01.09 - I`ve Been Killing Slimes for 300 Days and My Level Is Still 0

I was out in the field. Surrounded by two dozen Red Slimes. Wobbling right at me. Menacingly.

I focused and readied my trusted sword, then unleashed ‘Flurry of Blades’, slicing right through the air between us, cutting down all slimes, plus vegetation, in a 3 meter radius.

If I had to sum up the last year, only one word comes to mind:

Jellycide.

I might have single handedly crashed the market for slime jelly derived sweets.

Luckily, slimes breed, or rather multiplied, even more than the proverbial rabbits.

As long as some were left, slime division would do its thing.

Nevertheless, I had developed a method to profit from Green and Blue slimes without culling their population too much.

The Thief Skill ‘Steal’ allowed me to harvest their jelly without harming the slimes. And most of them were clever enough to wobble away if their target didn’t perish after a tackle or two. A successful steal even grants a fraction of the Experience Points rewarded for a direct kill.

Even with ‘Steal’ preventing direct population decline, Tia and I made sure to cycle through different areas, giving the local population time to regenerate. We also took days off, to leave some work for other low Level adventurers and spend the days off playing and studying with Dawn.

Pushing my own Levels beyond the Slime range was tedious, that’s why I kept leveling down and back up again for additional points. Mostly because of my Blessings inflating the required Points to Level up pretty much anything.

Supporting other people was comparably easy. How could I do that, you ask?

It was quite simple. All came down to my second E Tier Blessing:

//===== For the Good of The Many - E Tier ========

Use your own Class, Skill, or Stat Points to unlock or increase the Level of another entity’s Classes, Skills, or Stats.

//========================================

This one would be a pretty useless ability for any other person, but ‘Set In Stone’ made it work wonders. Though I had mainly used it on Tia and Dawn for now. Without my restrictions imposed on them, they picked up Skills an order of magnitude faster than me.

Dawn especially seemed to have a knack for arcane magic. Her regular Evaluation Ceremony and my second official evaluation would both take place during this year's ceremony.

I would need to increase my Level to an appropriate value for the occasion, which begged the question: When should I stop accumulating Points from constantly Leveling up and down again by massacring helpless blobs and using ‘Know your Enemy’ on other Adventurers?

I could stop any time, I swear!

But there were still so many juicy Classes and Skills still left to unlock. Especially given the increased amount of points required to Level them all, originating from the downsides of my blessing.

My current Status was as follows:

//========================================

// Hero - Lvl. 0 - Grey Morgenlicht

// Classes & Skills:

// Swordsman Lvl. 31

Slash

Parry

Lunge

Riposte

Cleave

Disarm

// Blademaster Lvl. 29

Dual Wield Mastery

Flurry of Blades

Blade Reflection

Weak Point Analysis

// Spellblade Lvl. 17

Imbue Weapon

Arcane Slash

Spell Parry

Mana Shield

Warp Strike

Dispel Cut

…

// Merchant Lvl. 11

Hidden Inventory

Appraisal

// Thief Lvl. 7

Stealth

Steal

…

// Envoy Lvl. 3

Soul Catcher

…

// Shapeshifter Lvl.11

Transform

…

// Arcanist Lvl .13

Silent Incantation

Alacrity

// Chronomancer Lvl. 11

Fast Casting

Time Warp

// Geomancer Lvl. 7

Stone Shard

Earthen Grasp

Rock Armor

Tremor

Quicksand

Boulder Hurl

// Hydromancer Lvl. 5

Water Jet

Soothing Mist

Tidal Push

Aqua Prison

Geyser

Misty Veil

// Pyromancer Lvl. 7

Fireball

Flame Dash

Wall of Fire

Combustion

Sear

// Cryomancer Lvl. 3

Frost Bolt

Frost Armor

Frozen Ground

Flash Freeze

Glacial Spike

Ice Barrier

// Electromancer Lvl. 7

Spark

Chain Lightning

Static Field

Overcharge

Lightning Speed

Thunder Strike

// Aeromancer Lvl. 5

Wind Slash

Gust

Zephyr's Cloak

Cyclone

Tailwind

Updraft

// Floramancer Lvl. 3

Thorn Whip

Ensnaring Roots

Regrowth

Noxious Pollen

Summon Sapling

…

// Alchemist Lvl.29

Potion Brewing

Decomposition

Transmutation

Elixir Crafting

Poison & Antidote Mastery

Distillation

Reagent Identification

Aura Reading

// Herbalist Lvl.19

Herb Gathering

Salve Crafting

Plant Identification

Basic Antidotes

// Mycologist Lvl.7

Fungus Identification

Spore Collection

Mycotoxin Neutralization

Mushroom Foraging

// Botanist Lvl.11

Plant Analysis

// Forager Lvl.23

Wild Edibles

Tracking

Shelter Construction

Water Sourcing

Camouflage

// Cleric Lvl.19

Divine Healing

Protection Ward

Exorcism

Aura of Resolve

// Stats:

Physical Power 137

Physical Resist 139

Special Power 107

Special Resist 101

Status Power 113

Status Resist 127

Random Power 83

Random Resist 223

// Familiar: Tia

//========================================

Looks pretty solid, right?

Except that it had taken the better part of a year to unlock.

And there were still so many more promising Classes and Skills I had gathered intel on.

At this pace, I’d have to keep grinding for another ten years to get everything to a satisfying stage. And we're only counting my currently unlocked Classes.

Choice paralysis was a bitch.

“Aren’t you tired of bullying slimes yet?” asked Tia while collecting the leftover red jelly into the corresponding bag.

“Not like they would allow me to hunt real prey with my non-existing ‘potential,’” I said.

“That’s why we should buff your Level,” Tia said. “At least for a while.”

“But there’s still so much stuff…” I began.

“Wait… Did you just hear that?” Tia interrupted me.

I shook my head.

“Over there,” Tia pointed to a small forest in the distance.

Another slime slaying adventurer colleague emerged from the foliage.

In full sprint.

Someone, or something must have been after him.

“Wanna help?” Tia asked.

“We’re finished here anyway,” I said. “Might as well bail out the bloke.”

Tia tossed the jelly bags at me, unleashed her wings, and took off towards the forest.

I carefully placed as many of them in my ‘Hidden Inventory’ as I could, then placed the rest next to our other equipment and followed Tia.

Since when did I have wings?

Since learning and improving ‘Transform’, a Skill of the Shapeshifter Class.

I had yet to unlock most of the Skills potential. Right now, I could imitate the appearance of people I knew, albeit not their height or voice yet.

The wings were the only functional part of my current imitation of one of Tia’s hybrid forms.

Maybe I could imitate more, or even gain a dragon form later on, but my current mastery of Transform was incapable of that.

I could spot dust emerging from the edge of the forest.

“Stampede!” Tia called back to me.

She had almost reached the running bloke when she swooped down to rescue the poor guy from the pursuing horde.

I could hardly believe what followed after.

There was a horde of more than thirty rainbow slimes on the move.

At least I thought those were rainbow slimes. I had yet to slay one in person, let alone thirty.

Tia soared upwards, with the surprisingly cute bloke in tow.

Nevermind, it was a girl.

A flat chested one with very short black hair.

My bad.

“Want me to help?” Tia asked as she passed me.

“I got this,” I said as I took a dive toward the group of slimes. “Keep her safe and secure the rest of our luggage.”

I flew closer and closer toward my targets.

Flying was easy.

Landing was hard.

My sword slashed through the air, cutting five slimes cleanly in two.

Yet the blowback interfered with my touch down.

I crashed into the ground.

Five ungraceful bounces later, I lost the last of my momentum as I rolled out and tumbled towards the edge of the field.

The horde of rainbow slimes stopped pursuing Tia’s new payload and zeroed in on me instead.

Like moths to the flame.

Jackpot.