Few Seconds before..
From the sky, Jack and Doran watched the evolving monster with tense and serious expressions.
"Tch, why can't we just attack it?" Doran muttered with a low grunt.
"Can't do that," Jack replied plainly.
Attacking a monster—or any creature—undergoing evolution was dangerous. The violent mana surrounding them could kill anyone who approached due to mana overflow or other complex reasons.
Of course, this was true only when the attacker was of the same tier. If they were higher, evolution could even become an advantage, as the creature undergoing it would be in a blank state.
[Name: Heat Slime
Species: Epic
Combat: (6th Stage) Mana Core Formation]
"Damn, it even reached the 6th stage," Doran said through gritted teeth. He himself was only at the 1st stage.
Not to mention, after the 3rd stage the increase in power was massive. That's why people often called stages 1–3 the low stages, 5–6 the middle stages, 7–8 the high stages, and 9 the peak stage.
"It's not going to be easy. I've never even heard of a Heat Slime," Jack said as he flew even higher. Below, the slime's evolution finally ended.
The violent mana was sucked into the slime and with a loud bang! a 100-meter radius was blasted apart, leaving behind a massive crater ten meters wide.
WAHAHSGANJA!
With a disturbing scream, its body heated so much that the rocks within ten meters around it melted into magma.
"That seems hot," Doran muttered, raising his sword before launching a wind slash.
A sharp crescent of wind instantly tore into the slime's ten-meter radius.
However, due to the extreme heat and resulting air turbulence, the slash lost some of its cutting precision and integrity.
Even so, with a loud noise it carved through the slime's body. Since its body wasn't especially durable, the attack dealt significant damage.
But the slime quickly began to regenerate. Worse yet, a small fragment of its body detached and started forming into another slime.
Seeing this, Jack immediately used Inspect on the newly formed slime.
[Name: Variant Slime
Species: Rare
Element: Smoke
Combat: (9th Stage) Foundation Building]
"Now it can create its own rare species? What the f#@k…" Jack's normally calm face finally cracked. It couldn't be helped—he had never heard of, let alone seen, a slime capable of something like that.
"What do we do now… this thing seems to be creating more slimes," Doran said as he watched another one beginning to form.
"We have to keep it busy and stop that from happening," Jack replied, his tone uncertain but his reasoning sound nonetheless.
Then Jack noticed three powerful mana signatures nearby. Glancing toward the canteen, he saw three teachers and immediately decided to involve them.
He couldn't spare the time to personally deal with the growing Tier 1 monsters. Even though he could easily kill them, that didn't mean they weren't dangerous or, at the very least, annoying if left unchecked.
On the side, Doran was once again engaging the monster while Jack raised his hand. A glow of light shone as he spoke.
"Great! You're here… handle this guy for us, will ya?"
And with that, three orbs of mana descended, carrying three humans, depositing them into the ten-meter-wide crater.
"What the—?" Jon blurted in confusion. One second he was in the canteen, the next he was in a magma pit.
"Teacher Jon, careful!"
Jon was quickly shoved aside by Veyra, who pointed both her hands forward and chanted:
"By the calm of the tide and the stillness of the lake, form before me, unbroken and strong—Aqua Shield!"
Mana surged from her body, condensing into water. It swirled around her hands, expanding outward until it formed a transparent, solid shield before her.
BOOOOM!
A scorching wave of smoke collided with the barrier, erupting into a thick cloud of steam and ash.
"Good reflexes, Teacher Veyra," Old Ray said calmly, waving his hand to disperse the fog.
Jon, still on the ground, rubbed his backside with a groan. "Be gentle next ti—me."
But his words caught in his throat, and his eyes widened in shock.
From the smoke emerged a massive grey slime. And not far away, a towering 15-meter slime was locked in combat with Doran and Jack, their every strike deadly and destructive.
Jon swallowed hard as he saw the monster's maw open, releasing a blazing red beam that melted everything it touched.
"That thing is too powerful—what if...?" Veyra's legs shook as fear engulfed her.
"Don't let fear get to you," Old Ray said as he looked at the grey slime monster.
"Right, we have to calm down and deal with this monster," Jon said, steadying himself—but his composure quickly broke when another one appeared.
And then another one.
---
At the Canteen..
"Oh my gosh!" Alina gasped, her mouth wide open.
And why wouldn't she? After all, she saw Kael hugging the man while they were both plastered against the wall.
"So this is his talent, huh," Aedric said with slight surprise.
"That speed was insane... can a person who hasn't even entered the Tower obtain such speed?" Corin said, feeling his worldview crumble.
And Robert... he just stared with wide eyes.
Kael, who was stuck to the wall, slid down along with the man.
The man raised his head and looked around. Seeing he was safe, he immediately grabbed Kael's hand and said,
"Thanks, I can't be more grateful... sob~" he said, tears streaming down his face.
"This shit is sooo gay." Everyone behind them said this in unison.
"WAAHHA!" Even the slime monster seemed to agree.
Suddenly, Kael screamed loudly. "WAHAHAHAHAHA!"
"What happened to him?" Corin asked in a worried tone.
"Overuse of talent, what else," Aedric said with an indifferent face, as if Kael's scream meant nothing to him. Instead, he looked to the side, glaring at Alex.
Alex, noticing his glare, frowned and said, "What? It's not my fault if he wants to play hero."
Aedric sighed and shook his head. His gut told him that if Alex wanted, he could have made it painless—his talent seemed to be support-type—but instead Alex had gone for the harder, more painful way.
Aedric couldn't prove it, but he felt Alex was secretly happy seeing Kael in such a pathetic state.
"Well, well! It seems this monster is mine to crush." Suddenly, Alina stepped forward, punching one fist into her palm with a wide grin.
After seeing Kael and Alex's terrifying display of talent, she was itching to show off her own.
She secretly glanced at Alex and, with her back to him, said,
"Alex, stay behind me. I'll protect you till my very last breath." Her confidence was sky-high as she spoke.
The monster blinked innocently—even though it didn't have an eye.
"Oh?... Okay," Alex said, dumbfounded.