Round 100

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Episode 100

My name is Headbutt. I’m a slime.

And today, as always, I’m diligently training.

Splat!

Phew, this is tough. But I can’t give up.

The others are busy playing around, but I haven’t skipped a single day of training.

Our Great Lord is pleased just watching us play. Thanks to our kind Great Lord, those guys spend all day playing in the field.

But I’m different.

Splat!

This one was better.

Although it might not be noticeable, my headbutting skills are improving over time.

I am a slime recognized by the Great Lord.

I still remember that moment.

When I first learned the headbutt skill, the Great Lord told me to try it directly on His body. And back then, I performed the headbutt of a lifetime.

So, what happened?

Our Great Lord was unscathed. Naturally, because He is extraordinary. But both the Great Lord and Lady Ara were impressed by my skills.

Even though it was my first headbutt, I received such a reaction. Imagine what I could do with more training?!

Wiggle?

The one playing nearby is watching me. Most consider me an oddball, but I don’t mind.

I have only one goal.

To keep training. And eventually…

Bounce! Bounce!

I!

Will stand in the sky!!

I will surpass even the Great Lord and Lady Ara and conquer the world with my headbutt as a slime!

Some might call this insubordination. But don’t worry. All I want is to be unique in the universe.

The Great Lord will always be my Great Lord, and Lady Ara will always be Lady Ara.

What? Does that sound contradictory? I don’t know such difficult words. Be quiet.

Clatter- Clatter-

-Neigh!

Hmm! The Great Lord has returned. Time to start training again.

“Alright, everyone! Gather like before!”

The Great Lord is calling!

I immediately stopped my training and crawled out, moving as fast as when I perform my headbutt!

Huff, I’m first!

“You’re coming alone in such a hurry. Oh? Are you Headbutt?”

Wiggle!

Haha, as expected, you remember me. I thought you had forgotten me since that day!

“You cute thing. Alright, you come along too.”

Where are we going, Great Lord?

“We need to collect some stones. Even small fragments will do.”

Hmm, stones!

When it comes to stones, that’s my specialty! I’ll finally show the results of my training!

Wiggle! Wiggle!

“You’re very energetic, just like last time. Hmm, I guess I’ll take about five slimes?”

The Great Lord personally selected five slimes. I looked at the other four with determination.

Before I can stand in the sky, my first goal!

Collect the stones!

* * *

With the unusually excited Headbutt in my arms, I returned to the mine. With the help of Alfheim, we started collecting samples in earnest.

“Hmm. Looks doable.”

In the meantime, my father was estimating if we could create an entrance. I asked him, hinting,

“Do you think the slimes might be helpful?”

“I hadn’t considered that. As long as we can communicate with them, they would definitely be helpful.”

“Ara or Frey can communicate with them, so I’ll give it a try.”

While my father and I talked, the slimes and fairies began bringing in small fragments.

However, most were just ordinary stones we’re familiar with.

“That’s to be expected. Besides, these kids don’t know which ones are minerals.”

Young-seong nodded as if it were obvious.

“This won’t be finished in a day or two. It might take a week, months, or even years. Once we expand the entrance, we need to quickly extract usable minerals to prepare for the Avarice.”

“Months, years…”

I guess I had been too naive, thinking it would be easy. I had been coasting along too much.

‘Crops only take about a month to grow.’

Time passed swiftly.

Before I knew it, the day was ending, and we were wrapping things up.

“Brother, will you be staying here?”

“Probably. Except for the times I need to contact the guild.”

“Are you sure? Spending several days in the dungeon…”

“I actually prefer it.”

Young-seong watched his wife pack a swimsuit. It seemed they were planning to go to the hot springs now that the work was done.

“I’ll go out and get some estimates. I’ll come back with detailed blueprints.”

“Yes, Father.”

“I’ll leave the fishing gear behind.”

At that moment, Young-seong’s eyes sparkled more brightly than when he was analyzing minerals.

“Do you like fishing?”

“Hmm? Yes, I do. Do you…?”

“Haha, yes, I do. I didn’t know you liked fishing, too.”

“Oh, then shall we have a quick go at it?”

They quickly bonded and headed off to fish. And Si-young had already persuaded Seon-ah to take Ara and Gomgom to the hot springs.

“Ha ha.”

Well… it’s nice to see everyone getting along so well.

I’m definitely not upset because they’re all going without me.

…Really.

* * *

Time flew by.

We had discovered the mine at the end of the year, and soon it was a new year, making me a year older.

However, I had been so busy that I barely noticed the new year coming and going.

‘But I’ve prepared quite well.’

With the advice from Young-seong, I had made nearly 60 bottles of vegetable juice. Additionally, I had ten strawberry potions.

Not only that, but I had also been in frequent contact with the guild, and they had finally succeeded in mass-producing strawberry potions.

Although the daily production was only five and the effects weren’t as good as the ones I made, they were still a lifeline in urgent situations.

“Kyu-seong!”

“Oh, Ara.”

“Ta-da~!”

“Oh, what’s that?”

Ara appeared wearing a new hat.

She was proudly showing it off, but it looked heavy no matter how I looked at it.

“What’s it made of?”

“Mineral!”

We had discovered various minerals in the mine. So far, we had found four types: one was the first mana-infused ore we discovered.

‘We named it Arastar.’

Another was a similar shimmering ore, and the remaining two were minerals.

We didn’t have a clear way to categorize raw gemstones and minerals separately, but for convenience, we decided to call the semi-transparent, sparkling ones gemstones.

The important thing was that among the discoveries, we had found something else suitable for awakened equipment: a mineral we named mithril.

‘There isn’t much of it, though…’

The hat Ara was wearing was made from a different mineral, not mithril.

It was a rare mineral that didn’t conduct mana but exhibited mana conduction properties. Unfortunately, it was too heavy to be used for awakened equipment.

“Stickstick made it!”

“Stickstick?”

Stickstick, the slime with the ability to combine minerals.

I had thought it could only stick minerals together, but it could also shape them?

This significantly increased Stickstick’s utility.

If we had proper design plans, we might not need artisans to make equipment. We could use Stickstick’s abilities instead…

“It can make other things, too!”

“Oh, that’s impressive.”

Now that the fieldwork was done, it was time to visit the mine.

“Huh?”

I tried to lift Ara to carry her, but I stumbled. Startled, I looked at Ara and then laughed.

“I can’t hold you because of that hat, Ara.”

“Gasp!”

Ara quickly took off the hat and held it in her hands.

But even holding it in her hands, I couldn’t embrace her.

That mineral, adamantium, was unsuitable for awakened equipment despite its strength, hardness, and mana conduction properties simply because it was too heavy.

‘Ara is definitely strong.’

Although I am an awakened one, I only have the strength of a level 1. But Ara must be around level 4 or even 5 in strength by now.

Clatter- Clatter-

“Oh? Father.”

“Phew.”

Just as I was about to head to the mine, my father approached from that direction. He looked tired as he got off Purr, but he had a satisfied expression.

“It’s finished.”

“Finished? Do you mean the entrance is complete?”

“Yes.”

“Oh!”

Father had been steadily working on opening the mine entrance with the help of the Kkumuris. The Kkumuris’ mysterious abilities, though slow, allowed them to create a safe entrance.

“It took longer than I expected, but it’s very sturdy. There’s no worry of it collapsing.”

“Thank you for your hard work, Father.”

“Yes. I’m going home to rest now.”

Unlike Seon-ah, who visited once a week, Father had been working here almost continuously, practically living at the mine.

Mother’s glares had become quite sharp, but he would bring her to enjoy Ara’s antics whenever possible.

“Where’s Young-seong?”

“Oh, he stepped out to contact the guild.”

“I see. I wanted to do a bit of fishing with him before leaving.”

“Aren’t you going home to rest?”

Father had become fishing buddies with Young-seong. As a result, I found myself fishing occasionally as well.

“This time, I need to find a new spot. Even the best places can get a bit dull.”

“There’s a stream in front of the field.”

“That won’t do.”

“Try the hot springs.”

“……”

“I’m kidding. I’ll look around. I’m sure Chirp can find a good spot quickly.”

Since I planned to visit the mine anyway, I decided to inspect the completed entrance. While I had seen the process up until now, confirming it was different.

“I’ll be off then.”

“Alright. I’m heading home.”

I listened to my father’s farewell and climbed onto Purr. As Ara waved her hand energetically, we set off.

“Thinking back, if Ara hadn’t prepared her surprise, things could’ve gone wrong.”

“Hehe.”

Purr, Woofy, and Chirp—recently, these three had been quite active.

Not only Purr and Woofy, but also Chirp’s ability to fly was a tremendous advantage, allowing it to go to places we couldn’t reach.

Chirp took care of various tasks, from scouting the area to fetching plants growing on rocky mountains or branches of the World Tree.

‘…The downside is that it’s hard to find.’

Chirp only comes when it’s time to eat, making it difficult to assign tasks outside of those times. But, well… as long as it’s happy, it’s okay.

Riding Purr, I quickly arrived at the mine. A slime greeted me warmly.

Wiggle!

“Hey, Headbutt.”

Since the entrance had been widened, Ara, Si-young, and I had been helping at the mine. The slimes could move through narrow spaces, but their lack of strength hindered the mining process. Our involvement had slowly advanced the progress.

Only one slime remained here: Headbutt.

“A remarkable fellow.”

Wiggle!

Headbutt seemed to feel recognized and touched, which truly amazed me.

[Headbutt (Slime) LV.2]

[Just an ordinary slime]

[Capable of liquid synthesis]

[Ability: Headbutt LV.3]

See that? Level 3 Headbutt.

This guy is a mutant that grew its ability solely through training.

If it weren’t for the antidote needed to counter Avarice, I would’ve synthesized and leveled it up, but I’m holding back for now.

Splat!

It was headbutting celebrating the mined minerals. Of course, nothing happened.

Despite being level 3, the headbutt hadn’t become even slightly stronger. It seemed like multiplying zero by any number still resulted in zero due to its weak base stats.

But wouldn’t synthesizing and leveling it up change things a bit?

“Oh, Kyu-seong Kyu-seong, it’s widened!”

“Let’s take a look.”

Leaving the hardworking Headbutt behind, I inspected the mine entrance. The clean finishing was noticeable, and as Ara mentioned, it did feel slightly wider.

“Hmm…”

“What’s wrong?”

“We need workers.”

“Workers?”

Now that we had a proper entrance and could start full-scale mining, it was difficult for us to manage on our own.

We couldn’t rely on slimes or fairies, and even though we had Kkumuris, we faced another problem.

‘They shrink when they touch Arastar, Mithril, or Adamantium.’

When they touched minerals with mana or mana-conducting properties, the Kkumuris deflated like balloons. They seemed to have a strong resistance to anything related to spirits.

So, even though we were currently mining ourselves, it was challenging.

“Hmm?!”

“What’s wrong, Ara?”

“Woofy is coming!”

With her keen hearing, Ara perked up and turned her head. After waiting for about five minutes, I saw Young-seong riding Woofy approaching from afar.

“You have good ears.”

“I have good ears too!”

Hearing a sound from a five-minute distance, Ara’s abilities were starting to scare me.

“Kyu-seong!”

“Yes, Brother?”

There was an urgency in Young-seong’s voice.

He didn’t even dismount from Woofy as he rapidly spoke.

“Dungeon break! Dungeon break occured in Avarice!”

“…What?”

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