“No, it’s not that, though I think I’ll take you up on your offer,” Sidestep said, “It’s just I think that as you’ve seen our ultimate moves, you should share what yours is.”

“My ultimate move?” Alan repeated.

“Yeah, we’re all friends here that will be working together in the future, right? The more information we know about each other’s capabilities the better. What’s your special ability?” Sidestep asked.

“Um, well, I don’t exactly have an ultimate move, I was ready to accept my fate and die.” Sidestep snorted, but Alan continued, “And... and even if I did have such a move, I’m sorry, but I don’t think I’d share it with you. My master or, well, my knight, Phantom told me not to divulge information to anyone, and that includes you.”

“Oh, so that’s the way it’s gonna be then, is it?” Sidestep said, taking a step towards Alan.

“Drop it,” Aurora said in a commanding tone. “It isn’t important, and Phantom is secretive. Not even I am sure what he does.”

“Yes milady,” Sidestep replied in a somewhat exasperated tone. He turned around and went up to the nucleus he destroyed, examining what it dropped.

Aurora turned to stare at Alan. “I do trust that you will not share what you saw with anybody.”

“Of course,” Alan said.

“Very good then,” Aurora responded, smiling brightly at Alan, who blushed slightly, looking away.

He found Void standing right next to him, somehow making his way within an inch of Alan undetected. Void whispered, “Remember you can always tell me and the bunny gods your secrets.”

“No thanks,” Alan said, backing away. He quickly walked over to Kitana.

“So, um, nice job! Where did you learn that attack, by the way?”

Kitana shrugged. “You’ve seen me use it before in the tutorial, right? This was an improved version. The psionic energy and martial arts I learned fused to form some sort of sword arts.”

“Oh, cool. By the way, um, what did the slime drop?” Alan asked curiously.

Kitana lifted up her hands, showing a circular black crystal about the size of a small coin and a bottle of slime with a small red nucleus, looking subdued.

“Ooh! Now that might be worth a pretty penny,” Void said, appearing once more right behind Alan, looking over his shoulder at the items Kitana was holding up. “The black crystal probably holds a platinum mark’s worth of energy, while that bit of slime or whatever it is might be worth something as either a pet or resource gatherer, depending on its ability to gather energy.”

“Yes, it was rather odd that we faced resource gathering slimes and Spiderbots that multiplied, wasn’t it?” Alan asked lightheartedly, though he was secretly feeling rather depressed he had said that he had given up his loot rights.

Void shrugged. ”I wouldn’t call it odd, exactly. Monsters and the like adjust to their surroundings. Look about you, do you see any food? I don’t think so. Thus, you have the self producing Spiderbots that can eat scrap metal, and these slimes that absorb energy. It makes perfect sense.”