10 The Encounter (PART 3)

"Is this the restaurant?"

"Yep. It's the best one in the city."

The group entered the restaurant.

(This place looks like a regular old family restaurant- except it's filled with people of a different taste. I guess a better example would be a maid cafe filled with cosplayers. Ah, the pleasure of seeing all these people with their distinct appearances just hits differently. It's like showing off your new p2w skin in the world chat.)

Seth remembered that he was looking forward to trying some food in the city. Although the restaurant wasn't what he expected, it was still a vibrant place.

"It's where most of the guild member's eat. It's close and they have good quality food."

Zeal saw them and waved his hand in the air vigorously as the group was looking around.

"I've already reserved a table for us."

The 3 then walked up towards Zeal.

"So he passed the trial of Sycia? Well, sit down with us. Today is my treat!"

The group ordered some food. While ordering food, Seth just asked for the best dish as well as what others would recommend. Since the food would take a while, Seth opened up a topic to talk about.

"Thanks for the treat. By the way, can I ask you guys something?"

"Sure, ask anything."

"It's about the 'sub-specialization'. Does it require a specific weapon equipped to get a sub-specialization? For example- Aila has a sub-specialization as a Priest since she is using a staff."

Zeal didn't expect such a question since he thought that Seth would've known such since he was at a higher level than them.

"No, it doesn't. I'm surprised you didn't know that even though you are at a higher level than us."

"So, I can wield a sword and still get a sub-specialization as a Priest?"

"Yep. Also Zeal, Seth here is from one of the small villages outside the border forest of the Holy Kingdom. Am I right, Seth? I'm also not very familiar with the villages outside the borders of the Holy Kingdom so I guess there are a lot of villages who settle outside of the Holy Kingdom."

"We're adventurers but we mostly accept easy jobs that don't involve much exploring outside the Holy Kingdom anyway."

(Did I even say that I was from the other side of the forest? Oh, was it because of the conversation earlier? I think I remembered lying and telling them I was from a small village on the other side of the city. I think he correlated that to me being from outside the borders of the forest where they met me. I see. Well, it works in my favor so I'll just go with this one.)

"So how did you level up that high?"

"I... I killed monsters."

"Only that? What kind of monsters were you killing."

"With... with the help of a traveling adventurer. Yes, a traveling adventurer came to our village. He took interest in me after seeing that I... was a humanoid. He helped me hunt down monsters far from our village and I leveled up."

"I'm also curious about you being a humanoid. Is everyone in that village a humanoid?"

"I... I also don't know myself. My parents told me that they just found me. I, don't even know who I really am. So I plan to explore this world in hopes to find the answer that I'm looking for."

After Seth told them that, Aila and Gester started tearing up.

"These two are very sensitive to such stories. Don't worry, we won't ask further. Although we also want to explore the world, we promised to stay here in the Holy Kingdom and help the people within it as adventurers. We are good as long as we have enough money to get by."

"I see."

(How far are they taking this deep dive into knowing me? I'm running out of lies to tell. I'm more surprised that they are even buying it. Hopefully, that really was the last one.)

"Yeah, Easy go lucky adventurers! Escort jobs are the best. Am I right, Zeal? Aila?"

"We also made a lot of money from that escort mission earlier so we are good for another week. Hahaha."

"You already got the money from the guild, Zeal?"

"Well, you guys were taking a long time to come here so I just got mine first."

(Must be nice to have a party of friends to talk about stuff. Well, I'll put that into consideration when the time comes. I'll stick with my current goal first in gathering information as well as finding a Dragon to kill. )

"Also, to add to your question earlier about the sub-specialization, normally we can use multiple weapons. But since it is hard to achieve the last form for your mastery trait, humans normally stick with mastering one weapon their whole life while having different sub-specializations. This is so we can have the maximum effect from our weapons while having multiple skills to use from our sub-specializations. Since we are still low-level, we opt to focus on one specialization that correlates well as a team. You'll see that in this Kingdom, most of the adventurers and higher ranking knights would opt to use sub-specialization in correlation to the Holy Kingdom. In fact, it is encouraged to do so to show your loyalty to the Holy Kingdom. Not just the Holy Kingdom, but most of the other countries and nations have this notion."

After a couple of minutes, the food finally arrived. Seth smelled a new aroma that he hasn't smelled before.

"Time to dig in!"

"How do you like the food, Seth? It's pretty good, right?"

"It is! I miss this taste."

Notice: Taste for food acquired.

Notice: The body is adapting to compensate for the lack of required organs.

(What does that mean? I ate those berries even before this, right? Why did it adapt just for animal meat?)

Notice: Berries(found from the mana-rich environment) description- condensed energy sprouted to look like edible plants/fruits to compensate for the overflowing mana of the environment.

Seth opened his character inventory and looked at the description of the berries he picked from the grass fields.

CHARACTER INVENTORY:

Berries Description -a small and red-colored fruit that is shaped like a cherry.

(Where is the rest of the description?)

Notice: Basic descriptions of items in inventory don't include nuances.

(Is it because I'm a humanoid?)

Seth kept pondering on that while eating.

A couple of minutes passed by and they were all full. Since Zeal already got his payment from the guild earlier, He went home to rest. Since they arrived in the royal capital before dawn and didn't get some good sleep, Aila and Gester also planned in going home after showing Seth around the Guild.

The 3 of them then walked towards the guild. They introduced Seth to the receptionist, toured him a bit in the guild hall, and guided him to the library.

"I think this is it, I need some sleep."

"Are you sure you are fine with us leaving you here? Aren't you tired as well?"

"It's fine. I still got plenty of energy left."

The two then left while Seth explored the library. It only took him a minute to get a hold of a map. He tried hard to find a book about Lord Vlad's uprising but couldn't find any.

"I guess it's not a historical event yet so they wouldn't have it in the library. I bet they have confidential records of it hidden by the guild which I can't access anyway."

Seth opened the rolled map and looked at it. He tried his best to memorize the locations of places.

"So the place where I started is called, The Slime Fields. So it really was something related to slimes!"

Notice: Slimes are mana-riched creatures.

(Since I started talking to the system, it had been responding more lately.)

Separating the Slime Fields is the Snake Forest which stretches on the whole southern side of the Holy Kingdom. Enveloping almost all of the covered portion of the Slime Fields are both the Ylleria Mountain ranges as well as the Frozen Mountain of Feris. On the northern side of the Holy Kingdom is the Nation of Iru as well as the Nation of Zan. On the east area of the Holy Kingdom near the Frozen mountain of Feris is the country of wishes. Enveloping the east side of the country are the desert plains of Carabis.

"And this is just the map of the continent, huh."

Seth continued to look at other books about the other continents as well as where to find some dragons.

After a couple of hours, he finally gathered all the important information he needed for the journey.

"So there are three continents. The second continent is ruled by a non-human race. As for the third continent, there is little to be known about it. It is said that expeditions have been made from both continents but nothing returned. No more expeditions have been made by this continent for 25 years until the current date. As for where dragons live, they are commonly found on the mountain ranges. As for ancient dragon lords, they have been in slumber and have not been seen active as of this modern age."

Seth finished off his trip to the library and decided to explore the Capital City in hopes to find some merchants and a shop that sells skill scrolls. He was happy to read earlier that you can learn some specific skills from scrolls.

"From everything that I learn today, I think I can somehow categorize where people can learn skills. First are innate skills- born with. Second, are requirement-based skills- these skills are learned through achieving a specific requirement. Third, are weapon/equipment-based skills- these skills either come with the weapon or the equipment you are wearing. Fourth, are sub-specialization skills- these are skills that are part of the whole skill tree of the sub-specialization. Lastly, are skills you can learn from scrolls."

(Unique skills seem to be in the innate skill category but cannot be learned by anybody.)

"There is one good thing that ties all the categories together and that is they are all tied to requirement-based skills in which you can accidentally acquire the skill without going for sub-specializations or buying scrolls. I guess the sub-specialization is just a guided skill tree so that you aren't overwhelmed that you can learn everything. It guides the user into a false sense of having a class. but in reality, everybody can learn any skill except for Unique Skills."

Seth Laughed a bit after realizing that.

"In other words, I don't need to have a sub-specialization."

(It's like the real world where I came from all over again. We are given the choice to be anything we want but we stick to a specific field once we grow up. Since I want this new life to be a journey, I won't be picky like that. I'll try everything since I have the freedom to do so.)

Seth left the library and went towards the heart of the city in hopes to find a sorcery shop.

"There should be one here around the corner... Oh, found it."

He entered the shop.

"Hello, what do you want to buy?"

"I would like to look at the skill scrolls you have."

"This way, come with me."

The shop owner took Seth underground where the skill scrolls are located.

"Do you have some on the summoning category and something that can help me block attacks? I also need some that can help me boost speed."

"Uhm, we only have 'Summon Dark Shadow lesser' for summoning. As for boosting speed and blocking attacks, We do have 'Agility Boost Greater' as well as a passive skill scroll, 'Guardian (max)'."

"Uhm, I would like to take all of those!"

"Well let me see... hmmm... that will be 2250 gold coins for everything."

"Gold coins? wait a minute..."

(I've been killing slimes a lot. I should've all that gold, right?)

Notice: The user has no currency for trading the items requested.

(WHAT!)

He remembered that since he got there, all he ever got was free stuff. He entered for free. He got a place to stay for free. He was treated to food for free. He didn't have a problem with money.

Notice: Can trade Grass Bermuda Sheet = 50x grass per item for the scrolls.

Notice: Grass Bermuda can only be crafted using special grass rich with mana.

(So it's the same case as those berries, huh? I really am lucky that I started out in the Slime Fields.)

Seth looked at his inventory to see how many Grass Bermuda Sheets can he craft with the grass he has.

Character Inventory:

-3595x grass

Notice: Can craft 71 pieces of Grass Bermuda Sheets.

(Craft 50 Grass Bermuda Sheets)

Crafting 50 Grass Bermuda Sheets is successful.

Character Inventory:

-1095x grass

"Can I exchange 50 Grass Bermuda Sheets for the scrolls?"

"50 Grass Bermuda Sheets? That would be great! I will give you an extra Greater scroll for that amount!"

"Deal."

(These Grass Bermuda Sheets really are expensive, huh?)

Notice: Skill crafters use either a tough monster skin or Grass Bermuda Sheets to create Skill Scrolls.

"Wait, can anyone craft skill scrolls?"

"Skill Scrolls can be crafted only once learned by the crafter. They also need a lot of ingredients to craft the skill scroll and the quality of resources required to craft it escalates depending on the skill's rarity/on how hard is the requirement to learn the skill. With skill scrolls, one can bypass the requirement. That is why even lesser skills still fetch a high price."

Seth then gave the 50x Grass Bermuda Sheets to the shop owner. The shop owner then stepped on a ladder and got the other skill that he promised to give him.

Seth then put the four skill scrolls in his bag in a different pouch from the Slime King's Egg.

Before Seth goes back to the inn where he asked to stay by Lady Alice's courtesy, He went to another shop near the sorcery shop.

(I looked around my items earlier and saw that I can grind the flowers with slime essence to create some dye. But I don't have the color that I want so I'll just buy some.)

He went to a weapon shop and bought some blueish dye color in exchange for 1x Grass Bermuda Sheet. He instantly applied it to his Grass Bermuda Cloak as well as his Grass Bermuda Clothes. Instead of a dark green color from before, his cloak and clothes became a dark blue color with only small hints of a mix of green.

"There, that should be fine. I'll go back to my inn for now and call it a day. I'll go to the blacksmith tomorrow."

He went back to his inn and applied all the skill scrolls that he bought along with the freebie.

NEW SKILLS:

Summon Dark Shadow lesser (1/5):

-Conjures a dark entity made of shadow to fight for the user. Its stats are 25% of the User's stats. Attack type: Magical- Dark

Mana cost: 500+100 every lvl

Duration: 40 secs+5 every lvl

Cooldown: 130 secs -10 every lvl

Agility Boost Greater (1/5):

-Adds 36/39/42/46/50% speed boost to the user respectively per level.

Mana cost: 750

Duration: 15

Cooldown: 45

Passive Skills:

Guardian (Max):

-gives the user a 50% chance to block a 15% of damage from any kind of damage source towards the user.

-gives the user a shield that replenishes every 60 seconds. Shield Hp is equivalent to 20% of the user's hp.

The Triad Spirits Greater (Max):

-Automatically activates when the user is below 50% Hp. Summons 3 spirits around the user for 60 seconds.

Red Spirit:

-Quadruple the innate Hp and Mp Regeneration of the User for 60 seconds.

Blue Spirit:

-Gives a shield equivalent to 45% Hp of the user for 60 seconds. Can be forced to stack with other shields. 200% damage absorption from physical attacks and 150% damage absorption from magical attacks.

Yellow Spirit:

-Buffs the final dmg of the user by an added 25%.- final multiplier.

Title acquired: Skill Collector- Adds 20 vitality and 20 intelligence. Adds 50 attack dmg and 50 magic attack dmg.

CURRENT PROGRESS:

SUMMARY OF STATS:

CHARACTER PROFILE

Race: humanoid, Title: Slime Monarch, Meadow Specialist, Perseverance, Potion Maker, Skill Collector

LVL: 30/100, Skill Points: 6

Hp: 19,000+(7500), Vitality: 300+(80), Mp: 3800+(1500), Intelligence: 300+(80)

SPEED: 50+(10)

Defense: 400+(80), Magical Defense: 250+(50)

Attack Dmg: 800+210(+1250), response time speed: half a second

Magical Attack dmg: 325+115, spell casting speed: 2 seconds

*Grass Bermuda Series is in effect*

SUMMARY OF SKILLS:

CHARACTER SKILLS

active:

Attack Enhancement lesser (1/10)

Defense Enhancement lesser (1/10)

Summon Dark Shadow lesser (1/5)

Camouflage (Max)

Agility Boost Greater (1/5)

passive:

Physical Null lesser (Max)

Precision (Max)

Meditation (Max)

Guardian (Max)

The Triad Spirits Greater (Max)

Unique skill:

AUTO-BATTLE (lvl 10/10) Max

CHARACTER INVENTORY:

-1563x slime essence

-1045x grass

-536x berries

-1x grass spear

-1x Slime King's Essence

-1x Slime King's Crystal Orb

-6x sticky vines

-5x Red Bonica Flower

-9x Deli mushrooms

-7x Suoic Mushrooms

-7x Blue Sea Rose

CHARACTER EQUIPMENT:

GRASS BERMUDA SERIES (3/3): (20% bonus stats from base stats)

-GRASS BERMUDA CLOAK: (2500 flat Hp, 500 flat Mp) -dyed blue

-GRASS BERMUDA CLOTHES: (5000 flat Hp, +1000 flat Mp) -dyed blue

-GRASS BERMUDA SWORD: (+1250 flat attack) - currently equipped for usage

-GRASS BERMUDA BOW: (+1000 flat attack)