Zera was frowning as she finally finished loading in the last piece of furniture that was 'Donated' by the capital branch, the chair for the only other thing in the room; The table.
She had gotten the 'Highly envied' posistion of guild master, but instead of an established dungeon, she got a small new dungeon that for some reason wasn't making any proper monsters even after a few days. Then she also needed to deal with an idiot who volunteerd for this.
She pressed her temples for a moment 'How am I even going to manage this?' She thought in frustration 'The local vilagers are too busy delving themselves to be a foundation for operations, the adventurers are getting antsy at there being no progress, along with that fool.'
She tapped her foot on the floor in annoyance, there wasn't any good way to build up funds either. If she just had funds!- She still wouldn't be able to do anything, since whatever salary she could offer someone that she could actually use would be far too high, since the slime cores were very lucrative.
If you also took the fact that a blacksmith and artificer pair had arrived yesterday, and were willing to buy slime cores; While also selling items.
'Why couldn't I get a normal dungeon? Why!?' She complained mentally, sighing a moment afterwards.
She took some time, letting a minute or two pass her by as she thought of a method of setting up some kind of order '...That {Arcanist}!' The thought instantly burst through the veil that had previously obscured her mind's eye. She couldn't help but smile while praising herself a slight, slight bit; 'Of course I'd realize, I'm the only one with proper brain in this branch!'
She walked out from her office, walking through a hall, entering the front of the adventurer's guild; A tavern.
Zera could never understand why there was a tavern; Wouldn't it be better for it to be a reception hall solely? Though there was a bigger problem in the whole idea of a tavern- Specifically for their branch- The branch couldn't... Procure any alcohol, so the small amount of money made from the tavern business was also not coming in.
She sighed again looking at the almost empty mission board, the main way a guild would gain money before they set up a toll was also not working. Since the locals were integrating properly with the adventurers coming for the dungeon and there was no need to use a broker like them to get in contact.
"Miss!" One of the few workers afforded to her by the capital branch called out, panic easily found in her eyes by Zera "The dungeon shifted!"
'-And here I thought the situation couldn't get any worse.' She thought off-handedly, before shifting back to the real world "Calm down Norman." She said, her class skill-
Norman took a few deep breaths, quickly getting back his mental footing "The... The dungeon shifted, to a large degree too."
Seeing that Norman was no longer panic stricken, Zera took a moment to process his words. From it all, a single question came; "Where's Thalos?"
"Thalos..."
"Just say it." Zera said, reprimanding Norman.
"Thalos declared an expedition, and is currently exploring the dungeon again."
...
...
Zera just stood there for some time, her breathing becoming more and more rough, veins slowly appearing on her neck and face. Her body shuddering with rage, her fists slowly closing 'THALOS! Why can't you just control yourself for one moment, why do you always need to do something!?-'
Her complaining continued- Mentally of course, she had an image to uphold; Even if it was slowly breaking apart from her open display of anger outside the realm of words- Her mind calming down very slowly, before a thought came to her mind; 'It's not that bad really, this could get Thalos some presence- But I need the presence! I can't trust Thalos with that small bit of influence!'
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My steps were silenced by the cacophony of those of others behind me, more than twenty adventurers behind my banner.
The dungeon had just shifted, and I could not let such a good chance to finally get free from that stuffy bit Zera. I was born to explore the unknown, not sit at a desk and do paper work like what my dad wanted.
I held the grip up my sheathed sword with a smile, actually having it at my side felt very good to say the very least.
Currently I had passed by three rooms with some common slimes, not worthy of my action, though this did seem pretty similar to the previous iteration.
The first stairway had honestly been a bit long, and the weird room coming after estranged me by quite a large amount; But afterwards it had returned to normal.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
The halls were silent outside of the mumbling of expedition members- All lead by me- Along with their footsteps. The cold stone steps not caring for the human foot, uneven and rough to the touch. The walls cold and made of stone, the darkness sublimating everything outside the grace of the torches the expedition held.
...I'll remember those words, they would be perfect for a biography or interview.
I once again entered a new room, one of cubic proportions instead of one that was weird and half-ball-ey and stuff. I can't really find any sophisticated words to describe that weird room.
And as such, he noted to himself not to mention its form, just that it was there.
He shook his head softly, freeing himself of his thoughts; allowing his gaze to register the pair of slimes hopping about- Both still without slime cores, which obviously caused no enthusiasm of any kind to wash over his current entourage.
Without any input from him, two two small magical attacks flew through the stale air and subjugated the pair of monsters.
He frowned slightly, mostly at not having a chance to finally show off his power as an {Arcane swordsmaster}. Not taking note of the few who quickly looked behind the hooking exit of the hall "Hahah! I knew it" They exclaimed without any notion of his that they should've done so "Everyone! There's a tunnel here!"
Everyone's eyes quickly turned, a good few of them twitching in annoyance "Why can't this dungeon just be normal..." One muttered under his breath as all others stayed silent- No one said anything actually, but that'd really increase the impact of this scene.
While musing how to 'Adapt' this situation into a proper account, Thalos parted the metaphorical sea of adventurers and was looked upon while he squatted before the hole obviously hidden away- Not knowing that the dungeon who had created it cursed silently for a moment at this development.
After looking through and seeing nothing but a deep darkness, Thalos sighed and took out a torch of his own and lit it "Follow after me, I'll take the lead" He said, before throwing the torch through the hole as to light up the place due to his obvious lack of low-light vision capabilities.
What he saw was actually dramatizeable, a tunnel that increased in size the further you went- No, we found ourselves before a gateway into the abyssal maw, unknown what lay behind the shadows hidden within what the growing tunnels show. I entered this void, having steeled by mind, venturing with trepidation at what we might find- Thalos quickly noted it down in his mind as he crawled inside.
He whispered under his breath "Why can't this dungeon just be normal and make smooth floors..." The rocky surface he had to cross with both his legs and feet not comfortable for human skin.
After a few moment of annoyed and reluctant crawling, Thalos reached the torch he had thrown and squatted so that he could pick it up without risking the chance his clothes could be set alight.
With caution and heavy breaths, I stood up partially from my prone state- Still limited by the space I was contained by- Picking up the respite of a torch, one to light my way in the harrowing journey ahead- '-If there even is anything harrowing for that matter.' Thalos snapped out mentally in annoyance, slimes really not being noteworthy enough for him to even mention in any of his musings.
After a slight bit of walking crouched, he could finally stand up fully- Choosing to walk forwards a bit more to get some head room so that he wouldn't need to be hunched as he walked, finding the tunnel to turn right gradually.
"The coast is clear! Come in one by one!" I shouted at the hole I had entered through, easing the worries of my travel mates- If only by a slight bit.
Thalos waited and waited for the company of twenty something adventurers to all crawl on through the tunnel until it had grown to a size it could accompany their standing hight, though he'd had wish it had gown a bit faster in all honesty, it was a wallowing grewl to him.
He cracked his neck and choose to investigate what was at the end of the tunnel, following the turning path till it started to dip- Pausing for a moment- Then continuing onwards.
After a dozen or so meters of pure walking, which Thalos did not appreciate, he found it; The entrance to the slime plains... Wasn't that a bit too easy? Shouldn't a shift cause a large increase in difficulty?!
Where are the goblins, the kobolds, anything else than a slime?! Thalos unhappily walked down the steps for a few paces, allowing the adventurers to spread out and hunt after the... Large assortment of slimes that had traces of a slime core?
Thinking it was a bit strange, Thalos was the last to realize that one of the real newbie adventurers that had come had just had his face covered by a searing liquid.
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Congratulations on gaining your first leveled monster 'Acid test 3'
'Eh?' Falc was surprised by the sudden notification, as he got a burst of essence from a dead adventurer, good times, good times. The main part of his mind quickly shifted from constructing the scheme-approved 'Room 6' that was still hiding in a tunnel above the entrance of the slime plains.
Wat he found confused him quite a lot; A slime bouncing about, with a purpose! As if it could actually, you know, see. Falc couldn't believe it- He actually could, and hoped it was true too. But he had to test it.
He commanded to it 'Jump towards the closest slime.' And it did! It also shot a ball of acid at it, killing it instantly.
Falc was estatic, finally, a monster that could see! He could finally order something to kill adventurers! He didn't need to hope that a slime accidentally jumped on their head, which would then break their spine, which would then give him essence. He could just tell it; 'Shoot that adventurer in the head.' And done!
He quickly took note of what made Acid test 3- Now termed; Slime apostle 1, due to it bringing forth the light of sight to the slime race, for now just called Apostle. He quickly took note of what made it different from it's other sightless counterparts; Being 'Leveled' and having a fully formed slime-core.
He didn't know how to make something 'Leveled', but he was pretty sure how to make a 'Slime core' form; Letting it live for sometime in an environment with mana.
Thinking of that, he looked back towards his dark, dark past; the 3 by 3 by 3 meter cube that housed all the experiments of his youth.
And as he had suspected, there was only one slime left, with a fully formed slime core, bouncing aimlessly in the corpses of it's brethren, those who it had killed itself from what the small part of himself that had been monitoring this place passively could remember.
After a few tests, he quickly concluded; A slime core is what lets a slime see.
So what would he do? Well, that's obvious. Falc would find out how to make these slime cores artificially!