"Why is it still 0?!?!"
"A bug?!"
"Is anyone there? I think I've just found a bug!" Zeke raises his arm and speaks in a hurry manner.
"Bug" is a mistake or problem in a computer program.
[He-Hello. Ha-how could we help you?....]
A voice that responded this time wasn't from the male staff from before.
It was a woman's voice. She sounded quite young.
"I'd like to report a bug. A moment ago, I killed a slime and my level went up, but after I killed 8 more, my level is still the same. Even worse, my experience point is still 0."
Zeke speaks hurriedly. His tone was loud.
[Ah….. That is not a bug, player.] the female staff answers making Zeke frowns but before he could say anything further, she continues.
[We sincerely apologize about the mistake of the tutorial system..... To tell you the truth, we've recently added the said system, but....the system seems to not working properly.]
She says in a serious manner despite an uncertainty in her tone.
During her explanation, the device on Zeke's wrist shone a blue light just like before, revealing the tutorial.
[First Chapter – Stats]
Health Point (HP) – Player starts health point at 100. If this stat decreases to 0, player will lose their life and the beta testing will be over immediately.
Stamina – Each of player's action will require this stat. Attacking, moving, or even using skills require Stamina to perform.
If this stat depleted to 0, player will enter 'Exhausted' state causing player to be unable to take any action for some time.
Attack – This stat will be calculated with Defense stat after an attack hit on the receiver.
After the Attack stat got deducted by Defense stat, the remaining value will cause the HP to decrease.
The Attack stat received from equipment will be shown behind the base value.
Defense – This stat will be calculated with Attack stat after receiving an attack.
If the Defense value is more than the Attack value, the damage to HP won't occur.
The Defense stat received from equipment will be shown behind the base value.
[Second Chapter – Experience and Level]
Player will receive Experience points under these conditions:
After discovered the stats of monsters or other players. After discovered any trivial information. After using or training skills or equipment. Receive from events or some special conditions.
When player achieved a level up, player will gain 2 stat points which can be used to increase the base stats.
[Third Chapter – Skills]
There are 2 types of skill.
Active Skill – Skills that require Stamina to perform. Some skills, aside from the Stamina, will require special conditions to perform. Passive skill – Skills that take their effects immediately without any cost. (Except for some skills)
"Jesus, how am I gonna remember it all at once!" after finishing with the First chapter, Zeke swipes his finger to continue reading, but the texts are too much for him to remember them all in short time, so he decides to skim through and only recognizes the important parts.
He'll review it later if he had spare time.
[This guide should've appeared before player leaves the save zone. We are really sorry.]
While Zeke is skimming through the texts, the staff slowly speaks with a slightly shaky tone.
"It's alright…"
"By the way, I can change options via this device, right?"
The more Zeke skims through the more he feels the game is very unique and he can't help but feel more excited.
With an overwhelmed excitement, Zeke feels like making no complaints about the mistakes.
He then asks the staff casually.
[Yes! Player could command the device via speech recognition.]
The lady slowly answers with a firm tone.
"Oh…. aren't your technologies quite advanced? Now I really want to work with you guys."
Zeke utters with awe. He really means what he says.
..
[If we have a… recruitment in the future, we'll let you.. know.]
After being silent for a few moments, the staff lady responds in a relaxed tone.
"Oh! I have one last question."
"Since I have to stay here for a whole week and I can't log out, what should I do with the foods?"
Zeke recalls the most important matter and asks the lady with a very serious tone.
[Wh-what food, s-sir?]
The lady responds with a shaky voice once again.
"Well, I have to eat and drink, right? If I binged the game for a whole week, I don't think I'll be able to walk out of here. Haha!"
Zeke says firmly before laughing it off.
….
[W-well…. Please do not concern about it, player. With our technology….. player's body will receive enough and proper nutrients without having to log out to consume edibles, and of course, since you don't have to consume anything, excretions are not necessary.]
Silence fell for almost 3 minutes then the lady finally speaks up.
The stuttering could be heard before it vanishes away and be replaced by confidence.
"Hold up. I get that it's similar to treating a patient in a hospital, but a patient still needs to wake up to take a pee because of the saline, right?"
Zeke frowns slightly and asks with a serious manner.
[D-don't worry. Our. Machines could de. lay the de. Hydra. tion…..]
The words of the staff lady got interrupted before disappearing half-way through the conversation.
…..
Nothing could be heard after that.
"Bruh…. The signal is lost..."
Zeke, who has been waiting, starts to frown even more. He stops skimming and takes a look around to relax his eyes.
"Ah! Where is the last one!"
Finally, he realizes that he was too busy with the tutorial that he's been completely forgotten about the last little slime.
It has already fled for a while now.
"Never mind it! I have to go hunt the last slime. We'll talk later!"
Zeke shouts at the device in a hurry and peers the ground.
"Since the slime's body is mostly liquid, at least it should leave its mucus on the ground like a snail!"
He thinks as his gaze is sweeping the ground looking for the mucus or the spot that seems to be more wet.
"There it is!"
And so, he found a trail of mucus on grasses not far from where he stood.
He then follows the trail.
…
"Damn…. the trail cut off here….. it should've escaped away in the water…."
Zeke followed the mucus trail until he exited the forest.
He utters with a disappointment while sitting on a rock besides a river.
There are many stones and pebbles scattering around the river. Some grasses could also be spotted on the area.
"Haa.... Log!" Zeke sighs from exhaustion.
He then commands the device to show the record of what he's been doing until now.
[You discovered Defense stat of Slime from attacking!]
[You gained 1 experience point]
[You gained 1 additional experience point from Newbie! event]
[You discovered the weakness of Slime for the first time!]
[The core of Slime is its weakness! You gained 2 experience points!]
[You gained 2 additional experience points from Newbie! event]
[You swung a sword well like it's your third arm]
[You gained 1 experience point!]
[You gained 1 additional experience point from Newbie! event]
[Your Stamina depleted below 50 points for the first time.]
[The depleted Stamina causes your body to respond. You gained 1 experience point!]
[You gained 1 additional experience point from Newbie! event]
"Oh….? Very detailed…."
"Mmmm.... I do feel tired than usual…. My movements also aren't fluid like before…."
Zeke mutters to himself as he reading the log.
"Newbie event?" He says indifferently.
[Currently, player is benefitting from the buff 'Newbie!']
A voice emerges from Zeke's device making him slightly surprised because he's not calling anyone.
The voice sounded gentle and slightly deep just like a man's voice, but still in a robotic tone.
"It even has an AI?! Peak." Zeke acknowledges the voice to be the device's.
He feels very admired toward this game's technology.
"Wait….Hold on…"
If the device has AI to respond the players; that means…...
"Notification!" Zeke commands the device once again with a serious voice and face.
The blue light shines from the screen once more. Zeke takes only a few seconds to find the 'Report notification' option.
"Let's turn this off…." He presses his finger on the shown window while letting out an awkward chuckle.
If he encountered with noise-sensitive enemies in the future, the AI might cause him serious troubles.
"Alright…. Newbie buff!" This time, he'd like to know about the Newbie buff that gave him more exp.
[Currently You're benefitting from the | Newbie! | buff.]
[Newbie! buff will grant player additional experience points by 100% of the received value.]
[Buff durations: 71 Hours 40 Minutes 26 Seconds]
The word 'Buff', in gaming's terms, means something that gives benefits to player who possesses it.
In return, 'Debuff' means something that gives disadvantages to player who possesses it.
"3 Days…. I need to focus on farming..…" He mutters to himself again.
The word "Farm/Farming", in gaming's terms, means to repetitively do something to get what player desires.
"Oh! Now that I'm level 2, let's use the stat points" He opens the stats window and ponders about which stats he wants to increase.
"The Health is the most important, however….. If my Attack is lower than Defense then it means nothing…."
…
"Alright! Good choice! Good start!" After pondering for a long time, Zeke finally decided to increase his Health by 1 point and Attack by 1 point.
Finishing with everything he needed to do, Zeke stands up and takes a step.
However, something is coiling around his leg. He can feel wetness and moist from his leg.
"Arghhh!!!"
In an instant, what is entwining his leg tries to pull him into the river.
Zeke resists with all his might but the force is too strong.
He feels like he's being pulled by an elephant!
[You have angered the Slime Queen!]
The sentence could be seen on the device's screen but Zeke is not having any spare time to notice it.
"S**t!" He can't fight against the overwhelming strength; he loses his balance and falls to the ground causing his face to smash with the stones.
In the next moment, his other leg is getting captured as well.
With both legs sealed tight, his whole body is lifted with the monstrous strength and gets flung away.
Thump!!!
Zeke's body is slammed with a tree not far from the river.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!" He wails from the excruciating pain. He then falls to the ground causing the pain extends even further.
Although the height wasn't too high but it was high enough for him to feel like his body snapped in half.
Blood gushes from his mouth. His vision is blurry. His head is dizzy. He almost vomited.
[Your Health depleted to 2! You are in danger!]
[Warning! Warning! Warning! Please contact the support team!]
The report notifications ring out from Zeke's device causing him to be in shock.
He's already turned it off. How could it make sounds?!
However, before he could find the answer to that, the moment the pain feels like an eternity, a shadow approaches.
When he tries to face the shadow, he sees a gigantic slime.
Its upper body from the belly to its head shapes just like a female human. The lower body oozes out great amount of sticky substances making it looks like a drowning humanoid monster.
Slime. Humanoid Slime. Slime Girl!
On her left shoulder clings a smaller blue slime.
Zeke's eyes widen with horror and shock.
This huge slime's body has darker color than any slimes he has seen. Even its core cannot be seen easily.
[You received an attack from the Slime Queen. You discovered Attack of the Slime Queen!]
[You gained 50 experience points.]
[You gained 50 additional experience points from Newbie! Event.]
[You leveled up to 8!]
[The Slime Queen is vengeful toward you!]
[Special event Appear!
Condition: Defeat the Slime Queen!
Reward: A boss weapon and a random stats boost!]
Special event duration: 23 Hours 59 Minutes 57 Seconds.]
In that life and death moment, the voice from the device that Zeke had closed emerges once again.
When hearing about the event, Zeke's eyes widen even more.
"Are you f**king kidding me!!?!?" He curses with anger.