"Come on, Slimy, let's go!" Zich urged as he summoned the poisonous slime, which appeared right on his shoulder.
His current mana pool was 90, which meant he could keep the slime out in the open for longer. It was more convenient this way rather than summoning it only when he was about to fight.
Furthermore, the slime also liked the outside world.
Unlike the others who were after ranking positions, his primary goal was to kill as many monsters as possible and create another summon as fast as he could.
It took only a bit of sprinting before he arrived at the eastern plains. There, dozens of new players were already hunting monsters and even fighting among themselves for kills.
He glanced at the wristband on his arm. It still showed zero. The device had been handed to all players at the shelter gate, and it would determine the number of kills one had.
This part of the area was too crowded with monsters, so he headed deeper.
It didn't take long before he found a secluded spot. A lone monster stood there.
"Slimy," he called out.
The slime jumped off his shoulder. The cute looking creature bounced forward toward the wild demonic dog with a fierce expression.
"Poison attac—"
Whoosh!
Just before he could finish the command, an arc of a sword tore through the air and struck the demonic dog, cutting its head off cleanly.
A frown appeared on his face as he watched what happened.
Moments later, a series of footsteps came from the side, followed by a familiar, annoying voice he had heard before at the player association.
"Oops, it seems someone was too slow to act. My bad. What did I expect from someone who depends on a slime to fight?"
Rael stepped out, accompanied by three others. Zich recognized them as lackeys of the spiky haired youth.
They were among the people who had formed parties when they first entered the Ascension Mountain and had decided to stick together since then.
He remembered they had approached him before, but at the time, he had wanted to work alone and ignored them.
Right now, he couldn't have been happier that he had ignored people like them.
A smirk appeared on his face.
"Since you guys seem so desperate for this kill, I'll consider it my service to the less privileged."
Without saying another word, he turned around and walked deeper into the wild zone, leaving Rael's face red as if he had eaten chili pepper.
"You bastard, who are you calling less privileged!" Rael roared, his entire body trembling with rage.
Seeing the reaction he wanted, the smirk on his face deepened.
But he had barely taken two steps when he felt a wave of killing intent, accompanied by a cold, ruthless tone.
"You do know I could kill you easily here, don't you? There's no rule that says players can't kill each other in the mountain."
He paused for a moment, then replied without looking back.
"Good thing you said it yourself."
And with that, he walked away, leaving Rael standing there with bloodshot eyes, not expecting to be humiliated in just a few exchanges.
Seeing Rael's bitter expression, one of the others spoke.
"What do we do now?"
There was silence for a moment, then a dark look appeared on Rael's face.
"Let's follow him. I'm certain Helen has taken an interest in him because of his slime. If we can make him transfer that slime to me, I'll get rid of him. Maybe I'll finally stand a chance at winning her heart."
...
If he had heard the reason why this rich scion had suddenly taken an interest in him, he would have been at a loss for words. Never did he think someone would envy him because of his weak looking slime.
More importantly, he didn't even like Helen to begin with. She was like a pest he wanted to get rid of.
Lost in his thoughts, he soon arrived at his next location and spotted a one and a half meter tall silver skinned ape.
[Silver Skinned Ape Lv10]
The ape was crouched, chewing on something it had caught. It hadn't noticed him yet.
"Position, Slimy. Attack from the front," he whispered as he moved to the left.
In this fight, he would act as aggro while Slimy was the damage dealer.
The slime bounced and twitched as if it understood.
"Blood Arc!"
A sharp crescent of blood shot out from his palm, slicing through the air and crashing straight into the ape's chest.
Splat!
The impact forced the creature back a step. Its head snapped up, red eyes locking onto him instantly.
"GRAAAAH!"
The ape roared, beating its chest before charging forward like a mad beast, the ground cracking beneath it.
He didn't flinch. His body leaned forward, then he dashed.
Fwoosh!
The ape swung its massive arm down.
Boom!
The ground cracked where he had been a second earlier, forming a small crater.
He slipped to the side, his movements tight and controlled. He didn't try to overpower it. He just needed to keep its attention.
"Now, Slimy!"
Boing!
From the front, Slimy shot forward, its soft body compressing before expanding midair.
"Poison Attack!"
Ssshhh!
A spray of green liquid shot out, splashing across the ape's face and upper body.
"GRRAAAAHHH!"
The ape screamed, stumbling back as smoke rose from its skin.
"Again!"
With a fierce yet cute look, Slimy landed, bounced, and fired another shot.
This time, the poison hit its eyes directly.
The ape went wild as smoke rose from them. It swung blindly, smashing the ground and tearing up dirt, its movements turning reckless.
'Perfect.' His eyes flashed in satisfaction as everything played out just as he had planned.
Without wasting another moment, he began to spam his skills.
"Blood Arc!"
"Blood Arc!"
"Poison Attack!"
Multiple crimson slashes cut across the monster's skin, and blood gushed out from the wounds. At the same time, Slimy's poison attacks slammed into it mercilessly, giving it no chance to recover.
Disoriented and badly injured, the ape staggered.
He stopped moving at this point, seeing that the enemy was no longer in a state to fight back.
Eventually, the ape collapsed to the ground, raising a cloud of dust. At the same time, an orb flew out and entered his chest.
"Phew, that was easier than I thought," he exhaled, his chest rising and falling lightly.
Slimy leaped up and landed back on his shoulder. He patted it and said, "You did good."
The slime wiggled as if it was proud.
The wristband flickered at that moment, drawing his attention.
[Kill Count: 5]
"Hmm… the man at the player association did say it was one point per low level monster, but since it gave five, that means the system sees this one as stronger."
"If I keep farming monsters like this…"
He wasn't able to finish his thoughts when he suddenly noticed a folded scroll on top of the monster's corpse.
Upon picking it up, a new screen flashed before him.
[You have obtained Silver Skinned Ape territorial map]