Episode 18: Mutation
Clang. Clang. Clang.
A muffled sound echoes in a corner of the garden early in the morning.
Yuma, squatting inside the hole, glares resentfully at the Metal Slime he froze with Cooling Spray, striking it with a Hammer.
His dog, Mamezou, watches the scene with a curious gaze.
“Rui’s defeating powerful Monsters in the ‘Red Dungeon,’ but why do I have to keep hitting lumps of metal every single day?!”
Yuma sighs deeply, picking up the Gas Burner he had placed beside him.
He shoots out a burst of flame, searing the Metal Slime before delivering the final blow with the Hammer. The Monster crumbles into sand and vanishes.
It has been 392 days since he started defeating Metal Slimes. Over a year of hunting these strange Monsters.
Two more pieces of black Demon Ore dropped, making a total of three. He tried eating the two newly acquired Demon Ores and was able to incorporate them into his body without any problems.
The effect of Metallization has extended to about fifteen minutes, and he can cancel it every five minutes.
It’s still useless, though…
Yuma crawls out of the hole, returns to the house, eats breakfast, and begins preparing for school. It’s the same old routine.
With high school graduation just a few months away, Yuma decided to take the university entrance exam. However, he worried every day whether that was really the right path for him.
Then one day, change suddenly occurs.
He heads to the hole as usual, placing the Gas Burner and Cooling Spray beside him and illuminating the inside with a Flashlight. It’s a daily routine.
He had become so accustomed to it that it was now just a mechanical process, but that day was different.
“Huh?”
The Metal Slime is sparkling. At first, he thought it was just a reflection of light, but it wasn’t. The Slime’s color is different.
“Gold!? A golden Slime?”
He doubted his eyes, but there was no mistake. Yuma enters the hole and tries to stop the Slime’s movements by spraying it with Cooling Spray.
The Gold Slime immediately senses the danger and hops around, trying to escape.
“Damn it! Darting around like that!”
For some reason, the Cooling Spray seems less effective than it is on ordinary Metal Slimes. As the spray can is about to run out, Yuma returns to the house and brings back several spare Cooling Sprays and Gas Canisters.
“I’ll definitely defeat it!”
This is clearly a different Slime from the Metal Slime. If so, the Demon Ore it drops might be valuable.
Yuma gets a little excited and holds a Cooling Spray in each hand, spraying the Gold Slime with a double blast. It seems to be freezing at last, and the Slime’s movements are slowing down.
When it stops completely, Yuma pokes it with his finger.
The sensation is the same as with a Metal Slime: hard, metallic.
“…So, it’s a golden Metal Slime… A mutation, maybe?”
He grabs two more Gas Burners that were placed aside and shoots flames with both of them. The frozen Slime thaws and frantically tries to escape.
He freezes it again with Cooling Spray, but it feels more resistant to damage than a normal Metal Slime. Yuma patiently repeats the cooling and heating process.
Finally, on the sixth try, cracks appear on the surface, and on the seventh try, it becomes so brittle that it can be destroyed.
“Finally… I used too many Canisters.”
Yuma raises the Hammer slightly and brings it down on the golden Slime. It shatters into pieces with a crack, scattering like sand and disappearing.
This is the same as with a Metal Slime, he thinks. Then he notices something where the Slime disappeared. He shines a Flashlight on it and picks it up, examining it closely.
“T-This… is it Demon Ore!? Gold Magic Ore!!”
It’s about two centimeters in size, with a smooth, oval shape. It looks like a Black Magic Ore that has been turned gold.
He immediately returns to the house and examines the Gold Magic Ore again in his room.
First, he wonders if it can be sold, so he immediately searches for it on his smartphone.
“Black Dungeon… Gold, Demon Ore…”
Even after searching, nothing comes up. It seems that Gold Magic Ore has never been found in the ‘Black Dungeon’ before.
He tries using the Mana Index Meter he bought before, but the reading is still ‘Zero.’
“This is zero too. If that’s the case, then I can use it. And if this is really ‘gold,’ then maybe I can sell it at a jewelry store…”
Yuma suddenly glances at the clock. It’s time to go to school. He’ll think about whether to sell it or use it after he gets back from school.
Thinking so, he puts the Gold Magic Ore in his desk drawer, gets ready, and leaves the room.
Unaware that this event would send ripples throughout the world—