Slade itched to build his dream town right away, but he worried about the noise during the night.

His mind wandered off to the H.E.R.O. system that helped him access his strange skills. He recalled his pathetic stats, though nobody had explained to him what they meant.

He studied his new status window, only to be disappointed by the marginal increase of stats.

A messy list caught his attention. It featured all of his skills, but new ones had appeared among them again.

Huh? What are those skills?

The game-like system was too generous, throwing new powers at him in rapid-fire. But he didn’t recall doing any actions deserving of new abilities.

Rampant Lust? Does it turn me into a berserk sex offender?

He had better avoid using it and assault the women in the middle of their sleep.

Slade scrolled the list while he thought about how disastrous that would be for his reputation, when his slime stump misclicked on it.

He jumped to the ceiling, toppling his pot on Lorely. Frozen stiff in free fall, he silently screamed his brain out with horror.

NOOOOOOOOOOOO-

He crashed onto the floor with the wet sound of his splashing cold sweat.

A new window detailing his skill appeared. After a few seconds of nothing happening, Slade finally relaxed. His eyes rolled up, partly in relief and frustration. Of course, clicking doesn’t activate the skill…

"Hmm…" Lorely sat up and rubbed her eyes to scan the room.

Slade crawled to her and whispered. "Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you-"

Lorely noticed his agitation. She brought him to her lips and casually kissed his sweaty head. "What’s wrong? Did you have a nightmare?" Her tender voice whispered to his face.

Slade’s face twitched. He took a blow to his ego instead of his reputation. However, Lorely’s caring nature was too cute for Slade to feel bad.

 "Nothing like that. I was getting bored because slimes don’t sleep. Can I go out?"

 "Sure, let’s take a night walk." She tip-toed out of the room, carrying Slade under her armpit.

They strolled together in the quiet corridor of the palace.

 "Thank you for accompanying me."

 "It’s fine~ I wanted to spend some time with you. I’ll fly you to the bottom so you don’t have to take those endless stairs. Nighttime doesn’t really matter for the species of the underworld. Harpies sleep whenever they feel like it."

Slade wanted to refill the golem’s mana and excavate the rubbles of the bridge. It would be certainly faster to ride Lorely than crawling down there. He thanked her by synthesizing a fat fried larva, the harpies’ favorite treats.

 "Oh, delish!" Her teeth sank into it, crushing the crusty skin and released its oily, fragrant content into her mouth. She slowly munched, but it disappeared too fast.

 "Can I ask you something? Why does my system reward me with so many skills?"

 "Oh, did you get new skills? Can I take a peek?"

"Sure!" Slade fiddled with his window system to share it.

 "As for your answer, that’s because the heart of the system doesn’t lie in the marginal increase of speed, strength or dexterity we get from level ups. Instead, it provides bursts of lethal power on a case-by-case basis. We get more health points from protective barriers, but we deal more damage when we’re proficient with active skills."

 "Really? But there are stats like ‘Attack’, ‘Defense’, ‘Spell Power’ and ‘Attunement’."

 "The primary skills ‘Attack’ and ‘Defense’ measures the power of the pawns under your warbanner. For instance, my harpies dodge missiles better than if Milia carried the warbanner because my ‘Defense’ is higher."

 "Oooh… So we don’t know our precise individual stats, but the system helps us through skills?"

 "Yes. For example, you’ll get new spear skills as soon as you equip a spear and use it. But unused skills are hidden until you reuse them regularly. Sometimes, your proficiency and damage drops if you neglect your training."

 "Oh… Creating an organic system like that must be a mess. Anyway, here are my skills." He slid the window in the air to Lorely so they could read together.

 "So that’s why you dodged me when you tackled Violet! If I knew, I would have used a skill to match your burst of power."

 "Isn’t that skill trash if I lose control of myself?"

 "You should avoid it."

 "What is a ‘Synchronize’ skill?"

 "Hmm… Basically, you roleplay as a spirit, and it grants you its power. Normally, you can only use one such skill at a time."

 "Santa will lend me his power if I bring gifts to good kids and laugh ‘Ho Ho Ho~’?"

 "I don’t know who Santa is, but that’s the gist. Your thoughts, feelings, and actions must reflect the spirit."

 "Is that a picture of Violet? Who’s that?"

 "It’s Griscent’s illusion! Damn, that’s embarrassing. What’s up with the quotes?"

 "That’s cool, I’ve never seen a ‘Synchronize’ skill that builds up from another one."

 "Meh, it sounds unreliable if I have to lose a few turns while I’m rampaging."

 "Now, that’s an overpowered skill."

 "Wait, I lose all the experience points of the fight in exchange! Isn’t that bad?"

 "It’s a trump card for emergencies."

Lorely jumped through a gap in the broken wall, diving to the bottom of the cave. The flight took a few seconds before she landed behind the golem.

Her sudden arrival surprised a group of young beholders messing with Crown’s feet.

They yelled while scattering in a hurry, leaving graffitis carved on the golems.

 "Bastards! Don’t touch the town’s guardian!"

 "I’ll catch them!"

 "No, it’s okay."

He inspected the golem. There was no damage, but they had carved nasty words on the surface.

Lorely read alongside. "Kill the gnolls… Dungeon hag useless… Pawn notes are a scam and the door for reckless monetary expansion to fund the inefficient spending of the sovereign. Also, it’s a fucking stupid smiley on a paper."

Slade’s blood boiled. Violet drew the pawn notes, using his face as a model. My smile is not stupiiiiiid!

The beholders acted tame, biding their time for the right time to strike. But they secretly resented Violet and her golem for killing so many of them.

The gnolls weren’t entirely responsible for the town’s high unrest…

 "How dare they? They ought to be punished!"

 "We won’t fix the problem with violence. Don’t worry, I’ll tackle it slowly."

His other blob in Metiva’s room slipped out to pay a visit to the beholders.

 "I don’t like it. Insulting mistress deserves death!"

 "A fine for vandalizing the Dungeon’s property is enough. They are free to think what they want in this town of freedom, even if they look down on us."

 "That’s naïve, Slade. It will weaken the town if you let the civilians divide. But united, we can overcome anything!"

Slade scratched his slick head. She has a point.

He considered the situation of the gnolls, who were divided into two groups. The first one wanted to leave while the other one wanted to stay. According to Slade’s desire to protect the boundaries of the ego, the gnolls should divide and leave the willing behind. But that would decrease the chance of success of both groups to achieve their end goal.

If Slade let the town devolve into anarchy, their defense against external threats could be miserable or an oppressive, self-feeding structure of power could emerge.

He chuckled. His utopia stumbled right from the first step. Well, I’m not exactly an expert at politics.

Just like Violet, he felt like dumping all the troublesome work on someone else.

 "You’re right… We need to have some unity. I will speak to Griscent about it. You can go back to sleep." He still believed that allowing freedom and diversity could create wealth and prosperity. Nothing could make him give up his ideal.

No need to rush things. Survival takes priority. Holloweye was his first town. Even imperfect, it had to stand to support all his future endeavors.

 "Okay… Don’t overwork yourself. We’re returning to Krisnan tomorrow."

 "Thank you, my angel."

She giggled and took off, her heart light.

Slade touched the golem’s feet and connected to the spirit sleeping inside.