Syl

Chapter 55: Burning Desire

While we traveled back to town, I was discussing my trade with Whitney. Since my purchase was an already completed object, she was taking some loss on the trade as she would need to pay a crafter to complete the item. I offered her the other Blade Wolf parts so she could sell or use them. She tried to refuse until Kurt pointed out how "cool" it would be to have more matching gear. Whitney promised to pay me back the difference, but my mind only cared about eating that core.

When we reached town, Whitney said she would meet us at the store as she had to withdraw money from the guild and ran ahead. Kurt tried begging a bit more now that Whitney was gone, but he wanted me to wait weeks for him to earn enough to buy the staff. I told him that I could always harvest other parts for him in the future and that I wanted to collect other catalysts like that. That at least cheered him up a little bit.

Whitney finally arrived, paid the store owner, and proudly handed me my new staff. I thanked her and handed her all the Blade Wolf parts, and she placed them in her storage bag. Kurt and I were going to quickly grab our stuff from the inn, as I needed to deposit my equipment in my "storage bag". Whitney said she needed to commission a magical smith and crafter, then perhaps meet us in the dungeon afterward or later tonight.

While walking to the inn, I faked placing the staff in my storage and quickly ate the slime core.

'Yes'.

Trait [Blaze Slime] gained.

Trait [Slime Shot] gained.

Trait [Slime Burst] gained.>

I examined the notification and spotted that [Core Refinement] had improved despite not being in the slime profile or the absorption message. Was this because of it being a fused core? Maybe Dewi would have some knowledge of the slime cores as catalysts. I looked over my brand-new trait eagerly.

This slime has the ability to survive and thrive within extreme heat and can rapidly control the temperature of its slime to generate equivalent outputs that it uses offensively.

Maximum temperature levels and modification speed scale with trait level, and also affected by outside factors such as compression.

This trait adds fire resistance to the slime core and slime mass, which scales with trait level until eventual immunity at max level, but also prevents taking damage from extreme heat.

Compatible with other slime traits.>

'Where were you when I took two exploding fireballs to the face?' I grumbled mentally.

I gained no experience, so they were already dead, but it still counted for my [Consuming Osmosis]. I glanced at the updated profile, which painted the picture that these slimes either shot their superheated slime at people or exploded with it - nasty. There was also another trait they sometimes developed [Thermal Vision], which let them detect heat signatures and locate living beings. It was a tempting purchase, but I already had [Mana Sight]. Maybe I could eventually unlock it by mimicking a red slime and borrowing its traits.

When we got to the inn, I quickly threw all my stuff in storage, and while I waited downstairs for Kurt, I started assigning it to equipment profiles. I also gave Gamma the burnt-orange coloring to match the core I had just eaten. My new trait also meant that I had reclaimed all my hazardous superheated slime, and I tested this by withdrawing a tiny amount and even maneuvered it inside to poke against my core - no pain!

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"Well, let's go to the dungeon!" Kurt announced as he finally arrived, eager to vent his frustration out on some monsters.

I followed him, and we went to a gate on the opposite side of the town, away from the slimes and the forest. We approached a heavily guarded structure that resembled a mausoleum. We had to show our necklaces to enter and prove that we were with the guild.

"Welcome to our backwater dungeon, populated entirely by undead," Kurt said bitterly.

"Is there something wrong with that?"

"It's terrible for income. You have to get lucky with random treasure because you aren't going to harvest anything from a skeleton or a zombie. Any injuries or resources lost is nothing but a money sink."

"Well, I'll store them and harvest them later. Maybe I'll find something hidden."

"It's your storage space. I'd rather keep the dead smell away from my bag. The one upside is it's good for grinding."

"Grinding?"

"Sorry, adventurer term, I forgot you're a new recruit considering everything that's happened. It basically means focusing on earning experience and levels for your class and skills."

Kurt, Syl.>

'Oh? Glad to see this guild necklace thing works. I wonder how they interact with this stuff. Add it to my constantly growing list of questions for Gramps.'

"Let's go beat up some skeletons!" Kurt shouted.

We headed inside the structure, which only had a singular descending staircase. The inside had dim lighting emanating from glowing rocks embedded into the walls. Kurt unsheathed his blades and descended first, acting as our impromptu tank, as he called it.

The first room after descending was barren, and the only points of interest were two opposite passages heading deeper in. Kurt led us to the right-side passage and warned that from this point on, we would see the undead, although not to be too scared from only the first floor.

We halted when the passage was blocked by a naked and unarmed skeleton. I fired two water spells before Kurt reached it and cleaved its head off. The bones abruptly fell to the ground like a puppet having its strings cut.

"The unarmed ones are a piece of cake, but the ones with weapons usually have class levels and can be a little tricky."

'Even skeletons can have classes...' I grumbled and threw the skeleton into my storage. I'd have to try eating it later.

Our passage ended in another room filled with debris and grim furnishings like open caskets and tombstones, certainly fitting the theme. There were three skeletons this time, one of which had a sword.

"I'll handle the swordsman. I want to get some parry practice in," Kurt announced and abruptly rushed forward as if assuming I agreed to his decision.

I had Alpha and Beta each cast [Water Whip] to try binding the skeletons, and the spells materialized on either side of me, lashing forward to grab the skeletons. I was glad that hands weren't a requirement to cast spells, and I admired the magical effects floating around my person. I then kept casting [Water Orb] at each of them until they died.

Since Kurt was taking his time with his skeleton, I rapidly enveloped them in a pseudopod and set acid to the max. [Dissection] practically scoffed at me for even daring to question if there were any valuable parts on such a worthless monster. The slime mass generated was barely more than a tree, and I could see why Kurt had called this place a money sink.

Wow. Their profile was also terrible! They had one trait [Undead Fortitude] that let them continue to fight at full strength until they ran out of lifeforce and did not require limbs or organs to function. I could already do all of that fresh from the slime field. I patiently waited for Kurt to finish, which was when his parry finally broke the rusty sword of the skeleton.

'What!?'

I immediately tried to purchase it.

'How? I got assessed. I only had Water, and now I suddenly have Fire?' I questioned, thinking rapidly, 'It must have been the red slime core. That's the only explanation unless Gramps is suddenly playing a prank on me.'

"I wish their weapons would last longer, barely get any practice in..." Kurt mumbled and turned to me, "Why do you look so shocked?"

"Oh... I gained a level up. I didn't expect it so soon."

"Yeah... I miss those early level-ups. This Dualblade class takes forever since it's intermediate."

'Damn it! I wish Kurt wasn't here. I want to try out this new spell!' I cried mentally.

He continued to lead the way, and I did sneak a small spell, producing a tiny flame at the tip of my finger. I could see the Fire mana for myself before quickly snuffing it out. The spell let me target a nearby location and create a flame there, which would continue to be fueled by my mana. Although, I assumed if it naturally spread to any combustibles, then I wouldn't need to supply mana. Getting my tendrils on more slime cores suddenly skyrocketed in value.

"Oh, right! Tabby suggested getting [Identify]. If you do, make sure to always use it on a new monster at least once. Apparently you get a bonus or something?" Kurt suddenly commented.

'Oh... I had completely forgotten about that. Maybe I was too harsh on Kurt.' I thought to myself before thanking him on the suggestion.