After crossing the stream, Edart crouched down and began to approach the slimes. When he got 50 meters away, he stopped and watched. In front there was a purple slime, on the left he could see a red slime moving away from him and on the right there was a blue slime standing still eating grass.
'Which one should I choose first?' he thought. 'If I'm right, each slime has a different type of mana. The purple one should be a lightning type, the red one a fire type, and the blue one a water type.'
Edart was afraid that these slimes could attack from far away. If he received a shock, he could die immediately or become paralyzed. If the red slime threw a fireball or something, he might get some third-degree burns and die.
Looking at the blue slime, which calmly ate the grass, being a water type, the worst that could happen was that it would get wet. Therefore, the first target was decided.
— "Eris, keep an eye on the other slimes, if they get close, let me know immediately."
—["But I don't have eyes, how can I do that?"]
Upon hearing this, Edart could hear the sarcasm in her voice, he couldn't help but curse this super-intelligent system, 'doesn't she realize that I could die here or doesn't she care' he cursed her in his mind.
— "You understand, use 'Mana Perception' and let me know if I'm in danger."
— ["You can leave it to me, hehehe"] He can hear her laughing very softly.
Ignoring what just happened and focusing on his task, he held the club tightly in his right hand and moved forward, trying to make as little noise as possible.
The slime was still eating the grass with its back facing him. Taking advantage of this, he decided to try to get as close as possible without warning the slime and attack with all his strength with the club.
40 meters, 30 meters, 20, 10, until now the slime continued its eating. 5 meters, his heart started to accelerate. 2 meters, 1 meter.
Getting here took 5 minutes, doing everything not to be noticed by the enemy. He finally arrived behind the slime. This time, he didn't try to use 'identify', after the rabbit managed to notice him, attacking first was a huge advantage here, so he left that for later.
Raising the club right above his head, holding it with both hands firmly, he used all the strength he had from his measly 4 points and hit it right on top of the slime's head.
As if the world was in slow motion, he saw the club sunk into the slime, it reached halfway up his body and stopped, then the club came back up and Edart took a step back.
The 30 centimeter tall slime turned to him, and Edart saw the slime's face that looked like an angry emoji 😠. Then, the slime released a jet of water that hit his chest, and Edart fell on his butt again.
— ["Hehehe"]. Edart wasn't sure, but it sounded like he heard laughter when he fell. Leaving that aside, he focused on the problem in front of him and spoke to Eris.
— "Éris, show me my life bar." Soon, some numbers appeared in his vision.
— ["Edart, Life: 16/18."]
His life had recovered this morning, becoming full, so the slime's attack ended up taking away 2 life points. As long as he doesn't suffer 8 more attacks, he would be fine.
Without time to think further, he rolled to the right to dodge an attack. As soon as he rolled over, he got up and moved away from the slime. As he walked backwards, he raised his free left hand and pointed at the slime, soon some information appeared.
—["'Identify' is level 5. +1 Point to 'Perception'"]
- ["Name: Blue Slime
Race: Mana Creature.
Level: 5.
Life: 36/39.
Mana: 17/18.
Stamina: 25/27.
Vitality (VIT): 9.
Strength (STR): 6.
Resistance (RES): 8.
Agility (AGI): 4.
Dexterity (DEX): 3.
Intelligence (INT): 7.
Will (VON): 8.
Perception (PER): 8"].
— "My God, he's twice as strong as me!!!" Shouted Edart. Ducking to dodge yet another attack, he then began running in circles around the slime to avoid the attacks.
'My strongest attack only took 3 health from him. If I want to kill him, I'll have to hit him 12 more times'. Thinking of some way to defeat this slime, two more attacks came towards him. To avoid them, throwing it on the ground was the only thing Edart could do.
— ["Life: 15/18"].
'Damn, the only way is to get closer, but first I have to make him spend all his mana.' After thinking this, he got up and ran away again.
The attacks weren't precise, so dodging wasn't difficult, the problem was knowing whether his stamina would run out first or the enemy's mana.
After 10 minutes of circulating the slime, he used 'identify' to look at the slime's mana.
— ["Blue Slime, Mana: 7/18"]. As he watched, another attack hit his right shoulder. Being thrown to the ground, Edart asked Éris to show his life and vigor.
— ["Edart, Life: 11/18, Stamina: 3/8."]
The attacks didn't stop and soon came at him. As soon as he avoided it, he heard Éris talking to him.
— ["There's another slime approaching from your left, it's better to get out of here as quickly as possible."] Her voice contained a bit of anxiety and concern, but Edart didn't notice. Looking to his left, he saw a purple slime approaching.
Seeing the slime, he got up and without thinking, ran towards the forest. When he passed the stream, he stopped and looked at the slimes. Luckily for him, the slimes didn't follow him and went back to eating or wandering the plain. Seeing this, he fell on his butt and began to breathe deeply.
Half an hour later, his heart and breathing calmed down. Looking at his stats, he saw how weak he was and without a good weapon, he couldn't beat that slime.
Seeing his health low, Edart took some Silver Moon petals and ate them. Soon his life increased.
— ["Edart, Health: 16/18, Stamina: 3/8."].
Looking at the stream, reflecting on the fight that happened just now, Edart started to think of a way to win, he couldn't lose to a slime, he had to win, he just needed to think how.
After watching the water flow down the stream between the rocks, an idea came to mind. If he bent down and picked up a rock, tested the weight and threw it to the other side.
It might not do much damage, but at least it was a way to attack from a distance while the slime consumed his mana. Afterward, he could attack with his club.
A plan began to form in his mind and a smile appeared on his face.
— "You won for today, slime, wait for me, I'll be back."
Wasting no more time, he gathered about 15 stones the size of a fist, picked up his club and returned to his base. It wasn't worth trying anymore, there were only about 3 to 4 more hours of sun left, it was better to go back.
…
When he arrived at the base, he began preparations. First he found a large stone and placed a small stone on top, then he took another large stone and hit the small stone. His goal was to make the small rocks chip and form sharp edges, so that, with luck, he could do more damage to the slime.
Chipping the stones was not easy, most of the time they flew away or broke into small pieces. An hour later, 10 stones with sharp edges were piled near his tree.
The next thing to do was to create 'life balls'. He came up with this name, it was basically taking the petals of the Silver Moon, crushing them and rolling them into small balls, so they would be easier to consume during battle.
Looking for a flat stone, he sat down in front of a stone, cleaned its surface and took the petals out of his pocket.
The petals no longer had their initial beauty, after a day they withered a little. Separating the best and the worst, he formed 4 piles with 4 petals each.
Starting with the most wilted petals, he began to roll and press them, soon a somewhat crooked ball emerged. For the second, he picked up a nearby rock, wiped it on his shirt, and then crushed the petals. After finishing, the ball was better, more together and firmer than the first time.
Soon, the four 'balls of life' were positioned side by side on top of the stone. Happy with the result, he used 'identify' to try to see if anything had changed.
— ["Item Name: Life Ball.
Rarity: Common.
Type: Bandage.
Durability: 2 days.
Description: From a failed attempt to create a life-restoring pill, this Life Ball is a concentrate of Silver Moon petals. Restores health for a set period.
+1 health per second for 6 seconds."]
These descriptions were mocking him, he thought. Leaving the descriptions aside, after using 'identify' on the four 'life balls', he obtained different healing values.
For the worst petals, they only healed 4 health and would last for another day. The best reached 6 health points and would last 2 days. For the remaining two, it was the same as consuming the petals directly.
— "It seems that the condition of the ingredients can affect the result, and they have durability." Happy with the new discovery, Edart thought of other ways to make a stronger healing potion. 'Perhaps, if I can make petal tea, the value, and durability can increase!'
After thinking about how to make potions, he stored the 'life balls' in the right pocket of his shorts. Having finished the only preparations for the next battle, it was time to test some ideas about the skills and see if his idea was right.
Gathering a pile of stones the same size as the previous ones, his objective was to see if he could achieve any throwing skills. If he could get one, it would be of great help in the next battle.
In front of him, about 5 meters away, was a tree just like the one he used to sleep. Picking up the first stone with his right hand, he got into a throwing position that he thought would be best.
With his left foot forward and his left hand raised in front of him, his right hand and arm were behind him. Ready, he started training, his arm made an arc and went forward, his change rotated to give more momentum for the throw.
After throwing the stone, he followed its trajectory. Holding his breath, he saw the stone pass by the tree. The first throw missed the target, but he didn't give up, he picked up the next stone and threw it. After finishing the pile of stones beside him, he rested and stretched his arm to ease the discomfort.
Of the 30 shots, 5 hit the target squarely, 12 grazed the target and left small marks on the tree. No skills emerged, which didn't discourage Edart.
— "I can train my aim at least."
After resting for 10 minutes, Edart began another round of throwing. After the fourth round, the long-awaited message appeared in his vision.
— ["Acquired skill: 'throwing (Uncommon)(Level: 1)'"].
— ["Description: Tirelessly throwing stone after stone, hitting a stationary target became easy. His arm becomes stronger and becomes more precise in his attacks. Increases strength and agility"].
— "Finally a reward after so much effort." Feeling excited that his idea had worked, Edart gathered the rocks and threw them at the tree again.
Out of 30 shots, 15 hit squarely and 15 missed. It was a good improvement, even though he knew the slime would move, he was confident of getting it right 8 to 10 times out of 30.
Soon time passed, the sun began to descend and the sky darkened. Two hours passed, and he had a great improvement in his shot, now he managed to hit 25 of the time and only 5 times he would catch a shot.
It had a price, his arm hurt a lot and could barely move, but the reward was worth it.
—["'Throwing' is at level 4.'"]
Throwing reached level 4, he wanted to advance to 5 as he hoped to gain some points in strength and agility. Since 'identify' yielded 1 perception bridge at level 5, he was eager to reach level 5 in 'throwing'.
Unfortunately, his body couldn't take it, so he could only wait to try the next day.
It was getting dark, it was time to take shelter. First, he grabbed some berries, grabbed his 'life balls' and his club and tried to climb the tree, which resulted in him falling on his butt after his right arm couldn't support his weight.
After a few failed attempts, he reluctantly took the worst 'ball of life' and ate it, he hoped that even though the life was full, the pain in his arm would go away and he could climb the tree.
To his surprise, it worked, it didn't go away completely, but it improved a lot.
Quickly climbing the tree, he sat on its branch and ate some berries. He looked back on his day and saw what could be improved, but the tiredness of the day set in, and soon he slept in his tree.