Chapter 53: Open and Closed Tab

Bonny and Brill’s meeting with the mayor had not gone well.

“Well, that was a waste of time,” Bonny exclaimed. Bonny sulked over a mug of coffee in one hand and a flask of brown ale in the other. "Is she always like that?"

"Like what?” Brill asked. He sipped water.

It was a bit drafty today in the Hearth and Tav, so they sat next to the fireplace.

“Carefree? Laid-back? She seemed awfully dismissive of a threat from the Evergreen."

“Yeah, usually,” he thought for a long moment. “She became worse after her husband died and joined the Funeral March.”

“Figures.”

Bonny blew bubbles in her ale, feeling like the child that cried direwolf. Might as well act like a child too. She knew Brill wouldn’t judge, at least out-loud. She continued to sulk, not wanting to think about what was going on at home.

“I guess I am new to town. I don’t blame her either. We have no proof. No letters. Nothing. Just the word of an undead soldier that got turned into a tree. And it’s not like we can exactly bring her to the Dungeon to have a chat.”

“I’m sorry. I thought my word would be enough, but I underestimated how much the mayor would want to look the other way."

“Eh, it’s fine, Brill. We’ve still got a few weeks. And you sent Hattie a letter, right? She might be able to request a deadline extension.” Bonny said it with a hopeful tone, but she was also well aware that any formal requests could get bogged down by bureaucracy for months.

He was quiet for a moment. “She hasn’t responded to the second one I sent yet. I think she’s on the way here.”

Bonny slumped. “Better her than no help, I suppose.”

“We'll figure it out." He rubbed at his beard. "You’ve been gone a few hours, Bonny. Don't you need to get back home?"

"Probably."

She felt guilty for leaving Ethel after she went unconscious. The hours had slipped by and Ethel still showed no sign of waking. She only felt okay with leaving after the domovoy proved it could behave itself. And also because the undead Minions assured Bonny that Ethel sometimes needed to take long naps.

“Did… something happen?” Brill said it awkwardly, like he wasn’t used to coaxing conversation out of people.

She nodded. “A few things. But nothing serious.”

“Okay,” he said.

Bonny continued. "She accidentally lured in a few orphworms last night.”

He sighed.

“It wasn’t that bad. Honestly. I killed one and actually gained a level. It's working, Brill, I just need to have patience with her. There's something special about this particular Dungeon. I can feel it."

She went for a sip, but found her coffee mug empty. She briefly considered getting a refill, but decided that she didn’t have the headspace for interacting with Mally Tav more than once today. She took a sip of ale instead. It didn't hit quite right.

"Patience only goes so far if she accidentally gets you killed."

"Or herself killed… She summoned a creature this morning. It tried to attack her. It’s one of her starter Minions from her Elemental Affinity, a weird fae called a domovoy. Ever heard of it?”

He shook his head.

"She summoned it this morning, Brill. It was only first level, but it reacted to our attacks like it had been around for a while. I couldn't even hurt it."

"That's... impressive."

“I don’t think it was supposed to be that strong. I think she’s accidentally empowering her Minions somehow…” Bonny trailed off as she noticed something. “Mally’s on the move. Go. I’ll cover for you.”

He left for the privy without hesitation.

Mally’s approaching smile turned sour as she watched Brill leave. She gave Bonny the stink-eye in passing. Bonny waved back.

I'm starting to see why he no interest in her, Bonny thought.

After about five minutes Brill returned.

"What about the Element of 'Connection?'” Bonny asked. “Have you heard of that?"

"Can't say I have. Is that her chosen Element?"

"Yeah. By accident. Because of course. I can’t find any mention of it in any of the Dungeon guides I’ve borrowed.”

“I’m not surprised,” Brill said. “There’s no need. This town hasn’t had a Dungeon near it in decades.”

Bonny sat up straight. “Fuck, I forgot to mention the other Dungeon to the mayor!” Then she slumped back down, even deeper into her chair and groaned. “... but I don’t have proof of that either!”

“There’s another Dungeon?”

“Yeah, Ethel says it’s somewhere under the mountain. Would you be able to look into that?” She asked. She adorned her wide brimmed hat and cloak. “Anyways, I should get going before they try to burn my house down. Again.”

“I can try,” he said. He handed over a few coins to Bonny, while glancing over his shoulder nervously. ”But could you close the tab before you go?”

****

I'd never been unconscious that long before. Growing the domovoy’s oven must have cost me a pretty penny and then some! The price I paid for going into Mana debt was heavy. I was grateful I had increased my Mana Renewal Rate beforehand, otherwise I would have been knocked out for the whole day. I was also grateful for my Minions protecting me while I was defenseless.

I checked my status screen. My Mana was currently at 2 out of 20. I had recharged just enough to wake up, then spent another point to activate Soul Stroll.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

That number was lower than I would have liked.

At the top of my status screen, bright yellow words blinked repeatedly to indicate that new abilities were available to choose for my level up. I reflexively almost heeded the reminder, but pulled back as I remembered Bonny’s advice. I instead glanced at the notification that arrived right before mandatory nappy time.

Good. I was on the right track for a potential Skill upgrade.

It seemed the domovoy was content with its new hiding hole, even if it didn’t want to chat yet. And if Bonny was going to be out of the house for a while, then I might as well get some chores done in the meantime. Besides, I needed to recharge my Mana reserves. And I was in a sour mood after that dream. Cleaning could sometimes help me feel better.

"I need to go Sweep something,” I told the undead.

I promptly ended my Soul Stroll to conserve my other two points of Mana. I didn’t want to knock myself out by accident.

“Bye? Guess we’ll just sit around guardin’ ya," Jimbo-no muttered.

"Nighty-night," Jellybee said. "Hey, I win again!"

“It’s afternoon, ya dolt.”

“Let’s go another round,” Spinemess suggested.

I drifted my consciousness away from my Minions and focused on the lower floors, specifically to my bedroom, where we had stored the orphworm corpses. I began Mana Sweeping away the largest monster’s body, the one with the weird arms that had been level 10. The Dungeon side of me wanted to dissect the creature, while the human side of me found the idea repulsive, so I let my Core instincts take over as I worked. Ichor and dirt spilled from the beast, creating a noxious aroma.

Without my avatar present it was at a slower, Mana-Dusting pace. Using Soul Stroll would, of course, make the tidying go faster, but I didn't want to go fast right now. I wanted to level up my Skills with no distractions. I wanted time to think.

I had almost died.

Again.

To one of my own Minions!

While the domovoy summoning hadn't gone exactly as planned, it was now part of the Dungeon. The Minion showed a lot of promise, assuming we could turn it into a useful ally. But to what end if none of my Minions could consistently gain levels?

I had to face the facts. Bonny was right. My current batch of Minions weren't strong enough to defend myself.

I corrected myself. No, I wasn't strong enough.

Their weakness was my failing. They did the best they could have, given the circumstances. I hadn’t equipped them to handle ghosts. Hell, I hadn’t even helped them with their level ups yet.

I had asked them to prioritize Bonny and my safety. Which they had managed to do.

I knew keeping my Core in the living room was a bad idea. I knew I should have reinforced my Core room with all manner of defenses. I could reason with myself that it was to provide reassurance for Bonny, but a part of me knew it was because, deep down, I was afraid. Afraid that Bonny would change her mind on our agreement. Afraid of being abandoned by someone I needed to rely on. It felt like only a matter of time. Because really, what did Bonny gain from keeping me around?

Keeping my Core upstairs and exposed to the danger was the Dungeon equivalent of keeping a packed suitcase in case I needed to run out the front door. If it hadn’t been for Milly’s advice I might have sprouted chicken legs under the cottage by now and skipped town.

I knew these were silly and ridiculous thoughts, but I couldn’t help it. The visions hit home. It was easier to run away from the unknown than face it head-on.

There was something I was missing. Some sort of symbiotic or parasitic relationship between Dungeons and invaders.

What did anyone gain from throwing themselves into dangerous Dungeons?

I supposed it was the same reasons for why most people did dangerous jobs. For money and experience.

What did I gain out of this equation? Why even let adventurers inside? I had no use for gold when I could create money out of thin air.

There was still so much I didn’t know about the basics of this world. A tutorial would have been nice.

At least I was making good progress. It was difficult to stay grumpy with multiple dopamine Skill shots.

Once again, my Core instincts hungered for the chance to complete my next level up and find out what goodies awaited. But I resisted the urge. Slow and steady would win the race eventually.

My Mana gradually ticked up as I worked through the adolescent worm, like eating an elephant one bite at a time. I turned my thoughts over to the dissection, finding that I could stomach it better than I had expected.

From a biological point of view, the creature’s body was fascinating. It was alien–mostly inorganic and obviously magical–yet still had some of the distinctly recognizable organs I would come to expect. Interestingly, as far as I could tell, the monster possessed no reproductive organs. Perhaps orphworms reproduced asexually? Or perhaps they poofed into thin air, the same way I created my Minions?

I suspected the rotating crystal interior worked as a gizzard to help breakdown meals, but I quickly discovered that there was no way for any of those meals to exit the premises. To put it bluntly: this creature had no butt-hole.

Normal earthy earthworms on Earth had a fairly straightforward biology that consisted of one long hole that led in and out. Most creatures did, in fact. Aside from a few exceptions, like starfish, we were all just meaty noodle tubes where food went down one hole and out the other. Yet this type of monster somehow processed everything without leaving behind waste? Did it just throw up waste matter?

Oh, right. Silly me…Of course it did. Orphworms vomited up lasers.

Surely its stomach couldn’t evert everything via laser? What happened to the rest of the soil and debris it tunneled through?

I soon discovered the answer when I got to the center of the Tootsie Pop monster. It was the same answer for what I could personally gain from a symbiotic relationship with invaders. Tucked away between a hardened layer of rocky tissue was a small crystalline, transparent gem–distinct from other crystals in the body–not much bigger than a pebble. Suspended in the center of the gem was a tiny, floating flame that burned without fuel.

A core.

Huh. Well, I'll be. Monsters had Cores. I didn’t see that coming.

This creature could turn dirt to Mana, same as me.

Without further hesitation, I Mana Swept the gem away and received a new notification.

Okay. Not a Core. But still, it was something. I think?

Nothing happened.

I wasn’t sure what I expected. An instant burst of Power or divine revelations?

If only I could be so lucky. Time to be methodical about it. I tested this Core theory again on each of the other orphworms–Sweeping right down to the same spot in their anatomy–absorbing two more crystalline gems. Both of these gems were smaller in size.

I received the same notification two more times.

Two of the other worms were missing their gems. I couldn’t tell if they never had one to begin with or if it was because their bodies were too ruined from the battle. In the last one its gem was cracked - the flame long extinguished.

Groovy. I had three Soul Motes. Whoopee.

Now what?

I checked my status screen and once again ignored the blinking words that informed me that a level up was available. I found the newly acquired items under the Loot tab.

LOOT:

ASSORTED CANNED GOODS

BONE SPUR GRAMOPHONE

NEVERWATCH POT

SHIVER, SNICKERSNACK SWORD

SOULS IMPRISONED: 3

I slammed the tab closed.

Well, that wasn’t ominous at all. Let’s put a pin in that for later, shall we?

Despite all my spiraling thoughts, I knew the last thing I needed was more distractions. The real answer to all my troubles was to keep trucking along the ways I knew how.

I had Skills to grind and chores to complete! So much to do and so little time.

As soon as I had enough Mana I Soul Strolled into my bedroom to quickly wrap up Sweeping away the orphworms. Then I tackled the next big priority. Which was obviously replacing the roof to keep out the rain. Thatching would no longer do with the new oven. It was too much of a fire risk.

Beyond that, there were still holes to patch up from the orphworm attack and I wanted to build a secret escape route from the lower levels to the surface. Leyline Knitting only needed three more levels to reach level 10, so building upwards seemed like a safe choice.

Bit by bit, Gardencrafted a new wooden roof. It wasn’t perfect. Even when following the recipe, I made mistakes. And It would eventually need shingles But it felt like I was making progress in my own way.

By the time the sun began to set, Bonny had returned and I sensed the domovoy becoming more active.