Finding out that the travelers are trying to build a town right by my home has some alarming consequences. My plans for expanding my dungeon to the surface will have to be entirely scuttled and I’ll have to work much harder at remaining undetected. I still believe the greatest threat to my life is the actions of other sapients, be they humans or tribal cave people. I cannot stress enough how dangerous an intelligent opponent is.

Then there’s the matter of the mana well, which I still need to learn about. Clifford said they were settling on one, implying that I’m on it too. The question of the day is, what is my relationship with the mana well? Was I born here as a result of its presence, or am I the reason for its existence? I need to learn more about the world and its features before I can say for sure, but I’m leaning towards the former.

I need to find out what people’s attitude towards dungeons is, it’s entirely possible they won’t even mind my presence, though, knowing my luck, that probably won’t be the case. Not that I should reveal myself to everyone.

There are many farmers among the townsfolk, (I can call them that now) however, they seem to be surprisingly well off, all things considered. Furthermore, there are many obvious craftsmen present. They certainly don’t look like the clichéd cast-outs of society forced to start again in a new land. This can only mean that something has enticed these people to come out here. Wherever they came from couldn’t have been too impoverished, they’re obviously well-fed and properly equipped to build the foundation of a prosperous new village.

Eventually everyone turned in for the night and I was left to look around in silence. I beheld the supplies they’d brought with them. There was lots of grain and other foodstuffs, however, by my estimate they wouldn’t have enough food to last until the next harvest. This could only mean they were expecting support in the future. While checking out their agricultural implements, I was disappointed to note they didn’t have anything more advanced than forged iron horse-drawn plows. No steel in sight. To my further dismay, I couldn’t find any metalworking equipment in the camp, why they wouldn’t bring a blacksmith was beyond me. Perhaps I could expect one to come with the resupply group bound to arrive at some point.

I couldn’t help but be baffled by the technology of this world. I can’t easily identify what era (going by Earth’s standards) they’re living in. While their mundane technology appears basic, it’s certainly not primitive. I’d be tempted to say they’re living with medieval-level technology, but I don’t have the needed context. Paradoxically, their arcane devices seem to be fairly complex, at least compared to everything else I’ve seen so far. This is especially true of the dialed handheld device I saw Clifford using earlier. The communication ritual Clifford performed had left a deep impression on me. Even the cave wizard’s wand was no simple stick! It was apparent that the runes carved on every magical object I’ve seen so far served a specific purpose and interacted with magic.

To thrive in this world, I will need to learn how to use magic.

…

A quick notification from Mr. Normal prompts me to check up on the first vertebrates born in my dungeon. I witnessed the first of many young lizards emerging from a clutch of eggs in a shallow burrow under the soil lining my dungeon’s floor. As always, I am amazed by the biology defying fertility of my ecosystem. Through the rest the night, I laid the groundwork for my new plan. I cleared away some of the vegetation in my disk room and began relocating my ember blossoms. If I wanted to make an attempt at interacting with the humans, I would need to offer something they valued. If reading fantasy stories has taught me anything, it’s that everyone wants magical herbs. Watching the fuzzy wizard and Clifford operate their trinkets had given me an idea. I know the ember blossoms require mana to grow, as evidenced by their increase in size and subsequent addition to “the memory” once the atmospheric mana concentration in my halls had hit a certain indeterminant threshold. Much like how the wizards controlled their devices, I wanted to see what happens when I forcefully shunt mana into my organisms. As a control, I locate a leafcutter ant larva and began injecting mana into it.

Disappointingly, the insect rejected the mana almost immediately. No matter how hard I try, I just can’t get any mana beyond what it started out with to stay inside. Actually, now that I think about it, I should probably make sure nothing happens when I force mana into a pebble…

Unsurprisingly, I’m met with similar results. It’s a good thing I tested it though, wouldn’t it be embarrassing if I actually had a method of matter absorption or creation available all this time…

I have high hopes for the ember blossom though, I already know it to be a magical lifeform, so I expect to, at the very least, learn something new about the arcane. Focusing on one of the plants in question, I push mana into its center of mass. As soon as I do, I can feel some of my mana drain into the grey buds that had formed a while ago. As abruptly as my mana had started draining, the flow was stopped. It didn’t take much, but each bud had taken in a set quantity of mana and then promptly stopped accepting any more.

…

After only 2 hours, the ember blossom’s grey buds pealed back to reveal the orange flowers that had first enthralled me. Once they’d unfurled to their full splendor, they spontaneously burst into flames! Now that I had the opportunity to taste them while in bloom, I noticed something fascinating. They were not actually on fire and certainly weren’t producing any heat. Now that I had some flourishing specimens within my domain, it was as clear as day they were somehow manipulating light to give the appearance of combustion! As I’m trying to figure out what kind of evolutionary advantage such a strategy would provide, I realize I already know the answer! Those red sparks I had first seen visiting the flowers were probably pollinators, is it possible they were some sort of miniature fire elemental species? Were elementals even living creatures to begin with? There is so much to learn!

Seemingly undeterred by the fiery petals, I watch as several iridescent green sweat bees went about their business of pollinating the ember blossoms. Thankfully I had collected plenty of the plants while I had the chance, 35 of them, to be exact.

The first phase of my plan is to uproot one of my blossoms and transplant it to a location were a human will stumble upon it. I need to gauge their reaction, if it turns out to be something they highly value, then it would be worthwhile for me to cultivate them on a large, nay, industrial scale. (One can dream!) I will have many more options open to me if I have a powerful bargaining chip up my sleeve. If all goes well, I may be able to establish a mutually beneficial relationship with my new neighbors without needing to reveal myself.

Just as I pull up a choice specimen and prepare to move it to the camp, I realize it isn’t going to fit through the narrow 5-centimeter wide by 90 m long access tunnel I’d made earlier. I consider widening it, but I really need to finish before the sun rises and everyone wakes up, so I make the decision to order some of my helpers to carry the ember blossom over land.

I’m not entirely sure if they’ll continue to follow their directive after putting some distance between themselves and my domain, but now’s a good opportunity to find out. Worst case scenario, I have to claim the territory leading from my dungeon to the camp, which is no skin off my back really.

I set 8 ants off to carry my precious flower to the camp making sure they will be careful and not roughly drag it around in the typical ant fashion… Then I pop over and begin to look for someone who will receive my experiment gift. I consider Clifford, if anyone is going to recognize a magical plant, it would be him. Though frankly, he unnerves me, and his reaction to finding a magical herb would probably be atypical, thus voiding the test. No, I think this gift (As you can see, I’m really banking on it turning out to be valuable.) should go to the man in the red coat. Why? You see, he gave me a good impression. I may not be the best judge of character, but his personality just rubbed me the right way, he seems to be well liked, so I say he deserves a boon. Finding his carriage isn’t difficult, it’s the only one with multiple sets of red coats, and hey, the man knows his style, I can respect that. To my surprise I saw Clifford sleeping on the other side of the carriage from the man. This didn’t deter me from my original decision to give the flower to red coat guy though.

Originally the plan was to transplant the ember blossom into the ground near the village, but I think I’ll get better results by making it obvious this is a present. While I was looking for the red coat man’s carriage my minions arrived with the flower. With no effort I telekinetically lofted it through the flap on the man’s carriage and gingerly positioned it on the floorboards next to his sleeping form. I then wait for the sun to rise and bring life back to the nascent town.

…

Not wanting Clifford to wake up and find the flower first, I toss a pebble at the man’s temple. He gradually woke up and, upon noticing it, begins started staring at the flower with a mystified expression. I can’t tell if he doesn’t know what the plant is, if he’s wondering how it got there, or both. Even after being uprooted the flower was still giving off its brilliant illusionary flames, though naturally it wasn’t actually harming the floor it rested upon. Ultimately, he stood up and shook the scary wizard awake. (Serves him right.)

“Clifford, wake up, you need to see this!”

Admittedly, Clifford is on his feet much faster than red coat man could’ve managed, and takes a knowing glance at the flower.

“Weston, tell me where you found this.”

Responding, “Weston” exclaims, “It was laying right next to me when I awoke! What is it?”

“That,” said Clifford, “Is an ember blossom. It’s a valuable alchemical regent with many applications in the field of illusionary magic. And you say it was laying right next to you?”

Weston said, “I haven’t touched it, I’ve left it where it lies.”

Clifford’s next words throw me for a loop; how quick is this man?

“Well this is obviously a gift.”

Weston choked on his words, “W-what do you mean?”

“Think about it, you woke up with an expensive herb by your mat. Someone seeking to remain anonymous must have snuck in and given it to you. You’re well liked and kind to people, it’s not all that surprising that you have an admirer sending flowers. No, what is surprising is what they’ve given you.”

Hey, it’s not what it looks like!

Weston flinched as Clifford continued, “Ember blossoms are highly sought after, you can make some good coin, say, 900 pieces, if you find the right buyer. I’d like to know where your secret benefactor found it and if they knew what it was.”

Weston Lomarec drew back and said, “Can I touch it?”

“Go ahead, it’s not actually on fire, so you’ll be fine. Be sure to take good care of it, I’d advise selling as soon as you get the opportunity lest it wither away. Though I’ll add that it won’t lose too much value if it dies, most things are worth more while they’re fresh.”

Weston thanked his friend profusely and promptly gets dressed in one of his characteristic coats. Rummaging around in a trunk, he draws out a wooden bucket and heads outside with the ember blossom in hand. I can only imagine that he’s going to go pot it in the bucket for safekeeping, I’ll leave him to it.

At the end of the day, I’m grateful for Clifford’s presence. Without him to help identify the fiery herb, I might not have learned about its value. That he didn’t try to undersell it’s worth and scam his friend earns him a little bit of my respect, perhaps I misjudged him.

I need to gather knowledge and expand my dungeon, after that it will be time to lay the groundwork for phase 2 of my master plan; contact.