“Ngghh…Stay…Focused…”
Diana softly grunted as a small slime ball floated above her wooden staff, the small green blob wobbling and jiggling slightly as she did her best to maintain it. But alas, it was not her day, as her control fell out and the slime fell down, splashing all over the stone floor.
“Hah…Damnit…”
She sighed and threw her staff down. Her mind was ready to just fall apart, so let’s stop now. Slimey tried to encourage her, jumping all around the cave like a proactive cat in the summer day. Seriously, what are you doing?
*Boink!*
“Thanks…”
But! Despite what it looks like, she did accomplish something! And something big too!
Name: Diana
Race: Human
Age: 17
Class: Peasant Lv: 1/5 | Exp: 15/50
HP: 12/12
MP: 0/12
SP: 0/12
[Strength]: 3
[Tenacity]: 2
[Agility]: 3
[Intelligence]: 2
[Dexterity]: 4
[Mentality]: 3
[Endurance]: 3
[Wisdom]: 3
[Longevity]: 2
[Skill Points]: 4
{Skills}: [Slime Valley: Lv 2/10], [Knife Mastery Lv 1/10], [Slime Magic Lv 2/10], [Assassination Lv 1/10]
{Magic}: -
{Titles}: [Slime Queen]
As you can see, her [Slime Magic] was now Level 2! Hell yeah! So, what does it do?!
…Not much really. She did feel a slight increase in control, but other than that, nothing. Disappointing, I know!
She also managed to further improve her time limit, but it wasn’t all that impressive. She would still lose control after about 20 or 25 seconds, so it wasn’t that great. Anyways, she was tired! Practicing magic took much more than she originally thought!
Before long, she had completely fallen asleep.
…………………….
Meanwhile, not far off from where Diana was sleeping, a small tribe could be seen. Simple stone huts were erected from the ground, surrounding the fire that was blazing in the centre. The lack of any windows or doors allowed the cold wind to enter.
“Guuu…”
And inside one of the houses, stood a lone goblin, his fists pressed against his stone. The goblin didn’t look all that different from the rest of his kind, but his height was definitely taller, and the black runic lines on his green body seemed much more alive than the rest. His clenched fists trembled in anger as he recalled what the scout had said to him.
As of recent, a group of 3 goblins had been going out, scavenging and gathering food for their kind. He and the rest of the tribe were extremely grateful, but were horrified to hear, that just this day, they had been found dead. The two goblin guards laid dead near their camp site, their weapons missing. While the goblin mage was seen not far away, his trusty staff missing.
He would’ve assumed this as their mistakes, but after hearing that there were traces of slime near the two guards’ corpses, the goblin was convinced, that the Slime Queen had returned. A deep rooted anger, and fear arose from his heart.
He knew quite well about this Slime Queen from the legends his ancestors had left about it, and how their tribe had fought against her for many decades. Alone, they were powerless, but banded together, they summoned the strongest magic they could muster and fired, taking advantage of the slime’s weakness to magic. In a brilliant explosion, the slime queen died.
But now she’s back?! With the recent killing, there only remained about 10 or so goblin mages, him included. But will that be enough? From what he heard, there were traces of dried blood around them, which meant that this Slime Queen was able to handle weapons. This pretty much made her into an even bigger threat than she is.
The goblin stared at the pendant around his neck for a moment, the one gift he had received from his father before his death. He held the gift and prayed, before his eyes burned bright with anger. He immediately charged out of his home and informed his fellow goblins about this Slime Queen.
Little did he know, that Diana was as far as you could picture as a ‘Queen’.
……………………
The night naturally passed by, and the sun was back shining up high. The golden rays of the sun still failed to go through the dense canopies of leaves below. Thin shadows casted across the ground below the trees.
“Mmm…”
Slowly she awoke, rubbing her eyes and yawning. Ah~, the cold morning breeze felt pleasant…
*Boink!*
“Nn?”
Right after, her trusted Slimey returned to her with breakfast! As always, the menu was an apple, but it wasn’t like she could really do anything about that, so time to eat!
*Nom-*
“[Fauir Boll]!”
But just as she took her first bite, a goblin mage appeared! A staff was held in its hand, channelling its magic as a ball of fire formed above him. Wait, isn’t it getting larger?
“Ua?!”
*Boom!*
In a rush, she picked up her knife and jumped back, avoiding the fire ball. A powerful explosion sounded as, eh?! Her staff was burning?!
Vengeance shall be acquired!!
“Haa!!”
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Knife in hand, she leaped straight for the goblin mage. This was for her staff!!
“Ha!”
*Pak!*
Knocking its staff away, she cancelled its magic and stabbed her knife! Blood poured out, but it was still alive!
“Take this!”
Sadly, she couldn’t make her finisher as brutal as mortal combat, but stabbing her knife into its neck should be enough for a change! *Puchi!*
“G-Gu…”
“?!”
But the goblin wasn’t done yet! Tracing its blood soaked finger across its body, the black runic lines on its chest began to shine an ominous purple. Feeling a shiver up her back, she jumped back and hid within the cave. The runes continued to shine, until-
*BOOM!!*
“A-A suicide bomber?!”
An explosion occurred, sending dust and debris all around! Luckily, her cave shielded her from most of the damage, but it seemed like this cave wasn’t going to stand for much longer! She needed to get out of here!
Picking up her knives, she jumped out of the cave as the ceiling collapsed behind her. Standing up, she turned around the see her former shelter, decimated into nothing but a pile of rocks.
She felt kinda sad now. You know, like when you’re forced to move out from a home you’ve grown to love? Not saying she loved this cave as her home, but it definitely saved her from the many horrors that lurked within the night.
She sighed and looked at the mess that rude goblin caused to the surroundings. There didn’t seem to be anything she could salvage, all she could see was a splatter of guts and blood. Hah…This is terrible! Her home was destroyed, her staff was burnt away, and she’s left in this forest with no means on how to defend herself! What a great start to her story!
Now then, where to head?
There was no map here, nor did her status screen display any maps like games did, so she wasn’t left with much to go on. After staring out at the thousands of choices to make, she simply said “F*ck it’ and went left.
As she walked through the forest, her mind continually thought over about how she could maybe try and control her own mana. Would be damn helpful if she could cast magic without using any staffs!
If she had to pick an idea, it would be to meditate. You know, like sit under a waterfall and let the energy circulate within you, or something? Qi and stuff? But how was she supposed to do that?!
But perhaps there was different way, but what is it?
But save that for later! Just as the trees diverged, her eyes fell upon the beautiful lake before her. The surface shined under the golden sun. In a slight daze, she brought herself to the edge, and dipped her toes into the water. It wasn’t too hot, nor too cold. It felt…perfect. Looking at the water, she stared at her own reflection, the reflection of a cute girl looked back at her, as if to remind her that the girl was indeed her.
From the first moment she stepped on this world, she hadn’t gotten a good look at her new self, and from the first look, she could definitely say that she looked quite, cute. Her long black hair went down to her back, glistening under the sunlight. Her body had become significantly slimmer, and much more feminine. Her arms and legs were much smoother, her skin as smooth as silk. Her chest was ’adequately’ sized, though she had no means to measure them!
She placed her hand on her cheek, feeling the smooth skin she now had. The touch she felt was definitely new, yet it felt so familiar to her. It was as if she was born in this world, her skin lacking any contaminations from the pollution Earth had.
But enough of that, let’s continue training on [Slime Magic]! Wait, she didn’t have the staff, which meant that she couldn’t even cast magic in the first place! Damnit!!
“Hah…I guess I’ll just try and control my mana…”
…………………
The result of that, was a complete failure. She had spent a couple hours sitting still, trying to bring out her inner mana and control it, but to no avail. Although, her training was not without any results.
Although she did not manage to control her mana, she felt a much stronger grasp of her own mana, now actually able to feel it moving inside her. It felt just like a river, flowing down towards who knows where. The feeling was similar to the one she felt back when she touched the wooden staff, but that one felt much weaker.
Now all she had to do, was to find a way to direct, and finally control her own mana to her own will. It would be hard, it would be tough, it would probably take days or even weeks to come, or months even!
Sighing to herself, she laid her back down on the dirt and looked up, her eyes staring up towards the blue sky above her. Distant stars blinked despite it being morning, somehow reminding her of just how far she had gotten from her home.
She wondered if perhaps the cold embrace of death would bring her back, that all this was just a simulation. Sure seemed like a good reason to drive a silver knife through her skull! But as more time passed in this world, that seemed less likely. The feelings she felt in this world felt real, sometimes too real.
*Boink!*
“Yes…Let me rest…”
Slimey bounced up and down, feeling slightly worried at her silence. She quickly assured it as she pat it softly, the green blob jiggling from her touch. Slimey seemed to feel satisfied and backed away.
The time seemed to pass by quickly, as her mind seemed to sit still in a daze, watching as the sun above slowly begun to move along the sky. The giant celestial star moved and shined upon this world, the warmth of the sun reaching down towards her. She relaxed her every existence and slowly fell asleep, not noticing the message that had just popped up.
[[Alleviation] has been acquired. 1 Skill Point gained]
…………………
*Boink!*
“Ngghh…”
*Boink!*
“What…is…it…?”
Rubbing her eyes, she slowly opened her eyes and looked up, seeing Slimey who was sitting above her. Seeing as its master was awake, Slimey hopped off from her chest. It seemed satisfied as it rolled over the apples it gathered over her sleep.
“Thanks.”
Pulling her toes out of the lake, she picked up one of the apples and ate. As she was eating, she decided to look over her stats, and immediately noticed the new addition to her skill set.
[Alleviation]
Lv 1/5
Allows you to enter a state of meditation, where exhaustion, pain, and feelings fades away.
In this state, you recover slightly faster.
She wasn’t sure how she managed to gain this skill, but she didn’t care. This was awesome! She had just thought of how meditation would help, and guess what? She gets a skill that allows her to do just that! Was her luck finally looking up?!
Though, she did find it weird that this one only went up to Level 5, not like the rest of the skills she had. Was this considered a high ranking ability, or was it just that easy to master? Oh please let it be the latter!
But let’s get on with it! Her heart couldn’t calm down the excitement she got when she imagined just how much much this would help her in trying to control her own mana.
Ooh! Would this also give her access to Qi? That would be amazing! She could just imagine herself shooting out beams of energy from her palms. Well, that’s for later.
Sitting down with her legs crossed, she closed her eyes and sat still. She didn’t really know where to start, but as more time passed, she found that it became easier and easier to calm herself down, until finally, all her thoughts, feelings, and senses were dulled out, leaving her seemingly floating in an endless void of her own mind.
Then, she felt her mana, seemingly moving around her body without much of her control. Slowly, she reached out for her mana, and grasped for it. The feeling of her flowing mana flowed against her will.
She felt it like a river, her magic simply riding down the slope that eventually carried it towards its destination. She needed to change that destination, change its course with her will. But even with her increased focus and lack of senses, she still found it difficult to direct and control her mana, but not impossible.
She was ready to continue, but Slimey quickly snapped her out of her trance.
“Huh? What is it?”
*Wuushh!*
Picking her knife, she jumped aside and avoided the incoming wind barrage. Out from the trees, came a group of 3 goblins, 2 melee fighters and one mage. The perfect combination to take her down! Well, too late to back down now!
It seems a battle was bound to happen!