But for a Slime

Chapter Seven

Joe woke and ate quickly before heading out to the fields outside the village. He ended up sitting in the field waiting for the boy to show up, coming out too quickly because of his worry for missing the boy. He had only been sitting there for several moments before he saw him, and quickly beckoned the boy towards him. He had been planning to explain some things, then quickly found his miming skills at the end of their usefulness. Finally, he sighed and simply pointed into the forest and beckoned the boy to follow him. The boy stared at him a bit, but then began to grow a bit excited, before quickly following him into the forest.

They traveled a bit slowly, the small teen’s shorter legs taking many more strides to maintain their speed. When Joe saw the stake in the side of the road, he slowed carefully, knowing that he now had to watch out for the boy’s safety as well. They soon came upon a slime, and Joe felt the danger of the monster, a sense of a yellowish blue glow surrounded the slime and he came towards it cautiously. The sense of fear and overwhelming danger had long since settled into a kind of dull sense of warning. When the slime came into view, the boy, however, actually stifled a cry and shuddered in fear.

The slime had just slithered its way from the forest onto the road side but was still well outside its fifty meter detection range. Joe turned back to the boy and smiled at the teen comfortingly, clapping him on the shoulder.

“Hey. Don’t worry about it kid. Just follow me and watch, alright?”

The boy tore his gaze away from the slime before seeming to firm his courage and nod quickly. Joe looked to the boy and noticed that he was completely unarmed, so considered a moment before he took out his dagger and handed it to the boy. He looked stunned and shook his head in shock even as he waved his hands and stepped away. Seeing the fear in his eyes, Joe realized it would take some time to encourage him, so turned him sideways so he could see the slime while focusing on inspiring the young teen. He nodded with encouragement as he handed the dagger to the boy, but the boy continued to refuse it. Finally Joe took the boys hand and put the hilt of the dagger into his hand, but even as it touched his palm, it seemed to leap from his hand and slide across the road surface.

Joe’s eyebrows climbed upward in shock before he remembered what had happened with him last night. He sighed, but decided to test one more time, removing his spear and having the boy hold his hand, palm up. He kept the spear firmly in his grip before pushing it down towards the boy’s palm. The boy watched on, trepidation growing as the spear came closer to his hand. Joe held the spear as firmly as possible, and as soon as it touched the boy’s hand, he felt it bouncing and jittering in his hands, even stronger than it did in his own hand. He was surprised by how strong the force was. He even released his grip slightly but kept his fingers locked in a ring around the shaft and felt it bouncing across the boys palm like water on a hot pan. What is going on! This is insane!

Joe cast a quick eye back towards the slime before smiling down back at the boy. Whelp, doesn’t look like I’m going to be able to do anythi.... wait! Joe smiled and leapt to his feet, sheathing his spear and retrieving his dagger before beckoning the boy towards him as he stepped off the path and began pulling off a half dozen twigs before feathering the end of them. He gave them to the boy but kept one for himself before heading towards the slime. When he came close to where the slime would begin detecting him, he told the boy to stop and jogged further down the road and into the ditch, quickly catching the slime’s attention.

He stepped further off the road and into the forest, strafing to face towards the slime. It followed his movements and oozed closer, its movement slow and deliberate before the slight quiver and contraction that let Joe know it was going to jump. Even as it jumped, Joe stepped aside and brought his stake up and into the body of the slime before slamming it down into the soft loamy soil at the side of the road. The stake would stick well here, holding the slime for some time. As the stake slammed into the earth, Joe swiveled to the left so that he could keep an eye on the slime while glancing quickly towards the boy, beckoning him forwards. The boy quivered slightly, doing nothing, and Joe finally called out to him firmly.

“Hey! Kid! Get over here before it comes out of the stake. Come on!”

The boy glanced up at him and saw the beckoning motion and came running towards him quickly. When he came up towards him, Joe circled the slime until a particularly fat trunk lay before him. When the kid came up beside him, Joe showed him his spoon spear, then pointed at the slime and made sure he was watching. The spoon spear dug into the slime’s body with the slime’s normal scream of anguish, slid up against the slime’s gem, then flicked out violently as the ooze splashed to the ground in lost cohesion and sprayed outward following the flick of the spoon spear. The gem hit the trunk at a slight angle and bounced back onto the road further on. Joe pulled out a whisk since there had been no status update. The things not dead yet! He ran towards the gem rolling on the road a bit, and saw the small bit of left over ooze spiraling around the gem. He came up on it quickly and then looked behind to see the boy staring in stunned amazement, unmoving.

“Hey! Come on! Get over here kid!”

The teen jerked out of his daze and quickly scrambled towards Joe and came to a stop next to him. Joe pointed to the gem, and his mouth began running, even though he knew the kid didn’t understand anything he was saying, but tried to make sure all his descriptions were mimed clearly to boy.

“Alright! See the gem? See the bit of ooze on it? That means the thing is still alive!”

Joe proved his point by putting his finger on the gem and the ooze shot around the core to his finger. He moved his finger from point to point and the ooze zipped around the core like a ping pong ball, immediately redirecting towards his finger. He pulled his finger off and looked at the boy, nodding his head.

“You understand, kid?”

Joe caught the kid’s eyes, then nodded towards the gem again. His eyes darted back and forth between Joe and the gem. Joe pressed his finger to the gem again, and the ooze quickly darted back towards his finger, and Joe pulled his finger back just before it attacked him. The kid looked between the two until he tentatively reached out a finger and quickly touched the gem before pulling his hand away quickly. The ooze flickered towards his hand, then stopped and erupted into a different direction. The kid began smiling and flicked his finger on and off the gem, the ooze flipping towards his finger and away. Joe laughed a bit at the kid’s antics and then finally interrupted the kids play by pulling out one of the feather sticks. He flicked it in front of the kid’s eyes and got his attention.

“Alright kid, when you’re ready. Here’s slime killing 101. You ready?”

The kid pulled his finger back and glanced towards Joe and his feathered stick with some confusion. Joe nodded to the kid, then pointed his eyes towards the gem. He brought the feathered stick towards the gem, then shuffled around the gem until the kid could watch both his hands easily. He then looked around quickly in all directions before returning his eye to the gem. He brought the whisk closer then quickly slapped his pointer finger down on the gem. The ooze quickly bee-lined it towards his finger and his whisk quickly flicked across the gem’s surface as the ooze flew off. Joe felt his status update and knew that he had killed the slime off.

He picked up the slime gem and flipped it in the air before grabbing it. Joe tossed it to the boy, and he fumbled with it for a few moments before he looked at the gem and then back towards Joe. Joe smirked at him before he pointed at the whisks in his hands then at the gems. The boy looked at him a bit confused, then began to understand what he was saying, confusion shifting to a bit of shock. Joe smiled then nodded.

“Don’t worry about it, kid. I’ll help you.”

Joe sped off in to the forest, beckoning the kid after him, and soon found another slime. He glanced behind him and saw that the kid was still following him. He stepped forward into the slime’s range and engaged it as he always did, spiking its body into the ground. He scooped out the gem easily and efficiently, but he felt the status update and knew that he had killed the gem. The boy sped towards it but when he reached it and touched it, he found no ooze scrambling around it. The boy pulled back his finger quickly, and tapped it several more times but found no dangerous ooze. The boy looked up towards him in confusion and Joe picked up the gem and showed it to him.

“It’s dead. Sorry about that. I sometimes insta-kill them.”

The boy cocked his head in confusion, but Joe simply nodded his head in the direction of the next slime. The next slime was also killed instantly on popping out its gem. But by midmorning, he had found a way to twist the spear spoon slightly to leave the slime still alive after he had de-gemmed it. He chose to only stop for a ten minute lunch because of the loss of time during the morning. A little before sunset, he came to the boy to check his status.

“Hey kid, did you level up yet?”

The boy looked at him in confusion for a few minutes, not understanding. He asked several more times and finally sighed in frustration. He pulled up his own status and waved it in the boy’s face before pointing at the boy.

“What’s your status at?”

The boy looked at him and then his slightly happy look slipped from his face into a rather nervous look. He muttered under his breath and his status came up while Joe dismissed his. His status hadn’t changed, still showing his basic level one numbers. He clicked the current job tab, but his fingers slid through the screen, and then he looked at the boy and pointed at the tab. The boy reached out a finger with a bit of trepidation and pressed it, remembering having done so before. The job page showed up and Joe blinked with a bit of surprise, then a small smile grew on his face.

“Well, alright then! I think we can get you to level two before we head home,” Joe exclaimed with some excitement since there was only a small tick left.

Joe turned and headed deeper into the forest and found another slime, continuing their hunt. The next hour past quickly and on their last kill, the boy jumped with a bit of surprise. Huh… was that a level up? Joe caught the kid’s attention once again and mimed for him to bring up his status. The kid’s confusion changed to understanding and he brought up his status. Joe whooped in surprise and satisfaction when he saw the kid’s stats.

“Yes! Yes, yes, yes, YES!”