Chapter 8: 7. Exposing a Secret

I have a bad feeling about that mysterious figure, I thought.

He lingered for a couple of moments, even when I was cured of the ailment.

I don’t remember hearing of anything like it before, I thought. Ailments usually never heal on their own, unless the user has a relevant skill. And that mysterious figure might be more than just a hallucination.

I shook my head and looked in front of me, there was a circular hole in the ground. It had spiral stairs, that allowed the user to descend to the deeper floor.

It was my first time getting so far into the slimes’ dungeon, the incident with those teenagers left me scarred for quite a while.

I shrugged and walked downstairs; I could see myself in a small room.

A bubble of mana floated in its center, inside it was a small green gem. It was shaped like a regular octahedron, and was shining brightly as it kept spinning slowly.

A recovery Stone, I thought. Humans were so eager to discover the secret of making them.

It was a custom Mana stone, with Regenerative runes applied.

I went closer to it, and as soon as I touched it, this notice appeared.

-Host regenerated successfully!

 

It felt just like gaining a level, having a free heal before facing the boss is nice when it’s possible.

The gem kept on shining as brightly as ever after healing me.

I decided to enter the boss's room, so I walked towards the door in the distant wall. It was black with a golden frame, just like the earlier ones, but it was at least twice their size.

It automatically opened when I was close enough, allowing me to see what appeared to be a very huge blue creature.

I took my clothes with me and entered. Upon closer inspection of the monster, I found out that it was a slime, wearing a crown and a cape.

It was a level ten [King Slime]. I knew that it could multiply in numbers, if a portion of its body was cleaved through a physical attack. It seemed to notice my presence, as it creeped quickly towards me.

It was evidently more powerful than regular slime, based on its raw speed.

I decided to just incinerate him with a regular ignition, using my fire control skill. I wasn’t nearly as careful as I was with [Radioactive slimes], because this guy’s only gimmick was its multiplication.

I swiftly moved behind it, and touched it. “[It’s Fine!]” I shouted; the creature caught fire.

It tried putting out the fire by moving violently, but it only managed to shower the surroundings with its burning slimy substance. I noticed that it burned my clothes which were on the ground.

I guess I’ll be naked for the rest of this day, I thought. The idea didn’t sound as bad as I thought it would.

Some flames managed to touch my skin. It was a little painful, but I just gritted my teeth. I noticed that it was more tolerable than when I burned myself for the first time.

It must be the effect of the increased END stat, I thought.

I waited as the fire drained the creature of its mana, a notice appeared after about half a minute.

[King Slime] (Common) (Level: 10) defeated! Host earned 60000 EXP.

 

-Host levelled up x2!

 

-Host reached Level 8! 8 MAG, 8 END and 16 free stat points acquired.

 

[It’s Fine] levelled up x1! It reached level 2.

 

[Flame-N-Go] levelled up x1! It reached level 2.

Suddenly, its cape and crown dropped on the ground. I was genuinely surprised as I’ve heard that they disappeared when the slime multiplicated itself.

Hidden conditions fulfilled! Corresponding rewards appeared!

 

A large chest started materializing close to the distant wall, in which a bluish portal appeared.

I ignored everything. My interest was focused on the items laying on the ground.

I examined them, but as usual, the system didn’t offer much information on their effects. I knew that I had to buy the information from the shop once again.

People with the [Identify] skill are so lucky, I thought. But I am still luckier than most people, as I could pay for the information.

[Identify] was a Class Skill, only some classes like [Scribe] had it.

I bought the descriptions of both items from the shop; the total cost was twenty points. I had 150 points left after the purchase, so I had to quickly find some magical objects that I am willing to convert to points.

Two screens appeared in front of me:

[King Slime’s Crown]

(Common)

Many people assume that this crown is to be worn only by royal slimes, but they’re mistaken! In fact, the lesser slimes will obey whoever wears this crow! -Slimes lesser than you will obey you completely. (Lesser slimes are: -Common with a level inferior to the wearer’s level. -Uncommon with a level inferior or equal to half the wearer’s level. -Epic with a level inferior or equal to a third of the wearer’s level. -Legendary with a level inferior or equal to a quarter of the wearer’s level. -[…]) -Increases MAG by 10 points.

 

[King Slime’s Cape]	(Common)
Not all heroes wear capes, but every [King Slime] wears one! -Increases END by 10 points. -Reduces Physical damage by 3%.

 

You are reading story System Dilemma at novel35.com

They were very useful, I put them on straight away. It was a comical sight, seeing a naked man wearing a cape and a crown.

I need a scepter to seal a deal, I thought as a giggle escaped my mouth.

I went towards the chest and opened it. It had twenty lesser mana stones. They were small purple stones; each the size of a grape.

It’s a lot for a single person, I thought. I put them on my cape after taking it off. I wrapped it up carefully and held the impromptu bag using my left arm.

I opened my status window to allocate some of my stat points.

 

To improve my physical condition, I allocated five points in STR, VIT, DEX, and AGI.

As I expected, each point in VIT decreased the time needed to regenerate HP by one second.

There was nothing left for me to pick up, so I decided to leave.

As soon as I went through the portal, a robotic voice could be heard talking to me.

[Host participated in the first clearing of this dungeon! 10000 tutorial points awarded. Host is the first to clear this dungeon alone in his group! 100000 tutorial points awarded. Host is the first to clear a dungeon alone in the whole tutorial! 250000 points awarded. Host is the first to clear this dungeon alone in the whole tutorial! 150000 points awarded. Host clears a (Common) dungeon! 500 points awarded Host clears a (Common) dungeon alone! 1000 points awarded.

 

[9 Clears remaining before this dungeon collapses]

 

The tutorial clearly put more significance on the first time of doing anything.

So, I am not the first one to clear any dungeon in the whole tutorial, I though, I need to be much quicker to catch up.

I opened my eyes when I felt my legs touching the ground again, I saw many people looking at me, nine of them. They stared for a moment before turning away, seemingly embarrassed, except Chris.

He looked angry, and started walking towards me with long strides.

“You took so long!” he said “Giving up on the dungeon early on would’ve saved you from a beating”. He tried to grab me; I swiftly dodged him to the side.

Even though he was still at level one, my physical stats shouldn’t be much better than his.

He stumbled, looking surprised. So, you expected an easy win, huh? I thought.

I leaned closer to him, and lit his hair on fire. I extinguished it after it left him completely bald.

“This time I’ve forgiven you.” I looked at him, with a grin on my face “Cross me once more, and you’ll truly suffer”.

Why do I feel like he won’t learn his lesson? I thought.

Then, I walked away. I activated [Shadow assimilation] as soon as I could, disappearing from other people’s sights.

 

*

The nine remaining people were still shocked.

Most of them still didn’t comprehend what they saw, it wasn’t within their expectations to witness the Classless guy survive.

Yet, he managed to completely turn the tables on Chris.

Zhou Ming and Xi Jiang looked at each other, nodding at the same time.

That’s a person not to be trifled with, they thought. He’s still hiding some of his strength.

That was how Chinese Mafia operated, they efficiently analyzed anyone they faced.

They strived to build contacts with strong people, and trample weaklings.

Rodrigo was leaning his back on a tree, he smiled and his eyes seemed livelier.

Finn looked to be in deep thought, Leon kept a cool façade, while Taylor looked at the newly bald guy with disdain.

Marla reached for Chris, she tried to placate him. Saying that ‘revenge is best served cold’.

Petra, however, was nowhere to be seen.

*

 

For the next couple of minutes, I kept on walking in the same path that I used to reach the dungeon. I was thinking about the number of Tutorial Points that I needed to end up among the top ten in the whole tutorial, until I’ve heard a voice calling me.

“Jason! I have something important to talk about.” A sweet voice called “I may need some help”.

I thought about ignoring her, but I decided that I would just switch off my [Shadow assimilation] skill.

Surely, she would leave after seeing me naked, I thought. That way, she’ll consider me disgusting and her interest in me will be completely curbed.

“What do you want.” I said, I tried to act as displeased as I could.

“You were so cool back then! Did you practice martial arts before?” she said, “even Chris can’t do anything to you!”

She’s trying to flatter me, I thought. This won’t work on someone as experienced as me.

“Cut to the chase” I said “I am leaving if you’re done.”

“I am sorry for being a bit pushy, Jason” Petra said, she leaned closer. “I am Petra. I see that you dislike those people’s company, we’re the same in that regard”.

Now she’s trying to charm me, by showing me that she remembered my name, and that we shared many things in common, I thought. Just like last time.

“I don’t exactly dislike them” I said “They just formed cliques of their own, and working alone is my style anyway.”

“I see, so you think they won’t be helpful.” said Petra “I’d like to form a party with you” she added as she invaded my personal space.

She’s trying to lower my defenses to her presence, I thought. Pathetic, she didn’t even want to look me in the eyes inside the safe room.

“I am not interested” I said “My class isn’t [Baby-sitter], and I am sure you’re being nosy because you think I’m easy to control”.

I knew from personal experience. When I asked her for help in the past, she faked sympathy with my case and pretended to be interested in helping me. The result was that I fell for her, and ended up taking a loan from Vulpinus to buy equipment for ‘our party’.

I was a stupid teenager, I thought. That debt was hard to pay off!

Her expression instantly changed; she went from ‘cute’ to ‘calculating’.

“Alright then, I promise that I can hold my own” she said, with a serious tone of voice. “I don’t know how you managed to hide your class in the beginning, but I know your little secret already”.

She had the expression of a winner, someone who was sure of their triumph even before the battle started.

You can find story with these keywords: System Dilemma, Read System Dilemma, System Dilemma novel, System Dilemma book, System Dilemma story, System Dilemma full, System Dilemma Latest Chapter