The core’s consciousness slowly flickered back to life, he needed to stop doing this to himself. To be fair though this time isn't my fault it was those weird thoughts. Wait a minute why am I thinking as he not it, what’s a minute anyway?

Hello, little core it's good to see you are awake.

What was that, am I going crazy, what's with all of these random thoughts invading my head? Looking around the core was able to figure out where the intrusion was coming from this time. A little lizard was lying right beside the core leafing through a book much too large for it. Wait, how did I know it was a lizard and how do I know what a book is? Taking another look at his consciousness the core was astounded by the sheer amount of information that seemed to have been downloaded into its mind while it was asleep. It was different from previous memories it had gathered before, those had been a separate archive basically of the core’s mind, while these new memories had integrated completely with the core’s consciousness. They had essentially become his memories and thoughts, the core wasn’t quite sure how he felt about that.

Having trouble, young one? Just imagine your thoughts going out to me and they will. The tiny lizard proceeded to flip another page and yawned widely, showing a mouth full of very pointy if tiny teeth.

Taking a moment to psych himself up, the core focused on the black lizard. Hello? Who are you and what is going on? The core had not made this little creature, and he was certain that it wasn’t a goblin so why didn’t it feel like an invader?

Well that's a bit of a complicated question my dear core, to be brief my name is Magnus Blackscale, I am your new dungeon… companion. As for what is going on I’m not sure what you mean. We bonded a few hours ago, but I’m not sure why you were asleep for so long. The bonding process isn’t especially stressful and is very beneficial for both of us, look how big your core is now.

Taking a quick look he noticed that yes his core and mana capacity had practically tripled in size while he had been asleep. But why do I have a companion now? Are you from the weird thoughts? You don’t look like a goblin to me.

Are you referring to the system? You know what I’m not going to call you core for the rest of our lives, let's see, I’ll call you Valens from now on.

Uhmmm, okay I guess. The newly christened Valens wasn’t sure how he felt about the name but he supposed any name was better than no name.

Let's see, as for the rest. I’m not from the system, which is what I assume you are talking about when you say ‘weird thoughts.’ I am not a goblin, is that what your starting template is? I’m a drake of the lineage of dragons, the mightiest creatures in existence. The little drake puffed out his chest at those words in a pose that might have been intimidating if he wasn’t currently the size of a very scrawny mouse. Flipping through several pages of the book Magnus stopped and tapped his claw on the page. Here, it looks like you must have been out so long from receiving your starting template. Does that sound about right?

Yes, but you still haven't explained how we bonded if it wasn’t the system, and what exactly is a companion? Valens wasn’t exactly opposed to the idea, Magnus didn’t feel dangerous and a lot of things made more sense to him now. It was also nice not to have to call things that creature until he killed them, his new memories contained quite the list of new templates to collect, like deer and bears.

Well as for what a dungeon companion is, well it's essentially a creature that bonds itself to a dungeon core and serves as basically an extra boss. You, Valens, get my protection in this arrangement as well as access to some amount of my memories and templates of my various evolutions. What I get out of this is I can’t die at least not permanently so long as you live, the power of your dungeon will sustain me indefinitely just like one of your creatures.

Nodding along to Magnus’ description he paused for a second, he didn’t have a head, how and why was he nodding? Whatever Valens considered what the drake had said, it sounded like Magnus had basically become one of his creatures if that was the case. He orders the drake to stand up and hop on one claw. Nothing happened. You're supposed to be one of my creatures now right? Why can’t I give you orders, and what's a boss?

The drake chuckled and turned a page consulting his book once again. Well, you can’t order me because I’m not one of your creations. I willingly bound my spirit to your dungeon not as a slave but as an equal. This means that you can’t compel me to follow your orders but I also have no power over you. I protect you and you keep me alive. Also, the bond is permanent, so hopefully we can get along, we’re going to be together for a long time.

Valens grudgingly acknowledged that Magnus had a point, the core was practical enough that this didn’t bother him too much even if his instincts didn’t particularly agree with the idea. Weird he didn’t think he had ever gone against his instincts before had he? Not important right now. So we’re equals. I can deal with that. You’re supposed to be protecting me though right, aren’t you a little small for that? It looked like one good bite from a fox would finish the tiny drake.

That comment finally made Magnus put down his book if only to keel over laughing. Size isn’t everything you’ve got a lot to learn. Don’t worry about safety, I'll be able to protect you for the foreseeable future, we just need to focus on your growth.

He was a little miffed about his companion’s reaction, Valens thought it was a legitimate concern. Alright fine, I’m still going to be protecting myself though, sorry for not immediately taking you at your word. Also, what do you mean about growth? I’ve been growing fine, stuff comes in and I kill it and I get food which lets me expand more and attract more stuff to give me food.

Right first, it's called experience not food. Magnus nodded sharply looking straight at the core. Secondly, what happens when you run out of things to kill? That got Valens thinking, it had never been a problem yet, he had never even known that running out of invaders was a possibility, but he could see how that would be a problem. Without a steady stream of ‘experience’, his expansion would slow to an eventual stop, and the only thing that he would be able to kill for experience would be… his own creatures.

Also, it might not seem like a problem now but you're going to have to kill stronger and stronger creatures to keep progressing at any sort of discernable pace. Magnus continued consulting his book yet again. I have determined that the best thing to do would be to set a complete ecosystem contained within the dungeon. This would give you a constant stream of experience at all times and would make it a lot easier to get higher-tier creatures.

Consulting his new memories Valens wasn’t sure if he liked the idea. It sounded like it would leave him unnecessarily vulnerable. So if I’m understanding the definition of an ecosystem correctly then you want me to have my creatures in constant conflict with each other? That frankly sounds like a terrible idea, it leaves my defenses weakened and distracted when I might need them at a moment’s notice.

The purpose of most of your monsters isn’t really to protect it to get you experience, and the best way to get experience, in the long run, is to set up an ecosystem.

If my creatures aren’t supposed to protect me what is? This was starting to get a little annoying.

Your bosses are, they’re the strongest monsters in your dungeon made to protect you from harm and can never be permanently killed. Remember I said that I'm an extra boss.

So how do I make more bosses?

Magnus sighed, burying his face in his book. You need to finish your first floor to make your first real boss. I don’t count against the number of bosses you can have, but other than me you will get one boss to defend your core plus an additional boss every ten floors.

That's a dumb rule. Why can’t I have more bosses if they’re so important to keeping me safe? It seems like it would be smart to make as many as possible.

Magnus looked like he was getting a headache, and his mental voice was carefully controlled like he was trying not to yell. That would be fantastic wouldn’t it but it doesn’t work that way. No one’s sure why you can’t have more bosses, but I think it has something to do with aura density. Also to make a boss you need to establish a spiritual bond which takes a lot of mana and you won’t have enough to make a connection before you finish the first floor.

Alright, we got off topic a little bit here. I tried to bring the conversation back on track, as much as talking about bosses interested me it wasn’t relevant yet. At this moment I don’t have a boss besides you. I might be willing to try this crazy idea of yours to see if it works but can we do that after I get my first boss? Also, it seems like I would have to be constantly spawning new creatures with your plan which again is a terrible idea. Not only would it leave my mana completely drained but it would also leave me with no time to expand.

Setting up a functioning ecosystem would mean that it would sustain itself. You may have noticed dungeon creatures still behave like normal creatures unless they are ordered otherwise. If you turn them loose they will start hunting each other yes but they can also reproduce on their own. With the accelerated growth rate that comes with being dungeon creatures you should be able to get to the point where you won’t have to do anything and watch the experience pour in. Magnus seemed very proud of himself, and I admit that the idea of an ecosystem sounded better now that I understood the principle a bit better. This would have been a lot easier if I had just gotten all of Magnus’ memories but oh well guess you can’t have everything.

I’m not going to lie, that does sound like a very attractive setup if it works. However, I still want a boss before we try this or you could convince me that you can protect me. Forgive me for not trusting my safety to a tiny lizard I never saw fight before. Magnus started spluttering in outrage but I carried on. Other than the ecosystem idea, is there anything else I could do to improve my dungeon?

The tiny drake was still scowling a bit but consulted his precious book for ideas. Well, one suggestion would be to turn the dungeon into a large cavern without all of these twisty tunnels you seem to like. You could have a separate room for your core but other than that the larger the better. Raising a claw to forestall any protests, Magnus continued. Before you get upset about the idea you should know that this should boost your mana regeneration by quite a bit. The larger the area the better the mana flow will be which means you have better regeneration and ultimately more mana to play with. Furthermore, I think I'll give a small demonstration of my power just to put your mind at ease. I’ll say it again for the foreseeable future. I will be able to protect you completely, after I prove this maybe you’ll have second thoughts about the ecosystem idea.

Magnus smiled ominously and his little book made a slight pop as it vanished even from Valen’s senses. As the tiny drake strolled through his dungeon Valens couldn’t shake the slightly ominous feeling that prevailed at its core. What does he mean by ‘prove’ he can protect me?