I was sitting outside the dungeon entrance, staring blankly at the sky. It was beautiful and empty, a perfect uninterrupted blue that engulfed the entire world. Looking up at the sky made me realize how small I was, how insignificant I am. It was terrifying just as it was liberating.

I laid down in the grass for a moment and closed my eyes. A gentle breeze was brushing over the grass and trees, making the gentle whooshing noise that I found so relaxing. I thought for a moment what I was going to do. I could feel the grass underneath my hands, the warm dirt, the sun gently caressing my skin, the soft wind dancing across, and the smell of nature all around me. I let it fill my senses, consume me, and made me be just another part of this expansive world.

I imagined the world and my plans not as myself, as a dungeon master, as a human being, but as the world itself, watching, uncaring, unfeeling of those that inhabited it. I thought of the ways I could succeed and the ways I could fail. The ways our plans would accelerate and the ways it could be stalled and hindered. And just as much as I thought of that, I thought of nothing.

An empty vast of nothingness.

It was nice. Sometimes people forgot nihilism could be optimistic as well as pessimistic.

I opened my eyes and the bright blue sky burned my eyes for a moment.

“Easy… We kill God.”

What did Voop mean by that? Did he mean the two gods that Darnelle talked about in his poem? No, Voop specifically said God, as in one god, so that can’t be right.

How does one kill a god? Is it by disbelief? By systematically eradicating the religion out of every corner of the world? Or is it more tangible here, plunging a knife into some ethereal being’s heart? I had too many questions and no answers. Voop refused to speak more after that, no matter how hard I tried to get the answers out of him. But the cat like slime was adamant, and left me alone afterwards.

How am I going to kill a god? Do I even want to kill god? What would happen if I did?

The bright sky and the gentle wind offered me no answers.

I sighed and contemplated working on the dungeon some more but I didn’t feel like getting up just yet.

My slime experiments have been going well but I was at a stage where I could finally ignore them and let Alfred teach them strategies so I could focus on expanding the dungeon. But that would cost resources, resources I currently don't have on hand. And I was busy, busy with thinking about my end goal here. I had an insurmountable task ahead of me, one that none of my predecessors have ever accomplished. Many beings died trying to make this dream a reality, good people. People who didn't deserve it.

What was I even doing here. I was just a lonely dumbass who liked to play games on the weekends. I had no real aim in life. No spectacular goals I had wanted to achieve.

“All lies.”

I ignored that tiny voice in my head that liked to point things out to me. I knew I was lying to myself but it was better than the truth.

I felt a pang off to my side that told me Moby was coming towards me. Ever since I came to the dungeon, I seemed to have an innate knowledge of where all my residents were at and how far away they were from me.

“Boss?” Moby's voice was tiny and nervous as she walked towards me, her tiny face blocking the sun. “Is… is um Boss gonna work on the slimes today?”

She was nervously fiddling with her dress and I couldn't help but smile at her and patted the spot next to me. Her eyes went wide and she gave me a tiny smile as she sat down next to me.

“Alfred can take care of the slimes for now. I have to do some digging first,” I said.

“Oh…” Moby tried to hide her disappointment but it was clear as day on her tiny green face.

“You like playing with the slimes?” I asked.

She nodded excitedly. “They're nice and soft and let me pet them unlike Voop. And they're all pretty and colorful. I like Cake a lot they're pink and pretty.” She spoke in that matter a fact way that only children could pull off and I had to admit I felt my heart melt at just how adorable she was.

“Hmmm then how about I give you a special job with the slimes,” I said, already knowing her answer.

“R-REALLY?! I-I mean, are you sure it's ok Boss?” Her face turned a bright green and her eyes practically sparkled at the idea of getting an important job. I nodded to her.

“You can be my slime assistant. From now on I want you to write down everything different and strange about the slimes ok. Even if it doesn't look or seem important.”

Her eyes grew even wider and I'm sure that if she had a tail it'd be wagging right now.

“A-A BOOK? T-TO WRITE IN? FOR ME?”

That was another thing that separated Moby from Goby. Goby was more of a hands on type learner but Moby absorbed knowledge like a sponge to water. She read all the small stacks of books in our library voraciously, even if she didn't understand half the material. She was especially fascinated by the few scientific journals Johan had as well as his strategy books. The fact that I was giving her a chance to emulate just that seemed to spark something in the little goblin girl.

“I'M GONNA BE JUST LIKE SIR CORNELL L. FIELDINGS AND BE THE BESTEST SLIME RESEARCHER EVER!” she said excitedly. I couldn't help but laugh and get caught up in her happiness and I let her walk me back to the dungeon while she excitedly told me all about Sir Cornell L. Fieldings, the world's leading 【Doctor】, 【Researcher】, and 【Arch Mage】.

I only half listened to Moby as I pulled out the DMS. I flipped through my screens and options, trying to find my crafting screen.

I had the ability to recreate anything from my world (and this one as well) as long as I was able to fulfill two criteria: a) having the resources on hand or enough mana to compensate for it, and b) I had to intrinsically know how the item was made. That limited what I was able to create by a lot, but hey, it beat making a book by hand.

story divider: Darnelle is blowing a kiss to Johan who is flustered and embarrassed as a string of hearts connects them [https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/274434221182025728/523646975204392970/divider.png]

“HOW’S IT LOOKIN’ DOWN THERE CLAIRE?”

My voice echoed in the man made tunnel as I climbed down the stairs. There were no lights to be found, so I had to waste the precious battery life I had on my phone to make my way down. The walls were rough but even, while the stairs were solid and smooth. I had done most of the grunt work, carving the stone out through the DMS and building the first part to our second floor before my mana had depleted. My mana seemed to be connected to how much the dungeon could hold and how many monsters I had. It was a complicated thing apparently, similar to a math equation. The DMS put it bluntly: x=m*da+hm+dc, where x is total mana, m is the number of monsters, da is dungeon area, hm is the host’s natural mana value, and dc was the dungeon core, which we didn’t have apparently. In short it was stupidly complicated for no reason and I had no thoughts of trying to figure it out when the blinking little corner told me what I had already: 700 mana. Claire offered to mine out the first room while I rested outside to recuperate.

It was a little embarrassing really; a dungeon master needed his minions to build the dungeon instead of doing it himself. So after I had squared off Moby for the time being, I wanted to get back to work right away.

“IT’S GOIN’ BOSS,” she shouted back. I could hear the sound of metal striking stone and I practically jumped the last few steps.

I thought Claire wouldn’t have gotten much done, but the room was already big as it was tall. Actual practical architecture wasn’t really my forte, but fantasy architecture was, so I wanted elaborate looking structures that only magic could pull off.

What Claire was doing was the step in the right direction. She had seemed to carve out large stone chunks and roughed out a semi circular room that was about 10 feet tall and just as wide. It was rough and choppy and looked more like an animal den than a dungeon, but it was perfect because I could practically feel the potential.

The more I expanded, the large my mana pool grew, and already it was steadily growing at 759.

“You ready then boss?” Claire asked. She had stopped when she was me standing in the room, and she sat down on a makeshift stool from a large boulder. She was giving her razor toothed smile, and I couldn’t help but smile back. Closing my eyes, I let the mana circulate in my body, just like Johan had instructed me when I first started learning magic.

My magical center was my head and my heart, ironically, but it made it easy since I imagined my magic as blood being carried out by my body or the neurons firing away my thoughts. It was warm and tingly, making my fingers shake slightly. There were no notifications asking me for permission, no small dings that told me I was done, nothing that indicated what I was doing used the DMS. And yet I instinctively knew that I was.

The excess debri that Claire had piled to the side rumbled towards my left but I ignored it. I had to keep the mental image of what I wanted clear as day and to do that I needed to ignore my outside world and keep my eyes closed.

Stone molded smooth as if unseen hands had sanded it away to a mirror polish shine, the floors turning into marble. Pillars from excess stone grew up, like cold unfeeling plants, reaching to the top of the room, melding together to make it seem as if it simply was part of the cave naturally. The walls got pushed further and further out, smoothing out, getting a uniform brick finish that was dark but reflective. Sconces pushed out of the walls and pillars, filled with warm purple light. And at the end, a large looming iron doorway, with the image of several monsters engraved into it, glinting off the purple light, giving it a practically wicked glow. The stone began pushing on the other side of the door when a pounding headache hit me. I forced the magical connection to stop if only because it felt like my head was going to split open.

The new room to the 2nd floor [https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/274434221182025728/523023983679897620/6-2.png]

When I opened my eyes, my mental image matched my exterior and a wave of exhaustion hit me as I fell down. Claire had immediately caught me, and my vision wavered for a moment.

“VARN DALNE, BOSS, YOU DONE OVERDID YERSELF.” Claire said, her voice loud and booming in my head. I was groggy and my tongue felt awkward in my mouth, allowing only weird alien noises to pass through.

“Quriet C-Clairuh, headd… hurrrrt.” Was that my voice? It sounded so off and strained, like when I pulled an all nighter for three days in a row and just realized that I needed to speak in order to communicate with people.

“Here drink this Boss, Johan said somethin’ like this would’a happened.” She pushed something against my lips, and I felt the cool glass of a potion bottle as a tingly warm liquid flowed into me. It tasted vaguely of coffee and suddenly my head cleared. I choked momentarily on the viscous liquid and pushed Claire’s hand away when I could think clearly.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

“W-What happened?” I managed to choke out, rubbing my face. I still felt fatigued and worn down, but I wasn’t going to collapse at any moment like before. Claire helped me sit down on the steps and I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself down.

“Ya pushed yerself boss,” Claire said matter of factly. “Ya ain’t supposed ta use so much mana like that, makes you black out or worse.” I shuddered at whatever could be worse than that sickly queasy sensation.

“But I was fine before,” I protested.

“Well yeah, that’s cos ya weren’t in the red Boss. You were left at what 10, 15 mana points? Ya prolly used up to yer last drop, and ya ain’t supposed to do that unless ya got no other way, else your magic starts takin’ energy from yer body to compensate.”

I paled at the realization. “D-Does that mean I could’ve died if I went over my limit?”

Claire made a face but nodded. “It ain’t too common, unless yer doin’ a big ass spell, but yer most likely gonna sleep for days unless ya got a mana potion in ya immediately. Johan said ya might push yerself, since you’ve been goin overboard with the slimes, so he gave me one just in case.” She held up the vial with the viscous green liquid for added emphases and I felt like I was gonna puke; it looked like radioactive snot.

“That’s a mana potion? It looks so… so green.” I tried not to shuddered at the thought that I had just drank that. Claire gave me a surprised look, a feat considering she only had one eye, and by extension, only one eyebrow.

“Well yeah Boss, mana potions are made from slimes,” she said.

“WAIT WHAT? YOU KILLED ONE OF MY SLIMES?”

MY SLIMES, MY PRECIOUS SLIMES. ALL THAT EXP, THE GRINDING, THE EVOLUTION AND UPGRADES, ALL GONE DOWN THE DRAIN.

I knew I was overreacting but my slimes, my precious slimes! I’ve spent so long cultivating them!

“WOAH WOAH HOLD IT THERE BOSS, IT AIN’T MADE FROM YER SLIMES, IT’S OLD STOCK. YER SLIMES ARE ALL GOOD BOSS.” Claire held up her hands defensively, as if I was going to attack her, or worse, cry.

“So my slimes are ok?” Thank God… I don’t have to restart my plans on cultivating OP slimes.

“Yeah, ‘sides, is not like its only slimes, it’s got other ingredient in it. This is our last bottle though, since we ain’t got an alchemist or nothin on hand, and is not like one is gonna just walk in on here or sell us some. Darnelle or Johan usually has to go buy em, but even then it’s risky.” She looked grim for a moment before realizing I was looking at her and shook her head.

“Don’t worry boss, it’ll be good,” she said with a grin.

“I’m not,” I said, lying smoothly. “Anyways, I think I’m gonna stay here for a bit.”

“Are ya sure boss, ya should rest up in yer room. It’s gonna be awhile before the potion fully restores yer mana. I’ll help ya walk up.”

I shook my head quickly. “No it’s fine, I wanna sit and think for a bit. Don’t worry I won’t use any mana.”

Claire gave me a skeptical look, which almost looked comical on her large lone eye but nodded slowly. “You promise?”

I nodded and she sighed, walking around me up the steps back to the first floor. I waited patiently for her to leave completely before I opened the dungeon map before me and got to work.

[https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/274434221182025728/523646975204392970/divider.png]

Moby was going to be a slime researcher! She was gonna be the bestest slime reacher in all the 7 realms. Because Boss said so, and if Boss said she can be a researcher, even if only for slimes, then it had to be true!

When Boss first took her back inside, she couldn’t contain her excitement, and talked at length to him about her favorite researcher ever: Sir Cornell L. Fieldings. She normally didn’t talk very much, but Boss listened to her and always knew what to say when she gave him the cool secretive information she learned from Sir Cornell’s books. Things like how magic was ingrained in everything, even things that shouldn’t have magic, like rocks and sticks and other mundane things. Mundane was a fun word in her opinion; she had recently learned it meant every day boring items and it excited her that there was a word that could say so much with so little. Darnelle had taught her that one, and now she liked saying it any chance she could get.

Moby kept spewing all the facts she learned from Sir Cornell, like how some people think humans are descended from the gods since they could procreate with most sapient humanoid species. She didn’t really understand that sentence at first but Johan said it means humans can have babies with other people that weren’t humans. Moby liked that; the whole way people phrased things differently, not the having babies part.

She tried to use the big words she had learned and Boss had laughed. But he didn’t laugh the way Johan did, where it made her feel embarrassed and small, or how Darnelle laughed where it made her feel frustrated because she knew she wasn’t being taken seriously. Not was it like Patty and Claire’s laugh, one of pride but not true understanding, or Alfred’s, which was dusty and dry and made her feel like she had to try harder. No… Boss laughed in a way that gave her hope, that she was doing things right even if she made mistakes. He said it himself after all.

“You have a good grasp on vocabulary Moby. I’ll teach you some new words later,” he had said, giving her a smile that made her practically vibrate in excitement.

New words. New words meant new ways to say things, and new way to say things meant that Moby would be one step closer to her goal.

Because at the end of the day, Moby’s goal was to obtain the 【Researcher】 class.

When they had reached the slimes, Moby had watched in amazement as Boss pulled out a strange thin book and a stick that came to a point. He explained that the thin book was called a notebook, and the pointy stick was a pencil. He flipped open the book and slowly showed her how to write her own name using the thing called a pencil.

Moby nearly cried, seeing her name in the neat clear handwriting of her Boss. There it was, clear as day in front of her. As much as she could read, Moby could never write past using sticks in the dirt. Seeing it in print was completely different than seeing the smudged writing of her name in the dirt.

She grabbed the book with trembling fingers, clutching it tightly to her chest. “Is this for me Boss?”

Mobey excitedly holding her new notebook [https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/274434221182025728/521485708272074774/6-1.png]

“You don’t like it? Do you want me to make you another one? I figured since you liked research stuff I put dinos on the front but I can make it different if you want.”

“NO!” she yelled quickly, holding the notebook defensively. She shook her head quickly, her small tuft of hair shaking on her head. “I-I mean… I like it Boss, it’s perfect.”

Her face was warm in embarrassment, afraid that she was going to be punished for yelling.

Instead Boss just laughed loudly and ruffled her hair. She blinked in confusion and looked up at him, not understanding why he wasn’t angry at her.

“I’m glad you like it so much. Ok so here’s what I want you to do Moby.”

From there he went on a long speech about how to tell the slimes apart from the way their viscous goops formed sort of hair like appendages, to what sort of changes she had to look for, the type of foods they were eating (apparently this included the stuff that they were being fed on already), how they acted, their moods and behaviors, if there was a hierarchy (another word she had to be taught), and how intelligent they were. Everything was a bit too confusing to her, but she diligently wrote it down, writing in slow large letters that were a little wobbly in comparison to Boss’s neat small letters.

After his explanation, he told her to report her findings to him at the end of the day every day, and to study the slimes whenever possible, which meant in between her chores and on her breaks. She didn’t quite understand what he meant when Boss phrased things like that, but she got the gist of it. After all, she was a smart goblin. Her momma used to tell her so.

Opening her notebook to the second page, Moby began to slowly write out what she was seeing. Observing as Boss had put it. She was observing because she was writing it down. In careful letters, she wrote how Coffee was bullying the other slimes to listen to them, how Bean liked to sleep in the bottom left corner of the pen where there was the most water, how Soup and Strawberry piled on top of them and slept with them, the ways the slimes would interact. All while pretending she was working under Sir Cornell.

“The slimes are being very mundane in their natural habitat Sir Cornell,” Moby said to herself under her breath as she continued her work. She pretended that Sir Cornell nodded his head and probably stroked his beard and told her to get “up close and personal with the specimens” as he put it in all his books.

“Affirmative Sir Cornell~!” she said cheerily and carefully puller herself over the gate, minding not to break it or wiggle it too much. The water splashed between her feet but she ignored it as she walked up to Cake, her by favorite of the “specimens.”

“Tell me what this slime’s natural disposition is like 【Researcher】?” she heard the imaginary Sir Cornell say in her head.

Moby squatted down next to Cake and patted it nervously. Even though all the slimes were docile and friendly for the most part, it didn’t mean they were exactly tame, and it could lead to some accidents. Lucky for her, Cake more than enjoyed her company.

“Pyuuu~!” She grinned and gave it a confident pet before writing in her notebook that Cake was a “cute and happy slime that likes pets.”

A movement caught her attention from the side of her view and she turned her head to see the normally green slime called Soup shudder in its corner nest to Strawberry and Bean. Worried, she rushed next to it before she remembered something she had read in Sir Cornell’s Book “Of Magical Wildlife: A Complete Study of Monsters and Magic.”

From what she read, interfering can be dangerous not only to the specimen but the 【Researcher】 themselves. She hesitated for a moment before staying a relatively safe distance and watched with sharp intent. Soup was shuddering, as if they were being split apart, and she watched worriedly while she wrote down everything. For a moment, all was still, and then suddenly Soup was engulfed in a bright light.

At first Moby was afraid, but soon that fear turn into awe and amazement. Soup was now a crystal clear white blue, with flecks of what looked like frost surrounding it’s slimy gooey hair tendrils. She gave a soft gasp as she nervously reached out, touching Soup nervously. They were cold but it wasn’t ice cold like she had anticipated. As if Soup was trying to shield her from it’s icy nature.

“You’re so beautiful,” she whispered in awe, getting to eye level to it. It gave a soft chirp but otherwise settled back into a comfortable position to sleep.

Just as she was about to rush out of the pen and to the second floor, she stopped herself. The fake Sir Cornell in her head had given her pause, because she could just hear his wise old man voice speaking calmly to her. “Now now 【Researcher】, you need to find the catalyst, the cause of what caused the specimen to change.” At least, she assumed he had a calm wise old man voice. She had never seen him or met him in person, and only could get the vague idea of his intonation from all the books she read.

With a determined huff, she went back to where Soup was resting and looked carefully. Holding her pencil with a iron grip she looked around, making the appropriate noises all 【Researcher】 should do; or at least what she thought they did. She “hmm”’ed and “ahh”’ed at everything, even going so far as to gently poke Soup with her pencil.

The slime stared at her with a single eye as if to tell her to let it go back to sleep and she sheepishly moved back. Biting her lips, Moby was about to give up when she noticed that Soup was sitting on top of a small wooden bowl. “That’s gotta not be comfy,” she said as she gently slid it out underneath it. But to her surprise, instead of complying, Soup made a noise she never heard before.

“KREE!” it shouted, and suddenly her hand was covered in a cold blast that chilled her to the bone. She whimpered as she pulled back, holding her hand to her chest defensively. Tears began to threaten to spill and she had to bite her lips so she could stay strong, just like her parents taught her.

“I’m a smart and strong goblin, I’m gonna survive and become a Hobsgoblin, I’m strong and can survive anything,” she whispered under her breath. But it was too late, and the floodgates burst open as she openly cried, clutching her wounded hand. Her mother had said those exact same words when she had begged her to stay back in the cave when the humans had shown up. Her father had ruffled her hair while she cried and told her that he was going to defeat the humans and bring back their stuff so she could pretend to be a 【Researcher】 just like she had always dreamed to be.

But it was a lie; goblins couldn’t be a 【Researcher】 just as much as a bird couldn’t breathe underwater. Goblins simply weren’t built that way; the gods of classes and leveling wouldn’t let someone as lowly as a goblin have a prestigious class. Her sobs became louder until they became full blown hysterics and wailing. Months of grief, buried under a tenuous strand of hope and the gentle care of her adoptive family. But not even that could cure the open wound of grief in her heart. Her family and her dream lay broken at her feet and no matter how she looked away it would still be there, glaring and obvious.

In her pain and sorrow, Moby didn’t realize that Cake had rushed to her aid and was enveloping her chilled hand. Her eyes snapped open momentarily, tears streaking slowly as she realized what was happening. In a matter of moments feeling was regained in her fingers and she stared in a quiet awe as Cake finally pulled away, leaving a thin pink coating of slime that even now was fading as her hand absorbed it. She carefully moved them; they ached down to the bone, but it was a dull pain compared the searing cold from before. She stayed there for what felt like hours, curled up around the pink slime, her tears calming down to soft hiccups. Soon enough even that faded away as she fell asleep.

Moby would eventually be found by Claire, sent by Leo who had seen her health drop suddenly in a window popup. She would be taken back to their hideout, where she would sheepishly explain everything, half tired in the giant’s arms. Patty would fret and Johan would rush trying to find a spare health potion, though Claire would point how it was unneeded thanks to Cake. Alfred in turn would take Moby to rest in bed, settling next to Goby who was protectively watching her twin sister. And Leo? Leo would be in the second floor, discussing privately with Voop, setting plans for future operations. It was the right call, Leo would realize looking back, as he had been filled with an undeniable rage when Voop had told him more of the puzzle he had been previously given. When all was said and done, the cat like slime simply stared at Leo, sitting in a circle of wasted energy and destruction.

But for now, Moby simply slept and dreamt of nothing as Cake guarded over her.