Eon wiped a sheen of virtual sweat from his brow, his muscles screaming with a fatigue that felt unnervingly real. The sun had climbed higher in the sky over the starting meadow, but the crowd of new players had thinned out, all having graduated to more exciting prey. He watched a group of five Mages, their brand-new robes still bright, chant in unison. A volley of <Ember> spells shot forth, instantly incinerating a pack of large rabbits.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYaeULfF2lu
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“Speedrun Leveling with this 5 Mage Party Set-Up!” he muttered, recalling the video he’d binge-watched last week. “Must be nice.”20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxTuRXn2xh7
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Their laughter echoed as they collected loot and sprinted toward the forest, leaving him alone with the bouncy, gelatinous inhabitants of the field. For the past two hours, his entire world had been the squelch of a fist hitting slime, the dull thud of one hitting his shin, and the faint, warm pulse of a stat increase.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlS1gXSrmjr
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[Strength +1]20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8ptWpZMeRS
[Strength +1]20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuiyptLeHPG
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The notifications were his only reward. The fights were undignified brawls. He’d learned to dodge their slow, bouncing attacks, to kick them away when they latched onto his leg, and to finish them by grabbing and pulling them apart with his bare hands. It was messy, exhausting, and profoundly inefficient.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmAg18Sf3ol
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His inventory, a sparse mental interface, held his meager earnings:20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8XLw5j9uE2
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[Slime Core x12]20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuUP3kAqNVs
[Slimy Mucus x23]20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQgQCFGx3op
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“Probably vendor trash,” he sighed, kicking at a clump of grass. Just then, a deep, gurgling rumble echoed from his stomach. The sensation was so sudden and so visceral that he clutched his midsection in surprise.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKAl9666DEW
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“You’ve got to be kidding me. I’m hungry? In a game?” The realism of Illusion Tree was suddenly less impressive and more inconvenient. He had no money, and the idea of trying to barter with slime mucus for a piece of bread was deeply unappealing. But the gnawing hunger was a persistent notification all its own.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzWYf24UTnN
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Gathering his resolve, he trudged back towards Haven’s Reach, his body aching from the repetitive labor. The village gate came into view, and with it, the familiar sounds of commerce and chatter. He braced himself.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVa6BpiGLir
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He bypassed the blacksmith and the potion shop, heading straight for the bustling marketplace—a wide square filled with stalls run by NPC merchants and a few enterprising players. The air was thick with the smell of spices, roasting meat, and fresh bread. His stomach growled louder.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT93lnkuimm
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He approached a fruit stall run by a plump, cheerful woman with ruddy cheeks. “Excuse me,” he began, trying to sound confident. “I don’t have any coin, but I’ve got these.” He mentally willed the slime cores and mucus to appear in his hands.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbIFVfV0G77
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The woman’s smile didn’t fade, but it became fixed, like a painting. “Oh! Slimy bits! I do need those for a few things. The alchemist is always pestering me for mucus. Tell you what, lad. I’ll give you five copper for the lot. It’s not much, but it’s honest.”20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnSehEptAtL
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Eon’s heart leapt. “Yes! Thank you!”20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhFIYrHWKbT
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A transaction window appeared before him. He confirmed it, and the disgusting items vanished from his hands, replaced by five small, cool copper coins.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp1b6pNcYfC
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[Currency Updated: 5 Copper]20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhXgiH86ykn
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“Now,” she said, her smile becoming genuine again. “How about a nice apple? Only one copper. Fresh from the orchard!”20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2eOMPdnLI3
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He handed over a coin and took the perfect red fruit. He bit into it. The crunch was deafening, the juice sweet and tangy. It was the most delicious thing he had ever tasted. The gnawing hunger in his stomach immediately subsided.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP4vVUw5bn4
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“Whoa.”20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡquEwKjCman
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“Told ya!” the merchant woman laughed. “Nothing better!”20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvgi7aQfYS6
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Feeling momentarily victorious, Eon wandered deeper into the market, his four remaining coppers feeling like a fortune. He watched players haggle and trade.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4qHNCvXX6H
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“—need one more for the Wolf Pack quest! Tank and healer secured!” a player shouted.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLokprxwT5e
“Selling [Chipped Wolf Fang]! Great for low-level crafting! Three copper!”20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlMXuHwskEq
“Buying all [Rabbit Meat]! Two copper each! Power-leveling my Cooking skill!”20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡepLvhWL0Zx
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Eon listened, absorbing the economy. His slime parts were the absolute bottom of the ladder. He needed to find something more valuable.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqj3nVFMI7n
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“Hey. You.”20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMaaNsw08F5
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Eon turned. A player, taller than him and clad in sleek, dark leathers—a Rogue—was looking him up and down with a mixture of curiosity and disdain. His nameplate read ‘Kaelen’.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVq2pnwf5QP
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“Yeah?” Eon said, wary of more mockery.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsRzqliV7VB
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“I saw you come in from the slime fields. And I saw you trading that junk to old Martha,” Kaelen said, his voice low. “You’re the one, aren’t you? The guy who didn’t pick a class.”20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvzWyxk9e0a
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Here it comes, Eon thought. “What about it?”20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtaPvMMoeCJ
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To his surprise, Kaelen didn’t laugh. He smirked. “It’s a stupid move. The stupidest. But… it’s also kind of fascinating. Like watching a train wreck in slow motion. How many points did you get?”20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6B9bHTgFMi
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“Points?“20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡafSRa4SSkt
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“Strength. From the slimes. They don’t give XP without a class, but they do give a point of Strength for every ten you kill. It’s a hidden mechanic for… well, for situations that were never supposed to happen.”20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE5iwpT9MQS
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Eon was stunned. This guy knew. “I… I got four. So, forty slimes.”20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1DwqT3D8Ca
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Kaelen let out a low whistle. “Forty slimes with your bare hands. You’re either dedicated or insane. Probably both. Look, those four points? A level 5 Warrior with a decent strength build might only have eight or nine. You’re already halfway there, and you’re not even level 1. That’s something.”20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjTxRp0vA8O
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For a fleeting second, Eon felt a surge of pride. It was immediately crushed.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGpbSOGtP5x
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“Of course,” Kaelen continued, his smirk widening, “it’s completely useless. You have no skills to use that Strength with. No weapon to swing. You’ll hit a hard wall at, oh, about level 3 mobs. They’ll have too much health for your pathetic bare-handed damage, and they’ll hit too hard for you to survive. You’ve essentially wasted hours to create a slightly stronger, but still utterly useless, character. It’s a brilliant study in inefficiency.”20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmK7baj8zwW
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Eon’s fists clenched. “Why are you telling me this?”20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKkHff5xPfF
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“Like I said. Fascination.” Kaelen shrugged. “I’m a data miner. I like knowing how the game works in its weird little corners. You’re a living, breathing weird corner. Keep it up. The moment you finally break and reroll will be the most interesting data point of all.”20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg3VpHkcvIw
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With that, the Rogue melted back into the crowd, leaving Eon standing there, his brief triumph soured. The guy’s words were poison, but they felt true. What was the point?20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpqDKA8csx3
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He looked down at his three remaining copper coins. He was hungry again. He bought a piece of tough journey bread for one copper and chewed on it grimly. He was back to being broke, but the hunger was gone.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuEZ5BAvXat
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He walked out of the marketplace, past the laughing, geared-up players, and back towards the village gate. The guard gave him the same pitying look.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHgVngx05h3
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“Back so soon? The wilds not to your liking?”20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHkIE5qIcrg
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Eon ignored him, his eyes fixed on the field. The slimes bounced, oblivious.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhFYwsdr09V
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Kaelen was probably right. It was inefficient. It was stupid. He was a data point for a smug Rogue’s amusement.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkpM2ozelFT
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But as he stepped onto the grass, his stomach full, his body still aching, he saw another slime. And another notification waiting to be earned.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ97lA5Tz2Zk
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He cracked his knuckles. It was something.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡns8O7K0OA6
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He fell back into the rhythm. Punch, squelch, dodge, kick, grab, tear. The process was mind-numbing, a brutal, repetitive loop. His inventory slowly filled again with cores and mucus. The sun began its slow descent, painting the sky in hues of orange and purple. Other players returning from deeper hunting grounds gave him wide berth, some snickering, most just ignoring the strange, classless player still farming the tutorial mobs.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaibTPiDUSN
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After what felt like another lifetime of punching jelly, he started to notice things. It wasn't a dramatic shift, just subtle variations in the endless green tide. One slime seemed a shade paler, almost mint green. Another was darker, with a mossy, deep-jade hue. Their sizes fluctuated slightly too; some were the standard melon-sized blobs, but every so often, a smaller, grapefruit-sized one would appear, moving just a fraction faster, or a larger, pumpkin-sized one would wobble into view, its movements slower, more ponderous.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOL08luAtzs
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He mentioned it aloud to no one, the words swallowed by the field. "Huh. That one's kinda small. Weird."20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuINb7fvm7v
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It didn't change his strategy. A punch was a punch. A smaller one might be a bit harder to hit, a larger one might take one more hit to burst, but the outcome was always the same: a satisfying pop, a warm pulse in his veins, and another filthy trophy for his inventory. The variations were just background noise to the monotonous grind. He didn't think to use his non-existent <Appraise> skill, not that it would have worked anyway. They were all just slimes. The only thing that mattered was the result.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQE7JNPGtpx
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[Strength +1]20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVHOLnnGuAA
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He lost track of how many that made. Seven? Eight? He’d long since stopped counting the individual kills, focusing only on the rare, rewarding notification. His body was a symphony of aches, but beneath the fatigue was a hard, stubborn core of satisfaction. He was earning this. No one was giving it to him.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbHmp9ftO49
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The light was fading fast now, the world taking on a deep blue twilight glow. The meadow was empty of other players. It was just him and the bouncing, glowing slimes under the emerging stars. He was exhausted, hungry again, and down to his last copper. But he had a small fortune in slime parts.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2Fk9XjK3Mz
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With a final, weary sigh, he turned his back on the field and began the slow, trudging walk back to Haven's Reach. The village lights twinkled in the distance, a promise of food, a safe place to rest, and another round of mockery he’d have to endure. But he’d be enduring it with a few more points of Strength than the last time. For now, that was enough.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ98L43luUR5
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The hiss of the VR capsule releasing its seal was the loudest sound in his quiet apartment. Eon pushed the lid open, his real body feeling strangely heavy and stiff after hours of virtual exertion. The familiar sight of his dim, cluttered room was a jarring contrast to the vibrant fields of Haven's Reach.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf3V5Vm88lo
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He stumbled to his desk, the glow of his monitor a beacon in the dark. The first order of business was a microwaved dinner, eaten without tasting it. The second was to dive into the sprawling digital labyrinth of the Illusion Tree forums.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP3nmEQL5N2
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He navigated to the "New Player Help & Guides" section, the header plastered with posts like "BEST Starter Class Tier List!" and "How to Hit Level 10 in 3 Hours!" He ignored them, his fingers flying across the keyboard. His search was specific:20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW6wAsSwYfh
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBnAykvifUm
"Slime variants Haven's Reach."20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlBaIMuLmk1
"Different colored slimes."20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrolg6kKJLp
"Slime size differences."20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxyk5oFyxst
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The results were… sparse. Most threads were years old, from the game's early launch.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEJi8iziO5O
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A post titled "Slime Farming for Alchemy Mats" had a single, off-hand comment: "Yeah, the greens are all the same, just RNG on the model size. Don't overthink it, noob."20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeZp5Yd1A65
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Another, "Weird Slime?", was just a picture of a standard green slime with the caption "This one looked at me funny lol." The replies were just as unhelpful.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuAu2DgU2NZ
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a chorus of "go to sleep, man" and "touch grass."20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMRjGt7I3mz
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He refined his search, adding terms like "hidden mechanic" and "classless." This yielded even less. A few threads mocked the idea of going classless, echoing everything Kaelen and the others had said. One particularly venomous post read: "Anyone who doesn't pick a class is a moron. The slimes don't have secret forms, you're just seeing things because you're bored out of your skull punching them."20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp4tCjNMmz3
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Frustration began to simmer. He was sure he’d seen variations. It wasn't just his imagination. He opened a popular video-hosting site and searched for "Illusion Tree slime guide."20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡziJEp3NSli
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The results were all the same. Content creators in gleaming armor demonstrated area-of-effect skills to vaporize entire fields of slimes in seconds for efficient farming. They talked about drop rates for cores and mucus, the best classes to farm them, and how to quickly turn the materials into starter capital. Not a single video paused to examine the mobs. They were just obstacles to be cleared, background noise to be optimized.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoSgfjOMTmk
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One video, "MAX Efficiency Slime Core Farming," featured a Mage in ornate robes. "Alright, guys," the player said in a hyper-energetic voice. "You just pull the entire field right here, pop your <Chain Lightning>, and bam! Twenty cores a minute. Easy. Don't waste your time on anything else in the starting zone."20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu1NSjDqy8k
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Eon clicked off, a sour taste in his mouth. That was the entire world's approach. Faster, stronger, more efficient. No one stopped to look. No one cared about the details.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9C6tpDlUKf
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He leaned back in his chair, the glow of the screen reflecting in his tired eyes. The collective knowledge of two billion players, and it had all been focused on racing forward. Nobody had bothered to look down at the very first step.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡriFjqvPoCd
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Maybe they were all right. Maybe he was a moron, wasting his time on a pointless endeavor, seeing patterns where none existed. Kaelen's words echoed in his mind: "…a brilliant study in inefficiency."20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeS7KTd0ut7
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But then he thought about the feeling of his fist connecting with the gelatinous body. The specific, slightly different squelch of the darker, larger slime. The quicker, almost evasive bounce of the smaller, paler one. It wasn't just visual; it felt different.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUntiUi5AZo
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The forums had nothing. The videos had nothing. The entire player base had dismissed it as irrelevant.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU7Gufwctjc
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A slow smile spread across his face. For the first time, it didn't feel like a disadvantage.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWpudBMo3PR
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It felt like a secret.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQAHUYbiW2d
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If everyone else was too busy sprinting toward the horizon to notice the cracks in the pavement at their feet, then that meant any secret hidden there was his and his alone to discover.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUqic4bqOot
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He minimized the browser, the unresolved search hanging in the digital air. The doubt was still there, but it was now overshadowed by a new, stubborn resolve. He didn't need their guides or their approval.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZLoTBAd6fq
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Tomorrow, he wouldn't just mindlessly punch slimes. He would observe. He would test. He would pay attention to the things everyone else thought were too trivial to matter.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJqE828eley
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He powered down his computer, the room plunging into darkness save for the city lights bleeding through his window. As he lay in bed, his mind didn't race with fantasies of epic loot or high-level dungeons. Instead, it replayed the subtle variations in a lowly green slime's hue, a mystery waiting in the most overlooked corner of the most played game on Earth.1234 copyright protection16ＰＥＮＡＮＡYyJm42qa1T 尼

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