> Monster hunting is the noblest profession. Since time immemorial, the hunters among us have been the most valued members of society. Where would we be if there weren’t enough of them to keep us safe? That’s why I’m proposing a five percent tax cut for all freelance monster hunters.

> —Mette Rasmussen, a quote from an interview on “Good Morning Kraej City,” CN5 TV

Asteria

Right now, I’m here to kill slimes as part of my training. I normally train in the spiritual plane, but I thought it would be good to see how well I do in real life.

Our house was in the outskirts of town so it was easy for me to sneak off to this clearing which was about an hour away from Lieceni. This was the place where people go to hunt slimes, cute bouncy little creatures that have an anima core that can be sold for a bit of money. One core was about eighty to one hundred credits.

I didn’t have a weapon because I was poor. Picking up a fallen tree branch, I used it to channel anima into an electric blast. That was the most basic but inefficient way to cast a spell. People can’t normally cast magic without an artifact.

Boing. Boing.

The slimes made a cute sound effect when they bounced around. The nicest thing about them was that they don’t attack people unless they are attacked first. I could take my time aiming my spell at a golden slime.

Bzzzt.

I successfully cast the spell, but the slime must have sensed the incoming danger, because it dodged. I readied another spell but-

Boing. Boing.

Damn, it was bouncing around so fast that I couldn’t focus my spell on it. Ugh. What a rookie mistake! Wait, it’s getting too close-

“Kyaaaa!” I couldn’t help but scream when the golden slime bounced its way right onto my face. I fell over and dropped my makeshift wand when I threw my arms up to protect my face.

Boing. Boing.

The damned slime was bouncing all over my prone body. It didn’t hurt...much. The problem was that it was hard to concentrate on casting a spell when it kept hitting me. I finally managed to drive it away with a weak blast of raw anima from my palms. Raw anima is weak and tiring to use, but it will do in a pinch.

I got back up and cast my electric blast spell again and again, but the slime was bouncing too fast for me to hit it. The golden slime had decided to flee, so it was now bouncing away from me.

Bzzt. Bzzt. Bzzt.

I cast three bolt spells in a row but still couldn’t manage a hit.

...And the golden slime was gone.

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

I tried to kill the other slimes, but after one hour of slime hunting, all I could do was hit the edge of one slime once. I’m pretty sure that was an accident. I was aiming at a different slime but that one bounced in the way of my spell.

I’ve confirmed that what I suspect is true. I suck at combat.

Technically, I’m OP. Those slimes wouldn’t have stood a chance against me if I were to use one of my unique skills but that is something that I think I should reserve for times when I really need it. For example, I have a skill I call “Paradisiacal Rain” which is a rain of fire. However, it isn’t something I should use for monster hunting. It’s the same skill that the hero Hjalmar lost control of when he used it on his enemies. His use of Paradisiacal Rain destroyed the Eatuhea continent which sank beneath the waves. They say that Eatuhea's destruction and the tsunamis it caused killed nine-tenths of the population of the world at that time. I’ve no intention of ever using this skill.

Even when it comes to regular skills, my spellcasting speed and strength are excellent whether it’s attack or support spells. I’d say that I’m theoretically above the level of an S-class EL with magic. In practical terms, I’ve found that I have no talent for fighting. I lack that quality that separates the true fighter from a gym rat with big muscles. I don’t have the killer instinct. If fighting was music, I’d be tone-deaf.

I’ll just have to stay far away from the actual fighting, I guess.

As for curing the virus, it’s unexpectedly easy to do as long as the virus is quiescent. Once I’m near a virus carrier, I can just focus my will and kill it with Rite of Cleansing.

What if the virus is active? Large active colonies of the virus, like the one in the underground facility near Oren’s town, are a no go. Even trying to cure that much of the active virus might overstrain my psychic abilities. I don’t want to end up in a coma or dead.

The S and A-class ELs have small amounts of the active virus. I could probably treat them one at a time to weaken the virus. Curing the ELs completely would have to wait until after Oren had defeated the bosses and I eradicated the bigger virus clusters. All of Iah’s cells communicate and lend their strength to each other. Those mini-boss level virus colonies make all the active viruses too strong for me right now but I should be able to manage once the heroes defeat them.

I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about how to help Seraphiel.

“Tales of Vesterland” started off with a cutscene depicting Oren, the main character, returning to his hometown on a routine mission to clean up monsters. Three S-class EL Commanders, Uriel, Sariel, and Seraphiel had been assigned to this mission. That was overkill if you ask me.

Anyway, the mission went awry when Uriel unexpectedly collapsed in the middle of a fight with a monster swarm. It turned out that the EL treatments had a fatal flaw. After the ELs turned 25, their bodies rapidly deteriorated, eaten up from the inside by the virus that had helped give them their superhuman abilities.

Uriel and Sariel had been keeping this a secret from Seraphiel. The three ELs weren’t in good shape mentally. The three of them had an epic shouting match which escalated into a real fight. By the time the fight was finished, Uriel and Seraphiel were dead, and nothing but a smoking crater was left of Oren’s hometown. Sariel disappeared.

This was what triggered Oren’s quest to get revenge on the Kraej Company. He blamed them for creating dangerous Enhanced Lifeforms and allowing them to run amok.

I wanted to run away to Kraej City right away to try to save Seraphiel, but my child’s body was simply too weak. The virus would finish me off in no time if I went to see him like that.

But now, the ten years were up. I’ve trained myself as best as I can, and it’s time for me to head off to Kraej City. My training in the spiritual plane was at an end and I’m fully in the physical world.

Tomorrow Zombie Signe will fall down dead, seemingly of a heart attack, while at the town market. Then I’ll arrange her funeral, sell off all our remaining meager belongings, and be off to start my grand adventure. My goal is to watch over the hero, save Seraphiel, and have fun while doing it.

I can hardly wait.