Book 1: Chapter 63: The Hero's Rage and Slimes

Book 1: Chapter 63: The Hero's Rage and Slimes

The next day, Lone and Sophie were heading to The Adventurer's Guild after Lones blacksmithing lesson with Grimsley for the day was finished. They had also briefly returned to after the Amberbark Inn for lunch.

Lone had yet to meet the cook that Lefakern employed at his inn but there was almost no doubt in his mind that whoever they were, they were at least as good as him if not better in the Cooking Mastery skill.

I need to swipe some of the meals offered at the inn and keep them safe in my Dimensional Storage. Could always use some of that cooking for when were on the road and cant afford to cook ourselves or dont want to bother with rations, Lone thought.

Then again, he could just create gold and buy a massive amount of meals from a famous restaurant or something, even if his species meant hed have to use Sophie as a proxy to do it.

It was something to think on. Speaking of which, Lone couldnt help but think about his blacksmithing master.

Grimsley had seemed to be a little bit distracted during today's lesson, but Lone had managed to level up his Blacksmithing skill to intermediate-level-two, so he was happy and thankful regardless of Grimsley's mood.

"None of these quests seems to be very dangerous..." Lone grumbled as he held his chin and continued to pour over all of the posted quests.

A burly human to his left chuckled. "Did ya nut 'ere 'bout the 'ero?"

Lone was surprised by the man's friendly tone since, well, he was a human, and most humans were very discriminatory against him for being a foxkin.

His massive accent despite the translation magic was a bit off-putting too. Understanding a dwarfs very Scottish accent was easy enough given his own heritage.

This adventurer, however, sounded like he was from rural England or somewhere akin to that.

After getting past his shock, Lone smiled and rocked his head from side to side. "The hero? No, why, did he do something?"

Nodding, the muscular man replied, "'At's right. The pompous arsehole came in 'ere first thing in a mornin' an was screamin' an' a hollerin' 'bout ow the spider queen was stolen from 'im. The immature little cunt went an' snatched all of the E-ranked an' up subjugation requests."

"You're allowed to do that?" Lone asked with a frown.

Shaking his head and sighing, the human adventurer said, "Well, snot really against the rules, so ta speak. Scommon etiquette though ta only take one or two quests at a time. Foreign bastard ardly cares bout us locals. Ah, no offence."

"None taken. But still, he even took the quests that are outside of his capabilities? He's a hero, yeah, but he can't be an S-ranker, can he? Some of those quests were restricted to the rank. Like the Hydra one," Lone asked.

"Hahaha, that waste ah sperm? Nah. 'E's a C-ranker 'e is. Is Wood Elf slave though? She's a B-ranker, so, long as 'e's with 'er, 'e can take all the quests 'at she can as well. Dunno 'bout 'at Hydra quest through. Maybe a travellin' S-ranker took it." After saying that, the adventurer grabbed a quest asking for some hired help for an escort to a nearby merchant kingdom.

He then patted Lone's shoulder and said one final thing before he left. "I'd be careful was I wearin' your shoes, pal. The 'ero mentioned seein' a nine-tail'd foxkin an' a girl when he was huntin' the queen. The bastard seems immature an' sick enough ta try somethin' funny. Keep yer guard up, ya hear?"

"I'll keep that in mind. Thanks," Lone replied with a smile.

Grinning, the man left Lone's side and approached a reception desk to officially sign up for the quest he'd chosen.

Lone held his elbow in one hand and his chin in the other. "Daisuke, huh? This could be troublesome..."

"We found an acceptable quest," the cold yet calming voice of Sophie announced as she held out her arms and showed Lone a sheet of paper, snapping him out of his thoughts.

Looking down at the quest she'd selected, Lone smirked. "Trust you and your absurd luck to find a subjugation request despite all of them being supposedly claimed already."

Sophie shrugged, making her armour clink about. "Just as we were about to give up, a ministers page came and put up this request. It seems the minister in question is tired of the smell."

"Smell?" Lone actually took a moment to read the request. "Ah. Slimes in the sewers? Boy, is that as cliche as can be. Well, it's something, at least."

"Indeed. It was either this, or a quest to assist the Church of The Primals in building the new wing of the cathedral, and while we are sure you would adore the chance to learn some more mundane construction skills, we had a feeling that you'd rather gain some resistance to death by corrosion or acid. Perhaps even both," Sophie suggested with a shrug of her shoulders.

Lone nodded. "I haven't researched slimes much. Theres a bit of info on there here or there in the librarys bestiaries, but they seem to be heavily overlooked due to how weak they are. So yeah, that sounds interesting. Let's accept the quest then drop by the library real quick, 'kay? I wanna learn everything that I can about slimes before we enter a sewer system full of 'em. Theres gotta be a book or short essay or something with more detailed descriptions of them laying around somewhere in there."

"Whatever pleases you, Lone," Sophie replied in an uncaring manner.

"Hah. Well, as far as using every type of magic is concerned, that one is not strictly wrong in your case, now is it?" Sophie teased.

Lone smiled wryly. "That has nothing to do with my species."

"Indeed, it does not... But regardless, chiefs, yes? Well, perhaps our luck will assist you and result in a few appearing, hmm? We are sure that you would love the stats killing such creatures would offer," Sophie said a bit sarcastically.

"Hey, don't jinx us. I'm perfectly happy burning my body to get acid and corrosion resistance, but I'd rather not have a life-threatening battle so soon after the spider queen, thanks," Lone replied with a sigh.

Sophie just smiled underneath her helmet and continued walking through the dank and dirty sewers with Lone at her side.

"Y'know, it's not nearly as painful as I was expecting," Lone commented as he poked the tiny opaque-green slime and the tiny lime-green slime that were both attached to his left arm.

"You are healing as much as you're burning and corroding. We expect it would be far more painful if you focused on blocking your Basic Regeneration and allowed them to get down to your bones," Sophie commented with a shrug.

"True, but yeah, I ain't gonna test that. As much as I enjoy seeing Basic Regen level up, fuck torturing myself. But yeah, Basic Regen and PPR are fantastic skills. Ah, looks like we're done here," Lone announced.

"Fireball. Fireball." After blowing the two slimes to smithereens and pocketing their cores, Lone checked his two new skills as he waited for his now-burnt arm to heal.

The host has developed the passive skill: Acid Resistance.

Passive Skill: Acid Resistance

A skill that allows the host to resist most types of acid.

Most acid that the host comes in contact with shall be weakened by 5%.

Cost:N/A Mastery:Beginner Level 1

The host has developed the passive skill: Corrosion Resistance.

Passive Skill: Corrosion Resistance

A skill that allows the host to resist corrosion.

Any corrosion to the skin that the host suffers shall be weakened by 5%.

Cost:N/A Mastery:Beginner Level 1

Congratulations! The host's active fire magic skill [Fireball] has levelled up! It is now Beginner Level 2.

"So most acid and all corrosion, but only my skin can resist the corrosion? That's interesting... I guess more parts of my body will gain the ability to fight off corrosion as the skill ranks up. Kinda like how Bone Armour unlocked more armour pieces as it ranked up, right?" Lone muttered to himself.

Sophie jabbed one of her armoured fingers into Lone's side, resulting in him frowning in annoyance.

While he had a high level of Physical Pain Resistance, all that skill did was make any pain he suffered more tolerable, not lessen the actual pain. "What?"

"Stop. Talking. To. Yourself. Idiot," Sophie said, jabbing her finger further and further in with each word.

"Sure, but only if you give me a big kiss and a cuddle - actually, make that two big kisses and a cuddle. I want one now and one later," Lone replied with a grin strewn across his lips.

Sophie whispered something that Lone couldn't hear before she took her helmet off and then suddenly attached her lips to his passionately.

Only after a few seconds had elapsed did she move back from him. "You'll get your other kiss and your cuddle tonight. Happy now?"

"Very, but also very surprised. I was kinda expecting you to go all soft at the knees you usually do," Lone admitted as he failed to hide his flushed cheeks.

Sophie smirked as she put her helmet back on. "You shall not defeat us forever with your dastardly sneak attacks. Now, let us continue, shall we? We can sense three more slimes around that corner."

"Haha, sure, let's," Lone replied.