continued - 2/2

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Joe fiddled with the slime's gems in his hand. This was the first time he had ever seen a slime gem like this. It was a bit strange to see. Still crystalline clear as a single gem, he could now see that two single gems had entwined with a delicate lacework of similar crystalline material so that the two gems were 'grown' together with the same material as the gem itself, making it a single gem. The lacework connecting the two gems together seemed incredible delicate and fragile, but Joe had applied a subtle pressure and found that the dual gems seemed a bit sturdier than appearance would dictate. Huh… it sure is beautiful!

Joe flipped open his status and looked at the log, looking over his last kill, then raised an eyebrow. Great slime, huh? That's… a bit… hmm.. His perusal brought an excited shock to his thoughts when he realized that the experience he gained was off. It seemed that he was getting too much experience for the great slime. Fourteen experience? Why? I have seven learning… Joe flipped to check his main status page and verified his learning before quickly returning to the log. It should be seven, not fourteen… Was this slime… great slime worth two points? Seven learning multiplied by two experience? Hmm… should I look for more of these? Joe considered for a moment but then remembered the hectic fight. While he had done decently, the size of it made it incredibly dangerous. If a small one caught him, at most, it could envelope his head, which would be decidedly bad, but he could still rip out the gem with his bare hands if he was fast enough. Then the ooze would collapse to the ground and his face and body would be free. Getting himself cleaned off from any acid burn might not be fun, but the lake was a quick run back. Granted, he might suffer a few burns, but a quick wash off with what water he had in his water bottle and a run back to the lake would likely get him back quickly enough to not cause too much damage.

But this giant ooze, if it got him, he would have no leverage. Joe shivered a bit even as he remembered the villager who was caught inside. He would literally be swimming in the center of a self-sustaining pool of liquid. Even if he could grab the gems, how could he separate them from the ooze to cause it to collapse? A plastic bag would be nice!... A ziplock? Huh…

Joe glanced towards the boy and saw him staring at the gem and glancing back up at Joe, his look unusually somber.

"What's up, kid? You ok?"

Garnedell shook his head and looked away, seeming to be a bit embarrassed, and Joe called to him.

"Hey… Garnedell. Hey. What's wrong?"

The boy looked up at Joe, a flash of anger in his eyes that was quickly hidden before being replaced by a carefully constructed blank face. Joe cocked his head in confusion at the kid's actions. Why is he angry at me? Knowing he needed to play the mime, Joe exaggerated his movements and shrugged with a question, asking for explanation. Garnedell stared at him for several moments, his eyes narrowing slightly before flashing open in surprise. He glanced around quickly, surveying their surroundings to make sure no one was close, then asked for some slime gems by pointing at the pouch Joe used to carry them around in. While Joe left almost all back at the inn, he always carried a dozen or so with him, sense they were almost smaller than the coins and worth quite a bit more.

Joe shrugged nonchalantly and tossed him the great slime gem. Garnedell shook his head with some frustration and pointed a bit more insistently to Joe's pouch. Joe opened his pouch and offered it to Garnedell who hissed in annoyance before looking around quickly and hiding its contents with his hands. He glanced at Joe with a reproving look and took out two slime gems. He then showed the great slime dual gem in one hand and the two basic slime single gems in his other hand. He put the great slime gem and one basic slime gem to the side before holding one before him and began hopping around holding the gem close to his body. He then pointed to Joe, and then to his spear and to himself before miming Joe killing the slime and popping out his gem. He then mimed Joe looking for the slime gem, but then leaving to return home.

Joe's confusion soon turned to dread. Uh oh… I don't like where this story is going! Garnedell glanced around quickly again, nervously, but then returned to his one man mime show and tell by returning to the remaining single slime gem and dual slime gem. He hid the dual slime gem in his one hand, then placed the other single slime gem towards his body, then began jumping around. Joe easily recognized now that Garnedell was referring to a second slime, and soon began to feel a bit sick to his stomach. He watched as the boy hopped towards the slime gem he had previously killed before it ate it up. When Garnedell picked up the slime's gem, he took the two single gems and hid them in a fist behind his back as he brought out his other hand with the dual gem in it, then stood up and began to hop towards him, the dual gem pressed close to his body.

Shit! The slimes can upgrade by eating another slime gem! Joe's shoulders fell, but then he quickly pointed to the dual gem, then pointed to himself insistently.

"It's my fault, right? I left the gem behind and then it turned into this great slime?" Joe spoke while he mimed a quick rendition of Garnedell's performance.

Garnedell nodded, pointing at the dual gem then at Joe, insistently pointing two or three times as he spoke in his harsh language.

Joe sighed deeply and sat down on in the field as he felt exhausted remorse. He shook his head then looked up towards Garnedell, trying to express sorrow.

"I'm sorry kid. I didn't know. Next time, we get EVERY one of those gems. OK?" Joe mimed killing and searching for the gem and finding it before offering a thumbs up, and the boy smiled tentatively to Joe's reply.

Joe wasn't certain how to express asking for forgiveness, but decided to offer a simple bow, hoping it would be explain enough. As soon as he did so, he felt the frantic grasp of his young friends hand on his shoulder pushing him up. He shook his head and babbled in his language, his arms waving in rejection of his apology. Joe smiled and then this time simply nodded his head in a slight bow as he clapped him on the shoulder.

"Thanks, kid. Make sure I don't make this stupid mistake anymore. Alright?"

The boy didn't understand a thing he said, but nodded with smile before Joe quickly pulled him along.

"OK, kid. Time for me to change my job. Not sure what will be good, but I think I'll go for the forester. I was hoping for a bit more from the hunter job, but maybe the forester is closer to the cool Legolas elf forest hunter thing. Maybe it'll give me a bit more… Although it did give me a nice boost to dexterity and agility, I guess."

Joe led the boy back through town towards the shrine on the west side of the lake, the trip going a bit faster as Joe now led with some jogging on the way there. His hammering on the door was louder and more insistent almost immediately, instead of slowly building to a crescendo as yesterday. The drunken shrine priest came out once again, and Joe just pointed at himself again. The priest roared loudly and with great upset while furiously fiddling with his status before flinging it at Joe where he received the same notification as yesterday. He quickly went through the menu and chose forester while rubbing his hands together with some excitement.

"Yes, yes, yes! My base starting stats should be three now! Three jobs! Three starting stats… then whatever I get when this job hits level one!"

Joe popped open his stats with excitement, expecting to see everything except luck at three. Luck had always started at zero, so he wasn't expecting much. Even as he excitedly swapped his screen back from the log tab to the main tab, Joe's excitement continued to grow. If this was really true, hitting his basic stats would be not too difficult. He would only have to make sure that he could unlock the number of jobs he needed to get him the base stats he needed. But when his eyes fell on the list of stats, his disappointment exploded and then was quickly swamped by confusion.