Slime one was only recently born and had yet to experience much of life. Its existence mainly was a carefree one where it could happily bounce around its home in the dungeon. There was the nagging feeling of needing to protect its master and the dungeon it lived in, but slime one hadn't had the chance to even attempt such a thing before this.

Now, slimes aren't able to see things in the same way that other creatures are nor was slime one capable of higher thinking. Slime one had to act just on basic instinct with more of a general sense of its surroundings rather than being able to see them. There was no need to eat, but the slime would still consume a bit of grass or a few flowers here and there. The feeling of the flowers digesting in its viscous fluids felt funny and it was a nice distraction from its otherwise simple and mundane existence.

However, today seemed to be different from the previous days, not that slime one had much of a concept of time. There were feelings of anxiety and concern rolling through the dungeon and something felt off. When the feeling of something rapidly approaching came over slime one, it quickly dodged to the side. Slime one's membrane jiggled in response to its sudden movement and the slime felt confused.

Slime one's instincts kicked in and it began to do what came naturally to it as it dodged blow after blow. The feeling of frustration rolled across the slime from somewhere in front of it and the slime felt more confused. Was this perhaps one of the intruders it was born to protect against?

As the slime continued to dodge, it slowly put together the strange phenomena happening around it. If its master was feeling concerned and it was being attacked, then it was likely that this was slime one's big chance to protect its home! Well, if this was how it was going to be, then slime one was happy to step forward and do its duty.

The thought that slime one might die in the process never crossed its mind, nor did it feel fear as it continued to engage its opponent. As Henry continued to clumsily swing around his sword, slime one merely dodged what it could, and what few attacks managed to hit it were shrugged off. As slime one began to build up confidence, it even attempted to counterattack.

Henry stumbled back in surprise and fell on his ass after being hit full force in the face by the small blue slime creature. He couldn't help but feel his frustration grow as he stood back up, readjusting his posture and preparing to swing his wooden sword once more. If he wanted to become an adventurer then he needed to be capable of handling, at least, this much.

Violet watched on in amusement as her first summon did its best against the young boy. As disappointing as it was for Violet to have to lose her very first summon, after only knowing it for a few short days, she still couldn't help but feel amused by the situation unfolding in front of her. Besides, it would seem that this fight would be worth the sacrifice of her slime as her mana was quickly increasing.

With both Gregory and Henry in the dungeon, Violet was easily gaining 2 MP every minute and her mana was almost full again. Violet tried to summon her system menu, but was quickly disappointed to see that it wouldn't work.

Unable to access system menu. Please try again on a floor without adventurers.

Well, Violet could only reassure herself that it was good that the effect was limited to the floors with adventurers on them. Once the dungeon had more floors, she would be able to continue to alter her higher floors while her guests were busy on the lower floors. Violet supposed it only made sense that she couldn't alter the dungeon while there were adventurers around. After all, a more violent Dungeon Master could use such features in such a way as to lead to unnecessary deaths of adventurers.

Violet didn't have any intention to kill adventurers more than necessary. She didn't want her [Monsters] to die all the time, but it wasn't like Violet would receive any rewards for adventurers dying in her dungeon. It was better to let them live, unless they threatened the dungeon core. Of course, that would require Violet to prepare defenses capable of killing those who got too close to the dungeon core, but that was something she could worry about later on when she had more resources to spare.

Violet silently cheered as her mana reached full and watched on as Henry continued to engage her slime. He was starting to make more progress, but it seemed like his strikes were only causing a limited amount of damage. Violet hesitated to give Henry pointers since she didn't want her slime to die, but she also knew it was too late for that. It was likely that the young boy would figure things out sooner or later anyway and it was unlikely he would leave before defeating her poor slime.

Besides, Violet wasn't sure if her poor slime could feel pain or not. If it could, then dragging its death out any longer than necessary was cruel and Violet would have no part in it. So, she chose to speak out as she offered up a small bit of advice.

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"Do you see the core? Slimes aren't solid like other [Monsters], so you have to destroy their mana core to defeat them."

Henry glanced up nervously at Violet and ended up being knocked down by the slime once more. Still, when he stood back up, he gave Violet a nod in thanks before taking a step forward and slicing down with his wooden sword into the core of the slime. The slime stumbled backward before standing still in a daze. It was likely it would take a few more hits before the slime could be defeated due to the poor quality of the weapon.

Still, Violet felt relieved when she saw her [Monster] didn't have to continue to suffer and was quickly dealt with. Violet felt slightly more guilty that she had helped someone defeat her precious dungeon [Monster], but she could only try to rationalize with herself. So, she shook her head to try to clear her thoughts. This was made easier when Gregory spoke up to say

"Thank you, mistress Violet. Is there anywhere you would prefer us to leave the dungeon tribute? Most dungeons have an area with a table, a basket, or something like that either in their entrance or their first room for the initial tribute. We don't have much since we are only a poor farming family, but I would like to fulfill the customary donation."

Violet's eyes lit up at the mention of tribute. Having both tribute and full mana would make this whole ordeal that much more worthwhile. She knew from Dungeon Diplomat Theodore that tribute was customary, but it had somehow slipped her mind to expect such a thing. However, she didn't have anywhere official to leave such a thing and could only reply

"I haven't had the chance to build an official area to leave tribute. You can just leave the tribute at the foot of the tree for now. I'll try to get something set up soon enough, but it could still be a few days."

Gregory nodded as he pulled out a hard roll and a small apple from his pocket. He handed the apple to his son and they both made their way to the tree to make their offerings. They left not long after that and Violet sighed in relief. Thanks to her first slime, she could now ensure that none of her other [Monsters] would have to die. While it might be a bit of an exaggeration, her first slime was a hero who valiantly sacrificed its life to save the others who would soon replace it.

Violet quickly pulled up her system menu

Dungeon Status:

Current Mana 50 / 50

Current DP: 199

Current Floors: 1

Current Rooms: 1

Monsters

Construction

Research

Missions

The bread and apple had granted her several new [Base Resources] as well as two new summonable [Items]. There was now flour, wild yeast, salt, sugar, oil, water, and an apple under her [Base Resources]. Violet wasn't sure she would be making too many recipes with the new [Base Resources] any time soon, but she was interested in researching an apple tree as a new [Item]. Alongside the acorns that naturally grew and fell from her new oak tree, an apple tree that produced apples was bound to be attractive to potential adventurers. Of course, before any of that, there was something far more important to attend to.

Violet quickly purchased a 50 MP spawner and was shifted into the room view. As the positioning didn't matter that much in this size of room, Violet just placed the spawner in the middle of the room. Once she confirmed she was finished building, she was hit with a wave of dizziness as she readjusted to her normal field of vision. Afterward, as she wasn't sure how to set the [Monsters] to the spawner, she asked

"How do I set [Monsters] to this room's spawner?"

Which [Monsters] would you like to set to the [50 MP Spawner] in the [Undecided Room]?

Available Monsters:

Unnamed Kodama (30 MP)

Other Monsters

Available Critters

Other Critters

Violet took note of some of the strange wording on her system menu. Apparently, this room was labeled as undecided and her kodama could be named. Her poor slime had died without a name... Still, Violet wasn't sure if she should give every [Monster] she summoned a name. With the potential to summon hundreds, or even thousands, of [Monsters] over the years, it would be difficult to give all of them names. Violet quickly selected the kodama and set it to respawn via the spawner before further pondering the issue.

The [50 MP Spawner] in [Undecided Room] now has 20 MP of space remaining to assign [Monsters] and [Critters]. Would you like to assign anything else?

Yes

No

Violet pressed the [No] option and furrowed her brows further. Apparently, there were also [Critters] that could be assigned to spawners. That option wasn't even available on the main menu yet. Violet couldn't help but ask

"How do I obtain [Critters]?"

No [Critters] currently available. Please complete [Missions] to unlock more.

Violet paced the room as she considered what she should do next.