Rain spent a few more minutes practicing against the dummies, trying to get a feel for how extend aura interacted with refrigerate. He was glad to learn that he could choose not to extend the range, should he wish to conserve mana. He experimented by temporarily putting a few points in focus, keeping his skills menu open to watch as the damage on his refrigerate aura increased. It seemed like the scaling on the damage was really bad, so he backed the points out and closed the window. I’ll put them in something if I need it. I know I can kill a slime with a spear, so if I get in trouble I can run away and dump them into strength. Slimes are slow and not that bright.

Moving back out to the main guild hall, Rain noticed that there were considerably more people milling about, some waiting in lines at the counters, others examining the board, and some just standing around and talking. Surveying the room, he saw many bronze plates and the odd silver one here or there, as well as many people with no plate showing. Some of these were clearly guild members, just not displaying their plates, but others seemed to be just regular people. He was a little disappointed that there weren't any elves or dwarves mixed in with the group.

Quickly, Rain walked back to the bunkroom and retrieved his spear from under the bunk he had been using. Thankfully it was still there. He was less worried that someone would have stolen it and more worried that someone would have thrown it out. It was hardly an impressive weapon.

Walking back into the guild foyer, Rain saw that Gus didn't have anyone at his counter at the moment, so he walked over to him and nodded.

“Slime?” he asked.

Gus nodded, walking out from behind his desk and motioning for Rain to follow, giving his spear a dubious look. One of the other clerks shouted at Gus as he left the desk, but Gus just waved him off and led Rain out and into the square. He walked for a short way, trying to keep up a brisk pace while looking around the city, now in daylight. The buildings were predominantly wooden with tile roofs, though there was the odd stone building, such as the guild hall.

Luckily, Gus didn't take many turns as he led him through the city, alleviating Rain's worries about getting lost. He did know the word for the adventurers guild and could probably ask for directions from someone on the street, but he was glad to not have to worry about it. There weren't that many people out, but there was some traffic. Gus had stopped at the entrance to an alley which seemed to end in a flight of stairs, heading down. As Rain looked at the stairs, he saw a man coming up, carrying an empty, stained bucket.

The man passed them as they stood in the entrance of the alley, and Rain caught a whiff of whatever had been in the bucket as the man passed.

Auggggh, damn it. Idiot, where did you think slimes would be living? Of course it is a fucking sewer. That guy was emptying a chamber pot. What have I signed myself up for?

Gus pointed at the stairs, then, giving Rain's bare feet and makeshift spear another look, sighed, shook his head with an expression that clearly said ‘not my problem’. He turned to walk back to the guild.

“Wait!” Rain cried out, causing Gus to turn and look at him impatiently. “Slime… dangerous?”

Gus laughed and shook his head. “No, slime not dangerous. Slime <something>” he said, putting on an exaggerated face of disgust. He gave Rain’s bare feet another look, laughed, and turned away.

Rain almost put a point in purify right then and there, but he stopped himself in case he needed it for an offensive spell like firebolt. This is going to suuuuuuuck. Maybe it will be a nice sewer... yeah, who am I kidding. Still, do I really want to go down there alone? Looks pretty dark. I’m not too worried about slimes, Gus just said they aren’t dangerous and I know that they are really slow, so even if there are a bunch of them I could get away. What I am really worried about is something like that wolf…

Rain shook his head to clear his nerves. No, there wouldn’t be one of those down there. Rain told himself, watching as another man passed him to descend the stairs, carrying another bucket. That guy doesn’t have a weapon. I’m sure I’ll be fine. Damn it, famous last words, why did I even think that?

Rain’s stomach growled, reminding him that he hadn’t had breakfast. Fishing out his ration bar, he bit off a chunk with some effort and tucked the rest back into his pocket. I don’t really have the luxury of waiting. It is this, or starve. I don’t think medieval societies were big on social welfare. I wonder if I could get someone to come with me?

Rain recognized that he was stalling, and forced himself to move. Cautiously, he walked to the top of the stairs and looked down. Thankfully, there were torches burning on the walls for light and the smell wasn't too bad...yet.

Slowly, he made his way down the stairs, trying not to pay attention to the feeling of cold stone on the bottoms of his very bare feet. The smell was growing stronger, but it still wasn't worse than the familiar scent of a construction site porta-potty. By the time he reached the bottom, the light from the street was no longer reaching the floor of the stone tunnel. He waited as his eyes adjusted to the torchlight and his nose adjusted to the smell before continuing out into what appeared to be a waterway.

It wasn't nearly as bad as he expected. The water looked a little bit discolored, but it wasn't the literal river of shit he had been expecting. There was moss and fungus growing from the floor near the water, and there was a noticeable brown stain on the edge near the bottom of the stairs. Some careless individual must have dumped their disgusting burden a bit too close to the edge.

The floor of the tunnel was stone, but proximity to the water and the moss made it feel a bit slick and slimy on the soles of Rain's feet.

Exploring sewer barefoot, 2/10. Would not recommend. Fuck me, what am I doing down here?

Not seeing any slimes or hearing the distinctive splortch, Rain looked up and down the waterway. He could see torches off in the darkness every so often, casting soft pools of light and revealing one or two additional tunnels branching off in the distance.

Slimes are probably at the nastiest part. Shit flows downstream and all that. Fuck me.

Turning, Rain started walking slowly, watching his step until the torchlight faded so much that he could only make out general shapes. He slowed down even further until his eyes adapted fully. He found that he could see well enough to avoid stepping into anything... unfortunate, so he decided to continue.

As he traveled down the dark waterway, Rain reflected on his life choices up to this point. He had clearly messed up somewhere along the line and this was his punishment. He shuddered as his foot touched something that went squish.

“Just moss, it was just moss,” Rain told himself, trying to believe it, but failing pathetically. Soon, he came to an intersection with a torch and a tunnel leading off to the side. The tunnel sloped slightly upward but was otherwise nondescript. The tunnel was dry, with no channel for water in the middle. Rain was about to pass it by when he heard an echoing noise coming from the tunnel.The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Yup. I recognize that sound. Going towards the sound. Fuck me.

Rain crept up the hallway, the torchlight fading. Before it dropped off completely, he saw the distinctive blobby form of a slime oozing towards him. He backed up slowly, leading it into the light and being careful to maintain at least two meters of distance. As he got a better look at the thing, he noted that this one was colored green and brown, different from those in the forest. Thankfully, it still had the same [Slime] Level 1 floating over it, so it wasn't some sort of horrible murder-king death-slime or anything.

Looking behind himself, Rain eyed the distance to the water. He had plenty of space to work with. He thought he should be able to kill the slime before he ran out of tunnel. That was good, as he didn't want to try edging around it. Stopping, he waited for the slime to approach. At two-meters, it leapt as expected. Rain dodged back and stabbed forward, trusting to his spear to keep the slime at bay. He saw the slime's health bar decrease by around ten percent, giving him a baseline.

Ok, let's see how well this works.

Rain waited for the slime to leap again. He dodged, and this time instead of stabbing with his spear he stabbed at the barrier in his mind, releasing a freezing pulse of his refrigeration aura. As he had practiced in the guild, he pushed more mana into the skill to extend the range. The wave of cold brushed against the slime, which quickly started crystallizing. Rain pulled the mana back, being very careful with his limited supply. He saw with satisfaction that the slime's health had dropped by about a third while his mana had only dropped by a small sliver.

“Yeah, take that you nasty-ass ball of shit!” Rain shouted, backpedaling as the slime oozed towards him. It seemed to be moving a bit slowly, so Rain, feeling bold, stepped in without waiting for it to leap, stabbing at it with his spear. The slime bunched up as if to jump, but the spear hit first, puncturing it and causing it to twitch away. Pressing the attack, Rain swept his spear left and right, drawing deep furrows in the slime's membrane. The slime died without a chance to counter-attack, the cold apparently having severely reduced its speed.

You have defeated [Slime], Level 1

Experience Earned