Training as a Slime (59)

Cori's eyes were fixed on the map, realising the location of the nearest dragon pearl, which was tantalizingly close, just 10 meters away. He tried to imagine the terrain where the treasure had fallen. "Where is this place?" Cori thought aloud. He could not help but wonder why nobody had stumbled upon the luminescent jewel yet, which seemed to be hiding in plain sight.

Before Sam answered his question, she opened up her inventory and slotted in the dragon pearl. Cori, who was not given visible access to her system's window could only see the object disappear in mid-air.

"How did you do that?" Cori asked.

"Do what?" Sam replied feigning ignorance.

"That! Making the whole thing disappear!" Cori exclaimed in a whisper.

"Oh, this?" Sam teasingly pulled the pearl out of her inventory and slotted it back in again.

"Ya, that!" Cori whined pointing his tiny paw at the invisible screen.

"Oh, you just summon your inventory and put your item in," Sam said as a matter of fact, fully enjoying her role as a senior. After teasing her little junior and seeing his surprised face, she recomposed herself with satisfaction and spoke seriously, "Now isn't the time to fool around. We only have a few minutes before the rest find it!"

Cori's eyes fired with determination, his will focused on levelling up to control his new skill. As he extended his paws and stuck onto Sam's arms, his senior felt a jitter of goosebumps crawling up her skin. But knowing the urgency of the matter, she bit her tongue and sped to the next location. 

"We're here!" Sam announced, desperate to remove herself from the cold and clammy sticky paws. Cori released his grip and glanced around, noticing a bulletin board full of papers. "Cori, you queue up here first. Once it is your turn, fill up the form and request someone to help you run the errands. Meanwhile, I will have a look around," Sam advised.

Cori jiggled like a jelly in acknowledgement. He stood in line, waiting for his turn.

"Next!" a grown-up fairy shouted. Cori had never seen an adult-sized fairy beside the high fae before, and was surprised by the moth-like, dull-looking wings. As he waited, he couldn't help but think of the fairy as a "moth man," but quickly pushed the thought aside when he felt an icy cold stare from the fairy in question.

When it reached his turn, he felt the same cold glare from the tired looking fairy.

"Name?" the fairy asked.

"Cori Byten," Cori answered as he peered nervously over the edge of the table.

The fairy scribbled away taking down his name, occasionally casting a look at him. He the asked procedurally, "Job request? Time limit?" Cori told him all the chores that had to be done and asked if the items could be delivered to his place on the same day. The fairy wrote down his demands and continued, "So... what are the rewards?"

When asked about rewards, Cori produced a gold coin, the smallest denomination he had at the moment. The fairy did not seem too impressed, but jotted down "Reward - 1 gold" on the parchment and tapped his wand on the coin, transforming it into a little pictorial representation on the manuscript. With a flourish of his hand, he sealed the document and handed it over to Cori. "Don't forget to post this on the bulletin board," he said, sounding a bit jaded like an office worker who's had enough.

"Wait, what do you mean by 'submit to the bulletin board'?" Cori asked, his nonexistent eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"There! There!" the fairy motioned, pointing towards the large crowd gathered around the quest board. He then shouted, "Next!" signalling Cori to step aside.

With slight apprehension, Cori pushed his way through the crowd and approached the board. Upon reaching it, he noticed several job postings like his displayed on it. As he held the parchment in his hand, he felt as if the board was pulling the parchment towards itself. So, he extended his body and pinned the parchment on the board, which instantly absorbed the parchment and sorted it under level 1 side quests.