A giant of a man with long brown hair, a thick mustache, and tan skin entered a familiar meeting room. Despite wearing casual clothing, the bulging muscles and unusually sharp movements gave the man an intimidating aura. Within the meeting room already sat four individuals; Meld's Forest Hunting Party.

After the two men of the party rose to pay their respects, followed shortly by the relaxed priestess and the young mage who seemed momentarily starstruck, Association Master Thagi Ghul motioned them to be seated.

"Thank you for taking the time to be interviewed. I apologize for the delay" said the massive man as he sat in his comfortable chair at the head of the table.

"We're happy to be of service to the Association, sir" replied the serious party leader as he took his own seat, making sure to wait until after Ghul himself had sat down.

"Hmm... I've already gotten the report, but I'd like to hear in your own words what you saw last night."

"Of course, sir." Meld's eyes moved towards the ceiling and he scratched his beard in thought. "We first encountered it yesterday morning, about an hour north-east of the city."

After the sweaty human left, Mud ordered the demon to protect the household as it headed out for more hunting. Traveling as usual through the treetops, the golem headed east towards the foothills. While slimes had been a useful form of experience, there population was not large. Due to their solitary nature, large amounts of time had to be wasted searching for targets during a hunt. By contrast, Goblins appeared to travel in groups and, according to Almanac, were known for their high reproduction rates. With any luck, a buffet of Experience awaited Mud in those foothills.

[Climbing Skill increased to level 4]

A short time later, Mud arrived at the foothills. While the terrain was noticeably rockier, trees still grew thick and provided ample perches for the golem's unusual form of travel. With recent changes in technique, Mud was now able to travel through the treetops much faster than it could crawl, moving at the speed of a running human.

Swinging through the trees, it wasn't long before Mud spotted a small band of diminutive green humanoids, crouching over a dead Red Deer. Positioning itself over the feasting magical beasts, Mud prepared its attack.

Focusing its will, Mud quickly bent Mind mana with the intent of controlling momentum, forming a Force Bolt. Taking aim at the leftmost goblin's head, Mud carefully fed exactly fifteen mana into the spell. At this level, the spell was still completely invisible to the golem's vision. After reaching the correct amount, Mud unleashed the spell. As the bolt flew rapidly through the air, Mud immediately began forming a second Force Bolt.

The three living Goblins leapt back from the deer corpse in shock as the head of the target Goblin exploded into gore. By the time they pulled out their weapons and began looking wildly around the area for the source of the attack, a second Goblin's head exploded. Filled with terror at the inexplicable assault, the two remaining Goblins turned to flee. While one managed to escape the clearing, the other wasn't so lucky. A sharp metal blade penetrated the head of the magical beast, followed by the weight of a falling mud golem, killing it before it hit the ground.

[Experience Gained: 24]

[Experience Gained: 25]

[Experience Gained: 24]

[Mud Golem Species increased to Level 4]

[Skill Points increase to 1]

Pulling the dagger it had taken from Bark back into its body, Mud climbed a nearby tree and checked its Status.

Name: Mud Golem

Level 4 Mud Golem

Class: none

HP

7/8

SP

0/0

MP

110/160

Spells: [Psionic] Force Bolt, Lesser Telekinesis, Paracusia

Skills(1): Climbing 4, Housework Max, Mathematics 3, Psionics 2, Sneak Attack 3, Stealth 4, Unarmed Combat 4, Amorphous Form ®, Almanac (U)

Status Effects: Incomplete (Articulation Runes)

At this point, Mud felt it had a good understanding of what to expect from gaining a level. One more HP, twenty more MP, and a skill point. So far, that had been a consistent feature. Incidentally, its Statistics page had not changed at all since it was first checked. As for the experience values required to level, so far it appeared to stay consistently at approximately one hundred.

Checking the Skill list, there was only one new addition.

Enhance Skill:

Housework

Reach level Max in skill Housework

An enhanced version of Mud's favorite skill. This was an incredibly temping option. Time and time again the Housework Skill had provided useful insight and clever techniques for removing stains, efficiently organizing, and even landscaping. The only thing preventing Mud from purchasing the skill immediately was the dubious usefulness it would have towards following The Master's orders. Would this skill really help it not kill humans, follow the orders of humans, avoid damage, or protect The Master's estate? On the surface, probably not.

However, Mud was not willing to let its desire to perfect the art of cleaning be defeated so easily. By thinking creatively, perhaps there were ways such a skill could be of use. Hypothetically, what if a human ordered me to clean something perfectly? Or, what if I was threatened by a Fire Dragon that it would kill me unless I polished its entire hoard in an hour? Or, what if the enhanced version of the skill was actually really useful for combat?

Convincing itself with such incredibly unlikely hypothetical scenarios, Mud finally purchased the enhancement.

[Housework Skill mutated into Household Mastery Skill at level 1]

In that moment, a new kind of sense appeared in Mud's mind. Although it was vague, a general sense of the condition of The Master's estate was discernable. In particular, it could feel the presence of one strong, two weak, and countless extremely faint lifeforms. Likely, those indicated Jabrax, the captive humans, and various household pests.

Additionally, Mud became aware of countless tiny details it had missed in the cleaning of the mansion which it had naively thought was perfect. A multitude of tiny imperfections clawed at the edges of the golem's mind; a bit of dust here, a pool of human blood there, some crumbs under the oven. All of this would need to be dealt with once it got back.

For now, Mud would continue hunting Goblins.

Now wearing his heavy and expertly crafted gold-trimmed black iron armor, Thagi Ghul walked out of the north-east of the city Geltheas. In front of him, leading the way, was the swordsman Meld, along with the boxer Kim and the priestess Ovis. Walking closely beside Ghul was the black-haired mage, Suzy.

Staring up at the massive man, Suzy spoke to him while holding her long spear close to her chest. "It's such an honor to be working with you Master Ghul! I've read all about your adventures! Oh, is it true you once defeated an entire army of Orcs by yourself?"

"Leave him alone, can't you see you're bothering him, Suzy?" called back a disgruntled Meld.

The girl began to say something, but after looking up towards the Association Leader and deciding better of it, she held her tongue and merely pouted.

Amused by the girl's antics, Thagi decided to humor her. "Oh, it's no trouble at all. I'll tell you the story as we travel."

Despite herself, The Raven, Wielder of Entropy, let out a cute squeal.