Verafrom admired his creation. The skeletal entities bones rarely touched. They floated near each other in an approximation of a normal, non-magical, skeleton. It left a trail of bile where it roamed but sooner or later it would be empty.

Veraform opened his menu to get an idea of what he’d gained. He had a common soul, his highest tier soul, that was currently being used by his favorite monstrocity. He had also gained 20 KP. His mana was a 0 since he’d had to use all of it to create the creature. Additionally he had a new section in his menu below the material list of minions.

Special minions

Bonework Demon: Requires the fresh corpse of a ward who went unprotected.

Veraform looked to his creature, a bonework demon as the menu called it, and realized he would not be easy to replace if it died. Though he did assume he would keep the soul since it appeared to be logged in his menu. He’d have to be careful with the demon. He should name it, he thought. Mecamputax. It was long, but veraform had no reason to keep it short. The length added an elegance befitting the creature. Mecamputax quickly became Veraform’s prized possession, a symbol of his power and intellect. Veraform had already forgotten the mind numbing fear he had felt when he had lost all defenses to Rhoam.

“Mecamputax” the dungeon called. The creature knew without being told, this was its name. It was being called. “Verrrraaaforrrrrrrm” Its call pierced the dungeon walls rather than echo through its halls. Veraforms nonexistent heart swelled as he marveled at the creature's voice. It was low and dragged on and on as it spoke.

‘Enough’ Veraform thought, ‘There is a time and place to fool around but right now I have resources to distribute.’ He looked to his research options and considered them.

Giant rat: obtained

Spined rat: 5 kp

Displaced rat: 5 kp

Rotten pantry: 5 kp

Plague rat: 5 kp

Dire rat: 10 kp

Winged rat: 5 kp

Winged imp: obtained

Clawed imp: 5 kp

Summoning sigil: obtained

Sacrificial altar:20 kp

Perhaps the pantry worked similar to the summoning sigil and a discount would be gained for rats, but then what would be the discount if rats had only cost 1 mana in the first place? For 5 KP Veraform was willing to find out. This would leave him with 15 and he had already found a way to generate more.

Room obtained! Rotten pantry

Knowing immediately where he wanted it veraform immediately tried to put it in the room through the left of the entrance, only to be met with a pang of hunger as he realized he had no mana to spend on the creation. He had no mana at all. He needed to repair his wall and summon minions as well. Hopefully the pantry would help with the latter. Fortunately the rooms he built seemed to be self repairing, as the sigil room had begun shifting and repainting itself once Rhoam had left.

He’d have to wait again. This would give him time to plan though. Now he had the freedom to advance how he saw fit, rather than being forced to prepare for an invasion, though Rhoam would likely return after tending to his wounds. Veraform had no idea how long that would take. He had not seen a human injured before this.

Veraform decided he would Construct the pantry and then summon all of his minions. Afterwards he would expand until he had the recommended number of rooms for a second floor. He would repair the wall as soon as he had a mana to spare. Additionally he would be saving his KP until he saw fit to spend it. For now all he was to do was wait.

Following every hour he would check to see if he had the mana to spawn a pantry. He didn’t actually know the cost but he would feel the discomfort of being unable to create it when he tried with too little mana. After 4 hours he was finally able to create it. It had cost 10 mana, leaving him with 2. The room filled with barrels and woven baskets of some unrecognisable rotted food, along with a wooden cupboard that sat against one wall.

Veraform tried to channel on the room and from within the cupboard rats emerged. Two at first and then a second pair followed and more and more until there were sixteen. Veraform checked his menu and sure enough he now had zero lesser souls and it hadn’t cost him a single mana. He now had an endless supply of free rats. This sped his plan along nicely. Veraform did notice that 16 was two less than he had originally had if he included the rabbit he killed, but now he had 2 slighter souls. Had the lessor souls become slighter souls when he mana infused rats that turned into giant rats? Or had they been swapped out somehow for different souls? If souls could be made better, then could he make his own soul more grand in some way? That was a question veraform would keep within him as he worked.

In another hour Veraform could summon an imp, and so he channeled into the sigil room and from it rose a wingless Leo. “Master!” the imp exclaimed. “Did you kill them? What new wonders have you gained?” The imp looked around and froze when it saw the Bonework demon. ‘Intimidating to even other monsters, it seems’ Veraform thought. “This is mecamputax. He is our greatest prize from this victory and he will be helping us achieve even more.” The imp simply stared. It had little to say and much to fear and so he simply looked at the creature. Eventually it was the skeleton that turned and left the room. Once he had and the imp regained his composure he knelt to drink the vile ritual fluid. Veraform smiled inwardly. His demon was a work of art.

Another hour passed and Veraform was able to summon Sett, who also emerged without wings. This was slightly disappointing but Veraform couldn't argue with a price of half the normal cost. Sett's greeting was less questions and more of thanks, “Thank you master, I am honored you've revived me, thank you.” Once he’d felt he groveled enough he knelt to drink from the bowls as Leo had.

In the following hours Veraform summoned the two giant rats and they began feasting on the pantries supplies. He had also patched up the Wall Rhoam had so desperately destroyed in his escape. All that was left was to expand and so he did. After spending 2 mana however something changed. His perception was at a size of 35 feet by 5 feet by 20 feet and a message appeared.

Wow! You’re getting pretty big!

We’re gonna have to slow that down before things get out of hand, but don't worry You’ll still be able to expand in one direction at a time and you can have some height for free, on us!

As soon as Veraform had begun processing what the message had meant his walls began to rumble. The floor started moving down and where the walls should have split more dirt simply started filling in. The rats skittered about, looking for some place to hide and the imps spun around looking for some cause. Mecamputax’s legs snapped lengthwise and rearranged themselves so that he was now standing taller. After a moment the dungeon was 9 feet tall and the rumbling stopped.

Veraform didn’t know how to feel. His dungeon was bigger, sure, but he felt violated. This was his domain, who had as much nerve as to interfere with it. On top of that his expansion would now be slowed.

He began channeling his ‘expand’ ability and as predicted only one side of his domain expanded, the back wall. He kept expanding it until it was at the 30 foot mark, though he had to pause and wait for mana several times. Afterwards he expanded the wall left of the entrance another 8 feet. This brought his size to 43 by 9 by 30. This would be enough room for him to create 25 rooms as well as have some of those rooms be larger so that Mecamputax could fight better.

His previous rooms were small, but he had only had rats and imps which were also small. The cramped quarters had made it awkward for the humans to fight in it and Veraform liked that but it would also hinder the demon. He would make larger rooms near the rear of his dungeon for Mecamputax to reside. Veraform got to work clearing out areas of his perception to create rooms and as he connected them with short corridors he felt his mana capacity and regen rates increase. Once he’d finished the final room he decided to try something. He wouldn't want to be exposed like before so after he created the last room he checked his menu and he saw that it didn't count. He only had 24 for rooms. Then, to be sure, he tried to move his core to that room. He simply couldn’t. It wouldn't budge. Another limiter, he thought.

Disappointed he connected the final room and was met with the message,

Wow!

It looks like you followed our advice and got to 25 rooms before making another floor! As a reward for being so thoughtful it won't cost you any mana to make the second floor! You’ll also get an extra option for your first floor boss modifier when you get there!

Veraform was glad he had listened to the things advice despite it being so intrusive. Now was the time to make another floor. He wasn’t exactly sure how to get a second floor, so he started focusing on his expanded ability.

Uh Oh!

It looks like you’re trying to get another floor, but you don't have enough loot on the previous floor! Every floor has to have as much loot as the number of the next floor! So floor one has to have two loot containers, while floor two has three and so on.

Irritating. If he had to put loot somewhere he would put it near Mechamputax’s chamber so adventurers wouldn’t actually get it. After that he began focusing again. Suddenly it clicked and he felt a change. He had a new room type, stairs. Without hesitation he chose the core room and its floor began spinning. It was only a small section of the floor at first but then it grew outward and suddenly dropped and left behind a spiral staircase made of old wood. The staircase went down for 30 feet before letting out in a room that was 10 by 20 feet with a stone floor and walls. There was a torch on every wall. The ceiling was curved with its peak being 15 feet and 9 feet near the walls. The staircase was inside the wall at one end of the room. Veraform moved his core to be at the other end.

Veraform opened his menu and noticed 2 things. His mana regen dropped to 4 from 6, and more importantly he gained a new ability, create boss. Additionally he heard a fwoosh and and saw light shine through his entrance, indicating flares had just been sent out to inform nearby settlements of his progress.

He knew exactly who he would make the floor one boss. He began channeling on Mecamputax and a notification appeared.

Looks like you're trying to make a boss, Congrats!

Bosses are powerful versions of normal monsters. You also have the option to resummon them even if you don't have the required resources but be warned it will cost double their normal cost! Additionally their soul becomes bound to them and you’ll no longer be able to use it in other monsters!

Now that that's out of the way, go ahead and choose two upgrades for ‘Mecamputax’

Doubled size

Camouflage

Decoy Body

Abyssal magic

Bonus option: Fire magic

The choice was hard, Veraform thought. Magic could be a potent weapon, especially if combined with the stealth added by camouflage or a decoy body. Though how potent would the decoy body be? Would it be able to move and attack? How convincing would it be? And what exactly was abyssal magic? Was it what Leo and Sett used? Would Mecamputax get a stronger version of it? Veraform would have to think long and hard about this or maybe he would ask Mecamputax.