He looked at the new list, and smiled. 'Hey, that's nice! Nothing will really take all that- wait what the hell!?' He stared at the "Coal Forge" entry. 'A whole day! Why?'

Out of anger, he walked over to the Frog room and jumped into the mud, avoiding the frog eggs. The mud didn't splash or provide resistance to him walking through it. He climbed up the ledge, though he didn't need to spend much effort doing so, and punched the dirt wall. Nothing happened.

Holding his hands like claws, he swung, doing little more than scratching did. So instead he let his mind wander as he dug out a new room. 'So much shit to research, then make copies of things, then put them around to trap people. Man that guy's death felt gross. What even was that? Hey, you out there! Up there? What did I get when that guy died?'

[Unlocked: Dungeon can build rooms with effort in order to bypass room purchase mana cost. Other costs still apply.]

'Wait, an actual response this time? You suck! Give me more of those!'

There was no response.

He dug for awhile, getting a decent amount of space cleared. 'What other costs? Eh, probably just like I need to find lava in order to make a lava room so it costs to make lava just like it cost to make water. No need to answer, psychic hologram imaginary voice illusion messenger thingy.'

'There are a bunch of doors, mostly trapped. How should I even store those so people don't think they're useful? If it has to be in the Research room, it does need to be set up... oh wait, what about that door folder?' He remembered being at a store, not remembering which one it was, when he was younger. He was with a parent, but he didn't remember which one it was or what they looked like or their name. It's also not what he was focused on. 'Yeah, it was like a bunch of doors on a thingy you could flip through to choose which one to buy. Eh, I'll deal with it later.'

He had gotten a pretty decent way into completing the room before he got a message.

[Research completed: Rickety Awning]

[Research begun: Unstable Support Termite Nest]

'What was I doing with that again? Oh, right.' He stopped what he was doing, and made his way outside, looking at the small men, two of which were there. They were small, but anyone with a weapon is someone with a weapon. 'Okay you weirdos, I'm giving you this so you don't keep bugging me. I mean you could bug me with bugs, but you haven't done that, have you? You aren't like that chick that gave me a present. You could learn a lot from her.'

He only had to barely duck to get under the original awning he saw, but instead he sidestepped where he wanted this one. Sure, it was a trap, but it wasn't connected to anything. It should be fine and not send the wrong message. Right?

In only a few short moments, an awning began to appear from a transparent image to a solid one, just behind the exterminators.

------------- Dungeon Entrance -------------

Both of the guards were bored out of their minds, having very little to distract them from their post. Small breezes and drizzles were welcome, at this point.

"It'll be nice when the outpost has more set up and the dungeon's cleared. Might not be too long, now", Branch said to Lawg.

Lawg yawned and gave a halfhearted nod. Then he straightened his posture, seeing that Branch had already done the same.

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A shadow had passed over them, blocking out their own easily identifiable shadows, shed from the sun behind them. They looked up.

"Well, what do you suppose that means?", the middle-aged scout asked.

The rogue answered without sounding entirely confident. "It looks like it's showing some hospitality. Maybe an invitation?"

------------- Plainsheart Exterminator's Guild -------------

"The tavern's next door! We don't want your kind in here!"

The shout came from the receptionist's desk.

Sylde walked up to it anyway, and leaned over. "Happy to see me, Tilda?"

"What do you want?"

"More vellum. I'll trade you for my most recent report."

She rolled her eyes, but took his scroll and gave him a handful of new blanks.

"Wanna thank me?"

She looked very much not interested.

He started laughing and left.

Once he was gone, she smiled, then felt embarrassed. No one was looking at her, which was for the best. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a mug from next door on one of the tables, causing her to look away, back at the door that Sylde had just gone through. "What had gotten into him those years ago?", Tilda thought to herself.

------------- Dungeon New Room -------------

'It's not like I need all the broken wood. Like some of the pieces could be useful, I guess. Hey zombie! I got a job for you!' The entire room wasn't dug out. Far from it. But it was dug out enough that he thought he could put the pillar up once its research was completed.

The zombie entered the room, with mud all over itself, or at least up to just below its pectoral muscles. 'Is that how deep the mud is to you? I wasn't paying attention. Eh well, whatever. That much better, right? Anyway, go get the pieces of wood I don't want and put them in here. The only piece I can think of that I do want is the knife-like one I had for awhile. Don't take the good board, either!'

Once he was done with his last sentence, the zombie went back into the Frog room and beyond, to do as it was commanded. He looked at the room again, imagining broken pieces of wood and furniture sitting around in piles, making anyone that came through the room have to zigzag in order to get anywhere. While he stood there imagining people bypassing one pile or another, he also imagined something jumping at them or biting their heels from behind.

'Oh yeah, wasn't I going to put rats in the ground in an air vent thing?' That thought alone incentivized him to start digging out more of the room, or at least where he imagined the rats would come up from the ratway, hidden by a wood pile, in order to bother people.

[Research completed: Unstable Support Termite Nest]

[Research begun: Coal Forge]

'The termite nest is done? Nice! Alright, well you go over here.' He breathed out, seeing the slightly angled pillar connecting the ceiling to the floor, but not actually mattering.

[Spawner activated: Termite Colony]

[Option not available.]

'That option thing again! What is it? You know what, you're going to annoy me. So I'll just make all the spawners! Everywhere! I mean, spawners are just eggs and nests, right? I wonder if there's anything else. Maybe there is? Aw man, I should super put a bunch of mosquito eggs in there with the frogs. What else should go in here? Just termites and rats? Eh, I'll deal with it later.'

------------- Mountainthrone Exterminators Guild -------------

The royal guard handed the rolled-up leather-like scroll to the exterminator guildlady, who took it pensively. "This was recovered from the scene outside the gates this morning. They'll probably be expecting a copy sometime today, so I'd get on that."

The guildlady unrolled it and began to read.

"A new dungeon has appeared in Bogsreach during a routine hunt. It was first reported in the abandoned Bogsreach Temple of Forgiveness church. Two monsters were seen. One was a giant flying rock monster, and one was a giant that appeared to have been crushed by something heavy. An acolyte of the Ministry of Truth went rogue and attacked the dungeon using Old Script. The dungeon did not attack in response, but instead expanded its domain, moved its own Core, then decreased its domain repeatedly. This allowed the dungeon to run away. The Plainsheart Exterminators Guild and Plainsheart Ministry of Truth worked together to deal with the rogue. Reports since this incident have shown the dungeon to have taken over a nearby cave thought to be a remnant of the destroyed Siege Stone dungeon. - Tilda Muss, Plainsheart Exterminators questhead, 254 y 3 m 29 d"

"I have a personal scribe, so it will be done within that time. What was it that got them? I didn't get any reports", she asked the royal guard.

"Unexpected giant clawstorm migration. No, you wouldn't have gotten any reports, since we didn't find any survivors. Thank you for your expediency." He didn't bow, or even nod, but he did turn to walk away, and left slowly.