Micky woke up the next day and felt like it was going to be a happy day. Yesterday he met Jimmy, what more could this day have for him? So he pandiculated in bed (The actual word for stretching in the morning thanks Susan, so there!) He got up and had breakfast, more stew. Waved goodbye to the fam and went out of the house to see what trouble he could cause.

He should not have gotten out of the house. Was it too late to get back into the house? He looked behind him, Dad was in the entrance telling him to shew and get to playing with his friends. “And next time bring some real fish home! I want some real meat!” Sighing Micky knew he was dead. Bob, was the popular kid. Bob was the reason Micky was called Micky even though Micky was sure he had a real name that was not Micky. Micky for reasons the world could not see and only the shadows knew did not like Bob. Everyone liked Bob. Bob was Bob!

Micky sighed, Bob was already heading in his direction. Micky was praying to whatever entity that would listen that he saw the next door neighbor Susan even though Micky knew that she was an early bird. Well peeping on her when he was younger (Subcouncious: It was only a Month ago!) was not misspent youth! Micky sighed again.

“Micky boy! I did not expect to see you! What trouble are you into?” Bob

“Hi Bob, you off to peep at Susan?” Micky said in his most confident voice… meek. Micky knew that Bob liked Susan… A lot. And that if he could pawn off Bob for another failed attempt at wooing her he could get away. Micky was not successful.

“Nah, Today we’re here for you.-" Bob and crew chuckled evilly. "-What’s this I hear about a wardrobe malfunction?”

“I know nothing, there was no wardrobe malfunction.” Micky said almost mechanically. Bob might be Micky’s night terror but Susan was his bully since he can remember. The first time he peed himself in terror? Susan… Micky ment only time *cough*. The first *cough* only time he ran home crying? Susan. She is involved in the *cough* only times he has embarrassed himself in one way or another. Even if he was just thinking of her at the time. So Bob was not getting this out of him. Even if his fist was in his guts at the moment.

“Oh, you know, and you will tell, and then you will tell nobody.” Bob

“Like we tell nobody that you’re Susan’s boyfriend?” Micky said to three flat “Oohs.”

“Oh, a comeback? I thought I’d never see the day.” Bob

“I’ve got an idea to loosen those lips… then seal them permanently!” said pinky

“Oh? Do tell.” Bob

“He’s a [Pink Mage]. He can’t do anything without a party.” Pinky smiles evilly. It’s ok Pinky, I forgive you, you’re the only one of these jerks with a conscious. Thought Micky.

“Hey, theirs a slime pit over at the west end of the forest. We could take him over there… in a party.” Supplied Trevor unhelpfully.

Jeremy just looked out into nothing and smashed his fists.

“I’m taking your son out to level Mr. Anderson. Be back in the afternoon!” Bob

“Dad I don’t want to go! Can’t I help you with work or something?” Micky regretted adding or something as soon as he said it. Dad looked to be considering it until then. Now…

“Now Micky, Bob is being nice enough to take you out to level. You have to take chances like this by the horns and [Grapple] them! Now go out there and don’t come back till you’re level 50. Bob’ll take care of you.” formally Dad but right now father.

“Of course Mr. Anderson, we’ll take great care with Micky. You have nothing to worry about Mr. Anderson.” Bob

*Grown* Micky.

‘The forest’ as it was known, was the local monster farm. Monsters and their habitat were outright destroyed on sight. Great wars were fought to destroy high level habitats. But low level habitats were protected by [Kingsmen]. A special solder promotion class. If there were too many monsters or monsters that were not ‘healthy’ for the forest they would be culled by the [Warden]s. ‘The forest’ was a valuable part of most communities with higher rank monster farms for more powerful and populous cities. The basic rule of thumb was, you only kept a farm you could control. Otherwise it was a place of endless monster resources.

A Slime pit was a place were slimes gathered. Slimes tended to dissolve anything they came in contact with, Including the ground. If slimes weren’t dealt with promptly a Slime pit would form. From there it would become a Slime cave and eventually a dungeon. Slimes were considered one of the base monsters. Monsters that formed the monster ecosystem. Goblins were another of the ‘Null Mobs’. The lowest level of possible mobs. Even though Goblins could be actually dangerous if left to their own devices.

And now Micky was standing in front of a slime pit. It looked quite steep, It should probably be culled soon but the villagers were lazy. Well, standing isn’t really accurate since Bob just shoved him in. “Hey Jeremy, did you bring the rope?” Pinky. Jeremy just shrugged. Pinky facepalmed.

“Hey Bob I think we need to go back and get the rope.” Pinky

“Why should we get the rope?” Bob

“Jeremy did you bring lunch too?” asked Pinky, Jeremy just shrugged. By now Bob was getting the idea.

“Jeremy” Bob

“I think it would be better if Trevor did it.” Pinky

“Fine Trevor go get lunch-" Bob looked at Pinky. "-and the rope.” By now the slimes are all in a tizzy. Micky is casting [Charm] as fast as he can but if he used an improvised spell AOE he would run out of mana, and then he’ed be dead. Bob was smart but not intelligent. He didn’t think ahead and often got people hurt because of it. This was one of those times. The slime pit was about to become a slime cave. This meant that the slimes were concentrated and became actually dangerous for the normal villager. This also meant that if left unattended it would become a dungeon due to the mana from the slimes and eventually larger more powerful second stage [Mob] monsters. Unfortunately for Micky while they were concentrated they weren’t concentrated enough for him to hit with his small AOE.

The thing with [Charmed] creatures was you couldn’t attack them very much. If you hurt the target than [Charm] would slowly lose effectiveness or outright stop working. He could keep the monsters [Charmed] for up to an hour with his mana pool. If he could get ¾ of the monsters [Charmed], and Micky overestimated himself, he might be able to live long enough for Bob to realize that if Micky died it didn’t matter how popular he was in the village the [Kingsgaurd] would kill him. It also didn’t help that they were so close to the forest that there was likely a [Kingsmen] watching the ‘kids playing’. But the growing bruises weren’t helping.

“Argh, damn slime.” Bob. A slime had gotten out of the pit now and was bouncing around ‘hopped up’ on whatever slimes used in their gooey bodies for adrenaline. It took Bob, Jeremy, and Pinky a minute and a few to finally peg the little monster but it still came back. After all, these were invaders to its home, it was not backing off. They finally killed it after landing three strikes. But it took them five minutes to actually kill the thing.

“I brought lunch.” Trevor

“But what about the rope?” Pinky

“Oh, I forgot the rope." Trevor gave a knowing chuckle, Bob shared a pointed stare and knowing chuckle with Trevor.

“Go get the damn rope!” Pinky said while hitting Trevor. Trevor rubbed his arm, that actually hurt.

“If he dies we are all screwed! Get. The. Rope.” Trevor looked over at Bob with a hurt but uncomprehending expression. Bob just shrugged like he had nothing to do with it. Trevor sighed and went back to get the rope.

Pinky looked into the pit with a worried expression. It was beginning to dawn on him that this may have been a bad idea. Not until someone got hurt. But if they waited till he was hurt to get the rope then Micky would be [Dead]. And Pinky did not want to be executed today.

While Bob and friends were putting on their four stooges show Micky was not doing so hot. He already had half the slimes [Charmed] but… His mana was running out, the other half were still attacking him, he severely underestimated that he would be able to dodge ¼ of these slimes, his right eye was swollen shut, and his entire right rib cage was one big bruise. How did these slimes know where Jimmy poked him yesterday? Just how?

Worse was, Micky thought that this might be closer to a slime cave then he thought. He would have to tell the village elders when he got back so that they could get it culled and filled in. Gods above, Micky knew there was enough trash laying around that when the elders sent the word out that they needed ‘fill’ it would be filled, and then some. That was originally what the slime pits were used for anyway. It kept the slimes busy with something not digging and it got rid of the built-up trash, win/win for the villagers. Of course they would need to transplant some slimes to make a new slime pit before this was done but that wasn’t a problem for the villagers, unless you had to listen to them complain.

“Ow” Micky fell to one knee. His back had been against the wall the whole time to make it easier to dodge but that didn’t mean he could dodge all the slimes. Some of his charms were falling off now and he had to rush to reapply new charms to keep the numbers down. But when he was hit in the knee it was bad. Try as he might Micky could not get back up on his feet. This limited his maneuverability to ‘pathetic role ™’. This of course, did not help his Knee situation with all the rocks becoming even more noticeable.

“Where the hell is that Rope!” Pinky yelled up above. But Micky was losing consciousness. Several slimes had hit him in the head. “What’s it matta'? It’s jus' the pink mage punk.” said Bob? Things were getting fuzzier that’s not good.

“He could die! If he dies we’re gonna be executed! Think with that brain of yours for a second.” Pinky probably, you know the great thing about everything going fuzzy is that the slimes hitting him don’t hurt so much any more. It’s like they are just saying hi.

“What you gonna tell or somethin’?” Bob or was that Trevor? Maybe the half mute Jeremy? He did get oddly defensive at times. Mostly of his ‘friends’ even though Bob would never defend Jeremy even if Jeremy’s life depended on it and Bob just had to lift his hand. Lifting his hand was hard for Bob if it meant responsibility and respecting other people.

“Think, they know we’re with him. If he up and disappears, or worse then, find him dead it’s going to be our fault.” Definitely still Pinky. Knew he was a good guy, I mean don’t get me wrong his head is pure evil incarnate, the next true demon king, but his heart is a general stand up good guy.

“Dead tattle tails don’t tattle lies.” Oh that’s definitely Bob, and he sounds angry.

“If you think Ima fall cuz you can’t handle it then you’ve got another thing comin’” Bob, there was the sound of a scuffle and the world went black.