Out of all the things Richard thought he’d see when he stepped out of the safe area, a tremendous number of slimes was not what he thought he’d see. The little hole in the mountainside opened up into a vast plain that eventually turned into woods, which eventually fed into mountain walls surrounding the plain area, which was chock full of slimes. “System I was born into an area with a high concentration of mana right?”
[Correct]
“Well then why are there only slimes here? I doubt slimes are the result of high concentrations of mana.
[The system has analyzed this and has found that due to good luck on your part you’ve been spawned into one of the safer areas on this mountain range with a high mana density. This area is one only populated by slimes for the most part, and seems to be your stroke of good luck.]
“Notice you said for the most part” muttered Richard but gave a sigh of relief as this meant that he was safe to start for now. Although he still seemed to be in a dangerous situation. This was but one area and unless he planned to live in a land of slimes alone for the rest of his life, he would have to be ready to leave one day. So, he turned to look at one of the smaller slimes and prepared himself to fight. It felt wrong to him to kill a slime, but considering slimes would be his only nourishment for a while, and he would need to get stronger to be able to leave. “Sorry” muttered the hatchling. He assured himself, telling himself that slimes eat slimes anyway.
Slimes are considered one of the weakest species in existence. Even the stronger slimes, like “colossus slime” and “swamp slime” were considered d to c- rank at best. Slimes all held the common trait of being giant balls of slime with a monster core at its center, which always appeared to be dodecahedron- shaped crystals. The general species are a light, sky blue with a dark blue core. Slimes weren’t known for being particularly smart, and some claimed that perhaps even plants were smarter, as at least plant monsters were smarter. Slime fans and owners (whom Richard had seen, but still couldn’t believe existed) claimed that slimes were very sapient and that the current line hadn’t reached its full potential. Some even advocated for the evolution of variant slimes under the notion that perhaps there was something that was missing. The one in front of Richard was small and if appraisal was anything to go by:
[species: slime]
Level: 1
It was a normal slime. Eventually, with great hesitation, Richard brought his paw down in the best slashing motion he could make. The slime didn’t react and died in the one blow. Although it caught Richard off guard for a moment, it wasn’t completely unexpected. He was a dragon currently. The way it felt hitting the slime was weird. Like putting your hand through a bowl of gel, it left his hand a bit sticky, and upon cleaning himself with his tongue, he found it tasted a bit like jelly, though it was lacking in taste a little. Upon killing it though, he received a notification from his new comrade.
[Congratulations on killing a level 1 slime! You’ve taken your first step into your new life!]
[10 exp gained]
[1 point granted]
Richard wasn’t sure what exp was, so when he asked, he found out that it was experience, used to help level up. Richard started realizing that the system wouldn’t tell him something unless he asked first. That didn’t signal any red flags to Richard, but it did warn him that unless he asked, he wasn’t guaranteed a response. ‘Something to note.’ Pondered Richard. If he still had his paper and pens he would’ve written it down like how he used to write everything down. Thoughts done for now, he turned to eat the slime he had just killed. It would’ve been wasteful to leave it after killing it. So he slurped it all up till all that was left was the pinky sized core left. This would be another of Richards firsts, and it left him very excited, He’d heard many a report from adventurers who owned familiars how the familiars loved cores and savored their every bite. As he was now a dragon, for Richard he was sure it would be tasty. Even now as he stared at the candies, a fragrant scent seemed to emerge, calling Richard to eat it, and he could even see some slimes moving a bit close to him, inching ever so slowly. Holding off no longer, Richard cast the core into his mouth and with a single crunch of his new fangs, the core fragmented into pieces.
Immediately a new flavor flooded his mouth, as the mana in the core flew into him. It tasted like a cube of sugar with a hint of mint in the taste. As the mana dove into his own core, the little hatchling felt the desire flow through him for a moment before he quickly suppressed it. Now that he felt the satisfaction monsters had eating cores, he had to admit the core was delicious and wanted more. He decided that he would kill a few more slimes until he reached level two, where he would stop for the day.
With each “hunt” his blows become more definite, more determined. No longer was it a clumsy swing that only hit a slime due to sheer power and speed, it was a cleave from the air, and he even leaped once or twice into the blow to increase the power, even if it was unnecessary for slimes. It took 9 more level 1 slimes to die before he reached his new level. He’d been using his newfound appraisal to find the level one slimes, and attempt to get appraisal beyond level one. No success so far, but as long as he was in slime land, he was sure he’d have time. Seeing he had reached level 2, Richard decided to take a look at his stats.
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[status]
Name: Richard
Species: Dragon (Hatchling)
Level 2
Health: 110/110
Spd: 11
ATK: 21
Mana: 51
Skills: Scratch, Glide, Screech, Appraisal(lvl 1), Sharpen
Mana circles: 0
Points: 20
Skill Points: 1
[Inventory]
[Gacha]
[Shop]
‘Not as much as I’d hoped’ thought Richard. He was hoping for a more drastic change, even maybe 2 points per stat. His health only increased by 10 percent. “Hey system, will this be my consistent rate of change?” He was worried that this would be his rate of growth till he grew up, which would be a real problem. Thankfully, this seemed to not be the case.
[Of course not. When you evolve your rate of growth will change. Currently you are a [hatchling], and one without an element either. Your next evolution will increase your stat growth]
“Thank Isis for that. Dragons in the books we have are always seen as strong, so I wasn’t sure what to do besides overhunting for cores to eat and evolve.” One of the more important aspects for monsters was killing other monsters, and eating cores, till they filled their prerequisite for evolution. Certain species like goblins evolve far faster than other monsters, but only have a lifespan of 20 years and a high casualty rate, whereas wyverns take decades to evolve without outside intervention or good fortune, but have 100 years to evolve. Dragons are one of the most mysterious monsters of all time, with even the holy dragons owned by the royal family being a secret to most people. No ones even sure how they managed to influence this evolutionary process, given they manage to breed one for every royal family member. So even with all the books he’s read, Richard was pretty much lost. However, almost amazingly so, the system had an announcement to make.
[The system wishes to inform you that when you reach level 10 you will evolve]
“Wait really? It’s that easy? Don’t dragons take forever to evolve?”
[Contrary to popular belief, dragons find it easier to evolve than other creatures, and depending on their situation and desires, the evolutions can vary greatly. The system speeds up your rate of absorption, with average dragons absorbing 30% of the enemy’s mana, you absorb 40 percent, with an extra 10 percent going to maintaining the system. The cores you eat will instead be converted to extra mana stored for evolutions, which the system will offer you a variety of options to choose from, rather than immediate evolution. Leveling up takes the stress off evolutionary requirements as only monsters chosen by the system level up. Any level you see on the monsters or people during [appraisal] are estimated levels, rather than actual levels.]
“Huh” Since Richard was still getting familiar with the system so it wasn’t exactly surprising that there was more, he hadn’t known. He was definitely starting to have more appreciation for the system however. For one thing, the ability to choose his own evolution was a much-appreciated feature that would allow him to choose his own future versus being taken for a ride. And if what the system said was true about having levels, it meant he’d heave the benefit of a dragon, growing stronger as they age, and levels.
Richard decided to give his body a stretch after receiving a level up and found his body far more flexible, stronger. He didn’t feel twice as strong, but he certainly felt more energetic. Looking up to the sky, Richard saw the moon was in the sky, as he’d taken his time killing slimes. No point in eating too much in a short amount of time after all. So, he went back into his little cave and looked around. Richard wanted to be comfortable, and if he was going to spend an extended period of time here, he wanted to make himself more at home. IF there was one thing that he really wanted to make, it was a bed. Although he considered sleeping in the pool, that was going to be his drinking source, or at least the main one, he wasn’t going to waste it by dirtying it with himself, even if he cleaned himself nicely. If he really wanted to shower, he could use one of the streams outside, which were big enough to fit himself into, and then some. Appraising the flowers in this tiny little cove of his, he found that it was called:
[Caveshines: small mana-based flora that exist in caves, first growing in caves, then creating holes in the rooftop to absorb sunlight. Hard to find due to often only growing in small numbers. The only place to find them en masse is in places with high mana density, and even then, they are often guarded by monsters who eat them to steadily increase their own mana density.]
The flowers had looked vaguely familiar to him before, but upon seeing the name he recalled that he’d read of this flower and it’s amazing medicinal properties for adventurers seeking to move to the next rank. Apparently as long as one had a really good alchemist by their side, they could multiply the effect of Caveshines by twofold. A shame there wasn’t any particularly good alchemists here, but he certainly had more caveshine than anyone else. He definitely wasn’t using this to make his bed. Pulling some moss and grass from outside, he also grabbed a few branches, creating as good of a nest as possible. It certainly didn’t seem the best, but the hatchling felt a mite proud of himself for making the nest himself. When he lowered himself into his new bed, he found himself looking forward to the next day of his new life. While he did find himself a bit lonely, being surrounded by slimes alone, he also looked forward to his new life, and comforted himself knowing that in the long run, he could do this “gacha” and acquire a friend to keep him company in the meantime. Richard drifted off to sleep dreaming of better things.