It's slow going down the mountain. It's completely dark. Both of the double moons of Dungeon Quest are in waning crescent, so they give far too little light. I make my way down the rocky path, hoping that I don't get jumped by a wolf or stung by a nocturnal insect.
I could use "Peace of the Pacifist" but I'm still concerned about random adventurer parties making their way up the hill to the event area... and making the slime glow in bright rainbow colors would definitely give us away.
...I need to give it a name.
Is that human-centric? To give a name to something that might already have one? It's obvious that this little guy can communicate with me. The whole giving off light, jumping, guiding me through a maze of subterranean tunnels adventure made that much clear. And I've designated it as the one I'm going to protect with "Pacifist Protection." I mean, the system already calls it "prismatic slime"... is it hubris to want to have something that seems more familiar? Either way to keep my conscience clear I'm probably going to have to see if it already has a name... in whatever language... before I give it one of my own.
Also.
What on earth?
How is it possible that a rainbow that sprouted from my location earlier today created a pool with hundreds of baby prismatic slimes that have 1 HP and started a massive murderfest, and under the pool in a secret cave you can only get to by crawling there's a giant magic crystal that gives you a secret "pacifist" proficiency?
I gotta tell Koji about this. And Fred.
If I could just make myself glow, or just my feet, or just a small area around me, that would be perfect. But I can't really complain. I went from having no skills, no abilities, no profession, and no stats to suddenly being... well... definitely not overpowered yet. But still. Secret class and I'm the first one to get it! Yes!!!!!!!
Suddenly the prismatic slime jumps out of my arms. As it lands, it gives off a little burst of rainbow light.
"Hey! Wait up little guy! We don't want anyone seeing you. I know it's slow going, but this way is safer!"
I reach for the slime and it jumps away further down the hill. Soft rainbow light shines on the ground and I can see clearly enough to walk easily. I reach again, and each time it jumps just out of reach, thrums, and waits for me to get closer.
This thing is going to get itself killed.
Honestly.
I turn on "Peace of the Pacifist" and run after the slime.
Anyone watching us would think that we are totally nuts.
---
Near the bottom of the cliff we run into a group of adventurers.
Suddenly a golden spark of light flashes on the prismatic slime. A dagger ricochets off in the distance and I feel a thud in my chest.
The light catches the attention of the adventurer party.
Swordsman: "Dude! It's one of the slimes we heard about! Dibs! It's mine!"
The swordsman brandishes a massive greatsword and slices downward onto the rainbow slime, which tries to jump out of the way. The blade hits it cleanly, but then bounces off at an angle to the right. A flash of golden light sparks from the hit, and a wave of rainbow goes through the slime.
"Gaaaaahhhhhhh! Aaaaaaaaggggggghhhhhhh!"
The swordsman has dropped his sword on the ground and has fallen to his knees. He is grabbing his wrists and right arm, screaming in pain.
I feel another pulse in my chest. I pull up my status screen.
I lost 2 HP.
Huh?
It looks like "Pacifist Protection" worked - I took damage in the place of the prismatic slime. It's still alive instead of exploding into golden dust.
But that attack was way more than 2 hit points. This adventurer isn't a veteran, but his gear isn't starting gear either. Regardless, a direct hit from a great sword should have done a lot more. Why did I only lose two?
And what happened to the adventurer?
The adventurer group gathers around the injured member.
Tall female Archer: "Karl... are you ok? What happened there? I couldn't see much except a flash of light."
Karl is now rolling on the ground, cradling his arms as if they are broken. The archer looks at him worriedly, then pulls a potion out of her pouch.
Archer: "Hold him still."
The other party members grab Karl and hold him as he struggles against them, whimpering in pain. There's a black-cloaked figure and a little girl with pigtails and a witch's hat. The archer pours the potion on his hands and arm and he slumps to the ground, panting for breath.
Within moments, he's up again, reaching for his sword.
Karl: "I'll teach that dumb slime for making me look stupid! I'm gonna hit it for sure this time!"
Wait - Karl thinks that he missed the slime? It was a clean hit though.
He carefully lines up a hit with his greatsword, directly above the prismatic slime. I promised to put my life on the line for those in danger, but right now the best choice is to stay out of sight. If I get in the way right now, this guy will kill me... and then we'll both die.
The blade drops with a massive overhead swing, similar to the swing of a massive sledgehammer. The hit is straight on. There's another golden flash of light, a sound like metal hitting crystal, and the sword bounces straight back up.
"Aaaaaaagggggggghhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!"
Karl screams in pain, rolling on the ground while holding his hands. I hear a sound like slicing wind from the sky overhead. The sword previously in his hand has flown upward through the darkness, spinning end over end before it sinks cleanly into the dirt just a few feet away.
I've lost more HP. But, this time, it was only one.
A new voice speaks. I can't see them well, but this one comes from a short magic-user, with a skirt, witch's hat, and long pigtails. She has the voice of a traditional bookworm or well-read mage. "This is quite odd. I heard that the event monsters have only one hit point. Even if it has extremely high defense, a direct hit from Karl should do the job. And that was certainly a direct hit."
I decide that it's time to try to intervene. If I don't do something, they'll kill both of us.
Gabe: "This slime is different. It's not like the event slimes. It doesn't take damage so it's better to just leave it alone."
The swordsman and his party notice me. They begin talking amongst themselves.
Magic-user: "Maybe Karl can't kill it, but that doesn't mean we can't. Everyone said that the slimes are immune to certain types of damage - and especially if someone already killed one! Maybe Karl killed a slime and didn't tell us about it?"
Archer: "Yeah! Maybe that's how he heard about it! I want a prismatic tear! I'm gonna kill that slime."
They turn to back towards us and unleash a barrage of attacks.
Every single one hits the prismatic slime. And every single one bounces off. Magic bolts bounce off. Arrows hit and are knocked into the ground. Thrown daggers go spinning in a dozen directions. One bouncing magic bolt returns, and hits the archer squarely in the face.
She screams.
Archer: "Aaaaaaaaaaah!!!!!
Archer: "Hey! Annabelle! Watch where you're shooting your magic! That hurt!"
Magic-user Annabelle: "It's not my fault - it bounced off! Anyway Daphne, where's the *epic* dodging skill you were telling us about earlier today? You could see it coming as soon as it came off the slime!"
Daphne: "Yeah but I didn't expect it to actually hit me!"
Silence.
The girls look like they are about to rip each other's hair out.
Karl's voice quietly breaks the silence: "Let's get out of here guys. We don't have a healer right now... and this isn't worth wasting potions or mana on."
Karl's sword is sheathed on his back, his hands limp at his sides. He looks totally defeated - far different from the murderous rage that had filled his eyes before. After his two recoiled hits, he stayed out of the splash zone, simply massaging his wrists.
Annabelle: "Yes... I guess you're right. We'll come back tomorrow when it's light outside."
Unknown: "Gimme a sec guys. I gotta retrieve my daggers. Do you want your arrows Daphne?"
Daphne: "Ugh I don't know how you do that Drake. Cleaning the blood off your daggers and putting them in your pockets again..... blegh.... No I don't want the stupid arrows! They're probably dirty by now! And they're cheap anyway! Just get your stupid daggers and let's go!"
The rest of the group begins to walk away, and the black cloaked figure moves around the ground. After a few seconds a dagger silently flies through the air and hits the prismatic slime from the darkness. Green, gold, and rainbow lights flash, and the dagger ricochets going off on a completely different spinning trajectory. I hear a sssssshhhhhhkkkk sound as it slices through something in the dark.
Daphne: "Drake!!!!! Are you trying to kill me?!? I SWEAR I WILL KILL YOU RIGHT HERE AND RIGHT NOW!"
I gather the little prismatic slime in my arms and jog away, hiding behind a tree off the side of the road. We sit in the quiet dark, listening to the sounds of fighting fade as the adventurer party goes off in the direction of the city.
---
The edge of the plains near the mountain road is quiet.
We survived.
I open my status screen and check the damage.
>>
Name: Gabe
Proficiency: Pacifist (I)
Level: 1
HP: 9/50
MP: 20
STR: 2
AGI: 2
DEX: 2
END: 4
INT: 2
WIS: 2
CHA: 4
PER: 4
Inventory: Karmic Ring of Strength (bound)
0 gold (0 in deposit)
Ripped clothing (+0 defense)
Haruka seed
Skills: Oath of Pacifism (794 pts)
>>
So it looks like I took 41 damage from those guys.
Wow. That means they shot off 41 separate attacks. Except for the two greatsword strikes, the other 39 were magic spells, arrows, and daggers.
Wait.
794 points in Oath of Pacifism? Last time I checked I had 997, then a little over 300. I used 500 to protect the prismatic slime, 50 to read the tag with the numbers on it, and like 700 points trying to catch up with the slime running down the side of the mountain.
Which, by the way, I was literally repeating those numbers in my head the entire time we were going down the mountain and now I can't remember them at all.
In addition to the pacifist-like actions I got points for in the video, Oath of Pacifism must be one of those skills that you get points in when you use it. So... maybe each HP used by "Protection of the Pacifist" gives me points?
We return to the road.
And the slime leaps from my arms yet again.
Gabe: "Little guy. I understand your love of jumping. But I only have 9 hitpoints. I don't want you to die if someone else sees you."
The tiny slime slides across the ground and then stops, making little tiny jumps that send out waves of rainbow light. I get to where it's at and see a dagger laying on the ground.
This must be one of the daggers dropped by the cloaked guy.
The slime is jumping next to the dagger.
I think it wants me to pick it up.
I get closer to take a better look.
This is not a normal dagger. The dagger is jet black and has a deeply sinister look. The entire blade and handle look as if it were made of a single piece of obsidian or black glass. What's more, it seems to have an almost green tinge to it as well. I don't want to touch it. And if I put that in my pocket, it would slice right through it.
G: "Actually, little guy, I'm a pacifist. I have no need for weapons, and I've sort of made it a personal goal to not touch weapons here. That's not gonna hurt us, so we can leave it there, hope no one finds it, and maybe someday the wind and rain will erode it back into sand or something."
The little slime stops bouncing during the moments when I'm speaking. When I'm finished, it slides directly atop the dagger and bounces yet again.
G: "Hey! Wait! What are you doing? That thing is sharp! It's dangerous!"
The slime bounces about a meter in the air, and then lands on the dagger yet again. There's a sound like breaking glass. Then it stops bouncing and slides over to me.
I pick up the slime and it continues to move in my arms. I carefully turn it over. No damage on the underside, and no shards of glass. Actually - this is totally weird - the slime holds its shape perfectly even when it's upside down?!? It's always a partial hemisphere with rounded edges. This thing is actually pretty cool.
I use "Peace of the Pacifist" and awkwardly use the glow from my hands to check the ground.
The dagger isn't there anymore.
Maybe the slime buried it? Shattered it into a billion pieces? It probably would not be wise to dig around in the dirt with my fingers. No one will find it at this point anyway, so I walk back toward the city.
---
Less than an hour later, a black cloaked figure arrives at the spot.
Annabelle: "Are you sure this is the place?"
Drake: "Yeah I'm sure. The arrows from the airhead are all right over there. It's gotta be around here somewhere. Use one of your stone things to cast light, be quiet, or do something useful for once."
Annabelle takes a faintly glowing magic stone from the pouch at her waist, looks at it, then crushes it in her hand and throws a plume of shining dust in the air that vibrantly illuminates the surrounding area.
Annabelle: "I just don't get all the fuss about a dagger..."
Drake: "This isn't just a dagger you dumb witch!"
Drake: "Forget it. I'll find it on my own. Like any of you could ever understand."
Annabelle walks away towards the city walls.
Drake spends an entire hour - the duration of the magic light spell - looking for his lost dagger. The only thing he finds are strands of Daphne's hair, just next to a slight round impression in the soil.
---
I'm assuming that the numbers on the sales tag given to me by Miyoko are coordinates. But it isn't as simple as that. Fountain City is made up of both circles and grids, which means the numbers could be in radians, degrees, simply X-Y coordinates on an axis, or even a combination.
I decide to look at the map and try to pinpoint the exact location of each option, then visit each spot.
---
17.33°, 24.65% out along the radian:
Near the barracks behind the royal palace
17.33, 24.65 - X-Y coordinates from SW corner:
Assuming the city is 100x100, in the area just inside the outer ring of midtown, in an area with shops, craftsmen, and forges, and homes above and below businesses.
17.33, 24.66 - X-Y coordinates from center:
Again assuming the city is 100x100, in the area inside the outer ring of midtown in the northeast corner of the city, behind the barracks.
I get to the first location and realize that there is absolutely no way I am going to be able to find Miyoko tonight. It's midnight. I'm not going to knock on someone's door. Obviously I need a GPS, or a map, or something that can tell me exactly where I am before I can even pretend to try this. On top of that, it needs to be light outside, and at a time when she won't be at work.
Yeah. This isn't gonna work.
---
The prismatic slime is held up against my body as I walk the darkened streets of Fountain City, trying to figure out where to go. There are bars and restaurants open, along with some stores catering to adventurers, but most of the city is quiet. I walk around the outer ring road, avoiding contact with the few people on the road as I try to hide the softly glowing prismatic slime.
At one point we're accosted by a drunkard. He throws a fist at me. I dodge backwards and lose my grip on the slime. Or did it jump out of my arms? The drunk man somehow hits the slime instead of me, then falls to the ground wailing and holding his fist. 1 HP lost, as always.
Maybe I could take the slime back and hide it in the underground cave? But I have no way of getting out of the cave. I don't remember how I got out after touching the crystal.
My feet are retracing familiar steps and I find myself in front of a gray stone building, with a white fountain in front.
Churches are always open in Dungeon Quest.
This is where Sister Maribel works. I feel like I can trust her. Maybe she'll know what to do.
I walk through the open doors into the quiet, empty church, take a seat on one of the chairs, and wait.
It's late. Unlike video games where the shop is open 24/7, the NPC's here probably sleep at night.
I'm exhausted. It's been a long day.
At least here we will be safe. I remember someone mentioning that violence isn't allowed inside the walls of the church. Well, at least not under this belief system.
My eyes close and I fall asleep with the prismatic slime in my arms.