Monster Codex's Surprise

After spending a night at a cheap inn in Valencia Village.

The next morning.

Everyone gathered at the village entrance, equipped and ready.

Valencia Village was a sparsely populated hamlet. Besides running an orchard, its main function was to provide a resting place for occasional merchant and traveler caravans.

According to the Village Chief, many young people had moved to Grayrock Town, or even the farther forest city of Barry City, for work and life.

"These Slimes have already cost the village several fruit trees. Please help us find those filthy mud-blobs!"

Under the Village Chief's instructions, the group began searching outside the Harvest Orchard.

Before engaging the Slimes, finding them was difficult.

The orchard was quite large.

Everyone could only spread out, forming small teams of two.

The Swordsman and Priest, Leven and the Archer, and Gauss and the Rogue apprentice Meva.

Meva was very skilled at this type of search.

As soon as they began, she moved with agile steps, searching the orchard for any traces the Slimes might have left.

Slimes left behind mucus.

Although the mucus would evaporate quickly after sunrise, Meva said that with careful observation, a faint shimmering halo was still possible to see.

Meva gathered information along the way, while Gauss took on the role of lookout.

The Bone Staff was held firmly in his hand.

With the fast-casting bonus from the Bone Staff, he was confident that even if a monster appeared, he could unleash a Magic Missile before it could attack.

This was the confidence the staff gave him.

Even though it was a weakened Magic Missile, it could still easily kill creatures like Goblins in one hit.

And he could currently cast three weakened Magic Missiles. As long as they didn't stumble into the enemy's main camp, they would be perfectly safe.

"Find anything?"

After walking a considerable distance, Gauss noticed Meva lingering by a fence. He approached her and asked.

"Mhm."

"Here, there are traces of Slimes rubbing against it. The direction seems to be that way." Meva, who was crouching, pointed to an area of the fence and then looked further into the distance.

Such good eyesight?

Gauss also crouched down to observe but noticed nothing unusual.

He could only say that Elves were indeed natural Archers. Even Meva, with her thin Elven bloodline, seemed to have better eyesight than ordinary people. How keen must a true Elf's vision be, comparable to an eagle's?

Gauss followed Meva for another stretch.

Along the way, Meva was constantly sketching and writing on her parchment, recording information.

Finally, she looked up.

"Let's go back and regroup with Leven and the others first."

"Okay."

Even though they had found traces of Slimes, neither Meva nor Gauss had any intention of exploring further.

Safety was the priority for the commission.

Returning to the agreed-upon meeting point, they waited for a short while.

The other two teams also returned one after another, but their expressions suggested they hadn't found anything.

Fortunately, they weren't the main force for this search anyway.

Upon hearing that Gauss and Meva had found traces of Slimes, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

"It's all thanks to you, Meva."

"Luckily, we came early before the sun was fully up. Otherwise, the traces would have completely disappeared soon." Meva didn't take credit.

The regrouped team began heading in the direction Gauss and Meva had found.

Along the way, Leven continuously reminded everyone to make good use of the small wooden shields they had brought to block attacks.

Although Slimes were just low-level mobs, if their mucus touched the skin, it would cause a burning sensation for several days.

If they didn't want to suffer, they had to be careful during combat.

Gauss listened silently.

In his opinion, Leven, with his Shieldbearer profession, possessed a strong sense of responsibility, diligently protecting and advising his teammates, almost like a doting mother.

Perhaps this wasn't a coincidence?

Was he subconsciously adopting the responsibilities of a Shieldbearer, or was the profession itself subtly influencing him as he practiced its skills?

He felt a deeper understanding of professions and paths beginning to form.

Perhaps it wasn't just a simple level increase.

As they walked through the woods, the soil beneath their feet slowly became damp.

Finally, in a muddy area by a rarely-visited stream, the group spotted a small cluster of strange, slime-like creatures with no fixed form from afar.

Their bodies were bright green, covered in mud, and they hopped around playfully in the mire.

Unlike the cute slimes from the animated shows Gauss remembered from his past life, the slimes before him were not pleasant to look at. Their soft, sticky bodies, like translucent blobs of fat, were packed with all sorts of strange items – twigs, undigested fruit pulp, stones, and more.

Furthermore, they weren't small individually.

They were about a few dozen centimeters in size, and each hop could cover over a meter.

This meant their movements weren't slow. An ordinary person could easily be knocked over if they weren't careful. If caught in a siege by several slimes, they might even face the danger of becoming digested within the slimes' bodies.

"There are 25 in total!"

Gauss felt a surge of excitement upon hearing Meva's count.

For him, these small monsters that liked to gather in groups were the best kind of nourishment to increase his total Monster Codex kills.

His total monster kill count had already reached 23/50.

If he could wipe out this entire group of slimes, he'd be just one step away from receiving the next reward.

Unfortunately, that was impossible.

They were even specifically letting some kills go during battles; their team didn't have that much surplus strength.

Fortunately, his main goal today was simply to refresh the kill count for slimes in his Monster Codex.

"Can we lure some out with bait?" Gauss recalled how, during a previous mission, he had first lured out six goblins and easily defeated them with traps.

"I'm afraid not," Leven shook his head and explained.

"Looking at how bloated their bodies are, these slimes are clearly full. It's difficult to lure them out of their habitat at this point."

"Prepare for battle! Everyone, be careful."

Fortunately, slimes weren't considered very powerful opponents for their group.

Being unable to lure and defeat some first wasn't a major issue; it would just take a bit more effort.

"Oliver, Meva, Gauss, you three will initiate the attack," Leven named the three members of the team who had ranged abilities.

The group slowly approached.

The slimes still hadn't noticed them.

When they were about twenty meters away, the group stopped.

Gauss exchanged glances with the archer Oliver and Meva, who held a crossbow.

They each began to prepare.

Gauss, naturally, was preparing to cast Magic Missile.

He wouldn't miss any opportunity to practice Magic Missile in actual combat.

Although this spell was considered the team's trump card, if he kept it unused because of that, the speed at which its proficiency increased would also be affected.

His gaze locked onto the muddy ground in the distance.

Two or three slimes were "nuzzling" each other, rubbing against one another.

It's you!

Gauss, Oliver, and Meva exchanged hand signals, confirming their attacks wouldn't overlap.

They drew their bows!

Pulled their triggers!

Gauss also raised his Bone Staff at the same time.

The three attacked in unison!

"Whoosh!" "Whoosh!" "Screech!"

Three sounds of air being torn apart rang out!

The Magic Missile was the fastest.

Already extremely fast, the missile became even quicker with the boost from the staff!

As Gauss concentrated, re-entering that low-level bullet-time state, the Magic Missile precisely seized the moment when three slimes were lined up.

"Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!!"

Three crisp sounds echoed as the Magic Missile pierced through the core of three slimes.

It finally landed in the mud, splashing muddy water several meters away!

Two arrows, with a "whoosh," tore through the air, leaving long trails behind them, closely following the Magic Missile. They also accurately embedded themselves into the bodies of two slimes, hitting their cores, which were about the size of ostrich eggs.

"Splash!"

The slimes whose cores had been pierced instantly melted, their viscous fluids merging with the mud and water.

Slime - 5!

"Kill Mucus Slimes *3"

"Total Monsters Killed: 26!"

"Obtained Title [Slime Hunter]. This title will level up as the number of kills of this race increases."

"Current Effect: Terrify. After activating this ability, it can cause mental shock to Slimes within a 3-meter radius, and inflict 0.5-1 second of control! This ability requires a cooldown period between continuous uses."

"[Common Monster] Collection Variety +1! Note: When the accumulated number reaches 5 types, you will be able to randomly draw a weakened talent ability from these 5 monsters. The weaker the talent ability, the higher the probability of it being drawn."

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