Aaron suddenly came to a halt and turned to Alice.
"How much could I get for selling that wild boar?" he asked, a hint of hope in his voice.
Alice glanced at the creature's bulky frame, then met his eyes with a quiet understanding.
"It'd fetch about ten silver coins at the guild," she said, "but…" Her tone softened. "We didn't bring a cart, and it's too heavy to carry by ourselves. Unless we've got help or a way to transport it, we'll have to let it go."
Aaron sighed, his shoulders slumping as he stared at their hard-earned kill. The effort it took to bring the boar down clashed against the reality of their limitations. A victory, but one they couldn't cash in, at least, not this time.
Five minutes later, Aaron and Alice stood facing a blue slime bouncing restlessly on the forest floor. Its jelly-like body shimmered in the morning light, almost playful in appearance.
Aaron hesitated. Something about the slime's harmless-looking wobbles made him uneasy about striking first.
"I... don't really want to kill it," he admitted, his voice low.
Alice, already preparing her spell, didn't look away.
"Hey, don't just stand there daydreaming," she called out. "I need ten seconds to charge my fireball. Lure it away from me while I cast!"
Snapped out of his thoughts, Aaron scratched the back of his head.
"Can't we just leave it alone?" he asked, half-hopeful.
Alice glanced at him sharply, a knowing smirk forming.
"Don't tell me you think slimes are just cute little blobs?" she teased.
Aaron's face flushed red, his thoughts laid bare. He hadn't expected Alice to read him so easily.
She chuckled softly, then offered a kinder explanation.
"Honestly, most people feel the same the first time they see one. But looks can be deceiving." Her gaze shifted back to the creature. "Slimes may look harmless, but once they're born, they start devouring plant life around them. And they're aggressive, they'll attack anything alive without hesitation."
Aaron nodded slowly, understanding the threat. The slime bobbed closer, still unaware of what was coming.
Alice added one last note, her tone thoughtful.
"Of course, if you were a beast tamer, you could turn it into a pet after defeating it. But for now? We deal with it."
Aaron gave a small shrug, deciding not to argue. Just as Alice began chanting her fireball spell, he noticed something strange, the slime was moving toward her, drawn to her magical energy.
Alarmed, he quickly stepped in front of her, and that same mysterious sensation from earlier returned. Time felt distorted. The slime slowed. Even Alice's chant seemed to drag in slow motion.
Without thinking, Aaron dashed forward and appeared beside the slime in an instant. He swung his sword down. It sliced through the slime's soft body like water… until the blade hit something solid inside. Whatever it was, it cracked apart easily.
A moment later, the slime collapsed into a soggy mess, just a puddle of muddy goo.
Aaron stared at it, confused. He hadn't expected it to end so quickly, or so oddly.
Then, in his mind, the voice returned:
Slime defeated.
+10 experience points
+0 Blood Energy
He blinked. "No Blood Energy?" he muttered to himself, puzzled. That's when the realization hit him, perhaps only truly living creatures gave Blood Energy. The slime, despite its movement, was just a mana-born construct. He let out a disappointed sigh... then shook off the gloom and gave himself a soft smile. "Well, at least I'm not dead," he joked quietly.
Behind him, Alice was furious. Her fireball still crackled in her hands, and she looked like she was genuinely debating whether to launch it at Aaron's back.
"That reckless idiot," she growled through gritted teeth.
But she paused. Took a deep breath. She remembered how Aaron had stepped in to protect her, not out of arrogance, but instinct. Her anger faded just enough for reason to slip in.
She sighed and lowered her hand. The fireball slowly shrank, its heat dissipating, until the glowing orb vanished into the air with a faint whisper.
Alice glanced at him with a mix of irritation and reluctant respect.
"You could've warned me," she said coldly.
Aaron turned, sheepish. "You're welcome, by the way."
As Aaron stood quietly, a thought crossed his mind.
That strange feeling, where time seemed to slow down during battle, had happened again. And it wasn't just a fluke.
He had a theory.
Looking inward, he recalled his current attributes:
Strength: 3
Dexterity: 3
Constitution: 3
Intelligence: 6
His Intelligence was twice as high as his other stats. Could that be the reason?
Maybe high Intelligence didn't just help with spellcasting or strategy, it could also affect how he processed the world. Perhaps his enhanced mind was stretching perception, allowing him to see and react faster than others, as if everything else moved in slow motion.
He didn't fully understand it yet, but he felt certain: if he kept fighting and observing, he'd eventually uncover the truth.
Aaron let out a quiet breath and looked down at his hands, not just stronger from battle, but sharper. More aware.
Alice bent down and picked up the shattered core of the slime from the muddy ground. She checked her status and frowned slightly, after two battles, her experience gained totaled just 10 points.
"That's barely anything," she thought. If it kept up like this, she'd probably need to stay teamed up with Aaron for a while longer.
Not that it was all bad.
Being around him might give her a better sense of how he fights, what drives him… and maybe even whether they could work together more seriously in the future.
Aaron, meanwhile, had no idea what was running through Alice's mind. He was too focused on finding the next target. More monsters, especially slimes, meant more chances to train, and maybe understand the strange things happening to him during fights.
Suddenly, he turned to Alice.
"Hey, what quest did you pick up?"
Alice answered right away, still examining the slime core.
"It's a slime-clearing quest."
Aaron tilted his head. "So… how many slimes are we supposed to kill?"
"As many as we can," Alice replied plainly.
Aaron nodded, then asked, "And the reward?"
She pointed to the slime core in her hand. "We get fifty copper coins for every slime we defeat. The guild needs proof, so we turn in these cores as evidence."