“Eh, those are both junk," Void said. "You might be able to find some antique dealer and get maybe a couple diamond marks for the Spiderbot CPU, while an energy dealer might buy the crystal for a gold mark.”

“Well, I have a hunch I might need this energy crystal, so I’ll take this, if that’s alright with everyone. You guys can split the profit from the Spiderbot CPU,” Alan said, thinking of his quest to restore energy to the Abyss Labyrinth systems. The others readily agreed, and they all sat down to rest.

Half an hour later, Alan’s energy had been completely replenished, and the others decided to head out. Unfortunately, Aurora’s psionic reserves were only replenished up to 20%, but Void promised to bail them out if they got into any real trouble. Alan still had no idea what abilities Void had, and was interested in seeing a higher level player in action.

As they walked along the stone pathway they encountered nothing, not even the slightest bit of scrap metal. Void murmured to himself, unsettling Alan and the others.

“Hmm, we should have seen something by now…”

“That’s odd, I thought this pathway went in the other direction…”

“We’re approaching where the old boss used to be, I wonder if it’s been replaced…”

“I’m pretty sure I can save myself if we encounter a really powerful boss, but I’m not sure about the rest of them. Who’d I sacrifice first? Probably Sidestep. No, Alan. Nah, maybe Kitana. I’d get in trouble if I sacrificed Aurora, but the bunny gods would probably appreciate her the most. Maybe that’s what I should do…”

Everyone stopped, staring at Void. He innocently stared back.

“Do the sacrificial pawns have something to say?”

“No…” Aurora shook her head. “Let’s keep moving. If we don’t find anything in the next half hour or so we should head back.”

A few minutes later, Alan finally detected a presence in the distance. He called for a halt, zooming in on the mob. He saw a small, three by three foot cube of green slime that looked like a larger version of the grey nutrient blocks everyone ate. There was a small red ball about the size of a golf ball within the slime, darting about erratically. Eve classified it as a slime of an unknown type and level.

Alan briefed the others on the slime’s appearance. As it was small and sitting alone, they decided to approach. The only fishy thing was that it sat at the bottom of a ramp with a steep incline, which led upwards to somewhere Alan couldn’t see.