Chapter 36: Deeper

Saturday, April 1st, 10:31 AM

Dungeon Ciara

The final obstacle between delvers and my core room was the hardened stone equivalent of a tightrope walk over a water-filled basin. Spanning a fifty-meter gap between typical tunnel sections six meters wide, a narrow footbridge zig-zagged across a pit eight meters deep, with water filling the bottom half.

My hardened stone bridge was six centimeters wide down to the bottom of the water basin. Five submerged, one-meter circular cutouts allowed passage between the two sides of the pool.

A wide set of stairs led from the water up to the side away from my core, while the opposite wall of the small reservoir was smooth as glass and concaved to make it impossible to climb without tools.

Subtle blue light via fiber optics made the water seem to glow. Minion tunnels below the water’s surface and above the bridge meant I could make the obstacle dangerous if necessary.

I was still unfamiliar with core room design, since I’d only just become a Dungeon. My first one felt small and unimpressive—especially to my instinct. Given how powerful and deadly Vijaya turned out to be, I decided I might move her to the second floor, and swap whatever boss I made for my second floor to the first.

The ceilings and walls of all tunnels leading to my new core room had numerous small minion exits to admit Dire Widows, Devilflies, and whatever else I needed in an emergency. I made the space interconnected so my minions could easily reach any part of it quickly, while humans would be forced to find the one path that led to the end of the core room—a sphere twelve meters in diameter. I didn’t bother with spikes.

A fake and bright lightstone-core rested on a pedestal at the center, while ninety-five more fakes lined the inside of the sphere, with a socket for my real core hidden as the 96th, high on the back wall. I didn’t make a bridge to the primary fake, because I wanted it to appear as if it were my true core.

Ninety-six minion tunnels perforated the sphere, spaced evenly between the lights. The main passage entered at a slight downward angle, then dropped off into the open sphere, directly across from the primary fake core.

My instinct said this was the correct way—to give my core plenty of room to “breathe” along with a solid connection to the rest of my Dungeon.

Satisfied, I opened the sealed tunnel that led downward from my old core room, and gave the mental command to finalize my second floor.

My residents glowed for a moment.

“ProfCon… what’s going on?” Siobhán blinked twice.

[Mommy makes girls strong.] My girls pranced in beside Joy and Siobhán as those two stared at their hands in wonder.

Joy said nothing.

Michael and Rihelah increased the tempo of their current activity, and broke my bed frame.

Fine. I’ll remake that out of titanium during one of those rare moments when you’re not trying to spawn the next generation.

[I can wash my backside much faster. This is acceptable, Dog-Mom.] Nino purred with happy, closed eyes atop the blanket covering Allison’s children.

Beside Nino, Hanzo wore a surprised expression, then bent to clean himself.

Cats…

I felt my core shift to its new location as The Voice spoke.

Floors: 2

Minions: 100/240

Residents: 10/12

Denizens: 43849

Traps: 3/10

My hunger reared its head and I struggled to keep a handle on myself.

“Ah, finally!” A familiar deep voice made me jump. As usual.

It jarred me enough that I almost lost control of my minions.

[Sven! Damn you…] I growled.

“So hostile.” Sven shook his head with a smile as my mana crested fifty percent and I no longer needed to exert willpower to maintain control.

[Usually, I wouldn’t care so much. But I need to avoid harming my human denizens.]

“What you need… is to grow large enough that your internal ecosystems provide all the mana you require. Once that happens, you can allow your minions to behave naturally instead of ordering them about.”

[Won’t they race up here to attack the humans?]

“Only if they sense them and feel the Dungeon may be threatened. If your minions are inside your Dungeon, minding the respective homes you have created for them, their first instinct will be to defend those places. As such, they are unlikely to leave.”

[That sounds like it could alleviate some of my troubles. I’ll work toward that. But first, I need to acquire as many species as I can.]

Sven smiled. “Indeed. But once you are able to create sapient minions, that will change.”

[Sapient minions? I’m not sure I like the sound of that, Sven.]

“Why not? They are fiercely loyal, quite powerful, and can assist by leading less intelligent minions into battle when your Dungeon is under siege.”

[Won’t they feel like slaves? It seems unethical.]

“Do you feel you are a slave under Lord Auronox?”

[What? No. Of course not.]

Flapping his wings, Sven flew around my central false core with a grin. “Yet, He commands you, whether you know it or not. But you possess the intelligence to carry out His mandate any way you see fit and He does not force that issue.”

[My world is threatened!]

“Minions, sapient or no, invariably view your Dungeon as their world. If it is threatened, would they not rise up in its defense?”

[I… see.]

“Perspective, Ciara. Minions, regardless of species, will love their Dungeon home. You are your minions’ creator and their world. As such, they will defend you with absolute loyalty.”

[Okay, I see what you’re saying. But wouldn’t that just make my Dungeon more dangerous for humans who live nearby? For example, my Devilflies went crazy, attacking everything in the vicinity when I lost control.]

“That’s because you have them out and about, something that isn’t normal for minions. They become enraged whenever you do, and seek to eliminate threats to your existence. If they happen to be outside when that happens…”

[Hm. I see.]

“Is it typical for basic arthropod minions to travel together, ignoring predators and prey over long distances before assaulting a single point en-masse, like a sapient army?”

[No, of course not.]

“Yet, you frequently use them in that manner. While effective, it requires your constant attention—taking away from the speed of your advancement. Work toward gaining enough floors that you can create sapient minions. They will help.”

[Anything else I should work on?]

“You’ll need some kind of denizen or minion that can be harvested for hides. The… unique clothing your humans wear is fascinating to look at in its way, but provides very little protection. Your mana capacity should be much greater after creation of your second floor, so I advise that you add more types of ore.”

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

[I can do that, but they’ve harvested very little so far.]

“Patience, Dungeon. Hearthwood wasn’t grown in a day.”

[Hearth-what?]

Sven smiled and disappeared.

Right. Might as well follow Sven’s advice. Additional ore types…

Silver, platinum, and gold were all cheaper than I’d assumed—which is to say, silver cost 50%, Gold 60% and Platinum 70% of my available mana.

The Dungeon in me wanted the humans to work for it, so I placed two silver deposits and one each of gold and platinum at the bottom of my shallow lake. I had my crabs hold onto their catch until I needed food, so I could avoid too much time spent fighting back the urge to let my minions rampage.

My forest needs minions.

The trouble was, while I wanted larger fauna, most everything I had to create minions from was aquatic or tiny.

Snow was still falling outside, so I had all my current minions hunkering down for safety, except the Nemesis crabs. The cold hadn’t affected the ocean’s temperature much, so they continued hunting without pause.

While looking around, I noticed a vast number of seagulls were taking shelter from the cold inside the wide tunnel leading to my mining area, but since my mana income was decent and my Dungeon absorbed any mess they made, I saw no reason to decimate their numbers.

The waves were larger since an onshore wind had kicked up, and my crabs took a little longer between contributions.

Because Striped bass could live happily in saltwater or freshwater, I opted to base my next minion on them. I increased the density and thickness of its skull, then swapped in a Leopard shark’s powerful jaws and sharp teeth. The result was a fish that looked identical to a normal Striper until you saw inside its mouth.

My first six Hellmouth bass received a home in the second-floor lake. They weren’t enormous at seventy centimeters long, but they’d do a fine job of defending the lake’s treasure.

I’m glad they can subsist on my mana alone since the lake barely has anything living in it.

Then I realized I had a source for some water creatures. I opened five temporary shafts from various points in Schwan Lagoon to beside my second-floor lake. drained thirty cubic meters of water and a little over two cubic meters of mud, then closed it all up again. I ordered my Hellmouth bass not to hunt, to allow anything I’d collected a chance to become established.

The mud cleared away much faster than expected, and I found numerous aquatic arthropods and a few hundred tadpoles had been brought down.

With the safety of those new denizens in mind, I dug a series of small pools connected to the lake.

I paused to watch when I noticed how quickly the algae I’d brought down from above grew in the shallows. It crept across the bottom at around one centimeter every ten seconds.

That’s absurd.

I never imagined I’d witness the obvious growth of plants in real-time.

The tadpoles seemed to love those pools, and I was pleased to note the algal blooms tapered off where the water grew deeper, leaving much of the lake clear, sky-blue, and gorgeous.

Wait. If algae grow that fast, then…

How about bamboo?

Turd and Mocha had acquired seeds for many things, and bamboo made the list.

When I planted some near the edge of my second-floor lake, it erupted from the soil, increasing its height almost twice as fast as the algae. I reveled in the beauty and grace of its spread, then became concerned when I thought about what I’d unleashed beside my lake.

Well, now I’ve done it. I’m no botanist, but I should have known better.

I created a six-meter-wide stone barrier starting fifteen meters away from the lake, to contain the bamboo’s spread while allowing it plenty of room to grow and thrive. I roughed the surface a bit, to make it appear more natural.

After ten minutes of growth, the initial bamboo shoot was already over a meter tall, and more had sprouted nearly as far in every direction.

That’s almost seven times the growth rate of my Redwoods. Yep. Definitely, a good idea to fence that bamboo in. I’d better add a couple things to compete with it.

Giant clover received a few dozen plantings near the lake shore, with Pacific blackberries closer to the stone barrier. Once those were added, I planted bamboo in a few more spots and called it good.

While the flora grew on my second floor, I spawned four triple-size Hellmouth bass in my first floor’s tide pools, then sent them out to help gather new species.

[Big fish are fast.]

[Sandy will catch.]

[Sunny catch first!]

Of course, my Labs were nearby and dashed for the tide pools when they saw my minions.

[No, girls. Those fish work for Mommy.]

Both dogs slowed as the excitement faded from their eyes.

[I’ll let you play with the big fish later.]

They huffed a little.

[Okay, Mommy…]

[Sandy want.]

They whined and gave me sad eyes.

My core trembled.

No! I won’t give in. There’s work to be done.

I recalled something else Sven had mentioned.

Animals that can be skinned, hm? It’s a risk, but I doubt I’ll have a safer opportunity to send my dogs out hunting in the near future. Snow will keep most people focused on staying warm.

[I’ll let you play with those fish later, girls. For now, can you find some big prey animals in the mountains and bring them home alive?]

[Sunny will!]

[Sandy finds bigger.]

[Running in freeze-rain!]

[Sandy is faster!]

They dashed toward the harbor bridge.

[You girls be careful. If something’s too dangerous or if you get hurt, I want you to run home, okay?]

[Yes, Mommy!] they replied.

After I closed the gate behind my pups, I spotted my Hellmouth bass returning.

One bled from its head, and looked like some of its flesh had been scooped away. But my injured minion seemed unperturbed until something bit it almost entirely in half from behind. I flinched away from the sight of massive serrated teeth, pulling back before remembering I wasn’t in danger.

A large pectoral fin and the gray upper-half of its massive body stood out of the water near the entrance to my tide pools as the predator struggled to turn in the shallows, then swam to deeper water. Its powerful tail violently thrashed before it disappeared.

A Great White shark!

So sleek and powerful. Ohh, I must have one.

I figured it must have been hungry, since they don’t often risk stranding themselves.

Yikes. I’m lucky it hasn’t attacked my girls!

Of course, I knew, despite its horrible reputation as a man-eater, the Great White was unlikely to hunt anything it didn’t recognize as prey. Minions might be fearless, but most natural predators tend to be cautious.

In the food chain, even a minor injury could mean death.

The surviving bass swam furiously and slipped into my tide pools. But what caught my attention was the prey they carried.

Ooh, a Giant Pacific octopus! Oh, no… they’ve mauled it almost to death.

The big cephalopod was missing half its arms and must have been exhausted since it didn’t fight back, turning its skin white while my three Hellmouth bass tore the rest of it to pieces after entering my Dungeon.

I felt a pang of regret for the poor creature since octopuses were highly-intelligent, conscious animals, capable of complex problem-solving and even tool use. They also felt and remembered pain similar to how humans did, so I knew it had been in agony.

But my Dungeon mind’s desire for strong minions overcame my urge to let the animal live. Besides, it was so badly wounded that letting it swim away would be a death sentence—especially near a hungry Great White that had risked beaching itself for food.

Before I was a Dungeon, I would have cried over the octopus’s death, but my sadness passed in moments, overpowered by my excitement about what I could create.

My enthusiasm declined when I saw the mana cost of spawning an octopus at its normal size, ninety percent of my total.

Yikes. I’d go nuts for sure. After my third floor, I suppose.

Michael and Rihelah ran onto the beach to play in the snow, so I fixed the bed frame in their room and reinforced it to many times its original strength. Not wanting that to happen again when my other two beans took lovers of their own, I did the same with the other beds in my basement.

Joy snoozed on the couch beneath a heavy blanket while Siobhán sang out-of-tune in the shower.

At least she seems happy.

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Floors: 2

Minions: 110/240

Residents: 10/12

Denizens: 44227

Traps: 3/10