Inside the white gate, as Alex stepped in, he was greeted by a light so bright it almost blinded him. The brilliance was overwhelming, flooding every corner of his vision with a stark, pure radiance that seemed to shimmer and dance in the air.
Alex raised his right hand above his eyebrows to reduce the blinding light, squinting as he struggled to make out shapes and shadows. It was noon inside the gate, and the contrast was so severe—he had just stepped from the outside world, where the night sky was deep, and now he found himself thrust into a world of midday sun. The sudden change left his senses reeling, and his irises took time to adjust, narrowing as his pupils shrank to pinpoints. For a moment, Alex could only see the afterimage burned into his sight, a ghostly white that made it difficult to judge distance or depth, and he was forced to wait, blinking rapidly, until the world began to resolve itself around him.
Finally, when Alex was able to see the surroundings, he was welcomed with an open green grassland, a wide grassland where he saw no one, no matter how far he looked.
The grass reached up to his knees and swayed gently in the small wind. Although Alex saw no one nearby, he noticed a path where the grass was trampled and lay flat, suggesting someone had stepped on it forcefully to mark a return route.
Alex knew this was done by Princess Eva. He called his sword from his dimensional space; it was a short sword, an enchanted rank weapon, having a sturdy build and a sharp edge.
Weapons were ranked by how strong and well-made they were. From weakest to strongest, the rankings are mortal, enchanted, rare, divine, mythic, and immortal.
Alex held his sword strongly in both hands. This was his first time in the gate, and as far as he knew about the gate, he knew they were dangerous, extremely dangerous for a newbie.
He advanced cautiously along the path Princess Eva had made, taking slow steps and scanning left and right, prepared for any ambush or attack.
But as he continued, there were no attacks on him. Instead, Alex saw slimes already cut in half, littering the path ahead. He approached a sliced slime and touched it, feeling its rough, sticky texture. There was a stone cut in half inside the slime's halved body. It was a soul stone inside the slime that needed to be cut to kill it.
Alex opened his status window to see the stats of dead slime.
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[STATUS WINDOW]
Monster Name: Slime
Level: 3
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Alex had previously learned that slimes are the weakest monsters and confirmed it was indeed true by seeing the slime's level on the status window, but there are strong slimes as well, and he was taught by his father to never let his guard down against any monster, whether they are perceived as weak or not.
Alex stood up after examining the slime. It was dead. He followed the path faster this time. The sunlight rays were strong, making him sweat.
On his path, he saw many slimes being cut; most slimes were blue, and some were of varied colors, probably due to mutation.
Alex feared Princess Eva must have already gotten tired and had exhausted much of her energy. He slowed his pace, feeling his breath grow ragged and his muscles begin to tire. A fleeting moment of doubt flashed through his mind, but he dismissed these doubts. Not wanting to be any later, he suddenly broke into a run, his hair swaying left and right as his azure eyes scanned the surroundings for any attack. With each leap over the dead slimes, he could feel the strain in his legs, making every jump an exertion. He jumped over their bodies, no longer pausing to look at them.
After running for 15 straight minutes, he was covered in sweat; his white shirt and pants were soaked. He had already removed his suit's coat and thrown it away. He loosened his shirt buttons for air and rolled his sleeves upward.
The necklace around his neck swayed as he ran. This necklace was adorned with a crimson diamond, given by Emperor James Evernight on his first week of the naming ceremony.
The necklace was relaxing Alex; otherwise, he would have already been exhausted, since he had been inside the gate for 30 minutes. Alex was still level 1; his stamina was still of a mortal rank.
Levels went from lowest to highest as mortal, novice, apprentice, expert, master, grandmaster, sage, and paragon.
On his way, he was met by some slimes. He used his sword training to cut them down, but still, he didn't have to deal with the number of slimes that Princess Eva had to deal with. He only dealt with a few, as many of the slimes were already dead and covering the path left and right.
After running and jumping over a cascade of slime monsters and killing the slimes that he encountered, he finally saw Princess Eva, who was fighting against the slimes. She was surrounded by slime on all sides. He shouted from the depths of his lungs to Princess Eva, "Princess Eva, I am coming for you."
Princess Eva, who was fighting slimes, was suddenly shocked to hear a voice and, upon turning back, saw Alex running towards her with all his might. She wanted to say,'Why are you here? ' but before she could say anything, a black slime suddenly attacked her from behind, giving a deep cut on her back.
Princess Eva fell down from the cut. She was exhausted and hadn't been allowed to drink potions due to non-stop slimes coming after her.
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