“I think it’d be best if I start small. That way I can see what’s going wrong in something less complicated.”

“What creature were you thinking of starting with?” Arizo asked in excitement.

Taking a moment to look over all the blueprints I have available it was easy to decide. “I want more fish.”

She clapped and twirled around. “That boy was talking about wanting to come back and fish.” Arizo gasped. “You could make a fish shaped treasure so they can catch that too. Making it a game.”

“Ooh. I’m going to do that right now.” I made 3 different wood chests that looked like fish. One I added mica to so it would sparkle and shine. Then I made one plain dull brown, doing my best to make it look boring and plain. Last I made 1 of thin strips of wood so it wasn’t very solid.

Blueprint Unlocked: Cheap Wooden Trap

Cheap Wooden Trap: Not very sturdy but functions to catch small animals and birds.

I chuckled and showed her the results. Arizo giggled as well. “I could send the kobolds out with these to catch birds so I can make a big avian level.”

“It would probably catch lizards and snakes too.”

“Bah.” I called out. “We’ll make traps for the Kobolds later. I don’t want to get too distracted.”

“Good idea. So what fish do you have?”

“Only 2: Cave Fish and Silver Carp.” I sighed sadly. “A fisher’s paradise that does not make. Let's start by making the cave fish not blind.”

I pulled up the blueprint like I was going to make the fish. Then like I did when altering items, I started shifting the frame that only I could see. I pulled up the other fish too so I had a better idea of how fish eyes look.

After fiddling with the blueprint for a bit I thought I had it right. Filling it with mana a small fish fell onto the floor.

Blueprint Unlocked: Minnow

“Nice.” I said before looking at its stats. “Wait what.”

Cave Fish

Fish

Uncommon

Freshwater fish that have adapted to living in caves. Uses mana and other senses to find food

HP: 7

Drops

75% of the time

MP:4

Fish Scales

Fish Filet

DP:1

50%

50%

Minnow

Fish

Trash

A group of small freshwater fish that are often eaten by or used as bait for larger fish. Most don’t grow larger than 6” in length.

HP: 2

Drops

20% of the time

MP:1

Fish Scales

DP:0

100%

“Arizo my fish got weaker. How?” I whined

She looked at the 2 stat blocks and put her hand on her chin in thought. “Well it dropped 2 ranks in rarity. I would guess your cave fish evolved from a minnow.” Arizo didn’t look confident in her response.

I made a cave fish and looked at the 2 side by side. The cave fish was a different color and bigger than the minnow. Instead of making a new creature I had regressed the blind fish to its seeing ancestor? This made me wonder what other unforeseen things might happen as I try to alter my creatures.

Instead of worrying too much over the issue I dissolved the 2 fish and created several dozen minnows to populate my waters. They cost 0 dungeon points so in theory I could make as many as I wanted.

“Let’s move onto the silver carp. This time I’m just going to make them bigger.”

This time I stretched the blueprint until it was 3 ft long, making it about the size of a goblin. When I started to fill the blueprint I watched it very carefully. As mana entered, the blueprint changed and for a lack of a better word, settled. It was an odd feeling but one I doubt I would have noticed if I wasn’t watching so closely.

Blueprint Unlocked: Grass Carp

When I looked at these 2 they had almost identical stat blocks

Grass Carp

Fish

Common

Large herbivorous freshwater fish. Has a greenish tint much like algae. Grows to be 3-5 ft long. Has large scales that appear cross-hatched. Their eyes sit even with its mouth

HP:8

MP: 6

Drops

75% of the time

DP: 1

Fish Scales

Fish Filet

50%

50%

Silver Carp

Fish

Common

Also known as the flying fish. Grow to an average length of 2-3 ft. They are Herbivores that mostly eat aquatic weeds and plankton. They have a silvery sheen and their eyes sit below their mouth

HP:7

MP: 6

Drops

75% of the time

DP: 1

Fish Scales

Fish Filet

50%

50%

“Moving on. I think I’ll do the shrimp next. Then I guess the rest of the arthropods should follow.”

As with the minnow I focused on making the cave shrimp able to see. This time I used sail eyes as the guide.

Blueprint Unlocked: Shrimp

Like the 2 carp, the shrimp is almost identical to the cave shrimp. Only the cave shrimp is almost see through and the new shrimp is a light tan color.

“I’m getting more blueprints but it feels… anticlimactic. Like I expected bigger changes.”

Arizo looked a bit nervous. “I think starting small is smart.”

“Is something wrong?” I was concerned by her reaction.

Her shoulders slumped and she looked away from my core. “I… I’m just worried.”

“Why? Please tell me what’s bothering you. I don’t want to make you uncomfortable. You are my partner. This is your home.”

She blushed and her wings fluttered. She took a deep breath and talked to the floor. “If you try to make too big of a change I’m scared that you would make an abomination.”

“What do you mean? I gave up those twisted blue prints to Life.” I replied thinking she meant something like the homunculus or chimera.

Arizo shook her head. “Those things were abominations. However, for a dungeon core abominations are twisted blueprints. Misshapen or malformed creatures. Like your shrimp is an arthropod or your golems are constructs. Making something in that category is a sign that the dungeon is going mad. They also unlock some of the negative achievements.”

“OK. Let’s not do that. But what are negative achievements?”

“All achievements come with a reward. Experience, blueprints, items… really any variety of things.”

“Ok. Like [Open Arms] that means Grub has the same benefits as a dungeon creature.”

“Exactly. There are some that reduce skill points, or health. If you make 1000 abominations your Charisma and Wisdom drop to 0 and you lose all control of your creations. They go insane and flee the dungeon, always hungry and hunting. They also mutate super quickly. Those dungeons must be destroyed.”

“If I lost control they could attack me or you.” Arizo nodded. “No that’s not happening. Plus who knows what Life or Death would do for creating such things. And the feeling of those Homunculus and Chimera was worse than the imp.” My thoughts stopped. “Wait, I bet those disgusting creatures have something to do with the imp and the miasma the elves mentioned. Whatever or whoever is behind all that is a threat we need to be on guard for.”

“You’re right. But how can we guard against them? We don’t know who or what is behind any of this. Though it probably connects with the magical disruption the kids mentioned.”

“Arizo, do you need my mana to survive on this plane?”

She looked at me in surprise. Obviously not following my train of thought. “No I can gather mana from anywhere, why?”

“Would you go with the Kobolds as far toward the miasma as possible and investigate? You don’t need to find the source but I’d like to know how close that threat is.” I requested.

“Accept.”

I felt her accept a quest. Just like with Saw, I had no clue what the quest was.

“What was the quest?”

“Find the edge of the miasma. It also has a note that this is a quest series.”

“What’s that?”

“When I complete the quest another will be offered that relates to it. After I find the edge of the miasma then the System may offer a quest to map the border of the miasma or find its source.”

“I’m going to offer this quest to the Kobolds and the Elves. They may want some revenge on that imp for scaring the piss out of them.”

Decisively I turned my attention away from the core room. I looked toward the elves that I hadn’t been paying any attention to in almost a full day. They were lazing on the rocks in the stream on the 2nd floor in their undergarments. Their armor was lying to the side and looked wet. They must have washed their things and were relaxing. Ferryman was standing not far from the pair still as a statue.

Asking the golem what the pair had been doing revealed another aspect of them that I had never thought of. My golem has no memory. Briefly I turned my attention to Jack, Sally and Emily on the 1st floor and asked them about the movements of the bats they shared a room with. They couldn’t tell me anything except their current orders.

Turning to the 1st floor boss I learned they were in stasis most of the time but could give detailed memories of their last fight. I asked the crystal golems on the second floor and just like the clay and stone golems they had no memories, only orders I had given.

Putting that aside as another oddity of being a dungeon core. I turned back to the pair of elves. I focused on them for a long while. I couldn’t directly communicate with them so I had to find a way to send them the quest without speaking.

PPPPPPPPPPPP

Elven POV

Remina felt like she was being watched… No, it was more than that. Being in a dungeon she always felt watched. This was more intense like someone was staring at her with deep concentration. She looked around the pool they were in. There was still just the bats overhead, a few snakes and spiders, and the ‘ferryman’ golem.

“What is it?” her sister asked, tensing at Remina’s reaction. The healer had a higher wisdom than her so Remina could sense things Hashira couldn’t.

“I’m not sure. It feels like someone is watching us intensely.” She replied while she continued to scan for anything out of place.

Hashira looked about the pool and saw nothing that hadn’t been there. She closed her eyes and tried to sense anything nearby. Being a druid in a dungeon was always an odd feeling. At level 75 she had taken the feat [Sense Fungi], paired with [Micro Sense] allowed her to feel plant pollen in the air or tiny mold spores. Dungeons rarely have pollen or mold unless the core finds them pretty or has weaponized them. Hashira couldn’t sense any kind of plant or fungal life on this floor.

“I don’t see, hear or sense anything.” She stated, after using each of her detection skills. “Have you considered that the core is focusing on us or wants our attention?”

Now that the panic and disorientation of the forest and running into that imp had passed, Hashira had regained her usual calm demeanor. Remina was always the worrier of the pair. Seeing the evil and danger in everything. That’s one of the reasons she began studying healing.

Being well rested and with full access to their spells and skills there was little a dungeon this young could hope to do against them. Even in their under clothes, a single good kick from Remina would likely kill that level 2 kobold.

Remina looked to the ceiling. Even though she knew the core was below them, it just felt right to look up when addressing a dungeon. “Core, is there something you need from us?” She knew the core couldn’t answer. Tales of people talking to a dungeon core were pure fantasy.

Safe Borders

Find the Edge of the Miasma Closest to the Dungeon

Escort Dungeon Creatures on the Mission Team

100XP

1 Skill Level

Accept?

“Hashira?”

“I got it too.” She was sitting up and interested. Getting a quest from a dungeon was nearly unheard of. “And I don’t see a downside.”

“Accept.” Remina said with a firm nod.

“Accept.” Hashira agreed with a vindictive grin.

The pair dried off and started getting ready. This time they had an idea what was waiting for them. Better yet they would have dungeon monsters that could lead them back here no matter what.

As soon as they were packed and given provisions, the sisters, Una, Saw and Ax left the dungeon on a quest. Arizo was sitting on Una’s head but the elven sisters couldn’t see or hear her. She had no intention of trusting these high level adventures. There was always a chance they could get greedy and try to capture her and sell her.