Taking the black egg out of the warehouse, Xiao Hua felt something surge from his body into the black egg. A streak of black light flashed across his hand, and then his palm became scorching hot, making the black egg feel like a red-hot branding iron! Unable to hold it, Xiao Hua's hand loosened, and the black egg fell from his palm with a "thud," landing on the ground!
With a "crack," the black egg split into two halves!
It broke?
Xiao Hua stared dumbfoundedly at the broken black egg on the ground, but he knew it was just a game, so there wouldn’t be any yolk spilling out. It seemed that the black egg had actually been successfully hatched!
The shell on the ground surged, and a small, black creature jumped out of the shell!
This is... a slime?
Xiao Hua couldn’t believe his eyes looking at the small, black creature. Apart from its pitch-black color, its shape was exactly the same as the slimes he had teased for almost a year back in the newbie village!
System Notification: Congratulations, you have obtained the pet "Dark Slime"!
This guy is really a slime!
Xiao Hua was somewhat speechless. Thinking about the black light that flashed across his hand, he guessed it must be the effect of the Flower of Darkness, allowing him to successfully hatch this black slime.
To confirm this thought, Xiao Hua rolled up his left sleeve to see if the Flower of Darkness had changed. As he lifted his sleeve, he suddenly noticed that the three flowers of darkness on his arm had reduced to two; one was missing!
Hatching this black egg actually consumed one whole Flower of Darkness?
Xiao Hua was immediately alarmed and puzzled. The Flower of Darkness had always been extremely powerful. If the Dark Slime required an entire Flower of Darkness to hatch, what kind of background did this little guy have? Xiao Hua lowered his gaze to the palm-sized Dark Slime on the ground.
The Dark Slime looked very cute, with big watery eyes and a chubby little body. After jumping out of the shell, it immediately hopped over to the edge of the shell and began swallowing the black shell into its belly.
Opening his character status panel, Xiao Hua quickly found the newly appeared pet panel. There were three pet slots on the pet panel; one was occupied by a black slime’s icon, one was empty, and another was grayed out, seemingly not yet activated. Xiao Hua then found the Dark Slime’s attribute introduction.
Dark Slime: A pet egg accidentally obtained by the Great Mage Raito during a dark magic experiment. Unlike ordinary pets, it does not gain attributes upon leveling up, but it possesses a strange evolution ability.
Dark Slime: LV1, HP10, MP0, Attack Power0, Magic Attack Power0, Loyalty50, Hunger50.
Special Abilities: Absolute Defense, Devour Evolution!
Absolute Defense: When attacked by characters or monsters no more than five levels higher than itself, only 1 HP will be forcibly deducted, excluding special skills or Light Attribute attacks.
Devour Evolution (Stage 1): By devouring equipment, the attributes of the equipment are transformed into its own attributes, thereby evolving. Only the attributes of the latest devoured equipment of the same part will take effect!
Devour Evolution?
Xiao Hua hadn’t seen the attributes of other pets before, so he didn’t know how valuable this Dark Slime was, but the Devour Evolution skill caught his eye!
The Breakthrough Sword, this weapon could be used now.
Xiao Hua happily took out the Breakthrough Sword he had just placed in the warehouse and tossed it next to the Dark Slime’s mouth: "Little Black, come on, eat this sword!"
Without much thought, Xiao Hua gave the cute, black slime a cliché name, but "Little Black" was indeed the most fitting name for the Dark Slime!
Little Black had just finished eating the black shell. Seeing the black greatsword Xiao Hua tossed near its mouth, its watery eyes lit up. It seemed very hungry and immediately hopped over, opening its mouth and biting down on the black Breakthrough Sword!
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
"Very good, Little Black, go ahead and swallow it!" Xiao Hua squatted down with a grin, encouraging Little Black. If Little Black swallowed the Breakthrough Sword, it would immediately transform from a chicken to a phoenix, becoming incredibly powerful!
Little Black was currently the size of a palm, while the Breakthrough Sword was a meter and a half long. It was impossible for Little Black to swallow it in one bite. Instead, it opened its tiny mouth wide and bit fiercely onto the blade of the Breakthrough Sword!
"Pah!" With a bite, Little Black’s mouth loosened as if it had bitten a rock!
However, the Breakthrough Sword seemed to be very attractive to Little Black. Despite failing to bite through it, Little Black didn’t give up. It wiggled its chubby body, jumped a few times, and landed on the other side of the sword, then opened its mouth and bit down again.
"Pah!" This time it seemed to have bitten a harder spot, and Little Black grimaced and released its bite, then jumped to another position and tried again...
"Okay! Okay! Stop biting!" Initially filled with anticipation, Xiao Hua realized that Little Black’s Devour Evolution level was insufficient when it failed to bite through the Breakthrough Sword. But Little Black seemed determined to swallow the Breakthrough Sword. After failing to bite through it once, it grimaced, jumped to another spot, and continued. Xiao Hua couldn’t help but laugh and sigh, eventually putting away the Breakthrough Sword.
"Wa, wa!" Little Black was unhappy, jumping over and calling out discontentedly, bumping its chubby body against Xiao Hua’s pants leg.
"Don’t worry, when you can bite through it later, I’ll give it to you. Hmm, let’s try this one." Xiao Hua took out a spare blue item from his backpack and tossed it to Little Black.
Seeing the item, Little Black happily pounced and started gnawing.
However, the blue item seemed too advanced for Little Black. It could only grimace, unable to find a spot to bite.
"It seems we can only devour white items." Xiao Hua guessed that Little Black wanted to devour high-level items, but it was impossible before its devour level increased.
With nothing urgent at hand, Xiao Hua decided to take Little Black to the town to find a shop to buy a couple of white items to see how Little Black would evolve by devouring them.
Earlier, when he was looking for the warehouse NPC, Xiao Hua had already located the equipment shop. However, the town had no carriages, and using a mount was not allowed. Walking there was a bit far, probably taking ten minutes.
While walking, Xiao Hua evaluated the Dark Slime’s attributes. Absolute Defense was a very powerful skill. Once Little Black’s HP increased, it would surely make a great defensive pet. However, in PvP, it might be a disaster unless others didn’t discover the special aspects of the skill, otherwise, it would likely be defeated upon entry.
As for loyalty and hunger, it was similar to mounts. Xiao Hua wondered if there were any pet NPCs in the town, but given that there were NPCs like stable masters, even if there were no specific pet NPCs, the shops would definitely sell related items. So, he wasn’t too worried.
Thinking about the recent major update, Xiao Hua checked his status panel and quickly noticed some changes. The most obvious was the change in skill levels. Taking his theft skill as an example, it used to be marked as "Theft (Master)" but now it was "Theft (Master 7)." Skills were divided into smaller levels after the major level. Checking his other skills, Xiao Hua found that all leveled skills were similarly detailed.
"It looks like now reaching the top of a minor level allows promotion to the next stage." Xiao Hua speculated, but it seemed that different stages had different minor levels. It wasn’t simply that reaching level 10 promoted to the next stage. His poisoning skill was "Poisoning (Advanced 15)," yet it was still Advanced and hadn’t promoted to Expert.
Xiao Hua didn’t delve deep into this matter, as changes to skill levels were due to the revised death penalty. It seemed the death penalty had also undergone significant modifications.
After a while, Xiao Hua found the equipment NPC and bought various equipment from level 1 to 20, then tossed them all to Little Black.
Seeing the equipment, Little Black happily pounced again, and Xiao Hua squatted nearby observing.
White items were finally something Little Black could bite through. It chewed and swallowed a level 1 white dagger in a few bites. Xiao Hua checked Little Black’s attributes, but found no change!
"What’s going on?" Xiao Hua was puzzled. Did it need to digest the item for the attributes to appear?
Carefully examining Little Black’s attribute panel, Xiao Hua noticed a slight difference. After devouring one item, Little Black’s hunger decreased by 1 point, becoming 49!
Does this guy need to eat equipment to satisfy its hunger? Xiao Hua widened his eyes!
After finishing the level 1 dagger, Little Black immediately started on a level 5 dagger. After a few bites, Xiao Hua saw the hunger decrease by another point!
"Sweat, this guy might be a bottomless pit!" Feeding it white items was manageable now, but Xiao Hua was sure that once Little Black’s devour level increased, it wouldn’t be satisfied with white items anymore. Then, he’d be in trouble!
Moreover, the equipment Little Black could devour was not only limited by its quality but also by its level. Equipment more than five levels higher than Little Black’s could not be chewed through. Xiao Hua had no choice but to buy a pile of low-level equipment and toss them in front of Little Black.
Little Black kept chewing diligently, and Xiao Hua patiently watched by its side.
One piece of equipment after another disappeared, and Little Black’s hunger gradually decreased. When its hunger dropped to 9 points, after devouring another item, Xiao Hua received a system prompt.
System Prompt: Your pet "Dark Slime" will devour the equipment "Broken Dagger." Upon successful devouring, it will gain the attributes of the "Broken Dagger." Do you agree?
A hunger level below 9 points is needed to devour, which is also a significant problem!
Xiao Hua had been watching Little Black’s actions, and upon receiving the system prompt, he immediately noticed another serious issue!