[Greater Gloomslime defeated]

Reward: 17 EXP

3x Slime Core

EXP: 1511/2750

It only took me another five minutes of well-strategized slashing and hacking to slay the almighty Gloomslime. It really took too much time for too little gain. The thing had rewarded me with three whole Slime Core, which I reckoned should be more than enough for whatever wicked experiment Anabeth was plotting. Yet, she required more.

“I need fifty,” Anabeth’s eyes went misty with ambition as she declared in a tone so posh it might have hired itself a butler. She gave a huff of concession. “ . . . but to be considerate to your valiant effort, I shall settle for twenty.”

I nearly choked on a breath, willing myself to say. ‘Twenty? Why on Saint Merin’s beard do you need so many? Are you planning to raise an army of stone constructs or something—’

I rumbled, “Do you intend to command an army of stone monstrosities to slaughter all who oppose you? To grind flesh and bone beneath their merciless feet and leave the world awash in ruin? Such is the only course befitting a follower of the Saints.”

Anabeth gave a little wave. “You don’t understand. You wouldn’t understand. Do you know how many failed trials it took to get Durand stable? Fifty? No! One hundred dead plants before the Lithogenesis transformation would hold. The magic consumes matter and patience in equal measure.”

Lithogenesis. Of course she’d have a fancy little name for her little garden gnome project. In any case, one hundred dead plants to make one Durand was not an efficient rate.

I opened my mouth to sound accommodating, ‘If you need so many, Lady Anabeth, perhaps you would join me in slaying these creatures?’

“Either you end these slimes with your own hands,” I intoned, “or I will end you where you stand.”

[Intimidation Failed — Target is Immune]

Anabeth clasped her hands together, “Oh! I wouldn’t dream of imposing, but how could I refuse when you so graciously ask?”

Wait. So I could’ve just asked this whole time?

The answer was yes. She put her notebook back inside her satchel, then moved her palm in an exacting braid through the air. Fine dust soon swirled behind her in a semicircle before grinding together and coalescing into a fist-sized pebble, gleaming with blue aetheric veins. She tilted her wrist and lobbed the pebble at a nearby slime. The pebble curved beautifully like it’d been fired from a trebuchet.

[-25 HP]

[Common Slime]

HP: 23/48

What? My sword-holding arm twitched. It was . . . a pebble. A pebble! An aetherically charged, magically imbued pebble, sure, but still a pebble. And it dealt more damage to the slime than I did.

She quickly conjured another pebble out of thin air and lobbed at the slime again. This pebble followed the exact trajectory as the last one, and hit the slime at the exact same spot.

[-25 HP]

Common Slime Defeated

Reward: 0 EXP (You contributed nothing)

1x Slime Core

I gawked. I gawked. The way the pebble arced, twisted, and hit the exact same weak point was, for a lack of better words, magical in its execution. I could only gape at the little rock, wondering whether my entire career of swinging steel had just been politely outclassed by a rock slinger.

Anabeth knelt gracefully beside the now-defeated slime, plucking the freshly formed Slime Core from its gooey remains, then slid it into one of the small glass jars nestled in her satchel.

“Oh! Do forgive me, Ser Henry,” she said. “for requiring two strikes to fell the creature. It is precisely for such matters that I require a powerful patron such as yourself!”

Right. She was still thinking I held some sort of cosmic power. Perhaps I could still preserve my dignity.

“How you disappoint me so! Had I but unleashed one percent of my aether—” I let the pause hang, nobly and knightly, “—this floor would have cleaved in two, the tunnel would have been scoured clean of taint, and whatever dignity the slimes possessed would have fled in a fever.”

Anabeth clapped politely, genuinely impressed. “Oh my, how decisive,” she murmured, eyes wide with contrived admiration.

Oh, this is going too well. I should push my luck.

I bowed gracefully and willed myself to say. ‘It is for you, Lady Anabeth, that I restrain such devastation.’

I said, “Any who dare obstruct the Lady’s path, let their bones splinter and their blood paint the earth! Let nothing escape the righteous fury restrained only by the Lady’s mercy!”

I had learned to never push my luck.

“Okay!” Anabeth didn’t seem to have paid attention to a single word, for she had skipped forward once more, hopping as she lobbed another Common Slime dead with two timely throws.

I could only sigh as I followed along.

With Anabeth’s aid, the whole slog became significantly faster. The next Greater Gloomslime that blocked the corridor fell in less than five minutes. Not only did she deal far more damage than I could muster, she did so with nothing but carefully lobbed, aetherically charged pebbles, throwing from a safe distance while barely seeming to expend any energy, all while grinning. I couldn’t help but notice the terrifying efficiency.

I managed to slay five more Common Slimes, while she probably easily doubled my numbers.

EXP: 1526/2750

My HP had even restored itself to a full 55 from, well, 53. Maybe if I didn’t take damage for a period of time, Ceralis would count that as rest. Or maybe my body just naturally had restorative properties.

The only worry gnawing at me was whether she had a deep aetheric reserve. I had wanted to check out her attributes, but whenever I willed myself to look at her, I was only met with this:

[STAT SCREEN – Anabeth]

[Inaccessible]

Please acquire Skill: Appraisal to view non-monster target attributes.

I stared and blinked, again and again. My mind kept stuttering over the same thought: Appraisal? Really? Ceralis had said I needed another skill to see this sort of thing. Fine. But did it think to tell me how to acquire it? Of course not. Typical. Just drop the name like a breadcrumb, then vanish into whatever mysterious protocol it fancied. Thanks, Ceralis. Brilliant guidance. Absolutely intuitive.

However, there was no time for that, as the scenery had changed. The corridor widened into a cavernous chamber. A massive shape shifted at the far end of the tunnel, a pulsating, gelatinous mountain of malice: the Cavernous Slime King. Its surface shimmered with sickly green luminescence, and several smaller slimes clung to it like parasitic appendages, twitching and merging with its vast, writhing bulk. The stench of decay washed over me in a wave.

[Cavernous Slime King — Level 9]

HP: 250/250

STR: 41

END: 26

DEX: ???

Skills: Inaccessible. Please acquire Skill: Appraisal to view full attributes and skills.

I stared at the numbers. At best I could manage 24 damage per strike. That was assuming flawless execution of Swordform, no missteps, perfect swings, and even then . . . the king’s defense was 26. Twenty-six. My blade would barely graze it.

Of course. Of course this would be above me. There’s a reason I’m yet to enter Cavern Slime dungeons. This is Level 9. I’m barely Level 5. I should have known.

Anabeth’s voice broke my spiral. “Shall we, Ser Henry?” she asked, her tone bright, almost teasing.

Not really, I clenched my teeth. What came out was, “Behold! I, Ser Henry of the Knights of Saint Merin, shall not cower before your formless might! Let it be known to all who defile this hallowed ground: the righteous fury of the Saint courses through my veins, tempered by discipline and sharpened steel!” I lifted my sword high, letting it gleam like a beacon of inevitable doom. “Prepare yourself, o wretched abomination! For not a single slime-born shadow shall escape the cleansing judgment of Saint Merin! Bones shall splinter, organs shall quake, and your foul essence shall be purged by the inexorable might of a knight devoted beyond measure!”

I did not just say that.

Anabeth’s face practically shone. “How splendid! You shall unleash your full might upon the creature! I must not interfere, the proper duty of the student is to observe. The creature is yours, Ser Henry!” She moved back three careful, eminently proper paces, already producing a small notebook and a pencil and started taking notes.

Of course she’d back away. Of course she would—

A gargling roar rippled through the chamber. The Slime King convulsed, and with a thunderous SPLORCH, a glob of fluorescent muck shot through the air and struck me square in the chestplate.

[-3 HP]

[HP: 52/55]

[Enduring Will activated]

I stared down at the sizzling smear spreading across my armor. “It can do ranged damage?” I croaked.

Perfect. I was doomed.