Chapter 239 - The Path Taken (1/2)
Ding!
'Blob has dealt the last blow to [Fire Slime].'
'Blob has obtained 1000 XP.'
'Blob has leveled up to Level 5!'
As notifications regarding Blob and its last blow to the Fire Slime resounded in his mind, Argentum could not help but radiate an aura of elation as he focused his sense of vision towards Blob, slightly surprised that leveling up also affected Blob's appearance as well.
It was a given that the aura radiated Blob would grow by a few large notches after increasing its level to Level 5. As for Blob's appearance, it wasn't mentioned by the system that levels would affect it as well. Nevertheless, Blob's appearance has indeed changed, transforming into a slightly larger blob where the origin of its flames became more solid. At this point, Argentum felt that Blob now had a bit of mass.
Of course, the one that was most surprised was Blob itself. Radiating an aura of shock after realizing that it had dealt the blow that would ultimately kill the Fire Slime for good, Blob could not believe that it actually did that. Soon after, it then felt that a great amount of energy was coursing throughout its body, increasing its size to a considerable degree while it felt that it could summon more strength from its body.
After the transformation from the level up was over, Blob went ahead and moved its body, trying to gauge how much strength it now had when compared to before. Finding it that the amount of strength it now had was over 5 times as much as its previous strength, Blob could not help but focus his sense of vision towards Argentum, who was slightly far away from it, and say, ”Argentum! I did it!”
”Yeah, you did,” Argentum replied to Blob's words as he let out a gleeful chuckle. He then made his way to where Blob was before asking it, ”Do you feel that you have more strength to fight against the Fire Slimes?”
Blob pondered over his question for a bit before saying with a solemn tone, ”I do feel that I have more strength, Argentum. But when I compare it to the strength the Fire Slime exuded, even though it was already at the brink of death, I still feel like the current strength I have is nowhere near enough.”
”Little by little.” Argentum laughed as he felt slightly surprised that Blob would become serious all of a sudden. ”You'll eventually see yourself killing these slimes with a single attack of yours. Don't you want that to happen as well?”
”Of course I do!” As if it was a 180 degree turn, the solemnity Argentum felt from Blob was instantly replaced with glee and expectation as it replied. But just as Argentum thought that Blob was back to its old self, it added a few more words in its previous solemn tone, saying, ”Then again, I can't help but feel bad that I'm relying on your strength to grow my strength, Argentum.”
”You don't have to worry about it, Blob,” Argentum replied to his words after pondering over what the best response would be. ”Think of it as me nurturing you. Once you become strong enough, you can fight against on your own and increase your strength even further without me helping you. By then, wouldn't I be the one relying on you because you're incredibly strong?”
Blob could not help but ponder over Argentum's words for a bit before letting out a chuckle. It then said, ”I guess I'll treat it that way then!”
After that, the two then went ahead and moved towards another part of the area in order to find another stray Fire Slime. Due to Blob leveling up, the time it took for them to find such a Fire Slime had significantly lessened, only taking around a couple of minutes for them to find one. At the instant they found one, Argentum told Blob to keep doing what it was doing, to which Blob radiated an aura of affirmation as a response.
Whoosh!
Just like before, Argentum went ahead and attracted the attention of this Fire Slime through the usage of [Lower Blaze Magic+], conjuring a fireball that made the slime leap towards him in order to crush his body. Of course, Argentum wasn't going to have any of that, repositioning his raised hand with the fireball to collide with the core of the Fire Slime.
”Burst!”
Bang!
Unfortunately, rather than obtaining a notification from the system that the Fire Slime was at critical death and seeing the Fire Slime being flung towards where Blob was, his sense of vision was instead filled with the sight of the core of the Fire Slime shattering into pieces as the gelatinous body of the Fire Slime burst into pieces as well.
Ding!
With an aura of disbelief radiating from him, a notification sound resounded in his mind, to which he promptly opened soon after as he let out a sigh. He then muttered to himself, ”I guess you can't help this from happening.”
After that, he went ahead and moved back to where Blob was as he read through the notification he had received.
'Critical! You have dealt 198 HP damage to [Fire Slime].'
'You have obtained 500 XP.'
Just as he made his way to where Blob was, Blob radiated an aura of curiosity as it focused its sense of vision towards Argentum.
”What happened to the Fire Slime?” it asked Argentum. In response, Argentum took in a deep breath before saying, ”I dealt a critical hit to the Fire Slime.”
”Oh?” After hearing Argentum's words, it radiated an aura of awe before saying, ”Argentum is actually this powerful? Amazing!”
Hearing Blob's response, Argentum was at a loss for words. At first, he thought that it would be slightly disappointed since in a way, he stole the experience it would get from killing the Fire Slime. But then, he remembered that Blob was a companion he made from a skill. It would be highly unlikely for a companion like it to harbor negative emotions towards Argentum. Of course, that did not mean Argentum was going to abuse this.
”Let's move onto another slime,” Argentum said not long after to snap Blob from its awe, which worked. After that, they went ahead and moved onto another part of the area filled with Fire Slimes, eventually finding one after another few minutes or so. Fortunately, this time, everything went as Argentum expected, with the Fire Slime being flung towards Blob through his fireball, while Blob would deal the final blow, allowing it to obtain experience.
And so, the two continued to do this for quite some time, increasing Blob's level and strength with every Fire Slime they killed. Eventually, the two had come across their sixth stray Fire Slime, with Blob once again dealing the final blow to it.
Ding!
After seeing Blob land the final blow on the Fire Slime they found, a notification sound resounded in his mind, which made Argentum unhesitatingly open the notification screen in his mind soon after. Reading through the notifications he had received for a short bit, he then closed it not long after before making his way to where Blob was with an aura of intense glee and excitement.
'Blob has dealt the last blow to [Fire Slime].'
'Blob has obtained 1000 XP.'
'Blob has reached the MAX level!'
Surprisingly, just as Argentum had arrived in front of Blob and was about to initiate the conversation, Blob was the one who initiated the conversation instead, saying to him in a gleeful tone, ”Argentum! I've become really strong now!”
”You indeed have,” Argentum replied to its words in a slightly happy tone. He then asked Blob, ”Have you reached the max level, Blob?”
”I don't know what that means, but…” Blob said in response to Argentum's words with slight uncertainty before continuing with a gleeful tone, saying, ”What I do know is that I feel like my strength has reached a limit, but I feel like I could break through this limit at any time!”