The world is a really strange place. There is just too much detail for one really to grasp all of it in its entirety. Especially if that someone is a slime who had not survived for more than a few minutes before today. And that slime hadn’t even seen anything until just a few minutes ago. Not in the truest sense of the word.

Instead, sitting outside the Boss Room, all thought processes ground to a halt, this non-theoretical slime monster was in awe at all the detail it could pick out. It could see a room around it, knowing exactly where each cave wall was, how big the door behind it actually was, and even the faint circle of light pouring in from the directions that all adventuring parties came from.

And, yes, it discovered that its earlier thoughts about the “strangely angled wall” were, in fact, wrong. It now knew that the longer that it was actually alive, the more it would learn. And being wrong, for the first time of what would most likely be many, taught it not to take everything that it saw at face value. Even the small amounts of rocks lying on the ground nearby could be hiding something.

Ok… Maybe not, it pondered, but with other creatures, that is probably something to remember. The monster shrugged internally, since the part that would normally do so was non-existent. It slid forward for a bit, still marvelling at everything it could actually see. And now that it could see, it was time to look around this cave and get ready to raid it before those adventurers had the chance to…

The Dungeon of Newb was incredibly simple. If one were to look at it with an aerial view, they would see a structure not unlike that of a tree. A very stark, unimaginative tree. Starting from the entrance to the dungeon, which our slime did in order to check about how long it had before the next party would reach where it would be, the entry room was about ten meters wide by seven meters long, and not entirely un-box like. The corners, which could actually be found, were rounded rather sharply, standing almost out of place in a cave structure.

The entrance stood directly across from the path leading deeper in. This path, being about five meters across, continued straight back, with five other paths branching out from it: three on the left side, and two on the right. Each of these branches, being smaller at about three meters across, would extend back about ten meters to thirty meters themselves, all of them coming to a dead end. They weren’t exactly straight, but were straight enough that as soon as an adventurer came around each corner, they would be able to see the end.

After these plain branches, the ante-chamber to the Boss room blossomed out from the main path. It was about eight meters wide at its widest point and about twenty meters long, being just shy of a perfect oval. If one were feeling particularly creative, they could say it looked like the “tree” had a single “leaf” coming out of the top. And it ended at the Boss Room door. And that ended the slime’s investigation of the Dungeon of Newb.

While it wondered why the Boss’s door didn’t open, the monster didn’t think too long about it. All in all, it was about two-hundred fifty meters from the entrance to the door. And it took the slime about an hour to search it all. It would have been done sooner than that, but it kept getting distracted by the colors around it. And the entrance was the worst. Outside the cave looked so tantalizing that the slime would probably have been drooling, had it actually had saliva producing capabilities. It wasn’t ready for that yet, or so it told itself. It would stay here, get strong enough to clear the dungeon on its own, and defeat the boss. Preferably not dying during it all.

While it was on its way back towards the entrance of Newb, it heard a *pop*. It was only passing the third branch when the sound seemed to echo all around it, followed by a new message:

--- The Dungeon of Newb has respawned. Happy hunting!

Wait, it is respawning now!? The slime was understandably perplexed. It had not been two whole hours yet, had it? Maybe it had. Guess I’ll enact my plan now, while the dungeon is fresh. Hurrying down the nearest branch, the slime went full battle mode. That is, stealth up the nearest monster, and take it out as quickly as it could!

Just under twenty minutes later, it was resting outside the Boss Room watching the clearly unhappy adventuring thieves heading towards the exit. Only then did it look over the various notifications it had received.

--- Congratulations, you are the victor! You have gained the following:

- You have gained the following skills: Mighty Blow, Stealth Attack.

- You have gained the Talent, Lucky [Luck +5].

- Congratulations! The amount of EXP you have gained has increased due to defeating your opponent in a single hit. You are now a Level 3 Slime: Might +1, Vigor +2, Intelligence +1.

- The following Attributes have been boosted by Increased Potential: All Physical Attributes +1, Luck +2.

This particular encounter ended because the rat was surprised when the monster slammed into its head from the shadows, not being seen or heard. The rat must have been still orienting itself from spawning. It triggered something called a “critical strike” when that happened. That is probably where “Lucky” came from.

--- Congratulations, you are the victor! You have gained the following:

- You have created the following Attributes: Mental - Resolve; Bonus - Soul. Each newly created Attribute has increased by +1.

- You have gained the Skill - Heat Resistance.

- Congratulations! The following skills have been improved:

- Body Manipulation has improved from Inept to Untrained. Finesse +1. Vigor +1, Soul +1.

- Mighty Blow has improved from Inept to Untrained. Might +3.

- Stealth has improved from Untrained to Amatuer. Finesse +3, Agility +1.

- Stealth Attack has improved from Inept to Untrained. Might +1, Finesse +1, Agility +1.

- Toughness has improved from Inept to Untrained. Vigor +3.

- You have gained the Talent, Gutsy [Grit +3, Resolve +2].

- Congratulations! You are now a Level 5 Slime: Might +2, Vigor +4, Intelligence +2.

- The following Attributes have been boosted by Increased Potential: Awareness +2, Soul +2, Luck +2.

This fight had been a little bit more challenging. Down the branch that could be called its former “home”, something interesting happened. What had spawned here was a lizard type creature that the slime had never heard of before. It was about the size of the giant rats it had fought thus far, with large yellow stripes spreading from the base of their skulls, across their sailed backs, and to the tips of their tails. And there were three of them.

At first, the slime considered that they might be too hard to face and found it odd that the lizard things were right next to each other. However, it deemed that this had been an acceptable risk as it considered how much stronger it had grown up to that time. And, looking back at it now, that was probably one of the most suicidal thoughts that it had since it began this “grow stronger and survive” plan.

It turns out that they could breathe fire, and were fairly quick on their feet. The slime had been able to ambush the first of the three, but unlike its most recent encounter with a rat, this did not finish off the lizard in one blow, even with the additional damage from both Mighty Blow and Stealth Attack. What happened next could be described as the slime monster’s first real fight.

The lizard that it attacked was a little out of sorts, so the slime thought that it might be able to finish off the beast with another slam. While in mid-air, another lizard snapped down at where it had been just a moment ago. The slime attempted to alter its trajectory to avoid landing in the near proximity of those two beasts when the third swiped it out of the air with its tail.

--- You have resisted an attack.

The slime bounced off one of the walls and rolled to a stop some five meters from the pack of lizards. As it regained its senses after being tossed about like a ball, its world was bathed in a bright red light.

--- You have been burned for 10 Life.

--- You have caught fire and will continue to burn for 15 seconds.

Well now, the monster thought, that actually hurt! And the secondary effect ensured that it continued to hurt for some time after the first wave of damage. It turned out that elemental damage also bypassed some of its defense… or it just hurt that much. The slime thought that second option would be unlikely, seeing as this dungeon is still a newbie dungeon. So, maybe there was some merit to a “special monster” appearing.

After that fire attack, and another 15 Life later, the slime finished off the lizards. The amount of dodging and weaving that it had to do to avoid getting thrown back again afforded it a Rank in Body Manipulation. It turned out that the “lizards'' were really just part of a three-headed and tailed version of a lizard. This seemed to reinforce the slime’s thought about a “special monster”, as it had gained enough Experience, also known as EXP, to gain two Power Levels. The slime wouldn’t complain about the unexpected boon, as aside from the fire breath (which the lizards were not able to use again during the fight), the other Monster had been unable to cause it further harm.

After that fight, the single slime attempted to reach the third and final path before it heard the Adventurers. So, it left the final branch unexplored, and headed for the Boss door. It then used its Stealth Skill to pretend to be a rock. Several minutes later, the adventuring Party passed it by, unperturbed about the stone lying off to one side of the room. They approached the door, which opened up as they drew close, and proceeded to fight the Boss. During this fight, the slime moved behind the door like before, and pretended to be a stone once more. And the Party once again passed right by it being none the wiser.

Now that it was caught up on its rewards, it opened its Stats once more to see how much it had grown, and boost its strength even further.

**

Name:

Species: Slime, Grey

Age: 1 month

Power Level: 5 (35%)

Life: 67/81 (00:02:18)

Mana: 8/8

Soul: 21/21

Physical:

- Might: 11

- Finesse: 10

- Agility: 5

- Vigor: 14

- Grit: 7

Mental:

- Intelligence: 8

- Awareness: 3

- Resolve: 3

Bonus:

- Luck: 12

- Soul: 4

Abilities:

Slime Body

Increased Potential

Energy Sense

Skills:

Body Manipulation [+] - Untrained (17%)

Heat Resistance - Inept (90%)

Iron Will - Inept (20%)

Mighty Blow [+] - Untrained (13%)

Stealth - Amatuer (10%)

- Hidden One

Stealth Attack [+] - Untrained (11%)

Toughness [+] - Untrained (23%)

Talents:

Lucky

Gutsy

**

-- Body Manipulation has the following boosts available:

- Shifter: Increase one’s ability for taking on shapes outside their own.

- Evader: Increase one’s ability to avoid attacks.

--- Congratulations, you have acquired the skill boost: Evader. Agility +1.

Heat Resistance

“Is it me, or did this fire just get colder?”

Your body has become more adept at resisting heat and fire.

The amount of damage taken from such sources, both natural and magical, have been reduced by 5%.

You are currently Inept in this skill - 5 Skill Points remain until you increase in mastery.

Mighty Blow

“Feel the power of my fist!”

Your strikes are capable of dealing enhanced physical damage.

The amount of additional damage dealt is equal to 10% of the total damage dealt.

You are currently Untrained in this skill - 435 Skill Points remain until you increase in mastery.

-- You may now choose one of the following boosts:

- One Punch: Increases one’s basic damage base.

- Rapid Strikes: Increases one’s attack speed.

--- Congratulations, you have acquired the skill boost: One Punch. Might +1.

Stealth Attack

“Right to the left kidney!”

You now know about the benefits of ambushing your opponents.

Any attack made from a position of Stealth will be boosted in damage by an additional 50%.

You are currently Untrained in this skill - 445 Skill Points remain until you increase in mastery.

-- You may now choose one of the following boosts:

- Targeted Strike: Increases one’s ability to pinpoint an opponent’s weak points

- Faint Attack: Allows the use of Stealth Attack through the art of distraction.

--- Congratulations, you have acquired the skill boost: Faint Attack. The Attribute, Bonus - Allure, has been created and increased to 1. Allure +1.

Toughness

The amount of physical damage that you resist is now 10%.

-- You may now choose one of the following boosts:

- Extra Padding: Increases one’s Life force.

- Physically Tough: Increases one’s durability.

--- Congratulations, you have acquired the skill boost: Physically Tough. The amount of damage you can resist with the skill, Toughness, has increased to 12.5%.

The slime sat for a moment, revelling in its new Stats. These skill boosts were really quite something. If they had flavor to them, one could probably call them ‘tasty’. The monster then turned its attention to the new ability selection. In addition to the previous options, Consume, Increased Vitality, and Increased Soul, there was one new option: Energy Awareness.

Energy Awareness

“Energy is like the ocean: it ebbs and it flows.”

The energy around you begins to connect with your own.

You may now access energy related skills and talents with less difficulty.

Requires - Energy Sense, Minimum Intelligence = 5.

This new choice would require much contemplation, the monster pondered. The way this works, or as said monster understood the situation, is that each ability that it would gain allows it the opportunity to gain better and greater abilities, which would, in turn, also allow it to find additional skills. Skills increase in rank, which would net it the Attributes necessary to gain those greater abilities. The slime then reasonably arrived at the questions that most do when presented with such a choice: What route to power will I take? And could I, one day, obtain them all?

It didn’t know, but it began to think about how it would desire to stay alive. So far, it couldn’t recover its Life very quickly. Maybe with higher Attributes, it could. But that would leave it with additional Life that it had to lose. And that, in turn, means that it could take a lot more damage. So, having a means to heal itself would be beneficial. And the only means it could see available to it at that moment was Consume.

On the other blob, Energy Awareness could continue to open up paths into using that energy around it. It thought it saw one adventurer heal up another when it managed to actually hurt them. That was shortly before it was vaporized… at least, as far as it could remember… Curse this memory loss! The slime was really irritated that it had died so much during its first month of life and had almost nothing to show for it. Almost, that is, until now. That thought cheered it up slightly. If it wasn’t irritated by the memory loss, it may never have attempted turning on its own dungeon. It only felt the briefest of pity for the others that were so blind to the clear answer… and that brief bout lasted only until it turned its attention once more to the abilities that lay before it.

Anyway, as it was considering: If the Energy Awareness ability allowed it the opportunity to heal itself, somewhere along the road, then that would also shore up its shortcoming in its overall survival. But that was a big if. And a big when. If and when it happened, then that shortcoming would be overcome. It briefly reviewed the other two options, but the limited understanding of what, exactly, they did caused the monster to dismiss them. It currently didn’t have the luxury of testing out the unknowns. But, maybe someday, it would. Balancing the two options left, the slime made a decision.

--- Congratulations! You have gained the following:

- You have acquired the new Ability: Energy Awareness.

- The following Attributes have been created: Mental - Willpower, Caliber. All newly created attributes have been increased to 1.

- You have acquired the following skills: Energy Absorption, Energy Expulsion.

Now that this issue was resolved, it considered one other aspect of its Stats. It was the current data entry. With its greatly improved mental capacity, it understood that it would like to be separated from its peers, being known by something other than “Slurp”, “Glorp”, or any other sounds that slimes made that could be misinterpreted as “Hey, you!”. Someday, it would make Monster history, and it wanted a name to take with it to that end. So, it considered for a long time what kind of name would suit a famous slime monster. Considering it had never heard of another name before, it had a lot of trouble knowing what was good or not. Actually, that wasn’t entirely true. And considering that it wanted to conquer this place and many others, being known by that name could strike fear into the very adventurers that had slain it so many times. And so, without further ado, it brought up its Stats and focused on the Name section.

--- You are currently unnamed. Would you like to rename yourself “Newb”, per your desires?

Why, yes. Yes, I would...