We’ll call it a natural reflex.

Really, it barely even registered as something I was consciously doing.

He stepped into my sanctum without any resistance at all, and I rushed to slap a stone cover over the top of the bowl I was using as a bank.

As if that was going to do anything.

He didn’t seem to notice it at least, or if he did he simply didn’t care. It was a small relief that he’d brought my mouse back home with him, though I imagined if we survived this I’d get to hear all sorts of complaints about how she’d have to walk all the way back there.

His shoes clacked against the stone tiles, the second intruder to ever make it this far. The danger was far more grave this time, though.

I wasn’t powerless. He’d said it himself—I wasn’t a ‘gibbering lunatic’. I still had my mind, the ability to communicate with him since he could somehow peek in on our link, and the fact that I posed no threat to him. On top of that, the best evidence was that I wasn’t already dead. That meant that he either wanted something from me, or more perplexingly, that he wanted nothing. But he wasn’t just here to kill me, I assumed. We’d have to wait and see.

The stranger toured the area briefly, my mouse perched nervously on one of his broad shoulders, his golden eyes drinking in every detail of what I’d made. He was big—tall enough to make a ‘big’ human look average, though I wasn’t sure exactly. Eight feet tall?

Honestly, I’d gotten so used to only having my rodent around that to me, the inside of this place felt unnecessarily spacious when it was just us around. He, on the other hand, could reach up and touch the roof without an ounce of effort, if he wished to.

After a minute or so of strolling around, lingering for an unsettlingly-long amount of time at my zen waterfall, he finally turned back towards my core with a confused look on his face. “No traps. No monsters, not even a monster lord. I—I don’t know what I was expecting,” he sputtered out, carefully grabbing the mouse off of his shoulder and placing her down on the floor in front of my core, “I see that you can manage construction, at least. Would you mind making me a table, along with a chair to sit at it with? It doesn’t need to be anything fancy.”

“Oh, uh. Sure. Yeah,” I acquiesced, trying to disguise my blatant discomfort with this whole situation, effectively held hostage by the need to stay in the good graces of this ‘guest’. To his side, I had the manamites begin to conjure up something vaguely chair-shaped from my wood reserves, growing it up and out of the floor. Once it was completed, I had them sever a tiny layer at the bottom of each leg, disconnecting it. The table was easier, at least.

He took a seat, placing his teapot down and beginning to prepare to make himself a cup, pulling items seemingly out of thin air as he did so.

“Ahem. Now, while I was just going to kick her out to keep you two from spying on my shrine, you’ve caught my full attention,” he paused, placing his leaves into his cup, “This is a good thing. I promise, on my honor as the guardian of these lands.”

“I’m not sure I buy it. You’re a dungeon monster, aren’t you? I saw your tooltip,” I warned.

“My ‘tooltip’?—ah, you inspected me. Of course, that’s perfectly fine. You’re not entirely wrong, though the tense needs some adjusting; I was the servant of a dungeon core,” he replied, “This is no longer the case.”

“What do you mean?”, the mouse asked of our visitor, having already relaxed to a much less wary outlook on him than I had at this point.

“That story can wait a moment; for now, let’s simply call it ‘unemployment’. Now, I’d like to make an offer to you two, but I believe it’s only proper for us to get to know each other a bit more before I do such a thing. I assure you, it’s to our mutual benefit.”

“Mutual benefit? What could I possibly offer to you that you couldn’t just take for yourself?”, I questioned.

“No taking—rather, ‘making’. For all of my strength, my cunning, my magic, even I have my limitations. One can’t train a stone to swim, correct? So, we’ll call it a cultural exchange. I can provide you with what you need, and all I’ll ask is a simple favor in exchange. For now though, what I want,” he lifted his kettle, pouring it out into its cup, somehow already steaming even without a fire, “is my tea and some conversation.”

He cleared his throat, taking a long sip of the scalding drink without so much as even blinking.

“Ah. You know, I used to not appreciate things such as this. It was my old master that encouraged me to try it,” a thoughtful look crossed his face, broken only a moment later by a soft chuckle, “I hated it. The taste is still not quite to my liking, but nostalgia is a fine spice nonetheless.”

“Mm. Yeah, back when I uh, had a mouth, I used to sweeten my tea quite a bit. A bit of lemon or peach in there and it’s a lot easier to drink,” I responded, awkwardly trying to make small-talk with the doomsday weapon currently sitting an arm’s length away from my heart.

He blinked, saying nothing for a moment before muttering under his breath, “Sweetening it. Right.”

Down below, the mouse frantically scurried her way up one of the legs of the table, clearly feeling a need to take part in the conversation as well.

He gestured towards her. “This one, is she your only ‘employee’?”

“She is—er, well. The bush over there is counted as one too, technically,” I corrected myself partway through, wincing a bit as I admitted that my third-in-command would be right at home in a hardware store’s garden section, “But we don’t include it in any of our adventures.”

“Nothing to be ashamed of. Without a dungeon lord, you’ve had to start small. In fact, I’m quite shocked you’ve made it this far at all without one. How did you get your first coin to even get started?”

“A crow dropped it in, then vanished a while later,” I explained, “Haven’t seen it since.”

His face went tense for a moment. “And you’ve ascended once already. How curious… ah, let me explain. When a core ascends, that core’s monster lord gets a number of benefits. When a core levels up, so too does its lord. This generally means that the monster lord becomes exceptionally-powerful in short time. Something of a feedback loop, if you understand what that is. It’s a natural encouragement for the lord to protect its dungeon.”

“Yeah, I think I get it. So do you have any idea why a monster lord would just up and leave?”, I asked, the mouse nodding along the entire time.

“Not at all. I’ve never heard of a lord abandoning its dungeon. That’s likely a part of why you’re still so lucid, though. Most cores are stricken by madness as a result of the actions of their lords—that’s the most widely-accepted theory, anyways. ‘A monster lord makes a monster core’ or so the saying goes,” He sipped at his tea, quickly depleting the cup and pouring himself another, “Regardless, you’ve made a good choice with this one. You ought to be more careful with where you’re sending her though—it would be a shame for the life of such a promising employee to be cut short, yes?”

Ten thousand invisible eyes scowled down at her from my walls, to which she sheepishly grabbed at her tail, holding it in her paws.

“I'm not planning on treating her like she’s disposable. Must be a mouse instinct or something, she does that all on her own,” I tried joking, correcting course a moment later, “But yeah. I’m hoping to keep her around for a long time. That’s our current project at the moment: trying to buy her a few more years, at least.”

“Now that is some familiar territory—defying death. You seem like a fellow with a mind for business, with your ‘employees’ and such. I mentioned a bit of a deal earlier, and I think this may be my moment to elaborate,” he began, leaning forward over the table.

“Nearly six-hundred years ago, I was born into this world. This place was different then, but not as much as you might think. The darkest details of those first nights are mine and mine alone, but I found a cavern and slunk inside, an arrow lodged in my belly. The light from within guided me deeper, and it was by a core's grace that I still live to this day. From the glorious days of my savior's rise to the final days as the walls came down, I remained. Truthfully, I may know more about cores than I know about myself.”

The mouse and I listened silently.

“The state of this world. Its rules and customs. The people living within it. Skills, traits, ascensions, features. I know of it all—and it could all be yours.”

This kind of offer wasn’t something that came without strings attached, I could tell. Still, I was enticed.

“So what do you want from me? To hire you, someone thirty levels above me?”, I questioned, not entirely sure where he was going.

“Ha, not quite the right track. No, I’m afraid the shackles of obligation have long since lost their appeal to me. What I want is simple enough for someone like you, though far out of my reach.” He reached into one of his coat pockets, pulling out…

Oh, it was just more tea leaves.

He placed them down on the table, sliding them across, “I want to contract you. The weather here is cold and bitter, and the winters are even harsher. A simple farmer, no matter how skilled, wouldn’t dare sow their fields with tea in such a climate for fear of coming up empty-handed. It’s all imported from the southern lands, mostly Nathes and Aroll. But a core—well, a core doesn’t care for such frivolities as climate. You bend the world as needed to suit your goals.”

It took me a moment to gather my senses. What kind of request was this? “You want me to grow tea leaves for you? That’s it?”

His porcelain cup clinked lightly against the tabletop as he leaned back in his seat. "You seem nervous about all of this. I assure you, my intentions are entirely benign. I have no reason to wish harm upon you, if you will offer me any trust at all."

"It's pretty tough to trust someone when they're the one holding all the cards," I shot back, trying to restrain myself from being too inflammatory, "That stunt you pulled to warp right into my core room was a pretty obvious powerplay."

"Apologies if it seemed as such. Why would I walk here when i could simply follow the puppet's strings back to the master? 'Core Link' is such a wonderful skill in the right hands, but horribly simple to meddle with. You really ought to be more careful, you know."

My mind raced for a moment. [Core Link II]...

⬘ Core Link II ⬘ A reinforced aetheric tether between this monster employee and its lord. This link has a much greater clarity, allowing for sensory data to be transmitted and received in addition to being able to carry tone with messages. Obfuscation slightly boosts resistance to psionic eavesdropping.

TYPE:

Passive

CATEGORY:

Core

'Slight' resistance to psionic eavesdropping.

Guess it wasn't strong enough, in this case.

"So you followed the link here just to talk to me, to offer me a job setting up a dedicated greenhouse for you? I'm just struggling a bit here, sorry."

He grinned, his lips spreading apart to reveal a set of shark-like, jagged teeth. “That’s it! For now, anyways—if your work is good, I could certainly find more for you to do. Paid, of course. As the ‘lemon and peach’ to sweeten this deal for you, I’ll even point you in the right direction on your search to help your companion.”

“So that’s the entire deal? I grow you tea, and you pay me? How are we gonna do this? I need numbers, timeframes,” I started to explain, “I’ll have to build a greenhouse or something to grow them inside of, and I don’t know if I have the skills I’ll need to do that yet.”

“You'll learn Material Infusion the next time you ascend, and I'd recommend aiming to pick up the skill 'Transmutation I'. Any additional botany or agriculture skills you take will do well, too. As for the numbers, let’s say… one third of a pound of tea leaves, delivered to my shrine once a month. Any extra you grow is yours to do with as you wish. In exchange, I’ll offer you four pewter each month. Or, if you’d prefer, three answers to anything you might ask that I can answer.”

Hmm. That didn’t seem bad, but I really didn’t know much about the throughput of a tea plant at all.

“And you’ll supply the seeds?”

“Of course.”

I glanced down at the mouse, almost as if hoping for some input on the matter. Instead, she was simply laying belly-up on the table, listening in on the conversation taking place over our mental link with her eyes drifting shut slowly.

“I’ll admit that I’m not really in a great position to turn down the money, even if I’m a bit hesitant to jump into any deals. Still, I promised her I’d help her, so if you’re willing to point me in the right direction... we're in. I want three pewter from the first month’s payment up front, though.”

“And what would you offer in exchange?”

There wasn’t much that I had to my name at the moment, especially not that I could offer to someone like this. It was a gamble, but I took it: “Call it a capital investment.”

That seemed to hit home, sending him bursting into a raucous laughter and my poor mouse scrambling to flop over onto her feet at the sudden change in demeanor. “Of course, of course. Three upfront—taken from your first month’s pay. But only once we’ve sealed the deal.”

He raised a hand upwards, the back of it facing towards my core, a shine between his fingers catching my eye.

Three pewter coins were held in the gaps between his fingers, so close I could see the face inscribed on the front of them. They were here. Right here, just a few feet away from my grasp. "I'm not someone you want to be indebted to, you should know. Don't disappoint me, or it won't take me long to come and collect."

“I get it, you don't have to do the 'ominous hints' thing," I remarked, "If that's good for you, then we have a deal.”

“Hmm, not quite yet we don't. The bond of one without a name is no bond at all. If you wish to do any sort of business, it is important that you have a name. You must. Anyone can hide theirs—make it look like they’re nameless. But faking a name, that’s beyond even my abilities. Without a name, there is no accountability.”

Shoot. Well, that wasn’t good—I certainly wasn’t creative when I was put on the spot like this. not that I particularly cared for what my own name would be. For a few minutes, I went quiet, mulling over options in my head, none of them feeling quite right. I understood the mouse's point though: a pun name wasn't gonna happen.

Clearly not one for waiting around, Cheshire leaned down, his voice kicking in over our mental conference. “Well, what do you call him, little one?”

“Oh, I just call him ‘Boss’.”

“Wonderful. Then ‘Boss’ it is, yes? And you, ‘Boss’, what do you call your faithful little servant here?”

Feeling like I just got kicked in the gut, I tried to reorient myself. That was one hell of a loaded question! I hesitated, trying to find an out for this, before finally grumbling, “I… usually just call her ‘the mouse’ or a pet name.”

Cheshire shook his head, and the mouse—urgh. And she looked I’d personally betrayed her or something.

“That’s hardly a proper way to address a noble little soul like this one. I have a name you may use, if you’d like—it belonged to someone very important to me, a long time ago. Do you want it?”, Cheshire asked, gently patting her head as he spoke.

“Sure!”, she chimed, bobbing up and down excitedly.

"You don't even know what it is yet," I groaned in protest. Today, I had discovered that all it took to earn her goodwill was some gentle petting and a soft voice.

“Hopefully it's to your liking: wear her name proudly, brave one—‘Ephilia’.”

With the deal between us sealed and the details ironed out, I couldn’t help but feel anxious about having to meet a deadline, even if he’d promised to be ‘flexible’ while I worked out our production.

He’d upheld his end of the bargain, though.

On his way out, I butted in one last time.

“Hey, hold up. You said that you would help us with our problem.”

With a solemn nod, he glanced back towards my core. “I did. Well, the answer lies within you, and the answer lies within me. The lifespan of a wolf is not much different than that of a dog, from what I’ve been told. You're from the other world, yes? So you will know what I mean. A decade, with every day thereafter being borrowed time. Yet here I still am, all so many years later. Keep her safe. Continue to help her grow—an answer will present itself soon, though it won't be easy on either of you. Think it through before you choose. Remember what I said—your ‘tooltips’ don’t carry all the answers.”

My attention formed to a spear-point as he spoke, perhaps missing what his actual message was. "Wait--the 'other world'--you know about Earth?"

"Ha. Hardly enough to satisfy a lost traveller like you, I'm afraid."

"So your name, 'Cheshire', it's not just some coincidence, is it?"

He paused, his jaw shifting, his lupine ears standing rigid. "My master. She was the one who named me--always used to joke about me acting more 'like a cat than a dog'. I didn't know what she meant though, or where my name came from back in those days."

He gave a curt wave of goodbye, stowing away everything he had brought and brushing down his coat with his hands. "Don't show up to my shrine empty-handed again. It's bad manners."

With that, Cheshire left.

By ‘left’, I mean walked through one of my walls and vanished as effortlessly as when he had arrived.

CORE-TOUCHED MOUSE (RUNT) LVL: 3 NAME: "Ephilia"

Traits:

[Forged Sapience]

Skills:

[Scavenge]

[Festering Bite]

[Core Link II]

[Core Bond I]

[Enhanced Vitality I]

[Enhanced Strength I]

[Athletics I]

HP: 6 / 6 CATEGORY: Monster

Employee MP: 0 / 0 SPECIES: Field Mouse SP: 5 / 5 SIZE: Minuscule XP: 14% GENDER: ♀ STR VIT DEX INT WIS PER 2 3 5 5 3 7

A small, juvenile field rodent under the auric influence of a dungeon core. Possesses enhanced mental acuity and judgement. Force Level-Up Cost: 30 MP Criteria for Next Ascension Tier:

Level: 3

Cost: 30 MP SHARD OF COALESCED WILL LVL: 1 NAME: "Boss"

Traits:

Skills:

[Botany I]

[Biology I]

[Creator's Insight]

[Mech. Engineering I]

[Textiles I]

Features:

[Manamite Creation]

[Self-Synthesis]

HP: 10 / 10 CATEGORY: Elemental MP: 18 / 50 SPECIES: Dungeon Core WEALTH: 5 SIZE: Tiny XP: 22% MANAMITES: 68 / 200 STR VIT DEX INT WIS PER 0 5 0 9 6 7

Nascent heart of a world-born entity, crystallized from soul energy. Exerts control over a localized area. Criteria for Next Ascension Tier:

Level: 2

Wealth: 5

Cost: 50 MP Virtual Hoard:

➤375.2 Raw Stone

➤235.3 Loose Soil

➤38.2 Biological Material

➤41.2 Raw Lumber

➤6.8 Plant Fiber

We'd survived, though I wasn't sure if we'd ever actually been in any real danger at all. The presence of someone that strong had just set me entirely on edge and I couldn't help but question whether or not I'd accepted the deal just to get him out faster. Even I wasn't sure on that one.

The seeds still sat atop the table, and the mo—Ephilia had already gone to bed. At the very least, she seemed ecstatic to have a name.

It wasn’t a rat pun, even. Sure, I felt a little bit robbed to have lost the opportunity to name her myself, but at the same time I hadn’t actually taken the initiative to do so in the time we’d known each other. It was nice to have a proper name to call her by, I’d say that much.

Even if I didn’t trust Cheshire in the smallest amount. Still, I didn’t really doubt he could have killed me if he wanted to. Getting off with an equitable trade deal and a loan seemed almost like generosity when the other option was getting turned into glitter by a single hit.

Still, if she was happy with it, I was happy with it.

As an act of goodwill, I built a little wooden sign outside of her house that had her new name carved into it, only to remember a few minutes later that she was completely illiterate. It still made her beam once I explained what it said, so that counted for something.

The night came and went.

With the previous day’s mana all added up, I was starting the morning off with eighteen mana already. Eighteen mana after being completely bankrupt just the night before last.

I could certainly get used to it, at least.

Ephilia hopped her way out of bed a little bit after dawn and took a bath in my zen waterfall, temporarily demoting it to just a regular waterfall for a little while. At least someone appreciated it. Once she was fully ready, she made her way up to the surface, where I had a little bit of a surprise waiting for her.

“You made a patio?”, she questioned, standing on the broad stone platform situated directly in front of the entrance to the periscope.

“Not a patio—an owl smasher.”

“…Owl smasher?”, she asked, already dreading the answer from what I could tell.

“An owl smasher, baby! Take like, thirty or forty steps away from it. Actually, just get kinda far away in general. I’ve been waiting to test this thing all night.”

"Why did we need an owl smasher?"

"For owls? Besides, I just figured the base could use a few more defenses around it, right?"

She hopped off of it, retreating towards the trees as she watched nervously.

It was one of my greatest creations yet. Admittedly, it had started off as an attempt to make a retractable roof, but I’d stumbled upon a far greater use for it instead. A pair of stone slabs about an inch thick, ten feet wide and eight feet long, sat on the floor, anchored to the roof of the vault by a pair of hinges. Directly beneath the far side of each one, that was where the magic was: two synchronized pistons, ready to spring at a moment’s notice and slam the granite plates together like someone slamming a book shut.

Except it wasn’t a book, it was about a full ton of raw stone moving fast enough to turn any predatory animal dumb enough to walk onto it into a scratch-and-sniff sticker.

It just needed a bit of tuning, from what I could tell. I gave Ephilia a brief demonstration of it, and the impact was enough to shatter both of the plates as well as loud enough to make every bird nearby, owl or otherwise, take off in a panic. It also would take an embarrassingly long time to reset it. Even though the slabs weren’t meant to be single-use, the pistons were and would need repairs after each launch.

As the rock debris settled, Ephi brushed herself off, her still-wet fur coated in a layer of fine gray dust. “I’m gonna go get that other coin we left behind, Boss,” she grumbled, turning away to trot off into the forest.

"Try to be home by sundown, and maybe skip the valley this time."