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Joe woke up the next morning and took off toward the forest once again. As he left the edge of the field, he saw the single boy once again, but none of the other boys were there. He waved cheerily at the boy, and the boy smiled back at him and waved. Joe thought little of it, but then stopped and looked back at the boy once again. That wasn’t a very happy smile. I should… well, crap! I can’t ask him anything anyway. I don’t know his language. Joe shook his head and headed on into the forest.

He spent the rest of the day hunting the slimes with intense devotion, pushing his efforts until it was almost too late and only made it back to the road just as the sun was setting and had to make the jog home in twilight. He had pushed himself for so long and so hard simply because when the end of the day had come, he was depressed but unsurprised by the fact that he hadn’t even made half of the necessary experience to reach the next level. By the time he made it to the forest edge, the twilight was already gone and only the glow of the almost setting gas giant offered him a moon’s glow of light to guide him through the last of the forest and into the fields around the village.

He came into the fields at a jog and didn’t stop as he continued through the fields. Suddenly, he heard a rustling in the field off to his left, and his instincts and the dark night had him jumpy. He leapt back and squared himself towards the sound while simultaneously swiping his spear from his back, dropping the spoon spear to the ground with a clang. He held himself square towards the sound as a dark shape began to rise from the ground. He felt his body relaxing pretty quickly when he realized it was a young boy. The shadow waved at him and a friendly guttural hello, or at least what Joe was assuming was a hello, came from it. Joe quickly relaxed when he realized that it was the cursed boy.

“Hey kid, what are you doing out here?”

The kid stayed where he was until Joe beckoned him over and the two turned to head into the village. The silence got to Joe after a moment and Joe began describe his day to the boy, describing grandiose slimes much like a fisherman describes their catch, each slime larger than the last and each desperate dodge another half a hair closer until the hair must have had at least ten halves.

Joe had shortened his ground eating jog into an easy amble to allow the boy to easily walk beside him. It wasn’t long before they had passed the fields and made it into the village outskirts. He headed towards the village inn and waved goodbye to the boy. He stepped into the inn dining area and then stopped in consideration. He stopped by a window on the way by and took a look through the window to see the boy walking down the street a little listlessly. The way the boy was walking made Joe a bit concerned, but he was uncertain how to communicate with him and the boy then turned the corner and walked out of sight. Joe sighed but then turned back to the inn to prepare for all his evening clean up before he turned in.

The next morning found Joe heading out once again and as he came out of the field, he once again saw the single boy waving to him as he went by. He waved in return but decided to stop and invest a bit more into the child, remembering his forlorn look yesterday. He didn’t spend too much time with him given the difficulty he was having in trying to level. After about fifteen minutes of play, Joe bade goodbye and disappeared into the forest for the day.

Another almost too long day with his experience only making it just over three quarters to complete had him coming back into the village fields just before twilight, the sun’s glow still visible over the horizon bathing the fields in orange. He came upon the boys playing together and grinned with some satisfaction when he saw all of them playing together. He continued on, staring at the boys until he realized that they weren’t playing. Are they… what! Joe quickly turned and shouted towards the kids.

“Hey! Get off! Stop it. Back off!”

He ran towards the group of kids screaming at them and waving his hands. The kids looked up towards him, then scattered as they fled away from the boy laying beaten at their feet. As he came up to the boy, curses slipped from his lips as he saw the loner boy beaten quite badly from their punches and kicks. He crouched at his side quickly and evaluated his wounds carefully. He realized the boy was covered in bruises, but it was mostly just that. What cuts he had seemed to have been self-inflicted as he had scrambled on the ground trying to defend himself. The boy lay below him, staring up at him fearfully and Joe continued to examine him before he realized the boy was looking at him in terror. Joe’s face quickly contorted through several expressions, beginning from intense focus, continuing on through pity, and finally settling on a smiling acceptance.

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“How you doing, kid? You alright?”

He reached out his hand and stood. The child looked at him in confusion for a bit, and he shook his hand, gesturing for the child to take it. The child looked on with some confusion, but stretched out his hand carefully. When it came close, Joe grasped it and pulled him to his feet, a little more carefully than he normally would have done since he didn’t want to startle the poor kid. He then brushed off his clothes and then stood back, smiling the whole time. Then he cocked his head towards the village while waving an arm. He walked towards the village then stopped when he realized he was walking alone. He looked back over his shoulder, smiling kindly at the kid.

“Hey, you coming?”

He waved his hand once more, beckoning the boy towards him, and the boy offered a tentative smile before walking up next to him. He clapped his hand on the boys shoulder before once again walking into village together, this time much closer. They walked through the small town and came to the inn. Joe stopped, then considered the boy. He didn’t know whether his mother would be waiting for him or not, so considered then pointed towards the inn, trying to ask if the boy wanted to join him inside for a meal. The boy looked at him in confusion, and Joe opened the door then pointed to him and then towards the door.

“You want to eat a meal with me tonight?”

The boy’s face beamed in joy and he stepped through after and took a table, beckoning the boy to a seat opposite him. The innkeeper came to the table quickly, a long exaggerated frown towards the boy and with a sharp comment after a dozen seconds or so. Uncertain what the matron was saying, he interrupted her and told her to bring two meals, holding up two fingers. Her eyes narrowed slightly, even as he increased his smile by several megawatts. She took her normal dozen seconds to respond before she snorted and turned to go back towards the kitchen. She brought out two bowls of stew and a couple flagons of watered down beer. Joe’s eyes hitched slightly as he realized she was going to serve the boy alcohol, but then figured that he would trust the people to know their own culture and decided that his otherness and lack of communication would make it very hard for him to explain anything. So he decided to let it go.

They enjoyed the meal, and Joe did most of the talking, since the boy seemed to remain silent and listening although the boy was incredibly quick to respond. Is it an adult mannerism? The adults deliberate much longer? Although the blacksmith seems to respond pretty quick. Hmm… the inn keeper and the seamstress take a long time to respond. Maybe a feminine affectation? Girls like to be deliberate? Or are they expected to be deliberate?

The meal was… interesting. Joe ate slowly and enjoyed the meal, but the boy seemed to suck up the meal as if he were a ravenous beast. He had finished his meal even before Joe took his third bite. Joe blinked in a bit of surprise. He considered the boy for a bit then called the matron over once again. He fished out a coin of the lowest denomination and pointed at the boys bowl and asked for another. The matron looked at the boy’s bowl, but then nodded as she took the coin and the boys bowl, returning it several moments later once again full. The boy’s eyes had grown large as he watched and when the bowl was sat in front of him once again, he attacked it quickly. Joe smiled and continued eating as the boys head was buried in the bowl.

Joe continued his meal calmly but noticed the boy seemed to keep his head down even when it wasn’t buried in the bowl. Joe smiled, happy to see the boy enjoying his meal, but thought little of it. When his meal was done, he left the boy continuing with his third bowl and slipped up the stairs to get his bathing materials, missing the tear drops salting the boys stew.

When he came back down, he found the boy already finished and the table empty. Huh… must have already run home. Joe grinned and passed through the tavern room and out the door, heading towards his normal bathing spot. He returned back to the inn quickly as the evening chill was coming on quickly. Even as he climbed up the river bank, a pair of eyes stared at him as he returned to the inn.

The next morning found him again in the forest slaughtering slimes once more. He spent the whole day focused on the task and only spent a short minute in passing waving to the boys. Around noon that day, he felt the large status update and breathed with a sigh of relief. He glanced at his stats and found himself at level eleven. Two and a half days for one level… Joe took lunch to calm down before burying himself in his work once again. He returned home slightly earlier simply from being a bit depressed over the increasing time to level, but he had no other choice!

As he settled for the evening, he updated his log book about what he had found. Levels five through ten had indeed taken five hundred for each level, and trying to make it to level eleven had taken significantly more time, almost exactly five times the amount of time needed from the previous five levels. He took the time to count up the number of kills he needed, and found he needed two hundred and fifty kills at ten experience per kill. Man, this isn’t good. Level one took one hundred experience. Level six took five hundred experience. Level eleven took two thousand five hundred. Level sixteen will be over twelve thousand! Looks like my theory's right!

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