The first order of business is moving my core. With my running assumption being that if the core breaks I die, I really don’t want it so close to the entrance.

I focus on the wall opposite from the entrance, and begin to carve another passageway. This is going to take a bit of time. 10 feet long, 4 feet across, 7 feet tall, through solid rock. As a sort of experiment, once I have begun to dig, I focus intently, and pull my consciousness away from the action. After a minute, I look back to see it still being done.

Perfect. I can multitask.

I turn my attention back to the entrance of the dungeon. I really can’t just leave this open, but something tells me that fully obstructing it would be a bad idea for future mana flow, working under the assumption that my core won’t be able to drag mana through however many feet of rock is above me.

I am going to go out on a limb, and try something.

I will a portion of the wall to break away from the rock cleanly. After a moment, and some mana expenditures, I have a half foot thick stone slab, tucked seamlessly into the wall. It is a bit wider than the passageway, to leave some of the slab in the wall once I close it. I carve channels above and below the door to allow mana to pass through.

Once I have the slab separate from the wall, I begin to attempt to push some of my mana into it. I force the arcane particles into the rock, and then force my intent upon it. I give it motion. I give it rules. It is exhausting, but I feel like if it works it will be worth it. This should roughly be an enchantment, at least that is what you might call it in a fantasy book. It might have a different name here.

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I sort of step back, pull my focus a bit further away, to admire my own work. As I do, the enchantment on the slab kicks in. The slab begins to slide out of its position in the wall, across the passageway. My first magic door has been completed.

The enchantment is fairly simple. The slab, now a door, can move on its own side to side a limited amount. It has an open state and a closed state. It will open upon my command, and close after a set duration unless told to remain open for longer.

Once my dungeon was properly defended, I would put in place a way to actually open the door without my direct input. Maybe some kind of system that prevents multiple parties from being inside the dungeon at once? Who knows. I will cross that bridge when I get to it.

As I finish the arduous work of enchanting the door, the new tunnel finishing digging itself, and I bring my focus to the end of the tunnel, to the new room I want to create.

I set in my mind, plans to carve out a room identical in size to the first room. I allow mana to flow into the actions to speed it up, and once again pull my mind from it. This would be how I do things from now on, it only made sense.

As I did all this renovation, I could feel my skill with manipulating my surroundings increasing. More proficiency, more speed. At least that was what I hoped. It seemed to ring true, as the next room finished a bit faster than I figured it would.

Now onto the actual defenses, the traps. I wasn’t sure how to get monsters yet so traps would have to do. I didn’t particularly want anyone to die, but I have to defend my core, and a dungeon without risks isn’t any fun. The people who go into dungeons for a living probably understand they might die at any turn.

It was at this point that I felt something enter my range, distracting me from thinking of what lethal implements I could hide in the walls or floor. I rapidly shift my focus to it, and find a small bird perched beside the waterfall.

This might be useful.