The drums of war beat in my mind. As soon as Professor Stargazer is done with her lecture, I’ll get my revenge on that [Skill] stealing slime. Only one person in this world can have [Throw], and that person is going to be me.

  “And that is why you should never use more MP than you have. Now, I’m sure you all had a relaxing weekend and are ready to get back into the Whisperwood Forest. A reminder to keep an eye on the boundaries of the allowed area and be wary of the White Worm. The Dark Elves are tracking its movements, but mistakes can happen. I’ll give you all a couple of minutes to prepare,” Professor Stargazer says as she draws a magic circle on the chalkboard.

  Penelope walks over to Hopper and me. “Ok. You guys remember the plan?” she asks.

  Hopper nods. “Yes. The slime is highly resistant to physical attacks, so use magical attacks.”

  “And I’ll bait it. Like usual. I still don’t understand why I have to be the one who does that,” I say as I let out a big yawn.

  Penelope rolls her eyes. “We talked about this already. For whatever reason, most things target you. You also surprisingly hold your own against stronger opponents. Which makes you optimal bait. Let's not forget your ‘refusal’ to use any [Skill] other than [Throw]. A non-magical attack which the creature is extremely resistant to,” Penelope explains with a hint of annoyance.

  “It’s coming back to me,” I say, remembering the last argument we had that ended in me tuning her out.

  “So, do we think the slime will still be there?” Hopper asks.

  Penelope goes to answer, but I’m faster. “Based on what I know, most creatures who enter a Dungeon rarely leave. Considering that the Dungeon provides them with everything they need, I can see why,” I say, remembering what I read.

  Penelope gives me a surprised look. “That’s… right. How did you know that?”

  “I’m The Chosen One.”

  Hopper shakes his head. “That has nothing to do with this.”

  “Alright, students. I’ll be sending you over now. Be careful,” the professor says as a white glow fills the room.

  As the white glow fades, the low light of the Dungeon replaces it. We split up immediately as the Red Slime slams down from the ceiling. I knew it would try to sneak up on us again.

  With barely a second to react, I watch as it sucks up some rocks from the ground and prepares to throw them back. Seeing that, I stop and spin around to face it. My hands reach for my coin pouch. As the slime bubbles, I stare it down.

  “There’s only enough room in this world for one [Throw] user, and it sure as hells ain't you.”

  The slime bubbles viscously as it fires off a volley of rocks at me. I watch as they race towards me. With expertise I [Throw] pebble after pebble straight towards the volley. Each pebble shatters the thrown rocks before they can even reach me, but the slime doesn’t care. It continues to fire off rock after rock, slowly overwhelming me, or at least it would overwhelm a lesser [Throw] user. Using my [Skill], I switch to diverting the trajectory of the thrown rocks with my pebbles. A rock rushes past my ear, leaving a small nick. Another brushes past my shoulder.

  It’s better at using [Throw] than I thought it would be. I was hoping that I could match its [Skill] with my own, but it seems that I won’t be able to win that way. After all, it has more arms, and it doesn’t get tired as I do, but luckily, it doesn’t seem to be very smart.

  In between heavy breaths, I look at the slime. “The biggest limit of a [Skill] like [Throw] is that you need something to throw,” I say as the barrage suddenly ends, “and it seems like you hit that limit.”

  The Red Slime bubbles as it looks around at its empty surroundings. Without anything to [Throw], it lurches forward with its pseudopods. As its form grows smaller, a single arrow sinks into the slime. The arrow then explodes with ice. The ice grows quickly in the slime. Before it can react, Penelope appears behind the slime with a crackling greatsword. As she cleaves down on the frozen spot, it shatters with a loud clap.

  That should’ve done it, but I don’t think it’ll be that easy.

  As the ice shatters, a good chunk of the slime falls off, but it seems that we didn’t hit the core. Three pseudopods fly towards Penelope. A magical shield appears, blocking two of them, but the third shatters past the shield and straight into Penelope. She’s sent back a good ten feet, almost slamming into the wall. Penelope lets out a deep breath as she looks down at a hole in her stomach.

  Well, Plan A is a bust. I’m not a big fan of Plan B.

  Groaning, I slip on some long-sleeve leather gloves. Hopper sends a volley of arrows that float harmlessly in the slime. I grab the vial of fresh blood in my pocket. The slime starts to head over to Hopper.

  “Oi, you big red blob. Is that all your [Skill] amounts to? No wonder you're stuck on the first floor of this Dungeon. What did the other slimes not like you? I can see why you weak piece of shit,” I say, trying to taunt the slime.

  I’m not entirely sure it can actually understand me.

  The Red Slime suddenly jumps towards me, stretching its form out almost like a blanket of death.

  Oh, it can definitely understand me.

  As the slime descends, my eyes dart around trying to find the core. A small white stone no larger than an orange floats in the slime. There it is. With the slime inches away from me, I slam the vial straight onto its core. The vial shatters on impact. Without much time left, I dive through the thin blanket of acid, gloves first.

  “Now!” I yell out as I quickly fling the gloves off.

  The slime suddenly bursts forth with ice, sending it reeling. Writhing in pain, it bounces all over the place, making it difficult to get a bead on it. In the middle of its thrashing, Penelope appears.

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  “There’s your core,” she says as she cuts clean through the ice, splitting the slime's core in half.

  As soon as she does, the Red Slime flops down on the ground, melting into an acidic puddle.

  Taking a deep breath, I stand back up. “Good work. Next time, I’d rather not have Plan B require me to stuff my hand near or in an acid bubble,” I say.

  “Noted. How’s everyone looking?” Hopper asks.

  Penelope looks down at the burn in her stomach. “I’ve had better days. I should be fine to continue.”

  “I’ve got a couple of cuts and a burn or two, but I’m good to go,” I say, wiping some blood off my face.

  “Alright. I saw some stairs over there. It seems that this room is the only one on this floor,” Hopper explains as he points towards the stairs.

  “Can we talk about how much trouble that slime gave us?” I ask as I sneak a cookie.

  Penelope nods. “The Charlatan is right. If the Dungeon did that to a regular slime, we should be wary as we go deeper. Who knows what else we might run into?”

  Descending down the stairs, I get distracted by the scratches on the wall. Putting my hand up against the scratches, I notice the difference in size. Based on how deep the scratches are, whatever made this is big and strong. Which never bodes well for me.

  Hopper stops as we reach the bottom of the stairs. “There’s something eating? It’s hard to tell what it is. Sound echoes down here,” he says as he nocks an arrow.

  “It’s probably the thing that scratched up these walls,” I say as I unsheathe my new sword.

  Penelope looks down at my blade. “I still don’t know why you insist on using that thing. It can barely cut anything,” she says as her blade shrinks down to suit the smaller room.

  “Just because you couldn’t cut anything with it doesn’t mean I can’t,” I whisper.

  “Quiet. It stopped eating. I don’t hear it anymore. Where did it go?” Hopper asks.

  As Hopper focuses, I look down at the ground and find a gold coin. It must be my lucky day. As I bend over to pick up the coin, the wall explodes. Looking back, I see a large meaty paw that just slammed through where my head was and instead into the wall. Before I can react, Penelope grabs onto my shoulder, and we disappear and reappear at the bottom of the stairs.

  Hopper rushes down the stairs into the small room. “What in the hells is that thing?” he asks.

  “I don’t know. I didn’t get a good look at it. All I saw was claws and fur,” I say, catching my breath.

  “It’s also stealthy. We didn’t even know it was there until it attacked,” Penelope says as she looks around the empty room. “It had to be a [Skill].”

  “And smart to boot. It went after the stronger person first,” I joke, trying to break the tension.

  Hopper keeps an eye on the stairs. “If it’s a [Skill], we’re going to have a hard time seeing it before it attacks again. Unless…”

  “Unless?” I ask.

  Penelope grabs me by the shoulder with an awkward smile. “Unless we know who it’s going to attack next.”

  “What did I say about using me as bait?!” I exclaim.

  As I voice my frustration, I get a bad feeling from behind me. Wasting no time, I swing around with my blade at the ready. The edge of my blade cleanly slices through flesh and bone.

  Now clearly in view, I see a hulking beast covered in white fur. Its claws, or in this claw, is about the size of Penelope's greatsword, and its deformed face is made more of teeth than anything else. Before I can attack, it disappears from view with a puff of white smoke.

  “Is this thing using the same [Skill] as the Krone?” I ask as I look down at the diseased claw on the ground.

  Penelope pokes at the claw. “No. The Krone was using [Invisibility]. This thing is using some sort of teleport [Skill]. Which means this is a White Horror. A Beast with the ability to teleport,” Penelope explains.

  “Great, a big old monster with the ability to appear at will,” I say sarcastically.

  Hopper looks down at the claw. “We might be in luck. Look at how diseased that claw is. It’s suffering from Mana Overload.”

  “Mana what?”

  “Weren’t you listening in class? It’s what happens when you use more MP than you have. Your body starts to burn through your HP instead. It’s not pretty,” Penelope explains as she keeps an eye out.

  “So what? We just have to wait it out?” I ask.

  “That’s certainly one way, but there’s another, easier way. When you’re suffering from Mana Overload, you also get an insatiable urge to ingest MP,” Hopper says.

  Penelope nods. “I see where you're going with this. I’ll bait it. You guys kill it,” she says.

  Confused, I watch as Penelope focuses on her hand. A faint white glow appears in her hands, which slowly becomes a physical orb. Is that MP? I didn’t know you could do that. As if on cue, the White Horror appears right next to Penelope, but before it can attack, an arrow slams straight into its head, and at the same time, I cut clean through its midsection. As the beast falls backwards onto the ground, an overwhelming feeling of nausea runs through me.

  I always hate [Leveling Up]. Why can’t it feel good instead of this?

  “I think we should stop here. We got lucky. I’d rather not test my luck with the rest of this floor,” I say.

  “Agreed. I’m out of MP, and I can hear more creatures further in. Let’s go rest,” Hopper says.

  Penelope stands there in silence.

  “Penelope, everything good?” I ask.

  With a large smile on her lips, she says, “I’m [LvL. 10]! Giants here I come!”

  Oh no.