《Slime Hero Saga》 Chapter 1 - Job Interview Ah, I¡¯m gonna be late for my job interview. First one in four months and I overslept. How typical of me. It is such a good place to work at too. Only two blocks away. The man in his twenties quickly got dressed, skipping breakfast. He squeezed out some toothpaste into his mouth, that he smeared onto his teeth using his tongue. The mint flavor burned, but he endured. He also skipped the toilet. Thankfully, he went once during the night, so it was not an emergency. He rushed out from his two room apartment in a panic, even forgetting to lock the door... He quickly sprinted over to the big company building. Perhaps more accurately; company skyscraper. A big digital clock hung over the entrance. The big red numbers formed into: ''09:25''. Before he entered, he spat out all that toothpaste he squeezed into his mouth, onto the ground. He then spat again, this time into his hand, and rubbed his mouth to get rid any excess toothpaste that may have dried on his lips. Only 5 minutes, no big deal right? Hehe¡­ I¡¯m screwed. A very attractive receptionist sat at the counter. He jogged over, and rang the small silver bell to get her attention. Some may call it a useless action, since she did see him come in, but he felt it was there for a reason. ¡°Where is waiting room B, please? Ah, I¡¯m here for the job interview.¡± She tapped the keyboard a few more times, before turning her head to his direction. ¡°Hmph, you are late. Your name?" She said, and saw the confused look on the man in front of her. "I need to check your identity first. Just hurry up if you want to be there in time." "Ah, yes. Simon. Simon Lime?" She tapped the keyboard a few more times... she looked carefully at her screen, almost squinting, then to Simon, then back at the screen. "Very well, you may pass. You are lucky, the boss is also late. It¡¯s on the third floor, just take the elevator behind me and then follow the signs.¡± He thanked her, and rushed into the elevator, hitting the floor button several times. C¡¯mon, close already! Oh, no! Someone is coming! Quickly shut, you stupid door. An elderly man, wearing a very nice suit entered the building. He whistled a catchy tune and waved to the receptionist, who waved back. He approached the elevator, and could only stare helplessly as the doors shut right in front of him. Their eyes met just before the doors closed, and the elderly man¡¯s gaze caused Simon to feel a chill down his spine. Sorry old man, take the stairs instead. A nice and calming melody played out inside the elevator. It only made Simon feel more stressed. There was a mirror on one of the walls and he adjusted his clothes and hair. His brown hair was short, but the rush in the morning made him unable to shower and could only use some water to control it. It had dried up again, and now the back of his head stood up again. He noticed his white mouth. Ah, shit. Simon spit in his hand again, this time making sure it was actually clean, not filled with left over toothpaste. He quickly rubbed it on his mouth, then wiped it off with his sleeve. Eh, good enough. The doors opened with a ¡®ding¡¯, and he saw the big white arrow, on a black sign, pointing to the right. He followed the corridor and found the door with the letter ''B'' on it. This it is. He opened the door. A faint creak immediately notified everyone in the room that someone was entering. All faces in the room turned to stare at him, causing him to quickly sit down in the first chair by the door. ¡°Huh, just another applicant.¡± ¡°He is late. How disgraceful.¡± ¡°What is he wearing? You should wear a full suit in situations like these.¡± Overhearing some of the mumbling made him feel even worse. He now noticed what kind of clothes the other people in the room wore. Nice suits and dresses all around. Damn, shouldn¡¯t have skimped out on the clothes. Guess jeans, sneakers and my dad¡¯s old suit jacket doesn''t cut it in the real world. At least, I will stand out among the crowd, but maybe not in a good way. After about thirty seconds the door opened again and an elderly man in a very expensive looking suit came in. ¡°Sorry for the wait. I, uh, had some traffic problems.¡± The elderly man looked around in the room, and spotted the elevator thief. Their eyes met, and the elderly man¡¯s lips and eyes twitched, but he recollected himself so quickly, that no one noticed the change in his expression. ¡°Follow me to the interview room.¡± ¡°Wow, was that diamond buttons on his suit?¡± A voice in the group said. Oh no, looks like this is a really snobby place. Not to mention, it was apparently the boss I stole the elevator from. Ah, maybe I could have gained some benefit from riding with him¡­ Or more likely, he would get an even worse first impression from me. The applicants entered the interview room, after the elderly man. The room had no chairs or tables inside. Nothing that seemed to suggest they were actually doing an interview. Instead, the elderly man simply told each applicant to take a glass orb from the crate, that stood in the middle of the room. The glass orbs were palm sized and transparent. What is this? That thought went through everyone''s mind. ¡°I¡¯m sure you got some questions, but for now keep them to yourself. Also, please have an open mind to what I¡¯m about to tell you.¡± ¡°This is no ordinary orb. If you focus on it you can make it glow. That is the first test you must pass.¡± The elderly man, the boss of the company, then picked up an orb, closed his eyes, and demonstrated what he meant. Several gasps were heard amongst the crowd. Wow, is this¡­ magic? Haha, how silly. But, you never know¡­ Simon also decided to try it out. He closed his eyes and tried to feel the orb with his mind. It actually started glowing. All eyes were on him and his orb. ¡°Yes! Yes! Just like that.¡± The elderly man wrinkled his whole face as he smiled. Any ill thoughts about the elevator thief went poof, completely gone. ¡°Well done, son. Now, the rest of you, start trying.¡± ¡°This is impossible.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not working!¡± ¡°This is stupid.¡± Several people complained, and some held the glass orb up towards the lamp light, checking for anything inside them. Some took out their keys, and tapped them against the orb. Almost everyone wore their confusion on their face. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. But just as they were about to throw their orbs away, another orb started glowing. ¡°Oh, another one. Well done!¡± In total, five people managed to get their orbs to glow. ¡°Amazing! Five people at once. With this, we don¡¯t need to keep searching. Ah yes, the rest of you can leave now. You five, go through the door behind me and I will be right with you.¡± ¡°What?! A stupid test like this is all you did?¡± A well-combed, clean-shaven, young man pulled out a paper from the inside of his jacket, and waved it in front of him. ¡°You haven¡¯t even looked at my resum¨¦.¡± ¡°My father is the CEO of one of the biggest companies in the country and when he hears about this¡­.¡± Another said, and pulled out his phone to make angry text messages. Several people voiced their opinions about the test, but they quickly accepted the reality of the situation. Even the most stubborn person in the group didn¡¯t physically resist, and left the building without causing any real trouble. The elderly man entered the room where the five, that passed, waited patiently. ¡°Congratulations on passing the test!¡± He clapped his hands together. ¡°You are all now hired!¡± ¡°Wha-? Really? That¡¯s all it took?¡± One of them said. ¡°Hey, don¡¯t jinx it now. Just be happy for now.¡± Another said. Hmm, this doesn¡¯t feel right. On the job ad, they promised a very high wage, but they never specified the actual work we would do here. ¡°Um, excuse me, but what exactly are we supposed to do?¡± Simon asked. ¡°You will find that out later. For now, let¡¯s introduce ourselves. You may call me Istus. Now you.¡± He pointed with his whole hand at the elevator thief, the one that first passed the test. ¡°Tell me a bit about yourselves too.¡± The man stretched out his old jacket and cleared his throat. ¡°Okay, my name is Simon Lime. Twenty-four years old, had an average life until I finished high school. Then, I lost my parents and have been job hopping ever since. Currently single¡­¡± He said, while looking at the two quite attractive girls in the group. One of the two girls spoke up. She wore a red suit jacket, obviously the female version, with a black skirt. ¡°Um¡­ we don¡¯t need the entire life story, thank you. My name is Helena Ealer. Twenty-three years old. My dad thought I should get out and experience what it¡¯s like to work for your own money, so here I am. Currently single¡­¡± She said, while looking at the attractive man, with perfect fashion sense and a shining pearly white smile, that stood next to her. That person smiled in reply, and began his introduction. ¡°Haha, the more we know about each other, the better. Don¡¯t be afraid to say anything. My name is Andrew Griffin and I¡¯m twenty-three years old and heir to Griffin Inc. Still, this sounded interesting, so I thought, why not, and came here.¡± He said and brushed his hand through his golden hair. But he did not end it there, he continued. ¡°Have been doing some modelling since I was thirteen, was the lead singer in a small band for two years during seventeen and eighteen. Likes to scuba dive, long walks on the beach, romantic dinners at expensive restaurants, shopping, and I¡¯m currently studying at Harvard University, though I¡¯m on a break now. Well, that¡¯s enough for now, but just ask me later, and I will happily answer you.¡± Andrew said and finished his speech with a teeth flashing smile. ¡°Okay, my turn. Name is Sten Tone. Twenty-six and like powerlifting. Next.¡± The largest person in the room said. Being around two meters tall, and twice as wide as a normal person, he was quite intimidating. As he finished talking, he crossed his arms over his chest, and the jacket he wore creaked at the seams. ¡°¡­. Oh, my turn.¡± She fidgeted with her hands, and spoke softly. ¡°Um, my name is Anne Rebecca Cher, I¡¯m twenty-two. Likes to read, and don¡¯t like to go outside much. Not sure what else to say¡­¡± Istus nodded. ¡°Very well. That will do for now, I¡¯m sure you will get to know each other a lot better soon. Now, come with me. We are going to the top of this building. The tenth floor. There is one last thing to do.¡± Istus quickly walked out of the room, with the other five, following behind him with confused faces. They arrived at the top floor, and entered the room. The sight they saw as the door opened, shocked them. Instead of normal lamps, the only source of light in the room came from candles. Most of the candles sat on the floor, on a weird circle pattern, drawn in chalk, that they didn¡¯t recognize. The windowless room and the dark red, almost blood-colored walls didn''t help with the atmosphere. ¡°Um¡­ what is going on here?¡± Andrew said. The girls hid behind the mountain of muscles, called Sten, and the sight shocked Simon so much he almost forgot to breathe. Istus laughed and tried to calm them. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. It¡¯s just like the glass orb test. It seemed weird at first, didn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s true, I guess.¡± Andrew, nodding to himself, couldn¡¯t help but admit that he was very sceptical at first. Indeed, the very successful glass orb test granted them this ''opportunity'', whatever that meant. ¡°Now, stand in each of these five smaller circles, on the outside of this bigger circle. Careful not to touch the lines, or you might damage it, which means I would have to repair it, and waste my own and your time.¡± The party of five, carefully stepped inside the circles. Simon bent down, and looked at the circles closer. Hmm.. I have never seen such symbols before. Is this a magic circle? No, that can¡¯t be¡­. surely, that¡¯s impossible... Istus stepped inside, into the middle of the circle, and started chanting something in a completely unknown language. ¡°What is going on? What is he saying?¡± Helena asked with a nervous voice. ¡°Do- don¡¯t worry, Helena. As long as I, Andrew Griffin, is here I won¡¯t let anything happen to you.¡± Andrew puffed out his chest in pride. While in good shape, he was not even close to Sten''s level. Suddenly, the circles started to glow. The light rose to the ceiling and an invisible force restricted their movements. ¡°Argh! Can¡¯t move my body!¡± Sten shouted. Then everything went white. Chapter 2 - Transformation In the human town Istaria, in the Great Temple of Istus, surrounded by several cloaked figures, laid five unmoving bodies. The bodies wore a simple robe, grey in color. Advanced magic circles covered the stone floor. ¡°It worked!¡± A voice shouted out. ¡°It¡¯s still too early to celebrate, acolyte.¡± A man said. He wore a dark blue golden embroidered robe. Several beads of sweat dripped into his eyes, from his forehead, but he didn¡¯t avert his gaze from the five bodies on the floor. ¡°Yes, Master Riest.¡± The acolyte answered. The acolyte wore their standard dark green robe. Peter Riest had after many years of hard work, finally risen to the rank ''Head Priest'' in the Great Temple of Istus. The number of people higher ranked them him, could now be counted on one hand. The night before, he suddenly received a vision in a dream. In it, he met the patron god of his temple, Istus, who told him to prepare a summoning circle. Istus also told him exactly how to write it and when to active it. The technique of the circle weaving was beyond anything he, or anyone else he consulted, had ever seen before, but he didn¡¯t doubt his god and did as told. It was not the first time he met Istus in a dream. Istus appeared once before, when he was younger and lost in life. In that dream, Istus suggested that he became a priest. Apparently, his natural talent for the job was off the scale, like he was born for it. Now, all we can do is wait. We have done our part of the job. Suddenly, the bodies started hovering in the air, about thirty centimeters off the ground. Their mouths and eyes flung open, and started glowing, like a miniature sun suddenly appeared inside their heads. ¡°What! Master, what is happening?!¡± An acolyte shouted out in panic. ¡°Calm down, this is what we waited for all along. Lord Istus have completed his work and now is the time to celebrate.¡± Peter said, and finally wiped his brow, to get rid of the sweat. The glowing stopped and the bodies instantly fell down on the ground. ¡°Carry them, carefully, to the beds we have prepared in the main hall. Prepare some soup for them when they wake up. It shouldn¡¯t take long.¡± Peter commanded the acolytes, who immediately got to work. Peter wore a rare smile on his face. They just did the impossible, something unique. Successfully summon a being from another world. Sure, others tried before, but they lacked one crucial thing. The help from a god. The summoning spell could easily summon the flesh, however, it couldn¡¯t transfer the soul. Every attempt before, simply resulted in a dead husk. The glowing part, something that never happened for any other summoning, was when Istus transferred their souls back into their bodies. *** Five hours later, they all started to wake up. Andrew regained his consciousness first. ¡°Ugh, where am I? What happened?¡± He tried to get up, but only managed a few centimeters, before falling back down. His hand covered his mouth, as he almost threw up, but he thankfully managed to suppress it. Would not be much of a hero''s awakening if the first thing they did was to throw up. ¡°Welcome to Istaria, hero. We will answer your questions after the others wake up. No point in repeating the same things several times.¡± A strange middle-aged man said, wearing a dark blue robe, embroidered with circular patterns with gold thread. Andrew made another attempt to get up. ¡°But I-¡± The middle-aged man pressed Andrew back down to his bed. ¡°Have patience. For now, rest.¡± All the newly summoned heroes woke up about ten minutes later. ¡°Now that you are all awake. Welcome to Istaria, heroes. My name is Peter Riest and I¡¯m the head priest at this temple. We summoned you to fight against a great evil and-¡± ¡°Heroes? What? Fight against evil?! Hold on, I don¡¯t know about Sten, but I sure as hell can¡¯t fight.¡± Simon interrupted. The others waited for the priest to continue. ¡°Well, you are no heroes yet, I guess, and please calm down. There will be plenty of time to prepare yourself, and you are most likely different from before. I will skip the explanation for now, and just show you what you need to know. Say ¡®STATUS¡¯ out loud.¡± They looked at each other and then quietly said status to themselves. ¡°Wow! Is this a game? VRMMO? Though that doesn¡¯t exist yet. Aha, maybe that mysterious company was developing it.¡± Andrew said. ¡°Hmm yes, I have read a lot of books with that theme.¡± Anne said. Simon¡¯s mind was in chaos. Mixed feelings. To be forcefully placed here and never see his old world, or the joy of having a status window. Those two thoughts fought in his head. However, it didn¡¯t take long for a winner to emerge. This is...amazing. How long haven¡¯t I wished for something like this? ¡°Hmph, a game? Don¡¯t really play any games. But, this seems different from the games I have seen. Can still move my body.¡± Sten said and flexed his biceps. Continuing his explanation, Peter said: ¡°As you can see, this displays your personal information, so you can track how your progress is going. It¡¯s also a way to identify yourselves, since it can¡¯t be faked. Everyone that¡¯s blessed by the gods gets one. Which pretty much means everyone, except the mindless monsters, and some other exceptions...¡± ¡°It was given to us by the gods around sixty years ago, to help in the fight against the Swarm. While it gave us no power on its own, it gave our warriors bigger motivation to train. You would be surprised what some people would do for just one more point in a stat. However, the most important benefit this has given us, is an easy way to see the personal skills and talents, like magical talent, of every person. The amount of poor people slaving away on the farms with magical talent was shocking. We quickly gained thousands of new mages and could turn the war to our favor.¡± Peter stopped and pondered for a moment. ¡°It also gave us many benefits away from the battlefield. Any injuries and diseases would be recorded, so treating people got a lot easier. Any serious crimes you did would be recorded on it, so certain crimes quickly plummeted in popularity. We even caught many of the most wanted criminals, some even hiding in plain sight. It also revealed a lot of corruption amongst the nobility. Overall, the cities are a lot safer than before. Anyway, enough about that¡­ since you are clearly not listening anymore.¡± Peter clapped his hands to get their attention again and said: ¡°Tell me, what is on yours. I¡¯m very curious what kind of stats, an off-worlder like you, would have. Ah, before that, I should probably explain to you what they mean.¡± ¡°Actually, we use the same ones where we come from¡­¡± Sten said. ¡°What? Really? I know the terms are translated, no matter what language you speak, but some of these have a very specific meaning that you should not know about.¡± ¡°Yep.¡± Sten got up and demonstrated many of the movements. He didn¡¯t have any bar or something like that, so he simply did them in the air. ¡°Wow, you got the same as us? What are the odds of that¡­ actually, since we are both humans, probably quite high. Only so many moves a human can do, after all.¡± Peter nodded. It made sense when he thought about it. ¡°What is the average person''s stats like?¡± Simon asked. ¡°Even the average, untrained human got varied stats, because everyone is born with different strengths and weaknesses, you know. The work you do will affect it a lot. A farmer will be more fit than the librarian, but the librarian is probably smarter. But the average person have no titles or special skills.¡± Peter replied. Simon guessed as much. Looking over his status screen, Simon noticed that his stats were almost all the same, even in things that made no sense. However, something special caught his eye. Three skills and one title. He touched the blue transparent window that floated in front of him. It was actually solid, like a piece of paper, until he applied more pressure, and his finger went through. It seemed unharmed by his actions though. Are these buttons¡­?
IdentityName:Simon LimeAge:24yearsGender:MaleRace:Human
StrengthSquat:10kilogramsDeadlift:10kilogramsBenchpress:10kilogramsPullup:10times
EnduranceRun 100meters: 10secondsRun 10kilometers: 10minutesSwim 100meters: 10secondsSwim 10kilometers: 10minutes
MindRead 1000words: 10minutesWrite 1000 words: 10minutesIQ:10points
HealthDiseases:NoneInjury:NoneHeight:10centimetersWeight:10kilograms
FlexibilityJumping length: 10metersJumping height: 10centimetersDo a split:No
Weapon AbilityNone
Magic TalentNone
TitlesSummoned from another world
SkillsBlessing of IstusUnknown Body PotentialTransformation
He pressed his finger on the title and skills, to gain more information.
Title: Summoned from another world. Hero class. Language comprehension. Other effects might unlock later.
Blessing of Istus. Passive. 100% faster learning progress of skills and spells. All stats increase 100% faster. Advanced version.
Unknown Body Potential. Passive. Due to being new to this world, your body potential is unknown and it will take time for your status card to adapt. Until then, accuracy is not guaranteed.
Transformation. Active. The skill to transform your body into something else. It¡¯s unknown what you transform into, until first use.
¡°Well, I got some very odd stats, but I got three skills. Blessing of Istus, Unknown Body Potential, Transformation. And a title. What about you others?¡± Andrew started: ¡°Yep, I got the same as you.¡± ¡°Same.¡± Sten said. Helena said: ¡°I don¡¯t have transformation but I have Light Magic Blessing. Gives 100% effect on all light magic spells.¡± ¡°I got neither of those two. I have summon weapon. Summons a suitable weapon for the caster. What type is unknown until first use.¡± Anne said. ¡°Humm, that¡¯s... quite good.¡± Peter said while trying to keep a neutral face. Peter made a throat clearing sound to focus himself. ¡°Transformation magic is rare, especially with humans. What kind is impossible to know until you use it and then you can only transform into that type. 100% effect on all light magic is amazing. Your healing spells will be twice as effective. Light magic is also rare. Outside of the temples, almost nobody have any talent for it. It''s a shame really. It''s the most useful one, in my opinion. Summoning a weapon is an interesting spell. It¡¯s a magic weapon and usually an extremely good one. I have never heard of the other skills, can you let me see them more closely? Ah, just click that share button on the status and other people can see it. You can also turn off irrelevant info such as gender, age or things you want to hide.¡± Several blue windows popped in front of Peter. ¡°Hmm, interesting. You also got a language skill. My worrying was for nothing, it seems. Before you arrived, I prepared some teachers, the ones that teach our kids, to teach you our spoken language. But can you read? The translated words in the status are easy to understand for you, but I¡¯m talking about our actual written language. We can teach you that later, if you want. Hero class is an extremely rare class. It¡¯s usually given by the gods as reward for doing a great deed. The Blessing of Istus will make many people jealous so don¡¯t spread that around.¡± After Peter had read the information, he closed the windows, one by one. ¡°For now, let me take you to your rooms. We will bring you some soup incase you are hungry. Even if not, you should still eat something. It¡¯s getting late now, even though you just woke up, try to sleep some.¡± Peter thought about the things he told them. Was there something else? Peter eyes flashed as he remembered a very important thing. ¡°Ah yes, don¡¯t under any circumstances try out your new abilities. Especially you three, with transformation. You might turn into a fly and get smacked, or turn into a giant creature and destroy the temple. Don¡¯t summon any weapons either. Tomorrow, we will start to slowly teach you what you need to know.¡± The group of five followed Peter to their rooms. They walked through hallways lined with paintings and sculptures. The temple was very rich, and they clearly liked to show it. ¡°Wow, so many decorations¡­ Even the statues are wearing gold armor¡­ Wow, a crystal chandelier!¡± Simon, who never lived with much luxury, could not help himself from praising the temple out loud. ¡°Of course, this is the Great Temple of Istus, after all. Our motto is, don¡¯t hide it, show it. It refers to both our military might and wealth. We will treat you well here, and later, you shall receive a royal welcoming from the kingdom, as you rightfully deserve. Ah, here we are. Your own corridor.¡± Peter stopped and turned to face them. He made a slight bow, while clasping his hands. ¡°Well, I said we would treat you well here, but for tonight, please accept my humble apology for your quarters. Your arrival was quite sudden and we only have this area clear from people who might disturb you. This is where the acolytes sleep. Tomorrow, we will arrange a better place to live.¡± The group had felt the tiredness creeping into their bodies as they walked, and only wanted to lay down on a bed, so no one argued about the rooms. All rooms looked the same. A basic room with a wooden desk, chair and a bed. Thankfully, the mattress was decent. Simon was afraid it would be made of straw or something like that. Simon sat down on the bed. It was quite comfy, and the temptation to lay down was too much to resist. He pulled up the cover to his neck and started thinking about his situation. What is going on? Is this truly a game? Feels too real¡­ way too real. Ow.. yep, even pain is the same. Simon pinched himself, but it felt just like it always did. He tried to find a way to get access to the menu or logout. ¡°Menu!¡± ¡­ ¡°Logout!¡± ¡­ That didn¡¯t work. Maybe it¡¯s real? They did those weird things in real life. Simon sighed. No point thinking about it. Best just to treat it like real life. *knock knock* ¡°Some soup for you, sir.¡± A female voice came from the other side of the door. ¡°Um, come in.¡± Simon quickly got up from the bed, and stood up beside it. He adjusted his clothing. Ah, where did these clothes come from? I¡¯m naked underneath this robe? Wait, my old clothes, where did they go? While Simon was deep in thought, the door suddenly opened and one of the acolytes came in, carrying a tray with a bowl of steaming hot soup on. After putting it down on the desk, she said goodbye and left again. While Simon inspected the soup, she quietly walked back out, and closed the door. Only the click the door made as it closed, alerted Simon that she had already left. Damn, wanted to ask her what kind of soup it is... The soup smelled amazing. Maybe the roaring hunger in his stomach made the soup look and smell a lot better than normal, or maybe it was just a really good soup. Hot steam rose up from the soup, making it clear that they just finished cooking it, pouring it straight from the pot. Or maybe they just reheated it. Simon''s unexpected hunger allowed him to eat all of it, in record speed. Though, he had to blow cool air on the wooden spoon for a few seconds every time. The bowl was some kind of porcelain. Similar to modern bowls, but with gold lined edges. Actual gold, not just gold color. The soup contained both meat and vegetables. They got summoned to a different planet, different world, perhaps even different universe, since there are actual gods in this place, logic dictates that the ingredients couldn''t be what grew back on Earth, but Simon still thought they tasted like normal. He couldn''t tell exactly what kind, because of the finely chopped ingredients, but they were just as colorful as the vegetables he knew from back home. And the meat tasted just like chicken, both in taste and texture. In the end, it filled him up quite nicely. Now what? Sleep? Exercise some first? I¡¯m kinda curious about the stat gains. If they work like our world, then it will take a long time to get even +1 in any of the Strength stats, but since I got a 100% bonus to it, there might be some magic involved. He decided to try it. Not like working out have any real downsides anyway. Thirty minutes later, after several set of push ups and bodyweight squats and a few other things he could come up with, something happened.
Squat +1
¡°Hey, it worked!¡± The blue box, that suddenly popped up, startled Simon at first, but joy quickly overtook him. After he calmed down, he started to think more deeply about it. An old habit of his kicked in, talking with himself when he was alone. Thankfully, he could control it well enough, so he only did it when he knew no one could hear him. Simon did some slow squats, to try to see if he noticed anything different. ¡°Did I actually gain some strength? Feels the same. If someone like Sten did this workout, would he even gain anything? Since he pretty much reached his natural body limits already. Or did I just catch up to my current body? Did the status simply adjust itself after learning more about my body?¡± ¡°So many questions, but no answers. For now, I¡¯m just gonna sleep. No point over thinking it.¡± Simon went back to bed. He was a bit sweaty from the exercise, but he didn¡¯t see any way to wash himself, and he didn¡¯t want to leave the room, and ask someone for such a small matter. The world turned into darkness... *Knock Knock* Simon woke up from the sound of knocking. It took him a moment to remember yesterday''s events. Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. ¡°Are you awake? Master Riest asked me to wake you up. He wishes to see all of you in the training hall in one hour. I brought some food for you and some water if you wish to clean up a bit. I also brought a change of clothes that will be easier to train in.¡± A male voice from the other side of the door said. ¡°Thank you. Please come in.¡± Simon jumped out of the bed. Any traces of tiredness disappeared when he heard the voice. He would soon train, perhaps even see magic. Who would want to miss that? The simple meal consisted of bread, a bowl of grapes, a tomato and two apples. A jug of water to drink. At least, that¡¯s what Simon called them. He could only go by what they looked like and how they tasted, but Simon was no expert. After he ate, he washed his face and changed his clothes to the new pants and shirt. Brown leather pants, with a white cotton shirt. No underwear¡­ slightly disturbing, but he could manage without them. For now. A pair of sandal shoes, similar to the type that the romans used, made of leather and strings. Again, Simon made up the type of materials in his head. The guide waited outside the room, and when Simon came out, he told Simon to follow him to the training hall. The guide led Simon to a large dirt field. Wooden dummies, straw dummies and archery targets lined the sides. They stored the hundreds of practise weapons in shelves, barrels and crates. The real surprise came from the fact that such a luxurious temple had such large open areas. How big was the temple in the first place? When the group of five finally gathered, Peter started his explanation. ¡°Okay, now that you are all here, let me continue my explanation from yesterday. The god Istus contacted me to prepare a summoning circle and you are what came out. I don¡¯t know for what purpose he brought you here, but I can only assume it¡¯s because evil is up to something again.¡± Peter explained. ¡°Istus? Hey, isn¡¯t that the name of the old guy from the company?? He made himself a god? Well, I guess the devs are gods here.¡± Andrew said. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t be so quick to assume it¡¯s a game, Andrew. A lot of weird things happened yesterday.¡± Simon said, causing everyone to stare at him. ¡°Hmm, I don¡¯t know what kind of game you are talking about, but I can assure you that Istus is a god. You are, after all, currently in the Great Temple of Istus. In the human capital of Istaria.¡± Peter said. Helena stared blankly for a moment. ¡°Wait, so you don¡¯t know why we are here? You summoned us for no reason? How irresponsible.¡± Helena said. ¡°Ah, don¡¯t be like that. We just don''t know the reason yet. In time, it will reveal it self.¡± Peter quickly said, holding his hands up, trying to disarm some of the aggressive behavior. Trying to change the subject, Simon said: ¡°By the way, I worked out some yesterday and managed to get plus one in my Squat.¡± ¡°Yep, did the same. Got plus five though.¡± Sten replied. ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°As expected of the chosen ones. Already making great progress.¡± Peter said in earnest praise. ¡°Well, now that I think about it, your status was very odd, so perhaps it is just adjusting itself.¡± Trying to get back on topic, Peter continued. ¡°Yes, anyway, today you will try different weapons and techniques. Then later, we will try your special abilities. As the one with the highest talent in Light magic in the temple, I will personally teach Helena some spells. The others will receive training depending on your results. There is a weapon rack over there. Spend at least ten minutes on each weapon type.¡± Five acolytes arrived. One for each. ¡°These will help you with the fighting techniques, unless, of course, you already know how to fight?¡± Peter observed the group, and they all looked down to the ground. So, our heroes have never fought before? Odd choice for a group of heroes. ¡°Hello, my name is Urt Rainer. Call me Urt. Please be at ease hero, I will teach you everything I know.¡± The one assigned to Simon introduced himself. ¡°Ah, you are the one from this morning? My guide?¡± ¡°Correct, you remembered me.¡± He blushed slightly, and scratched his cheek. ¡°Anyway, go on, pick a weapon. We will go through all, so just take one.¡± Simon started with a simple dagger. Light, easy to handle, and most importantly, the only thing he had any experience with. When Simon saw it, he thought it had a slight resemblance to kitchen knives. ¡°Good choice. Let''s go to the straw dummy first, and train stabbing.¡± The straw dummy looked like a cross. A large vertical bundle and smaller horizontal bundle. Urt showed Simon several stabbing moves. Some direct, facing the target in single combat, while others, more assassin like, relying on stabbing quickly and unseen. ¡°Like this?¡± ¡°No! Like this!¡± ¡°Like this?¡± ¡°No! Like this!¡± Simon did not have much talent with that one. Next was the war hammer. Urt showed Simon an overhead blow. ¡°Now, you try.¡± Simon raised the war hammer with a grunt. The solid wood hammer weighed quite a bit. ¡°Hmmmrg!¡± Swish! The war hammer slipped out from his grip, and flew off, landing ten meters away. ¡°...¡± ¡°...¡± Next was the spear. It went fairly well, but Simon thought it was boring, because Urt kept reminding him it was not a staff to swing around with, but a spear to stab the enemy. The bo staff, well, Simon liked it. Urt only facepalmed. Simon did the moves he saw from TV and games, at least, he thought he did. ¡°Haha, this one is good. C¡¯mon, try to defeat me!¡± Simon challenged Urt to a duel. ¡°Fine, I will use this dagger. You may attack at will.¡± Urt picked up, in comparison to the bo staff, a tiny dagger and took a fighting stance. ¡°Dagger? Your loss¡­¡± Simon swung wildly, each blow making him stagger. He used pure force, and little technique. Urt deflected the staff with ease, with the minimum amount of force needed. Three swings. Urt could not endure any more than that, before he felt the need to end the battle. It was too unsightly to watch a hero fight like that. He let his blade run down the staff, and with an explosive force from his legs, he shot forward and reached Simon in an instant. The dagger placed at Simon¡¯s throat. ¡°I win.¡± Urt grabbed the bo staff and ripped it from Simon¡¯s hands. ¡°Let¡¯s pick another weapon. How about a simple sword and shield?¡± ¡°Sure¡­¡± Simon didn¡¯t know what had happened. One moment he was on the brink of victory, the next moment, a dagger to his throat. On his right, a sword. A cross guard protected his hand and fingers, and the handle felt good in his hand. On his left, a triangular, black painted shield with no decorations, but with rounded edges. Both made of solid wood. Simon compared it to the old medieval europe. Now he just needed some armor, and he would be ready to go. Well, almost. ¡°This feels quite good.¡± Simon did a few test swings, and hid behind his shield, as he fought his imaginary enemy. ¡°Yes, it¡¯s easy to learn, but hard to master. A good fit for you. Now watch me¡­¡± Urt showed Simon how to fight. First was the wilder, block one direction, while fighting in another, mainly used in big chaotic fights. It was quite hard to use, more for the experienced fighter, so they focused more on the defensive formation. The fighting style the kingdom¡¯s shield warriors trained in for the most part. They formed a two-man formation. ¡°Use your imagination. Imagine we are five hundred here. Shoulder to shoulder, shield to shield, and the swords ready to stab at anything that shows an opening.¡± Urt and Simon pretended the straw dummy was the incoming enemy, and stabbed it to pieces. ¡°You can also bash with your shield, like this.¡± Urt showed a shield bash on a dummy. The straw dummy shook violently. ¡°Now, let''s try to block my shield bash. Hold your shield up, and get ready.¡± Urt bashed his shield into Simon¡¯s, several times, until Simon¡¯s defense crumpled and Urt could swoop in with the sword. ¡°Let¡¯s do some real sparring. I will use a two-handed sword, while you use shield and sword.¡± Urt suggested. Simon, feeling good about himself from behind his shield, agreed without hesitation. ¡°Ready when you are.¡± ¡°Huaaa!¡± Urt shouted and swung his two-handed sword overhead, and smashed it against Simon¡¯s raised shield. ¡°How does that feel? That is the power of a real attack!¡± Simon felt his arm go numb, and shook it to wake it up. ¡°Oh, I¡¯m fine¡­¡± While the power was a surprise, he endured it, which made him even more excited. ¡°Again!¡± He said as he smacked his sword against the shield. ¡°Very well.¡± Urt attacked from below, scraping against the shield, and then swung down hard from above. The sound of wood striking wood hurt Simon¡¯s ears, but he gritted his teeth and endured. The sword bounced up in recoil, and now Urt took a step forward, and twisted his body to attack from the side. The swing towards his sword side was too fast for Simon to block with the shield, forcing him to react by pure instinct. In this case, it meant holding up the hand. The hand that clutched the handle. Bony knuckle met the two-handed wooden sword head on. The end result was as expected. ¡°AAAAAH!!¡± Simon rolled on the dirt floor, his hand bleeding profoundly. In his panic, he threw his shield and sword to the ground. ¡°Ah! Are you hurt?¡± Urt rushed over to Simon. He planned to stop his sword before it hit Simon¡¯s waist, but Simon unexpectedly punched the sword with his naked fist. ¡°What the hell does it look like!¡± Simon shouted back, as blood pulsed from his hand. The screams caught everyone''s attention. ¡°Oh, we got an injury. Helena, your first patient have arrived. Just do as I taught you.¡± Peter brought Helena with him as they walked over. While Helena participated in the weapon training, she spent most of the time memorizing a few spells. Simple tier one healing spells, but still effective for most non lethal injuries. Helena crouched down to take a look at the hand. ¡°Simon, what did you do? Your hand is all messed up. You are lucky we got magic, because back home, that hand would be damaged for life. Probably.¡± ¡°Just do something!!¡± Simon said with clenched teeth. Helena took a deep breath. ¡°Chase the ouchie away, and turn that frown upside down. Healing Touch!¡± Helena tapped the injured hand with her fingers, and a golden light spread out over Simon¡¯s hand. The broken bones got back into place and the torn skin closed up. It only took about ten seconds. ¡°Aaa¡­ that feels so good. Holy shit, my hand is fine again!¡± Simon clenched his hand a few times to test it. ¡°Feels just like before, maybe a bit better. My index finger doesn¡¯t hurt when clenching anymore. Maybe I can actually play some of those MOBAs now. I always avoided them because of their massive amount of clicking. Wait, what the hell was that chant?¡± ¡°Sure, that feels like something you should say after getting your hand fixed up.¡± Helena¡¯s face flushed red, and she looked away. Apparently, she felt embarrassed about the chant too. ¡°If you must know, it¡¯s a spell usually used on children when they injure themselves.¡± ¡°Ah, thank you, Helena. Really. Wonder if I can get some magic too?¡± Simon slowly got up. He held out his hand in front of him, still having a hard time to believe what just happened. ¡°Well, your status had no talent for it, but it¡¯s possible your transformation is a magic creature.¡± Peter said. ¡°Well, maybe this should wrap it up. Everyone got a weapon of choice?¡± Everyone nodded or grunted in reply. They trained for a total of three hours, before deciding on their weapons. Simon picked the sword and shield combo. A safe choice, and allowed for both offensive and defensive positions in the party. Easy to use, hard to master, it fit a hero with increased learning capabilities. Sten picked a two-handed war hammer. He used his great strength to smash his targets. As they gathered up, Simon saw the smashed and cracked wooden dummies on the field, and briefly wondered what destroyed them. Turns out, it was Sten. Andrew picked the same as Simon, but mainly because he wanted to become a protector. The knight in shining armor. Another reason was that he didn¡¯t want to get hit by some random arrow, so he picked heavy armor and a shield to hide behind. As Simon listened to Andrews reasons, Simon felt even more that he made the right choice. Less chance of dying was a good bonus. Helena picked a staff. Not a bo staff, but a mage staff. It looked like a walking staff or something like that. A real staff would make her magic better, but the simple wooden practise types had no such function. She didn''t have much choice in the matter, since her main weapon would be a staff later anyway. More importantly, Peter told her, that she would receive a spellbook with several light magic spells recorded inside later. One that could be transformed into a smaller object, like a bracelet, to make it easier to carry around. Anne didn¡¯t pick any, except the extra dagger they all took, because she was going to summon a weapon later. ¡°Good work all, now let¡¯s summon that weapon. We have some mages ready to assist, if something happens. Anne, please stand inside the magic circle and the others stay back a bit. It has a shield function, in case something goes wrong, but you never know.¡± Peter said and directed her towards a large magic circle in the corner of the field. Anne got in position and said: ¡°Summon weapon!¡± A bright light enveloped her, blinding everyone and when they could see again, they all saw that she held a bow in her hands. A black bow with green lines crawling all over it. A large crystal sat in the center of the bow. The edges of the bow had a whirlwind of mana being sucked in, and it created a thin bowstring of mana to release the arrows with. ¡°A bow, huh. I didn¡¯t expect that. What does the skill say now?¡± Peter said. Anne opened the status panel and read what it said. ¡°Summon Weapon. Summons a bow that converts the mana in the air into arrows. Can supply it with your own personal mana supply if needed. Cannot use regular arrows. ¡± She drew the bowstring, and released it, aiming at a nearby target. As she released the string, it sent a small shard of mana into the crystal, and the small mana, only a few centimeters in size, turned into a long and sharp arrow, as it passed through the crystal. She missed her target, but the arrow kept going much farther than any normal arrow, and sunk deeply into a stone wall. ¡°I like it, especially that I don¡¯t have to carry around a bunch of arrows. I have never used a bow before, but I¡¯m sure I¡¯ll get used to it.¡± Anne said happily. She looked fondly on her new bow. Peter had a pale face, and forcefully swallowed down his outburst of emotions, but managed to return to the topic. ¡°...A good weapon. Should we continue with the transformations?¡± Peter asked the three men in the group. ¡°I¡¯ll go first.¡± Andrew said as he walked towards the circle. ¡°Transformation!¡± He shouted. A bright light enveloped Andrew, sticking to his body and changing his form. What they saw shocked everyone. Surprisingly, he transformed into a griffin. White feathers on the head and neck. As they moved down the body, they turned brown, and at about half the body, they stopped, turning into brown, short hair fur. Strong bird legs, with big claws, as front legs. Thick, muscular legs of a lion as back legs. White feathers covered the upper part of the otherwise brown fur tail. The two feather wings on his back folded out, as Andrew tested his new body. However, he was small. Only a meter long, and about half a meter high. ¡°This is¡­ a baby?¡± Was all Peter could manage to say. ¡°Haha, this is amazing! Will take a while to get used to it, but I can¡¯t wait to try out my wings.¡± Andrew said in a completely different voice. Much darker than his usual. Surprisingly, the baby had an adult voice, but no one questioned it, it was not a human after all. No point in using human logic. ¡°Impressive, I guess.¡± Simon said with a hint of jealousy in his voice. ¡°So cool! Can you take me for a... ride later?¡± Helena said with a suggestive smile. ¡°A griffin? Mix of eagle and lion? I feel like that¡¯s slightly better than my bow...¡± Anne muttered. ¡°My turn now!¡± Sten said, as he walked towards the circle. ¡°Transformation!¡± Like before, the light came out and stuck to the body. He began to rapidly grow in size and he surprisingly turned into a stone monster. No, a stone golem. Golems are brain-dead normally, and only follows the simple commands given by their masters. Sten towered over everyone, with an impressive height of around four meters, and at least twice the usual size everywhere else. A normal person could sit on his large shoulders. In fact, the disproportionate size of the upper body, made him look like the poster boy for the ''Don''t skip leg days meme''. He had white, glowing eyes and a white magic circle under his neck. Smaller white runes and symbols on his fists and joints. The stone was smooth on some places, showing human like muscles, while rough on others, showing jagged rocks. Sten picked up his war hammer and smashed himself in the head with it. The war hammer shattered while leaving Sten relatively unharmed. Only half his head shattered. The shattered head revealed the insides of the stone. Tunnels and holes in varied sizes, but nothing wider than a finger. Apparently, it was a porous type of stone. ¡°Hoho, only some damage.¡± Sten, whose head had lost everything above the nose, laughed. His voice was even darker than griffin Andrew, and resounded deep inside everyone¡¯s heads. His mouth didn¡¯t move, no in fact, he had no mouth. He lost his eyes, the only visible human organ he retained, but for some reason, he could still see. Sten''s actions shocked everyone present. Normally, that would completely crush a person. Meat paste, to put it simply. ¡°I¡¯m not healing you, you stupid muscle head.¡± Helena said. ¡°T-try not to smash yourself with any more weapons, okay?¡± Peter said, still trying to gather himself. The others could only shake their heads. ¡°Watch this!¡± Sten shouted and slammed his hand into the ground. The various runes and magic circles on his body glowed, and slowly, but surely, his body repaired itself. However, dirt, taken from the ground, made up the composition of the new head shape, instead of stone, like the rest of his body. ¡°I can repair myself now!¡± ¡°Wow, how did you know? What does your skill say now?¡± Peter said. Sten opened up the status to check. Apparently, he didn¡¯t know about it until now. ¡°Transformation. Transform into a Golem, a being of the earth. If taken damage, you can absorb the materials from the earth and repair yourself. Absorb different materials and change your composition.¡± ¡°Okay, if the muscle head is finally done, it¡¯s my turn.¡± Simon said with confidence. Wonder what I will get. The others got such high-class transformations, surely I won¡¯t be any worse. A dragon perhaps? Serpent? Ogre? Skeleton? Unicorn? Who knows, any of those would be nice. Ah, scratch that, don¡¯t wanna be a unicorn when I think about it... ¡°Transformation!¡± Simon shouted. Chapter 3 - The Result Is... Wait, What Is That? Wow, long time no see. This was the second story I ever made(first was The Swarm) and I recently fixed it up, implementing the things I have learned these last few months, to try and improve it somewhat at least. This story was made to practise the status/stats popups, to prepare for a VRMMO story I wanted to make. Unfortunately, I found out just how much work they were to create. So, this story died off. The VRMMO story was never born either. Recently, they released a way to make easy boxes, so I tried it out, and found it to be acceptable. However, I dropped all the hp/mp/sp things, that only exists in games, and made a slightly more realistic status. It might look weird and useless, but well, not sure how else you would measure many of those things in the real world. In case you are confused about the actual numbers, like 10 IQ, well, don''t be, it''s currently broken for all of them(read, I haven''t bothered to get accurate stats for them yet, since they are still normal humans, with no change from an average person from our world. Just imagine your own numbers there if you really need something). If you are an older reader, I strongly suggest you go back to Chapter 1, and read it again. I have made many changes on it, and you probably doesn''t remember the story anyway. If you feel like that would be too much work, well, at least check out Chapter 2. That one have over doubled in size and have a new character. Chapter 1 is still fairly similar, story wise, and is really just an intro.
The light enveloped Simon. He shrunk and shrunk. Not just in height, but his limbs too. He turned rounder and rounder. The confused onlookers could only stand and wait. What can this possibly be? Finally, it stopped. Sitting in the circle was a¡­ blue blob. Round like a water balloon, about a meter in diameter. A fist-sized black nucleus floated around in the center of the blob. As Simon tried to move, his body simply wiggled or bounced up and down. ¡°Pffuahaha!! A slime!¡± Andrew couldn¡¯t contain himself, and burst into laughter. ¡°Oh... I¡¯m so... sorry, Simon¡­¡± He managed to squeeze out between the laughter attacks. To see a baby griffin rolling around on the ground, with the front claws clamping the beak shut, trying to stop the laughing attacks... Well, it was an odd sight, to say the least. Everyone else covered their mouths with their hands, trying to contain their giggles. Who could blame them? Simon''s transformation was just so unexpected, and the way he bounced and wiggled around, just looked too funny. Even the acolytes and trainers struggled to keep their faces in check. Only one person remained unfazed by the sight. Peter Riest. ¡°Enough! Have some respect!¡± Peter roared out. The sudden outburst managed to silence all the laughing attacks. ¡°Tell me Simon, what does your skill say now?¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°Simon? You can hear me right?¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°Wriggle twice if you can.¡± The slime wriggled twice in response, which caused some mild laughter to spring up again. An angry look from Peter silenced them again. ¡°You can¡¯t speak?¡± The slime wriggled twice once more. ¡°Well, that¡¯s a problem. Hey, Andrew, what is this slime thing you spoke of?¡± ¡°You never heard of a slime? They are common in games and such. Eh¡­¡± Andrew coughed, before continuing. ¡°I mean, they are often mentioned in stories¡­¡± ¡°Oh?¡± Peter raised an eyebrow. He thought for a bit, before saying: ¡°Never heard of them myself. Maybe it¡¯s because you are from another place. Maybe they don¡¯t exist here. What do you know about them?¡± ¡°Well, they are usually weak. They have great adaptability and¡­ not much else. Ask Simon, you know, he is one.¡± Andrew never claimed to be some kind of slime expert. Apart from them being easy to kill in games, he didn¡¯t know much else. Besides its appearance, it might not even be remotely similar to the slimes types Andrew knew about. Better to remain silent, than to risk misinforming everyone. Would be embarrassing if he was wrong. Peter nodded. Indeed, asking Simon, the actual slime, was a much better idea, than to stand around guessing. ¡°Since you can¡¯t talk, just show us for now. You can tell us later.¡± Peter said to Simon. The blue slime rolled off the circle. Apparently that was one way to move the body. It squirted a thin and powerless water beam. Like somebody took a leak. The water beam reached about one meter, until it hit the ground, creating a small puddle of muddy water. Simon maneuvered the water beam to draw a line in the dirt floor. ¡°Oh¡­ that is very¡­ good. You can produce water? Might be very useful, not for combat, but as a support.¡± Peter dug deep to come up with some ways to praise the ability Simon used. ¡°Can you drink the water? Actually, would anyone want to drink it?¡± Anne asked. Simon felt wronged, and put full force into his new ability. He created seven beams of water, making the ground around him wet. ¡°Oh, even more water. Maybe this have some uses, after all.¡± Peter said. ¡°Aren¡¯t I right, everyone?¡± ¡°Uh, yes.¡± Andrew said. ¡°If you say so.¡± Helena said. ¡°Sure.¡± Sten said. Simon felt like they didn¡¯t appreciate him very much, so he started rolling, while water spurted out from him. All over the dirt field. The formerly hard packed dirt field, turned into a muddy field. ¡°Ah, head priest, he is ruining the dirt field!¡± An acolyte ran up to Peter and complained. ¡°Why does it matter? Isn¡¯t it the same as when it rains?¡± Anne asked. She looked up, seeing the open sky. No roof or anything that looked like rain cover. ¡°Actually, no, it¡¯s not. We have a rain barrier on the temple. Actually, it¡¯s a full weather barrier. Wind, smoke, mist, rain, even the harmful beams of the sun are unable to damage the temple area. The training field have been in this state for thousands of years. Now, it¡¯s a muddy plain. Ah, the water even wiped off the magic circles.¡± Peter said with a sigh. He shook his head at their misfortune. However, he didn¡¯t know how to stop Simon either. A few acolytes ran after Simon, trying to grab him, but even if they got close, as soon as they got a grip, he slipped out. Simon seemed to think it was more of a game, than they actually trying to stop him. Simon pretended to not hear their shouts. It wasn¡¯t until Simon shrunk by half and wrinkles formed, slowing him down, that he finally got caught. ¡°Damn you, look at what you have done!¡± The acolyte pulled Simon¡¯s sides, stretching him out like an arm sized rope. All that did, however, was to pull out more water from Simon, squirting it on the acolyte holding him. A dark, wet spot covered his crotch area. ¡°Ah, you bastard!¡± The acolyte that caught him, swung him in the air, then threw him down into an empty crate. ¡°You! Stay there for now!¡± Peter sighed once more. ¡°Call for fire mages! We need to dry this area.¡± He commanded the acolytes, and they immediately ran off. Peter turned to the other four heroes. ¡°Now, the rest of you. You should head back to your rooms. No more training today, it seems. You two, revert the transformation.¡± After a minute of struggling, Andrew gave up and asked: ¡°How do I do that?¡± The question stunned Peter. ¡°Eh? You just¡­ turn it off? Think it in your heads. Or say it, if that helps.¡± ¡°Transformation¡­ off!¡± Andrew shouted. ¡°De-activate! Shut down! Peter! Help!¡± Andrew ran up to Peter and bit his robe, pulling it. It was kinda cute, ignoring the fact that there was a twenty something man inside of the baby griffin. ¡°What is going on?! You can¡¯t get out from your transformation? This¡­ has never happened before. Ah, but don¡¯t worry, it has a maximum of twenty-four hours, then it automatically reverts back, whether you want to or not. Let go!¡± Peter said, as he pulled back the robe from Andrew¡¯s mouth. ¡°Ah, don¡¯t know what came over me, it felt¡­ appropriate.¡± Andrew spit out some of the fabric. His bite created a fist sized hole in Peter¡¯s robe. Peter sighed for the third time in a short period of time. Both his ancient training field and his most precious robe, that he wore for special occasions, like greeting the heroes or when the king or high ranked nobles came to pray at the temple, were now ruined. ¡°Sten? What about you?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Anne, can you put away your bow?¡± Peter said, and hope at least one hero could function like a normal person. Not counting Helena, that did not have any summon or transformation abilities. ¡°Yep, look.¡± She clutched her hand, and the bow imploded into itself, and got sucked into the hand. ¡°Look, I got a tattoo in my hand now.¡± An around five centimeter long tattoo of the bow appeared inside her hand. ¡°Well, that¡¯s good. Yeah, Sten, you are too big. Stay here for now. I can bring some tent for you to live in. The rest, follow me. Let¡¯s pick up a good spell book for Helena. Simon¡­ can stay in the crate for now.¡± Peter led Andrew, Anne and Helena inside the temple. Sten stood still, staring straight forward, his arms hanging by the sides. Seemingly unfazed by the wait. At a glance, one might mistake him for an odd statue. Simon on the other hand¡­ he was very confused. What is going on?! Why did they throw me in here? It¡¯s just a dirt field¡­ Ahh, I only wanted to show them my water manipulation skill. Well, since it never registered as a skill, perhaps I only spit out the water, like you do with your mouth. Or the other thing¡­ No, let¡¯s not think about that... I''m a slime now? Not what I expected, but sure. Slimes have some interesting abilities. What does my transformation skill say now?
Transformation: Transform into a slime, a magical creature. Consume to grow.
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Consume to grow? Anything? Even rotten food? Simon could not find anything to consume, so he let that thought go. The crate covered all sides, making movement, besides a small wiggle room, impossible. He could only see up. Now that he thought about it, how exactly did he see? With just a single organ in the body, how could he do anything? Human logic could not help Simon with understanding the magical slime creature. Simon gave up trying to understand his new form, and started to look for food again. Just like before, he found nothing. Only the crate, which could not be counted as food. Or could it? Simon, as someone who just turned into a new creature, still had all his old habits left and only looked for actual food. Simon decided to wait in his crate in silence, until someone would pick him up. After about half an hour, Simon heard loud voices. Hey, it¡¯s getting kinda hot in here... *** Two fire mages, male and female, arrived to pray at the temple. Both at similar age, the early twenties, and with red hair. They were not acolytes, the ones that trained to become servants of the temples, but simply normal fire mages. They served in the local garrison, and their above average skills in fire magic, earned them quite the reputation amongst the stationed troops. Born and raised in Istaria, they had never left it for more than a day''s travel. They entered the great hall, where a statue of Istus stood. The statue, five meter tall, sculpted with the finest white marble, held a burning torch in the hand. Not a marble torch, but an actual torch. An ancient artifact, given to them by the gods, and as long as the fire burned, the gods would hear their prayers especially clear from this location. Over a hundred people formed a queue, waiting in silence to pray. The two mages sighed as they saw the line, but their determination to pray at the statue overcame their sloth. ¡°Let¡¯s just wait¡­¡± ¡°Yeah, we need to make sure they hear us.¡± It was possible to pray anywhere, after all, it would be too inconvenient to gather at a temple every time one needed to pray to the gods. However, the torch helped to clear the distortions that filled the world. Pray at home, and the prayer would be distorted, and hard to understand. Some gods didn¡¯t bother to focus too much on those. Even though the purpose of the temple was to honor Istus, he allowed everyone to pray here, even the ones that wanted to pray to the other gods. Most religious people took it upon themselves to pray the Great Temple of Istus, at least once in their lifetime. Of course, the ones that lived in Istaria did it more often. There were other special praying temples in the world, but this one was the largest in both size and grandeur. Finally, they arrived at the front of the line. They got down on their knees, and clasped their hands. They bent their heads and closed their eyes. While it was possible to simply say the prayer inside the head, many liked to say it out loud. After such a long wait, standing in line, having finally arrived in front of the magnificent statue of Istus, not many felt the need to hide their prayer. Unless, of course, the person wished for something that most people would frown upon. Like misfortune of others. The male mage went first. ¡°Istus, the god of light, I ask of you, please spice up our lives. The life in the garrison is boring, nothing ever happens. I also wish to enter the royal academy, with my sister, and advance our knowledge about fire magic. Also, please bestow upon us, some awe-inspiring heroes. That is all.¡± He got up and the female mage began. ¡°Great Istus, what he said. Ah, except, change the part about ¡®sister¡¯ to ¡®brother¡¯. Bye.¡± She got up and they nodded to each other. ¡°That should do it. Now all we can do is wait.¡± They began to walk towards the exit. ¡°Fire! Fire mages! Anyone here a fire mage?¡± A group of four green robes acolytes rushed in. Everyone in the room turned towards the acolytes, but after they heard their requirements, they got back to training their patience in silence. Fire mages are not rare, but not common either. Earth and water mages are the top two most common, with the least common being the dark mage. The reason for that is the fact that humans live off the earth and water, but avoids the dark. Or so the wise ones believe. ¡°Here! We! We are!¡± The two siblings rushed forward, waving with their hands. ¡°Me too! Take me!¡± Another split off from the line and rushed forward. ¡°Me, meeee!!¡± A fourth fire mage appeared. ¡°Uh, we just need two. Who should we pick?¡± The acolytes discussed amongst themselves. ¡°Strongest is the best right?¡± ¡°No, we need control, not power.¡± They nodded, that was the best choice. ¡°Let¡¯s have a small competition.¡± One stepped forward. While thin haired, he had a ridiculous comb over to cover his balding head. ¡°Since time is of the essence, the test will be quick and easy. Give acolyte, Al Froman, here a quick and easy haircut.¡± He gestured to the man next to him. Al Froman wore a shocked expression on his face. ¡°No, not my¡­ hair. It¡¯s my pride!¡± His black and fluffy hairstyle was around thirty centimeters thick. Instead of going downwards like normal hair, his hair actually went up, and formed a giant helmet around his head. The balding man slowly shook his head. ¡°Sadly, it¡¯s against the rules. This is good opportunity to get rid of it, don¡¯t you think?¡± Anger flashed in Al¡¯s eyes. ¡°You are just jealous!¡± He spoke very loudly, causing the whole great hall to hear him. ¡°Behave yourself, acolyte! You disgrace yourself in front of the worshippers! We can do this the easy way, or the hard way. Don¡¯t make us restrain you.¡± The balding man glared at Al, who shrunk back, and resigned himself to his fate. The balding man turned to the face the fire mages. ¡°Now, fire mages, you each have one side on his head. The one that gets closest to two centimeters in length, will win.¡± As he said the word ¡®win¡¯, four flames ignited and shot out towards Al¡¯s head. One was a fire beam, and it cut a large hole into the hair, but only a hole. Next was a meter long flame, and it burnt all the way down to the skin, making terrifying burn marks appear on his skin. Al clenched his jaw, but only grunted slightly in response to the pain. The two fire mage siblings formed fire whips out of their flame. The almost white glow of the fire whips showed off their incredible heat. They were the thickness of a finger and the length of the body of the user. While it was possible to extend it, upwards to five meters, that made it weaker and harder to control. Their assignment was to cut the sides of the head, and they swept down with their fire whips, resulting in a quick and accurate slash. As it neared the shoulders, threatening to cause horrific burn marks, the fire mages pulled back their whips. A large portion on the hair fell down from each side. The two crescent shaped clumps of hair were in one piece, not falling apart, even as they hit the floor. The remaining hair on the head was slightly burnt, but the fire faded quickly. The repulsive smell of burnt hair spread out inside the great hall. ¡°Impressive! Let¡¯s see. First, you only made a hole in the hair. Second, you burnt down all the way to his skin, and hurt him. Third, very good, it''s around four centimeters. Fourth, even better, you got three centimeters. We have our winners.¡± ¡°Like a baby¡¯s butt! Smooth Skin!¡± Al healed himself. In contrast to his dark skin, he was actually a light mage, the most common type in the temple. Uneducated commoners sometimes thinks the ones with dark skin have a higher chance to become dark mages, or practise any of the dark arts, however, it has no relation at all. His formerly burnt and disfigured skin, turned back to its former healthy appearance. Al took one last look on the hair on the ground, sighing quietly to himself. That will take time to grow back¡­ goodbye my friends, your sacrifice won¡¯t be in vain. ¡°Now that Al¡¯s hair is more presentable, we must hurry. The explanation will continue as we walk.¡± The balding man walked back the way he came. ¡°Follow me.¡± ¡°We are heading to the training field. It¡¯s made out dirt, and have been in perfect condition for thousands of years. Sadly, we had some trouble with a water creature that squirted water all over the field.¡± ¡°Water creature? It was the hero, Simon!¡± One of the other acolytes said loudly. The siblings stopped in their tracks, a single word echoing in their minds. Hero? They both came to their senses at the same time and shouted out simultaneously: ¡°Hero?!¡± ¡°Ah, yes¡­ That is why I said water creature.¡± He said as he glared at the acolyte that couldn¡¯t keep the secret. ¡°Anyway, yes, there is a hero. Might aswell tell you, there are five of them in total. Don¡¯t ask me about the-¡± ¡°Yes! They are so cooool! A golem, a griffin, an archer, a healer and a slime. Not sure what the last one is, but the griffin said it was a slime. He is the one that poured water on the field!¡± The same acolyte said with great excitement. ¡°Wow!¡± The siblings were too shocked to say much else. The balding man rested his face, more specifically his eyebrows, on his fingertips. ¡°...Now that the entire secret is out¡­ Anyway, your job is to dry the plain. Get it done quickly, there is a new training session in one hour.¡± ¡°Not just that! The golem smashed his head with a training hammer! Guess what happened! The hammer broke! And so did his head! Yet, he was fine!¡± The excited acolyte continued. ¡°Impossible!¡± The siblings were too astonished. Heroes are amazing! ¡°Eh, forget it...¡± The balding man gave up and walked in silence. Once the hero fanatics started talking, there was no stopping them.