"Everyone back there's way too many of them." Lluvia said.
"How many? Did you get spotted" Root asked.
"So many I could not get a solid count. It's more like a wall of Slime. And nothing saw… or well smelled me" She said.
"Shit and this was the only path we found so far. Ideas?" Turnip said.
"I could burn them out but it's a bit risky in this confined space." Iser.
"Fire in a confined space like this? Yeah we would all suffocate. There is a natural ventilation of sorts going on but nothing that could sustain anything big." I said.
We all spent a few minutes thinking before I came up with an idea.
"I got it, claymore" I said in triumph.
"What? How's a sword going to help?" Turnip said.
"O sorry not the sword, a form of anti-personnel landmine. When it detonates it throws tiny little steel balls at like several times faster than the speed of sound." I said.
"Sorry what?" Root and Turnip asked in near perfect unison. Then they sort of glared at each other.
"A bomb that throws steel balls very very fast, it pulps the target. And I really do mean it pulps them, they are unrecognizable after and are deadly out to like 100 meters." I said.
I got some rather shocked looks from the rest of the group.
"That sounds absolutely awful." Said Orlo. "Your world has some very nasty weapons." They continued.
"O don't worry it only gets much worse. Wait till I tell you about atomic weapons, biological and chemical warfare." I said in an attempt to add a bit more shock.
"You want to go back to that one day?! You're insane!" Orlo almost shouted.
"... Sorry my world's complex, I'll give you that… " I said in a bit of a whisper.
"Ok do you think you can make something like what you described?" Root asked.
"Give me 10 minutes and I'll let you know, I would recommend getting back to the other side of the blockage however." I said.
It took me maybe 20 minutes to setup an arcane claymore mine facing down the tunnel. I then spent another 2 hours laying down more arcane claymores and even some ‘conventional’ bombs. The process had become a lot easier and not just from practice and leveling up but my own understanding as well.
"Alright I burned all my mana like twice over to set up 3 arcane claymores each at 50 meter intervals. I have about 12 other sets of bombs setup on walls leading up to this point." I told the group.
"Also, can I get a few minutes to rest? That really tired me out…" I asked.
"Yep you're good, honestly if this does not go well after the first blast we start running. I want everyone to be ready for that possibility." Root stated.
I then spend the next 20 minutes eating a snack and drinking plenty of water. Once everyone felt ready we got into positions all got very quiet then Root told Lluvia to drop the olfactory mask.
Nothing happened for at least 10 minutes. Then we started to hear the echoes of gelatinous movement. Maybe 5 minutes after that we heard the first detention of my arcane claymores and I started getting notifications again.
2 x Congratulations, you immolated ‘Hungry Green Slime’ Level 3 to a gooey mess! Reduced Exp was granted for ending a Monster below your level. Reduced Exp was granted for working in a group.
4 x Congratulations, you immolated ‘Hungry Green Slime’ Level 4 to a gooey mess! Reduced Exp was granted for ending a Monster below your level. Reduced Exp was granted for working in a group.
2 x Congratulations, you immolated ‘Hungry Green Slime’ Level 5 to a gooey mess! Reduced Exp was granted for ending a Monster below your level. Reduced Exp was granted for working in a group.
Ding!
Congratulations! Through repeated actions your Mana Explosives skill has improved and is now eligible for rank up!
Rank D is a free rank!
Mana Explosives
Rank E - 100%
Explosive efficiency has been increased.
This ability is ready to rank up. Do you wish to increase Mana Explosives to Rank D?
"That was like 7 or 8 right?" Turnip asked.
Congratulations, your MacTinker class has reached level 6!
Mana +5
If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
Magic +5
You have gained: One Class Point
"Yep and you are all going to want to cover your ears for the next one. I figured out a few things after the first." I told the group. Then I plugged my ears with my fingers. Root and Turnip both folded their ears to their skulls. Orlo and Iser tried their best to cover their ears or ear holes.
Maybe 30 seconds after that we felt more than heard the next blast and we all got flooded with more notifications.
"Ok this is terrifying… you're like what level 5? I know second evolutions that are less dangerous than you." Root said with shock and awe.
Lluvia by this point had gotten next to me and was grinning like a mad woman, she seemed excited by this.
We then felt the third major blast and got even more notifications. We then felt a set of more minor detonations as my last few smaller bombs went off.
Congratulations! Through repeated actions your Mana Explosives skill has improved and is now eligible for rank up!
Rank C costs one (1) Class Point
Mana Explosives
Rank D - 100%
Your understanding of explosives has grown. Your Explosives decay slower.
This ability is ready to rank up. Do you wish to increase Mana Explosives to Rank C?
"Look this only works because they are mindless, just remember that if it helps. After the first explosion any remotely intelligent creature would find another way around." I said.
What eventually came into view was a much bigger slime but it had clearly seen better days.
"Level 14 badly injured." Said Orlo.
As it turns out there were 4 of the big ones each less injured then the last. Still the group made short work of them.
Congratulations, your MacTinker class has reached level 7!
Stamina +5
Magic +5
You have gained: One Class Point
Congratulations, You have been granted one (1) general skill point for impossible odds.
Seeing the ability to finally grow Mana Manipulation I took it almost at once.
"Alright let's see if anyone leveled… Well, except for Nicole, did anyone else get any interesting notifications?" Root asked.
“No but I am close to a rank up on my close quarters combat skill.” Turnup said.
“Ok, and Nicole?” Root asked.
"Umm… you sure you want to know that? I think the experience was weighted differently this time compared to the horde I killed before." I said.
"What level?" Lluvia asked.
"Level 7 I got 2 levels from that. I also ranked up my Mana explosives twice to rank C. Also I was just awarded a general skill point for impossible odds." I said.
Then the entire group was stunned into silence, Then Lluvia started to laugh.
Some minutes later we were all sitting around waiting to see if any more slimes would show up.
"Level is an indirect indicator of age right? Like you are not going to see a 30 year old at my level under normal circumstances, right?" I asked.
"Yes at least up to level 10 and most common people are trapped behind an evolution block." Iser said.
"So normally time is spent learning how to do things like learn how to use skills and such…" I said.
"Generally yeah." Root chimed in.
"Ok then… unlike a kid I don't need to learn how a bomb works, I have both theoretical and practical experience. Magic is new to me but that has been obeying at least some of the physical properties of the universe." I continued.
"I've basically been given a book for toddlers and am now being graded as such… I would imagine after a point my leveling will slow down." I finished.
"That does actually kind of make sense in an odd way." Iser said.
“Makes me feel better when put that way.” Root said.
"I actually have another question, how old are you?" Iser directed towards me.
"O… you are never supposed to ask a women her age." I said as seriously as I could muster, luckily Iser was not good on picking up on human facial expressions too well.
"Oh wait, was that a cultural taboo I just committed?" Iser asked honestly.
"Iser… she's fucking you with. And besides, maybe in this world it is common courtesy to tell someone their age when asked.." Lluvia responded with an evil grin, I just glared at her for ruining some of my fun.
"I'm 34, and some women are like that where I come from but others, well we don't care." I said more seriously.
While we were resting and waiting for more slimes to show up I took a moment to work on my vambrace. I needed an additional enchantment that would hopefully allow me to project a line of force to about 2 feet long. Once I had the enchantment in place I stepped back a little and activated it.
It worked, it was about 2ish feet in length with one major problem. The damn thing sounded like nails on a chalkboard. I was luckily able to turn it off quickly.
"Fuck sorry about that… it was supposed to be a pane of force, sort of like the force bolt but able to stick around." I said as I tried to clear my ears.
"Please try not to Adjust your equipment like that again… I feel like that might have triggered a migraine." Root said and Turnip nodded in agreement.
We pushed forward yet again, moving past all the dead Slime. It was a bit of a difficult process as the gelatinous bodies were still kind of breaking down. The acid was quite strong as well and made us a bit light headed. I seemed to be impacted the worst as eventually Iser and Root switched places and Root would occasionally have to catch me.
Eventually we came to a transition from worked stone to natural stone and a possible if confusing explanation for the slimes.
"Ok now we're onto something." Lluvia said. "Dungeon entrance ahead."
"So that's what's been spawning slimes?" I asked.
"Not normally no, but every once in a while some village reports that a nearby dungeon has odd stuff going on with it. Most often some sort of odd root growth, or odd monster behavior around the dungeon. At least that's been the rumor mill lately." Orlo said.
"So is this one of the weird ones?" I asked.
"It could be, we should investigate. We also need to give you a brief tutorial on how dungeons work, they are different from the rest of the world." Oslo said.
Quest Updated!
Pruning the Evil
You have heard of the location of a corrupted dungeon. Explore it, find any signs of great Evil. Eradicate them!
“Oh cool I got a quest, anyone else get anything?” I asked.
5 pairs of eyes turned my direction at that proclamation.