Adventurer Mark’s POV:

The three adventurers entered the dungeon cautiously, Mark leading with his heavy blade drawn, Alexander at his side, staff raised, and Angelica in the back, muttering her usual warding spells. They’d traversed this dungeon before, and each time it seemed the place had shifted just enough to keep them on edge. This time, however, a new set of details threw them off balance, beginning with the polished, foreboding sign hammered into the wall at the dungeon’s entrance.

Angelica squinted at the inscription. “‘Curiosity is the path to bodily harm… risk… injury… suffering.’” She raised an eyebrow. “Since when do dungeons leave us moral warnings?”

Alexander scoffed. “It’s more a polite threat. A sign like that could be cursed. Or enchanted to discourage loitering.”

Mark shook his head slowly. “Or it’s a deterrent. I don’t like it.” His instincts as a seasoned fighter buzzed with alarm, and this unusually verbose message felt… targeted.

Alexander leaned in closer, studying the structure of the letters, burned deeply into the metal. “If this is the dungeon’s work, it’s either showing off or giving us a message.” He pulled back, nodding toward the path beyond the sign. “And look, that trail’s different too. Straight path, clean walls, no scrap lying around. Like it’s guiding us.”

Mark sighed and looked down at the cobblestone path, where the walls rose to his shoulder height, forming a clear passage. He’d been here before, he knew how littered and haphazard it had been last time, scrap metal, broken goblin weapons, remnants of creatures that never saw the light of day again. But now, it was all organized. “Feels wrong,” he muttered, almost to himself.

“You think they’re leading us somewhere?” Angelica asked, catching the wary look in his eyes.

Mark nodded slowly. “Dungeons don’t clean up after themselves. Not in my experience. But if it did, who… or what is running it?”

Alexander’s eyes gleamed. “That brings me to an interesting point. Use your Identify skill on one of those small… things in the shadows over there.” He pointed at what had once been labeled “Cubes,” the tiny, mechanical creatures that typically scuttled around collecting debris. They’d never attacked, never shown aggression; they were classified as “maintenance,” non-hostile and utterly unremarkable. Until now.

Mark’s eyes narrowed. He activated his Identify skill on a small, motionless form just beyond the walls. The readout scrolled through his mind, and his brows furrowed. “It’s called a… Cubling.”

Angelica and Alexander exchanged a glance, surprised. “Cubling?” Angelica repeated, the unfamiliar name hanging in the air. “That’s different.”

“Nothing in any dungeon has ever had an actual title for their non-combatants,” Mark said, crossing his arms thoughtfully. “Usually, it’s just ‘Cube’ or ‘Roach,’ simple labels. Why give a name to the maintenance?”

Alexander pondered aloud. “It could mean an upgrade or a shift in the dungeon’s management. And maybe, the dungeon itself… wants to distinguish them?”

“No level assigned, no XP,” Mark added, “just a name change. Still, something about this is off. Cublings, if that’s what they are now, didn’t used to care if we were here or not. They were like set pieces. So why the title?”

Angelica shrugged. “Maybe to keep us guessing? To make us feel observed?” She wasn’t used to dungeons observing them, and the very idea unsettled her.

As they moved along the pathway, the narrow walls seemed to press in on them, though they could see easily over the tops. Mark slowed, staring at the walls’ strange construction. Each wall was made of welded scrap metal, some of it polished and carefully riveted together, forming an eerie, jagged pattern. The craftsmanship was purposeful, no longer the haphazard structure they’d come to expect.

“It almost looks like… decoration,” Angelica mused, tracing her fingers over the metal.

“Or a trap,” Mark muttered, eyes darting over each ridge and seam. He wasn’t just uneasy, he felt watched.

Their steps echoed down the almost mechanically straight path, leading to the end of the chamber. Everything remained eerily silent except for the soft hum of the Cublings scurrying about in the background, tiny black orbs for eyes blinking in unison as they monitored the intruders.

“I don’t like the quiet,” Mark said finally, glancing around. “It’s almost like…they’re waiting for something.”

Angelica swallowed. “It’s as if the place wants us to underestimate them.”

“And maybe that’s exactly what it wants,” Mark said, keeping his hand on his sword hilt, his posture tense. “Let’s stay sharp. Whatever’s happening here, I doubt we’re the first to be unsettled by it, and I don’t want to be the first taken by surprise.”

As they entered the central area, the party paused, taking in the room’s stark changes. In each corner, a newly erected tower loomed, reaching nearly to the ceiling. They were tall, smooth structures, crafted from gleaming cubes stacked with meticulous precision. The sight of them was jarring—each tower was so uniform, almost polished, and yet, some cubes protruded just enough to act as hand and footholds, as though inviting someone to climb.

Mark squinted at the towers, his instincts pricking with alarm. “These weren’t here last time. And they don’t look like anything we’ve seen in a dungeon before,” he said, voice low, wary.

Alexander studied the closest tower, fingers absently tracing patterns in the air. “These towers… almost look like they’re meant to be climbed. But why? Nothing in this dungeon has ever wanted us to interact with it like this.”

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“Remember the sign back there?” Angelica murmured, casting a glance over her shoulder. “‘Curiosity leads to risk. Risk leads to injury…’” She trailed off, her face tight with concern. “It might be talking about these.”

Mark’s gaze darkened as he considered her words. “It would fit. These towers aren’t just decorations, they’re part of something. Look at how smooth they are. And the handholds… they’re tempting.”

Angelica nodded, her eyes fixed on the eerie symmetry. “It feels like a trap. That sign wasn’t just a warning about curiosity, it was a warning for anyone foolish enough to take up the challenge these towers seem to offer.”

Alexander stepped closer to the nearest tower, squinting at the seamless joins between each cube. “And if it is a trap, it’s more clever than anything we’ve seen here before. It’s… intentional.” He turned to Mark. “What do you think? Dare we climb?”

Mark looked back at the towers, noting how each one mirrored the others, their surfaces almost pristine, polished with unnatural care. He’d learned to trust his instincts over the years, and every one of them screamed that these towers were as dangerous as they were enticing.

“No,” he said finally, shaking his head. “We don’t know enough. This place keeps showing us things that feel out of place, and for all we know, the towers could be meant to cull the overconfident.”

Angelica shivered slightly, taking a few steps back. “I agree. The whole setup is too clean, too… orderly. Whatever’s doing this has a plan, and we don’t want to be a part of it.”

Mark turned to them both, a grim determination in his eyes. “We stick together. If this dungeon has changed enough to start laying out something like this, then we need to be smarter, faster, and twice as careful.” He cast one last look at the towers. “Let’s keep moving. But keep your guard up. I have a feeling we’re just scratching the surface.”

The room was dense with an unsettling tension, the new towers casting deep, shifting shadows across the floor. Mark, Alexander, and Angelica moved slowly, eyes peeled for traps or hidden mechanisms. It felt as if the very walls were watching them.

Alexander broke the silence with a low chuckle. "So, we got shoulder-height walls, ominous towers in each corner… I’m calling it now. This room’s one big invitation to climb and plummet to our doom."

"Right? It’s almost begging us to do something dumb," Mark muttered, his eyes tracing the towers’ height. "Like whoever, or whatever, made this was getting creative with their… I don’t know, architecture."

Angelica held back a chuckle, but something had caught her attention. Her gaze flickered over the Cublings with an intensity that hadn’t been there before. Her Eye of the Healer trait, a perception boost from her cleric training, allowed her to notice details others missed. The odd presence she felt among the tiny, seemingly harmless Cublings made her heart race. It wasn’t just any Cube. No, this one was different.

Mechalon, Level 5, Energy Core Cubling.

She kept her voice even, urging her friends, "Let’s keep moving. No need to spend extra time here."

Mark threw her a sidelong glance. “That’s the most suspicious thing you’ve said all day. Are we running from something?”

She gave him a tight smile. “Just a feeling, that’s all. Trust me?”

"Fine, but I reserve the right to grumble about it," he muttered as they edged toward the exit, wary of any sudden movement from the Cublings.

Once they were clear of the room and safely in the next corridor, Angelica finally exhaled, her shoulders sagging with the release of tension. She turned to the others, expression serious. “There’s… something you both need to know.”

Alexander crossed his arms, leaning closer. "Oh, this sounds good. Spill."

"One of those Cublings—well, it’s not like the others," she began, hesitating before delivering the bombshell. "It’s Level 5. It has a name. Mechalon. And it’s designated as an Energy Core Cubling."

Mark and Alexander stared at her, utterly dumbfounded.

"You’re kidding me," Alexander said after a moment, eyes wide with disbelief. "A Cubling with a level? I thought they were just… maintenance fodder. Non-combatants.”

"And yet, there it was. And the way it was watching us," Angelica shivered slightly. "It’s more than just a leveled creature. It was observing us, almost like… I don’t know. Waiting."

"Level 5?" Mark shook his head. "In this place? Even the boss isn’t that far ahead in level. And non-combatants… they don’t get levels. Not in any dungeon I’ve ever heard of."

The three of them were silent for a moment, letting the weight of that sink in.

Alexander cleared his throat, looking unnerved. "This is… unsettling. If I tell anyone back in town about a leveled-up Cubling, they’ll laugh me out of the guild. Cublings are barely worth a second glance. And yet… a level 5, Energy Core Cubling named Mechalon? No one’s going to believe it."

"It’s as if the dungeon’s shifting," Angelica murmured, her voice hushed with unease. "And that one Cubling… it was the only one with that kind of power. It’s not just another obstacle. It felt like an active force."

They all turned back to glance down the corridor toward the room they’d just left, each one lost in thought.

Mark finally broke the silence. “Remember the first time we saw that Cube statue? Back when everything in here was still… normal?”

The three of them nodded, eyes drifting toward the hallway they’d left. The statue was unmistakably strange back then, but now it felt more ominous, a marker, the beginning of this dungeon’s gradual transformation. Since that statue had appeared, things had only gotten weirder.

"It’s like everything started changing after that thing showed up," Mark continued, his brow furrowed. "If that Cubling, Mechalon, is tied to all this, then we need to rethink our plans."

Alexander glanced at the others, his usually sharp, sarcastic expression clouded. "We might be looking at more than just a dungeon here. If this place is evolving, who knows what it’ll become in another month?"

Angelica nodded. “I think we all know what this means. We can’t treat this dungeon like the easy grind it used to be. If Mechalon has risen to Level 5, what’s stopping others from following?”

Mark sighed heavily, clearly wrestling with a decision. “It might be time to graduate from this dungeon faster than we planned. Maybe come back later, but for now, we should keep moving before it throws any more surprises our way.”

They moved on with cautious determination, each one aware that they’d stepped into something far greater than the low-level grind they’d initially expected.