As new lich takes her leave, and the System moves to a more idle state, the dungeon could finally take in its surroundings. Everything had the film of familiarity with it, but to look at it all from a new perspective made it feel new.

The central room where its core sat was dark, with uneven terrain. A hole in the chamber led down into the network of ant tunnels that had become a labyrinth. The maze stopped most adventurers from getting this close to the heart of the dungeon, but without the ant colony to maintain it, there was no telling what would become of it.

It expands its awareness layer by layer. The dungeon could only take it all in, the chambers it passed as it made its way upwards and through the abandoned hive. Brood chambers empty and without eggs, stockpiles of food lay barren. Ritual rooms caked in dust. The colony may have died today, but for the past year, it wasn’t really alive.

The surface was no better.

A deep fog had settled in over the mountains, as the rays of dawn peaked through the dense cloud cover, but it failed to hide the devastation from the dungeon’s mana sight. Three mountains. Three entire mountains lay in partial ruin within the dungeon’s domain. The fire that had destroyed it all long since burned out, with only the embers that remained days later.

With no real pull towards what to look at first, it meandered through its history and found itself at the mycelium fields first. Shimmer and the slime paragon had respawned. Each moved through what was once their home as they recollected small pieces of plants that survived. On closer inspection, it was Shimmer that worked on rebuilding with her abilities to help plants grow, but the paragon was aimless.

“Paragon, what is your role in this dungeon?” the dungeon couldn’t help but ask.

The question got both slime’s attention, but it was Shimmer who respawned. “His role is to fight.”

“No,” the dungeon corrected, “everyone’s role is to fight. You have poison and plants, the other members of your species have spell immunity, and the paragon has, what, more acid?”

“No evolution yet. Still acid slime.” It responded, its voice crude. More signs of its first stage evolution.

That… made sense. With their mana sight, the dungeon could see the paragon could evolve, as both mana and intent mixed with experience. All it needed was direction.

> Slime Paragon capable of evolution, please select from-

“Don’t worry about this system. I think I got this.”

> Warning: Attempting to ignore the system and build your own monsters will result in crude versions of what I would have suggested.

“Alright fine master of all of existence, what do you think is the best possible evolution to make sure this never happens again?”

* Tar Slime - A flammable slime that retains its immunity to fire for a destructive force when it enters battle mode; uncommon, result of mineral knowledge

* Magma Ooze - Boiled stone and molten slime that drastically increases defenses at the cost of mobility; rare, result of geographical knowledge

* Miasma Spewer - Liquid carrion given new life. A toxic body that poisons all creatures that dare to face it, while boosting the fertility of nearby plants; rare, result of slime siblings

“I’m not trying to start another fire, and the last fight had someone who liked poison, so…. The lava slime… Does that allow for a new environment?”

> Answer: Yes, future upgrades of reigniting one of the dormant volcanos within your domain.

A volcano is a big upgrade, but would give life to those useless mountains, and be a new area that isn’t just poison and flammable trees. It is the best option.

“Does this mean I have to say goodbye to my paragon friend?” Shimmer asked.

This question got the attention of the dungeon, who had forgotten the slimes were right there. It took a moment to look at them, and actually see them. Before, it never had the intelligence to see what Shimmer was, but now it could appreciate who she was as not just as a monster, but as a person.

“Shimmer,” the dungeon spoke slowly and carefully. “We both know that won’t stop you.”

Stolen story; please report.

The loud ‘sqeee’ Shimmer produced as she ran in circles really made the dungeon appreciate its higher intelligence. It was still adjusting and learning how to be who it was, and it was taking it carefully, but having the ability to listen helped. It knew those past six years it grew by being stubborn had gotten it this far, but it was time for a change…

Wait… Why had it changed? Shouldn’t it just be the same dungeon, but smarter?

“System, does higher intelligence rewrite personalities?”

> Answer: No. Any changes to personality are from the soul of Baros that you consumed. It seems large parts of his personality were added to your own to make up for a lack of your own.

The dungeon sat in silence. It just absorbed the knowledge….

It was unsure if it wanted to be angry and yell, or find Baros’ corpse and strangle it, but it knew it wanted to give some very choice words to whatever remains it could find. It was a dungeon, and it had consumed the personality of a spineless coward that couldn’t even kill it properly.

Would the dungeon have to relearn how to kill people?

Wait, had the dungeon ever actually learned how to kill people?

> Understanding Increase: Compassion

“WHY ARE YOU LIKE THIS???!?!?” The dungeon screamed at nothing and everything in particular.

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The dungeon may have consumed a large part of Baros’ soul during the mana explosion, but it didn’t destroy him.

His soul set ablaze, the mana of his body replaced with the dungeon’s… he had died, but the dungeon’s mana was amazing at its task. One ability it had mastered through being so stubborn, the mana itself refused to die.

It hadn’t mattered if his heart stopped, or his body failed. He was alive. The mana in his body refused to let him die.

It took a week for that mangled remains of Baros to use his one usable arm to drag himself out of the hellhole that was the dungeon. His legs were gone, his skin gray. Anyone who looked at him would have thought him a corpse.

But his family specialized in corpses. It had been that way ever since his grandfather killed a god.

The remains of Baros were driven by one thing. He had lost all his compassion; lost his desire to kill the dungeon mercifully, or to stop his sister. No, after today he was here for revenge.

The dungeon took everything from him. His legs, his life, his sister’s attention, and now his compassion.

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Myriad stood in an unknown section of the hallowed halls. It roughly corresponded to a desert in the mortal realm. Countless gods of merchants and trade bartered with each other as they milled about and bumped past Myriad. It was an odd sight that left them flabbergasted. They had never seen gods make a deal that wasn’t a bet over a game, yet these gods just traded with their words.

It almost made Myriad feel stupid. All those times they made a deal they would lose just to talk to someone. Turns out all they had to do was approach and talk to people…

The gods of this area didn’t play games. It was a desert where his domain thrived, able to encompass every grain of sand that couldn’t be counted. Free of the games that Myriad would always lose, it filled them with a strength they hadn’t known before. This was where Myriad was meant to be- but they didn’t care.

Carefully- delicately- they set down a backpack they didn’t know they owned. It was full of the sand that their domain would encompass if they stayed. They didn’t want to be stuck here, didn’t want to be attached to the power of this land. No, Myriad already had a home, and it was in the northern mountains.

The everlasting party was hard to navigate, but Myriad was determined to keep walking. They walked away from all that power, but they had someone better, something rarer. They had a friend. It was rare to meet someone who didn’t hate them for being useless, or pity a domain so lackluster, but when they did finally meet someone like that, well, Myriad would make sure they never lost count of those people.

Eventually, they found Joulo, who sat at a new table of ivory. Her eyes stared at a card on the table hungerly. She was rail thin and clearly had suffered a great deal, but Myriad didn’t care. They sat down across from her with a smile, and ignored the dead demon grub card on the table. Instead, they made for light conversation.

“So, wanna plant a few trees? That forest is looking a little bit thin, and I have had an idea for a new layout of haphazard placement for awhile now. Especially with all that ash as fertilizer, I think we could make something really cool!”

Joulo raised her eyes to meet Myriad’s, and she just stared. Half a smile crept across her face as the dead grub dematerialized, eaten by her dungeon.

“Y-yeah, I think I would like that,” she hesitated. “But first, I think some seismic activity has brought lava to the surface…”

“Sorry about that.” Trench said as he plopped down with too much force at their table. “Didn’t think very far ahead when I gave Vault all that power to defend. Though being fair, I didn’t realize he even existed.”

“Well,” Myriad half asked. “I have quite a few seeds that survived the fire. It may not be as many as I had before the fire, but half of infinity is still infinity. Trust me, I would know. So maybe if you get a friendly little slime over here…”

A warm smile crept across Joulo's face as she moved Shimmer towards the remnants of the forest, and Myriad’s stack of hoarded seeds. They both looked over at Trench, wondering if he wanted to join them in their minor project.

“Last survivors of a great battle? I do think those count when it comes to last stands, so sure, why not!” A wide grin plastered across his face as he all-but-blatantly bent the rules of his domain to have some fun.

And so they worked together to regrow a forest, admittedly with the dungeon doing most of the work, but hey, the gods were all having fun with a little art project to take their minds off of what happened.

It wasn’t the worse way to spend the day. Now if only they had a little bird to…

Upon seeing Tyliana wade through the crowd, Myriad shot up to flag her down so fast the chair they were sitting on fell to the ground, taking Myriad with it. A simple thing that got a laugh from everyone at the table.

It really was a good day for them. All of them.

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> Core Integrity Compromised

> Warning: Mana unable to purify

> Corruption of the core is at 3%