Daily life in a Slime Dungeon

Taki checked his zDungeonPhone. He had forgotten for a second that he had it, with a Vampire telling him the truth about his current world and all.

A notification. He tapped on the expand button.

[Faction Manager:

The Kingdom of Azurea has become a vassal of the Intendencia Real de Sangre. Your information will be updated at the Faction Manager.]

'That was quick. I need to send this damned Vampire away so I can get back to doomscroll- Information Acquisition.

"Very well, Francesco. It looks like our contract has been sealed. It will be a pleasure to work alongside the IRS."

"The pleasure is all mine, amigo." The Vampire said with a devilish grin. He tossed a small emblem, the same bat with silver fangs as his necklace. "Be sure to wear this. It will grant you... benefícios."

Taki caught the emblem in the air and inspected it. It certainly held some kind of magic, although he didn't know what.

"Ah, si. Here's a courtesy tip: You'll need more than slimes to become a great King." Francesco said as he walked through the door, tipping an imaginary hat towards Bluesy.

Bluesy flinched in pain, his outer shell becoming lightly spiky. He groaned an angry 'Poyooo...' at the vampire's rude comment.

"We'll see about that." Taki muttered under his breath.

Bluesy and Taki both sighed at the vampire's exit, exhausted. Taki slumped towards his throne, and sat down. Bluesy approached him.

"Master... Poyo, you're back... I sorry you have deal with mean inspection man." Bluesy said as he slowly 'kneeled' near his King. "I try deal with inspection man, but he strong. He kill many old monsters."

Looks like Taki's analysis was correct. Not picking a fight with the Vampire was for the best after all.

"You did well, Bluesy." Taki petted Bluesy's shell, feeling it slowly soften. "Things could have been much worse, and you handled it perfectly."

Bluesy felt his insides melt in happiness. He had never been complimented for anything before. Instead, he was often treated like trash for doing his job of cleaning the trash in dungeons. A memory flickered - a goblin kicking him aside from a pile of waste, muttering about useless slimes. His insides pulsed again, but this time with determination. He would show Master Taki. He wouldn't be useless.

Bluesy knew that Taki was a different king. A better king. And he deserved the best of Bluesy. He did his best to perk up, both in mood and in Slime posture.

"Are you well, poyo? King under spell for long time..." Bluesy poised up, and ran around Taki, observing him from every angle possible. "King look fine! King STRONG!"

Taki chuckled at the Blue Slime's enthusiasm. But his face soon returned to a frown, perking a reaction from Bluesy.

"Bluesy, status report. For how long was I under a spell? How is the dungeon going?"

"Well, where start..."

Bluesy rolled and 'sat' in front of the throne.

"First, master asleep for 30 days and 31 nights. Bluesy act like King, because Kingnot able to King. Bluesy make Slimes follow roles King assigned. Slimes hunt, cut trees, break rocks, cook bonnies, eat, split."

"Split? How many new Slimes were born in a single month?"

"I think we are at seven tens, poyo. Minimal Ten every team."

Taki gulped. The slimes almost quadrupled in just a month. This means that every slime split once, and then these two slimes split once more. If they keep up at this rate, in one year he would have an army of...

Taki opened his calculator.

The numbers scrolled across his screen, each number adding another spike of excitement to his churning thoughts. An army. His army! A grin stretched across his face before he could stop it. Slimes marching in unison, lobbing poison bombs from behind rock-throwing squads. This wasn't some weird world anymore—this was his future, his kingdom.

287.720 slimes. An army bigger than the population of his entire city. Well, old city.

'An army of slimes. Bigger than any faction army. If I could teach those Slimes tactics, how to throw rocks and bombs, or maybe even have thousands of those 'poison' slimes bluesy mentioned... We would be invincible. Maybe there are more Slime types I can figure out.'

'And if I could have an army of Bluesys... Bluesy is dumb, but at the same time, he is observant. He is smart. He learns from my actions. He was able to keep the dungeon running even without seeing me do it first. Maybe I could have a Blue Slime commanding every single platoon, with hundreds of Slimes in each squad. Maybe a team of commanders out of just Blue Slimes. What about dungeon management? Maybe there are stronger Slimes that would be able to build entire monuments at a moment's notice.'

'And Francesco said I would need more than just Slimes to become a great dungeon, eh?'

He could barely contain his excitement. But his brain quickly worked to bring back despair to him.

'But there's so much, so much to do. I need to get started - I lost 30 days. If mana is ending in this world, maybe we risk another invasion. Maybe the vampires truly won't be able to protect us from... all of this.''

Taki cleared his throat. "Perfect, Bluesy. You did a wonderful job. We'll go through the dungeon together - But give me some time; I need to check out some things."

Bluesy's heart skipped a beat - if a slime could be said to have one. Relief flooded through Bluesy, his soft form wobbling with the force of it. "Poyooo!" he exclaimed, the closest he could manage to a joyous shout. He rolled out of the throne room, humming to himself. Of course, he would stay on the other side of the door, patiently waiting for his King.

He flipped open his zDungeonPhone. The menu showed all the apps, as usual, but there were several notifications on all of his apps. But he was interested in one in particular.

[Faction Manager]

He tapped the app icon. It was a nice little castle, with the bat emblem in the gates - it must be because they entered the IRS faction.

It opened into a UI that could only be described as... quirky. Animated, anime-like Icons littered the screen with cartoony fonts for titles. Taki blinked. Had the dungeon phone always been this…extra? Maybe they updated the software while he was out. He resisted the urge to do a double-take. At least the layout was straightforward.

[Home], [Population], [Resources], [Structures], [Faction]

Taki let out a low whistle. "Guess I've got some research to do."