We call those capable of surviving on nothing but mana, spiritual beings. These beings have a multitude of forms, such as wraiths, banshees, various undead creatures, summoned demons and various spirits of nature. Malevolent variety of these beings are generally hunted down by people, while the rest are known to be neutral towards the other sentient beings when met in isolated areas. Their nature also makes them very long-lived races, capable of living for hundreds of years.

Most commonly seen spiritual beings are different kind of fairies, wisps and other such beings. While those with corporeal form can survive with only mana they absorb, they are much more like normal mortals, than those with intangible form. For an example, fairies like eating and need to sleep like any other being, and they can also absorb the mana from the food they intake.

- Excerpt from “The Compilation of Monster Races, Volume IV”, organized by the Adventurers Guild

* * *

Outside of Faran’s Dungeon, Elan’s POV

As the night fell, I headed to the opening Faran made for his dungeon. I chuckled to myself remembering how I had felt his annoyance to the delay, while I waited for the darkness of the night to fall. I didn’t know what dangers were waiting for me outside, so I assimilated myself with the darkness, turning to my intangible shadowform. Ability I had an access from my shade wisp heritage, gained through an accident, when my mother absorbed the essence of one while pregnant with me. An act she wouldn’t have done if not for me, as she was wounded by the aftermath of a spell aimed for the wisp.

When fused together with the shadows, I was impervious to all physical harm, and nearly invisible for all purposes in the shadows. Upon arriving to the outside, I had better time to take a look of the forest I spotted outside with my previous peek to the outside. I should be able to find a lot of materials for Faran to experiment upon, seeing that he has been bored out of his mind with nothing else to do, than shaping the caves. It should be interesting to see what he does with all those samples.

While this would be one of my many future incursions to the forest, at first I should prioritize samples that can be grown in the dark. A quick look near the entrance revealed a bunch of moss and a few insects scurrying atop it. With no dangerous animals nears the exit, I changed to my corporeal form and collected what I could with my small body. As I returned to drop the samples within the dungeon for Faran to analyze, I could feel his expectant emotions radiating from his focus, or as he likes to call it, “spirit mode”. Snorting to myself for his naming sense, I headed outside again before he could interrupt my work.

Looks like I have to keep an eye on him when I finish with gathering samples. For now Faran doesn’t have enough mana to try anything outlandish with it, like when he originally wanted to create series of gigantic caves without enough mana to sustain them, so I should be able to relax for tenday or two when he is busy experimenting with the plants and insects. I thought to myself. While I was contracted to a dungeon for a mere two decades, I never got detailed information how they do things beyond rank 3. Most of my knowledge comes from the side of adventurers, and occasional visits to a dungeon.

Having dropped initial samples for Faran to work with, I once again melded with the shadows and flew higher to take an overlook of the surroundings. Flying above the treeline, I saw how the entrance of the dungeon was located next to an overgrown forest, growing upon a large plateau. Deciding to fly even higher, I noticed how the plateau sloped down to a large valley nestled between mountains, with a river flowing right through it. Seeing how the origins of the river were within the mountains, I suspected underground river being a source for it.

The plateau itself was three kilometers in diameter, with the valley many times larger. It may take some time before anyone will come in here and senses the disturbance of the mana because of the dungeon. Looks like Faran can grow his dungeon in peace for now, due to the isolated location. I hope that whatever he does, is enough to pass the first hurdle for new dungeons that are found. I must try my best to ensure that Faran appears to have more worth than trouble to the people, so no one doesn’t just get rid of him before he grows in power.

Satisfied with the overlook of the location, I flew down to the forest, to continue collecting samples for my new partner, a total oddity amongst dungeons from what I’ve seen.

* * *

Faran’s Dungeon, Faran’s POV

Elan had been constantly working last night, and brought me a multitude of samples of surrounding flora and fauna. I soon discovered that I could drain the energy of small insects with a little effort, killing them in the process. Absorbing their corpses was as easy as absorbing the stone, yet impossible to do when target is alive. Along with the wide variety of flora, I also had a selection of insects to fill my dungeon with. Elan had already mentioned that dungeons either summoned everything themselves, such as undead, golems and new monsters, or created ecosystems where they reproduced by themselves. Obviously, I lack the knowledge to create artificial monsters like golems, so I plan to create basic environment with what I have. First, I needed to upgrade this droll environment with some flora for food, as I did not want to support creatures with only my mana.

I started with covering the floor of first cave with small layer of dirt for plants to grow on. Focusing on the structure of the moss I absorbed first, I analyzed the structure in my mind by creating a model of the moss. Something tugged my mind and I subconsciously modified it, by changing the veins to similar structure I had in my core, making it capable of absorbing ambient mana in my dungeon. Afterwards I proceeded to modify the moss itself, making the structure more durable and lush, looking like a soft, dark green carpet. Satisfied with my creation, I pictured where to place the modified moss. Focusing upon a patch of dirt, I instantly recalled the structure of the modified moss, while I could accurately imagine how the moss would look when created, as if it was already a reality.

These instincts may be handy, but it mostly annoys me that I don’t know what I can do before I attempt to do something new like now. Quickly testing this with the other plants Elan had gathered, I could easily recall structure and image of the plants growing within my dungeon, just like with the moss. While this would make my creation work extremely simple, I still need to find out the limits for these changes in how my mind works now. Elan isn’t helpful on this regard, as he was bonded to a young dungeon that took over a decade to start talking properly. While those older ones he met certainly did not reveal a single detail to outsiders.

Creating a patch of moss, it grew and spread out quickly as I poured mana in it. Deciding to grow patches all over the cave, I repeated the process a few times. After half of the cave floor was covered in it, I focused to what happened around the moss. Raw motes of mana that were slowly broken apart by my domain, seeped within the vein in moss. Those veins then started to slowly, but surely break down the mana as the moss absorbed the remnants. It released some of it back to the air, while absorbing the rest to grow and spread out. For now I couldn’t see any difference, but I had a feeling that having mana remain within the plants would increase the overall density of mana within the dungeon. Satisfied, I covered the overhangs and crevices with dirt as well, before creating a carpet of moss to cover the walls. I left the patches of moss to spread on their own for the rest of the floor.

Most of my mana spent from filling the small cave with moss, I returned my focus upon my core to meditate as I started to refill my mana with a mental sigh. This was going to be another long and tedious process as a dungeon. Grumbling to myself about lack of mana in initial stages, I decided to focus upon the meditation.

And originally I had hoped a more exciting life with tricking adventurers to their deaths, with a promises of riches and glory in a dungeon filled with monsters. Looks like I still have a long way to go.

* * *

“No, I can’t catch any small animals for you to play with. As you can clearly see, I’m not exactly the right size for it. Not to mention, Do you know how hard it is to carry something heavier than yourself? Especially if it fights back?”, Elan frowned at me as I had suggested getting something bigger. During the last half a month, Elan had scoured the nearby forest from anything new, that he could carry back for me to absorb.

I suggested.

Elan sighed as he started rubbing his temples. “I already told you, the creatures with a soul needs to die in your dungeons, or you can only create copy of a dead animal without a soul. Or a skeleton, which you’re not trying to create! Generally dungeons with any undead are suppressed, or destroyed, as I have told you before.”.

I was once again denied from trying to create small skeletons by Elan.

I had noticed that while creating insects, I also had to create a blank soul with an imprint from my own. Otherwise I couldn’t control them, or they didn’t have any loyalty to me, but ordering insects to do different stunts is fun for only so long. Like making them move in formations, or trying to build a tower with them. I even tried to get Elan play a mock war with me, with insect armies, but that plan failed as well.

“By the gods! Why was I stuck with a dungeon that doesn’t act like one or do things like one should? You could go and make them deadlier by yourself!”, Elan exclaimed while throwing his hands in the air.

This deflated Elan as he slumped down while letting his hands flop to the sides, and turned towards me with a mournful look on his face.

“You don’t have to remind me about it. It was I that made a contract with you before knowing the details.”. With a defeated sigh, Elan straightened his posture and continued with his explanation. “Normally you either create your own creatures from various parts, fill them full of mana to strengthen them, or you let them fight it out and try to get them evolve. As they kill others in your dungeon, they drain some of the mana for themselves. Eventually when they get strong enough, they form a core within them, becoming a monster. This also happens outside as some animals evolve to a monsters over time, or by hunting humanoids or other animals.”

I explained with a slightly embarrassed tone.

Elan’s posture straightened even more, he clasped his hands behind his back, frowned at me while his eyelid started twitching furiously. I briefly wondered if he knew that he always did that when he got angry.

“Faran, did you again try to experiment with some stupid idea like when you tried creating some weird souls for insects?”, Elan asked with a stern voice.

As I said this, Elan’s eyelid started to blur, and a vein bulged on his forehead.

. Not yet at least, I mentally added.

At this point Elan exploded and went on for a long tirade of irresponsible actions, lecturing me about proper actions and making me to consult him, before starting some whimsical tests on methods not beings used, on my own before wasting mana. Well the point was, that I should stop wasting so much time with my random actions and grow stronger before I’m found.

* * *

Another half a month has passed while I experimented upon the insects. During this time I have managed to alter the souls as they were forming during creating them, altering or adding certain new instincts. As of now, predatory insects are aggressively trying to kill each other, creating a bustling scene of carnage in the caves. More passive ones feed upon the moss and ferns in my dungeon, acting as a source of food for aggressive species. They also act hostilely towards intruders coming near them. For now I haven’t been able to properly grow any plants needing sunlight, despite the mana becoming denser. For now I have been limited to moss and similar plants. While constantly checking the dungeon, I made an interesting discovery with the air quality. It looks like my domain slowly purifies the foul substances from the air, if I do not will it otherwise.

I also noticed how my original feeling from filling my cavern with plants and insects, was indeed proving beneficial to my dungeon domain as I suspected. Plants refined raw mana for their own use, releasing the rest to the air, while insects released most of the mana they held upon dying. Small part of the mana they hold is absorbed by the killer, while the plants being eaten also provide miniscule amount to one eating them. I have come to think my ecosystem as a mana storage used to increase the density of mana within my domain. Currently I’m holding back with the expansion, and only keep saturating the area with more mana. Elan was originally against this type of action, yet I noticed how the flow of raw mana increases with denser mana in my domain. Maybe the instinctual expansion all the time is not wholly beneficial to the growth of the dungeon?

During the constant emptying and refilling of my mana reserves, I have almost advanced to the second rank as a dungeon core. Central area of my core has almost completely filled it, and I have prevented advancing my rank for a moment. I have a feeling I am going to fall asleep for a time as I finish this phase, thus I want to finish couple tests and create some protection for my core before that.

Currently I was focusing on yet another infusement test. This time I was experimenting on a climber vine that would grow near the ceiling on stalactites. I was slowly infusing only the veins with mana, trying to turn them more crystalline substance, as partially the same as veins in my core are formed. I had been slowly changing the vine, occasionally strengthening rest of the plant, especially the roots. My aim was to allow them to work as a source of light through absorbing the ambient mana.

The veins had already gained a slight glow of their own, slightly tinted with green of the plant, and I started finally seeing the crystallization to take hold in a part of the veins. Holding back my excitement so I would not start being impetuous, I carefully expanded the effect through rest of the veins. Soon enough I felt a slight tug on my mana, as the plant started draining more. I carefully let my mana flow freely to the vine as it changed in front of my eyes, with the crystal gained flexibility and increased the amount of light it produced. The roots dug deeper in the stone, while rest of the vine grew more firm. The vine was only thick as a thumb, and a couple meters long, clinging tightly to the stalactites with a series of smaller vines.

Sudden source of light sent insects scurrying to the darkness, as the climber vine finished the transformation. It now had a gentle green glow, reaching a distance of twenty meters in the cave. Carefully examining the flow of mana from it, I noticed how it was self-sustaining from the ambient mana, not requiring me to actively sustain it. I quickly formed a normal fern on the ground, so I can later see if it could survive under the light.

I started boasting to the ever doubtful, grumpy Elan.

“Forgive me for being doubtful after days of of exploding bugs, wilting plants and spontaneously dying, grotesque attempts for new combinations. I’d rather have you rank-up so I can enjoy from a period of silence and normality for a change.”, Elan answered with a dry tone.

“Now, if this works as an alternative to the sunlight, you should start creating some traps I told you about, at the later half of the dungeon. Especially near the core. While this may arouse some suspicions due to you being obviously a newborn core, dungeons are usually found first by either poor peasants, hunters, or bandits. Neither type is a good for new dungeons, as they tend to steal the core if they can, and sell it for a quick money as a mana stone. People can earn more money by selling you, than by selling the location of you”.

I mentally frowned upon the very idea of some crass, uneducated hillbilly killing me when I slept during the rank-up, removing my core from the dungeon with their greedy, grubby hands.

, I conceded, yet didn’t forget to poke fun at his latest idea.

My comment sent Elan sputtering, “I have you know that those ideas come from the the gathered knowledge I have obtained! Those traps are used by all of the dungeons before they obtain knowledge on how to create magical traps!”.

, I added sarcastically.

Elan sniffed disdainfully. “Well then, I assume you can do much better work with basic, non-magical traps, than centuries worth of collective knowledge for dungeons can. Besides those you mentioned were only some of the basic traps of a dungeon.”.

“Well yes, yes I can. First things first though. I need to start spreading these vines along the caves so I can first start growing most of the plants I obtained, as the fern is actually growing now. Especially some of those basic alchemical components you found. Although the moss improved the original atmosphere, it is still a rather dull place.”, I replied with enthusiasm.

As Elan snorted for my self-assured victory, I went to work. I was going to turn these caves to a veritable jungle of plants!

* * *

For the next tenday, I spent most of my time creating some tall ferns, vines, flowers and even thorny creepers all over the caves. I had strengthened the plants, and made them to grow faster in case of them being cleared out. Larger plants in the underbrush were half a meter tall, hiding the smaller plants and insects underneath them. I also created normal vines to grow near the crystal vines on the ceiling, as well as creeper vines to grow along the walls. Some of the thorny vines were hidden amongst the plants. The flowers added more color and variety of smells within the caves. I had even amplified the properties of some flowers with interesting effects, such a strong scent causing mild confusion or slight hallucinations.

Amongst the plants Elan brought me, I found an oddity I embraced with a glee, and added to every green fern I had. One of the plants contained chemical that was otherwise harmless, yet released a highly toxic gas when burned. You never know if some jumpy pyromancer decides to advance in my dungeon by burning everything, so I decided to dissuade such an action early on seeing that I had the perfect solution.

I left small paths leading to the next tunnel, so humanoids can move through with relative ease, yet exploration would be rewarded with some of the basic plants used in alchemy. Preparing against people that would just cut down everything, I strengthened the roots of the plants to reach deep into the stone. This way the plants would be able to regrow easily without my help, by relying on absorbing the ambient mana.

Insect population exploded since I started creating the other plants, and I had started to see some of them growing more powerful through each generation. Unfortunately the amount of mana they could hold, was miniscule, making the process a slow one.

As I hadn’t found any metals to absorb during my expansion, my possible variety of traps was woefully limited. I had to limit my creativity for when I get better materials. In preparation for traps, I expanded my domain ten meters deeper, allowing for some experimentation with them. First wave of traps was a source of great amusement for Elan, as I went with traditional thinly covered pitfalls with a twist of sharpened spikes at the bottom. I let him laugh, nothing like lulling intruders into thinking that I only have common traps.

Last part of the dungeon gets nasty. I had created a six meter wide, ten meter deep circular hole with jagged spikes at the bottom. I had also added acid from some of my stronger bugs, strong enough to slightly melt the skin, and created a 3 meter deep pool of it at the bottom of the pit. Next 2 meters of the wall above the acid was filled with irregularly placed, hardened stone protrusions curving downwards. Good luck trying to use ropes to pull up someone, as those protrusions were wickedly sharp, and snapped off if you tried to step on them.

As a lid I used a half a meter thick stone, with two axles were fitted within the holes on opposite sides, and I added protruding stoppers to keep the lid rotating beyond upright position. Lid was kept in place by the other half, that was only slightly thicker, resting upon a groove in the stone. When a person moving deeper to the caves stepped on the stone plate, hidden under the carpet of moss, the plate would tilt to an upright position as the victim dropped in the pit. Upon reaching the vertical position, the plate would hit the stoppers and slam shut again.

Second type of trap was a stone plate with a sharpened edge at the bottom of it, resting upon a small stone cylinder protrusion, that can withstand only 50 kilos. Placed in a narrow passageway, the cylinder breaks if someone steps on it, and the blade cuts through a vine running underneath it. The vine is rooted to an opposing counterweights hidden under the floor, keeping them suspended in the air. Each weight in connected with another vine to a blade of two meters long, hidden within a natural looking crack on the wall. When triggered, the blades swing to the opposite directions. One blade aims for the ankles from front, the other aims for the knees from behind. Blades were made of stone I sharpened and hardened as much as I could.

Third was a variation of the blades with a shorter, more curved blade. This time stone plates were hidden under the moss in an open area of the caves, with blades appearing from the floor. The blade was only one meter long, swinging from the front, or from behind, of the triggering plate. I had some fun testing out these traps, as I imagined resulting reactions of various clumsy adventurers.

Fourth trap was in my core room. I slightly expanded the dome to be slightly wider than the floor, and created circular hole for my core at the top, with some room for me to grow. As Elan carried the core up, I created four curved talons to hold me up there. To hide my glow, I grew my go-to light source, crystal vines, all over the dome. At the end of the room, I created alcove with a deep enough hole to house a crystal vine out of sight, with stone bars in the way. They should see the crystal vine glowing within the alcove, as it was partially casted in shadows. Trap itself was a same kind as the first one, yet the floor was a meter thick, and it only activated when someone walked near the alcove, where the supporting stone was located.

To make sure I get all of them within the room despite them weighing down the other side, There were massive counterweights on the side with alcove, with supports strong enough to carry only fifty kilos of extra weight on top of them. When they break and weights fall, whole floor in my core room swings like a pendulum, before coming to a stop at upright position, as the counterweights keep the floor in upright position. Bottom of the trap has two grooves to fit the counterweights, while rest of the pit is naturally filled with jagged spikes and acid.

Only now I feel safe enough to initiate my rank-up, even though Elan has yet to see smoke from any campfires during nightly scouting. We decided to fully open the entrance before I start. With any luck, some smaller animals wander inside as they get lured by the mana, and get either killed by my now ferocious insects, or stay long enough for my domain to corrupt them. There might be even some larger animals going deep enough to trigger the traps.

Currently my mana capacity is almost 50 times of my pitiful starting value, needing only a last push for my rank-up, before my core has been wholly converted to a new structure my center has. Strength of my domain within my dungeon has tripled with all the lifeforms processing and storing mana for me, and so has my recovery rate. When I widen the entrance to my dungeon, I feel how the flow of raw mana slightly speeds up throughout the whole dungeon. Satisfied with my preparations, I sink into my meditation aiming for the rank-up.

* * *

Faran’s Dungeon, Elan’s POV

When Faran started making normal pitfalls after boasting his skills, I already thought he had been just boasting along with his sarcastic comments. Yet as he started creating those rotating pitfalls filled with weak acid, I had to change my thinking. When he made those bladed traps in pathways, I was even thinking that it was crazy how he could make such things with only stone and vines. Those weren’t meant to instant kill anyone, they were meant to maim the intruders.

But the modified versions shooting from the floor left me flabbergasted. Forget about crazy, this goes beyond that. Those traps are most wicked contraptions in this dungeon. Hard to detect with knocking on the floor with a spear-end, hidden beneath a layer of moss, and even making escaping them as hard as possible. All the while the aim of those traps causes shivers to run through my spine. Faran even tested the positioning of them, by creating a wooden model of an average sized human, in a middle of a step. Even now my balls shrivel when I think how the stone blade cut through the groin region. And with the next trap, the direction of the blade changes to attack from behind.

When I was still in a slight stupor from his latest trap, Faran asked my help to move his core to the top of the dome in his core room. I thought he wanted to get out of the reach of would-be-thieves, yet I was shown that there would be no end to the insidiousness of this wicked core.

Faran only called his final trap “an insurance, just in case they come this far”. As if a bunch of wicked traps and staying out of reach from most of the people wasn’t enough, he turned the whole core room into a gigantic trap. In the event the trap is triggered, even the meter thick floor ends up covering him when the floor is in upright position. I force down a shudder running through me, as I imagine what the poor souls mapping this place have to go through if Faran gets enough time to build up his dungeon.

Not for the first, and certainly not for the last time, I wondered what kind of a demon possessed me to make a contract with this lunatic of a dungeon. With someone so irregular, it seems like I will not be much of help to Faran until he starts dealing with adventurers.

Sighing, I started flying towards the fully opened entrance to wait for a few hours for my nightly scouting. “Maybe we’ll finally get some animals to play with in here. With nothing but bugs skittering around, these caves are still rather dull.”. Shocked, I almost crashed to a hanging stalactite from realization of how much like Faran I started to sound.

Oh, the Mighty God of Darkness and Shadows, please do NOT let me turn to a something like Faran. I prayed fervently. As I did, I did hear a faint snickering from the shadows around me.

A shiver ran through my back and I felt goosebumps all over me. No, I just did not hear snickering. Absolutely not, must be just my imagination. Or Faran. Yes, it must have been Faran snickering while meditating. Being around him must be starting to affect me too much.

As an even fainter snort resounded behind me, I started speeding towards the entrance with a cold sweat trickling down my brows.

Going out during sunlight today didn't sound so bad after all.