Humans?

“Yes, it’s a rabbit,” the older one - Maya, presumably - said with a sigh. “You don’t have to comment on it every time we see one.”

There were two girls there, holding baskets. They didn’t look like any race Amy had seen before, but were definitely human. They looked similar - sisters, probably?

“But it’s so cute!” the younger one squealed with delight.

Maya rolled her eyes.

“They’re all cute,” Maya said. “And the forest is full of them. Let’s go, Sarah.”

Humans!

Maya looked to be about twelve, and Sarah was about ten. The rabbit’s ear twitched as Amy’s mind went into overdrive. Baskets… they were gathering something. Berries, maybe?

“I’m going to try to catch it,” Sarah said with a huge grin as she settled into a crouch.

“You’ll never catch one,” Maya said, sounding like this was something she’d said a thousand times. “Can we just go?”

“But I love bunnies,” Sarah said. “Let me try… here.”

She shoved the basket into Maya’s arms.

Should I let her catch the rabbit? Amy wondered, frowning to herself.

No. Best to make the rabbit seem normal, for the time being.

The rabbit quickly resumed bundling up the vines. As soon as Sarah got close, it bolted back to the dungeon. Sarah gave chase, laughing, but wasn’t too disappointed when she fell behind.

Humans. A human settlement was within walking distance of her dungeon. What did that mean for her?

Amy could barely keep focused on the vine she’d collected. It needed an infusion of mana to become “hers,” and to restore it to health. She also healed the rabbit, while she was at it. She had plenty of material to rebuild the flesh with.

With the rabbit’s help, she got the vine nicely growing both inside of and outside of the dungeon.

Humans were the most benevolent and malevolent creatures in the world. The surest way to live was to be beloved by humans. Giant pandas were a great example of that - the poor beasts couldn’t even mate properly, but humans invested massive amounts of time and resources to keep the species going. And why? Because they were cute. That’s all it took. Dogs were both cute and useful, but just cute was good enough.

Focus. I need to get this growing!

She could make the parts of the plant outside of the dungeon grow by channeling her mana through the plant, but it was expensive. That was a shame. Still, it seemed like her plan would work.

She needed to collect more raw material. She sent her hunter flies and rabbit outside to gather as much plant matter as they could. The rabbit looked possessed as it ran back and forth to the dungeon, dropping off mouthfuls of grass and leaves.

Humans were also the deadliest creatures on the planet. How many species had they driven extinct? She remembered something she’d read about mosquitos. Biologists around the world were studying their ecological impact, to see if it would hurt anything if they went extinct. Humanity was seriously considering a planet-wide genocide of one of the most successful organisms ever to have lived on Earth. And why? Because they were annoying as hell. That, and they killed people.

She’d collected enough plant matter for her purposes. She had the rabbit pull the parts of the vine that were outside back inside. She made it grow, fueling it with mana and absorbed grasses. The leaves grew broad and dark. That part of the vine went from a few inches long to several feet long, branching in multiple places, to cover a wide area.

Once she was satisfied with it, she had the rabbit place the vines back outside. She had it dig a nice furrow for the roots, and draped the vines all over the hillside. A little magic poured through the vine, and she was able to make the roots grow in deeply.

What about rhinos, though? The thought distracted her again. Rhinos, elephants, and probably a bunch of others. These creatures were useful to humans, even loved by humans, but were being driven to extinction because they were valuable. And why? Because some people were shortsighted, greedy bastards.

She did not want to go the way of the rhino.

Anxiety was gnawing at her, but she pushed it aside. What did she need to do again? Right, right. The parts of the vine that were inside of the dungeon were heavily modified in an entirely different way. They didn’t need leaves, or chlorophyll. They grew strong, thick roots that greedily sucked up the water she provided.

Different pods started growing along the length of vine. They began to ooze a sweet liquid. It was a copy of nectar, the structure for which she’d absorbed from flowers. This would be food for her insects.

It wasn’t producing much, yet. This step was about proving that it could be done. If everything went according to plan - and really, why wouldn’t it? - then the vine would collect sunlight from outside, water, and nutrients from the soil, and would produce whatever energy-rich plant matter she desired on the inside.

Amy was quite pleased with her creation. Happily examining the structure occupied her for a few minutes before her mind went back to her neighbors.

Humans, just a stone’s throw away. The gods had chosen this spot for her. So what did that mean? They didn’t want her to die, but it had also been insinuated that this area wasn’t perfect. Was their presence a good thing or bad thing? Were they a threat?

They’re obviously a threat. There’s nothing more threatening than humans. Besides, didn’t the persona demigod… what was his name… oh, right, Prosopon... didn’t he say something about dungeons only being killable with malicious intent or something?

She couldn’t make them go away. And really, she didn’t want to. They were people! Her people! It wasn’t as lonely as it might have been; maybe her human instincts were more or less gone? She should have been half mad with loneliness by now, but she was fine. That didn’t change the fact that she wanted human company.

She knew she should make a list of options to consider, but there was only one option that was obvious to her. And it wasn’t the one her new instincts were screaming out for, either.

I mean, really - hiding my core deeper, and killing anything that shows up? Isn’t that just begging for a dedicated extermination group to come and wipe me out? Sheesh, these instincts are ridiculous. Obvious truth number one: do not ever become a threat to humans, because humans have a solid track record for dealing with threats.

Becoming the ally of humans was the only real choice here, long term. Humans protected what they liked, and destroyed what they didn’t like. And while people were sometimes bad at protecting stuff, whoo boy, were they good at destroying stuff. She needed to be liked, to be protected.

But she didn’t want to be a slave, either. Not a slave; forced to work for her survival. Not a dog; loved, but still a servant of man. Not a rhino; harmed or killed for the purpose of greed. Not a parrot; admired, but locked in a cage her whole life.

What, then? Was there an analogy she could aspire to?

She remembered a video she’d watched online once. A dolphin had had a fishing line or something wrapped around its fin. It couldn’t get it off on its own. So, it approached a diver. The diver was thrilled to be trusted with the task, and happily cut the dolphin free.

Some dolphins had it bad - no species was completely safe from mankind, not even humans. But, generally, it seemed like a good relationship.

Dolphins are my inspiration, then. I will be cute, useful, a little shy of humans, playful, and communicative. Well, depending a bit on the local culture, I’d guess.

Their culture. Wait, why could she understand them? Surely they weren’t speaking English!

The book demigod had said something about translation… hmm. Maybe another perk of dungeons was the ability to understand language? That seemed a little too convenient. But then, the dungeons were crafted by the gods for some reason; and all to the exact same standard, too. Amy supposed it did make sense - after all, the gods would want the dungeons to understand their own priests and such. Probably.

Huh. Well, no sense in overthinking that. She’d eventually learn the real purpose of dungeons.

In the meantime, she needed to learn about the local culture as soon as possible. It was critical that she know what she was dealing with before they found her. The rabbit was too costly to maintain outside of her dungeon, and the flies just didn’t have the senses for the job. Even if she enhanced them, they were just too slow.

What she needed was to capture a living rabbit.

Best to do a little testing on the process, first. Amy looked for her control group of maggots.

… and couldn’t find it.

That didn’t make sense. She knew where everything was in her dungeon. She examined the flies and maggots more closely, looking for the life that she didn’t own. But they all were hers. Too many, actually.

She laughed as it clicked in. The maggots that she’d tried to leave alone fell under her control anyway. She recognized them, now - they were like the natural born, except far behind in their development. They’d hatched two days prior, and still weren’t pupae yet. The natural born were just starting to enter that phase. The mana born were almost ready to emerge from their pupae. The hunters’ offspring were already pupae again - Amy suspected that they might emerge at around the same time as the mana-born did.

She was also pretty sure she didn’t need any flies except the hunters. The others would just be more food for the ravenous little monsters. They might as well mature first, though - she got more mana that way.

In any case, it sort of addressed the issue with the rabbits. They’d be hers one way or another. The issue was, she wanted one now.

Based on her limited testing, the younger they were, the better. She was seriously feeling the strain on her mana already. Maybe she ought to wait another day.

Surely, though, she couldn’t overuse magic to the point of damaging herself without realizing it ahead of time. Right? She could push. After all, she was gaining mana from the rabbits at a steady, if slow, rate. If she overdid it, she’d rest then.

There were some baby rabbits in the warren, which wasn’t surprising, considering their reputation. But, they were obviously not newborns. Amy considered, and decided to go for it. She focused on the litter of rabbits closest to her core.

She sent some hunter flies to get a closer look. Living things which weren’t hers were a little blurry, with dungeon senses. The flies didn’t have great vision, but it was better than nothing.

On examination, it looked like the four little guys were a few weeks old. She wasn’t all that familiar with rabbits, but she’d seen plenty of kitten videos. Comparing them to kittens, she’d put them at four or five weeks old.

They really were adorable. They were exploring the warren a little, but didn’t venture far from the nest, nor did they go outside. Amy decided on a two-pronged attack. With her created rabbit’s help, she gathered a big mouthful of grass. She whispered an enchantment into the grass, trying to make it thick with her magic, to take over anything that ate it. Then, she had the rabbit lay down the grass in front of the babies.

They obligingly started nibbling away. As they did so, she pressed her magic into them, trying to take over. She made the most progress when they ate the grass, but it wasn’t enough to take over. After an hour, she was exhausted and hungry to the point of pain, so she backed off. Still, she sucked away at the mana around the babies in particular, hoping it would weaken their resistance.

The pattern of alternating attacks with draining continued for hours, until something new caught her attention. The hunters’ offspring were emerging from their pupae.

This second generation was as changed as the first had been. Hundreds of flies started to fill her cavern, in these last hours of the night, and in their numbers, she noticed something new.

Not all of the flies changed in exactly the same ways. She’d attributed the little differences in her ten hunters as nothing but normal, individual variation, but many of these flies were significantly distinct. Quite a few variations failed miserably, but most were buzzing around without trouble.

Some had taken her eating enhancements to heart, with oversized mouths, misshapen heads, and an even more expansive digestive system. They scarcely resembled flies at all, and more like winged fang monsters.

Some had taken her size enhancements further, and were already twice the size of their parents. Their limbs were bulkier, and thick with strength enhancing magic, able to carry things far larger than themselves.

Others seemed to go in entirely unexpected directions. A few had developed wings so much larger that they started to resemble dragonflies. They’d also been unsteady fliers - with that comparison in mind, Amy tweaked them a little to resemble dragonflies even more, and they improved vastly.

The creepiest, in her opinion, looked like oversized, winged maggots. That was an image she could have gone her entire life without seeing, let alone in the exceptional detail her dungeon senses provided.

All in all, it was both promising and a bit too much. Amy considered what to do with them.

Some, like the freaky mouth ones, were clearly going to be good at attacking things. She was pretty sure most humans would turn around at the mere sight of them, let alone after having a bite gouge out a half inch worth of flesh. She created a few lumps of material - wood, leafy matter, and rabbit hide - to test them out on. Of the most successful, she kept four females and two males for breeding stock, and kept them at the back of her dungeon, where she’d keep them safe and well fed. She directed them to consume all but twenty of the losers, which would serve her in the meantime. Due to their bizarre head shape, she decided to call them jawtooth flies.

The ones with size and strength benefits were tasked with carrying small rocks and sticks around. As with the previous group, she selected the most promising breeding stock, and had them consume the lives and mana of the rest, barring some workers. These, she called gatherer flies.

The last group she made into scouts. These, she tested by sending them out into the pre-dawn fields. The ones who traveled the furthest with the least mana drain were the victors, and they, too, feasted on their brethren.

The amount of mana she got back from the several hundred flies she’d killed was more than expected, and much appreciated. She absorbed the material from the uneaten corpses, and used the material to further enhance the breeding stock.

She couldn’t help but do another test, too. She was curious if fully physical changes would be kept in the breeding. In addition to the dragonfly-like modification she’d done, she decided some of the jawtooth flies should have refined stone teeth.

In the process of refining the stone, she was surprised to discover that it turned transparent. It looked like glass.

She groaned as she belatedly realized the obvious. Yes, it was glass. Silicon dioxide. The bulk of Earth’s surface was mostly oxygen and silicon, if she remembered correctly. And this Yaelsin place was obviously quite similar to Earth. Normally, sand was used to make glass, but that was because it was already mostly pure. She didn’t have purification problems.

Her jawtooth flies had magically enhanced, razor sharp, glass teeth. She couldn’t wait for them to breed.

Beyond some fine tuning of the scouts, the biggest change for them was in trying to enhance their senses. The only approaches that worked had the downside of actually requiring steady mana flows from her. That may work in the future, but not yet.

She sighed to herself, and sent all three groups out gathering, while she resumed her assault on the adorable balls of fluff.

Right before dawn, their mother returned, and nursed them. Amy had a moment of inspiration, and moved to strike. Her rabbit charged the nest and tackled the mother in the middle of nursing. She fell, startled, and a few drops of milk splattered on the side of the nest. Amy’s rabbit jumped onto those drops, protecting them from the life energy of the confused babies.

Amy absorbed those precious drops. Now she could recreate rabbit milk. Her rabbit drove off the mother, leaving some whimpering little fluff balls behind.

Her next task was more complicated. She adjusted her rabbit, making it as much like the mother as she reasonably could. Her stolen rabbit was female, which made it easier. A few more tweaks, and she started producing milk.

And then began nursing the babies.

The process was incredibly fast after that. Amy could feel her magic slipping into the babies with each mouthful of milk. It was only a few minutes, and they were hers.

If she had a body, she’d have done a victory dance.

Their mother would probably come back, and if not, she’d figure something else out. In the meantime, though, she only needed one.

She selected a female with particularly perky ears and directed her away from the nest. The connection with the created rabbit was cut, leaving it dead again, and she reabsorbed its body. Using that material, she carefully forced a faster development in her newest acquisition.

Half an hour later, Amy was again exhausted, but she had what appeared to be a completely functional, nearly grown female rabbit under her control.

As soon as she had mana for the task, it was time to scout the human village.