I got up to go take a bath in the river. My hair and my clothes were becoming crusty with blood, sweat and Aureus' tears. I got about 3 steps away from Aureus and he flew up in a panic, however when our eyes met his expression softened once he realized everything was just fine.

Where are you going master?

I’m going to bathe in the river, you can come if you call me Mia like I asked you to.

His snout scrunched up at this request, briefly it seemed he was considering it. I don’t think I’ll be able to do that. I will follow from a distance then. He trudged along slowly about 5 feet behind me, clearly moping about me prohibiting him from joining the bath.

“Uggghhh, fine. You can join me, but I won’t carry you.” It was so hard to win against his cuteness. I was trying not to spoil him, especially since later on it would make it harder to control him. I felt a bit guilty for thinking that way, but at the end of the day he was my familiar and I was his master. Keeping those lines in place was probably the right decision even though it made me feel strange. We got to the river without much incident, and I began to undress.

["Reflection of an Empty Throne" whistles asking when you got a tattoo like that.]

["Traveling Spring Painter" says that it's tasteful.]

["Whispering Playwright behind a Mask" agrees but adds that it is in a mildly sensual spot.]

After I took off my shirt I saw the GGC filling up with various messages. I rolled my eyes, I had already decided earlier that I wouldn’t care if they saw me like this. They were ‘Celestial Gods’ and it's likely that,

One: some of them had already been watching me for a while and saw things already.

Two: there wasn’t any way I knew of to stop them.

I had come to terms with it, but I still felt strange being half naked while a live chat scrolled by. I definitely did not want to see any more of what they had to say. I turned away from the chat and focused as much as I could on Aureus. We played and splashed while washing our bodies and my clothes. Until something slimy touched my leg, I screamed and panicked jumping out of the water.

A small blue slime followed me out, it was transparent, light blue, about the size of a watermelon and had a small piece of seaweed floating in the center of it. I didn’t see any visible eyes or other features. I had always hated sticky or slimy things.

My brain was telling me that this creature wasn’t very dangerous and if I could look at it from a distance it was almost cute, but my heart was hammering out of my chest. The creature hopped forward and as a response my body tensed, stepping backwards and falling over a stone behind me. A scream creaked out of my tight throat, it was an involuntary and visceral reaction.

“Ahh! Kill it! Kill it kill it kill it kill it kill it!” Aureus followed after me shooting fireballs. They dissipated on its glossy surface, doing very little damage to the slime. Small dents formed on its surface only to slowly refill several seconds later. After Aureus’ volley it began to hop towards me yet again. I had a moment of indecision, my clothes were just a few inches away between me and that foul creature. I needed my clothes.

I stepped a little closer, crouching down and leaning back as much as possible while trying to reach and grab them. They were so close, I almost had them. When the slime hopped towards me again, I panicked, screeched and began walking backwards trying to avoid it.

“Aureus, my clothes!” I said almost immediately after the slime landed its gross, blue, bioluminescent body directly on top of them. “NOOO MY CLOTHES NO!” I screeched.

I scrambled backwards and began to throw rocks towards the evil creature, they were quite ineffective as they just bounced off of its body. One of the rocks I threw nearly hit Aureus who was channeling for some sort of spell. One I could only hope would rid the world of this blob. Throwing rocks was clearly making everything worse so I decided to just wait on Aureus’ plan. I cringed inwardly as my clothes began to float up into that disgusting thing.

I cowered behind a rock as the GGC began to explode with laughter and jokes at my expense. I really couldn’t blame them. I was acting like this monster they created for us to kill was a spider or a house mouse. As embarrassed as I was, I couldn't help my aversion to it. I didn’t want to freak out like this either, and I hated that they were watching me panic for their entertainment. Reluctantly I had to admit to myself, that I probably would have laughed at myself too. Not that they would ever find out.

[“Reflection of an Empty Throne” doubles over with laughter as he says that this is better than when you screamed your skill name in the house.]

[“Lazily Reaping Souls” asks, no way, that happened, seriously?]

[“Whispering Playwright behind a Mask” snickers, explaining that you had screamed it so confidently as if it was obviously the correct way to use a skill.]

[“Lazily Reaping Souls” looks down her nose at you while expressing that your behavior is a little unsightly, but entertaining.]

[“Abandoned Bloodied Sword” forces a serious face as she asks where the valiant warrior who triumphed over death went.]

[“Whispering Playwright behind a Mask” asks you if you’d like a broom and a kitchen chair to stand on.]

[“Seeker of Magic and Knowledge” rubs his chin while jotting something in his notebook”]

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

[“Traveling Spring Painter” offers a small smile saying that everyone has struggles, it's okay if you have a hard time with the lowest ranking monsters as long as you defeat the dangerous ones.]

[“Whispering Playwright behind a Mask” cackles at her comment, wondering aloud how both their friends are so bad at this.]

I couldn’t see myself but I was certain I had turned beet red. Aureus had apparently been preparing for a spell that created a large rock. I hadn’t noticed at first because I was preoccupied with the GGC, but once I tore my eyes from it I watched that huge boulder falling towards the slime. To his credit, it was a very effective way of killing it, but was possibly the worst thing he could have done for my pride.

Realizing that both my clothes and the slime would be stuck under the rock I screamed, “Wait!” But it was too late, my clothes were now trapped under a giant rock. And unfortunately, at that exact moment, the slime exploded. Everywhere. Causing the slime to splatter onto my face, hair and in my mouth. I screamed, well I tried to but no sound came out.

My breath wouldn’t come out, I was overwhelmed by the situation. The goop, the gods, my clothes, everything had gone the worst possible way. I began to get light headed and my whole body went cold, as if someone had drained me of all my blood. For the third time that day I was swallowed by darkness.

~~*~~

The forest was hot, but thankfully it wasn’t a very humid day. I was walking, very slowly for some reason, down a trail my mind just barely couldn’t place. Something about it was so familiar, tickling the edges of my memory, fading in and out of focus. Scratching at something that was old and just nearly forgotten. As I was questioning why I was there I heard something in the distance. Gentle clear laughter and splashing water carried itself through the rustling leaves to my ears.

I followed the sound of laughter to a creek, and there she was soaked up to her waist even though the water could only come up to the lower part of her calf. Her long light brown hair was pulled over her shoulder but was unable to escape the water she kicked around happily. It hung down to her hips wetting a long strip of her shirt as a result. I couldn’t see her face clearly, but a warm smile brightened as I walked onto the creek bed. Mom… a voice rang out in the back of my mind.

“Mia, come on and play!” She urged while motioning me to come over.

My feet began moving without me, the horizon shifted as I tripped over short limbs. I looked down at my hands that caught me, I was quite young now, maybe 4. The water sloshed and my moms feet plopped across the creek bed towards me. I must have been crying because water was dripping onto my hands beneath me.

Pale, pink hands caught me under my armpits and lifted me to her. I was settled on the opposite hip from her hair, looking up at her as the sun beamed behind her. It made it difficult to see her features, her hands appeared in front of me as I was straining to look at her face. They wiped my tears as she shushed me, “Don’t worry, I’m right here to pick you up whenever you fall. Even if it takes you a while you’ll still get there.”

I was lowered into her lap as she gently brushed the dirt from my hands and knees. Her pale skin looked even lighter in contrast to my Mediterranean complexion. Even her freckles were light as if they would dissolve into her at any moment and disappear. I gripped at her shirt as she moved to take me out of her lap.

Gently she caressed my hair, asking “Do you not want to play in the creek? It’s a perfect day for it, but if you don’t feel good we can go back home.”

My vision blurred as I furiously shook my head no, then looked down at my hands as I fidgeted.

“Ohhh so, you do want to play, well we can’t have that!” she said playfully.

I head snapped up looking at her with wide eyes, a mischievous grin greeted me. Before I could resist she’d latched onto me pretending to eat my small fingers. I wriggled my way out of her grasp taking off towards the water.

“Agh, no! My lunch, it's escaping!” She exclaimed as I ran towards the water. She was pretending to hurry behind me as if she couldn’t catch up. My giggles echoing discordantly like I was under water as I glanced behind me at the predator after me. I splashed my way into the creek, turning back again just before she caught me. A huge wave of water splashed over me as she bent down and swung her arms through the creek. “I got you!”

~~*~~

A vague memory of her smile swum through my head like so much fog on a windy morning. Briefly I thought I was choking up at an old memory before I opened my eyes to find Aureus on my chest and a lone notification hovering above me.

[“Whispering Playwright behind a Mask” has sponsored you.]

My hands found my face faster than I could process it, there were chunks of slime still left on my cheeks, forehead, and in my nose. Flustered I sat up spitting and blowing my nose in an attempt to rid myself of the remains of that wretched thing. My throat was burning and I spent several minutes just coughing and heaving before I could get myself together. With a sigh I began to run my hands through my hair out of habit before they got caught. There was slime in my hair still too.

My eyes began to well up. Disgusting. I needed to shower. I needed to go home and get rid of that awful feeling. I was halfway up when I remembered my clothes. They were still under that giant rock, I needed to get them before I could go back. I couldn’t just walk around in public in my underwear.

Even though there weren't many populated areas between me and home I couldn't just run through without clothes. I almost forgot that there was a sponsor, desperately I hoped that it would be clothes. I opened the window, but that hope immediately turned to ash and blew away with the wind.

~~*~~

Quest

Name: Naked and Unafraid

Description: Face your fears! Slimes might be the lowest ranking monster, but there is strength in numbers. Cull the population of the slimes in this area, depending on the quantity of slimes killed you can reach milestones and claim unknown rewards! Kill them quickly, there’s only so much time to claim the rewards!

Milestones: Starting with the first slime you kill, the next milestone will be ten times the previous milestone. Rewards will be given based on the level of completion.

Time Limit: 06:23:59:53

~~*~~

Rage and embarrassment were bubbling up in my chest, my eyes burned as it reached them trying to find a place to escape to. I slapped my cheeks, it wasn’t the time to be emotional. I tried to encourage myself, I tried to convince myself that this was a good opportunity.

More than anything I wanted to avoid those awful blue miscreants, but despite that the Playwright gave me an opportunity to bring those slimy bastards to extinction's doorstep. Who was I to refuse such a good opportunity?

Especially since there was a reward waiting, I thought that it had to be clothes. The Naked and Unafraid thing was just a joke, right? Even though I didn’t believe truly that it was a joke and that I’d get clothes I had to hope. I shook my head as I tried to come to terms with everything and pushed myself to my feet. I had a quest to complete.