By the time I’d finished modifying the two new species the day had already ended. I ordered my ants to begin scattering the accumulated pebbles outside under the cover of darkness and also sent off a contingent with Weston’s promised ember blossoms. The helpers have to range pretty far in order to prevent the vast quantity of stone from piling up and getting noticed. I’ve got a lot of waiting to do, it will be a while until the new groups of archer pods and goliath beetles are ready, as such, I’ve applied the modifications to other individuals in the respective species in order to speed up the process. Though applying a template is easier the second time around, it still takes me another 12 hours to reach a satisfying stopping point.

I now have 8 archer pods which will each bud into numerous modified un-bioluminescent variants and 30 female goliath beetles who will each lay the eggs of the larger beetles. Still awed by the impressive fecundity of my dungeon’s environment, I estimate it will take just two weeks for my forces to accumulate to sufficient numbers.

In 5 days the first supply caravan will arrive, I don’t expect to find much of interest there, but I’ll still check it out. As per our agreement, Wes is going to send that group back with the new supply order for the next, so I can expect better items then.

In the meantime, I’d like to spend my time finishing the two new large rooms, observing the villagers, and making sure the fuzzy troglodytes don’t come back before my attack on the cavern begins.

…

After 2 days of near-constant excavation, I need a short break. What better way to alleviate the tedium than to perform experiments! I want to try my hand at modifying species other than animals.

What does every fantasy dungeon need? Glowing shrooms! The trouble is, I don’t know how I’m supposed to add a totally new trait to an organism or if it’s even possible. Archer pods glow, but they do so via some mechanism I don’t understand. If I can manage to splice traits from one organism onto another, many doors will open up in the future.

Before I try to “splice” a trait, I need to make sure I can’t simply “think hard enough and make a mushroom glow,” if that makes sense. Wrapping a tall white pon pon mushroom in my sense, I visualize it glowing.

I can somehow tell it’s not working. Just as I thought, I am unable to add traits from seemingly nowhere. Wrapping the subject in my sense once more, I draw upon the mental framework of a standard archer pod which I’d developed earlier. While I can’t explain what causes the bioluminescence, I can automagically isolate the trait and consciously transfer it to the pon pon’s mental framework. It’s really hard to explain, in part because it’s a deeply instinctive procedure. It takes me just an hour to get this modification to “stick,” so to speak. For entertainment purposes only, I decide that I may as well recreate the mushroom trees seen in the jungle cavern below, so I also spend time adding a growth parameter that will afford me some degree of control over the final size of the target variant when adding mana to the parent.

Wrapping up the design work, I initiate the familiar process of adding mana to apply my changes. Affecting the size of a fungus appears to be substantially easier than doing so for an animal. Speaking of which, I’d like to further categorize that limitation in the future. I’m sure these fruiting bodies will be able to sprout a dozen meters tall or more once matured, I’ll need to make sure the ceiling over one of my new rooms is tall enough to accommodate them. Transplanting the parent mushroom to some fertile soil, I resume quarrying volcanic stone.

…

Another 2 days pass and I’m nearly finished with the latest expansion. Even so, I still need to take a break and try another experiment. I may have a god-like attention-span as a dungeon core, but I can only go so long without mental stimuli.

For today’s test I’ll observe the effects, or lack thereof, of mana on various things. In order, I will forcefully thrust mana into an archer pod, a milkweed plant, a stone bowl of water, a borrowed (I’ll return it, I promise!) silver fork, and a discarded pair of dull iron scissors.

I needn’t explain the process for each item, so I’ll simply list the results in order of ascending interest:

Milkweed plant – No effect.

Iron scissors – No effect.

Archer pod – Possibly faster growth.

Silver fork – Expressed very slight vibrations as mana passed through it, though incapable of retaining any mana.

Water – Readily absorbed and retained any mana shunted into it until a certain low threshold was met. Afterwards, the mana diffused out of the water back into the air at a very slow, almost negligible, rate.

I need to study silver’s interaction with mana in the future. I can think of several applications for its property, if I later find that it vibrates with a regular frequency, I may be able to use it in timekeeping, but that’s a long way off…

The water is even more interesting, it can store a small amount of mana for a while. The implications of this are profound. For starters, I could easily use water reservoirs as mana storage. Even more significantly, I may be able to use actively pumped water to transport mana over long distances or even use “mana radiators” to artificially regulate mana concentrations in localized areas. Though it’s small mana storage capacity will make those ideas difficult to realize to their fullest potential, it’s my hope that other fluids will show similar results. I’ve only scratched the surface of arcane chemistry!

I’ll need to consider these ideas later, the first shipment arrives in one day, and I’d like to have the new rooms finished by then.

…

One day passes and the caravan is about to arrive. Before it reaches the village, I’d like to take the time to show off the just-completed auxiliary rooms.

Each of the two rooms is connected via a wide shaft to a 4-way junction midway down the tunnel connecting my birth room and disk room.

The room intended to house the regular archer pods has a semispherical shape, with the flat face pointing downwards as a floor. It has a diameter of 25 m. The walls are ripe with vegetation and vibrant constellations of glowing purple bulbs. On the floor I am nurturing the non-bioluminescent variety which will be used in both traps and on goliath beetles. The center of the room is dominated by a deep pool of murky water filled with algae and mosquito midges. (The growing population of birds, lizards, and mole-squirrels must have attracted them.) I don’t have much in the way of aquatic wildlife for now, but that should change after I obtain the cavern below.

The second room will not only serve as a pleasant area for me to enjoy my altered glowing mushroom trees, but also as a dedicated ember blossom field. Much like my previous disk room, this room is also a disk, or more specifically, a cylinder. Just like the archer pod room, my ember blossom room has a diameter of 25 m, however, its volume is much greater. To accommodate the tall fungi, I’ve extended the ceiling height to a staggering 20 m, any higher and I’d risk breaching the soil-laced regolith above. In the center of the room is a single robust stone pillar. While I won’t regulate what grows on the walls here, my vision for this room is to have a miniature forest of giant mushrooms with ember blossoms growing between their trunks.

With that taken care of, I shift my focus over to the caravaneers who are about to begin unloading their wares. I figure the best way to see everything will be to observe what they’ve brought while they’re unloading it.

…

After taking inventory, I’ve got a pretty good idea of what’s available. Many things were already pre-purchased, such as building materials and seed. Other items such as tools and more niche products were put on display. Wes was present to help his Watergarde associates, so I should have no trouble giving him my requests.

There wasn’t really much that drew my attention, there were no maps, metal stock, or magic devices. The only books I could find were craftsmen’s guides and pattern books. Oh, and there was also a book named “Fifty Songs for Saplings,” but apparently that was pre-purchased by a woman. I’m sure there’s a story there…

I knew there wouldn’t be much for me in the first shipment, but I still expected to find something interesting. I’ll notify Wes.

I waited for him to separate from the crowd a bit and then initiated contact, “Hey Wes, it’s me, Ike. I just wanted to let you know that I didn’t see anything I wanted here so you can postpone the cost-deducted payment for those ember blossoms until after the next shipment. That’s all,” I said.

Without even flinching at my sudden mental message, Weston responds, “Understood, thanks for letting me know. If you need anything, feel free to get in touch.”

Short and professional, I like him. I cut off contact.

I can’t believe I have to wait another week just to get my hands on some magic! I suppose I’ll have to add on to my dungeon again…

…

Somehow, I spend the next 7 days working tirelessly in my dungeon. I’ve managed to increase the diameter of my main disk room to 35 m, further increasing my mana storage and regeneration rate. I was able to stay engaged by taking breaks to micromanage my ecosystems.

The ember blossoms were doing exceptionally well in their dedicated room, though I had to command several pests to not devour my treasured fire flowers. The colossal purple glowing mushrooms I’d created have begun to sprout, however, at this stage there is no indication they would will one day become towering giants. Already mosses and vines were climbing along the bare walls, even interspersed with the occasional newborn archer pod.

And, of course, the archer pods were thriving in their respective room as well. Already, I had nearly 300 individuals of the modified variant growing across the floor, these guys really do grow like mana-fueled weeds. I will only need 100 for the various traps I’ve placed around my domain, the rest will be affixed to goliath beetles. While we’re on the topic, I’ll quickly note that the number of double-sized goliath beetles has kept pace with the modified archer pod’s population. And I’ll freely admit there was a bit of micromanagement on my part to ensure that outcome.

Just like the first, the second caravan arrives like clockwork. Naturally I’m much more excited this time around considering my requests should’ve been processed.

With energy I wouldn’t expect from travelers who ought to be tired from their journey, the merchants start unpacking in a grassy area nearby, but not quite inside, the future town. There are many perks to life as a dungeon core, most relevantly, I can magically observe the insides of their packages without needing to open them. I wonder what happens when I try to look inside someone’s stomach? An activity for another time... Besides what was brought for the townsfolk, I can see a pallet that is surely for me. On it are many ingots of various different metals, namely iron, and 2 parcels. One parcel contains several wands as well as some unidentifiable white crystals. The other one contains a little over 2 dozen books and the requested map.

I’m justifiably worried the value of all this will exceed 2200 pieces, I may need to sell a couple more ember blossoms…