“Hey.”
Elizabeth turned to see Jake had surprisingly logged in and arrived at the guild base. He was in his usual outfit but also had on a heavy black fur coat. The man waved at her from the front door of the cabin.
She had arrived earlier and hadn't seen anyone, which meant he must have been outside for a while, perhaps wandering the quiet trails. There was something in his behavior that told her that he was being sneaky. The teenager walked up to him and crossed her arms over her chest.
“Before you start questioning me, yes, I lied about logging on today.” He dug into his coat pocket and pulled out what looked to be an old-fashioned train ticket. The knight handed it to her. “I needed to get tickets for today.”
{JAKE HAS GIVEN ELIZA ☆ 1 TRAIN PASS}
Curiously, the brunette accepted the ticket and looked it over. It hadn't been stamped yet and the date said it was for that afternoon. “A coach ride for later? Where are you going? Some sort of forum meet-up or something?”
He laughed at her comment, not asking how she knew he was active in those groups. “I wish. No, it's to a nearby town that has a place where you can trade your inventory for what you need to train Pudding.”
“Thank you for this, Jake. You've done a lot to help.” Elizabeth was thankful to have someone experienced, like the giant helping her out.
Especially someone who did it without any judgment or ulterior motives. Jake must have understood her unspoken thoughts as he began to explain. “I planned to go there anyway to get my sword upgraded. After that battle with the mammoth, I realized I needed to be better prepared.”
Elizabeth shook her head in agreement as she'd been feeling the same for a while. Since the team battle, the teenager had been overwhelmed and embarrassed by how badly she did.
The decaying creature loomed, and she felt vulnerable, her only defense a single, gleaming dagger. If she had been alone or if Catherine hadn't helped out, she would have been toast. They needed to grind and upgrade their weapons to make up for that bear loss.
“When I heard from Yuki that you were having trouble with your slime, I knew that you should come with me. The town I'm going to has a large slime population and they consider them a protected species. The players and NPCs there will be a great resource for you to look into.” Jake's words made a lot of sense to the teenager.
She clenched her ticket tightly as she asked him a bunch of questions. “Is this town going to be in a hostile area, like when we took the carriage?” He shook his head, so she continued. “Okay, good. Will it be a long trip?”
“It won't be as long as we take the train. The town is only a town in name only. A more accurate way to explain it would be a collection of caves.”
This made her eyes squint as she tried to think of how that would work. ICE & SNOW SLIMES tended to live in the forest with all the other snow-based creatures. Not in caves or inside the actual mountains, the forests and town square sat around. So, this meant that the slimes the town protected had to be a subspecies.
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In-game five species of slime lived all over the world designed for Frozen Hearts. Snow and ice type, which was what her darling Pudding was. Earth slimes were usually made of a grass texture and appeared to be a clump of the ground that could move with rock eyes. Much like how ICE SLIMES are also called snow slimes depending on the version of the game you play, EARTH SLIMES are called something else.
This other name is based on their appearance, GRASS SLIMES. Another type was often mistaken for an ice/snow slime. This is a water slime that looks like a bag of clear blue water. These slimes moved slower than others and tended to be the most careless because of being fragile.
The fourth slime was extremely rare and a lot of players didn't consider it to be a slime. This was because it was much more solid, resembling a gummy version of a small cub.
Lots of players called it a living gummy bear and the slime could only be found during special server-wide events. It was squishy and very ill-tempered, despite its adorable appearance.
This left only one slime for the two to try to protect. “So, the slimes that they protect are SPIRIT SLIMES? I've never seen one that likes to be near humans. They're smarter than other slimes and don't even look like one.”
Jake nodded, scratching his skin. “This town is their birthplace, according to the old developer logs posted before the first demo was out. The NPCs of the town are all related to spirits.”
All this talk jogged some memories of her. “Wait – are we going to the town that's part of the anniversary update everyone has got?”
There was an update added to the game a month prior to Elizabeth playing that was created to celebrate Frozen Hearts' anniversary. It was initially going to be a DLC, but developers changed their minds halfway through. The community was overjoyed and there was a good reason for it.
This new section would expand upon the overall story of Frozen Hearts that had been advertised for years but never really spoke on since. A place with spirit-type only mobs that had NPCs that were intricate to the background of the entire world they were exploring.
The designs of the NPCs and the creatures were also incredibly unique. Everything about it made the players go so crazy the servers went down within an hour. When it first was released, it was overrun with players, but now Elizabeth knew most had moved on to other parts.
“It sure is.” Jake pulled the hood of his coat on and opened the front door. He smiled at her with his usual friendly eye twinkle. “We better get a move on before one other gets here and ropes us into some mission.”
Elizabeth nodded, then frowned. “Give me a few minutes to get ready. I need to get myself together and make sure Pudding's asleep.”
“Has the dust I've given you been working?”
Elizabeth smiled. “It has.” She was incredibly grateful for the man giving her the dust so her companion could sleep. “Pudding has felt much better.”
The slime had been resting well since Jake had given Elizabeth such a cheat code. But the teenager knew it wouldn't be a permanent solution. The girl would need to find a more effective way to get Pudding to sleep calmly.
Jake had told her as much when giving her the book and dust that day. The gigantic knight made it clear that he wouldn't be giving her anymore. So, when she ran out of it that was it. Elizabeth wasn't getting another speck.
“I'm relieved. I like the little guy even if he's as big as a couch now.” Jake mentioning the slime's sudden evolution made her sigh.
She scratched her head. Elizabeth frowned as she explained her confusion about Pudding suddenly growing in size. “Yeah, I don't know what happened. Hopefully, this town can help me find out why and how that is possible.”
Her body slumped, and the teenager felt a wave of exhaustion crash over her, making her muscles ache and her eyelids heavy. She had been playing for a while and she knew that she should rest. But she needed to go with Jake to this town to get help for Pudding. The teenager ignored the worried look he gave her and went into her room where Pudding sat.
They had all decided that since Pudding had destroyed the room; it was now Elizabeth’s keeping. She found that to be a fair punishment compared to what she really deserved and took the room eagerly.
It was pretty plain compared to the others, but that's due to them spending coins to purchase accessories. She needed to save all of her for her beloved slime baby.
Said slime was lying on the ground, atop a carpet she'd found in the room's closet, so it was comfortable. Elizabeth walked over to the sleeping creature and lifted her hand briefly before dropping it.
The brunette didn't want to risk waking up the slime after it had finally gone to sleep. The teenager decided not to sprinkle on more sleeping dust, she'd given it enough. Elizabeth instead just went into her inventory with a hesitant glance.
{INVENTORY OPEN}
◇ 1 SNOW BUG SPRAY ◇
◇ 1 WICKER BROOM ◇
◇ 1 CRYSTAL VACUUM ◇
◇ 1 MAID OUTFIT ◇
item currently equipped
◇ 1 MAP OF FROST TOWN ◇
◇ 1 MAP OF FROST ESTATE ◇
◇ 1 DAMAGED WEREBEAR COAT ◇
◇ 4 SNOW LION STEAKS ◇
◇ 1 SNOW LION PELT COAT ◇
◇ 1 SNOW LION FANG DAGGER ◇
◇ 2 PUB PASSES ◇
◇ 1 WET RAG ◇
◇ GUILD PASS ◇
◇ 1 MAMMOTH TOOTH ◇
◇ 1 MAMMOTH FUR STRIP ◇
◇ 1 SLIME & MOB BOOK ◇
◇ 1 TRAIN PASS ◇
item equipped
{SELECTED 1 SNOW LION STEAK}
“This will keep you from going crazy without me,” Elizabeth muttered as she sat the steak on the ground in front of the sleeping slime. She could only hope that the goo would be sedated by a nice, meaty meal. “I hope.”