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  The Grass Slime was hit by his attack... and nothing happened. The slime kept on bouncing towards him. Kaz quickly cast [ Mana Burst ] again, this time more steadily, and his attack hit the slime dead on. Again, nothing seemed to happen to the slime, but it bounced towards him a bit weakly, not gaining the height and distance it did before. He took a deep breath, and cast [ Mana Burst ]. This time, the slime popped when his attack connected with it.

  Kaz celebrated to himself, hunching over and holding on to his knees. He tried to steady his heartbeat and heavy breathing. He didn’t exert himself, but the mental stress of his first battle was taking a small toll on him. It was quite embarrassing, he thought to himself, getting worked up over a Grass Slime. He for once was glad he was alone, so he wouldn’t have been exposed for his moment of weakness.

  Walking over to the slime, he noticed something reflecting in the sunlight. It was a very small green crystal, and he remembered reading about this. These small crystals were essentially loot dropped from monsters once they were defeated in battle. He would be able to exchange these at the Guild for some Tokens, depending on the rarity and size of said crystals.

  Kaz felt a small pulse coming from his mana core. He instinctively opened his [ Archive ] and saw a few things. The first thing that caught his attention was the gold bar that was under his Resonance value was filled in slightly more, looking like a tenth of the bar. He was elated when he saw that. He was making progress!

  He then looked below and was a bit worried. His mana displayed that he was at 15, out of his possible 50 points. He knew it would be dangerous to keep on going, so he decided to take a rest and wait till it recharged.

  Taking a quick look at his Skill Abilities, he saw that [ Mana Burst ] reached Rank 2. His previous worried state was quickly overshadowed by this discovery, as he couldn’t help but smile. He focused on the Rank up, and there was a slight change to it. It read:

  Manifest a pure form of mana and attack an enemy, up to 25 yards. Uses 5 Mana Points per use, dealing 11 damage to Health Points. (Rank 2)

  His damage increased by 1, and while the upgrade was small, it was still something. All he did was kill one slime. What would happen when he killed ten, and then fifty? He cursed his slow recovery time for his mana, as he checked again and it only filled up 4 points. He waited until he completely recovered his mana, and began walking along the path again.

  Kaz ran into similar Grass Slimes, sometimes they would appear in front of him, and sometimes he would take a slight detour when he spotted them close to the road. On average, it would take three casts of [ Mana Burst ], with some being taken down in two casts. He was getting the feel for the optimal ways to cast, and he realized that while he was casting, he couldn’t move. He now understood why Merin was concerned for him, as he was pretty immobile while casting. For now he was fine, but he hoped that there would be ways around this, maybe a Passive Ability?

  After each slime he took down, he collected their crystals, and found they varied in size and color. He started growing himself a little collection, gathering around a dozen by now. After collecting the crystals, he found that when he sat down and closed his eyes, time seemed to move quicker, and his mana flowed through him easier. It may be hopeful thinking, but he would continue to do it this way as it didn’t affect him in a negative way. Besides the fact that he was closing his eyes in a zone where he could get attacked at any point.

  Earlier, he realized that he could open specific pages of his [ Archive ]. This helped him find info quicker and not be overwhelmed by all the information presented before him. He checked over his [ Skill Abilities ], and saw that his [ Mana Burst ], had gone up to Rank 4. The change followed the same format, and this time his damage was increased to 14.

  Thankfully his Mana Point cost hasn’t gone up yet, so he was hoping it would remain the same, as his mana core could only hold so little mana. He was disappointed in his mana core, because of the low capacity. It made him wonder what was different about him compared to other Gnomes, who usually tended to have a higher Mana Points capacity. He checked his on his Mana Points and did a double take.

  His amount of Mana Points has increased. Before it was 50. Now the number that showed in his silver star was 53. Kaz quickly glanced up in his [ Archive ] and saw that his Resonance had reached 2. He stared at the number 2 that had appeared there. It took him a few moments to process what he was seeing. This time, he didn’t celebrate, now he was just motivated. He decided then and there he would continue killing these slimes whenever he saw them. He then looked over to his Health Points, and that number has also increased, but instead of going up 3 digits like his Mana points, his Health Points only went up 2. His new total was 77, but he didn’t care too much about it, as he didn’t take a single point of damage this whole time.

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Kaz continued walking and for the first time, actually took in his surroundings. Before, he was too focused on every sound and movement he saw, his survival instincts shouting at him to be on edge. He first looked at the road he was currently walking on. It was densely packed dirt, but it was relatively smooth, with the occasional dip here and there, probably due to rain and other natural elements. The road was just wide enough for a wagon to pass through, but he realized the wagons that had passed him didn’t leave an indent on the road.

  While he was in the forest, there was a decent amount of sunlight, especially along the road. There was around a dozen feet of space between the side of the road to the tree line, and there were shrubs and tall grass that occupied the area, but they a lot easier to look through to scan for monsters. The trees were quite large and had plenty of leaves. The branches also looked thick, and they were quite plentiful, so he decided he might try to sleep in the trees, as he has always been a decent climber. The leaves were a dark green, the same with all the grass and shrubs of the area, and the bark was a bit grayish, which contrasted nicely to the dark green leaves. If he was a Painter, he would definitely be inspired to make an artwork of these scenes.

  He walked along, and then out of nowhere, a giant Grass Slime jumped into his path. The slime was a dark green and it came up to his knees. He didn’t freeze or hesitate as he would’ve done earlier, but instead he grinned, eager for a new challenge. He cast [ Mana Blast ], grinning wider as his attack hit the slime. He began casting again, and to his horror, the slime closed the distance to half with one bounce. He composed himself, casting his Ability again. The slime bounced again, closing the distance, as the second attack struck it. The slime was unfazed and appeared right before Kaz. What happened next was a slight wake up call for him. The slime moved over his foot, and he felt a sharp pain on his foot.

  Kaz instinctively kicked the slime, and surprisingly it got launched a few feet away. His foot tingled where the slime covered it. He cast [ Mana Burst ], wincing as the tingling was making his foot a bit numb. After he finished his cast, he quickly took a few steps back, slightly stumbling as his left foot was not fully functioning as it should. After his third attack, the slime didn’t seem to be slowing down, as it flattened itself and prepared to make another leap towards him. He quickly unsheathed his dagger, keeping it ready to strike the slime, just in case if he needed it.

  The slime leaped towards him, but fell a few feet short, and started wiggling towards him. He took a few more steps back, and cast [ Mana Burst ] again. This time, on the fourth hit, the slime seemed to lose a bit of its deep green color and even seemed to lose a fourth of its size. He was sweating immensely, and he wasn’t sure if it was from the physical strain of the small battle, or the mental panic he was going through. Kaz composed himself, and began casting again. He saw his attack fly towards the slime, but something weird happened. The slime split itself in half, making his burst of mana fly through it, not harming the slime.

  After his mana dissipated into the ground, the slime merged back into one. Kaz was flabbergasted, eyes wide in shock. He didn’t know what to do, losing all confidence in this battle even though he was absolutely winning it so far. He grabbed his knife and charged at the slime. The slime wiggled towards him. He lunged towards the slime, and stabbed it. It was weird because his knife hit the slime, but his hand kept on going, and before he knew it, his hand was in the slime. The same pain he felt earlier surged into his arm, causing him to recoil and leave the knife in the slime.

  He fell back onto the ground, grasping his tingling hand with his other one. He quickly rolled away as the slime tried to leap on him. He got to his feet unsteadily, favoring his right foot, as his left still didn’t return back to normal. He quickly cast [ Mana Burst ], hoping that the slime wouldn’t split in half again. Thankfully, as soon as his attack connected, the slime turned into a liquid, and spread out on the ground, defeated. The slime goo disappeared, and a large, deep green crystal appeared, easily weighing more than ten of his previous crystals he collected.

  Kaz felt a massive surge through his mana core, but he was absolutely drained from that last fight. The pain was still lingering, but the shock of experiencing pain was affecting him more than the pain itself. He opened his [ Status ] and looked at his Health Points, seeing that he was down to 63, which means he took 14 points of damage. His mana was drained of course, but that would recover in due time. He was actually curious at how quick his health would regenerate. But what surprised him the most was that his Resonance reached tier 3. Which means that his [ Mana Burst ] must have Ranked up again. His new Mana Points value was 56 and his Health Points went up to 79.

  Kaz opened up his [ Ability Skills ] and saw he reached Rank 6 with his [ Mana Burst ]. Nothing changed as he hoped, only that his damage went up to 15.

  As he rested by the road, a group of travelers, most likely Merchants, were walking by, and they seemed concerned at his state of tiredness, as he was just sprawled out on the grass, still breathing heavily. They checked up on him, but he simply raised a thumbs up at them, and they nodded, continuing on their way. He decided he won’t be traveling much more that day, as the sun was starting to go down, quickly covering the forest in darkness.

  Kaz took a seat near the base of a particularly large tree. He sat up, and closed his eyes, steadying his breathing, trying to feel his mana flow through his body. His adrenaline was starting to wear out, but he wasn’t tired at all. Darkness quickly enveloped the forest, plunging it into the night. He continues his meditative state, calming down and simply waiting for the moment he would be tired enough to fall asleep. After a few moments, something dings in his head, causing him to jump up and search his surroundings.