[You have slain the minions of the Ancient Monkey God.]
[10,000× Reward Multiplier Triggered...]
[You have received 30,000 Evolution Points.]
[You have slain the Emperor of the Seven Mountains.]
[10,000× Reward Multiplier Triggered...]
[You have received 10,000 Evolution Points.]
[You have slain a Golden Dragonling.]
[10,000× Reward Multiplier Triggered...]
[You have received 60,000 Evolution Points.]
...
Kaelen stopped at the foot of the hill after realizing he’d been descending a mountain jungle, and down in the valley was a vibrant city he could sense with [Sharp Senses].
It had taken him quite a while to hunt every beast on the mountain, but the process was thrilling and had made him realize something strange about his System.
Just like its absurd title, the System overexaggerated everything. When he killed a common ant, it claimed he had killed the Emperor of the Seven Mountains. When he killed a rat, it claimed he had slain the Abyss Dweller, and proceeded to reward him based on its own perspective of what he had killed, hence the 10,000× Reward Multiplier.
It was both an interesting and bizarre concept. But Kaelen was loving it.
Looking at his status panel now, Kaelen saw he had accumulated a little over 50,000,000 Evolution Points and a mountain of high-quality loot.
All his purchased evolution attributes had been upgraded all the way to Lv50, where his progression slowed, and he realized he had reached the bottleneck for Tier 1 and needed 10,000 Evolution Points to evolve.
With nothing left to do after consuming the entire forest, and a city in sight where he planned to sell his loot, he decided there was no better time than to evolve.
He immediately spent the 10,000 Evolution Points, and the effect was immediate.
Kaelen felt every cell in his body rapidly evolving as a powerful shockwave of pure energy exploded from within his core, rocking the nearby trees and blowing the dirt surrounding his body into the air.
Kaelen felt noticeably stronger than before. He felt he could control his body better and hunt in a more efficient way like a true predator.
This brought a genuine smile to his face.
"Alright. Let’s go."
With that, he leaped out of the forest and headed toward the city not far from where he stood, and in no time, he was approaching the gates now in clear view.
In the long queue before the gates were different races trying to enter the city just like him. It was quite the sight to see, from tall humanoid players to scrawny cave bats and rats standing in perfect harmony.
But though no one was making a big deal of it, the smug faces of the top-tier race players were evident, and the weaker races stood at a safe distance from such players to avoid getting on their bad side.
The moment Kaelen arrived at the queue, he immediately attracted unwanted attention. Not from the better players, but from the bottom feeders, who became smug at seeing someone they considered beneath them. Some even openly mocked him to feel better about themselves.
Kaelen didn’t entertain any of them and focused on the line ahead. It was long and slow. He wasn’t sure he had the patience to stand there and wait, and after observing for a minute, he noticed some players cutting the line and being allowed access into the city after paying a fee.
That was Kaelen’s cue, and he hopped out of the line and headed straight for the guards at the front.
Noise immediately broke out in the crowd as everyone watched a Common Slime head to the front like a VIP, and some couldn’t help but laugh and openly mock him.
"Hey, look at that trash. Where does he think he’s going?"
"He probably lost his way and thinks this is his pond."
"I heard about a guy who killed himself after becoming a slime. I think you should follow his lead. Hahaha."
"Slimes are basically free Evolution Points. No one touches him after he gets kicked out. He’s mine."
Kaelen’s expression remained neutral as he arrived at the front, right before the guards. Before he could speak, the guard cut him off the moment he saw it was a slime.
"Cutting the line is prohibited, and I could execute you on the spot for breaking the rules. Get back!"
"How much is the fee?" he calmly asked.
The human guard turned to look at him with an amused expression. "Oh. It’s five gold pieces, Your Majesty," he said with a mocking expression.
Kaelen frowned. "Five gold pieces?"
He wasn’t certain how much they charged the other players, but it was certainly not five gold pieces. No player would ever spend such a huge amount of money as a gate fee, and quite a few players had already paid their way in.
"That’s right. Cash or transfer?"
"I don’t have any money on me. But can I pay with Evolution Points instead? Name your price," Kaelen replied.
He had read somewhere that Evolution Points could be transferred via the System, and though he wasn’t certain, he was willing to give it a try.
The guard instantly became annoyed by Kaelen’s pestering.
Name your price? He scoffed coldly.
He reached for his sword and pulled it out, lowering the blade’s tip toward Kaelen, who didn’t flinch.
"If you think a useless slime like you can walk up to a royal guard and waste their time without consequences, then I’m about to use you to set an example for others by carrying out judgment upon you. Do you have any last words?"
"Can I pay with a Legendary-tier item?"
The guard’s eyes immediately turned bloodshot. It was clear to him now that the slime was trolling him. Not only had it initially asked to pay in Evolution Points, which were extremely valuable, going as far as asking him to name his price, but it was now asking if it could pay with a Legendary-tier item.
Legendary?!
He raised his sword without a second thought, but before he could bring it down, his body suddenly froze.
Not just him, but every other person outside the city suddenly felt a chill and began shivering from the cold, and everyone’s gaze simultaneously snapped toward the same direction.
"Huh?" Kaelen turned as well, having felt the aura too. It was without doubt the aura of a Tier 7 lifeform, which he could tell more easily after evolving to Tier 2.
"Isn’t that... Black Rose?"
"The leader of the White Vanguard Guild."
"The daughter of the Emperor."
"Shhh. Don’t let her hear you. Y’know she doesn’t like being called that."
A group of players led by a hooded figure from the White Vanguard Guild suddenly appeared and made their way straight for the entrance, ignoring the entire queue of players whose eyes were glued to the hooded figure in awe and admiration.
"What’s going on here?" The alluring yet commanding voice of the hooded figure immediately made the guard lower his weapon and bow his head in respect.