Chapter 7: Danger?

“So, what kind of training are we going to do?” (Lucas)

“First, I’m going to teach you how to walk.” (Pierre)

……………..Hah?

…Damn, am I in one of those TV shows where they prank people?

What, is this whole [Slime Style] really a joke!?

“Haha, what’s with that face? You have that look like you’ve just discovered you were pranked.” (Pierre)

“So I was!?” (Lucas)

“Haha, of course not. Now start walking~” (Pierre)

Is this guy serious!?

Ughh, fine…let’s just get this over with…

I sighed deeply and began to walk.

[“Pft- wait, you’re seriously doing it?”] (Warren)

Oh shut it Warren.

I ignored Warren who seemed to be trying to stop himself from laughing.

“Stop, wrong wrong wrong wrong.” (Pierre)

“Hah? I’m walking aren’t I?” (Lucas)

“Yes, but it’s sloppy. From now on, walk with even steps.” (Pierre)

Even steps?

“If you want to learn the [Slime Style], then you should start to develop a habit of walking with even lengths, even sounds, even force, every movement in your body should and must be the same. Even the volume of your voice, your breathing, or the way you blink. Everything should be in concert with your pulse.” (Pierre)

Unusually, Pierre started to talk seriously and without that over exaggerated tone.

But that brought me to another question.

“Then why were you speaking like that earlier?” (Lucas)

“Because I’m a clown~” (Pierre)

…......This bastard…

Whatever, let’s try it.

I started walking while attempting to have the same tempo.

Even though he said it like it was easy…actually doing it is another matter.

“Your breathing isn’t even.” (Pierre)

“Yeah well, I’m trying to take it one step at a time alright?” (Lucas)

“That won’t do~” (Pierre)

Ughh, fine.

Breathe in…step…breathe out…step…in…step…out…step…

Fuck, this is annoying!

This continued for five hours! And every time, Pierre would say my balance is uneven, my step is uneven, my force is uneven…and every time I talk back, he starts saying that my voice is uneven!

Annoying…this is too damn annoying!

Now I know why he didn’t want another student…because he knows, that 99% of them will give up anyway!

And I really want to give up! I seriously want to!

But my desire to be stronger is keeping me from doing so.

At first, I was still confused on what is the point of all of this, then I realized, that with this method, my DEX goes up fast!

Pierre explained that with a high DEX, dodging with a hair’s breadth or piercing accurately can be attained.

Which is why I need to have a very high DEX! But just having a high DEX isn’t enough, I needed to have a habit of dodging and attacking like that.

After a few days of the annoying way to walk, I got to the point where Pierre points out my mistakes for about 15 times a day. Before, it was like 2 times per minute…

This is also the part where I start to build up STR.

And even in push-ups, Pierre still wants me to be even in the force I use, the height of every push, and all that…

So even push-ups became annoying as well.

This can also be said to weight lifting, curl-ups, and other body strengthening exercises.

A few days after, I trained in SPD.

This, I achieved just by running around the forest…still with even steps and breathing…

All the while, these trainings also increased my VIT as well.

Like this, I started the annoying way to train…with a clown as my teacher…

+ + +

A month after Lucas had started his training, the other [Gatekeepers] are perfectly doing their job.

[Gatekeeper] recruitment had also started and there are a lot of [Rank E and F Gatekeepers].

These are people who regularly patrol around the three worlds to see without switching characters for the [Earthlings]. They are only given an opportunity to switch characters if there’s an emergency but for now, they are only tasked in patrolling.

Of course, there are [Harians] and [Senerthians] who are also part of the [Gatekeepers] as well who are patrolling in their own worlds.

They contact people in their headquarters and those in the headquarters inform the other headquarters which is how the [Gatekeepers] can easily relay informations.

Once in a while, there are troublemakers who would show up and a specific ranked [Gatekeeper] would be called in.

Unless necessary, the [Rank S Gatekeepers] doesn’t move themselves. Only, they are repeatedly asked for media appearances.

It has already been known to everyone that the [White Haired Adventurer] will only appear on [Earth Sundays] so the media’s focus was more on the other [Gatekeepers].

Here and there, billboards and posters with their appearance can be seen.

Even the [Gatekeeper] recruitment poster had all of their images with the [White Knight] at the center as he had already been accepted as the [Gatekeeper’s] face so to speak.

Aside from the [White Knight], the other [Rank S] also started to wear a mask while their unmasked version publicly remains at [Rank A] so they can guide the others and show a good example.

[China, Beijing]

Lin is casually walking on the streets after buying groceries while talking on the phone.

“Yeah, look, I’ll be there alright?...Tomorrow. Yeah, I have no schedule for tomorrow…okay, bye.” (Lin)

Lin hanged up and sighed helplessly.

As a [Rank S], he barely has time for himself and when he does, he spends it with his friends or family.

This kind of life tires him out but he still bears with it.

“Maybe I should also start training like Lucas…it’s unfair that he has it easy…haaah…” (Lin)

Little did he know, that Lucas’ training is very meticulous and annoying to the point where Lucas himself wants to quit.

As Lin walked, he found himself at the entrance of his apartment building and went straight up to his room.

Seeing as how someone else seemed to have just gotten out of another room, he gave a slight bow to that person as a gesture of greeting.

The person also smiled and bowed slightly to him.

Giving a fleeting glance to that person, Lin moved to his door room and reached for his keys.

However, before the keys to his room even begun to enter the keyhole, he suddenly froze.

“Huh?” (Lin)

Lin’s mind started to become uneasy.

He was paralyzed in place and cannot move!

“Hey, are you alright?” (???)

The person who just passed by him noticed his strange behavior and asked.

But Lin cannot answer as he was unable to move.

The person approached and tried to touch him. And when he did, they were both engulfed with a blinding light.

Afterwards, they disappeared.

At the corner of the ceiling, a camera was in place that had seen everything and seemed to shake from uneasiness.

+ + +

“He disappeared?” (Lucas)

It was Sunday so I came back to [Earth] to take care of some business only to hear that Lin had disappeared suddenly.

From the way they say it, he should be transported to another world.

But probably not summoned as a [Hero] as he doesn’t have a [Hero Title] so we were all uneasy about what happened.

“There’s another person that were transported with him. We’re still trying to find out who he is but here, take a look at the camera footage.” (Trask)

Trask handed me a tablet which showed the footage from when Lin disappeared.

Lin appeared at the corner, then passed by another person before reaching his room and suddenly stopping. The other person called out to him and when he approached to touch Lin, they both suddenly disappeared.

“We think this man is the cause of what happened.” (Trask)

“Probably a [Death Eater] in disguise. He placed a paralyzing magic on Lin then used some magic to teleport the both of them when he touched them.” (Bram)

“IMPOSSIBLE!!!” (Lucas)

I snapped at Bram and Trask who suggested those ideas.

The other people looked at me with wide eyes, unable to understand why I suddenly snapped.

“Don’t even suggest such a thing! They were definitely transported to another world!” (Lucas)

“Calm down…what makes you think that other person has nothing to do with it?” (Shaw)

I scrolled back to the part where the face of the other person was facing the camera, zoomed it, and showed it to them.

“Because he’s my uncle.” (Lucas)

Hearing this, everyone in the room was surprised. And before this start to sink in their heads, another person came inside the room.

“Sir, we have the name of the other person.”

Then he looked at my direction with hesitation before continuing as he placed some papers on the table.

“David Lauwers, uncle of Lucas Lauwers.”

+ + +

Looking through the papers the employee brought in, it was indeed my uncle.

David Lauwers, he’s the older brother of my father who worked as a martial arts instructor in Beijing or so I heard.

When I met him once, I was forced to partake in his training as well…needless to say, I didn’t last for a minute back then…

After that, I swore to myself to never visit him again.

However, I don’t hate the guy. He’s a very straightforward person and likes to help people a lot.

He’s also cheap when it comes to his tuition fee and easily accepts students who have the courage to ask.

So I am 99.99% sure that he isn’t part of the [Death Eaters]. As for the remaining 0.01%, well, you never know. Maybe he did become evil or something. But like I said, very unlikely.

“Didn’t Lucas come back immediately? How come they are still missing?” (Shaw)

“Because on your first time, time will be frozen for a week there. If you still haven’t finished your [Mission] by then, then you will spend your life there until you complete it. For all we know, a day there might be a year here or worse, a century or something.” (Lucas)

Hearing this, the others groaned at the thought of not being able to go back.

“Damn, then Lin and Lucas’ uncle are basically a goner now that they haven’t returned yet.” (Bram)

“Haah, unfortunately…we don’t even know how to help them or know where they are…” (Lucas)

“It seems we can only wait huh…” (Shaw)

Everyone sighed.

No matter how strong we are, the unknown is still an unknown.

How can we possibly know what world they went? And even if we knew, how can we follow?

Like that, everyone disbanded and went to do their works and I went home.

Having told Mom about Uncle, she called Father who is in Hong Kong hurriedly.

We can’t even grief about it since Uncle is pretty much MIA so to speak, so all we can do was wait.

Afterwards, Mom told me about building a housing subdivision with the money that I gained.

When I asked why, what she told me was simply:

“Son, going through worlds will be like going to different countries now right? So before it becomes too common, I’ll make a subdivision for otherworlders to stay!” (Margo)

…I can’t believe it…

To think of such business opportunity while your son was beaten black and blue and is fighting against evil…Is money the only thing she sees!?

Wel…not like I’m complaining.

Not like I have anything to do with my money anyway so I only requested for me to have a separate house.

Since I was thinking of placing my own furnace, and equipments there.

“It might get noisy and I don’t want to disturb you guys.” (Lucas)

“O-ohoho, I see! Truly, it might get noisy especially at night. Mn, mn. Now you can do it in the morning if you are in a separate house! I understand! Leave it to mother!” (Margo)

Hm? Why is she suddenly so hype?

…I have a bad feeling about this…

But it is true that I can smith as much as I like without having to keep using Freya’s [Silent Room] if I’m separated from other people.

Forging is noisy after all.

After that, I tried to contact Eu and the others but all I got was that they are all training…huh? Wasn’t the point of me training so that I can be strong enough to protect them? What’s the point if they are stronger than me!?

Like that, I went back to training immediately.

+ + +

“Oya? You’re back early my little Jester. Did you miss me already~?” (Pierre)

When I got back, the first thing I saw was Pierre winking at me…

*Blegh-!*

“Hey! To barf like that is rude!” (Pierre)

Well sorry, I didn’t really have the time to think of what was rude and what isn’t!

Damn…I never found clowns to be scary before…but a clown winking at me like that…I think I might’ve developed a trauma.

“Owell~ Since you’re here already, do a thousand bunny hops!” (Pierre)

“You’re actually mad aren’t you!? You’re mad right!? I’m sorry!” (Lucas)

“Apology accepted. Now do two thousand bunny hops!” (Pierre)

“YOU’RE STILL MAD AFTER ALL!!!” (Lucas)

“I’m not~ quickly do three thousand bunny hops around the forest~” (Pierre)

“I’m doing it so stop adding a thousand!!!” (Lucas)

“Oh, you’re right! Then do five thousand~” (Pierre)

YOU JUST ADDED TWO THOUSAND!!!

I had no choice but to retort in my head as I feared he might add another five thousand…

At the side, Warren and Vil were holding back their laughter as they watched me.

I understand if Warren does it but Vil!? I’m your master!

With tears at the corners of my eyes, I started my training/punishment…

+ + +

“N-not good!” (Aeran)

Aeran, who was in the early stages of recalling her memories, immediately stopped and sped out of the [Tree of Memories].

Afterwards, she flew over to the [Demon Kingdom] to find Eu.

After finding out from Mare that Eu was inside the [Demon Lord’s Vault], she asked Mare to guide her there immediately.

“Oiii!!! Damn Demon!! Stop your training for a bit! You have some explaining to do!!!” (Aeran)

Aeran started banging on the vault’s door and yelled loudly.

“U-umm…” (Mare)

Mare tried to intervene but she was powerless to stop the spirit who was throwing a tantrum.

“DEMON BRAT!” (Aeran)

“OI!!!” (Aeran)

“WAKE UP!!” (Aeran)

“ERODEMON!” (Aeran)

“DEMON SLUT!” (Aeran)

“BIG BOOBED DEMON!” (Aeran)

“FATTY DEMON!!” (Aeran)

“SHUUUUUTTTT UUUUUPPP!!!!” (Eu)

The door opened with a bang and an enraged demon queen was revealed after Aeran’s repeated insults.

At that moment, a streak of white hair vanished for Eu’s hair and immediately went back to her normal jet black hair.

“What do you want you short flat spirit!?” (Eu)

“Lucas is in danger!” (Aeran)

“Huh?” (Eu)

The enraged Eu quickly went back to normal then suddenly became worried.

After all, it was Aeran who started to suggest getting stronger and she actually stopped and traveled all the way to her castle.

If the situation isn’t so dire, why go to such lengths just to talk to Eu who was still training as well.

Not only that, while she was training, she naturally shut herself to the rest of the world so she has no idea what has happened.

This only increased her worries so she became panicked.

“Do you know about the true nature of the [Dorvilles]?” (Aeran)

“Huh? Eh? Why did you ask that?” (Eu)

Eu, who was too worried about Lucas’ safety, heard Aeran who seemed to have changed the topic so suddenly that it left her dumbfounded.

“You idiot! Arghh! I can’t believe I just had to forget this!” (Aeran)

“What? What’s the problem!?” (Eu)

“The [Dorvilles] aren’t monsters at all! They’re [Demons]!” (Aeran)

“Huh?” (Eu)

Eu was still confused.

So what if they’re demons?

Does that change anything?

Looking at Eu who still has no idea why Aeran seemed panicked, Mare, who was watching from the side, began to speak.

“Ara, so it was only that. I thought you had all known from the start…no wonder you let ‘her’ be with him…” (Mare)

“Mare? You know something?” (Eu)

“Yes well…” (Mare)

Eu and Aeran listened to Mare as she started to explain.

Afterwards, both of them paled.

If it was said that Aeran was agitated after she found out about the [Dorvilles] and before Mare’s explanation, now, she is horrified after listening to Mare.

“Mating season…you say?” (Eu)

“When is that?” (Aeran)

“Hmm, from what I remember, still a few more months from now.” (Mare)

Hearing that, Eu and Aeran both sighed in relief and told themselves to go visit Lucas the next day.

However, they had forgotten that…time moves three times faster in [Harus]!

Author's Notes

Hey again~ got dragged to a shopping spree yesterday sooo....yeah........

Was supposed to title this chapter as [Lin's Disappearance] but it's too spoilery so I made it [Danger?] instead so that you might expect that there is another danger bla bla thingy.

Anyway, Lucas' uncle's disappearance was not part of my original plan haha. It was made while I was typing and I thought it's a good concept for later volumes and it doesn't really change much of the original scenario anyways so I just went along with it :P

Also, clown, Pierre, jester, slime...honestly, I didn't think that all of these had a connection to Slime Tensei and it's translator when I wrote it...like I said, it was supposed to be an old man and I just went with JohnPlume's suggestion since it's interesting. The slime part...that was more of a slip of the tongue when I was discussing with Hyou what style Lucas should use...it was like, I want a fluid or slippery or something, and I said, you mean like a slime? Then bam!

Owell, it's funny anyways.

Now........I'm going back to my lengthy ANs aren't I? Well, I'll finish with this......What do you think is about to happen to Lucas?

P.S.: Sorry for Japtem readers if there are any who are actually using the Japtem links below. I can't load Japtem on my PC for some reason so I'll only release here for now. :P

Japtem Version