Chapter 17: Target Practice

Chapter 17: Target Practice

Waking up, the first thing on my mind was my mana condition, so I pulled up my status menu.

Name: -

Race: Slime (Blue) LV 8

Class: -

Status: Healthy

Mana: Overflowing

'So now it's overflowing? I wish I had looked at my status when I first unlocked mana, but after a full night's rest, I want to assume this is the highest it'll go...' I mumbled to myself as I did my usual morning routine.

Having conquered the guardian of the pond, I didn't have any immediate goals, so I just wanted to do some fishing and continue my training practice. My first plan was to use [Mana Reinforcement] until my status changed, and then I'd go fishing and see if it changed back. Also, my [Sub-Core] was still going at it, making a tendril, flexing it, then reabsorbing it and repeating. It must have looked bizarre and was reserving one of my precious few tendrils, but I felt it was worth it.

Heading towards the previous day's training area, I began swinging slime weapons infused with mana at trees again. Smack. Crash. Slam. Crack. I kept checking, but it didn't seem to be changing. I then dual-wielded rapiers and infused both, then went on my stabbing frenzy again. Finally, after committing far too much tree genocide, my status finally changed.

Mana: Flooding

'Great, let's go fishing now and see if this changes back.' I then looked around at the tree carnage surrounding me, 'Well... Let's clean this up first...' and started dissolving the fallen trees one by one.

But the third bug I hit first try, and while it was flying at me, I landed another rock, which didn't do much to stop its charge, and it died like the rest by melting in the slime. But when that second rock hit it, I received a surprise notification moments before the death notification.

I hurried through my status menu to pull up the new skill.

This skill adds minor accuracy corrections to attacks scaling with level.

This skill also assists in attempting to overcome the [Evasion] skill.>

'I like that. My shooting is pathetically bad, so I appreciate any assistance. Also good to know there's a skill for dodging... I really could use that too...' I thought to myself while memories of trying and failing to dodge the green slime's shots and the frog's tongue mocked me.

Before I called it a day, I decided to shoot at one more bug, and it was a noticeable improvement as I hit it first try and then two more times while it was charging to its doom.

They were good shooting practice but mediocre in the slime mass department, falling somewhere between a jackalope and a deer. While heading home, my mana status still hadn't changed, and I considered leaving it on while I slept.

I continued my evening practice with [Slime Shape] while checking my mana status, and eventually, it finally changed again.

Mana: Flooding

I decided it was worth the risk to leave it on overnight. I eventually stopped my practice and went to bed, disappointed it didn't reach the breakthrough I felt was so close. I settled down again for a peaceful sleep, listening to the rustling wind and distant howls.