“Maps are a way of organizing wonder.”

-Peter Steinhart

==POV: Caden==

I felt a little bad about laughing so hard when they opened up the door to the sewers, but their disgust was so obvious that I couldn’t help it. I only felt a little bad though, it wasn’t like the smell was going to actually hurt them. It was merely unpleasant.

To be fair, I had subjected myself to that smell in my human avatar. On a less fair note… bad smells didn’t bother me anymore. For all that my avatar was human, it retained the sensibilities of my dungeon nature. And that half wasn’t bothered by bad smells at all. The smell still had bad associations, because sewage was not a particularly pleasant thought, but there was no instinctive revulsion anymore.

I still wouldn’t call my experience of gradually tweaking the sewers for human perceptions pleasant. However, it would take more than it being mildly unpleasant to stop me from perfecting the dungeon. I had a certain pride in creating it properly. Not an instinctual feeling of possessiveness, like Exsan, but rather a joy in making something beautiful and functional.

I could create all sort of trinkets. I could be a sculptor and carpenter beyond compare, but it didn’t matter if what I created had no purpose. The dungeon had purpose. It served an important function. I didn’t necessary understand that function entirely, but two different groups had shown up and entered as soon as it was physically possible. I was hoping to learn more about what a dungeon did on the whole, but for now I knew enough to do my best.

Hence, a trip into the sewers had proceeded. I had also walked all over the dungeon, tweaking things here and there. I had a number of standardized sizes for things like stair steps, chairs, tables, etc… from my efforts. It helped me place windows and railings at the correct heights, put wear and tear in the right places, and far more.

I had to admit I also just enjoyed walking through my dungeon. I had tried to make it as beautiful as I could, even if I was trying to make it gloomy, or scary, etc… I had often appreciated the dark beauty of fairy tales on Earth. I had been okay with unhappy endings. Darkness was beautiful too, as long as it meant something. The original Little Mermaid was tragic, but poetically beautiful.

I was going to try to prevent death from being permanent in my dungeon. However, people only had so many opportunities, and some people would abandon caution rather than learning to do better. Their deaths would hopefully serve to teach someone else. Only here in my dungeon could I have this power over death. I wouldn’t let people leave believing they were invincible, because then they would get other people killed.

My thoughts were morbid, but I was trying to prepare myself for death in advance. I let the thoughts sit in my mind for a moment, and then let them go. I had other things to do.

The functions of the tower were simple enough that nothing there had gone wrong. No other team had entered, so no monsters had regenerated behind them until they stepped into the courtyard. I would need to see other groups enter before I would be able to judge how that worked.

The little groomer boss had worked great. It had gotten utterly smashed flat, but I already knew that these people were superhuman. A normal group of adult humans shouldn’t have much trouble with the tower and boss as long as they were reasonably well prepared. If the monsters turned out to be too weak, because everyone was superhuman, I would adjust.

It was great to see Zidaun and his team analyze the boss battle too. It was my first chance to see it battle people. They could have destroyed it at any time, as proven by Zidaun wrapping it up in stone. Also, I had no idea how Gurek’s power worked. He got the injury a minute after taking it. Crazy.

Inda was interesting too. She was doing something to knives she was throwing. My calculation ability was going a bit haywire. They accelerated in some fashion, or something, after they left her hand. That wasn’t quite right either. It was driving my ability nuts. The knives were very effective though.

My town needed some minor adjustments though. A few of my ambushes were triggered closer together than I really liked. I did a bit more tweaking with the settings as they left.

I took a quick look at my status. My survival points had increased by four points after they left. Not sure what factors controlled that. Oh well… I would learn.

I hoped they came back and fully explored the town, but I wouldn’t be too surprised if they didn’t. I had made a fairly large environment here. Okay, more than fairly large. It was pretty damn massive. If I had a better way to make areas I would absolutely create bigger ones though. For now I had to make everything I wanted fit without collapsing the dungeon or running out of space.

They were meticulous about surveying everything. Inda actually drew beautifully. However, I wasn’t sure what their end goal was supposed to be. If they were supposed to document every single corner they would be at it for a while, even just with what they had already seen. If they were supposed to find how to clear the dungeon, or valuable materials, or a basic map, or something else... I didn’t know, they could be here for a variable amount of time. Guess I would find out in the future.

For now, a shard watching Zidaun had noticed them doing something interesting. They had pulled out a cylinder of some kind. More of them were in his pack, but I couldn’t really see them very well due to the mana that was a part of them. I appeared in the wall behind Zidaun and stuck just my face through above and behind him. I had already tested that he couldn’t sense me with his access to my aura. Not really surprising, I couldn’t sense myself. I might get a better form of soul perception, but I didn’t have it yet.

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The tube was covered with golden and silver metal, as well as runes. The runes were made of some type of crystal. I couldn’t see everything, but I recognized one; it was for mana. There was something about the way the shape of the cylinder was put together that was bugging me as well…

Zidaun pulled a piece of paper out of the cylinder and started to carefully write on it. I ignored that for the moment since it had no mana. I couldn’t feel the cylinder well enough to recreate the symbols, so I was forced to make them out of stone next to my core as best I could. I made the filigree lines in silver and gold as well.

I couldn’t see the whole thing from where he laid it on the table, and I didn’t want to change my angle too much. I did a little bit, but only to places I was sure he couldn’t see me. It let me put a little more detail together. There was something about the design.

I withdrew when Zidaun shifted and had Inda start drawing. I changed where I was watching from. I still couldn’t see much more of the cylinder. I could see what Inda was working on though. She really could draw well. Hmm, yep, that was a drawing of the town. Looked like some schematics for the internal layout of the tower as well.

They finished and I withdrew. Zidaun put the paper back and then activated some kind of magic. There was a faint ripple of something, but it was gone before I could even consciously realize it was there. When the mana faded away the cylinder had only lingering traces of mana in it. I could see some of it more clearly now. The paper that had been inside was gone now.

Was that some form of teleportation? With the map of the dungeon inside, along with whatever else they had written, it looked like they had sent information off to somewhere. I wish I knew where it had gone.

There was a cylinder inside Zidaun’s pack that felt similar to this one. Had they sent off information before they got into the dungeon or did they do it while I was busy meditating?

The group started to talk again, but they finished quickly and Zidaun grabbed the empty cylinder and headed outside. I moved my avatar back to my core room for the moment.

I watched Zidaun heading down the road, it looked like he was heading for the altar.

This could be very good news indeed.

It was only a few minutes later when he entered.

He found me waiting for him.

I sealed the door behind him as he entered.

I created a fake cylinder in my hands and put it in the altar, dissolving it after.

Yes, No?

Not the most elegant of communications, but I hoped it got my point across.

Zidaun smiled.

“Yes.”

I smiled back and raised up a tendril of stone.

Give, I pointed to the tendril.

He held out the cylinder and my stone tendril took it. As soon as it did I teleported stored it. A token for fifty points appeared held in the tendril’s grasp. Zidaun took it.

I thought for a moment. Zidaun didn’t really know what that was worth. Best to encourage people giving emblems. The more magic items I got the better.

I split the tendril up into multiple tendrils. I added a one centimeter sphere of folerth, a coin of magic infused gold, and a two inch cube of mana crystal that I grabbed from elsewhere (it had a few hundred mana stored in it).

One.

I pointed at the three items.

Zidaun hesitated, looking at the three items. He seemed uncertain as he looked between the folerth and the cube. Finally, he reached for the folerth.

As he took it I stored the other items away.

I made a table and two chairs, then I sat down.

After Zidaun sat down, I started with a replica of what he had seen of the dungeon. A clear crystal dome covered a replica of the Starlight Grotto. A tiny statue of Jormungandr encircled it, and tiny trees made of gold and emerald created a barrier. Other tiny replicas of the buildings, statues, and doorway appeared as well. Then I created a minimally detailed version of the meadow with a much more detailed fortress in its own bubble. The fortress and town were created with the same gray stone as the originals.

From there I added on more and more crystal until I had created the shape of the mountain that I could see, as well as the snowy valleys and the other mountains that were visible. Then I covered them with grey stone and white marble to show the rock and snow.

It was a very incomplete three dimensional model, but it gave an idea of what I wanted.

I created chunks of marble, grey stone, clear crystal, sapphire, as well as gems in other colors and set them off to the side.

Zidaun.

I pointed at the blank materials and circled my hand around the map I had made.

Zidaun hesitated for a moment before material started to gather.

Additional stone gathered on the jut of stone that hung above me on the map. It looked like the giant piece of stone hanging above the dungeon was pointed and stood all on its own. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that.

Vague identical mountains extended off to the west, to the east of me was a valley and then sapphires were used.

Gradually, a map was made. Rivers of sapphire crossed the land and met an equally blue ocean. Small roads of grey stone wound their way between hills covered in snow. Soon I had some approximation for where everything was nearby.

Zidaun pointed to an area that was below a section of cliffs. The area was a mixture of sapphire and smoky brown topaz. Tiny dots of ruby were held inside the sapphire. The pattern of the sapphire made it obvious that it was some kind of delta.

“Zidaun. Adar.” He said another word I didn’t understand. Was he saying home?

I pointed to the mountain the dungeon was under.

Caden, Exsan, home?

He smiled, “Yes.”

Great, a new word.

I created a sample of dirt. I pointed at the topaz.

Dirt?

“Yes,” he said.

I made a cup and put some water in it.

I pointed at the water and then the sapphire.

Water?

“Yes.”

I made a small amount of salt. I mimed taking a little bit of it and tasting it. Then I pointed at Zidaun.

He looked at the salt and then tasted it.

I pointed at it.

Salt.

He gave me a different word and I wrote it down.

Then I pointed at the large body of water on the eastern side of the map.

Salt water?

“Yes.”

I pointed at the body of water again, and then at the other one to the west.

Ocean.

We proceeded like this as he described various parts of the map. He showed me the city of Asmund, apparently the city that the rest of his party was native to.

I would have kept going, but I caught Zidaun suppressing a yawn.

I stored the table and other things away for the moment as I rose.

I unsealed the door.

Go.

Another shard had been examining the cylinder I had been given, but I hadn’t figured it out yet. I would understand how it all worked eventually.