Although I now had all the options to adorn my future volcano, unfortunately, I had almost no mana left to pay for the new flowers and plants. All that remained, a mere nine points, I was forced to save for more foxes. It was far more important to establish a defensive line between me and potential intruders, whether it be my father and his colleagues or some random adventurer who, for some reason, thought to destroy my core.

The more monsters that protected me, the less vulnerable I felt when my earth fox went on its excursions. After all, there was only so much I could achieve with bare fists.

I waited for about half an hour before I could finally summon another fox. The summoning went just like the first, only by now I had almost grown accustomed to the cold sensation that came with using my mana.

The new fox was larger than the first, and its flames a bit paler, but I attributed that to chance. As I sat back down to rest, my gatherer went about its honorable task, repeating its brief trips to the outside world dozens of times, returning each time with at least one new plant in its mouth. I repeatedly rewarded it for its efforts before I was ready for the third and final summoning of the day.

"It'll work out..."

Once again, a cold sensation enveloped me, but I endured it easily, knowing it was all to my advantage. This time, the blue mist revealed a fox that was much like the first one, albeit a fair bit smaller.

"You should be bigger," I decided before I could change my mind. "But I love you anyway!"

The fox seemed to understand what I said. It approached and began licking my hand with its fiery tongue as if it wanted to reward me for bringing it to life. Of course, I had no fear of this supposedly evil creature. On the contrary, before I knew it, I had already embraced the fox, softly, so as not to injure it.

"Who's the bad monster?" I laughed, before petting it with both hands. "Yes, you are~!"

The fox endured my attention for a few minutes before it got up and ran off, seemingly laughing. It circled my room once before wagging its tail and heading toward my nest. Moments later, it nestled up to my dungeon core and closed its eyes. Luckily enough, the furs I had received from Cilia didn’t look like they would go up in flames anytime soon.

After attending to the fiery beast, I could finally focus on the bounty my first fox had brought from the meadow and the forest surrounding my dungeon. The dungeon core had already ensured that all the plant material brought to me was absorbed. Instead of leaving me with a huge pile of green, I was greeted by a screen listing countless flowers, wild herbs, vegetables, and even the vital tall grass. I hardly recognized a handful of these names.

「Flora unlocked:

Bedstraw, Bellflower, Buttercup, Chamomile, Chicory, Coneflower, Cornflower, Primrose, Cranesbill, Daffodil, Daisy, Forget-me-not, Glove, Mallow, Milkwort, Orchid, Parsley, Pimpernel, Poppy, Widow's flower, Tall grass, Teasel, Thistle, Violet, Wild carrot, Wood anemone, Yarrow.

Received 140 Dungeon Points!」

With all these flowers, I had more than enough options to transform my first room into the paradise it deserved to be. Unfortunately, I still lacked the mana for it. A quick check revealed that the medium and tall grasses alone would cost me a hundred mana in total, which was all I had after resting an entire night, and even more!

Since I had nothing better to do, I started looking for ways to spend my dungeon points instead. The room itself was mostly finished; only animals, stones, and plants were missing, but all of those did cost mana, so I could only search for a different option.

"Dungeon!"

Stolen novel; please report.

「Dungeon of Foxes:

Add room

Unlock Flora

Unlock Floor

Unlock Materials

Unlock Traps

Mana: 4, DP: 4615」

Given these choices, it was hard to decide where to spend my valuable points. Creating new rooms would cost me a lot of mana, I knew that, so a new floor was also a bad idea. I also didn't know what to do with the acquired materials and flora as I already had more than enough choices for the moment.

Traps still needed to be unlocked, but to be honest, I thought stronger monsters would be a much wiser choice to spend my mana on at least in the short term. I needed my strength now, in this moment, especially since my father was still out there.

"If only I could travel back in time..."

I couldn't help but sigh. There wasn't a part of me that hated my father; on the contrary, I still hoped he would show up and explain that all of this was a huge mistake he had made and that we could just be something like a family again. Of course, I knew that wasn't meant to be. He had hurt me, and deeply so. And as far as I knew, I wasn't his first victim either.

There were too many questions and not a single answer in sight. Was I left with no choice but to wait for my father and ask him myself? He would likely just lie straight into my face! But what else could I do? Ask Cilia?

It took about a minute – far too long – for me to realize that this was exactly what I should do. I had a direct connection to a goddess, something even the most devout couldn't boast about, so why shouldn't I use it to my advantage?

Finding a way to communicate with her, compared to even coming up with the idea, was quite straightforward. She was a goddess, so it had to be a prayer!

I quickly made my way back to the fur bed where my dungeon core awaited, knowing full well that it was the closest thing to an altar. This was especially true since both the core and the furs had been gifted to me by the goddess herself, meaning they were of divine origin.

"Cilia, Light of Life," I began my prayer, making sure to remember her gentle touches and warm words. "Heavenly Mother, with a concerned heart, I come to you. Enlighten me so that I may understand the reasonings of my father. I seek this from you in your almighty name, oh Goddess of Foxes. Elevate me with your eternal warmth."

A sudden drowsiness overcame me even before I finished my makeshift prayer. I could barely keep my eyes open long enough to embrace my core when I was already embraced by darkness.

The next thing I heard was a hearty laugh echoing painfully in my ears. Cilia was nearby. "Who taught you that?!" she asked after catching her breath. "That was funny!"

Once again, I couldn't answer or open my eyes, although I desperately tried to do both. It was only when I had given up that Cilia overcame her amusement and began to stroke behind my ears, a gesture promptly answered with a purr of mine.

"You don't need such fancy words for me," she said, still stroking me, "but it's been a while since someone dedicated such an honest prayer to me."

"I've missed you..." I kept thinking about that sentence, hoping she would read my thoughts as always.

"It's only been a day," Cilia laughed again. "But I've missed you too." She spent a few minutes tending to my need for maternal love before sitting up and taking a deep breath. “I’m sorry I can’t answer your question as I have no means to watch your father at all times. Or at all, that is.”

“I see…”

“There are many reasons as to why one would try to corrupt, destroy, or enslave a dungeon, many more than one might be able to count. As for why your father has decided to do so, you might have a better idea than I do.”

“...”

“Don’t you worry a thing! You have all the tools you need to protect yourself. And as soon as you begin growing your tails, little troubles like that will sooner or later stop mattering to you.”

“Tails?” I couldn’t help but ask. “Why would I need more tails?!”

"You silly little fox~" she laughed. "Of course, with each godly blessing we receive, we grow an additional tail! That's common knowledge!"

"How many tails do you have?"

"Of course, I have nine!" she proudly announced. "And I wouldn't want to miss a single one of them!"

"Will I get them too?!"

I couldn't help but imagine what it would be like to have additional tails. It was such a strange image. Each tail had a different color, matching its element, making me look more like a colorful bird than a fox, and I couldn't even sit properly!

Cilia just laughed at my ideas. "So many unnecessary worries~," she said with a playful voice while continuing to stroke me. "You already got your first blessing and did it make you look any less cute? Not a single bit~"

My purring grew even stronger. Cilia's words somehow managed to alleviate my seemingly unnecessary fears. Sure, there was a lot more trouble waiting for me in the future, but I knew I wasn't alone - I could just pray to her, and Cilia would calm me down again. What could be wrong with that?

Cilia gave me a few more minutes In her gentle care, then she slowly sat up. "Looks like that's it for now," she said with a gentle voice. "Sleep well, my sweet daughter~"

As soon as she finished speaking, I grew sleepier and sleepier, so much so that I could hardly form a single thought anymore. Before I knew it, I was drifting into a world of dreams where Cilia's caresses and soothing words had only just begun. It was the best dream I ever had...