Several minutes had passed since I had been summoned to this place and I was still trying to make sense of the changes that had happened to me. I remembered dying when my hometown was raided, and I had heard a faint, sorrowful voice calling for me, but after that, there was nothing. It just felt like I had woken up from a horrible dream, though that couldn’t possibly be true with how real it all had felt.

With my hair now being a vivid blue instead of a warm reddish-brown and me having gained an additional two tails without actually putting the work in for either of them, there was no question that my heavenly mother had her hands in my sudden rebirth - she and this young woman I could swear I had never met before.

That was of little surprise. If she really was the dungeon’s avatar, that would mean that she belonged to either a chosen dungeon or a very experienced one, with the latter option being very, very unlikely given my surroundings. I could see the flaws in the artificial sky about me, and I felt the lack of diversity in the wildlife that surrounded me. There wasn’t even a single plant to be seen in the lake, which further added to my rather underwhelming first impression.

I could see that she had put love and thought into her ideas, only she wasn’t old or experienced enough to bring them to perfection. Both issues had the same result, after all: a certain lack of biodiversity.

While the landscape was lackluster, I found myself quickly falling in love with her monsters. One of them was a small, fox-like creature with two tails that seemed more of a pet than a genuine threat. It had enveloped me with a flame that made me feel warm, strong, and energetic, which meant it was both a supporting type and the perfect little companion to help one wake up in the morning.

The other monster looked far stronger and almost majestic in its every move. It looked like a golem made out of black, shiny rocks mixed with pure white ones for decoration. Combined this gave the monster a very fox-like look, and it was only for the lack of fur that I didn’t immediately mistake it for one.

As for the dungeon avatar herself? She looked cute, but she certainly didn’t look strong or wise like an adventurer, honor guard, or elder. If anything, she reminded me of a young field blesser or tree carer. She looked almost identical to my childhood friend Clio in that regard, although Clio had slightly darker hair and also amber-colored eyes. Only, Clio was no longer around; I had seen her die.

I shook the memory out of my head, not wanting to let the two strangers see me with tears in my eyes. For all I knew it had been years since the war, and neither of the two looked like they had experienced any of the actual fighting, meaning they had either grown up in the capital or in a town far away from the frontlines. They sure were blessed.

The girl who had introduced herself as Kiomi was happily explaining just what her dungeon was all about. She apparently had selected the volcano theme for her very first floor, which was simply unheard of, as I knew it was usually limited to the lower floors of older dungeons. For her to not only start out with this theme but also have access to fox-like monsters meant that our heavenly mother surely had her hands in the matter, meaning for the first time ever she had chosen to take care of a dungeon.

Before long, Kiomi had started calling her monsters to our side to introduce them to us. Her shouts were almost immediately answered with a series of yelps and barks, and before long, the water behind us began moving, revealing a large group of water elementals that once again came in the shape of foxes, this time half-translucent and with only a single tail.

The water foxes seemed to be wary of the much smaller one in my arms as if fearing its fiery heat. I personally thought it was warm and felt rather good to have it around, but that could very well be connected to the vast amounts of fire-attributed mana I now felt deep inside of my body.

With a shrug, I decided to give the water elementals my greetings. First, I secured the little fox on my left arm, before kneeling down and stretching out my other arm, ready to greet the watery foxes. The monsters in question hesitatingly sniffed at my hand, before allowing me to pet them one by one.

Touching them felt weird, to say the least. I had expected them to feel wet, and they certainly did, but there were strong currents hidden deep inside of their watery bodies that massaged my hand, while gently forcing it back whenever my fingers sank too deep.

“It feels funny,” I couldn’t help but describe the experience. “It is like my hand is being massaged.”

Before long, I had greeted all of the water foxes, which apparently allowed ample time for the rest of the monsters to appear. We were now surrounded by about two dozen of them, water ones on one side and those made of molten rock on the other.

Once again Kiomi couldn’t help but point out that foxes were missing, not only some of those she called lava foxes but also earth and fire foxes she apparently had living in this room. Having five types of monsters living in one room was rather strange; even more so when they were elementals that were so different from each other. The only thing that made sense was her strong bias towards monsters related to heat, which fit her volcanic theme well.

I hesitated to pet the lava foxes, given they were made of molten rock and were rather big, but the monsters themselves were quick to demand my attention simply by sniffing at me and nudging me with their hot noses. Petting them was a weird sensation. Just like with the water foxes, my hand sank into their bodies somewhat, but instead of strong currents, I was this time pushed back by much thicker material that had hidden underneath the outer, ever-changing layer of orange and yellow. There were black stones on their bodies as well which threatened to scratch my skin, which luckily did not happen.

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After making myself known to each of the monsters, Kiomi led me towards a nearby gravel path, leaving the foxes behind to confusedly stare at one another. After a few moments, the two groups scattered, returning to their homes, clearly wanting nothing to do with the other party.

On our way towards a rather shabby-looking bridge, I noticed the sheer lack of traps in the room. I could only ask myself just why Kiomi decided to give adventurers a comfortable path to walk on without spicing it up with a trap every once in a while, but this question, as well, was quickly answered with my theory of the dungeon being rather young and inexperienced.

When we reached the bridge that seemed to be entirely made out of wood, not even using nails for stability, I couldn’t help but point out how insecure it looked.

“It is almost like a trap,” I said as I knocked at one of its posts.

“Tha- thats… I will improve it!”

“Make one out of stone at least. I can’t imagine most of your monsters being able to use this one.”

Kiomi nodded with some hesitation, before reluctantly confessing that she had no idea how to construct a proper bridge; having simply used more material to give it stability, rather than relying on arches, support beams, and similar features. All in all, her supposed bridge looked like a pier that lacked railings, meaning delvers were likely to fall into the crystal clear water should they stumble over their own feet, not that this would happen more than once in months at best.

When I pointed out she should construct a proper bridge with traps that made invaders fall into the lake where the water foxes were already waiting, she once again grew restless before revealing that these monsters were very unlikely to exploit such a convenient trap as they hated hurting basically anyone.

I couldn’t help but sigh upon hearing that, as it meant that half of the monsters I had seen were far too good-natured to be considered a real threat to delvers, with the so-called Liri Fox in my arms being one of them. But that couldn’t be helped. Being such a young dungeon, she was lucky to have healers at all. Most young dungeons didn’t have casters at all, instead featuring basic threats like goblins, slimes, kobolds, or the occasional undead. For her starter monsters to be entirely magic in nature was once again rare and unexpected.

It took us a few minutes to reach the neighboring room, which couldn’t possibly look more different compared with the first. Instead of featuring a volcano or at least a hill, the room was almost entirely flat, with only ponds and miniature mountains to be seen in the thick fog that soon surrounded us on all sides.

Once again Kiomi had made sure to help her delvers with the construction of a path. I couldn’t explain why she was so keen on helping them out, especially since it basically worked against the main threat of the room: limited sight.

Just as I was about to complain to her about it, a fountain of water erupted nearby, showering us with pleasantly warm rain. The little fox in my arms wasn’t too keen about this room feature, as its deep sleep was unpleasantly cut short by both water and a loud noise that lasted for several minutes.

I couldn’t help but walk a little faster while shielding the little thing with my own body. Luckily, it only took me a few steps to get out of the worst of it, allowing me to once again explore the features of the room. With dozens of small hills around, I couldn’t help but smile warily as I silently steeled myself to protect my new pet at all costs.

It was only now that I noticed shadows looming above us, all of them unmoving and hovering at a short distance from each other. Noticing my curiosity, Kiomi explained she had constructed a path of floating rocks that adventurers had to challenge in order to reach the next room. I couldn’t help but smile upon hearing her explanation, as the feature, while entirely unheard of once again, was at least a step in the right direction.

While the challenging path above our heads was already quite the hurdle for adventurers, it seemed like it wasn’t the only thing they would have to be wary of, as Kiomi once again began calling for her monsters. Almost immediately, the mist surrounding us grew thicker, as one by one fox-like silhouettes of steam closed in on us. I was quite spooked by their sudden appearance, especially with the dozens of pale-blue eyes now looking at me, but once again the monsters seemed docile as every single one of them greeted me with two wagging tails.

Kiomi this time explained the monster’s abilities that involved both spreading steam, healing others, and attacking delvers with their boiling hot bodies, making them seem to be quite a challenging matchup. This was especially true since there seemed to be a total of ten of them, meaning they could easily attack even larger groups at their blindspots using the thick mist to hide.

In the center of the room, there was a large pavilion waiting for delvers to rest in. This was once again a weird feature, offering comfort for no benefit, but overall the room seemed to be in good shape, albeit it was

a little bit on the challenging side if it was only her second room.

Kiomi didn’t bother explaining why she had built the thing, instead, she now led us toward a metal door she had built right into the rocky walls surrounding the room. Two fox statues with green, crystal eyes and white tips on both their tails and ears were guarding it. All three of them, doors and statues, featured a rather unexpected color of darkish silver, indicating they were made from quite a rare material.

“Is that mithril,” I couldn’t help but ask.

“It is the strongest material I have,” she answered, before falling silent for a second or two. “Well, I have orichalcum now, which could be better, but I didn’t get the chance to use it yet.”

A shiver ran down my body, fueled by both shock and excitement. “You have… what?!”

“Orichalcum,” she confirmed that I had heard her correctly before kneeling, closing her eyes, and letting a small rod of the material grow out of the ground as if it were nothing special. “I believe the leader of the raid has offered it to me,” she explained before handing me the way too precious treasure.

I quickly freed one of my arms to grab it, while already swearing to myself to never let it go again. Indeed, it was a metal I had never held in my hands before, despite my workshop being well-loved in the small town I grew up in. The half-golden, half-silvery shine of the metal was unmistakable even at a glance, especially with the rainbow-like glimmer that soon illuminated it once I forced my mana into the rod. I couldn’t believe my eyes. It was really orichalcum!

“Can I keep it?!”

Kiomi answered with a single nod, likely not knowing what she had just handed me. The woman named Marisa, on the other side, was looking every bit as shocked as I did. It seemed as if she was about to stop Kiomi from giving me the rod, but her words didn’t come out before it was already too late. I would never give it away again!

I couldn’t help but chuckle while I already thought about just what kind of crazy weapon I would craft with it. It would be my masterpiece~