“I’ll show him busy,” Jason mumbles to himself as he massages Ben.

He postponed again. Says he can’t still. I’m going alone

Pacing around the room waiting for a reply he continues to mutter, “Not recovered my butt. I did great the first two times without him, killed my first monster without even having a class.”

Dude… that sux but you cant go alone

Come with me then, we can watch each others back.

Nah dude aint happening. No way im going without mr locklear

Don’t you want to level up your class?

Not enough to get hurt for it

But enough to increase your following?

Good try dude but still no. I still have a few dozen good photos I can upload to ride this wave of popularity. PLUS I leveled today, without needing to risk my life for it

Pussy.

Fuck you dude see ya tomorrow

Jason's fingers hovered over the keyboard formulating a reply. He started to type it out a few times but deleted it every time. Eventually, he pushed the whole thing away and got up from the computer to grab his backpack. Cramming everything he needed into it he ran out of the house towards the dungeon. It was getting late but he didn’t care, six days of waiting were five days too long.

My second-floor boss was growing bigger at a steady pace. Created only a few hours ago it was already ten centimeters in diameter, growing larger as it absorbed water. Not just any water mind you, a barely diluted Mana potion glowing bright blue. That glow is what gave the Slime its bright green coloration.

My Slime’s natural color was yellow. The color came from the cell wall of the amoeba-like organism that was the Slime Mold. In nature the cell would split and become two and then those two parts would work together and split to make four, multiplying until they were a giant organism that worked together as one.

What I did was take a single cell, strengthen its walls to the best of what the [Splicer] skill interface allowed me while also keeping them elastic, and began to pump it full of water. The spliced monster started growing but too slowly for my taste. When I looked to see why I saw that the reason was because it was excreting the water almost as fast as I was injecting it. Leaving only a tiny fraction of what he consumed, a fraction that soon made him glow in blue from the inside, and as the blue light passed through the yellow cell membrane it turned him green to anyone that looked at the Slime from the outside.

It made me realize that it wasn’t water that he was consuming but the trace amounts of Mana potion that circulated inside the second floor stream. “Perfect,” I thought at that moment.

The monster represented exactly what I needed from it. As the boss of the second floor, anyone who will try to enter the third will have to pass through it first. And just as a giant slime glowing radioactive green is not a thing one normally sees, so will every floor beyond the Giant Slime be the same.

“The tutorial is over,” and the magical slime will signify that those who wish to progress beyond the second floor must be prepared to face creatures they’ve only dreamed of. The isolated system of tunnels, the one that became its own ecosystem has provided me with more than enough magical abilities which I can now add to my creations. The competition for the limited ambient mana has produced some very interesting paths of evolution for the constantly competing animals trapped inside.

“It’s safe to say that I have big plans for the next floor,” but instead I’m still stuck on making it large enough to hold my vision. I want it to be enormous. So big it won’t be possible to see the walls if you stand in the center. “Most likely impossible but it’s important to dream big sometimes. Shoot for the moon, if you miss you’ll still be among the stars or so the saying goes.”

The third floor is already bigger than the second. Postponing all my other plans I spent a large amount of mana to make it that spacious, something I won’t keep doing as what I have already should be big enough to last for a while. The water from the second floor falls from the ceiling, dropping fifty meters down and accumulating on the bottom. A waterfall of slightly magical water crashing down, filling up the future sea of my third floor.

“A sea I can’t populate unless I spend dungeon points,” something I can’t do right now as I used everything I had to buy a perk for the [Item Creation] skill called {Monster Core Formation}. It allows me to reach through the connection I share with all my creations and compact my mana inside of them to form a monster core. It solves two huge weaknesses of mine.

I avoided it at first as the mana cost was too high at the time but now with my much bigger ecosystem, and the need for boss monsters, it can be used properly.

My first weakness is that if my boss monster is defeated it will take time for another to grow to replace it. A boss monster should be something special so I can’t have it be just any monster in the dungeon. It has to be unique for every floor. Either Mikki or Sally for the first floor and the magical Slime for the second. They each differ from the original form of the animal or monster template I created them from. Changed, “Or better yet, evolved,” due to their interactions with the environment. Physical power, movement speed and magic are represented in each accordingly, representing the way they grew up in my dungeon.

Putting a monster core inside of them allows me to revive them if they ever die.

The second weakness that it solves is the inability of my creations to leave my dungeons territory. Sure, the Monster worm is doing a great job at expanding my territory, it even developed an ability to eat not only through tree roots but through solid stone as well, but it's still a long time until it tunnels around the whole world.

The monster core stores mana inside of it, growing bigger the more mana it accumulates, allowing a monster with a core to travel outside the reach of my ambient mana without dissipating into nothingness.

Right now I almost have enough for one such core but I can feel the boy making its way to me, so any exploring I want to do will come after I choose who to set as the first-floor boss.

The main thing running through Jason's mind was that the dungeon's territory has increased again. In the few days he was absent the alien mushrooms that signified the border have extended two more minutes away from the entrance. Which would mean that the dungeon itself might have changed again.

He stopped there, waiting at the edge and wondering if he should go back, “Isn’t it growing too fast?” He knew he was acting foolish, he knew that what he was doing was stupid, but he couldn’t wait. Not when every day was a chance to level.

“The dungeon isn't deadly yet,” he said, “At least the first floor seems easy enough.”

He gives himself a few slaps and nods his head. One last check that his modified football armor and new skateboard helmet are sitting properly and he steps over a bright purple mushroom, making his first step of another adventure.

Blood pumping and heart threatening to jump out of his chest he half runs the distance to the entrance, warming up his body against the cold. He decided to test the new [Basic Endurance] skill which he got when he reached level three so he increased his speed.

By the time he stepped inside the dungeon tree he was flushed and just starting to sweat. Using his body felt good, and with the adrenalin starting to affect his body he ran down the stairs, sprinted the distance of the small platform and leaped to the first giant mushroom on the path.

Landing on one leg he uses his momentum and immediately jumps to the next mushroom, only one leg ever touching each cap. He cleared a path that took them half an hour the first time in less than ten minutes, reaching the balancing shrooms and the curtain of vine-like mushrooms over them. Without stopping he pummels through, batting away any worm that tries to wrap around him. It's difficult alone but he manages to survive, almost falling down twice.

Covered in icky goo he hears the cliff before he sees it. It sounds like light rain and any change makes him cautious. He slows down his approach, bat ready and metal frying pan raised just in case, Jason noticed something glittering in front of him.

Standing on the edge of the cliff he stared at the wall on the other side and breathed in air that smelled like rain. The way the glowing drops fell and splattered on the various flowers and mushrooms was relaxing so for a few moments he sat down on the edge and just listened to the environment.

Looking down between his legs he wondered what would happen if he jumped from here, would the trampoline absorb his fall? Something in him wanted to do it, to just try and see what happens. He even leaned forward slightly, but there was courage and then there was stupidity. Jumping from here was stupid and Jason didn’t consider himself one. Coming here alone was a calculated risk. Jumping down was suicidal.

“Yosh,” he dropped from the edge to the platform below and from it to the next one under it. Going down was scary but not too difficult. When he reached the halfway mark he didn’t stop to rest inside the cave in the wall, continuing his way down and leaping off the edge.

Breath taken away from him he feels his stomach rise into his mouth and prepares to absorb the impact. The thought that jumping from a height of four meters was a wrong thing to do barely registers in his mind before his feet impact the mushroom underneath and his knees bend from the force. The mushroom bends to accept his weight and absorbs the drop.

He puts his hand in front of him to absorb the fall but the moment they touch the wet surface, the cap rebounds, catapulting him into the air. Not straight, but sideways into a wall. He manages to twist and raise one leg to cushion the blow.

His body slams into the wall hard, leaving a bruise and rebounding him back onto the mushroom, where he bounces a couple of times before losing all momentum. Grimacing he waits for the pain to pass away while laying on his back. Glowing rain falls on him but he doesn’t care. It’s light and there's some time before it makes him wet, and right now the cold drops feel amazing on his face and palms. With each drop he feels energy pouring into him, reducing the pain he is in and invigorating him.

He lifts his legs up and tries to mimic the way martial artists jump back to their feet without using hands. The video explaining how to do it made it look easy but he barely manages to lift himself off the ground before falling down again on his back.

Laughing at himself he flails around on the ground and tries a couple of more times with no success. Eventually, he lifts himself up using his hands and proceeds to jump around on the trampoline, enjoying the drops of glowing water that fly everywhere every time he lands.

[Basic Endurance] works its magic again, making sure that he is barely out of breath after the intense exercise. Still, he takes a moment to eat and drink before beginning the second half of the first floor.

Only several steps towards the boulders and already he is attacked by a monster rodent that jumps at his face from the shadows. He ducks at the last second, feeling the tail flick him on the ear. Turning around quickly he manages to glimpse the black rodent disappear back into the shadows.

Excited, he climbs one of the boulders and sees rodents on the other side waiting for him. He takes a deep breath and jumps down into the fray. Crushing one under his foot he brings the bat down on another, killing both with one attack.

There are two more so he rotates on one leg, swinging the bat in an arc right over the ground, hitting one rodent on its side and sending it flying into a boulder. Only one enemy is left and it runs at him prepared to climb his legs.

Jason doesn't waste time and uses [Power Kick] to send the monster flying to the ceiling. He watches as it falls back down to the ground with a loud mush.

Proud of himself he straightens and prepares for the next wave of monsters when a noise echoes through the dungeon.

A high pitched scream that sends shivers down Jason's spine. He turns around and looks at the way it came from, from the direction of the dungeon's entrance. It broke off as suddenly as it started and Jason couldn't help but think something really bad had happened. Contemplating if he should go back to check on the source he wavers back and forth when he realises he might have to climb the cliff.

He decides it’ll be faster to finish the floor and come back in. He didn't expect that unlike last time there would be a boss monster waiting for him.

A monstrous rodent, smaller than the one they saw last time and more scaly than furry. It used its massive back legs to launch itself at Jason. The monster was ferocious. The smaller versions that jumped at him so far would only jump once before running away. Unlike them, whenever the boss missed an attack it would transition to a bounce and reposition itself using the stalagmites and columns that covered the boss room. Its attacks were fast and could come from any angle. But they were predictable, the sound of its tail and claws scratching the floor announced when and where it would come from.

Jason would jump and roll in a random direction every time he heard an attack coming. He managed to dodge but didn’t know how he could defeat the thing. One roll at a time he was trying to move the fight closer to the cavern wall, effectively cutting off the angles the jumping rodent could come at him from.

With his back to the wall, he threw his backpack out of the way and dropped his shield. Holding the bat with both hands he prepared for the next attack. In the dim lighting, he couldn’t see much but he could hear the low rumbling squeak the monster made as it hopped around him, looking for a good angle to attack from. Jason knew it wasn’t stupid, he knew that the first jump would be a faint and tried to think what to do.

He felt like a goalie during penalties, trying to decide which direction to jump as doing so after the ball was kicked was useless. He’d have to choose what he’ll do before the monster attacked. Before he could decide the monster appears out of the shadows, flying through the air towards him.

Jason didn’t move. Not because he didn’t see the attack coming but because he knew it wasn’t aimed at him. Instead, he turned to his left just as the rodent hit one of the outcroppings on the wall and changed direction, suddenly moving directly at him. Its muscular tail slammed into the wall, cracking it slightly from the forces needed to change direction so suddenly.

Jason was ready however, his bat already whistling through the air in the direction the monster was coming from. The rodent tried to wiggle out of the way but it was too late. The bat connected with its skull before its weight slammed into the boy.

Jason fell to the ground, struggling to lift the heavy creature off of him. He didn’t know if it was dead or just stunned so he hurried to his feet and reached for his bat. Raising it overhead he brings it down on the rodents head and hears the weapon crack. Not stopping he brings it down again and the wooden bat breaks. Taking a step back and panting he sees his enemy twitch and fear takes hold of him as he grabs the broken handle and jams it into the monster's eye socket. Hands bloody, he drops to the floor exhausted and feels the air change and become thicker, making his hairs stand up and breathing to become more difficult. A few moments later the feeling passes and in front of him is a small glass vial filled with a red liquid. He picks it up and turns it around to look at it, “A health potion?” he says as the glowing fluid moves around inside, “No fucking way!”

His excitement dies down as quickly as it appeared. He remembers that they can’t take anything out of the dungeon's territory or they’ll disappear like the flowers they tried to take with them last time. Jason hopes the potion won’t do the same but he’ll have to try to find out and he’s not sure he’s willing to risk it. Picking up his backpack and shield from the floor he slides down happily to the safe room.

He leaves using the elevator and doesn’t forget to check what made the scream. Down the stairwell he finds alcohol bottles littering the small platform that leads to the mushroom sea. Cigarette butts and many different footsteps are everywhere.

“Whoever it was they left in a hurry…” Jason says and exits the dungeon.

When he gets home he places the small glowing vial, no longer completely full, on the table in his room and turns on the computer to message Ben, telling him about what happened. While he waits for Ben to reply he checks his friend’s various social accounts to see if he uploaded anything new from the dungeon.

What shines at him from the computer screen is something he tried to ignore since he first realized that what he found was a dungeon. He knew it was a possibility, he knew it couldn’t be avoided. But even though he knew it was just a matter of time, the post informing him about the first life the dungeon has taken hits him hard. Staring at the screen he keeps reading the same sentence over and over until the tears make it incomprehensible.