Slime#47 decided, "I'll go with Elemental Spirit Slime."
He liked the Lesser Elemental Slime race, and he wanted to choose the more powerful version of an elemental slime.
Elemental Slime was the natural progression of Lesser Elemental Slime—but he wanted the stronger path.
'Wait—if I select this, what happens to my plus skills? Will they still evolve?' he wondered.
If he hadn't gained the knowledge that every loop was a world, he would have directly chosen the Elemental Spirit Slime.
But he was carrying the hope of many demons. He couldn't blindly go as he wished. He was cautious. Every decision would be paid for with their lives if he failed.
He glanced at Thomas, already on another bottle of beer, then at Nobi meditating cross-legged to recover.
He asked the instructor, "If I pick another race instead of the plus-type evolution… will my existing plus skills still evolve?"
"No. Don't pick it," Nobi blurted, snapping her eyes open. "It's a bad choice. You will lose the evolution. The skills will stay, but they will no longer evolve."
She shook her head, stopping Slime#47 from making a mistake.
Even Thomas raised his hand to stop Young Slime.
Once a race and class were chosen, they stayed for life. They could not change until reincarnation or rebirth.
So they felt Young Slime's choice must be taken seriously.
Thomas said sternly, "Plus skills or spells evolve directly as they have potential. If you pick another, you will be shattering that potential."
He was cut off as Young Slime replied, "But I got another stronger plus-type race."
"Another?" Thomas and Nobi exclaimed.
Getting one plus race was already extraordinary, but getting another was even rarer.
Only a handful of geniuses among geniuses ever achieved that.
Thomas stood up and nodded at Young Slime. "If you want more power, you can pick it. But the skills will not evolve again, and you will have to inherit the new class/race knowledge and create suitable skills—"
Nobi cut in, "Since it's a Tier Three race, you will no longer get the skills directly from the Voice of the World."
Young Slime raised his brows. 'Which one should I choose? Power, or skills which could evolve to Tier Five?'
He didn't know whether Elemental Slime race skills could evolve to Tier Five, but he was attracted by the Elemental Spirit Slime option.
He was careful—for the first time in his Slime life. Had he not known each timeline was a real world, he wouldn't have even hesitated for a second.
He couldn't decide on his own, so he turned to the lion-headed instructor and questioned, "Which one do you think would be the best currently?"
Thomas said, sitting back on his chair, "I would recommend the Elemental Spirit Slime for the future, but…"
"But—" Young Slime asked with a frown.
"You got 17 days left," Thomas started, but Nobi cut in. "You'll have to face that dragon to clear this Trial of Combat."
"Dragon?" A chill ran through Slime#47's core. He knew dragons were the top powerhouses in any fantasy novel.
The instructor explained, "If you pick Elemental Spirit Slime now, your skills will stay at Uncommon and will no longer evolve to Rare. At Tier Three, you would lack the required skills/spells to unleash—"
Nobi cut in, "That dragon is no ordinary one. It's the strongest at its level, undefeated in the entire history."
"Undefeated—and you expect me to defeat it?" Young Slime said, his voice rising. 'Who the hell created these trials?'
"No, no, no, no—you misunderstood," Thomas said with a grin. "You will have to withstand it for a few minutes. That's all required for clearing this Trial of Combat."
'Seventeen days… that's all I have, and I still have to withstand the strongest dragon for a few minutes.' Young Slime thought, blinking his eyes, feeling bitter.
"I hope I get a satisfying reward for clearing this trial… along with the King's Mark," he muttered, as he clicked on the Elemental Slime.
[ Ding! Pick a safe spot! ]
[ Ding! You are evolving! ]
He closed his eyes and lay on the floor.
In the past, he might have blinked for a moment, but now he was in front of Thomas, in the demon capital.
'There is no one who could cause trouble here,' he grinned.
Glancing at the sleeping Young Slime, Thomas thought, 'What an unlucky guy. For clearing the trial, he could only choose for the present—instead of more power in the future.'
Nobi also took a deep breath, her lips twitching.
----
After a few hours…
[ Ding! Lesser Elemental Slime (Uncommon+) ★★★★★ has evolved into Elemental Slime (Rare+) ★! ]
Slime#47 woke with teary eyes after the deep sleep.
He glanced around, wanting to find a reflection. He wanted to check the differences.
"Here…" Nobi said, pulling a mirror from thin air.
'I really want that storage spell,' Young Slime mused, jealous. He was really trying to control himself whenever Thomas or Nobi pulled something from thin air.
Taking the mirror, he checked. 'A cute slime kid…with just darker colours.'
He was the same as before: An adorable slime kid with the height of a six-year-old human kid, with a five-colored, viscous jelly body in the grey training uniform.
He had two big black gem-eyes on his head, lips, brows, and other human features like limbs created by the Gel Morph skill.
[ Ding! Your racial skills have evolved! ]
[ Ding! Elemental Slash {Uncommon+} has evolved to Greater Elemental Slash! {Rare+}! ]
[ Ding! Elemental Body {Uncommon+} has evolved to Fearsome Elemental Body! {Rare+}! ]
[ Ding! Elemental Wave {Uncommon+} has evolved to Elemental Shockwave! {Rare+}! ]
[ Ding! Double Elemental Shield {Uncommon+} has evolved to Greater Elemental Shield! {Rare+}! ]
[ … ]
[ … ]
[ Ding! Trait—Elemental Viscous Body {Uncommon} has evolved into Fearsome Elemental Viscous Body {Rare} ]
….
Young Slime quickly went through the notifications popping up in his vision.
He stayed silent. The responsibility and weight of others made him pick the choice he didn't like.
'Good. My combo skill could get more powerful,' he thought as he read the notification of Fearsome Elemental Body.
It had helped a lot. He was expecting a lot from its evolved skill.
He clicked on the classes.
[ Ding! Opening available class evolution list! ]