Chapter 8—Acid Fist.
'Remora.'
The name clicked in Slime#47's mind, which made him remember a certain slime.
"Where is he now—the king of slimes?" he asked, his voice trembling with excitement.
He also wondered how the slime king left his fellow race to be exploited.
"Dead," The elder slime replied, his voice low and heavy with sorrow. "Killed by the heroking Hinata."
Silence!
Caw! Caw!
Only the sounds of crows and—wob!—wob!— the bouncing slimes echoed through the field.
Both elder and youngling exchanged glances.
'No wonder he failed to save the slimes. It seems, even the slime king turned into goo after death,' Slime#47 mused bitterly, accepting his slime fate.
The only option he'd been left with was to train and get stronger.
"First, early in the morning, we'll start with combat skills." The elder slime's words made the younger slime's body wobble with excitement.
"What kind of combat skills?" He asked eagerly.
Thwack!—the elder smacked the young slime's jelly body.
"You'll know when I teach you." He continued sternly with a sharp glance, "Now, in the afternoon, you'll learn different kinds of languages, ranging from humans to elves."
The youngling looked at the elder slime with suspicion. 'Is he really only three years old? How can someone be so knowledgeable at such a young age—and are slimes this intelligent, when they grew up?'
"In the evening, I will teach you a movement skill." Elder Slime perfectly planned the schedule for the young slime.
"Let's start then," Slime#47 exclaimed, punching his cute slime hands in the air. "I can't wait to master the combat skill."
But he felt as if someone had thrown cold water on him when the elder slime glanced at him sternly and said in a deep voice, "Right now the sun is at its peak—it's afternoon, I will teach you the language."
"Language?" the youngling exclaimed, musing with eyes closed, 'What's the use of language when you can't even survive for a day?'
"Shall we begin?" the elder slime asked, picking up a thin tree branch from the ground.
"Follow me." The elder slime bounced towards the southwest corner while signalling Slime#47 to follow him.
They arrived almost near the end; one-meter gap between the wooden fence and them.
The young slime spotted a patch of plain field with mud.
Tap!—Tap! The elder slime tapped the branch on the mud and wrote a letter, "卂."
"This is the first letter of the language Herica, the human language. Over the years, humans have developed many languages, but the most common language is Herica." He explained neatly; his tone showed that he'd already taught many slimes.
"In total, you have to learn three human languages and other races' languages later. I assume you have inherited the demon language skill," he inquired, raising his eyes.
"Yes, I did," Slime#47 replied, feeling tense looking at the branch in the old slime's hand.
'I didn't reincarnate just to meet another strict teacher in the name of training,' he thought irritably.
"Start reading with me." He said in a deep voice, "This is pronounced as…"
Smack!
"Wrong, again…"
Smack!
"Again…"
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The sun dipped in the west as the sky turned orange with a hint of red.
Golden sun rays glinted off red marks all over Slime#47's jelly body—proof of multiple branch strikes.
Whenever he made a mistake, he would get one hit. It might feel too heavy, but it was super effective. Within just a few hours, the young slime had almost memorized the 71 Alphabets of the Herica language.
He wanted to quit reading the language, but he knew it was for his best, so he could only tolerate the pain.
'After all, I have to master the language at the end, despite the number of loops; it's best if I do it in this loop,' he cheered himself up, patting his body.
"Now it's a movement skill. This skill is very easy to master—all you have to do is evade my attacks," the elder slime said with a cruel smile, his voice holding a hint of playfulness.
Smack!
Elder slime struck the young slime with huge force—a major red line formed over the latter's body.
"Ahhh," Slime#47 felt the training was fake—Slime#1 informed he would teach a skill, but now it turned into outright whipping him!
Slime#47 felt burning, itchy pain. 'They are heavier than before.'
Though elder slime hit him when he made mistakes in language reading, those whips were weaker, but now the elder struck with high force.
Whip!—Another hit landed on his body.
As the elder was about to land another strike—Wob!—Slime#47 dodged it by leaping into the air.
Slime#1—Wob!—also jumped into the air and whipped him in midair.
Due to being in the air, the young slime couldn't even dodge.
Whip!—Smack!—Whip!
"No… let's stop this," Slime#47 groaned as his entire body burned with pain.
Wob!—Wob!—They both fell down to the ground.
"Then what do you want to do?" Elder Slime asked in a stern voice, face ice-cold. Slime#47 felt the weather turn chilly!
His heart raced; his core shook with fear, looking at the older slime who perfectly resembled a strict school teacher.
"Let's… do combat skills!—yes, combat skills. I'll master them first," Slime#47 panicked, rubbing his body, as he shifted into red jelly from blue!
"Very well then," Elder Slime agreed, wobbling his body, throwing the thin branch on the ground.
Wob!—Wob!
They bounced to the northeast corner and stood before the wooden fence, which had small fist marks.
"Watch carefully," Elder Slime said in a deep, steady voice, "I'll demonstrate how to perform the Acid Fist."
'Acid fist, I hope it's king of acids,' Slime#47 expected acid fist to be very powerful.
Slime#1 raised his right fist, with his body turned to the right side.
"Unlike humanoid creatures, we don't have legs to generate force. So, we use the movement of liquid in our body and use the force from the core." His voice remained calm and collected, "Watch closely—see how my body's liquids move and focus all my power in the fist."
Ripples spread across his entire slime body as they rushed towards his fist; his small fists glowed with grey light.
"Acid Fist," he shouted, and struck the wooden fence with—bam!
End of the chapter. _______________________________________