~~Cyan~~

Feeling drained from the act of shaping Kasimir’s form and equipment, I sink down to the ground as soon as I reach the outside, leaning up against the archway with a tired sigh. It’s a weird tiredness though, one I can already tell isn’t solved by sleeping. I’m not sure if I’m even capable of sleep anymore. The Monsters apparently don’t need it, so why would I. I’m their ‘Capo’. I chuckle at the idea of a little mouse mafia. Maybe I should ask Six Whiskers where she came from.

Magenta moves to follow Kas into the meadow but as soon as she gets more than three steps away from the archway, she’s stopped in her tracks, so suddenly that she falls onto her back from the recoil.

“What was that?” I move to get to my feet. “Are you okay?”

Magenta rolls over and sits up, rubbing her chest with a pained expression. “It is unpleasant. As though there was a rope tied to my heart. When I reached some pre-defined distance, it violently reminded me that I am not free to wander. We are not free. It seems we are tied quite strongly to the Dungeon.”

“We are the Dungeon, Maggie,” I remind her, tapping my hand on the ground idly. “I guess that means we’re soul-bonded to this area. Honestly, I’m glad we’re even allowed to see the outdoors. Behold the majesty of this strange new world we’re in.” I lift my arms in a presentory pose, giving Magenta a slight grin. She presses a fist against her ribs, wincing again as she stands.

“True. We could be in a far worse situation. I suppose I should be grateful.”

“Hey, if we really wanna explore the great out-doors, maybe we can make it inside. Imagine, a Level that’s a huge forest, spreading out in all directions with like… wolves and things to protect it.”

“Wolves and bears, perhaps?”

We continue to chat about possibilities for the future, things that we’ll probably forget by the time we have enough power and mana to actually make them happen, but our musing is interrupted by a scuttling, creeping feeling. Something approaches, and it does not have our best interests at heart.

I stand to my feet and look around frantically, trying to spot the thing causing the feeling of terror that’s building in me.

“There!” Magenta points, her finger moving to follow a large centipede.

The thing is huge.

I mean, I’ve seen centipedes before but they were, you know, normal bug sized. One small slap and it’s dead sized.

This thing is longer than my forearm and almost 5 cm wide. And fast. It skitters past Maggie and I, crawling into the entrance of our Dungeon and tearing apart an earthworm that gets in its way.

I expect a small amount of Mana from the interaction, like when Six hunted the Earthworm before joining the Dungeon, but it doesn’t happen. I guess that’s the difference between guests and enemies. I realise there’s nothing I can do to protect myself from this creature. I’m helpless.

Spring seems to sense our distress, and jumps into action. The specialised mouse is nearly four times the size her mother was before joining us, although only about twice the mass due to her long legs and streamlined body. The mouse rushes in and strikes at the centipede, her thumb-claw digging briefly into its carapace. The centipede screeches noiselessly before lunging at Spring, but she’s already out of its attack range.

Bruce makes a quick follow-up, running into the battle and pouncing at the enemy’s back, digging his claws around its sides and into its slightly softer belly. Unable to bite or shake Bruce off, the centipede thrashes, running into the wall, leaving a trail of its haemolymph on the floor behind it.

Spring jumps in again, showing off her effectiveness as her cutting claw, almost a dagger in my mind, digs into the gap between two of the centipede’s sections and cuts a deep gash. Maggie definitely designed a couple of combat monsters. I don’t think that’s what I made Kas for. I designed Kasimir to be wise and good at survival skills. Tracking and stuff.

Spring’s attack leaves her a little more exposed than I think she intended and the centipede’s mandibles find purchase on her leg just as she’s dashing away. Bruce jumps to his sister’s defense, aiming for the creature’s head. I hear a sickening crunch, and I’m not sure at first whether it’s the centipede’s exoskeleton or Spring’s leg bones making the noise.

The inrush of Mana answers my question, as Spring shakes herself free of the centipede’s dead mandibles and begins to lick her wounded - but not broken - leg. I release a sigh of relief, also releasing a bunch of tension I hadn’t noticed that I had built up in my body. I finally notice that Magenta is also here when she steps past me to examine Spring.

“That’s not pretty, but I don’t think it’s so badly injured that you can’t heal. Bruce, can you help her back to the base?”

Si, Capo! Of course. Bruce replies with a nod, jumping to action and walking beside Spring so she can lean against him and take a bit of the weight off her bleeding leg as they make their way back to the Mouse Base. Six Whiskers is already setting up a little nest for Spring to rest in, and she finishes around the time that they reach the entrance to the Base. Six Whiskers nuzzles her daughter with worry and concern, but as I watch, a nonexistent health bar seems to get refilled and Spring is able to place more weight on her foot. Either Six Whiskers is causing Spring to heal, or just being in the base has a healing effect. That’s something I’ll have to test… Or maybe not, since that would involve possibly healing our Monsters more slowly and I don’t like the idea of doing that to them.

I hear the pitter-patter of little mouse feet on dirt and turn to see Kas running into the dungeon, his brow furrowed with worry. His eyes meet mine, and a rush of relief passes over his body. The mouse slumps down onto the ground, sagging as he releases the tension of his fear. Capos. You are okay! I sensed from you great anxiety.

I sit beside Kas and sigh. “Sorry about that. There was a really big centipede and, well…”

“Spring and Bruce took care of it without difficulty,” Maggie says proudly. She should be, she’s the one who guided their, uh… Pokémon evolution.

“We’ll try to tamp down on the anxiety as much as we can in future unless we’re really in trouble, especially when you’re outside scouting and gathering and all that,” I assure Kas, who nods in response, a slight furrow to his mousy brow. Maggie nods as well, supporting my promise. Kas looks like he’s about to speak, but I interrupt him. “I didn’t, uh, you’re not a primary fighter, Kas. I guided your growth to make you incredible at tracking and gathering and exploring. Maggie guided Spring and Bruce to be incredible at combat and protecting the Core. And Six Whiskers… we kinda let the Mana direct her growth and I think I already know what the Mana chose. She’s a mom. Kissing your scrapes better and all that.”

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Kas glances over in the direction of the Base and moves slightly as if to approach it, but stops before committing to the movement and reaches into the little bag on his side. My job is to explore and gather. I have done so. Please accept my harvest.

He opens his little bag and tugs out a handful of pebbles. “Rock!” I exclaim, looking at Maggie with pure joy. I imagine if this was an Anime I’d have sparkles in my eyes.

Kas continues to stick his paw into the little satchel and pull out things… seeds and bits of leaf and whole flowers. More than I think should fit in such a small bag. Way more. Wait… What?? Did I somehow create a bag of holding? By accident?

As Kas empties the bag, I can feel an influx of Mana for each little bit of *stuff* he drops onto the floor. Once Kas is certain his bag is empty, he gets down on all fours and runs as fast as he can to the Base to make sure his siblings are okay. Excited to examine the new materials, I open the Compendium and bring up the Materials tab.

Materials

NEW

Mouse (CM)

Meadow Starter Kit (R)

Pebbles

“Huh… nice little compartmentalisation. Showing only the new things since that’s what I’m interested in. Compendium is intuitive. Keeping all the grasses and things together as a ‘Starter Kit’ is pretty smart.”

Deer Mouse (RCM)

Deer Mice are small rodents which eat seeds, fruits, and bugs. They are a common prey for many larger animals.

Meadow starter kit (R)

This is a collection of grasses and plants that are needed to make a good meadow.

(Includes: bluegrass, oatgrass, sedge, foxglove, sunflower, aster, black-eyed Susan, thistle, milkweed, goldenrod, chicory, fleabane, mint, wild carrot, clover, burdock, daisy)

Pebbles

Pebbles are small rocks. They are also big sand. It depends on your point of view.

With the amount of Mana we got from the fight and the resources, I decide it’s time to get to work on the maze. “Okay,” I crack my knuckles and pull out the sketches we made earlier, glancing over to Maggie, who is looking through the various plant types in the Meadow Starter Kit. She frowns, tapping through a menu. “See anything we can grow?”

“I tried to plant a sunflower and received an error message. Insufficient resources, but not Mana resources. It appears that certain materials require a particular environment. It… seems to be possible to adapt the sunflower to grow in environments other than its natural one, but that requires… Research, apparently.”

“There was a tab for that in the Compendium but it was crossed out and I couldn’t access it, I guess we have to unlock it?”

“Yeah…” I nod. I’ve been working on the sketch a little more as we talk, and I’m pretty sure I’ve got something good. “Is it okay if I spend a bunch of Mana to get the maze started?

Getting Maggie’s permission, I begin. I start at the entrance, widening the entire room so that it’s a more substantial… foyer, I guess? I move the earthworms over to the side and, with a thought, add the tips of some roots hanging down from the ceiling as ambiance. The ceiling is tall enough that anyone uder 7ft should be able to stand with ease. Although the Guide has given us absolutely no knowledge regarding the inhabitants of this new world, I have a hope it’ll be more exciting than just humans. Maggie steps through the passageway before I start working on it, saying something about moving the Core room.

With another expression of my will, I change the passageway. I saturate it with my Mana and pull, contracting the space and making it so all but the shortest of folk will have to crouch. Some larger people may have to crawl. This layer is going to be a mouse maze, after all.

The passageway widens into the room where our Manacore is. Or rather, was. Magenta has already started working on expanding the room into a much larger space, pushing the Core into a new room at the far end. I extend my Mana to reinforce her intent, and we’re able to make one room and the connecting passages before our Mana runs too low to do such large workings. Now we have an entrance, a hallway that branches to go to either of two empty rooms, and another hallway on the other side of those rooms that merges before leading to the Core Room. None of the rooms are particularly large, our instincts warning us that building too big will strain the cohesion of the dirt caves. It’s not much yet, but hopefully Kas will return soon with some creepy crawlies we can repurpose for challenges, and we’ll be able to fill the rooms with spiders or wasps or something like that.

Once we get more Mana, I also plan to have each of the halls gain several twists and turns and branches, making each area a maze to navigate. Meanwhile, I have a bit of an idea. Building blocks and obstacles. First to test it.

I build roots thickly across the passage between the future challenge rooms and the Core Room, making it so anyone who tries to explore will have to climb around and through the roots along with needing to crawl. I can tell that the roots that hang across the passage are fragile, but I think I can reset them. I get the feeling it’s possible to make them automatically regrow with a small Mana investment, but with our reserves as low as they are right now, it’s not likely.

Never mind, Kassimir has returned! “Perfect timing, I was just thinking about how much we need Mana and more toys to play with,” I say with a grin as I rush to the doorway to meet the adventurous mouse.

He examines the new area with a curious, appraising eye before turning to look up at me with a proud smile. I find great pleasure in being under the stars. The world beyond your domain is beautiful. I hope my contributions can help make the world within your domain just as exquisite. He begins to tug several insects and other arthropods from his little bag. Most are dead, but some are still wiggling slightly as he extracts them. Most species he only seems to have been able to catch one or two of, but the bees come out in a clump that I think might be part of a swarm. At the end, he speaks again. I spotted a large tree in the distance. It may take time to reach it, but I will return next with things from that tree. With his work complete, Kas nods respectfully to me, then scampers out of the Dungeon again.

I open the Materials Tab and immediately choose the only New option.

Meadow Bugs (RCM, varies)

These bugs may be small, but they can be mighty. Each species has its own strengths and weaknesses, something you'll have to figure out over time. Some produce value for adventurers, some may only be useful for aesthetics.

(Includes: butterfly, aphid, ladybug, fly, dragonfly, praying mantis, grasshopper, bumblebee, ant, spider)

“Interesting, but makes sense. Just like the Meadow starter kit. The compendium groups similar things into a kit of sorts.”

“You can examine each included species for more information,” Magenta adds as she joins me, looking a little re-invigorated after the draining process that was building the rooms and passages. A rush of Mana will do that for you.

Taking her advice as she stands next to me and looks over my shoulder, I choose ants, but before I can look too deeply into the options, Magenta holds up a tiny marble and shows it to me. It’s about the size of a peanut and has a deep blue, almost black colour which swirls angrily under its surface.

“Holy shit... The centipede had a core.”