Monster Soul Online Chapter 40

Chapter 40: Bow's Decision

Sila couldn't open his system window while following Bow as it took his full concentration just to glide alongside her. Therefore, he decided to read slime-race skill's description later.
 
Bow seemed to be in a hurry. She went ahead of Sila as Sila was gliding too slow. She only waited for him when she was almost gone off his sight. This happened so many times. Sila couldn't help but comment.
 
"If Bow is busy, you can just tell me the direction. I can go on my own."
 
"No, Big Brother, I'm not. I'm just impatient," replied Bow.
 
"Impatient?" wondered Sila.
 
A big smile emerged on Bow's pink body. "The faster Big Brother finishes your quest, the faster I will be able to witness the world outside. I'm just so happy. I haven't seen the world outside before."
 
Sila felt surprised and pitied. He looked around and found that it wasn't just Bow but other slimes as well that looked at him with meaningful eyes containing one word.
 
Hope.
 
Sila started to feel worried. He wasn't confident in himself. The more hope placing onto him, the more pressure he felt. Once he was a kid, his teacher always told him that he was thinking too much into his action. Sometimes, people don't need to concern about unnecessary thought, especially in a battle. There is no need to think about what would happen if he loses or what would happen if he wins; he should focus on the fight itself, not the result.
 
Sila might able to do it sometimes. But usually, when he faced with stronger opponents, he couldn't help but think that he might lose.
 
Thinking up to this, his body stopped moving. He needed to focus again to follow Bow who had waited for him ahead.
 
Both of them finally arrived at the cliff located at the end of the kingdom. There was a signpost saying this place is called Cliff of Heroes. Without it, this place doesn't look much different than a usual cliff.
 
"Bow, why is this place called Cliff of Heroes?" asked Sila.
 
"Because this place is the location that slimes have to face against hard ordeals. It's a place to test whether one is mature enough. If one wants to take on the ordeals, one needs to prove that one is brave enough to jump off this cliff," answered Bow.
 
Sila moved closer to the cliff. "Thank you for direct me here, Bow, you can go now." He said as he saw that Bow was still standing on the edge of the cliff.
 
Bow seemed hesitated for a moment before some particular determination flashed in her eyes.
 
"Big brother, jump follow me, okay?"
 
Sila couldn't say anything back. Bow had already jumped off the cliff.
 
"Hey. Wait…"
 
Sila looked downward. The cliff seemed to have a bottomless pit as he couldn't see anything down there but darkness. As Bow said, the bravery is needed to jump off and face against something we don't know waiting for us.
 
"Even a little girl like her can jump..." Sila muttered to himself. He swallowed his saliva and finally jumped off.
 
Sila was descending. A dimmed light seemed to be slowly fading off. Sila was swallowing into darkness. In the end, a complete darkness surrounded him. Now he couldn't see anything.
 
It was truly dark. It felt like he himself had become a part of the darkness.
 
***
 
He didn't know how long time had passed. Once Sila woke up, he found that he was finally on the flat ground. He must have arrived at the bottom of the cliff. It was surprising that this place is bright as daytime.
 
"So you finally wake up." A bass sound of a man rang out. Sila turned his head to look.
 
There was a slime as big as Slime King standing in front of him. This slime's color was blue. A scar could be seen under his left eye.
 
As Sila was a qi-type player, he could somehow sense qi deep inside this slime's eyes.
 
"Yes, sir. I have woken up." Sila replied before looking around. "Excuse me, sir, where is Bow?"
 
"That girl? She is currently under the trial," answered the blue slime.
 
"The trial?" Sila was curious. Does this slime mean Way of Slime's ordeal?
 
"It seems you are not yet to fully understand. Let me tell you. We slime are different from other race that borns with their inborn energy type. For instance, dragon is magic-type creature, merpeople is psychic-type, and wolf is qi-type. Usually, when humans choose a race, they tend to choose a race that is in line with their current energy type for efficiency. Well, choosing race of different energy type from their own is fine too. Doing so would grant you the skills of another energy type. Although it's not an efficient choice, some people choose this way as it's more versatile.
 
"However, slime race is different, we are able to use all three energy types when we are young. We only have to choose the energy type once we mature. It's like a succubus that can choose its gender once it reaches adulthood. Though, slime needs to be accepted that they have matured. What that girl, Bow, is currently doing is trying to pass a trial to prove that she's mature enough to choose her own energy type. It's only that…"
 
Sila was about to ask for more detail about it. But as the blue slime stopped its conversation at such timing, he felt he wouldn't like what he was about to listen. However, he asked anyway.
 
"It's only… what?"
 
"It's only that Bow is still too young. I don't know whether she will survive. Actually, she should try it five years later. But she said she was in a hurry."
 
Sila's body was pale. "Wait. Why don't you stop her then, sir?"
 
Blue slime shook its body with a solemn expression. "I can't. Jumping off the Cliff of Heroes means that she believes she is ready to face whatever fate awaits her. There are only two results: pass the trial or death. It's a rule. The name of this place already implies that fact. If you dare to face the trial, you also need to accept the consequence of your action."
 
Sila was stunned. He couldn't believe that Bow was such a reckless girl. No, thinking about it, this decision of her was made partly because of him. She might have been standing at the edge of the cliff for so long, hesitating to face with the trial. But his arrival shoved that hesitation of hers away.
 
Hope.
 
Such a powerful concept which can lead to either good or bad result. It is like water that can make a boat float while also able to crash it down. Bow must be impatient to get out of this place and believe in Sila that he can do so. She believed in him so much that she showed her resolve by jumping off the cliff to obtain her freedom.
 
"Don't lose yourself in other people's business. You better concern about yours." The blue slime interrupted Sila.
 
"Me?"
 
"Is what I have said not clear enough? There are only two results waiting for slime who jumped off the cliff: pass the trial or death."
 
Sila just realized at that time. He came to complete Way of Slime's ordeal too.
 
"My name is Poluk. I'm your instructor in the first trial," said the blue slime.
 
"My name is Sila," quietly said Sila. He was still unable to stop worrying about Bow.
 
"Don't worry. I'm kinder than others. My trial is, in the next two day, I will let you fight against Troll, a level 1000, squire-ranked monster. You just have to beat it. Easy, right?" said Poluk.
 
Sila pulled a wry face. He wouldn't complain if he was in his usual human form. But with this form of he that it was hard even to move, coupled with the fact that he wasn't able to use qi, how was he able to win against a level 1000 Troll?
 
Oh, think about it, he still hadn't read slime-raced skills' description yet.
 
Thus, Sila opened his skill window to take a look at his newly acquired skills.
 
"What?" exclaimed Sila after he had read the skill description.
 
"What are you shocking about?" asked Poluk.
 
Apparently, Sila was shocked at the degree of uselessness of these skills. Fluffy, colorful, and transparent. How can such things help him in a fight? What about that tale telling him slime is comparable to dragon? Is this supposed to be a joke?
 
"Umm, I remember Slime King has told me that I need to rely only on slime-race skill to complete the ordeal. Am I right?" confused Sila.
 
"Yes. That's correct. What's wrong with it?"
 
"Umm, I'm sorry, sir, but allow me to say it bluntly. I can't see how these skills can help me in a fight."
 
"Are you suspecting? Well, as I'm the kindest and most handsome among three Slime Guardians, I will let your witness the might of the skill," said Poluk while he was hopping into the center of the arena. "As I'm the most handsome and kindest slime, let me tell you something first. I'm a qi-type slime. The skill that I'm about to show you is "Form…," oops, what was it called again? Oh, right, "Fluffy Slime.""
 
Sila was distracted by his idle thought of how to decide slime is handsome or not. Therefore, he missed what Poluk was saying. He could grasp that Poluk was about to show him "Fluffy Slime" skill though.
 
"Release the troll!" shouted Poluk.
 
The ground was slightly shaken. A wall in front of them was opened. Giant-size monsters walked through that wall. In their hand was a hammer that looked crooked just like their face.
 
"Hm? Why are they coming out this many? Well, whatever," muttered Poluk.
 
Tens of troll went out to Sila's direction. Their body was huge. One shadow of them could easily and completely cover Sila's tiny body. It was bigger than him even if he was in a human form. With him being in slime form like this, its body looked so gigantic and there should be no way for him to beat it.
 
"Watch closely," Poluk said to Sila.
 
One of the trolls lifted its hammer up, then smashed it down to Poluk. Meanwhile, Poluk didn't even care to dodge. He instead stood firmly, welcoming the attack.
 
Based on Poluk's confidence, Sila didn't worry at all. He decided to give his all to watch what was about to happen closely.
 
*Crack*
 
The sound of something cracking could be heard as soon as the hammer was smashed at Poluk's body. But it wasn't his body that was damaged. Instead, it's a hammer that was broken into pieces. Sila could see that Poluk's body had turned into a grey color of steel.
 
"Watch again," said Poluk.
 
Then, Poluk sprung himself from the ground into the air. He was rolling as though he was a blue-color ball spinning toward troll at high speed.
 
Once Poluk landed on one troll, he was bouncing off and landing on other trolls as if he was a rubber ball. Sila looked without blinking and found that upon contact, Poluk body would turn into steel-color briefly before changing his color back as soon as he hit the next troll.
 
Poluk was floating in midair before his body turned into black color and dived downward at high speed. Once he was close to the ground, his color changed again to white color and landed softly on it.
 
All trolls turned into white lights and disappeared at that moment. Even 10 seconds had yet to pass since the last troll come out.
 
"What about it? Do you get any?" asked Poluk.
 
Sila nodded using his whole body, "Mister Poluk, why do you sometimes turn black and sometimes turn white?"
 
"Think about it yourself. I have shown you enough."
 
Sila tried to use "Fluffy Slime" skill. His body seemed to turn whiter. He had no way to tell whether his body had become softer or not though.
 
However, no matter how long he had tried, his body couldn't turn blacker at all.
 
Seeing Sila was trying, Poluk didn't interrupt him. He just walked around Sila until the ground shook slightly again. This time, one small orange-color slime was hopping toward Poluk with a troubled expression.
 
Poluk went to that slime. They began whispering about something. Sila turned his head to look at them. However, doing so released him of maintaining the fluffy state. He had to re-focus his mind.
 
'Being slime is so troublesome. I can do only one thing at a time,' thought Sila.
 
Poluk and the orange slime seemed to have finished their conversation. The orange slime went back to where it had come from. The wall shook again and closed itself off. Meanwhile, Poluk walked toward Sila. Seeing that, Sila stopped his practice as he could guess that Poluk wanted to tell him something.
 
"I have bad news and good news. Which one do you like to listen to first?" asked Poluk.
 
"Bad one first, then," replied Sila. He was the type to keep the good part for later. This way, at least he would feel that the bad news was compensated by good news.
 
"The bad news is… that girl didn't pass the trial."
 
"Does that mean… she is dead?" Sila's voice was shaken. Although it was true that he had only met her today, he could tell that she is very likable and energetic girl.
 
"Dead? Why are you cursing her like that? She just didn't pass the qi-type trial. There are still magic-type and psychic-type trials left," said Poluk.
 
Sila smiled. "Phew. You tell me it's a bad news, so I thought…"
 
"It's indeed a bad news, I always hope that there will be one more qi-type slime. Geez…" sighed Poluk.
 
Sila ignored this bad news. At least Bow was still trying her best. It seemed like one could afford to fail up to two times in this whole ordeal.
 
"What about the good news, sir?" happily asked Sila.
 
"The good news is, just now, there's an error. All trolls have been released. There's nothing for you to beat now," replied Poluk.
 
"Ah? What about my trial, then?"
 
"Don't worry. I who is handsome and kind have already come up with a solution."
 
"What is the solution?" asked Sila.
 
"It's easy. Just fight against me instead. If you win, you pass." Poluk smiled.
 
Sila's body went paler without him activating any skill. He wondered which criteria this slime use to differentiate between good and bad news.

Chapter end