The chest dropped like a ton of bricks in the center of the room. Soot exploded like a grenade away from the chest. A small gold lock fell off and the chest opened. A few weapons, leather chest plate and grieves, and a few skill books fell on the ground. Over three hundred copper coins entered my inventory.

Staff in hand, I inspected my loot. There were a few halberds, a scimitar, and a wooden shield. I collected my loot, in the infinite space of my inventory. The skill books were interesting. One was mana burst, and the other was light. After learning both skills, I pulled a large iron key from the chest.

“There are hidden chests on every floor. Go and find them, if you have the time.” I smiled my first true smile, since I entered this dungeon. This cranky dungeon reminded me of a movie villain. It tried so hard to be diabolical that it ended up transparent.

I chose to go down the long stairs, hopefully the next place would have edible mobs.

The next floor wasn’t what I expected. Instead of undead or soot monsters, there were the sounds of insects and the lull of frogs in the distance. Lakes littered this side of the dungeon. If my eyes didn’t deceive me, there were fish jumping out of the water. I hadn’t expected the dungeon to throw me a slow ball.

“Hey dungeon what is this place?” I said.

“This is the swamp lands my third floor. This is a natural world free of man’s touch. It is my masterpiece.” The dungeon said.

“We haven’t really spoken much have we. What can I call you besides dungeon?” I asked.

“You can call me Luci.” The dungeon said. I chuckled a bit at the strange name.

“I gave you my name. What’s yours?” Luci said.

I hadn’t given my name, since I was betrayed by the dwarf and goblin. This was different. My relationship with Luci was on the table. She was a dungeon and I an adventurer. It was her goal to kill me and mine to plunder her riches and kill her mobs. Even so, I hadn’t planned to give my name so freely again.

“My name is John Union. Its nice to finally meet you Luci.” I said.

I had a weird feeling in those early days delving within Luci. Her treasures though secreted away, were always a wonder. There was a sense of excitement, I gained when exploring her body that I rarely experienced with any other dungeon. I suppose it was the feeling of a virgin adventurer in the hands of an experienced dungeon.

“Why don’t you visit the lakes there is a surprise waiting on you there?” Luci said.

I had a strange desire to burn the place to the ground, boil the water to steam, and eat the fish. I Ignored it and played nice. It wasn’t an outside force that drove me to burn the world down. As a child, I was quite the pyromaniac. My grandfather had me hooked on burning stumps and brush. I spent many summer days gazing into orange flames, when I was younger. There was little more beautiful.

That was many years ago, I was just a boy, and now, I’m a man now. This world was my home and this dungeon my companion.

I made use of my crafting skill and made a fishing rod from nearby weeds. After tying a particularly sticky version of mana fibers, I dubbed the new skill Sticky Fibers. I cast the line out and waited for something to get stuck.

A few hours later when my guard was down I felt a bite. The rod bent nearly in half before I managed to pull the rod. On the other end wasn’t a fish, no it was a massive gator.

Swamp Gator lv50

They live deep in swamps. It is well known that they eat catfish, snakes, and unwary adventurers. For those lucky few who reach the third floor this creature is often their end. Be wary of its hard scales.

The creature began to slowly pull me closer to the water. It rolled reeling the line and drawing me ever closer. Instead of snapping the line like a smart man, I decided that fire was my best option. With no hands to use, I opened my mouth and took a deep breath.

When my lungs were full to the point of bursting I funneled mana in the air andexhaled. With a spark from fire, a concentrated blast of heat blasted from my maw. The flames only lasted for a few seconds. The water around the gator boiled and its scales cracked in placed. With a final heave, I pulled the gator from the water, after I stunned it with fire breath.

Taking my halberd from the inventory, I walked up to the gator. The creature hissed and struggled to move. It had been foolish to spin the sticky fibers around its body. I drove the tip of the halberd through the gator’s brain. The sticky fibers dissipated, when I stopped feeding mana to them.

After stringing the gator up with more mana fibers, I cut its throat to drain the blood. After the blood was drained, I ripped the leather off, and began cooking the choice pieces. The pieces I didn’t like, I tossed back in the lack. The catfish happily snapped up the bloody chunks.

I had my meal and made my way further through the dungeon. Mold wood allowed me to cross most of the lakes on my way to the next set of stairs. Like before, I couldn’t go on without facing a boss. A massive Turtle walked out of the lake. The ground was electrified by its steps.

Electro Turtle lv65

The Electro Turtle is the most prominent predator of the dungeon swamp. It’s ability spam electrical pulses make it a deadly foe. When it hides in its shell it can unleash its most devastating abilities.

The turtle was well over 8ft in diameter. Its head was large enough to swallow a fully-grown gator. Electricity sparked off the turtle. This was the first time I dealt with an electrical creature. I brought my mana aura up to max and held my wooden shield forward.

Bolts of lightning smashed into me and my muscles locked up. Before this day I had no idea what a seizure felt like. My body shook for a few more minutes, as I rapid cast heal. The turtle was on me with his mouth open. I saw deep in the back of the creature’s throat. Its breath smelled like rotten meat, I wanted to puke.

Shakily, I took a breath, it slammed its head down to eat me as I unleashed my fire breath. The creature shrieked as the inside of its mouth boiled. Muscle and flesh melted and fell out of the creature’s mouth. My nerves were under my control again.

The turtle was making a retreat this was perhaps my only chance to take this creature down. Lightning was rising again from the creature’s shell. I tossed my shield and pulled out the halberds. I slammed them in the ground to either side of me, just before the turtle unleashed another bolt.

My staff appeared out of my inventory. With it in my hand my damage potential increased rapidly. Fire Fibers shot out and wrapped around the turtle’s front legs and neck. The turtle shrieked and tried to pull into its shell. I wouldn't let it.

I pulled and dragged it closer to me. The heat increased and burned deeply in the monster’s flesh.

I pulled back on my staff and reeled back in the fire fibers. The turtle unleashed bolt after bolt from its shell. The lightning was drawn to my halberds, they acted like lightning rods drawing away the bolts. I used mana burst and pulled a final time. The fire fibers ripped through the turtle’s neck and decapitated the creature.

The headless neck was cartelized by the flames very little blood was spilt from the kill. Flesh sizzled like bacon as it flaked off the corpse. The blood finally shot through the cartelized wound from the built-up pressure. Boiling blood fell, on the sandy ground.

A small lightning mana core appeared in my inventory. The turtle was quickly absorbed by the dungeon. A chest appeared in the center of the sandy bank. With this boss dead, I collected water and thunder skill books from the chest, along with iron grieves, and a water mana stone. 3 silver coins appeared in my inventory.

As I prepared to go down to the next floor a thought occurred to me.

“Luci, why is this floor so different from the others?” I asked.

“That is a long story John. If I start telling it, you may get distracted. I would hate to eat you because you were distracted by my voice. Its poor sport.” Luci said.

I rolled my eyes at her words. I started to rapid cast area inspect. A short pulse of mana echoed around bouncing off walls giving random readings. It seemed Luci had a defense against inspect.

“Tell me your story, it will take more than your voice to lull me into a false sense of security.” I just managed to leap over three stairs that folded down. Slipping off the stair column led to a black abyss that seemed endless. It may lead to the very bottom of the dungeon.

“Nice try Luci, but you’re not getting rid of me that easily.” I said.

For a second, I thought I heard Luci grumble. After a moment there was an intense rush of mana. Seconds later the mana flowed back. Did she just take a breath?

“I don’t know if I have a story per say. Just listen and we will go from there. I am a dungeon heart. That means, I am a lich that has no body to animate. Instead of animating a corpse, I animate the world around me. A dungeon’s body functions just like a lich’s.” Luci said.

She paused, when had I associated the dungeon’s voice as female. When we first met her voice was deep and gruff like an old man’s. The longer I stayed down here, the softer her voice became. It seemed, that I needed to brush off those two points in charisma.

“I didn’t know that was how dungeons worked. It makes since after you explained it. Still, I had no reason to put two and two together before.” I said.

“John, you’re an adventurer and an intelligent one. Your wisdom must be through the roof. If you had high charisma, then I would be frightened of you. Now can I continue with my story?” I nodded and continued down the stairs wary of any tricks.

“As I was saying. I was a natural dungeon heart. There was never a body to animate, my father left me here, so I could attract adventurers and grow. Father isn’t the right word. We reproduce by budding. At times our parent may place us in a corpse to ensure we gain a body to explore and move around in. Other times we are left in a large area. Those areas become our bodies. When I was born, there was only the knowledge given to me by my father. I knew he named me Luci. I knew how to use magics such as water, wood, and earth. With those magics, I crafted the floor you were just on. That was my first floor as a dungeon. It took three years to perfect. I had to wait for my mana stores to recover constantly. Building that first floor taught me patience.” Luci said.

I made my way to the bottom of the stairs. The fourth floor awaited me. I wanted to hear more of the story. There were markings on the wall.

“The mushrooms are death.” The markings said.

I stared at the sign and quickly weighed the odds of burning this floor to the ground. Would she get pissed and send every mob at me or would Luci continue telling her story?

“Don’t burn my floor down please. I like my walls free of scorch marks. If you must then just burn the mobs. They shouldn’t be a threat to you. Now back to my story.” Luci said.

The door slid open letting in the scent of pine needles and morning dew. Two tendrils of fire fibers appeared at my back ready to turn any mob into scorched chunks. Hundreds of wrapped strands of fire fiber went in to making this skill.

New skill

[Fire tendrils lv1 – A combination of two skills brought to the extreme. Mag Dam 100%Int, Mag Def 100% Wis. Cost 500/min +10Int, +10Wis]

This was the second time I used this skill and the first I received the pop up. With this skill I was really becoming formidable. The tendrils were attached to my body. I was growing indentions in my back where the tendrils emerged. They reminded me of wolverine’s claws.

Three bears emerged from the woods. They were covered in mushrooms. I spun and flung my tendrils out. The bears charged at me like they were rabid.

They didn’t show fear as my tendrils made of concentrated fire cut through their bodies like butter. The fur and mushrooms caught fire and spores fired in the air. I had already gathered a lung full of air in preparation. The spores burned from my fire breath. With every breath I took in I unleashed a gout of flame. This skill had been strange at first. The more I used it, the more natural it became. I didn’t even notice the mana cost anymore. It was the continuous gouts of flame that kept the spores from getting a hold on my lungs. My hood and leather armor kept most of the spores off my bare skin. What I needed was a mask to keep the spores from my bare flesh.

“This floor takes me back. The adventurers who came were too powerful for my first floor. So, I used my cunning. I didn’t have bears back then, no I had to make due with squirrels. Imagine for a moment, a thousand of the critters covered in infectious fungus rabidly attacking anyone who entered. I killed many adventurers during those days. It was fun. They didn’t breathe fire with every breath. Nor did they have as much mana as you. They were standard adventurers a black mage, a warrior, a white mage, and a rogue. They were all delicious.” Luci said.

I pulled my wizard’s robes tighter to my body. My hat and robes had become burned in places thanks to the turtle. It was luck that my tendrils could slip through an opening in the shoulders. The robes had opening in the shoulders to allow free arm rotation.

As I walked through the woods I stepped on a mushroom, spores hit my face and I hiccupped fire. The spores burnt before they could turn my face into a mushroom field. After a few casts of heal my lungs were beginning to return to normal. Puking scar tissue on the other hand wasn’t fun. The pink fleshy material fought to stay in my wind pipe. The entire forest was booby trapped. Every other step was a mushroom ready to shoot spores in the air.

New skill

[Fire resistance lv1 – Through repeated burns this skill has been learned. 1% rank I fire resistance. +0.1%Wis]

It wasn’t easy, but I managed to reach the stairs to the next floor.

“Hey Luci, anything else you want to tell me while we are here?” I asked.

“This boss won’t be like the others. You will win, or you won’t. Good luck. Oh, and if you win I’m going to ask you a question. So, win if you can.” Luci said.

Three bears crawled out of the forest like before, but unlike then large mushrooms were growing from the top of their heads. Their eyes contained no pupils. Green cilia shot out from the bears and pulled them together. I hear their bones snapping as the creatures began to merge into a single life form. Bones fused, and muscles layered upon themselves. The result was a mutant bear with three massive mushrooms sticking out of its now singular skull. The three snouts had merged. The creature coughed out a stream of blood and spores. Mushrooms sprouted on the ground and sucked away all the nutrients. The ground turned brown soon after.

Gestalt Shroom Bear lv70

This bear was formed from three fully taken over bears. There is no more bear there is only the fungus. After consuming the minds of multiple species, the hive mind of the fungus gestalt has grown cunning. It will go to any lengths to spread itself.

I used mana burst to appear behind the monster and blasted it with fire balls. When a cloud of spores attempted to swallow me whole, I dashed back and unleashed fire breath repeatedly. The cloud of fungus didn’t dissipate when I breathed fire the cloud gained distance. It led me to believe the monster could control it. The monster burst from the cloud and attempted to dig its 12-inch hook claws into my guts.

With a twist, I spun my staff in the way of the attack. I used Fire II despite the mana drain. The flames rose around my staff and attempted to swallow the bear. The creature dove back into the spore cloud and dashed around for a better attack. I turned off the flames and watched the monster. If I let my guard down or wasted my mana, then it would kill me. Tendrils emerged from my back. Despite the intense mana drain, this was my best attack.

Using two seeds appeared in either hand thanks to wood. Mold wood began to make my changes to the seeds. With an intense application of mana, the seeds were ready to rapidly grow. The bear went from striding to sprinting. It would be a blur to anyone else. I threw the seeds, they sucked in my mana rapidly.

I used mana burst to appear behind the bear. I used my prepared breath to unleash an intense flamethrower. The monster fungus bear was driven back, just as the seeds rapidly grew. Spikes of wood ripped through the bear and dove back in the ground. The spores grew mushrooms on the spikes and they began to rot before my eyes.

My tendrils dove forward and sliced through the bear rapidly. Once the creature and fungus were in pieces, I launched a volley of fireballs. Every attack burned the bear and spores horribly. They fought to heal. The mushrooms on the two wood spikes attempted to give their stolen mana to the main shroom, but my unending barrage of fire turned them to ash.

I kept launching fireballs, until I received a pop up telling me the bear was dead. After spitting on the bear corpse, I opened the chest. The Ice beam, cure, and spore skill books were there as well as a porcelain mask and another wizard’s robe. This one granted a +10Wis stat. I exchanged my singed robe for the new one and put on the mask. It felt better to have my face covered out here.

With this floor clear, I made my way down the stairs. The guards would catch up to me soon, it was up to me to grow strong enough to fight them. Just before I took to the stairs, I saw a cloaked figure in robes like my own with a shroom sticking up form his head. I paid my respects to the poor dead man and launched a massive fireball his way. The man was able to form a shield to block the fireball. My arrow struck true through his left eye.

I placed the bow back in my inventory and walked down the stairs. There were no markings on the wall where I was now. That was strange, there was normally a warning for the boss. I turned my back on the fungus ridden area and descended the stairs.