Minvar had just left Elian's office. She was leaning back in her chair, looking at the ceiling rafters. The report from the Minoar's team that had just returned from the Dungeon. They had recovered a Moonlight Rose, which will be sold to the Merchant Guild today.

The report of the battle with the single occupant of the sixth floor. She had rated it low silver grade but planned to raise it to silver or even high silver. A Minoar team was battered badly in the fight. That alone would cause many to pause before going to the new floor.

Her door opened as Altor entered the room. He closed the door and sat across from her, activating the anti-scrying crystal.

"The Guild has the rose. We will receive our due later today." Altor spoke. Elian just grunted. "Have you seen the team's condition?"

Elian sat back up, looking at him. "The team captain was just here and reported some injuries."

"Some injuries?" Albrot laughed. "Multiple broken bones and battered bodies. A single-occupant floor. You see those in the deeper sections of older Dungeons."

Elian eyebrows raised. "That bad?"

"Yes. They will be out of action for a few weeks."

"Well, they have the money to cover the living expenses here. How much are they getting?" Elain mused.

"A hundred gold. Ten in commission to the Guild, then 5 to us and another to Ranus." Albrot recited from memory.

"Not bad then."

"No. But they used a lot of supplies in the final fight against the ogre." Albrot pointed out.

"Speaking of the ogre. I want to raise the threat rating to a high silver tier."

"I agree. Make the announcement when you are ready." Albrot was relieved that she had been thinking the same. He did not want to overrule her, and it looked bad.

"It will be done in an hour."

"Word will be spreading now." Albert sighed. Elian understood why.

"Where is my new assessor?" Elain asked pointily.

"He will be here next week," Albrot promised.

"You said that last week."

"Well, he was delayed. What can you do?"

She snorted. She had been preparing to assess the new floor when Albrot appeared and was informed that she could not do so. This had led to an argument, and Albrot put his foot down with a hard no. He reasoned that she was a Guild Leader and needed a high-Pathed assessor to map the Dungeon from now on. He confirmed this with the boss, and she sent one.

He was late.

## ## ## ## ##

I had been a lazy Core.

I have come to this conclusion in the last few days: the long periods of inactivity as I waited for my essence count to reach the next level made me this way. There was some experimentation (okay, periods of much experimentation) and tomfoolery, but I should be doing more. Maybe I was suffering from bouts of depression?

I had set to change this.

Starting with mana stones. I had created more, quite a few more. I now had twenty-five in total. They surrounded my Core in its hidden alcove. I had space for a few more but was leaving them for future stones. I had done a few experiments along the way.

I discovered that the further away from my Core the stones were, the worse their regeneration rate was. I had Puck and Larry move them around the Dungeon to different locations and monitor them. Shadow and Earth were the least affected, depending on where they were placed. The other's rates dropped so far that they were effectively dead.

I spent many hours trying to understand this. The only reason I could come up with was that the essence being drawn to my Core was also charging these stones. I had seen that they had essence passing through them, and the corresponding "type" never left.

So, some progress?

Again, I had been neglecting my skills. My Mana Sight has improved since my recent studies. Creating Krag had also pushed my Enchanting up a whole two levels. Everything else was stagnant. That was something I had to address.

How? I was still working on it.

Now that the seventh was finished, I had to turn my attention to the eighth. What will this floor be?

I had been thinking more about mixing two different minions on this floor, as it needs to be more challenging than the seventh. How I was going to pass Krag was going to be complicated—until I realised that I did not. The floor guardian would need to be close, but I would have to spread my resources out more like the other floors. Krag would remain unique for now.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

I wanted another flyer.

I could use the first-floor guardian as the template for some new wasps, maybe with a few more alterations. This would reduce development time because I would work from an established design.

The only problem was that the wasps did not play well with others according to their restriction. So, what else did I have?

Bats.

"Well, Larry, that's the problem. Bats are the only other flyer I have, but they are pretty pathetic."

Larry was showing me his back.

"I have Puck, but he is resource-intensive to create. My new mana stones, when charged, will lighten that load now…."

Possibilities. I opened the bat design I had.

"Need to focus on speed…. Making it too tough will slow it down… What mana type?"

I thought about what I was seeing. Another question popped up. What would I pair them with?

Puck was based on Illusion Mana, which worked very well with Light. Bats did not lean that way. I discovered that the monster leaned towards different Mana types and interacted badly with others. The number of exploding experiments proved the theory to me.

Do I make more Pucks?

Now, that was a thought. I entertained it for a little while but knew that even with the mana stones, I would not yet be able to support such a floor. But it was one for the future, maybe.

Back to the bats. They were the only option right now.

I felt Illusion and Light were out, but I would try a few options if I had time. Earth also did not "feel" right. That left Ice and Shadow. Shadow was my sort of go-to as it fits with most of my Dungeon and its aesthetic. Ice… now that was something I had not worked with.

"Ice bats?"

Could that work? I started listing things to try with my experiments on the bats.

"Let's get to work."

## ## ## ## ##

The mood at the table was not pleasant. The adventurers around them were giving them an even wider space than normal.

Minvar looked at her team and found out the reason. This was their first time together since leaving the Dungeon. The healers had released the last two, and even after the victory, one group member was sullen.

"Come now, Brutun, being knocked out is not so bad. It just meant you missed the end of the fight." Devaus was needling him.

Brutun was carried out by Devaus and Xurak and had been in a foul mood since he woke up a few days ago. Strix was still nursing his bandaged and splinted arm. He was going to be out of action for at least another ten days.

Minvar was still dealing with the aftermath of meeting with the tribe's trade representative in town. The Moonlight rose had caused a massive stir that was still being felt. She had had nineteen requests to get more from the seventh floor.

She was in no hurry.

"It was a lucky blow. Captain Minvar, I demand as soon as we can return to the seventh floor, and I will crush the ogre alone!" Brutun was getting louder as he spoke. His pride was hurt, and he sought a way to soothe it.

"No, Brutun. We will return, and we will fight it together." Minvar fought back the need to sigh in weariness. "The ogre has been classed as a higher silver-tier monster. I will not have you run off to chase your vain desire to satisfy your pride."

He snorted but let it go for now, which she was thankful for.

## ## ## ## ##

Ranus was sitting in his office smiling.

The amount of money flowing from his dues from the Dungeon was increasing. Elian had even hinted that they might be able to send in more teams soon, as the Dungeon could handle them if they were so many floors apart. The Adventurer's Guild was waiting for a new assessor who would confirm if it was possible.

He had some breathing room—not much, but he welcomed it. Amya reported that she expected the town's reserves to be higher at the winter solstice than last year. He knew the cost of lives lost to the Dungeon, but it was starting to provide.

He had heard about the Moonlight Rose sold through the Merchant Guild. This plant was the foundation of elixirs of great potency and value. The Merchants had told him they had nearly fifty requests for the flower already. If even half of these were met, the town would receive one hundred and twenty-five gold coins from the Lord's due. That would see half the budget for this year filled.

The future was looking better, and he had Amya stop supplying him with loan options from other bodies. He still found them strangely unsettling and was happy to see their end finally. He started planning for the future and the threats he could see.

He had the black communication crystal safely hidden away. He had resisted the urge to talk to the Dungeon as he found it difficult and always left the conversations confused and his mind hurt. He would leave it where it was until he needed to speak with that strange being.

He reached over to the small pile of vellum on his desk. It was a report on the town's population and buildings from Vulus. He read it over and frowned. The land available for building was nearly at its limit. Ranus had reserved several plots, but the others were now almost exhausted. The land across the river was also being filled fast. According to his projections, the land plots will be gone by the end of the season. Many were already building up with requests to add third or above levels, increasing from nineteen to fifty-three.

Ranus spoke to himself after a heavy sigh. "It looks like I will have to meet with Vulus and discuss this sooner than I hoped."

It was tiring, but Ranus was happy that these were the only pressing problems at this time. He knew this would change.

## ## ## ## ##

Oda was sitting in his "office" within his realm and was secretly happy.

Things had not turned out completely as he had planned, but everything was happening within its boundaries. The other Gods were unaware of his deception, and he was free to find the traitor.

The only major issue was the Dungeon Core.

Above the table was the Dungeon's holographic display, and off to the side was the Cores status screen.

It was developing faster than he thought it could. He had been truthful with the soul and had not made any changes to it. That was done by the Core he had constructed. He had tried to curtail its development, but he was straining against the restrictions placed within its vessel.

Looking over his latest floor and the Guardian was a bit of a revelation. Bhaldor was finding weaknesses within the system he had created to exploit to his advantage. Oda knew he would have to watch the later developments more carefully, even with the Dungeon's new oversight group.

They were in a minor panic over the ogre created. Oda understood their concern, but as long as none escaped into the world after the Core's destruction, there would be no problems.

The Core was processing corrupt void essence at an excellent rate and was ahead of his predictions. The actions of the corrupted at Folly's End were a concern and quietly supported the moving of more assets from the other Gods' temples and churches to act if the monsters crossed the river.

His ally watched the Core more closely and would alert him if any trouble occurred. The Core went through periods of activity and then inactivity. Oda believed that the Core was going through bouts of what was called "depression" in his world. The Core seemed to realise this and went active to combat it but fell back over time. Would this have a long-term effect on the project Oda was unsure of?

He could take action, but that would endanger the plan.

No, he would stay the course.

His world and its realms depended on it.