Chapter 3: New Area Unlocked

Opening their eyes to the dark and peaceful night, confusion overlapped their thoughts wondering if they only blinked. That was until some of the Slime’s that weren’t there before were watching over the sleeping Slime’s that were gathered. The dark coloured Slime turned towards them and smiled as they softly spoke.

“Mr. Untameable, you checking on us again? Thank you,” it was no doubt who it was. The young Purple Slime. It seems they slept for long periods of time, ‘Why is that? Why do I sleep for so long?’

“You grew again,” it seems the crack in their voice will forever be permanent. Well, that’s fine, they don’t get to talk much which suits them best.

“Yes, we are doing well for ourselves, the monsters are getting closer though and growing in number,” she sounded worried at the mention of the monsters but she was far beyond hiding behind them. ‘She’s so strong now...’

The Purple Slime tilted a bit and asked her question again, “If they do come back, I’m sure you can handle them well. You are so much stronger now that you don’t need to hide behind me anymore, if anything I should be behind you now.”

“Well I did fight a Level 2 Wolf.”

“Huh?”

“A Level 2 Wolvoxur, is something wrong Mr. Untameable?”

“N-no nothing, sorry I was just surprised that you would fight something of such a high level,” they said hoping that they didn’t seem to out of the ordinary. ‘What was that just now? Her voice glitched out as she said the word ‘Wolf’. Was that a foreign word for them? Then why did I hear it?’

“Please, that’s the lowest level. I was told that you fought Dragons!”

“Those monsters, how close are they getting?”

“Oh, well uh not too close but monitoring them they seem to be getting closer. Why? Is there something happening?”

“I’m sure of it... Those monsters are looking for something and what they are looking for is a mystery to me. But we might be in their way and to them we are just weak looking monsters that can be-” seeing the innocent look on her face told them not to continue the thought. If those were who they thought they were, then it is most likely that they will only be used for Experience Points and quick loot. “The best course would be to train more, fighting stronger opponents everyday. Don’t get to complacent, our enemies are always unpredictable.”

“We can handle it we’ll get as strong as you or stronger. Having you here Mr. Untameable is encouraging, I want to work harder.”

“Ah... um...”

“Don’t worry, we’ll take care of it. We can’t have you fight all the tough battles for us like you did when we arrived here. Besides you need rest, you fought for so long now it’s about time for you to save your energy for more important battles.” It seems to them that the lies will continue to grow slowly and consume them until it feels true, “It’s our turn now.”

“I’m just going to stay up for a little while longer,” they said giving in. But they also wanted to check on their Stats. “If you don’t mind?”

“Of course,” the Purple Slime went back to their guard duty. They quickly brought up their Menu and checked everything that needs immediate attention.

- SPEAK: Can Talk to other Entities. (Auto Speak Turned On)

- MERGE: User can Merge with any Entity. (Auto Merge Turned On)

- REST: A State of Rest to Recharge lost Stamina and $$@!&%. (Auto Rest Turned On)

‘Midnight World seems to be broken again, how many Bugs are there in this Game? Well, if it’s a large file then there will be a lot I’m guessing. But if it’s in the early staged of Beta...’ shaking themselves they decided to worry about what they actually have. ‘My Skills updated from Slime’s to Entities. What in the world would want to Merge with a Slime? Also, aside from that one Orange Slime, Merge seems to kill the other...’

Looking up they saw the Orange Slime come up to them and ask to be Merged. They didn’t even have a chance to think about it before the Auto Merge activated.

It seems the Unlocked Skill Points were being used, if the Glitch with the Orange Slime was still active the next time they woke up they hope it was something good that they received. 

Opening their eyes and seeing the different forest before them was startling, there was a long dirt path cut in front of them that lead from a town of some kind. Looking to the other end of the path was raised hills that looked like fresh green waves. The different scenery wasn’t the only thing that was odd, the Slime’s near by wasn’t reacting to the change as they were. Almost like... they were reset.

‘Reset? Did I also get reset? No that’s not right I still remember everything before this great change. Skills!’ Bringing up the green window and waited for the Tabs to show, but it remained a blank green screen.

No Tabs.

No Words...

Just a big empty Green Text Box.

‘What happened? What went wrong this time?’ they exit the window at the sound of quick movements and there they saw a poor Blue Slime being chased down by Players! Upon seeing them the little Slime ran towards them and hid behind them. The Players were right behind them and tried to attack. But the attack bounced off and did no damage to either them or the little one behind them shivering in fear.

“Whoa! You see this? This one can be Tamed!” one of the Players put their sword away for the time being and fished through their Inventory. ‘Lucky...’

“Let’s try and Catch it!” The Blue Slime peeked out and quickly hid again.

“I don’t want to go, make them go away...” the little Slime whimpered.

“Really? Only Tamer’s can have this stupid thing?” furrowing their brows at the Players they wished that they could attack back. If only they can look at what they have to attack with. “What as waste, let’s just kill the other one and get our Quest done with.”

“Not in a million years,” they watched as the Players brought out their weapons again and try and attack the little one they were protecting. But the same thing happened as before, they were happy that as long as they stood between them the Slime won’t get hurt. The Players seeing this decided to go after the Slime’s that were Respawning, ‘Those should be at a time where Player’s won’t get them.’

“Sir,” the little one sounded scared but also relieved.

“Hm?” they softly hummed so that they could feel safer next to them.

“Thank you,” little one stayed close until the Players moved on, “how long will they be here?”

Sighing, they knew that there was no easy answer for this. “I think they’re here to stay... I’m sorry-”

“I don’t want to be here anymore! Is there something that can be done?” There was no answer that can ease their worries, but maybe a quick distraction would help. They had thought on the story they told that Blue Slime, Brave.

“Can I tell you a story?” The little Slime looked up at them and sniffled but nodded.

“Ok.”

“To the Clouds we go-”

“What does that mean?” They haven’t really thought of the words they said as strange but now that it was questioned, it seemed so odd. But it didn’t mean that they didn’t know what it meant.

“It means, ‘Once, long ago’.”

“Why not just say that?”

“Because going to the Clouds sounds so much more fun, doesn’t it? Like travelling a long ways away from here.”

“I like that, To the Clouds we go~” they smiled.

“To the Clouds we go, little one. There was a group of Slime Warriors who travelled far from their old Home-”

“Oh, I know this story!” An Orange Slime bounced up happily from their hiding place. Soon they had more little Slime’s surround them. “But you tell it wrong!”

“I’ve been here for a very long time and I am one of the First Slime’s to make their home here. How I’m telling the story is how it happened and how it was and will always be.” The Orange Slime scowled.

“How old are you? And if you really are a Slime Warrior then how come you don’t fight back?” the little Orange Slime was going to be a pain to talk to, but at least the other little ones were quiet and waiting. Best to cater to the ones that were waiting to hear the story than to entertain the one that was clearly trying to pick a fight.

“To the Clouds we go, there were Four Great Slime Warrior’s. They fought for their home Slime Hope, but the enemy was a powerful Fire Breathing Dragon! Our Strongest Slime Warrior fell and that’s when one of the remaining Warrior’s decided to retreat. The Enemies had them surrounded and they fought through them! Protecting the younger Slime’s as best as they could, the Leader was only but a young Slime themselves. But they lead them through the thick of battles and breaking through with their strength! The young Slime lead them through great Raging Fires of their Home, the columns of Smoke was heartbreaking... One of the Knights of Slime Hope, though they were an enemy now, started fighting the young Slime Leader. They held back that Knight while the survivors rushed to safety on the other side. The two great Slime Warriors clashed their swords for a time until finally one of them Fell.”

“Which one fell?” The attentive Slime’s questioned their eyes large at the exciting story they were telling. They smiled gently at receiving such a positive audience.

“The little Slime Leader,” the gathered Slime’s gasped at the heartbreaking news, but they didn’t finish speaking. “Struck down the Enemy Knight- uh. Calm down, let me finish the rest of the story before you celebrate. There’s more that needs to be heard, After the young Leader rejoined the survivors they were blocked by a river of fire and rock. It surrounded the city now, and with quick thinking the young Leader used their remaining strength to knock down a large tree. Crash! It landed over the river, the Survivors crossed as quickly as they could until only the Leader was left on the other side. The Old Tree was starting to burn and quickly, if they don’t cross now then they’ll be stuck on that side with the monsters that started to head towards them.”

“Why were they taking so long?! Cross!”

“Sounds of growling could be heard behind them, the Slime’s that made it across safely were calling out to their Brave Leader. The tree started to crackle and waiver, the rushing red and black under the tree was hot. They got up on the Tree and raced across, Snap!”

“No!”

“The tree broke in the center! The fire starting to eat the old wood hungrily, they jumped across the gap but...” they looked up from their charges to see the older Slime’s gathering around to listen to their tall tale.

“But what!?”

“Did they not make it?”

“But they were falling back, they did all they could to get them out of danger. Snatch! They were grabbed by one of the older Slime Warrior’s and brought safely across. Once in the safety of the trees they looked back at the burning homes. The only place they could feel safe and protected was now gone in smoke and ash. They stayed there until the last of the embers had eaten their fill of their homes and left the charred to smoke. All of Slime Hope was lost, they knew and with heavy hearts they move on.”

“Where will they go? That can’t be the end!”

“It’s not, do you want to know where they went? The Great Slime Warrior’s?”

“Yeah!”