The massive figure of the Pteranodon cast a huge shadow on the ground that it flew over. Yet despite its massive wings, Flay knew that this dinosaur couldn’t fly but only use its wings to glide over the land. But its size and its powerful strength allowed it to leap and glide over hills.
The shadow drew closer and closer, and both Flay and the gator both trembled in fear.
But the massive shadow of the Pteranodon flew over them. Flay could see the shadow zoom by. Unexpectedly, they were not its target!
BOOM!
The Pteranodon landed elsewhere, and Flay couldn’t see it from the jaws of the gator.
Flay sighed in relief.
“What happened? I thought we goners…!” Flay sighed in relief.
“It didn’t attack us? It’s probably this gator! The Death Mark can’t sense me as I am lodged in this gator's mouth. Its saliva is masking my presence to some degree!”
“So that’s why it didn’t leave! It might have sensed a bit of it, but I can’t tell where it is exactly!” Flay realized.
“Now that I think about it, this is actually a neat place to hide! It's funny how this beast becomes our refuge.” The slime sword laughed.
The gator continued to stay perfectly still. Flay could feel the gator's trembling body inside of the mouth.
“It seems that the Pteranodon really knows that I'm nearby. So your little guess of this gator's saliva hiding us is accurate. It's looking around this place for us. And now this gator is too scared to move!" Flay laughed.
"I guess this buys us more time. I can use Neptune's power on you to slowly heal you.” The Slime sword spoke, and faint water-based magic began to replenish Flay.
Unlike before when Flay was battling in the river, he now was able to sense the power surge in him!”
"Woah! You never told me you had this!"
"I couldn't tell you before. But I used it to heal you when we were in the river.”
“So that’s why I didn’t feel tired! And the wounds I got when I hit that tree also disappeared. I thought it was adrenaline masking my pain…”
“Please rest, and try to recover, master. When your strength recovers, we have to use your attack to kill this thing. I do have a question, Master! you said that you have a level of Rookie-6, right? But I noticed some inconsistencies.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. I’ve heard it all my life. The truth is, I don’t have the strength of a Rookie-6.”
“I noticed.” The slime answered. He had seen the attacks of Flay and knew that Flay had the power that those on the second realm of the Ranks of Power possessed.
“The truth is, I am a dud among tamers. And I am very weak compared to the rest. This is my first time joining the hunt, and while my village has some uses for my hearing ability, my physical strength isn’t much. I even failed the Strength Test before joining this hunt!”
The slime was confused at Flay’s declaration.
“Weak? What do you mean?” The slime asked.
“We’ll just as you’ve noticed. I may be at Rookie-6, but the Brute Power I can wield can’t even reach Rookie-4! The minimum strength requirement to join the hunt was to have Rookie-4. I’ve trained for many years, and even those who are younger than me have gone ahead and joined the hunt! So yes. I actually have a strength of a Rookie-3…” Flay sighed as he recalled even more painful memories.
“I don’t even know why Glum, the master of the Hunt, agreed to let me join. I failed this strength Test for three consecutive years. I thought I ranked up to Rookie-4, but my punches stayed at 3. And this happened again last year when I thought I reached Rookie-5. And a few days ago, I thought I reached Rookie-6.”
“Master… This strength test… How is it done?”
“We use Strength Measuring Stone was placed, and all who wanted to join would have to attack the stone with their strongest punch.”
“A Strength Measuring Stone? I know of that. Rookies use that. It gives off different colors depending on the strength of the punch, right?”
“Yes! Wow. You’re smart.”
“Strength Measuring Stones are among the most primitive ways to test the cultivation of a person. But… you said you’ve never showed strength that surpassed Rookie 3?”
“No.”
“And your last test whole thing happened three days ago?”
“Yes.”
“Then how did you survive the maw of this huge gator? Your strength is not a Rookie-3 or a Rookie-6 Master! It can only be greater than those!”
“What?” Flay was confused.
“Your strength! It’s not a Rookie-3! At least, not now!”
“Aren’t I alive now because of you? Your amazing slime form was sturdy enough not to break at such pressure. You’re the one nearly lodged at this gator’s brain! Sure it was me who aimed for that spot, but it was your sturdy structure that saved me!”
“But I couldn’t have done that if you didn’t reveal a might that resisted the force of the crunching jaw! If you were too weak to hold me up firmly, my sword form would not stab deeply, and we would get crushed!”
“How can a Slime like you know that we would have gotten crushed?”
“Look, I’m sure you noticed that I am a sentient being. I wasn’t always a Slime! I was only reborn as one! So I can roughly gauge the Brute power you have been showing!”
“Maybe it was adrenaline? I could show the power of Rookie 4 or 5 if that’s the case.”
“That’s the thing! Listen, master, you wielded strength which was a realm above! Not Rookie 4, 5, or even 9! That was the strength of an Apprentice! And your form and handling of the sword are that of an Apprentice Swordsman!”
“An Apprentice Swordsman?! You’re crazy! You do understand how strong those guys are, right?”
“Yes. I can tell that my knowledge in this isn’t so different from what you know!”
“Maybe you’ve been sealed too long!”
“No. At most, I’ve been sealed a few decades. I was asleep, but I could tell how much time had passed. But I’m sure that in worlds like this, cultivation should even be weaker than my world.”
“Then let’s review. The Apprentice stage is what they call the stage when someone surpasses the Rookie-9 level. No one in Monster’s Edge is stronger than Apprentice-5. Since our town only has Brute practitioners, the best that Monster's Edge has ever produced, apart from being Tamers, are Apprentice-5 Brute users. And that takes decades of training.”
“And yet you have the strength of someone like that! Your usage of Brute power is also amazing! You even used your Brute Power to envelop my sword form, making me sturdier and sharper! Master, listen. Either you didn’t know how to bring out this power, or something happened these past days that have caused your strength to soar!”
“Are you sure?” Flay asked again.
“I’m positive. I don’t know how I know it, but I’m sure. Your strength is definitely not a Rookie 5! It’s more than double that power! Think back, Master. What might have happened that could have done this?” The slime asked.
“Something that could have raised my strengths?” Flay thought back.
“Wait! That’s it! When I fell into the pool, I lost consciousness! I woke up, and the wounds I got from the mantis were gone! What about you? What was the first thing you remembered?” Flay asked the Slime.
“Nothing much. The moment I woke up, I was already in this small slime form. You were nearby. There were no bones or the slime pool you mentioned. I didn’t see anything else. I waited for you to wake up, and it took about two hours or so…”
Flay was confused and began to glance at his Taming Hand.
“That’s it! It might have to do with the awakening of my Taming arm! You were somehow slumbering in that strange pool form when My hand must have touched you. It could have been the corrosive nature of the pool, but somehow it helped my arm improve!”
“Can you tell me more about your Taming Hand?”
“All members of my Clan are born with this hand. This jewel at the back of our hands tells the strength of our power. Just like the colors used to identify the level of Brute power, this Taming Jewel also reflects our power. Red is the weakest. And then orange, then yellow and then yellow-green, and finally Green. That’s the highest. We haven’t seen a Teal or any shades of Blue-Green born among Tamers. I had a black jewel. It was the first time Tamers saw it. They believed that it was caused to an illness that the mother who gave birth to me suffered from when I was in her womb. But no matter how hard we tried and whatever medicines I tried to take, it was still black, and I can’t create a link to any monsters.”
“And now, it red… So it must have changed when you fell on that pool. Honestly, I still don’t understand how I was that slime pool you described. It doesn’t fit in any magical frameworks I’m familiar with. But we don’t have time to ponder in this mystery.”
“ROAR!” The Pteranodon flew by as his shadow passed through again. It was growing impatient and jumped to another hill.
But even though the Pteranodon was further away, the gator dared not move.
“Since this gator isn’t moving, The Pteranodon should still be nearby. I guess this buys us more time! If you are right, then is it possible for me to kill this beast?”
“Yes.” The slime answered.
Flay had hope for the first time since the gator tried to bite him.
“Then let’s try it. The healing thing you are doing is slow, but I should recover my Brute power again. If I concentrate and use all that force, we could kill it!”
“Yes! And killing this beast will allow me to use another one of my power!”
“You have more than one power?!” Flay was amazed.
“Yes. I haven’t formally introduced myself since the Pteranodon interrupted us. I am Kairo Majekon. A master Alchemist who died and was reborn as a Slime Monster. I was saved by the Eos who took pity on me.”
“The Eos? Aren’t they gods?”
“Yes. They are. And my benefactors and saviors weren’t just any Eos. They were the strongest ones. Master, I hold the power of the Eos Sol System! And that System is now yours!”
“A system?” Flay asked as he heard the term.“Yes. The Eos group known as the Sol were among the strongest members of the Eos. I was bestowed by each of them this power and was ordered to assist a might hero that will rise. They never told me who, but it’s getting more and more obvious that they meant you.”“Me?”“Yes. Your battle instincts allowed you to take a simple ability to stick to stuff and use it to flee a monster that is several Ranks of power greater than you! Not even the heroes that I knew can do what you did!”Suddenly, the gator began to shake as they tried to move around.Flay was stunned as he could feel the gator moving up in the hill.“Stupid gator! It’s moving because it no longer sees the Pteranodon! But I can still hear it!” Flay cursed.
Hope.This was a precious commodity in the village of Flay, especially since the past months have been particularly brutal for the Tamers.But Flay now had great hope. And not just hope, but motivation. He could save his village and lift them out of the cruel injustice and dangers it faced. And it all would start by killing the gator.“So you think that with a sword, my power can reach apprentice swordsman because of my Brute power?” Flay confirmed after hearing Kairo’s various explanations as to why Flay’s strength was not constant.“I’m positive. By the time we reached this pond lands, you already battled across the river, and while I was healing you, it could only do so much because of the Death Mark. Now that the mark has weakened, and my healing abilities have refueled your energy, you should have enough power to kill and stab this gato
Kairo was pondering on the meaning of the vision. Why did he have that vision when he tried to force the power through the mysterious obstruction that stopped him from sending the life essence of the monster core to Flay?What was that vision? His masters talked of Pluton and attacked this person?The logical conclusion was to assume Flay is Pluton.“But that’s impossible! The Eos has the powers of Foreknowledge! They would have known that this Pluton would be here! There must be a deeper mystery!” Kairo began to think and knew that there should be something the Eos had done. Even his awakening was mysterious as it made no sense that he was a slime pool being used by the Pteranodon for whatever reasons.“Kairo? Are you alright?” Flay asked again.Kairo was startled and glanced back to his master. He st
The strange land with many ponds was an unusual place for Flay.The dark of the night was thankfully not a hindrance to Flay, who now could see in the dark with his new strange powers.It had been several minutes since he jumped out of the Pteranodon and sprinted as fast as he could. The creatures had gone into hiding at the appearance of the Pteranodon, and this meant that Flay could make his escape from the region without being detected. And so, Flay bravely traveled through the land, knowing that he could buy himself more time.Using the stars as a guide, Flay began his quick run towards the location of the Camp Site.“The Tamers should still be there! I just hope everyone is safe from the attacks of the Might Wolves!” Flay thought to himself.“Master. We can use the Pteranodon a few more times.” Kairo ad
Kairo began to devour the plants and shrubs that were nearby quickly. It would slowly envelop and digest the plant, and its slime form would change in color. A green coating soon filled it as the leaves of various plants were devoured.But as expected, the Life essence that it got was not even noticeable to Flay when he tried to absorb some.After devouring the second plant, Kairo condensed all the green coating into a small ball. Soon, a large ball was formed, and Kairo spat it out.Flay grabbed the strange green ball. It was slowly starting to melt away.“Mix that into your body, Master. That should hide your scent. It’s plant essence, so it will make you smell like a walking plant. As a result, most monsters should avoid you.”“Great! How about them stamina pills? I need to keep running out of here to avo
The successful plot of Flay led to the angry Pteranodon going after the Midnight Panther, which it saw devour the slime. With an angry Pteranodon chasing the Panther, the entire forest boomed with loud sounds.Flay continued to run through the thick forest, which was now in a state of panic. The booming thunders from the distance and the mighty roar of the Pteranodon could be heard.“Sorry about that. I made you sacrifice quite a bit of your slime. It would take a while for you to recover it, right?” Flay asked.“Yes, Master. I would need to absorb two gators and take all of its energy.”“That much, huh? Sorry. I sort of expected that. But, if the entire concoction that the Pteranodon was brewing was so thick and had several creatures, I knew that a single drop of you would be worth an astronomical value.”
Flay arrived in the oasis and could see the Bewilderbisons feeding on the marsh that grows nearby. The strange thing was that the Kragg Hippose were not alarmed by the heard but welcomed them.“Strange…”“What is it, Master?”“The interaction of these monsters… I thought the Kragg Hippos would get all territorial with a herd of Bewilderbisons approaching since it would mean their food supply would decrease. But the Hippos actually welcomed them!”“What does this mean, Master?”“I don’t know. I should have paid more attention to the classes in the village regarding the Three Hs. In any case, I need to get this green plant essence off me! Otherwise, the hippo or the bison will eat me!”Flay ran and jumped into the water to wash
Kairo couldn’t believe what he had done. It was one thing when he would experiment with the hazardous waste of creatures to create elements; it was another to clean up little nighttime accidents.“Alright. What are my stats?” Flay asked immediately.“...Master. I’m still processing that nightmare.”“That should make you more afraid of what I, your Master, can make you do! But anyway, let’s move on. You’re a slime. You’ve dived down the bowels of beasts, for crying out loud.”
Flay was even more intrigued.He had just shown the entire Beastmaster tribe his ability, yet they were certain he would die.He had just fought against an Expert, and while others were skeptical of his attempts, it was still a very impressive feat.“I guess I shouldn’t press my luck. Besides, there are more important matters at hand… This place has too many enemies. I have to also regain much of my lost strength and awaken the Eos System.” Flay decided. If this Chimera was something so powerful that everyone was convinced he was still inadequate, he would have to pursue other means to gain strength.“What is this… chimera?” Estelle asked in the midst of the angry accusations of Darwood and Trailtree.“My king… That is the beast that we have sealed long ago. The creature who was once sealed at the death of my great grandfather.” Primeroot finally spoke.“Trovine Primeroot… The greatest Beast Master who achieved the impossible and reached beyond Great Expert…” The King recalled.“Yes.
Narood and the other experts and high-level adjuncts returned with a rather confident look on themselves.“It seems you finally are agreeing.” Flay smiled.“We will agree. That staff is too much of a prize for us. But... Instead of Tenscream, we will offer you another beast instead. An Expert just like Tenscream. But, you have to tame it. You are confident of taming them, aren’t you?” Narood smiled.“Hmmm... Depends. I’m not saying that I can tame any and all monsters. There are several that will take a lot of effort.” Flay recalled the monsters he faced in his world. Particularly, the Carcadon.“I wonder if they tamed him?” Flay thought to himself.The strange expression and distant gaze of Flay irritated the beastmasters.“Then since we are all agreed...” Narood smiled.“Go and start taming them. Of course, we will set a time limit. You have five minutes! Show us! Show us how one can be the pack leader of the wolves!” Narood taunted.Everyone gave a curious look at Flay.“Here’s a l
Flay's words caused a great commotion and surprise to all who listened.Zegwood was shocked at Flay's declaration. But as a few seconds passed, the arrogant rookie's implication and demand slowly settled in his head."What?! A mere Rookie demands to take away my Tamed Beast?!""I already took control of it and made it attack you. Why not?" Flay sneered."That...! That was a trick! An evil trick!""So? I have the skill! Has anyone ever controlled your monster apart from yourself?" Flay countered."My monster is linked to my staff! Without the staff, you wouldn't have tamed it!""Did anyone manage to tame your beast using the staff?" Flay asked.There was silence as everyone awkwardly looked at each other.Zegwood was turning blue from holding back his breath and the urge to smack the kid before him."And you were doing a poor job at managing the kennels, I'll tell you that much. The wolves would grow stronger if allowed to roam in the wild. I was only planning to tame a few wolves and
The three generals revealed their power, which made the beastmasters cower.These were the strongest generals who often guarded the walls!But as Kairo had explained, they were actually weaker!Most of the Experts didn't pay much heed to this. After all, the three could have only revealed whatever portion of their power they were comfortable with.Only those who knew of the poison were delighted at how fast the progress was. A few months ago, no changes could be seen. But now, it was becoming increasingly clear."... It's so rare to see all three of you abandon your post. Especially now that the Beast of Dark Savagery lingers outside our walls." Narood answered.His eyes had an arrogance in him, for he knew, soon, he would surpass these three!"The Beast of Dark Savagery has all been slain. Remember their sudden retreat in the last war? They were being summoned. And they were all killed by the Master of that boy you are trying to kill." Holy Knight Galavus answered with certainty.Eve
The people who closed the doors were now panicking to open the gates. They were being forced to keep them closed as one of the prominent beast-taming families gave the orders not to let anyone in. But now, with their lives and families on the line, no one dared to keep the gates closed and be charged with treason.Holy Knight Galavus was famous for the incident known as the Path of Red that occurred in the previous wars against the Joverus Kingdom Alliance.It was here that the power of the Kalenshore Kingdom was revealed.For while the rest practiced magic, they combined it with Brute power and revolutionized warfare.At the center of all this was Holy Knight Galavus, who was the strongest and eventually led the other Experts to his path.When a great battle between the kingdoms happened, an ambush forced the King to retreat.Galavus stayed and fought against several Experts and an army.But his defenses were simply too firm, and his Brute, too powerful that all the magics that struck
Flay continued his casual stroll about the kennels and observed the wolves one at a time.Secretly, Kairo was busy wandering just like a casual slime would and would approach the kennels.But unknown to them, the slime was draining the magic from the kennels as it moved from one place to the other.“Flay!” Darwood shouted as he rushed towards his ally. The rest of the team followed, except Vem.“You are being summoned back.” Darwood spoke.All of them could not look Flay in the eyes after they were all berated for accepting bribes.Flay shrugged and moved with them, but his slimes continued to wander about.No one took any concern of the slimes and walked back.Behind him was the chaos of the ongoing debate.“Where is he?!” An enraged official demanded.“Bring him back here before that troublemaker starts creating more chaos!”“He is here!” Darwood called out.“What’s going on?” Flay asked Darwood.Darwood looked very angry, annoyed at Flay’s casual behavior, and even wandered out.Da
The crowd was silenced by Flay's suggestion.If the Princess was saved, she could clarify everything being discussed."I'm sure she would settle and fix everything here." Flay also added."If it's the princess…" One of the High Adepts thought."The Princess? Why would we bring her here? Is she even the Princess?" The expert that healed Tenscream asked."What do you mean by... that?" Ephesus frowned."We know that within the kingdom, assassinations and infiltrations have happened. The Dark Priest enlists Mimics who have entered this city. Have you tested her to see if she is a mimic?""If you think mere mimics can stand before us and fool us, then we would not have been her guard! Is not Vallenhall with us?" Ephesus challenged."Indeed. Great Experts. I am High Adept Terence. Lava Mage and Formation Specialist. This was a suspicion we had, and I already used an area magic to see whether or not she was the Princess. After all, Mimics are fearful of the fire. But the Princess shot her ma
The fight and even the interruption of the Expert happened so fast.Apart from Ephesus, all of the allies of the Princess were watching from the side.The traitor Vem couldn’t believe what he had just witnessed. He hoped the boy would die, but the battle that transpired before him ended with an Expert down on the ground.If he hadn’t seen it, he wouldn’t have believed that a Rookie was able to bringThe strongest members of the Beast Master clan arrived.Surrounding the few Experts were also members of the tribe's elites. The commotion had caused anyone near to scurry over to see what had happened. The strongest high-level Adepts accompanied the few experts.The Expert, who shouted at Flay and summoned a powerful Brute voice, was startled at his fast reaction.One of the Adepts had moved over to the frog, and by injecting Brute, the energy invading the frog’s heart was dispelled.To hide his secret, Flay stopped pressuring the frog by enslaving it with his Pluton powers. The staff tha
Because of Flay’s innate ability to gauge a person's Brute and Magic energy, Flay could quickly tell where he could land a powerful damage. He knew that Ephesus would go to his defense. He commanded the Cerberus to make a bite on the other leg. The Brute energy was divided between the legs and the arm. And because of this, Flay weakened that part of the body. Flay’s pitiful strength of 12 points, added with 20 points of Brute energy, half of his defenses of 17 points, and 10 points worth of magic, totaled 59 points worth of punch. This attack would be equal to a mid-level apprentice's. It shouldn’t leave damage to the defenses of any average expert. But in that specific scenario, the guard of Zegwood and the natural vulnerability of that area was enough. Had his stat point been three points lower, this attack would not have worked, and if the Expert was in any way more guarded, then his natural Brute could easily defend against it. POW! Flay's fist dug deep into the groin as it