๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ข๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ง๐ช๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ณ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฅ๐ญ๐บ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต. ๐ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ข๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ. ๐๐ณ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ๐ด๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฅ๐ณ๐ข๐จ๐จ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ "๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ด." ๐๐ถ๐ต ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐'๐ฎ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฐ๐จ๐ถ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ ๐ด๐ต๐ถ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ค๐ณ๐ฐ๐ด๐ด ๐ถ๐ด. ๐๐ณ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต ๐ค๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ญ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ต๐ธ๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ช๐จ ๐ด๐ข๐ญ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ถ๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต๐ญ๐บ ๐ข๐จ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ด๐ต ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐บ. ๐๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ช๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ข๐ต ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ข ๐ค๐ข๐ญ๐ฎ ๐ญ๐ถ๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ต๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ธ๐ฐ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ถ๐ด. "๐๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ ๐ถ๐ฑ." ๐๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ฆ. ๐ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ถ๐ฑ, ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ข๐ด๐ด๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ต๐ข๐ณ๐ด ๐ค๐ญ๐ถ๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ท๐ช๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฏ๐ฐ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ. ๐๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ข๐ถ๐ต๐ช๐ง๐ถ๐ญ. ๐ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐๐ณ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต ๐ด๐ฎ๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ง๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ญ. ๐๐ข๐บ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ณ๐ช๐ฑ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ข๐ง๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ.
{Name: Azrael Silven
Level: 5
Ultimate(s): Grim Harvest (S+), Eternal Monarch (S-)
Skills: Dash (F), Danger Sense (F)], Keen Smell (D), Leadership(F)}
Azrael began to plan what to do with the skills he gained. Looking at the new skills, he realizes that they were completely useless to him. Closing his eyes, he begins to sense the skills within himself. Opening his left palm, he uses his right hand to gently pull out two incandescent threads. Holding the threads, he crushes them, turning them into small bright lights. The bright lights immediately rush back into his body going towards his first innate skill, [Grim Harvest].
Grim Harvest
Rank: S+
Level: 1 (0.9%)
Description: Killing an enemy shall grant you their skills and a portion of their proficiency. Thread-like strands will appear from the corpse. The number of skills corresponds with the number of threads. Only one thread can be consumed from a given corpse. If more are consumed the skill goes into cooldown for several hours depending on the number of threads consumed.
Pulling an orange thread out of his left palm, he also crushes it. Turning it into orange starlight that flows into his body and going towards the Dash skill. With his masterful usage of the skill, and the Leadership skill being used as nourishment, it leveled up to 5. The skill now uses less mana and can allow Azrael to move even faster.
Finishing up with everything, Azrael begins to rest. With the pace he's traveling, it may not take long for him to get to his first destination. Morning arrives, and Azrael begins to wake up, the fire he started has burnt out. Standing up and stretching he moves out of the burrow. Relaxed and refreshed, he strolled out of the burrow and trekked south.
The journey was uneventful, Azrael killed a few wild animals to Ascend and for sustenance. When he was tired, he and Ragnar stayed in caves or burrows to bunker down for the cold nights. As the days wore on, a sense of weariness settled upon Azrael, the monotony of ceaseless walking or riding Ragnar taking its toll. With each passing day, his longing for the freedom of flight grew stronger. Wanting to break free from the constraints of terrestrial travel. Finally, by the end of the week of the treacherous journey he begins to see something different from the usual winter forest.
"Rigid creature I command you to halt!" In a cute child-like voice, a slimy green blob with pieces of metal on its body said to Azrael.
Behind the slime was the first roadblock of the Devil's Trail; Slime Valley. Nestled within its vast expanse of approximately five hundred thousand square kilometers, Slime Valley stands as an ecosystem unto itself, boasting a remarkable array of distinctive flora and fauna. The valley is cradled within a geographical depression, causing rivers to cascade into majestic waterfalls as they converge upon its borders. The encircling mountains and hills, with their sheer inclines, render any attempts to ascend them futile. True to its name, the valley is predominantly governed by its abundant slime inhabitants, for their sheer numbers and remarkable cohesion compensate for their individual lack of strength. Making even Azrael a bit wary on how to proceed. Touching his chin, Azrael is amazed by what he's seeing. Though he's seen a lot in the grand universe there are still creatures that he's never interacted with before.
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"Fascinating, it seems these creatures hold some intelligence even without a brain." Azrael thought before walking towards the green slime.
"What are you doing?! I said halt!" Even with such a commanding tone the child-like voice takes away any intimidation it might have.
Standing in front of the blob Azrael said, "Please make way, I need to get past this valley."
The once green slime turned a shade of yellow once it spotted the luparis next to Azrael, a testament to its inexperience. Stuttering, it said, "I must apologize but I cannot let you through. You should simply go around the valley." The slime bubbled up and down a bit more while staring at Ragnar.
"Well, that's no good. Going around would take months, if not years. Not to mention how dangerous it is. Is there any way I can pass through the valley?"
The slime hesitates while bubbling in place. Ultimately it made its decision and said, "My shift ends in a few hours anyways. Wait here with me until the next guard takes over. Then I can lead you to our king. Maybe his majesty will allow you passage."
Azrael raised a brow, "Why do we need to talk to your king for me to gain passage?"
"Well, you can enter from this side without a hitch, however the problem is the other side. Most of the army is stationed there due to border disputes and they're not going to allow a human to just waltz right through." The slime patiently explains.
"Fair enough, you said your shift ends in a few hours?"
"Yeah, so we only have to wait here for a bit." The slime said slowly. While waiting the slime strikes a conversation with Azrael. "Not many humans show up here. In fact, it's been years since the last one showed up. You're the first human I've ever seen. Is it true that you have bones underneath your skin? Or do you use magic to keep yourself rigid?"
Humored by the curious slime Azrael patiently answered its question, "No, I don't use magic to keep myself rigid. And humans do have bones in them. Now I have a question for you. How do you function without a brain?"
The bubbly slime pauses, then grows an appendage that bends and points right back to it. "See this? The small orb in the center of my body? That's what allows me to continue to exist."
And just like that both the green slime and Azrael slip into conversation to pass the time.
A few hours pass, and in the distance a blue slime is seen riding on a gelatin structured horse. Galloping, the slime soon nears Azrael and the green slime. While getting closer the blue slime yells, "Hey Sam! Your shift's over, let me take over!" Arriving next to the two, the blue slime hops off and lands next to Azrael.
Sizing Azrael then Ragnar up and down, he coolly said to Sam, "who's this Sam?"
"Oh, he's a human that wants to cross the valley."
"His name?"
"His name isโฆ what's your name kind sir?"
Azrael looks at Sam, then at the blue slime, "My name is Azrael, it's a pleasure to meet you."
An awkward silence appeared for a minute until the blue slime spoke, "Yeah, whatever. You can go but don't try anything funny mister."
"Thanks, Ooey! Now sir Azrael, let's go see the king!" Bubbling up and down, Sam and Azrael stride past the squishy gatehouse.
Walking a few miles down the road Azrael and Sam arrive at a garrison. "Wait here. I need to grab a horse. We're both going to need a ride if we're going to the capital." Sam goes and grabs the nearest horse and leads Azrael to the main road.
"Even taking the main road, the journey is still going to take us about five hours. Be prepared sir Azrael, so the boredom doesn't kill you" Sam vibrated at that last remark. Azrael secretly rolled his eyes, "You don't have to say "sir" every time you address me. It's a bit annoying. Just say my name normally."
Sam pauses, "Okayโฆ Azrael. Let's not stay here any longer; we should head off to the capital now." Azrael nods, and with Sam leading the way the two set off towards the capital city, Yahvet.
From swaying trees to the huge chocolate bears sleeping out in the open, Azrael's journey towards the capital was scenic and uneventful. Throughout their journey, they encountered numerous slime creatures. They came in all sorts of shapes, sizes, and colors, ranging from small and translucent to larger, more vibrant slimes. These curious creatures move in unison, oozing along the ground, and forming intricate patterns and shapes as they go about their daily activities. Still on the road, Azrael gazes at the occasional slime that comes by. "I never thought slimes could build a civilization. Not much is known about them in the great universe."
Sam, fiddling with the toy he brought for the journey, stopped for a bit before replying, "Uh, yeah, it's a miracle we became a kingdom at all. We were almost wiped out before our nation came to be."
Raising a brow, Azrael questioned, "Oh? What happened?"
Sucking the toy back into his body, Sam sat on the horse quietly for a bit, "Do you want the long story or the short one?"