Chapter 15: The First Trial

The sounds of water gushing down a waterfall caught Zoey's attention, the cool, but fresh air brushed against her hair. Zoey jolted awake, observing her surroundings with wide eyes. She was in a forest, and a large one at that.

She could feel the grass poke into her skin like needles, her heart tightened, a sweat rolling down the side of her face as she grew anxious with every passing second.

"Where the hell am I!?" Zoey shouted, confusion etched on her face.

'Is this a dream? No, it feels to real to be a dream.' She observed, her [Heightened Senses] confirming it.

[Ding! You Have Succesfully Arrived On The First Trial Of The Tower Of Hera: Mystical Forest!] A sleek crimson, translucent screen appeared infront of her, startling her slightly.

'The tower....I'm inside my first trial?' Zoey stood up from the ground, still adjusting to the new environment.

'It was night time a moment ago, could this place be similar to that of a dungeon?' So many questions pilled into her mind at that moment, but she shook them off for now, she had to stay focused at all times.

[Objective: Eradicate the Slime King and retrieve the Core of the monster.

Once the Core has been obtained, the forest will try everything in it's power to dispose of you.

You must survive long enough till the Core has enough energy to materialize a portal for your escape.]

[Rewards: +1 Slime King Essence]

[Failure To Complete The Task: Death]

'...' Zoey's eyes read the objective the Tower had given, her body froze, her blood ran cold.

'This is crazy!' Zoey thought, a shocked expression etched onto her face. If she failed to complete the Task, she would die, and she didn't want to die, she couldn't die, not yet atleast.

'All I have to do is eradicate the Slime King.' Zoey thought, taking a deep breath to steel her nerves, clenching her fist as determination began to surge through her.

The crimson screen vanished, leaving Zoey alone to begin her Task. Zoey observed her surroundings, the trees around her gave her chills, almost as if they were staring at her with murderous expressions.

'Calm down, they won't attack you....yet.' Zoey convinced herself, shaking her head at how paranoid she was being. She was strong now, she wasn't weak anymore, she just needed to believe in herself more.

Zoey activated her [Heightened Senses] as she used "Mana Guage" to locate the auras of her enemies, finding them quickly in mere seconds.

'What the....' Zoey tilted her head in confusion, the enemies she expected, strong, powerful, and horrifying. Were just small, circular blobs that bounced around on the ground, confusing her greately.

'These are slimes? I don't know what I was expecting, but it sure wasn't this.' Zoey thought, gently poking a slime with her index finger, finding their bodies, awfully squishy and jiggly. A strange purple crystal was inside their bodies, they even exuded a blue aura, so they were really weak.

'Huh?' She raised a brow, 'They really look very cut-' Zoey was interrupted as the slime infront of her instantly changed shape, large terrifying, slimy tendrils shot out of it's body wrapping tightly around her arm and gripping it tightly.

'Damn it!' Zoey grit her teeth, struggling to resist their pull. The slime then shifted again, it's small round body, now becoming tall and towering over her, asserting a presence of doom.

Zoey grit her teeth as she used all her strength, pulling her arm away from the monster, it's tendrils snapping of it's body like whips. Zoey leaped away, creating distance between herself and the transformed slime. It's body radiating with a terrifying crimson aura now.

'So whenever they become that, their strength increases dramatically. I thought I could easily breeze through this trial, but who was I kidding?' Zoey thought with a small sigh, starting to become serious.

'Nothing in this life is ever easy.' Zoey pondered, raising her hand and pointing her outstretched palm towards the transformed slime, the air around her hand grew warmer, streaks of flames forming and joining at a singular point, swirling and combining into a singular fireball.

'Take this you freak!' Zoey yelled, activating her [Fireball] skill and hurling the flame at the the transformed slime.

The fireball travelled fast, hitting the transformed slime before igniting a powerful explosion. Dust clouds covered the area, the sound of a goey substance dropping to the ground like rain echoed around the area.

Once the dust cleared, the transformed slime was defeated, it's remains nothing but a puddle of slime goo. Zoey narrowed her eyes as she felt the intense stare of the rest of the slimes, while they didn't have eyes, they're presence made the air tighter with tension.

"Come at me you bastards." Zoey said, her voice taking on a serious tone, the real battle has just begun.

Immediately, the slimes all transformed, taking on grotesque forms as they hurled a barrage of slimey tendrils at her to catch her. Zoey began to dodge them with quick speeds, summoning a [Stone Dagger] and [Goblin Shield] to help her out.

She slashed and blocked the tendrils that assaulted her, deciding to counter attack, Zoey dashed toward a slime and cleanly sliced it in two, slicing the crystal in two as well. The slime deformed and disintegrated into a puddle of goo, confirming Zoey's suspicion.

'So those crystals serve as their Cores, and is basically their life force. They're still monsters at the end of the day, so I should've known,'

Zoey thought with a slight smirk, leaping into the air to dodge another set of tendrils that they were aiming to grab her legs. She threw her [Stone Dagger] and [Goblin Shield] in the air, pointing her two hands at the slime below, firing two fireballs into the ground.

BOOM!

The flames spread and engulfed the slimes whole, burning their bodies and reducing them all to slime matter. Zoey gracefully fell to the ground, a sigh of relief escaping her lips.

'Now they're dealt with, I'm still strong!' Zoey thought with a small giggle escaping her lips, the adrenaline still fresh in her body. She began to walk deeper into the forest, her senses on high alert.

'That was strange..' Zoey's thoughts drifted back to the fight against the slimes she had a moment ago, she had tried her [Fireball] skill for the first time, finding it's power pretty impressive, all thanks to her high Intelligence Stat.

While she was in the air and fired the second, and third fireballs, Zoey quickly noticed something. The fireballs were much more destructive when they were launched the second and third time, and it could only be explained by one thing: Skill Leveling.

Her skills must to have levelled up by then, in the context of a normal Hunter, it would take much longer to level up, as Skills required constant use and practice, to fully understand and level up.

Zoey opened her status window and checked her the new level of her [Fireball] Skill, she stared at the screen for a few minutes, her eyes wide and her throat feeling dry.

[Skills: (E)Fireball Lv9]

Zoey sighed, a knowing smile formed on her face. 'So the 100x Experience level requirement doesn't affect skills, now it all makes sense.' Zoey thought, closing her status window.

'Still, it's kinda scary to imagine how quick my skills are going to keep growing. They're just going to keep getting stronger and stronger, way faster than anyone could anticipate, and it's so exciting!'

Zoey clenched her fists, a blissful smile forming on her face. She continued to move deeper into the forest, her eyes scanning the forest like a predator hunting their prey, as she needed more slimes to practice her abilities on.