Chapter 9: Rare situation
"You managed to identify a slime after just looking at it for a few seconds?"
"Yes."
"And then a slime smashed your ass, made you bleed for the first time and then you passed out for a day?"
"...yes."
"You somehow survived that, made a plan, and tamed those slimes to subjugate them? And earned two achievements in the process?"
"That is correct."
She looked at him as if she was looking at some stand up comedian from the first row right after an inappropriate joke.
"Damn… aren't you an amazing crazy bastard?"
"I'm your amazing crazy bastard, if that means anything in this situation."
Then she glared at him for a second for his cringe reply, and rolled her eyes at him.
"Shuddup."
What he told her surely was not something she would hear from any ordinary player playing a VR game for the first time in their life.
It wasn't even something she would hear from the experienced players of the game that had already done many things and passed higher levels.
"A lake with Mana, a strange forest, and a lake that has (Jade Lotus) growing in them. Hmmm… you sure are lucky that there are only slimes in that place."
From what she knew about the unique flowers that he had encountered in that lake, she knew that many dangerous creatures lived in the areas with that kind of herb.
From high level snake monsters to even strong reptiles, araneae, and anthropoids. Waters with Mana attracted all kinds of creatures and basic slimes were only one of them.
"Well… there's a forest there. And the lake seems to be quite big so who knows what I might encounter if I try going away from-."
"Don't be stupid."
The system placed him in that particular spot for a reason.
She did not know why there were only slimes when there should be all kinds of creatures in those waters, but the slimes were much better than any other kind of creatures if he wanted to get past his tutorial without killing anything like he wanted.
"Just stay there, attract the slimes with the slimes that you have tamed, ask them to go around and see if there is anything dangerous out there, and even though you can't communicate with them directly, now that they are your tamed creatures, you should understand a few things that they want to share.
From the sound of it, these slimes are pretty smart so use them and just stay where you are."
She was worried that he would get killed the moment he tried going away from that place.
It was neither safe nor logical. So, as she finished her dinner, she glared at him once more to see if he understood what she was saying.
"I'm not messing around here. If you die and lose this chance, your achievements might get revoked as well."
"But isn't that unlike-."
"I just told you to shut up, did I not?"
Achievements were a special recognition feature of NO.
The system evaluated various actions and the way they were performed in order to reward the players.
Every one of the achievements were unique and special and just having one achievement by the time you reach level-10 was considered a big thing.
Players who have an achievement in their tutorials are called star players with great potential and all the guilds around the many countries keep their eyes on all these possible star players.
"Right. What level are you anyway?"
Achievements awarded achievement boxes. And these achievement boxes were one of the most valuable things for the players as well as the natives of that world.
It was said that the achievements are in fact a way the 'gods' of that world recognize some certain actions of the individuals.
Though, it was not proven just yet.
"I'm (Level-6)? Well, looks like I will reach (Level-10) by the end of the tutorial-."
"Phuuuuuuuuu! What?!"
She was having water, but she ended up spitting nearly all of it on his face.
"You're (Level-6) after taming merely nine slimes?! What the hell were you actually doing! Tell me everything again!"
According to her veteran knowledge, even the people who played hunting tutorials of the highest difficulty and had to hunt hundreds of creatures only reached (Level-6) after defeating tens of creatures.
The Exp requirement for each level increase increased significantly after each level so mathematically, one needed to kill a hundred and fifty slimes of (Level-3) to (Level-6) or a hundred goblins with average (Level-5) or fifty creatures of average level of (Level-6) to reach (Level-6) themselves.
It wasn't easy to level up in this game so even the talented players needed a week of real world time to reach (Level-10). Hardly anyone reached (Level-10) in their tutorials…
But he was saying he casually reached that level after only getting beaten up playing with some little blobs?
Surely, there was something wrong here.
"...what the hell?"
He complied with her orders until now since he was the one in the wrong. But that was not the case anymore.
They were done talking about why he was late and now they were talking about the levels.
"How dare you, you little…"
He first cleaned his face with a blue handkerchief and looked at her with an angry look.
"What are you doing!" He then shouted at her, catching her off guard.
"Sit down."
Then he ordered her to sit back down, and with a still stunned expression, she did as she was told.
"What's so surprising about reaching (Level-6)? It's nothing that surprising anyway."
He looked at her with that angry gaze but, instead of saying anything, she just looked back at him with a blank expression.
Her face was blushing for some reason, but as she continued looking at his unhappy look, she got back to her senses and shook her stupid look.
"Ahem."
With a fake cough, she got back to her serious self and explained to him how it was rare for someone to reach that kind of level after just a few days of playtime that did not involve any kind of killing.
He had only worked with famous creators until now so he did not know the things that common low level players or those who are just starting this game go through, so she told him things that were new to him.
"It's not easy for people to identify something, it's even rare to have a tutorial in that kind of rare place.
Plus if you were to kill those slimes the moment you discovered them, the chances are greater that you would have died from their defensive attacks.
And even if you were to succeed in killing them, the chances of getting Exp to reach that kind of level would be near impossible."
Regardless of their kind or levels, slimes that live on the water surface and eat moss must be lower grade creatures with nothing special about them.
And, even after adding all the experience points that he received for the other things, taming creatures did not give that kind of Exp.
At least, taming simple slimes with the help of some lake moss should not give that much Exp.
"Well, it could just mean that I'm special, right?"
He looked at her with a smirk on his face. One that annoyed her beyond help.
"Of course you're special! Aren't you the protagonist destined to be the hero that saves the world?!" She shouted, and was just about to flip their dining table, when she realized it was a costly piece.
And clenched her fists.
"Damn bastard!" She had put a great ton of time and effort into this game even though she was so smart and was called a genius.
She never had things this easy, she had to struggle to cross every level and gather enough Exp to level up at those lower as well as higher levels… and here he was, saying stuff he was special and shit.
"Bastard…"
She stomped out of the dining room and went straight to their bedroom.
"Haaa…"
He knew now that she was like this, his entire night will be spent consoling her– or fighting with her.
"Fudge."
He knew how sensitive she was when it came to things related to this game and yet he played that prank…
He slammed his foot on the ax himself this time.
And it was going to cost him a happy, peaceful night's rest.
As well as some cuddling.