Lan witnessed a newly present pack of wolves, way down on the Third Floor. Half of the pack looked like various normal wolves: Grey and Brown, they seemed pretty ordinary overall, not even being linked. And the other five, their mates apparently, were of distinct colorations: Mixes of white and black, with a dominant color being one of the two.

But the biggest of those who were clearly grown-up kids of Tag and Nacht, but with the addition of new scars and a 'hardened look' if one could call it that, stood out. That particular male also possessed a white and black coloration, but his pupils were also unique, being a mix of golden and crimson.

'It seems that the kids came back after finding their partners... Seems they know how to pick, the intelligence of these new wolves is rather high. With my increased mental strength, I could force a mental link, but I guess I'll show some tact seeing as they're partners of the kids.'

Though Lan only established a 'contract' with The Huntress before, with his memory, the process could be called perfected.

So, doing what needed to be done, Lan sent out a connection towards the new arrivals, alongside messages showing them hunting with their pack, patrolling the lush jungle. But in turn, he also showed images of humans and the need to repel them, stating his terms and conditions, so to speak.

The Beasts were obviously startled, descendants of Tag and Nacht being mostly confused, but only the blood-golden-eyed figuring out what was probably going on. He howled out and seemed to signal something in various gestures and twitches of the tail. Though it looked rather silly, Lan concluded that thanks to their intelligence, the wolves could have begun forming some kind of rudimentary language.

Still, whatever the leader of the pack told the rest, it clearly cleared their doubts and fears if they had something of the sort. Soon enough, they also joined the mental network.

Lan briefly wondered if he should give them names so that he could resurrect them if something happened, but in the end, he decided to hold off on that.

'If I start to Name and get attached to every second Beast that resides in my Dungeon, the list is going to expand continuously, and each resurrection has its own costs... I should view bringing a Beast back from the dead as a privilege for the Floor Guardians and other distinguished Beasts, the best of the best, not every boar, wolf, and Tim.'

So, although he liked this pack of wolves, he wouldn't coddle them, and neither would he coddle humans despite being one of them once. The primary law of wild nature was the survival of the fittest, and by subjecting various beings to trials and tribulations, the beings would either die or become better to survive.

'Speaking of humans... How are they doing again?'

Lan then checked back on the party which was carried- *ahem*, supported by the Tower Master.

'...I'm wondering if I should rebalance things or if she is just too strong.'

The group of humans in question was in the midst of battle in the first Place of Power along the left Path. The Tower Master, that monstrous woman, was still leading the battle, though she was showing signs of exhaustion compared to when she fought the First Floor's bosses. What was worrying though, was the fact that as she battled, she gradually incorporated new spells.

Instead of just slinging magic bolts and magic bullets, it seemed that she had taken a fancy to using Life Mana to control vegetation as a means of restricting her opponent. Also, he was pretty sure that he had just seen her use Air Mana as a means of retreat by blasting herself backward.

Compared to her control over Life Mana, her Air Mana skill was much less refined, her resorting to basic blasts of the stuff, nevertheless, she had that type of Mana before Lan, making him bitter.

'Damn it, I swear I'm going to comprehend Air Mana as soon as they leave! Even if it means I'm going to have to concentrate on feeling the winds outside or something...'

It didn't take long for the group's adversary, which was a large brown bear, which was entangled in grass thickened to the point of it looked like vines, with numerous arrows sticking out of its hide, and various slashing wounds bleeding it dry, to collapse. The body of the giant Beast fell heavily to the side before turning into mist, leaving behind an Earth Crystal.

Cheers rang out once again amongst the humans, as to them each victory was a giant success, only some veterans maintaining their cool, knowing that it was only thanks to the woman before them, who already had the crystal in her grasp.

Tower Master Matilda sighed as she absorbed the Crystal once again, just like the previous times. She didn't share the joy of victory. Seeing such a scene, Marilyn came up to her and asked.

"Madam? Is anything the matter?"

The Master Mage tossed yet another shell of a Mana Crystal into her side pouch and answered.

"Winning over and over with overwhelming strength got me thinking... If a single overwhelmingly powerful Monster came to our town, to the point where all of us together would struggle to defend against it, would we run in fear, or struggle in the face of death just like these Monsters?"

Marilyn responded with a rather uncertain voice.

"But we are no Monsters, we have walls and fortifications..."

"Do you truly think that a little stone wall is going to stop something that is closer to a force of nature?"

"...Okay, maybe not. But we have you, Tower Master! Under your guidance, we will prosper as always!"

All she got in return was a chuckle.

"Alright then. Tell me, Marilyn. If I were to disappear somehow, then what would you do? What if something like a Beast Tide arrived at our walls five years ago, and I am not there to stop it?"

Marilyn wanted to say something, but her words got stuck in her throat. Deep inside, she knew that just like they wouldn't get this deep into the Dungeon without the woman's help, their town would fall into disorder without her as a unifying figure.

"See? You understand what I'm talking about. You rely on me too much, all of you. And though I may not look it, year by year, I'm getting closer to my demise. I am not eternal."

At this point, the rest of the group was listening as well, they too had shivers run down their spines at the realization. To them, the Tower Master was a heroic figure, being the idol of many, the symbol and the shield of Cypress Town, seemingly infallible. The thought of losing her didn't even cross their minds.

A somber silence descended upon the group. But it was suddenly interrupted by the Tower Master's laugh. They stared in confusion as the woman wiped tears from the corners of her eyes.

"Oh! You just had to see your faces just now. I'm not going anywhere for now, but I'm telling you to increase your strength so that you can protect the town even without me. I wish for you to be able to descend this far by yourselves. Now let's rest before heading back, there is no point in over-exerting ourselves."

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Various sounds of agreement could be heard, before one by one the group settled down on the clearing under the birch tree, the wounded being healed, and others taking a bite out of their rations or conversing with others.

After a brief break, the Tower Master's order to head back was accepted as everyone's ambitions cooled down, they too understood that their own strength was completely insufficient, already struggling to kill the giant Bear, that single battle taking a dozen minutes even with Matilda's help.

Lan observed them from all around, the human's ascent backward was far quicker than the descent with no battles in front of them. The group though stumbled upon a scene of multiple Beasts battling it out for the Place of Power, though they scattered upon noticing the arrival of such a numerous foe.

Upon seeing this, Lan also considered whether to respawn Tag and Nacht in front of them like he did last time, but he did not do so.

'First of all, I'm sure that with that woman present they are going to get steamrolled, wasting the effort in resurrecting them. And second of all... It would be rather unfair, wouldn't it? In games, once you beat a boss, you don't have to beat it on the way back. A fresh boss against an exhausted fighter is unfair as hell now that I think about it.'

When the group came to the tunnel leading up, the woman named Marilyn shared their previous experience causing everyone to go on guard, but having no choice, as that was the only way back.

This resulted in them being pleasantly surprised to find no threat waiting for them in the empty boss room. Marilyn and Anna, the one-eyed Ranger in particular had faces full of confusion. Matilda, however, left a comment on such a thing.

"Well, it would seem that the designer of this place deemed such a thing unfair or unlikeable."

These words caused confusion among many, Anna asked the question on their minds.

"What do you mean, Tower Master? We know that this place is artificial, but do you mean that it is actively being changed? By... some kind of designer?"

"Why of course, that's exactly what I mean. Didn't you report yourselves that this Dungeon was directly different in some parts compared to before? And do you really think that someone who can bring things back from the dead, according to what we know of this pair of wolves, who you said is the exact same, even retaining their memories, can't control when they are exactly brought back?"

Once no argument was found to refute her. Among all the people, only Rob called out.

"So what are we doing here exactly? Playing on some dude's playground, probably to his amusement? For what?"

The Tower Master had an interesting look on her face as she slowly continued walking towards the way out.

"Well, although this Architect does not seem very friendly, we do get benefits from succeeding in these challenges, don't we? We get an opportunity to get stronger, an opportunity we wouldn't find anywhere else. A risk worth making if you ask me."

With those words, the woman who was as enigmatic as ever walked away gradually, the rest of the group trailing behind at a distance, having much to think about.

Meanwhile, the one who they were talking about was watching the entire charade, while contemplating about things of his own.

'I didn't really think of it this way. At first, I just wanted a defense system, these Heart Cores being a byproduct of the increasing strength of the Beasts. But now it seems that I get closer and closer to what is an RPG version of a dungeon.'

Lan scoured through his remaining human memories of such a thing, comparing them with what he already had.

'I have 'levels', filled with 'mobs', followed by a 'boss' in the end. Defeating a 'boss' grants a 'reward'. Repeat with increased difficulty... But with no saving and loading. For an explorer the death is final, this is no game. At first, I compared myself to a Dungeon on a whim, but it seems I am literally becoming one. Quite ironic...'

Lan then thought back to the way the somehow familiar woman called him.

'An Architect, huh? I guess I already got my first title. Sounds cool. The Dungeon Architect Lan!'

Still, he realized that he had more urgent things to do other than revel in his glory. For example, he needed to unlock Air Mana, and then do something so that the bosses couldn't just get swarmed and overwhelmed by human wave tactics. Maybe also do something so that they won't get steamrolled by an overpowered opponent.

'Alright, let's do everything one by one. First things first: Air Mana. I guess I'll need to focus on the outside for this.

Following the plan, Lan focused half his thought channels on the surface, as if 'standing' atop the Great Tree, which if he was honest, was getting bigger by the day.

He then focused on the flow of the wind around him, which, if he was honest, was kind of hard to do without having skin. Or any kind of body for that matter.

He was aware of every movement the air made in his domain, how it shifted, cooled down, or heated up, he knew all that, but he wouldn't feel it.

'Well, I guess this is going to be more challenging than I originally thought.'

But if a single setback could deter him from his goal, Lan would have given up long ago on being a Core.

Instead of trying to feel it as he used to do as a human, he instead tried to feel it as a Core. Like any other element, he needed to understand it, he needed to comprehend it, not just feel it to control it.

'So, enough thought, let's just try this.'

At first, Lan tried to do the same thing as always. Thinking about the nature and the essence of the wind.

'It is free. Shapeless and formless. Everchanging. It seeks freedom for it can't exist without it, the movement is part of the wind... It is the life of a bird and the joy of a human.'

Despite himself giving the best philosophical description for the wind he could think of, no feeling of profound resonance with it emerged, no sudden enlightenment either.

'Hmm... Is it the wrong direction I'm taking somewhere? Maybe I'm focusing on the wind itself, which is, in essence, a movement of air. So I'm trying to comprehend an action instead of an element? Something like that, I guess.'

Lan then tried to refocus, trying to think about the air itself this time.

'Air. It is everpresent. All living things breathe it, for they cannot live without it. It may be Aether, the purest of energies, but it may also be stained with smoke and impurity, becoming poison...'

As Lan felt a familiar sense of resonance, he also began feeling the mana all around him. He felt through other split parts of his mind the underground, his Dungeon filled with Water, Earth, and Light, Shadow also being there. He also felt the Life Mana permeating his entire surroundings.

But as he felt the Life Mana, he noticed an abnormality, something that snapped him out of his trance, frustrating him, as he felt that he was on the verge of discovering a new kind of mana. Still, he decided to investigate before trying to comprehend it once again. So, he 'opened his eyes'.

As he glanced around, noticing in passing how the humans moved away through the forest, a particular flow of mana caught his attention. It was right under his point of view, inside of the tree that he 'stood' atop.

He noticed streams of mana converge inside of its trunk, congregating at a certain point. This process was unfamiliar yet similar to what he previously witnessed.

'Is it forming a Heart Core?'

It would seem that he 'came out' at an opportune time, as the process, which he didn't know when it exactly started, seemed to be coming to an end.

The massive amounts of mana formed a singularity, which then collapsed upon itself and exploded with an enormous amount of energy. Lan was prepared to witness this towering tree shatter into pieces, but the explosion he expected didn't happen. Instead, the discharge of energy was self-contained within the trunk.

Lan then watched in fascination as instead of exploding the trunk mana turned into a singular point, creating something new as a result of such a reaction.

'A Heart Core... Wait. It is different.'

Upon a closer look, the structure of the resulting thing that appeared was completely different than a Heart Core. Outwardly it looked like a crystal, just like a Life Core, shining in a bright and vibrant green glow, but that's where the similarities ended.

An abrupt change occurred while he was occupied with his speculations. A small hollow space began to form around the center of the... Core. It wasn't big, merely a dozen centimeters across. But as such a thing happened, Lan could swear he felt a shudder down his nonexistent spine.

It floated amid that hollow space, hovering by being lifted by flowing currents of mana that surged from its roots and up its trunk. It remained in place, reminding Lan of something all too similar.

'My Core...'

He continued to frantically examine the newly created structure, comparing it to his own. It seemed to be made of pure crystallized mana. It wasn't like a Mana Crystal, which was essentially a stone supercharged with Neutral Mana. No, instead it seemed that this was the very crystallization of various kinds of mana. Two kinds were prevalent among most, however. Life mana... And Mental mana.

'And now that I focus...'

Most of the mental mana signature of the tree was now concentrated inside of that tiny Core of that tree, just like it would be in the brain of a human or a Beast.

Lan then tried to find out more but with no result. In the end, he gave up on trying to find immediate answers, instead focusing on what he found out.

'So... I guess trees don't get Heart Cores, that's one. The second thing would be that their bodies don't manatize either...'

Following such casual conclusions, Lan continued his thoughts.

'But its Core is eerily similar to mine... But it doesn't seem to be conscious, but that seems like a question of time... Will it want to establish a domain once it awakes? Will it clash with me?'

Lan would have massaged his temples if he had them.

'Argh! So many questions with no answer! But, I guess I can make a theory...'

'I may be in some way related to trees as I am right now...'

Despite such an absurd thought, Lan couldn't help but shout out mentally.

'Behold! I am Lan, The Dungeon Architect, The Underground Tree!'