I thought I’d misheard for a moment. “You want to create a dungeon to produce water?” I couldn’t help blurt out.

Jacques let out a satisfied smile at my surprise. “I’m glad to see you were surprised by it. Hopefully our competitors will be too.”

He tapped on the table and an interface popped up. He tapped it a few times and a hologram appeared over the center of the table from a projector I hadn’t noticed before.I looked at it in mild surprise. I hadn’t realized the table itself was a device, but it made sense when I thought about it. The room was meant for business meetings. They’d need some sort of projection technology to share documents, designs, and so on.

I focused on the hologram. It was a bottle of water with a label on it. Jacques continued to speak as the hologram revolved giving me a view of the entire design of the bottle.

“We thought about it, and the market for water is one of the most promising. As I mentioned it’s one of the most basic necessities of human life. But precisely because of that, it’s often looked down upon. Everyone drinks it and so there’s only so much people can do to elevate it to a luxury product since in the eyes of others it isn’t exclusive.”

I nodded, following his train of thought up to this point. “But you think you have a way to elevate it to a luxury product?” It wasn’t exactly unheard of. There were plenty of “luxury” water brands out there. They boasted about things like the source of the water, the flavor, the minerals in the water, and so on. Water from the 20th floor of the public dungeon collected from the dew formed on certain plants was considered exotic, and was bottled and sold for high prices. However, at the end of the day, most people with average incomes weren’t willing to spend tons of money on water that wasn’t that different in the end. It certainly had a unique flavor, but when most people considered water to be just something they had to drink to survive it was hard to justify spending so much money for it unless they were rich. And if they were that rich they could afford other, rarer drinks, like alcohols formed from fruits that only grew on the highest branches of the Public Dungeon. That was just local products as well, if you were wealthy enough you could drink imported ice liquors from the frozen dungeons of Nilgard and other northern city states.

Seeing my doubt, Jacques shook his head. “I can see your confusion. We aren’t aiming for the high end market, if that’s what you’re thinking. Everything isn’t as simple as “luxury” products and “common” products. We’re confident there’s a market for a middle of the road product. Of course, that’s on the condition that it has something unique that attracts the attention of the middle class. That’s where you come in.”

I shook my head, still not seeing it. “I’m happy to take the job regardless, but I don’t understand the model. A renewable dungeon is obviously interesting, but at the end of the day it’s just water. Won’t people just buy a comparable product?”

Jacques didn’t seem upset by my lack of belief in their project. He smiled as he responded. “That is where another unique aspect of this request comes into play. I know that for your project with Q&A Jelly you incorporated flavors of the carnivorous dandelions to give their jelly a slightly floral taste.” I didn’t question how he obtained that information which Q&A regarded as a trade secret and just waited for him to continue. For a corporation like Grainola it was expected they’d do their best to uncover secrets like that. I was willing to bet they’d already developed a version of the floral jelly as well, and smirked at the thought of Quimby’s reaction when it hit the market.

“We want to do something that is similar in concept but more difficult here.” He paused and gave me a considering look. “I know you said you’d accept this job already, but I’ll give you another chance to consider as you haven’t understood the key point yet." He enlarged the hologram and focused it on the front of the label. Two words came into focus and set my mind racing: mana rich. "The phrase “mana rich” on the bottle isn’t a joke. We want the water to be literally teeming with mana. Enough that it could increase the mana levels in a person’s body.”

My eyes widened at the thought. What he was describing was practically a mana potion. Mana potions supplemented mana that had been expended by the user with the mana produced through the alchemical reaction of certain ingredients that were combined together. Typically the ingredients were extremely expensive, and the price of the mana potion even more so.

“Of course we don’t expect it to function anywhere close to the level of a mana potion. However, that's fine as it doesn't have a utilitarian purpose. The rush of mana that you get when consuming a mana potion is extremely exhilarating. If replicated on a smaller scale we think it’ll create an effect not unlike a caffeine buzz only much more satisfying.”

I couldn’t help shaking my head as he explained. He might be using the word satisfying but addicting seemed closer to the truth. Still, it wasn’t illegal or harmful, so I didn’t have any moral opposition to it.

“So, Mr. Thorn, do you feel confident in taking on this task?” Jacques pressed me for an answer.

Truthfully, I was intrigued. I hadn’t really considered something like this before. The challenge it represented in terms of my design capabilities excited me a little. If I could do something like this it would cement my name as a Dungeon Maker to pay attention to. It would also likely create more opportunities for the Living Dungeon Corp. However, I wasn’t confident.

Damien sat beside me looking at me expectantly. Seeing me hesitate, he quickly spoke up. “Could we have a moment to discuss this please?”

Jacques nodded patiently, not seeming surprised at our reaction. “Of course. I’ll head out for a moment. Just come out and get me when you’re ready.” He tapped the table a few times, dismissing the hologram and the screen that he had previously pulled up, before making his way out of the room.

As the door closed, Damien turned back to me and immediately said, “You have to accept this job.”

I shook my head. “Damien, it’s not that easy. I’ve never tried something on this level. If it was just a dungeon to create water perpetually I could probably come up with something, but keeping the mana in it from seeping away?”

“It doesn’t matter. We’ll figure it out,” Damien urged. “What matters is that this is the best opportunity we’re likely to get. I’ve reached out to countless companies, expressing an interest in working with them, but not one responded. Q&A Jelly has been polluting the waters, telling people we’re unreasonable. Most smaller companies won’t work with us, while most large companies don’t feel the need. Even Grainola wouldn’t normally need to if not for the uniqueness of the request.”

“But it’s the uniqueness of the request that’s the problem! Something like this I don’t even know where to start” I exploded. But before I could go on, Damien cut me off shaking his head.

“I know that this isn’t going to be simple. And I know you have no confidence. But if we don’t take this chance we will not get another. This is do or die for us. If we don’t do this we’ll fall to the depths of hell before you know it. We won’t be able to build a foundation for the company. If we do this and do it well, we’ll soar to the heavens. If we fail, well, we’ll just be in the same position as if we didn’t accept only faster.”

I quieted down at this. I hadn’t realized that Q&A Jelly had done so much damage to our reputation. They might not have gone all out for fear we really would go to the Dungeon Maker’s Association, but just by making a few pointed remarks about us to their acquaintances they could effectively ruin our reputation before we had a chance to build it.

Sensing that I was on the edge of being convinced, Damien looked at me solemnly. “Look, I know this isn’t an easy request. I get it. But it’s our best chance. If you don’t have the courage to take it then we won’t have a way forward. I’m not trying to force you. I’m just letting you know the reality of our situation.”

I felt the balance tip and sighed. “In for a penny, in for a pound I suppose.” If things had already reached that point there was nothing for it but to do it. If we failed, well, like Damien said, at least everything would end quickly this way.

Damien watched me for a moment to make sure i was really decided before nodding. He held his hand out. “If this ends up being the road to hell, I’ll travel it with you to the end.” He said firmly.

I was a bit surprised at his courage. There was some comfort in knowing I'd have a comrade on this path.

“Partners,” I clasped his hand and gripped it tight. He nodded before going to the door. Sticking his head out he said something I couldn't hear and Jacques came back inside. He looked at me expectantly.

I glanced at Damien before nodding. “Alright. We’ll take this job.”

Jacques grinned. “Great. I know you’ll need some time to work on the design, but could I ask what the general direction you’ll be taking is?”

I took a deep breath before straightening my back and meeting his gaze squarely with my own. “I don’t currently have an idea. However, now that you’ve given me a direction to work towards, I’m confident I can come up with a general concept within two weeks.”

His eyebrows raised and he didn’t say anything for a minute. I held my breath as Damien shifted uncomfortably in the silence, but I continued to hold his gaze with my own. He finally gave a single nod. “Very well, I can give you two weeks.”

I let out a slight, relieved breath before continuing. “Great. In that case, I’ll get to work immediately.”

I sat and looked at Damien, who took that chance to jump in. “We’ll go ahead and start on that work. However, as for the issue we discussed earlier…” He trailed off, looking at Jacques with an eyebrow raised in query.

Jacques snorted a laugh. “You mean Q&A Jelly going around smearing your name? It’s fine. We’ll put out word that we’ve engaged you if you really want, though we won’t give any more information than that. We don’t want to tip off our competitors.”

Damien shrugged. “That’ll work. Thank you for your faith in us. We will definitely deliver a product that you’re satisfied with.”

Jacques looked unmoved. “We’ll see. Two weeks correct? We’ll expect your presentation at that point.”