I awake to a loud noise and a screen appears in front of me warning me of intruders in my dungeon I rush out of bed and almost smack into Thirty-seven as she is standing next to my bed holding the towel.

Thirty-seven: “The attack has already started you overslept again.”

I rush out of the room and place a hand on the door of the dungeon then stop looking over the map of my dungeon. The map of the dungeon shows five red dots on the map in the second room and only two blue ones. I step into the dungeon and Thirty seven is right behind me. I take her by the wrist and pull her with me to the core room. It quickly shows me the last blue slime being burnt by an ugly little lizard man in a robe as two ugly lizard men with spears open the door to the last room. A message quickly displays on the screen.

Intruders have breached crystal room.

I quickly dismiss the warning and watch the two lizard men with spears enter the room and kill off three of the five ill goblins in under a few seconds. The other two ill goblins drop as two of the lizard men with swords and shields enter. As the goblins charge forward the lizard men with spears step back letting the ones with swords and shields take over. The goblins armed with only their fists start pounding on the lizard men but they seem completely unaffected.

“I didn't think of weapons...” I quickly call for a [Weapons] menu and it displays

Rusty dagger 1xp

Rusty Short Sword 3xp

Rusty Sword 5xp

Rusty Greatsword 20xp

Rusty Round Shield 10xp

Rusty Large Shield 15xp

Wooden Spear 5xp

I quickly summon one great-sword, two swords, two round shields, and two spears at the feet of the goblin brutes. The lizard men with the swords and shields drop the last of goblins and move on the goblin brutes as the goblin brutes are picking up the weapons.

The goblin brute that picks up the great-sword slams it into one of the lizard man's shield causing both to recoil. Both of the goblins that picked up the wooden spears take this chance to jab at the recoiling lizard man, but the other lizard man with a shield steps in and blocks one of the spears with his shield causing it to splinter and break.

The other spear breaks as the goblin thrusts it into the dazed lizard man. The lizard men with spears circle around the goblins while the one in a robe lights one of the goblins with the great-sword on fire.

The now unarmed goblins that had the spears are both run through by the spear wielding lizard men. The two goblins with the swords and shields dive past trying to get to the robed lizard man. The two lizard men with swords and shields attack the two goblins with the swords and shields but can't bring them down before one of them stabs his sword into the robed lizard man’s face killing it.

The goblin with the great-sword stagers while on fire swinging his sword into the injured sword and shield lizard man dropping him but the two lizard men with spears jab him leaving only the two spear wielding lizard men and one sword and shield lizard man left.

The one with the sword and shield walks over and cracks his sword across the crystal and the screens go dark leaving only one message on the screen.

Failed to protect Basic Training Crystal.

Even though I figured I would lose the first day for sure I still feel disappointed. I then realize I am still holding onto Thirty-seven’s wrist as she is standing with me in the dark dungeon core room silently clutching the towel.

I quickly release her. “Oh sorry… Well its looks just about like I expected I lost.” I try to laugh it off as the dungeon core room drops us out in the first room by the entrance to the dungeon. A message appears in front of me.

Basic Training Crystal disabled for one hour.

Results of battle.

Room 1:

Pit trap: effective for the first kobold entering dungeon, ineffective afterwards.

Spike trap: failed to deploy when trip wire broke.

Dart trap: ineffective blocked by kobold shields.

Room 2:

Sickly Slime and Slime crushed under Kobold’s feet

Husky Slime quickly killed by Kobold before they could attack

Blue Slimes stopped by fire magic wielding Kobold after only dealing light damage.

Room 3:

Defenseless Ill Goblins and Goblins quickly killed by Kobold.

Armed Goblin Brutes took down wounded Kobold Mage and unwounded Kobold before all dungeon monsters eliminated

Dungeon crystal broke five minutes and ten seconds from intruder entry to dungeon.

Acquired: 7 XP, 1 mage robe, 1 iron sword, 1 small iron shield, 1 Iron spear, 1 wooden mage staff, 1 Worn leather armor.

Lost: 1 trip wire, 1 faulty dart trap, 5 sickly slime, 5 slime, 5 husky slime, 2 blue slime, 5 ill goblin, 5 goblin, 5 goblin brutes, 2 wood spears (broken beyond repair), and 1 rusty great-sword (Stolen)

[New Items Available]

Mage robe Cost: 20xp

Worn Leather Armor Cost: 35xp

Iron sword Cost: 15xp

Small Iron Shield Cost: 20xp

Iron Spear Cost: 15xp

Wooden Mage Staff Cost: 20xp

[New Monsters Available]

Young Kobold Cost: 25xp

Young Kobold Mage Cost: 45xp

“We lost a lot for only gaining 7 XP, but at least we learned some new things. Thirty-seven, what did you think of my first battle?”

Thirty-seven: “You died. There is no upside.”

“Well I guess you’re right if it was my real crystal I would be dead now. Maybe I should stop thinking of the training crystal so lightly.”

I wait for the hour till the crystal reactivates, and I begin repair and resupply of the dungeon. All the monsters died, the trip wire broke, and the dart trap was only good for one use anyway so none of them are salvageable to I just clear them from the dungeon.

Since the tile switch that was on the dart trap still works and is no longer attached to anything and the trip wire on the spike trap failed I move the tile switch to the spike trap. The slimes did not seem to perform well at all, the blue slimes seemed to do some damage to the mage but I find it rather underperforming for costing twice as much as the goblin brutes.

I missed their fight though so I am not exactly sure went down either. I will give the blue slimes one more chance but the rest seem pointless. I put two blue slimes in the back two corners of the first room.

I also place eight more goblin brutes in the first room. I give one the iron sword and shield, two the rusty swords and shields, summon two more rusty sword and shields for two more, I give one the iron spear, summon another iron spear for one more, and summon another great-sword for the last and give him the worn leather armor.

In the second room I place six of the young kobolds all with iron swords and shields. In the crystal room I place four more kobolds with swords and shields, two kobolds with iron spears, and one kobold mage with the robe and wooden staff. With under 100xp let I call it quits and receive a message.

Dungeon consumption up to 2xp/ 7 days (1xp consumed to make up the difference 6 days remaining. )

When I close the window Thirty-seven speaks. “If you are done Madam Erin would like to speak with you.”

I follow Thirty-seven to the throne room I actually think I remember the way this time as we enter the throne room Thirty-seven bows to Madam Erin and myself then steps outside again.

Madam Erin: “Well I did warn you. You barely scrapped past the five minute mark, and didn't even make it past the first wave.”

I get a little worried now that I spent almost my entire remaining xp when she mentions that there were more groups waiting to charge in if I killed the first ones.

“Well I didn't expect to make it through that time but I am sure I will do better tomorrow.”

Madam Erin: “For your sake you better hope so pup, and don't think I didn't notice your eye twitch when I mentioned there is more than one wave per day. Thanks to you one of the kobold managed to gain a level as well he was the one that ran off with your great-sword. I will make sure I hold on to him for at least the second or third wave. I would also suggest not oversleeping again tomorrow. Well best of luck to you tomorrow let’s see if you can make it through at least one day.”

Thirty-seven enters the room again to lead me back to my bedroom. After sitting on my bed I groan. I wasn't expecting multiple waves in one day I thought it would be the one group and that was it.

I am pretty confident of taking two or three waves but I thought that would be over the course of a few days where I would have time to plan in between. Well not much I can do about it now. It is not even mid-day yet.

Maybe I should ask Thirty-seven to show me around so I can see how Madam Erin does it. I decide that is a better idea then sitting in this small room all day worrying so I head over to Thirty-seven’s door and attempt to knock, but again she answers the door before I touch it.

Thirty-seven: “Is there something you need?”

“Well I was just wondering if you could show me around Madam Erin's dungeon so I can get some ideas on maybe how I should set mine up.”

Thirty-seven: “Dungeon layouts are highly kept secrets. However I do not see a problem with it if we go to one of the lowest floors that the humans have thoroughly mapped. Even though the chance is slim it might be possible that we may encounter humans. Would you like to take that risk?”

“Well I am not going to learn anything sitting in my room I might as well.”

Thirty-seven walks out of her room clutching the towel and heads down the hallway. I haven’t seen her show much emotion before but now see seems troubled as she leads us to the room with the three archways in the middle of it. This time she enters the center archway and disappears into the darkness.

After following her we enter a large grand cathedral, however all the pews have been overturned, and shoved against the walls. There are many signs of battle taking place in this room.

Thirty-seven quickly steps behind one of the damaged pillars that have collapsed. “Hurry, someone is coming.”

After following her behind the pillar we watch as a group of six people enter the cathedral. The two in front are both wearing heavy full plate armor with helmets one carrying a massive sword the other has a sword and shield.

Behind them are two more are two wearing a lighter armor and you can see their faces these two are both males one has a bow and is wearing leather armor, the other has chainmail armor with a sword in both hands. The last two to enter the room are both female and wearing robes one is carrying a staff and the other is empty handed.

One of the men in the full plate armor says. “Well this seems like a good place to stop to eat lunch. Navi fix us some food.” -He then pulls one of the pews over to the center of the room and sits down on it taking his helmet off.-

The man appears to have faced quite a bit of combat as he has a large scar on one side of his face and a couple of smalls ones on the other side. His appearance is roughly 35 years old and he has short brown hair.

After the man’s comment the young woman with nothing in her hands moves quickly and pulls some things from a pack she had stored on her back. Taking a few pieces of some of the pews that have been broken she starts a fire in the middle of the cathedral floor.

The other person speaks with a scratchy but feminine voice as she takes off her helmet and speaks. “I told you to lay off of her. You have been useless and just been getting in my way all day. Next time I think we will just leave you behind.”

The woman is by no stretch of imagination beautiful but she does have some charm with her short light colored hair and deep blue eyes. She sits next to the man and then talks to the others. “I think we got a pretty good haul, after lunch you think we should start heading back? We have already put in at least a week and a half, and I don't think I can put up with Nick's excessive wining for much longer.”

The man in chainmail speaks while both he and the other light armored man sit on either side of the young woman with the staff. “I know my pack is starting to get full but it would be a shame to head out after making it this far in. Maybe we should sort through we have collected and ditch some of the more useless stuff, or we could just use Nick as a pack mule.”

The guy in the heavy armor speaks again. “You keep saying that James and I will leave the next troll that thinks you’re some fair maiden alone and let him run off with you.”

James: “He didn't think I was a maiden he could just smell Ann's scent on me because of having to carry her across that rickety old bridge.”

The young woman with the staff: “I’m sorry.”

James: “Don’t worry about it. I was glad to be able to help.”

The group continues small talk while the young woman Navi cooks the meal. The 2 wearing the heavy armor eat rather quickly while the others seem to take care while eating. After finishing their food the group packs up there things and after a bit more bickering they move out through the opposite door they entered from.

“Well took them long enough. Was there really any reason to hide from them though?” I ask Thirty-seven, but when I turn and look at her she is clutching the towel really tight and shaking all over. “Thirty-seven! Are you ok?”

She doesn't say anything for a minute, but eventually loosens her grip and stops shaking before speaking. “Yes I am fine now. That was a very close call. If the man in the light armor had been paying even a little bit more attention right now we would both be dead.”

“Well they didn't seem to scary, would they of really killed us just because they seen us? We don't really look much different then them.”

Thirty-seven's fear seems to have subsided but it looks like it is changing to anger. “Fine if you want to explain to humans how you have made it this far into a dungeon without any armor or weapons go right ahead I am heading back.”

“Wait, don't leave me here.” I barely have time to jump through an archway that appears behind her as I land on to the floor. Thirty sever is already heading out of the room and back towards the bedrooms. Her emotionless face is back as she walks down the hallways. She won't say another word to me all the way back even as she enters her own room and closes the door.

Well I guess I screwed that up, they honestly didn't seem that bad. I head back to my room and even though I am far from tired after practicing my magic for a while I get tired enough that I just drift off to sleep.

Falling asleep so early causes me to wake up in the middle of the night, with nothing to do I decide to check on my dungeon. Entering my dungeon I find all the goblins in the room sound asleep in a pile on the floor the only movement I see is the two blue slimes sliding around on the floor.

I enter the dungeon core room and lay down on the cot while looking through all the screens. I finally drift off to sleep again and when I wake it is still dark. However Thirty-seven is standing right at the entrance of the dungeon clutching the towel. I get up off the cot and move back to the first room. “Good morning you are up early.”

Thirty-seven: “It is almost time for next attack I came to wake you.”

I take her wrist and pull her with me as I transfer back to the dungeon core room. “Well this time we are ready for them.” I pull over the chair from the desk and have Thirty-seven sit down. I then stare at the screen waiting for the intruders to enter the dungeon. Five minutes pass...Ten minutes pass and the intruders still haven't shown up.

“I thought you said the intruders where coming?”

Thirty-seven: “Yes, I was told to wake you one and a half hours before the attack to get you ready it has been sixteen minutes since that time. The intruders will be here soon.”

Any tension building up in me is now lost as I sigh and plop down on the cot. “You think we will do ok today?”

Thirty-seven: “That has yet to be determined. It all depends on Madam Erin's mood.”

“Yes I guess so. I hope she is in a good mood. I don't want her to clear me out and leave me defenseless the entire rest of the month.”

Time slowly ticks past as I ask Thirty-seven how much longer till the attack about every five minutes. Finally we get to the last few minutes and I start getting tense again.

Intruders have entered the dungeon.

A group consisting of the same equipment as the day before come charging into the dungeon, the first spear kobold hits the pit trap at a dead run disappearing down inside. One of the sword and shield kobolds hits the tile switch as the other spear user helps the first out of the pit.

With a loud click the wooden spikes launch out of the ground around the kobold, all the spikes miss but one, but it catches him right under the chin lifting him off the ground before the spike breaks and the kobold hits the ground dead. The last sword and shield kobold stands guard alone as the two spear kobolds are finally free of the pit.

The two goblins wielding the rusty sword and shield both hit the kobold at the same time. One goblin takes a minor slash from the kobold, but they manage to take him out one taking his iron sword the other taking the shield.

The goblin carrying the great-sword hits one of the spear users in the back as the blue slimes drop from the ceiling landing on the other. The rest of the goblins charge the mage, but he gets his spell off first setting one of the spear goblins on fire.

The goblin hits the floor and starts rolling around and the goblins pick off the last spear using kobold that is being attacked by the slimes.

Intruders neutralized

Acquired: 15XP, 2 worn leather armor, 2 iron spears, 1 mage robe, 1 wooden mage staff, 1 iron sword, 1 small iron shield, 1 rusty sword, and 1 rusty shield.

Lost: Goblins suffered minor damage, one blue slime suffered minor damage, spike trap moderately damaged, and one goblin suffered moderate damage.

“Not bad, but I don't know how long we can hold out.”

I quickly replace the miss-matched sword and shield goblins so I now have three goblins with iron swords and shields, and two still with rusty swords and shields. I also instruct the injured goblin and another one of the goblins carrying an iron sword and shield the worn leather armor to wear. I collect the remaining equipment and clear out the kobold bodies before with [Menu] and just as the goblins get back into position I see.

Intruders are entering the dungeon.

These kobolds must have been from the set from day one because they jump over the pit as soon as they enter and move around the spike trap. The group consists of a rusty great-sword wielding kobold, two with iron swords and shields, two with spears, and two mages.

Quickly avoiding the traps they attack the goblins spear users first. The two goblins with swords shields and armor deflect the spears of the kobolds and charge in. The spear wielding goblins move in from the sides and try to take out the mages, but sword and shield goblins block the path.

The rusty sword and shield goblins charge into the spear using kobolds along with the other goblins. The final great-sword wielding goblin moves in on the mages.

The kobold mages each in turn hit the blue slimes with fire spells as they try to slither across the battlefield to attack the spear kobolds. The great-sword wielding kobold drops the iron equipped goblin that is not wearing armor and attempts to brake the group up, but not before the remaining four sword and shield goblins take out the spear users.

The goblins keep pushing the group of kobolds in as all the sword and shield goblins gang up on the great-sword kobold. The great-sword wielding Goblin manages to take out one of the mages while the spear using goblins hold off the sword and shield wielding kobolds.

The great-sword wielding kobold manages to take out both of the unarmored rusty sword and shield wielding goblins before finally falling to the remaining two armored goblins. The remaining mage tries to retreat but is caught by both slimes, and falls to the blade of the great-sword wielding goblin. The spear wielding goblins finally kill the sword and shield kobold when the two goblins with swords and shields pull their attention.

Intruders neutralized.

Battle results:

Aquired: 23XP 3 iron swords, 2 Iron spears, 2 wooden mage staves, 2 rusty swords, 3 iron shields, 2 rusty shields, 2 worn leather armor, 2 mage robes.

Lost: 3 goblin brutes, 2 goblin brute’s severely injured, 1 goblin brute moderately injured, 2 blue slimes moderately injured.

One goblin brute has gained a level.

“Well I would like to say that went well but we lost more than we gained, starting to collect few weapons though so maybe I won't have to buy any more of them at least. Too bad I wasted xp on equipment for the kobold already. Oh well.”

I quickly gather the items, clean up the corpses, and give the two armors to the remaining unarmored goblins.

Thirty-seven: “Madam Erin said congratulations. She said you have lived through the day. Only six more to go and she will grant you an award. She would also like to see you when you get done cleaning up the dungeon, and healing your monsters.”

“Wait, heal them? How do I do that?”

Thirty-seven: “There are several ways to heal your dungeon monsters you can use xp to heal them, manually heal them with healing magic, use magic potions, or use first aid.”

I open [Menu] and there is indeed a new option to [Heal Monsters], [Repair Dungeon], or [Heal and Repair All] I select the, heal and repair all, and it brings up a screen.

Healing and repairing all within dungeon current cost: 13xp. Would you like proceed?

After saying yes Thirty-seven says. “If you plan on using xp to heal them you might want to wait till morning because the monsters natural healing will heal some damage overnight, since we know for a fact your dungeon will not be attacked again till tomorrow.”

I sigh a deep sigh.” Ahh...Oh well lets go see Madam Erin now.” Thirty-seven and I leave the dungeon core room and exit the dungeon. Thirty-seven still leads me all the way to the throne room, bows to Madam Erin and myself, and then leaves from the room.

Madam Erin: “Not bad, that is more like it pup. However it does still seem like I was able to cause more damage then you were able to gain from the intruders so you still have a ways to go. Keep going like this and you are going to run out of xp. I don't know if you decided to put all your defenses in the first room or if you had more planned, but if you don't step it up we will find out tomorrow.”

Thirty-seven enters the room again leading me back to my bedroom. Before entering my bedroom I ask her. “Is there any way I can gain some xp? We might be able to hold out for tomorrow but I am pretty sure we won't make it the rest of the week.”

Thirty-seven: “At the moment your options are rather limited, but I would not worry too much. Madam Erin might have something planned for you in the next few days, so just try to hold out till then.”

Thirty seven then walks off but instead of entering her room she walks past it, down the hallway then out of sight.

I decide to enter the dungeon and try to come up with some kind of plan. I break the rusty swords, rusty shields, the extra mage robes and wooden mage staffs down and barely only recover 11XP. I then summon two more goblin brutes and give them the iron swords and shields placing them in the first room with the rest. A screen then appears.

New monster available

Hobgoblin: cost: 50xp

Well that’s nice and all but won't do me any good unless I can get some more xp I barely over 10xp as it is. Unable to do anything else I decide to just rest on the cot in the dungeon core room.

Thirty-seven’s POV

After leaving the new dungeon core in the hallway I make my way back to the throne room.

“Madam Erin, may I have a moment?”

Sitting on the throne Madam Erin seems relatively shocked. “Well isn't this unusual, I guess since it is such a special event I will allow it.”

“It is not fair what you are doing to the new dungeon core. You know as well as I do you were supposed to give him 10,000 XP to start his training dungeon not 2000xp. You were also supposed to limit the attacks to a maximum of 500xp for the first day and only raise it 500xp each successful day afterwards, but you already hit 800xp on the first days attack.”

Madam Erin: “That has to be more words then you have said to me in the last five years altogether. I didn't realize having you take care of him would turn into such a bonus. Besides he is seems to be handling himself quite well as it stands.”

“There are also many things he should have known from the moment he was born as a dungeon core that he still doesn't know. I had to teach him how to cast magic.”

Madam Erin: “Yes I noticed that as well he seems to not even know what magic was till I explained it to him.”

“I think it goes along with the trouble in his [Menu], he has spent hours looking over everything on there but at times he asks questions about things that should be in plain sight, but as soon as you tell him about it he finds it instantly like it wasn't there before I said anything. He has also sent me many messages through [Menu], but never replies when I send him one back. I don't believe he even knows he is sending them. Several times he has called me to meet with him, but when I go to meet with him he seems surprised.”

Madam Erin: “I might have to speak with the other elders about that I have never heard of something like a malfunction in the [Menu] before.”

“You also have not explained about his dungeons boss monster yet, and speaking of the elders you still haven't explained only five of the ten new dungeon cores are going to be able to make their own dungeon after an evaluation at the end of the month.”

Madam Erin: “I think he is doing just fine how he is right now, if he starts to struggle later in the month we might give him a hand, but you know as well as anyone the dangers that await him if he is allowed to start his own dungeon.”

“…”

Madam Erin: “If he struggles in the beginning it will only make him tougher once he is on his own. Besides you know that a dungeon core is only expecting keep his crystal safe maybe one or two times out of ten, he is on day two without a boss monster and he is already ahead of the pack.”

Madam Erin then gives a beaming smile as she says.

Madam Erin: “Pup if you just keep an eye on him, I promise I will talk to the other elders about the problem he is having with his [Menu], and remember he is safe here. He can struggle and fail over and over now, but it only takes one failure after he has his own dungeon for it to all to be over, so let him make mistakes now when it won't cost him his life so he hopefully won't have to make those mistakes when he is on his own.”

“He is calling me again, so I am going now.” I turn and begin walking out the door.

Madam Erin calls out to her as she walks out the door. “It really was nice to have a conversation with you for once after so long. Take care of our pup now.”