Zortex first needed a bathtub. He had soap and a way to make warm water, but he didn’t want to waste so much his crystals by simply holding them in one hand and using the other hand with soap. Outside, dusk had started. People were still roaming the streets, thus he decided that for today he will wait before going out while smelling so bad. He would wash and then start behaving like a normal person. Meanwhile he focused on the tasks that he could do right away. He decided to train his skills. To use both his stamina and his mana he decided to use Sonar and partial Slimification. The first objective was to adapt his Sonar to his current state by dampening its strength as much as possible. If his brain could not handle all of it, he just needed to make it so weak that a normal person would feel nothing. The level of control necessary for this goal was unbelievable, but he had immortality to reach it. He also hoped to improve his brain capacity little by little, so that the level of control could be lessened through time.

Zortex activated Sonar and once again he could not understand anything of what was around him. It was like a thousand people all started talking at the same time around him. He had to weaken the volume of the smallest ‘people’ until it almost disappear. To improve his technique he also attempted to focus his attention only at a certain point in space. By concentrating in a single direction he was trying to listen only to a certain part of sensations he was getting while letting his brain let go of the rest as just background noise. For now he was not succeeding, but he could already feel a certain improvement, as if in the direction he chose the sounds where coming louder.

On the side of the mana, he was trying to once again improve his slimification. In his mind he had two main goals with similar training. The first was to create a tentacle with higher level of control so that his hand could remain human while the rest of the arm elongated. This way he could attack while holding a weapon but increasing reach and flexibility. His second goal was to slimify only his fingerprints of hands and feet. This way he could make his hands and feet sticky without abandoning his human body. He could see innumerable advantages to such a development, but he understood the difficulty of it. Right now he could control sending the mana specifically to his right arm. He thought that with a week or two of training he would also be able to do it with the left arm. However sending specifically to only a part of his fingers and toes would be a lot of work, but for sure it was achievable. His Mana Control skill would have to increase by leaps and bounds.

“Show me my status” Zortex said.

Name: Zortex Enark

Class: Shadow Slime Warrior

Level: 8

Stats:

Strength

16

Health

214(214) + 2.1/min

Endurance

19

Stamina

212(252) + 11.5/min

Agility

13

Mana

77(287) + 12/min

Spirit

27

Skill proficiency

Knife mastery

Level 4

Throwing mastery

Level 2

Slimification

Level 10

Slime summoning

-

Sonar

Level 4

Slime eating

Level 9

Mana control

Level 13

Tentacle

Level 4

The training went on and hours passed by. Even outside of the sewers Zortex had developed the habit to lose himself on the practice without checking the time, but at least out here his stomach controlled him in a more direct way compared to the light outside. When he started feeling a bit hungry again, he snapped out of the exercising and took out some meat and bread to eat together with one of the fruits he had already tested before. Not the spicy ones, those he had thrown away.

It is completely dark outside and I cannot hear people moving around. It is time for me to act. Hopefully there still enough dark time for me to do what I need to do.

Zortex left his hideout and walked in the direction moving away from the walls of the city. He reasoned that he would get closer to the city center and maybe he would be able to find a fountain or at least a place where he could use his crystals without trouble. After fifteen minutes he found a place which looked like a big basin where people would wash clothes. You could pump water inside and there was more than enough space for him to fit.

Bingo! This place looks perfect. I can get the water for free and it is already a place destined to wash dirty things. There is nobody walking around and the buildings are not too close, so if I try to be silent I should be able to not wake up anyone.

He entered the tub and started pumping the water inside until it was filled to a decent amount. The weather also helped him with his task and it started raining, muffling his noises, keeping possible strugglers out of the streets and giving him a shower effect. He started scraping himself with the water and soaps and he was left speechless. The water was becoming darker and darker and strata of filth were being removed as if they were layers of skin he didn’t know about. He had to drain and refill the water multiple times until it was left mostly clean. His hairs especially were losing so much dirty material that he could not understand where he was keeping all of it. By the end of the struggle he was finally clean, but he couldn’t completely eliminate the smell of the sewers. After more than eight months in there it would probably be part of his skin for a while. A strong headache had attacked him. He had been used to the sewers’ smell, so after cleansing most of it away the soap fragrance felt alien to him, and it would take time for him to get used to it. To attenuate the weight on his mind he had to almost completely cover his eyes and hears, to not overflow the amount of data he was receiving, even thought it was the middle of the night and he would have been able to go around free of bandages in normal conditions. He also washed all the clothes he had, apart from the old pants which he threw away without remorse. He had also washed the clothes he had stolen, because even without wearing them his simple presence had contaminated them.

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Happy with results he started walking again to the center of the city, or at least in the direction he thought it would be. After thirty more minutes he finally saw a familiar and welcome view. He was in a plaza which had a better view of the surroundings and from there he could see the view of a hill with a white building on top. He could finally see the place where it all started for him. The temple which had welcomed him on AoL and from where his nightmare had begun. Now he knew where to go.

The closer he got the more people he started to cross. There were some guards patrolling the streets and people having fun in taverns or completing tasks in the middle of the night. He also saw some ‘travellers’ going around. It was not too difficult to meet real people during the night, because even though they still had to sleep, it was not as frequent as in the real world. A person could go on easily for more than ten days and then sleep for a night and feel completely refreshed. Zortex on the other hand had much more trouble. The strain on his brain was too high and an headache had become a common companion to him since coming back outside. Sleep felt like a relief and he had no intention to skip it if possible. Zortex kept to himself, walking with is cloak around him hiding his features. His clothes were still wet since he had to wash everything he possessed and nothing was left dry, and rain hadn’t helped the drying even though it had stopped by now. He didn’t want to attract attention at the moment and he didn’t really need to talk to people, because once he had located the temple he had a vague idea of where the training center should be. After all he was just about to cross the entrance when Matthew had snatched him away into that horrible quest. The streets now were illuminated by many light crystals making them look like real world streets, so Zortex had to cover himself with plenty of bandages to attenuate all of that light. Finally he reached the main road descending from the spawning spot and he waited. Noobs coming for the first time in AoL were a common occurrence, and even though there were thousands of safe cities where to start, there were many more beginners than cities. Time progressed independently from the new people arrivals, so often they would connect at any time of the day. Of course in the middle of the city like this they would still find plenty of people to ask questions and they had no problem orienting themselves even in the middle of the night thanks to all the light. Zortex spotted what looked like a new girl who had just entered the World. His vision was deeply attenuated, but he could still see that she had light blue hairs and dark skin. Her height and body looked average and of course she was wearing the noobish brown clothes. She was looking around as if dazed by her surroundings and enthusiastic to be here. Zortex planned to follow a new noob in his path from step zero, so that he could learn all the things he had missed at the beginning of his trial. This way he would need to interact the least possible with others, real people and NPC alike. Of course Zortex stayed hidden and left her pass by. Too risky to follow a girl, there was a chance she would notice him and try to have a conversation. He waited 20 more minutes and finally a couple of new noobs appeared. They were talking as if they already knew each other.

Perfect. Probably these are friends from another World who have decided to give it a try here. They will keep talking to each other so they will not pay attention to me if I start to follow them around discreetly. I will remove a layer of cloth from my ears so that I can hear them better. Someday in the future I will start to speak again with people, but for now I prefer to keep my distance if possible. Every time I talk to someone I end up almost getting killed. My first time dying in AoL, I want it to be by a monster and not a person.

Zortex started his stalking operation. He watched carefully his targets. They both looked as normal humans, without apparent changes from a person of real world. One was quite tall with very dark skin and what seemed a powerful body under his clothes. Strenght was not transmitted into the game, so the girl from before was a strong as that guy. Zortex had struggled a couple of hours getting used to the slight increase in strength compared to his real body. The second guy instead was as tall as Zortex and looked like an Eastern Asia man. Both had dark hair. He could not see the color of their eyes because of the distance and his bandages.

“……. at the end of the month we will meet him again in the Oasis World to talk, so we can tell him which city we are in and what classes did we get. It is an hassle that we cannot contact him this first month without ruining the trial. Anyway, we don’t really need to do quests for money since he will bring it here as soon as we finish”. The black guy said looking at his friend.

“I’m gonna kick his ass if he doesn’t. He owe us for what we did it for him in the Warthunder World. Ehehe, imagine those noobs that start over here without any friend. They have to work hard to get a few coppers, instead we can get gold right away because we already have high level friends.” The Asian guy replied.

Fuck them. They just rely on their friends to get what they want from the start. Where is the fun in that? The initial struggle is part of the joy. Of course I think that I have already suffered enough and I would gladly accept free money.

“Do we have to turn left here or at the next crossing?”

“At the next crossing. It is after the statue with the snake. Then it should be straight till the entrance”

So they are going to the training center. For us noobs it is either that or the wizard tower. I will see how it develops.

Zortex silently followed keeping a distance of 10-15 meters and trying to keep his face covered. Once, a couple of drunk guys drifted on his path asking for some money to get a few more drinks. Zortex jumped out of the way without saying anything and chuckled thinking that he was probably the poorest one around here. They started swearing at him so he increased his pace a little, but there was no need as a couple of guards started to move in their direction alerted by the sounds, so the drunkards quieted down right away and left.

A few minutes later they had arrived at the entrance of the training center. It was a big structure with multiple arches giving to the inside. At the base, on the sides of each arch there were the statues of two warriors. Each statue possessed a different weapon and was representing different fighting poses. Zortex was quite impressed by the artistic level of the place, especially considering that this was a pretty normal city. Anyway Zortex understood little to nothing about art, so maybe what he was looking was quite average. For sure in AoL there were much bigger and important cities with breath-taking panoramas. The starting cities where new people spawn for their trials are nothing special, otherwise it would be overwhelming to begin the adventure already at the core of the world.

If the sewers here are already this big I cannot imagine how enormous they would be in a metropolis. Probably the slimes over there are level 100 or more. I wonder how do they taste like.

The doors of the structure were open day and night. There were only two guards playing dice and lazing around the entrance. There wasn’t really much need for guarding because there were no treasures or anything valuable inside apart from the weapons and the best ones were carried by the instructors who were by themselves strong warriors. The two strangers arrived in the front of the structure and they were welcomed by one of the guards.

“I didn’t see you guys around and you smell like new to this world. You must be travelers that have entered the trial given by the Gods” the guard said yawning.

“Just go inside and ask some guy for the directions where to go and for which kind of training you are looking for. You will have access whenever you want and free housing and food until the end of the trial. Don’t disturb us again. It is late and we are tired enough even without dealing with newcomers” the other guard told them.

“Merrick, remember that they are the chosen by the Gods to fight on our side. You should pay more respect and do your job as we are told. I don’t want to get fired again. My wife would kill me for real.” The first guard voiced.

“They may be chosen by the Gods but all I see are beginners who can’t even swing a sword. They just piss me off. I don’t get a free bed and free meals. Why should they? Anyway you guys go inside and you will find whatever you are looking for, so fuck off” the insolent guard replied.

The two friends looked at each other surprised. Apparently they didn’t think that NPCs could talk to them like that. They had experience from other worlds to see NPCs as real human being, but every time you enter a new world you still have to get rid of the stereotypes that your mind had developed in the past. They passed by the guards and entered the building.

Ok, so now I know which guard I should avoid. Better if I pass by them without even speaking. Anyway I already know that they are not going to say anything useful to me. Better if I go before losing sight of the two real people. I should invent names for them. Ok, the tall one will be Jake and the small one will be Tobi from now on, Zortex thought.

He moved to follow them, but he was stopped before entering. The friendly guard moved to block his way, so he had to stop.

Fuck him! Why he couldn’t let me pass by without saying anything? What can I answer? Idiot me….I should have practiced saying something before coming here.

“Hey you. You sure are a weird one. What’s the deal with all those bandages on your face?” the guard asked.

Zortex just stood his ground without moving a centimeter or uttering any sound.

“You don’t want to answer? That’s fine. The training center is open to anyone at all times. Are you a traveller? I have been trained to recognize them, but you feel a bit different. I can recognize the smell of the different World in you, but it is very weak. You also smell like refuse. You should take a proper bath next time. You may have used some soap, but apparently it was not enough. Did you go hunting some rats? I still don’t get why the city still give people that quest. Just let the rodents and the slimes kill each other”

What the hell! Why is he asking so many things? He wasn’t this talkative with the other guys. Can’t he leave me alone? Maybe if I stay silent he will get bored and let me go.

“Did the rats eat your tongue? That’s why you are all bandaged?” The guard laughted and kept speaking and looking up and down Zortex, who was just standing doing nothing.

“Well go on then. Not like I can stop you…everyone can get inside. I still don’t get why do they need someone guarding this entrance. Luckily I get paid for doing absolutely nothing, so I cannot complain.”

Zortex was glad that the barrage of questions was finally over. When the guard moved aside he scuttled forward afraid that they would do something to ruin the moment.

“Hey! One last thing.” The second guard spoke.

Damn it! I was almost done. What does this other guy wants?

“You are obviously not a traveller on his trial, so I think you should already know that you cannot use the center for free. You can use the facilities, but if you want a personal trainer you must pay him. No housing and no food too.”

I had forgot this. For noobs the first month survival is for free. Both training center and wizards tower offer lodging during the trial, but as soon as it is finished you are expected to go on by yourself. However I need the training right now, so I have to get money. For now I’ll try to catch up to Jake and Tobi and see if I can hear anything interesting. Afterwards I will have to spend some time to study the best target for a nice robbery.