Luna’s siblings were happy to hear about the new room and were eager to help her move their bedding into it.

Along the way of moving things her brother commented on how it is much darker in the new room, although there is a slight glow from my core coming from the crawl space and a little bit of the firelight coming from the first room it isn’t that much.

Luna, “I know it is a lot darker so for now we are going to put the bedding right near the entrance against the wall between the entrance and the pathway to the core room so we can use the little bit of light available, also since it’s so dark we are only going to be using it for when we go to sleep. The rest of the time we are going to be in the first room to take care of all of the other tasks needed to be done.”

I take a hint and go through my dungeon plant database to find one of the light producing plants to plant in the new room, glowing moss and luminescent shrooms which much to my dismay cost 6 and 8 mana respectively per plant where as even the berry bushes only cost 3 mana which is why I haven’t planted more than one each.

looking into the plants more to understand why they are so expensive mana wise I find that they are both are alchemical ingredients that can be made into mana potions or mana poisons…. I really don’t want anything to do with mana poisons right now especially with my current situation but it doesn’t say anything about what they do straight as is like the salveaid or mana grass.

Should I just do a little glowing moss since it’s cheaper and see how Luna responds to it, she seems to know a bit about plants, could she also know about how to use the moss to make mana?

I wait until I can afford to plant some of the moss and I select a place to grow it, I raise a small textured post in the center of the room and plant the moss on it.

It’s going to take longer to grow to maturity than the rest of the plants so far but it should start growing enough to start producing a glow within a few days at most.

I checked back in on Luna and her siblings to find her preparing to cook in the big pot she makes a nook in the fire that will cup around about half of the pot and she places some hot coals and ashes under the empty pot as she uses it to flatten it out level then she starts cutting up some of the produce she had brought from the village on a wooden board.

Luna, “Hey Rocky do you mind going to refill the canteens back at the river? I’m going to use all of what’s available in the soup so we are going to need more, I think you might have to do more than one trip too.”

Rocky, “Sure thing sis, should I try and catch something down by the river to add to it or should I just come back with the water?”

Luna, “Well, having something else added might be a good idea, how about trying to catch something on your second trip or grab something that won’t take long since I want that water to have plenty of time to make a good broth. If you can’t catch the fish, then clams, crawfish or frogs would also be good options.”

Rocky, “You got it! I’ll be back soon!”

Luna finished dumping the water from both canteens in the pot and handed them both to her brother and waving him on his way before she returned to the pot adding in cubed potatoes and carrots into the pot followed by some finely diced greens of some sort, then after she cut the roots off an onion and pealed the papery outer layer she plopped the entire thing in.

She seems to be thinking about what else to add and I decided to offer mana grass and salveaid, which got a laugh from her.

Luna, “I am not sure my siblings will be happy with the soup being that bitter, but I appreciate the thoughtfulness, I might sneak some into a tea when I bring some next time though. Also I noticed that you had planted some salveaid near our first sleeping spot, was that for our use?”

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I responded yes excitedly as I made the lump of clay bigger than usual, much to my befuddlement but I probably was just happier than normal because she noticed.

Luna, “Umm, does that mean that I wasn’t supposed to take the ones from your core room, just the ones that you have offered me?”

The sudden timid and uncomfortable response she displayed made me feel panicked because although I prefer them to just stick with the ones I have offered them or planted for their use I didn’t mind her taking the ones from my core room that first time since it is what I have to offer for her helping to repair my core….

I don’t know how else to explain so I do something drastic and move all of the salveaid and half of the mana grass into the room with her, all in my attempt to show her how much she can have.

Luna is stunned by my sudden display and makes her own educated guess to what I meant.

Luna, “Are you saying that we can use these? Or this many?”

I give her a double yes as I put the mana grass back in my core room but I have the salveaid moved to line the wall where they used to have their bedding.

She observed where I had relocated everything and she took note of it.

Luna starts cutting up some beets, dicing the leaves and stems while cubing the bulbs like she had done with the potatoes, before adding them into the pot that is starting to steam.

Luna, “Does having the mana grass around your core help you recover?”

I use a smaller clay lump to respond.

Luna, “Is that supposed to mean a little?”

I wish I could smile back at her but a large lump of clay would have to do for my response instead.

Luna, “Oh! So I was right, you were using the size to try and give more details.”

She continues cooking while she talks with me about whatever questions seems to come to her mind that she thinks I can answer.

Luna, “Do you enjoy talking with me?”

I give her a big lump of clay for my response and am rewarded with her laughter.

Luna, “Did you miss me while I was gone yesterday?”

I replied with more clay.

Luna, “Does your core hurt? Does the mana transfer make it better?”

Yes and yes again.

Luna, “Would you be able to recover without my help?”

I respond with a very small clay bulge.

Luna, “Does that mean yes but slowly?

I respond with a normal lump of clay.

Luna, “Well, I hope you recover sooner rather then later. It would be nice if you were able to communicate more that just yes or no questions.”

I use a lump of clay to make my agreement known.

Luna, “Oh! I just remembered that dungeons have names! My name is Luna, and my younger siblings are Rocky and Misty. Would you happen to have a name as well?”

I respond with a stalagmite the size of her thumb as a no I don’t have a name.

Luna, “So no name yet, would you like one?”

I give her some clay.

Luna, “hmm, I don’t know what to call you yet. Most of the dungeons that’s I have heard about are usually named after some of their distinctive features be it from the monsters that appear most frequently or from the environments that persist throughout the majority of the dungeon or even the most common elements present. The Scorching Dungeon has a lot of fire type of monsters and hot environments, and the Spiders Nest is gloomy and dark with all sorts of spider monsters for example. I guess you don’t have anything to distinguish yourself from other dungeons yet.”

Her brother returned with the filled canteens and a large frog, he is dripping wet as he hands them over to his sister.

Luna, “Now I thought I told you to wait until the next trip to refill the water before you go catch anything.”

Rocky, “Well, it was right there where I was filling the canteens so I thought I should just go ahead and grab it, I didn’t mean to fall in when it tried to escape. At least I didn’t let it get away and now it’s going to be dinner!”

He grins mischievously as his sister dumps the water into the pot of boiling soup making it stop boiling for a while before the steam starts rising again.

She hands the canteens back to him and he runs off right away.

Shaking her head she starts cleaning the frog and adding it’s meat to the pot leaving the skin bones and whatever inedible organs were left behind.

Luna, “Are you able to use any of this? Otherwise I will be throwing it away outside.”

I responded with a yes and absorbed it once she raked it off of her cutting board and onto my dungeon floor, it didn’t take long to absorb and it netted a point of biomass.

Since my stockpile of biomass has dwindled I am happy to be receiving some to replenish it.

And a few frogs later the pot is bubbling up from the thick stew and the siblings had wood bowls filled and they enjoyed their first cooked meal in my dungeon.

I let my attention wander around with their happy chatter in the background, as I plan to make more rooms although I think I will make them smaller, maybe just a little bigger than the space needed for sleeping arrangements.

I will have them budding out from my second room, Luna’s spot will of course be the one closest to my core room.

Sometimes I wish I could talk with her to find out how I should do the living arrangements for them, but I will have to do what I can until she makes her own suggestions for what I should do.