Using some of his extra unaligned Hearts, Gem summoned one each of the Goosalope and the Cicadossum.

The first creature was a bit disappointing. While Gem hadn’t expected the creature to be some hulking beast, he had expected it to be taller than his Plantlings. But the Goosalope was barely half a block in height, and its body was nearly the same length. It did have beautiful white feathers that Gem immediately wanted to touch.

However, the Cicadossum was a behemoth in comparison. It was nearly two block lengths tall and three long, and it was round in shape. There was no part of the Cicadossum that Gem instinctively wanted to touch, which made it a pretty interesting dungeon mob.

Like with the Plantlings, Gem had to instruct the two new creatures to not attack Chesu, but he also added instructions for them to not fight amongst themselves. While it would have been interesting to see what they were capable of, he didn’t exactly have time to watch two Tin One mobs roll around the unfinished attic.

He’d have plenty of time to see them fight adventurers, at least.

The wisp nodded. “I agree. If you end up liking the Goosalope later we can do something else with it, but for now let’s just move on.” The wisp paused. “And to quell your worries, a Tank Mob is an excellent choice for a boss. It won’t do as much damage as some other classifications, but it’ll absorb a lot of hits and be a good DPS check for adventurer teams.”

Gem almost asked what DPS meant, but in context it was easy to figure out: damage.

“The… the system told you that?” Chesu looked stunned.

And what let me know you’d be back, Gem thought without sending it to the wisp.

He wasn’t entirely sure, but it seemed like the World Core and the system interfaced somehow. Ruxium being distracted by the impending doom would suggest why there was missing information in places, and why he was getting special quests.

Gem wanted to do everything he could help.

And that meant he needed to combine five mini Hearts to form one super Heart.

Chesu was talking to him, but Gem couldn’t concentrate on the wisp’s words. Instead he was focused on combining Hearts so he could summon his Boss Mob. The supply of Hearts he had in his inventory was running a bit low, and Gem knew he’d have to create a few more soon. His mana hadn’t recovered, but he had to finish filling out his dungeon. He had so few command points to start with; it would be silly to open his dungeon without using every single one he could.

Like with creating the original Hearts, making a Boss Heart was complicated and took a lot of concentration. But unlike the motes, the Hearts seemed to want to join together. They combined one after another, until there was a brief flash of light and Gem was in possession of an unaligned Boss Heart.

Boss Heart rank 1 - Unaligned.

These words were green, instead of white like everything else Gem had seen. He was sure there was some reason for that, but he didn’t really have time or mental fortitude to find out why.

“Oh.” Chesu stared at the floating Heart. “You’ve already done the thing.”

The wisp shrugged. “That’s good, then. Being able to just get things done instead of waiting for an explanation is really important.”

His words were a bit clipped, and Gem wasn’t quite sure why. If they were supposed to be moving quickly to save his original core, shouldn’t Chesu be happy that he skipped ahead?

“I’ll make this next part short then: applying a mob to a Boss Heart is almost exactly like applying a mob to a regular Heart. You just transfer the image. Some changes will happen without your interference; Boss Mobs get new abilities and they also grow larger and have some cosmetic differences.”

Gem did as instructed, even though he knew he could have figured that out on his own. What Chesu told him wasn’t new, except for the idea that Boss Mobs got extra stuff.

But Gem let that irritation fade and concentrated. Spawning new mobs wasn’t as easy as filtering mana or even combining motes into Hearts. It took care and precision, but he applied the Cicadossum to the Boss Mob Heart.

Its birth into this world was punctuated by an ear-piercing shriek. Chesu threw both his arms over his head and howled in anguish, while Gem just stared as the Boss burst into existence.

The regular Cicadossum was two blocks tall, but the Boss was at least five blocks tall. Its carapace was a blue-ish black and it spanned over its tiny head and spine, halfway down its arms and legs, and even over some of its tail. The tail was massive—nearly double the length of the creature’s body and covered in thick black spikes of hair where it wasn’t coated in carapace. Its hands and feet were thin with spindly digits that groped at the cobblestone blocks below it like it could score the earth.

Gem said with awe.

In response to Gem’s compliment, the Cicadossum opened its mouth and snarled. Rows of mangled, sharp teeth filled its tiny jaws, but they were nothing compared to the two long sucker-like protrusions to either side of its jaw.

“Gem.” Chesu said his name quietly, but there was a terror lurking underneath. “It’s looking at me. You told it not to attack me, right?”

The Cicadossum lashed its tail at the wisp in response.

It halted immediately and looked up at Gem almost expectantly.

He gave it the same orders he gave his other mobs, and Chesu let out a shaky sigh of relief.

“You really need to make sure that’s the first thing you do. Mobs tend to be disoriented for a few moments after being spawned, but if you give them enough time they will absolutely attack whatever is nearby. Which, you know, usually is me, kid.”

Gem thought, trying to not be embarrassed.

“Yeah, I get it. And I’m with you. That’s one thing I would not want to have to face in a dark dungeon. I do not envy the adventurers of Sleyn.”

Gem peered at the wisp.

“Second potato. I had one dungeon tell me it was because the forest was the area everyone was trying to get out of. That it was basic.”

Gem sent the wisp an image of a gem with a big, wide-open mouth and the letters ‘ha-ha’. If he had arms, Gem would have pointed at the Cicadossum boss, but he didn't have to. There was no confusion about what Gem meant.

“Yeah. Well. Let’s just say there might be reasons why I’m here with you instead of saving the world with them.” The wisp tossed him a conspiratorial smile. “Let’s finish summoning your mobs. How much command do you have left?”

Gem checked his stats to confirm the number in his head.

“Alright. So how do you want to do this?”

In the end, Gem decided to summon one more pack of Plantlings, two more packs of Goosalopes and Cicadossums, and then three other Goosalopes to roam by themselves. Pairing the Goosalopes and Cicadossums together seemed like a good idea, and one that would improve their survivability. He also really loved Shriek and pals, and wanted to see how five new Plantlings would interact. The three extra Goosalopes were just to use the points, and he wanted to make sure he had plenty of mobs in his dungeon.

It wouldn’t do to have the place feel sparse.

As soon as the last command point was spent, Gem’s quest was completed.

Limited-time Quest Complete: Build Your First Floor. Reward: Increased experience gain for yourself and all who run your dungeon. Good luck, kid. I’m counting on you.