Ian raised the greatsword formed from his Red Matter Katar and slammed it into the ground, sending a circular shockwave rippling outward from his feet.
Every slime within range took 1000 damage and burst on the spot, splattering gel of all colors in every direction.
He then infused energy into the Archangel's Smite in his right hand. With a single forward swing, a dense rain of arrows poured from the sky, each one locking onto a slime with perfect precision.
As slimes died in massive numbers, the gel on the ground piled higher and higher, slowly merging into a giant blue jelly-like creature—the King Slime!
Wearing its crown, the wobbling King Slime lunged toward Ian.
Seeing it bounce at him, Ian couldn't help recalling the time when he first played Terraria on Master Mode, getting brutally crushed by King Slime and the army of slimes it summoned.
"But now? Let's see how many swings you can make me use."
Ian lifted his heavy sword without a hint of panic and cut the King Slime down in just a few casual strikes.
(King Slime: "Forgive me, Lord Ian… for failing to entertain you.")
With a soft "plop," a treasure bag and a golden King Slime statue dropped where it vanished. Ian picked them up and tried selling them to the Transmutation Tablet.
The treasure bag disappeared—success! Ian's eyes lit up. (T/N: mine too, that's OP…) Even treasure bags could be converted into EMC? That meant he could open them freely.
He immediately pulled out a massive pile of treasure bags, keeping half for himself and tossing the other half to Zeke.
"Zeke, here—loot boxes!"
The two ripped them open with great excitement. Coins, gear, weapons… most of it was trash.
Ian dumped the useless items into the Transmutation Tablet and finally left Zeke with the Slime Hook and Slimy Saddle.
"Whoa! Bro Ian, this Slime Hook is amazing! I'm Spider-Man now!"
Zeke shot the Slime Hook at a tree and swung around like a monkey.
(In a three-dimensional world, any grappling hook being able to latch onto trees is perfectly reasonable.)
Ian watched him play wildly, while he himself could only stare. He didn't have Terraria's mount slot or hook slot—he couldn't use any of it.
But he noticed that the Interdimensional Energy bar on the Transmutation Tablet interface was skyrocketing. It would finish charging soon.
And if nothing unexpected happened… he knew exactly which mod this would unlock.
"Alright, quit playing. Let's keep clearing mobs!"
Ian called out and dragged Zeke back to slime-slaying duty.
After a long and "grueling" battle, they finally wiped out all the slimes in the area. The slime rain in the sky also came to a stop.
They approached a shabby little wooden hut—barely a hut at all. Holes filled the walls, the door dangled from its hinges… the whole structure looked like a breeze could knock it over.
"This is where I woke up." Zeke pointed and immediately began ranting.
"I opened my eyes inside this garbage shack, then a huge herd of slimes rushed me! They even flattened all the rabbits and birds on the way!"
"Luckily I ran fast, and even luckier I found the Guide. Otherwise, I'd be dead!"
While listening, Ian noticed something behind the broken door. He stepped forward and peeked inside.
"Zeke, when you arrived, did you search this hut carefully?" Ian asked.
"Search what? Search my ass!" Zeke rolled his eyes. "With all those monsters outside, you think I had time for this dump?"
Ignoring him, Ian pushed open the collapsing door and pointed at a shabby wooden chest in the corner.
"Tell me—could this be your beginner's reward chest?"
Zeke froze, stunned by the discovery.
Ian walked over and opened the chest.
"Finch Staff… Infinite Summon Device…"
Item by item, Ian pulled them out, his expression growing stranger.
He passed the Finch Staff to Zeke.
"Finch Staff? What kind of garbage is this! A beginner reward should at least give me Zenith or a full Hallowed set!" Zeke complained loudly. "This tiny bird? What's it gonna do? These monsters would use it as a toothpick!"
Ian said nothing and handed him the Infinite Summon Device.
Zeke turned to stone instantly. "…But on the other hand…"
"Holy crap! I'm supposed to be an invincible build, and I somehow played myself into a cowardly survival build!"
He clutched his head in despair.
Ian patted his shoulder, barely holding back laughter.
"It's fine. Better late than never. With this thing, you can basically walk sideways through Terraria."
The Infinite Summon Device—one of the broken mods of Terraria. It wasn't true infinite summoning, but with a cap of 32,768 minions, it was more than enough… or at least more than most people's GPUs could handle.
"Alright, stop spacing out. Back to grinding!"
Ian stepped out of the hut.
Zeke remained frozen, staring at the Finch Staff and Infinite Summon Device in disbelief.
Ian didn't bother babysitting him and continued clearing mobs. After all, he also wanted to change class into a Peak Summoner. He picked up a Slime Staff dropped by the waves of dead slimes and kept grinding.
Finally, the Interdimensional Energy bar on the Transmutation Tablet maxed out.
[Ding… Interdimensional Energy Full. A Mod Can Be Unlocked. Would You Like To Proceed?]
"Open."
[Ding… Unlocking Mod… Mod Unlock Complete. You Have Obtained The Terraria Mod.]
Seeing the expected result, Ian sighed in relief. He had guessed, but there was always uncertainty.
After all, if killing all these slimes unlocked some weird "Smart Slimes Mod," he would've been scammed hard.
With the Terraria mod unlocked, a mana bar appeared above his Health Bar, and an accessory slot appeared beside his character.
Now he could use magical staves and exclusive Terraria items.
He pulled out the Slime Staff, linked the Transmutation Tablet to his body for unlimited mana supply, activated the Watch of Flowing Time to accelerate himself, and began wildly swinging the staff.
Slimes poured out like a flood, quickly surrounding him—small, soft, squishy little things clinging to him comfortably.
Zeke finally snapped out of his petrification and stepped out of the hut, only to see Ian buried under a mountain of slimes.
"Bro Ian! Are you okay!? Don't tell me you messed up trying to look cool!"
Panicked, he raised the Finch Staff and summoned a small bird to help—but after a few summons, he froze again. He was already out of mana.
"Oh, I'm fine. These are my slimes. Here, take one too."
Ian tossed him a spare Slime Staff.
"Huh? You summoned these? How long is your mana bar!? You spawned this many already!"
Zeke looked at Ian's army of slimes with pure envy, but the emptiness in his body forced him to summon slowly and reluctantly.
"Oh, right. I forgot to tell you—I have infinite mana."
Zeke turned to stone again…