Time passed, and the core gained mana. As it did, it spent it. So it passed several weeks, untouched by outsiders, the thief seemingly uninterested in returning- or, it considered, remourseful or afraid. There was no clear explanation, but the core knew it should use this time to expand, before a hostile intruder came in. After all, the thief noticed its hidden room, so it needed a new safe place to hide itself away.

It started by carving a proper tunnel behind the combination lock door, and added a pit trap to the tunnel, so intruders would have to pass over it. Then, following the advice of one of the voices, it added a pressure plate to the bottom, and linked it to a compactor trap, causing anything that fell inside to be crushed.

New Trap Combination Unlocked! By combining compactor, pit trap, and pressure plate, you have created the trash compactor trap! You can now create it directly for 11mp. As a result of this combination, the walls of the trash compactor become smoother, and compactor applies additional force when activated. Trash compactor trap is now highly lethal, and greatly increases fear factor of your dungeon! Congratulations!

This was great news! If the walls were hard to climb, it would give the compactor more time to crush any intruders who fell in, and it would be harder to stop! The core considered replacing the spiked pit trap near the entrance, but decided against it. While it might not understand what the thief was thinking, it knew that she had been amused by the spiked pit. If an intruder thought that was the best it could accomplish, they might underestimate its later traps. It wasn't sure if this was sound thinking, but it wanted to try anyways. Besides, it meant it could keep its expenses focused on new defenses, rather than replacing old ones. That felt more satisfying.

Moving on, it constructed a new room, following up on the more square design of the collumn room, and built two more tunnels. One continued further on from the entrance, while the other led off to the side. It built another square room at the end of each tunnel, then started planning how to fill the three new rooms.

First, it decided to follow up on the idea it had the after the intruders were killed- taking items without killing. A few of the voices thought helping people escape when they lost would help it grow, but it wasn't sure how it would do that just yet, but they had nonetheless given it an idea- it could trade treasures for things adventurers had. First, it constructed a hidden door, placing it at the back of the room. Then, it built a pitfall in the center of the room, but left it uncovered. It dug a tunnel, barely larger than a spyder, at the bottom, and with a force of will caused one of the gear clusters for the spyders to form in a small chamber at the bottom, and added a hidden door at the top of the pit, set to start open. Finally, it built a stone wall behind the pit, and carved an image of a person throwing a flute into the hole, an arrow, and a chest opening. Finally, it constructed a medium chest behind the hidden door. Considering what to fill the new chest with, it pulled up its menu.

Treasure Grilled Meat: 2MP Fresh Fruit: 1MP Iron Sword: 2MP Gold Coin(x20): 1MP Carved Shell: 3MP Steel Sword: 5MP Steel Arrow(x5): 2MP Boar Leather: 2MP Mechanical Thieves Tools: 20MP Clockwork Heart: 30MP Dress: 15MP Silver Ring: 10MP

If this chest was meant to be important, it obviously had to include its best tressure- the clockwork heart. The core wasn't sure what that was, but the thief had seemed most interested in things that had cost more, so it must be the best tressure. It waited four whole days to gather enough MP to add the heart to the chest, only to find something that looked- and sounded- like the core of its spyders inside the chest. Maybe it was what let them walk? Uncertain if that was enough treasure to lure in adventurers, it waited some more before adding a silver ring and a sixty gold coins. That should be enough. Finally, it ordered one of its clockwork spiders to enter the tunnel, and activate both hidden doors when someone threw something from outside the dungeon into the pit.

It wasn't sure how well this trade would work out, but making sure it always had something to offer and something to gain seemed important, given how the voices seemed to think treasure would keep people from trying to destroy it.

Moving on, one of the voices had wanted to add Clockwork Soldiers, so it created four, and placed them in the room with the pillars, and ordered a group of spyders to pilot them, and defend the room from intruders. They were incredibly expensive, but they looked impressive, their polished bronze armour and iron feature work to simulate "skin" giving them a strange beauty. They stood slightly taller than an average human, and the core could already tell that their strength was well beyond that of a normal human. Each of the four carried a large pike, and a small steel sword on the belt, presumably in case they were disarmed. The core ordered them to march back and forth through the center of the chamber, and attack any intruders they saw. Their steps were slow and stiff, but they took them with perfect precision, giving their footsteps a haunting echo that only added to their presense.

Finally, with three spyders currently unassigned, the core decided to follow up on one last request from the voices, and saved up to replace a few of its spyders with gremlins. Knowing they would need their own home, it turned its attention to the empty cave-like room it had created, and summoned its first gremlin.

The creature was unlike anything the core had imagined, a small, squat, green faced humanoid creature, only about twice the size of a spyder, but armed with a nasty looking crossbow, which it happily demonstrated could fire five times without reloading. It wore thick overalls, and dusty glass goggles, and had numerous pockets for basic tools and even weapons, though many were currently empty. Its face was perhaps the most surprising, looking almost like a gnome, but with tiny, sunken eyes and scraggly, nearly non-existant hair. Immediately after demonstrating its weapon, it ran out of the room, exploring the dungeon with a surprising eagerness. Were all humanoid monsters this independant?

Eventually, the gremlin returned to the cave chamber, and looked around, as if expecting something. Finally, it looked... up? and spoke alloud for the first time.

"Can you build me a workshop?"

And, in perhaps the most confusing experience the core had yet had, this immediately brought with it the now so familiar feeling it associated with its ability to grow and create.

Designate Chamber as Gremlin Workshop for 10DP? Yes/No

The core had the DP to purchase this, whatever it was, and its creature wanted it, so it couldn't be a bad thing, could it? If it realized it didn't want this room so close to the entrance, it could always change how it was connected, so it wasn't like it could be a big problem. Yes.

Gremlin Workshop Created! Gremlins stationed in the chamber have increased morale and will be less likely to flee. Gremlins stationed in this room can rarely use weapons that have yet to be purchased once. Gremlin upgrades are cheaper to purchase. New gremlins are cheaper to create. When allowed to work, Gremlins can randomly unlock new traps or combinations, or be given specific goals and unlock selected traps at a slower rate. A maximum of five gremlins can work at one time.

As the core worked over the new information, structures appeared throughout the room, ranging from various work tables and tool racks to one corner of the room raising stone walls to seperate it from the rest of the room. Strangely enough, that corner also seemed to gain burn marks across the floor... ?

The gremlin clapped in excitement, before rushing to one of the workbenches and beginning to work, little bits of metal and wood appearing as it needed them, with no apparent source.

It gave the core a headache to watch.

Regardless, the gremlins sounded incredibly useful, so it planned to create two more gremlins, and returned to waiting for its mana to tick up, little by little.