The manor can be seen from any point in town since it’s at the center. I’m surprised that there isn’t a noble running this town… wait why isn’t there? I’ll ask Goldwill when I get back. 

||FORM SHIFT||

“Goldwill!”

I heard the clunking of metal rapidly approach me. 

The door swung open hitting the wall again.

“Erk- my wall…”

“You called sir!”

“Ah, yeah I have a question.”

“Ask away.”

“Is there a noble that runs this town or something? I haven’t seen one yet…”

He looked at me.

“What?”

He only continued to look at me.

…

“Percide. You’re the noble of the town.”

“Huh-“

“I’m the noble?”

“Yes.”

“Really?”

He just looked at me with a straight face.

“Yes.”

“Alright… thank you for clarifying…”

“Anytime sir.”

“Ah- by the way, what are the knights doing today?”

“They are at the barracks training.”

“When was their last day off?”

“Hmm… around three years ago? Probably…”

“Three years?!”

“Yes, you never let them take days off under the pretext of them getting significantly worse.”

I facepalmed again.

What the hell was wrong with this Percide guy?

“Tell the knights they are allowed a day off each week, also remind them not to push themselves too hard. If they fall, the town falls.”

“Of course sir!”

Goldwill looked overjoyed.

“Now if you’ll excuse me for a bit.”

I went to the library.

||FORM SHIFT||

I hadn’t been here in a few days. Nor have I checked my status window.

“Stratum.”

My bright blue window showed up after a few days of being idle.

————————————

Name: Cynical

Species: Regulus Slime

Level: 32

Rank: F

EXP: 62/29,412

————————————

[Titles]

‘World Ender’

‘Monster in Human Clothing’

‘Otherworlder’

‘Magician’s Crusade’

‘Darkest Monster’

————————————

[Stat Points]

Strength: 249

Speed: 240

Perception: 248

Health: 250,000

Mana: 192

Intelligence: 112

Wisdom: 81

Luck: 44

Remaining Points: 13

————————————

[Skills]

||Passive:||

-Quick Learner, MAXED;

-Sentient Mind, MAXED;

-Chantless, MAXED;

-Language Master, Lvl 16;

||Active:||

-Absorption, Lvl 21;

-Form Shift, Lvl 21;

-Spell Creation, Lvl 9;

-Storage, Lvl 1;

-Sword Bolt, Lvl 6;

-Fireball, Lvl 8;

-Stealth, Lvl 6;

-Mana Control, Lvl 5;

-Heaven’s Barrier, Lvl 0;

-Water Shot, Lvl 1;

-Shadow World, Lvl 1;

-Mind’s Eye, Lvl 7;

-Body Split, Lvl 9;

-Expansion, Lvl 9;

-Vocalize, Lvl 1;

-Chainsaw, Lvl 6;

-Variant Break (1/1);

————————————

“Looking pretty good overall…”

“I’m still F-Rank though…”

Well I guess that’s to be expected. I haven't done any quests-

Wait, what's the expiration date for me to do a quest…?

Shit.

I ran to the guild as fast as possible. I then went over to the reception desk.

“Miss, how much time do I have to do a quest?”

“Huh? Um… what’s your rank?”

“F-Rank.”

“Hmm… then every five days.”

I- I’m fucked.

It’s already the fifth day-

“What’s the highest-ranked quest I can take?”

“Well, usually you can take a quest that's one rank above yours…”

“Can I take an A-Rank quest?”

“Huh- b-but you're an F-Rank…”

“Can I or no?”

“W-well… Um, let me speak with the Guild Master first.”

She went through a door behind her. She returned a few minutes later.

⊰───────•✦•───────⊱⊰───────•✦•───────⊱⊰───────•✦•───────⊱

“Sorry for the wait…”

“No problem, so what did he say?”

“That it’s reckless for an F-Rank to try and take on an A-Rank-“

BOOM

I slammed my fist down on the counter annihilating it.

“E-eek!”

Eek?

Who says eek…

“Trust me. I could handle an S-Rank if I wanted to.”

I glared at her as my eyes began to glow red.

“A-alright-”

“Thank you~”

“Then…”

I looked at the board and swiftly grabbed a sheet.

“I’ll take the quest to slay the Ancient Dragon.”

“Oh, I almost forgot, here. To fix your counter.”

I flipped a slime gold coin to her.

“A-a gold…”

“Hey-“

“Huh… he’s gone.”

“He didn’t even take an A-Rank quest… he took an SS-Rank one…”

So the Ancient Dragon is in the mountains north of this town right?

Well, first I have to do some prep.

||SPELL CREATION||

The cyan mana gears appeared in front of me and I started shifting them around to make a recall type spell. More specifically teleportation to anywhere I have been before. Though it only counts for my current life…

“Okay let’s try teleporting behind me.”

I held my right arm out.

“Teleport!”

The circles expanded and my body was transported to roughly ten feet behind where I was.

Success! 

“Wait but how much mana did that take-”

“Stratum.”

||~Mana 187/192~||

It only uses five mana? Isn’t that great?!

I guess I’m all set for prep now… time to fight that dragon. I got ready to jump, readying my stance to pour all of my strength into my legs.

“Now… let's… GO!”

I jumped with full force and went flying toward the Northern mountains.

To estimate how far I flew…

Well, the mountains are about a six-day trip from town while walking… and I’m about to arrive in a little over ten minutes.

So we’ll go with… ah shit I have to do math? Uhh- well it’s six days… so uh… which was multiplied by…? Ahhh- my brain hurts from this shit man. It’s a shit ton okay? Though I can’t stay in the air that long so I had to make a few jumps-

BOOM

I hit the side of the mountain leaving a large crater. My body left an imprint on the mountain as I stood up. I was a little wobbly from the impact.

“Maybe I should work on that…”

“Huh-“

“Isn’t that the dragon I need?”

The dragon was all black with this light purple pattern going down its stomach. It had these sharp dagger-like spikes on its back, and it had white eyes. Above its eyes were these demonic-looking horns, it had large spread crystal-like wings and a tail that split into three. Its claws were jet black and were sharp as hell.

So that’s an Ancient Dragon…

Dragons use fire right~? If so… why don’t I give him a little taste of mine.

||FIREBALL; MODIFICATION, PURPLE FLAMES OF HELL||

“Let’s build it up as much as I can!”

How about infusing one hundred mana?

I poured the mana in making the fireball’s size begin to rapidly expand.

“Now let’s up the velocity a shit ton!”

I upped the fireball’s acceleration to fifty. For reference, I was using a velocity of roughly five previously.

I caught the dragon’s attention almost immediately.

“ROAAAAAR!”

I placed my left hand on my face with my right hand raised in the air holding the fireball. I finished pouring my mana in.

“Taste true power!”

I threw my right hand to the ground.

The fireball disappeared instantly from my hand.

CRACK

RUMBLE

The entire mountain began shattering, rumbling from the fireball’s immense power and speed. The dragon looked around confused as it took a step back. Purple lights emerged from all around the mountain. I quickly formed a ball of slime and threw it up as hard as I could.

“Your time is over.”

“Become fodder for my desires~”

||MIND’S EYE||

||EXPANSION||

The mountain erupted obliterating everything inside its field. I fell down into a large cloud of smoke, the ground cracking beneath my feet. After a few minutes the smoke cleared…

Cough Cough

“Hahaha! How easy-”

“Wait…”

“Where’s the dragon’s corpse?”

“Huh-“

I blew it up…

“Well, I can still teleport home~”

||TELEPORT||

||NOTICE: Spell [Teleport] was canceled. Not enough mana!||

“Not enough mana…”

||~Mana: 87/192~||

“No way…”

“ITS DISTANCE BASED?!”

I then walked back to the guild empty-handed.

Well I didn’t actually walk… but you get my point.

⊰───────•✦•───────⊱⊰───────•✦•───────⊱⊰───────•✦•───────⊱

“This fucking sucks man…”

“Hey! Mister F-Rank!”

“Huh?”

“Where’s that ancient dragon, or could you not do it?” 

The guild receptionist had a smug look on her face.

“I accidentally blew up the mountain with it.”

“Now the corpse is gone…”

I put my head down on the bar’s counter.

“How am I supposed to believe that? You're an F-Rank, and it hasn’t even been a day yet.”

“Just walk outside, you can see the mountain from here.”

I pointed toward the front door.

She walked outside.

“This kid’s way out of his league, an F-Rank can’t kill an Ancient Dragon let alone blow up the entire mountain-“

She looked toward the mountain. It went from having a sturdy peak to looking like a horizontal crescent moon. The entire upper half of the mountain was completely missing.

“Wha-wha-WHAT?!”

She ran back inside.

“What happened to the mountain?!”

“I told you, and the dragon corpse went with it…”

I had a light layer of tears in my eyes.

“Wha- how? How did you do it!”

I sat back up..

“I used [Fireball].” I said with a straight face.

“Huh- I’m getting the Guild Master!”

She stormed into the back again. I rested my head on my arms as I sulked at the bar counter. I had never drunk before, but I felt like I wanted to now.

“Uuuugh… I’m not going to be an adventurer anymore.”

“Ta-da~!”

I turned to my left.

“Hey Esther…”

“Hmm? What’s up? You look… depressed?” She said with a slight tilt of her head.

“I took on a quest to kill an Ancient Dragon and accidentally obliterated the mountain and its corpse… and I’m pretty much out of time before I’m no longer an adventurer.”

“You hunted an Ancient Dragon and blew up a mountain… Excuse me?”

I pointed toward the door.

She looked outside.

“Which spell?”

“[Fireball].”

“Really?”

She looked back quickly, she was relatively shocked.

“Yeah I modified it by using one hundred mana instead of two, then I accelerated it about ten times faster.”

“Ah- you can apply more mana to spells?”

“Huh? Yeah, I guess…”

She facepalmed.

“It’s fine I can just vouch for you plus the remnants of what you did clearly exist.”

“Thanks.”

I heard the door open again.

“T-the Guild Master wants to see you.”

I looked at Esther.

“Alright…”

The guild receptionist guided me to the Guild Master’s office. She showed me in and then shut the door behind me.

“You must be Cynical.”

“Uh… yeah?”

“It’s an honor to meet you, thank you for subjugating that Ancient Dragon.”

I looked at the Guild Master he had on black pants, a pure white shirt, a navy blue vest, and black boots. His hair was a similar brown to mine and was slicked back, his eyes were a deep gray. He also had what looked like a toothpick in his mouth, and he seemed to be more on the bulky side considering I could see his muscles practically through his shirt.

“You’re… welcome?”

“… but how did you know I did without seeing the corpse?”

“I can tell just by looking at the mountain.”

Of course, I could tell! Not even an Ancient Dragon could survive a blast that powerful! The whole damn mountain is practically gone… I mustn’t piss this adventurer off. No matter what!

“You're an F-Rank, correct?”

“Yeah…”

“Well now you’re an A-Rank. I can’t do any higher since going from F-Rank to A-Rank is already overly suspicious… sorry.”

“Huh- uh- no problem, that's already such a large jump.”

“So what did you use on that mountain again?”

“Oh- I used [Fireball].”

“Huh-“

“You only used [Fireball]?”

“Well… mine is a little special haha.”

“A-again thank you for removing that dragon.”

“No problem-”

The Guild Master then excused me and I left the room.

T-that man is insanely dangerous! He only used [Fireball]? [Fireball]?!

⊰───────•✦•───────⊱⊰───────•✦•───────⊱⊰───────•✦•───────⊱

“Haaaahhh…”

“So how’d it go?”

“Well, I’m now an A-Rank which is good.”

“Th-that’s an unheard of jump…”

“Yeah.”

I scratched the back of my head.

“Oh, right I have to do your other request!”

“Hmm…?”

“Y’know, making some custom spells~”