Chapter 7 – The Hunt!
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The next day was spent buying the necessary supplies for the trip. First off were some proper backpacks for Akemi and me. Although Koshiro could fit much in his bag by using his Inventory Management (Expert) skill, we’d have to help carry some things. Next were weapons. Koshiro bought us a pair of rather thin short swords. 

“You’ve only been practicing with wooden swords up until now, so a lighter blade should be easier for you to use. Besides, you’re better off stabbing at slimes rather than slashing,” explained Koshiro. “The way to kill a slime is to target its central core, which is easier to stab than slash, with its slimy outer layer in the way.”

Armor was skipped, as baby slimes offered very little resistance, which is what made them good practice for newbie adventurers in the first place.

Next we bought various miscellaneous things and food. Koshiro already had most of the required camping gear we’d need.

We were going to travel from settlement to settlement, killing any slimes we found on the way, and maybe some edible monsters if we were lucky. This meant we only needed to bring food to last us about a week at a time, as we could restock when needed. Granted, that was still a lot of food, but thankfully we didn’t have to carry around the entirety of three months worth of supplies.

That night we went to sleep early in our room at The Bull’s Eye, to set out at dawn the next day.

~ ~ ~ ~

After traveling along the road north for two days, we finally encountered our first Baby Slime. We’d split up to cover more ground, with Akemi and me going together and Koshiro going alone, but we had to stay within line of sight.

“Hey girls! Over here!” He suddenly shouted.

We rushed over to him as fast as we could. As we got close to him, I could see he was standing in front of a gelatinous blob the size of one of those rubber exercise balls.

Doing a quick Appraisal, I began sifting through the information. Baby Slime, level 11, low Int and Wis stats, Cold Resistance, Fire Weakness. Just about what I’d expect.

“Yay! Our first slime,” said Akemi excitedly. “So now we just start stabbing it or what?”

“Now now, hold on for a second,” said Koshiro. “I wouldn’t recommend just swinging at it wildly. Baby Slimes are docile until attacked, so the best strategy is to take out their core with one well placed strike.” He stepped closer to it. “You see that black spot inside it?”

Looking closer, I could indeed see a black sphere the size of a golf ball inside it.

“Now, while it is staying still, line up your sword like this,” he said as he pulled out his sword and took aim. “And stab it!” With lighting speed his sword was now embedded in the slime’s core.

The outer layer of the slime beggan wobbling, and within a few seconds it lost its integrity and splattered on the ground. Koshiro then took the core in his fingers and gently slid it off his sword. “We’ll take the cores with us, as we need to turn them in to the guild as proof of extermination. ” He then took out a rag and wiped off his blade. “And remember to wipe the slime off your swords, rusts them up terribly.”

We then proceeded to split up again to look for more slimes. After an hour, Akemi and I stumbled across one.

“Dad, over here!” Shouted Akemi.

It didn’t take long for him to run over to our location.

“Now, I showed you girls how to take it out before, so who wants the honor?”

“Rock paper scissors?” I suggested, and was answered with a nod. I’d been surprised to learn that they didn’t have rock paper scissors in this world, but Akemi had quickly taken to it after I introduced it to her.

Okay, she usually leads out with rock, so should I go for paper? No that’s too obvious, she’s probably going for scissors. Goin rock would be the safest bet, winning against scissors and getting a tie if she also goes rock. Okay, let’s do this!

“Rock, Paper, Scissors!” We both shouted in unison.

I stared at her open palm.

Dammit.

“Yay! I’m going first!” She announced with a small bounce. She then drew her sword and went to prepare her attack on the slime.

“Okay, now line up your strike,” Instructed Koshiro from the side. “Try to take it out with one hit. If you don’t… Well I have faith in you so we’ll tackle that if it comes up.”

Hmm, actually, that makes me think… “Can we kill it with one hit though? We’re not as strong as you, and it has over 200 HP.”

“Hm?” Koshiro looked at me. “Oh, striking weak spots amplifies your damage by a lot. A good critical hit should be able to kill something even a couple levels higher than yourself in one attack, at least in the lower levels, things get more complicated at higher levels, with more skills being added into the mix” he explained.

Sheesh, should I have gone for a stealth archer build instead?

“Can I attack now?” Asked Akemi, her tail whipping impatiently behind her.

“Of course! Whenever you’re ready, go for it. I’ll cover you if it retaliates,” reassured Koshiro as he took a combat stance.

Akemi began lining up her attack. One leg in front, her blade drawn back, she took a deep breath and then exhaled. “Hiyah!” With a battle cry she let loose her attack, her blade skewering the slime right through the core.

“I did it!” She exclaimed with a smile on her face and a small bounce.

“That’s my girl,” said Koshiro as he ruffled her hair.

“Dad stop!” She said with a laugh. “We have to find another one so Tiye gets her try.”

“Indeed we do. Store the core, wipe your blade, and let’s split up again and resume the hunt.”

Unfortunately we didn’t find any more slimes before it got late and we decided to set up camp. “Too bad we didn’t find any more today, but they should get more numerous when we get further away from the big city.” I must’ve been looking a bit disappointed, as Koshiro tried to console me.

The big moment came not long after we’d set out again the next day. Koshiro had found another slime and called us over.

Finally, the time has come for my first kill!

Bruh, that’s pretty morbid.

Shush, me.

I proceeded to take a combat stance as I lined up my strike. Breathe in, breathe out. “Hmph!” I let out a grunt as I struck out. I felt my blade easily slide through the slimy outer layer, followed by the resistance of something solid. The slime wobbled before splattering to the ground.

Well that was eas- Holy shit that’s a lot of XP!

[[Baby Slime Level 10]HAS BEEN ELIMINATED, 2.800 XP HAS BEEN AWARDED]

That’s several weeks worth of mundane tasks! A smile spread across my face. Time to grind some levels!

 

I struggled a bit with writing this chapter, so I ended up procrastinating and playing video games. I completed 3 games of Civ 6 among other things...

Hopefully I can pick up the pace again from here.

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