Translator: CinderTL The giant slime’s massive body began to contract, gathering energy once more.
It suddenly leaped into the air, plummeting straight toward Marcus!
Marcus dove forward, barely dodging the giant slime’s attack.
The repeated bursts of speed had strained Marcus’s stamina.
His movements were no longer as agile as before, and the aftershock of the colossal impact left him dizzy and disoriented.
He stumbled backward several steps to regain his balance, but the giant slime was already preparing to unleash another wave of acid!
“Get down!” Zellier’s furious roar echoed in Marcus’s ears.
Without hesitation, Marcus obeyed.
Zellier stepped forward, and the tip of his ashwood staff erupted in a blinding blaze!
The fire dragon art had finished charging!
BOOM!!!
A massive fireball streaked past Marcus’s head, slamming directly into the giant slime!
Direct hit!
The giant slime’s gelatinous body began to boil violently upon contact with the flames, then melted like a candle, dripping away with devastating effectiveness.
But this wasn’t enough.
The slime magic core remained protected within its outer layers, and they needed to burn away the entire outer body!
Zellier furrowed his brow, channeling mana continuously to maintain the fire dragon art’s release.
The crimson light illuminated the entire cavern, even overpowering the glow of the illumination spell.
Zellier could feel his mana reserves draining rapidly.
I have to hold on!
“Aooooooo!!!” The giant slime let out a savage, piercing roar.
Its gray-green gel began to writhe and convulse violently.
The searing heat of the fire dragon art continued relentlessly.
The giant slime tried to escape the flames by charging up a massive leap, but its body was melting far faster than it had anticipated.
The raging fire was infused with magical shockwaves, creating a devastating combination!
After repeated struggles, the slime’s will to escape finally shattered.
As the fire dragon art consumed over half its mass, its greatest weakness—the magic core—was exposed.
The exposed core couldn’t withstand the ferocious heat.
With a final boom, it shattered, extinguishing all life within the giant slime.
The pure, spherical magic core fell to the ground.
The slime’s remaining mass rapidly contracted, shrinking into a shriveled lump of gel.
The party has defeated the giant slime, earning a massive amount of experience points.
Level 3 → Level 4!
Level up!
Only after seeing the kill notification on his status panel did Zellier dare to cut off his mana flow.
The massive fireball gradually extinguished.
He gasped for breath, focusing on calming his body.
Huff…
huff…
This seven-second burst of fire dragon art had nearly drained his mana bar dry.
The system panel showed he had gained 90 experience points for killing the giant slime.
Zellier had now leveled up to LV.4 (27/175), granting him four attribute points to allocate.
After a moment’s consideration, he assigned them all to intelligence.
His intelligence attribute increased from 70 to 74, and due to the strong correlation mechanism, his charm attribute also rose again, reaching 47.
Zellier’s current attribute panel now read: Strength: 65 Agility: 61 Constitution: 68 Spirit: 71 Intelligence: 70 → 74 Perception: 30 Charm: 46 → 47 Luck: 41 Talent Skill: Formulaic Evolution.
Prioritizing intelligence was a no-brainer.
It enhanced his mana manipulation skills, accelerated the analysis speed of Formulaic Evolution, and even synergized with his charm attribute.
Moreover, unlocking the next talent skill required him to become a low-tier mage.
Zellier’s greatest obstacle to becoming a low-tier mage was his casting speed.
Even with his current ashwood staff, he couldn’t achieve a casting speed of under three seconds.
Improving his intelligence to enhance mana manipulation and gradually optimizing the redundant parts of his formula structure were Zellier’s primary goals.
His spirit attribute was currently sufficient, and they weren’t lacking in offensive power.
As for strength, agility, and constitution…
those were even further outside his priorities.
Then there was perception.
There was no immediate need to increase this attribute, and each point cost two points, making it a somewhat extravagant waste.
However, it was worth noting that Zellier had clearly observed Vales’ perception to be significantly higher than that of ordinary people.
He was almost always the first to grasp the battlefield situation.
Finally, there was luck…
This attribute was too mystical, its effects impossible to quantify.
Zellier recalled several fortunate events he had experienced.
For instance, the mist demon they encountered was a juvenile.
Had it been an adult, the entire team would have been wiped out without a chance of survival.
Secondly, thanks to his perception attribute of 30, he had managed to sense the mist demon’s magical connection through the dense fog, allowing him to preemptively cast the fireball spell.
Otherwise, even if the other members had managed to buy him time to cast, they would have suffered heavy casualties, potentially leading to Gray’s death and Marcus’s severe injuries.
Meeting the kind-hearted Bev, Marvin’s leniency, and the magic in the martial arena that resonated so well with him—all these could be considered manifestations of good fortune.
But how much of this was due to his 41 Luck attribute, and how much would have happened regardless?
Zellier couldn’t say.
Moreover, increasing Luck was prohibitively expensive, costing four times as much as raising a basic attribute.
I’ll consider it later…
Only after Zellier dispelled the fire dragon art did Marcus dare to crawl to his feet, his expression dumbfounded.
“That’s insane…” Is this the destructive power of a mage?
Having witnessed firsthand how Zellier had incinerated the giant slime, Marcus felt a newfound awe for the profession.
Vales clicked his tongue and shook his head.
“Unbelievable…” To achieve such destructive power, he would need to advance to intermediate ranger and combine martial qi with archery.
Yet Zellier, a rookie who had only been on two missions, had already surpassed him?
Suppressing their thoughts, the two began collecting their spoils.
The giant slime magic core contained significantly less energy than the mist demon magic core, resulting in a much lower market value.
Still, it represented a substantial sum.
There was also the solidified gel left after the burning.
Zellier picked it up and weighed it in his hand.
It was lighter than he’d expected.
He tried punching it.
Thwack.
Only a faint fist-shaped indentation remained, which quickly restored itself.
This was indeed excellent material for armor cushioning.
“Shall we split the loot according to the 433 ratio again?” Marcus asked, seeking Zellier’s opinion.
“Agreed,” Zellier replied immediately.
After stowing both items, the team ventured deeper into the cave.
The interior showed no further anomalies, and they encountered no more contaminated water flows.
The slime colony in this abandoned cave had been completely eradicated, and the mission was successfully completed.
(End of the Chapter) —————————————————— 🧩 What happens next?
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