Asher made it out of the man without incident. It was getting easier to sneak out of the manor grounds. This time, Asher decided to opt out of using his illusion magic until he discovered more about the overdraw status. His HP had recovered as he trekked toward the slime lake to hunt some more.
After his arrival, it did not take him long to find his first target. It was a small green slime hopping alongside the lake. Asher was patient. He hid in the bushes and waited for the happy little slime to wander towards him like a fly moving towards a web. Once it was a few feet away, Asher could make out the core floating inside its body.
Asher lounged forward, covering the short distance in a second. His hand lit up as the halberd took shape. He thrust the weapon like a spear piercing the creature before it could retaliate. The creature's liquid-like body offered little to no resistance against Asher's attack until the spear hit the core. The beast let out a cry as the core was cleaved in two.
[You have dealt critical damage to a Green Slime]
[You have damaged Green Slime core]
[You have defeated Green Slime. +6 Exp]
[You have acquired damaged Green Slime Core]
[You have acquired 1.4 L of slime residue, and itd it was placed in your magic canister.]
Asher slimed sinisterly. He had not expected his attack to be that effective. Asher spent the next three hours repeating the process over and over. In the end, he defeated eight slimes and gained 10.4 L of slime residue from the area. Overall, Asher was happy with the results. The thrusting attack was very effective for farming the slimes quickly.
Asher spotted his final target. It was a blue slime that had just jumped out of the bush. Asher didn't have time to hide before the slime noticed him and began to attack. The 's bodyslime's bodyslime's body flexed and shifted into a large tendril that swung at Asher. Lifting the halberd high over his head, Asher swung the heavy weapon cleaving the slime in two.
[You have dealt -1 to the Liquid Mass]
Asher was confused by the notification. He had not heard of liquid slime before, and, and Most of the slime he had fought were green and blue slimes. The slime cleaved into two formed two separate pools of slime that shifted and merge back into one droplet. Asher took his chance to get to the bottom of what the creature was.
[Scan Complete]
Monster: Liquid Mass (Slime variant)
Quality: Knight
HP: 49/50
MP: 300/300
Description: A rare variant of the slime species. Its body is made up of nan ooze with all the same qualities as water. Unlike regular slimes, this creature does not have access to healing magic. However, it makes up for it with its physical power. How this evolution came to be is unknown. Its core is heavily favored towards the water and enhancement elements.
Asher stared in awe. A knight-quality creature was a rare sight,, much less a knight slime. Slimes are advanced quality creatures;; however they mainly evolve within the advanced realm and do not grow too much more potent than that. Asher readied himself for another round,.,, The liquid tendril launched forward at a tremendous speed, and, and Asher blocked using the halberd.
[You have lost -15]
When the attack connected, Asher was thrown back words and pushed against a tree, his arms felt numb, like any moment they would fall off. He had lost almost all his health in one shot. He now understood just how dangerous a Kight quality creature could be. He would be a goner if he did not have his equipment.
The slime got ready for another attack, and Asher countered by swinging the halberd at the tendril. When the two met, it felt almost like a clash of metal on metal. Its body didn't change,, but the halberd wouldn't cut like before. More problematic was that the system wouldn't sound tell him he did the damage.
Asher understood all at once that the slime enhanced the durability and hardness of his body. Now his halberd was as good as a stick right now. Asher and slime traded blows for some time, and Asher's movement began to slow down. The halberd was a good weapon because it could use its weight to hit more complicated, but now it was draining Asher's stamina.
The slime's body was too hard to penetrate with the halberd, and it didn't seem to wear out. However, he was getting more and more worn out by the minute. The slime was not giving him an out. He only had the chance to locate the core and remove it from the creature. Asher spotted a shimmering sphere shifting around the creature's body.
Asher jumped back, aimed the halberd at the core, and charged forward. The monster was flesh parted as the halberd ripped through the slime's body. His system chimed As he cleaved the slime in two.
[New Skill acquired]
[Couraagous Charge]
Type: Skill
Description: A despite charge at an opponent towards a target. With tremendous force, a blade is thrust forward, following the momentum to attack with a stabbing weapon, and this increases the power and damage of the attack.
Weapon: stabbing weapons.
Effect: x5 damage, 50% of Critical Chance
[You have dealt 25 damage to the liquid mass]
The body of the slime was blown back,, revealing the shining sphere. The sphere was unscratched by Asher's attack. The blowback was so strong that Asher was thrown back and the halberd was ripped from his hand.
The slime began to reform around the monster's core. Asher quickly recovered, getting stable on his feet. Knowing that if the slime recovered, he would be doomed, he chose to launch forward. He plunged his hand into the liquid mass. He wrapped his hand around the core, which shattered into light fragments.
[Monster Core (Liquid Mass) was placed in your inventory.]
[You have defeated Liquid Mass. If you have defeated a new monster for the first time extra reward will be given. +30 Exp]
The liquid mass lost its form, falling to the ground lifeless as its core was taken away. Asher fell to his knee, exhausted as all the tension in his body left him. He lay on the soaked grass covered in liquid like slime. Asher stored the slime in his dimension pocket, but there was only so much it could hold the rest covered him and the surrounding ground.
[Notice: You are unable to store any more in your magic canister.]
"Mental note bring spare clothes when monster hunting." A bottle of red liquid formed from scattered light in his hand. He chugged down the health potion in a few gulps.
[Notice: Healing potion has been applied. +15 HP]
Asher stripped down to his underwear and used the lake to wash off the remaining slime. He then hung his coat and let them dry in the sun. Asher lay on the wet glass for a while, letting his body go limp as he relaxed. He let his mind go quiet as he closed his eyes. The darkness felt warm and comforting as he began to drift away from his body.
Little stars began floating in the darkness. They were a variety of colors yellows, greens, blues, a few purples, and one or two reds. Asher reached out to touch a little white light, but the moment he got close, it ran far away. He tried again with a red one, but the same scene repeated.
Asher could not understand what was going on, but he felt compelled to grab these floating stars for some reason. He reached out to a light blue star, and instead of the star running away, it came to him. The star nestled itself in his hand, becoming brighter before dimming out of existence. Asher continued to repeat the process and found that only certain lights came to him.
Out of all the brilliant colors, the purple stars attracted him the most. They gave off a dark and sinister energy and would naturally gravitate towards Asher, allowing him to grab a lot of them. It seemed this behavior was specific to the purple stars.
After some time, Asher's eyes opened to the afternoon sky. The shadows of the tree were now very long and covered in the golden hue of the afternoon. Asher looked around and found his now dry hanging above him. How long had he been out? Within the next second, he was assaulted by an entire swarm of notifications.
[New skill acquired, Meditation]
[Skills, Meditation, and Magic foundation, are compatible. Proceed to merge skills? Warning chance to lose or acquire worse skills. Y/N]
[Skill merging commence]
[Merge fail...]
[Merge fail...]
[Merge fail...]
[Merge successfully]
[You have acquired the skill, Cultivation]
[Congratulations on successfully merging skills. Both meditations and Magic foundation have been upgraded as a result.
[The results of your mediation are as follows.]
[You have begun to acquire aether essence]
[Enchantment essence +13]
[Enchancement essence +7]
[Illusion essence +30]
[Spacial essence +11]
[Taming essence +19]
[Alchemic essence +0]
[Due to the effect of Cultivation, your mana pool has increased. +25 MP]
Asher's head was spinning from the notifications. He could barely understand even one of them. He calmed himself and started to think critically about the situation. First thing first. He had to start with the first notification.
[Meditation (Lv 2)]
Type: Skill
Quality: E
Mastery: 0%
[By calming your mind and body, you can tap into the aetheric presence around you to draw aetheric essences into your body.]
[Effect: Allows the collection of aetheric essences from the surrounding area. +200% HP and MP recovery while under effect]
[Condition: You must be in a calm and concentrated state]
[Duration: Until concentration is disrupted]
So the meditation skill allowed him to gather aetheric essences, but it did not tell Asher what they were used for, so he had no choice but to look at his next skill.
[Cultivation (Lv 1)]
Type: Skill
Quality: S
Mastery: 0%
[Through the extensive study of magic, the wellspring of aether can be used to enhance one's mana pool and circuits.]
[Effect: Increases Mastery of Mana skills and chance to increase the size of the mana pool while under the effects of mediation]
[Conditions: Must meditate for at least 5 minutes to activate.]
Asher's jaw dropped. This was a cheat code. Increasing the mana pool was a difficult and arduous task. Now he had a skill that allowed him to passively increase his total mana pool by leaps and bounds. No wonder it was an S-ranked skill. It was broken as hell. He could only imagine the number of people who would kill for this skill. Asher took a deep breath before going to his final skill.
[Magic Foundation (Lv 2)]
Type: Skill
Quality: E
Mastery: 0%
[Your understanding of magic theory and principles has reached a new level of understanding. Mana flows freely through you in the atmosphere, allowing you to replenish magic faster.]
[Effect: When active, recover +15 MP per min.]
This skill was a bit of a letdown compared to the other skill. Asher sighed as it only increased his MP recovery by five each MP. It was clear that he would need better recovery skills in the future. Asher put his clothes back on and left for the manor. He now had the max about of slime residue, and all left was to head back to the guild tomorrow.