Red looked at the notification and reread it a fourth time, having not expected it in the slightest given everything that he had learned as a dungeon so far. He looked between Lotus and Velua, the two he had been talking to. “What do you make of this, Lotus?” He asked with a bit of hesitation as he gestured towards the box, wondering what she would think about something different from his usual menus.
The high fey noble blinked and looked at what he was gesturing towards before back at him. “Red, are you feeling alright? There is nothing there.” She said with a frown, having never seen Red act like this before. She had seen him with his menus and notifications before, but from her perspective, the black and white box existed as much as Red did to Addison. She waved her hand in the area of the box, feeling nothing.
From Red’s perspective, the box floated just out of range of Lotus’ hand wherever she tried to touch it. “Velua? What about you?” He asked as he checked in with his new dwarf, wondering if her outside experience would give him a new perspective. He hoped it would because otherwise, he would have to click the box just for the sake of knowing what it did. His system was always helpful and adapted to him well, so he had no reason to distrust a pop-up.
“Don’t see anything there, sir. Wish I could, the things I am learning about dungeons today could probably fill a book.” Velua said with a chuckle as she looked at the spot before returning to admiring her outfit. She was particularly fond of the bronze buttons that kept the straps of her armor in place. The system was appreciative, and she ensured that her family’s metal was plain for the world to see.
“Well, it’s a message saying that I finished the requirements for the first floor. It also says that I am going to be meeting with some kind of spirit to talk about my second.” Red said with a small bit of worry, wondering if he was going to have to speak to Death again. It had only been a month since he had been brought back to life as his last chance at being a dungeon core. That thought struck him with a moment of clarity, glancing at the massive beautiful place that he had constructed in that time. He had to admit that he had done far better than any other iteration, and with it officially complete, that meant there was the chance that he didn’t need to be quite so fearful about the future.
“Well if that is the case, whoever this spirit is best not be left waiting,” Velua commented as she looked at him, seeming to be more focused on what he was saying now. She most likely was still coming down from the high of mana that had poured into her from Red’s reserves. However her words did ring true, whoever sent this was going to be waiting for him. The last thing he wanted was for the goddess of Death to be impatiently tapping her foot as he walked into her office. Suddenly he felt like a kid again being called to the principal’s office for an unknown reason. Was he in trouble or would his mom surprise him with fast food for lunch? There was no way of knowing until the journey was made.
“Alright. Yeah, you’re probably right about that. Whoever sent this wants to begin a meeting with me, and that means I shouldn’t leave them waiting that would be rude. Wish I had something to change into other than my old outfit.” He muttered as he looked down at himself, his pristine red crystal form was the most detailed it had been since he had awoken as a new core. Long past were the days were he was a low-poly faceted crystal man, and was now incredibly detailed. It was as if someone had hewn a statue from a single massive piece of gemstone.
“Lotus, you’re in charge of the dungeon while I am gone. Make sure Pheobe and Marcus don’t try to throw any newly spawned things into the cauldron, ensure that Glut doesn’t start a gambling ring with the crawdads again, make sure Archimedes and the crows don’t attack Velua, and whatever you do make sure not to stress too much about being in charge. You are a beautiful and strong fairy, and I am proud of you.” He said with a confident smile as he took her by the shoulders and hugged her tight. His crystalline arms held no warmth or cold for the fairy, but she accepted the embrace all the same. She hugged him back tightly, having not even managed to get a word in edgewise when it came to his list of duties.
“Thanks… dad.” She said softly, trying to hide the words that she felt were right, her cheeks blazing metallic as her silvery blood rushed in embarrassment. She was about to say something else when Red stood on his tiptoes and kissed her on the forehead.
“No problem, daughter. Make your old man proud.” He said with a grin before he reached out and pressed the only button on the strange text box that had appeared with its odd offer. He saw her smile brightly, her blue face beaming with joy just like the day he had given her a name. That was before he felt pulled towards the box, his crystalline avatar turning to flows of mana and getting sucked into the system that had presented itself to him. Had it not been for the little bit of confidence he was pushing up to the surface for Lotus, he might have been fearful as he disappeared down into the box.
Red tumbled down through whatever place between realities he was traveling through, seeing flashes of light and color as he tried to process where he was going. For some reason, he had the distinct feeling of recollection, as if he had somehow been to this in-between place before. He felt like he was tumbling, his perception returned to him as he flailed through the deep endlessness that was only marred by random bursts of color. He blinked as he saw through the gaps in realities, observing other worlds so far from his own, but yet with others that would know how he felt.
He passed by a flash of orange, the smell of mushrooms filling his nostrils as he got a distinct sense of warmth coming from that place. A flail of his arm caused him to careen dangerously close to a shining pink hole that had the sounds of digging and merriment wafting out of it. Red was almost certain he saw a lizard wearing a hat in that one. With a kick of his leg, he nearly smacked into one of the windows through space, barely catching sight of what looked like an abandoned manor with people filing into the courtyard with joy on their faces despite the swords on their hips.
He started falling faster, and for some reason the feeling that hit him when it came to these other places that they were all wrong, as if he wasn’t meant to see them. No matter what doorway or porthole he passed, the realities he saw were different and far from where he belonged. Perhaps in another life, perhaps if he was someone else, but they were all something he quickly understood. Dungeons. He was passing through the area between dozens of different realities worth of dungeons, many of them not his world.
He opened his mouth to say something, to try and understand the strange place that he found himself in. Instead, all he could do was gasp as he was suddenly dropped into place in a completely different area entirely. Suddenly it felt like he had fallen from above into a perfectly placed armchair that was sitting in front of an ornate desk. He was experiencing a bit of whiplash at the sudden change of venue, blinking wildly as he tried to understand what had happened.
“What the fuck… where the fuck… God damn fucking bullshit mind fuckery is this?!” He shouted as he raised his hands to his head and pulled on his hair, stressed out in ways that he had never before experienced as he tried to understand why everything was suddenly a calm office setting after falling through existence. He looked around the room in a panic, seeing something that made even less sense than the multitude of realities that he had just fallen through. He was in a standard five-by-five office with a plain factory-manufactured desk that while ornate, was still something that anyone could buy from a high-end furniture store.
The ceiling was a crisscross of lines with tiles filling the squares in-between, rough material with odd little speckles of grey and black making patterns that some poor office worker would force himself to see in the endless monotony of life. To the left of the room was a row of file cabinets, little cards in the square front slots denoting that they were arranged alphabetically. To his right, there was a small safe, a little table with a plant on it, and a water cooler that gave a burble of bubbles when it was acknowledged. This was not to mention the array of motivational posters that littered the walls. He started to calm down and looked across from the desk, finding that there was simply an empty chair where he had expected someone to be waiting for him so that they could discuss… the second floor he supposed. Instead, the swivel chair was empty and its occupant missing from the room that he had fallen into.
As if on cue, a creak from the door behind him sounded out as it opened and someone stepped through it. “Oh! Sorry, didn’t realize you would be coming so quickly.” A masculine voice said as the man passed Red’s chair and sat behind the desk. He looked almost remarkably unremarkable. His perfectly combed black hair, blemish-free face, and even the bland grey suit with a black tie were so cookie-cutter that Red couldn’t find anything to prove this man was not just a caricature of what an office worker. It was unsettling.
“Uh… hi. I am Red, and I was told I needed to have a meeting because I finished my first floor?” He asked a bit hesitantly, now uncertain if his previous rage would work in such an alien place. Red had never liked office spaces, feeling unsettled by the fact that they were always so soulless. It didn’t help that the man in front of him never let the smile on his face waver.
“Red! Of course. I was just reading through your file before I sent out the message to you. Though I don’t know who let you into my office, you’re supposed to be waiting in the waiting room.” The man said with a bit of confusion, the smile weakening, but hardly fading from his face.
“Uh, I didn’t see any waiting room I just kinda… fell? Like a long way down and saw a lot of weird things.” Red commented back, looking over the desk and its arrangement of unremarkable knick-knacks before finally finding what he was looking for. Scott Ch Taupe, that was the name of the man that was sitting in front of him, or at the very least was what the name plaque proclaimed in its dull off-gold coloring.
Scott looked at him and raised a brow before his eyes went wide and he stood up from his desk, the smile finally faltering as he quickly walked over to the water cooler. He poured a drink of water into a plain paper cup dispensed from the side and brought it over to Red. “I am so sorry, Mr. Red. I thought that the little issue of falling like that was fixed recently. I hope you didn’t see anything too… upsetting.” Scott said as he handed Red the cup, the dungeon consciousness working on instinct as he brought it to his lips and took a drink. His eyes went wide as he felt water enter his mouth, the dull flavorless flavor blooming as it washed down his tongue and into his stomach. He looked at the cup in shock before looking himself over. He had his formerly pale skin, his black band t-shirt, and even a pair of shoes where he could feel toes wiggling within socks.
“I-i-it’s alright. Um… Where am I? What is this place? Why am I- Why am I alive?” He asked as he looked at Scott, shaking now as he found all of this more terrifying than being in a dungeon or falling through space and time. He had expected many things, but what he had not been expecting was to suddenly be a human again. Now that he was looking at himself though, he realized why there was dissonance. This wasn’t the age that he died at. Judging from the attire and the strength he could feel when he flexed his arms, this was some time after he turned eighteen. Still young and spry but without many lessons he had learned over the years.
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“Right, you didn’t get the pamphlet because you didn’t go through reception. Reincarnation Dungeons allow their avatars to experience being their old selves while being projected outside the dungeon. As long as you are here, you are a human again.” Scott explained as he headed back to his chair, sitting down with the smile returning to his face; albeit a bit more gentle than it had been before.
“So you are in the Grand Bureaucracy, a plane of existence that is entirely bureaucratic bookkeeping for the local cluster of the multiverse. We handle a lot of things, but for your reality, we specifically handle System Upkeep and Dungeon Contracts. The most trusted advisors, programmers, and tech specialists for all your system needs within this multiversal cluster.” He said with a thumbs up and smile that had an actual glimmer of light to it, a shine coming from the fluorescent tube lights above them.
“Well, the System Upkeep part makes sense, that has to be a lot of refinement for how nice my system has been,” Red said with a nod, well aware that it had been actively changing based on user interactions. He was never one to know how to program in his old life, but he knew that they hardly got the recognition they deserved. “But what are ‘Dungeon Contracts’?” He asked, wanting to take this time to have questions that would be directly answered.
“That is the main reason why you came here today, Red! See, you as a dungeon are allowed to create what is known as a demi-plane within your walls. That’s why the area you inhabit within the physical world can be anything from a sprawling city to a crack in a wall. Demi-planes are also great places for spirits to amass Concept, so they can reach out and offer contracts to dungeons.” Mr. Taupe said with that winning smile, barely even cracking it for him to speak and explain all these intricate things. Some of which were flying right over Red’s head due to the sheer depth of information being shared.
“So you pull me to another dimension just so that I can decide if I want some spirits to do things on my floors? How is that any different from them just coming in like Velua and becoming an [Employee]?” He asked, knowing there had to be something for all this showmanship and red tape. No one liked a bureaucrat, and Red couldn’t imagine a whole reality of them being called upon for anything that wasn’t extremely serious.
“Not exactly that, but a good guess. While you can form contracts with individuals outside of your dungeon, that is still within the range of the system. A Dungeon Contract is specifically an agreement between a dungeon and a spirit where one gets bonuses and powerups while the other gains Concept. Because Spirits operate on a different system, they have to have an intermediary to branch the two together.” He offered, hoping that Red understood who the intermediary was when Scott pointed to himself.
“Alright… so the spirits can offer something that the dungeon can’t produce. You help line up the contracts and then I get the pick of the litter.” Red said with a bit more confidence, starting to understand what it meant. He wondered, why he hadn’t been contacted about a contract for his first floor. Then again he was rather certain he would have lost his mind if he had experienced the transport right after forming. He blinked as he realized that Scott was still talking the entire time that he had been thinking.
“-So you only actually have one contract available for your first floor, but that is because the spirit offering it often buys off others. While I apologize for your lack of choice, she makes up for it by improving the deal leaps and bounds.” Scott said with a smile as he stood up from his desk and went to the filing cabinets. He opened the E-F drawer, flicking his fingers faster than Red could track before suddenly pulling out a file folder and bringing it back to the desk. He pulled out a sheet of paper and set it down in front of Red.
“To be fair, it is from a High Spirit, so it’s going to be a massive boon to your dungeon. Some would beg for a contract from Amonel of the Fey.” Scott shrugged as Red looked down at the page, his eyes going wide as he read the offer section of the contract.
Contract for Red of Red’s Dungeon from Amonel The High Queen
The High Queen Amonel offers the following boons in exchange for all Fey Concept generated within the {First Floor} as well as permanently locking said floor as a Fey Floor.
* The Faraway: A connection to the Fey-Plain, making all fey upkeep or spawn costs null for the entire floor.
* Fey Fauna and Flora: Plants connected with the fey will occasionally be thrown through the portal for dungeon use. The dungeon is allowed to send out scouts and soldiers to hunt for fey non-sentients for dungeon use.
* Guests: There will be an opportunity for fey guests to come through the portal to spend mana in the dungeon. The dungeon will gain and automatically spawn a Toll Troll to know if this is desired by the dungeon. This offering is not a direct action by the Spirit, but by the fact that the portal will be an open gateway. The Troll is to show that the spirit does not want to simply have the dungeon assaulted.
* Special: if there is a [Royal] tagged fey, they will be offered to have their position recognized. They will also receive additional bonuses.
* Recognition includes receiving emissaries from other [Royal] tagged fey. These emissaries will bring news, information, and warnings from other courts. Warning: As these are emissaries, there is still the potential to upset a more well-defined monarchy. If this happens there is the potential that a war could take place. The dungeon would not be in danger as attacking a core directly would have a royal stripped of their title and holding.
* Being given a holding or domain within the The Faraway. As this realm is entirely of fey mana, any fey creature from the dungeon can stay within the holding for any amount of time. They will not cease or experience mana depletion.
* The ability to bestow monarchy-based job titles. While a dungeon can bestow titles onto creatures as it pleases, some titles are commonly locked. A true Knight title is outside of a dungeon’s ability unless there is a royal capable of knighting an individual. Not only that but both the dungeon and the [Royal] are capable of tagging any creature with an appropriate title. Such as how the royal in question can marry and their spouse will become a King or Queen respectively.
“Holy crap. She offers this just for the sake of getting- What exactly is Concept?” Red asked as he looked up from the paper, having picked it up to make sure that there were no tiny fine prints in the contract. As much as he trusted the operators of his system, he didn’t know anything about this ‘Amonel’ character, however. If she was a powerful fairy, that meant she was also the type that would have tricks and traps within clauses for the sake of her gain.
“Concept is the spiritual form of Mana. If mana is energy that can turn into matter, Concepts are ideas that can influence the world. For Amonel, that is the concept of Fey and Fairy things in general. So essentially you get bonuses and she gets the conceptual energy. Your first floor is primarily fey, so it makes sense that she would want the boatload of conceptual energy coming from it.” Scott said with a smile, glad to see that Red was starting to see the benefits of this meeting.
Red looked it over before seeing that there was a small line on the bottom where he would need to sign. There were no pens on the desk, and Red certainly knew that his eighteen-year-old self was more likely to have a lighter than anything. “Uh, can I have a pen or something to write with?” He asked as he looked at Mr. Taupe.
“Oh, just channel a bit of your Mana. While you do seem alive in this world, you’re still directly connected with your core. These contracts are meant to connect to the core, not just the spirit within.” Scott explained with a smile as he reached forward and began a set of pendulums to knock back and forth together, giving some dull metronome to the room. It was better than the silence that the two men were in when it came to Red reading something.
Red looked down at the paper and thought about it for a minute before pressing his thumb to the line and focusing like when he would make a new object within the dungeon. A small red glow came from his thumb before he pulled his finger away to reveal a perfect circle that reminded Red of his core. It was a bit of a simple signature, but it made sense that his Mana must have been unique to him.
“Congratulations! With that bit of paperwork, your first floor is officially done. Now before we move on to the potential contracts for your next floor, we just need to do a bit of review.” Scott said with a smile as he opened a drawer on the other side of the desk and pulled out a red folder. He pulled out several pieces of paper and placed them on the desk where Red could see.
Current Individuals of Significance
Lotus, Queen of Toxic
Brave Warrior Snips
Architect Ivy
Bulwark Glut
Mage Captain Arabella
Archimedes (Tamed)
Addison Cloudwatch Von Zinglemeyer (Protected Status)
Velua WatchfulBrzone (Employee Status)
Current First-Floor Populations
Fairy: 74
Scout Fairy: 18
Blight Fairy: 2
Soldier Fey: 24
Seasonal Fey: 2
Brownie: 4
Witchling: 2
Banshee: 1
Bee: 84
Snap-Dragons: 0
Snap-Drakes: 8
Weirding Worm: 19
Crawdad: 84
Gemcraw: 18
Slime Shell: 6
Bladed Crawdad: 3
Heavenly Lobster: 4
Rock Lobster: 6
Metal Lobster: 2
Slime: 18
Slippery Slime: 3
Demonic Slime: 19
Angelic Slime: 12
Slime Angel: 10
Slime Demon: 10
Vampiric Crow: 9
Vampiric Raven: 1
Current First-Floor Rooms
Palatial Fey Garden (Special)
Offering Room
Tarot Room
War Room
Eternal Slumber Chamber
Dire Warning Room
Boss Room
Current First-Floor Traps
Snap-Drake Surprise
“Can you attest, to the best of your memory, that everything you see here is true and accurate?” Scott Ch Taupe asked with a smile as he looked over the papers and made sure that all of them were on display. It was a moment of pride, for the first floor to be summed up in a couple of pieces of paper like that. Scott found it to be the most meaningful thing he could do as a Spirit of Bureaucracy.
“Yep, this is all of my current listings. So weird to see all of it condensed like this.” Red muttered as he looked through the pages, able to confirm that they were everything that he had created over the last month. It was strange, to know that only a month had passed before he had created this wonderful place full of lovely creatures. He didn’t know if what he had done so far was atoning like he was supposed to for his deal with Death. At the very least, he had made it past the first floor, and now had so many friends and people that mattered. He took in a deep breath and smiled, appreciating the pages before Scott put them back one by one.
“With that, your first floor is official. You are still able to change it as you please, especially if you leave the first floor as your top floor.” Scott said happily as he tucked the papers away before putting the red file back in the drawer he had retrieved it from. ”Wait, so the next floor can just… grow under the first?” Red responded, always seeming to have more questions about everything that the bureaucrat had to say.
“That’s right, though you can always leave it as the first floor and have the next floor grow on top of it. You can also completely rearrange whenever you come back here. However if you do keep it as your top floor, then it will receive another room slot.” Scott added, still wishing that Red had gone through the reception area. There was supposed to be a guide there about everything that goes on.
“Alright! Now we are talking. So yeah, I will keep the fairy floor as the highest floor, with the new one being the entrance.” He confirmed with a nod, glad that there were ways of changing things so his dungeon wasn’t so set in stone. He could make a floor wildly different from the fairy floor, but over time they could be at such a distance that no one would judge him for it. It also meant that he could go ahead with how he felt the second floor should go. His dream had helped him decide, and now he had the opportunity to follow through on it.
“So, Red. Do you have any idea of what you want for your second floor? If not, then I can make some good recommendations for you. If you do, just say the concept and we will see what we can find.” Scott happily said as he stood, heading over to the wall of file cabinets once more to look through names and concepts to find who would be Red’s new ally.
“Yeah. I think I do. Got any spirits related to Restaurants?”