Adrian sent Sera a text.

"There’s someone called Midas in your friend list. I want you to contact him and ask if he needs any help for tomorrow."

Sera had no recollection of adding anyone other than Adrian on her friend list. Yet sure enough, she had someone whose chosen nickname was Midas’ middle fingers.

The chosen nicknames only appeared in the initial chat, after befriending someone, their actual name would appear.

"Um... master? I don’t think it’s a ’him’."

Adrian frowned. Seraphine was the one who told him about the guy. After all, they were the ones bartering goods, not him. Besides, why did it matter if it was a guy, a girl, or something else?

It wasn’t the person he was interested in, but their luck. If he got Midas on his side, he could get a constant supply of good pulls from the wishing well.

"Does not matter. Just send them the message," Adrian texted her and sat down for a well-deserved break. "Don’t try to recruit them, just hint that you’d feel safe with having them around after all you two are friends."

"...friends with someone I have no recollection of even chatting to," Sera said, shaking her head, but sent the message regardless.

She thought it would take a while for them to reply, but it came instantly.

"Master! It seems they seem to be crying. Wait, they are already asking for help and want to know our base’s location."

"...that was too quick? Nope, something is fishy," Adrian mumbled before shooting Sera a text. "Tell them you don’t know the exact location yourself and ask for their location instead."

Sera did that, but unlike the panic Midas had shown before, the chat went silent. It only made Adrian more suspicious. Why would Midas suddenly ask for their location, but not share their own?

Just then, Rixxa and Mika returned from their little foraging trip. The berries they found this time were considerably less than before. Not to mention, they looked dishevelled like they had to run for their lives.

Adrian wasn’t alarmed because they had more than enough food reserves. But he was still curious about it.

"Did anything happen? Why are you carrying just this many berries?"

Both women just frowned. They clearly didn’t want to talk about it, but knew the tribe had to be made aware of the danger they faced.

"We went to the fruit grove along the stream," Rixxa said. "In the middle of gathering food, we heard a low rumble and..."

"A beast chased us away..." Mika completed Rixxa’s words. "It has captured the grove as its own territory."

Adrian wasn’t surprised that there was a beast in a fruit grove. What surprised him was that Mika couldn’t deal with the beast.

While she wasn’t as strong as him, she could easily dispatch a level five or six beast, like she dealt with the wolves. A beast she couldn’t defeat was in all likelihood an alpha beast.

He was ecstatic at the realization, but he wasn’t a fool to go charging after the beast at once.

Last time he got lucky facing the alpha wolf. That might not be the case with this new creature. It was better to max out everyone’s level first before scouting the target and coming up with a strategy to take it down.

Besides, it wasn’t like someone else would be crazy enough to attack an alpha creature with the novice protection period ending in hours.

Either they are meeting the alliance or gathering supplies while they can.

With that thought, Adrian clapped his hands to get everyone’s attention.

"Rixxa, please rest for a while and take care of Amika," he asked of her. "Mika, you’ll come with me to hunt the slimes."

He then sent Sera a text regarding the same.

With things settled, the three of them left the settlement. Rixxa, who was left behind, walked towards the longhouse only to stop in her tracks. She rubbed her eyes and looked again, thinking she must be seeing things.

"...is that?" she mumbled in shock after seeing what was beyond the animal pen.

When she left the settlement in the morning, that area was covered in trees and was solid land. Now, there was a large pond there!?

She rushed there to see crystal clear water, the smooth stones lying around it, and her mouth fell open in disbelief.

The Male had done it again. While they were out foraging, he had somehow created an entire pond inside the settlement. A deep sense of awe and reverence filled her chest.

"The Male... truly is blessed by the gods," she mumbled.

[Tribe’s favorability towards you has increased.]

[Current favorability: 136/150 points]

[Current Standing: Honored Member]

Rixxa stood there for a while longer, still stunned, before finally shaking her head and continuing toward the longhouse, only to see another strange structure next to the fire pit. However, this time she wasn’t as shocked, as she did not know what it was.

***

Adrian smirked as the favorability notification appeared before him. It was one of the reasons he told Rixxa to stay behind. Other than the genuine reason, that was to take care of Amika.

The three of them arrived at the pit trap just as the sun climbed higher in the sky.

Adrian stopped at the edge and looked down.

"Woah... It’s almost full," he mumbled. "Wait a minute. What are those?"

While most of the slime in the pit had the same bluish jelly texture, there were a few bright red slimes and some green ones too. Not just that, they were giving off a weird stench as well.

"Mika, can I have your spear for a moment?" Adrian asked.

Mika handed it over without delay. Even she was surprised after seeing the strange slimes and wanted to see what the male would do.

He poked the crystal of a normal slime, and it popped as usual.

[Kill confirmed!]

[Killed a level 2 Common Slime.]

[Exp +22]

[Ancestor’s 10x blessing in effect. Gained Exp +220.]

[Tribeswoman Mika gained exp +110]

[Spear Mastery +1]

Wait a second, level 2? How do these slimes even level up? The only thing they do is... eat?

Imagine leveling up by eating. If a layer had that class, they would probably have a dedicated episode in My 600-lb Life.

Perhaps leaving them out for a day to eat was for the good. At least I learned something new... What about these red ones?

Adrian watched the red slimes moving aggressively around the pit. Some of them were even attacking the normal bluish slimes before tearing away part of theirs and merging them with their own.

However, they made a point to stay away from the green ones, only attacking the bluish ones. Adrian made a note of their peculiar behavior and hit a red one’s core.

Instead of a satisfying pop, there was a small explosion with the creature’s foul-smelling jelly shooting everywhere.

Adrian jumped back just in time. Some of the red slime still landed on the grass above the pit trap. Within seconds, the grass began to wither away as if burned.

[Kill confirmed!]

[Killed a Level 2 Corrosive Slime.]

[Exp +35]

[Ancestor’s 10x blessing in effect. Gained Exp +350.]

[Tribeswoman Mika gained exp +175]

[Spear Mastery +2]