I immediately got to work. This simple dungeon layout of a straight shot to my core would be no longer.

I created offshoots, growing my dungeon ever wider. I blocked some passages off and created new, more complicated ones to replace them. And, at one point, even descended further underground to grow even more.

***

As we once again approached the dungeon, I couldn’t help myself to tremble a bit. It was more than a month ago that we first attempted do delve into its depth and suffered the first defeat of our adventuring career.

And now we were back. Except this time, we came prepared. Well, it’s not like that matters much. We won’t be the main group to delve the dungeon.

It took us a while to go through all the bureaucracy, but once we finally managed to give our report of a cursed dungeon sighting, everything moved much faster. A delving team with a decade’s worth of experience was put to the task of examining (and if necessary, destroying) the dungeon. And our group was assigned as their guides, since we had ‘experience’ delving it. Not that that’ll do us much good, judging by how much it changed just on our second attempt at delving.

Still, willing or not, we were here now. By the source of more than one nightmare for our group. The dungeon we so lovingly nicknamed ‘Verdant Hell’ between the remaining five of us.

Yes, it wasn’t very verdant on our first delve, but the source of the nickname came more from our second one and why didn’t even attempt it. Seriously, who’s ever heard of a dungeon that can become completely overgrown by plants in just a single day?!

The delving group we were assigned to, the Fierce Four as they called themselves, didn’t care much for us. Sure, they acknowledged our existence, but other than that ignored us for the most part.

Even now they just barely made the effort to notify us of their plans. We’d go to sleep early tonight so as to be ready for tomorrow’s dungeon delve.

***

Hmm, I think I’m beginning to get it. And also, why it’s difficult to start out manipulating mana, but once one starts, it’ll become instinctual relatively soon.

I suppose it’s not that dissimilar to muscle movement, even if what I’m actually moving is completely different.

So, why can’t I just move mana by thinking about it real hard? The same reason why our bodies don’t move like that. Well, ‘our’ isn’t really applicable now, is it? Human bodies, then.

Stolen story; please report.

Back on Earth, when I though about moving my arms or something, nothing happened. No matter how hard I willed it, at most a strange tingle would begin in that body part. It was also a cause for some morning panic every now and then, when I didn’t realize why my body wasn’t responding. And no, it wasn’t sleep paralysis.

Because when one wants to move their muscles, they just do. You don’t have to think about it, you just do it. And the same goes for mana. It’s basically the same as learning to use a, till now, unused muscle.

Like flexing chest muscles or moving one’s ears. Sure, some people can’t do it due to genetics, but others simply don’t have the experience of doing so to call upon.

But how does one learn then, if you need to do it in the first place to begin?

Well, for mana it’s simple. I already have an innate ability to manipulate it, so I just have to internalize it and then emulate it. I’m not sure how it works for muscles. Maybe a ‘lucky’ cramp awakens it? Or would electric shock work? No matter, I don’t have a fleshy body anymore, so it doesn’t matter.

Suddenly, alarm bells ring in my mind. Intruders.

I was wondering when another group of challengers would risk delving into my depths. A bit later than I expected, but that’s fine. It just gave me more time to prepare.

I now have a much larger dungeon to combat them. A size I’d consider as three dungeon floors if I were stupid and made them separate like that. Instead, all three layers are interconnected at various points and the correct path loops up and down through each one multiple times.

Anyway, the first adventurer to enter my dungeon is one I vaguely recognize. The rogue woman that was trailing first party to visit me.

Not long after her, there enters the other sneak from that group. The ranger-ish man that had accompanied the wizard of the group. Speaking of the wizard, he’s nowhere to be found. In fact, for a little while, no one else enters.

(AN: I haven’t outright said this yet, and the MC hasn’t learned of it yet, but wizard is a very wrong title for Jared. I sort of implied it in the first POV switch, but that’s like calling a babysitter a professor, but more. Jared is only a spellcaster right now. Just keep in mind that the MC doesn’t know these things yet, so please don’t consider it worldbuilding when the MC calls something the wrong thing. Mana technically also falls into this category.)

After a while, both the ranger and the rogue return and leave. Huh, must have been scouting the area. Weird, they didn’t do that before. I wonder what changed.

Then, a completely new group of people enters. The people I’m familiar with trailing behind them.

Another thing to note is that the people who already invaded me earlier seem to be much more on edge that the other group. And make no mistake, they are definitely two distinct groups. Now I’m really beginning to get interesting in what is going on.

Did they take a job doing a guided tour for this new group? Why? Not only do they not have the experience to do so (they didn’t complete my dungeon even when it was in its infancy), it also seems like that’d pay much less than personally delving, right? Surely whatever they can scavenge from my monsters is worth more than doing a tour.

Hmm, hopefully I’ll find out soon. And it looks like they’re just about to encounter the newly enhanced toads.