Chapter 7: Guard Slime
Terrence kicked open the rusted metal doors of his temporary warehouse base. Dirt and dried leaves swirled inside as he stepped through the entrance, letting the doors bang shut behind him.
The warehouse was massive, empty, and reeked of damp concrete, but it provided enough privacy for what he needed to do. He dragged an old wooden crate over and sat down, leaning his back against the wall.
He opened his system interface, staring at the floating translucent text with a heavy frown.
[Active Mission: Sell 100x A-Rank Guard Slimes.]
[Progress: 0 / 100]
[Duration: None]
[Reward: S-Rank Vampire Butler.]
Terrence rubbed his temples. Now he had a massive problem. He didn’t know how he was supposed to complete this mission, let alone acquire new beasts while this task was hanging over his head.
’How am I going to finish this?’ Terrence thought, staring at the zero on the screen. ’It’s not normal to sell a beast... no one does that.’
In Suran City and every other major hub across the continent, people acquired their beasts in a very specific way.
If someone wanted a creature without risking their own life in dangerous dungeon rifts, they hired specialized Mercenary Commissions.
Those mercenaries would head into the wild, track down a wild beast, beat it until it was near death to break its spirit, and then hold it down so the employer could force a binding contract.
In recorded history, nobody opened a shop to sell pre-captured beasts. It wasn’t profitable.
When beasts were captured and kept in cages, they lost their wild instincts and quickly weakened without constant life-or-death struggles.
Without proper nourishment, a caged beast degraded into nothing more than an oversized, useless pet.
Terrence tapped his system screen, selecting one from the Beast Sanctuary.
A small spatial ripple opened near his boots. A bright green, gelatinous blob plopped out onto the dusty floor.
[A-Rank Guard Slime.]
Terrence leaned down and inspected the creature.
Slimes were universally known as the lowest of the low. They were weak, fragile, and slow. Even an unawakened child could poke a standard slime with a wooden stick and kill it.
However, looking closer at the status window, Terrence noticed something. It was a mutated variant.
In all his years studying beast encyclopedias in the Lee family library, he had never seen a slime with the title ’Guard’ attached to its species name.
No creature in the database carried ’Guard’ as an official prefix unless it belonged to high-tier evolutionary lines like the Guardian Knights.
The Guard Slime wobbled slightly on the concrete floor, its smooth, translucent body glistening under the broken skylight.
Two tiny black dot eyes appeared on its front, curling into an innocent smile as it looked up at Terrence like a toddler waiting for praise.
Despite the stress of his situation, Terrence couldn’t help but chuckle. The contrast between this harmless blob and his terrifying S-Rank Shadow Hound was absurd.
GROOOOWL!
A loud, painful rumbling echoed from Terrence’s stomach, snapping him back to reality.
"Shit..." Terrence muttered, rubbing his stomach with a groan. "I need to head into the city district immediately. I really need to get some actual food."
He stood up and brushed the dust off his trousers. He was about to recall the slime and step outside when the heavy warehouse doors squeaked open.
Terrence’s body instantly went rigid. His eyes flicked toward the entrance as he took a defensive stance.
Before he could even speak, the Shadow Hound melted out from his shadow, standing beside the Guard Slime and letting out a low, warning growl toward the doorway.
A slender silhouette stepped through the opening, squinting into the dim interior.
"Terrence?" a hesitant voice called out.
Clara from the Alpha Squad stepped into the warehouse, looking around nervously as if she wasn’t entirely sure she had found the right place.
Clara stood at a striking 5’11", standing almost eye-to-eye with Terrence. She had smooth, fair skin and light brown hair that shimmered pale blond under the light. Her most mesmerizing feature was her eyes—radiant, diamond-clear amber that gave her gaze an angelic, radiant warmth.
’She’s one of Menard’s squad members,’ Terrence thought, his eyes narrowing.
He relaxed his posture slightly but kept his guard up, stepping forward into the light. "Why are you here? Did you follow me?"
Clara flinched, holding her hands up in a peaceful gesture. "Uhm... I don’t want to offend you. Sorry for tracking you down, but..."
"What do you want?" Terrence asked plainly.
Clara swallowed hard, looking straight at him with genuine desperation. "I want to buy a beast from you. You were serious earlier, right? You said you could sell beasts."
Terrence’s eyes lit up for a brief second. A buyer!
Then he caught himself and forced his face back into a calm, unbothered expression.
Clara was still an active member of the Alpha Squad. Menard was petty, arrogant, and vengeful. There was a high chance Menard sent her here to set a trap or gather intelligence.
"Why?" Terrence asked, crossing his arms. "Is it because your green frog beast ran away during the fight?"
Clara lowered her head, nodding in shame. "Yes... My beast fled, and the contract link broke completely. Without a contracted beast, the city government will kick me out of the Alpha Squad by next week. I need a new beast badly, and I want a powerful one like you mentioned."
Finally! An actual customer!
The sheer excitement of finally starting his system mission broke Terrence’s calm front. He rushed forward, grabbed the glowing green Guard Slime from the floor, and thrust it right into Clara’s face.
"This!" Terrence said loudly, his eyes beaming. "I will sell this one to you!"
Clara froze. She blinked once, twice, staring at the squishy green blob trembling in Terrence’s hands.
Her initial confusion quickly shifted into deep suspicion, her expression souring.
"I think... I think I don’t need a beast anymore," Clara said quietly, taking a step back toward the door. "I’ll be going now."
Terrence quickly reached out and grabbed her wrist, stopping her from fleeing.
"Hey, hold on! I am completely serious," Terrence insisted, holding the slime out again. "This is an extremely strong beast."
Clara looked at him as if he had lost his mind, pointing a finger at the wobbling green creature. "Strong?! Terrence, slimes are the absolute weakest creatures in the world! A toddler could kick this thing to death!"
Terrence let out a heavy sigh of disappointment, pinching the bridge of his nose.
Of course she wouldn’t believe him. To anyone in this world, a slime was worthless trash, regardless of its rank or mutation.
"Alright, fine... I’ll prove it to you," Terrence said, releasing her wrist. "You don’t believe me, right? Do you have an Inspecting Frame on you?"
Clara shook her head. "No, Menard had the only high-grade frame in our squad, and your hound broke it earlier."
Terrence looked down at the smiling Guard Slime, then back at Clara.
"Fine," Terrence said, walking toward the warehouse exit. "Follow me. Let’s go outside and find some wild beasts to test this little guy."
"But wait, do you have some food?"