Lime was back in his cave, examining a card that contained his information—even a picture.
When he signed up, they asked for his class, and before Rain could step in, Lime blurted out, "MAGE!"
A few weird looks later, everything was settled.
"Alright, Asil, ready to hunt some Earth Tusk Boars? The quest won't pay much, but it's the best we can take for now—at least until I rank up."
"Ready as ever!"
The two set off. Earth Tusk Boars were common monsters found at the same level as the city. They weren't dangerous to adventurers, but for normal people—especially farmers with land outside the city walls—they could be a real threat.
"They shouldn't be too strong, right? I mean... even though it's the second layer, they're just boars."
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"UWAAAA! I WAS WROOOONG!"
Lime barely dodged to the side as a boar charged past, crashing headfirst into a rock wall. The moment of impact gave him enough time to cast a strong fire spell.
After a lot of screaming, the boar was finally dead.
"Why?! Why is everything so strong?! Why won't that old man hurry up?! And he said he'd teach me! NYEH!"
Frustrated but practical, Lime snapped off the boar's tusks and shared the rest with Asil.
"Delicious… All this biomass I'm getting is going to waste… Bleh."
By the end of the hunt, Lime had taken down three boars on his own, while Asil managed one. Out of the four, they collected two monster cores—not a bad haul.
"Good enough! Let's stash these cores, then I'll hand in the quest. I should go see Rain today too."
Back at his cave, Lime drank some of the liquid mana to replenish himself.
"I feel like my core is reaching a critical point... its not painful like what happens with asil and probably most monsters but..it's getting big. Really big. I should probably stop drinking liquid mana until I'm ready to evolve."
He walked over to a small hole he'd carved and carefully stored the new cores inside. He had a decent collection now—twenty cores.
"Nothing to scoff at! My next evolution is gonna be loaded with energyyyy! Nehehehe!"
---
After transforming into his human form, Lime walked through the city gates, flashing his adventurer badge for entry. Within minutes, he reached the guild and placed the boar tusks on the counter.
"Great work, Lime! Do you want your payment in guild credit as usual?"
"Of course!"
The receptionist took his badge and sent a mana pulse through it. The number next to "credit" changed from 112 → 132.
"There you go! Keep up the good work."
"Thanks! Is Rain here?"
"Yep! He said if you ask for him, head straight to his desk."
"Thank you, Eliza!"
"Anytime!"
Lime made his way toward the office—the place where all his troubles started—and found Rain, buried under dozens of books.
"Lime! You're finally here! Sit, sit!"
"Sure… What's all the fuss about?"
"Well, I've done a comprehensive study on what you technically are. Since you can integrate any and all organs, I've come up with some suggestions."
After skimming through the list, Lime muttered, "I like a lot of these, but some... I don't. I don't want a carapace—I'm a slime. I want to evolve to be immune to certain types of damage using my own properties. Same for flight... I don't like heights. But stuff like elemental glands, antennae, scythe limbs, regeneration gland... Magnetoreceptor? Holy! Isn't this too much? Would I even have enough energy for all this?"
"Obviously not. Even if you somehow gathered a huge amount of energy, no monster at your rank could handle a core that dense. Though... yours is surprisingly big and vibrant."
Rain leaned in, suddenly serious.
"Lime… your core is as big as an almost maxed-out core of the next tier."
"Huh? How did I not notice that?"
"Do you feel any discomfort?"
"No... but... I feel like my core is overflowing."
"That makes sense. Usually, monsters stop consuming cores when they get too big and start interfering with their organs. But you lack organs. That means your body is storing way more energy than a creature of your rank should be able to handle."
"I see… So should I stop eating cores?"
"That would be advisable. We don't know the consequences yet. Wait until you're close to evolving."
Dang it! I wanted to consume what I had... but I guess I can train my core-related skills until then.
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Lime's Stats
Name: Lime
Class: Core Crafter (Rare)
Species: Mana-Dense Chimera Slime Bug (Special)
Level: 14
Tier: 2
Stats:
Strength: 20
Endurance: 40
Dexterity: 40
Intelligence: 82
Skills:
Mass Expansion (Lv. 4)
Expert Dash (Lv. 6)
Expert Dodge (Lv. 6)
Minor Mana Control (Lv. 18)
Minor Fire Casting (Lv. 12)
Minor Air Casting (Lv. 12)
Minor Earth Casting (Lv. 12)
Minor Water Casting (Lv. 12)
External Mana Control (Lv. 8)
Pet Communication (Lv. 10)
Core Tweaking (Lv. 9)
Skillful Digging (Lv. 1)
Core Fusion (Lv. 8)
Digging (Lv. 8)
Cave Exploration (Lv. 8)
Dark Adaptation (Lv. 6)
Mutations:
Body:
Mana-Infused Condensed Slime Body (+10)
Heart:
Mana-Pumping Heart (+10)
Glands:
Deep Mana Gland (+10)
Eyes:
Zooming Vision (+5): Can zoom in on distant objects.
Extreme Vision (+10)
Super Enzymes (+10): Greatly increased biomass extraction from food.
Resources:
Skill Points: 17
Biomass: 840
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OHHH MAMA! Look at those stats!
But… it's getting harder and harder to level up. Gods, what'll happen when I hit Tier 5 and my class reaches a super high level?!