A rain of leaves falls down following another loud crashing noise, and the groaning sound of creaking wood echoes throughout the surrounding landscape. Reflected in Ryan's fear-ridden eyes is the giant slime reeling back after his latest impact, but soon after, the large green bulbous mass dashes forwards impacting the trunk of the tree once again, and an even louder sound of creaking of wood can be heard.

Suddenly, the landscape lying in front of Ryan starts tilting slowly, and he, after being confused for a split second about what is happening, hurriedly grabs on to the nearest and sturdiest branch he can find, after realizing that the tree is falling down. He lets out an almost glass-shattering cry, as he heads on his collision course with the fast approaching forest floor.

A loud thud echoes out, followed by the rattling of countless branches and leaves colliding into each other. A groan ekes itself out of the collage of sounds, and the source of said groan soon untangles themselves from the canopy of the now collapsed tree. After a few odd seconds a now ragged looking Ryan, with numerous leaves and small branches littering his hair and roughed up uniform, stands a little unsteadily out of the mess of vegetation. As he glances over the mess that is surrounding him, he sees the aberrant slime, still reeling from its impact, around 20 feet away from him. He hurriedly grabs for a belt loop on his right hip, but he only gasps a torn fabric. Ryan then urgently looks around for his staff and sees it is at the midway point between him and the slime.

"Fuck.", he whispers angrily.

Ryan cautiously takes a step forward toward the slime and staff, so as to not call attention to himself, but as soon as he places down his left foot, he feels a sharp pain shooting through his ankle. Ryan lets out a short yelp in pain, and he stumbles over onto his back clutching his left ankle tightly. The slime, now having heard a noise from its target, snaps out of its daze and starts heading directly at him.

Now with a terror-filled expression displayed on his ruffled up face, Ryan spits out rows upon rows of curses as he tries to escape from the slime's renewed charge towards him. He urgently jumps to the side just as the slime passes him by, putting even more pressure on his injured ankle, which causes his expression to crumple into an expression of agony rapidly, and an impact noise is heard shortly after. Ryan clutches his ankle again, but soon releases it, as he knows that if he doesn't take care of this enemy in front of him urgently, death will soon be upon him.

Ryan turns towards the now dazed slime, and he grasps his right wrist, sticks out his palm, and starts up his chant. He barely spits out the words to his chant, as the slime regains its sense of self and starts heading back towards him. A pillar of flame shoots out of Ryan's palm, impacting the center of the slime's body, but the slime, which seemingly has no sense of pain, continues charging towards Ryan, albeit at a slower pace. Soon the slime shoots out from the billowing plume of flame that surrounded it, and Ryan barely dodges its airborne figure, but upon its return back to the ground it dissolves into nothingness, leaving behind a few glittering coins, and a larger green blob than the ones left behind by the normal slimes.

Seeing the lifeless slime core, Ryan breathes a deep sigh of relief, and wipes away the buildup of sweat upon his brow. He then eases himself back up onto his feet, careful not to agitate his injury, and he ever so cautiously walks his way over to his staff, just to ensure his safety in the event of another slime attacking him any time soon. The second he grasps its comforting handle, he lets go of all of his tension and slumps back to the ground in exhaustion.

'Profile.', Ryan mutters after a short while.

-General Information- Name: Ryan Mitchel Age: 23 Race: Human Level: 0 Stat Points: 0 Gold: 0 -Stats- Vitality: 9 Health Points(HP): 80/90 Physical Resistance: 0.21% Stamina: 12 Stamina Points(SP): 120/120 Constitution: 11 HP Regeneration: 1.1% per 5 Minutes SP Regeneration: 1.1% per 5 Minutes Intelligence: 13 Mana Points(MP): 30/130 Magical Resistance: 0.28% Wisdom: 15 MP Regeneration: 1.5% per 5 Minutes Luck: 0 Critical Hit: 0% Affliction Resistance: 0.11% -Titles- -Traits- The Curse of Cronus -Skills- Stealth Commands -Afflictions- The Conqueror's Encouragement Sprained Ankle

A frown slowly creeps its way onto Ryan's face, and he softly mutters, "Identify."

Sprained Ankle Affliction Rank: E This affliction lowers HP by 10 points which are unable to be regenerated by the body unassisted; it also lowers maximum movement speed by 30%. This affliction will heal naturally after 24 hours, upon which health can be regenerated as per normal and the movement speed decrease will disappear. Using healing items or healing spells to fully regenerate the lost HP will immediately dispel this affliction. A basic injury on the battlefield of war, that nearly all have experienced at least once before. Although it reduces HP and movement speed, it is seen as an extremely minor injury in lieu of other afflictions that are immune to all but the most potent magical cures. Time left until healed: 23:57:42

After reading this slightly dismaying information, the frown upon Ryan's face only grows deeper until he remembers the slime cores he collected earlier. He holds his breath as he reaches to pull them out of his shirt pocket, hoping that they are still there and unharmed, and luckily for him, they are. After he re-examines their function, he hesitantly puts both of the, about an inch in size, slime cores into his mouth, and shortly thereafter he is greeted to a sour taste similar to a grapefruit. But a few moments later, a brief sensation of pain followed by a second brief feeling of pleasure flows throughout his body, accompanied by a pair of windows in front of his eyes.

Unfortunately, the slime core has dealt you 1 HP worth of damage. Congratulations, the slime core has healed you for 1 HP.

Ryan lets out a sigh in disappointment, before his mind drifts towards the slime core that is lying on the ground only a few feet away from him.

'Maybe that one will help me.'

He then starts looking around himself and soon sets his eyes on a shapely looking branch on the ground just out of reach. Ryan scoots himself over to it and examines it for any sharp points upon its U-shaped end, but seeing that it is already smooth, he places it under his arm to act as a crutch for the foreseeable future. He hobbles over to the new slime core, as compared to the ones he had already collected, and after picking it up a bit awkwardly, he examines its darker shade of green, and its larger size and weight. After turning it over a few more times in his hand, he inwardly mutters, 'Identify', and its description is laid out in front of him in the next moment.

Mutant Slime Core Item Rank: C When consumed, the one who has consumed it has a random chance of experiencing one of three effects: the acquisition of 1 Stat Point, the restoration of 5 HP, or nothing at all. The core of a mutated slime that has been exposed to harsh exposure to pure mana and survived, which has been condensed through the imbuing of magic. Has a small chance of dropping, and can only be obtained when a mutant slime is killed through magical means.

"Well let's see what I'll get with this one... Wait, why am I even saying this out loud; it's not like anyone is even here anyway?",

...

-Admin

"Oh yes I had nearly forgotten about you; my biggest fan.", Ryan says sarcastically.

He then places the, about an inch and a quarter sized, slime core into his mouth, and this time, an even more sour taste spreads throughout his mouth, similar to eating a fresh lime. A little while later, a window appears before Ryan's eyes, but this time it was not accompanied by any feelings of pain or pleasure.

Congratulations, you have received one Stat Point.

A sigh leaks out from between Ryan's lips, and he thinks to himself, 'I guess this ankle of mine isn't getting healed any time soon.'

He then bends down and picks up the 3 glittering gold coins that were resting alongside the slime core and identifies them shortly after.

Gold Coin Item Rank: -- A basic currency that is used in the tower to purchase items and other things within the shop. Say the command "Absorb" to absorb any gold coins that you are currently holding, which will then be displayed on your Profile. A weighty gold coin imprinted with the blurred face of a man on the front, and a spire piercing into the clouds on the other.

As Ryan looks over the intricate engravings that fill the coin, he sees in small lettering just just below the indistinct face of the man on the coin, a small string of runic symbols that he can somehow understand the meaning of.

"Despair, Overcome, Succeed.", he says aloud.

"Hmm... Absorb."

Suddenly the three gold coins resting in Ryan's palm liquify into an undulating golden liquid, and it is soon absorbed into his skin as if being sucked into a hole in his hand. Then a thick golden line appears on Ryan's wrist and starts traveling slowly up his arm, wiggling along the way. It travels all the way up and onto his chest, just over his heart, before disappearing in an instant. Ryan then opens up his profile and under the "Gold" section, rests the number 3.

Ryan then glances over the wreckage that is surrounding him and mutters to himself, "Well I guess it is time to continue on now."

He then slowly walks his way back to the stream to both clean himself off from all of the debris littering his body, but also to help relieve some of the thirst he built up during his "encounter". Ryan slowly stumbles his way to the river bank, still getting used to his new crutch, and begins eagerly cupping water into his hand, both to clean himself off with and to drink. After around 15 minutes or so, he pulls up the left pant leg of his uniform, to see the damage his leg sustained. A dark purple bruise can already be seen spreading outwards from the malleolus of his left tibia with a bit of redness surrounding it.

'This looks pretty bad, I should probably splint it.'

Ryan walks himself back over to the ruins of his battle and finds himself a straight and sturdy enough tree branch that he takes back with him to the shore. He breaks the branch over his right knee, separating it into two, about equal, parts, and he then starts looking around the surrounding area and finds himself a sharp rock, and he cuts off the left pant leg of his uniform. He cuts the pant leg, lengthwise, into three equal stpis that he places off to the side. He then positions the two sticks on either side of his left leg, and he starts tying the three lengths of orange cloth around his leg, sticks included. Ryan then stands back up and tests out his crutch and splint together, and a joyful expression spreads across his face.

'Nice. There's almost no pain now.'

Soon enough Ryan is finally back walking down the river back on his journey to that distant shadow that lies in the distance.

***

Around 6 hours of walking later, with intermittent breaks in between, the ever-growing pain in Ryan's ankle finally makes it necessary to take a break longer than just a simple couple minute long respite. Ryan walks his way over to a larger rock along the shore, one decently big enough to sit down on, and a tired exhale escapes out from his mouth. He places down his crutch to the side and examines the wrappings on his left leg, and reties them seeing as they have gotten a little loose. After a couple minutes of giving his aching muscles and throbbing ankle a bit of a break, he works his way over to the leisurely flowing river and drinks from its refreshing, nectar-like, waters. A few large sips later, Ryan reaches into his front pocket, and pulls out his last remaining berry, as he had had the other shortly after he started his trek for the day. With a few small bites, it is gone, and along with it, his blossoming hunger.

Ryan then meanders his way back to his crutch, walks his way back onto the soft grass of the forest, and lies down on its natural, mattress-like, earth with his hands placed beneath his head. As he rests on the forest floor, he watches as the countless leaves of the forest flutter down from above concurrently, as if it is a sort of green snowfall. After an unknown length of time, Ryan finally renewed both in body and spirit, gets up and starts going on his way down the river once more, but peeking out of the edge of the treeline, he sees a familiar green blob rolling around aimlessly. A smirk creeps across his face, and he turns to face it, determined to get another core to help heal his ankle.

Holding in the slight twinges of pain coming from his ankle, Ryan sneaks up behind, or at least what seems to be its rear, and quickly chants his spell as rapidly as he can under his breath, almost biting his tongue in the process. But this time, instead of a stream of fire spurting out of his staff, a ball of fire, rapidly increasing in size, condenses in front of him.

'So it does work. I guess imagination is the only limit then.', Ryan thinks to himself.

After a few seconds, and spending just the amount of MP needed to kill the slime in front of him, learned through his other encounters, the ball flies forward as soon as the input of MP stops, directly hitting the slime. A wave of hissing noises and the sound of the crinkling of grass worms its way into Ryan's ears as he looks eagerly on at the plume of smoke in front of him, waiting for the image slime core to be revealed before him. A short gust of wind passes by and the smoke abruptly clears from the area revealing only a patch of blackened grass. A sigh flows out from Ryan's mouth and with his head tilted slightly downwards in disappointment, he continues on with his journey down the river.

'I guess I can't be lucky every time.'

***

Night begins to fall upon the forest once again, and Ryan, still a bit unsteady on his feet, although more stable than he was earlier in the day, decides it is time to settle down for the night. His stomach had been empty for a couple hours now, but since he had already eaten through his supply of dewberries and he is too injured to take unnecessary risks in the search for food, tonight he is going to sleep hungry. Ryan begins wandering into the forest and finds a sturdy looking tree to rest in for the night, but upon being reminded of its towering reach, a low groan worms its way out from his throat. As he steps back to examine the path he will take to reach the canopy, from behind a nearby shrub, he can see the gelatinous body of a slime reflecting the remnants of daylight shining down from above.

A snowy white smile, stemming from Ryan's face, is slowly revealed amongst the shadows of the forest as he begins carefully stepping towards the slime The same as before, he gathers up the fire summoned from his staff into a giant sphere in front of him, but different from earlier that day, seemingly alerted by the sudden appearance of an almost blinding light behind it, the slime turns around and faces Ryan and immediately starts charging straight towards him. A look of displeasure rapidly takes over Ryan's face as he unsteadily dodges out of the slime's path, almost canceling his spell in the process. He quickly turns back around to find the image of a teetering slime in front of him, and although stunned for a brief moment at its silly display, he quickly fires his spell at it, and once again the forest is filled with the sound of the hissing of evaporating liquid and the crackle of burning greenery. The dim light of the remnant flames illuminate Ryan's face as he watches the smoke slowly dissipate, and after a few seconds a small green orb is revealed to the joyous face of Ryan, who eagerly walks forward with the help of his crutch to go pick it up. He bends down and grabs the slime core, and after wiping off the remnants of dirt and ash adorning its surface he quickly moves it towards his open mouth. But suddenly, Ryan hears the rustling of leaves from behind him, and quickly turns his head towards the origin of the noise, and all that is revealed to his eyes is the image of a slime hurtling towards him. A soft squelch is heard with the impact of the slime of Ryan's left leg, the same leg that was injured earlier that day. The splint does little to protect Ryan's exposed skin as a horrible burning sensation spreads across all of the slime covered area, coupled by a sound similar to an egg cooking on a frying pan. Through the translucent slime's body, the dissolving of flesh, cloth, and wood can be seen slowly occurring, and through Ryan's head only one thought sits, as his screams of pain start to leak out; 'I messed up didn't I?'