9 Slimes (I)

When I opened my eyes again the pale blue glow of the fluid, which made up the wall of the Mana Confluence Chamber greeted me. Samson had gotten tired of me calling it a pod or some other colorful name I could think of at that moment so he told me it's official name. I stifled a curse, as my entire body ached fiercely. And even though my brown skin was devoid of any scars to show my previous injuries I still very much felt it.

This was probably the most intense training session I've ever had with Samson, I was hurting but for some reason my head was extremely clear. I loved this clarity, this after effect of having what could almost be considered a life and death battle. I could see and understand things clearly, at least for a while.

Laying down there in that chamber instilled a sense of peace in me, peace that I don't really deserve for failing my son. if I could I would have much rather preferred to never go out again. In this circle of strange magical water my problems did not exists, at least as long as I did not think about them.

I was devoid of thought and any worries, I loved this serenity and the clarity that came with it. This place felt like a cocoon, and I was very much adverse to freeing himself from it.

"If you are done mindlessly staring at nothing, get your ass out here."

Quite unfortunately for me, even though I had forgotten my problems for a moment, it did not mean my problems had forgotten about him. With a sigh I lifted my naked body off the cold floor and made my way outside.

When I was properly dressed and sitting in the lounge with Samson taking his usual place in front of me, I felt the weight of all of my undertaking and responsibilities crash unto my shoulders. I slumped and I'm sure I looked incredibly pitiful in front of Samson.

I was so tired about this whole thing that i could not even muster up the strength or the will to scream at Samson for almost getting me killed.

"We can not afford to put you through any more training. While I admit it's mostly my fault we didn't take your incompetence into regards. The cost of healing your injuries after every intense training session we have, has increased, and by increased I mean the resources required for such endeavors are all but exhausted apart from what's keeping your son in the land of the living. I don't know if you noticed, but there's a scar stretching from the middle of your throat to the tip of the left part of your jaw."

As a matter of fact I had noticed the scar when I was taking a shower, it was quite glaring and I thought it was quite ugly.

The wound I inflicted on my was deeper than I thought it would be, and with our almost if not already depleted resources, Samson could not heal me completely. As such there was now a silvery white scar painting my brown skin. I frowned, I really hated the sight of that scar.

It only served as a reminder of how helpless I was in a fight against Samson. I also knew for a fact that Samson was not even showing the full scope of his strength, or even half of it.

"Since we can't put you through any more physical training we will have to push up our schedule. I don't think the month of training you've had is enough, but you have achieved enough that I think all you need is some proper experience. So in a week you would be going down to the floor below.

So before you start these venture you will take this one week as a period of rest and study. I have been able to catalog and analyze all the monsters of the first three floors below us, as for the remaining twelve, its all up to you."

Samson had his eyes aligned as he spoke so I knew for a fact this was a rather serious issue. Apart from the fact that I could very well loose my life, I knew there was lot riding on me getting rid of this dungeon, not to mention Samson seems to have too much of a vested interest in the dungeon core.

Also I did not trust Samson, he was hiding something, and whatever it was, I was sure I could find the answer only on the floors I did not have access to. Not to mention there was a particular corridor on this floor that Samson was quite adamant about not letting me through.

The other led to the elevator that would take me to the other floors, while of the remaining two, one led to the Infirmary that has served as a bedroom and training ground for me this past month, and then the last led to the bathrooms.

This entire floor was designed with all four directions in mind, from north to south and east to west with the lounge as the center.

I was not sure if the other parts of the college were designed the same way, but with Samson hiding too many things, I doubted I would believe anything Samson says about this castle, even if he produces a blueprint.

"So first off on our agenda, is your first floor enemy. The common slime." Samson's voice drew me out of my thoughts, if only to throw me into a state of puzzlement again.

"Slime?" I asked with scrunched eyebrows.

"Of course slimes, I already mentioned them to you, but for reference sake let's go into a deeper explanation. Slimes come in a whole boat load of various species, each with their own unique characteristics. However the common slime, which could be considered the ancestor of every other species of slime that exist out there is made of what could only be described as cells, or mucus.

But scientifically common slimes are made from a cluster of cells with the physical properties of either thick water, just like the one from the Mana chamber, or syrup. However magic is not as amazing as it seems, more often than not it can be explained with hard scientific facts, and the way a slime moves is one of them.

All of those thousands of cells is controlled by a crystal nucleus that should, or is considered the brain of the slime. That crystal could be found in a variety of monsters as it is most commonly the source of their strengths, or for monsters born within dungeons that crystal is their source of life with a direct connection to dungeon core.

But the crystals of the slimes have rather unique properties apart from being the brain of a slime. That crystal has the ability to rapidly spawn cells, which means any physical attack on a slime would have rather disappointing effects. The cells can also be fluidly controlled by the crystal, it could gather those cells rapidly to a single point forming tissue that is almost impossible to pierce through.

It skin is never hard, but it offers resistance second to none, which makes a lot researchers consider slimes as one of the most gifted creatures in terms of Natural defense.

But the crystal could also replace lost cells, giving the slime improved regeneration. The common slime's crystal has no secondary attribute like its evolutions or most monsters. The only thing you need to pay attention to when fighting a common slime is to watch out so you don't get entangled. It is almost impossible to free yourself from their grip without sufficient strength and appropriate magic.

The best way to defeat any slime it to get it to expose it's crystal, or at least bring it close enough to the surface of its skin so that you can poke it with what ever weapon you have on hand. For some reason that has not been explained, the crystals of a slime have always been Incredibly fragile. I once heard a story about how a rouge was engulfed by a slime, but while he was submerged in the slimes body about to be digested and turned into energy, he had this urge to sneeze. And when he did, he completely shattered the crystal.

Which brings us to one of the fundamental knowledge of dungeon diving. Crystals. The crystals harvested from the body of monsters in the dungeon could be considered as mini Dungeon cores. With the exception of slimes whose crystals have to be destroyed to kill them, and the inclusion of some really weird existences that have their life force entwined within their crystals.

Anyway this crystals are compressed essence of magic which more often than not have a particular attribute attached to it. A monster with the ability to control fire would have a fire crystal as a core, and each monster after that unique in their own right, has a crystal that is unique to its own existence.

This crystals are important, they are varying degrees and qualities of this crystals and they are divided in much the same way as mages and any other magical creatures or profession are known. The worst crystal is a crystal of the first circle, followed by crystals of the second circle up till the best and most optimum ninth circle crystals.

However there are also rather unique crystals in existence, above ninth circle there's the mystic crystal, the legendary crystal and the god crystal. Those things are so rare that In the whole of the core layer there has only been six recorded god crystals. Dungeon cores can be considered as mystic if not legendary level crystals. o put in mind, every time you kill a monster, that is not a slime. Remember to harvest it's crystals. You would need extensive knowledge of a monster's biology, but for reference sake it is mostly found in the heart or head area.

But it is not the same for all monsters. There is a device that can accurately locate the position of a crystal in a monster's body, but it is at armory on tenth floor of the south wing, many floors below us I think...I cant be sure though it's been such a long time. Now any questions?"

I could only look on in awe of Samson's teaching abilities as I shook my head. Based on all the Information I gathered from Samson, I should be able to roughly come up with a plan of attack against the slimes.

I had only a week left to perfect my strategies, I would not admit it, but I much rather preferred reading and learning about mucus like slimes than swinging a dagger and pointing a gun. But any how this goes the moment of truth was only a week away.