Kazi was jostled by a firm hand on his shoulder and forced to face a furious brown-haired lady.
"H-hey, you almost killed me!"
"I saved you," Kazi replied with a good-natured smile. He knitted his brows and showed concern. "Seriously, that monkey could have done a lot of damage. Are you okay?"
The lady huffed and puffed, released him, and dusted herself off. "Yeah, I am." She looked up at the trees and sighed. She eyed him from the corner of her vision and sighed again. "Alright, alright, my bad. I was wrong for yelling at you. Thank you."
She was older than him and was desi too. Specifically, judging by her thick eyebrows, she was Punjabi. A very pretty Punjabi woman at that. Her lashes were curled to perfection and, having replaced the Garbs of Death with an embroidered purple tunic, she put pride and effort in her appearance.
He picked up her long staff and went to hand it to her, noticing she had a name tag and level.
[ Name: Noor Chodhry
Level: 7
Class: Mage ]
'Strange. I didn't see any name tags in the White Abyss. Unless, since it's a neutral state, the system doesn't enforce that.'
He decided to pull away from his theories and thoughts to focus on the young lady. "I'm Kazi, nice to meet you." He held out her staff.
Noor looked at him strangely and took it. "Kazi…you know, I can see your level and class, but not your name. Did you do something?"
"Huh. You can't see my name?" He scratched his nape and let the gears in his head turn. He was a fast thinker so connecting the dots was easy. "Hey, if you don't mind my asking, what's your deftness?"
The long-haired woman clutched her staff and hesitated before answering. "Seven."
"Ohh, I think that's why. Deftness also affects the ability to observe other people in detail."
"Azrael didn't mention that."
"You just needed to ask," Kazi said.
"What level are you then? I assume you've killed a bunch of slimes if your deftness is so high."
'Man, look at that. Folks are already adjusting to the rules of the world.' While Kazi had been asking Azrael question after question, some players had already taken the initiative, changed clothes, and even levelled up.
"Actually—"
Abruptly, a bubbling gurgle resonated through the air. Emerging from the underbrush behind Noor, a vibrant green slime sprang forth, its form in an oval shape. Its size, however, was larger than that of a Sarail Hound and its circular red eyes glared with bloodlust. Mini-Slime was its name and it was level one. Easy picking.
Noor turned but Kazi was faster. In one swift motion, he activated 'Spark Strike,' and slashed it top to bottom. He gripped his sword tightly from the ensuing shock. The slime was weak and its health bar went all the way down to red.
Slish-slash! With two wide arcs of his blade, the health bar emptied and the slime groaned. Its green matter melted into the ground, leaving behind a tiny green orb.
He didn't need to touch it. It disappeared and he received a pop-up.
[ Congratulations on your first kill! Receive the 'Amateur Player' class! ]
[ Receive:
1x Mini Slime Orb
3 XP ]
"You got a slime orb," said Noor. "That's rare."
Kazi controlled his breath. Killing a monster took more adrenaline than he thought it would. His heart was absolutely pounding in excitement. He cracked a smile and turned to Noor.
"Lucky me," Kazi replied. "Say, how many of these things have you killed?"
"The mini slimes? Twenty-ish," Noor replied. "They're really easy to kill if you have a spell or two. They can't come close to you and you can just spam your spells. The normal slimes are what you have to look out for. I've only killed five of those."
'Twenty, eh? Hm, so levelling up in early stages isn't too hard. If I know my maths, that's about a hundred XP from the mission and sixty from farming. More considering that there's apparently normal slimes. They probably give more XP than minis.'
"I would have been able to catch that monkey too if I wasn't out of MP," Noor continued, gritting her teeth. "I'm gonna find that guy AND burn his fur! See how he likes it!"
Kazi listened to Noor mutter to herself, spewing insults at the long gone baby monkey.
'Even if you were at full power, I doubt you'd be able to catch that thing.' Kazi recalled its speed—or rather, how much he didn't. Without trying, it disappeared from his frame of view. In real life, that should have been impossible. Whoever devised the event should know that—that first time players would never be able to catch the monkey.
'Since it was called a special objective, my guess is that ordinary methods won't work. They want us to think outside the box.' Kazi smiled to himself. 'And I think I know just what method I need to catch Mr. Anjaneya.'
***
Insects, birds, worms, the forest was filled to the brim with life. The chirps of the wildlife seemed like music. Authentic music composed by creatures of high intelligence. There was rhythm and a beat. It was magical.
Kazi hummed to himself. He and Noor separated ways. There was no need for them to team-up. Plus, Noor said she needed to recover her mana. Kazi couldn't waste time. He had to level up as quickly as possible to substitute the time he used for his session with Azrael.
Buurp!
A slime! Kazi couldn't mistake that sound. Once something was in his system, especially a monster made of green, he never forgot it. He heard a wet sound, like something was rubbing across the ground. An opening must be nearby, as well as the slime.
He proved himself correct when he followed the sound. The forest glade was bigger than the one he met Noor in and it contained a sizable slime. Very, very sizable. It was slightly shorter than Kazi and much, much wider.
On paper, it didn't sound ridiculous. But imagine an ant the size of a person. Yeah, that didn't sound so fun, did it?
[ Name: Slime
Level: 3
Class: Slime Family ]
Slish-slash! Slish-slash!
Kazi didn't hesitate. He leapt to action, closed the distance, and slashed twice in an X-cross.
"Spark Strike!"
His blade surged with yellow shocks and landed on the giant slime. Even with the electrifying blade, the slime groaned and persisted. It shifted back for a second, then burst forward.
Kazi saw green. He was completely swallowed by the slime. A searing pain struck his flesh. He was burning. His throat got intensely hot as he accidentally swallowed its innards. The slime was burning him from the outside-in.
'Crap, shi—'
Kazi got too eager and he was sorely paying for it. His blade, his blade…he couldn't hold it. It was like he was swimming in oil. Everything felt sticky and mucky and his sword refused to stay in his hand. It slipped away, away, away…
He couldn't breathe. If he did, he felt like he would die. The acid of the slime…it was painful. So, so painful. Burning, burning…
He held onto his throat. He couldn't lose his cool, he couldn't and shouldn't breath in the slime's innards. Just barely, he could see the outside world, but it wasn't much. It was all green and blurry.
His HP gauge. It appeared at the corner of his vision and started to deplete. From green to yellow to orange to—
[ Warning! Health in critical condition! ]
[ Warning! Health in critical condition! ]
His eyes went wide. 'No, if I die—'
He refused to continue his train of thought. With the last of his strength, he grabbed his sword and filled it with his mana. He saw the blade glowing and yelled in his head, 'Spark Strike!'
From inside-out, the slime exploded and Kazi emerged in the sticky green substance. "Ugh…" Kazi groaned and slicked the slime residue off of him. He glanced at the back of his hand. It wasn't burned but it was bright red. As for his HP…
"The red zone…" Kazi murmured.
[ Receive:
1x Slime Orb
6 XP ]
Kazi coughed and spluttered. He spat out the little bits of slime goo that had ended up in his throat. "Ya Allah…" He wiped his mouth clean, his expression contorting. "I guess I shouldn't have expected a slime to be as easy as a mini slim….hak—ahem!"
Once his throat was cleared and he was fully operational, he checked his health again. It was still in the red. His HP regeneration was 0.5 per minute. Since his total HP was 15, that meant that if he was at 2, then it would take twenty-six minutes to fully recover.
'My MP is on the low end too. With three Spark Strikes, I'm at 7 MP. I gotta be careful.' He sighed. 'AND I'm still at level one. Man, Noor was right. Fighting slimes with magic is much easier.'
He didn't have distributive points either. See, players could either spend their distributive points on their attributes or their skill set. It was up to them. But that also placed a greater emphasis on the points. Skills and attributes, which would a player choose to focus on? Especially because once a player spent the points, there was no going back. Azrael made that abundantly clear.
Kazi had decided to snag a sword skill of the lightning element in the Amateur Swordsman class: Spark Strike. A super basic attack, according to Azrael, that combined a certain percentage of his strength and magical might.
He remembered Daiki chose a sword too. He wondered what element he chose and if he went for skills rather than attributes.
Kazi took a deep breath and sat down. Butt on the dirty ground, listening to the air of nature, and staring into the bright blue sky. "Hm…" Out of nowhere, he said, "Open map."
[ Error! Map not available! ]
"Interesting."
No map, no real guidance, ten thousand players, and a single baby monkey.
Kazi laughed. Saying it out loud, it was ridiculous.
Buuuurp!
His minute of happiness, of sitting and resting, ended. A slime. Another slime. 'Ya Allah, help me.' He checked his health. It was still in the red.
He could hear it approaching. He could hear it slithering through the forest. In his immediate environment, there was only a single gap in the trees that could give way to a slime.
Kazi flipped to his feet. "Equip." The sword that had been clattered on the floor slipped into his hand.
A strategy. He needed to formulate a new strategy. He couldn't go head first this time or else he'd risk dying. He needed to do what he did best: think with his head. He ran through twenty simulations and settled on one.
The moment the slim appeared in his vision, he sprung into action. He charged the sword, proclaiming, "Spark Strike," and threw the sword. It stuck into the head of the slime and it cried in pain as the tip of the sword and the electricity seeped into it.
Bzzzt!
"Equip!"
The energy flowed into him and his sword reappeared in his hand.
"Spark Strike!"
He charged and permanently struck it down.
Two Spark Strikes seemed to be the slime's limit. Just like that, it dissipated. Even the green ball disappeared, to be stored in his inventory.
[ Receive:
1x Slime Orb
6 XP ]
[ Level up! ]
His HP shot back to green. Kazi was relieved. "Man, if it was like those games where you didn't regain your health and mana after levelling up, I was going to riot." He wiped the sweat off his forehead. "Sheesh. That was close. My arms are a little shaky."
Kazi expected the screens to end there. It didn't. Two more screens appeared in his face, one orange in colour and the other blue and highlighted in yellow.
[ New skilled created : Spark Strike Throw ]
"Well, well, well. Looks like I'm starting to get the hang of this." Kazi rolled his shoulders. Azrael had said that creating skills was possible—that relying on the system wouldn't be wise and that a player should learn to manifest and manipulate the mana within them without the help of the system.
It wasn't his first time fighting, but fighting monsters wasn't entirely separate from fighting humans. With humans, there was less ingenuity and more technique and analysis. With slimes, with something that could kill you with one wrong move, he needed to adjust. He needed to use his strengths and skills to their absolute limit.
[ Congratulations! Gate 1 : A Forest in Kishkindha
Main Objective : Kill 3 monsters of the Slime Family — Complete!
Receive:
100 XP
500 PP ]
[ Level Up! ]
[ Level Up! ]
[ Level Up! ]