A calm settled over the whole of the dungeon. The core was back in control. All invaders were gone and a massive gate was blocking more from entering.

Chickens settled into their nests and rested with the coin mimic that hadn’t been returned to the front hall.

Bats slept on peacefully looking more like decorations than dangers.

Snakes and spiders who had been created less than a day before their core fell silent. They were just now coming out of their hides and exploring the damp, dim stone halls of their home. Watched over by the Titan Rat Snake. Being sentient the core didn’t confine him to his room. He could slither through all the halls and tunnels. Bathe in the warm waters of the stream and pool.

He looked over the edge of the waterfall down to the next floor. No light shone from below but there was a sweet scent to the air that combated the damp smell of his home. He was curious as to what was down there but not so much that he was willing to leave his nest. Speaking of. Now that he’d seen all the halls of his floor he slithered back to the boss room. Hearing nothing from the core room the Titan Rat Snake curled up in a nice depression and napped until he was needed.

The 4 kobolds and one goblin settled into their room as they had very rarely done in their lives. They napped or poked around to see what all the Creator had given them.

Saw was the only one that wasn’t completely relaxed. She was worried about what the Creator would think of what she had done. Would she be punished? Would they banisher her from the dungeon? Dooming her to die as her mana bled out. She sat in the corner of the bend that hid their room. She didn’t want to bring down her tribe. To be a further hindrance and disappointment. She would wait until the Creator called for her.

On the floor below the solem kobold the dungeon core also settled into a snooze. Letting my mind rest and relax. So much had changed in so little time. There were even more changes to come.

Unknown time passed in this lulled state.

Finally my mind and mana had recharged and I felt like myself once again. ….. Well not exactly. I felt like more.

More what? I wasn’t sure. But it was as though I was even more connected to my dungeon and my creations.

Speaking of, there is one that I wanted to have a closer look at.

Pulling up the blueprint of the Dire Bear was intimidating.

Dire Bear

Mammal

A massive variant of brown bears. They range from 10-13 ft from tip to tail and 5ft at the shoulder. Their claws can slice through most anything and they are magically resistant. They make their homes in caves they have dug out of solid stone.

HP:100

MP:25

Drops

50% of the time

DP:10

Bear hide

Dire bear claws

Dire Bear teeth

Dire bear liver

50%

30%

10%

10%

This is my strongest blueprint. With an HP 4 times higher than a level 1 kobold and DP twice that of the next highest.

I knew just where to place this beast. This would be the hurdle of level 5. The halfway point of my first section. As I thought of it the floor built itself in my mind. It would be unlike any of the floors before it. Lives would be lost to this behemoth.

Metaphorically shaking my head I tucked the floor layout away. I still hadn’t finished the 3rd floor and didn’t even know what to do for the 4th. This was no time to fantasize about floor 5.

Before I get back to building though I need to check if anyone can level up.

Scanning over the second floor, as expected, nothing had gained any experience.

Moving on I worked my way toward the kobolds.

One of my precious little mimics leveled up. I added their skill point to luck, hoping that would make them harder to spot. Maybe surprise a few more people.

4 of the 10 chickens were able to level up. I dropped all of their skill points into dexterity. That would make them harder to catch and watching them would be more fun for me.

I poked at the bats. All 10 lazily responded but they still didn’t seem interested in moving. None of them had more than a dozen XP so I left them be. Jack, Sally and Emily, as constructs, can’t level so I moved on to the garden.

After checking that none of the mandrakes could level I looked over Grug.

Name

Grug

Title

Rank

D

Level

3

Deity

Arizo

AC

13

Race

Bugbear

class

HP

40

MP

7

Strength

17

Dexterity

11

Constitution

15

Wisdom

9

Charisma

7

Luck

10

Armor

Weapon

He is far too strong for this floor. But where to put him. If I moved him to the 3rd floor his love of flowers was going to start fights as people wanted to pick things and attacked the fungaloids I planned to place there.

“Arizo.” I called to bring her out of meditation.

“How can I help?” She could clearly feel that I had a question.

“I want to move Grug to the 4th floor but I don’t know what to do with it yet. I don’t want two garden levels back to back. And the 5th floor is going to be a slog for anyone that gets that far. So there is going to need to be a nice relaxing room at the end as a warning.”

“Well Olive’s mom seemed worried about where the gates might take her. And all of the team except Olive and Le’Ly paused before crossing the threshold. So maybe some disconnected rooms that people portal through. That way no two rooms have to be the same.”

I sent her a wave of happiness and gratitude. “That’s perfect. I’ll get to perfecting the idea once I have everyone leveled up and get the 3rd floor finished.”

“If you need any more help. Don’t hesitate to ask me or Una.”

She returned to meditating. I was a bit curious what was on her mind but she’d been so stressed with taking on my duties and worrying about me that I wanted to give her time to recover. If she was still out of sorts when I was ready to build the 4th floor I would say something.

Puting that to the side for now I turned my attention toward the kobolds and little goblin.

I stopped at the lone kobold. I could feel the sadness and fear rolling off of her. “Saw.” I spoke gently.

“Creator!” She yelped and scurred to her feet.

“Why are you sitting out here miserable?”

“I… I…” Her shame, fear and sadness grew. As a dragon she couldn’t cry but I got the feeling that she would if she were able. “Please don’t banish me!” She cried out, desperation in her voice.

Before she would say anything more I surrounded her with love and acceptance. “Saw I am not going to banish you or push you or any other nasty things running through your mind. Una overreacted to your fear of losing her and of me being attacked directly. While I can’t say that no one will ever reach my core and try to harm me I can tell you there is a massive Quartz Golem and a snake large enough to swallow you whole between them and my core. I have more tricks up my non-existent sleeves than you might think. So have faith. Faith that those I choose to protect our home are capable. That if anyone makes it past you there is an army waiting to avenge you and defend me.”

She was looking at the floor and sniffled a few times. “I’m sorry I doubted you. Seeing Una have to be dragged off. It terrified me. She’s so strong and cunning. A great chief-mother. I will work harder to remember that we aren’t the only defenders. That there are others below stronger than we could ever hope to be.”

“I don’t know about that. There is great potential in kobolds and one day I will unlock it and you will evolve into something Legendary.” That word seemed to have power and I could feel the movement of magic as I said the words.

Saw dropped to one knee and bowed her head. “I accept.” She declared with fiery passion returning to her voice.

Quest Giver

Gain a portion of the experience from each completed quest

“What was the quest I just gave you called?” I asked. Something else I didn’t know could happen.

“Become a Legend. It says I must evolve into a Legendary creature.”

“Does it list any rewards?”

“Yes, Creator. I will receive bonus experience, skills and abilities based on the form I take.”

So this was a total unknown until I eventually evolved her. “Well I think we can take the 1st step right now. Ready to level up?”

Her eyes shone. “Yes, please Creator.”

I opened her stat block and it looked just like Una’s had at level 1

Name

Title

Rank

F

Level

1

Deity

Unnamed Core

AC

12

Race

Kobold

class

fighter

HP

25

MP

2

Strength

7

Dexterity

14

Constitution

9

Wisdom

10

Charisma

8

Luck

12

Armor

Vine Sack

Weapon

Iron Hack Saw

Twin Iron Daggers

Level Up?

Looking over her and taking on how she fought I decided dexterity would be the best fit. Hopefully it would give her better options with her daggers.

She stretched and flexed, seeming to like whatever change she felt.

I couldn’t help but chuckle at her enthusiasm. Turning from Saw I moved on to the group of them.

“All of you have collected enough experience to Level up. Are you ready?”

“Yes Creator!” They cheered in unison. The goblin was watching from one of the beds.

I put the skill point in strength for Axe, constitution for Left and Right and finally wisdom for Shovel.

“Thank you all for keeping me safe while I was indisposed.” They all bowed toward the doorway. “Now little goblin,” I turned my attention to him. He shanked back into the bed and looked like he was expecting a blow. “Have you explored the rest of this floor?”

“N.. no Great Voice.” He was trembling.

“I’m not here to hurt you little grunt. You allied yourself with Arizo and as long as you stay in her service you will never need to fear me and mine.” I tried to reassure him. He didn’t seem to believe me so I moved on. “I think the first floor is far too close to the entrance for your liking.”

He looked around wildly but all the kobolds were relaxed and just idly curious about what would happen to their current roommate.

“Creator.” Shovel spoke. He seemed embarrassed.

“Yes?” I wondered what he had to say.

“Is there a way for us to still see him?” His hand flexed on the handle of his shovel in nervousness. “He needs his own place but he’s funny to watch and listen to.” he would be blood red if he could blush.

I thought about the request and how that would work. Only the goblin seemed bothered by my prolonged silence. Finally I chuckled. “You can stay here for now. I’ll explain my plans for the 4th floor to all of you when it’s ready. I think that will also be a good time to upgrade your equipment.”

“Thank you Creator.” He bowed again, hand over his heart.

PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP

“Arizo!” I called with excitement.

She perked up and looked at me with a smile. Una also turned to me from where she was lounging under the cherry tree by my door.

“Did something happen?” Arizo questioned.

“Nothing terribly interesting. But when I went to move the goblin Shovel asked if he could stay in touch. Seems at least one of the kobolds have grown fond of your servant. Who really needs a name. So that added to my plans for the 4th floor. And I was wondering, would it affect the DP of the 1st floor to have a portal to the 4th and let the kobolds come and go from there?”

“Well when they left the floor there would be unused DP on the 1st floor and you would need the same free DP on the 4th floor or dungeon magic won’t allow the portal to open if there are invaders on either level.” She explained.

“Ok so there has to be available DP only if there are invaders?”

“Yes. You can move creatures however you like so long as there is no one here. But if you have too much DP on a floor and an invader arrives then the last created creatures will vanish until the DP is below the floor limit.”

“So why didn’t anyone vanish when the bear attacked?” She looked at me oddly. “The DP for the 1st floor is at its limit. That’s why there is only 1 coin mimic. Grug and the goblin should have tipped us over the limit and caused some of my creations to vanish.”

Her brow furrowed as she thought about that.

“Perhaps, Creator, residents don’t cost D.P.” We could tell Una was confused by the abbreviation and unsure if her wording was correct.

I hummed and looked at Grug. Toying around in his menus I noticed that unlike my creations I couldn’t reabsorb him. I also couldn’t access his drops menu to change what invaders might get for killing him.

“That’s a possibility.” I said, focusing back in the core room. “The next time you go talk to the fairies you can ask. Maybe one of them knows more. But for now we’ll assume they don’t count toward DP and move on. That will allow me to add more creatures to floor 4.”

Arizo nodded. “I don’t remember hearing about residents but I don’t know everything there is to know about dungeons. And you are special. There has never been a dungeon that followed Death.”

“We’ll figure everything out eventually. It’s more fun when you don’t know what's going to happen.” She chuckled and shook her head. “Now I’m going to rearrange the creatures on the 2nd floor using some of our new blueprints, then finish building floor 3. Once I finish 2 I’ll raise the portcullis.”

“And we’ll be back open for business.” Arizo replied.