"Well that's dumb."

Ame tries again, trying to find a grammar construction that the magic will accept.

After her third failed attempt, she pauses.

"How do I dismiss a slime I've summoned?"

"Let the spirits know all connections between the mana in my core and slimes I created by the name 'links'. Let the spirits destroy the oldest connection in the set known as 'links'."

Shadow demonstrates gestures.

Ame goes over this until she's sure she can re-construct it even if she forgets a detail.

But also, oh so that's how you construct "all".

Ame attempts again to summon a restorative-instead-of-corrosive slime with this new piece of knowledge.

Nothing happens. Shadow has no comment this time.

...oh, she's being dumb:

Instead of "all corrosive properties" she tries "altered to replace its property of corrosion with a property of restoration"

Mana rushes out of her and starts forming a new shape - And here's a slime the size of two fists, dark greenish-blue.

She's more drained than before. Another expenditure like that and she might need to sit down.

Yeah, she---oh she's already sitting down. Good.

But she's smiling. It worked.

Okay yes, Ame will use her new slime as a (very small) pillow and rest for a bit.

"Alright, that all works. Tell me about the trials."

"The first secret tome is in a palace that's a shack, in an empty city in the mountains of mist, that was once known as Saroshem. You will need mastery of slimes to enter."

"Saroshem," Ame repeats firmly.

How fast is her mana recovering. Is it the sort of thing that she can wait out or is it the sort of thing she has to sleep off?

"Alright. Will that lead me to the next, or are you supposed to tell me about all of them now?"

Her mana is going down under the combined drain of two slimes.

"I think that's all I was supposed to tell you. Maybe I can finally fall apart now? No, wait, I have to see if you actually manage it. Dang."

Damn. She can't even maintain two slimes? That sucks.

She casts the dismissal on the blue slime, and asks, "How can I increase my mana?"

"I think people get stronger when they use the thing in question? Especially to kill monsters or to do monster-killing-related-things? I don't level, so I don't really know."

Can Ame maintain one slime or is her mana still depleting?

Her mana is very slightly positive with one slime!

She's suddenly better at judging her mana level (she has about three left) and gets a more precise idea of just how positive it is! Tiny fractions of "one" mana per minute.

Excellent.

Ame waits until she's recovered some more, then stands up and moves the green slime onto her shoulder, then has it stretch itself to wrap around her neck, to protect her in case of surprise Looper Vine, now that OH SHIT ARWEN.

"Uh, what happened to that guy I was with?"

"I let the dungeon let him out after a while. I wasn't paying attention to what he did next but he's not here anymore."

"He's... gonna be pissed. I should go."

Ame heals herself and draws her sword. "You gonna put me back where you found me or am I gonna have to fight through the whole place?"

Is her low mana affecting her balance or physical strength for real or is it just mental? She's halfway confident she could've handled at least all the non-bosses without Arwen before she spent a bunch of mana...

"I'll get Thorny back to take you to the entrance, sure!"

It seems to be purely mental.

A minute later the Heart of Thorns shows up again and forms a chair again.

"Maybe don't take me all the way to the entrance. My mana will grow much faster if I keep my slime alive while I fight inside the dungeon, right? That's how that works? And it should also help sell my cover story. I don't think you want me telling the villagers about you?"

Ame sits in the provided chair.

Shadow-being shrugs. "I don't know them but they'll probably be angry and afraid if you tell them about me. I'll be waiting for you at the palace that's a shack, maybe! Goodbye!"

Back up to the first level Boss Room she goes!

Ame spends the rest of the day and into the night making a circuit of the dungeon's first floor. She doesn't challenge the boss. Her head is full and her brain is tired, and she shouldn't attempt anything new, but she's still lightning fast and agile enough to dodge a Looper Vine with feet to spare. She will keep slaughtering the minor monsters she already knows how to deal with until she's twice as worn-out as she was after training yesterday.

Finally, well after it's dark outside, the next time she spots the entrance/exit, she steps out, weighed down by loot, with more than a few rips in her shirt, and inadvertently startles the guards by flinging the fancy magic staff out onto the ground ahead of herself, while she carries the rest heaped on a short stack of wicker shields.

It's lucky for her that this dungeon is... Broken, for lack of a better word, and essentially braindead. It doesn't get annoyed at her incessant grinding and looting. It doesn't start sending higher level monsters at her, or amassing large swarms to punish her, like other dungeons might.

It's a different shift of guards. One rushes over to her, the other stays where he is, confused.

"-You! You're not dead!"

"What the fuck?*"

"-Hey, that's a wyldfire staff. Isn't that a final boss drop?"

"-Yeah, it is."

They both stare at Ame for a moment.

"It's not that amazing, is it? I mean, it's such a wimpy dungeon..."

"It's still a final boss, but shut up a sec. How are you feeling - Aeri - Sorry, can't remember your name. You alright? Need anything - food, water?"

*"Why is there a dragon in my house?"

Ame was half expecting some kind of twist or escalation to interrupt her grinding. She decides to blame / thank the shadow thing for not-that.

Besides the rips in her fishnet shirt, Ame appears steady, physically. But she has deep, dark circles under her eyes, and is putting obvious effort into moving smoothly. Her green slime is nowhere to be seen.

"The final boss was a fluke," Ame says tiredly. "Large amounts of both kinds of luck. But yes, I'm alive. A meal, a drink, a bath, and a bed. I could use all of those things but I'm not gonna collapse in the next ten minutes."

"Rico, run down to Traver Hollow and rouse up a wagon - or at least a cart. I'm sure she'll be happy to pay reasonable rates for it if anyone's upset at being woken up."

"We're supposed to stay by the dungeon-"

"We're being paid to think and react, not just stand here. Besides, I'm the boss of you. Go."

Rico nods and sets off at a jog.

"Here, you can come by the fire. I've got water and I'll give you my midnight snack. We can figure out the loot in a bit."

"Thank you."

Ame plops down. There's kind of a lot of loot, but its definitely a quantity over quality sort of situation. Still, it should give her more than enough financial breathing room, especially since she doesn't have to split it with Arwen.

Speaking of Arwen. "What happened to Arwen? We got separated. Obviously."