(Zhenya POV)

“Hey!”

“mu........ five more minutes,”

“Don’t you ‘five more minutes’ me, it’s already noon and you’re getting in the way of business, So wake up and get your arse o-”

Wait, it’s already noon!

Hurriedly sitting up I suddenly feel light-headed, my vision narrowed as I lightly swayed side to side trying to find my bearings. The AA worker who woke me up looked at me like I was an unfortunate child.

In my light-headed stupor, I sit and stare blankly at the man, memories of what happened yesterday catching up to me... ehhhh I feel exhausted even remembering it, this wasn’t the best way to wake up in the morning.

Lets cache yesterday’s memories in the back of my head and focus on today.

Looking to my left I see that Rudi was also awake, while I slept splayed out on the floor he slept leaning on his bag, regardless of sleeping position he looked as exhausted as me.

Well, enough whining about being tried, let's get up, get out there and embrace today!

Pumping myself up I jump to my feet while ignoring the stab-y feeling in my legs.

“Come on Rudi! Up and at ‘em.” I start to stretching out my arms and legs, basking in the pleasant sensation of blood flowing through my body and my bones cracking back into place.

“ugggggghhhhhh, how can you be so chipper after sleeping on the floor all night?” Rudi said as he exerted himself getting up, apparently yesterday took a bigger toll on him then it did me, that or he’s just out of shape. Probably some mix of both.

Grabbing his hand I help him to his feet.

“Come on we don’t have all day! We got to go make some money if we want to sleep in actual beds,” maybe we can still find some decent jobs if we’re still lucky.

“We? Don’t start dragging along again without a thought in the world! If you’ve already forgotten I didn’t come to this place to become an adventurer, I came here to open up a shop!” Rudi looked exasperated as he vented his thoughts at me.

“ah, sorry, I really got swept up in yesterday's events, I have been pretty unreasonable haven’t I?" I got my own problems to worry about and he's got his, so I guess this is where we part ways. I guess I’ll drop by his shop once I make some money, maybe he’ll give me a friend discount.

“well a lot did happen yesterday, so I won’t hold that against you, and I didn’t mean to raise my voice like that, it's just....,”

“No hard feelings we all have bad days and look on the bright side with something this bad happening something really good is bound to happen sooner or later right?” Pa always told me that, well it was actually something about flowing waves, but I never got the saying so he just told me what it meant.

“yeah,” Rudi agreed with me in a soft voice.

“Are you two done yet?” a voice suddenly cuts in between me and Rudi, oh yeah I forgot that the AA worker was still here, he was so quiet that I thought he left.

“... done? Good I swear, you didn’t even let me finish. Ahem now where was I, ah yes the boss lady wanted to see you two in her office.”

A chill ran down my spine and continued to run laps up and down my spine as he led me and Rudi up the stairs and towards the office.

This had to be about the fire.

Opening the door he ushered us into the room, there stood Virgil next to the boss lady who I recognized as the same lady who had her guards escort us back into town after the fire.

“It’s already noon and I have a busy schedule today so I’ll cut to the chase, this is about fire you started in the dungeon yesterday.” I knew it.

“This morning we sent a team down into the dungeon to asses the damage done, and I have to say it’s not looking good,” she took a deep breath before continuing, I could feel the exhaustion emanating from her.

“The first floor was almost burnt to a crisp, and this might stunt the dungeon's growth since it’s so young and even worse we will have to restrict entry into the dungeon until it repairs itself. You do understand how big of a situation this is, do you?” still processing all this I stared her straight in the eyes unsure how to answer.

“A dungeon town's growth is directly related to a dungeon's growth, so right now the town is stagnating until the dungeon heals itself,” Rudi followed up on her question looking grim.

“Correct, somewhat, it mainly has to do with the exportation of materials we harvest from the dungeon, but you got the main point without the dungeon the only income we can rely on are those of the adventurers staying here and the money funded by the AA, even then that won't last forever. Any case, there are many who are... quite unhappy about this outcome and while we aren’t obligated to give them the names or punishments of the culprits, we still need to punish them regardless. Understand we need to do this to quell the masses,”

“So Zhenya you are sentenced to doing community service until the dungeon is open again, please do an average of three requests per day any extra you complete will be paid out after your sentence is served until then it will be held here at the AA building. if you fail to complete three requests per day your sentence will be extended and any money you’ve accumulated from extra requests will be forfeit, it might be a little much but it should be possible if you cut down on sleep,” she continued on with our sentences looking like she just wanted to get this over and done with.

“and Rudi your shop will be put on ice until Dungeon is open again and any items within the store will be confiscated until then,”

“But everything I own and all my money in there....” Rudi said hanging his head down looking absolutely defeated after that statement.

“That is all, you are dismissed,”

“Wait how about Virgil! He was there with us,” he still hasn’t been given his punishment, there’s no way he can brush off this one.

“He has already been given his punishment,” she said ending the whole conversation as she shooed us out of her office.

“Don’t worry about it, I think we got off pretty lightly!” I cheerfully pat Rudi on the back.

He didn’t even react, looks like the shock really hit him pretty hard.

“Come on let's do some requests to keep your mind off everything!” I start dragging Rudi down the hall and back downstairs, Can't just leave him like this, hopefully, we find a fun request.

Now how do we get requests?

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(Lyra POV)

with the two trouble makers leaving my office, I am left with one last trouble maker to deal with.

“Virgil. Looks like it’s time for you to get going now.” without a sound he disappeared from my side. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to that skill of his, it was unnatural but useful all the same.

Unsteadily I get up from my desk and move towards the couch to get some rest, since the incident last night, I haven’t had a wink of sleep, the town has been in an uproar about the dungeon burning to a crisp. I don’t know how much of this was part of Bargas’s plan or not but he’s been using this incident to spread the word that I'm an incompetent person who let this incident happen.

He’s also been using his subordinate Sabastian’s injuries to garner some sympathy among the people, The damage assessment team found him buried in ash and soot, right now he’s in critical condition and is under intensive care.

Shifting through my memories I remember his profile listing him as being fairly adept in combat with a spear and having some variation of the iron skin skill that was at a high level, yeah that’s probably what saved him.

I don’t have enough information as of yet, so I can’t tell how many people he’s swayed to his side or what he’s planning. Did he somehow know that a fire was going to happen in the dungeon, but why did he send in someone with this much combat potential from his own guild?

A sacrifice?

If that was the case he wouldn’t have sent Sabastian he would have sent in someone more expendable.

Maybe a setup?

Maybe he knew Sabastian was the only one in his guild that could survive a fire as big as this one but then he would have to know the one that started the fire.

Rudi an apprentice of “that” alchemist..... But then the motive wouldn't match maybe they were somehow persuaded or blackmailed, but its “THAT” alchemist.

But Virgil was the one that told him about the dungeon creature’s weakness to fire.

“Arrgggggggg” I throw a small tantrum, one-hundred percent sure that I was alone in my office, I am way too tired to think this through right now, I should just sleep on it but my mind is running amok. *sigh* Virgil should be starting his punishment about now, Tailing Bargas without any breaks or ‘fun time’ as he likes to call it, that should at least make us privy to what Bargas is planing if nothing else.

Closing my eyes I try to clear my head of all of this, just think of nothing and eventually, I should be able to fall asleep.

........

.....

...

..

.

one sheep

two sheep

three sheep

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(Curator POV)

A creature has evolved due to surviving unusual circumstances: wolf -> cinder wolf

Cinder wolves are now summonable using Lore Creature mastery.

Multiple creatures have become deviants due to surviving unusual circumstances.

Due to unusual circumstances, ashen fields have been added to Lore floor expansion.

Magical woods floor theme (floor 1) has been changed to ashen fields.

While thinking of what I wanted to do with the first floor I sifted through the notifications that popped up after the whole fire fiasco.

The new creature that I got were cinder wolves, they were wolves who managed to survive the fire, their eyes were now a burning orange color and their paper innards were permanently exposed now perpetually smoldering as if the flame was still alive and trying to eat it.

This gave the off the appearance that the cinder wolves back and legs were composed only of fire, but in reality, they were more akin to a smoldering kiln instead when you get close to them and see all burning paper. They would probably be terrifying to fight in the dark.... let's make a mental note of that.

Out of the wolves that burnt to death in the flames only three survived and became like this, also as a side note they now cost 125 DP as opposed to the usual 20 DP that wolves cost.

I’ll keep an eye on them to see how they behave when not directly influenced by me since there was still a lot cleaning to be done first there was still the holes in roof to patch up, then there was the mountain of hardened mud we dug up to take care of the flames, also there’s a giant moat from the aforementioned digging that we needed to fill in and don't forget about all the ash and burnt remains.

So many things that need to be done and no DP left to use to speed things up, That’s why everyone’s chipping in to help with the cleaning effort, good ol manual labor. Of course, I couldn’t help out with the cleaning since I am just a floating marble, after all, so here I am recuperating DP while watching the others work.

Well, “work” the fairies were playing around in the ashes using it like snow while pestering Alice, who was actually trying to get work done, to play with them or to teach them how to ride wolves. Big Bad Wolf was helping them clean up but he was sluggish from the after-effects of burning so many calories all at once.

Really the one that was making any progress was the first-floor guardian, using their increased lung capacity to blow large swaths of ash into a pile.

Even Red was helping out, using her hand basket like a bucket to throw the ash aside.

While everyone was working hard I heard the uncharacteristic sound of a bird chirping, it was strange since all the animals were supposed to stay on the second floor until we cleaned the first floor up.

The chirping was faint but it was definitely coming from somewhere on this floor. Tracking it down I came to the spot where it was loudest, well relatively louder it was still fairly quiet.

calling Alice over I have her dig where the sound was coming from, as she dug through the ashes the chirping got louder and louder until we uncovered it.

It was a small bird but it was one I didn’t recognize it was an ash grey bird that had amber eyes and its breast was similar to those of a cinder wolfs where it smoldered and emitted a faint orange glow, but to a lesser degree the fire would only be noticeable in the dark or really up close, from far away it looked like an ordinary grey bird with an orange underbelly.

Well, it’s not a cinder wolf so this must be one of the deviants that they mentioned, I'm not sure what being a deviant really entailed but let's look at its stats first before asking questions.

Name: ???

Type: Robin (deviant)/ fairytale

Race: bird

Skills: Sing; rank 1, flame manipulation; rank 1, flame resistance; rank 2

It’s still a robin that much is clear, the biggest difference being it’s flame skills and the added tag of deviant after it’s type, I mean it has the same characteristics as a cinder wolf but it wasn’t called a cinder robin or anything like that.

I tried calling out deviant and staring at the tag but nothing no infobox or anything.

Well, now I might as well ask Alice.

“Alice, what does being a Deviant mean?”

“A deviant... A deviant is different from actual evolution, it’s when a creature gains powers or is forced to act differently through unusual circumstances that force it to adapt and change, it’s not considered a new type of creature just different from the mold it was created from, it can be regarded along the lines of a unique creature that cannot be summoned using DP,”

huh does that mean we can just create out own deviants?

Or maybe it’s just down to random chance, in any case, I can just feel the boundless stories that can unfold just from this.

I feel a sense of excitement I haven’t felt in a while welling up inside me again, with the fire and all I had almost forgotten that I wanted to fill the library up with stories, right now I only have the one copy of little red riding hood sitting lonesomely on the shelf.

Well, it was proof of concept at least, so let's grow the dungeon so we can get more books!

Pumped up I give a little arm pump mentally, of course, using the sudden surge of motivation...... I continue to watch the others clean.

Okay not really seeing as the notification said multiple creatures had turned into deviants I decided to look for them, they might have been buried in the ash like the robin or simply hidden in some obscure place.

After a lot of searching I came upon the crumbling husk of a particularly large tree, it was completely carbonized from the flames but still stood proud regardless. With the ashen desert serving as the backdrop, it was almost like time had stopped for the tree, the particles of soot being blown off the tree as it crumbled away were the only sign of times touch.

There was a little hole at the base of the tree where I heard the soft mewling of..... something. Asking the Big Bad Wolf I had him retrieve the little creature from its burrow, I quickly found out that it was a fox.

Like the other survivors so far it had the characteristic smoldering body parts and amber eyes that the others had, though it was more similar to the robin's subdued flames than the roaring flames of the wolves, in this case, it was the tip of its tail that was emitting fire, but this one lacked the ash coloring that the other two had.

Name: ???

Type: red fox(deviant)/fairy tale

Race: Fox

Skills: Fox’s cunning; rank 2, flame manipulation; rank 1, flame resistance; rank 2

yep it’s about the same as the other deviants, except it seems to have leveled up it’s cunning in the process of surviving the flames.

The fox curled up in the Big Bad Wolf's arms as he carried it away.

It was wasn’t apparent at first but the fox had a fairly nasty wound on its stomach, Maybe it got that wound when running for shelter?

A root?

But the cut looks to clean for it to have been unintentional.

It had to come from a blade of some kind, maybe it was from one of the adventurers from before?

Well, they’re gone now, and the paper should come flowing in any time now to mend its wound. After carrying the fox down to the second floor the Big Bad Wolf continued on with his job.

Continuing on with my search I start thinking about what to do with the first floor.

Hmmm maybe I could use the ash to fill in the moat for the time being it would save on DP and let's just keep the mounds of mud, for now, its probably going to cost more DP then it’s worth to even the land out.

I wonder what would happen if I just...

“~Lore floor expansion~”

Choose to paint over the floor with magical woods again.

Warning changing the current floor theme will cost double DP.

A warning message popped up the moment I picked the option, double DP so 900 DP for Magical woods, well there goes that idea but if a floors theme can be forcibly changed, like the floor burning down and becoming this, that means we can probably force the floor to reset back to being just a “normal cave” if we (everyone else) keep clearing the ash out.

I do wonder how much of a floor has to be altered before a floor is changed.

Actually, can I forcibly start unlocking new floor aspects, but it does say through unusual circumstances, so what if we create these unusual circumstances in a controlled environment. That might work, it might also work for evolution to.

It's time for some experimentation.