Free Web NovelChapter 66: Step 66 to Greatness: Size Doesn’t Matter In Everything
"Male?" she asked, looking a bit confused. "I am sorry if I upset you by using meat without asking for your permission first—"
"Not at all! If anything, I should thank you," Adrian said, shaking his head. "At least now they’d get smoked properly."
Rixxa smiled at being praised. She had seen how the meat was smoked, and she liked how it tasted as well. Thanks to her interest, she actually managed to do something right for the tribe.
After all, she couldn’t exactly go to forage in the orchard anymore, and unlike Mika, she couldn’t fight well. So, like Nixa and Amiya, she could only help around the settlement to be useful.
"I will continue helping however I can, Male. If there is anything else that needs doing, please tell me."
Adrian nodded and stepped out of the smokehouse. He had a few tasks for the day. Dig a pit for their primitive washroom, set up the fish traps, empty the inventory, and open the chest.
"Let’s start with emptying the inventory."
By emptying, Adrian didn’t mean dumping everything outside like he did with the boar meat yesterday. Instead, he looked for Sera and gave her everything that could be sold.
Torn pages, skill books, wolf meat jerky, basically everything the tribe did not need. As for the price, he would let her decide.
Next, he sent Hannah a text asking what she needed to make more teleportation crystals and storage crystals. He even asked her to make some light crystals, as it got really dark in the settlement at night.
"Hm... It would be better if I just told her to get the items from the marketplace with Sera’s help," he mumbled. "Yes, that would be better and would give me enough time to get other things done."
Till now, Adrian had been doing most of the labor himself. It wasn’t that the women didn’t want to assist him, but more like he never bothered asking them until it was necessary.
It was a move to make them view him as a dependable guy, but now that they were working like a family, it was time for people to pull their weight themselves.
So, he did what he excelled at.
Instead of digging the shit pit himself, he made a couple of shovels and handed them to Nixa and Amiya. Since the two weren’t working in the quarry, they would dig a small, deep hole behind the quarry.
With that taken care of, Adrian took out the two rare recruitment cards. One would summon a giant slime protector, and the other could summon anything, literally.
"Let’s go with the slime card first."
He used the card. The familiar glow blinded him... and that was it.
Adrian looked around for the ’giant slime’, but couldn’t see it anywhere. That’s when he heard a squeaky voice from below.
"Tsk, a human summoner again? Also, where are your manners, kid? You can’t even greet an elder?"
Adrian looked down and frowned in confusion.
A little creature, no taller than a toddler, stood under his shadow. It had a round, shiny green body that didn’t look too different from the green slimes he had captured yesterday.
However, unlike those slimes, the one before him was indeed bigger and was even dressed. It wore a plain white shirt and loose brown overalls that were covered in dirt and grass stains.
The creature also had a thick leather belt circling its middle, holding small pouches filled with god knows what. On its back was an empty basket, and in his hand was a pitchfork that looked more like a table fork.
For all intents and purposes, the darn thing looked like a farmer’s mascot, not a creature capable of protecting the settlement.
Adrian grabbed the slime by the back of its collar to get a better look at it. freёwebnoѵel.com
"Um... what are you?" he asked, dangling the guy. "I was expecting a giant, not this..."
Instead of responding, the little green slime’s big black eyes narrowed, glaring at Adrian as its green body turned red instantly. ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm
"Put me down this instant, you disrespectful whelp!" the slime yelled, jabbing its pitchfork right towards Adrian’s eye.
"Whoa—!"
Adrian jerked his head back just in time to dodge the attack, then let go of the rowdy creature. The slime landed lightly on its feet, making a sound as it jumped into a puddle. Still clutching its pitchfork, it walked ahead and kicked Adrian’s leg once.
"Hmph! That’s what you get for grabbing an elder by the collar!" The slime raged in its squeaky voice. "I may be small now, but back in my prime, I was a guardian of the Verdant Depths! I’ve slain beasts ten times your size and protected entire groves from invaders. How dare you disrespect me!?"
Adrian rolled his eyes and smacked his forehead.
Was one chatterbox not enough that I got another one? Wait a minute, did it say it used to be a guardian before? What about now!?
Unable to stop himself, Adrian asked the guy about it. Instead of being offended, the little slime just puffed out its round belly with pride.
"That is correct, youngster! I’m a retired guardian," the slime announced and jabbed the pitchfork into the ground and leaned on it like an old man with a cane.
"Great... just great," he sighed, rubbing his face with both hands.
This was not what he needed right now. He had used a rare recruitment card, expecting a powerful guardian slime. Something big and strong that could protect the whole settlement from threats, alongside Freki and the sentinel tower.
Instead, he got this tiny, old wannabe farmer slime who barely reached his knee. Sure, it was a giant among the slimes, but what the hell was its size!? How will it do anything when enemies invade?
To make things worse, he couldn’t even view the creature’s stats. The moment he tried, he got an error notification.
[The creature you tried viewing stats of is a much stronger being than your comprehension.]
[You cannot view their stats with your current standing.]
"..."
Adrian looked at the slime and then back at the notification.
A being beyond his comprehension?
Just seconds ago, he had lifted the darn thing like a twig. How strong could it possibly be!?
"Doesn’t matter. Now that I have summoned it, I might as well use it."
With that thought, he looked down, wanting to ask about the creature’s stats and stuff so he could use it. Instead, he saw empty ground. The slime was gone!
"What the...?" Adrian said, surprised.
"Ugh... you... stupid... thing!"
A moment later, he heard a squeaky grunt from the direction of the farmland and rushed there. He noticed the creature had its small hands wrapped around a tiny potato shoot with one green bud, and it was pulling on it.
"Hey! Stop that!" Adrian shouted, trying to stop the darn thing from ruining his precious potato plants.
Unfortunately... he was too late.
Right in front of his eyes, the slime monster yanked the budding plant free from the soil. Adrian expected to see a ruined potato eye attached to the shoot.
Instead, the creature lifted up a full-grown potato plant with half a dozen ripe potatoes attached to it!
