Mavis reappears in the middle of a forest, surrounded by large trees that are as tall as a two-story house as they cover the sky, only letting a little sunlight into the ground. This leaves the ground becoming wet and a little slippery, and the place very humid. He first examined his surroundings, not knowing what type of things were out there and comfortably hid behind one of those trees before checking the trial mission.
[1st stage of the trial]
Objective: Locate and defeat all the opponents in your allocated area.
The objective is explained in a pretty simple way that leaves a lot of important information missing. 'Who's supposed to be my opponents? Are they other people or monsters?' Mavis quietly probed. He couldn't afford to make any noises for now, as he still didn't know who or what he was dealing with.
Eventually, Mavis decided to move from his current position. No matter how clueless he is about his objective, he can't just stay here and wait for something to happen. First of all, he didn't how many days he would have to stay here or how many opponents he had to defeat. So for now, he decided to look for some basic necessities that could help him survive.
The first thing he has to look for is water, and with no way to tell which direction is which, he just picks a random way and then proceeds to trek the grassy and slippery path.
He tip-toed at every step of the way, while being on the lookout for some herbs or some fruits he could forage along the way. He carefully planted each foot to not slip and stopped from time to time to inspect his surroundings.
After a few minutes of careful trekking, he came across some berries and fruits that were safe to eat. He was glad that he had read some books containing the most common plant products of the universe that are safe to eat because some of the things he had carefully picked showed an unknown effect.
[Kimber Berry]
Description: A berry produced by the kimber bush, one of the most common plants in the universe. It could satiate thirst because of the high content of water it contains. They are usually found in damp environments and have a sweet taste to them.
[Tall Swallow Fruit]
Description: A fruit produced by the tall swallow tree. They grow at the base of the tree to let creatures have an easier time acquiring them in return for their protection. It has a meaty taste and could easily fill up even the biggest belly.
[ ??? Fungus]
Description: ???
The Kimber berry could act as his water and the tall swallow fruit as his food. He could tell that these two were specifically put by Ego to help trial takers in this stage so they wouldn't at least starve or die of thirst. The only question is, what was he supposed to do with the fungus? He didn't want to find out anything about it by tasting it himself, and the term fungus has a very telling effect on it.
So for now, Mavis put it in his possession as he might have some use for it later. He could also experiment with it later on if he has time. He then moved on and looked for more useful things he could find in the forest while still being vigilant.
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He couldn't tell how many hours he had walked due to the trees blocking the sun as well as the absence of a clock. He was so used to the hanging timer above the center of his room that he couldn't tell the time by himself. 'Where does this even lead to, I've been walking for a straight line and I still haven't encountered anything, maybe...' He couldn't finish that thought when he was suddenly distracted by a faint sound coming from his left.
With no idea where else to go, he reluctantly headed to where that sound came from. Straight ahead is a glade surrounded by tall trees and in that place is some sort of sludge creature moving about. It is certainly alive just by the way it moves and the clear view of some animal floating within its body slowly getting digested by the thing, hopelessly waiting for its demise. Its appearance is so disgusting that it incurred a reaction on Mavis to look away, lumps and lumps of green goo sloshing around every time it moves.
Mavis, still disgusted by it, slowly approached the unknown creature and inspected it. He willed the wild essence and then pushed it to envelope the thing.
[Basic Information]
Race: Slime
Essence: 0⭐️(Level 5)
Unfortunately, even before Mavis could think of any plans on how to deal with the creature, it had somehow sensed him behind where he was hiding and suddenly crawled towards him with unexpected speed.
Mavis with no time to prepare, immediately lifted his left hand, where he had worn the vambrace, containing the ready-to-use "Fire Bolt" spell. He fired the spell but completely missed the charging slime due to his surprise. Grimacing from his lack of accuracy, he put his arms together and hardened his robes, granting some mana into it as he braced for the impact.
He was thrown to the ground a few meters from where he originally was. The rebound of the hit was a lot stronger than he had thought as he felt the pain simultaneously in his arms and back.
He couldn't have time to think about it though, as it charged towards him again. Mavis hurriedly got back up and tried to cast a spell. He formed the first few runes but couldn't finish it because the slime was already upon him. The slime, yet again, broke his expectations when it suddenly jumped towards him. Thankfully, even though overwhelmed, Mavis calmly dodges the slime's attack. He rolled towards the side and ran as fast as he could to create some distance between him and the slime.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
When he thought that he was at a safe distance, Mavis turned around and tried another spell. This time he managed to shape all the runes and properly converted them, a wisp of fire formed from the tip of his wooden staff. He saw that the slime was still barely upon him and fired the spell. A small ball of fire landed just slightly behind the slime, only grazing it a little.
"Damn it, the thing is too fast." He cursed himself. He had to readjust his aim a little bit more due to the unexpected speed of the creature. So he once again ran away from it.
Although this time, he looked behind him and noticed how the slime slowly moved toward his direction, and when it was finished adjusting, it sped up straight toward him again. Mavis didn't let that small information pass his mind and took note of it. It appears that the creature could only move fast when going in a straight line and had to slowly readjust itself when turning.
Mavis with that knowledge, properly came up with a plan this time. He ran a little bit more to create some space then turned right, just behind the tall trees. He cast another "Fire Bolt" - feeling his mana waning a little bit. And waited for the bastard to turn up. He held the spell in front of him, predicting the path that the slime would stop.
With a few more abated breaths, just like he had planned, the slime stopped where he had wanted and slowly turned towards him. This gave him time to properly aim, a moment of readjustment then he willed the "Fire Bolt" to shoot.
The spell flew across a few meters and hit the slime, the strength of the spell was noticeably a lot stronger with the help of his staff because of the major damage he had dealt to it. Its bits and pieces were thrown all over the place when the spell exploded on what Mavis presumed was its face. However, moments later, the slime's body slowly reconstructed itself, only the parts that had been separated were not moving.
"Aww... shit! Fucker is still alive." Mavis thought that it was over the moment he hit the slime, but it turns out, he was wrong. So while the slime was busy, Mavis fired another "Fire Bolt" and hit it again.
Even after being hit by his strongest spell twice, the slime is still tenaciously living, slowly putting itself back together, no matter what damage it takes. However, Mavis noticed a white ball being protected by its green slimy body. And suddenly remembered that every living being has a core, a weakness that could be exploited.
Mavis reformed his plans in his head, then approached the slime, before it could properly reconstruct itself. Despite the danger of being close to it, he steeled his nerves and moved towards it as fast as he could. When he was at a distance that he could just touch it if he reached out, Mavis began casting a different spell. The speed at which he was forming the runes this time was just a tad bit slower than when he was forming his most practiced spell, fire bolt. But he still formed them with ease regardless.
The air around him suddenly converges into his palms and condenses into an erratic ball of wind. He noticed that the slime was almost recovered but he had already cast his spell. Without wasting any more time, Mavis aimed and then shot it.
The moment the "Air Sweep" landed, all of the green goo that was covering the white core had been blown away. Leaving only a few of them on the ground, moving still to cover the core. Mavis, not wanting to deal with the creature any longer, lifted his leg and stomped the white core.
His first stomp didn't manage to break it so he repeatedly did it again and again till it finally broke. What came after was a notice from the system.
[You have slain a slime. Essence aquired]
[Level Up]
[Unlocked Inventory]
[Level Up]
His first confrontation with an unknown creature took him a lot more effort than he had expected, and he had learned the difference between casting a spell in a safe area and being confronted in an actual battle. It was all worth it though, as he gained two levels just from killing one. He then proceeded to check his status to try and decide where he would put his unallocated attributes.
[Basic Information]
Name: Mavis Vicencio
Race: Human
Class: None
Essence: 0⭐️ (Level 2)
[Attributes]
Strength - 5+1
Vitality - 6+1
Endurance - 7+1
Agility - 6+1
Dexterity - 8+1
Perception - 9+1
Willpower - 11+1
Wisdom - 13+1
Intelligence - 13+1
Unallocated: 6
Three of his mind attributes had exponentially increased, and he also noticed the extra increase in his willpower.
'It seems that the Varied Growth trait only increases the attributes based on the actual value and does not count any attributed gained from the achievement effect.' Mavis realized. This means if he increased his other mind attributes up to 10, they could also gain 1 more point as a part of his Varied Growth trait.
With that thought, Mavis then increased his Dexterity and Perception attributes so they could also be on par with the rest. As for the remainder of his unallocated points, he put one each on his Agility, Endurance, and Vitality attributes so he could properly gain some distance if he needed to.
That leaves his current attributes looking like this:
[Attributes]
Strength - 5+1
Vitality - 7+1
Endurance - 8+1
Agility - 7+1
Dexterity - 11+1
Perception - 11+1
Willpower - 11+1
Wisdom - 13+1
Intelligence - 13+1
Unallocated: 0
Mavis felt the rush of his new power all over his body and mind. He could immediately tell the difference from his past self and felt very exhilarated by it.
"Phew.. If I hadn't gotten a hold of myself properly in the future, I might get addicted to this feeling. I need to keep reminding myself that there's someone more older and powerful than me out there and smartly progress my way to the top." Mavis said as he gave himself the talk that no one would have.
Before going back into the glade and hunting some more slime, Mavis checked his inventory and figured out what did.
[Inventory]
0/50
He felt that the space in front of him had expanded and a small black hole suddenly appeared. He jumped thinking that it was some kind of spell but then rethink his actions, as he felt no intent from it. It just floats there as it awaits him.
Mavis then grabbed a fruit that he had kept in his robes then put it into the small black hole, and as he expected the number went up by one. This made him feel ecstatic as carrying the fruit on their own is such a hustle to do. So he immediately brought out all the fruits and berries he was carrying along with the unknown fungus and put them all in his inventory.
"That was convenient. That means I don't have to personally carry anything that I possess and could simply be put inside my inventory." He smiled, thinking of all the possibilities that the system boon had given him.
After taking all his time properly allocating his attributes and checking his new inventory. Mavis then began slowly making his way back into the glade and a few minutes later he was back there again, on the lookout for more slimes to kill. He had already filled his vambrace with a new spell, although this time, instead of the "Fire Bolt" spell, he had charged the effective "Air Sweep". His mana had also recovered at the acceptable capacity so he proceeded to enter the glade this time.
After a few seconds of scanning the area, he had already spotted his second slime. Trudging along the grasses, as it also hunts for food. Mavis with an effective plan that he had already experienced, shot the Slime first before indentifying it.
[Basic Information]
Race: Slime
Essence: 0⭐️(Level 4)
He had learned the hard way that prodding someone of their status could alert the person or creature. He had to ask Ego back in the saferoom if there was a way he could inspect someone without them knowing, the moment he got back.
The fight against the slime was very short and in a way easy this time, maybe due to him leveling twice and the level of the slime being one lower than his first encounter. After he had shot the "Fire Bolt", the slime, even though damaged, charged at him at a fast rate again. Mavis then easily predicted its patch, dodged to the side, then used the charge spell from his Vambrace, leaving the slime stripped away of its protection. Then Mavis, cast another "Fire Bolt" to destroy its core, not wasting time to stomp it again using his meager strength. Although he didn't level up, Mavis still felt better, maybe because he was a little bit frustrated from the first one.
Now that he has an effective hunting strategy, Mavis goes around the glade and hunts more slimes, until he couldn't see them anymore.