The morning came in a blink of an eye, well at least for me, I slept like a log for the first time in months, if not years… How long has it been? Since I changed my editor? Yeah, seems about right…
Getting out of my tent, I streched my body and prepared my breakfast i.e., jerky and some water.
"Aah, I would love some coffee right now… Well, I would be happy if I got some tea too… Oh, you woke up too?" I turned around and noticed my slime wobbling out of the tent behind me. Wait, does he even sleep? Well, no matter what I think about it now.
"Okay, let's review today's agenda. First, we need to procure some food. But to do that, I will need some weapons. I only have a knife on me right now so I would like something with longer reach… what is it, slime boy?'' The slime before me extended part of its body like a tentacle and pointed towards the lake.
"You want to say that I can find food there?" to my question, the slime wobbled up and down, apparently I was correct.
I packed my tent and everything I took out from the Magic bag and headed out behind the slime. We shortly arrived at the lake where it signaled to me to hide myself in the bushes. When I did, we looked at the water surface and not even five minutes after we did, slimes started appearing out of the lake. Does that mean slimes are born in this lake? Does he want me to eat them?
The slime extended its tentacle again and pointed at the slimes.
"You want me to capture them?" As I asked, the slime wobbled again.
"Okay, I will try." I stood up and went to the slimes. As they were confused about my arrival and started wriggling around, I cast <Tame> on them. That was how I got ten more slimes. Pretty easy, if you asked me. Absorb, Dissolve and Regenerate seemed to be all skills slimes were born with, so the Corpse eater my first slime must've been acquired through the action of eating corpses.
Now that that was done, the first slime rolled out of the bush we were hiding in and started moving towards the waterfall. Interested in what he was about to do I ordered the new slimes to follow after me and I went after him too.
What surprised me next was that we went to the cave the Administrator told me about in his letter. Once we arrived, we were greeted by moss and mushrooms everywhere we went. Surprisingly, one of the slimes went and started munching on the moss right away. Given I could feel it's feelings through the taming contract, I knew he was happy so I saw no problem in letting him eat his fill.
"So, what do we have here? It's clearly as damp as I thought it would be," looking around I found moss that glowed with pale green light, some crystals that emitted a somehow comforting light and some mushrooms. Appraisal confirms that the mushrooms and moss are edible, so some food source is present here, like the Administrator said, much to my disappointment.
"With all of this, we can live comfortably for quite a while, I imagine… okay guys help me pick some mushrooms for today's lunch!" I said excitedly to the slimes and they wobbled around, pushing and picking the mushrooms up to me. Well, the moss eating slime continued doing what he was but because I would be the only one eating them, I was fine with it.
Once we collected enough, we exited the cave and returned to my campsite.
"Well, then. I could stay in the tent, but I would rather live more comfortably, if possible. Should I make a cave with magic? Hmm… there is the <Rock> spell that turns dirt into rocks and <Break rock> for breaking them… okay, let's try it. <Break rock!>" I used the spell against a wall, but it only dented with cracks forming in all directions like a spiderweb.
"Okay, let's continue. <Break rock!> <Break rock!> <Break rock!>"
I continued for at least ten rounds, but every time I got only about a single centimeter in. The slimes in the meanwhile carried away the debris and threw it onto a pile, even here, one slime started feasting like it was nobody's business.
Can slimes eat anything that isn't stronger than them?
"I should change my style… the most common way to make holes in any material, was by drilling on earth. Drill. Drill…" I placed my hand on the stone and continued saying 'Drill' like a madman while imagining a rotating force bore through the stone. Suddenly, my magical powers started to swirl around my hand more than when I used <Break Rock>. This feeling of magic exiting my body, I have to remember it…
"Drill… <Drill>" About ten minutes after I started making the cave, I finally succeeded in casting the spell. About one meter and roughly twenty centimeters worth of rock fell apart with a cone shaped hole before me. It was barely half a meter wide, but I was sure that if I used four of those in a square shape, I could have a lot more space in this new cave. As I got happy about that prospect, I continued to use <Drill> until I almost ran out of magic. Meanwhile the slimes collected quite the pile of rock debris. On top of said pile, a slime was picking up stones with its tentacle-like arm and feeding itself by dropping the stone on top of its body and melting the rock away once they got inside.
"Hmm, that was fun, let's make lun— it's evening already?!! I haven't eat anything since morning!"
Seeing how low the sun got, I quickly made a fire and started cooking the mushrooms with no spice or whatsoever. I need to come up with a way to make rock salt edible… maybe alchemy can help with that? …hey, what if I used magic to make it? I know the chemical name, so why not try it? What should I call it though? Salt? Seems basic… Sodium Chloride? Nacl? It could work, but feels off…
As I waited for the mushrooms to be ready, I dreamed about what to do next. "The cave would need to get more expanded. Also I will need a small shaft to bring in fresh air… maybe I could make a heater for winter, but then I would need one more shaft to take out the smoke…"
"Grrrrrr…" A growl came from a bush nearby. Soon after that, a pair of black wolves exited the forest so I used an appraisal on them and what do I find?
Black wolf
An adapted monster with high aptitude for darkness and evenly high physical strenght. On their own they are challenging enough, but in a pack you can conscider them D rank monsters. Average height is roughly one meter.
They quite literally were Black Wolves. I mean, someone unimaginative must've named their species, like for example a run of the mill writer. Hmm, but does that mean that in this world there is a physical difference between them and other wolves? Ack! I shouldn't think about this now!!!
A slightly bigger wolf approached me while hiding the other wolf behind him. The smaller wolf was probably a female, given how swollen her stomach was, she must've been pregnant too. That would mean that the other wolf was her mate.
The wolves stared at me, growling. Hmm… would they eat the mushrooms? They look really beaten up, they probably run into a strong monster.
I picked one stick that was stabbed in the ground by the fire and throwed it to them.
"Eat up, you look tired."
The male wolf sniffed the mushrooms and took a small bite. In the meantime, the slimes, previously covering behind me, started to crawl around me, almost as if they wanted to protect me so I patted their slimy bodies.
Once the male finished sniffing the mushrooms, he took the stick and gave it to his mate who ravenously dug in. In less than a second it went into her stomach. I guess saying 'wolf something down' is rather on spot with this one.
"Want some more?" I offered the wolves some more mushrooms and they ate it together. I myself got some to eat and rested by the fire looking at the wolves. The male suddenly stood up and walked over to me, the slimes formed a wall between us, but it was unneeded. The wolf lay down and showed me his belly. Ah, he submits to me… oh, Taming magic!
I extended my hand and patted the wolf before speaking up, "If you two need a dry place to stay, you can stay with me, what do you say?" To my words the female walked up to us, licked the male and looked me in the eyes. Not even a second later, I used the taming magic on both of them, one at a time. Once the contracts were done, I could feel their genuine happiness. The slimes also became less wary and one even rolled over to them and used its tentacle to pat them. Mr. Slime has maxed out social skills, eh?
And so, we spent the night cuddled in the tent all together.
This was the start of my everyday life. Every day I checked on my monsters, went to hunt which also worked as magic training for me and by evening I expanded the cave I made. And during this time, the monsters I tamed started evolving. The corpse-eating smile became the Corpse slime, which was slightly bigger than regular slime and had grayish red color. Second slime to evolve was the one who ate the moss in the nearby cave and became Moss slime. This one started growing moss from its core and soon looked like a ball of moss that could roll around on its own. He could also grow different types of moss and release spores. Third slime that evolved was the one who ate the excavated rocks and became Stone slime, quite literally looking like your everyday stone.
This leads me to believe that monsters evolve depending on their diet. However that can prove to be hard to prove as the wolves eat everything and haven't evolved at all. Also, I find out that the spell used to learn about the monster's skills is called <Monster appraisal>. It appears to be so closely related to regular <Appraisal> that I unconsciously used it before on my first slime. It seems that the regular Appraisal gives general information, while Monster Appraisal gives specific information on every single tamed monster, it doesn't work on wild monsters at all.
The book about monsters differentiate monsters into two groups. One is called [Magic born] which means monsters like spirits, undead and extradimensional monsters like Angels, Demons and Dragons. The second group is called [Adapted] which are all monsters which were born from regular animals that adapted to thicker magically charged areas. Said areas are practically this entire world, but the main deciding fact is density of magical power. Also, there are two things to look out for. Blue and Red Moons.
This world has a nice collection of nine moons, most of them are as gray as the one Earth had, but two of them are special. Once a month during their full moon phase, they turn Red and Blue respectively. Once that happens, the magic energy grows thinner or denser, depending on the moon that shines. If it's the Blue moon, the monsters can go on a little rampage due to magic power overload. When the moon shines Red, the magical power grows thinner and the monsters become weaker, and some can even die. According to the books, the Red Moon is the best time to tame dragons, but I'm not gonna try that anytime soon. Not like I know where to find them. Anyway, back to the monsters…
It's possible that the wolves are Adapted monsters. That would mean that they do not evolve on their own like the Magic born monsters, but rather give birth to enhanced new species. Though, I wonder how it works exactly.
For now though, I decided to look at the new three slimes.
Corpse Slime
Rare advanced species of slime monster, it can remove odors and is extremely resilient. Roughly fifteen centimeters in diameter. Absorb 5, Dissolve 5, Regenerate 4, Corpse eater 5, Deodorize 1, Odor removal 1, Play dead 1, Poison resistance 4, Disease resistance 5
It had new skills like Play dead, Deodorize and Odor removal. Ever since it's evolution it's been hanging around the wolves when I'm butchering. It also seems like he befriended another slime that seems to prefer to drink blood I drained. It's possible this slime will evolve in similar fashion. The skills are truly interesting. Play dead makes the slime release magical energy and it's jelly shrunks to about the size of its core, making it similar to dead slime. Deodorize eliminates odor by absorbing the item into its body before deodorizing it and Odor removal works similarly, but it absorbs the smell from the air rather than by swallowing the smelly thing. The slime also creates a liquid that smells like rotten eggs. I guess it has to release the stench somewhere.
Moss slime
Rare advanced species of slime monster, it prefers dark and humid places. Roughly thirty centimeters in diameter on average. Absorb 3, Dissolve 3, Regenerate 2, Pollen 1, Synchronize (Moss) 1, Split 1
The three new skills, Pollen, Synchronize and Split are skills that can be used to heighten its survivability. The pollen it spits out can cause allergic reactions, poisoning, or partial paralysis, which would make it good for hunting if the effects could be eliminated from the meat afterwards. The Synchronize skill, lets it blend in with its surroundings and makes it unrecognizable from other moss, one could say it becomes the moss itself. Lastly, Split makes them faster to divide then the rest. In the two days I have it, it rose in numbers from one to ten.
All slimes multiply by splitting rather than by breeding but it seems that they need to have enough food for that to happen. Split ability makes the needed amount quite smaller. Also, about the Moss Slime, as it grows moss and eats moss, it's the most self-sufficient slime I have. It can grow edible moss too, so I don't have to worry about running out of food anymore.
Stone slime
Rare advanced species of slime monster, it has no preferences on living space, looks like normal, regular rock. Size and color depends on eaten rocks. Mimic (Rock) 5, Harden 10, Jump 5
It only has one new skill and that is mimic. It makes it indistinguishable from other rocks. The first time it moved, I almost got a heart attack. It's possible that this slime will be the best security as it can be mistaken for normal rock and only I can communicate with it thanks to my link with it through the Taming magic. The Harden skill quite literally makes it harder. Jump is the last skill this slime possesses, it's just about being able to jump and most of the slimes have it already. Though let me say once more, seeing a stone jumping is weird on many levels.
As I was pondering about the slimes, the male wolf, which I named very basically Kuro, came to me with a small whimper.
"What is it my boy?"
"Kyuuuu~" Kuro whimpered softly next to me and thanks to the telepathic link I understood instantly what he meant. The female wolf (named Nana) was giving birth as we spoke.
I quickly made my way to the cave where I already found the slimes standing guard around Nana.
"It's already here Nana, will you be okay?"
"Woooo…" Nana wailed softly and through our link I understood she would be fine.
"Okay, we need to keep her warm so let's go collect some wood and light a fire in the fireplace."
The slimes wiggled around me and started jumping and rolling out of the room. I went with them and collected wood from the forest before returning back. In the cave, the Moss slimes spread under Nana and made her a more comfortable bed. Well, I don't have any bedding or anything soft here except for my sleeping bag and the tent.
Once that was done, I lit the fire and the room quickly became warmer and warmer. Nana went into labor and it was clear as day how painful it was for her. Kuro was lying next to Nana and was licking her face. The scene between the two was something no one had any right to interrupt. I made sure to keep the fire going and stopped any slime from getting too close, especially the Stone slime. The way he was jumping around could be really dangerous.
I lost sence of time, but everything went dark and only our room with the fire had light in it. I recently learned a Barrier magic spell called <Fake rock> and used it to hide the entrance to the cave, save for several holes meant for air circulation. All the slimes were here with us.
In this heavy atmosphere, Nana's labor ended and five new pups were lying with their eyes closed. I remembered from the book about monsters that newborn monsters cannot be tamed with magic as their magical organ has not yet fully developed.
"Congratulations, Nana."
"Woof!" Nana gave me an energetic, yet slightly exhausted bark.
Tomorrow I need to hunt some good game to give her as a reward.
With a plan set in my mind I went to sleep. The wolves followed me after making sure their newborns were okay and healthy.
***
The next day, I collected a group of slimes, made of one Moss slime, the sole corpse slime, and five regular slimes. Surprisingly, the one that preferred to drink blood came with us too. I was moving as silently as I could through the forest. As we did, I picked some wild herbs my <Appraisal> spell from Null magic said were edible and stored them in my Magic Bag.
We continued heading south when I noticed a deer standing near a river, drinking water. I waited for it to ease up a little and then I extended my arm "<Rock Bullet>"
I fired off my only attacking spell I got to learn from the introduction book, others were of my own device.
The deer got hit in its chest and squeaked in painful surprise. The deer wanted to run, but it's legs gave up and fell to the ground. I most likely didn't hit the heart clearly. I went out of the bush I was hiding in and ended its suffering before storing it in my bag.
"Hey, did you hear that?"
"Yes boss. It sounded like a deer or something."
"There are a lot of those things here. Kassana forest has a lot of monsters, but not as many as other forests."
"Plus the monsters here are really weak."
A group of six rough looking men was walking by the river on the opposite side from me. Each of them had many weapons on them and heavy looking rucksacks.
As they haven't noticed me yet I went back to the bush I was hiding in before and waited.
"Anyway boss, where are we headed to?"
"To the north from here is a lake where we can restock our water supply. There is also a cave where we can stash our game. I had casted Barrier spell there called Fake rock to mask the real end of the cave and had stored there more of the game of the previous group I was apart off… Though, I must say that the last village was a funny one."
It's safe my ass!!! Administrator you fucker!!!!!
I tried to get away silently as I knew their goal and had to prepare my own deffences.
"Heheh, you are right boss! I never had so much fun with a girl like this time, too bad we had to kill her afterward."
I froze up a little. So they are bandits… as bad as any human I guess. Let's kill them. My dark thoughts returned to me once again. My hatred for humans revibrated through my entire body. I stood up and started running towards the cave I made. Once there, I send one of my Moss slimes to the cave behind the waterfall after ordering it to hide in the deepest part and when humans come to him to use his poisonous pollen.
Once the slime went away, I started digging a new tunnel towards the waterfall. About an hour later, the Stone slime I left by the pond sent me a telepathic message that those humans arrived. At this time, I already finished my tunnel and was now waiting for them to arrive. The wall between my tunnel and cave was thin and could break any time so I listened in. I was waiting and waiting until I heard four heavy thuds against the ground. I quickly ordered the Moss slime in cave to disperse the poisonous pollens and once it reported job done, I broke the wall between us with <Break rock> instead of my trusty <Drill>. Once I got inside, a sweet smell attacked my nose drills before abruptly dispersing. I walked to the deeper parts of the cave and found four men with purple skin. Apparently, the poison made them unable to breathe and they all passed out from lack of oxygen.
"Tsk. They survived?" my disgust rose through the roof so I took one of the bandit's daggers and cut their throats. At that moment, the slime that enjoyed drinking blood got before me and started drinking the blood of the four men.
The moss slime rolled from the corner of the room and tugged my leg.
"Oh, good work little one," I patted the slime and had it lead me to the place the men were going to. On my way I didn't even need to use the Barrier canceling spell <Barrier Down> as when the caster of barrier dies all his barriers get dispelled instantly. What awaited me in the deepest part of the cave was an extension that had holes made in the walls for holding the items. Most of the things here were boxes filled with weapons both regular and magical, gold, crystals and other valuables. I even found an Egyptian looking sarcophagus made from black stone and golden locks. In a place where usually was the head of a pharaoh, was the head of a bat.
"Well, let's store everything inside my bag and go… up. What was that?"
I noticed a movement behind me and turned around. What was behind me however were not the remaining two bandits, nor any of my tamed monsters, it was a ball of gold. It was moving from one side of the room to another.
"Is that… a slime?" Confused by my discovery I used Appraisal.
Golden Slime
Advanced slime made from pure gold. In ancient times owning one was a sign of highest prestige. Only those of the highest class were capable of owning one. Roughly ten centimeters in diameter.
"<Tame>" I instantly used a taming contract and it finished instantly, now I could use <Monster Appraisal> to learn more than just its species name, basic description and level. I found out that it had only one of the basic slimes abilities called Regeneration and one other skill called Midas touch. However to my surprise, instead of turning everything it touched to gold, this skill allowed it to plate a thin membrane of gold on things it crawled on. I wonder if it would produce golden strings if I had some strings go through its body. I think I could make a cheap living from just that in town………
Do I even want to go to town? Don't get me wrong, I don't like humans, but it's not like I can't live with them. Still, I have a great aversion to criminals. Murderers especially.
Wait, this isn't time to daydream! I still have two more bandits outside!
I quickly stashed everything in storage and returned to the place where the four bodies were lying, well, they were there when I left. Now all that remained was four piles of clothes, my Corpse slime and a puddle of blood… wait…
Bloody Slime
Advanced species of slime. It feeds on blood. Its body is much more akin to liquid than regular slimes. Its core cannot be seen as it's as liquid as the rest of its body. Absorb 5, Dissolve 5, Regenerate 6, Vampirism 1, Poison resistance 4, Disease resistance 5
"You evolved! That's amazing, little guy."
I scooped up my two slimes and pushed them into the tunnel together with the remaining slimes I had here. Once that was done, I went out of the cave. I was hiding by the entrance and looked over to the pond where the remaining two bandits were.
They were already drinking, so it was easy to take them out.
"Aaah… I'm… killing them didn't even move me… I guess I became quite indifferent to human lives…"
As my heart sank lower and lower, I cleaned up the bandits with help of the Corpse slime and newly evolved Bloody Slime.
***
Two years have passed and my wolves went to the forest to find their own mates each time. Over the years, the numbers of slimes grow as well as they diversify with evolution. I hunted every now and then, trained a little, played around with slimes and wolves. My everyday, almost mundane, lifestyle was only interrupted by hunting bandits from time to time, just like right now. I was stalking a group of bandits that made their way to my water pond. This time, the bandits had a slave girl with them. As I found in the World Introduction book, there is a slavery system that is easily spoiled by unsavory people.
The group went into the cave just like the first one I exterminated here, leaving only two men outside. During the two years my hunting methods diversified, but attacking them in a cave where I had many holes only I could fit in and ambush them together with my slimes, made it a little simplified.
"We are done here…" I cleaned by blade as the last bandit fell dead. "Only two more left," I cracked my neck and headed outside through my own cave to get around them.
To my surprise, back in the camp one of the bandits was already dead and the second one was on top of the white haired slave girl. My anger boiled once again.
"<Stone bullet>" I chanted my magic and shot the man in his head. He right away dropped dead.
I walked to the dead body after I called to my slimes and threw the man's body aside. What was below it was a dainty looking girl. She had porcelain white skin and hairs, pointy ears and red eyes. Her cheeks were flushed from fear, eyes were wet with tears and gag in her mouth only finished the sad picture.
"You okay?" I asked her as I took out the gag. Her fearful gaze fell on me, her eyes were moving from me to slimes and my weapons. Seeing that this was not the best way to speak I sat down with a sigh and she sat up too, all the while keeping her distance from me.
"My name is Arito Aruze, I live here in the forest, what's your name?"
"…B-Blanche…"
"Blanche, eh? That's a nice name. Did these men hurt you?"
"…Th-they bought me from my parents… I'm a slave now…" Blanche looked down, tears spilling from her eyes. Her sobbing resounded through the forest and got even louder than the waterfall.
"Those bastards…"
Seems that in this world there are more evil people than I originally thought. But to think they would sell such a little girl to slavery…
"Hey Blanche… if you don't have anywhere to go… would you like to stay here with me?"
"B-but… they call me hindrance… unneeded… e-even c-c-cursed…" tears continued staining her face.
"It's fine, even if you can't do something right away, you can get better over time," I gave her a big warm smile. I haven't touched her shoulder, as I usually did when I tried to cheer up kids back on Earth, as she must've been afraid after the last man tried to assault her, "Plus, I don't believe in being cursed, those who do are just uneducated fools."
Maybe due to my words, Blanche started sobbing even more loudly and fell into my arms. As she did, I started patting her reassuringly. That was the day we started living together and my life started to change little by little.
