"Crak crak Bammmmm!!" With the sound of a tree falling, Edart wakes up, he looks around for danger, but finds nothing. The tree fell far out of sight of him.
The sky is dark, starting to get light in the distance, not wanting to take any chances, he stays alert and waits for dawn on top of the tree.
— "Good morning, Éris."
— ["Good morning."]
— "Did you notice anything when there was that noise in the forest?"
— ["No, I was too far away to notice anything, I'm sorry."]
— "Alright, I'm going to practice a little, let me know if you notice anything approaching."
Since he had nothing to do, he decided to practice his Mana Perception skill. Soon 1 hour passes and the sky is clear.
—["'Mana Perception' is level 4.'"]
— "Soon, I'll have more points, hehe." Happy with his progress, he climbs down from the tree, excited about the new day.
Today was the day to kill some slimes. Day to wash away all your lost battles. Wasting no time, he started looking for berries to satisfy his hunger and also for lunch, as he was going to stay in the 'Slimy Plain' to kill slimes.
That was the name he gave to the plain, which was full of slimes, since he had the job of an explorer, he felt he had the right to name things.
After half an hour, he returned to the base of his tree with a pocket full of berries and eight more Silver Moon petals.
— "Let's try something different today." With the petals in hand, he began to make another 'Life Ball', 'all help is welcome', he thought.
This time he crushed all 8 petals. After they were a little gooey, he started rolling them, trying to make them as round as possible. When he finished, he named this ball 'Super Ball of Life'.
Contemplating his work of art, words began to appear in his vision.
—["Alchemy is a process of trial and error, only with effort can we get results, after modifying a recipe, you have acquired the job 'Alchemist (Uncommon) (Level: 1)."]
— ["Skill acquired: 'Basic Alchemy (Uncommon)(Passive)' "].
Along with this information, a flood of knowledge came to Edart's mind, causing a terrible headache. After a few seconds, the pain began to ease.
With new knowledge about alchemy plaguing his mind, he saw how right his ideas were. By kneading, boiling in water, mixing, among other methods, he could make the result change completely depending on the process used, being able to strengthen it and make it last longer.
Unfortunately, he didn't have the resources to try these new things, so he would leave it until later, now he had more important things to do.
Edart was unsure of what to do next, his preparations were ready, and he could leave for 'Slimy Plain' to hunt some slimes at any time.
He also felt that he was almost reaching level 5 in 'throwing', which could yield at least one point of strength, which would be of great help in the upcoming battles.
As soon as he thought about it, he went to talk to Éris, he decided to try to increase the skill level. If he couldn't do it by noon, he would go to the plain, as he needed to increase his level as quickly as possible.
The practice was the same as the previous day, gathering a small pile of stones, standing 5 meters from a tree and throwing all the stones, then repeating the entire process.
Two hours later, his arm was extremely painful, but his effort was worth it.
—["'Throwing' is level 5. +1 Strength, +1 Agility"].
The pain in his arm eased a little, feeling an energy strengthen his body. Edart forgot about the pain. After that, he picked up some stones and threw them again.
His accuracy increased considerably, even though he was moving, he thought he could hit half of the stones, his strength also increased, which resulted in deeper marks where the stone hit the tree.
Happy that his efforts yielded results, he gathered his preparations and headed towards the 'Slimy Plain'.
…
Upon arriving at the stream, he took advantage and drank plenty of water and then rested.
Rested and excited, Edart began preparing the battlefield. Unlike before, he created a new strategy. First, he couldn't carry all the stones with him and his club along, so he decided to create several piles of stones, spread out over a radius of 20 meters.
So, all he had to do was go to this mountain and pick up some stones without having to search the ground during the battle.
His club would also stay behind and only catch him when the slime's mana ran out.
— "Éris, if you feel any slime approaching, let me know."
— ["You can count on me, this time they won't escape!!"] She seemed very excited, even though he was the one who was going to have to fight.
His club was at the bottom of the battlefield, using some stones to support it, he left the club vertical, it would be easier to pick it up that way.
Arriving at the front of the field, he put a 'ball of life' in his mouth, but he didn't eat it, he just left it between his teeth and his cheek to make it easier to eat if necessary.
Taking five of the 10 sharp stones made earlier, he advanced into the plain. There were slimes everywhere, but he already had a target, it was a water slime.
This slime, like all the others, didn't seem to be bothered by its surroundings, just focusing on eating grass, it would only attack if they were disturbed, so it was easy for Edart to get close to it.
About 5 meters away, Edart stopped and used 'identify'. Since he would attack from afar and had to take this slime to the battlefield, he didn't worry about being detected.
—["Name: Blue Slime
Race: Mana Creature
Level: 7
Life: 43/43
Mana: 20/20
Stamina: 27/27
Vitality (VIT): 10
Strength (STR): 7
Endurance (RES): 8
Agility (AGI): 5
Dexterity (DEX): 4
Intelligence (INT): 7
Will (VON): 8
Perception (PER): 8"].
This slime was stronger, but that didn't intimidate him.
Quickly ducking and moving to the right, he dodged the slime's first attack. The skill was water jet, the same attack as the other slime.
Dodging the second attack, Edart began to gain confidence. He prepared and attacked the first stone, following its trajectory, he saw the stone being embedded in the slime's forehead.
The stone remained firmly in the slime, leaving an open wound that oozed the liquid inside the slime. The slime became enraged and began to attack harder and faster.
Edart didn't stay still, as he moved to deflect the attacks, he threw two more rocks. The first missed and the second grazed him, opening a small wound.
Enraged by the wounds, the slime attacked twice, one after the other.
Edart threw himself on the ground doing a somersault, the slime missed, but it was close.
Already standing, Edart prepared himself and threw the fourth stone, which hit the slime squarely.
At the same time, as he threw the stone, the slime attacked with a more powerful jet of water and hit him squarely in the chest, throwing him to the ground, as he was not well balanced.
But it saved him from another attack that flew past him as he fell.
— "Éris, how is… my life?!!" Despite speaking a little wrongly because her mouth was full, she understood and quickly showed him what he wanted.
— ["Edart, Life: 13/18"].
Wasting no time, he chewed the 'ball of life' that was in her mouth and soon felt her body warming up.
Using all his strength to get up as quickly as possible, Edart stood and looked at the slime.
The slime was shaking a little and seemed to be 'breathing' fast. Although he thought these creatures didn't need to breathe, he didn't care about it.
Taking advantage of the fact that the slime seemed tired and didn't cast any skills, he used 'identify' again.
—["Blue Slime, Health: 35/43, Mana: 10/20, Stamina: 12/27."]
Seeing this, Edart thought. 'I barely caused any damage, but he seems to have spent a lot of his Mana and Stamina, could it be because he attacked faster and with greater force?' He decided to make this fight, a fight of attrition.
Although Edart had already spent 3 stamina points out of his 8, the slime was spending it much faster, he just needed to make it attack more.
After using identify, no 2 seconds have passed. As Edart reflected, the slime became enraged again and attacked again.
Edart dodged easily, although tired, the slime's attacks began to be less accurate.
Having no more rocks in hand, he went to the nearest pile of rocks, but the slime wouldn't let him do whatever he wanted and continued the barrage of attacks.
Arriving at the pile, he quickly picked up 3 stones, but having to dodge, he ended up dropping one.
Moving further away from the slime, he continued attacking and dodging, he went to a pile of rocks and continued to attack.
The slime didn't want to let his attacker get away with it like that, so he continued chasing and attacking. His attacks were strong and accurate at first, but now he missed frequently, and his attacks lost power.
As he retreated further, Edart reached where his club was. No longer having the piles of stone, he picked up the club. As soon as he took it, Éris spoke.
— ["There's a slime approaching, it's about 50 meters away, be careful."]
'Not again', thought Edart. — "Thanks for the warning" he thanked.
Edart could see that the Blue Slime was on his last legs, a little more, and he would be able to kill him. Although he wasn't in the best condition, with the two 'Life Balls' he managed to recover a little and now only had the 'Super Life Ball' left.
Holding tight to his club, he raised his free hand and used 'Identify' again.
—["Blue Slime, Health: 9/43, Mana: 2/20, Stamina: 3/27."]
Seeing that the slime was on its last legs, he didn't think twice and ran out to face the slime.
Two jets of water were coming towards him, but he dodged them with some effort.
Arriving in front of the slime, he wasted no time and began to strike. The slime tried to counterattack, but it was already out of strength.
After four strikes, the message he so wanted to see appeared.
—["You killed a 'Blue Slime (Level: 7).'"].
— "That!!! Finally, I did it." He cheered as the messages continued to appear.
— ["You gained 35 XP"].
—["You leveled up...
- ["Careful!!! Get down…"] Éris was unable to warn him in time, and an attack precisely hit Edart's left shoulder.
Feeling the muscles in his left arm contract, a huge pain shot through his entire arm.
Falling to his knees and looking at his arm, which was hanging next to him, he saw that his shoulder and part of his arm were black. Not knowing what just happened, he raised his head and saw a purple slime jumping, heading towards his. 'He must have attacked with lightning', thought Edart.
Wasting no time, Edart forced himself to get up and grabbed his club, using his last stamina points to run away again.
Arriving at the border between the plain and the forest, he couldn't take it anymore and passed out from exhaustion.
…
After spending some time passed out, Edart wakes up with a throbbing pain in his arm.
Sitting down, he tries to remember what happened, soon his memories come back, and he anxiously looks around, looking for the evil slime.
— ["There is nothing that can harm you around. You should worry about taking care of that arm of yours."] Hearing Éris's voice, Edart is relieved and looks at his arm.
Like a shock injury, his arm has black marks (just like when an electric current passes through wood and leaves a black path), as if it were a tattoo.
He tries to push with his arm, but he feels pain all over his arm. Worried, he puts his right hand in his pants pocket, after searching for a while, he finds what he wants.
Wasting no time, he eats the 'Super Life Ball'. Soon, his body warms up, and his arm begins to recover. After a while, his arm felt better, it still hurts, but just like it was the first day at the gym where you tried too hard.
Feeling better, seeing that his arm can recover, a smile appears on his face.
— "I achieved!! I can get stronger!!" Getting excited at the prospect of getting stronger, Edart relaxes and rests. Now it was time to recover, however, it would soon be time to turn predator.