“You WHAT?!" Eliza jumped from Lila’s couch.

“I made a dungeon.” Zoe repeated.

“How! What? Where? When? How did you do it? What’s the dungeon called? How much control do you have over it? Can I see it?" Eliza rattled off question after question.

“That’s why I’m here, yeah. I thought you’d wanna come see it.” Zoe said.

“Where is it? Let’s go, now. Lila dear, I’m sorry but dinner will have to wait.” Eliza said.

Lila chuckled. “That’s fine, you go have fun.”

“Uh, dinner might have to wait a few days, really. It’s quite a ways away.” Zoe said.

“I thought you were pretty quick? How far could it be?" Eliza asked.

“It’s on the moon?" Zoe said.

“The moon?" Eliza asked. ”Like, the moon moon. In the sky?“

“Yeah.” Zoe said. “If you wanna see it, it’ll be at least two days just for travel time. And then however long you wanna stay there for.”

“Right. Lila dear, I’ll be gone a while then. You stay safe and enjoy your peace and quiet.”

Lila waved her hand in a dismissive gesture. “You go have fun. I’ll stay right here. I had quite enough of the dungeon stuff last time we went out.”

Eliza pursed her lips. “Yeah. Sorry about that. I didn’t think that would get that deep.”

“It’s fine.” Lila said. “I said I was alright with it. I just thought there’d be more excitement and less intrigue. That’s my fault.”

“Did you not have a good time? Sorry about that.” Zoe said.

“No, no. It’s fine. Really. But you two go have fun on the moon.” Lila said.

“Sure. Then let’s go.” Eliza held out her hand. “You need to hold me, right?"

Zoe nodded and grabbed Eliza’s hand. “You sure about this? The moon isn’t very comfortable.”

“Bah.” Eliza shook her head. “I’ve probably been in worse. Let’s go.”

“Sure thing.” Zoe nodded and teleported them a few kilometers out of Korna, then up into the sky. When they got to the edge of Abyllan’s atmosphere, Zoe pushed warm cinders into the earthen suits they were wearing and created her large radiation shield of earth to block out the sun’s damaging rays.

“What’s all this for?” Eliza asked.

“Normally we’re on Abyllan, right? Where we have an atmosphere. There is no atmosphere out there.” Zoe pointed out towards the moon. “No wind to keep us cool, no particles floating through the air to block the sun’s radiation. We’re on our own. The shield blocks the sun, but then we freeze as our heat is ripped out into the vacuum of space, so the cinders in our suits keep us warm. Together, it lets us stay alive.”

“Fascinating.” Eliza said. “I wonder if I could replicate this. Do you mind letting me try?”

“Of course.” Zoe pulled down the wall of earth and created a large earthen platform for them to stand on rather than the earthen suits.

Earth formed in front of Eliza and rushed out to form a large earthen shield between them and the sun, while more earth rushed out to cover their bodies. Small wisps of flame danced across the earthen suits as Eliza’s mana ran through them. A steady flow of air rushed out from Eliza’s body to swirl around them and provide them with breathable air. Not quite as dense as Zoe’s cloud, but they wouldn’t suffocate, at least.

“Is this adequate?" Eliza asked.

“Maybe. Only one way to find out. Take us out to space and see if it hurts or not.” Zoe laughed.

“Can you teleport us out there?” Eliza asked.

“Not with your magic. You can try teleporting us, or you can just fly us out there. You’re pretty quick with that, from what I’ve seen.” Zoe said.

“How far would we have to go before the sun starts hurting?" Eliza asked.

“I dunno. Never really measured it. Few dozen more kilometers, maybe?” Zoe tried to shrug beneath the earthen suit, but the earth was stiff and blocked her movement. Was that how others felt when she had them locked in their suits?

She tried to let them move, and react to their movements to move the suit around, but was she doing a good enough job? Not being able to make simple movements really was quite uncomfortable, she found. And there was an itch on her lower back that she couldn’t get no matter how she fidgeted within the suit, too. Maybe she’d try and find a better solution for carrying people one day.

The platform Zoe created dissolved away into mana as Eliza lifted them off of it and pushed them out into space. They kept accelerating, faster and faster as Eliza pushed more mana into the suits to keep pushing them forward.

“Woah.” Eliza said after a few minutes of flying. “We just keep getting faster.”

Zoe nodded, as best she could with the restrictive suit covering most of her head. “There’s nothing in our way. No friction to slow us down. You can keep pushing us faster and faster and there’s really no limit to how fast we can go. Almost, anyway.”

“What’s the limit?" Eliza asked.

“Well the speed of light, technically. But also technically it’s not like there’s nothing out in space. There still is stuff out here, it’s just very spread out. Eventually we’ll be moving fast enough that we smash into enough of those tiny particles and can’t accelerate anymore. No clue how fast that would be.” Zoe said.

“How do you know so much about space?" Eliza asked.

“A lot of people back home were very interested in it, so I picked up bits and pieces here and there. Plus I’ve been out here quite a lot over the past few years myself, too.” Zoe said.

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“It’s fascinating. And the system still works out here. Of course it does, anybody who would have made it would have been from somewhere else anyway. It’s just fascinating that it still works in space. I thought there was a chance it would only work on planets. Some machination embedded into the planets that keeps it running, or something. But it seems omnipresent. Or at least if it is a part of the planet, its range extends quite far it seems.” Eliza said.

“I’d never even thought of that.” Zoe said.

“That the planet would be the source of the system?" Eliza asked.

“Yeah. I’ve been wanting to get into space travel for so long, but that just adds yet another layer of fear into it. What if I got to the moon and lost the system? Would I have been able to survive out here without the system’s skills? Maybe if I prepared, but if it was suddenly ripped away? I don’t think I would have.” Zoe said.

“Well, that’s the risk that comes with researching things sometimes. You would have been fine anyway, you’d just have to get yourself back a little without the system’s help. I can’t imagine you wouldn’t be capable of that.” Eliza said.

“I guess. Before I go any further in space I think I’ll at least want to get more practice with using my skills without the system’s help though. Just in case. That’s a good point I never even thought of.” Zoe said.

“It wouldn’t hurt. But enough about that. What’s the dungeon like?” Eliza asked.

“It’s called Foizo on the Moon.” Zoe said.

“Did you get to name it?" Eliza asked.

“I did.” Zoe said.

“And you called it that? You could’ve called it something so much better than that.” Eliza rolled her eyes.

“I dunno. I like it, honestly. It did end up just being Foizo but on the moon, though. But I do get a lot of control over how the dungeon appears.” Zoe said.

“How?" Eliza asked.

“I got a skill for it.” Zoe answered. “It’s a bit confusing, and there’s no description to it. But it lets me reorganize the dungeon. Create basically anything, as long as it’s within the dungeon. I’m basically god? But I don’t think it lets me make enchanted things, so I still have to enchant things myself.”

Eliza nodded, her earthen suit shifting to accommodate the movement. “That’s fascinating. Do you get to create the creatures that populate it?”

“I don’t. But there was an interesting thing I noticed. The boss, we named him Greg, is a very high level Cosmic Frost, whatever that is. He thinks he grew up in Foizo. Not Foizo on the Moon, but Foizo. It didn’t exist until rather recently, and he certainly was never there. But he thinks he was.” Zoe said.

“So you think the system created him with memories of Foizo implanted in him?" Eliza asked.

“I do. And it raises some questions about what I got from the dungeon boss of the Springs of gir.” Zoe said.

“Right, you never caught me up on that. How did that go, anyway?” Eliza asked.

Zoe shared the discussion she had with the inky black goblin.

“Interesting.” Eliza said. “What questions do you have, then?"

“Well, Greg believes he is from Foizo. The goblin believes it is from Gir. I think neither are from either. They’re just created, and memories implanted. But, what other memories would they have implanted? Could I implant memories into Greg, with my skill? Make him believe certain things about the dungeon? About his duty in the dungeon?" Zoe asked.

“Ah, I see. If this is how a dungeon under your control behaves, then it makes sense that other dungeons would behave similarly. So then, who created the Springs of Gir? Does Gir exist at all, or is it simply a creation by an imaginative person?” Eliza asked.

“Exactly.” Zoe agreed. “I thought they would be more… determined? Foizo on the Moon is just a dungeon. I’m making it sort of a productive dungeon, but I have to tell Greg what to do and how to treat people. I don’t just tell it to be a theme dungeon, like I thought I would.”

“Wait, your dungeon doesn’t have a classification already set?” Eliza asked.

“Not only does it not have a classification set, but Greg doesn’t even know what types of dungeons there are. They just do whatever I tell them to do. I tried telling them to be a theme dungeon, but he doesn’t know what a theme dungeon is.” Zoe said.

“But the goblin did.” Eliza said.

“Right. Which makes me think that the goblin was taught that, by somebody.” Zoe said.

“Which would mean that the Springs of Gir was also created by somebody, at some point. Perhaps somebody from so long ago that dungeons had different classifications.” Eliza suggested.

“That’s my thought, anyway. Dungeons are fake. They don’t mean anything, they aren’t from anywhere. They’re just amalgams of mana, formed to whatever is desired. Some might be created by individuals, like mine on the moon. Others might be formed by the system itself in areas of tragedy or the like. But they’re meaningless. Their lore, their history, it’s all made up. Even the way the creatures behave, the conversations they’ll have. All of it is predetermined.

“I don’t think Greg would do a single thing that I didn’t approve. So when the goblin boss let me come meet it, I think that was something that whoever made the dungeon said was okay, if specific criteria were met. And what it told me was probably a specific script created for it to share with the people it meets.” Zoe said.

“What’s the mana for?” Eliza asked. “Do you know?"

“Probably to repair the dungeon, honestly. I don’t know. It was harnessed, for something. You’d have to ask whoever made the Springs of Gir. I created a similar orb for my dungeon and have the creatures filling it with mana. The mana just gets spread through the dungeon and stored away for future needs, like if I want to do some remodelling or repair damages and stuff like that.” Zoe said.

“I see. Could you claim the mana back?" Eliza asked.

“I don’t know, why?" Zoe asked back and then noticed the outside of the earthen shield Eliza formed beginning to melt from the sun’s radiation. ”Actually hold on, your shield’s melting. You need to keep reforming it constantly as we move, you know?"

“Oh, really? Alright.” Eliza pushed more mana from her as the melting bits of earth were ripped off and thrown into the depths of space, only to be replaced by more earth that steadily flowed out from her hand. “I ask, because if you could claim the mana back then you might be able to use it for enchantments. Or maybe other dungeons?”

“You think that whoever made the Springs of Gir is using their dungeons to harness mana to keep building more dungeons?” Zoe asked.

Eliza shook her head. “Just a thought. I think if they were doing that, we’d see a lot more dungeons popping up in the area, though.”

“Maybe they’re dead?” Zoe suggested.

“And the dungeon’s just running without their input, storing an enormous amount of mana away that’s never going to be used?” Eliza asked.

“Yeah, why not?" Zoe asked. ”If I died, I think Greg would just continue doing what I told him to do before I left for as long as the dungeon kept running.“

“It’s a possibility. Maybe they’re just on another planet making more dungeons, like you are. Or the mana is used for something else. Or you can’t actually harness the mana at all like that. You should check, when we get there.” Eliza said.

“I will.” Zoe said.

“And could you speed us up? I’m glad to know I can get there myself, but I’d like to get there sooner.” Eliza chuckled.

Zoe laughed and mana rushed out from her form, creating another earthen platform for them to stand on. Eliza’s suits ripped apart and drifted off into space, while Zoe created her own with lines of smouldering cinders spread throughout. A wall was created just behind Eliza’s, and Zoe flooded the space with breathable air from her Gales skill.

She pushed their suits forward, accelerating them even more towards the distant moon and began Cosmic Stepping them forward, over a kilometer at a time, several times every second. A quiet period of travel later, and they landed just outside of Zoe’s dungeon.

“It really is just Foizo.” Eliza said.

“Yeah, but on the moon.” Zoe chuckled. “It’s Foizo on the Moon. Come, come. We’ll go meet Greg. See if anybody’s showed up at the dungeon in the last few days since I was here.”