Slime Raiding

He after his body is completely refilled of energy, decides to test how long he can last with both a barrier up and coating on his knife. With his mental sphere doubled his control on his energy gets even smoother and easier, and his energy veins became 4 millimeters thick meaning he had double the amount of available energy and even finer control on it.

He had been expecting at most 5 minutes of use with this advancement but what he got was 10 minutes, a ten times increase to his original time of only a minute of usage with both constantly active. In theory the increase in the amount of energy and control should only allow a triple or maybe quadruple increase at most, the 5 minutes taking into account the variability of change in energy like previously seen. But it had went above and beyond any expectations he had for the energy, being able to hold both a thin barrier and coating for an hour is the peak of what an F-grade energy is capable of while the amount he can do would qualify him as a barely F-grade person.

But humans are only able to reach low F-grade at the age of fifteen due to lack of energy control before then, they can make a core when they have enough energy but F-grade status requires at least control over said energy. It is why The Trials only take in those fifteen and older because they can't properly use their energy till then.

Essentially ones grade depended on usable energy and how long you can use that energy, of course knowing when to and when not to use energy and being able to identify what energy is needed when is a skill you have to build up on your own and is also required to be able to enter tunnels so not to waste to much energy and time.

But being ten years old and soon to be 11 in another few weeks when august rolled around, he should not have this extreme control and precision capability.

The biggest difference he can think of is his ability to increase his mental sphere, if the reason is because of this then it meant everyone had it and simply were unable to access and increase it beyond it's natural increase. Most likely ones mental sphere was only large enough to allow more control after you were 15 because that's how long it took it to grow to that size. 

His cultivation didn't just increase his energy density and amount, it also increased his influence and control on it. Allowing him to make leaps in his grading without actually being at that level, he probably has only half the amount of energy most low F-grade people have yet can use it to the same extent as them.

With each advancement this would only get more pronounce as he would probably skip directly to top F-grade ability with his next advancement. 

Getting up once his energy had once more refilled he felt both joy and sorrow over this, it was an incredible cultivation that would increase him in leaps and bounds with each increase but at the same time he only discovered it due to being ripped from his family and forced to gamble to survive.

Sighing he prepared once more to head out for the next slime hunting, Low F grades can deal with 50 slimes easily and 60 slimes at max before being to overwhelmed, most slime packs when dungeons appeared where between 150 to 200. And that was each induvial ones that would be spread out in different areas, all together a slime dungeon had between 10,000 to 20,000 slimes in it. It was precisely due to this that it required at least D-rank to be a hunter, not because of the ability to kill monsters but the ability to last through hoards of thousands of small monsters.

The dungeon he is in is only about 5 hour walk from one side to the next making it a small one with only about 10,000 slimes at max capacity. He heard A rank dungeons can get as big as small states and from s-rank forward the smallest was a small decent off country.

Coming out after almost a month of not killing them he knew he had to be carful, although he can theoretically deal with 50 his actual capability was probably more like 40 as he has limited fighting ability and has yet to go up against such large numbers before.

So he was probably able to deal with scouts and strays but if he came across a current pack their was nothing he could do and even larger scouting parties would be hard on him.

About 5 minutes out he came across a scouting part of 35, a size he would have had to run away from and could only deal with if in an advantageous positioning now became the perfect test group for his new advancement.

Putting up his barrier and coating his knife he had ten minutes of time to deal with them and not have to worry about injuries or have to retreat due to being overwhelmed. 

Dashing in he felt a certain amount of sadistic joy as he sliced through them while they surrounded him, the last time he was in this situation he was in horrific pain and could barely hold on. But now he sliced, slashed, and stabbed to his hearts content without so much as a hint of worry, by the time he was done 6 minutes had passed and he had killed all of the slimes using purely his energy to deal with them.

Returning back to his cave humming the nursery rhyme he usually would sing to his youngest siblings, he couldn't deny the sense of pride and deep satisfaction that came with what he had just done.

He knew he couldn't let this good mood affect him or he could end up in a worst situation than before, so he chose to immediately return rather than continue hunting. Watering the plants, eating one of the last few remaining nutrient packs, and practicing his martial arts he spent the last of the remaining half month before his birthday in a cycle that left him both satisfied and filled with joy.

 It's been 6 months since he has been in this dungeon and he now has officially run out of nutrient packs, however with his large and bountiful garden and his increased energy he can easily last without them.

He has made two more bowls and is constantly circulating his energy whenever he comes back from killing slimes. He cultivates next to his plant that he still is unsure of exactly which plant it could be, although it has grown some it is still bare of any berries or flowers that would indicate what it is. 

He intends to advance once more after his birthday, August 27, he disappeared February 20 and his birthday is 2 days away. God that felt sad, half a year spent trapped in a dungeon constantly growing crops and killing slimes, while undergoing painful advancements alone with no other people around.

He is honestly sure the only thing keeping his sanity at this point is the little emotions he and his plant transfer to each other while he is cultivating.