Magic was one of the first things people asked about during the trials, once they got out all the questions about what happened. For some they asked about magic even before their own mothers. I myself saw some people staying right up until the end of the month trying to eke out all knowledge on magic available.

-Excerpt from "Tales From the Survivors of the Shift" by Kamilla

I woke up in the morning a short distance from my monolith shelter. I had apparently rolled or slid down the slight incline in my sleep without being aware of it. While unfortunate what I was most aware of were all the spots on my body that were itching like crazy. Based on the shape I don’t think it was plants so it must’ve been bugs. Neither Hashal or I had given such things a thought. I started to worry that maybe there were other things we had not thought to worry about in this unknown world, our areas of expertise deep but frighteningly limited.

I swallowed, trying to push down the faint dread inside me. I had prepared for the unknown, I had come here early to seek out my fortune. I was here to survive, to succeed, and surpass. I would neither falter nor fall in my pursuit, I would achieve greatness.

I strode forth along the river’s edge. Still glancing about for a shelter but my mind was elsewhere for the most part. After a few hours of walking I paused to eat my meager meal, though if it really counted as such I wasn’t sure. A tier-1 coin, one of 10 they had gifted us, was something that would sustain us for a full day and perhaps longer at our current level. The coins were to last us 2 weeks, if we still died then it was due to our own incompetence.

I paused on a rock jutting above some rapids to enjoy the view, dangling my feet off the edge. I didn’t really need to pause to eat, a coin didn’t take long to put in my mouth but took a second to swallow. They were grey in color and grey in taste, suiting how the system worked and appeared. I just wanted to get off my feet for a moment, give my ankle a break before it broke. My wandering mind stopped at that thought.

I had sprained my ankle less than a day ago and already it was fine. Since spraining it I had been walking on it the whole day, minus sleep, and it felt absolutely fine. I shot up and started looking around, as if to summon the dungeon to me by sheer desire. I checked my status screen to confirm my suspicions and was happy to see that mana had filled up.

Name: Romeaws Quel Species: Felis Level:0 HP: Superb MP: Scarce Abilities: Leadership(1), Swordsmanship(2), Martial Arts(3), Planning(1)

Unless this was one of the things we had been misled about there was a dungeon in the area. My anxiety was brushed to the side and forgotten. My gamble had paid off as I knew it would and I would have an advantage over all the others that would follow after me. Hashal would benefit of course, but I wanted to revel in this alone a bit more. I needed to actually find the dungeon before I could fully say I had succeeded, but I had confirmed one in the area. This place would prosper and I would be at the forefront of this.

I continued marching up stream. I would find this dungeon and show Hashal, and others, with triumph. I would create such an empire that my last enterprise would pale in comparison as a pebble to Prime.

Violet and I sat by the core, drawing lights to show a representation of our second level. The distance the core could create had increased another 100 meters, apparently 100 meters was the norm. We had much more room and currently had a few ideas we were debating over.

The first was sticking with the cavern theme. We would avoid the problems of people cheating their way through the levels, which was nice. It would give the dungeon a sense of consistency, but it would also make the dungeon seem more limited to that theme. Having two of the same then having a change on the third level would be odd if done abruptly.

A second option was trying the open pathways again. The increased size of our dungeon would make it so fewer could traverse between pathways. We had even thought about making some places needing traversing, but we didn’t want to put the idea into people’s minds. We might allow some free thinking, but for the most part we would provide a way to traverse where it was needed. The pathway dungeon would let the view be better and allow people to plan ahead slightly more. The change would also make it so we couldn’t repeat themes as easily. It would be somewhat embarrassing, and not in line with an adventure dungeon, if we repeated the same things so soon without reason.

The third option was the compromise. Neither Violet nor I was fully sure how to combine a cavern dungeon layout with an open pathway layout. One was fully enclosed and the other was fully open. The idea of a combo was good, but in reality the two ideas didn’t work together well. The image for the third idea was less a possibility and was more what we tossed things at to see how we felt about them. The concept of a combination was what we really liked.

The fourth idea was about the extent of it, we shot down the fourth ideas repeatedly and didn’t get a fourth option to stick. The third may have seemed not to work, but the reason for having the third idea made sense. The slot for a fourth idea was repeatedly filled while brainstorming and shot down by logic. A sphere of floating rocks as it connected to our floating rock boss room; shot down as it wasn’t really an adventure. A pathway of the same rocks, so many issues we didn’t take it seriously at the end. A solid rock with tunnels in it, basically the floating tunnels but with extra work. Sphere shaped layers through which you had to find the entrance to the next innermost layer, basically a dungeon inside a dungeon. Cool, but kinda silly. In the end the three were our main ideas.

Hold up Violet. We already are made of layers upon layers, we are a dungeon. That is dungeon-ception, way too confusing at this point. Might’ve been funny as a first layer, or some sub-dungeon.

I thought it would be cool. We could have the spheres move so the entrance would not be in the same place. They would have to explore to find the entrance and each layer is smaller with fewer but stronger creatures, the boss being the final tiny layer.

Okay, it might be good as a defense thing to pretend that is the end of slow people down, but not for our second layer. Also now you made me think that we are just a russian doll, though our inside layers get bigger and bigger

You’re welcome.

Okay. We have a cavern idea, a pathway idea, and some vague abomination of the two. Both of the first ideas are good, we just need to find a better combo than,” I checked our current image for the third option, “a trench maze with floating spikes to stop jumpers.

We need to tie the first and second option together. Because I doubt we can do the second option on it’s own, for this level at least. What about a stream, that is a classic way of tying things together.

I guess that could work. We aren’t trying to be super sneaky, so anybody with half a brain can follow the water to the center or exit. We can put our own spin on it as well to not be boring.

Alright, water it is. That was even something you wanted to provide, so doubly nice. Now the question is is it flowing from the center to the edges or from the edges to the center? Either way we can add a nice waterfall for effect.

Starting at the edges the water would be a nice view for the people who just arrive, but it would be odd to have it just appear. Starting at the center the water would be a nice hazard, pushing people away. Oh, bonus! We can have the water be a slide, if people can’t go further they can get in the water and slide all the way to the exit. Can we do that Violet, pretty please!

Violet stared at me for a moment. What thoughts were going on behind her face I couldn’t tell.

I can’t think of a good reason to oppose it. It does mean that if we can’t find a good boss we may have otters as the boss again. Maybe a different version of otters, but it wouldn’t be as much a change.

That’s fine, we can figure that out when we prepare the second level.You are right about having the same species twice in a row be repetitive, but I don’t mind switching out the boss on the first level if necessary. Other options are the snake, or some fish. So I guess let’s talk logistics.

Alright. Well the boss can wait till the boss room. The first thing is that we need new traps. With a stream leading from the core room any traps designed to confuse people about which way to the center is useless. We could have other sources of water, but that defeats the purpose.

Traps were changed, no more would there be sneaky ways of getting closer to the core instead of away from it. Now some traps would utilize water instead of gravity, the weight and chill making them more annoying in comparison. The fact that people needed to hold their breath is an added bonus. We then made sure the water slide would be fun and not drown people, that would kinda ruin the whole purpose.

Mist could be a decent hindrance as well, while not deadly it would certainly slow people down and could provide an opportunity for monsters. We had frogs and toads at this point, and both could be used in a misty dungeon setting. Even if not the giant versions, I brought up utilizing the goo to Violet and she enjoyed it as well.

We can have them as critters. Things that are not monsters but that can still provide a hindrance. The bats are almost critters but they can actually hurt a person or even kill them if lucky. These frogs or toads would be more firmly critters.

Floating water also replaced floating rocks. Water wouldn’t provide nearly as much visual impairment, being clear and all, but it would create some other interesting issues. The water could provide critters or monsters a chance to surprise and hinder people walking by it. We had prepared a few larger chambers to showcase this. Having what would essentially be a floating pond. The otters had been kind enough to bring some fish to the dungeon to snack and we were going to put that to good use.

A floating pond is certainly entertaining. We can even put something worthwhile in the center of it. Some reward for anybody brave, or foolish, enough to go inside the water. Maybe the water can cover a secret passage and we can have a treasure there as well.

Violet was really getting into planning the layout when I realized something important, we hadn’t made any rewards.

Violet, the rewards, we need a loot drop for the creatures!

Sometimes things go perfectly. Sometimes you get the perfect idea for a level, you think of a fun thing for adventurers, you get to watch adorable otters. Other days your first adventurer appears when you have one level to explore and no loot for them to find.

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