Kelos: The Digital Otherworld

Chapter 2: Slimey

I say thanks to you all my readers. Happy Thanksgiving!
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I scoffed at the very idea of it. I deleted all the open tabs and looked back into the seemingly endless plains.

I looked around for a bit, before continuing North. The grass bent softly for each step I took, leaving a semi-obvious trail behind me. The short grass gave off its signature freshly cut, sweet smell, which puzzled me, how could it be cut?

I bent down and inspected the grass, it was indeed cut. That meant that people were nearby, but where were they? I looked around once more, but there were no clues on where civilization was.

I continued my light trek until I saw something round and light green bouncing in the distance. I approached it with caution, but it didn't seem to notice me at all. I wondered for a bit if this could be a slime. At around the distance of 100 feet, the VDG I had on displayed a little bit of text at around a foot above the slime, with a line connecting the small box of text and the slime.

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           Lv 2 Grassland Slime
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A slime that lives in the temperate
grassland biome, it mostly eats grass
and whatever else that gets in its way.
It helps keep the grass short.

Rank: E

Weak to: Fire, Ice, Slashing Attacks

Resistant to: Rocks, Bullets, Blunt Attacks

State: Friendly
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I stopped to read it, and when I looked back to the slime, it was bouncing its way toward me. I stared it down until it stopped at around 5 yards in front of me.

It didn't move, it only jiggled a bit in place. I took a set back - it bounced forward. I attempted to talk to it, "Hello?". Nothing happened. Maybe if I walk away, it'll go away, I thought.

I turned away from it and took a step; I heard the wet landing of the slime. I took another, and then another, but it bounced for every step I took. I took off in a sprint, I heard it getting softer and softer, so I looked back. It was falling behind, it wasn't fast enough.

While I was looking back, still running, I felt my left foot get caught on something, and I was thrown forward. I landed on my knees and stomach, with an explosion of pain. It wasn't too painful, but it was sudden.

I got back up slowly and looked behind me. There, sprawled on the ground and trying to get up, was a small green human-like creature, a goblin. In its hand was a small, rusted knife, but it still looked a little sharp.

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               Lv 3 Goblin
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Your run-of-the-mill goblin. Nothing
special about it.

Rank: F

Weak to: Fire, Piercing and Slashing Attacks

Resistant to: None

State: Inimical
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It got up and looked up at me, and let out a piercing screech. I gave it a swift kick in the chest, making it fall back. It got back up again and charged at me, knife flailing everywhere.

I jumped back, but not fast enough, as the blade grazed my right leg. I kicked it in its side with my left and sent it sprawling. The slime had finally reached us.

As the goblin was getting up for its third time, the slime pounced on it, engulfing it entirely. The goblin struggled and squirmed, and after a second, began scraping its neck. After a cool minute and a half, it stopped moving.

The slime bounced toward me with the slowly dissolving goblin still inside it and stopped at my feet. It spat out the knife, with a little less rust, but it still had some.

"Thanks?" I picked it up and wiped away the slime in the grass. It felt a tad bit uncomfortable in my hand, but it was still better than nothing. I swung it around in the air to test it out. After a minute or two, I put it away.

I looked back down at the slime, it shifted a little bit. "Thanks for helping me ... I'll name you ... Alinore."  I squatted to pet the slime. The slime jiggled in what seemed to be happiness and began to glow a soft, white light. It ended after a second, and Alinore's textbox changed.

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                    Alinore
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Lv 3 Grassland Slime

It has decided to follow its owner to the
ends of the world, by its own free will.

Owner: Elias
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"Huh? Me?" I looked at Alinore, who jiggled intently. "Are you sure?" I asked, but Alinore jiggled some more.

"If you so wish," I said. With a glance at the sun, we began heading North again.

It was around 20 minutes into the journey that we that we found others.

"Is that?" I stared harder into the horizon as I could barely see the little bouncing dots. As we got closer, they became much easier to see, and as I thought they were, it was a hoard of Grassland Slimes.

They had a different textbox as a large collective instead of the normal one.

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     Grassland Slime Hoard
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They feel much safer in a group,
explaining the origins of all GSHs.
They are not afraid of anything in this state.

Rank: D

Weak to: None

Resistant to: None

State: Neutral
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I noted the description, "Not afraid of anything?" I asked aloud. Alinore jumped higher than normal, giving off the impression of shock.

We took the path through them, making sure I was cautious. There were about 4 dozen slimes in the cluster, each around level 3-5, much higher than I was. They didn't do anything to me, that was until we saw the white slime.

There, surrounded by a couple of Grassland Slimes, stood the leader of them. A tiny white slime, with a gold speck on the top of its head. 

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             Lv 5 Prince Slime
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No one knows how they're made,
but one thing certain, they're born to lead.

Rank: B

Weak to: None

Resistant to: Physical Attacks

State: Hostile
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The little slime starting hopping toward me, knocking the other slimes out of it's way. The ones knocked away from its path, hopped after the prince.

I backed away slowly and cautiously, Alinore just continued forward. I turned and followed Alinore, however the prince still followed us.

After we crossed the great slime sea, I turned back to see them all bouncing after us, although not as fast as we were going. Their neutral state had transitioned into a hostile state.

Each passing minute, they gradually cut the gap that had formed between both parties. I held the knife in my hand just in case, you would never know what would happen.

We aproached the edge of the prairie and into a forest environment. The slimes turned back after we entered.

The moist forest floor smells overpowered me, but in a positive sort of way. The heavy earthy and wood aromas were very pleasant to inhale.

Moss and lichen covered all the trees and rocks. I touched some, it was soft and left my fingers dyed a little green.

'What a wonderful forest' I thought. That was until I found a village in a cleared patch of short grass in the forest, even with a little farmland.