There was nothing in this world, or any other, that Gem could liken to in order to describe absorbing the mana.

Warm and inviting, the mana filled his senses and drove away all other thoughts. He immediately forgot about drawing in more mana and didn’t care. It was like basking in a perfect sunbeam, and was the first experience of warmth he’d experienced since before his time in the void.

Chesu knocked his tiny knuckles against his gem, drawing Gem’s attention from the sensation of the cozy heat. “Are you okay in there?”

“The mana?”

“Huh.” Chesu lifted both eyebrows in confusion and shrugged. “I’ve always heard it’s like eating a fine meal.”

Gem didn’t respond, but instead looked at his menu again. His mana hadn’t yet increased.

“You need to eat more. A growing young core and all that. But you see that regeneration number? You need to draw in ambient mana to get that wheel turning, and then over an hour your mana pool will increase.”

It seemed too complicated a system, but Gem didn’t really think he had much room to argue it. Instead, he absorbed more mana.

The second time around, it was less like bathing in a sunny warmth and more like warming his hands near a fire. Nice, but not all consuming. After a handful of moments a cloud of almost imperceptible mana started to leak from his core, and Gem’s mana total ticked up to two out of fifty.

Chesu tapped his forehead with a grin. “As it should be. Absorbing mana and refining it will become second nature—like breathing. You won’t know you’re doing it and it’ll just be a passive increase to your mana totals. But this shouldn’t be how you aim to gain the majority of your mana.”

“One step at a time, kid.” Chesu patted the side of his gem. “We’ve got a lot of stuff to cover, and if you jump ahead we might miss something.”

Gem sent Chesu an image of a scrunched up face, obviously showing displeasure.

“Yeah, I know. I promise. We’re speedrunning this one, as my old core would say.” Before Gem could ask, Chesu moved on. “Next up is making a room so you can complete your quest. There’s two ways to do it: use the blocks at your disposal, or make new ones. Any time not right now, I’d encourage you to make new ones. The issue is, making something from nothing takes time or a ridiculous amount of mana. You’ve already got a tree farm going, and I’ll show you how to make generators in a little bit. So let’s just collect a handful of blocks and make you a rudimentary core room so you can claim it and move on, yeah?”

The wisp walked Gem through the specifics. A core room could be any size, but Gem would want to make sure he left enough room for his creatures, the dungeon mobs, to move around. It would also be nice for Chesu if the core room wasn’t just a block tall. He also couldn’t lock himself in; in order for his dungeon to function, there would always need to be an entrance and exit for his influence. It wouldn’t permeate walls. Likewise, his dungeon mobs had to be able to get around, and apparently they wouldn’t be able to defend him if there wasn’t a sufficient entrance to his core room.

With all that in mind, Gem brought his vision to the underneath of his island. Below him was a void much like the one he’d existed in for so long. He could see there was something down there—things moved in an endless sea of darkness—but they were too far away for his eyes to focus on.

The blocks on the underside of his island were much the same as the blocks above, save one. It looked to be composed of small green-gray pebbles, condensed into a singular block. Gem asked absentmindedly.

He felt Chesu’s hands on his gem—and odd sensation when his vision wasn’t in the gem—and then the wisp clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth. “Well, I’ll be. Looks like someone likes you, kid. Or is tired of losing.” Gem didn’t need to see the wisp’s face to know he was grinning from ear to ear. “That, dear dungeon, is cobblestone. You’ll need that to make stone.”

“Making blocks requires either a generator to create the block like you absorb mana—passively, and without much input from you—or by absorbing a block and then reproducing it using your mana. Creating things out of mana is expensive, but necessary sometimes.”

Gem eyed the block of cobblestone.

“Well, alright. This is us skipping ahead, and we should really get back to your core room, but let’s just make this quick: if you absorb that block, it’ll vanish. But then you can create infinitely more with just mana. It’s a leg up, because in order to absorb cobblestone otherwise, you’d need to set up a generator and wait for a block to be produced. Which, again, time.” Chesu went quiet for a moment. “I don’t think this is like… life saving or anything, but it might be nice to actually win. For once.”

The last bit was said quietly, and Gem wanted to ask what the wisp meant, but he could tell from Chesu’s tone that it was a sore subject. So, instead, Gem inspected the block.

“You remember that menu you got when you picked up the block before? There should be something in there. We’ll need to complete the core room first for you to access the option, though.”

Gem sent Chesu an image of a crystal with a weary expression.

“I know, kid. I know.”

Over the course of two hours—according to the twenty mana he absorbed passively while moving blocks—Gem relocated all fourteen dirt blocks from underneath his island.

He left the cobblestone block alone, as Chesu instructed. When he had removed all other blocks from around it, he was surprised to see it still floated in the air, with or without the support. Chesu assured him this was normal—something about the physics of floating—and so Gem returned to his building.

The core room he made was simple. Just three blocks wide and deep, and two blocks tall. He left one wall of the room open.

Being surrounded by dirt so closely on almost all sides was a bit claustrophobic. Gem expressed his displeasure to Chesu, who assured him it would be easy to expand later. This was just a temporary measure, and would keep him safe.

Once the final block was in place, Chesu instructed him to gather enough to make a roof. “The Ostrum will find a way in, if you let them. We’ve just got to do all we can to keep them out.”

Gem wasn’t happy about needing to cannibalize more of his island. It felt like he was causing problems for himself in the future, but Chesu assured him it was the only way. He needed to be protected, because otherwise he might get distracted and the Ostrum would come for him. Chesu was sure to tell Gem all about the cores before him that had failed and lost to the Ostrum.

Moving the blocks from the surface took longer than Gem expected. He wanted to avoid taking too much from one area, and Chesu instructed him to avoid picking up dirt blocks that already had grass growing on them. There were much fewer blocks with than without, so that wasn’t too hard.

After about another two hours had passed—according to the amount of mana he regenerated—Gem finally placed the last block in place.

“How much mana you got now, kid?”

Gem responded without looking.

“Great. We’re going to skip ahead then while we wait.”

“Mana. In order to claim a room, you need to… my previous core called it ‘spooging’ his mana all over the walls, but something a little less crude would work as well.”

Gem sent Chesu an image of a gem with one eyebrow raised.

“Issys. They’re a unique bunch. At any rate, we need your mana to be full to claim the room, so instead of just sitting here staring at one another, let’s talk Entities and themes.” Chesu grew quiet for a moment. “Long ago, before Sleyn was dying, it was home to a veritable wealth of dungeons. There was a perfect ecosystem, where dungeons had enough experience to grow and level, there were Entities being covered by more than one dungeon at a time, and there were enough Herocores hitting higher levels.

“But something happened. Or didn’t happen. The details are… fuzzy. But the result was Berrith and the Ostrum. They made the Hero Cores flee. Destroyed the Dungeon Cores. And they released and then consumed the Entities. Getting stronger every time. And now… now the Ostrum are trying to take over the World Core. No one knows what will happen if they succeed, but it won’t be a good time.”

Chesu fell silent. Gem could see lines of stress and worry across the wisp’s small face. His eyes had a haunted, distant look to them.

There was so much he wanted to say, to ask, rumbling under the surface of his mind. But only one thing boiled over:

“Sorry, kid, you’re it.”