Bright sunlight struck Betrayed’s eyes. She lifted a hand to shield her eyes as she surveyed the surrounding village. She was surprised to find that instead of blocking the light, the sunlight actually grew more powerful as it went through her golden jelly-like hand and blinded her by shining a concentration of light into her eyes.
‘There are pros and cons to each race. Maybe I could turn this into some sort of sunlight solar beam in the future.’
She thought to herself as she rubbed her eyes and walked forward into the cover of a small shaded tent while looking around. It looked like she had ended up in some sort of city square, except, her surroundings weren’t nearly as elegant as a city should be. Several old, decrepit buildings with chipped paint falling off of them formed a circle, in the middle of which she had spawned. Several slimes and slimes that were obviously players were walking around. Most of them were either under the shade, relaxing or sitting in front of a tent, or selling market goods which lay on the floor for all to see.
The square gave off a campy and fun sort of feeling, but there were a lot less players than she thought there would be. They just barely outnumbered the slime Non Playable Characters (NPCs) that were walking around. Ignoring the market stalls that were displaying items she couldn’t possibly afford, Betrayed turned her heads towards the old and ill-maintained buildings that encircled the market.
There were seven buildings in total. The first one starting from her left seemed to be this games version of a magic building because it had a wand and staff in a “x” sign engraved on the sign outside of its door. It was by far the worst off of all the buildings she could see. It had previously been painted in a bright golden paint, not unlike her own bright gold skin colour but almost half of the paint had been chipped off or was peeling with no maintenance. To her surprise it was actually shaped like a slime wearing a wizard’s hat. The slime itself was painted gold and the hat seemed to be painted a light blue colour. Two windows were placed as the eyes and in between them was the door where the mouth would be.
It would have been cute if not for the sorry state of the building.
The other buildings were quick to identify since they were all similarly shaped like slimes. A red slime with a shield next to the magic building stood proudly as the warrior building. The dark green slime next to it holding a flask seemed to be an apothecary or alchemist building. Next in place was a pure white slime covered in dirt symbolizing the cleric building. A blue slime holding an arrow was clearly the building for archers. A slightly faded brown slime stood for the music building and finally, a sinister black slime was either the thieves or the assassins building.
‘It’s a bit weird to have a building for thieves right in the open like that.’
Betrayed pondered as she walked towards the first building, the place where magicians were born. She wasn’t sure if she was looking at a store or guild building so she had decided to just go and ask the nearest person to find out information. Even though she had gone into the game without reading any of the lore, it was only because she was interested in what she could find out while playing the game.
But it remained a simple fact that information was key in games. Many of the battles, both against monsters and humans in her previous game Vitris Online, had been won due to information acquisition and careful planning. Even pros had fallen because they lacked information.
*Boing* *Boing*
Each step that Betrayed took, let out a slight ‘boing’ sound effect as she walked. She looked down and saw that even though her bare feet were touching the ground, they weren’t sinking into it like slimes did. She was easily able to bounce off the ground. It was quite a soothing sound effect. Looking down she also realised for the first time that she was wearing pants. Apparently, since she had chosen to be a gender neutral character the game had automatically clothed her in generic brown pants and an oversized white shirt. Her muscular frame and golden skin seemed to contrast against the simple clothes as she lifted her hand to open the door.
The jingling of bells attached to the door sounded out as Betrayed stepped into the store. In front of her was a small counter marked ‘Information’ and on either side were two small counters marked ‘Quests’ and ‘Guild rankings’
She immediately walked towards the information counter and found herself facing a small pink slime with a small antenna popping out of the top of its head. It looked at her curiously and she shuddered at its cuteness.
“Welcome to the Magic Guild. I’m Tilda. How may I help you today?”
The little pink slime’s voice squeaked out and its body jiggled slightly as it spoke.
“Awww, you’re so cute!”
The pink slimes beady black eyes widened slightly at the sound of Betrayed voice. Although it wasn’t exactly feminine, she had been told that she had a ‘sing-song’ voice that rose and fell as she spoke. The slime was only surprised because it didn’t seem to fit the muscular figure in front of her. Her previous game had been a computer based game so she had only had to type replies instead of speaking. Luckily she wasn’t planning to go pro in this game. She just wanted to have fun. But she didn’t want to be automatically subjected to all the benefits and cons that gamers in girl bodies got when trying to form parties and kill mobs.
Besides, she had earned more than enough money during her time as a pro in the last few years.
She realised the pink slime was still waiting for an answer but it’s pink cheeks had reddened in a cute blush at the compliment.
“So this is the Magic Guild? Why is it so run down?”
At her words the pink slime deflated and seemed to shrink slightly. It sighed and a small puff of virtual air left its mouth.
“Slime Valley has fallen on very hard times in the last few years. Ever since the newcomers, such as yourself, started appearing in our world, the fluctuation of power has been constantly changing. Unfortunately it has not changed for the better. Slimes are considered to be the weakest of races. Almost no newcomers want to become Magicians or Mages so this guild has been brought into dire straits. We owe more money than we earn at the moment.”
Betrayed looked thoughtfully at the little pink slime. Since the Slime’s racial trait was to take 20% less physical damage but 20% more magic damage, it didn’t surprise her to see that many people didn’t pick it as a starting race. Magic damage was a large part of PvP and if slime players were attacked by monsters with lots of Area of Effect (AoE) magic in the wild, then it was possible that the entire party could be wiped out.
At the same time, Magicians were always the weakest of all classes in terms of defence and health. They were always targeted by arrows and enemy magicians. Consequently, the 20% magic damage taken would always be a major factor in any slime party’s or slime army’s defeat.
However, the 20% less physical damage was also a trait which needed to be exploited by those that had picked the Slime race. Most players would go and become warriors or thieves. Classes which wouldn’t normally interact with Magicians on a regular basis and instead face off against classes that also dealt in physical damage. The 20% physical damage reduction would be a godsend to those players and which was why the considerably better looking Warrior’s Guild Building outside had looked in better shape than this shabby Magi guild building.
“Excuse me.” The slime looked back at Betrayed as she politely spoke, it had always been a habit of Betrayed to act politely to NPC’s as you could never tell when it would earn you extra rewards. “Did you say that people didn’t want to become Magicians or Mages? Is there a difference between those two classes?”
The slime enthusiastically nodded it’s tiny, pink body in confirmation.
“So you’re interested in joining our guild? There are two main classes that use magic on the star continent, the Magician and the Mage. If you want to become a Magician you will learn skills that deal Area of Effect damage and slowly perfect these skills. High ranking Magicians are often sought by the kingdom to join their armies as their representatives. Magicians have a chance to be promoted to a Royal Magician class if they work hard enough!
Mages deal more with spells that are used for close combat, although they do know some Area of Effect spells, they mainly concentrate on one on one fighting spells or spells for fighting small groups. They are often recruited by the army directly and if you work hard enough you can become a Mage General!”
Basically, Magicians dealt in AoE damage and the Mages were effective in 1v1 situations.
Betrayed had already decided from the moment she stepped into the guild that she would join it. After all, she had played as a magical class in every game as long as it was available. She had always liked to watch her enemies burn from afar rather than blindly hacking and slashing at them with a sword or similar weapon. Magic was just so much more beautiful and mysterious.
She was also more of a lone wolf. The reason she had been invited to a pro team in the first place was due to her accomplishments while playing the game solo. So to her, Mage was the perfect class.
“Oh dear.” The pink slime quivered slightly and frowned, “Here I was going on and on about our guild and yet I didn’t notice that your strength is not high enough to have a class yet. But fret not deary! I just happened to receive a request earlier today that is just suitable for a beginner like you. Would you like to hear my request?”
“I would love that Tilda. Thank you very much.”
There wasn’t a hint of sarcasm in Betrayed’s voice as she spoke. She genuinely liked the NPC in front of her and it was even offering her a free quest. She would probably have to reach level ten before being able to choose her class.
“Oh how lovely. Recently an order for a large amount of rabbits’ feet was given to our guild and nobody has had the time to go and collect any. Would you be a dear and bring me fifteen rabbits’ feet?
Slime Magician Tilda has requested that you bring her fifteen rabbits’ feet. Rabbits are low level creatures which can be found in grassy plains or outside any starting city, town or village.
“Of course I’ll do it! Thank you!”
“But of course, I can’t send you on such a dangerous quest without any help. Please take this. Consider it a gift from me on behalf of the guild.”
You have received the weapon, Beginners Wand. Stats: +2 Int. Description: A wand given to an ordinary being that wants to learn magic usage but has yet to step into the world of magic. It allows the user to use the beginner spell; Water Strike. Would you like to equip it?
“Thanks hun!”
Betrayed took the wand and immediately equipped it whilst leaving the building. She saw that the water strike spell was simply a small shot of water that dealt as much damage as the players Int stat. It had a short range of five metres and a firing rate of once per two seconds. Each shot used five mana. It would be useless for anyone beyond level five or so but it would be perfect for slaying bunnies.
After she had equipped the weapon, she opened her status screen to check her character.
Racial trait (Slime):
20% reduced physical damage
20% increased magic damage taken
Status ScreenNameBetrayedLevel1ClassNoneHealth100Mana100Free Stat Points0Stamina10Strength10Agility10Vitality10Dexterity10Intelligence10+2Wisdom10
Betrayed smiled as she viewed her stats. A +2 intelligence increase didn’t seem like much, but she was lucky to have gained a weapon before even reaching her first mob. Most players would instantly go outside before talking to any NPCs but an experienced player like Betrayed knew that it was much more beneficial to ask around first.
She walked out of the market square, down a large road that lead outside the village.
The only stats which she should be concerned about raising at the moment would be Intelligence and Wisdom. However, it was possible that she would also have to raise her dexterity if she was going to be a Mage. From what she could see, the Intelligence stat raised the amount of magic damage she did when casting spells while the Wisdom stat raised her overall mana. It wasn’t clear which stat affected her spell cooldowns but it was possible that cooldown reduction was only available through items or potions or something similar.
Betrayed smiled at the slime guards that were standing tall and carrying swords and shields. Unlike Tilda or Phillip the Slime, these guards were not round balls but instead tall and chubby slimes shaped like an upside down cup. Jelly-like tendrils clung onto the ground allowing them to stand tall. The slimes were wearing a chainmail vest which looked a little worse for wear. Perhaps it was a subtle sign of how Slime Valley had fallen into disrepair.
The guards looked stoically back at her but didn’t raise any objections as she walked past them and into the outside fields. Staying true to its name, Slime Valley was a large village that was built in-between two large mountains covered in trees. The vegetation around the village was mainly grass and the occasional bush with wild rabbits hopping around and chewing on the ground, a green health bar floating on top of its head. There were no players in the area so Betrayed didn’t need to worry about any of them stealing her prey. She calmly positioned herself near a rabbit and prepared to fire a water strike at it.
“Wait right there Betrayed!”
A familiar, regal sounding voice called out to Betrayed and she turned around with confusion in her eyes. To her surprise, a familiar looking green slime with a gray moustache was facing her.
It was Phillip the Slime.
“I’m glad I caught up with you before you started fighting. This old body doesn’t bounce as fast as it used to.”
Phillip was panting slightly as he bounced in front of Betrayed and straightened his body. He was carrying a sword and a shield but because he didn’t have any arms, they seemed to be attached to the left and right sides of his body. On the contrary, the slime guards at the entrance had tentacle-like arms with which they could hold their equipment.
“Hey there Phillip. Long time no see. Might I ask what you are doing here for?”
Phillip the Slime snorted and gazed at the golden slime in front of him, “You may have passed the tutorial due to my excellent training Betrayed. But you have not learned everything there is to learn about fighting in the real world! Thus I, in my infinite patience, have agreed to come and show you how to further improve your combat skills.”
Phillip bounced over to the rabbit and turned to face him.
“The first thing you have to know is that all wild creatures and monsters can detect you if you’re within a certain radius of it. The rabbits have an excellent sense of smell but because we Slimes were originally part of nature, they cannot differentiate unless we get within a single metre of their bodies. Other, more dangerous creatures, may even attack you when you get close to them! Be wary of ambushes at all times in the wild.”
Betrayed smiled at the Slimes words and nodded her head. This was knowledge taught to all beginners and she’d been wondering why it hadn’t been included in the tutorial. Clearly the game wanted to be more interactive in the way it showed information to new players.
“The second thing is the most important. In terms of saving your life of course.”
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
He whacked his sword against the rabbit and its health bar dropped until it was at its lowest possible health. The bar had turned almost completely red. All of a sudden the bunny grew more agitated and its body doubled in size. Its ears pressed against its head and its eyes turned red. It smashed into Phillip’s slime body but bounced off immediately after being struck.
“When a creature is dealt enough damage till it is near death, it will enter into an enraged state and drastically increase in status! You must be careful as every creature in the world has a different way of powering up when enraged and some may even find themselves unleashing attacks they never would have thought possible before.”
Phillip continued to ignore the enraged(pitiful?) rabbits attack and instead turned to face Betrayed.
“And finally, each monster in the world has a weak point. If you can find this weak point and deal an accurate strike, the creature would be dealt with increased damage. Once again, every creature’s weak spot is different and it takes a lot of time and effort to find each one. I have heard from Tilda that you’re thinking of studying magic. The arcane arts is indeed a noble profession but do not fret, for you may still be able to hit a monster’s weak spot. You simply have to do it with magic instead of steel. It is also useful as a stress-reliever. Observe as I hit this rabbit in-between the eyes, its weak spot.”
Phillip brought his sword up and as the rabbit once again moved to slam its body against him he slashed his sword down and hit the rampaging creature directly in-between its eyes. A blue light flashed, signifying that it had been a critical hit and the rabbit died on the spot, vanishing a few seconds later.
“Well then young Betrayed, I wish you luck on your future adventures. I may be a warrior but I have fought with and against many magic users. The road you have chosen is not an easy one, but similarly, the road of a warrior isn’t exactly rose-coloured either. Until next time.”
Betrayed watched as Phillip bounced off, leaving as suddenly as he came. She hadn’t realised that critical hits could also be exploited by magic users as weak spots were usually only hittable by swords or other physical weapons.
Testing out her newfound knowledge, Betrayed walked up to another rabbit and raised her wand towards it. She made sure that she was aiming directly for its weak point.
“Water strike!”
As soon as she spoke her wand immediately began to charge with blue light and a small ball of water flew out of its tip, hitting the bunny square in the face. The creature lost almost half of its health bar and looked at her with its large eyes. She walked back slowly as it hopped towards her to attack and calmly waited for the two second cooldown on her spell. She fired another shot at the rabbit but instead of killing it, it was left with a sliver of health. Immediately growing enraged, it increased in size and smashed into her.
You have taken physical damage. - 8hp
Betrayed was sent back a couple of feet but managed to keep her balance. She fired the final shot at the enraged rabbit and it died peacefully albeit in unjustified pain. Scanning the murder scene in front of her, a paw was all that was left of the rabbit. Pocketing the drop, she identified it as a rabbit’s foot. The quest item.
Since she had taken 8 damage she guessed that the Slime’s racial trait of 20% physical damage reduction had come into effect. It really was a helpful trait. She was currently regenerating one health per 5 seconds as all level one players did. Her water shot didn’t do enough damage to kill rabbits in two shots yet so regrettably, she would have to keep fighting enraged bunnies until she became level 2.
“All right you little grass munchers.” Betrayed looked at all the bunnies around her and smiled evilly, “You’ve been a little too cocky lately. I think it’s time I cut you back down to size.”
The rabbits shivered in the cool air of the valley.
****
Dozens of murdered bunnies and nine levels later Betrayed had finally picked up the last of the rabbit’s feet. They had been a surprisingly rare drop and as soon as the final rabbit was slain Betrayed received a system message informing her that she could now go into town and pick a class to play as.
Warning. A rare monster has appeared in the area; Slime Valley Plains 1.
Betrayed’s eyes widened as a beeping sound accompanied by sinister music filled the area. The nearby rabbits had already fled from the nearby vicinity and when Betrayed turned back to look at the town, all she could see was a cloud of darkness, much like the one that had gathered around the baby evil slime in the tutorial.
“Thou who hast slain my brethren shall be slain in stead.”
The darkness slowly faded and in its place was a large black rabbit with bloodthirsty, red eyes. It was at least two metres tall but except for the height and colour palette it looked exactly the same as the bunnies she had just been killing. Floating over its head was a series of words and a health bar.
Dark Rabbit: Level 10. Health 150.
“Your bunnies were started to get too cocky so I had to lower the population. This area belongs to the slimes you know?”
Although the rabbits had done no such thing and weren’t smart enough to be arrogant Betrayed enjoyed making up little scenarios when grinding mobs. It made it far more entertaining to kill rabbits if she imagined that she was fighting a group of invaders rather than dozens of individual littles bunnies that happened to be eating grass. To her the rabbits were attempting to take over Slime Valley and she had been sent to stop them.
She was weird like that.
“A commoner such as thou wouldst darest speak to me as an equal? I shall crush all my enemies!”
Without another word the black rabbit charged at her with a full body slam. She dodged it and fired a water strike into its body. Unfortunately, she missed the critical strike zone and only did fifteen damage to the creature. The monster turned towards her and jumped into the air. She quickly rolled sideways on the ground as a shadow appeared on top of her. A second later, the rabbit smashed into the grass that she had been standing on, sending dirt and vegetation flying into the air.
Over the course of fighting dozens of enraged rabbits, she had figured out that they had a total of thirty health, so she had only put 3 free stat points into Intelligence so that she would do 15 damage with each water strike and kill the rabbits in two shots.
She hadn’t bothered to use any of her other stats.
Of course she hadn’t expected that a rare creature would spawn. She didn’t even know that rare creatures could randomly spawn mid-air in this game. Judging from its words it had probably spawned because she had killed too many rabbits.
She fired another water shot and dealt fifteen more damage. The rabbit looked at her and laughed.
“Thou spouts of water tickle me young slime. Thou hadst gone over your head by seeking a fight with my brethren.”
Instead of charging towards her the bunny shot out a leg which instantly travelled over a meter and smashed into her side. Her jelly-like body absorbed some of the impact but she still went flying into the air.
You have taken physical damage. - 32hp
The rabbit had dealt a whooping 40 damage to her! Luckily her racial trait had protected her from 8 damage. But health didn’t rise with level. It rose when putting stat points into Vitality. With only 100 health points total she could only take three more hits before dying.
*Splash*
Another water strike hit the monster and it roared. This time she made sure that she was well out of its kicking range and every time it hopped closer, she tried to move quickly away from it.
Dark Rabbit: Level 10. Health 105/150
“Thou know'st how to run little slime. Is this coward the best warrior the slimes could muster to fight against my kind?”
The dark rabbit taunted her everytime she dodged one of its attacks. She didn’t let the comments get to her and simply unleashed more water strikes. It jumped into the air again and she rolled out of the way, firing off another water strike that hit the rabbit as soon as it landed. With only a couple more strikes it would be dead.
“I commend thee coward! Your tactics have brought me into dire straits. I shalt no longer hold back against thee.”
Suddenly the darkness around the rabbit intensified and it kicked towards Betrayed. She dodged the attack and fired a water strike but to her surprise the black rabbit swung its body around and dodge the attack, sending another kick straight into her chest and sending her flying.
You have taken physical damage. - 32hp
Betrayed swore as her health bar lowered even further. She couldn’t regenerate thirty two points in a few seconds so only two more attacks and she would be dead. The bunny jumped into the air again and she quickly evaded. It smashed into the ground but this time, the rabbit raised so much dust that she was blinded. Out of the dust came another swift kick and she was sent flying into the air. Luckily she managed to get a water strike shot off and was satisfied to hear the the bunny’s enraged roar.
You have taken physical damage. - 32hp
Warning. You have fallen below 20% hp.
After regenerating health during the battle, Betrayed only had 11 health points left. Not nearly enough to survive another kick from the dark rabbit. The dust cleared and the rabbit glared at Betrayed.
“Now though stands on your last legs. Prepare to die young slime.”
Dark Rabbit: Level 10. Health 18/150
18 hp! Betrayed’s heart sunk. Before, she had been doing 15 damage with each water strike until the rabbit only had 30 health left. Now that it was enraged its defence had risen and she had only done 12 damage. She would still have to fire two more shots until the creature was dead.
The rabbit charged at her with its body in an attempt to body slam her but she swiftly dodged it. She had already gotten used to its timing. As soon as she had dodged, the creature sent out another swift kick towards her but only in vain. Every single attack is now accompanied by another kick, so she had to be a lot more careful. She fired another spell, the only spell that she had, at the monster but it jumped into the air and dodged it. Again, a large shadow appeared on top of her and she quickly rolled out of the way, dodging yet another kick.
Betrayed prepared another water strike but a blurred shadow hidden behind the dust suddenly shot towards her and she side stepped instead, luckily dodging yet another kick. This time, she was able to hit it and a pained cry resounded from the creature. The dust finally settled and she stood face to face with the rabbit.
It hardly stood still for a second before charging at her once again. Betrayed rolled out of the way and dodged the kick but to her horror, she suddenly couldn’t move anymore.
Your stamina has reached 0. Please rest a while before attempting to move again.
Stamina! Up until this point, Betrayed had ignored the stamina bar completely and it hadn’t even appeared on her status window. According to her previous memory of the stats, she had found that stamina could also increase naturally over time or by training, regardless of class since it was used for movement in the game.
“Crap!”
Hearing her shout, the rabbit glanced at her and realized that she wasn’t moving. Seeing the overall exhausted golden slime, the rabbit smiled evilly while looking at her with glowing red eyes.
Immediately taking that chance, the rabbit charged straight for her with every intention to kill. Betrayed cursed at herself internally as she realised that she was probably going to die. Her only hope, only chance to make it out alive, was to kill the rabbit before it killed her. The cooldown wasn’t up and she feared that the rabbit would dodge it in mid air and easily kill her. She had to wait for the opportune moment when the rabbit was so close that it couldn’t dodge the bullet. But the rabbit would hit her in less than 1 second.
0.9... 0.8… 0.7
Time seemed to slow as the rabbit slowly drew closer. Her entire body tensed as it prepared to fire a decisive shot into the belly of the beast.
0.4… 0.3
Now!
The tip of the wand swirled with blue magic which seemed to be gathering so slowly that it seemed like an eternity had passed. The rabbit was directly in front of her. So close that she could feel the heat oozing from its body. It was a few centimetres away from potentially ending her life. Her eyes widened as she realised that she was already too late, the rabbit was just about to slam into her. Facing the fear of death, she closed her eyes on impulse.
And nothing happened.
Peeking with one eye, Betrayed saw that the rabbit had stopped literally millimetres from her face. Its body fell to the ground, signifying its death. Water from her magic trickled down its face as she smiled at the blue light, indicating that she had gotten a critical hit. The water strike had hit the bunny only milliseconds away from her. Her experience bar had also filled up by 80% and she was only a tiny bit away from reaching level 11.
Darkness gathered from within the dark rabbits body and flew into the air. When it had reached a few metres into the air, it automatically dissipated. The rabbit’s corpse also begun to disappear but in its place was a small black crystal and some black fur. She had also gained 1 gold coins and 50 silver coins which was the only currency she had earned all game since the other rabbits hadn’t given her any and she hadn’t been given any money after completing the tutorial.
You have picked up the item: Black Soul Stone (Small)[Accessory]. Stats: Int +2. Weight: 0.50kg Description: A rare stone said to contain part of a creature’s soul. It is black in colour. A soul stone of this calibre can be used in arcane arts or to bring out the caster’s potential.
Betrayed eyes glittered at the stones description. An item which could increase her Intelligence stat by 2 was incredibly good for her level! She immediately equipped it and saw that she was only given five accessory slots. The stone took up one slot.
Racial trait (Slime):
20% reduced physical damage
20% increased magic damage taken
Status ScreenNameBetrayedLevel10ClassNoneHealth15/100Mana27/100Free Stat Points42Stamina10Strength10Agility10Vitality10Dexterity10Intelligence13+4Wisdom10
She had been given 5 free stat points with each level up and had used up three of them to increase intelligence. She closed the window and sighed. She’d had enough action for one quest. She picked herself off the ground and was glad to see that her stamina had recovered enough for her to walk.
“Well then,” Betrayed looked towards the entrance of Slime Valley where the slime guards were still standing nobly, “I guess it’s time to collect my well earned reward.”