The trail leading westward followed the lower reaches of an ancient river, winding through dense forests where the boundaries of the Elf village gradually faded behind the mountain ridges.
The brilliant morning sunlight had now turned into the golden-egg-yolk hue of late afternoon, casting long, mottled shadows across the ground scattered with decaying leaves.
Hegemon carried a backpack filled with necessities on his shoulders. Although his steps were steady, they were beginning to grow heavy with fatigue. Walking continuously for more than twenty kilometers over rugged terrain was no joke for a mortal body. Beside him, Lily was still walking briskly. Her clear eyes scanned back and forth continuously to observe the exotic flora of this otherworldly realm; it seemed as though the mental energy within her was boundless.
"Hey, Hegemon, look! There's something squirming up ahead!" Lily abruptly stopped in her tracks, tugging lightly at the hem of his coat with one hand while pointing the other toward a clearing shaded by an ancient tree right next to the trail.
Hegemon narrowed his eyes alertly, his hand instinctively moving to the hilt of the dagger sheathed at his hip.
Ahead of them, about a dozen creatures shaped like translucent gelatinous blocks, in various colors ranging from grass green and ash gray to pale purple, were bouncing around on the ground. They had no fixed shape; their bodies constantly expanded and contracted as they moved, leaving trails of glittering slime on the dry grass.
"Are those Slimes?" Hegemon breathed a sigh of relief, but his alertness did not waver. In an otherworldly realm where even High Elves could appear, encountering these basic creatures was entirely within expectations.
"Precisely, a pack of wild Slimes!" Lily stepped forward, her eyes narrowing slightly as she activated her knowledge energy to analyze the entities in front of them. Her voice rang out evenly, like that of a young scholar: "Hegemon, don't worry too much. Let me break it down for you. In this world, Slimes are not natural creatures born from eggs or spores. Their true nature is a collection of **Mana leaked from deceased creatures**."
Hegemon was somewhat surprised, listening intently as he and Lily slowly approached to gauge a safe distance.
Lily continued her explanation: "When a warrior, a mage, or even a powerful magical beast dies, if their body is not properly buried or treated with magic, the residual mana within their cells will escape. Mana in this world is inherently a form of **abstract information** that shapes reality.
When this information loses the governing will of the deceased, it becomes chaotic, automatically attracting surrounding impurities and dust to form a semi-material protective membrane. That is the body of a Slime."
"So they are just masterless blocks of mana?" Hegemon asked, his gaze locked onto a green Slime crawling toward them.
"Exactly. Because their nature is masterless information, they are highly omnivorous. They engulf anything containing raw energy—from dead leaves and insects to small mineral stones—to maintain their structure. They don't actively hunt on a large scale and possess no intelligence, so in terms of danger level, they are practically harmless. However, if you let them cling to your body, they will secrete a mild acid to decompose your clothing and drain a bit of your life energy."
"Alright, if they are this small, it won't be a problem." Hegemon drew his dagger, a look of decisiveness flashing in his eyes. Having faced entities capable of fracturing space itself, a pack of mindless gelatinous blobs could not make him falter.
An ash-gray Slime detected the human presence, gathered momentum, and launched itself into the air, flying straight at Hegemon's face. With reflexes honed through fifteen terrifying cycles of fatal loops, Hegemon did not flinch. He precisely leaned to the side to evade it, while simultaneously swinging his dagger in a sharp, horizontal slash.
The blade sliced through the gelatinous block with ease. The Slime instantly burst into harmless droplets of water, splattering onto the ground.
"Great job! Let me back you up!" Lily cheered. Instead of just standing by, she raised her small hand and chanted a brief incantation. A gentle wave of mental shockwave blasted from her hand, striking the center of three Slimes gathered together. This shockwave directly shattered the loose informational structure inside them, causing them to instantly dissolve into puddles of slimy water.
The cooperation between a warrior with peak combat reflexes and a young sage unfolded in perfect harmony. In less than ten minutes, the entire pack of over a dozen Slimes was completely cleared away. On the ground now, besides the watery streaks slowly soaking into the soil, lay a few small crystalline shards glittering like morning dew.
Hegemon bent down to pick up a blue crystal shard, observing it with curiosity: "What is this, Lily?"
Lily walked over, gathered the remaining shards into a small pouch, and explained with a tone full of pride: "This is a Condensed Mana Core, also known as the material dropped from Slimes. As I mentioned, since Mana is abstract information, when the Slime's structure is broken by force, the most core and pure part of that leaked mana is compressed into this anti-matter form."
She took the crystal shard from Hegemon's hand and continued to lecture with her erudite knowledge: "If processed properly—meaning using an appropriate solvent to release and restructure the information strands inside this shard—we can create highly effective wound-healing potions or stamina-recovery medicines. In the default medicine of this world, using Mana to heal wounds is completely normal, because when your body is damaged, it actually means the 'flesh structure information' at that location is lost. Introducing pure Mana is like patching the missing information, forcing the body to regenerate itself according to the original blueprint."
Hegemon listened in silence, his mind expanding into a new layer of knowledge. He nodded, fully absorbing Lily's words. This world operated on abstract laws, yet it was incredibly logical once you understood its essence.
By the time the two finished gathering all their spoils of war, nightfall had officially arrived. The thick darkness of the primeval forest rapidly swallowed the trail. The distant howling of wild beasts began to echo, signaling the dangerous hours of the otherworldly night.
"We need to stop, it's dark now. Continuing will make it very easy to lose our way or wander into the territory of large magical beasts," Hegemon said, looking around to find a relatively flat and sheltered spot next to the base of a massive ancient tree.
"Yeah, I'm feeling hungry too," Lily agreed, setting her backpack down on the ground.
Hegemon opened the luggage and took out a high-quality canvas tent kit that the Elf villagers had thoughtfully prepared for them before their departure. This was a type of tent woven from magical plant fibers, boasting excellent waterproofing and heat insulation. With his dexterity, Hegemon quickly pitched the compact yet sturdy tent, providing enough room for both of them to lie down.
After setting up the tent, Hegemon walked around the perimeter, gathering dry twigs and decaying wood fallen from the ancient tree. He stacked them into a small pyramid shape right in front of the tent entrance. He pulled out his fire striker and struck it sharply a few times against a tinder bundle of dry grass.
*Swoosh! Swoosh!*
Bright red sparks flew out, catching the dry grass and quickly flaring up, engulfing the small pieces of wood. The flickering, warm firelight illuminated a dark corner of the forest, dispelling the night chill and forming an invisible protective ring separating them from the dangers lurking in the deep darkness. Hegemon sat down by the fire, watching the small embers drift up into the sky, exhaling a soft sigh of relief.