[POV: Sloth]
I woke after at least eight hours of sleep. It was the kind of deep, uninterrupted rest that still felt strange simply because of how complete it was. There were no alarms, notifications, or artificial prompts reminding me that another task was waiting. I had simply slept until my body decided it had enough. Stretching slowly, I left the bedchamber and made my way through the quiet halls. The palace was already awake. Slimes roamed the corridors, some cleaning, some carrying things, and others seemingly wandering for no reason at all. I greeted them one by one whenever they passed.
“Good morning.”
They responded by bobbing up and down. I nodded back.
“Morning.”
Another slime bounced twice.
“Yeah. Good morning to you, too.”
It was becoming a routine.
Nature Sprite had also been hanging around outside my room, as usual. The moment she noticed me, her tiny wings fluttered excitedly.
“Good morning, Sprite.”
“Good morning, Great Lord!” she replied with bright enthusiasm.
I nodded. “Did you sleep well?”
“I did! I was waiting for Great Lord to wake up!”
“That’s nice.”
I wasn’t sure what else I was supposed to say to that.
Feng Cai greeted me with considerably more enthusiasm as I passed by her in the hallway. “Good morning!”
“Good morning, Feng Cai.”
She practically beamed. Sun Jian, by contrast, was far more measured. “Good morning, Great Lord.”
“Morning, Sun Jian.”
That was about the extent of it.
I eventually made my way to the courtyard, where the Golem Guardian was already training. It seemed to wake early every morning and spend its time practicing with its sword. If it wasn’t training here, it was usually stationed near the palace gates, faithfully performing its duties as a guard. I watched it for a little while before deciding to head toward the foot of the mountain. The Golem Guardian followed.
The walk had become familiar enough that I no longer really thought about it. At the base of the mountain, the Gryphon was usually hanging around while the slimes worked on the enormous hole they had created. I spotted the Gryphon first.
“Good morning.”
It raised its head. “Chirp!”
“Yeah. Good morning to you, too.”
“Chirp!”
It puffed out its chest proudly. I had no idea what it was saying, but I assumed it was something important.
"Wanna eat my stuffings?" asked the Gryphon.
It sent me off-kilter. "You talk now? No, I don't want to eat your stuffing!"
"Sir Gryphon was feeling shy," remarked Golem Guardian. "It's a recent development, my lord."
"Apologies," said Gryphon with a soft chirp, "I meant to recommend a number of spirit stones that might be to your liking, Great Lord..."
Since it was a recent development, it meant the Gryphon was still learning. It was impressive enough that it could hold conversations, though. "Sure," I said.
The slimes soon noticed me as well. One bounced toward me. Then another. Then five. Then ten. Before long, a small tide of them had gathered around my feet, clumping together and bouncing against my legs.
“Good morning, everyone.”
They bobbed excitedly.
“That’s right. Good morning.”
More arrived.
“Okay, okay. I see you.”
They were surprisingly clingy. I crouched down and patted one of them.
“You guys are doing great. Keep it up.”
The response was immediate as the slimes bounced even harder. I smiled faintly.
“Yeah. Good job.”
It was still a jarring experience for me. This entire world was.
The power system here was called cultivation, and the more I learned about it, the more fascinating it became. I wasn’t unfamiliar with genres like isekai or xianxia. I’d played games inspired by them and had seen enough stories to understand the basic concepts. I got the general idea. But knowing the concepts and actually standing inside a world where they were real were two completely different things.
Honestly, it still felt surreal.
I looked toward the enormous excavation site the slimes had created. I felt a little scared that the entire thing might collapse on top of them. Apparently, the slimes had already thought of that. Or rather, they had eaten something that solved the problem for them. My Mana Sense told me the surrounding earth and structures had been magically reinforced. The deeper they dug, the more they strengthened the area around them.
That was not something slimes in LWO were supposed to be able to do. At least, I didn’t remember them being able to. Then again, maybe they could. Perhaps it simply wasn’t expressed through the medium of a game. There were plenty of things happening behind the scenes in LWO that players never saw. A creature might possess abilities that were never relevant to gameplay. There could be entire systems buried beneath the surface that nobody ever discovered. Maybe this was one of them. Or maybe these slimes were simply weird, starting with the biggest and shiniest one.
That particular slime wasn’t merely larger than the others. It was smarter, physically stronger, and apparently possessed a pocket dimension. The rest of its kin had something similar, though their spaces were considerably smaller.
My initial theory had been that they gained those abilities from eating the storage rings belonging to the trespassers who had invaded my mountain. I had tested that theory, and it had turned out to be correct. Mostly. It had taken a ridiculous number of storage rings, though. Unfortunately, not many had been recovered. The trespassers had been eaten by the slimes. I still wasn’t entirely sure how I felt about that.
Storage rings themselves were fascinating. From a game perspective, they were practically this world’s version of an inventory, a physical object that could somehow contain far more than its size should allow. It was ridiculous. And yet, somehow, completely normal here.
I eventually left the mining site and let the slimes continue doing whatever they wanted. In this case, eating things. Of course, I didn’t leave empty-handed. Following the Gryphon’s recommendation, I had acquired a pouchful of spirit stones. They were surprisingly good snacks.
Arguably, I should have been preparing for the possibility that the Great Feng would eventually come knocking at my door. Instead, laziness had infected me from top to bottom. I returned to the palace and settled down in the courtyard. For a while I simply sat there, letting my thoughts drift into life, purpose, and the strange peace of these days in general.
Nothing urgent was pressing against me, so I allowed the questions to float around in my head without forcing myself to answer them. So many questions. So few answers.
When the urge to move eventually returned, I rose and strolled through the palace grounds, taking the long way simply because I could. The corridors, gardens, and open spaces still felt new enough to retain some novelty. I had lived here for a while now, but there were still corners I hadn’t explored properly. Maybe there was a treasure hidden somewhere. That was another reason I liked wandering.
Eventually my feet carried me to the library. This world possessed an entirely different language system. Thankfully, my Voice of the World ability allowed me to communicate with Sun Jian and Feng Cai without actually knowing their language. It also worked with reading. The characters in the books seemed to whisper their meanings directly into my mind. I was still quite mystified by it.
It was convenient, though.
I picked a volume at random, and began reading. The passages inevitably raised questions. When enough of them gathered, I sought out Sun Jian and asked him about them. He answered with the same steady patience he always showed me. I listened. Then I returned to the book.
This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.
One particular morning I found myself wondering about the shiny stones the slimes loved so much.
“Sun Jian.”
“Yes, Great Lord?”
“What exactly are those stones?”
He paused. I could practically see him preparing himself for another question he considered obvious.
“They are called spirit stones, naturally formed crystalline deposits containing concentrated spiritual energy.”
“Meaning?”
“They are condensed manifestations of spiritual qi. Through prolonged geological formation, spiritual energy accumulates within certain minerals until the material becomes sufficiently saturated to crystallize. Their purity, density, and stability determine their value. Cultivators use them for cultivation, formations, talismans, and various other applications requiring a stable external source of spiritual energy.”
I didn't really get it back then, but I got the idea. They were a very important resource. I could still remember the first time Sun Jian saw the pile of spirit stones that the slimes gathered.
“Can people eat them?” I asked.
He looked confused. “People can absorb the spiritual energy within spirit stones, but directly consuming the stones themselves would be highly inefficient.”
“So that’s a yes.”
“That is not what I said.”
“I understand.”
I didn’t. But I had already decided that spirit stones were snacks.
And then there was cultivation. I honestly wanted to try it. Unfortunately, I didn’t seem to have the talent for it. According to Sun Jian, spiritual roots were the most basic requirement for practicing cultivation. They determined one’s compatibility with spiritual energy and served as the foundation upon which a cultivator’s path was built.
My spiritual roots, apparently, were muddled. That earned quite the baffled reaction from him. He had examined me several times by then, each time looking increasingly confused. I suspected he still believed I was Jin, the Golden Dragon who had originally resided in these mountains. I’d tried explaining that I wasn’t. He would give me a strange look, then say something along the lines of, “I understand.”
What the hell, man? What were you even thinking?
Anyway, this was my routine now. Wake up. Greet everyone. Pack snacks. Idle in the courtyard. Stroll around the palace while secretly hoping to discover a treasure. Then head to the library. It wasn’t a bad life.
I munched on spirit stones while reading. Some were chewy, almost like bubble gum or hard candy. Others had a crisp texture, more like chips. They were honestly appetizing. I finished the last one in my pouch and looked down.
“Ah.”
Empty.
Before I could even say anything, Nature Sprite flew toward me. “Great Lord!”
“Yes?”
“I shall acquire more munchies for you!”
“Don’t overdo it. Just bring what you can carry.”
Her eyes sparkled. “Understood! I shall bring only the finest munchies worthy of the Great Lord!”
“That’s not what I—”
She zipped away. I watched her disappear.
“…Okay.”
The current volume I was reading was about the nature of something called Heavenly Tribulation. It was a surprisingly fascinating subject. According to the book:
“Heavenly Tribulation is the manifestation of Heaven’s judgment upon a cultivator who has reached a threshold beyond the limits permitted by the natural order. It is neither blessing nor punishment, but a trial through which the heavens test, temper, and determine the cultivator’s right to advance beyond their present realm.”
I stared at the passage.
“So Heaven just tries to kill you when you level up.”
That seemed to be the simplified version.
One of my goals in hitting the library was learning about cultivation. While I could not practice it, that didn't stop me from learning about it. What was that Sun Tzu quote again? Know thy enemy, and you shall beat them? I was certain that wasn't the quote, but I'm just gonna roll with it.
It had barely been over a week since Feng Cai and Sun Jian had joined us, and I had already learned quite a bit about spirit stones, storage rings, talismans, and the general cultivation tiers.
I probably still needed to improve my understanding of the realms themselves, but I was making decent progress. This body’s stats were definitely doing a lot of heavy lifting. My memory was absurd. I could read for hours without feeling mentally exhausted, and information that would normally require repeated study simply stuck in my head. It made learning considerably easier.
There was another reason I kept visiting the library, though. I was looking for traces of the world I had come from. Or perhaps, traces of the game. The appearance of the Ring of Resurrection had shaken me more than I wanted to admit. It shouldn’t have existed here, since it was an item from LWO.
And if something from my world had somehow appeared in this one, then maybe there was a connection. Maybe there was a way back. I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to take it. But I couldn’t stop looking. My pride wouldn’t allow me to simply ignore the possibility of an exit. I’d always hated escapism. Which was ironic, considering where I was now.
I was halfway through another passage when a familiar fluttering sound approached. Nature Sprite landed on the table with a pouch in her tiny hands. She looked extremely proud of herself.
“Great Lord!”
I looked at the pouch. “Did you find some?”
She puffed out her chest. “Of course! I personally selected every single one!”
She opened the pouch. It was filled with spirit stones.
“Only the finest munchies for Great Lord! I searched everywhere and picked the shiniest, tastiest, most delicious-looking ones myself!”
I reached for the pouch. “Thanks, Sprite.”
“You’re welcome, Great Lord!”
She hovered beside me, clearly expecting praise. I gave her a pat on the head. She immediately looked delighted. I picked out a spirit stone and popped it into my mouth.
Crunch.
I chewed thoughtfully before looking at Nature Sprite.
“Thank you, Sprite.”
She looked at me eagerly, practically vibrating with anticipation. Her eyes followed the spirit stone in my hand as if she were waiting for me to devour a whole pile of them and shower her with praise afterward. She was like a child, really.
I took another bite. My expression remained completely blank. It tasted terrible. I wanted to find a hole somewhere and crawl inside it.
I stared at the spirit stone in my hand. Now, what would a responsible adult do? It was a tough world out there. Sometimes a little white lie could spare someone’s feelings. There were certainly circumstances where saying something pleasant rather than the complete truth was the right thing to do. But this wasn’t one of those circumstances. If I lied now, she would probably keep bringing me these things while proudly believing they tasted good. That would only make things worse.
I swallowed.
“Sprite, this doesn’t taste very good.”
Her expression froze. I immediately thought more carefully about what I had said. Maybe it wasn’t objectively bad. Taste was subjective, after all. I was a human. Or at least, I had once been one. She was a Nature Sprite. Our biological sensors for taste could be completely different. She had also specifically said that she picked these herself. Unfortunately, I’d already said it.
Nature Sprite’s shoulders drooped.
“Awww…”
Her wings sagged as she lowered her head. Her little face scrunched up, and her eyes became watery. I sighed.
“Hey. Raise your head.”
She slowly looked up at me.
“It isn’t your fault. It might just be a difference in taste buds. You know, the biological sensors responsible for detecting flavors? Different species can have different ones, so what tastes good to you might taste terrible to me.”
She stared at me. I wasn’t sure how much of that she understood. Still, her expression seemed slightly less miserable. The little thing picked up one of the spirit stones from the pouch and cautiously nibbled on it. Her face immediately twisted.
“Blegh…”
She spat it back into her hands.
“Disgusting…”
I stared. Then I laughed. It was a genuine laugh that escaped me before I could stop it. She hadn’t even taste-tested them. She had apparently just gone around picking spirit stones based on how shiny they looked, then proudly brought them to me while boasting about how she had personally selected the best ones. This silly little thing.
“Great Lord, is there something funny?” she asked, looking confused.
“No, forget it.”
I smiled. I could almost imagine why she hadn’t tasted them. Maybe she didn’t know she could eat them. Or perhaps she simply didn’t want to touch my food. Knowing her, the latter was entirely possible. Her fanaticism could become overly dramatic in that way.
I remembered how Sun Jian had once caught me eating spirit stones and looked at me as though he’d just witnessed something completely incomprehensible. That reaction had made me wonder whether the people of this world even considered eating spirit stones a thing. Apparently, I was once again the strange one.
I returned my attention to the book. Nature Sprite remained beside me. She seemed to have discovered a new hobby: keeping my snack pouch full. Whenever I finished a handful of spirit stones, she would eagerly disappear and return with more. It was almost impressive.
After a while, she tilted her head. “Great Lord?”
“Hm?”
“Do you have a goal?”
I looked up from my book. “Why the sudden question?”
She placed a finger against her chin. “Because Great Lord likes sleeping so much.”
“That is true.”
“But now Great Lord is always reading books.”
“Also true.”
“You are learning about this world.”
“Yeah.”
She narrowed her eyes suspiciously. “So… are you secretly planning to conquer the world?”
I stared at her. “What?”
“Or perhaps you are preparing to become the strongest person in the world?”
“No.”
“Then maybe you are planning to conquer all of humanity?”
“No.”
“Perhaps you want to gather an army of slimes and rule over the entire continent!”
“No.”
She gasped. “Then maybe you want to become the ruler of Heaven itself!”
I rubbed my forehead. “Why are your guesses getting more ridiculous?”
She looked genuinely puzzled. “I don’t know, Great Lord.”
I leaned back. What did I want? I wanted to say I wanted a normal life. But that was unrealistic, considering where I was and what I was. Maybe I could achieve something resembling one, but I couldn’t really call that a goal. It was more of an ideal.
If I wanted a normal life, perhaps that also meant returning to my old world. But when I thought about it honestly, I knew I didn’t want that either. What I really wanted was an idealized version of a normal life.
A life where I wasn’t constantly overworked, where my weekends actually belonged to me, where I could sleep as much as I wanted without someone expecting me to be productive. A life where I could wake up, eat something, read a book, wander around, and go back to sleep whenever I felt like it.
If that was the case… I had already achieved my goal just by being here.
I looked around the library. It was quiet. Nature Sprite was beside me. Outside, the slimes were probably digging holes or eating things they shouldn’t. The Gryphon was likely wandering around the mountain by now. The Golem Guardian was guarding the palace. Sun Jian and Feng Cai were safe. For the first time in a long while, nobody was demanding anything from me. Maybe I didn’t need some grand ambition. Maybe staying was enough.
In the end, I answered honestly. “I want to stay.”
Nature Sprite blinked. “Stay? Where?”
“Here.”
I smiled.
“Here.”
She looked at me curiously.
“I like this place.”
My gaze wandered toward the library’s windows.
“I know it’s strange. And dangerous. There are probably going to be plenty of problems waiting for me in the future.” I paused. “But I think I could carve out a little piece of paradise for myself.”
Nature Sprite’s expression softened. “Paradise?”
“Or maybe sanctuary is a better word.”
I looked down at the spirit stone in my hand.
“A place where good people don’t have to suffer because someone more powerful decided they were useful.” My voice became quieter. “A place where people aren’t forced to exhaust themselves working for someone else’s benefit while the people above them enjoy the rewards.”
I had seen enough of that in my old life. I didn’t want to see it again.
“I want a place where someone who is tired can rest without feeling guilty about it.” I looked toward Nature Sprite. “Where someone who has been hurt can recover without being told to get back to work.” My smile became faint. “A place where people can put down their burdens for a while and rest their weary hearts until they have the strength to stand again.”
Nature Sprite stared at me. For once, she didn’t immediately say anything. I leaned back into my chair.
“That’s probably the closest thing I have to a goal.”
It sounded grander when I said it aloud. In reality, it was pretty simple. I just wanted somewhere I could call home. And maybe, if I had enough power to make such a place… I could let other people call it home, too.