“Ahahah! I’m free! Finally! My omnipotence can rule! And who do I see? Isn’t it this mini-Tharek? So far so long, you’ve aged! You keep on moving with a body as old as yours?”

“Hello Necros.”

“Yeah, yeah, hello. So, what gives me the joy to be back next to you?”

“Those kiddos, there, want to make this town a village. Zymivnyk the name.”

“Oh, hello, little ones! A reaper and a zombie… how sweet! What can I do for you?”

“Money.”

Instant of silence.

The so dynamic and derisive animated skull suddenly stopped moving.

“Greed, heh? You want some precious metal?”

“No, just some dark energy. Much. To infuse metal.”

“Infusers, heh? Mmh… Let’s begin with the beginning, then. My name’s Necros, and each of my servants are called Necros. That’s the way. What did you invoke if you want dark energy? A Tuber melanosporum? A Sarcosoma globosum? A Peziza badia?”

“We don’t know what you’re talking about. We invoked a black slime.”

“A what?!?”

He seemed bewildered.

Well, a black slime…”

“A Myxomycetes? You invoked me in a slimy body?!?”

A brief black flash, and a black slime appeared in front of the skull.

“AaaAAAaaaAAAaaah ! Help! Save me from this body of slime!”

“Hey!”

Mal Tharek imposed himself.

“Silence!”

***

10 minutes.

The time it took so that our slime Necros calms down.

“Ok, I’ll explain you very simply: if you want black matter, what you need his mushrooms. Not slimes! Well, slimes are not exactly mushrooms, but it doesn’t matter. You need mushrooms that form bubbles full of concentrated energy, they liberate after…”

“The black slimes eat luminescent mushrooms to form dark energy…”

“Exactly! They eat other mushrooms! They convert it into black energy! They don’t produce it directly!”

“I don’t understand…”

“You don’t need to understand! Next time you want to produce dark energy, choose a more conveniant mushroom, not a… blob…”

“The slime is also useful for fights, contrary to mushrooms!”

“Hey, I’m not born of the last rain. You don’t know a thing of the damages mushrooms can cause, so stop believing that slimes are everything in life.”

“But we saw slimes swallowing golems!”

“Oh, yeah, very small golems! Metal eater mushrooms can even attack diamond, so calm down! What kind of golems are you talking about?”

…

“Limestone golems…”

…

“Bouhaha ! Oh no, this time! You’re too funny! Ouhaha ! Oh ! Oh ! Ouh !…”

“So, are you gonna obey us?

Silence.

The slime looks at us.

“Know your place. An idol knows only one rule. Do ut des.

Do ut des ?

Is this some kind of magic?

***

“Fortunately, fortunately you have affinity points with me, else, I would not even talk with you… Have you ever studied law?”

What is law even doing here?

“Do ut des is the simplest and the oldest rule of the world: I give you so that you give me. But it’s faster in seven letters, of course. If you give me something, then I will give you something.”

“If we gave you existence, will you obey us?”

“Oh oh! Calm down kiddos! I am an idol! I come to existence thanks to Necros, I just participate of his life, here! I you want me to give you something, just pay the price!”

“What is your offer?”

“Very simple: first, the air here is lowly charged in dark energy. Level 1. I will establish a dome inside which the energy will be twice as concentrated. The level 2. A large part of the dark energy produced by slimes is lost in the air, it will stay inside the dome. The more energy, the bigger the dome. We shall begin with this chapel. Feed me!”

“Mmh… so-so. We would prefer getting dark energy under the pill form.”

“Same rate: feed me. But it will be more difficult to stock dark energy. I can form a giant slime: storage capacity, 20 units. Enough to fill a bronze piece, at your level.”

“Not quite bad… and we want you to protect the village.”

New laugh burst.

“With slimes? Bouhahaha !”

***

5 minutes.

He’s definitely hard to calm down.

“If you want me to defend the village with slimes, I can protect you against slimes and limestone golems, not more. Eventually against flying foxes, but not in too many number. Well, they live quite well with slimes, I won’t fight with them… but not against adventurers or warriors!”

“Okay, we have a deal. I go back to the village. Meet me back there, I will give you the next missions to develop the village.”

“Okay, thanks Mal Tharek! See you soon!”

Necros repeated what I just said on a mocking tone.

“Thanks Mal Tharek… beurk! Ciao mini Tharek! And never ever invoke me again if it’s to be a black slime!”

“It’s not him who chooses, it’s us.”

“By the way, who are you?”

“I’m Jules, and here’s Jean. Oh, and there, it’s Georges, the chapel architect.”

“Hi”

“Hi mister Necros.”

“Yeah, yeah, hi, hi. Okay, if you want to make this village a place worthy of me, you will have to feed me, beginning with an increase on the mushroom production. This field is too small. What do you plan to do?”

“We don’t really know yet…”

“Okay, doesn’t matter… we will do with what is here… it won’t be much…”

“You can at least control the slimes so that they don’t loose the dark energy of the mushrooms by going away?”

“I told you, I can nearly not store anything. But we have to begin with something!”

***

To have an idol at a mushroom field has several advantages.

First, slime control.

As soon as we arrive, the idol gives orders to the monsters present around here, and as slimes are weak creatures, they obey immediately.

About twenty slimes can be present, eating mushrooms, and as many can be immobilized in a corner to stock the dark energy they have on them.

Second, slime improvement.

With our competences, to invoke the Necros idol gives us a 20% bonus on slimes.

Said differently, they eat faster, level up faster, are stronger in battles, and give more experience points when we fight them.

At our level, it’s already negligible, but for beginners, or even monsters, it’s a precious gain of time.

And if it’s needed, the idol can select the best slime and leave the other go.

A kind of genetic improvement, in a way.

Third, event tracking.

Information is of essence in many victories.

A small business activity as this one needs information.

The idol will give it us.

But it will have a price.

Do ut des.

The rule is absolute for idols.

Giving a mushroom is enough right now, this field will give food to our slime idol.

And the chapel will give him a place to live.

But it should also give us quests, to improve its living conditions.

Do ut des.

It’s true in both ways.

Enough to establish a win-win relationship!

But Gandock already gave us pieces of advices to break this rule!

Yes, many things are not as absolute as they seem to be!