《Is it Really Ok for a Dungeon Master to Manage a Dungeon?》 Chapter One: Or How I Became a Real Dungeon Master My name isn¡¯t important. Or rather, my real name isn¡¯t important. Things like age, gender, race/ethnicity, they all don¡¯t have meaning here. Why you ask? It¡¯s simple; because I¡¯m a Dungeon Master. No not that kind of Dungeon Master. A tabletop roleplaying dungeon master. The kind who makes fantasy stories for their friends to play a long. The kind who spins out scenarios after scenarios no matter what route my players take because I have backup plans after backup plans and a solid grasp of the world. Where anyone can be anything, no matter what they are in real life. That¡¯s the sort of mentality we DMs have. Or at least, the type of mentality we should have. Why am I telling you this? Oh that¡¯s right, it¡¯s because all my online friends turned out to be real monsters who asked me to manage their run down dungeon. Huh, I guess I am that sort of Dungeon Master after all. Maybe it¡¯s best if I start from the beginning? My life was pretty ordinary. By day I had a pretty good job as working as an assistant manager for a small convenience store. I won¡¯t bore you with how I had to work my ass off day in and day out climbing the surprisingly cut throat ranks to become an assistant manager. Yeah it was more responsibility but it sure beat cleaning the toilets. But by night, oh man by night, it was like I was a completely different person. See by night I was ¡°The Dark Lord DM.¡± Lord DM was more of a username than a title. As a kid fantasy books and movies were all I would read and watch. So when I heard DnD was a thing I jumped on it as fast as I could. In an era where information is exchanged at light speed thanks to the internet, I managed to find out there were several forums and tools dedicated to tabletop roleplaying of any kind. No longer did nerds have to meet up in someone¡¯s basement and play, they could simply use the internet to get together and play. So I signed up and started looking for a group to play with. Being an edgy young teenager who thought it¡¯d be cool if he posed as some sort of demon king type of DM, I gave myself the username ¡°The Dark Lord DM¡± or Lord DM for short. In hindsight, the username, while unique enough to be used, was pretty generic as other people had similar if not cooler variations of the name. Since usernames and characters are sort of a brand in the DnD world, the site wouldn¡¯t let a person change their name without a fee, which wasn¡¯t something 15 year old me was gonna cough up any time soon. By the time I was old enough that the fee wasn¡¯t that big of a deal for me to pay up, I had already been known by a few groups that changing it would be a big hassle to notify all my players. I wasn¡¯t like a famous DM by a long shot, with big production podcasts or web series of some kind, but I managed enough groups to be known around the forums. As a DM, I was known for trying any setting and material as long as it was interesting enough, and as a player I¡¯d always play as a Demon King who thought he was a hero. Playing evil characters who think they¡¯re good and fail at it were the funniest to me, but there were very few DMs who had a campaign that fit that sort of character, so I stuck managing than playing. It¡¯d probably better to call me a GM instead of a DM since I played other systems alongside DnD, but the habit and name stuck before I realized the difference truly. Some people might say it¡¯d be better to change my name, or at least make the distinction obvious, but it wasn¡¯t exactly my style. Anyways, I had about three groups that I circulated around. Some people would say that¡¯s insane, managing three different campaigns at once, but it worked out for me. See not everyone has the luxury of playing every week or every month really. And as someone who loves DnD, the wait in between was always so boring. So I took on several groups in order to fill in all that free time. I couldn¡¯t let the opportunity to play go to waste after all. My current group was the most interesting by a long shot. They were hardcore RP¡¯ers. That meant they stayed in character even outside of their campaign and any discussions we had. Now I had a few run ins with this type before, but never someone as dedicated as this group. Normally I didn¡¯t play with these type of players often because if you¡¯re not careful, it can turn into a huge ordeal. But this group had an interesting dynamic. In order we had: Claire, the cyclops giant who was a berserker and the muscle of the group Johan, a surprisingly even tempered orc who was more of a tactician and magic wielder Darnelle, a happy go lucky demon who just wanted to sing and dance like the true bard he was Voop, a small slime cube who wanted to evolve as quickly as possible into a dangerous poison monster And finally Patty, a young harpy girl who was trying to be some sort of demon knight even though I kept suggesting for her to be a long range fighter. Our setting was that they were a group of monsters protecting their dungeon from hero NPCs that I managed in order to bring the destruction of humanity that terrorized the oppressed monster kind and summon the legendary Demon King. With a campaign like that, I couldn¡¯t say no! I could finally have my cake and eat it too; that is, play my failed good guy demon king player (as an NPC of course) and manage a campaign that ticked all my boxes. Talk about a win-win situation. After each session, the group would always thank me, their supposed Demon King, for all the training I was giving them. I always laughed when they did this, thinking it was supposedly an inside joke. The group were already tight knit to begin with, which wasn¡¯t that uncommon with player groups, and their eccentric behavior grew on me. One day an interesting conversation was struck up in our group chat. FlightlessBirb (Patty): HHEY BOSS HEY HEY CAN WE DO A SESSSION TODAY? I WANNA SSE IF MY NEW TACTICS CAN WORK WITH WHATEVER BOSS HAS IN STORE! The_Dark_Lord_DM (me): if everyone else is free then i can do a session tonight lol Jingle_Jangle (Darnelle): OOH A SESSION YOU SAY? A WONDERFUL IDEA PATRICIA. IT¡¯S THE HEROES OFF SEASON ANYWAYS SO IT¡¯S PERFECT FOR SOME TRAINING! See what I mean? Always in character even outside of sessions. Talk about dedication. The_Dark_Lord_DM: u guys sure love being in character lol The_Dark_Lord_DM: but yeah ive got some ideas for the next session anyways to go over with you guys Lords_Retainer (Johan): Lord, if I may, I have a few suggestions. The_Dark_Lord_DM: lol what? Lords_Retainer: Perhaps we should do¡­ an in person session? Jingle_Jangle: WOAH WAIT JOHAN YOU DON¡¯T MEAN The_Dark_Lord_DM: ???? The_Dark_Lord_DM: dont u guys like live all over the world? its easier this way isnt it? VoopTheGloop (Voop): VOOP WISHES TO JOIN YES VoopTheGloop: VOOP VERY MUCH WISHES TO SEE THE BOSS! FlightlessBirb: YESSS LETS PLEASE BOSS BLEASE BPLEASE PLEASE!!! £¨£Þ£ö£Þ£© Really, these guys always get so over excited without thinking. The_Dark_Lord_DM: uh guys dont forget about things like timezones and junk. its like super late 4 me and shit The_Dark_Lord_DM: plus i can¡¯t just take time off to join you guys just to play dnd The_Dark_Lord_DM: no matter how much i want to OneEyedGal (Claire): UH I THINK WHAT JOHAN¡¯S ASKIN IS TO LIKE SUMMON THE DEMON KING RIGHT? Lords_Retainer: Exactly. The_Dark_Lord_DM: OH U GUYS JUST WANT ME TO LET YOU SUMMON THE DEMON KING IN SESSION Lords_Retainer: That¡¯s what I said m¡¯lord. The_Dark_Lord_DM: lol dude thats completely different than what u were suggesting. but if u you guys roll well enough in sesh, i can totes do it FlightlessBirb: (*¨R¨Œ¨Q) YAYYYY The_Dark_Lord_DM: my breaks over guys see ya when i get home then In a few hours I would come to regret this decision. Work was killer and I was half tempted to tell my group that I was planning to postpone our next session until tomorrow just so I could knock out and sleep. But the more I thought about the possibility of my players meeting my Demon King character formally, the more excited I got. I got greedy at the idea of finally being to play along with my friends, clashing with the heroes I had created for their enjoyment. No longer will the Demon King be a shadowy figure they were chasing, trying to follow in his footsteps against the tyrannical rule of humans. He¡¯d step out of the shadows and go ¡°here I am¡± and cut down the human heroes that he thought were villains. Stepping off the train and making my way back to my small crappy apartment home, I couldn¡¯t help but vibrate in excitement. Because I already had plans for even if my players failed, succeeded, and everything in between. It was going to be great. There was nothing better than that exhilarating feeling of holding the world in your hand and knowing you could crush it in an instant if you so choose. Rushing through my door, I shouted ¡°I¡¯m here!¡± as if my friends could hear me and began to furiously prepare for the session. I took out my manuals, my dice, dicebox, snacks, water, mic, everything. To help prep me to get into the proper DM mindset, I even put on my cosplay robe.This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. It¡¯s kind of embarrassing, but when I was younger I liked to cosplay my DM persona, and had this robe specially made by my mom. It was worn around the edges, and a little small, but I couldn¡¯t help but wear it every time I was in my serious DM mode. When I was younger and it fit properly, it would give off a large fluttering effect. The edges had gold colored felt to mimic golden embroidered triangles and other geometric patterns. The robe was a dark blue that looked almost black and had purple embellishments on it. It had a hood that had stuffed pointed horns into it and when I was still in my cosplaying phase I¡¯d wear an eyepatch and white gloves to complete the look. Now I only wore the robe as a sort of cape as it was pretty tight. Ten years really made a difference, didn¡¯t it? But still, it had such sentimental value to me that I couldn¡¯t help but wear it in some way, even if it was just around my shoulders. With everything in place, I quickly contacted my group and told them to get all started. Normally my player¡¯s connection was pretty bad, with their mic audio being echoey and laggy, but tonight it was even worse. ¡°ARE YOU READY GUYS?¡± I asked, more than pumped up. ¡°HELL YEAH BOSS!¡± came Patty¡¯s shrill girly voice. VoopTheGloop: VOOP IS READY! Voop, who was mute, always wrote his responses in the chat, and had his rolls called out by the others. ¡°I¡¯m ready when you are m¡¯lord,¡± came Johan¡¯s calm voice. It sounded distant but not echoey like the others; it seems he was in a different location for once. ¡°I¡¯M BURNIN¡¯ UP AND READY TO GO. WE¡¯RE ALL HERE AREN¡¯T WE SO LET¡¯S JUST START ALREADY!¡± Claire shouted. Her voice was tinny thanks to her audio quality but with her volume it was easy to hear her. There was the sound of nature around her that could be heard in a distorted way so I figured she must be playing with her window open. ¡°Um excuse me, don¡¯t forget me, most important member of the group obviously,¡± Darnelle said in his usual flamboyant manner. I could hear other voices in the background, as if he were in a cafe or something. I normally didn¡¯t like my players to be in public spaces, since it always felt embarrassing, but I couldn¡¯t help it so I took what I could get. ¡°OH SHUT IT DARNELLE,¡± Claire said with a growl. ¡°No fighting!¡± I warned as I began my set up. I had the group be on the run from the hero¡¯s commanding army, whos sworn duty was to defeat the Demon King and make sure he never rises again. They had to several dex checks as well as perception check to see if they were being pursued or not and to have them gather the necessary ingredients for their summoning spell. They were all rolling pretty well. Too well if you asked me. I squinted in suspicion that they might be fudging the numbers, so I upped the stakes. I had the hero¡¯s army be one step ahead of them so that they were pinned in their spawn area, trying to summon their Demon King. Their acting was always top notch though, which is why I rarely complained about the audio quality, and today was no exception. Whenever I had Claire fight off a guard, she¡¯d play sound effects in the background and would grunt and shout at them with enough passion as if she was in the heat of battle. Patty¡¯s voice would always go up a decibel when she was in a tight spot, and she¡¯d play loud bird screeching noises for added effect. Darnelle would sing as if his life depended on it and would actually play instruments; but that would be a given since he was a musician. Johan was on a whole other league though, he¡¯d stay cool even during all the fight scenes I¡¯d throw at him and would make exceptional sound effects; the guy was such a pro I always was left wondering if he was a professional voice actor or something to that degree. Only Voop, who was mute, wouldn¡¯t act out. But his replies in our chat was always filled with profanity and great reactions that one couldn¡¯t help but laugh. My players were seriously dedicated. Something like that always made my heart soar; to be with a group of players who took everything to the extreme but in a good way, to share in all these fun times with friends. It gave my boring normal life some adventure and fun from the safety of my home. As I was describing the scenario, I could hear the group¡¯s voices overlap. ¡°S-SHIT, JOHAN, GIVE ME SOME BACK UP!¡± Claire¡¯s voice rung out. ¡°THEY HAVE A WHITE MAGE, I¡¯M DOING THE BEST I CAN,¡± Johan spat back; it was one of the few times he ever lost his cool. I could hear Darnelle¡¯s bells in the background and heard his voice through Johan¡¯s mic before his. ¡°O¡¯ UNHOLY LIGHT, PIERCE THESE HEATHENS WITH THINE POWER!¡± he shouted. ¡°G-GUYS UH WAIT YOU GOTTA ROLL!¡± I said quickly, but the situation was getting out of hand. I didn¡¯t like this, I didn¡¯t like my controlled scenarios and contingencies to be blown out of the water. The sound of thunder crashing in my ears cut me off. ¡°DON¡¯T WORRY BOSS, WE¡¯LL SUMMON YOU NO MATTER WHAT!¡± Patty said, her voice a high screech as I could hear someone scream in pain as if she were attacking them head on. What in the hell was going on. It was as if¡­ as if¡­ As if it wasn¡¯t a game. N-No way, no way no how. They were just dedicated. R-Really dedicated right? They must be LARPing or something. Y-Yeah that¡¯s it. But what about the noises of pain in the background. ¡°STOP AND ACCEPT YOUR DEATHS YOU UNHOLY BEINGS!¡± a new voice shouted. It was strong and full of anger, and it was crystal clear, coming from Claire¡¯s mic. ¡°S-STOP, WHAT¡¯S GOING ON, WHAT THE HELL!¡± I shouted instinctively. ¡°JOHAN NOW!¡± Claire shouted, completely ignoring me. What the hell was going on. My entire group was ignoring me, and I was stuck on my side, trembling as I heard the sound of what could only be described as a vicious battle. ¡°O¡¯ UNHOLY LIGHT, BRING FORTH THE RIGHTEOUS BEING WHO SHALL SHIELD US FROM HUMANS UNENDING HUNGER. SUMMON HE WHO WAS ONCE FORGOTTEN AND BRING HIM FORTH ONCE MORE TO BATHE THE WORLD IN HIS DIVINE DEMONIC POWER!¡± Johan¡¯s voice was clear, cutting through my haze. Wait, please someone wait. H-How did he know the spell? It didn¡¯t really exist, it¡¯s just something I made up on my way home. My blood ran cold, I was supposed to tell him the spell once he succeeded an intelligence check. How the hell did he know the spell? Suddenly my body felt freezing cold and searing hot at the same time. My vision blurred, my computer screen blinding me with how bright it was. My skin burned and it felt as if someone was clawing at me, squeezing me tight until I couldn¡¯t breathe. I gasped like a dying fish, trying to fill my burning lungs with air, but nothing came in. I was dying. I had to be dying. What was this, what¡¯s going on? Why did all those happy feelings of playing with my friends have to fade into this searing inescapable pain? That was the last thought I had as I blacked out, collapsing from my chair. When I woke up, the first thing I thought was that I had accidentally fallen asleep during our session and that my friends were trying to wake me up. I must¡¯ve been more tired from work than I realized and it culminated in me collapsing and having a nightmare. In my dream, there was darkness and shouting. The stench of blood was strong and someone was charging at me. Fear and panic gripped at me and I shouted loudly until there was nothing but bright light and the ringing in my ears. Just as suddenly my dream changed. I was surrounded by my friends as their characters, in a dark cave. The corpses of the knights from the hero¡¯s army was littered around them and they were worriedly shaking me, calling me their Demon King. Claire had one large round blue eye and it was right in my face, blinking worriedly. She had short cropped red hair and I could see all the freckles on her face from how close she was. Patty was a stereotypical red and yellow harpy except she had a beak instead of a mouth, and was nervously flitting from side to side. Voop was sitting on her head, his derpy but cute eyes watching me. He was¡­ kinda odd. He was a cube, blue and slimy, but he had cat ears and a tail. I half expected him to go ¡°nya¡± at me. Darnelle was speaking rapidly to the group in his signature worried high pitch voice but wasn¡¯t really looking at me. It was Johan who picked me up, holding me straight, and made me realize one important detail. THIS WASN¡¯T A DREAM. The stench of blood and Johan¡¯s warm firm gripped shook any doubt in my mind that this was just an elaborate dream or prank. ¡°I-I¡­. WHAT¡¯S GOING ON?¡± It was the only thing I could manage to say as the group visibly relaxed. ¡°OH THANK THE DEMON LORDS, YOU¡¯RE ALIVE,¡± Darnelle said. He dramatically flung himself against him in a hug, ignoring the fact he was covered in blood and a full bonafide demon. ¡°Hhh!¡± I involuntary made a noise as I was squeezed by Darnelle. He was stronger than he looked and I had to tell him that he was crushing me to let me go. ¡°YOU MADE IT BOSS! YOU¡¯RE REALLY HERE!¡± It was Patty. What I always thought was a young girl, was actually a young adult with a high pitched voice. This was most likely due to the fact that she was part bird. Now all those bird screeches made sense. ¡°Are you ok M¡¯lord,¡± Johan said from somewhere behind me. ¡°Hrk.¡± I still couldn¡¯t speak properly and was making strange noises. ¡°We really thought you were a goner there Boss,¡± Claire said with a big sharp toothed grin. ¡°Good thing Johan here is so good at his job!¡± She laughed loudly as she smacked Johan¡¯s back. Talking about Johan, he was really the oddest of the bunch. Whereas everyone was wearing that sort of stereotypical monster garb you see in movies and games, Johan was wearing what looked like to be priest robes and had small circular glasses perched on his nose. His skin was a light tan instead of the stereotypical green orcs were supposed to have, and he had long wavy dark hair. Ignoring the sort of monster features like his ears and his tusks, he could totally pass of as a normal guy in cosplay! What the hell. It was the complete opposite with someone like Darnelle, with his long curly silver hair and hors, who was dressed in a skimpy sort of outfit decked in lace and bells and had that fantasy look that everyone knew. Wait, never mind that, isn¡¯t Darnelle¡¯s outfit completely weird too? It looked like it fit something for a fanservice demon girl character in an anime or game than the bard of this group. Or maybe that¡¯s just how bards looked like in this world. Oh¡­ Oh I¡¯m really in another world aren¡¯t I? ¡°Oh my, Master is looking at me with such a strong gaze, I wonder what he¡¯s thinking fufufu!¡± Darnelle said with an impish grin as if he were a cloying school girl. ¡°D-DON¡¯T GET THE WRONG IMPRESSION!¡± I said quickly looking away, flustered. This was so confusing I didn¡¯t know what to do. ¡°Don¡¯t worry Boss, Darnelle¡¯s a maneater, so you¡¯re safe from him,¡± Claire said boldly, giving me what she must¡¯ve thought to be a gentle pat on the back. I nearly keeled over from the strength. ¡°I-I¡¯M A GUY!¡± I sputtered out. I knew she was a cyclops but her eyesight couldn¡¯t be that bad could it? ¡°Huh? I mean man as in human. I know Boss is a guy. After all you wouldn¡¯t be the Demon King if you weren¡¯t.¡± Human? Demon King? I felt my face go pale as I realized my situation. These¡­ these people, no these monsters thought I was an actual demon king. This entire time they called me Boss or Lord or even Demon King they weren¡¯t joking, they were 100% serious. It wasn¡¯t just them roleplaying, it was them being serious, absolutely completely and utterly serious. This wasn¡¯t a game to them. This was real life. I nearly collapsed again if Johan didn¡¯t catch me in time. ¡°M¡¯lord, you¡¯ve exhausted your body from before, you need to rest.¡± Before? Before what? I didn¡¯t do anything before. All I know was there was pain, then a bright light, and then¡­ here I was. As I open my mouth to tell him just as much, a new voice I never heard before cut in. ¡°HEY BOSS, DID YOU HIT YOUR HEAD ON THE WAY HERE? VOOP THINKS YOU NEED TO CHILL OUT AND STOP BEING RUDE TO US ALREADY.¡± The voice was deep and reverberated in my skull telepathically. It was not what I thought Voop¡¯s voice would sound like. It was deep and rough, as if it belonged to a mafioso who¡¯s seen too much. It seem though that despite sounding as if it was spoken straight in my brain, everyone could hear Voop and Johan gave him a disapproving glare. ¡°Voop, do not speak to our Lord that way, lest you want to spend your night in the jar again.¡± ¡°WHAT NO COME ON, VOOP WAS JUST TELLING THE TRUTH. BOSS DON¡¯T EVEN RECOGNIZE US EVEN THOUGH HE¡¯S BEEN TRAINING US FOR A YEAR. VOOP HAS A RIGHT TO BE ANGRY.¡± ¡°Does Boss really not remember us?¡± Patty said, trying to hide the tremble in her voice. If there was one lesson that my parents taught me that stuck to me, it was to never make a girl cry, and it seemed like I did just that. ¡°N-NO WAIT I DO REMEMBER YOU GUYS OF COURSE I DO, I JUST¡­ DON¡¯T UNDERSTAND WHAT¡¯S GOING ON.¡± ¡°What do you mean you don¡¯t understand what¡¯s going on?¡± Darnelle said, his voice gaining a serious edge. ¡°M¡¯lord?¡± Johan said, eyes wide in worry and surprise. ¡°I uh¡­ y-you guys do know I¡¯m not a demon right? I¡¯m¡­ I¡¯m just a human guy who plays DnD.¡± I waited for the explosion that would inevitably hit. ¡°YOU¡¯RE NOT THE DEMON KING?¡± everyone shouted in unison, staring at me in disbelief. There it was. It seems like I was in a really troublesome situation. Chapter Two: Or How I Learned About the Demon King ¡°So let me get this straight, you¡¯re a human?¡± Johan asked for what felt like the 10th time. ¡°B-But Boss knows so much about demons and stuff!¡± Patty interjected, her wings fluttering nervously. ¡°How can he not be the Demon King!¡± ¡°Voop thinks this is just a test from Boss!¡± Voop was glaring at me from his place on Claire¡¯s lap. ¡°Why else would Boss pretend to be a weak human.¡± Low blow Voop. True but painful. ¡°Boss even if you¡¯re a pitiful human I won¡¯t abandon you. You¡¯re still our Demon King,¡± Claire said passionately, her loud voice booming in my ears. That one hurt even more Claire! ¡°This is impossible!¡± Johan said, quickly losing his composure. I¡¯ve never seen him like this; he was always cool and collected, never getting angry or showing any emotion unless the situation was truly dire. This must¡¯ve been really bad then if he was like this. ¡°I studied that spell for years, it went perfectly. So no matter what, m¡¯lord has to be the Demon King.¡± ¡°Listen listen, instead of talking in circles, why don¡¯t we start from the beginning huh?¡± I said, trying to ease the tension. ¡°I guess that¡¯s my cue,¡± Darnelle said as he languidly took center stage. Patty and Claire clapped in anticipation while Voop heaved a large sigh. Johan said nothing as he sat down with the rest of us. ¡°Several millennia ago, there were two beings. The Heavenly Lord and the Underworld Lord who kept the balance of the world. The Heavenly Lord would take those who were good and pure and take them up to their kingdom of clouds while the Underworld Lord would take those who were impure and evil and punish them.¡± Darnelle pulled out a what looked like a lute out of nowhere and began to strum it melodically. I realized this must¡¯ve been the instrument that he used whenever I heard him play. ¡°One day the Underworld Lord turned to the Heavenly Lord and said to him. ¡°Brother, we are two side of the same coin, and yet the people love you and fear me?¡± The Heavenly Lord, understanding his brother¡¯s pain but unable to free it said this to him. ¡°O¡¯ sweet brother of mine, it is in the nature of those who fear death to despise the one who will take them to their eternal punishment.¡± Now the Underworld Lord understood this sentiment clearly, but still, as a prideful being, wanted recognition. So he decided to make monsters, to worship him and act in his stead. ¡°Brother, look upon my creations, are they not divine? Are they not fit to worship me, he who punishes the evil in the world, who is eternal and unmatched save for you?¡± But the Heavenly Lord, upon seeing his brother¡¯s creations, grew jealous. ¡°They may be your creation, but do you not think they are lacking some quality. They are merely beings created to worship you and do nothing but act as decorations. Would it not be more pleasing for them to act as your hands and feet, your eyes and ears, to interact with the other mortals of the world?¡± Moved by his brother¡¯s words, the Underworld Lord asked his creations to choose one who would become the strongest amongst themselves to be his delegate, in order to test humans piety and their morality.¡± Even though Darnelle wasn¡¯t exactly singing, his voice was melodic and sweet, and the music he played on his lute was done in a way to fit the tone of whatever he was saying. For a demon who didn¡¯t look like a bard at all, he was actually good at his job. I couldn¡¯t help but imagine this delicate power struggle between these two gods in earnest, as vivid as if it were happening in front of my eyes. ¡°Thus the Demon King was chosen, a demon so strong and fierce that even the Underworld Lord took one look at him and cried outThis story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. ¡°At last, a true champion befit of the title of Demon King. From now on you and you alone will lead your brethren into battle against the evil and impure humans!¡± Upon seeing this, the Heavenly Lord created his own holy creations, a being for what he would deem to be purity and all of his holy ideals. He called this being his Hero, an angel in human skin. He told his Hero that his brother was looking for more power and to seize human souls in order to grow his army. That his brother was a traitor to the very notion of balance and that wanted nothing more than to have him, his Heavenly Lord, banished to the outskirts of time and space itself. And so began the Holy Wars, in which the manipulated Hero fought against our righteous Demon King, an extension of our Underworld Lord and the Heavenly Lord. Eventually the Hero would win, and seal away the Demon King. In a last bid in order to change the tides, the Underworld Lord would give the Demon King as much power of his own power as possible. But in doing so, he made himself powerless and was sealed away with the Demon King. Every few generations, the Demon King resurfaces if he can be summoned, but each time he would be defeated, an endless cycle of hope and despair. And so now we, the unholy creations of the Underworld Lord, live in fear of being exterminated from the Hero and his forces.¡± Darnelle finished his performance, the lute ending in a soft melancholy note that reverberated in the cave. I hadn¡¯t realized I was holding my breath until I heard Patty and Claire clapping enthusiastically, cheering Darnelle on. ¡°Thank you darlings, it¡¯s all in a day¡¯s work for me,¡± Darnelle said with a charming smile as he sat back down. ¡°UGH VOOP¡¯S HEARD THAT STORY WAY TOO MANY TIMES!¡± ¡°Be quiet Voop,¡± Johan said, already composed during the time of Darnelle¡¯s tale. ¡°It¡¯s because of the resurgence of the Hero that we thought that you had to have been the Demon King, m¡¯lord,¡± Johan said. He never dropped the formalities, even though I told him not to considering I¡¯m just a human. ¡°Well I don¡¯t get it but, I still trust the Boss,¡± Claire said scratching her head. ¡°YEAH IF IT¡¯S THE BOSS THEN HE CAN DO ANYTHING!¡± Patty said excitedly. ¡°But why me?¡± I asked. Everything up to that point I could understand, but whenever it came down to the why I was stumped. All of this was just textbook fantasy anime, but where the hell did I come in? ¡°It¡¯s because of me that they trust you so much m¡¯lord,¡± Johan said, looking pained as he closed his eyes. ¡°I am an orc yes, but¡­ I am also half human. My mother was the daughter of a rich merchant and my father was an orc bodyguard hired to protect her when she was on a travel with her family. When they fell in love and had me, my mother was banished from the family. Raised by two very different viewpoints, I was allowed to see both sides to any argument with an unbiased opinion. Because of that¡­ I thought the best path for myself would be to become a mage for the church.¡± He paused. Everyone else seemed to have heard this story before, as they weren¡¯t shocked or surprised, but they were polite enough to stay quiet. Even Voop, who liked to rile people up, was staying put in Claire¡¯s lap. ¡°Under the church, I studied as much as possible. Eventually I would come across some¡­ banned material. That is to say, the true story of our ancestors, the one Darnelle just finished telling. Upon realizing that, I knew I couldn¡¯t stay for long. So I spent the rest of my time finding a solution. At last I found it. A spell to summon the Demon King. But¡­ it would take more than just a no name church mage such as myself.¡± ¡°THAT¡¯S WHERE WE COME IN!¡± Patty said excitedly. ¡°Yes, see the spell needed a minimum of 5 people in order to work. So I scouted demon denizens who I could trust and came with the people you see before you.¡± ¡°He found me in a cave just like this one actually,¡± Claire said, grinning her now signature toothy smile. ¡°I was eating a raw chicken I stole from a nearby farm.¡± ¡°Oh I remember that!¡± Patty said laughing. ¡°You had feathers all over your face.¡± I couldn¡¯t help laugh along with that; it¡¯s kinda easy and funny to imagine Claire with feathers all over her face. ¡°Yes, yes, anyways, as I said, I found everyone here. The spell had two parts. The first to actually contact the Demon King, who ended up to be you. In order to make sure that it really was you, we asked you to run us a series of simulated battles. You call them ¡°sessions¡± and ¡°campaigns¡± but everything you said came true, just as you said it would. They were prophetic battles after all, and we knew following your advice we could continue to the second part, summoning you. The Hero can only exist in this realm if the Demon King is also here, but as there has been no word of the Demon King at all, we knew it had to be you.¡± Logically everything Johan was saying made sense. And I understood in theory what he made sense. But just¡­ how the hell did it turn out to be me? ¡°But¡­ but why me?¡± I asked, hoping Johan would understand. Johan shook his head. ¡°I do not know m¡¯lord. The spell is supposed to pinpoint the Demon King. It¡¯s a spell as old as time, dating back to the very first Demon King. That is why I say, without an absolute doubt, even if your vessel is human, you are the Demon King.¡± When he puts it like that, there¡¯s no way I can deny it. But still, but still, it just can¡¯t be me. No way no how! I grab my head as I try to make sense of it all. ¡°But I don¡¯t have powers!¡± I cried out, latching onto that piece of evidence to back of my case. ¡°They¡¯re dormant within you, but considering every simulated battle you¡¯ve put us through has turned out to be true simply means that you have the power of vision and foresight.¡± He got me there. No matter how I look at it, I was cornered into realizing the truth. I was in fact the legendary Demon King. Chapter Three: Or How I Ended Up Inspecting My Dungeon ¡°Well you¡¯re not at full power just yet, so it is incorrect to call you the Demon King, but that doesn¡¯t mean you aren¡¯t the Demon King either,¡± Johan said as we climbed into the carriage. Apparently their base was a few days ride from here, so we had to use the Hero army¡¯s carriages that got left behind when the group dispatched the knights. I looked back at where the bodies were buried; Johan insisted so the group spent at least an hour on that. I had been silent the entire time, and I had a feeling everyone thought I was upset over their deaths. I wasn''t sure if I was, it wasn''t my first time seeing something dead, but it was my first time seeing a dead person. ¡°For now you shall remain the same m¡¯lord. That is, our Dungeon Master. From there we will serve under you until you are the true Demon King and defeat the Hero.¡± Johan''s voice cut me out of my thoughts. I was stuck between Patty and Claire while Darnelle sat across from us, holding onto Voop as if he were a pet cat. The trip was smooth and generally uneventful, filled with everyone telling me as much of this world as possible. The country we lived in was called Aleria, and we were in the kingdom of Tarn. The surrounding kingdoms were collectively Vania, Lorta, and Erna. Together, the four kingdoms made up Aleria, one of the 5 countries in this continent. Conversely, Tarn was the smaller of the four, located near the border of Aleria and Toshna, the country beside it. Lorta has the biggest capital, where the Hero is supposedly located, and apparently the gates to the Underworld could be found somewhere in Toshna, which explains why the knights were here in Tarn. Other information, like the type of monster denizens, the way humans treated them unjustly, where they lived, how a dungeon usually functioned, all of that was told to me by everyone. Even Johan, who admitted to living mostly in human settlements, managed to give me more information about how the humans of this world lived. From everything I¡¯ve been told, it seemed like this place was basically Western Medieval Fantasyland, the staple for nearly all fantasy games and stories. ¡°Hey Boss, hey hey Boss, I never asked cos it didn¡¯t matter before but uh, what¡¯s your name?¡± Patty asked. She stared at me with such an open honest face I couldn¡¯t help but get embarrassed even though it was a simple and valid question. ¡°Hey now, don¡¯t you think that¡¯s a little forward Patricia?¡± Darnelle said. ¡°He¡¯s our Master and we should respect him as such.¡± ¡°It¡¯s Patty! And well yeah but it¡¯s not like we can call him that in front of anyone, especially since he¡¯s kinda weak right now! Plus we don¡¯t know it at all!¡± Ack, that one hit right in my heart. But she wasn¡¯t wrong. I was kinda surprised that Patty was so smart. She always gave off this reckless young kid vibe, but I guess it was simply because she really wanted to be a tank like Claire who she looked up to. ¡°Well uh, I mean I guess it makes sense that you guys don¡¯t know since I always went by my screen name,¡± I said sheepishly. ¡°Uh well it¡¯s Leonardo Flores. But you can just call me Leo.¡± ¡°AYE AYE BOSS!¡± Patty and Claire said in unison. ¡°Well you¡¯ll always be Master to me,¡± Darnelle said with a teasing laugh. I couldn¡¯t tell if he was joking or being serious though. I had a feeling that was just the kind of person Darnelle was, always keeping you guessing if he was serious or not. The next few days passed like this, with everyone telling me as much as possible about this world. ¡°What about being a dungeon master?¡± I asked on the second night on the road. We were set up in a small camp with a small fire so as not to attract any attention. ¡°Our jobs in a dungeon is simple. We must attract humans and through trials judge if they¡¯re immoral or not. If they¡¯re evil, we must terminate them, and use their treasures to lure in other humans. If they¡¯re good, they earn any treasures left over. It was one of the Underworld Lord¡¯s designs in order to test humans. Greed is a natural inborn sin, and pushing that sense of greed will attract people of immoral qualities. But if they are there simply to clear out monsters or keep a village safe, then they are rewarded for their good moral quality.¡± When Johan put it that way, it made sense, but still, it felt like a sorta honeypot trap to me. ¡°Don¡¯t worry Boss, if yer worried about failing at bein¡¯ a dungeon master, ya can¡¯t be any worse than our last one,¡± Claire said, stuffing her face with a hunk of roasted meat. The cyclops could move surprisingly quickly, so Claire was always on hunting duty with Patty, who could scout ahead for her. Johan coughed and turned away, as if embarrassed. Wait¡­ don¡¯t tell me the previous Dungeon Master was Johan! But the man was a tactical genius. ¡®It¡¯s not about tactics, it¡¯s about being sneaky and underhanded.¡¯ That thought suddenly hit me. Johan was smart and knew how to out maneuver someone, which would explain how they survived so far, but he was too straight laced for his own good, meaning he probably rarely used underhanded tricks to his advantage. Things like traps or tricks are a staple for any dungeon, but knowing Johan, he thought it wouldn¡¯t test someone¡¯s morality very well. Oh Johan, you may be half human, but you sure don¡¯t think like one. ¡°W-While it may be true that our dungeon isn¡¯t necessarily the most prosperous one, we are still managed to survive this long, when most dungeons have been abandoned at this point. We must continue our work even if others refuse to follow their ancestors footsteps!¡± Poor poor Johan. You must¡¯ve tried your hardest didn¡¯t you. ¡°So what¡¯s the dungeon like?¡± I asked. I was more than curious what a real dungeon was like, dilapidated or not. Now the entire group grew quiet, as if none of them wanted to admit their failures. ¡°C-Come on, it can¡¯t be that bad!¡± I said nervously. ¡°Well to be frank Boss, it¡¯s kinda fucked,¡± Voop said. Every time that slime monster spoke, I always expected something cutesie and timid, not that deep yakuza sounding voice. ¡°Our troops are low, we don¡¯t have any gold to entice humans, and to make matters worse, bozo over here managed to piss off a lot of humans including the Hero¡¯s army!¡± I¡¯m assuming ¡°bozo¡± was Johan. Man poor Johan, he can¡¯t catch a break today can he? ¡°All of that shall change now that m¡¯lord is here,¡± Johan said. Was it just me or was his face sort of red? I couldn''t be sure so I returned to the conversation at hand. ¡°So are you guys the only monsters in the dungeon or are there others?¡± I asked. This time even Johan looked at me in surprise. ¡°You mean you can''t tell already m''lord?¡± Johan asked. ¡°W-What do you mean?¡± ¡°Boss¡­ ain''t dungeon masters like supposed to automatically already know?¡± Claire said, looking straight at me with her big blue eye. She scratched her short red hair as she tried to think of a way to explain herself. ¡°Y''know like, I thought dungeon masters have like uh, innate abilities Johan is always talking ''bout.¡± Innate abilities? I couldn''t help but get excited for a moment. Was I gonna be like one of those super cool anime protagonists with super powers that made them OP? ¡°While it''s true that a dungeon master has the magical ability to see everyone in their dungeon and their status, it''s still a limited power,¡± Johan said. My dreams of being in an anime were instantly crushed. What good is it being a Demon King if you don''t have cool powers?Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. ¡°But wait Johan, how is Boss gonna use those innate abilities if no one here knows how to show him?¡± Patty asked. The entire group became solemn upon realizing her logic. ¡°Maybe our wonderful master should just¡­ wing it!¡± Darnelle said with a pained smile. ¡°W-Wing it!¡± Johan looked at Darnelle in utter shock. ¡°WELL WHAT ELSE AM I SUPPOSED TO SUGGEST DARLIN¡¯? I CAN''T JUST SHOW HIM HOW TO USE MAGIC NOW CAN I?¡± Darnelle said dramatically. ¡°Wait why can''t you just teach me magic?¡± I asked. ¡°Well it''s more complicated than that. This sort of magic is something that not everyone can learn because not everyone has the mana to support it. Even if we tried to recreate the spells, it''d essentially burn our body away trying to power it up.¡± Johan always explained things in a simple manner but the idea of my body frying because I didn''t have the energy to cast a spell terrified me. ¡°So basically you''re saying even if you knew the spell you can''t tell me how to cast it because you haven''t done it yourself.¡± ¡°That''s the jist of it,¡± Darnelle said, idly playing his lute. ¡°We can teach you things that we know but it''s not like we can just hand you a manual on how to be a dungeon master.¡± Dungeon master manual? My eyes snap wide open when I realized what Darnelle just said. All DMs have a dungeon master manual. I felt like smacking my head at my own stupidity. The answer was right in front of me. The real question was how I could activate it. I didn''t have my actual manual on me when I got here. When I was transported the only thing I had on me was the clothes on my back and my phone, which I was holding tightly in my hand. Even if I did have it or somehow managed to work it on my phone, there was still the question of how to¡­ well cast a spell. ¡°So uh¡­ how do you cast a spell?¡± Johan and Darnelle looked at each other for a moment before turning to me. ¡°First you must find your center of magic, be it here, here, or here,¡± Johan said, pointing to my head, my heart, and my stomach respectively. ¡°Once you find your magical core, you have to find a way to expel it via a magical conduit and concentrating on the spell you want to use. Vocalizing it is the easiest but some masters can apparently just think of what they want and make it happen.¡± ¡°It sounds easy in theory but moving mana actually takes a lot of concentration,¡± Darnelle pointed out. ¡°Voop does not find it hard at all!¡± Said slime monster was currently giving off a look of a smug cat while sitting on its master''s lap. ¡°Voop that''s cos you''re a slime monster. Your entire being is made out of mana!¡± Patty admonished. If Voop had shoulders I feel he''d be shrugging them right now. ¡°Hey Boss, don''t you already know how ta cast magic though?¡± Claire was finishing gnawing on the large bone as she spoke to me, and I couldn''t help but want to laugh at the comedic pose but also shudder at her appetite. ¡°I mean all them battles you out us through cam true didn''t it? Why not do what you did then?¡± I wanted to retort that it''s not that easy, that I was just writing down ideas of what I thought could happen but stopped. Maybe it does work like that. I wasn''t exactly sure how to put it, but every time I wrote my campaign notes I went into an almost trance like state. I heard that a lot of people experienced it when they were hyper focused on a project and suddenly get all these ideas but maybe that feeling and the feeling of casting magic were similar enough I could get them confused. ¡°Ok I''ll try,¡± I said, hoping to sound more confident than I actually felt. Maybe if I did cool anime poses it''ll be better? No no no, what am I thinking, that''d be too embarrassing. I concentrated as much as possible, squeezing my eyes shut. I had the feeling I was making weird faces because Patty and Claire were giggling. But no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn''t feel that magical core Johan was talking about. I squeezed my eyes even harder, holding my head in concentration. It felt like a tiny spark was in the pit of my stomach but it was so hard to reach. It felt like it was slipping through my hands no matter how hard I grabbed at it. Grasping onto that feeling I kept at it, forcing it outward while concentrating on my goal. I felt a pressure grow and grow until it was almost painful and then¡­ PFFFFFFFT. Everyone was deadly silent. No one said a word, moved a muscle, or could even look at me. Never in my entire life had I wanted to disappear than in that moment. What I thought was magic was just me passing gas. I WANT TO DIE! THIS IS SO UNFAIR ABSOLUTELY TOTALLY UNFAIR! WHO DECIDED ALL THESE DUMB RULES FOR MAGIC! SO UNFAIR! SOMEONE TAKE PITY ON ME FOR GOD SAKE! HOW WAS I SUPPOSED TO KNOW THAT WASN''T MAGIC! ¡°I WISH I COULD JUST SEE EVERYONE''S CHARACTER SHEETS OR SOMETHING!¡± I suddenly shouted in frustration. [Ding] Huh? HUH? Right before me were 5 similar character sheets, all containing everyone''s information. N-No way, no way it could be that easy. WHY DIDN''T I JUST DO THIS IN THE FIRST PLACE? ¡°Uh¡­ Boss? Y-You ok?¡± Patty asked, her head tilted to the side like a cockatoo. ¡°It worked!¡± Everyone looked at me in confusion but I was too engrossed in this character sheets. All of their information was right before me, including to small things like their vitals and current abilities. Johan¡¯s character sheet had the same bio that he told us back in the cave, so I could trust everything he said, Patty¡¯s sheet showed me that my initial guess of her being a long range fighter was for the best considering her dex was enormous, Darnelle¡¯s sheet said he was a succubus, which was a surprise since I always pegged him as a tiefling but made sense considering his personality, Claire¡¯s was very straight forward and didn¡¯t have too much to offer that I didn¡¯t already know, and Voop¡¯s was¡­ all over the place if I was being honest. Where Voop is the type of monster that can evolve, he has a wide opportunity of things to choose from, but as a result, he wasn¡¯t exactly good at anything in particular. Meaning if he wanted to truly evolve into something useful, he¡¯d need to know what he¡¯d want to turn into from the start and go from there by building the corresponding stats. Talk about troublesome. I wondered if I could look up a monster manual to see if I could find an evolution tree to see what would be best for Voop and his set of skills. Just as I was thinking that, another ding popped up and the character sheets were replaced with the very thing I was thinking of. Let¡¯s see. Slimes, slimes, slimes, where are you slimes? After double checking the index, I found the page for slimes and¡­ I was sorely disappointed. There wasn¡¯t much information about slimes it would seem. The monster manual wasn¡¯t based on the type you could buy in a store like back home, but rather a compendium of the monsters found naturally in this world. There were clearly several different branches that a slime monster could take, but it seems where slimes are such low level monsters to begin with, they didn¡¯t get an opportunity to evolve. Only a few key evolutions were cleared, meaning the rest were still hidden and had to be explored. Then I got to thinking if I could breed more slimes or somehow summon themwhen a new window popped up in front of me with a ding. [Would you like to summon a Lvl 1 Slime?] [>Y/N?] It really was a sort of automated system it would seem. I selected no for now, not wanting to go through that sort of hassle at the moment. Next up was our dungeon map. Since we were still in the middle of our travels, I wanted to get a heads up on the layout, and just like before the map came forward with a ding. It was translucent and 3D, meaning I could see things in a greater detail than just a blueprint. I turned the map around to get a better look. It was a pretty straight forward dungeon with a few twists and turns and a hidden passage or two. The primary one seemed to lead to where everyone slept while the more cannon fodder monsters would rest in the main areas. It was a clever simple set up even if I didn¡¯t really know they¡¯d conceal it but it meant that no matter what, at least half our troops would be safe from any raiding humans. Now for a world map. I would need to see what sort of humans we would be dealing with and if we could work right away or build up first. This time I was ready for the pop up but what I got was a huge time waster. There was a map, sure. But it was completely fucking empty save for the places I¡¯ve already physically been. I could see the faint outline of the world and the continents but that was pretty much it. Not even a hint as to what biomes there were. It looked like I¡¯d either need to go to every inch of the world to know what the hell is going on or substitute everything with a real map. Talk about annoying. Was nothing gonna be on my side? I grumbled to myself as I exited out of the all the popups and realized another dilemma. No one could see what I saw meaning that I looked like a total fucking doofus right now in front of my friends. They were staring at me out of concern and were nervously talking to themselves. ¡°Do you think he finally lost is?¡± Patty was whispering to Darnelle. ¡°He¡¯s been quiet for like 30 minutes making all sorts of faces, so maybe he¡¯s always been like that.¡± ¡°Voop votes for poking him with a stick to see if he¡¯s alive still.¡± ¡°Shhhh I think Boss is finally looking at us,¡± Claire warned. ¡°Oh shit look away,¡± Patty said hurriedly, looking around and pretending to whistle. I rubbed my forehead and sighed. ¡°So did it work?¡± Johan asked cautiously. ¡°I guess you can say that. But really, is our dungeon that tiny?¡± Everyone sighed and nodded. A gloomy air descended on the group and to cut through it Johan suggested we all go to bed. And so passed the second night in this strange new world. Chapter Four: Meet and Greet We made it to the dungeon without much trouble after that second night. Seeing as I was an insomniac night owl, I would have either Johan or Darnelle teach me the basics of magic at night as well as practice using the Dungeon Master Magic System that I seemed to have. In the morning I¡¯d fall asleep in the carriage while Patty and Claire chatted next to me and Voop snuggling to my side. Despite being a gelatinous slime monster, Voop surprisingly didn¡¯t leave any residue on me and when I would touch him, it was like pressing on one of those squishy toys that was so popular nowadays. After the fourth day, when we were close to the dungeon, we abandoned the carriage and horses, so as not to draw suspicion to our dungeon. While I knew that was counterproductive, Johan once again explained things clearly for me. Adventurers would come to small time dungeons in order to test their skills without any risk of death. If they were to see an abandoned carriage owned by the Hero¡¯s knights (with the implication of that they died in the dungeon), they would report it back to the kingdom¡¯s capital and send a whole squadron of knights instead, which would lead to our immediate extermination. When he put it that way, it all made sense, but¡­ where we really that weak? That was the only thing I could think of as we made our way to our dungeon by foot at night. It was now more dangerous to travel in the morning, but luckily the trip was short, so just as the sun decided to rise up we made it. The dungeon entrance was a crumbling ruin of its former glory. The stone columns were in serious disrepair with moss and vines covering most of it. The once proud square doorway was dirty and dusty, home to several noisy aggressive birds and their nests. The interior was dark, with no sense to just how deep it was and no matter the position of the sun, it¡¯s light wouldn¡¯t cut through that almost miasmic darkness. ¡°Home sweet home!¡± Darnelle cried in relief as he walked in ahead of us. ¡°Finally, Boss you¡¯re gonna love everyone, c¡¯mon!¡± Patty was tugging at my sleeves with her beak and I was forced to follow in even though I really didn¡¯t want to. Since it was dark, I had to resort to using my phone¡¯s flashlight to make my way through. I didn¡¯t have the night vision that the other¡¯s had or a keen sense of direction to find my way around. I guess you could say I was lucky that I was summoned here with everything I had on hand, which included my phone. Patty and Voop would sometimes ask questions about my world, like how my phone worked, what it was like being a dungeon master on the other side, and other stuff like that. I tried my best to satisfy their curiosity but I was happy when Johan finally told us we were here. ¡®Here¡¯ was one of the dead ends to the dungeon and Johan pressed his hand firmly against a seemingly random block. It glowed with energy for a moment before an entranceway opened up, leading us to a surprisingly well lit area. Unlike the rest of the dungeon, which was monotonous and derelict, this rest area was clean and tidy. It was well lived in sure, but it was still maintained, with signs of repairs here and there. The walls were scrubbed down and clean, and the floor had shabby rustic carpets on the floor to keep the chill away. Torches lined the wall here, and they brought some warmth to the cold dungeon chill. There seemed to be several doors that cut off different rooms from others, a large nest in the corner with three eggs (I would later learn these were Patty and Claire¡¯s would be children), a hearth pit in the middle, and a rough wooden table and chairs to the side. Several shelves with different cutlery, kitchen utensils, and everyday objects lined the walls above the tablet. On another side were a set of large bookcases filled to the brim. This seemed the only thing truly out of place, since it looked pretty high quality. But before I could keep looking around, new voices cut in. ¡°YOU¡¯RE BACK YAY!!!¡± Two tiny goblins rushed towards us and latched onto Patty and Claire. Instantly the two hugged them both and started cooing at them and petting their heads. Their innocent nature and large toothy smiles game me the impression that they were children, and when I checked their status pages, my theory was confirmed. ¡°You two, you gotta introduce yourself to the Boss,¡± Patty said, gently putting one of the goblins down. ¡°I¡¯m Moby!¡± said the one that was in Claire¡¯s arms. ¡°AND I¡¯M GOBY!¡± said the other. They seemed to be identical twins, and they were dressed in shabby dresses that were made out of a patchwork of old clothes, but other than that they were clean. Goby had what little hair she had tied up in a bow and Moby had hers laying flat on her head, where it curled up slightly. With their introductions done they turned back to Claire and Patty. ¡°DID YOU BRING GIFTS? DID YOU DID YOU?¡± they asked in unison.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! A dry dusty cough sounded from the side, and a skeleton walked over to us. WAIT A SKELETON? I jumped in shock for a moment, but the skeleton ignored me for the most part. ¡°Goby, Moby, behave, or I¡¯ll put you in the time out corner,¡± he said, his teeth clacking loudly as he spoke. He gave off the air of a distinguished elderly grandfather or a butler, the effect only ruined by the fact that his three piece suit was just as patchworked and worn as the twin goblins. Just as I was thinking that he turned to me and bowed deeply. ¡°I am Sir Alfred Bonesworth, and I am happy to serve our new Lord and Master of the Dungeon.¡± Seriously? Seriously? His name was Alfred! Alfred Bonesworth! The situation was too perfect that I had to bite my lip hard in order to stop myself from laughing. I nodded and tried to introduce myself back. ¡°I¡¯m, hehe, I¡¯m uh Leonardo Flores, heh, but please call me Leo,¡± I said, choking back the chuckles that were threatening to bubble up. Alfred looked at me in what I could only interpret as confusion, but nodded and bowed again. Oh Alfred, I¡¯m so sorry I¡¯m the type who can¡¯t help but laugh at a funny joke or ironic happenstance, no matter how serious the situation is. ¡°So is this everyone?¡± Even though I asked that, I already knew the answer, since the dungeon map gave me a list of all the monsters dwelling in it. Johan nodded and the atmosphere got gloomy for a moment. ¡°We would have more but¡­ we lost a few during the last human encounter,¡± he said quietly. Oh. The reality of their situation hit me. This wasn¡¯t a game. This was sincerely life or death to them. Biting my lower lip, I steeled myself for the future. ¡®I promise no matter what, I won¡¯t let something like that happen again.¡¯ That was the vow I took upon my heart when I realized just what my friends had to go through. Johan set about introducing me to everyone formally, and I managed a closer look at my surroundings. My initial assumption about the doors leading to different rooms were correct, as Johan pointed out to me. The first door would be my own, the second was Alfred¡¯s, and the third belonged to Johan and Darnelle. That last bit of information caught me off guard for a hot second, but looking back it should¡¯ve been obvious. Darnelle and Johan were the closest to each other, and they always exchanged sidelong glances or jokes and¡­ damn I really was oblivious wasn¡¯t I? When I asked about Claire¡¯s room, Darnelle just laughed while Johan looked at me in confusion. He pointed to Patty¡¯s nest and I felt like smacking my face for my sheer obliviousness. No wonder Patty and Claire was so close. God wow I was as dense as a rock wasn¡¯t I? The fourth door led to a small tiny bathroom, which was really a glorified hole in the ground over an underground river and a bucket of water, but after roughing it in the woods for the past few days, it was practically a godsend. All in all, the entire place was the size of a small apartment, so it was a little cramped but livable. After the short tour, Johan started to catch me up to speed on the more finer details. His explanation covered everyone¡¯s position and how dungeon summoning worked. I finally started to get a feel of how things should work and what sort of problems I would be facing. It sort of went down like this: Darnelle ? recon and luring humans to the dungeon Johan ? acting as the leader/evil overlord in the dungeon in order to tempt adventurers as well as dungeon healer Patty ? scouting and distracting the humans with her voice mimicking skills. Voop ? canon fodder in order to gauge the humans skill level Alfred ? keeping Goby and Moby in check and scaring any humans from getting too close to the hideout Claire ? acting as the group tank and taking care of any humans that could prove dangerous and wipe out the entire dungeon as dungeon boss I learned from Johan that previously there were more slimes than just Voop but they had died in one of the more vicious attacks when the human city requested adventurers to clear out any and all dungeons. They weren¡¯t the only casualties; Moby and Goby¡¯s parents also suffered during that attack. It was only because of Claire and Johan that the rest of the group managed to survive. Currently our dungeon was labeled ¡°Cleared/Abandoned¡± which gave us enough time to repopulate and fix things up. When I took all that into consideration, my first chart of course was to summon as many monsters as possible in order to up our numbers. But that brought up a whole new number of challenges. Apparently there was a difference between a¡¾Dungeon Master¡¯s Summoning¡¿and a ¡¾Summoner¡¯s Summoning¡¿. The difference, while seemingly miniscule, was actually a difference like the ocean and a river. A summoner¡¯s summons come from a dungeon or any monster¡¯s resident and makes a contract with them. If a monster is stronger than the summoner, then there¡¯s a chance the monster won¡¯t agree to the summons and return, or kill the summoner. If a monster is weaker though, they have no choice but to obey. Naturally the stronger a summoner, the stronger the monster they can summon. Once the monster is no longer needed and are still alive, they get sent home. Meanwhile a DM¡¯s summoning was more permanent. Most monsters summoned to a dungeon are those who are already looking to start off their own life, or find a new home to settle in, making dungeon summoning a symbiotic relationship. But while a summoner can force a monster into servitude, a DM cannot. A monster summoned into a dungeon has no contractual obligation to stay there and serve their new master; even more there¡¯s a chance they can instead choose to fight the DM and become the new master of the dungeon. It¡¯s for that reason a lot of dungeons are mono type dungeons; that is to say, they only have one type of monster. It¡¯s easier to breed a certain type of monster in a dungeon, or have the descendents of the first summoning to keep on going, than it is to maintain a dual/poly type dungeon via summoning. Still though, our situation was a strange one. Most dungeons didn¡¯t even have a Dungeon Master anymore according to Johan, and thus were turned more into ¡°homes that monsters lived that in turn humans hunt down.¡± Or something to that effect. So with all that and more, I decided to summon and then in turn breed slimes! Seeing as they were naturally weak low level creatures that bred fast, and had an unexplored evolution path, it was only the right course to make. But I would come to soon realize that had its own set of problems. Chapter Five: Dungeon Days or The Curious Case of a Certain Slime When I told the group I¡¯d start out by summoning some slimes, I was given a lot of hesitant looks. Even Johan, who seemed to have unwavering loyalty to me gave me a look and said ¡°Are you sure m¡¯lord?¡± They all looked at me with that sort of ¡°you should change your mind please¡± look but didn¡¯t say anything to me in the face. I had initially thought it was because they didn¡¯t want anymore ill tempered slimes like Voop around, but I was very very wrong. I had invited everyone to come to the summoning, but in the end, it was only Voop who would come. He was the only one who didn¡¯t really hesitate at my idea, but I had a feeling he was holding back something. Just like before, when I thought about summoning slimes, the command prompt came forward with a ding. [Would you like to summon a Lvl 1 Slime?] [>Y/N?] I pressed yes. A magical circle began to glow in front of me, blinding me for a moment. When all was said and done, a small green slime was in place of where the magical circle was. It was small, smaller than Voop, but had the same type of derpy eyes. It was round and had a tiny "mouth," a total 180 from our own resident cat slime monster. ¡°Pyuu?¡± It led out an adorable little noise while slowly making its way over to me. This¡­ This was completely different than my expectations of what a slime looked like in this world. If anything¡­ this was like how all slimes looked like in every stereotypical fantasy world. ¡°Ugh Voop is once more disappointed. Voop will be in Voop¡¯s thinking puddle if you need Voop.¡± His deep voice jostled me out of my momentary shock and I watched him bounce away, his ears flattened down and his tail flicking back and forth angrily. Come to think about it, wasn¡¯t Voop the anomaly here? ¡°Pyuu!¡± The adorable small green slime finally made it towards me and nuzzled my foot. It seemed to recognize me as it¡¯s master. Still I couldn¡¯t give this much thought for the moment and settled on summoning 9 more slimes so that we had a manageable number of 10 slimes in total. 11 if you counted Voop. The Dungeon Master System seemed to allow for a DM to build onto their dungeon as long as they had the funds, but seeing our treasury was low, I had to build everything by hand by gathering the supplies outside. I managed to convince Moby and Goby to assist me by telling them I¡¯d get them candy the first chance I got, and they immediately said yes, but that was the extent of help I could get. Darnelle was already out scouting, Johan was practicing maintenance and was too busy, Patty couldn¡¯t stray too far from her eggs, and Claire was out patrolling. As for Alfred? Well¡­ He tried to help but his bony arms could only do so much, so I had him keep an eye on the slimes while the goblin twins and I went searching for usable materials. Since they were raised by Patty and Claire, they were good kids, but a little mischievous and talked in a way that was kinda weird coming out of a kid¡¯s mouth. ¡°Hey Boss will this one do!¡± Moby asked as she held up to me a bundle of wood. Since I was looking for some thin but sturdy wood pieces to act as a makeshift slime pen, what Moby brought was exactly what I needed. She gave me a sharp toothed grin, as if expecting something in return. From the looks of it, she wanted praise for her hard work. ¡°This is perfect Moby, exactly what I needed,¡± I said, petting her tiny head. She beamed at me and took the bundle inside the dungeon towards Alfred, who was seemingly training the slimes with military like precision. Goby rushed up to me next. In her tiny little arms was a giant log that a grown man would have trouble carrying. ¡°HEY BOSS WILL THIS DO?¡± she asked excitedly. I felt a cold chill rush down my spine. Forgive me gods for whatever pain this child will one day bring to the humans who visit this dungeon. ¡°Uh, why not something a little smaller Goby?¡± I asked, giving her a nervous chuckle. Goby pouted but there was a fire in her eyes, as if she wasn¡¯t going to be outdone by her sister. The goblin sisters were like day and night with their personalities. Goby was aggressive and competitive, while Moby liked to take a more passive quiet route. But both sisters loved attention, and were the happiest when someone was praising them. This led to a sort of sibling rivalry, albeit one sided since Moby had her own strengths that Goby couldn¡¯t outdo. ¡°I¡¯M ON IT BOSS LEAVE IT TO ME!¡± she shouted as she dropped the log with a loud thud and began rushing around looking for more appropriate sized sticks. I kept an eye on her, but it seemed that every time I looked away, she would find something completely different than I had asked for. Roadkill, long dried out skulls, more logs, a rusted sword from who knows where, shiny rocks that had caught her attention. If it wasn¡¯t a good sized stick, she brought it back. Eventually I had to ask her to give up, and help me bring in all the stuff I collected. Goby looked down trodden as she brought in half of my bundle inside. ¡°Don¡¯t worry Goby, you can help me build the pen,¡± I said, trying to cheer her up. She grinned and rushed forward where Alfred and Moby were waiting, and I was forced to catch up to her. Kids sure had a lot of energy. Together the four of us got down to work. I had Moby and Alfred keep the slimes in one corner as I ordered Goby to dig into the ground with the small hunting knife she was given. Together, we built a small trench around their would be pen, and encircled it with the sticks. I purposefully gathered thin ones so that I could weave them around to make a makeshift wall. The pen was high enough they couldn¡¯t jump but low enough that we could walk over it so that we didn¡¯t have to deal with a gate and a potential jailbreak. Next we all gathered buckets of water and built a moat in the trench so that the humidity levels would stay high and they had water to feed from. During my initial research, a slime¡¯s main source of food was the element they were based off of; in this case, water. Of course, a healthy diet for any slime was to consume smaller creatures and absorb their nutrients to get bigger, but they could survive off their elemental base as long as they need to. Mana, too, was a plus, but too much may cause the slime body to explode as it goes over capacity. Kinda like a diabetic taking too much or not enough insulin. Really, I had thought slimes would be the easiest to manage, but it seemed they took a lot of maintenance. Still, they were easy to summon and quick to train. They were already used to the sight of me and the others, and would rush towards me whenever it was time to feed them. They¡¯d make small little noises that were adorable and would rub at my legs wanting attention. But, the main reason I summoned the slimes was for experimentation. That''s right. Unlike other monsters, slimes evolved and transformed quickly and bred just as fast. The perfect opportunity for me to see how I can get these guys to high enough level before any humans came into our small dungeon. On the first few day I kept detailed records of how the slimes acted and what their routines were like. Thanks to the DMS, any monster I summoned had its name floating above its head as a way for me to keep track of them, kind of like in an RPG. I could simply click or say their names, and their stats would show up. In order there was: Bean, Mushroom, Soup, Jello, Broccoli, Cabbage, Cream, Strawberry, Cake, and Coffee. I may or may not have been very hungry when I was naming them. More or less their stats were pretty much the same with a few exceptions. ¡¾Bean¡¿ Level: 1 Race: Slime (green) Class: N/A Gender: N/A Rarity: ¡ï¡ï¡î¡î¡î HP: 20/20 STR - 5 (+3) DEX - 8 CON - 10 (+5) INT - 5 (+2) WIS - 1 CHA - 10 LCK - 5 SKILLS: ¡¾Shock Absorbent¡¿¡¾Ooze Attack¡¿¡¾Mob Mentality¡¿ The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ¡¾Coffee¡¿ Level: 1 Race: King Slime (green) Class: N/A Gender: N/A Rarity: ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡î HP: 25/25 STR - 10 (+5) DEX - 10 (+5) CON - 13 (+5) INT - 8 (+3) WIS - 4 CHA - 15 LCK - 9 SKILLS: ¡¾Shock Absorbent¡¿¡¾Man¡¯s Wisdom¡¿¡¾Royal Jelly (Boss Monster)¡¿¡¾Fleet of Foot¡¿¡¾Iron Stomach¡¿¡¾Enchantment¡¿ When I first say it, my immediate reaction was ¡®How the hell did I get such OP slimes?¡¯ Once again, the DMS answered my questions. It seemed that when you summoned a monster, there¡¯s a 1/10 chance it''ll have some slight upgrade, and 1/100 to be a Boss type monster. I was the lucky bastard who somehow managed to get both. The rest of my slimes had stats similar to Bean but without their buffs or skills, meaning they were weaker. A given considering I already had two anomalies for slimes. From there I went into phase two. Changing their diet. Since I only needed a little bit of mana that I had Johan prepare and water, feeding my slimes weren¡¯t a big hassle. But now I was changing things up. Half of them would keep their normal diet, including Bean and Coffee, and the other half I would try to introduce other different elemental sources to it to see if it¡¯d change. I started with mushrooms. There were a few growing in the dungeon, and I heard from Goby that they were poisonous and that Voop had tried to eat them in order to become a poison type of slime. But the only effect it had on him was to make him sick and lose half of his health points. The more I learned about Voop, the more I started to think maybe he wasn¡¯t actually a slime. After all he looked nothing like the others. On top of that, he had actual intelligence unlike the ones I summoned, who had the same level of intelligence as a dog. Gathering a few of them, I fed the mushrooms to the slimes and watched them closely. Of course naturally I gave it to Mushroom, as it only felt fitting. Mushroom absorbed them quickly and let out a soft ¡°pyuu~¡± in contentment. I wanted to pet it¡¯s soft gelatinous head but if it actually became a poisonous type it would¡¯ve been dangerous. Instead I gave it a little smile. Checking up on it¡¯s status, it said that it was still the basic green slime. It would seem I would need to keep feeding Mushroom until it could evolve. Next was Strawberry. Making sure it was separated from the other slimes when I was feeding it, I asked Johan to make a small magical flame in a dish filled with oil. He gave me a confused look but Johan wasn¡¯t the type to question my thought process so he complied. I put it next to Strawberry and motioned it to eat. Strawberry gave me an odd look and with a cheerful ¡°pyuu¡± it hopped on top of the dish. ¡®Please don¡¯t die, please don¡¯t die, please don¡¯t die.¡¯ I prayed loudly in my heart as I waited for the effects. ¡°PYUU~!¡± Strawberry cheered as they rolled in the fire. Even though they weren¡¯t changing just yet, it wasn¡¯t actually hurting them. Maybe changing a slime wasn¡¯t immediate and rather a consistent thing that took time? So with that in mind I continued with my experiments. Soup was next and just like Strawberry I gave them a shard of magically charged ice. Soup stared at it and again, just like Strawberry, absorbed it with a soft ¡°pyuu.¡± After that I tried some even weirder combinations, one that probably hasn¡¯t been seen by this world period. Yeah, that¡¯s right: medical slimes. I gave this position to Cake, since sometimes after a long day of work a slice of cake heals your soul. So after begging Johan for an hour, I was finally given a small healing potion to feed to Cake. They excitedly climb into their dish and¡­ surprisingly they immediately changed color. [Evolution Unlocked: Healing Slime Unlocked] [Evolve ¡°Cake¡±?] [Y/N] YES! YES YES YES! FINALLY! This was a no brainer. I hit yes immediately, and Cake began to glow. When the light disappeared, what was left was Cake, now a soft pink color, and a little antenna on its head. ¡°Pyuuuuu~!¡± It rushed to my side and nuzzled my leg, and I couldn¡¯t help but cry in my heart. Not only was Cake going to be so useful, but they were cute to boot. I knew choosing slimes was a smart idea. ¡°CAKE YOU¡¯RE GONNA BE THE SECRET TO OUR AMAZING DUNGEON!¡± I shouted, picking Cake up. Next up was Jello. If I was being honest I wasn¡¯t exactly sure what I¡¯d try to evolve them into, so when everyone was asleep I tried to use magic on it. I say magic but it was more like forced evolution. Magic was still super new to me, so I wasn¡¯t sure quite how to explain what I was doing. Ever since Johan and Darnelle started teaching me, a small mana and health bar was always at the corner of my vision. I assumed this was due to the DMS. Except whenever I used magic via the DMS the mana bar never went down. That ended up getting me thinking. If using the DMS didn¡¯t consume mana, was it possible it wasn¡¯t considered magic? I didn¡¯t know the answer until I first summoned my slimes and the answer was: sometimes. Summoning monsters costed mana, but messing with them didn¡¯t. Messing with the dungeon costed mana and resources, but moving things around didn¡¯t. Keeping an eye on everyone or opening my maps and status pages didn¡¯t cost me anything, but trying to change something through them did. Honestly it all felt a little confusing but the general idea was if it affected the real world, it costed something. So with that knowledge I tried to force evolve Jello by opening the DMS and flipping to the monster manual. Shadow slimes or Dark Slimes were a rare occurrence in the world, but happened when enough dark magic coalesced into a slime. So my idea was to force enough dark magic into Jello until they evolved. Working at night time supposedly upped the effectiveness of the magic so I naturally stayed up till then to work. Jello sat on my lap, giving me what I assumed was a smile in slime terms and a soft ¡°pyuu.¡± Flipping through the spells section of the DMS, I found the basic dark magic incantation and pushed it into Jello. My mana dropped, but not as heavily as I thought it¡¯d be. The tiny slime shuddered under the touch and for a moment I was afraid I was hurting them, but just with Cake, suddenly they turned dark purple and a window popped into my view. [Evolution Unlocked: Dark Slime Unlocked] [Evolve ¡°Jello¡±?] [Y/N] I pressed yes excitedly and watched in amazement as Jello changed. There was a dark shadowy aura around them and their soft eyes turned red, blinking up at me happily. I gave it a gentle pat on the head, enjoying the squishy sensation. Somehow, despite now being a Dark Slime, Jello wasn¡¯t hurting me, and I got the feeling it¡¯s because they didn¡¯t want to hurt me. Just like I didn¡¯t want to hurt it. Magic had to have intent; without the intent of hurting someone, it never will, it¡¯ll just fizzle out into nothingness. I pocketed that information for later use. So me and Jello stayed like that. They were making soft little ¡°pyuu¡± noises that I could only chalk up to them purring loudly as I petted them. Slimes were soft and squishy, and even though they evolved, Jello was no exception. There was a firmness to it, but their gelatinous slime bodies were still malleable. No matter how hard I squeezed, Jello would spring back as long as I wasn¡¯t intending on hurting them. The texture and the squishing motions I was making reminded me of making tortillas with my mom when I was younger. I¡¯d stand on a small stool and watched her expertly roll out balls of masa into perfect little lumps that would be flattened out on a plate later. I¡¯d ask to help her out but instead of making the perfect little lumps, I¡¯d squish them in my hand, laughing at the sensation of the masa leaking through my fingers only to come back together when I rolled them. I¡¯d make weird shapes and animals like turtles and snowmen, thinking my mom could cook them like that. They didn¡¯t but my mom let me anyways. I faltered for a moment. Jello looked at me curiously, making their little slime noises at me. I didn¡¯t think I¡¯d remember something like that here. It¡¯s been a long time since I made tortillas with my mother. Too long actually. I stared down at my hands for a moment, trying to resist the urge to cry. It wasn¡¯t fair. Life wasn¡¯t fair. It¡¯d never be fair. But dear god did I want it to be. Nothing was ever going to go my way. The world will still be cruel because as long as there was one bad person out the bunch, they¡¯ll find a way to infect others, to manipulate them, to hurt them. My hands shook with barely restrained fury. Jello nudged and rubbed against my hands in worry. I let my breath that I had been holding go and forced myself to relax. ¡°Don¡¯t worry little guy, I¡¯m fine,¡± I said quietly, taking Jello back to the other slimes where they would rest. I was walking back to the secret room slowly when someone stopped me. ¡°We need to talk.¡± I stared down at Voop, unmoving. ¡°It¡¯s about the slimes.¡± I had a feeling something like this was going to come up. The more time I spent with the slimes, the more I realized how¡­ un-slime like Voop really was. He was a cube instead of the smooth round slimes as the others, and he had cat ears and a tail. His body, while slimy and gelatinous, wasn¡¯t transparent as the others. It also was thicker for lack of a better word, as if he had more mass. Much much more mass. ¡°Oh is that so?¡± I said, keeping my voice casual. ¡°You already know don¡¯t you. You know about Voop.¡± It wasn¡¯t a question. His voice was bitter and there was a tint of anger. ¡°I don¡¯t know anything, I¡¯m just an idiot guy who got summoned here.¡± Voop stared at me for a long time. It felt like he was staring not just at me, but through me. Through my very soul. My memories, my very thoughts, my ambitions and goals, secrets and lies, yearnings in life, all of them were laid before him. That was the feeling his eyes gave me. He shuddered, as if he didn¡¯t like what he saw. No one ever did. There was a moment of silence between us. I didn¡¯t feel inclined to say anything, as I had the feeling he already knew, and Voop seemed to be weighing out his pros and cons. ¡°Voop will show you something now.¡± ¡°What is it then?¡± I still kept my voice casual, but Voop knew. He already knew didn¡¯t he? I had a feeling he was just like me. ¡°Open Voop¡¯s Status. Voop knows Boss can see it.¡± He was still looking at me, unblinking. I shrugged it off and opened it in front of me. For a moment it was the same. And then¡­ it shimmered. It glowed and warped, as if shedding a second skin before a new screen opened before me. ¡°Oh¡­ Oh that changes everything now does it,¡± I said, blinking in surprise. ¡°Do the others know?¡± Voop shook his head. It was kind of strange, like someone tapping a jello cube and watching it bounce. ¡°Johan suspects but he is wrong in his suspect. No one but Voop knows. But now Boss knows too.¡± I rubbed my chin in thought. ¡°So¡­ how do we fix it?¡± I had a few ideas and theories, but with my limited knowledge of the world, it¡¯d be tough. I stared at the slime cube in front of me. No¡­ not slime cube. Just¡­ just Voop. Voop grinned at me, mouth opened wide. There was a row of razor sharp teeth that looked so out of place, and instead of having a tongue or a typical mouth, it was nothing but a swirling black hole. The more I looked the more I could see. Vortexes of pain and hell centralized in one area. Swirling souls of the damned, the unholy, everything that corrupted this world. All in one small package. ¡°Easy¡­ We kill God.¡± Chapter Six: In Which I Find Out That God Doesn鈥檛 Play Fair I was sitting outside the dungeon entrance, staring blankly at the sky. It was beautiful and empty, a perfect uninterrupted blue that engulfed the entire world. Looking up at the sky made me realize how small I was, how insignificant I am. It was terrifying just as it was liberating. I laid down in the grass for a moment and closed my eyes. A gentle breeze was brushing over the grass and trees, making the gentle whooshing noise that I found so relaxing. I thought for a moment what I was going to do. I could feel the grass underneath my hands, the warm dirt, the sun gently caressing my skin, the soft wind dancing across, and the smell of nature all around me. I let it fill my senses, consume me, and made me be just another part of this expansive world. I imagined the world and my plans not as myself, as a dungeon master, as a human being, but as the world itself, watching, uncaring, unfeeling of those that inhabited it. I thought of the ways I could succeed and the ways I could fail. The ways our plans would accelerate and the ways it could be stalled and hindered. And just as much as I thought of that, I thought of nothing. An empty vast of nothingness. It was nice. Sometimes people forgot nihilism could be optimistic as well as pessimistic. I opened my eyes and the bright blue sky burned my eyes for a moment. ¡°Easy¡­ We kill God.¡± What did Voop mean by that? Did he mean the two gods that Darnelle talked about in his poem? No, Voop specifically said God, as in one god, so that can¡¯t be right. How does one kill a god? Is it by disbelief? By systematically eradicating the religion out of every corner of the world? Or is it more tangible here, plunging a knife into some ethereal being¡¯s heart? I had too many questions and no answers. Voop refused to speak more after that, no matter how hard I tried to get the answers out of him. But the cat like slime was adamant, and left me alone afterwards. How am I going to kill a god? Do I even want to kill god? What would happen if I did? The bright sky and the gentle wind offered me no answers. I sighed and contemplated working on the dungeon some more but I didn¡¯t feel like getting up just yet. My slime experiments have been going well but I was at a stage where I could finally ignore them and let Alfred teach them strategies so I could focus on expanding the dungeon. But that would cost resources, resources I currently don''t have on hand. And I was busy, busy with thinking about my end goal here. I had an insurmountable task ahead of me, one that none of my predecessors have ever accomplished. Many beings died trying to make this dream a reality, good people. People who didn''t deserve it. What was I even doing here. I was just a lonely dumbass who liked to play games on the weekends. I had no real aim in life. No spectacular goals I had wanted to achieve. ¡°All lies.¡± I ignored that tiny voice in my head that liked to point things out to me. I knew I was lying to myself but it was better than the truth. I felt a pang off to my side that told me Moby was coming towards me. Ever since I came to the dungeon, I seemed to have an innate knowledge of where all my residents were at and how far away they were from me. ¡°Boss?¡± Moby''s voice was tiny and nervous as she walked towards me, her tiny face blocking the sun. ¡°Is¡­ is um Boss gonna work on the slimes today?¡± She was nervously fiddling with her dress and I couldn''t help but smile at her and patted the spot next to me. Her eyes went wide and she gave me a tiny smile as she sat down next to me. ¡°Alfred can take care of the slimes for now. I have to do some digging first,¡± I said. ¡°Oh¡­¡± Moby tried to hide her disappointment but it was clear as day on her tiny green face. ¡°You like playing with the slimes?¡± I asked. She nodded excitedly. ¡°They''re nice and soft and let me pet them unlike Voop. And they''re all pretty and colorful. I like Cake a lot they''re pink and pretty.¡± She spoke in that matter a fact way that only children could pull off and I had to admit I felt my heart melt at just how adorable she was. ¡°Hmmm then how about I give you a special job with the slimes,¡± I said, already knowing her answer. ¡°R-REALLY?! I-I mean, are you sure it''s ok Boss?¡± Her face turned a bright green and her eyes practically sparkled at the idea of getting an important job. I nodded to her. ¡°You can be my slime assistant. From now on I want you to write down everything different and strange about the slimes ok. Even if it doesn''t look or seem important.¡± Her eyes grew even wider and I''m sure that if she had a tail it''d be wagging right now. ¡°A-A BOOK? T-TO WRITE IN? FOR ME?¡± That was another thing that separated Moby from Goby. Goby was more of a hands on type learner but Moby absorbed knowledge like a sponge to water. She read all the small stacks of books in our library voraciously, even if she didn''t understand half the material. She was especially fascinated by the few scientific journals Johan had as well as his strategy books. The fact that I was giving her a chance to emulate just that seemed to spark something in the little goblin girl. ¡°I''M GONNA BE JUST LIKE SIR CORNELL L. FIELDINGS AND BE THE BESTEST SLIME RESEARCHER EVER!¡± she said excitedly. I couldn''t help but laugh and get caught up in her happiness and I let her walk me back to the dungeon while she excitedly told me all about Sir Cornell L. Fieldings, the world''s leading ¡¾Doctor¡¿, ¡¾Researcher¡¿, and ¡¾Arch Mage¡¿. I only half listened to Moby as I pulled out the DMS. I flipped through my screens and options, trying to find my crafting screen. I had the ability to recreate anything from my world (and this one as well) as long as I was able to fulfill two criteria: a) having the resources on hand or enough mana to compensate for it, and b) I had to intrinsically know how the item was made. That limited what I was able to create by a lot, but hey, it beat making a book by hand. ¡°HOW¡¯S IT LOOKIN¡¯ DOWN THERE CLAIRE?¡± My voice echoed in the man made tunnel as I climbed down the stairs. There were no lights to be found, so I had to waste the precious battery life I had on my phone to make my way down. The walls were rough but even, while the stairs were solid and smooth. I had done most of the grunt work, carving the stone out through the DMS and building the first part to our second floor before my mana had depleted. My mana seemed to be connected to how much the dungeon could hold and how many monsters I had. It was a complicated thing apparently, similar to a math equation. The DMS put it bluntly: x=m*da+hm+dc, where x is total mana, m is the number of monsters, da is dungeon area, hm is the host¡¯s natural mana value, and dc was the dungeon core, which we didn¡¯t have apparently. In short it was stupidly complicated for no reason and I had no thoughts of trying to figure it out when the blinking little corner told me what I had already: 700 mana. Claire offered to mine out the first room while I rested outside to recuperate. It was a little embarrassing really; a dungeon master needed his minions to build the dungeon instead of doing it himself. So after I had squared off Moby for the time being, I wanted to get back to work right away. ¡°IT¡¯S GOIN¡¯ BOSS,¡± she shouted back. I could hear the sound of metal striking stone and I practically jumped the last few steps. I thought Claire wouldn¡¯t have gotten much done, but the room was already big as it was tall. Actual practical architecture wasn¡¯t really my forte, but fantasy architecture was, so I wanted elaborate looking structures that only magic could pull off. What Claire was doing was the step in the right direction. She had seemed to carve out large stone chunks and roughed out a semi circular room that was about 10 feet tall and just as wide. It was rough and choppy and looked more like an animal den than a dungeon, but it was perfect because I could practically feel the potential. The more I expanded, the large my mana pool grew, and already it was steadily growing at 759. ¡°You ready then boss?¡± Claire asked. She had stopped when she was me standing in the room, and she sat down on a makeshift stool from a large boulder. She was giving her razor toothed smile, and I couldn¡¯t help but smile back. Closing my eyes, I let the mana circulate in my body, just like Johan had instructed me when I first started learning magic. My magical center was my head and my heart, ironically, but it made it easy since I imagined my magic as blood being carried out by my body or the neurons firing away my thoughts. It was warm and tingly, making my fingers shake slightly. There were no notifications asking me for permission, no small dings that told me I was done, nothing that indicated what I was doing used the DMS. And yet I instinctively knew that I was. The excess debri that Claire had piled to the side rumbled towards my left but I ignored it. I had to keep the mental image of what I wanted clear as day and to do that I needed to ignore my outside world and keep my eyes closed. Stone molded smooth as if unseen hands had sanded it away to a mirror polish shine, the floors turning into marble. Pillars from excess stone grew up, like cold unfeeling plants, reaching to the top of the room, melding together to make it seem as if it simply was part of the cave naturally. The walls got pushed further and further out, smoothing out, getting a uniform brick finish that was dark but reflective. Sconces pushed out of the walls and pillars, filled with warm purple light. And at the end, a large looming iron doorway, with the image of several monsters engraved into it, glinting off the purple light, giving it a practically wicked glow. The stone began pushing on the other side of the door when a pounding headache hit me. I forced the magical connection to stop if only because it felt like my head was going to split open. When I opened my eyes, my mental image matched my exterior and a wave of exhaustion hit me as I fell down. Claire had immediately caught me, and my vision wavered for a moment. ¡°VARN DALNE, BOSS, YOU DONE OVERDID YERSELF.¡± Claire said, her voice loud and booming in my head. I was groggy and my tongue felt awkward in my mouth, allowing only weird alien noises to pass through. ¡°Quriet C-Clairuh, headd¡­ hurrrrt.¡± Was that my voice? It sounded so off and strained, like when I pulled an all nighter for three days in a row and just realized that I needed to speak in order to communicate with people. ¡°Here drink this Boss, Johan said somethin¡¯ like this would¡¯a happened.¡± She pushed something against my lips, and I felt the cool glass of a potion bottle as a tingly warm liquid flowed into me. It tasted vaguely of coffee and suddenly my head cleared. I choked momentarily on the viscous liquid and pushed Claire¡¯s hand away when I could think clearly. If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°W-What happened?¡± I managed to choke out, rubbing my face. I still felt fatigued and worn down, but I wasn¡¯t going to collapse at any moment like before. Claire helped me sit down on the steps and I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself down. ¡°Ya pushed yerself boss,¡± Claire said matter of factly. ¡°Ya ain¡¯t supposed ta use so much mana like that, makes you black out or worse.¡± I shuddered at whatever could be worse than that sickly queasy sensation. ¡°But I was fine before,¡± I protested. ¡°Well yeah, that¡¯s cos ya weren¡¯t in the red Boss. You were left at what 10, 15 mana points? Ya prolly used up to yer last drop, and ya ain¡¯t supposed to do that unless ya got no other way, else your magic starts takin¡¯ energy from yer body to compensate.¡± I paled at the realization. ¡°D-Does that mean I could¡¯ve died if I went over my limit?¡± Claire made a face but nodded. ¡°It ain¡¯t too common, unless yer doin¡¯ a big ass spell, but yer most likely gonna sleep for days unless ya got a mana potion in ya immediately. Johan said ya might push yerself, since you¡¯ve been goin overboard with the slimes, so he gave me one just in case.¡± She held up the vial with the viscous green liquid for added emphases and I felt like I was gonna puke; it looked like radioactive snot. ¡°That¡¯s a mana potion? It looks so¡­ so green.¡± I tried not to shuddered at the thought that I had just drank that. Claire gave me a surprised look, a feat considering she only had one eye, and by extension, only one eyebrow. ¡°Well yeah Boss, mana potions are made from slimes,¡± she said. ¡°WAIT WHAT? YOU KILLED ONE OF MY SLIMES?¡± MY SLIMES, MY PRECIOUS SLIMES. ALL THAT EXP, THE GRINDING, THE EVOLUTION AND UPGRADES, ALL GONE DOWN THE DRAIN. I knew I was overreacting but my slimes, my precious slimes! I¡¯ve spent so long cultivating them! ¡°WOAH WOAH HOLD IT THERE BOSS, IT AIN¡¯T MADE FROM YER SLIMES, IT¡¯S OLD STOCK. YER SLIMES ARE ALL GOOD BOSS.¡± Claire held up her hands defensively, as if I was going to attack her, or worse, cry. ¡°So my slimes are ok?¡± Thank God¡­ I don¡¯t have to restart my plans on cultivating OP slimes. ¡°Yeah, ¡®sides, is not like its only slimes, it¡¯s got other ingredient in it. This is our last bottle though, since we ain¡¯t got an alchemist or nothin on hand, and is not like one is gonna just walk in on here or sell us some. Darnelle or Johan usually has to go buy em, but even then it¡¯s risky.¡± She looked grim for a moment before realizing I was looking at her and shook her head. ¡°Don¡¯t worry boss, it¡¯ll be good,¡± she said with a grin. ¡°I¡¯m not,¡± I said, lying smoothly. ¡°Anyways, I think I¡¯m gonna stay here for a bit.¡± ¡°Are ya sure boss, ya should rest up in yer room. It¡¯s gonna be awhile before the potion fully restores yer mana. I¡¯ll help ya walk up.¡± I shook my head quickly. ¡°No it¡¯s fine, I wanna sit and think for a bit. Don¡¯t worry I won¡¯t use any mana.¡± Claire gave me a skeptical look, which almost looked comical on her large lone eye but nodded slowly. ¡°You promise?¡± I nodded and she sighed, walking around me up the steps back to the first floor. I waited patiently for her to leave completely before I opened the dungeon map before me and got to work. Moby was going to be a slime researcher! She was gonna be the bestest slime reacher in all the 7 realms. Because Boss said so, and if Boss said she can be a researcher, even if only for slimes, then it had to be true! When Boss first took her back inside, she couldn¡¯t contain her excitement, and talked at length to him about her favorite researcher ever: Sir Cornell L. Fieldings. She normally didn¡¯t talk very much, but Boss listened to her and always knew what to say when she gave him the cool secretive information she learned from Sir Cornell¡¯s books. Things like how magic was ingrained in everything, even things that shouldn¡¯t have magic, like rocks and sticks and other mundane things. Mundane was a fun word in her opinion; she had recently learned it meant every day boring items and it excited her that there was a word that could say so much with so little. Darnelle had taught her that one, and now she liked saying it any chance she could get. Moby kept spewing all the facts she learned from Sir Cornell, like how some people think humans are descended from the gods since they could procreate with most sapient humanoid species. She didn¡¯t really understand that sentence at first but Johan said it means humans can have babies with other people that weren¡¯t humans. Moby liked that; the whole way people phrased things differently, not the having babies part. She tried to use the big words she had learned and Boss had laughed. But he didn¡¯t laugh the way Johan did, where it made her feel embarrassed and small, or how Darnelle laughed where it made her feel frustrated because she knew she wasn¡¯t being taken seriously. Not was it like Patty and Claire¡¯s laugh, one of pride but not true understanding, or Alfred¡¯s, which was dusty and dry and made her feel like she had to try harder. No¡­ Boss laughed in a way that gave her hope, that she was doing things right even if she made mistakes. He said it himself after all. ¡°You have a good grasp on vocabulary Moby. I¡¯ll teach you some new words later,¡± he had said, giving her a smile that made her practically vibrate in excitement. New words. New words meant new ways to say things, and new way to say things meant that Moby would be one step closer to her goal. Because at the end of the day, Moby¡¯s goal was to obtain the ¡¾Researcher¡¿ class. When they had reached the slimes, Moby had watched in amazement as Boss pulled out a strange thin book and a stick that came to a point. He explained that the thin book was called a notebook, and the pointy stick was a pencil. He flipped open the book and slowly showed her how to write her own name using the thing called a pencil. Moby nearly cried, seeing her name in the neat clear handwriting of her Boss. There it was, clear as day in front of her. As much as she could read, Moby could never write past using sticks in the dirt. Seeing it in print was completely different than seeing the smudged writing of her name in the dirt. She grabbed the book with trembling fingers, clutching it tightly to her chest. ¡°Is this for me Boss?¡± ¡°You don¡¯t like it? Do you want me to make you another one? I figured since you liked research stuff I put dinos on the front but I can make it different if you want.¡± ¡°NO!¡± she yelled quickly, holding the notebook defensively. She shook her head quickly, her small tuft of hair shaking on her head. ¡°I-I mean¡­ I like it Boss, it¡¯s perfect.¡± Her face was warm in embarrassment, afraid that she was going to be punished for yelling. Instead Boss just laughed loudly and ruffled her hair. She blinked in confusion and looked up at him, not understanding why he wasn¡¯t angry at her. ¡°I¡¯m glad you like it so much. Ok so here¡¯s what I want you to do Moby.¡± From there he went on a long speech about how to tell the slimes apart from the way their viscous goops formed sort of hair like appendages, to what sort of changes she had to look for, the type of foods they were eating (apparently this included the stuff that they were being fed on already), how they acted, their moods and behaviors, if there was a hierarchy (another word she had to be taught), and how intelligent they were. Everything was a bit too confusing to her, but she diligently wrote it down, writing in slow large letters that were a little wobbly in comparison to Boss¡¯s neat small letters. After his explanation, he told her to report her findings to him at the end of the day every day, and to study the slimes whenever possible, which meant in between her chores and on her breaks. She didn¡¯t quite understand what he meant when Boss phrased things like that, but she got the gist of it. After all, she was a smart goblin. Her momma used to tell her so. Opening her notebook to the second page, Moby began to slowly write out what she was seeing. Observing as Boss had put it. She was observing because she was writing it down. In careful letters, she wrote how Coffee was bullying the other slimes to listen to them, how Bean liked to sleep in the bottom left corner of the pen where there was the most water, how Soup and Strawberry piled on top of them and slept with them, the ways the slimes would interact. All while pretending she was working under Sir Cornell. ¡°The slimes are being very mundane in their natural habitat Sir Cornell,¡± Moby said to herself under her breath as she continued her work. She pretended that Sir Cornell nodded his head and probably stroked his beard and told her to get ¡°up close and personal with the specimens¡± as he put it in all his books. ¡°Affirmative Sir Cornell~!¡± she said cheerily and carefully puller herself over the gate, minding not to break it or wiggle it too much. The water splashed between her feet but she ignored it as she walked up to Cake, her by favorite of the ¡°specimens.¡± ¡°Tell me what this slime¡¯s natural disposition is like ¡¾Researcher¡¿?¡± she heard the imaginary Sir Cornell say in her head. Moby squatted down next to Cake and patted it nervously. Even though all the slimes were docile and friendly for the most part, it didn¡¯t mean they were exactly tame, and it could lead to some accidents. Lucky for her, Cake more than enjoyed her company. ¡°Pyuuu~!¡± She grinned and gave it a confident pet before writing in her notebook that Cake was a ¡°cute and happy slime that likes pets.¡± A movement caught her attention from the side of her view and she turned her head to see the normally green slime called Soup shudder in its corner nest to Strawberry and Bean. Worried, she rushed next to it before she remembered something she had read in Sir Cornell¡¯s Book ¡°Of Magical Wildlife: A Complete Study of Monsters and Magic.¡± From what she read, interfering can be dangerous not only to the specimen but the ¡¾Researcher¡¿ themselves. She hesitated for a moment before staying a relatively safe distance and watched with sharp intent. Soup was shuddering, as if they were being split apart, and she watched worriedly while she wrote down everything. For a moment, all was still, and then suddenly Soup was engulfed in a bright light. At first Moby was afraid, but soon that fear turn into awe and amazement. Soup was now a crystal clear white blue, with flecks of what looked like frost surrounding it¡¯s slimy gooey hair tendrils. She gave a soft gasp as she nervously reached out, touching Soup nervously. They were cold but it wasn¡¯t ice cold like she had anticipated. As if Soup was trying to shield her from it¡¯s icy nature. ¡°You¡¯re so beautiful,¡± she whispered in awe, getting to eye level to it. It gave a soft chirp but otherwise settled back into a comfortable position to sleep. Just as she was about to rush out of the pen and to the second floor, she stopped herself. The fake Sir Cornell in her head had given her pause, because she could just hear his wise old man voice speaking calmly to her. ¡°Now now ¡¾Researcher¡¿, you need to find the catalyst, the cause of what caused the specimen to change.¡± At least, she assumed he had a calm wise old man voice. She had never seen him or met him in person, and only could get the vague idea of his intonation from all the books she read. With a determined huff, she went back to where Soup was resting and looked carefully. Holding her pencil with a iron grip she looked around, making the appropriate noises all ¡¾Researcher¡¿ should do; or at least what she thought they did. She ¡°hmm¡±¡¯ed and ¡°ahh¡±¡¯ed at everything, even going so far as to gently poke Soup with her pencil. The slime stared at her with a single eye as if to tell her to let it go back to sleep and she sheepishly moved back. Biting her lips, Moby was about to give up when she noticed that Soup was sitting on top of a small wooden bowl. ¡°That¡¯s gotta not be comfy,¡± she said as she gently slid it out underneath it. But to her surprise, instead of complying, Soup made a noise she never heard before. ¡°KREE!¡± it shouted, and suddenly her hand was covered in a cold blast that chilled her to the bone. She whimpered as she pulled back, holding her hand to her chest defensively. Tears began to threaten to spill and she had to bite her lips so she could stay strong, just like her parents taught her. ¡°I¡¯m a smart and strong goblin, I¡¯m gonna survive and become a Hobsgoblin, I¡¯m strong and can survive anything,¡± she whispered under her breath. But it was too late, and the floodgates burst open as she openly cried, clutching her wounded hand. Her mother had said those exact same words when she had begged her to stay back in the cave when the humans had shown up. Her father had ruffled her hair while she cried and told her that he was going to defeat the humans and bring back their stuff so she could pretend to be a ¡¾Researcher¡¿ just like she had always dreamed to be. But it was a lie; goblins couldn¡¯t be a ¡¾Researcher¡¿ just as much as a bird couldn¡¯t breathe underwater. Goblins simply weren¡¯t built that way; the gods of classes and leveling wouldn¡¯t let someone as lowly as a goblin have a prestigious class. Her sobs became louder until they became full blown hysterics and wailing. Months of grief, buried under a tenuous strand of hope and the gentle care of her adoptive family. But not even that could cure the open wound of grief in her heart. Her family and her dream lay broken at her feet and no matter how she looked away it would still be there, glaring and obvious. In her pain and sorrow, Moby didn¡¯t realize that Cake had rushed to her aid and was enveloping her chilled hand. Her eyes snapped open momentarily, tears streaking slowly as she realized what was happening. In a matter of moments feeling was regained in her fingers and she stared in a quiet awe as Cake finally pulled away, leaving a thin pink coating of slime that even now was fading as her hand absorbed it. She carefully moved them; they ached down to the bone, but it was a dull pain compared the searing cold from before. She stayed there for what felt like hours, curled up around the pink slime, her tears calming down to soft hiccups. Soon enough even that faded away as she fell asleep. Moby would eventually be found by Claire, sent by Leo who had seen her health drop suddenly in a window popup. She would be taken back to their hideout, where she would sheepishly explain everything, half tired in the giant¡¯s arms. Patty would fret and Johan would rush trying to find a spare health potion, though Claire would point how it was unneeded thanks to Cake. Alfred in turn would take Moby to rest in bed, settling next to Goby who was protectively watching her twin sister. And Leo? Leo would be in the second floor, discussing privately with Voop, setting plans for future operations. It was the right call, Leo would realize looking back, as he had been filled with an undeniable rage when Voop had told him more of the puzzle he had been previously given. When all was said and done, the cat like slime simply stared at Leo, sitting in a circle of wasted energy and destruction. But for now, Moby simply slept and dreamt of nothing as Cake guarded over her. Interlude One: The Witchs Dungeon - 1 The first thing it realized when it woke up was that there was someone next to it and it was crying. It swivelled to meet it, blinking in confusion as it saw the small creature curled up by its base, sobbing violently. Next to it was another similar, but larger creature, lying in a pool of its own blood and vomit. Wasting no time, it reached forward and absorbed the dead creature, letting it melt into the rough hewn stone and turn into concentrated mana. It was then hit with the memories, decades worth of memories and life hitting it all at once. It swivelled woozily from the sensation and was still reeling from the sheer amount of memories when the smaller creature, human it corrected itself, stood up and started to wail louder, speaking in what it now new to be the tongue of man. ¡°GIVE HER BACK, GIVER HER BACK DAMN YOU!!!¡± It remembered its own mother, for that is what the person was to the small human, and how it had lovingly created and embraced it before they had sent it off to the mortal realm. This gave it pause. It¡¯s mother never gave it a directive, simply told it to be and experience life in its own way, to create and grow. Hesitating, it reached out to the still screaming human child and caressed it¡¯s mind (her mind it corrected itself again, the human child was a girl, since gender was a concept most organic life possessed), hoping to recreate the same soothing loving embrace its own mother did for it. ¡°No more¡­ tears¡­ human girl.¡± It¡¯s voice must¡¯ve been painful to the human girl (Cara, the memories supplied, her name is Cara) since she flinched but her crying and screams were cut off as she stared at it in horror, fully realizing what it was. ¡°W-What are you?¡± Or maybe not. ¡°No name but also one name: First¡­ Prima¡­¡± ¡°P-Please¡­ please Prima give me back my mama I-I-I h-have t-to, t-to¡­¡± her voice trailed off as she broke into heartbreaking sobs. If it had a nose it would¡¯ve scrunched it up.Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. ¡°Can¡¯t. Mother now¡­ with me. No more tears¡­ Cara.¡± Cara stifled her sobs as she looked back up at it. ¡°H-How d-do you know my name? Are¡­ are you a demon?¡± It swivelled in a show of saying no. ¡°I am¡­ Prima¡­ Mother¡¯s memories now with me. Laura now¡­ in me.¡± Cara¡¯s eyes went wide. ¡°You stole my mama¡¯s soul,¡± she said in shaking fear as she started to backpedal. It swivelled in no once more. ¡°No¡­ soul gone, memories stay. Laura name you Cara. Memory in me.¡± She stopped and collapsed onto the ground, hugging her knees. ¡°Then¡­ she¡¯s gone¡­ really gone¡­¡± Her voice was tiny, barely above a whisper but it heard her clearly. ¡°Please¡­ kill me so I can be with my mama,¡± she said, voice still quiet as she stared at it. It shuddered. ¡°NO!¡± The memories of Laura showed that the woman had done everything in her power to keep the child safe, using witchcraft to make sure she had lived in her infancy, had taught her magic, kept her safe and hidden from the local townspeople, cared for her for her entire life. It thought of its own mother, how it molded it from their own mana, lovingly shaped it, embraced it, gave it life. It thought of the heartbreak they would have felt if it had died so soon, the tears they would shed over such a short life. It swivelled to say no once more. ¡°Must live¡­ for Laura. She would¡­ want you to live. Live and be¡­ happy.¡± ¡°HOW CAN I BE HAPPY IF THE ONLY PERSON WHO EVER LOVED ME AND WHO I EVER LOVED IS GONE!¡± she spat back, tears still making her dirty face wet and her crystal green eyes shining. ¡°Not gone. Laura memories with me. Laura is now in me. Long as I live, so does Laura.¡± Cara stared at it in surprise. ¡°So¡­ as long as you''re alive in a way¡­ my mama is too?¡± ¡°Yes. Laura want you to live¡­ I can help¡­ But it means you live here.¡± ¡°I have nowhere else to go,¡± Cara said resentfully. ¡°No kin, no village, no home.¡± It swivelled its body no. ¡°You have home. Your home with Laura. Laura is in me. Home here now.¡± She looked up at it suspiciously but then all the fight left her tiny body as she wiped her eyes. ¡°Ok¡­ Ok I¡¯ll stay here. But¡­ what can you do mean that you can help?¡± If it had a mouth it would¡¯ve smiled. ¡°Make contract. Get you revenge. Kill people who killed Laura.¡± For a moment there was a sliver of hope in the child¡¯s eyes as she stared up. ¡°I accept.¡± [WARNING: YOU ARE SELECTING A HUMAN BEING TO ACT AS YOUR DUNGEON MASTER. YOU CANNOT EXCHANGE YOUR DUNGEON MASTER UNTIL THE OLD ONE DIES. WOULD YOU LIKE TO PROCEED?] [>Y/N] Prima did not hesitate to press yes. And it seemed neither did Cara. Chapter Seven: What a Terrible Way To Start a Day She came to me in a dream. She picked me up and held me tightly. She was warm and for a moment I felt safe. The sound of ocean waves crashing in the distance were soothing and filled the silence. ¡°Are you happy?¡± she asked. I tried to look up at her face, but no matter what angle I looked at her, her face was blurred and gone. ¡°I don¡¯t know¡­ I don¡¯t know what happiness feels like,¡± I said truthfully. ¡°I don¡¯t even know what emotion I¡¯m feeling until after it happens.¡± She laughed as she stroked my hair. Her laugh sounded soft and warm, and that too made me feel safe. ¡°You will learn soon. But first you must keep digging.¡± ¡°Digging?¡± She wasn¡¯t making any sense but then again none of this did. She laughed again. ¡°Yes, digging. You have to find the truth Leo, find the truth and root it out so that all can see. Dig deep into the world.¡± ¡°How do I do that?¡± Something about her felt familiar, felt warm, felt nice. She continued to stroke my hair and suddenly I was 9 again, in my mother¡¯s arms. ¡°By digging in the dungeon mijo,¡± she said, caressing my face. For a moment I could see her face, clear as day. Bright oranges eyes and a warm smile full of teeth. And then it blurred and suddenly it was my mother, with soft green eyes and dark hair, smiling at me. ¡°You must dig until you can dig no more, and all the answers will become true and apparent,¡± she continued, now speaking in my mother¡¯s voice. ¡°Shh don¡¯t cry mijo it¡¯s gonna be ok,¡± she said, wiping tears from my face that I didn¡¯t even realize I had shed. ¡°This isn¡¯t real, you¡¯re not real,¡± I whispered back. Even as I said it I wanted to be wrong as I held onto her tightly. ¡°Maybe, maybe not, but does it matter?¡± she asked. I bit my lip and shook my head. ¡°I don¡¯t have much time but I just want you to know I¡¯m proud of you.¡± ¡°H-How, you don¡¯t even know me. Y-you¡¯re not¡­¡± I choked back the words ¡°you¡¯re not my real mom,¡± as I looked away. She laughed as she kissed the top of my head. ¡°Maybe I¡¯m not but that doesn¡¯t mean I¡¯m not proud. And I know she would be too if she was here.¡± I started to cry again even though I tried not to as the dream faded. The tears fell down heavy and fast and I woke up in bed, sobbing into my rough makeshift pillow. Even though there wasn¡¯t any real light in my room except for the small lantern I knew it was already morning. I bit down on my hand, trying to stop myself from shaking and crying as the memory of my dream faded. I finally regained my composure and stopped to take a deep breath. This has been one shitty thing after another and it just made me exhaustive. I wanted to sleep in, if it wasn¡¯t for the fact that I didn¡¯t want to have anymore strange dreams, so I just stayed in my room, curled up under my blankets. I heard shuffling outside and figured it was Johan, who was usually the first to wake up. Next would be Clair and Alfred, who¡¯d help check if everything was fine since last night while Patty took care of Moby and Goby. Darnelle and I were usually the last to wake up. It was only a week but it was pretty easy to memorize everyone¡¯s routine. I imagined everyone going through their daily routine while I pretended to sleep, trying to invision just what they were doing and maybe what they were doing. It was weird and maybe a little creepy but it was definitely better than thinking about everything else that happened yesterday. That¡¯s when I heard the screaming. Layette was having a horrible atrocious day. No scratch that, a week. She had been in the care of a shady caravan thanks to her penny pinching ¡¾Merchant¡¿ of a father. He insisted on hiring some half baked, green ¡¾Adventurers¡¿ instead of genuine ¡¾Soldiers¡¿ who would¡¯ve had the decency to treat her with respect or at the very least have some manners around a lady of her caliber. As much as she harrumphed and hawed to get her way, her father insisted on them. What came next was the biggest screaming match she ever had in her life, and even that did not solve her problem. So now she was stuck riding with a bunch of country bumpkins who would rather see her fall in a pile of dirt than save her like they were supposed to. To make matters worse the ¡¾Adventurers¡¿ refused to carry her normal carriage and equipment meaning she had to sleep on the ground like some commoner. The mere thought of it had sent her into a large fit of tears but that had not changed anyone¡¯s mind. She was forced to roll out a bedroll like the rest of them as they camped out on a small abandoned dungeon cave instead of continuing in the dark towards the nearest town. ¡°I don¡¯t know Kaleb, this is a dungeon entrance,¡± one of the mages, a slender but tired looking woman, said. Kaleb, the swordsman, snorted. ¡°Relax Sasha, this dungeon has been cleared already. Besides a dungeon this size probably has at most two goblins and maybe a slime, it¡¯ll be fine.¡± Sasha frowned and turned to the eldest adventure, a 3 star ranked adventure who went by the name of Erwin. He spoke little but his opinion was held in high regard as he was the only one with experience unlike the rest of them, who were 1 star stone ranked adventurers; the lowest of the low. ¡°Dungeons always dangerous,¡± he muttered as he started cooking over their small fire they had started. ¡°See! Erwin thinks it¡¯s too dangerous!¡± Sasha quickly shot back with a smirk. ¡°If this dungeon is as dangerous as you claim it to be, I demand we go to the nearest town this instant!¡± Layette shrieked, scowling at the group of adventurers. ¡°Didn¡¯t say wasn¡¯t worth it,¡± Erwin said, unperturbed by Layette¡¯s outburst. ¡°Just means gotta be aware is all.¡± He began ladling some foul smelling liquid into everyone¡¯s makeshift bowls and Layette felt her stomach curdle. ¡°I¡¯m not eating that slop!¡± she protested in disgust. ¡°Listen here girly, you either eat what you¡¯re served or you starve,¡± Kaleb said sharply, already tired of Layette¡¯s noble lady act already. She spluttered indignantly as the other adventures save for Erwin snickered softly behind her back. ¡°I AM LAYETTE COLIN, OF THE HOUSE OF COLIN, AND YOU WILL TREAT ME WITH RESPECT,¡± she shouted, her small frame shaking with rage. ¡°Guess you don¡¯t wanna eat,¡± Kaleb said with a shrug of his shoulders and Sasha held back a giggle as she looked at Layette.The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°You should eat sweetie, you won¡¯t have any energy if you don¡¯t,¡± she said in a soothing voice. ¡°I refuse,¡± she said obstinately, turning her head from the group and laying in her bedroll, absolutely fuming. When she got to the capital she would have them all punished to the fullest extent of the law. She would see to it. Luckily for both her and the ¡¾Adventurers¡¿ she fell asleep quickly in her anger and they all could relax now that they didn¡¯t have to deal with their snobby charge. In the group there was two mages, Sasha and her friend Mari, Kaleb a swordsman, Tini a scout, and Erwin, who was a mix of a rogue and a shieldman. With the exception of Tini who was a halfling, they were all more or less humans, and like most humans, fell asleep after the finished eating and put out their fire. ¡°Shit,¡± Claire muttered, staring at the group of adventurers camped at the entrance of their dungeon. Johan swore in orcish before turning to Claire. ¡°Get m¡¯lord and the others, we¡¯re going to wait and see if they leave but if they don¡¯t we¡¯ll have to fight.¡± Claire nodded and thought back to Patty, to the goblin twins, and to their unborn children. She gritted her teeth and carefully walked back, trying to stay as silent as possible. Johan began muttering under his breath, most likely weaving some sort of illusionary spell when he heard the gasp. And then there was screaming. Layette had an absolutely horrid night¡¯s rest and was now half awake, unable to go back to sleep. So when she heard the mutterings of someone that didn¡¯t belong to the rest of the caravan she quickly forced herself to sit up, and she stared at an orc mage and the back of what she could only assume to be a giant. So she did the only logical thing in that situation: she screamed. She screamed loudly and without warning, forcing all the adventurers to wake up immediately, their weapons in hand. ¡°FUCK,¡± Claire shouted somewhere behind Johan, rushing back towards him in order to buy him some time from the adventuring party that was hellbent on attacking. SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT. That was all I could think of as I tried to put on my pants as I hopped out of my room, one leg in and the other still halfway through. [WARNING: YOUR DUNGEON IS UNDER ATTACK. YOU CANNOT UPGRADE OR CHANGE YOUR DUNGEON UNTIL YOUR DUNGEON IS NO LONGER UNDER ATTACK.] No matter what I did the notification wouldn¡¯t go away, always hitting me in the corner of my eye. I didn¡¯t have time to deal with it right now though, seeing as we were apparently under attack. ¡°PATTY, PATTY WAKE UP,¡± I shouted, only to belatedly realize she was already awake and trying to calm down Moby and Goby who were sitting in the corner, absolutely terrified. ¡°Oh gods Johan,¡± Darnelle said in horror somewhere behind me and I realized the situation at hand. ¡°Albert stay here with Moby and Goby, Patty I need you to be in the front and in the air, Darnelle stay behind me ok,¡± I said. I was working on pure instinct now, and I had no idea how it was gonna help me but damn it I had to do something. I grabbed Albert¡¯s sword. Even though it was chipped and the edge wasn¡¯t as sharp as it could be, it would be better than nothing. We slipped out of the room in our formation and I all but ran towards where the shouting came from. And was still coming from. ¡°DIE YOU MONSTERS,¡± a voice shouted and I felt my blood go cold. I stopped and turned to Darnelle who stared at me in confusion and Patty who landed next to him. ¡°Darnelle do you know like, any magic that can confuse people?¡± I asked quickly, looking behind me periodically to see if anyone was coming at us. ¡°Y-Yes but it¡¯ll affect anyone in front of me meaning Johan and Claire would get hit.¡± ¡°That¡¯s fine that¡¯s all I need, Patty I need you to carry as many rocks as you can and when the invaders are confused drop them on them. The bigger the better. I¡¯m gonna get the slimes ok.¡± They nodded nervously and I rushed in the opposite direction, praying that everything would work out. I made it to the slime hutch in record time. I didn¡¯t even hesitate to break down the fence with Albert¡¯s sword, letting loose the slime hord. Somehow they understood what was going on and began to march dutifully forward, following the command of Coffee as I rushed back to the entrance. What awaited me was complete and utter chaos. Darnelle was singing like his life depended on it, which it sorta did, while Claire was covering both him and Johan from a guy holding a sword. Patty seemed to have taken out one of the other adventurers (something I found out afterwards), a mage or some sort of magic user, as well as a small¡­ halfling? Either way it meant there were three adventurers left plus a little girl who still wouldn¡¯t stop screaming bloody mary. ¡°HEY ASSHOLES,¡± I shouted, momentarily catching the sword wielding adventurer off guard long enough enough for Claire to punch him hard with a right hook. The other mage, a girl with blue hair and the most stereotypical magical staff I¡¯ve ever seen, shouted in worry and anger and turned to look at me with tear filled eyes. Oh uh. Never piss off magic users, that¡¯s the smartest rule any gamer knew. That and don¡¯t take an arrow to the knee. She began chanting loudly, using words like ¡°holy light¡± and ¡°divine cleansing¡± and I nervously jumped into the battle, hoping to stop her. She dodged a swing of my sword and kept chanting, even more enraged and determined now. Shit, shit, shit, this isn¡¯t what I wanted at all. A lightning strike hit nearby and I knew instinctively that it was from Johan, who was also trying to stop the mage. Whatever magic she was going to use, it was heavy duty since Johan usually went for the tanks. ¡°OH GOD OF LIGHT, HEAR MY CRY AND DESTROY THIS HEATHEN OF DARKNESS IN FRONT OF YOUR LOYAL FOLLOWER!¡± Oh fuck that definitely didn¡¯t sound good. A wave of hot bright light suddenly hit me, sending me flying and I felt my vision blur for a moment. It was as I had gotten a bad sunburn all over my skin only times ten, with the addition of someone putting me in a sauna immediately afterwards. Then they rolled me in a bed of hot coals and needles. That¡¯s the sensation I felt in that millisecond of pain. I heard someone shout my name as I collapsed to the ground, free from the burning light. I gasped, taking a shuddering breath as a I stared up at the form of the horrified mage. \ ¡°T-THAT CAN¡¯T BE Y-YOU¡¯RE STILL ALIVE?¡± she screamed, and it was in that moment of distraction the slimes descended. They grabbed at the mage and the fallen adventurers, hungrily eating anything and everything they could put in their mouths, dissolving it in a matter of seconds. I watched in morbid fascination as the slimes began to eat chunks of the mage¡¯s skin, showing the patches of muscles and even bones in some parts. She screamed loudly and horrifically as she tried to knock them off with her staff, screaming for help. But none of us moved a single muscle. Not even Johan, who for all his talk of fairness and equality and judging humans unbiased did not move at all. We watched as she cried, staring at us in horror like we were monsters. And she was right. I stood up, legs shaking as I walked towards her. ¡°P-PLEASE HELP ME,¡± she begged, snot and tears running down her face. ¡°MERCY, SHOW MERCY, DEMON PLEASE.¡± I smashed the sword on her head. She screamed and I smashed it down again and again until she finally stopped screaming. She lay on the ground, her face contorted in a look of horror and pain as my slimes continued to consume her and the other fallen adventurers. ¡°Boss¡­?¡± I turned to look at the others and try as I might I couldn¡¯t even muster a weak smile. I stared back at them. ¡°Yeah?¡± ¡°We had to,¡± Johan started but I shook my head. ¡°No we didn¡¯t. But we did it anyways. And we¡¯re gonna have to live with that.¡± They were quiet as I sat back down, waiting for the slimes to be done. ¡°Where did the fifth adventurer and the child go?¡± Johan suddenly asked and we all looked around nervously. ¡°Shit,¡± I heard Claire whisper and I looked out the woods. ¡°Boss we need to go after them.¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°W-what, come on Boss after what we just did we can¡¯t let them escape,¡± she said, trying to reason her point to me. I shook my head again. ¡°No, let them go. It¡¯s better this way anyways.¡± I heard Darnelle gasp and Johan looked at me with a complicated expression. I kept staring at the woods, trying to keep the thunderstorm of emotions bottled up. ¡°M¡¯lord, what you¡¯re planning¡­ it can spell our destruction,¡± he said. ¡°Then let them come. We¡¯ll be ready,¡± I said. When it became obvious I wasn¡¯t going to say anything else they reluctantly went back to the hideout to check up on Albert and tell the twins everything was going to be ok. I stayed where I was, making sure the slimes finished eating the adventurers and swiping away the multitude of notifications that spammed my line of vision. ¡°Man¡­ what a terrible way to start the day,¡± I muttered to what was left of one of the corpses.