Loud caws of roosters aroused me from my comfy slumber.
Ah! It's a brand new day again! And I'm excited! I have two new skills I had wanted to test out!
I just feel that this day is going to be great!
Stretching on the hammock, the makeshift bed twisted and soon, I found the familiar sight of a wooden floor nearing my face inch by inch.
Thud!
I fell off the bed again. Damn it!
Snorting, my hand traced my hurt finger as healing magic quickly alleviated the pain. Soon, I found myself routinely heading to the kitchen. Cooking up a dish. A round of some healing exercise later, my physical attributes rose again by a small margin.
I still have 38 days left before things go south. Leaving a week before the disaster seems to be preferable.
But for now. I want to test how good these new skills are.
[ lvl 1 Mana Barrier ](Rare) and [ lvl 1 Mana Shaping ](Rare)
So after getting my shit prepared, I ran into the forest. Not bothering to fetch Ray. The girl has some stuff to do. And I've already imposed too much on her. Time to do things on my own.
-----
Early Morning. Outskirts of Twin Forest.
Lush green surroundings. Both Oak and Pine growing tall and robust. This is the familiar Twin Forest that I am used to.
Though... The forest looks calm today but I feel something. A gut feeling that some bad things are in store for me today.
In the past, I discovered my friend's real identity as a girl at night. Along with destruction that can only be caused by a creature as strong as the two Lizardmen Chiefs.
I made sure to pull off Ray away from the forest whenever she wanted to get exp. There was a wandering powerful monster. Or an unknown threat. I was not having any bad shit befall us.
I can't let myself get killed and the same goes for the people I consider myself indebted to.
Gurgle! Gurgle!
Sounds of bubbling liquid came from behind me. I turned around hastily and warily with furrowed brows at the sight of a wet spot on the ground. My pose and grip were ready to strike at any moment.
And a semi-transparent blue slime popped up from the ground.
Ah it's just pillow... Good morning!
Smiling, I picked up the lovable silent slime and hugged it. Before placing it atop my head. It was then that I noticed something strange.
"Pillow... Are you getting fat buddy?" I patted pillow. While asking a question.
Can't help it. He feels heavier than the first time I carried him. I already discovered that slimes gain more mass the more they eat but pillow... With a rough estimate with my inhuman strength as a basis. The slime feels to be around 5-20 kilograms heavy.
And that weight is all shifted on my head.
Wait... Won't this stunt my growth?
Helpless, I picked up pillow and placed him back at the ground. Sorry little guy.
Pillow seemingly looked at me. His round liquid frame shivered and jiggled like fresh pudding. And he pounced at me. Landing atop my head immediately.
Gosh dang it!
Welp... Look's like I'm stuck with a slime for a hat. Just gotta make sure to cast lesser heal often in case this really stunts my growth.
Slime and Man holding a wooden staff ventured further into the forest. The foliage grew denser little by little as we advanced.
Biru! Biru!
I stopped... I heard a slime... Slimes sound like purring kittens but somewhat distorted under a sheet of thick liquid.
Looking around, I couldn't find the source of the sound. Standing in place, I closed my eyes and waited. I heard distorted purring again and jumped back immediately.
Plop!
A fat green slime fell from the forest canopy. Sneaky little bugger.
Its color was dull green. Leaves were stuck inside it but they didn't dissolve. Instead, the leaves intertwined around a core.
Ah great... Judging by the slime's green color and the addition of leaves on its core. It probably knows cheesy healing magic. Could manipulate nature to a small extent. Or it's poisonous.
I felt Pillow grow still and cold atop my head. Expressing intentions of not wanting to deal with this enemy. You're gonna sit this one out again? Man you're a parasite.
After taming Pillow, I could feel a faint connection to the slime. I couldn't talk mentally yet but I could perceive emotions.
Sadness, Anger, Boredom, Delight...
Those were the only emotions I felt from Pillow. Even when I had to run from a seven-man goblin band, Pillow was not afraid in the slightest.
Pshu! Pshu!
Streams of green liquid shot out from the slime. They resembled green snakes cutting through the air. The scent struck similarity to withered roses.
It's really poisonous huh...
MANA BARRIER!
Internally screaming, I felt my mana roil quickly inside of me before being expelled. A bubble of transparent blue mana quickly enveloped my body.
Thsak! Thsak! Hitting against the barrier, The arrows of poisoned secretions halted and slid down. Issuing sizzling sounds as if wanting to eat away my mana barrier.
Yet the barrier cracked not nor did it dim a little.
Ha! My barrier is strong! I don't know the exact details around this skill as I have no appraisal skill or something of that type but Elena personally told me that [Mana Barrier] wasn't easy to breach!
Undaunted, the slime kept spitting acid shots at me. I glanced at my mana bar and it sat still.
-----
Mana: 170/200
-----
Ah... So the Mana barrier costs 30 mana per cast at lvl 1... Should I be afraid that its the cost would ramp up upon leveling up?
I shook my head free of those thoughts... Right. I have another skill.
Mana Shaping...
I exercised will over my mana. My skill activated. The mana obediently followed me like a sad terrified child finally seeing his father return after buying milk instead of disappearing forever.
The mana followed my will. It got expelled out of my body and I could feel my reserves dropping low.
Sheesh. This [Mana Shaping] sure does cost a lot of mana.
Frowning and deepening my concentration, I envisioned a familiar object inside my brain. Making sure to make the picture simple yet precise.
A sword!
I felt my mana stop draining. The expelled mana surrounding my body surged and concentrated into a spot in the air. From non-visible it became visible.
An illusory faint blue sword condensed out of bluish mists of mana.
Mana has three stages. Gas. Liquid and Solid...
I'm still weak but this is good enough.
"Shred him!" I pointed at the green slime and mumbled.
The sword floating in the air spun and slashed towards the green slime.
The slime, in turn, Jumped up to evade the fleeting sword slash. Vibrating fiercely on the ground. It seemed to be gloating at my attempt to damage it.
Oh, don't worry...
Who said swords couldn't act like boomerangs?
The mist mana sword rebounded and slashed at the Slime's backside.
Pop!
There was a loud sound. Like a balloon that got popped in the face of a person who was nearly crying in fear. Slime flew everywhere as the mist sword dispersed into a powerful gale of mana.
The wind slammed at my face. Blowing my hood off and rustling even my hair as leaves flew off everywhere...
That... Mana sword was weak as hell... It was only a mist form...
But it obliterated a slime in one hit. An overkill even.
The ground under the slime had been stained by green liquid as small cracks spread out in the diameter of a foot.
So an attack formed by mana shaping... Is strong enough to cause a mini violent explosion of mana.
Awesome!
It's decided!
I'm gonna frigging max out these two lit skills!
I checked my mana. Formerly being 170/200. It was now down to 110/200.
That simple sword cost a whopping 60 mana. Ah... I need to expand my mana pool.
Luckily all magic attuned classes have a basic skill lying around in the skill tree. A skill that increases max mana and mana regeneration.
Right now... My mana sits at a max of 200 and it regenerates 10 mana per two minutes.
I gotta be careful... Running out of mana can cause one to faint or enter a severely weakened state.
No wonder one of us who was an arrogant beta tester got served. They had a lot of hp and mana. But when they fought a hot succubus and got helplessly violated on the spot due to being too careless, they couldn't fight back despite having enough strength to punch off the demon.
The boy got succ-ked to death after his mana ran out.
Gurgle~ Gurgle~!
Pillow purred and jumped out of my head. Rolled over to the green slime remains and sucked in the leaf core inside him. It visibly vanished.
Little glutton. You only sit on my head and make me do all the work while you would feast on the remains afterward. You're lucky you're cute and hugable.
I stretched my body and closed my eyes. The next second I found myself launched back. I opened my eyes and saw pillow who was slowly falling down from the air.
The squishy sensation and the sudden push. Pillow had rammed into me. But why?
It was then that I saw a copper gladius slash the spot from where I once stood. I swiftly turned to the side and saw a familiar green lizardman staring at me with murder in his eyes.
He was wielding two copper blades. The one on the right missed but the one on the left was still stabbing towards my rib.
I gritted my teeth and shouted.
"Mana Barrier!"
CRACK! CRACK! CrAcK!~