[Later That Day, In Fayhelm's Great Forest: Mio 8, 3728]

"Fireball!" I shouted.

As the powerful Tier 2 spell obliterated the remaining slime, we collectively breathed a sigh of relief.

"Are we sure that's the last slime?" I said.

"Relax. If there were any more slimes nearby, they would've attacked us by now," Justine said.

"More importantly, we should probably start collecting the slime jelly. How many vials do we have left?" Sophia said.

As I reached into my void storage, I pulled out a backpack full of vials. After I opened it, I gave Justine and Sophia 5 vials each.

Earlier in the day, we decided to take on Resource Collection quests for the Trade Assoc. & the Mages Assoc. At Platinum Helm, there are many ways to receive quests. However, we had Detia choose our first quest since they trained her to handle heroes. Despite being a Demi-human Minotaur girl, Detia was nice and soft-spoken. She wasn't overly muscular, but had a more feminine appearance. She could probably pass as a human if it wasn't for her Cow-like ears and horns.

This was a trend I noticed in many of the Demi-human men and women that I saw. They bore a closer resemblance to their human counterparts than their intended race. This made sense considering Justine told me that Demi-Humans were more intelligent than their monster counterparts. There's also the fact that the men in Adrios seem to like Demi-human women...a lot. It was only a matter of time before they became more human.

Anyway, Detia felt that Resource Collection was a good way to start out. But it wasn't a coincidence that the two associations needed large amounts of Slime Jelly. Despite being Lowly life forms of minimal intelligence, slimes are made of highly condensed elemental energy. This means they use their Jelly in a variety of applications, from Food all the way to Alchemy. When slimes are killed, they usually melt away and leave behind jelly. But despite only being a threat in large numbers, farming slimes was nothing to laugh at. I considered them cute, but deadly.

Since they were made of highly condensed elemental energy, they had many strengths. For example, all slimes in Adrios were elemental slimes. This meant that they could be Water Slimes, Fire Slimes, Ice Slimes, etc.

Slimes are also immune to all physical attacks, all fall damage, and the damage of their own element. If that wasn't bad enough, slimes can also launch ranged attacks by shooting a burst of their elemental energy. The size of a slime is also associated with how powerful it is, with the largest slimes being S rank. The value of their jelly is proportional to their rank.

As I pulled out the last 5 vials, I joined Justine and Sophia as we collected the clumps of Slime Jelly.

"Why do slimes have to be such a pain in the ass?" I said.

"Indeed. These round blobs of slime are rather troublesome, but their Jelly is versatile. It's used in a variety of potions and food items since it tastes good," Sophia said.

"At least we didn't encounter the slimes that melts clothes," Justine said.

"I didn't catch that. Could you say that again?" I said.

"She's right. There's a crossbreed of Acid and Water slimes that melts armor and clothes. We call them 'Ecchi Slimes' for...obvious reasons," Sophia said.

"It is truly a blessing that we didn't encounter them!" Justine said passionately.

"Damn straight!" Sophia said.

As they nodded in agreement, I could tell that they were passionate about the topic.

"Anyway, did you guys fill your vials?" I said.

"Yup! It looks like we're done here. We should have the 30 vials needed to complete both of the quests," Justine said.

"And we have an extra 10 vials for the shop!" Sophia said.

"It's a shame we had to leave Ronan and Jade behind, though. I'm sure they were looking forward to our first quest," Justine said.

"Well, someone needs to guard the shop while we're away. Plus, it's not like he could really do much if the enemies are immune to physical attacks," I said.

"Yeah, you're probably right," Justine said.

"At least we got some Othirin and Windroot. We can make our own mana and health potions now!" Sophia said happily.

"I'll purify the windroot once we return to the shop. The health potions won't work unless it's purified," Justine said.

As Justine and Sophia placed their vials in the bag, I continued to fill the remaining ones.

But I noticed a group of 4 Giant Slimes hopping in our direction. Accompanying the group of Poison slimes was a pink slime.

"Uh...Justine? Would you happen to know what type of slimes are pink?" I asked.

"Pink? Aren't Ecchi Slimes pink, Sophia?" Justine asked.

"They're rare, but I'm sure they're pink. Why?" Sophia said.

"Do you mean as pink as that slime over there?" I said.

As Justine and Sophia turned toward the slimes, their smiles quickly faded into a stern look. I got up from the ground and carefully placed the backpack into my void storage. I could tell they were itching for a fight as they stood next to me.

"Why is this filth still breathing our air?" Justine said.

"I couldn't agree more," Sophia said.

"While I don't share your passionate emotions, I'm interested to see how much his Jelly would be worth on the market," I said smiling.

As the three of us prepared to fight the Giant Slimes, I knew that I learned something important.

There's nothing Justine hates more in this world...than Ecchi Slimes.