The first map I made was two feet by two feet. It would be unwieldy to carry into combat, but the more I interacted with it, the more I figured things out.

Using two hands, or even just two fingers, I discovered I could focus on specific portions on the map, enlarging those areas to see them better. Then, with a swipe of my fingers I could move the enlarged section to show me a different place.

Without input, the map snapped to my green dot. When I found and tapped Ferrisdae's dot, it would follow her around instead. That was interesting; it made me feel somewhat like a stalker, but interesting.

I returned the map to its original state when I noticed Ferrisdae was heading back. Stowing away the supplies, I had everything ready to go in a scroll case that Carr had provided. I promptly told the Dwarf in charge of the mess hall, Oakley if the map were to be believed, that we were done with the table and chairs.

Ferrisdae met up with me as I was heading to the tent. "Did you see me visit the people?" she asked breathlessly, her face flushed from running around the camp. "Everyone was where the map said they were!"

"Yes, I saw you, Ferrisdae," I told her. "Let's get back to the tent before you let everyone know we have an item that lets us spy on their location, shall we?"

"Ah, yeah," Ferrisdae said sheepishly. "I suppose there wouldn't be too many who'd be happy about the map."

We walked the rest of the way to our tent in silence, though I couldn't help but notice the bounce in Ferrisdae’s step. That was good. I needed to keep her distracted.

The tent was just as empty as it had been when we left, though there were signs that people had been there. Dirt footprints, things disturbed on some of the beds, and the smell of sweat lingering on the air. No doubt belonging to those who finished digging the pit for the obelisk. They were likely at the river now after a hard day's work.

I stopped at the foot of the bed closest to the curtain set up for Ferrisdae's "room" and gestured towards it. "May I intrude?" I asked.

"I don't know, I haven't ever invited a boy back to my room before," Ferrisdae said, clearly teasing.

I didn't push the issue or give her what she wanted. Instead, I started setting the scroll case onto the bed I was planning on taking.

Ferrisdae snatched it up. "Sorry, what I meant was yes," she said. "Come on in."

We entered the space and let the curtain block off the rest of the tent. It was very roomy, but with the thick material I could tell that it would get hot in here if the weather outside weren't so nice.

I started unpacking the contents of the case on one of the pushed together beds, but I left my map rolled up. Opening up the inkwell, I offered Ferrisdae the quill. "Let's kill two birds with one stone," I told her. "Draw a map of the settlement."

Ferrisdae took the quill. "Easy enough," she said, reaching for my map.

I moved it out of her reach, ignoring the dubious look she gave me. "By memory," I said. "Let's see how much you've retained and how good of a cartographer you are."

The Elf said nothing, watching me push a blank sheet of parchment in front of her. Looking down at it, she sighed and began drawing.

As Ferrisdae worked on her map, I helped guide her with advice. It was slow going. She was a passable artist, but took too much time with the details. Like she was afraid to get them wrong.

I decided to remake my map when it became obvious that she would take her time. By the time she finished hers, I had finished two: one of middling quality and one that was deliberately crude.

Ferrisdae's map showed no sign of coming to life, but both of mine showed various degrees of information. The powers that the Dungeon Master, Master of Dungeons imparted to me weren't my own, but there was a thrill in learning how they worked.

The crudely drawn map, really just a poorly drawn circle with rectangles inside, did show some black dots in a small radius around my position. Seven dots were in the other part of the tent, which corresponded with the voices we had been hearing for a while, and two more right outside the entrance. The only one that showed green was mine, and Ferrisdae's was black.

Even when I handed it to Ferrisdae, my dot remained green. It showed no names when they were tapped, nor could I make any part of it zoom in.

"This is just a map that makes it easier to find me specifically," I said with a scowl.

"It shows other people, but you do stick out like a sore thumb," Ferrisdae commented. "But it would be handy for me in case we get separated somewhere. Not here, obviously, the settlement is way too small for that. I'm just saying that there's still merit to a poorly drawn magical map."

I grunted. She had a point, but that didn't mean I had to like it. I turned my attention to the middling map. This one came out decently, with most things being close to scale but missing a lot of the finer details I liked to add.

Like the poor map, this one had a radius where dots appeared. It was bigger, though, and showed people resting in the tents that flanked ours as well as a pair of people patrolling the walls. Their dots materialized out of nowhere as they entered the map's influence, and we both watched as they left that influence, disappearing.

Unlike before, Ferrisdae's marker was green. Tapping at most of the dots yielded no information, but ours showed our titles, names, and classes like my good map did. Zooming in worked, but only on the areas inside the map's area of influence. I couldn't enlarge the mess hall from here, but I could get a closer look at the tent next to ours.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

"This is much better," I said. "Not perfect, but it's certainly serviceable and I can knock it out in twenty minutes."

"I'm pretty sad that my map didn't start coming to life," Ferrisdae said, pouting. I looked at her handiwork.

It may have taken her a while, but she had an eye for details. I would put it squarely between my middling and detailed maps. "It makes sense," I told her. "I'm the one with the ability. But, that's just part of testing this whole thing."

Reaching out, I grabbed her map and pulled it in front of me. Slowly, it came alive just like the others did. I poured over the details, gleaning as much from it as I could.

"It worked?" Ferrisdae asked, leaning towards me and craning her neck to see.

"It did," I confirmed. Despite having more details than my middling map, it showed all of the same things. Comparable radius, allies in green, and it showed who those allies were when interacted with.

"Yes!" Ferrisdae exclaimed giddily. The voices of the men outside the curtained off room stopped for a moment, but she wasn't paying attention. She all but snatched the map away from me, eyes scanning it.

And then all of the dots disappeared, leaving it as a mundane map. She looked confused, then crestfallen. Gingerly, I took the map back from her. It once again came to life in my grip.

"Okay, let's think about this. It’s safe to assume that this mapping ability has some concrete rules," I said. "The better the quality of the map, the more information shows up. Things might even change with magically infused paper and ink, but we'll have to check that later once we have some."

"Your maps are always active," Ferrisdae continued. "Though I wonder if you have to be within a certain distance of them or if they'll work regardless. You can also use other people's maps, but the quality of those ones are diminished."

I nodded. "If we assume there's three categories - let's call them poor, middling, and detailed - then a map I didn't draw would be knocked down to the closest lower level," I said. "But that only works for me, and once it's out of my hands it reverts to being normal."

"So the map of the mine will still be of use to us tomorrow," Ferrisdae finished.

"Unless it's so poorly done that there's no salvaging it," I snorted. "Felder did say that the boy only fancied himself a cartographer. Who knows what the actual quality is going to be."

Ferrisdae wasn't paying attention to me, I noticed. Her eyes were glued to my middling map. Following her gaze, I saw that two new green dots had appeared near the settlement entrance. I tapped them both.

Adventurer Cojisto Finnigan - Arcane Wrestler

Adventurer Moose the moose - Holy Moose

"They're back sooner than I expected," I said. While I wasn’t sure what it meant, I noted that Moose’s class was Holy Moose and not the Holy Beast one Cojisto claimed he received.

"I'll go and let them know where we're staying," Ferrisdae said, standing up.

"One more test," I said, gathering the sheets of parchment. Unfurling my detailed map, I placed it on the bottom of the stack with my poor map on top. I handed them to Ferrisdae. "If they're up to it, take a lap around the settlement and see if any of them stop working if I'm too far away. I'll stay here with yours, and I'll meet you in the mess hall for dinner after I see you come back."

"Yes, sir," Ferrisdae said, excited. She took the stack of maps and left the room.

I watched her map as she walked with a measured pace, and then fell into a run as she made it out of the tent. Now that Ferrisdae was gone, I could feel those negative feelings start to swarm my mind again. I shook them away. Taking care of my junior was a higher priority. I turned my attention to my maps.

Ferrisdae met Moose and Cojisto at the settlement entrance. They were standing with another person, who I guessed was Jesuf. Not being able to get information on dots that didn’t signify allies was annoying, but it was what it was.

Even without tapping on their dots, I could tell which one was who. Ferrisdae’s was the one that had been standing still, while Cojisto’s dot couldn’t seem to help but move around. The dot for Moose was simply larger than all three of the other dots put together. The man’s movement made me wonder just how precise the map really was.

They started moving, walking around the outside of the settlement’s palisade but sticking close. Soon, the dots disappeared as they left the map’s sphere of influence. It was hard to tell using the map, but I guessed it would be a radius of somewhere around one hundred feet. That wasn’t too bad.

I waited for the group to make their way back around again. The rest of the settlement was becoming more active as people began to flock in from the direction of the river. Some stopped by the tents in range, but the majority were heading towards the mess hall. A river of black dots headed towards the center of town, and I could hear the men cheering about the break from work.

That made sense. The dungeon wouldn’t resurrect the enemies inside if there were people still inside. This way, it would be complete for us to run through it. It was good that Carr already knew that the dungeon needed to be in its default form when we arrived in order for the destruction ritual to take hold.

My stomach rumbled, and I frowned. The wait for food was going to be long depending on what the chef, Oakley, was preparing. Then again, maybe not, I realized. I didn’t know their schedule, just that they tried to keep people in the mine at all times. I’d guess it would be hunter’s stew because of all of the mouths he needed to feed. If that were the case then it would be as easy as grabbing a bowl, spoon, and whatever they’re serving for drinks.

I was snapped out of my thoughts of dinner as the green dots indicating my allies appeared on the map. They had made a full circle around the perimeter, and I rolled up Ferrisdae’s map to head on my way.

The men who were relaxing in the tent were surprised to see me, but I paid them no mind. Outside, the air was becoming cooler as the sun was beginning to set. The days were shorter compared to the real world outside of the wagon dungeon, which confirmed my suspicions that it was springtime here.

Ferrisdae, Moose, and Cojisto passed through the gate, and the Elf waved at me. I gave a wave back, but she wasn’t what I was focused on. Cojisto had left us wearing the same thing that Ferrisdae and I had: a white shirt, black pants, and black shoes.

He had returned wearing a long-sleeved black coat. No, as I got closer, I noticed it was more than a coat, it was a gambeson. Thick, quilted armor. There were no insignias on it that indicated where it might have come from.

Cojisto was also holding a large bag which prompted me to ask, “Where did you get that?”

“Badger!” Cojisto greeted me loudly. “You would not believe this! There are dungeons out there in the wilderness!”

My eyes flicked to Ferrisdae, who shrugged, then to Moose, who nodded. “There are… dungeons out there?” I asked, raising an eyebrow. “Dungeons inside of this dungeon?”

“Yes, absolutely,” Cojisto said with a nod. “And the best part is? They came with spoils!” He lifted the bag in the air, an obnoxious grin on his face. “Come, let us eat and share in the loot together like a proper adventuring party! Hey, is that the obelisk? Why is it in here?”

I stared as Cojisto laughed and passed me by on the way to the center of town.