When I woke up again, I quickly learned one important thing, eating Cores would give you a hangover. Or at least something similar as I woke up with the mother of all headaches and my stomach was not in the mood for any breakfast. Hopefully, the effects would fade before long.

. Well, there is the answer to that. Now, how long would I have to deal with this searing poker behind my eyes? … Great, just awesome and of course the Records failed to mention this possibility before I ate them. The smug little… I dismissed the thought. It would not do me any good, anyway.

I forced myself out of the Core room and double-checked my stats again. Which, despite the splitting pain, made me chuckle, 49EP, 45TP and 40M, and also maxed out Essence, this was worth the headache, decidedly so.

First things first though, I took to the skies and, somewhat unsteadily, flew over to the Kobold Village. I had promised to check in on them when I woke up, after all. Upon entering the village, the Kobolds quickly ran over and gathered around me, their worry clear on their small scaly faces. “Great One are you unwell, should Ssatassha call for a healing ritual?” I shook my head.

“There is no reason for alarm, I just have a headache due to power overflow. It will work itself out in a while” the little ones seemed to relax a great deal from my reassurances. They eagerly led the way as I bade them show me around. They had been prolific in their work while I slept, as they had improved and expanded nearly every aspect of the village I had put down.

That reminded me, shouldn’t the village cause some form of a bonus for the monsters that lived here? . That was decidedly worth it.

. Even better! That would take years though, since they were Pact Monsters and not just part of the dungeon. But then I was playing the long game here. It would probably come in handy someday down the line.

Besides, even if it didn’t, the elated and happy expressions on their little faces made it all worth it, anyway. Ooh, finally a title that did more than just increase my stats on a level up.

After the tour I asked if the little kobolds had any meat leftover and access to a fire. It was time to teach them something useful. I also had 2 of the more eager ones gather a certain green mushroom that grew in the mushroom forest. That mushroom apparently could be made into a healthy tea that would not only taste good, but would function as a weak healing potion. It had taken quite a bit of poking to make the Records admit this though, more than usual.

I had decided to teach them to cook, and I had no intentions of going back on the idea. The temptation of civilized food was just too much to bear. Following my instructions and with some added Rock Salt from the geode cavern as well as some powdered mushrooms as spices. I set about teaching the little ones about how cooking could be more than just “sear it over a fire until it’s slightly singed.” Their reaction to this epiphany was hilarious. First, I let them taste their food. Then the steak I had prepared and every one of them was of the opinion that mine was tastier. Not surprising, since the seasoning alone would work wonders.

After this first revelation, they developed an incredible obsession with learning to make proper food. Luckily I had just the resource room to help with that, sure it cost me 3 TP to unlock. Making it abhorrently expensive as far as resources go, but even so, the Library would likely prove to be invaluable down the line. As I got more sentient monsters in my dungeon as it would allow them to read and learn without my instructions. And learn what interested them rather than what I made them learn.

And who says knowledge isn’t power? That should make the Kobolds master chefs in no time, given how determined they were. The moment I had placed the library, they had been all over the shelves. They were grabbing books about cooking as well as other topics of interest to them and started to read and take notes. If humans were ever this eager about learning, even cleaning people would have doctorates.

That was 3 TP down, leaving me with 42TP, I also spent 7 Masteries to expand my surface influence area, maxing it out. 15Km in all directions. This left me with 33 then spent 10 Essence upgrading the Alarm Trap I had placed earlier to have it still reach the edges of the surface area. A tad expensive for just an alarm. But it's far better than having my first bit of warning be when they set food inside the dungeon. Or if I was distracted by something, when they killed a monster.

. Great, first the headache and now I learn I am being kept under surveillance. Let’s have a look, huh, just sitting there on top of a hill in what was suddenly way inside my territory overlooking the maze. It would be bad if the scout reported about the sudden burst in surface area. But it would be worse if the scout went silent… what to do, what to-

. That was… actually a splendid idea. While I could mind control her easily enough with Will Binder, that effect was obvious if anyone looked at her. I could give her some mental instructions to follow, but those could potentially be detected later on. Doppelgängers, however specialized in deception, had only one problem. The mirror was not strong enough to make a perfect copy, and the Doppelgänger couldn’t leave the dungeon’s influence area.

I could do that? A quick check later and it was indeed a valid target. It would cost 20 TP though, so it would be expensive as all hell. But given my circumstances, I had no choice, as much as it hurt I had to do it. I spent another 20TP. That left me with 22TP. This thing better be worth it.

Device Name: Mirror of the Evil Twin(Enhanced Unique)

Special limit: One Per Dungeon, this limit cannot be raised

Base Trap: Mirror of Dreaming Imprisonment

Device type: Enhanced Trap Item

Trap type: High Rank Curse

Material Type: Darksteel and Ebon Glass

Range: Line of Sight

Trigger Type: Entering line of sight, maximum 10 meters

Cooldown: instant

Hardness: Special, only Corrosive weapons can overcome its hardness

HP: 250

Defense: 60

Evasion: 0

Upkeep: -

Duration: Permanent

Effect: Just the act of having your reflection show clearly in this mirror will cause the target to be swapped with a perfect duplicate of themselves. The duplicate is a Doppelgänger that is loyal to the dungeon. The Doppelgänger is a perfect copy, including stats, memories, abilities and skills. Those who manage to resist the effect will still have to face their Doppelgänger in combat. If they are defeated the Doppelgänger will then replace them permanently. If they defeat the Doppelgänger they are immune to the mirror for 24 hours. The trapped target can later be removed by the Dungeon Core and released without losing the Doppelgänger. If the mirror is destroyed all entrapped targets are killed. While trapped inside the mirror the target will be acting as the Doppelgänger’s reflection in all reflective surfaces. Unable to move in any other fashion or signal that they are more than a reflection.

… This thing was pure evil, there was no other way to say it, this was the ultimate prison, torture device and interrogation device all rolled into one single cursed object. If you didn’t succumb immediately the Doppelgänger, which was identical to yourself in all aspects could probably manhandle you into submission. Then once trapped there you could be forced to play Simon Says with the Doppelgänger in any and all reflective surfaces it ever passed. And the Doppelgänger would know you were there, watching it. On top of that, every single dirty secret you knew the Doppelgänger would know, meaning nothing would be safe from it and by extension, me.

I almost didn’t want to use this thing on the scout. He or she had not done anything to deserve this. Well aside from being a guild member and thus obsessed with catching me… OK, my reluctance was fading fast now. If the scout reported the growth of my outer area, it would almost guarantee a response from the guild. No time to feel pity for the enemy now.

With the scout now so deep within my control area, she didn’t have a chance to even see me coming. One moment she was keeping watch, the next she was pinned under my paw as I formed just behind her. I didn’t waste much time being nice either. I overwhelmed her mind with Will Binder and turned her consciousness off. She would not remember any of this. With that done, I had her sit on my back as I took her back to the mirror. Then I dispelled Will Binder as she was looking into the mirror as instructed. The effect was immediate. With Will Binder dispelled, she was no longer treated as a minion and the mirror did its work.

Right in front of my eyes the scout seemed to shimmer for a moment, then she turned around and knelt in front of me. “How may I be of service, Mistress?” Wow, that was one hell of a convenient shift. Most people wouldn’t even realize their friends had been replaced when looking into this thing. Too bad it could only hold one target at a time What? So, just having the mirror stand here would have every party entering the dungeon basically have to face their evil twins in combat.

And if they failed, they would have one or more members of their party replaced with Doppelgänger versions of themselves? . Time to make this room bigger and use it as a mini-boss room. A bunch of EP later and the room had been doubled in size. The mirror was now hanging at an angle so it would reflect the entrance without being easily spotted.

While I did so, I gave the Doppelgänger its instructions and it immediately set off for the hill. There it would give false reports so the guild would think it's less important to attack immediately. . Trickery increased the trickery skill huh, fair enough. I still felt guilty to subject the scout to the torture of only existing as a reflection. But the guild was too much of an unknown threat that I could afford to antagonize it now. Wait, there was someone who would know all about the Guild right now.

I returned to the hill just in time to hear the Doppelgänger make a report “-ange at all, still the same as before… Why is my report 5 minutes late? Call of nature, had already been holding it for half an hour to remain on my post, couldn’t wait… no I will give you all the details, my quest said; “Report every minute detail no matter how trivial.” So, here I go… fine, fine, I’ll stop. In all seriousness though everything is going fine here, no change at all… yeah will do, sure, later.”

The Doppelgänger turned towards me. “Mistress, what can I do for you?” she knew I was there even when I was in Core Form? That was interesting. I reformed my avatar once more and had her tell me all she knew about the guild and their views of my Dungeon.

Half an hour later I was pacing in my Core Room, all levity gone. This was bad, really bad, beyond really bad. This was a disaster in the making. I had to come up with something, anything to forestall the coming disaster. An “Expanded Party” 24 of the strongest adventurers in the region, all intending to burst into my dungeon and conquer it. And they were already deep in the prep phase for the invasion, hence the scout.

I needed to come up with an answer or I would be utterly screwed. The problem was, I was drawing a blank. Even if I bought and placed several Pharos Wings that would do little to stall these guys. The scout had memorized the stats of every one her idol adventurers as adventures were like sports idols in this world. There were trading cards of them with their stats readily on display, I could maybe win a 1-on-1 with their leader, maybe. But any more than that?

Nope, no chance. Everything would be torn apart. I moved the mirror from the mini-boss room. The Doppelgängers would probably slow them down. But the investment in it had been too much for me to be willing to lose it to the invaders. Especially when it wasn’t even going to be more than a speed bump. I relocated it to the balancing hallway instead, so that I would have a last defense “honor guard” of Doppelgänger adventurers. Several of which would be able to pepper the intruders from range while they were busy making their way through the balance trap.

Next I broke the news to the Kobolds about the impending attack. They did not take it well. However, I had not rescued the little tykes just for them to die in my defense against a foe I could not hope to win against. “You all are to do as much enhancement of the traps as possible prior to the attack. I will be expanding my trap capacity and adding more traps, as for the invasion itself you have 3 orders.

Do NOT engage the intruders unless you are somehow cornered. Staying alive is your number one priority. 2. Use the Kobold passages to re-arm traps behind the party. But stay at least 150 paces away from them at all times, as they have sensory spells that can pick you up if you are closer than that. 3. Protect yourselves to the best of your ability if the forest is invaded. But try to get away alive, I would rather you all get away safely than to share my fate when they come knocking.

The Kobolds seemed utterly crestfallen “Ssatassha’s tribe are… Not… cannon fodder?” She seemed utterly bewildered, “No creature in my dungeon is treated as cannon fodder. Even less so Pact Monsters that I cannot respawn. You are invaluable to my dungeon right now and I would like for you all to stay safe, you have your orders.”

The Kobolds nodded and started to whisper among themselves as I left. Once I entered the river chamber beyond, I spent some TP on another trap “Illusory wall” Then I placed it at the entrance of the forest. This disguised it as nothing more than a normal wall. Hopefully, the sensory spells they were using would not allow them to see through such illusions.

. You gotta be kidding me, Apotheosis? It’s possible to become a literal god in this place? .

I didn’t give a damn about actually attempting to become an actual goddess. I had FAR more immediate concerns right now to even consider entertaining that notion. How much TP left… 12, OK, what other nasty traps could I get? Hmm? Skill traps are glowing. Well, the skill did say I would get more than the skill improved.

Device name: Mist of Oblivion

Device Type: Environmental Hazard

Range: Floor

Limitation: Magical Maze Only

Causes a constant Disorientation Debuff on those who enter the floor it is located on. The effect will continuously attempt to apply and will pierce Immunity to the debuff. Making maneuvering around difficult, prolonged exposure will upgrade the Debuff to Amnesia then to Oblivious. Oblivious status cannot be cured by any means. Oblivious? .

Why was every trap unlocked by that skill so absolutely horrid? If I didn’t know better, I would think it felt insulted that I had to ask. Well, it was essentially enslavement, even I could see that. That aside while I REALLY wanted this thing, just for the disorientation, mind. It was, however, 80 TP, far above my ability to unlock. A magic Jar trap, which would trap the mind of whoever opened it, pointless, these guys were pros with a single goal, my capture, they would not be looting. Hmm, oh right! I should probably buy that, better safe than sorry .

Skill evolution, that had been a teased upcoming feature back in the game. When certain conditions were met, a skill would evolve and become stronger, which made me wonder what Dungeon Master(Master) did. . So, anything from 19 and below had its cost reduced by half and everything 20 and above had been reduced by 10. That was strong, really strong.

Now I wished I had unlocked that earlier, and would have had 10 more TP to spend. Well, too late to cry over wasted points I had more important things to worry about. Like my impending doom that was arriving any day now, I had to keep unlocking stuff.

My next order of business was the Pharos Wing. Its Essence gain would be required to keep me afloat through the extra monsters I would have to populate the Depths with. Not to mention I would have to expand and fast. Luckily, the new “Dungeon Master” skill paid dividends here as I now had the option of cut/paste. Or as I called it Teleport, allowing me to instantly move multiple rooms and hallways while maintaining their relation to one another. The inhabitants of said rooms wouldn’t even notice. Except that they would now be in a completely different region of the dungeon, which was important for this next part. I placed down 5 Pharos Wings in the Crag room. Making the Strider Hive behave like I had just declared a national holiday for them all for a while.

I also created a Boss Room and bought the Abyssal Eye. This thing was bad news.

Monster Name: Abyssal Eye(Unique Boss Variant)

Genus: Evil Eye, Monstrosity

Biome: The Depths

HP: 50000/50000

MP: 40000/40000

Attack: 15000

Defense: 45000

Magic Attack: 15000

Magic Defense: 65000

Strength: 3500

Dexterity:7000

Endurance:9500

Intelligence:3500

Wisdom:7000

Charisma:1000

Upkeep: 100e/d

Skills: Evil Eye of Infliction(Racial Unique), Soul Gaze(Racial Unique), Piercing Infliction(Racial Unique), Evil Eye Levitation(Racial Unique), Innate Spellcaster(Racial), Eye Stalk Spell Casting(Racial Unique), Gaze Immunity(Racial), Eye Stalks(Racial), Gate Stalk(Racial) Omnivision(Racial), Constant Gaze(Racial), Deadly Poison Breath(Racial), Magic Cannon(Special), Full Status Protection(Special), Evocation Master(Special)(All), Call Genus(Special)

“Eye of Infliction” would inflict a random status ailment already not inflicted on the target. While Soul Gaze would make it so that the target would always be considered to “Meet Its Gaze” for the purpose of Gaze effects. While “Constant Gaze” meant that the gaze was a passive effect it just had and its infliction effects penetrated immunity effects. On top of that, it was immune to all status ailments, so they couldn’t blind it. All this combined meant that if the Abyssal Eye could see you, you needed Gaze Immunity or you would be neck deep in status ailments almost instantly.

I looked up “Call Genus”. It was a summoning skill letting it summon in other Evil Eyes to support it in combat. The Summoned Evil Eyes (max 4) would have a 90% respawn reduction and would temporarily gain “Hunter-Killer” and “Boss Reinforcement” for 24 hours after being called. Allowing them to continue to hound the adventurers, even in other boss fights. Only caveat, I needed more Evil Eyes on the floor. Evil Eyes were all expensive, had high upkeep and no support rooms. Could I afford that, actually, a better question, could I afford not to?

In the end I summoned in 2 more Pharos Wings and 4 Elder Evil Eyes. The elder Evil eyes were nasty but wouldn’t stand a chance on their own against a determined Expanded Party. With this purchase I was really low on EP though, only 6 left. These things were expensive, even with the discount.

Monster: Elder Evil Eye(Advanced)

Genus: Evil Eye, Monstrosity

Biome: The Depths

HP: 15000/15000

MP:10000/10000

Attack: 3000

Defense: 6000

Magic Attack: 3000

Magic Defense: 8000

Strength:1000

Dexterity:2000

Endurance:4250

Intelligence:3000

Wisdom:5000

Charisma:500

Upkeep: 10e/d

Skills: Evil Eye of Imprisonment(Racial Unique), Eye Stalk Casting(Racial Unique), Evil Eye Teleport(Racial Unique), Evil Eye Levitation(Racial Unique), Physical Shielding(Racial), Gate Stalk(Racial), Omnivision(Racial), Innate Spellcaster(Racial), Gaze Immunity(Racial), Massive Bite(Racial), Evocation Master(Special)(all)

There were nastier Evil Eyes in the Mastery tab. But I had burned all my Masteries unlocking the Pharos Wing and the Abyssal Eye. I had completely missed just how ludicrously expensive it was earlier, even so this was the best I could do in that regard. Time to get some more traps.

A few hours later, and I was utterly exhausted. Both my floors had nearly doubled in size and were riddled with as many traps as I could get my hands on. With the Kobolds hard at work enhancing them using materials found around the dungeon. They would likely become my saving angels, when I wanted to enhance I had to use TP. When they enhanced something they needed simple, easy-to-find materials and time.

Considering I was down to 1 Essence (and growing), 0 TP and M and only 6 EP that I was still debating what to unlock with. I didn’t have many options. I had a few, but none of them would as much as slow an Expanded Party of that power even in high numbers. In the end I decided it would be better to just save the EP, it would probably become useful in the future.

All in all, I was pretty happy with the state of things. Spiked Wall Crushers, Magical Mines and Mishap Teleport Traps now littered the first floor along with several cleverly placed Improved Illusory Walls. I had also used Magical Labyrinth a few times to make sure not a single hallway would be like they remembered. Increased the number of rats and oozes since they were pretty damn cheap since they would be bought as basic monsters, then instantly mutated due to the influence.

The Depths had its own set of traps placed as well. Rockfall Trap, Steam Geyser, and Poison Gas traps were put all over the place and the Kobolds had quickly upgraded the lot of them. They were now Molten Rockfall Trap, Fire Geyser and Neurotoxic Poison Gas traps. This was overkill for any normal adventurer team. But for what I had coming, I would be lucky if it put one or two of them out of commission.

Utterly exhausted, I collapsed on the floor and curled up. The only upside to this miserable day was that the headache had disappeared sometime along the trap placement. Allowing me to fall asleep without any discomfort or pain. I had done what I could to prepare for the coming storm, now all I could do was to hope I could weather it.