“Good boy. Be sure to purchase my other books too! I need a new pair of shoes!”

The sorceress’ vision disappeared from view but I was distracted by something else and couldn’t care too much for that… I needed to know.

I stare into the abyss for a while. Nothing changes. No status screens come up.

That thing isn’t dead. I didn’t gain anything from sending it into the depths of the Earth.

Well, I guess this isn’t Earth though.

I feel a sudden shock across my body. My lips begin to quiver and I lightly bite it.

My emotions split in two and a lump forms in my throat.

Mad. I’m mad. I feel denied a prize. It was a metal slime. I should have gotten tons of experience for that! What was the point of paying the cost if I…

Yet at the same time… why should it bother me this much?

Out of sight, out of mind. I yeeted it out of here. That should be enough for me.

I stumble backwards from the precipice. This is unusual. The flurry in my heart is so… juvenile.

This is wrong. It’s odd. It’s utterly childish. Just get mad or accept the loss.

Why? I feel sick. I clutch my body against the cave wall and feel my lungs feel tight.

I can hear my heart beating wildly as if it wanted to explode out of my ribcage and run for freedom from the beast put in its cage.

I threw away most of my mental walls which were rooted in my past.

Shouldn’t I simply feel free and unburdened? Wait, I do feel that way but…

It’s not like a weight being lifted off my shoulders. It’s like gravity has died and I’m floating away from the world into the darkness and emptiness of space itself.

It’s suffocatingly sweet. I understand now. My mind is fighting with my heart.

This rage mixed with sensibility is because this sensation of being denied is all new to me.

Since I deleted the first instances of it from my memory… It's like that part of my psyche is a child again.

It’s throwing a royal tantrum even though my sensibilities know it is unreasonable to act out like this… it’s like a tsunami and the walls are gone. There is no resistance. Nothing to even slow it down but a shield made of tissue paper collected from scraps of what was once there and now… cobwebs.

Trying to hold this down would be impossible.

I’m going to lose it. I have to let it go its course or be crushed beneath its screams.

I open my mouth and howl to the entire cosmos.

“It’s not fair! I threw away so much! It kicked my ass hundreds of times! I chuck it down who knows how many miles into the ground and get nothing!? Fuck! That! Arrrggghhhuuuggghhyaaa! I deserve something for that!

"I should have gained thirty levels just like in Dragon Quest!”

I smash my right fist into the wall next to me. The whole cave seems to tremble for a moment.

A crater is left where my hand is buried. Cracks in stone. Not a single scrap of shredded skin or a drop of thin blood. It’s perfectly intact and unblemished.

I stare at it. I pull it back and strike with the same intensity.

No pain. No feeling of shock and only the thinnest and lightest of vibrations.

I unfurl my fist and check my hand thoroughly for any signs of damage.

Nothing at all. Am I really this strong? I can punch a hole into a wall made of stone and not feel a thing? Do it as if it was nothing? I know I have grown from all these levels but… I’ve only tested myself against slimes.

I actually don’t know how I stack up against a normal person.

Thoughts begin to bombard me. I need to test everything I can really do.

If I can make chains from metal and punch holes in walls…

I suddenly feel quite frustrated at the length of my hair and the beard I’ve had for a few months.

I use my magic to dig into the earth and find clumps of metal and begin to shape it…

A pair of scissors and a razor. Done in seconds. This alone could be very useful depending on if they exist in this world and in what form.

I walk back to a hot spring. I use more magic. I drag sand from the earth and heat it up with fire to make a sheet of glass to act as a mirror. It’s not perfect but it helps.

I begin to snip away at my hair until it’s short again. Each lock I cut away falls to the ground as if it was a dumbbell to me. I then shave my face completely clean. I throw myself into a spring for a quick rinse and then suit up and head outside the cave.

I inhale fresh air and walk up to the neighbouring forest.

Staring at a tree I find myself giggling as I raise my right hand and form it into a straight palm.

I pull it back and then swing with all my might in a downward arc.

The moment it makes contact with the upper trunk splinters fly around the air.

My hand had dug right through the whole thing from right to left in the blink of an eye.

Half a second later… “Timber.” Crash.

Gone down in an instant. I didn’t expect that at all but I find my lips curling into a wide smile. This exhilaration and glee make me feel like a kid again. This is just me at Level 30?

I should try to contain my excitement. Maybe this is natural for people in this world but even so, I’ve already become superhuman by my own standards.

I can afford a little self-indulgence into the results of my mindless training.

I can grasp and accept the change I earned on my own.

That was with a chop. What happens if I just use a finger?

I focus and poke another nearby tree, right in the centre with my index finger.

It pierces without any resistance and then I slowly draw it out.

There’s a hole there now. Like a rifle bullet had neatly burrowed through it.

Amazing. This is ridiculous. I’m overjoyed. I start giggling to myself.

I’d been stuck in my ways. I’d never even tried to do something truly interesting.

Instead of just killing each slime myself… what if I find a way to make that automatic?

Easier. Why should I just put in hours? Fight smarter not harder.

I take a second. I sit down and just think. Let my imagination run wild.

In a few minutes… “Eureka.” A slasher smile must have cut its way across my face.

I built a new bridge for myself out of metal. I sat by a hot spring while drinking water.

I boiled the water and then created ice cubes. It’s not anything special but I’m confident it's clean and the cooling element helps me relax as I can hear it.

A dripping sound that echoes through the halls of the cave. It grows louder and louder with each passing second. Becoming a storm of torrential rain. It was genius.

The slimes are acidic lifeforms. This is a cave. If I flood it with an alkaline solution they'll be neutralised.

It was worth a shot and it seems to be working.

LEVEL UP!

LEVEL UP!

LEVEL UP!

LEVEL UP!

LEVEL UP!

LEVEL UP!

I pass the time by playing around with my magic to make constructs. Make the cave feel more lived in.

I construct a lane, pins and bowling balls out of stone. Simple fun to pass the time.

I make my own bed out of soft materials as well as shelves and cupboards to hold my stuff instead of just making it all lay around or stuffing it into a sack.

A few hours pass and I take out an umbrella I constructed. It’s made of wood so it’s similar to a bamboo parasol but hey it works well enough.

LEVEL UP!

LEVEL UP!

LEVEL UP!

LEVEL UP!

I cross the bridge as more notifications of levels feed into me.

Rain scatters across the roof of my umbrella. The ground is now moist and dripping like a small river stream and within the mud and dirt being carried away are perfectly intact red cores.

I walk further down. Not a single sign of even a single living slime. My experience is growing by the second.

I’m not going to let this place be my prison any more. I’m going to deal with the problem.

I finally reach the bottom. A set of massive steel doors holding something behind them.

I can feel it. It’s behind these doors.

The Slime Royalty that is the root of all this.

Maki Hibiki Lv40

Skills:

1H Swords Lv64

1H Skill Lv64

Slash Lv69

Punch Lv 37

Kick Lv 33

Construction Lv 20

Spells:

Mastery of Basic Elements - Usage of the elements of magic and the world is now; at least in scope, only restricted by the user’s imagination.

Territory Influence - The user may apply magical/physical/chemical changes in locations. This requires exerting Influence on that location. It is easier if such a place contains memories of the user.

Techniques:

Mastery of Brute Force/Blade - Basic fighting techniques are now available when using fists or blades and can be customised. If it can be thought of it can at least be attempted.

Armouring - Due to the presence of magic and martial aptitude, thought can affect matter. “I am steel” can make your body harder and more tenacious. “I am one with the earth” can make one more resistant and harder to be moved. At advanced levels, a user can temporarily transmute parts of their body or weapons into the element of their choosing.

“Oh? What a pleasant surprise. I need to test these out properly.”

My magic and skills have combined? They are no longer restricted to singular sections?

I can feel it. Something terrifyingly exciting is waiting for me.

I can’t keep it waiting. I punch a dent through the gates that are withholding my foe.

A gigantic pool of water stretching on farther than my eyes can see appeared before me.

It begins to rumble and the cave tremors. Something begins to rise from the depths.

I toss away my umbrella. Why be afraid to get a little wet? I catch myself humming... I am not afraid.