[Slimy Slime] Chapter 52: A Slimy King's frustration

Spoiler, there were no wolves. That fact didn’t surprise me.

I sighed.

Goblins roamed, it’s what they did, mostly. There was a small village of them nearby, or, well, was. They’re mostly all back at my City or further into goblin territory now. What goblins definitely don’t do is move around in large areas of massive amounts, seeking other goblins. That, a slime flying around, and the loss of the alpha and over fifty wolves, meant very very few wolves were still around. If they were… Krrrgg and her army had probably already eaten them. They needed stats too and I was now seeing how absolutely vital a thriving food economy was to any monster kingdom. On one hand, it was patently unfair. Eat enough monsters and they gain strength like no other. Add in evolutions which up to the first few, are pretty easy, and you can create a kingdom head and shoulders above any medieval human kingdom I know of.

Even some of the later evolutions would probably be recorded sooner or later and the path paved. I was positive there was at least one Goblin Kingdom out there that had made it, where most of their members were probably Generation 2.

The issue came that… you needed food. Every single monster needed to eat a few hundred, to a few thousand other monsters to reach peak maturity in their stats. Having a [Goblin Chief], for example, with the stats of a hob-goblin would be hilarious but a very real possibility. We would have to start farms for sure. I could provide sustenance but none of the dungeon magic food gave stats. I was 99% certain eating the monsters I spawned would be the exact same.

Our only blessing was this damn wolf forest. In the future, after the City was fully built, the wolves would get used to it. It’d be a lot easier to send scouts or rangers out into the forest to gather it but that was way, way too little. Merely hunting the local wildlife for food, like a chump? Not a chance for my city. So I’d need to figure out what to do with that. Just throw it on top of the pile for after the war.

God… war…

I was kinda at my slimy ropes end… I’d talked to Michael and he’d made some good points but…

“You should make bows and spears, for sure. That’s what the king, uh, the human king nearby, makes his soldiers use unless they have talent in something else.”

I had frowned.

“I don’t want my people to fight.”

He had smiled at me sadly and I had sighed.

“I know.” I had said.

I’d already done it but giving all my goblins weapons… it was the right thing to do. It’d be stupid not to. Still… it was a bittersweet thing. I also needed to finish up those guard towers and make more dungeon monsters. Those, I couldn’t care less about using, but after working with more material I’d realized just how cheap they were. A full day’s output could create a few [Hob-Goblins] or even a [Goblin Captain]. The trade off was that they sucked. Well, at least compared to the original. Didn’t even need to summon a second one for that bit of knowledge, my first [Hob-Goblin] spawn had been effortlessly taken out by the Alpha. It may have been an Alpha and the same tier as the [Hob-Goblin], sure, but the same day I got to see Krrrgg fight. It was night and day. Movements that had seemed fine at first, suddenly looked more robotic and static than ever. They were still very useful and I was absolutely going to summon as many [Hob-Goblins] as I could to cleave through the enemy ranks if I had to, but I would rather fortify my position.

Because that’s another thing… this was going to be a defensive war. I could not, literally, get to the [Goblin Chief]. He was completely out of my reach for another six months and I realllyyyy hoped this war didn’t go on that long. So, in order for my kingdom building I needed:

1. Towers with false [Hob-Goblin’s] to continually keep watch, with bells or horns or something.
2. Outfit my goblins with bows, a lot of bows. Spears too but mostly bows!
3. More defense.

I also needed, if there was time, to just make my City bigger. A bigger city meant more to defend but also more area to put between the Horde and everyone else. What was better than one wall? Two walls!

Sigh.

But it all came back down to mana. With a… lot of killing, I could boost my mana as high as it could go. But there was nothing to kill. Goblins would be recruited, there were no more wolves for now apparently, and the birds…

Yeah, let’s not push my luck. Let’s at least wait till the ring is back at full strength.

I was walking along the walls, checking them, making sure everything was okay. Also looking at the spots we’d decided to place the towers. I just felt so… frustrated. My mana was currently in that horrible nasty cycle between giving a lot of it and refilling it with my potions. It was a little late to be training, night having fallen. Astra control took a dedicated mind so I could be careful and there wasn’t enough mana in the tank to do any big changes anymore.

That left me alone… walking along a wall… with nothing but my thoughts.

I wanted to do something! I wanted, I wanted to go outside this barrier and try to kill the [Goblin Chief] or find more wolves to eat, or, or something. I just felt so… helpless. I was doing all I could do and it didn’t feel like enough. It wasn’t even just me anymore, I had people relying on me. The weight… was so heavy recently. It was one thing when I knew I could keep doing stuff, grow stronger, get more powerful before it all started…

But time was running out and I’d hit a barrier.

I had spent months now, in this freaking forest and I was so tired of it. The first few lonely months were mostly a blur… I can hardly remember them, even after my dissociation died down. It was just training and trying to keep focused. But I had no concerns. Now I had nothing but concerns. Responsibility is such a heavy chain.

I frowned, leaping off the wall. I landed with a soft ‘splat’ and headed directly towards the training yard. I was getting nowhere fast. I needed to burn off some of this anxiety. Being idle just didn’t suit me. The wall was fine, the towers would be fine, the whole construction was magically perfect. And I’d already walked around it twice by now. I was doing nothing when I could be training more.

I set up one of the logs, another thing I hadn’t done. The goblins had taken some of Michael’s trees and cut them up. Judging by how they looked… I assumed Krrrgg did the cutting. With a slight thought, my hands appeared. I have them out all times now, idly moving them around, having them phase and unphase through stuff constantly. It had started to feel pointless at points, but that was a good thing. They were my hands. Moving your hands shouldn’t really feel that weird or tedious. Still not ready for twelve yet though.

I just usually kept them invisible because, well, it seemed to freak out… everyone. Just about damn near everyone. The goblins, Sandra, Michael, even Krrrgg, and little Tilia. They seemed to think I was about to go to war or something when all my hands were out flying about. That was ridiculous! I just have ten, magical, ghost like spirit hands! Well, technically a lot, lot more. Possibly infinite. I was pretty much made of hands and slime…

…I was a pretty weird creature huh.

Anyway! Time for some training! I punched and-

The log went flying, sailing way over the wall, and out into the woods.

…Perfect! Now I knew another way to attack, I could use boulders and throw massive objects at people! I totally meant to do that. Yup. Just practicing a new move… definitely didn’t do that on accident, nope.

I looked around, and breathed a sigh of relief as no one had been watching.

Come on one punch slime! You’re too strong for logs and rocks, we need to do better than that! I looked at my dungeon mana. Tsk. Not enough for steel today… and I needed all I could get…

Instead of punching something to smithereens I just… punched. I pretended I faced a horde of goblins or that dang [Black Eyed Wolf] again. Punch after punch after punch sailed through the air. I even started mixing some teleports in, it being stupidly easier at night. I could practically go anywhere, anywhen! I sped up, remembering how if I was facing that [Black Eyed Wolf] again… I’d probably lose. It was just so fast and I was such an amateur. I had to do better.

In everything.

The night hours passed away but for once, I felt it. Felt the real pressure. There was no instant gratification this time. No reward, no skill, no system message. No magical epiphany or great change. Just a slime punching the air and teleporting around through magic. Training, working out, it wasn’t about the day. It was about the year. To reach that year, you do it every day. That’s when the changes happen, the improvements are made.

Finally, I had to stop. I was too busy every day to break my sleep schedule. It was frustrating but sadly… training meant discipline. Discipline meant knowing when to stop.

I wasn’t going to die or let the few people in my life die. No matter what… I was going to still be here. Still keep going. This war was only one step on the road. There’d be more threats, more danger, more battles, more wars. I had to be ready.

*****

“Tina… you’re still training?” Jeremy said, bleary eyed.

Tina didn’t respond, just attacked the training dummy again and again. She was like a golem, never stopping, repeating the same motions over and over and over again. Jeremy was amazed at her dedication.

“Tina… you need to sleep.”

“Another hour. Then sleep.” She said, in between attacks.

Slowly, Jeremy nodded. He had… no idea she took being a royal knight so seriously. He firmed his resolve. He wouldn’t be left behind while she tried so hard. He didn’t understand her desires but he would match her fervor.

Unknown to Jeremy, Tina was repeating a mantra in her mind the whole time. She had received news recently.

‘Less than a year. Less than a year. They said if I do well, I can go on an excursion to the deep parts of the wolf forest in less than a year!’

Tina was practically salivating at the rare slimes she might find in there.