A cavern slime was created. An evolution based upon its subterranean diet as it fed upon roots, dirt, and the insects that hide in the soil. Its black and oily form would one day evolve to become the most potent of slimes, the black pudding.
The evolution had been a major stepping stone for both the dungeon and the war it faced with the ants that invaded. A double-edged blade as the evolution came with a drawback. Sunlight sensitivity forced it to reside entirely underground. The environment would become the only place it could live to call home. The place where it would hunt, devour, and generate mana to be analyzed.
Delicious mana that System could use to teach the Core. The first steps were underway, and a template for a new monster was being generated, but it wasn’t enough.
Every aspect of the ant’s biology would be analyzed to learn from as the template for the new monsters became easier with each discovery. Discoveries that the Core would use as its intelligence rose. All System had to do was keep working as the cavern slime ate away at the invading forces.
Each kill tallied, each corpse deconstructed to further their own goals. The conclusion was certain as each step became more certain. A forgone victory System was all too eager to inform the others of each step as they approached.
> Understanding Increased: Simple Organs - eyes, heart, stomach, muscles.
Biology, the mathematical formula of life that unraveled before their eyes. Each species had a different answer, a different secret to learn. Broad strokes were the beginning, as the Core had to be taught about the fundamentals. From there, they would construct a tower of knowledge.
Soon the ant’s secrets would be unlocked, and they would be owned. They will become the templates of future monsters to fight their battles.
Assimilated to the conquest, like all dungeons. Another step in the quest for strength and survival.
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From deep below the earth, the slime had changed like the metamorphosis from a caterpillar into a butterfly. His body darkened with the stain of sin, while his skin lost its form. Membrane-less, he was no longer an amoeba. This higher stage of being had made him the manifestation of darkness. A viscous oil that corroded everything it touched.
The detective had gained a new identity to masquerade in the crime syndicate with.
Yet the change did nothing for his cover, as it had long since been blown. He looked different, but could do nothing about the smell. The scent of death that clung to him and told the others he did not belong to their family. He was a foreigner in their colony, their home.
That is why they excavated their collapsed tunnels to reach him. This slime had invaded, and now the ants would lay down their lives to kill him. Only this time, he was ready. The unique ability granted by his evolution made him stronger in the darkness. A slight boon that made him at home down here in the lair of these killers.
The blade of the night will become the scalpel that removes the cancer so that others may live in the sunlight, unburdened with the guilt. That is always his mission.
The surrounding dirt shifted as the ants found him. The dirt barricade had bought him enough time, but now it was time to face them head on. Springing out from hiding, he engulfed the workers that had discovered his location.
The slime consumed them instantly, but ants were never alone. Immediately, others rushed over him as they took advantage of the expanded tunnel to attack from all sides. The environment even allowed them to drop from above in their relentless attack.
Their mandibles could no longer pierce his form for a death blow, as the detective’s body was fundamentally different. Realizing they could not puncture his skin, they switched their tactics. They braced against each other to find the purchase necessary to tear, to rend. They separated large patches of ooze from his body, torn into a hundred pieces.
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A hundred acidic pieces.
Discarded, the torn pieces of his body became a minefield of acid. Burns marred the shell of ants that attacked as it ate away to expose the soft body beneath. A distraction that the slime capitalized on.
Folding inward, he squished the ants that clung to his body inwards to subsume them. They fought and bit, but from inside their gelatinous prison, they could only pray for salvation. His body had filled with the bodies of those marked for death. A quick turn in the battle as the Informant informed him of twenty ants slain through his action.
Their bodies dissolved for knowledge, but it took too long. The calvary arrived as a fresh wave of soldiers rushed forth to interrupt him. There was no time to breathe, as the newest ants were twice the size of the others. With serrated mandibles thrice the size. It wasn’t just the detective that had a secret weapon, as the colony deployed its soldiers.
The majors had entered the battlefield.
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> Understanding Increased: Specialized Organ - Neuron and pheromones.
Dungeon not have a brain. Brain used by ants to think. Ants think with brain.
> INFORMATION: Individual ants lack the ability to think and make complex decisions. Instead, they communicate via smell across the entire hive to solve problems.
Smells have no purpose. Thinking makes smart. Dungeon smart because it evolve slime. Dungeon make slime strong. Ants not evolve.
Now slime eat ants for mana.
Slime have trouble eating ant? Why?
Bigger ant? Stronger ant?
Maybe ant do evolve to make strong.
Slime! Prove you are strong! Kill big ants.
> Invader Slain: Mana gained
Big ant die just like weak ant. Only strong survive. Weak become food.
> Understanding Increased: Castes
Ants… not evolve? Specialize? Why have weak ants when can have strong ants?
> Understanding Increased: Monster Template “Ant”
Weak ant is weak, but strong ant is strong. Strong ant fight invaders and make mana. Dungeon [Grow], [Expand], and [Conquer].
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Beaten back and against the rope, the slime was running low on both options and wit. His body was full of the corpses of the previous victories as they tallied up and slowed him down. It was difficult to fight the ant majors, as his body was full of the smaller workers he killed to reach this point.
The scent of war clung to him. Pheromones secreted by the ants with every attack that marked him as an enemy. It drove the others to attack. It drew the majors in for conquest as they shattered his body with every rending bite. Mandibles that hissed at his corrosive touch but did not buckle under the onslaught.
The thick shell of their heads made all frontal assaults ineffective, and there just wasn’t enough ooze to flank and outmaneuver the enemy. No dirty bar he could slide the perpetrators down in a spectacular show of force.
Until an unfamiliar smell appeared. War, but different. The smell of pheromones that signified an enemy, but not one of the hive he fought. New ants tumbled their way down the tunnels, bright red and ready for a fight. Stingers poised and ready to inflict damage.
They were the ones to flank, to pin down the majors so that the slime could mop the floor with them. There may not of been many red ants, but even three was all it took to distract the enemy for him to gain the upper hand.
Killing the majors was the momentum they needed to push deeper into the nest. Their defenses desolated from the battle, though the detective was fairing no better. His mass was shapeless, every side tunnel threatened to split him and make him less. He gave great care and focus so he wouldn't fall down, less he never rise again.
The quest deeper into the hellscape uncovered great caverns of eggs and larvae. Tended by several workers who sought to kill him. Resistance was useless, as even injured three workers were nothing compared to what it took to get him here. He stretched out and enjoyed the meal. Mana flowed from his touch as the world melded with his body.
> Understanding Increased: Egg
There was no joy in the work, not anymore. Once upon a time, there was, but they had started this fight when they murdered someone close to him. He couldn’t dwell on the work, he needed to keep moving. The job wasn’t done yet.
He crept down the halls that brought him closer to finishing the job. The other ants had gotten lost some time ago, but it didn’t matter. He would see his mission through. He met more resistance, but it was token after all that had happened to reach this point.
His previous kills digested in his body had digested enough to make room for these new ones. The Client was ecstatic at his progress so far, and he could feel the shift in them. It was getting smarter, more aware of his actions. Perhaps when it was all over, he could ask for a proper payment. Perhaps some time off when it was all over.
Thoughts snapped back to attention as the slime found himself in the deepest cavern, the den furthest away from the danger. There, sat next to her young, was the largest ant in the colony, the queen.
One last monster to kill.
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> Understanding Increased: Queen
> Intelligence Increased
> Ant spawner available, would you like to designate one? Y/N [First spawner is free]
> Selected: [Y]es