With the festivities over, Hector crashed down on his bed, his entire body up in flames. Not actual flames but his fever was at a level that would cook unclassed people.

He abused his body and overused the alchemical booster tonics, now he was suffering the consequences. He had almost lost his arm, too. Though it seemed okay during the public ceremonies, it was anything but. The Priests did the best they could but with his body full of potion toxins, the healing magic could only do so much. They didn't have a Priest in town who was strong enough to use the higher-leveled spells of instantaneous healing.

A small portion felt guilty for hogging the spotlight. His father insisted on many occasions that it was the right thing to do. That he had reached an agreement with the Guild Master. That George was a commoner and they would be looked down upon if they shared the glory with a commoner. But the truth was that Hector owed George his life.

A debt he might never come around to repay. Hector felt like a fraud. He should be dead. A level fifteen Epic had no business fighting a level forty-seven Legendary. Well, seventeen now. He had no idea a level cap existed. He also was puzzled that he didn't get any achievement for the fight. From what he knew of the System and the achievements, such a fight should have granted something extra. But he couldn't be sure. Most achievements required the person to be completely unaware of their existence. Otherwise, people would just force their prospective scions to harvest a bucket list of achievements, most of them life-threatening. The death toll would be catastrophic. At least that was what the Scholars said about the need for secrecy.

His arm would heal but only after several surgeries. It might take months but he would make a full recovery. The toxins would be slowly excreted from his body. He just had to take it slow and not imbibe a single alchemical product other than the necessary medicine for his arm.

Hector felt like shit. Hector felt like a fraud. But he firmly believed it was part of being a noble. He needed to endure. He felt like he lost something in the process but he was so dazed he couldn't pinpoint what.

*

*

The day after the festivities was a city day. Because I would go on a scouting expedition the next day, I visited the Guild Hall to check in recent quests.

My growth strategy was working and everyone involved was benefiting from it. I did my job and earned some Attribute Points on the side. The Adventurers had reliable information and were less propensity to underestimating the opposition or suddenly finding the Wargs were not Wargs while taking quests. The people who issued the requests had their problems solved in a timely manner. And the Guild saw a bigger quest acceptance rate.

While the Guild could force its members to take on a quest, that involved emergency pay. A quest that paid a couple dozen of silver coins would now cost at least one gold coin if not more. The higher the rank, the bigger the multiplier. It didn't happen often and some Adventurers liked the complacency. Why go out and exterminate a monster if you could stay indoors, carouse as much as you wanted, and then go on the same quest for three or five times the reward?

That might be why some Adventurers were giving me the stink eye. We didn't need to be transparent with how the Guild Hall operated but people talked. Information security was a nightmare when everyone picked Gossip as their subclass.

And speaking of subclasses, I was almost there. Just another three thousand Experience points.

But some honest and hard-working Adventurer parties gladly embraced my improved quests. The lazy bums getting drunk in the early morning while waiting for a high-paying job to cover their bar tabs could burn in hell for all I cared.

So, I did my job. I got a copy of the reports and studied them. Monster sightings were on the rise and I had plenty of reports to work with. Plotting the routes would take a lot of time. I carefully placed the folder with the reports in my pack and left.

*

*

From the Guild Hall, I went to visit Haru. The Kitsune Enchanter was her usual self.

"Welcome, welcome," she said with a toothy grin, almost feral. "Hero of the hunt."

"What?" I was puzzled.

The Kitsune giggled. "Oh, Alice passed by to brag and whine this morning."

I met her mirth with a shrug. "It is what it is, I guess."

She shook her head, then gave me a firm stare. "If I may say, tear down that conformist attitude. In this world, with the System, you are a hundred percent responsible for your fate. I won't say you did the wrong thing. Let the nobles play their games. You were well paid for your silence."

Was she guessing or did Alice tell Haru… It didn't matter.

"I need an infinite quiver," I said.

She gave it some thought. "Expensive. Highly sought-after. Difficult to make. Unavailable and probably out of your price range. Finally, do you have the Clarity to even use it?"

"Yeah, it was worth a try."

"What I can get you is a dimensional quiver. I can't craft one, though. I need to ask my contacts if anyone has one for sale. Much cheaper than the infinite one, spill and waterproof, holds around six hundred arrows for the same weight and volume as a mundane one when loaded, can store your bow and a stack of spare bowstrings. No sorting enchantment, so no instant draw of special arrows. If you wait two weeks, I can get you one that is reinforced at the grade of normal steel and can hold and preserve up to ten potions."

Six hundred arrows were twenty-five bundles. More than I could carry on a normal scouting trip. The sorting enchantment could let you draw the arrow you wanted with a mental command. Steel-grade reinforcement meant that any attack that damaged the quiver beyond mere cosmetic would have to be strong enough to shatter steel.

"How much?"

She gave me a quote. It was most of the hunt award money. But I knew it was worth it.

With the rest of my money, including all the kobold mine bounty, I asked for an amulet against elemental damage, especially lightning, and some defensive headgear. She showed me the options, then we decided which enchantments we could put on both items. Once I was satisfied with the price, I paid with a bank note and left.

Back home, I opened my map and started on the boring job of plotting routes. I had to hit all the spots especially the ones with unreliable information.

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Once the routes were plotted, I did a heavy weightlifting and core exercises session. To relax, I went stargazing with the Wolfertinger pup. Just the both of us laying down on mattress.

*

*

Next morning, the usual System message woke me up.

> You gained a point of Charisma! (01/40)

We don't need medals, Chewbacca.

I checked my gear, provisions, weapons, armor, everything was in perfect working order. I packed everything neatly in my porter backpack and topped it with six kilograms of fresh living rabbit-wolf meat. The critter made eye contact, nudged my hand, and licked my finger. I gave him a tiny square of Wolfertinger meat. He swallowed without chewing and then begged for more. I ruffled his fur and closed the flap.

Then I went out of the city. I didn't dislike the urban agitation but nothing beat the openness and freedom of the wilderness. I made haste to my first monster sighting spot. Five hours later, I reached it.

The shepherd who sent the report said that slimes had eaten one of his sheep. When I reached the steep depression, my stomach churned.

Slimes of all types churned in a mass of tentacles and membranes. They sensed our presence and that of my enchanted items and a writhing horror stretched toward us. I hurriedly moved away.

An amalgam of three slimes, yellow, green, and red rushed up the pit. It was an amorphous mass of sticky goop similar to droplets of thick stew but animated. The grass hissed as the thing climbed out of the depression and dripped fluids.

Children usually drew slimes as those cute colorful blobs with smiley faces and blushing cheeks. It couldn't be further from the truth. The thing chasing after me had nothing cute about it. Perhaps somewhere else they had these bouncy slimes; but here, they were as nightmarish as they could.

I moved backward as I examined the monster's compound body. To defeat a slime, you had to break its core. A crystalline orb, usually the size of a thumbnail. It constantly moved inside the slime's body and was harder to break than alchemically reinforced glass. You needed a direct hit with sufficient force or it would just slip past the attack.

The other way was to use slashing attacks to sever portions of its body. Disconnected from the main body, that section would lose cohesion and convert into acidic fluid.

The problem was that slimes could dissolve many materials. All of them could eat organic matter. A few could eat ceramics, metals, and even glass.

I wouldn't destroy another brand-new short sword the first time I used it. That left my arrows. I walked backward, trusting my memory to avoid obstacles that might cause me to trip.

I took aim and drew Scout's Oath fully. Steady… breathe… and fire. It was unwise to hold a full draw for too long. My arms would quickly tire.

The shot missed the red slime's core. It was hard to pinpoint the semitransparent sphere in the best conditions. Much less when being chased and a little afraid. The viscous substance absorbed the momentum and left the arrow floating inside. The wood and feathers quickly dissolved, leaving the arrowhead to slowly drift down.

Undeterred, I nocked and fired another arrow. This one nicked the yellow core, causing the corresponding slime to twitch and constrict, holding the amalgam's advance. It also stiffened the goop, allowing the next arrow to hit home.

The yellow slime splashed in all directions as it liquefied.

> For killing level 15 lime slime, you earned 40 Experience points.

It was of Uncommon rarity. The other two cinched each other tighter and redoubled the efforts to reach me.

I drew three and fired them one after another. The second one broke the red core, causing the third to go to waste.

> For killing level 18 wine slime, you earned 80 Experience points.

No problem. I packed more arrows this time. Another six arrows and green also became a puddle.

> For killing level 19 bile slime, you earned 100 Experience points.

The naming pattern was odd, to say the least. Nobody knew how creatures were named by the System. Did it come up with its own names or did it let the first person to encounter a new creature to name it? With over fifty thousand years of known history on Koyphivv and who knew more millennia traveling in the great sea of stars above before the Founding, the origins of most things were shrouded in mystery. Only the Gods knew.

I tried to retrieve my arrows but they were all damaged and unusable. The extra resilience imparted on them by my heirloom bow only lasted while in flight and fractions of a second after they hit.

The slimes in the weren't worth the trouble. If I started shooting down there, the whole swarm might come after me and I didn't believe I could hit that many cores. At least not before they wrecked most of the surrounding area with their acid.

Then again, killing slimes wasn't an economic activity. They had no loot and posed a great risk. Those who could kill this many slimes wouldn't come here for the reward offered.

Fuck it, we ball.

It would be out of character for me to either back off out of caution or to leave an unfinished job behind knowing nobody else would pick up the slack.

I went to the edge of the slime pit and took aim. Track a core, any core. There. I drew and shoot. Hit.

> For killing level 11 dime slime, you earned 16 Experience points.

For duck's sake! What is wrong with these names?

I ran away. Splattering a silvery slime caused the others to sense danger. The last thing I saw in the pit was the writhing mass getting agitated.

I waited to see if the slime would come out of the pit. One did, a brown one. I had an arrow ready. Out with it.

> For killing level 18 pine slime, you earned 64 Experience points.

They had to run out of names, right?

Next one. It had a swing to its wobbling. A rhythm.

> For killing level 21 jive slime, you earned 144 Experience points.

They kept coming. Pale white.

> For killing level 12 bone slime, you earned 20 Experience points.

Psychedelic multicolored.

> For killing level 17 cake slime, you earned 64 Experience points.

Straw beige.

> For killing level 18 bale slime, you earned 80 Experience points.

Pink.

> For killing level 22 cute slime, you earned 172 Experience points.

Blue on light gray.

> For killing level 20 Yale slime, you earned 120 Experience points.

Why was this one capitalized?

The next had gas bubbles and was releasing them as it moved, a foul stench following a gurgling sound.

> For killing level 9 rude slime, you earned 9 Experience points.

Groan. A slime with pustules!

> For killing level 17 sore slime, you earned 64 Experience points.

Goodness! Just stop!

Slick slime! With one that was tan. They seemed to be shaped like...

> For killing level 12 lube slime, you earned 20 Experience points.

> For killing level 13 nude slime, you earned 25 Experience points.

Eww.

Eww.

Disable kill notifications for the next two hours!

*

*

Long story short, I killed a lot of slimes. Most of them near the depression. But the damn things had started dozens of pits, some of them concealed by vegetation. It almost felt intentional but slimes were mindless. Right? Right? I killed so many that I gained a level. Finally.

> You gained 1 level. You are now level 20.

> You unlocked a Subclass Slot. Congratulations.

> You gained the Perk, Rope Mastery: Rope you manipulate may become (100+Endurance)% tougher and harder to cut or burn, or weaker if you will. Knots you tie do not come apart naturally unless you will them so. You deal double damage with whips.

That Perk was unusual. I had to test its parameters and limitations. But it sounded like a neat Perk to have. Whips dealt ridiculously low damage, compared to things that actually killed stuff like swords, arrows, and spears.

I also went through four bundles of arrows. Four less than a hundred projectiles.

I needed that dimensional quiver.

With the slime's gone, I spent my Attribute points and checked the depression. That many different slime types would've dissolved everything but one kind of material. Enchanted items.

It was worth a try.

The bottom of the depression was empty except for pools of liquefied slime. They had eaten the topsoil until the bedrock was exposed and even that showed signs of corrosion. One or a few slimes could eat rocks and left small holes where they fed. The slime pooled inside these holes.

With my lantern, I checked the holes without touching the liquid. Didn't see anything at all. I climbed out on the other side and spent an hour checking to see if this was the only slime pit.

It wasn't the only one. The biggest, yes. But I found four other pits, much shallower. The slimes were smaller and way lower-leveled.

I recalled what the Lord said. Mana was behaving erratically and this was triggering a higher spawn rate with higher level monsters appearing. This slime infestation was yet another evidence that it was real.

I heard a distant shout and then bleating. Thrashing. I leaped over a pit and ran. The bleating continued and the cries for help sent my mind into a frenzy.