Newb sat outside the Boss Room door, attempting to psych itself up for the upcoming trial. This was sure to be the greatest fight of its short life, and it was weighing down on the slime’s mind. It had seen the inside of the Boss Room a total of one time. And even then, it couldn’t really see what those Advens were fighting. The distance kept the Boss out of its vision. Although, the adven party itself was hard to see, so maybe that was a feature of the door? The monster did not have any clue. All it knew was that the monsters in this dungeon granted too little EXP, with the exception of some highly random appearance of a monster similar to itself or to the strange lizard-hydra it fought. It couldn’t count on the fickle Lady Luck anymore. Its last run through had taught it that. And it was not just because of the ceiling falling on top of the slime, ok? Though that may or may not have been its own fault. I admit nothing…

With its Life and Mana back to max, the slime considered its options. It was definitely not stalling for time because it had no idea how strong the Boss was, and if it could even defeat it alone. The Advens were alway in parties of three or more members. Could one of them solo the Boss without any much needed backup? Looking around the shortened cavern for one last time, and still seeing no alternatives, Newb slid forward toward the giant door. As it approached, just like it saw the last group of Advens do, the door lit up for a split second, and then slowly opened toward it all by itself. The fact that the slime didn’t see any Boss left it with more doubts. Steeling its resolve, probably through the use of the “Gutsy” talent, Newb went forward through the threshold, ready to leap out of the way of an attack, if need be.

The doors didn’t shut behind the monster, thank Lady Luck, but somehow, even that small comfort in the knowledge that it could just run didn’t calm its quivering jelly. The shadows seemed to close in around it slightly, but its lack of actual eyes and its Energy Sense ability kept it from going dark. Then, as it went through, it noticed a large form, possibly two meters in height, leap out from the far side, landing only five meters from the slime. The room itself was almost circular, being about fifteen meters in circumference. The floor was fairly smooth, just like the rest of the Dungeon, the only difference in it being slightly concave. There were no other distinguishable features in the room. The Boss itself stood on two stubby legs, bent slightly in the manner of most of its kind sitting on its haunches. Its whip-like tail crackedin the air behind it. Its cloaked, furry body rippled with muscle, though not in the manner of any body builder. It was the lithe muscle of hunting beasts, ready to pounce and tear its prey apart piece by piece. Its arms, and they were arms and not another pair of legs, ended in pinkish hands, each one holding a serrated blade that could have been classified as some kind of longsword. Its beady eyes sat upon its muzzle, the yellowed teeth as sharp as the blades that it held. The appearance was slightly thrown off by two semi-fuzzy ears sticking off the top of its head.

 --- You now face the Boss of the Dungeon: Slaavich, the Festering King! May the strongest between you win.

Huh… Nice to know that the dungeon waits for the party to be ready, Newb observed, its body already leaping into action. It had already crossed half the distance between it and Slaavich before the Boss had started to react. The rat-thing, who was most positively a male, swung his blades down at the aspiring monster, only to strike stone as the slime molded itself into a much more compact disk-like shape. The slime used its momentum to roll forward and pounce, slamming the rat’s chin from below.

Bouncing back like a ball, the slime retreated a bit, then began to leap off to one side. Its Mighty Blow had rocked the Festering King back on his heels, causing the rat-boss to lose the slime for a brief moment. He recovered just in time for the slime to slam him in the back of the head, being struck by both Mighty Blow and Stealth Attack this time. The Boss stumbled forward a few steps, but then leapt forward to the opposite wall (nearest the door), avoiding Newb’s rebound attack. The slime had thought that the Boss was slower than it, but it appeared that this was not the case. For as soon as the Boss had landed, a couple of knives were tossed at the small monster while it was recovering from losing its target.

 --- You have been doubly pierced for 16 Life.

The Rat King could hurt it, just as Newb had anticipated. The Boss was significantly stronger than any other monster in the Dungeon, after all, so It only made sense. That’s why it was the final challenge in the place. Otherwise, the advens would probably find the challenge to be a huge let-down.

Clearing its head, it dodged out of the way as two more knives just barely missed the blob monster. Newb rolled out towards the outer edge of the Room at an angle, bouncing up as it neared the wall to avoid yet another two blades. It then quickly reversed its momentum, using its own naturally elastic body to ricochet off the wall towards the ugly Boss’s face. The rat’s head moved out of its way, but reeled to one side as something sticky and thin grabbed his neck and shoulders. The slime monster knew that the Boss would likely see it coming, so it had let a few ‘tendrils’ trail out behind it, only to shoot out like a rubber band as the rat avoided the main mass. Newb tightened its grip with the small tendrils and created two larger, whip-like appendages. It then began to beat down on Slaavich with everything it had, using Mighty Blow at every opportunity. This lasted for only a few moments until the Rat King grabbed the mass of slime, tearing it free with one hand and slicing at it with the other.

 --- You have been slashed and crushed for 25 Life.

The Boss’ blades were incredibly sharp, and if the slime didn’t have such high physical resistance right now, it would probably be just another puddle on the ground. But Newb didn’t give up, it couldn’t give up! Please work! Please work! It pleaded as it attempted its next ploy. Mustering all its strength and courage, it decided to stick to the blade instead, bringing it into itself. And, as if purely by chance, the slime brought the hand of the rat into its body as well. The Boss did not like that, if its scream of protest was to be taken at face value. It attempted to dislodge the voracious jello, but couldn’t do more than possibly risk its other hand. So, the self-proclaimed (or was that system proclaimed?) King pulled his other blade out and hacked down at it - right at where his own wrist was.

 --- You have been cut through for 15 Life.

While the slime took a small amount of Life damage from the attack, it was a smokescreen. Newb had surmised that while the King was decently faster and stronger than itself, he probably wasn’t too bright, much like its smaller kin. And it turned out that the monster was right. Slaavich cut right through a small amount of the slime’s body to chop its own hand off, just above the wrist. Falling to the ground and rolling backward, Newb found itself at a momentary loss. Both the blade and the hand disappeared into its body mass, with no sign of ever returning. But there were also no new notifications… Those would come later, should the slime actually survive its encounter with the Boss. It shook the unknown thoughts from its mind as it continued to use gravity and the bouncing nature of itself in hopes of moving out of the Rat’s range.

Slaavich was not too concerned about the bouncing ball that just took its hand and blade with it at the moment. He was screaming in absolute pain, blood flowing from the stump on his left arm. That left him distracted, so the opportunistic monster stopped its odd retreat and circled around the now stumbling rat Boss. It went straight for the Boss’ back again, bouncing up as high as it could to slam directly down upon the cranium of its foe. And instead of bouncing away like it usually did, the slime pulled out its oldest form of dealing with its enemy.

Newb stuck down on the head of the King, extending its body out and around its head. It spread itself out as far as it could go to engulf Slaavich’s entire head, sealing its body to the rat’s skin. Slaavich, in turn, stopped his own worry over the missing appendage, concentrating on the much more worrisome threat: the lack of oxygen to his body. He began to scrape at Newb’s body, trying to find purchase of the slick mass to pull it away, but with only one hand and its other sharp implement missing somewhere, it was unable to do anything.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

The Festering King reached under its cloak, pulling another knife out. He then stabbed up at the slime, but Newb saw him coming and opened a hole in its body to let the knife stab Slaavich’s own eye out. This led to the Rat King falling to the ground in a new bout of pain and attempted screaming. He rolled around on the ground, holding his right hand and the stump on his left as close to the eye as possible. This was probably a stupid idea, as the monsterous jello sucked in both appendages to stick everything to one area, the knife also being drawn inside. The struggles only lasted for a few more moments before Slaavich, the Festering King, Boss of the Dungeon of the Newbs, lost his last bit of Lifeforce and perished at the mercy of a previously unnamed grey slime monster…

 --- Congratulations, you are the victor! You have successfully defeated Slaavich, the Festering King! You have gained the following rewards:

  - Congratulations! The following skills have been improved:

   - Body Manipulation has improved from Untrained to Amatuer. Finesse +1, Agility +1, Vigor +1, Soul +1.

   - Mighty Blow has improved from Untrained to Amatuer. Might +4.

   - Stealth Attack has improved from Untrained to Amatuer. Might +1, Finesse +1, Agility +1, Allure +1.

   - Toughness has improved from Untrained to Amatuer. Vigor +3.

  - You have gained the Talent, Soloist [All Physical and Mental Attributes +1].

  - Congratulations! You are now a Level 7 Slime: Might +2, Vigor +4, Intelligence +2.

  - The following Attributes have been boosted by Increased Potential: Grit +2, Allure +4, Luck +2.

  - Special Actions have been performed. You are awarded the following:

   - The ability Consume has been obtained.

   - The skill Inventory has been obtained.

  - To the Victor goes the spoils: Slayer of the Festering King. All Attributes +2.

Newb had been attempting to recover from its encounter with the Dungeon Boss when the notification arrived. And then it felt almost invigorated by the amount of power it just received. Unsure of what most of it was, the Dungeon Champion opened up its stats to review all the changes and look up its acquisitions.

 **

 Name: Newb

 Species: Slime, Grey

 Age: 1 month

 Power Level: 7 (7%)

 Life: 107/152 (00:10:00)

 Mana: 48/48

 Soul: 36/36

 Physical:

  - Might: 22

  - Finesse: 15

  - Agility: 11

  - Vigor: 26

  - Grit: 12

 Mental:

  - Intelligence: 13

  - Awareness: 6

  - Willpower: 7

  - Caliber: 9

  - Resolve: 10

 Bonus:

  - Allure: 9

  - Luck: 16

  - Soul: 7

 Abilities:

  Slime Body

  Increased Potential

  Energy Sense

  Energy Awareness

  Consume

 Skills:

  Body Manipulation - Amatuer (21%)

   - Evader

  Energy Absorption - Untrained (43%)

   - Healer

  Energy Expulsion - Untrained (13%)

   - Brawler

  Heat Resistance - Inept (90%)

  Inventory (1/5) - Inept (50%)

  Iron Will - Inept (70%)

  Mighty Blow - Amatuer (11%)

   - One Punch

  Stealth - Amatuer (37%)

   - Hidden One

  Stealth Attack - Amatuer (17%)

   - Faint Attack

  Toughness - Amatuer (10%)

   - Physically Tough (20% damage ignored)

 Talents:

  Lucky

  Gutsy

  Collateral Damage

  Soloist

 Spells:

  Inner:

   - Minor Rejuvenation

  Outer:

   - Shockwave

 Spoils:

  Slayer - Slaavich

 **

 Inventory

  “Store it away for a rainy day.”

  You are now able to store items within a personal pocket dimension.

  The size of the space is determined by the mastery of this skill.

  Because you are a slime, you must cover the item you wish to store with your body.

  You are currently Inept in this skill - 25 Skill Points remain until you increase in mastery.

  Current capacity is at 1 of 5.

 Soloist

  “Being solo isn’t all that bad, is it?”

  You have fought several monsters alone and survived.

  That kind of determination has granted you additional rewards.

 Slayer

  “To slay, or not to slay?”

  This series of spoils is only granted when you have slain a Dungeon Boss alone.

  Each time this is accomplished, you vastly improve your personal strength.

  You have defeated the following Bosses:

   - Slaavich, the Festering King

Well, those were quite the boons. And though the slime had never really had an opportunity to fight in a Party, it felt slightly miffed that these boosts were hanging over it. Maybe, it could beat the Boss with a group, then beat it by itself? Only time would determine if that was even an option. And who even knew if it was possible to receive additional rewards each and every time it defeated the same Boss. Would defeating a Boss with two members in the Party grant different benefits than defeating it with more? And how many variations existed? Why were there so many questions without an immediate answer? Did the Advens know the answers? That was one possibility. They did always seem to be more prepared. Survival in numbers was probably more important than focusing on winning every challenge by oneself.

While Newb was pondering the various different possibilities for how it would approach dungeons in the future, the room began to slightly glow around it. The slime would probably have noticed before a bright flash of light dominated its vision were it not for such serious introspection. Shielding its metaphorical eyes from the light, the living jello turned toward the cause of this disturbance. To its surprise, there was a small passage that appeared in the wall, opposite from the Boss Room door. The path that appeared opened into a descending stairwell. Glancing around to make sure that no dangers were present in its immediate area, Newb slowly slid towards this new path. With no notifications telling it that the Dungeon respawned, the slime was rather confused at this oddity that appeared before it. It reached the stairs, which went down some distance further than the monster’s improved perception could detect. Newb steeled itself and began to hop down into the new depths of the Dungeon…

Newb went down this passageway for a few minutes before it could see the bottom. It probably would have taken less time if the slime had decided to roll down the stairs, but it had grown much more cautious than that during its short lifetime. No need to draw the attention of anything that may be down there, after all. As it approached the end of the stairs, the monster noticed that there seemed to be something down there that was creating odd ambient light. It was colored a pale green and almost seemed to be reflecting off of some kind of liquid. The landing at the bottom went on for a few more meters, ending in an opening. From the bottom of the stairs, the monster could see that whatever was making this light was suspended above where the entry restricted its view. It could tell that the room the light emitted from was small, the floor flat, and nothing of note aside from that lightsource.

Approaching cautiously, Newb saw that the room was similar to a giant cylinder. The diameter was about five meters, and it rose up to the ceiling some ten meters above. The light source was a spherical orb of some kind of liquid, possibly water, floating in the air an equilateral distance from the wall and sitting evenly between the floor and ceiling. The light emitted from inside the orb, but the slime could spot no specific object that would be the actual source. As the monster entered the room, the light seemed to flicker for a brief moment. Then a voice echoed inside its mind.

“Greetings, young one. I welcome you to the Heart of the Dungeon…”