To answer the most asked question since the story began: No, Kolan isn’t stupid or dumb. He is just run down and basically in zombie-mode. Having your soul stripped from you bit by bit will tend to do that, regardless of how and why.
Okay, so not really physically. But if anyone can understand the tedious grind of going to work day in and day out without any real desire to be there or any chance to advance then you know exactly what it feel’s like. That dead-end job phenomenon just seems to take on a life of its own and not even a really nice paycheck at the end of the month (or every two weeks, as the case may be) seems to make it worth it.
Kolan is quite stuck, truth be told. The Minut Mart is close enough to walk or ride his bike to, and it is a full time job. Even the local fast food places wouldn’t even offer half the amount of hours, much less the benefits that come with it. Insurance, job security, yada yada. All requiring a singular lack of skills except for the usual ‘go there and do this’ subsect of abilities that mostly consist of chores.
Chores that anyone could do, if they could put up with the crap that management tosses down or the often aggravating passive-aggressive resistance from customers. Putting up with the stress of having to do your best when it seems the store itself is against you should be considered a skill, or possibly an ability of some sort. Really, it should!
At the moment however, none of that matters. Kolan is staring at those screens, which fade from his view within about thirty seconds. That is more than enough time for his brain to seem to kick back on, suddenly shifting his view of everything that has happened.
“Oh shit… That’s kinda cool.”
Okay, so maybe he isn’t to bright on the dangerous part, but his focus has definitely sharpened and he notices the wet ‘plop’ that comes from the uninvited guest that has already wiggled its way free of the stopped up urinal.
The slime is a mottled brown-green blob that bounces and wiggles on the wet floor of the bathroom-turned-lair. It’s insides also contain floating mass of what seems to be toilet paper and a few other things best left unsaid. Still, he cannot smell it, given the stench of the men’s room, but just looking at it sends a shiver down his spine and the hairs on the back of his neck to rise.
That’s because after only a moment of looking at the slime a red colored box had appeared over its head.
< Sewage Slime (Variant) | Level 5 | 30 / 30 HP >
The information is basic, but definitely helpful. The mass of bouncing jello-like crap is level five, but only has 30 health points. Okay. But the fact that it even lists itself as a variant is odd. Kolan isn’t sure what that means, and he is pretty sure he doesn’t really want to find out.
That said, the red color of the box floating above the slimes head is an obvious indication of its intent. Like most monsters, this slime is definitely aggressive. It also soon notices the fact that it is under surveillance, and Kolan could all but feel its attention turn to focus on him. It is like a heavy weight that has come crashing down onto his shoulders.
In a word, Kolan has come under the pressure of ‘killing intent’, which even his fogged up brain can understand. It is a real, palpable thing, like air pressure that is focused on and around him. While most would consider the killing intent of a slime, even one at level 5 to be laughable, for Kolan it is quite a serious thing. After all, who has ever really experienced it outside of those lucky enough to get into martial arts or the like?
Killing intent in humans has all but been bred out of the collective consciousness of the masses. So it is definitely the first time he’d ever felt it, and it shakes him to the core.
Of course, that’s when he remembers that last message that popped up at the end, warning him to run. Too bad he never gets the chance.
The slime bounces right at him, and although it seems to be rather slow, its aggressive nature makes it pick up speed quickly. Kolan only has a moment to realize what the hell is happening before he ends up having to duck under the sudden high bounce the slime makes at him.
He rolls to his left, into the clear area around in front of the urinal, where a short hallway connects to the bathroom stalls. He almost ends up slipping and sliding on the floor though, and has to catch himself on his already ruined shoes to gain enough traction not to end up on his face. It doesn’t stop him from breaking out in a sudden cold sweat when he turns and stares at the slime.
Where the slime had hit the floor after its pounce, the tiles have cracked underneath the crappy water. Being hit by that would have been like being hit by an aluminum baseball bat!
“Shit. What the hell is up with this slime?”
He mutters to himself, but the gears in the back of his mind are already spinning. Now the slime is between him and the exit, with only the stalls behind him. That is not a good thing. Even if he could circle around his enemy, how the hell could he get away fast enough not to be clobbered on the way?
That’s when he realizes that he isn’t totally defenseless. He has the scrubbing brush, which is plastic and probably wouldn’t work very well as a weapon… but he also has the bottle of Drain-O. It is rather flammable and heavy, and that thought gives him an idea.
He drops the brush and goes for one of his pockets, happy to be wearing gloves as he realizes that he’s covered in crap and his clothing is sodden from having fallen on the floor then rolled across it. His breathing picks up when he finds what he is looking for, and pulls out his Bic lighter.
Yes, he smokes cigarettes. It is a bad habit, but is one of the few things that keeps him from going nuclear and ending up on the news like those school kids who shoot up their classrooms.
In this case, it gives him a great idea.
Now all he has to do is survive long enough to actually give it a try.
And not die afterwards, of course.
Still, he knows from experience the drawback of what he is going to attempt. That would be range. While the Drain-O is pressurized, its short nozzle is more for being plugged into a thing then squirted. The viscous liquid inside is both heavier and denser than water, and it is supposed to settle on top of a blockage and force it out by adding additional mass to it, thus increasing the pressure.
It isn’t an aerosol spray that can be ignited like a blowtorch. That leaves Kolan with little choice but to get in close, and probably take one just for the opportunity. But the chance to do anything, anything at all in order to survive this drives him to set his resolve and get it done.
“Hah! Is that all you got, you slimy piece of shit? You came out of a urinal, not a toilet, ya know!”
Okay, so maybe it wasn’t the best taunting remark that he could make, but he’d never been particularly good at coming up with remarks anyway. That and sarcasm usually just rolls right off of him. That is however what happens when a person decides that they’d rather be alone than otherwise.
The taunt does have the desired effect, even if Kolan is utterly unsure if the creature in front of him is even able to understand what is being said.
The slime seems to condense itself for a split second before giving a mighty pounce that shoots the mass of mottled brown and green into the air, almost touching the ceiling tiles as it creates a very nice arc heading straight for its target.
Kolan though was tracking it with his eyes, trying to gauge exactly when he needs to move.
Which is easier said and done, leaving him a little too late to finally throw himself down. The slime ends up slamming into his left shoulder as he ducks toward the right, and Kolan hits the floor while yelling out in pain.
“FUCK! That hurt!”
He grimaces and tries to blink the teardrops from the corners of his eyes. Being hit by the slime was definitely like taking a bat to that spot. It would no doubt bruise badly in a very short while. However, the pain only seemed to make his resolve more firm, and with a growl he turns and lunges himself up onto his knees and goes right after that slime.
He doesn’t even notice that the splattered green-brown splotch on his shoulder had started to eat through his shirt as if it were acid, leaving a faint trail of white smoke.
The slime however seems disconcerted by his sudden lung and freezes up just as he punches it with the fist that holds the can of cleaning agent. Slimes are very resistant to physical damage, even he knew that, but that wasn’t the point. As his fist makes contact with the gel-like substance that makes up the slime, he pulls the trigger of the can with his index finger.
The sound of wushing liquid and air can be heard even as he starts to press the can deeper into the slimes body, making it jerk at the foreign feeling of being invaded by a substance that’s even more dense than it is.
The Drain-O creates a pocket inside the slime, and follows his rubber-gloved clad arm back out until it starts to pool on the floor, sinking under the sludgy water already there.
“Payback is a bitch, you know…”
Kolan cannot help but grin as he holds up his other arm and flicks the lighter. He doesn’t even bother to stop and think about what he is about to do as the flame flickers into life. The slime however probably has more usable braincells, and starts to quiver and shuddering, trying to pull back form his arm.
“Oh no you don’t.”
As quick as a thought he puts the flame right up against the glove of his arm, and the Drain-O leaking down it ignites with a wuff! that spreads quickly up and down the rubber of his glove. Then it enters the slime and trails all the way to where the bottle is, and its pool of still spraying liquid.
Kolan only has about three seconds to figure out what is about to happen as the cleaning liquid pooled inside the Slime ignites under the pressure, and for a moment his face pales before he jerks his arm back. Or rather tries to.
The slime had already started to quiver and jerk, struggling against the heat and flame and thus had tightened up around his arm!
“LET GO!”
It is already too late, however. The pressure inside the Slime has jammed the trigger, and the flame has a ready source of more fuel as it blows back right into the can.
BOOM!
The can explodes like a gas tank, and for an instant Kolan’s entire world goes white as the slime basically incarnates from the inside out.
The blast isn’t very big, but with his arm trapped there inside and being unable to retreat, the results are spectacular. Like setting off a firecracker inside of your closed fist. The damage is greatly enhanced. The Drain-O isn’t only flammable after all, it is also an oxidizer. There is plenty of fuel for fire and flame even when under pressure as the chemicals readily give up their oxygen molecules.
Kolan’s world soon goes black as he feels himself being slammed hard against something on his back, before he finally passes into unconsciousness after falling flat on the muck covered floor.
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Slowly the world filters back through the spectrum, first in sluggish grays and blacks then slowly into other colors, like browns and greens and sparkling whites. The harsh white lights from above only forces the issue to advance more quickly, as several of them are flickering and flashing, thus becoming harsh on the open, staring eyes.
Eyes that blink and gain just a hint of recognition in them.
For Kolan, everything was like a dream, hazy and discolored. Nothing he could see made any sort of sense to his confused mind, even though some things are so familiar that they are right on the verge of being recognizable.
At least until the pain hits, which jerks him back into consciousness.
His entire right arm hurts! It hurts far, far worse than even the hit on his shoulder that the slime had done. Hell, it works worse than when he had gallstones as a teenager! It was like his entire arm was burning and threatening to be ripped off all at the same time.
Except when he turns his head to look and find out why, he sees something that once again makes absolutely no sense to his fuzzy, pain-riddled brain.
His arm from just below the elbow is gone.
The jagged flesh at the elbow joint clearly shows that it had been basically blasted apart, scorched and burned so badly that it bleeds only very little. Above that point however the sleeve all the way up to his shoulder had been burnt off, revealing horrible burns that are seeping with blood and puss.
That is where most of the pain is coming from, although he could have sworn that he could still feel the entirety of his arm.
“Oh fuck… Grrrrrrhmm!”
He can barely speak, much less move as he stares in shock at what had happened to him. It was as if his brain had delayed him processing the signals of pain from the moment of the explosion until he’d finally wake up, and now he is getting it all at once. It was bad enough that he could even feel his bile rising.
He wasn’t about to throw up though, and ruthlessly clamps down on the feeling. Tensing his muscles to do so probably wasn’t the best idea he’d ever had, cause it only served to tug on his shoulder and arm which causes him even more pain, making it harder to keep from being sick.
His shock induced state didn’t do anything to stop the next thing to happen, however.
*DING*
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The Progression System is now fully functional. We thank you for your patience. Everyone’s actions are currently being tallied and the system will automatically notify everyone of their change in status, should there be one.
We apologize for the wait and the inconvenience.
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The following is a summary of the Progression System.
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Once again we apologize for the inconvenience.
The Progression System is separated into three different parts. The first is STATS. STATS are your physical attributes, and are tied directly to your body’s condition.
STATS are:
Power - Martial prowess and physical strength.
Body - Physical endurance and agility.
Mind - Mental prowess and discipline.
Psyche - Mental endurance and complexity.
Health - Total of how much damage you can take before expiring.
Mana - Your store of magical power.
Other ADVANCED (ADV) STATS may be gained due to abilities or purchased as upgrades once you reach the required levels.
The second part of the Progression System are Skills. Skills are repeatable actions that have a learning curve that allow for advancement in ranks and thus power.
Example of Skills are:
Skinning
Blacksmithing
Foraging
Tracking
Magic
Skills come in all sorts of shapes and forms, and the Progression System will reward them as they are acquired or trained.
The third part of the Progression System are Abilities. Abilities are unique traits that cannot be trained or advanced. The effects of Abilities are always active. Abilities are only gained when the System rewards them for doing something of merit.
Abilities may not be disabled, but can be removed in certain circumstances.
You may access your STATUS window by simply thinking < Status >.
This ends the Progression System Summary. We apologize for the inconvenience.
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