So, it turns out Lilly didn’t want the fish upgrade. Something I was made painfully aware of after suggesting it. I don’t know why she got so upset about it. It was perfectly reasonable to think that was what she was after she wanted me to refresh the upgrade options. No, instead she wanted me to invest even more upgrades into my Fae, something I should’ve known. It seems like whenever Lilly wants me to spend upgrades it’s always on my Fae.

“What does that ‘Basic classes’ do that you’re so adamant about getting?”

“Teaching you can really be a pain, little pebble. I don’t know anyone that would argue against unlocking classes for their creatures. I’m really starting to worry about your future if you really thought that fishes were the best thing on that list of upgrades.”

“I didn’t think that. I just thought that since it was something new maybe that was what you wanted.”

“New doesn’t mean better. The only use fish are in a dungeon is getting adventurers to stop a while to try and catch them if they’re truly bored. It does nothing to protect you. Anyway. You need the class upgrade. It will make your Fae stronger and after this I promise to not suggest anymore upgrades for your Fae. In fact, after I tell you the story your dungeon can tell that I had in mind, I’ll leave you alone.”

“How does classes make my Fae stronger?”

“You can make your Fae warriors to reduce the damage they take from physical attacks. You can make archers to do damage from a distance even without your Fae using mana. You can make healers to heal the damage your other Fae take from invaders. In fact, you should get this upgrade just to ensure you can do what I think you’re planning on doing with your boss on this floor.”

That confused me. I hadn’t even thought about the boss on this floor. Why did Lilly think I had something planned? I just placed the pool of water there to make it harder to move around if you couldn’t fly. That can’t be a clue to whatever boss was going to be there aside from it being a Fae and I already figured that my first five bosses should be those heroes mentioned after we made the boss on the first floor.

“I haven’t planned anything Lilly. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Really? I thought it was pretty clever of you. Using your new elementals as minions of the mage-class boss. It would make a wonderful boss. Most dungeons don’t make anything other than a single creature a boss this early normally. I thought you showed a little potential by changing it up without me even mentioning it. It was the reason I offered to leave you be for a while since you showed me signs that even if you didn’t do everything I wanted to, you could still make it work. I guess I was wrong.”

What? No! If Lilly decides to stay, I’ll never escape her grasp. In response I do the most sensible thing I can think of right now to ensure my future freedom.

Ability gained: Basic classes (Fae) (2)

You can now make your Fae warriors, archers, healers, mages, herbalists and rogues.

Note: After selecting a class for your Fae they will be restricted to certain kinds of equipment depending on the class they become.

“See Lilly, I picked what you wanted me to. I’ll even make a mage the boss of this floor. You really don’t have to stay.”

I don't even consider what the system meant by restricting what my Fae can wear depending on class. I just nervously hope that my rash action has made her decide that I can be trusted and leave me alone for at least a while. It would be nice to not have to worry about what Lilly will think about everything that I do. I might even find time to finish my stone, after making sure I’m safe of course.

“You grow up so fast little pebble, am I really that awful to be around? You wound this old heart of mine. But I suppose you’re right. If you keep your head down so to speak, we shouldn’t have any trouble letting you grow in peace. Especially now when it’s winter.

Well then, since you’re so eager to have me leave I’ll just tell you the story we’ll craft with your dungeon. At least the start of the story. You’ll survive long after I’m gone hopefully so I hope you’ll be able to make any future story by yourself. You’ve read all the books I gave you, right? That should’ve given you some ideas.”

Oh right... the books. To be honest, I hadn’t really thought about them after learning to read. I figured learning to read was good enough but Lilly seemed to think it would help me so maybe I should make time to read them? Either way I’m not telling Lilly that I forgot all about them.

“Let’s start the story from the point of view of the adventurers. It will help you to consider them when making up things in the future.

Now then. Our would-be heroes arrive at your dungeon and find your dark, fallen Fae. They’ve heard the tales of an evil taking over the Fae here and battle the first group. They see a caged normal Fae and they free him or her. Sadly, it is too late to save him or her. Your Fae tells them that there are other Fae deeper inside, others that the heroes need to rescue. As a final act the dying Fae cast a spell on them allowing them to open the door to move deeper inside.”

“Wait. My Fae will die? Why? Also, I thought locked doors required a key. Not a spell.”

“The ‘key’ is just an expression. It doesn’t have to be a physical key, only a way to unlock the door. So long as you create the door with the way to unlock it in mind you can create wonderful puzzles and other things to force the adventurers to do as you wish. You’ll simply create a locked door that can only be opened with the people in the group has had a special spell on them. Then you create a Fae capable of casting that spell at the cost of its life and place it before the door. That way the key to opening the door is before the door and the system will accept it. You’ll probably be forced to re-summon that dying Fae fast though. The system doesn’t like doors that can’t be opened in a dungeon for an extended period of time.

Now, to continue. Your Fae must die casting the spell to set the mood. Normally dungeon mobs don’t die without adventurers killing them and we want to at least plant a tiny little seed of doubt about you. Are you a dungeon or maybe you’re something else? Plus, no one rejects a request to save the innocent from a lovely little fairy. Not anyone with a heart at least.

Remember that I told you we would find a way to figure out good from bad people? This is the first test. If they rescue your Fae, it will cast the spell on them but if they kill it instead the spell will be cast on them all the same. Only now, you’ll know they’re bad people that are more likely to kill you. So instead of letting the difficulty slowly rise like you’ll do for the people that rescue the Fae you can manipulate your dungeon to make it almost certain that they die.

Of course, if they’re strong enough it won’t matter how much you try to manipulate the odds but at least now you have a chance.

After the group that rescued your Fae reaches and defeats your first boss, they’ll find another Fae that was captured by the fallen Fae. Now this Fae will follow the group after asking them to escort it to a safe place for its kind rumored to exist. The Fae doesn’t know where exactly, only that it's deeper inside.

As the group manages to fight their way down the Fae that follows them will start telling them about the fallen heroes they’ve fought. Hinting at some tragedy in the past that caused the heroes to turn evil. Then, after successfully managing to defeat all five heroes they find a small village of other, normal Fae. The Fae of the village surround them but the Fae your brave adventurers have escorted convinces them that these people are here to help.

This can be one of the ways you kill people that have bad intentions. Without an escorted Fae the villagers will simply attack the group all at once.

Anyway, the group is lead to the leader of the village that tells them this isn’t the Lost kingdom of the Fae the Fae that they've escorted there has given hints about. It’s simply a place for those that have escaped the fallen Fae to survive. They’re trapped here. They can’t escape since the mana on the surface is so thin that they would die up there and they can’t go deeper since it’s too dangerous."

“Wait. If the village isn’t ‘The Lost kingdom’ in our story, where is it? I assumed you would make me create it.”

“I'm sure you'll create it in the future but it's still way too soon for that. We or at least you have plenty of time to expand. About the villagers we can just tell the people that make it down to them something along the lines of that the fallen had captured them and sent them here for some reason we’ll make up later, and since they’re only normal Fae and not soldiers the wilderness of the floors below is too dangerous, trapping them here. The fallen doesn’t care since they know they’re stuck here even if they escaped thier grasp. The leader of the village then pleads with the group to find a way to save them. To go into the wilderness and find a way to their home so that they can return to their families.

That should be a good start of the story at least. We can work on it more later but at least now you know the basics of it. Pretty nice right? You have innocents that need the adventurers help to get home and the evil fallen Fae they can fight against.”

“Are you sure this will help me to not get killed? It sounds like you want me to let the people that follow your story just pass through me without me fighting back.”

“I want nothing of the sort. I guess since you haven’t met any adventurers yet so you don’t know but most adventurers aren’t really that strong. If you only made tier 2 Fae on this floor it would be enough to stop a good number of them. You don’t even need to give the Fae a class to make them stronger.

There are those adventurers that are really strong but they wouldn’t waste their time on a newly discovered dungeon. I doubt you’ll see any adventurers here capable of reaching past the fifth floor for at least a year after you’re ‘discovered’.”

“You said I was safe once before and I almost died.”

“That was just a random chance. No way to predict it. You can’t blame me for that. Now, I have some new items you’ll need for your Fae and then I’ll be on my way. Do try to grow to at least be a 5-floor dungeon by the time I return. You shouldn’t need to spend more upgrades on your Fae and I’ll leave a list for you to read with the upgrades you’ll need for our story. You should be able to manage to grow to that size by spring.

I’ll come back then and we can fix whatever you overlooked and then I think it’s time to invite your first group of adventurers.”