After resting for a while longer, the two of them set off for their next hunt.
Their battle plan was straightforward. Cassandra would scout, using her keen hearing to detect solitary slimes. Then, they would flank the target from opposing sides before launching a surprise attack.
Their first attempt earlier failed slightly since it was Aster who initiated the attack. As they were alternating to give both sides an equal chance to claim EXP, a.k.a. excess mana from their prey, this time was Cassy's turn to initiate!
"I found one!"
Cassy whispered, pointing toward the bunch of waist-high, verdant green grasses ahead of them. There was no visible movement, making it challenging to spot the slime hidden within.
Cassy was certain there was one there, so they moved as planned.
Aster circled around, quietly approaching from the other side, while Cassy remained in place. As soon as both were in position, she leaped forward, her dagger aimed at where the slime supposedly lurked!
*THUD!*
*SCREECH!*
And surprisingly, her ambush succeeded! Her dagger pierced the slime, puncturing its core and swiftly dispatching it! It was an almost flawless attack!
"Yes! I did it!" She cheered after retrieving the slime's lifeless body. "Let's harvest it quickly before more slimes arrive!"
The dying screech of a slime could attract others... This was a part of the manual he read last night. Therefore, they moved the corpse a short distance away before beginning to harvest their loot.
For a Blue Slime, the only content that could be turned into money was its gel-like substance. However, since it was bulky after harvesting and because of its low price, newbie adventures usually skipped it.
Instead, they preferred gathering in full parties and going straight to the goblin area. Those like Aster and Cassandra, who hunted slimes first to raise their level, were the minority.
"..."
Aster's staring at the slime's gel being extracted made him think. Glancing at the carved seal on the back of his right hand, he wondered. "Since I can freeze things, can I also use it to dry objects?"
His experiment before worked on both freezing and thawing his hotel room, although it ended in a small tragedy. As such, he proved that he can "lower" and "increase" temperature at will.
When dried, the gel from the slime loses more than 99% of its mass. As such, keeping only the powdered mana was a lot more efficient. Curious, Aster suggested something.
"Cassy, can I experiment with the next slime we find? If it works, we can stay in the dungeon longer without minding the weight of our loot."
"Of course, you can!" Cassandra answered without delay. "If it works, we'll both benefit, after all. Don't mind me~!"
Just then, she took out the Slime Liquid Extractor, which looked like a large syringe, and attached a Slime Liquid Packer on its tail end. Then, Cassy stabbed the needle through the slime's body, and like magic, the gel-like content inside the slime started to get absorbed.
The packer slowly got filled with the slime liquid, looking like a blood pack but blue instead of red. In less than ten seconds, the harvesting was over!
After she carefully packed the extractor and the newly harvested pack of Slime Liquid, she turned to Aster and smiled. "Then, let's go search for our next quarry!"
Again, Cassandra used her sharp hearing to detect any signs of life around her. It took her a bit longer this time, with their target being located further than before.
"Over there, about twenty meters away..." Cassy exclaimed, pointing toward a different patch of tall grass.
The two moved immediately, flanking the slime from both ends. Then, as they were doing it alternatingly, it was Aster's time to do the surprise attack again. He held his breath, inching closer and closer to the grass, following where Cassandra pointed.
Then, when he was just a few meters away, he started dashing forward.
"HAAAAH!"
With a hearty shout, he stabbed his sword toward the ground blindly.
"...!"
And as expected, he missed his target completely. "Cassy, it's going there!"
"On it!"
Cassandra saw the movement and matched it with her steps before jumping toward the spot where it was going while swinging her dagger down.
*STAB!*
*SCREECH!*
"It hit!" Cassy gasped in surprise.
She didn't expect her attempt at predicting the slime's movement to actually succeed!
"Great! Quick, pick up the corpse, and let's move!"
Aster commented as he scanned the surroundings. He could see a few parts of the grass begin to move, approaching them. In a few seconds, more slime would be gathering where they were!
The two retreated a few meters away, enough that they were out of "sight" of the slimes. Aster took the slime and placed it on the ground. Before he began, he took out an empty packet of the Slime Liquid Packer and used it as a temporary "platform" to hold the dried powder, if ever it succeeded.
Aster closed his eyes, doing the same process he did when he froze his room. But instead of lowering the temperature, he imagined it getting hotter.
"About... 200 °C!" He whispered as if to solidify his imagination.
At that instant, the seal on his right hand started to glow with a mix of red and blue light. Cassandra watched this and groaned in awe. "Beautiful..."
About ten seconds later, the air around the slime's corpse started to heat up before a small flame tornado appeared, burning it down into ashes.
"AH!"
Aster extended a hand as if wanting to stop what he did. However, it was already too late.
"Ah~! What a waste!" Cassy lamented, her lips forming a cute frown.
Aster scratched his cheeks awkwardly before apologizing. "Ugh... my bad. I'll subtract that from my share of the loot later."
"No, it's fine." But Cassy quickly bounced back, smiling excitedly. "Rather, let's work hard and catch more! The more tries you get, the better the chances of success, right?!"
Aster couldn't help but smile, catching a bit of her positivity. "I guess so. Then, let's go to our---!"
"Oh, wait! Look, the core is intact!"
"Core?"
The two crouched down, examining the "ashes" of the burned slime. As she mentioned, the slime's core remained in the middle of it, intact!
"Weird. It should've melted along with the rest of its gel and dissolved into mana..." Aster recalled what he read in the monster encyclopedia. "But well, let's collect it just in case."
"Got it!"
Cassy carefully picked up the core and safely stored it inside the backpack. Right after that, they resumed their hunt for more slimes.
"All this wading through tall grasses makes me feel like we'll have an encounter battle or something..." Aster muttered to himself, but Cassy heard it loud and clear.
"Encounter battles?" She asked, tilting her head curiously.
Aster quickly waved his hand, smiling wryly as he declined. "Ah, no. I doubt you'll get the reference, so let's just ignore what I said."
"Eh~? Come on, tell me!" She pestered with a teasing smile. "There's a good chance I know what you're referring to!"
"The very moment you didn't get what I said tells me you probably won't." But Aster refused to divulge the title of that certain big-name game where you catch monsters with a ball.