“Still, I haven't caught any prey for three days straight.”
Zoe had high standards for his prey; they had to possess Mana capability. Over these past three days, he had to make do with ordinary monsters instead.
He had to admit that he had overhunted this past month, completely wiping out all the powerful monsters in the vicinity.
Even if there were monsters around, they viewed this area as the territory of “that terrifying slime” and didn't dare approach.
The stronger the monster, the more intelligent it was, and they already understood the principle of seeking advantages while avoiding harm.
“I need to move to a monster-rich area and cause some havoc there.”
Zoe lamented as he glanced at his status bar, specifically at his level.
Although he had suspected it, he hadn't expected it to actually be the case.
Zoe's current level was Lv.16, the exact same level he had reached right before he died in his previous life.
In just one month, he had retraced nineteen years of progress from his previous life.
And once his level reached Lv.16, he discovered that he could no longer gain Experience to level up simply by hunting monsters.
Being able to endlessly level up without any bottlenecks just by hunting monsters was too ridiculous, no matter how he looked at it.
In his past life, going from Lv.10 to Lv.11 had stuck him for a whole year before he finally broke through—though, of course, that was also because his talent back then was indeed incredibly average.
In this life, he had breezed past it in the blink of an eye.
Instead of calling it leveling up, it was more like recovering his original level.
“It seems like I'll have to raise my level on my own from here on out. But as long as I break through now, any future reincarnations should be able to bypass the bottlenecks and level straight back up.”
When it came to leveling up, monsters were far more blessed by nature than humans.
Humans had to rely on talent, comprehension, and diligence, honing their sword skills and accumulating Mana bit by bit over years and decades.
But for monsters to level up, all they had to do was eat, grow, and fight.
Zoe had noticed that his Experience slowly increased whenever he ate monsters, trained his skills, or fought.
Among these, combat yielded the fastest gains.
Even if he did nothing at all, his Experience would still rise at a sluggish crawl.
In other words, as long as a monster managed to survive, its level would inevitably rise.
However, monsters had their weaknesses too. They had a level cap. In Zoe's current life, the level cap for a High Slime was Lv.40, which was almost impossible to break through.
Zoe had already pinpointed his location: the eastern edge of the Great Hera Forest.
If he headed west, he would delve deeper into the Great Hera Forest, where the monsters he encountered would become increasingly dangerous.
If he headed east, the monsters would be weaker, and the danger level would be much lower.
That large goblin tribe was situated to the northeast of Zoe's territory.
It wouldn't be safe for him to provoke them just yet.
“I'll head toward the southeast.”
Having decided on a direction, Zoe took one last look at the nest he had lived in for the past month.
“If I hadn't already hunted all the local monsters to extinction, I really wouldn't want to leave. A nest this good isn't easy to find.”
Finally, Zoe did his best to restore the nearby vines to their natural state, hiding the cave from view.
Then, without further hesitation, he set off toward the southeast.
Gliding along the shadows of tree roots, the sharp branches of the bushes brushed against Zoe's body without making a sound.
Zoe's size had doubled compared to a month ago, but since slimes could contort their bodies, he remained exceptionally stealthy while creeping through the shadows.
As he traveled, Zoe eventually left behind the territory he usually frequented.
The unfamiliar, silent forest kept him on constant high alert.
Just like that, he traveled until the sun had crossed most of the sky...
‘The atmosphere seems to have changed.’
‘The concentration of magical energy in the air seems to have risen along with it.’
The rich magical energy in the air made Zoe's body feel more refreshed, and his Experience accumulation rate also speeded up slightly.
In places with denser Mana, the resident monsters would grow stronger at a faster rate.
And in the Great Hera Forest, the concentration of Mana gradually thinned out from the center to the edges.
Weaker monsters would be driven out of high-Mana areas by stronger ones. Consequently, the closer one got to the edge of the Great Hera Forest, the weaker the monsters became.
“Roar!”
A low growl echoed, prompting Zoe to quickly contract his body and press himself flat against the darkness, not daring to move.
Accompanying the low growl were thudding impacts and the sound of trees snapping and collapsing.
“Is there something fighting?”
Zoe looked toward the direction of the commotion. The noise was coming from the south.
He elongated his body and poked his head out of the bushes. Through the shadows of the trees, he could make out two blurry figures.
One was a giant python of unknown length, but its body was nearly as thick as a dwarf's waist.
The other was a giant four-armed ape with a giant-like build, standing easily over four meters tall. It gripped a pair of crude decapitator blades in its hands.
Zoe didn't recognize the giant python, but he could identify the giant ape.
“A four-armed ape demon.”
Once fully grown, the four-armed ape demon was a top-tier entity among Low-tier Monsters.
Which meant its level was around Lv.20.
The intelligence of a four-armed ape demon surpassed that of goblins. They usually lived solitary lives in hidden mine shafts, where they could build primitive furnaces to forge crude weapons.
They could even spit magical flames.
As if in response to Zoe's expectations, the four-armed ape demon flexed its gruesome, bulging muscles, violently tore off the giant python coiled around its body, and opened its maw to spit a beam of orange-yellow fire.
Wincing from the burns, the giant python writhed in pain, twisted its body, and snapped its jaws toward the four-armed ape demon.
At this, the four-armed ape demon grabbed the giant python's head with its upper two arms. Like tearing open a sack, it ripped the python's jaws apart. Then, aiming its mouth straight into the gaping maw, it poured a scorching stream of fire directly down the python's throat.
The giant python thrashed violently. Its massive body crushed the surrounding bushes as it whipped toward the four-armed ape demon.
Lifting a leg, the four-armed ape demon used its hand-like foot to deftly pin down the python's body, stamping it against the ground. Its remaining two arms swung the crude decapitator blades, hacking into the giant python's flesh.
Scales shattered and flew in all directions as flesh tore open, leaving blood pouring out in streams.
The giant python struggled for a moment longer before going completely still.
Seeing this, the four-armed ape demon didn't stop blindly. Instead, it raised a heavy decapitator blade and smashed the python's head to pieces.
Even without a head, the python's carcass still exhibited reflex actions, writhing and twitching violently.
The four-armed ape demon hoisted up the writhing python carcass, wrapping the body around its waist and arms, and walked deeper into the forest.
Zoe stealthily shadowed the four-armed ape demon.
The four-armed ape demon first went to a riverbank to wash its body and drain the python's blood. Only then did it follow the river upstream, passing through the forest until it reached a low green-rock hill obscured by trees.
On one side of the hill was a hidden crevice that served as a cave entrance.
“I've found my new home.”
No longer hiding, Zoe leaped out of the bushes.
The four-armed ape demon noticed the emerging slime. It dropped the snake carcass and turned around.
Without a moment's hesitation, the battle began as the four-armed ape demon spat out a fireball, launching it toward Zoe.
[Experience +1, Experience +1...]
As combat commenced, his sluggishly growing Experience suddenly surged in speed.
Zoe was entirely focused now, agilely dodging the fireball.
“Acid, Barrage!”
The moment he dodged the fireball, Zoe spat out several Acid Bullets simultaneously.
As his level rose, the Mana cost of Acid Bullet had increased, and its power had scaled accordingly.
Spitting out four Acid Bullets in rapid succession cost Zoe a total of 42 Mana.
Despite its massive size, the four-armed ape demon wasn't clumsy at all. Brandishing its enormous decapitator blades, it blocked the Acid Bullets as it charged toward Zoe.
Only a single Acid Bullet bypassed its guard and struck its chest.
But with its immense resistance and defense, the four-armed ape demon only suffered minor corrosion on its outer skin and fur.
Zoe had no intention of engaging the four-armed ape demon in close-quarters combat; close-range fire damage still posed a bit of a threat to him.
“Corrosive Gas Slash!”
Without any hesitation, Zoe unleashed a fully charged Corrosive Gas Slash that consumed 120 Mana.
The arm-length, arc-shaped slash sliced straight toward the four-armed ape demon.
Locked on by his passive skill [Precision], the slash flew directly at the four-armed ape demon's head.
A sudden, intense numbness shot down the charging four-armed ape demon's spine, and the fur on its back stood on end.
It was an instinctive warning of extreme danger. The four-armed ape demon let out a roar, raising its decapitator blade and bracing the back of the blade with one hand to meet the oncoming slash.
Rate on N.U.
