Ow, my head... I thought upon waking up. Why was I- oh, right, leveling up knocks me out for a time. “Hey System, how long was I out?”

“You were unconscious for three hours.”

“Thanks bud,” I groaned, then took a look at my main stat screen.

Name:

Fel

Floors:

1

Level:

2

Treasure Quality:

Average

Race:

Grand Dungeon

Creatures:

2/10

Exp:

5/30

Traps:

0/2

Mana:

22.5/22.5

Inventory:

+

Mana Regen:

2.8/Hr [3]

Skills/Traits:

+

Magic Disciplines:

+

Okay, not bad. Looks like the level up completely restocked my mana reserves so that’s pretty good. Doesn’t look like much changed aside from the mana cap and mana regen though... Wonder when I’ll get a bigger cap for monsters and traps?

With another one of my now frequent shrugs, I took the third room for a whopping ten mana, and a thankfully smaller bombardment of acquisition notifications. I moved myself over, noting the golems had finished digging the tunnel without running into any other out-of-place hallways.

[Construction order complete. 5 Exp gained.] Popped up in my vision. Huh, that’s neat. Wonder if that’s a one-time thing, or if it’s a- I gotta test this out.

I quickly went back into what I was beginning to mentally call the Dungeon-Planner view and at the end of the dug tunnel I made a blueprint for a fifteen by fifteen by thirteen foot room. I had a little more refined control over it, being a whopping one level higher than I was previously, so I adjusted the roof of the room to be smoothly arched for better structural integrity. Then again, I’m a dungeon, and magic has ways of making things work out or just outright ignore physics... Eh, best to try and keep things somewhat plausible for now, just in case.

Once I hit the [confirm] prompt, the golems got immediately to work. While they did that, I got to looking around at my new rooms, wondering what to do with them.

“Hey System, would ya mind if I asked you a question?” I said all the way over in my new rooms.

“Not at all, what is it you require an answer to?” I heard back, clear as day. Neato.

“As a dungeon, how do I go about acquiring new materials? Do I make them myself, or do I have to rely on digging deep into the planet, or dying adventurers dropping the good stuff?”

“Dungeons are unique in the fact that they can create their own resource nodes,” System explained. “These nodes, while made by a dungeon, do not fall under the [Constructs] category in case you were wondering. Their specialization has already been claimed by another Grand Dungeon on the opposite side of the world.”

“You must’ve read my mind, ‘cause that was the next thing I was about to ask you,” I chuckled. “How do I go about creating one of these nodes?”

“There should be a little sub-menu in the Dungeon Feature that was unlocked when you leveled up. Level one dungeons are unable to create resource nodes.”

“Ah sweet! Thanks!” I quickly opened up the mentioned menu and noted the new little sub-menu that had appeared.

Create Dungeon Feature (Dungeon Skill)

Allows dungeons to create creatures and items. Mana and raw resources are required.

Available categories are:

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[Constructs]+: Requires mana, and can be made of different resources. No limit to size, though increased size naturally has increased cost and potential upkeep.

[Golems]+: Requires mana to create, and a single resource, stronger golems require a core. Minor mana upkeep, uncored golems have no soul and are destroyed if they leave the dungeon.

[Humanoids]+: Diverse in types of species, requires mana and organic resources. High upkeep. Have souls, thus able to leave the dungeon.

[Monsters]+: Diverse in types of species. Requires mana, and depending on type, organic and/or inorganic resources. Medium upkeep. Have souls, thus able to leave the dungeon.

[Resource Node]+: Unique to dungeons, these allow them to have near-infinite resource generation. For organic resource nodes: 50lbs of organic material and 10 mana. For non-organic resource nodes: 5lbs of harvestable material, 5lbs of any stone, and 10 mana.

“Huh, that’s kinda neat,” I said appreciatively. “So, what’s the catch?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, there’s gotta be something here. I highly doubt a coal node and a gold node have the same cost, do they?”

“So you do have a good head on your shoulders, my Creator may have chosen wisely. Yes, for inorganic material nodes, there is a tier system. From Common, where you have your frequent ores like coal, copper, and tin, to Mythic, where there are only two materials that fit that category due to how incredibly rare they are.”

“What materials are they?” I asked, wondering just what System really was.

“They are known as Starstone, and Starmetal. They are only found when a fallen star hits the surface of the planet.”

“Ah, so there’s no chance in hell I’m g- Waitaminute.” I rushed back to my core room, taking a very close look at the metal pedestal my Core was wrapped up in. After a moment of intense staring at the dark glistening metal, a popup appeared.

[Starmetal Pedestal, 10lbs]

I let out an undignified squeak of delight, and checked the walls. Sure enough, they were made of Starstone. I hadn’t noticed it before, but thanks to being entirely enclosed within a dome of the stuff, it appeared that I was under the night sky instead of in a stone chamber. Man, this is nice to look at. Little depressing though, it’s just twinkling lights. I wonder if there’s a way I could make it y’know, more space-like? With nebulas, and galaxies! That’d be awesome!

“Okay, so how much would I need to make a resource node out of each of those star-materials?”

“Five pounds for the metal and ten for the stone.”

“And the mana cost?”

“Unchanged from standard requirement,” System replied in a cheeky tone.

“Okay, so if production is the same... how long does it take to harvest a node?”

“For an inorganic resource node of Common quality material, it takes approximately one hour to fully gather the resources from the node. It refreshes one hour afterwards. For a resource node of the Mythic variety, it takes one full week of gathering, with allowed breaks so the timer does not reset once begun. After depletion, it restocks in one week. At every interval of which one harvests a higher-tier resource node, a portion of the resources is gained. A being doing the harvest may then stop the harvest, which forces it into its cooldown stage and no more may be gathered from the node until it is restocked. For Mythic-tier nodes however, partial resources are only gained at the halfway mark.”

“Ah, that makes far too much sense,” I sighed. Well, so much for making everything out of the fancy-schmancy metal. If I make one now, and start mining it, I won’t have much by the time I open up to the world. “Can my golems harvest from the nodes?”

“Your stone golems can harvest materials from the inorganic resource nodes. If assigned to organic nodes, they risk losing half of the materials harvested.”

“Ah, that’s uh... fun. So, if I wanted to gather that Starmetal, do I just think about absorbing it into my inventory or something?”

“Yes, though I do not recommend so, for if your core falls it may become damaged.”

“So I absorb it in little bits then...” That got me a scoff from System.

I focused on the pedestal once again. I tried just absorbing it from the bottom where it met the ground, but that didn’t seem to work. Hmm, things seem to work better when I just imagine myself doing it like I still had a body... Eh, no harm in trying.

I imagined poking a hole in the center of the pedestal with my finger, and was vindicated when I got the notification that a little material had entered my inventory. I carefully spent the next two hours pruning the pedestal into a hollowed out honeycomb lattice pillar, and was amazed at just how much the stuff weighed in relation to the volume of material it took up. Holy shit this stuff weighs less than titanium. With this,... god damn. I won’t need things like adamantium, orichalum, or mithril if that’s a thing in this world. I think I just turned the Gaze of Murphy on me for that one.

“System, aside from rarity, just what makes starmetal so special?” I asked when I was satisfied with my work, noting that from the whole ten-pound pillar, there was now a two-pound latticed pedestal that stood four feet high.

“Starmetal is renowned for several things. Firstly, for being indestructible like adamantium. Secondly, its ability to channel and boost mana like cobalt, mithril, flawless dragonstone, and flawless onyx. Thirdly, as you’ve found out, how light the material is. The most potent artifacts have been made with starmetal, currently their whereabouts are unknown. It is, however, very difficult to work with for mortals. Usually they have to gain a god’s blessing to shape it for a short amount of time. While it is unique, the metal itself is typically just stored away in vaults due to the difficulty in making it usable.”

“Thank you,” I said appreciatively. I then set about attempting to create a resource node. Damnit, the normal dungeon way doesn’t seem to work. Think Fel, think! How do I combine this starmetal, with the stone of any type? Wait... gather first, combine in a second. “And what’s so special about starstone?”

“Starstone, like its metal counterpart, is also indestructible. It is however, far easier to work with due to its stone-like nature, and also incredibly dense on a per-pound basis compared to any other stone. Usually, only small portions of the stone make it to the ground, and thus many wizards prize starstone for their inner sanctums as decoration and only that. Anyone who can use earth-affinity magics can adjust the stone to their will as long as it is not infused with dungeon mana.”

I thanked System, took a look at the wall, and dug my hand gently into it. I felt an odd thumping in the wall, but wasn’t sure of the source. Pulling my hand back, I was rewarded with a dense two pound chunk of starstone. Okay, System wasn’t kidding. This shit’s HEAVY. I wonder what would happen if I made a golem outta this? Another thing to try later, I guess.

Several more handfuls later, and I had thirty pounds of the fancy stone. Okay, I have a starmetal, and I have a stone... I stopped that train of thought right there. Dear god, I'm not sure if I want this to work, or not and try to figure out another way. Well, tallyho, memes await!

“I have a starmetal,” I said in a sing-song voice while a certain song started up in the background, sans lyrics. “I have a stone.”

I held up the required metal in one hand, and the starstone in the other. To an outsider, it would appear as if the two chunks were just floating in mid-air. At the right beat, I smashed the two together.

“Uhn, starmetal node.”

A bright flash emanated from my Core, and I was rewarded with two notifications. The first, was completely overshadowed by the latter. The second notification was that I had just earned one hundred exp for creating said Mythic-tier node. A sudden feeling of dread came over me.

“Oh fuck how long am I going to be knocked out?” My brain was near the short-circuit point.

“Multiple level ups detected. Leveling process proceeding at the beginning of the hour.” System stated smugly.

“That’s not great. How long un-” Darkness descended upon me.