Danmaku, my skills refresh weekly.

The White Palace is primarily populated by undead monsters, making it one of the most resource-poor floors. Slimes don't taste good... that's a well-known fact among adventurers.

"If all else fails, the vegetation and moss around here can also provide sustenance," Alfia said, pointing to the area near the river.

"Just hold on for another four days, it won't matter."

Charles calculated the numbers in his mind: after three days of all-out monster killing, at least 1500 monsters had died at the hands of the [Dark Priest].

Don't underestimate this number; it means that Ciel can cast at least 500 spells a day. Belle, at level 3, only has enough mental energy to sustain about 60 uses of Flame Volt.

At this rate, Charles expects to be able to raise his magic power to the current maximum level in four days.

That's cheating!

Chapter 153 Food Chain and Slimes

After dinner—well, maybe it was dinner. In this underground city where the world has become diluted, it's hard to distinguish between day and night.

After resting for 30 minutes and fully recovering his mental energy, Xia Er prepared to set off again.

Before setting off, he went to Alpha's side and lifted his shirt to reveal his back:

"I'll update your stats again."

The sublime light brought by the [Divine Script] drew a circle on the back of the Alpha, revealing intricate square characters, with a group of Pegasus bathed in thunder at the center.

This is the effect after the upgrade of [Divine Script H]. Using sacred script and the blood of immortal essence, Sharl copied a framework of Alphia's grace and used Alpha's own blood to complete the second special "grace" after Lily.

Because it draws upon the miraculous power inherent in Alpha itself, the "divine blood" that served as the necessary medium disappeared.

Alpha lv1

Strength: I0 → I25

Durability: I0→I35

Dexterity: I0 → I78

Agility: I0 → I55

Magic: I0 → I97

magic:

Ball lightning

• Imbued with magic • Lightning attribute

• Envelop yourself in lightning to enhance your destructive power, defense, speed, and short-range flight ability.

• Chant: Roar!

Skills: [Overload] [Curse Resistance]

【Curse Orange Resistance】

• Activated when affected by mental pollution, greatly enhancing all abilities.

• Continuously restore physical and mental strength. (Permanent resident)

……

Charles nodded in satisfaction as he looked at the changing panel.

"He's growing well."

These past few days, Alpha has been following behind me, performing some support tasks, and has also earned some experience points.

The skill "Overload" played a significant role in this.

Yes, this is the same skill as the [Overload] skill that Sharl refreshed this week, or rather, it was sent from Sharl's side.

This brings us to the second developmental ability we acquire: Food Chain I.

At first, Sharl didn't know what the food chain was for, but when he used the [Divine Rune] to bestow blessings upon Alpha, the effect was unexpectedly triggered.

This ability originates from Rimuru, or more precisely, it is a branch of his "Gluttony King" ability.

Ciel recalled the abilities related to slimes.

In Rimuru's world, the "food chain" works as follows: with Rimuru at the top, all the abilities of lower-level monsters are concentrated in Rimuru, and his subordinates can also obtain some of Rimuru's abilities.

However, the initial level of [Food Chain I] is clearly not that powerful, at least not that Sharl has not yet discovered.

After several days of exploration, Xia Er only managed to impart one skill to Alpha, and Alpha was currently his only target as a subordinate.

The methods for retaining subordinates are also unclear.

Charles deduced that the hierarchy was likely established through "naming" or "favors."

Whether the original name can be overwritten, or whether there are any other restrictions, is currently unknown.

Charles speculated: 'As the food chain level increases, the maximum number and skill level of subordinates also increase. As for whether they will receive attribute feedback from their subordinates...? Alpha's improvement is too low for me to perceive right now, but I estimate it exists.'

This is also why Sharl leveled up Alpha and named the bear spirit.

In short, this ability has great potential for the future. It allows you to reserve some of the powerful skills you acquire for your subordinates and then share some of the results with them.

"I just don't know how to upgrade this ability..."

Charles patted Alpha on the back, temporarily putting these unknowns behind him. Right now, there was only one thing he could do:

"Ready? Let's continue upgrading."

"Oh~!"

……

Lightning flashed and black flames roared as time passed as Sharl continued to stack Q.

On the seventh day, Sharl used [Mind Stealing] to preserve [Dark Priest], thus extending the stacking time for two more days.

However, Xia Er forgot that after the skill refresh ended, without the highly efficient mana regeneration provided by [Heat], the speed at which Q was stacked was much slower.

The final number of monsters is 2950, ​​and it is estimated that it can break 3000 before the end.

Because his mental energy couldn't keep up, he also had extra free time, such as searching for ingredients.

The 37th floor is considered a deep level, and exploring it alone when one's mental state is completely depleted is too dangerous.

Every time Charles went out, he would take Alfia with him, leaving Alpha and Pochi to look after the house.

The two exited from the other side of the passage, their main target being the groups of slimes scattered throughout the various rooms.

Slimes also exist in the DanMachi world.

They have very low stats, but they only appear on the 37th floor, usually as trap monsters at room entrances or roof corners.

They suddenly fall from the ceiling, blocking the adventurer's mouth and nose, spewing out strong acids, and some even possess strong paralyzing toxins; in short, they are extremely troublesome.

In the original work, Ryu and Bell used slimes as a solution to satisfy their hunger on the 37th floor.

“Countless adventurers have tried this stuff, and it’s awful.” Alfia crossed her arms and stared at the wriggling sludge monsters in front of her with disgust.

"Of course you can't eat a slime directly." With a clean and swift slash, Ciel pierced the slime's internal organs, easily obtaining a soft, slimy creature.

“Even if you pierce the magic stone, each slime will drop slime; this is the labyrinth’s gift.” Sharl took out a clay pot he had recently made by hand from his backpack and filled it with slime gel.

"Did you know? It's said that slime is one of the most precious ingredients. You have to wash it with orange juice and hot water, then evaporate the water, sprinkle it with salt, and then dry it for several days to turn it into an extremely delicious dish."

Charles gestured with his fingers, narrating the story in a measured and deliberate manner.

Alfia was full of questions: "Who taught you all this?"

Charles froze, a bearded dwarf popping into his mind, chuckling, "A secret technique from my hometown..."

To be honest, the main reason Ciel was so interested in slimes, besides really wanting to experience the "Delicious in the Labyrinth" challenge, was because of their ability to develop through the "food chain."

When it comes to naming things, it's more realistic to give names to monsters than to humans who are born with names.

Imagine how powerful a slime with the "Blessing of the Gods" would be?

This gave Sharl a sense of anticipation, the thrill of capturing rare Pokémon.

"I have a mermaid at home, a pet named Bochi, and if I add a cute little king, I could probably go and compete in the World Championship."

Alfia didn't understand Charles's thoughts, but the rare moment of relaxation unconsciously made her slow down.

After Xia Er killed several yellow and red slimes and collected the edible blue and green parts, he looked up and suddenly saw a cute blue butt bouncing.

"what--"

"Oh, there's one missing here."

Charles licked his lips, took two steps forward, and saw with a whoosh, the blue butt seemed to be startled, jumped three meters high, and with a whoosh, spat out a stream of water, bounced on the wall, and quickly escaped.

"He's a skilled player, a true master! Don't run away!"

Chapter 154 I'm Not a Bad Slime!

The White Palace is a massive maze shaped like a multi-tiered cake, about the size of Orario. Even simply memorizing the route and pinpointing the location is incredibly difficult.

To avoid getting lost, Alfia and Shar usually don't stray too far from their base.

however……

"Why are you so obsessed with a slime?" Alfia asked, following behind Sharl with a puzzled look.

Ahead in the passage, a blue water sphere sprayed an unknown liquid and sped away rapidly.

Charles, who was right behind them, ran into trouble.

From the passages on both sides, several wandering skeleton sheep carrying bone spears floated over. To avoid wasting magic power, he relied on his superb skills to dodge the bone spears and used his spare dagger to stab into the skeleton sheep's eye sockets.

"Gospel!"

boom--

The sonic impact blew away the monsters blocking the way.

Ciel turned around in surprise: "Huh?"

Alfia looked away: "Weren't we supposed to catch that slime? Let's run!"