The One Who Understands Mana
Slimes were one of the easiest enemies to kill; the only attack they could do was lunge at the player.
"HEHEHEHEHE!" David laughed like a madman as he smashed the staff on the head of the slimes, and they exploded into small particles.
[You have defeated a level 1 Aberrant Slime. You have received 10 exp]
[You have defeated a level 1 Aberrant Slime. You have received 10 exp]
[You have defeated a level 1 Averrant Slime. You have received 10 exp]
...
A few players defeating the slimes at a party heard loud smacking noises from somewhere.
"What the hell is going on? What weapon is he using?" one of the players asked, looking at David, lunging towards the slimes and smashing their heads.
"He is using a basic magic staff!" the player's companion, who was also a mage, spoke up.
"He must be a moron, fighting like a brute like that. Mages should be more elegant",
"He killed more slimes in a minute than our entire party."
"...."
David heard the nearby chattering of players, but he paid no attention to it. Years of being called the trash had made him immunity to giving a fuck about what others think.
He smashed his staff on one final Slime before the staff disappeared into thin air.
[Durability has reached 0. Your Weapon, "The Beginner's Staff", has been destroyed]
But David didn't care about it; he was eager to listen to what the system had to say next.
[You have defeated a level 1 Aberrant Slime. You have received 10 exp]
[You have levelled up]
[You have reached level 1]
[You have unlocked "The Beginner's Academy"]
"Yes!" David jumped in the air.
He quickly picked up all the items dropped by the slimes.
[You have obtained 10 x Slime Essence (Common) , 1 x Slime Core (Uncommon)]
"Great, this will fetch me enough coins for an Uncommon staff from the shop. This is one of the downsides of the Mage class. The money needed to create rare equipment for other jobs will only fetch a lower-tier weapon for the mages. This disparity will only increase in the future, as the mage association has complete monopoly over these weapons in the shop."
"I need to quickly level up and enter the dungeons", he thought.
The Beginner's Academy was the area where all the players were informed about the game's progression system and could choose a specific class.
David had no interest in the primary classes. Still, he had a particular class in mind whose hints would only be available inside the Academy.
He turned around to run towards the town, but suddenly, the ground around him started to shake; as he turned around, he noticed that a slime twice the size of regular slimes was coming his way.
"Elite Slime? Damnit", David groaned, realising he had no weapon to fend it off.
The Slime opened its mouth before expelling a barrage of toxic mucus towards David.
David swiftly dodged the attack before landing a kick on the Slime, only for his feet to get stuck into the Slime's body.
"Oh shit!"
The elite Slime swung David around before throwing him into the nearby tree.
"That.. hurts. I forgot that the pain sensitivity is set to 100%", David muttered, shaking the leaves off his head.
The nearby party of adventurers were now closely watching the battle between David and the Elite slime unfold.
"10 bucks, he will lose the fight", the mage said.
"Should we help him?" the archer in the party asked his companions, readying her bow and arrow.
"Nah, are you stupid? We will wait for him to die while fighting the Slime, and then we will kill the weakened monster and take his dropped equipment while at it." the party leader grinned.
Players, when they died, were teleported to the nearest Church. The penalty of death was harsh in Orion, with the player losing their level, all existing quests and also dropping a random item of theirs simultaneously. This meant that dying inside the game pushed back the player quite a lot.
David glared at the Elite slime, slowly slithering its way towards David. A part of him wanted to run away, but his inner self, the 40-year-old David, was tired of running away. He had run from his problems his entire life, and now he felt he was given a chance to rectify his mistakes.
"Humans learned this trick when the Spirit Race started to live on Earth.", David thought as he clenched his fists tightly.
"A Magic Weapon helps to focus the mana inside the body to a single point, but a player doesn't need to depend on a weapon to use magic", he muttered to himself, concentrating all the mana inside his body in his palms.
David could feel that the man was leaving his body at a rapid pace. "I was a swordsman class, and as a person who couldn't utilise aura, this information was useless to me then. But now.." he smiled as a small flame appeared in his hand.
"How did he do it without a weapon?" the leader gasped as he quickly looked at the mage of his party.
"I don't know. Maybe he is a hacker?" the mage replied, stunned to see what was happening.
David conjured the lesser flame spell before shooting it towards the Elite slime, which burst on coming in contact with the fire.
[ You have defeated a level 1 Aberrant Slime (Elite). You have received 50 exp]
[ Your mana has been depleted (0/10) ]
[ You will lose 1 HP every minute]
[ You are the first human to conjure mana without using a Weapon!!. You have gained an Epic Achievement "The one who understands Mana"]
David quickly removed the bread from his inventory before munching on it. He sighed in relief after noticing that his mana had started to regenerate.
"It took ten times the mana as a usual fire spell. I need to practice before using the technique more often.", David thought as he picked up the drops from the Elite slime while munching on the bread.
[ You have obtained 1 x Elite Slime Core (Rare)]
"A Rare item! I am fortunate today", David laughed as he casually walked towards the Beginner's Town while nibbling on the bread.