The last slime collapsed into a puddle of goo in an explosion, pooling onto the ground in a bright pool while the system silently collected all the loot into storage.

The notification flashed almost instantly.

------------------

[✦QUEST COMPLETE✦]

[★Kill 10 Slime Monsters★]

[REWARDS]

[EXP + 300]

[SP + 180]

[★LOOT DROPPED★]

> Magic Stone x9

> Slime Gel x9

Storage: 20 / 20

-----------------

Ash stood right in the middle of the grassland, looking around at what the completed quest had left behind.

Not the loot - it had been taken straight away into storage. It was the environment.

The burn marks on the grass from where he fired Ember Shots wider than he intended, and then the black circle on the grass where the ember had scorched the ground, each circle being the location of one of the kills.

The slimes had evaporated without a trace, leaving behind just the burned ground.

He studied the area detachedly.

Ten kills. One card used - the ♥ 2 of Heart, level 2. This was a bit overkill for a slime - the difference between level 1 and level 2 was very clear here - the bigger size, the higher temperature and the increased velocity. The ball didn’t have to be carefully aimed in order to hit.

That’s what it was - less of a fight, and more of an errand.

And he couldn’t complain about it – there was no way he would pick a specific quest that would give him more XP, now that he thought about it.

But the storage was full at twenty out of twenty slots. This was a problem to be solved, as the only solution was increasing Storage capacity itself - he just needed to figure out how.

His mana ceiling had increased. 300 now, up from 200.

The notification disappeared. The next one appeared instantly.

-----------------

[EXP: 335 / 200]

[SP: 180]

[✦LEVEL UP✦]

[Level 2 > Level 3]

[★STATS INCREASED★]

STR: 42 > 45 INT: 27 > 30

DEF: 12 > 15 AGI: 62 > 65

[★NEW CARD★]

> ♠ 3 of Spades

Ice Shard - Lv.1

Deck: 4 / 54

[★STAT POINTS★]

[SP: 180 > 190]

190 Points available

(Distribute your stat points)

---------------------

Level three. It took Ash less than a second to process it and store in his memory with a peculiar flatness - as if he had expected some other number. And he indeed did expect to increase at least two levels, based on his experience with other games.

Only one – the difference between levels two and three was minimal.

One level. After killing slimes. Ten.

During the quest, he estimated that one slime gave him at least fifteen points of experience, and so it wasn’t surprising that he got only one level for all this.

And he wasn’t really disappointed in that - the logic was correct and obvious, so he understood perfectly well that he had killed monsters that were not strong enough to give him more levels. Which meant going higher and killing more dangerous monsters.

And he was already thinking about it - how to go further and kill monsters that posed a real threat.

He just needed to get there first.

He was mid-thought, his eyes still on the level up panel as he turned the stat distribution over in his mind, when he felt it.

A presence. Behind him. Close.

He turned.

He saw a rabbit. It was small and pure white. Its fur was thick, reflecting the light coming from the twin suns and making the rabbit look almost luminous. Its long ears, round eyes, and twitching nose were identical to all other bunnies he had ever seen - including his old pet, which he raised in his old life.

There was only one thing different about it - horns curling from above its head.

Ash looked at the rabbit dumbstruck.

Some feeling in his chest responded to the sight of it the same way he responded when he was back home, back before he became Ash - before his sister got sick, before their life changed completely.

That feeling wasn’t related to the threat evaluation whatsoever. It wasn’t even tactical thinking.

He loved bunnies.

He was still looking at the rabbit without any of his usual caution when the animal suddenly made a move.

No slow steps, no careful examination - fast movement, almost invisible and impossible to react to in time.

In just a second after starting moving, the white rabbit rushed forward, closing the distance between them instantly, and its horns - both of them - rammed hard into his balls.

The sound that left him was absolutely undignified.

Neither was the expression on his face.