Two more Dog Spiders and one Heal later, George was doubled down against a wall. It was incredibly fortunate that they came one after another instead of both at the same time, as he didn’t think he could take both spiders at once.

The first one also managed to bite him before he killed it, which required another use of the Heal. That time, however, he was a lot quicker in doing it and didn’t make the mistake of getting the fang out before he was ready to Heal himself.

The second spider he decided to try and prepare for, immediately charging it with the book in his hands as soon as he saw the spider. That seemed to surprise the spider and allowed George to take care of it that much easier.

George wondered what to do with 3 spider corpses strewn about, but before he could come to a conclusion, something new happened. A sloshing sound came from the other way, and a few moments later, something slimy appeared in view.

George chuckled, “Of course this place had slimes! Why wouldn’t it? I mean, there’s the magical book, the large-ass spider, of course there’d be slimes-” he sighed, talking to no one in particular, perhaps the slime itself.

George took a long look at the slime. It was utterly stereotypical. A large green slime that wobbled with what looked like a hard bit in the middle. According to the usual games, you killed a slime by removing or destroying the hardened core.

But George decided to just watch what the slime was doing. The slime… oozed slowly, like a transparent slug, in the direction of the dead spiders, then slowly started to envelop one.

Then, something unexpected happened. The slime plopped out a coin. It bounced just out of George’s reached and glimmered in the dim light.

George propped himself forward and picked it up. It looked like a coin or as much of it as a coin would. There weren’t really any discerning details on it, as it was just a flattened piece of metal, but calling it a coin seemed sufficient.

He put the coin in the pocket of his now rapidly deteriorating pants and considered how weird this would be if he didn’t get dressed before getting here.

The slime repeated the oozing and the enveloping of the other spiders, but produced no more coins, then went onwards. There was nothing left of the spiders when the slime was done with them. George decided not to mind the money-producing slime, as weird as that concept was, and just sat back down against the wall.

He reopened the book, considering that was his only belonging apart from his clothes and, now, a single coin of indeterminate value.

The book was by now wet from the blood of the spiders, even though arachnids didn’t have, or shouldn’t have, much blood in them. He quickly browsed through the Heal page before flipping to the next one.

Holy Light

Evocation/Divinity Spell, No Domain

Calling upon the Holy Light requires the caster to focus on a point, object, or creature he wishes to bathe in blessed light.

Current Domain - None. No further benefits.

Just like with the Heal, the rest of the page contained details about the spell, including relevant information that isn’t included in the incredibly shortened description, such as that it protects, or as the book says ‘wards’, against the undead, or how long the light lasts, which was an hour.

“Took them only two pages to mention the undead…” George sighed as he read through the details of the Holy Light spell.

It seemed straightforward enough. Point to a spot, imagine a light, and there would be light.

Required component: a firefly, glowing gem, moss, or orb, or a piece of flame.

George stopped after reading that line. Why that wasn’t even mentioned in the overview was bizarre. Anyone sane would think to put something essential or required in the briefing.

Then he realised that there wasn’t even a mention of how he’s supposed to use the component or what happens to it.

George sighed again. The book provided both questions and answers, but so far pointed more of the former.

He flipped the page again. The fourth page was empty.

This was starting to get annoying.

He flipped the entire book to get to the end. Empty. He threw the book out in frustration, then went and picked it up again after realising it was the most valuable thing he owned now.

Considering that there really seemed to be nothing in this part of the cave, George decided to make a move. He considered which way to go but quickly decided to go towards where the spiders weren’t.

The corridor looked barren enough for him to just walk through without paying attention to the surroundings much, his steps resonating through the cave.

After a minute or two he finally saw more light than the few dim freckles from the ceiling. The corridor suddenly opened to a chamber and the increase in light was mildly disorienting after his eyes got used to the dimness.

There were a few slimes oozing about on the floor, several large mushrooms growing from what looked to be looser soil, and glowing moss spread on the wall. The chamber looked to be at least several meters tall, wide, and long, and was roughly circular.

George could spot several that lead beyond the large chamber. But his mind was focused on one thing – the moss.

The book said he could use glowing moss to make light. Not really knowing how else to extract it, he scooped some of the nearby moss with his hand and started casting the spell.

Considering it needed a viable point of focus, he decided his other hand would have to do for now. The spell did mention that a creature could be focused, which should logically include himself.

Focusing on a bright light somewhere inside his mind, his hand slowly started to shine in a bright light that did a much better job of illuminating the area around him.

In fact, you could say it did too well of a job, as the nearby oozes started going towards him. Unlike the previous green slime, these took on a reddish appearance and looked a tad more menacing.

Considering his options, he decided to cancel the spell, hoping it would stop the slimes, only to realise such an option didn’t exist.

The slimes seemed slow enough for him to outrun, so he started going back into the corridor he came from, his hand still lighting around him.

The slimes followed him, ever so vigilant, until he started to run, watching the slimes disappear into the distance.

Before long, there were no slimes behind him in sight. He slowed down, eventually stopping to a halt, glad that that was over, but annoyed that it happened in the first place.

He thought about killing the slimes but considered that, if what he assumed about them was actually the truth, his book wouldn’t be sufficient to destroy the core. He needed something sharper and pointier, like an actual weapon.

He considered going the other way, where the slimes weren’t but decided to just wait out the light as it seemed it brought him more trouble than it was worth.

An hour, and another dead spider, later, the his hand stopped glowing and George was back on his merry way. The spider died the same way the previous three did, in a swift clobbering by book, and the green slime returned, seemingly able to find anything dead close by and devour it. The green slime didn’t attack him, refreshingly, and didn’t seem to be agitated at all by the light, so he figured there are different types of slimes.

Still only one coin and a book rich, George decided to go back to the slime area.

The chamber was the same as when he left it, the slimes back to mindlessly oozing about. George decided to not spend any time admiring the chamber, considering he had no clue about the edibility of the mushrooms inside, and just swept some moss with his hand again and did the only thing he could to preserve it by shoving it into the pocket without a coin in.

He slowly got to the other side of the chamber, spotting three similar corridors to go through. Considering that the one behind him had spiders in it, he decided to go left. He liked left, but was unsure why.

Three minutes later, he came running back with three spiders following him.

“It had to be spiders.”