Carrying a whole sack of four-leaf clovers on his shoulder, Yang Yu walked out of the garden and happened to meet his father, Karl.
“Are you ready?”
“Mmm.”
“Good luck, and don’t get hurt.”
Without many words, Karl had seen all of Yang Yu’s hard work over the past year. As a father, all he could do was silently support his son and let him follow his own path.
Lisa watched from afar, her right hand clutching her chest. She had also seen Yang Yu’s efforts over the past year.
At first, she thought her son had finally decided to live a straightforward life. Little did she know that all this was just preparation for the task they had given him.
Over the year, Lisa had thought a lot. Coupled with her husband’s constant persuasion, she reluctantly accepted the fact that her son had grown up.
Even so, she still hoped her son could stay by her side, marry a lovely wife, have a chubby son, and live a peaceful life.
Apart from his parents, the villagers also looked at the formerly timid boy with new respect.
It wasn’t just because he defeated the village bully but also because of his growth, which they had witnessed. He proved through his actions that no one in the village could challenge him anymore.
He had become the village’s hope.
Today, the whole village came to see him off, handing him the best sword in the village.
With a sack of four-leaf clovers and the silver sword in hand, under the villagers’ warm gazes, Yang Yu left the novice village and headed to the forest he had visited a year ago.
The sunlight still shone brightly, filtering through the lush trees.
Before long, a blue, jelly-like creature jumped out of the bushes.
[Slime Level: LV7 HP: 230/230 MP: 70/70
Attributes: Strength 45, Defense 178, Intelligence 36, Special Defense 201, Agility 27, Endurance 30
Resistance: Physical 50%]
An LV7 slime with incredible attributes. As usual, its boss-level strength made it a worthy challenge.
A year of farming had led to this day. Betting on his dignity as a player, Yang Yu was ready to claim the experience points!
Yang Yu drew his sword.
At that moment, the slime was also observing Yang Yu.
“This person seems familiar… Oh, I remember. I met him twice a year ago when I snuck out. He even gave me a four-leaf clover.”
The slime, named Hemeng, thought.
To most people, slimes are seen as common and weak creatures, the cannon fodder of monsters.
But this is a human misconception.
Slimes had built their own city underground, strong enough to withstand any human nation’s direct assault. They also had their own hierarchy: commoners, merchants, nobles, soldiers, and even a king and queen.
However, some slimes don’t belong to the Slime Kingdom. When slimes die, their consciousness fades, but their bodies continue to move, becoming zombie slimes. These instinct-driven slimes are labeled as low-grade slimes by the Slime Kingdom.
The Slime Kingdom drives these rapidly dividing low-grade slimes to the surface, using adventurers to handle the problem, maintaining internal balance.
This practice has kept people’s perception of slimes as weak and useless, inadvertently protecting and concealing the Slime Kingdom.
The easiest way to distinguish between low-grade slimes and citizens of the Slime Kingdom is by using four-leaf clovers.
Low-grade slimes lack taste and digest whatever they consume into energy, indifferent to what they eat.
Citizens of the Slime Kingdom, from commoners upwards, can taste food and extract its essence to strengthen themselves.
Four-leaf clovers are the favorite food of higher-grade slimes, no exception.
Although four-leaf clovers are just one leaf more than three-leaf clovers, the taste is vastly different, akin to comparing fresh Indian buffalo meat with roasted Japanese Kobe beef—a gap too wide to bridge.
The Slime Kingdom also cultivates four-leaf clovers, but the yield is extremely low, reserved as a luxury for the nobility.
Many commoner slimes, driven by curiosity about the legendary delicacy, secretly leave the underground kingdom to the surface world.
The upper echelons tolerate this, preferring the discontent to find an outlet outside the empire.
Thus, among the wandering low-grade slimes, many conscious citizens of the Slime Kingdom mix in, giving rise to the rumor that slimes eat four-leaf clovers.
Hemeng, a citizen of the Slime Kingdom, wasn’t just any citizen but a slime of royal blood.
This alone placed its strength on a different level from ordinary slimes.
Enjoying four-leaf clovers was easy for someone of its status. Hemeng’s venture to the surface wasn’t for four-leaf clovers but out of sheer curiosity about the outside world.
“Meeting the same person three times must be fate.
Though he rudely swung his sword at me before, I’ll forgive him since he gave me four-leaf clovers.
I wonder if he’ll bring more four-leaf clovers this time. If he does, I might consider befriending him.”
Just as Hemeng thought this, the boy before him dashed forward, swinging his shiny silver sword. Hemeng didn’t dodge and took the hit directly.
HP -4
“You’ve grown since we first met, but it’s not enough to break my defense. You’ll pay for your offense.”
Unlike low-grade slimes that rely on instinct for defense, Hemeng had been trained in many combat techniques, making it easy to handle a human boy.
Taking a proper stance, Hemeng slowly launched a warning attack, ready to fight back seriously if ignored.
“Squish—”
Dodging the attack, Yang Yu threw a four-leaf clover.
Hemeng absorbed the succulent clover, savoring its taste. It had never had such a delicious four-leaf clover.
“This one tastes good. If you stop now, I’ll spare you!”
Yang Yu didn’t understand slime language. To him, the slime seemed to be burping.
Seeing the slime’s friendly state, he swung his sword in a series of strikes, taking off over 30 HP from Hemeng.
“Honestly, I’m really angry. Even if you give me more four-leaf clovers, I won’t forgive you!” Hemeng was furious but, remembering the delicious clover, only launched another warning attack.
Easily dodging, Yang Yu threw another four-leaf clover.
“Just one? Are you kidding me?” Hemeng remained firm. The injuries couldn’t be soothed by a mere clover.
“Squish—”
Yang Yu threw another clover. Seeing the slime ignoring him, he tossed a handful of four-leaf clovers.
“Squish—Squish—Squish—”
“Even if you try to bribe me now, it’s useless. I know you want to defeat me for experience points! Feel my wrath!”
Hemeng intended to say this, but seeing the sheer number of clovers, it hesitated.