Chapter 15

Naro’s eyes shot open and he immediately sat up, only to grip his head at the sudden headache he now possessed. After a moment he was reminded why he was uncionscious and immediately looked around, the slime was no longer there and he could see the sky was staring to turn orange. Looking down he noticed the herbs he needed were still there, standing up he grabbed what he needed and left.

“Ten herbs, that’s what was needed. Though you took a long time to bring them back,” Ava said reaching under the counter.

“I uh…got lost,” Naro said clearing his throat.

“You just had to follow the path. Don’t wander off next time, everything off the path is pretty dangerous,” Ava said setting a small pouch on the counter.

“...thank you,” Naro said grabbing the pouch. “I appreciate the warning.”

“Well you’re currently the only person willing to take on these kinds of quests…which is to say an extra pair of hands is always handy.”

Venilis comment on the Guild's desperation seemed to be right on point it seemed.

“By the way do you have any quests on hunting slimes?”

“We do…but at your rank I’d recommend not going into the forest at night…also is there a lump on your head?”

“Must be your imagination and thank you! I’ll be back tomorrow!”

With a wave Naro immediately left the guild, while his first venture didn’t go as planned, feeling the weight, however small of the pouch in his hands, his first actual pay still filled him with a quiet joy.

“I’ll buy some bread then head home.”

The following day Naro sat with Nefi in his home, the two munching on bread as Naro had grabbed him to get some information, and share a bit of his own.

“You want information slimes of all things,” Nefi said. “They’re uh…slimes. You stab them in the Core and they die. I killed dozens of them just to get here with sis so I can confirm that.”

“Dozens…you took on dozens of those things…”

“Well yeah they’re freakishly weak, there are advanced ones but you said the blue ones right? They’re the least troublesome.”

“Right…least troublesome…”

“You really don’t know anything huh? Well they’re basically made up of Mana, I don’t know the specifics but they’re very…rubbery so just use a sharp weapon and stab them.”

“They’re…made of Mana.”

“Yeah…all monsters grow from Mana, it’s how they grow so big so quickly, monsters like Slimes are basically made of Mana. Honestly if the guild accepted Cores from non-adventurer’s I’d have used that as a way to make money.”

“I can turn in the Cores for you.”

“We lost them when Beso took over our old place,” Nefi said waving a hand. “Along with everything else we brought with us.”

“I-I see…I’m sorry,”

“It’s fine, still that man’s water tax is ridiculous, I asked around and he wants 15 Copper for a few sips.”

“15 Copper?! I only earned 20 Bronze from my quest yesterday! That’s robbery!”

“It involves Beso so of course it is. Also Isn’t that old man’s bread 10 Bronze each?” Nefi questioned.

“Yeah why?”

Nefi looked at the bread in his hand, then glancing back at Naro furrowed his brow.

“What is it?”

“...nothing. Thanks for the bread.”

“No worries, it’s payment for your help after all. Now that I have the info, I can take on my quests today without worry.”

“...why are you worrying about slimes anyway?”

“No reason gotta go!”

Naro walked through the forest looking over the requests, they wanted him to take down 10 slimes and bring their Cores back as proof. Ava seemed more than happy to give him the quest and mentioned that Slimes tended to flourish quickly so there was generally a few quests involving dealing with them. Since they ate herbs, clearing them out meant more for adventurers and merchants allowed to enter the forests.

“I heard the forest will ‘refill’ itself overnight so long as not too much is taken…so if the slimes beat you to the herbs, you’re out of luck until the next day. This forest is pretty amazing.”

Naro decided to think about how Mana worked as he made his way forward.

Mana existed in all living things, human and monster alike. All monsters grew from Mana, it fed their Cores, humans also possessed Cores but their Mana Cores were made of Mana, they didn’t form into an actual tangible object.

Mana was a natural part of life, all humans possessed Mana which meant all humans had the capacity to use magic, it didn’t mean they would Percieve it however, even with Mana in the body they may still need a Blessing to learn a spell.

Either way once they figured it out they learned what form their magic took, thus why the shape the magic took was called it’s Spell Form.

Naro came to a stop noticing a slime in the distance, near the herbs he had come across before.

He took a few deep breaths as he stepped forward, the slime turned still ‘chewing’ the herbs.

The two eyes focused on each other and Naro swore he saw the slime’s ‘mouth’ rise up into a smirk.

“We meet again…my rival.”

Naro had practiced the process before, especially after his recent defeat.

His body naturally knew what to do to summon Mana, and he knew how to shape the magic to make the spell come out. Like molding clay with invisible hands inside his body and then moving it’s shape to his hands before applying the finishing touches.

He leapt forward diving and grabbed hold of the slime with both hands.

“Void!”

The magic burst forth out of his hands, and while it was the first time he had actually used it against something he already knew what it would do.

The slimes body trembled in his hands, and while it tried to escape from his grip he held on as tightly as he could to the best of his ability.

Within a minute the slimes body completely dissolved leaving only the Core behind.

Naro sitting on his knees grabbed the Core and thrust it into the air, a laugh escaping from him as he also pumped his fists.

“I did it! I beat my first monster!”