Finding an unpopular dungeon wasn't that hard. The dungeon in question was known for having entire sections under water, meaning only aquatic races were interested in it, and even then, it was dark and the creatures inside liked to create ambushes, so they weren't too hot on it either. The dungeon had been on the edge of being demolished for the last few months, so even if they broke it, no one would care. Not that they wouldn't have to pay the fine, obviously. Even if the dungeon was unpopular, money was money, and the government would use any excuse they could to take it.

For Andrew, the dungeon actually wasn't all that bad, at least, not after the first kill. He already had his dark vision, so once he picked up the ability to breathe underwater from the fishmen, which were the creatures populating the dungeon, the dungeon lost all difficulty for him. Quinn was still miserable though, since she had to depend on a magic item for her water breathing, and she didn't have a carapace to insulate her from the water.

"Please, please, let this destroy the dungeon." Quinn muttered as she wrung out her clothes at the end of the dungeon. "I don't care about the fine! This place is a crime against nature!"

"You know, you knew the dungeon was full of underwater sections." Andrew pointed out. "Why didn't you bring a swimsuit or something?"

"Because a swimsuit would be the worst thing to wear in a place where I could be ambushed by a dungeon creature at any moment, and there's no way I'm buying a wetsuit for one freaking dungeon." Quinn grumbled. "I can handle being a little wet, it's just annoying."

Andrew shrugged. "Fair enough." He waited for her to finish wringing out her clothes, before putting them and her armor back on. "Shall I get started?"

Quinn nodded. "Hopefully this works, or it's going to be a pain to figure something else out. Plus the pain of being forcefully ejected from an expanded space." Quinn grimaced. "Fuck it, if this doesn't work, I'm taking the next week off. I'm going to need it after all this crap."

Andrew grinned slightly at the grumpy woman, before focusing on the Living Dungeon trait, hesitating for a moment before activating it, sighing in relief as a menu popped up in front of him. "Alright, let's see…" He muttered, glancing over the menu, which was currently showing what appeared to be a base Energy cost of five. The first option in the list was terrain type, from which he could choose underground, underwater, forest, plains, farm, town, and city. He selected underground and the cost didn't change. Then he selected city, and the cost went up by five, though he noticed that it hadn't gotten rid of the underground option, it'd just added city. He then unselected underground, but the cost stayed at ten. He frowned slightly, unselecting city and choosing town, which only increased the cost by two. He then removed town and added in all the other options, none of which added to the cost, except farm, which increased it by one. Andrew glanced at Quinn. “Why would a city terrain be more expensive than an underground terrain?”

“Because cities have items?” Quinn offered tentatively after giving it some thought.

Andrew frowned. “Items?”

"You know, silverware, furniture, toys, stuff like that." Quinn explained. "Dungeons with environments related to places where people live create items to fit the environment. It's usually junk, but it's complex junk, so I could see it taking more Energy to create, even if it is fake.”

“Huh.” Andrew grunted slightly, before shrugging and turning back to the screen. He didn't see a need to waste Energy creating junk, so he switched the selection to just underground and left it at that. The next option determined the area of the instance. It started at five square kilometers, and it cost one more point of Energy for each square kilometer he added, up to a max of eleven, which he figured was because of his level.

“Do you see any issue with the dungeon being eleven square kilometers?" Andrew turned to ask Quinn.

“Not particularly but the smaller it is, the faster we'll be able to get through it.” Quinn replied.

“True.” Andrew nodded, taking the area down all the way before moving on to the next option, which was… traps. He just made sure there weren't any before moving on to the next option, which ended up being exactly what he'd been hoping for: creature types! He could choose which Essences were used in the dungeon! Which meant he could actually use the dungeon without worrying he'd accidentally make a sapient being he'd have to kill! Andrew's relief was palpable as he selected rats, rabbitoids, and fishmen, none of which affected his Energy cost. As he selected them, little percentages appeared next to them, starting at one hundred percent and decreasing to thirty-three once he'd selected all three. He hesitated for a moment before selecting the rank two variant of rat, and his Energy cost jumped up to seven as the percentages dropped to twenty-five. He then decreased the percentage of rank two rats, the cost falling to six once he passed twenty percent, but not going any lower. He then unselected the rank ones and the cost shot up to ten. Then he selected the leaping terror, getting rid of the rats, and the cost went to fifteen.

“Not bad.” Andrew nodded to himself, setting it back to rank one rats before moving on to the next option, which was population density. It was currently set on average, but he could change it to light, dense, or packed. Light reduced the Energy cost to three, dense doubled it to ten, and packed quadrupled it, causing Andrew to suspect that the only thing that actually mattered for the dungeon's cost was the amount of creatures it had to make. Or, he supposed, the complexity and amount of its constructs… He shook his head as he set the population density to light and moved on to the next option, which was the dungeon boss. The free option was a rank two version of one of his rank one creatures, but he could spend one Energy to raise it to rank three and two to raise it to rank four, though that was his limit. He could also spend Energy to give it some of his traits, though not the ones from his skills, the cost seemingly equal to one per evolution slot they took up, so giving it his Shadow Skin would cost one Energy, and his Void Body would cost two. He decided to just take the free option.

Finally he reached the last option, which was for… behavior? Andrew frowned as he focused on it and he saw the options for aggressive, neutral, and peaceful. "Quinn? Are dungeon creatures ever peaceful?" He asked hesitantly.

"Never." Quinn replied. "Why?"

"Cause apparently I can make my dungeon creatures peaceful…" Andrew replied, feeling some sort of internal dilemma welling up. He was creating these creatures in order to kill them. And as long as they were creatures and not people, he was okay with that. However, if he could make them peaceful… then weren't they more like pets? Could he really kill his pets just to make himself stronger?

"Oh no, I know that look." Quinn frowned at him. "Drew, you can't think of dungeon creatures as real beings! They're constructs! They're born from nothing and they return to nothing! They don't actually exist!"

"Then why can you bind them?" Andrew retorted. "Why can I gain Essence from them?!? They may not exist in the same way you and I do, but they obviously have some sort of life to them!"

"They're created by the dungeon to kill anyone who enters it! They're mindless killing machines!" Quinn countered.

"Except they obviously don't have to be!" Andrew jabbed a finger at his menu. "They can be peaceful!"

"As controlled by you!" Quinn snapped. "That only makes it even more clear they're constructs! They simply follow orders! They can't think for themselves! They're controlled!"

Andrew paused. "I suppose that's a good point… but how much of that is control, and how much is just influence? Like, if I set a creature to peaceful, and you go up and stab it, if it's controlled, it'll just sit there, but if it's just influenced, it'll retaliate." He frowned. If he wanted to see what the creatures were really like, he'd probably have to set their behavior to neutral. But… Well, he already knew that, didn't he? The beasts in the forest pretty much attacked on sight. Plus, he didn't actually have many problems killing animals… it was just the thought of these creatures being his that was tripping him up. Killing a random crow? Fine, if there was a point to it. Killing Gregory? Never. But as much as he was creating these creatures, in a sense, they weren't actually his. "Okay, no, I've thought it through. We're good."

Quinn breathed out a sigh of relief. "Good, good. So, is it ready then?"

"Pretty much." Andrew agreed, quickly checking how changing the behavior would affect the Energy cost, finding that peaceful would double the cost and neutral would add fifty percent, so he just left it on hostile, and confirmed all the options, his Energy draining out of him and forming into an instance portal. He looked around for a moment, before nodding. "Seems like it worked."

"At least we haven't been violently ejected as the dungeon instance collapsed." Quinn muttered. "Let's hope the inside is stable too."

"How do we check?" Andrew asked.

"How do you think?" Quinn raised an eyebrow at him, before gesturing for him to enter. "Go on in."

Andrew frowned. "This seems less than safe."

Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!

"Oh, you'll be fine." Quinn waved her hand dismissively. "A spatial collapse never hurt anyone." She paused. "Well, no, it hurts, but it won't kill you." Andrew frowned at her and she rolled her eyes. "Just go! You'll be fine!"

Andrew eyed the portal skeptically, before letting out a sigh and stepping towards the portal. He could handle a little pain. He walked through and found himself… in a cave. Not much different than the one he'd just left, except there was no Quinn and no dungeon core. “Not sure what I was expecting.” Andrew sighed as Quinn walked in after him. “Shall we?”

Quinn gave him a look. “Don't get cocky, Drew. You may have breezed through those last two dungeons, but the beasts here are level eleven now. At that level, rats have eighty-eight Agility and forty-four Strength, and they're still going to group up. You aren't going to be able to just shrug off their attacks like you have been, and they will try to swarm you and take you down.”

“Right.” Andrew muttered. “Don't worry, I'll be careful.”

Quinn smiled. “Good. And remember, I'm here if you need me.”

Just as Quinn said, the rats were a lot tougher at level eleven, forcing Andrew to use a bit more strategy than just run in and kill everything. He was admittedly a bit rusty since it'd been a while since he'd faced anything that could actually challenge him, but after a few close calls, he quickly got back into the swing of things. Thankfully he chose the light population density, so there were only about thirty rats, so it didn't take that long to take them all down, even with the longer fights. Then, after he took down the boss…

[Dungeon cleared! Exit portal available.]

Andrew blinked as he felt he could open a portal out of the dungeon at any time now. "Huh… apparently we cleared the dungeon, so we can leave whenever." Andrew told Quinn.

"Oh good. Then we just have to find the dungeon core." Quinn nodded.

"No, I mean, I can get us out of here whenever. I can open the exit portal myself." Andrew explained.

Quinn paused. "Oh… well, that's convenient, but we should still find the dungeon core."

Andrew frowned. "Would my dungeons even have a dungeon core? I mean, isn't the dungeon core like the control center for the dungeon? If I'm the one controlling it… wouldn't that make me the dungeon core?"

Quinn hesitated. "I- don't think so? Yes, the dungeon core is what holds everything together, but… well, it's what holds everything together! Even if you're the one who made it, the dungeon should still need a core to stabilize it… I think. Probably."

Andrew gave her a skeptical look, but he didn't know enough to say she was wrong, so they continued their exploration. Then, once they finally reached the end, they found… "That doesn't look like a dungeon core." Andrew commented as he stared at what looked like the dungeon entrance, but in the wrong spot.

"No it doesn't." Quinn muttered, frowning at the portal, then at Andrew, before shaking her head. "I suppose you are the dungeon core then… weird, but I guess that makes sense. Maybe cores aren't as important for dungeon stability as we thought?" She trailed off, getting lost in thought for a moment before sighing. "Anyway, I'll say this has definitely been a successful experiment! You can make custom dungeons, inside another dungeon, safely! The only issue is that we'll need to clear both dungeons, but level fives don't take that long to clear. Though I suggest we find a less annoying dungeon to use next time."

"It wasn't that bad." Andrew commented. "It's kinda fun to swim around every now and then."

Quinn gave him a flat, unamused look. "No." She stated simply, before clapping her hands. "Now, let's get home and get some food!"

*

Quinn ordered some take out which they picked up on the way, both of them immediately digging in as soon as they got home. Despite how little had actually happened, it'd been a long day. Dungeons were anything but small, and it took a while to make your way through them. Quinn collapsed on the couch in a food coma as soon as they finished, while Andrew just flexed his aura and focused on his status, considering his next step.

First, he needed to pick up some Essence Master skills, because he needed to figure out how to manipulate cores. He should also practice with his affinities, because just having them didn't mean he knew how to use them. He'd experimented with a few lightning empowered kicks while in the dungeon, but it just wasn't the same as shooting lightning out of your hands. He'd also need to keep experimenting with his dungeons with Quinn, particularly since it was probably his only hope for leveling at any decent speed in the foreseeable future. And maybe if he managed to make a unique enough dungeon, he could even help Quinn with her streaming, which would make him feel better about essentially mooching off her all the time. And that was that. Skill training and dungeon testing. Until he was strong enough to explore the world, which with his new rank, would probably take a while.

*

Beast Andrew paused as his thoughts followed a similar thread as his Changeling self. He and Li Jing were both growing steadily, but they still needed to be stronger before they could start venturing into the wilderness safely. Or at least as safe as they could. And since they couldn't increase how fast they grew until they could move deeper into the wilderness… that meant they had to wait. Of course, if he brought it up with his parents, they'd just tell him he was being impatient, that he was still young and he had all the time in the world to get stronger. Not that they'd be wrong, but Andrew wasn't particularly in the mood for the truth. He was young, immortal, and impatient, damn it!

"You're ridiculous." Cathryn snorted, flicking a pea at him.

"Why, what's he thinking about?" Li Jing asked.

"I'm wondering why, when we have all the food to choose from in the world, we chose to have peas for dinner." Andrew grumbled.

"I like peas." Li Jing frowned, playing with her pile.

"And that isn't what he was thinking about." Cathryn rolled her eyes. "He was being all mopey about how long it takes to get stronger, while being basically immortal. In two worlds, no less!"

"I am objectively immortal, thank you very much, and just because I have time doesn't mean I want to waste it!" Andrew protested.

"Is it really wasting time if you're doing everything you can?" Cathryn retorted, raising an eyebrow at him. "I think you're just bored."

"What's the difference?" Andrew replied.

"Exercise is boring, watching tv is wasting time." Li Jing provided.

"Is it really wasting time if it entertains me?" Andrew countered. "Is it really productive if I hate doing it?"

"Yes." Li Jing answered with a smirk.

Andrew scowled. "I don't like these rules."

Cathryn sighed. "Andrew, not everything in life has to be exciting. Some things just need to be done because they need to be done."

"I know, I know." Andrew grumbled. "It just always seems like there's too much to do, and not enough to make it worth it. We put all this time into getting stronger, just so we can keep doing the things that actually make us happy. It's the same thing with money for mortals. All this time and effort just for the few moments you can find to actually enjoy your life. Just- grinding, day in and day out… I don't know. I get that it's necessary, it just doesn't always seem worth it."

Cathryn frowned at him. "Andrew, my mother worked two full-time jobs just to put food on the table. She barely had time to sleep, let alone anything else. We visit a spa every other week. I don't think you can complain."

"But that's my point!" Andrew exclaimed. "All that work, for what? What does she get out of it? She can't even stop to appreciate the things she's struggling so hard to provide for!" He paused. "Though a lot of that was your dad's fault… man, fuck that asshole."

Cathryn shook her head. "So what are you suggesting? That people just stop?"

Andrew shook his head. "No, obviously not. People do things because they need to be done. A lot of the time at least. I'm just saying the system itself kinda sucks. A world where everyone has to constantly expend effort just to survive… ugh, I don't even know what I'm getting at anymore. I mean, the effort is necessary, I get that, but why is it necessary? And at a certain point, is the effort even worth it? Is survival worth putting yourself through all that? Don't get me wrong, I'm nowhere even close to that level, but if I was your mom… I'm not sure I could have done it."

"I think it's about taking on the burden of more than yourself." Cathryn replied quietly. "My mom… she did all that for the family, for me and my dad… even if she didn't get to be with us all that much, making sure we were provided for… that's what kept her going."

Andrew leaned back in his chair with a sigh. "Maybe it's not the system that sucks, but people. If your dad actually helped, then your mom could have put in less effort. How many people out there put the burden of their survival on someone else? Shit, do the Bonded do that? I mean, we're supposed to be these protectors and whatnot, but how many of us just sit around enjoying all the free shit provided for us? How many of us check out and stop putting in the effort, content to just coast?"

"More than a few." Li Jing frowned.

All three of them fell silent for a moment, before Andrew let out another long sigh. "Fuck it, we aren't solving all the world's problems over a dinner conversation. I'm not sure it's something we can ever solve. We just… have to make sure it's never us forcing other people to carry a heavier burden."

Li Jing nodded. "Agreed."

Cathryn smiled bitterly. "Way ahead of you."

Andrew sighed again. "Which means I should probably put more effort into training."

"No, relaxing is fine." Li Jing interjected. "Just make sure what needs to be done is done. Pushing yourself to your limits just makes it harder to keep going."

Andrew froze. "Well shit, now I don't know what to do." Then everything went dark.