After spending the night at a cheap inn in Valencia Village, the party gathered the next morning at the village entrance with all their gear ready.
Valencia was a small, sparsely populated village. Aside from running a modest orchard, its main role was serving as a pit stop for passing rchant and cargo caravans. According to the village chief, most of the younger folks had already moved to Grayrock Town—or even farther, to the city of Barry—for work and a better life.
“These damn slis have already ruined a good chunk of our fruit trees. Please help us get rid of that filthy muck!”
With the village chief’s plea still ringing in their ears, the group headed out to search the outskirts of the orchard.
The hard part wasn’t fighting the slis—it was actually finding them.
The orchard was huge, so they had to split up into teams of two to cover more ground.
The pairings were: Doyle with Daphne, Laevin with Oliver, and Gauss with scout/rogue va.
va was especially good at tracking, and as soon as they started moving, she darted ahead, scanning for signs of sli activity.
Slis leave trails of sticky residue behind. While it usually evaporates after sunrise, va said that if you looked closely, you might still catch a faint shimr left behind.
As she handled the tracking, Gauss kept his guard up, whitebone staff at the ready.
With the staff’s casting boost, he was confident he could fire off a Magic Missile before any monster even had the chance to lunge.
Even if they weren’t full-powered shots, they were still more than enough to obliterate small fries like goblins—and he could shoot three in a row now. As long as they didn’t stumble into a whole nest of enemies, they’d be fine.
“Find sothing?”
After walking for a while, Gauss noticed va had stopped in front of a fence. He walked up to her and asked.
“Yeah.”
She pointed to a section of the fence. “There’s sli residue here. Judging from the direction, it went that way.”
Seriously?
Gauss crouched down for a closer look but couldn’t spot anything out of the ordinary.
Elves really were sothing else. Even diluted elven blood like va’s seed to co with enhanced eyesight—what could a full-blooded elf see? Hawkeye who?
They continued on, with va jotting down notes on a piece of parchnt as they walked.
Eventually, she stopped and looked up.
“Let’s regroup with Laevin and the others.”
“Got it.”
Even though they’d found tracks, they weren’t about to go off chasing slis alone. Staying safe ca first.
They returned to the rendezvous point. A short wait later, the others arrived—though from their faces, it was clear they hadn’t found anything.
Fortunately, they weren’t the ones ant to lead the search. When they heard Gauss and va had found sli traces, everyone looked visibly relieved.
“All thanks to you, va.”
“Good thing we ca early,” she said simply. “If the sun had co out, the trail would’ve vanished.”
The team followed the trail va had marked.
As they walked, Laevin kept reminding everyone to make good use of their small wooden shields during battle.
Slis weren’t particularly strong, but their acidic goo could cause serious skin irritation. If anyone didn’t want to suffer for the next few days, they needed to stay alert.
Gauss listened silently.
Laevin reminded him of his class—Shield Bearer—and it clicked. Maybe it wasn’t a coincidence that he acted so much like the team’s protector. Was it just his personality? Or did the role itself shape the person who played it?
Gauss felt like he was starting to understand what it ant to walk a path—not just leveling up, but becoming sothing new.
As they moved deeper into the trees, the ground gradually beca softer and wetter. Eventually, near a quiet stream surrounded by muddy earth, they spotted them—a bunch of bouncing, blob-like creatures with no fixed shape.
Slis.
They were a vibrant green, sared with mud, hopping around playfully. Unlike the cute versions Gauss had seen in gas and ani, these were disgusting: semi-transparent blobs of goo filled with sticks, seeds, chunks of fruit, even rocks.
And they were big—around 30 to 40 cm each—and could jump more than a ter at a ti. Fast enough to knock over an unprepared person, and if they sward? You’d end up as their next al.
“I count 25!” va called.
Gauss’s heart skipped with excitent.
Clustered mobs like this were perfect for farming Monster Index entries.
He was currently at 23/50 kills. Wipe this group out, and he’d be one step away from unlocking the next tier reward.
Not that he could kill them all himself—but if he could at least log a sli in his Index, that’d be enough.
“Think we can lure a few out like last ti?” Gauss asked, rembering how they’d baited out goblins with a fake wounded rabbit.
“Unlikely,” Laevin replied, shaking his head. “Look at their bloated bodies—they’ve clearly just eaten. They’re not gonna bite.”
“Alright, let’s get ready for battle! Everyone, be careful.”
The team wasn’t worried. Slis were bottom-tier enemies, after all. They couldn’t lure so away first, but it wasn’t a dealbreaker—just ant the fight would take a bit more effort.
“Oliver, va, Gauss—you're up first,” Laevin instructed, pointing to the group’s ranged attackers.
They crept closer. The slis still hadn’t noticed them.
At around 20 ters out, they stopped.
Gauss exchanged glances with Oliver and va. All three got into position.
He raised his whitebone staff.
This was the perfect chance to train Magic Missile in real combat. Sure, it was the team’s “ace card,” but if he kept saving it for ergencies, his skill level wouldn’t improve.
His eyes locked on three slis cuddling together, jiggling in sync.
You’re mine.
After signaling to sync their attacks—
Bows drawn.
Triggers pulled.
Staff raised.
All three fired at once!
“Whssh!” “Thunk!” “Boom!”
Magic Missile hit first—blazing fast even under normal circumstances, but now, with his staff's boost and his pseudo-bullet-ti focus, it was practically instant.
“BOOM!” “BOOM!” “BOOM!”
The arcane blasts pierced through three sli cores in a row, exploding in the mud and flinging muck ters into the air.
Two arrows followed close behind, slicing through the air and striking the core of two other slis dead-on.
“Splorrrt!”
With their cores destroyed, the slis instantly liquified into puddles of goo.
Sli -5!
[Sli Slain x3]
[Total MonsKills: 26]
[New Title Earned: ‘SliHunter.’ This title will upgrade as kills increase.]
[Effect: When activated, instills fear in slis within a 3-ter radius, causing 0.5–1 second of stun. Has a cooldown between uses.]
[Monster Type Added: Sli]
[Note: After logging 5 distinct Common monsters, you’ll be able to draw a random minor passive trait from one of them. Weaker traits have higher draw chances.]
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