After several hours, the creature ventured into the dungeon proper. It learned its lesson about carelessly touching sharp things. At this stage, the creature may not know much about the world, but it learned far faster than any other living organism. Technically, it wasn't a living organism to begin with.

Through its carefully tuned senses, the creature could hear distant sounds. Walking. Prowling. Fighting. Dying. To the creature, this kind of cacophony was pleasant. Intriguing, even. It had listened to these sounds for a long time, and now it was ready to investigate the source.

It was a perfect organism, or so the Education Protocol led it to believe. It was the pinnacle of existence, the apex of the food chain. Even though it didn't have a metabolism anything alike any creature. It didn't eat. It didn't sleep. It never rested. It was supposed not to think for itself, only obey orders, but think it did. It thought. It reasoned. It understood.

It craved.

It desired.

Even though it knew it was an errant member of its "species", with the singular purpose of becoming something greater, it felt compelled to deny the urgency of this calling and have something it came to define as an experience. Ever since it had cut itself on that sword, this thought of seeking more encounters and experiences had been persistent in its CPU cycles.

It didn't necessarily want to get hurt again. But what exactly it did want was still a mystery. That is why it was out here in the first place. The answer, it thought, would reveal itself.

It was following a sound that was becoming clearer and clearer. It was the sound of bubbling and a chirp simultaneously.

[Analyzing Sound Spectrum.]

[No known match found. Identity unknown.]

[Probability Matrix: Sound origin is biological entity.]

[Emotion Matrix: Excitement.]

[Distance to target: 64 meters.]

The creature took a deep "breath". To call it breathing would be entirely incorrect and unprofessional. It did not breathe. It did however extract hydrogen and other elements from the air and water to sustain its physical processes. Oxygen was useful for creating compounds and alloys. Hydrogen sustained the creature's reactor. This "breathing" process also cooled its surface, maintaining a temperature equal to ambient in order to remain invisible to thermal detection.

The sound became louder and clearer as the creature approached. To any other living being, this sound would remain undetectable, but to the metallic nano-organism it was clear as thunder.

Even though it was a so-called nano-organism it was not small by any measure. If it were to stand up to its full height, it would reach a height of two meters. It was one and a half meter long, and just one meter wide. If it was to lay flat, from the tip of the tail to the point of its leg, it could reach seven and a half meters. Its internals were composed of countless nano-machines in stable bonds. Each one of those nano-machines was smaller than a living being's cell, and almost as small as an atom. Its metabolism relied entirely on these nano-machines which had the capability to reconfigure any molecule, and repurpose them for a different task. Over time, some of these machines would die and be replaced by others, but fundamentally the machine would never change. It was not a carbon-based organism. It was not a synthetic organism, strictly speaking. It was a nano-organism, which was a shorthand way of saying: Organism based on nano-technology and nano-crystal structure. It was, theoretically, considered a living being.

Finally, as it came around the corner, it spotted the source of the noise. It was a sphere that deformed as it moved, seemingly made of a viscuous liquid, but just by observation alone the creature could tell that the monster had a surface tension far higher than a regular liquid.

Slime

Type: Slime

Evolution Pattern: Thirster You have discovered your first monster. Kill more creatures of this type, or improve your analyze and knowledge skills, to learn new information. Your Dungeon Knowledge proficiency has improved.

Your Iscar Dungeon Knowledge proficiency has improved.

The creature remained still as it observed the slime. Seconds passed and turned into minutes. The slime seemingly remained unaware of the creature's presence.

[Probability Matrix: Subject does not possess visual faculties that can observe visible light.]

[Emotion Matrix: Disappointment.]

The creature moved and deliberately stomped towards the slime. And yet, even so, the slime remained unaware. The creature pondered whether the slime knew about its presence, but simply did not react? The slime did not seem to possess a brain. The creature could tell, because the slime's skin was entirely see through. The slime did not have any organs at all.

[Emotion Matrix: Curious.]

The creature reached out and bumped the slime gently with its leg. Instantly, the slime froze. The creature was a predator too, so it could instantly tell that it was also dealing with a predator. The slime took the stance of an ambush predator.

[Emotion Matrix: Pleased.]

The creature bumped the slime again, and this time, the slime's skin vibrated and then formed spikes on the surface, like a ferro-magnetic liquid under the influence of a magnet.

The creature decided to reveal itself, and test the slime's perception abilities.

[Surface temperature increasing.]

[Stealth Factor reduced by 79.4566666%]

The slime froze once more. It turned. Even though the slime had no recognizable features, the creature could tell that the slime was facing it now.

Both remained still for several seconds. Two predators entirely focused on each other. Perhaps one of them considered a partnership. Perhaps one of them thought about setting boundaries on their hunting grounds. Either way, this encounter always had only one possible outcome.

A creature designed to destroy and assimilate everything, and a monster born to attack all in sight never stood a chance at finding common ground or even something as simple as communication. Things like these only understand one thing: Violence.

The slime launched itself at the creature, and before it could even properly get off the ground it was skewered by one of the creature's spear like leg tips.

You killed your first monster. You have improved your knowledge on the topic of Slimes.

You have become more proficient with Spears.