As soon as Desmond mana ticked to full, again he positioned himself right in front of the next level one slime. With a clear goal in mind, he wasn’t going to waste any time. It was his turn to level up, get strong and be recognised.

  “Create minor portal!” he shouted with confidence.

  -10 mana.

  Again, the poor creature was defenceless against the ridiculous attack. The strategy was brutal, yet Desmond was thankful that the cute creature didn’t scream out in pain. Instead, they seemed to just deflate with a sad look on their face.

  -10 mana.

  Slime level one has died.

  Gained EXP.

  Desmond glanced at the chat window, then to his status. “The first one got me thirty-three percent and this one, ah, the same.” It also seemed he got a tiny bit of experience from opening the portal but it seemed so tiny it didn’t even matter.

  Desmond's expression fell into confusion. “Five percent? Then why am I getting so much? Are slime rare or something?”

  He looked at the final bouncy creatures before him then stared at his character sheet.

  Nothing there hinted at why he was receiving such a large bounty of experience points. “I have no clue guys, any ideas?

  “Passive abilities?” Desmond wondered aloud, then flipped up his hand.

  His spell book materialised and indeed there was a tiny tab to one side. With a nimble finger, he flipped it open, and the page turned, revealing a short list of passive abilities.

  Desmond scratched his chin muttering, “Nothing here about EXP, but it’s good to know.” He kept on reading.

  “Um what?” Desmond stammered, eyeing the long list of weapons he couldn’t wield.

  Desmond sighed. “Yeah, sucks but there’s a bright side...”

  Desmond’s brow bunched as he turned to a box at the bottom of the page. If it weren’t for FluffyDinos comment, he would've completely missed it. “Um, I’m not sure. Let me check.”

  He moved his fingers to scroll down the page and flicked it up.

  “Um, okay?” His mind raced back to the bug he’d experienced when he selected the adventurer class. Maybe this strange box had something to do with it.

  I hope this does not affect me later on, he thought.

  Before Desmond could react, the first slime he had defeated suddenly reappeared right where it had fallen.

  Desmond's eyes widened.

  It wasn't as friendly anymore; in fact, it had grown slightly bigger just as clear, but it no longer bounced with the same enthusiasm. It almost seemed irritated.

  "Wait, what?" Desmond exclaimed, surprised by the slime's unexpected return. Not only that, but even its name had changed.

  "It's Slime level two now," Desmond read, scratching his head in confusion. He couldn't understand why the slime had suddenly decided to level up, but he saw it as a fortunate opportunity to gain more experience points.

  Desmond grinned with determination. He didn’t know what was going on, but he knew it was potentially going to be great.

  "Well, if you want experience, you've got it!” Desmond spoke to himself. He grinned, readying his spell book in preparation to face the upgraded foe.

  His eyes darted towards his character sheet for a second, waiting for the inevitable tick of mana then smiled.

  “Create minor portal!” he declared as soon as he got into position.

  -10 mana.

  The slightly irritable slime squirmed uneasily, causing its transparent body to ripple and shimmer. Its larger size made it look a bit unstable, and the weight seemed to cause the slime to sag inward. He could sense that this new version of the slime would be a tougher opponent, and wasn’t sure how effective the portal was going to be.

  “Come on!”

  -10 mana.

  The slime's gelatinous form quivered, as if preparing itself for an attack. It emitted a low, gurgling sound, a mix of annoyance and determination. Desmond took a step back, getting ready to dodge just in case.

  Just as Desmond thought he should run away, the portal faded, and the slime shrank into a small puddle of goo and its insides dissolved.

  Slime level two has died.

  “Nice!”

  Gained EXP.

  BING!

  A singsong voice echoed all around him as it announced, “Ph0en1x has gained a level!”

  User has left the channel.

  User has left the channel.

  “Um, good night?” Desmond said a little too late. He was far too preoccupied by the stunning revelation of hitting level two.

  He glanced down at his character sheet and noticed something flashing.

  “Assign points?” he mused aloud.

  He thought quickly, analysing his current strengths and weaknesses. He needed to be able to create more portals. Luckily, his mana had slightly increased so maybe he should invest in intelligence, knowing that intelligence usually had a passive bonus to mana stats.

  He shrugged and tried tapping the Intelligence twice. Both times, the number increased, turning his maximum mana by another four. He stared at his mana bar with a grin on his lips.

  Mana 27/31.

  “Nice,” he said to himself. He glanced down at the streaming chat with its viewer count set to zero. Well, it was fun as it lasted, he thought and prepared for the next slime to appear.

  Again, the slime appeared just where he defeated the second level one and again instead of a happy little level slime, he faced yet another level two. And just as before, the irritable clear slime died before him without protest and without a fight.

  Another testament to his powerful yet clearly cheating strategy.

  Slime level two has died.

  Gained EXP.

  “Holy shit balls…” a familiar voice echoed as Clemiticus the adventurer straddled into view. “What kind of move was that? Was that the Pinky portal thingy?”

  “Ah, yeah,” Desmond stuttered at the sudden barrage of questions.

  Clemiticus shot his thumbs up and said, “nice!” He then jabbed the same thumb back to where they had just come and chuckled. We’ve killed a few together, but we’ve run out of stick.”

  “Run out of what?”

  “Stick! Here,” he said, showing Desmond a handle, and the lack thereof stick it originally once was.

  “Those little buggers' insides are acidic or something.”

  Desmond nodded, having just recently experienced what it felt like to touch their insides.

  He turned around, searching the area as a curious thought came to him, “And where's M…”

  Pop!

  “Bloody hell! That stung!” a woman’s voice shouted in the distance as the female elf popped into view.

  “I told her not to punch it,” Clemiticus shrugged. “But our Melly here, she does LOVE to punch things.”

  Desmond watched as the beautiful Elf, garbed in her villagers' attire marched towards a designated spot under the tree and yelled, “The bastards ate my ring!”

  “Could you?” Clemiticus gestured towards the slimes. “Maybe give us a hand? I bet if you retrieve Melly’s ring, she would be very happy.”

  Desmond looked over at the shouting Elf as she kicked dirt into the level one slime's face from afar. She was screaming very colourful obscenities at it.

  At the first meeting, Desmond wasn’t sure he wanted to interact with the two elves, but after the fortuitous class upgrade, he kind of felt indebted to the two. So, he nodded shyly and said, “Sure I’ll help.”

  “Fan, bloody Tastic!” Clemiticus cheered and began to make his way towards the incensed Elf. As they both moved, Desmond became far too engrossed by the way Clemiticus walked. Instead of the normal gate, one would expect from an elf. The man instead skipped as he cut through the grass. For some strange reason, Desmond found himself far too engrossed in the oddball to pay any attention to the slime respawning under the tree he had now left.

  Had he turned around he would’ve seen red text floating above its name. Not only that, but he would’ve also seen its new colour and size. Instead, he leisurely walked far away from both tree and slime to the other side of the beginner level meadow. A place created perfectly for new Elf players.

  Completely oblivious to the new monster hiding in wait.

  Slime level three.