I am not ready to give up talking to Oollie. I mean, we are just starting out. Maybe that is the part that got screwed up. But anyway, I think I need to try something else.

While I think about it, I ask him, “Can you say, papa?”

“Papa,” he replies. Perfectly. A bit too cute. But perfect. His eyes gleam, his ears wiggle.

I smile. And he smiles back at me.

“Can you say, papa likes momma?”

“Papa likes momma,” Oollie repeats the sentence perfectly.

“Even though she can act very cruel to your papa, sometimes, let me tell you. Right from the start. Can be very mean to your pappa,” I say. You have to work on them when you have the chance. But as his eyes suddenly turn sad, I jump in and say, “But, don’t you worry. She’s like the best momma you could ever ask for. And I… would not change her for anyone. You will see. Can’t wait till you meet her.”

Saying it makes me realize how much I miss her.

What would she say if she saw Oollie? Probably hug him and ask him what kind of cookies he’d like her to bake.

Oollie is so cute, I have to hold him in my hands and rub his head. But my hands go straight through him. Of course. Why would they not? He's part of the Dungeon, not part of me.

So, I just stand there and look at him, knowing he can understand me and that I can now command him.

But now I have another problem. He’s too damn cute. It's out of the window that he could ever scare anyone. I’m now afraid if those dirty Dwarfs see him, they may take him home to their wives and kids. If for no other reason, than just for getting back at me. And if that is not the worst, who knows what kind of deviant thing they would do to him there?

I need to protect him. He is so small and vulnerable. Helpless.

How is he going to protect me?

I have not done this right.

If I put him to guard my entrance, I would not only advertise to any thief in this land to come and rob me but every kid around here would want to take Oollie home.

Crap. Maybe I should have stuck to goblins and monsters.

Still, I have to try and make the best out of it now, and see what he can do.

“Okay, let me show you what we need to do. No time to lose. Those dwarfs can be back any minute,” I say and wave my hand to Oollie to come with me.

I turn around and see that now we have a little bit of a problem. I can easily just go through the wall and leave the Dungeon’s Core, but the hole that dwarfs created is not big enough for Oollie to climb through. He could probably put his head through, but his body would then get stuck.

So, what am I supposed to do? Let Oollie enlarge it so he can leave, just to build it all back up afterward?

No. What a dumbass I am to even suggest that! There must be a door.

Still, when I say ‘Sesame opens’, nothing happens.

“SAMS, can the Core open the gate?” I ask, not really knowing what to do next. Do not know what to expect either. “I really need the door to this place opened.”

But then the sound of stones rubbing against each other reaches me and I see two meters wide gate slowly opening, the wall coming down, disappearing inside the floor.

That’s good. Starting to like this dungeon. Now that I am finally figuring things out and have a little body, it will be even better.

As we leave, I test my mental superpowers without involving my OS and imagine the door going up, and it does so instantly.

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“Okay, we figured that one out. Now, Oollie, we first need to fix that hole those nasty little dwarfs had made. Okay?” I tell him.

He stares at the hole, but I’m not done with the duties yet.

“Come over to the front door. You think that looks bad, wait till you see the mess they’ve done there.”

Oollie follows me to the Grand Front Hall and I show him all the stones and the opening. “That needs to be all put back again. Close up that gap, and build a nice double-door gate there. You know what I mean?” I say and look at it.

He stands there with his big eyes, looking at me as if I’m his whole world.

Makes me sigh, thinking about all the heavy stones he will have to lift. Yeah, he may look cute, but I’ll have to run his ass 24x7 to fix this place up.

Makes me think, if there is a Cosmic Court of Justice, I’ll sure as hell be charged with Forced Child Labor violation. It’s not funny.

I sigh as I know what is coming. I’ve seen it happen before and I calculate Oollie is going to hate me in no time at all.

But the little guy just stares at the hole in the cave. And does nothing.

What do I do? I know he understands me. But, I guess he does not know how to fix a gate. His natural instincts obviously do not include masonry and dungeon reparation. What the hell do I do now?

I can’t teach him shit either since I do not know how to put one brick on top of each other. Should have thought about that before I made him, but now it's too late.

I go back to Oollie’s Operating System, looking for some help there, anything.

I find:

[Special Abilities:

None]

"Damn! Maybe I could have put ‘masonry’ in there. SAMS, can we change that?"

[The Denizen’s Operating System can be altered at additional cost.]

Yeah. I have no funds left. If it’s not free, what good is it? Still, I have to make this work somehow.

“So, how do I get it to do things, SAMS?”

[There are two direct ways to control your Creation. One is to announce it verbally…]

Yeah, thanks a lot. “And?”

[Another one is for you to take possession of its entire neural network, subject to the Rule of Consciousness.]

“And what is the Rule of Consciousness, SAMS?” I ask, almost not daring to hope that I could find some solutions there, not happy with these half answers, not happy seeing Oolie there standing like a zombie, idle and lethargic, when there was so much work we needed to do. If he was one of my employees, I'd be already having a chat with him.

[You can take control over other being Consciousness if:

1. Its Consciousness Level is less than 10

2. Your Level of Consciousness is 2 times greater than the subjects.

3. Your Consciousness level is at least 8.

In case the being is of your own creation, requirement number 2 is suspended]

“Okay, so the first question is, what is my Consciousness?”

[I do not possess that information. But you can find it on your Existence Essence Card under Attributes.]

Oh, that’s right. I remember. I pull my card out of my chest and swipe my finger over it, then hit Attributes.

[Karma: 10,400

Physical Attributes: Not Available

Mental Attributes:

Intelligence: 20

Wisdom: 15

Consciousness: 10

Empathy: 5

Metaphysical Capabilities: Not Available]

Nice. I’m glad my consciousness is above the required level. That also implies nobody can just jump inside my body and control me. That would be a bummer.

I also see how my Karma is different from the Dungeon's. It makes sense. I am only its administrator. Cannot forget that. And that number of over 10,000 probably means I must have done something in my lifetime. And those I lived before, if I’m to believe what I’ve heard so far.

The only thing that bothers me is that my Wisdom is way below my Intelligence. I ask SAMS to explain it.

It tells me to press on it, and when I do, I see other stats pop up.

[Analytical Deductions: 30

Objectivity: 30

Conceptualization: 20

Emotional Control: 1

Impulsiveness: 30

Foresight: 20

Compassion: 20

Humility: 10

Patience: 5]

So, that's how it is?? They do not think I can control my emotions?!? How dare they?! What a bunch of… I’m just kidding. I know they are right. It’s all true. Nothing new there.

So, basically, my Wisdom is downgraded because I’m judged to be a highly impulsive, extremely emotionally unstable, impatient, arrogant asshole.

But, as I take in a deep breath, I accept that I can work on it and improve. Why not? It seems it’s all doable, and that is all that matters. I still have a chance.

Another thought pops inside my head.

“Can I create one of these cards for Oollie, so I can easily track his progress and attributes?”

[Yes.

One way to keep track of your denizens is by issuing them an Existence Essence that can take shape in any way you like.

Since you have a fondness for the cards, that can easily be done.]

“Cool. That would be very cool,” I say happy with the finding. With a card, I would not need to go and connect with Oollie physically to see how he’s doing. And it would be even more beneficial as I build up my crew.

[However, the Constructor can issue the card for Oollie only after paying the 1,000 coins Existence Essence Card Fee.]

Damn! Everything is about money here. So disappointing.

It seems that chasing after a buck spans the whole universe.

You’d think advanced civilizations would move away from it. But it seems they are built on it. It’s all so depressing. You’re transferred to another world, and you would think you left all of that money shit behind. Imagine poor souls who commit suicide because of suffering from financial problems. They ran from one hell to an even worse one. Damn.