Valens lazily looked around the dungeon, he figured it had been a few days but he couldn’t tell. He had lost track of time expanding floor 22, he was about a third of the way done and it felt like it was about time to take a short break. The core checked in on Aspen and was pleased to find the fairy dutifully hunting monsters. She had even managed to make her way to level 84 in just a few days which was quite the turnaround from her normally lazy nature.
After she had died on her first day hunting the fairy had gotten quite a bit more serious and had gone about killing her fellow monsters with extreme efficiency. Aspen also seemed to be carrying a grudge against his hawks, which did make sense considering how she had died. He hadn’t even known she could die from a fall but apparently falling from high enough up and with a hawk many times her weight right on top of her would do the trick.
Sora was trying to sleep but was getting awfully twitchy from the lack of action. Valens had let her go on a short killing spree to let off steam up on the tier two floors, but it didn’t seem to have helped that much. Unfortunately, Sora was just going to have to get used to not fighting all the time for a while, it was going to be at least a week or two until he got any tier-three creatures much less established enough of a population for her to hunt.
The chimera was doing fine as well, closing in on the end of tier two just like Aspen. The fairy had managed to pull a little further ahead and the chimera was only on level 57. Things seemed to have slowed down with the number of humans coming into his dungeon for some reason. The chimera was getting a little antsy, but she could just head down to the tier two floors if she wanted to fight something.
All in all, everything seemed to be going just fine, better get back to growing floor 22. Just as he was about to divert his attention out of the core room a massive yawn rattled the stone around the core. Valens clutched his metaphorical head as he was struck by a wave of dizziness, he hadn’t even known he could get dizzy. Glancing over at the only other occupant in the room, he saw that Magnus was finally getting up.
Magnus, Magnus get up. Magnus! The core pestered until the drake crapped open an eye looking annoyed.
What is it Valens, give me a break. I'm just waking up. Magnus yawned again, thankfully a little quieter this time, and slowly stretched.
You’ve been asleep for days, and you passed out right in the middle of our conversation. What’s going on that can't be normal, right?
The drake sat up his eyes a little wider and more alert all of a sudden. Wait I did, last thing I remember was talking to you about bosses, and then nothing. I guess you’re right, this is getting a little out of hand.
So what exactly is going on? You avoided the question last time but why are you spending so much time asleep? Valens was genuinely worried about his scaly companion, he had grown to enjoy his company and it was just a little bit lonely when he wasn’t around to talk to.
Magnus shuffled his talens awkwardly as he looked over at the core. Well, you see Valens, I don’t really know what’s going on.
The core stared at the drake a little disbelieving. Really? You don’t even have a guess?
Magnus tapped his chin thoughtfully. I do have a few guesses, but I have no idea which or if any of them are correct. My first thought was that the massive power difference between us was forcing me to sleep more often. However, the amount of time I am sleeping seems to be getting longer so I am leaning towards it not having anything to do with the dungeon bond. My other thought was that it might have something to do with my age, but I have no real way to test that. My current theory is that the amount of stress I accumulated during my search for a newborn core must have taken a toll on me, and sleeping is a way to recuperate.
Valens thought about this, it made a certain kind of sense but wasn’t Magnus tier six though. Why would just searching for a dungeon be so exhausting for you? You’re a tier six you should be able to go for days without resting at all.
The drake chuckled and nodded his head. You are correct Valens but I didn’t just go for days without rest. I went for years and then decades almost constantly using my mana to search for the mana signature of a new dungeon. I was also very close to death at the time, so that might have something to do with the strain I was under.
Alright, so what do we do about it? In the end, it didn’t matter why Magnus was passing out randomly; they needed to figure out how to fix it.
I’m not sure we can or rather I’m not sure it's a good idea. I had considered killing myself and letting you respawn me but I’m not sure if that would work. I’m so much stronger than you that it either might cripple you for days as you slowly rebuild my body or you might not be able to respawn me at all until you reach the appropriate tier.
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Valens could see the flaws in that plan, a mostly present overpowered drake was definitely better than an absent overpowered drake. So let's not do that, how about?
Magnus chuckled again and opened his codex in his claws. Agreed. Anyway, I have noticed that although my naps have been getting more frequent I have been feeling better when I wake up. More rested and less exhausted than I have in a while, and I’m not sure trying to stay awake is a good idea. I forced myself to stay awake for a few days when I felt the need to sleep start to come on and it was not fun. Frankly, all of this is more than a little unnerving having no idea what’s wrong with me. At least if I die I’ll come back eventually so long as you’re around.
So what do we do? It sounds like trying to directly stop you from sleeping is a bad idea, but what am I going to do if someone really powerful invades while you’re asleep? This was a critical point to Valens, the drake had been his safety for a while now, and he didn’t want that taken away.
I thought of that as well, if you look closely you’ll notice that I carved quite a few runic arrays into the stone of the core room. Valens checked and sure enough, they were there, but they were so small that he forgave himself for not noticing. How did the sneaky drake manage to carve them right under his nose though? I also think it's time for you to make me my own, and put it directly before the core room. That way anyone trying to get to you will have to go through me, and this way any battles that I have won’t be directly in the core room.
Valens nodded and immediately set about carving out a good-sized room for Magnus. It didn’t take as long as he had thought, he wasn’t expanding his dungeon to create the room, just reshuffling the existing space. Just as he finished getting the rough details finished the core had a thought. Say Magnus aren’t you sort of in hiding? What if a group of adventurers sees you then immediately run away like sane people. Wouldn’t that defeat the purpose of trying to stay hidden?
Magnus shrugged. Just make another small room in front of mine, I’ll stick a fake core in there that should fool most weaklings. I’ll also camouflage the entrance to my room and the real core room. That way it’ll make it harder in general for anyone to find either of us.
That sounded sensible to Valens and he quickly agreed to the drake’s plan. He did decide to finish up Magnus’ room before working on the fake core room though, and he was determined to put a bit of extra effort into making the drake more comfortable. If the overgrown lizard was going to spend a lot of time asleep he might appreciate a bed right?
Valens carved a shallow bowl in the floor, making sure to smooth out the edges, and then filled the crater with what was essentially a giant pillow. One of the adventurers had brought one to sleep with and that was how he had figured out how to make this particular item. He had reinforced the materials somewhat, adding more layers of sturdier cloth, though he hoped Magnus would still be gentle with his creation; it wouldn't stand up to rough use from a drake after all.
The roof of the room was also embedded with the customary sunstones of the dungeon and Valens had also added in a few shelves for storage. The drake always seemed to keep his things stashed away using space magic but maybe he would put things out if given the opportunity.
Say, Magnus, how are you going to be any good as a guard if you’re passed out completely? I tried quite a few times to rouse you when you were asleep and humans tramping around you has got to be less annoying than someone literally yelling into your mind.
Magnus tapped his chin as he moved into his new room, looking around appreciatively. That’s true, well let me set this up, then it's been a while since I used it. The drake set an odd-looking stone column down on the ground. The cylindrical rock practically screamed of magical power to Valens’ sense, which was a little unusual for enchanted or in this case engraved objects. Magnus also took out several smaller stones that he placed at various points around the room including the ceiling. Sinking the objects into the solid rock with a bit of earth magic and completely concealing them. Lastly, the runes on the cylinder flashed and Magnus too sank it into the ground.
Valens watched in fascination as complex weaves of power formed around the room, concentrating around both the entrance and the exit leading into his core room. The strength of the protections was so great the core could practically feel them humming with power and more complicated than anything he had seen before.
Well, that should do it. The drake nodded in satisfaction before strolling over to examine his new bed.
What exactly did you do? Valens asked with just a tinge of awe in his voice.
Oh, that was some heavy-duty magical wards. More permanent and powerful versions of what I had in the core room. Valens checked and still couldn’t feel anything, stupid drake and his stupid invisible magic. Anyway, all of these wards are completely separate from me and won’t need me to refresh them at all. I can also shift some of the protections around the core room itself if we ever need that. So even if I’m asleep for months they will be just fine.
How do they work? You had that one big stone then a bunch of little ones around the rest of the room. This seemed like something that would be very beneficial to the core, once he figured out how to make proper use of runes that is. His mood soured slightly at the thought, progress was still slow on that front.
The big stone you saw is the control center, it provides the most power and generates the various wards. The smaller stones are anchor stones; they control the boundaries of the wards and anchor the edges, preventing any weak points from forming. Incidentally, all of these protections will make this room ideal for my experiments.
Valens chuckled and withdrew as his friend began playing with various mana types again, with one of them promptly blowing up in his face. Well, that was sorted and Magnus was awake for now, better get back to work.