Things were moving forward slowly. The ogre was taking shape in my head. I had spent the last few weeks alternating between Core Refining and experimentation. It produced some excellent results that I factored into my plans.

I opened my character sheet and looked at the important part right now.

Name

Bhaldor

Essence

58%

Race

Dungeon Core

CP

50(800) 8.3 phr

Level

6

Corruption

0%

Floors

6

Health

100%

I had increased Core Refinement to 18%, increasing my regeneration by a whole point. Summer had been here in full force, but autumn was in the air. The days were longer then, and I had seen an increase in team numbers. This led to an increase in deaths as the young and foolish overreached and died. The mentors kept the smart in line, but many could or would not employ one and suffered for it.

I had not done anything enchanting for now as I focused on the gear first. I had been forced to redesign the equipment I could make for the ogre. It turned out that I could not just upscale what I had, but I needed to create new versions.

I had started with a shield. Simple enough, I thought.

"Damn it, another failure!"

The shield I had just created had split and collapsed. My CP dropped due to the creation process. I reabsorbed the remains and went over what I had tried.

"It's the wood. The larger I try to make, the more it is causing the fault. But why? I had no trouble in creating other wooded items without them breaking."

I concluded that some rule in play that I was unaware of was causing this. I had asked aloud but received no answer. I had even gone through my wiki again, even though I remembered it all anyway.

"What is the problem."

These had been the nights when I had not been using Core Refining. I spent the summer preparing for the seventh floor between the two. I had hoped to be further along, but the shield was proving to be a formidable obstacle to cross. When I overcome it, the knowledge will help me create the rest.

I wandered around my Dungeon as I thought about the problem.

"Could I redesign the shield from the ground up?"

That was the first thought I had. I could, in theory, but it would take time. Luckily, I had had that.

"Is there anything else I could use?"

If you don't succeed, try something different. That was another option, but again, the question was, with what?

The night was ending, and the adventurers would show up soon. The floors were testing many, and overall, I was happy with them. The sixth was still not being visited as much. Most adventurers only visited the floor for the silver vein; the floor guardian was being avoided. That was until a few days ago when the Guild sought to get an intact body of the guardian again. There had been a few attempts over the news since the floor opened, but this was the first one to succeed. I had watched them, which provided a distraction that day, but I procrastinated again.

I still need to think about the shield problem and its solution.

## ## ## ## ##

Comus moved around the lab with his old, excited energy. Ranus, Albrot, and Elian were all in the lab, which seemed crowded despite being one of the largest rooms in the building. Comus had a body on the table before him. It was a snake from the Dungeon's sixth floor, but it was not as large as the others that had been acquired from the floor.

Comus had gotten it a few days ago. The Guild finally extracted an intact body from the floor and supplied it to the alchemists. The body was now dissected on the table, with its entrails open for all to see.

"It's amazing. Truly amazing!" Comus said as he bounced around the room. The three watched him, amused by his excitement.

"Why don't you tell us what is so amazing?" Albrot asked. The Alchemist Guild leader had summoned Elian and Ranus, and Albrot decided to tag along. Acquiring that guardian body had been one of the hardest retrieval jobs Albrot had heard of for a good number of years. Several teams had tried, which turned it into a competition amongst the higher-grade teams. The team that succeeded were crowing about it in the Guild and taverns to all that would listen.

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Comus stopped at his words and collected himself. "What we have here is a monster whose value will match or exceed the value of the third-floor boar guardian."

This caught the interest of his audience, who stood straighter, wondering what he had discovered that made him say that.

"The snake's skin is the most valuable thing. Have you heard of the chameleon potion?" He asked.

"Of course. It allows the drinker to blend in with the surrounding area by manipulating the light around them. It is another version of a true invisibility spell or potion that people are still chasing." Elian replied to his question.

"Well, you then know that the potion is rated based on quality. The tiers are low, good, uncommon, rare and legendary." They all nodded, knowing this. "Well, this skin can be used by a skilled alchemist to create a rare-grade potion."

He grinned as he revealed what he had discovered, which brought a shocked silence to the others. The chameleon potion was used by many for good and evil. Many alchemists produced it, and it was in good demand. If this skin could make the second highest tier, it would be highly sought after.

"How much can one skin produce?" Albrot asked slowly. He knew the following words from the alchemist would dictate much of what would happen.

"Oh." Comus blinked, realising he had not figured that out. After a few quick calculations, he answered. "Two rare tiers from a full skin… Yes, that much more using it for lower-grade potions."

Ranus was unsure about the value, but the other two knew. Any rare-grade potion was serious gold. Demand would be massive, which meant greed would drive another spike in deaths in the Dungeon. They had just gotten over another summer spike. The majority of the teams going in had some experience now and had learnt not to push themselves too hard. The promise of gold? That would change things.

You could sustain on copper and live on silver, but you thrived on gold. Platinum? Well, that was the stuff of fantasies for most.

"That means between fifteen to twenty gold per potion. You are looking at fifteen to twenty gold per intact skin, maybe higher." Elain worked out the market prices.

"Yes, and that's just the skin! I am still working on the rest of the body." Comus was too lost in his excitement to see what the others understood. If more were discovered, the body would increase in value, and demand would increase, driving up prices again.

The third-floor boos were attracting far too much attention as it was the sixth would be far worse. Combined with the silver vein, that floor boss would be a siren call that many could not resist.

It would turn into a blood bath.

Albrot and Elian looked at each other in worry, not understanding what was going to happen. Ranus had a good idea, and he was thinking about a black crystal in his pocket and a conversation he needed to have with the Dungeon.

He had come up with a plan to help with their interactions.

## ## ## ## ##

I watched some younger adventurers getting bashed around by the first boar on the third floor. They would win the fight, but the boar took a pound of flesh in return. They would die if they continued, and they had come to realise this. They were a group that had started off as a complete group of noobs but were now showing the start of becoming a competent team. That was until they thought they were ready for the third floor.

The boar collapsed with a grunt, and the battered group looked relieved. I watched them harvest the body and collect the reward that appeared. They opted not to advance and spent more time on the second, sharpening their skills and teamwork.

"Well, they learned! Good for them."

I sensed a connection being made to my Core.

"Damn it. Not.."

"Hello?" I heard the voice of Ranus Goldwind. I groaned internally.

"What? I am a busy Dungeon!"

I snapped. Over the years, I had grown accustomed to dealing only with a select few and mainly talking to myself. If this had happened a few years ago, I would have been ecstatic to speak to anyone. Now, I found it irritating and strangely unsettling.

"Sorry for disturbing your daily work, Dungeon." He did sound apologetic. "I have contacted you to offer something."

"What is that then?"

"I offer information in return for a question answered."

Now, that was interesting. But what was his game?

"It depends on what you are offering and what the question is."

"As a sign of good faith, I will ask the question and of the information. If it is not as valuable as the question, would you offer something you think is worth it?" He offered.

He was trying to establish a trading relationship then. If I played it right, this could work for me. I could get access to resources I could use.

"I will humour you this time."

"Thank you, Dungeon. My question is, do you know what is causing the twisted to appear? I return and offer you this: I have learned that an area called Folly's End, which has many twisted, is stirring, and they are gathering to come here possibly."

Right, that was something important to know. But the question….

"Heed my words, Lord Ranus Goldwind of Shadow Vale. The answer to that question is far more dangerous than you understand. Answering it would be as dangerous as the twisted attacking the town you rule over. I will not answer it for that reason, but know this: I am dealing with what is causing them to appear, but it is a great effort. Will I succeed? That is still an unknown, but I am working hard and striving towards completion."

There was silence as he was either shocked at my words or digesting them.

"T-Thank you for that, Dungeon." He was shaken and uncertain from his tone.

"What I am willing to entertain in the future are further exchanges for information or resources that I require."

"I am happy that you have decided that, Dungeon." He was still processing what I had said but was willing to accept my offer. What are your terms?"

I had to think fast about that one. I did not believe he would come back so quickly.

"Ask a question. If I choose to answer it, I will give you my price. If you are happy to pay, I will answer it. But be warned, you might not want to know the answer."

That should get him to pause….

"I agree to your terms."

…. Or not.

There were a few minutes of silence. I wondered if that was it.

"… That's odd," Ranus said, ending the gap in the conversation.

"What's odd?"

I knew I should not have asked, but I did anyway.

"Oh… I... I did not receive a confirmation of our verbal contract." He sounded confused.

"Not surprised. Your Gods like to keep their distance when I am involved."

"That is odd…. How are we to honour this agreement?" Ranus was still trying to understand the lack of a contract. The undercurrent of fear and confusion was evident in his voice.

"Easy. We must trust the other."

This led to another brief gap in conversation as he thought about the ramifications of what I had just said.

"Very well, if is what must be done, so be it." Looks like he was still in. He sounded more certain.

"With that done, I have work to do."

"Dungeon, I have another question." He quickly spoke. This caused another internal groan.

"What is it?"

"If the town is attacked, can you assist in its defence?" He asked.

"My price is the largest rat you can place in the entry room after sundown."

I did not need a rat, but it was a good test to see if he could handle the little things.

"Agreed." He committed.

"No. I am only able to act within my claimed area. You have already been told this."

"I ask again to see if you are still unable to work around that restriction." He was fishing or trying to get me to attempt it.

"The answer is still mo. Now, this conversation must end."

With that, I cut the connection. I will see if he supplies the rat. It would be interesting to work on another animal type. Rats are known to be adaptable so that one might respond better to my alteration.

Another group was travelling into the Dungeon, as the one I watched earlier was gone. I looked them over; they were more young ones. They started with the first and began working their way through it. The traps were well-known and avoided. I could move them, but I decided against that again, as the first two floors were for training.

I settled in for the day, thinking about shields again.