Chapter 3 - 10,000× Reward Multiplier!
Kaelen was momentarily stunned by the contents of the notification that flashed across his vision.
Without leaving any room for doubt, several more notifications flashed across his vision.
[You have consumed a tuft of grass.]
[You have absorbed 0.2 Evolution Points.]
[10,000× Reward Multiplier Triggered...]
[You have absorbed 2,000 Evolution Points.]
Kaelen was completely taken aback. The grass he’d been standing on since his appearance had taken this long for his body to consume passively.
For confirmation, Kaelen quickly checked his player status, and sure enough, it was showing the corresponding amount on his dashboard.
"A cheat...?"
Kaelen’s heart rate immediately spiked.
He had awakened a cheat with a 10,000× Reward Multiplier on... everything.
At that moment, a wolf went in for Kaelen before he could react, picking him up with its maw before tossing him into the air with its maw spread wide below.
Kaelen’s heart thumped fiercely against his chest as he soared into the sky and made a sharp descent toward the wolf’s maw. It wasn’t fear.
It was growing excitement.
His eyes locked onto his evolution tree. With 2,000 Evolution Points in his bank and just 5 EP needed to make the first upgrade across his three core attributes...
"Upgrade!"
Kaelen watched as their numbers rose and climbed rapidly like a flowchart. Their levels jumped all the way to 25 before suddenly stalling.
[You have reached the strength cap for Tier-1 Lifeforms.]
[Do you wish to spend 100 Evolution Points to ascend?]
"Ascend!"
Kaelen felt his core shatter within him like glass as a more purified one formed in its place. His body exploded in size, and his chilling aura swept across the field, sending all Tier-0 Lifeforms shivering with cold. But Kaelen didn’t stop there.
He dumped his remaining Evolution Points into his attributes once more.
"Upgrade!"
Everything happened in a split second. Kaelen had ascended to a Tier-1 Slime in a Tier-0 terrain. The wolves immediately felt something was off as a chill ran down their spines, and their eyes snapped to the slime falling into the open maw of their teammate, whose pupils had shrunk in sheer terror.
Because unlike how it had begun, the slime she was about to gulp down was easily twice her size, and before she could react—
Plop!
Her world fell into an unsettling silence.
The other wolves watched dumbfoundedly at their teammate, who was suspended inside the slime’s jelly membrane, half expecting her to tear through it and destroy its core.
She had the same thought. In a bid to save her life, her claw forcefully tore through to the slime’s core, destroying it with a single swipe.
She wanted to laugh at herself at that moment for feeling afraid for nothing, when she realized something vital.
Why isn’t it dead yet?
Just then, something caught her peripheral vision, and she slowly turned to see what it was. It was the exact same slime core she had just destroyed, but right before her eyes, it split in two. Then those two split into more across the slime.
It left her confused, but before she could make sense of any of it, she immediately noticed something terribly wrong inside the slime, and before she could react—
[You have been killed.]
The other wolves watched in terror from outside as their teammate was evaporated inside the slime without a trace.
Meanwhile...
[You have purchased the Evolution Attribute:
[Split Nucleus (Multi-Core) Lv1 | 120 EP] Divides the core into two or three pieces. The slime can only die if all cores are destroyed simultaneously.]
[You have purchased the Evolution Attribute:
[Corrosive Hyper-Acidity Lv1 | 90 EP] Increases the chemical breakdown speed, allowing the slime to dissolve metal armor and flesh in seconds rather than hours.]
[You have purchased the Evolution Attribute:
[Volatile Slime Lv1 | 100 EP] Part of the slime’s body evaporates into a toxic cloud or flammable mist surrounding it.]
Aside from the three core evolution attributes, there were many more in shades of grey that first had to be purchased with Evolution Points to obtain.
Many more that made a slime a formidable foe.
[You have killed a Silverback Wolf.]
[You have absorbed 5 Evolution Points.]
[You have received a loot bundle.]
[10,000× Reward Multiplier Triggered...]
[You have absorbed 50,000 Evolution Points.]
[Make a choice for your loot bundle:]
[Quality] or [Quantity]?
Seeing the series of notifications, Kaelen almost laughed out loud in excitement.
What did he need ten thousand Common Wolf Pelts for?
"Quality!"
[You have received a 10,000× Quality-Amplified Loot Bundle:]
[Cerberus’ Cursed Fang (Legendary) ×3, Hidden Class Quest Map (Mythic) ×1, Eyes of God Pendant (Epic) ×1]
Kaelen’s eyes widened in surprise. The ranks of his loot were top-notch, just below the Divine tier that transcended mortality.
He might not be able to make use of them as a slime, but if he listed them on the trade market, not only would it break the economy, but it’d give him ten thousandfold what he had lost to Stephanie and her mother.
Kaelen’s brain was instantly hijacked by dopamine, and he threw his head back in laughter as the wolves watched him in abject horror.
He snapped his head toward the remaining wolves as an eerie grin spread across his membrane.
"That’s one down."
The wolves snapped back to reality, and their leader roared, "There are many of us here. We’re the Night’s Honour Guild. We never back down from a fight."
Kaelen didn’t reply as his body began evaporating into a thick fume of white gas that slowly spread across the entire field until visibility dropped.
Watching this, Kingslayer was certain now: They had triggered a hidden boss event.
That was the only explanation for a common slime to be this powerful.
He immediately began live-streaming and took his battle stance. He needed proof for anyone to believe they had fought a powerful slime and to put his guild on the map.
A sharp crack echoed to his side, and a sharp cry tore through the fog before suddenly stopping. He snapped his head toward the sound, only to realize he was now isolated.
He couldn’t see anyone or anything, and his teammates must’ve gotten lost in the fog as well.
He gritted his teeth as he refused to believe his team was being bested by a slime.
"Stand your ground and pay attention to your surroundings. Don’t be afraid. It might be classified as a hidden boss, but in the end, it’s still a slime."
His words of affirmation immediately sent his stream chat into chaos, as his viewers began wondering whether he was joking or actually battling a slime hidden boss.
He didn’t pay it any attention and remained solely focused on his surroundings. Sharp cries of pain that died as soon as they began kept echoing around him, but he gritted his teeth and didn’t let them distract him.
He was certain the slime was intentionally avoiding him. It must’ve sensed the difference in strength and was going after the weaker links. He sneered.
Just then, a sharp crack echoed to his side, and Kingslayer immediately turned to face a tentacle charging at him.
"You finally decided to show your face!" he roared as he charged straight for it, swiping his claw at the tentacle at the last moment, a sneer forming across his lips.
Then his smile suddenly froze, and he slowly looked down.
"... Huh?"
Why is my paw on the floor?