Chapter 56 · Volume 1

Watching Eyes, a New Bloodline

When they arrived at the Adventurers' Guild, the receptionist waiting on them was actually the same one from last time.
“Ah... is this a Dungeon Slime's concentrated core?”
The receptionist looked rather surprised when she saw the quest request to subjugate the Dungeon Slime.
When Lynn had submitted information to the guild last time, she had already taken notice of Lynn and Lupa, two rookie adventurers who had managed to escape from a ranked monster.
But now, only a few days had passed, and the two of them had actually subjugated the Dungeon Slime!
Although she found it hard to believe, the concentrated core in front of her didn't lie.
The concentrated core of an ordinary slime was generally greenish. The higher the grade of the slime, the closer its concentrated core would be to blue.
The one in front of her was mostly blue, a quality clearly unique to a ranked monster.
The receptionist muttered in a voice only she could hear, “Two rookie adventurers subjugated a Dungeon Slime?”
As a guild staff member, she could see Lynn and Lupa's resumes; the two of them hadn't completed many quests.
Lynn didn't hear what the girl said, but he still gave her a friendly reminder that it was time to hand over the reward.
Only then did the receptionist snap out of it, quickly settling the quest for Lynn as fast as she could.
After presenting the quest request and the Dungeon Slime's concentrated core, Lynn successfully received the reward.
It came to a total of forty-five silver coins: twenty-five silver coins for the bounty and twenty silver coins for the buyback price of the Dungeon Slime's concentrated core.
Lupa only took five silver coins as hard-earned money for accompanying Lynn on the quest all day. After all, she hadn't contributed much during the mission.
Lynn was highly satisfied with Lupa, his cheap labor.
Four gold coins. It wasn't a huge sum of money, but it solved Lynn's urgent need.
Otherwise, with only five silver coins left in his pocket, he wouldn't even be able to afford the rent for the Moonflower Inn.
After getting the bounty, Lynn left the Adventurers' Guild with Lupa.
However, as they were leaving, thanks to his high Perception of nine points, Lynn sensed that someone seemed to be watching him from behind.
Lynn tried to pinpoint the person's location, but after he left the guild, the person watching him didn't follow, so Lynn had no choice but to let it go.
Still, Lynn quietly kept his guard up and made a mental note of it.
At that moment, inside the Adventurers' Guild, by a window on the third floor, a man dressed in plate mail withdrew his gaze.
The third floor was generally a level that only class-holders could enter, and the various quests inside were also issued to class-holders.
Therefore, the man's identity was undoubtedly that of a class-holder.
Looking at his equipment, he also seemed to be a Fighter-type class-holder.
Beside the man in plate mail stood a guy with two daggers hanging from his waist, who looked like a rogue-type character in the party.
“That's the guy who took the Dungeon Slime quest and successfully subjugated it?”
The man in plate mail rubbed the stubble on his chin, a sinister smile playing on his lips.
Their party had originally planned to take on this Dungeon Slime quest.
But after finishing their last quest and preparing to take this one, they found that someone else had already snatched it.
And the one who snatched it from them was actually just an apprentice.
Just as they were planning to wait for this apprentice to “unfortunately” lose his life during the mission before taking it themselves, they found that in less than a single day, the apprentice had actually returned alive and had even completed the quest.
“This guy is a rogue apprentice, right? A rogue apprentice and a Shield Guard apprentice, killing a Dungeon Slime that would even take some effort for our party to handle...”
The man with the dual daggers had a greedy look in his eyes. “Does this guy have some kind of treasure on him?”
The man in plate mail also agreed with this theory. “It seems highly likely.”
The two of them didn't know about Lynn's identity as a spellcaster.
In fact, there weren't many adventurers who currently knew Lynn was a Mage apprentice.
Only the three members of the Monk party, along with Betty, Lupa, and Aguda knew.
The members of the Fire Shield Party didn't actually know Lynn could use spells because when Lynn saved them back then, he had entered Stealth before casting his spell.
Surrounded by gnolls and in deep crisis, the Fire Shield Party naturally had no peace of mind to pay attention to such details.
The only one who knew about Lynn's identity as a spellcaster and liked to brag and spread it around was Hal the Ranger.
But to put it bluntly, Hal and official class-holders were from two different worlds. The tall tales he spun naturally wouldn't reach the ears of class-holders.
“Then should I... tonight, I'll go and...”
The man with the dual daggers didn't finish his sentence, but the man in plate mail already understood his meaning.
The man in plate mail slapped the back of the guy's head.
“Have you been reading too many storybooks? He can even beat a Dungeon Slime, you think he can't beat you?”
The man with the dual daggers protected his head in pain. “Then what should we do?”
“We wait.”
The man in plate mail snorted coldly. “Wait until he takes another quest. Have someone keep an eye on him. If we catch him alone outside the town, we'll cover our faces and jump him together. We'll grab the treasure and run. Even if the kid reports it to the guild afterward, they won't know who we are!”
The eyes of the man with the dual daggers lit up, and he flattered, “As expected of the boss!”
The two of them suddenly burst into wild laughter on the third floor of the guild, instantly drawing strange looks from the other class-holders.
Are these two guys out of their minds?
Realizing he was being scanned with disdainful eyes, the man in plate mail quickly wiped the smile off his face and slapped his subordinate's head again.
“What are you laughing at! What's so funny!”
The man with the dual daggers felt a bit aggrieved.
Weren't you the one who started laughing first!
...
On the other side, Lynn, who had no idea he was being targeted, had already returned to the Moonflower Inn.
Following his usual routine, he took a shower first to wash off the smell on his body before lying down on the bed, letting his consciousness sink into his mind.
The 《Monster Identification Manual》 flipped open before his eyes—
The first page was still his personal status panel. Lynn took a quick look; there was nothing that needed special attention. The only slight change was that his Stealth Skill was about to level up to Lv.3.
Lynn flipped straight to the back, arriving at the slime's bloodline tree.
The second tier's 【Pink Slime】 and 【Dungeon Slime】 were both in an activatable state.
【Do you wish to activate the “Dungeon Slime” bloodline? Consumes 100 Bloodline Points (Slime).】
Lynn naturally didn't hesitate. Following his original plan, he poured his Bloodline Points into the 【Dungeon Slime】 pool.
As the one hundred Bloodline Points rapidly vanished, the avatar of the Dungeon Slime gradually lit up.
Finally, accompanied by a dull, squelching impact sound, the giant grey gel ball seemed to come to life, injecting a stream of cool energy into Lynn's body.
【Dungeon Slime: Constitution +3, Strength +1, 「Rapid Digestion」 Lv.2, 「Enhanced Self-Healing」 Lv.1 (Passive)】
Unlike the burning sensation brought by activating the gnoll bloodline, when activating the 【Dungeon Slime】 bloodline, Lynn felt as if he were lying on a bouncy waterbed, experiencing nothing but a refreshing sense of comfort.

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