I moved into the forest much more boldly than I probably should, likely the reason why I haven't really seen any animal yet. Well. I did occasionally hear small critters scamper away in a rustle of leaves down on the ground and some birds disturbing the trees high above. I also make noise because of my whip trailing behind me, scrapin and generally disturbing the ground.

Oh, I began occasionally losing little chunks of dried up mud about half an hour ago too, but I don't think that's very relevant. It makes my face and arms itchy but whatever, I've successfully been ignoring it.

Yeah, I just don’t have the stealth needed for this hunting business to yield amazing results

Still, I stay sharp, looking for anything that would count as food, while also being stupid or aggressive enough to show itself. I'm actually impressed at how noisy this forest is, even ignoring my own presence.

The birds call, the insect buzz and the brown dried up leaves rustle underfoot. But most of all, the trees are whispering endlessly, the faintest breezes enough to give them small motions. Honestly, that’s the only reason I don’t count my hunting efforts as doomed from the start, maybe animals don't focus too much on hearing here.

Bob went back to mana perception trial runs after the gentle atmosphere of the forest started calming me down. I think the smell is what really gets to me, that faint smell of moss is the best thing ever.

Initially I was looking for animal tracks : droppings, footprints and maybe hair or something. But I quickly realized even the little I could find was no help at all. Sure, that thing there looks like a small hoof-print (maybe a deer?) going that way, but I’d rather not get lost chasing useless tracks that might be any number of days old. And yeah, those are droppings. From something, that has definitely been here at some point. See my problem ? Ignorance. Stupid, stupid, useless, missing context. I might not be much of a countryman but I swear I shouldn't be this bad.

So yeah. I wish I could say more about this forest but I can pretty much only say that it is in fact, composed of trees, which aren’t very large. The trunks cap at something like 40 centimeter across. There's various types of them, with different shades of yellow and oranges, different barks, different leaf shapes... The fancy ones have different old and young leaf shapes on the same tree. They aren't particularly tall, maybe 20 meters high for the big ones. There’s also shrub of course, but not so much that it's difficult to move around. Bushes and other varied short green stuff.

Plants, as they are widely known by my people.

There’s not much grass to speak of, I’m guessing the combination of shade and the carpet of decomposing dry leaves isn't exactly ideal conditions, unlike the open fields I saw higher up the mountainflanks. Well, there’s the occasional stubborn 20 – 30 cm high grassy thing I guess, often growing in small clusters in sunier spots. Most bushes also seem to be struggling honestly, I pretty much only see thorny brambles that I avoid. Oh, and I haven't noticed any mushrooms. Not a single one, even on the occasional dead tree. Makes me wonder if mushrooms just didn't happen on this planet.

So, to recap the biology class with Pr. Useless Memory, I'm in a fairly tree-focused area, usually known as a forest.

Wait, hold that thought.

What’s that?

What.

What the actual hell am I looking at?

About 15 meters ahead of me, what looks like a large dark blob of shapeless… Sludge? Is slowly moving across the forest floor. It's big. Bigger than the wolf. That thing is over one meter high for sure. And bubbly. Small bubbles regularly explode on its surface, releasing a little puff of mist. It doesn’t seem to care much about its environment and hasn’t noticed me. Well it hasn’t noticed the tree it just ran onto either. You’d think that would make me smile but the eerie silence with which it moves back enough to slightly adjust its path is too unsettling for me to smile.

So. Do I try to kill it?

It's super slow so I should be able to run away if things go south. Killing that is also probably a good idea to gain some system experience. I am quite curious regarding what leveling actually does. Also, I have been kind of actively looking for something to kill for the last couple of hours.

On the other hand, maybe it isn't as slow as it looks. Maybe it's really dangerous and that mist it releases will knock me out or poison me. Is my flimsy whip going to do anything to a being made of viscous sludge like that? And well, not only this is gratuitous violence – terrible for karma – It's not even food!

If it had noticed me and rushed my way, I think I would have ran away no questions asked. But this is an opportunity. Yeah, I’ll give it a try for science.

A smart try. I’ll make sure I actually have the room for a good swing, I’ll watch my step to not trip on a stupid root, and I’ll make sure to absolutely not breathe suspicious fumes.

BOOOB !

...

Damnit Bob, I could have used a second opinion here.

Well, fine then, lets do it.

I inch towards the creature until it's less than ten paces away. It really seems to be completely oblivious of its surroundings. Well, it’s certainly repulsive enough it can afford to. Now to wait for the right opportunity as it keeps moving forward... Thank god that it somehow doesn't leave a disgusting trail of its black sludge on which I could step and slip.

I have a clear path to it, there’s room above, which is the only practical way I can swing my unwieldy weapon in a forest, time to go!

Breathe out. Step, step, breathe in deep… And I’m running. The swing beautifully arches and the creature doesn’t react to my sudden aggressive movements that certainly aren't stealthy.

Whack!

The thorny stalks dig deep into the sludge while I plant my heels to stop my momentum and bravely dash away, pulling on my weapon with all my might. It isn’t stuck and tears away from the sludge in a wet sound.

And the thing shrieks.

The awful noise feels like a physical drill into my head I miss a step in surprise.

I ignore the pain of my newly scrapped arms, I catch a glimpse of thick mist billowing out of the creature as I hurriedly scramble back to my feet.

I’m not sure how much damage I dealt but that will be addressed later. Focus on not falling.

I wonder if my ears are bleeding, it feels like they should. It's like the sound of an electric saw had an illegitimate child with the sound of nails scraping on a blackboard. How is a blob of goo doing that? And it doesn’t stop while I build some safe distance either, it's just a continuous painful noise.

Unbearable. I let go of my weapon to cover my ears and I take a better look behind me at what is going on.

Breathe out.

I can taste blood in my mouth, not sure how that happened. Perhaps I clenched my teeth too hard.

The thing isn’t chasing me, but a thick haze is now floating all around it. I can barely see how it is quickly deflating as both a black liquid and the white mist abundantly flow out of the tears my whip left on the soft surface.

Wow, what happened here? That thing is literally fuming!

Hey Bob! You're back!

The thing keeps noisily deflating ahead of us as I catch my breath. Even while covering my ears it's still very unpleasant. I must also say it's quite a gross spectacle. kind of looks like a giant blister emptying massive amounts of black pus. It seems to be getting weaker though. At least the noise is weakening.

Say Bob, I’ve been thinking that name really does suits you. It’s fine for you too right?

Yeah, I guess it is.

Sweet. You know, I’m glad you’re here to keep me balanced brother.

Anytime. But I’m going to become a great mage eventually, and you’ll feel super stupid when you need to sign important official documents in my name with “Archmage Bob”.

I catch the subtext instantly, he found our mana pool.

He doesn’t even need to tell me as I can plainly feel his smug satisfaction. We’re going to be wizards!

Just wish we had something better than sludge for dinner.

Oh, but you don’t know yet that this is a two part plan. This here is just the bait, now we wait until something comes to investigate!

Of course he doesn’t buy my bullshit. I’m not sure why he steered the conversation away from actual *magic* but he’s probably right that we need to stay sharp and careful.

Eventually, the sludge thing becomes silent. It seems to have completely deflated.

Uh.

A notice drifts into my mind.

You’ve slain a lesser monster, experience gain :12%

Of course the stupid system won’t even provide an adequate name for the thing, gotta keep that fucking context unknown right? Well I’ll call it a sludgeling then.

To my surprise, the notice that was already slowly fading away from my mind updates.

You’ve slain a lesser Sludgeling, experience gain :12%

I can’t tell if that’s the actual name of those things that I guessed against all possible odds or if the system simply follows my knowledge…

Then it hits me, ‘You’ve slain’. I actually killed it?

Just like that?

Hit hard, break the surface and let it bleed out for a couple minutes for it to die. No catch.

I look at my half forgotten whip on the ground, still covered in sludge.

“Are you stronger than you look or was that thing that pathetic?” I mumble.

Well, overwhelming victory then. Better than a painful struggle.

So, you think that “lesser monster” might have an appetizing mother that might come investigate its child’s death throes?

The mist the sludgeling released is clearing quickly above its remains. I slowly get nearer to examine them. There seem to be some unidentifiable, slightly more solid shapes under the surface but the whole thing is quickly turning into a dark puddle that stains the forest floor.

As I breathe carefully, still worried about any lingering mist, I realize the thing unexpectedly doesn’t smell like much. I automatically assumed it would smell awfully rotten, but it just has some kind of… Slightly damp smell, if that makes sense? It reminds me of the smell of running water in a cave.

From stupid blob to dark stain, the thing is still useless. I see nothing to be gained from further investigation, unless I want to try a sip of the ooze, but I am NOT doing that. It’s not even flesh. As far as I’m concerned, a sludgeling is just a useless, noisy blob of disgusting juices inside a thin membrane.

Not quite useless. Just kill a handful of them to level up!

If I can find them I guess… And no giant version that shrugs off a whiplash of course.

I pick up my abandoned weapon and proceed to shake off the remaining ooze as best as I can.

In my infinite wisdom, I’ve decided that the forest is a dead end our best shot at lunch is nailing a bird with a well thrown rock. There are some pigeon-like birds flying low in the trees, sometimes even hopping around on the ground to catch an earthworm or something. How hard can it be to get one of them? This sudden resolution obviously has nothing to do with the extremely attention catching shrieks of the late sludgeling.

Yes, I am indeed walking away at a brisk pace.

Any other questions?