I stared at the screen that belonged to a game that was around twenty years old.

I tap the screen with my right index finger. It glows and changes on impact.

Health Points has risen.

Strength has risen.

Dexterity has risen.

Speed has risen.

Defense has risen.

Resistance has risen.

I tap it again and this time it just fades away entirely. I’m stuck there for a moment in confusion.

This was a lot of stimulation within just a short frame of time.

This wasn’t enough information. I needed to have a better idea of where I’m at now.

“Status!” The blue screen returns and my blood runs cold.

Maki Hibiki Lv2

HP: ???

MP: ???

STR: ???

MAG: ???

DEX: ???

SPD: ???

DEF: ???

RES: ???

Skills:

1H Swords Lv1

1H Skill Lv1

Slash Lv1

This was… I’m really garbage. At the bottom of the ladder. I can’t even read my own stats.

What type of shitty game doesn’t even let you inspect your own stats! They could be amazing or garbage… wait, mine is beginner level for sure. I can barely fight off slimes and nothing I’ve done so far seemed to be superhuman. The slimes themselves are made of liquids and… I look down at the cores left behind. These are worth money right?

I pick up the whole circular one. It’s surprisingly light and feels much like the slimes before, having a jelly-like structure but none of the irritating sensations the main body had exhibited.

If I wanted to live I’d have to use these. There was no question about that. I drop the sword, I can’t risk carrying it out and someone picking a fight with me for it. I need to carry the cores anyway.

I’ll pick it up later if I need it...

I gathered up the cores and ran out of the cave as fast as I could.

A few moments ago I was being attacked and I could have been killed. Eaten alive by the weakest enemy in the most classic of video games.

I was being taken for a ride by a robot. Sure I got to live but now I’m prime time television for some unknown entity with a very basic and cliche behaviour.

The worst part is that I don’t really have any options but to take the advice it gave me.

I went to the village huddling the red payload between my arms until I got to the entrance.

What awaited me there was a very typical feudal village but on the outskirts, just a bit beyond the main pathway was a caravan with a table outside it as well as what seemed to be a Mongolian tent just a bit to the side.

A single figure stood in front of the caravan standing at about 6 feet, dressed from head to toe in gear that would be common to see for someone daring to climb Everest.

Except the climate felt like it was the middle of spring.

I couldn’t see their face, it was covered in shadows from the heavy hood.

I barely made out two blue eyes looking through it that glowed slightly in the darkness.

It was staring at me for a bit as I awkwardly walked over. Caravans mean trading.

Trading means not carrying this bullshit anymore as well get paid. Tch, it’s the damn same, isn’t it?

Replaces slime cores with documents and it’s not that much different from any old office job.

The trader performs a long sigh as I get within touching distance.

The figure reaches out with its large and long arms and sweeps the cores out of my hold and places it on the table while taking an abacus from the very same table with swift speed.

They start moving the pieces and muttering in a low guttural voice, looking up at me several times between its little deliberations.

I hear the clicking of the beings tongue while a very slight hissing sound accompanying it.

Finally, it drops the abacus, turned around and reaches its hands into their winter coat and when they moved back to face me had a silver coin between its right thumb and right index finger while holding what seemed to be five bronze scales in its left palm, each about the size of an AA battery.

“Oh, t-thank you.” I’m taken aback by the sudden actions of this peculiar person.

I cautiously stretch to take the money but then realise it might be a useless endeavour.

“Uhm, I need food and essentials, ah do you know how much lodging costs in this village?”

The hood raises to look at me directly in the eyes and I could swear it was filled with disgust.

I’m not a well-liked customer within seconds of arriving.

It turns around again, I hear a jingling sound as it shuffles through its coat and walks into the caravan for a minute before coming back.

I… don’t really know what to do about this bizarre shop that doesn’t try to interact with its customers.

It comes back and drops a duffel back on the table, opening it and revealing rolls of bread, a waterskin, and a few glass vials filled with a red liquid.

It pushes the contents back into the bag and closes it before shoving it into my hands and chest as if it couldn’t wait to get rid of it.

I just stand there for a bit dumbfounded. I should probably complain and ask what the price of every object is but without information… I’m at mercy to anyone and anything. I have to take their offers or leave it.

I should head to the village and try to find some sort of stable work and learn how this world’s economy works or else I’ll be in trouble rather quickly.

They also didn’t answer my question. Can they not speak or simply don’t want to?

Or maybe… they don’t understand my words?

I don’t know how the language works here.

I thank the shopkeep again and walk towards the entrance of the village… and slam into something.

I fell over on my ass and look upwards.

A blue wall of energy blocking me off. Shit. I look towards the trader as if asking for an explanation and boy does it have one. It’s holding a golden object in the shape of a heart that was about the size of a suit button in its left hand and a piece of parchment with the words “Entry Pass” written in red ink in its right.

Fuck me. Really? Making a break to finding another village or city would be suicidal at this level.

That means the only option I have left is… to go back to the cave?

My mind quickly makes calculations or rather a flowchart of my ideas. If killing eight slimes total gave me this much food then I guess I’ll need to kill at least that many each day.

No, wait. Thinking about it the quality of the cores and their condition may have something to do with it. Something like a full undamaged core being worth a lot and the cut pieces being less.

I can’t know for sure unless I have more data. I could try to ask the merchant but they seem to be completely uncooperative at least for conversational purposes.

I curse and head back to the cave with a heavy feeling in my heart. When I find myself back at the entrance I stare into the maw of darkness. I’ll need to risk my life again and again just to eat from day to day. There’s no other option. I descend into the madness of the world below.

I head back to where I left the sword and pick it up with my right hand. It feels heavier than before. My life depends on this weapon.

I head deeper until I see a single slime. Oddly the core wasn’t red. It was green.

I decided to give something a try. “Inspect Slime.” As expected the screen forced its way into my field of view.

Basic Servant Slime

Information will be added as observations are made or when slain enough times.

These are slimes created by Slime Royalty. They will always give at least 1XP.

When their cores are green they are not yet hostile. Should something else enters its territorial range it shall attack and its core will turn red to reflect its state of mind.

They tend to jump and latch onto whatever is closest and try to dissolve the target from there.

They do not deal significant damage to larger lifeforms when exposed for a short period but they tend to cause swift destruction to nonliving things.

A few are no threat to an adult human with a few levels. Their real threat comes from when they swarm in numbers and deal property damage. As a result, they are usually culled every few seasons but never exterminated due to the difficulty in subjugating their creator.

Slime Stats:

HP: ???

MP: ???

STR: ???

MAG: ???

DEX: ???

SPD: ???

DEF: ???

RES: ???

That was a lot more than I expected but I still can’t see stats huh?

Still, I can work with this. In fact, this is fine. They always give 1XP at a minimum.

I don’t feel any lasting damage on my body. The screen says that one by one they aren’t much of a threat at all. They strike at whatever enters their range with little thought.

I stretch out my left arm and take a step forward.

The core of the slime changes from green to red. I feel the familiar light burning from before as it bites into my left hand. It’s perfectly in place. I aim and then I cut.

The apple red centre is split in two and the jelly blue falls apart as if it was melted by an open fire.

Sure, the feeling of the acid-like creature is annoying… but it’s safe.

I can do this. Rinse and repeat this over and over. I will eventually get results.

I know what to do. Go through every day the same way. Shut yourself off from joy except the bare minimum to keep you alive and not in a mood to complain. Do the same gruelling task over and over until it becomes second nature until you’re a cog in the machine and you’re moving perfectly with every other broken soul. This is the only way.

Just like my last job, I have to do something I hate and mash repeat until I get results.

That’s all I have to do. The more things change the more things stay the same.

“I need immutable power. This world isn’t as forgiving as the last one.

“I won’t stop until… I’m unmatchable.” I speak those words to myself. I need them.

I won’t die, never again and never on someone else’s terms.

I’ll fight for my freedom. No matter how long it takes. I dive deeper into the darkness.