Slime Tamer's Chronicles

by Nathan Valerio

She uses mostly lizard races and is quick to claim the chief spot in the clan and start building.

  There were several people who tried the slime but they simply attacked other slimes and ate everything destroying the nucleus as well. Unless I tell them, slimes will never be used much. Still can't tell them since it would jeopardize the guilds income.

  I bet she already got the title for lizard based creatures. I seriously fear what she will make of them in her dungeon.

  Since it was starting to get boring watching her beat everyone I nonchalantly asked the others.

  “Want to try a 5 man race? It’s boring watching Nova beat them easily.” I said with an unmotivated voice but the entire room froze at the mention of it.

  “Hey, are they going to play again.” "I heard five man race. Is it the top five including rank one?” “Seriously is there going to be another epic showdown?”

  There were many people who started talking and some were ready to run after the journalist club again.

  The others frowned at this. "I think it's best to leave all that excitement for another day” Stephanie said getting up and walking to the door.

  “Yes, let’s have that game next week. Maybe we can have a ten man game between the top ten then.” Emily said.

  Everyone who was listening except us 5 got excited and went back to playing their games while bickering for the upcoming epic race. “Let's play some other time, I want to make sure I have enough mana for my dungeon bud.” Owen said getting up and leaving.

  “Hey don't leave me behind! I also want to play as well!” Zachary said while speeding off behind the demon prince.

  “So? What will we do?” Kumi asked.

  Of the group besides the snot nosed princess in rank 10 there was four people remaining. Kumi, Nova, Margaret and me were left.

  "I agree with the others, I want to have my full mana capacity when I go to sleep so I can feed my dungeon bud” Margaret said but she didn't leave.

  “Then want to play a different game that doesn't need mana?” I asked

  The three nodded and I went to look at the cabinet. My eyes landed on a fighting game worth its money.

  "Goblin Fighters: Survival of the Fittest". This game is chaos and it's because of this that the game is popular.

  It’s controlled like the first game but we don't use magic. The game is in a barren wasteland turned arena filled with nearly 500 goblins. You fight it out and try to survive.

  One life, one death, you die you lose. The first five minutes has the biggest massacre but stop after that point because by then the number is greatly reduced.

  After that the game skips ahead one day in the game. If you were lucky your goblin would have ranked up. From there another battle royale begins but this time with armed goblins. This round ends when only 100 gobs are left.

  At this point a gob survived it would definitely rank up and if a hob killed enough it could rank up into something. An npc hob would normally rank up into either ogre or a shaman. If by chance a gob or two, copies someone who is playing if they use proper fighting styles then it will rank up differently.

  There are many rank ups. It’s said that next to slime a gob has the second best evolutionary rank up system. The most diverse I guess.

  In some game worlds and in fan fictions it is said that goblins and orcs were attempts to copy elfs. Obviously it was a failure but only in part. As a goblin goes up the ranks. If it chooses human like forms such as the rare Lord species it will gain human like characteristics or even looks that go in par or beyond that of an elf’s.

  Lord race is rare and it's a specialized race depending on what kind.

  Anyway, when I showed my choice I got two grins and a facepalm. Others who were near and saw the game started laughing and asked to join.

  The best part about crystal controller is that it allows for up to at least 20 people to play at once.

  We accept and soon the number was capped. We spent the rest of the day fighting it out.

  Up to the third round we all survived but since beyond that they release monsters it killed off many but those who survive ranked up to third rank and brought chaos to the game.

  We don't use our mana for this game but the mana in the player's character so if someone is a mage they can use the magic of the gob to fight.

  Me and Margaret dominated the first round and got skills worthy of a magic fighter. The others took their own routes. Only in the third round did anyone meet and by then we were dangerously armed with skills that could kill mid level adventurers.

  By the time the game ended, it was already late, so we all went to the bed accompanied with a grin. It’s a game so no hard feelings.

  For the last bit of time we looked over our class works before feeding our mana into our dungeon buds and then going to sleep.

  In the morning we were woken up by the mini maid-which-functions-as-an-alarm-clock and got ready for class. For the slimes I had them put on the slime chestplate and greaves to keep their modesty and keep boys and girls for over reacting. They can't be unsummoned or even left behind since they need to remain near me.

  Again this was given permission since a certain amazon needed to train us.

  After a quick breakfast we all head to class where we were met by what we are calling the death king professor, obviously not because of his face though.

  His classes are magic, magic studies and though he speaks in a monotone voice he teaches pretty well.

  We all gained a small wooden wand for training purposes during the first week and must demonstrate what we know.

  For the first half of the year we were to learn and train all basic level spells for all magic systems. The second half we would enter to the harder spells.

  Talented mage would be able to master at least the first half of the spells this year.

  Magic study class told us about the principle of all the elements. Think of it as physics class but about magic.

  The first half of the day sums up to either coping what is written since it's all theory classes. The second half was tamer and mage course class. Then the optional classes.

  The tamer class talked about a lot of things that involved autonomy and affinity to monsters. It also taught us that different monsters can be tamed differently. From befriending to saving it to beating it until it serves. There are many different kinds of methods and each monster has to be tamed differently.

  Animals, like I did, can be tamed by simply treating them nicely and gaining their trust. On the other hand, if someone tames a creature like a harpy and trains it with weapons it could separate its arms and wings and become a valkyrie. At that point the loyalty could be tested because they are proud warriors and don’t just serve anyone.

  The second half of class had the dungeoneering teacher join us and the two began to teach us about dungeon creatures and how we can affect them. It was more into the evolutionary part of it all but in all it was informative.

  Monsters grow taking several things into account. Skills, combat abilities, environment, past experiences, diet.

  The skill are its abilities that are recognized and you can see in the status and skill windows using the ID plate. Combat ability is how well it’s in fight. Environment can cause the rank up to form a variant due to natural adaptivity, a goblin that lives near a desert will have more chance of getting heat resistance than a goblin in the other climatic areas. Past experiences can range from trauma to seeing a hero fighting which would cause the monster to gain admiration towards similar things that its role model did. Diet is self explanatory, what it eats can change its form. Feed a hobgoblin rotting meat and it might rank up into a ghoul, feed it high quality meat from some magic beast it could become a variant Ogre with more intelligence or extra strength.

  Putting all these together makes the complex system that involves a monster's rank up. Only slimes divert from this because their rank ups are specifically tied to their diet.

  After the afternoon classes were over I had cooking and t
hen Dungeoneering.

  Cooking was just as you expect. We try out some basic cooking such as rice and other common home dishes.

  In dungeoneering we talked about the other side of what was learned during taming class. For making dungeons everything that is possible for a dungeon must be learned or discovered.

  A dungeon is known as a Den of monsters because it houses creatures born from it’s magic, but for a creature to be spawned inside a dungeon it must first be known to the dungeon. A regular dungeon would normally be born and the small bit of mana it has is used for making its first minion the dungeon first learned about, which then used to dig.

  As a cave gets bigger bugs enter and die inside allowing the dungeon to make bug monsters which it can use for attacking bigger creatures.

  These are normally weak at the start but should it develop them correctly they can become very powerful.

  As more animals die the dungeon could convert them into their minion or absorb them into mana for it to make more things.

  Wild dungeons, as they are called, normally sustain the lower chain of monsters with mana and lets the rest feed off of them but a tamed dungeon being smarter can make an ecosystem and wastes even less mana by sustaining the lowest part of the food chain which is vegetation.

  Now the thing about tamed dungeons is that besides the actual dungeon conscious, the owner of the dungeon, or dungeon master, can also alter the dungeon. By feeding their own mana into the core they can spawn a new creature the dungeon doesn’t know of or gives it the knowledge to do so by itself.

  Normally tamed dungeons follow a theme such as a skeleton dungeon which is made out of spawned skeletons or a slime dungeon having more slimes of different kinds.

  Normally the first spawns the dungeon makes will always be the monster that best represents a person.

  Elfs would obviously get the sapling as representation, while the dungeon are inclined to nature which attracts other nature beings. Demons normally spawn imps first and later on making demons from animals instead of monsters, like demon hounds and so on.

  Humans are the most varied and it completely depends on our affinities. If one person has ice magic resistance and affinity, the dungeon would naturally attract creatures of that kind and even change the area around them to match that theme.

  The teacher told us that this was being taught earlier than expected because of the top 5 since we would have our buds ready in at best 3 weeks which is the end of next week.

  After that class was a lot of training with Master Belladonna. She didn’t care about waiting for her day and came to pick the five that were her prey now and put us through a drill run and told us what to do. Any pets were also tortured and we got to our rooms at around 9 pm and only had a short time to do our class work before going to sleep after the buds were fed, as we fell exhausted on the bed.

  The next two weeks were all like this. Wake up, eat, go to class, lunch, afternoon course four o clock optional class, six o'clock break followed by second class ends at eight, training with Master Belladonna, do homework and sleep.

  If it wasn’t for training after all the classes we would have been alright but no that didn’t go well with sensei.

  Which is not missing even one day...

  About the dungeon buds. It seems Tuesday night Nova completed hers and the buds ego was born into a bubbly girl similar to Nova. Wednesday was Stephanie's turn. And today was mine, Saturday at night along with the other three.

  After this weekend we will be taken to the location where dungeons are placed so I can’t wait.

  Chapter 16 Day of the Dungeon

  It’s Monday of our third week and the top five brings their dungeon buds with them.

  Because of this the teachers discussed about it yesterday and was able to get those with buds to be temporarily off from classes so we could spend the day setting up our dungeon.

  Not just our year but all the older ones as well. Everyone that has a bud was outside in the field.

  It might seem unfair to the remaining people of the first year who have not yet complete theirs, but they would all get out of class all the same as we do when they complete them.

  As the hour hits eight, Belladonna, the tamer teacher and the dungeoneering teacher appeared.

  “Alright everyone quiet down. As you know already we are going to the dungeon field. Like we have done every year. 14, 13 and 12 year olds will be on the outer edge of the group while the rest is inside. Make sure to protect the younger children because the area has grown more dangerous over the summer. This will decrease once the dungeons have been planted and set up but it will remain dangerous for about a week while the monsters are still loose. Do not go to the dungeon field alone when you go during the weekends.” Shouted the dungeoneering teacher.

  On her command the oldest kids walked to the outer edge of the field allowing the younger students to reach the center.

  Many of the students pulled out bows, swords, spears, great swords and every kind of weapon you could think of. The 14 year old students were near the back with the tamer teacher summoned 10 ogres and told them to take up perimeter around the group.

  Belladonna was in the middle so she could run to whichever side needed help the most and the dungeoneering teacher was in the front.

  “Wow, I can't wait to get planted” said a shy but excited voice.

  The voice came from the large gemstone I was holding. As big as a newborn baby's head.

  Although I had wanted a dungeon core with the ego of a childhood friend that studied how to be a maid, instead what I got was a shy childhood friend that would one moment act like a tomboy and then another moment she hides behind you.

  I named her Shai. She is quiet but I bet she is the kind that blossoms when she is in her proper environment.

  Anyway, the dungeon field is supposed to be a paradise kind of area on the island, where a huge part of the land was taken to make space for this reason. It’s the area with most of the dirt, depressed.

  The area is a lake past the forest with thin rainforest around the lake where on the other side is a rocky hill that has water and ice elements living around it, making the area snowy. Next to it are some grasslands with rock outcrops which is used to make the entrance.

  This represents spring or summer depending on the day. Most regular monsters live here. The rain forest represents fall and like the grasslands it has outcrops.

  This area is about 2 km into the forest and it can house all the dungeons. Also this area has high density of mana which makes the area a breeding ground for dungeon cores, which is also provides danger for higher class monsters. The method of controlling this situation is ironically was the dungeons, because they would capture the monsters and absorb the mana in the air dropping it to regular levels due to the huge number of dungeons.

  I was excited to get my dungeon core planted.

  The week before when Nova completed her bud, the teacher handed out a sheet of paper. On it was a list of monster races, all low class ,and mostly those used for manual labour.

  The races were: goblin, lizardmen, sapling, skeleton, imp.

  The selection is small mainly because the basic workers are this. Through training you can get many more.

  Anyway, those in the dungeoneering class were given 10 of their choice. It was as if it was laid out for us top five.

  Asher with skeleton, Nova the lizardmen, Stephanie the sapling, Owen the imps and me the goblins.

  We each got a small tribe with five pairs of each race. Well everyone but Asher since his are undead.

  Anyway ten workers which we are needed to tame. The others had only a little trouble with their group because each of them got something that was linked to their titles, while I wasn’t.

  Lets just say these horny green idiots were quickly beaten when they got too close.

  My solution was to tame them by showing strength, but I saw defiance in their eyes, so I tried to ask if there were slimes on the island. When I heard that there are
actually some, I asked if they could get twenty slimes for me and 120 nucleus.

  They were confused but next morning they had what I asked.

  I quickly claimed ownership over them and then taking the nucleus I made ten of them merge 8 nucleus each and the other ten merge four each. That was more than enough to get to the required amount for mimic slime and gel slime.

  I then asked a critical question. “These are mine right, like I don't need to return them?”

  The teachers were confused but said it's always like that.

  With a cheerful smile, I instantly summon a single goblin that just as I summoned him he spat on me. This pisses me off so much that I had the pleasure to order a slime to absorb it which made it become a goblin slime.

  They were all green slimes since I only needed them as diggers.

  In an instant a single mimic slime jumps out of the group and smashes into the goblin’s ugly face, surprising him.

  The slime being currently stronger quickly overpowered him and suffocated him before absorbing the goblin and taking its shape. I then picked up the pickaxe that all the gobs were carrying and called a gel slime and tell it to absorb it.

  It does so and ranks up into a pickaxe mimic slime. All of this was done in front of the class just after I asked the question so everyone was in shock.

  After I hand the pickaxe to the slime I turn to the rest.

  “My minions especially the mimic slimes, once I summon the other goblins each of you will absorb one of them and take it as your main form, while the gel slimes absorb their pickaxes.” I said in a loud voice and I could see them trembling a bit in affirmative.

  I summoned the goblins and like the dimwits they are, they didn’t even notice something bad is going to happen to them until the slimes attacked.

  The slimes all easily attached themselves to their heads and stretching out their bodies slowly covered the goblins which in turn, absorbing them.

  Like most monsters that fight the mimic slime in its base form. They lose to a single attack like this, since it takes a necessary element for living which produces strength needed to do so, which is air.