<>(Zack)<>

Sneak is awesome. I'm not making much sound, even though I'm crunching the snow. The sound of the crunching itself is barely-perceptible, because of the Level of my Sneak Skill and my naturally-silent movements.

So it's really fun.

I've noticed a few new types of Slime, too. They're… interesting, to say the least.

For one of them, their ooze is a lighter brown than the Stone Slimes', and it contains black and grey flecks throughout. Their core is a darker brown than the Stone Slimes', almost black, with a red dot on one part of it.

Those dots seem to follow me around, when I'm too close, though from what I know, a Slime sees in all directions, just like the Crystals, so I'm not sure why they do that.

Maybe for fun? Killing them will be fun, I know that much.

I'm currently staring at one of them. I haven't actually fought yet, as I'm just observing, but this is really funny.

Turkey Slime Level 1 Health: 78 Mana: 123

They're a lot stronger than regular Slime types, and I haven't seen them before, which means they might appear only seasonally, likely in-line with some holiday or something coming.

The Turkey Slimes I'm observing seem to bounce around randomly, sometimes just chilling, sort of like regular Slimes, though theirs seems more like they have a purpose to it.

Another new type of Slime is a deep orange, its core even darker of an orange, and unlike that of other Slimes, its core has ridges along it, akin to a pumpkin. Considering its type… that makes an amusing kind of sense.

Pumpkin Slime Level 1 Health: 82 Mana: 119

Why does its core have those ridges, though? I mean, I know pumpkins do, but… this is the only Slime I've seen with those ridges.

The Pumpkin Slimes just sit where they are; I haven't seen a single one move at all, apart from the shifting of their ooze and an occasional wiggle.

These unmoving Slimes are not to be mistaken with another orange-cored Slime. With a dark grey ooze, the core would likely not normally be noticeable as an orange one should be, but the flickering glow it emits reveals its location to anyone observing it.

The tricky part of this Slime is how it seems to almost disappear from view when in bright light, turning pretty transparent if it isn't in the shade. Night is probably when these guys are strongest and most active, too.

Spook Slime Level 1 Health: 94 Mana: 138

The Spook Slimes seem to be lazy, as most of them are hiding right now. So far, they're the only ones that actually took notice of me, sometimes jumping up in front of me, as if trying to scare me. But they've only done that if I'm passing through shade.

Other than that, they just rest in the shade of something or directly in the sunlight, where they're completely invisible. I don't have a doubt in my mind that they will be most active at night.

The fifth and final new type of Slime I have observed today has a blue-and-white core that looks almost like ice, with an ooze of a mix of white and light blue, akin to frost. These ones seem friendly with each other, judging by the snowball fight three of them are having at this moment.

Snow Slime Level 1 Health: 86 Mana: 104

From what I can tell, it takes them exactly one Mana to cast a Snowball, one second to cast it, and they recover one Mana every three seconds. And they don't seem to be concerned with saving their Mana, either.

This isn't the first snowball fight I've come across, so I know it's not these three specifically, but this type of Slime in general that does them.

That in mind, I begin the trip back to Maelnor, to see if I can find out what's up with these new Slimes that seemed to appear overnight, considering they haven't been around for the last six days I've been out hunting.

I pass through the gate and make my way to the Trading Post, where Jesse is chatting with someone I've never seen before, and judging by their pompous attitude with Jesse, I doubt he's from here.

"Are you going to give it to me, or what?" The man snaps. "I've already showed you my tags, you know I'm diamond. You-"

"Hey, Pervert," I ignore the man and approach the counter beside him. "I have some questions."

"I was talking here, child," the man glares down at me.

"What's with the weird Slimes in the fields?" I ask Jesse, ignoring the pompous ass. "Deal with me, first, Pervert, since this guy doesn't seem to have any form of respect."

"Of course, Zacky!"

I will cut off every single one of your nails by slipping a knife underneath them, then flicking up.

"You will deal with me and show me the respect I deserve!" The man snaps at Jesse. "If you don't, I will have you replaced!"

Jesse smiles at the man, then holds up his hand, an expensive, black leather pouch with a gold drawstring in his hand, an insignia of some sort on the black leather.

"Really?" Jesse asks sweetly. "You didn't even notice me steal your money six minutes ago, do you think you know someone who could handle me?"

The pompous ass lunges at Jesse, activating a Skill of some sort. Then, he crashes into a barrier, bouncing off of it.

Notice: Attacking Certified Assessors Who are Working is Against the Rules Certified Assessment Level: 25 Total Wealth Decreased By: 50% Status Halved For: 25 days

I hastily check my Stats, then sigh in relief when I see that they're unchanged, and I can still feel my money in my pouch, confirming I still have it.

"Ah-ah!" Jesse smiles. "You shouldn't have done that! Now eeeeeeeeveryone one in here knows what you did! And be grateful your wealth only decreases by two percent per Level of the attacked working Certified Assessor, instead of four percent! Then, since you'd lose everything, you'd be butt-naked!"

Lots of naked going on lately.

Thank you, Big S, for only making it two percent and not four percent.

You're welcome!

You have a weird sense for what you should respond to.

He doesn't respond to that.

"It's just some punk kid," the pompous ass glares down at me. "What are you smirking at?"

"The idiot standing in front of me."

He lunges at me, only to find his hand gripped tightly by a powerful Dark Knight, a serrated sword pricking the ass's throat, an aura of darkness surrounding the Dark Knight, tendrils of darkness binding the pompous ass, restricting his body's movements.

Those look like the tendrils from my vision, of when I 'restored' or 'reactivated' the Dark Temple, or whatever it was I was doing.

"If you ever," the Dark Knight's voice is low and dangerous, his expression deadly. "Try to harm a member of my order again, you will wish I showed you mercy. This boy is worth far more than you ever could be simply by the fact that he actually tries to make a difference in the war. He's so devoted to our cause that he goes out and fights every day he can just to reduce the number of Monsters in the Boundary, that he's been willing to sacrifice his life to contact our patron to ensure that we remain strong. Do not ever think you are above him again."

I don't even know this Dark Knight, yet he seems to know who I am.

Ah, right. He can probably see my information.

Hrm.

I use Appraisal on the pompous ass.

Kevin Level 23 Health: 70 Mana: 120

Wooooooooow…

"Dude," I look at Kevin. "First off, your name is utterly ridiculous and stupid. Second, I'm only nine Levels under you, which is sad, since your outfit says you're rich, which means you've been here a long time, unless you just got here and someone just handed you a fuckload of money.

"Second," I look at the Dark Knight. "Thanks for saving me, but judging by his Level and pathetic Health and Mana, I doubt he could do anything to a Dark Knight like me. Especially not with his Stats halved for the next month. I didn't even know that was a thing."

"Consider yourself lucky you haven't attacked me!" Jesse smiles at me. "I know you want to!"

"Nah," I say. "I'd wait until you're sleeping, then rub fecal matter, Slime ooze, and Monster guts and blood all over you. Then, I'd piss in all of your potions. I'm crazy, not stupid."

"You're so mean!" Jesse squeals.

"Nik… was absolutely right about you," the Dark Knight laughs, releasing Kevin's wrist and sheathing his sword, but not undoing the binding tendrils. "You're an interesting one, I can see why he talks so highly of you."

"Who are you?" I ask.

"One of the more senior Dark Knights in the Boundary," he extends a hand, and I shake it. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Zack. I came in with the group today to assist with a Boss Fight in the mines in a few days. We're preparing today to head into the mines tomorrow, then we'll be camping there for several days. Hopefully, we'll manage to beat it. This isn't our first attempt at killing this thing, and it's grown stronger. But so have we, and there are even more of us, now."

"How many Dark Knights are there going to be fighting it?" I ask.

"Three of us," he answers. "In addition to Nik. Last time, it was just Nik and myself."

I force a vision, hoping for the most likely outcome of their fight. I see them battling a massive, dog-like creature with a bunch of smaller ones around, attacking them as well.

Kobolds.

This one is twenty feet in height, with dark brown fur, white spots on its back, a pair of horns atop its head.

After several long moments – though the vision showed me an amount of time even longer than that – the vision ends, and I feel drained. Heavily.

No wonder my visions always come as dreams – I'm already resting and recovering energy. That was draining, and it wasn't anywhere near as long as my contact with Big Flame.

"There is a good chance," I tell him. "In that you will fail. As your team is worn-down by the Demonic Kobold King, retreat will be considered. Then, it will successfully kill an Adventurer. Shortly after that, two Fallen Adventurers will make their appearance, and five more will die before escape is complete. Of the thirty-eight that enter, thirty-two will leave. You will only manage to retrieve two corpses. Whether or not this is the most likely outcome, I'm unsure, but it probably is one of the most likely, if not the most likely. It is, however, the outcome I am aware of as a possibility."

"Uh, Zacky?"

I will feed you to a Spook Slime.

"What, Pervert?" I look at Jesse.

"I don't think it's common knowledge that you have prophetic visions."

"Well," I point at Kevin. "He's unlikely to share it, and if he does, he probably won't be believed. And he," I point at the Dark Knight. "Probably already knew, considering he's a Dark Knight."

"That's not how it works!"

"Yes, it is," I say. "Are you going to answer my questions, now?"

"I did know," the Dark Knight says.

"See?" I ask Jesse. "Since you aren't answering, Pervert, I'll just ask him instead."

I turn to face the Dark Knight, who still has Kevin bound up.

"First," I say. "How long are you going to leave him like that?"

The tendrils of darkness fade away.

"Aw!" I say. "I wanted to poke him!"

"You should probably leave," the Dark Knight tells Kevin. "Before he actually does poke you… with his sword."

"I'd probably do it with my knife," I tell him. "I don't think he could survive a Rage-fueled Dash-powered, Blood Frenzy stabbing with a sword. I'd skewer him."

"I can think of at least six things wrong with that," the Dark Knight tells me, and I shrug. He looks at Kevin. "Well, Kevin? Are you going to leave? And good luck getting Jesse replaced, considering who he is.

"What were you wondering?" The Dark Knight looks back at me.

"About the weird Slimes outside."

"What weird Slimes?" He asks, and I describe them. He snorts. "Those are the Holiday Slimes. We get them every now and then. These four are regulars – they appear around the same time every year. I didn't realize it was already time for the Spook Slimes. The start of this begins with their appearance. You said you haven't seen any of them before?"

"Nope," I answer. "And they're all Level 1 right now, too, so I'm guessing they spawned sometime after I returned last night. What's with them?"

"No one really knows," he shrugs. "And yeah, they probably did, since they weren't around yesterday. The Spook Slimes are around for about a week, the Pumpkin and Turkey for about a month. The Snow Slimes are around for as long as there's snow, then whatever ones are still alive after will remain, but no new ones will spawn. There are a few more types of Special Slimes, which generally stop with the Candy Slimes."

Candy Slimes?

Okay…

That's weird.

"So it's just some weird seasonal thing?"

"Yeah," he nods. "They also have automatic loot – that is, a chance to drop something that goes directly into your Inventory. Speaking of your Inventory – can you pull something out of yours?"

Why does he want to? A lot of people look at me funny the first time they see me use my Inventory, and both of the Dark Knights I've met so far seem to have an interest in seeing me use it. Is there something weird with it?

"Why?"

"Something Nik said to me."

"Oh," I say, then pull a potion out of it. "Okay?"

"Interesting," he says.

"That-" Kevin begins.

"You're still here?" The Dark Knight asks him, and the pompous ass shuts up and runs out the door. The Dark Knight turns his gaze back to me. "See you around, Zack."

"Later, Sir Never-Told-His-Name," I wave to him.

"It's Theodore," he laughs. "Have a good hunting, Zack."

Theodore leaves, then I look at Jesse.

"What are you staring at, Pervert?" I ask.

"Just the most incredible child I've ever seen before!"

Ugh. Kill me now.

I leave the Trading Post, and as the door behind me closes, I find myself in Big Flame's Sacred Temple.

Without trying to go there.