Daily life in a Slime Dungeon

Taki tapped on [Population] first. The screen shifted, displaying a sprawling diagram that looked like a star chart – if stars were connected by glowing lines and labeled with small slime icons. At the center was a simple green circle labeled "Basic Slime."

[Evolution Paths Available:]

- Combat Slime → Warrior Slime → Elite Warrior (Locked)

- Builder Slime → Mason Slime → Architect (Locked)

- Gatherer Slime → Scout Slime → Pathfinder (Locked)

- Mage Slime → Spell Slime → Archmage (Locked)

[Warning: Advanced evolution paths require specific catalysts and stable mana sources]

[Current Regional Mana Levels: 47% below recommended threshold]

Taki's eyes widened as he scrolled through the possibilities. Each path branched into specializations, sub-specializations, and what looked like hybrid forms. But most were grayed out, marked with red warning symbols about insufficient mana or missing catalysts.

His attention caught on a pulsing blue icon in the corner. He tapped it.

[Irregular Evolution Detected]

Subject: Blue Slime "Bluesy"

Evolution Path: Unknown

Catalyst: Unknown Crystal + Combat Innovation

Status: Unique

'Unknown crystal?' Taki glanced at Bluesy waiting outside. The pieces started falling into place – the combat innovation, the crystal, the color change. His mind raced with possibilities.

He pulled up Bluesy's status screen:

[Blue Slime (Irregular)]

- Enhanced Intelligence

- Adaptive Combat Capability

- Leadership Potential

- ??? (Locked)

- ??? (Locked)

'So that's why he's different. He didn't follow any of these standard paths.' Taki's fingers drummed against the armrest of his throne. 'If we could replicate this...'

A notification popped up:

[Evolution Requirements:

- Basic Evolution: 100 Mana

- Advanced Evolution: 500 Mana + Specific Catalyst

- Irregular Evolution: ??? + ???]

[Current Mana Pool: 127]

Taki's excitement deflated slightly. With current mana levels, he could only evolve one slime, and that was just for a basic path. Mass producing an army of evolved slimes would be impossible under these conditions.

Unless...

He looked again at Bluesy's status. Combat innovation. The crystal. There had to be another way – a way to bypass the standard paths and their mana requirements. After all, Bluesy had evolved during the month Taki was unconscious, when mana levels were already low.

"Hey Bluesy," he called out. "Come here for a moment. I need to ask you about that crystal that turned you blue..."

Bluesy slid into the throne room, his blue form glowing faintly in the dim light. "Poyo, my King?"

"That crystal you found while I was... away. Tell me everything about it. Where did you find it? What did it look like?"

Bluesy's form rippled thoughtfully. "Poyo... Was in sealed room. Door broke in fight with snake. Crystal blue, like me now. Very pretty! But..." The slime deflated slightly. "Crystal gone after I absorb. Tried find more, but door sealed again."

Taki leaned forward. "Sealed room? Show me."

He followed Bluesy through the winding corridors of their kingdom. The slime led him to one of the collapsed sections they hadn't yet cleared – Room 17, if he remembered correctly. The entrance was completely blocked by fallen stone.

Taki pulled up the [Structures] tab on his phone. The room glowed with a faint red outline on the map.

[Warning: Unstable Structure Detected]

[Previous Owner's Data Required for Safe Access]

[Recommended: Mason Slime (Tier 2) for excavation]

He glanced at his evolution tree again. A Mason Slime would require evolving a Builder first, and they barely had enough mana for even that basic evolution. But if there were more crystals behind that wall...

"Bluesy, gather the Builder squad. We're going to try something."

The blue slime bobbed excitedly. "Poyo! Like old times – break things, find treasure!"

"Not exactly," Taki smiled. "We're going to make something new instead."

He pulled up the evolution screen again, studying the Builder path carefully. If they could evolve even one Builder Slime, they might be able to access more of these sealed rooms. And if Bluesy found one crystal...

'There have to be more,' Taki thought. 'And I'm going to find every last one of them.'

Minutes later, three green slimes from the Builder squad gathered before the throne. They were smaller than Bluesy but had developed a peculiar habit of carrying small pebbles within their bodies – a trait that had made them naturally suited for construction work.

Taki opened the evolution details for the Builder path:

[Builder Evolution Requirements:]

- Base Mana Cost: 100

- Slime must have completed 50 construction tasks

- Requires stable mana flow during evolution

- Recommended: Stone affinity

[Warning: Evolution success rate affected by:

- Regional mana density

- Slime's experience

- Environmental stability]

He studied the three candidates. "How many structures have each of you worked on?"

The slimes bounced excitedly, taking turns displaying their achievements through gestures. Bluesy translated: "Poyo! Left one fix twenty-three cracks. Middle one dig fifteen rooms. Right one stack thirty-seven rocks!"

'Not even close to fifty tasks,' Taki thought, frowning. The mana cost they could handle, barely, but rushing an evolution with inexperienced slimes seemed risky. Especially with the regional mana being so unstable.

He pulled up another screen:

[Construction Tasks Recognized:]

- Repair structural damage

- Excavate new rooms

- Build basic furniture

- Create storage spaces

- Reinforce walls

- Shape stone

- ???

- ??? 

[Note: Higher complexity tasks count as multiple completions]

Taki's eyes lit up. "Bluesy, get me some paper and ink. We need to make a training schedule."

As Bluesy slid away to fetch the materials, Taki looked at his would-be Builder slimes. They needed to be ready before he spent their precious mana on evolution attempts. And perhaps, while training them, they might discover something about how Bluesy's irregular evolution had occurred.

'One step at a time,' he reminded himself. 'First, we train. Then we evolve. And then...'

He glanced at the sealed Room 17. Whatever secrets the previous king had hidden in these walls, they wouldn't stay hidden for long.

"Alright," he announced to the waiting slimes. "Let's begin your training."