Gina took a closer look at the new gnome standing in the kitchen doorway, the name said Shale, only now Level 10 and 9cm taller. Most notable were the gains in Stonework, Daggers and Stealth.

Shale Stats: Status Race Gnome Level 10 Age 6 Days Height 39cm Physical Health 172/230 Strength 6 Agility 6 Toughness 11 Mental Alertness 129/180 Intelligence 6 Deduction 6 Focus 6 Social Resolve 180/180 Influence 6 Slyness 6 Willpower 6 Racial Traits Stone Skin, TGH+ 3 Durable, TGH+ 2 Elementalist + 5 Earth Absorbtion Magic Industrial Machinist 4 Chemist 1 Elementalist 6 Fabrication 6 Abilities Ingenuity 7 Stonework 10 Locks 1 Foraging 2 Reflex 7 Stealth 8 Endurance 2 Chemistry 5 Notice 2 Search 1 Appraise 6 Savvy 1 Equipment Skills Dagger 3

"Shale! you're growing up!"

Shale's new outfit was a little darker with a new leather vest added for some protection. The backpack was a little smaller and sleeker. Some of the roundness had left the face.

"Are those cheekbones I see starting to peek out?" She asked as Shale started to get embarrassed at all the attention.

"Of course, you can go finish your work with Uden, but you will need something to help you protect it yourself, why don't you bring the other two in."

"Yes, mum. Right away!"

Shale dashed off as Gina formed three small steel daggers. She used the steel from the weapons of the dead reptilian Shaw, forming them into something long, thin and dangerous. As they were being formed all impurities were left out, usually a smith would have to hammer and fold the steel to mix the impurities evenly enough to prevent weak spots in the metal. These were different, the metal was flawless so the blades were too. For the hilt she used simple wood with three spirals cut into it, the spirals had strips of leather that were fitted to stay in place, giving the wood a grip that wouldn't slip. Next to each knife she placed a smaller version of the sheath the bandit leader wore; she did not have the leatherworking skills to fashion a better one.

Shale came back, all three had leveled up and immediately started admiring the gnome sized short swords in front of them.

"Those are real beauties..."

"We will be able to trade them for bunches of scrap"

"No, these ones are for you" Gina stopped their plans before they went too far.

"No!... Our flint knives are good enough!'

"We don't need anything this nice!"

Gina almost laughed at their overly serious attitude over a simple gift of simple weapons. "I insist, you are my guards, you need to be properly equipped."

"Ohohohooo, A promotion then!" Shale's voice dropped several octaves.

"Right away then mum" They walked out in their best guard formation, trying hard to swing their hips in a serious way to show off their new gear while still looking dangerous.

Gina followed them out and noticed everyone was gearing up for the day. Szef and Kawn had not changed, a few skill levels for Szef, Kawn had not participated in the battle and had learned little overnight.

Pappi though had jumped up to 30cm. The lighter green brown skin had become a little browner. The strips of woven cloth had tightened into something that looked more durable. The ropes with bottles had turned more into a single sash of bottles. The big increases in skills were in Foraging, Botany and Taming. Surprisingly Search also was up to 5 for some reason. Gina didn't remember Search being one of the Dryad's skills.

Pappi's Status: Status Race Dryad Level 10 Age 3 Days Height 30cm Physical Health 180/180 Strength 6 Agility 6 Toughness 6 Mental Alertness 222/230 Intelligence 6 Deduction 9 Focus 8 Social Resolve 163/180 Influence 6 Slyness 6 Willpower 6 Racial Traits Ecologist, DED+ 3 Evergreen, FOC+ 2 Elementalist + 5 One with Nature Magic Natural Possesion 0 Plants 7 Friending 3 Herbalist 4 Industrial Elementalist 5 Abilities Taming 7 Foraging 8 Hunting 5 Stealth 3 Endurance 6 Botany 8 ESP 6 Instinct 2 Search 5

Sapana also had leveled up to 10, that would explain who had killed the lizard person. Gina took the time to listen to Sapana's tale, realizing the value of the illusion skills. The Naiad had only modest gains in terms of skils but the solo kill outside the dungeon has done much for level gains.

Standing at 44cm tall (1.5 ft) the naiad was now the tallest of her minions. Not much changed in appearances, maybe a little more blue and a little more streamlined. Along the back of the arms and legs there was a dark blue streak that she just now noticed.

Sapana's Stats: Status Race Naiad Level 10 Age 1 Days Height 44cm Physical Health 180/180 Strength 6 Agility 6 Toughness 6 Mental Alertness 178/180 Intelligence 6 Deduction 6 Focus 9 Social Resolve 142/170 Influence 6 Slyness 8 Willpower 6 Racial Traits Erosion, FOC+ 3 Aqueous, SLY+ 2 Elementalist + 5 Waterbreathing Magic Dimensional Illusion 5 Spatial 3 Gateway 0 Runes 0 Industrial Elementalist 5 Abilities Clothwork 5 Hunting 1 Swim 6 Stealth 6 Physics 5 Notice 5 Savvy 6 Equipment Hydraulic Instuments 1

Gina couldn't help but ask "Sapana, what is hydraulic instruments"

"The flowing water makes beautiful music, shaping the rocks and directing the flows changes the tunes. Its surprising that playing with sounds counts as learning the skills." the voice resonated, and even had a musical quality to it as well.

After looking at her minion’s level ups, her random gains in the same skills made a little more sense. Her minions were an extension of her magic, whatever they did she also did vicariously. It almost seemed too powerful! Every minion being an extension of herself trickling down experience! Once she had an army, she would be the masters of everything! It might take a hundred years, but what was a hundred years to a living crystal?

While the team was admiring Shale's new gear Gina created an axe for Uden, designed in the same style as Shale's daggers. "We can’t have out boss monster going around looking like she crawled out of a dumpster dungeon." Gina laughed at the thought, maybe she would add a garbage floor with great loot hidden among the filth and charge travelers to dig through it. Rusty knife mountain would have a few legendary swords scattered through it, found in the bottom of the needle caves or grinder ravine. She could put self-cleaning and repairing armor mixed into rotten meat lagoon. Or better yet a river of moldy fruit floating in old milk with gems among the rocks in the riverbed.

She laughed when she imagined the faces on adventurers facing the nastiest monsters while trying hard to not fall into the filth, definitely would add some of the horrors the dwarves ate.

She was proud of the axe, it was simple, but in its simplicity there was death. The shaft was straight, and it was weighted much like the bronze axe Uden currently carried. Aside from the wood and leather wrapped around the tang it was a solid piece of steel, allowing the head to be slimmer without sacrificing durability. The edge was straight but there was a slight wave to the head just behind the edge, the wave would pull in and spread during a swing, allowing a deeper cut with a cleaner follow through.

Aside from the axe she summoned the dexterity defenders’ armor, since it was made to redirect blows it should work well for Uden. She brought it all out just as the group was walking out, proud to be taking care of her minions, and still a little worried about the close call the day before.

Uden took one look at the armor and weapon. "There is no way I can wear this getup." She said bluntly

Gina was taken aback, the armor was decent, she could create better given time, but the axe was top line! "You need something better to defend yourself, what happened yesterday could have taken us all down and it almost did!"

"Yah, but this is just asking for trouble, any thief would kill to take this axe, and any soldier or farmer would think I was a thief for wearing this armor. I would get drafted or killed."

"This is not negotiable. But I will get you a cloak to wear, then you would look more like a traveler than a thief. It would also hide the axe." Gina summoned a tattered cloak from the Master Summons list, it lived up to the description.

The cloak was a dark brown, tattered and frayed, like you would expect from a low class dumpster dungeon. It had draping sleeves so a traveler could carry or pull whatever they needed without exposing themselves to the elements.

"This will do" She grunted while draping it around her shoulders. "Thankfully it's not the middle of summer, this would turn into an oven"

"Oh, and I also want you to take Kawn to scout for you"

Kawn came flying up, wanting to help. Before anyone could say anything, else Pappi walked out of the growing room and smacked a small wooden staff on the ground.

Gina looked at Pappi and realized the dryad might make a better scout in the forest, even though Kawn could fly. "I guess Pappi is volunteering to scout" She told the group as Pappi solemnly nodded "I want everyone to be on the lookout though, and Kawn you can go as backup, I am sure they could use your telekinesis skill. You can scout when you're not needed for lifting" She added quickly as Kawn started to look disappointed at being left out.

As she finished a swarm of twenty bees entered the cavern and swarmed around Pappi, then after what seemed like no communication at all they all spread out and buzzed away. Pappi gave Gina a thumbs up and walked out ahead of the group. Everyone else just looked puzzled and left as well.

"Pappi definitely is an enigma, everyone can understand everything the dryad meant with no words, but at the same time no one understood what went on behind the wooden expression." Gina mused.

Szef was the only minion left in the dungeon, and immediately set out to explore the kitchen. Sapana left with the group but quickly returned and after finding Szef and discussing cooking, the naiad left to collect ingredients from the cavern and the river.

Gina started working on the bar as soon as they left. Not having a vision, she took a while to come up with a plan. She could make it a theme bar, but order wasn't for that kind of clientele. She would have to make it relatable and comfortable, some way to keep anyone from asking questions.

She would start with wood. Stone was intimidating and oppressive, at least she had thought so. The wood had to be well worn, with marks in it that told a story and history. It need to smell like a bar, it needed to look like your true home, the structure itself needed to feel like your closest friend.

She started with the bar itself, stone base with a polished wood top, big enough to seat an easy dozen, two dozen on a busy night. It curved out of the walls next to the grow room door and ending right next to the kitchen door. The doorway to the growing room was closed off, a new entrance was made across the hall from Uden's room, a hallway extending out and up to meet the growing room. She added shelves to the wall for mugs and bottles, it wouldn't hurt to add scrolling copper along the shelf supports, just a little flair. There were four larger shelves set into the wall separating the wall into thirds, each of the larger nooks were for kegs.

Kegs. The travel brewery was cranking but even now they only had enough grain to make half a barrel. "Am I being too ambitious? How are we supposed to make enough drinks for everyone?" She needed to ask Uden wayyy more questions.

The ceiling looked too pristine, and clear-cut. A few columns and cross work of support beams set into the supports with brindle joints drew attention from the perfectly arched ceiling and also added some structure to the room. The ceiling was still too visible, she added two large square high tables under the support beams, above each was a chandelier holding five candles. The shadows added texture and warmth to the area. The walls were lined with a half dozen smaller square high tables, giving seats for groups of two or at the most three. To finish she added a couple of matching three legged stools with simple low backs.

When finished her new bar would seat forty, fifty-five if they really squeezed in. She realized she would have to expand if they got popular, so she added a wooden fake wall on the wall across from the bar, so she could expand out towards the waterfall and if anyone asked she could just say it was walled off for renovations. The wall looked really dull, she planned to add a pattern of square frames down the road.

She looked at her bar and smiled, the only thing it needed was a washroom. "We need a washroom! how could I forget a washroom?" She remembered the series of rooms behind the wall that the brewery was currently occupying. She rotated the brewery to be almost an extension of the bar and opened a hallway leading back to the rooms. She only needed two washrooms, the other ten rooms she made into bedrooms with two built in stone beds per room and solid doors. Each room, the hallway and the washrooms got candle lanterns to light up the place. She would have to find a way to make oil lanterns or cheap magic lanterns. Then again, she worried if she put magic lanterns in they would probably go missing at the end of the night.

The candles burnt oxygen; she was forced to make air ducts to circulate air. She would have to get more dryads to grow more of the glowing moss and fungi, maybe she could use that for lighting. Once she had some grown, she would have to see if Pappi could alter it to make it brighter, then she could form it into a lantern and absorb it so she could summon them at will.

How did air even work in a dungeon? She added random dungeon plants to some bedrooms and couple for the bar for atmosphere (literally). She made sure it was all cavern stuff, basically anything she had seen on a dwarven plate so no would ask questions about sunlight and growth. Fortunately, the Master Catalogue had a good variety of these things.

The bedrooms seemed like a good idea, an inn always brought in more money than a bar, the dwarves had always complained about that every time they came back from a journey. She added another wood panel at the end of the hallway, in case she ended up needing to expand the inn.

After all the work Gina was exhausted. All the energy she gained from the battle was spent, along with most of her reserves. The shaping was the hard part, absorbing didn't use any energy at all. She spent the rest of the day tiling the floors. natural stone patterns in the bar, the inn had patterns of dark and light squares set in patterns of small squares, larger squares and rectangles.

The inn also needed some sprucing up, a little bit of scroll work to define door frames, stone molding to break up corners and a number inlayed into the stone outside of each bedroom door.

Gina took a while to take it all in. The illusion was complete, anyone walking in should see it as a bar built into an abandoned dwarven stronghold. If anyone asked about the levels of natural magic she could have Uden explain it used to be a dwarven research facility built on a magical energy spring or something.

She used her last scraps of energy to write some rules infused with spatial magic outside of the bar, on the wall next to the door to the cavern.

Those who bring violence will find themselves at a disadvantage, drink to be merry and the drink brings comfort, drinking to fight and the drink takes you. She infused these rules with a sense of weakness and drunkenness, the chemistry of alcohol would help this effect. It took about 2 hours to write the words and infuse them, by the time she was done and Appraised her work she found a message

*Anyone starting a fight in this area will be have a 5 point penalty to intelligence, deduction, wisdom, agility and equipment skills. This rule expires in 2 days.

The second rule was a little more vague

Welcome to Gina's rest, a place for friends and relaxation for only a bit of gold. this one was infused with a sense of deception and took four hours to create. The description read.

*This place will appear to be a place of business, all awareness skills targeting this area will be 25% less effective. As long as this area is perceived to be a place of business, awareness skills targeting this area will be an additional 25% less effective. This rule expires in 3 days

Even though it took a while, it was well worth the effort. She made a note to refresh the rules every day or two. it was starting to get dark by now, and she had only 4 energy left. She sipped some of the ale and went to chat with Szef, a second life was the perfect time to learn cooking alongside a wisp.