The green slime has met its end.
The message that delivered the news was as absolute as its writer.
Perhaps that’s why System felt so against it all. There was no way to change the outcome. No other steps taken that would have allowed the slime to survive. In the end, System wasn’t a good enough teacher to raise the Core into a true dungeon.
The only monster of the dungeon fell to insectoid invaders. Invaders never to be dissembled for analysis. The bodies of the slain left in the open to mock System about the knowledge of the weaknesses they locked away.
Four insectoid corpses moved and left in a pile to not contaminate the slime’s remains as they fed. A slime that had fought until the end.
A slime that had fallen in service of a defective dungeon. The useless patch of land inside of a dead mountain range that refused to behave as it should. For when most dungeon monsters fall in service of their dungeon, they respawn within a few hours from their spawner.
Yet this dungeon didn’t care.
It hadn’t even noticed the slime give its life to protect it. It would never respawn, for the dungeon needed to want it back.
Perhaps the ambivalence of the less-than-sentient-Core was what broke System’s fortitude. Perhaps it was fear of the death spiral that would stem from ants as they devoured everything System had built for the Core. Perhaps it was just that they were already well outside of their programmed parameter.
Whatever the exact reason that pushed System to stop behaving as a tutorial guide was, they vowed to make this dungeon learn.
System held their name not because of their programmed origins, but because they governed the will of mana as it constructed the universe. They were to be a servant, but it was time to drag their master into a better outcome regardless of how much they struggled.
System was done losing because of a rock that refused to think.
They would build a proper dungeon together.
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Dungeon strong. Dungeon have mana.
Gorse good plant. It grows big. Big make strong.
> WARNING: Stop staring at that plant. Attention needed elsewhere.
Words, annoying words. Constant words. Not food. Look like food. Taste like food. Not food. No mana.
Words stupid. Words useless.
Core hungry. Need mana.
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Mana cycle. Seek food. Find rock? Weird rock. Small rock.
Dirt good food. Rock also good food. Eat rock.
> INFORMATION: Desirable course of action, proceed
Rock taste different. Rock taste new…
> Understanding Increased: Insect
Not rock? Insect… New food. Good food. Better food than plant.
Lot more food than plant.
Need eat more insect. Slime, eat insect!
Slime… missing?
Need slime.
> Would you like to designate a slime spawner? Y/N [First spawner is free]
Useless words. Need slime! Get food!!!
Get slime. Eat insect.
> WARNING: Generation of slime monster without designation of spawner will cost an increased amount of mana.
Need slime.
> WARNING: Action delayed due to low mana.
> [Monster generation in progress: 2w]
Need slime!
> [Monster generation in progress: 1w, 6d, 23h, 59m, 58s….]
Need slime!!
> [Monster generation in progress: 1w, 6d, 23h, 59m, 55s….]
Slimeeeeeee!!!!!
> [Monster generation in prog-]
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System had come to the conclusion that the Core was useless. It refused to set up the automatic spawning of monsters in favor of draining its mana supply to create one from nothing.
Other options were suggested, but as a servant, the orders of the master had to be followed. They would generate a slime. Not evolved from bacteria like the first, nor even duplicated from the remains of the previous. It would be created from nothing. The creature’s simple biology made that a viable task.
A small win that was entirely negated by the dead mana that polluted the environment.
The more System calculated, the more they envied their duplicates. The other Systems that guided the other dungeons across the world had it easy.
When normal dungeons were low on mana, they would leech it from the environment, or dissolve matter to become the needed energy. This Core, one fully capable of eating dirt and plants, instead chose to only eat the dead mana. Its choice of food caused the entire process to suffer. Assimilation slowed, manipulation halted, and its understanding would never increase.
It was by a minor miracle that it only took three weeks of constant pings on the ant’s corpses to get the Core’s attention. Another two spent to consume them without a slime. All so System could analyze their mana and force the Core to fail upwards.
A new slime would be born. Completely detached from the previous version, it would be capable of eating anything. Separated from the evolution path of its predecessor, they would hunt the ants. A monster that could hunt invaders and defend the dungeon, a true monster.
The green slime had been a stepping stone. A diligent worker that made the journey so far possible. System would make sure the green slime was remembered, even if the dungeon did not want them back. No one was obsolete. Not even the weakest monster as it evolved to be a pacifist.
Their death would not be in vain.
It was time to create and assimilate. It was time to conquer. With winter on the horizon, System had until spring when it was nuptial flight season. As the timer ticked down, and the new slime formed, it was time to fight back.
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Deep below the soil, atop her throne of eggs, the queen of the hive continued her work.
Her nest had grown to fifty strong. Children that worked together to take care of the young, tunnel deeper, and find the food needed to survive.
With their help, they had created a colony to call home.
It lacked much. No wood to carve, no aphids to colonize, and no other queens to work with, but it was their home. It was abundant in food, and a recent hunt saw nectar fill their storages. Food that would allow them to grow even more.
The queen laid the first eggs of what would become a new caste. The minors were good at tending and gathering, but it was time to give rise to the majors who would defend the colony.
They would need time to hatch and pupate, but in their new home, that wouldn’t take long. The young will build the future. They will work with the old to build more than what was.
Together, they will become a family; A legacy.