NOVEL SIMPLE Cycle 6 (Director)
The Director frowned, looking over numbers. There were five extra souls in Admin 6's dungeon. She checked their stats, and found they were a type of octopi.
Extremely annoyed, she summoned 6 to her office.
He appeared with an iced coffee in his hand. Clearly worried, he smiled. "Hello."
"Hello," she said, sitting up. "It has come to my attention your dungeon has more souls in it than what I gave you."
6 paused, sitting down across from her. "It does?"
"Yes. Were you unaware?"
"Y... Yes. Where?"
He seemed genuinely confused, the worry gone. That was good; he hadn't deliberately broken any rules, at least.
"It says you have five extra octopi souls," she said, sending a screen to him.
"Octopi... Slimes... How did I..." He stopped, then seemed to remember something. "I didn't do it. Players did, accidentally."
The Director sighed. "Tell me someone didn't try boning a slime."
"Wh- No! Nonono, they wanted to experiment with them, so they carved chunks out of a couple slimes and took them off the floor," he explained. "I had it set that slimes aren't dead until they're completely gone, so both parts of the slime were considered alive. At least I think that's what happened."
The Director looked over the stats again. They did look like they were derived from only one parent soul each. "Why didn't you inform me when it happened?"
"I... didn't think of it," he said. "I thought some player would kill the new slimes, and they'd be gone. I didn't think they were full souls. And honestly after that I forgot about them."
"I see," she said slowly. "Did you punish the players?"
"No, I just told them to not do it again. And they didn't."
"Who were the players? I might need to find them."
Admin 6 fiddled nervously with his cup.
The Director felt a pit in her stomach. "They're in my dungeon, aren't they?"
"Kimi and Y," he muttered.
She leveled a glare at him. "The ones that keep taking monsters off their floors?"
"Ah, no, that would be Nikki and Avi. Although they do tend to stick together, so it might look like they’re…"
"Oh. So the ones that somehow turned all the air on Floor 28 into sulfur dioxide."
"Yes."
"Why did you think it was appropriate to send them here?" she demanded.
He fiddled with his cup some more before answering. "It makes for a change. After trying to decide if one player is just a liiitle too stab-happy, and wondering why another keeps trying to seduce a kraken, dealing with people who only cause problems in the name of science and friendship is... nice. It's a relief. Isn't it?"
"No," she said. "I'd prefer players who cause no problems at all."
"Ok, but they're also good at getting through floors," 6 said. "Making a floor impassable is A strategy to get ahead, and using monsters to help fight isn't the stupidest thing a player has done."
"I suppose you have a point..." She sighed again. "All right. Five extra sea creatures won't break anything. I'll keep an eye on those players, but no one is in trouble. You may go."
He got up. "Thank you." With a nod, he vanished.
The Director shook her head, pulling up his player's files. She had to prepare herself for whatever they were about to do.