They were and they weren't. They were thin and hugged the ground like a pool of water after heavy rain, but unfortunately, they could also contract and expand really fast which also made them able to jump - and to Loran's surprise - spit poison.

Thomas carried him back from the first battle, which had mostly consisted of them throwing sticks at the slimes to see how they would react.

Loran whimpered as he pulled up his dark trousers and was examining his swollen calf, which had already turned an angry red.

"We need spears," Thomas said, eyes gleaming.

"Or maybe we should wait until they lower the pain threshold," Crow muttered. He had been eager to level before, but now he wasn't so sure.

"I told you, it's not a game," Thomas replied. He hesitated for a moment, then he said: "you should act like it." He looked away, scanning the forest. "We need spears now."

Great, he was still trying to scare him. It wasn't needed, Loran's scream had been enough. "And how are you going to get them sharp enough?" Crow asked.

"I saw some rocks earlier which would do," Mel replied to Crow's dismay. He just wanted to gather information and rest until they restarted the servers, which he was sure they would.

"Perfect," Thomas exclaimed. The rest of you can figure out how to kill them once we have spears.

Crow sighed but did as asked, but he was keeping a respectful distance from them.

The slime had gone right back to grazing or whatever they did. They also stayed together as a group. Crow found higher ground among the trees from which he could observe them without them noticing. Could they see? He doubted it. They were just... green. And sludgy.

He made little progress in figuring them out until he saw one of the smaller ones stretch out. There was a thicker spot beneath all the slime, which didn't expand or contract. That was probably the part that fired the poison as well.

Crow had to hand it to Thomas, he was industrious like few others. He had already hacked off a long stick and was sharpening it with one of Mel's rocks. Crow settled down on a rock to rest and kept a wary eye on the terrain in case something was drawn to the noise. All he saw was a small lizard with an extra pair of legs at the front which ended in long pincers.

"This is it," Thomas cried. He came walking up to Crow. The spear he held in his hand was nearly as tall as he was, and fairly straight as well.

"How are you going to avoid the poison then?" Crow said.

"That's what you are going to figure out."

Crow got up to his feet with a grin. He had been feeling awkward and self-aware of his large frame, but Thomas hadn't even seemed to notice it.

"Alright then. Throw some more sticks at one of them so I can see what it does."

Thomas did, and Crow - who knew what to look for now - saw the main part of it turn around before it spat its poison at him.

Crow told the others of his findings, and of his plan. "All we need to do is distract it long enough for someone to sneak up from behind and stab the middle part. Easy enough." That said, Crow didn't want to do the distracting part. "Be careful, just see what happened to poor Loran."

"Hey, I'm still here! Don't make it sound like I'm dead." Loran came limping, still with his trouser-leg hiked to his knee. "I want the bastard who spat at me."

The group laughed at that, and soon they spread out and tried to lure the one Loran wanted. It was easier than expected, and Loran leaped forward and stabbed down with the spear into the slime. It struck true, and the thing shuddered slightly as it died.

"Hey, I leveled," Loran shouted.

"How do you know?" Mel asked.

"I heard something, like a chime."

"My turn," Thomas said. "I want the big one."

It proved to be surprisingly easy once they had them figured out, mostly because their movement pattern was simple to predict. Loran and Thomas took the remaining two once each of them had killed one.

"No loot?" Loran asked.

"Feel free to search," Crow responded. It would probably be worthless even if there was any.

"But what do we do now? Did we get stronger?" George said.

"You mean you haven't figured out yet?" Loran looked like he would have pranced if he wasn't holding one leg up. "I noticed something when I was injured. Got a sense of it. You don't have to say a command word, just get a feel for it and bring it up."

"Get a feel for it?" Crow asked skeptically. There was always a command word, and they stayed similar across different games.

"Just focus inward and bring it up," George said.

Crow stared at him. What was he--

"I got it!" Thomas said. "Which one does what?" His eyes were unfocused.

Crow had never heard of anything like it, but he tried anyway. How did one focus inwards? He kept trying though, and just when he was about to give up, he sensed something. A strange feeling, but somehow he knew what it was and how to bring it into his view.

There were six columns next to each other against a black background, but no letters or numbers were visible. He focused on the one to the far right and immediately started to get a better feel for it. Had Kalon developed a new system for access? He was sure they would have boasted about it if that was the case, but it did explain their problems.

The one to the far left was strength, or was it toughness? Both, Crow realized. A must have then. He had nine points in it he knew. Beginner stats? He hadn't selected any. He moved on to the next with a sinking feeling. Agility three, constitution four. They must be based on his real body then. But how could the determine something like that? He didn't recall giving them access to his medical charts or anything of the sort.

Abruptly he remembered that he had a point to spend. How did you-- he knew before he could finish the sentence in his head and smiled despite the strangeness of the situation. There was some fun in improving his own body instead of an avatar. Although, he would still be far behind the frontrunners. The obvious one was constitution. He got winded far too easily. His health points should - traditionally - improve as well then, but it was a boring option compared to intelligence. He had thirteen points there - his best trait - but what would happen? No machine could make his brain smarter after all. At least not yet. But the sense he got from it shouldn't be possible either. Better memory? Faster learning? Now he was so curious that he had to pick it, but he looked at the others first. Spirit and will. Twelve and eight. Crow was curious about them as well, but there was an excited buzz around him as the others discussed their picks, which made it hard for him to focus.

A sonorous bell sounded when he chose intelligence, and a piece got added to the top of the column. Crow frowned. It looked different somehow. Was it because the others were base stats?

Someone clapped his shoulder. "Look at this, Crow!" Thomas said.

He let go of the stats window and turned to look.

Thomas grimaced. "Well, you can't see, but I found it at the bottom of the agility tree. It's a sprint skill!"

Crow stared at him. He hadn't seen a skill. He should have looked more carefully.

"I have to try it where there is more room. Feels like I would run straight into a tree otherwise," Thomas said. "What did you pick?"

"Intelligence," Crow replied.

"Do you feel different?" Mel asked.

Crow wiped sweat from his brow and concentrated. No, he didn't, did he? He shook his head slowly. It was unlikely that he would notice one point of fourteen anyways, but what would happen if he maxed it? More mana? He wasn't even sure if he had mana points.

"What did you pick, Mel?" he asked.

"Brawn," she said. "Makes you tougher, doesn't it? And stronger."

"We should find more to level up with," George said.

The others looked to Crow. They had begun to notice that he was the most experienced at this.

Crow, in turn, looked up at the sun. He still hadn't gotten a chance to measure its progress, but he was sure where it was moving now, and it looked like it was way past midday. He nodded. "Leveling up and water are the most important things, so let's stick close to the river."

They wandered back to the river, and soon Crow began to regret his choice. It would surely have made a greater impact on his measly four points in constitution than one point on his thirteen intelligence.

"I forgot the spear," Loran said suddenly. "I'll be right back." He was running by the time Crow could even think of a reply.

How long had they been away by now? An hour? The excitement had made it harder to estimate the flow of time. He had said it was more important to level, but that was provided they could get five to six levels fairly quickly. If they got suitable skills as well, then catching food should be a lot easier. Not that it was likely to last that long before the servers restarted, but the experience would be valuable.

He was still thinking when he heard yelling. It was Loran, who was running toward them with a white-knuckled grip on the spear.

"There was a stranger there," he said while panting hard, "but he just vanished in thin air!"