“All I’m saying is, we can probably lob a flaming bag of terrocken dung into that big ass window without being seen.” Jakira slid through the snow on her side and bashed in the kneecap of the attacking yeti.

The yeti howled in pain and jumped back, more nimble than most. Rhen dashed around the side of it to see the blue syntial for what they’d dubbed as “snowball assault” activated. Rhen dropped into stealth in the cover of the pine tree, then leapt toward its spine with Anima Rot dripping from his blades. The dark attack slashed through the syntial, disabling the yeti’s attack.

Aki reached out with a colorful aurora and entranced the monster into stillness. “While it would be most amusing to see the look of rank horror in Welsh’s eyes, I believe that would be considered property damage against his dungeon, which caries serious consequences—according to Arannet.”

Rhen and Jakira tag teamed the yeti into oblivion and removed its core. They’d slain at least a half-dozen of the monsters now, but Rhen wasn’t feeling any better. The problem loomed. If he removed Welsh, he’d get access to the delvers he’d been holding in wage slavery—if they wanted to work for another dungeon owner in the area. But with Welsh gone, Desedra would go straight for Rhen’s throat.

He was dancing on a tightrope, six-hundred feet above a pit of spikes.

“We need to find the Faust family,” he muttered, more to himself than the others. If he could just talk to them, maybe he’d be able to work this out and find a way through the mess.

Even with one mess handled, he still needed to get an epic amount of construction and delving done in just three months and three weeks. So little time.

He started down the hill toward the towering corraphine crystal. It had reformed its top and looked close to blasting off with a flurry of snow. He was hoping the three of them could fight off enough of the razor whiskers to get a good chunk of it before it was all eaten. He’d learned through more paperwork filing with Arannet that his inn needed indoor plumbing. There were so many requirements for being a realm transport hub…

“You believe the Faust family will tell the truth about what happened?” Aki asked.

Rhen shook his head. “I don’t think they’ll be able to. My suspicion is that he had the Faust’s save an anima profile before telling them their mission. Once they’d destroyed the inn and returned to Welsh, he killed them to erase their memories of the events.”

“Not all the memories,” Jakira noted. “Some things get through, like a bad dream.”

“Sure, but if all they can say is that they saw fire, that’s not incriminating enough to act on. But, if we can get the D.O.G. to review the delver’s deaths on top of that, and if their anima profile save times and resurrection times align with the destruction of the inn, it might be enough.”

Jakira nodded. “Okay, so what should we do?”

“Welsh had said they were far away from here,” Aki commented.

“Transport between realms is all carefully watched and regulated. With enough money, we could find out where they went, maybe track them down in a few weeks…”

But it was all just a distraction from getting his dungeon ready.

Rhen growled. He just couldn’t win with so little peoplepower on his side.

Aki’s slippery tentacle rested on Rhen’s shoulder. “I do not sleep much, and can put effort into tracking the Faust family.”

“But I need you here with me.”

“You do not. The other delvers are just as capable.”

Rhen sighed. They didn’t share the same bond, the same understanding, as he did with Aki and Jakira. The others didn’t know Rhen’s secret.

“Perhaps it is time to tell them.”

Rhen laughed. “With just months to go before the dungeon is certified for realm transport? I don’t think so.”

“What are you two talking about back there,” Jakira asked from farther down the hill.

“Nothing smart,” Rhen shouted back.

Aki turned a few shades of blue.

“I realize you know them better than I do, but buddy, we still can’t trust anyone else with this. Who knows how much Welsh would pay for that knowledge, or Sen Desedra… Betrayal is simply a matter of price.”

“Not for some. And you have already promised them—in certified writing—they will have a fair amount coming to them when the realm connection is completed. I believe that price, plus their loyalty, would outweigh anything they could be offered otherwise.”

Rhen hummed. “Maybe. But please don’t—”

“Your secret is not mine to reveal. I would never do such a thing to you, buddy.”

Rhen gave him a little fist bump. “Thanks, dude.”

“Enough dallying! I can see the storm starting!” Jakira called from the edge of the thick forest.

They charged forward, running without heed through the pines to the corraphine crystal. Rhen heard the deep cracking of the crystal’s top losing integrity and he picked up the speed. It would be a feeding frenzy in a matter of seconds when it dropped, and he wanted to be there first. He used swift twitch to propel himself between the trees, then skidded to a powdery stop at the banks of the lake.

Razor whiskers lined the area around the crystal, all still in their hardened rock form. He could see their chubby little outlines better now that he knew what they were. Even as rocks, they looked pretty cute.

The top of the corraphine spire shattered, blasting off into the sky with a flurry of snow.

“ORK!” the first razor whisker awoke.

The corraphine top flipped end over end, each facet of its smooth surface simmering from the light above.

“Orrrrkorkork!”

Rhen watch the trajectory of the prize, and dashed around the edge of the lake to the bottom outlet. He pulled the anima drill from his bag and strapped it onto his right arm, then held his crescent blade securely in his left to fend off any attackers.

The crystal landed with a splash, followed by hundreds more little splashes of the razor whiskers entering the lake. Rhen channeled his anima through his arm and into the drill, then hammered into the crystal in a diamond shape. The chunk broke off and Aki scooped it up with a splash of water before the ravenous monsters could claim it.

One of the razor whiskers got daring and charged Rhen. Jakira leapt from his side and smashed its head down into the ice with her club. She dragged the body ashore before the others could get to it, and pulled the core from its chest.

Rhen chiseled away at another section of the crystal, kicking monsters to his right and slashing at them to his left to keep them off him. The growing cloud of snowy mist above them cast a wide shadow over the lake, and Aki used mass shadow snare, halting the monsters in their tracks.

Rhen finished his work and holstered his weapon. The chest-sized chunk of corraphine would be more than enough to get his inn going with indoor plumbing. He stuffed the drill and the gem into his enon bag, and looped it shut with a swift tug. He strapped in, then looked at all the frozen monsters.

They would be easy pickings, and he could get a fair number of cores out of them for leveling up… but he had no idea how they affected the balance of the chamber, or the balance of the node hidden deep in the corraphine. For now, the corraphine was a replenishable source of raw material that was essential to his build, and he didn’t want to disrupt that in any way.

“Let’s get out of here,” Rhen declared, backing away from the mob of floating razor whiskers.

Aki released his spell, his color very pale. Frost had accumulated on his body, and Rhen rushed to his side. “What’s wrong?”

“I could not maintain my heat spell and the snare at once. I will warm up in a moment.”

Pink soothing aura fell over the three of them, and the razor whiskers lost interest in the delvers. The air around Aki was a little too hot for Rhen’s comfort—having blubberific active—so he stepped back knowing his friend would recover soon.

They navigated through the thick pines to the exit, and crossed the lake without interference from the massive inhabitants. The megafish had learned that the huge cephalopods were dangerous when challenged, but typically harmless if they ignored one another. Rhen hoped when things slowed down a little, he could catalogue the behaviors of the ecosystems and learn their balance to perfect the farming of the zones.

A well-run dungeon. That’s all he ever wanted.

He took the two chunks of corraphine to the control node and activated the control center with them in hand. A three-dimensional grid of the dungeon came into view in the big, gray void. Rhen channeled the corraphine into the control center, and a whole bevy of options unlocked for him.

Modification one was a functional sink for the kitchen. Next, Rhen had to expand into the aquatic chamber to create the baths. He designed the tiered pools to flow down into a drainage pool that would be sucked back up to the surface for their eventual farm plots. He didn’t want to contaminate the aquatic chamber with delver filth and soap, which could’ve had irreparable impacts on the flora and fauna.

He designed four more private pools that had small, frosted windows overlooking the rainforest and aquatic chambers, squeezing them into the wall that divided the two. This pushed the walls out a small measure on either chamber’s side, but it was small enough that it shouldn’t have had an impact on the ecosystems.

Rhen discovered he could use the corraphine to heat the water, too. It seemed not only to have gravity control, but temperature. Corraphine must’ve had both enon and mana style animas inside it. He chose to heat most of the baths to a comfortable eighty degrees, but the four private baths were one-hundred to one-hundred and fifteen degrees.

There was still a sizable celinom gem they had not used, which he installed just above the water intake system for the baths. The water would fill in the celinom chamber where it would become infused with its power to restore anima to the body. It would be a great addition to help the delvers stay energized through their tireless work.

Last but not least, Rhen made several changing rooms where the bathers could undress and store their gear.

Rhen eyed the steep and narrow tunnel down to the aquatic chamber… may as well fix that while he was at it. He transformed the tunnel into a wide, winding staircase with a smooth ramp at the center for transporting vehicles. It was much nicer, now, even stately looking. He liked it.

When it was all finished, Rhen sighed with relief. One more thing down.

[Dungeon Editing – Bath Installments!]

Cost for current adjustments: 4,985 anima points

{Aquatic} chamber allotment: 108,644

{Rainforest} chamber allotment: 413,333

{Mastery} chamber allotment: 28,029

Current chamber allotment: 6,032

Pending absorption from deceased creatures: 1,020

Which chamber allotment would you like to utilize to make these changes?

-----

“The current chamber,” Rhen said. He didn’t think he’d be needing the control node’s anima for anything else in the near future, and it was better not to upset the balance elsewhere if he could avoid it.

As the changes rumbled all around him, Rhen wondered how big the alpine chamber’s anima well would be… massive if he had to guess. Despite the looming deadlines, he felt a sense of wonder and excitement. If he could keep his dungeon, there was so much still left to explore.

“Baths!” the excited cry pulled Rhen from the control center and back to reality.

“There’re baths! And they’re hot!” Olliat ran up the hall from the inn, joy plastered in her broad grin.

She charged Rhen and gave him a huge hug. “Thank you, Deo!”

Rhen gasped, his ribs crushed under her grip. “You’re welcome. And just… call me Rhen. Please. For the love of… fluff.”

“I’m going to ask Leslie to make some towels! We’ll need a nice, soft fabric, oh and bath robes, oooh and slippers too!” Olliat released him and ran for the hall leading to the crafter’s chamber.

“Can’t wait,” Rhen called after her.

But it would have to wait. He had some new abilities to peruse before he could soak.

Aki and Jakira were waiting for him at the mastery node, silent. Though not silent… Rhen was certain they’d been talking, just not out loud. Jakira’s grim stare vanished when she finally saw Rhen enter the chamber.

She smiled with an air of guilt. “Hey, we waited for you.”

“What were you two talking about,” Rhen asked with a smirk.

“Everything smart,” Aki said, fluttering with yellow joy. The reversal joke didn’t have a perfect landing, but it was a good try.

“Great. So, you guys will solve all our problems, right?”

“Working on it presently,” Jakira said with a smug grin.

Rhen palmed the razor whisker core and placed his hand on the mastery node. “Show me this creature’s abilities.”

Blue light burst from his hand as the core dissolved. The anima flowed up his arm and into the node, inking out in neat little lines of text just above it.

[Syntial Additions and Expansion]

Available Options: 24 {Expand? Y | N}

Ancilla Level II Razor Whisker – Unique Creature Abilities:

{Stone Solid}

Ancilla I | Active:Persistent | Mana | Death | Cost: 15%

Append to Prima Sea-Shell. Harden your shell all the way through, turning your body to stone. You cannot move or cast spells other than to dismiss the effects of Stone Solid. While hardened, increase anima regeneration by 40%. Just like with Sea-Shell, any damage done to you while in solid form has the potential to detonate on the aggressor if your shell was crafted from magical materials.

{Deep Cuts}

Prima I | Active | Kinse | Death | Cost: 10% anima

Infuse any blade with anima to increase the sharpness by 50%. This blade will cut deeper and cleaner. Likelihood of being disarmed with Deep Cuts active reduced by 20%. Deep Cuts persists on a blade for {5} minutes.

{Too Cute}

Prima I | Passive | Cebrum | Light | Cost: None

You’re just the cutest, even if you’re bringing horrible death. Effects of Too Cute are impossible to determine, as every observer may react differently. Too Cute cannot be deactivated.

-----

Well, that last one would explain why Rhen thought rocks looked cute. Good thing it wasn’t too distracting for him. Deep Cuts was a great choice that no doubt led to other great options. Even if Rhen decided to go with a bow for the alpine chamber, he could make the arrowheads sharper, pierce deeper. That would be invaluable in fighting monsters that had blubberific.

Rhen grimaced as he realized it probably helped the razor whiskers murder one another for the corraphine.

He was a few percentages over his anima capacity, and so it was high time for a new syntial. With a thought, he selected to add Deep Cuts.

Blue anima swirled in the heart of the node, then surged up to the inside of Rhen’s left forearm. The new syntial took shape, sharp and deadly. Its interior symbol looked like two curved blades back to back. When the imprint was done, Rhen massaged the spot and stepped away.

Jakira stepped up next. “Too Cute sounds very tempting, but I don’t think I need to become any more of a distraction than I already am.” She gave Rhen a sly wink and he grinned.

She panned through the other abilities leisurely, and Aki pulled Rhen aside.

“I will be taking my leave for a few days.”

Rhen scowled, confused. “What?”

“I must handle something for the dungeon. I will not fail you.”

“But Aki…”

The Prelusk elongated his watery body to gain some height on Rhen, as if trying to straighten and assert himself. He’d learned that from Rhen… and Rhen knew that meant he was serious. There was nothing he could say to change his mind, even if he felt Aki was needed at the dungeon.

Rhen sighed. “You are your own person, and I won’t stop you, but you will be missed here.”

Aki flapped his fins and pulsed pink. “I am sure my brief absence will scarcely be noticed.”

He turned away, heading for the dungeon exit.

“You’re leaving now?”

“I have no belongings to pack, and no goodbyes to say, for I will return shortly.”

Rhen smiled, crossing his arms as he watched his friend go. “You better.”