Chapter 17 - Is it strange to talk to a rock?

"Umm, are you ok?" I nervously asked.

I mentally slapped myself when I remembered that I had no physical mouth to talk with. I was about to go get Goblin to help talk for me when the woman got up. She dusted herself off and began talking as if nothing had happened.

"Greetings, I assume you are Plant?" (Grey)

"Umm, yes, I am." I replied, before mentally slapping for the second time today.

"Hey Goblin come talk for me!" I yelled.

"No need I can hear you perfectly fine." (Grey)

Oh, that simplifies things.

"How can you hear me?" I asked.

"Its just a thing among dungeons, kinda like telepathy." She casually replied.

"Oh." I kinda hoped she would've elaborated further but at this moment Goblin came.

He was hunched over and mumbling about something and didn't notice our visitor. When he was about 8 meters from her he lifted his head and saw our visitor, before freezing completely in place.

(Goblins Perspective)

F**k, f**k, f**k!!

What the f**k did I get myself into!?

I'm looking at 'her' yet I cannot feel her at all. It's like she didn't exist at all. I spent 4 years living in the Outskirts, yet I cannot sense her. In fact, I hope I accidentally smoked a shroom on my way here and am currently hallucinating. But I knew this wasn't a hallucination.

"Oh, you already have a contracted being?" Her melodious voice sounded out, sounding far yet very close.

I couldn't move at all, I wasn't shaking in fear. No, every part of my body seemed to have just stopped working.

"Remember, all that stuff about killing aura is bullsh*t, those people are just showing off by spilling so much aura. It's those people that you can't see the depths of, that exude a pressure just by simply existing."

My mentor once told me that with distant eyes. Now I understand.

"An apothecary huh? He should be useful."

"Yeah, he came to my dungeon and kinda just got stuck here."

This idiot doesn't even realize. The danger we could, no are in.

"Oh yeah, I'm Grey Musician from the forums."

"Yeah I remember, you're the person who talked for Fae."

Their words echoed around me, it felt distant yet neither of them has moved.

"Can I see your dungeon?"

"Oh yeah sure, feel free."

She passed me, I released the breath I didn't know I was holding and I knew. I'm still alive.

(Back to our MC)

Goblin is acting strange for some reason. He completely stopped the second he saw Grey. He seemed to have snapped out of it and is currently following behind Grey with bloodshot eyes.

Honestly, can this guy have more tact? I thought the thing about goblins being lustful was just a fictional stereotype but this guy just proved that some stereotypes are true.

She looked around the only room I had and poked at the Lesser Dryads.

"It isn't much so far." I told her nervously.

"Don't worry, you've just been borne. The way you're using your resources makes you better than most dungeons at your age." (Grey)

"Oh yeah, are you an avatar?" I asked.

"Yeah, you could say that." (Grey)

She seemed to have sensed my confusion and laughed before getting on with the main topic.

"I came here to bring you your pixie." (Grey)

I wasn't so sure before, given the fact that I couldn't see a single pixie floating around her but she just confirmed my suspicions.

"Great, where is she?" I asked

"Right here, just give me a sec." (Grey)

She clasped her hands together before a flash of bright lighted appeared from them. She opened them and there flew a pixie.

Standing at about 8 centimeters she wore a simple green dress, her translucent wings had a leaf-like appearance to them and her hair was light green.

"Since your a 'Plant' dungeon we figured you'd like a nature element pixie." (Grey)

"Now just make a contract." (Grey)

"Pixie, would you like to become one of my Dungeon Monsters?" I initiate a contract like I did with Goblin and she quickly accepted. I checked her stats to see what I had gotten.

--~=~--

Status Screen

General

Name: Penny

Title: -

Race: Dungeon Pixie (Nature Variant)

Gender: Female

Rank: Level 15 High Iron Rank

Jobs: Dungeon Pixie LVL 10, Observer LVL 5

Stats

Strength: 1

Agility: 15

Stamina: 8

Intelligence: 15

Wisdom: 11

Will: 9

Charm: 13

Total Combat Evaluation:

LVL 0 Unrank (No Combat Abilities)

--~=~--

Her stats are all pretty high, in fact, I'm pretty sure she has higher total stats than me. Though I suppose that's only natural since three of my stats are locked.

"If there are no problems, then I'll be taking my leave." (Grey)

"Is that it?" (MC)

"Yeah, since you're new I'll go get you a housewarming gift how about that?" (Grey)

"That'll be great!" (MC)

At this point any little thing is helpful, heck even poisonous mushrooms helped me advance.

"Alright I'll be leaving first to deal with some matters, I'll be back soon with a gift." (Grey)

"Thanks! I'll be waiting, Senior Grey!" (MC)

"Just call me Grey, senior makes me sound old." (Grey)

"Alright, Grey." (MC)

And like that, she left me and Goblin with this new addition to my dungeon.

(Grey's Perspective)

What a polite kid.

He has some potential and he's a lot smarter than other newborn dungeons. Others would just create lots of rooms and dump monsters in them, he at least tried to create a few advantages for them.

Though I forgot to tell him anyone with a light source or good night vision could easily render it ineffective.

Well, I'll leave him to figure his own stuff out. For now, I'll do him a favor and increase his chances.

I sensed them when I teleported in, quite a large tribe all things considered.

Plant would do well if he had a source of constant mana, unfortunately, all he got nearby are a bunch of goblins.

I needed to let off some steam since Fae dumped me into a teleporter without many words or an explanation for that matter. So it was pretty convenient that I could help out the new dungeon and myself at the same time.

There's also a hobgoblin down there somewhere and his mana crystal should help Plant.

I open up the case on my back and pull out my violin and bow. Not the bow for archery, but for music.

I station the instrument on my shoulder and I prepare to play.

--

I picked up the hobgoblins mana crystal.

It was a lot dirtier than I thought it would be, Plant would take a lot of time to digest this.

I suppose I've already helped him with the goblins. Won't hurt to help a bit more.

I completely purified the crystal and infused a bit more mana into it, enlarging the crystal a bit until it was the size of a large-pebble.

Now, where was Plant again?

(MC's perspective)

And with that Grey had left, something told me she would be back soon though.

Goblin was still staring at the entrance where she left as if hoping she would come back quicker.

I'll let him sort his own feelings out, for now, let's check with the pixie.

"Hello." (MC)

"Hi." (Penny)

"I hope we work well together from now on." (MC)

She looked at me strangely for a moment before replying.

"Yeah, I hope we do." She said in a tone which seems to deny all continued conversation.

"You have a name?" I asked, not giving up

"Yes, I do." She replied in a tone which told me she wouldn't say anything more.

And like that there was an awkward silence between the three of us. Goblin, now sitting down, staring at the entrance. Penny aimlessly floating about and me, wondering how to strike up another conversation. Maybe I'm the only one who thought it was awkward though. This continued on for several minutes before Grey popped around the entrance of my dungeon.

Finally a distraction!

"Hey Plant, here's your housewarming gift." Grey said as she brought a clear crystal into my dungeon and set it down on the floor a few meters in.

"Is that a mana crystal? Thanks!" (MC)

"No problem, I sensed one nearby so I thought I'd give it to you." (Grey)

There's a skill that lets you sense mana crystals? I've got to learn a skill like that.

"I've got something to do so I'll be going first, I'll see you around." (Grey)

"Alright, thanks again." (MC)

And she left once again.

"Hey Goblin, can you bring the crystal into my core room?" (MC)

I didn't want it to be stolen by a drive-by so it'll be better to have it closer to my core.

Goblin picked it up the core before freezing in place once again, staring intensely at the mana crystal.

"So all this time and you ended up like this." He muttered.

Is he ok, why is he muttering to a rock?

Before I could ask he threw the crystal into my core room and ran out.

"I'll be back, I need to go confirm something." He yelled before leaving.

This time things weren't so awkward. Penny sat in the leaves of a dryad and I was busy trying to digest the mana crystal.

As expected of a gift from another dungeon, this crystal is so dense with mana I could only slowly absorb it layer by layer. This crystal was already filled with pure mana so thankfully I didn't need to spend time purifying it.

God this thing has a lot of layers.

About 18 layers and 20 minutes in, Goblin had returned. This time he came back with a rather pale face.

I suppose whatever he went to check, didn't end well. Though as a fellow man I should try to comfort him.

"Don't worry, there are plenty of other fish in the pond." (MC)

"What nonsense are you talking about?" He asked, breaking out of his trance.

"Don't worry I perfectly understand, you just have to try again next time." (MC)

"I don't think we are 'understanding' the same thing." He replied with a strange face.

"Weren't you going after Grey? Because of your lustful tendencies and whatnot?" Realizing something was wrong, I directly ask him.

"Lustful? LUSTFUL?! YOU MOTHERF**KING DUMB R***RD, F**KING HELL. YOU PIECE OF..."

And for no apparent reason, he got enraged.

"The f**k did I do?"