Floor 1: Night Watch (edited)

The first floor is alight with iridescent green splotches across the trees, and shrubs, and even wedged between the mossy rocks. It seems harmless, perhaps just another addition to this world's nightly aesthetic.

The others wary but exhausted struggle with alertness only for a short time. Passing on into whatever dreams sinners have at night. I remain focused on the opening of our sheltered rocky grove. Vividly aware of what our deaths would look like if caught.

To pass the time I search through the help section of the system.

It seems skills do have a limit. A physical skill is limited by a person's stamina. A mental skill is limited by willpower. There are odd skills that may not fit either category or not have a limit at all. Sadly the section does not give examples. I select my Basic Prayer skill.

'Skill: Basic Prayer

Type: Faith

Heal one target from basic injuries by the will of heaven. No cost, but is limited by one's alignment.'

Limited by one's alignment? I'm currently listed as lawful good. Perhaps healing spells are more effective for good alignments?

My eyes instinctively move away from the screen to the forest in front. The numerous lights cause me to struggle to focus in the dark. The lack of sound from any life, only the rushing noise of the river, makes the night even more ominous. I release a loud steadying breath. The snores and rustles of my party deafening in the air.

No movement, I return to search for the next topic. I decide to look up floors next.

Floors have several types. Standard, neutral zone, and city. A standard floor has monsters, a boss, and a reward for completion. A neutral zone is often a place for…

"Ahh!" A man's terrified screech sounds out from close behind me.

I quickly face my party to find numerous small slimes squeezing out between the rock walls. Laren has one slime eating away at his left arm. Reaver and Meril are startled awake by the scream.

"Get it off! Get it off!" He screams again.

Panicked by the swarming slime. Meril runs for the clearing exit. Reaver, closest to the river, falls backward into its shallows. Laren shakes his arm frantically, moving backward from the slimes. I rush toward the forest, away from the swarm.

Meril and I reach the edge before she grabs my arm. I'm yanked by her surprising strength to a standstill.

"We should do something!" Her words and body don't match, clearly resisting the instinct to abandon the group.

We look back to see a resolved Laren slicing off his left arm. He screams even louder than before, sending shivers down our spines. Running on adrenaline he calls out while rushing over to us.

"Heal me!" He doesn't have to ask twice. I step forward to reach him.

The slimes are as expected very slow in pursuit giving us time to regroup.

I take hold of the bleeding stump on Laren, calling forth a holy light. I'm surprised by the unexpected pain. I bite down on my lips, to prevent a scream. My limbs shake, eyes water. A message pops up.

'WARNING: Incompatibility detected! Pain will be triggered upon the use of holy attributed skills!'

The fuck! I have a saint class, everything will be holy attributed!

I hold back a growl in my throat. The holy light disappears leaving a scarred stump left behind. Thankfully it wasn't his sword arm. I breathe out, wiping the sweat from my brow.

"They're dying! The slimes are dying!" Reaver calls out from the river.

Our gazes lock over to the swarm of little slimes targeting Reaver. As they enter the water, they begin to convulse. A few reverse course and return to land, but many get sucked in by the current and visibly shrink. Eventually, unnatural movement surges toward the watered slimes. Small fish-like creatures leap at and pick away at the slimes, feasting.

Our eyes widen not only from our chances of survival but the quest window popping up.

'Floor 1: 03/50 slimes slain!'

The number of slain slimes rises till the last few escape the water.

'Floor 1: 13/50 slimes slain!'

I grin, and a laugh escapes me as well. I knew it was clearable! Slimes were not only weak to water, but had natural predators! My party members share my excitement with victory cheers and even a jumping Meril.

Laren, Meril, and I casually walked into the water, cold but we didn't care. The whole party smiled and cursed at the blind slimes following us to their deaths. The luckier slimes that escaped the current, began targeting each other.

By the end of the hour, one large slime remained, it inched away into the woods. Barely able to stand, our group collapsed to the ground, ready to sleep once more. Still, we shared ecstatic-filled grins, before we settled for bed. Meril was left for watch duty this time. She centered herself in the middle of our group, facing the directions away from the water.

Too tired to care anymore, I fell into deep sleep.

The group managed to avoid another encounter in the night. Groggy, hungry, but alive. We planned to finish the floor as quickly as possible. We only had twenty or so slimes left to kill as a party.

Ren still had not returned and we feared the worst.

"If he's still alive out there; it'd be best to finish the mission quickly. We can be teleported together to the next floor." Laren offered some optimism, while openly rubbing at his pained stumpy limb. He grimaced. "We should split into pairs of two and lure slimes over to the water."

We had no reason to object to his plan, and could only hope the next floor had a food supply of some sort. Slimes weren't an option, and the fish seemed to be made of a similar material to their prey. It was too risky to take a bite of those things.

So we spent the day luring slimes to the river. They moved slowly and almost always moved alone. It took a lot of back and forth and sometimes long distances to find slimes for the quest. Eventually, we reached our goal.

'Floor 1: 50/50 slimes slain!'

'Congratulations! You have completed the tutorial on floor 1! Your party will be moved to tutorial floor 2!'

'You will be teleported to the intermission space!'