A while later after Iris, Kaito and Goro rested, they resumed the slime hunting quest walking deeper inside the forest.
"The first time I did a slime hunt quest I almost died and we even had a healer with us, a really cute girl named Elise."
"So you struggled a lot at the start?" Kaito asked surprised thinking I was strong from the start.
"Yes, I believe we all do, and to be honest even now I still do, we're just weak humans after all."
"Even with this blessing, the goddess gave me I'm still not finding myself that strong."
"You'll become strong in no time bro! The blessing will surely level up!" Goro said with a big smile filled with positivity.
"Exactly, with a skill as amazing as that it's a matter of time Kaito!" I help to cheer him up despite everything.
"Thank you for the rabbit stew Goro, your food is really good, it even increased my strength so let's use the buff."
"You're very welcome bro, and Iris I'd like to take lessons with your mother, do you think she can teach me how to fight with a hammer?"
"Yes, I believe so, if she can't then that's it."
"Where do I go to have those lessons?"
"Southwest of the village there's a house where I live in near a river, and also a field that I made with mostly strawberries."
"Strawberries!? That's amazing I love those!" Goro shouted almost drooling over all the strawberry cakes, cheesecakes, mousse, ice cream, his past memories contained.
"Mind if I tag along for those lessons as well?" Kaito asked shyly while turning his face to the side.
"Of course, everyone is welcome to do so! Just don't forget it's not free, so you'll probably have to earn some money for that."
"It's fine we can use the church funds for that."
"Oh true Kaito, I should probably start using those to pay for ingredients to expand my divine cooking skill."
"I believe in your case the priests would be more than happy to do so, maybe even make a restaurant of sorts, I'm sure it would be popular!" I laugh knowing how good his meals are.
"Let's head deeper and explore the forest, I haven't gone too deep before so maybe we find something interesting or not."
"Sure let's go!" Goro lifts his bag carrying it following me.
Kaito picks the spear he bought and walks along with us.
'I'll make sure to stick to this girl till I get strong enough, then I can ditch her and become overpowered like in those games I used to play, and surpass that prideful Ken.'
"Speaking of which how old are you Iris and what level are you?" Kaito asked to ascertain their gap.
"I'm 8 years old and am level 13 currently."
'Level 13? Is that high? Sounds extremely low and she's strong fighting slimes which should be even lower level, so she's not worth much after all.'
"That's amazing Iris, seems like I have a long way to go," Goro said while smiling happily.
"You'll catch up in no time Goro don't worry!"
"Thank you for the confidence boost!"
"By the way, Iris, do you know how the experience system works in this world?"
"In our world Artana, the higher the level of the monster you slay the more experience you get."
"In one of the games, I played I'd get more experience if I killed things alone how about in here?"
"I believe it's similar, though not by a big margin I suppose."
"Meaning that in this world it is better to party up with other people, this is certainly good information."
"Wondering what the other two girls are up to," Goro said softly as if thinking to himself.
"Two other girls?" I ask curiously not having seen any at the guild.
"Yes, we are a group of 4 out of 20, we were split into parties of 4 all across the kingdom."
"Oh..."
"Yeah, that way I believe the church can show off through the entire kingdom their new summoned additions," Kaito declared sincerely as Ken gave that idea initially.
"In the end, they are funding you guys, right? In that sense, I believe it's a good exchange."
"I guess, it makes our lives easier so personally I don't really care about the details."
"As long as I have food and a roof I'm good to go," Goro added having gone through difficulties in his past life.
"What is that?" We all look at more than 30 different colored rocks on the ground.
"Those are some cute rocks," Kaito approached one of them poking it with his spear tip.
Seeing as nothing happened, we started walking through them with Kaito in front of us looking excitedly at the rocks around him.
'Just in case, let me appraise this blue shell.'
Notice: 500 mana has been deducted.
[Level 10 turtler, a four-legged monster that hides inside its shell under the ground waiting to prey on its enemies, can breathe underwater, and the shell is extremely tough.]
Without time to waste I scream," Kaito run!"
The moment I said that the turtler he passed through started surging out of the ground, and a 60 centimeter-sized beast appeared next to him. The spear boy didn't have the reaction speed to escape, allowing the enemy head to come out of its shell devouring his hand.
He looked confused at the hand who was holding a spear till recently watching the spear falling on the floor, and then started screaming of pain as his body perceived what happened.
"Shit, ice sword," in my hand a sword made of ice appears which I grip tightly feeling unease.
Notice: 500 mana has been deducted.
I run at it and strike its head with the intention of slicing its neck, but as my sword flowed through the air, the enemy shrunk inside the shell. This made my sword hit the toughest part dealing no damage, making my hand tremble from the shock.
"Just how tough is this thing!?" I shout while noticing a few more shells start to shake and I help Kaito running back by placing my arm around his back, "Goro come help!" I shout at him waking him up from the shock.
Goro runs to us and once closer he lifts him placing the body on the wide shoulder, I freeze Kaito's hand to stop the bleed. Goro then starts running with him out of the forest towards the adventurer guild as fast as he can.
Notice: 50 mana has been deducted.
The turtles start staring at me from afar and I start backing off slowly.
'Seems like deep down its these things territory maybe they'll let us leave in peace,' one of them opens its mouth and I see mana being charged, I start running to the side.
After a few seconds, it shoots a water stream towards where I was missing.
"Icicle," as I create one from above it a different red shell turtler shoots fire at it,' these things are smart, but what if I make one from below it? Does it also have a shell? Icicle.'
Notice: 50 mana has been deducted.
It hurts the creature making it let out a noise, and then I make another one pierce it from below making it cry in pain again.
Notice: 50 mana has been deducted.
'Interesting so that's your weak point,' I stop running while looking at those creatures who start walking towards me slowly as a group, while charging opening their mouths, and channeling it with different colors.
The voice from before resounds in my head, 'do you need help?'
To what I reply, 'Oh? You ask for permission now?'
The voice replies, 'brainwash resistance has gotten pretty high after all,' it laughed in my mind with a cute tone.
'So who are you?' I raise my hands and icicle the nearest 4 turtlers from below hurting them.
Notice: 200 mana has been deducted.
A tone that I imagine would belong to an adorable girl resounds in my head, 'we are you.'
I run from them passing through a tree as it is blown away by the skills some of them charged. I run towards another tree standing behind it to take cover.
'We? More than one? How many are there!?' I ask confused as I don't understand all these different voice tones.
A more charming mature tone resounds in my head, 'that'll depend on how much stronger you'll get.'
'I feel like you girls are teasing me at this point,' I shoot 4 more icicles opening their wounds deeper.
Notice: 200 mana has been deducted.
A demonic tone resounds in my head, 'if you keep running that way you'll get trapped by the turtlers that dispersed,' it laughed madly in my head.
I turn back and start running from where I came, approaching the injured monsters slowly while looking back, finding that a few of them walked out of the bushes I was about to go into.
'How did you know that?' I ask confused at the voice knowledge.
A tone that reminded me of a sleepy girl resounds in my head, 'wasn't that obvious? Yawn, monsters have telepathy like you and that insane grimoire of yours, and they're not retarded.'
The turtlers start surrounding the injured ones as if protecting them.
'That would've worked if I attacked from the front, but since I do it from below, icicles!' I shoot 4 more from below, while the turtlers shoot fireballs, water balls, airballs, thunder balls, and acid balls at me as I run.
Notice: 200 mana has been deducted.
'This is getting crazy,' the balls splash and explode in the ground, turning it into all kinds of different colored pools while one of them hits me.
Notice: 60 health and 6 mana have been deducted.
'Seems like the mana shield absorbed a bit of it,' I freeze my arm slightly due to the burn.
Notice: 20 mana has been deducted.
A demonic tone resounds in my head, 'you could use destiny cards before you run out of mana,' it laughed in my head.
'Oh right I haven't used it yet, I wonder what it does,' as I'm about to use it the adorable tone speaks in my mind.
'Don't use it, you won't become stronger if you rely on it to do the work for you, plus you'd bring unnecessary attention, and it might not even work as you are,' the demonic tone laughed happily as it almost tricked me.
'Attention from who?' A charming voice replied to me,' the goddess Aria, and possibly the church faction if she'd send them a message about your existence.'
'I've already gathered the attention of other gods what difference would it make?' I ask curiously not understanding the consequence.
A sleepy tone replies," yawn, you are truly an idiot, what do you think happens if a god doesn't like you?"
I start thinking about the things that happened before when the goddess Luna stripped me of her blessings and forgot me.
'I lose her blessings? What does that mean though? Appraise this information.'
I keep running dodging the incoming skills, from balls, to jets, to explosions, while I circle the turtlers using the trees as shields. I watch the different colored magical circles appearing in many places, forcing me to dodge those marks.
Notice: 200 mana has been deducted.
[Blessings are given to a being as a form of evolving their skills, often known as blessed and cursed skills, any beast skills are now impossible to obtain or evolve to.]
I shoot 4 more icicles focusing on the damaged turtlers, this time with extra mana as they should be at death's door.
Notice: 400 mana has been deducted.
Notice: 600 experience has been rewarded from a turtler.
System: The title Turtler Slayer has been received.
Notice: 630 experience has been rewarded from a turtler.
Notice: Iris has leveled up to 14.
Notice: 640 experience has been rewarded from a turtler.
Notice: 620 experience has been rewarded from a turtler.
The turtlers start falling on the ground while I run towards the exit of the forest, as my mana starts running low.
'If I were to lose goddess Aria's blessing I wouldn't be able to evolve my human skills further or to obtain new ones. Unless one of the other god's blessings would still remain, probably not even with them since different races. I'll have to be careful with it then, so if you girls are me then what are you?"
A sleepy voice replies, "yawn, just how clueless can you be? We're your skills, the ones that may affect your personality who gained life due to the curse of the god who evolved your class!'
'If I'm not mistaken the god of chaos was the one who changed that for me, and I think I have like 6 or 7 skills that can change personality. Meaning that I have 6 or more voices? Ah... What a pain.'
I let out a sigh, and as I do I notice Goro and Kaito on the ground close by still inside the forest.
"You guys didn't leave?"
"Ah, sorry Iris I couldn't carry him anymore, my legs, my body is tired," Goro said while panting harshly.
I look at him who is sweating intensively and then I remember something important, "did you guys just get all that experience from the turtlers too...?"
"Yes, I'm now level 7 so Kaito should be too," Goro replied as Kaito is laying on the floor due to the pain.
"Kaito if you can hear me spend all points in stamina, it'll keep you alive. I'll be carrying you to the village, you don't have to reply, just do it mentally."
Upon hearing my words he made a pained moan lightly trembling his head.
We then head back to the guild for treatment.
A while later after Iris, Kaito and Goro rested, they resumed the slime hunting quest walking deeper inside the forest.
"The first time I did a slime hunt quest I almost died and we even had a healer with us, a really cute girl named Elise."
"So you struggled a lot at the start?" Kaito asked surprised thinking I was strong from the start.
"Yes, I believe we all do, and to be honest even now I still do, we're just weak humans after all."
"Even with this blessing, the goddess gave me I'm still not finding myself that strong."
"You'll become strong in no time bro! The blessing will surely level up!" Goro said with a big smile filled with positivity.
"Exactly, with a skill as amazing as that it's a matter of time Kaito!" I help to cheer him up despite everything.
"Thank you for the rabbit stew Goro, your food is really good, it even increased my strength so let's use the buff."
"You're very welcome bro, and Iris I'd like to take lessons with your mother, do you think she can teach me how to fight with a hammer?"
"Yes, I believe so, if she can't then that's it."
"Where do I go to have those lessons?"
"Southwest of the village there's a house where I live in near a river, and also a field that I made with mostly strawberries."
"Strawberries!? That's amazing I love those!" Goro shouted almost drooling over all the strawberry cakes, cheesecakes, mousse, ice cream, his past memories contained.
"Mind if I tag along for those lessons as well?" Kaito asked shyly while turning his face to the side.
"Of course, everyone is welcome to do so! Just don't forget it's not free, so you'll probably have to earn some money for that."
"It's fine we can use the church funds for that."
"Oh true Kaito, I should probably start using those to pay for ingredients to expand my divine cooking skill."
"I believe in your case the priests would be more than happy to do so, maybe even make a restaurant of sorts, I'm sure it would be popular!" I laugh knowing how good his meals are.
"Let's head deeper and explore the forest, I haven't gone too deep before so maybe we find something interesting or not."
"Sure let's go!" Goro lifts his bag carrying it following me.
Kaito picks the spear he bought and walks along with us.
'I'll make sure to stick to this girl till I get strong enough, then I can ditch her and become overpowered like in those games I used to play, and surpass that prideful Ken.'
"Speaking of which how old are you Iris and what level are you?" Kaito asked to ascertain their gap.
"I'm 8 years old and am level 13 currently."
'Level 13? Is that high? Sounds extremely low and she's strong fighting slimes which should be even lower level, so she's not worth much after all.'
"That's amazing Iris, seems like I have a long way to go," Goro said while smiling happily.
"You'll catch up in no time Goro don't worry!"
"Thank you for the confidence boost!"
"By the way, Iris, do you know how the experience system works in this world?"
"In our world Artana, the higher the level of the monster you slay the more experience you get."
"In one of the games, I played I'd get more experience if I killed things alone how about in here?"
"I believe it's similar, though not by a big margin I suppose."
"Meaning that in this world it is better to party up with other people, this is certainly good information."
"Wondering what the other two girls are up to," Goro said softly as if thinking to himself.
"Two other girls?" I ask curiously not having seen any at the guild.
"Yes, we are a group of 4 out of 20, we were split into parties of 4 all across the kingdom."
"Oh..."
"Yeah, that way I believe the church can show off through the entire kingdom their new summoned additions," Kaito declared sincerely as Ken gave that idea initially.
"In the end, they are funding you guys, right? In that sense, I believe it's a good exchange."
"I guess, it makes our lives easier so personally I don't really care about the details."
"As long as I have food and a roof I'm good to go," Goro added having gone through difficulties in his past life.
"What is that?" We all look at more than 30 different colored rocks on the ground.
"Those are some cute rocks," Kaito approached one of them poking it with his spear tip.
Seeing as nothing happened, we started walking through them with Kaito in front of us looking excitedly at the rocks around him.
'Just in case, let me appraise this blue shell.'
Notice: 500 mana has been deducted.
[Level 10 turtler, a four-legged monster that hides inside its shell under the ground waiting to prey on its enemies, can breathe underwater, and the shell is extremely tough.]
Without time to waste I scream," Kaito run!"
The moment I said that the turtler he passed through started surging out of the ground, and a 60 centimeter-sized beast appeared next to him. The spear boy didn't have the reaction speed to escape, allowing the enemy head to come out of its shell devouring his hand.
He looked confused at the hand who was holding a spear till recently watching the spear falling on the floor, and then started screaming of pain as his body perceived what happened.
"Shit, ice sword," in my hand a sword made of ice appears which I grip tightly feeling unease.
Notice: 500 mana has been deducted.
I run at it and strike its head with the intention of slicing its neck, but as my sword flowed through the air, the enemy shrunk inside the shell. This made my sword hit the toughest part dealing no damage, making my hand tremble from the shock.
"Just how tough is this thing!?" I shout while noticing a few more shells start to shake and I help Kaito running back by placing my arm around his back, "Goro come help!" I shout at him waking him up from the shock.
Goro runs to us and once closer he lifts him placing the body on the wide shoulder, I freeze Kaito's hand to stop the bleed. Goro then starts running with him out of the forest towards the adventurer guild as fast as he can.
Notice: 50 mana has been deducted.
The turtles start staring at me from afar and I start backing off slowly.
'Seems like deep down its these things territory maybe they'll let us leave in peace,' one of them opens its mouth and I see mana being charged, I start running to the side.
After a few seconds, it shoots a water stream towards where I was missing.
"Icicle," as I create one from above it a different red shell turtler shoots fire at it,' these things are smart, but what if I make one from below it? Does it also have a shell? Icicle.'
Notice: 50 mana has been deducted.
It hurts the creature making it let out a noise, and then I make another one pierce it from below making it cry in pain again.
Notice: 50 mana has been deducted.
'Interesting so that's your weak point,' I stop running while looking at those creatures who start walking towards me slowly as a group, while charging opening their mouths, and channeling it with different colors.
The voice from before resounds in my head, 'do you need help?'
To what I reply, 'Oh? You ask for permission now?'
The voice replies, 'brainwash resistance has gotten pretty high after all,' it laughed in my mind with a cute tone.
'So who are you?' I raise my hands and icicle the nearest 4 turtlers from below hurting them.
Notice: 200 mana has been deducted.
A tone that I imagine would belong to an adorable girl resounds in my head, 'we are you.'
I run from them passing through a tree as it is blown away by the skills some of them charged. I run towards another tree standing behind it to take cover.
'We? More than one? How many are there!?' I ask confused as I don't understand all these different voice tones.
A more charming mature tone resounds in my head, 'that'll depend on how much stronger you'll get.'
'I feel like you girls are teasing me at this point,' I shoot 4 more icicles opening their wounds deeper.
Notice: 200 mana has been deducted.
A demonic tone resounds in my head, 'if you keep running that way you'll get trapped by the turtlers that dispersed,' it laughed madly in my head.
I turn back and start running from where I came, approaching the injured monsters slowly while looking back, finding that a few of them walked out of the bushes I was about to go into.
'How did you know that?' I ask confused at the voice knowledge.
A tone that reminded me of a sleepy girl resounds in my head, 'wasn't that obvious? Yawn, monsters have telepathy like you and that insane grimoire of yours, and they're not retarded.'
The turtlers start surrounding the injured ones as if protecting them.
'That would've worked if I attacked from the front, but since I do it from below, icicles!' I shoot 4 more from below, while the turtlers shoot fireballs, water balls, airballs, thunder balls, and acid balls at me as I run.
Notice: 200 mana has been deducted.
'This is getting crazy,' the balls splash and explode in the ground, turning it into all kinds of different colored pools while one of them hits me.
Notice: 60 health and 6 mana have been deducted.
'Seems like the mana shield absorbed a bit of it,' I freeze my arm slightly due to the burn.
Notice: 20 mana has been deducted.
A demonic tone resounds in my head, 'you could use destiny cards before you run out of mana,' it laughed in my head.
'Oh right I haven't used it yet, I wonder what it does,' as I'm about to use it the adorable tone speaks in my mind.
'Don't use it, you won't become stronger if you rely on it to do the work for you, plus you'd bring unnecessary attention, and it might not even work as you are,' the demonic tone laughed happily as it almost tricked me.
'Attention from who?' A charming voice replied to me,' the goddess Aria, and possibly the church faction if she'd send them a message about your existence.'
'I've already gathered the attention of other gods what difference would it make?' I ask curiously not understanding the consequence.
A sleepy tone replies," yawn, you are truly an idiot, what do you think happens if a god doesn't like you?"
I start thinking about the things that happened before when the goddess Luna stripped me of her blessings and forgot me.
'I lose her blessings? What does that mean though? Appraise this information.'
I keep running dodging the incoming skills, from balls, to jets, to explosions, while I circle the turtlers using the trees as shields. I watch the different colored magical circles appearing in many places, forcing me to dodge those marks.
Notice: 200 mana has been deducted.
[Blessings are given to a being as a form of evolving their skills, often known as blessed and cursed skills, any beast skills are now impossible to obtain or evolve to.]
I shoot 4 more icicles focusing on the damaged turtlers, this time with extra mana as they should be at death's door.
Notice: 400 mana has been deducted.
Notice: 600 experience has been rewarded from a turtler.
System: The title Turtler Slayer has been received.
Notice: 630 experience has been rewarded from a turtler.
Notice: Iris has leveled up to 14.
Notice: 640 experience has been rewarded from a turtler.
Notice: 620 experience has been rewarded from a turtler.
The turtlers start falling on the ground while I run towards the exit of the forest, as my mana starts running low.
'If I were to lose goddess Aria's blessing I wouldn't be able to evolve my human skills further or to obtain new ones. Unless one of the other god's blessings would still remain, probably not even with them since different races. I'll have to be careful with it then, so if you girls are me then what are you?"
A sleepy voice replies, "yawn, just how clueless can you be? We're your skills, the ones that may affect your personality who gained life due to the curse of the god who evolved your class!'
'If I'm not mistaken the god of chaos was the one who changed that for me, and I think I have like 6 or 7 skills that can change personality. Meaning that I have 6 or more voices? Ah... What a pain.'
I let out a sigh, and as I do I notice Goro and Kaito on the ground close by still inside the forest.
"You guys didn't leave?"
"Ah, sorry Iris I couldn't carry him anymore, my legs, my body is tired," Goro said while panting harshly.
I look at him who is sweating intensively and then I remember something important, "did you guys just get all that experience from the turtlers too...?"
"Yes, I'm now level 7 so Kaito should be too," Goro replied as Kaito is laying on the floor due to the pain.
"Kaito if you can hear me spend all points in stamina, it'll keep you alive. I'll be carrying you to the village, you don't have to reply, just do it mentally."
Upon hearing my words he made a pained moan lightly trembling his head.
We then head back to the guild for treatment.
