As if right on cue, an all too familiar plap sounded behind him. Leo turned around and saw his arch-nemesis, the generic slime, had made its way back to him.
“Thank GOD you’re here lil buddy,” he said, as a cruel smile broke over his face, “I really wanted to get revenge for the shit you pulled earlier, I knew acid stung, but holy shit, that burned.”
He climbed out of the crater, each step leaving an imprint on the ground. Once he reached the edge of the crater, he watched as the slime stared back at him, in the way an eyeless creature does.
The slime started to do its imitation of a disoriented ditto, but Leo decided to not let it have the first move. He had no training or technique, this would be obvious to anyone who saw him punch like a one armed ferret.
…
Slimey had been a happy slime, one who used acid to digest his prey and jumped around aimlessly in the forest. His favorite activities were staying still and jumping around, if given a choice, he would have spent his years hunting small animals and weak adventurers until he dissolved, which would lead to him splitting apart into multiple baby slimes.
Sadly for Slimey, he had no choice in the matter. He suffered a blow that carried more force than had been experienced by any other slime in history. Hopefully for other slimes, this would be a valuable lesson about not throwing acid on strangers.
The force of the punch sent shockwaves through the air, as the sounds of roaring winds filled Leo’s ears. He staggered backwards in shock at the force of his attack, and by the time he regained his composure, all he saw was the destruction ahead.
Before him was a large path that ran through the forest, everything in its path reduced to memories. The path was wide, far wider than Leo’s body, let alone his fist. The path extended so far that he could see the village in the distance, the thick forest reduced to a flat trail.
While he still reeled from the force of his attack, he noticed in the bottom left of his view there seemed to be some notification. Leo reached out and touched the box, as he saw another screen pop up.
The new window seemed to be a collection of experience gained and how he earned that experience. The list was far longer than he would have expected from an attempt to kill one slime, but that’s what happens when you destroy a solid chunk of a forest. He went from giving it a broken ankle to removing its leg.
[BEAR X 7 | GAINED 2,100 EXP]
[ORC X 7 | GAINED 1,750 EXP]
[GOBLIN X 24 | GAINED 1,200 EXP]
[DIRE WOLF X 8| GAINED 1,200 EXP]
[GIANT SPIDER X 6 | GAINED 1,200 EXP]
[OGRE X 2 | GAINED 1,000 EXP]
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
[SLIME X 35 | GAINED 700 EXP]
[ORC CHIEFTAIN | GAINED 500 EXP]
[DIRE RAT X 14 | GAINED 350 EXP]
Leo felt as if he had something caught in his throat as he read the list. He barely had the power to kill a fly just a week ago, and now, he had a 3 digit kill count. He felt shocked, for the first time in his life he had power, true power. He could rule this world like a king, there couldn’t possibly be someone who could hold a candle to his raw strength.
Then the guilt began to set in for Leo, as his humanity kicked back in. He had just killed so many living beings, and it turned out to be something he wasn’t sure he could handle. He didn’t mind the death of a monstrous spider, but what if there were people in the forest. What if those orcs and goblins were people just like him.
The shock of it caused him to laugh, as he laughed so hard that tears ran down his face. Leo had no clue where he was or what he was doing, but he knew he wasn’t someone who wanted to hurt people.
“System,” he demanded through the tears.
He looked at the screen and saw that he had 10,000 exp available. There had to be something he could spend it on that would help him. Without much certainty on how to use the system or the exp, he settled on asking nicely.
“Hey system, can you just put my exp into something that can lower my strength, please?” he asked, apprehensive that it would work.
He felt relief wash over him as his exp dropped to 0, and a new ability popped up on the screen.
[Leo Eule - Human][Health: 99,998/99,999]
[Class: None][EXP:0 ]
[Strength: 2,147,483,647]
[Dexterity: 3]
[Intelligence: 3]
[Charisma: 2]
[Abilities]
[Curse of the Withered King: Your Strength was permanently set to -2 of current Strength.]
[Conserve Power: You can limit yourself to only 20% of your full Strength.]
It took Leo a minute and some very intricate drawings in the mud to see that even with this newfound ability, he would still have 429,496,729.4 remaining in strength. He knew that even with a lot of his strength reduced, he was still a danger to anyone who was near him.
His new ability did mean there were ways to reduce his strength, and if he was lucky, he could find some other ways to weaken himself. Thankfully, his knowledge of common sense helped him realize that it would be easier to find out with the help of others. He decided to walk down the path he made, hopeful that there would be something or someone helpful in the village.
While Leo walked, he noticed that it was much easier to not destroy the ground, though he did cause a mess of splattered mud. Despite the ease, he knew he had to be diligent, as just one misstep could send him airborne.
While he walked, he couldn’t help but wonder about the world he was in. He remembered the stories he’d read, and thought of Demon Lords he could beat in one punch and of harems that would worship his very existence. Leo could admit that these were juvenile thoughts, but at the same time, he couldn’t help but imagine it.
He also observed the destruction he caused, and how it seemed as if his attack left a clean slice through the landscape. The ground he walked on was level, and the trees had been cleanly cut through.
Leo wondered if maybe this world didn’t only have stats, but what if it also had hitboxes. He could possibly find a way to shrink his hitboxes so that he could fight without such destruction. This would require a place to train where he wouldn’t have to worry about any nearby civilizations or people, so he wasn’t exactly hopeful.
Around an hour of walking passed, as he was not far from the village now, until he ran into the first living creatures that weren’t slimes. Before him were two men who seemed to intently observe the trees, writing down whatever information tree watchers would find useful.
Leo wasn’t sure how to approach the situation, so he decided to walk by really slowly so that one of them noticed him and talked to him. This was his tried and true tactic for making friends since elementary school, and this time, it may actually work!
The taller of the two men, standing at about the same height as Leo, leaned down and tugged at the shirt of his companion.
“Buddy, there’s some weirdo walking really slowly while staring at us. What should we do?” he whispered poorly to his friend.