Zortex was munching on the latest slime that entered his turf. Some of the least dense gelatin was dripping from his chin and he cleaned it with his hand and licked it. His mother would have raged if she saw him eating like that, she thought that her son had stopped chewing like that since he was four years old, but now that he was more than twenty he started anew.
For now Zortex didn’t even notice his awful demeanor; who cared about table manners when around him there was no table, no other people and no light at all. Even more so if you considered the fact that for most people Slimes were not high cuisine. They didn’t know what they were missing.
As he finished, Zortex left a bit of leftovers for Pravin. His pet slime happily came closer and absorbed what was left. At a certain point in time he had noticed that Pravin’s HP was going down even though it was doing nothing. By experience he knew what was happening. The starvation had started consuming the Health of his pet, so he had tested giving him some food. “Here, have it” he had said. Pravin had rushed to the corpse faster than Zortex thought possible for a slime.
By the way, Zortex could see the stats of his pet on top of its head exactly as he could see his own in the corner of his vision. Surprisingly he could not see the level of the monsters in the dark. He could see it when they were illuminated by the light crystal, but not now. It made sense, otherwise, here in the complete darkness, he would have been able to exactly pinpoint the slimes just by relying on the position of the level sign.
Name: Zortex Enark
Class: Shadow Slime Warrior
Level: 2
Stats:
Strength
10
Health
202(202) + 2/min
Endurance
12
Stamina
222(222) + 22/min
Agility
10
Mana
228(222) + 11/min
Spirit
13
Skill proficiency
Knife mastery
Level 3
Throwing mastery
Level 1
Slimification
Level 4
Slime summoning
-
Sonar
Level 2
Slime eating
Level 3
Zortex had been productive while hunting. The training proceeded as he expected. In AoL it was really hard to level up skills, and intensive training added to long time were necessary to improve. A person could not become a sword master in a day, so becoming a great slime should require great effort as well.
Looking at his stats he noticed what happened after the level up. Only Endurance and Spirit had increased for a total of 5 points. He had already heard this particular rule. Each level meant 5 more points that will be distributed by the system based on what he did in between the two levels.
His level 1 was considered to have officially started at the end of the trial, thus it was mostly his training which counted in the distribution. Slimification probably was related to Spirit which in turn was related to the Mana, while Sonar consumed his Stamina so it should be related to Endurance. He didn’t really show any display of strength or agility during this period, so they stayed the same.
Pravin also leveled up as he would share 50% of the experience with its master.
Name: Pravin
Class: Slime
Level: 2
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Stats:
Strength
3
Health
20(20) + 0.5/min
Endurance
3
Stamina
24 (24) + 2.5/min
Agility
2
Mana
22 (22) + 1/min
Spirit
2
Its stats had increased by 4 points instead of 5. This meant it would fall farther behind with time. Once again this was reasonable. If pets were as strong as the masters, fights would be unfair for people without pets since it would be like a 2 vs 1 situation.
Zortex went back to training his Slimifaction, his best skill at the moment. He had to learn how to do something offensive with it, like an attack with a tentacle. His half knife was barely good enough to kill slimes, and it was also deteriorating after all the things it went through. Thoughts about having his revenge on Matthew kept coming to his mind, but even after going almost crazy down here, he was sane enough to understand that he would not be able to kill him right now. That was not a problem for Zortex. Endless was eternal, so in the future he would have his chance. Revenge was a dish best served cold….just like Slimes!
Still he wondered if he was becoming a coward. Was he staying here to train undisturbed or because he was too afraid to get out and be killed and humiliated by his nemesis? He decided to give himself a time limit, he would go out as soon as he found a way to attack the enemies through one of his slime skills.
Zortex didn’t know the passage of time around him. He just kept training and training his skills as much as his mana recovery and stamina recovery were allowing him to do. Of course he didn’t forget to sleep and eat. He was not a machine, and he didn’t want to go really crazy.
A month later
Zortex got a notification while he was trying to turn his arm into a tentacle.
New skill discovered:
· Mana control: you can control the direction and the quantity of the mana inside your body. At this level you can barely hope to make the lowest of spells.
“Yes! Finally something new! I’m getting closer to transform just my arm into a slime substance. After that I should be able to extend a tentacle to use as a whip.” Zortex said. Lately he started talking more often to Pravin. His pet was his only companion down here and he always did what he told him to do. Much better than stupid betrayers.
After obtaining Mana control he focused all of his efforts into transferring the mana in just one location. He started with his right arm since it seemed to be the easiest to control.
After six more months
The training was hard but he persevered. Zortex knew that he was almost there.
Just a bit more of focus and I will be done, then I will go out and kill that bastard. It has probably been two or three months already. Hopefully Matthew is still around and I will catch him by surprise. He probably thinks that I restarted my trial somewhere else. Zortex thought.
A few days later:
New skill discovered:
· Tentacle: you can elongate your slime arm and use it to attack your enemies.
“Finally!” Zortex didn’t know how long it took him to reach this level, but his instincts told him that it was far too long compared to the results. Was his talent low or was it because he had to learn everything by himself?
Zortex looked at his Status.
Name: Zortex Enark
Class: Shadow Slime Warrior
Level: 6
Stats:
Strength
13
Health
210(210) + 2/min
Endurance
16
Stamina
332(333) + 33/min
Agility
13
Mana
123(391) + 19/min
Spirit
23
Skill proficiency
Knife mastery
Level 4
Throwing mastery
Level 1
Slimification
Level 8
Slime summoning
-
Sonar
Level 3
Slime eating
Level 9
Mana control
Level 11
Tentacle
Level 1
Killing and eating slimes basically gave him no more experience. He couldn't even remember the last time he leveled up. Also the slime eating skill reached a plateau, so he would have to find stronger and tastier slimes in the future. Delicious as they might be, he was tired by now of eating always the same thing.
Too bad that his Sonar skill had progressed so little. It was much harder to control compared to Slimification. It would have been really useful inside this lightless place, but right now he could do nothing with it.
He started moving around his tentacle arm using it as a whip or even in a straight line when he first elongated it. Slimes where not even useful adversaries to test himself. As soon as the skill reached level 2 he decided that it was time to go.
Suddenly his body started to tremble. He had promised himself that he would leave this room at this time, but now that the moment had arrived he found himself scared shitless to go away. The world outside looked like a distant thing. Here he was safe, nobody would venture so far in the sewers, but outside there were other people and other monsters. How long since he talked to another human being? He still didn’t know how much time had passed. He could have calculated the time checking continuously the increase of mana and stamina after using them, but it would have been too much trouble, so he didn’t.
Pravin squished close to him. He felt the stress of his master and wanted to help.
“I know. I promised. I will do it, just give me some more time to prepare my mind”. Zortex said.
Pravin squished again. He was not happy. Zortex could somehow understand what the pet was saying, after so much time together.
There was a moment of complete silence that stretched for a long hour. Zortex felt pain in his chest even though it was attenuated by the system. The coward slime warrior got on his knees and looked at the ceiling. Tears formed in his eyes and he silently cried, drops falling down into the floor. He didn’t know for how long he stayed like that but his knees also started to hurt.
Zortex took three big breaths and slammed his head against the floor as hard as he could. Three more times he did it, until his HP were close to 0. Then he stood up and shouted “YOU DID THIS TO ME! YOU DESTROYED WHAT I WAS BEFORE. PREPARE YOURSELF FOR THE CONSEQUENCES MATTHEW!” Zortex eyes were determined now. He would become what he said he would be when he entered AoL. “You will see me, bastard.” Zortex whispered. He reached the iron door and transformed in a slime.
After 8 months he finally left the room for the first time.