“Twenty silver is a preposterous price! An iron dagger of bleeding should only cost thirty copper pieces, at most!” Dhunnim said confidently.

The burly, mustached shopkeeper tilted his head. “What is this copper piece you speak of?”

Dhunnim’s face looked flustered. “Y-you know, a hundred copper pieces equals one silver piece, a hundred silver pieces equals a gold piece…”

Ah. Suddenly, it started to make sense to Vaughn. Dhunnim had to be a Land of Lorecraft player, and was now projecting his currency expectations from Land of Lorecraft to this world.

You know, he kind of admired Dhunnim. It took a special kind of person to barge into a completely new world and immediately impose their own preconceived notions on everything, and then get offended when they didn’t match up. That kind of rhinoceros-thick-skin was admirable, even desirable in some cases. It kind of reminded him of a certain bullheaded partner that he worked under.

“Outlander, we do not use copper or gold pieces as currency in Alvatross. Gold and even copper are far too rare to be used as currency, ho ho! Only silver is suitable for currency here,” the shopkeeper said, sounding a bit more like Santa Claus with every passing sentence.

Dhunnim grumbled a bit, then set down the dagger back to its shelf space.

Vaughn cleared his throat, finally ready to interject. “Shopkeeper, how do we earn silver in Alvatross? Do we just kill monsters, or…”

“Many ways, young outlander. You can complete quests and jobs, and the good inhabitants around here will pay you for your troubles. Some monsters directly drop silver, but others may drop valuable monster materials, which you can sell in town. Of course, this small town may not have the markets you are looking for if you wish to sell expensive or unusual materials or valuables. For that, you will have to travel to the Capital up north.”

“I see,” Vaughn replied. “How long would it usually take to earn twenty silver killing slimes?” He noticed that there were some basic weapons lying around with five silver price tags, enough to satisfy the class quest requirements.

“That depends on your speed, ho ho ho! But since you are brand new adventurers, I’d say around a few hours.”

“That’s not too bad,” said Vaughn. “Alright gang, what do you say we hit the dungeon now?”

“We can’t afford anythin’ right now, so that’s our best bet,” Becky responded.

“It is time to vanquish slimes,” Dhunnim ‘il Dharral agreed.

“Let’s get going then.”

–––

The party of three found themselves outside the slime cave once again, weaponless and defenseless. Thankfully, based on the idle outlander chatter and lack of screams coming from within the slime cave, the system did not lie about the fact that the difficulty of this particular beginner enemy was negligible, even without weapons.

Vaughn picked up a tree branch and sharpened it with another branch, making a makeshift sword. He had the funny idea that maybe if he made this branch register with the word ‘sword’, even if it was a ‘shoddy wooden sword’ or something along those lines, it would be enough to fulfill the class quest’s requirements.

After all, that was something that he picked up from the hint about a lord-slaying sword. Somehow, the system in this world scanned tags from an individual’s list of traits or items or classes, and if it found a match–regardless of context– then the buff or debuff would apply.

For example, it was heavily implied that the lord-slaying sword would confer a bonus against anyone with ‘edgelord’ in their traits, despite the fact that an edgelord was the furthest thing from an actual Lord.

Becky Oak picked up a rock as a weapon, and Dhunnim ‘il Dharral simply struck a kung-fu pose with his arms.

“This’ll be just like cow wranglin’,” Becky grinned. The look in her eyes was that of a predator that had begun to track its prey. Such was the killer instinct of someone who grew up around farm animals and the great outdoors.

It only took them a minute after entering the slime cave to find the prey in question. Loveable, cute, round prey that bounced around innocently without a single thought of harm in the world.

Vaughn hesitated after seeing the innocent green slimes with comically large eyes and cute expressions on their faces floating and bouncing about. How could he bring himself to kill these things?

Meanwhile, just a few feet away to the side…

“Graaaaaahhhh!!!!” Becky shouted, suplexing a slime to the ground before beating it into a pulp with her rock.

The slime let out a pitiful “kuu!” sound as it died, and it died fairly easily to a level 1 cow wrangler.

Becky wasn’t the only one who engaged in combat. Dozens of outlanders crowded the slime cave attacking the slimes. Most of them were a lot more careful in their approach than Becky, for obvious reasons.

Alright. Vaughn couldn’t get left behind like this. Wielding his poking stick, he lunged at a slime, piercing its belly with his wooden stick. And by belly, he meant its entire body, because slimes were round and there were no distinguishable body parts to make out. He could see that the slime’s health dropped precipitously, and so he jabbed at it once more.

The slime’s eyes formed little cross shapes as it died, reminding Vaughn of an online game he played a long time ago as a kid. As its corpse sank into the ground, it left behind an item, as well as a batch of notifications to mark the occasion.

[You have defeated a Level 1 Lesser Green Slime.]

[You have gained experience.]

[You have obtained an item [Slime Gel].]

You have leveled up.

You are now a level 2 [Warrior].

Class quest completed.

[Warrior class quest: Kill a slime with a melee weapon [1/1]]

[Your strength has increased marginally.]

[You feel that your proficiency with melee weapons has increased.]

[You have unlocked the next class progression quest.]

[Warrior’s killing spree quest: Kill ten slimes with a melee weapon [0/10]]

“Ah,” Vaughn exclaimed in recognition. So this is how the grind worked. He wondered what the reward for the killing spree quest was, since the payoffs were probably somewhat proportional to the effort put in. Either way, he’d find out eventually.

Vaughn was more than ready to grit his teeth and put in the grind, knowing that here, he had a hundred percent equity in whatever he earned with his blood, sweat, and tears. There was nothing worse than getting squeezed for someone else’s benefit, like he was subject to back on earth. Here, he’d gladly squeeze himself knowing that he was the sole beneficiary of his efforts. Vaughn could joke around here or there, but he was serious about the grind.

Becky was already wrangling her second slime, while Dhunnim ‘il Dharral just vanquished his first. Seeing them succeed so easily ignited the competitive fire in Vaughn’s heart. He wanted to excel, and there was nothing that would get in the way of him and his xp.

Except, of course, that lingering thought about the golden treasure trail that had to be somewhere within this slime cave. While the class progression quests were open to everyone, that particular treasure trail tidbit was unique to Vaughn. That is, unless someone else had a treasure sensing ability.

…

He better hurry, just in case.

Vaughn pierced his poking stick into another slime, adding to his total experience count while keeping an eye out for any hint of the trail from within the slime cave. He observed the other outlanders, the slime spawn points, and tried to get a general sense of what was normal within the cave.

“I’m going a bit further into the cave,” Vaughn announced to his party members, pointing at the large cavernous room adjacent to the massive room they were in right now. “Gonna explore and see what’s up.”

“I’ll come with ya,” Becky said, her sleeves rolled up and her body a gooey mess from slime residue. She wiped a bit of the green goo off her cheek and flicked her wrist down at the floor with expertise. “Y’know, these little critters don’t smell bad at all. I could get used to this sorta thing.”

That was true. The green slimes gave off a pleasant, almost peachy scent.

…

Were they edible?