Enhancing the Humvee and Dungeon.

"Why are you and Robyn joining us, again?" I asked Gilbert as I worked on the Humvee.

It had been a day since I returned to Terraria and received the mission from the stream.

In these two days, with Stark's help, I managed to fix most of the internal parts of the Humvee, replacing pieces and adapting the car to be more specific.

I also finished painting the Mystical Symbols on the inside of the car and a good portion of the outside, which were the most complicated, as they would make the Humvee function like my tank.

"I'm going because I'll negotiate silk and other goods. I can also assist in long-range combat if necessary." The merchant pounded his chest as he exclaimed.

"And Robyn?" I asked briefly as I finished mixing the paint I would use on the Humvee's wheels.

I wasn't against Gilbert coming; the old man wasn't the strongest person in the world, but from what I saw of him, even injured, he knew how to take care of himself. I would be more comfortable with him and Dylan covering me than other people.

Of course, him saving me money was also good. After all, he was the merchant; bargaining was basically ingrained in his DNA at this point.

-//-

[Blue-Aqua Paint]

Type: MaterialRarity: Light Red

Description: Paint made from the hair strands of a goddess from another world with a great affinity for water and sacred elements.

Materials:

Aqua's hair strands. (37 strands per cauldron)Blue slime gel. (182 ml per cauldron)Green slime gel. (38 ml per cauldron)Waterleaf stem. (18 grams per cauldron)Waterleaf petals. (6 grams per cauldron)Aquamarine powder. (73 grams per cauldron)[…]

-//-

I feel like the rarity of this paint should be higher; what prevented that was simply the lack of materials I had. I felt that if the materials used alongside Aqua's hair were better, the rarity of this thing should be higher.

Still, it was good enough for my goal: making the Humvee waterproof and with aquatic mobility. The aquatic mobility part was even simpler, as the Humvee was already amphibious; I would just be improving that aspect of it.

"My daughter is... Wild, to say the least." He laughed as he watched me work. He had offered help, but I declined. If it were Dylan, it would be a different story, but Gilbert had no experience with Mystical Symbols, his words, not mine.

"A lot of that is due to her fox side, but I admit it's my fault too. I wasn't the calmest person in my youth; I must have passed that on to her." He commented briefly before continuing.

"The way she acts, I wouldn't be surprised if she simply tried to follow us and ended up getting into trouble or worse..." He said with a heavy voice before sighing. "I'll take care of her, don't worry; she won't be a burden or anything." He apologized while explaining.

"I'm not worried about that, old man." I said as I picked up one of the Humvee's tires. I'll paint four central matrices, one on each tire, and go up, painting the Humvee on the side.

"I'm worried in case she gets hurt; she's not a contractor, is she?" I asked, remembering that she had said something like that the first time I met her, when she attacked me by mistake.

Dylan, as inexperienced as he was, was a tough guy, courageous, and knew how to improvise well.

Gilbert, I didn't even need to think; the guy had shown me his Guild emblem; at his peak, he was a Gold-ranked contractor. Even old, I had no doubt that he still knew how to throw a punch or two.

But Robyn was a different story; the fox woman was a civilian, even though she was stronger than a normal Terrarian thanks to the curse she had, she still had basically zero battle experience.

I may not have known her for long, damn, not even two hours actually, but I didn't want her to come with us out of concern for her father and end up dying or something.

"No, she's not, she never had an interest in the Guild, always preferred taking care of animals and studying them." Gilbert explained before continuing. "But she's not defenseless either, especially since she has her pets to protect her." He sighed before sitting on the clearing floor.

"I, of all people, know how much I worry about her, but I'm not a fool, as you and the Oakwood kid found out, things are about to get ugly in the realm..." He said with regret.

"It's better for her to have some fighting experience now than when shit hits the fan." I completed his sentence, already knowing what he was going to say. His nod of agreement confirmed that I was right.

Gilbert had a point there; as much as I felt like this mission was going to go sideways and get very dangerous, something told me that, compared to what was coming, it would be easy, basically a walk in the park in comparison.

After this short conversation, we fell into silence for a few minutes, with me finishing painting the Mystical Symbols on the underside of the Humvee and Gilbert finishing organizing the preparations he had made.

"And Dylan, where did he go?" I asked, breaking the silence. It would be good to have the guide here; with him helping me paint the Mystical Symbols, the Humvee would be ready even before the day ended.

"The Oakwood kid?" Gilbert asked rhetorically. "If I were to guess, he's probably gathering as much information about WinterHord as he can. That or finishing the preparations for the mission." Gilbert pointed to the boxes he was organizing.

"These are ready. All yours." I didn't even need to move; with a thought, all the boxes were in my inventory.

"I still find it ridiculous how you use your Travel Space." He pointed to the VoidBag at my waist. "Is there a backup or something?"

"I'm afraid I only have this one." I said playfully as I tapped the VoidBag with my hand. "And what about what I asked you?" I asked the merchant as I went back to work on the Humvee.

"About buying the land in this clearing?" He said rhetorically once again. "It's possible, but it would be complicated, as the crown handles that. I can see if I can schedule an audience or something, pull some favors from some people in high places, but I can't promise anything."

"Hmm..." I hummed as I lay down, going under the Humvee.

I hoped it would be something like that; if it were some land within the realm, it would be easier, as it would only be necessary to talk to the landowner and finalize things later.

But in my case here, where I wanted to buy land outside the realm and a large piece of land, dealing with the crown was expected, meaning dealing with Charlotte, since, from what I had discovered, she was the only one left from the main royal lineage.

Funny how the king and queen had died in an accident on one of the trips out of the realm, leaving only an inexperienced princess to keep the whole realm in order...

Damn, if that "accident" wasn't set up, I might as well be an anteater instead of a human.

I'm sure that if it weren't for Alalia and Dylan's mom, the kingdom would have gone to hell a long time ago.

"Ignore that for now; it's not really necessary." I commented to the merchant, my voice coming from under the Humvee where I was.

Buying this part of the forest along with the clearing was more of a formality than anything else; it wasn't really urgent.

After that, except for a few words here and there, we didn't have many more conversations.

I focused on working on the Humvee, and Gilbert on getting used to his bow again.

The only thing that struck me was: Ruby and her team didn't enter the stream yesterday. If it weren't for Ruby's quick message saying everything was fine, I would have started to worry.

What the hell happened at that ball?...

[…]

Two days later, with the Humvee almost finished, I told the three of them, Dylan, Gilbert, and Robyn, that I would be out all day and probably wouldn't answer the EcoMirror, but I made it clear that we would leave in a day, two at most.

When they asked me where I was going to stay out all day, I simply said that I would take care of some things on my end before we left.

It wasn't a lie, as I really would do that, just in another dimension, to be more specific, in the dungeon.

"It would be nice if I could bring some of them with me to the dungeon, it would be easier..." I commented lightly as I looked at the stats of my new armor.

I was sure that this would be possible in the future, but for now, that option didn't exist in the stream, and I didn't want to risk trying to force someone into the dungeon and end up tearing them in half because of teleportation.

-//-

[Rune-Symbol Armor: Runes: Resistance (Corrosion) - Resistance (Acid) - Defense]

Type: ArmorModifier: NoneMystical Symbols (Human): Protection against corrosion (Medium-Medium), Protection against acid (Medium-Medium), Protection against burns (Low-High) (+)

Defense: 224Durability: 1637/1684Rarity: Green

Set Effect: When all pieces are worn together, creates a resonance that protects the user against acids and any type of corrosion (Minor), reducing the effects of any acid or corrosion (Medium), and being ineffective against anything larger.

Description: Armor focused entirely on resisting acids and corrosion of all kinds.

Created by "The Streamer" with the intention of protecting against slimes and their variants.

-//-

It was much weaker compared to my other armor, but in terms of resistance to acid and any type of corrosion, it was infinitely superior.

It wasn't my best work, but it was something I found acceptable.

The initial plan was to create armor entirely made of tungsten and gold, but that idea went to hell quickly.

Ignoring the fact that armor made of these materials would normally be something uselessly heavy, even though at this point something like that wouldn't bother me, and fragile without the enhancements of Mystical Symbols and Runes.

I wasn't a blacksmith, and Markus said that any armor like that would take at least a month to be ready, as gold was a very malleable metal, and forging armor from scratch using it and tungsten as a base was something he wasn't confident in.

So, I ended up just coating an iron armor in a tungsten-made paint and painting the Mystical Symbols with a gold-based paint.

As I said, it wasn't what I had in mind, but it was something acceptable.

Interestingly, I didn't even need to think about how to create these paints myself; I simply used the ones that already existed in Terraria as a base and adapted them.

In terms of appearance, the armor, surprisingly, did not disappoint either.

It was basically a full medieval plate armor, but in a silver-green color, with hundreds of Mystical Symbols in a gold-white color.

It had a futuristic look that wasn't flashy, but still, it was pleasing to the eyes. Funny how this "Improvised" armor was prettier than my main armor.

Before entering the dungeon, I took a few seconds to stretch and read the (CHAT).

I also took the opportunity to provoke some people...

"Are you still sure that no one will try anything at the Vytal Festival?" I commented provocatively. "Do you think I'm still overthinking? Too paranoid?"

I had done this all day yesterday, and I'm going to continue today as well. It was too funny for me to miss the opportunity!

[(MOD)WhiteHuntressLive]: (Snow White emote raising her finger and then lowering it)... I'll refrain from commenting. The ball was already horrible; being interrogated all night was even worse. I won't write anything that could get me a chat punishment...

[(MOD)GeniusBillionairePlayboy]: Maybe if another mysterious woman invades the planet's only communication network a second time, they'll start believing you. Until then, keep going, it's funny. I can almost hear the screams of rage from here. (Iron Man emote eating popcorn)

[(MOD)RedHuntressLive]: I always believed in you! I even prepared in case something happened at the ball! If I had been able to use my eyes faster, I'm sure I would have been able to catch that woman! (Little Red Riding Hood emote sighing in frustration).

[AdvocateOfGenderEquality]: I met the paladin you mentioned before. Can I get a refund somewhere? I trade the three for a full set of armor and a meat pie. (Generic guy emote sighing tiredly).

[YellowHuntressLive]: How could I have imagined that someone was crazy enough to invade the CCT on the eve of the Vytal Festival? (Yellow bear emote scoffing in disbelief).

[BlakeHuntressLive]: I understand his side. The CCT is something very important, but still. Interrogating every student at the ball systematically all night might have been too much. (Black cat emote sighing in exhaustion).

[TohsakaHeiress]: What do you expect to find on this second level of the dungeon besides, of course, slimes? Any stronger variants or something like that? A mutation perhaps? (Chibi Rin emote drinking coffee).

I let out a good laugh at Weiss's message and stretched, finishing my warm-up.

Who would've thought her dance partner for the ball was a cowardly guy who wouldn't have the courage to show up because he didn't know how to dance? It had to have the name of a half-assed god.

At least Blake's partner had the name of the Monkey King; that was cool, much better than "Neptune."

The only more concerning part was that when Ruby fought the "Mysterious Woman" at the CCT, she ended up using the power of her eyes, which I was sure would be a problem later...

At least now the girls were on alert, and their school headmaster, the guy I was sure was a magician just by the name, knew that something was happening, so it was one less worry... I hope...

Still, something told me that the problems were just beginning, both here in Terraria and in Remnant...

I shook my head, dispelling these thoughts; for now, I responded to the amazing offer Kazuma had made.

"I decline your offer; I feel like I'll end up at a loss," I quickly commented before responding to Rin.

"As for what I hope to find on the second level?... Honestly, various things..." I shrugged as I commented. "I'm trying to keep an open mind and will wait for anything..." Except the King Slime; if it were him, I would just leave quietly...

After interacting with the (CHAT) for a few more seconds, I armed myself, pulling one of the chains that held the Mother Slime and holding it in my hands, as there was no way in hell I would risk Houtengeki here.

Losing my best weapon because it melted due to slimes, of all things, would be the biggest joke ever seen on this stream.

Without wasting any more time, I pressed the "button" to enter the second level of the dungeon.

The journey, so to speak, had been like the previous ones, instantaneous. One moment I was in my clearing in Terraria, and the next I had appeared somewhere else.

The difference this time was the final destination, so to speak.

The second level of the dungeon, or the second difficulty in this case, the Expert, wasn't in that labyrinth full of narrow corridors. In fact, it was the extreme opposite.

The second level, the Expert, was an immense plain. No matter which way I looked, the entire scenery was a plain without trees, without bushes, nothing, just a light green grass and the sky above.

"Okay... This is different..." I murmured as I observed the environment calmly. This place seemed artificial, very much so.

I spent a few seconds looking around for enemies before finally noticing something in the distance, very, very far away.

It was basically a small point in the sky, standing out in the clouds around it. I started running towards it until, after a few seconds of running, I had to slow down and stop.

Not because I had discovered an enemy, or because I was forced to, no; it was simply because I was amazed by the sight in front of me.

"A flying island..." I let slip, my thoughts leaking without my permission.

It was a damn giant flying island!

From the distance, I would guess it should be at least a kilometer, if not more, and it was just there, floating normally, totally indifferent to gravity!

I knew they existed, both in Terraria, the game, and in other universes; damn, in Remnant, Ruby's world, there was one.

But knowing they existed and seeing one up close, there, literally in front of me, was a completely different story.

Even though I should already be used to this kind of thing, especially related to magic, I felt that the surprise, the impact that this sight had on me would be something that would last for a long time.

Observing the island more closely, I realized that it really didn't move; it was like something static in the air, a rock that instead of staying still on the ground, decided to go up and stay still in the sky.

The only sign of movement coming from the island was the small waterfalls falling towards the ground rapidly before turning into a light rain and the clouds that existed at the bottom of the island, being the only explanation for why the island stayed in the air...

And for some reason, I still felt that the clouds weren't the reason, but rather the consequences of the island staying afloat; that something else kept it there, in the sky.

During the time I was observing the flying island, the (CHAT) had exploded with messages; unfortunately, I couldn't read any, not because I didn't want to, but because my attention had been completely drawn to a warning message.

A message that the stream itself had sent.

[Slime is falling from the sky!]

At the same time I finished reading the message, I could see several small shadows appearing on the ground, along with many small silhouettes falling from the sky.

"Damn it!" I exclaimed at the same time I jumped to the side, avoiding a red slime that had fallen in the same spot where I was.

To my "joy," the slime didn't die upon hitting the ground but instead bounced and bounced until it stabilized on the ground, with the core intact...

All the slimes I had seen so far would have died from this impact, or this plain either gave slimes immunity to fall, or these slimes were different from the others, having a much higher impact resistance.

I didn't know the answer, and I didn't have time to think about it, to be honest, as moments after the first slime fell, came the second, then the third, fourth, fifth, and so on, until the number of slimes exceeded two digits and continued to rise rapidly towards three digits.

The slimes also came in all colors: green, blue, red, yellow, purple, even some gray... Interestingly, no pink ones...

Seeing the number of slimes start to increase rapidly, I took a deep breath, feeling my blood start to pump rapidly, and moved, holding the chain with both hands and using it as an improvised whip.

Did I know how to use a whip? No, a chain even less, but in this case, there was no need to have any kind of mastery or practice...

'Sun Breathing (Devas Style) - First form: Solar Flare.'

"Boom!" The sound barrier was shattered at the end of the strike, and along with it, all the slimes that were in front of me.

... Good old brute force would be enough...

"Well... if it's the second option, their resistance has a limit..." I murmured, spinning the chain around my body until it hit the slimes behind me.

"Boom!" Again, another sonic boom, followed by many dead slimes.

Too bad the only form that was really usable with the chains was the first form...

The rain itself wasn't dangerous to me at my current level of strength, to the point where my only concern was not getting a "slime comet" on my head.

Even the acid and corrosion from the slimes weren't a concern, as they would need to touch me first, and so far, the only place melted and corroded was the ground, where they died every second.

My only current concern was: would the King Slime appear or not?

Yes and no, both options were bad in a way, since if he appeared here, I had no idea who would be in the last difficulty, the "Story Mode."

If he didn't appear here, where the event summoning him was happening, he would probably appear in the last difficulty, the "Story Mode," which was bad because in this case, he's probably much stronger than in the game...

After a few minutes of this repetition of killing slimes, running, killing slimes, running, I noticed one catch, two actually.

The first catch was that these slimes were dumb, like, really dumb. I wasn't even comparing them to the gray slimes or the Mother slime from the first level; no, they were dumb even compared to normal Terraria slimes.

It was as if they were just disposable drones, literal suicide soldiers, which was bad, especially when I noticed the second catch.

It had been gradual and slow, so slow that I hadn't noticed until now.

The slimes were merging...

When I noticed this fact, I kicked the ground with all my strength, breaking the sound barrier behind me and running to the mass of slimes that was trying to unite, destroying it as quickly as I could.

I did this with the maximum of these giant slime masses that I could find; unfortunately, thanks to the "PINGs" from the stream, I found out that it hadn't been all of them, after all, it wasn't "raining" just around me...

[A Giant Slime has appeared!]

[A Giant Slime has appeared!]

[A Giant Slime has appeared!]

[A Giant Slime has appeared!]

[A Giant Slime has appeared!]

[A Giant Slime has appeared!]

The funniest part of all this was that the moment these messages appeared, a huge relief fell upon my shoulders.

For a moment, I really thought I would have to deal with several King Slimes at once; thank goodness that wasn't the case.

The relief didn't last long either since, the moment these Giant Slimes finished growing, they all turned in my direction and jumped as one, and, contrary to their enormous size, they were fast.

It was like having several runaway trucks coming at me; the only difference was that these trucks were more acidic than the responses Kazuma should receive from the girls at school when he asked one of them out, and of course, they were all in sync!

Seeing this scene, without hesitation, I jumped with all my strength and then jumped again diagonally, distancing myself; moments later, the Giant Slimes collided with each other, creating a shockwave.

"If I were there, that would hurt like hell..." I murmured; at the same time, I swung my right arm downward, making the slime hook appear and stick to the ground.

I pulled myself down the instant the hook touched the ground, and as soon as my feet touched the ground, I attacked the slimes around me again.

"Boom!"

"Boom!"

"Boom!"

Even before the Giant Slimes had time to detach, I had wiped out over a hundred slimes.

I also took advantage of the fact that the Giant Slimes were stuck to each other and didn't seem to want to merge into something like a "Colossal Slime" and ran towards them.

I seriously thought about throwing one or two of the Fire Dust grenades that I had exchanged with Weiss for Scarlet Ore, but the thought disappeared the moment it took shape.

Throwing anything incendiary into a damn plain that might as well be made of "gel" alcohol at this moment was frankly a foolish idea.

So, I just took advantage of the fact that most of the Giant Slimes were together, with those that weren't, being too far away to reach me, and delivered the strongest blow I could in the middle of the mass of Giant Slimes.

"Boom!" With my first step, the sound barrier had shattered, my body traveling at speeds that a human had no right to go without equipment or something protecting them.

In an instant, I had appeared less than five meters from the Giant Slimes, and with a movement of my body...

'Sun Breathing (Devas Style) - First form: Solar Flare.'

"Boom!"

... The sound barrier had been shattered a second time, with the chain somehow remaining whole and intact only by the dozens of Runes engraved on it.

The moment the blow connected with the mass of Giant Slimes, they exploded. It was like a big, gooey watermelon bursting.

The only thing that kept me dry, so to speak, was the wind and the shockwave created by the second breaking of the sound barrier, which sent the gel flying in my direction away.

Which was good, as the moment the gel touched the ground, I saw that a good part of the grass quickly melted.

I was sure I wouldn't die; in fact, I was sure I wouldn't even be seriously injured, even if the gel touched and covered me entirely, with my armor and my natural regeneration enhanced with the Band of Regeneration and the Heart Valve, I would receive at most superficial wounds.

But that doesn't mean it wouldn't hurt like hell; having melted skin wasn't cool, so I was grateful that I hadn't taken an acid gel bath.

Interestingly, after this "first encounter" with the Giant Slimes, I had no more difficulty dealing with them.

As synchronized as they were, as if they had some weird hive mind and were fast, they weren't fast enough to catch up with me, nor did they really have a mind to think and strategize beyond jumping at me in sync.

Even my pre-Sun Breathing self would have managed to dodge the Giant Slimes, albeit with difficulty.

After that, it was more a matter of not losing focus than really fighting seriously; I just needed to stay focused and continue my killing... Or would it be Slimaughter?...

I was sure that if I had said that joke out loud, I would have been lynched by the (CHAT).

... Until the slime rain ended.

The only problem was that, even after two hours, this damn rain didn't seem to want to let up!

I really thought I would have to climb that flying island to end this rain; fortunately, it wasn't necessary. After four hours, the rain had started to decrease and stopped altogether after nine full hours.

"FINALLY, DAMMIT!" I yelled as I killed the last slime on that damn plain.

After almost ten damn hours, it was finally over!

I threw myself on the ground the moment the dungeon completion message appeared. I wasn't exhausted, far from it actually, but it was the first time in a long time that I could really feel all the exercise I had done.

It was strange to feel my muscles sore from some exercise after so long, even if that exercise was fighting for almost ten hours straight.

I lay there for a good ten minutes doing nothing, just enjoying the darkening sky and the clouds drifting slowly across it.

There was a day and night cycle in this place... how curious...

In the meantime, I let a part of my brain rest while another read the (CHAT).

[(MOD)GeniusBillionairePlayboy]: That must have been the most cardio I've ever seen anyone do in their life. Well, remember what I said before you got infinite gel? CONGRATULATIONS! NOW IT'S TRUE! (Iron Man emote welding armor)

[HalfBloodPrince]: Check later if the gel you got is different from what you already had, especially the one from the Giant Slimes, they should be useful for creating higher quality inks. (Green snake emote jotting something in a notebook)

[(MOD)Jarvis]: As requested earlier, I timed the battle. It lasted a total of: 9 hours, 23 minutes, and 12 seconds. A splendid battle, Mr. Devas. (Robot butler emote with a watch)

[(MOD)RedHuntressLive]: FINALLY! I COULDN'T STAND SEEING SLIMES ANYMORE! I was worried you might get hurt at the beginning, but then it was just like watching someone mow the lawn! Repetitive! (Little Red Riding Hood emote sighing in relief)

[AsuraLady]: Couldn't agree more, my concern diminished after the first hour of the fight. (Little lion with pink mane emote sighing)

[AdvocateOfGenderEquality]: Huh?... Is it finally over? Damn! Amen, brothers! I couldn't stand seeing slimes anymore! Even those weird frogs are more pleasant to look at for me now! (Generic happy guy emote)

[BestToadSannin]: I had some free time, only saw the end of the battle, what did I miss? (Frog emote with a "?" sign)

[YellowFlash]: I finished things on my end first, sensei, saw a bit more, basically Devas slaughtering the slimes until they finished, the only real danger was exhaustion, but it seems Devas has more endurance than I expected, reminds me of Kushina... (Yellow frog emote impressed)

[TohsakaHeiress]: I don't want to be a party pooper, but that flying island in the sky, which, by the way, is still absurd, isn't it something important? Or does it just exist as decoration? (Chibi Rin emote asking)

[JackSon]: There! (Blue seahorse emote pointing with its head) There! Something hanging on the island, looks like a rope or something? (Seahorse emote with a "?" on its head)

Damn, there were so many messages, not just the most recent ones, but those that occurred throughout the battle.

First of all, Snape had a point, which made me more sad than happy at the moment.

I had almost finished painting the Mystic Symbols on the Humvee. If the gel from these Giant Slimes was better for making inks, I would be very pissed off!

Happy too, of course, but pissed off.

It seems Minato and Jiraiya are fighting on the front lines in the war too... How long did the third ninja war last again? It was at least a few years, right?

Honestly, I didn't remember.

"Thanks for the temporary concern," I said sarcastically as I stood up. "No, Rin, the island is not just decoration. I believe the boss of this level is up there..." Or at least an optional boss, as the message I received from the stream indicated:

-//-

[Dungeon completed! (99%)]

Do you want to exit? Yes/No

[Warning! Life form detected! (Optional)]

-//-

Of course, I'm not going to exit now; I fought for nine damn hours, I'm not leaving this place without one hundred percent completion!

"Thanks for the help, Percy." I thanked the demigod as I walked over to the "rope" hanging from the island to the ground. Or rather, the rope made of some kind of hardened gel.

"This rope is as reliable as barbecue sold at the morgue door..." I commented briefly as I looked up. It was a long climb.

"That's if this thing is not a trap." That was also an option, even though I thought it wasn't. "Well, here goes nothing..." I commented as I began to climb the rope with my hands.

Of course, I had a plan in case this was a trap and someone or something cut the rope while I climbed. I also had some ideas for a "pseudo-flight," but all were inferior to just climbing the rope peacefully.

Fortunately, it wasn't a trap; I reached the top without any issues, except, of course, the rope swinging with me over two kilometers in the sky.

As much as I knew I wasn't at risk since I had some safeguards to not just fall and die, it was still kind of unnerving.

It took me about ten minutes to climb the rope to the island, where I had to pass through a cloud... that I could step on.

"Not the craziest thing that has ever happened to me, but still close to the top..." I murmured as I took a few hesitant steps on top of the cloud.

What was this stuff made of?

I didn't hesitate to pull as much of this "massive" cloud into the VoidBag before finishing the climb to the top of the island. I'll use the Analyze: Item on the cloud later, for now, let's finish this dungeon.

The top of the island, or rather, the floor of the island, was filled with trees and plants, along with some rivers and lakes.

It was the opposite of the ground, a vast and lifeless plain except for the light grass on the ground. Well, up here, there was no animal life either, fauna, but there was flora.

A diverse flora, by the way, as there were several flowers and plants that shouldn't exist in the same place...

This island seemed like an artificial greenhouse... What a horrifying idea...

Who was the owner of this thing?...

Walking through the island, I focused on making my way to the center, where I could see the only and last life point on the Mini-map.

Interestingly, a yellow dot...

When I reached the center of the island, I found something unexpected, a house, a house made of gold... A huge house, a mansion.

You know what was more impressive, it wasn't the fact that the house was made of gold that caught my attention, but the thousands of runes carved into the walls and roof of the house...

"What the hell is in there?" I asked to no one.

The Mother Slime was sealed by chains that had hundreds of runes; in this house, there must be at least a few thousand, maybe more... No, it was much more...

Looking closer, I really wanted to know who was the being that created this house because within each rune, there was a matrix of runes...

There should be a few million runes on the walls of this house... What the hell was sealed inside this house?... No...

Looking more closely, it took me a few minutes to understand how this runic matrix worked and how each rune interlaced, but this was not a seal...

It was a protection...

It wasn't something sealed inside this house, but rather something that was being kept safe within this house... Whoever or whatever was inside this house wasn't being sealed, but rather being kept safe...

"Okay..." This got interesting.

I thought that whatever was up here was an optional boss or some dangerous enemy, but if I take the stream's words on the other side, the "Life form detected!" didn't mean that whatever was inside there was my enemy...

I took a deep breath and focused, letting all my instincts on alert and my guard as high as possible, then pushed the door of the house, or rather, tried.

The moment I took a step forward to touch the house, another message from the stream appeared.

[Do you wish to temporarily deactivate the defenses of the "Hanging Gardens of Queen Alice?"]

I blinked hesitantly, my hand frozen in the air.

Damn it... The garden of a queen...

Who the hell was Alice? The Slime Queen?...

"Yes," I exclaimed, moments later, feeling all the runes of the house pulsating with energy before being deactivated.

With the defenses of the place deactivated, I put both hands on the door and pushed it forward slowly. This thing was heavy...

After a bit of effort, I managed to open the doors of the mansion, coming face to face with... an ordinary mansion?...

It wasn't exactly ordinary since basically everything was made of gold, but ignoring that fact, it was just an ordinary mansion.

Common furniture, common decorations, everything was... common... and somehow, the mansion felt cozy...

It was as if the place itself was inviting, a place for everyone to rest...

If it weren't for my title protecting me from mental alterations, I would be sure it was some kind of spell; in fact, I still had my doubts, but from what it seemed, it was nothing of that sort, it was just the residual aura that existed in the house...

I stored the chains in the inventory and walked slowly through the house, toward the place where the yellow dot existed, a point that was standing still... Until I opened the door of the house, then it had started moving.

They were erratic, confused movements, as if the person, or being, that the dot represented was scared, frightened, confused...

I walked slowly to that point in the mansion, coming face to face with a door with small drawings on it...

"Oh, don't tell me..." It couldn't be that, it couldn't be...

I hesitated to open the door, but still, I put my hand on the doorknob, which I was still confused why it existed, since theoretically, this was a slime mansion, and opened the door slowly.

As if something were mocking my face, upon opening the door, I came across a child's room... a child's bedroom.

On the bed of the room, which was on the left wall, was the yellow dot I was looking for.

A small light green slime, holding a staff that I recognized, the Slime Staff...

The small slime trembled when I looked at it, as if it were scared, or even worse, terrified.

The small gelatinous body of the slime shook rapidly, as if it were undecided whether to run, hide, or just explode from stress.

It must have decided for the fainting option and left everything to God, since before I could do anything, it just went limp, and then glowed, disappearing into the Slime Staff.

I just stared at the Slime Staff, paralyzed, not knowing what to do...