He needed the monster to attack him first.

“Hey! Dumb slime creature,” shouted Max. “Why don’t you try and hit me! Free punch on the house!”

The slime didn’t move. It just stood there with its stupid grin on its face.

Samuel murmured to Sakura and the clerk on the balcony.

He couldn’t hear what the man was saying, but clearly taunting the slime was an unorthodox method to use in this test.

Max had no idea what he had done to that man up there, but he clearly wanted Max to fail this test.

Max decided he had to try a new strategy.

He rushed the purple slime with his fist raised.

“Grown some guts now, have you, boy?” shouted Samuel from above.

If the slime wasn’t going to attack him, it had left Max with no other options but to go on the offensive himself.

The purple slime continued to stay motionless in the middle of the battle chamber as Max rushed towards him.

When Max got into range, he swung his fist with all of his might.

SMASH!

A huge pain coursed through Max’s hand.

The purple slime continued to smile at him, but now it had a pinkish aura surrounding it.

He had expected his hand to get slimy and wet when attacking the glob, but never had he thought punching it would be similar to punching a brick wall.

The pinkish aura disappeared from the slime.

That must have been the monster’s special ability, thought Max. It was able to create an energy shield of some kind that blocked attacks.

It started to dawn on Max that this was a huge problem.

The creature didn’t have an offensive ability.

Without one for Max to mimic, it was impossible for him to win against this thing.

15

“Looks like your prodigy is struggling,” grinned Samuel Archer standing on the battle chamber’s balcony.

Sakura ignored Samuel’s taunts and kept her eyes on the battle chamber below.

“Is there a time limit on these things?” Samuel asked the guild clerk. “The boy doesn’t seem to be displaying any prowess whatsoever. This should not be a difficult test. How long do we let this sham go on for?”

Sakura watched Max as he stepped away from the slime and circled around it.

This might be a lost cause for Max, she thought. She couldn’t see how he could win this.

Shield Slimes were tricky. If Max had a higher strength stat it could break through its energy shield and then kill it. Or, if he simply had an offensive trait to break the shield. But his greatest strength—his unique trait—was proving to be an incredible weakness in this preliminary test.

Sakura shook her head as she listened to Samuel plead with the clerk to call off the test.