Age of Summoner

“It’s a really huge slime, and it also wears a crown.”

That description sent Thomas into silence for a while, just like the other summoners who also heard those words. And for what next to come was…

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!

Laugher exploded throughout this Quest Center. Joke, with a look of abashment on his face, glanced at the people around him, not knowing what was so satirical about what he had just been through.

He was, of course, “Game Over” at the hands of that giant slime that completely wiped out his halves before dealing with him the way it did with Eureasa—eating him alive. As soon as he was sucked into slime's disgusting body, a putrid smell smacked his nose along with the experience which felt exactly like drowning. When he gained consciousness, his body had already appeared back in Lovera once again with a screen displaying the word “Game Over” clearly in front of him.

"Why are you guys laughing?"

Seeing everyone laughing in his face like this, he could not help but ask.

“We’re laughing at you, boy!" Thomas shouted. “The monster you met was King Slime, the local boss in this area. I bet every of your half was dead on the spot without a room for you to do anything.”

"Well... yes."

Joke replied, still confused, as a voice of a man shouted from behind.

“Don't worry, brother. You're not the first to die at the hands of that hellish slime.”

“Yeah,” another man chimed in. “King Slime is a level forty boss, which is too high for all of us right now. It’s like a monster trap set up, especially for new beginners. It doesn’t normally show up for us to see, but when a low-ranking summoner was having too much fun going after too many slimes in the meadow, it would suddenly come out and attack that player.”

Joke’s jaw dropped open. It was obvious that he was having a bit too much fun attacking those little slimes into countless remains for the past twenty minutes before that “King Slime” appeared. Was this the reason why the “king” surfaced to attack him?!!

Joke turned to look at Thomas in the eye, waiting for confirmation.

“Just as they said.” The uncle grinned. “I understand that it was satisfying to chase around those idiotic slimes. There were many newbies who tried out their Skill Cards on these slimes until they were all given a lesson by the King Slime… but I’ve never seen anyone in your condition before, young man.”

Well, of course, he was swallowed up alive!

Joke simply raised his hand to scratch his head. It was beyond his expectation that there would be such programming in the game.

“It’s just one of AOS’s infuriating programming, brother!” a summoner sitting on a table at the back chimed, raising up his pint glass. “There are a lot of things hidden in the game for us to explore, especially this King Slime, which is super annoying because it will only go after newbies who are weaker than it. Try a higher-ranking player, it will never show up no matter how many millions of the slimes they crushed.”

After saying that, the summoner turned around and set about a big round of laughter, the kind of laughter so loud it suggested that every single person here probably had been through the experience of being dealt with by this “king”.

“Consider it as a housewarming gift from AOS, young man.”

Thomas stated as he placed a tall wooden glass with foamy golden-yellow liquid in front of Joke.

“Um… I don’t drink.”

“There’s no alcohol. It’s our own special formula root beer. A sip will help get rid of the stinky odor around you. At least have a drink, otherwise, the other customers will flee my shop… This glass’s on the house—consider it a housewarming present. I’ll go get you a towel. Your status is currently stained. It will take a shower to remove this status. You can use my bathroom at the back.”

Joke nodded and smiled gratefully in return before Thomas headed to prepare the bathroom for him. He wanted to laugh at the fact that there was a shower to cleanse the dirt on the body in the world of Arcadia. And with that, Joke reached out for the glass to take a sip. It felt fizzy with an astringent taste, refreshing. It felt exactly the same as drinking root beer in the outside world.

The instant he drank it down, the foul odor surrounding his body seemed to lessen to the point where other summoners in the bar were showing signs of relief and finally went back to their cheerful chatter.

Joke was left sitting dazedly on the wooden stool in front of the bar’s counter, staring down at his extremely disastrous state. He then opened up the information window on his half partner, Eureasa, and realized that her experience points had been reduced tremendously after she was terminated by that maniac “King Slime”.

Up to this point, he also opened up another information window, which was a record of all the monsters he had fought with before. Even though there was not much on the record, it at least contained information on this monster!

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King Slime LV40 (Water)

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Race: element

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Attack-7

Defense-9

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HP 21,500

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A sense of irritation crept onto him just by seeing King Slime’s face on the information window, especially when its level was as high as forty, which was a lot higher than all of his Half Cards that were at level thirty at the maximum. As far as things go, this creature was so powerful that he would never stand a chance going against it. Even his best half was crushed and turned into its snack within seconds.

Even so, he was still frustrated and could not see the humor in this situation at all.

To Joke… he felt as if he was some kind of a loser!

“Here’s the towel, young man!”

Thomas’s hoarse voice sounded soon after, and he eventually threw a white towel over Joke’s head. The young man simply grabbed it and wiped his gooey face, eager to get rid of the slimy mucus from his body even though there was something that was now grabbing his interest.

"Ah, Mr. Thomas," Joke uttered.

"Huh?"

“I just wanted to ask, is there a quest for defeating this King Slime?”

“Huh? That scoundrel? No, there isn’t one.” the old man waved his hands nimbly. “It’s a secret boss that rarely comes out. Most people usually avoid clashing with it. It’s not like people have not yet tried to team up to defeat this King Slime, but beginner summoners that are still in on this new player’s island level won’t be able to defeat it. And when their levels are high enough to defeat it, it won’t appear for them to fight with… So, they all just leave it be at the end. Plus, there were no specific quests created for defeating it. It’s kind of like a secret resident boss that everyone hates.”

Joke narrowed down his eyes slightly upon hearing that as if there was some idea going on in his head. Thomas who was starting to catch onto something interjected…

"Hey, if you were thinking of hunting the King Slime, then I would suggest don't waste your time. Beginners like you won't stand a chance no matter what strategy you use. It would be better to quickly go through with your quests to get off this new player’s island.”

Joke did not offer any objections, but did he offer promises either. This caused Thomas to sigh gently before flicking his thumb back towards the back of the bar.

“Go take a bath and wash the misfortunes out, boy. Then go complete your quests elsewhere.”

"Thank you."

Joke nodded, acknowledging the concern from this NPC. He then got up from the stool, threw the towel over his shoulders, and walked past the counter towards the back of the shop to clean these cursed oozes off his body. Except, his iron-colored orbs then started to gleam.

“Just wait a minute, you weasel King Slime. We’re going to have a nice long chat when I’m done showering.”