Part of me was disappointed to find the Slime less vibrant than the bright blues of Dragon Quest. A mundane stone gray makes more sense biologically speaking but a part of my childhood died with that logic. Regardless of my musings the slime bounced onwards towards my red mushroom defense. To get rid of the invasive feeling boiling inside of me, I ordered the Living Shadow to attack the slime.

Responding to my order the Living Shadow slipped out from its corner, homing in on the gelatinous slime. Passing underneath without notice from the slime, my monster revealed a new part of itself to me.

Emerging from the darkness, a shadow cloaked, clawed hand slowly rose behind the slime. Only the size of my old human hands, this monster’s fingers were more similar to kitchen knives than standard digits. Despite being constructed out of solid darkness the claws seemed sharpened to a razors edge.

Perhaps sensing their assassin the slime attempted a bounce quickly to the right. But this realization came too late and the Living Shadow’s claw thrust through the gelatinous form. Effortlessly cutting through the slightly acidic slime, the fingers gripped around the energy filled core that gave it life and structure, crushing it into pieces. With its core gone the gelatin lost its shape and quickly dispersed across the wooden floor. Needless to say I activated [Remote Absorption] in hopes to gain some mana from the kill.

*ABSORPTION COMPLETE 14 MANA COLLECTED

*NEW CREATURE HAS BEEN ABSORBED, “SMALL CAVE SLIME” ADDED TO CREATE CREATURES LIST

While the slime invasion had been scary I had gained much greater confidence in my Living Shadow’s capabilities. I’ve also learned an important lesson thanks to the slime. It seems living creatures are able to detect the energy coming from the core of the dungeon. Which answers why the slime had headed in a straight line towards the core instead of searching around the shack. This energy will put me in danger more often but also bring a steady stream of creatures to the shack. After absorbing it completely the voice also let me know I could create “Small Cave Slimes”. That raises the question of why I can’t create a human given I’ve absorbed one before but there isn’t much I can do to change how the voice works right now.

Attempting to create the slime resulted in a slightly smaller but otherwise identical version of the gelatinous invader. After coming into existence it wobbled around for awhile before staking it’s claim underneath the straw mattress. Satisfied with the newest addition to the dungeon I opened up my status again.

Unnamed Dungeon Level 2

Mana Capacity 39/500

Passive Regen Rate 10/day

Floors: 1

Named Creatures: 0

Skills: Remote Absorption, Create Creature, Create Flora, Dungeon Status, Naming

Traits: Fast Paced

Having learned from my earlier mistakes with mana costs I jotted it down in my mind. My mana had been at a flat 50 when the original slime came in. The Living Shadow killed it for 14 mana. I currently possess 39 mana, so a single Small Cave Slime costs 25 mana to make.

After doing the same test with the Red Mushrooms I learned that they cost 5 mana each. With some simple math given the number of shrooms I was able to calculate that each Living Shadow would cost a hefty 75 mana. Reaching level 1 had cost me 300 mana and I need to store up 500 for level 2. After that level up I’ll have absolutely no energy in exchange for further skills.

So in summary. To level up and gain new options, assuming nothing else enters the shack, I need to do absolutely nothing for... 50 days.

Needless to say, that’s not happening. Thinking on the problem further the only reasonable way to make mana is farming monsters like the slime. Given that the slime’s death earned me over an entire day of mana generation that seems the best course of action. But how best to draw more in? I now understand the core will lure in wild animals but letting them get too close will result in danger. I need to leave it visible and appealing, but in reality hidden behind layers of bullet proof glass in the form of my creatures.

Actually... the slime could already sense the orb and decided to risk going for it. All I need to do is make more creatures notice the core in the first place. So I commanded my Living Shadow to try pushing open the wooden door. This should create an influx in the number of invaders but with two monsters on my side now I hope to rise to that challenge. Leaving things to chance is not an option. This dungeon is tied to my own survival now. Its growth is my growth, and its defenses might as well be my health bar. Without them I could only watch as the core is shattered right in front of me.

So with a mentally breath I commanded the door be opened and as the cool outside air flew in I settled down to wait.