Master Of None

Walker was a little shaken that the king of the deep caves had decided to just go with them like that. Even more so that he had pointed out the royal guard and forced protecting everything on him and the crossbowmen. However, it was a common theme with the dwarves and he had no reason to argue since he had the feeling he would not win the battle anyways. 

"Are you going to follow me or what? I can move faster than you in the caves so try and keep up kid." The king had his two large pick axes over each shoulder as if they were nothing. He was already headed away from the processing area and stone buildings. There were multiple passageways and cave entrances all situated along the walls. 

"We will head down route be section thirty one until crossroads forty three. Then we will cut through the murky waters and that should bring us near the entrance. Follow quick." The king sounded like he had every single inch of the cave memorized which made Walker and Gil more at ease. 

"You said murky waters right? Can you tell me about the area? What is there and what makes them murky?" Remey sensed that the king was bringing them to a place that could hold many herbs for her to pick up on the way. Ideally, she wanted the different cave algae that grew in still water because they had many uses and could easily spawn different strains. 

"There are a lot of those pale salamanders living in there. They eat that green scum from the bottom. And then the rock horned vipers eat them, and then the armored moles will eat those. We used to see armored moles a lot more but they are in a hibernation cycle right now meaning there are many more rock horned vipers around."

Remey's eyes lit up and focused on Walker, "you still have some vials and glass containers right? If we get there I want to store the water and algae and maybe some of the pale salamander eggs if we see them. They are all great ingredients for potions. " She was already thinking of the experiments she could do once she was home with these ingredients. 

"The more you do the more I believe you are some master alchemist looking for unique ingredients. But I've never met an alchemist with a punch like yours. Ha! You should get a rock horned viper as a body guard. They are pretty fun to tame, they don't even have venom." The king sounded very used to this kind of activity. 

"Wait, do the dwarves tame the underground monsters?" Gil was surprised that this would be the case since they seemed to focus on their crafting and golems instead of living monsters. 

"Of course we do. The monsters down here are great for finding rare ores and new caves. The rock horned viper is a very sought after pet when it comes to younger miners. We have a few tamers that can send their tamed rock horned vipers as guards." The king was saying this like it was common knowledge but when he looked at the party realized that this was all new to them. 

"I'm not sure Onyx would be happy to have another serpent like monster around. He wouldn't say it but I know he would feel like we were trying to replace him a little." Walker spoke and Midnight shook her head a little. 

"Then get one and keep it fed as a live in pet. They shed their skin once a month leaving great materials from armors. Plus, they are very docile once broken a little. They have even been known to befriend a dwarf or two when they are younger. Just don't stand between them and a pale salamander. Those things are like candy to them." 

This was an interesting lesson. The rock horned viper sounded like a tough monster but was actually known to be friendly at times. The only factor that sounded to make them aggressive was the food they ate. Walker started to seriously consider bringing one home if he could since he could leave it at the mansion to live and shed its skin for forging materials. 

"If we get one that means Su would have new materials for armor. Just saying." Remey was liking the sound of this monster becoming a pet. To her, it was the same as trying to keep a chicken or a cow. 

"Let's see what happens as we go. We have a lot more pressing matters to take care of. But if it's meant to be we will. As soon as we speak to Onyx and Su about it too." Walker threw in the last part so that he could hold Remey off. 

"I'm just thinking. If the slimes needed to cross this murky water area, how do they not dilute their bodies before reaching the other end?" Gil had this single thought. It didn't make sense that the slimes could easily cross so much water that the king was speaking about. 

"That is a mystery we will need to solve on our own. But for the time being, we have some in front of us. Fire fighters, this is your duty." The king called to the fire fighters in line behind them. They sprang in to action immediately and headed forward toward a group of ten small slimes eating away at a metal beam holding the roof in place. 

The fire fighters paired up and pumped the tanks they carried before alternating. One sprayed the basic water while the other pumped. This caused multiple streams of water to flow through the hose and nozzle easily hitting the slimes. Walker was impressed by the teamwork which easily dissolved the slime in front of them leaving a safe path. The king nodded his approval as he took the next steps forward as the leader of the group. 

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