In the end, Dungeon Air wasn’t the worst reward I could have gotten. It, at the very least, solved one out of the variety of problems that I had. Life support. Which is good, because the next quest in the chain would necessitate it.

Quest: Burgeoning Dungeon 6

With all else done, there’s only one more thing to do. The very ability that makes Dungeons truly unique (note: not UNIQUE). A power even those calling themselves gods would be hard-pressed to exhibit, and even then only produce poor imitations. It is time for you to learn how to create life.

Objective: Create a Monster

Reward: Level-Up, ???

Yup, it was finally time to do this. It was time for the signature skill of Dungeons. And let me tell you, it was all a bit nerve-wracking. And not just because I had no monster pattern in my database, so I wasn’t even certain I’d be able to do it, but also just the… I suppose gravity of it all. Making life just has a certain weight to it, even if it should be (and at one point will be) common-place for me.

Still, the fact remained I had nothing in my monster entry of the Creation skill. Which meant I had only one choice.

It’s time to ask Faellen for help!

Said fairy was still ruminating on life’s problems. Or more likely, just mine and its own. Or even most likely, just our shared ones and its own. We don’t really know each other that well yet for it to know what problems I could have.

“Faellen, my most wondrous and knowledgeable fairy, could I bother you for a minute?” I initiated the psychic channel with an eloquent opening. No way could it resist that!

“I don’t know, I’m kind of busy at the moment.” Ah, foiled again. No matter, I won’t let myself be defeated so easily.

“It’s kind of important actually,” and, in a flash of inspiration, I added, “and it may need some of the insights you’ve been pondering over all this time.”

That seemed to catch its attention, as it suddenly turned to face me. Well, its head turned, like that of an owl’s, while its body continued pacing back and forth.

With Faellen’s attention firmly on me, I began, “The Burgeoning Dungeon quest-line I’m on requires me to make a monster for the next step.” With no reaction coming from Faellen, I powered on, “And I thought one, or two, of the problems you’ve been thinking about this whole time was this very thing. How do I make a monster with no pattern, as well as make a liveable environment for it. Well, actually, that second part isn’t as important any more, since I got some Dungeon Air as a reward for the last quest. But still, don’t you have anything to say?”

“Right, yes, good job on the air,” for some reason, Faellen sounded distracted. “I have a couple of ideas, but before that, could you open a hole into a wall? Preferably before you fill here with air.”

Even though I had no idea what it wanted, I complied and made an opening in the secondary room I had made. I was not about to make such a vulnerability in my Core Room.

Guiding Faellen towards it, but to be fair, it wasn’t such a complicated journey, I was still quite perplexed. Which fast turned to outright surprise as I then watched the little fairy fly out into the empty cosmos.

“W-w-wait! What are you doing?!” I cried out after it.

“Don’t worry, I can handle it for a little while. Fairies don’t need most of the fleshy life requirements, remember? And as I suspected, with us being at the End of the Universe, the other dangers of outer space are gone.”

Even with that, my worry wasn’t fully abated though. Mostly because, outside my Dungeon’s domain, I could only watch on from the edge of where my territory reached.

Oh, did I not mention that?

Dungeon Vision, or rather, Sense is very all-encompassing and complex, as I mentioned previously. Do you remember those ‘eyes’ my vision consists of, and how they are all rotated in every angle at once? Well, those angles include the ones facing outwards.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

Not that I’ve spent much time watching that direction. I’m not sure why, but something about the endless emptiness out there unnerved me to my very core… no pun intended.

But now that Faellen has forced me to see it, I can see that something has changed. At first I’m not entirely sure what. After all, how can pitch-black darkness change while still staying so impenetrably dark.

But then I spotted it, and Faellen must have as well, for it rushed back inside and urged me to close the hole in my wall.

It isn’t that anything had changed. There wasn’t some sudden chunk of material that previously wasn’t there, nor did one appear. No, nothing changed about the utter nothingness occupying the space outside.

Rather, it was the space itself.

It was… disintegrating. Being ripped apart, torn to shreds, stretching to its utter limits. It was in a grater, being hacked to pieces, sawed in half. Synonyms!

Words alone cannot convey what I saw. Likely because I did not truly see it. ‘...as well as a little more.’ the line from my Sense skill came to mind.

“I-is that the Universe dying?” I asked Faellen, my voice shaky, even if I already knew the answer.

“No. No, it’s Ending.”

A brief silence extended between us, before I interrupted it with a gentle oh. At Faellen’s prodding, I quickly looked something up and read it to it.

“Quest: Where am I?

Through as strange series of circumstances, your starting location has been altered and you now find yourself at the End of the Universe. What does that mean? Who knows, but you’re sure to figure it out eventually.

Objective 1: Establish a Dungeon that can withstand deep space

Objective 2: Enhance your Dungeon to withstand the ‘last hurrah’ of the Universe

Objective 3: Survive the End

Reward: ???”

After that, the silence continued, until a question began bugging me.

“Do you think it’s the ‘last hurrah’ or the End?”

“Huh?”

“The space fractures, or whatever they are. Is that the ‘last hurrah’ from the second objective, or the fabled End from the third?” I repeated.

“I don’t know. Could be neither, could be both.”

Silence, once more. Well, we were silent the entire time, no air after all, but you know what I mean.

“Alright, let’s get to it,” came Faellen suddenly energetic voice, “I have no idea how much time we have left, but from what I’ve seen, I can’t imagine it’s a lot.”

“You’re the one with all the knowledge here. What should I do?”

“Really, if you think about it, it’s all connected. Your energy issues too, both the lack of it for abilities as well as you making it out of nothing, but I’ll leave that out for now,” Faellen began its tirade. “There are only three ways for you to get make a monster right now, and out of those, only one is really viable. Constructs. Which means enchanting, in one way or another. As for your other quest objectives? Some kind of complex enchantment, maybe an array or formation, could probably also solve it. But that’s one, way too complex for you to do right now (not to mention I don’t even have the info to guide you), and two, not even guaranteed to work, since who know if that kind of magic even works when pit against the End. Maybe the End Ends the rules enchantments work off of, and then we’d have no protection.

No, a much more reliable, as well as more easily achievable method, method is right in front of out noses. You need to Level-Up and gain the corresponding Ability. Now, yes, this does introduce a small element of chance into our survival, but doesn’t like a little bit of risk. Anyway, you need to level up, so you need to finish that quest, so you need to make a construct.”

“Alright, I’m game. But for completion’s sake, what are the other ways to get monsters?”

“Technically we could try to summon something, but that’s basically just another branch of enchanting, don’t tell any magic scholars I said that, and may not even work if your Ignore That ability doesn’t kick in.”

“Sure, that’s fair. And the third?”

“What third?”

“You said there were three ways,” I reply, confused.

“No, I said two. Enchanting and summoning.”

Weird, I could’ve sworn it said there were three ways.