It’s finally here. My first fight having graduated from my novice class.

As per usual, the slime’s health bar appeared as he started the fight with his intentional swing, one of the automatic processes of [Analysis] that was also an indicator to others that someone was locked in combat. The other slimes rapidly-ish retreated into the surrounding bushes.

Eh?

He had swung down his weapon at the slime, hoping to take out a huge chunk of its ten-ish HP. Regardless of how weak his weapon could be, combined with his strength and other stats, he should have done at least some damage to it. Instead of that chunk of red disappearing and the hurt slime thrown backward that he envisioned, Moch's branch bounced off and he saw a chunk of blue grow on top of the red bar of the slime.

“Blgghrlghlr?” The slime shook with as much surprise a rolling ball of green gel could demonstrate. It had been attacked!

The slime had been aggroed and frowned, at least, it seemed to frown. Its peaceful life rolling amongst the bushes had been interrupted by a giant, and its natural instincts kicked in. It started rolling toward Moch with every intention to defeat him, their size disparity unimportant to it. The rate at which the slime rolled angrily towards Moch was not worthy of fear at all, as he could simply take a few steps back or to the side and he’d be safe from its jelly-like tackle.

This can’t be right. Moch swung down again. His stick bounced off the slime again, and the blue chunk had now reached the halfway mark of the slime’s health bar.

Moch started to panic. Is this because of my class? Can I not even kill a slime now? He looked around and Oats was nowhere to be found. Pull yourself together Moch. It’s just a slime!

In his panic, he started shuffling in his inventory for something to hurt the slime. He couldn’t be defeated here. Where would his parents hide their shame? How could his passed-on-spirit face his childhood friend - who’d come back at some point to find her companion slain by a slime?

A-ha! Prepare to die, slime!

“Bloogrhulghl…” The slime continued rolling towards him unabated. It had gained some ground as Moch was panicking.

Moch gripped his inventory’s piece de resistance tightly, wound his arm up at the approaching slime and flung his [smooth rock] at the slime. That should do some damage!

Almost in slow motion, Moch’s ultimate move flew toward the slime with unerring accuracy, and hit the slime right between its eyes. If one imagined slimes had faces and eyes.

The smooth rock was swallowed by the slime immediately and smoothly integrated with its body.

“Brrgheheheghl” The slime vibrated with happiness, having been fed.

Whelp. I’m going to die. Even a slime’s laughing at me now. Where did I go wrong in my life…

Moch’s arrogance in the fight was spelling his downfall. Even after the failure of his do-or-die masterplan, he still did not treat the slime seriously and could afford the time to reflect on his life while his enemy was now within an arm’s reach.

“Phtoo!” The slime launched the rock at Moch’s head with the same strength it had been thrown with. The rock returned to the slime after rebounding off of Moch with a graceful arc.

Ah!! Moch’s head was critically hit, and he whipped backwards into a tree, adding insult to injury. It didn’t do that much to his overall health, but it hurt a lot, and in that moment, Moch felt like his head was turning and world was ending.

“BGHLGHL!” The slime charged toward Moch, who was now on the floor, holding his head. A gleam of victory was emanating from it.

Oh Sylvanus… My head… Am I really about to be defeated by a slime? This can’t be it. It can’t! Moch quickly recalled his previous idea of flinging his [Endless Chest of Gifts] at an opponent, and summoned it into existence.

Take this! He swung the chest at the slime. Besides creating another arm’s length of distance, it did no damage. The slime still threateningly approached, with a full red health bar and a half of an unknown blue colour on top of it.

His hand had covered the center symbol of the chest when he had swung it, activating the chest. It opened and alongside some celebratory smoke, a new item appeared. This is it! Something in this chest HAS to help me. IT HAS TO! Moch desperately thought. He couldn’t have been ‘chosen’ by Oats then swiftly be killed and absorbed by a slime, that didn’t make sense!

[PULL 2 - A HANDFUL OF MANA PEBBLES!]

Ignoring the status screen and swiftly pulling out whatever he could, he flung the object(s) at the slime in desperation. When he noticed he had thrown a bunch of mana pebbles at the slime - a slime’s favourite food - and had inadvertently made the slime stronger, healthier and happier - he looked up and murmured, “I’m sorry mom. I’m sorry dad. Your son’s lost to a slime," and fainted. The shock, combined with the head trauma, had been too much for him.

Blackout. Here ends the tale of Moch Veranus.

Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

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Or does it?

After a some time, Oats, who had been trying to shake Moch awake, accidentally pushed him into a strong stream of mid-day sunlight. Grimacing, Moch pulled his hand up to shield his eyes from the light, shuddering into consciousness. Moch realised his hand worked, and he wasn’t dead. He wasn't 100% sure yet, though.

Lying sideways on the ground, staring into the sun and blinded, Moch queried, “Ah. Is this Heaven? It’s a little bright. What’s that sound?”

“Mooooooooooooooooch!” Oats screamed as she barreled into his chest, knocking his lying body face-up.

“You’re okay! I’m sorry!! I didn’t intervene! I didn’t think I’d have to, because... You know. It was a slime! A child could kill a slime. So I flew off to find some materials to keep and craft with. I didn’t know! I didn’t realise you were this weak! I would have stayed!” She bawled into his chest, wetting his shirt. Moch didn’t know whether to start crying with her, because what she was saying was true and hurt his pride. Am I weaker than a child now?

“What happened?” He looked down and held Oats with one arm. When he looked up, he saw his nemesis.

“It’s still there!” With the other arm, he grabbed his [Olive Branch] and readied it again. Though it had proven useless, he felt better holding something to poke and swing and create distance.

He noticed the same murderous slime who had defeated him was still blobbing about nearby.

“You fool. Look carefully.” Oats had begun using that same patch of shirt to wipe her tears.

“Oh! You’re right.” Moch did not feel that same aggression that one felt when a fight had begun. Instead, he felt a sort of… connection to it.

“Blrrhgr!” The slime, noticing Moch had woken, faced him. The slime’s health bar had gone fully blue, and rolled towards Moch with affection. As the slime rolled, Moch noticed that it now displayed its ‘name’ above its head. [Slime].

“Say [Status],” prompted Oats.

“[Status]!”

Name

Slime (Level 5)

Race

Common Slime

Description

A common green slime found anywhere you look in Edea. This one in particular has been blessed by a forest deity, as it has achieved the unthinkable and defeated a human despite its size, skill, speed, health and ability.

Currently following - Moch Veranus (Trusted)

Titles: [Defeated a Giant]

Skills: [Rock Throw] [Gel Spit]

A few things stuck out to Moch. Firstly, that he’d have to hide the fact that the human this slime defeated was himself. Next, that it had seemed to level up - a byproduct of the pebbles? And finally, that it had abilities, and was following him!

Once the slime had arrived, it stood at attention in front of Moch, who had sat upright against the tree that had so brutally battered him before. A few screens appeared in front of Moch.

[You have befriended (Slime)!]

[(Slime) has joined your party!]

[Would you like to name (Slime)?]

[(Slime) has agreed. Would you like to register (Slime) as an active spirit?]

Moch smiled. Something was better than nothing, and he was in a good mood owing to the fact he was not dead, and his body’s nutrients and mana were not feeding the ground. I guess this could work.

Moch looked at his new slime friend with a stone at its core, and replied, “Yes, (Squish). And yes.”

[Success. (Squish) is your first party member, and has been registered as an active spirit]

“Cool.” Moch stood up and grabbed Squish, now an ally. He felt an immediate closeness to Squish as well, and hugged him. Moch began to roll Squish around and tried to make more sense of Squish and their abilities. Squish didn't seem to mind, and in fact seemed to enjoy the motion. Squish’s body was like a dense unpoppable jelly, capable of swallowing (and spitting, Moch’s head knew for a fact).

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A gush of wind blew directly at Oats, she shuddered, and a familiar voice spoke through her.

“Congratulations on overcoming your first hurdle. You’ve taken the first steps to becoming a true Pactmaker. I didn’t think… you’d choose a slime… but to each their own.”

Looking up at the familiar floating fairy, with glowing gold eyes that weren't familiar, Moch tried to place where he’d heard the voice before.

“Now that you have your Sli- no, what’s their name? Squish? Heh. Okay. Now that you have… Squish, you can demonstrate your full potential.”

“Oh! My dream!” Moch finally placed where he’d heard the voice before. “Who are you!”

The voice continued. It’d learned its lesson the first time - that Moch would ask and ask and ask. So it wanted to say what it had to, then run away.

“As a Pactmaker, I want you to be an ambassador for change, hence your class. Make pacts - friends - allies. Show the local Edeans that it doesn’t have to be ALL violence. It does have to be… a little violence… though.” Moch swore he heard that there was a bit of a sigh that accompanied the last sentence.

“You have the ability that very few others have, and none in such a unique context as yours. You can befriend as many creatures as you want and have a grand party of people and companions. However, you can only use the spirits of those who you have personally befriended, and only as many as your class level allows. Currently, that’s two.”

“Okay… And will Squish disappear when I want to use their ability? Do I just spit a rock from my mouth, for example?”

“No… spirits containing your allies' abilities is something they share with you, and so long as they are alive, you can use those abilities. These abilities will express in different ways, generated through your innate mana. Their bodies will remain intact and apart from you. At least, at the current level of your ability, yes.” The entity was happy to finally have received a question it wanted to answer.

“And what about the chest?”

“Ah. That - that’s just a little fun. Even I don’t have full control over it. Thought it’d help you, little as you own - the chest taps into unseen ley lines of magic that even I can’t fully understand or see.”

“And you gave it to me? What if… like a demon comes out of it or something? Can you assure me that won’t happen?!”

“Ah... Ah! Well, my time is up! Congratulations again!” The entity avoided the question and swiftly left Oats’ body, disappearing with a windy ‘whoosh’.

Still holding Squish, who had no problems being held, Moch grumpily ‘hmph-ed’ at the entity. He was interrupted by a red status screen.

[Quest Failed!]