The Slime Dungeon: Book 1 (The Slime Dungeon Chronicles) (16 page)

              A man walked into his tent and smiled at him. "I hear you have been busy,” he said, a sinister undertone to his voice, "Since you've had such a hard time, I decided I would come help you."

              Koran turned red with anger and stood up suddenly, "Who are you to…"

              With a blink, the man held up Koran with one hand by the neck. Koran gasped and struggled, but found he could not escape the iron grip of the man in front of him.

"You know," the man mused, "While I should kill you for your failure, I really should be thanking you. I haven't had this much fun in a while; killing through proxy gets tiring after a few decades. While you delayed my plans, you didn't actually fail completely so I guess you can live for now.” With a casual toss, he threw Koran across the room into his bags.

              Koran gasped for air as he struggled to his feet. Casually, the man put his foot onto Koran's head, keeping him in a knelling posture.

              "Now, this is what's going to happen. You, in your generous spirit, are going to take a new adventurer under your wings and train him in the dungeon. You are going to help him with everything he needs, and then we are going to expand until you are teaching an entire class of new adventurers. Once your reputation has been restored, you will return to the city and help me deal with the royal guards for the next phase of my plan. Do you understand?"

              "Yes, yes I do!” Koran cried out, "Please, tell me who you want trained and I'll do it!"

              The man chuckled and removed his foot, "Why, me of course. I just recently registered as an F-ranked adventurer and I am in need of a mentor to teach me everything about dungeon diving. In fact, I think being taught how to kill a dungeon should be you last step."

              Koran gasped, "If that happens, the whole town will fall into an uproar…"

              "Yes, this will divert attention from the city. All according to plan, you see.” The man chuckled, "Don't worry, you and your father will be suitably rewarded for your assistance, have no fear. In fact, here is a small incentive to help you."

              A bag dropped in front of Koran's hands. His greedy eyes widened as the bag deposited its contents of gold across his floor. Koran gulped audibly, "What do I call my new apprentice?"

              "Call me Simon.” The body of Simon smiled evilly, "Just, Simon for now."

Chapter 21

              Doc yawned as he watched another adventurer fall into a pitfall trap. He'd switched things up and put pitfalls next to aerial ambush holes, which tricked adventurers into looking up and walking around the holes and thus falling to their deaths. This time, it was a man in leather armor who cried out in fear as the grey slimes dissolved his body.

              He switched over to check his magic capacity. Thanks to the new traps and the twins, his daily magic gain had increased to the next level. "Claire, I want to upgrade!"

              On cue, his pixie companion flew out of her house and took her standard spot on her pedestal. "Oh, is it that time already?" She asked excitedly, "This is wonderful; it's my favorite part of the dungeon experience."

              "Can we come and watch?"  The twins asked them.

              "You can come, but leave your bodies to their duties, okay my babies?"

              "Yes ma'am.” They chorused together.

              An interesting fact that Doc learned was that like him, the twins could leave their bodies and let their minds travel the dungeon. They were limited to their room and his heart room, but it was still very impressive for a dungeon monster. According to Claire, the reason they could travel was because they had souls, even if they were dungeon monsters in actuality. Even if Doc lacked a soul, however, he would still be able to move everywhere because he was the dungeon itself.

              Doc and Claire felt the twins arrive in the room like a gentle breeze. Formless, the two watched happily from the walls as Claire sat down to begin.

              "Okay Doc, it's time once again to decide what you want to improve,” she declared, waving her finger, "Do you remember you choices?"

              "Claire, there are new options here.” Doc said in surprise as he read through the options on the wall.

              Claire giggled "Of course silly; as you grow stronger you'll gain more abilities as well. The options you receive in the future will depend on the abilities you chose now, so no dungeon is ever exactly the same.” Claire stared at the mana screen for a moment, 'It seems that magic traps and mana stones are your newest options; most likely because of all the mana usage you've been doing lately. Magic traps are the next step for you and will increase the lethality of your dungeon. On the other tentacle," She stared pointedly at his overslime form, "Mana stones will increase the economic value of your dungeon. Some of your monster may start to drop them, and mages will flock here to acquire them. Since mages are your weakness that may be counter-productive."

              "I really want to see more evolutions for my monsters, so I want the next evolution option.” Doc declared. The twins mentally clapped at his declaration.

              Claire held up a hand, "Before you leap into that option, hear me out. Your slimes are not done gaining new forms; there are many other forms your slimes can change into. Even then, since no dungeon has ever used slimes primarily, there are most likely slimes I've never heard before as well."

              Doc jiggled in agreement, “Well, what do you suggest then?”

              Claire considered his question and tilted her head, "It all depends on what you can get your slimes to eat; that’s the primary method of evolution for slimes."

              Doc paused, "Do you mean the mana stones?"

              Claire clapped her hands happily, "Your intuition is getting better every day! The answer is yes, the mana stone upgrade would definitely unlock the basic elemental slimes for you. Just imagine it: water, fire, earth, and air slimes all crawling around in your dungeon."

              "I want it!" Doc cried out, "I want it!"

              Both the twins and Claire giggled at his youthful exuberance.

              "Poppa, you're really silly."

              Claire added, "Yes, dear, calm yourself.”

              Doc turned completely red at the words, "Hey, you finally called me dear!"

              Now it was Claire's turn to blush, "W…well we have kids now s…so it's appropriate.” She twisted shyly, "Do you like it?"

              "Of course!" The twins giggled and teased Claire as she hid her fiery red face in the plants.

              Doc, not picking upon the situation, turned back to the screen. "Well, I don't need to increase lethality yet, so I guess that's a ‘no’ to traps and environment changes. The teleporting glyphs aren't necessary yet either and I have no desire for another monster race.” Doc turned back to Claire, "Do I have enough capacity to get mana stones and the second evolution upgrade?"

              He finally noticed Claire’s lack of presence, "Claire, where did you go?"

              "Momma is taking a quick break Poppa, but she can hear you through us.” The twins announced, "To answer your question, you can, but you won't be able to grow another floor for a long time. If you chose the Mana Stone option, you'll be able to grow two more floors. If you choose the next evolution upgrade, then you will only be able to create one new floor."

              Doc frowned as he considered the options. His desire to grow outweighed his desire for evolution, so he needed to expand another floor.

              "Wait, I already have a third floor.” Doc realized with a jolt. Previously, he had separated his heart room from the final boss room and moved down a floor, hidden behind a secret wall. Wringing his tentacles together, Doc focused on his third floor.

              It was just a single room, but his power had already permeated the entire level, enough for another floor set. "Okay, I'll get both upgrades!" Doc decided, "Time for more slimes!"

              Instantly, he felt his capacity diminish as his mana was condensed into his crystal body. He felt it grow within his room as it again doubled in size to 4 inches. Doc, drained from the ordeal, smiled weakly as he inspected his body.

              "Now, time to change up the dungeon!"

              Focusing on himself, Doc inspected his current setup. The first floor was straight, holding the mining room and the boss room. The second floor winded around to the second boss room.

              "This is boring now, let's change it up!"

              Doc liked the first floor how it was, but he did move the twins from the first floor to the second floor. He moved his overslime from his final room up to the first floor boss.

              "Poppa, why did you move us down?" The twins asked him curiously.

              "You guys are really strong.” Doc explained, "So I want adventurers to not be discouraged from exploring the rest of the dungeon. Besides, I want a new body."

              Instead of a winding floor, Doc changed the second floor completely. He first made it like the first floor, a simple line, than added a few dead ends and paths that led back to the beginning of the floor. The original 5 rooms were still a part of the floor, but now there were more tunnels than rooms. The last room was, of course, the twin's room and held the staircase down to the third floor.

For the third floor, Doc improved upon his ideas for the previous floor and made it more of a maze style. The main path through the level held three Y-shaped tunnels and each held a false path back to the beginning of the floor. Also, he made sure the fake paths were littered with traps. The main path was actually quite short, reminiscent of the first floor, and led to the plant room.

***

              "Poppa? Poppa!"

              Doc finally came out of his building trance in a startled yelp. He turned and faced the twins, who were staring at him with worried eyes. "What is it girls?"

              "You've been building for two whole days Poppa, and Momma has been sleeping the entire time."

              "What! Is she alright? What about the adventurers, did they get hurt?"

              "She's just sleeping; she's not hurt at all. The adventurers are okay as well. When you started working all the humans and elves were magically ejected from the dungeon. The entrance was blocked until you finished with the first floor, and then each subsequent floor was blocked until you finished with it."

              Doc sighed out in relief; he hadn't wanted to kill all the adventurers so easily. It ruined the point of the whole dungeon experience and cut down on his entertainment.

              "I'm glad, but I'm going to check on you mother now so return to your room girls.” With a chorus of goodbye, he felt the twins move back to their room to wait for their next victim/playmate. Doc flowed into Claire's bed.

              Her magic energy felt fine to him, so he formed a tentacle and tickled her nose. Claire sneezed cutely and yawned. She sat up and stretched out, smiling gently at Doc. "Good morning Doc, did you finish fixing your dungeon?"

              "I did, but explain to me what happened to you. I was worried I messed up." Doc searched her body for any sign of damage.

              Claire giggled, "Are you worried about me? While adorable, there is no need for any. When you undertake large projects, I'll naturally fall asleep until you finish up. It's a safety precaution for us as a species so we don't get caught up in accidents while the dungeon is moving things around. That being said, me falling asleep means that you've reached a sufficient stage of dungeon size, so congratulations."

              Doc smiled happily, "Thanks Claire, I couldn't have done it without you. I have one last thing though; I need to make a new dungeon boss."

              Claire nodded and she got out of bed. Doc appreciated her sleeping attire, which was basically the same as her normal clothed except for the long robes. "Give me a moment to dress and I'll join you in the plant room."

              Shrugging, Doc obliged her and moved his awareness into the plant room. After a moment, Claire flew out in her normal outfit and settled on the floor.

              "The first time you made a dungeon boss, you merely injected your essence into one of your minions. We will be doing the same thing this time, but with a higher evolved slime.” Claire pointed at the ceiling, "Your old dungeon boss will always be the strongest version of its particular species of slime, but now that you're moving into a new boss body, other slimes will begin to evolve into overslimes by themselves. Of course, they will not be present on the first floor, only in the areas after the overslime boss."

              "So, an overslime is one of the evolutions I unlocked?"

              Claire shook her head, "No, an overslime is a 1st tier evolution; it was just locked until you made a new body. This process will repeat until you create a unique dungeon boss of your own. Moving on, let's get to evolving!"

              Claire flew around the room rapidly, sprinkling the floor in pixie dust. When she was done, a glowing blue circle was left in the ground. "Summon the underling you want to evolve,” she announced, "Remember, you can only use the monsters that have already evolved into your dungeon. You can wait for new evolutions, but this will leave you defenseless until you do."

              Doc nodded, "I choose the herb slime."

              Claire almost fell out of the air in surprise, "Really? Why that slime? I would have thought you would have picked the mimic slime or grey slime; both offer good boss forms and are well known."

              Doc nodded in agreement, "Yes, that's it exactly. I want those two to evolve into new forms; not be locked while I play in my new body. I guess I could have picked the overslime again, but I wanted to try something different."