First Boss Fight Ever

Glug.

I drank a bottle of water while finding the way to the boss.

Although I've been walking in that cave for a while now, I still can't see the way leading to the boss.

There were even a lot of slimes on the way, so I used [Charged Attack] and [Fire Magic] combos to shoot the slime to clear the entire horde.

After that, if there are any survivors of that elemental explosion, I will clear the rest.

That's a very easy, yet efficient strategy.

And also thanks to the new skill [Aim Assisting], shooting from a distance has become a lot easier.

[-Aim Assisting (Lv.1) (New!)

Assist aiming for the User and when the User hits the aiming target, increase the Critical Rate by 10%.]

"A pretty handy skill."

It helps me aim much better and even get a 10% more Critical Rate.

I opened my watch to see the time, and it was already late.

[8.28 P.M.]

I should probably eat something now.

'As they have said, it's no use preaching to a hungry man.'

Besides, I ran out of Mana anyway.

Being in the dungeon all day made my [Mana] and [Magic] potentials both reach rank F.

----Potentials----

* [Mana] (F- → F) (!)

Description: You are a beginner in using Mana

-Mana Concentrating (Lv.1)

Efficiency +5%

-Mana Transforming (Lv.1)

Efficiency +2.5%

-Mana Infusing (Lv.2) (!)

Efficiency (+1 → +2.5%)

* [Magic] (F- → F) (!)

Description: You are a beginner in using Magic

-Fire Magic (Apprentice) (!)

Damage +2.5% (New!)

--------

'Too unlucky.'

If I was a little luckier, I would have gained a new magic or skill related to Mana.

But man proposes, God disposes.

Sigh.

'My RNG is so bad.'

[Archery] is already in F+, so it's quite difficult to make a breakthrough to reach a new realm.

But in return, the skill "Charged Attack" has reached level 3 since I have used it quite a lot today.

I even had to drink a Mana potion earlier, but now I have depleted all my Mana again.

[-Charged Attack (Lv.2 → Lv.3)

When active, each second charge will consume "Stamina" and "Mana" to increase "Attack Power" and "Critical Rate" by (0.44 → 0.5%).

Max: (32 → 35 seconds).]

I walked around the cave for a while looking for food.

Carefully selecting the food, I filter out the dangerous ones with the edible ones.

Of course, I will keep both. But I will not eat poisonous mushrooms.

I don't know why I pointed it out though, it's so freaking obvious.

Then I'll check them with [Appraisal] skill just in case.

[Created technique "Foraging" (Beginner).]

"Great."

But as soon as I checked, the torch had already gone out, causing me to stop at this place.

I threw out the dry sticks that I had collected earlier and put them in one place.

"This is also an advantage of Fire Magic."

Instead of trying to make a fire hopelessly because my survival skill is basically non-existent, I just need to create fire on top of this campfire.

Popping.

The fire took a while to flare up.

Fortunately, I learned a lot about the foraging and cooking part of this game because the food in the game also buffs a large amount of power.

Even cooking is a kind of meta to fight the ultimate bosses.

Then I purposely wet the two solid sticks of wood with the water bottle I brought with me and then I set up a medieval stove.

I took the iron pot out of the ring and poured water into it.

Next, I cut the carrots and peeled the potatoes while waiting for the water to boil.

When the water boils, I put the two ingredients straight into the pot.

Next, I cut the sausages into small pieces.

They were the leftovers from my fridge.

When I smell the fragrance of the broth.

I put some shiitake mushrooms and sausages in it.

"And...?"

[Created technique "Cooking" (Beginner).]

"Wait a minute."

[Technique "Foraging" will be a sub-technique of technique "Cooking".]

[Technique "Cooking" will receive 50% more Skill Exp.]

Oh, and of course there's this one too.

Now, let me see the cooking results.

----Items----

[Ryoshu's Potato Stew] (F+)

Description: A delicious potato stew with Amemura Ryoshu's style.

-Unwind

Will have a good sleep.

--------

And now I'll take out another bowl of rice from the space ring to eat with.

"Thanks for the food."

Immediately after eating, I put all the cooking materials and leftovers into the space ring.

Then I took out my sleeping bag and lay down.

I sat watching the fire and the environment around here.

This is my first time sleeping outside like this... even though it's not very outdoor...

'It's been a long time since I've felt this relaxed.'

Some wonderful memories from the past popped in.

'I miss Mom and Dad so much.'

'I wonder how you guys live in heaven, do you guys still argue with each other for childish reasons?'

"Heehee."

"I miss you two so much..."

I slept soundly that night.

* *

(Day 5)

4.15 A.M.

This morning I got up quite early.

But I forgot to bring my toothbrush, so I can only wash my face and perfume my mouth.

Today I will continue going this way.

Along the way, I encountered countless slimes with the number of over 3 dozen.

But fortunately, there were a lot of electric slimes so I used the elemental reaction to destroy the entire horde.

That's why I chose this temple.

I've collected tons of Magic Stones, and after this trip, I'll have some money.

'I'll probably start investing in stocks when I go out.'

Even the last boss in this challenge is an electric slime.

So it's a "free" C-rank Magic Stone.

'The price is somewhere around 82 RC.'

But the only thing is that it is quite large, and it is extremely strong.

The game is not naturally called a hardcore game.

'There's a reason for that.'

Speaking of the devil, I've reached the end of the hidden way.

And the first thing that caught my eye was the boss of the challenge.

The electric slime boss is about 4 meters tall and the width should be 10 times that of a small slime.

'After defeating it, I can go home and brush my teeth.'

First, I used my full-charged attack as usual.

About 35 seconds later, the bow and arrow will be buffed by exactly 17.5%.

Twang.

An explosion appeared.

Smoke quickly drifted up to my face.

After the smoke cleared a bit, I started going down to see if the boss was still alive.

Thought that slime was dead, but the boss was still alive.

Suddenly the Boss got up and activated his last resort - [Electric Matrix].

A skill that covers every part of the battlefield.

Even [Death Sense] was activated, but I couldn't avoid it in time.

I was thrown backward and hit directly at the wall.

It felt as if all of my ribs had just been crushed.

The blood in my mouth just shot out on its own.

I panting heavily.

["Protection Necklace" activated the "Overly Protect" function by itself.]

[This function has been out of usage today.]

Luckily, [Protection Necklace] worked and prevented me from dying.

'I was too careless because it was so peaceful from the start.'

"I haven't even entered the [Main Storyline]... but it's already so miserable."

However, who would have thought that an item that I didn't need would be so useful?

----Equipment----

[Protection Necklace] (A+)

Description: An above-average necklace from the old era.

-Protect

Negate 10% of incoming damage.

-Overly Protect

When the User receives an attack that can immediately kill the User, this equipment will be destroyed to negate 60% damage of that attack.

Usage: Once a day (0/1).

--------

But now I lost my "first life". I have only one left.

I drank the only health potion I brought to recover my heavy-damaged flesh nearly immediately.

Huff,

'I feel better now.'

Here, I have 2 options: "run away" or "win".

Even though It has crushed my bones and my muscles a bit.

And the differences between realms are indeed really terrifying.

Many people think it is nothing.

But no, the differences among realms are vastly large.

For example, if rank E is about 2 times stronger than rank F, then rank D must be 3 times stronger than rank E.

But here I am fighting a C-rank monster.

Hence, it must also be ten times stronger than me.

But luckily, I still have only an edge over it.

And you guys have seen it.

That is [Fire magic].

Since fire magic ignited lightning magic, when the two elements contacted, it created a powerful explosion.

The slime only needs to be hit by one of my fire arrows and it will lose a lot of health.

Even though I can't knock it out in one shot, if I attack it repeatedly, it will die soon.

So of course I won't run away.

I never even thought of running away at my most desperate moment.

Thus, why do I have to be afraid of a boss that I remember all its moves and behaviors?

I continued to fight the boss slime by shooting fire arrows from a distance.

Many people think slime is the starting boss because it's weak... but actually, it's just because it's the weakest of dozens of other terrible monsters.

In this game, slime has many versions.

The species that we normally consider weak doesn't focus on combat ability.

But some slime species are very strong and are rated SSS+, which is the Slime King.

This slime boss that I'm fighting is very good at status effects and big damage.

Its core is located so deep inside the body that it cannot penetrate with normal attack methods.

At the same time, I also try to dodge attacks where it slams to the ground.

But the lightning bolts have random trajectories, so sometimes even if I dodged the major attack, I was still hit by a small bolt of lightning, causing me to get slightly paralyzed.

This is also the reason that few Players recommend not going to this dungeon at the beginning of the game.

Now I see the point.

But suddenly I tripped and got hit by a bolt of lightning, my whole body was paralyzed and could not move anymore.

I felt on the ground.

And the boss rushed towards me.

'Is this the end?'

No!

'I still have this ace!'

"Hidden!"

The slime suddenly got flustered because I wasn't there.

I gasped, but it could not feel me.

It wandered around and tried to sense me by its Mana.

However, nowhere could he find me.

The boss got confused and tried to attack randomly

'So the mask can really erase a part of my existence.'

'I have to thank that old man Atsuta the next time I see him.'

I stood up unsteadily and started using [Charged Attack].

But it only took about 12 seconds for me to feel that my Mana bar was about to run out, so I consumed the Mana potion.

Maybe it's because the [Hidden] function consumes more mana than I expected.

I charged for 35 seconds and then combined it with Fire Magic.

But I still don't see a better chance of winning.

If there was a way to increase "Critical Rate"...

A plan popped into my brain within 0.1 seconds.

I took some ingredients that I just got and tinkered with them a bit.

Ting.

'Oh, my god...'

"Turns out this equipment is even better than I thought!"

Immediately run towards the boss, still holding the bow and arrow at the same time.

'If what I remember is true…'

The Boss also dashed straight at me!

Just like the move set in the game.

"Aim Assisting!"

I stopped and looked straight at its core.

When the Boss almost touched me.

"Death Sense will automatically activate!"

Everything went slower as if I was in sped-up mode.

I pointed the arrow straight at the Boss's core and readjusted my aim slightly.

And when I was only one centimeter away from the Boss.

I activated a move I never thought I'd used.

"Stab!"

Then I released the arrow.

And of course, there's one more trump card I've been saving for.

When the tip of the arrow hit the "body" of the slime, I immediately activated the skill.

"Re:Counter!!"

Boom!