Cantor raised his hand up abruptly, stopping the group of mercenaries. “ the noise, it stopped. “ Cantor said to the confusion of his allies. “ huh” Shisu said, he could still hear the droning roar perfectly fine. Before anyone could try and correct Cantor, he realized his mistake. “ That noise right now, that is just the echo. The source just stopped. Or perhaps stopped a few minutes ago. We’ve been going in the wrong direction all morning.” Cantor explained, causing Shisu to give a quiet “ ahh”.

It only made sense that Cantor could hear much better than the rest of them, considering he eclipsed the second-highest level member of the group by 8.

“ So it’s on the other side of the valley somewhere? How far do you think we are away?” Byrne asked with a sigh. Cantor gave a look at the sky: it was bout midday now. “ it’ll be fucking dark before we get anywhere near the other side. We’d have to expend some stamina to get there before dusk break.“ Cantor estimated.

“ Well, we’d have to be some right fools to do that. So what do we do now?” the final warrior, Ovi, asked. “ Yeah, Canty, whata we gonna do now?” Shisu added on with his hands on his hips, which was ignored by the group’s leader. Cantor just tsked, remembering just this morning when they first heard the roar emanating from the forest. He had thought about sending a messenger back up the mountain to keep the plain lord’s men from entering the valley, but he had already sent the two most vetted woodsmen in his regimen to go hunt down the escapees. He could have done himself, but the mission was one of speed and precision. Any delay could have unforeseen consequences. So he went out to investigate first, either kill what ever beast was making the noise, or deem it too dangerous to deal with and postpone the mission. But, after royally screwing up, it would be impossible to do either of those things today, as he planned to do. Now, I’ll just have to head over to the route, or camp, and have them pause the march, so I can investigate tomorrow. The squad will probably get rowdy with the villagers, but it’s the best course of action.

After the minute-long contemplation in silence, Cantor simply let out a sigh, which made Shisu chuckle. “ well, make haste to the Baja camp, and keep them from heading into the valley. Then tomorrow we’ll have to go look for the beast.” Cantor said. Shisu gave another laugh, “ I told you we were going in the wrong direction. After last night, I’d think we’d be closer than that- that you’d have trust in me.”.

Cantor rolled his eyes and slapped his junior in the back of the head, causing him to face-plant into the dirt. “ Alright, let’s get a move on” Cantor said before taking off into the forest with Ovi and Byrne trailing after him dutifully, ignoring the just now getting off the ground Shisu.

“ hey guys! Oi, slow down! You know I can’t run that fast! Canty!” Shisu yelled at their backs, scrambling to run after them.

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Well, it does seem that my spawn can leave the dungeon. I wonder if they wanted to, could they just leave forever… I mean, before, I couldn’t simply order the muppets to fight, as they were afraid to. Maybe this is different, but I don’t know how I would test it. If the dungeon spirit were to tell its spawn to leave, then that would be an order, so it's not like it would mean anything if it just counteracted that order with another to stay. The spawn wouldn't really be trying to leave, it would just be following an order. The only real way to test if it could command a spawn to stay would to have one that wanted to leave. Though if they did, the dungeon spirit would likely not stop them. No matter, with much DP comes much change; time for some renovating. I'll get some answers to some questions while I'm at it.

Not wanting to accidentally harm, or even kill, one of the sleep muppets the dungeon spirit told them to move to its room closest to its core. On a whim, the dungeon spirit easily popped its core out of the dirt, not wanting any random attack from the dirt to be able to easily touch the core and kill the dungeon spirit, and gave it to the muppet pair to protect for the time being. They could handle any random worm that became attracted to the core. The picture of the two sleeping with the core next to them gave the dungeon spirit many ideas, but it was an entrance to end room kind of worker, it wanted to finish everything else before working on the final room.

The theme was simple for the first level of the dungeon: an abandoned mining operation built into a cave that happened upon something dangerous in the earth. As a start, the dungeon spirit started to seal up the hole it had opened for Rangtwor, but thought against it at the last moment. The dungeon will have multiple entries, though perhaps not all should be used. So it started at the tunnel furthest from the core, then started pushing that out even further. Once it had gotten a long distance from the core, the dungeon spirit stopped and moved its focus upwards, slanting the tunnel upwards at an angle that it climbed slowly to the surface. It contracted the tunnel there, but kept it tall enough that the average human, by its estimates, would only barely have to stoop their head to walk through the entrance.

Now, how to make wood… first the dungeon spirit tried to transmute the dirt into wood, like when it made dirt into air. That failed, curious. The dungeon spirit tried to make the dirt into stone, which worked. The dungeon spirit slapped its imaginary face, damn, I should have tried that earlier, going to have to redo all the walls now. No more worms, though. The dungeon spirit shook the thoughts away before trying out its creation object skill, summoning forth wooden supports to frame the entrance. It was not very natural looking though, so the dungeon spirit pushed its territory upwards and pumped more dirt between the ground and the entrance, creating a small growth that it shaped into a natural looking piece of the forest. While I’m here, though, I should take some of these easy to reach samples.

With a small exertion of territory, the dungeon spirit popped out onto the surface. There were a multitude of plants and bugs on the surface area here, though it seems digging the tunnel scared away anything larger. With a check of its menu, the dungeon spirit noted it had already gained the summoning for all the plants on its surface, but no new animals for it to spawn. Perhaps they do need to be killed in order for me to obtain their spawn, makes sense seeing how I have no spawn for humans despite having already housed one. Should only take a minute to obtain some spawn while I'm here.

With Rangtwor gone, the two protecting its core far away, the dungeon spirit decided just to spawn a new muppet. It failed, buzzing in the same way when it tried to summon one on top of the worm. So these little fellows count as delvers, or invaders, then. With the knowledge of its last spawning, the dungeon spirit created a muppet at the closest range and called it over to kill the bugs. Nice. Back to working in the dirt. You can go little buddy, this tunnel will close off soon, the dungeon spirit told the new spawn, who hurried off with a panicked little squeak.

Seeing as my dungeon is in the dirt, it would actually be weird for there to be rock up on the surface here. Eh, nobody will know if I just start the rock below the surface, unless they are geomancer or something. Hmmm…. I might as well do it right then, no half assing. Just moving up the rock layer was an option, though the time to take all the territory would be high, and it lacked realism. Though, if I am to do this… the dungeon spirit reached out with its Manage Territory, reversing the skill and watching as it lost control of a small section of its dungeon. If I can take back my territory, huh, that’s nice… then it's time to do a little remodeling.

Before that, the dungeon spirit wanted to close off the long shaft it built, A vertical shaft would make much more sense considering the depth. The dungeon was already some twenty feet under the ground at some points and was still encompassed by dirt (clay, rock, biomass, and sand substrate to be more precise, but, dirt). How to close it would be the question, seeing as the dungeon spirit had no ability to delete matter using its Shape Environment skill, being able to create it seemed like a long shot. In the spirit of thorough examination, the dungeon spirit willed dirt to pop into existence. Nothing. Seems I will have to construct the tunnel out of transmuted air. With a quick test, the dungeon spirit confirmed it would be able to turn the air to dirt.

One last step remained, the wooden support the dungeon spirit had created at the entrance. This time, the dungeon spirit reached out to its Create Object skill, but found no way to reverse the effect of the ability. It tried its hardest to mentally control its hold over the ability, but it was for little use. I suppose it is not called a Create and Destroy object, I’ll just have to bury the support. With a quick use of Shape Environment, the support was pulled into the dungeon by shifting dirt, clearing the way for the filling of the tunnel.

For step one, the dungeon spirit dissolved the mound it had created on the surface, letting the layer of plants returns to its natural position, deleting its territory on the surface. Just not my style. Next, it willed all the air within a couple of inches of the tunnel wall along the whole length to transmute into dirt, which caused a puff as air rushed in to fill the air. A wind ran all the way through the dungeon, pushing into the rest of the tunnels. Hmm, doing a one to one transmutation of air to dirt might make a lot of noise… ah, whatever, I don't feel like being slow. With a casual bat of its mind, the dungeon spirit compacted the loose dirt in the air and on the ground of the tunnel before creating a constant transmutation of air to dirt within the tunnel. The wind screamed as the air rushed in fasting enough to kill, quickly sealing the tunnel in a few minutes. Finally, the dungeon spirit retreated its borders from the tunnel, giving the space away to nature.

A bit of a waste of time, but I suppose I know how to fill in any mistakes I make in the future. Though, if they are deep underground, I may have to create a tunnel directly to the surface to obtain the air for the transmutation. If the winds from the constantly collapsing vacuum surrounding the transmutation would have to run through the whole dungeon, it would destroy a lot of things. It’s possible I could use that as a weapon. I wonder what it might take to create some wind elements, could the wind obtain exp if it killed someone? Probably not, it would take a high mana content in the environment to create a wind spirit, and that was just the prerequisite, the time to make one would be at least years of dedicated effort. Not sure if killing people with wind could possibly speed it up…

Now, the dungeon spirit had to sink the entire dungeon, before that was possible it would need to make an area for its spawn so as not to kill them. Thinking about it, do they need fresh air to survive? With a flex of will, the dungeon spirit transmuted some of the carbon dioxide in the air to oxygen, just to be safe. I’ll make this the main entrance, actually, I’ll use the tunnel I made earlier, so if that girl comes back she will know where to enter and hopefully where to guide people. People could get lost looking for the entrance of a dungeon if it was hidden despite the call of the dungeon. The call of a dungeon was a more wide scale and vague effect, it didn’t really take people to the entrance but the general vicinity of the dungeon.

A gush of air filled the dungeon, this time coming from within, as dirt was made into air that whistled through the entrance to the surface. It was a few minutes before dirt shifted abruptly into bedrock, not as deep as it could be, thankfully. Though, if the muppets were to hop down, they would definitely splatter despite being relatively light. Drawn by the wind, two muppets stood around the hole, staring straight down in the abyss. It’s your new home, guys, the dungeon spirit told them. The new muppet was apathetic to the development while the older one was moody, it seems like they were just awoken by the noise and weren't greatly interested in moving. Ha, you have no choice in the matter, little one, not too long till this level is nothing but dirt. A rope ladder weaved itself into existence, step after step manifesting in the muppet’s eyes before the darkness grew too great to see anything. The dungeon spirit left the monkeys to their own devices, creating a small room with a lambert jelly king to light the room up, as well as spawning a few bugs down there, to keep the children entertained.

One after the next, the muppets climb down the latter, each mood worse than the last. Oi, did you really leave my core up here, you little shit? The dungeon spirit asked as it noticed its heart left undefended in the old core room. In a spat of petty revenge, the dungeon spirit pushed the core quickly down the tunnels on a wave of raised earth to the shaft to the next level, aiming its only weak point on a ten-foot drop straight onto the skull of a previously sleeping muppet that left its core. It screeched in annoyance, gripping the latter tightly. With quick reactions, the youngest muppet calmly snatched the core out of the air. At least I can trust one of you, the dungeon spirit said with a disappointed shake of its imaginary head.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

It was quite interesting to the dungeon spirit after it got over the fact of the muppet leaving its core, interesting that its spawn were so obviously nonplussed by their creator’s existence, even if they followed its orders to the best of their ability. At least, to its knowledge, they did. That understanding was held back by the length of its existence, which, if its sense of time was correct, was probably only a couple of days old. It could really become a problem if its orders were just outright ignored in the future, if its spawn could leave the dungeon undefended in a fit of emotion. It couldn’t rely on the absoluteness of its orders, that was a surefire way to die one of these days. I should just work on my presence, to make these muppets want to follow my orders. If I wanted to make them follow my orders, I could also use other means…

The dungeon spirit waved that trail of thought away, it was getting distracted. That whole problem could be addressed when it had its first level at least, if it was a problem in the first place. The muppets did eventually fight for me, once they got over their fear.

Now, for this level. Quickly, the first level was destroyed, leaving but a long shaft leading to the room at the bottom with its core and the muppets. That is a long drop, I’ll warn Rangtwor. Quickly, the dungeon spirit summon forth a temporary wooden sign which showed in pictures the dangers of the drop. It wasn’t exactly aware of its limits in the area of its territory, there were no solid numbers, which is odd, but there was a feeling like running your hand closer to the edge of a taut string, feeling it grow tauter till you reached the end. It hadn’t felt close to the end of its territory after creating the long tunnel to the surface, before, in fact it felt like it was on the opposite side of the spectrum.

The dungeon spirit felt confident that it could control a vastly larger area compared to the level it had just destroyed. Estimating the average size of a human to be 130 percent the height of the girl from before, I’ll call it 100,000 hu, for 100,000 humans long, the dungeon spirit concluded that it could create a system of tunnels 100,000 times that length at an average diameter of roughly one and 1 forth humans, which works out to roughly 777,700 cubic hu, with another 260,000 cubic hu for rooms and other things that may come up. The dungeon spirit deduced it would be good for a first level. Throw two, maybe three, safe rooms in there, and it's a great length for a couple of days long excursion, a week at the longest. Any longer than that and they may as well become a denizen themselves, seeing as they are a lousy delver.

But, given the allotted number of DP to tunneling, 50 percent of the total DP, the dungeon spirit could only produce a single section of the first floor in its mind.

Without further ado, a tunnel started in the room the muppets were sitting in, blowing them with strong winds, though not as strong as the dungeon spirit's other efforts. It was holding back for now, in fact, it was creating a little nook for them to rest outside the path of least resistance for the wind it would be creating. The muppets quickly placed themselves into the new room with a mental prod from the dungeon spirit. A tunnel quickly appeared, blasting winds strong enough to weather a house into a foundation, causing the dungeon spirit to reinforce the tunnel to the surface with rock, for now.

As the dungeon spirit dug, it also thought, filling in the details of the dungeon as it went through the relatively easy part of creating the tunnels. The tunnels would be able to be subdivided into four areas of branching and connecting tunnels, with only one or two tunnels heading out into the next sections. Some of these areas would have their own entrances to the surface, being shortcuts they would also have a balance for the ground they skipped, they would tunnel straight into the most dangerous part of any area they were in. it would be a terrible ambush for anyone not prepared, though they would have no ladders in them, which would push away the unprepared from just hopping down.

Tunnels would be filled with various obstacles, traps like pitfalls and loose rocks, spawn like muppets, and the environment itself. Getting lost could send one in a circle for hours and hours. With the up and down nature of the areas, which could be divided themselves into three distinct layers of elevation, remembering what path you had already been on would be hard to see from a new angle after an hour trodding back from a long dead end. That would only be exacerbated by the traps and spawn slowing them down, if it didn’t just outright kill them beforehand.

Breaking up the long winding tunnels were various rooms, which themselves varied in size, loot, and danger. The first room the dungeon built was some odd five hundred hu in, which consisted of a knocked over mine cart filled with dense ore that shone with visible lines and nuggets of precious metal. It was a small room, anyone coming from a tunnel could see that from just the ethereal glow of the scattered lambents. But, unnoticeable to anyone not experienced or extremely observant, were cracks in the floor that would put anyone who fell down on the lowest layer of the first level and in a den of spawn. It could be avoided, quite easily in fact, but most would miss it and most would die before ever being able to use their newfound knowledge. To spite them ever more, the bottom level they were going to drop to was opposite to the entrance, which was on the highest level above the level they dropped from.

Well, they would fall into a monster den, but I haven't got there yet. For now the pitfall sat on top of a one-foot drop just so the dungeon spirit knew where to connect the trap to the next level.

At this stage, the dungeon spirit was unable to fill the dungeon or really plan where to place most of its future spawn, as of now it had little variety in the matter. One of its spawn wasn’t even able to survive solely on land. Once Rangtwor came back, the dungeon spirit would use her knowledge of the surface to plan a better expedition, actually search for creatures that would fit useful niches in the dungeon. Well, I hope she has some good information, she’s been hours now. Either she is taking her time or she is dead. Thinking about it, I should have summoned some muppets to help her. It is too late now, I've no idea where she is.

Though, the muppet was quite important to the dungeon spirit, already it had plans for her, and she was very high leveled compared to her kin because of her battle against the worm. Hmmm, actually, it would be best to send help.

It was not likely they would be of use, but on the off chance they were, the dungeon spirit created a trio of muppets, which took up a relatively small chunk of the DP it had assigned to spawn. It paused its earth shaking work and summoned a few weapons, Find Rangtwor, if you can. Kill anything that stands in your way. Save your forebear. The muppets gave a few spirited hoots and howls and left with a mission in mind. The lazy duo scowled at their noise, the wind they could tune out, but their screeches were unexpectable. You two best be happy, it was either them or you, the dungeon spirit said. They smoothed their expressions and mumbled their innocence.

As soon as the new trio were gone, the dungeon spirit was back to work. For the time being, it would focus its efforts on this first area, which would be its first defense against delvers and invaders alike. It was mostly done in that respect, having finished all the human sized tunnels, running about 19,000 hu. From its calculations, the dungeon spirit estimated that it cost about .2 DP to clear out one cubic hu of rock. It was far from the complete picture the dungeon spirit had in mind of the finished first level, but it was running low on DP, having about ten percent of DP it had gotten from killing that worm in unallocated, liquid, form.That was quite convenient, minus that part where I almost died. The thought of inducing a similar event bubbling in the dungeon spirit’s mind, but dismissed it. Really, it was only luck that Rangtwor managed to slay the worm, if it had acted more cautious it could have just used its magic and long tail to subdue the muppets and finish me off.

This section is basically done, pretty much leaves me with finishing touches for me to consider. The dungeon spirit had no desire to waste DP on a temporary core room, such a thing was mostly frivolous anyways. Having your core in an obvious location would guide any invaders to it, and delvers had no interest in snatching the core. It was mostly for aesthetic reasons that the dungeon spirit desired a core room, it just made a beautiful crown jewel as the last room of the dungeon. If any delvers manage to make it so far, it only feels right that I show my truest form to them instead of hiding away. They would risk their lives in the dungeon to get stronger, it would be disrespectful to be afraid of them after what they went through.

Besides, I’ll never let anyone be in the position to snatch my core so easily, my final boss will be strong enough to slay any who threatens me. Will, being in an important word. For now, the dungeon spirit commanded a muppet to pick its core up and selected a good spot far into the dungeon and out of the way. The muppet holding it looked on in reverence at its shiny form, I believe this must be the muppet I spawned to kill the bugs. Hmm, for your birth role I shall call you Wissen. My head researcher and personal assistant. Satisfied with the idea, the dungeon spirit told the muppet of its name and purpose, who nodded excitedly.

While I’m at it, might as well name the couple. With a second to think their names through, the dungeon spirit reached out to them, you two shall from here on be called Amor and Eros. I shall most graciously allow you two to decide amongst yourselves who holds what name. They shuffled and huffed a little bit in their collective ball of fur, which the dungeon spirit took as a consent. It's only a wonder how long they have slept since their birth, from the dungeon spirit’s perspective they had been asleep for more than ninety percent of their lives.

Wissen, place me in that hole in the wall, painfully slow, the muppet tip toed over to the section of the wall before pushing her cupped hands carefully into the crevice. Carefully, the muppet removed its hands from underneath the core, allowing it to smoothly transition to being supported by the rocks. Wissen looked on sadly as the wall grew around the core, a breeze cutting though her fur as the core dispersed from her view. Somewhat vacantly, the muppet flopped onto the ground, fidgeting with a leaf she plucked from a plant while staring into nothing.

You need not wait here, Wissen, you can go off and explore. The muppet responded with a negative, though lacked the vocabulary to add anything else. Well, what kind of creator would I be if the sawn I made just sat here in silence and sadness? The dungeon spirit thought she was bored, so summoned a multitude of bugs, she could chase down and eat. She stayed still and depressed. I guess she was with the other two muppets, so perhaps here she is lonely, though I did say she could leave… fruitlessly, the dungeon spirit Informed Wissen that her presence was not needed here, the dungeon core was well hidden here. In fact, your presence might alert delvers of my position. That just made the muppet slowly draw herself up and start walking away, eyes watery. I am not good at this, tell you what, Wissen, what do you want?

[I want to help you] the muppet supplied in the language of thoughts, showing the dungeon spirit in imaginary constructs what she wanted. I see, I guess I do need mages…. Well, she is supposed to be my head researcher, magic would make a good spot in her repertoire. With a flex of Create Object, the dungeon spirit summoned forth a thick tome, inscribed with is knowledge of magic casting. While my knowledge may be lacking in specifics, my knowledge is also broad. A little basic magic is something I can explain easily. Without even being told, Wissen snapped the book out of the air, looking over it in confusion. This is how you will help me, small one. Learn magic to better purpose this dungeon, the dungeon spirit commanded, giving purpose to Wissen’s being. With all do haste, the muppet opened the book, staring intensely at the first page. She ran her eyes over the text a few times, worrying the dungeon spirit.

The text read,“ A guide to basic magics…” and a list of chapters and their page numbers. Tell me, Wissen, can you read. The muppet just cocked its head, staring at the book in bewilderment. I suppose one would need to read first… well I'm not teaching her. With another flick of its Create Object ability, the dungeon spirit manifested a stack of books half a hu high. Study these first, I’ll be back later to see your progress, the dungeon spirit projected before sighing, teaching a monkey to read is a bit much for me, I’ll just leave her to her devices.

Already Wissen was tearing into the first book, scanning the first page with her full attention. On it was an image of an apple with its accompanying word. I guess it's fine if she doesn't know how to speak, just reading is fine. Though, I don’t think she knows what an apple is in the first place…

Whatever, she seems happy. Back to work.

Next, it would add all the smaller tunnels that would work to service the ecosystem of the dungeon. The small tunnels were not meant for the secondary and tertiary consumers, like muppets, instead they were for the smaller primary consumers, herbivores, so they could navigate the dungeon without having to run into choke points. Any predator could then easily guard these choke points and lead to a situation where the predators out hunt the birth rate of the primary consumers just because of the habitat. The dungeon was much more like a closed cage than an open forest, just because there were many tunnels didn’t mean these smaller creatures could survive in the cramped conditions.

Some small predators could fit into these SPCTs (small primary consumer tunnel), such as spiders and snakes, but they would do well to keep the herbivores from being too safe. Finally, to balance the ecosystem, ninety percent of the flora will be located outside these SCPTs, forcing the herbivores to enter the larger tunnels to get the majority of their food. So with the push force of the predators, the pull force of the food, and hopefully a balancing force in the small predators, the dungeon ecosystem would be self-sustaining. Well, the animal part of the system would be self-sustaining. At least, that's what I hope, the system could use a lot of tweaking to get right.

On top of those SPCTs, the Dungeon spirit created another set of tunnels too large for large predators, but would be good for say, something the size of a fox, and serviceable for something the size of a muppet. Though, it would be cramped for a muppet, so their hunting efficiency will most likely be low in these tunnels.

On the plant side of things, the dungeon spirit ran a quick experiment to figure out some factors that went into creating and feeding plants. Like with the denizens, feeding the plants took no energy; in addition to when it created the plants, the dungeon spirit could also control how the plants grew and shaped themselves when it fed them. Though, it was not necessary to, they could also grow on their own. Setting up the plants was a little tricky as well, seeing as the walls of the dungeon were made out of stone. To solve this, the dungeon spirit created mats of roots between two layers of stone, with some pockets in the outer layer of stone to lock the mat in place, then filled that area between the inner and outer tunnel with dirt and deleted the outer area of stone, creating a layer of dirt around some tunnels. Some, that is. Not all tunnels got the same treatment, most in fact only having sparse patches of dirt for plants to grow in. Some caves just got moss. Variety is the spice of life, indeed. Also, trying to make it through some of those more flora dense areas will definitely be hard, so best not to overwork the delvers by making them just hack through plants.

To keep delvers from destroying too much ecosystem while making it through the dungeon, the dungeon spirit put many dense tunnels out of the way, or in areas which could be bypassed. It would be best to ignore these tunnels, except for the one with a chest behind it

It would be a twisting a winding journey filled with the reminder of a past that never existed, filled with a blossoming ecosystem (once the dungeon spirit placed in the creatures to make it run), and loot hiding behind brush, spawn, and more important long, long, tunnels to wear down the mind and body.

A dungeon fit to kill and to weed out those not fit for the power of its rewards. But though those who do succeed, their strength will allow them to contend kings, fight dragons, and shake the world. Maybe.