The daily routine continued. Ranus had not contacted me, and I settled back into the everyday grind. Days had passed, and I was seeing fewer adventurers as the days shortened. More rain was coming through the area.

"Winter will be here soon."

I spoke to Larry, who continued to ignore me. I had a group on the third fighting the first boar. In the last few weeks, I had seen far more new groups heading to the sixth. They were higher-grade teams and better equipped. Many did not return as they underestimated my minions and overestimated their skills. I gained a few more things that were added to my gear list. Now, they were more cautious. I had learned that the Guardian was another sought-after body to recover or strip.

This had the knock-on effect of hiking my essence count. You have to love greed!

"The seventh floor is in sight."

I added experimentation with the new rat design to my activities at night. So far, nothing exciting and a lot of exploding rats. Progress, not perfection, I had to remind myself as I cleaned up the mess.

"Most of my ideas for the floor are ready to be implemented."

I was excited because this floor would be necessary for two reasons, but those would become apparent later when it was done. The team had moved on to the next room.

"I might be able to get it done in the new year at this rate."

Larry turned over and showed me his back, which indicated his thoughts on the conversation. I was not deterred!

"I have the rough plan for everything ready, and as soon as I get over the level, I will get to work. It should not take more than two days to complete. That is with unexpected outcomes or discoveries thrown in."

The adventurers were taking down the boars with the use of their skills. They had been through the floor before but had avoided the Guardian. Today, they might take a run at it. They had spent several months building to it, and I thought they had a good chance of winning.

"I lucked out on the sixth find that geode. I cannot let myself fall into that situation again. I will need to keep the CP cost in my head better."

The third boar collapsed dead. The group was celebrating and getting ready to strip the dead. The third was now the most visited floor by a wide margin. Many adventurers who had started with the first when I was discovered were now visiting that floor regularly. They had grown in confidence and abilities. Those who had not were dead or left to find safer professions.

The fourth was seeing more, but most avoided the Guardian. The spider silk was the reason; most had their hands full just with the spiders. Queen was something most did not want to face. The fifth was still attracting groups that were more interested in figuring out different ways to circumvent the traps than fighting the worms.

"I have planned something special as the reward for the seventh. If I am right, this will have adventurers flocking to the floor. If not, the money that can be gained will draw them in."

Larry was still ignoring me, and the group was still stripping the bodies. This would not be a quick enterprise. I left Larry and wandered down the stairs. The moss was growing well, giving everything that weird blue tint. It was now getting to the stage where I had to cut it back in some locations. It is something to do in the day. I had the time between the groups as the patches were small.

I had thought about shaking up the first and second floors a bit, but I again decided against it as they were meant as training floors, not overly aggressive locations. That amused me, as each had a death toll, but they were easy compared to the other floors. I had put some serious thought into the third, but again, nothing was done. The reason? I was a bit of a lazy Dungeon Core. When something was finished in my mind, I rarely went back.

"I should look again at my floors to inform the others. The later ones I should mix up now and again."

I wandered right to the third. Travelling across it, I found that the group had moved on. Looking them over closer, I noticed three of the six were wearing leather armour, probably made from boar hide.

"Nice to see my choice for the third was the right one."

I went past the remaining boars into the guardian room. The big boar was wandering around sniffing the grass, covered in fresh mud. They love the mud pits I had supplied. Here and there, new floor growths were outside the area where I had originally planted them.

"I could get rid of them, but the boar seems to like them."

At that moment, the boar was sniffing and slobbering all over one of them. I watched the boar sense Puck in the tunnels, hiding across the floor, watching the adventurers. He had been getting restless recently. He had been appearing and causing trouble for some groups.

This had led to increased chatter amongst groups trying to take him down or capture him. It seemed there was a bounty out as they were unsure what he was. I had to make sure he stayed hidden for now.

"Could I make a floor out of the minions I could create using him as the template?"

I entertained this idea again. Thinking about it was amusing, but I knew it was fanciful as the Illusion mana costs would be crippling. I had two mana stones dedicated to illusion and my storage, but to power such a floor, I would need much more.

"Could I create dozens of stones and use them to power the floor?"

Possible. The number would have to be massive, as the regeneration of Illusion mana was terrible in my Dungeon.

"Shame I can use other types of mana…."

Could I? Now, that was a thought. When I first created Puck, I had the feeling that Illusion Mana was the best to use, and it worked. That was then, and now I am better at mixing and matching mana types. Should I go and try again?

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

"Thoughts for the future."

I had spent so long thinking about a floor full of Puck's that the adventures had reached the floor Guardian. They hesitated but committed to the fight. I paid half a mind as I still envisioned different variations of Puck. The Guardian battered them around, wounding several badly, but the group prevailed and killed the Guardian.

"Oh… Well, done."

The Guardian's death made me focus on the room. I knew they would not try the fourth anytime soon. Maybe in a few more months. They barely handled this Guardian, and Queen would wipe them out if they could even get to her.

They stripped what they could from the beaten Guardian, collected the reward and left the floor. They limped out of the Dungeon blooded and covered in mud but with the glow of victory.

"So, who's next?"

## ## ## ## ##

Ranus put down a contract offer for a loan to help with his plans to finish soon. Winter was approaching, and the southern land route would soon be closed due to snow.

He was going to turn this one down as well. On the surface, it looked fine and reasonable, but some of the language in the clauses made him uneasy. It was the sixth that Amya had presented. He had rejected the others, and he was getting concerned.

It was a trend he was now seeing. Each offer appeared fair on the surface, but the more he looked, the stranger the clauses seemed. It was not that they were there, as all contracts had them. No, it was the vagueness of these terms that concerned him. The family patriarch had drilled into him never to sign anything he did not fully understand.

Why was Amya not spotting these issues?

Ranus considered it and reasoned that it was because her past clients did not have issues repaying the amounts. They were lenient and generous unless the clauses were triggered.

Something still nagged at him.

## ## ## ## ##

"Thank you for having this meeting, Oda." Lawdrun entered Oda domains private office.

"I welcome all who seek to speak to me. Please sit." Oda stood as Lawdrun entered and indicated to a chair. They both sat at the same time.

"Oda, let me be blunt with you. What are you doing with this Dungeon Core? I have been part of this Pantheon for tens of millennia and have never seen you make such a mistake. To that end, I went through everything again and realised there were things you had still managed to hide from us all."

"What have you learned?" Oda asked, not attempting to hide from the questions being asked.

"The soul contract you created. You were able to hide it from me because the one you showed the Pantheon was the abridged version. You have hidden the full one somewhere, and I cannot even see it. Why?"

"Lawdrun, what you are asking is far more complicated than you realise."

"Oda, this void corruption is a threat to us all! We need to know what we are dealing with and what actions you have taken." Lawdrun was getting frustrated, which was unusual for him.

"And what will you do with this knowledge if I tell you?" Oda's question was asked in a calm but curious tone.

"We have to tell the rest to work out what needs to be done!"

"There lies the problem, Lawdrun."

"Why? Oda, things are getting out of control! And amongst it all, you are playing some game with us all." Lawdrun was now frustrated, standing up and pacing around.

Oda went silent, looking at the other God, thinking over things the other could not see. After what seemed like an eternity, Oda spoke.

"If you give me your divine oath, never communicate with what I am about to say, and then I will tell you," Oda offered. Lawdrun stopped pacing and looked at the other God. This was a big commitment, and Lawdrun was uneasy about how Oda looked at him. He returned to his seat after making a choice.

"You have it." The air shimmered between them, confirming the oath. Oda nodded that he was happy.

"Ask then."

"Why the act?" Lawdrun asked.

"When Adrill went on his rampage, the chaos he unleashed was devastating. After his death, we all interrogated him. When I took my third crack at him, he let something odd slip through his madness. It made me think again about the whole affair. During that time, I stepped away and visited the hills where he fell and the first Dungeon he destroyed. That is where I discovered the danger of the void corruption."

Lawdrun was silent but understood what Oda had explained so far. He knew that context was essential to the events and choices made.

"One of the advantages to being the God of time is that I can manipulate it. When I discovered the problem, I slowed time around me and it to figure out what…"

"It?" Lawdrun outburst broke the story that Oda was spinning.

"All in good time, Lawdrun." Oda smiled patiently. "As I was saying, I slowed time and realised the extent of the danger. I trapped the danger in another time bubble, slowing the spread of corruption. I understood that it was a stop-gap measure, as corruption was spreading and growing even with my intervention. I need a more permanent solution."

"What did you do?"

"I understood that my ignorance was the greatest danger, so I reached out to several other Pantheons and independent Gods beyond our realms." Lawdrun grimaced, knowing the dangers in that. "One knew what we were facing and told me what needed to be done."

"The Dungeon?" Lawdrun asked.

"Yes. You see, what I found was a crack in reality. It connected our realm to the void and leaked void energy into the world. This crack did not obey the same rules as our universe. I was able to move it and place it into a container. This other God told me that I could turn the container into a means of purifying our world."

"The Core!" Lawdrun exclaimed, understanding.

"Indeed. I needed a soul to act as the last part of the container. It is the anchor that holds the whole thing together. And with that is another danger."

"What danger?"

"An unbound soul can and will normally grow as it seeks to survive. That is what drives Cores in Dungeons. If this Core grows large, it will draw more corruption into it. On the surface, that is a good thing. This puts the soul under stress as it absorbs the corruption. If too much corruption is absorbed too fast, it can compromise that soul. But what happens if the container is compromised?"

Lawdrun did not answer right away and thought until he offered an answer. "… It becomes corrupted?"

"Correct, and instead of absorbing the void energy, it starts pumping it out." Oda leaned forward, now leaning on his desk. "To that end, I had to hide the Core away and cripple its ability to develop. If the Dungeon got too big too fast and the defences I have put in place failed…."

"The Dungeon would accelerate the destruction of the mortal realm." Lawdrun finished what Oda was telling him.

"The system governing the Core was the first means of control, placing restrictions on his means to interact with the world. The second was altering his memories to make him less willing to take risks and be adventurous with his creations. A deep-seated paranoia about being discovered was also added. I had to make sure that he was mentally stable enough not to slip into madness, as the isolation would also wear on the soul as the risk of corruption endangers everything he has not created. The final was cutting him off from generic mana and only allowing him to use elemental mana."

"That has not been too successful." Lawdrun quipped.

"Yes, he is proving to be more adaptable than I imagined." Oda agreed. "Now you understand what I have done, what I have."

"Yes… I understand the danger is far more…. than I ever feared. Thank you for telling me." Lawdrun was in a daze as he left, not even saying goodbyes.

Oda was not insulted but worried for the other God. Knowledge was a dangerous thing. After Lawdrun was gone, a shadow rippled to the side of the room, and another stepped out.

"You heard?" Oda asked the newcomer.

"Yes. I am surprised he did not press further. You left so much unsaid."

"He was still grappling with what I told him; there was no need to burden him with more just yet."

"Yes, you have been able to fool them all so far. But how much longer?"

"I fooled them because I fooled myself. I hid away the full extent of what I had done until after the discovery of the Core from my mind. My reactions were genuine, and those capable of reading them saw them as such." Oda leaned back in the chair.

"You are playing a dangerous game, Oda."

"I know. But we must be cautious until we discover who set Adrill on his path. The traitor amongst us can still do much more damage."

"Let me guess, until then, stay hidden while watching over the Core."

"Yes. But be ready; hard times are coming."