The Green Slime turned its... head? I guess it's a head. Though it doesn't have any facial features... ore any features for that matter. It's more like a Green Blob. Maybe it's 'focus' would be a better way to describe it. Anyway-
The Green slime turned its focus towards the creature that had stepped out of the bush. It was holding a strange pointy object in its hands. this creature had a head to turn.
The Green Slime bobbled on the ground, annoyed. It wished it had a head.
The creature stared the Green Slime down, pointing the object at it. The slime began to bobble up and down, quicker this time, it's liquid form rippling as it moved.
The creature said something in a language that the slime couldn't interpret. It had never heard of the words that came from the weird creature. The creature was a more pale version of a Goblin, with a less pointy nose and ears, it was also taler than one, though not as tall as a Hobgoblin.
The object the creature held was sudden swung at the Slime, and it felt the metallic substance on it's body. The Slime shot backwards, and moved its focus to the wound. The slime had a gap in its form, but it began to rapidly heal.
Once the Slime's form was whole again, it attacked the creature by lunging towards it... only to bounce off of it. Confused, it lunged again, but nothing happened. The creature hadn't even flinched. It began to jiggle in frustration, as it once again attacked.
.
Matthew didn't know what to think of the Slime. He had attacked it with his sword, leaving a gash in its form, only for it to heal almost instantly. It then shot up at him and he braced for an impact, but the attack felt like someone had thrown an empty hacky sack at him.
The slime was now attacking him over and over again, if one could even call it an attack. When the Slime first hit him, he received a notification which he began to read.
-Achievement-
You have discovered a new Variant of Monster -Green Slime- and have received the achievement 'Taxonomy (Monster)'.
-
Matthew examined the achievement he had gained.
-Taxonomy (Monster)-
You have discovered a new Monster Variant. When scanning Monsters, you will be able to learn what Variant they are.
-
Matthew was pondering on what the use of the newly obtained skill was. He pushed it to the side and read over the last notification. It was about the Green Slime.
-Slime-
Variant: Green Slime
Green Slimes do not have an element, unlike the other variants, but instead have increased recovery speed. The have increased resistance to physical attacks, and a small resistance to magical attacks.
.
He had wondered why he hadn't received a damage notification and now knew that he hadn't actually done any damage.
"Hmm, how do I actually defeat you then. I slashed at where your core should have been, but I didn't hit anything. Maybe I just missed?" Matthew didn't know, but when the slime attacked again, he thrust his sword out, poking a blade sized gap in the middle of it.
Matthew pulled out his sword and examined the slime. It began to close the gap and blew a whistle.
"I wonder If I can get a recovery skill if I can absorb the Monster core?" Matthew asked himself. As he thought to himself, the pinging sound of a quest made him smile.
-Quest: Monster Core-
Defeat Slime and Absorb Monster Core: 0/1
Rewards: Slime's Soul, 100 Copper Pieces.
-
Matthew swung his sword down on the now full formed slime, this time using the flat surface to try and flatten it. The Green slime did not have the agility to dodge and was now a puddle on the ground. Matthew spotted a gleaming grey colored pearl and destroyed it with one more attack, killing the Slime. He crouched down and placed a finger on the gooey substance.
[Would you like to loot 'Green Slime: Rank 0'? Y/N]
Matthew selected yes.
[100 Copper Coins] have been added to your Inventory. [Monster Core 'Rank 0' ] has been added to your inventory. [Recovery Potion 'Rank 0'] has been added to your inventory.
Matthews eyes widened and he opened his inventory. He withdrew the potion with a thought and used [Scan] on the item.
-[Recovery Potion 'Rank 0']. Recovers 5HP per second for 10 seconds. Once a potion is consumed, the user must wait 10 minutes before consuming another.-
"Wow, even recovery items are real in this world."
Matthew hadn't been told about recovery potions from Linda or Travis, and now wanted to know why. At that thought, Travis walked out of the bushes, his eyes wide.
"Matthew, Y-you have a looting skill?" Travis asked.
"Yes," Matthew answered honestly. He was confused about Travis' questioning look. "You don't?"
"No Matthew, looting skills are actually pretty rare. Most would kill for a skill like that, others have." Travis looked seriously at Matthew, which scared the boy. Would Travis turn on him, knowing his skill. Travis looked at Matthew's reaction and chuckled.
"You have nothing to worry about Matthew. You're like a little brother to me. I would never do anything to hurt or exploit you. All I will say is to be careful of using that around strangers." Travis smiled and looked to where the green colored Slime was previously.
"So Matthew, did you pick up the core?" Travis asked, changing the topic.
Matthew grinned. "Yep." He held out the green colored Monster Core proudly.
.
Matthew and Travis arrived back at Greyvault village and were met with a worried smile from Linda.
"You're safe, that's good," Linda said, sighing with a relief. "So, how did it go?"
"Awesome, it was a new kind of Slime, the color was green. I hadn't seen it in the books you showed me before." Matthew was smiling, But Linda's face was full of shock.
"Travis?!" Linda asked, she didn't seem happy about Matthews achievement.
"There's no need to worry yourself Linda, it was only a Slime, and Matthew took care of it with ease. Yes, it was a Monster that even I haven't seen before, and I will be sending a report back to the closest Guild." Travis tried to calm Linda down, but she was furious.
"How could you send Matthew to face a Monster that neither of you had any knowledge about? What the hell!" Linda was angry at the idiotic decision the two boys had made, and shot them both looks of disappointment, tears forming in her eyes.
Both Travis and Matthew looked to the ground in shame. They both knew of the tragedy that took her husband away. He had been hunting for a Wolf, and had run into one that no one had ever seen before. Her husband had gotten cocky and thought that he could beat it, Wolves were only 'Rank 0' Monsters after all. Only, it was a 'Rank 1' Dire Wolf. It had taken her husbands life, and she spent over a year mourning her loss.
Tears slid down her cheeks and she screamed. "Travis! What the Hell were you thinking?!?" Her hands were clenched into fists, fury boiling inside of her. People looked over at the commotion, and they saw their favorite barkeep yelling. They all flocked over to see what was wrong.
Travis could only continue to look at the ground. He couldn't bring himself to look Linda in the eyes.
Victor walked through the gathering crowd and placed a hand on the crying Linda's back. She looked at Victor and threw herself into his chest, sobbing.
"Okay everyone. Let us leave it at that. Travis, Matthew, go back to your rooms. I think you both need to think about the decision you both made. Grace and I look after Lindy here." Victor looked stern and both Travis and Matthew nodded. The crowd dispersed, listening to the Village Chief.
Matthew arrived in his room, and placed his head in his hands.
"Stupid, Stupid, Stupid." Matthew slapped himself. He had been told during the three months he had been in the village, that the most common cause of death to an adventurer was misinformation. Many times when tasks were given, Monster types, numbers, and other variables had been wrong, resulting in failure of completion, whether it be by Adventurers pulling out of the task because they weren't strong enough to complete it, or because of them dying due to overconfidence. Matthew ridiculed his thinking earlier. He had told himself that the monster was "Just a Slime", But that mindset was detrimental.
Matthew raised his head and pulled the Green Tinted Monster Core out of his inventory. He held it between his thumb and index finger, and scanned it.
-[Monster Core: 'Rank 0']. Able to be absorbed to unlock a random ability that will link to a stat randomly. The ability is determined by the nature of your soul. This aspect has been influenced by the ability [Soul Bound]. Upon absorbing the [Monster Core: 'Rank 0'], you will obtain the Soul of [Green Slime: 'Rank 0'] and will obtain a random ability that will be determined by the soul of [Green Slime: 'Rank 0']. Would you like to Absorb? Y/N--
"Damn, even Monsters have souls, but i don't? What the hell is this?" Matthew still didn't understand why he didn't have a soul, but he swore that he would find out. There must be a reason for it.
He once again drew his attention to the pebble sized object, and pushed his will into it.
-You have selected [Yes]. Absorbing [Monster Core 'Rank 0']-