“Hold it! Hold it! Hold it!” an irate voice called out. A petite porcelain-skinned woman, the owner of the irate voice, materialized upon the obsidian rooftop. She stood upright, a white robe and matching slippers cladding her. Her fists were clenched, and her eyes—her red eyes—were angrily focused upon Slimantha and Latril. Little red cracks ran down from beneath the white-clad woman’s eyes. Long white hair cascaded down from her head. “For the love of goddess, stop using your own abilities, and use what I gave you!” The demon-duck king turned to face her. It cocked its head to the side inquisitively, its golden crown glinting.

Slimantha blinked. She glanced at Latril, the swird woman who was her girlfriend, and then her focus shifted to the demon-duck king. The big black fowl’s flaming red eyes were still on the white-robed woman. Slimantha blinked again and then shifted her gaze back to the woman in white.

“But,” Slimantha said, “I’m a slime summoner.” She blinked yet again and then smiled. “Why not slime?”

The woman in white’s right eyebrow twitched. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She exhaled. Her fists unclenched. Her eyes re-opened. “Your slime is outside the boundaries of the domain”—she smiled—“so just use what I gave you instead.”

“What you gave me?” Slimantha blinked again. Then her brown eyes went to the wooden staff she had previously discarded. Said staff lay unattended upon the obsidian rooftop.

“And why exactly should we do that?” Latril said, her golden sword eyes scanning over the woman in white. “You’re the system, aren’t you?” Her sword eyes drifted up to the system’s face. “I think I recognize your voice from earlier.” She glanced over the system’s figure again. “So this is how you really look.”

“That’s right,” the system said. “I am the system Dream. What you see now”—she did a full turn—“is my true form. As for why you should use what I gave you”—she clasped her hands together and leaned forward—“I am the system, and this is my domain. Here, you will play by my rules.” She straightened up and lowered her hands. “My house. My rules. Remember that.” She smiled.

“But why system when slime?” Slimantha held her right hand up in front of her self, her palm facing upward. A little blue blob, a slime, materialized upon said upward-turned palm. The slime bounced. Its jiggly body pressed down against the soft tan flesh of her palm as the slime’s bounce concluded. “I’m a slime summoner. I summon slime. It’s, like, my thing.” The slime melted away, and she brought her right hand to her chin. “Actually, I punch stuff too.” She blinked. “Punching stuff and summoning slime is kind of my thing.” She smiled.

“Why system when slime?” Dream said, her red eyes on the slime summoner. “Why? This is my domain. Forget about the slime summoning. You are a mage now.”

“You know?” Latril said, getting Dream’s attention. The swird woman held her silvery sword up. “I think I’ll just use my own swords.” She lowered her weapon. “That sword you gave me was kind of weak.”

“Kind of weak?” Dream’s eyelids flitted shut and then re-opened in rapid succession a few times. “But it was a starting weapon. Why should it have been that strong?” She glanced at the demon-duck king. The big regal monster had begun wandering about the rooftop. Her eyes then went back to Slimantha and Latril. Her fists clenched. “I gave you classes. I gave you starting equipment. This … This is how you repay me. First, you refuse to wear the starting armor, and now … And now …” Dream shook, her eyebrows furrowing. “This is how you repay me!”

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Dream stopped shaking and unclenched her fists. She closed her eyes. “Processing. Processing,” she said. Her eyes re-opened and focused upon Slimantha and Latril. “You two are too powerful. You are a threat to the stability of my domain. Therefore, you will be eliminated. The porcelain-skinned system vanished and re-appeared beside the demon-duck king. The big black-feathered fowl stopped wandering about and instead turned to look at the system. Dream smiled. She reached out and touched the creature.

The demon-duck king grew larger. The obsidian rooftop creaked beneath it. Little cracks in the obsidian snaked out from beneath its enlarging webbed feet. Its bill opened, and it quacked a thunderous quack, shaking the rooftop. The enormous duck, which now towered over the petite system, turned to face Slimantha and Latril. Its red eyes blazed. Its crown glinted. It quacked a battle quack, shaking the rooftop once more.

Dream turned her gaze back to Slimantha and Latril. “This,” Dream said, gesturing to the massive fowl, “will be your opponent.” A sadistic smirk slipped across the system’s face. “Powerful or not, what hope do two level 1s have against a level-100 demon-duck king?”

Yet another thunderous quack shook the rooftop, and a certain swird woman, Latril, took a defensive step back. She readied her weapon at her side. A drop of sweat dripped down her right cheek.

Slimantha blinked. Her beautiful brown eyes were on the big black duck. “Is it …” She bit her lower lip. “Is it wrong to pet a level-100 demon-duck king on a rooftop? I low-key want to pet it even more now.” The sound of Latril facepalming drew her attention.

“For the love of goddess,” Latril said, addressing Slimantha, “stop misusing low-key. There is nothing low-key about you wanting to pet that thing.” Latril turned her attention back to the level-100 demon-duck king and readied her sword at her side again.

“Well”—Slimantha blinked—“I suppose I am, in fact, not a key. Unless …” She blinked again and then brought her right hand to her chin. “What if I am low-key a key and just don’t know it? Wait.” She lowered her right hand and glanced down at herself. “Do keys wear crop-tops?” Another quack shook the rooftop, and Slimantha swayed, her long brown hair swaying along with the rest of her. She extended her arms to her sides to steady herself. She looked at the cute oversized black duck. “You mind not doing that? I’m contemplating whether or not I may, in fact, be a key.”

The demon-duck king cocked its head to the side in confusion. Why was this human contemplating whether or not she was a key? Was she stupid? Clearly, she was human. The demon-duck king ruffled its feathers. It opened its bill. A white egg fired from its mouth toward the peculiar human—toward the slime summoner.

Slimantha caught the egg with her right hand. She held it up to her face. Why an egg? She blinked, and the egg exploded. A cloud of black dust bellowed outward.

Latril stared at the debris cloud, her face going pale. Please say her girlfriend did not just get blown up by an egg. She let out a sigh of relief as the cloud cleared, a perfectly fine Slimantha coming into view. Latril smiled, her golden sword eyes on her girlfriend. “Glad to see you didn’t actually get blown up,” the swird woman said.

Slimantha lowered her right hand. It wasn’t like she still had an egg to hold after all. She blinked and then glanced at Latril. She gave the swird woman a smile before turning her eyes to the demon-duck king. “I still don’t think the demon-duck king looks that tough,” she said.

A laugh slipped out from between Latril’s lips. Then those lips twisted into a cocky smirk. The swird woman’s golden sword eyes turned to the demon-duck king. She readied her silvery sword at her right once more.

Dream stared at Slimantha and Latril, a dumbfounded look on her face. How? Slimantha had taken a direct hit from the demon-duck king’s attack. Slimantha should have been ripped apart by the blast. How was the slime summoner still standing? “Processing. Processing,” Dream said, the words slipping faintly from between her lips. How was Slimantha still alive after taking that blast? How could she have possibly tanked that? “Processing. Processing.”