[Defeated: Amber Slime. Rewards: F-Tier Evolution Crystal (4), Slime Substrate (4), Malleable Amber (3)]

Landing a killing blow on yet another Amber Slime he encountered while roaming the grassland, Novus saw that familiar notification once again, a faint smile appearing on his face as he saw the last notification with each hitting the maximum for every loot an Amber Slime can drop.

’It’s the small things in life, huh...’ he thought to himself, celebrating this little stroke of luck that just went past him, deciding to take a little bit of rest to prepare his mind for what is about to come next.

As he goes for a little bit of rest, he controls his own breathing to recover his stamina from the continuous fight ever since he entered the Evolution Domain. The body that was once just a means to connect his mind to the mana in the air is now not only a part of his arsenal, but also the main weapon that he is using as well.

[Immortal Energy: 152.7/152.7]

As his body begins to recover, the environment starts feeling lively once more, the warmth of the sun making him feel a deepened connection with nature itself, increasing his sense, the wind blowing over his skin making him feel comforting cool, everything laid bare for him to feel, invoking comfort in his body.

And this comfort makes him feel like, yet again, he is in a state of peace and quiet.

Not a single Amber Slime near him.

Not even a sign of life nearby.

Not a single movement. An oddity, a scene that feels way too familiar to him, as if it already happened before, and in fact, it did, only this time, he never got that faint feeling of lingering death after finding out that he was killed by an unknown creature through an unknown means. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

This time, he sensed it, through his elevated prowess coming from his improvements, Novus sensed what was aiming for his neck, and acted accordingly as he pushed his mind to prepare for battle once more, swiftly avoiding the oncoming strike with urgency and without grace, unlike usual.

Not giving him even a single moment of respite, he picked up that eerie sensation once again, as if something he cannot see is targeting his neck, and for the second time in a row, he managed to barely dodge, this sudden movement forcing him to lose his footing and balance for a fraction of a second before he barely managed to keep himself upright.

A mistake is usually forgivable, given that even when he progressed this much, he is still barely learning the basics of using his own body, his physical prowess to fight against opponents, instead of relying on magic.

But this is not a forgiving place.

This is the Evolution Domain, where even the most basic opponents, slimes, become a threat when one doesn’t guard themselves against them.

For the unexpected third time in a row, whatever creature attacking the young man launched a sneaky slash once more, still aiming for his neck with extreme accuracy that the practically, yet nevertheless sloppy methods of the Amber Slimes will never be able to match.

Twisting his waist, causing his entire upper body to follow, Novus managed to dodge it for the third time in a row, but he thought that the worst was yet to come.

Twisting himself like that in order to avoid this lethal attack creates a compromise, as in order to fend off this lethal attack for the lucky third time in a row, he had to sacrifice his entire defensive position, meaning that right now, for some moments, he will be completely vulnerable and there will be nothing that he can do should another one of those attack come for his neck.

Lady Luck doesn’t seem to be done with his story here yet, as from the corner of his eyes, he finally saw the source of such danger, as if that three-stage stealth attack is something that completely takes toll on its body, this mysterious creature emerged out of the shadows, revealing its actual appearance for the young man to see.

It was... familiar... way too familiar... that rounded, gelatinous body that stretches and compresses in order to move itself around this vast grassland within the Verdant Expanse, the core inside itself seemingly sustaining its very existence, it is as if this creature is a complete copy of the Amber Slime through and through.

If there’s any difference between the two of them though, it would be the fact that this slime appears to be completely transparent to the point that if one’s vision is not sharp enough, they might not even notice the boundary where its body end and the air around it starts, the only thing that will allow anyone to see it being the pale, dark core sitting right at the center of it.

Not even entertained by the fact that he was previously killed by yet another variation of a slime, Novus immediately dashed from his position towards the location of this new type of slime, thinking that if acts the same manner as its relative, the Amber Slime, the most dangerous part is over, and if there’s any chance for him to take it down, there’s no better one than right now.

It appears that he is right, as not even a second later, his legs already brought him to this mysterious perpetrator of his previous death, the slime completely immobile as if there’s something wrong with it, as mana gathers around his hand and arms, his flesh and bone being reinforced while fire element is being imbued to the convergence of mana on his palm.

’Just to be sure,’ he thought to himself as he drove the fist, burning hot from the compressed fireball, towards the slime’s body, intending to finish it in one shot.

With that level of strength and firepower put into one single attack, no F-Tier creature, no matter how tough they are, would survive, and this applies to this new slime as well, especially when even the type of slime with the greatest defense-oriented talent, the Amber Slime, couldn’t hold itself well against this attack.

What this new one lacks in defense, though, it makes up for with the uniqueness of its methods, what should’ve been a completely lethal attack, surprising its opponent as his fist passes through its body, slamming down the ground where the raging power of the compressed fireball explodes.

Yes, pass through, instead of piercing through the body of this slime, as, despite being a direct hit, this new opponent doesn’t even seem to take any damage from such a brutal attack, almost as if whatever Novus is seeing is just a projection of this sneaky slime, and its real body is somewhere else.

Just a moment after that, the slime swiftly moved away from where his hand was, something changing as if it was about to do something once again.

His speculation came true in the worst way possible, as from where it once was, the slime disappeared, not phasing through substance again but rather, completely, as if it just vanished into thin air.

Then he felt it once again, something was targeting him, and this time, it was no longer just the neck, but his whole body instead.