So much yellow.

It was truly amazing just how far the grass had spread, without opposition. For some strange reason, it was the only thing that was found to grow naturally in the fields, completely ousting all other plants.

Unfortunately for the farmers eager to exploit the untapped fertile land, pests were likewise commonplace in the Endless Plains. All manner of spiders, caterpillars, flies, the odd locust, and if you were really lucky?

A slime.

Exploratory got to experience this new creature about 2 days after initial contact, while stopping to give the smart metal a chance to perform basic maintenance on the internals. The designers, accounting for the problem of basic wear and tear, decided to address the problem with armored nanobots: hardy, capable of construction at a miniscule scale, and able to repair itself.

As a thin layer of nanos crawled over its body, Exploratory took advantage of the downtime, activating a small pulse scan to detect nearby objects of interest. Surprisingly, there was a singular ping coming from behind, hidden in the tall grass. There was a little rustling, right before the slime leapt forward, colliding with Exploratory.

It had no effect, of course. The slime’s body was clearly gelatinous in nature: not the best for physical attacks. The slime rolled off, flattening itself against the ground, confused as to why it couldn’t eat the robot. On the bright side, here was a brand new specimen, ready for analysis!

[Scanning…]

To the naked eye, a slime appeared to be quite simple. A small multicolored orb in its centre represented the core: the brain, and a slime’s weak point. Surrounding it was a significant mass of some gelatin-esque substance, 6 inches wide and a couple inches tall. Despite being exposed to dirt and grime all the time, it was foggy and translucent, as well as completely spotless.

In actuality, the slime was a collection of translucent cells, all banding together. Every cell excelled at absorbing liquid, enabling it to maintain its gel state. A vast network of miniscule airways ensured all parts of the creature were adequately supplied with oxygen.

As for behaviour… this specimen seemed to enjoy hopping around when it came to going places. Upon being scared (via liberal use of steel baton), the slime was prone to rolling away at a surprising pace, able to speed away at roughly 6 mph.

Additionally, when the slime got bored of fruitlessly trying to eat Exploratory’s metal leg, it settled on pouncing on nearby bugs instead to sate its appetite, revealing a third form of movement: pancake. Flattening itself to the ground and slithering forward was slow, but very stealthy. Any critters that didn’t notice and happened to walk over it were enveloped and dissolved.

It was a bit strange though: there seemed to be no natural predators for the humble slime. Despite the weakness of having a body with the consistency of jelly, there were no other animals to prey on them. Perhaps because a slime does not seem very nutritious. Even then, it did not explain the relative rarity of the slime species. This was the only one Exploratory spotted in days.

After getting up, Exploratory settled back into a light jog, running at about a reasonable speed for any typical human being. It wouldn’t be very good if someone or something noticed a “human” running across the fields at incredible speed.

Along the same vein, the robot had begun shaping its body into a more human shape, in preparation of the need to adopt an identity, should there be a human settlement. Simply shifting the position of smart metal to slim down, or add curves, and voila! No longer was it an inhuman product of metal and “mind”, but a perfectly average human female. Unassuming, unimportant, unthreatening. As for the name… still in progress.

As ‘she’ ran, it did not escape her notice that the slime was following her pace, bowling through the grass, right past grasshoppers, spiders, a mildly interesting rock, etc. Seems slimes do exhibit some reasonable measure of intelligence, or at the very least curiosity unbefitting a prey animal.

[Testing Voice Modulator…]

She tried yelling at it in, but it was more like a shriek. Only after a bit of tweaking did her voice begin to actually sound normal, with the cadence of a young adult, to appear more youthful and weak.

“.... Please leave me alone.”

Obviously, that did not work. Slimes do not speak English (or any other language). At least her voice worked okay. On the upside, maybe she could perform a thorough dissection of it later on.

***

Donning a pair of heavy duty boots and combat gloves proved very useful. Now she could walk around and pick things up without anyone seeing her metal extremities. Just in time too; there was most definitely a walled settlement in the distance.

Stone and mortar fashioned into towering battlements and even higher buildings. She could see the tips of buildings that eclipsed even the walls in majesty. As she approached, it became clear there were small groups or solo warriors, trudging through the fields and killing roving squadrons of slimes, battering the very human adventurers. Good; blending in among them would be much easier. Most likely the slimes were all attracted to the settlement, which is why their population was much lower elsewhere.

The slimes, after losing enough mass, would lose cohesion, turning into a puddle. The adventurers would then collect the nucleus and move on. Nearby archers tried shooting the cores of slimes as target practice, and collected the shards after.

There was a clear delegation of roles; some used bucklers in conjunction with a shortsword to chip away at enemies, while another leapt in with a longsword, cleaving a slime in half through sheer power. The occasional archer or crossbowman served as fire support, and there was a figure wearing robes and clutching a staff, healing acid burns on a few of the less careless.

Exploratory stuffed the slime following her into a large nylon backpack. The material was pretty good, so it should stay adequately contained for now. Just in time, too, as one of the swordsmen stopped to take a breather and noticed Exploratory approaching the city.

“Ho, traveler! No weapon—you must be new to the plains. I’d recommend you get inside the city quickly.”

Good. The disguise was sufficient. Lucky for her, he even spoke English. No relying on an unreliable auto-translator.

“I am new to this place. Why should I enter quickly?”

“The weather around here is a bit different from what you’re probably used to, I reckon. Storms here are much different than other places.”

“What do you mean by different?”

The wind began to pick up, buffeting her cloak and causing the swordsman to shield his eyes.

“Well, according to a couple of weather mages that visited this city in the past, the Plains let the wind gather real easy since it's mostly flat!”

Her auditory sensors were increasingly suppressing the sound of rustling grass and dust. The swordsman began to yell just to make his voice heard.

“What is so strange about stronger winds?!”

“The wind isn’t just picking up, it can start picking up things!”

“Like wha—”

Exploratory’s question was answered by a slime to the face.

“Like that! Looks like you got a mask: keep it on tight, or a slime might start dissolving your face!”

She had no organic face, since she was a robot, but duly noted anyways.

“Strong winds and a chance of being slimed is not that odd!”

“No, but THAT IS! TURN AROUND!”

She had to physically turn around, since the cloak covered the back of her head.

A massive tornado. If that was all, it would be quite normal; tornadoes do appear more often in flat areas. Unfortunately, this tornado was:

Glowing. If she tried, Exploratory could parse out a near inaudible humming, akin to electricity on a power line. Ejecting a large amount of multicolored projectiles. Some of the adventurers who wielded shields began deflecting them, providing cover for the rest. Each projectile was not very large, being about only a pebble in size, but flew through the air at high speed. Definitely enough to injure a typical human. Scattering slimes everywhere. The slime infestation became significantly more difficult, now that the pests were being hurled directly into people. Hard enough to stagger a warrior, or incapacitate those with a weaker constitution.

“...I see what you mean by weird!”

“Then start running!”

Exploratory swatted aside an incoming slime and began to sprint for the gate, as well as anyone else with a lick of preservation instinct. The tornado followed, rushing forward at the speed of a car on a highway. The fleeing adventurers covered their mouths and noses as dust and dirt bathed them, swirling around and around in an inescapable vortex.

The swordsman called out again.

“Miss traveller, can ye fight?!”

“Why do you ask?!”

“They’re opening the gates for the others! We’ve got to hold out long enough for them to get inside!”

A shame people were so fragile. A mile away from a tornado and they were still at risk of death.

She did not need to say anything else, merely turning around and striking slimes out of the air, before they could be thrown past the gateway into the city. This was made even easier by a thin hardlight barrier coating her body, powered by the most compact antimatter reactor humanity could hope to make. Not like she needed a strong barrier for something as weak as pebbles and gelatin.

The swordsman was faring quite well, in fact, bisecting slimes in midair. As a volley of those strange glowing projectiles approached his position, he braced himself against the ground. His blade began to emanate the same kind of luminescence as the missiles the tornado spewed in every direction, and then he swung.

Immediately, everything nearby was repulsed away from him: dust, bugs, grass, glowing orbs. Several slimes had their cores obliterated immediately.

As the last adventurers escaped into the walled city, the swordsman waved in her direction and motioned towards the tall wooden gate, where a few gatekeepers were yelling for them to enter. One final dash towards the door, and a series of pulleys slammed the gate shut. The reinforced wood held steadfast against the winds, successfully keeping the tornado out.

The unnamed swordsman leaned against the closed gate to catch his breath.

“...weather’s a bit odd, but you’ll get used to it.”

“Very lively.”

“Pretty good skills out there for someone who isn’t a fighter. You got a name I can call y’ by?”

“Oh, I just… I go by Pion.”

“Just Pion?”

“Pion Ere.”

“A pleasure to meet you, Pion Ere. I’m Perience. Sorry for the late introduction, but…”

He turned around and gestured to the sprawling medieval metropolis that spread to every edge of the wall. All around, vendors hawking their wares in wooden stalls, on tarps, from mixed-use properties, and even the occasional alleyway (although those sellers were more sketchy).

As she looked beyond the bustle of the everyday person, in their place were instead noble mansions and mini-castles, cathedrals and bell towers, forming a ring around the center. In the very middle of the city, a tower so tall it rivalled skyscrapers of the 21st century, an age long past.

Exploratory, now Pion Ere, received a ping from her Emotional Emulator. If she could smile, she might’ve.

“...Welcome, traveller, to Bulwark!”