The announcements went fine, the village was ecstatic at Alaric's return. Especially so, when they heard he unlocked a Combat-type talent. Most Combat-type talents started out weak, but as one became stronger and increase the amount of mana they had, they would be a force to be reckoned with.
People were full of hope, they wanted Alaric to join the hunting team and bring the village plentiful rewards.
"Mother, Father, I will be staying in the forest these next few days. Don't worry, with my talent and the training I received from the hunters as a child, I will be safe."
Alaric had already brought this up with the village chief, saying that the forest was necessary to develop his talent. This time, Alaric wasn't spouting lies, there are hundreds of slimes within.
Some pots rattled in the background "Are you sure?! Maybe request for Wurst to come with you?!"
This was Alaric's mother, Pamela. She babied Alaric from a young age, buying him whatever he asked for. Of course, all he had ever wanted was books.
"Wurst has to lead the hunting team, his ability is important to them, you don't need to worry about me, Mother."
The door to the bedroom opened, "Just let the boy go. We raised him to be strong. Come back soon, Alaric."
"Yes, Father."
Alaric's Father, Gunnar, wasn't great with talking, and really only let out his emotions on small occasions. He was a spearman on the hunting team, so their family had one of the bigger houses in the village.
After picking up his small, leather drawstring bag, Alaric left his house. The forest was only about 1 kilometer north of it, and there was a road leading all the way there. It would be a safe, small journey.
Alaric left his parent's house, "It's windy today."
"Sure is, Alaric!"
An unknown voice sounded, but Alaric recognized it. A happy man, despite the many deaths he had witnessed, Wurst.
"Hey Wurst, I'm just about to go to the Neuling Forest and develop my talent."
Wurst paused, "Don't underestimate that forest, Alaric."
"I won't. At most, I'll encounter slimes! I won't go too deep."
After all, all he needed were slimes.
"That's good then... be careful. I have to talk to your dad about something, see you next time!" Wurst said. Alaric always wondered why, but Wurst came off as a bit mysterious. He had a powerful combat-type talent, despite being a normal villager.
Wurst was even well known in the 5 surrounding villages as "Blade Storm Wurst," a moniker commenting on his ability to send out sharp blades of wind, using his blade as a catalyst.
'Better not to think about it,' Alaric thought. His main focus now was to get to that forest and begin experimenting.
...
Not even 20 minutes later, Alaric arrived. The road only led directly up to the forest, after that, it was beast territory.
"Before I leave this forest in a week, I need to become a Rank-1 Wielder!"
Talent wielders can be divided into different ranks. Each rank is stronger than the last. Although the talent itself matters more, a wielder's rank has a direct correlation with their mana count. More mana means their ability can be used more often or at stronger levels.
With that said, Alaric immediately walked into the forest thinking, 'The hunting team regularly goes to the east of the forest to clear out the slime colony.'
Alaric unsheathed the sword he brought with him, one from his Father's collection. Although he was a spearman, Gunnar often taught Alaric how to wield a sword.
Thanks to a set of markings the hunting team left on a tree, Alaric knew exactly which direction to head in.
Tripping on a vine, and swatting bugs away, it was a relatively uneventful walk. But soon, he arrived.
"So close?" Just beyond the bushes in front of Alaric, was a grove full of slimes. Their eyes seemed human, floating around their blue, transparent bodies as if they had a will of their own. Within each slime was a fist-sized, spherical crystal. This was their everything. One crushing blow to that core, and a slime died, which is why they are considered the weakest.
Even a child waving around a stone sword may be able to slay a slime.
'Slimes have very obvious attack patterns, and may actually be dangerous to an individual in numbers. They will crawl up your skin and slowly devour you with their naturally acidic bodies.'
This was no problem with Alaric, he was physically fit, and after awakening, he had received a boost in even that. Running from some slimes in the case of an emergency was no issue.
Thus, he advanced, sending his mana toward his throat and shouting, "Heed my command!"
When it came to "authority" lord-type talents, you expelled mana through your voice to activate them.
Instantly, the two eyeballs within every one of the slimes turned towards Alaric, as if waiting.
"Oh... what do I say next? I didn't plan this far." Alaric chuckled.
For 18 years, he had waited exactly for this moment. He could finally use an ability! The slimes were still as if Alaric's command had paused their very being.
Alaric, using his ability, said, "Move left!"
About 30 slimes in total, their oddly-formed bodies, all began moving left at once.
'But... some are moving right. Maybe it is because they're simple, and couldn't think to move to my left, but went in the direction of their left instead?' Alaric contemplated.
"Move in the direction of my left!"
This time, every single slime... seemed confused? As if, the command given to them were too complex, beyond their ability.
'It makes sense, without my ability, they wouldn't even understand human language in the first place.'
"Come here," he commanded.
The slimes began to slowly inch toward Alaric's direction. Their sticky, heavy bodies are especially hard to move.
'If they can only heed simple commands, this will be... an issue.' Alaric thought. After all, slimes cannot evolve. They're weak, simple, and slow.
After nearly 2 minutes, all of the slimes were nearby Alaric, yet they continued proceeding.
"Stop!" Alaric said.
They stopped. These slimes seemingly interpreted "here" as "my exact location," and continued going until ordered to stop.
"It'll be... a long day."
Our dog is named Pamela... so yeah.