The platinum banana seemed to have a similar effect on Vee as she jittered uncontrollably after eating it. She was incredibly delighted with the fruit and gloated endlessly about the indescribable taste.

I bet slime cores still taste the best. I wonder if the pink one will have any special taste due to its rarity.

The last remaining floors up until the boss weren't really worth mentioning, except for one, as most of them were simple "kill the enemies in the room" with a mixture of various party compositions.

The one exception room was a room that combined defending and attacking. We had to protect our own pedestal while capturing or destroying the enemies. Our pedestal had a single red grape on it, while the enemies had an orange one.

In the interest of passing the trial without issue, I took the role of defender while Vee participated as our assailant. She darted and teleported around while attacking with innumerable threads that thrashed around. Occasionally, she'd throw around [Corrosion Magic], which reminded me to reinstate her helper core to boost her magic.

Vee ate the orange grape, which counted as "destroying it," resulting in our victory. We received a final prompt to "destroy all remaining enemies." When we finished cleaning up, Vee was allowed to eat the red grape, too.

"Okay, both were super duper tasty, but I don't feel any different. I wonder if they were broken or if I've eaten too many magic fruits."

You must collect all seven rainbow grapes to receive their boon.

"Wonderful! These trials are the best," Vee replied happily.

Personally, I would have preferred a more regular dungeon, but I was glad Vee was having fun. I had guessed that the combat trials were designed intentionally to force you through various scenarios to ensure you were prepared and worthy of leading a branch. You'd either have such overwhelming power that you can crush anything or a combination of sufficient strength and wits, either option leading to victory and proving your worth.

I'd assume my difficulty is also bumped up a bit since they mentioned the Feirelle is a "main branch" or whatever. Then again, I also asked Dran for more monsters. Maybe it's wishful thinking, but I'd love to leave this place with my next evolution secured. Wait… that reminds me.

"Vee, do you know how long your last evolution took?"

"Um, I was kidnapped during my last evolution, remember?" Vee reminded me. "It's also not like I can tell time. I don't have a clock or calendar on me."

"Sorry, I thought you'd—"

"Haha! I'm only kidding. I was out for roughly a week, according to the magic lady. Quite a predicament."

"My last evolution was also a week. I'm glad it didn't increase to something crazy like a month."

"How would anything survive being unconscious for a month?" Vee asked. "Even if you had the best hiding spot ever, I think something would find you."

"Allies… or a community if I had to hazard a guess. Then again, I'd suspect most monsters around our monster tier are entirely feral and probably lone wolves—so maybe I'm wrong."

"Don't worry, I'll look after you for a week or two," Vee said proudly.

"Still fifteen levels to go."

"I'm sure you'll reach that in no time! Especially if we get attacked by a group of assassins this time. That one assassin baker gave us both so much, and that was before [Companion Growth]!"

"True…" I murmured in thought. "Speaking of which, I wonder if they've made their move."

"I'm honestly surprised we haven't been attacked yet. Do you think they're too scared, or have we misjudged the situation?"

Someone approached the dungeon entrance but left without doing anything.

"The plot thickens," Vee chirped.

"Thanks for letting us know, Dran. Maybe they are plotting to ambush us when we leave the dungeon," I suggested.

"Right when we're presumably tired from conquering the dungeon," Vee agreed. "Although that adds a level of risk, what if someone spots their ambush? Also, wouldn't someone from Caelthal potentially spot them?"

"They could be that confident. Or maybe they've bribed someone to look away. Or perhaps they have an item, magic, or skill to keep us in and other people out?"

"If that is the case, it works out better for us," Vee stated. "That would let you go full slime monster, and I can break out the [Rift Thread]."

"Maybe I need to start working on my pocket window more during this dungeon," I said, suddenly changing the subject.

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"Why?" Vee asked, evidently confused. "I don't think that will help you against assassins?"

"Well, it was an idea I had when I was reading the Ritftmancer book. What if I created a dimensional space, entered it, and then evolved. Wouldn't I be perfectly safe unless there's an enemy Riftmancer?"

"You actually want to enter one of those holes? Are you trying to kill yourself?"

"Only once the spell is actually complete and recognized. The current… 'window' version I wouldn't trust. I'd obviously test it out as well, cast it in a room, and maybe throw some monsters inside it with food and see if they survive a week in there."

"Huh… okay, that's slightly less crazy," Vee admitted. "You could also ask Llewel to help? Maybe he can create a time room where you evolve for a week, but only a day has passed in reality, or something?"

"[Time Magic] can do that?"

Vee shrugged, "I have no idea. It was just a wild suggestion."

"It might be worth exploring. Although, admittedly, I don't know if I'd feel comfortable leaving myself helpless and vulnerable in front of the elves. Sure, they are our allies, and we have our magic contract, but I get the feeling Paeris would gladly sacrifice his levels if Loreleia ordered it."

"Well, work on your dimension room then; the elves can be a backup or last resort."

"Another option would be asking one of the dungeons to hide me while I evolve. That's what I did the first time, although Simon was following Gramps' direct order."

That could be arranged. But I'd like some compensation out of it. Juniper is of the same opinion.

"What would the two of you even want?" Vee asked before I could.

I'll think about it. You're still quite away from evolving, so I have time to ponder.

Or I'll just figure out my pocket door and skip you entirely.

"Oh well, let's go; I think it's the boss next," Vee said enthusiastically.

I gave a slimy thumbs-up, and we proceeded.

Before we even entered the room fully, we received the dungeon's notification informing us of the challenge.

Defeat the Medusa Vinewraith before you succumb to its deadly venom.

"Deadly

venom," I snorted.

"It's deadly to me!" Vee cried.

I cast [Zephyr Shroud] on her.

"There we go, that should help."

"Venom, not poison. That means it will bite or inject it somehow, not poisonous gases," Vee whined.

I sighed and cast [Bubble] as well. For extra measure I ensured that one of my [Sub-Cores] was on [Aegis] casting duty.

"Better?" I asked.

"Much."

If it wasn't obvious, any poisons would be cured after defeating the boss monster.

"Well, why didn't you say so earlier?" Vee replied happily.

I'm not required to give you hints.

"Then I'm surprised you did," I pointed out.

The sooner you complete the trial. The sooner I can kick you out of my dungeon.

"Looks like his true colors are showing," Vee snickered. "Guess he doesn't have much hospitality."

...

I held back on taunting the dungeon. I didn't want to upset him with a boss fight coming, as I'd seen some rather nefarious plays by the [Dungeon Master] of the Mutation dungeon.

We climbed the final steps, entering a large, mostly empty chamber except for five pillars raised to the ceiling. It was one central pillar, larger in size, and the remaining four were equal distances apart from each other.

Wrapped around the large and central pillar was a gigantic mass of writhing vines that had fused together into the shape of a creature. The way it moved made it appear like a serpent despite its clearly evident plant-like nature.

Its "head" took the form of a snake maw, fangs included—albeit made from massive thorns. It also had "hair," which was more vines that ended in little snake-like heads. If that wasn't enough, most of the outer layer of vines had purple thorns scattered about.

[Identify] failed.

You're useless!

"That's a big snake," Vee commented.

"My worm form was bigger," I pointed out.

"Well, then go turn into a big worm and have a giant kaiju battle with it. I'll sit here and watch," Vee snorted.

"I…"

"Yes?"

"I don't have enough slime…" I whined.

Vee burst out laughing, only to be interrupted by a colossal tail that swung down on our position. Vee used [Warp] while I used [Blink], and we appeared at opposite ends of the boss arena.

"Okay, enough fooling around, time to kill the boss!" she exclaimed.

"Agreed."

While I enjoyed being a slime blob most of the time, I didn't want to risk being crushed or punctured by the boss monster. Thus, I deemed a transformation necessary. I opted to create a hybrid monster with the salamander and obsidianite worm, mixing overwhelming firepower with tremendous defense.

Lesser dragon scales mixed with obsidianite while being further bolstered by [Tempered Reinforcement]. I combined the powers of [Blaze Slime] with transformed [Inferno Sacs] to endlessly fuel the defensive boosting effects of both the metal and the trait.

Proficiency gained. [Chimeric Mimicry LV 7] improved to [Chimeric Mimicry LV 8].

"Yes!" I roared triumphantly, causing blue flames and heat to roil off my form.

This had been a long time coming, and considering how it was such a vital part of my everyday life, I honestly thought it would've leveled up sooner. I had a theory that because I was using it so routinely, I was getting some massive penalties for being "passive." Would you normally gain experience for something as easy as breathing? Probably not.

I quickly adjusted my borrowed traits to their new maximum level of eight, which directly highlighted the main reason why I'd probably, in all likelihood, struggled to level it up so much. If you really thought about it, the "optimal" method to level up [Chimeric Mimicry] would be to use a constantly shifting variety of new traits, regardless of their usefulness.

However, I found this extremely counterintuitive—why would I not use the best traits? I wanted to be the best elf, the best worm, the best monstrosity. I didn't want to settle for what I deemed "mediocre traits" just to get some extra experience proficiency points.

My enlarged form must have been more salamander than worm, as we suddenly received a rather frantic notification.

D-dragon!? JUNIPER!

Is he screaming into the dungeon notifications now?

The Medusa Vinewraith also flinched back hesitantly as it saw my fiery visage.

"No, silly, that's a slime," Vee said teasingly.

"And it's only lesser dragon scales," I pointed out. "This salamander that I ate was only a small fry."

Gods, you're going to be the death of me and my dungeon. I can just feel it.

"The only thing I'm killing is this giant plant snake!" I declared.

I shifted every single core to fire. It was time to channel my inner Dewi and burn things down! At the same time, I let my [Sub-Cores] off their leashes and gave them a simple order.

"Go wild!"