Aah―♪
「The sun lashes our backs, and our hoes peck at the earth. Our sweat shall turn to gold coins and make tomorrow's bread rise!」
Medieval bards sang for the farmers who labored and sweated.
Old blacksmiths hammered away, deeply grateful for even a single piece of hard bread.
Everyone joined in praising labor as sacred.
There was an old maxim left by a wise sage.
Drops of sweat never betray you, and sturdy calluses are medals of glory.
Of course, that only applied when the work began with one's own free will.
Ahem.
In any case, I had also found myself a new job.
The weighty, surreal mission of managing a Dragon's nest, no less.
What kind of miracle could I possibly create with this adorable jelly body?
An unfamiliar anticipation began tickling my transparent core.
***
"Ah, come to think of it."
She murmured as though to herself and gave me a curious smile.
Her languidly lowered amethyst eyes narrowed as if she had discovered intriguing prey.
"Do you happen to have a name?"
"My name is Yuri."
"Oh-ho."
I puffed up my transparent jelly and answered proudly.
Airi let out a small exclamation.
As expected, it was an interested reaction to something she had not anticipated.
And naturally so.
Low-level demonic beasts normally had no names by which to call themselves.
It seemed she had intended to name me herself if I did not have one.
A trace of faint disappointment passed over her beautiful face for an instant.
"Yuri, Yuri......"
She softly rolled my name between her red lips a few times.
Then, looking rather satisfied.
"Yes, you have a truly fine name."
Airi's languid eyes curved as she smiled brightly.
Facing that dazzling smile made something deep within my core pound wildly.
'Maybe I fall in love too easily......!'
Ahem, get a grip. I vibrated my jelly and brought my fluttering heart under control.
At that moment, a translucent holographic window appeared in the air with a cheerful chime.
[ Assistant Nest Manager: Yuri ]
[ You have been officially registered with the nest system. ]
A truly irreversible contract had been formed.
In truth, it was a unilateral notification that had not granted me even the slightest right to refuse.
How should I put it? I felt like a new employee who had suddenly joined a ruthlessly exploitative company that would not even let him quit at will.
But there was nothing bad about it from my perspective, either.
If anything, I had struck such a jackpot that I welcomed it with both arms raised.
The world beyond the Black Tower.
An unknown, perilous realm where the claws of a savage demonic beast could fly at you anytime, anywhere.
Escaping that harsh death trap and receiving the protection of a Dragon known as a primordial mystery.
If the rankers of the outside world learned about it, this benefit was astronomically valuable enough to make them foam at the mouth and collapse from jealousy.
On top of that, I could freely use the pure mana overflowing throughout this nest.
I stole a glance at the system's additional explanation window.
[Permission to mine and absorb Mana Stones within the nest has been unlocked.]
[The alarm function warning of low-level monsters intruding into the nest has been activated.]
The perfect home sweet home was complete.
It was a miraculous sanctuary that provided security and meals at the same time.
'Ahh, this is the ultimate cushy job, as good as one with a full benefits package.'
I swayed my round body from side to side and joked happily.
"Lady Airi, your excellent eye has led you to hire a splendid talent. I'll work myself to the bone from now on. Ah, I don't have bones, so I'll work my jelly off!"
"Pfft, work your jelly off...... You truly are an extraordinary fellow."
SWISH.
She let out a light chuckle and waved a hand through the air.
The fragments of the shattered stone wall floated up as if time were running backward and restored themselves to their original state.
"Now go on. I shall clean up this place."
It was an elegant, casual order to leave.
I bowed my round head, then carefully bounced my jelly body out of the room.
***
After leaving Airi's chamber.
I looked around and fell into serious contemplation. Perhaps she really had needed a worker to clean the nest or an unpaid servant.
The outer reaches of the Dragon's nest within my view were a wreck.
As if they had been abandoned for centuries, sharp rocks and rough piles of stone completely blocked the path.
Gray vines tangled together as stickily as spiderwebs. Sharp stalactite fragments, fallen at some unknown time, covered the floor like a minefield.
In the corners were even unpleasant traces left by unknown low-level demonic beasts.
Ah, of course, they must have been nothing but dust unworthy of an absolute being's notice.
But for a Slime like me, who had to roll along the ground, they were quite deadly obstacles.
It was wilderness itself, abandoned to the owner's indifference.
'Good grief, what happened to this place?'
Afraid she might hear, I vibrated my core very quietly as I complained.
'What sin did I commit in my past life to deserve this......!'
I had once been the S-Grade Hunter who dominated South Korea.
The God of War, Han Yuri.
And now I was a menial laborer wiping floors and moving rocks with a jelly body.
"Haha, what a spectacular life."
I tossed out the remark to myself and gave a hollow laugh.
But that was enough complaining. If I could not avoid this, I might as well enjoy it.
Ahem.
Anyway, now that I had been appointed manager, I had to earn my keep. A small question suddenly raised its head in one corner of my core.
'Hold on. Didn't I smash straight through this nest's outer wall earlier?'
Was there any need to think this seriously about clearing a single pile of rocks now?
I immediately rolled toward the pile of rocks in front of me.
I should quickly clear away the debris lying over there first.
Hop.
I kicked off the floor and slammed my round body roughly against the surface of a solid rock.
THUD.
A dull scraping sound rang out, but only a tiny crack formed in the rock.
Instead, the powerful repulsive force flung my transparent body back onto the floor.
Whoops. I immediately abandoned that shallow, arrogant idea.
The situation was different from before.
The passage I had violently broken through earlier was a relatively weak outer wall.
I had gotten lucky by selecting and smashing only its weakest section.
In contrast, the rocks strewn throughout the nest's interior were on an entirely different level.
These were solid masses of mana saturated, layer after layer, with centuries of a Dragon's breath and energy.
If I blindly tried to ram into and break them, the violent recoil might fling me away and burst my jelly body first.
Wait, let me clearly compare the advantages and disadvantages of two methods.
An ordinary body slam.
Its only advantage was that it consumed no mana.
But its destructive power had an obvious limit, and the violent recoil could injure me if I was careless.
Throwing my bare body against these stupid rocks was the height of amateurism.
On the other hand, there was the Smash Skill.
It had the minor drawback of constantly consuming the mana in my core.
But it boasted overwhelming destructive power and hardened my jelly to prevent internal injuries.
More importantly, what if I immediately absorbed the Mana Stones that came from breaking the rocks?
I calculated that their boundless essence of mana could immediately offset my expenditure.
Besides, managing the nest had to be delicate work that harmonized the flow of the space.
It meant properly reading the grain of the rock to widen blocked spaces and neatly arranging the scattered Mana Stones.
One at a time, step by step.
I opened the distance again and readied my stance.
'Smash!'
I gathered my core's mana along my edge and hardened the jelly like a hammer.
At the same time, I created a rapidly rotating vortex of mana inside me.
A delicate strike that drove waves of mana deep into the rock.
I soared into the air and brought myself down hard upon it.
CRACK—! CRRRACK—!
With a crisp rupture, the huge rock shattered and collapsed.
I rolled the fragments toward a corner and gradually cleared a path.
Perfect control. Overwhelming satisfaction. The fragments scattered in every direction, creating a broad clearing in an instant.
"Hehehe! I knew I was a genius!"
It was an exhilarating sight that left me completely refreshed.
The harmony of solid jelly's destructive power and soft flexibility.
This was a new demolition technique combining the God of War's Lightning God Style with a Slime's characteristics.
Just as the simple repetitive work became familiar to my body.
A flash of insight within my transparent jelly passed through my mind.
And every time a rock shattered.
The Dragon's energy condensed inside it scattered into the air.
That dense, pure mana was ceaselessly penetrating my jelly skin.
This place was an unimaginably vast ley line in itself.
'Looking a little closer......'
The rocks covering the nest each had their own grade.
They ranged from the crumbly gray sandstone piled along the outermost surface to the obsidian standing firm farther within.
And finally, the Mana Crystals shining brilliantly in the deepest reaches.
The harder the stone, the exponentially higher the purity of the mana it contained.
And as I raised the level of the Smash Skill, I would surely become capable of breaking even harder and larger rocks.
My translucent star-shaped eyes sparkled with curiosity.
'Oh, this is pretty fun......!'
I rolled my body excitedly and charged toward the next rock.
Gathering mana, I activated the Skill in a single burst.
BOOM—! KABOOM—!
The soft chunks of sandstone burst apart like fireworks.
Yellow Mana Stones tasted like lemon, and red Mana Stones tasted like cherry.
I piled the elixirs that poured out each time I shattered a heap of rocks into a mountain in one place.
Then I split my jelly open as if opening a huge mouth and swept them all inside as though I were at a buffet.
Gulp, guuulp.
The tart, sweet essence of mana pounded ceaselessly against my core.
Eat, smash, and eat again.
It was not tedious manual labor, but a perfect virtuous cycle of hunting and devouring prey.
KABOOM—!
The solid obsidian collapsed, stirring up a dense storm of mana.
I cut straight through the middle of that storm and scattered blue lightning.
"Yes!"
I spun around and energetically launched my jelly body into the air.
It felt like clearing a massive energy vein that had been blocked for ages.
It was the thrilling moment when tedious labor became delightful play and electrifying training.
The obstacles blocking the path were swept away without a trace beneath my fierce assault.
Every time a rock shattered, a wave of mana burst forth.
Far from growing tired, explosive vitality filled my entire body the more I worked.
Ah, labor truly was sacred. Perhaps this was why farmers enjoyed swinging their hoes.
That was when it happened.
DING, DING, DING-A-LING-A-LING-A-LING—!
A cheerful yet clamorous alarm suddenly struck my ears.
"Uh, uhhh, uhhhhhhhh!"
[Your Soul Rank is rising!]
I had already experienced this situation once before.
That was why the sensation felt familiar and intense.
Scorching heat began swirling in the deepest part of my body.
A dazzling burst of pure white light erupted from inside my round jelly body.
A brilliant flash drove away every trace of darkness around me.
My vision flickered completely white, and a violent vibration shook my entire body as if an earthquake had struck.
'Th-th-th-this iiiiiiiis―――!'
What Skill would I obtain this time......?