It took some time to find a good hideout that they could both use but a small room at the end of a maze of smaller tunnels that were still larger than the tunnels on the previous floor’s tunnels, this floor is so big that it had to take at least a day to go from one side to the other. The fact that it was so clean did not help and that there weren’t any rats here to make secret tunnels and paths throughout the floor, luckily they still had Skitter Nail who is pretty good at making hideouts. The so called ‘hideout’ was a large open crate on its side and it was facing the wall so you would need to go around it to see what was inside, the contents of the large crate is a pile of rotting hides of leather that made a somewhat comfy bed.

  But they didn’t choose this spot for comfort, no they choose this spot for the fact that just outside of the maze are multiple goblin encampments and torch roach territory making it so they didn’t need to go far to hunt for monsters. But it also seems like Skar quite likes the comfort to which was surprising for Skitter Nail since from the day or two knowledge he had of the lizard lady was that she really liked fighting and had a hard time staying still, but it seems that as long as she is laying on one of the hides she will stay there until tells her it’s time to hunt. She was also quite happy after recently gaining a class level gaining the skill [Stunning Blow] and she felt like one or two more kills and she would level up so Skitter Nail was the slightest bit annoyed that he had to push the large and heavy lizard out of their hideout so they could get her her level.

  For this hunt they were going to the northwest where there is a tribe of goblins they knew didn’t have any rangers or mages so it would be some easy picking, but they will still be cautious and will only kill the scouts like they have been for the last couple hunts. Normally these goblin encampments only have one to five scouts patrolling and this one was like all the others and had three scouts out at this time, although they are underground there is a time when the tube lights on the ceiling dim down and most of the monsters decide that it is time to sleep. The only monsters that are out at this hour are the smart or cowardly ones since this is the best time to hunt for prey that will have most of their guards down, and they were a part of the smart ones since they used the fact that there will be less goblins to help the scouts.

  Walking into the large dark room that had the encampment in one of the corners, the rotting wood and rusty sheets of metal that made the somewhat tall walls of the camp blocked their view of anything that was happening inside there. Luckily they weren’t going into the camp since all they really need to do was wait behind a pile of trash for a goblin carrying a torch and a rusty dagger, it did not take long for whatever poor goblin to walk around the corner right into the toothy maw of Skar’s. The death was so quick the goblin couldn’t even make a sound as it died and the only sound that one could hear was the distinct sound of bones being chowed and crunched apart, nothing there was no reaction from the camp and not a single goblin was coming for revenge.

  Good next they moved over to another pile they knew was on the path that the scouts normally patrolled, after a minute or so of wait they heard the goblin approach before they saw it as it seems it wasn’t alone and was actually with the only other alive scout. They couldn’t leave their hiding spot without being seen so they both prepared for a fight and to quickly run away after they won, the two goblins rounded the corner and just like last time one was almost instantly killed by Skar. but the second goblin jumped away in fright and began to scream in fear while trying to get ready to fight, but before it could even grab its dagger two ratty hands were shoved onto the goblins face and then they started to glow with heat as a pointblank [Ember] boiled the poor goblin’s brain.

  Skar confirmed that she got her level before they started to run back into the maze as the goblin encampment started to wake up from the dying scream of one of their scouts. The camp was up in a matter of minutes but the ones that caused them to wake up were already long gone into the depths of the maze and so they did not follow them far, the tribes elders did call for more goblins to become scouts and for them to work in pairs so this does not happen again. Back at Skitter and Skar’s hideout they were both resting after the run back while also looking at what Skar gained and choosing what mutation she should get.

  Level Up 2 > 3

  Strength: 11 + 5

  Dexterity: 5 + 1

  Vitality: 6 + 1

  Fortitude: 7 + 1

  Perception: 3 - 1

  Unassigned Stats: 0 + 1 - 1

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  Unassigned DNA: 0 + 1 - 1

  [Gained Mutation]

  [Blinding Anger] (+2 Strength but -1 Perception)

  They choose to celebrate this achievement of them both being level three with a piece of nicely aged cheese and some weird blood looking liquid that was labeled as red wine. They had such a fun time partying that when they finally got tired it took barely any shuteye to fall asleep, the two of them were sprawled over each other on top of the crate that was their hideout. It was as they were sleeping that other massive changes happened all across the dungeon, even on the surface things started to get heated after an incident that happened just an hour ago.

  Outside the entrance of the dungeon there was a large market that thrived due to the dungeon’s resources, it was actually highly taxed to have a shop around the dungeon due to the fact that the city needs to pay upkeep for a barrier that keeps out the smell. In recent days the guards that are stationed at the dungeon’s entrance have doubled from four to eight because of the questionable stability of the dungeons ecosystem, this fact has been making people more and more nervous and even some business owners have moved to other cities out of fear. What isn’t helping with getting rid of that fear is the fact that right at this moment a dozen of so delver parties ran out from the dungeon, the guards got ready to fight whatever was causing the panic as the last of the delvers ran away.

  From the entrance of the dungeon a large eye covered in bulging veins sat atop the body of a large murky gelatinous blob, the now seen threat which has been revealed to be a creeping mud slime just sat there as its restless eye seem to be looking around since it had never seen the outside world. But then the large monster’s eye landed on one of the gathering groups of adventurers and from its muddy body a drowned roar, it began to charge forward at the crowd of weak adventurers that had arrived to protect their home. Arrows and spells of all kinds tried to slow down the massive slime but it did not slow and even some of the arrows that got stuck in its slimy body were launched back with double the strength as the creeping mud slime was finally able to use some of its class skills.

  The slime continued to charge getting closer and closer to its prey, but before it got any closer the barrier around the dungeon activated and not only stopped the creeping mud slime but also through the slime back a couple feet. More and more adventures continued to join the crowd even ones that aren’t even delvers started to join too, the creeping mud slime was an absolute threat to the city as monsters that have reached level 10 or have evolved start to out pace humans in their stat growth. A mage in the back of the crowd was sweating and sitting on the floor after using all of her mana “what is with this thing! Like I know that monsters start to get really strong after a certain level, but this thing is an absolute unit!” Some other mages agreed with her statement, but from behind her she got a response “well I think I know why.”

  When she turned around what she saw was a cute short boy that was hugging what had to be a large tome of some kind “you do?” This made the boy a bit nervous as all the other mages looked at him. He began to talk while looking inside the massive book “Well slime monsters are known to have a lot of mutations with the unstable trait an-” while he was talking another mage asked “what are unstable traits?” he stopped talking as looked back in his book. It took him a short amount of time to find what he was looking for but he found it and started talking “when a mutation has the stable trait it will only increase a stat by a range of amounts while a mutation with the unstable trait increases a stat while also lowering another which is why it is called unstable.” he flipped forward back to the pages he was at before.

  “Slime monsters are known to have a lot of mutations with the unstable trait and that is because they don’t have a stable form. But if a slime monster gets a core or a focus like an eye for the creeping mud slime they can have a special ability that makes it so; they only get the benefits from unstable mutations and none of the downsides” he took a break to breathe. “With mud slimes being more defense focused than most slime species, this creeping mud slime probably has a lot of stats in Vitality and Fortitude.” He finished talking and looked up from the booking and saw that almost all of the mages that joined the fight were listening to his explanation.

  On the battle field it seem like it was at a stand still as none of the adventures could kill the monster but the slime also couldn’t break through the barrier before it repaired itself, but things change as metal arrow that looked like a mix between a harpoon and a ballista bolt blasted the creeping mud slime into small slimy chunks. "Reinforcements have arrived!” said the old man Griffer as he stood on top of a building with an unknown man who seemed to be the one who shot the very unique arrow from an even more unique bow. The crowd of adventurers cried out in joy at the fact that they had been saved, many began to make their way towards local taverns and if you looked closely at that crowd you would have seen a cute boy with a book being dragged by a girl towards one of the nicer bars in the city.

  “Welp it seems like it’s time to party” said the man with the unique bow, but he was swiftly stopped by Griffer “well hold on there old friend it’s been sometime since we last talked. Why don’t we go to my office and have a little chat about your adventures, I mean you are Arch the Dragon Sniper!” that made the other man grumble. “Please stop acting like we haven’t talked in a century, it has been a month!” That made Griffer laugh “don’t get hissy with me unless you want me to talk to you with your character's full name Arch Tuah” that made Arch grumbling even louder and it even looked to some like he was going to cry. “Please can we start going before I start to think about just leaving this disaster for only you to deal with!” that made Griffer stop laughing as they began to make their way to the mage guild.