Chapter 101: Chapter 101 Onward to The Academy

Oliver was currently sleeping soundly inside the carriage.

The Royal Academy was located within Benedicta, the capital duchy of the Kingdom of Cyden. Normally, traveling toward the capital would take around ten days by road.

However, thanks to the incredible speed of the academy carriage, which was pulled by four horse-like monsters each standing around two meters tall, the travel time had been reduced by half to only five days.

Right now, it was already the third day of the journey. During the trip, Oliver mostly spent his time checking his system, chatting with his monsters, and occasionally talking with the carriage driver.

Luckily, the carriage seats were extremely comfortable, allowing him to sleep quite well throughout the journey.

The carriage was only large enough to comfortably fit around four to five people.

Inside it were two rows of seats facing each other. Oliver was currently sleeping across one side of the seat, while Flora and Husk sat opposite him quietly.

Meanwhile, Bloob was resting comfortably on top of Oliver’s body. Because of Bloob’s small size and cute appearance, Oliver had already started treating him more like a pet.

However, despite his adorable appearance, his way of speaking still sounded like a cute little gangster, which completely did not match his looks at all.

Suddenly, the carriage began slowing down before eventually coming to a complete stop. The driver then knocked on the window.

Flora opened it.

"Yes?" Flora asked.

"Sorry, miss. But it’s already getting close to dusk. We will stop for the night and continue our journey tomorrow." the carriage driver, Stewart, explained politely.

He was a thin middle-aged man with brown hair and a noticeable bald spot at the center of his head. Wrinkles were clearly visible across his face, showing the signs of age and long years of travel.

"May I know why we need to stop? For the past three days, we’ve been traveling both day and night." Oliver asked while rubbing his eyes and sitting upright. He had already been sleeping for several hours.

"This region is heavily infested with bandits. It would not be wise to continue traveling during the night. Sorry for the inconvenience." Stewart said apologetically while scratching his head with a smile.

"Hmmm... alright. We’ll stay here for tonight." Oliver agreed.

Honestly, he wanted to arrive at the academy as quickly as possible. Bandits did not instill even the slightest fear in his heart.

But even so, he still respected the situation. After all, the driver had already been traveling for several days almost without proper rest.

They lit a small fire beneath a large tree nearby. The night air was quite cold, so the flames provided them with a bit of warmth.

"How much farther until we arrive at the academy?" Oliver asked while staring into the fire.

"Probably another two days. Do you see those rows of mountains over there? The city is located just beyond them." Stewart explained while pointing into the distance.

"I see. Then go get some rest, Stewart. I already slept enough earlier. I’ll keep watch tonight." Oliver said calmly.

"Thank you. Sorry for the trouble." Stewart replied gratefully. Soon after, he rested his head on the mat before quickly falling asleep from exhaustion.

Oliver then looked upward, quietly watching the stars and moon decorating the night sky.

There was no such thing as light pollution in this area, allowing the countless stars to shine clearly across the heavens.

Millions of stars blanketed the entire sky beautifully.

"Do you already miss home?" Flora suddenly asked softly.

"Yes... a little. But I can’t live under my parents forever." Oliver replied honestly. "How about you? What did you tell those hunters before you follow me?" he asked curiously.

"I simply told them that I needed to return to my hometown. Most of them looked absolutely devastated afterward. Hohoho. It seems everyone has already become poisoned by my presence." Flora laughed proudly.

Oliver simply rolled his eyes. He then continued chatting with Flora, then suddenly, Flora fell silent.

"What happened?" Oliver immediately became alert.

"Looks like we have visitors. And quite a lot of them too. Around fifteen people... over there." Flora said lazily while pointing toward an area several meters away from them.

She was able to detect them thanks to her connection with all the surrounding plants. As long as there were nearby plants, Flora possessed an extremely wide observation range around her surroundings.

"Bandits?"

Flora simply nodded. "Do you want me to deal with them? I can just summon my Carnivorous Pitchers and let them eat all of them." she offered casually.

"No need. You just stay here and watch over Stewart and the carriage. I need to stretch my body a little." Oliver replied before standing up and walking toward the direction Flora had pointed out earlier.

"Let me teach them the true definition of pain, bloob!" Bloob shouted excitedly as he jumped off Oliver’s hand and landed on the ground.

Suddenly, his body began transforming rapidly. The form he copied was Oliver’s Arachnomancer class form.

---

[Erb - The Slime]

Rank: Elite

Level: 5

Type: Nil

Familiarity: 150/1000

Current Transformation: Oliver - Arachnomancer Class

HP: 250 / 250

MP: 125 / 125

[Attributes]

STR: 27 + 6

AGI: 21 + 150

DEF: 22

INT: 30 + 130

WIL: 20

---

[Skills]

1. Engulf

Expand the body to engulf enemies equal to its rank or lower and absorb their form, abilities, stats, and equipment by 80% of total.

2. Storage (Passive)

Store a maximum of five transformations.

Current Storage:

A) Oliver - Crimson Striker

B) Oliver - Carapace Blaster

C) Oliver - Arachnomancer

D) Cannonyx

E) Husk

3. Deletion

Delete stored transformations permanently.

4. Transformation

Transform into any form stored within the monster’s storage.

---

Bloob was truly an incredibly powerful and versatile monster. Oliver was honestly glad that he listened to the system and chose to tame him.

With Bloob around, it almost felt as if Oliver had another copy of himself fighting side by side together with him.

Because of that, Oliver had already allowed Bloob to copy all of his class forms, along with Nyx and Husk as well.

"Hahaha! Looks like our prey came directly to us instead. What a lucky day this is." Khe, the leader of the bandit group, laughed while grinning widely.

He stepped forward confidently to face Oliver and Bloob while the rest of his gang followed behind him.

Khe casually raised his club and rested it on his shoulder, but suddenly, two daggers were already pressed against his neck, ready to slit his throat at any moment.

It was Oliver and Bloob. The two had activated Quickstep simultaneously and instantly appeared beside Khe.

"Huh? W-What?! What is happening?" Khe stammered in shock.

This was the first time someone had managed to get close to him before he could even summon his monster. The rest of the bandits were also completely stunned.

"Move even slightly, and your head will be gone." Oliver warned coldly while staring sharply at him.

"P-Please don’t hurt me. I only came to check what was happening after seeing the fire nearby." Khe said nervously.

However, at the same time, his hand secretly made a signal toward his group. The signal to attack.