I next became aware, everything felt sore and off. My sense of balance and self were distorted and I couldn’t smell or taste anything. I stretched myself trying to figure out what was going on and where I was.

After looking around and feeling around I began to understand my new form and it’s new senses. I could see everything in the 10 ft by 10ft by 10 ft room I was in. I knew the exact measurements and that the walls were all made of the same thing.

That was when I hit a hiccup. I knew that I knew what the walls were made of but I couldn’t seem to access those memories. I then of course tried to find what else I couldn’t remember. Well that worked about as good as you can imagine. But I knew there were large parts of my knowledge and memory being blocked by something. Trying to push against the block just made my mind hurt.

Resting my mind after giving myself a major headache I tried to put that issue aside.

I then tried to push my mind into the walls and see if that helped. It didn’t. It was just a weird feeling. Whatever sense I was using to feel the room was pushed somewhat into one wall but it felt like putting your hand in a bowl of slime unexpectedly. So I knew what slime was, though I also knew I knew how to make slime but the formula was again behind the barrier. Which was getting frustrating.

Before I could give into frustration and start attacking one of the walls there was a shift in the air.

I could feel something touching the room I was in. It was a really hard feeling to describe having no known sensation to compare it to.

Again before I could freak out about the odd feeling there was a small magic doorway that appeared and a being came through. The door shut right after.

The being was about double my height, which only made then 6 inches tall. They looked female with shimmery turquoise hair, 6 thin, see through, iridescent wings. They seemed to shift from purple colors to green shades. And their skin seemed to also shine.

“Hello?” That seemed to be my stock response to odd situations and creatures.

“Hi. I’m Arizo, your Dungeon Fairy. I…. I didn’t expect you to be female.” Her stock greeting cut off in confusion.

“I’m pretty sure I’m a rock and rocks don’t have a gender.”

The fairy blushed, which turned her whole body a soft red color. “Oh… I … I’m sorry. You… you just sound female is all I meant. Most Dungeons sound more masculine and identify as male.”

I chuckled at her. “It’s ok. This is all very strange. I’m………..” I paused in confusion. There were many names in my mind. All suffelling around with all their context behind the barrier. “I don’t have a name.” I finally said, deciding that all the names were either of others I had known or names of my past selves. While I might have some of their memories I was someone new.

It was her turn to giggle at my confused reply. “Most new Dungeons don’t have names right away. You will find a name or be named by the sentients that will one day come into your halls.”

While I have no head to nod she seemed to understand that I was making the gesture. Another odd sensation that my new form had. “I have questions.”

“That’s what I’m here for. To answer any questions I can and to help guide you.”

“Firstly, why do I have memories that I can feel but not access?”

“Oh,” Her wings slumped a bit. “I don’t have a great answer for that. Us fairies believe that it is to keep you from cheating. As you consume and unlock blueprints for materials, items and creatures the block will lessen. If you had in depth knowledge of a material or creature in one of your other lives you could in theory unlock it without having ever encountered the thing. That could lead to Dungeons being overpowered which would ruin the balance.”

“I see. That makes sense. And knowing that the block is temporary makes it much less frightening. So what is a dungeon’s purpose?”

“This world is filled with mana. But that mana isn’t pure. Living things that use impure mana retain the impurities which accelerates their aging. Dungeons take the impure mana from the air, materials and creatures and cleanse it.”

“So Why would I want creatures to come inside my dungeon if I’m just a giant filter?”

She gave a soft smile. “Because you will get bored just sitting in this box never moving or learning new things. Also they bring you new items and ideas. You don’t sound like you want to kill everything so they can be used to test your skills. How complex you can make puzzles, how hard are your riddles and labyrinths.”

“Ok so killing things is just a defense. But rewarding them will make them leave and come again so I can see how they grow and their growth also helps me grow.”

“Yes. Also sentient beings are filled with impurities. The longer you can keep them in the dungeon of their own free will the more energy and experience you gain. Though it won’t be as much as if they died in the tunnels.”

“But if they die they can’t pick up more impurities to bring to me. And the stronger they get the more interesting the items they will likely have with them.”

Arizo laughed and clapped happily. “I’m so glad I have a smart Dungeon Core this time.”

“You’ve helped other Dungeons?” There was a hint of jealousy that came out of nowhere.

She faltered again. Her light dimmed to almost nothing and I could till I’d hit on a bad subject.

“They are in the past and can’t hurt you now. You are MY Fairy now. And while I may have most of my memory blocked off there is one thing I know for sure. I take care of my people. I may not want to be a murder pit but anyone threating my friends will see just how deadly I can be.”

The ferocity in my words startled her but I could see that she felt better hearing I’d defend her.

“Now What do we do first?” I asked after the air seemed to clear between us.

“First let’s see that your stats are. Just think the word “Status’ and something should appear.”

Name

Rank

F

Level

0

0/100

Deity

Death

AC

25

HP

500

MP

50

Strength

20

Dexterity

18

Constitution

20

Wisdom

23

Charisma

14

Luck

21

“You can share what you are seeing by willing me to see it.” It took a moment but Arizo then smiled. “ I see it. So what are your first questions?”

“What is the difference between Rank and Level?”

“Rank is how dangerous you are and Level is how far you have progressed.” She replied. “Usually rank is based on the rank of your most powerful creature or on the highest ranking being you have killed. Though if you become a murder pit or gain an unusal ability or skill, your rank may go up higher than that. Levels are really more important because you can only have as many floors as you have levels.”

“Ok. I understand. So why do I have a dexterity or charisma?”

“Each of your attributes have different functions than they would for a creature that moves. Strength determines how quickly you can dig through hard objects, but also your defense, which seems to be labeled AC for some reason?” She finished in confusion.

“Armor class. It makes sense to me.” I explained sure that I would run into the block if I tried to explain why the term made sense.

Arizo nodded. “So in mobile creatures dexterity is how agile they are. For you it is how hard it is to find things in the dungeon. Your traps and secret passages are harder to detect. Constitution is your mental strength and determines your health points. Wisdom determines your mana points and how quickly you do mental tasks. Charisma is how well you influence others and Luck is odd. It doesn’t seem to do much but can increase your chances of random events.”

Arizo paused then gave a large smile. “Your attributes also affect the things you make. High strength means they will have slightly higher strength, and so on. Your scores are on the high end in wisdom and luck while charisma is low.”

“That makes sense. I have a strong feeling that I don’t care what others think of me and have been lucky in past lives.”

“Now I have a question. Why does it just say Death for deity?”

“That’s because Death, the end of all things, the great healer, is who I have allied myself with. I didn’t want to be stuck with a god or goddess that had their own agenda and was just going to try and control or manipulate me. All things die and Death is everywhere in all worlds, so I figure they know a heck of a lot better than I do. So if they ask me to do something I wouldn’t feel too bad about doing it.”

She nodded. “I can see the wisdom in that move. Now there should be another page to your stats.”

I gave her another nod that wasn’t a nod and focused on the other tab that was under my status page.

Blessings

Death's Favor

chance to spawn undead version of any living creature that dies inside your territory

Life's favor

Increase blueprint for each living thing that dies inside your territory

Increase blueprint for each living thing over time inside your territory

Fate's gambit

Chance to create 2 objects instead of one

Chance for creatures to respawn immediately on death

Skills

Excavate

Remove underground material

50 ft per MP

Lv 1 0/50

Creature Creation

Create living and/or undead creatures. Higher levels lower the cost of creation and increase the creatures stats

Lv 1 0/50

Item Creation

Create non-living things. Higher levels, decease the cost and increase the chance of creating higher quality items

Lv1 0/50

“3 blessings!?” She looked shocked. “There are several dungeons that start with no blessings. You must have really impressed Fate when you were accepting your new role.”

“That being was Fate?”

“Yes Fate themself contacts the souls that are to become higher beings. Though many that become gods, goddesses or deities consider dungeons to be the lowest form of higher beings they are wrong. Us fairies have seen dungeons that have reshaped worlds, created new worlds and brought to life never before seen races. Things many of the other immortals can’t do.”

Her anger and passion made me chuckle and fill with pride and happiness. “I don’t think I’m ready to change the world but let’s explore.” I paused and looked around the still barren room. “How do I do that?”

She giggled at me shaking her head. “You focus on one of the walls and what you want to happen. Most of your dungeon abilities are intent based.”

“Ok” So I focused on the wall I had squished my senses into and thought about making the room 30 ft long.

The wall vanished but I hurt. “OW!”

“Are you ok?” Arizo asked in concern flying closer to my crystal.

“Yeah I just got a lesson in biting off more than you can chew.” I replied, voice still strained from the pain.

Once she was sure I was going to be fine, Arizo giggled. “I’m sorry I didn’t think you would try to make such a big change all at once. Can you try again with something smaller?”

“Not right now I’m out of mana. I need time to recharge.”

“Alright. Just let yourself drift and time should pass quicker. Most immortals can ‘phase out’ so the passage of years doesn’t drive them insane.”

I nodded to her again and tried zoning out. It was an odd balance and trying to get to the right fuzziness without freaking myself into jolting back to awareness passed the time better than anything. Once I was full on mana again I focused on Arizo. She was in a sleep like state. Her inner light dimmed but I could just tell she wasn’t really asleep.

“Arizo?” I called softly so as not to startle her.

She stretched and looked around. “Full again.” When I indicated I was she continued. “ This time try to make a hallway that angles up. YOu won’t earn any experience points unless you have an opening to the surface.”

“Why?”

“What good is a filter that can’t pass the clean mana back into the world?” She replied.

I nodded again and set to work. I took my time and decided on a pattern I wanted to follow until I reached the surface. A 50ft long, 3 ft wide, 10ft tall tunnel starting in the center of the wall farthest from my crystal. I made it at a 10 degree incline. At the end of the tunnel another 10x10x10 room. So each room would be 9 ft higher than the one before. How I was able to do the trigonometry needed without a calculator was beyond me. So I just accepted it as I had been doing the other weirdness of being a dungeon.

Though I took it slow taking the 50 foot tunnel in 5ft chunks. It took longer but there was no discomfort.

Once I was done with the first room I had to stop again. Zoning out was a bit easier this time. Though I still slipped in and out of the state several times.

The next level was the exact same but done on the wall left of the tunnel coming into the room. I kept up the same size and shape of the tunnels as I moved up. Next I went to the right, then left.

I had only gone a few feet in the 4th hall when a box popped up in front of me. I must have made a sound as Arizo focused and asked what was wrong.

“There’s a pop up.” I showed it to her. That was still odd but easy to do.

Blueprint unlocked: Common stone

Common Stone: This Stone is found almost everywhere across the universe. It is often used in buildings and crushed to make roads.

“Your first blueprint!” She replied excitedly. Then frowned. “How much digging have you done?”

“I’ve made 3 halls and 3 rooms beyond this one. Why? Was that wrong?”

“No. It’s just that usually dungeons dig a small shaft straight to the surface.” She smiled at me. “I’m glad you are doing it this way. It puts more space between us and the outside.”

“I was thinking the same thing. More obstacles and less likely something can hurt or capture us before we can defend ourselves.” I was glad she understood.

“I’m going to see what you have done so far then I can show you more about blueprints.”

I watched as she flew off. It was a while before she returned with an even larger smile.

“Well I can see you don’t do anything by halves. This is going to be a massive floor. I hope we can fill it all.”

“What do you mean?”

“Oh… I forgot to tell you. Each floor you have a limited number of dungeon points to use. Here on the first floor you have 100. Each creature costs so many points. Plants, basic traps and other decor don’t use any though. But you need to save some for the boss room. Not every floor needs a boss and you might take away the 1st floor boss later but for now we need a strong monster between us and the outside.”

“How many do I get each floor?”

“You get 50 more points per floor, except floors that are multiples of 10. On those you get 100 points. Most refer to them as sections. The first section is floors 1-9 and floor 10 is the big boss of that section. Though on floor 10 you will have 600 points to spend so you can go a bit wild.” Arizo explained. “And by then we should have access to something amazing we can stock the floor with.”

I projected my happiness at the plan to her then asked the question we had skipped. “So what about blueprints?”

“Yes just think of ‘Blueprints’ and it should come up just like your status.”

“There is a page with one thing.”

It was a box, like an icon, I had to assume this was using old knowledge to display the concepts in ways I understood. The box had a black outline and was partially filled with green. Inside the box said 61%.

“This page is the things you have seen but not unlocked. Up at the top there is a tab that says ‘Materials’.”

I opened that one. Here was an icon of a rock. It told me the rarity of the stone and how much I could make, per unit of mana.

“This is the materials you have unlocked and can use to make things out of. From walls, flooring, decorative items and doors. Anything you can think up that can be made with the materials you know is possible.”

“I still feel like there is a block around my uses of the stone. I wonder if not having an opening is affecting it?”

She got a thoughtful look. “That could be. As I said most make a shaft to the surface first.”

“I don’t want to do any decorating until I hit the surface and get the bones of the floor done.”

“Ok, what are the plans for the rest of the floor?”

“Same as what you saw. More hall, room, turn 90 degrees, hall, room.”

“Exciting.” She said sarcastically.

I couldn’t help but giggle. “I’ll wake you if anything interesting happens.”

We had taken enough time that I was able to finish the hall and room and start on the 5th hall which was another left before I had to stop. For the 6th hall I made a second left so that halls 4-6 made a big U.

I was over half way done with the 6th room when another blueprint was unlocked.

Blueprint Unlocked: Common Quartz

Common Quartz: This crystal comes in many shapes and colors. It is often used in potion and charm making. There are many varieties based on the other metals and minerals within the crystal.

“Arizo.” She looked up. “I’ve made 2 more rooms and unlocked another blueprint.”

“Great. What is it?”

This time when I opened the blueprints screen there were 5 blueprints that had different amounts of green in them. From 20% to 5%. In the Materials page there was now an icon for common quartz. I had an even stronger feeling that knowledge of quartz was being blocked because when I thought of the crystal it made my mind thob.

“I hope we’re right and the block lessens when we reach the surface.” Arizo told me when I explained my reaction. “You seem kind and I don’t like my partner in pain.”

“All we can do is hope.” I replied. “Now back to the grind.”

I made a 7th room to the left of the 6th and then started work on the 8th hall to the right of that. I was almost done when there was an explosion outwards. Air rushed out of the dungeon and knocked Arizo to the ground.

“What happened?” She asked, getting to her knees and looking at me eyes wide.

“We hit the surface and there are so many boxes!” I shouted back in a bit of a panic.