct kicked in.
“Little Brother, surely you don’t know the identity of the player who plays as a merperson?”
“I know who he is, but he is offline. I just left him a message for now,” Sila honestly replied.
The bartender was shocked. Was this a chance for him to show his guild some results? If things go well, he might be forgiven for the mistake he had made. The guild master would quit punishing him by forcing him to work in this boring position.
The information regarding the identity of the sole merperson player was very valuable. The merpeople were rumored to be masters of high-class jewelry craftsmanship. Its demand exceeded the dwarfs’ craftsmanship.
“Little Brother, can you please tell me who he is?” the bartender asked slowly.
Sila frowned. “Why do you want to know?”
“Information regarding the merpeople race is in high demand right now. If the news about your friend goes out, your friend would become well-known. His jewelry would be able to sell well. He will be super rich!”
Sila furrowed his brows. He didn’t know whether Burapha wanted to become well-known or not. But he, for sure, shouldn’t decide in Burapha’s place.
“I can’t decide that for my friend. If he wanted to be famous, he would handle the news himself,” Sila replied.
The bartender turned his head left and right to double-check that there was no one else here.
“If it’s about money, I’ll give you lots of it.”
“I’m not lacking in money,” Sila said.
The bartender just realized that this man possessed the black credit card. It was a stupid move for him to try to use money to bribe Sila.
“If there’s nothing else, I will take my leave,” Sila stood up from his chair.
“Wait! How about information? The information that our Blue Pigeon information guild possesses is top class with high accuracy. Some information is even worth more than a thousand gold coins. Such information is usually only available for insiders to purchase, but today I will make an exception. I will gladly trade it for your information.”
Sila started to feel interested. Of course, he still wouldn’t decide for Burapha’s place. But he was interested in finding out what kind of information was expensive among players. It would cost him nothing to hear the deal before he left.
“Are you interested now?” The bartender asked.
Sila nodded. “What kind of information?”
“The first one is my recommendation. You’re playing qi type, right?”
Sila nodded.
“I have a recipe for refining Emperor Qi Pellet. It is the highest grade of medicine for qi-type players. It allows you to promote your rank unconditionally and tremendously increase your qi points. The recipe is top-secret known only by Hermit, the strategist of the Victorious Wolves Sect.”
Sila was interested as this pellet was related to Lone Wolf. Sila felt he was currently indebted to this man.
The bartender could see that Sila was drawn to this information. He started to explain more.
“The rumor said this pellet is golden in color and gives off an aura of powerful qi. Once consumed, you will feel warm inside. It will detoxify any poison in the body and increase your maximum qi points tremendously.”
Actually, this was a sly move of the bartender.
Previously, Hermit had personally come and sold this information to the information guild for a high price. But once the information was obtained, the Blue Pigeon information guild’s members realized that they had been tricked by Hermit. Although the recipe is real, the only person who could perform the process of refining the pills was Hermit. Thus, this information became useless and no one would want to purchase it.
Once Sila had listened to the pellet’s characteristics, he became aware that it must be the same pellets Lone Wolf had given him. He also realized that he had forgotten to return the bottle of these pellets to Lone Wolf.
Sila opened his item window and took the bottle out.
“Are these the pellets you just mentioned?” Sila asked.
The bartender had his eyeballs on the verge of popping out. This man actually possessed Emperor Qi Pellets himself? It seemed that he just had carried coal to Newcastle.
T/N:
“Carried coal to Newcastle” is a proverb. It means ‘giving advice to someone
regarding a subject that they already know more about than you do.’
Sila kept the bottle inside his item window. There was one more thing he had to do, adding to his list. If these pellets were that valuable, he needed to quickly return them to Lone Wolf.
“Now, is there really any interesting information?” Sila asked. He was quite bored already.
The bartender felt like he was being humiliated. Hence, he chose to declare the most interesting news.
“My mistake. The next one is really big news.”
Sila was keeping his silence. The bartender felt ashamed that the other party didn’t take the initiative to ask. He opened his mouth nevertheless.
“It’s news about Shadow Emperor Zero and Qi Emperor Lone Wolf.”
“News about Mister Zero and Mister Lone Wolf?” Sila exclaimed. This was intriguing.
The bartender smiled. It seemed the other party got hooked by his information.
“Yes. Two weeks ago, the battle between the Four Emperors occurred. The current hottest topics among all players are about Lone Wolf’s card and Zero’s magical qi.”
Sila sighed in relief. He had thought something bad had happened to those two. He was relieved that it was just about their card and skill.
“We have gotten clues about Lone Wolf’s card and Zero’s method for using two energy types.”
“Clues?” Sila wondered. Why did the bartender use such word?
“Little Bro, you might think that they’re just mere clues. But our Blue Pigeon information guild is infamous regarding having the most accurate, in-depth, and worldwide information in all of Monster Soul. Although they’re only clues, I daresay using my head as the insurance that no one has yet to obtain such clues.”
“What kind of clues do you mean?” Sila asked.
The bartender was looking left and right again (there was still no one else there except for the two of them) prior to whispering to Sila.
“Keep it down and don’t tell anybody. My source said that Lone Wolf had gotten the card from the place called Mansion of Seven Deadly Sins. No one has yet to find out how to go there though. As for Zero, he has gotten his magical qi from Madmen’s Valley. But no one has found out the specific condition.”
The bartender was waiting for Sila to be shocked beyond words.
However, Sila was expressionless.
“Little bro, are you not shocked at all?” The bartender frowned.
Sila shook his head. “No, I already knew about those. I even know more than you.”
“Know more than this!?” The bartender exclaimed.
Sila nodded. “I’ve heard enough. I should go. Your information isn’t interesting for me at all.”
Sila got up from his seat again and was about to leave. But the bartender stopped him one more time.
“Wait! I have one more piece of news! This time for sure, you will be surprised.”
Sila turned his head back. “Better be so. I will listen to it one last time.”
“Sure. If you're not surprised by this news, I won’t stop you again.”
“Deal. Now, feel free to tell me,” Sila said.
The bartender sighed. He decided to declare the most popular topic nowadays. About this information, even the Blue Pigeon information guild was unaware. It was the information that he himself had obtained painstakingly. He had to travel back to Beginning Island and interview all the NPCs living there. He had to spend more than a week to obtain such precious information. He was sure that if what he had researched was made known to his superiors, his current punishment would be canceled.
“Have you heard about a player named Sila? I have exclusive news about him. It’s information that only I know,” He said.
Sila was very interested. He couldn’t imagine that there was news about him.
“What kind of news?” Sila asked quickly.
The bartender smiled. ‘Finally… finally… he is hooked!’
“The public information about player Sila is very well-known among many players. He is a lover of the Goddess of Purified Water. He seems to have some grudge against the Magic Emperor and that must be the reason that brought him into this game. His arrival itself has caused Monster Soul to experience some changes. Before, it was a cold war between three guilds: Heaven Dragon, Royal Armament, and Victorious Wolves. But now Montra and Cross have joined forces while Lone Wolf and Zero also did so. The situation has changed into a confrontation. A battle could start at any time. The battle at the port was one of the situations created by this fact. That’s why the news about Player Sila is in high demand right now.”
“What is the exclusive information that only you know?” Sila asked.
“About this information, if it was heard by anyone, they would feel shocked beyond imagination. Player Sila is a new star who is considered very skilled. No one has yet to find out the race he is playing as. But based on my personal research that I have spent more than a week to develop, I finally know that Player Sila is playing as…”
“…a slime,” Sila added the last words of the bartender’s sentence. He was very disappointed. He thought it was important information.
“Little Bro, you already knew?” The bartender's eyes were widening. His expression was as if he was witnessing a ghost.
“Yes. I’ve known for a while,” Sila answered.
“Looking at you, you seem to be a new player. May I ask how long have you been playing this game for? And when did you obtain this information?” The bartender asked slowly.
Sila calculated the time in his mind. He had selected slime as his race on the first day. Hence, his answer was:
“I started playing around two months ago based on in-game time. As for that information, I have known it since the first day.”
The bartender was agape, looking at Sila. He couldn’t shut his eyes at all.
“If you have nothing else to do with me, I would like to take my leave.” Sila left, leaving a soulless bartender behind.
Once Sila had left, the bartender took out some paper. He wrote a message on it and put the paper down on the counter. It said:
Dear Boss, Today, I have finally realized my own stupidity. I have believed I’m an all-knowing person. But in reality, I am even worse than a new player. I would like to be suspended from the guild’s job to search for the answer for myself. I would like to re-discover why I wanted to be a newshawk in the first place. Please forgive this stupid vice-leader of yours.
From a-frog-in-the-well, who believed a well is the entire world without witnessing an ocean, Bluebird P.S. Don’t look for me.
Later on, the Blue Pigeon’s guild master stumbled upon this message and was speechless.
Sila left the branch
of the Blue Pigeon information guild feeling disappointed. He had thought that
being an information guild, it would be more reliable. He was still unaware
that his actions had greatly affected the life of Bluebird, the vice-leader of
the Blue Pigeon information
guild.
Sila had nothing to
do while waiting for Burapha to contact him back. He wasn’t sure how long he
would have to wait for Burapha to come online. Hence, he decided to release Bow
and Lookhin.
“Release Lookhin.
Release Bow.”
A brown light
flashed out of the ring. Lookhin flew around the air before resting on Sila’s
shoulder. Meanwhile, a pink light flashed onto the ground. A pink slime
appeared after the flash and was looking around.
“Big Brother Sila,
is this the outside world?” Bow asked, “It’s so bright.”
“Yes. The outside
world is bright like this. You’ll get used to it in no time.”
“The outside world
is so big. It’s hard for me to see.”
Sila put Bow onto
his head. Bow was light so it wasn’t a
problem. He felt like he was wearing a hat.
“You can see many
things this way, right?” Sila said.
“We better go around
the town, Big Brother Sila.”
Sila nodded prior to
walking toward the market square. During his walk, Sila noticed that many
people were looking at him. But he didn’t care. News of him was bound to spread
all over Monster Soul. It wasn’t strange that some players might recognize him.
Sila was shopping
around the market, which Bow was very energetic about. She was interested in
many things and told Sila to stop at a shop that sells hair ribbons.
“How much is this
ribbon?” Sila asked the merchant girl.
“500 silver coins,
sir,” She answered while looking at Sila’s hair without blinking.
“Here is it. The
money.”
Sila handed over
silver coins. The merchant girl took it. She was still looking at Sila’s head
though.
Sila put the hair
ribbon onto Bow. “Do you like it, Bow? Take it as a gift to celebrate you
getting out of the Slime Kingdom.”
“Thank you, Big
Brother Sila,” Bow replied, causing the merchant girl to widen her eyes.
“We better find
something to eat. I’m quite hungry,” Sila told Bow. Both of them went to the
largest restaurant in the city.
Once Sila had gone,
the merchant girl muttered by herself. “That thing can talk?”
The news about the
talking pink creature began to spread.
***
Sila arrived at the
largest restaurant in the city. It was his first meal on the Main Continent so
he wanted it to be memorable. He also used this chance to introduce Bow to some
good food.
“Welcome! Welcome to
Lockheart’s restaurant. May I ask how many of you will be eating?” The waiter
came and greeted Sila.
Sila was hesitating
for a while. Lookhin shouldn’t be counted, right? But how about Bow?
Finally, he answered.
“Two people, please.”
“Please come this
way, sir. There are the seats next to the window on the second floor. You can
enjoy the good view of the sea there.”
“What is the sea,
Big Brother Sila?” Bow asked.
“Umm. It is a very
big well with water being salty, I guess?” Sila himself wasn’t sure about his
explanation. How could he describe the ocean or the sea?
“I want to see it.”
“You will see it
soon. No, I’ll even take you there in an upcoming day,” Sila said. He had
business at Underwater Palace anyway.
“Really?” Bow smiled
happily.
“Of course. Well,
it’s time to eat first,” Sila followed the waiter inside.
Once he had arrived
at his seat, Bow jumped and landed herself on the table. She was looking at the
sea with sparkling eyes.
Sila decided to not
interrupt her. He ordered many dishes and started to eat once the foods
arrived. The foods here were very delicious.
The best food he had
had was still a meal at Mansion of Seven Deadly Sins though.
Bow tried out every
dish. Sila was surprised. He had deliberately ordered more food than necessary
to keep some of it in his bento but Bow was able to finish it all. The amount
of food she had eaten was obviously larger than her small size. It was a wonder.
“Big Brother Sila,
it is rude to stare at a lady while she is eating, you know?” Bow pouted.
“Ermm. I’m just
curious. It seems Bow has a very big appetite.”
“Appetite? It isn’t
like that. We slime can eat however much we want. The amount of food doesn't
matter. I just saw that there was a lot of food left so I finished it.”
Sila nodded at Bow’s
answer. He was thinking to himself that he needed to order less food next time.
The system sound
alerted at that time.
Player Sila is being
contacted by Player Burapha.
Sila was happy to
hear the notification. He quickly opened his system window. An image of Burapha
appeared on Sila’s screen.
“Hello, Big Brother
Sila. Where have you been for many days? Big Sis Varee and I have been
searching for you,” Burapha asked.
“I have been in the
Slime Kingdom,” Sila replied.
“Slime Kingdom?”
Sila just realized
that he had never mentioned to Burapha that he was slime race. “I’m a
slime-race player. I went there to obtain the racial skills.”
“You’re a slime-race
player, Big Bro? Did I hear wrongly? You mean those slimes around Beginning
Town?”
“Yes. Those slimes,”
Sila replied, causing Burapha to become silent for a while.
“Sometimes I feel
like I can’t understand your action at all, Big Bro. You have a ton of rare
cards like Merpeople Cards. But you’re playing as the weakest slime race?”
As Bow had heard the
words ‘weakest slime race’, she disputed, “Slimes aren’t weak!!”
Burapha didn’t see
Bow, so he asked. “Who was that, big bro?”
Sila put Bow onto
his hand and showed her to the screen.
“Wow. Big Bro. What
is that? It’s cute.”
“A slime,” Sila
replied.
“A slime?” Burapha
stopped for a moment before continuing. “Oh, so this is its real form.”
“Real form?” This
time was Sila’s turn to be curious.
“Yes, Big Bro. Many
monsters in the game usually don’t show their real form to us. The real form is
only visible to the player of that race, or by being a pet or a partner with a
player. For example, have you ever seen a mermaid?” Burapha explained.
Sila nodded. He had
seen them in the event at Beginning Island.
“Then look at this…
release Lala,” Burapha said.
There was a
beautiful woman appearing beside Burapha.
“This is Lala. She
is my partner. I was surprised when I heard that people who choose merperson as
their race get a partner once one passes the racial ordeal. I guess it must be
due to the fact that jewelry production is impossible to perform alone. So, the
system prepares a partner for players who select this race.”
Sila was starting to
feel jealous of Burapha. No, he wasn’t jealous of Burapha getting a partner. He
was just comparing Burapha’s case to himself. The slime skills were very hard
to obtain. Plus, once he had gotten them, he had to undergo the hellish
practice with the Slime King.
If it wasn’t for the
fact that he was training at Cliff of Heroes, Sila’s level would’ve dropped.
The training was so difficult that he had died twice.
“I see,” Sila
replied.
“About the jewelry
that you asked me to make, I have already finished it. But as I couldn’t
contact you, and big sis Varee is too far away, I’m going to give it to you
directly.”
“That’s good. But
the reason I contacted you isn’t about this.”
“What is it, then?”
“Can you stay
underwater?” Sila asked.
“Of course, Big Bro.
I’m a merperson. I can stay underwater for an entire day.”
“Then, do you have
the skill to allow me to stay underwater?”
“I have. But you
can’t stay for long. Only about half an hour or so. Why do you want to stay
underwater, Big Bro?”
Sila was glad that
he could stay underwater for half an hour. “I would like to go to the
Underwater Palace.”
“The Underwater
Palace? Why don’t you just wait for it to float up?”
“I’m in urgent need
of the Qi of Little Turtle’s skill book,” Sila replied.
Burapha fell silent
for a moment. He couldn’t understand why Sila was so hurried as they didn’t
know each other that much. But based on the last time they had met, Burapha
could see that Sila was a good man.
As Burapha also
wanted to return the favor of receiving Merpeople Cards, he didn’t ask for the
reason behind Sila’s urgency.
“Okay, Big Bro. I
will help. Where are you right now?”
“Lockheart City.”
“Good. I’m currently
on the ship going to Lockheart City. It will dock at the port tomorrow evening.
In this case, let’s meet in the city. I will contact you once I arrive there.”
Burapha said.
“Okay. See you
tomorrow.” Sila was about to end the conversation.
“Wait for a moment,
Big Bro. I have something to warn you about.”
“What is it,
Burapha?”
“It’s about your
pink slime. What is its name again?”
“My name is Bow,”
Bow replied as she heard the other party asking for her name.
“Yes. About Bow. I
personally think that it would be the best if Big Bro doesn’t let her go
outside while you’re in the city.”
“Why?” Sila
wondered. As Bow had only been in the Slime Kingdom, he wanted her to
experience new sceneries.
“Because this place
is Monster Soul. If we’re in another game, there would be several rules to
prevent players to perform evil deeds otherwise players would be punished. But
Monster Soul is a world without any rules. The system only provides users with
basic conveniences but doesn’t butt in no matter what players do. It is this
game’s charm while it’s also what makes this game dangerous. Players can do
whatever they want. Well, there were rules that were created by the majority of
players, but there are far too many who don’t follow those rules.”
Sila had heard about
this from Divine. Monster Soul is a lawless virtual reality.
“What’s the problem?
How is it related to Bow?” Sila asked.
“The problem is; Big
Bro has a cute slime that can talk. As I’m a merchant, I know very well that
this kind of product would sell at a ridiculously high price. There are many
people who would pay millions to make themselves stand out. Owning a unique pet
is one way to do so. There will definitely be someone who would succumb to this
greed and want to snatch Bow from you.”
“I’m not a pet,” Bow
said.
“Yes, and Bow is
also not a product,” Sila expressionlessly said.
“I understand, Big
Brother. But not everyone is like Big Bro or myself.
They might think differently and this
could easily make you enemies,” Burapha explained.
Sila was now
suppressing his anger. He wasn’t angry at Burapha, he was angry at the fact
that the world was filled with evil people. The people who snatch other
people’s possessions. The people who exploit others. The people who would
completely ignore other’s pain just for the sake of obtaining something they
selfishly want.
Sila couldn’t help
but think about Montra. “Disregarding the pain of other people just for the
sake of his personal gain.”
Burapha kept his
mouth shut as he didn’t know what Sila was thinking. The silence continued
until a loud voice broke out.
There were loud
voices on the first floor of the restaurant. The previous waiter came at Sila.
“Mister Customer,
we’re terribly sorry. There are people looking for you. May we ask for you to
pay the bill now? Don’t worry, sir, we will guide you to the exit at the backdoor,” The waiter politely suggested.
“Do you know why
they’re looking for me?” Sila asked with an expressionless face.
The waiter looked at
Bow and softly said. “They ask mister customer to hand them your pet, or else…
erm…”
“Or else…?” Sila
asked.
“Or else they will
kill you… The backdoor exit is this way, sir, I will personally guide you
there,” The waiter replied.
Sila handed his
credit card to the waiter prior to talking to Burapha. “See you tomorrow,
Burapha. Contact me when you’re here.”
“Okay, Big Bro.
Please be careful,” Burapha said. He didn’t dare to imagine what kind of fate
is waiting for those people who made Sila angry.
Sila stood up. Bow
jumped onto his head while Lookhin rested its claws on Sila’s right shoulder.
Its eyes were shone with greenish light. With Mind Connection, once Sila was
angry, it would become angry too.
Sila went to the first
floor. The waiter immediately tried to stop him. “Mister Customer! That way
leads to the front door, sir!” But Sila didn’t mind him and walked outside.
Now Sila understood
what problem the Slime King had mentioned about bringing Bow to the outside world.
But Sila didn’t care anymore. He already had so many enemies. Making one or two
more groups into his enemies wouldn’t make a difference.
Finally, Sila was
outside. Surrounding him was a group of twenty fully-armed players.
T/N: ‘Heaven Dragon
guild’ is changed to ‘Heavenly Dragon guild’ from this chapter onward.
Chapter 49:
Training’s Result
One week ago.
“Kid. do you know
why I’m training you at the bottom of the Cliff of Heroes?” the Slime King
said.
“Is it because of
its wide area?” Sila tried to come up with an answer.
“That’s one of the
reasons. But it isn’t the main one.”
“Then what is the
main reason, Your Majesty?” Sila was curious. Is there a secret to this place?
“The main reason is
due to the fact that this place is a sanctum of us slimes. It has one special
trait so we always use it as a training ground. As you have been tested by the
three trials, aren’t you curious why we use this place to conduct the trials?”
the Slime King explained.
Sila furrowed his
brows. Why this place is used to conduct the trials? He was really clueless.
“Why is it, Your
Majesty?”
“It’s to prevent an
accident. What do you think when you heard about failing in the ordeal equal to
death?”
“I think that it’s
too cruel. It just an ordeal. Failing shouldn’t result in death,” Sila honestly
replied.
“Are you seeing us
slimes as brutal creatures? We are a naturally non-aggressive monster; don’t
you know that?” Slime King said. A smile was forming at the corner of his
mouth.
Sila recalled all
the important slimes he had met. Although Slime King seemed strict, he surely
wasn’t a brutal person. Poluk was kind. Master Viola was self-centered but
wasn’t cruel. Divine seemed very modest. As for Bow, the word brutal didn’t
connect to her personality at all.
“No, Your Majesty.”
“That’s the main
reason. In this place, it’s impossible to die.”
“Impossible to die?”
Sila wondered. Dying is dying. What did ‘impossible to die’ mean?
“Yes. At the bottom
of the Cliff of Heroes, it will determine every near-death creature to be
lacking in qualifications and automatically sends them up to the edge of the
cliff. To put in simpler terms, once your health points are fully depleted, you
won’t be able to stay here,” the Slime King explained.
Sila nodded. He
finally understood the Slime King’s intention. This place would prevent any
accidental deaths. It was a great idea to use this kind of place as a training
ground. Sila was well-aware that serious sparring is hard because people tend
to hold back in sparring matches. How many sparring partners are there that are
ready to stab a knife at their opponent without hesitation? Holding back is a
way to ensure safety in a sparring match, but it also prevents the sparring
session from being fruitful.
However, if there
was a place where holding back was unnecessary since the sparring partner will
not die no matter what, the training will be as efficient as if the
participants are fighting to the death.
“That’s incredible.
By the way… why does Your Majesty have to inform me about this?” Sila asked.
“It is to put your
mind at ease. You can now die without regret, right?” the Slime King said with
a smile while Sila’s face suddenly became pale.
That was a week ago
when Sila’s hellish training had started.
***
Sila walked outside
slowly. He was surrounded by twenty players spread out like a fan. Although
Sila had been surrounded by enemies before, the quality is more important than
the quantity. As this place was the Main Continent, the players here would be
significantly stronger than the ones he had faced. Hence, Sila was very
cautious.
Unbeknownst to Sila,
Lockheart City is merely a gateway to Main Continent. Most of the players
staying in this city were players who had just arrived at Main Continent too.
This city’s only
good point was its economic aspects. Not many skilled players would spend their
time here if they had a choice.
That meant Sila’s
wariness was unnecessary. Almost all people here were players who had just
arrived at the Main Continent like him.
“Do you have
business with me?” Sila started a conversation.
“Don’t talk, kid.
Just hand over your pet to us. Or else, die,” A bulky man in wuxia clothes
said. He was holding an axe in his hand.
“Boss, even if he
hands it over, you’ll kill him anyway, won’t you?” said a man who was standing
behind the bulky man.
“Oh, yes, I totally
forgot. Then, just hand it over and you won’t die a painful death,” said the
boss before laughing out loud. The others in his group began laughing too.
Sila was looking
around. This place was indeed different from Beginning Town. Wandering players
would just ignore them without giving him a helping hand or showing a panicked
expression. The merchants were selling their products as if nothing was
happening. If Sila included the previous waiter who invited him out the
backdoor, he could guess that this situation was a common occurrence on the
Main Continent.
What Sila guessed
was indeed correct. On the Main Continent, there were more situations like this
than there were of people having a meal. The Main Continent is truly a world of
big fish eats little fish. Players rob and kill each other day after day. Thus,
most players on the Main Continent were apathetic and unconcerned about this
kind of event.
“What are you
looking for, kid? Is this your first time on the Main Continent? There
will be no one butting in to protect you here,” The boss of the bandit gang said.
Sila felt an odd
sensation. Sure, he also was the type that wouldn’t butt in to help others.
Looking back at when he had helped Tiger and Alice, it was purely due to him
having a grudge against the Heavenly Dragon’s guild members. He would have just
walked away otherwise.
Strangely, when the
same thing was happening to him, Sila felt depressed. He started to put himself
into other people’s shoes and decided to change. He decided he would be like
Lone Wolf and start helping innocent people if he could.
“I’m not hoping for
someone to help me. Anyway, I have my own business to attend to. Can you guys
just hurry up and come at me?” Sila calmly asked.
Silence fell. Even
the merchants now turned their attention toward Sila. No matter how they
looked, Sila was just a new player. He only possessed two pets which were a
sparrow and the strange pink creature. Everyone had thought that this situation
would end peacefully by Sila handing over his pet. No one had imagined that
this guy had a screw loose in his head.
“I don’t know where
you’re getting your confidence from, you rascal. Don’t you know who my boss
is?” The man with a long mustache asked.
“I am a new player.
I don’t know any of you,” Sila plainly replied.
The boss’s face
reddened with embarrassment. He had been making a living in this place for a
long time. No one had ever ignored him. He even paid his tributes to the
Heavenly Dragon guild to back up his robbery.
It could be
described as the police and the bandit joining forces. How could there be a
righteous side without the unjust? The Heavenly Dragon guild was a righteous
guild who allowed the thieves to be savage for a while before pretending to
banish them time after time. Once the news about the thieves had faded away, the thieves would become active
again. It was an endless cycle. The thieves got their hands on the goods while
Heavenly Dragon guild could obtain tributes and became more famous. All the
troubles would end up in the hands of normal players.
In the eyes of new
players, the Heavenly Dragon guild was always a righteous guild. There were
only a handful of people that were aware of the truth, but they were powerless
to go against it.
“My name is Thief555,
leader of the famous White Dragon thief gang,” The boss said. He was
relying on his reputation and hoped to end thing quickly.
T/N: The
number ‘5’ in Thai is pronounced as “Ha”, so this character name ‘Thief555’ is
equal to “Thief Hahaha” referring to him being a thief who loves to laugh.
“A mere name cannot
kill me. Whatever you want to do with me, just do it now,” Sila said
expressionlessly.
The brow of Thief555
was twitching. One of his underlings couldn’t take it anymore so he rushed forward
and lifted his axe up into the sky. “You insult our boss. Die!”
Sila moved his
shoulder. Bow jumped downward and landed on the ground while Lookhin flew up
into the sky.
Sila lifted his arm
to block the incoming axe.
Seeing that, his
opponent grinned. He was reinforcing his axe with qi and the axe was glowing
with a red aura.
*Clang*
The sound of
metallic clashing resonated in the air. Everyone’s expression was changing,
especially the one who slashed his axe downward.
Once his arm had successfully
blocked against the attack, Sila stretched out his right hand to grab at his
opponent’s arm and pulled it toward himself. Next, he activated the hardening
attribute of Formless Soldier in his left hand while using qi reinforcement. He
thrust it into his opponent’s chest where the heart is. This hand of Sila was
currently stronger than even a mid-level sword.
The body of his
opponent turned into light and disappeared. A complete silence fell all over
the market square. Many players were rubbing their eyes in disbelief.
Their target was
using pure power without any techniques to kill their comrade. They couldn’t
hear this man shouting any skill name. This alone was enough to cause the thief
gang to panic.
“If this is the
extent of your ability, I am sure I can finish all of you in just five
minutes,” Sila declared while ordering Lookhin to come to him via Mind
Connection.
The face of Thief555
reddened with anger. People in this city always shuddered in fear when his name
was mentioned. However, this young man in front of him was not only unfazed but
also humiliated him again and again.
Nevertheless, he was
a man with a lot of experience. Since he still couldn’t determine what trick
the other party had used, he decided to temporarily delay his next course of
action.
“Lookhin, please
look after Bow. If there’s anyone approaching her, you can kill without having
to hold back,” At the end of Sila’s sentence, Lookhin nodded prior to flapping
its wings beside Bow.
Thief555 finally
snapped right then and there. Their opponent even viewed them as so weak that
they could be killed by a level 1 sparrow.
“Everybody, kill
him!!” The boss shouted.
Tens of arrows flew
toward Sila while many of the bandits came charging at the same time.
Sila sighed and
tried to empty his mind. He waved his hand in front of him. His hand was acting
like a paintbrush, spreading a semi-transparent color on the air miraculously.
A mirror was created in midair.
Once the arrows collided
with the mirror, they entered it. Meanwhile, the arrows in the mirror flew out
at a higher speed than the ones that entered the mirror. They were all directed
at the heads of the charging thieves.
The screams echoed.
Since the head is a vital spot, these thieves immediately died and turned into
light.
Actually, Moon
Reflecting Mirror could only return the same amount of power back at the
opponent. However, Sila had discovered by chance when he was being trained by
the Slime King that with his Hidden Weapon Mastery passive skill, all flying
weapons fired by him would be affected by the skill proficiency. Hence, small
flying weapons like arrows, flying knives, or hidden weapons had turned out to
be his favorite playthings. They would exert more power and precision.
That was why Sila
had yet to kill the archers of the opposing party. He hoped he could perform
this move again.
But Thief555 wasn’t
stupid. As he had seen that the arrows had no use, he gestured an order to his
underlings to stop shooting arrows.
Now, except for
Thief555 himself, there were only three archers and two qi practitioners left
in his gang. Sila had mercilessly killed more than ten of them in an instant.
As Sila realized his
opponents were calming down, he made use of the fact that their formation was
still in a messy state to activate Formless Soldier. Sila’s body became lighter
while his ankle was as soft as a spring. He shot himself toward Thief555.
Thief555 panicked
and pushed his subordinates in front of him as human shields.
Sila could recall
Poluk’s trial clearly. Once he was about to collide with the bandits, he
changed his body to become heavier and harder. Turning into a human bullet,
Sila smashed into two of the thieves. They immediately died from the impact.
After his training
with the Slime King, Sila now was able to use two attributes of Formless
Soldier simultaneously. Good grief, he could only combine ‘heavy’ with ‘harden’ or
‘lighten’ with ‘soften’. That was his current limit. He still wasn’t able to
use them in a different way.
The three archers
began their escape by turning around. Seeing that, Sila flicked both his
wrists. Three daggers flew and accurately stabbed all three of them, causing
them to fall down and eventually disappear.
Thief555, who
witnessed the scene, couldn’t help but exclaim, “Hidden weapons?!”
Sila approached
Thief555.
“Are you Sila?”
Thief555 asked lightly.
Sila was surprised
that this thief knew about him. “Yes, I’m Sila.”
There was a clamor
in the market square. On the game forums, news about Sila’s re-emergence after
missing for two weeks started spreading.
“But you… you aren’t
able to circulate qi, are you?” Thief555 continued.
“So? I haven’t circulated
qi anyway,” Sila answered.
Thief555’s face was
filled with panic. He couldn’t fight back at all despite the fact that his
opponent even didn’t circulate any qi. This situation was really him making
trouble for himself, but it was way too late to realize this now.
The fact that Sila
uses hidden weapons and qi was not a secret anymore. During his battle against
Montra, Sila had shown everyone else that he could fire hidden weapons. As
there are not many hidden weapon users in the game, Thief555 could accurately
guess Sila’s identity.
“I will get my hand
on that creature at all costs,” Thief555 said.
“I won’t allow you,”
Sila finished his sentence by grabbing Thief555’s neck and lifted it up. His
grip was as hard as steel. Thief555’s feet were hanging in the air.
The thief tried to
resist by using qi reinforcement and using his hands to release Sila’s hand
from his neck. He also kicked at Sila’s body. But Sila was like a metal statue.
The thief’s attacks were completely ineffective. He was even hurting himself by
doing so.
“Be reborn as a
better person,” Sila said while changing his body into fire element.
For the slime’s
magic, Sila could only use it to attack at blank-point range by directly
touching the target. He still couldn’t freely use it like the Slime King or
Master Viola.
Thief555’s body
turned into flame. He was screaming in great pain while Sila was unaffected by
the fire at all.
Sila dropped his
opponent onto the ground. Thief555 writhed in pain for a moment before turning
into light.
Sila was quite taken
aback by Orbiting Cosmos’ power. He had thought that it would just cause his
enemy to feel very hot, not be set on fire like this.
Sila had temporarily
forgotten that this skill was an S-grade skill which specializes in fighting
against dragons. He had been training with the Slime King whom could resist it
easily so he had misunderstood how powerful it was.
Sila felt
uncomfortable as there were many eyes watching him with various feelings.
Hence, Sila sealed Lookhin and Bow inside the ring and quickly left the scene.
After 4 hours had
passed by, the members of the White Dragon thief gang who had been revived
hours ago started their meeting at their secret hideout in Lockheart City.
Obviously, they were talking about Sila.
“What should we do
next, Boss?” One of the underlings asked.
“What do you mean?”
The old Thief555 replied.
“It’s revenge time,
Boss. That bastard Sila is nothing if you’re serious.”
Thief555’s face
turned pale. The one who suggested this terrible idea was one of the members
who had been guarding the hideout, so he didn’t know how strong Sila was.
Meanwhile, the members who fought against Sila with him were all sitting
silently.
“Ermm… of course we
will get our revenge. But it still isn’t the right time.”
“When is the right
time, Boss? Our hands are very itchy.” There were many shouts and laughs in
agreement. Some of them mentioned wanting to drown Sila in the ocean, some
mentioned dragging Sila’s body down the street, while some mentioned burning Sila
alive.
Hearing the words
‘burning alive’, the boss shuddered. He was looking left and right. Everyone
seemed to be confused about what had happened to their boss.
“What happened,
Boss?”
“Nothing, nothing.”
Thief555 recalled his previous experience of being burnt to death. He had never
been burnt to death before. Even with a tenth of realistic pain, he still felt
tortured. Fortunately, he was the last person in the gang to die, so his
underlings did not see him dying pitifully.
“So, when is the right
time, Boss?”
‘This damn brat…
stirring up trouble for me again,’ Thief555 thought.
“That bastard Sila
isn’t our objective,” He said.
All the underlings
fell in silence, turning their attention toward their boss.
“What do you mean,
Boss?”
“Our objective isn’t
that bastard Sila. It’s that pink creature,” Thief555 said.
One of the
underlings raised his hand. “I do not understand, Boss. That pink creature is
Sila’s pet. Except for taking it from him, how can we obtain it?”
“Stupid! If I’m not
around, what are you guys even capable of? Use your brains. Use them or they
will wither.”
“Sorry, Boss. So,
what is the boss’s plan?”
“My strategy is… If
you want to eat chicken, you have to find an egg,” Thief555 explained.
The underlings felt
confused beyond words. They were looking at each other to see whether someone
could comprehend what their boss had just said.
“What proverb is
that, Boss? I haven’t heard of it before,” One of the underlings raised his
hand and asked.
“It’s not a proverb.
It’s my own words of wisdom. It’s very clear by itself. Why don’t you bunch
understand?”
“Very clear?”
“Yes. Our objective
is to get our hands on that pink creature. We have to think in reverse. We have
to find out where that bastard Sila got his hands on it.”
A clamor erupted
when they finally understood this method. Thief555 secretly smiled in his
heart. At least he had successfully diverted the previous topic. He would do
his best to prevent anyone from mentioning getting revenge on Sila.
There was no way he
would choose to do such a stupid thing.
“I finally
understand, Boss. You mean if we know where Sila got his hand on that pink
creature, that place might have more pink creatures for us to get our hands on.
If we are able to sell them all, we will surely…”
“Be insanely rich,”
Thief555 finished the sentence.
A clamor emerged
again. This time it was about praising their boss’s intelligence.
“Stop. Everyone
stop!” Thief555 shouted.
The sound died down.
Silence filled the room.
“Now, what we need
to figure out is what exactly is the identity of that pink creature.”
A clamor emerged yet
again. Many people commented that they had never seen such a creature before.
“I think it is
surely a monster from Beginning Island. Sila has not been playing the game for
very long.”
Everybody nodded in
agreement.
“I personally think
it is a slime,” One of them gave a comment.
“Slime?”
“Slime? Don’t slimes
look far more disgusting?”
“Yes, but maybe that
is its real form.”
“Real form?”
“Yes, Boss. Many
monsters in the game usually have their real form. For example…”
“Enough. I already
know that. I’m just considering the possibility that the real form of slime is
that cute. More importantly, it can even talk,” Thief555 said.
“It wouldn’t be hard
to confirm this information. I will ask one of our guys at Beginning Town to
ask the NPC at the Card Shop. I once heard that there is only one player
playing as a slime. Asking for the name of that player shouldn’t be
troublesome.”
“Do it now.”
“Yes, boss.”
Afterward, that man opened his system window.
The White Dragon
thief gang was actually a small group of bandits with a large information
network. Its members were scattered in many guilds and many cities. Despite the
fact that its number of members was low, it was still able to survive to this
day without being wiped out. This was thanks to Thief555 paying tributes to the
right people.
No more than ten
minutes had passed before there was a response. The same man nodded before
closing his system window.
“Now it’s certain.
That bastard Sila is really playing as a slime.”
“A Slime-race
player? Are you sure?”
“I’m positive. This
news is 100% correct.”
Thief555 was deep in
thought. Based on Sila’s ability, Sila shouldn’t be a slime-race player, should
he? Isn’t this race supposed to be weak?
“Maybe it’s time for
us to use that thing,” Thief555 muttered.
“That thing?”
Everyone raised their voices.
“Yes. That thing.”
“But, Boss. The time
isn’t appropriate, is it? We should be dealing with the slime issue first.”
“What? What do you
guys mean? I’m going to use that thing to handle the slime issue.”
“Huh? Boss, how can
a Portable Karaoke Box do that?”
“Portable Karaoke
Box? Why do you guys bring it up now?” Thief555 wondered.
“Ah? Every time you
tell us to take that thing out, we always ended up singing karaoke, don’t we?”
Thief555 loudly
slapped his hand on the table. He shouted, “Stupid! Do you guys eat grass
instead of rice? I mean that other thing!”
A silence fell
again.
“In the end, what
exactly do you mean by ‘that thing’, Boss?” One of the bandits asked.
“That thing I’m
referring is obviously the Dimension-Crossing Device,” Thief555 finally
revealed the answer.
The sound of “Oh” in
understanding could be heard all around the room.
“What are we using
it for, Boss?”
“I stole the
Dimension-Crossing Device a long time ago. I planned on using it to break into
the treasure vault of a millionaire but I’m always reluctant to actually use it
as it can only be used once.”
In this game, there
are many special dimensions. Normally, Invitation Cards or specific conditions
are required to access each dimension. The personal secret vault is especially
hard to access. However, this Dimension-Crossing Device can be used to
unconditionally break people into any dimension. It was a rare and very
expensive device that was mostly used during wars.
“Where are we
going?”
Thief555 smiled at
his own wisdom, then declared, “The Slime Kingdom.”
“The Slime Kingdom?”
“Yeah. That place is
surely full of cute little slimes that are harmless, just waiting to be
harvested by us. If we can collect and sell them all, then, we will
definitely…”
“Be insanely rich,”
Everybody filled in the sentence.
“Now it’s time to
use that thing. Take it out,” Thief555 said.
“The
Dimension-Crossing Device?”
“Stupid! I mean the
Portable Karaoke Box! Today, we are celebrating in advance. We will invade the
Slime Kingdom tomorrow and then we will be rich!!”
A party had begun.
Meanwhile, Thief555
coincidentally shot a look at a blue bird. It was perched on the windowsill.
“A blue bird?” He
muttered softly.
Seeing that their
boss was staring at the bluebird, one of the underlings said, “It’s called a
bluebird, Boss. Haven’t you heard about it? A bluebird is a symbol of
happiness.”
“A symbol of
happiness?”
“Yes, Boss. This
means we’re about to be really lucky.”
The party continued.
The little bluebird calmly looked at Thief555 for a moment before flying away.
***
After the incident
in the market square, Sila went to the beach, walking in the direction of the
Underwater Palace. Luckily for him, the Underwater Palace was close to
Lockheart City. Sila used this chance to wait for Burapha there.
One particular
blue-colored bird was looking at Sila. It quickly followed him out of the city.
Sila was waiting for
Burapha at the beach for an entire night. Based on the last conversation,
Burapha would arrive at their meeting spot some time in the next hour.
Burapha had asked if he
could shop for items prior to meeting with Sila in the evening. He suggested
that they discuss tactics for the night before departing on their adventure
into the sea the next morning. His reason for holding off on departing was that
fighting against the Great Millennium Turtle underwater and at night was
suicidal.
Sila couldn’t deny such
reasoning. Thus, the Underwater Palace invasion was postponed by a day.
Sila spent his day
playing with Bow at the beach. His journey there was very smooth without any
trouble. Since this beach didn’t lead to anywhere, it was deserted and there
were no players in sight. The monsters here were also low both in level and in
quantity. In conclusion, this beach was only suitable for resting.
Sila left Bow to run
around the beach and let Lookhin look after her just in case something
happened. He himself was sitting cross-legged in front of a tent and practicing
all three of the slime-race skills. One additional good point about the
slime-race skills that Sila had just discovered was the fact that they required
no movement for practicing. He could practice them anywhere.
Among all three racial
skills, Sila was more proficient in Formless Soldier compared to the rest. It
might be due to the fact that it was a qi-type skill. The skill after that was
Moon Reflecting Mirror. Sila could empty his mind at will now. Although it was
indeed a very hard skill to activate, Sila thought that it was still far easier
than Orbiting Cosmos. As for Orbiting Cosmos, except for the increase in speed
in the first activation, there was no progress in other areas. Sila still
couldn’t become faster at changing element.
The Slime King had told
Sila that there were only two principles behind Orbiting Cosmos. They were
‘changing’ and ‘holding’. Changing means to shift his element from one to
another. The faster he can change, the more he will confuse the enemy. It would
even cause the enemy to take multiple elemental attacks from a single punch. As
for holding, it means to hold the current elemental form as long as he could.
The longer he holds the element, the more power he could exert from that
element.
Lastly, the Slime King
had mentioned that the final state of this skill was when one can change and
hold elements at the same time. Sila could only furrow his brows upon hearing
this sentence. It was like telling him to look left and right at the same time.
Currently, Sila was
practicing the skill that he was the least proficient in, Orbiting Cosmos.
Although he couldn’t change
the elements any faster than before, he could now hold an element for up to 15
minutes. The reason he focused on practicing this skill instead of others was
because, in order to fight against the Great Millennium Turtle underwater, he
believed that the thing he would be relying on the most was magic.
“Ouch, ouch, ouch.”
There were sounds
entering his ears. It came from in front of him. So, Sila opened his eyes.
Sila was surprised by
the scene folding in front of him. It was a scene of Lookhin pecking on a
blue-colored bird. What surprised Sila was that the “Ouch” sound was coming
from the beak of that blue tailorbird.
“Enough. Enough. It
hurts,” The blue tailorbird said.
The blue bird’s body
flashed one time before it was replaced by one particular man sitting on the
ground.
“Oh? Aren’t you Mister
Bartender?” Sila said and moved closer to the bartender who sold the
information to him yesterday.
Lookhin flew back to
stand beside Bow. Meanwhile, Sila helped the bartender to stand up.
“Thanks, thanks,” He
said while pouting at Lookhin. But the sparrow completely ignored him. It was
busy pecking at its own feathers.
“Why are you here?” Sila
asked.
“I followed you here.”
“Hm? Why are you
following me then?” Sila wondered.
“That’s because you have
completely shattered my self-confidence in my information gathering ability. I
decided to take a break from my job to discover myself. Then, I heard the news
about player Sila fighting against a group of bandits. So, I followed the
bandit gang to their hideout and later found out that the news was true.
Finally, I realized that you are Sila, and that’s why I’m following you.”
“I still can’t see why
you’re following me.”
“Two reasons. One, why
didn’t you tell me before that you’re Sila!? No wonder you know everything.
Second, I have some urgent news for you.”
“That’s because you
didn’t ask for my name… Whatever, what is the news you want to tell me?” Sila
asked.
The bartender frowned.
‘That’s true. It was my fault to not ask for his name.’
But when he was about to
tell Sila the news, there was a man and a woman walking toward them. Sila was
quick to greet the two approaching.
“Oh, Burapha. You are
here earlier than I thought.”
“Yes. Lala can help with
shopping so it was quicker than I expected. Partners are really useful,”
Burapha said.
Burapha then realized
that there was another person currently with Sila. “And who is he? Is he a
friend of you, Big Brother Sila?”
“Oh. This man is um… I
beg your pardon, but what is your name?” Sila turned to ask the bartender.
“I’m Bluebird, the
number one expert in information gathering. You can just call me Blue, though.
It’s shorter.” Bluebird introduced himself.
Hence, Sila introduced
Bluebird to Burapha. He then invited everyone to sit around the unlit bonfire
he had prepared. It was getting dark now.
Sila picked up some
firewood and activated Orbiting Cosmos to light a fire on it. He quickly threw
it toward the unlit bonfire before it turned to dust. He had wasted more than
ten pieces of firewood yesterday. It seemed that practicing with the Slime King
had caused him to almost be incapable of holding back his power.
Sila tried to remind
himself that he should practice in controlling his power when he has some free
time.
On the other hand,
Burapha and Bluebird were looking at what Sila had done with their eyes wide
open. They hadn’t heard Sila shout any skill name to do so.
“What were we talking
about just now?” Sila asked.
“First things first,
Burapha, you’re playing as a merperson, right?” Bluebird asked.
Burapha turned his head
toward Sila to ask for advice, but Sila shrugged his shoulders to tell him that
he should do what he wants.
“Yes, I’m playing as a
merperson,” Burapha answered.
“Little Brother, are you
interested in becoming famous? I can spread the news about you being a
merperson to every corner of Monster Soul. You can get rich by crafting jewelry
next.”
“I would like to
decline. I don’t have the ability to do so,” Burapha plainly rejected.
“Don’t have the ability?
That shouldn’t be the case. The merpeople’s jewelry craftsmanship is the best
of the best. Even if you craft low quality accessories, they would still be
better than the others in the current market.”
“I didn’t mean quality.
What I meant is crafting capability. If I were a factory, this method would
indeed make me rich. But I’m the sole player in the merpeople race. Although
the number of people playing Monster Soul Online is smaller compared to other
virtual reality games, its player count still exceeds 100,000. If there were
1,000 purchase orders for me to complete, I would have no chance to handle all
of them. Moreover, if I’m always crafting jewelry, then I wouldn’t have any
time left for me to enjoy playing the game,” Burapha explained his thought to
Bluebird.
Sila and Bluebird
nodded. Burapha’s reasoning was right on the mark.
By the way, the reason
Monster Soul Online wasn’t the most popular virtual reality game was because
its harshness. There were no policies to protect the player from being taken
advantage of. Thus, kids who are the target audience of online gaming turned
their interests to play other easier virtual reality games. Most players in
this game were in their late teens or were young adults who wanted to
experience the cruel reality before stepping into the business world.
There was even a saying
that, if you can survive in the world of Monster Soul, you are certain to
survive in actual society. That’s because this game is far harsher than
reality.
“What I’m planning to do
is to be famous without revealing my identity. For example, you have heard
about medical masters in Chinese novels, right? They always live on a faraway
mountain and rarely visit towns. This is the law of supply and demand in an
economy. Rarer items are higher in both demand and price. I would only have to
craft 2-3 pieces of jewelry a month to release to the market. My products would
get a high price without me having to craft a large quantity. It would save me
both the resources and the time,” Burapha further explained.
“Wow. Burapha, you’re so
smart. I can’t believe you look that further ahead.” Sila complimented.
Burapha scratched his
head as he was embarrassed to be praised at. “That’s nothing much. I was planning
to be a merchant from the start. If things go well, playing this game might be
my main job.”
“Hm? How do you gain
money by doing that?” Sila asked.
“From in-game currency,
obviously. Don’t you know, Big Brother Sila? Real cash and the currencies in this
game are convertible. Didn’t we all have to register bank accounts prior to
registering in this game?” Burapha replied.
Sila pondered. Uncle
Rashane was the one who set up the brain scanner for him. Does this mean he is
currently using Rashane’s bank account? If so, that would be a problem. He was
currently 10,000 gold coins in debt. It seemed he would have to hurry to pay
off his debt.
‘I’m causing a problem
again. Uncle even paid for my medical fees.’
“Okay. I understand your
reason, Burapha. Now, let’s talk about Sila again,” Bluebird continued.
Sila was surprised that
Bluebird didn’t importune like he anticipated. This fact alone caused Sila to
look at Bluebird in a more positive manner.
“Are you talking about
what you told me before? You have some urgent news for me?” Sila asked.
“Yes. You’re a
slime-race player so this news is directly related to you. The thing is, the
group of bandits that you defeated yesterday is currently planning to invade
the Slime Kingdom.”
“Invade the Slime
Kingdom? How?” Sila wondered.
Bluebird then explained
what he knew. Sila nodded in understanding during the explanation.
Nevertheless, Sila let out a dry laugh when he heard the word ‘harmless
slimes’.
Bluebird frowned. “This
is not the right time to laugh, you know? I can’t believe you’re this
heartless. Although they are mostly AI, they are the same species as you. I
suggest you halt your plan to go to Underwater Palace and return to help your
Slime Kingdom first.”
“Hey Blue… Do I look
like a weakling?” Sila asked.
“I have never seen you
fight, but based on the information I have gathered, it seems you’re an expert
to a certain extent,” Bluebird replied.
“Yeah. That’s why you
don’t need to worry about the slimes anymore. You would be better off worrying
about the thieves. In that Kingdom, even common villagers are as strong as me,”
Sila said.
Burapha and Bluebird had
their mouth opened. If this was true, it would be big news.
“That’s right~ Not to
mention my Royal Father and three Slime Guardians, for those people, just
normal residents can beat them easily,” Bow added.
“So, that’s all?” Sila
asked.
“No, there’s one more
thing,” replied Bluebird.
“Hm? Didn’t you say
there are only two matters? Where is the next one come from?”
“Well, well, don’t sweat
the small stuff. The other thing is, wherever you go, I’m going too,” Bluebird
blatantly said.
Sila frowned as he was
suspicious. “Why?”
“Because the big news
always circles around you. If I’m with you, I definitely won’t miss the many
upcoming big scoops. I’ll even be the first one to know about them.”
“But we are going to
Underwater Palace tomorrow. Umm… I don’t know whether Big Bro Bluebird
can survive there. What if you die?” Burapha was hesitating.
“Yeah. I can take care
of myself and Burapha is a merperson so he should be fine underwater, but I’m
not sure I can look after Mister Blue,” Sila said.
“Die? Look after me? Let
me tell you two something. I haven’t died even once since I started playing
this game. I might be not as mighty as Cross, nor as strong as Montra, or as
great as Lone Wolf, and I’m not as fast as Zero. However, there is something in
myself that is superior to the Four Emperors.” Bluebird stood up. He took pride
in every word he just said.
“Oho. Comparing yourself
with the Four Emperors? What is it that you are so proud of about yourself?”
Burapha asked.
“Fleeing!!... You might
think I’m bragging. But I have once fled through hundreds of Single-Horned
Dragons to gather information in Madmen’s Valley. I have also gotten a hidden
race,” Bluebird said.
“A hidden race? You?”
Burapha exclaimed with great doubt. He looked at Bluebird from top to toes.
Bluebird was currently
wearing plain black silk clothes. Based on his appearance, people would
perceive that Bluebird is a qi-type player. However, Burapha noticed a ring on
the finger of Bluebird’s right hand. It was a ring that could be used to
amplify magic power in place of a wand. It was very rare and popular among
magic-type fighters. Although its options weren’t as good as the options on a
wand, it was more convenient to use. It granted the wearer an increase in
casting speed to compensate for losing the usual increase in spell power from
the wand.
However, based on Sila’s
story, didn’t Bluebird just undo his transformation from bird form? That was
surely a psychic-type ability.
“Yes. Hidden race. It’s
a tailorbird race…” Bluebird revealed the answer.
“Tailorbird?” Sila and
Burapha exclaimed at the same time.
“Do you mean the
tailorbirds that are being sold in Pet Shop and fly around the game as props?”
Burapha asked.
“Is there another
tailorbird?”
“Wait a second. I have
always believed that player can’t harm tailorbirds. No… before that, are you
crazy? Did you hunt tailorbirds to collect cards? Even new players don’t do
that. Moreover, aren’t you magic-type? Tailorbirds seem to be the psychic-type
creatures. Selecting a race with a different energy type than yourself makes it
very hard to become strong, don’t you know that?”
“Who said I hunted
tailorbirds to collect cards? I didn’t do that,” Bluebird declined.
“Ah? Then, what have you
done?”
“I must refer to when I
had just started playing the game, dreaming of becoming a newshawk. At that
time, I had come up with a brilliant idea: Tailorbirds are everywhere in the
game, so how cool would it be if I could tame them to gather information in my
stead? Thus, I bought 10,000 tailorbirds. I planned to tame them to the point
that I could communicate with them.”
Burapha furrowed his
brows. What kind of insane person would purchase 10,000 of tailorbirds?
Although this game doesn’t have a limit of how many pets a player can possess,
having too many of them would absorb experience points from the owner. In the
tailorbird’s case, it might not absorb experience points from the owner, but
there wouldn’t be any sane person who wants 10,000 of them as pets. Just the
food cost to keep them alive was enough to cause anyone to go bankrupt.
“Then, I got myself a
tailorbird race. It’s even a hidden race. The end.”
“That’s it!? Anyway, is
this race strong?” Burapha asked.
“Bah. It isn’t strong.
However, talking about survivability, fufu, even if the Four Emperors gang up
on me, I would still be able to flee,” Bluebird reiterated.
“Ho? You are that good?
What kind of skills do they have?”
“Fufu. That’s a secret.
It’s my ace in the hole. Nevertheless, I can ensure you two that I definitely
won’t die tomorrow.”
“If you’re that
confident, then it’s fine. I’m playing as a slime myself so I am well aware
that there is no race in this game that is actually weak. It’s good if a
tailorbird race suits Blue,” Sila said.
Since Sila didn’t
object, Burapha also didn’t oppose the idea of Bluebird joining the team.
Afterward, the three of them discussed how to fight against the Great
Millennium Turtle until night.
Chapter 52: Welcome to
Slime Kingdom – Special Arc
Once morning came,
everyone woke up and washed their face. They ate an easy breakfast and prepared
themselves for the journey to the Underwater Palace.
Burapha took out a
wooden raft when they arrived at the beach, causing Bluebird to frown.
“Can this raft take us
to the Underwater Palace? Won’t it sink?”
“Don’t worry. We just
have to arrive there. For the return trip, we will use Return Scrolls. The problem
is that I didn’t prepare for our team to have an additional member. I’m not
sure myself whether this raft can handle our weight,” Burapha said.
“No problem.” After
Bluebird finished speaking, his body flashed and transformed into a blue
tailorbird. “It’s okay now.”
“Can you help us fight
in this form?” Burapha asked.
“Ahem, don’t worry. I
can use magic in whatever form,” Bluebird replied while thinking inwardly.
‘it’s much weaker than usual though.’
“We should get going.
How long will it take for us to arrive at the Underwater Palace?” Sila asked.
“If you travel by normal
raft, it would take you full day. But with me around, just three hours is
enough,” Burapha answered.
Sila nodded and stepped
onto the raft, followed by Burapha. As for Bluebird, he flew and landed himself
on an open spot.
“Okay, Water Spirit.”
Burapha activated a skill. Then, the sea under the raft began to push the raft
forward at high speed as fast as using motor. Sila felt slightly surprised. No
wonder he couldn’t see a single paddle at sight.
“Merpeople are psychic
type, aren’t they? How can you use magic?” Bluebird was quick to ask. As
expected of a newshawk.
“Water Spirit is not
magic. It is a racial skill of the merpeople that lets the user control liquid.
It’s much easier to use than magic, but its downside is that I can’t generate
water out of thin air like magic. I can only control it,” Burapha replied.
“So, you can’t use it in
a desert?”
“No, but I have already
come up with a solution. I always bring water tanks with me in case I have to
fight in a place without water. I even purchased water tanks used by armies,”
Burapha said.
Sila began to respect
Burapha’s prudence for knowing his own weakness and trying to overcome it.
Compared to himself who had so many weaknesses, Sila thought that Burapha was
more praiseworthy than him.
He had decided. Once he
has gotten Qi of Little Turtle, he would immediately go to Madmen’s Valley to
cure his body. After that, he would try his best to polish his ability while
searching for Montra to have a rematch.
***
At the same time, within
the Labyrinthine Forest Cathedral.
The sound of fighting
could be heard loudly in the forest. The trees fell disorderly as if they were
hit by a hurricane, but upon looking closely, one would notice that it was
actually caused from the fight between a man and a white tiger.
The tiger’s body was
injured all over in contrast to the light injuries on the man. While they were
glaring at each other to look for an opportunity to strike, the man’s injuries
were beginning to recover at fast pace.
Seeing that, the white
tiger was aware that it would eventually lose if the fight went on like this.
Its opponent could recover too fast.
This man used power as
though he had a limitless resource. Just based on the fact that he had broken
through the maze to come to the cathedral without waiting for the maze to
become undone was enough to indicate this man’s insane power.
The tiger knew that it
would die from exhaustion if it waited any longer. Hence, it circulated qi
throughout its body. Its body seemed to double in size. This was its last
attack. It put all of its attack power into this upcoming strike, hoping to
decide the victor within one move.
The growl that fused
with qi was roaring aloud throughout the forest. The surrounding trees were
torn apart with this roar. However, the man stood still as if this roar had no
effect on him. His body was glowing with qi while he was standing firmly on the
ground.
The tiger charged at him
suddenly at a speed unsuitable to its body size. Two of its claws lifted up and
were prepared to behead its opponent. If this man was still able to recover
after his head was separated from the body, it would have no choice but to give
up.
The man crouched down
slightly. His hands were put together, forming a blade made of psychic energy.
The qi within his body surged into the newly formed blade, causing the blade to
shake slightly.
The man turned his body
to dodge the tiger’s claws and performed a counterattack. He used his right
hand covered with the psychic blade to stab under the tiger’s chin. Coupled
with the tiger’s charging speed, the cut was slashed down to its abdomen.
The momentum of the
tiger ended by crashing into the trees behind the man. Its qi was completely
depleted. With its wound being larger than 1 meter and its nonstop bleeding, it
knew its fate. The enlarged eyes of it were staring at the man who was about to
kill it.
The silver-haired man
was wearing soft silver armor. His set of knight’s armor seemed to be
incomplete as it was lacking the piece for one of the arms. The man didn’t
wield any weapons. The tiger couldn’t see its opponent’s eyes as they were
covered by a blindfold.
It even lost to a
blindfolded person.
The man moved closer.
His hand was placed on the tiger’s thick skin.
The tiger closed its
eyes to accept its own death. Actually, this man didn’t have to do anything. It
would die anyway in no more than three minutes.
Suddenly, the flow of qi
was transmitted into the tiger’s body. It also felt less pain.
The tiger opened its
eyes and found that its wound was recovering. The qi it felt was actually
Recovering Qi.
“I only need an item. I
don’t intend to kill anyone,” said the man.
Ten minutes had passed,
the wound on the tiger’s body was completely healed. It put itself onto its
feet and stared at the man who had almost killed it. However, it was also this
man that pulled it back from death’s door. It had waited for this kind of man
for a long time.
A white light was
flashed covering the tiger’s body. A system sound rung inside the man’s head.
Player Shueria has been
acknowledged by Cloudy Tiger, Marquis Rank, Level 500. It has become player’s
pet. Since the rank of Cloudy Tiger is superior than player, you have no right
to decline its offer. Player Shueria has been
acknowledged by Cloudy Tiger. Player has gotten (A) Cloudy Tiger Card 1 EA. Player Shueria has been
acknowledged by Cloudy Tiger. Player has gotten (A) Tiger Subduing Bracelet 1
EA. Player Shueria won
against Cloudy Tiger within the Labyrinthine Forrest Cathedral, achieving a
special condition. Player has gotten a Scroll of Qi of Little Tiger 1 EA.
Once the system sound
died down, a white bracelet suddenly appeared on his right hand. Cloudy Tiger
turned into a light and was absorbed into the bracelet.
Shueria looked at a
scroll in his hand. He had reached a halfway point towards achieving his goal.
The training in Madmen’s Valley had helped him to become stronger than he ever
imagined. But that itself was just a bonus. More importantly, his mind had been
reformed and calmed down.
As he immersed himself
in the training, he had received enlightenment. The thought of avenging his
defeat at the hands of Sila was no longer important to him. He even felt
gratitude to Sila whom had drove him to develop his ability to this degree.
Nevertheless, although
he didn’t feel resentful anymore, he still would like to have a rematch against
Sila to prove his ability.
He was reminded of the
saying ‘Let yourself be free and you will find a way.’
Personally, Shueria
didn’t have a grudge against Sila. He wasn’t himself at that time. He acted as
he was ordered to do. At that time, his mind then was affected by Sila and the
heated atmosphere of battle, causing him to be angered. Looking back, Shueria
saw that his mind wasn’t strong enough and wavered easily. Since then, he has
been training his mind to become calm and clear instead of training his body.
However, the result of the training had caused his fighting ability to surpass
his old self.
“Next destination is
Cloudy City,” muttered Shueria while forcing his way out of the forest with
terrain complicated like a maze.
***
At the same time, in the
Slime Kingdom.
The Slime Kingdom was
peaceful as usual. The slimes practiced their skills as a part of their
routine. Due to the fact that all three skills could be practiced anywhere and
anytime, the slimes could always polish their skills. Their expertise in these
skills was top notch.
However, today,
something had changed in the Slime Kingdom. The alarm went off in every corner
of the kingdom.
Your kingdom is about to
be invaded. Please prepare yourself for the invasion in the next five minutes.
Every slime was looking
at each other. This was the first time that their kingdom had been invaded so
many of them didn’t know what to do. However, some of them were jumping merrily
by the fact they were about to have a fight. It was very boring for them to
practice skills without an end goal. At least they would have a chance to show
off the result of their practiced skills.
The Slime King and Slime
Guardians went to the central plaza. Every slime greeted their king before
turning their head back to stare at the dimensional portal that was distorting
in the air. They were counting down the time until the portal completely formed
itself.
“Why is the Slime
Kingdom being invaded? We have never offended anyone before,” Poluk said
“It’s because of Bow,”
Slime King answered.
“How is Bow related,
Your Majesty?” Viola asked.
“Bow was born and has
grown within this kingdom. That’s why she would still be in her real form even
when she goes outside. Humans are greedy. Witnessing Bow, there must be some
people who think that they can find other slimes like her in our kingdom. I had
already expected this outcome when Sila took Bow outside. It’s just that it
happened way sooner than I anticipated. Only a few days have passed since
then,” Slime King explained.
“What should we handle
this, Your Majesty?” Poluk asked.
“They are guests.
Obviously, we will give them a warm welcome. Are there three minutes remaining?
Umm… Divine.”
“Yes, Your Majesty. Do
you have an order for me?” Divine asked.
“Can you help me move
this dimensional portal somewhere else?”
“Your majesty is quite
playful. You want me to move it to there, am I correct?”
“Yes. Help me with
that.”
Divine nodded and went
to the corner of the kingdom. The portal was moving, following Divine as if it
was being dragged away. This was caused by the psychic skill called Shifting
Psychic which has the ability to manipulate an opponent’s skill result.
The Dimension-Crossing
Device is counted as a psychic device, so it was affected by this skill.
“All slimes should
follow Divine,” Slime King said.
All of the slimes then
obediently followed after Divine. The only slimes that remained in the central
plaza were the Slime King, Poluk, and Viola.
“Where is it that your
majesty intends to move the portal to?” Viola asked with curiosity.
“Oh. To the Cliff of
Heroes.”
“Cliff of Heroes?” Viola
wondered. “Please forgive me for saying this, but I personally can’t believe
that our slimes would lose to those who are invading, whoever they are. There
should be no need for us to be concerned about the slimes’ safety.”
“Firstly, I’m sure that
the invading party are human. There’re not that many races that can use a
device like the Dimension-Crossing Device. Lastly, I’m not concerned about the
safety of the slimes. I’m more concerned about the safety of those who are
invading instead.”
“Concerned about their
safety? I don’t understand. Why do we have to be afraid of them dying?” Poluk
asked.
“Hoho. We rarely have
any guests. Given we have a chance now, we should do our best to welcome them.
I don’t know how many are coming. Their numbers might be too few for us.”
Viola grinned. She
finally noticed Slime King’s intention.
“I see. With the Cliff
of Heroes’ ability, we can welcome them to our heart’s content. We can even welcome
them multiple times.” Viola emphasized the word ‘welcome’ with a sinister tone.
Once Poluk heard Viola’s
comment, he finally understood. He smiled while saying, “That would be the best
course of action. Our little slimes are having a problem of lacking in actual
battle experience themselves. The trolls that we once tamed have all died.
They are too stupid anyway. Instead of the trolls, those humans must have
different kinds of attack patterns. They are very suited to be welcomed
by our slimes to increase the slimes’ combat experience.”
“It’s good that you two
are understand. Poluk and Viola, your duty is to re-invite our guests to the
Cliff of Heroes to receive our warm welcome. I will go help you guys shortly
after this.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Poluk and Viola gave Slime King a bow. Then, they followed after Divine and
stayed at the edge of the cliff. Their duty was to re-invite their guests into
the bottom of the cliff again and again.
The Slime King was
looking at the starless sky of the Slime Kingdom. He thought he had to take
some action. Placing all the hopes on Sila might give Sila too much of a
burden. He longed to see a smile on the face of every slime once they witnessed
the true sunlight and stars.
The sorrowful cries
could be heard from afar. Hearing those, a smile formed at the corner of the
Slime King’s mouth.
“At least the Slime
Kingdom is livelier than usual today.”
Comments
My editor @warlocc seems to be quite busy with his works so he has stopped editing the translation for now. I hope he is okay and does his best for his business. I will gladly welcome him again if he wants to continue giving me his help in the future.
On the other hand, allow me to express my thanks to Chrysis, my friend on discord, who helps me edit the recent chapters.
Chapter 42: We Are Magic
After Poluk left, Sila was obediently waiting where he was. He waited for hours and couldn’t see anybody coming. In the end, he carelessly fell asleep. Sila hadn’t slept in the game for a long time. Usually, he would circulate qi to rest instead of sleeping. This time, however, he couldn’t circulate qi and he didn’t have a wink of sleep, so he easily gave in to drowsiness.
He slept for a while before waking up, sensing someone’s presence.
“Are you awake now?” A female voice came from behind him.
Sila turned his body around. He saw a pink-colored slime that looked similar to him. Her pink was slightly lighter though. Surprisingly, this slime had a circular halo floating above her head.
Poluk had told Sila to wait for Viola. So, Sila guessed that this slime must be Viola, another Slime Guardian.
“Hello, Madam Viola?” greeted Sila.
“Are you the trial’s challenger?” asked Viola.
“Yes. My name is Sila.”
“Okay. Okay. Then, let’s start without further ado. I’m Master Viola, a Slime Guardian who is in charge of the magic part in the Way of Slime’s ordeal. Any questions?”
Finally, Sila could ask about what caused him a lot of confusion.
“Yes, I have one. I’m curious as to why slimes can’t use magic. And since we cannot use magic, why is there a magic-type skill?”
“It’s not that slimes cannot use magic, but rather that slimes are bonded with a single kind of magic. This type of magic negates us to use different kinds of magic, so that makes it looks like we slimes cannot use magic.”
“Single kind of magic?” wondered Sila.
“Yes. Do you know that S-grade skills always come with downsides? This magic is an S-grade skill with a downside that prevents us from using different kinds of magic,” replied Viola.
“Oh. I see. Anyway, do I have to take part in the magic part of the ordeal since I’m a qi-type player?” Sila still had this question as he knew that players can only use one type of energy, except for Zero who is the first one to be able to use two.
“What you are about to do isn’t related to your choice of energy type selection. It’s about racial skills,” answered Viola.
“How is that different?”
“It’s different. The energy type of a racial skill doesn’t have to be the same as your own energy type. Haven’t you noticed that your status window always shows qi points, magic points, and psychic points even though you have chosen qi-type?” asked Viola.
Sila opened his Status Window and found that she was correct.
Player Status: Sila
Level: 662
Race: Pink Slime
Rank: Squire
Health Points: 705,000 / 705,000
Qi Points: 835,000 / 840,000
Psychic Points: 450,000 / 450,000
Magic Points: 362,000 / 362,000
Social Status: Nameless Elder’s Main Disciple, Varee’s Lover
“For example, if you choose magic as your energy type but choose orc as your race which is a qi-type race, you will become a magic-type player who can also use qi-type racial skills in close combat. Players usually choose a race with an energy type that matches their own. But there are also some who choose the other way around. That’s not wrong, apparently, as that will result in a unique playing style.”
“Wow. So, the slime race is very good, isn’t it? We have the skill of all three energy types,” asked Sila.
Viola smiled, “Whether it’s good or not, that depends on you.”
“What do you mean?”
“Slime skills are too high-tier to be classified as normal racial skills. Therefore, prior to overcoming the ordeal, all skills will be sealed at F-grade just to be fair to other races. The Way of Slime’s ordeal can only be participated in once. So, if you fail in any part of the ordeal, you will lose the skill of that energy type. On the other hand, if you pass all three trials, you will obtain the skills of each energy type,” explained Viola.
Sila’s mouth was wide open. Wasn’t this explanation too important to not be mentioned by the Slime King? If he had been told about this, he would have trained his slime skills until he was confident enough to participate in the ordeal.
This was bad. He wasn’t proficient in any skills except qi-related skills.
Slime skills are hard to obtain since the player needs to excel in them. It may look advantageous to have skills for all three energy types, but if he fails in every part, he would have no racial skills at all. Another downside of the slime racial skills is that there is only one skill for each energy type, while the other races would possess three skills for their specific energy type. It would be fatal for players with the slime race if they are not proficient enough.
“We have talked too long. The trial will start now,” declared Viola.
“Please wait, Madam Viola,” said Sila.
“Call me Master.”
“Yes. Master Viola. I want to say that I’m not familiar with the Colorful Slime skill yet,” Sila said slowly.
“Not familiar yet? That can’t be helped,” replied Viola.
Sila released a sigh of relief. He needed to extend the time to take part in this trial first. ‘At least, I can get more time to practice the skill first.’
“So, you fail. Okay, you can go now,” continued Viola.
Sila was dumbfounded. “Please wait!! Stop!! I mean, can Master teach me first?”
“You want me to teach you?” wondered Viola.
“Yes. Normally, in trials like these, there should be a demonstration first, right? The examinee’s ability to do it is tested afterward.” Sila was talking about the time when Poluk had demonstrated the use of Fluffy Slime.
“Oh, I see. No wonder no one passed my trial except His Majesty,” muttered Viola.
Sila could hear her, however. He thought, ‘Slime King must be very exceptional to pass Master Viola’s trial.’
“Okay. I get it. Look at me,” said Viola.
Then, her body’s color changed from the usual light pink to red for five seconds before changing again. This time, her color changed multiple times to cyan, green, brown, yellow, and blue, respectively. Lastly, her body color changed back to red and stopped at it.
“Okay, now it’s your turn,” said Viola.
Sila pulled a wry face. He didn’t get it at all.
“Umm, Master. Usually, you need to explain how to do it first. If I try to do it by myself, I might do it wrong. That would affect your reputation as my master. I surely wouldn’t want that to happen.” Sila tried to force his way out by talking.
Viola frowned. ‘If this little kid uses this skill poorly in front of an outsider and people find out that it was me who taught him, that would indeed be bad.’
“I see. By the way, you are such a pain, you know? When His Majesty participated in this trial, I didn’t need to say a word. His Majesty could show me the skill flawlessly.” Viola said, “Watch again. This time I will slow it down.”
Viola changed her body’s color again. This time from cyan to green, brown, yellow, blue, and red, respectively. Her color returned and stopped at cyan this time.
Then, Viola drew a six-pointed star on the ground.
“This is the only magic that slimes can use – element manipulation. You may have seen some magic that can imbue an element into a weapon. But our magic is different as we are not imbuing an element into a weapon. Instead, we change our body into that element. We don’t use magic but we become magic ourselves.” Viola explained while Sila was glaring at the six-pointed star on the ground, trying his best to remember the elemental sequence written on it.
“There is a sequence that the elements follow. Red is fire, cyan is ice, green is wind, brown is earth, yellow is lighting, and blue is water. You can’t possibly change yourself into an element that isn’t next to your current element.” Viola further explained.
Sila tried his best to understand its concept. It was very different from the concept behind qi-type skills that are simple yet flexible. While other players might think that qi-type skills are hard to practice, for Sila who isn’t good at remembering, qi-type skills are easier to understand than this elemental sequence of magic-type skills.
There are various kinds of magic-type skills, so the complexity is incomparable to simple qi-type skills. For qi-types, there are only the hot element and the cold element, which are mutually exclusive. Meanwhile, for magic-types, there are eight elements and all of them have their own unique characteristics.
Therefore, Sila had to spend almost an hour trying to remember each element’s characteristics and weaknesses.
‘I won't be able to memorize all of this. I need to practice it to make my body remember,’ Sila thought.
Sila is the type that prefers to use his body for memorizing, not his brain. Thus, he started changing his body color into red, cyan, green, brown, yellow, and blue respectively.
Nevertheless, his result was nowhere near what he had seen from Viola’s. His color changing was too slow. Sila had to spend ten minutes to change into one color. It took him two hours to go through the whole sequence of elements twice.
“This seems like it will take a while. I’ll come back tomorrow, then.” Viola said before leaving.
Sila didn’t hear what Viola said. Once he immerses himself into something, he would ignore others.
He felt too tired so he unconsciously fell asleep. Once he woke up, he would only eat and practice without doing anything else. He was practicing without knowing how much time had passed again.
Now, Sila had shortened the time he needed to change his color to five minutes. It currently took him half an hour to complete a full sequence. Although the time had been halved, it would still be too long for using it in actual combat.
“Magic-type skill is too hard. If it was a qi-type skill, I would be able to use it decently by now,” Sila complained.
“Wait.” Sila realized, “Mister Poluk said that every slime-race skill has more than one way to be used. Am I practicing it incorrectly?” He talked to himself, “if I perceive that Colorful Slime is a qi-type skill, can I use it well enough?”
Afterward, Sila tried using Formless Soldier. He changed his body to become harder, softer, heavier, and lighter respectively; like he was changing elements.
Although the speed wasn’t instantaneous, it only took him one minute to complete the cycle. Compared to changing elements, it was a lot faster.
“Although these two skills are different in energy type aspect, their principles are very similar. If I understand why I can use Formless Soldier quicker than Colorful Slime, I may be able to change color faster.”
Subsequently, except for eating and sleeping, Sila dedicated all his time to practicing Formless Soldier and Colorful Slime.
Once his qi ran out, he would train Colorful Slime. Once his magic ran out, he would train Formless Soldier. Due to the fact that these two skills consumed separate resources, Sila could train two skills without any breaks.
Time passed, and now Sila only had to spend three minutes to complete the cycle of Colorful Slime. As for Formless Soldier, he had already achieved the ability to use it almost at will. It might be due to his preference for qi-type skills. Anyway, he still couldn’t use the separate ability of Formless Soldier simultaneously as Poluk had mentioned.
Viola who watched him from afar couldn’t help but sigh.
“Poluk, you’re too kind. Anyone can do it if you give that many hints away. It seems I need to increase the difficulty of my trial a little.”
on another note, this ability works way to well with his arm of exodia. he has moves of each type, and if he transforms into that element, won't it become stronger?
now that i think about it, the Formless Soldier also is extremely compatible with his play style and the 4 Qi Beasts.
The last one was Brightness? Translucent Slime? It sounds like Colorful Slime, but perhaps this is another kind of move.
Fluffy Slime is a Movement/Defense Type ability, while Colorful Slime is more of a Support/Buff ability that makes certain attacks stronger.
Will Translucent Slime be an attack ability, or a Hiding ability? if it makes him more noticible/less noticible, then that seems too much like the Colorful Slime ability. Perhaps it is a way to use his slime to attack? I dont know...
After practicing changing color in sequence for a long time, Sila was finally able to get a hang of it. Sila now realized that Poluk had given him so many hints. Changing elements uses the same concept as changing attributes of the body with Formless Soldier. He needed to swiftly change the color by concentrating power at once instead of accumulating power to do so bit by bit.
It is like Qi Reinforcement in a sense that speed plays a more important role than power.
“I can do it. I can do it.” Sila smiled at his own success.
A mere second was needed for the current Sila to change his element. To complete the element cycle by sequence, only 5-6 seconds were required. Although it was tiring, he could somehow use it in actual combat now.
Viola slowly walked toward him. Seeing so, Sila was quick to greet her.
“Rest for a moment. Afterward, I will conduct the trial.” Viola declared.
Sila nodded then sat down to recover his magic points.
“I’m ready,” Sila said after he had checked that his magic points had reached the maximum.
“Okay. The trial shall start now. You have to change into all elements in a sequential manner,” ordered Viola.
As he had practiced for so long, Sila was very confident. His body changed into six colors respectively within five seconds without fail.
Viola nodded. “Very good. You are quite skilled.”
“So, I’ve passed the trial, haven’t I, Master?” Sila smiled back at Viola’s comment.
Viola shook her head. There was no smile on her face. “No! Next is the actual trial.”
Sila was shocked. Prior to this, Master Viola had told him that to complete her trial, he only had to successfully complete the element sequence. He didn’t understand why there was another trial waiting for him.
“Wait, Master, why is there another trial?” Sila questioned.
“That’s because you have spent too much time practicing. Do you know how much time has passed?”
“One day, I think?” Sila replied hesitantly.
Back then, he remembered that Viola had said he would take the trial tomorrow. As Viola didn’t appear, he couldn’t know how much time had passed. This place was always bright without night time, worsening his perception of time.
“Wrong! Including today, you have spent seven days practicing. That’s why the trial has to be harder!” Viola declared.
Sila frowned. His perception of time might have become worse. But he felt like it wasn’t possible for that much time to have passed. He believed that it has only been two or three days at most.
“Does Master misunderstand something? Seven days is too long. I think that…”
“Silence! Are you telling that I’m in the wrong? Should I give you a failing grade?” Viola said.
Sila shut his mouth. Using the trial to threaten him like this, he had no choice but to give up.
“What kind of the trial do I have to pass this time?” asked Sila.
Viola smiled. “Your changing elements could be used for showing off, but in real combat, it’s still lacking. Your opponent wouldn’t be kind and wait for you to change your element at ease. You need to be keen and change your element at the right moment.”
Sila nodded. Viola’s reasoning was well spot on.
“In this actual trial, I will jump to bump into you every three seconds. Within half a minute, if you can successfully defend against my bump at least eight times, you will get a passing grade.” Viola smiled.
“Is that all, Master?” Sila wondered. This trial sounded too easy to be true.
“Yes. By the way, my attack will be an elemental one. You need to change into the advantageous element to be considered successful in your defense. Otherwise, you will be deemed as failing even if you can block me neatly. Do you understand?” Viola said.
“I understand,” Sila replied. He still thought that Viola was hiding something.
“We will now begin. Don’t worry. I won’t bump into you with too much force. The objective of this trial is to test whether you can choose your element keenly. Although, if you do it incorrectly, there will of course be some minor painfulness.”
Sila got goosebumps. How much pain is considered ‘minor’ in Viola’s dictionary?
Sila stood confronting Viola. Both of them still didn’t change their element. Viola could change her element freely at her will but Sila couldn’t. Sila realized that he would be in a disadvantageous position if he changed his element first, as Viola could change hers accordingly.
“First time is to warm up. Wind!” With Viola’s sentence, her body turned green and she jumped towards Sila. He then quickly changed his element to ice.
In this contest of changing elements, Sila who was defending had the upper hand since he could change his body into any element in the first attempt. The problem would be the following ones since he had no time to change his element back to normal.
Once their bodies collided, nothing happened. Viola jumped backward.
“Very good. Earth!” Viola jumped at him again. Sila needed only a brief moment to change his element to wind to parry her.
“Next is, lightning!” Viola jumped forward again. Sila was calm and defended against her by changing his body into earth element.
‘This is easier than I thought. I have succeeded three times so far.’ Sila thought.
Viola grinned. “Next, water!”
Sila didn’t pay much attention. He changed his element to lightning. But as soon as Viola approached, he was shocked.
Even though she said she would use a water elemental attack, her actual current element was fire.
Sila lost his focus, cancelling his change in element. He was bumped by Viola and he felt hot as if he was burned.
“Argh! Hot!!” shouted Sila.
“Fufu. What’s wrong? Do I need to always tell you the truth? Ice!” Viola jumped at him with fire element again.
Sila strengthened his focus. He didn’t pay attention to what Viola was saying anymore. He blocked her attack by changing his element to water.
“Don’t be too easy to fall into a trap. Ice!” This time Viola’s words matched her actual element. Sila defended using fire.
His worry grew. Sometimes Viola told the truth, sometimes she lied. It caused Sila to become confused.
“Next. Lightning!” Viola changed to wind. Although Sila was still worrying, he tried his best to ignore her words. His focus was entirely on the color on her body. He succeeded in blocking once again.
“Haha. Next is also lightning!” Viola’s element changed to fire. Sila was quick to change his to water. However, before they collided, Viola changed to lightning at the last moment.
“Arghh!!” Sila felt like he was electrocuted. Viola played him by changing her element at the last moment.
“I already told you that it’ll be lightning. Why don’t you believe me? Next is wind!” Viola declared. Her element also changed to wind.
Sila could get the hang of her objective. Viola wanted him to change his element in an instant, not changing beforehand and waiting for the attack.
Therefore, Sila didn’t change his element. He was waiting in water element form. He would decide which element to change to at the last moment.
As he had predicted, once Viola came closer, she changed to earth. Sila quickly changed his element. He respectively changed his element from water to fire, ice, and wind to block against her successfully at the very last moment.
Viola pulled a wry face. “This time is ice!” She shouted.
Sila panicked. Ice wins against wind. That meant, from his current wind-elemental form, based on the sequence of elements, he needed to almost complete the elemental cycle to become an element that advantageous to ice. He hadn’t been able to do it in a short time. Nevertheless, he tried his best.
Once the two bodies collided, Sila who stayed in water form felt pain. He really couldn’t do it in time.
“You’ve been hit three times already. This is the last one. If you can block me, you pass. If you can’t, you fail.” Viola said happily.
Sila tried to focus without caring about the freezing sensation he had felt before. He needed all of his concentration to cope with this last attack.
“The last time is, not telling you!” Viola rushed at him.
Sila focused in this heated battle. Although Viola said so, he could predict that she would use the same method to force Sila to complete the elemental cycle.
However, even though he knew it was coming, he still had no way to cope with it. He really couldn’t change his elements with that much speed.
What Sila had predicted turned out to be true. Once their bodies had almost collided, Viola changed her element to the lightning.
At this moment, in Sila’s mind, time seemed to have slowed down. Sila remembered what Poluk had said to him. “Our slime-race skills always have more than one way that they can be used.”
Did he really have to change element in sequence based on Master Viola just teaching him so? Sila realized this right before forcing his elemental form to change two steps in reverse.
Their bodies finally collided. Sila gritted his teeth to prepare for the painfulness.
But nothing happened. Viola hopped backward.
“Very good. You only practiced for five days and you’re able to change element in reverse.” Viola complimented.
Sila released a sigh of relief. He had staked everything on his last-ditch effort to change element in reverse and it paid off. He felt so tired, though.
“Changing element in reverse requires ten times more energy than in sequence. Remember it well and don’t do it unless it’s necessary.” Viola said.
“So, have I passed the trial?” Sila smiled.
“Yes. You have now passed the actual trial.” Viola said.
Sila smiled again. It was really hard but he finally overcame it. Now that he thought about it, magic-type skills were indeed unsuitable for him. He only needed one day for the qi-type trial but had to spend several days for the magic-type one.
“I’m happy for you. Okay, then… prepare yourself for the actual trial – mark 2!!!” Viola shouted.
“WHAT!!?” Sila shouted back.
“Don’t you see? Once you overcome the actual trial – mark 2, there will be the actual trial – Z, and then…” Viola continued her speech.
Sila listened to the tens of trials he had to overcome. “Master, doesn’t this seem fishy? Why there are so many trials?”
“What? It’s up to me how I want to examine your ability. I will conduct as many trials as I need to ensure that your comprehension of this skill is maximized. The current you can exert only 10% of its power.” Viola said.
Sila’s mouth was wide open. Slime-race skills were very complicated and had so much depth. If he needed to understand them completely, wouldn’t he had to spend a year practicing?
“Normally, just completing the elemental sequence is required to pass, isn’t it, Viola?” There was a man voice coming from behind.
Viola replied without turning back. “This is my trial, Divine. You have to wait for your turn.”
Sila took a look at Divine, the last Slime Guardian he met. Divine’s appearance wasn’t a slime as Sila had anticipated. He was a white-haired handsome man, leaning his back against a wall.
“I have waited for too long. His Majesty himself sent me to observe your trial. His Majesty is concerned you played a prank in the trial.” Divine said.
“His Majesty sent you here?”
“Correct. His Majesty also told me that the whole ordeal should have been finished long ago. But since this little brother still struck at the second stage, he ordered me to have a look for once.” Divine said, looking at Sila.
“It’s my right to decide whether this whelp passes my trial or not.” Viola pouted.
“Of course, you still have the right to do so. I just want to remind you that, compared to other slimes who had come to take the trial, is this man considered inferior in changing element to them?”
Viola gave it a thought. Actually, Sila’s ability to change element had reached a satisfactory level. It was just because Sila got it easy because of Poluk’s advice that she felt discontented.
“Geez. Okay. I’ll give him a passing grade.” Viola said.
Afterward, Sila body was glowing. The system sound alerted.
Player Sila has overcome the trial of the Way of Slime (Magic Part).
Skill (F) Colorful Slime has been promoted to skill (S) Orbiting Cosmos.
Sila didn’t wait. He immediately checked his new skill’s description.
Racial skill: (S) Orbiting Cosmos
Magic-type skill. An art of magic manipulation. Can be used to change part of the body or its junction to become one with the element.
Decrease opponent’s magic-based attack power by 20%.
Prevents user from being able to use any other magic-type skills.
Viola walked away slowly. She gave Sila one last word before she left.
“Remember these words of mine. Orbiting in the sequence is cosmos. Orbiting in reverse is also cosmos. Changing in sequence to connect to the outer universe. Changing in reverse to connect to the inner universe.”
Sila couldn’t understand a thing but he still tried his best to remember her words. He then politely said goodbye to Viola.
After Master Viola had left, Divine moved closer to Sila.
Sila could take a good look at Divine now. Divine was a white-haired handsome man. His common clothes seemed ordinary but it still emphasized Divine’s elegant demeanor.
The last trial should be the psychic part. However, Divine didn’t look like a psychic-type player who usually wore all sorts of armor. Actually, he didn’t even look like a slime.
“Sila, isn’t it?” greeted Divine.
“Hello, Mister Divine.”
“Sila has already spent too much time in Viola’s trial so please pardon me to conduct my trial immediately,” Divine said.
“But I’m still not ready.” Sila felt rejected. He perceived that the trial’s difficulty must become higher in each stage. He believed that Divine’s trial must be harder than Viola’s.
“That’s okay. The first half of my trial is not hard. You can even do it while listening to my explanation. Once you overcome the first half, I will give you one task. If you complete it, you pass. There will not be hidden rounds like Viola’s trial, I guarantee it.”
“Is it… hard? This psychic-part trial.” Sila asked.
“That’s a difficult question to answer. I can only tell you that, be it easy or hard, that depends on Sila yourself. It could be unimaginably difficult to the point that it’s impossible to overcome, or so easy that you can complete it within ten seconds.” Divine answered.
Sila somehow had a sense of relief. It was a good thing that the trial’s difficulty depended on him. He liked it more when something depended on his own ability instead of depending on others.
“Firstly, please try executing Transparent Slime now,” Divined ordered.
Sila nodded and closed his eyes. He focused his thoughts on activating the skill. His body became more semi-transparent than usual.
“Okay. Then…” Divine’s body flashed once. Afterward, the handsome man disappeared and was replaced by a silver slime whose body size was comparable to Poluk and Viola. This must be Divine in slime form.
“Become as transparent as me. That’s your first assignment,” Divine said.
Sila blinked. He was skeptical about this trial. “That’s all? There is no fighting to the death, solving complicated puzzles, or training for several days?”
“No, there will not. That’s all for the first half of the trial,” Divined replied plainly.
Sila nodded. Based on the previous two slime trials, he knew that slime-race skills had the same concept for execution. He then tried his best to focus his mind to make himself become transparent.
“Transparent, transparent, transparent,” Sila muttered to himself.
However, Sila’s body didn’t become more transparent at all. Instead, it even seemed like his body had become dimmer.
Divine who watched nearby didn’t give any comment until time had passed for ten minutes.
“Do you want some rest? We will have a talk while you are resting.” Divine asked.
“Rest?” Sila confused. He just started practicing for only ten minutes and there was still no progress.
“Or we can talk while you are practicing, that’s fine. Could you please tell me a story about yourself?” Divine started a conversation.
Then, Sila told Divine about his story since he entered the game. Divine was a good listener who smiled and listened attentively. Sila continued his story until he quit practicing unconsciously.
“Oh, my teacher asked me to greet Mister Divine in his stead. His name is Wu Ming,” Sila said.
“I remember him. We fought against each other for three days and three nights. As the result of the fight ending up as a draw, we became friends.”
“By the way, Mister Divine, are you really a slime?” Sila asked as he felt curious by the fact that Divine had been in human form before.
“Do I not look like a slime?” Divine said smilingly.
“Um… If based on other slimes I have met, then yes, sir.”
Divine smiled. “My previous form is a result of the Psychic Body skill. It allows the user to project a body using psychic power. Usually, the projection reflects a user’s inner self. You could say it’s a kind of shape transformation skill.”
“So, every psychic monster can change into human form, can’t it?” asked Sila.
“Based on your question, I could tell that you have yet to research in-game general information, haven’t you? Before I will answer this question, let me ask you something first, Does Sila know whether I’m a real human or AI?” Divine asked back.
Sila didn’t even need to give it a thought. He had already come up with an answer. “You’re a real person, sir. Your responses toward my action are too flawless. I could tell because I have already met with NPC controlled by AI.”
Divine nodded. “That’s correct. For important roles, NPCs will always be controlled by actual people. Now it’s my turn to answer your previous question. My answer is: I don’t know.”
“Eh? Why don’t you know, sir?” Sila wondered. Divine seemed to be the expert regarding psychic-type topics among the people Sila had encountered.
“Psychic Body is a skill that projects people’s inner self outward. Well, you should know first that the world of Monster Soul is lawless. The system only provides the basic services for the player’s convenience. You can loot, kill, or do any evil deeds without being punished by the system. This world will project your true self that you might possibly suppress in the real world.
“Without laws, humans are no different from a monster. The concept of this game reflects that fact. In this world where moral is peeled away, we are just a monster’s soul in a human’s body. Therefore, the inner self that is projected using the Psychic Body skill could be a human or nonhuman. It depends on each person,” Divine explained.
Sila listened with a peculiar feeling inside him. Indeed, he felt that this world has allowed players to show their true selves without restriction. Even good people in the real world could be villains in this game.
At least, Sila now somehow believed that Divine is a good person, as Divine’s inner self is the elegant handsome man who caused people to feel warm and like they can rely on him.
“Psychic-type skills are very amazing. If I had known this beforehand, I might’ve chosen to become a psychic-type player,” Sila expressed his thought.
“In my opinion, Sila is suited to both qi-type and psychic-type. You don’t have to regret it at all.”
Sila finally got a chance to ask this question that had always been bothering him to someone who was a psychic-type expert. “Can I ask whether a psychic-type player can read minds?”
Divine smiled. “Have you encountered people who can read your mind?”
Sila nodded.
“Please rest assured. There is no skill for psychic-type players to read the minds of others. There are only the Mind Connection and Emotion Reading skills.”
“What can these skills do, sir?”
“Mind Connection can link the mind between several people or monsters. People will synchronize easier in this state. It’s commonly used for the command chain.
As for Emotion Reading, as the name states, it allows the user to read other’s emotions and feelings. It cannot read the actual thoughts of others.”
Sila nodded. He had known a little about Mind Connection from experiencing it with Lookhin. As for why Varee seemed to always know what he was thinking about, it must be due to her own talent coupled with the Emotion Reading skill.
“Mister Divine, can I ask, in your opinion, which psychic-type skill is the strongest one, sir?”
Sila had encountered many psychic-type experts: Varee, Shueria, and Cross. Each person seems to have a different way to use psychic energy. Varee’s psychic energy was usually motionless like clear water but able to change into attack instantly. Shueria’s was like a hidden sharp blade that could inflict damage to the opponent even when the user was defending. As for Cross’s psychic energy, it caused the surrounding people to feel pressure and also made itself visible to the naked eye.
“For me to answer this question, I must ask Sila back first: what does the word strong mean for Sila?” Divine asked.
Sila furrowed his brows. This simple question is unexpectedly harder than he thought. He used to believe that being strong means being able to defeat the enemy with an overwhelming victory. However, after thinking about it, Montra had played dirty and won against him. Did this mean Montra was strong?
He also thought about Lone Wolf and Zero. Although these two were unable to win against Montra, Sila believed that they would become stronger and stronger as time went on.
Does that mean being strong isn’t related to victory or defeat?
“I don’t know, sir,” Sila honestly replied.
“Based on that answer, I believe that Sila has now taken one step closer to understanding the true meaning of being strong,” Divine replied.
Sila was confused. But Divine continued without letting him asking further.
“Sila might have experienced an oppressive psychic-type user that can defeat the enemy without having to fight. This kind of psychic can even materialize the energy if it is powerful enough. But if you ask me, this kind of psychic isn’t the strongest type at all.”
“What kind of psychic is considered the strongest in Mister Divine’s opinion, sir?”
“A calm mind that is as motionless and transparent as a mirror which reflects everything. That’s the strongest kind of psychic in my eyes.”
Sila frowned. “What is the use of that against an opponent, sir?”
“We don’t have to fight against anyone, do we? We fight against ourselves and opponents fight against themselves. A calm mind like a mirror will reflect everything,” Divine smiled.
“What does that mean, sir?” Sila asked.
Divine still smiled but did not answer Sila’s question. “That’s all of the hints I can say. The rest depends only on Sila.”
“Hints?”
“We are still in the middle of a trial, remember?” Divine smiled.
Sila just realized. The conversation with Divine gave him many pieces of knowledge and ideas. It was also enjoyable, causing him to temporarily forget that he was still in the middle of a trial.
Sila tried to activate the skill again. His color was slightly fader than before. However, once his concentration rose, his body become darker again.
‘Why?’ Sila thought. His body continued to turn darker.
Sila furrowed his brows. The more he practiced, the darker he became.
‘Calm down. I need to recall Mister Divine’s hint. A calm mind like a mirror will reflect everything.’
Sila was interested in this hint. His body became more transparent at that moment.
Nevertheless, once he focused on becoming more transparent, his body instead turned darker again.
‘What the? Why does the result become worse when I concentrate on it? Hmm, wait… a calm mind like a mirror will reflect everything…’
Sila closed his eyes and started emptying his mind. This was a basic technique that his teacher Mora had taught him when he was very young – “Do not think too much when fighting”. Sila was still incompetent in this aspect. He always pictured the result of a fight before a battle even began. His teacher had warned him many times that this would be the cause of his defeat once he fights against a skilled opponent.
Moments later, each thought in Sila’s mind had faded off one by one. Sila’s mind was now totally calm. Nothing was able to disrupt his mind. It was as calm and peaceful as the still water where no wave surfaced.
“You pass,” Divine said.
Sila opened his eyes. He found that his body had become quite transparent, though not as much as Divine's.
Transparent Slime is a skill that has a different concept than Fluffy Slime and Colorful Slime. While the two latter skills require intense concentration, Transparent Slime instead requires the user to calm oneself. The more the user puts his focus onto the skill, the more likely it is to fail. For Sila, this skill was several times harder than the other two skills.
“Now, the time for the last half of the trial has come,” Divine said, to which Sila nodded. “By the way, does Sila want to rest? In this latter part, I will let you fight against one thing. If you win, you will pass.”
Sila examined his own body. He found that he was at his best. All energy resources were filled while he was talking with Divine.
“There’s no need, sir. In my current state, I think I can even beat a dragon,” Sila exaggerated to show Divine how ready he was.
“That’s good. Then, as soon as this thing comes out, your trial shall begin,” Divine said.
Sila nodded. He stretched his body. As days had passed, he had already become very accustomed to moving in slime form.
“By the way, what is the identity of this one thing you mentioned?” Sila asked.
“I don’t know. But I think Sila knows,” Divine replied.
“Why?” Sila asked with confusion in his voice. This is the trial Divine had prepared. How could he know the content beforehand?
Divine didn’t answer and hopped backward from Sila around ten meters. Next, his body flashed an intense light. It caused Sila to temporarily close his eyes.
Once Sila reopened his eyes, he was shocked. Divine was still standing in the same spot. But there was one more thing stood beside Divine.
Divine referring to it as ‘one thing’ was understandable. This creature in front of Sila didn’t look close to anything in this world. It was just a lump of black ooze without proper form. Its killing intent was spreading out like a virus.
This lump of black ooze soon shrunk and twisted. It turned itself into some form similar to a human.
Currently, it was a three-meter tall human with three arms. Its body was distorting. Its face revealed strong resentment.
Even though its face and body were pitch dark like black ink, Sila was able to recognize the identity of this thing.
Divine said softly as if he could read Sila’s mind. “It is your own inner self.”
Sila panicked as his dark-self dashed at him using Qi of Little Bird. Its body was also glowing red with Qi of Little Tiger as it rushed at him at terrifying speed.
Sila had a hard time swallowing his saliva.
He was currently a slime as small as an orange.
Sila was shocked because of the thing approaching him. He had never imagined that his inner self was this ugly. However, that wasn’t important right now. Sila was now more worried due to the fact that this dark creature could clearly use Qi of Little Divine Beings.
Meanwhile, Sila had to depend on only Qi Reinforcement and the three slime-race skills. He couldn’t circulate qi or fire hidden weapons in his current state.
Sila recalled the time when Poluk fought against the trolls. He imitated Poluk’s actions by changing his body to become softer and dashed toward the enemy.
His inner self didn’t seem to be surprised by Sila’s actions. It lifted its hand which was glowing in intense Qi of Little Tiger and prepared to strike Sila. This attack seemed powerful as if it could kill Sila in one hit.
Once the red claw coming Sila’s way was about to hit him, Sila immediately increased his heaviness with Formless Soldier. His body turned black and descended down into the ground, causing the attack from his enemy to miss.
When Sila was about to touch the ground, he changed his body to become softer again. His body bounced against the ground and charged at the chin of his inner self. He also didn’t forget to change his body to become harder upon contact.
The sound of metallic clashing could be heard. Sila panicked as he found out that his opponent’s body was as sturdy as metal. It seemed his inner self was also able to use Formless Soldier.
Moreover, based on its black appearance, it seemed his inner self was activating hardening aspect of Formless Soldier all the times. It couldn’t be easily injured like this.
Sila felt uneasy. He was pushed back against the ground. He relied on the momentum and softened his body to bounce himself up again with double the speed. He didn’t forget to activate Qi Reinforcement skill this time.
Their body collided strongly. Sila depended on the recoil to hop backward several meters. He looked at his inner self and found that there was a crack on its chin.
Sila released a sigh of relief as he discovered that at least his inner self wasn’t immortal.
He was slightly dizzy though, as he still wasn’t accustomed to bouncing himself back and forth.
Sila focused his mind and jumped at his opponent again. Although his inner self was full of power, it was quite stupid. Sila smiled softly. He didn’t know whether he should be happy or sad because of the fact that his inner self is stupidly honest and relied only on direct confrontation.
Repeating the same method to attack, he bounced upward and hit his inner self’s chin. If things went on like this, its injuries would accumulate until it lost.
Sila charged at the same spot. The crack on its chin was widened. Sila used this opportunity to bounce against the ground and rush at it again for the third time.
Sila’s inner self wasn’t just waiting for an incoming attack. Its left hand was glowing in blue aura and swiftly moved beautifully like a little fish playing in the lake. It grabbed Sila’s body with ease.
Sila panicked. He was too careless and forgot that his opponent possessed Qi of Little Fish. Although it hadn’t been enhanced with Qi of Little Tiger, the hand that grabbed onto Sila was as hard as steel, preventing him from getting away.
All five fingers squeezed tightly, causing Sila to feel pain all over his body.
Sila, who was in slime form, didn’t have hands or legs to resist this predicament. He had to rely on the hardening aspect of Formless Soldier to withstand an incoming attack. The sound of metal grating against metal was loud.
Against Sila’s resistance, the inner self used its right-hand empowered with Qi of Little Tiger to strengthen its grip on Sila.
The force Sila had to withstand increased by several times. Sila was screaming in pain. If this went on, he would surely die. His opponent even had one remaining arm to attack him.
Having no other choice, Sila’s body color turned into red with the help of Orbiting Cosmos. Sila’s body was hotter than fire as he spent all his magic power into executing this move.
The inner self screamed in pain. Its hands released their grasp slightly. Sila hurriedly used this opportunity to make his body softer and struggled out of its grasp.
He then moved back to take a moment of rest.
Sila looked at his inner self. Its eyes stared back at him. The color on its body had changed into bluish black. The vapor with icy sensation was released from its entire body.
Sila swallowed his saliva. His opponent used skill after skill as though its source of power was limitless. It was currently using the hardening aspect of Formless Soldier enhanced with the ice element from Orbiting Cosmos. It even maintained this state constantly.
His inner self glared at Sila without blinking. At that moment, Divine walked in between Sila and his inner self. He turned his head to talk with Sila.
“Let me stop this battle for a moment. I have something to tell Sila first,” Divine said.
Sila didn’t take his sight away from the inner self while shifting some of his attention to Divine.
“It seems Sila has misunderstood the objective of this trial,” Divine said.
“Misunderstood? How?” Sila wondered.
“Yes. This is a psychic-type trial. Sila needs to depend only on Transparent Slime to achieve victory against this thing. Otherwise, even if Sila overwhelmingly beats it down, I will still have to give you a failing grade.”
Sila pulled a wry face. “But, sir, Transparent Slime only causes my body to become more transparent. I can’t see how it will help me in a fight.”
“That completely depends on yourself. For psychic type, a resolute mind is the source of the skill. If Sila believes that skill can do that much, it will only amount to that much,” Divine commented.
Sila was immersed in thought for a while.
“Then, let’s continue. As I have said before, this trial’s difficulty depends on Sila yourself,” Divine said while jumping backward.
Once Divine got out of combat range, the inner self was releasing an ice-cold killing intent toward Sila once again. Its eyes were fixed on Sila.
Since he was told to rely on Transparent Slime, Sila closed his eyes and tried to remain calm. Except for this method, he was clueless about what he must do.
As the inner self witnessed Sila closing his eyes, it roared. It bared its fangs and jumped at Sila with Qi of Little Bird at high speed.
Sila’s calmness was rippled due to the roar. His body’s transparency became slightly dimmer.
Once the inner self approached Sila, it lifted its claw to strike at him strongly. Sila was hit and push away by its force, causing him to smash against the wall behind.
Sila gritted his teeth while enduring the painfulness. ‘It doesn’t work at all.’ He thought before opened his eyes.
In practice, Transparent Slime was already quite hard. For him to empty his mind in life-and-death battle, it was nearly impossible.
Sila looked at his opponent, then, he stumbled onto something.
There was a slight crack on his inner self’s hand. It was a very small crack that he might overlook if he didn’t pay enough attention.
Sila hurriedly tried to come up with an answer. He was sure he hadn’t attacked its hand before. How does a crack appear there?
‘Was it… when it attacked me previously?’
Sila pushed himself out of the wall. He hopped forward to confront the inner self. He recalled Divine’s advice. So far, Sila had overcome trial after trial because he depended on the advice he had been given (except from Viola whom didn’t give him any.)
“…We don’t have to fight against anyone. We fight against ourselves and opponents fight against themselves. A calm mind like a mirror will reflect everything…” Divine’s sentences appeared in Sila consciousness.
“A calm mind like a mirror…” Sila muttered.
“The strongest psychic is a calm mind…” Sila continued.
“Calm… Mirror… We fight against ourselves and opponents fight against themselves…”
Meanwhile, the inner self dashed at Sila without delay.
Sila closed his eyes. He started to understand. We fight against ourselves and opponents fight against themselves. At that instant, everything around Sila became meaningless for him. Everything became nothingness. What was left were only the emptiness and stillness.
Still like a mirror… A mirror which can reflect everything.
Sila body was as transparent as Divine.
Divine, who was standing nearby, gave Sila a smile.
‘Very skillful. He is indeed more suited to be a psychic-type player. But he will have to keep himself in this state all the time to be considered a true expert,’ Divine thought.
Once the inner self’s dark claw, filling with an insane amount of qi, struck at Sila’s transparent body; Sila’s body was illuminating an intense white light. The surroundings were covered by such light.
Then, the light faded off. Sila reopened his eyes.
The inner self stood in front of him. Its boy was full of cracks. It soon dissolved into particles and slowly dispersed in thin air.
A system sound alarmed.
Player Sila has overcome the trial of the Way of Slime (Psychic Part.)
Skill (F) Transparent Slime has been promoted to skill (S) Moon Reflecting Mirror.
Player Sila has overcome all three parts of the Way of Slime’s ordeal.
Skill (F) Heart of Slime has been promoted to skill (S) Way of Slime.
Sila was surprised by the fact that the Heart of Slime skill also got promoted.
Racial skill: (S) Moon Reflecting Mirror
Psychic-type skill. An art of psychic manipulation. Can be used to change part of the body or its junction to become mirror-like, being able to reflect power.
Decreases the efficiency of illusions by 50%.
Decreases an opponent’s psychic-based attack power by 20%.
Racial skill: (S) Way of Slime
[Sealed until player can comprehend the way of slime.]
Sila looked at Way of Slime’s description with a frown. It seemed he had got another strange and hard-to-understand skill again. Slime race is indeed a very difficult race to play.
“Why is my Way of Slime skill sealed?” Sila asked Divine.
“I can’t answer that. If Sila really wants to know, it’s better to ask to the slime who has this same skill.”
“Who is it?”
“Slime King. His Majesty is the sole slime who possess this skill. No, that’s incorrect. Currently, Sila is another slime who possess it even though you still can’t use it,” Divine answered.
Sila nodded. He was bound to go back to visit Slime King again anyway. It’s due to the fact that he still hadn’t turned back to human form even though he had passed the ordeal.
“Before Sila go, I would like to give Sila a warning regarding the Moon Reflecting Mirror’s weaknesses,” Divine said.
“Does this skill have weaknesses? Sila asked. He just noticed that it’s an S-grade skill without apparent weakness shown in the skill description.
“Although this skill possesses very high utility and is able to counter almost every kind of attacks, due to Sila’s own lack of experience, it currently has three weaknesses,” Divine explained.
Sila nodded. He could accept the fact that this skill has weakness due to his own incompetence. He knew full well that this skill was very hard for him to use.
“First, the concept of this skill heavily relies on emptying your mind. With Sila’s current ability, you wouldn’t be able to activate it together with other skills,” Divine said. Sila completely agreed with this. He was indeed unable to empty his mind while performing other activities.
“Second, this skill only works for attacks that you understand ability of or are familiar with. The mirror can only reflect what it sees.
“Lastly, with Sila’s current ability, you would only able be to use this skill in a defensive manner. However, Moon Reflecting Mirror can actually be used to directly perform an offensive act. All slime racial skills always have more than one way of being used,” Divine concluded.
“How can I do that, sir?” Sila asked.
“You have to find the answer by yourself. I can only give you a hint: a mirror doesn’t only reflect an enemy, it can also reflect oneself.”
Sila kept Divine’s statements in mind.
Afterward, Divine guided Sila out of this place.
A light flashed at the edge of the cliff. Sila was standing next to Divine. They had returned to the top of the Cliff of Heroes.
Sila looked around. He couldn’t see Bow anywhere.
“Mister Divine… umm… what about… Bow? Did she pass the trial?” Sila asked in a low voice.
“No, she didn’t,” replied Divine.
“She didn’t pass? Any of the trials?” Sila asked slowly. He was quite afraid of the answer.
“Yes. She didn’t pass any trials.”
“You mean Bow… has died?” Sila muttered slowly. A sadness filled his heart.
A cute girl like that had died. Although she was only an AI, as Sila interpreted that Monster Soul was another world, he couldn’t help but think that she was a living creature.
“I haven’t died yet, Big Brother.” The sound of a young girl came from behind Sila.
Sia turned his head to look. Bow was standing there between Poluk and Viola.
“Bow!! Thank god you are fine.” Sila smiled.
All of the Slime Guardians gathered together, so Sila used this chance to clear his doubt.
“Why is Bow…? I mean, didn’t you tell me that failing in the ordeal was equal to death?”
“Do you think we are that cruel?” Poluk said, “I believe that I’m quite kind.”
“No, sir, but you have told me yourself that if one fails, one will have to die,” Sila replied.
“It’s just a pretense to prevent ignorant slimes from needlessly challenging the ordeal. If there’s no such pretense, we would have no time to rest. The slime has to be confident in their own ability to a certain extent before daring to challenge the ordeal. This little girl is the only one who jumped down the cliff without any thoughts,” Viola said.
Bow was dejected. She heard that Sila had overcome all the three trials while she couldn’t overcome a single one.
“I believe it will take Bow only a year before Bow can pass the psychic-part trial,” Divine commented.
Bow gave a big smile. She indeed almost passed the psychic-part trial. The thing that prevented her from passing was the fact that she hadn’t won against her inner self with Transparent Slime so Divine didn’t give her a passing grade even though it was her overwhelming victory.
Divine explained that she won because her inner self was too weak compared to her actual body. For the record, people like this are rare. Bow just needed to bump into her inner self one time to make it disappear. Divine couldn’t let her pass like this as it wasn’t helpful in real combat.
“I think it’s best that we visit His Majesty. His Majesty must have waited for a long time already,” Viola suggested.
All five slimes slowly went to the palace. During their journey, there were many slimes greeting them. Bow was boasting about Sila’s triumph along the way, causing everyone to know that Sila had become the second slime after Slime King who possessed all three slime skills.
There was a commotion in the slime society. They really hoped Sila was able to release them from the curse.
***
Slime King slowly nodded after he heard the story of Sila overcoming the three trials from Bow.
Sila heard the story from Bow’s mouth and felt as if it wasn’t like his own story at all. For instance, Sila overcame Poluk’s trial without having to fight (it was actually like that, but Bow described it as if even Poluk wasn’t worthy to be Sila’s opponent); Sila competed against Viola neck and neck even with his low aptitude in magic, (during this explanation, Viola’s brows were twitching, causing Sila to break out in a cold sweat); Lastly, Sila could win against his inner self even with his eyes closing.
Once Bow finished the story, she stepped back to Sila. He used this chance to whisper to her.
“Bow, were you watching me?”
“No, Big Brother. I heard your story from Mister Poluk and explained it in a way that I understand,” Bow smiled back.
Sila sighed. Seeing Bow’s innocent eyes, he couldn’t reject a thing.
Slime King discussed something with the three Slime Guardians before turning his head to Sila.
“You have overcome the Way of Slime’s ordeal. Now, it’s my turn to grant you one… no, two rewards,” Slime King said.
A change occurred in Sila’s body, setting off a system notification.
Player Sila has overcome the Way of Slime’s ordeal. Player’s status and rank have been promoted to Blue Slime of Knight Rank, Level 1.
Player Sila has obtained the Map of the Eight Slime Seals.
Sila could feel that his body had grown to the size of a football. His usual pink color also changed to a blue like Poluk’s.
For the map, he opened it and found that it was a map of Monster Soul. There were eight colorful spots on the map. The brown spot had been crossed out though.
“This map contains the location of all the Slime Seals. The spots are the current locations of each dragon. Once you exterminate them all, the slime seal on this kingdom will be broken,” Slime King explained.
Sila nodded. He had been thinking he needed to travel across the world to search for Slime Seals. If there was this map, it would be easier for him to find the seal.
Slime King closed his eyes. His body was glowing in an intense golden light, enveloping the entire palace. Once the light dispersed, there was a middle aged man standing in front of Sila.
This man was handsome and gave off the charm of an adult man. His hair was golden in color. His body was muscular and lean. He was wearing golden noble clothes. A crown which used to be on top of the Slime King was currently on top of this man.
Sila eyes widened. “Your Majesty?”
“Yes. Why are you shocked? This is my psychic body. I believe you have already witnessed this skill with Divine,” Slime King replied.
“Um, yes, it’s just that I never thought that Your Majesty is the psychic type.”
“This type suits me. Whatever, now is not the time for this. We need to discuss the Way of Slime skill first,” Slime King said, which reminded Sila of the reason he came here. “Usually, all slime skills share a common drawback. They can only be used when the user is in a slime form.”
Sila eyes widened again. He looked at himself. Does he have to stay in this form?
“That would be troublesome, Your Majesty. Indeed, this form can fight monsters. But if I visit the city, won’t I become a target of the players?” Sila asked.
“You have a point. Anyway, with you overcoming the ordeal, you can now switch form between a slime and a human.”
Sila felt relieved. Nevertheless, having to change form during combat was still troublesome.
“And with you successfully passing all the trials, the Way of Slime skill you obtained will allow you to activate slime skills even in a human form,” Slime King continued.
Sila finally smiled. He was glad he doesn’t need to switch form during the fight since it was somehow uncool.
“Try activating Way of Slime,” Slime King suggested.
“Way of Slime!” Sila shouted.
Sila’s body flashed briefly. Once the light dispersed, he had already returned to his human form. Sila looked at his own body and tried moving his arms.
“Now, follow me to the Cliff of Heroes,” Slime King ordered.
“Cliff of Heroes? Why are we going there again, Your Majesty?” Sila asked.
“If you want an answer, just try activating the slime skills.”
Sila tried to execute the slime-race skills but he failed. He couldn’t use even one of them.
“Your human form still isn’t used to slime skills. Don’t worry, though. I will train you,” Slime King said.
“Your Majesty will train me?” Sila felt curious.
“Yes. In this kingdom, I am the only person who can use all three slime skills so it should be me to train you in using them.”
“But…” Sila felt it was improper for him to receive personal training from the king of a kingdom.
“Are you doubting my ability? That can’t be helped. I have yet to show you what I am capable of… Hey, Poluk,” Slime King turned his attention toward Poluk.
Sila was about to correct the misunderstanding, but Poluk had already lifted a stone the size of a fist and thrown it toward Slime King at a high speed.
Slime King lifted his left hand. Although his hand’s movement was slow, it connected with the fist-sized stone at the right time with precision.
Once the stone collided with his hand, it changed direction and headed towards Sila, moving even faster than before. Sila didn’t have time to react. The stone flew past his face and scraped his cheek slightly.
The explosion sound could be heard behind Sila. He turned his head to look with a shocked expression. The area behind him had turned into a crater with a radius longer than 10 meters. It was as if a mini meteor had hit it.
Sila’s left cheek was bleeding.. The blood was slowing dripping down.
“I just swept the stone using Moon Reflecting Mirror, strengthened it using the hard and heavy attributes of Formless Soldier, and I also imbued the elemental powers of fire and wind into it using Orbiting Cosmos. How about it? Am I qualified to teach you?”
“Y-yes…” Sila replied weakly.
“Good. Everyone go do your own work. As for you, kid, follow me,” Slime King said.
Sila went behind Slime King. Bow also followed him.
In the town, the Slime King was greeting all slime residents in a friendly manner. Sila admired how the Slime King wasn’t haughty at all. All slimes also seemed to respect their king.
Once they had arrived at the edge of the cliff, Slime King turned his head to look at Bow.
“Bow, you should back off now. You aren’t ready to take part in the trial. Your ability is still lacking,” Slime King said.
“But I want to get out soon,” Bow disputed.
“Bow, seriously, with your ability, even if you were to go out, you would get killed by a human.”
“But…” Bow argued. She was making a sad expression.
Sila heard their conversation and came up with an idea.
“I have a method to let Bow get outside,” He said.
“What method, Big Brother?” Bow asked. Her face was filled with happiness.
Sila lifted his left hand up. His middle finger was equipped with a ring of triangular shape. “With an item that can seal monsters.”
“Yes! If I were to become a pet and let Big Brother Sila seal me inside the ring, I would be able to go outside!” Bow felt excited.
“But Bow, you still can’t take care of yourself. Your rank and level are still at Squire Rank, level 1,” Slime King objected.
“No problem. I’ll take care of her until she can take care of herself,” Sila volunteered.
“Are you sure? I bet that all sorts of problems will come at you if you bring Bow outside,” Slime King warned.
Sila couldn’t understand what Slime King meant. But he was sure about his decision.
“Up to you. Don’t regret it later,” Slime King said.
Bow was hopping with happiness. Her body was glowing in pink light.
Player Sila has obtained Bow - Pink Slime, Squire Rank, Level 1 as a pet with monster’s consent. You couldn’t rename its name.
The light faded off. Bow was smiling ear to ear.
“Kid, you should know that the path of a destroyer and the path of a protector use different kinds of resolve,” Slime King warned again.
“It’s my decision, Your Majesty,” Sila replied.
“Bow is my daughter. I will have to train you harder to ensure that you are capable of protecting her.”
“No problem, Your Majesty. I can endure any hardship,” Sila said while looking at Slime King with his head held high.
Slime King giggled. He walked toward the edge of the cliff.
“I thought I would hold back for a bit at first. But based on the story Bow has told and your voice just now, I believe you can endure my training. You’re the hope of the slime race anyway. Don’t worry. I will train you until you can fight against dragons without shame.”
Slime Kind said before jumping into the cliff.
Sila sighed. There was no turning back for him now. He jumped down, following Slime King.
A bluish light flashed at the edge of the forest near the harbor. Sila’s body emerged from that light. There was nobody here. Sila walked toward the port where the battle between the Four Emperors had occurred.
The current city port was suitable to be called such. There were many merchants selling their products in the stalls. Sila approached one of the merchants to ask about his current location.
The map that Sila had obtained from the Slime King wasn’t like the typical map used by other players. It was just a piece of leather with eight colorful dots. There were no symbols or words indicating where he was. It just told him about the dragon’s locations.
Sila could tell where the Beginning Island was based on the crossed-away brown dot, but he couldn’t say for sure where he was using the map.
After he had conversed with the merchant, Sila walked away.
He tried to open his map again. Now he knew where he was. The dot closest to him was the cyan dot. But there was a big problem. That dot was located in the middle of an ocean.
‘Do I have to swim there?’ Sila tensed.
Sila was currently going in the direction he had asked for. He was searching for a clue to obtain Qi of Little Turtle.
Lockheart City was a relatively large city port compared to Beginning Town. Although it wasn’t as big as the three main cities, it was very economically important. That was because all the players stepping onto the Main Continent had to visit this place first.
The economic state of this city was always booming. The city was titled as “A Gateway to the Main Continent.”
Sila was surprised by the embellishment of the city. While Beginning Town had a Chinese-like atmosphere, this city was giving off an Ancient Greek vibe.
Sila looked at the buildings. He was astonished. The details engraved in each building were realistic and even surreal. He was sometimes lost in thought and forgot for a while that this place was a virtual reality.
The first place Sila visited was the Item Shop. He spent 150,000 silver coins and 15 gold coins to purchase miscellaneous things. The gold coins were spent on the best map he could find. Sila thought he should have it since it was his duty to search for the dragons scattered around the continent.
100,000 silver coins were used to buy a B-grade tent that allowed a single player to rest inside. He decided to buy it as he was currently unable to circulate qi to release his fatigue.
Then, Sila opened his system window and turned on the navigation function available for C-grade system windows or above. Sila selected his destination as the Lockheart City branch of the Blue Pigeon information guild.
A small arrow appeared in front of him. It pointed him in the right direction while also showing him the remaining distance he had to walk.
Sila followed the arrow until he reached his destination and then watched as the arrow disappeared. The building had a Greek-themed appearance, similar to the surrounding buildings. A noticeable difference, however, was that there was a symbol of a blue pigeon hiding behind the white cloud on the signpost located at the entrance. Sila walked inside.
Inside the building, it was similar to a simple pub. There was no one inside except one long-haired male bartender who was sleeping soundly. His face fell down on the counter bar.
Sila furrowed his brows. He had imagined that the information guild should be livelier than this. He re-confirmed that he was in the right place. Then, he walked toward the chair in front of the sleeping bartender.
“Excuse me?” Sila muttered while poking at him.
The bartender woke up with a fright. “Whoa. I wasn’t sleeping, Boss! I’m just resting my eyes for a while.”
Once he realized that the person in the opposite of him wasn’t his boss, he sighed in relief.
“Hello, sir. What business do you have with our Blue Pigeon information guild?” He greeted Sila, completely disregarding the previous situation like it had nothing to do with him.
Sila also wasn’t interested whether this bartender was sleeping or just resting his eyes. He immediately got into the topic. “I want news about the Underwater Palace.”
The bartender looked Sila straight in the eyes. He was estimating whether the man in front of him possessed enough money for such information. It was due to the Beggar’s Cloak Sila was wearing.
The bartender opened his system window and clicked several buttons. He later informed Sila: “300 gold coins for that information, sir.”
Sila was slightly surprised by how expensive it was. However, he had no other choice. He took out a black credit card and handed it to the bartender.
The bartender widened his eyes. This kind of credit card was only possessed by tycoons or vice-leader level figures. He didn’t expect to see it from this man. Nevertheless, he took it and scanned the card before returning it to Sila.
“May I ask whether your system window is D-grade or above?” The bartender asked, which Sila nodded.
The bartender nodded back. Having this level of a credit card, it was not weird for this man to possess a high-grade system window.
“In that case, I will send the information directly to your inbox. You can find it in the news window, sir.”
The mail icon appeared in front of Sila briefly before disappearing. Sila opened his system window and found that there were three unusual messages in his inbox.
From Burapha 1/3
Big Brother Sila, I have something to tell you. Please contact me as soon as possible.
From Varee 2/3
Why can’t I contact you? Did your avatar die? Please contact me when you have revived.
From Varee 3/3
It has been too many days already. Are you facing any problems? Why can’t I contact you at all even with the ring?
Sila ignored the messages. He guessed Burapha must have finished the accessory and already contacted Varee. It was five days since he had gotten the last message. He believed those two must have already met and that Varee should have obtained the jewelry already.
About the inability to contact, it must be due to him being in the Slime Kingdom. Although the ring has the ability to contact the other wearer unconditionally, its ability was clashing with the Slime Kingdom’s setting that didn’t allow outside contact. It seemed the restriction of the Slime Kingdom’s setting was more powerful.
The Ring of Commitment wasn’t as invincible as Sila had previously thought. It didn’t allow the couple to contact and follow each other to everywhere. The special places in Monster Soul usually have a unique restriction. For example, the Slime Kingdom that only allows a slime-race creature to enter, or Sila’s Chamber of Secrets that only allows people that Sila has given Invitation Cards to.
Sila read the information regarding the Underwater Palace.
Underwater Palace
The Underwater Palace is one of the four mysterious places that the players can only access once per year. On the night of the full moon in the fifth month, the Underwater Palace floats up and allows the players to enter. The place is protected by the Great Millennium Turtle, which has a low chance of dropping a scroll of Qi of Little Turtle upon being defeated.
*Note: Qi of Little Turtle is one of the four Qi of Little Divine Beings.
*Note: The four mysterious places consisted of the Underwater Palace, the Labyrinthine Forest Cathedral, the Cloudy City, and the Transworld Lake. More details about them can be purchased at any branch of Blue Pigeon information guild.
There was a mini-map attached at the end of the message. Sila furrowed his brows. He didn’t think this information was worth the money he had spent.
The bartender seemed to know what was Sila thinking as he was quick to explain. “Little Brother, you may think that it’s not worth your money. But this is the information relating to Qi of Little Divine Beings that the Qi Emperor himself is using, you know? It is bound to be expensive.”
Sila didn’t reply. He was concerned about the fact that there were several months left until the Underwater Palace floated up and allowed entry. He had to come up with an alternative method.
“Is there another way to go there besides waiting for it to float up?” Sila asked.
“Don’t be rash. Okay. Since you have already purchased the information, I will give you this additional tip for free. Actually, for those four mysterious places, you don’t have to wait for the specific time. But that’s up to your ability.”
“What do you mean?” Sila asked. He was hopeful.
“Just go directly. But it’ll obviously be harder. For instance, you have to dive into the bottom of the ocean to fight Great Millennium Turtle underwater instead of waiting for it to come up. As for the Labyrinthine Forest Cathedral, you have to pass through its maze-like structure instead of waiting for it to appear. For the Cloudy City, you have to fight in the sky instead of waiting for it to descend. As for the Transworld Lake, there is a method but I don’t know what it is.”
Sila tried to think of a way for him to reach the bottom of the ocean. Moreover, he would have to fight the Great Millennium Turtle underwater. It was indeed too hard, especially when he wasn’t able to circulate qi like this.
“Is there a way for me to stay underwater for a long time?” Sila asked.
“There is. I will give this information for free. But I think it won’t be helpful to you,” The bartender said.
“Yes? What is it?” Sila was glad to hear that there was a way.
“You have to become a merperson or have a friend who is one. I have heard that this race can breathe underwater and also possesses an ability that allows an ally to breathe underwater for a while.”
“Merperson?” Sila repeated the word.
“Yes. From our Blue Pigeon information guild’s research, there is only one player who is playing as a merperson. To search for one particular player in the entirety of Monster Soul, even our Blue Pigeon information guild is not confident. There is no information at all regarding this player. We currently believe that he or she must be a new player or a fameless player.”
Sila smiled. Coincidentally, he was an acquaintance of that particular player. That player must be Burapha. It seemed that there was a need for Sila to contact Burapha.
Sila opened his friends window to contact Burapha but he found that the opposite party was currently offline. He had no choice but to leave Burapha a message.
The bartender saw Sila contacting someone immediately so his reporter’s instinct kicked in.
“Little Brother, surely you don’t know the identity of the player who plays as a merperson?”
“I know who he is, but he is offline. I just left him a message for now,” Sila honestly replied.
The bartender was shocked. Was this a chance for him to show his guild some results? If things go well, he might be forgiven for the mistake he had made. The guild master would quit punishing him by forcing him to work in this boring position.
The information regarding the identity of the sole merperson player was very valuable. The merpeople were rumored to be masters of high-class jewelry craftsmanship. Its demand exceeded the dwarfs’ craftsmanship.
“Little Brother, can you please tell me who he is?” the bartender asked slowly.
Sila frowned. “Why do you want to know?”
“Information regarding the merpeople race is in high demand right now. If the news about your friend goes out, your friend would become well-known. His jewelry would be able to sell well. He will be super rich!”
Sila furrowed his brows. He didn’t know whether Burapha wanted to become well-known or not. But he, for sure, shouldn’t decide in Burapha’s place.
“I can’t decide that for my friend. If he wanted to be famous, he would handle the news himself,” Sila replied.
The bartender turned his head left and right to double-check that there was no one else here.
“If it’s about money, I’ll give you lots of it.”
“I’m not lacking in money,” Sila said.
The bartender just realized that this man possessed the black credit card. It was a stupid move for him to try to use money to bribe Sila.
“If there’s nothing else, I will take my leave,” Sila stood up from his chair.
“Wait! How about information? The information that our Blue Pigeon information guild possesses is top class with high accuracy. Some information is even worth more than a thousand gold coins. Such information is usually only available for insiders to purchase, but today I will make an exception. I will gladly trade it for your information.”
Sila started to feel interested. Of course, he still wouldn’t decide for Burapha’s place. But he was interested in finding out what kind of information was expensive among players. It would cost him nothing to hear the deal before he left.
“Are you interested now?” The bartender asked.
Sila nodded. “What kind of information?”
“The first one is my recommendation. You’re playing qi type, right?”
Sila nodded.
“I have a recipe for refining Emperor Qi Pellet. It is the highest grade of medicine for qi-type players. It allows you to promote your rank unconditionally and tremendously increase your qi points. The recipe is top-secret known only by Hermit, the strategist of the Victorious Wolves Sect.”
Sila was interested as this pellet was related to Lone Wolf. Sila felt he was currently indebted to this man.
The bartender could see that Sila was drawn to this information. He started to explain more.
“The rumor said this pellet is golden in color and gives off an aura of powerful qi. Once consumed, you will feel warm inside. It will detoxify any poison in the body and increase your maximum qi points tremendously.”
Actually, this was a sly move of the bartender.
Previously, Hermit had personally come and sold this information to the information guild for a high price. But once the information was obtained, the Blue Pigeon information guild’s members realized that they had been tricked by Hermit. Although the recipe is real, the only person who could perform the process of refining the pills was Hermit. Thus, this information became useless and no one would want to purchase it.
Once Sila had listened to the pellet’s characteristics, he became aware that it must be the same pellets Lone Wolf had given him. He also realized that he had forgotten to return the bottle of these pellets to Lone Wolf.
Sila opened his item window and took the bottle out.
“Are these the pellets you just mentioned?” Sila asked.
The bartender had his eyeballs on the verge of popping out. This man actually possessed Emperor Qi Pellets himself? It seemed that he just had carried coal to Newcastle.
Sila kept the bottle inside his item window. There was one more thing he had to do, adding to his list. If these pellets were that valuable, he needed to quickly return them to Lone Wolf.
“Now, is there really any interesting information?” Sila asked. He was quite bored already.
The bartender felt like he was being humiliated. Hence, he chose to declare the most interesting news.
“My mistake. The next one is really big news.”
Sila was keeping his silence. The bartender felt ashamed that the other party didn’t take the initiative to ask. He opened his mouth nevertheless.
“It’s news about Shadow Emperor Zero and Qi Emperor Lone Wolf.”
“News about Mister Zero and Mister Lone Wolf?” Sila exclaimed. This was intriguing.
The bartender smiled. It seemed the other party got hooked by his information.
“Yes. Two weeks ago, the battle between the Four Emperors occurred. The current hottest topics among all players are about Lone Wolf’s card and Zero’s magical qi.”
Sila sighed in relief. He had thought something bad had happened to those two. He was relieved that it was just about their card and skill.
“We have gotten clues about Lone Wolf’s card and Zero’s method for using two energy types.”
“Clues?” Sila wondered. Why did the bartender use such word?
“Little Bro, you might think that they’re just mere clues. But our Blue Pigeon information guild is infamous regarding having the most accurate, in-depth, and worldwide information in all of Monster Soul. Although they’re only clues, I daresay using my head as the insurance that no one has yet to obtain such clues.”
“What kind of clues do you mean?” Sila asked.
The bartender was looking left and right again (there was still no one else there except for the two of them) prior to whispering to Sila.
“Keep it down and don’t tell anybody. My source said that Lone Wolf had gotten the card from the place called Mansion of Seven Deadly Sins. No one has yet to find out how to go there though. As for Zero, he has gotten his magical qi from Madmen’s Valley. But no one has found out the specific condition.”
The bartender was waiting for Sila to be shocked beyond words.
However, Sila was expressionless.
“Little bro, are you not shocked at all?” The bartender frowned.
Sila shook his head. “No, I already knew about those. I even know more than you.”
“Know more than this!?” The bartender exclaimed.
Sila nodded. “I’ve heard enough. I should go. Your information isn’t interesting for me at all.”
Sila got up from his seat again and was about to leave. But the bartender stopped him one more time.
“Wait! I have one more piece of news! This time for sure, you will be surprised.”
Sila turned his head back. “Better be so. I will listen to it one last time.”
“Sure. If you're not surprised by this news, I won’t stop you again.”
“Deal. Now, feel free to tell me,” Sila said.
The bartender sighed. He decided to declare the most popular topic nowadays. About this information, even the Blue Pigeon information guild was unaware. It was the information that he himself had obtained painstakingly. He had to travel back to Beginning Island and interview all the NPCs living there. He had to spend more than a week to obtain such precious information. He was sure that if what he had researched was made known to his superiors, his current punishment would be canceled.
“Have you heard about a player named Sila? I have exclusive news about him. It’s information that only I know,” He said.
Sila was very interested. He couldn’t imagine that there was news about him.
“What kind of news?” Sila asked quickly.
The bartender smiled. ‘Finally… finally… he is hooked!’
“The public information about player Sila is very well-known among many players. He is a lover of the Goddess of Purified Water. He seems to have some grudge against the Magic Emperor and that must be the reason that brought him into this game. His arrival itself has caused Monster Soul to experience some changes. Before, it was a cold war between three guilds: Heaven Dragon, Royal Armament, and Victorious Wolves. But now Montra and Cross have joined forces while Lone Wolf and Zero also did so. The situation has changed into a confrontation. A battle could start at any time. The battle at the port was one of the situations created by this fact. That’s why the news about Player Sila is in high demand right now.”
“What is the exclusive information that only you know?” Sila asked.
“About this information, if it was heard by anyone, they would feel shocked beyond imagination. Player Sila is a new star who is considered very skilled. No one has yet to find out the race he is playing as. But based on my personal research that I have spent more than a week to develop, I finally know that Player Sila is playing as…”
“…a slime,” Sila added the last words of the bartender’s sentence. He was very disappointed. He thought it was important information.
“Little Bro, you already knew?” The bartender's eyes were widening. His expression was as if he was witnessing a ghost.
“Yes. I’ve known for a while,” Sila answered.
“Looking at you, you seem to be a new player. May I ask how long have you been playing this game for? And when did you obtain this information?” The bartender asked slowly.
Sila calculated the time in his mind. He had selected slime as his race on the first day. Hence, his answer was:
“I started playing around two months ago based on in-game time. As for that information, I have known it since the first day.”
The bartender was agape, looking at Sila. He couldn’t shut his eyes at all.
“If you have nothing else to do with me, I would like to take my leave.” Sila left, leaving a soulless bartender behind.
Once Sila had left, the bartender took out some paper. He wrote a message on it and put the paper down on the counter. It said:
Dear Boss,
Today, I have finally realized my own stupidity. I have believed I’m an all-knowing person. But in reality, I am even worse than a new player. I would like to be suspended from the guild’s job to search for the answer for myself. I would like to re-discover why I wanted to be a newshawk in the first place. Please forgive this stupid vice-leader of yours.
Bluebird
P.S. Don’t look for me.
Later on, the Blue Pigeon’s guild master stumbled upon this message and was speechless.
“Is my punishment for Bluebird too severe?”
Sila left the branch of the Blue Pigeon information guild feeling disappointed. He had thought that being an information guild, it would be more reliable. He was still unaware that his actions had greatly affected the life of Bluebird, the vice-leader of the Blue Pigeon information guild.
Sila had nothing to do while waiting for Burapha to contact him back. He wasn’t sure how long he would have to wait for Burapha to come online. Hence, he decided to release Bow and Lookhin.
“Release Lookhin. Release Bow.”
A brown light flashed out of the ring. Lookhin flew around the air before resting on Sila’s shoulder. Meanwhile, a pink light flashed onto the ground. A pink slime appeared after the flash and was looking around.
“Big Brother Sila, is this the outside world?” Bow asked, “It’s so bright.”
“Yes. The outside world is bright like this. You’ll get used to it in no time.”
“The outside world is so big. It’s hard for me to see.”
Sila put Bow onto his head. Bow was light so it wasn’t a problem. He felt like he was wearing a hat.
“You can see many things this way, right?” Sila said.
“We better go around the town, Big Brother Sila.”
Sila nodded prior to walking toward the market square. During his walk, Sila noticed that many people were looking at him. But he didn’t care. News of him was bound to spread all over Monster Soul. It wasn’t strange that some players might recognize him.
Sila was shopping around the market, which Bow was very energetic about. She was interested in many things and told Sila to stop at a shop that sells hair ribbons.
“How much is this ribbon?” Sila asked the merchant girl.
“500 silver coins, sir,” She answered while looking at Sila’s hair without blinking.
“Here is it. The money.”
Sila handed over silver coins. The merchant girl took it. She was still looking at Sila’s head though.
Sila put the hair ribbon onto Bow. “Do you like it, Bow? Take it as a gift to celebrate you getting out of the Slime Kingdom.”
“Thank you, Big Brother Sila,” Bow replied, causing the merchant girl to widen her eyes.
“We better find something to eat. I’m quite hungry,” Sila told Bow. Both of them went to the largest restaurant in the city.
Once Sila had gone, the merchant girl muttered by herself. “That thing can talk?”
The news about the talking pink creature began to spread.
***
Sila arrived at the largest restaurant in the city. It was his first meal on the Main Continent so he wanted it to be memorable. He also used this chance to introduce Bow to some good food.
“Welcome! Welcome to Lockheart’s restaurant. May I ask how many of you will be eating?” The waiter came and greeted Sila.
Sila was hesitating for a while. Lookhin shouldn’t be counted, right? But how about Bow?
Finally, he answered. “Two people, please.”
“Please come this way, sir. There are the seats next to the window on the second floor. You can enjoy the good view of the sea there.”
“What is the sea, Big Brother Sila?” Bow asked.
“Umm. It is a very big well with water being salty, I guess?” Sila himself wasn’t sure about his explanation. How could he describe the ocean or the sea?
“I want to see it.”
“You will see it soon. No, I’ll even take you there in an upcoming day,” Sila said. He had business at Underwater Palace anyway.
“Really?” Bow smiled happily.
“Of course. Well, it’s time to eat first,” Sila followed the waiter inside.
Once he had arrived at his seat, Bow jumped and landed herself on the table. She was looking at the sea with sparkling eyes.
Sila decided to not interrupt her. He ordered many dishes and started to eat once the foods arrived. The foods here were very delicious.
The best food he had had was still a meal at Mansion of Seven Deadly Sins though.
Bow tried out every dish. Sila was surprised. He had deliberately ordered more food than necessary to keep some of it in his bento but Bow was able to finish it all. The amount of food she had eaten was obviously larger than her small size. It was a wonder.
“Big Brother Sila, it is rude to stare at a lady while she is eating, you know?” Bow pouted.
“Ermm. I’m just curious. It seems Bow has a very big appetite.”
“Appetite? It isn’t like that. We slime can eat however much we want. The amount of food doesn't matter. I just saw that there was a lot of food left so I finished it.”
Sila nodded at Bow’s answer. He was thinking to himself that he needed to order less food next time.
The system sound alerted at that time.
Player Sila is being contacted by Player Burapha.
Sila was happy to hear the notification. He quickly opened his system window. An image of Burapha appeared on Sila’s screen.
“Hello, Big Brother Sila. Where have you been for many days? Big Sis Varee and I have been searching for you,” Burapha asked.
“I have been in the Slime Kingdom,” Sila replied.
“Slime Kingdom?”
Sila just realized that he had never mentioned to Burapha that he was slime race. “I’m a slime-race player. I went there to obtain the racial skills.”
“You’re a slime-race player, Big Bro? Did I hear wrongly? You mean those slimes around Beginning Town?”
“Yes. Those slimes,” Sila replied, causing Burapha to become silent for a while.
“Sometimes I feel like I can’t understand your action at all, Big Bro. You have a ton of rare cards like Merpeople Cards. But you’re playing as the weakest slime race?”
As Bow had heard the words ‘weakest slime race’, she disputed, “Slimes aren’t weak!!”
Burapha didn’t see Bow, so he asked. “Who was that, big bro?”
Sila put Bow onto his hand and showed her to the screen.
“Wow. Big Bro. What is that? It’s cute.”
“A slime,” Sila replied.
“A slime?” Burapha stopped for a moment before continuing. “Oh, so this is its real form.”
“Real form?” This time was Sila’s turn to be curious.
“Yes, Big Bro. Many monsters in the game usually don’t show their real form to us. The real form is only visible to the player of that race, or by being a pet or a partner with a player. For example, have you ever seen a mermaid?” Burapha explained.
Sila nodded. He had seen them in the event at Beginning Island.
“Then look at this… release Lala,” Burapha said.
There was a beautiful woman appearing beside Burapha.
“This is Lala. She is my partner. I was surprised when I heard that people who choose merperson as their race get a partner once one passes the racial ordeal. I guess it must be due to the fact that jewelry production is impossible to perform alone. So, the system prepares a partner for players who select this race.”
Sila was starting to feel jealous of Burapha. No, he wasn’t jealous of Burapha getting a partner. He was just comparing Burapha’s case to himself. The slime skills were very hard to obtain. Plus, once he had gotten them, he had to undergo the hellish practice with the Slime King.
If it wasn’t for the fact that he was training at Cliff of Heroes, Sila’s level would’ve dropped. The training was so difficult that he had died twice.
“I see,” Sila replied.
“About the jewelry that you asked me to make, I have already finished it. But as I couldn’t contact you, and big sis Varee is too far away, I’m going to give it to you directly.”
“That’s good. But the reason I contacted you isn’t about this.”
“What is it, then?”
“Can you stay underwater?” Sila asked.
“Of course, Big Bro. I’m a merperson. I can stay underwater for an entire day.”
“Then, do you have the skill to allow me to stay underwater?”
“I have. But you can’t stay for long. Only about half an hour or so. Why do you want to stay underwater, Big Bro?”
Sila was glad that he could stay underwater for half an hour. “I would like to go to the Underwater Palace.”
“The Underwater Palace? Why don’t you just wait for it to float up?”
“I’m in urgent need of the Qi of Little Turtle’s skill book,” Sila replied.
Burapha fell silent for a moment. He couldn’t understand why Sila was so hurried as they didn’t know each other that much. But based on the last time they had met, Burapha could see that Sila was a good man.
As Burapha also wanted to return the favor of receiving Merpeople Cards, he didn’t ask for the reason behind Sila’s urgency.
“Okay, Big Bro. I will help. Where are you right now?”
“Lockheart City.”
“Good. I’m currently on the ship going to Lockheart City. It will dock at the port tomorrow evening. In this case, let’s meet in the city. I will contact you once I arrive there.” Burapha said.
“Okay. See you tomorrow.” Sila was about to end the conversation.
“Wait for a moment, Big Bro. I have something to warn you about.”
“What is it, Burapha?”
“It’s about your pink slime. What is its name again?”
“My name is Bow,” Bow replied as she heard the other party asking for her name.
“Yes. About Bow. I personally think that it would be the best if Big Bro doesn’t let her go outside while you’re in the city.”
“Why?” Sila wondered. As Bow had only been in the Slime Kingdom, he wanted her to experience new sceneries.
“Because this place is Monster Soul. If we’re in another game, there would be several rules to prevent players to perform evil deeds otherwise players would be punished. But Monster Soul is a world without any rules. The system only provides users with basic conveniences but doesn’t butt in no matter what players do. It is this game’s charm while it’s also what makes this game dangerous. Players can do whatever they want. Well, there were rules that were created by the majority of players, but there are far too many who don’t follow those rules.”
Sila had heard about this from Divine. Monster Soul is a lawless virtual reality.
“What’s the problem? How is it related to Bow?” Sila asked.
“The problem is; Big Bro has a cute slime that can talk. As I’m a merchant, I know very well that this kind of product would sell at a ridiculously high price. There are many people who would pay millions to make themselves stand out. Owning a unique pet is one way to do so. There will definitely be someone who would succumb to this greed and want to snatch Bow from you.”
“I’m not a pet,” Bow said.
“Yes, and Bow is also not a product,” Sila expressionlessly said.
“I understand, Big Brother. But not everyone is like Big Bro or myself. They might think differently and this could easily make you enemies,” Burapha explained.
Sila was now suppressing his anger. He wasn’t angry at Burapha, he was angry at the fact that the world was filled with evil people. The people who snatch other people’s possessions. The people who exploit others. The people who would completely ignore other’s pain just for the sake of obtaining something they selfishly want.
Sila couldn’t help but think about Montra. “Disregarding the pain of other people just for the sake of his personal gain.”
Burapha kept his mouth shut as he didn’t know what Sila was thinking. The silence continued until a loud voice broke out.
There were loud voices on the first floor of the restaurant. The previous waiter came at Sila.
“Mister Customer, we’re terribly sorry. There are people looking for you. May we ask for you to pay the bill now? Don’t worry, sir, we will guide you to the exit at the backdoor,” The waiter politely suggested.
“Do you know why they’re looking for me?” Sila asked with an expressionless face.
The waiter looked at Bow and softly said. “They ask mister customer to hand them your pet, or else… erm…”
“Or else…?” Sila asked.
“Or else they will kill you… The backdoor exit is this way, sir, I will personally guide you there,” The waiter replied.
Sila handed his credit card to the waiter prior to talking to Burapha. “See you tomorrow, Burapha. Contact me when you’re here.”
“Okay, Big Bro. Please be careful,” Burapha said. He didn’t dare to imagine what kind of fate is waiting for those people who made Sila angry.
Sila stood up. Bow jumped onto his head while Lookhin rested its claws on Sila’s right shoulder. Its eyes were shone with greenish light. With Mind Connection, once Sila was angry, it would become angry too.
Sila went to the first floor. The waiter immediately tried to stop him. “Mister Customer! That way leads to the front door, sir!” But Sila didn’t mind him and walked outside.
Now Sila understood what problem the Slime King had mentioned about bringing Bow to the outside world. But Sila didn’t care anymore. He already had so many enemies. Making one or two more groups into his enemies wouldn’t make a difference.
Finally, Sila was outside. Surrounding him was a group of twenty fully-armed players.
but i get it. I wouldn't let a girl who just got to witness the outside world get forced back into whereever she is sealed.
it's just...
how is she going to protect herself while he is off fighting unless he puts her away?
such a catch 22. i guess we just have to have the scene of some idiot taking her hostage after all
Chapter 49: Training’s Result
One week ago.
“Kid. do you know why I’m training you at the bottom of the Cliff of Heroes?” the Slime King said.
“Is it because of its wide area?” Sila tried to come up with an answer.
“That’s one of the reasons. But it isn’t the main one.”
“Then what is the main reason, Your Majesty?” Sila was curious. Is there a secret to this place?
“The main reason is due to the fact that this place is a sanctum of us slimes. It has one special trait so we always use it as a training ground. As you have been tested by the three trials, aren’t you curious why we use this place to conduct the trials?” the Slime King explained.
Sila furrowed his brows. Why this place is used to conduct the trials? He was really clueless.
“Why is it, Your Majesty?”
“It’s to prevent an accident. What do you think when you heard about failing in the ordeal equal to death?”
“I think that it’s too cruel. It just an ordeal. Failing shouldn’t result in death,” Sila honestly replied.
“Are you seeing us slimes as brutal creatures? We are a naturally non-aggressive monster; don’t you know that?” Slime King said. A smile was forming at the corner of his mouth.
Sila recalled all the important slimes he had met. Although Slime King seemed strict, he surely wasn’t a brutal person. Poluk was kind. Master Viola was self-centered but wasn’t cruel. Divine seemed very modest. As for Bow, the word brutal didn’t connect to her personality at all.
“No, Your Majesty.”
“That’s the main reason. In this place, it’s impossible to die.”
“Impossible to die?” Sila wondered. Dying is dying. What did ‘impossible to die’ mean?
“Yes. At the bottom of the Cliff of Heroes, it will determine every near-death creature to be lacking in qualifications and automatically sends them up to the edge of the cliff. To put in simpler terms, once your health points are fully depleted, you won’t be able to stay here,” the Slime King explained.
Sila nodded. He finally understood the Slime King’s intention. This place would prevent any accidental deaths. It was a great idea to use this kind of place as a training ground. Sila was well-aware that serious sparring is hard because people tend to hold back in sparring matches. How many sparring partners are there that are ready to stab a knife at their opponent without hesitation? Holding back is a way to ensure safety in a sparring match, but it also prevents the sparring session from being fruitful.
However, if there was a place where holding back was unnecessary since the sparring partner will not die no matter what, the training will be as efficient as if the participants are fighting to the death.
“That’s incredible. By the way… why does Your Majesty have to inform me about this?” Sila asked.
“It is to put your mind at ease. You can now die without regret, right?” the Slime King said with a smile while Sila’s face suddenly became pale.
That was a week ago when Sila’s hellish training had started.
***
Sila walked outside slowly. He was surrounded by twenty players spread out like a fan. Although Sila had been surrounded by enemies before, the quality is more important than the quantity. As this place was the Main Continent, the players here would be significantly stronger than the ones he had faced. Hence, Sila was very cautious.
Unbeknownst to Sila, Lockheart City is merely a gateway to Main Continent. Most of the players staying in this city were players who had just arrived at Main Continent too.
This city’s only good point was its economic aspects. Not many skilled players would spend their time here if they had a choice.
That meant Sila’s wariness was unnecessary. Almost all people here were players who had just arrived at the Main Continent like him.
“Do you have business with me?” Sila started a conversation.
“Don’t talk, kid. Just hand over your pet to us. Or else, die,” A bulky man in wuxia clothes said. He was holding an axe in his hand.
“Boss, even if he hands it over, you’ll kill him anyway, won’t you?” said a man who was standing behind the bulky man.
“Oh, yes, I totally forgot. Then, just hand it over and you won’t die a painful death,” said the boss before laughing out loud. The others in his group began laughing too.
Sila was looking around. This place was indeed different from Beginning Town. Wandering players would just ignore them without giving him a helping hand or showing a panicked expression. The merchants were selling their products as if nothing was happening. If Sila included the previous waiter who invited him out the backdoor, he could guess that this situation was a common occurrence on the Main Continent.
What Sila guessed was indeed correct. On the Main Continent, there were more situations like this than there were of people having a meal. The Main Continent is truly a world of big fish eats little fish. Players rob and kill each other day after day. Thus, most players on the Main Continent were apathetic and unconcerned about this kind of event.
“What are you looking for, kid? Is this your first time on the Main Continent? There will be no one butting in to protect you here,” The boss of the bandit gang said.
Sila felt an odd sensation. Sure, he also was the type that wouldn’t butt in to help others. Looking back at when he had helped Tiger and Alice, it was purely due to him having a grudge against the Heavenly Dragon’s guild members. He would have just walked away otherwise.
Strangely, when the same thing was happening to him, Sila felt depressed. He started to put himself into other people’s shoes and decided to change. He decided he would be like Lone Wolf and start helping innocent people if he could.
“I’m not hoping for someone to help me. Anyway, I have my own business to attend to. Can you guys just hurry up and come at me?” Sila calmly asked.
Silence fell. Even the merchants now turned their attention toward Sila. No matter how they looked, Sila was just a new player. He only possessed two pets which were a sparrow and the strange pink creature. Everyone had thought that this situation would end peacefully by Sila handing over his pet. No one had imagined that this guy had a screw loose in his head.
“I don’t know where you’re getting your confidence from, you rascal. Don’t you know who my boss is?” The man with a long mustache asked.
“I am a new player. I don’t know any of you,” Sila plainly replied.
The boss’s face reddened with embarrassment. He had been making a living in this place for a long time. No one had ever ignored him. He even paid his tributes to the Heavenly Dragon guild to back up his robbery.
It could be described as the police and the bandit joining forces. How could there be a righteous side without the unjust? The Heavenly Dragon guild was a righteous guild who allowed the thieves to be savage for a while before pretending to banish them time after time. Once the news about the thieves had faded away, the thieves would become active again. It was an endless cycle. The thieves got their hands on the goods while Heavenly Dragon guild could obtain tributes and became more famous. All the troubles would end up in the hands of normal players.
In the eyes of new players, the Heavenly Dragon guild was always a righteous guild. There were only a handful of people that were aware of the truth, but they were powerless to go against it.
“My name is Thief555, leader of the famous White Dragon thief gang,” The boss said. He was relying on his reputation and hoped to end thing quickly.
“A mere name cannot kill me. Whatever you want to do with me, just do it now,” Sila said expressionlessly.
The brow of Thief555 was twitching. One of his underlings couldn’t take it anymore so he rushed forward and lifted his axe up into the sky. “You insult our boss. Die!”
Sila moved his shoulder. Bow jumped downward and landed on the ground while Lookhin flew up into the sky.
Sila lifted his arm to block the incoming axe.
Seeing that, his opponent grinned. He was reinforcing his axe with qi and the axe was glowing with a red aura.
*Clang*
The sound of metallic clashing resonated in the air. Everyone’s expression was changing, especially the one who slashed his axe downward.
Once his arm had successfully blocked against the attack, Sila stretched out his right hand to grab at his opponent’s arm and pulled it toward himself. Next, he activated the hardening attribute of Formless Soldier in his left hand while using qi reinforcement. He thrust it into his opponent’s chest where the heart is. This hand of Sila was currently stronger than even a mid-level sword.
The body of his opponent turned into light and disappeared. A complete silence fell all over the market square. Many players were rubbing their eyes in disbelief.
Their target was using pure power without any techniques to kill their comrade. They couldn’t hear this man shouting any skill name. This alone was enough to cause the thief gang to panic.
“If this is the extent of your ability, I am sure I can finish all of you in just five minutes,” Sila declared while ordering Lookhin to come to him via Mind Connection.
The face of Thief555 reddened with anger. People in this city always shuddered in fear when his name was mentioned. However, this young man in front of him was not only unfazed but also humiliated him again and again.
Nevertheless, he was a man with a lot of experience. Since he still couldn’t determine what trick the other party had used, he decided to temporarily delay his next course of action.
“Lookhin, please look after Bow. If there’s anyone approaching her, you can kill without having to hold back,” At the end of Sila’s sentence, Lookhin nodded prior to flapping its wings beside Bow.
Thief555 finally snapped right then and there. Their opponent even viewed them as so weak that they could be killed by a level 1 sparrow.
“Everybody, kill him!!” The boss shouted.
Tens of arrows flew toward Sila while many of the bandits came charging at the same time.
Sila sighed and tried to empty his mind. He waved his hand in front of him. His hand was acting like a paintbrush, spreading a semi-transparent color on the air miraculously. A mirror was created in midair.
Once the arrows collided with the mirror, they entered it. Meanwhile, the arrows in the mirror flew out at a higher speed than the ones that entered the mirror. They were all directed at the heads of the charging thieves.
The screams echoed. Since the head is a vital spot, these thieves immediately died and turned into light.
Actually, Moon Reflecting Mirror could only return the same amount of power back at the opponent. However, Sila had discovered by chance when he was being trained by the Slime King that with his Hidden Weapon Mastery passive skill, all flying weapons fired by him would be affected by the skill proficiency. Hence, small flying weapons like arrows, flying knives, or hidden weapons had turned out to be his favorite playthings. They would exert more power and precision.
That was why Sila had yet to kill the archers of the opposing party. He hoped he could perform this move again.
But Thief555 wasn’t stupid. As he had seen that the arrows had no use, he gestured an order to his underlings to stop shooting arrows.
Now, except for Thief555 himself, there were only three archers and two qi practitioners left in his gang. Sila had mercilessly killed more than ten of them in an instant.
As Sila realized his opponents were calming down, he made use of the fact that their formation was still in a messy state to activate Formless Soldier. Sila’s body became lighter while his ankle was as soft as a spring. He shot himself toward Thief555.
Thief555 panicked and pushed his subordinates in front of him as human shields.
Sila could recall Poluk’s trial clearly. Once he was about to collide with the bandits, he changed his body to become heavier and harder. Turning into a human bullet, Sila smashed into two of the thieves. They immediately died from the impact.
After his training with the Slime King, Sila now was able to use two attributes of Formless Soldier simultaneously. Good grief, he could only combine ‘heavy’ with ‘harden’ or ‘lighten’ with ‘soften’. That was his current limit. He still wasn’t able to use them in a different way.
The three archers began their escape by turning around. Seeing that, Sila flicked both his wrists. Three daggers flew and accurately stabbed all three of them, causing them to fall down and eventually disappear.
Thief555, who witnessed the scene, couldn’t help but exclaim, “Hidden weapons?!”
Sila approached Thief555.
“Are you Sila?” Thief555 asked lightly.
Sila was surprised that this thief knew about him. “Yes, I’m Sila.”
There was a clamor in the market square. On the game forums, news about Sila’s re-emergence after missing for two weeks started spreading.
“But you… you aren’t able to circulate qi, are you?” Thief555 continued.
“So? I haven’t circulated qi anyway,” Sila answered.
Thief555’s face was filled with panic. He couldn’t fight back at all despite the fact that his opponent even didn’t circulate any qi. This situation was really him making trouble for himself, but it was way too late to realize this now.
The fact that Sila uses hidden weapons and qi was not a secret anymore. During his battle against Montra, Sila had shown everyone else that he could fire hidden weapons. As there are not many hidden weapon users in the game, Thief555 could accurately guess Sila’s identity.
“I will get my hand on that creature at all costs,” Thief555 said.
“I won’t allow you,” Sila finished his sentence by grabbing Thief555’s neck and lifted it up. His grip was as hard as steel. Thief555’s feet were hanging in the air.
The thief tried to resist by using qi reinforcement and using his hands to release Sila’s hand from his neck. He also kicked at Sila’s body. But Sila was like a metal statue. The thief’s attacks were completely ineffective. He was even hurting himself by doing so.
“Be reborn as a better person,” Sila said while changing his body into fire element.
For the slime’s magic, Sila could only use it to attack at blank-point range by directly touching the target. He still couldn’t freely use it like the Slime King or Master Viola.
Thief555’s body turned into flame. He was screaming in great pain while Sila was unaffected by the fire at all.
Sila dropped his opponent onto the ground. Thief555 writhed in pain for a moment before turning into light.
Sila was quite taken aback by Orbiting Cosmos’ power. He had thought that it would just cause his enemy to feel very hot, not be set on fire like this.
Sila had temporarily forgotten that this skill was an S-grade skill which specializes in fighting against dragons. He had been training with the Slime King whom could resist it easily so he had misunderstood how powerful it was.
Sila felt uncomfortable as there were many eyes watching him with various feelings. Hence, Sila sealed Lookhin and Bow inside the ring and quickly left the scene.
After 4 hours had passed by, the members of the White Dragon thief gang who had been revived hours ago started their meeting at their secret hideout in Lockheart City. Obviously, they were talking about Sila.
“What should we do next, Boss?” One of the underlings asked.
“What do you mean?” The old Thief555 replied.
“It’s revenge time, Boss. That bastard Sila is nothing if you’re serious.”
Thief555’s face turned pale. The one who suggested this terrible idea was one of the members who had been guarding the hideout, so he didn’t know how strong Sila was. Meanwhile, the members who fought against Sila with him were all sitting silently.
“Ermm… of course we will get our revenge. But it still isn’t the right time.”
“When is the right time, Boss? Our hands are very itchy.” There were many shouts and laughs in agreement. Some of them mentioned wanting to drown Sila in the ocean, some mentioned dragging Sila’s body down the street, while some mentioned burning Sila alive.
Hearing the words ‘burning alive’, the boss shuddered. He was looking left and right. Everyone seemed to be confused about what had happened to their boss.
“What happened, Boss?”
“Nothing, nothing.” Thief555 recalled his previous experience of being burnt to death. He had never been burnt to death before. Even with a tenth of realistic pain, he still felt tortured. Fortunately, he was the last person in the gang to die, so his underlings did not see him dying pitifully.
“So, when is the right time, Boss?”
‘This damn brat… stirring up trouble for me again,’ Thief555 thought.
“That bastard Sila isn’t our objective,” He said.
All the underlings fell in silence, turning their attention toward their boss.
“What do you mean, Boss?”
“Our objective isn’t that bastard Sila. It’s that pink creature,” Thief555 said.
One of the underlings raised his hand. “I do not understand, Boss. That pink creature is Sila’s pet. Except for taking it from him, how can we obtain it?”
“Stupid! If I’m not around, what are you guys even capable of? Use your brains. Use them or they will wither.”
“Sorry, Boss. So, what is the boss’s plan?”
“My strategy is… If you want to eat chicken, you have to find an egg,” Thief555 explained.
The underlings felt confused beyond words. They were looking at each other to see whether someone could comprehend what their boss had just said.
“What proverb is that, Boss? I haven’t heard of it before,” One of the underlings raised his hand and asked.
“It’s not a proverb. It’s my own words of wisdom. It’s very clear by itself. Why don’t you bunch understand?”
“Very clear?”
“Yes. Our objective is to get our hands on that pink creature. We have to think in reverse. We have to find out where that bastard Sila got his hands on it.”
A clamor erupted when they finally understood this method. Thief555 secretly smiled in his heart. At least he had successfully diverted the previous topic. He would do his best to prevent anyone from mentioning getting revenge on Sila.
There was no way he would choose to do such a stupid thing.
“I finally understand, Boss. You mean if we know where Sila got his hand on that pink creature, that place might have more pink creatures for us to get our hands on. If we are able to sell them all, we will surely…”
“Be insanely rich,” Thief555 finished the sentence.
A clamor emerged again. This time it was about praising their boss’s intelligence.
“Stop. Everyone stop!” Thief555 shouted.
The sound died down. Silence filled the room.
“Now, what we need to figure out is what exactly is the identity of that pink creature.”
A clamor emerged yet again. Many people commented that they had never seen such a creature before.
“I think it is surely a monster from Beginning Island. Sila has not been playing the game for very long.”
Everybody nodded in agreement.
“I personally think it is a slime,” One of them gave a comment.
“Slime?”
“Slime? Don’t slimes look far more disgusting?”
“Yes, but maybe that is its real form.”
“Real form?”
“Yes, Boss. Many monsters in the game usually have their real form. For example…”
“Enough. I already know that. I’m just considering the possibility that the real form of slime is that cute. More importantly, it can even talk,” Thief555 said.
“It wouldn’t be hard to confirm this information. I will ask one of our guys at Beginning Town to ask the NPC at the Card Shop. I once heard that there is only one player playing as a slime. Asking for the name of that player shouldn’t be troublesome.”
“Do it now.”
“Yes, boss.” Afterward, that man opened his system window.
The White Dragon thief gang was actually a small group of bandits with a large information network. Its members were scattered in many guilds and many cities. Despite the fact that its number of members was low, it was still able to survive to this day without being wiped out. This was thanks to Thief555 paying tributes to the right people.
No more than ten minutes had passed before there was a response. The same man nodded before closing his system window.
“Now it’s certain. That bastard Sila is really playing as a slime.”
“A Slime-race player? Are you sure?”
“I’m positive. This news is 100% correct.”
Thief555 was deep in thought. Based on Sila’s ability, Sila shouldn’t be a slime-race player, should he? Isn’t this race supposed to be weak?
“Maybe it’s time for us to use that thing,” Thief555 muttered.
“That thing?” Everyone raised their voices.
“Yes. That thing.”
“But, Boss. The time isn’t appropriate, is it? We should be dealing with the slime issue first.”
“What? What do you guys mean? I’m going to use that thing to handle the slime issue.”
“Huh? Boss, how can a Portable Karaoke Box do that?”
“Portable Karaoke Box? Why do you guys bring it up now?” Thief555 wondered.
“Ah? Every time you tell us to take that thing out, we always ended up singing karaoke, don’t we?”
Thief555 loudly slapped his hand on the table. He shouted, “Stupid! Do you guys eat grass instead of rice? I mean that other thing!”
A silence fell again.
“In the end, what exactly do you mean by ‘that thing’, Boss?” One of the bandits asked.
“That thing I’m referring is obviously the Dimension-Crossing Device,” Thief555 finally revealed the answer.
The sound of “Oh” in understanding could be heard all around the room.
“What are we using it for, Boss?”
“I stole the Dimension-Crossing Device a long time ago. I planned on using it to break into the treasure vault of a millionaire but I’m always reluctant to actually use it as it can only be used once.”
In this game, there are many special dimensions. Normally, Invitation Cards or specific conditions are required to access each dimension. The personal secret vault is especially hard to access. However, this Dimension-Crossing Device can be used to unconditionally break people into any dimension. It was a rare and very expensive device that was mostly used during wars.
“Where are we going?”
Thief555 smiled at his own wisdom, then declared, “The Slime Kingdom.”
“The Slime Kingdom?”
“Yeah. That place is surely full of cute little slimes that are harmless, just waiting to be harvested by us. If we can collect and sell them all, then, we will definitely…”
“Be insanely rich,” Everybody filled in the sentence.
“Now it’s time to use that thing. Take it out,” Thief555 said.
“The Dimension-Crossing Device?”
“Stupid! I mean the Portable Karaoke Box! Today, we are celebrating in advance. We will invade the Slime Kingdom tomorrow and then we will be rich!!”
A party had begun.
Meanwhile, Thief555 coincidentally shot a look at a blue bird. It was perched on the windowsill.
“A blue bird?” He muttered softly.
Seeing that their boss was staring at the bluebird, one of the underlings said, “It’s called a bluebird, Boss. Haven’t you heard about it? A bluebird is a symbol of happiness.”
“A symbol of happiness?”
“Yes, Boss. This means we’re about to be really lucky.”
The party continued. The little bluebird calmly looked at Thief555 for a moment before flying away.
***
After the incident in the market square, Sila went to the beach, walking in the direction of the Underwater Palace. Luckily for him, the Underwater Palace was close to Lockheart City. Sila used this chance to wait for Burapha there.
One particular blue-colored bird was looking at Sila. It quickly followed him out of the city.
Sila was waiting for Burapha at the beach for an entire night. Based on the last conversation, Burapha would arrive at their meeting spot some time in the next hour.
Burapha had asked if he could shop for items prior to meeting with Sila in the evening. He suggested that they discuss tactics for the night before departing on their adventure into the sea the next morning. His reason for holding off on departing was that fighting against the Great Millennium Turtle underwater and at night was suicidal.
Sila couldn’t deny such reasoning. Thus, the Underwater Palace invasion was postponed by a day.
Sila spent his day playing with Bow at the beach. His journey there was very smooth without any trouble. Since this beach didn’t lead to anywhere, it was deserted and there were no players in sight. The monsters here were also low both in level and in quantity. In conclusion, this beach was only suitable for resting.
Sila left Bow to run around the beach and let Lookhin look after her just in case something happened. He himself was sitting cross-legged in front of a tent and practicing all three of the slime-race skills. One additional good point about the slime-race skills that Sila had just discovered was the fact that they required no movement for practicing. He could practice them anywhere.
Among all three racial skills, Sila was more proficient in Formless Soldier compared to the rest. It might be due to the fact that it was a qi-type skill. The skill after that was Moon Reflecting Mirror. Sila could empty his mind at will now. Although it was indeed a very hard skill to activate, Sila thought that it was still far easier than Orbiting Cosmos. As for Orbiting Cosmos, except for the increase in speed in the first activation, there was no progress in other areas. Sila still couldn’t become faster at changing element.
The Slime King had told Sila that there were only two principles behind Orbiting Cosmos. They were ‘changing’ and ‘holding’. Changing means to shift his element from one to another. The faster he can change, the more he will confuse the enemy. It would even cause the enemy to take multiple elemental attacks from a single punch. As for holding, it means to hold the current elemental form as long as he could. The longer he holds the element, the more power he could exert from that element.
Lastly, the Slime King had mentioned that the final state of this skill was when one can change and hold elements at the same time. Sila could only furrow his brows upon hearing this sentence. It was like telling him to look left and right at the same time.
Currently, Sila was practicing the skill that he was the least proficient in, Orbiting Cosmos.
Although he couldn’t change the elements any faster than before, he could now hold an element for up to 15 minutes. The reason he focused on practicing this skill instead of others was because, in order to fight against the Great Millennium Turtle underwater, he believed that the thing he would be relying on the most was magic.
“Ouch, ouch, ouch.”
There were sounds entering his ears. It came from in front of him. So, Sila opened his eyes.
Sila was surprised by the scene folding in front of him. It was a scene of Lookhin pecking on a blue-colored bird. What surprised Sila was that the “Ouch” sound was coming from the beak of that blue tailorbird.
“Enough. Enough. It hurts,” The blue tailorbird said.
The blue bird’s body flashed one time before it was replaced by one particular man sitting on the ground.
“Oh? Aren’t you Mister Bartender?” Sila said and moved closer to the bartender who sold the information to him yesterday.
Lookhin flew back to stand beside Bow. Meanwhile, Sila helped the bartender to stand up.
“Thanks, thanks,” He said while pouting at Lookhin. But the sparrow completely ignored him. It was busy pecking at its own feathers.
“Why are you here?” Sila asked.
“I followed you here.”
“Hm? Why are you following me then?” Sila wondered.
“That’s because you have completely shattered my self-confidence in my information gathering ability. I decided to take a break from my job to discover myself. Then, I heard the news about player Sila fighting against a group of bandits. So, I followed the bandit gang to their hideout and later found out that the news was true. Finally, I realized that you are Sila, and that’s why I’m following you.”
“I still can’t see why you’re following me.”
“Two reasons. One, why didn’t you tell me before that you’re Sila!? No wonder you know everything. Second, I have some urgent news for you.”
“That’s because you didn’t ask for my name… Whatever, what is the news you want to tell me?” Sila asked.
The bartender frowned. ‘That’s true. It was my fault to not ask for his name.’
But when he was about to tell Sila the news, there was a man and a woman walking toward them. Sila was quick to greet the two approaching.
“Oh, Burapha. You are here earlier than I thought.”
“Yes. Lala can help with shopping so it was quicker than I expected. Partners are really useful,” Burapha said.
Burapha then realized that there was another person currently with Sila. “And who is he? Is he a friend of you, Big Brother Sila?”
“Oh. This man is um… I beg your pardon, but what is your name?” Sila turned to ask the bartender.
“I’m Bluebird, the number one expert in information gathering. You can just call me Blue, though. It’s shorter.” Bluebird introduced himself.
Hence, Sila introduced Bluebird to Burapha. He then invited everyone to sit around the unlit bonfire he had prepared. It was getting dark now.
Sila picked up some firewood and activated Orbiting Cosmos to light a fire on it. He quickly threw it toward the unlit bonfire before it turned to dust. He had wasted more than ten pieces of firewood yesterday. It seemed that practicing with the Slime King had caused him to almost be incapable of holding back his power.
Sila tried to remind himself that he should practice in controlling his power when he has some free time.
On the other hand, Burapha and Bluebird were looking at what Sila had done with their eyes wide open. They hadn’t heard Sila shout any skill name to do so.
“What were we talking about just now?” Sila asked.
“First things first, Burapha, you’re playing as a merperson, right?” Bluebird asked.
Burapha turned his head toward Sila to ask for advice, but Sila shrugged his shoulders to tell him that he should do what he wants.
“Yes, I’m playing as a merperson,” Burapha answered.
“Little Brother, are you interested in becoming famous? I can spread the news about you being a merperson to every corner of Monster Soul. You can get rich by crafting jewelry next.”
“I would like to decline. I don’t have the ability to do so,” Burapha plainly rejected.
“Don’t have the ability? That shouldn’t be the case. The merpeople’s jewelry craftsmanship is the best of the best. Even if you craft low quality accessories, they would still be better than the others in the current market.”
“I didn’t mean quality. What I meant is crafting capability. If I were a factory, this method would indeed make me rich. But I’m the sole player in the merpeople race. Although the number of people playing Monster Soul Online is smaller compared to other virtual reality games, its player count still exceeds 100,000. If there were 1,000 purchase orders for me to complete, I would have no chance to handle all of them. Moreover, if I’m always crafting jewelry, then I wouldn’t have any time left for me to enjoy playing the game,” Burapha explained his thought to Bluebird.
Sila and Bluebird nodded. Burapha’s reasoning was right on the mark.
By the way, the reason Monster Soul Online wasn’t the most popular virtual reality game was because its harshness. There were no policies to protect the player from being taken advantage of. Thus, kids who are the target audience of online gaming turned their interests to play other easier virtual reality games. Most players in this game were in their late teens or were young adults who wanted to experience the cruel reality before stepping into the business world.
There was even a saying that, if you can survive in the world of Monster Soul, you are certain to survive in actual society. That’s because this game is far harsher than reality.
“What I’m planning to do is to be famous without revealing my identity. For example, you have heard about medical masters in Chinese novels, right? They always live on a faraway mountain and rarely visit towns. This is the law of supply and demand in an economy. Rarer items are higher in both demand and price. I would only have to craft 2-3 pieces of jewelry a month to release to the market. My products would get a high price without me having to craft a large quantity. It would save me both the resources and the time,” Burapha further explained.
“Wow. Burapha, you’re so smart. I can’t believe you look that further ahead.” Sila complimented.
Burapha scratched his head as he was embarrassed to be praised at. “That’s nothing much. I was planning to be a merchant from the start. If things go well, playing this game might be my main job.”
“Hm? How do you gain money by doing that?” Sila asked.
“From in-game currency, obviously. Don’t you know, Big Brother Sila? Real cash and the currencies in this game are convertible. Didn’t we all have to register bank accounts prior to registering in this game?” Burapha replied.
Sila pondered. Uncle Rashane was the one who set up the brain scanner for him. Does this mean he is currently using Rashane’s bank account? If so, that would be a problem. He was currently 10,000 gold coins in debt. It seemed he would have to hurry to pay off his debt.
‘I’m causing a problem again. Uncle even paid for my medical fees.’
“Okay. I understand your reason, Burapha. Now, let’s talk about Sila again,” Bluebird continued.
Sila was surprised that Bluebird didn’t importune like he anticipated. This fact alone caused Sila to look at Bluebird in a more positive manner.
“Are you talking about what you told me before? You have some urgent news for me?” Sila asked.
“Yes. You’re a slime-race player so this news is directly related to you. The thing is, the group of bandits that you defeated yesterday is currently planning to invade the Slime Kingdom.”
“Invade the Slime Kingdom? How?” Sila wondered.
Bluebird then explained what he knew. Sila nodded in understanding during the explanation. Nevertheless, Sila let out a dry laugh when he heard the word ‘harmless slimes’.
Bluebird frowned. “This is not the right time to laugh, you know? I can’t believe you’re this heartless. Although they are mostly AI, they are the same species as you. I suggest you halt your plan to go to Underwater Palace and return to help your Slime Kingdom first.”
“Hey Blue… Do I look like a weakling?” Sila asked.
“I have never seen you fight, but based on the information I have gathered, it seems you’re an expert to a certain extent,” Bluebird replied.
“Yeah. That’s why you don’t need to worry about the slimes anymore. You would be better off worrying about the thieves. In that Kingdom, even common villagers are as strong as me,” Sila said.
Burapha and Bluebird had their mouth opened. If this was true, it would be big news.
“That’s right~ Not to mention my Royal Father and three Slime Guardians, for those people, just normal residents can beat them easily,” Bow added.
“So, that’s all?” Sila asked.
“No, there’s one more thing,” replied Bluebird.
“Hm? Didn’t you say there are only two matters? Where is the next one come from?”
“Well, well, don’t sweat the small stuff. The other thing is, wherever you go, I’m going too,” Bluebird blatantly said.
Sila frowned as he was suspicious. “Why?”
“Because the big news always circles around you. If I’m with you, I definitely won’t miss the many upcoming big scoops. I’ll even be the first one to know about them.”
“But we are going to Underwater Palace tomorrow. Umm… I don’t know whether Big Bro Bluebird can survive there. What if you die?” Burapha was hesitating.
“Yeah. I can take care of myself and Burapha is a merperson so he should be fine underwater, but I’m not sure I can look after Mister Blue,” Sila said.
“Die? Look after me? Let me tell you two something. I haven’t died even once since I started playing this game. I might be not as mighty as Cross, nor as strong as Montra, or as great as Lone Wolf, and I’m not as fast as Zero. However, there is something in myself that is superior to the Four Emperors.” Bluebird stood up. He took pride in every word he just said.
“Oho. Comparing yourself with the Four Emperors? What is it that you are so proud of about yourself?” Burapha asked.
“Fleeing!!... You might think I’m bragging. But I have once fled through hundreds of Single-Horned Dragons to gather information in Madmen’s Valley. I have also gotten a hidden race,” Bluebird said.
“A hidden race? You?” Burapha exclaimed with great doubt. He looked at Bluebird from top to toes.
Bluebird was currently wearing plain black silk clothes. Based on his appearance, people would perceive that Bluebird is a qi-type player. However, Burapha noticed a ring on the finger of Bluebird’s right hand. It was a ring that could be used to amplify magic power in place of a wand. It was very rare and popular among magic-type fighters. Although its options weren’t as good as the options on a wand, it was more convenient to use. It granted the wearer an increase in casting speed to compensate for losing the usual increase in spell power from the wand.
However, based on Sila’s story, didn’t Bluebird just undo his transformation from bird form? That was surely a psychic-type ability.
“Yes. Hidden race. It’s a tailorbird race…” Bluebird revealed the answer.
“Tailorbird?” Sila and Burapha exclaimed at the same time.
“Do you mean the tailorbirds that are being sold in Pet Shop and fly around the game as props?” Burapha asked.
“Is there another tailorbird?”
“Wait a second. I have always believed that player can’t harm tailorbirds. No… before that, are you crazy? Did you hunt tailorbirds to collect cards? Even new players don’t do that. Moreover, aren’t you magic-type? Tailorbirds seem to be the psychic-type creatures. Selecting a race with a different energy type than yourself makes it very hard to become strong, don’t you know that?”
“Who said I hunted tailorbirds to collect cards? I didn’t do that,” Bluebird declined.
“Ah? Then, what have you done?”
“I must refer to when I had just started playing the game, dreaming of becoming a newshawk. At that time, I had come up with a brilliant idea: Tailorbirds are everywhere in the game, so how cool would it be if I could tame them to gather information in my stead? Thus, I bought 10,000 tailorbirds. I planned to tame them to the point that I could communicate with them.”
Burapha furrowed his brows. What kind of insane person would purchase 10,000 of tailorbirds? Although this game doesn’t have a limit of how many pets a player can possess, having too many of them would absorb experience points from the owner. In the tailorbird’s case, it might not absorb experience points from the owner, but there wouldn’t be any sane person who wants 10,000 of them as pets. Just the food cost to keep them alive was enough to cause anyone to go bankrupt.
“Then, I got myself a tailorbird race. It’s even a hidden race. The end.”
“That’s it!? Anyway, is this race strong?” Burapha asked.
“Bah. It isn’t strong. However, talking about survivability, fufu, even if the Four Emperors gang up on me, I would still be able to flee,” Bluebird reiterated.
“Ho? You are that good? What kind of skills do they have?”
“Fufu. That’s a secret. It’s my ace in the hole. Nevertheless, I can ensure you two that I definitely won’t die tomorrow.”
“If you’re that confident, then it’s fine. I’m playing as a slime myself so I am well aware that there is no race in this game that is actually weak. It’s good if a tailorbird race suits Blue,” Sila said.
Since Sila didn’t object, Burapha also didn’t oppose the idea of Bluebird joining the team. Afterward, the three of them discussed how to fight against the Great Millennium Turtle until night.
Once morning came, everyone woke up and washed their face. They ate an easy breakfast and prepared themselves for the journey to the Underwater Palace.
Burapha took out a wooden raft when they arrived at the beach, causing Bluebird to frown.
“Can this raft take us to the Underwater Palace? Won’t it sink?”
“Don’t worry. We just have to arrive there. For the return trip, we will use Return Scrolls. The problem is that I didn’t prepare for our team to have an additional member. I’m not sure myself whether this raft can handle our weight,” Burapha said.
“No problem.” After Bluebird finished speaking, his body flashed and transformed into a blue tailorbird. “It’s okay now.”
“Can you help us fight in this form?” Burapha asked.
“Ahem, don’t worry. I can use magic in whatever form,” Bluebird replied while thinking inwardly. ‘it’s much weaker than usual though.’
“We should get going. How long will it take for us to arrive at the Underwater Palace?” Sila asked.
“If you travel by normal raft, it would take you full day. But with me around, just three hours is enough,” Burapha answered.
Sila nodded and stepped onto the raft, followed by Burapha. As for Bluebird, he flew and landed himself on an open spot.
“Okay, Water Spirit.” Burapha activated a skill. Then, the sea under the raft began to push the raft forward at high speed as fast as using motor. Sila felt slightly surprised. No wonder he couldn’t see a single paddle at sight.
“Merpeople are psychic type, aren’t they? How can you use magic?” Bluebird was quick to ask. As expected of a newshawk.
“Water Spirit is not magic. It is a racial skill of the merpeople that lets the user control liquid. It’s much easier to use than magic, but its downside is that I can’t generate water out of thin air like magic. I can only control it,” Burapha replied.
“So, you can’t use it in a desert?”
“No, but I have already come up with a solution. I always bring water tanks with me in case I have to fight in a place without water. I even purchased water tanks used by armies,” Burapha said.
Sila began to respect Burapha’s prudence for knowing his own weakness and trying to overcome it. Compared to himself who had so many weaknesses, Sila thought that Burapha was more praiseworthy than him.
He had decided. Once he has gotten Qi of Little Turtle, he would immediately go to Madmen’s Valley to cure his body. After that, he would try his best to polish his ability while searching for Montra to have a rematch.
***
At the same time, within the Labyrinthine Forest Cathedral.
The sound of fighting could be heard loudly in the forest. The trees fell disorderly as if they were hit by a hurricane, but upon looking closely, one would notice that it was actually caused from the fight between a man and a white tiger.
The tiger’s body was injured all over in contrast to the light injuries on the man. While they were glaring at each other to look for an opportunity to strike, the man’s injuries were beginning to recover at fast pace.
Seeing that, the white tiger was aware that it would eventually lose if the fight went on like this. Its opponent could recover too fast.
This man used power as though he had a limitless resource. Just based on the fact that he had broken through the maze to come to the cathedral without waiting for the maze to become undone was enough to indicate this man’s insane power.
The tiger knew that it would die from exhaustion if it waited any longer. Hence, it circulated qi throughout its body. Its body seemed to double in size. This was its last attack. It put all of its attack power into this upcoming strike, hoping to decide the victor within one move.
The growl that fused with qi was roaring aloud throughout the forest. The surrounding trees were torn apart with this roar. However, the man stood still as if this roar had no effect on him. His body was glowing with qi while he was standing firmly on the ground.
The tiger charged at him suddenly at a speed unsuitable to its body size. Two of its claws lifted up and were prepared to behead its opponent. If this man was still able to recover after his head was separated from the body, it would have no choice but to give up.
The man crouched down slightly. His hands were put together, forming a blade made of psychic energy. The qi within his body surged into the newly formed blade, causing the blade to shake slightly.
The man turned his body to dodge the tiger’s claws and performed a counterattack. He used his right hand covered with the psychic blade to stab under the tiger’s chin. Coupled with the tiger’s charging speed, the cut was slashed down to its abdomen.
The momentum of the tiger ended by crashing into the trees behind the man. Its qi was completely depleted. With its wound being larger than 1 meter and its nonstop bleeding, it knew its fate. The enlarged eyes of it were staring at the man who was about to kill it.
The silver-haired man was wearing soft silver armor. His set of knight’s armor seemed to be incomplete as it was lacking the piece for one of the arms. The man didn’t wield any weapons. The tiger couldn’t see its opponent’s eyes as they were covered by a blindfold.
It even lost to a blindfolded person.
The man moved closer. His hand was placed on the tiger’s thick skin.
The tiger closed its eyes to accept its own death. Actually, this man didn’t have to do anything. It would die anyway in no more than three minutes.
Suddenly, the flow of qi was transmitted into the tiger’s body. It also felt less pain.
The tiger opened its eyes and found that its wound was recovering. The qi it felt was actually Recovering Qi.
“I only need an item. I don’t intend to kill anyone,” said the man.
Ten minutes had passed, the wound on the tiger’s body was completely healed. It put itself onto its feet and stared at the man who had almost killed it. However, it was also this man that pulled it back from death’s door. It had waited for this kind of man for a long time.
A white light was flashed covering the tiger’s body. A system sound rung inside the man’s head.
Player Shueria has been acknowledged by Cloudy Tiger, Marquis Rank, Level 500. It has become player’s pet. Since the rank of Cloudy Tiger is superior than player, you have no right to decline its offer.
Player Shueria has been acknowledged by Cloudy Tiger. Player has gotten (A) Cloudy Tiger Card 1 EA.
Player Shueria has been acknowledged by Cloudy Tiger. Player has gotten (A) Tiger Subduing Bracelet 1 EA.
Player Shueria won against Cloudy Tiger within the Labyrinthine Forrest Cathedral, achieving a special condition. Player has gotten a Scroll of Qi of Little Tiger 1 EA.
Once the system sound died down, a white bracelet suddenly appeared on his right hand. Cloudy Tiger turned into a light and was absorbed into the bracelet.
Shueria looked at a scroll in his hand. He had reached a halfway point towards achieving his goal. The training in Madmen’s Valley had helped him to become stronger than he ever imagined. But that itself was just a bonus. More importantly, his mind had been reformed and calmed down.
As he immersed himself in the training, he had received enlightenment. The thought of avenging his defeat at the hands of Sila was no longer important to him. He even felt gratitude to Sila whom had drove him to develop his ability to this degree.
Nevertheless, although he didn’t feel resentful anymore, he still would like to have a rematch against Sila to prove his ability.
He was reminded of the saying ‘Let yourself be free and you will find a way.’
Personally, Shueria didn’t have a grudge against Sila. He wasn’t himself at that time. He acted as he was ordered to do. At that time, his mind then was affected by Sila and the heated atmosphere of battle, causing him to be angered. Looking back, Shueria saw that his mind wasn’t strong enough and wavered easily. Since then, he has been training his mind to become calm and clear instead of training his body. However, the result of the training had caused his fighting ability to surpass his old self.
“Next destination is Cloudy City,” muttered Shueria while forcing his way out of the forest with terrain complicated like a maze.
***
At the same time, in the Slime Kingdom.
The Slime Kingdom was peaceful as usual. The slimes practiced their skills as a part of their routine. Due to the fact that all three skills could be practiced anywhere and anytime, the slimes could always polish their skills. Their expertise in these skills was top notch.
However, today, something had changed in the Slime Kingdom. The alarm went off in every corner of the kingdom.
Your kingdom is about to be invaded. Please prepare yourself for the invasion in the next five minutes.
Every slime was looking at each other. This was the first time that their kingdom had been invaded so many of them didn’t know what to do. However, some of them were jumping merrily by the fact they were about to have a fight. It was very boring for them to practice skills without an end goal. At least they would have a chance to show off the result of their practiced skills.
The Slime King and Slime Guardians went to the central plaza. Every slime greeted their king before turning their head back to stare at the dimensional portal that was distorting in the air. They were counting down the time until the portal completely formed itself.
“Why is the Slime Kingdom being invaded? We have never offended anyone before,” Poluk said
“It’s because of Bow,” Slime King answered.
“How is Bow related, Your Majesty?” Viola asked.
“Bow was born and has grown within this kingdom. That’s why she would still be in her real form even when she goes outside. Humans are greedy. Witnessing Bow, there must be some people who think that they can find other slimes like her in our kingdom. I had already expected this outcome when Sila took Bow outside. It’s just that it happened way sooner than I anticipated. Only a few days have passed since then,” Slime King explained.
“What should we handle this, Your Majesty?” Poluk asked.
“They are guests. Obviously, we will give them a warm welcome. Are there three minutes remaining? Umm… Divine.”
“Yes, Your Majesty. Do you have an order for me?” Divine asked.
“Can you help me move this dimensional portal somewhere else?”
“Your majesty is quite playful. You want me to move it to there, am I correct?”
“Yes. Help me with that.”
Divine nodded and went to the corner of the kingdom. The portal was moving, following Divine as if it was being dragged away. This was caused by the psychic skill called Shifting Psychic which has the ability to manipulate an opponent’s skill result.
The Dimension-Crossing Device is counted as a psychic device, so it was affected by this skill.
“All slimes should follow Divine,” Slime King said.
All of the slimes then obediently followed after Divine. The only slimes that remained in the central plaza were the Slime King, Poluk, and Viola.
“Where is it that your majesty intends to move the portal to?” Viola asked with curiosity.
“Oh. To the Cliff of Heroes.”
“Cliff of Heroes?” Viola wondered. “Please forgive me for saying this, but I personally can’t believe that our slimes would lose to those who are invading, whoever they are. There should be no need for us to be concerned about the slimes’ safety.”
“Firstly, I’m sure that the invading party are human. There’re not that many races that can use a device like the Dimension-Crossing Device. Lastly, I’m not concerned about the safety of the slimes. I’m more concerned about the safety of those who are invading instead.”
“Concerned about their safety? I don’t understand. Why do we have to be afraid of them dying?” Poluk asked.
“Hoho. We rarely have any guests. Given we have a chance now, we should do our best to welcome them. I don’t know how many are coming. Their numbers might be too few for us.”
Viola grinned. She finally noticed Slime King’s intention.
“I see. With the Cliff of Heroes’ ability, we can welcome them to our heart’s content. We can even welcome them multiple times.” Viola emphasized the word ‘welcome’ with a sinister tone.
Once Poluk heard Viola’s comment, he finally understood. He smiled while saying, “That would be the best course of action. Our little slimes are having a problem of lacking in actual battle experience themselves. The trolls that we once tamed have all died. They are too stupid anyway. Instead of the trolls, those humans must have different kinds of attack patterns. They are very suited to be welcomed by our slimes to increase the slimes’ combat experience.”
“It’s good that you two are understand. Poluk and Viola, your duty is to re-invite our guests to the Cliff of Heroes to receive our warm welcome. I will go help you guys shortly after this.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.” Poluk and Viola gave Slime King a bow. Then, they followed after Divine and stayed at the edge of the cliff. Their duty was to re-invite their guests into the bottom of the cliff again and again.
The Slime King was looking at the starless sky of the Slime Kingdom. He thought he had to take some action. Placing all the hopes on Sila might give Sila too much of a burden. He longed to see a smile on the face of every slime once they witnessed the true sunlight and stars.
The sorrowful cries could be heard from afar. Hearing those, a smile formed at the corner of the Slime King’s mouth.
“At least the Slime Kingdom is livelier than usual today.”
let the carnage begin