---
Lime dashed around, dodging water balls hurled at him.
"TOO SLOW!"
He lunged forward, slamming into a ferret-like monster with enough force to send it flying.
"Asil, now!"
Without hesitation, Asil swooped in, her stinger piercing deep into the creature's body. The ferret twitched once before going limp.
"Sweet! Time to dig in."
After a subpar meal, Lime wiped off the remnants and turned his attention to his pet.
"Come over."
Asil fluttered to his side, and with a touch, her stats appeared before him.
---
Asil's Stats
Species: Worker Bee
Level: 8
Tier: 1
Stats:
Strength: 12
Endurance: 9
Dexterity: 17
Intelligence: 4
Resources:
Skill Points: 8
Biomass: 80
---
"We're close to evolving you," Lime noted, scanning the numbers. "Make sure to grab new skills, evolve any existing ones, and upgrade your organs—especially your wings and stinger."
Asil twirled in the air, buzzing happily in response.
Lime smirked. "Now it's my turn."
---
Lime's Stats
Name: Lime
Class: None (!)
Species: Mana-Dense Chimera Slime Bug (Special)
Level: 4 (Tier 2)
Stats:
Strength: 10
Endurance: 24
Dexterity: 10
Intelligence: 32
Skills:
Mass Expansion (Lv. 1)
Dash (Lv. 9)
Dodge (Lv. 6)
Minor Mana Control (Lv. 3)
Minor Fire Casting (Lv. 2)
Minor Air Casting (Lv. 2)
Mutations:
Condensed Slime Body (+5)
Mana Pumping Heart (+5)
Mana Gland
Resources:
Skill Points: 0
Biomass: 300
---
Lime's eyes gleamed. "Okay! A lot of biomass to spend... What should I do? I can now upgrade organs to +10, so let's start with what I have."
He scrolled through his available upgrades.
"Upgrading my heart costs 31 biomass?! Yikes. Let's see the options..."
A long list of choices appeared, but one caught his attention.
"I can either strengthen my current evolution—which would be super cool—or choose something new. If I make my blood flow faster, that might even improve my mana circulation since mana flows with my blood. Then at +15, I can evolve Mana Pumping again. Perfect!"
He nodded in satisfaction. "Now for my body. Sticking with Condensed Slime Body is the best choice—it saved my life when I got swallowed by that bastard."
He paused at his stomach options.
"I wonder..."
Lime upgraded his stomach to +5, and another long list of options appeared.
"Bigger stomach? Nah. The ability to eat anything? I doubt metal would give me biomass… Wait!"
[Super Enzymes: You can extract more biomass from your food sources.]
"…I COULD HAVE HAD THIS FROM THE START?! DAMN IT! I WOULD HAVE SO MUCH MORE BIOMASS BY NOW. I'm taking this at +5 and +10—stomach size doesn't matter to me, I'm a slime after all."
With a deep breath, he calmed himself and continued. "Okay... what next? Maybe my eyes? And lastly, my mana gland—that should cover all the bases."
For his eyes, he chose:
Zooming Vision (+5)
Better Vision (+10)
For his mana gland:
Deep.Mana Well (+5)
Deeper Mana well (+10)
As he finished upgrading, something caught his eye. A flashing icon next to [Class].
"Finally!"
Excitement surged through him as he clicked on it, revealing a list of available classes.
---
Available Classes:
Mage
Fire Mage
Air Mage
Basher (Special)
Core Crafter (Rare)
---
"YESSS! FINALLY A CLASS! FINALLYYYY!"
Lime eagerly scanned the options.
"'Mage' is a broad category, letting me improve all my spells. 'Fire Mage' and 'Air Mage' are specialized. 'Basher' probably comes from me smashing enemies while helping Asil… And then there's Core Crafter..."
---
Core Crafter (Rare)
The true engineers of this world, Core Crafters can refine ordinary cores into stronger, enhanced versions and feed them to their pets.
Stat Gains Per Level:
Strength: +1
Endurance: +2
Dexterity: +3
Intelligence: +5
---
Lime's eyes widened.
"WHOA WHOA WHOA!!! I DON'T EVEN CARE WHAT THE OTHERS DO—THIS IS AMAZING!!! CHOOSE!"
The moment he confirmed his selection, his stats updated, and a rush of new knowledge flooded into him.
---
New Skills Gained:
Pet Communication (Lv. 1)
Core Tweaking (Lv. 1)
---
"Amazing!"
He turned to Asil.
"Hey Asil, aren't I amazing?"
For the first time, a clear, feminine voice responded:
"Yes, you are, Master."
Lime froze.
"Wha… You… You can understand me?!"
"I can. And you can understand me. Finally! That's great!"
She giggled.
Lime grinned. "Yeah… it is great, isn't it? Shall we go hunting? I wanna level up my new class and evolve you ASAP!"
"Of course, Master!"
Lime frowned. "You don't have to call me that, y'know."
"I'll… try… Master."
---
As they ventured deeper, Lime frowned. "I wonder why we haven't met many monsters with cores. Do you know why, Asil?"
"We are on the first level, Master. It is known that the weakest monsters reside here."
"How do you know that?"
"I don't know... It is instinctive knowledge."
Lime nodded. "So we need to go deeper for stronger monsters. I really wanna test my new class soon, so let's go. Preferably, we find a strong core and feed it to you. But is it possible for stronger monsters to be up here?"
"It is rare... but possible. All monsters strive to go deeper."
Lime sighed. "…I don't think that bear knows that."
A giant brown bear charged at them, moving so fast Lime could barely react.
"ASIL, AIR SUPPORT, NOW!"
"Yes, Master!"
She soared into the sky, launching bursts of flames at the bear.
Lime dodged to the side and fired a strong air current, but it barely phased the creature.
"Tsk! Figures… FIREBALL!"
The fire struck the bear, singing its fur, but it quickly rolled, smothering the flames. Then, with an angry snarl, it roared—dozens of sharp stones rose from the ground and shot toward Lime at terrifying speed.
"Damn it! I can't dodge them all!"
Despite his best efforts, several stones ripped chunks out of his body.
"I hate using this skill… but I don't have a choice!"
Mass Expansion!
Lime's body swelled, growing massive. He lunged at the bear, attempting to engulf it, suffocating it within his mass.
For a moment, the bear struggled, its movements slowing—then red energy surged from its body.
Lime felt searing pain, followed by a violent explosion as the bear tore free.
"MASTER!" Asil shrieked, diving in to help—only for the bear to swat her away effortlessly.
"No… Asil… Not like this... I must survive."
Lime gritted his teeth. "Take everything I have, you stupid bear—HELL STORM!"
A massive torrent of red flames erupted, fueled by air magic, engulfing the bear completely.
[You have slain a Level 31 Aura Bear.]
[You have gained XP.]
Darkness overtook him.
---
When Lime awoke, a giant bee was hovering over him.
"Master! You're awake! I was so worried!"
Lime groaned. "I'm awake… And stop calling me 'Master' already. We're friends."
"I'll… try… Master."
Lime sighed, then noticed something. "Is that... a special core?"
"Yes! The bear dropped it!"
"Nice. Alright, Asil—consume it. We need to get stronger. It's time to go deeper."