Veraform had been spawning and killing giant rats for hours. It was a slow and tedious process that bled into the next day, but eventually he could afford the rat floor specialization. Additionally he had summoned a fairy dragon. It had cost a minor soul and 10 mana. It tended to avoid the other creatures of the dungeon and made its home on the far side, away from mechamputax and the sigil room. The creature was clearly unhappy in its current living space. Veraform did not pity the creature, but he could see value in allowing all of his minions to believe he did care for them. Would that really be any different in the end?

Veraform thought for a moment. Then he began channeling his mana infusion ability into the small creature. It whimpered and cried but Veraform continued. It tried to protect itself and teleport but Veraform’s concentration was not broken and the creature fell to the floor before bursting. It had cost 5 mana and gained him 5 KP as well as unlocking a new floor specialization. Fairy, at the price of 50 KP. If other fairies were as strong as this one, then that may well be worth it.

Veraform decided he would get the fairy floor and then save up for a demon floor. He still didn’t actually know what he would gain from the upgrades so he didn’t want to spring for the most expensive one right off the bat.

Veraform waited for the mana once again and soon enough he could afford it. He would wait to bring the fairy dragon back until he had the floor specialization. Once he could afford it, he made the purchase.

His menu changed and the line that previously held the price of a fairy floor now said

Floor specializations:

Rat: 40 KP

Demon: 100 KP

Kobold: 50 KP

Fairy: obtained, 50 mana.

It cost mana now! This was absurd. Cost after cost. Limits upon limits just to slow him down, he thought. Fine. He would wait the additional 13 hours to gain the necessary mana. How long had he been alive? His perception of time was intrinsically bound to his mana production, which changed. He knew it had at least been 3 days. One to be discovered, one for the return of the adventurers and at least one for all the time he’d waited for mana, but he really didn’t know if it had been four or five days. The nights had come and gone without notice from him.

It couldn’t have been too long since no new adventurers had arrived even after his flares had gone out. He pondered the length of his existence as he let it get longer. Once again he had to wait. During the wait he was lucky enough that a rabbit had wondered its way in, speeding up the production a bit, and increasing his lesser soul count to 17. He idly spawned a rat with it since it was free. With some more patience he could finally afford the floor specialization. The wait was agonizing, but once it was over he did it. He channeled on the second floor to specialize it.

Uh Oh!

Looks like you’re trying to specialize a floor that is too small.

It's hardly a floor if you don’t have at least ⧭⇑❒⍠⍔ (add rooms til it works so you can fix this later. 10 at most.) rooms.

…

What was wrong with the notification? Was Veraform expected to somehow fix it? He simply couldn’t process what the word meant. It was clearly meant to be a number. Numbers were such a simple concept, why couldn’t he understand this one? At least he only had one room so he was able to accurately find the number needed. He would remember in case he was meant to fix the message somehow.

When he started to add a room he noticed something. He wasn’t limited on this floor the way he was on the first floor. He could make the rooms taller and he wasn’t limited to the 43 by 30 foot area he had invested in expanding. The messages did say the floors beyond first were magical. Perhaps they didn’t exist the same way the first floor did.

This would give him more room to make larger and more dynamic layouts. He was giddy at the idea. He could make a true labyrinth, or a palace worthy of his might. He’d be able to spare the room for the comfort of his minions as well.

He added a room connected to the far end of the stair room. It was a simple 10 by 10 foot square. He would polsih the look of the place after getting a floor specialization. He tried for the specialization, and it failed. He added another room, a circle with a domed ceiling. It had a 20 foot diameter. He tried and failed again to get the floor specialization. Once again he added a square room connected to the circle room. Once again the specialization failed. Another room connected to the circle room and he felt a drop in mana regen. He was still at 4 though. Every 5 rooms would cost him, he remembered, but the first 10 were paid for regardless of whether or not he had them.

This, fortunately, was the last room he needed. As he made the purchase the entire floor lit up.

Notifications poured in.

Unlocked: Fairy tree

Unlocked: Pixie

Unlocked: Salamander

Unlocked: Lost woods

Unlocked: Star mites

Available for research: will o’wisp 5 KP

Available for research: Glamour Pixie 5 KP

As quickly as the messages appeared rooms started changing. The circle room spouted a massive tree whose leaves would drip some liquid into the bulbs of flowers below. The three square rooms ceilings seemed to rise and rise until they simply vanished, and then their walls did the same and Veraform could feel them all suddenly become connected, but in a strange way. It wasn’t consistent. You’d be in one and then the next step you would be across the dungeon in the other. A moment later crossing the same threshold meant appearing somewhere else. The floors sprouted grass and small rises and dips formed, making the ground uneven.

The door ways that led to the Fairy tree fell and became portals on the ground. Looking into them one could see the great tree, Though it looked sideways. Going through it would mean experiencing a 90 degree shift in gravity. The staircase room went mostly unaffected. It still had walls, albeit with some vines growing along them.

From within the tree Veraform could sense a minion. The fairy dragon had spawned all on its own and when it emerged it laughed like a small child. It fluttered about marveling at the scenery before taking a seat and drinking from the sap collected in the flowers. When it was down it flew again and made its way to the core. Veraform was surprised when the creature spoke for the first time, “oh thank you, I know i didn’t really fit in but you’ve already made me feel so at home and I just can’t thank you enough.” It’s voice was manic and high with very little time to breath.

Everything happened so fast that Veraform was still processing the changes before he could begin to respond to the little beast. Leo and Sett, for their part, had wandered down the stairs when they heard the commotion. Leo plugged his nose and gagged, “what is that smell?”

The sweetness of the tree’s nectar bled into the stair room, though the imps couldn’t smell it until they made it halfway down the stairs. With their arrival Veraform regained his composure and made an announcement. “Your name,” he bellowed, “will be Zelphy.” Veraform though very little when he named his creatures, but for nevertheless he liked the names he chose.

“Ooooh the name fits wonderfully my lord I’ll wear it with a pride that outshines the sun itself.” Instead of pausing, the creature simply used the last words of one sentence to start the next. Before Veraform could reply the small animal was already flapping about in the lost woods. The imps glanced at each other and then went back up the stairs before the smell made them vomit.

Veraform took this as a reprieve from the energy of the floating lizard and considered the creatures he unlocked. The pixie, salamander and star mites. Veraform slaughtered two rats and a giant rat, gaining 2 KP and freeing up some souls. He focused and brought a handful of star mites into existence. They seemed to share a soul, since it had cost him only one lesser soul. The creature or creatures was a cluster of small reflective… things that floated around lazily. When commanded to move they did so slowly and without effort. It was as if someone had thrown glitter into the air and had a fan blowing 4 rooms away.

Next Veraform tried for the salamander. It also came from the tree at no mana cost, and required only a lesser soul. It stuck to the outside of the tree and quickly ran down and submerged its head into a flower to drink the nectar. Once it had finished it ran about and circled the tree before finding a hole to hide in.

Lastly, Veraform summoned a pixie. This one had actually cost him 4 mana and a slighter soul. When it emerged from the branches of the tree Veraform could see it was little more than a mote of light about the size of a golf ball. It floated around slowly before it suddenly dropped straight down faster than it should fall and landed directly in one of the flowers.

A light chime noise rang through the air as the pixie released itself from the sap. It floated back up and hovered onto the leaves of the fairy tree. This had all been very exciting and Veraform was now certain he wanted to unlock the demon specialization when he could afford it.

For now though, Veraform would learn what these creatures could do and consider how best to use his newfound minions. It was only a matter of time before more adventurers arrived.