Monster Soul Online Chapter 19

Chapter 19: The Stone and the Moon - First Part

Five brown tents were being put up on the field. In the middle of that field, there was a pile of firewood which were prepared for a bonfire. After the tents were finished putting up, Tiger, who noticed that Sila still hadn't put up his own tent, asked.
 
"Sila, let's put up your tent. It'll be dark soon."
 
"Oh, I don't have a tent. Don't worry. I plan on staying outside as guard," answered Sila.
 
There was no need for Sila to sleep. With "Intermediate Qi," if he circulated it for three hours, he would feel as though he had slept all night. Thus, a tent was an object that Sila deemed a luxury, especially for him who didn't have much storage spaces left (they were mostly used for throwing daggers.)
 
However, from the other's point of view, they thought that Sila was poor to the point that he couldn't even afford a cheap tent. They pitied him but couldn't help since the tents they had were low grade tents that allowed only one person inside.
 
Sila, still clueless of what others thought of him, sat on a log next to a pile of firewood. "I will stay right here."
 
"Big brother Sila, you don't have to be on guard. This area is safe from aggressive monsters. Let's take turns sleeping in our tents instead," proposed Aek, which everyone agreed to.
 
"Please don't mind me. It's my own fault that I didn't bring a tent. Moreover, I haven't slept in a tent even once since I played this game, so maybe I can't sleep well in it anyway. I'm more used to staying outside like this," explained Sila.
 
Everyone sympathized more with Sila's hardship. However, with him saying that, they couldn't do anything about it anymore.
 
Well, in their perspective, it wasn't weird at all that Sila was poor, since he's a qi-type player.
 
One must understand that the game consisted of three energy types: qi, psychic, and magic. The prominent point of qi-type players was their higher basic stats compared to other types and their relatively few skills available for learning. In addition, the equipment usually didn't support qi-type players well. For example, the clothes available for this type were usually simple martial artist's uniforms that made a set. Thus, it was the type that poor people tended to choose as it required less money.
 
Equipment-wise, psychic-type players were the polar opposite. Psychic-type players greatly benefited from items and equipment. Just the armor of physic-type players could even be broken down into subparts: torso armor, arm armor, gauntlets, leg armor, and etc. This type require high amounts of money to play. To put it bluntly, it was the type that one could easily become strong to a certain extent if you just invested enough money into it but for someone to become first-rated among psychic-type players, money alone wasn't enough, one would need to master utilizing both items and skills to reach such a stage.
 
For magic-type players, although their equipment wasn't as good as a psychic-type, it was still better than qi-type. With their prominent point being the large pool of skills available to learn. The skills of magic-type players were also usually better than other types.
 
If one were to define each type by their characteristic, qi type would be 'great basic stats', psychic type would be 'great item utilization', and magic type would be 'great skills'. Everyone should choose whatever they preferred.
 
As the sky was getting dark, everyone sat around a bonfire that Tiger had lit up and were having a conversation together. But since some topic would be regarded as a player's personal secret, the conversation was centered around the game in general.
 
Sila didn't have much information regarding other races (actually, not just other races, but he didn't possess much information even about his own race), so he used this chance to ask others.
 
"May I ask why do Alice and Juntrathep want to become elf race and plant race?" asked Sila.
 
"For Alice, it's because she uses the bow as her main weapon. And as we currently know, the race that excels in handling this type of weapon are the goblin and elf races," answered Tiger.
 
"If it's the goblin, we could comfortably make it. They're not strong and high in number. Their cards are also easier to drop than the Elf Card. However, this girl doesn't accept it," Tod further explained.
 
"I'm a lady! How can you make me play as the goblin race? I won't allow it!" argued Alice.
 
"Come on, just have fun playing the game. A goblin's height is also suitable to your height, no? hahaha." Aek and Tod started laughing.
 
Alice scowled and didn't say anything more. She had been teased a thousand times already. She glared at Sila resentfully as he was the one who brought up the topic.
 
Tiger let out a sigh at the childishness of Aek and Tod. Then, he answered the second phase of Sila's question.
 
"And for Juntrathep, plant race was the least acceptable race she could be."
 
"The least acceptable?"
 
"Yes, she plays as the supporting role using magic. Therefore the best races most suitable were the dragon race or fairy race. But these two races are insanely rare. So, ultimately, we decided that plant race which has some sort of supporting ability was acceptable."
 
Sila nodded, thinking that everybody was seriously trying to find the race that suited their playing style. Compared to him who accidentally selected his race before everything else, he didn't know whether his choice would lead to a future problem or not.
 
"How about you, big brother Sila? Which race are you interested in?" asked Tod.
 
"For big brother Sila, I think the beast race would suit you. Species like wolf, tiger, or ape are all good in melee combat. Oh! or flying beasts would do, since they excel in speed. Moreover, at high levels, you would be able to fly in the sky. That would be very cool," suggested Aek.
 
"I have already changed my race."
 
Sila sentence's immediately attracted everybody's attentions.
 
"Which race, bro?" asked Aek, which Tiger turned to look at him disapprovingly as this might be a player's personal secret, despite the fact that Tiger also wanted to know.
 
Sila fell silent for a while, wondering whether it was okay for him to choose the slime race.
 
Tiger saw that Sila was silent so he interpreted it to mean that Sila didn't want to answer. "It's fine if you don't want to answer, Sila. It's a player's personal secret anyway."
 
"Oh, sorry, it's not like that. I was just thinking about something else." Sila said. He turned his head to Aek and answered, "I play as the slime race."
 
"Slime!!?"
 
Everybody, including Tiger who was usually calm, shouted at the same time.
 
"Why are you playing as the slime race?" asked Juntrathep.
 
Saying 'I don't know' would be embarrassing so Sila quickly thought of a cool answer.
 
"I noticed that no one was playing as the slime race, viewing them as useless. However, I personally believe that there's no useless thing in the world. Whatever the race we are, we could still be strong if we were to try hard enough," this was the answer that came out of his mouth but it was almost entirely based on what Crow had told him though.
 
Anyway, Tiger regarded Sila as a great man whom had confidence in his own path.
 
"Well, big brother Sila, even being a slime race, you're still this strong. In the future, I think no one will dare to insult the slime race anymore," said Aek.
 
Everyone nodded in agreement. Then, they ate a meal together. The food was prepared by Juntrathep, the only person who could cook well. The food was some kind of creature roasted with salt as the seasoning. Sila ate it and found it to be quite delicious but the food he had eaten at the Mansion of Seven Deadly Sins still far surpassed it.
 
Afterwards, everyone went to their respective tents. Although Tiger once again suggested that they could share tents, Sila still politely refused their offer.
 
Everybody was sleeping. Meanwhile, Sila had cultivated for around three hours and found that the in-game time was now 1 A.M.
 
"Ah! I finally remember!" exclaimed Sila.
 
Talking about races made him realize that slime race's nemesis was dragon. Although Tiger had said that it would be fine during the day, the Tree Dragons would still automatically and aggressively attack him anyway and anytime.
 
Indeed, they might attack only him, but he didn't want to take the risk that they might instead attack his teammate altogether. Thus, he should handle the problem beforehand. Based on Crow's blabbing, the dragon race had a slow respawning rate, so if he defeated all of them now, they shouldn't be able to bother his team later during the day.
 
Sila watched the time in System Window and thought that he would be able to come back in time before everybody wake up if he hurried. So, he didn't hesitate and started using "Qi of Little Bird" to rush into the forest.
 
***
 
Tree Dragon's territory was closer than Sila expected. Just 30 minutes was enough for Sila to reach here. For normal persons, they usually tended to avoid coming here at night because Tree Dragons would attack them first; but for Sila, daytime or nighttime didn't matter since these Tree Dragons would attack him nevertheless.
 
System sound alerted.
 
Monster Tree Dragon, Squire Rank, Level 350, has appeared.
Monster Tree Dragon, Squire Rank, Level 350, has appeared.
Monster Tree Dragon, Squire Rank, Level 350, has appeared.
Monster Tree Dragon, Squire Rank, Level 350, has appeared.
Monster Tree Dragon, Squire Rank, Level 350, has appeared.
............................
Monster Tree Dragon, Squire Rank, Level 350, has appeared.
 
The trees around Sila transformed themselves into dragons. They were dragons with bodies made from trees, showing a body of brown wood and green leaves. To be exact, they were more like trees with dragon-shape rather than actual dragons.
 
As if they knew that their enemy had appeared, they all immediately leapt towards Sila.
 
Sila had previously fought against the Great Millennium Apes who possessed high speed. Therefore the Tree Dragons' dull movements seemed rather slow in Sila's eyes.
 
He could dodge their attacks even without the help of the "Qi of Little Fish." Sila rushed forward to strike his hand that was strengthened by "Qi of Little Tiger" at one of Tree Dragons. Its head exploded instantly.
 
Sila smiled while thinking that they were weaker than he had expected. Although he didn't know their vital points, blowing their head off like this should also do the trick.
 
However, while he was still being delightful, the headless Tree Dragon lifted its leg to kick Sila.
 
With distance between him and it being so close, Sila quickly circulated "Qi of Little Fish" to avoid its attack and he also counterattacked, causing its arm to shatter into pieces.
 
In addition, Sila fired two qi-strengthening knives to stab other Tree Dragons' head, which causing their head to explode as soon as the knives hit.
 
Nevertheless, even without a head, they still jumped to attack Sila.
 
Of course, Sila didn't give up. He evaded their attacks, and tried to counterattack again.
 
Soon, many of them shattered into wooden pieces. Unfortunately, their flesh might remain with nothing but one arm, but that remaining one arm would still miraculously regenerate their body to attack Sila non-stop.
 
If things went on like this for long; even if Sila didn't make a single mistake, he would still die from exhaustion.
 
Sila finally understood. Although these Tree Dragons were not as fast as Great Millennium Ape, their ability to regenerate was terrifying. Since the battle had started, Sila still wasn't able to kill even a single one of them.
 
'If physical attack doesn't work, I will need to attack them with elemental attacks instead.' Sila simply followed the logic.
 
With his previous Right Arm of the Sealed One, he had possessed offensive skills of all elements. But upon it being changed into a qi-type equipment, only fire and ice skills remained as elemental attack skills; while the rest of the skills had been turned into special qi techniques.
 
Fire skill was "Flame of Torturing" while ice skill was "Freezing Soul."
 
Special skill: Flame of Torturing
One of qi techniques. Allow user to add hot and active attributes into your qi via circulating; creating a flame that can't be seen. The heat of the flame is depended on user's expertise.
 
Special skill: Freezing Soul
One of qi techniques. Allow user to add cold and tranquil attributes into your qi via circulating; creating an ice that can't be seen. The coldness of the ice is depended on user's expertise.
 
Good grief, with him being deep in thought, when Sila became conscious of his surroundings again, he was already trapped by the roots, binding one of his feet. Then, obviously, the Tree Dragons didn't miss this chance to charge at him.
 
Sila put "Qi of Little Tiger" into his foot to destroy the roots binding it. However, the short amount of time needed to destroy them was enough for some Tree Dragons to reach him.
 
A Tree Dragon used his fangs to claw after Sila and almost mauled him.
 
Sila brought out the "Flame of Torturing" qi technique on his hand. The heat of the invisible flame caused an air to waver. Instantly, Sila struck his palm to the nearest Tree Dragon.
 
As soon as his palm hit the Tree Dragon, it flew away writhing in pain before turning into ashes. The system sounded informing Sila that he had defeated it and gained some experience points together with an item, but Sila didn't have time to bother. Realizing that the "Flame of Torturing" was effective, he used it constantly.
 
But the number of Tree Dragons were too high. If Sila struck at it one or two at a time, his inner force wouldn't be enough. So, Sila tried combining and using the skills together as the nameless elder had guided him.
 
Sila brought out the power of the "God's Cathedral" qi technique. His qi was extended to form a sphere with a radius of 50 meters. Then, the power of "Flame of Torturing" was combined with a sphere, causing the atmosphere to be blurred by heat.
 
The Tree Dragons were screaming in pain. Although the flames couldn't be seen, they were all burning inside the sphere.
 
If Sila combined "God's Cathedral" with "Qi of Little Tiger" instead, their health points would gradually decrease without them noticing; but with "Flame of Torturing" that he currently used, thanks to the skill's characteristic being the blistering heat felt by its victim, they would be conscious of pain and damage unlike the former choice and their health points would decrease much quicker.
 
Sila leaped into the area that Tree Dragons gathered the most. His two hands were moving constantly as they were helping him kill the opponents faster.
 
The area inside the 50-meter radius sphere was now turned into a Tree Dragons' hell. They were going berserk and attacking Sila like crazy. Unfortunately, their actions resulted in their own predicament, as they were even more focused around Sila, causing the flame to burn them easier.
 
Eventually, when over an hour had passed, all Tree Dragons were burnt into ashes.
 
As Sila had killed over a hundred of Tree Dragons, his avatar's level rose. The system sound informed him of money and items he had gotten.
 
Sila lost so much qi and strength as he had fought continuously without rest. So, he began to circulate "Intermediate Qi" to replenish his qi.
 
"Big brother Sila."
 
A clear voice came from the bushes.
 
Sila turned his head to look at Juntrathep, whom he didn't know when she had come.
 
As Sila was about to say something to Juntrathep, a system sound interrupted.
 
Player Sila has achieved a certain secret condition: Killing 200 Tree Dragons while being a member of slime race. Player Sila has gotten a hidden quest: Decolonize Slime Kingdom. The detail of the quest can be inquired from Slime King of Slime Kingdom.
 
Player Sila has awakened Monster Python - Earth Dragon, Knight Rank, Level 800, from its slumber due to Decolonize Slime Kingdom quest. If slime race creature is killed by Earth Dragon, that slime's rank will be demoted by 1 rank.
 
The ground then started to shake.
 
______________________________
 
[T/N: The protagonist's name, 'Sila', literally means 'Stone' in Thai, while 'Jun' and 'Juntra' in the name 'Juntrathep' literally mean 'Moon'. Thus, this chapter's name 'The Stone and the Moon' basically refers to them being together.]

Chapter end