Chapter Ten: Taking the term Rock Candy way too Literally

Standing within the barrier, Galdon was carrying the sleeping Larson on his back, ready to run at a moment's notice. In his head, he was repeating Hasson’s reassuring words in his mind like a mantra. Hasson had already left the safety of the yellow glow and was standing further away at the other end of the clearing.

As Hasson faced the direction of the approaching slime, he rolled his shoulders. If he wanted to end this quickly he’d probably have to use an advanced spell. He just hoped the thing wouldn’t be too high leveled. As he was thinking about which spell to use, the King Slime broke through the tree line. Almost instantly Hasson activated his appraisal skill.

King Slime

Level: 50

HP: 5000/5000

MP: 5500/5500

Spreading his arms wide, Hasson started to channel his mana. Normally, thanks to his job class and his connection to the forest, he didn’t need to chant. However, for an enemy of this level, even he needed to exert a bit of effort. Not waiting for Hasson to start the battle, the king slime started to vibrate its body. Causing the ground to begin to quake. With a tsk, Hasson jumped back while snapping his fingers. From the ground, a wave of roots sprouted. They wrapped around the king slime restricting its movements. A guttural roar reverberated from it as it continued to struggle.

The entire forest seemed to come alive as Hasson's mana continued to build up. The trees started to sway in excitement, eager for what was to come. The King Slime had a horrible sense of foreboding. A fear began to bloom within it as it started to struggle with an increased urgency.

Hasson’s voice sounded like the calling of death as he finally began to chant.

“Oh Natulis, Keeper of the Forest, grant me thy power to eradicate thine foes. [Grand Forest Burial]!”

As soon as the spell left his lips, his mana erupted from his body, in amounts so large it was nearly visible to the naked eye. It then sunk into the ground and spread along the forest floor. The surrounding trees started to quiver thanks to the magical stimulant. Afterward, accompanying an earth shattering boom, twelve ancient roots, giving off an aura of absolute power, exploded from the ground.

Chunks of dirt and topsoil were thrown into the air by the force of the explosion. Seconds later it rained down, pelting the earth like hail stones. Amidst the rain of dirt, the ancient roots mixed with the others that were already containing the king slime. As the roots combined they began to admit a pale-yellow glow. Following which, the glowing root ball quickly began to shrink. The king slime roared in defiance, as it was slowly being squeezed to death.

After about thirty seconds the king slime gave one last mournful groan. It's life ending before it could even really start. With their deed done, the glow of the roots faded and they slowly made their way back into the ground. Once they returned to the earth, the fast dissolving remains were revealed. A heavy thud rang out as the last of the king slime vanished, and a giant crystal fell to the ground in its place.

“Whoa…” Galdon said as he watched on in amazement. With the way Hasson had spoken, he’d thought the battle would be long and drawn out. Yet with a mere snap of the fingers, and one spell later, the slime had met its demise.

“Ah, there's nothing quite like the enjoyment one gets from squeezing their enemies to death,” Hasson said to himself, as he turned towards Galdon and snapped his fingers once more. With a smug grin, he dusted the dirt off his shoulders as he watched the barrier around the boys dissipate. Walking up to the still gawking Galdon, Hasson pointed over his shoulder at the King Slimes core crystal.

“Go eat it.” He said, in a matter of fact sort of way.

“…What?”

“You heard me, kid. Go eat that King Slime crystal.”

Galdon looked at the old elf like he had lost his mind. Glancing at the core at the other end of the clearing then back at Hasson, he arched his eyebrow. Seeing the skeptic look on his face, Hasson frowned, “Stop looking at me like I’m off my rocker, and go start eating the darn thing. If you don’t start soon you won’t be able to finish by morning.”

“How…?”

“How? Well, how else, you bite and chew. Come on, boy, I know you’re smarter than this.”

“Just bite and chew, he says,” Galdon mumbled while rolling his eyes. “Mr. Hasson, just what do you think my teeth are made of?”

Hearing that, Hasson paused as he stared at the kid. After a moment he finally spoke, “Has no one ever taught you about the perks of being blessed by Metalas?”

Galdon’s ears drooped as he remained quiet. Recalling that Galdon had only just turned ten and been separated from his parents soon after, Hasson sighed. Patting the boy’s head understandingly he explained, “People blessed by Metalas can eat all kinds of rocks, crystals, minerals, and so on. Doing so gives them a power boost, or experience boost if it’s a monster crystal that’s eaten.”

“Isn’t that kind of unfair?” Galdon asked, still not really buying Hasson’s words.

“Not really. Each blessing has its own perks. But that’s a lesson for another time. Now go eat that rock.”

Even though he still had a bit of reservation, Galdon walked over to the King Slime crystal. Standing next to the wrecking ball sized core, he looked minuscule. Sending up a prayer, he leaned forward and open his mouth as he closed his eyes. With a crisp crunch, he managed to bite off a hunk. His eyes sprang open wide as he chewed, stunned by the flavor flooding his taste buds. It had an addictingly good sweet fruity taste. Quickly finishing off his first bite, he eagerly went back for more.

Watching Galdon now eating the core in a frenzy, Hasson shook his head. He’d have to warn the boy about the addiction that came from eating cores later.

The next morning, like always, Larson woke up right on schedule. Rubbing his eyes, he stood and started to stretch his stiff body. While limbering up he looked at the scene around him. Hasson was seated in meditation beside him, but for some reason, the root igloo was gone and so was Galdon. Scanning the clearing further, he noticed that there was a large increase of dirt all around him. And off in the distance, he could just make out Galdon’s figure lying prone on the ground, his stomach extended in an almost comical fashion.

At a loss he poked Hasson, “Oi, gramps, what’d I miss?”

With Larson’s question drawing him out of his rest Hasson yawned, “Simply an epic fight with a giant slime, and Galdon’s new found love for eating rocks.” He said as he stood up and began to stretch. “Come, we need to go wake the kid up. He’s going to have a bunch of energy to work off.”

Not really knowing just how much of what he’d just heard was a joke, Larson quietly followed Hasson over to the sleeping tiger. Galdon was currently in what seemed to be a food induced coma. He had a stupid grin on his face and his cheeks were covered in a slight blush. Looking down at his slightly bloated friend, the term blissful drunkard was all that came to mind.

Taking the initiative, Larson bent over and started to shake Galdon, “Oi! Gal! Wake up!”

Galdon’s eyes groggily opened thanks to Larson’s insistent shaking. “Ah! Lars, you're awake!” As soon as he saw that it was Larson that was trying to wake him as if struck by lightning, he hurriedly tried to get up. Yet his body couldn’t keep up with his brain as he stumbled.

Reaching out to catch the staggering guy, Larson questioned him in concern, “Gal, are you okay?”

“I'm great, I'm terrific!”

As he supported the grinning tiger in his arms he was stumped. The last time he’d saw someone act this way was after an all-night binge drinking party in college.

“Oh oh! Lars your gramps is so awesome! He fought a giant slime and it was all like BOOM and BANG BANG and the slime was all like AGGGGURRRGA-” As Galdon continued to prattle on and on, Larson glanced back at Hasson, catching him trying to suppress his laughter.

‘What’s wrong with him?’ Larson mouthed to the trembling Hasson.

‘He’s power drunk.’ Hasson answered honestly before starting to laugh. Larson shook his head, if getting a full night's sleep meant waking up to this sort of fiasco, he’d have to start limiting his sleeping hours. With Hasson’s urging, Larson supported the drunk Galdon as they made their way into the forest again.

Thanks to an extreme lack of slimes, the rest of the trip was fast and smooth going. As they got closer and closer to the village, Hasson reminded the boys to behave. Along the way, Galdon’s energy high had worn off and he passed out again. When Hasson had informed him about how Galdon had to carry him during the slime battle, Larson decided to carry him to return the favor. Thanks to his high strength stat he didn’t have a problem with the weight, but since Galdon was taller than him, he was struggling not to let the other’s feet drag.