Kim was standing by the river that flowed just inside of her domain and stared towards the south. Or perhaps it was Southeast from where she was standing. She wasn't entirely sure which way went where, but she knew that she had flown north in her semi-dazed state. And guessing by the shadows being cast around her then it was probably eastwards. She looked upwards, towards the peak of the canyon. She could clearly see where the river had eroded away the rock and over millennia formed the canyon she was currently standing in. But even then she could not clearly see the top of the mountain range that she was located in. From the little scouting she had done she had noticed a small forest to the north, lake to the south. Otherwise, the area just looked like mountains and plains. The more she thought about it, the worse her prospects for the future looked like. It did not feel like they would be able to get a lot of things by happening upon them. Neither did she think that she was too close to other people.
The fact that she wasn't too close to other people was a boon and a bane. She really did not want to kill people, but she would kill, probably, to defend herself and her new little family. But it was also not good for a quick growth and the ability to barter for goods would not be readily available. She wasn't really sure what to think about that. The lack of animals would probably not be good for her though. But that remained to be seen, mostly depending on what the children brought back. She could hear some giggles and jolly voices from around a bend in the river. She and Lilly turned towards the voices and Kim smiled gently as the children rounded the corner. They seemed to be carrying a few things that might be of use. Most notably was that they were leading a donkey, or was it a mule perhaps, over towards the pair.
"Where did you get that mule from?" Kim asked after the children rejoined them. She walked closer and started inspecting the animal. It was in good health. The teeth looked fine along with a good mix of fat and muscle on its body. No matter how much of a boon it was, the bridle was going to be an issue. "Did you steal it from some farmer?" Kim asked and raised an eyebrow. When she did the children looked a bit guilty for a moment, but then they composed themselves and looked at Kim with determination in their eyes.
"We stole it from a farmer nearby, but not like he needed it. He had been mauled by wolves or some other clawed beast, and we found the mule just standing near a pond some ways away. Not like he was going to make it back to his home anyway." Kim facepalmed when she heard that.
"Why didn't you just bring him here? Perhaps we could heal him. And while I'd hate for him to die, it would probably be a good thing for the dungeon if he died within it's influence." At this the children looked at each other before handing Kim the reigns of the mule and started running back towards where the man supposedly was dying. Kim sighed. "Children... I don't know how much of their personalities are that of actual children, along with their knowledge, and how much is what the dungeon tells them to be." Kim mumbled to herself, not expecting an answer.
"They are just like normal children, with the knowledge and morals that a child should have. That may change as you change though. Currently they've got similar morals and values to what you have. Or what they would have if you had taught them. Like your real children." Lilly said from beside Kim. "Once you get more used to summoning and how your menu works you can set their knowledge, morals, and much more based on your wishes. You can do this with anything you summon. You want a servile slave, you can get that. You want the most haughty noble, you can get that. There are no real limits to what you eventually can make if you put enough effort into it.
Kim looked towards Lilly and sighed. "I guess that was expected with the traits that I chose I guess. Anyway, now that I've got a mule with some basic riding equipment I guess I should assimilate it and make a few more." While she was not keen on killing people, animals she had no qualms about. At least until they reached sentience, then it would become a moral question. She reasoned that the reason why most did not eat dogs, cats, horses and the like is due to the simple reason that nowadays they're seen as pets, and not as food or beasts of burden like in ages past. If it was between dying and eating your dog, most would probably eat the dog.
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She reached out and touched the being's mind with her own. She calmed it with her own powers before quickly and mercifully killing the mule by destroying the brain. At least this was the quickest and most merciful way that she could think of. It would feel nothing, suspect nothing, not be stressed or worried. After all, she had felt what it had felt before the beast collapsed in front of her. Kim then focused on using the assimilation skill that the dungeon had and tried to absorb the remains of the mule. At first, she could feel resistance as the body died without the brain going. Then it felt as if some force was being drawn from within her and enveloped the animal. To her it looked like a golden light was gathering around the mule before it slowly started vanishing, becoming particles of light. But the feeling that Kim was experiencing was nothing but orgasmic as the life force from the creature was being sucked into her being. She could feel that her mana was being expanded and it felt as if she was bloating up from eating way too much. The need to spend the mana that was overflowing from her core was quite strong.
Kim quickly decided to summon two mules and just as quickly the bloating feeling was replaced with a sense of emptiness. A quick look at her mana showed that she had spent probably 100 mana each on the mules since she was now sitting at a solid 400 mana. The feeling though of assimilating the mule had been a dangerous one. That feeling of ecstasy was problematic to say the least. Now she understood why dungeons killed living things. A shudder ran though her body as she thought about possibly becoming a soulless, devouring creature, not too dissimilar to a junkie wanting it's next fix. Kim vowed to herself never to let that happen. She'd rather be a peaceful dungeon that helped people than loosing herself in the bliss.
"Now that's dealt with..." She said quietly and once again turned towards the dungeon proper. "Lets get to building." Kim started walking back towards the entrance before she looked towards a spot about 50 meters down the canyon wall. She quickly made up her mind and used mana to push her aura down towards the spot, the river on one side and the wall on the other. It was exhilarating to be honest. The feeling of expanding her domain was extremely pleasant. Now that she was no longer in a daze she could really take in all what she had become, and the feelings that it brought. She was walking a fine line between loving it, and being afraid of it. The instinct and desire, and not to mention the rewards of doing what a dungeon was 'supposed' to do was great. Kim did her best to push it out of her mind as she finally made her way to the spot, exhausting about half of her mana to do so.
She walked up and placed her hand on the wall and sent her power deep into the rock. She could feel the composition of the rock. Tiny traces of metals and other minerals which would be helpful later on. According to the menu, the higher amount of a material she absorbed the less it would cost. And the miniscule amount she had found so far would probably cost a lot unless she could find a vein of the stuff. No matter though, now it was time to get to building. She sent her shockwaves into the rock in a path that she desired to excavate and it quickly turned to dust. She then used her assimilation skill on the dust and her mana shot up again. Perhaps she could automate this given enough time, but for now she would have to do it manually.
An entrance was taking shape in front of her. On each side of the hole she shaped columns out of the rock with her powers. They were dull and grey to the eye but on a closer inspection you would be able to see that they had been perfectly cut. There wasn't a single crack, a single blemish along the perfectly smooth rock, as if someone had polished them to perfection. Two sheets of rock made up a kind of door that would slide into the sides of the hallway, removing the need for hinges as she used a smaller amount of mana to make some wheels that the sheets could roll on. She made a few more wheels and rolling pins to make sure that the doors slide easily. She then added a lot of bars to the ceiling, behind the doors that would slide down to create something akin to a cell. She then added another bar on each side of the doors that would slide down behind to the sides so that the doors would not be able to be slid open.
Kim scratched her head before deciding to make it a bit more mechanical and added in a couple of hatch wheels to the sides of the entrance which she connected to the bars so that you could winch them up into the ceiling. However, you had to winch them in a specific order otherwise the safety latch would pull away and the bars would spring down again. Just with this little entrance, her mana was now completely spent. Since she had not been able to produce or make the items herself but had to rely on the dungeon to create the things that she imagined in her head it drained her reserves very quickly. It was one thing to make something that she had absorbed, but making something completely new was apparently very taxing.
She stared at the hallway that she had formed behind the now open doors and smiled slightly. Now it was time to expand this hallway and keep scanning for material within the rock. For now, she did not create another room, instead she kept making hallways, digging deeper, searching. She had the hope that since she was the mobile core, that if something would happen she could always run away. There was no dungeon core at the end of the dungeon to find after all. Not if she left the dungeon at least. She would dig, until she got tired, then she would perhaps make the rooms after her mana had regenerated.