Jack couldn’t quite comprehend what he was seeing. At first, he thought that the dead croc-rat’s body was in motion. But he quickly realized he was wrong. While the body lay absolutely still, something was definitely happening to it. It seemed to shrink, getting smaller, its black fur and spikes disintegrating slowly but noticeably. The dead creature’s body seemed to be melting.
Jack kept staring at the strange sight before him. It took him almost a full minute to finally realize what was happening before his eyes. The dead croc-rat was inside a huge shapeless form. It was another living creature. It was so large it managed to envelop the dead croc-rat completely. The new creature was ninety-five percent transparent. It was almost impossible to see it.
Jack didn’t know what this transparent creature was, but it sure looked like a slime. It didn’t have a head or any limbs. It was just a shapeless form like a piece of dough. In some of the role-playing video games, low-level players encountered similar creatures in the initial locations. In video games, slimes were pretty weak enemies. However, while the transparent creature before his eyes looked harmless, Jack was terrified. It looked like the slime was devouring the croc-rat’s body, dissolving it in its stomach acid.
Jack wasn’t sure when exactly the creature had gotten into the cavern. Had it happened when he was asleep? It seemed implausible. When he woke up, he studied the croc-rat’s body for a little while, but there was nothing wrong with it at that moment. So the slime must have crawled into the cave when he was busy examining the talent book.
Jack once again mentally rebuked himself for having fallen asleep. It was a stupid mistake on his part. What if the slime had crawled into the cave and consumed him when he was out cold? It would have been a slow and painful death, Jack was sure of that. He once again promised himself that he would be way more careful from now on.
The slime continued to eat the dead croc-rat, slowly dissolving it. Jack didn’t know what to do. He sure didn’t want to fight this new type of enemy. Even though he now was armed with a sword, he still wasn’t willing to take on the slime. He had hardly been able to kill the croc-rat. As for the slime, it might be even a more dangerous enemy. He had just learned a One-handed talent, but he didn’t know what exactly it did. It probably made him a better swordsman, but he wasn’t sure if it took effect immediately or gradually. Anyway, he wasn’t in the mood for a fight with another dangerous monster.
The transparent creature paid Jack no mind. It was a good thing. He might be able to slip out of the cavern unnoticed. After giving it some more thought, Jack decided that it would be the best course of action. He soundlessly took a deep breath and began to sneak past the motionless slime toward the exit. Eyes never leaving the transparent monster, he took one careful step after another. Giving the slime a wide berth, he continued to sneak to the exit from the cavern. He avoided those parts of the cavern that were well-lit by the glowing mushrooms, remaining in the darkness all the time.
He made sure to make no noise, but the slime somehow still heard him. Or maybe it saw him, though Jack wasn’t sure if the slime had any organs of sight. Anyway, the shapeless monster contracted, and in the next second, it shot up like a released spring, launching itself into the air. With a dull plop, the slime landed just in front of surprised Jack who didn’t expect such a bulky shapeless creature to be able to make such movements.
Before he could do anything, some part of the slime formed a long tentacle, which immediately shot forward and gripped Jack’s left arm. It almost instantly dissolved the sleeve of his jacket and reached his skin. Jack’s flesh burned as if plunged into hot coals. His skin bubbling and melting, he screamed in agony as the transparent tentacle seared his flesh. Smoke fizzled from his severely wounded arm, the stench of the burned flesh almost making him retch.
The pain seemed to invigorate him. He jerked his arm out of the tentacle’s grip so hard his limb almost tore from his shoulder.
Jack cradled the blistered mess of his left arm against his chest. He gripped the hilt of the sword with his right hand tightly so that it didn’t slip. It was his only weapon against the monster. Losing it would amount to his death. His left arm was totally useless now, and he wouldn’t be able to handle large rocks with only one hand. So he made sure to hold the sword tightly in his good hand.
The slime’s tentacle shot forward again. Upon seeing the movement, fear gripped Jack’s heart, and he immediately swung the sword at the obnoxious appendage. The blade cut through the transparent flesh, severing the tentacle from the slime’s shapeless body. Shouting in rage and pain, Jack attacked the slime with his weapon. The blade sliced through the creature’s body and got stuck in it. Exerting all his strength, Jack wrenched the sword out of the slime’s body. He immediately attacked it again, but this time he pulled the sword out of the creature’s viscous body before it could get stuck in it.
He continued to forcefully hack and slash at the large transparent monster until it was finally dead. Just like the last time, some kind of energy flowed from the dead slime and disappeared into Jack’s body.
You have received 25 Essence points.
The notification flashed before his eyes. Killing the slime gave him more XP than he’d gained from the croc-rat, but Jack hardly noticed it. He stumbled away, trying to block out the burning pain of his injured arm. It hurt as hell. His severely burned arm was all he could think about at the moment. It looked awful and smelled terrible.
Stolen novel; please report.
He was about to pull up the Store and spend the rest of his money to buy some medicine to treat his wounded arm, but then he remembered that he had the two health potions that he’d found in the chest. He dropped the sword to the ground and took one of the vials out of his pocket. He grabbed hold of the wooden cork with his teeth and pulled it out. Tipping his head back, he drank the contents of the small vial in one gulp. The liquid was almost tasteless, but he instantly felt its effect on his body. A warm, tickling feeling enveloped his wounded arm. He looked at it and saw the burned flesh heal over in mere seconds. The pain began to fade away. The health potion didn’t heal his arm completely, though. Jack decided to drink the other potion. Dropping the empty vial, he took out the second potion and drank it too. It did the trick now. He was no longer in pain, and his arm looked good and healthy as if nothing bad had happened to it.
It was amazing. Two health potions healed what looked like a severe burn. All it took was two small vials filled with magic liquid. It was especially amazing given the fact that the two potions he’d just drunk were considered weak. He couldn’t help but wonder what kind of wounds more powerful health potions could heal. And unlike the painkiller he consumed yesterday, the health potion didn’t make him sleepy, which was another good thing about health potions.
Now that he no longer was in pain, Jack could think straight. He brought up his character sheet and checked out the One-handed talent he’d recently learned. It was zero. He tried to put his skill point into the talent, but nothing happened. Next to the talent was the name of one of the attributes: Agility. Maybe the talents improved when they were in use? As for the related attributes, they probably put caps on them. So he put his skill point into Agility. He then picked up the sword and swung it a few times, but when he checked his talent again, he saw that it was still zero. Maybe it improved only during an actual fight?
Guess I’ll find out when I encounter another monster, Jack thought.
And he had no doubts whatsoever that he would have to fight more enemies very soon.
It was kind of disappointing that there was no tutorial on how the system worked, forcing him to figure it out on his own.
Before leaving the cavern, he decided to check his character sheet one more time.
Level 1 Current Essence 35 Essence to Next Level 250 Available Skill Points 0 Gold 800 Survived 1 day
Strength 0 Constitution 0 Agility 1 Perception 0 Intelligence 0 Magic 0
Talents One-handed: 0 [Agility] Abilities Slot 1: Unlocks at Level 10 Spells, Runes, and Enchantments None Perks Slot 1: Unlocks at Level 5 Resistances None Crafting/Building None
The sheath didn’t have a belt and it couldn’t be attached to his belt either, so he had to carry it. Holding the sheathed sword in his left hand, he started for the exit from the cavern. He couldn’t help but notice that he stepped with more ease now that his Agility had been increased to 1. His steps were lighter, and he moved somewhat faster. The change wasn’t significant but still noticeable.
He reached the opening and stepped into the dark tunnel where he’d encountered the croc-rat yesterday. It was as dark there as it’d been before. After his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he began walking down the tunnel, looking and listening very carefully for any signs of danger. If there was another transparent slime hiding somewhere in the tunnel, it wouldn’t be easy to notice it. Being almost invisible and very quiet, slimes would be nearly impossible to spot in dark places like this tunnel.
I should probably put the next skill point into Perception.
However, there weren’t any more monsters in the cave, and he reached the end of the tunnel without incident. He stopped at the exit from the cave, staring astoundingly outside. He saw an alien forest with tall foreboding trees and gnarly bushes. It was dim. The canopy high above was so thick the sunlight was barely able to penetrate it and reach the forest floor. The air was filled with alien sounds of the local wildlife. He didn’t recognize any of the sounds. They caused goosebumps to form on his arms.
The forest looked so alien and unwelcoming that the cave behind him suddenly felt almost pleasant. But Jack knew that he had no choice but to enter the forest. Always staying in the cave wasn’t an option.
Taking a deep breath and tightening his grip around the sheathed sword, he stepped out of the cave.