Thanks to gravity I now know what’s up and what is down.

In retrospect, this was an obvious way of figuring it out. Much better than following Wormy around. Well, can’t really say I regret it considering it would’ve been lonelier and more boring to tunnel my way up without him.

Drawing on my newly acquired knowledge of all things earthworm related I’m glad to realize that the surface should be no more than two or three meters up from where I first encountered Wormy.

The crystal that is my body is about a meter or two deeper than that, so I’m very lucky I stumbled upon Wormy when I did. Who knows how much longer I would’ve tunneled around before finally chancing upon the surface.

When taking into account the fact that I use up mana for shaping my tunnels and that my mana regenerates a measly one point per hour, and an ‘eternity later’ doesn’t really sound so farfetched anymore.

Thus after creating an earthworm for the price of one mana point, I direct it towards the surface and follow along. It was surprisingly easy to create and I have no idea how I’m controlling the worm but it seems to understand my intentions and responds accordingly. What's more, unlike with Wormy, I am aware of my creation even if my attention is directed at another place in my tunnels. This awareness doesn’t give me much more than a general sense of its well being but it is a welcome change to the loneliness that even Wormy’s presence couldn’t exactly alleviate.

A few hours later Wormy 2.0 reached what looked to my magical vision as a root, which I commanded it follow along. The soil was easier to move through now and from time to time we would breach into pockets of empty space.

I felt weird every time that happened. The moment an opening was made into an empty space it would suddenly become part of me. This sudden addition to my mental awareness was disorienting, to say the least and I’m sure that if I still had a stomach, its contents would have left it very quickly.

With the roots getting thicker and thicker my anticipation was growing together with a tinge of fear.

“If small pockets of space left me feeling like this, what would happen once I reached the vast openness that is the surface?”

In a moment of what others might call fear, but I rather think of as caution, I commend Wormy 2.0 to stop heading upwards and instead tunnel around looking for more pockets of air. I also summon another earthworm and tell it to do the same while I wait for my mana to regenerate. A few excruciating hours later and my six unit worm squad has done a decent job of increasing the domain of my dungeon.

One of the pockets was so large that it knocked me out long enough for my mana to regenerate to full.

This would mean that I was out for more than ten hours, “Not a bad thing at the moment as I have nothing to do but wait, but what if this happens once my dungeon has an opening enemies can come through? The pop up window said that if my crystal is destroyed I die, so I need to start thinking of ways to protect it.”

Thinking about it now was useless as I didn’t have any options at my disposal except for summoning worms and the [Terraforming] skill which I don’t have enough mana to use at all. Good news is, however, is that with my mana pool full I apparently have the option of leveling up my dungeon. Something I gladly do, but not before checking that my worms are doing what I told them to.

Congratulations!

You have reached level two.

Next level up at 100 mana.

+10 dungeon points

“Hmm… dungeon points?”

Notice: Dungeon shop is disabled.

“I see… whelp maybe once my level is higher.” I shrug my nonexistent shoulders and wait for my mana to regenerate so I can summon more worms,”Maybe I can get lucky again and a large enough air pocket will knock me out.”

A few excruciatingly boring hours later that indeed happens and upon waking up I find that I have almost 20 mana at my disposal. “Which is weird considering this air pocket was smaller than the last one. So either it has nothing to do with the pockets size or I’m regenerating mana faster than I was before… also, what is up with all this empty space under this tree? This can’t be normal, can it?”

With growing suspicion, I create 14 more earthworms and command them to tunnel in different directions. The rest of my mana I spend on getting rid of the leftover small balls of earth my worms poop out.

“It’s my domain, after all, I should keep it clean and tidy.” I smile to myself at a job well done and return to the boring monotony of waiting for my mana to regenerate.

Bored, I examine the beginnings of my worm army in greater detail.

I wouldn’t have noticed it if not for the newly created worms, but with them for comparison, I clearly see that the first six worms are slightly longer and thicker. Wormy 2.0 is almost twice the size of a newly created earthworm.

For some reason that feels me with a sense of pride. Like a parent noticing how their child has grown, warmness fills me from inside, and as I take a mental step back to try and look at all my tunnels at the same time, a notification appears.

[Dungeon Map] skill awarded.

A short flood of information races through my consciousness and once done I notice that I now know how my domain looks. Not just the layout of the tunnels but the location of my worms and the length of each tunnel. No longer do I need to concentrate to try and figure where things are, the information is now always there at a moment's notice.

The first thing I do notice is that most of the air pockets are situated around the tree roots. The second thing I notice is that some of the original batch of worms I created are getting quite far from the roots, so I call them back. After which I instruct all of my creations to tunnel around the roots, looking for pockets of air.

Once I’m satisfied they are doing what they were told I decide to try something I haven’t tried yet but the fact that I can lose my consciousness makes me think this might work. So I close my nonexistent eyes and try to sleep.

And after tossing and turning inside my mind for almost an hour, I change my approach and try counting sheeps. When the flock passes the one thousand mark I change my approach again. This time I try meditating.

I try to clear my mind, but to no avail. Random thoughts keep floating in and out. As I continue the thoughts are replaced by words that echo in my mind and then by a familiar tune. Sighing I try again, this time I try to count back from one hundred, starting from scratch every time something else pops in my mind.

I’m being very honest with myself, since I want to see how far I can actually reach, and after awhile my record stands at ninety-three. “This is much harder than I expected it to be…”

My original idea of trying to fall asleep is discarded and I start counting back from ten with renewed vigor. More than an hour passes when I finally manage to count back until two without any distractions. However, before I can continue a large pocket of air makes me lose consciousness.

“How long was I out?” I ask no one in particular.

A quick glance at my menu and a full mana pool tells me quite some time has passed. Smiling at the opportunity I immediately choose the option of leveling up.

Congratulations!

You have reached level three.

Next level up at 250 mana.

+10 dungeon points

[Plant creation] skill awarded.

A sudden influx of moss related knowledge hits me, and when I check the skill, moss is indeed available for me to create.

A quick experimentation once I’ve regenerated some mana and three things are now clear to me:

I can grow moss wherever I want. One point of mana covers almost a square meter of space in moss. Which is really cheap. I now get a point of mana about every 40 minutes.

“Question is, is it because of the level up or something else?”

While I contemplate on the matter I become afraid as a familiar tremor passes through my domain, and just as last time the tremors are getting closer. Since I’m closer to the surface this time the tremors feel more familiar, “They feel like footsteps.”

Unlike last time, however, the tremors are weaker and more rhythmical. What's more, there is less of them.

“Feels like two people on a stroll, while last time felt more like a bunch of people running”. Remembering what happened previously I tell my worms to dig deeper and use the last of my mana to reinforce part of the tunnel walls around them.

A few minutes later and whoever walked over my domain is gone and with him, so are the tremors.

“This is quite problematic… if there’s a path of some sort over me then having an opening here might be dangerous. On the other hand whatever made the tremors is much bigger than an earthworm so not much immediate danger, but I’ll have to be careful how I go about expanding.”

Deciding it is time, I command my smallest worm to tunnel upwards and stand back to watch and wait. I could probably do it myself but choose not to as I think it is just appropriate for a worm to have the honor. It’s definitely not because I’m afraid of what might be out there. “Definitely.”

Why the smallest worm than? That is just so that if I lose it, at least I lost the smallest one and not Wormy 2.0. Actually, no! It’s because I want everyone to have a chance at greatness, even the smallest of worms.

“Yes. That’s a much better reason. I’ll go with that,” I smile to myself as I proudly watch my little worm struggle to reach the surface.

“Any minute now…”

An hour later the small worm rears its head out of the ground and I lose my consciousness.