Seven-Leaf Clover

The moment the Slime became friendly after eating the four-leaf clover, Yang Yu launched his next attack. Continuous attacks were effective, though they also increased the consumption of four-leaf clovers.

The gentle sunlight gradually grew scorching, and the Slime's HP steadily decreased.

Yang Yu tossed out another four-leaf clover. The Slime wriggled over and swallowed it, and its body suddenly emitted a soft green glow.

[Slime used Minor Regeneration, restoring 50 HP]

Seeing the notification that had suddenly appeared on the panel, Yang Yu chuckled. Everything was completely under his control.

High-level Slimes all possessed some regenerative ability. Since this was an extremely difficult game, it was only natural for a regenerating Slime to appear near the village entrance.

He had not hauled over an entire sack of four-leaf clovers because he had nothing better to do. He had come prepared for a prolonged battle.

[Slime Level: LV7 HP: 155/230 MP: 45/70
Attributes: Strength 45, Defense 178, Intelligence 36, Special Defense 201, Agility 27, Endurance 30
Resistance: Physical 50%]

Minor Regeneration consumed 25 MP. Counting its MP recovery, it should still be able to use it another two times.

Continuous combat would steadily deplete stamina. Once stamina reached zero, every action would consume HP. That was not something he could afford.

Yang Yu was not worried. He had invested quite a bit in Endurance, more than enough to last until the battle ended. And if worse came to worst, he could always take medicine.

The Slime had never been particularly fast, so Yang Yu dealt with it effortlessly, using four-leaf clovers to drain every last point of MP from its mana bar.

The less HP the Slime had, the more four-leaf clovers were needed to placate it. The Slime before him was already nearing the danger zone, and it no longer had the MP to heal itself.

He emptied the sack in one go, and an unprecedented smile appeared on his face. The goddess of victory had undoubtedly lifted her skirt for Yang Yu.

But this time, faced with the pile of four-leaf clovers, He Meng did not pounce on them and feast. Instead, it turned around and slowly wriggled toward the grass.

To be honest, it was not that it did not want to eat. It was simply stuffed and could not eat another bite. Even a Slime had limits to how much it could digest in a day.

"It didn't come over to eat? Did it notice my intentions?"

After fighting for so long, he could not let his prize slip away. Yang Yu shifted the trajectory of his sword, using an unbroken series of attacks to seal off the Slime's movements.

Though this carried the drawback of leaving him open to a fierce counterattack from the Slime, he had barely been injured so far. The risk was worth taking.

After weighing the pros and cons, Yang Yu's sword danced through the air. He Meng reacted with astonishing speed, its jelly-like body constantly rolling and reshaping in midair to evade most of the attacks.

Not a single strike landed, but Yang Yu did not retreat in the slightest. The sensation of facing a formidable enemy made him feel incomparably exhilarated, and the corners of his mouth unconsciously curled into a strange smile.

It had been a long, long time since he had taken anything seriously.

His gaze sharpened, and time seemed to slow. Every second was divided into sixty frames before his eyes.

Finding openings among those sixty frames and exploiting them was easy. The only flaw was that his hands could not keep up with his brain, but that was already enough against a Slime with roughly the same speed.

His attacks surged forward like a force breaking through bamboo. In the blink of an eye, He Meng's HP had dropped to an extremely dangerous level.

At a moment of life and death, holding back any longer would have been foolish.

[Royal Bloodline: Super Defense]

A powerful pale-blue light flashed. He Meng seemed to be surrounded by an invisible Bronze Wall, Iron Rampart, and its Defense skyrocketed. Its Defense of 178 increased tenfold to an unbelievable 1,780. The price was that He Meng's level dropped by one.

It stopped evading Yang Yu's attacks, allowing the blade to strike its body like raindrops. The words HP -0 instantly filled Yang Yu's vision.

A temporary, massive boost in Defense in exchange for a level?

This was bad! Absolutely bad! Royal Bloodline? Did that mean this was a Royal Slime? Wasn't that a species that only appeared in the later stages?

Yang Yu's gamer instincts told him that such a powerful enhancement skill usually would not last long. As long as he put some distance between himself and the Slime, he would definitely win.

Yet He Meng gave him no such chance. Countless water balls separated from its gelatinous body and transformed into longspear after longspear in the blink of an eye.

[Royal Bloodline: Slime King's Longspear]

This was likewise a skill activated at the cost of a level.

The longspear moved as if controlled by countless elite troops, sharp and deadly. The inconspicuous Slime before him was like the king commanding them, issuing the order to slaughter.

With a skill that covered such a wide area, even if he could see the trajectory of every longspear, Yang Yu's current speed was absolutely insufficient to dodge them. Left with no choice, he raised his guard.

The silver longspear shrieked through the sky, as if Taunting his helplessness. They effortlessly pierced his shoulder and legs, pinning him to a tree.

Intense pain assaulted his nerves. Gritting his teeth, he looked toward the panel.

[HP: 1/150 MP: 60/60 Stamina: 2 Status: Severe Injury]

Under the Severe Injury status, all attributes dropped by eighty percent. His stamina was essentially exhausted, and forcing himself to act would only bring death.

He Meng turned around, and the separated longspear reverted to round balls and returned to its body.

Yang Yu slid down the trunk and collapsed on the ground, his face full of confusion. The finishing blow he had imagined never came.

Why didn't it finish me off? No, that Slime's attack clearly could have killed me instantly, yet it left me with one HP. And my important bones were mostly fine, too.

Yang Yu frowned slightly, realizing things were not so simple. He immediately began frantically searching through his accumulated strategy knowledge.

This might be a guardian like the one from "No Passage Ahead," or an NPC for a hidden quest. Certain conditions had to be met before the hidden quest could be accepted, and challenging it by force would inevitably leave him with only one HP.

So that was it. There was something wrong with my strategy.

Farming was just too much fun. When I saw the Slime's level increase, I should have considered this possibility. Instead, I farmed so much that my brain short-circuited.

Thinking about it carefully, this was an open world, and he was currently in a forest. That made it less likely that this little fellow was a guardian.

Then how was he supposed to accept the hidden quest?

The simplest strategy was to give it something. The four-leaf clovers might be a clue, so he had to work from there. Right!

Barely clinging to life, Yang Yu fumbled around in his clothes for something.

Hearing the sound, He Meng did not stay on guard. The enhancement effect still had a while left, enough to support its departure.

"To think he made me use those two forbidden moves. I have to admit, he does have some skill. This time, I'll spare his life for the sake of all those four-leaf clovers he offered me. I hope he learns his lesson next time. There are so many Lesser Slimes out there, so why did he have to pick me as his opponent?"

The more it thought about it, the angrier He Meng became, and even its wriggling grew rougher.

"Wait! Could you please accept this?"

Yang Yu's weak, ragged voice reached He Meng's ears.

"At this point, there's no way I'll be bought off by four-leaf clovers again. I almost became the last—"

He Meng froze in place. As a Slime, the way it sensed the world was strange. Even with its back to Yang Yu, it knew exactly what he had taken out.

It was a Seven-Leaf Clover unstained by blood.

The odds of finding a Seven-Leaf Clover among ordinary clover were roughly one in ten million. Each leaf had a different meaning, and the seventh represented the good fortune of surviving a desperate situation.

Among Slimes, the Seven-Leaf Clover also had its own special meaning—it meant hoping to remain inseparable, treasured friends forever.

"Could it be that he found so many four-leaf clovers because he wanted to become friends with me? And that battle earlier was only meant to train himself? Did I misunderstand him?" He Meng panicked. "But I couldn't help it. He was the one who went too far. Even a Slime couldn't hold on after being treated like that over and over. Fine, for the sake of the Seven-Leaf Clover, I'll forgive you this time."

He Meng sprang up, swallowed the Seven-Leaf Clover into its body, wrapped it in slime, and hung it atop its head like an ornament.

Now that they were friends, a Slime would never stand by and ignore a friend's injuries.

Besides skills that enhanced defense and attack, the Royal Slime's Royal Bloodline had a third skill.

[Royal Bloodline: Miracle Regeneration]

It could instantly restore itself to peak condition, or it could be used to heal someone else, restoring half of their injuries.

Powerful skills all came with certain restrictions. Like the previous two skills, this one also required a level as its price and could only be used once per day.

Using this skill to heal someone else also required a certain connection between them.

Royal Slimes and ordinary Slimes belonged to the same species, so that was not a problem. But to heal another race, some sort of bridge had to be established.

The simplest and most effective way to build a bridge with a human—

Without hesitation, He Meng stretched out its body and drew a magic circle in the air. It was a contract symbolizing equality.