10th floor

"You okay kid?"

The worried smith ran up to him, trying to somehow help him.

In a hurry, he knocked over the artifact on the desk.

He wasn't agile enough to catch it, making it fall towards the ground.

'Can't... let it... FALL'

Leo extended his left arm towards it, barely catching it from the crash.

Holding an artifact of this magnitude would normally be agonizing, but he felt nothing.

On the contrary, the previous burning sensation also disappeared.

It was replaced by a cool feeling of the dark slime coating his forearm.

"You gave me quite a scare. What even was that?"

"I'm not sure either..."

'Could you show me the rewards from my previous quest?'

|Of course|

[Reward: Profession Slot, Profession Voucher, Sentient Weapon]

'Another sentient being? This is getting a bit out of hand.'

The dark slime hardened around his hand.

'Wait. It's you? How did you even turn out like that?'

|It was the prize he had to pay to the system for creating an impossible task|

He laughed loudly, startling the old man.

"Pay me and get lost if you are okay again!"

A sack of gold with the remains of Leo's balance landed on the smith's desk.

"I will be back when I need help."

Leo waved towards him and began leaving.

'Actually, I didn't ask either of you earlier... what should I even call you?'

|I would be honored to be referred to as Biel Master|

|His name is Cien, Master Leo|

Those were for sure weird names, but he wasn't the one to judge.

There was still some time so he decided to go and test the artifact in a secluded area.

***

|I think we are far enough already|

He stopped and looked around to make sure there was no one around.

'Cien, turn into a staff.'

Nothing happened.

'Cien?'

[Detecting disobedience. Do you want to punish the weapon?]

"Yes!"

Obviously, he would want to do that. After all, everything that had happened on the 5th floor was his fault.

The dark slime contorted in pain as electricity went through it.

'Okay, now transform into a staff.'

Right away, to avoid more punishment, he lost his form around Leo's forearm.

Slowly it changed from a shapeless mass to a long dark staff with the artifact lodged on top.

|Why exactly did you make only a third of the original artifact Master?|

'Because this is the most powerful part.'

[Harmonized Orb]

[1/3 of the Nightmare Staff artifact]

[-20% Mana Usage]

[+30% Mana Recovery]

[+5 Summoner Slots per General]

[Absorb other summoning staffs to create powerful Generals]

'I'm surprised how dumb you are Cien.'

Leo said before opening his inventory.

[Inventory]

...

[1x Shard of The King]

[1x Profession Voucher]

[89x Mana potion]

[90x Health potion]

He took out the shard of the king from it and fed it to the harmonized orb.

Slosh slosh slosh

The liquid within the artifact absorbed the shard, its dark hue lightening visibly.

An enormous blue slime shot out into the sky, its sheer size was so big it could rival the first floor's boss.

But it wasn't a good thing, at least not right now as it was falling right back on Leo.

'Fuck! Gotta run!'

CRASH

[Mana 142/200]

Half of his body was caught in the monster's slimy body.

"Ew!"

The gross substance covered his clothes and legs.

After a moment to clean himself with some water, he walked in front of the enormous slime. It was at least 9 meters tall.

A jewel-encrusted crown atop the slime's head sparkled brilliantly in the sunlight, catching Leo's eye.

[General]

[Status: Bound]

[King Slime - level 1]

"Only level 1? I expected way more from your size."

|That's because he is still Bound Master Leo|

'And how do I make it Unbound?'

He placed his hand on the body of his summon.

[Mana 84/200]

'Never mind, figured it out.'

Gulp gulp

[Unbounding process 4,21%]

|Do you have enough time to do this?|

'We will see.'

***

[Unbounding process 99,99%]

Burp

Leo almost puked from the amount of Mana potions he drank.

'You see, I told you I will make it in time.'

[The 10th floor has been completed by the Explorer Guild and Clime Coalition of China]

[The Tower's influence spreads wider]

[Unbounding process completed!]

|Almost on time that is Master Leo|

He walked to the slime which now glowed brightly with a cyan light.

POOF

Smokescreen tall enough to hide the enormous slime-filled entirety of the forest for a few moments.

"cough cough I hope this worked."

A small boy in a raincoat and rain boots sat there on the ground, a crown rolled on the ground next to him.

 His entire body was entirely blue, oozing with the slime it was made out of.

[General]

[Status: Unbound]

[King Slime]

[Copies attributes of its owner]

"Hello, mister! Are you the one who summoned me?"

The small boy ran up to Leo, his eyes shone brightly like gems in the sunlight.

It worked. The artifact's power let him create a General for his army.

"Yes, it was me. What's your name kid?"

Leo crouched to be at eye level with the boy, smiling back at the energetic child.

"Uhh... I don't think I have one... So you give me one sir!"

His carefree nature reminded Leo of Nyssa, making him flush with embarrassment.

"How about... Gloopy?"

"Gloopy... Gloopy! I love it!"

A new window related to his summoning skill popped up. It was mostly empty since he had just acquired it.

[Generals]

[Gloppy the Slime King - 0/19 ⚚]

"Gloppy, follow me and listen closely."

They slowly made their way towards the tower's entrance.

"Are you able to summon anything?"

"Of course I can! Look!"

Gloppy grabbed a slime staff from his coat before he waved it around making slimes appear all around.

"Wow, that's amazing."

Leo looked back at the menu again, seeing that it now showed that the Slime King was using all of the Summoner Slots.

|Aren't you worried about people spotting you and Gloppy?|

'Look around, as you can see there is no one here.'

Biel didn't know, but clearance of a floor was a thing worth of public holiday, especially if the last one was over 4 years ago.

Massive crowds gathered at the entrance, chatter filling the air as news crews eagerly awaited the expedition's return.

"I wonder if Leo Astralis joined the Explorers Guild"

"There is no way! How could he kill the 1st-floor boss and then attempt the 10th-floor's challenge so fast."

And there they were, appearing one by one.

All but one of the Explorer's guild members, 10 in total.

"All 11 of them made it!"

"None of them died?! That's unbelievable!"

But in the book it was mentioned that one of them died.

It meant that whoever survived would be the 11th Japanese S-rank and the person saved by Leo's information.

"EVERYONE LISTEN"