A teal blob sat on the forest floor like a strange fruit or growth. Outwardly, it seemed to be completely still. However, if one looked inside this blob, they would see Mavis’s core rotating furiously.

“Who…why…how?”

These questions were like gasoline to a fire. A fire that was burning Mavis from the inside out. It wanted to search for answers, but that was impossible now. The third layer’s slimes weren’t strong enough to merge with. Accessing its own memories would have to wait.

As its rage finally died down, Mavis realized that it was somewhat lost. It had taken the shortest path to the jungle slime, which made finding its way back difficult. The obtuse shortcuts that its formless body had used weren’t easy to see, especially from a different angle. Plus, even with its improved senses, Mavis still couldn’t see as far as a human. Getting a sense for its location was difficult.

“Uh…I think…this way.”

Mavis pulled out clothes from inside its body and transformed into a human. This change barely took five minutes. As a new species, even its shapeshifting had been upgraded. After donning its mask and cloak, the slime set out to find its friends.

Less than five minutes into its trip, a curtain of rain washed over the slime. Mavis froze in terror. Without a human eye to spot for it, Mavis couldn’t tell where the hydra was coming from. Not until it was dangerously close, anyways. The best solution was to wait and hide until that living natural disaster went away.

Mavis sped through the jungle while straining its magical vision. It didn’t take long for the slime to find a hollow tree to hide in. The only problem was that it already had an occupant. Mavis stumbled as its vision trained on the man sitting inside the hollow. It didn’t know many raiders and seeing a familiar face had caught it off guard.

*Phsooo*

As a nearby tree fell, Mavis decided that it would rather take on a human-sized risk than a hydra-sized one. And, frankly, it wasn’t much of a risk at all. If push came to shove, this human was in no condition to fight.

A dripping figure raised his head as Mavis stepped into the hollow. This was a very mild reaction for a raider, but this person was only a raider in the barest sense. He sat with his back against the wall, which seemed to be the only thing keeping him upright. His right hand was resting on an expensive-looking saber while his left lay on the ground in a bloody mess. His once regal white coat was torn and stained with blood and dirt. Dull and tired eyes fixed themselves on Mavis.

“Oh? I’ve lost more blood than I thought.” Yale muttered.

Mavis had doubted its memory for a moment, but the fact that he recognized it was undeniable proof. This was the wealthy young man who had tried to attack it back in the first layer. The young man whose guard cum mentor had been killed by Mavis.

Mavis stayed silent as it walked to the opposite end of the hollow.

“No matter.” He said.

Yale turned away from Mavis and closed his eyes. Something in his pocket began to glow until it sent a green light pulsing through his body. Yale’s injuries were healed somewhat, but he was far from being fully restored. While the pair sat in silence, Yale’s item sent out another pulse every few minutes.

Eventually, Mavis couldn’t help but ask.

“Why…are you…here?”

Yale released a tired chuckle.

“You’re a figment of my imagination. Shouldn’t you know?”

“I do not…know.”

Yale lowered his head and Mavis waited patiently while he sucked in a ragged breath.

“I’m a disgrace, that’s why I’m here. If I returned to the surface after losing Galt, who knows what my family would do to me? Despite being beneath us, he was my father’s long-time friend and my godfather.”

Rain continued to pound the forest floor. By the time Yale spoke again, several gallons had fallen outside the hollow.

“How lucky…”

Mavis tilted its head. “Lucky?”

“I never wanted to deal with any of that stuff. Being a raider sounds way more fun.”

Mavis’s hair twitched slightly. This man’s heart rate was stable enough, and his words didn’t seem like an outright lie. Even so, Yale’s dull tone and listless eyes didn’t make Mavis feel like he was having fun.

“You are…injured.”

“I’ll recover. Meanwhile, that hydra’s getting closer to death every day.”

“You fought…that?”

“A man of the Wallace family, even a disgraced one, should only concern themselves with those at the top of the food chain. That hydra is the first thing I’ve seen in this dungeon that’s truly worth fighting. Besides you, of course.”

Putting two and two together, Mavis realized that Yale was the person Nora had been searching for. The unusual pair didn’t want anyone to hurt ‘Rainy’ until they had gathered enough people to take her down. Theo could probably find a way to contact them, if Mavis told him about Yale.

Mavis didn’t want deal with that hydra rampaging every day.

The slime’s hair waved faintly as it gazed at Yale.

“What about…me?”

Yale chuckled.

“If I could find the real you, I wouldn’t let you die easily. A piece of scum shouldn’t have been able to kill Galt…No, they couldn’t have…My orders drove him into a corner…Scum like you…”

Yale’s voice grew faint, to the point where he was whispering to himself. Beneath its mask, Mavis frowned.

In truth, Mavis could solve this problem by itself. Killing Yale or stealing his equipment would likely save it some trouble in the future.

“The fight that I’ve been dreaming of is right in front of me…” Yale muttered as his eyelids sagged. “Ever since I was young…The fight that I’d couldn’t find on the surface…Next time, I’ll beat it.”

As Yale drifted off into slumber from a mixture of exhaustion and blood loss, Mavis didn’t move. It couldn’t bring itself move. Its vision remained fixed on the injured raider. Something about his words had struck a chord with the slime. It wasn’t feeling sympathy for his injuries or anything like that. Instead, Mavis had recognized something in his voice.

Obsession.

His fervent tone reminded Mavis of itself. Of the dream that was right in front of it, yet just out of reach.

Once the rain was gone, Mavis left the hollow before Yale woke up. The slime retraced its steps through the jungle but, to its surprise, it didn’t find Theo and Vivian. They found it first.

“Mavis!” Theo called out. “There you are.”

“I’m glad it wasn’t another monster.” Vivian sighed in relief.

The mage closed her right hand, covering the various blue and red lines within it. The searching magic dissipated.

“There was another human nearby, wasn’t there?” Theo asked.

“That’s right. They haven’t moved since I cast my magic. Maybe they’re resting.”

“Did you see anyone else, Mavis?”

Mavis hesitated for a moment, and then replied.

“Saw someone…They are sleeping. Should be…harmless.”

In the end, Mavis hoped that the Torrent Guardian would take care of the problem.

“Huh, ok.” Theo scratched his head. “Anyways, let’s get back to camp. We need to sort through the treasure that those monsters dropped. I want to hear how things went on your end, too. Did you catch that slime?”

“…Yes.”

- - -

Theo’s jaw dropped while Vivian stumbled over to a wall to steady herself. Mavis’s existence was already unbelievable by common standards. A monster that could talk and reason was like something out of a fairy tale. And now, that incredibly unlikely creature was telling them an even more unlikely story. It wasn’t something they could process in a couple of minutes.

“Who was…glowing man?”

Theo and Vivian balked at the slime’s question.

“I…” Vivian started. “I can only guess it was someone related to the divine.”

“Person who…created…dungeon?”

“Yes.”

“I guess that makes sense.” Theo muttered. “The current divine created these dungeons, and the monsters that live inside of them. If Mavis really is some kind of unique case, then the divines might be involved.”

The slime’s hair waved back and forth as it leaned towards Theo.

“Tell me about…divines?”

“Honestly, I’ve already told you everything that I know. What about you, Vivian? You have a proper education.”

Vivian sighed. “An education in magic.”

The mage closed her eyes and thought for a moment.

“The divines are gods that created our world. Apparently, there’s only one in power at any given time. We call that one the current divine. These beings live somewhere outside the reach of mortals and spend their lives in immortal decadence. Or, so I’ve read.”

“And…current divine…created Naraka?”

“Naraka and every other dungeon. Back in the previous divine’s time, he was a king who conquered the world and rose to divinity. There aren’t many records about it, but apparently the previous divine’s world was a horrible place that was constantly at war.”

“Humans fighting humans.”

Vivian nodded.

“Why divine…create me?”

“I don’t know.”

Mavis slowly melted into a puddle of slime. All of this was starting to feel overwhelming.

“So…previous divine is…bad. Current divine is…good? And maybe…made me? I ask…white room person…more…next time.”

“Then we’ll need to find more slimes.” Theo said.

“No. Can’t merge…anymore.”

“Why not?” Theo stared at Mavis’s puddle. “Wait…Why are you teal?”

The two humans raised another commotion as Mavis explained how it had changed species.

“Ok…” Theo started to speak and then paused to massage his temples. “Ok.”

An evolving monster was just as rare as a talking one.

“…Ok. What kind of slime are you, exactly?”

“Do not…know.”

The slime twitched as it felt the flow of mana around it shift. Turning to the source of the disturbance, Mavis stared at Vivian. Meanwhile, the mage’s attention was fixed on her pendant.

“Appraising monster cores is something that only specialists can do. A normal academy mage like me can’t learn it. Fortunately, I don’t need to.”

Mavis stood still while Vivian observed it with her cat’s eye pendant. Half a minute later, Vivian was frowning.

“Um, you’ve graduated from a cave slime to something called an ‘Auric Slime’. This pendant won’t show me much if you’re just standing around. Maybe we should find a monster for you to fight?”

“I have a better idea.” Theo announced. “How about we spar?”

“Spar?” Mavis tilted its head.

“A non-serious fight, for training. I also want to try out a piece of gear that we got today.”

“Good…idea.”

Five minutes later, Theo and Mavis faced each other outside the hollow. There were few truly open spaces in the third layer, and this was no exception. Trees crowded the area as if they’d made a pact to push every other lifeform away. Roots snaked along the ground, creating plenty of uneven snags. It certainly wasn’t a standard arena.

Mavis remembered something that Theo had said in the first layer. He used daggers because a dungeon’s terrain was unpredictable. Spears, axes and even swords could become useless when the ground was uneven or there wasn’t enough room to fight. Meanwhile, shorter weapons were much more versatile.

At first, Mavis hadn’t thought much of this. Now that it had travelled to the third layer, the slime realized that there was a certain arrogance in those words. Normally, raiding teams wouldn’t rely on all their members at once. Some monsters were easier to kill with swords, others with magic or bows, and others with heavier weapons. Even if they weren’t as versatile, every weapon had its place in a dungeon.

“Ok.” Vivian said, waving her hands. “No one else is nearby. I’ll be ready to heal any injuries, but don’t go too crazy.”

“Thanks, Vivian.”

“Thank you, Vivi.”

Theo pulled on his new headband and grinned.

“Well, it’s only six out of nine, but I feel like I can finally fight like a raider again.”

Mavis’s hair twitched slightly.

Other weapons had their place, but Theo and his mentor didn’t seem to care. They had faith that their own style could handle anything. Even though dungeons were filled with an uncountable number of monsters, Theo had been trained to fight all of them without a team.

The slime shook its head. It needed to focus on its own strategy.

“Should I…stay…human?”

“Do whatever you think will help you win.”

“…Ok.”

Mavis thought for a moment and then split its hair into three long tentacles. Controlling dozens of them along with a human body was impossible. Mavis could have abandoned its human form, but it didn’t. Somehow, holding swords in this form felt natural to the slime.

One of its tentacles suddenly curled in anger. It might have learned why this stance felt natural if that glowing man hadn’t interfered. Sighing, Mavis refocused its senses on Theo. The opportunity to search its memories had passed. Mavis knew that it had to put its obsession aside and concentrate on getting stronger.

Two weeks sounded like a lot, but that time would pass in a flash. How much gear they could gather depended heavily on luck. Half a month might not bring them many upgrades.

Mavis resolved to cast aside its worries and train. Only training could guarantee improvement.

“Ready for…spar.”

Unlike Yale, Mavis still had people to protect.