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Chapter 2: The Hidden Quest That Everyone Knows
‘What will be, will be,’ thought Sila.
Sila sat down looking at his new right arm. Although he could move it freely, he still felt like it wasn’t his own arm. It felt as though he was wearing a very long glove from his fingertips to his elbow. It looked lifeless. Like the artificial arm of a robot.
No matter how many times he read his new arm’s information, the Right Arm of the Sealed One was not as good as an S Grade equipment should be. He had just visited the game forum via a news window and found that an option of increasing physical attack by 100 points was very ordinary and could be found on D Grade equipment. With the restrictions that forced a user to equip and forbade the user to use some skills, Sila thought that this right arm should be categorized as E Grade equipment instead.
‘I should try to attack using this arm first.’
He looked left and right, the field was still filled with slimes. Hence, he decided to attack one of them. However, he was not sure how to attack it with his new arm as he still was not used to it. The arm was slightly larger than his original one.
While he was feeling a bit silly, he decided to just use it on one of the slimes.
The Pink Slime died in one hit.
[You have defeated Pink Slime, Level 1 Squire Rank.]
[You have received 5 experience points, 3 silver, and 3 Pink Slime Cards.]
[You have learned a passive skill: Bare Hands Mastery – Level 1.]
Sila was not surprised at all when he heard he received three cards altogether since he had known that these slimes would sometimes drop several cards at once. Sila figured that these cards were a very common drop. Nevertheless, except for these Pink Slime Cards, no other item was dropped from the slime, except money.
Sila didn’t worry much and began hunting more than a thousand Pink Slimes. This time he could eliminate them at a much faster rate since his arm, which had 100 attack points, could kill a Pink Slime in one hit.
Newbies around there started to notice him. Making Sila thought, ‘Am I seizing the monsters from newbies? But wait ... I am a newbie too.’ With this perspective, he hunted for more.
He was aware of the time again when he was at level 3. His Bare Hands Mastery reached level 27. He had 1,857 silver while the number of the card was whopping 2,851.
‘I remember Miss NPC said about the card window. She told me to seek more information about it at Card Shop, though.’
With curiosity, Sila inspected one of the cards.
[(F) Pink Slime Card]
‘That’s it? There is no other explanation. How can I know what it is used for?’
He then thought about the card window. He decided to insert one Pink Slime Card into his card window.
A system notification rang.
[Would you like to equip a Pink Slime Card? Do you want to confirm?]
“Confirm.”
[Confirmation completed. You have changed your race to Slime Race. Please check more information in your status window.]
[You have learned a special skill: Heart of Slime.]
When system sound stopped, Sila quickly opened his status window.
[Player Status: Sila]
[Level: 3]
[Race: Pink Slime]
[Rank: Squire]
[Health Point: 558 / 558]
[Magic Point: 50 / 50]
‘Huh? I am not a human anymore? But my body didn’t seem to change at all.’
Sila pressed on the race button in status window to see his current race information. It suddenly made him speechless.
[Slime Race]
[Monsters in the slime race will not attack you first.]
[You are forbidden from using magic.]
[The slime race’s nemesis is the dragon race. Monsters in the dragon race will give priority in attacking you first.]
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“Slimes don’t attack first? Aren’t they passive to begin with? And what is this... the slime’s nemesis is the dragon? Doesn’t that far outclass them? How did they even become an enemy in the first place? More importantly, this race forbids me from using magic so now my avatar can’t use skills or magic. What should I do?”
Even if he had never played any game before, the word dragon still sounded very almighty when compared to these pink slimes.
Sila thought there would be nothing worse than this. Thus, he inserted one more card into his card window. Strangely, the card disappeared instantly with a small window message popped up.
[1/2,500]
Sila frowned. He inserted another card. It disappeared again.
[2/2,500]
‘I see. I have to insert 2,500 cards. No wonder why they dropped so easily.’
After that, Sila spent about an hour inserting cards one by one until the number reached 2,500.
‘Why does the system only allow me to insert them one at a time? Terribly time-consuming.’
The system notification rang.
[Congratulations! You have accomplished a hidden quest. You have received the Invitation Card to the Slime Kingdom. It’s a personal item which cannot be sold or transferred.]
[Invitation Card to the Slime Kingdom]
[A special item which cannot be sold or transferred. Upon paying 1,000 silver, you can teleport to the Slime Kingdom.]
Sila felt a bit confused as he read the description. Well, for now, he decided to just keep it in his item window, which was now much clearer because many slime cards were used. The reason Sila didn’t determine to go to the Slime Kingdom was that 1,000 silver was considered expensive for him right now. Moreover, he did not have any information about the Slime Kingdom yet. It shouldn’t be too late if he did some research before he went.
“Well, I’ll kill some more slimes before entering the town.”
But as Sila turned around to look for the disgusting slimes, he surprisingly found that the slimes didn’t look so loathsome anymore. Instead, they looked cute in pink balloon-like forms with big eyes and mouths.
“What is this? Where are the slimes?”
Sila immediately thought that this must be related to his newly acquired skill: Heart of Slime.
[Special Skill: Heart of Slime]
[You can see the genuine form of slime.]
“The genuine form?”
Many slimes began to snuggle him. They gave him the loving eyes as if they’re trying to tell him that ‘We are comrades, Bro’ causing Sila to cancel his slime elimination plan.
‘Why did the system have to make these guys this cute? Now I think I won’t be able to hunt slimes anymore.’
Finally, Sila went to the Town of Beginnings.
***
The Town of Beginnings was bustling and lively. People were crowded. Most of them were wearing Beginner’s Clothes. The atmosphere was somehow similar to the atmosphere in a traditional Chinese movie. All buildings and shops on either side of the road were decorated in a Chinese style.
There was a signpost pointing to the main road, saying the Hall of Beginnings was up ahead.
Sila followed the signpost. There were many signposts indicating directions every ten meters, making Sila wonder why this city had to have so many signs. Even without the crossroad, there was still a signpost.
Sila finally saw the Hall of Beginnings in front of him, but his eyes were more focused on the Card Shop near it.
‘Miss NPC told me to ask about the cards here, so I should pay a visit.’
When Sila went inside, the shop had no customers at all. There was only a young woman with blonde hair, who was wearing a red cheongsam, standing behind the counter.
“Hello, how may I, Muay, serve you?”
‘Muay? Her face is very westerner-like, her eyes are also blue. If it isn’t because of her cheongsam, I may think I’m lost in Europe.’ Sila argued in his mind.
> T/N: Muay is a Thai nickname used to call for girls who have Chinese-like face. So, his thought here is about this name doesn’t suit her appearance.
“Mister Customer?”
“Oh. Sorry. I would like to inquire about the cards.”
“You must be a new player, then. Feel free to ask anything.”
“Okay. The thing is, recently, I inserted a card into my card window and then my race turned into the slime race.”
“Oh, that is the hidden quest, Race Selecting. In Monster Soul, players can change race to other races besides human via inserting an unidentified card of the desired race. However, now this quest is not considered hidden anymore since everyone knows about this method. You can even look up this info on the game forum. By the way, upon changing race, players will inherit that race’s strong and weak points.”
“Oh, okay then. Umm... could you please tell me about slime race’s strong points? It seems like I can’t find them in the description.”
Muay smiled before replying, “There is none.”
Sila was a little shocked. He lifted his right hand to pick his ear, but then he realized his finger was too big. So he scratched his head instead.
“I am sorry. I did not hear it properly. What did you say just now?”
Muay smiled again before replying, “There is none. The slime race is a race that no one plays. Players who had gotten this race all deleted their avatars then started anew. It only has weaknesses, and can’t even use magic. Currently, there is only one player who plays this race.”
“Hmm? Who is he?”
“Player Sila, sir.”
Sila was dumbfounded, ‘Well, true, if there is only one, then that’s me. Is this race that bad?’
“Ermm... everyone dislikes this race that much?”
“Yes. According to the Blue Pigeon Guild’s information that is published in Monster Encyclopedia, they regarded the slime race as the weakest race available.”
Sila thought for a few seconds.
“Then what is the strongest race?”
“According to the Blue Pigeon Guild’s information that is published in Monster Encyclopedia, they defined the dragon race as the strongest race.”
“Is there anybody playing as that race?”
“Yes, there are five people. The strongest of the race is Player Montra of the Heavenly Dragon Guild. Other three are also the members of this guild, while the last player is currently not in any guild.”
‘Montra again. So that bastard is indeed very strong in this game.’
“What does it mean by the word ‘the strongest of the race’?”
“The system can only announce the name of the strongest of each race to the public. By the way, the strongest of each race will be given an ultimate special skill of their own race. For example, Player Sila is currently the strongest of slime race who possessing Heart of Slime. If there is someone asking for this information, I am then obliged to answer this much.”
“Can I ask what the ultimate skill of the dragon race is?”
“Sure. The dragon race’s ultimate skill is Dragon Heart which allows the player to regain life once upon dying. When they revive, the player will have 50% of their total health points, with attack and defense increased by 30%, and speed increased by 10%.”
“What!? Why does it so much different from my race? Mine is just making slime looks cute.”
“I cannot answer that one.”
‘Well, maybe she is just an AI.’
“I have another four questions; I have the Unseal skill, but why can’t I identify cards?”
“A card can only be identified by the Card Shop’s owner. Please let me borrow one.”
Sila gave her a card. Muay took it and silver light instantly emitted from the card. Afterward, she gave it back to Sila.
[(F) Pink Slime Card]
[Increases the attack power by 1% when fighting against the slime race’s monsters.]
[Monsters in slime race will not attack you first.]
“It’s also free of charge,” said Muay.
“So it’s like that. Next, how rare for a card to drop? It seems like I got them very easily.”
“Normally, the drop rate of a card is 0.1%. However, it varies based on monster races. For instance, the slime has a 50% drop rate whereas the dragon only has a 0.0001% drop rate. The selling price is also inversely proportional to the drop rate and race. For example, 10 Pink Slime Cards can be sold for 1 silver while the Earth Dragon Card can be sold for 50 gold. Well, it usually isn’t sold at the store since it can be sold between players for a much higher price. As for the Pink Slime Card, it’s usually left on the floor since its price is next to useless.”
“So that’s the reason I could find them everywhere. Okay. Next question is: what is this?”
Sila took out the Invitation Card to the Slime Kingdom.
“This is an invitation card to the kingdom of the player’s chosen race. When using it, the player will be sent to the special area to perform special quests. Upon quest completion, players will gain secret skills of their own race. The number of skills is fixed at three for every race. The content of the quest could be asked from an NPC of the race that lives in the kingdom. The invitation card can be normally obtained by inserting the specific amount of unidentified cards depending on race. The slime race needs 2,500 cards, the beast race needs 15 cards, the dragon race needs 5 cards; for example.”
Sila nodded. He perceived that people started walking into the store so he quickly finished his business here.
“Lastly, what kind of items are sold here?”
Muay let out a sigh and then smiled. Sila felt as if the sentence ‘Finally I can start selling something.’ was written on her face. She gestured her hand to the counter.
“Please come this way.”