We continued walking through the silken forest following Aimon closely, while a perpetual feeling of being observed loomed over us.
Occasionally, we would pass by another Carren elf, who seemed to be harvesting resources from the forest and was either carrying an assortment of vials or spooled rolls of silk.
Aimon was chatty as always, as he was already beginning to speculate on what he could use the [Basilisk Venom] for, and he eventually settled on trying to make an improved antidote for petrification. According to him, most current cures outside of magic were typically single-use, but he wanted to create one with broader application.
I can see why he passed the nomination through, furthering their trade, rather than combat or diplomacy.
Eventually, we arrived at our destination. I had expected a tree, but instead it was what appeared to be a massive sinkhole, with a lid made of webs, and a spiral staircase going down.
"How much do you want to bet this dungeon is spider-themed?" Vee asked.
"That's not a bet I'd take," I replied telepathically. "It also probably explains why the [Dungeon Master] has an interest in you, and why they might know of some steps you can take to get a shape-changing evolution."
"Oh yeah! If they are spider-themed, then they must know all sorts of spider secrets. I guess I might have hit the jackpot?"
"Well, this is the dungeon," Aimon said, pointing to the staircase down. "Would you like me to join you, or do you two wish to handle it alone?"
"Alone… if you don't mind," I replied and pulled my last remaining vials of the [Basilisk Venom] and handed them over to the wide-eyed Aimon. "I hope these will keep you occupied while we are down there."
"Ah… but you won't be able to go further than the first floor, do you really intend to stay down there?" Aimon asked. He seemed a little dead set on me accompanying him while Vee was preoccupied.
"I'll wait. I don't want to be too far away from Vee," I explained.
Aimon nodded, albeit a little reluctantly. "I can see why you two are so close, and why you must have such a close bond. Very well, I won't press you any further."
"Thank you again, Aimon."
"Yeah, thanks!" Vee said, waving her legs frantically.
"No problem, I hope Vee can get the help she wants. Just remember to respect the [Dungeon Master] and don't go further than the first floor."
After that warning, he departed, leaving us alone and staring down at the sole entrance to the dungeon.
"Well, I'm certainly excited," Vee said.
"Let's grab these coordinates first, just in case we need to escape," I suggested.
We both saved them in one of our slots of [Triangulate] and then started walking down the staircase into the dungeon. We continued descending until we eventually reached the bottom of the pit, which had four separate tunnels to choose from.
"Which way?" Vee asked.
"I don't think it matters too much, I think we just need to keep exploring until we find the staircase down."
"Great, then that one!" Vee declared and [Warped] off my shoulder.
We headed down the dark cavern she had picked out; it really felt like we were walking into the belly of the beast, but neither of us was too afraid after our conquest of Ygdran's dungeon.
<Welcome to my humble dungeon. I had my suspicions when I heard a spider was seeking knowledge, and now I see that I was correct. Although I never could have guessed there would be two of you.>
The sudden notification popped up for both of us; it was evident the [Dungeon Master] had noticed our arrival.
"That's quite a secret, I hope you won't reveal it to anyone," I replied telepathically to Vee, which I assumed the [Dungeon Master] could hear.
<And risk angering him? Heavens no… I know how to keep myself out of trouble. I've also heard warnings about you specifically, and I'd rather not have my dungeon devoured.>
"I guess Ygdran and Juniper haven't exactly cleared the bad rumors about you yet," Vee pointed out.
"That damn mutation dungeon really had it out for me. I should go back and give it a piece of my mind," I grumbled.
"Please don't. I'd rather not make a bunch of sworn enemies."
<Yes… please don't plot against a fellow dungeon and let's move on, shall we? Regardless of your true origin, my offer for beyond the first floor remains open only to Vee.>
"No issue. Just be warned that when I return and Vee isn't safe and sound, there will
be a reckoning.""Aww… you do care about me," Vee replied teasingly.
<Noted. However, I don't intend to harm a kin of mine.>
"Ha! Called it, spider dungeon," Vee cheered.
"I didn't take that bet," I snapped back. "But if the [Dungeon Master] is also a spider, then you're probably in good hands. I wish I had that option…"
"Look on the bright side, you'll get to open the very first slime dungeon!"
<A slime dungeon? That's… unique. I had no idea you wished to join our ranks.>
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
"It's a potential long-term goal. I'm not sure yet. There's still a lot of exploring to do and slime cores to collect."
"Yeah, next up is our beach vacation," Vee agreed.
<I see… well, in any case, good luck finding the entrance down. Vee, I'll see you shortly, I hope.>
"Well, that [Dungeon Master] seemed nice," Vee said.
"Seems so. Better reaction than Dran's screaming at us, or Juniper's death glare."
We walked deeper inside and entered the first official room, where we were almost immediately beset upon by gigantic spider monsters. Unfortunately for them, they were significantly outclassed by both Vee and me, and we managed to dispose of them without breaking a sweat.
In particular, [Scorchlance] was proving its weight in gold by burning them and their nests to cinders.
"Wow. I'm super glad I didn't take that weakness to fire trait," Vee said as she watched how easily the spiders burnt to death.
"You should work on your resistance at some point," I suggested.
"And what? Have you repeatedly attacked me with spells until I level up the trait? No, thank you!"
"I said it before, but that's what Dewi, my pyromancer friend, did."
"Well, he must be utterly insane, who would willingly do that to themselves?"
I didn't answer. I had, after all, at one point tried to "kill" myself to level up [Defy Death].
We continued our exploration of the floors, killing any and all spiders we came across. There was a large variety on display, including spitting, jumping, trapping, and, to my surprise, even some elemental spiders. It had me oddly reminiscent of the mineshaft I had cleared out.
Of course, none of them compared to Vee, who was just in a league of her own. If you compared her to any other spider, it really showed that a superior base species could have a significant advantage, and it made me curious to see what evolutionary options I'd have available.
Vee's gone on and on about it… Although I'm still tempted to pick another Mutation.
We continued to explore the underground network of webs and tunnels, clearing out any arachnid monsters we encountered with brutal efficiency. I gained a few additions to my spider profile from their remains, but none of them were worth mentioning, except for finding a weaker version of Vee's [Thread Mastery] called [Thread Control].
The experience was definitely inferior compared to Ygdran's dungeon, although we were only on the first floor. The weak plantoids were numerous, so they made up in quantity, while the elite plant monster variants gave a lot of experience despite being few in number. The spiders were like the worst of both worlds, fewer in number and weaker.
"I should have killed that elf…" I muttered, feeling quite disappointed that I'd still not gained a level.
"But then we'd have nothing to give Paeris. I'm sure he will crack the case wide open in our absence and then you'll get your pink core as a reward!" Vee replied with hopeful enthusiasm.
I grumbled, knowing she was entirely right; I wanted to be unreasonable and vent, but her flawless verbal counter just left me feeling dissatisfied.
After effortlessly killing another pack of spiders, Vee spoke up. "Maybe I need to start apologizing to the slimes."
"For?"
"Well… remember I called them dumb and weak? Citing the one I saw fall into lava. Well, these spiders aren't giving me much confidence in my own species."
"I did tell you that I'd killed a bunch of spider monsters before we met," I pointed out. "But I will clarify that these are dungeon ones, so they're even more mindless than the ones you'd find on the surface. Plus, I'm assuming you're probably going to meet a Broodmother as the master of this dungeon, so you'll get firsthand experience of the tippy top of the spider evolutionary chain."
"Yeah, but there's no way I'm picking Broodmother. Likewise, I doubt you're interested in your Queen's evolution.
"And give you a reason to call me Queen Syl? No, thank you. I feel like I've aged a decade from all your Princess teasing."
"Aww… and here I thought you'd miss it once all this is done."
I stared long and hard at Vee until she finally relented.
"Okay, okay, enough of the Princess jokes. I promise."
"Good."
We continued exploring and eventually found our goal, the staircase down.
<Excellent, you've found the way down! I'm eager to meet you, Vee.>
"Should we turn around and keep grinding?" Vee suggested.
<I beg your pardon? You don't want to proceed down?>
We ignored the [Dungeon Master] for now.
"You can go if you want. It's pretty boring killing these low-level monsters," I replied.
"No way I'm missing out on your evolution options. I want to know what you get before I head down, or the suspense of waiting a week will drive me crazy."
"I'm tempted to not tell you now," I teased.
"Come on! I'm sure you want my evolution advice."
"Advice, really? What advice could you give? You picked a shrinking mutation because you thought it would make you look cute for the dwarves. You don't know anything about slimes. "
"What? I know plenty about slimes. I'll have you know my best friend is a slime."
"Well played," I chuckled, shaking my head.
<Are you really not going down?>
"Sorry, I need to stick with my friend here until she evolves," Vee replied. "I want to make sure she's safe and sound before I go. Plus, I need to know where she's setting up the rift in case I need to defend it or anything."
<Rift?>
"You'll hardly notice it! Trust me, it'll be completely out of your way," Vee continued ranting.
<...>
Once again, I'm terrified of her tongue and second-guessing whether we should let her undergo an evolution that would give her a way to communicate readily with non-telepaths. Letting her free might be dooming the world!
Much to the complaints of the [Dungeon Master], instead of separating, we began exploring one of the other paths that led to the descending staircase. Now that we'd found it, we could easily return thanks to [Mapping].
It had certainly become monotonous at this point, and the only fun was the occasional comment from Vee about one of the spiders. Random things like: "So that was what that evolution looked like," or "thank the gods I didn't pick that one!"
Makes me wonder how things might have turned out if I had chosen a different path. For instance, if I had picked that parasitic mutation, I might have been able to save Sylthaeryn…
I mentally sighed and shook away the thoughts. It wasn't worth dwelling on what-ifs.
We cleared another three rooms when it finally happened. After what felt like an eternity, I'd finally reached the maximum level of my current racial form. I was moments away from embarking on an entirely new tier of monster!
<Racial Experience threshold reached. Chimeric Cluster Slime (Blue) is now LV 40 (Max).>
<Evolution options are now available.>
<28 Trait Points are now available.>
"Finally!" I cheered.
"Congrats! I'm eager to hear about all your unique and unusual options. I can't even imagine what the heck a slime would evolve into?"
"And you called yourself the slime expert."
"What can I say? My credentials might have been slightly exaggerated. Now come on; tell me, tell me!"
I bobbed my head in agreement and pulled up a familiar system screen, and right there, front and center, was the big button waiting for me.
<[Evolution Available]>
I mentally selected it and braced myself as the new menu appeared, overwhelming my entire vision.
Species Evolutions Available:
Chimeric Cluster Slime (Pink)
Chimeric Cluster Slime (Grey)
Chimeric Cluster Slime (Gold)
Chimeric Cluster Slime (Black)
Chimeric Cluster Slime (Prismatic)
Mutation Evolutions Available:
Gluttonous Chimeric Cluster Slime (Blue)
Aquatic Chimeric Cluster Slime (Blue)
Magma Chimeric Cluster Slime (Blue)
Sleet Chimeric Cluster Slime (Blue)
Swamp Chimeric Cluster Slime (Blue)
Ferrous Chimeric Cluster Slime (Blue)
Crystalline Chimeric Cluster Slime (Blue)
Chimeric Doppelgänger Cluster Slime (Blue)
Chimeric Cluster Slime (Prismatic)
Alchemic Chimeric Cluster Slime (Blue)
Sanguine Chimeric Cluster Slime (Blue)
Predation Chimeric Cluster Slime (Blue)
Mycelial Chimeric Cluster Slime (Blue)
Cloud Chimeric Cluster Slime (Blue)
Special Evolutions Available:
Queen Chimeric Cluster Slime (Blue)
Storm Spirit
Mana Spirit
Rift Spirit