It had been two days since I began learning magic. I'd learned several spells relating to Geo Elemental Magic, basically all the spells known to the poor brainwashed elementalist. Yet it was still of great benefit to me, considering that manipulating earth was useful in making golems.

Indeed, with a combination of a spell known as “{Earth Shaper}” and [Programming], I could easily shape hard metal to become a large object. With this, making a golem more than two-meter tall would no longer be a pipe dream and should be easily accomplishable.

Parenthetically, magic was mostly divided into five known tiers: Bottom, Low, Mid, High, and Top. They were divided based on their complexity, total amount of mana used, and output. Despite being only a Bottom-tier spell, {Earth Shaper} was more useful than any other spells on the shelf — those that I learned.

...Actually, I found that learning a new spell was normally done by memorizing a chant with perfect pronunciation. The learning process, then, was to repeatedly chant the chant over and over and over. There couldn’t be a single miss pronunciation, which would cause the magic to collapse or even backfire. However, this wasn’t really a problem for me and was easily avoidable thanks to the automatic translator’s and Lorelei’s help.

Speaking of the dungeon, I’d restored the traps and even added more of the premade ones from the menu. The swamp area had been restored as well, though this time some of the water puddles were drinkable to act as the water source for monsters. I got to have the dungeon in the highest possible defense state so it wouldn’t be easily breached. After all, this place was still not open for business yet; there was but a single floor with the second with barely its staircase and opening constructed. To change its layout to be suitable for adventurers right now would be putting the cart before the horse.

“Um, so what are you gonna make for the second floor?” Lorelei asked as she drank her tea.

Yeah, that had been inside my mind since the expansion had been quite a smooth sailing as the golems had been replenished.

“I plan to dig out the second floor first before making something up from there, probably a complex labyrinth or something.” Small wonder that with my laptop filled with various kinds of programs, I could, in theory, make an extremely complex labyrinth with ease.

“That’s fair, but mind explaining the thing that you made over there?” She turned her gaze at the mix of dirt and stone assembly line that was somehow able to work before throwing a suspicious glance at me.

“Hehe.” I swiped my nose with pride. That was my biggest creation over the past two days: a golem assembly line. I made it from hardened dirt and stone that had piled up from digging.

Granted, the ground from the Artificial Realm couldn’t be used for anything because it was made out of mana, but the space was so expansive that it was easily a kilometer on every side. I couldn’t help but have my hair shudder over the thought of having a large assembly factory that kept producing golems nonstop.

“It’s a golem assembly line. With this, you wouldn’t need me to make a self-improvised clay golem since it will produce one by itself. Although, its skeletal structure and monster core still have to be made in advance.” If it wasn’t for material and technical issues, it would have become a complete assembly line… Still, it was made by interconnecting my [Programming] and {Earth Shaper} to their limits — a sudden idea that popped out when I was exhausted from repairing the broken golems.

Maybe one day, the dream of making a self-replicating machine wouldn’t be a far-fetched idea. Though unfortunately, I couldn’t use the clay golems to make more golems for two reasons: Namely, they weren’t dexterous enough and their cores couldn’t hold more codes inside.

“So, in essence, your usefulness is decreasing?” Lorelei tilted her head.

“Ouch. You don’t have to put it that way.”

Even now, the biggest concern was about materials. The clay at the entrance of the ravine had been virtually completely extracted; the amount piled up only enough to make another fifteen to twenty golems. Even though it was possible to replenish the excavated ground from the Dungeon Management catalog by refilling the area, it still cost a tenth of the amount of changing its type. Luckily, there were still several iron-ingots-turned-gold-bars previously used and monster cores from dead goblins and kobolds. Thus, there was nothing to worry about for those parts.

In passing, recently, I’d been discovering several shining stones scattered about the ravine cave to the entrance of the Treasure Room #1. And when I checked one of the stones’ description…

Magiclum stone

A stone that had been exposed to a high concentration of mana for some time. Mages seek this stone to make all sorts of magic items or to use as the main fuel to activate all kinds of magic devices.

It seemed that over time, the mana inside the dungeon condensed together with the stone scattered around the cave and turned into these so-called magiclum stones. The once dark and murky ravine cave had slowly transformed into a dim colorful cave.

Though speaking of lighting, it was also possible to light the dungeon in many different ways. For instance, inside a cave, it was normal to have glowing moss creeping along the wall; a lifeform that absorbed mana and emitted light. There was also a mana torch that could burn incessantly as long as it was stuck onto the dungeon wall, among other ways.

Feeling somewhat confident, I teleported to the barbell field inside the Artificial Realm and decided to lift a barbell as a touchstone of my newfound strength. On paper, I should be able to lift almost a seventy-kilogram weight, but I didn’t want to die a silly death by getting crushed under a barbell (even one that was made out of mana), so I opted for a lighter one — a sixty-kilogram barbell.

I did some stretching and grabbed the handlebar and hefted the barbell once I put my strength in my two hands. “Ahh!” I raised the barbell over my head before flinging it to the ground.

After all this time, I discovered that to increase my strength further, the three basic sets wouldn’t cut it and would only take more and more time. Therefore, I stopped doing those these past two days and instead switched to a swift marathon to increase my agility. What was most imperative when facing the enemy wasn’t how to beat them but to have confidence in outrunning them.

“So, are you really going tomorrow?” Lorelei suddenly emerged from behind me and inquired.

“Of course. But I’ve to be prepared to the teeth so that I can face any incoming danger along the way.”

That said, I began preparing for tomorrow, the day I set out.

I gazed at the tall ravine wall before me, carrying all the necessities I had prepared for this grand adventure.

Making sure to be thoroughly prepared to last me throughout this journey, I purchased another large camping backpack from the Dungeon Menu to replace my old one, which I decided to leave inside the Artificial Realm along with my laptop.

The only electronics that I brought with me were my smartphone and a power bank to be used in reserve; I just hoped that I wouldn’t run out before going back to the dungeon. Although, I did bring several miscellaneous camping tools necessary for this endeavor and other “necessities,” and of course, my special sword for self-protection.

I inhaled deeply, grasping the rope leading to the ravine mouth. After checking that the rope was strong enough to hold my body, I began climbing the ravine wall. The wall was at least fifteen meters tall, so it took even me some time to get my hands on the surface.

“…Finally out! Hooray!” I raised both of my hands wide in delight. Fresh air blew my short hair, cheering me on my accomplishment and coming back to the surface. How long had it been? Probably more than a week…

“Took you long enough.” Without warning, Lorelei was already standing close to me.

“Eep! Lorelei, you’re here? No wonder I couldn’t find you anywhere.” It was at that moment that I realized something: “Wait, how did you get to the surface? Oh, wait…”

“You blockhead. Forgetting the dungeon area on the surface.” Lorelei was holding a large dark purple parasol her size, but it matched her to a tee instead of being out of place.

Lorelei had her own “special” magic, which she used to materialize things like her clothes and parasol. Monsters like goblins got a small loincloth as a starter pack, but Lorelei, she wasn’t created, nor summoned, she manifested by herself… I supposed.

“Shoot! What’s the point of me painstakingly climbing this wall then…?” I facepalmed myself; what a fool I was for not realizing. “Still, ain’t it dangerous for you to stay out here?”

“Worry not. Even if my physical form is destroyed, it won’t affect the Core’s main function… Though it may take some time for me to revive.”

“But… Well, I guess that’s fine then.” It wasn’t like a ferocious beast would suddenly appear and pounce at her. Whoops. I just raised a flag.

“My, the scenery up here sure is refreshing…” She inched closer to me and said, “I wonder what it feels like to live above a tall tower, lording over everything. Wouldn’t you find that entertaining?”

What? Is she finally going to conquer the world now? I imagined Lorelei being a supreme leader of an authoritarian country but quickly tossed that thought aside. “Hm. That’s going to be a lot of work to do. But to have the dungeon expand on both sides may sound interesting.” A shame that… I still had to get home, leaving this place in the future.

“Say, how many CP do we have left?”

“After converting the two new hallways and filling them with traps and all those necessities you need, what remains is exactly 1,126 CP.”

“Um, with me going out there for who knows how long, I’ll leave the supervision of the dungeon to you. Oh, and don’t spend all our reserves on food, ‘kay?” I teased with a laugh.

“Hmph.” She crossed her arms. “Do you think that I will do that?”

“I did, but on second thought, maybe not.” Smiling faintly, I chuckled, “Haha. This is your dungeon, after all, even I know that you’ve been holding back on many occasions.”

“Our dungeon! But naturally.” Emotionless as she was, Lorelei was downcast. “So, it’s time for you to go, huh. Do you really need to go out there? Won’t you be dead in no time the moment you encounter danger?”

“Hey, don’t kill me of your own accord!” Sheesh, what’s wrong with her head? But I somewhat got the idea of what she was worrying about, so I assured her, “It’s not like it’s goodbye forever. No one is more suitable to do what I’m gonna do, unfortunately.” As much as I wanted to be a shut-in, till kingdom come, as long as I didn’t address the root cause of our problems, we wouldn’t be able to progress far.

She responded with a weak grunt.

Feeling the situation was a bit stale, I tried to trick her by nipping the tip of her right cheek, saying, “Oh, no. There’s a big black spider on your cheek.”

However, unlike how a normal girl would react, Lorelei didn’t even wince. “No, I didn’t detect anything…” But then she seemed to realize something and acted scared, weakly screaming, “Ahh. A spider. Help,” and reached for my arm.

Although her voice acting was awful, she nonetheless played her role faithfully. I guessed she had a knack for being an actor without a voice. Uh-oh, a silent actor with a mask…

“Okay, you’re totally faking it.”

“Really? You. Do. Understand. Don’t. You? I’m a Dungeon Core.”

“Yeah… my bad.” I struggled to find the right word to answer her, so I just apologized. “Um… Lorelei, can you stop tugging my sleeve?”

“My, did your heart skip a beat?” Her gaze turned upwards, straight into my eyes. Right now, the wind was blowing rather strongly, causing her hair to blow sideways.

“Ahem! Anyways. The time’s up.” I pushed her aside and then patted her head. “As I’d said, I leave this place in your hand, Lorelei.”

The past week or so, while I felt that she couldn’t be totally trusted yet, I believed Lorelei was true to her intention. She wasn't innately evil… and while she was a bit resentful to me at first, at least she treated the ones she gave favor to kindly.

“Mm, okay. Then, I won’t dissuade you further. Do whatever you think best.” Lorelei closed her eyes and took a step back. “And be safe out there.” From appearance alone, she looked like a mother that was seeing her child off on a long journey. How odd.

“Ahaha! Don’t be a worrywart. With the aces up my sleeve, even I may be able to face Rowan and his gang singlehandedly.” Not an exaggeration to say that I was overprepared for this.

With everything taken care of, I said goodbye to Lorelei before swaggering off to the green forest teeming with tall trees. Farther away, I gave a last look at the dungeon, thinking, This is my dungeon — the programmer’s dungeon.