Slime had never been all that good at reading maps. That was why he just played roguelikes and metroidvanias. In his humble opinion, maps made a lot more sense in those sorts of games. Therefore, he was now all turned around. He had no idea where he was going. In fact, he might actually be lost, because he had followed the map and it led him to a cliff. That he evidently had to climb, unless he could find another way around it. So, here he was, staring at the map in silence as he tried to process. Blue was looking around in interest, and Slime was just… confused, really. He was really confused.

He wished he had a weapon or something. He had no idea what he was going to face next, but he felt like he needed a weapon for it.

“Well, what do you think, Blue?” he asked. “Should we call it quits for tonight and go find somewhere to sleep?”

It was starting to get dark out, and he didn’t want to sleep in the forest. That seemed like he was just asking for trouble. He had a limit of three days to get this quest done, with no limit on the boar quest, and he was… Well, he was doing his best here, but he wasn’t doing fabulous.

With a sigh, he slumped against the ivy-covered cliff face, and then something occurred to him. In zeldalikes, there was a trope of a hidden cave behind ivy, and he checked the map again. Maybe…

He started to move, ripping aside the ivy and yanking it down. It was all cliff, nothing but rocks behind it, but he checked the map again, moved three steps to the right, and yanked the ivy aside.

A cave stared back at him, and he blinked. Oh. He found it. But, it was dark, dimly lit by luminous moss clinging to the walls, and he thought of his last experience with a cave. Maybe he shouldn’t go in. He thought that might be a bad idea. But… This was a game. If you found a cave, you went into it. That was how games worked, and the circle on the map had narrowed the second he pulled aside the ivy. Which meant he was on the right track.

A deep breath in. He stepped into the cave, and Blue hopped along beside him. He walked into the quiet cave, liquid dripping down somewhere into a pool, guided only by the light of the moss. He walked in, inching down and feeling out every footstep, and then it occurred to him that mana sensing was a trope in a lot of these things. What if he could… No, that was a gained skill. He couldn’t just will it into existence, could he?

He stopped and sat down. Maybe the system would see what he was doing and just give it to him. He breathed in deeply, exhaled, and tried to reach out. The world was quiet and dark, and he couldn’t sense anything special.

Actually, he didn’t have time to mess around with this. He had no idea how many enemies he would run into or what was lurking in this cave. He would figure it out later. Slime climbed to his feet and continued off down the cave hall, stepping carefully, because it sounded like there was something dripping into water, and he couldn’t see well enough to see if there was a pool he was about to fall into. His bare feet padded down the hall, and the echoing grew louder, more insistent. There was the faint sound of a waterfall, just great, and he took a deep breath in.

He walked down the hallway, and slowly, the luminous moss was replaced by glowing mana stones. He looked around, and it was better lit now, but he was even more nervous now.

“Look who’s come into my domain,” a voice hissed, and Slime froze. “Don’t freeze, little slime. Come closer.”

“I’d rather not,” Slime called, and there was a deep chuckle that made Slime’s body vibrate. There was the sound of something big shifting in the darkness, and then the voice spoke again.

“A coward, then,” it purred, and Slime looked around before he inched forward.

“No, just very aware I didn’t get a weapon in the tutorial,” he replied, and the voice laughed again.

“Is that so? Were you not given your body?” it asked, and there was the sound of something… slithering.

Fuck. Slithering? This was way above his skill level.

“Uhhh…” he replied, contemplating just running, but he only had three days to get this quest done, and he had no idea what would happen if he ran from a boss. Could he just come back? What were the rules here?

“Looking for the child?” the voice purred. “Can you reclaim him, I wonder? Or will you die like the rest?”

Like… the rest?

Slime looked around wildly, and was met with nothing. There were no bones, no corpses, no nothing. He was alone in here, only with Blue, and he was terrified. If you died in here, there was no body to bury. Of course, he should be grateful for that. He didn’t want to be buried under a name he hated, never wanted in the first place, and he didn’t want a eulogy full of a name he hadn’t gone by in years.

“There has to be a way out of combat,” he muttered, and the voice chuckled in the darkness.

“Why would there be?” it asked, and he swallowed.

“Because you’re on the beginner level, and I have a feeling you’re much more overqualified to be here than you’re letting on,” he said, and the voice laughed.

“Clever! I like clever. Would you like to play a game?” it asked, and he shifted.

“Not particularly, no,” he replied, and the voice laughed.

“Then, what would you like to do? Just talk?” it asked mockingly, and he sat down on the ground.

“Sure,” he replied. “You don’t seem like an average NPC. What are you doing on this level?”

“That’s my secret,” the voice replied, and Slime pursed his lips.

“I’d like to make a wager with you,” he said, and there was a purr that emanated around the cavern.

“Oh? A wager?”

“Give me one day to find the boy. If I find him before---”

“No. One hour,” the voice said. “If you fail, I get to decide what to do with you and your little friend.”

One… hour? Was this cave not that large, or was there another problem? That didn’t seem like enough time. He was unsure. If he had mana sensing, he would be able to tackle this in a moment, but he didn’t have mana sensing. All he had was…

Wait.

Blue didn’t have eyes. How did he know exactly where everyone was?

Slime looked over at the slime with consideration, and then he spoke.

“Blue, find the boy,” he said, taking a risk here, and Blue perked up before he immediately started hopping. Slime climbed to his feet and followed after him, not sure if this was a good idea or not, but he was willing to try. Blue hopped off down the hall, and they came out into a massive cavern with a pool in the middle of it. The slime skirted along the edges of it, and Slime followed along behind him, walking cautiously along the slick surface, focused on not falling. The rock here was volcanic, black, and there were mana stones everywhere, lighting up in a variety of colors. Why had no one come to kill the voice yet and mine this place? The mana rocks were huge. There was no reason this place was still standing and not stripped by human ambition. Unless… Unless the voice respawned?

Maybe it respawned, and the area couldn’t be mined. That didn’t seem right to Slime, though. He couldn’t put a finger on it, but it seemed wrong.

Oh, well. He had his task. Retrieve the boy and get out.

They reached the edge of the pool, and he carefully stepped down, padding along the edge of it. There were a lot of exits here, but Blue seemed entirely sure of himself as he headed for the first one. Slime followed along behind him, and they proceeded down the hallway. Slime padded through, and then the world became nothing but the twists and turns of passages. It was confusing, and he had no idea how he was going to make it out of this labyrinth. He was confused and all turned around, and he didn’t know what to do.

This was getting confusing. The mana stones popped up more and more, and he was completely lost. Blue seemed entirely sure of himself, though, so Slime supposed he would trust him. Wait, did Blue have a gender? He had no idea. It wasn’t like he could ask him, and would Slime even know what the fuck he was talking about? Probably not.

They reached a steep slope, and Blue rolled down it, tumbling head over nonexistent heels, and Slime slid down it with caution, reaching the bottom.

A sob reached them, and Slime paused.

“Hello?” he called, and there was a scramble. Out of the darkness came barreling a small boy, crashing into Slime.

“Oh, I was so scared!” he cried, and Slime blinked down at him. He had blonde hair and big, green eyes that felt vaguely familiar. “I thought someone would never come!”

“Well, sorry I was late,” Slime replied and looked up the slope. It was wet and slippery. That may be a bit difficult to climb up, but they were at a dead end. “Let’s get you out of here. Climb on my back.”

The boy climbed onto his back, and he shot up a strand of goo, the weird texture slapping into something. He launched himself up the slope, snatching up Blue as he went, and they reached the top.

“Blue, can you get us out of here?” Slime asked as he set the boy down, and the boy clung to his hand. Blue confidently hopped forward, and Slime proceeded to follow him out of the twists and turns of the cavern.

“Mom told me to stop playing in the cave, but I found that slide and thought it would be fine, but it was a dead end and I couldn’t get back up,” the boy said. “I’m glad you found me. I thought I was going to starve.”

“Well, hopefully we’ll have you home in time for dinner,” Slime said, and the boy looked up at him with adoring eyes.

“Thank you, mister!”

“Just call me Slime.”

“Your name is Slime?”

“Yeah. It is,” Slime replied, and turned into another corridor. Blue hopped ahead of him, and the boy clung even harder to Slime’s hand.

“That’s so cool! I wish my mom would let me change my name!” he said, and Slime glanced down at him.

“What’s your name?”

“Azzy,” he replied, and Slime nodded a few times.

“That’s a good name,” Slime said, and then a thought occurred to him. How did this kid know he had changed his name?

Well, he was an NPC, and was presumably plugged into the system, but…

Slime glanced down at him again, and the boy clung to his hand with both hands, smiling up at him.

“Right. Let’s just---”

“Are you sure you found him, Slime?” the voice asked as the boy’s mouth moved, and Slime screamed, ripping his hand out of the boy’s grip and scrambling back. The boy tilted his head, and then he crouched in front of Slime, putting his hands on his knees as his head twisted in an unnatural way. “You’re clever. I like that about you.”

“Oh… Oh, thank you,” Slime stammered and looked around. How did Blue get that wrong? He was sure they had thirty minutes left, but…

“There is no boy,” the voice said, the lips moving off beat to the words, and Slime swallowed. “It’s only me here.”

“Oh…” Slime said softly, and the boy smiled at him. “I assume… Azzy is short for something?”

“Asmodeus, if you must know,” the voice said, and Slime swallowed. “I like you, Slime. You know, most people come in here swinging their swords.”

“Well, I don’t have a sword to swing,” Slime said weakly.

“That’s the secret to this tower,” Azzy said, and Slime blinked. “Everyone thinks it’s just another video game. They’re not clever. Not like you.”

“What?”

“Ah, you’re funny,” Azzy said, and laughed, the booming chuckle echoing through the chamber. “This is a real world, Slime. Act accordingly.”

“In the real world, people don’t die like this,” Slime said quietly, and Azzy slowly tilted his head in interest.

“No? Tell me, how many people in a year die to the greed of pharmaceutical companies?” he asked, and Slime went still. “Wars, famine, murdered for profit? You come from a prosperous country, and people are still sacrificed on a platter.”

Slime didn’t have a response to that. He did not have a response to that, and a large, unnatural smile split Azzy’s lips, his eyes alight with a manic glee.

“I will give you a gift,” Azzy said, and reached forward. Before Slime could even scramble back, his finger touched Slime’s forehead.

“Skill acquired: Mana Manipulation,” the system read out cheerfully. “You can sense through mana and manipulate it at will in regards to your own body.”

Suddenly, Slime was aware of everything. He could feel the stretch of the cave, the warmth of the mana stones, the blasting, furnace-like heat emanating from Azzy. He could see his mana stretch out, long, low to the ground, cylindrical, coiled up, body bigger than the cave they were in. It was a massive serpent, reared up, attached to this small child, and Slime scrambled back despite himself.

“It is a passive ability and does not drain your mana. Use it wisely,” the serpent said, and then…

Azzy was gone, and Slime was alone in the cave with Blue.

“You could have warned me,” he complained to Blue, and Blue tilted his whole body as if he was tilting his head. Gods. Fuck. Slime needed to get out of here.