Chapter 30: Metals

Friday, March 31st, 8:17 AM

Dungeon Ciara

To my surprise, Joe and Mike had little trouble convincing the people from their camp to enter my tunnel once it had been enlarged. Collectively, they carried a surprising number of things with them as they traversed the long, lighted passage toward my Dungeon.

I saw fishing tackle, camping chairs, firearms, ice chests, knives, machetes, pots, pans, and several large backpacks stuffed with Auronox-knows-what. The children clutched a few toys that had seen better days. Most of the items showed signs of heavy use or damage.

The group headed my way all had one thing in common. Despite seeming in much better health, the smiles they’d worn the night before were gone as they marched in silence—even the children.

While they moved and I continued hollowing out the first portion of my cavernous second floor, I absorbed the structure at Natural Bridges, stored all the bedding, then replaced everything I’d taken from my houses in Twin Lakes. I narrowed the main passage behind the group but left the smaller exits available for wildlife and minions.

I created tunnels inside Genomics to monitor that location—in case the One World Order traitors returned to scope it out or claim it for themselves. I knew it had a basement, but I was surprised by the scale of what lay underground.

Many sensitive scientific instruments—some large enough to necessitate their own room—lay untouched inside the massive basement.

Uncertain of what I could do with any of that, I left it alone for the time being. Something about taking from the university felt unethical to me, despite that the region had effectively been annihilated.

I can always return to claim this stuff if it’s needed.

Antonelli Pond also received my attention since I could clean its waters by claiming the land beneath it.

Once I’d gone that far, I continued up the hill, assimilating the area around Moore Creek and its canyon on my way to the main UCSC campus. I was surprised to find numerous signs of recent habitation—there were wide footpaths stomped through the ash, and the sturdy buildings were still relatively intact. The farm below the main campus was damaged, but there were dozens of people tending it, and that made me smile.

It made sense that survivors would congregate at the main campus, where food could still be gathered from the forest that was still mostly intact.

The Voice spoke when I punctured a space that I should have anticipated.

Wow. That’s ridiculous.

The caves that ran beneath the campus had been partially mapped, but nobody actually knew how large they were. Not wanting to disrupt their ecosystem, I avoided encroaching any further than I had.

I left some minion exits around the campus to aid its recovery at the surface—particularly below the farm and any large trees that had suffered significant damage, then returned my full attention to the main Dungeon.

A barrier impeded my progress when my second floor reached 250 meters below the surface. I wanted to continue down, but my ability to manipulate the stone just stopped.

After a bit of testing, I confirmed my powers had a depth limit of 250 meters. Also, anything below 100 meters identified as second-floor territory.

With a sigh, I filled an enormous area to have my second floor descend more gradually, so I could cover a massive area to match Joy’s grandiose scheme. Thankfully, depositing the material I’d collected was orders of magnitude faster than excavating.

The ceiling couldn’t rise to twice the height of the trees as Joy had wanted and I wouldn’t be descending to 500 meters as we’d planned, but there’d still be plenty of space for a Redwood forest.

“Dungeon.”

[Ah! Damn it, Sven.]

He chortled.

“Why have you not created more varieties of ore deposits since your mana increased?”

[I—that’s a good question.]

Sven glowed brighter than usual for a moment beside my core.

“Sodium, magnesium, aluminum, silicon, sulfur, calcium, titanium, cobalt, nickel, copper, zinc, tin, and tungsten should all be available for you. Humans will need these materials and more to build up their skills for crafting magical items.”

[That’s a lot of different elements.] I started with sodium inside my Twilight cricket cave. Forty percent of my mana drained to create a one-by-six-meter deposit of isometric cuboid clusters against the southern wall. I’d seen sodium crystals before, but none were as large or transparent as these. They were gorgeous as they refracted the red glow from my toxic mushrooms.

“Those are merely the tip of the Dragon’s tail, Dungeon—mundane materials,” Sven continued while I added magnesium to the north wall of that cave.

“I suggest that you add a greater variety of edible plants on the surface. They will grant mana when harvested, the same as if they were inside your caverns—providing you with more mana to shape your Dungeon.”

[Okay.]

I summoned numerous seed varieties gathered by Turd and Mocha. It took a surprisingly small amount of mana to create hundreds of seeds each for various herbs, fruits, and vegetables.

For planting, I selected the parklike area north of Schwan Lagoon. Each variety received a raised fifteen-by-twenty meter planter, edged with hardened stone.

I created stone pathways that meandered around the lagoon through the grasses, to surround each planted area. A larger path connected them to the pavement at Schwan Lake Drive and East Cliff Drive.

“Very good. Now, there is something else that will help your humans, once they are prepared for combat. Minions occasionally leave magical materials behind when they are defeated.”

[Magical?]

“Indeed. Bosses may also be harvested for the spirit cores they can drop—necessary components for more powerful magical items. However, if a minion or boss is ordered to sit idly without fighting, there will be a lesser reward for whoever kills them. Thus, you should inform humans after they arrive that, while it can be rewarding, proper delving is inherently dangerous.”

I stopped growing plants for a moment.

[I suppose it makes sense, but this is all news to me. Why didn’t you tell me these things before?]

“Because you weren’t ready to make use of the knowledge. This world is not yet infused with enough mana to host the system. One thing at a time, Dungeon.” Sven waved me off.

[System? What’s that?]

“Something your world will gain if it survives long enough to reach E-Grade.”

[What is—]

He raised a clawed index finger and shook his head. “A discussion for another time, but there is one other thing. While you could have ten residents initially, you only gain the capacity to add two additional residents for every floor below the first.”

[I see. That’s not exactly what I was hoping for.]

Sven disappeared.

How disappointing. I thought I could help a lot more people in that way.

I sighed.

All I can do is move forward.

Continuing as mana supply allowed, I added aluminum to the far end of my Twilight cricket cave. It identified as bauxite.

That seems weird, but I’m no Geologist.

Silicon went against the opposite wall.

Considering the threats faced by local humans including my residents, I added one of each deposit to what had been the testing room in my basement.

That cave I reshaped, with an interior roughly patterned after the spiral driveways on some parking garages. I deposited and molded stone back into the space to create the shape I wanted, which cost me nothing but time.

Since I wanted my residents to have their own private space, I sealed the new mining area from the basement living quarters and dug a sizable access tunnel with its exit near the beach.

All around the exterior and sorted into partitioned alcoves, deposits of every metal Sven had mentioned took shape over forty minutes.

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Sulfur shone with golden radiance beneath a lightstone, attracting moths that had infiltrated my Dungeon.

Calcium could easily be mistaken for a gigantic mass of hoarfrost, with its thousands of jagged points.

Titanium drained a massive amount of mana for the single deposit I made, resulting in a pitched battle against my hunger.

I won—this time.

If not for the huge number of denizens flooding in and hunting one another, I might have succumbed and set myself back again by slaughtering them again.

For all that trouble, titanium was just an irregular mass of pale silvery metal.

Cobalt—I liked this ore. Dark blue was one of my favorite colors. Tiny clumps of crystals flowed across its surface like a velvety, deep-blue carpet.

Nickel was a dull, grayish ore, though rather expensive in its own right.

Copper grew in squat, four-sided pyramid shapes that seemed like they were trying to squeeze out from inside a greater mass. It reminded me of constipation—enough to push me out to the next metal.

Similar to titanium in appearance but darker, with larger and better-defined crystals, zinc was much less expensive to place.

Tin’s pyramid-shaped crystals resembled dark, metallic diamonds.

[KILL! KIL—]

Pure tungsten crystals grew like columns of basalt while I descended into a ravenous state for a few seconds before clawing back control from the pure Dungeon lurking inside me. I re-issued orders to all my minions and my boss, but the deed had been done.

Siobhán cried, “ProfCon! Get a hold of yourself.”

“Ciara… you’re doing it again.” Michael groaned.

“Professor, leave the seagulls alone!” Rihelah hugged her stomach.

Joy just frowned.

[I’ve got it this time. Turns out, tungsten is expensive, mana-wise.]

“You’ve got tungsten?” Michael raised his eyebrows.

I explained for a few minutes until I could no longer ignore the approach of Joe and the others through the tunnel.

[Beans and Michael—the people from Genomics will arrive soon, from under the harbor. Please help them get situated while I work on my second floor.]

[Sunny wants new people.]

[Sandy loves people!]

My Labs, who’d been running laps through the tall grass surrounding the lagoon, responded with wagging tails and fired off those messages before the humans could open their mouths to talk.

Having paid close attention to my Labs this time after hearing Nino speak, I noticed that, while their speech wasn’t as refined as Nino’s, my girls could communicate almost as quickly as I could think. Both simple sentences had flashed through my mind in a split second.

My Labs made a beeline for the Crow’s Nest.

Wow.

“Hai!” Siobhán responded with the polite Japanese word for yes/okay, mimicking one of her hundreds of “favorite” anime characters—like she did when she was in a good mood during the pre-war days.

Walking along the shore of Schwan Lagoon behind Joy, Siobhán winked with a huge smile as she wore Nita like an oversized necklace.

Stifling a chuckle as she shot a smile at Siobhán and relaxed her stance for a moment, Joy quietly said, “Okay.” She’d spent the better part of the morning practicing numerous combat forms that Joe had taught them.

Unlike the shy, shrinking Joy I was accustomed to, who actively avoided people in the same manner as I had, Joy looked focused, determined, and secure with herself while she was training—and that made me smile.

But the confidence Joy had while training evaporated instantly when confronted with social contact.

“’kay!” Rihelah beamed from where she’d been playing with hermit crabs in my tide pools, and Michael nodded beside her. The timing allowed me to catch the pair during one of the rare moments when they weren’t sharing alone time. Well, at least not that kind of alone time.

While Joe and the others neared, I kept busy with my second floor’s excavation. So far, I had almost four square kilometers of winding caverns finished to a height of ten meters as the new floor curved to roughly follow the coast toward Soquel. It wasn’t anywhere close to the internal height I’d need for my forest, but I had to start someplace. In the numerous areas where it was wider than 100 meters, I added rough pillars of hardened stone to support the mass of the ceiling and everything above.

As soon as they arrived, Mike and Joe raced across the parking lot toward Michael and Rihelah.

“Son! Rihelah! We heard you’d been—” Looking like he was fighting back tears, Mike wrapped both of them in a bear hug.

Michael replied, “Yeah, we were killed. But thanks to Ciara, we revived.”

“It was Natalie from Genomics, and some others who came and went along with her.” Rihelah frowned.

“That girl?” Joe scowled and shook his head.

“Oh, we have news.” Michael met Rihelah’s eyes and they broke out into huge, conspiratorial smiles.

“No shit?” Joe scoffed as he hugged them once Mike had released the pair.

“No shit. We’re getting married—” Michael grinned.

“As soon as we can find someone to do the ceremony.” Rihelah finished for him.

“Well, it’s about damn time!” Mike joined in and the four embraced.

Steven stepped out from the tunnel, arm in arm with the blonde.

I sighed.

It was over before the war, and I’m not even human. He can do whatever he wants.

I was grateful for the distraction when Sunny and Sandy met Bella.

Bella crouched as my girls approached her outside the Crow’s Nest, laying her ears back and tucking her tail as she whined.

Sandy and Sunny approached the humans and Bella with tongues hanging out and tails wagging.

When the little girl who stood near Bella saw them coming, she exclaimed, “Oh, puppies!”

“Abbie! How are you, sweetie?” Siobhán jogged forward with her arms open and Abbie’s face lit up even more as she squealed and ran forward. Siobhán picked Abbie up, then spun her about in the air while the child laughed before they hugged tightly.

Sunny and Sandy licked Abbie’s hands and face as Siobhán set her down.

“Puppies!” Abbie hugged each of my girls in turn, giggling through a tearful smile.

Bella whined.

[Is okay.]

[Sunny like new friend.]

My pups greeted Bella, licking at her face before sniffing her backside, as dogs do.

A tall, stocky man behind Abbie and Bella sighed with a slight smile as he reached down to pet the Collie with his callused hands.

Bella rolled over onto her back with her tail still tucked as Sunny and Sandy continued licking and sniffing her with tails wagging like mad. Abbie took the rough hand of the tall man and beamed up at him.

After their brief greeting, Bella righted herself and looked up at my girls with submissive eyes while the Labs pranced happily.

[Good girls! You be nice to Bella, okay?]

[Sandy likes Bella. Smells like friend!]

[Sunny too!]

The other children moved with the rest of the adults as my human residents led a tour of the housing complex.

Bella’s tail wagged timidly as she followed my pups down the beach to play. The tall man scooped Abbie up to follow the other humans and cradled her against his right side.

Abbie whispered into his ear, “I miss Mommy,” and she sniffled. He leaned his head gently against hers. “I miss her too, Pumpkin,” his deep voice was steady and reassuring, but his hard frown and forlorn eyes told a different tale.

Despite their loss, I was happy that Abbie’s family hadn’t been completely shattered by the war.

I chuckled as I noticed my denizen count jump by around seventy right after the new arrivals were shown to their new dwellings.

That was unexpected.

I guess even sapient creatures can be denizens. As long as I don’t order my minions to kill them and they don’t try to attack my core, they should be relatively safe.

Children laughed in the courtyard between the houses as three of them chased one another around the fruit trees.

At least I can do this much for them.

“Michael,” Joe said with a frown, “Emmanuel disappeared. But more importantly, I need to talk with the Dungeon about those people who shot you.”

“Yeah, you do.” Michael’s expression hardened.

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Minions: 100/100

Residents: 10/10

Denizens: 37711

Traps: 1/5