“You and Jensen need to cool it a bit.” Chole had just sat down for breakfast.

“What do you mean?” Auna rolled her eyes. Chole had become very vocal in the few months they had known each other. Auna thought it must have been her normal personality coming out. She was no longer worried about offending nobles, or their group of nobles at least.

“The teachers are even exhausted dealing with you two. How are you getting your grades while having so many classes? Not to mention how you go to take care of your laying birds all the time too!”

“Wait, who looks after what birds? Where?” A triplet spoke, which one Auna had no idea.

“Choe. You just had to say something? Our grades aren’t even that weird we are just doing the assignments.” Auna was tired, but not overly, from all the classes.

“You guys are getting no lower than 95%s on everything. The class averages are closer to 70%. That is exhausting I heard the teachers saying they can’t even increase the hardness of the assignments, or they’ll fail others. Apparently, the principal thinks they are giving you special treatment, they are under evaluation.” Meredith piped up. Most likely hoping to steer the conversation to their grades.

“No, no nice try. Tell us about the birds.” A different triplet tsked them.

“We go back to our crater every day, either in the morning or late at night to tend to our orchard and lying birds.” Ciela looked at Auna. “They weren’t going to drop it anyway.”

“How do you sneak out?” Jensen was officially fascinated.

“I use a skill that allows me to create doors connecting two faraway places instantly.”

“So, like a worm hole, just no time passage.” Jensen had a lopsided smile on his face.

“You two are the same type of crazy. We don’t even understand her explanation and here you are spouting the same odd words. Why would a worm with a hole let you travel?” Chloe was now holding her nose bridge.

“It’s just a name some guy gave it. He saw the holes worms leave behind in fruits as a similar image.” Jensen shrugged as Chole sighed.

“Jensen my dear worms are big enough to eat most fruit in one bite. How would they leave holes in them?”

“Yeah man are you actually smart or just pretending?” A triplet said as Meredith choked on her drink.

“Oh, my gods.” Meredith couldn’t contain her smile.

“Ha-ha on my old-world worms were very tiny. You could pick them up. Right my moon?”

“I don’t like having to bail you out however, yes that is right ember.”

“My moon it hurts me when you roll your eyes at me.” Jensen pretended his chest hurt with a wry smile lighting up is face.

“So, about this door, my moon why am I not invited to sneak off? I promise to help with the chores you speak of.”

“I would need access to your room though. So sorry not happening you know the strict rules.”

“Pretty sure you have wings.” A triplet again spoke, this time Auna thought it was Mateo.

“Fine, but you really do have to help.”

“Wait, Auna wont that give them a direct link to our room?” Chloe had her arms crossed.

“No, not if I don’t allow it. I can make it so they can only access the orchard door and their dorm room door. I will also make it so you girls can’t get into their dorm.”

“Cool, now on to the second act of business. I believe it is both Jensen and Aunas’ birthday today.” One of the triplets spoke wiggling his eyebrows. “Should we bring some cake to this crater?”

“I still don’t get how we have the same birthday.”

“Well, my moon, you would have to ask the gods that. Though we had the same birthday in every life we have lived together so is it that weird?”

“I honestly didn’t notice, did we really?”

Jensen lost his smile for a moment. “Always.” Auna and him were locked staring at each other, neither blinking.

“Anyway, where are you going to get cake?” Ciela was either unaware or ignoring the tenson between the two other worlders.

“We have access to the cooking classroom. We also have class today and have already approved it to make cake for Jensen. So, we will just make more.”

“Ah the triplets are taking a few classes for home managing.” Jensen explained.

“I see, if I wasn’t so busy, I would take cooking classes too. I am not the best cook.” Auna looked a bit sheepishly at Ciela knowing she had made the girl eat truly questionable food.

“You never are, trust me practice does not make perfect in this case. Please don’t go down that road again. I don’t think I can be a test subject again.” A grimace painted Jensens’ face as if he was remembering something truly horrifying.

“I agree with him, your food is okay if you just do basics. Please don’t go above that.” Ciela was patting Auna on the shoulder, a look of pity and worry on her face.

“Fine, I won’t cook anything too complicated. Also, cake sounds great. After math class I will sneak into your room.”

“Mr. Merlin, can you explain why monsters are also outside of the dungeons?” A kid in the front row asked. It was the third class of the day, basic magic.

“There are a few reasons for monsters to be outside of a dungeon. They could have escaped, either because they were too weak or too strong for the natural barrier of the dungeon.”

“The dungeon could also collapse. If too many resources, not including monsters, are removed from a dungeon it can no longer support itself. Once a dungeon can no longer magically support itself it returns back to a normal cave or disappears completely. Usually all living things are transported out safely to the surrounding area. Some monsters manage to escape during this, not all monsters left inside though. We have no conclusive cases of living people being lost in a collapse.”

“Monsters can also be created naturally in our world. Monsters from dungeons can reproduce still, so they give birth to monsters born outside a dungeon. Also, normal animals can be transformed into a monster, by mana. This is rare and usually happens in mana dense areas like the Great Monster Forest.”

“Teacher, what kind of resources do we take out of the dungeon?”” Another kid in the front asked.

“Different dungeons have different resources, and this includes monsters. A monster is a perfect inhabitant of its dungeon. You won’t find a fire monster living on a dungeon floor covered in water.”

“Resources could be anything from stone and wood, to mana and magic crystals.”

“Why do some dungeons have floors?” A triplet asked.

“We are not sure about this. We know when a dungeon is created it can have between one and ten floors. As the dungeon is left alone more floors can appear. We can guess an age of a dungeon on how many floors there are.”

“So how much time does it take for a floor to appear?” A different triplet asked.

“Well, it depends on the level of the dungeons. Lower levelled ones can produce one to two a year. While the higher ones can produce up to ten a year.”

“How old is the oldest dungeon?” A kid in the middle near where the teacher was standing asked.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

“We have collapsed many in our time, but one right outside of the capital has been explored to the 1010th floor. So, it can be over 100 years old. However, there could be older ones in places we cannot reach.”

“Where can we not reach?” Auna asked.

“In the seas, on islands not discovered, in mountains, unexplored forests, the waste lands, many places are still untouched or barely touched by people.”

“Can anyone enter one?” A triplet asked.

“Well in theory yes. Any person can enter, even races we think are lesser can. What doesn’t seem possible is untamed monsters passing through. Animals can usually pass through as well.”

“However, I would not say just anyone can. Many dungeons are controlled by the towns and cities. Only adventurers or other officials can enter. They usually have to pay a fee as well. Once a dungeons’ mana output decreases it is either closed to the public or put through a controlled collapsed.”

“Are the upper floors less dangerous?”

“In most dungeons, yes, they are the easiest in terms of monster levels and overall risk. However, in a very difficult dungeon the top floors might have, for example, monsters levelled at 60. Now this doesn’t seem easy or less dangerous, but if the lower floors had monsters at level 100 it would technically be less dangerous on their upper floors.” Mr. Merlin rambled, obviously flustered at the question.

“You children should not be going into a dungeon until at least the second year of basic combat training. That will happen in year four when you should be around 12-years-old.”

“Oh, I have rambled on too long about dungeons. Let us get back to the lesson at hand.”

The rest of the day went by like any other. A few teachers and people in passing wished Auna and Jensen a happy birthday. After math class they were whisked away to the eating hall. They and a few other children had been given a cupcake and birthday candle to celebrate. They were also told the gifts sent by their parents would be at the post counter for pick up.

“Ready?” Auna called across the gap as Jensen was making sure the window was properly open.

“Yes, my moon.”

“Meet you girls at the orchard.” Auna crawled slowly out of her window on the ledge. She needed space to open her wings properly to fly. She opened her wings and fell downwards. She had never tried to fly in the winter, her wings were cold. She couldn’t touch the ground though. There was magic on the ground, it would alarm the adults someone was outside walking on the grass.

She pumped harder, making it to the other window. She was out of breath though when she got inside their room.

“Wow never thought such a low flight would be so tense.” Mateo smirked.

“Shut up.” Auna and Jensen spoke in unison.

“So, I’m going to put the door here at the end of the wardrobe area.”

“Won’t room inspections be tricky?” Another triplet asked.

“Well without any mana put into it, it looks like just a painting. It is made out of the material I place it on. Technically it will be on paint and made from paint. It also means it could be painted over. I only ever used stone and wood before, so it was a pleasant surprise.”

“We are expected to live here for majority of the year for the next ten years. We are allowed to paint and decorate however we want. Hopefully they don’t notice the doors on the walls are the same. Could cause other issues.”

Stepping forward Auna began to sing, to calm herself. This skill needed a lot of focus, hers was broken by Jensen beginning to sing along.

“Sorry.” Jensen zipped his mouth taking a step back with a sheepish look on his face.

“Here it is, step on up.” Auna motioned for the boys to walk through the door one, by one.

“Wow, it really works. I thought you were pulling an elaborate joke on us.” A triplet said as another elbowed him.

“What is that?” Jensen was pointing towards a tree all the girls were crowded around. It was glowing a red colour.

“I’m not sure. It wasn’t like that this morning when we did our chores.”

“Wait so no chores tonight?” The same triplet said being elbowed again.

“What is this?” Auna tapped Ciela on her shoulder. The young girl turned to face her.

“It looks like a dungeon in one of my maple trees.” The young girls face was a mix of anger and awe.

“We should enter it.” Jensen was practically jumping in place.

“Mr. Merlin told us we shouldn’t though.” Auna was being safe.

“What if a monster comes though it? It would wreck your home. We should make sure it doesn’t happen by culling the population.” Jensen was making valid points though his excited grin made it a bit harder to believe. It was rare for a dungeon to overpopulate enough to have monsters of high or low level escape.

“Fine, does everyone have a weapon?” Auna asked as she pulled out a sword, bow, mace, and staff from her storage. She carried the sword, Ciela the bow, Chole the mace, and Meredith the staff. The triplets all had shields and swords; Jensen carried only a huge shield.

All children in the school had a weapon and were encouraged to practice in their free time. She had offered to hold the girls in her storage as Cielas’ was full of seeds, saplings, and other plant things. No one else had a storage among the girls.

“Alright, Jensen and I will lead with Chloe. Meredith and the Coral triplets will be the middle. Ciela will bring up the rear with Willow and Theodore. Ayda will bounce along as she feels fit.” Auna had taken control, and no one had argued.

They entered the crater dungeon. They heard a voice as they passed through into a lobby type area. Each dungeon had one, in it was at least one podium that allowed you to go to previously visited floors, or floor one. This one was glowing red as well.

“Please register the owner of the dungeon.” The voice said. The children had learned about higher level dungeons having an owner. The owner was able to bar people from entering the dungeon. It was basically whoever discovered the dungeon, and thus they would also name it. This was why there was an old dungeon called Ashes’ Lair. He had made it as a stupid teen boy. The owner could transfer but the name would never change.

“Auna go and register it.” Ciela pointed to the podium.

“Are you guys okay with that?” Auna was worried they would all want to be the owner. There were magical registries so once she became the owner, the kingdom would know. They might not notice right away but they would eventually.

“Very sure, I don’t want the hassle of the king trying to buy it from me.” Jensen said while the rest nodded. “Besides it is in your crater. Even Ciela defers to you about decisions of this place.”

Auna walked over to the podium. “Would you like to register?” Auna thought yes. “What name would you like to use?”

“Guys I can choose my name?”

“I think you can, but it has to be something similar or close to your name. So, like you can mix your earthly and soul names, nothing too crazy though.”

“Enter the name AunaLuna J.” The podium glowed brightly for a few second.

“Name AunaLuna J registered as owner, please name the dungeon.”

“Ember Moon.” The podium lit up once more.

“Registration complete.” The voice then disappeared.

“Why did you name it Ember first, my moon?” Jensen was grinning ear to ear.

“You convinced me to come in, so I thought it was fitting. Especially since it glows red. I name most things with moon now as well.” Auna touched the podium, a menu came up only floor one was in the list. She first messed with a few settings she could see about the dungeon. Mostly privacy, and she added Burt to the no entry list along with all the adults she knew. Just in case.

Auna took one last look at everyone then hit floor one thinking about them. They were all transported to the first level of the dungeon. It was a wide-open field green grass and flowers were everywhere.

“This is going to be a long night, how are we going to find the stairs to the next level?” Jensen said pretending to look sad, though his grin would not leave his face. Aunas’ true friend skill let her know Jensens’ look of sadness was a lie. It had grown to instinctively let her know small details like this in social situations.

After about six hours they found the stairs to the next floor. There had been no monsters on the first floor. It was only inhabited by grass and flowers. It was a bit of a let-down. Before going further, they ate their cake, and sang happy birthday.

“I know it is midnight, and we had a picnic and everything, but please can we just look at floor two?” Jensen was shaking with excitement.

“Just a peak.” Auna said as they walked down the steps.

“Oh, my gods.” Auna was in shock. This floor was just as big as the first. It had two moons in the sky. Like her last world. They were standing on a beach. Behind them a forest.

“Should we go in?” Ciela asked.

“Sure, but if we see something too high level we leave.”

They did not have to walk long before they found some monsters. They were low level none being over level 3. Though monsters didn’t have actual levels when using appraisal a level estimate would appear, Theo and Willow were around 10, while Ayda was 5. If the person appraising was too low level, nothing would appear when appraised.

There were slimes of different colours, rabbits with three eyes and horns, spiders that were red and larger than a melon.

“I think we should head back. I don’t know about you but a gained a level, so I am satisfied.” Auna began leading them out of the forest. It was now nearly one am, she needed to go to bed. She felt tired.

“I gained a few.” A triplet said as the girls nodded. Jensen like Auna had a hard time gaining levels.

They walked back to the beach.

“I wonder if this dungeon needs you to sail across the water.” Ciela was gazing at the water, she had never seen so much.

“Well, we know how to build a boat. We could bring the materials needed to build one.” Jensen was also gazing at the water.

“We can worry about that this weekend; we don’t have time to do this dungeon crawling during the week. It will have to be after our prayer class.” Aua tugged Jensen towards the stairs. “Are you home sick?”

“He has always looked at the sea at night with such a gaze. Pretty sure he loves it.” A triplet said. Auna still was having trouble telling them apart.

“It isn’t the ocean I love. But yeah, I guess I am home sick.”

“That was so cool!” Chloe was full of energy as she crawled fresh from a shower into bed. The children had gotten back into their dorm rooms without any issues. They had shut the lights off, locked the doors, and closed the windows before they left. So, when bed check came all the floor mother saw was a bunch of beds with what looked like children in them.

“You know that you can’t tell anyone right? Not even your family.” Auna yawned as she spoke.

“Of course, at least not until you say it is okay. Like once we are older, and the government finally notices it is you.” Chloe made a valid point even though the name she registered under was different it was not different enough to hide forever.

“Good night, Chloe I have a full day tomorrow.” Auna rolled over.

She felt like she only blinked when Ciela had begun shaking her awake. She was also very warm and cold at the same time. Ciela looked worried, Mr. Merlin and the floor mother was also beside her bed looking just as worried. She tried to say something but instead fell asleep.