‘Finally,’ Matt thought, mentally sighing, filled with relief, absorbing the final piece of misplaced dirt within his core room, looking over his renewed dungeon with a cunning eye, finding nothing wrong with it. ‘, Everything's right with the world’.

“So what now master?”

“Now, now we build Bob”‘Staus’, Matt said, bringing up his status as he did so, wanting to ensure he had everything that would be needed if his plan was to go forward as he intended.

Name: Matthew Tine(….)

Age: Unknown

Race: Dungeon core (Bugs archetype)

Level: 20(0000/20000)

Titles:

· Reincarnate · Dungeon core, · Reborn · Ascended · Venomous · Sage · Cardinal core

Energy: 500

Core integrity: 1/1

Intelligence: 6

Wisdom: 4

Charisma: 3

Skill’s

Abilities

spells

Dig

Create Monster

Claim

Absorb

Dungeon sight

(Mental) Shield

Lore

Dungeon Seeds

'Aghh, 500, good, good, that should be more than enough,' Matt mentally muttered under his non-existent breath.

“Enough? What should be enough, master?” Bob asked, his voice popping out from nowhere.

“Energy Bob,” Matt said. “Energy” he said, Matt's eyes excitedly locked with that of his energy counter that carefully lay upon the top of his status screen, his mind filled to the brim with ideas of all the things he could do now that he had this vast reservoir of energy at his disposal.

“Oh, So what do you intend to do with your energy, master?” Bob asked, asking the question that matt had been ever so patently awaiting ever since he'd first spoken the words, energy, a moment or so ago.7

“I intend to fill this dungeon with all and anything I can create.” Matt said filled with the sudden determination to make a place so terrifying, so horrifying that no one would ever want to bother him again. "In short I intend to create the best dungion there ever could or will be” He said, matt finally for the first time since he'd arived cosinghed to his role as a dungion core.

“What about traps”

“What about them?” Matt asked unsure about where this question was going.

“Use them. Master. You could fill your whole dungeon with them. Though I would not advise that. No. Not at all,” Bob said abruptly. “Honestly master, I don’t see why you haven't used them already.“

Well, well honestly I haven't even thought about them” Matt said, activating his crate skill, selecting the Trap pattern, bringing up the relevant screen on the display only to find nothing there.

Name

Description

cost

‘Wait, what the hell’“, There’s nothing there Bob”

“Yes master, though it’s not the system’s fault,” Bob said all defensive-like.”, Not really”.

“Oh, then whose is it?”

“Yourse, master…” Bob said. “...Yours…...”

“Mine?” Matt asked, shocked, surprise filling him, wondering where the hell Bob was going with this. ‘How could it be my fault?’.

“Yes your fault sir, you chose to select the Bug archetype,” Bob said, speaking in his usual calm all business voice that he had used in all the time that Matt had known him. “, now you see the consequences of that choice”

“Oh, how’s that?” Matt asked slightly curious as to what Bob’s answer would be.

“There has never been a bug dungeon, as such no traps for such a dungeon exist”

“But what about my other creations, my children” Matt asked, having long since come to see his creations as more like children than anything else loving them just as much as he manny, grand and all the others whom had made h up the grand collection of bug pet’s that he had had back on earth.

“They already existed in nature and dungeons alike, and those that didn’t well, the system, took the idea for them from your old world, using your memories of your old world to create them”

‘My mind, well of course, of course, it did,’, “So what am I supposed to do...” Matt asked, only slight anger filling him at this revelation, of the system's willingness to raid his mind for ideas, not even slightly surprised now by the system's deriverty anymore. “I mean, I suppose…,

, I suppose, I can’t just create something like a hole in the wall and call it a trap. Can I.” ‘Can I…’ He thought in wonder.

“Corect master, you can indeed create your trap’s,” Bob said. “That’s actually what I was about to suggest, master”

Seriously, can I do that?” Matt said, filled with total surprise at this sudden revelation having made his previous statement more in jest than anything else.

‘Is that the same for my other creations, for my children?Is it just them or can I create anything?’ Matt thought finally,finally, for,for the first time ever, finally seeing the true potential of what he could do as a dungeon core.

“Yes master, where do you think, all the traps, all the monsters. Where did you think they came from? You didn’t think that they just fell out of the sky like meteorites did you?”

“No, I guess they don’t”. Matt said so many things that he’d taken for granted so many times before now finally making sense to him. “Ok let’s get to work” Matt said moving his foucou that of the now cleaned out first room. Intent on not wasting a single moment of time that he had.

“They could come back any time after all” Matt mentally muttered, intent on getting to work.

“Hugh,NO” Bob said, having seemingly overheard him. “No,No. Master they won’t be back for a while”

“How can you be so certain?” Matt asked, surprised by Bob’s abrupt announcement. “I mean yeah it’s night but how can you be so certain”.

“Ugh,well mortal’s tend to go to sleep at this time, at midnight I mean, and I haven't taught you how to tell the time have I…”

“No, you haven't” Matt said, more annoyed than surprised by this fact. ‘Yet another thing he’s conveniently forgotten to teach me’.

“Well I guess I better tell you?”

“Yes I think you should” Matt growchly said, unable to keep the fury that he, even now felt, fully contained within his thoughts with some of it leaking through the Bond that they shared.

“Well all you need to do is go to system settings and make it display time, oh dear, I haven't shown that ether”

“....” Matt growled. Seeming under the pressure that was Bob , growing ever so more impatient with each single second that went by.

“Ok, ok, Sorry master,I can fix this,,I can fix this” Bob groveled, seeming to mutter under his nonexistent breath as he did so. “Master please think the words system settings”

“This better work” Matt growled out, impatient to get to work yet knowing that if he didn’t do this now Bob may well forget or even just leave it all together. And so knowing what he needed to do Matt thought of the words, ‘system settings’, only to find himself face to face with a bunch of different words, words all ending with the word settings in their end point.

‘Oh Bob you could have saved me a bunch of trouble if you’d have told me about this,’ Matt thought, strolling down till he found what he believed to be looking for, coming upon a rather blunchy find as he did.

‘,But then again I see now why you didn’t’, Matt thought, coming to a section of what he thought to be Bob’s settings labeled obvious as they were between 2 other’s,system os settings and time settings.

(Locked)System Os settings Pesinal AI settings Time settings

“Now master you should…..”

“It’s ok I’ve found it” Matt said promptly interrupting Bob.

“Really?” Bob said, sounding surprised.

“Yes Bob I’m not stupid you know” Matt said a non ilushionarry mental smily grin on his non ilushionarry mental face as he said the words.

“Oh right I guess I’ll leave it to you master…”

“Yes thankyou Bob” Matt said, mentally clicking on the time settings option, a small list of words coming up on display as he did so.

Time settings:

Display analogue clock Display clock Digital Insert clock Change Clock time settings Add alarm

Curious, slightly unsure of what he needed to do yet not wanting to admit it and ask for help Matt began to go through the settings one by one till finally arriving at the right one.

Insert clock:

Status screen (Locked)(unknown)(............)

Thinking this to be the correct screen, Matt selected the status screen as his option of choice, not that there was much to choose, mentally clicking onto it as quickly as he possibly could wanting to get a move on. ‘Need to get this over with, I have traps to build after all’.

Plese, select the the type of clock you would wish to use:

Analog Digital Both

‘Digital’ Matt thought, mind made up, mentally selecting Digital as his clock of choice.’Digital, I’ll have digital over analog any day’.

And so with one very audible ding, Matt gained a clock.

Congratulations you now have an clock

Congratulations you gained a new title, (clockmaster)

‘Sweat now I can tell the time, this would have been a lot more useful elar on, before light or even sight to see by, though better late than never,’. Matt thought. ‘,Anyway, onto greater things I guess, time for me to create some traps, now let’s see where shall we start’

“Agh I know….” Matt said unwittingly speaking to the world, a world that seemingly only included him and Bob. “First, let’s add a pit in the middle of the door and then….”

“Master, master” Bob said, pushing Matt out from his now meditative state that he tended to go into whenever he was working on one project or another.

‘ugh …’ “Yes Bob…” Matt said, a more than ever so slight irritation in his voice.

“Master, what are you doing?Are you trying to get us killed…”

‘killed’“What, all I’m doing is making a trap, wasn't that you wanted” Matt said not seeing harm with what he was doing.

“Yes a trap over the door”

“Yes, so what?”

“Master, you can’t do that?” Bob said almost seeming to scream but not quite getting the hang of it.

“Oh I can’t why?”

“Because, because it’s unfair”

“Yes but is there an actual rule?”, Matt asked awaiting Bob’s response only for,

“...............” (Bob’s silence filling the room)

,only for Bob to remain silent as a mouse.

“, Does the system prevent it” Matt said, filling the void that was Bob, him continuing on, striding forwards to victory. “Does it stop?” ‘no, or else you would have told me’ Matt quietly thought repeating his words out loud for the sake of bob’s seemingly silent ears.

“Ugh no” Bob said finally, finally speaking. “No, master it doesn’t but still master you have to admit it is unfair”

“Yes well that’s life”

“Yes but master, have you even considered the consequences?”

‘Consequences’“Consequences?” Matt asked interrupting Bob mismatch, something that he knew he should have felt guilty but just didn’t, ‘He’s done it to me so many times, so why should I feel guilty, just giving a taste of his own medicine that’s all’, Matt having as well as everything else Morigion had gifted him with, having been taught the value of patience and good manures.

“The consequences of you doing this master,” Bob said, continuing from where he’d left off. “, The consequences of you creating that trap, you do realize that the only reason the only region Adventures enter dungeons is the code of fairness, that all dungeons, all dungeons but you that is, Tend to follow,”

“ A code of fairness that was one of the first things I taught you? So I’ll ask again….,” Bob said, slowing down his words to crawl at the last sentence. “, Do.....You….Have…A..,”. Bob said his words, fastening up again, reaching their epic conclusion.“,..............................Death wish”.

‘Death wish,’ “No they wouldn’t destroy me, they wouldn’t dare, Not now. you saw the look on their faces when they learnt about my status as a cardinal dungeon, didn’t you?”

“Yes I saw, that still won’t prevent them from destroying your core, If they become desperate enough”

“Really, If you say so,” Matt said, unconvinced that these people, that these adventurers would stick to such extreme measures so quickly, Matt having seen sutch looks so many times before, the look of a man striking gold where there was none, getting back to the task at hand, filling his dungeon with as many traps, monsters and other obstacles as he could think up with the time he had left.

‘Hhhhhh, this damn thing, DAMIT JUST WORK ALREADY!” Jaret sighed/muttered, accidentally shouting the last bits out loud, giving the offending mana machine a slight kick as he did so.

“Trouble with your machine, Boss,” Ash snideredly said, appearing out from the shadows dropping out a chair as he did so. “Or is it just the equipment?”.

“Ugh little rascal,” Jaret said using one of the nicknames that he for Ash, attempting to hide the shock he felt, having not sensed Ash’s presence at all, him having used such tactics many times before, effectively he might add, to hide any shock, surprise or even anger that he might have after one of Ash’s many prankster calls.

“Huh, you haven't called me that in a long time”

“I know and there’s a reason for that”. Jaret said struggling to keep the annoyance off his face and failing swiftly

“And what reason might that be?”

“You know the reason” Jaret said, sighing, neutrality broken. “So what do you want? You didn’t come all way down out from your Bed for nothing, why I’ve never known you to be awake till at least 10, 11, sometimes even 12 o’clock in the morning, what’s up”

“Oh you know me so well,” Ash said. “I was just wondering…”.

“Wondering?” Jaret asked eyebrows raised, interrupting Ash mid speech something his mother had taught him never to do, if possible that is.

“Yes I was just wondering if…” Ash said, seeming to hesitate, seeming unsure whether to continue or not.

“Yes, If,” Ash said, finally catching his nerve back up in the last seconds, almost choking his words as he did so. “If, if you would allow me to take the boy and Tam on a quick dungeon run”

“Sure,” Jaret said, seeing any harm in it.

“Really?” Ash asked, seemingly surprised by his answer.

“Sure why not,” Jaret said. ‘It’s not like there in any danger, as stupid and self-absorbed as Ash can sometimes be he wouldn’t let them die,’. Jaret thought content in the strength of arms that Ash, as a C ranking guild rogue, could bring to bear on any would-be monster. ‘, Would he?’ he thought looking up at the offending party. Slight concern and anguish on his face. But

But, but he was already gone

“Ok, See ya…” Ash shouted back already halfway to who knows where, Tam and the boy, Alen, in tow, following sharply behind him and the short trail of spudy mud that he was laying behind, his speed increasing by the minute.

‘No, No, he wouldn’t’ He thought watching continued to flash a trail towards the dungeon as fast as he possibly could go. ‘Would he?’