Staring at the object, or rather, the creature in front of him, Novus couldn’t help but get his perception thrown off, and for a moment, he couldn’t help but question whether what stood before him was truly the same creature he had grown so familiar with.

The waist-high blades of grass shift as the blob moves aimlessly, similar, even reminiscent of a jellyfish in the ocean, only this one exists, even thrives on land. Light shining down from the skies above is mostly reflected away from its body, some absorbed, revealing its amber glow that shifts to brighter, then darker colors every now and then as it shifts across the ground.

It expands, stretching its mass forward before it compresses itself once more, allowing movement to great distances without any appendage to assist its motion, with each of its motions leaving behind a trail of viscous, transparent fluid that is both slick and sticky at the same time, forcing the blades of grass it touches to fold under its weight.

Indeed, it is, in all shapes and forms, a slime, yet despite having slaughtered swathes of said creature during his time in the academy, Novus still holds the doubt of whether this is truly the same kind of slime as the one he is familiar with, as despite sharing the same properties, the same motion and even that same trails that make one feel a queasy feeling when they touch them, all the same with that ones he know, except for some things.

For one, instead of the clear, with a slight tinge of either blue or green that is exhibited by any slime in the outside world, this one is covered by a complete, almost solid amber color all the way to its core; the featureless monster not only sports a different color compared to the slimes he knew.

Not only that, but it wields an extremely heavy appearance as well, for while the regular slimes outside of this domain only reach a size of up to his own ankle, this one reaches nearly his chest, making him question whether what he is seeing is real and all.

"Thinking about it, I guess it really fits being in the ’Evolution Domain,’" he laughed to himself as he eased up a bit, knowing that no matter what sort of difference this slime has over the slime he knew of, it wouldn’t be all that difficult, given that it is still a slime after all.

And there’s just no way he can find a slime dangerous, no matter what the circumstance is.

Still, being instilled with the mindset of a good hunter in the first place, years of training in the academy forces him to maintain a basic sense of caution at the very least; no, he doesn’t allow himself to completely let his guard down, not even against something this familiar to him.

With extensive knowledge of this creature and the caution that he keeps to himself, he believed that he was already well prepared for anything that his current opponent could throw at him. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

A big mistake on his part.

’A fireball should be enough.’

With no weapon in hand, the young man believes that utilizing mana in the atmosphere to cast a spell is more than enough to deal with the slime in front of him, a bit more powerful than his usual output, perhaps, but still manageable with his current strength.

Hence, taking the moment he is still undetected by the target in front of him, he raises his arms, putting his palm in front as he starts focusing, his confidence in his repetitive use of this fire-elemental spell surpassing most of his peers by magnitudes, as compared to said peers who can wield multiple spells; this is the only thing he can use.

As he starts channeling the destructive spell, mana begins surging from the atmosphere around him towards his hand, making him smile, seeing that it is going pretty well. A big ball of fire conjures itself in front of his palm, prepared to strike the moment it fully realizes itself.

The first mistake.

Different from the slimes that grow outside, the slimes within the Evolution Domain are blessed with mana since their emergence into the world, meaning that compared to the slimes outside, practically a blind target practice for beginners of both sword and magic, smiles in the Evolution Domain are completely different kind of beasts, ones that is capable enough not only to defend themselves, but to hunt those they deem prey as well.

In that near-instantaneous moment that mana starts converging towards Novus’ palm, the target was also notified of the existence of a threat, its body previously just grazing around the grass, curling up into a defensive ball, its previously springy, gelatinous body turning into a solid mass without any point of weakness all throughout.

What’s even worse for Novus is the feeling of having someone staring down at him despite this slime’s clear lack of anything close to an eye, making this all the more unsettling as only now did it dawn upon him that maybe, just maybe, he had underestimated this slime a little.

Luck would seem to be on his side, too, as despite sensing that he is preparing for an attack, the slime did nothing; the only thing telling him that the slime truly is aware of his intent is the fact that the sense that someone is staring at him is still there, never going away.

The second mistake.

Perhaps it is due to him being thrown off by the fact that a slime detected his attack, or maybe it is due to him being even more confused due to the slime not acting against him despite detecting his intent, but the young man proceeds completely differently from what he will usually do.

There are only two possible causes for a creature to stop in front of an attack about to descend upon them: it is either sheer terror towards something threatening their life, or absolute confidence that what they are facing cannot even leave a scratch on their body.

This is something that doesn’t seem to be taken into account when Novus releases the ball of flame floating in his hand, a mistake that deviates from his usual antics during battle, something that leads to his third and final mistake during this battle.

The third mistake.

It is launching the fireball at all, as the moment it leaves his palm, the spell surges at an incredible speed towards his target, almost as if a burning arrow prepared to pierce through his opponent, whistling as it rips through the air while scorching every blade of grass it passes through.

Normally, it would’ve pierced the slime, burning it from the inside out, what Novus expected to unfold as well.

Something goes completely wrong though as contrary to his expectations, the ball of fire exploded outwards at the moment of impact, completely rendering the young man’s attack useless as he just stood there frozen, watching as that fireball which should’ve been more than enough to deal with dozen or more normal slime was completely tanked by the slime in front of him, without sustaining any damage at all.

And almost as if mocking how weak his attack is, the slime once again softens, clearly taunting him to try attacking once more.

Of course, he won’t be able to, as the next moment, the slime pounces towards him as well.