Chapter 6: Infinite Slime

The next morning, Yuzuma woke up to the barking of Mamezo from the garden.

"What's going on...?"

He stirred in bed and got up, then opened the curtains. The light streaming into the room pierced his sleepy eyes.

"Ugh, yeah! It's so noisy."

From Yuzuma's room on the second floor, he could see the backyard where Mamezo was. Opening the window and looking down, he saw Mamezo barking at something.

Yuzuma reluctantly went down the stairs to the first floor and headed to the living room that led to the backyard.

"Hey, Yuzuma, Mamezo is being so noisy. Is something wrong?"

His mother, who was making breakfast in the kitchen, asked with a puzzled look.

"I'll go check it out."

He put on his sandals on the veranda and went to the hole he had sealed with cardboard yesterday. As expected, Mamezo was barking at the hole.

"Sure enough, it's you again..."

He moved the stone he had used as a weight and peeled off the cardboard. Looking into the hole, he saw something moving. Yuzuma returned to the house for a moment, grabbed a flashlight, and went back to the hole.

Shining the light into the darkness, he saw the thing he had seen so many times yesterday.

"There you are again. Metal Slime!"

He had heard that dungeon monsters could somehow come back to life, but he didn't know if this applied to such a small dungeon with only one monster. Having a monster in the garden all the time was annoying, but if it kept coming back every day, there was no point in defeating it.

Yuzuma thought it was troublesome but then realized something.

"Wait a minute! If I defeat it once a day, maybe it will eventually drop a 'Magic Gem.' This rare monster's 'Magic Gem' might be worth a hundred million yen."

He had heard that the drop rate for magic gems was around 1%. If that was the case, he could get one 'Magic Gem' after 100 days of defeating the monster every day.

Yuzuma returned to the house, slightly excited.

"How was it? Is Mamezo okay?" His mother asked worriedly, but Yuzuma replied, "Ah, it's fine. Don't worry about it," and went to his room.

He pulled out the gas burner and cooling spray he had used yesterday from the closet and headed to the garden with high spirits.

Ignoring Mamezo's barking, he stuck his hand into the hole.

After spraying the cooling spray, the metal slime wriggled and tried to jump away, but its movements gradually slowed down.

Its body turned white and froze, stopping all movement. "Good job," Yuzuma nodded and then aimed the gas burner's nozzle at the slime, pulling the ignition trigger.

Blue flames spewed out, scorching the metal slime's body. The body turned red, and the thawed slime started moving again.

When Yuzuma repeated the cooling and heating process, cracks appeared on the surface of the metal slime's body.

"Ah! I forgot the hammer..."

Looking around, he found a slightly larger stone.

He picked up the stone and smashed it into the metal slime. Instantly, the slime's body shattered into pieces.

"Got it!"

The metal fragments turned into black sand and eventually disappeared.

Thinking it was the same as yesterday, Yuzuma used the flashlight to shine around the area.

"Hmm, it's not here..."

The 'Magic Gem' he wanted was nowhere to be found. Realizing it wouldn't be that easy, Yuzuma crawled out of the hole.

"Mamezo, I took care of the monster for now. It might come back tomorrow, though..."

He petted Mamezo's head, who barked, "Kuun," and returned to the house.

Maybe my luck is turning around? If I defeat the metal slime once a day, I might make a fortune.

Seeing Yuzuma's smug smile, his mother looked puzzled.