I almost felt a bit sad that I had no way of knowing if I’d ever see Earth again. It seemed unlikely, at least.

Not that I really missed much of it—sure, there were some things I loved back there. Driving somewhere and getting only green lights, that was pretty nice. So was getting to walk around shopping malls and enjoy the free air conditioning. But really, the biggest reason I was upset about it was that I’d never get to go back and claim my rightful place as the world record holder for growing tea in a biosphere.

Almost defeated the purpose of it if I’d never get to actually brag about it.

Hell, I’d never even get to try my own produce, which was its own problem. I wouldn’t say I had a high-class palate by any means in my past life, but ‘expensive’ had a taste to it a lot of the time. Without my own senses, I’d be reliant on Ephilia’s perspective of our product’s quality as a rodent that spent the first half of her life living in a dirt hole and the second half living in a much nicer brick hole. That along with whatever I could pick up via appraisal.

Our differences often covered each other’s weaknesses, though I couldn’t help but feel a tinge of jealousy that she’d likely get to be the first one to try our tea once it was finally ready. Not that I was upset that it was her, more that I was upset that it couldn’t ever be me.

It was weird. The physical cravings for food, drink, and other things that I had once indulged in were long gone, erased now that the requisite senses were disconnected. On the other hand, the emotional attachments and memories were still very much there. Cheshire had put it best: “Nostalgia is a fine spice.”

On the note of differences between Ephi and I, she needed sleep while I did not. After a long day of practice and finally getting to apply all of her hard work to our crops, she had retired to bed not long after to allow her stamina to recuperate.

The tea plant we had growing was due for ascension today, to try and get it ready for cloning. While I did have [Horticulture I] to guide me, it was still something I had no mortal experience with so I was nervous of potentially screwing it up somehow. I had time to steady my nerves at least—and absolute worst case, if I somehow messed it up? We had Ephi’s magic ready to go now, so we wouldn’t be starting from square one.

Though that wouldn’t be ideal in any sense, given that we were approaching the ‘halfway’ point of our deadline.

MOONDROP TEA SPROUT ASCENSION IN PROGRESS

Please choose one of the following paths of ascension:

➤ Stonepiercing Roots

➤ Enhanced Production

➤ Alchemical Potency*

➤ Noxious Pollen*

➤ Dagger Thorns

[Botany I] options are marked by *.

I was beginning to notice something of a pattern, the more attention I paid to the options I was offered at each ascension. At first, I’d found myself frustrated with how few of the options seemed usable to further my goals—specifically, actually setting up a sustainable agricultural operation.

They weren’t for me, though—at least not the way I was doing it. Noxious pollen, dagger thorns, all these kinds of things seemed like they were meant more for a dungeon. Guided by cold, hard pragmatism that left no room for anything beyond utility. So sure—I might have been a dungeon myself, but I was a dungeon with standards.

Besides, if I was going to use hazardous plant life to help defend my home, I probably wouldn’t adapt it from tea of all things. There were much, much better choices.

Enhanced production seemed like the obvious choice unless I started to dabble in alchemy any time soon, so I went with that.

With the first shrub fully-grown and ascended, what came next was the delicate, surgical operation of pruning parts of its branches, only taking enough to not leave the plant crippled. My manamites cut clean through, then hauled these sprouts off to plant in rows as neat as I could manage to make. Once I’d taken all of the promising-looking ones, Ephi hit the shrub with [Rapid Bloom] yet again and the process continued.

After about two dozen sprouts, I called it a day. This took a fair portion of our growing space, occupying most of the southwest quadrant of the greenhouse… or it would once these clones actually grew.

A quick check of their status confirmed that they seemed to be functionally identical to their parent plant.

Beautiful.

My long term plan was to use these plants as an initial group for production, while continuing to evolve one or two to try and create a perfect specimen for a next generation. Then I’d begin the process again and create a plot for this new subspecies and get rid of the old one once they were fully grown. A complicated game of agricultural leapfrog to make the most out of my limited farmland.

Tending to them was an entirely different matter. Unlike the naturally-grown plant, these artificial newborns lacked root systems of their own, leaving them fragile. The first few days would be crucial to their growth, especially given that Ephi only had so much stamina to work with. With [Core Bond I] accounted for, we could cut about eighteen days off of the twenty day growth period once per day, but doing so would leave Ephi too exhausted to do much else for the remainder of the day.

It was a bit much to ask of her, but she volunteered for the task all the same.

This did leave me with a glut of free time though, which was a relief—I needed it, though not for relaxation.

As I’d been slightly concerned about, the boiler room had suffered from an incident overnight. It wasn’t anything major yet thankfully, as my ability to monitor the entirety of my floorplan at all times left little in the way of surprises to me. I’d heard a sharp snap in the middle of the night, and a quick check had confirmed that the heating pipe had suffered some cracking.

The water in the river was getting colder, and the sharp change in temperature as it went through the coil had resulted in some minor leaks. I plugged them as best as I could, but until I found a material that could handle the heat better I was going to have to perform repairs frequently. Metal ideally—while I could transmute stone into iron, I didn’t really have a way of processing it. Raw iron wasn’t even a good choice for piping anyways, as it would probably just oxidize and I didn’t know enough about metallurgy to come up with an alternative. Copper was what I wanted, probably. That was as far as my knowledge went.

It hadn’t been enough to put out the ‘eternal’ fire being stoked within though. Lucky me.

Aside from that, things were uneventful at first. Ephi performed her little magic rituals and I continued working on the base, replacing our single stone periscope with a far more graceful security system I’d dreamt up. Like a parasite, I burrowed up through the roots of trees near the farthest outposts attached to my base, from the aqueduct to the area surrounding the greenhouse. Delicately, I threaded a spear of my wood through the core of a select few pines, branching out through their bark. To any passersby, these would simply look like slight imperfections on the surface—my new array of eyes, peeking out all over our valley.

Knowledge was power, after all.

Mostly, I just wanted to establish a perimeter as an early alert system. If I could see things coming earlier, I’d have time to prepare an appropriate reaction.

On the note of appropriate reactions, the owl smasher left this world behind for good. Now that the periscope it was guarding was deconstructed, it was just wasting two of my valuable mechanism slots. I smoothed the area over, removing the pistons and reinforcing the vault room’s ceiling several times over before burying it in dirt.

Safety had a price, and that would be the Mogo Bush, my most loyal first companion.

I said a heartfelt goodbye to the plant now that there would be no more sunlight entering the core room.

And then I had the manamites reshape the area surrounding it into a flower pot, lifting it up and out of the earth entirely to be hefted down the hall to the greenhouse.

As if I’d just leave it to die.

Sure, I’d miss the greenery a bit, but I had an entire garden now. That was where it really belonged.

This gave me a lovely opportunity to experiment with the moonstone as well, inlaying it along the floors and bordering the ceiling, casting the entire room in an artificial, pale light. It was a strangely beautiful material to work with, but I could sense just how fragile it was even from a glance. Light had never really been something Ephi or I worried about—she was a mouse, already adapted to the low-light conditions of living in a burrow, while I was a magical diamond with enough eyes that the light level didn’t matter all that much.

It still looked great though, and I found it oddly-amusing to play with, weaving it into whatever I could when I found my mind wandering.

But three days after Ephi mastered her magic, I heard something. Voices, down by the river.

They were distant at first, but they were clearly heading downriver. Not directly towards the vault, but close enough that it was far beyond my comfort level. Before I could even see the source of these voices, I threw the alarm and started to batten down the hatches as fast as I could manage.

Nearly everything was already fairly well-hidden, but the greenhouse most certainly wasn’t. Anyone even catching a single glimpse would out our presence, and that meant it had to disappear.

Today’s chore was to make a hill appear out of goddamn thin air.

“Ephi, there’s people down near the river, are you okay to go get a good look at them?”, I practically shouted over our link, “I’m going to bury the greenhouse but I need to know how much time we have.”

CORE-TOUCHED DIRE MOUSE (RUNT) LVL: 4 NAME: "Ephilia"

Traits:

[Forged Sapience]

[Gigantism]

Skills:

[Scavenge]

[Festering Bite]

[Core Link II]

[Core Bond I]

[Enhanced Vitality I]

[Enhanced Strength I]

[Athletics I]

[Self-Catalyzation]

[Life Magic I]

Spells:

[Rapid Bloom I]

HP: 12 / 12 CATEGORY: Monster

Employee MP: 0 / 0 SPECIES: Field Mouse SP: 2 / 5 SIZE: Small XP: 23% GENDER: ♀ STR VIT DEX INT WIS PER 5 6 5 5 3 7

A field rodent of unusual size under the auric influence of a dungeon core. Possesses enhanced mental acuity and judgement. Force Level-Up Cost: 30 MP Criteria for Next Ascension Tier:

PRIMAL ASCENSION

Cost: 100 MP

Two out of five stamina, and [Core Bond] was on cooldown since we’d been too using it for the garden. Not a great situation.

“I’ll be right there. Can you make an exit for me near the end of the waterway?”, she shot back, already darting towards the hall, having sensed the urgency of the situation.

“Yep, won’t be anything fancy though.”

True to my word, it was little more than a spiraling dirt tunnel coming up through the gnarled roots of a tree. By this point, I could hear these intruders over my own senses, as well as through hers when I listened in via [Core Link].

“Look, mister, I’m telling you. We’re miles from camp now and we ain’t seen a trace of nothin’ more threatening than a spooked briar fox since yesterday. Let’s just give up and head on back to camp, at least they’ll feed us when they throw us in the brig,” a voice spoke—male from the sound of it, young and a bit scratchy-sounding.

I could hear two sets of footsteps as Ephi was delicately slinking her way up one of the trees, trying to get a better view.

“The brig? We’ll be lucky if we even make it back to camp after that shitshow,” a deeper voice replied, two shadows rolling past on the ground of the forest floor as they approached, “We keep looking until we find it.”

“…Okay, and then what? S’pposing you did actually see what you think you saw and twasn’t just a campfire or a lighthouse or… anything else, then whatcha gonna do? You’re really going to raid this place all on your own? I mean, think about it. If you really did see a fountain, then what?”

Oh no.

They’d seen it?! Sure, that flash a few nights back had been bright, but I didn’t think it was bright enough to call down the cavalry on me already.

Redoubling my efforts, I began to bury the crystal plates of the dome beneath soil as fast as I could. It wasn’t going to be convincing at all, I realized quickly—I wouldn’t have time to seed it with plant life or add any amount of detail to make it look like anything besides a hastily-piled heap.

And I couldn’t just lay a ton of stone over top of it—the entire thing would collapse under that kind of weight. I needed some kind of miracle, some kind of magic or Ephi and I were sitting ducks just waiting to get caught.

Even my magic mouse wouldn’t have the tools to help me in this situation…

Wait. Mouse magic. The most mundane kind of magic of all.

I didn’t need illusion magic. I knew what direction they would approach from if they came, and that meant I could hit them with Earth’s brand of magic.

Theme park décor.

I didn’t need a hill, just the shell of one, enough to pass a brief glance and convince them to take an easier path.

Abandoning my idea to bury the dome with dirt, I instead began to hastily construct a façade of stone and soil, an uneven wall about an inch thick held up at the back by a frantic spiderweb of stone beams and trusses to resemble impassable terrain.

I could hear their voices still coming through [Core Link] while I rushed to slap my disguise up—‘pay no attention to the man behind the curtain’.

“Then we report it back to HQ and get paid. Think about it—why would a core halfway up a goddamn mountain two days foot-travel away build one of those fountains down here. If I’m right about what I saw, then it’s hiding something. Besides, you know that’s how those things make that enchanted gear people find inside. You really want to give up the opportunity to get first pick at a core’s secret arsenal?”

“T-true. Still, if’n it really is around here, wouldn’t it have s’more of those greeny freaks around? There’s nothing down here at all, and we’re almost out of food, and I don’t wanna get stuck eatin’ creepy crawlies again.”

I didn’t even have time to try and unpack everything they were saying, too focused on building the most ridiculous thing I’d dreamed up since coming here. I could sense Ephi sneering at them enough for the two of us, either way.

Finally, I managed to get a good look at the two of them.

GRIZZLED HUMAN MERCENARY LVL: 6 NAME: "Tilero"

Skills:

[Enhanced Vitality II]

[Enhanced Strength II]

[Enhanced Dexterity I]

[Swordplay II]

[Savage Defense]

[Rupture Armor]

HP: 26 / 35 CATEGORY: Humanoid MP: 2 / 2 SPECIES: Human SP: 8 / 26 SIZE: Medium XP: ?? GENDER: ♂ STR VIT DEX INT WIS PER 12 14 10 7 6 4

A human hailing from the city of Boltha. Highly-proficient with the sword, but lacking in all other aspects. LESSER COUNTRY BUMPKIN LVL: 1 NAME: "Boslow"

Skills:

[Enhanced Vitality I]

[Agriculture I]

[Fishing I]

HP: 12 / 12 CATEGORY: Humanoid MP: 0 / 0 SPECIES: Human SP: 2 / 9 SIZE: Medium XP: ?? GENDER: ♂ STR VIT DEX INT WIS PER 5 6 5 5 4 3

A human adventurer conscripted from the farmlands surrounding Boltha. Unskilled in martial matters, but capable of holding a spear out sharp end first.

The gruff one—‘Grizzled Mercenary’—seemed to be the real threat judging from his skills. The other one…

I paused, reading and rereading the tooltip of the other guest to make sure I wasn’t dreaming it up. ‘Lesser Country Bumpkin’ as the system so lovingly called him seemed much less likely to cause us any trouble. Hell, from looking at his stat spread…

It almost seemed like Ephi might be able to beat him in a straight fight, if the numbers were accurate. How? Was she really that strong? This guy was just level one though. Maybe it really did just matter that much, although Ephilia also had ascensions under her belt and a number of skills I hadn’t seen matched by anything other than Cheshire so far.

‘Grizzled Mercenary’ sighed, his shoulders sinking down a bit as he looked around the heavily-forested area. He shrugged his rucksack off, the overpacked bag landing on the ground with a loud clatter as he began to dig through it, pulling out the tools he’d need to make camp for the night while the other mercenary looked on in confusion.

“Here? But there’s a clearing just down the slope over there,” ‘Lesser Country Bumpkin’ questioned, pointing in the direction of my dungeon, making me curse him and his supposed ‘three perception’ under my breath, “We should camp down there.”

“No, we shouldn’t,” ‘Grizzled Mercenary’ growled in response, laying out a bedroll, “You really want to go sleep out in the open with your back against a wall? Seems like a great way to get ambushed and cornered. We’ll take watch in four-hour blocks. You sleep first.”

“I… dunno if I’ll even be able to. I can’t get it out of my head, that… ambush. The way the goblins just cut people down, I ain’t never seen anything like that before. They’re s’ppose to just be monsters…”

“Sleep. You get four hours, whether you actually sleep or not. I’m not going to miss out on mine because you’re afraid of a few nightmares.”

“…I’ll try, sorry.”

By this point, Ephilia had managed to maneuver herself closer to them, leaping from one branch to another as she deftly navigated the canopy until she was right over their campsite, peering down into it.

“…Boss, are you thinking what I’m thinking?”, she finally asked, squinting down at the two as they hurried to create a safe area to rest.

Considering that our minds were partially-linked, I technically was. However, I absolutely wasn’t on board with it. “No, the last thing we need right now is for them to notice that they’re a few coins lighter and make them actually search the area in-depth. If anything, I’m more interested in trailing them and seeing where they came from—they mentioned an HQ and… it sounds like another core somewhere, and they think that the burst of light from the starfont is that core’s fault.”

“Another core?”, the mouse asked incredulously, scratching her head, “If you say so. I still want to take a better look at least. I’m just gonna see if I can look around once they settle down a bit.

Less than ideal, but I wasn’t going to suggest she try leaving until night had completely fallen anyways.

It didn’t take long for ‘Lesser Country Bumpkin’ to lay down on his bedroll and ‘Grizzled Mercenary’ to assume his task standing vigil, eyes narrowed as he stared into the creeping darkness between the trees, entirely unaware of the acrobat leaping from tree to tree above him.

Ephilia tossed herself from one branch to another, reaching forward grasp hold of something to steady herself, her paws latching onto something chitinous that shined in the moonlight. I practically felt her heart skip a beat as this imposter branch shifted, hundreds of legs coming into view as it curved and twisted, a monstrous set of beady black eyes gazing back at her from its insectoid face.

CORE-TOUCHED VENOMOUS TRILLIPEDE LVL: 3 NAME: undefined

Skills:

[Core Egocide I]

[Paralyzing Venom I]

[Noxious Venom I]

[Leeching Bite]

HP: 15 / 15 CATEGORY: Monster MP: 0 / 0 SPECIES: Trillipede SP: 3 / 8 SIZE: Small XP: ?? GENDER: ♂ STR VIT DEX INT WIS PER 5 7 7 2 2 4

A long, armored insect comprised of many segmented body parts. It produces highly-toxic venoms that, while not deadly, cause excruciating pain and allow it to feast on its paralyzed prey.

It lunged towards her, and she batted downwards without even managing to think about what she was doing. The millipede’s trajectory shifted as she swayed to the side, spiking it straight down and into the camp below.

I could hear the screaming all the way from my core room as the three-foot-long millipede that could nearly be mistaken for a python landed with a dull smack on the dozing man’s chest on the forest floor below, erupting into pure chaos. Not wanting to stick around, Ephi scurried down the tree and vanished, leaving the two humans flailing around with their weapons to try and exterminate the sky-bug that had stalked them all the way here.

They chose to camp elsewhere, as it turned out. Not that I was going to complain. After they finally managed to cut the beast in two, its newly-divorced parts still wriggling their last on the detritus-covered forest floor, they both decided that sleep was entirely optional and began to make their way back to their camp, judging from what I could make out from their rambling.

I did manage to pick out a rough location on where to expect it, though; if we went back to the road and followed it south, we’d find a branch that went further inland.

And that was apparently where the “adventurer’s league” was laying siege to an established dungeon.

I wasn't alone--but at least it could prove a decent way to cover up my mistakes if I could keep its minions far, far away from me.