I had the goblins carefully move the dead bodies near the strangle vines and spore shrooms in the garden room. I also dumped the body of the bear and a few other living creatures. Soon I had dozens of new shrooms and even a few new strangle vines growing. Apparently all my plant monsters fed on the blood and flesh of living creatures.

Most of the new monsters seemed to be variants, but there were also a couple more evolutions. One was called a blood bush. It had inch long thorns and some limited movement, but not nearly as much as the strangle vines. Anyone that stumbled into one would almost certainly die. Even better I had two of them

Another evolution was one of the mushrooms that was about twice the size of the other mushrooms already and was continuing to grow larger. It had grown from the head of the bear I had decided to drop in the garden room with the rest of the bodies. Instead of spraying spores it had a mouth with fangs and could move slightly to attack anything that got near. Right now it could only take a decent bite out of someone’s calf, but if it got large enough it would be truly deadly.

The rest of the new monsters were variants. Variants were similar to the other monsters. They were just deadlier or had new abilities. A lot of them were mushrooms. There were poison shrooms, sleep shrooms, blood shrooms, poison vines, and more. Although none of the variants seemed as deadly as the tier two evolutions. Even the poisonous plants only had a mild effect that would make their victims sick but not kill them.

While this was going on I had ordered my goblins to start work on additional rooms. One of these I had decided to turn into a bedroom for my avatar. I may not need it but I missed sleeping anyway. My dungeon core consciousness couldn’t sleep but I was pretty sure my avatar could.

Thinking about purchasing a bed reminded me that Professor Hanson was still waiting in the fox den room. For the first couple of minutes she had tried to leave the room but couldn’t. Then when the goblins ran past her she had quickly moved as far to the side of the room as possible. She hadn’t done anything to draw my attention for nearly half an hour now.

I focused on her for a moment. Somehow she had managed to get one of the foxes to stay still for her and was examining it. I was guessing she was trying to take her mind off the situation she was in. She had left most of the equipment she carried into the dungeon in the garden room though.

I had already spared her life and captured her because she was attractive. I didn’t see any harm in her having her equipment. Perhaps she would even appreciate the gesture. For now I was going to hold onto the equipment from outside though. I sent the goblin shaman with her backpack and two cases she had brought into the dungeon.

Giving it a bit more thought I realized that having a scientist could be useful. I suspected she would be able to help me discover some new variants and evolutions for my monsters. The shaman finally reached the professor. She heard the bones rattling on his armor and turned around in fright. Then she saw what the goblin was carrying and hesitated before running away. Clearly she was wondering what my shamans intentions were.

“Master told me bring these to you.” The shaman said with an ugly grin. Ugly meaning that goblins had truly terrible dental hygiene. They seemed to come pre-made with cavities and crooked teeth. In fact it was a bit odd since every goblin I created seemed to be unique.

The professor smiled and took the cases and backpack. She opened her mouth but nothing came out. “You don’t have to be quite any longer.” I told her. She didn’t seem to hear me though. I had never thought about it but I talked telepathically with my monsters.

“She no can hear you master. She not dungeon monster.” The shaman said looking towards the depth of the dungeon where my core was.

“Well tell her that she can talk then.” I told him.

“Master says you no longer need be quite. You talk now.” The shaman said. The professor opened her mouth but nothing came out again. I sighed in frustration apparently I needed to be the one to order her. But I couldn’t without my avatar.

“Bring pretty female to master. She touch. Then able hear master.” The shaman said happily.

“Okay that sounds like a good idea. Go ahead.” I told the shaman. He may not have the best grammar but he was way smarter than the other goblins. Plus he seemed to somehow have innate knowledge about how dungeon cores worked.

The shaman led the professor to the corridor that led to the final room of my dungeon. Unfortunately when she approached it she wasn’t able to go any further. I had forgotten that I ordered her to wait in that specific room. There wasn’t much I could do. I could try to have the goblins carry her but I wasn’t sure if it would hurt her.

It took me a few minutes before I came up with a solution. My first idea of purchasing something from the shop that gave limited telepathy didn’t pan out. Even the cheapest of the items cost at least ten points. What I could do was spend a bit of mana to move my crystal back into the same room as the professor.

Nearly an hour later the professor stared at my crystal as it slowly entered the room. I was glad the look she was giving me seemed more curious than fearful. Although thinking about it, a giant green crystal moving slower than the average turtle wasn’t likely to inspire fear in anyone.

After I was a few feet into the room I stopped moving and anchored my crystal to the floor of the dungeon again. The goblin shaman turned to the professor. “Master want talk to you. You touch crystal.” He told her.

Hesitantly she reached out a hand and touched the crystal. “Can you hear me? You don’t have to stay silent any longer.” I asked concentrating on her like I did my dungeon monsters.

Much to my relief it worked. “Yes. Who are you?” The professor said in a trembling voice.

For a moment I considered what to tell her. Eventually I decided on the truth. “You could say I’m the dungeon. Everything in here was created by me.”

She looked at the goblin shaman. “Does that include the goblins and that bigger thing?” She asked nervously.

“Yes. Also all the plants and animals. In this area I’m practically god.” I said with a mental grin.

“What do you want from me?” She asked in a voice that was a bit calmer but still frightened. “Well you’re a scientist right?” I said.

She nodded. “I’m a biologist.”

“Good. Science wasn’t exactly my favorite subject.” I said.

The professor grimaced. “Science isn’t a single subject.”

“Like I said, not my favorite subject.” I said with a laugh. The professor didn’t laugh but at least I got a bit of a smile out of her.