The two lizardfolk got to their knees and bowed deeply. The female Trapper looked up and with a heavy lisp said, “Please call me Elza.”

The male Builder then did the same, “Please call me, Rick.”

“No, no. Choose another,” Rick told the Builder.

The lizard man pressed his face against the ground, “I have offended the dungeon. Please forgive me. It was meant to honor you. I accept any punishment you give” The lizardman trembled before him.

“Woah, it’s not that big of a deal. It’ll just be confusing. Do you have a backup name?” Rick asked. He started to have second thoughts about wanting an army of these things.

Still trembling, the lizard man hissed, “Yes. Please call me, Yosk.”

“Okay, Elza and Yosk. You can relax,” Rick said. He knew they were a religious species but he didn’t think they’d worship him like this already. “Elza, I got you your Trapper’s Kit. Start making traps around where you two are going to be living in here.”

“Yes, dungeon. Right away!” She shouted, picking up the kit that had materialized in front of her.

“Yosk, go to the spot you want to start building and I’ll produce as many of these bricks as you need,” Rick said as a brick of the Stone of Warming Scales materialized in front of Yosk.

The lizardman’s reptilian eyes widened. “Yes, dungeon. You are too kind,” he said and scurried with an incredible speed toward the area they chose. Although Yosk wasn’t a fighting class, the seven-foot reptile would likely strike fear in any human Challenger once they saw his speed and size.

The spot they chose was behind a couple of hills on the other side of the stream, obscuring them from the door. It was near the spot the bargles had first appeared, but the critters had been migrating constantly throughout the floor. The Ceaseless Wolves had constantly hunted them down. Rick began by producing a few hundred of the stones for Yosk to get started with.

“Need anything else?” Rick asked before moving on to other things.

Yosk looked nervous to ask as his tongue shot in and out of his mouth. He prodded the ground with his feet., “The ground is a little… too hard for my taste.”

Rick remembered that this particular variety of lizardfolk preferred swampy areas. He didn’t exactly want to burn the energy to pump water into the ground, so he produced a shovel instead.

“Feel free to dig a small fork in the stream. I can’t spend the resources to build it at the moment,” Rick explained.

“The dungeon is wise,” Yosk said, holding the shovel as if it were a precious artifact.

“Make sure you tell Jimmy that when you meet him,” Rick said, imagining Jimmy’s face when he’d have to listen to the lizardfolk worship him.

“Yes, dungeon. I will not forget.”

“Oh, and if any new Challengers come in, you and Elza can ignore them until you’re better acquainted,” Rick ordered.

Both Elza and Yosk froze, “We cannot, dungeon. We must protect the floor.”

Rick saw that he wouldn’t be able to convince the zealots. They didn’t even have weapons so he mimicked a sigh and produced a machete he got from his first Challengers for each of them. “Alright, take these then and be ready. Elza, see if you can make a trap closer to the door.”

“Yes, dungeon,” they chanted as one.

“Did you really give them all of those supplies before providing me with the one thing I had asked for?” Billy interjected.

“Oh, shit! I totally forgot. I bought some simple brick-and-mortar for you. Here you go,” Rick said and produced enough for a small house, topping off his energy with some of the water that had pooled at the bottom of the spring.

This brought a smile to Billy’s face. Although he mimicked some of Rick’s less endearing qualities, he was still quite easy to please. “Thank you, dungeon.”

“Anytime. Listen, I told Jimmy to start letting in new Challengers. Up to five now. Think you can handle it?”

“Of course. I need to level up after all and they won’t be as strong as Adam,” Billy said Adam’s name with admiration.

“Good, talk to you soon,” Rick let out a sigh. There was more of him to keep on top of now than even before becoming a dungeon.

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Time to get serious about growing the 2nd floor, Rick thought.

Luca had learned that connecting its web from floor to ceiling was a mistake for now so had been working on blotting out any light from the ceiling.

Rick hadn’t come up with a brilliant solution to block the light as he had promised, so he simply started to coat the ceiling in dirt and grass. It was simple and very effective.

It dawned on Luca that it had once again wasted time and shrieked.

“Sorry, don’t hate me!” Rick said as he put all of his focus on growing the floor.

----------------------------------------

BROADCAST COMMENCED

The Alert startled Rick out of growing the floor, “Holy shit that was loud.”

Challengers Alex, Diane, Grady, James, and Sarah have entered R&J’s Dungeon Depot

Viewers: 658,357,322

The view count kept climbing, reaching close to a billion.

“What the fuck. I need Jimmy in here,” Rick ranted. He focused on the new group of Challengers. They all looked to be in their early 20s, dressed as if they were cosplaying for their dnd group.

Three of them carried little sticks that Rick assumed were supposed to be wands and wore wizard robes. Rick quickly learned that their names were Alex, Sarah, and James.

Diane and Grady both carried real swords and shields. Rick had to admit that they looked pretty badass. In fact, they were way too badass and well-made for them to have owned them before the Integration. If Rick had to guess, they had purchased those at the System Shop.

The Challengers’ eyes all widened. The one named Alex spoke first, “All those people are watching this? That’s gotta be the entire population of Earth at this point.”

This seemed to make Alex and the others nervous. All except Diane who relished in it.

She took a pose as if she were getting ready to take a photo for social media. “Well then, I suppose we shouldn’t disappoint,” Diane said, raising her eyebrow.

Rick snorted a laugh. “Don’t let these morons make us look bad, ok?” Rick said to his minions. They all confirmed in one way or another that they wouldn’t let that happen. None of them seemed to think this was funny.

“This place is kind of odd, isn’t it?” Grady said, gripping his sword and shield, knees bent — ready for something to pop out. “It’s like we’re in an unfinished video game.”

Finn, Stella, and the Ceaseless Wolves had taken to the tunnels, creeping into position. The viewers could toggle between the Challengers, Minions, or Billy. Billy was currently hanging back, waiting for the minions to pick off some Challengers.

“Yeah, I expected we’d walk into a house of horrors based on the outside. Maybe a cave even. Definitely not such an open area,” the wand wielding James said.

“Wait, quiet. Do you hear that?” Diane whispered.

The party of five listened as they heard a thwap-thwap-thwap-thwap in the distance growing louder.

“Yeah, what the fu–,” James almost finished before a seven-foot tall lizardman crested a hill and began barreling down with a machete held high in the air. His feet thwapped against the ground. It was amusing or terrifying depending on your perspective.

Rick scoffed, “What is he doing?”

Alex yelled, “Spread out!” Fear plastered on his face, wand raised.

Diane and Grady stepped forward, swords and shields ready for impact. The wand wielders spread out in the back.

James felt something snap under his foot. A wooden spike immediately shot upwards, stabbing through.

“Agh, what the hell!” he screamed.

Sarah scowled, “Hurry, drink a healing potion.”

Trembling, James pulled a small cylinder from his pocket, about the size of a pinky finger. Sticking it to his nose, he inhaled deeply and simultaneously pulled his foot from the spike with a grunt.

Rick sensed the wound close almost immediately. Elza’s first trap proved ineffective. The lizard woman tsked in disappointment. She was watching from the crest of one of the hills, blending in with her green scales.

Thwap-thwap-thwap-thwap

“Fire!” Alex bellowed and unleashed bright purple lances from his wand. Sarah unleashed a long swirl of fire, James shot a green lance, similar to Alex's.

Diane and Grady yelled and charged, but didn’t get far. The magic slammed into Yosk, immediately sending the lizardman to respawn.

Rick laughed, the group laughed. The wolves howled.

The group quickly scrambled, looking around. “There!” Sarah yelled.

Finn and Stella darted out of two separate, but close tunnel entrances aiming straight for Alex who began firing his purple lances. Diane flipped her hair and smirked at the nonexistent camera as she charged to wedge herself between the two wolves and Alex.

The Ceaseless Wolves had waited until their parents got the group's attention. James was now the furthest in the back and closest to them. Stealthily the five young wolves crept forward while he shot a green lance from his wand at Stella.

Diane made it to her destination and made an arcing two-handed swing at a lunging Finn. The sword lopped the wolf in half. Stella staggered forward, wounded from the magic lances, and then collapsed with a last whimper. The group cheered loudly at their success.

Except — one of them was screaming a little too loudly. They all stopped cheering and turned, seeing five, scrawnier wolves, tearing apart James.

“Oh god!” Sarah screamed, being the closest. She quickly pumped fire at both the wolves and James. They yelped and scattered back into the tunnels, with singed fur.

“Get me the topical healing potion, quick!” Alex screamed and ran over, Grady on his tail, fumbling with a larger cylinder of red glowing potion.

Rick knew the Challenger was already dead and could have absorbed him, but he figured he’d give the group a chance to say goodbye or face another round with the Ceaseless Wolves.