'Besides civilizations like Aurora, which are connected to the Land of Origin through Awakeners, there exist native civilizations as well. This building, however, seems to be a remnant of the past—now abandoned and forgotten,' Michael observed.
After walking out of the dark room where he had first appeared, he found himself in a wide corridor faintly illuminated by the light that filtered through the holes in the distant ceiling.
If the ceiling hadn't been so far out of reach, he might have already tried to break through rather than wander aimlessly as he was now.
But thanks to the ventilation provided by these ceiling holes, Michael's movements did not cause an echo.
As he ventured deeper into the corridor, Michael identified the source of the foul stench that filled the air.
'Slimes.'
These magical creatures looked like harmless, gelatinous blobs, but were far from it. They secreted acid with a stench just as terrible as their appearance. Slimes moved by "crawling" and could "hop" to attack, making them both unpredictable and dangerous.
At least to the average human.
The foul smell he'd encountered came from a slime trail left outside the room he'd started in, though he couldn't be sure if the same slime was nearby.
But after a while of exploring this vast, seemingly empty and endless building, he finally encountered one.
[ Acid Slime Lv. 4 ]
[ Rank: Common ★★ ]
[A harmless-looking slime that shoots acid.]
'Devious enough,' he thought grimly.
Slimes happened to be one of the creatures Michael had read about in a forum post titled 'Common Monsters in the Land of Origin' while idly waiting for his delivery. Interestingly, the post's author was the same person behind 'Tips for New Awakeners' —a Level 5 member of the Supers Association.
While Michael wasn't sure about the significance of a Level 5 member, he thought it sounded impressive.
In the post 'Common Monsters in the Land of Origin,' creatures like slimes and goblins were described with their pictures attached, so even before using {Detect} on the Acid Slime, Michael had already recognized what it was.
What he hadn't expected was for something like the Acid Slime to exist. It looked vastly different compared to the cute, blue variant he'd seen in the post. However, since the Awakener had mentioned that slime came in numerous variants, he wasn't entirely caught off guard in the end.
'A two-star common-rank monster. Guess that says a lot about its freakish nature.'
Michael wasn't sure if it was the Acid Slime's slightly grotesque appearance, the terrible stench, or its ability to shoot acid that bothered him most.
In the Land of Origin, monsters were ranked by rarity and potential into seven ranks from low to high: Common, Rare, Extraordinary, Epic, Legendary, Mythical, and Demigod.
Each rank was further divided into three mini-grades called stars—like one-star Common, two-star Common, one-star Rare, two-star Rare, and so on.
Both monsters and items followed this ranking system. For items, the stars indicated efficiency and quality, while for monsters, they represented their growth potential.
Every star in a monster's rank allowed it to rise to seven levels, so a two-star common-rank Acid Slime, like the one in front of Michael, had the potential to reach level 14.
'A rank 1, level 4 slime that shoots acid. Sure enough, this slime is too freakish. Whatever happened to being just cute, huh?'
Though Michael's thoughts seemed scattered, he was carefully weighing his options: whether to confront the Acid Slime or retreat. Despite being over three levels above him, slimes were considered some of the weakest monsters, making them relatively manageable and easy to kill with proper preparations.
Michael reminded himself of his primary goal, shared by all Awakeners entering the Land of Origin: to grow stronger. And the quickest way to do that was by leveling up.
As a necromancer, his future strength would eventually depend on summoning the undead. But for that, he would have to kill something. Without them, he'd be nothing more than a "fake" necromancer at the end of the day.
Leveling up also allowed for customized stat allocation, which meant it could technically offer Michael the flexibility to build himself like a warrior if he so chose. However, ignoring his class's natural strengths would only make him mediocre, and there were no reset buttons for Awakeners who carelessly squandered their potential.
'Too bad slimes don't leave a body behind after their death, or I could've finally used my class skills to revive something.'
Of course, he wasn't entirely serious. Even if the slime had left a body, he wouldn't be eager to contract such a smelly creature unless he was truly desperate.
In some ways, starting with a slime wasn't the worst outcome. Any other monster might have posed a significant challenge but slimes were known for their slow movement and relatively easy to deal with. Still, Michael knew that he couldn't let his guard down—a leather armour alone wouldn't be enough to protect him if he got hit by an acid shot.
After a brief moment of hesitation, Michael finally decided to risk it. He would turn this Acid Slime into experience points—or end up as its food.
'Let's do this!'
Suppressing the urge to take a deep breath to steady his nerves, Michael darted out from his hiding spot and began firing at the football-sized green block monster that was about ten metres away.
Ptui!
Bang!
Ptui!
Bang!
Ptui!
Bang!
"…"
He fired three shots and missed every one of them.
The Acid Slime quivered, finally noticing him, "turning" to "look" at him, vibrating in a way that seemed almost angry—or so Michael imagined.
He hadn't expected his aim to be this poor, even at a distance of 10 metres. Sure, the slime's small size made it a tricky target, but missing all three of his shots? Michael wanted to blame the recoil, but his enhanced Awakener body made that excuse weak.
'My aim is truly terrible,' he thought, frowning. He readied himself to shoot again, but before he could, the slime launched a jet of acid straight at him.
"Shit!" Michael dodged hurriedly by diving to the side, barely avoiding the brunt of the attack, but a slightly large drop of acid managed to land on his unarmored arm.
"Ahhh!" He stifled a scream as a searing pain radiated from the burn. At that moment, he realised he'd heavily underestimated the Acid Slime.
But there was no time to dwell on the pain as the slime had launched another acid shot, which Michael dodged successfully this time—but his confidence was wavering with each passing moment.
Sweat dripped down his forehead as he struggled to ignore the searing pain in his arm. His left hand had now turned useless and he could only aim with his right. The second attack had finally angered him.
'Accuracy be damned—' he started shooting wildly in the slime's direction.
Ptui!
Bang!
Ptui!
Bang!
Ptui!
Ptui!
Ptui!
While most of the shots missed, his burst of frustration had somewhat begun to inflict some damage on the slime, even if it was only a little.
Soon, all thirty bullets in Michael's gun were exhausted.
As he fled from the acid slime that had now turned slightly smaller but was still hopping after him, Michael followed the marks he'd etched on the walls with his dagger to avoid getting lost in the vast, abandoned building. He fumbled to reload, but the pain in his left arm made it difficult, causing him to drop several clips in panic and one-handed awkwardness.
The worst part was that the slime's hopping speed, though sluggish, was only slightly slower than his own, keeping him within its attack range. Though his leather armour protected his back and legs, Michael could still feel the fumes of the acid closing in.
After several tries, Michael finally managed to reload the gun and resumed a frantic shooting spree at the slime. His strategy devolved into desperate cycles of retreating, reloading, and shooting wildly until a lucky shot pierced the core inside the slime.
The creature shuddered and dissolved into a bubbling mess, marking its death.
*****
[ You killed a Common ★★ LV 4 Acid Slime ]
[ You've gained 45 Experience Points ]
[ You killed a monster three levels higher than your own, earning a 4x experience multiplier ]
[ You've gained 180 Experience Points ]
[ Level Up! ]
[ You have levelled up to Level 2! ]
[ You have learned the skill {Basic Shot}! ]
*****
Michael dropped to his knees, breathing heavily.
"Ahhh!"
On his very first day in the Land of Origin, Michael had almost been taken down by one of the weakest monsters that existed—a slime.