The Heaven’s Spire mountain range was a harsh and desolate land. It had few valuable resources and non-existent strategic value. During the previous divine’s reign, these mountains were largely overlooked by the world. However, that changed drastically when the current divine took his throne. After it was rediscovered, the Heaven’s Spire mountain range appeared on the map as the world’s third great dungeon—Naraka.

All dungeons were broken into different sections. Exactly how different those sections were varied greatly. There seemed to be only one rule: the lower the floor, the greater the danger. Naraka’s divisions were entirely organic. To enter, raiders would travel up a mountain and enter a very conspicuous cave. Inside were magically-operated lifts that lowered raiders down into the first layer. After traversing the dark and claustrophobic maze, raiders were treated to a bright and sprawling second layer. This section was sandwiched between the protective barrier above and a dense forest canopy in the valley below. The second layer itself was a web of trails and bridges connecting Naraka’s various mountains. For a long time, the second layer was believed to be the largest section of Naraka.

Currently, the fifth layer’s endless caverns held that honor.

After Theo finished explaining hours, days and weeks to Mavis, he gave the slime a primer on Naraka’s history and structure. Theo wasn’t exactly an expert on the subject, but he had a basic understanding. Many raiders would spend their entire lives challenging a single dungeon. Even so, stories and rumors would spread through merchants and other travelers. Almost every adult on the surface could name the four great dungeons and had cursory knowledge of how they operated.

Normally, Theo wouldn’t want to waste time teaching these things to Mavis. He only did so because they were still acclimating to the second layer. When Theo and Mavis stumbled upon an entrance to the mountain pass, the sun was already setting. They followed the trail for a bit and then searched for an out-of-the-way area to camp. Traveling at night was dangerous. Mavis could still see, but in an open area, that was barely an advantage. Theo insisted that they wait until morning, but there was a small problem with his plan.

Their sleep cycles had been thrown out of whack.

Theo hadn’t been sleeping properly before he entered Naraka. He immediately fell out of sync with the sun’s routine. Mavis was even worse. The slime wasn’t used to following any kind of cycle. In the eternal darkness of the first layer, Mavis slept whenever it wanted. Theo found this quite odd, since slimes shouldn’t need to sleep at all. Their bodies simply didn’t require rest.

“Feel…right…no…understand…why.”

Theo shook his head at Mavis’s stilted explanation. He’d long since noticed that Mavis had many human-like qualities. Not all of them could have been learned through imitation. The slime had no explanation and Theo was stumped as well. There was simply no precedent for a case like this.

Ultimately, these circumstances led to Theo and Mavis talking for hours until they fell asleep. If they had stayed up a bit later, then they would have noticed a small disturbance in the sky above. The forcefield flashed a bright red as a particularly large ripple traveled across it. This omen quickly vanished and the field settled, just like the surface of a pond after a rock is thrown in. The second layer raiders that were still awake looked up at the moon—the epicenter of this ripple—and grimaced.

- - -

“It’s coming again. Seven o’clock.”

“Hate…bird…”

Theo drew a dagger while Mavis transformed its hair into an array of tentacles. They both turned around and looked up at the sky.

“Don’t use those!” Theo snapped. “What if someone sees us?”

“No…catch…without.”

A red and black blur sped towards them. The instant it was close enough, Mavis rushed forward. The slime’s tentacles shot out, ensnaring the creature. This attack was simple, but its target was not. Mavis dug in its heels as the captive monster struggled furiously.

*Screeee*

Vicious black talons tore into the ground as the monster let out a defiant shriek. Now that it was firmly entrenched, Mavis couldn’t continue their tug-of-war. Black feathers bristled as the monster’s muscles swelled. The enormous eagle pulled backwards, flinging Mavis towards it. The slime’s tentacles came loose, and a steely beak punched through its chest in mid-air. At the same time, a short metal blade plunged into the bird’s neck. It had been stopped just long enough for Theo to throw his dagger.

“It’s going to fly! Get the wings!”

Theo’s yell broke Mavis out of its stupor. The slime quickly crawled across the bird’s face and onto its back. The eagle let out a pained cry and spread its wings. Theo lunged forward and retrieved a second dagger that had been lodged in the monster’s side. In one fluid motion, Theo jumped up, grabbed the eagle’s wing and slashed its underside with his dagger. Meanwhile, Mavis wound its tentacles around the other wing. The eagle pushed off the ground and immediately fell back down.

“You aren’t getting away twice!”

Theo didn’t give it time to recover. A second blade tore into the eagle’s neck and its eyes finally lost their hateful glare. The monster never got back up. While Mavis set about fixing its hair and torso, Theo retrieved his daggers. He cleaned them off with a spare cloth and then placed them back in his belt. The raider patted his chest, and by extension the blades underneath, with an apologetic expression.

“Even though you’re low-rank crap and barely better than normal steel…I’m sorry for losing you.”

“Your fault…throw…when…bird…escape…first time.”

“If they were properly enchanted, then my dagger would have punched a hole in that eagle’s stomach. I’d like to see it fly away after that.”

Theo glared at the monstrous eagle. The bird had stood a full meter above him. Its wingspan was twice as large as he was tall. Coal-black feathers covered the eagle’s lower body while its head was decorated in fiery red plumage. Red-crested sovereigns were, as their name implied, masters of the second layer’s skies. They were fiercely territorial and enjoyed dive-bombing passing raiders. Theo was glad that they were so aggressive, since a more passive animal would have never returned for a second attack.

“Why…no…have…enchant?”

“Because the first layer is-”

“-No.” Mavis cut him off. “Why…no…have…weapon…when we…met?”

“Oh…” Theo looked away for a moment, then he put on a forced scowl. “My stuff was stolen. A party of mean raiders deceived me.”

“Very…bad!” Mavis shook its head disdainfully.

“Me or the thieves?”

“Thieves. Deceived…bad…thing.”

When he heard that, Theo couldn’t help but shake his head.

“Slimes ambush people by hiding above them. Tons of animals live by deceiving others.”

“Predator…deceive…prey.” Mavis mirrored his dismissive gesture. “Humans…not…human…prey.”

Theo frowned and his eyes darkened.

“Humans definitely prey on each other. Even people you’ve trusted for a long time will deceive you, if they’re given enough incentive. You could even say that the only successful humans are the ones who take the initiative to become predators.”

Mavis stepped back. Even without a face, Theo could see that it was very uncomfortable with this news. Theo cursed inwardly. He hadn’t meant to expose his true feelings.

“Well, that’s just what some people say…You don’t need to take it to heart.”

“…To…heart?”

“I’m saying, you can believe what you want to believe.”

Theo stepped away, taking the chance to exit this conversation. He approached the red-crested sovereign and cut into its chest.

“Theo…no…hurt…why…search…core?”

“Stop using ‘no’ in place of other negatives. It sounds childish.” Theo chided as he focused on the bird. “I am not hurt. I did not have a weapon when we met.”

A talking monster was already a treasure of limitless value. However, Theo felt that it couldn’t hurt to raise that value a little more. He had no idea if any of that profit would fall back into his hands. His reward was supposed to be freedom, but this kind of discovery might prompt a bonus. Either way, the fame for bringing a talking slime to the surface would be his and his alone.

Plus, better language skills would help Mavis adjust to whatever life awaited it. Theo begrudgingly accepted that he was worried about where it would end up. But that worry wouldn’t stop him from putting his own life first.

“This is why I’m digging out the core.”

Theo turned back to Mavis and held out a palm-sized sphere. It looked like a monster core, but there were two obvious differences. The first was that it glowed a brilliant gold, as opposed to the sinister black of a normal core. The second was the way it pulsed in a lively manner. Monster cores were vestiges of a dead creature. If they weren’t consumed, then their energy would quickly fade away.

“These are called treasure cores. Not every monster has one, so we were a bit lucky.”

Theo channeled some mana into the core and it burst open in a flash of golden light. Mavis jumped back in surprise, but then it refocused its senses. The core had disappeared and Theo was holding a pair of leather boots. It wasn’t clear what they were made from, but their earthy dark tone reminded Mavis of the bird’s plumage.

“Oh! I was hoping to get some clothing.” Theo grinned as he examined his prize.

Theo pressed down on the treasure with a single finger and it began to glow in response.

“What…finger…do?”

“I’m appraising it. You need an actual mage to perform full appraisals, but all raiders know how to do minor ones.”

“Appraisal…check…value.” Mavis had spied on raiders performing appraisals before. “What…see…when…appraise?”

“Minor appraisals give you an impression of the item’s enchantment. All dungeon treasures have some kind of magical bonus. It’s what makes them better than anything made on the surface.”

Theo removed his finger and stared at the boots. His eyes glinted with greed.

“These things are pretty powerful. I wasn’t expecting to find a treasure like this in the second layer.”

“Very…lucky?”

“Yes!”

Theo slipped out of his dirt-covered shoes and put on the boots. Once again, he placed a finger on them.

“This is another thing that all raiders know how to do. You can bind treasures to yourself. Bound clothes will warp to fit you and weapons might grow or shrink slightly. Just like with appraisals, you can bind things more thoroughly with an actual mage.”

The boots suddenly tightened to fit Theo’s feet. It was as if he’d worn them for weeks. Theo stood up and casually tapped his boot tip against the ground.

“What is…treasure’s…enchantment?”

“I’ll show you.”

Theo channeled mana into the black boots and they suddenly turned red. He grinned at Mavis and took a step forward. A trail of dust exploded behind him. Any human would have been blinded by the upturned earth, but Mavis saw what happened next in perfect detail. Theo was flung forward far faster than he anticipated. The raider slammed into the ground and skidded helplessly for a few meters. He would have gone further, if there hadn’t been a rock wall in his path. Theo yelled out a curse as he came to an abrupt and painful stop.

“Very…powerful.” Mavis laughed.

The slime dug out the falcon’s core and brought it over to Theo. He silently accepted it and waited for his wounds to heal. Once he recovered, Theo stood up and turned to Mavis.

“Thanks.”

“What…happen?”

“They’re defective.” Theo glared bitterly at his new treasure. “Some items are like that, especially in the upper layers. Their enchantments don’t respond properly, and it’s hard to predict what will happen. These boots were supposed to give me a short burst of speed, which they did. They just sped me up too much.”

“Not…lucky?” Mavis asked smugly. It didn’t care much about treasure, but it was happy to have remembered Theo’s advice.

Theo sighed. “Never lucky.”