Almost as soon as she left, the procession of scientists began. Most of them were taking me up on my offer to ask questions while I worked on the construction, while others only seemed interested in inspecting the dungeon. I welcomed the distraction. It helped take my mind off Anita’s parting words. The long line of visitors also helped break up the monotony of just sitting around while I poured mana into the construction, so it wasn’t as painful an experience as it could have been. Another thing that improved my mood was that David didn’t show his face. I’d been pretty blunt, though, so there was no way he could have convinced himself he’d be welcome.

Early on, as soon as I realized it might take a while, I went ahead and used some of my stored experience to level up in between visitors. I wanted to find out if Cax was right and my mana regeneration would improve by another second once I hit level 4. A single second wasn’t much of a change, but over the many hours it was going to take to finish this room, it would add up and help get the job done sooner.

Once the energy finished coursing through me, enhancing all aspects of my body and mind, Cax let me know that it had worked. My mana regeneration was now at 1mp every 14 seconds. In the dungeon, that meant it was every 7 seconds. When I pulled up the information on the construction, I saw it had also updated to reflect the changes. Now, with my increased mana pool and regeneration, and the dungeon itself also providing some of its energy, the remaining construction time was a little over sixteen hours. Depending on how many breaks I needed to take, it should be done by early Monday afternoon. With how good I was feeling thanks to the potent energy the dungeon was producing, maybe I wouldn’t need any breaks at all.

When some food was delivered by one of Anita’s staff, I asked to be left alone so I could take a break. There were two large meat lover’s pizzas, still hot, and two bottles of soft drink. I absorbed the extras as I ate. My opinion of Anita’s team was now even higher due to the fact they hadn’t ordered Hawaiian pizzas. I shuddered at the thought of absorbing the pattern for pineapple pizza into my knowledge core. It would have made me feel even dirtier than when I took the skeletons in.

When I was done, I absorbed the empty box and bottle. It was an easy way to get rid of rubbish, plus I got a bit of experience out of it. Only a couple of xp points, but still. It would add up over time. Cax let me know he approved of that attitude. “Thanks. If you can, though, go ahead and put those patterns into the same trash section as my ruined shirt. I’ll never need to use them, so no point having them show up as available options.”

I wanted to use the toilet before I got back to work. The public restrooms in the park weren’t too far away. It would be nice to stretch my legs and see what was going on up there, too. I’d have to pause the construction, but it wouldn’t be for too long.

“Just do it here,” Cax said. “The magic of the dungeon will break down all bodily waste. Unless you instruct it not to, of course.”

“Here?! On the floor like an animal?” He kept finding new ways to remind me how different we really were.

“If that’s an issue, do it in a container,” he replied.

I shook my head. “Not quite the issue.” Getting to my feet, I said, “There’s a perfectly fine toilet outside. I’m going to go and use it instead of making a mess in here.” Perfectly fine was probably a stretch considering it was a public toilet, but it would definitely be better than just going on the floor.

“Adventurers often relieved themselves in my dungeon,” he let me know. “Much more practical than going all the way back to the entrance to get outside to do it. Since you don’t have that far to go, I suppose it is not a big problem, but I still think it’s unnecessary.”

I paused the construction of the new room, dismissing the notification telling me I had to resume it within an hour. As I walked towards the stairs, I asked him a question. “What did you mean before when you said I could instruct the dungeon not to absorb waste? Why on earth would I want it lying around?”

“Sometimes you may want blood to stay where it is. People make mistakes when they’re on edge.”

I stopped walking. “Mate, that’s messed up.” He clearly disagreed, but I didn’t want to get into it now. “Anyway,” I said, drawing the word out slowly. “I actually haven’t needed to use the toilet for a while. What’s up with that?”

“As you level up and your body improves, it needs more sustenance. You won’t really notice it yet, because at the same time, your body is more efficient at making use of what you put in. That means you have less waste to get rid of.”

That’ll come in handy if I can ever find the time to go out drinking again. Won’t have to worry about breaking the seal. The feeling of exasperation from Cax brought a small smile to my lips as I resumed walking.

At the top of the stairs, I found a young man lying on a cot pulled right up to the side of the opening. He was on his back, reading a book by the light coming out of the entrance. Oops. I’d forgotten to come back up and recast the light spell. He seemed to be doing alright without it, so I wouldn’t bother now. He got up immediately when he saw me appear, laying his book down on the ground. “Is everything alright, sir?” he asked respectfully.

“Sir?! Just call me Dean,” I told him, sticking my hand out. He took it a little nervously. “Rick,” he said.

“Nice to meet you, Rick. So, how are things up here? And where’d you get the bed from?”

“We brought them with us. Some people always want to stay on site, so we have another tent set up with a bunch of cots inside. We also have rooms rented at a nearby motel. Most of the team will stay there. Do you want me to get a bed for you?” he asked helpfully.

With a mind to grinding my abilities, I asked, “Actually, is it ok if I just borrow this one?”

“Sure. I’ll carry it down for you.”

“No need.” I leaned over, placed my hand on the cot, and tried to absorb it.

Unable to absorb target.

Prior claim exists.

Huh?

“Interesting. Since it belongs to someone else, it seems to be protected from your ability,” Cax theorized.

“But he said I could have it.”

“Not quite. He said you could borrow it. Completely destroying it is not borrowing it.”

I looked up at Rick from where I was bent over his cot. He was looking at me strangely. “Are you ok?”

I flashed him an awkward smile, realizing how strange it must look to him. “Yep, all good. Just hit a little snag. Say, are you allowed to give these away? Permanently?”

He seemed confused by the question. “Umm, yeah, I guess.”

“Great. Do me a favor and clearly state that you are giving this to me to keep.”

“Are you sure you’re ok?” He now seemed worried about me.

“It will make sense in a minute. Please.”

“Alright.” He shrugged. “I, ahh, give you this cot. It’s yours.”

I tried to absorb it again and smiled in relief as the ability activated. Crazy rules!

“Lucky you had me ask Anita for some books. The library idea obviously wouldn’t have panned out.”

As my mana flowed into the cot, I thought about how the pizza and the box it came in had been absorbed as a set. I focused intently on spreading my mana to include the pillow and blanket lying on the cot and mentally concentrated on how all three things belonged together. It worked! My mana seeped into everything. It took more mana and time than it would have to just absorb the cot alone, but I felt it was worth the extra effort. Rick’s eyes got big as he watched it all shimmer out of existence. Then, when I created an exact copy and left it in the same place, I thought they were going to fall out of his face.

To test whether it had worked the way I wanted it to, I tried to pick up the small pillow. I was glad when it came up off the bed. I’d been a little worried it would have fused to the cot to literally make it one item, but my magic had understood my intent clearly. “I’ll make another one for me when I go back down.” Rick didn’t respond, just staring at the cot that had magically disappeared and then reappeared.

Maybe I shouldn’t be so obvious with my powers, I contemplated quietly, although I was getting a kick out of his reaction. I was really enjoying being able to openly use my abilities.

“By the way, did they work out the range on the technology interference?”

He looked at me, still clearly rattled but answering regardless. “Uhh, yeah. They said it looks like 10 meters around the entrance is a dead zone. Past that, everything turned back on. They set up the other tents back that way.” He gestured over his shoulder.

“Good to know. Anything else going on?”

“Well, there’s a decontamination team up at the carpark. When any of us want to leave, we have to go through them. That’s about it.”

“Got it. Thanks for the help, mate.” I headed towards the opening of the tent, leaving him cautiously touching his cot as though worried it might suddenly disappear again. On the way out, I noticed the interior was looking pretty bare. Almost all of the team’s equipment had been moved out.

Stepping out into the dark night, I had a look around. Like Rick had said, there were several other large tents spread out in a line behind this one. They were further away from the dangerous side of the forest and closer to the park’s basic facilities. There was a gap of more than ten meters, but I guess it was better to be safe than sorry.

I spotted several smaller tents up at the carpark near a large van. I presumed they were for the decontamination process. I could also see five police officers up that way standing between our group of tents and the carpark. They were at the edge of the glow being cast by the bright lights they had rigged up there earlier in the evening, and all of them stood facing towards the forest as they talked amongst themselves.

They were dressed in protective gear that reminded me of images I’d seen on TV of riot police. Their entire bodies were covered except their heads, but each of them had a helmet with a clear face shield held loosely in one hand. I could see batons hanging off their belts across from their holsters. Seeing them there and knowing they were well prepared was extremely comforting.

The media were no longer up against the barrier at the entrance to the park, but there were still several vehicles parked out on the main road. Waiting around in case anything happens, I guess. A couple of cars drove past as I watched, letting me know they hadn’t blocked the road off. It made sense. This was the main way through the area. Forcing people to go around would take a long time and make a lot of people unhappy, and it would draw even more attention to the fact there was some kind of problem going on here.

The nocturnal bush noises reached my ears easily in the quiet of the night. Although, after paying attention for a second, I realized they were all coming from the area of forest behind the tents. The section that contained the infection was unnaturally quiet.

Suppressing a shiver, I walked around what I was thinking of as my tent and went towards the others. When I got past the reach of the mana coming out of the dungeon, I stumbled a little and had to stop while my body adjusted. I’d forgotten how quickly the energizing effect wore off after returning to the mana-deficient outside world. As the tiredness the dungeon helped me ignore set back in, I reached my arms up and stretched.

No matter how good I felt while in the dungeon, I realized the magical effect was basically just masking my real condition. The effects of staying up late were still adding up and affecting my body. I immediately scrapped my plan to forgo any naps at all. Otherwise, I might collapse as soon as I got back aboveground tomorrow.

I walked between the other tents and quickly used the restroom. On the way back, I quietly poked my head in and had a look at what the remaining team members were up to. Most of them had clearly gone to stay at the motel, but a few people were sleeping in one of the tents. In another, several members of the team looked hard at work. They had computers out on folding tables and were looking at images on them, discussing the contents amongst themselves. I backed out slowly, not wanting to disturb them. If they found anything out, I’m sure they would let Anita know and she would pass it on to me.

Just before entering my tent, a piercing shriek rang out from behind me, breaking the peace of the night. The normal animal noises on the other side of the park cut off abruptly. Most of the beasts had likely retreated to whatever refuge they slept in during the day at the frightening cry.

I swung around, calling my staff into my hand as I tried to find the infected animal I was sure was bearing down on me. There was nothing. I glanced at the police officers standing guard and was surprised to see they didn’t seem too worried. Their hands were resting on their batons where they hung from their belts and they had stopped talking as they surveyed the woods, but otherwise they weren’t reacting.

I heard someone come up behind me and then Rick said, “Don’t worry. We’ve heard that several times already tonight. Nothing has come out from the forest yet.”

That took me by surprise. Down in the dungeon, I hadn’t heard a thing. Anyway, the police would surely see any threats that appeared and raise the alarm. I had my own job to do. I turned around and entered the tent before returning my staff to my inventory. I hoped nobody had seen it magically appear before. I’d reacted on instinct and hadn’t considered the need for secrecy.

“By the way,” Rick added as he followed me back inside, “I can try to find you something a little warmer to wear if you want.”

His comment made me realize he was wearing a long-sleeved sweater. Confused, I blurted out, “You’re cold?!” It was a comfortable night. I was perfectly fine in my shirt and jeans.

He looked at me strangely. “Yeah. It’s quite chilly. It’s down to about 13 degrees now.”

It wasn’t surprising for an early spring night to be cold, but the fact I hadn’t noticed was. Now that he’d drawn my attention to it, though, I could tell there was a bit of a nip in the air. It just didn’t seem to be affecting me, so it hadn’t registered before.

“That would be your Elemental Resistance passive ability,” Cax informed me.

“That works for weather, too?! I thought it only protected me from attacks,” I replied.

“Your body is capable of partly ignoring burning fire or freezing ice thrown at it. Did you really think some minor weather changes would have an effect on you?”

Put like that, it made sense. And it was a most welcome benefit. The summers had been brutal recently. Might not sweat buckets this year, I thought happily. Rick was still looking at me, waiting for a reply. “Umm, no thanks. I’m good.” I gave him a nod and then descended the staircase to my dungeon where I immediately created a cot with the blanket and pillow included. The bed just barely fit in the small room. I wedged it against the wall next to the entrance and lay down. It wasn’t much, but it was a step above the floor.

I resumed the construction, and the true monotony began. Due to the late hour, nobody else came to talk to me, so I was left alone as I continually emptied my mana pool into the new room’s outline. I didn’t want to slow down the construction by using my mana to work on ranking up my spells and abilities, so I spent most of the time just going through my interface. Mainly, I occupied myself by reading over the spells contained within my knowledge core for each of my affinities. I needed to find ones which would be both useful and easy to rank up so I could reach Tier 2 quickly.

I got caught up in going over all the spells available to me. I was no closer to making a decision, but I was enjoying fantasizing about what I could do with each of the amazing options. Sometime later, movement out of the corner of my eye pulled my attention away from the screens. Dismissing all of them and looking to see who was visiting me so late, I froze when I saw a huge snake slithering silently into the room. It was massive! As I watched, it reached the far wall and its entire body wasn’t even in the room yet, meaning it was more than two meters long. It was a tan color with brown splotches on it, and it was thick. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to touch my fingers together if I put my hands around it.

I wasn’t an expert on snakes, so I had no idea what kind it was or if it was venomous. A quick Analyze calmed me a little. It was a carpet snake, and thanks to the evolution I’d chosen when the ability reached rank 2, the extra information it provided let me know the snake was non-venomous. With all the deadly creatures in Australia, that was a stroke of luck. Considering the immense size of it, though, I didn’t feel safe. I was sure it could do a fair bit of damage, poison or no poison.

“Ahh, excellent. The local wildlife has begun to feel the pull of the dungeon. I was beginning to worry it was too small to reach far enough,” Cax said happily.

“Excellent is not the word I would use!” I told him, making sure not to make a noise or move at all. The snake was ignoring me for now, thankfully, and I didn’t want to draw its attention. It was currently crawling over my skeleton who, I noted in disbelief, was just sitting there doing nothing! “What kind of defender is that?! If that snake had been poisonous and attacked me, I might be dead right now!”

“Well, you did order it to sit in the corner. It’s simply following your instructions. You never told it to attack intruders.” He was completely calm as though that made any sense at all.

“Are you kidding me?!” I exclaimed incredulously. “It’s a defender! It’s right there in the name!” Snakes creeped me out, making it hard for me to keep my cool. “Forget it. Help me work out how to get that thing out of here.” I couldn’t see any evidence of the Void on the creature, and when I’d analyzed it there was no mention of it being infected, so I was sure it was just a regular animal. There was no need to kill it.

“You need to change your mindset. Just like with the rubbish, that right there is easy experience points,” Cax told me firmly. “Besides, it was drawn here by the dungeon’s magic. It won’t go easily. It will do everything it can to remain in this environment, instinctually recognizing the power it could gain from remaining in here.”

Damn it! There was definitely no way I was going to try and coax that thing out of here if it was going to react aggressively to the attempt. “Alright,” I said unhappily. I didn’t have it in me to kill it personally, though, so I decided to order the skeleton to do it. I knew it was the same thing and I was just being stupid, but the degree of separation would help reduce my guilt at killing a normal creature.

“You humans and your mental gymnastics,” Cax said, giving the impression he was shaking his head.

I ignored him and mentally commanded the skeleton to kill the snake crawling on it. It immediately came to life, grabbing the snake’s body in both hands. The snake began to struggle, but it was unable to break free of the undead’s grip. Its head repeatedly struck out, its sharp teeth leaving marks on the skeleton’s bones and taking a small amount of health off my defender with each strike.

I idly appreciated how the skeleton’s health bar automatically appeared as soon as it took damage. Since it was my creation and it was connected to me, I didn’t need to cast a spell on it. Thanks to the Analyze spell I’d cast on the snake earlier, its health bar was also visible, and I could see it going down a little as the skeleton squeezed it.

My defender suddenly shifted its grip up towards the snake’s head. This freed up the reptile’s body, and it wrapped itself around the skeleton where it began squeezing tightly. The skeleton gave no indication of discomfort, but its health began a slow decline.

Before I could worry, the skeleton began slamming the snake’s head into the ground over and over. It took a decent chunk of health off with each impact, but it wasn’t a fast process. The skeleton couldn’t bring that much force to bear from its seated position. I forced myself to watch the gruesome scene. I wasn’t the one doing it, but I had ordered it done. Like Cax had implied, no amount of mental gymnastics would change the fact that its death was completely on me. I knew I should intervene and give it a quick death, but I also wanted to see how well my defender fared by the end.

The skeleton was causing a fair amount of noise as its hand bones clacked against the ground with each blow. I heard a gasp from the doorway and saw Rick standing there, likely drawn by the commotion. He looked on, frozen in horror as my skeleton beat the snake to death, seemingly unable to look away.

Once it was done and the snake had been killed, some of its energy rushed into me. The skeleton released the body and resumed its motionless position from earlier. Just 5xp for that life, I thought sadly. It seemed like all of Earth’s creatures gave the same small amount. Was it really worth it?

“You said it yourself. It all adds up,” Cax countered.

“I guess.” But I still wish I could have simply had the skeleton carry it out of here. If only my defenders were able to leave the dungeon.

I got up off my cot and looked at Rick. “I don’t think you were in any danger,” I told him, thinking part of his shock might be because he was worried the snake could have just as easily attacked him instead of coming down here. “It was drawn directly to the dungeon’s magic, probably didn’t even notice you up there. You might want to move your bed back from the entrance, though, just in case. There might be more visitors.”

I winced as he turned his look of horror my way before leaving without saying a word. I sighed. Can’t blame him. I went to the snake and absorbed its body, gaining a new pattern for a defender. Turns out it had been 3 meters long! Then, after a moment’s hesitation, I absorbed the skeleton too. I knew it was an unthinking creation, but I still felt kind of bad about it. However, since I’d made it mainly just to prank my friends, it had only been level 1. It had taken a little more damage than I’d thought it would. I wanted a stronger defender, just in case something more dangerous made its way down.

I paid more attention to the information attached to my defenders now that I recognized the need for them to actually do some fighting. The skeleton’s main attack type was listed as bludgeoning, and it was also weak against the same type of attacks. That’s why my staff was so effective against them. However, it was immune to poison and disease effects. Its speed and agility weren’t very good, which I remembered clearly from my own fights against them, and its strength was noted as being average. Each level would increase those capabilities slightly, while also providing it with more health.

I went ahead and created a level 4 skeleton. That was the max level I could make it, as it couldn’t be higher than my level. It was a fair bit stronger and faster than the level-1 version that had taken out the snake, and it had more health, so this guy should have no trouble handling any creatures that came in here. The skeletons seemed able to stand up to animal attacks fairly well, so I didn’t think there was a need to choose a different defender type. Its immunity to poison would be a huge benefit, too, if anything venomous found its way in here. Being a higher level, it cost me a quarter of my total mana to create it, but it was definitely worth the cost. I ordered it to stand in the same corner its predecessor had been in and gave it careful commands.

“Kill any animals that come in here. Protect me from any humans that physically attack me.” I added the part about humans just in case. We’d gotten off to a promising start, but I wasn’t convinced I was safe from other people yet. But by specifying ‘physical attacks’, I made sure that simply disagreeing with me or shouting at me wouldn’t result in my defender reacting. I didn’t want someone to accidentally get hurt, not even someone like David.

I saw that the Defenders section of my Dungeon Construction profession was fairly close to ranking up, sitting at 6 / 10. I was curious what improvements there would be at rank 2. It would only take 40mp to make four basic, level-1 defenders in order to get it there. The skeleton would be doing the fighting, so they didn’t need to be a higher level. I reasoned that 40mp wouldn’t delay the construction by too much. Plus, improving my abilities was also a priority.

“Why do you insist on trying to justify everything to yourself? If you want to do something, just do it,” Cax said critically.

I avoided directly answering his question. “I thought you’d be used to human peculiarities after all the adventurers you absorbed and memories you gained access to.”

“Used to it, maybe. Understanding or approving of it? Not at all. The time it took you to give yourself permission could have been spent actually creating the defenders. It’s simply a waste of time.”

“Yeah, that’s a good point. But it’s a tough habit to break. Don’t expect me to stop doing it anytime soon.”

Moving on, I considered what to make. Space in here was limited, so it had to be small. That ruled out another skeleton. Something that would put people off balance might be nice. It could help give me the upper hand in any future discussions.

Finally, I decided to create a carpet snake. It had freaked me out, and most people were put off by snakes, so it ticked that box. It definitely wasn’t small, but I figured it could coil up which would reduce the space it took up. And it might be good to have something that could deal a different kind of damage than the skeleton was capable of. The snake was listed as having crushing and slashing attacks. The crushing was expected. I already knew how they wrapped around their victims. But I never realized how many teeth snakes had. Even without poison, this thing’s bites could do decent damage.

I poured my mana into the pattern and when the snake defender materialized, I sent it under my cot and had it coil up. It was able to make itself pretty small, so there was still a lot of space under there. I went ahead and made a second snake, and it joined the first one out of sight under my bed. They weren’t so unnerving since I knew they were under my control, but I still wasn’t keen on looking at them constantly.

An idea popped into my head. Concentrating, I adjusted the color of the floor to match that of the snakes. They camouflaged in nicely. Beautiful, I thought, imagining the possibilities. For now, I went ahead and reverted the color change. I’d likely forget they were there and freak myself out later. When I concentrated, I could feel my defenders through our magical connection, but it faded into the background and was easy to ignore when I wasn’t thinking about it.

For the final two defenders I needed, I decided to make Cax happy and created two rockaunchers. Although they did the same type of damage as a skeleton, their small size made them a good choice for now. They sat in front of me awaiting orders as I looked them over. They were even cuter than in the picture with their tiny limbs sticking out of their small, stone bodies. I could sense Cax’s happiness at my appreciation of his original creation. I could have up to eight defenders at my current level, but the five I had now were enough to achieve my goal.

I sent the little mana I had remaining in my center into the new room’s construction. I didn’t want the process to pause due to my inactivity. If that happened, the flow of energy this room was also sending in would cut off, too. As long as it kept up, the little bit of mana I was using on other things wouldn’t set the construction finishing time back too far. Then I turned my attention to the waiting notification.

Congratulations!

You have reached Rank 2 in [Defenders] within your [Dungeon Construction] profession.

Your defenders will now have a certain level of sapience.

They will be able to learn and act independently to some degree.

This effect will be more pronounced the higher the defender’s level.

“Amazing!” Cax said excitedly. “The capabilities of the shard’s defenders have been incorporated into your own! For this alone, that shard is likely the most valuable thing you will ever absorb!”

“Does this mean I don’t have to give them orders anymore? They will actually defend without me needing to tell them?” I was still dirty at the skeleton for just sitting there while the snake crawled all over it.

“No, you still need to give them orders. But they will be able to find ways to operate within those orders to carry them out more effectively. Since you are going to have multiple dungeons and won’t always be around, this will be amazing. They won’t require micro-managing, just a framework.”

His excitement was contagious, and I could see how what he was talking about would be a big benefit. I was glad I’d taken the time to push it up to the second rank. I considered the five defenders I had crammed in here with me now. Should I get rid of them and make ‘smarter’ versions? Nah. Not worth the mana. Four of them were pretty much just for show. The skeleton was the main defender, and he had clear orders now. I would wait and fill the main dungeon room with improved, rank-2 defenders.

Turning my attention back to the little rockaunchers at my feet, I commanded one to go to the corner next to the door, opposite my cot. I sent the other one to the end of my cot and made it wait against the wall and the cot’s outside leg. They moved incredibly slowly, looking almost like misshapen turtles.

“They need a rock surface in order to move properly.” Cax sounded kind of defensive.

“Hey, I’m not knocking them! I think they look awesome. I’ll get some rocks from outside for them later and see what they can do.”

“Or, you could just make them now?” he suggested hopefully, probably wanting me to see their true capabilities.

“Huh?” I asked eloquently.

“Take a look in the Miscellaneous section of the profession,” he said patiently.

Doing as I was told, I pulled up the information.

The [Miscellaneous] section of your profession will allow you to incorporate many known patterns into your dungeon.

Use these items for purely cosmetic purposes or to construct obstacles for those who enter.

Items created in this manner require less mana to make, drawing on the dungeon’s energy in their creation.

As a result, these items are tied to the dungeon and will break down if removed.

Due to the assistance, [Create] will not rank up from making these items.

Profession restrictions still apply.

The penalty for non-affinity related material is removed.

I let out an impressed whistle when I looked at the available options. There were a lot listed.

“I liked to set a different theme and tone for each of my rooms,” Cax reminisced. “It would keep the adventurers on their toes, never knowing what to expect.”

I could easily see myself getting lost in this. I’d have to be careful not to sink too much time into decking out my dungeon rooms. I frowned a little as something occurred to me. “Hang on. How does that work? You told me adventurers risk their lives in dungeons to get stronger and for loot. But if everything disappears once they leave the dungeon, why would they bother?”

“That’s just for the things that are connected to the dungeon. Adventurers are a greedy lot,” he stated matter-of-factly. “They would take everything in sight, and then it would cost too much mana to replace it all after every group left. Making it so the dungeon’s ambient magic is required to sustain an item’s structure is very efficient. The first adventurers who went through my dungeon actually seemed to know that it was pointless to take most of the items lying around, but they still took a bunch of stuff anyway. ‘Just in case’, they said. Word must have spread because people stopped taking things before too long.”

“Ok, I get that,” I told him. “But then how does loot work exactly?”

“Just like when you normally make things with your Create ability. You have to put in more mana to make something permanent. I used to put some genuine items in chests so adventurers knew they were real. And when they looted a defender, sufficient amounts of mana were drawn in from the atmosphere and my personal energy supply to generate a permanent reward for them.”

I nodded in understanding when he was done explaining how it all worked. It seemed like a good system. I knew there was no point in doing anything to this particular room since I was going to get rid of it once the big one was done, but I still wanted to try it out a little.

I searched the list of available patterns for rocks and was taken aback at the sheer number of options I was left with. It made sense. Cax must have absorbed all manner of things in the ground when he made his dungeon. I chose one that was almost the same color as the dungeon walls and about the same size as the rockaunchers. I made two, each one only requiring 10mp. Thanks to the dungeon’s assistance, I was able to get around the penalty I would usually face for not having an affinity for Earth magic. It didn’t bother me at all that I wouldn’t be able to take them out. I could always create anything I wanted to keep with me using the regular method and just pay the higher mana cost to make it happen.

I went and put one stone in the corner next to the door where one of the rockaunchers was, and then put the other at the foot of the cot next to the second little defender. Then, sitting cross-legged on the cot, I commanded the one by the door to get on the stone and attack the other rockauncher. The little thing reached its stubby limbs out to the stone and I could see them sink in, fusing the two together. Then, in the blink of an eye, the rockauncher shot across the room and collided into the other one with a loud crack. Health bars appeared over both of them as they rolled apart a fair distance. The attacking one was missing less health than the one it had crashed into. It seemed their attack also injured them, but they were somehow protected from the full force of the impact.

Wow! “Very impressive, Cax,” I told him with complete honesty. The stone it had launched from had ricocheted off the wall from the force exerted on it, so I would have to use something heavier as their base in the future. For now, I commanded the first rockauncher to roll the stone back to the corner and wait there. I watched in amusement as he began his slow crawl across the floor. I trusted he’d get it done eventually. Then I commanded all of my defenders, except for the skeleton, to remain in their assigned positions and to not do anything. The level 4 skeleton should be more than enough to handle any threats, and if not, I could quickly call on the others.

I got back on the bed and resumed the boring process of feeding mana into the construction. I will not get distracted again, I told myself firmly. I’d never finish making the new room at this rate. I didn’t have much of a say in it, though, as the distraction came to me. I could hear someone coming down the stairs at speed just before Rick burst into the room.

He looked at me, and it was clear he was worried. “The police have called for you!” he said quickly. “There’s something out there!”