... Now why would I dream about her of all times...
She's already gone dammit.
Back then was the first time I actually met her.
I accidentally learned how to absorb mana from the surrounding and caused it to go unstable and greedily suck out the life from nearby plants...
...then she arrived with other people and aided me in stopping it, although one of them preferred to just kill me and be over it.
For some reason, she defended me. she vowed to save both me and the town. Me? A complete nobody to anyone? Now why is that? And why would the only people by my side actually have to disappear...
While I blacked out, I was probably half awake by then, but I felt something touch my lips...
I remember checking out my status back then the moment I became conscious, A two skill were somehow added into my list, I didn't know why,...
My skills were only supposed to have the Doppelganger's Kiss and one the other one that was full of question marks, any other may only be obtained through copying.
Flash Movement and Raijin Claw
Flash movement was basically an enhancement skill, causing a short burst of extreme speed, though you can only move in a straight line until you land, that is if you can stick the landing.
On the other hand, Raijin Claw was an offensive skill, causing one of the caster's hand and arms to be clad with crackling lightning, its form honestly resembled that of a dragon's claw.
I didn't know what was wrong but I'm pretty sure these two skills aren't something a doppelgänger like me should possess, how exactly did I even get this?
I thought the condition was a full blown kiss and we'd obtain appearance and abilities, and yet when I took at a look at myself, It was still the same old murky mist around a silhouette.
Did...
Did Ophelia Kiss me back then?...
"Psst... Hey... Wake up", a rather cutesy voice reached my ears,
*Boing~*,
"Come on!... Wake up!.. Mister Mist Man!...", that voice again, this time his tone grew louder,
*Boing~ Boing~*
The moment I opened my eyes, I saw an eerily metallic silver slime moving back a few inches before bumping at me once again.
*Boing~ Boing~ Boing~*
"Oh!... You're awake!?... That's Great!", so the cutesy voice belonged to him?/her?, but how did this one learn to speak?, if I were to describe this slime at the moment, I'd say he looked like a metallic silver colored mochi bun, the surface of the slime rippled and wobbled as he bounced rhythmically to its own beat.
"Who are you?", I managed to say, my voice echoed out similar to a young man still in his adolescence, a bit high yet still clear and steady.
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"My name is Ik... I mean Ichor. Call me Ichor. I went into this dungeon and stumbled upon you just near the entrance."
"... dungeon?"
"WAIT? YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT A DUNGEON IS?" the slime's body erratically wobbled causing small tendrils to pulsate from his body out of shock.
"No... to be honest, so far I've only been wandering around with some humans until uuug-guuuuu~..." I couldn't help but start to cry, from thinking about what happened
"Oh! Uh.... Uhmmm--- It's Okay!... You don't have to tell me about that!... Come on!... I'll explain to you everything about dungeons!"
From what I can gather from his lectures were that dungeons are apparently instanced zones with powerful monsters and treasures. Typically a dungeon will involve navigating through a zone filled with enemies, with boss and named enemies used to guard a specific stairway, floor, safe zone or the dungeon corr itself.
The dungeon core is basically its heart and soul, the hivemind of the overall dungeon monster population within it, so if one were to break the core, the dungeon then be deemed cleared then its corridors would then implode in itself, that's why it's advisable for adventurers to carry around warp crystals or are versed in runes before trying to conquer one, since to be honest we can all agree that why should a dungeon leave a reward to those enemies who break its core? better to purge them than to have them grow stronger.
Many dungeons require prerequisites to be fulfilled before they can be entered. Though there are some dungeons that don't have the power to separate conquering adventurers into instance, they're all categorized as low level dungeons.
And that ends the slime's lecture.
"Wow.. that's a lot of information to process." I catch my head in my hands in defeat, I'm inside a dungeon? why am I here? I was supposed to be in front of the demon king's castle with the Hero and my other senpais. Where did they go?
"I know right? Luckily the entrance room of this dungeon is a safe zone so we have all day to discuss and become friends!"
"Friends?"
"... Well... Yeah? Can't we be friends?"
"A Doppelgänger and a Slime?"
"Is there anything wrong about that?"
"... pffft, No. I'll gladly be your friend"
With a loud Boing~ the slime jumped up like a bullet, hitting the ceiling causing him to bounce back down and the same thing happened, it took quite a while before he managed to stop the bouncing before he finally asked me with tear-like mucus as if he was crying in joy.
"So how did you end up in this place in the first place anyway?"