TFCG 15

Chapter 15

Phew, calm down, me.

This wasn’t the time to just blindly fire mana bullets.
Every time I fired one, my MP went down, and if I ran out, I wouldn’t be able to attack anymore.

That would be a real disaster. The only option then would be to run away at full speed.

I let out a sigh and focused on the mana flowing inside my body. I needed to figure out how much MP each shot consumed, and how much mana I had left overall.

Looked like I could fire about ten more shots.

Now the problem was how to deal with that slime.

“At times like this, rely on gamer instincts.”

Slime, slime…
I quickly racked my brain for what I knew about slimes.

In Edaphosia, you could just beat them down normally, but in some games, you had to destroy the Core to defeat them.

So maybe this slime also had a core I needed to destroy.

By now it was only 10 meters away. I had to find that core, fast. I narrowed my eyes and peered into the green jelly.

After a moment, I spotted something round clumped together in the middle of the slime.

Good. That’s the target.

I aimed at the core, locked in my shot, and fired.

As always, the mana bullet flew exactly where I wanted it to and hit the mark.

“Guaaaagh!”

When the core shattered, the slime let out a hideous shriek, scattered in all directions, then began pulling itself back together.

All that was left where the slime had been was a single stone, marked with eerie green letters that I couldn’t read.

A magic stone.

“…Got it.”

My legs gave out beneath me. Limp like the slime I had just defeated, I dropped to the ground, still clutching my gun.

Man, life in another world was no joke.

If even a slime—the low-level mob everyone considered a pushover—was this hard to take down…

How was I supposed to deal with the final boss, when I didn’t even know what he looked like or what powers he had?

No, before that—

“Am I even gonna survive this?”

I crawled across the ground and scooped up the slime’s magic stone.

I needed this to claim the proper reward.

Originally, my plan was simple: casually kill a slime or two, head into the forest to raise my mining or lumberjacking skills at the mine or logging camp, then head back to the village to wrap up a training quest.

But yeah, right.

“Yeah, screw that.”

I was exhausted. Not just mentally, but physically too. Spamming mana bullets at the start of the fight had clearly drained me more than I realized.

Let’s just go home.

Funny how that worked. I’d only spent one night there, but already my brain thought of that unfamiliar dorm room as “home.”

I’d have to be satisfied with just hitting fishing skill level 5 and taking down a slime today.

By the time I trudged back the way I’d come, it was already late.

Any later, and Belinda would’ve closed her office, and I wouldn’t have been able to turn in the slime’s magic stone for a reward.

I pushed open the door and set the stone down on her desk with a lifeless expression.

“What is this?”

“…A magic stone.”

I scraped together the last bit of strength I had to answer.

“…!”

Belinda looked at the stone in shock.

“Did—did a monster attack you?”

“Yeah… guess so.”

She looked deeply apologetic. She’d told me the chance of running into a monster was low, and yet I’d not only encountered one but managed to defeat it. No wonder she was surprised.

But the truth was, I’d known this was coming. I had just underestimated the slime.

And it had been no pushover. I was completely worn out.

“…The way monsters have been acting lately, something’s definitely wrong. That must be why the ‘revelation’ came down.”

Belinda fell silent for a moment, then suddenly pointed at me with her palm.

“Anyway, well done. For your very first patrol, you’ve made quite the achievement. As promised, you’ll get an extra reward.”

She handed me the quest clear reward.

One Rainbow Stone.
One Hagion Knights Token.
And 2,000 Vine.

I shoved them into my inventory with a weary face.

“At this rate, you’ll have your renaming fee covered in no time, Mr. Choi. Kang. Shooter. Elaine.”

Belinda smirked.

She was the only one on this island who knew I wanted to change my name, and therefore the only one who understood why I was working myself to the bone.

“…Ugh, don’t tease me. I don’t have the energy for it.”

Tears stung my eyes as I gave a pathetic sniff.

“Fufufu, you really worked hard. You’ve been busy since yesterday.”

Belinda laughed behind her hand, clearly amused by my misery.

When I finally left her office, a popup and a triumphant fanfare greeted me: I had reached level 5.

Which meant I could now accept the training quest to learn a new skill.

…Tomorrow. That was tomorrow’s problem. For now, I needed food.

Because for a Korean, even healing happens through a good meal.

“Welcome back, hero.”

When I entered the cafeteria, Chef Bess greeted me with a bright smile.

I wanted to tell her to just use my name instead of calling me “hero,” but that would have to wait until I officially changed it.

“Lunch was amazing, Chef. Really the best.”

I handed her back the lunchbox I’d pulled from my inventory.

Thanks to its auto-wash feature, it was sparkling clean.

“Glad you enjoyed it, hohoho.”

Bess smiled warmly as she took the lunchbox.

Then, after a moment’s hesitation, I pulled something else out of my inventory.

“Uh, this too.”

“My goodness, what’s this?!”

Her eyes went wide when she saw what I handed her.

And who could blame her—it was a giant red sea bream, as big as my torso.

I’d released all the other fish I caught today, but this one looked too tasty, so I slipped it into my inventory. It was also the one that bumped my fishing skill to level 5, so I remembered the thrill vividly.

It was even still flopping around, somehow alive.

Inventory was seriously amazing. No seawater inside, yet the fish I’d caught hours ago came out fresh and kicking.

“I thought it’d be delicious, so I brought it back. Maybe you could use it as an ingredient in the kitchen?”

“Oh my, you caught this yourself? Incredible.”

Bess clapped her hands in delight, and I couldn’t help but grin smugly.

“With one this size, I’ll make braised sea bream for tomorrow’s breakfast. Plenty for the whole Knight squad to enjoy.”

“Wow, braised sea bream! I’m in!”

I quickly chimed in. Honestly, anything Bess cooked was fine with me—whether sashimi, braised, soup, or stew.

While we were chatting about the giant fish, the rest of the squad started trickling in for dinner.

“Hey, Auntie. What’s with the huge fish?”

Darren poked the red scales with a finger.

“Oh, Darren. Can you believe it? The hero here caught it himself. So tomorrow, we’ll have steamed fish. Don’t worry, I’ll make something else for young master Leo to eat too, hohoho.”

Bess grinned mischievously at Leo.

“Leo doesn’t eat fish?”

That was news to me. I guess the game’s story never bothered to tell you NPC food preferences.

When I muttered this, Leo’s ears turned red. Clearly embarrassed about his picky eating.

“W-well… I’ve never liked seafood much since I was a kid. The smell puts me off. It’s embarrassing.”

“Hey, no big deal. It’s fine. I’ve got foods I can’t eat too.”

I patted his back reassuringly. Some adults scold people for being picky eaters, but I didn’t care. Everyone has their preferences. I liked fish just fine, but gross-looking foods like silkworm pupae or sea squirts? No thanks.

“…You caught that yourself?”

Lena muttered then, giving me a look that said she didn’t like the fact that I was wasting time fishing instead of properly training, especially since I’d basically parachuted into the squad.

Her words made me realize… she had a point. Even if it was a lax environment, I had still been running around doing personal stuff unrelated to Knight squad duties.

Maybe I should’ve just released the sea bream after all.

I was starting to feel a little sheepish when—

“Looks like Mr. Choi Kang Shooter Elaine has two bodies. Fighting monsters and still finding time to fish? Quite the work ethic.”

Belinda walked into the cafeteria with that line, clearly having overheard our conversation.

Beside her was Captain Clemens.

“What do you mean, fighting monsters?”

Darren’s eyes widened, and Belinda casually recounted my little adventure.

“So monsters have started attacking people on the island? That’s serious.”

Clemens frowned, concern etched on his face.

Ah, I remembered this. In the game, this was a cutscene conversation that happened in the captain’s office.

Didn’t expect to see it play out here in the cafeteria, over a giant fish.

“I’ve already arranged for more patrols. Tourists could be at risk.”