..................... ok, now before reading this chapter you should keep in mind one thing: our MC has the maturity of an emotionally stunted and abused 14 year old. things like love, affection, the innate kindness of others, and other such positive "I grew up loved" things are a fair bit beyond what he understands at this point in the story. then add on the reincarnation as a dungeon, a basically neuter and cold existence that craves to cause the deaths of others in the majority of cases, as well as the memory loss and you get how Waynor is now. he is mostly innocent as far as most things go so lots of stuff is gonna go over his head for a while.

i promise that by either the middle or end of ark 2 he will have matured and will recognize more of these sorts of things. Waynor isn't dense, just very emotionally stunted.

that said here is your chapter: ENJOY!!!!

Ever since I awoke, I have been learning to use my abilities and spend my power efficiently. I learned that absorbing power, while steady and constant, does not give much power quickly. I learned that I can create and shape things as I imagine as long as I have enough power and it is within my territory, which I can vaguely feel the borders of at all times. I learned that I can expand my territory by channeling power into it and willing it to grow, though my menu won’t display its exact size anymore for some reason. I learned that anything that dies or is left in my dungeon is recycled, a process that allows me to either add the thing to my creation database and storage or convert it for power. Then there was the fact that my dungeon was like a sort of extension of myself and my senses were attuned to every part of it, that had taken some getting used to at first. I was also able to sort of have my mind leave my core body and travel freely anywhere within my territory, it was an extremely useful skill for growing my dungeon and I was glad to have it.

I also learned that while everything cost power, doing things in different ways could change the cost significantly. After that discovery, I made it my goal to use my power in the most efficient way I was able to, whenever I was able to. Usually this involved me actually taking an active role in creating or changing things myself rather than just a point and think approach. This meant I would spend time actively controlling power and using it to carefully engrave the walls of my core room with elegant flowing designs, instead of just imagining them into being there and offering up power. Usually this active method allows me to save up to half the power cost of doing something, though sometimes it is more and sometimes it is less. It took quite some time to get used to manipulating things without actually being able to physically touch them, but I had all but mastered the art within a week.

I liked this method for another reason as well, it allowed me to create things of true beauty and art in a way that felt like the one to truly create them was myself. I once tried to make a column just by imagining what it would look like and how strong it should be, it was made, but it didn’t bring me much joy. When I instead imagined the materials that would make up the column and used mana to directly design, shape, and engrave it, it only took me a mere five minutes more and made me fell proud and happy in a way the other method did not.

Instinct once told me that this was not a method that the old Instinct would have used, or in other words it was not the method of the average normal dungeon, as I had learned that is what the old Instinct once was. I didn’t mind. I don’t really care much what it was other dungeons would do, as long as they did not infringe upon me of course.

That was the other half of my discoveries since awakening came in, with Instinct. Instinct was different now, no longer the cold and logical being that was bound solely by rationality, now Instinct could think and do things the way it chose. Apparently when Instinct remade itself, it made itself based on what it determined were my needs and preferences along with the various things it had obtained from the memories and knowledge of countless victims it inherited as a dungeon that was born of another dungeon. When I or “it” came along I was beginning to form my own soul stone, or core, and become a new dungeon within Instinct's territory. Instinct explained that normally I would’ve just been destroyed as a potential threat, but it had thought that it could increase and better itself by incorporating me into its own core, killing all that made me what I was in the process. That backfired horribly for the old Instinct, and Instinct only existed now due to my, what the old Instinct thought of as ignorant, allowance of its continued existence as a will tied to me. That Instinct was an existence that was so bound by cold logic and reason it gave up trying to resist me destroying it when it learned I was the better core, said something about the average dungeon as well. I felt rather sad when I found that out.

That said this currant Instinct is nothing like the old one, it can still give the cold logical and rational reasoning and viewpoint of the average dungeon when I need it, but most times Instinct is not like that. Instinct is now more than just a will, but a new type of being neither of us fully understands. Instinct has a personality and a mindset that it created by carefully selecting and piecing together fragments of its parents old victims as well as pieces of my own that were taken from shed pieces of my dying core. At first I wasn’t sure how I felt about that, but soon I just accepted it. Instinct was Instinct and it was just that simple.

I was actually much happier with Instinct like this, now it was like I had a real companion instead of what the old Instinct who merely answered my questions was. I didn’t even realize that I had been lonely before I learned the concepts that governed loneliness, but now with Instinct like this it wasn’t really that bad anymore.

Beyond those many discoveries, I was able to gain a greater understanding of more abstract things as well. Concepts that I had ideas about and recognized, but did not understand. Things that might not matter to other dungeons but mattered to me. I with the help of Instinct was able to make many things clear to myself, and also to Instinct at the same time.

After talking with Instinct and working together to explain the concept of time and time keeping I had, we spent what I found out was an entire day honing and refining it to a point that could be easily understood and was apparently what was largely known and accepted as the correct form. I had learned that there were 42 hours in a day and 300 days in a year. There were also 7 days in a week and 25 days in a month. i also found out that I had first met Instinct well over 10,000,000 years ago.

After time we started on conflict, a subject that I myself found rather strange. What was the point, really? I found out the answer to that question after I first experienced the joy of being the victor, due to series of a contests between myself and Instinct. After that I understood that winning was fun and brought joy, while losing brought only shame and sadness. Instinct explained that there was far more to conflict then that, and that even wars between dungeons, known as dungeon battles, were common and very dangerous. I didn’t really bother with that reasoning, the idea of losing had already been stripped from my desires with just that simple contest. I resolved that I would enjoy conflict, but I would be careful and do everything possible to win. Instinct said that my view on it was like a normal dungeon in some ways, but also very much not.

After conflict we started on life, death and various peoples and creatures. I was alive and so was Instinct, neither of us wanted to ever die and we would do anything to see that we never did. That part was simple, it was the part about the various peoples that took some time. I already knew that there were all sorts of creatures from my reading of the dungeon menu, but I didn’t know much of anything about the types of people. Unfortunately, neither did Instinct so all we got from it were names and loose physical descriptions. Things like elves: pointy ears and slender, or dwarves: stocky, bearded, and short were what I learned. So far I knew of only seven races of people, but since Instinct said that there might be more I was sure there was.

Things went on like that for many weeks. I, while Talking with Instinct and learning all sorts new things, would create and build my own dungeon. I had expanded my dungeon to have 6 beautiful rooms that I had just begun to consider trapping when it happened. Instinct brought up a concept that I had not even bothered to consider before…

I was looking between my menu and the farthest room from my core, I was deciding whether or not I should start adding traps and other deterrents to my dungeon now or later after I had more floors. I could see the advantages of both options, and since my dungeon was closed off to the outside world excluding a small pinprick of an opening made to keep me from becoming unwell or my core from destroying itself, there was no real reason to rush. I was far more concerned with how my dungeon looked than the level of deadliness it had right now. I wanted my dungeon to be majestic, both visually stunning and unbelievably deadly. It would be my masterpiece, the ultimate dungeon to surpass all others, but that would take a lot of time… for now I was content to just create it slowly and carefully.

I looked at my menu and began to weigh my options once again.

[ Name: Waynor Titles: “Icon of Patience”, “Self-Named Dungeon”, “The One Who Endures” Rank: N/A Dominion Level: 0 Territory: N/A ]

[ Power: { Mana: 173} { Animus: 144 } Class: ??? State: flawless core]

[ Floors: 1 Rooms: 6 Inhabitants (slaves/livestock/pets/etc… included): {???: 1} Traps (magical/physical/other…): {none: 0} ]

[ Creation Options: {Mana: expansion, building, decoration, design, trap creation, core growth} {Animus: dungeon lord creation, inhabitant creation, soul stone creation/granting, name bestowal, mutation/evolution/etc…, core growth} ]

[ Destruction Options: {Mana: magic, deconstruction, siphoning, absorption, portation (in-dungeon), Teleportation, item/magic recycling (automatic)} {Animus: siphoning, absorption, remodification/recreation, life recycling (automatic)} ]

[ Stored/Owned Creations (organic): {Dungeon lord: 1} Stored/Owned Creations (inorganic) Possible/Purchasable Creations: {∞} ]

Even with all my work to reduce the power cost of growing and building up my dungeon, I was still losing mana far faster than I’d like. Since I could get 10 points of mana a day by constantly having my core body absorb more from the surroundings, I could continue working like this, but it was my own personal rule to never have less than a value of 100 in either of the powers. I didn’t want to have to have need of them one day, but not have any left to use. And since even after all these weeks I had only gained 1 point more of animus power, which makes sense since there really isn’t much that is alive that would have large amounts of animus here, I decided that I would wait before trying anything that used or cost animus to do.

Which brought me back to traps, I didn’t know how to make a trap on my own. If I followed my usual strategy of just buying one as an example to see it and how it worked before using my efficient make it directly method, I would be down to just 123 mana for just the basic spike trap.

Only 23 mana might not be enough to work with for my first time experimenting with something new… but then again who knows how many ideas I could get and the new knowledge I could gain from that one trap? Maybe it would be enough to offset the risk? I mean making walls, columns, pillars, decorations, flooring, and furniture are all kinda self-explanatory….. After seeing and playing around with a few different styles I can make them just about in any way you can think of…. But Instinct says that traps and creatures and deterrents are all unique, and that each one in the menu could teach me something new I couldn’t learn from the other types….

I kept going back and forth.

Hmmmm….. Maybe Instinct can help me decide.

I recalled myself back to the core room and my core body, I also opened myself to the mental connection I shared with Instinct. When I felt Instinct through the connection I was ready to ask for Instinct to help me resolve my problem.

Instinct, should I buy a trap now or should I wait for my core to gain more mana first? Which one do you think I should do and which one would a normal dungeon do?

I could sense that Instinct was pleased I brought it my problem and valued it’s thoughts so highly, the happiness I could sense coming from Instinct was only overshadowed by that other emotion I couldn’t understand that had been constantly present ever since I awoke.

Well, I can see the advantages to both, but if it were me I would wait before getting the trap. We don’t need it to deal with prey or dangers right now, and you won’t be able to do everything you want with it now since you won’t have enough mana. A normal dungeon would just get it now since it had the power to do so, but then again a normal dungeon would also just place the trap instead of trying to figure out all its hidden workings and secrets like you do, Waynor. (Instinct)

I thought as much, but I just wanted to be sure. Instinct’s opinion was the final thing I needed to decide that waiting was probably the better idea after all. I let the menu fade out of my perception and began to relax and settle in for a nice little wait. A week or so should be good enough for me to gain enough mana to get the trap yet still make and place plenty of my own versions after playing around with it.

As I waited just taking in the beauty of my core room. Its arches and columns engraved with elegant swirling lines of liquid gemstones of blue, green, and purple that lead up to and encircled my core at the center of the room in an elegant and symmetrical manner. The high concaved ceiling that used reflective metals to spread the light from my dungeon’s only opening throughout this and the other rooms. The pedestal that I had changed to smooth dark rock that was blacker than midnight and drew the eye to the immaculate silver brilliance of Instinct and to an even greater degree myself. My core even glowed brightly now that I had power which only helped add to the effect I wanted, now if only it could be bigger. I just didn’t have the power to waste on growing my core, nor did my core really need to grow and become harder to damage when it wasn’t under any threat at the moment. That would be something I did only when I felt I was ready to open my dungeon up to the outside world, not now when I was still preparing.

I admired my home and thought of all the ways I could improve it to make it more secure and most importantly beautiful and to my taste, like how I should really get my own internal light sources instead of relying only on the light from the pinprick and metal that didn’t quite meet with my tastes. I was thinking of light crystals or something similar, perhaps magic… Either way it wouldn’t be for quite some time now, but that was fine I could wait.

Hey Waynor, I .....umm….. I have had this thing I wanted to confirm with you for a while now… What is the way you conceptualize your gender? Do you have one? (Instinct)

I almost didn’t even process what I just heard. Instinct had asked me strange questions before, but this one was on something that I had never even thought to consider before. What was my gender? Did I have one? Was I male? Female? Both? Neither? Neuter? Were there more? Could my gender be dungeon?

I just felt like me. Could Waynor just be my name and my gender? I would be Waynor a Waynor dungeon. No, that sounded silly, but I honestly hadn’t ever given this issue thought.

I need some time to think about it on my own, ok Instinct?

I could feel amusement in the words Instinct next spoke.

That’s fine, I already know my gender after all….. (Instinct)

I became curious at hearing that. If I knew what gender Instinct was it might help me make my own choice. Or better yet I could just follow Instinct’s example. Yes I liked that idea, it was much easier and let me go back to focusing on much more important things like whether or not I should light my dungeon with crystals, magic, or some organic option in the future.

What is it?

Secret. I’ll leave you to figure out what gender you already are or what gender you choose to be on your own. Good luck Waynor. (Instinct)

I felt Instinct leave our connection, and was left to only the solitude of my own mind.

……….. What gender am I? Do I even have one? No, probably not, huh…….. I guess I could pick then. Now that means the new question is what gender do I want to be? …………Hmmmm I can see advantages to all of them, but I can only pick one right? Hmmmm I cant mess this up, I don’t think I get a do over for this……

I spent days pondering over this choice. I had narrowed it down to male, female, and the gender now known as Waynor as my final options. I was leaning heavily towards the last one though.

As I took apart and restructured a basic spike trap and learned how much pressure it took to depress the pressure plate and release the spike, I once again went over my options.

………….. Well I guess I could be a female…… females do tend to be more naturally beautiful and elegant I think…. That would definitely be a plus, but then there is the whole biological downside. I don’t want my dungeon lord to be plagued with monthly cycles, or anything else that might effect its body for the worse. Then there is male, they tend to be stronger which again is a plus, but then there is the lack of that natural beauty and grace…… the gender now known as Waynor lets me get all sorts of pluses, but has the downside of sounding super silly…… Huh, I wish Instinct would’ve just told me what it was………….

I was making my own improved version of the spike trap that I had just experimented with when I had a sudden realization. I was a dungeon and I could make my own dungeon lord body in any way I so please, which means I can add as much natural beauty and grace to a male as I want. Which means I won’t have to deal with the female’s negative biological constraints or the general embarrassment of having to refer to my gender as the gender now known as Waynor! I had an answer! At last an answer!

Let me just test it real quick. “Did you hear about Waynor, he’s a dungeon.” "I might have heard of him, is he the one that has that amazing spike trap?” “Yes, that’s him.” …………………. I like it. Seems like it was kinda always meant for me too……. Huh, weird…. Oh well, let’s go tell Instinct!

I finished putting up another of my new spike traps before I returned back to my core room and my body. I immediately opened the link to Instinct once I was there.

So, you figure it out Waynor, or are you here to ask for MY gender once again? (Instinct)

I couldn’t help that a bit of smugness colored my voice when I spoke.

Nope, I figured it out all on my own thank you! I’m a male!

I felt a strange mix of emotions come off of Instinct followed by laughter.

Kukukukukuku…. That’s rather perfect because I, my dear Waynor, am female. (Instinct)

I wasn’t quite sure how that was perfect though, I would think that us actually being the same gender would be closer to perfect. Though I guess if Instinct is female, that would mean she should have different views on certain things than I would as a male. I guess that could be useful to have that other view point at my disposal, maybe this is rather perfect after all.

Oh, ok I see how that could be the case. I’m going to go finish placing all the new traps now, after that I’ll need your thoughts on whether moss that glows can be trimmed into or grown naturally as some specific shapes.

Oh, ok Waynor. I’ll just be here working on the next steps. (Instinct)

I was confused at that, what next steps did she mean? And why did I feel such a strong wave of emotions coming off Instinct right now. It was actually making me slightly sick to sense them all, I think it was overflooding my little core with too much at once.

Um, what steps? And could you please lessen your emotions a bit, they are kinda making me feel sick, Instinct.

…………..OH!!! Uh ah, yeah sure thing Waynor. I’m nice and calm now, see? And I was thinking about the steps to…… make moss into shapes? (Instinct)

I could feel the rampant emotions from before wane into nothing but simple calmness, and I felt that uncomfortable sensation that was growing in me before lessen to nothing.

Oh, ok then.

I severed the connection to Instinct and went back to where I was setting up my first hallway, which I made by extending the distance of my territory and my furthest room, with its own field of spike traps. When I was done here I would add randomly placed spike traps with the left over mana, before I started my next project. This was so much fun!

Ah, having a gender is nice and all, but nothing beats growing the dungeon!!! Maybe I can work on pitfall traps next……………..

[ Name: Waynor Titles: “Icon of Patience”, “Self-Named Dungeon”, “The One Who Endures” Rank: N/A Dominion Level: 0 Territory: N/A ]

[ Power: { Mana: 141} { Animus: 144 } Class: ??? State: flawless core]

[ Floors: 1 Rooms: 6 Inhabitants (slaves/livestock/pets/etc… included): {???: 1} Traps (magical/physical/other…): {spike: 67} ]

[ Creation Options: {Mana: expansion, building, decoration, design, trap creation, core growth} {Animus: dungeon lord creation, inhabitant creation, soul stone creation/granting, name bestowal, mutation/evolution/etc…, core growth} ]

[ Destruction Options: {Mana: magic, deconstruction, siphoning, absorption, portation (in-dungeon), Teleportation, item/magic recycling (automatic)} {Animus: siphoning, absorption, remodification/recreation, life recycling (automatic)} ]

[ Stored/Owned Creations (organic): {Dungeon lord: 1} Stored/Owned Creations (inorganic) Possible/Purchasable Creations: {∞} ]

so that's that people....... i think that's all imma do for today, more on the way tomorrow. also i decided to put an up to date version of Waynor's dungeon menu at the end of every chapter for you guys. comment and tell me whether or not you like the idea of that, or have some other idea to help everyone track what Waynor's dungeon has in it at whatever point in time.

oh, and i'm thinking of giving the first side chapter to Instinct, and just start a future chapter (that i MIGHT get to by tomorrow depending on my writing speed....) with a POV from an upcoming person...... your thoughts?

otherwise you all know the drill: comment with your love, rate the story with more love, share it with all who would appreciate a story like this, pat yourself on the back for being an amazing fan and doing even one of these things let alone all three, then dont forget to favorite or follow!!!!

and that's everything. Sally be with you..... (No Sally wont be in this story....... yet.... maybe...... i'll think about it....)

[th_0gotas.gif]

Author out........