I’m… not sure what to do. The big guy just started bawling. Is it because it’s alone? Maybe that’s it, I’ll talk to it and calm it down. Or try at least. Now how do I use that communication skill? Do I just try and talk to it? As I try to think about talking to the large blue cloud being, a small message pops up.

Connection Established.

I test the connection. ‘Uh… hello?’ The elemental looks around, trying to place my voice. The large creature is still sniffling, but no longer sobbing.

‘Can you hear me? Um, nod your head if you can understand me.’

It nods its head way harder than necessary, if it was a physical being it would’ve snapped its neck. Well at least it can understand me. I take a moment to check how much blue boy cost me.

Lifeforce: 1839

‘Man, this guy better be worth it for that price.’ The elemental’s shoulders slump before its form leans sideways and falls to the floor. Now laying on the ground the creature starts sobbing again.

‘It heard, me didn’t it.’ With a mental sigh I cut the connection.

Somehow I have to sort this all out. I can’t just leave the big guy all depressed. Maybe making some kobolds would help? But what if they start fighting each other? Why is this so complicated? And why am I the one dealing with this? I never even graduated high school! …Whatever. I’ll just wing it, like I have been.

With a mental scoot I’m back in my core chamber. Not wasting any time I start creating the first kobold. I won’t make a king or queen like I did with Mama, I’m not sure if kobolds would work well with that.

After a good twenty minutes of watching organs and meat slowly appear in front of me, I have my first lizard friend. The thing is as cute as the toy I was so attached to as a kid.

I quickly connect to the creature.

‘Hey there little guy, or gal? I’m your dungeon core, nice to meet you!’ I try to tune my mental vibes to something pleasant. The scaled being drops to its knees and puts its forehead to the ground.

Yeah… alright then. I’ll deal with that in a minute.

I cut the connection and move on to making the next kobold. Each time one finishes appearing, the first one barks something at them and they drop to the ground as well. By the time I’m done there’s about ten of the little horned people. Their scales all vary wildly in hue and tone and are quite pretty.

My little group of cuties doesn’t seem to be interested in stopping their worship any time soon. They even ignore my communications, mostly pleas for them to stop. At least I’ve learned that they can ignore my orders.

I need a different approach.

I flick to the avatar creation menu, purposefully ignoring how low my lifeforce currently is. The white mannequin body floats in the menu, a large chunk still missing from its head. It kinda looks cool like that…

Whatever, not why I’m here! I tap on the small number two next to the image, and the mannequin disappears. Pressing the small number one brings the white avatar back. Awesome, I can make different loadouts for my avatar. Going back to the second loadout I begin to create my second body.

After around an hour I put the finishing touches on my new form. It’s an adorable kobold that's a bit larger than the real ones. I gave it scales that shimmer through all the colors, so that there’s no chance at my new friends starting any race wars. And instead of the two small horns on each eyebrow, I gave myself a whole crown of black horns, with my signature orange gem instead of the larger horn on my nose. That should do it.

I shift my focus back to the kobolds, and am pleased to find they aren’t worshiping me anymore. At least not groveling. They do appear to be making some form of shrine around my core, and are slowly digging it out of the spider made camouflage. Focusing on the empty space between all ten of them, I start to manifest my body.

This time I manage to form standing up, unlike last time. I look around me and find the small creatures scampering around me, glancing up in awe.

“It God!” one says.

Another snorts, “Yes, yes, of course it God. God is most beautiful kobold!”

A third runs in front of me and kneels. “Please tell how make happy, God!” They look up at me with a weird look in their eyes.

Woah boy, didn’t expect this. I knew they were crazy devoted, but for some reason I didn’t… expect this? I’m not sure why I didn’t. Also they are sentient, so that question is checked off my massive list of unanswered questions. On top of that they can speak, although I’m not sure how I understand them. Their language is a series of grunts, barks and squeaks. It’s getting translated to my brain somehow, so I’ll just not sweat the details.

I try my hand at speaking their weird language myself. “Little ones. I not god. I am dungeon.” They all look at me, confused. “You no have to listen to me. You can be own people.” I nod to myself. The language is a bit limited, but is plenty to get my ideas across.

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A kobold walks up to me, and I recognize them as the first one I made. “But, you speak to me God. Yes?” They tilt their head, making my heart melt for a moment.

I nod to them. “Yes, I speak to you. But only to help, not as god.”

The kobold scratches their head in confusion. “Then… what you want?”

I laugh, which in this body is more of a series of snorts and barks. The kobolds are all startled by my sudden outburst, but calm when they realize I’m just laughing. The one who asked the question, however, is still very anxious looking.

What do I want from them? I feel like telling them I just made them because I can, and maybe to be a depressed elemental’s friend, would probably cause some crisis of faith. Maybe I should lean into their faith, just a little bit. It would be easier to manage them, and if I make sure they don’t go full inquisition about anything it should be fine.

But that still doesn’t answer what I want them to do. Make a civilization? Reproduce and spread? Kill people? None of those really seem right. Honestly I’m already getting kinda attached to them. They’re adorable and earnest, why wouldn’t I? Maybe it’s a dungeon thing? Whatever’s the case, I really just want them to figure out what they want to do, and go do it. I’ll tell them to leave Mama Silk alone, and to not go past the red ore, but otherwise I don’t really have any rules for them. I’ll have to think it over more later.

With a start I realize I’ve been standing motionless, without answering the poor thing, for quite a while. My new perception of time is worse than I thought. I cough gently, startling the little reptiles.

“I want, you all be happy.” I give them a smile. “There be few rules you must follow, but otherwise do what want.” I nod at the first kobold before looking over the rest. They all look terribly confused. My eyes lock back onto the eldest.

“You make friends? You know what friend?” The kobold shakes its head at my question. Hmm… how to explain a concept like friends to someone. Maybe I can just cheat? I make a mental connection to the creature, and imagine what a friend is. After about a minute the scaly thing nods at me with understanding.

“I have friend for you all.” I wave my arms out and look at each of them in turn. “Follow me, to new friend.” My clawed feet start the trip to the sad being, ten lizard people in tow.

The path to my laboratory looks very different from this view. Small tunnels are suddenly massive. On the way I make sure that I don’t lose any of them, I’ve noticed they get distracted easily. They seem to be curious things.

Speaking of things, all of them have mammalian genitalia, which is odd considering their otherwise reptilian features. Maybe they’re something like an echidna, or a platypus. Whatever the case, all of them have their bits flying free. I’ll have to teach them how to make clothes at some point. Using that knowledge I realize that the eldest is male, at least physically. A random thought strikes me and forces me to look down at myself. How… odd. My avatar is female, I guess I didn’t notice as I made it. Not like it really matters, this is just a temporary body anyway. It makes my stomach feel warm for some reason though.

As I think everything over, and make doubly sure that none of the hyperactive little ones wander off, we arrive at the giant metal door. The thing is much more imposing from down here than from my dungeon view. It actually looked kinda small when I placed it. How will I get this open anyways?

The thought doesn’t even finish forming in my mind before the massive slab of steel withdraws into the roof silently. I guess like that! I usher my small group into the room as the large door slams back down behind us. Once through the threshold, the sound of crying fills my ears.

I motion for the kobolds to wait by the door, and they all comply without question. After making sure they’re safe, I make my way to the giant blue elemental. As I approach, the creature notices me and pushes itself off the floor. It quickly positions itself so that it's sitting up, but keeps holding its knees. Its two glowing orbs for eyes look down at me, full of fear.

“Uh… hi?”

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A burly man sits on a plush chair, his hand wrapped around a dark glass of something. Smoke drifts lazily around the top of the dimly lit room. The surrounding walls are made of driftwood, purposefully placed over nicer wood. The man takes a sip of his drink. His mouth twists into a snide grin. At the man’s feet lies another man, a very injured man. The man in the throne-like chair smiles down at the injured creature, his sharp teeth glinting in the low light.

“So… what was your name again?” The burly man stares down at his prey for a moment. “Ah, forget that. I don’t care.” He snorts at his own joke. “So Mr. Whatever, I heard you got some juicy details for me, care to share?” His slitted eyes shine crimson in the dark room.

The injured man coughs. “Y-yes! Of course Mr. Brist, I’ll tell ya!” He inhales sharply in pain. “A d-dungeon opened up, on the outskirts of the desert. The guild sent me with a large group to investigate and extract a rumored new ore.” He coughs violently, blood splattering on the floor. “It was real. A glowing red ore. Tons of it. They didn’t manage to smelt any before I left.” He goes silent.

Mr. Brist leans forward and places his drink on the desk before him. He steeples his fingers and presses them against his mouth.

“So, a dungeon with a new material.” He giggles to himself. “What an excellent opportunity!” The chair groans as he stands up, his dress shirt straining to hold in his physique. Slowly he walks behind the face down man. “Thank you, whoever you are, I really owe you one.”

Mr. Brist’s foot plummets onto the head of his victim, instantly shattering his skull. Instead of exploding outwards and bathing the room in gore, the man’s splattered organs evaporate into a light smoke. Again Mr. Brist stomps on the man, this time onto his arm. More smoke drifts away from the corpse. Brist doesn’t stop crushing the body until there’s nothing left. Slowly the large cloud of what used to be a person drifts up to the ceiling, joining the rest of the smog.

Brist straightens his tie. “That’s for getting blood on my floor.”

────────────

So far my plan’s been successful. I mean, neither group has hurt each other at least. Big Blue thinks the kobolds are some cute type of animal, while the kobolds see the big guy as a baby. Watching them struggle to get past that gap has been pretty entertaining. Elemental guy… It needs a name. How about… Blue! Very creative, very inspired, very children’s cartoon. It’s perfect!

Anyways, Blue’s stopped crying. Its sobbing stopped when we came in, but its sniffles took a while to completely cease. What did it was when it tried to pet a kobold and the little thing fell backwards trying to dodge its huge blue hand. That’s when it laughed, actually laughed. That really put my mind at ease, I was starting to worry that it could only feel sadness or something.

After a few hours of the two groups playing, the oldest kobold walks up to me.

“Core, you go. We take care of Blue.” The little reptile barks at me.

Wow! I didn’t even tell him the name I came up with for the big guy, how’d he know? Maybe I sent it to him by accident. Anyways it seems like he’s trying to get rid of me. I think having me around makes them all nervous. Something similar to when your boss is nearby while you’re working. Not that I ever experienced that.

The kobold coughs politely. “Core, we build in gem cave?” His eyes sparkle with excitement and hope. I nod. They can build whatever they want down here, not like I really care.

After that the little guy runs back to the group and mutters something to them. A few seconds later and they all cheer. Blue belatedly cheers as well, oblivious to what they’re cheering about.

As they celebrate I step out of my kobold shell.