After naming itself, Newb found itself in the best situation that it could ever imagine. The first being that it felt like it had a purpose. That purpose wasn’t just about survival either. No, it was much more than that. Newb would best this dungeon and every other dungeon it could find, becoming a Champion of Monsterkind.

Actually, considering every other Monster that it found had attacked it without even attempting to work something out, that was probably not going to work out. And now that it thought about it, Newb realized that, so far, no other Monster it had met was anything like it. While Newb would want to try and defend itself against invaders, that one rat decided that the best thing to do was attack a fellow Monster. Granted, it had only met a number of monsters that could be counted on one hand… Wait, no… Newb didn’t have hands. So, counted on one of the adventurer’s hands? Yes, that would suffice.

Nodding to itself, it continued pondering about why the others did that. Was Newb special, somehow? And if so, were there other monsters out there like it? That line of query required additional thought. But that thought would wait until after it conquered its own dungeon. This dungeon should be renamed “First Dungeon Conquered by Newb”. And every Dungeon thereafter would continue to be renamed in the order that Newb conquered them.

Back to my new goals, the slime muttered internally, annoyed by its own train of thought. The monster decided that it would become a Champion. ‘The Champion Newb’ had a nice ring to it, if the slime did say so itself. Becoming a Champion, it would carve out its own corner of the world for it to live in. All… by… itself. The slime suddenly felt lonely. Being by itself would mean that it could be lonely forever. And that loneliness made way to jealousy at those stupid adventurers.

All in their ‘Parties’, Newb thought that they probably celebrated often, as they claimed one victory after another. Making a small edit to its new goal, it decided that it would also seek out like-minded individuals, and become friends with them. And together, they would carve out a corner of the world to live in whichever way they desired. Now, that’s a plan! With that, Newb the Slime went to the beginning of the Dungeon that would soon be renamed, and waited for the respawn to happen…

What followed could be counted as a series of growing frustrations. Although not all bad, the bitter taste would remain for quite some time. After the Dungeon respawned, Newb began at the beginning of the Dungeon, just like the adventurers it was imitating. Moving much faster than it had even two hours ago, the slime quickly dispatched of the first encounter, a giant rat. But, the message that declared its victory was much less than expected.

--- Congratulations, you are the victor! The amount of EXP you have gained has increased due to defeating your opponent in a single hit.

With nothing else to add to the pot, the slime continued on, thinking that maybe the first monster it defeated was just weaker than the others. But this was not the case. The second monster that Newb faced was another giant rat. And just as easily defeating it, the victor was greeted with the exact same message. And the third yielded the same. Before entering the fourth branch, the slime changed tactics and focused on its newest skills: Energy Absorption and Energy Expulsion.

Energy Absorption

“Breath in…”

Your body is now capable of drawing in a bit of the energy flowing around you.

This energy can be used to fortify yourself in a variety of ways.

You are currently Inept at this skill - 50 Skill Points remain until you increase in mastery.

**NOTICE - this skill does not directly grant you any Spells.**

Energy Expulsion

“... Breath out…”

Your body is now capable of expelling a bit of the energy stored within you.

This energy can be used to alter the area around you in a variety of ways.

You are currently Inept at this skill - 50 Skill Points remain until you increase in mastery.

**NOTICE - this skill does not directly grant you any Spells.**

So, Absorption was to take in energy, while Expulsion was to let out energy? It wasn’t quite sure, but that sounded right. See? This is the reason I need friends… the little slime grumbled. Not letting the slight doubt cloud its mind to the task at hand, Newb decided that the first thing to do was to focus on Absorption.

It started to “feel” outward towards the energy in the air, sort of like how its perception when it first respawned. While its inborn perception was slightly different from its Energy Sense, which functioned automatically, Absorption would be similar to the other two, but different in its own way, the slime surmised. Whatever the case, Newb “felt” that energy, a faint shimmer in the air, full of potential but as of yet, unchanged.

Hanging onto this feeling, the monster began to pull inward. Normally, a creature that could breathe would find that it was rather similar in that regard, the creature “breathing” in the energy. Given that Newb was a slime that did not breathe, it had no such reference point. Using that “pulling” attempt, the energy slowly, but surely, began to sink into the slime, becoming one with the energy of its own body. This is where it would all begin.

--- Your body is brimming with energy. Your Mana is over the recommended limit.

Thinking that this would be a good thing, the slime kept pulling that ambient energy inward.

--- Your body is overcharged with energy. You have suffered 1 Life from the overabundance of energy within your body. Please discharge the extra Mana.

A slight pain settled into Newb’s core self. And that pain started to grow as it continued to absorb energy into itself, thinking that this was all part of the process.

--- Your body is beginning to rupture due to the amount of energy you have contained within yourself. You have suffered 5 LIfe from the overabundance of energy within your body. Please discharge the extra Mana.

The amount of pain that time was too much to bear, and the slime, feeling like it would explode, did what it felt was naturally the best course of action - It let it out. A large shockwave exploded forth from its own body, rattling the cave around it. The monster immediately felt better, its body settling down to its natural luster, even a bit sleepy by the expenditure of Mana. And, it was met with the following notifications:

--- Congratulations, you are the victor! You have gained the following:

- Congratulations! The following skills have been improved:

- Energy Absorption has improved from Inept to Untrained. Willpower +1, Resolve +2.

- Energy Expulsion has improved from Inept to Untrained. Willpower +1, Caliber +2.

- You have gained the Talent, Collateral Damage [Vigor +1, Willpower +1, Caliber +2, Resolve +1].

- You have learned a new Outer Spell - Shockwave.

- The amount of EXP you have gained has increased due to defeating your opponents in a single hit.

And then, Newb noticed the cave around it shaking. It also noticed the cries of alarm that were coming from somewhere behind it. Glancing around itself, the slime noticed that there were small chunks of rock falling around it, and that the ceiling looked like it would soon drop big chunks of rock. And, even though it was made out of slime, it reasoned that a big chunk of rock falling on it would cause it to perish, and if it respawned here, it would have to start all over again. It thought ‘if’ because it wasn’t sure that monsters would spawn in a collapsed dungeon. Needless to say, the monster did not fancy either one of those options…

If Newb could breathe, it would almost certainly be panting. It hadn’t received any notifications granting it additional boosts in strength, but it did receive several damage notifications. And these did not sit well with the slime.

--- You have been hit for 10 Life.

--- You have been pelted for 7 Life.

--- You have been crushed for 33 Life.

--- You have been pelted for 11 Life.

--- You have been crushed for 18 Life.

It looked at its current Life total and found that it was sitting at a whopping 2 Life. 80 Life, gone in an instant. It tried to remember if the damage that it had received had been reduced by its defenses at all. Reviewing the damage notifications in its damage logs, it found that, yes, the total damage had indeed been reduced by the abilities and skills that it possessed. Which only made it more unsettled. The slime monster that had been steadily growing more powerful had only been at this for about four hours. And when it finally started to get a handle on things, it almost saved those adventuring folk the trouble by killing itself. But, thinking about it, it was very lucky to still be alive. Only then did it realize that while it had looked over its new skills and abilities fervently every time it had got a chance, it never looked over its talents. So, being buried at the moment, but not in immediate danger of dying, it decided to do so.

Lucky

“Maybe you should try your luck at the tables?”

While others merely stumble upon Lady Luck at times, you dance each day of your life with her.

Your aptitude for having a favorable outcome is increased immensely.

The Luck Attribute’s effectiveness is doubled.

Gutsy

“I laugh in the face of danger!”

You have been afraid, only to confront those fears head on.

You are bolstered against all types of fear, and are able to steel yourself more effectively against the unknown.

Collateral Damage

“Everything gets hurt when a bomb goes off.”

Being the penchant for destruction you are, things might just tend to cause further damage that you intended.

All area of effect (AOE) attacks will cause additional damage to everything that is caught within its range.

Your AOE attacks also have a 10% boosted range of effect.

Those were… really nice. Or at least the first two. The last one was a little questionable. Newb would have a boost against any fears that it would face, and there were bound to be many of those. And Lucky seemed somewhat unfair. Not that it was complaining, of course. Though, like some other strange things, this was kind of vague. Where is its “aptitude” based from anyway? Not wanting Lady Luck to kick it while it’s down, the slime monster began to attempt its escape from the pile of rubble it was now under. Then there is Collateral Damage, and that might just make things a little worse...

The ceiling, after Newb’s stupid attempt to mess with the forces of Energy, had collapsed. While the slime had attempted to escape deeper into the Dungeon, it didn’t make it to safety before it all came down around it. It thought that a few advens, as it decided to shorten adventurers to, had been exploring the cave, likely being suspicious at the lack of enemies. It wasn’t sure what had happened to them, but it was sure that it was not the cause of their demise, should they be dead.

Pulling itself free from one particularly large stone, Newb sort of “poured” out from under the rubble in the direction of the Boss Room. After what felt like forever, the slime reached the edge of the rubble, and could once again see. But it kinda wished that it hadn’t. The entire tunnel from about three meters into the end “leaf” all the way back to the entrance seemed to be blocked. The monster decided that it would see if it could escape after it felt better. It looked around just to make sure it was safe. The slime found itself staring at the Boss Room door, with nobody but itself for company. It thanked its Luck Attribute, which it decided to call Lady Luck on account of its talent, for making sure the Boss didn’t get out of its room. The door remained closed, none the wiser of the collapse that happened only a few meters away.

With its newly improved understanding of Energy, both from the skills it possessed and from personal experience, Newb began the process of slowly drawing in energy once more. Once it had reached its maximum Mana level again, which had also been down to 2, it stopped drawing in energy, and instead turned its attention to the inside. Trying to get it to move, it found that once the energy was inside of it, the power was much easier to move. That means that it might be able to manipulate it into maybe repairing some of the damage it had received. Before it started experimenting again, however, it wanted to verify something in its Stats, and if necessary, improve its chances of doing something right.

**

Name: Newb

Species: Slime, Grey

Age: 1 month

Power Level: 5 (85%)

Life: 2/87 (00:22:04)

Mana: 28/28

Soul: 21/21

Physical:

- Might: 12

- Finesse: 10

- Agility: 6

- Vigor: 15

- Grit: 7

Mental:

- Intelligence: 8

- Awareness: 3

- Willpower: 4

- Caliber: 5

- Resolve: 6

Bonus:

- Allure: 2

- Luck: 12

- Soul: 4

Abilities:

Slime Body

Increased Potential

Energy Sense

Energy Awareness

Skills:

Body Manipulation - Untrained (45%)

- Evader

Energy Absorption [+] - Untrained (33%)

Energy Expulsion [+] - Untrained (3%)

Heat Resistance - Inept (90%)

Iron Will - Inept (20%)

Mighty Blow - Untrained (22%)

- One Punch

Stealth - Amatuer (8%)

- Hidden One

Stealth Attack - Untrained (19%)

- Faint Attack

Toughness - Untrained (21%)

- Physically Tough (12.5% damage ignored)

Talents:

Lucky

Gutsy

Collateral Damage

Spells:

Outer

- Shockwave

**

Energy Absorption has the following boosts available:

- Bolster: Increases one’s chances of mastering a power-up spell.

- Healer: Increases one’s chances of mastering a recovery spell.

--- Congratulations, you have acquired the skill boost: Healer. Resolve +1.

Energy Expulsion has the following boosts available:

- Blaster: Increases one’s chances of mastering a long-range attack spell.

- Brawler: Increases one’s chances of mastering a short-range attack spell.

--- Congratulations, you have acquired the skill boost: Brawler. Caliber +1.

The first choice was obvious for Newb. Having a self-healing spell would do miracles for its survival rate. The second one was based on its current fighting style: Up close and personal. Especially with its one and only spell it currently had, Shockwave.

Shockwave

“Let’s shake things up!”

Creates a powerful burst of energy with the user as its epicenter.

This spell will do moderate amounts of damage to anything that it comes into contact with within ten meters of the caster.

Mana Cost - 50

While it may not be usable anymore in small areas like this cave, it would be a great all out attack… If only it had the Mana to cast it. But it will, someday. And then the spell would be safe for Newb to cast it without having to do dangerous amounts of Absorption. With its skills all powered up, the slime once again turned its attention inward. It then, with the assistance of additional knowledge granted by the Healer boost, began to work the energy through its body. And slowly, but surely, it started to recover.

--- Congratulations! You have learned the spell, Inner - Minor Rejuvenation.

--- You are now under the effects of Minor Rejuvenation. 3 Life recovered.

Minor Rejuvenation

“It’s like natural healing, but on steroids.”

Creates a small influx of energy within a target.

The target then recovers one-half of the caster’s Resolve (rounded down) in Life every two seconds for a period of the caster’s Willpower in seconds.

Mana Cost - 10

Well, even though it wasn’t much, Newb felt that, given enough time, it would be able to recover quite well in certain circumstances. At the moment, it was a minor stop gap in the grand scheme of things.

--- 3 Life recovered. The effects of Minor Rejuvenation have ended.

To improve its skills, the slime cast it again, recovering another 6 Life. Once again glad that it was in no immediate danger, the slime waited for just over fifteen minutes for its Life and Mana to recover completely. The lesson that “Energy misuse is dangerous” had been made abundantly clear to the monster. While it waited, it made a decision: It would have to face the Boss. The only problem with that was that it felt very small and even weaker. Its last run through the Dungeon had felt bittersweet, because even though it, technically, beat the Dungeon prior to the advens, the amount of EXP it gained left much to be desired. Newb’s luck, in that regard, had fallen short. Maybe, it thought, just maybe… When I succeed at something, it is done really well. And when I fail, it is spectacular. Lady Luck seems like a fair maiden, but in reality, she’s a very cruel mistress...