Lapis the Slime

Edited by: Chip

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The days after Cyrus’ and Atlas’ 11th birthday were filled with studying, training, and eating good food with Sophie.

It had been almost a year since Atlas arrived at the Alnhart estate and it was finally time for him to leave Hirim for field practice. Teacher Devina said it was time for him to take everything he learned and experience combat for himself. He wasn’t allowed to bring Sir Walter, Starlight, or Cyrus with him.

The place he was going to was a forest outside of Hirim. It was only two hours by carriage, so it wasn’t too far away.

The trees in this forest weren't as large or tall as the Great Dragon Forest, but they were similar to white oak trees. Not too wide and not too tall. But the trees were close together, so it looked like they were merged at the branches.

There was also a dirt pathway that was widely walked on. At the entrance, there was a sign that said: “Warning, must be D-ranked or above to enter the forest. Enter at your own risk.”

It wasn’t a dangerous place, which was why Teacher Devina felt it was okay for him to go on his own.

This forest was frequently used as a training ground for young nobles and adventurers. The monsters and magic beasts were weak in this forest. The most common monsters were slimes. Slimes were considered the weakest monsters, making them F-ranked monsters.

If he had to compare the Great Dragon Forest and this smaller forest, it would be like a slime vs a dragon.

Atlas felt he would be fine.

He was just a bit sad that he had to separate from Cyrus, Sir Walter, and Starlight for three days. Ever since coming to this world, Sir Walter and Cyrus were always with him. Then when he started living at the Alnhart estate, he always had people near him whether it be his new dad and mom, or Sirius. There were also servants and teachers.

He wasn’t even alone in his past life. He still lived with his parents and they coddled him every day.

This was the second time he was alone in this world. The first was when he arrived before Sir Walter was sent over to him. But that didn’t last very long.

Atlas was in the carriage with Teacher Devina. Devina was talking about what he should be able to expect while living in the forest. Then asked him if he had everything he needed.

He went through his checklist of items three more times and felt he had everything. “I should have everything.”

“That’s good.” Devina patted Atlas on the shoulder. “I won’t allow you to leave this forest until the three days are up. If you feel you are in danger, do not be afraid to use the distress signal orb, okay?”

“Yes, Teacher Devina!”

“Alright, we are here. I will wait for you at the entrance of the forest… Wait, I heard you get lost easily, so… If you pass the three days, use the distress signal and I will go pick you up. Yeah, I think that’s what we should do.”

“Thank you, teacher! To be honest, I was going to do that anyway.” Atlas couldn’t help but chuckle sheepishly. He knew he was going to get lost and there was no way he was going to come back to where he started.

He still got lost in the Alnhart estate and that was his home.

“Alright then, kiddo, have fun and be safe.”

With that, Atlas stood at the entrance of the forest by himself.

It felt like he was dumped at the Great Dragon Forest again. He was alone, confused, sad, but determined to survive. Well, this time it was different. Someone was waiting for him while he trained in the forest. Plus, he came here on his own volition.

Atlas patted his cheeks and gave himself a pep talk. “Okay, Atlas, you can do this! You have lived in a forest for two years, this will be a walk in the park.”

After that, the first thing he took out was the clip-on bug repellent. It was created by alchemists and it could last a week. He had a few of these in his item box just in case he lost this one.

He went into the forest to find a safe place to set up camp. This was usually around water sources so he made sure to look out for a stream. Plus, most streams had fish which was a good source of protein if he ran out of food.

Atlas was given a map of the forest but he couldn't read that so he tossed it into his item box and never touched it again.

“Hmm…. Haven’t I seen this tree before?” Atlas examined the tree but then realized it looked like all the other trees in the area.

How long was he walking for? He thought he was walking straight but why did he feel like he was getting nowhere?

“Maybe I should look at the list of what I need to do.”

Atlas wasn’t just going to the forest to survive. He had a small list of things he had to do before the time limit.

The first item on the list was to kill 10 slimes, then to kill 8 horned rabbits, 6 killer rats, 4 goblins, and finally, 2 wolves. It seemed like a lot but they were easy for him to kill.

When he was living in the Great Dragon Forest, Sir Walter helped him fight against many high-level creatures. That’s why he could do this on his own!

“But… I haven’t seen a single thing while roaming around in this forest. Where did they go?”

Maybe this was going to be a lot harder than he thought. He didn’t even see a slime and those things were incredibly slow. Was there something wrong with the forest?

After walking around a little bit more, Atlas finally heard something rustling in the bushes nearby. He stopped moving and got into a fight stance. He slowed down his breathing and got ready to use magic.

It was finally time to show off his training!

Several seconds went by and the bush was still rustling. Still, Atlas didn’t let his guard down and made sure he was also listening to his surroundings.

Another several seconds later, and the bush was still rustling but there was no other noise coming from it.

Should he take a look? What happens if it’s a trap?

He decided to use his unique skill, Dragon God’s Eye, to identify the bush and everything around it.

At first, he was just getting information like “this is a berry bush,” and “this plant is a medicinal herb called…”

Finally, he got “Slime, Lvl 2. F-ranked. Status: tangled.”

Basically, a slime was tangled in the bush and it couldn’t escape on its own…

“Why do I feel like I relate to this slime…” Atlas mumbled to himself and felt all the tension he had in his body release itself in one go.

Should he save the slime? Why not? It was the first slime he had seen.

Atlas slowly approached the bush and found that it stopped moving when he was about a foot away from it. He parted the pushes and found the slime stuck between some branches. For some reason, it couldn’t slide its body out even though it was made of slime.

Is this how people saw him? A little dumb but cute? That seemed like an accurate description.

He gently took the slime out of the bushes and found that it didn’t hurt him or try to run. It shivered in his hands like it was scared.

It’s really cute. It has no eyes, and no mouth, but its body was a transparent blue color. It was squishy and cold to the touch too.

“They didn’t tell me slimes were going to be so cute…”

In his past life, there were a lot of online novels that had protagonists taming a slime. Some of the slimes were amazing and could evolve in different ways depending on what they ate. Sometimes they were written with Rated M for 18+ people. Regardless, slimes were a common monster in a lot of fantasy novels with monsters and magic.

One of his favorite video games had slimes as a mascot.

“I wouldn’t be a reincarnated person if I didn’t tame a slime, right?” Plus, this little slime is so cute I don’t think I can kill them.”

Atlas made up his mind. He was definitely going to tame this slime.

“Little slime, do you want to be my friend?”

The slime stopped shivering but it didn’t try to escape. Atlas decided to take that as a yes.

“I, Atlas Alnhart, cast the spell tame, on this slime to become my companion. Do you agree with this?”

As if to answer his question, the slime shook its body.

A bright light flashed between them and Atlas heard in his mind that he successfully tamed the slime! He decided to give the slime the name…

“Lapis. Because you are as pretty as Lapis. I think it’s a very fitting name.”

With the slime being tamed, it shook its body to let Atlas know that it understood its name.

“Okay, my little Lapis! I have some tasks to complete so let’s go. I will take you with me and I’m sure you will be able to level up to become the most powerful slime there is.”

Little did he know, the slimes of this world would never grow to be super powerful but at least they were cute. That was okay though. This slime was just like him and he would do everything he could to protect it!

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Grandpa Marky: This will be all the tamed companions for Atlas! I won't be adding more. And I hope I will be able to incorporate them into the story in a fun way.