I could feel myself running out of mana, and based on what I could sense of my surroundings via the invisible and intangible tendrils that made up the bulk of my body it seemed as if I hadn’t gotten anywhere near to where I wanted to be in order to build my new room.

Based on my current size I didn’t want to risk rooms and tunnels running into each other in case I needed to expand them again later, so I couldn't have anything too close. I knew for a fact that myconid sprouts were larger than kobolds, and I still wanted some eventually, so I would need to make everything larger eventually.

Come to think of it, I had no idea how big humans were… What if they were bigger than even the sprouts? How big would I have to make myself to accommodate them?!

There was no use worrying about it right now, however. Right now I wanted to go ahead and stamp out my general room layout before Mama Badger could steal too many rooms from me. I could worry about the size of things later, as well as all the additional tunnels I wanted to build to turn myself into a maze. Rooms came first, proper design later.

Still, I needed to keep in mind the eventual layout I wanted while I was building. The idea I had in mind was to split my tunnels up and build them in such a way that they sprawled outwards, making it hard to tell which way was leading an intruder deeper in or taking them closer to the entrance. It was partly why I hadn’t dug out most of my tunnels in a straight line, aside from my straight path out on the original entrance and where I had met the wall and [Tunneled] alongside it.

It was convenient that I hadn’t [Tunneled] in perfectly straight lines when I had been focused on dragging myself out of the badger family’s area now that I had a plan. While I hadn’t had a plan in mind from the beginning it seemed as if things had worked out, because what I knew was that I didn’t want anything in my dungeon to be straight and even, except for the smoothness of my walls. I wanted the floor to be uneven and change in slant and elevation so that it was misleading for people walking through, and also to hopefully trip them up a bit in the dark.

So far the floors and ceilings were smooth and even as well, but I would do something about that eventually, when I got around to actually making things the proper size. First thing was first, however, and that was to make sure I could actually do what I wanted with my dungeon.

Who wanted to explore from one room to the next in an easy, linear, order? Not me, that was for sure. I wanted tunnels that ended nowhere, rooms that didn’t lead into the next so that whatever human eventually wandered in would have to backtrack if they wanted to go deeper into the dungeon. I wanted to maximize the time spent exploring in confusion, and keep them as far from my core as possible for as long as possible.

Which was why it was absolutely imperative that I dig out at least two more rooms before Mama Badger did.

Inner Voice was still silent on what special rooms were, no matter my mental questioning, but I had my metaphorical fingers crossed that I would find out before too long. It would help with the layout I had planned if I had access to another two, possibly even three, special rooms. Knowing my luck, however, I wouldn’t find out about special rooms until I either hit level two or had dug out my five total basic rooms.

Still, I was hopeful about what the special rooms might be and how they could be useful, and I couldn’t help but imagine what they might be.

What about a room with a massive monster to protect me? Maybe not a myconid sprout but perhaps a full grown one? The sprouts were already huge compared to Cobble, so I could imagine that a full grown one would be even larger than that. Or maybe even one of those dragons that kobolds were apparently descended from! Those sounded pretty vicious. I could put that ahead of my own room that would house my core… What would a room like that even be called?

It would be nice if I could make a separate room just for my core that didn’t add to my current room count, but even though I paused to wait for Inner Voice to pipe in with details it seemed as if nothing happened. I just wasn’t asking myself the right questions.

Aside from Mama Badger digging it seemed that I was alone in my dungeon, and alone in my own head, and somehow that just didn’t feel right anymore. Making Cobble had changed things. Having someone to talk to had changed things. It felt wrong with them gone somehow, like I was just shouting into nothingness, unheard.

Pretty upsetting thought, that. I decided not to think about that too much and to instead focus on building back up mana. I could always use up the last of it [Tunneling] and simply pass out, let it hit thirty and then wake up again, but if Cobble came back with new things to eat for points and mana then I would be completely missing out on those until I woke up.

At least I wasn’t entirely alone. I had Mama Badger snuffling and digging away, claws scratching at the dirt. Sure, her digging was really beginning to worry me, but at least I wasn’t in complete silence.

Wait… Mama Badger, why did you stop digging? Not that I’m complaining because I really could use more time to get back to my own work, but I’d still really like to know! Hey, wait! Where are you going?! Are you really leaving right now? Right when I was appreciating all your little snorts and huffs?!

Selfish little badger! Fine! Leave! See if I care! I’ve got plenty of things to do to occupy myself!

She left the dungeon, not even hesitating, and I was left alone in total and complete silence. Who was I even kidding? I had nothing to occupy myself with, I was a stationary rock on a shelf and only my monsters could hear me. All I could really do was sit and think and plan ahead. With my mana so low I couldn’t even really risk digging too much more.

The only point in continuing to dig at the moment would be in hopes I came across another mana filled stone so I could just keep digging some more, and since that was fairly unlikely I decided instead it was time to [Appraise] myself again and try to plan ahead. Planning was really all I had, after all. Hopefully if I hit Inner Voice with more direct questions they would actually answer me for once.

Kor, [Dungeon Core] Lvl. 1

Title: None

HP: 10/10

MP: 9/52

Size: 10.62 M

Points: 22

Mobs:

Kobold 1/5

Skills:

[Appraisal] Lvl. 2 [Tunneling] Lvl. 2 [Room Building] Lvl. 1

[Mana Absorption] [Door Building] Lvl.1

Yikes my mana was low, I probably didn’t have enough to tick my size up to an even eleven M, whatever the M stood for. Mass? Meters? Material? All I knew was that it stood for my size, and it certainly didn’t feel like meters fit. I wasn’t quite sure what a meter was, aside from a vague unit of measurement, but I had a feeling that it didn’t really apply to me.

I could bug Inner Voice about the mystery of the M, but I had other questions in mind for myself. I didn’t like sitting in the silence all alone, after all, so hopefully I could do something to change that.

Hey, Inner Voice, how many points does it take to summon another kobold?

It costs five points to summon another kobold.

Five points? Only five points?! I had been holding out expecting that it would be ten or something like that, but it turned out that I had enough points all along to make another kobold and name it. That was just perfect! Wouldn’t Cobble be surprised when they came back only to find they had a new friend? Kobolds weren’t meant to be alone, after all, and even if I ended up passing out after making one that still worked out in my favour.

If I passed out I didn’t have to sit in silence, and if I didn’t? I still didn’t have to sit in silence. With Mama Badger taking a break from digging I wasn’t in so much of a time crunch, so I could afford to take the risk.

Alright then, Inner Voice! It’s time for me to make another kobold!

Generate Kobold?

Yes! Give me another kobold, please and thank you!

Generating Kobold.

The same way as when I had created Cobble I found my core began to glow brighter and brighter, the red light filling the room that it had been placed in, becoming so bright that it was almost white. I was almost worried that the light could be seen from outside somehow, that was just how bright it was. For a moment I couldn’t see anything else but that light, and all my other senses went completely numb.

I couldn’t feel my floors, or my walls, I couldn’t feel the air coming in from outside or taste the dampness of the soil near my new entrance… There was nothing. Just me and the blinding light as I sacrificed points to bring another kobold to life.

When the light faded I was greeted with a sight that was actually a little bit surprising. I had expected another Cobble, all dusty green and yellow bellied with a wide, flat, blunted tail but… What I got wasn’t that at all.

This new kobold was a brilliant shade of blue, with darker stripes running horizontally down its back to the tip of its tail. Where Cobble’s tail was flattened out parallel to the floor, this new kobold’s tail was flattened parallel to the walls, but only near the end. That wasn’t the only change, either. Its eyes were orange in colour, slightly smaller than Cobble’s own yellow ones, and its snout was wider. In fact, the entire kobold was wider than Cobble was, shorter as well, with thicker muscles.

Its scales had a different shape, too. Where Cobble’s were kind of squarish in shape this one had more rounded ones, overlapping each other and ending in points rather than fitting neatly together the way the stones in the wall fit together.

The biggest difference? From the top of its head, ahead of the rounded ridges that sat like a crown around the back of its head, were a pair of black curved horns that swept backward.

If I didn’t know it was also a kobold I would think it was an entirely different species. Was this some sort of gender difference? Cobble was bigger, like Papa Badger was, so maybe this new kobold was what the females of the species looked like? I could always ask, but I didn’t want another confusing conversation like I had with Cobble when I first made them. It was already turning in a slow circle, sniffing at the air as it investigated its surroundings. I had a feeling if I interrupted it with questions I would just find myself more confused than it was.

My plan was to [Appraise] the kobold first, hit it with a name, and then after I compared the before and after stat difference to see what really changed with the upgrade, then and only then would I try to hold a conversation. The poor thing looked really confused, so I wanted to hurry up as fast as possible before it went and got itself lost in my tunnels, or worse, tried to open the badger door.

Nameless[Kobold] Lvl. 1

Title: None

Male

HP: 6/6

SP: 10/10

MP: 5/5

Skills:

[Dragon Heritage] [Dungeon Knowledge] [Trap Making] Lvl. 1

[Kobold Knowledge]

Oh hey! I didn’t even need to ask! It looked like the newly upgraded [Appraisal] could tell me gender now, and skills too apparently, unless Cobble just didn’t have any yet. I was going to hope that it was the former and not the latter. If a level two [Appraisal] could only tell me gender as an added bonus then that would be absolutely stupid.

It looked like he had more HP than Cobble did when I first made them, too, though not by much. Maybe it had something to do with the fact he was wider? He did look stronger, so maybe that played into hit points somehow? Actually… If this was a male kobold, then did that mean that Cobble was a female kobold? Also, what was [Dragon Heritage]?

So many questions and no time to ask, not with him beginning to head towards the tunnels. I had a kobold to name, and I knew just what I wanted to name him, too. The moment I had seen him I knew exactly what it was I was going to call him. It just fit all too perfectly for him to be named anything else. I gave my mana one more quick glance with [Appraisal] and let out an annoyed huff.

I was going to pass out again, I just knew it. I felt as tired as I did when I had given Cobble their name. I hadn’t originally wanted to just pass out again, but I had a bit more time now thanks to Mama Badger heading out, and hopefully I could put my new kobold to work alongside Cobble while I took my impromptu nap. I would just have to give him some instructions before I passed out, just to make sure that everything went smoothly and he didn’t get himself into any trouble.

“Hey. Don’t look so surprised! Listen up close, okay? No interrupting! I’m about to take a nap, and while I do I want you to stay in this room of the dungeon and wait for another kobold named Cobble to show up. They’ll explain the dungeon rules when they get here, and when they do I want you to go help them gather things, okay? Hey! No buts! You’ll be able to leave the dungeon to go with them, because I’m about to give you a name.”

Though he was built differently he was just as cute as Cobble was, it seemed. The way his expressions shifted when I spoke was positively adorable, the larger and softer ridges on the sides of his head shifting and moving as he listened to me speak. They seemed more mobile than Cobble’s were, which made him just absolutely precious.

He had seemed so confused at first, becoming even more so when I mentioned Cobble and leaving the dungeon, even trying to interrupt me with what I was sure would be a protest about being unable to leave the dungeon, but by the time I said I was giving him a name? All I could see was pure joy written on every scaly feature. If [Dungeon Knowledge] did what I thought it did then he knew exactly what getting a name meant.

His tail swayed rapidly and he shifted on his feet, hands held near his chest as he eagerly awaited his name.

“The name I’m giving you is Cobalt, in honour of just how rich and blue your scales are. It’s the perfect name for you, don’t you think?”

I felt the mana drain out of me with a rush, the world instantly becoming black. There was no time to even question what was happening to me, I was passing out, simple as that. The only thing I could even think to worry about was the pain I was going to be in when I woke up.