After resting for a while longer, the two of them set off for their next hunt.
Their battle plan was straightforward. Cassandra would scout, using her keen hearing to detect solitary slis. Then, they would flank the target from opposing sides before launching a surprise attack.
Their first attempt earlier failed slightly since it was Aster who initiated the attack. As they were alternating to give both sides an equal chance to claim EXP, a.k.a. excess mana from their prey, this ti was Cassy's turn to initiate!
"I found one!"
Cassy whispered, pointing toward the bunch of waist-high, verdant green grasses ahead of them. There was no visible movent, making it challenging to spot the sli hidden within.
Cassy was certain there was one there, so they moved as planned.
Aster circled around, quietly approaching from the other side, while Cassy remained in place. As soon as both were in position, she leaped forward, her dagger aid at where the sli supposedly lurked!
*THUD!*
*SCREECH!*
And surprisingly, her ambush succeeded! Her dagger pierced the sli, puncturing its core and swiftly dispatching it! It was an almost flawless attack!
"Yes! I did it!" She cheered after retrieving the sli's lifeless body. "Let's harvest it quickly before more slis arrive!"
The dying screech of a sli could attract others... This was a part of the manual he read last night. Therefore, they moved the corpse a short distance away before beginning to harvest their loot.
For a Blue Sli, the only content that could be turned into money was its gel-like substance. However, since it was bulky after harvesting and because of its low price, newbie adventures usually skipped it.
Instead, they preferred gathering in full parties and going straight to the goblin area. Those like Aster and Cassandra, who hunted slis first to raise their level, were the minority.
"..."
Aster's staring at the sli's gel being extracted made him think. Glancing at the carved seal on the back of his right hand, he wondered. "Since I can freeze things, can I also use it to dry objects?"
His experint before worked on both freezing and thawing his hotel room, although it ended in a small tragedy. As such, he proved that he can "lower" and "increase" temperature at will.
When dried, the gel from the sli loses more than 99% of its mass. As such, keeping only the powdered mana was a lot more efficient. Curious, Aster suggested sothing.
"Cassy, can I experint with the next sli we find? If it works, we can stay in the dungeon longer without minding the weight of our loot."
"Of course, you can!" Cassandra answered without delay. "If it works, we'll both benefit, after all. Don't mind ~!"
Just then, she took out the Sli Liquid Extractor, which looked like a large syringe, and attached a Sli Liquid Packer on its tail end. Then, Cassy stabbed the needle through the sli's body, and like magic, the gel-like content inside the sli started to get absorbed.
The packer slowly got filled with the sli liquid, looking like a blood pack but blue instead of red. In less than ten seconds, the harvesting was over!
After she carefully packed the extractor and the newly harvested pack of Sli Liquid, she turned to Aster and smiled. "Then, let's go search for our next quarry!"
Again, Cassandra used her sharp hearing to detect any signs of life around her. It took her a bit longer this ti, with their target being located further than before.
"Over there, about twenty ters away..." Cassy exclaid, pointing toward a different patch of tall grass.
The two moved imdiately, flanking the sli from both ends. Then, as they were doing it alternatingly, it was Aster's ti to do the surprise attack again. He held his breath, inching closer and closer to the grass, following where Cassandra pointed.
Then, when he was just a few ters away, he started dashing forward.
"HAAAAH!"
With a hearty shout, he stabbed his sword toward the ground blindly.
"...!"
And as expected, he missed his target completely. "Cassy, it's going there!"
"On it!"
Cassandra saw the movent and matched it with her steps before jumping toward the spot where it was going while swinging her dagger down.
*STAB!*
*SCREECH!*
"It hit!" Cassy gasped in surprise.
She didn't expect her attempt at predicting the sli's movent to actually succeed!
"Great! Quick, pick up the corpse, and let's move!"
Aster comnted as he scanned the surroundings. He could see a few parts of the grass begin to move, approaching them. In a few seconds, more sli would be gathering where they were!
The two retreated a few ters away, enough that they were out of "sight" of the slis. Aster took the sli and placed it on the ground. Before he began, he took out an empty packet of the Sli Liquid Packer and used it as a temporary "platform" to hold the dried powder, if ever it succeeded.
Aster closed his eyes, doing the sa process he did when he froze his room. But instead of lowering the temperature, he imagined it getting hotter.
"About... 200 °C!" He whispered as if to solidify his imagination.
At that instant, the seal on his right hand started to glow with a mix of red and blue light. Cassandra watched this and groaned in awe. "Beautiful..."
About ten seconds later, the air around the sli's corpse started to heat up before a small fla tornado appeared, burning it down into ashes.
"AH!"
Aster extended a hand as if wanting to stop what he did. However, it was already too late.
"Ah~! What a waste!" Cassy lanted, her lips forming a cute frown.
Aster scratched his cheeks awkwardly before apologizing. "Ugh... my bad. I'll subtract that from my share of the loot later."
"No, it's fine." But Cassy quickly bounced back, smiling excitedly. "Rather, let's work hard and catch more! The more tries you get, the better the chances of success, right?!"
Aster couldn't help but smile, catching a bit of her positivity. "I guess so. Then, let's go to our---!"
"Oh, wait! Look, the core is intact!"
"Core?"
The two crouched down, examining the "ashes" of the burned sli. As she ntioned, the sli's core remained in the middle of it, intact!
"Weird. It should've lted along with the rest of its gel and dissolved into mana..." Aster recalled what he read in the monster encyclopedia. "But well, let's collect it just in case."
"Got it!"
Cassy carefully picked up the core and safely stored it inside the backpack. Right after that, they resud their hunt for more slis.
"All this wading through tall grasses makes feel like we'll have an encounter battle or sothing..." Aster muttered to himself, but Cassy heard it loud and clear.
"Encounter battles?" She asked, tilting her head curiously.
Aster quickly waved his hand, smiling wryly as he declined. "Ah, no. I doubt you'll get the reference, so let's just ignore what I said."
"Eh~? Co on, tell !" She pestered with a teasing smile. "There's a good chance I know what you're referring to!"
"The very mont you didn't get what I said tells you probably won't." But Aster refused to divulge the title of that certain big-na ga where you catch monsters with a ball.
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