— ["Edart wakes up, it's already dawning. Edart!"]
— "Ahhhggg, Just 5 more minutes." He leaned against the tree trunk and went back to sleep.
— ["Edartttttt!!!!!"]. Eris screamed in his ears. She was responsible for waking him up very early, so that the day would go well, as there was no way to shake him, screaming was the only weapon in her arsenal.
— "Ahh, it's okay, it's okay, I'm already awake, you can stop screaming. Thank you" He quickly woke up, coming out of his drowsiness and becoming alert. Although his body ached from sleeping in a tree, he was excited for the day to come.
The feeling of getting stronger felt like a drug, the more he took, the more he wanted it. Thus, his pains were easily ignored.
Not waiting any longer, he got down from the tree and stretched to ease his pain from sleeping poorly.
— "Éris, did you notice anything strange at night?"
— ["No, nothing unusual around the camp. But there were more trees falling in the distance to the north, their sound very low and muffled. I can't tell if it was a natural fall or made by some creature."]
— "I hope it's just old trees, but as a precaution, let's avoid the northern region until we get stronger." Edart didn't want to end up coming face to face with a creature that could knock down trees. He had barely managed to kill a slime, what would he do against such a powerful creature?
It could be people too, but to guarantee his life, he would first have to strengthen himself.
— "What about the task I gave you, any progress?"
—["No, I used the skill all night, but it didn't evolve."]
At the end of the previous day, Edart practiced his mana perception for 1 and a half hours, in the end he managed to make the skill reach level 5. This yielded 1 more point in will and perception.
After that, he noticed that the colored lights that appeared when he activated the skill became stronger and appeared more in his vision.
He tried to manipulate them, but nothing happened. As he wanted to learn magic, he thought the way was to be able to manipulate these small glowing balls. Since his mana perception was low level, he decided to evolve it.
Before going to sleep, he asked Éris to use the skill overnight in hopes of getting some levels, but it didn't work.
Apparently, only when he used the skill could it evolve, but as he wasn't sure, Edart would make Éris use it every night.
Without delaying any longer, he ate his delicious breakfast filled with berries.
— "I have to find something else to eat, I can't eat this anymore." Edart complained to himself.
He quickly finished eating, gathered his things, and headed towards the Slimy Plain.
…
Arriving at the stream, Edart set up a makeshift camp. It simply consisted of leaving his lunch and the stones he wasn't going to use in the first battle.
If the slimes dropped anything, he would store it here.
With everything ready, the next step was to prepare the battlefield. Like last time, he left a few piles of normal stones stacked up, with some space between each pile.
This preparation lasted half an hour, having finished that, it was time to choose the target.
Edart looked for a blue slime again, but unfortunately he didn't find any.
There were four slimes that were separated from the others that he could fight alone. One was a purple slime, just looking at it made Edart feel his shoulder tingle.
The next one was a red slime, as he didn't want to be roasted alive, he moved on to the next one without hesitation. Of the slimes that were left, one was brown and the other was light green.
The brown should be from the earth element and the green should be from the nature element. Edart never saw their attacks, as the slimes didn't fight each other, so he could only guess.
Between a rock and a plant, the plant was relatively easier to destroy. Going by that logic, he decided to go after the green slime.
Edart approached the green slime and used his 'identify' skill. Since he had to take the slime to the battlefield, getting the slime's attention from afar was a good thing.
—["Name: Green Slime
Race: Mana Creature
Level: 6
Life: 23/23
Mana: 27/27
Stamina: 20/30
Vitality (VIT): 5
Strength (STR): 6
Endurance (END): 9
Agility (AGI): 7
Dexterity (DEX): 5
Intelligence (INT): 12
Will (VON): 7
Perception (PER): 6"].
— "This slime has a shorter health, that makes things easier."
The slime noticed Edart and soon started heading towards him.
Edart picked up a rock from the ground and attacked the slime. He did not bring his chipped stones and only had his club in hand. Since he didn't want to fight here, he didn't bring the stones and just used whatever was within reach to get the slime's attention.
Luckily, the stone hit the slime squarely, but it didn't cause much damage, it only served to make the slime angrier.
Edart turned and started to walk away. Occasionally, he would attack a rock at the slime.
After throwing another stone, he turned and started running away. Suddenly, his vision began to get closer to the ground. When he realized what happened, he was already lying on the floor.
Not knowing what made him fall, Edart tried to get up, but something was holding his legs to the ground. Paying more attention to his legs, he saw small vines coming out of the earth and wrapping themselves around his legs, keeping him firmly on the ground.
He imagined it was some attack from the approaching slime, but it didn't cause him any harm, just trapped him in place.
Wasting no more time, he grabbed his club and began attacking the vines in an attempt to free himself.
After breaking four of the five vines that held him to the ground, Éris's voice reached his ears.
— ["Be careful, the slime will attack!!"]
Edart raised his gaze to the slime, what he saw were several spinning leaves, which were gaining speed every second. Edart desperately tried to get rid of the last vine, but his effort was in vain.
Seeing his target trapped in place, the slime didn't wait any longer and controlled the leaves to attack him.
Having no way to escape, Edart lay down and tried to roll to the side, in a last attempt to avoid the attack. Feeling pain in his right arm, Edart turned his head and saw a dozen leaves stuck halfway into the ground.
The leaves were not large, about three inches long and two inches wide, but they felt as hard as steel. One of them hit his arm and opened a cut where a line of blood oozed.
Seeing this, Edart didn't wait any longer, using all his strength, he broke the last vine and quickly stood up. Moving away, he saw more vines growing.
To avoid them, he had to use all his agility. After a minute of dodging the vines, Éris warned him that more leaves were on the way.
When the leaves were summoned, the vines stopped appearing. Without having to divide your attention, dodging the leaves was easy.
After dodging the leaves, Edart noticed that the slime was slower, which meant that its energy was running out.
Wasting no more time, he charged towards the slime, careful not to get caught by the vines. Soon Edart was in front of the slime, he grabbed his club and started stabbing the slime.
Unlike before, his club managed to penetrate the slime's skin or membrane. Seeing this, he thought the damage would be greater, but he couldn't waste time using identify.
— ["He's preparing another leaf attack."] Spoke Éris. While Edart fought, Éris used mana perception to observe the world. Whenever the slime gathered mana to attack, she could see the mana gathering above the slime. That way, she could give advance notice.
Above the slime, Edart could see leaves forming and starting to spin faster and faster. With a sense of urgency growing within him, he began to attack faster and faster.
Half of its attacks failed, being dodged to the side, the slime used its vines to protect itself.
Feeling two vines wrapping around his feet, one for each foot, Edart realized that he couldn't run away, if he didn't kill the slime now, he might die. Thus, he focused on attacking.
Pushing his club as hard as he could, Edart hit the slime squarely, right in its center. The club penetrated her thin skin and went deeper and deeper. After a few centimeters, the club hit something solid.
Feeling resistance in his attack, Edart extracted every point of strength in his body and forced the club forward. The slime was about to attack when his club came forward again.
Suddenly, the attack the slime was about to launch went flying in all directions. Seeing this, Edart threw himself on the ground to avoid the attack.
After the attack passed, he stood up and focused on the slime, who was standing still with his club going through his body.
—["You killed a 'Green Slime (Level: 6).'"].
— ["You gained 27 XP"].
Seeing these messages, Edart didn't hesitate and sat down on the ground to rest. He looked at his status.
—["Edart, Health: 4/19, Mana: 15/18, Stamina: 6/12."]
Seeing his health low and the blood dripping from his arm, he took out a 'Super Life Ball' and ate it, soon his health returned to the top. Despite his low health, his stamina was half. If he rested for a while, he would soon be able to fight another slime.
— "Eris, are there any slimes nearby?"
— ["I don't see any that could be a threat for now, if any slime approaches, I'll let you know, you can rest without worry."]
With Éris watching over him, Edart felt more relaxed. After a while, he looked around, saw the slime with his club, and also saw that some of the leaves the slime summoned did not disappear.
Approaching, he took one in his hand, it was sharp at the edges, it was thin and light as well. Seeing this, he had an idea, and the sheet in his hand was something else now. He saw a knife in his hands, if it was strong enough to withstand a few blows, he would have a good blade in his hands.
The only problem was that the leaves were sharp on both sides, making it difficult to wield. If he exerted too much force, he would end up cutting his hand.
Edart didn't care about that, he could find a solution in the future. Soon, he had 23 sheets in a bunch. Unfortunately, only 10 were in perfect condition.
—"What will be the difference between you two?"
Curious about this, he took one good and one bad leaf and activated his mana perception. Seeing the leaves in his hands, he saw that they were different from plant leaves.
These leaves had a bright green light, which indicated that they had a lot of mana concentrated in them, unlike normal plants, which had a very dim green light.
Looking for a while longer, he saw how mana was escaping from these leaves. On the leaf that was broken, the rate at which mana was lost was greater than on the leaf in perfect condition.
This discouraged him, even if he did something with the leaves, they would disappear in about a few days.
Realizing this, he tried to throw these leaves like a knife, but because they were very light, they soon deviated from the path and lost their strength. In the end, they fell like a sheet of paper to the floor.
With one last hope, he picked up his club, took a good leaf and a stone. He positioned the club upright with the tip down, placed the leaf against the wood at an angle and hit it with the stone.
He saw a splinter of wood go flying and the leaf burying itself in the ground. The leaf was tough enough to be used as a tool. Fortunately, he had a use for these resources.
He continued to work on the club, soon, a uniform, pointed cone formed at the tip of the club. If he had fire, he could burn the wood to strengthen the tip.
—"Much better, I bet the damage increased too."
It wasn't a big deal, but it could last longer and cause more damage, unfortunately he didn't have fire yet.
Finishing that, he walked over to the dead slime. Since Edart's body didn't disappear into particles like in some games, he wanted to test something.
He raised his hand and pointed at the slime, concentrating, he used his 'Collect ' skill. Edart hoped nothing would happen, after a few seconds, he felt his mana being sucked from his body into his hand.
The slime's body glowed for a few seconds. When the light disappeared, the body disappeared and two items appeared in its place.
Edart was surprised that it actually worked. Despite the high consumption it had, 6 mana points, seeing that the slime split into two items. He thought that by using it on a rabbit, he could separate the meat and skin easily.
Edart was happy with the new discovery, but saw that he would need to carry out further tests.
Putting that aside, he looked at the items that appeared.
—"This worked better than I imagined. Hehe."