"What is this?"

I'm apprehensive but I keep my silence as the little imp moves towards me. Quickly I purchase lake(fresh) for 75 points. I'm not sure how large it is but have I not been made adaptable? Oh, gods. I am Adaptable. No. I'm Adaptable. The work. A purchase of 10 mature trees at 50pts a piece, flowering but not fruit bearing. Not yet. A later purchase. Farmland, 24 square meters for 120 points. Livestock. Chickens, 10 for 5 points apiece. A sun to grace my subterranean world for 500 points, and a pack of 100 mixed seeds for 100 points. Unknown seeds, dangerous or not, not yet discovered. A learning opportunity.

"Wait... Are you awake?" Kimlxik slowly raises their head to glare at me.

I'm protected. I must remember. I'm protected. I must continue the work.

Five cylinders, for air until I could find a way to create my own, 80 meters tall to breach the surface, and 5 meters wide, compacted solid. They net me 192 points each for 960 points. There's no ventilation into the individual cylinders yet, but that can be done later.

"Is this one being ignored?"

The tone is dangerous. I'm in danger. I remember the men fighting, usually over what was not nor could be theirs. Fair Amaras. How I feared for you but no one would dare hurt the Gods' Chosen. I hope.

One of the Alfain yawns. The little one has red tinged skin and deep green hair, it's lean form bearing tufts of soft fur along its shoulders and hips. The little one squeaks, stretching and shifting as it slowly wakes. Kimlxik lets out a startled cry, jumping slightly as they point their free hand at the babe as it stirs, firing off a beam of what I know to be crimson light that burns magenta in my glow. The child recoils then falls to the ground dead, pierced by the Death Laser fired by my latest tormentor.

YOU DARE!

Rage. Rage that drowns out the heartache but does not end it. The pain and fire grow, swirling and I fear that I can't remember what happened next. The foul beast is gone, there are two mature Alfain, one with red hair and one with green, tending to the rites of the dead, and I feel hollow. I check the log to find out that I had gone mad. Briefly but quite suddenly. The watchers, whoever and whatever they are, apologize for the lapse in oversight. Whatever binds a core and its companion should have prevented Kimlxik from harming any of my residents. But they did so much more.

I am not bound, at present, but for the inconvenience and trauma I've been awarded Alfain kits and two minders, male and female. Before I only had three Alfain kits, a male with blue hair, a male with green, and a female with black hair. My hope in purchasing three was that I might attain one breeding pair, the odds of getting all male or all female if I'd only purchased two were too high. Now I have three kits, all male, two with green hair and one with a yellow-orange, and an adult male with red hair and adult female with green hair. My plans for an entire generation gone. These two adults will be too busy tending the lands to breed, no doubt. There is so much to do and I had intended the children to develope and learn while they did it.

https://i.imgur.com/BjtwoLms.png [https://i.imgur.com/BjtwoLms.png]https://i.imgur.com/mAtXZnms.png [https://i.imgur.com/mAtXZnms.png]

Going to check my points I find I'm still at 4626 from my previous purchases and actions. As the imp fought with its crystal and the children slowly coalesced into being around it I had hollowed out five cylinders that I hoped would be enough to bring air down from the surface and into the depths. Eighty meters tall and 5 meters wide, I hadn't gotten around to making ventilation shafts to connect to these air shafts before that monster killed one of my children.

To ease my pain I'd gotten another random kit and two adults from the keepers. They must have come into being during my madness. Where's the log of that period? I try to find it and find a large chunk of the Situational Log that is completely illegible to me. At the end of the log, before I've come back to myself and began to check the log, all it says is:

Kimlxik has been banned from the dungeon.

There's no record of the Alfain being gifted. And I haven't been given any points. I do have the option to Banish creatures from my dungeon. And a Psionic attack. And a Sonic attack. And a Gravity attack. The more I read the more my heart sinks. Pity that I can feel it but I've given it nothing but sorrow and wrath. Kimlxik killed one of my children, and I fear in my madness I slew the rest. Where are the Biters?

There are no Biters. There are five Alfain and eight corpses. The elders, clothed and armed with simple tools, begin to butcher the Biter cubs. Not out of cruelty, but out of necessity. My heart. My work.

My work. I must continue my work.

I compact and consume a chunk of the floor near the farthest air shaft, connecting it to the chamber I reside in. A smaller cylinder, 3 meters high and 5 meters wide. Another 12 points. I convert it from a pit to lake(fresh). A smaller cylinder, half a meter tall and a meter wide just overlapping with the edge of the lake. This is too small an area to gain credit. I net 0 points. Into this I dump 1.5 square meters of farmland.

The Alfain have noticed my actions. I brighten slowly, burning 20 points to get them used to the brightness. They move away from me, turning away and shielding their eyes, clustering around the children, and I put the "sun" in the "sky". It is much brighter than I. But wait. A sun... No... Out on the surface there is night. I purchase a moon for 350 points. And receive 50 points for my tenth purchase. I place the Sun on one side of the chamber's ceiling, warm and dark, and the Moon on the other, bright and cold. I will have to learn how to handle my processes to cycle them. Without a companion the task will fall to me.

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I stop burning points to glow and dim noticeably while focusing on brightening the moon, the Moon becoming the brightest thing in the room with its silver glow. I will work on that. Another 50 points for my first day night cycle, botched as it was. The Alfain murmur, speaking amongst themselves and the kits watch and paw at them. Wanting comfort. Wanting knowledge. This is good.

Clay. I want to give them clay. I can give them clay. I need more dirt. I reach out with my sense and steal some of the land above, away from my ventilation shafts. A pocket of dirt and plants here, a pocket there, slowly transferring it all to the future site of my underground kingdom. The plants are from the jungle. That's all I know. For now. I'm a dungeon in a jungle biome. I don't know what I'm grabbing, and at this moment, I don't care. More plants, more of the above being dragged below.

The adults murmur to each other, clutching the kits and giving me strange looks. I'll have to look into that later, right now I must provided. Some of the trees fall over, scattering the soil which spreads out, and I consume them, storing them whole for later. More from above to below, not in a line, not in a circle. I can only pray that the pattern is as erratic as I hope it is and no one finds me until I'm ready. Until we're ready. We're not ready. I must make them safe.

I make a few deeper pits on the surface, dispersing the soils along the ground, away from me, away from the lake, but coming closer with every scoop. The Alfain shuffle away from my work, away from me, trying to keep the curious kits from being afraid but also from wandering too close as I spread out what I've taken. Soon I'm lightly buried in the dirt and they have very little room to move back or to the side.

I pause and wait for them to move to the area that I've already planted. While I wait I begin piling the less stable trees against one wall. This will be wood for tools, for homes. Some of the trees bear fruit. Hopefully it is palatable for my new people. Trees to one side. May haps I should give them offering of stone? I will have to mine or generate it. We can't spare the dirt. Not yet.

The top two cylinders will not get attention until this habitation chamber is set. I notice the Alfain hesitantly yet resolutely shepherding the children towards the trees. I should have expected that. I'll start another pile elsewhere. I continue my work.

Oh? I've been consuming the leaf litter in an attempt to create a fertilizer and it appears to have worked. Ah, 5 points lost to enable rapid decomposition. I drop it in a pile on the corner of the little farm farthest from the water's edge. Hopefully they'll understand. I hope they understand. I feel lonely. Another pain. But progress has been made.

As I finish covering the last little bit of stone with stolen jungle I get 50 points for my first full biome. Insulting considering the work that it took. It occurs to me that I could have just dumped all the farmland or lake water I've purchased and gain the reward. Part of me is angry that others probably have done something so simple and been rewarded. And another part of me is angry that I've put in so much work for something so simple. No matter. The work continues.

I've got a good mixture from the various parts of the surface that I've pockmarked. What next. Ah! The livestock! Or the seeds... Hmm... Fish! I don't have fish. I'll buy fish. What kind of fish do Alfain eat? Do Alfain eat fish? Oh! The Database!

I open the database and find that I've learned about 20 different plants. From consuming the jungle? Five trees, 3 shrubs, 8 fungi, 4 flowers. Oh, good. Some of these items can be processed into food. But how do I share this with the Alfain? Alfain. I need to read about the Alfain.

Was I this easy to distract during my last life? Maybe. Alfain are omnivores that prefer plants over fish. But do they eat other things? Will I be able to show them how to tend chickens and eat eggs? I could start with the fish. I don't have information on what kind of fish they eat. Okay, what fish are for sale. There are lots of fish for sale. Oh, I'm Rank C. I haven't even done -- No, I've done quite a lot. But there's so much more to do.

So... Ooh! Recommendations. Crappie? ... I'm not sure if this is a joke or not. Sand and mud and vegetation. The lake(fresh) I purchased has a silty bottom and no vegetation. Does it take time or do I need to purchase lakebed(fresh)? I need a companion. An active one. Do I have to file a report or request? There's no guarantee that my companion would know more, but I'd have someone to talk to. I don't know if I can talk to the Alfain... At any rate I haven't understood anything they've said so far.

The two mature Alfain are speaking quietly to each other. I can hear them but I can't see them. How silly. I've figured out how to observe an area nearly a hectometre away, but I can't see across the room. Is my simplicity endearing or aggravating? I find myself quite sweet. Out of necessity? I am alone.

I pull more from the pit I've made nearly 80 meters away from the nearest air column and wonder what people will think of it. At Rank E you can reach 20 meters from your core. At Rank D you can reach 40 more. At Rank C 120 more. Rank B you can make a sprawling kingdom. At Rank A you can make an empire. At Rank S you can rule a continent. Or so says the Log when I look at my Rank too long. Once I've reached those levels I hope the information will be unlocked.

So I have silt which is mud, which might grow plants. I think. Why can't I see inside myself any more. I know I can otherwise I wouldn't be able to place things. But I can't look around unless I'm working. Something's stopping me. Maybe the Log has information.

I don't want to see the bodies. Oh, Gods, I've buried the bodies. The... The children. Cubs and kits and I--

I must continue my work. The mature Alfain were attempting to skin the children. I need to give them the bodies back. I. I can. I need to give them-- They're resources. The Biters are an incentive and a defense. Every bit of them has value. They're valuable. They have value. They still have value. I've found them. Here they are. They. They're... Move them. I have to move them. What have I done? I can defend myself. So much damage... The hides are intact. I shift the bodies. All of them. Alfain and Biter to a spot near the logs and away from the water. Do I need to buy lakebed(fresh)?

Same price as farmland. So 24 square meters for 120 points. I can see the soil now. I consume the silt in the lake, the water level dropping. A third of the lakebed is underground soil, one third jungle soil, one third actual lakebed. The bottom of the bed is an unlevel assortment of soil types. I hope this is how you create a diverse biome. Did I just poison the water? There's loose vegetation on the jungle soil that clouds the water but hopefully it's still potable.

Can I buy a companion?