As soon as the slime fully formed, mana signatures began appearing around Mitch, at least 5 vines bigger and with a sharper tip than the form he was used to, and with thorns spread around the whole vine sprung up from the ground.
Heart pounding, palms sweaty, he clenched his bat and jumped, one vine managing to cut his back.
“Mana ball!”, screamed Mitch, pointing his left hand towards the Slime Boss.
The ball of chaotic mana darted through the air and impacted the slime, a small explosion sounded in the cavern, slime sludge splashing everywhere. The slime reformed its destroyed part, Mitch saw it got shorter by a little bit.
“Mana ball!”, Mitch used his skill another 4 times while running around the slime, vines still appearing around him, he got a few cuts but nothing serious.
Left without mana, he dashed directly towards the slime that was now a third shorter than it used to be, the vines didn’t stop springing from earth. He bashed the slime with his bat, he encountered a lot of resistance, not even the earth slime had such a hard exterior.
Mitch felt something on his leg, looked down, and screamed at the top of his lungs when he saw the long and big vine that came from behind the slime, it wrapped up on his leg while he was dealing the blow to the slime.
The vine lifted Mitch upwards, the bat fell from his hand.
“Small pocket space”, Mitch pulled the wooden sword he made previously, and hacked at the vine, easily cutting the vine and dropping him in the process. While he dropped to the ground mana signatures appeared under him, his left arm was pierced then his shoulder, the last one only scratching his torso.
Mitch got on his feet and dodged vines until his mana regenerated for another “Mana ball”, more cuts appeared on his body, he was breathing fast, drenched in sweat and blood, he couldn’t keep going like this.
He ran some more until he got more mana, and he dashed again toward the slime, this time looking out for the big vine, sword in hand, he got close enough that he saw the vine approaching him again, he slashed it, and the vine retracted, he jumped on the slime and put his right arm in it.
“Mana ball!”, the skill activated inside the slime exploding right in front of his hand, breaking it in the process, a big hole was made thanks to the skill.
The slime was trying to close his wound but Mitch got his left arm even further inside, almost touching the core.
“Mana ball!”, the core exploded, slime sludge dropping to the ground evaporating in blue specks of light. A chest materialized in the place where the slime was killed.
Mitch couldn’t care less, he was on the ground, hardly breathing, his hands injured, his fingers contorting in strange angles, and blood escaping from all the cuts he got, he began using his healing.
He took hours to heal. After that, Mitch got on his feet, his eyes were heavy, his hands trembling, and he opened the chest.
The chest was small and was made of wood, it had slimes painted in green all around it. A bright light was conjured after opening the chest, inside of it was a wooden bracelet, it had circular indents acting as decoration and had a dark brown color.
“Inspect”
Wooden bracelet of regeneration (tier 2)
A bracelet made through magic ways, it has great mana conductivity. It gathers mana from the surrounding area, then it transfers it to the wearer.
Mana regeneration + 5.
“I should’ve gotten it before healing!”, said Mitch while kicking the chest.
He put the bracelet on and checked his status window, his mana regeneration did indeed increase by 5.
The chamber entrance opened up after killing the slime boss, Mitch searched around the chamber but found no new opening to a new zone.
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“This is it then.”
He walked back to his camp, limping a little on the leg that got wrapped by the vine, his injuries were not completely gone, he healed enough for the bleeding to stop.
The rest of the day he spent it healing, the next day was the same, he took his time and was just in a daze, thinking of what should he do. He checked the chamber, some slimes formed again.
Even though he almost died fighting the boss slime Mitch wanted to fight another to get loot, he knew what to do, and had an even better mana regeneration than the last time. The next day he got to it, he killed all the slimes again, but the ground didn’t ramble, nothing happened, and the boss slime wasn’t appearing.
“Ugh, a cooldown period.”
Mitch didn’t know how much time would be needed for the slime to spawn again, he waited another few days, a week passed since his encounter, but the boss slime still wasn’t spawning. He farmed some slimes in this period and got to his next level.
Congratulations!
You leveled up!
+1 Allocable status point!
+1 Mind status point!
+1 Mana storage status point!
“No new skill”
Mitch felt no rush like he usually felt when he leveled up, he only felt his mind being cleared, his thoughts less scattered.
Mitch made himself a new bat and a new sword, he put them in his pocket space and stuffed it with berries, he took another look at his camp and then began walking towards the woods.
He made himself two walking sticks that were infused with mana, the sticks were weapons, wooden poles, and he used them to trek easier through the woods.
After walking for hours the occasional slimes began appearing again, he killed some when they were in his way. It took five days until something changed. The mana got denser, the trees were taller, he found fruits in trees and different kinds of berries around him, he even found mushrooms.
“Inspect!”
White and red mushroom – Toxic
Brown cap mushroom – Edible
Blue magic mushroom – Toxic, Crafting ingredient
Apple – Edible
He found apples, pears, plums, and more, the food was abounded.
“Oink, oink!”
Mitch turned around, a wild boar was running towards him, it had elongated sharp fangs that pointed upwards and he could feel mana coming from them.
Mitch got his sword out, a smile appearing on his face, he gulped some saliva and then put his palm towards the fat boar.
“Mana ball!”
Your efforts get rewarded! +5xp!
“Huh? I didn’t even kill the boar yet, what is the xp for?”
The spell impacted the boar but he was still running towards him, the back of the boar was full of blood, a piece of meat dangling from it.
The boar's eyes got red, it oinked loudly, and his head moved downward, pointing his fangs at Mitch.
Mitch threw another mana ball at the boar, this time landing on its head, the boar's head blew up, and pieces of blood and brain flew everywhere. The momentum made the boar’s body roll forward towards Mitch, he dodged it but the remains of the boar’s head still flew on him.
Mitch's stomach ached, his mouth was watering, something was coming out, he couldn’t keep it anymore and threw up. Besides insects and slimes, Mitch didn’t kill anything in his life.
“I might’ve let you go if you didn’t attack me.”, said Mitch his eyes red and watery after throwing up so much.
He got his wooden knife and began chopping the boar for meat. He got the fur off and scraped the meat from the bones, the job was sloppy, but he still grinned, feeling proud of the whole ordeal.
Mitch found the bear’s core inside the beast’s destroyed head.
“Inspect”
Small wild boar core (tier 2)
1 x Small wild boar core converted into 20 xp points!
After butchering the boar, only its guts and bones remained. The boar tusks still radiated mana, Mitch kept them too, they were the length of his hand and he couldn’t scratch them with his knife as he could with the other bones, they were though.
“Inspect”
Small wild boar tusk (tier 2)
A tusk coated in mana, it has medium mana conductivity. Crafting ingredient.
Mitch made himself a camp with a fireplace where he cooked the boar’s meat. He ate meat before but this was something else, maybe it was the fact that he didn’t eat meat for a long time, or maybe the minuscule mana inside the meat was the reason it tasted so good. He missed his salt, his bbq sauce, the oil, and every other sugary stuff, but the boar’s meat alleviated the feeling.
He got on his journey again, finding some familiar animals like deer and boars, he saw a wolf but didn’t dare to attack him. At some point he heard the sound of water, it was a river, a small one, and the water was crystal clear, he threw some mana balls in it to get fish, the explosion from the spell wrecked the fish from inside killing them instantly, then they floated and he easily picked them up. The fishes he caught were normal; they had no mana inside the meat and, more importantly, no core.
Mitch traveled by the side of the river for a few days, but nothing much happened, in the day he fought a few boars, and in the night he slept, until one night when Mitch swore he saw a big-legged spider that was almost his size, that watched him, then went away. Being alone in a forest made him see things that were not there he hoped, because if that was not the case then there was a huge monstrous spider checking on him in the night that he needed to take care of.