! Milestone Reached: First Quest Complete !

“Ah shit that’s still happening,” I thought as I did my best to squint without eyes while the glowing script converged on the middle of the screen and with a flash, turned into a new notification.

! New expansion direction unlocked: In !

“In? What the hell is that supposed to mean?” I demanded, trying to interrogate the notification.

The notification, however, remained stubbornly silent on the matter.

I pulled up the menu and took a look at the offending option.

“Whatever it means it costs three times as much as any of the other options and has a material cost as well,” I muttered to myself before closing the menu.

I had gotten some more mana from Jasper gambling, and a quest completion, but it was still a far cry from any of the costs associated with repairing the building. At this point I was pretty much dependent on the three of them for materials and mana.

I also kind of doubted that they would be willing to tell anyone else about their newfound income stream and Duke seemed especially reluctant for some reason.

I could try to set up a pyramid scheme or a referral system, but there’s no guarantee that they would bite. Not to mention that it’s kind of hard to dictate terms and conditions without being able to communicate clearly.

“Maybe I can make a quest for it,” I thought as I opened the ‘Quest” tab.

I spent a minute looking at the menu.

And looking.

And looking some more.

“There’s not an option to add a quest anywhere. What even is the point of this tab?” I thought as I did my best to slam the menu closed.

“Well no point in waiting for them to run out of money and come crawling back,” I thought before idly looking around the dungeon for something to do.

Eventually I stumbled across the [Cat Spawner].

“Oh I haven’t even looked at this for a while,” I though before highlighting it and taking a good look at the options.

[Cat Spawner]

>Allows dungeon to spawn feline mobs as well as a feline scion

>Spawn common mob? (Max number of mobs for this spawner level)

>Upgrade Spawner? (Y/N)

“Well I’ve got enough mana to upgrade the spawner, so might as well,” I thought before hitting ‘Yes’.

The old crate at the back of the warehouse glowed and rearranged itself into something that could almost be called a cat tree if I was back on earth.

>Cat Spawner upgraded

>New mob type unlocked

>Lucky Cat can now be spawned

[Lucky Cat]

>Uncommon cat mob

>Size: Small

>Bend luck: Certain situations will resolve in your favor more often (This effect stacks, but has diminishing returns)

>Stealth (+)

>All other stats within expected parameters for common feline

“Hmm interesting,” I thought as an idea began to form in my head.

***

The inn was filled with a quiet but busy atmosphere. A cool morning breeze drifted through the open windows as the murmur of conversations as well as the clinks and clacks of dishes filled the dining hall.

“Gods above, I can't remember the last time I had a night of sleep like that,” Duke moaned as he dug into his breakfast.

“It was nice sleeping on something besides wood boards,” agreed Zee.

“Definitely,” said Jasper, “so where should we get more junk?”

“More?” asked Duke, “Jasper, that was a one time deal. We can find steady work now that we can make ourselves presentable.”

“Jobs have been tight recently. Do you have something in mind?” Zee asked.

“No, but I'm sure something will shake out,” Duke replied.

Jasper slapped his fork down on the table.

“I’m tired of sleeping on the streets,” Jasper said with a dark determination, “I’m tired of not knowing where my next meal is coming from and we just had a golden opportunity fall into our laps.”

"Jasper, this could be a devil's bargain for all we know," Duke hissed.

"Duke this is. A. Dungeon," Jasper whisper-shouted back, "it's not a devil or a fey. It's arguable if dungeons have intelligence like people do."

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"Which means you should be even more careful," Duke countered.

"It made a shop! It wants wood! It's in the middle of a city! How far can it realistically expand?" Jasper exclaimed with rising volume.

"Both of you calm down," Zee said slowly, "you're going to get us kicked out."

A hush had fallen on the dining area of the tavern.

Duke flashed a sheepish grin and gave a slight wave before the tavern went back to their meals.

"Look, you both have good points. The dungeon is an unknown entity with no way of telling its intentions," Zee said, pointing a fork at Jasper.

"However, we can't deny that there is a possibility for this to be a good opportunity not only for us but everyone in the slums," Zee said, now pointing his fork at Duke.

"Maybe we can tell people we found someone who's buying scrap," Duke suggested.

"Be the middleman. Didn't think you had it in you Duke," Jasper said with a grin.

"No, I-" Duke stuttered.

"Kidding," Jasper said, putting up his hands, "knowing you, you want to make sure that no one gets hurt in case the dungeon turns out to be evil."

Duke sighed and shook his head, "we know each other too well."

"It's not a bad idea, but speaking as a merchant, it's got a few flaws," Jasper said.

"I'm listening," Duke said, leaning forward.

"This might work for a while, but sooner or later people get curious. Best case scenario, someone decides to follow us when we're moving some scrap and goes into the warehouse when we leave," Jasper began.

"And worse case?" Duke asked.

"Someone decides they want to be the middleman instead and won't take 'no' for an answer," Jasper answered, "we know you used to be an adventurer, but could you hurt someone desperate from the slums? Could you take on the Skisfinks?"

Duke sat in contemplative silence for a minute before speaking, "so what do you suggest?"

Jasper sighed and leaned back in his chair, "the antithesis to every merchant worth their salt. Profit share."

"What?" Zee asked.

"It's an idea that several separate businesses come together and pool their resources. Profits are combined and averaged out among members. It was a tactic used to resist the lords from buying up all the land back when Harmony city was competing with the noble's resources. Turned into the merchant's guild eventually," Jasper explained.

Duke and Zee both sat staring at Jasper's sudden insight.

"Wow Jasper, I didn't know you knew so much about the city's history," Zee commented.

"Only the important bits," Jasper shrugged, "couldn't tell you about nobles or wars, but ask me about the market and I know my stuff."

"So you just took up burglary as a hobby?" Zee quipped.

"Hey! that was only after the dragon attack and merchants with deeper coffers than mine went under," Jasper said defensively.

"All right you two, settle down," Duke said calmly, "I think I see what you're getting at Jasper and I think you have a point."

"Well we can't just ignore it and leave it alone," Zee remarked.

"So it's settled then?" Jasper asked excitedly.

"Yeah I guess we can start introducing people to the dungeon," Duke said, pinching the bridge of his nose, "I just hope we don't regret this."

***

! Conditions met: scouting and patrolling options unlocked !

"Huh?" I asked smartly and not at all with a dumb tone of voice.

For the past day, I had tried to figure out what my surroundings were like. Unfortunately I was only able to take one cat's point of view at a time before directing them out the door. I didn't want to send them out too far because I quickly found out that it felt like I was leaving my body exposed while my awareness was stuck in a pinhole.

Sending the [Stray Cats] out on patrol was probably the smartest option considering that the [Lucky Cats] had a gold sheen to their coats and my scions would stand out like a beacon to anyone who could sense magic.

“Ok so how do I - ah here!” I muttered to myself as I looked at the menu.

[Stray Cat]

>Manage

>Scout

>Patrol

As my cats went on patrol, I began to have a sense of my surroundings. It wasn’t the omnipresent sense I had of the dungeon, or of myself if I’m being technical about it, but more of how someone would have a sense of their house or apartment.

There were a lot of abandoned buildings in the immediate area, but not much in the way of people. It was eerie and not someplace I would be comfortable walking through if I was still a human.

“-is probably pointless,” said a familiar voice.

“Spent all your money already?” I thought as I commanded the stray to follow the three ‘adventurers’ from the rooftops of the nearby buildings.

“Positive thoughts, Duke,” assured Jasper, “We’ve been here three times and it hasn’t tried to kill us yet.”

“Yeah doesn’t mean I have to like it,” Duke sighed.

“Well at least pretend to like it. You catch more flies with honey than with-”

“Stop!” Duke exclaimed, interrupting Jasper.

Duke scanned the street before his eyes landed on my cat.

“Damn, good instincts,” I thought, making a mental note not to pick a fight with Duke.

“We’re being watched,” whispered Duke as he pointed out my stray.

“I mean it’s a cat,” Jasper shrugged, “We’re in the warehouse district, it’s not that strange.”

“Zee?” Duke asked.

“Can’t tell,” Zee replied, “The only ones with high mana were the black one and the white one.”

“We’re already going there, Duke. What does it matter if it knows a few minutes before we get there?” Jasper asked.

“It? Wow rude…” I muttered.

“The dungeon is growing way faster than it should,” Duke replied, “most Dungeons would take months to start sending out scouts.”

“So we could be dealing with an abnormal dungeon?” Zee asked.

“WOW!” I exclaimed.

“Possibly,” Duke replied as he stared at my cat.

“Does that mean something?” Jasper asked, “or does that really change anything?”

“Most dungeons behave like a plant might,” Duke began, “they tend to follow naturally occurring mana in the environment like a plant follows the sun.”

“And this one is weird, somehow?” Jasper asked.

Zee piped up, “Most scholars believe that dungeons are a naturally occurring phenomena as a result of a stagnant mana. It’s not unheard of for a dungeon to pop up in an abandoned building for instance, but even one out in the wilds takes time to accumulate mana.”

“Ok I’m still not getting how this changes anything,” Jasper pointed out.

“I had my suspicions before, but now I’m almost certain,” Duke said, “most dungeons grow like a plant, taking the path of least resistance and expanding in a predictable way. This one is growing purposefully and much faster than normal.”

“Meaning?” Jasper asked again with an exasperated tone.

“Abnormal dungeons are thought to be more intelligent than a regular dungeon,” Zee explained, “even to the point of a person or even possibly greater.”

“Wait so if you didn’t know it was smart, why did you say you wanted to negotiate?” Jasper asked.

“Like I said, I had my suspicions,” Duke said before breaking eye contact with my cat and continuing to walk down the street.