Making the slime was easy. All Calith had to do was take a small dollop of mana from her pool and then mix it with a sphere of a living material. She had found, during her excavation, exactly one thing that qualified as ‘living’. Barely. It was something called moss, which Calith now understood was one of the simplest forms of life that dungeons could work with. Moments after starting the process, Calith had a greenish ball of amorphous liquid, with two nubs extending out its side and into tentacles. It started to shift back and forth. Calith had, at the last minute, made two indents in the ball of moss to serve as eyes, and a small line for a mouth. It wasn’t needed for slimes, but she thought the effect was cute.

The slime started to bounced up and down. “Tzaaa!” it shouted.

“Okay, I love it,” Calith said, shifting her primary awareness back to the Mesh and looking over at Rathel. “But…why did I make it?”

Rathel frowned slightly. Calith had, with Rathel’s help, created a mirror that let the other dungeon - or anyone she permitted into her meshsite - look into her dungeon. Whatever was bothering him, however, he didn’t speak on it. “Slimes are the only creatures we can make without having a pattern to work from. For anything more complex, you’ll need to find and kill animals to work with. The slime is how you do that.”

“That’s easy enough. Should I open a path to the surface? Or should I send it into the caves I found?”

“To open a door to the surface-” Rathel started to say, but paused and blinked. “The what you found?”

“Caves?” Calith asked, confused. “They’re…big open areas underground that aren’t made by a dungeon or man-”

“I know what a cave is,” Rathel said, but there was a trace of excitement to his words that ruined his attempt at sounding haughty. “Show me.”

Calith moved her perception - and with it, what the mirror showed - towards the cave system. She could see perfectly in the darkness, although that only mattered after the first few feet. The gaseous mana she was producing as a byproduct of consumption provided light, and the illumination stretched a short distance into the cave. She could put her vision at the edge of that light - but couldn’t move past it.

What was beyond was a limestone cave, one that hadn’t seen anything of the surface in ages. It was small - a narrow passage no more than a foot wide and half that tall - but it stretched a long way away. There was a trickling sound in the distance, running water echoing down the cave.

“You have an auspicious beginning,” Rathel said. “Most dungeons seek out caves like this one. They connect to the Dwelling - a vast cave network that runs under the world. There are life forms down here most surface dwellers never see, and since the base forms are adapted to cavernous life, they make for wonderful mobs.”

That excited Calith. Absorbing the moss had taught her one thing about herself - she was fascinated by life, in all its various forms. The idea of finding things no one knew about thrilled her. “So that’s where I send the slime?” she asked.

Rathel nodded slowly. “Make a second slime for the surface. The one you’re sending into those caves may take a long time to find anything. You don’t need to give them any special commands - slimes this small are exempt from Pact restrictions on surface mobs.”

That got Calith’s attention. These Pact restrictions were a nuisance she’d have to learn to work around, and she’d only half paid attention when Rathel explained what the Pact was. Her focus had only been on what she needed to know to not get in trouble. “Why?” she asked, already summoning the second slime.

“A slime will only attack something too large for it to absorb if the dungeon commands it to. Since these slimes will be out of your mana, you won’t be able to command them - and no mortals are small enough for them to attack. They’ll just act on instinct, hunting smaller creatures, until they find something that they can absorb for you.” Rathel scratched his chin. An affection, like all his movements here, and Calith found herself wondering why. She also really wanted to make a less…lumpy avatar, but that could wait. “Later on you’ll want to make specialized slimes to gather materials for you as well. With the limitations on what we can just make, those worker slimes become important - and they can find things you won’t find by digging.”

“Why not just make them now?” Calith asked.

“Look and you tell me,” Rathel said.

Grumbling to herself, Calith looked around her dungeon. She was supposed to see something, but had no idea…oh. “My mana pool.” She’d only used small drops, or so she thought, but the pool was almost empty.

“Exactly,” Rathel said. “The slimes pulled from your mana as they were formed. You are very limited until you grow more. Which is also why you’re going to only make a small hole to the surface. Just about three inches tall - enough for the slime to squeeze through.”

Calith did so, eager to see. Rathel had explained the vision limitations to her - she could only see what was in her mana field. Outside of that, she could stand on the edge and look out, but couldn’t move any closer. Slimes, however, were made of mana and random bits of living matter. They weren’t cohesive enough to keep all their mana in - that’s why they’d return to her dungeon. And since they were leaking mana, Calith could see where they went.

She commanded one slime to venture underground and the other to go to the surface. Neither had any problem squeezing through the tight openings, although the one going to the surface did so with its face looking into the dungeon. Right before it squeezed fully into the opening, it let out a final, cheery, “Tzaaaaa!”

Calith moved her vision along with the slime, and moments later, it burst out onto the surface. The sudden presence of sunlight would have blinded mortal eyes. Calith’s dungeons senses had no such issue adjusting, but her mind still reeled. For all her existence - which, granted, was only a week - the only light she’d known was the eerie purple glow of her mana field. The radiance overhead was nothing like that. She looked up, seeing the sky for the first time. It was vast and blue, dotted with white clouds. The twin suns were overhead - one a brilliant yellow that could burn eyes for those that had them, the other a brilliant red that could be comfortably looked at. The Sun and the Nemesis.

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Rathel started to talk, but it was just background noise to Calith. Something caught her attention. There was a thing moving through the air. Not a creature - nothing organic would have that many hard angles. It was a bronze structure supported in the air by a massive balloon overhead. There were sails extruding to the sides of the structure, and they lazily rowed back and forth in the air.

These things must be common knowledge, because Calith knew what it was the moment she saw it. A zeppelin.

“Calith, are you listening?” Rathel asked.

“I think we both know I am not,” Calith said, turning to him. “Sorry. I just…this is my first time seeing the surface. Let me enjoy this?”

“Of course,” Rathel said. “Just…don’t stare up the entire time. Look around. You’ll want to see what’s there, too.”

Curious, Calith did so. Her slime was happily bouncing along, its pseudo pods waving in the air. She apparently was in a valley between two mountains, the entrance of her dungeon extruding from one of the mountains. She’d seen the peaks in the edge of her vision, but the sky had distracted her. Now it didn’t - they went so high they were covered by snow, and the sight was wonderful. But that drew her vision even lower, and she gasped.

This was her first view of the valley, and if she’d had lungs, it would have taken her breath away. There were trees down there. Two major types that served as the dominant types in the valley - green pine trees, and black-leaved dechwood trees. They weren't evenly scattered about - instead, they seemed to exist in bands that wove between each other, creating a green and black pattern of irregular swirls.

“Dechwood feeds on the light of the Nemesis, Pines on the light of the Sun,” Rathel said. “Since you’re Cabal aligned, you’ll want to slowly undermine the growth of the pines. Dechwood gathers Carnal mana well, and you can convert that into Abyssal easily. Pines will gather Sylvain mana - less useful for you.”

Calith frowned at that. She liked the way it looked as it was. Maybe she could just grow more Dechwood near her entrance. There was wind in the valley, it blew the pines back and forth. The dechwood seemed to move against the win, as if it was fighting back. “Is dechwood…still a plant?” Calith asked.

“No,” Rathel said. “People used to think so, and no one will blink if you call them plants - except for stuffy know-it-alls - but plants are green, and take in sunlight. Dechwood belongs to a group of life known as crymons. Crymons compete with plants for space. They both need the same nutrients from the ground, and they both need light from one of the suns. However, crymons also need wind. They push against it to gather the kinetic energy. They also have blood instead of sap - which is why they gather Carnal mana so well. I’d suggest gathering some wood from one of them as soon as you can - you can do some interesting things with dechwood construction.”

Calith nodded. “Need to get strong enough for the worker slimes, then,” she said. Before she could say more, however, her slime froze. Calith pulled her attention to the creature. It was letting out a low burbling sound, like a boiling pot of water decided to growl.

Something burst out of the underbrush, rolling towards Calith’s slime. Two somethings. They were wooden spheres - no, not spheres. They were slimes, but covered in bark, and in place of pseudopods they had branches that looked like wings. They were also now burbling, but the sound was much deeper as they sped towards Calith’s creature.

Rathel hissed in sudden fury. “What? Impossible.”

Calith looked at him. “What do you mean?”

“You can’t see mana types yet. But I can. Those are made of firmament mana. There’s a Circle dungeon nearby. But none were registered. I checked the same day I registered you!”

Calith’s slime let out an angry “tzaa!” and brandished its pseudopods, lashing out at both of the attacking slimes. It hit, but her slime’s attacks just thudded against the bark. The opposing slimes moved closer, ramming into Calith’s slime.

“I thought we weren’t allowed to fight!” Calith said, heat rising in her voice. Who dared attack her?

“Mob fights on the overworld are permitted, largely because we can’t stop them from happening until the later tiers, when we’re strong enough to control them even when they aren’t in our dungeon. Plus, it makes for a good show.” Rathel ground his teeth. “Normally. But attacking a newborn dungeon’s slimes? That’s just gauche.”

Calith’s slime was taking a beating, although it was putting up a good show. The wooden slimes were bouncing into it, but her slime battered them away with its pseudopods. It was also trying to flee, heading back towards Calith’s entrance as fast as it could move. “Tzaa! Tzaa!” it shouted at the slimes overhead, as if trying to scare them off.

“Did they come because you registered me?” Calith asked.

Rathel shook his head. “The nearest Circle dungeon to here is over a hundred miles away. It couldn’t have set slimes this far - and he wouldn’t have made firmament-mana slimes with bark. He would have used Sylvian mana, it’s more compatible with the material. Which means…” Rathel’s eyes widened. “Oh. A new dungeon must have been born nearby. So recently it wasn’t registered when I went to put you in the listings.”

Calith’s slime was starting to lose cohesion, and its Tzaa’s were starting to take on a sad note. “Is my slime afraid of death?” Calith asked.

Rathel’s forehead furrowed, caught off guard by the question, then sighed. “Technically yes. But it’s a part of you. Once it dies, its consciousness will return to your mana pool, and you can resummon it with no problem.” He watched the slime’s struggles. “This fight is over,” he said with a shrug. “It’s outnumbered, and wood is sturdier than moss. I have to go to the main guild site to confirm it, but it looks like you have a neighbor. You’ll want more surface slimes next time to even the fight if it happens - although it would be easier for you and this Circle dungeon to work out a way to divide the valley. Keep your mobs on your side of the line, and they keep their mobs on the other side.”

Calith liked that idea better. She hated the idea that her mobs would have to fight every time they went out. Not only were the sad sounds far harder to listen to than they should have been, but also she’d waste mana on larger and larger forces. “How do I talk to them?”

“I’ll get you their name. You don’t want them in your meshsite yet, and they won’t want you in theirs, but there are a few sites where we can communicate with the Circle. I’ll send a message to this other dungeon’s mentor, we can work something out.”

Calith’s slime collapsed with one last, breathless “tzaaaa” that trialed off. The wood slimes bounced around, burbling in pride at each other. Calith felt her slimes essence return to her. “It didn’t even get me a pattern,” Calith grumbled. Except…was that right? She could feel something in her that had come with the essence.

Calith focused on that feeling and she could see it inside of her. A shape, an outline really. A small insect the slime had rolled over and managed to slay. Something called a Mantis.

“Oh, good slime,” Calith said. Rathel looked at her, and Calith showed him the pattern.

Rathel grinned. “Oh, a mantis. Those aren’t ideal for your mana type - but we can work with that. Let me go and take care of the administrative tasks. While I’m gone, practice making limestone statues in the shape of that creature. You’ll need them for the next step.”

“One question,” Calith asked. “I thought I saw more small crawling things. Why didn’t the slime pick those up?”

“Oh, your slime likely killed dozens of insects. But that mantis was the only one with a spark. One in a hundred animals posses a spark that can be converted into a pattern.” Rathel moved his hands back and forth. “Roughly, that is. For large creatures, lions and bears and drakes, you’ll want to lure them into your dungeon and kill them here - you can always get a pattern for something that dies in your dungeon. Now, do you have more questions?”

Calith shook her head and Rathel’s avatar went stock still, once again returning to a remnant. She set to work.

So. Another dungeon in her valley? Well. Calith was going to show this Circle interloper that she was the superior dungeon - and she wasn’t going to resort to cheap tricks like attacking slimes to do it.