“Very interesting.” Oblec inspected me as he stroked his bushy gray beard. “A talking Slime that can take over a person’s body.”

I shrank back, feeling a little bit uncomfortable with how close he was getting. His eyes narrowed, and he spoke to himself.

“Just what exactly are you?”

“Uhm… could you give me a bit of personal space, maybe?” I said, and he blinked.

“Oh, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to—” he sputtered, drawing back.

“Also, I’m an Arcslime. Don’t you have [Appraisal] or something?”

“But that I meant… it wasn’t meant to be rude—”

“You’re socially awkward, I get it already.” I waved an appendage off. “But you saved our lives, so don’t worry too much about it.”

And he also was giving Fissyah and I a place to stay. All in all, he was a good person. Just a little bit eccentric— as expected from someone who’d been living alone in a cavern full of monsters for decades.

He shook his head, turning to the girl sitting next to me. His eyes landed on her, and his gaze turned soft. “To think that I would ever meet another of my kind.”

“Uh, hello!” Fissyah tensed. She looked at him, bowing her head slightly. “I’m F-Fissyah! Thank you for saving our lives and giving us a place to stay.”

“Rest easy. We are both Gremlins. We should look out for each other, shouldn’t we?” He chuckled, more relaxed than he was with me.

Meanwhile, she was incredibly nervous. “O-of course!”

It was probably the level difference that intimidated her. Ever since she gained [Appraisal]— or rather, [Lesser Appraisal] (which I still didn’t know the difference)— she’d been using it on everyone and everything we saw.

“Tell me, how did one of my own kind know to search for me?” Oblec asked gently.

“I-I come from Korukh,” she explained, glancing over at me.

I nodded. “Yeah. Her village Chieftain told us about you.”

“Korukh?” His brows furrowed. “That is a place I haven’t heard about in a long time.”

“So you know about it?” I exchanged a glance with Fissyah. “Then you must’ve heard about Gort, right?”

Oblec gave me a blank stare. “Who?”

“Uhm, he said he was your friend. That he tried to talk you out of becoming a Gremlin.”

“That’s still not… wait, are you talking about Gorext?”

“I don’t—” I started, but Fissyah spoke up.

“That’s him!” she exclaimed. “He used to go by Gorext before his initiation as Chieftain.”

“So he went and became a Goblin Chief, did he?” Oblec smiled. “That’s good…”

“And he sent us here because he thought you could help us,” I said, remembering my conversation with Gort. “Also, he wanted to let you know that he was sorry for what happened. That he didn’t mean to turn his back on you when everyone else made you out as a monster.”

“He always was quite soft, wasn’t he?” The bearded Gremlin chuckled, drawing back. “Don’t worry, I know he’s sorry. I found him in the Karhid Caves once. Brought him back to Korukh. I couldn’t muster up the courage to speak with him because it’d been too long. But maybe…”

I watched as Oblec shook his head. He looked over at Fissyah, inspecting her injuries from the battle with the Centis. He started for another room in his hovel.

“Your wounds aren’t grievous, but it’d be best to treat them. Wait right here.” As he left, he spoke to something waiting at the other side of the doorway. “Why don’t you entertain our guests, Lire?”

“Lire?” I asked, and my answer came shortly after.

A blue figure bounced its way through the door. It squeaked as it made its way over to Fissyah and I. The girl’s eyes grew wide as I stared in shock at the ball of misty goo.

“Y-you—”

“A Slime!” she exclaimed.

[Shrouded Slime - Level 14 (Combat Power: 150)]

Fissyah ran over and picked up the Slime, hugging it tightly. “Is this your pet, Oblec? It’s so cute!”

“Lire isn’t a pet, she’s my partner,” the bearded Gremlin said from the other room. “She’s not very strong, but she’s fast and reliable. She knows what I want even before I have to say it.”

“Really? You’re his partner? That’s amazing!” The girl laughed and held the Shrouded Slime up in the air. “I’ve always wanted a Slime pet, ever since Papa told me about the Bubble Slime he and Mama used to own.”

I watched this scene play out. Fissyah lowered the Shrouded Slime and patted it on the head. It responded by bouncing up and down, excitedly wagging a protruding string-like antennae that poked up and out of its body. I couldn’t remain silent any longer. Not when the girl sighed wistfully.

“Lire, right? You’re a good girl.”

I finally sputtered, “Wait, what’s with this double standard? I’m a Slime too! You’ve never called me cute before!”

“That’s because you’re not cute,” Fissyah said, glancing over at me as she continued patting Lire. “You’re strong and terrifying. I’ve never met a Slime as un-cute as you.”

“What do you mean by that?” I protested. “Don’t you remember when I first arrived at Korukh? Everyone thought I was cute!”

“Well, that’s because they hadn’t seen you fight, or…”— she shuddered— “eat an entire corpse in an instant.”

Were my table manners really that terrible? I deflated, melting into a puddle.

“Fine! Be like that! I don’t care!” I harrumphed.

I didn’t meet Fissyahs gaze, and the girl just scratched the bead of her head. I heard a bouncing and looked up to see Lire standing next to me. The Shrouded Slime had a far more solid body than me, like a kind of translucent balloon pumped with blue mist. I saw motes wisping inside of it alongside a small crystal at the very center.

“Nn.” It made a sound, tilting its body.

“What do you want?”

“Nn.”

“Go away. I’m angry.”

“Nn.” Lire pressed up to me as its antenna drooped.

I stared at it for a moment. Then I gave up.

“Aw, you’re adorable. I wasn’t actually jealous— I was just joking with Fissyah!”

I patted the Shrouded Slime. It lit up— quite literally glowing— as its antennae straightened.

Fissyah just sighed, watching me play with Lire. A voice interrupted us as Oblec returned to the room.

“I see Lire has taken quite a liking to you, hasn’t she? This is the first time she’s interacted with another Slime since I found her. I’m sure she’s quite excited to get to know you.”

“Well, I can’t speak Slime, but I’ll give her all the headpats she wants.” I created multiple appendages— all to pat Lire with.

In the meantime, Oblec began applying a green paste on Fissyah’s wounds. “This will speed up your recovery,” he said, nodding. “I’m sure you’re familiar with the tincture? Gorext— or Gort— was the one who taught me how to concoct it.”

“Thank you, again.” She smiled at him. “Are you really sure this is alright? You’ve already done so much for us.”

“Please, as I mentioned earlier, you do not need to be afraid to impose. I shall ensure that a fellow Gremlin’s needs are taken care of.” When he was finished, he drew back. “How do you feel?”

“I feel better already.” Fissyah stood up, taking a look at herself. “But Violet also took quite a few bad hits during the battle. Can you help her as well?”

The pair looked over at me as I was practically wrapped around Lire. I glanced up, flushing. I peeled myself off the other Slime, waving an appendage dismissively.

“Don’t worry about me! I feel great!” It was the truth, too. I wasn’t lying to make anyone feel better, and if I really was hurt, I’d have happily accepted whatever healing tincture Oblec had to recover. It was just that most of the damage I’d sustained earlier was mostly gone.

“Interesting.” Oblec placed a hand on his chin. “Is that some kind of natural regenerative ability? I’ve heard of Slimes that can recover from any wound inflicted on them, but even those require something else— like consuming the mana off corpses or even recollecting their missing parts. Just what are you?”

“I already told you, I’m an Arcslime,” I said simply.

“But what exactly is that? I’ve never heard of such a race of Slimes before. Let alone one capable of speech or such levels of intelligence.”

“Hey! You’re making Lire feel bad!” I hugged the Shrouded Slime, caressing its back. “There, there. He didn’t mean it.”

“I’d truly love to learn more about you, Ms Violet.”

“Stop being so weird and so formal! Yeah, sure that’s fine with me.” I didn’t know anything about myself, anyways. I was also curious about what made me the special talking Slime that nobody knew anything about. “But only if you help teach Fissyah what it means to be a Gremlin.”

“That’s—” Oblec opened his mouth, but Fissyah quickly spoke up.

“I-is that really fine?” she asked, worriedly glancing between us. “For someone so high-leveled to take me as his student…”

“Is Level 62 really that high?” I wondered aloud. Sure, it was higher than me right now, but it didn’t seem like it was too amazing.

Fissyah’s eyes grew round. “He’s Level 62?”

“Wait, you can’t see his level?” I glanced over at her curiously.

“My [Lesser Appraisal] doesn’t work on him. It’s not giving me any results.”

“Weird.” So, apparently, there were limits to how Fissyah’s version of [Appraisal] worked. One could say that it was… lesser than my version of [Appraisal].

…yeah, that was bad.

“Fissyah,” I said, quickly changing my tone. “You said you wanted to grow stronger, didn’t you? This is your chance to learn from someone who actually knows what he’s doing.”

“T-that’s…” The girl pursed her lips.

“You can’t just pass it up because you think you’re weak. That’s how you’ll always stay weak!”

She closed her eyes and lowered her head. “You’re right.” Steeling herself, she faced Oblec and bowed deeply. “Please, teach me so that I can become a powerful Gremlin like you.”

“I was already planning on doing that.” He gave her a reassuring nod.

Well, that was good. With that settled, I moved on to my own request.

“By the way—” I started, sidling to the bearded Gremlin. “Do you, by any chance, know of any exit to the Hollowdark? Perhaps a tunnel that leads to the Overworld?”

Oblec blinked. Then he gave me an apologetic look.

“I am sorry, but I do not.”

“Aw. Didn’t think so.”

Of course it wouldn’t be that simple to leave this place!

* * *

“Ugh, this sucks…” the Arcslime groaned as Lire cuddled up next to her.

“Why do you want to leave for the Overworld so badly, anyways?” Fissyah asked.

“I just want to see the sky, alright? Maybe have a nice long walk on the beach— and maybe meet some Elves!”

“Why would you want to meet Elves?”

“Because they’re meant to be incredibly good looking and pretty!”

“Elves? Pretty?” The girl made a face of disgust. “Rioke was not pretty.”

“No— not Dark Elves. Regular Elves!”

“Ohhh…”

Oblec watched as his two new friends made themselves comfortable in his little hovel. It was quite odd to him. For the first time in years, his home was full of life. Chattering voices that reminded him so much of what life in Korukh had once been like.

He wanted to indulge in the moment. His lips curled up against his will as he watched Violet laugh and Fissyah flush in embarrassment. They’d just met, and already, Oblec found himself feeling attached to this odd pair.

Perhaps it might’ve been because Fissyah was a Gremlin, so he related to her. And perhaps it was because of Violet’s nature— it intrigued him. And while these might’ve been one of the reasons why he decided to help them, it wasn’t the only one.

His brows arched darkly over his face, shadowing over his eyes as he glanced out into the expansive cavern.

An Arcslime… just what exactly are you?

While Oblec grew up in the outer regions of the Dark Empire, he wasn’t an uneducated fool. He;d visited cities before. His nature— his desire to learn— drove him to places where he could expand his knowledge. It was why he became a Gremlin. Not just a desire to learn, but because he found out the truth.

Yet, despite all that, he’d never heard of an Arcslime before— not even in passing. There had to be a reason why he’d never heard of such a creature with unique characteristics before. And he feared that he might’ve known the reason.

That the reason might come after Fissyah and Violet.

That was why he promised to help train them— so that they could protect themselves from whatever this threat was.

* * *

A Dark Elf stood overlooking an expansive cave chamber. Below him, five Ravinecrawlers gathered over a destroyed fortress, feasting on the remains of the soldiers that had been stationed there. One of them looked up and caught sight of him. It let out a deep, groaning roar; it rallied its kin as they charged at him.

Shaking his head, Draxus the Savage Hunter drew his bow and aimed at the Ravinecrawlers. He swiftly loosed bolt after bolt as explosions resounded in the background. The stalactites hanging from the ceiling shook and fell, crashing into the corpses of the giant monsters. They’d been killed in mere moments. He barely gave them a second glance.

The Shadow Inquisitor leapt over the dead Ravinecrawlers, landing right by the entrance of a massive tunnel. Spreading arms wide, he made a declaration to the world.

“I will find you, Arcslime!”