So, what am I to do with this sudden windfall of mana, thanks to those kids? I’ve got enough to upgrade myself again, and I do want to, but I want to make sure I’m prepared before I do that. My ant queen has been busy, her little workers finally hatched and all got to… well, work. I’ve been mostly spending my income to upgrade her, keeping my total above the point for me to upgrade myself, but not spending it just yet.

She can make majors now, which are just bigger and meaner ants. They’re not all majors, still need workers, but invader ants are basically a solved problem now. Her workers have been digging into the dirt of the little Secret Sanctum, as I want my large marble of a core to be beyond the reach of anything strong. Fittingly enough, the ants are hard workers, and progress has been going pretty smoothly. A foot a day might not sound like much, but after a week, it’d take adventurers with picks and shovels to get at my core.

Which makes me more willing to let delvers into the basement. I even grew a new chest down there, too. Nobody’s shown up to try to get to it yet. My swarm is now level five and venomous, but I know it’s only a matter of time before some strong delver comes by to clear it out. There’s even a magic dagger in the chest, so that’s sure to draw delvers.

Also sure to draw delvers are the new mushroom nodes. With my queen around, I can put new nodes in little other spots around the house for a discount. They’re mostly in cabinets and cupboards and such, just a small patch for the ants to feed from, and for mushrooms to grow. I’m kinda proud of my little ecosystem.

Oh hey, elf guy’s back. Maybe he wants that dagger? I focus in on him as he does a loop around my yard.

“Dungeon has expanded since last inspection, crows refuse to shut up.” Good crows. “Patch of herbs in the back yard, not high level. Birds upgraded to crows, anthill appears heavily upgraded, but no obvious signs of ants outside. Appears Dungeon prefers to focus on interior at this time.”

He gathers a bit of herbs from the patch before walking around to my porch and knocking. “Hmm… no movement inside after announcing my presence.” Ah, so he could sense me shuffling my things around last time. He heads on inside and looks around the main room.

“Entrance busy with patrols of rats and small spiders. Dungeon not reacting to me this time, may be trying to lull me into a false sense of security. Spider spawner in the spandrel is now a minor lair. What? Spandrel?” He facepalms at whoever he’s reporting to. “That’s what the little room underneath stairs is called. Speaking of rooms, still no sign of Sanctum or other specialty rooms.”

He seems to double-take as he glances at the stairs to the basement. “Lesser chest in the basement, behind a level five venomous swarm with Guardian Scion buff.” He gives a low whistle. “Surprised it spawned a chest down there, though. Last time, basement was a clear no-go zone. May have moved path to Secret Sanctum.” Hah, you wish, elf guy. I’m a smart dungeon.

He starts to poke through my various containers, pocketing the loot and getting me a nice bit of mana in the process. “Container loot above average for level, to be expected with both packrats and crows. I can sense several small mushroom nodes scattered through the house, so probably leafcutter ants as well. Dungeon seems to prefer to be cooperative, though not a simple toybox. Rat swarm upstairs still level two, most of house still recommended for new adventuring groups. Will examine basement to investigate report of orphans having been down there. From this growth, someone has definitely been in here.”

I should have expected the kids would talk. They seemed really excited about those mushrooms, so someone would ask where they got them. I hope those two were able to do their things. They seemed like good kids.

Elf guy cautiously descends the stairs, and I make a note to put a rotten floorboard or five there for next time. “Confirm spell spore mushrooms just past landing in the basement. Guardian spider nest nearby, and venomous swarm as well. Dungeon could have easily finished the kids off.”

His eyes lock to the chest in the back. “Chest contains a magical weapon. Permission to retrieve? Acknowledged. Engaging.” Oh, he does want the toy! I spend the little mana it takes to alert the swarm and the Guardian spider. Tiny, as I like to call my spiderbro now, is definitely bigger than any spider back home could ever dream of getting, about the size of a cat. His aura not only makes the spiders nearby tougher, but also makes them do more damage, too.

Nothing personal, elf guy, but you gotta pay the toll if you want the goodiebox. “Deliberate pincer maneuver by the spiders. Dungeon definitely could have kept those kids if it wanted.” He smiles and pulls his daggers. “This is gonna be fun!”

He decides to engage my scion instead of the swarm first, probably because with all the webbing around, he wouldn’t be able to acrobat around like in the attic. He stabs poor Tiny, but the little guy seems to be able to take it. He webs one of the elf's feet as the swarm closes in, but that grin of his stays on his face. He kicks Tiny back and pivots on his stuck heel to unleash those windblades of his at the swarm, and the big mess of webbing. There’s too many spiders for him to keep them all away, though, and he gets many little bites.

I can even see the little poison effect floating over his head now. It doesn’t seem to have dampened his spirits, though, even as Tiny jumps onto his back and sinks his fangs. Is he going to leave soon? I kinda like the friendly rivalry we have, I don’t want to accidentally kill him.

“Shadow Blade!”

Oh. I didn’t need to worry about that. He seems to melt into shadow before flashes of steel permeate the room, and he even kills Tiny! No! My swarm is done, too. I wish I still had eyes to glare with at the jerk who killed my Tiny!

“Whew, boss encounter finished. Confirm had to use Shadow Blade, basement is for high level solo or medium groups. Grabbing loot before Scion respawns.” Wait, ‘respawns’? I focus on my spider lair while the elf guy opens the chest to get the coins and dagger, and sure enough, I see a little portrait of Tiny with a timer counting down. I look over at my mana for that fight and if I had a jaw, I’d need to pick it up off the ground. That’s a ton of mana from that fight.

Elf guy drinks one of his own potions as he ascends the stairs, and I let him go. I still feel a bit sore about him killing Tiny, but at least the little guy will be back before too long. As the elf reaches for the knob of the door, he pauses and glances back into the room. “Don't spend it all in one place. I’d hate to lose a dungeon like this.”

Wait, lose?