Chapter Six: Wind King's Shattering Steel Flash!

Inside the Slime Cavern, Jeros and Pixie stood at the very top of the staircase, watching as Zhao Tianhe dashed back and forth within the cave.

“What is he doing?” Jeros asked.

“Tianhe is gathering all the monsters together,” Pixie explained, her voice full of excitement. “He’s amazing! Yesterday, with a bang and a crash, a stunningly huge wind spirit appeared, and then—just like that—”

Listening to Pixie’s rambling description, Jeros felt his mind growing muddled…

Meanwhile, as Pixie had said, Zhao Tianhe had finally managed to bring all the slimes together before him. He gazed at the dozen or so half-human-sized, quivering jellies, focused his attention on his personal interface, and opened the support panel for Artoria.

On the support panel, several actions were being endlessly repeated—these were the support skills, from which Zhao Tianhe could choose one to use.

“The formation is fan-shaped, so this one should do,” Zhao Tianhe murmured. “But today, let’s make it impressive—let’s shout out the skill name.”

“Summon! Artoria!” Zhao Tianhe took his stance, his right hand extended toward the slimes.

Jeros, up on the stairs, immediately focused his mind and activated a recording spell.

The next moment, a blue-and-white figure with indistinct features materialized before Zhao Tianhe. Air gathered rapidly in the figure’s hands, forming the shape of a sword.

“Look! What a huge wind spirit!” Pixie laughed, patting Jeros on the head.

‘Such a powerful concentration of wind elements! That pressure—it’s at least a third-tier elemental creature, isn’t it?’ Jeros stared at the apparition, feeling awed. His opinion of Zhao Tianhe soared. ‘As the Grand Prophet Sirius said, there are no useless spirits—only useless summoners. Those younger ones are blind! Such power right after awakening his talent—what will he be capable of in the future?’

“Slice them! Storm King’s Steel Severance!”

With a swing of Zhao Tianhe’s right hand, the airy sword wielded by the figure also swept forth. A torrent of sharp wind blades instantly annihilated all the slimes!

The blades shredded and blew apart the slimes’ bodies, leaving no chance for them to self-destruct…

Digestive fluids splattered across the ground in a fan-shaped pattern, releasing wisps of acrid smoke…

“So foul! Killing too many at once…” Zhao Tianhe pinched his nose and fled the cavern, while Pixie and Jeros had already exited.

“Well? Impressive, right?” Zhao Tianhe grinned at Jeros. “How about we make a contract? I’ve got immense potential! You help me level up ten times, maybe even eight—then I’ll reach C…no, at least D-rank, I’m confident!”

“Your talent is indeed formidable. As for your potential, that remains to be seen. But I’ll report your situation to the Hero Academy. You may have the opportunity for further training to develop your talent,” Jeros replied with a smile. “So, that’s settled. Thank you very much for your cooperation.”

With that, Jeros flew away.

“Tch! No vision at all!” Only after Jeros had departed did Zhao Tianhe sit beneath Pixie’s little house, his face full of discontent.

Back then, he watched as one after another of his peers were contracted and taken away. The sense of loss was beyond words; he was plunged into despair again and again, until he became numb.

Not being needed—it was a pain hard to bear…

Fortunately, he later got a job cleaning the Slime Cavern, which helped him regain his composure.

“It’s nothing, you’re still too young~~” Pixie, dressed as an old man and leaning on a toothpick, stood atop Zhao Tianhe’s head.

“Ow! That hurts!”

The toothpick had jabbed his scalp…

Despite Jeros’s rejection, Zhao Tianhe still had confidence in himself. He believed it was because his talent had only just awakened, and his level was so low, that he’d been refused.

He resolved to improve himself. Aside from his daily talent tasks, he planned to explore the second floor of the Slime Cavern once his support cooled down tomorrow.

Yes, Artoria’s support cooldown lasted a full twenty-four hours!

So today, he could only go home and lie down, pondering how to feed and care for his King…

That evening, however, Zhao Tianhe witnessed something astonishing!

Artoria was eating while playing on her phone!

“Where did you get that?” Zhao Tianhe was stunned, moving his chair next to Artoria. But then he was even more shocked—

She was playing FGO!

“You have internet?!” Zhao Tianhe exclaimed.

“How else do you think I watch TV?” Artoria replied nonchalantly, continuing to eat and grind through the game.

‘It’s even an event… Halloween Part II? Hmm… Artoria Prime using Artoria Lily to farm—I can’t believe it!’ Zhao Tianhe watched the blonde girl, so engrossed in her meal and game, feeling deeply conflicted.

“Do you want to play too?” Artoria glanced at him, asking offhandedly.

“Well, I’d like to, but I don’t have a phone,” Zhao Tianhe said with a wry smile, shaking his head.

“Here.” Artoria pulled a phone from her pajama pocket and placed it on the table. “Remember to add me as a friend.”

Zhao Tianhe picked up the phone, turned it on, his expression already numb…

After adding Artoria as a friend, he left when his task time was up.

Staring at the phone screen with only the FGO game installed, Zhao Tianhe felt a bit puzzled. Still, he tried to see if it could access the internet, or possibly connect with the world he’d crossed into.

Sadly, although the phone had internet and unlimited power, it was good for nothing but playing the game.

His only friend, “Artoria Pendragon,” had left him a message urging him to farm, clear stages, draw cards, and develop support.

‘So, this is really just a special communicator between me and Artoria. Oh, and now there are daily missions…’

Daily missions—time to grind!

Mission requirements: Do not let AP stay at max for over an hour, do not leave a single apple unused, or the mission fails. (Apples are items used to restore AP in the game.)

Mission reward: Artoria’s favorability +10

“I see, just a new daily task… Hmm… Wait, only seven hours until tomorrow, and a new account’s AP is pretty high. Time to grind like crazy!” Zhao Tianhe gritted his teeth, opened the game, and dove into the grind.

The next afternoon, Zhao Tianhe arrived at the first floor of the Slime Cavern, dark circles under his eyes. He cleared the floor manually as usual, then approached the faint red barrier at the end.

The life-pulse energy of the Slime Cavern was weak, so it generated only a limited number and strength of monsters. But the second floor, left uncleaned for ages, surely contained stronger creatures. While the dungeon’s energy was forcibly spread evenly across all levels, monsters left unchecked for long periods would gain incremental boosts from each daily distribution.

Simply put, the second floor would definitely have mutant elites—and not just one! After all, it hadn’t been cleared in nearly ten years!

Normally, dungeons had to be completely purged at least once a year. But as a distinguished F-rank dungeon, this place’s cycle was an unprecedented twenty years!

Because its energy was so feeble, after cleaning the second floor, it could take a year for monsters to respawn there…

“If a dungeon boss shows up, then… No, surely it won’t?” At the crucial moment, Zhao Tianhe still felt a bit nervous, but thinking of his talent support, his confidence returned.

Artoria’s status: Support available, Favorability lv1, 43/200

Support skills selectable: Storm King’s Steel Severance, Storm King’s Hammer, Supreme Flash Thrust

Support skill power tied to favorability and all attributes of the main body (Favorability level × Zhao Tianhe’s attributes)

Support skills share a cooldown: 24 hours