As the mana slowly trickled in, Lumi found herself bored out of her core. She could always keep digging out the walls by absorbing the stone until nothing lingering but the all encompassing void from not so long ago. The mere thought of it held her back.

No way am I going back to that.

So in the end, Lumi had nothing to do but listen to the drops of water hitting the rocky floor and float around the cave. Not that she had a body or even a spectral form to do that with. It seemed more like moving her attention around her body, sensing every little movement and sensation of the cave that had become a part of her.

A body would be nice right about now.

At least then she could pace about or practice…

What did I practice again?

The surface of her shard went cold and the glow turned blue, like ice about to crack. It was one of the many things Lumi had been trying not to think too hard about. She was a shard, a fragment of her former self. Unable to shake the thoughts from her non-existent head, she tossed her focus around the cavern wildly, like a bird tossed about by the wind. Her core grew slightly warmer at the thought.

I can fly.

Well not exactly, but it was the next best thing she supposed. It was something to do that wasn’t just sitting there and waiting for the next stupid water droplet to fall.

I’m pretty sure I couldn’t fly before.

In most of the memories that were crammed into her, she had two legs. Most certainly wasn’t all, since in some she, or whichever of Avani’s friends the memory originally belonged to, had four or more legs and even less had wings. Some didn't even have any legs at all.

But in most there were only two legs.

The probability was pretty high at the very least.

Legs, huh.

The memories of walking about Avani’s halls came to her quite naturally. The labyrinth was one of the few things that was fairly clear in all the gathered memories. Even if they were tinted by annoyance at having to navigate them.

I want to move, but floating my focus about is pretty good too.

Then it hit her. The latest drop of water splashed across her shard.

Come to think of it, I really should try and make something to guard me. I can’t exactly run away from anything now that I am basically a stone.

Sweeping her senses through her territory again, Lumi felt exposed. With nothing to guard her or even hide behind, she was vulnerable. Not that she could move enough to even attempt to hide. The glow emanating from her probably didn’t help either. Floating alone in the center of a giant cavern, the light from her shard pulsed faster.

How stupid can I be? That was so so stupid.

The memory of monsters tunneling through the reinforced walls of Avani’s dungeon set off alarms in her.

There might be monsters that get to me through the cavern walls.

She needed a guardian—multiple guardians as soon as possible. If the kingdoms above wanted to subjugate her core, why wouldn’t anything else smart enough to try do so as well?

But what to make?

Lumi could remember plenty of dangerous monsters that the owners of the memories swirling inside her had made or were familiar with. Almost none of which she could make with the meager amount of mana she had. On top of that most of those she had enough mana for had elemental affinities that would probably require elementally dyed mana to make.

However, the answer seeped out of her core before she knew it. The unwarranted trails of information, feeling utterly alien to her, connected various previously unrelated memory fragments. It was unlike Avani’s reassuring presence from before. Lumi pulled back into herself as far as her core would let her as instinctual revulsion flooded her senses. She sent mana scattering outward in an attempt to purge herself of the thing working around inside of her.

What the—get out of my head.

It simply kept trying to answer her question ignoring all her attempts at separating it from her.

Finally, after whatever it was went through all the memory fragments, Lumi had a few categories to choose from. The other line of thought not her own disappeared simply content to have done its job. Trying not to think about it any further Lumi just looked at the answer it gave her and tried shaking her consciousness free of any remnants the thing might have left.

Oathborne, golems, or animals. That’s still pretty broad.

Oathborne are creatures bound to dungeons by some oath from long before even Avani’s fragmented memories seem to start.

There were a number of such races in the past it seems. Goblins, Gnolls, Kobolds, some Spirits—

The rest of the answer seemed to flow off her core as the memory seemed damaged. Lumi sighed and a small breeze through the chamber, expelling some mana accidentally.

Damn it…

While wandering around attempting to regather the mana she’d wasted, Lumi focused on the parts of the answer she’d been given that didn’t slip away.

What spirits don’t need elementally dyed mana?

When no answer forced its way into her head again by whatever means it had done so before, she figured that she probably didn’t know or maybe the other line of thought could only do its thing so often.

So Goblins, Kobolds and Gnolls, huh?

Goblins, being the cunning green fast growing species that they are, had pointed ears, pointed teeth, and were fairly pointy in general. Their blood red eyes generally saw more than they let on. Despite being small in stature, goblins are a fairly adaptive species with a great deal more intelligence than most adventurers would believe. There are even some that are good with magic. Most of her memories agreed that the only reason they are generally considered weak is the fact that most of them are hunted and killed before they can get strong enough to be considered otherwise. With their ability to grow their population abnormally fast, no one wanted to give them a chance to get to that level.

Level? Level…did I have something like that?

The word stuck with her, but nothing in the pile of memories given to her resonated with it. Lumi just mentally shrugged.

Kobolds are scaly and vaguely lizard like—although they stood on two legs—with a maw full of teeth and claws just short enough to still be usable as fingers. Supposedly they are the descendants of dragons but might as well be considered something else entirely for how different they are. They are another smaller species, are seen in much the same way as goblins, but generally considered less of a threat due to their slower population growth. Although they are much better suited to dungeon combat since they tend to favor making traps and ambushes and better eye sight. Every tribe also seems to develop a unique form of alchemy, suited to their environment to complement their traps and combat power.

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

Gnolls are giant hyenas that walk on two legs and a tendency to be able to survive even the most hostile environments. They, on the other hand, are much larger than the other two, being around seven to eight feet tall on average, and generally better fighters. However, each one would take much more mana to create and Lumi could not be sure that they were something she could keep making if she ended up losing any.

I could probably teach the kobolds a ton of stuff to help them grow and they are pretty cute… Not a bad choi—wait. Kobolds are cute?

The surge of information left Lumi’s consciousness swirling around her core along with the current of mana slowly pouring into her.

Was that my memory?

A scene flickered across her vision of a kobolds playing with its child.

My child?

In the depths of her soul, she knew it was true, but denied it. Lumi wasn’t a kobold. Even so, she screamed into the darkness, condensation forming droplets of water that dripped down her shard. The little one had died with Avani. The unbearable loss stabbed at her and she felt her core float lower to the floor.

Submerging into the memory, she tried to shove it away. It clung to her, dragging her further and fruther into the depths. She had to focus on something as the scene and whatever fragment was left of its owner’s soul started melding into her core. Into Lumi.

I am Lumi. I am Lumi. I am Lumi. I am Lumi. I am Lumi.

She repeated that to herself, mumbling until it stopped being uncertain. Dragging herself from the sea of memories before she drowned, she held onto her name with everything she had.

Much to her relief she was in fact Lumi. A long time must have passed since the whole room was full to the brim of ambient mana. She let the ethereal mist swirl around her shard a moment before filling up on it. She breathed the mana in trying to forget the memory pulling at her from the corners of her mind. Lumi floated there, gorging on mana, until everything seemed normal enough.

I have to be more careful to keep the souls of the memories separated from me.

It was getting harder to separate her memories from the vast sea of memory fragments swimming around her core every time she had to combine the information between them to get answers.

I guess kobolds are cute, but I don’t think I’ve ever really paid them any attention aside from… from… Where have I seen them before?

Sharp pains shot through her core with every memory she reached for. The tenuous bridges holding them together, were not made to handle her full attention, much less the strain of forcefully trying to access them.

Stop. Just stop thinking about it. It doesn’t matter right now.

As the pain receded, Lumi barely caught herself before she let out another wave of mana attempting to mimic a sigh.

Deep breathe. You can’t force it.

Lumi allowed herself to imagine doing so, even though she held onto her mana so none of it escaped her.

Whew. Now where was I? Right. Golems.

Golems on the other hand are both sturdy and strong depending on what they are made out of although they are more of a broad category of monster from hulking metal giants to the tiniest wooden skulker or animal facsimile. The imitations of life all have cores embedded with their logic and motor functions hidden somewhere in their bodies. They are constructs that need to be created and can’t reproduce like everything else.

All the stone lying around would allow her to make them fairly sturdy and would make it easier to get the earth mana for them as well. They would also be fairly versatile. She didn’t think it would be that hard to change their forms if she needed to. The problem is that they can’t think for themselves. She would have to give each one orders and devote way more of her attention to controlling them than she’d like.

So kobolds are still probably the way to go.

Animals, like snakes, spiders, wolves or any number of dangerous wildlife would be a pretty decent choice.

Wolves? Well they are fairly self explanatory but it would be hard to direct them if I need to. Even if they could hear my thoughts, would they even be able to understand me? I guess they do have speed though. So that’s something at least.

The main problem with using animals as a starting monster would be that they can always be added later as long as one dies in the dungeon.

Maybe stoneforms? I do have a decent amount of earth dyed mana lying around so maybe its worth a shot trying to make some.

Gargoyles and craglings were the only stoneforms that came to mind and Lumi could hardly afford to create gargoyles large enough to be a threat to anything.

Kobolds are definitely the way to go. Maybe they could even understand me.

The thought of having anything at all that could listen to her was too tempting to let go. Lumi took a deep breath, inhaling a large clump of the mana mist into her shard, and concentrated as hard as she could on making a kobold. The fragment of Avani slowly guided her through the process.

First she needed the form. Lumi imagined the small scaly, dragonoid, clad in leather armor and holding a sword. Next it needed a will.

I guess I’ll just add a bit of myself and see how that works out.

Finally she just needed to pour the correct amount of mana into it.

Slowly the kobold materialized in the cavern at the edge the light coming off her core. Its fiery yellow eyes, like a cats, stood out from its dark blue scales. It stood proudly at around four feet tall… for all of a second before it flopped to the ground under its own weight. In a moment, it deformed into a puddle of squirming flesh.

Wha—

A muffled scream, or at least thats what Lumi thought it had been, sent ripples along the writhing abomination. She held her ‘breath’ and tried not to scream in kind at the abomination that she’d created. Once she was sure she wasn’t going to just lose control of her mana, she finally tried to absorb it. Unfortunately she’d had to wait for it to die, trying to look at any other part of the cavern while doing so. At least she had no stomach to empty all over the cavern floor. On top of that, she didn’t even get all the mana she’d poured into it back.

What went wrong? I followed every step.

Lumi could only try again. She followed each step and did exactly what the memory told her to do.

Ugh. Why does it have to be so gross?

The new flesh sack thrashed about for all of a minute before being absorbed once again.

Is the memory wrong?

The thought of Avani’s memories being wrong or corrupted somehow sent shivers through her shard.

No. I must be messing up somehow. Maybe I should try another type of creature.

After finding out what a goblin looks like as a puddle, Lumi tried to make a golem. She tried to imagine a smaller version of one of the full suits of mithril armor that stood guardian to one of the chambers in Avani, she’d visited. Only this time, it would be made of stone. After placing a piece of herself in it, Lumi poured the earth dyed mana she had few uses for, aside from making architecture, until now.

It worked?

Before her stood a kobold sized stone suit of armor at parade rest. The grill faceplate extended downward giving the effect of a grinning skull.

Hah! It didn’t collapse. Perfect. Now stand to the side while I make a few more of you.

She waited a moment but it didn’t move.

Hello?

Lumi projected her thoughts at the golem as hard as she could but they all seemed to just wash over it.

Can you hear me?

If it was it a part of her, it definitely should be able to connect to her in some way. However, the stone golem simply stood there. Seeing nothing change in the golem, Lumi floated over and poured her senses through it trying to figure out what went wrong.

What the—It’s a statue.

Unable to deny it any longer, Lumi knew something had to be wrong. But what? The dungeon related memories from Avani had been vividly clear to her, even more so than her own.

I’m pretty sure dungeons should be able to make monsters on instinct alone right? The outsides of the monster I made looked okay when they first appeared. What else am I missing?

With a wave of nausea, Lumi remembered the kobolds and goblin looking perfectly normal before collapsing into themselves.

Like they had no skeletons… I didn’t make their insides.

She quickly looked through every memory she could only to find nothing about the full detailed forms of creatures, aside from the outside. The least important part at the moment.

I never got those memories… I don’t know what their whole forms are like. Just the outsides.

Leaving staggering implications of only having a part of the information or instincts of a dungeon should have to future Lumi, she got back to work.

Organic creatures were clearly way above what she could do. So instead, Lumi continued trying to make a golem. It would just have to be way less mobile. First she focused on making another kobold sized suit of armor, only this time, she imagined that the delicate interlocking armor plates as smooth as possible so it would form a large solid pieces of armor. On the insides it would be solid stone, save for the lines of mana that would act as nerves to hopefully let it move. The stick figure made of mana inhabiting the golem in place of a nervous system was better than letting it be another statue she supposed.

Now imagine it moving.

Next she tried placing a bit of her consciousness in the golem again before pouring mana into the form she’d shaped.

It slowly formed below her core in a swirl of mana that rushed out of her before filling the lifeless rock. When the mana currents in the room finally settled, there stood her new golem, yet again at parade rest holding a club behind its back.

Hello.

Lumi stared at it hoping it worked and to her surprise, its head perked up and it looked at her.

Come here.

It took a few wattling steps before it got used to its own feet, but even then it still looked stiff, but that could hardly be helped. When it reached her core, it genuflected before her. Smiling to herself, with a warm pulse of energy coming from her core, Lumi floated over the kneeling golem.

I name you Pebble, the stone knight.

The vaguely humanoid stone figure looked like a giant doll with its exaggerated limbs and over-sized fist. The surface displayed no faults and seemed smooth as far as Lumi could see, but she couldn't be sure that there weren’t any flaws she simply hadn’t noticed yet.

Well knight is probably a bit much for now but whatever.