Alistiar had Callum summoned the Fire Slug. As the blue mist condense, Alistair saw a bright red slug that 3 inches in length. It had small little antenna and round black eyes. It seemed to move slightly forward leaving a shiny trail of liquid behind it. Alistair realized just how stupid this battle would be. Even without his enchantments he could simply just step on the slug and kill it. As he stared at the Slug he began to focus his will, the killing edge of just taking one step and the battle would be over came to him. Then like a candle being blown out, the will of the slug was blown away and a blue prompt came up.

Event!You have captured a Fire Slug!Today you have added to the list of creatures that can be found in your dungeon. Fire Slug is now available for summoning. The Experience Points from a Fire Salamander is 1, because you decided to you your will instead of outright killing the Mana Monster, every time you summon a Slug it will be double the size you fought providing twice the meat to other mana monsters. Advancement of your spell mastery has increased by 2%.

Alistair laughed a little at the idea of even getting 1 experience point for battling the Fire Slug. He wondered if he just asked Callum to find a couple thousand Fire Slug monsters he would level up to ten. Shrugging at the thought of taking weeks upon weeks of time to battle small creatures wasn’t that appealing so he asked Callum to bring up its loot table.

Loot Table for Fire SlugTotal Required Summoning Mana2Current Loot Table100% Chance of dropping 1 Slug Fillet (Trade Good)

1% Chance of dropping Recipe: Fried Spicy Slug (Skill: Cooking)

0.1% Chance of dropping Recipe: Slug Volcano Fingers (Skill: Cooking)Additional Items0.01% Chance of dropping a Single Dungeon Copper CoinPress any additional items you would like to add to the loot table.

Alistair laughed and pressed the Single Dungeon Copper Coin. If an Adventurer wanted to kill ten thousand slugs to get a chance at a Copper Coin then they were welcome to it. Smiling Callum and Alistair talked for a minute before setting the summoning circle to summon a hundred slugs. What surprised Alistair was that for something as insignificant as a Fire Slug had a recipe. Recipes for cooking were a mix between alchemy and actual cooking. Unlike Alchemy, where one had to distill mana from ingredients and combine them into a potion or salve; Cooking was simple and just required a few ingredients to give someone a boost of temporary power. True skills were about using the mana to boost ones natural performance. In Alistair’s previous life, he had gained a total of 15 Recipes for Swordmanship and ten for his Heavy Armor. It was rumored that for any one skill there was a grand total of a 500 recipes, but most of them were either too hard to find or weren’t worth the hassle to know. Alistair began to wonder if he could have his dungeon learn his Swordmanship and Heavy Armor recipes when he got back to his pocket Dimension.

Callum and Alistair talked briefly, after a bit of debate it made since to summon around one hundred slugs at random locations around the magma pools and lava tubes. The logic presented by Callum was that by seeding such a large number the salamanders would eat to their fill and then allow the summoning circle to continue to refresh them. Eventually a balance would be obtained and the oldest slugs would be able to grow. Quickly, the summoning circle began to flash like a heartbeat, summoning slugs around the dungeon. The salamanders began to react to the new food source as they started to break off from their packs and seek their prey. Slowly, the life in his dungeon was coming into harmony, Alistair hoped he had enough time to see it at peace before Adventurers started invading.

Alistair watched for a few minutes as Tiny Salamanders began to catch slugs and start tearing into them with their obsidian teeth. The summoning circle would flash again as somewhere a slug was born to be hunted down. Life and death, two sides of the same coin with only the universe separating them. Alistair signaled Callum to continue with the summoning. As Alistair prepared himself, as a foot long black, with red and orange spots, centipede appeared before him. Legs, an inch long, trailed down its body as it moved with a surprising speed towards Alistair. Alistair quickly began to move to its side trying to get a better angle of attack. The centipede quickly turned towards Alistair as the demon lifted up his hoof and stomped down on the back half of the bug. A splash of bright red liquid squirted out from underneath Alistair hoof. Yet the Centipeded didn’t give up as it moved the rest of its body up Alistair’s leg. A burning bite from the centipede made Alistair slap the disgusting thing off of him. Alistair felt large red welts beginning to rise up in his leg as he saw the centipede slowly dying on the floor. Orange goo began to leak from the welts as Alistair moved over to the centipede and finished the thing on the floor. As soon as he did a blue prompt came up.

Event!You have captured a Lava Tube Centipede!Today you have added to the list of creatures that can be found in your dungeon. Lava Tube Centipede is now available for summoning. The Experience Points from a Lava Tube Centipede is 5. Talk with your Spell Companion on setting the loot table for the monster prior to summoning. Advancement of your spell mastery has increased by 2%. In order to evolve your creature you must reach Spell Mastery Level 5.

As Alistair dismissed the prompt the words began to run like water. Alistair shook his head as the violent movement made him want to vomit. Fire began to leak up his leg, as the poison began to work on his mind. Alistair spoke to Callum, “You know I think I am going to lay down for a moment and keep this ground from melting.” Alistair began to scoop his arms trying to keep the imaginary liquid floor in one place. Slowly his arms began to still and Alistair’s body began to seize up in grotesque pain.

Callum floated over to Alistair and spoke, “My Lord, please try and focus for a moment. The Centipedes venom is working through you. Focus on transporting yourself to the Pocket Dimension, it will destroy the venom and make you whole again. My Lord! My LORD!”

Location: Alistair’s Hallucination

Alistair sat naked in a hard wooden stool, his wrists tied roughly with a harsh hemp rope under the wooden seat. The cold stone floor was wet under his feet, while rusted iron manacles sliced the skin around his ankles. The dark around him seemed to go off into eternity as the only light that he could see illuminated just a few feet around him. Somewhere the drip of water echoed giving Alistair the idea that this place huge. The sensation of sharp nails gently laying themselves on his back made him jump slightly. Turning his head he saw a tall red haired woman in a black toga circling him. The woman’s bright red hair seemed to cover her face as the toga did little to cover the curves of her form. As Alistair eyes began to wonder about the woman’s form, her hand causally shot out and smacked his face. The slap stung so hard that his head was flung to the side and his neck muscles ached.

“Shame! Shame! I know your name!” Her long index finger wagged in front Alistair’s face as he noted that her finger nails seemed to be perfectly cut into point and blood red. She turned to face Alistair in the stool and bent down to look him in the eye. Behind her perfectly combed red hair stood a face that was without blemish and eyes that chaotic whirls of color swirled in. Alistair finally understood that the figure in front of him was a Goddess. “Now Alistair, what should I do to you?” Her perfect red lips pushed together as blood red nail started tapping them as if in silent thought.

Slowly, the Goddess sat on Alistairs thighs. The manacles cut into his ankles as her weight came down, Alistair’s chest came up as he tried to shift his weight. Her nails sunk into his shoulders grabbing hold of him and she spoke again. “Ah, see I am already getting some use out of you. The problem is that I need you to do more than just be a handy place to sit.” The goddess through back her head and her hair seemed to fall back over her shoulder. She took out her left hand nails from Alistair’s shoulder and briefly licked the blood off of them. “So in order to make you a little more helpful let’s start with introductions. I am Erissa, Goddess of Chaos and Discord, my followers are assasians, rogues and rumormongers, and you are Alistair, formerly the Great Golden Hero Thorian, and your true name is Shedzuoxohr…”

Alistair felt his entire body seize up at the pronunciation of his true name. Erissa’s mouth continued to talk about the only thing that crept into his mind was imagines. The first was a scene of Lizardmen holding Helga throat long black claws entered her throat as the Lizardmen laughed. The next scene came as Goblins and Orcs burst into a pocket dimension, children and townspeople began to die as gibbering laughter echoed over the chaos. The next scene came to his vision as two armies squared off in a grand field; on one side Dragons, Kobolds, Wyverns, and Lizardmen stood; on the other side stood an army of undead with great bone golems and wailing ghosts. Each side began to charge, as Alistair’s mind reeled to another scene. Grand Demons, Beasts, Dragons, Titans, and other beings shouted at one another. In the meeting Alistair saw alliances and treaties being destroyed as two opposing forces began to rise. The scene changed yet again to a battlefield that had been fought over time and time again. Long Trenches had been dug as small groups of battle harden men and women huddled together. Green fog began descending over a trench and the people screamed in horror. Some of the lucky few placed leather masks over their face, inked runes glowed with eldritch magic, as they readied weapons. Orcs with similar runic masks jumped down and pinched battles began to break out in the trench. Horns blared out and mages began casting walls of fire across the battlefield, orcs began dying in their madding rush to get to the enemy trenches. Magical beasts and Minatours began reinforcing the humans, dwarves, and elves in the trenches as the tide of battle once again became stalled. The next scene showed the plane of dungeon towns, thousands of souls laid dead as dungeons began to crumble. The few remaining citadels that stood were in rebellion, as the angry citizens rioted in the streets screaming for change and peace.

Alistair blinked, tears of shame and pain could be seen on his face. Erissa, licked the trails of tears on his face. “Mmmmmmm taste salty and filled with pain. Now, Alistair you have heard my commands, I suggest you put those gifts I gave you to good use.” Erissa got up from him and walked away into the darkness. Alistair dropped to the floor, his bindings kept him from moving as he continued to lie. The horror of his visions tearing at his soul. Slowly, he began to realize that this all was just a hallucination and that none of it was real. As Alistair felt a calm come over him the world around him went dark.

Location: Alistair’s Dungeon

Alistair awoke on the hard black obsian stone. His Boss Fire Salamander licked his face with a gravel like black tongue. Alistair brought his hand down on the Salamanders head giving it a gentle rub about the scales as he stood up. His body felt stiff and muscles sore as he moved, finally as he stood up a blue prompt appeared in front of him.

Event!A Scaling Item has appeared in your dungeon!A grand happenstance has occurred. A global loot table has been created for your dungeon. The first item to appear in it is Scaling Dagger of Truth.Item Name:Scaling Dagger of TruthItem Rarity:LegendaryMana Cost:2000Item Description:The Scaling Dagger of Truth binds to the person who picks it up. Ability bonuses and damage are based on the level of the person owning the dagger. Once per day, the owner of the dagger can compel one person to speak the absolute truth for one hour. As a benefit of being in your global loot table, you can learn the true name of one person in your vision within a week of the dagger dropping. A prompt will tell you when the dagger has dropped, and how to cast its spell.

A knife of doubt came over Alistair as he thought of the dagger and Erissa’s last words to him began to cut their way in his mind.

Authors Note: Thank you all for the well wishes. My wife did get the dragon software and I have been using it. I must talk with a bit of an accent as I spend half my time deleting what the software thinks I spoke, but I hope everyone stays with the story as I work through my physical therapy. Anyway, my wife will be posting when she gets a chance for me. Hopefully, the story is still strong as I shake off the rust, and please forgive the rough draft as I get a handle on the software.