Mist hummed to herself as she gathered WideLeafs, using her spear's sharp edge to cut the stems. The sun was bright and hot, but the occasional cool breeze meant that this wasn't such a discomfort.

"Five," she murmured, dropping the last leaf into her pouch before looking around—she felt a guilty rush of pleasure as she realised that she was the first to complete the task, the others having trouble cutting through the thick stems with their default BluntKnifes. Mist was about to go help Amanda before something caught her eye; brightly coloured movement. Ahead the pale green field sloped down into a rockier area, what looked like a cave in a hill at the bottom, and around the cave were—

"Slimes!" Mist cried, delighted. There were around a dozen of them, squat little teardrop-shaped yellow and orange things, the light reflecting off them in a gooey sort of way. They didn't seem to be doing much, just blobbing around lazily, but Mist's eyes were bright as she watched them. She looked around and saw Praetorian nearby, waved to get his attention then pointed down the slope. "Look! Slimes!"

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"And so? Ignore them, they're worth a paltry sum and quite frankly I would doubt our chances against even the lowliest of their species."

"No, I didn't mean ... I just ... don't you think they're cute? We don't get them where I'm from and I always ... I mean, I know they're monsters but ... they're cute ... right?"

Praetorian sighed as he continued sawing away at the WideLeaf. "Yours is the perspective of one who has never been troubled by the wretched things. We have them in my homeland, like a pest. They're a simple nuisance, nothing more."

"Oh."

Mist turned back to watch the slimes, couldn't help but let out a gleeful squeak as one executed a wobbly sort of hop. She was just about to go and tell Amanda about them when she noticed Nala, standing near the forest path.

"I've found a safe way," Nala said. "Follow me."